When my father returned home, my mother and all the family were grieved
to see his sad and altered looks. We gathered around him, and she
thought he had failed to get the legacy, and comforted him by saying
they had hitherto fenn't without it, and so might they still do.
To her tender condolements he however made no answer; but, taking a
leathern bag, with the money in it, out of his bosom, he flung it on the
table, saying, "What care I for this world's trash, when the ark of the
Lord is taken from Israel?" which to hear daunted the hearts of all
present. And then he told us, after some time, what was doing on the
part of the King to bring in the worship of the Beast again, rehearsing,
with many circumstances, the consternation and sorrow and rage and
lamentations that he had witnessed in Edinburgh.
I, who was the ninth of his ten children, and then not passing nine
years old, was thrilled with an unspeakable fear; and all the dreadful
things, which I had heard my grandfather tell of the tribulations of his
time, came upon my spirit like visions of the visible scene, and I began
to weep with an exceeding sorrow, in so much that my father was amazed,
and caressed me, and thanked Heaven that one so young in his house felt
as a protestant child should feel in an epoch of such calamity.
It was then late in the afternoon, towards the gloaming, and having
partaken of some refreshment, my father took the big Bible from the
press-head, and, after a prayer uttered in great heaviness of spirit, he
read a portion of the Revelations, concerning the vials and the woes,
expounding the same like a preacher; and we were all filled with
anxieties and terrors; some of the younger members trembled with the
thought that the last day was surely at hand.
Next morning a sough and rumour of that solemn venting of Christian
indignation which had been manifested at Edinburgh, having reached our
country-side, and the neighbours hearing of my father's return, many of
them came at night to our house to hear the news; and it was a meeting
that none present thereat could ever after forget:--well do I mind
everything as if it had happened but yestreen. I was sitting on a laigh
stool at the fireside, between the chumley-lug and the gown-tail of old
Nanse Snoddie, my mother's aunty, a godly woman, that in her eild we
took care of; and as young and old came in, the salutation was in
silence, as of guests coming to a burial.
The first was Ebenezer Muir, an aged man, whose grandson stood many a
blast in the persecution of the latter days, both with the Blackcuffs
and the bloody dragoons of the remorseless Graham of Claver. He was bent
with the burden of time, and leaning on his staff, and his long white
hair hung down from aneath his broad blue bonnet. He was one whom my
grandfather held in great respect for the sincerity of his principles
and the discretion of his judgment, and among all his neighbours, and
nowhere more than in our house, was he considered a most patriarchal
character.
"Come awa, Ebenezer," said my father, "I'm blithe and I'm sorrowful to
see you. This night we may be spar't to speak in peace of the things
that pertain unto salvation; but the day and the hour is not far off,
when the flock of Christ shall be scattered and driven from the pastures
of their Divine Master."
To these words of affliction Ebenezer Muir made no response, but went
straight to the fireside, facing Nanse Snoddie, and sat down without
speaking; and my father, then observing John Fullarton of Dykedivots
coming in, stretched out his hand, and took hold of his, and drew him to
sit down by his side.
They had been in a manner brothers from their youth upward. An uncle of
John Fullarton's, by whom he was brought up, had been owner, and he
himself had heired, and was then possessor of, the mailing of Dykedivot,
beside ours. He was the father of four brave sons, the youngest of whom,
a stripling of some thirteen or fourteen years, was at his back: the
other three came in afterwards. He was, moreover, a man of a stout and
courageous nature, though of a much-enduring temper.
"I hope," said he to my father--"I hope, Sawners, a' this straemash and
hobbleshow that fell out last Sabbath in Embro' has been seen wi' the
glamoured een o' fear, and that the King and government canna be sae far
left to themsels as to meddle wi' the ordinances of the Lord."
"I doot, I doot, it's owre true, John," replied my father in a very
mournful manner; and while they were thus speaking, Nahum Chapelrig came
ben. He was a young man, and his father being precentor and schoolmaster
of the parish, he had more lair than commonly falls to the lot of
country folk; over and aboon this, he was of a spirity disposition, and
both eydent and eager in whatsoever he undertook, so that for his years
he was greatly looked up to amang all his acquaintance, notwithstanding
a small spicin of conceit that he was in with himself.
