AN EXAMINATION OF THE SCOTCH INTELLECT DURING THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.
The remaining part of this volume, I purpose to devote to an attempt to
unravel still further that two-fold paradox, which forms the prominent
peculiarity of the history of Scotland. The paradox consists, as we have
seen, in the fact, first, that the same people have long been liberal in
politics, and illiberal in religion; and, secondly, that the brilliant,
inquisitive, and sceptical literature which they produced in the
eighteenth century, was unable to weaken their superstition, or to instil
into them wiser and larger maxims on religious matters. From an early
period, there were, as I have endeavoured to show, many circumstances
which predisposed the Scotch to superstition, and, so far, had a general
connexion with the subject before us. But the remarkable phenomenon with
which we are immediately concerned, may, I think, be traced to two
distinct causes. The first cause was, that, for a hundred and twenty
years after the establishment of Protestantism, the rulers of Scotland
either neglected the Church or persecuted it, thereby driving the clergy
into the arms of the people, from whom alone they could obtain sympathy
and support. Hence an alliance between the two parties, more intimate
than would otherwise have been possible; and hence, too, the rise of that
democratic spirit which was the necessary consequence of such an union,
and which the clergy encouraged, because they were opposed and thwarted
by the upper classes. So far, the result was extremely beneficial, as it
produced a love of independence and a hatred of tyranny, which, twice
during the seventeenth century, saved the country from the yoke of a
cruel despotism. But these very circumstances, which guarded the people
against political despotism, exposed them all the more to ecclesiastical
despotism. For, having no one to trust except their preachers, they
trusted them entirely and upon all subjects. The clergy gradually became
supreme, not only in spiritual matters, but also in temporal ones. Late
in the sixteenth century, they had been glad to take refuge among the
people; before the middle of the seventeenth century, they ruled the
people. How shamefully they abused their power, and how, by encouraging
the worst kind of superstition, they prolonged the reign of ignorance,
and stopped the march of society, will be related in the course of this
chapter; but, in fairness to them, we ought to acknowledge, that the
religious servitude into which the Scotch fell during the seventeenth
century, was, on the whole, a willing one, and that, mischievous as it
was, it had at least a noble origin, inasmuch as the influence of the
Protestant clergy is mainly to be ascribed to the fearlessness with which
they came forward as leaders of the people, at a period when that post
was full of danger, and when the upper classes were ready to unite with
the crown in destroying the last vestiges of national liberty.
To trace the operation of this cause of Scotch superstition, will be the
business of the present chapter; while, in the next and concluding
chapter, I shall examine the other cause, which I have as yet hardly
mentioned. This latter inquiry will involve some considerations
respecting the philosophy of method, still imperfectly appreciated among
us, and on which the history of the Scotch mind will throw considerable
light. For, it will appear, that, during the eighteenth century, the
ablest Scotchmen, with hardly an exception, adopted a method of
investigating truth, which cut them off from the sympathies of their
countrymen, and prevented their works from producing the effect which
they might otherwise have done. The result was, that though a very
sceptical literature was produced, scepticism made no progress, and
therefore superstition was undiminished. The highly-educated minds,
indeed, were affected; but they formed a class apart, and there were no
means of communication between them and the people. That this was owing
to the method which literary men employed, I hope to prove in the next
chapter; and if I succeed in doing so, it will be evident, that I have
been guilty of no exaggeration in terming this the second great cause of
the prolongation of Scotch superstition, since it was sufficiently
powerful to prevent the intellectual classes from exercising their
natural functions as the disturbers of old opinions.
