MEMOIRS 
 
 OF 
 
 MES WILLIAM YEITCH, 
 
 ME THOMAS HOG OF KILTEAEN, 
 
 ME HENEY EESKINE, 
 
 AND 
 
 ME JOHN CAESTAIES. 
 
 ISSUED BY THE COMMITTEE OF 
 
 THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE FREE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND 
 
 FOE THE PUBLICATION OF THE WORKS OF 
 
 SCOTTISH REFORMERS AND DIVINES. 
 
 EDINBURGH: 
 
 PRINTED FOR THE ASSEMBLY'S COMMITTEE. 
 
 MDCCCXLVT.
 
 EDINBURGH t 
 PRINTED BY JOHN GREIQ.
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 BY THE EDITOR. 
 
 OUR plan of publication, it will be recollected, com- 
 prised not merely ths sermons and doctrinal writings 
 of the illustrious Fathers of our church, but also, the 
 Memoirs of these men, as well as those Histories in 
 which the dealings of God with regard to the progress 
 of our church in general are recorded. In this man- 
 ner, it was hoped, that the useful would be blended 
 with the agreeable, and narrative with doctrine, so 
 that every variety of taste in reading might be suc- 
 cessively gratified. In conformity with this intention, 
 the present volume of Biography has been produced, 
 which will be followed from time to time by others 
 of a similar description, as well as those of a more 
 ample and detailed character, in which a complete 
 portraiture is given of those distinguished men whose 
 piety and usefulness were so eminent, and whose 
 course was so filled with trials and vicissitudes. 
 
 In the present supplementary volume of the first 
 year, four short Memoirs have been given, the first 
 of which is that of Mrs Veitch, written by herself, 
 
 2065831
 
 11 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 and hitherto unpublished. This excellent woman, 
 who endured an amount of domestic affliction and 
 vexatious persecution, in many cases more trying than 
 martyrdom itself, was most deservedly esteemed and 
 honoured by the pious and distinguished of her own 
 day ; and such was the estimation in which her pru- 
 dence and sound sense were held, that she was fre- 
 quently called by her husband and other persecuted 
 ministers, to the counsels they held under the most 
 perplexing emergencies. With all this, her more than 
 feminine, her truly Christian gentleness is so conspi- 
 cuous, that the readers of her memoir will be struck 
 with the silence in which she passes over most of her 
 sufferings, as well as the dispassionate and forgiving 
 tone in which she alludes to those by whom they were 
 inflicted. To understand these more thoroughly, we 
 would recommend to our readers the perusal of the 
 Life of her husband, the Rev. William Veitch of 
 Dumfries, either that which has been edited by Dr 
 M'Crie, or that which is more briefly contained 
 in the Scots Worthies. Of the value attached to her 
 Diary, we quote the following extract from the first 
 of these works. She (Mrs Veitch) " proved a wife 
 of eminent piety, as several instances after narrated, 
 and a manuscript of her own would testify, which I 
 once did see ; and it contains as strange actings of 
 faith upon the word of God, answers of prayer, and 
 revelations of the mind of God, as peradventure the 
 age she lived in can parallel ; and that, both with 
 respect to the public work of God, and also her hus-
 
 INTRODUCTION. Ul 
 
 band and family's case under their long and great 
 sufferings, will abundantly evince." 
 
 From the tone and spirit of the Diary, it is evident, 
 that, so far from being intended for publication, it 
 was designed to be merely a private memento for her- 
 self, and afterwards a bequest for the instruction of 
 her children. We are happy in being the means of 
 giving its usefulness a wider range than ever its ami- 
 able writer could have contemplated. Three copies 
 only exist in manuscript of the Diary, from one of 
 which, belonging to the Rev. George Pantou, of 
 Heriot's Hospital (for whose kindness on this occa- 
 sion, the Committee return their wannest thanks), 
 the present imprint has been taken. A few notes 
 added by the writer of this short preface, will explain 
 some of those passing circumstances which are briefly 
 adverted to in the original. 
 
 Of the second Life of this series that of Hog of 
 Kiltearn it is unnecessary here to speak, as anything 
 connected with its republication, of any importance, is 
 sufficiently explained in the chapter prefixed to it. 
 The third, which is the Life of Mr Henry Erskine, 
 has been extracted from a manuscript in the Advo- 
 cates' Library; but by which of his sons it was 
 written, whether by Ralph or Ebenezer, or whether 
 it is the original manuscript, or a copy from the ori- 
 ginal, we find ourselves incompetent to decide. The 
 fourth, which contains but a few particulars in the 
 life of John Carstairs, is from the pen of the indefa- 
 tigable Wodrow.
 
 IV INTRODUCTION. 
 
 In conclusion, we are happy to announce, that a 
 long and interesting array of History and Biography 
 stretches before us, much of which has not yet seen 
 the light, or has been published but partially, and in 
 a mutilated form. To this, we hope to have the 
 pleasure of introducing our readers, as speedily as 
 our system of publication will permit.
 
 MEMOIRS 
 
 LIFE OF MRS VEITCH.
 
 MEMOIRS 
 
 SPOUSE TO THE REV. MR WILLIAM VEITCH, MINISTER OF THE 
 GOSPEL AT DUMFRIES. 
 
 AN ACCOUNT OF THE LORD'S GRACIOUS DEALING WITH ME ; 
 AND OF HIS REMARKABLE HEARING AND ANSWERING MY 
 SUPPLICATIONS. 
 
 IT pleased God, of his great goodness, early to incline my 
 heart to seek him, and bless him that I was born in a land 
 where the gospel was at that time purely and powerfully 
 preached ; as also, that I was born of godly parents, and 
 well educated. But above all things, I bless him that he 
 made me see, that nothing but the righteousness of Christ 
 could save me from the wrath of God. 
 
 One day, having been at prayer, and coming into the 
 room, where one was reading a letter of Mr Rutherford's 
 (then only in manuscript), directed to one John Gordon of 
 Risco, giving an account how far one might go, and 
 yet prove a hypocrite and miss heaven, it occasioned 
 great exercise to me. Misbelief said, I should go to hell ; 
 but one day at prayer, the Lord was graciously pleased to 
 set home upon my heart that word, " To whom, Lord, shall
 
 2 MEMOIR OF 
 
 we go ? thou hast the words of eternal life," (John vi. 68). 
 And at another time, that word, " Those that seek me 
 early shall find me," (Prov. viii. 17). And at another 
 time, that word, " For my thoughts are not your thoughts," 
 &c. (Isa. Iv. 8). And at another time, that word, " The 
 Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that 
 hope in his mercy," (Psal. cxlvii. 11), which was very re- 
 freshing to me. 
 
 Some years after, when providence seemed to call me to 
 change my lot, because many suitors came, it was often my ear- 
 nest supplication to the Lord, that Imight be matched in him, 
 and for his glory, which graciously he was pleased to grant 
 me. Yet in this business I met with difficulties ; several of 
 my friends dissuading me from it by diverse reasons, and 
 this among others, that it was an ill time, and I might be 
 brought to straits in the world,* which bred much trouble 
 to my spirit, and put me many a time to seek His mind in 
 it. At length He set home that word, " Our fathers trusted 
 in thee, and thou didst deliver them," (Psal. xxii. 4) ; and, 
 " They trusted in thee and were not confounded," (verse 5). 
 Upon this I was inclined to trust Him, both for spirituals 
 and temporals ; and these promises were remarkably made 
 good to me in all the various places of my sojourning in 
 diverse kingdoms, which I here mention to the commenda- 
 tion of his faithfulness. His word' in this has been a tried 
 word to me, worthy to be recorded, to encourage me to 
 trust him for the future ; who heretofore has not only pro- 
 vided well for me and mine, but made me, in the places 
 where my lot was cast, useful to others, and made that 
 word good, "As having nothing, and yet possessing all 
 things," (2 Cor. vi. 10). 
 
 A little after I was married, the storm of persecution 
 
 The maiden name of Mrs Veitch was Marion Fairly ; the place of 
 her residence was Lanark. Her mamaee occurred on November 23, 
 1664, a period when Presbyterianism WHS overturned in Scotland, and 
 many of the faithful pastors and teachers ejected ; among others, her 
 own husband, who had been Chaplain to Sir Hugh Campbell of Calder.
 
 MRS VKITCH. 3 
 
 arose upon us, to the parting of my husband and me, and 
 increased so, as I was necessitated to leave my native land.* 
 
 Having borne four children before I came out of Scot- 
 land, two of them died in the land, the other two I brought 
 with me ; and being deprived of what once I had there, I 
 renewed my suit to God for me and mine, and that was, 
 that he would give us the tribe of Levi's inheritance, " For 
 the Lord God was their inheritance," (Josh. xiii. 33). When 
 I entered into a strange land, I besought the Lord that he 
 would give me food to eat, and raiment to put on, and 
 bring me back to see his glory in Scotland. This promise 
 was exactly made out to me. 
 
 Several years after, it pleased the Lord to let my husband 
 fall into the enemy's hands, who took him, January 19th, 
 1679, about five o'clock in the morning, in Stantonhall, 
 which bred some trouble, and new :'ear to my spirit ; but 
 he was graciously pleased to set home that word, " He 
 does all things well," (Mark vii. 37) ; " Trust in the Lord, 
 and fear not what man can do," (Psal. hi. 11); which brought 
 peace to me in such a measure, that I was made often to 
 wonder ; for all the time the officers were in the house, He 
 supported me, so that I was not in the least discouraged 
 before them, which made Major Oglethorpe say, he wondered 
 to see me. I told him, I looked to a higher hand than his 
 in this, and I knew he could not go one hair-breadth be- 
 y nd God's permission. He answered, that He permits his 
 enemies to go a great length sometimes. They took him 
 to prison, where he lay about twelve days. All this time 
 I was under much exercise of spirit, which made me go to 
 G od many times on bis behalf. He made that word often 
 sweet to me, " He performeth the things appointed forme," 
 (Job xxiii. 14) ; and that, " He is of one mind, and who 
 can turn him ?" (ver. 13). Much means were used for his 
 
 * Mr Veitch was obliged to fly to England, in consequence of having 
 joined that body of Covenanters who were routed at PentlanJ Hills. 
 After several dangers and changes, he settled in the parish of Rothbury 
 in Northumberland, whero his wife and family rejoined him in 1671.
 
 4 MEMOIR OF 
 
 liberty, but all to no effect, which bred new errands to God for 
 him and me. But misbelief coming in, and telling many ill tales 
 of God, was like to discourage me ; to wit, that I was a stranger 
 in a strange land, and had six small children, and little in the 
 world to look to : But he comforted me with these words : 
 
 " O why art thou cast down, my soul ; 
 
 "What should discourage thee ? 
 And why with voxing thoughts art thou 
 Disquieted in me ? 
 
 Still trust in him, for I shall yet have good cause to praise 
 him," (Psal. xliii. 5). 
 
 At length he helped me to give him freely to Him, to 
 do with him as He pleased ; and if his blood should fill up 
 the cup of the enemy, and bring about deliverance to His 
 Church, I would betake myself to his care and providence 
 for me and my children : And while I was yet speaking to 
 God in prayer, that word was wonderfully brought into my 
 mind, " Abraham, hold thy hand, for I have provided a sa- 
 crifice," (Gen. xxii. 11, 12), which comforted me concern- 
 ing my husband ; and that word, " The meal in the barrel 
 shall not waste, nor the oil in the cruise, xintil the Lord 
 send rain on the earth," (1 Kings xvii. 14), which brought 
 much peace to my troubled spirit concerning my family. 1 
 thought I had now ground to believe he should not die ; but 
 misbelief soon got the upper hand, and told me, it was not 
 the language of faith, which put me to go to God, and pour 
 out my spirit before him. And He answered me with that 
 word, " They that walk in darkness, and have no light, let 
 them trust in the Lord, and stay themselves on their God," 
 (Isa. 1. 10), which refreshed me much, and gave me more 
 ground to believe he should not die. He wrote to me in 
 the night, that there was an order from the king to remove 
 him to Edinburgh. When I opened the letter, he had that 
 expression, " Deep calleth unto deep," &c. But He was 
 pleased to set home that word, " Good is the word of the 
 Lord," which silenced much my misbelief. I rode along 
 with the man that night, but could get no access until the 
 morning. When I came in, the soldiers were guarding him ,-
 
 MRS VEITCH. 
 
 but the kettle-drums beating the troops presently to arms, 
 we were soon parted, and he carried out to the streets, and 
 set on horse-back among the ranks, the town's people running 
 to gaze. All these things were against me, and conspired 
 to frighten me ; but that word being set home, wonderfully 
 supported me, " Fear thou not the fear of man, but let the 
 Lord be your fear and your dread," (Isa. viii. 12, 13). I went 
 after to a friend's house in the town, and wept my fill, and 
 sonic friends with me. 
 
 He desired that a day might be kept,* which was done in 
 several places of the country. I went home to my children, 
 having one upon the breast. I was under much exercise 
 about him, and it was iny suit to Him, who, I can say, is a 
 present help in the time of trouble, that he might be keeped 
 from the evil of sin ; which he was graciously pleased to 
 answer. Faith brought me always good news ; but when 
 misbelief was master of the field, it had never a good tale 
 to tell of God, which often put me to review the promises ; 
 so that I may say, " Unless his laws had been my delight, 
 I had perished in mine affliction." 
 
 A month after, he sent for me. I went in a great storm, 
 but He strengthened me to bear that trial among many 
 others ; and that word was sweet to me, " He numbers all 
 my wanderings." When I came, there was great hope of 
 his freedom ; but within a few days he w T as put in close 
 prison, and an order came to try him for his life, which 
 raised a new storm in me to a great height, because His 
 providence seemed to contradict his promise ; but faith 
 brought me good news, that He would be as good as his word, 
 but withal told me, they that believe must not make haste. 
 Also that scripture, " Hitherto he hath helped me," and 
 that, " Everybody seeks the ruler's favour, but every man's 
 judgment is from the Lord," were sweet to me in that strait. 
 
 After a few months' prisoning, my good God was pleased 
 to give orders for his liberty.! When the news came to 
 
 * For offering up prayers in his behalf, 
 f He was tried before the Privy Council at Edinburgh, and the sen.
 
 6 MEMOIR OF 
 
 ray ears, that word came in my mind, " He hath both spoken 
 it, and himself hath done it ; I will walk softly in the bit- 
 terness of my spirit all my days," (Lsa. xxxviii. 15). We 
 came both home in peace to our children, where we lived 
 at Stantonhall, three miles from Morpeth, in Northumber- 
 land, August 1680. 
 
 Now, when I began to consider how He had heard me 
 in many particulars, he inclined my heart to go to him, and 
 seek two great suits from him. I took along these two pro- 
 mises : " Whatsoever thing ye desire when ye pray, believ- 
 ing, ye shall receive it," (Mark xi. 24). The other was 
 that, " Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and 
 pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you," (Jer. xxix. 12). 
 The first suit was, eternal life to me and mine, and He 
 helped me to believe that he was able and willing to grant 
 that to me, as Ahasuerus was the life of Hester. It was 
 backed also with that word, " Be it unto thee according to 
 thy faith," which was no small comfort to me. 
 
 The other suit was, that he would return in his glory to 
 liis Church, especially to Scotland ; and I had that scrip- 
 ture given in, " I will see their ways and heal them, and 
 restore comfort to Zion and her mourners," (Isa. Ivii. 18). 
 Upon this, He inclined me to come often with that prayer, 
 " Remember the word unto thy servant, upon which thou 
 hast caused me to hope," (Psa. cxix. 49). 
 
 Within a little time a new storm arose, and my husband 
 was again necessitated to leave me, when I had lain in of a 
 child but about eight days ; upon which I fell under great 
 exercise of mind. Misbelief and an ill heart got the mas- 
 iery of me too much, and told me, " To which of the saints 
 wilt thou turn ?" Thy not improving of the precious offers 
 of the gospel makes God to be angry with thee, and thy hus- 
 band to be removed from thee, for there is none in thy sta- 
 tion in the country but their husbands stay with them ; 
 
 tence of death, which was pronounced against him in 1666, was in- 
 tended to be executed ; but at the intercession of influential friends, it 
 was changed into banishment from Scotland.
 
 MRS VEITCH. ( 
 
 which put me many a time to pour out my spirit before 
 Him, both in the night and day ; and he was graciously 
 pleased at length to answer me with that word, " Whom 
 the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son 
 whom he receiveth," (Heb. xii. 6). And that word (which 
 was sweeter to me than ever meat or drink was), " For in 
 that he himself hath suffered, being tempted, he is able to 
 succour them that are tempted," (Heb. ii. 17, 18). And 
 therefore, Oh the blessed condescendency of our precious 
 Redeemer, and the wonderful necessity he laid himself 
 under ! " In all things it behoved him to be made like 
 unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful 
 High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconci- 
 liation for the sins of the people ; therefore we may come 
 boldly unto the throne of grace, to seek grace to help in 
 the time of need," (ver. 17). By these I got the mastery 
 of misbelief. 
 
 My husband, some weeks after, sent me word what prof- 
 fers he had for Carolina,* and he thought I might make for 
 going thither, which bred a new exercise to me. I thought, 
 in my old days I could have no heart for such a voyage, 
 and leave these covenanted lands ; but at length I got sub- 
 mission to my God, and was content, if he had more ser- 
 vice for me and mine in another land ; for I had opened my 
 mouth and given me and mine to him and his service, when 
 and where, and what way he pleased, and I could not go 
 back ; but if I went there, I would hang uiy harp upon the 
 willows when I remembered Scotland. I made it my er- 
 rand to Him, to know if I should go or not, and he was 
 pleased to bear in that word, in prayer, upon my heart, 
 " Though the fig-tree do not blossom," &c. (Hab. iii. 17, 18); 
 and that, " When they persecute you in one place, flee to 
 another, for verily I say unto you, you shall not have gone 
 over the cities of Israel till the Son of Man be come," (Matt. x. 
 
 * This -was a echemo of Sir John Cochrane and several of his asso- 
 ciates, to emigrate to Carolina, and cultivate plantations. Their meet- 
 ings were misrepresented as a plot against the government.
 
 8 ALfiMOIR OP 
 
 23). Upon winch, I hoped I should not go thither, being from 
 that scripture persuaded that these lands in covenant with 
 God were the cities of Israel, which I should not go through 
 till deliverance came to the Church ; and my husband, after 
 half a year's absence, came home, and staid a pretty while. 
 
 But not loLg after, a new storm arose, for the Justice of 
 the peace came to take my husband, who very narrowly es- 
 caped, and went beyond sea.* I was lying sick in the 
 mean tune, but in a short while I recovered. I sent my two 
 eldest sons to him. While they were at sea, there arose a 
 great storm, whereby many were lost. Fear and misbelief 
 told me they were gone, which put me to pour out my spi- 
 rit before Him. It was my request that He would not suf- 
 fer the prince of the power of the air to get his will of 
 them ; and that word was given unto me, " He hath laid 
 help upon one that is mighty," (Psa. Ixxxix. 19), which 
 gave me hope that they should not be lost, which he made 
 out to me, for with much difficulty they got safe to land. 
 
 Then the landlord where I dwelt came and told me, I 
 should stay no longer there than the term, which begat mfe 
 a new trouble, and gave me a new errand to God, for he 
 has appointed me to acknowledge him in all my ways, and 
 he would direct my steps ; and that I should be careful in 
 nothing, but by prayer and supplication make my request 
 known to him, (Prov. iii. 6, and Philip, iv. 6). 
 
 My third son was dying, and he seemed not to lay death 
 to heart, as I would have had him, which put me many tunes 
 to pour out my heart before the Lord, for I had some 
 grounds to believe that he had accepted of me and mine 
 to be his ; yet I thought the boy's practice seemed to con- 
 tradict the Lord's promise to me. This put me to beg of 
 Him that he would take his heart off this world, and let him 
 see a sight of that fair inheritance, and give him the hope 
 and assurance of it ; and I cannot but observe how exact 
 
 * He had assisted the Marquis of Argyle in escaping to Holland, in 
 consequence of which he had incurred the resentment of Government. 
 Voitch, on this occasion, repaired soon alter to the same countrv.
 
 MRS VEITCH. 
 
 the answer was to my desires, for one day, after he called 
 me to the bed-side, he told me he had lost conceit of the 
 world. I asked his reason, seeing he had formerly still a 
 desire to live. " But," said he, " and I have seen another 
 sight." I asked what it was. He said, "I have been 
 praying, and giving myself to Christ, and he answered me, 
 that he took pleasure in my soul, which has comforted me." 
 Afterwards, he said, " Is it not a wonder that Jesus Christ 
 should have died for sinners ? Oh, that is a good tale, and 
 we should think often on it !" He had often that exclama- 
 tion, " Whom have I in heaven but thee, and whom desire 
 I in the earth besides thee ?" (Psa. Ixxiii. 25) ; which re- 
 freshed me more than he had been made heir of a great 
 estate. After this, he desired not to be out of a heavenly 
 discourse, or either to pray himself or to hear others pray. 
 I thought it much from one of twelve years of age ; and 
 when he could not speak, he held up his hand when I spake 
 to him of death and heaven. At last he put up his own 
 hand, and closed his own eyes, and so we parted, in hope 
 of a glorious meeting. One thing I cannot but set down, 
 that when he was at prayer, a little before he died, his fa- 
 ther being absent, and his two elder brothers gone to sea, 
 he prayed for them all, and that his brethren and sisters 
 might be spirited for serving God in their generation, and 
 had that expression, " Though we be far parted now, I hope 
 we shall meet in glory." Also, he called for his brother 
 and sisters, and blessed them all, and bade them farewell. 
 
 All this time I was much troubled that I could not hear 
 from my husband, because I was to remove, and would 
 have known his mind in it, being in confusion, fear, and 
 doubting what to do ; Providence seemed to threaten us 
 with various strokes. I went and poured out my complaint 
 to Him, and that word was set home on my heart, " No 
 plague shall come nigh thy dwelling, nor evil befall thee ; 
 he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee 
 in all thy ways," (Psa. xci. 10); and that word, "All 
 things are yours, and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's,'
 
 10 MliMOIK OP 
 
 (1 Cor. iii. 21). Misbelief said they were too great pro- 
 mises for me, but necessity made me take liold of them. 
 
 About this time, one coming to visit me, told me -what 
 Mr Carstairs had done,* and of Jerviswood's death, which 
 raised such a trouble in my spirit, that I was scarce ever 
 in the like ; and though I had many tokens of the Lord's 
 former hearing me, yet all that would not do, until he gave 
 me new promises of his love to me and mine, which I hope 
 to hold by as long as I live. I went and earnestly begged 
 of him, that I and mine might be kept from the evil of sin, 
 and none that waited on him might be ashamed for our 
 sake ; and he was graciously pleased to set home that word, 
 " I will never fail thee nor forsake thee," (Heb. xiii. 5), 
 which much refreshed me. But within a little, misbelief 
 got the mastery of me, and it told me 1 need not expect to 
 see good days. This was occasioned by the apostasy of 
 some, and the persecutors being permitted to run all down 
 before them, as it were. I could sleep little or none for 
 several nights ; but that word being brought home to my 
 heart, quieted me much, " Wo to the earth, and to the 
 inhabitants of it, for the devil is come down with great 
 wrath, but his time is short," (Rev. xii. 12). Then I thought 
 what would become of the Church and his glory. In the 
 midst of my perplexed thoughts, faith brought that word, 
 " Be still, and know that I am God : I will be exalted among 
 the heathen," (Psal. xlvi. 10) ; and, " When they flourish 
 as the grass, it is that they may be destroyed for ever," 
 (Psal. xcii. 7) ; and they are but set in slippery places ; their 
 feet shall slide in due time, (Deut. xxxii. 35). 
 
 But fear and misbelief said, He would not return with his 
 glory to Scotland, and I should not see it, "and thy sins 
 are the cause ;" which puzzled me that I could not sleep. 
 
 Carstairs was tried as an agent in the llyehouse plot, and tortured 
 with the thumbkins, but would confess nothing. At length, on being 
 threatened with the boots, he yielded, upon condition that government 
 should make no use of his confessions against any one. But the judge* 
 shamefully violated this pledge, and made use of his confessions in the 
 condemnation of Baillio of Jerviswood.
 
 MRS VEITCH. 11 
 
 But faith told me, that the King of our Israel was a merci- 
 ful King ; if I would come with a rope about my neck, he 
 would not put me away. And " although my house be not 
 so with God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting 
 covenant, ordered in all things, and sure," (2 Sam. xxiii. 5), 
 which not a little comforted me. 
 
 But when I began to consult with carnal reason, it told 
 me there was no hope. And one night I was offering up 
 my desires to him for the Church of Scotland, that word 
 was set home to me, " Thine eyes shall see thy teachers," 
 (Tsa. xxx. 20) ; and that, " Thy life shall be given thee for a 
 prey in all places," &c. (Jer.xlv. 5); and that, "Thy bread 
 shall be given thee, and thy water shall be sure," (Isa. xxxiii. 
 1 6) ; and that word, " Fear not, for they that be with us 
 are more than they that be with them," ( 2 Kings vi. 
 16), which gave me some ground to believe, that yet it 
 should be well with the Church. 
 
 Not long after, one came in and told me, my school- 
 master was taken at Newcastle (being there about some 
 business), and they feared he might be sent into Scotland, 
 and put in the boots ; and likewise, that they were afraid 
 the Justices might come and search my house. This occa- 
 sioned great trouble, it happening at such a time as is last 
 mentioned, my husband absent, &c. This made me many 
 a time go to His door, and cry for help ; and that word was 
 often brought to my mind, " Why art thou afraid of a man 
 that shall die, and of the son of man, that shall be made as 
 grass, and forgettest the Lord thy Maker?" (Isa. li. 12, 
 13): "He hath delivered in six troubles, and in seven he 
 will not fail thee or forsake thee," (Job v. 19). His faithful- 
 ness shall be a shield and buckler unto thee. Yet fear and 
 misbelief said there was no hope, which made me have many 
 a perplexed day and night. 
 
 Another time, when I was much puzzled what would be- 
 come of the Church, especially Scotland, that word was 
 brought to my mind, " Thou shalt decree a thing, and it 
 shall be established," (Job xxii. 28), which I thought was
 
 12 MEMOIR OF 
 
 a strange word. I went to God with it, and told him, that 
 which he inclined me to decree, was eternal life to me and 
 mine, and that we might be kept from the evil of sin ; and 
 that he would return in his glory to Scotland, and that mine 
 might be useful to him, and that if it was his good pleasure 
 I might see it ; and if he had no pleasure in me, let him do 
 with me as he pleased. And while I was offering up my 
 desires in prayer to him, that word was brought to my 
 mind, "Be it unto thee as thou wilt," (Matt. xv. 28). 
 When I began to consider on it, I thought it was as strange a 
 word as ever I met with. Carnal reason and misbelief said, 
 it was impossible that ever I should obtain that which was 
 a new errand for me to Him. And while I was thus per- 
 plexed with strange thoughts, that word was given in to 
 me, " I am the God of all flesh : is there any thing too hard 
 for me?" (Jer. xxxii. 27), which gave misbelief a great stroke ; 
 but within a little, it got up on me again, for word came 
 that there was no hope of the godly man, our schoolmaster's 
 getting free, and that he would be sent away to Edinburgh, 
 which made me go to God for him ; for in the day of my 
 strait, and while my children were like sheep without a 
 shepherd, it was my desire to God, that he would provide 
 one for them : which wonderfully he did, and brought him 
 to me, without ever seeking him ; which made me beg God 
 many a time, that he might not be used the worse for me 
 and mine's sake. Then was that word set home, " He has 
 delivered, and he will deliver," (2 Cor. i. 10), which I 
 thought gave me ground to believe it should be well with 
 him ; and about a month after he was set at liberty, which, 
 when I had heard, that word came in, " Happy is the man 
 that hath the God of Jacob for his help, and whose hope is 
 in the Lord," which I have good reason to say, for he never 
 disappointed me ; yet such is the baseness of my deceitful 
 heart, that whenever I meet with a new trouble, I have my 
 faith a seeking. 
 
 I could not hear from my husband, and the time of flitting 
 <vas near. Misbelief and an ill heart were ready to tell me,
 
 MRS VEITCH. 13 
 
 fcliat people would fear to give me a house ; but that word was 
 brought to my mind, " Trust in him at all times, thou know- 
 est not what a day might bring forth," (Psal. Ixii. 8). 
 
 One day, I was much troubled with misbelief and an ill 
 heart. I went to prayer to God that he would rebuke them, 
 and I thought I got not that help from him which sometimes 
 I had got : but he inclined my heart to go to his word, 
 which had been my counsellor in all my doubts and fears ; 
 and the first place that offered to me was, " Count it all joy 
 when ye fall into diverse temptations," (James i. 2) ; and 
 that word upon the back of it, " Jehovah hear thee in the 
 day of trouble : the name of the God of Jacob defend thee, 
 send thee help from the sanctuary, and strengthen thee out 
 of Zion," (Psal. xx. 1, 2), which was sweet to me. 
 
 At length I heard that my husband was well, by a letter 
 that my son had written to one in Newcastle ; but when I 
 heard the person had a letter from Holland, telling that he 
 was well, which was intercepted, (and Sir Thomas Arm- 
 strong was taken in Holland, and brought to London and 
 hanged*), which made me fear he had written another back 
 to him with the post, it much troubled me, thinking that 
 might be a mean of taking him. All the former experiences 
 of God's goodness to me could not silence my misbelief ; I 
 went and poured out my spirit in prayer before Him, who 
 answered me with that word, " He shall not die, but live, 
 and declare the works of the Lord," (Psal. cxviii. 17), 
 which gave me ground of hope, till carnal fear and misbe- 
 lief said he would be taken. But another time, when I was 
 pleading with God for him, that he might be spared, and 
 useful for him ; for I thought he might have some service 
 for him, seeing he had so wonderfully preserved him, after 
 I had given him freely to him ; and he was graciously 
 pleased to set home that word, " I change not, and he shall 
 not be consumed," (Mai. iii. 6), which made me to wonder, 
 and see that his Spirit backing his word, is like the tree cast 
 
 * This was on the charge of having been engaged in the Ryehouse 
 Plot.
 
 14 MEMOIR OP 
 
 into the waters of affliction, it makes them sweet ; and it 
 pleased him to send the person who had written this letter 
 to my house, who gave me full satisfaction that there was 
 no hazard upon that account. 
 
 Soon after, word came that the king was dead. When 
 I heard it, I thought Pharaoh was dead, and I would go to 
 God, and beg of him, that he would spirit a Moses to lead 
 forth the Church from under her hard bondage ; and that 
 word was put in my mind, " Israel, return unto me, for 
 thou hast falle* by thine iniquity. Take with you words, 
 and turn to the Lord," &c., (Hos. xiv. 1, 2). And I pled 
 with him at another time, that the people of his holiness 
 had possessed it but a little while, and that our adversaries 
 had trodden down the sanctuary, (Isa. Ixiii. 18) ; and that I 
 had heard with mine ears what great things he had done 
 for our fathers, (Psal. xliv. 1). He set home that word, 
 " I change not, and they shall not be consumed," (Mai. iii. 
 6). And that * * * which made me hope he would not 
 leave these covenanted lands, especially Scotland. And 
 yet unbelief would say, There is no hope. Another time 
 that word was brought in my mind, " This is the confidence 
 which we have in him, if we ask any thing according to his 
 will, he heareth us," (1 John v. 14). Upon which I begged 
 that he would return in his glory, and build his Church ; 
 and I had that word, " Not for your sakes will I do this, 
 but for my own name's sake," (Ezek. xxxvi. 22), which 
 gave me ground to believe that he would get help. 
 
 Now the term of my removing was come. I went about 
 fifteen miles from Stantouhall, which is in Northumber- 
 land, where I had lived eight years, to Newcastle, anno 
 1684 ; where I was not well settled, when Argyle and 
 Monmouth had appeared, which bred much trouble in the 
 place : and it put me to plead, that He would remember the 
 word upon which he had caused me to hope, to wit, that 
 promise, " No plague shall near thy dwelling come," (Psal. 
 xci.) ; and I may say he made it visibly out to me at that 
 time, for though there was much trouble round about me,
 
 MRS VEITCH. 15 
 
 yet no evil befel my dwelling. Then it was my desire, that 
 He would make good his word on which He had caused me 
 to hope in behalf' of the Church ; for I thought possibly 
 this might be the time of building his house. But his 
 thoughts are not like mine ; for it pleased him, who gives 
 no account of his matters, to let both these great persons 
 fall before the enemy, which put me to pour out my spirit 
 before him, and often to charge my soul to be silent, for my 
 ill heart and misbelief were like to quarrel with him. Oh, 
 what a great difficulty is it to trust and believe in him, when 
 his providences seem to contradict his promises ! But when 
 faith is master of the house, it will read love in his heart, 
 when he strikes with his hand. Under my great pressure 
 of spirit, and despondency at this time, he set home that 
 word, " The vision is for an appointed time, but at the 
 end it shall speak, and not lie : though it tarry, wait for it ; 
 because it will surely come," (Hab. ii. 3), which was very 
 sweet to me, and silenced misbelief very much. But within 
 a little, carnal reason and an ill heart said there was no 
 hope that He would return to his covenanted people in 
 these lands; and that I should not see that which I had 
 some ground to believe from his word that I should see. 
 And one time when I was offering up my desires, that he 
 would give me grace and strength to master misbelief, he 
 was graciously pleased to set home that word, " And thou 
 shalt know that I am the Lord, for they shall not be 
 ashamed that wait on me," (Isa. xlix. 23), which was re- 
 freshing to me, and made me to say, " What am I, 01* my 
 father's house," (1 Chron. xvii. 16), that free love should 
 condescend to such a piece of sinful clay ? But I see free 
 love is above reason. Misbelief got a great stroke with this 
 promise. 
 
 A little after, when I began to take a look of what He 
 had given me ground, as I thought, to see, and how unlike 
 it was to be performed, misbelief again was like to prevail, 
 and I went to Him, who had many a time helped me", and 
 never disappointed me in any thing he promised ; and he
 
 16 MEMOIR uP 
 
 was graciously pleased to bring that word to me, " Though 
 ye believe not, yet he abideth faithful, and cannot deny 
 himself," (2 Tim. ii. 13), which quieted my mind, so that 
 I may say from many experiences, he is a present help in 
 the time of trouble. And as to the riches that lie in the 
 word, the promises, ordinances, and duties, rightly read, 
 rightly pleaded, and rightly discharged, I may say as the 
 Queen of Sheba, the half of the greatness thereof was not 
 told me. And when a soul by these gets in to our King 
 Solomon, and is admitted to hear him by the gracious words 
 of his mouth, speaking peace to a troubled soul, and comfort 
 to a discouraged soul, answering all its doubts and hard 
 questions ; and withal admits the poor creature, lying under 
 the deep sense of its own unworthiness, uncleanness, and 
 undoneness, to a sight of his reconciled and lovely face, oh, 
 how does this transport the creature to such an ecstasy of 
 ravishment, as there remains no more spirit within her ! I 
 bless Him for the many testimonies and evidences of hisjove 
 to me and mine ; for what I have gotten, and for what he 
 has given me ground to expect ; for the performing of which 
 I resolve to lie at his door all my days, for all my expecta- 
 tion is from him and in him ; and in his word do I hope, 
 (Psal. cxxx. 5), for he has been better to me than ten sons. 
 
 But after a little while word came, that some of the uo- 
 bility of Scotland were turned popish, and that Popery was 
 set up there. Upon which, misbelief and carnal reason told 
 me that I needed not expect to see the performance of his 
 promise upon which he had caused me to hope, which raised 
 a new storm within me ; but faith (always a good friend in 
 the time of trouble) brought that word in my mind, " How 
 are they brought to ruin suddenly as in a moment ?" (Psal. 
 Ixxiii. 19). 
 
 One day, after I was under much doubting and fear, for 
 His outward dispensations on the one hand, and a misbeliev- 
 ing heart on the other hand, were like to make me lose sight 
 of the promises, I was much troubled, and knew not what 
 to do. At last, I thought I would go to God, and seek
 
 MRS VEITCH. 17 
 
 help from him to resist the devil and an ill heart ; and when 
 I came into the room, I was in doubt whether to begin with 
 reading or praying first ; and when I thought how sweet he 
 had made his word to me, it gave me ground to expect help 
 from him in my straits. So I took the Bible, and that place 
 was remarkably brought to ine, " If ye abide in me, and my 
 words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall 
 be done unto you," (John xv. 7), which I thought was very 
 remarkable, and bred new fears unto me. He let me see 
 that there was something required on my part ; my not abid- 
 ing in him, and his words not abiding in me, might make 
 him not to perform his promise to me. After I had read a 
 little, I went to prayer, and while I was pouring out my 
 spirit before him, he was graciously pleased to set home 
 that word, " God is in the midst of her, she shall not be 
 moved ; God shall help her, and that right early," (Psal. 
 xlvi. 5). 
 