On seeing him coming in, worthy Ebenezer Muir made a sign for him to
draw near and sit by him; and when he went forward, and drew in a stool,
the old man took hold of him by the hand, and said, "Ye're weel come,
Nahum;" and my father added, "Ay, Nahum Chapelrig, it's fast coming to
pass, as ye hae been aye saying it would; the King has na restit wi'
putting the prelates upon us."
"What's te prelates, Robin Fullarton?" said auld Nanse Snoddie, turning
round to John's son, who was standing behind his father.
"They're the red dragons o' unrighteousness," replied the sincere laddie
with great vehemence.
"Gude guide us!" cried Nanse with the voice of terror; "and has the
King daur't to send sic accursed things to devour God's people?"
But my mother, who was sitting behind me, touched her on the shoulder,
bidding her be quiet; for the poor woman, being then doited, when left
to the freedom of her own will, was apt to expatiate without ceasing on
whatsoever she happened to discourse anent; and Nahum Chapelrig said to
my father,--
"'Deed, Sawners Gilhaize, we could look for nae better; prelacy is but
the prelude o' papistry; but the papistry o' this prelude is a perilous
papistry indeed; for its roots of rankness are in the midden-head of
Arminianism, which, in a sense, is a greater Antichrist than Antichrist
himself, even where he sits on his throne of thraldom in the Roman
vaticano. But, nevertheless, I trust and hope, that though the virgin
bride of protestantism be for a season thrown on her back, she shall not
be overcome, but will so strive and warsle aneath the foul grips of that
rampant Arminian, the English high-priest Laud, that he shall himself be
cast into the mire, or choket wi' the stoure of his own bakiefu's of
abominations, wherewith he would overwhelm and bury the Evangil. Yea,
even though the shield of his mighty men is made red, and his valiant
men are in scarlet, he shall recount his worthies, but they shall
stumble in their walk."
While Nahum was thus holding forth, the house filled even to the
trance-door with the neighbours, old and young; and several from time to
time spoke bitterly against the deadly sin and aggression which the King
was committing in the rape that the reading of the liturgy was upon the
consciences of his people. At last Ebenezer Muir, taking off his bonnet,
and rising, laid it down on his seat behind him, and then resting with
both his hands on his staff, looked up, and every one was hushed. Truly
it was an affecting sight to behold that very aged, time-bent and
venerable man so standing in the midst of all his dismayed and pious
neighbours,--his grey hairs flowing from his haffets,--and the light of
our lowly hearth shining upon his bald head and reverent countenance.
"Friens," said he, "I hae lived lang in the world; and in this house I
hae often partaken the sweet repast of the conversations of that
sanctified character, Michael Gilhaize, whom we a' revered as a parent,
not more for his ain worth than for the great things to which he was a
witness in the trials and troubles of the Reformation; and it seems to
me, frae a' the experience I hae gatherit, that when ance kings and
governments hae taken a step, let it be ne'er sae rash, there's a
something in the nature of rule and power that winna let them confess a
fau't, though they may afterwards be constrained to renounce the evil of
their ways. It was therefore wi' a sore heart that I heard this day the
doleful tidings frae Embro', and moreover, that I hae listened to the
outbreathings this night of the heaviness wherewith the news hae
oppressed you a'. Sure am I, that frae the provocation given to the
people of Scotland by the King's miscounselled majesty, nothing but
tears and woes can ensue; for by the manner in which they hae already
rebutted the aggression, he will in return be stirred to aggrieve them
still farther. I'm now an auld man, and may be removed before the woes
come to pass; but it requires not the e'e of prophecy to spae bloodshed
and suffering, and many afflictions in your fortunes. Nevertheless,
friens, be of good cheer, for the Lord will prosper his own cause.
Neither king, nor priest, nor any human authority has the right to
interfere between you and your God; and allegiance ends where
persecution begins. Never, therefore, in the trials awaiting you, forget
that the right to resist in matters of conscience is the
foundation-stone of religious liberty; O see, therefore, that you guard
it weel!"
The voice and manner of the aged speaker melted every heart. Many of the
women sobbed aloud, and the children were moved, as I was myself, and as
I have often heard them in their manhood tell, as if the spirit of faith
and fortitude had entered into the very bones and marrow of their
bodies; nor ever afterwards have I heard psalm sung with such melodious
energy of holiness as that pious congregation of simple country folk
sung the hundred and fortieth psalm before departing for their lowly
dwellings on that solemn evening.