We have already seen, that almost immediately after the Reformation,
ill-feeling arose between the upper classes and the spiritual leaders of
the Protestant church, and that this ill-feeling increased until, in
1580, it vented itself by the abolition of episcopacy. This bold and
decisive measure made the breach irreparable. The preachers had now
committed themselves too far to recede, even if they had desired to do
so; and from that moment, uniting themselves heartily with the people,
they took up a position which they have never since abandoned. During the
remaining twenty-three years that James was in Scotland, they were
occupied in exciting the people against their rulers; and as they became
more democratic, so did the crown and nobles grow more hostile, and
display, for the first time, a disposition to combine together in defence
of their common interests. In 1603, James ascended the throne of England,
and the struggle began in earnest. It lasted, with few interruptions,
eighty-five years, and, during its continuance, the Presbyterian clergy
never wavered; they were always steady to the good cause; always on the
side of the people. This greatly increased their influence; and what
favoured it still more was, that, besides being the champions of popular
liberty, they were also the champions of national independence. When
James I. and the two Charles's attempted to force episcopacy upon
Scotland, the Scotch rejected it, not only because they hated the
institution, but also because they looked on it as the mark of a foreign
domination, which they were determined to resist. Their nearest and most
dangerous enemy was England; and they spurned the idea of receiving
bishops who must, in the first instance, be consecrated in London, and
who, it was certain, would never have been admitted into Scotland unless
England had been the stronger country. It was, therefore, on patriotic,
as well as religious, grounds, that the Scotch clergy, during the
seventeenth century, struggled against episcopacy;[410] and when they
overthrew it, in 1638, their bold and determined conduct associated, in
the popular mind, the love of country with the love of the church.
Subsequent events strengthened this association.[411] In 1650, Cromwell
invaded Scotland, overthrew the Scotch in the battle of Dunbar, and
intrusted to Monk the task of curbing their spirit, by building
fortresses, and establishing a long chain of military posts.[412] The
nation, cowed and broken, gave way, and, for the first time for three
centuries, felt the pressure of a foreign yoke. The clergy alone remained
firm.[413] Cromwell, who knew that they were the chief obstacle to
completing his conquest, hated them, and did every thing he could to ruin
them.[414] But their power was too deeply seated to be shaken. From their
pulpits, they continued to influence and animate the people. In face of
the invaders, and in spite of them, the Scotch church continued to hold
its General Assemblies, until the summer of 1653. Then, indeed, they had
to yield to brute force; and the people, to their unutterable grief,
beheld the venerated representatives of the Scotch kirk driven from their
place of meeting by English soldiers, and led like criminals through the
streets of Edinburgh.[415]
[410] In 1638, one of the most eminent of the Scotch clergy writes: 'Our
maine feare' is 'to have our religion lost, our throats cutted,
our poore countrey made ane English province, to be disposed upon
for ever hereafter at the will of a Bishope of Canterburie.'
_Baillie's Letters and Journals_, vol. i. p. 66. Compare p. 450.
'This kirk is a free and independant kirk, no less then the
kingdom is a free and independant kingdom; and as our own Patriots
can best judge what is for the good of the kingdom, so our own
Pastors should be most able to judge what form of worship
beseemeth our Reformation, and what serveth most for the good of
the People.' Two generations later, one of the most popular
arguments against the Union was, that it might enable the English
to force episcopacy upon Scotland. See _De Foe's History of the
Union between England and Scotland_, pp. 222, 284, 359. 'The
danger of the Church of Scotland, from the suffrages of English
bishops,' &c.
[411] The hatred which the Scotch naturally felt against the English for
having inflicted so much suffering upon them, was intense about
the middle of the seventeenth century, notwithstanding the
temporary union of the two nations against Charles. In 1652, 'the
criminal record is full of cases of murder of English soldiers.
They were cut off by the people whenever a fitting opportunity
occurred, and were as much detested in Scotland as the French
soldiers were in Spain during the Peninsular war.' _The
Spottiswoode Miscellany_, vol. ii. p. 98, Edinburgh, 1845. See
also p. 167: 'a nationall quarrell, and not for the Stuarts.'
[412] _Browne's History of the Highlands_, vol. ii. pp. 75-77: 'the
English army was augmented to twenty thousand men, and citadels
erected in several towns, and a long train of military stations
drawn across the country to curb the inhabitants.'