 When I heard that the Parliament was to sit down, 
 I was in great fear it should establish Popery, and make 
 that Church which was once beautiful, base in the eyes of 
 ah 1 nations. And I made it my errand to God, that he 
 would not give them their will ; and he brought those words 
 to me, " Associate yourselves, and ye shall be broken iu 
 pieces ; take counsel, and it shall come to nought ; speak 
 the word, and it shall not stand : for God is with us," (Isa. 
 viii. 9, 10). Faith told me they should not get their will ; 
 misbelief said they should ; and betwixt these two was I in 
 great fears when the news came, (for they came every week), 
 which made me again and again cry to Him, that he would 
 remember his word on which he had caused me to hope ; 
 for I thought I had some grounds to believe that he would 
 not leave that people. It was my suit to Him, that he would 
 divide his enemies there, which he did, for he had told me, 
 that a house divided cannot stand. And one time that 
 word was set home to me, " Thy words are heard," wherein I 
 cannot but admire his free love and gracious condescendeucy 
 to such a piece of sinful clay as I am ; for he divided them,
 
 18 MEMOIli OF 
 
 and let them not get theirwills at thattime. Now, -who would 
 not serve so good a Master as he is, who ever livcth to 
 make intercession for his people ! I have good reason to 
 sing of the mercies of the Lord, and declare his faithfulness 
 to all generations. 
 
 But a little after, the cloud grew darker upon the Church ; 
 and my ill heart and misbelief were like to make me give 
 over hopes that ever I should see good days. And one 
 time, while I was wrestling against misbelief and an ill 
 heart, He was graciously pleased to set home that promise, 
 " As one whom his mother comfortetli, so will I comfort 
 you: and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem. And when 
 ye see this, your hearts shall rejoice, and your bones shall 
 flourish like an herb : and the hand of the Lord shall be 
 known towards his servants, and his indignation towards his 
 enemies," (Isa. Ixvi. 13, 14). I desire to bless him for it. 
 I can say, I have esteemed the words of his mouth more 
 than my necessary food, and that be never disappointed 
 me ; and yet when I meet with a new difficulty, I have my 
 faith always a seeking, as to the making out of his promise 
 to me in particular, and to the Church in general ; espe- 
 cially when his outward dispensations seem to contradict his 
 promises. 
 
 One day I received a letter from a friend, that my sons 
 did not mind their books as they should, which troubled me 
 much, and made me go to God for them many a time ; for 
 I thought his outward dispensations seemed to contradict 
 his promise to me, for he inclined me early to give them to 
 him ; ere ever they were born I gave them to him, and 
 afterwards in baptism, and often had covenanted them to 
 him and his service ; and he had given me some grounds to 
 expect he had accepted the offer : but misbelief was like to 
 prevail too much with me. But one day I went to God, 
 and took with me his promise, " I will be your God, and the 
 God of yours," (Gen. xvii). And I pleaded the God of 
 that promise for me and mine, and took the place to witness 
 that I had offered them to him ; and that I was content to
 
 MRS VEITCH. 19 
 
 take him on his own terms, as he had offered himself in the 
 g-ospel ; a King to rule over me and mine, and to defend 
 us from the evil of sin without ; and a Saviour to save us 
 from the wrath of God ; a Prophet to teach us, and his all- 
 sufficiency to provide for us. And while I was pouring out 
 my spirit before him in the behalf of me and mine, he was 
 '^niciously pleased to answer me with that promise, " Be it 
 unto thee as thou wilt," and through his grace I shall hold 
 by it all m'y days. And I charge all mine, as they shall 
 answer to Grod at the great day, and as they would not 
 tiave me to be a witness against them in that day, that yc 
 Covenant yourselves away to God and his service, and plead 
 Liie good of this promise in particular, every one of you for 
 yourselves ; for all I can do for you cannot merit heaven for 
 you : for with the heart man believes, and every man is 
 i^aved by his own faith. All my desire is, that He would 
 glorify himself, by redeeming me and mine from hell and 
 wrath, and make us useful in our generation for his glory. 
 I thought fit to write this for my own use and the good of 
 mine ; and if the Lord should take me from them by death, 
 I hope the words of a dying mother shall have some im- 
 pression upon their spirits. 
 
 A young man coming from Holland, brought me a letter 
 from my two sons, and told me he had brought two books 
 for me, viz. The Impartial Inquiry, and Essex Murder ; but 
 having carelessly put them among his clothes, all were taken 
 together. I told him that I gave them no order to send me 
 such books, neither did my letter mention them. I advised him 
 also to go out of town, for they would seek after him ; which 
 they did, by an order of the mayor of Newcastle (where I 
 then lived), within an hour after he went from my house. 
 It greatly troubled me, that any of mine should have been 
 the occasion of trouble, either to others or myself. I west 
 to G od with it, having the experience that he was the hearer 
 cf prayer, and presented his promise, which formerly he had 
 persuaded me of, that no plague should come near my 
 dwelling; that he should give his angels charge over
 
 20 MEMOJB, or 
 
 me ; that his faithfulness should be a shield and buckler to 
 me. And when I was pleading with Him, that he would 
 rebuke the fury of the enemy, that they might not get liberty 
 to vent their malice against me, nor the young man, and 
 that none might be the worse for my sake, free love made 
 him to answer me with that promise, " He has delivered, 
 and he will deliver," (2 Cor. i. 10) ; and, " What I do thou 
 knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter," (John 
 xiii. 7), which gave me ground to believe that I, and those 
 concerned, should be delivered from that trouble. But two 
 or three days after, the young man and his sister, and some 
 friends with them, came back to the town, to inform the 
 magistrates that those books were to me, thinking to free 
 themselves by laying the blame on me ; and when I heard 
 this, it put me to go more frequently to His door, and cry 
 for help : for many times faith is a seeking under new trials 
 and frowning providences, while as all ends in mercy to me. 
 I was impelled to plead with Him thus, that if he would 
 perform the promise upon which he had caused me to ro.-t 
 for deliverance out of this trouble, it should be a ground to 
 believe all the other promises he had given me for greater 
 things. I cannot but admire His free love and care to me 
 and mine, for the net they spread for me they were taken 
 in themselves ; for the young man's sister was that night 
 laid in jail for keeping back her brother, and appearing her- 
 self, and the God of my fathers suffered them not to get 
 then- designs towards me accomplished. She was liberated 
 within a day upon bond to answer at the sessions. It was my 
 desire to God, that he would put it in their hearts to give 
 them back their clothes and their books, which was fulfilled 
 half a year after ; only these pamphlets were, as some said, 
 sent to the king, or * * * * 
 
 March 5. 1687. I went toTJ-od that day in behalf of me 
 and mine, and it was my desire to him that we might be 
 not only hearers, but doers of his will. For when I heard 
 of the unsuitable practice of some, whose knowledge and 
 profession was great, it made me fear what I and mine might
 
 MRS VEITCI1. 21 
 
 do in dishonouring of him : and I poured out my spirit before 
 Him who is the hearer of prayer, and was in good earnest 
 with him, that I and mine might be among those that were 
 on his heart that day that he spoke those words, " Father, 
 I will that those whom thou hast given me be with me where 
 I am ;" and that we might be early doers of his will, and 
 some of them might be fitted for building his house, for I 
 had given them to him. And while I was wrestling with 
 him in prayer, free love made him to answer me in that pro- 
 mise, " Ask me of things to come concerning my sons, and 
 concerning the work of my hands command ye me," (Isa. 
 xlv. 11). It made me to wonder at free love, in his answer- 
 ing such a piece of clay as I am ; but free love has no rea- 
 son, but because he WILL : and seeing he offered himself so 
 freely to me, he helped me to be as free with him, in asking 
 him, and taking from him ; for I took heaven and earth, and 
 the place to witness that I would take him at his word. 
 And my desires were, that I and mine might be doers of 
 His will on earth, and for ever with himself in glory ; and ho 
 answered me with that promise, " Be it unto thee as thou 
 wilt :" and through his grace I will keep that rich jewel all 
 my days. 
 
 I thought then my mountain stood sure ; but ere ever I 
 was aware, I met with a new trial, and I had my faith a 
 seeking : for after a liberty to Popery was proclaimed in 
 Scotland, I was like to lose sight of the promises. Carnal 
 reason and misbelief had much to say : I made it my errand 
 to him, that he would help me to get the mastery of these 
 enemies ; and he was pleased to strengthen my faith in that 
 promise, " After I have plucked them out, I will return, 
 and have compassion on them," (Jer. xii. 15), which 
 strengthened my faith, and my enemies within me were silent 
 a little ; but soon after they got up upon me. His outward 
 dispensations seemed strange-like ; for in England, where I 
 lived, there was light of the gospel, and much liberty, but 
 in Scotland muoh trouble, which was strange-like : and it 
 was my desire to him to know what it spoke; and he brought
 
 22 MEMOIR OP 
 
 that word to my mind, " Ilise and eat, for thou hast forty 
 days to go in the strength of this meat ;" upon which I fear-j'l 
 there was a great storm coming upon England. I went to 
 God, that he would remember his promise, that no plague 
 should come near my dwelling, and that he should give his 
 angels charge over me and mine ; and he promised me that 
 his truth and faithfulness should be a hedge about me and 
 mine ; and I placed them all there, and through his grace, 
 they shall never be taken out again. 
 
 But when I began to think of the sad case of the Church 
 of France, and other places beyond sea, how they had been 
 sore troubled, and my native land, it made me to cry 
 out, "Oh that my head were waters," &c., (Jer. ix. 1); yet 
 I had reason to bless Him for the light of the gospel they 
 had, though it was not a plenteous rain on such a weary 
 heritage ; it made me to moderate the greatness of it, espe- 
 cially coming from a popish king. That place of Scripture, 
 where Ahab proclaimed a fast, to get his wicked designs a 8- 
 complished, was brought to my mind. It was my fear, that 
 the enemies of the Church would stone the Protestant in- 
 terest to death, under the pretence of giving a liberty ; the 
 fear of this, made me to enjoy all my pleasant things with 
 sorrow of heart. But the government is on His shoulders, 
 and the poor of his people must trust in him. He abideth 
 faithful, and cannot deny himself: that which he hath pro- 
 mised, he will perform. 
 
 One night, among many others, I could sleep but little ; 
 but when I thought upon what he had promised to me and 
 mine, and to the Church, and yet how his outward dispen- 
 sations said the contrary, (for he had suffered the enemy to 
 break the Church abroad and at home), I was presenting 
 his promise to him, and telling him what fear and misbelief 
 said, That I should not see his glory return to these cove- 
 nanted lands, and mine should not be useful for building of 
 his house. And while I was weeping and crying to him 
 against my corruptions, which have never a good tale to 
 tell of God and his dispensations, he set home that word to
 
 MRS VEiTcn. 23 
 
 my spirit, which refreshed me much, The Lord answered 
 the angel which talked with me, with good words and com- 
 fortable, that what he had promised, he would perform ; he 
 would not suffer his faithfulness to fail ; he was the God of 
 all flesh ; there was nothing too hard for him ; his house shall 
 lie built again : and I answered, "Praise and glory be to 
 thee for ever and ever." I bless him that I can say I have 
 a Bethel, where I wept and made supplication to him, and 
 found him. IBs presence, his presence made up the loss of 
 my outward comforts to me ; for my husband durst not stay 
 with me for near two years at that time. The circumstances 
 then made friends afraid to own me ; but I bless Him, that 
 he thus made the nether springs to run dry upon me, for 
 that made me to seek the Fountain, where I was refresher) . 
 The liberty for preaching was always the longer th 
 greater. The king sent out a proclamation, and promised 
 fair things.* I could not but wonder at it, he being a Pa 
 pist ; but that place of scripture was brought to my mind, 
 where Absalom stole away the hearts of the people by his 
 flattery, and while he pretended religion, there was mischief 
 in his heart. I wondered to see the people so taken with 
 it, which I was not. I went to God in these perplexities 
 of mind, and begged that the ministry of the word, which I 
 knew was to be performed by Dr Gilpin, (being his first 
 sermon in the meeting-house after liberty), might either 
 convince me or confirm me. When I went in at the door, 
 that word was borne in, "Eat thy meat with fear, and drink 
 thy water with trembling," (Ezek. xii. 18). When the 
 minister came in, he sung the 137th Psalm. His prayei 
 was all about the sad case of the church ; his text, " Lord, 
 
 * This was a " Declaration for liberty of Conscience," passed on 
 April 4. 1687, in which all the penal laws against Protestant Dissenters 
 as well as Papists, were suspended, all persons suffering prosecution on 
 account of violating them, were absolved ; and full permission was given 
 to hold religions meetings, whether in houses or chapels, without mo- 
 lestation. The unthinking rejoiced in this toleration, which was in 
 fact merely designed for the relief of the Papists, and finally for the 
 re-establishment of Popery.
 
 24 MZMOIR OP 
 
 T have heard thy speech and was afraid : Lord, revive thy 
 work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years 
 make known ; in wrath remember mercy," (Hab. iii. 2). And 
 all his whole preaching confirmed me that sad days were yet 
 coming. It was my errand to God, to know at that time 
 his smiling on England so much, and frowning on Scotland 
 (for there was no liberty granted then to it) ; and that place 
 of Jonah*s being sent to Nineveh, was cast in my mind, 
 snewing me that He was sending his ministers to call Eng- 
 land to repentance, or else he would take the scourge to them. 
 
 One night I was pouring out my spirit before God in be- 
 half of my native land, that he would not make them a de- 
 solation ; and I made use of this argument, that the great 
 wickedness of those that were rulers, both in church and 
 *tate, might move him to cast them out ; and I got these 
 words for an answer, " Thy words are heard," &c., which I 
 hope in his own way and time he will make out. 
 
 It was still my fear that Popery would be set up, and it 
 might come to my door, either to burn, or to deny Him; and 
 then I considered how my corrupt nature, and the tempta- 
 tion meeting together, had made me to yield to little things. 
 It was my desire to Him, that he would keep me through 
 his power unto salvation ; and he brought that place to me, 
 " My grace shall be sufficient for thee ;" and through his grace, 
 I shall hold by it for me and mine all my days. One thing 
 here is observable, that at the giving in of this promise, and 
 all the rest, he helped me firmly to believe the accomplish- 
 ment of them, as if I had seen it with my eyes ; and yet be- 
 tween the passing and performing of some of those promises, 
 many a sad and dark day I had. My misbelief made me 
 often say, " Why art thou to me, Lord, as waters that 
 fail?" yet I can say, from good and frequent experiences, 
 that they who sow in tears shall reap in joy. 
 
 The more I thought upon the case of the church for tho 
 present, and what we had formerly seen, and what ere long 
 we were like to see, it made my sleep to depart from me : 
 and one night being much taken up in thinking what might
 
 MKS VEITCTI. 25 
 
 be the Lord's mind in the liberty that was granted, that 
 scripture was given in, " Who shall entice Ahab to go up to 
 Ramoth-Gilead ? And there came out a spirit, and stood 
 before the Lord, and said, I will entice him, by being a lying 
 spirit in the mouth of all his prophets ;" which seemed to 
 presage, that his (James II.) following the counsel of his 
 popish priests would tend to his ruin. And also, another 
 sad thing was this unto me, to see the ministers that got the 
 liberty, and the people, so silent against popery that they 
 by those devices were bringing in. How sad was it to me, 
 to see my Lord Christ wronged of bis right, and of that 
 gift which he got from his Father, viz. the utmost ends of 
 the earth for a possession, and which by our fathers were so 
 solemnly sworn away to him. If any were coming to take 
 our possessions from us, how would we oppose them ! But 
 what little opposition was made against those that were risen 
 up to wrong Christ of his right and possession ! I fear that 
 curse be due to many in these lands, which was denounced 
 against Meroz, for not coming out to help the Lord against 
 the mighty, (Judg. v. 23). 
 
 My husband got a call to Beverlcy, near an hundred miles 
 south from Newcastle ; then misbelief told me, that I needed 
 not expect to see His glory return to Scotland, for carnal 
 reason said I was turning my back on it ; yet faith told me, 
 it should be made out to me. One day I went to God for 
 this, that he would make good his promise, on which he had 
 made me to hope. He set home that word, " Blessed is she 
 that believeth, for there shall be a performance of those 
 things which were promised to thee by the Lord ; and my 
 presence shall go with thee." These promises were as re- 
 freshful to me as my daily bread. Ho helped me to submit 
 to him, if my husband could be more useful in that place 
 than another. But he could not be free to stay above four 
 or five months with them, which gave me grounds to hope I 
 should see my native land. After a while liberty for Scot- 
 land came out, but considering it came from a popish king, 
 made me fear what the issue might be.
 
 '20 MEMOIR OP 
 
 Afterward my sons came from Holland, and not meeting 
 wit a that from them which I expected, bred new trouble to 
 my mind ; for I thought I had His promise that he would 
 make them useful in the work of the ministry, having long 
 ago dedicated them to that work, and having grounds to be- 
 lieve he had accepted of the offer, yet they were both against 
 it, which gave my faith a sore set. Misbelief and an il] 
 heart bade me cast away the child of promise ; why should 
 I wait any longer on the Lord ? But love bade me hold by 
 the promise. I went to God, and poured out my spirit in 
 prayer. He opened mine eyes, and let me see a well in the 
 wilderness, and faith brought me an olive leaf, viz. " If ye 
 believe not, yet He abideth faithful, and cannot deny him- 
 self;" which was sweeter to me than the honeycomb. 
 
 The king was for taking away the penal statutes, and 
 those of the Independent way in Newcastle were for it, 
 which I thought sad, to hear the bairns of the house con- 
 tent to break down the hedge, and let in the wild beasts in- 
 to the vineyard, which made me go to God, to know whether 
 their way or Presbyterian government was the best. And 
 these two scriptures, Acts 1st and 15th chapters, confirmed 
 me in the latter. 
 
 I was regretting this to a good woman, their condescend- 
 ing too much to the king's devices for taking away the penal 
 statutes ; she told me, she heard that all the ministers of 
 Scotland were for that too. I told her that I hoped God 
 would never leave them so far. I came home to my house, 
 and went to prayer, and poured out my spirit before Him, that 
 he would remember his promise, on which in this matter he 
 had caused me to hope, viz. That he would not forsake that 
 land. I could sleep little that night, but cry and weep before 
 him in behalf of the Church in that land : I told him, what a 
 great dishonour to his name it would be, if he should forsake 
 them, because he had owned them in such a singular man- 
 ner to contend earnestly for the faith, and he had received 
 a sacrifice of their hand, by their sealing of that truth with 
 their blood : and he gave me his promise, that my words
 
 MRS VEITCIT. 27 
 
 wore heard ; for he would see their ways and heal them ; 
 which eased iny troubled spirit. But yet my faith was mixed 
 with fear, which made me to go often to his door and knock ; 
 and I bless him he opened to me many a time, and refreshed 
 me with the words of his mouth ; but my corruptions and 
 a body of death got too much the mastery of me, and laid 
 me low. 
 
 One day I was speaking of the Church of Scotland to 
 some ; I told them that I hoped He would yet appear in 
 his glory there, and that I should see it ; and they told me, 
 I might never see that, for Mr Livingston and Mr Well- 
 wood, two famous ministers, had as great hopes to see that 
 sight, and were disappointed ; which took deep impression on 
 my spirit, and I went to God and poured out my spirit be- 
 fore him, who T can say, is the Hearer of prayer, for I had 
 experience, that in coming to him by prayer and reading the 
 scriptures, I found a cure for all my distempers from him. 
 I was like to lose sight of the promise ; I told him, all these 
 things were against me ; misbelief, and an ill heart, and 
 carnal reason, his outward dispensations, and the experience 
 of his people, told me, that I might not expect that from 
 him, that was but a woman, and so little a plant in his gar- 
 den, when he had denied it to his faithful ministers ; which 
 brought me so low, that I was like to lose sight of the pro- 
 mises which he had given me, and helped me to believe that 
 they should be made out to me, as if I had seen it with my 
 eyes ; and yet misbelief got the mastery of me. And while 
 I was weeping and making supplication to him, faith brought 
 me ease and quiet from that word, " He will perfect his 
 praise out of the mouths of babes and sucklings ; for he will 
 hide that from the wise and prudent, and reveal it to babes 
 and sucklings." And Manoah's wife saw more than the 
 man ; and Abraham's hoping against hope, that he was 
 faithful who had promised, and was able to perform. Oh, 
 how sweet these were to me ! and set me on my feet again, 
 and gave me new grounds of hope. I thought then, my 
 mountain was sure, but ere I was aware, I was fast in the
 
 28 MEMOIR OF 
 
 miry clay of misbelief again ; for a friend sent me a letter, 
 wherein he regrets the sad case of some of the godly 
 ministers in Scotland that had no liberty to preach.* And 
 when I thought of the liberty that was granted for all sorts of 
 errors, and a restraint on some of the godly ministers, and 
 none for my husband to preach there, all former experience 
 would not cure this fit of unbelief, till I made a new errand 
 to His door ; and I bless him that ever I had so many er- 
 rands, or else I had never known the freeness of the Giver, 
 and the goodness of the entertainment, if love and necessity 
 had not put me to be a beggar at his door. While I was 
 importunate with him by prayer, that he would remember 
 his promise on which he had caused me to hope concerning his 
 Church, he answered me, " I will work for my name's sake, 
 lest it should be polluted among the heathen;" and with that 
 promise, that the Church of Scotland should be called a 
 people redeemed of the Lord, sought out and not forsaken ; 
 and W other promise, " Be it unto thee as thou wouldst." 
 These were more precious to me than thousands of gold 
 and silver. I can say (to his free grace be it spoken) I came 
 from him and iny countenance was no more sad, for I had 
 light in the Lord. My petition was granted, that the rest of 
 the faithful ministers in that land should get their liberty, 
 and his glory should return to that laud, and my eyes 
 should see it ; which came exactly to pass, for which I desire 
 
 * In the first royal proclamation of Toleration for Scotland, which 
 was made February l2. lt>87, only the moderate Presbyterians were 
 allowed to meet in private houses for religious exercises, hut not to 
 Imild meeting-houses, or assemble in out-houses or barns. This per- 
 mission was also coupled with an oath which the more conscientious 
 Presbyterians could not take. The Second Toleration, of March 31, 
 dispensed with the oath ; and the Third, proclaimed June 28, allowed 
 us ample a liberty to Scotland as to England, with the exception of 
 rij;ht to hold field conventicles, which were still denounced. This lust 
 permission, after some hesitation and discussion, was accepted in Scot- 
 land ; in consequence of which Mr Yeitch received a call from people 
 in the parishes of Oxnam, Crailing, Eckford, Linton, Morebattle, and 
 Uuwnum, to become their minister, and preach to them at Whitton- 
 hall, which lay adjacent to these se> erul parishes.
 
 MHS VEITCH. 29 
 
 to bless him for ever and ever, and through his grace shall go 
 softly all my days. 
 
 The reading of Mr Andrew Gray on the Promises, and 
 the Faith of Assurance and Prayer, Mr Rutherford's Let- 
 ters, and Goodwin on Prayer, the Lord blessed them to me, 
 for I was refreshed with them many a time ; but his word 
 was above all to me like Goliah's sword, there was none 
 like it. 
 
 The reasons why I was so concerned for Scotland, were, 1st, 
 That it was my native land. 2dly, It was most oppressed. 
 And, 3dly, It had been in former times singularly owned of 
 God; and I thought it would be a great dishonour for him to 
 leave it. Yet I was not altogether confined to it ; but He 
 helped me to remember other places, and especially England, 
 where I and my family had met with seventeen years' kind 
 entertainment. When I went to God and poured out my 
 spirit before him in behalf of England, he promised he would 
 not make a full end, but wrath once would be upon them for 
 their sins, if repentance prevent not. After we had been 
 seventeen years banished from our native land, He performed 
 his promise upon which he had caused me to hope ; the 
 king and council gave orders for our return anno 1688. 
 The manner of performing His promise was wonderful. 1 
 never expected it should come from a popish king ; but His 
 ways are in the deep waters, and his footsteps past finding 
 out. But this promise was no sooner performed, than Esau 
 appeared before me, and Laban behind me. My sons, 
 whom I had kept at the College at Utrecht, were both for 
 being soldiers, which troubled my spirit much ; for I thought 
 I had some grounds to believe he would make them useful for 
 building his house. I went to God, and poured out my 
 spirit before him, who had heard me in the day of my strait 
 many a time ; but these Philistines that dwell within me, 
 prevailed so much on me, and put out my eyes, that I could 
 not see the wondrous things of his laws. He made me 
 remember the miracle of the loaves which he had performed 
 the other day, but all would not do. I was toiling in the
 
 30 MEMOIR OP 
 
 duties of prayer, meditation, and reading of the word some 
 days and nights, but caught little. All former experience 
 would give me no ease to my troubled spirit, till I got new 
 supplies. 
 
 One time I went and cast the net at his command, and 
 there I was helped to bind them over to God, and if he had 
 any service for them in that station of soldiers, I would 
 submit. But I will be a beggar at his door all my days, 
 and though he should slay me, I will trust iu him : He 
 answered me with that promise, " Thou shalt know that 1 
 am the Lord thy God, and none that wait on me shall be 
 ashamed. And blessed be she that believeth, for there 
 shall be a performance of these things which are promised to 
 her of the Lord ; and those that believe must not make 
 haste : and trust in God when thou art in darkness, and 
 hast no light, for he will perfect his praise out of the mouths 
 of babes." Those promises gave some ease to my troubled 
 spirit. I was in great strait what to do with them. I went 
 to God and sought his counsel, because he had commanded 
 me in all my ways to acknowledge him, and he would direct 
 my steps. And when I was pouring out my spirit before 
 Him, he brought these words into my mind, "Lay not thy 
 hand upon the lad," for "he is a chosen vessel to me, to 
 bear my name before the Gentiles ;" and I answered, 
 " Even so be it, Lord." After I had tasted this honey 
 that lies in the promises, mine eyes were opened a little ; 
 for which I desire to bless Him for ever and ever, that 
 ever I had been refreshed with his promises, especially 011 
 the 1st of March and that 5th of January, the first week 
 of April and the 20th day of April 1688. Let my soul 
 never forget these times, and many other times when lie 
 aud I met I was not yet come out of England. I may 
 say, it was like the river Chebar to rue ; then 1 saw the heavens 
 jpened, and the vision of God. 
 
 After I came into Scotland, it was upon my thoughts 
 what God had done for me, what I had promised to him, 
 and what he had promised to me. My promise to Him
 
 MRS VEITCII. 31 
 
 was, that if he should bring me back to Scotland, I would set 
 some days apart, to bless Him for what he had done for 
 me and mine, and for his Church : and his promise to me 
 was eternal life to me and mine. The greatness of these 
 promises made me to fear that they should not be performed 
 unto me, because his word hath said, one of a tribe and 
 two of a family should be saved ; which put me to pour 
 out my spirit before Him in behalf of me and mine : but 
 he answered me with these words, " Though it be wonderful 
 in thy eyes, it is not so in mine, and my thoughts are not 
 as thine ;" which gave me ground to expect good from 
 Him ; yet my faith was mixed with fears. But one time, 
 when I was pleading the good of these promises, He inclined 
 my heart to ask a sign from him that my heart might be 
 more confirmed of the truth of it ; and the sign was, that 
 if He had accepted of me and mine, that they might evidence 
 by their practice, that they were bairns of the higher house, 
 and my eyes might see it. Free love made him to answer 
 me with these words, " Thy words are heard ;" for which 
 I bless Him, and through his grace shall be a beggar at 
 his door all my days, for the making out of these promises 
 to me and mine, and I charge all mine to do so. 
 
 His promise to me for his Church in Scotland was not 
 yet altogether performed. I was like Haman (Esther v. 13), 
 all availed me little, so long as I saw Popery and Prelacy 
 owned by authority. I thought that then the ark was 
 still in the house of Obed-Edom ; it was my desire He 
 would spirit some to bring it to Jerusalem. I was lit- 
 tle more than half a year in Scotland till the Prince of 
 Orange came over to England, which made me to wonder 
 what could be the meaning of that dispensation ; for when 
 I was in England, He gave me grounds to believe, that 
 he would take the rod to that people, which made me to 
 have a holy fear of his threatenings, for he helped me to 
 believe, he was as just in performing his threatenings as 
 he is in his promises, if repentance do not prevent it ; and 
 yet, instead of taking the rod, he had raised up a Deliverer
 
 32 MEMOIR OF 
 
 for them/ I went to God to see what was his mind in 
 this dispensation : He answered me, " What I do now, 
 thou knowest not, but thou shalt know hereafter: a fire 
 unblown shall consume them." Upon which I feared there 
 was a stroke for England, which made me go to Him, 
 that he would make repentance to prevent it. It was my 
 desire to God, that he would make the Prince of Orange 
 an instrument for the bringing down of Popery and Prelacy 
 in Scotland, and that He would make good his promise to 
 nie which he promised in England, that they should be 
 ruined in a moment. I cannot but wonder and admire 
 at his free love and his faithfulness to me, in performing 
 this promise ; for when the Convention sat down, He 
 spirited them to accomplish it.* I was still in a fear and 
 some exercise of mind about the making out of His pro- 
 mises to me. Carnal reason and unbelief made me to 
 charge Hun foolishly, as if his death and sufferings could 
 not reach me and all mine ; which put me many a tune 
 to come to his door and cry for help, that I might be more 
 confirmed of the truth of these promises, that he had re- 
 deemed me and mine. I cannot but admire his free love 
 to ine. When I was pouring out my spirit before him in 
 prayer, he brought that word wonderfully to my mind, 
 where the angel appeared to Cornelius (Acts x.), and bade 
 him send for Peter, who would tell him words by which he 
 and all his house should be saved. He opened mine eyes, 
 and let me see that which I had never seen before so clearly ; 
 that Christ's death and blood could reach a whole family ; 
 for which I desire to praise him for ever and ever, that 
 tree love should have condescended to make use of such 
 clay and spittle as me and mine, and to work a miracle of 
 them. This gave me new ground to plead the promise for 
 me and mine, and that the sign I sought from him migK 
 
 * The Convention was held January 22, 1689, to call "VViiHam to the 
 vacant throne. Upon this occasion, Popery was voted to be inconsis- 
 tent with the English Constitution, and all Papists were for ever di*- 
 clare-J iucapable of succeeding to the crown.
 
 MRS VEITCH. 33 
 
 be accomplished that they might evidence by their prac- 
 tice they were his, and my eyes might see it. And he pro- 
 mised me, my words were heard ; and through his grace, I will 
 be a beggar at his door all my days for the performing this 
 promise upon which he hath caused me to hope ; and I 
 charge all mine to set some days apart, to plead the good 
 of this promise for yourselves and the Church ; and I pro- 
 mise in his name you shall be made welcome, and find good 
 entertainment in his company : he will take you up to 
 Mount Pisgah, and let you see a sight of the promised land, 
 and the hope and assurance of it. It cannot be expressed 
 what soul-contentment and consolation is to be had in set- 
 ting some time apart, and leaving all things at the foot of 
 the mount, and to go up by faith, and take a sight of the 
 good land, and to get some of the fruits of it to feed on 
 while you are here below. But, my dear bairns, come 
 and see, and that will resolve the question best. I can 
 commend it from the experience I have had, in setting some 
 days apart to converse with God. 
 
 But still my wine is mixed with water : my two eldest 
 sons came home from the college when the Prince of Orange 
 landed in England, and they were both for being soldiers, 
 which gave my faith a sore shock, because his outward dis- 
 pensations seemed to contradict his promise to me ; I 
 thought it was laid in the grave, and misbelief made me 
 sometimes say, " by this time it stinketh." Yet faith tells 
 always good of God, that the needy should not always be 
 forgotten, the expectation of the poor should not always 
 perish. Love bade me remember the years of his right 
 hand, and the wonders performed by the Lord to me, for 
 I had some experience of the Physician, that he could 
 make dead and dry bones live, and turn water into wine. 
 This gave me ground to wait, if it were even to the 
 eleventh hour ; and though the vision tarry, wait for it, it 
 would speak and not lie. Faith, love, and hope, told me, 
 they should not die, but live and declare the works of God. 
 Misbelief and a carnal heart, carnal reason and his out 
 
 c
 
 34 MEMOIR or 
 
 ward dispensations their language said, they would both 
 be killed, for they were at the point of the sword. The 
 language of the two parties kept me at work, and put me 
 often to go to him to plead the good of the promises, that 
 he would give his angel's charge over me and mine, to 
 keep us in all his ways, and that his faithfulness might be 
 a shield and buckler to us to keep us in all our ways, and 
 to defend us from sin, and the wrath of cruel men. I had 
 this promise from him while I was in England, and when I 
 was in this strait, he helped me to plead the performance of 
 it ; and faith told me, he would be as good as his word, 
 which I seek the making out of. 
 
 But still my faith was mixed with fears for the making 
 out pf his promise to me and mine and his Church, and 
 though he had performed some part of his promise, in making 
 the Convention to condemn Prelacy, yet I thought Hainan 
 high and Mordecai low when Presbytery was not settled ; 
 I thought the ark was still in the house of Obed-Edom, and 
 that his promises, which he promised me in England, were 
 low and in the grave : and misbelief made me rove some- 
 times, and say, " Why art thou to me as a liar, or as waters 
 that fail ?" I found it a great difficulty to believe in Him, 
 when his promise said one thing, and his providences said 
 another, though he had helped me to believe they would 
 be performed, as I had seen it with my eyes ; and yet be- 
 tween the passing of the promise, and the performing of it, 
 I had many a sad and dark day. I may say, with great 
 wrestling did I obtain them, yet I cannot but commend the 
 riches of his free love ; those that sow in tears, shall reap 
 in joy. If weeping be in the night, joy shall be in the 
 morning. Misbelief was often bidding me cast away the 
 child of promise, why should I wait any longer on him '/ 
 But faith keeps always the dead grip : " Though thou 
 ghouldst slay me, yet will I trust in thee." The grace of 
 patience told me, that they who believe, must not make 
 haste, " And thou shalt decree a thing, and it shall be done 
 uuto thee."
 
 MIIS VEITCH. 35 
 
 These promises were as refreshing to me as my daily 
 bread, yet I was still in fear about the ark. I was sometimes 
 going about my watch, to see what would become of Scot- 
 land's Moses that was hid among the bulrushes; the glorious 
 work of Reformation, who would draw it out ? If I might 
 speak it with reverence, I thought God was become my 
 debtor by promise for Scotland, and for mine, and I would 
 seek the performance of both these promises. He promised 
 me, they should be called a people redeemed of the Lord, 
 sought out and not forsaken. And when Melvil was made 
 Commissioner, I went to God when the Parliament was to 
 sit down, and begged of him, that he would stir up the 
 king and rulers of the land, that God would spirit them to 
 own a broken covenant and work of reformation, and purg- 
 ing of his house, and casting out those who had run and 
 God had not sent them, and bring home the ark to Jerusa- 
 lem, and building the hedge of discipline about it ; and that 
 his glorious presence might be seen in owning the doctrine 
 and discipline of his own house by Presbytery, that all who 
 hear and see it, shall be forced to acknowledge that it is 
 God's way. 
 
 One day I was reading the Acts of the General Assembly, 
 where I found, that God had honoured Scotland in mak- 
 ing them zealous for his glorious interest, in owning them 
 in this land ; and had made them helpful to England, Ire- 
 land, and other places beyond sea. I went to God with 
 these words which Moses made use of for the Church of 
 the Jews, when the Lord seemed to be angry with them, 
 that he would " remember his covenant with Abraham, 
 Isaac, and Israel :" I thought Scotland had a good right 
 to these promises, and I begged for Christ's sake, that he 
 would remember our Abrahams, Isaacs, and Israels that 
 had entered into a covenant with him, and had contended 
 for the faith delivered unto them, and some of them had 
 sealed it with their blood. And while I was pouring out my 
 prayer before him, free love made him to answer me with 
 those words, " The glory of the latter house shall be greater
 
 36 MEMOIR 0? 
 
 than the glory of the former," for which I desire to praise 
 him for ever and ever. 
 
 But I was in a new trouble, for word came that there 
 was a whole regiment of foot and a troop of dragoons cut 
 off in the Forth, and fear, carnal reason, and misbelief, bade 
 me cast away the child of promise, for my sons were now 
 gone. I went to God in prayer, and it was my desire to 
 uncover the roof of the house, and let down the promises 
 on which he had caused me to hope for his church in gene- 
 ral, and mine in particular, which I thought were lame. 
 He helped me to believe he could make them both to walk ; 
 and when I was pleading with him in prayer, he set home 
 that word, " Though thou walk in the midst of troubles 
 I will revive thy spirit ; I will stretch forth mine hand against 
 the wrath of thy enemies, and his right hand shall save thee. 
 He will perfect what concerns thee, for his mercy endures 
 for ever. He will not destroy the works of his own hands." 
 This promise was as refreshing to me as my daily bread. 
 
