[WILLIAM FULLARTON, as has been formerly noticed, was the husband
of Marion M'Naught. His religious principles were the same with
those of his excellent wife, and he was a man of virtue,
integrity, and piety. He proved himself the patron of the
oppressed in the case of Mr. Robert Glendinning, the aged
minister of Kirkcudbright; to which case there is evident
allusion in this letter. Mr. Glendinning having refused to
conform to Prelacy, and to receive, as his assistant and
successor, a man whom Bishop Sydserff intruded upon him and the
people of Kirkcudbright, the bishop suspended him from his
office, and sentenced him to be imprisoned. Provost Fullarton,
and the other magistrates of the burgh (one of whom was Mr.
William Glendinning, son of the minister), indignant at such
tyrannical proceedings, refused to incarcerate their own pastor,
then nearly eighty years of age, and were determined, with the
great body of the inhabitants of the town, to attend upon his
ministry. Sydserff, too proud and violent to allow his authority
to be thus despised, caused Bailie Glendinning to be imprisoned
in Kirkcudbright, and the other magistrates to be confined within
the town of Wigtown, while he sentenced the aged minister to
remain within the bounds of his parish, and forbade him to
exercise any part of his ministerial functions. But he found it
impossible, by all the means he could employ, to reduce these
refractory magistrates to obedience. The firmness which Fullarton
manifested on this occasion is warmly commended by Rutherford.]
* * * * *
(_ENCOURAGEMENT TO SUFFER FOR CHRIST._)
MUCH HONOURED AND VERY DEAR FRIEND,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to
you.--I am in good case, blessed be the Lord, remaining here in this
unco town a prisoner for Christ and His truth. And I am not ashamed of
His cross. My soul is comforted with the consolations of His sweet
presence, for whom I suffer.
I earnestly entreat you to give your honour and authority to Christ,
and for Christ; and be not dismayed for flesh and blood, while you are
for the Lord, and for His truth and cause. And howbeit we see truth
put to the worse for the time, yet Christ will be a friend to truth,
and will do for those who dare hazard all that they have for Him and
for His glory. Sir, our fair day is coming, and the court will change,
and wicked men will weep after noon, and sorer than the sons of God,
who weep in the morning. Let us believe and hope for God's salvation.
Sir, I hope I need not write to you for your kindness and love to my
brother,[162] who is now to be distressed for the truth of God as well
as I am. I think myself obliged to pray for you, and your worthy and
kind bed-fellow and children, for your love to him and me also. I hope
your pains for us in Christ shall not be lost. Thus recommending you
to the tender mercy and loving-kindness of God, I rest,
Your very loving and affectionate brother,