[413] Clarendon, under the year 1655, says, 'Though Scotland was
vanquished, and subdued, to that degree, that there was no place
nor person who made the least show of opposing Cromwell; who, by
the administration of Monk, made the yoke very grievous to the
whole nation; yet the preachers kept their pulpit license; and,
more for the affront that was offered to presbytery, than the
conscience of what was due to majesty, many of them presumed to
pray for the king; and generally, though secretly, exasperated the
minds of the people against the present government.' _Clarendon's
History of the Rebellion_, p. 803.
[414] And, what they must have felt very acutely, he would not go to hear
them preach. A writer of that time informs us that, even in 1648,
when Cromwell was in Edinburgh, 'he went not to their churches;
but it is constantle reported that ewerie day he had sermons in
his oune ludginge, himself being the preacher, whensoewer the
spirit came upon him; which took him lyk the fitts of an ague,
somtyms twise, sometyms thryse in a day.' _Gordon's Britane's
Distemper_, p. 212. In 1650, according to another contemporary,
'he made stables of all the churches for hes horsses quhersoeuer
he came, and burned all the seatts and pewes in them; riffled the
ministers housses, and distrayed ther cornes.' _Balfour's Annales
of Scotland_, vol. iv. p. 88. The clergy, on the other hand,
employing a resource with which their profession has always been
familiar, represented Cromwell as opposing Providence, because he
was opposing them. Rutherford (_Religious Letters_, reprinted
Glasgow, 1824, p. 346) says, that he fought 'against the Lord's
secret ones;' and Row (_Continuation of Blair's Autobiography_, p.
335), under the year 1658, triumphantly observes: 'In the
beginning of September this year, the Protector, that old fox,
died. It was observed, as a remarkable cast of divine providence,
that he died upon the 3d of September, which he, glorying of
routing of our armies at Dunbar and Worcester on that day, used to
call _his day_. On that same very day the Just Judge called him to
an account,' &c.
[415] See contemporary notices of this, in _Nicoll's Diary_, p. 110; and
in _The Diary of Mr. John Lamont of Newton_, pp. 56, 57. But the
best account is that given by Baillie, in a letter to Calamy,
dated Glasgow, 27th July 1653. He writes: 'That on the 20th of
July last, when our Generall Assemblie was sett in the ordinarie
tyme and place, Lieutenant-Colonell Cotterall besett the church
with some rattes of musqueteirs and a troup of horse; himself
(after our fast, wherein Mr. Dickson and Mr. Dowglas had two
gracious sermons) entered the Assemblie-house, and immediately
after Mr. Dickson the Moderator his prayer, required audience;
wherein he inquired, If we did sitt there by the authority of the
Parliament of the Commonwealth of England? or of the
Commanders-in-chiefe of the English forces? or of the English
Judges in Scotland? The Moderator replyed, That we were ane
Ecclesiasticall synod, ane Spirituall court of Jesus Christ, which
medled not with anything Civile; that our authoritie wes from God,
and established by the lawes of the land yet standing unrepealed;
that, by the Solemn League and Covenant, the most of the English
army stood obliedged to defend our Generall Assemblie. When some
speeches of this kind had passed, the Lieutenant-Colonell told us,
his order was to dissolve us; whereupon he commanded all of us to
follow him, else he would drag us out of the rowme. When we had
entered a Protestation of this unheard-of and unexampled violence,
we did ryse and follow him; he ledd us all through the whole
streets a myle out of the towne, encompassing us with
foot-companies of musqueteirs, and horsemen without; all the
people gazing and mourning as at the saddest spectacle they had
ever seen. When he had ledd us a myle without the towne, he then
declared what further he had in commission, That we should not
dare to meet any more above three in number; and that against
eight o'clock to-morrow, we should depart the towne, under paine
of being guiltie of breaking the publick peace: And the day
following, by sound of trumpet, we were commanded off towne under
the paine of present imprisonment. Thus our Generall Assemblie,
the glory and strength of our Church upon earth, is, by your
souldiarie, crushed and trod under foot, without the least
provocatione from us, at this time, either in word or deed.'