 This promise was also made out to me, for no evil befell 
 them at that time. I can say from experience, that he is 
 the hearer of prayer ; and they that sow in tears shall reap 
 in joy. 
 
 When I heard of the sad case that Mr Riddel was into 
 in France, and when I thought how God had heard me in 
 many particulars, it gave me encouragement to go to God 
 on his account. It was my desire to God that he might be 
 preserved and brought back again to his native land, and 
 made useful in his vineyard : and while I was pleading with 
 God in prayer on his behalf, he answered me with these 
 words, " After I am sanctified in him in the sight of the 
 heathen, he shall return ; he shall not die, but live, and 
 declare the works of God ;" upon which he helped me 
 through faith to grip these promises, that they should be 
 accomplished. 
 
 This promise seemed Lazarus-like, to be laid in the grave 
 
 f long time, which put me to go to God for him many 
 
 a time, and beg for Christ's sake, that he would remember
 
 MRS VEITCH. 37 
 
 his word upon which he had caused me to hope. He per- 
 formed this promise to me, and brought him back again to 
 Scotland, where he preacheth the gospel.* I may say he 
 was an Isaac to me, the child of promise, and a Samuel 
 both, the son of prayer ; for a year and a half together, 
 there was not a day past over my head, but I was at God's 
 door crying to him on his behalf, though I can say from 
 good experience, he can make dead and dry bones to live. 
 After my husband had been two years preaching in a 
 meeting-house in Teviotdale, the government being settled, 
 he got several calls to kirks ; but they being lame in some 
 things, he could not embrace them, which was like to occa- 
 sion many to speak of him, which was a trouble to my spirit. 
 I went to God, to know his mind, which of the cities of 
 Judah he would have me to dwell in : I desired to be where 
 me and mine could be most useful for God : I knew he 
 ceased to speak to me as he did to David, but it was my 
 desire to him, that he might make it appear iii his providence 
 remarkable to me, that I might know his mind where to dwell. 
 I cannot but observe how wonderfully he answered me. A 
 friend of mine living thirty miles off the place where I lived, 
 wrote my husband a letter desiring him to come and see 
 her, for she was in a very sad case. He was unwilling to 
 go, but I urged him sore to go ; upon which he took horse, 
 and riding all night, when he came near Peebles, being 
 wearied, he asked a herdman on the way, Who kept an inn 
 at Peebles ? He directed him to Provost Muir's, and when 
 he came and sat down, and had refreshed himself a little, 
 he and some other strangers began to discourse about Te- 
 viotdale. The Provost hearing, asked if he knew one Mr 
 William Veitch that lived there ? He said he knew him. 
 
 * Mr Archibald Riddell was minister of Kippen. He was imprisoned 
 in the Bass, but liberated in 1685, on condition of his transporting him. 
 self to America. On his return home in 1689, the ship in -which he 
 sailed was captured by a French vessel, and himself thrown into prison 
 in France, where he endured great hardships. He was released through 
 the interposition of King William, and after his return to Scotland he 
 became minister of Kirkcaldy.
 
 38 MEMOIR OF 
 
 He speired if be was at home ? and he said No, he was not 
 at home. My husband asked at him what be would do 
 with him ? He told him, they had a inind to call him for 
 their minister, and they had hired a man, and written a 
 letter, and the man was going to his house with it, to de- 
 sire him to come and preach to them on the Sabbath-day. 
 My husband told them that they needed not to trouble 
 themselves, for they would not get him at home, nor yet to 
 be their minister, as he thought, for he had several calls in 
 his own country. The Provost not knowing him all this 
 time, but after some more discourse, he asked at my hus- 
 band if he was the man they were seeking ? He told them 
 he was the man, which made them both to wonder at that 
 piece of providence. He took horse, and rode ten milea 
 further west, to see my friend ; but they engaged him to 
 come back that way to preach to them, which he did. After 
 he came home, he told me. I was put to wonder ; I was, 
 like Abraham's kinsmen, made to say, " It is of the Lord ; 
 I can neither say good nor bad." They drew up a call to 
 him, and sent to the synod, where they condescended unto 
 it, and my husband embraced it ; but yet out of this 
 pleasant rose there sprang many a thorn, for both friends 
 and foes were ready to reproach him, which was a trouble 
 to my spirit, to see the people one day idolize him, and 
 another day reproach him, because he would not stay 
 with them. I went to God with these words that David 
 went with, " Help, Lord, for I am become a reproach 
 unto them ; let them curse, but bless thou, and let them 
 know it is thy hand, and thou hast done it." 
 
 It was my desire to God that he would shew the gospel 
 a token for good to Peebles, that they that hated it might 
 see it and be ashamed ; but the cloud grew thicker and 
 darker, for Queensberry and his Chamberlain were great 
 enemies. They came all that length, as to print a number 
 of lies against the presbytery and my husband, because 
 they could not get in one Mr Knox, who was a curate, and 
 oousin-german to John Balfour's lady. When I began to
 
 Mas VEITCH. 39 
 
 consider that it was the glory of God, and the good of the 
 Church, which they were like to break, and when John Bal- 
 four, and some others with him, went in to the General 
 Assembly to petition them for Mr Knox the curate, I set a 
 day apart and spent it in prayer in behalf of his Church, 
 and he was pleased to answer me with that promise, " They 
 shall fight against thee, but not prevail, for I am with thee, 
 saith the Lord : what wicked men do most desire, shall 
 utterly decay ; and mischief shall hunt the violent man, 
 till he be ruined." Upon which he helped me to believe 
 that these promises should be accomplished ; yet, when I 
 heard that Queensberry had too many to own him in that 
 affair, carnal reason was often saying as Gideon did, " If 
 the Lord be with us, how can all this evil befall us ?" But 
 faith let me see, that whom He loveth he chastens ; and he 
 can let an Esau appear before, and a Laban behind. 
 
 I made it my errand to God, that he would not suffer 
 Queensberry and all that took his part to break the gospel in 
 Tweeddale. He answered me with that promise, " They shall 
 return with shame to their own land ;" and that, "No weapon 
 formed against Zion shall prosper ; every tongue that rises 
 in judgment, thou shalt condemn : this is the heritage of 
 the servants of God." I thought these promises were too 
 great for such a piece of sinful clay as I am ; but love and 
 necessity made me to take hold on them, and He was gra- 
 ciously pleased to make them out to me, for -all they could 
 do could not get in the curate : so that I can say from ex- 
 perience, that all the power and wit that the enemies have, 
 cannot mar or break the promises of God. And yet, when 
 I meet with new difficulties, I have often my faith a seek- 
 ing ; and beggars get upon horseback, while princes walk 
 upon foot. But this is my mercy, that, He is a God that 
 changes not, and therefore I am not consumed. 
 
 I bless the Lord, who kept me from being of a revenge- 
 ful spirit. Whatever I met with from the creature, He 
 helped me always to look to God. That was often upon 
 uiy spirit which David said, "Let him alone; God hath
 
 40 *IEMOIR OF 
 
 bidden him ;" and that word in the Psalms, " Fret not thy- 
 self because of evil-doers." I was speaking with a minister, 
 who told me what a great enemy to the Church Queens- 
 berry was ; and when I thought how God had heard me in 
 many particulars, it was my desire to God that he would 
 not suffer him always to be an enemy to the Church. He 
 answered me with that promise, "I will pull him down out of 
 his dwelling-place, and root him out of the land of the liv- 
 ing." He helped me to believe that he should not be long 
 an enemy to the work of God ; yet, a little after, I heard 
 he was going to London, and some other Lords with him, 
 to petition the king to get in the curates again. I was in 
 great fear about the work of God, and went to God with 
 that prayer which David did, " Grant not, Lord, the de- 
 sire of the wicked ;" and he answered me with that, 
 " Fear them not, for the eyes that have seen them shall see 
 them no more, for the Lord fighteth for you." This gave 
 me grounds to believe that it should be well yet with the 
 Church. 
 
 But within a little after, the king wrote down a letter to 
 the Assembly, to put in a number of curates ; and because 
 they would not grant his desire, he dissolved them. This 
 put me again to go to God in behalf of his Church. It was 
 my fears that they would mar a begun work of reformation ; 
 but that promise in Isaiah vii. 5, 6, 7, was set home on my 
 spirit, " They have taken evil counsel against Judah, saying, 
 Let us go up and vex it ; but thus saith the Lord God, It 
 shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass." This pro- 
 mise was sweet and savoury unto me ; he helped me to be- 
 lieve that all the malice of wicked men should not get their 
 designs accomplished against the work of God. But a little 
 after, Queensberry, with some others with him, who had 
 been great enemies to the work of God, was put in public 
 place ; which put me to go to God's door again, that he 
 would remember his word to me, upon which he had caused 
 me to hope, for I thought his outward dispensations seemed 
 to contradict his promise. My spiritual enemies were like
 
 MRS VEITCH. 41 
 
 to bring up an ill report of Him, and of his ways ; and when 
 I was pouring out my spirit before him, He set home that 
 promise to me which Caleb and Joshua said to the children 
 of Israel, " Pear them not, their strength is departed from 
 them, and the Lord is with us," (Numb. xiv. 9). Oh, how 
 refreshing was that promise to me ! He let me see, in some 
 part, as Elisha's servant, " There are more with us than 
 against us," (2 Kings vi. 16). And yet, when I meet with 
 new troubles, I have often my faith a seeking. 
 
 When I heard that Cannon, Buchan, and the French 
 were coming into Scotland, I was in new fears again that 
 they would swallow up the Church, that was, as it were, 
 newly brought out of Egypt. All former experience could 
 do but little in helping me, till I got new supplies. I went 
 to God, and begged for Christ's sake that he would break 
 their purposes against the work of God ; and he set home 
 that promise to me which he promised Hezekiah, " The 
 prayer which thou hast prayed against Sennacherib, I have 
 heard," (2 Kings xix. 20). I desire to bless Him who per- 
 formed it, for he brake them. 
 
 When I began to consider the Lord's dealing with me 
 and mine, in casting our lot to be in Peebles, where I had 
 met with trouble ; and though the presbytery had placed my 
 husband according to the act of Parliament, that his enemies 
 could find no blame in it, he had the call of the elders, heri- 
 tors, and town-council, and the generality of all the people, 
 and he referred his cause to the General Assembly ; and though 
 two Assemblies sat, yet not one of them determined about 
 him. This put me to go to God, to see what his mind was 
 in it, for those who should have befriended him did not own 
 him. Then that word in Daniel x. 13 was brought to my 
 mind, " The prince of Persia withstood me one and twenty 
 days." I got faith's eyes from him, to see that the promise 
 which He promised me, when I came first to Peebles, be- 
 hoved to be accomplished, " They shall fight against thee, 
 but not prevail." " The vision is for an appointed time ; 
 though it tarry, wait for it ; it will speak, and not lie."
 
 42 MEMOIR OF 
 
 These promises gave me ground to believe, that the ene- 
 mies of the gospel in Peebles were permitted to fight so 
 long against the gospel, and no longer than he pleased ; 
 but the great Angel of the Covenant should make good his 
 promise : What they do most desire shall utterly decay, 
 and much of his power and love should be seen in owning 
 his gospel in Peebles ; and much of his friends' weakness 
 did appear, who should have owned it, and durst not for 
 fear of man. But I may say, Happy is the man who hath 
 the God of Jacob for his refuge ; He will not disappoint 
 them. I can say from frequent experience, it is better to 
 put trust in the Lord, than to put confidence in riches or in 
 princes. 
 
 But I was in a new strait again when the king ordered 
 Angus's regiment to go to Flanders, my eldest son being a 
 lieutenant there. Carnal reason and misbelief said, I could 
 never see the promise accomplished. I went to God and 
 pleaded with him that he might not fall into the hands of 
 the enemy, and he promised me that he should not die, but 
 live, and declare the works of God. He helped me to be- 
 lieve that his promise should be made out to me ; and yet, 
 when the news came that the colonel, lieutenant-colonel, 
 and major were killed, carnal reason and fear, and his out- 
 ward dispensations, were like to make me call in question 
 the truth of the promise. I was often charging my soul to be 
 silent before him ; and when I was in the midst of this strait, 
 faith brought this promise to my mind, "Hath he not spoken, 
 and will he not also do it ?" He helped me to believe that he 
 should not die, but be either wounded or taken, which was 
 wonderfully made out to me ; for the day after the fight he 
 wrote a letter to his father, that he was shot through the left 
 cheek, an inch below the eye ; the bullet falling into his 
 mouth, he spat it out, and the marks of the blood were upon 
 the letter he wrote, which came from his wound. When the 
 news of it came to me, I was put to admire his free love 
 and faithfulness to such a worm as I am. I can say from 
 good experience, that he hath made good that promise to
 
 MRS VEITCH. 43 
 
 me, "Ask and it shall be given, knock and it shall be 
 opened." 
 
 When I lived in England, in the parish of Langhorsly, 
 in Stanton, there was a remarkable providence fell out. 
 One Mr Thomas Bell, who was a Scotsman, and born in 
 the parish of Westmther, my husband's brother being mi- 
 nister there, took care to get him educated, and afterwards 
 coming to England, was Curate in Langhorsly. He was a 
 great enemy to my husband, because some of his hearera 
 withdrew from him, and would not hear him ; upon which 
 he informed the justices of peace all that he could against 
 my husband, which put the justices to come and search for 
 him : but they got him not at that time. He was often 
 heard say, that he would either ruin my husband, or he him. 
 When Major Oglethorpe* came to Morpeth, to lie with his 
 dragoons, it pleased God to let my husband fall into his 
 hands, and a party with him, who took him on the 19th 
 day of January, about three or four o'clock in the morning, 
 to Morpeth, till the king sent down an order to remove him 
 to Scotland, three or four days after he was taken. 
 
 One William Colinwood, who lived in Mr Bell's parish, 
 came to see me. He had been once a hearer of his, but 
 had withdrawn, and heard my husband. He was going to 
 Mr Bell to pay him some tithes ; I desired him to come back 
 by me, and tell me what Mr Bell said of my husband: for I 
 said, 'tis like now he may think he has got his desire accom- 
 plished. William told me, he bade him go to Edinburgh 
 and get a preaching, for he would be hanged against Tues- 
 day. He said, How thought he to escape the just judgment 
 of God, such a rebel as he ? When he told me, that Scrip- 
 ture was on my mind, " Let them curse, b'ii, bless thou ;" 
 
 * Major Oglethorpe, afterwards Sir Theophilus Uglethorpe, Tisited 
 Mr Veitch many years after, when he was comfortably and honourably 
 settled at Dumfries. Matters, however, had gone very differently with 
 the knight, who was now pool and neglected ; and he complained to the 
 minister, that he had not only lost the reward for his (Mr Veitch's) ap- 
 prehension, and other such services, but all his property besides. Veitch 
 not only forgave him all past injuries, but made him a handsome present.
 
 44 MEMOIR OP 
 
 and that also, " He that rendereth evil for good, evil shall 
 not depart from his house," (Prov. xvii. 13). He was just 
 going to Newcastle when he spoke to "William Colinwood ; 
 he stayed all night, and came the next day to Pontisland, 
 where he drank till ten o'clock at night with the Curate. 
 There was a great storm of snow on the ground, and that 
 day there had been a thaw. He would be home that night. 
 They took his watch from him, and his horse they locked up 
 in the stable, but all would not do ; he told them there was 
 no fear, for he had a good horse. So they gave him his 
 horse, and nobody knew what way he rode ; but he was 
 found twelve nights and a day afterwards, standing in a 
 water, frozen just to his arm-pits, dead, (for there came on 
 a great frost again that night). His hat was on, his band 
 dry, his gloves on : he standing at the side of the water, had 
 worn his boots and gloves to get out of the water. They 
 could scarcely get as many countrymen as to carry him home ; 
 and getting fore-hammers, they brake the ice, and tied him 
 on a horse, and carried him to his wife. The whole country 
 about was astonished at that dispensation, and often said 
 to me, there would none trouble my husband again ; for 
 they all knew that he was an enemy to my husband. I told 
 them, they that would not take warning from the word of 
 God, would never take warning from that. That Scripture 
 was often borne in upon my spirit, " Rejoice not at the fall 
 of thine enemy, lest He see it and be displeased ;" and 
 though He made out that promise to me, " Evil shall hunt 
 the violent man, till he be ruined ;" for we never wronged 
 him, but much good had he gotten from my husband's bro- 
 ther. But I bless the Lord, I was not in the least lifted 
 up with it ; for his word was my counsellor : in all my doubts 
 and fears it was as refreshing to me, as ever meat and drink 
 were. There are none that study to make the word of God 
 the rule of their walk, and when grace is master of the 
 house, but they will say, as David said when Shimei railed 
 on him, " Let him alone, God hath bidden him, who knows 
 but he will requite blessings for cursings?" But when corrupt
 
 MRS VEITCH. 45 
 
 nature is master, it will say, " Cut off the head of the dog ;" 
 but I am much in grace's debt, that kept me back from 
 being of a Shiinei's frame. But I could not but read much 
 of God in it ; for the net which the enemy spread for my 
 husband, they were catched in it themselves : for my hus- 
 band lived many years after that time, so that I may say, 
 He hath made good that promise to me, 
 
 " What wicked men do most desire, 
 Shall utterly decay." 
 
 When tne magistrates of Edinburgh were turned out, I was 
 in new fears about the Church. I thought it was the design 
 of Sanballats and Tobiahs, to bring our brother Esau, the 
 bishops and curates, into the vineyard of the Lord, who had 
 casten off all pity, whose anger had burnt perpetually, and 
 had pursued their brother with the sword. It was my de- 
 sire to God, that he would break their designs ; and when 
 I began to consider how God had raised up my Lord 
 Warristoun his son, and had made him Secretary to King 
 William, I thought he was Mordecai-like come to court. 
 And I made it my errand to God in his behalf, that he 
 would spirit him to bring down the proud Hamans ; for I 
 knew, that at such a time as that, he was brought to the 
 kingdom : and He answered me with these words, " Accord- 
 ing to thy desire, so be it unto thee." But before I got 
 this promise, it cost me many a prayer, both in the night 
 and in the day. This gave me ground to believe, that it should 
 be well with the Church ; yet when I heard some news, that 
 the king would still be a friend to the curates, I thought 
 it strange-like, it seemed to contradict His promise to me. 
 But that word was wonderfully brought to my mind, " They 
 are but (Haman-like) invited to dine with the king and 
 queen." And when the Parliament was to sit down, it 
 was my desire to God, that he might spirit them to own the 
 work of God ; and he promised me, He should " make the 
 earth to help the woman," which promise he wonderfully 
 made out. 
 
 When my youngest daughter was a-dying, it was my de-
 
 16 MEMOIR OF 
 
 sire to God, that he would make good his promise to me. 
 which he had promised me ten years ago, that she might 
 give evident token of her being in Christ before he removed 
 her off this world. And I thought his outward dispensa- 
 tions seemed to contradict his promise there ; for she de- 
 sired not to hear of death spoken to her. I went to God 
 to see what his mind was in that dispensation. He bade me 
 trust in him at all times, for I knew not what a day might 
 bring forth. Oh, sweet was this promise to me as ever my 
 meat and drink was ; for He helped me to believe there should 
 be a remarkable change on her, which he was graciously 
 pleased to make out ; for before she died, her father having 
 been at prayer, she cried out, " Now I am content to leave 
 you all," and inquired at me, whether or not we should 
 know one another in heaven ? I told her, I thought so. 
 I questioned her, if she thought she should win there ? She 
 eaid, she hoped so. I asked if she prayed any ? She said, 
 she had prayed as long as she dought ; she told Christ, 
 that she was but a poor blind thing, and that she knew not 
 the way, and that she begged for Christ's sake, that he 
 would lead her in the right way, and have mercy on her 
 soul. She died with as much composedness, as if she had 
 been going to see a friend, and without any pain ; but 
 kissed her father, mother, and sisters, and bade us all fare- 
 well. So lie gave me good ground to believe that she is 
 asleep in Christ. I have many experiences, that they that 
 sow in tears shall reap in joy; for there were few days of 
 ten years that ever passed over my head, but she was upon 
 my spirit for the making out of this promise ; and when it 
 was made out, it was sweeter to me than thousands of gold 
 and silver. 
 
 But I was in new fear again, about the making out of 
 His promise ; for word came, that King William and the 
 king of France were going to fight, and my two oldest sons 
 Doing in the camp with them, fear and misbelief were like 
 to make me, Hagar-like, to cast away the child of promise, 
 I went to God with that, " All things, whatsoever ye shall
 
 MRS VEITCH. 47 
 
 ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive," (Matt. xxi. 22), 
 and ray desire to God was, that they should be preserved 
 from the wrath of cruel men; for I had his promise long be- 
 fore, that no evil should befall them. Yet when I heard 
 there were so many killed, I was in great fears about mak- 
 ing out of the promises. And one day I went to God with 
 that desire, Thou wilt fulfil thy promise to them that fear 
 thee ; thou wilt hear and save them. And while I was 
 weeping and crying to Him, he set home that promise to 
 me, " A thousand shall fall at their side, yet shall it not once 
 come nigh them." I thought it was a great promise for 
 such a worm as I was, but necessity and love made me to 
 take hold of it ; yet before it was accomplished, it cost me 
 many a tear and prayer, for five weeks' time I could never 
 hear from them. Sense, reason, and misbelief their lan- 
 guage was, that they were killed. But faith, love, and hope, 
 they told me, He had delivered, and would deliver them, 
 and those that wait upon him, should not be ashamed ; He 
 has delivered them in six troubles, and in seven there shall 
 no evil befall them. Wherever faith grips at the promise, 
 sense and misbelief say, Shoot neither at great nor small, 
 but faith, which is like the king of Israel. But faith's lan- 
 guage is, " Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him." 
 
 I went to God to see what was his mind in it, that I 
 could hear no particular word from them : He answered me 
 with these words, " Though the vision tarry, yet it will 
 speak and not lie." This promise was as refreshing to me, 
 as my daily bread ; and that, " The prayer of the desti- 
 titute he will surely regard, by him it shall be heard." 
 And near five weeks after, He made good his promise ; for 
 they sent a letter, telling that they were both alive. When 
 the letter same to my hand, I was put to say, as Hezekiah, 
 " What shall I render unto thce, thou preserver of men ?" 
 I have many a stone that I have taken out of Jordan, which 
 I have set up in remembrance of God's goodness to me, 
 mine, and his Church ; but I may say, such mercies as these 
 are not got but by fasting and prayer.
 
 48 MEMOIR OF 
 
 But again I was in a new fear, for when I heard that my 
 eldest son was upon the sea, coming from Flanders to Scot- 
 land, the storm was so violent, that scarce was ever the 
 like of it known ; and when I understood they had been 
 upon the sea many days, and no word came from them, 
 sense, reason, and misbelief said he was gone ; and His out- 
 ward dispensations said so too, for the public news gave an 
 account that all that were in the ship were cast away. 
 
 In this great strait, I went to God by prayer, and He 
 helped me to believe that there was help laid upon one 
 who is mighty to save ; but fear and reason said, it was 
 impossible he could be saved. And while I was pouring 
 out my spirit before God in prayer, faith brought me that 
 promise, " He hath delivered and he will deliver ;" and 
 that, likewise, " One like the Son of God walking in the 
 midst of the fire," can keep him from being consumed. 
 After I had tasted of the honey that lieth in this promise, 
 I was comforted, believing that he would not die at that 
 tune. This promise was wonderfully made out, for after 
 they had been for fifteen or sixteen days tossed up and down 
 the seas, he was necessitated to leave that ship by reason 
 of the scarcity of provision ; and within a few days after 
 he came out of it, it was cast away, and all that were in it 
 were drowned. He was tossed again in that other ship fifteen 
 days longer ; and when he saw that there was no hope of 
 escape, they were forced to run the ship as near the shore as 
 they could, and after all to leap into the sea; and the violence 
 of the waves broke the fore-part of the ship before he leaped 
 out. The country people made them all the help they could, 
 and so brought them half dead to land. 
 
 When he came home and told me this, I was put to won- 
 der and admire, and cry out, " thou preserver of men ! 
 what shall I do unto thee, who hast brought the premise 
 through the grave, and performed it unto me ?" I have good 
 reason to say, that they who wait on thee shall not be 
 ashamed. 
 
 My second son was still in Holland. He wrote that he
 
 MUS VEITCH. 49 
 
 was fallen sick, and that the doctor said he was in a con- 
 sumption. Fear and misbelief said he would die : it was 
 my desire to God that he might be spared. He answered 
 me with that promise, " I change not, and therefore he shall 
 not be consumed, and his life shall be a prey to him in all 
 places ; and when he passes through the waters, I will be 
 with him." This was remarkably made out, for after he 
 came home, he told me that they were twice at sea, and by 
 the violence of the storm were beaten back again ; and 
 there was a ship cast away just beside them, with a num*br* 
 of passengers. But I have experience that God's promise* 
 can neither die nor drown ; and can say from the same 
 good experience, that I had more soul-pleasure and con 
 tentment in the praying for, than ever I had in the enjo*- 
 ment of those promises. 
 
 After I had been near four years in Peebles, my Husband 
 got a call to Paisley, another to Dumfries, and another to 
 Edinburgh, but he would embrace none of them ; where- 
 fore they appealed to the General Assembly, and when it 
 sat down, he desired them to vote whether he was legally 
 settled in Peebles or not, because Queensberry and others 
 alleged the Presbytery had not legally settled him there ; and 
 they did so, voting him all legally settled in Peebles. Then they 
 called him, to see if he was content to leave Peebles. He 
 told them with tears, that seeing he had God's call to that 
 place, he would be content to stay in it ; and his discourse 
 which he then had, made some of them to weep. How- 
 ever, they put him out, and then voted, Transport or not 
 transport. And Peebles (within five votes) carried it, al- 
 though there were three parties against it. Next again, 
 they voted which of the three should carry it, which Dum- 
 fries did ; all which time they never so much as asked him 
 what call he would most willingly embrace. When the 
 news came to my ears, I was put to wonder. I went to 
 G-od, to see what His mind was in removing the gospel from 
 Peebles, and that word was set home on my spirit, " I must 
 needs go through Samaria ;" which gave me ground to be- 
 
 D
 
 50 MEMOIR OF 
 
 lieve the gospel had somewhat ado in another place. But 
 my husband would not embrace the call, giving several 
 reasons wherefore he could not. 
 
 When I began to consider on the sad case of Peebles, 
 sense and reason, those two bold creatures, were like to 
 quarrel with God, why such enemies of the Church as 
 Queensberry should get so much of their will as to lay 
 Peebles desolate ; and that scripture was remarkably set 
 home to me, " If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and 
 violent perverting of justice and judgment in a province, 
 marvel not at the matter, for He that is higher than the 
 highest regardeth, and there be higher than they." And 
 that scripture, " He that was before was afraid of his day, 
 and he that cometh after shall be astonished." This gave 
 a stroke to my spiritual enemies within ; but they soon got 
 up on me again, for my husband would not at all conde- 
 scend to go to Dumfries. 
 
 This dispensation put me often to go to God, and to in- 
 quire, with Rebecca, Why am I thus ? For he seemed to 
 be angry ; and that was the thing I most desired, that mine 
 might be useful in his vineyard, and he seemed by his out- 
 ward dispensations to say the contrary, especially when I 
 had waded through my Jordan, and come to the good land. 
 And one while, when I could sleep none, I was desiring to 
 know His mind in it, he answered me with these words, 
 " If the world hate you, it hated me before ; be of good 
 cheer, I have chosen you out of the world." It is better 
 felt than can be told what joy and pleasure I met with in 
 that promise, more than all the trouble I met with before. 
 
 All this time my husband would not hear of going to 
 Dumfries, and my spiritual enemies, misbelief and an ill 
 heart, made me to quarrel with God ; for when I came first 
 to Peebles, I had this promise, that the enemies should 
 fight against me, but not prevail. Sense and reason began 
 to interpret his dispensations wrong, saying, " Why art 
 thou to me as a liar, and as waters that fail ?" for Queens- 
 berry and his party had got much of their will. It was
 
 MRS VEITCH. 51 
 
 therefore, my desire to God, that he would give me grace 
 and strength to get the mastery over my spiritual enemies, 
 that I might not charge him foolishly ; and at length faith 
 and love, who have never an ill tale to tell of God, but are 
 good interpreters of his dispensations, their language was, 
 That he had made out that promise to thee, as well as to 
 Jeremiah ; for the Lord permitted his enemies to put him 
 both in the dungeon and stocks, and yet the enemy had not 
 got power over thy husband, though they would as fain 
 have done it ; and that which they most desired had de- 
 cayed, which was to get in curate Knox the first half-year 
 that he came to Peebles ; and all their wit and malice 
 could not get it done, for your husband was permitted of 
 God to preach there four years, so that it was well made 
 out, what they most desired did utterly decay, for they 
 never thought he should have preached half a year there. 
 
 As yet, my husband would not condescend to go to Dum- 
 fries. It was my desire to God, He would incline his heart 
 to embrace that call where he might be most useful to God ; 
 and at length the Commission of the Kirk prevailed with 
 him to go to Dumfries, about a quarter of a year after he 
 had been appointed by the Assembly, and that very day 
 four years after I came to Peebles, that very same day I came 
 out of it for Dumfries ; and 1 would not have wanted the 
 experience of God's goodness and free love to me, mine, 
 and the Church, for all the trouble I met with in it. I can 
 say from good experience, it was like Mizar and Hermon 
 Hill to me. 
 
 After I came to Dumfries, I presented two petitions to 
 God : one was, that he would give success to the gospel ; 
 the other was, that he would remove the division that was 
 in that corner. And that scripture was set home on my 
 spirit, " Their right eye shall dry up, and their right hand 
 shall wither," (Zech. xi. 17). When I had been about 
 two months in Dumfries, there came one from Peebles to 
 see me, who told me that Queensberry was still a great 
 enemy to Peebles Sense and reason again began to quar-
 
 52 MEMOIR OF 
 
 rel with God, that he was not so good as his promise, for 
 when I was in Peebles, He promised me that he would pufl 
 him out of the land of the living, and the eye which had 
 seen him should see him no more ; and yet there was no 
 appearance of performing this promise. It was therefore 
 my desire to God, that He would remember his words unto 
 me, upon which he had caused me to hope. But faith told 
 me, that they which believe should not make haste ; and 
 indeed I was scarce half a year in Dumfries, till death 
 pulled him out of the land of the living, and that promise 
 was made out, " The eyes which have seen him shall see 
 him no more," for he never went after that to London to 
 see the king any more. I have therefore reason to walk 
 humbly in the bitterness of my soul all my days, for He 
 hath both said it, and himself hath done it. I have like- 
 wise reason to sing of the mercies of the Lord, and declare 
 his faithfulness all day long. 
 
 When the ships went away from hence to America, my 
 second son went as captain with them. I went to God in 
 prayer on his behalf, and the behalf "of them who went with 
 hryi) My desire was, that 1 they might be preserved, and 
 might be instrumental in setting up a gospel-church there, 
 and that it might be to turn away some from serving idols, 
 to serve the living God ; yet I had my own fears that mine 
 might never win that length. And that scripture in Jere- 
 miah xxiii. 23, was brought to my mind, " Am not I a God 
 afar off, as well as near-hand ?" Which quieted my mind 
 much ; and the Lord was pleased to make it good to me, 
 for the first letter ever we got from him, he told us he had 
 never been sick the whole way. 
 
 But soon after, I was put in new fear again ; for he wrote 
 a letter, that they were fallen in blood with the Spaniards, 
 and they were like to be in strait for want of help from 
 Scotland, and that ere it were long, it was like it would 
 either prove a grave or a fortune. It was like Esau's four 
 hundred men coming against Jacob. It feared me much to 
 jear of this, and I went to God in tins strait, who had,
 
 MRS VElTCH. 53 
 
 heard me often in a day of trouble ; and it was my desire 
 to God, that he would not let them fall into the hands of 
 cruel enemies, as the Spaniards : and that scripture was put 
 in my mind, " He hath delivered from the paw of the lion 
 and bear, and he will deliver also from the hand of these 
 uncircumcised Philistines ;" which eased my mind. But 
 within a little, misbelief and an ill heart raised a new storm 
 within me, that he was killed ; but I had former experience, 
 that the best way to calm this storm, was by setting a day 
 apart for prayer alone, and reading of his word. I went to 
 God on his behalf, and poured out my spirit before him, 
 that ho would remember his word to me, upon which He 
 had caused me hope. And while I was in prayer, that 
 scripture was remarkably set home upon my spirit, " He 
 fihalt not die, but live, and shew the salvation of God." It 
 was as refreshing to me, as ever my meat and drink was. 
 And I cannot but observe God's goodness to me, in per- 
 forming his promise to me in some measure ; for that very 
 day I got a letter from Caledonia. Yet I was still in fear 
 of them ; because the Spaniards, French, Dutch, and English 
 were against them.* I went again to God by prayer, that 
 he would not let them fall into the hands of their adversaries, 
 and that scripture was borne in upon me, which Hezekiah 
 said to the people, " The arm of flesh is with them, but the 
 Lord our God is with us, to fight for us, and to help us," 
 (2 Chron. xxxii. 8). But I still was in a fear of them ; for 
 I thought Moab, and Ammon, and Amalek, with Lot's chil- 
 dren, were conspired against them. It was my desire, that 
 God would not give them their will ; for I thought the devil 
 with all his instruments had conspired to hinder the setting 
 up of a gospel Church there. And my request to God was, 
 that He would purge out these that were ill among them- 
 selves ; for I thought a mixed multitude had gone there. 
 I went often to God, with that petition in my mouth, which 
 David hath, " Lord, grant them not their desires, further 
 
 * This was the splendid scheme of colonizing the Isthmus of Darien, 
 which was ruined by the jealousy of the above-mentioned nations.
 
 54 MEMOIR OF 
 
 not their wicked devices ;" and that scripture was borne 
 home upon my spirit in prayer, " They have taken evil 
 counsel against Judah to vex her, but it shall not stand, 
 neither shall it come to pass." 
 
 When I received another letter from my son, he seems 
 not to be pleased, that they send not over help to them ; 
 and when I hear the ill carriage of some of themselves, it 
 put me in a new fear again about them. And when I began 
 to consider, that though there was a mixed multitude 
 amongst them, yet they were in covenant with God ; and 
 when I observed how God had remembered his covenant 
 with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, long since, it was my suit 
 to God, that he would hear the prayers of his people on 
 their behalf, and that the words of that Psalm might be ac- 
 complished, " The prayer of the destitute he will surely re- 
 gard, by him it shall be heard." When I was pouring out 
 my spirit to Ffim on another account, this was brought to 
 my remembrance, which I hope in due time he will make 
 out. 
 
 Now, when the next fleet were to go, wherein Mr Sheills 
 and the rest were to go, my eldest son went a counsellor 
 with them. It was my desire to God, that they might be 
 preserved in health and strength, and win safely there to 
 help their brethren ; for I thought they were like Judah, 
 both Ephraim and Manasseh were joined against them to 
 vex them : and that that promise in Isaiah to the Jews, 
 might be made out to them, " It shall not come to pass, 
 neither shall it be :" and that the ministers going might 
 come there with the fulness of the blessings of the gospel of 
 peace. But when I looked for good, behold evil came ; for 
 it pleased the Lord to let the enemy break their design of 
 planting a gospel church in that place in the world. 
 