_Baillie's Letters and Journals_, vol. iii. pp. 225, 226.
Thus it was that in Scotland, after the latter part of the sixteenth
century, every thing tended to increase the reputation of the clergy, by
raising them to the foremost rank among the defenders of their country.
And it was but natural that the spiritual classes, finding themselves in
the ascendant, should conduct the contest according to views habitual to
their profession, and should be anxious for religious advantages, rather
than for temporal benefits. The war which the Scotch waged against
Charles I. partook more of the character of a crusade than any war ever
carried on by a Protestant nation.[416] The main object was, to raise up
presbyters, and to destroy bishops. Prelacy was the accursed thing, and
that must be rooted out at every hazard. To this, all other
considerations were subordinate.[417] The Scotch loved liberty, and hated
England. Yet, even these two passions, notwithstanding their strength,
were as nothing, in comparison with their intense desire to extend and to
propagate, if need be at the point of the sword, their own Presbyterian
polity. This was their first and paramount duty. They fought, indeed, for
freedom, but, above all, they fought for religion. In their eyes, Charles
was the idolatrous head of an idolatrous church, and that church they
were resolved to destroy. They felt that their cause was holy, and they
went forth full of confidence, convinced that the sword of Gideon was
drawn on their side, and that their enemies would be delivered up to
them.
[416] In August 1640, the army marched into England; and 'it was very
refreshfull to remark, that after we came to ane quarter at night,
there was nothing almost to be heard throughout the whole army but
singing of Psalms, prayer, and reading of Scripture by the
souldiers in their severall hutts.' _Select Biographies_, edited
by Mr. Tweedie for the Wodrow Society, vol. i. p. 163. 'The most
zealous among them boasted, they should carry the triumphant
banners of the covenant to Rome itself.' _Arnot's History of
Edinburgh_, p. 124. In 1644, the celebrated divine, Andrew Cant,
was appointed by the Commissioners of the General Assembly, 'to
preach at the opening of the Parliament, wherein he satisfied
their expectation fully. For, the main point he drove at in his
sermon, was to state an opposition betwixt King Charles and King
Jesus (as he was pleased to speak) and upon that account to press
resistance to King Charles for the interest of King Jesus. It may
be wondered that such doctrine should have relish'd with men
brought up in the knowledge of the Scriptures; and yet, such was
the madness of the times, that none who preach'd in public since
the beginning of the Troubles, had been so cried up as he was for
that sermon.' _Guthry's Memoirs_, pp. 136, 137.
[417] 'The rooting out of prelacy and the wicked hierarchy therein so
obviously described, is the main duty.' _Naphtali, or the
Wrestlings of the Church of Scotland_, pp. 53, 54. This refers to
the Covenant of 1643. So, too, the continuator of _Row's History
of the Kirk_, p. 521, says, under the year 1639, that the object
of the war was, 'to withstand the prelaticall faction and
malignant, countenanced by the kinge in his owne persone.' Compare
the outbreak of the Reverend Samuel Rutherford, against 'the
accursed and wretched prelates, the Antichrist's first-born, and
the first fruit of his foul womb.' _Rutherford's Religious
Letters_, p. 179.
The rebellion, therefore, against Charles, which, on the part of the
English, was essentially secular,[418] was, on the part of the Scotch,
essentially religious. This was because with us, the laymen were stronger
than the clergy; while with them, the clergy were stronger than the
laymen. In 1643, both nations having united against the king, it was
thought advisable that an intimate alliance should be concluded; but, in
the negotiations which followed, it is noticed, by a contemporary
observer, that though the English merely wished for a civil league, the
Scotch demanded a religious covenant.[419] And as they would only
continue the war on condition that this was granted, the English were
obliged to give way. The result was the Solemn League and Covenant, by
which what seemed a cordial union was effected between the two
countries.[420] Such a compact was, however, sure to be short-lived, as
each party had different objects; the aim of the English being
political, while that of the Scotch was religious. The consequences of
this difference were soon apparent. In January 1645, negotiations having
been opened with the king, commissioners met at Uxbridge, with the view
of concluding a peace. The attempt failed, as might have been expected,
seeing that, not only were the pretensions of the king irreconcilable
with those of his opponents, but that the pretensions of his opponents
were irreconcilable with each other. At Uxbridge, during the conferences,
the Scotch expressed their readiness to concede to him what he required,
if he would gratify them in regard to the Church; while the English,
occupying themselves with civil and political questions, cared less, says
Clarendon, for what concerned the Church than for anything else.[421] A
better illustration could hardly be found of the secular character of the
English rebellion, as compared with the spiritual character of the Scotch
rebellion. Indeed, the Scotch, so far from concealing this, boasted of
it, and evidently thought that it proved how superior they were to their
worldly-minded neighbours. In February 1645, the General Assembly issued
an address to the nation, including not only those who were at home, but
also those who served in armies out of Scotland. In this document, which,
proceeding from such a quarter, necessarily exercised great influence,
political considerations, as having to do merely with the temporal
happiness of men, are treated as insignificant, and almost despicable.
That Rupert was defeated, and that York and Newcastle were taken, were
but trifling matters. They were only the means of accomplishing an end,
and that end was the reformation of religion in England, and the
establishment there of the pure Presbyterian polity.[422]
[418] Our civil war was not religious; but was a struggle between the
Crown and the Parliament. See a note in _Buckle's History of
Civilization_, vol. i. p. 359.
[419] In September 1643, Baillie, writing an account of the proceedings
of the Westminster Assembly in the preceding month, says, 'In our
committees also we had hard enough debates. The English were for a
civill League, we for a religious Covenant.' Letter to Mr. William
Spang, dated 22nd September 1643, in _Baillie's Letters and
Journals_, vol. ii. p. 90.
[420] 'The Solemn League and Covenant,' which 'is memorable as the first
approach towards an intimate union between the kingdoms, but,
according to the intolerant principles of the age, a federal
alliance was constructed on the frail and narrow basis of
religious communion.' _Laing's History of Scotland_, vol. iii. pp.
258, 259. The passage, however, which I have quoted, in the last
note, from Baillie, shows that England was not responsible for the
intolerant principles, or, consequently, for the narrow basis.
[421] The Chancellor of Scotland 'did as good as conclude "that if the
king would satisfy them in the business of the Church, they would
not concern themselves in any of the other demands."' ... 'And it
was manifest enough, by the private conferences with other of the
commissioners, that the parliament took none of the points in
controversy less to heart, or were less united in, than in what
concerned the Church.' _Clarendon's History of the Rebellion_,
edit. Oxford, 1843, p. 522. See also p. 527: 'that the Scots would
insist upon the whole government of the Church, and in all other
matters would defer to the king.'
[422] See this extraordinary document in _Acts of the General Assembly of
the Church of Scotland from 1638 to 1842_, pp. 122-128, Edinburgh,
1843. It is entitled 'A solemne and seasonable warning to the
noblemen, barons, gentlemen, burrows, ministers, and commons of
Scotland; as also to armies without and within this kingdom.' In
it (p. 123) occurs the following passage: 'And for our part, our
forces sent into that kingdom, in pursuance of that Covenant, have
been so mercifully and manifestly assisted and blessed from heaven
(though in the mids of many dangers and distresses, and much want
and hardship), and have been so farre instrumentall to the foyling
and scattering of two principall armies; first, the Marquesse of
Newcastle his army; and afterwards Prince Rupert's and his
together; and to the reducing of two strong cities, York and
Newcastle, that we have what to answer the enemy that reproacheth
us concerning that businesse, and that which may make iniquitie it
self to stop her mouth. But which _is more unto us than all
victories or whatsomever temporall blessing_, the reformation of
religion in England, and uniformity therein between both kingdoms
(a principal end of that Covenant), is so far advanced, that the
English Service-Book with the Holy-Dayes and many other ceremonies
contained in it, together with the Prelacy, the fountain of all
these, are abolished and taken away by ordinance of parliament,
and a directory for the worship of God in all the three kingdoms
agreed upon in the Assemblies, and in the Parliaments of both
kingdoms, without a contrary voice in either; the government of
the kirk by congregational elderships, classical presbyteries,
provincial and national assemblies, is agreed upon by the Assembly
of Divines at Westminster, which is also voted and concluded in
both Houses of the Parliament of England.'