 This was like to raise a great storm ; misbelief and car- 
 nal reason were Eke to charge Him foolishly, why he suf- 
 fered his enemies to break so glorious a design, and gave 
 his people the wine of astonishment to drink ; for the 
 Spaniards came with eleven ships against them, and England
 
 MES VEITCH. 55 
 
 was a great enemy to them, and they were necessitated to 
 leave that place of the world. All these things were against 
 me, and raised an exercise of spirit in me. I was, like the 
 disciples, in a mistake ; I thought He would have restored 
 the kingdom to Israel : but now there is no such appearance. 
 There was nothing I desired more, than that He would 
 enlarge his kingdom, and make mine instrumental in it. 
 Carnal reason and an ill heart their language was, Thy 
 prayers are to no purpose ; but in this strait I went to God, 
 and begged of God for Christ's sake, that he would help me 
 to resist my spiritual enemies : and when I was at prayer, 
 He brought that place to my remembrance, " Though Is- 
 rael be not gathered, yet is thy reward with the Lord." This 
 was as refreshing to me, as ever my daily bread was, and 
 put carnal reason to silence a little. But a while after, the 
 storm rose higher ; for word came, that my eldest son was 
 dead by the way. My spiritual enemies, that have never 
 a good tale to tell of God and his dispensations, but are 
 often thus charging him foolishly, Why art thou to me as 
 a liar, or as waters that fail? their language was, Thy 
 purposes are broken off, even the thoughts of thy heart ; 
 thou thought to have had him to be a minister, but now he 
 is dead in a strange land, and thy prayers are to no purpose. 
 I had never such a combat with carnal reason and misbe- 
 lief. I was like to lose sight of the promise which He pro- 
 mised me for greater things than in time. He appeared 
 like a spirit and frightened me, as he did to the disciples. 
 In this strait I went to God, and poured out my spirit be- 
 fore him ; he answered me, " It is I ; be not afraid." That 
 promise was set home upon my heart with such power, " I 
 have loved you with an everlasting love, and with loving- 
 kindness I have drawn you ;" " I entered into a covenant 
 with thee, and thou art become mine." That is better felt, 
 than it can be expressed, what joy it brought to me ; and if 
 weeping was in the night, joy came in the morning. Faith 
 and love told me, I must not be discouraged at the death 
 of my son, for Moses and Aaron died both in the wilderness,
 
 56 MEMOIR OF 
 
 and Rachel died by the way. The saints of God were slain, 
 aiid got none to bury them, and thy son got a winding-sheet 
 and a chest of cedar-wood ; and this may be a comfort to 
 thee, that he never gave thee cause to have a sad hour for 
 his sinful practice, though he was a captain, and with the 
 king abroad.* 
 
 I have reason to sing of mercy and of judgment both ; I 
 hope the God whom I serve, and whose I am, has given me 
 the life of all mine ; and though he was pleased not to ac- 
 cept of my offer to make all my sons ministers, He has pro- 
 mised that he will accept of the will for the deed. And Christ, 
 when he was upon the earth, got not all his desires answered 
 as man : these words were set home upon my spirit, " Father, 
 if it be possible, let this cup pass from me ; nevertheless, 
 not my will, but thy will be done." I bless God that he 
 left this on record ; for these words refreshed me much in 
 my strait, and gave a great stroke to my spiritual enemies 
 within. But I fear I have been too peremptory with God, 
 in desiring to have all my sons ministers ; but He knows it 
 was his glory I designed, and the good of the Church, and 
 I hope he has accepted my person and offer before him : for 
 many a time I have been at God's door on their behalf, 
 where I have been refreshed with the outlcttings of his 
 Spirit upon my soul, more than when the wicked enjoy their 
 corn, and then* oil, and their wine. It is better felt than I 
 can express, so that I may say, All things work together for 
 my good and advantage. 
 
 I bless God, that he hath left it on record, that a prophet 
 was in a mistake, when he bade David go and do all that 
 was in his heart ; and a Samuel too, when he said, Surely 
 the Lord's anointed is before him, which is my case ; for He 
 hath made choice of my youngest. If I had not the 
 word of God, and the experience of the people of God, t 
 had perished in niy affliction ; but I have reason to be hum- 
 
 * Captain "William Veitch, one of the leaders and sufferers in the 
 expedition to the Isthmus of Darien, died at sea, on his return home- 
 ward, exhausted und heart-broken with toil and disappointment.
 
 MRS VEITCH. 57 
 
 ble and thankful, He gives me often ground to set up an 
 Ebenezer. I thought fit to leave this on record, to encou- 
 rage all mine, and all his friends and followers ; for I can 
 say, He will be found of them that seek him, and that he 
 
 / ' 
 
 hath made his word sweeter to me than thousands of gold 
 and silver. That which I have experienced of God's hear- 
 ing me, may condemn all atheists, who will not believe there 
 is a God that hears prayers, and that the Bible is the word 
 of God ; for I can say, that which I have seen, that which 
 I have experienced, declare I unto you : I have had more 
 pleasure in the promises, than in all the pleasures of the 
 world. 
 
 In Dumfries there were two remarkable providences fell 
 out ; the one was a division that happened between my hus- 
 band, and his colleague Mr Patoun, and the elders, about 
 the schoolmaster, Mr Kerr. They would have him to be pre- 
 centor and session-clerk, and my husband would not con- 
 sent to it, he thinking it would wrong the school ; which 
 was a great trouble to my spirit, to see the bairns of the 
 house biting and striking one another. And I having the 
 experience of God's hearing me by prayer, I poured out my 
 spirit to him in prayer, that he would remove that division 
 from amongst them. And I desire to bless His holy name 
 for it, he granted me my petition ; for they condescended 
 to take another to be session- clerk, and so the division 
 ended. 
 
 The other was about a great person* in this country, who 
 summoned in some ministers and others for breaking up his 
 gates, seeking for Popish priests : I was in great fear the 
 Church should be wronged. I knew that God was the 
 hearer of prayer ; I went to him, that his Church might not 
 be wronged, and he answered me with these words, He 
 should return with shame to his own land ; and it was re- 
 markably made out, for he was necessitated to sell his coach 
 and horses, and got not his design accomplished against the 
 work of God ; which I desire humbly to observe, and to fear, 
 
 * Earl of NithsOale.
 
 58 MEMOIR OF 
 
 myself, lest I do any thing that may dishonour God. I can 
 say it, to the commendation of free grace, that I was never 
 in a strait, but I got help from the word of God and prayer. 
 One thing I cannot but observe ; I think Caledonia is 
 like a thorn in the flesh to keep me humble ; I dare 
 not say, but he made sweetness to come out of that bitter 
 dispensation to me, for they that sow in tears, shall reap in 
 joy. My youngest son, Ebenezer, minister at Ayr, being 
 ordered by the Presbytery to wait upon the Commission of 
 the General Assembly, asked liberty to come from Edin- 
 burgh to give the sacrament at Ayr, which was the last he 
 ever gave ; and after it was over, he returned to Edinburgh, 
 where it pleased the Lord to remove him by death. When 
 his new married wife wrote to me, that he was much out of 
 order, it was my desire to God he would spare him, and 
 make him more useful for him, but if he had no more ser- 
 vice for him, he would make him both ready and willing to 
 die ; and I cannot but observe God's goodness to me, in 
 hearing me in that, for he called for his new married wife to 
 the bed-side, and told he would give her the parting kiss, 
 and told her, he recommended her to his God, who had 
 been all in all to him : and she said, " my dear, would you 
 not desire to stay with me, and serve God more ?" But he 
 said, " I consult my own happiness before your pleasure, for 
 I shall be for ever with Christ through the long ages of 
 eternity." And he called out to some of the ministers in the 
 room, "You passengers for glory, how near think ye I am to 
 the New Jerusalem ?" Some answered, "Not far, Sir:" He 
 answered, " I'll wait and climb, until I be up amongst that 
 innumerable company of angels, and the spirits of just men." 
 They removed his wife out of the room from him ; but when 
 he was just expiring, she would come in again, who came 
 running to the bed-side, but he turned her away with his 
 hand, saving, " No more converse with the creature, I never, 
 never, will look back again ;" so he fell asleep in Christ. It 
 need not be a surprisal to me, for near a year before his 
 death, he preached upon these words, "Remember, Lord, how
 
 MRS VE1TCH. 59 
 
 short my time is :" and when he was at home in his family in 
 Ayr, in prayer he would be so transported with the joys of 
 heaven, as if he would have flown away ; and his young wife 
 would often say to him, It was a terror to her to hear him 
 so much upon death; but he said it was none to him : so he 
 lived desired, and died lamented. 
 
 I cannot but observe the providence of God to me, for 
 just as the news of his death came to me, I got also the 
 news of my second son's arrival in England, who had been 
 for nine years abroad, having been a captain in the expedi- 
 tion to Caledonia, where so many hundreds died. And 
 when I met with him first at Dumfries, that word was borne 
 in upon me, What shall I do unto thee, Preserver of 
 mankind ! And from thence he went to New York, where 
 he married the famous Mr John Livingston's grandchild. 
 But that which I cannot but observe, is, that when he was 
 in Holland, and thereafter with King "William in Flanders, 
 and wrote home a letter, that he was fallen sick, and, as the 
 doctors thought, past recovery, it was my desire to God, 
 he might be preserved and made useful for him. I had that 
 answer from God, " I change not, he shall not be consumed, 
 his life shall be given him for a prey in all places wherever 
 he goes ; he shall not die, but live, and declare the works of 
 God." But I may say such mercies are not got but by 
 fasting and prayer, for, for nine or ten years I was a beggar 
 at God's door for the performance of those promises. 
 
 I may say from experience, he is the God of all flesh, and 
 there is nothing too hard for him, for he lets me know by 
 experience his promises can neither die nor drown ; and 
 yet when I meet withfcew difficulties, I have often my faith 
 a seeking, and am ready to charge him foolishly, and like 
 old Jacob, mourning sometimes at the supposed death of 
 Joseph. But he is a God that changeth not, and therefore 
 I am not consumed. All my desire is, that I and mine may 
 live in God's fear, and die in his favour, and be ready and 
 willing when he calls us. I may often cry out, What am 
 I, or my father's house, that he should so far condescend
 
 60 MEMOIR OF MRS VEITCH. 
 
 to a piece of such sinful clay as me ! But true love is above 
 reason, for because he wills, he wills. I have reason to walk 
 humbly all the days of my life in the bitterness of my spirit, 
 for he hath spoken, and himself hath done it. 
 
 When the Queen sent over my son Samuel, and General 
 Nicholson went over to take in Jamaica, she gave him a 
 Commission to be Governor there, if he took it in. I went 
 to God with that promise he promised to Joshua, " My pre- 
 sence shall be with thee, and I will never leave thee, nor for- 
 sake thee." And that in Jeremiah i. 19, " They shall fight 
 against thee, but not prevail, for I am with thee, saith the 
 Lord." Misbelief said, these were too great promises for me 
 to expect the like of them, which put me many a time to 
 God's door to seek their accomplishment: at length they 
 yielded the place without much blood. 
 
 Afterwards she sent him with Hill and Walker, to take in 
 Quebec ; I thought it was like the taking in of Ai, and 
 feared that there might be an Achan in the camp. I went 
 to God for him, and got the promise, that he should not 
 die, but live, and declare the works of God ; and some of 
 my fears came to pass, for there were six ships broken and 
 cast away ; but God was pleased to make out his promise to 
 me, for none of the ships that he commanded were lost. 
 
 I can say from experience, They that sow in tears, 'shall 
 reap in joy : I had more pleasure in praying for the ac- 
 complishment of the promises, than ever I had in posses- 
 sion : he made me know, his promise could neither die nor 
 .drown.
 
 MEMOIES 
 
 OP THE 
 
 LIFE 
 
 OP 
 
 MR THOMAS HOG, 
 
 MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL AT KILTEAKN, IN ROSS 
 
 CONTAINING 
 
 riOME VERY SIGNAL DISPLAYS OF THE DIVINE CONDESCENSION' 
 TO HTM, AND TO OTHERS BY HIM. 
 
 TO WHICH IS ANNEXED 
 
 AN ABSTRACT 
 
 OF 
 
 MR HOG'S MANNER OP DEALING WITH PERSONS UNDER 
 CONVICTION. 
 
 1 The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him," Ptal. xiv. 14. 
 
 ' O*' Zion it shall be said, This and that man was born in her "Ptal. Izzxrli. &
 
 NOTICE BY THE EDITOR. 
 
 THE " Memoirs of the Life of Mr Thomas Hog," which 
 form the next article of biography in our collection, were 
 originally published by " Andrew Stevenson, writer in 
 Edinburgh," the well-known author of " the History of the 
 Church and State of Scotland." The original edition, which 
 is the only one that ever appeared, and which has now be- 
 come exceedingly scarce, was printed at Edinburgh in the 
 year 1756. Mr Stevenson, who takes the humble title of 
 " the Publisher," states in his advertisement the sources, 
 chiefly manuscript, from which he compiled these Memoirs. 
 Had these manuscripts been extant or accessible, an ori- 
 ginal work might have been produced, richer in matter, and 
 more regular in execution. It has, however, been found im 
 possible even to procure the use of the scanty materials 
 which time has left, and which, in all likelihood, will con- 
 tinue to exist in the form of learned lumber for some 
 years to come. But it is not probable that any new facts 
 in the personal history of Mr Hog could have been elicited ; 
 and the simple and pious narrative of Stevenson is perhaps, 
 after all, the best account that could now be given of one 
 of the most remarkable men of his age. At the same tune, 
 owing to the peculiar form into which he has thrown his 
 materials, it may be necessary to state very briefly, the 
 leading events in Mr Hog's life, in the order in which they 
 occurred. 
 
 Mr Thomas Hog was born about the commencement of the 
 year 1628, and ordained in the parish of Kiltearn about 1654 
 or 1655. He was thus introduced to public service in the 
 Church during the heat of the unhappy controversy between 
 the Resolution ers and Protesters, occasioned by some public
 
 NOTICE BY THE EDITOR. 63 
 
 resolutions agreeing to the admission of persons notoriously 
 hostile to the cause of the Reformation into places of power 
 and trust. Mr Hog adhered to the opinions of the Protes- 
 ters with such conscientiousness, that he was deposed by 
 the Synod of Ross in 1661, because he would not decline 
 that party judicially ; but neither in this nor in any other 
 controversy of the day, did he advocate extreme measures. 
 In 1662, he was ejected from his charge along with many 
 other faithful ministers, for non-submission to Prelacy. 
 From this time he became the victim of a series of perse- 
 cutions, and was not allowed to remain long in any place. 
 In July 1668, we find him delated by the Bishop of Murray 
 for preaching in his own house and " keeping conventicles" 
 in Murray ; on which occasion he was incarcerated for some 
 time in Forres, till the Earl of Tweeddale procured an order 
 to liberate him and his companions in tribulation, upon their 
 giving bail to appear when called. Mr Hog does not 
 seem to have desisted from the practice, so obnoxious to the 
 tyrannical rulers of that period, of preaching the gospel 
 wherever he found an opportunity ; for in August 1675, we 
 find letters of inter-communing issued against him among 
 many others, by which they were driven out of the pale of 
 society, and all were forbidden, under penalty of death, to 
 harbour them in their houses or give them any support. 
 And, in February 1677, the Council order Mr Thomas Hog, 
 whom they term " a noted keeper of conventicles," to be 
 transported from Murray to Edinburgh tolbooth. From 
 the tolbooth, this good man was carried to the Bass, and 
 there, at the instigation of Archbishop Sharp, thrown into 
 the lowest and most noisome vault of that abominable prison. 
 In October of the same year, by some influence used in his 
 favour, he was brought back to the tolbooth, and thereafter 
 liberated from prison, but confined to the bounds of Kin- 
 tyre, under the pain of a thousand merks. Two years after, 
 in 1679, we find him again brought to Edinburgh before the 
 Council, again remanded to prison, and again liberated. 
 After this, he seems to have laboured without molestation 
 till the year 1683, when he was again dragged before the 
 Council, charged with " house-conventicles ;" and the libel 
 being referred to his oath, and he refusing to swear, he was 
 held as confessed, and fined in five thousand merks. He 
 was then banished out of Scotland, and ordained to remove 
 himself out of the country in forty-eight hours. They offered
 
 64 NOTICE BY TIIK EDITOR. 
 
 him, indeed, six weeks to provide for his banishment, if he 
 would give bond, as some had done, not to exercise any 
 part of his ministerial functions during that time. He told 
 them that, " being under much frailty of body, it was not 
 likely he would be able ; but as he had his commission from 
 God, he would not bind up himself one hour, if the Lord 
 called him and gave him strength." So, having ordered a 
 coach to take him up at the tolbooth door, he set off for 
 Berwick, and from thence to London. After remaining 
 there for some tune in great straits, he repaired to Holland, 
 where he was introduced to the Prince of Orange, who held 
 him in high esteem, and afterwards made him one of his 
 chaplains. After the Revolution, he was restored, in 1691, 
 to his parish church at Kiltearn, as he had predicted at the 
 time when he was ejected, thirty years before. He died 
 the following year, January 4. 1692, in the sixty-fourth year 
 of his age, amidst the tears of his affectionate parishioners, 
 who had welcomed back their aged pastor, so miraculously 
 restored to them, after all the tossings and troubles in which 
 the latter half of his life had been spent. It is said, that he 
 gave charge on his death-bed to dig his grave in the thresh- 
 hold of his church, that his people might regard him as a 
 sentinel placed at the door to keep out intruders. And on 
 liis tombstone was written the following striking inscrip- 
 tion : 
 
 THIS . STONE . SHALL . BEAR . WITNESS . 
 
 AGAINST . THE . PARISHIONERS . OP . KILTEARN . 
 
 IP . THEY BRINQ . ANE . UNGODLY . MINISTER . 
 
 IN . HERE . 
 
 Few men have lived who have been more highly esteemed 
 by their contemporaries, or whose memory has been cherish- 
 ed with more veneration by posterity, than the subject of 
 the following Memoirs. Wodrow speaks of him in his Cor- 
 respondence, as " that great, and, I had almost said, apos- 
 tolical servant of Christ, Mr Thomas Hog."
 
 ADVERTISEMENT 
 
 BY THE PUBLISHER. 
 
 [ME ANDREW STEVENSON, WHITER, EDINBURGH 
 
 THE lives of eminent saints, wherein are represented 
 their experiences of the divine all-sufficiency, goodness, con- 
 descension, and immutable fidelity ; their attainments in a 
 holy and heavenly frame of heart and conversation, and 
 their extensive usefulness in the various spheres to which 
 Providence had assigned them, have been justly accounted 
 amongst the most agreeable productions of the press. They 
 bestow pleasure and profit, amusement and edification, at 
 once : while the reader diverts his curiosity with the his- 
 torical incidents, his mind is insensibly led into an high 
 esteem, and emulation of that goodness by which the sub- 
 ject of the piece was distinguished : they set the truth and 
 power of religion in a strong and affecting light, and may 
 not, without reason, be regarded as additional credentials, 
 whereby the excellency of the religion of Christ is attested 
 and recommended anew. In them we behold what the 
 wisest of men could not think of without astonishment, 
 " That God does in very deed dwell with men on the earth ;" 
 nay more, dealeth familiarly with them, while he makes 
 them previously acquainted with his secret designs both of 
 judgment and mercy, and displays his divine power, and the 
 efficacy of his grace, through their infirmities, subduing and 
 conquering the most hardened obstinate shiners to himself ; 
 and while he, as it were, resigns himself to the command of 
 their prayers, and makes them the subject of the angelic 
 care and superintendence. Thus also the lives of the saints 
 are perpetuated on earth, and these stars which once shone 
 
 F
 
 66 AJVrERTfSEMEXT. 
 
 in our hemisphere, though now translated to the regions of 
 glory, yet continue their benign influence upon us. To 
 supply the want of these sacred intercourses, whereby Chris- 
 tians have been accustomed to edify one another, we hereby 
 partake the fellowship of the saints in passages, and learn, 
 for our spiritual improvement, the exercises of their hearts 
 under the various dispensations of divine Providence, and 
 their happy experiences of the Lord's care over them, and 
 gracious manifestations of himself unto them for their en- 
 couragement, and relief from all their difficulties. 
 
 There is not any of these purposes which the Life of Mr 
 Thomas Hog does not seem qualified to answer in an high 
 degree. Considered both in his private and public charac- 
 ter, he was an ornament to religion ; his doctrine and life 
 joined to recommend the truths and ways of God to men. 
 He had entered fully into the spirit of true godliness, and 
 found its sufficiency for supporting all the charges of life. 
 Hence he carried on a daily intercourse with heaven, and 
 few enjoyed more evident expressions of the divine regard 
 and condescension than he enjoyed. 
 
 Several passages related concerning Mr Hog are indeed 
 of a pretty extraordinary nature : And lest the scepticism 
 of the present age, in relation to them, should prevail in 
 some against the credit due to the evidence upon which the 
 following facts are related, it is presumed to remind the 
 reader, that as they imply nothing contrary to reason, they 
 do not forfeit a title to his belief by being above it ; espe- 
 cially if they are otherways well attested, since they are 
 obviously referred to a Cause, whose ways and thoughts are 
 as far above the ways and thoughts of men, as the heavens 
 are above their heads. Nor is there a necessity of resolv- 
 ing such matters wholly into the inscrutable deeps of the 
 divine sovereignty. There are grounds laid down in Scrip- 
 ture for expecting great things at the hand of God : " He 
 is able to do far above, and beyond all we can ask or think," 
 and has positively engaged to "withhold no good thing from 
 them that walk uprightly." The sacred history affords us
 
 ADVERTISEMENT. 67 
 
 examples of a more transcendant nature than any thing here 
 recorded, the truth of which we are at as little liberty to 
 question, as the divinity of the Book in which they are re- 
 lated. And if the historical accounts left us, by Messrs 
 Fleming, Livingston, and others, of some of these great di- 
 vines, and eminent saints, the Church of Scotland has had 
 the honour to produce, are consulted, the reader will find 
 ^reat numbers of more extraordinary instances than these 
 \\ kich follow, and that so circumstantiated as to leave no 
 room for distrusting their certainty. 
 
 The flatness in some of the familiar expressions used 
 through these Memoirs will be found more than compensated 
 by the ingenuousness, which discovers itself in the natxiral 
 dialect of an open and overflowing heart, above any language 
 wherewith we can possibly clothe them. 
 
 One thing more the reader is entitled to know, that the 
 following narration is extracted from several manuscripts 
 written by different hands, of which there are a good many 
 copies extant ; and that every fact and principle contained 
 therein, may be found in one or other of the following ac- 
 counts, viz. : 
 
 1. A letter by Mr William Stuart, who succeeded Mr 
 Hog as minister of Kiltearn, and was afterwards transported 
 to the burgh of Inverness, to the honourable Mr James 
 Erskine, late Lord Grange. Mr Stuart's eminence and 
 probity is yet well remembered by many. From him we 
 have the greatest part of what may be accounted anywise 
 extraordinary ; and he declares, that he learned the same 
 either from Mr Hog himself after his return to Kiltearu, or 
 from old members of the Session of Kiltearn, or from Wil- 
 liam Balloch, who served Mr Hog upwards of thirty years. 
 
 2. A letter to the same Lord Grange, by way of supple- 
 ment to the former, by Mr James Hog, late minister at Car- 
 nock, whose amiable character is well known. He became 
 acquainted with Mr Thomas Hog about the year 1676, when 
 he was brought south to stand trial for conventicles (as 
 ] rivate meetings for worship were then nicknamed), and
 
 68 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 they were for a time fellow-refugees in Holland. His infor- 
 mation, which contains all that respects Mr Thomas before 
 his ordination, with several passages of las after life, and 
 the casuistical remarks in the appendix, were received im 
 mediately from Mr Thomas Hog's own mouth, except a 
 particular or two, which he had from William Balloch, to 
 whom both Mr Stuart and Mr James Hog give the charac 
 ter, that he was one of the most judicious, faithful, and 
 eminent persons they ever knew of his station. 
 
 3. A letter by the said Mr James Hog to Lord Grange 
 concerning John Card, William Balloch, &c. 
 
 4. A particular or two is borrowed from the Life of J. N. 
 
 late merchant in E h,* who was much with Mr Hog 
 
 from a little after he came to the County of Murray, till near 
 the time of his death ; but that life having, it is said, been 
 written only for private use, we are not at liberty to be more 
 special here. 
 
 5. Some few particulars are borrowed from the Memoirs 
 of Mrs Ross, which are in print ; and, 
 
 6. The only other authority we have access to, is a small 
 MS. entitled, Remarkable Passages of the Life and Death 
 of Mr Thomas Hog, &c. to which is subjoined a Letter to 
 D. S. in Holland, subscribed by D. C., who calls himself the 
 unworthiest of Mr Hog's converts. This, though a sort of 
 anonymous authority, coinciding much with the other ac- 
 counts, by persons of known probity, we think ourselves 
 entitled to use it for illustrating some things which the others 
 do but touch on. 
 
 * James Nimmo, Councillor and Treasurer of Edinburgh. Nimmo's 
 Idfe forms part of the Wodrow MSS. EDITOR.
 
 MEMOIRS 
 
 LIFE 
 
 MR THOMAS HOG. 
 
 PERIOD FIRST. Containing some Gleanings of Mr Hog's 
 Life, till he took his Degrees in the New College of Aber- 
 deen. 
 
 MR THOMAS HOG was born in the beginning of the year 
 1628, of honest parents, native Highlanders, somewhat 
 above the vulgar rank, who lived in the burgh of Tain in 
 the county of Ross. They were careful to give their son a 
 liberal education ; for which purpose he was early sent to 
 school, and from his first commencement to the study of 
 letters he discovered an uncommon genius, and soon made 
 such proficiency as rendered him respected. During his 
 youth he was much addicted to the harmless diversions of 
 that age ; yet they never did abate his progress in his studies, 
 nor his detestation of every thing immoral, or unbecoming 
 the character of a scholar. 
 
 When Mr Hog had finished his education at the gram- 
 mar-school, he was put to the University in the New Town 
 of Aberdeen, where he made great proficiency, till at last 
 he was admitted Master of Arts, with the universal appro- 
 bation of the Regents. 
 
 An incident very remarkable fell out about this time, 
 which both confirmed Mr Hog's aversion at drunkenness,
 
 i MEMOIRS OP 
 
 and his belief of an overruling Providence, fle had con- 
 tracted familiarity with a merchant in Aberdeen, who being 
 to go on a sea voyage, paid him a visit ere his departure ; 
 and Mr Hog, in return of his courtesy, accompanied him to the 
 mouth of the River Dee, off which the ship then lay ; and it 
 being the evening, lest the college gate, within which he 
 lodged, had been shut ere he returned, he took the janitor's 
 servant along with him. After he had seen the gentleman go 
 aboard, he was returning with two burgesses, who had gone 
 out upon the same errand ; when, through the importunity 
 of one of them, they turned all aside to take a bottle in an 
 inn by the way. There he tarried with them till he thought 
 they had drunk sufficiently, when finding they were not yet 
 disposed to return home, he laid down his share of the 
 reckoning, and was going away. On this the company being 
 averse to part with him, and resolute on their cups, they 
 laid hold on him to detain him by force ; but he being full 
 six feet high, and proportionably strong and vigorous, soon 
 twisted himself out of their grips, and went off. When he 
 had gone a little way, finding the porter's servant was will- 
 ing to have staid longer, he gave him a little money, came 
 home alone to his chamber, and went to bed at his usual 
 hour ; but though in good health, he tossed from one side to 
 the other, and could get no rest till after the clock struck one, 
 when he fell asleep, and rested quietly till his wonted time 
 of arising in the morning ; at which time coming forth to 
 his class, the aforesaid servant met him, and told him with 
 weeping, that the two men he left yesternight, after con- 
 tinuing a while at their cups, fell a contending and then 
 afighting, in which the one killed the other ; and that the 
 murderer being taken in hot blood, was to be tried and exe- , 
 cuted quickly. Mr Hog asked at what time the crime was 
 committed, and finding it was just at one o'clock, he adored 
 that Providence which had both disposed him to leave that 
 company seasonably, and made him uneasy while such a 
 complication of sin was committing. 
 
 The only other particular I have learned concerning Mr
 
 ME THOMAS BOO 71 
 
 Hog while at the college, is, that he having, during the 
 study of theology, been boarded in a private house, it was 
 his happiness to have several well-disposed young men for 
 his comrades, with whom he joined in worship daily ; and 
 one of them being a probationer for the ministry, he took a 
 sort of inspection over the rest. After reading a portion 
 of scripture, he used to propose questions and difficulties 
 to the rest from what they had read, which proved of spe- 
 cial use, both for their mutual information, and incitement 
 to close study of the scriptures, and examination of com- 
 mentaries, that they might be in a capacity to speak to 
 equal advantage with their companions. 
 
 PERIOD SECOND. Containin-j some Account of Mr Hoefs 
 Conversion, and other thimjn memorable concerning him, 
 from the time he left t/ie College, till he ivas ordained 
 3linister at Kiltearn. 
 
 Though Mr Hog was adorned with those natural and 
 acquired accomplishments which constitute a truly amiable 
 person, heightened with the lustre of an unblemished life, 
 and strong appearances of sincere piety, ho stiD, as himself 
 acknowledged to Messrs Stuart and James Hog, remained 
 a stranger to the saving operations of the Spirit of God. 
 This, however, the divine goodness soon after made him 
 acquainted \\ith, at a time when the arm of the Lord was 
 gloriously revealed in the revival of a work of reformation 
 iii this land, which commenced from the year 1638, and 
 the influences of his grace were plentifully poured out upon 
 multitudes through the nation. Having finished his courses 
 of academical literature, he was called to the knowledge 
 of things supernatural, and led into an experimental ac- 
 quaintance with the great mystery of godliness. His con- 
 victions and subsequent conversion were the more endear- 
 ing to him, that the innocence and apparent sanctity of hia 
 former life tended to exclude any suspicion of a bad state, 
 and thus to strengthen him in a fatal mistake For,
 
 Hi MEMOIR OP 
 
 1. His conversation was strictly moral : whatever is or- 
 dinarily called vice, he detested, and kept at a distance 
 from it, and plied the duties of his station with great dili- 
 gence. 
 
 2. He frequented praying societies, and conversed and 
 prayed with them ; and in respect of knowledge, utter- 
 ance, and an unexceptionable walk, he was by them es- 
 teemed a godly, well-qualified young man. 
 
 3. He sincerely sought the Lord, and was diligent in 
 the use of means for attaining knowledge, especially of the 
 principles of religion, and the meaning of the scriptures. 
 as to which, his reach was greater than modesty would 
 allow him to express. 
 
 4. With reference to the public state of religion and re- 
 formation in this Church, he was not only sound and strict, 
 but also resolute and forward to adventure to the utmost 
 in that cause. 
 
 5. In straits he acknowledged the Lord, and brought 
 these difficulties before him in prayer, to which he got 
 sometimes notable returns. 
 
 Mr James Hog having objected, That perhaps some effi- 
 cacious work of saving power might have been wrought 
 upon Mr Thomas Hog's soul more early than he believed, 
 and that the several pieces of deportment now related, 
 might have flowed thence ; he answered with fervent con- 
 cern, That if he was then in a state of grace and salvation, 
 he was not in that state afterward ; for that the whole of 
 the following work, which by the Spirit and word of God 
 was wrought on his heart, was founded upon a strong, clear, 
 and pointed conviction of his having been at that time out 
 of Christ, notwithstanding all the afore-mentioned lengths. 
 
 The objector desired to know how a conversation so 
 lovely could have place without a principle of saving grace 
 to support it ? Mr Hog replied, that there was nothing in 
 all the particulars mentioned beyond a reformation merely 
 legal, and that the convincing work of the Spirit held forth 
 in John xvi. 8, 9, was yet wanting. And for detecting the
 
 Mil THOMAS HOG. 73 
 
 objector's mistake, he observed, (1) As to a moral walk, 
 and the performance of religious duties, there is nothing in 
 them that demonstrates a gracious state, (Luke xviii. 10, 
 11, 12; Isa. Iviii. 2; Rom. ii. 17-20). Neither, (2), waa 
 there any thing, said he, in his being well reputed amongst 
 the godly, nor in that there were mutual endearments be- 
 twixt them that could confirm this charity ; for his endow- 
 ments of knowledge, utterance, and moral seriousness pro- 
 cured estimation from them, and the account they made of 
 him, and kindness which they expressed to him, procured 
 a reciprocation of love and kindness from him. (3.) He 
 said, his soundness and strictness of principle was owing 
 to the information of his judgment, by an impartial search 
 and inquiry into principles and facts, which any man of 
 f-ound understanding may attain to ; and though in a time, 
 when religion flourished, and ordinances were accompanied 
 with much life and power, the common gifts of the Spirit 
 did abound more than ordinary, this was not strange, as he 
 illustrated from Ileb. vi. 4, 5, 10 ; Psa. Ixxxviii. 34 ; Hos. 
 vi. 4. (4.) With reference to public zeal and resolutions, 
 <fec., there are many instances of such adventurers, who 
 have given sad proofs of what they were at bottom, (1 Cor. 
 xiii. 3; Matt. vii. 22, 23 ; Luke x. 19, 20). And (5), as 
 to his acknowledging the Lord in prayer, and obtaining re- 
 turns of prayer, he said, it was about worldly things and 
 difficulties of that nature, which gave no evidence of ever- 
 lasting love ; for many such returns the body of Israel and 
 their kings had, and the men of Nineveh were heard and 
 delivered, (Judges ii. 15, 16 ; Psa. Ixxviii. 38 ; Jonah iii. 10, 
 Ac.) 
 
 What the manner and means of Mr Hog's saving con- 
 version were, we are at a loss to describe. In general, Mr 
 Stuart says, after being favoured with a good part of two 
 days' conference on that head, " That a clearer account of 
 the work of grace could not be, than that which dropt from 
 his lips, and this attended with so much humility and self- 
 denial as did bear proportion to the excellency of the work ;
 
 74 MEM; i IK OF 
 
 but the particulars," says he, " would oyerswell my pur- 
 pose." And Mr James Hog assures us, " That the issue 
 of Mr Thomas Hog's convictions was so clear, and had so 
 much of glory in it, that the weak vessel could scarce bear 
 it ; but, as to particulars, the only method wherein I am 
 in case to relate them, is to repeat the ingenuous informa- 
 tion he was pleased to give me of his own experiences, as 
 the subject-matter of my straits required ; for that great 
 man was so far above me, who am but a mere child in 
 grace, that it never entered into my thoughts to seek a de- 
 tail of the particular circumstances and distinguishing 
 marks of his conversion." 
 
 But in general he says, Mr Thomas Hog was under a 
 very deep and severe law work ; that his cuuvictions were 
 very close, particular, and pointed. His sius were set be- 
 fore him with much of awful majesty, which produced 
 amazement and deep abasement on his par : that during 
 this work, which was of long continuance,' >v hole crowds of 
 sins were charged home upon him without number and 
 measure, insomuch that he concluded it would be an end- 
 less business, and was nigh to despair. 
 
 At this time he was chaplain to the Earl of Sutherland, 
 where the work of God flourished in several happy souls. A 
 great measure of charity was due to the Earl and several 
 others in the family. The lady was a most eminent Chris- 
 tian, and of great experience in soul exercise ; another 
 lady, related to the family, was so remarkably counte- 
 nanced of God, that Mr Hog came afterwards to know she 
 was sometimes heard on his account ; and the butler was 
 at the same time under a law work much like his own, yet 
 the one did not kuow of the other. Notwithstanding, the 
 Countess wanted not, -as they afterwards found, some dis- 
 cerning of what was working with them both, and had a 
 watchful eye over them ; and she was particularly moved 
 to this towards Mr Hog (no doubt by her unerrring Guide) 
 on the following emergency, the only one of the kind he 
 was ever troubled with
 
 Mil TUOilAS HOG. 75 
 
 One time, when Mr Hog was sitting alone in his cham- 
 ber, in extreme anguish, nothing but wrath in his view, and 
 his hope of relief at a very low ebb, a horrible temptation 
 was thrown in like a thunderbolt, viz. Why do you conti- 
 nue under such intolerable extremity of distress V Put ra- 
 ther an end to a miserable life. Immediately upon the sug- 
 gestion, he resented the temptation and the tempter with 
 indignation ; and his pen-knife, at which the enemy had 
 pointed in his suggestion, lying upon the table before him 
 well sharpened, lest the assault should have been renewed 
 and heightened, he rose up and threw it over the window. 
 After this, he sat down and fell a musing upon the intri- 
 cacies of his complicated distress ; and while in the midst 
 of this terrible whirlpool, the Countess, contrary to her cus- 
 tom (though she had been ever affable at table) knocked 
 gently at his door, and invited him to go and partake with 
 her of a present made her of summer fruit. So away he 
 went with her, and though he behaved before her as if all had 
 been quiet within, she discovered, both by her speech and her 
 very kind behaviour, that she either was impressed with 
 his being in danger, or that she suspected how matters 
 were with him. After he had been thus kindly entertained 
 for a good space, he returned to his room, found the damp 
 mercifully removed, and his soul moulded into a more sub- 
 missive frame, and disposed to wait patiently for the Lord. 
 
 As to the manner of Mr Hog's relief, we learn in gene- 
 ral, that from a conviction of actual sins he was carried up 
 to original sin, as the fountain-head, and to a conviction of 
 unbelief, as the seal on this fountain, and found himself 
 concluded in unbelief, or in a state of sin, according to Rom. 
 xi. 32, John xvi. 8, 9, 10. The Lord having in this man- 
 ner laid a solid, clear, and excellent foundation, Mr Hog 
 was at length blessed with faith's views of the glory of 
 Christ in his person and offices ; and the light of the know- 
 ledge of the glory of God hi the face of Jesus Christ, did so 
 ravish and satiate his soul, as to render him most willing,
 
 76 MEMOIR OP 
 
 through grace, to forego, endure, and in His strength ad- 
 venture, upon any thing in his cause and for his sake. 
 