A war, undertaken with such holy objects, and conceived in so elevated a
spirit, was supposed to be placed under the immediate protection of the
Deity, on whose behalf it was carried on. In the language of the time, it
was a war for God, and for God's church. Every victory that was obtained,
was the result, not of the skill of the general, nor of the valour of
the troops, but was an answer to prayer.[423] When a battle was lost, it
was either because God was vexed at the sins of the people,[424] or else
to show them that they must not trust to the arms of the flesh.[425]
Nothing was natural; all was supernatural. The entire course of affairs
was governed, not by their own antecedents, but by a series of miracles.
To assist the Scotch, winds were changed, and storms were lulled. Such
intelligence as was important for them to receive, was often brought by
sea; and, on those occasions, it was expected that, if the wind were
unfavourable, Providence would interfere, would shift it from one quarter
to another, and, when the news had safely arrived, would allow it to
return to its former direction.[426]
[423] In 1644, 'God ansuered our Wednesday's prayers: Balfour and Waller
had gotten a glorious victorie over Forth and Hopton, and routed
them totallie, horse and foot.' _Baillie's Letters and Journals_,
vol. ii. p. 155. In the same year, thanksgivings being offered at
Aberdeen for the victory of Leslie over Rupert, 'oure minister Mr.
William Strathauchin declairit out of pulpit that this victory wes
miraculous, wrocht by the fynger of God.' _Spalding's History of
the Troubles_, vol. ii. p. 254. In 1648, the Commissioners of the
General Assembly, in an address to the Prince of Wales, stated
that the Deity had been 'fighting for his people;' meaning by his
people, the Scotch people. They added, that the fact of their
enemies having been repulsed, was a proof of 'how sore the Lord
hath been displeased with their way.' _Clarendon State Papers_,
vol. ii. p. 424, Oxford, 1773, folio.
[424] Two Scotch notices are now before me of the fatal battle of Dunbar.
According to one, the defeat was intended to testify against 'the
great sin and wickedness' of the people. _Naphtali, or the
Wrestlings of the Church of Scotland_, p. 75. According to the
other, it was owing to the anger of the Deity at the Scotch
showing any favour to the partizans of Charles. For, says the
Reverend Alexander Shields, 'both at that time, and since that
time, the Lord never countenanced an expedition where that
malignant interest was taken in unto the state of the quarrel.
Upon this, our land was invaded by Oliver Cromwell, who defeat our
army at Dunbar, where the anger of the Lord was evidently seen to
smoke against us, for espousing that interest.' _Shields' Hind let
loose_, p. 75. These opinions were formed after the battle. Before
the battle, a different hypothesis was broached. Sir Edward
Walker, who was in Scotland at the time, tells us, that the clergy
assured the people that 'they had an army of saints, and that they
could not be beaten.' _Journal of Affairs in Scotland in 1650_, in
_Walker's Historical Discourses_, London, 1705, folio, p. 165.
[425] 'Each new victory of Montrose was expressly attributed to the
admonitory "indignation of the Lord" against his chosen people for
their sin, in "trusting too much to the arm of flesh."' _Napier's
Life of Montrose_, Edinburgh, 1840, p. 283. Compare _Guthrie's
Considerations contributing unto the Discovery of the Dangers that
threaten Religion_, pp. 274, 275, reprinted Edinburgh, 1846.