 About this time, Sir Hog having been long engaged in 
 secret prayer, with uncommon enlargement, received so 
 strong a confirmation of his being an object of everlasting 
 love, from that passage in Josh. i. 5, repeated by the apostle, 
 Ileb. xiii. 5, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee," 
 that his soul was filled with the consolations of God. Then, 
 thought he, what could he want, or what harm could want 
 do unto him, while the Lord was with him ? Neither should 
 deceit and violence prevail against him. But, while in this 
 frame, he was longing for an opportunity of expressing his 
 obligation to his gracious God and Saviour, and .saying 
 within himself, What would I not suffer for such unbounded 
 goodness ? That instant he was called to perform worship 
 in the family, and went out of his room full of divine joy, 
 expecting to pray as in his former rapture and transport ; 
 but, behold, on a sudden, he was overclouded, and deserted 
 to that degree, that with much difficulty he got a few sen- 
 tences uttered, and was obliged to cut short. When going 
 away, the truly noble Countess whispered to him, " Mr 
 Thomas, be not discouraged ; the Lord is trying your sub- 
 mission to his sovereign disposure." When returned to his 
 room, he fell a musing on his sudden change from the bet- 
 ter to the worse ; and while he was humbly inquiring why 
 the Lord contended with him, he called to remembrance 
 what he had upon the matter said in his secret prayer, and, 
 as if one were reasoning with him, it was suggested, Did 
 uot you say in the time of your consolation, What wo\dd 
 you not suffer for God ? and see now ye cannot bear, with- 
 out confusion, to be straightened in prayer before a few of 
 your fellow-creatures ? By this he was convinced of his 
 weakness, and made to admire that sovereign Wisdom which 
 took such a gentle trial of him : Upon which his confusion 
 was removed, a pleasant submission succeeded, and his con- 
 solation was renewed. On this providence Mr Hog used 
 to make the following observation, That submission to the
 
 MB THOMAS HOG. 77 
 
 sovereign will of God under desertions, afflictions, and trials*, 
 is preferable to the strongest consolations ; because, said he, 
 " consolation pleaseth us, but submission pleaseth God." 
 
 Another thing on which he puts a special remark, was -t 
 signal power and presence that attended social prayer some- 
 tunes when the Countess and her friend were present, more 
 than on other occasions. This to carnal minds may seem 
 a jest ; but as in natural things a threefold cord will draw 
 more strongly than a single withe, it holds likewise in the 
 economy of grace, that " where two or three" such believing 
 persons shall, under the influences of the Spirit of grace, 
 " agree to ask any thing" of their Heavenly Father, " in 
 Christ's name, it shall be granted unto them," (Matt, 
 xviii. 19). 
 
 But the last and most considerable adventure I shall ic- 
 late concerning Mr Ilog, while he abode in that noble family, 
 was, his having been the instrument of converting a young 
 gentleman of the name of Munro, who was related to the 
 family and frequented it often.* This gentleman at that 
 time, void of real religion, but of a sober deportment, took 
 great pleasure in Mr Hog's company, and wasted much of 
 his time with frothy, idle, and useless converse. Mr Hog 
 had a due regard to the gentleman, and reckoned himself 
 obliged to use him with discretion, on which account he did 
 bear with him for a good time ; but it grieved him that these 
 interviews turned out at best to a wasting his precious time ; 
 and therefore he took the matter to serious deliberation, and 
 asked counsel of the Lord, what was proper for him to do in 
 such a case. At length he was determined to deal freely 
 with the gentleman about his eternal state : he foresaw that 
 if his freedom were taken amiss, their converse would be 
 broken off, and he would be eased of part of his burden ; 
 if otherwise, then their ccnversation would be carried on to 
 other and better purposes. Accordingly, an opportunity 
 having soon presented itself, Mr Hog, after some introductory 
 converse, and a little pause, during which he was exercised 
 
 * Mr James Hog's account.
 
 78 MEMOIR OP 
 
 in ejaculatory requests addressed the gentleman to this 
 effect, " Sir, I have a just respect to the family from which 
 you are descended, and to yourself also ; my parents were 
 acquainted with your ancestors, and I am under several ob- 
 ligations to them. On these and other accounts, I have 
 been deliberating how I may most fitly express the respect 
 I owe you, and, as the best service in my power, have re- 
 solved to use a piece of open-hearted freedom with you 
 about the concerns of your immortal soul." This unusual 
 address was very surprising to the gentleman, yet he took it 
 not in bad part, but desired him to say on. Upon this Mr 
 Hog proceeded, and after he had mentioned some qualities 
 in the gentleman, desirable in their own place, he added this 
 grave admonition, " Sir, I must be free with you, and there- 
 fore I tell you in sincere love, and with an ardent desire of 
 your soul's everlasting salvation, that you are manifestly 
 guilty of a notable evil ; and pray observe it carefully. It 
 is a transgression, or set of transgressions, that consists not 
 with a state of grace. ' If any man among you seemeth to 
 be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his 
 own heart, this man's religion is vain,' (James i. 26), 
 ' They have corrupted themselves, their spot is not th'j 
 spot of his children,' (Deut. xxxii. 5). The sin is, you keep 
 not a watch over your own tongue, but have a sort of rov- 
 ing conversation, not adverting to your speech, but talking at 
 random, and shewing no concern that God may be honoured, 
 and your neighbour get profit by your words. Man's tongue 
 is in Scripture called his glory, ' My glory rejoicetb,' 
 ' Awake up, my glory,' (Psal. xvi. 9, and Ivii. 8). Speech 
 we have peculiar to us as reasonable creatures, and there- 
 fore it should be savoury and useful, for every idle, inopera- 
 tive, or unuseful word, we shall give account at the great day." 
 This admonition was well supported with several texts of 
 scripture, particularly the two above cited ; and as an anti- 
 dote against this evil in time coming, Mr Hog recommended 
 to him to maintain the awe of the majesty of God upon his 
 soul ; and added he, " The presence of a prince, or a
 
 ME THOMAS HOG. 79 
 
 of respect and honour, would have so much influence upon 
 us, as to procure some careful observance of what we say or 
 do under his eye; and much more would a rooted faith of 
 God's all-seeing eye prove operative in this manner." The 
 gentleman heard all with the closest attention ; and when 
 Mr Hog had finished what he had in view, he answered, 
 " Sir, I always looked on you as my true friend, and now 
 you have given the hest demonstration of it. By what you 
 have said, I am persuaded of the evil of the sin charged on 
 me, and of my danger by it ; and now that you have ob- 
 liged me beyond what any have done hitherto, I beg a con- 
 tinuance of your favour, and that I may have free access to 
 converse with you afterward." This request was joyfully 
 complied with ; and if the gentleman visited Mr Hog fre- 
 quently before, he made him many more visits after this, 
 but never gave occasion to impeach him. Their coramuni 
 cation after this turned principally, and almost wholly, upon 
 the concerns of his salvation, and, through the Lord's bless 
 ing, their labour was not in vain. The gentleman became 
 eminently gracious ; and for an evidence that this free deal- 
 ing was blessed, the good man in his after conduct did so 
 much excel in the virtues opposite to the blemishes found 
 fault with, as astonished those who formerly knew him ; 
 and he discovered so much understanding, deliberateness, 
 prudence, and discretion, that he was much esteemed for 
 accommodating differences, and several gentlemen did sub- 
 mit their contests to him, and acquiesced in his sole deter- 
 mination. 
 
 The gentleman being thus established in the Lord's way, 
 was honoured " to adorn the doctrine of God his Saviour," 
 without any extra ordinary interruption, until a difference fell 
 in betwixt his father and him about marriage. The old man 
 would have him take a wife, whose portion would have relieved 
 their little estate, then under some burden. But the young 
 man finding no satisfying evidence of her experience of re- 
 ligion, would not comply ; his father resented his aversion 
 so far, that they could not live amicably together ; and to
 
 80 MEMOIR OF 
 
 procure peace, the son was obliged to betake him to an 
 itinerary life amongst his friends for a time, by whose inter- 
 cession he hoped to make peace with the father, but in vain. 
 
 In this undesirable way the young gentleman did no 
 small service, by stirring up several of his friends to a con- 
 cern about the great salvation. 
 
 One incident which, as expressive of that just regard he 
 had for Mr Hog, may be here inserted. It was his custom 
 to travel much in the summer nights, that under the silence 
 and retirement of the season, he might, with less interrup- 
 tion, apply himself to secret prayer, an exercise to which 
 he was extraordinarily addicted. One of his female friends 
 having found fault with him for this practice, as an inversion 
 of the order of nature, an endangering of his health, and 
 exposing himself to robbers or evil spirits ; the gentleman re- 
 plied, That his walking in summer nights was owing to his 
 love of solitude, which that season afforded, without dis- 
 turbance. For his health, he blessed the Lord, it was good 
 and firm ; having for some time been acquainted with a 
 military life, the night and day in that season were nearly 
 alike safe for his health. As to wicked men, he believed 
 they had little encouragement to travel in the night in these 
 parts ; and as for apparitions, he could say, through grace, 
 that he feared not devils, unless one of them were permit- 
 ted to appear in the likeness of Mr Thomas Hog, for such a 
 devil might, he said, impose upon him, and deceive him- 
 
 The order of tune, according to the plan laid down, 
 would seem to call for a stop here ; but that we may have 
 this gentleman's story all at once, we observe, That some- 
 time after Mr Hog was ordained minister of Kiltearn, Mr 
 Munro made him a visit, and their meeting was accom- 
 panied with very great mutual endearments. After some 
 little time, the good man addressed himself to Mr Hog in 
 this amazing style ; " Sir, my course is nigh finished, and 
 I am upon my entrance into a state of eternal rest. The 
 Lord hath his own way of giving the watchful Christian 
 previous warning concerning the end of his warfare. ' Know-
 
 ME THOMAS HOG., 81 
 
 ing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as 
 our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me,' (2 Pet. i. 14) ; 
 and I being so privileged, have been seriously pondering 
 where it may be most convenient to breathe out my last, 
 and quietly lay down this tabernacle : and seeing, after de- 
 liberation, I can find no place or company so fit as with you, 
 I have adventured to come and die with you." 
 
 At this time the gentleman was in good health, and ate 
 his meals as well as ever ; wherefore Mr Hog endeavoured 
 to divert him from the thoughts of a present dissolution ; 
 but he firmly persisted in maintaining his persuasion thereof, 
 and accordingly, in a few days, he was seized with a fever, 
 whereof he died. 
 
 During his sickness, Mr Hog took special care of him, 
 and used all the means for his recovery which the place could 
 afford, but without success ; the fever proved mortal, yet 
 notwithstanding the height and violence of the disease, the 
 patient was never heard to rove ; his concern for the honour 
 of God was indeed so great, that he behoved to entertain 
 every in-comer with some discourse suited to what he appre- 
 hended to be their case ; yet so sensible was he, and had 
 such a reverence for Mr Hog, that he kept silence or spoke 
 very little when he was present, referring all to him, whom 
 he importuned to speak and pray often. 
 
 When the Lord's-day came, knowing that Mr Hog, who 
 ordinarily attended him, was engaged in the public worship 
 of the day, he found an errand for the person to whose care 
 he was committed, and in the keeper's absence, he quickly 
 put on his clothes, and went into the church as secretly as 
 he could. Ere sermon was ended, Mr Hog perceived him, 
 and was greatly perplexed at seeing him there ; but being 
 ignorant what aim God might in his providence have in 
 bringing him thither, and persuaded that no private con- 
 cerns could supersede the duty of his public calling, he pur- 
 sued his discourse. Public worship being ended, the gentle- 
 man returned in all haste, and composed himself in his bed ; 
 and when Mr Hog came into the room to inquire into the
 
 82 MEMOIB OF 
 
 dangerous adventure, he prevented him, sr.ying, "Sir, I had 
 the first sermon that did me good, from you, at the Earl of 
 Sutherland's house of Dunrobin, and since that time I have 
 had the prospect that I would get my last preaching from 
 you also ; I want no more, neither -will I get more in time : 
 and as to my bodily state, so far as I can perceive, it is just 
 the same as before ; say now whatever you please." But 
 after this representation, Mr Hog judged that he was called 
 to be still and reverence Providence. What was the text 
 upon this occasion I have not learned ; but Mr James Hog 
 says, in general, that it was most suitable to the good man's 
 case, and that he often repeated and fed upon it and the 
 purposes delivered from it, till he entered triumphantly into 
 the joy of his Lord. 
 
 PERIOD THIRD. From the time Mr Hog was ordained 
 Minister of ih? Gospel at Kiltearn, till he slept in the 
 Lord. 
 
 Mr Hog was licensed to preach the gospel in the twenty- 
 sixth yearof his age, and ere oneyear elapsed, several parishes 
 were competing for him, from some of which he might have 
 had a greater living than ever he had at Kiltearn ; but he 
 preferred that parish to the rest, because he understood 
 that sovereign grace was pursuing some elect vessels there, 
 and he knew that several gentlemen in it were friends to re- 
 ligion, especially the Baron of Fowlis, a worthy gentleman, 
 truly zealous for religion, as that family had been from the 
 beginning of the Reformation.* There Mr Hog was or- 
 dained minister, in the year 1654 or 1655, with the unani- 
 mous consent and approbation of all concerned. 
 
 Mr Hog, having been thus settled, applied himself heartily 
 to his work, taking heed to himself and to his doctrine, that 
 he might both save himself and them that heard him. 
 
 With regard to himself, he was temperate both in diet and 
 
 * See a further account of the family of Fowlig in the Appendix to 
 Colonel Gardiner's Life.
 
 MS THOMAS HOG. 83 
 
 sleep. Gluttony, said he, is a great incentive to lust ; and rising 
 betimes is not only good for the health, but best adapted for 
 study, wherein he had much pleasure. His more serious work, 
 his necessary diversion, as visiting of friends and acquaint- 
 ances, and even meaner things, were all gone about by rule : 
 he kept time and measure in a every thing. However lively the 
 frame of his own soul was, he never insisted long in social 
 duties, though he frequently enjoyed the breathings of the 
 Holy Spirit to a very high degree. He often expressed his 
 dissatisfaction with the length of social exercises (a fault 
 very common amongst formal professors), as what could not 
 be managed by many to a good account, and as encroaching 
 upon other necessary duties belonging to our respective 
 stations ; yet he utterly disliked a coming reeking hot from 
 the world into the presence of God, and it was his constant 
 practice, both before and after family-worship, to retire a 
 little into his closet. In self-examination he was very ex- 
 act, and set time apart for it once a month, and sometimes 
 oftener, accounting, that without this spiritual book-keeping, 
 a trade with heaven could not be carried on to great advan- 
 tage. Amongst his other properties, that of singular humi- 
 lity and modesty did excel. He was most reserved as to 
 every thing that tended to his own reputation, and averse 
 from speaking of such things as the Lord bad wrought in 
 him, by him, or for him, except to some few of his most 
 entire acquaintances, or when the case of distressed souls 
 did require it. 
 
 But he was more especially remarkable in his public cha- 
 racter. His concern for, and sympathy with the ignorant, 
 was exceeding great. The bulk of the people in that pa- 
 rish, having, through the long infirmity of their former pastor, 
 and the intervening vacancy, been neglected in then- exa- 
 mination, and become very ignorant, Mr Hog was at great 
 pains to spread the catechisms, and other abstracts of our 
 received principles amongst them ; and going about from 
 house to house, he prayed with, exhorted and instructed 
 them in the thing? pertaining to the kingdom of God.
 
 84 MEMOIR OP 
 
 As an ambassador of the Lord Jesus Christ, his deport- 
 ment was attended with as much majesty, proper to that 
 function, as had been observed in any ; and no wonder, for 
 few are favoured with so many testimonies of the Divine 
 presence in the discharge of their ministry, as it appears he 
 had. His people, says his successor,* "were awakened to 
 hear, and he was encouraged to preach Christ Jesus unto 
 them, so that the dry bones began to revive, and pleasant 
 blossoms and hopeful appearances displayed themselves 
 every where through the parish." In like manner, after he 
 was forced from his charge by persecution, having come 
 south to Murray, and settled for a time at a place called 
 Knockgaudy, near Oldearn, and preached the gospel in his 
 private house, he was greatly owned of God, and became 
 the happy instrument of converting or confirming many 
 souls, amongst whom the same person reckons James Nim- 
 
 mo, and Elizabeth B e, his spouse ; B a B e, her 
 
 sister, afterwards Mrs S d ; Katherine Collace, alias Mrs 
 
 Ross, &c., all since fallen asleep. The same Mr Nimrno 
 observes concerning Mr Hog,f " That though the Lord did 
 not bless Mr Hog with children, he once gave him the 
 powerful assurance of that promise, ' I will give thee a name 
 better than of sons and daughters,' (Isa. Ivi. 5) ; which he 
 signally fulfilled to him, in making him the instrument of 
 begetting many sons and daughters to the Lord ; to do 
 which the Lord assisted him more I judge than any in his 
 day." Mrs Ross also gives a large testimony to the success 
 of Mr Hog's ministry in the Memoirs of her life. When 
 speaking]; of Satan's being let loose upon her with his 
 temptations, by which her hope was almost vanquished ; 
 " The Lord," says she, " sent Mr Thomas Hog, * an inter- 
 preter, one of a thousand,' who was directed to put me upon 
 a right way of recovery, and quieting my mind under pre- 
 sent trouble, which was, when I could not resist temptation, 
 to suppose all true that Satan could charge me with, and 
 then make application to the blood of Jesus, that cleansetfi 
 * Mr Stuart. f Memoirs of his own Life. J Page 15.
 
 MB THOMAS HOG. 85 
 
 from all sin ; and he taking me to his house, where I staid 
 for the space of a month, the Lord thoroughly restored my 
 soul before I returned." Again, speaking of Mr Hog's li- 
 beration from prison (which I learn elsewhere was first at 
 Forres), she says,* " He preaching for eight years there- 
 after in his own house, was the instrument of converting 
 many, and ministers about did also wax bold by his example 
 to fall about the work of preaching." And to carry this 
 account down to the latter period of his life, " I have," says 
 Mr James Hog, " had the desirable occupation to hear him 
 preach at the Hague, and his sermons were accompanied 
 with the greatest measure of life and power I have ever had 
 the opportunity to observe in my poor life. This is he," 
 says the writer of the remarkable passage, " of whom I may 
 truly, and without disparagement to any, say, that he was 
 the father of the most eminent, as well ministers as private 
 Christians, in the land, viz. the famous and judicious John 
 Munro, in Ross, who had been before a great enemy to him, 
 but at length was by his labours begotten unto God ; also, 
 the learned and faithful Mr Thomas Taylor had a most deep, 
 distinct, and long exercise under Mr Hog's ministry, and in 
 the end got a clear and safe out-gate, and was thereafter an 
 eminent and shining light both in Scotland and Ireland. 
 As also, that brand plucked out of the burning, Mr Angus 
 Macbean, minister at Inverness : the Lord had indeed be- 
 gun to work upon Mr Macbean, and brought him out from 
 among the curates before he saw Mr Hog in the face, but 
 he never had any distinctness in his exercise, far less out- 
 gate from his trouble, till the Lord brought him to this emi- 
 nent seer, who, by converse and otherwise, was the instru- 
 ment of opening his eyes, and of drawing him most effectually 
 to Christ, after he had been about four years under a deep 
 and heavy exercise of law-work. But time would fail me 
 to speak of the strength, settlement, and establishment in 
 grace, and in the ways of God, that holy Mr Thomas Ross, 
 and zealous Mr John "Welwood, together with several others, 
 
 Page 65.
 
 86 MEMOIB OF 
 
 did get by his ministry and means, and of tbe many eminent 
 Christians in every place to which the Lord called and 
 sent him, who were converted or confirmed by his ministry." 
 
 As a further evidence of that special conduct vouchsafed 
 to Sir Hog in the dispensing of gospel ordinances, it was 
 remarkable, that he was several times led to speak particu- 
 larly to persons and cases, without any foreknowledge of 
 the special occasions calling for it. One time, William 
 Balloch, his faithful servant, whom the Lord had powerfully 
 brought over from darkness to light by his ministry, was 
 seized with a fever ; and, in that condition, the tempter en- 
 deavoured by several specious arguments to deprive him of 
 his peace. By this he was made almost insensible to bodily 
 distress ; and for relief he adventured to scramble up stairs 
 upon his hands and feet, that he might impart his difficulties 
 to his master; but Mr Hog being to preach in a short space 
 after, refused to speak with him at that time ; so with great 
 difficulty he returned to his bed, and in a little he found 
 that G-od had provided for his relief. As Mr Hog preached 
 in his dwelling-house, William's bod was so situated that ho 
 could hear his master distinctly, and was surprised to find 
 himself prevented as to all he had to impart ; for each of 
 the several temptations, which pressed him so exceedingly, 
 were distinctly mentioned, and the fallacies detected in the 
 sermon. Thus the Lord, by his own ordinance, made known 
 to his poor servant all that was in his heart ; and in that 
 manner a happy cure was bestowed on his soul, which 
 issued in the recovery of his health.* 
 
 In like manner one Christian Macintosh, a poor woman, 
 m the depths of soul distress, having several times gone to 
 hea r Mr Hog at a good distance from her house, and staid 
 in his house sometimes two or three nights at a time ; some 
 of her acquaintances took the opportunity one night in their 
 way home, to reprehend her for being absent from her fa- 
 mily, because it might provoke her husband, who was of a 
 different mind from her, and be an occasion of blackening 
 
 * Mr Jair.es Hog's account.
 
 MR THOMAS tlOQ. 87 
 
 religion itself, as if it gave a handle to idleness. With this, 
 and more to the like purpose, the poor woman was exceed- 
 ingly affected. She replied with great humility, that the 
 worthy minister had detained her, that the entanglements 
 she was under about her soul-concerns might be the more 
 easily removed ; and that his instructions had been of great 
 use for this purpose : that her family was small, and the 
 business of it could be the more easily overtaken, or what 
 was wanting made up more conveniently, when matters of 
 higher importance were brought to some desirable issue. 
 After parting to their several abodes, Christian stopped at 
 a retired place in her way, where she poured out her heart 
 to the Lord, and at her return home, her husband received 
 her with the most tender affection. Of ah 1 this Mr Hog 
 knew nothing, yet the very next Lord's day he was led to 
 preach from these words in Matt. xxvi. 10, " Why trouble 
 ye the woman ? for she hath wrought a good work upon me ;" 
 and in handling the same, to obviate every objection, which 
 Christian's honest friends had, from no evil design, made 
 use of; which wrought so with them, that they all acknow- 
 ledged their mistake to her, and when it pleased the Lord 
 further to establish her, the occasion for such umbrage 
 ceased.* 
 
 To instance only one particular more of the kind : Munro 
 of Lumlair, an heritor in the parish, having been guilty of 
 some sin wherewith it seems his own conscience accused 
 him, fell to applying some reprehensory expressions uttered 
 by Mr Hog, as if designed for exposing him to contempt, 
 though Mr Hog had no eye to him ; and being incensed to 
 a dreadful degree, he came to the Session to demand satis- 
 faction of Mr Hog ; otherwise he threatened, not only to 
 withdraw himself and family from his ministry, but to lay 
 his strictest commands upon his tenants to do so likewise. 
 Mr Hog heard all without interrupting the gentleman ; and 
 then addressed the Session, of which the gentleman's chief, 
 Sir John Munro of Fowlis, was a member, unfolding the hi- 
 
 * iir JuJjK'.s Iloa'b IK count.
 
 88 MEMOIR or 
 
 suit in most weighty and significant terms, and required 
 them to take cognizance of the scandal ; and lest it should 
 have been alleged, any of the members would be influenced by 
 his continuance with them, he retired to his closet. After Mr 
 Hog's departure, Sir John accosted his friend, and by threats 
 (as he was of the greatest authority in the place) and ar- 
 guments together, he prevailed with him ere they parted, to 
 come in the minister's will. Mr Hog was ready to overloo! 
 what respected himself personally ; but the ministerial office 
 being attacked, and the offence become flagrant, the Session 
 ordered that Lumlair should be rebuked in his seat the next 
 Lord's day ; to which he submitted, and made his confession 
 with many tears, to the affecting of the congregation. Nor 
 was the gentleman's penitence confined to that occasion, 
 but he ever after looked on Mr Hog as his best friend, and 
 laid out himself to great purpose, to promote the success of 
 his ministry.* 
 
 So soon as it pleased the Lord to bless Mr Hog's paro- 
 chial labours with a gracious change wrought upon a con- 
 siderable number of the people, he took care to join the 
 more judicious amongst them in a society for prayer and 
 conference ; these he kept under his own special inspection, 
 and did heartily concur with, and assist them in, exciting 
 and edifying one another. 
 
 In prayer he was most solemn and fervent ; the pro- 
 foundest reverence, the lowest submission, and yet a mar- 
 vellous boldness and intimacy with God, attended his en- 
 gagements in this exercise. It might be truly said of him, 
 as of Luther, When he prayed, it was tanta reverentia, w 
 si Deo, et tanta fiducia, ut si amico, " with as much re- 
 verence as if he were speaking to God, and with as much 
 boldness as if he had been speaking to his friend." The 
 strength of his faith was proof against discouragement ; 
 none ever beheld him perplexed on account of difficulties. 
 Having once committed his cause unto the Lord, he could 
 wait with assurance of a happy event ; and he obtained 
 
 * .Mr Jan:es HOK'S account.
 
 MR THOSIA8 HOG. 89 
 
 many remarkable and even extraordinary returns, of which 
 several instances shall be here taken from the author of the 
 Remarkable Passages, and Mr James Hog's account ; such as, 
 
 1. A good woman having come to Mr Hog with a sore 
 lamentation that her daughter, C L , was dis- 
 tracted, Mr Hog charged one or two devout persons (for 
 he frequently employed them on extraordinary occasions) 
 to set apart a day and night for fasting and prayer, and 
 then to join with him in prayer for the maid the next day. 
 Accordingly, when the time of their appointment for a joint 
 concurrence in the duty came, he wrestled for the distressed 
 person till she recovered her senses, and became as quiet 
 as ever she was before. This the writer declares he knew. 
 
 2. A daughter of the Laird of Parks, his brother-in-law, 
 being lodged with him, and being seized with a high fever, 
 and little hope of life left, Mr Hog, who loved the child 
 dearly, consulted with his wife whether there was any cause, 
 either in him or her, of the Lord's contending with their 
 friend while under their care; and acknowledging their 
 offences jointly to the Lord in prayer, with the iniquity of 
 the child, the fever instantly left her, and she was restored 
 to health. This passage, says the writer, I read in Mr Hog's 
 diary, which he concludes with admiration of the mercy 
 and condescendence of his good and gracious God, to whom 
 he ascribes the praise of all. 
 
 3. In like manner, a child of the Rev. Mr Thomas Ur- 
 quhart having been at the very point of death, those pre- 
 sent pressed Mr Hog to pray (for he was now become so 
 revered, that none other would, in such cases, pray when 
 he was present) ; upon which he solemnly charged them 
 to join fervently with him ; and having wrestled in prayer 
 and supplication for some tune, the child was restored to 
 health. A like instance is found in his diary, with respect 
 to a child of Kinmundy. 
 
 4. One David Dunbar, who lived at a distance, being in 
 a phrenzy, and coming to Mr Hog's house in one of his 
 roving fits, Mr Hog caused him to sit down ; and having
 
 90 MEMOIR OP 
 
 advised with Mr Fraser of Brae, and some other 
 who were occasionally present, what could be done for the 
 lad, some were of opinion that blood should be drawn of 
 him ; but, said Mr Hog, the prelates have deprived us of 
 money wherewith to pay physicians, therefore we will make 
 use of the Physician who cures freely, and so he laid it on 
 Brae to pray ; but Brae having put it back on himself, he 
 commanded the distracted man, in a very solemn awful 
 manner, to be still ; after which he prayed most fervently 
 for the poor man, and he was immediately restored to his 
 right wits. This, says the writer, I both read in his diary, 
 and had from eye and ear witnesses. 
 
 5. Mr Hog having gone once to see a gracious woman in 
 great extremity, and sad distress both of body and mind, 
 he prayed with and for her ; and in prayer he had this re- 
 markable expression among many others, " Lord, rebuke 
 this tentation, and we, in thy name, rebuke the same." Im- 
 mediately after which, the person (as she told the writer of 
 these passages) was restored to entire health both of body 
 and mind. 
 
 And yet notwithstanding the Lord honoured him so 
 eminently, it is doubtful if any in his day did more heartily 
 detest and carefully guard others against delusion than he 
 did ; ordinarily, when he bowed his knee, it Avas his fervent 
 request to be saved from delusion, and therefore, when any 
 word of scripture was brought to his mind, as suiting any 
 case he was exercised about, he would not close with it, 
 till, after much fervent supplication, and diligent inquiry in 
 the use of all suitable means, he had examined the same, 
 and found it from God; for, said he, Satan comes many 
 times with his temptations as an angel of light. Where- 
 fore it was his constant judgment, wherewith his practice 
 agreed, that as it is only by the word wherein is clear light, 
 and by the Spirit's opening the eyes and giving sight to 
 discern this light, that we are to expect any solid instruc- 
 tion, direction, or comfort. To where these two concur, 
 there is satisfying evidence of our light coming from tbe
 
 MR THOMAS HOG. 91 
 
 Lord. There is first light in the understanding, which 
 works on the will, and the affections follow. The spirit of 
 truth acts like himself in a gentle, sweet, sure, sanctifying, 
 humbling, and quieting manner. 
 
 But passing this : amongst the means which Mr Hog used 
 for the good of the peoplo, the following method was much 
 countenanced of God. He set time apart to converse fully 
 and' freely with those who sought the privilege of baptism 
 to their children ; and, if he found them ignorant of the 
 nature and ends of that sacrament, he was at as great pains 
 to bring them to repentance and reformation, as if they had 
 been really scandalous, and kept them from the benefit of 
 baptism till he discovered a change on them to the better. 
 Of the marvellous use of this course several instances might 
 be given, but one may serve at present, and a most remark- 
 able one it is.* 
 
 There was in this parish a bold young fellow, John Munro, 
 alias Card, so called from his occupation, being a tinker by 
 trade, to distinguish him from the other Munros with whom 
 that country abounds. This man, who loved to give and 
 take his bottle, and was accounted witty and facetious, hap- 
 pened to have a child to baptize ; but accounting Mr Hog 
 too rigid in his examination, he had no will to go to him ; 
 but go he must, for the discipline of the Church in those 
 days permitted no man to go without the bounds of his own 
 parish for baptism, without a license from his minister, 
 which did mightily strengthen the authority of ministers. 
 So John Card being shut up in this dilemma, either to want 
 baptism to his child, or go to his minister, at length resolvt>s 
 upon the latter. Mr Hog received him courteously, and 
 knowing his errand, took him apart and examined him, but 
 finding him unqualified to receive that seal of the covenant, 
 he told him so much hi plain language, and gave him his 
 best advice to agree with God, " while he was in the way" 
 of life ; and recommended to him to get the Assembly's 
 Shorter Catechism by heart, and to come next week to give 
 
 * From Mr Stuart's account.
 
 92 MEMOIR OP 
 
 account of his success. John goes home, but being as yet 
 insensible of his mercy, was in no haste to comply with the 
 advice given him, nor to return to his minister at the time 
 appointed ; however, the case straitened him, and therefore 
 return he must once more, and he was resolved it should be 
 but once. So he comes again to his minister, and in an in- 
 sulting manner asks him, how long he would be so cruel as to 
 keep his child from baptism ? Mr Hog answered him with 
 meekness, that the cruelty was on his own side, who was 
 at no pains for his salvation, and the salvation of his child ; 
 and added, " If I should administer baptism to your child 
 without warning you of your hazard, I should be more 
 cruel than you, for you would perish in your iniquity, and 
 God would require your blood at my hands." To enforce 
 the reproof, Mr Hog asked some questions concerning the 
 nature of sin and wrath ; but John fretted therewith, said, 
 in a peremptory manner, " Well, minister, will you give me 
 baptism to my child or not V" and Mr Hog answering, " the 
 Lord's time is the best time ; when you are fitter to receive 
 that privilege, I shall be more willing to grant it." John 
 was angry, and said, " Well, sir, keep it to yourself, you'll 
 give me baptism when I ask it again, farewell." And so 
 he went off in a huff. 
 
 But by the time John Card reached his own house, he 
 found great uneasiness in his mind. The thoughts of what 
 Mr Hog represented to him did pursue him, and particularly 
 what he said concerning sin, wrath to come, and the neces- 
 sity of being reconciled to God. When night came he 
 went to bed as usual, but could not sleep, his thoughts 
 troubled him : so up he arose, and set about prayer, a duty to 
 which he was a very great stranger, and finding his distress to 
 grow, he goes next day to the minister. Mr Hog knowing 
 the haughtiness of the man's spirit, was surprised to see him 
 come so soon back, yet he received him kindly, and asked 
 what brought him to-day ? The other answered that he had 
 had no rest in his mind since he was with him ; that he was 
 followed, as with a familiar spirit, with the thoughts of God's
 
 Mtt THOMAS HOO. V6 
 
 wrath against him for sin ; and was so full of ignorance of 
 God, and of sin and duty, heaven and hell, that he could 
 form no right judgment concerning them. Upon this in- 
 formation, Mr Hog instructed him at great length concern- 
 ing the important subjects aboved named, and then prayed 
 with him; and finding. remarkable assistance vouchsafed 
 to him in both these duties, and having otherwise an ex- 
 cellent discerning of the gracious operations of the Spirit of 
 grace, he gave the man such directions as he judged proper 
 for a person in his condition, and desired him to bring for- 
 ward his child for baptism with the first opportunity ; for 
 row (said he) I hope God hath begun to convince you of 
 sin and misery, and will, in his own good time, discover the 
 remedy unto you. But John refused to do this as peremp- 
 torily, as before he had requested for the benefit of it ; and 
 being filled with a sense of his rebellion against God, he 
 added, " No, no ; no baptism for me, I have no right to it ; 
 nothing is due to me but hell and damnation." Mr Hog 
 still urged him to bring forward his child, but he would not 
 be prevailed on to do so, and away he went in tears, re- 
 questing the minister to continue his prayers, if.peradventure 
 God would have mercy on him. A work of conviction con- 
 tinued with this man, which was found to be real, clear and 
 permanent. Mr Hog, whose concern for him was very 
 great, found the work of grace advancing most sweetly in 
 his soul ; yet all this time his mind was not calmed, his dis- 
 quiet continued for several months after, when, to his sweet 
 experience and exceeding joy, the hand which wounded him 
 did also heal him, which happened as follows. 
 
 Upon a certain Lord's day, John Card arose early, and 
 his cries unto God vied with the dawning of the morning. 
 in this prayer he got such a sight of sin, as filled him with 
 great abasement ; and he was made to cry to God for 
 mercy, with all the arguments he could form ; and gave not 
 over till he obtained a glimpse of nope, that God would 
 have mercy on him ; yet in a little foe former load on hia 
 spirit recoiled nprm him. When he came to church, he
 
 94 J7KMOIR OF 
 
 found more uneasiness than he expected. Atheism an<? 
 heart plagues did fiercely assault him, and he was afraid 
 lest he should perish by them ; but to his great surprise, 
 the hour came, when his dead soul was made to hear words 
 of eternal life. The minister was directed to preach Christ 
 so clearly to his very soul, that he found it a time of love, 
 and a day of salvation, so that he was in a very transport 
 of joy ; and after the first sermon, he comes to the minister's 
 closet door, which, contrary to his custom at other times, 
 he had forgotten to bolt at that time ; so in the man comes, 
 and though he found worthy Mr Hog on his knees, such 
 was honest John's transport, for now I may call him honest, 
 that he cried, " Mr Thomas, Mr Thomas, turn your 
 prayers to praises on my account, for this day salvation is 
 come to my soul." Mr Hog was amazed to find any giving 
 him disturbance in time of secret prayer ; but cut short, 
 as if he had been at a close ; and being wise and composed 
 he did conceal his surprise, and examine the other gravely 
 and composedly, and found a most comfortable and satisfy- 
 ing account of the impression made by that sermon upon 
 his mind, will, and affections, viz. upon his mind, while 
 the minister was representing the glory of Christ, and how 
 wonderfully well fitted he is for the salvation of sinners. 
 " God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness 
 shined on his soul, giving him the knowledge of the glory 
 of God in the face of Jesus Christ," which turned his will 
 to the acceptation of the Saviour, and to resign himself to 
 him on his own terms ; upon which he found his soul filled 
 with wonder, joy, and peace unspeakable. Of the truth 
 and ingenuousness of this account, Mr Hog was very well 
 satisfied, and, according to John Card's request, he turned 
 his prayers into praises on his account ; and good reason he 
 had for doing so, for this man proved one of the most re- 
 markable converts in this country, or perhaps in the king- 
 dom, and continued to adorn the doctrine of God his Saviour 
 to the end of his life, which was not for many years after 
 this. And it was observable in him, that he earned a great
 
 MR THOMAS HOG. 95 
 
 resemblance of Mr Hog ever after, in a solid discerning of 
 persons and spirits in matters of religion, as it was in several 
 other worthy persons, who acknowledged Mr Hog as their 
 spiritual father in Christ Jesus. " I had," says Mr James 
 Hog, " the happiness to see him twice or thrice, and to 
 converse a considerable while with him by the means of 
 the reverend Mr William Stuart, minister of Inverness, who 
 interpreted for us both ; and I must say, that except the 
 great Mr Thomas Hog, no person ever tried me, and went 
 so much to the very bottom of my heart, as he was directed 
 to do, both as to the ground-work, and the most important 
 concerns of a Christian life. He was then of a great age, 
 not many years under a hundred, and though very frail in 
 body, yet fully ripe in understanding, memory, and other 
 soul faculties, and advanced in saving grace to a prodigy. 
 While conversing with him I thought I was as it were at 
 the feet of one of the old prophets, for besides a wonderful 
 penetrating reach, his aspect was full of majesty and gra 
 vity." 
 
 As Mr Hog's care was great in admission to the sacra- 
 ment of baptism, he was fully more strict in his admission 
 to the sacrament of the supper, which was the reason he did 
 not dispense that ordinance for several years after he was 
 settled minister at Kiltearn. He had indeed the profoundest 
 regard for that solemnity, and would most gladly have had it 
 sooner ; but the ignorance of the people was so great when 
 he entered amongst them, that it was long ere they were 
 in any readiness to receive it : but when he had been about 
 four years in the ministry, and observed that his labours 
 were countenanced of the Lord, he set about preparation 
 for that holy ordinance, and proceeded with the greatest 
 caution, allowing none to communicate who could not give 
 some tolerable satisfying account of a work of grace upon 
 their souls.* And having thus fenced that solemn ordi- 
 
 * Happy were it for the present generation, if ministers would uni- 
 versally tread this step of the eminent Mr Hog. By " separating," in 
 this manner, " betwixt the precious and the vile," they would give ovL
 
 MEMOIR OP 
 
 nance, great was the encouragement found in it : severals 
 told him how graciously God had dealt with their souls, 
 both before and after the communion. " I cannot (says 
 Mr Stuart, from whom I am now gleaning) give ac- 
 count of particulars, but I have heard some eminent 
 Christians, who were present at that occasion, tell, that 
 ' the Lord bowed his heavens and came down,' and dis- 
 played his saving power on that occasion most comfort- 
 ably and signally ; and I (says the same reverend minister) 
 found a still more persuasive evidence of the efficacy of 
 that solemnity remaining forty years after it. In the year 
 16U9 or 1700, when I was minister of Kiltearn, Donald 
 Munro, the oldest man in the parish, fell sick, and died. 
 He was 96 years of age, and lived two miles from the church, 
 yet he attended there punctually every Sabbath. His con- 
 versation was very agreeable, but he was not reckoned 
 amongst either the first or second rate of Christians for pro- 
 fession or power of religion. When I heard of his sickness, 
 I went to visit him, and being somewhat weary with walking, 
 T sat down softly at some little distance from the sick man, 
 without letting him know that I was there, and in a little 
 time I heard him pronounce these words, ' Remember my 
 death till I come again ;' and these he repeated three or 
 four times, and his affections were so moved with them, 
 that he broke out in tears. At first I suspected that might 
 be the effects of sickness or old age, but to my great joy, 1 
 was soon undeceived, for when I drew near, and asked him 
 what death is that you speak of, and repeat so often ? he, 
 
 dence of their divine mission, and in doing so, they would at least 
 save their own souls from accession to others' guilt ; whereas, by al- 
 miuing too many, who, to say the best of them, shew only negative 
 qualifications, they not only partake of other men's sins, but are guilty 
 of leavening those with it who join them; whereby, on the one hand, 
 they grieve the hearts of the gracious, and provoke them to make a 
 srhism in the body ; and on the other, harden the impenitent, make the 
 offering of the Lord to be abhorred, and, which puts the copestoue on 
 all, provoke the holy Lord to jealousy with their remissness. "What 
 the issue of this procedure must be, he that runs may read. [Abte by 
 the Original 1'ut-liiher.j
 
 MR THOMAS HOG. 97 
 
 turning towards me, said, with a lively voice, and pleasant 
 countenance, " The death through which I look for victory 
 over a body of sin and death ; the death that supports me 
 in this dark valley and shadow of death ; the death through 
 which I look for eternal life ; the death of Jesus Christ the 
 Prince of life, that, sir, is the death of which I speak." 
 Being much refreshed with this answer, I asked him, how- 
 he came by the sense of eternal mercy through the death of 
 Christ? He answered me with much warmth of affection, 
 that when Mr Hog gave the sacrament, above forty years 
 ago, he preached on the death of Christ, and the infinite 
 virtue of it for poor sinners, which filled him with such won- 
 der and joy at the love of Christ, as made Him precious to 
 his soul above all things in time and eternity ; and though 
 he lost the sense of it for many years, that it had now re- 
 curred with such vigour, as if he had heard it with the 
 same power that moment. I received several other com- 
 fortable answers from him, and then asked if he would 
 have me pray ; to which, without answering me, he looked 
 up, and with great emotion said, ' Lord, be pleased to 
 hear this prayer.' And in a short time after I had prayed, 
 he resigned his soul to God, in a pleasant assurance of eter- 
 nal life through Christ." 
 
 Mr Hog seems not to have administered the holy supper 
 again while he was at Kiltearn, for when after he had re- 
 tired to Knockgoudy, finding his ministry in private blessed 
 with success, he gave that sacrament for the second time,* 
 vhich was a bold attempt, considering the severity of the 
 laws against them ; nevertheless several of the most exer- 
 cised in godliness in these parts attended that solemnity, 
 which was remarkably countenanced with the divine pre- 
 sence and glory : communicants returned to their habita- 
 tions with joy unspeakable^ and the spirits of their adver- 
 saries were so bound up that they gave them no disturbance. 
 
 Amongst the things reckoned extraordinary on this occa- 
 sion, the admission of a Highlander, who could speak no 
 * air otuart's acootmt. 
 
 O
 
 88 MEMOIR OF 
 
 English, is accounted worthy of a place both in Mr Stuart's 
 and Mr Hog's accounts. This man, John MacLeod by 
 name, known to Mr Thomas Hog as a man sweetly exercised 
 in religion, and by whom others say they were afterward 
 greatly refreshed, had come up from Ross-shire to that so- 
 lemnity, and wanted to communicate, but because Mr Hog 
 knew he had no English, he hesitated to admit him. Here- 
 upon, the good man being very intent on communicating, 
 and knowing that Mr Hog had the Irish language, says to 
 him in that dialect, " Would ye stop me, who came hither 
 obeying the command of my exalted Redeemer, and who 
 understand what you was just now preaching in English so 
 well as if every word had been delivered in my own tongue." 
 And thereupon he repeated the substance of the discourse 
 that had been delivered. This having been interpreted by 
 Mr Hog to those who were present, filled them with wou- 
 der, and the good man was allowed to communicate, which 
 he did with great joy. 
 
 But as God sent Mr Hog to be an ambassador of mercy 
 to many, so also to be a messenger of wrath to some. Of 
 this several instances are related ;* and I shall repeat the 
 following. About the beginning of Mr Hog's ministry, a 
 certain gentleman in the parish having lost one of his fa- 
 mily, intended to bury within the kirk ; but because, on 
 account of the vulgar superstition, the General Assembly 
 had made an act against burying in churches, and that Mr 
 Hog was a strenuous defender of the acts of the Church, 
 the gentleman was at a nonplus what to do : upon which, 
 one William Munro, a strong hectoring fellow, engaged to 
 the gentleman to make good his way against all opposition, 
 and iad succeeded so far, that the people who attended the 
 corpse were entering the church-yard, when Mr Hog, get- 
 ting notice, went out, and setting his back to a door, through 
 which the corpse was to be carried, began to reason with 
 the people, to convince them of the error of breaking through 
 good order, and the rules of the Church. This had not, 
 
 * By Mr Stuart, Ac.
 
 MR THOMAS HOG. 99 
 
 however, the desired effect on all, for the fellow who had 
 occasioned this disturbance laid violent hands on Mr Hog, 
 to pull him from the door ; but Mr Hog, having the spirit 
 of a man as well as of a Christian, turned on his adversary, 
 wrested the key out of his hand, and having told the as- 
 sailant, that were he to repel force with force, probably he 
 \vould be no gainer, he did next speak to the people, say- 
 tug, " This man hath grieved the Spirit of God, and you 
 shall see either his sudden repentance, or a signal judgment 
 befal him." Accordingly, the poor wretch continuing in his 
 wicked courses, met with the judgment foretold him in a few 
 months after, and a very signal judgment it was ; for he, 
 having in one of his drunken revels made a violent attack 
 upon a mean man, and thrown him into the fire, the man, 
 in his extremity, drew out the wretch's own sword or dag- 
 ger, and therewith thrust him through the belly, so that his 
 bowels burst out, and he expired most miserably. 
 
 A second instance of this kind happened while Mr Thomas 
 Hog was lecturing one evening in the house of the Laird 
 of Lethem, in the county of Murray.* During the time of 
 worship he observed a servant laugh once and again ; the 
 tirst tune he gently called for attention and reverence, and 
 at the second transgression he rebuked what he saw more 
 severely, and then went on in his purpose with great com- 
 posure ; but a little after, observing the same person relapse 
 into his contemptuous carriage, he paused for some time, and 
 then said with an air of awful severity, " The Spirit of God 
 is grieved by one of the company, for mocking at these 
 great truths : therefore, I am bold to say, such offers of 
 grace shall be visibly and more suddenly punished, than 
 any here would wish, and that the guilty person would give 
 much for our prayers when he cannot have them." After 
 the family had supped, and retired to their several apart- 
 ments, a message came to Mr Hog's chamber, telling him 
 that the foresaid mocker was suddenly seized with violent 
 s, and that he cried bitterly for him. Upon this, Mr 
 
 * Trutn Mr Stuurt's and Mr Hog's account*.
 
 100 MEMOIR OP 
 
 Hog arose quickly, cast on his night-gown, and came down 
 stairs to see him, without losing a minute's time, but before 
 ever he came, the poor creature was dead. 
 
 These awful providences did very justly fill the hearers 
 with the fear of God's judgments, and confirmed many of 
 them in the belief, that the secret of the Lord was with Mr 
 Hog, which was also verified by many other evidences. 
 
 The two following instances* are of still greater conse- 
 quence. In the year 1685, when the Duke of Monmouth 
 landed in England, and the Earl of Argyll in Scotland, Mr 
 Hog being then in London, his servant brought him in the 
 news of their landing, expecting that it would be very ac- 
 ceptable to his master, but he was disappointed ; Mr Hog 
 shook his head, and William Balloch adding, " 0, Sir, what 
 is the matter ? honest people were under dreadful appre- 
 hensions of popery coming in amongst us like a deluge, and 
 now they hope these two great men may be the happy in- 
 struments of delivering those nations." Mr Hog knowing 
 him to be a gracious man, and that he was prudent, and 
 might be confided in, said, " I tell you, man, God will not 
 honour any of these men to be the instruments of our de- 
 liverance, and I have good reason to think so as to both ; 
 for when some worthy patriots who saw the danger of 
 popery, and what danger king Charles was in from popish 
 councils, met together, in order to confer about the proper- 
 est measures to be taken in these circumstances, Monmouth, 
 who was in the concert, declined to act the honourable part 
 which fell to his share, upon which all measures broke up, 
 and some of the worthiest in the land were exposed to suf- 
 fering on that account ; and because he would not embrace 
 the Lord's time of working, God will not accept of his time. 
 And as for the Earl of Argyll, I believe he is a good man, 
 and that he will get his soul for a prey ; yet, considering 
 his hand hath been deep in the defection and apostasy of 
 the time, I am under no expectation of deliverance by him." 
 
 Much about the same time some Protestants, who attend- 
 
 * TaVen from Mr Stuart.
 
 MR THOMAS HOG. 101 
 
 ed the court, knowing that Mr Hog was in the city, and 
 that he was endued with somewhat of a prophetic spirit, 
 spoke liberally of him at court, which drew King James's 
 attention so far, that he wanted Mr Hog should be consult- 
 ed concerning the state of affairs at that juncture. This 
 being communicated to Mr Hog by his friends, he concealed 
 hia mind for some time, till he had consulted the Lord in 
 prayer, and prepared for his departure thence, and then he 
 complied with their importunity, and told them (what also 
 he charged them to report faithfully,) " That if King James 
 had sincerely adhered to the principles of our holy reformed 
 religion, his throne had been established in righteousness ; 
 yea, if his majesty would yet give sincere evidence of his 
 turning from popery, matters might be well with him ; but 
 if he did it not suddenly, and sincerely, the land would 
 spew him out." This answer having been faithfully reported 
 to the king, orders were quickly issued out to apprehend 
 Mr Hog, and a strict search was made for him, but he, 
 having foreseen this evil, eschewed it by a speedy flight to 
 Holland. 
 
 Nor was Mr Hog's prophetic spirit confined only to things 
 on the dark side of the cloud ; some events of mercy were 
 also foretold by him,* such as, 
 
 1. TVTien he knew that he was to be put out of his charge 
 at Kiltearn, anno 1662, (as the most of our faithful minis- 
 ters were put out of theirs much about the same time,) he 
 had a farewell sermon to them, in which he took God and 
 their own consciences to witness, that he had not shunned 
 to declare to them the whole counsel of God, and that he 
 had foretold them the things they now saw coming. He 
 further told them, That the storm would be of long continu- 
 ance, but after all, the sky would clear, and he would live 
 to see it, and be called to his own charge again as minister 
 of Kiltearn, and die with them. " The truth of this I had 
 attested to me (says Mr Stuart) by several old men in the 
 parish, who were my Elders." And added Mr Hog, " If 
 
 From Mr Stuart.
 
 102 MEMOIB OP 
 
 any of you shall decline from that good way, and these 
 truths wherein ye have been taught, and shall comply with 
 the wicked designs now carried on, / take heaven and earth 
 to be witnesses against you ; I take the stones of these 
 walls I preach in, every word that was spoken, and every 
 one of you to be witnesses against another" With these, 
 and many other words, he warned and exhorted them, and 
 his labour was not in vain, for there was not a parish in 
 Scotland which complied less with the corruptions and defec- 
 tions of the time than his did. 
 
 The only other instance I shall name of the kind, was 
 his predicting the glorious deliverance at the Revolution, 
 by the means of the Prince of Orange. ^Tien he foretold 
 that miscarriage of Monmouth and Argyll, he added, " Yet 
 I am under apprehensions that our deliverance is reserved 
 for another happy instrument of the divine glory." And 
 when he went to Holland, he was soon introduced to the 
 Prince of Orange, who had him in great esteem for his sin- 
 gular piety and prudence, and therefore he took him into 
 the secret of his resolutions to do what he could to deliver 
 these nations from popery and tyranny ; in which that good 
 man being desired to declare his sedate thoughts, and most 
 deliberate sentiments, encouraged his Highness perhaps as 
 much as any who ever spoke to him upon the head, upon 
 topics of revelation and experience ; and assured him, if he 
 undertook the great work of delivering these nations from 
 Popery, and of securing the Protestant religion, with a sin- 
 cere eye to the glory of God, the Lord would be with him, 
 and make him successful, for he had the strongest impres- 
 sions that his Highness would be the happy instrument of 
 Providence in that deliverance.* 
 
 Yet, notwithstanding this extraordinary gift became thus 
 familiar to Mr Hog, he was exceeding cautious about it, 
 and afraid of an itching desire after it. Blind impulses, 
 violent, sudden, and unreasonable injections, he could not 
 away with, but many times testified against them ; as also 
 
 Mr Stuart's account.
 
 MB THOMAS HOG. 103 
 
 against light by dreams, visions, and voices, or any such 
 signs, as an adulterous generation, going a whoring from 
 God and the more sure word of prophecy, do seek after ; 
 and therefore it was his custom to examine these much in 
 the same way he did the answers to his prayers, which we 
 formerly noticed. 
 
 The interpositions of the providence of God for this his 
 gracious servant, in the time of his extremity, are also very 
 remarkable, and deserve a special memento. 
 
 The first time Mr Hog was imprisoned for the truth was 
 at Forres, anno 1668, upon a complaint for keeping con- 
 venticles, &c. There he was wonderfully strengthened and 
 comforted, and had great joy in his sufferings. The godly 
 who knew him, or heard of him, were also incessant at a 
 throne of grace on his account ; and several, experienced 
 in religion, amongst which number Mrs Ross was one, de- 
 clared afterward, that they never saw, or at any time found, 
 such a measure of the spirit of supplication as was then 
 poured out on many in Moray ; and their prayers, as one 
 saith of the Church's prayers for Peter while in a like case, 
 " set God a-working." The effect was, that Mr Hog, with- 
 out his own knowledge, and most unexpectedly of all his 
 friends, was set at liberty without any concessions on his 
 part. 
 
 A second instance of this kind is yet more remarkable.* 
 Mr Hog having, about the beginning of the year 1676, been 
 again apprehended for private conventicles, and sent up to 
 Edinburgh, he said to some persons in company, " I thank 
 my God, this messenger was most welcome to me ;" and 
 giving a scratch with his nail upon the wall, he said, " I 
 trust in the living God, that before my conscience shall get 
 that much of a scratch, this neck (pointing to it) shall go 
 for it." Accordingly, when put to the trial, he joyfully 
 submitted to a prison, rather than bind up himself from 
 preaching, and was therefore sent to the Bass, where hia 
 Christian carriage and conversation, composure, courage, 
 
 * Mr Stuart's and Mr Jamea Hog's accounts.
 
 104 MEMOIR OF 
 
 and pleasantness of spirit, proved very comfortable to the 
 other suffering ministers there. However, the air of the 
 place, and close confinement, affected his health very soon, 
 ind he fell into a bloody flux, which, in his case, was at- 
 tended with peculiar and very great danger. In this situa- 
 tion, a physician was called to his assistance from Edin- 
 burgh, who gave it as his opinion, that unless he was libe- 
 rated from that confinement, there was no hope of his re- 
 covery ; and he advised him to supplicate the council for 
 liberation for some short space, that means might be used 
 for the recovering of his health. Mr Hog hesitated to ad- 
 dress them ; whether because they were a mongrel court, 
 consisting of clergymen as well as laymen, or because he 
 judged they had no right to deny what he asked, or be- 
 cause he had no prospect of succeeding, is uncertain. How- 
 ever, the doctor, of his own accord, and without owning 
 Mr Hog in it, drew up a petition for him to the council, in 
 the strongest terms he could devise ; and the better to en- 
 sure a hearing, the clerk's dues were liberally paid. The 
 petition was.read, and some of the lay lords interceded for 
 Mr Hog, and said, while he was at liberty he lived more 
 quietly, and traversed not the country so much as other 
 Presbyterians did. Upon which, Archbishop Sharp, taking 
 up the argument, said, That the prisoner did, and was in a 
 capacity to do, more hurt to their interests, sitting in his 
 elbow chair, than twenty others could do by travelling from 
 this land to the other ; and if the justice of God was pur- 
 suing him to take him off the stage, the clemency of the 
 government should not interpose to hinder it ; and there- 
 fore it was his opinion, that if there were any place in the prison 
 worse than another, he should be put there. This motion 
 having been seconded by some other of the prelates and 
 their supports, was accordingly put to the vote, and it car- 
 ried, The closest prison in the Bass for him ; which was 
 speedily put in execution. When the keeper intimated 
 the order, Mr Hog raised himself up, with some difficulty, 
 in his bed to read the sentence, " which," said he, " was as
 
 ME THOMAS HOG. 105 
 
 severe as if Satan himself had penned it." William Bal- 
 loch, his servant, being with him when he was carried down 
 to a low nasty dungeon in. the Bass, fell a-weeping, and 
 cried, " Now, master, your death is unavoidable." Upon 
 this, the good man's eyes were directed to the Lord as his 
 physician, and turning to his servant, with a countenance 
 full of joy, he said, " Now that men have no mercy, the 
 Lord will shew himself merciful ; from the moment of my 
 entering this dungeon, I date my recovery." And so it 
 fell out, for the very next day he recovered to admiration, 
 and was in a short space as well as ever. And yet after- 
 wards, when any would have been speaking of the arch- 
 prelate (Sharp) in his hearing, he never shewed any re- 
 sentment, but sometimes would have said somewhat merrily, 
 ** Commend him to me for a good physician !" 
 
 The last instance I shall give, is in respect of the con- 
 itruction put upon it, as remarkable as any of the former. 
 About the year 1683, Mr Hog, who had some time before 
 that been liberated from the Bass, but on what condition 
 I have not learned,* fell again under the displeasure of the 
 managers ; and being convicted for holding private con- 
 venticles, he was banished by the Privy Council, and ordained 
 to remove forth of the kingdom within forty-eight hours, un- 
 less he would find caution not to exercise any part of hia 
 ministry under a penalty of 5000 merks, over and above 
 performance. This condition he would by no means sub- 
 mit to, and therefore he retired to Berwick within the time 
 limited ; and some time after he went up to London, with 
 a design of transporting himself from thence to Carolina 
 with the first opportunity. But the report of a plot by the 
 Presbyterians against the King and Duke of York having 
 been then industriously propagated by some about the 
 Court, Mr Hog was apprehended as a suspected person, and 
 thrown into prison. After he had lain there a good time, 
 with great patience, his money being near spent, (for be- 
 
 * He was confined to Kintjre on the pain of a thousand merks. 
 Woo. ii. 366.
 
 106 MEMOIR op 
 
 side his own and servant's maintenance, he paid ten shil- 
 lings sterling weekly to the keeper for a room, that he might 
 have a place of retirement by himself, and not be put down 
 amongst common felons and ruffians), he says to his servant, 
 " William, I'll set to-morrow apart for prayer, and see that 
 no person be allowed to come in to interrupt me." Accord- 
 ingly he, arose early, and continued close at meditation, 
 prayer, and reading such scriptures as were suggested as 
 matter of argument in prayer, till about twelve o'clock, 
 when a person in the habit of a gentleman desired to speak 
 with him. William Balloch told him his master was retir- 
 ed, and behoved not to be interrupted at that time ; but the 
 other interceded that he might tell his master a friend 
 wanted to see him : upon which William, seeing him of a 
 grave and pleasant aspect, reported his desire to his master, 
 who ordered him to shew the gentleman into his chamber. 
 Mr Hog received him courteously, and the other entertained 
 him with a discourse about sufferings for a good God and 
 a good cause, and shewed that "our light afflictions are 
 but for a moment, and not to be compared with the glory 
 that shall be revealed." And having insisted on this sub- 
 ject a few minutes, with great pertinence, power, and spiri- 
 tuality, he arose and embraced Mr Hog most lovingly, ex- 
 horted him to a patient continuance in well doing ; and 
 then he took out of his pocket a white paper, and gave it 
 to him. Mr Hog finding its weight, understood it was 
 money, and said to the stranger, " Upon what account, Sir, 
 do you give me this money ?" The other answered, " Be- 
 cause I am appointed by our great and exalted Master to 
 do so." Mr Hog asked his name, and he refusing to tell, 
 Mr Hog said, " Sir, it is not curiosity that prompts me to 
 ask ; but I hope to be enlarged, and then I should account 
 it my duty to call for you at your dwelling in this city, for 
 I suppose you are a citizen of London." The other replied, 
 " You must ask no more questions, but be faithful unto 
 death, and thou shalt have a crown of life ;" and then be 
 retired, and Mr Hog never saw him nor heard from him any
 
 MR THOMAS HOG. 107 
 
 more u This story I had (says Mr Stuart) from William 
 Balloch, a gracious man, and accounted a person of as great 
 veracity as any of his station in the kingdom, who was an 
 eye and ear witness to what he reported, and said, there 
 was so much majesty and sweetness in the man, and so 
 great an aversion to tell who he was, that he inclined to 
 think he was an angel." But whatever be in that, the in- 
 terposition of Providence for Mr Hog was extremely sea- 
 sonable and signal, and he was made to see the Lord 
 humbling himself, and answering his prayer, for when he 
 opened the paper, there was five pounds sterling in it, which 
 to the good man was sweeter than he had got 1000 settled 
 on him yearly, without seeing the glory of infinite wisdom, 
 love, and faithfulness, in the conveyance which shone forth 
 in the gift now made him 
 
 Having now seen, that to Mr Hog it was given, on the 
 account of Christ, not only to believe on his name, but 
 also to suffer for his sake, and that the language of the 
 Lord's procedure towards him was like that to the Prophet 
 Daniel, " man, greatly beloved !" it may be of use for 
 others, that, from Mr James Hog's account of his life, we 
 do shortly represent his principles, with respect to public 
 matters controverted in his day. 
 
 Mr Thomas Hog was in his judgment on the side of 
 those called Protesters, and, according to the historians, 
 Messrs Wodrow and Crookshank, he was, in the beginning 
 of the year 1661, deposed by the Synod of Ross, because 
 he would not disclaim that party judicially. 
 
 He was clear against hearing the curates, and when 
 questioned for this, he answered, that he looked on himself 
 as obliged by the equity of the thing, and the rather, because 
 of the superadded solemnity of the covenants which he had 
 sworn, to lay out himself in just and regular ways, towards 
 the extirpation of prelacy, with whatsoever belongs to that 
 antichristian hierarchy. And considering the laws enjoined 
 bearing of the curates, as a public test of approbation o 
 <uid compliance with His Majesty's ecclesiastic government,
 
 108 MEMOIH or 
 
 or the supremacy, as explained and declared to be an in- 
 herent right of the crown, and prelacy, as the king's govern- 
 ment ecclesiastic : when he further considered, that all 
 protestations, remonstrances, and other testimonies against 
 the same, were by law discharged as seditious, he could see 
 no other method left of keeping his solemn and sacred oath, 
 but that of not hearing them ; neither could he see that 
 the patron's presentation, and collation from the bishop, was 
 the door of access to his ministry, appointed by the Great 
 Shepherd of the sheep, and therefore could not look upon 
 a person having these, and no more, as authorized by God 
 to carry his message to his people. And, according to Mrs 
 Ross, he was the main instrument of licensing the first that 
 was licensed in Scotland, without compliance of Episcopacy: 
 and that the first person so licensed was Mr James Fraser 
 of Brae, we further gather from the original copy of that 
 gentleman's life, written by himself, chap. ix. sect. 1, though 
 that whole section, with several other parts of hia life, are 
 omitted in the printed copy. 
 
 For the public oaths of that time, Mr Hog was in no 
 hesitation as to their being established in downright oppo- 
 sition to our vows and covenants, and in several respects 
 incompatible with Christian liberty and a good conscience. 
 
 Touching the indulgences granted by King Charles II, 
 he agreed with worthy Mr John Brown and Mr Robert 
 Mac Ward, and thought honest ministers, as Mr John Welsh, 
 Mr John Blackader, and others of that sort, were in then- 
 duty, who chose rather to jeopard their lives by preaching 
 in the fields, than to take shelter under that ensnaring 
 gourd ; yet he upon all occasions expressed a just regard 
 to the image of Christ wherever he saw it, notwithstanding 
 of their having different views about matters disputed, and 
 was utterly against withdrawing from Presbyterian ministers, 
 who either had not taken the benefit of the indulgence, or, 
 having taken it, were afterwards ejected, and exposed to 
 suffering for their integrity ; and as he pitied well-meaning 
 people, who abstained from hearing all except Mr Cameron,
 
 MA THOMAS HOG. 109 
 
 and disapproved what was singular in their opinion, he wa 
 at pains to reclaim such of them as he had occasion to see, 
 and prevailed with some, for which others of them were 
 filled with indignation against him, and resented it by names 
 and ways, which some gracious persons amongst them did 
 afterward repent. 
 
 Neither could he go all the length that some went in dis- 
 owning the civil government. That Charles II. and James 
 VET. were our kings, were facts (said he) sadly felt, and what 
 no body could reasonably deny. The Lord in his adorable 
 providence had, for our trial, brought us under these yokes, 
 (as his people of old were captives under the Babylonish 
 Monarch for seventy years), and required us patiently to 
 bear his indignation, until it should please him to open a 
 way for our relief; yet he was of opinion, that in some in- 
 stances the case was so stated as subjection might be war- 
 rantably refused. For instance, in that ticklish case of re- 
 fusing to pray for the king, wherewith many of the sufferers, 
 towards the end of the persecution, were stigmatized, he 
 could find few, if any, who, when the question was fairly 
 stated, were not disposed, in sincerity, to pray for the king's 
 happiness and salvation, as for their own : but when the 
 barbarous officers, or soldiers, would have required poor la- 
 bouring men to say off hand, " Grod save the king," and ex- 
 plained it as meaning in downright terms a praying for 
 God's blessing his Majesty, and prospering him in the (then) 
 present administration of his government, there the ground 
 of suffering was so clearly stated, that several found their 
 hearts filled with joy at being accounted worthy to suffer 
 upon that point alone. 
 
 The toleration granted by King James VII. for usher- 
 ing in his darling popery, in July 1687, was what he did 
 greatly dread, and he did still more detest the flattering and 
 disingenuous addresses sent up to that Prince ; yet when 
 he understood that other Presbyterians were improving that 
 liberty with great advantage to their people, and found the 
 infirmities of old age increase upon him, he returned to
 
 110 MEMOIK 0? 
 
 Scotland about the beginning of the memorable year 1688> 
 where he staid till the year 1691, at which time his old 
 parishioners finding the way cleared for his reception, aent 
 commissioners to accompany him back to his parish of Kil- 
 tearn, where he was received with great joy in June or July 
 that year. But his constitution being broken, he was very 
 unable to discharge his function much in public after that ; 
 however, his private conversation became ever the more 
 heavenly, till he entered into the joy of his Lord, the fourth 
 day of January 1692. 
 
 King William, of happy memory, having, by the time 
 Mr Hog took possession of his old charge, got leisure to 
 attend to his domestic affairs, and to reward the merit of 
 his friends, resolved on having this good man near him ; 
 and for that purpose he sent him a commission to be cue of 
 his family chaplains, which was no mean evidence of the 
 sense that penetrating sovereign had of his merit, and of 
 the truth of his prediction concerning himself ; but before 
 that honour was bestowed on him, he was seized with 
 the trouble, or rather the complication of troubles, whereof 
 he died. 
 
 Amongst the many who visited Mr Hog, " I," says Mr 
 Stuart, " was one. The first time I visited him I preached 
 for him, and the excellency of his conversation (which I 
 shall never forget) engaged me to stay eight days with him. 
 A.t an after visit, he asked me if I was pre-engaged to settle 
 at Inverness ? for I was then a helper there. I told him, I 
 was not to that, nor any place else. * Then,' said he, ' 
 nave thought of your settlement in this place, for, if I live, I 
 think I will be importuned to go elsewhere ;' and thereupon 
 he shewed me his patent to be one of King William's chap- 
 lains ; ' and, if I die soon, as I think I shall, in either case, 
 I incline you should succeed me :' and having told me the 
 disposition of the people, and what qualifications he judged 
 necessary for their edification, he recommended to me to 
 pray upon it, and ask counsel of God concerning it. The 
 greatest leugth I could, however, go in a matter of that rm-
 
 MR THOMAS HOG. 3 I i 
 
 portance while he lived, was to entertain serious thoughw 
 about it ; and notwithstanding I found it my duty to conceal 
 the motion, the parishioners were acquainted with his de- 
 sire, and after his death they were harmonious and zealous 
 in promoting it. In this the desire of his heart was accom- 
 plished. It was indeed a great weight on my spirit to suc- 
 ceed so great a man ; but I can say, to the praise of sove- 
 reign grace, that while I was there, I was powerfully and 
 sweetly supported." 
 
 Mr Hog's last sickness was considerably long, and ac- 
 companied with great pain. One time, his judicious ser- 
 vant hearing the heavy moans he made, humbly asked him, 
 whether it was soul or bodily pain that extorted such 
 heavy groans from him ? To which he replied pleasantly 
 and composedly, " No soul trouble, man, for a hundred and 
 hundred times my Lord hath assured me that I shall be 
 with him for ever ; but I am making moan for my body ;" 
 and thereupon he entertained him agreeably, concerning 
 the Lord's purging away sin from his own children in this 
 manner, (Isa. xxvii. 9). At another time he said, " Pity me, 
 ye my friends, and do not pray for my life ; you see I 
 have a complication of diseases ; allow me to go to my 
 eternal rest ;" and then with deep concern of soul he cried, 
 " Look, my God, upon mine affliction and my pain, and 
 forgive all my sins." And yet, says his servant, never was 
 his conversation more heavenly and spiritual, than when he 
 was thus chastised. Towards his end, he was much feasted 
 with our Saviour's comfortable message to his disciples, 
 (John xx. 17), " I ascend unto my Father and your Father, 
 and to my God and your God." To the writer of the Remark- 
 able Passages he said, " He could not give a look to the Lord, 
 but he was fully persuaded of his everlasting love." And 
 to Mr Stuart he said at another time, " Never did the sun 
 in the firmament shine more brightly to the eyes of my body, 
 than Christ the Sun of Righteousness hath shined on my 
 soul." " Some time after this," continues the same writer, 
 " When I understood that he was very low, I made him my
 
 112 MEMOIR OF Mil THOMAS HOG. 
 
 last visit, and when I asked how he did, he answered, ' The 
 unchangeableness of my God is my rock.' Upon Sabbath 
 evening, for I staid with him that week, when I came in 
 from the church, his speech was unintelligible to me, but 
 his servant said he desired me to pray, and commit his 
 soul and body to his God. After prayer I retired a little, 
 and when I returned, I found all present in tears at his dis- 
 solution, especially his wife and his faithful servant William 
 Balloch." Mr James Hog and the writer of the Remarkable 
 Passages add, that as Mr Thomas Hog had many times 
 foretold that his Lord and Husband was coming, so in the 
 end he cried out, " Now he is come, he is come, my Lord 
 is come ! praises, praises to him for evermore ! Amen." 
 And with that word, death closed his eyes.
 
 113 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 No. I. 
 
 CONTAINING- AN ABSTRACT OF MR HOG'S MANNER OF DEALING 
 WITH PERSONS UNDER CONVICTIONS. 
 
 First, he laid down some preliminary observations ; as, 
 
 1. That declining or shifting a fair and scriptural inquiry 
 in any concern of religion, is a shrewd sign that matters 
 are utterly wrong, (John iii. 19, 20). 
 
 2. That something like a convincing work may have place 
 in some cases, and yet prove delusive, especially, (1.) In the 
 case of melancholy : where this dreadful malady is, it putteth 
 a dismal garb on every thing, and consequently sin must 
 appear terrible also. Evil spirits do ordinarily make a spe- 
 cial handle of this disease, to lead to desperate courses. 
 Thus, sin proves in so far a considerable part of the disease. 
 In this case the mind is dark and confused, and according 
 as the malady prevails or abates, the mind is sad or cheer- 
 ful ; and yet the poor creature can give no reason for either. 
 Besides, melancholy doth ordinarily utterly indispose the 
 patient for action, and rendereth him both unfit and en- 
 tirely averse from it ; whereas convictions set home upon 
 the conscience by the Spirit of God from the word, are 
 made effectual for exciting to a diligent use of means, as 
 one would do when his house is all in a flame about his 
 ears. Melancholy may be taken off by medicines ; but sav- 
 ing conviction admits of no cure, till the same spirit which 
 awakened, drop in the healing salve as deep as the wound. 
 Yet in the case of several awakened persons, there is a 
 
 ii
 
 114 MEMOIR OF THOMAS HOCK 
 
 mixture of this malady ; but the Lord overrules it so, as, 
 contrary to its nature, it issues into a distinct concern about 
 their eternal state. When this is the posture of matters, 
 it is happy if the malady be carried off by medicines, and 
 the soul's concern continue and grow ; yet ordinarily in 
 this complex case, the soul's cure bringeth health to the 
 body also, according to Job xxxiii. 23-25, Psal. ciii. 1-3. 
 (2.) Somewhat like to convictions on the mind may be the 
 effect of discontent upon the account of some worldly loss 
 or trouble. This is that sorrow which worketh death, (2 
 Cor. vii. 10). Such a pretended malady would be cured 
 by bettering the worldly circumstances ; yet sometimes this 
 malady hath been blessed of the Lord for ushering in con- 
 victions, (2 Chron. xxxiii. 11-13, Job xxxvi. 8, 9, Psal. 
 cvii. 10-13). And (3.) specious resemblances of soul ex- 
 ercise, are sometimes derived from a secret consciousness of 
 some atrocious and scandalous crime, punishable, by the 
 civil powers, or censurable by the church ; but here the 
 shame, and not the sin, is that which troubles the soul, (Gen. 
 iv. 13, 14, Matt, xxvii. 3-5). Yet even such dismal oc- 
 casions may be made effectual for bringing the soul under 
 a genuine concern about its eternal state ; and where that 
 is the case, the patient will be found very willing to glorify 
 God by an open and free acknowledgment, (Psal. li). 
 
 3. A third preliminary he laid down was, the detection of the 
 sinner's true estate as a child of the first Adam who had sin- 
 ned in him, and was now fallen with him, who therefore is in 
 the same state whereinto Satan broughfcus all by that conquest, 
 and further hardened therein by a course of transgressions. 
 
 4. That there is no attaining of any thing that is good 
 and acceptable to the Lord, antecedent to saving faith ; or 
 in other words, till we be in Christ. (Heb. xi. 6, Horn. xiy. 
 23, Matt. vii. 17-19.) And 
 
 5. That there is an enlightening work about sin as well 
 as about righteousness carried in upon the conscience by the 
 Spirit of God, in a suitableness to the sinner's circumstan 
 fiated case, (John xyi. 8-10).
 
 APPENDIX. 115 
 
 Secondly, For discovering whether the Holy Spirit was 
 preparing his way towards a saving change on the soul, Mr 
 Hog used to inquire, 
 
 1 . Where ? On what occasion, and from what places of 
 scripture it had pleased the Lord to carry home a convic- 
 tion of sin upon the conscience ? Whether it was particular? 
 Whether the conviction carried from the streams to the 
 fountain of our guilt ? And, upon the whole, Whether such 
 a discovery of sin had been diffused through the soul with 
 a strong hand, so as the patient was made to acknowledge 
 his former ignorance of the exceeding sinfulness of his sins, 
 and that he never saw them in the light he now does ? (John 
 iv. 29, Rom. iii. 9). 
 
 2. Whether the patient had ever found himself under the 
 condemnatory sentence of the broken covenant of works, 
 and so bound justly over to the wrath to come ? However 
 various the methods are of the Lord's disposure of his crea- 
 tures, yet still this holds, that the Spirit of God giveth a 
 true detection of the sinner's state, as it is in reality ; for 
 he is the Spirit of truth, and setteth in a true light, what 
 he manifesteth from the word to the conscience, (Heb. iv. 
 12, Eph. v. 13). 
 
 3. He further inquired, How the patient found himself 
 affected with this sentence ? This inquiry consisted more 
 especiaEy of two parts, (1.) Whether the weight of this 
 sentence had fallen more heavily upon the conscience, than 
 any worldly loss, pain or trouble, could affect the mind ? 
 (Prov. xviii. 14, John vi. 2-4, Acts ii. 87, and xvi. 
 30, 31.) And (2.) In the event of much felt hardness and 
 confusion, which is usually the case of the patient thu cir- 
 cumstanced, he inquired, Whether this confusion and hard- 
 ness was looked upon as an evil greater, and to be more 
 lamented, than any worldly loss or trouble ? (Isa. i. 6). 
 
 Thirdly, For discovering the more rude and unformed 
 beginnings of a gracious and distinguishing change, the 
 heads of inquiry were, 
 
 1. Whether in the above case the patient hath had hie
 
 llti MUM-UK OK THOMAS HOG. 
 
 mouth stopped in the persuasion of the entire and spotless 
 equity of the Lord's disposure, being fully convinced that 
 no person did ever so thoroughly deserve to be cast into 
 utter darkness ? Hence the exercised soul admireth and 
 adoreth the justice of the judge, and is filled with wonder 
 at his long suffering patience; and when his proud and daring 
 spirit putteth forth itself in murmurings, he condemns and 
 abhors himself for them. These are the gall and wormwood 
 in his cup, (Judge x. 15). 
 
 2. Whether, while the patient is pointing towards the 
 rich and free mercy of his sovereign Lord, he is troubled 
 with a two-fold impediment ? (1.) A thick and dark vail 
 of ignorance upon his mind : he knoweth not how to manage, 
 and is utterly unacquainted with the method of grace, and 
 he finds that no human instruction can remove this vail, 
 (Isa. xxv. 7). And (2.) a haughtiness of spirit which hin- 
 dereth him from submitting to the Lord Jesus Christ, as his 
 righteousness ; and he is made to acknowledge himself as 
 truly destitute of righteousness, as Christ was entirely free 
 of sin in his own person, and that of all mankind he stands 
 most in need of a perfect righteousness. 
 
 Fourthly, For discovering the further dawning and nearer 
 approach of the day of grace, Mr Hog inquired, Whether, 
 while this matter continued in suspense, the patient found 
 a firm resolution in the Lord's strength, never to return to 
 former lords and lovers ; and, on the other hand, a firm 
 resolution, in the same strength, to wait prostrate at the 
 footstool of sovereign grace, until the day of grace and 
 mercy break forth, however heavy the delay be ? And 
 where this was the case, it was his opinion, that a gracious 
 issue was ordinarily near at hand ? (Psa. xl. 12, Mic. vii. 7-9, 
 ^sa. xxvii. 14, and Ixii. 1, 2). 
 
 Fifthly, For discovering the issue of convictions of the 
 right kind, Mr Hog inquired, 
 
 1. Whether (which is chiefly decisive in this matter) the 
 mind was enlightened to know Christ as he is offered in the 
 gospel, as our prophet, priest, and king, as made of God
 
 AH'SVUIX ! 17 
 
 unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, aud redemp- 
 tion, (1 Cor. i 30). But more especially his character, as 
 " The Lord our righteousness," (Jer. xxiii. 6), hath its pecu- 
 liar relation unto the lost, miserable, and undone situation, 
 wherein the sinner findeth himself at the time? (2 Cor. iv. 6. 
 Acts xxvi. 18). 
 
 2. Whether the soul hath been drawn forth by invincible 
 power to close with the person of Christ, as standing in a 
 marriage relation to him, and to receive and rest upon him, 
 not only as the Saviour in general, but as his Saviour in 
 particular ? according to John 1. xii, Heb. x. 39, Isa. 
 xxvi. 3, &c. 
 
 3. Whether the poor tossed sinner hath found somewhat 
 of quiet rest in pointing this way under Christ's drawing, 
 after all his legal resolutions, prayers, fasting, vows, &c., had 
 utterly failed ? (Matt. xi. 28-3*0, Luke xv. 16-18, Psa. 
 Ixxxix. 19, Jer. xvii. 5, 6, Acts iv. 12, Heb. iv. 3). 
 
 4. Whether, according to the measure of the knowledge 
 that the person hath got of the jrlory of God in the face of 
 Jesus Christ, a pleasant sense of gratitude, and impression 
 of the love of Christ, have strongly and sweetly engaged the 
 soul to the whole of new obedience, without exception or 
 reserve ? (Ps. xviii. 1. and cxvi. 1, 2 Cor. v. 14). And, 
 
 5. Whether under all subsequent burden by sin, of what- 
 soever sort, or by the fruits of the same, the main propen- 
 sity of the soul be to seek ease and relief in the humble 
 acknowledgment of guilt before the Lord, and by faith im- 
 ploring pity and pardon for Christ's sake alone ? (Psa. xxxii. 
 2-5, Prov. xxviii. 13, 1 John i .9, Hos. v. 15, Lev. xxvi. 
 40-42). 
 
 But, upon the whole, it was Mr Hog's opinion, that in 
 judging of soul-exercise, we should have a special respect to 
 the issues, for that it is very difficult, if at all possible, 
 before the respective issues, to fix the difference betwixt 
 what is right and kindly, and that which may issue in a 
 further strengthening of Satan's kingdom, (Luke xi. 24-26) 
 Much depends upon the cool, or cure, of these soul fevers,
 
 118 MEMOIK OF THOMAS HOG. 
 
 which will prove either health or ruin to the patient, if so- 
 vereign and free mercy set not matters right again, (John 
 xvi. 8, 9.) Conviction of sin is best verified by the subse- 
 quent conviction of righteousness, and that again by convic- 
 tion of judgment. 
 
 No.n. 
 
 ACCOUNT OF MR THOMAS HOG OF KILTEARN, EXTRACTED FROM 
 MS. MEMOIRS OF JAMES NIMMO, COUNCILLOR AND TREASUR- 
 ER OF EDINBURGH. WodroW MS. 
 
 " How pleasant did the Lord at length make the godly in 
 that place* to me, and particularly that singularly holy 
 man of God, Mr Thomas Hog, who was a true father to our 
 Israel, and to whom all that feared the Lord, that knew 
 him, had a great deference, yea, enemies themselves, he be- 
 ing not only endued with much of the mind of God, but 
 also with much of a clear judgment and a solid sound mind ; 
 and albeit courteous to all, yet would not omit with au- 
 thority to reprove sin in any, but still with such gaining 
 wisdom, that all feared him, the godly loved him, and ene- 
 mies could find nothing against him except in the matters 
 of his God, when he would not yield a hoof; and yet managed 
 with that respect and discretion towards enemies, that often 
 they were made to admire him ; for in his Master's concerns 
 he spoke as one having authority, yet without the least 
 evidence of rancour or irritation always. In his younger 
 years he, and that eminently pious woman Mrs Ross by her 
 husband, and Katherine Collace by name, by providence 
 were made acquaint, and both being deeply exercised in 
 soul, by the blessing of the Lord were helped to build up 
 one another in Christ Jesus. And thereby the Lord made 
 them signally useful to others in like cases, and particularly 
 
 Murray or Naimshir*.
 
 APPENDIX. 1 1 9 
 
 Mr Hog, whom the Lord called forth more remarkably 
 in his particular calling : who albeit the Lord gave him DO 
 children, yet the Lord once gave him powerfully that scrip- 
 ture, and fulfilled it to him, " I will give thee a name better 
 than of sons and daughters," making him the instrument of 
 begetting many sons and daughters to the Lord. And it 
 was his great care, as a father, to convince and humble them 
 by the Lord's assistance, and then to comfort and confirm 
 them in due time ; to do which the Lord, both by preach- 
 ing and conference, singularly assisted him, more I judge 
 than any in his day." He " had come from the south, where 
 he had been prisoner long for his faithfulness, and at once 
 eighteen months in the castle of the Bass." P. 37-39. 
 
 " Some time before," January 29th 1682, he, " after long 
 imprisonment, was come north, under bond given for his 
 friends, to answer the king's council when called." P. 29. 
 
 " About the beginning of March 1683, Mr Hog had sent 
 his godly servant, William Balloch, to warn Nimmo, that 
 at a ball in Kilravoch, Lord Doune, (son of the Earl of 
 Moray,) swore if he was in Murray he would have Nimmo 
 laid in prison, who thereupon went south to Edinburgh, and 
 thence to Berwick." P. 67, 75. 
 
 Here, on its environs, they continued to reside, when on 
 " the first of November [1683] our dear and worthy friend, 
 Mr Thomas Hog, who was out of prison upon bond to an- 
 swer the council at call, was then to appear before them," 
 p. 86. " Our dear and worthy friend, Mr Hog, was banished 
 by act of council to be out of the kingdom of Scotland in 
 forty-eight hours' time under severe penalties. They indeed 
 offered him six weeks to provide for his banishment, if he 
 would give bond, as some had done, not to exercise any part of 
 his ministerial function during that time. He told them, it 
 was like, being under much frailness of body, he would not b 
 able ; but as he had his commission from God, he would not 
 bind up himself one hour, if the Lord called him and gave 
 him strength : and therefore so little time was allowed. Se 
 be caused a coach, agreed for, to come to the tolbooth door
 
 120 MEMOIR OP THOMAS HOO. 
 
 and take him in ; and upon April 3, he came to Berwick, 
 to the great comfort of our minds," " My wife's intimate 
 friend, Mrs Hog, also several others of some note of our 
 own land." P. 88, 89. 
 
 Nimmo and Hog had their houses near to each other, 
 and " one day there came certain word of a general search 
 through the town ; and accordingly, after dinner the garrison 
 began, and the ports were closed, and houses searched, and 
 haylofts, the hay overturned with great pains. They began 
 at the next house where Mr Hog and I went, and searched 
 round, and so our house was last, and a mercy also. Mr 
 Hog went to a private closet behind the hinging (bed-cur- 
 tain), and I went up to a little place for doves, above a fore 
 stair, where I could only sit or lie, but not stand, to which 
 only a deal (deal-board) did lift and came down again, so ex- 
 actly as made of purpose ; and so we were in prisons till they 
 went the round of search ; and against they came back to 
 our house it was growing dark, and they much fatigued, 
 and * * our landlord, a true friend, 
 
 met them at the entry, and said he judged they were weary ; 
 would they take a bottle of his ale and beer ? to which they 
 willingly agreed and accepted of. And he did carry plea- 
 santly, and diverted them for some time, and told them, an 
 old woman his mother lived in the lodging beside him, and 
 if they pleased they might go in and see there was none 
 else there ; which they refused, saying they would not 
 trouble the old gentlewoman, and so were gone. And im- 
 mediately the landlord came to Mr flog and me, and took 
 us in his arms, with as much joy as if he had got a prize, 
 said that all was over, and so we mercifully escaped them." 
 P 95, 96. 
 
 Kennoway having said, if Nimmo was out of hell he would 
 have him, (at hearing of which, blessed Mr Hog said, " If 
 ye were in heaven, I fear he would not win there to seek 
 you,") p. 110, 111, " I resolved, if the Lord would, to go 
 abroad. And Mr Hog being to go for London, to see if 
 there was any encouragement to go to Carolina, and thereby
 
 APPENDIX. 121 
 
 my faithful companion in tribulation, my wife, was to be 
 left alone in a garrisoned town. About the 8th of April 
 (1685), I was resolving to go to London with Mr Hog. The 
 day before we were to go, Mr Hog asked me, if the Lord 
 had given me full clearance to go. I told him I had some 
 peace, but not that desired clearance. He desired me to 
 take some time apart to seek the Lord's mind on that mat- 
 ter, and said, " Albeit you would be desirable to me, yet I 
 advise either to get full clearance, or not to go." Nimmo 
 took time, and " resolved to stay, and had peace therein, 
 but it displeased Mrs Hog ; but her husband sweetly com- 
 plied, and he and his godly servant went." In a little 
 time after Mr Hog went, there was a great report of an in- 
 vasion both to Scotland and England ; and shortly after 
 Mr Hog came to London, he was jealoused (suspected) for 
 a spy and trafficker for Monmouth, taken, and the English 
 oaths offered ; and upon refusing to take them, both he and 
 servant were sent to prison." P. 115117. 
 
 Before shipping at Burntisland, on 23d November 1685, 
 " we heard some report that Mr Hog was liberated at Lon- 
 don, and gone for Holland, which was ground of encourage- 
 ment." " Before we came from Scotland, there had come 
 a line from Mr Hog, giving account of his being safe at 
 Rotterdam, to whom, when landed, (4th December 1685,) 
 we went and staid with him some few nights, till we got 
 the foresaid chamber ; and, indeed, he and his wife were 
 our parents to their power." P. 127, 128. 
 
 20th October 1686, Nimiuo having domestic anxieties, 
 observes, " Our blest father and friend, Mr Hog, was gone 
 the term of Whitsunday before to the Hague, where I some 
 time went, and as his company and advice were refreshing, 
 so my going there was refreshing. Some time after, (after 
 the 5th of November,) as he had baptized our eldest son 
 John, so we took this second to the Hague to him, where 
 he was baptized James ; at which time was such signal 
 and observable power and presence of the Lord, that not 
 only I but others were made to say, they never heard nor
 
 122 MEMOIR OP MR THOMAS HOG. 
 
 felt more of the authority of the Lord in any ordinance, 
 than when he pronounced his name, and the names of the 
 persons of the ever blessed Trinity." P. 133, 134. 
 
 " Even in this place, the fugitives in Rotterdam were 
 not without danger from the enemy ; for some were without 
 order gripped, put aboard, and sent for England, and there 
 hanged, some alleged murdered : in that place where we 
 were, some, attacked by violence with sword in hand, to be 
 carried off, and they defending themselves, resisting force 
 with force, in wounds and blood, till the magistrates of 
 Rotterdam took and imprisoned both till examined, and by 
 the mob forced to justice, albeit inclinable enough to them- 
 selves ; and some of these attackers were in prison when 
 the Prince of Orange came over at the happy revolution. 
 And sometimes there was a search procured by Bang James 
 from the States ; but they kindly gave some advertisement, 
 that Scots people might be on their guard ; as particularly 
 one for Sir James Stewart, who narrowly escaped by the 
 importunity of old Mr Hog, in whose house he was, that he 
 would go out, having heard the search (which put us all in 
 alarm) was to be that night." P. 135. 
 
 On King James' toleration, " severals went home. Al- 
 beit our worthy friend Mr Hog never joined therewith, so 
 as to preach by virtue thereof, yet, after seeking the Lord, 
 he determined and went to Scotland, which was a great 
 seeming loss to me." P. 136. 
 
 Mrs Hog came home with Nimmo to Edinburgh on the 1st 
 of May 1688. Mr Hog gave Nimmo his advice in his house- 
 hold affairs. About January 1690, Nimmo'a third sou was 
 born, and named Thomas, " after blessed Mr Hog, who had 
 married us, and baptized our three former children in three 
 several nation*." P. 148, 138, 139, 145.
 
 123 
 
 NO. m. 
 
 / 
 KB HOG^S DEPOSITION. 
 
 So well was the deprecated act (which overturned Pre- 
 byterianism and set up Episcopacy in its place) received by 
 the time-serving Synod of Ross, that they urged it into 
 effect against one of their own body, more than a year be- 
 fore the ejection of the other non-conforming clergymen. 
 In a meeting of the Synod which took place in 1661, the 
 person chosen as moderator wag one Murdoch Mackenzie ; 
 a man so strong in his attachments, that he had previously 
 sworn to the National Covenant no fewer than fourteen 
 times, and he had now fallen as desperately in love with the 
 Bishoprick of Moray. One of his brethren, however, an 
 unmanageable, dangerous person, for he was uncompromis- 
 ingly honest, and possessed of very considerable talent, 
 stood directly in the way of his preferment. This member, 
 the celebrated Mr Hog of Kiltearn, had not sworn to the 
 Covenant half so often as his superior, the Moderator, but 
 then so wroug-headed was he as to regard his few oaths as 
 binding ; and he could not bring himself to like Prelacy any 
 the better for its being espoused by the king. And so his 
 expulsion was evidently a matter of necessity. The Mode- 
 rator had nothing to urge against his practice : for no one 
 could excel him in the an of living well ; but his opinions 
 lay more within his reach ; an-? no sooner had the Synod 
 met, than singling him out, he demanded what his thoughts 
 were of the Protesters the party of Presbyterians who, 
 about ten years before, had not taken part with the king 
 against the Republicans. Mr Hog declined to answer; 
 and on being removed, that the Synod might deliberate, -the 
 Moderator rose and addressed them. Their brother of Kil- 
 tes*ru, he said, was certainly a great man a rcry great
 
 124 MEMOIR OP MR THOMAS HOG. 
 
 man, but as certainly were the Protesters opposed to the 
 king ; and if any member of Synod took part with them, 
 whatever his character, it was evidently the duty of the 
 other members to have him expelled. Mr Hog was then 
 called in, and having refused, as was anticipated, judicially 
 to disown the Protesters, sentence of deposition was passed 
 against him. But the consciences of the men who thus 
 dealt with him, betrayed in a very remarkable manner their 
 real estimate of his conduct. It is stated by Wodrow, on 
 the authority of an eye-witness, that sentence was passed 
 with a peculiar air of veneration, as if they were ordaining 
 him to some higher office ; and that the Moderator was so 
 deprived of his self-possession as to remind him, in a conso- 
 latory speech, that " our Lord Jesus Christ had suffered 
 great wrong from the Scribes and Pharisees." (From Mil- 
 ler's Scenes and Legends of the North of Scotland.) 
 
 No. IV. 
 
 TRADITIONARY NOTICES OP MB THOMAS HOG. 
 
 While this portion of the Work was going through the 
 press, the following notices of Hog were kindly transmit- 
 ted by the Rev. William Barclay, minister of the Free 
 Church, Air, Nairn, which we consider too interesting to 
 be omitted : 
 
 " The tradition is still preserved here, and I never heard 
 a doubt of the fact expressed, that Mr Thomas Hog settled 
 for some time at Knockowdie, in this parish (of Auldearn) 
 which is doubtless the same as what is called Knockgaudy, 
 in the memoir to which you refer. The tradition also is, 
 that he preached the gospel not only in his private house 
 there, but also in other places in the neighbourhood. His 
 principal preaching station was on the farm of Dalmore,
 
 APPENDIX. 125 
 
 belonging to the curate of Lethen, on which farm our Free 
 Church is huilt ; and there is a deep valley on that farm, 
 through which a small stream flows, that is generally dried 
 up in summer, but which is pretty large in times of ram, m 
 which valley he was wont to assemble his congregation, and 
 in which he dispensed to them the sacrament of the Lord's 
 Supper. The place is called Hog's Stripe to this day ; and 
 the stone on which he sat during the time the congregation 
 was singing is still there. The place is very near to Knock- 
 owdie. Between these two places there flows a stream, 
 called there the burn of Dalmore, and below that, the 
 burn of Auldearn, over which there was a bridge, which 
 was called the clattering brig. It was a very low bridge, 
 and rude in its construction, being formed by laying a flag 
 or two upon some stones rudely built up at each side ; and 
 the tradition says, that on one occasion, when Mr Hog was 
 pursued by his persecutors, he hid himself under that bridge, 
 and that while he was hid there, he heard his persecutors 
 pass over it, swearing, that if he was on this side of hell, 
 they would find him. The tradition also says, that he was 
 in the way of preaching at Lethen ; and that on one occa- 
 sion, when he was preaching there, he observed a man 
 laugh at something which he had said ; upon which Mr Hog 
 paused, and desired his congregation to mark that man, 
 and see whether some signal token of the divine displeasure 
 would not soon overtake him ; and before the next morning 
 the man was dead. This is the substance of the tradition 
 which exists in this neighbourhood on the subject. The 
 success with which God blessed his ministry is also spoken
 
 AN 
 
 ABBREVIATE OF THE LIFE 
 
 OF THK 
 
 REV. MR HENRY ERSKINE, 
 
 MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL. 
 
 BY HIS SON. 
 WITH SOME ADDITIONS BY MR WILLIAM VEITCH.
 
 128 
 
 AN ABBREVIATE OF THE LIFE 
 
 REV. HENRY ERSKINE. 
 
 MR HENRY ERSKINE was born in the year 1624, in a 
 village called Dryburgh, the seat of an ancient abbacy in 
 the Merse, upon the river Tweed, in the kingdom of Scot- 
 land. His father, Ralph Erskine of Shielfield, was a gentle- 
 man of a competent fortune, whose posterity still have their 
 ordinary residence in Dryburgh, being descended of the 
 ancient family of Mar.* Ralph Erskine had about thirty- 
 
 * The Erskines of Shielfield are the descendants of David Erskine, 
 commendator of Dryburgh, a natural son of Robert, Master of Erskine, 
 who was eldest son of John, the fifth Earl of Mar, of the name of Erskine, 
 and of Lady Margaret Campbell, eldest daughter of Archibald, second 
 Earl of Argyle. Robert was also nephew of John Earl of Mar, who 
 was chosen Regent of Scotland in the year 1571. lie waa killed at the 
 battle of Pinkie, on the 10th of September 1547, without legitimate issue. 
 Different accounts have been given of the origin of the name. Some 
 think it is derived from the lands of the barony called the Barony of 
 Erskine, on the Clyde, the property of the family of Mar for many 
 ages. Others give the following account of its origin : " In the reign 
 of Malcolm II. a Scotchman having killed with his own hand Enric, 
 a Danish general, at the battle of Murthill, cut off his head, and with 
 the bloody dagger in his ha.nd shewed it to the king, in the Gaelic Eris 
 Skyne, alluding to the head and dagger, and in the same language also 
 said, ' I intend to perform greater actions than what I have done,' 
 whereupon Malcolm imposed on him the sirname of Erskine, [t. . the 
 man with the dagger,] and assigned for his armorial bearing a hand 
 holding a dagger, with Je pense plus, for a motto ; still the crest and 
 motto of the noble family of Mar." (Douglas' Peerage of Scotland, 
 vol. ii. p. 206, 211.)
 
 LIFE OF MR HENRY ERSKINE. 1 29 
 
 three children, his son Henry being among the youngest. 
 After he (Henry) had finished his course of philosophy at 
 Edinburgh, he applied himself to the study of divinity ; and 
 the ministers being pleased with his proficiency, both in the 
 speculative and practical part thereof, he was first licensed 
 to preach, and afterwards was ordained minister of Corn- 
 hill (in Durham), about ten miles distant from Dryburgh, 
 on the English side. He continued only about three years* 
 minister in this place, before he was ejected by the Act of 
 Uniformity, f 
 
 When he came first to $e minister at Cornhill, the people 
 were so rude and barbarous, that he could have heard them, 
 when sitting in his own house, cursing him in the open 
 streets. However, through the blessing of God on his la- 
 bours, a remarkable change was wrought in them before he 
 left the place, insomuch, that with the Galatians, many of 
 them would, if possible, have plucked out their eyes and 
 given them to him, for his Master's sake. An evidence of 
 this you will see in the following passage. Immediately 
 after his ejection, and before the place was filled up by the 
 bishop, some honest people in the congregation advised Mr 
 Erskine to labour the glebe, which accordingly was at- 
 tempted ; but was immediately stopped by the agents of 
 the Bishop, who employed some to labour it for his use 
 While the workmen are tilling, one of them begins to regret 
 it to his neighbour as a hardship, that Mr Erskine should 
 
 * The precise duration of his ministry at Cornhill seems to be in- 
 volved in some degree of uncertainty. Palmer and Calamymake it ag 
 here only three years. (Palmer's Nonconformist's Memorial, vol. iii. 
 p. 62. Calamy's Continuation, vol. ii. p. 678). Palmersays, "Cornhill 
 chapel, in the parish of Norham." Randall has it, " A Scot, an intruder, 
 1649." "\Vodrow says, that ho was ordained minister at Cornhill about 
 the year 1649, (History of the Sufferings of the Church of Scotland, vol. 
 iii. p. 403) ; and, according to this account, he must have been minister 
 of that place thirteen years. 
 
 f The sweeping Act of Uniformity, commonly called the Bartholomew 
 Act, by which in one day, on the 24th of August 1662, about 2000 of 
 the best ministers of the English Church were ejected from their 
 charges, for Nonconformity. 
 
 I
 
 130 UFE OP 
 
 be deprived of the glebe, especially, vrhen there was no 
 other incumbent. His neighbour to whom he spoke, an- 
 swered in a rude and disdainful manner, " Tush ! I don't 
 
 value who have it ; before I eat, or *, or *, I'll do 
 
 my darg.'' But before tho plough had gone twice or thrice 
 about the land, the person who thus expressed himself was 
 seized with an iliac passion, of which he died in a day or 
 two, so that he never did any of the three. The hand of 
 God was so visible in this providence, and struck the in- 
 habitants of the place with such consternation and fear, 
 that not one would be prevailed with to put a plough in the 
 ground that year for the bishop's behoof, so that Mr Erskine's 
 friends had liberty to plough it, to sow and reap it for his 
 use ; and it was observable, that the glebe that year yielded 
 an excellent crop, which served Mr Erskine's family of 
 bread for a long time after. 
 
 During his incumbency in Cornhill he received no stipend, 
 and therefore was advised, after his ejection, to repair to 
 London, and petition his majesty for a warrant to uplift it. 
 
 Accordingly, he undertakes the journey by sea ; but 
 Providence so ordered it, that the ship in which he was pas- 
 senger was forced into Harwich harbour, where she lay 
 wind-bound for the space of three weeks. The people 
 there understanding him to be an outed minister, were de- 
 sirous he should preach the gospel among them during his 
 continuance in that place, which accordingly he did every 
 Sabbath, and sometimes also upon the week days, for which 
 they gave him a very handsome compliment when he went 
 off. Being arrived at London, he presented his petition to 
 his Majesty King Charles, to the effect foresaid ; but though 
 he made what interest he could, and waited for an answer 
 till any money he had brought with him was near spent, he 
 was at length sent off with this answer, that no stipend 
 could be had, unless he conformed to the worship of the 
 Established Church. Some considerable benefices were 
 
 * Here an omission is purposely made, the words that follow being 
 too coarse for insertion.
 
 MR HENRY ERSKINE. 131 
 
 offered him by some Scots nobility of his acquaintnnee at 
 court, providing he would conform ; but he rejected all 
 proposals of this nature, declaring that he would rather 
 venture himself and his family on the care of Providence, 
 though he and they should beg their bread, than run cross 
 to the light of his conscience. 
 
 Finding that nothing was to be done about court, he 
 agrees with a ship-master designed for Leith, to bring him 
 to Scotland. Some while after they had launched, Mr 
 Erskine needing a refreshment, calls for a ship-boy to change 
 him a crown, which was all the superplus of his expenses 
 at London. The boy, after he had looked to it, told him 
 his crown was not worth a farthing. Upon this, he ad- 
 dresses himself to the master of the ship, communicates his 
 strait to him, telling him that he hoped to be supplied by 
 friends at Edinburgh, if it should please God to send them 
 safely there. But Providence saw to his supply before he 
 came that length ; for after they were some leagues past 
 Harwich, the wind turns, a terrible storm arises, whereby 
 they were driven they scarce knew whither. Sometimes he 
 heard the mariners crying, " Steer for the coast of Nor- 
 way ! " sometimes, " Steer for the coast of Holland ! " 
 However, He whom the seas and winds obey so ordered it, 
 that they were at length forced into Harwich, among Mr 
 Erskine's friends, the haven he much desired ; and for the 
 space of six weeks the wind blew full in the mouth of thai 
 harbour, so that they could not stir out of the place all that 
 time. During this interval, Mr Erskine preached every 
 Sabbath, and frequently also through the week, for which 
 they rewarded him liberally when he went off. When he 
 began to relate to his fellow-passengers what had been his 
 strait, and how he was supplied, what kindness he had met 
 with in the place, and what sendee he had been doing his 
 Master, they were all convinced that he was the Jonah for 
 whose sake the storm had been raised, and that they had 
 been detained prisoners in Harwich upon his account, for 
 >-uch a long time. The master of the ship, after they v; er
 
 132 LITE OP 
 
 come to Leith, was so kind, that he would have nothing of 
 him, either for his freight or maintenance. 
 
 The people of Harwich conceived such a liking to him 
 during his abode in the place, that they were very earnest 
 he would return, and bring his wife and family along with 
 him, promising him suitable encouragement. He himself 
 was very much inclined to gratify their desire, but his wife 
 would by no means condescend to go so far abroad from 
 her friends and country. 
 
 Being returned to Cornhill, he transported himself and 
 his family to Dryburgh, the place of his nativity, where he 
 had a house from his elder brother, John Erskiue of Shiel- 
 field. Here he continued preaching, sometimes in his own 
 house, and sometimes in the open field as occasion offered, 
 until he was forced to leave the kingdom ; the occasion of 
 which was as follows : 
 
 In the year 1682, April the 23d, the laird of Meldrum* 
 came upon him with a company of soldiers, while he was 
 worshipping God in his family, it being the Lord's day, 
 and carried him away to Melrose, two miles from Drybuigh ; 
 and on the morrow a 5000 merk bond was given in for his 
 appearance when called, James Erskine of Shielfield, Mr 
 Erskiue's nephew, being bondsman. 
 
 Meldruiu, upon the 8th of May following, being come 
 back to Melrose from the west of Scotland, calls for Mr 
 Erskine and his bondsman, and having given up the bond, 
 carries Mr Erskine to Jedburgh, where again he found bail 
 for his appearance before him at Edinburgh the 12th of 
 May. The ague had seized Mr Erskine in a violent man- 
 ner ; yet he was obliged to wait on at the time appointed ;t 
 
 * Adam Urquhart, a very active instrument in persecuting the Pres- 
 byterians, as we learn from \\ odrow's History. 
 
 t Fraser informs us, that " one of Mr Erskine's descendants is pos- 
 Bessed of an ebony cabinet, formerly the property of Mr Ralph Erskine 
 n:' Dunfennline, containing a number of small family relics, including 
 a pair of thummikins, with which, according to tradition, the good man 
 had the honour of being invested at the time he was taken prisoner to 
 Edinburgh." (Memoir of Rev. Ijenry Erskine, prefixed to the Lile of 
 Ebwiezer firskine, p. 1C.)
 
 MR IIENHY ERSKINB. 133 
 
 and being brought before a Committee of the Privy Council, 
 Sir George M'Kenzie, the king's advocate, asked him, if he 
 would give bond to preach no more at conventicles ; which 
 Mr Erskine refused, saying, " I have my commission from 
 Christ, and though I were within an hour of my death, I 
 durst not lay it down at any mortal man's feet." The ad- 
 vocate having reported this to the Council, his affair was 
 delayed till the 6th of June following, having found bail for 
 his compearance at that time, under the pain of 4000 merks. 
 
 Upon the 6th of June he was convened before the Council, 
 and a libel being read (which, with the summons, had been 
 sent him on June the 2d), charging him for preaching at con- 
 venticles, disorderly baptizing, and marrying ; Chancellor 
 Haddon Gordon asked him, what he had to say to the libel ? 
 He answered, that he denied the whole, adding, that it was 
 well known to all who lived about him, that from September 
 the 22d, anno [16] 81, to the end of February [16] 82, the 
 Lord's hand was upon him by a white flux, so sore, that he 
 was not in a case to bow a knee before God in his family, 
 or so much as to crave God's blessing on his meat ; and 
 that after February, he had been seized by a violent ague, 
 wiiieh laid hiin under an incapacity of performing his minis- 
 terial work. The Chancellor asked him, if he would depone 
 that he had not preached, baptized, or married, from Sep- 
 tember to June ? Answered, that he was not free to give 
 his oath for the whole of that time. 
 
 Nota. This was a procedure quite cross to the maxim 
 received and asserted by Sir George M'Kenzie in his book 
 of Criminals, where he owns, that in criminal cases (as this 
 was by the laws of Scotland then in being) " Nemo tenetur 
 jurare in sui injuriam," (no one is bound to give oath to 
 what will injure himself). 
 
 However, though nothing was proven against him, he was 
 immediately sentenced to pay 5000 merks of fine, to go to 
 the tolbooth of Edinburgh that night, and from thence to 
 be carried to the Bass to-morrow, and to lie there till the fine 
 was paid, and bond given that he should preach no more.
 
 1 34 LIFE OP 
 
 To prevent, if possible, his going to the Bass, he gave in a 
 petition that afternoon to the Council, desiring that the 
 sentence might be changed, and liberty granted to go off 
 the nation, promising to find caution for his so doing. 
 Through the interest of friends this favour was granted, and 
 accordingly, upon the 14th of June, Mr Erskine's nephew, 
 John Brown of Park (living at present) bound himself in 
 a bond of 5000 merks, that Mr Erskine, within fourteen 
 days, should remove out of the kingdom, never to return 
 without liberty granted ; and that same day he was let 
 out of the prison, the clerks of the Council having got 
 one -and -twenty dollars, and the jailor with his servants, 
 four.* 
 
 Having provided himself for his journey, taken farewell 
 of his friends, of his wife, and children, he removed out of 
 the kingdom within the time prefixed, not knowing of 
 any certain abode. He went first to the county of Nor- 
 thumberland on the English side ; but not finding it safe 
 for him to stay there, he went to the county of Cumberland, 
 and at last fixed in a place called Parkridge, about ten miles 
 
 * In Chambers' General Biographical Dictionary, it is stated, that 
 " the persecution carried on at that time in Scotland against the Pres- 
 byterians, obliged Mr Erskine to take refuge in Holland, whence want 
 of the common necessaries of life induced him again to return to his 
 native country, where he was apprehended and committed prisoner to 
 the Bass, a strong fort in the mouth of the Forth. There he continued 
 near three years, till, through the interest of the then Earl of Mar, his 
 kinsman, he was set at liberty ; but such was the violence of the times, 
 that he was again driven from Scotland." There is, however, no evidence 
 that Mr Erskine ever went to Holland, nor that he was ever a prisoner 
 in the Bass. Had thes3 statements been matter of fact, it is not very 
 jrobable that either of them, and particularly the last, would have been 
 initted in this Abbreviate of his Life by his Son. In the same Bio- 
 graphical Work it is affirmed, that Ebenezer Erskine was born in the 
 prison of the Bass ; a statement which must be unfounded. \V'e have 
 not only no evidence that either of his parents was ever imprisoned 
 in the Bass, but we know that at the time of his birth, June 22d, 1680, 
 his parents were residing at Drybnrgh, in a great measure free from 
 molestation ; this was two years before he was apprehended by Ur- 
 qnhart of Meldrum, and sentenced to be imprisoned in the Bass.
 
 MR HENRY EKSKINE. 135 
 
 distance from Carlisle, the proprietor of the place having 
 offered him a dwelling-house. Thither he sent for his wife 
 and small children, September the 22d, and there they lived 
 for about the space of two years,* until he was invited by one 
 Mr Philip Gray of Preston, to live under him, in an obscure 
 place, called Monilaws, about a mile's distance from Corn- 
 hill, where he had formerly been minister. This kind offer 
 of Mr Gray's he accepted, and accordingly transported him- 
 self and his family thither, f but was not in safety there 
 either ; for July the 2d, [16] 85, he was apprehended by 
 eight of the militia horsemen, and carried to Wooler ; on 
 the morrow to Fowberrie, to Colonel Struthers, who told 
 him that he must go to Newcastle to Sir John Fenwick, 
 by virtue of an order from the king ; and that night was 
 sent back to Wooler prison, where he met with Mr Ogle,J 
 
 * It is not unlikely that it was while residing at Par kridge, that the 
 following instance of the success of his ministry took place; which 
 we shall give in the words of the Rev. John Brown, Whitburn. " While 
 living in an obscure place at Mossbank, on the English border, he 
 enjoyed eminent success in preaching a sermon. As he was walking 
 one day for his recreation, he observed several young people who had 
 been digging peats during the time they were allowed to rest, diverting 
 themselves. In his grave manner he says, ' I think you are too merry.' 
 To which one of them replied, 'We suppose you are a minister; if you 
 preach a sermon to us, we will sit down and be grave.' ' I fear yon 
 are not,' said Mr Erskine, ' in a proper frame for hearing a sermon.' 
 They, however, pressed him so much, that at last he yielded. After 
 retiring a little into a secret place for prayer, he came, and preached 
 to about thirty persons. This issued in the conversion of eleven of them 
 to the faith of the gospel." (Memorials of the NonconformistMinistere, 
 p. 72). 
 
 f It was at Monilaws that his son Ralph, who became minister of 
 Dunfermline, and one of the Fathers of the Secession, was born, March 
 15, 1685, old style. 
 
 J Mr Luke Ogle was minister for some time at Inghram ; and was 
 afterwards removed to Berwick-upon-Tweed. On account of his opposi- 
 tion to Prelacy, like many others, he was ejected in 1662. Some time 
 after his ejection, he went to London to complain of several instances 
 of crnel treatment which he met with, to General Monk, who when 
 residing in Berwick had shewed him much kindness and respect, and 
 by whom he therefore expected to be befriended. The General received 
 him in the most courteous mannei, and told hiiu. that provided he
 
 136 LIFE or 
 
 his fellow-prisoner. Saturday, July the 4th, Mr Ogle and 
 he were carried away to Eglingham, to the Justice-house, 
 guarded with nine troopers. There they tarried till Mon- 
 day, at which time, Mr Erskine was seized with a violent 
 colic, of which he thought to have died ; yet such was the 
 barbarity of the soldiers, that away he must go in the great- 
 est extremity of torment, every moment expecting to have 
 fallen down from his horse; though it pleased God he was 
 carried through. About seven at night they arrived at 
 Newcastle, at Sir John Fenwick's gate, who forthwith 
 ordered them to prison. Not being satisfied with imprison- 
 ing their persons, they took their horse from them by vio- 
 lence. 
 
 Mr Erskine's sickness and pain still continuing, the pri- 
 soners dealt with the jailor on his behalf, that he might 
 have liberty to go out of prison for a time, which was ob- 
 tained ; and after his recovery, he returned to prison. His 
 landlady, Mrs Man, though none of his acquaintance, would 
 have nothing for his entertainment during his fourteen days' 
 iicknesa. 
 
 Upon the 22d of the same month of July, Mr Ogle and 
 he were liberate (upon the Act of Indemnity), and at his 
 
 would conform, he would use his influence to obtain a Bishoprick for 
 him; but that otherwise, he could do him no serrice. Mr Ogle declined 
 the offer, and humbly and meekly expressed.it to be his highest am- 
 bition to live peaceably among his people, and that if this was not 
 granted him, he behoved to submit to the will of Providence. For 
 some years he preached privately at Bowden, where he had a small 
 estate ; not, however, without being subjected to molestation. After 
 the Indulgence grunted by King James, an invitation being given him, 
 he returned to Berwick, and collected a numerous congregation. 
 While here, he was called to Kelso, and afterwards to Edinburgh; 
 but nothing could induce him to leave Berwick, where God had so 
 signally blessed his labours. He continued there till his death, which 
 took place in the sixty-seventh year of his age, April 1696; only a 
 few months before the death of his friend and fellow-sufferer, Mr 
 Erskine. lr Calamy describes him as " a man of great learning, and 
 particularly well skilled in ecclesiastical history." (Calamy's Continua- 
 tion, Yol. S. pp. 500-603).
 
 MR IFENRY EKSKTNTB. 137 
 
 departure, the prisoners were so kind, that they gave him 
 thirty shillings sterling, to carry his charges home. 
 
 He continued at Monilaws, preaching the gospel for 
 ordinary every Lord's day, until the year 1687, at which 
 time King James's toleration being granted, a body of 
 people of the Presbyterian persuasion in the parish of Whit- 
 som, and places adjacent on the Scots side, gave him a call 
 to be their minister ; which he accepted ; they having got 
 up his bond (already mentioned) from the Council of Scot- 
 land, which his son Ebenezer has lying by him, as an authen- 
 tic document of the story. 
 
 His family removed from Monilaws in England, to Reve- 
 law in Scotland, in the parish of Whitsom, September the 
 1st, 1687, where he preached in a meeting-house till the 
 happy Revolution,* at which time he was called to be 
 
 * One instance of the success of his ministry at Whitsom is eminently 
 worthy of being recorded, and held in grateful remembrance the con. 
 version of Thomas Boston, the well-known author of " Man's Fourfold 
 State." To the period when this gracious change was wrought upon his 
 heart, Boston often looked back in after life ; and while he traced the 
 change to the free and unmerited grace of God, he felt the affection of 
 a son towards the instrument of his conversion. He thus speaks of it 
 in his Memoirs. (Pp. 8, 9, 10.) 
 
 " During the first years of my being at the grammar school, I kept 
 the kirk punctually, where I heard those of the Episcopal way ; that 
 being then the national Establishment : but I knew nothing of the mat- 
 ter, save to give suit and presence within the walls of the house ; living 
 without God in the world, unconcerned about the state of my soul, til] 
 the year 1687. Toward the latter end of summer that year, the liberty 
 of conscience being then newly given by King James, my father took 
 me away with him to a Presbyterian meeting, in the Newton of Whit- 
 Bom. There I heard the worthy Mr Henry Erskine, minister of Corn- 
 hill before the Restoration, by whose means it pleased the Lord to 
 awaken me, and bring me under exercise about my soul's state; being 
 then going in the twelfth year of my age. * * * * Two 
 of Mr Erskine's first texts were, " Behold the Lamb of God," &c. (John 
 i. 29) ; and, " O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee ?" &c. 
 (Matt, iii. 7). I distinctly remember that from this last, he ofttimes 
 *brcwarned of judgments to come on these nations, which I still appre- 
 nend will come. By these I judge God spake to me ; however, I know 
 1 was touched quickly after the first hearing, wherein I was like one 
 amazed with some new and strange thing. My lost state by natur nn^
 
 138 . LIFE OP 
 
 minister of Chirnside, the Presbytery seat of that bounds, 
 about five miles' distance from Berwick ; and there he con- 
 tinued minister till the day of his death, August the 10th, 
 1696, the seventy-second year of his age. 
 
 It were an injury done to good Providence, and to the 
 memory of this worthy person, to conceal some other me- 
 morable appearances of Providence for his supply in the 
 midst of these hardships which he suffered from the hand 
 of man. I shall condescend upon two or three, which I had 
 from his own mouth, when living, and which he told to 
 many yet alive in Scotland and England. When he dwelt 
 at Dryburgh, after his ejection from Cornhill, having no 
 visible way of living, he and his family were reduced several 
 times to great straits. However, their extremity was ordi- 
 narily God's opportunity of providing for them; so that 
 neither he nor his were ever put to beg their bread. 
 
 But to come to particulars : Upon a certain time, the 
 barrel of meal and cruse of oil were entirely spent ; so that 
 after the family had supped at night, there remained neither 
 bread, meal, flesh, nor money in the house. They go to 
 
 my absolute need of Christ, being thus discovered to me, I was set to 
 pray in earnest ; but remember, nothing of that kind I did before, save 
 what was done at meals, and in my bed. I also carefully attended for 
 ordinary the preaching of the word at Rivelaw, where Mr Erskine had 
 his meeting-house, near about four miles from Dunse. In the summer 
 time, company could hardly be missed ; and with them something to be 
 heard, especially in the returning, that was for edification, to which I lis- 
 tened ; but in the winter, sometimes it was my lot to go alone, without so 
 much as the benefit of a horse to carry me through Blackadder Water, 
 the wading whereof in sharp frosty weather, I very well remember. But 
 such things were then easy, for the benefit of the word, which came with 
 power." In some of his other writings he refers to the same subject. 
 In his Soliloquy on the Art of Man-fishing, he thus addresses his soul, 
 " Little wast thou thinking, O my soul, on Christ, heaven, or thyself, 
 when thou went to the Newton of Whitsom to hear a preaching, when 
 Christ first dealt with thee, where thou got an unexpected cast !" And 
 again he says to his soul, " Consider what a sad case thou thyself wast 
 in when Christ concerned himself for thy good. Thou wast going on 
 in the way to hell, as blind as a mole : at last, Christ opened thine eyes, 
 and let thee see thy hazard, by a preacher that was none of the uncon- 
 cerned Gallios ; who spared neither his body, his credit, nor reputation 
 to gain thee and the like of thee."
 
 MR HENRY ERSKINE. 139 
 
 rest ; but no sooner is the morning dawned, but the little 
 children begin to call for their " morning piece," as we call 
 it in Scotland. Mr Erskine being of a cheerful temper 
 under all vicissitudes of Providence, bids them arise and 
 dance, and he would play them a spring upon the citer (cit- 
 tern or guitar) till their breakfast should be ready for them. 
 However, while he is thus diverting the children, and en- 
 couraging himself and his wife to depend upon Providence, 
 which feeds the young ravens when they cry to God for 
 food, they hear horse-feet coming along the house side, and 
 within a little, a rude fellow raps hard at the door, calling 
 for some to help him off with his load. Being asked whence 
 he came, and whither he was going, he told that the Lady 
 Reburn had sent him with what he had on horseback, to 
 Mr Erskine. They told him, that surely he was in a mis- 
 take, and that probably he was sent to Erskine of 
 
 Shielfield, in the same town. " No," says he, " I'm not such 
 a sot as you take me to be, it's to Mr Henry Erskine ; 
 come, help off with the load, otherwise I'll throw it down 
 at the door." The sack being carried in and opened, they 
 found it well packed both with flesh and meal in abundance 
 for the present necessity : which providence encouraged him 
 to depend on his bountiful Benefactor in future straits of the 
 same nature. 
 
 At another time, being in Edinburgh, he was reduced to 
 such a strait for want of money, that having only two or 
 three halfpennies in his pocket, he was ashamed to go in 
 to any public inn, to call for victuals, lest his stock had not 
 answered the reckoning ; therefore he resolved to take a 
 turn upon the street, till dinner time should be over. While 
 he is laying down this resolution with himself, there comes a 
 person to him in a countryman's habit, asking if his name 
 was Master Henry Erskine ? to which he answered in the 
 affirmative, asking what his business was with him ? "I 
 have," replied he, " a letter for you ;" which accordingly he 
 delivers, and in the letter were inclosed seven Scots duca- 
 toons, nothing being written in the letter but these words,
 
 140 LIFE OP 
 
 " Sir, Receive this from a sympathising friend. Farewell," 
 without any subscription. Mr Erskine being desirous to 
 know his kind benefactor, invites the^honest man to go in to 
 a house hard by, and take a drink with him. Having got 
 him alone, he begins to interrogate him, who sent him ? The 
 honest man told him that he was enjoined secrecy, therefore 
 must be excused as to that matter, for he could not betray 
 his trust. However, Mr Erskine still insisted, asking a 
 great many questions, that at least he may know what 
 airth of the world he had come from. The man finding 
 him somewhat inquisitive, desires him to sit a little till he 
 went forth ; but being once gone, he never returned, neither 
 did Mr Erskine ever come to know his benefactor. 
 
 Being at another time called to undertake a journey on 
 foot, when he had nothing to bear his charges while he is 
 upon his way, nature obliges him to step aside towards a 
 bush of rushes. There, being about to fix the end of his 
 staff in the marsh ground, the end of it tinkles upon a sum 
 of money, being two half-crowns, which were very steadable 
 to him all the time, and carried his charges home. 
 
 He was an able and faithful minister of the New Testament; 
 he preached the gospel in season and out of season, and many 
 times with the peril of his life. He commonly delivered 
 his Master's message with a peculiar vivacity and liveliness, 
 and had the seal of his ministry upon many souls, especially 
 in these places where he preached in the time of trouble.* 
 His son, Ebenezer, having occasion of late to be at Corn- 
 hill-well, found his father's name fragrant and savoury 
 among some old people there, who had been under his mi- 
 nistry, and were exceeding kind to the son for the father's 
 sake. He was one of undaunted boldness in his Master's 
 cause, and was -frequently sent by the Presbytery at the 
 
 * " There are thousands yet alive," says "Wodrow, speaking of tin's 
 minister in 1722, " in the places where ho preached, to whom his name 
 and memory is most savoury, for his affectionate, close, and faithful 
 preaching of the gospel. As he was very bold in his Master's work, so 
 he was singularly blessed with remarkable success." (History of the 
 Sufferings of the Church of Scotland, vol. iii. p. 404).
 
 ME HENRY ERSKINE. 141 
 
 time of the Revolution, to preach in, and take possession 
 of these churches, where the body of the people were disaf- 
 fected to the Presbyterian interest, and where ministers 
 had greatest difficulty of access ; and sometimes he would 
 have preached in these places when showers of stones would 
 be breaking in at the doors and widows, particularly in 
 Coldingham. It was somewhat observed, that the last ser- 
 mon ever he preached, was to the same people who had 
 given him such harsh entertainment; the subject upon 
 which he discoursed to them being a part of Belshazzer's 
 sentence, (Dan. v. 27,) " Thou art weighed in the balance 
 and art found wanting,"* being the Monday after the ad- 
 ministration of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper in that 
 place. 
 
 The manner of his death was as remarkable as his life, 
 being a literal accomplishment of that word, Psa. xxxvii. 
 37, " Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright, for 
 the end of that man is peace ;" being seized with a fever, 
 of which he died in a fortnight. When he found that 
 death was dealing with him, having set his house in order, 
 he called for his children, of which there were nine alive, 
 and six present ; and with a kind of heavenly authority he 
 exhorted them to cleave to the Lord with full purpose of 
 heart, declaring, that the advantages of religion and holi- 
 ness did infinitely preponderate over all the hardships and 
 difficulties that possibly could attend it ; and as a dying 
 man and a dying father, he gave his testimony to the good- 
 
 * If we may judge from a passage in Boston's Memoirs, Mr Erskinu's 
 preaching was of an awakening kind. " According to the impressions 
 wherewith I was prompted to enter on trials," says Boston, " I began 
 my preaching of the word on a rousing strain ; and would fain have set 
 fire to the devil's nest. * * * * The first Sabbath I 
 preached, being timorous, I had not confidence to look on the people ; 
 though I believe I did not close my eyes ; yet, as a pledge of what I was 
 to meet with, an heritor of the parish, on that very sermon, called me 
 afterwards, in contempt, one of Mr Henry Erskine's disciples, in which 
 lie spoke truth, as Caiaphas did, that worthy minister of Christ being 
 t!ie first instrument of good to my soul: but the theory he meant was, 
 that I was a railer." Pp. S'2, 33.
 
 142 LIFE OF 
 
 ness of God's ways ; and that, as he never had, so more 
 especially now, he did not repent of any hardships he had 
 endured in his Master's service. "I know," added he, 
 " that I am going to heaven ; and if you follow my foot- 
 steps, you and I shall have a joyful meeting there." 
 
 Having thus encouraged them to embark in the way of 
 the Lord, he caused them, one after another, from the 
 eldest to the youngest present, to sit down upon their knees 
 by his bedside, and took them solemnly engaged to be ser- 
 vants to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and his 
 God, and to keep his ways, as ever they would look him in 
 the face at the great day of the Lord ; and thereupon, like 
 a dying Jacob, he blessed them, and recommending his 
 wife and them to the care of divine Providence, he recom- 
 mended his spirit into the hands of his covenanted God, 
 who had cared for him all his life long.* 
 
 Sometimes he was heard say, that he desired to live no 
 longer than to see his son Ebenezer, who was then attend- 
 ing the Philosophy College at Edinburgh, succeeding him 
 in the work of his ministry. The Lord saw fit to deny him 
 this. However, it has pleased God that he has two sons 
 this day ministers in the Church of Scotland, viz. Ebenezer 
 
 Hia son Ebenezer at this time was in the 16th year of his age, and 
 Ralph only in. his llth year ; but the scene of their father's last mo. 
 ments made a deep and solemn impression on their youthful minds, and 
 they often recalled it to their thoughts in after life. Ebenezer refers 
 to it in his diary in these words : " Portmoak, Oct. 20, 1708. My wife 
 and I began to discourse about spiritual matters, and the Lord made 
 this conversation sweet to my soul. He helped me to speak of his 
 goodness, and to declare the riches of his grace in some measure to my 
 soul. He made me tell how my father took engagements of me on his 
 death-bed, and did oust me upon the providence of his God, and how 
 the Lord had taken care of me, and never suffered me to want." Ralph, 
 in his diary, speaking of his exercise on a day of private humiliation, ob- 
 served Nov. 22, 1731, says, " I began with his mercies to me in the womb 
 and on the breast. ... I took special notice of the Lord's drawing 
 out my heart towards him at my father's death." (Eraser's Memoir of 
 Henry Erskine, prefixed to his Life of Ebenezer, p. 36 ; and his Life of 
 Ralph Erskine, p. 26.)
 
 MB HENRY ERSKTNE. 143 
 
 and Ralph Erskine, the first at Portmoak, the other at 
 Duufermliue, both within the provincial synod of Fife. 
 
 As was already said, he departed this life the 72d year 
 of his age, August the 10th, 1696, and was buried in the 
 Church-yard of Chirnside. Mr John Dysert, minister of 
 Coldingham, wrote the following epitaph in Latin and 
 English, which is engraved on his tomb, in the place fore- 
 said to this day : 
 
 Sanctus Areskhms saxo qui conditur isto, 
 
 Est lapis wterni vivus in JEde Dei. 
 Non testu lapis hie, technave volubilis nils 
 
 Quippe fide, in Petra constabilitus erat. 
 
 Under this stone here lies a Stone, 
 
 Liring with God above : 
 Built on the Rock was such a one, 
 
 Whom force nor fraud could more. ' 
 
 REMARKABLE PROVIDENCES AS TO MR HENRY 
 ERSKINE. From Mr W. VKITCH. Sent April 1718 by 
 Mr VEITCH. 
 
 He was a minister in the parish of near the 
 
 Scotch border, and having a numerous family, was often 
 
 put to great straits. When he came to live at in 
 
 the parish of Mertoun in Teviotdale, he was frequently at 
 my house in England, and assisted at my ordination. He 
 told my wife and me the following things : One was, that he, 
 his wife, and children, went to bed with a light-supper, 
 which made the children cry in the morning, when they 
 wakened for meat ; but there being none in the house, he 
 bade them be still, and he would play them a spring upon 
 the citren. He played and wept, and they and the mother 
 wept, they being in one room, and he and his wife in bed 
 in another. But before ho had done playing, one raps at
 
 144 LIJTE OF MB HENRY EKSKISE. 
 
 the gate, and it proved to be a servant-man sent from a 
 worthy and charitable lady, with a horse-load of meal, cheese, 
 and beef. Another was this : He was going one day to a 
 meeting where he thought he might have use for money, 
 and was walking melancholy through a piece of green ground ; 
 and looking about him, he sees somewhat clear among 
 the grass, and when he went to lift it, it proved to be a 
 half-crown. A third was in Edinburgh, when he took in 
 his daughter to the school, and had nothing to pay for her 
 education. One comes to him when he was walking me- 
 lancholy in the street, and says to him, " Sir, will you walk 
 in to this cellar and take a drink ?" He was shy, being a 
 stranger, but he urged him. While they were drinking, he 
 told him that he had a commission from a gentleman to 
 give him some money. " To me ?" says he ; " you are in a 
 mistake, surely." " No," says the man, " it is to you." 
 So he took out a purse, and gave him. He asked, who it 
 was that gave him it, that he might return him thanks ? 
 He answered " Tell it, but wait until I go up stairs ;" and ho 
 never came back. It was very helpful both to his daughter 
 and family. 
 
 A fourth was in his going from Edinburgh to some week 
 day's great meeting at Ormiston, meeting on the way with 
 some country-people going thither, and talking to them 
 about their great privileges of having such a minister, and 
 such meetings freely continued to them, when others were 
 deprived, and what a witness this would be against them 
 if not iinproven. A rich countryman in the company in- 
 vites him to take a drink, the kirk not being near going to, 
 and when drinking, says to him, " Sir, God has given me 
 abundance of the world, but I never had a heart to give 
 any of it to good folk ; but since I saw and heard you, God 
 has opened my heart, and persuaded me you stand in need 
 of help ;" and he gave him considerably.
 
 M E M I R 
 
 OF 
 
 MR JOHN CARSTAIRS. 
 
 Mr JOHN CARSTAIRS was first minister at Cathcart : then 
 he was, very much against his will, transported to Glasgow, 
 to be colleague to the great and excellent Mr Durham. He 
 paid to one, their taking him out of Cathcart did never ir<> 
 from his heart ; he could never win over it, he was so de- 
 sirous to stay in that small aud mean congregation. Mr 
 Peeblis told me he thought he should have killed himself 
 with weeping ; he never hardly saw any man weep so much 
 as Mr Carstairs did, when he was transported to Glasgow. 
 
 My mother told me she heard him preach at Cathcart ; 
 and after the sermon, he did pronounce the sentence of ex- 
 communication against one Corbet, if I be not mistaken ; 
 and in the very time of his pronouncing that fearful sen- 
 tence, that woeful wretch threw a stone at Mr Carstairs in 
 the pulpit, which he very narrowly escaped. 
 
 Worthy Mr Paton of Baruweol told that he was as much 
 editied by Mr Carstairs's first prayer as his preaching ; fw 
 when he first entered on his Sabbath's work, he ordinarily 
 prayed one hour, for he took in all the public things in 
 that prayer ; which is truly conform to our excellent Di- 
 rectory for Worship. 
 
 iar M. Crawford, minister at Eastwood, told me that he 
 
 K
 
 I 40 MEMOIR OP 
 
 thought from the time Mr Carstairs began his first prayer 
 to the time of ending it, the people's faces were generally 
 changed. He thought they looked with another counte- 
 nance, and seemed to have another sort of frame upon them, 
 than they had before his prayer. 
 
 My now glorified father told me, that when worthy Mr 
 Andrew Gray's corpse was taking out to be buried, Mr 
 Carstairs was put to pray with his relict, the late .Tervis- 
 wood's sister ; but, he said, such a prayer he never heard 
 all his life. And I cannot but say my father used to be 
 very sober in his commending any person ; he never used 
 to speak of any thing of that kind but within the bounds 
 of truth and sobriety. 
 
 When they were calling Mr Carstairs to Cathcart, there 
 was an old minister said to a gentleman of that place, " Call 
 this young man, for he is a man of many meditations." 
 
 The great and learned Mr Wood, Mr Carstairs' brother- 
 m-law, said of Mr Carstairs, " We can some way hold up with 
 my brother Carstairs in lecturing or preaching, but none of 
 us all can hold up with him in prayer ; he there far excels 
 us all, and goes out of all our sight." 
 
 He was called to be with Chancellor Eothes at his death. 
 He had such a prayer then, in the hearing of many great 
 nobles, that made them all stand amazed, and be strangely 
 confounded ; and even a great enemy, a woman of some 
 note, went out of the chamber where Mr Carstairs was 
 praying with the Duke of Rothes, but she heard him abun- 
 dantly well in the room where she was ; and was forced to 
 say, " I never knew the difference before so clearly, be- 
 tween a Prelatic and Presbyterian minister, as now I per- 
 ceive, when I hear this man's prayer." Duke Hamilton 
 (William Douglas) said to some of the nobles that were 
 with him, " This is a strange thing ! We are aye hunting 
 and pursuing these men in the time of our life and health ; 
 out we are, many of us, made to all for them at our 
 death !" The Duke said to the late Orbistoun, " I never 
 ueard such a prayer as this, since your father, Sir Jamog
 
 MR JOHN CAR8TAIRS. 147 
 
 Hamilton, died." He made them all generally weep who 
 were in the Chancellor's chamber, he had such a strange 
 aud ravishing way of prayer. 
 
 His band, on the Sabbath, would have been all wet, as 
 if it had been ducked, with tears, before he was done with 
 his first prayer. In his prayer, he usually came to speak of 
 the palm-bearing company ; and in his prayer, he ordinarily 
 used, as I hear, to have that expression and petition in 
 many of his excellent prayers, " Oh that we may never out- 
 live our integrity, nor die uudesired !" 
 
 He was a man of great and rare piety ; he was full of 
 love ; he dwelt, walked, and lived in that fire of love. 
 
 James Cowie told me, he was in a meeting wherein the 
 Protesters and the other party wore to meet to make up 
 eome agreement. Some of thb protesting ministers said, 
 they would agree with their brethren, if they would confess 
 some faults they were guilty of. M r . Carstairs said, " Let 
 us agree with our brethren, though the-, 'jhould never con- 
 fess a fault." The worthy Mr Rutherford said, " Oh ! but 
 that brother has much of heaven in his bosom, for he lives, 
 dwells, and walks in love. But I cannot say so of several 
 other ministers in some Presbyteries of this Church, that will 
 not suffer some excellent and worthy young men pass trials, 
 merely because they are not for the Public Resolutions." 
 
 I have heard my father, or some who heard him, tell that 
 he was visiting Mr Carstairs some time after he was turned 
 out of his charge ; and Mr Carstairs said to him, " Brother, 
 I cannot but say, though the nobles of our land have de- 
 prived us of our stipends and maintenance, yet all this time 
 bygone our stipends have been right well paid to us by the 
 Lord himself." 
 
 He was an excellent and brave orator, and of a most ten- 
 der and melting frame and disposition ; for he used to weep 
 much in prayer, and I know not but he weeped also much 
 in preaching ; also, even in ordinary discourse, he spake 
 like an orator, and above the ordinary way of speaking. He 
 was nobly well-bred, and well-behaved towards every rersoa
 
 J t8 MEMOIR 0? 
 
 he had to do with. He was very neat in wearing his clothes. 
 Ye would have known him to be a well-born gentleman by 
 his courteous carriage, as indeed be was. He would have 
 penned a letter notably well to great and mean persons. 
 
 I heard a very strange passage anent him ; that Mr Tho- 
 mas Melville, at Calder, did give him a call to come and 
 assist him at a communion. When he came to preach, Mr 
 Melville happened to be sick and unwell, that he could not 
 go out and preach the action-sermon, and so laid it on 
 Mr Carstairs ; and he did preach it, and was well assisted 
 therein ; and when he came to consecrate the elements, he 
 was more than ordinarily assisted, and did serve the tables 
 so well, that though there were several worthy honest minis- 
 ters there, none of them would so much as come near, and 
 serve any of the tables. Mr Carstairs was in a kind of holy 
 rapture all the time, and was necessitate to serve all the 
 tables himself. I know not whether there were ten, twelve, 
 or sixteen. When he ended, after the action-sermon, he 
 caused sing the 24th Psalm, 7th verse, and James Gray, 
 that worthy elder in Calder, said, that he hardly ever saw 
 so much of the glory of God shine forth and evidently 
 appear as did that day in that kirk, in singing that psalm 
 there was ; and there was even a sort of glory shining, and 
 evidently appearing among the people, without the church, 
 in the churchyard ; that some without the church cried out, 
 " Oh ! what a glory appears here ?" They would have gladly 
 been within the church, that they might have seen the great 
 glory that behoved to be there. " What glory," said they, 
 " must be within, when so much appears without, visibly !" 
 
 His body at that time got a sore stress, for when some 
 were seeking him to assist at some other communion, he 
 told them that his body was really brought low by what he 
 was made to do at Calder. 
 
 I heard another strange passage, which I wish I could 
 get well attested. It was either at Kirkintillach or Kil- 
 syth. The communion tables were all ended, and the even- 
 ing sermon after the tables was fully ended, and when the
 
 MR JOHN CARSTAIRS. 149 
 
 people were just ready to go home, it being far in the even- 
 ing, there comes on immediately a most fearful and terrible 
 shower of rain, that forced the people to stay, a great part 
 cf them, within the church for a considerable time. Mr 
 Carstairs being there, and seeing the people fall to their 
 idle and vain discoursing one with another, he, to divert 
 them from that, goes up to the pulpit, and has an excellent 
 extemporary discourse to them about faith in Christ, per- 
 suading them earnestly to close with him. And it was 
 said to me, if I be not forgotten, that by that extemporary 
 discourse of Mr Carstairs, there should have been about two 
 hundred or three hundred persons converted, among whom 
 James Gray himself was one. Cartsburn told me, he 
 had this passage from the late James Gray, who was sent 
 away in the late bad times to America to be sold as a 
 slave, and yet he was most favourably dealt with among 
 these strangers, and met with kindness, and came home, 
 and was very instrumental in getting Calder planted by 
 Mr Ramsay, my brother-in-law, who had also a call to 
 Campsie and Old Kilpatrick at the same time. 
 
 This James Gray's wife, a worthy Christian, told her 
 husband, when he was sent away to be sold as a slave in 
 America, that he would come back again to Scotland, and 
 she herself would see him again at Christen, his own house, 
 in Calder parish ; for she had gotten the faith of it, as she 
 said, and nothing would make her believe the contrary; 
 which accordingly fell out. His wife was sister to that 
 worthy Christian and elder, Thomas Pettigrew, in the Green 
 of the Westerton of Shettleston, in the Barony parish of 
 Glasgow. 
 
 Mr Carstairs was most tender and exact in his practice. 
 He was very averse from ministers meddling with any work 
 but what properly belonged to them. 
 
 When his son, Mr William Carstairs, was put to suffer 
 for meddling with these grievances in Lauderdale's time, 
 that I suppose Sir James Stewart, the late advocate, had 
 drawn up, and his eon Mr William was released after some
 
 160 MEMOIB. OP 
 
 time's imprisonment, I did hear that his father, Mr John 
 Carstaira, did solemnly charge him never to meddle with 
 such things again, but to exercise himself in preaching and 
 prayer, and what other exercises did properly belong to a 
 faithful minister of the gospel : and it was most grievous 
 to that worthy man, when his son fell into that same evil 
 that he had formerly discharged him to meddle with ; for 
 which he was made to suffer sadly in the year 1684, about 
 the time of his worthy father's death ; and his father was 
 so angry at him, that he would not for several days suffer 
 his son to come near him, for he had most evidently diso- 
 beyed his worthy father's commands. 
 
 And this confirms to me what the late Sir William 
 Stewart of Castlemilk told me at Castleton. He went with 
 his mother, the late worthy Lady Castlemilk, to visit Mr 
 Carstairs at his own house at Edinburgh. She caused her 
 son Sir William to go out of the chamber where Mr Car- 
 stairs was, till she discoursed a little with Mr John Carstairs. 
 He went out, but not being very far from the chamber, he 
 heard Mr Carstairs say, " Madam, I have a son called Mr 
 William, and a good-son, Mr William Dunlop ; they will 
 be aye plotting and plodding till they plod the heads off 
 themselves ; and this is very grievous to me, for as they are 
 ministers of the gospel, they are not called to meddle wiih 
 that work which noblemen and gentlemen may very law- 
 fully be called to." This Sir William told me. 
 
 I do very well remember I did hear, when worthy Mr 
 Carstairs died, which was some time before the happy and 
 glorious Revolution, and on the same day with the excellent 
 Mr Melville, minister at Calder, who died at Drumry in 
 East Kilpatrick, he should have called his daughter, Mrs 
 Dunlop, and given her a solemn charge, which he ordered 
 her to give both to her husband and her brother, Mr William 
 Carstairs, that so they never meddled with any work but 
 what properly belonged to them as ministers of the gospel. 
 
 When he was dying, he had these expressions : " I am 
 dying, and dying in the Lord ; and now I have nothing to
 
 MR JOHN CAS8TAIR8. 151 
 
 do but to die." He called all his children, and blessed 
 them ; and he added, " Yea, and they shall be blessed." 
 
 And yet this was the man that was the chief butt of 
 Archbishop Sharp's malice and fury; for he persecuted 
 him most of any, because of his being witness to famous 
 Mr James Wood's testimony, which he gave at his death 
 to Presbyterian Government, as is set down in Naphthali. 
 
 When several of the honest ministers were one day toge- 
 ther, and pretty cheerful and merry, and they were inquir- 
 ing at one another, What they would be, and what they 
 would turn themselves to, when they could not get their 
 ministry followed ? One said, he would be this, and ano- 
 ther that ; and honest Mr Carstairs says, very gravely, " I 
 think I could be a laird." At which all the company 
 smiled and laughed very heartily. 
 
 It was Mr Carstairs that gave the late Mr Robert Alex- 
 ander, one of the principal clerks of the Session, right and 
 true impressions of the late renowned and worthy Marquis 
 of Argyle. When Mr Carstairs spoke of that nobleman, 
 Mr Alexander told me he usually called him " that noble 
 Prince in our land !" Mr Alexander had met with some 
 malignant persons who had been at great pains to misrepre- 
 sent that worthy nobleman to him ; and so was under very 
 bad impressions of him, till he met Mr Carstairs, who did 
 very clearly and fully acquit the Marquis of all these base 
 calumnies they had endeavoured to fasten on him. 
 
 Mr Carstairs was called to be with the Marquis, to preach 
 to him in the prison on the last Sabbath of his life. The 
 Marquis saw one of the bailies come in to hear ; whereupon 
 the Marquis spoke a little in secret to Mr Carstairs, before 
 he began to preach, that Mr Carstairs might be in an espe- 
 cial manner on his guard, in his preaching or prayer, to 
 utter nothing anent the severity of that sentence now passed 
 upon him ; " for I suppose," said the Marquis, " this bailie 
 is sent in by our rulers to be a spy, to take away anything 
 he can hear that may serve in the least to reflect on the 
 present Government."
 
 152 MEMOIR 01? MR JOHN CARSTAIUS. 
 
 Worthy Mr Carstairs was taken among the dead at 
 Dunbar, and stripped naked, and lay for Borne time among 
 the dead ; and he said there came some soldier to strip the 
 dead bodies of men of what could be useful to them, and he 
 came upon him, and set his foot upon him near about hia 
 lisk ;* but he said he never bore a greater stress than that 
 was, for he behoved not to stir, lest he should have been 
 slain immediately, for they thought he had been dead. 
 There came at length a poor woman to him, and inquired 
 at him, If he desired any thing of her ? He said to her 
 " If ye could give me a napkin I would desire it ;" for he 
 was weeping sore. He inquired at her, If she saw Mr 
 James Guthrie ride by her ? for he was much concerned 
 about his safety. 
 
 When he was brought before the Council, at the time 
 when many were denying the king's authority, a little before 
 King Charles II. died, they inquired at Mr Carstairs, If he 
 acknowledged the king's authority ? He answered, Take 
 away Mr Paterson, who was then Archbishop of Glasgow, 
 he did own the atthority of all the rest that were present. 
 The late Lord Iloss said to my father, they were all very 
 well satisfied with Mr Carstairs' discourse that he had be- 
 fore the Council ; and that he was not pleased that Arch- 
 bishop Paterson should have meddled with him, for Mr 
 Carstairs, according to his own principles, could not speai 
 otherwise. 
 
 He was much troubled with the gout for a long time, 
 and I suppose it came upon his heart, and killed him. 
 
 When he was in his hiding, in his Patmos, he made some 
 pleasant verses, which I have seen in print. Mr Carstairs 
 died at Edinburgh, February 5. 1686, in the morning ; and 
 Mr Thomas Melville, minister of Calder, died at Drumry, 
 February 5. 1686, at night. 
 
 * Groiu. 
 
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