Guthrie was at the height of his reputation in the middle of the
seventeenth century. Lord Somerville says of the Scotch, when they
were making war against Charles I., that it was 'ordinary for
them, dureing the wholl tyme of this warre, to attribute ther
great successe to the goodnesse and justice of their cause, untill
Divyne Justice trysted them with some crosse dispensatione, and
then you might have heard this language from them, that it pleased
the Lord to give his oune the heavyest end of the tree to bear,
that the saints and people of God must still be sufferers while
they are here away; that that malignant party was God's rod to
punish them for their unthankfullnesse,' &c. _Somerville's Memorie
of the Somervilles_, vol. ii. pp. 351, 352.
[426] Baillie mentions, in 1644, an instance of these expectations being
fulfilled. He says (_Letters and Journals_, vol. ii. p. 138),
'These things were brought in at a very important nick of time, by
God's gracious providence: Never a more quick passage from Holy
Island to Yarmouth in thirtie houres; they had not cast anchor
halfe an houre till the wind turned contrare.' Compare p. 142: 'If
this were past, we look for a new lyfe and vigoure in all
affaires, especiallie if it please God to send a sweet northwind,
carrying the certain news of the taking of Newcastle, which we
dailie expect.'
It was in this way that, in Scotland, every thing conspired to strengthen
that religious element which the force of circumstances had, at an early
period, made prominent, and which now threatened to absorb all the other
elements of the national character. The clergy were supreme; and habits
of mind natural and becoming to themselves, were diffused among all
classes. The theories of a single profession outweighed those of all
other professions; and not only war, but also trade, literature, science,
and art, were held of no account unless they ministered to the general
feeling. A state of society so narrow and so one-sided, has never been
seen in any other country equally civilized. Nor did there appear much
chance of abating this strange monopoly. As the seventeenth century
advanced, the same train of events was continued; the clergy and the
people always making common cause against the crown, and being, by the
necessity of self-preservation, forced into the most intimate union with
each other. Of this, the preachers availed themselves to strengthen their
own influence; and for upwards of a century their exertions stopped all
intellectual culture, discouraged all independent inquiry, made men in
religious matters fearful and austere, and coloured the whole national
character with that dark hue, which, though now gradually softening, it
still retains.
The Scotch, during the seventeenth century, instead of cultivating the
arts of life, improving their minds, or adding to their wealth, passed
the greater part of their time in what were called religious exercises.
The sermons were so long and so frequent, that they absorbed all leisure,
and yet the people were never weary of hearing them. When a preacher was
once in the pulpit, the only limit to his loquacity was his strength.
Being sure of a patient and reverential audience, he went on as long as
he could. If he discoursed for two hours without intermission, he was
valued as a zealous pastor, who had the good of his flock at heart; and
this was about as much as an ordinary clergyman could perform, because,
in uttering his sentiments, he was expected to display great vehemence,
and to evince his earnestness by toiling and sweating abundantly.[427]
This boundary was, however, often passed by those who were equal to the
labour; and Forbes, who was vigorous as well as voluble, thought nothing
of preaching for five or six hours.[428] But, in the ordinary course of
nature, such feats were rare; and, as the people were in these matters
extremely eager, an ingenious contrivance was hit upon whereby their
desires might be satisfied. On great occasions, several clergymen were
present in the same church, in order that, when one was fatigued, he
might leave the pulpit, and be succeeded by another, who, in his turn,
was followed by a third; the patience of the hearers being apparently
inexhaustible.[429] Indeed, the Scotch, by the middle of the seventeenth
century, had grown accustomed to look up to their minister as if he were
a god, and to dwell with rapture upon every word that dropt from his
lips. To hear a favourite preacher, they would incur any fatigue, and
would undertake long journeys without sleep or food.[430] Their power of
attention was marvellous. The same congregation would sometimes remain
together for ten hours, listening to sermons and prayers, interspersed
with singings and readings.[431] In an account of Scotland in 1670, it is
stated that, in a single church in Edinburgh, thirty sermons were
delivered every week.[432] Nor is this at all unlikely, considering the
religious enthusiasm of the age. For, in those times, the people
delighted in the most harassing and ascetic devotions. Thus, for
instance, in 1653, when the sacrament was administered, they pursued the
following course. On Wednesday, they fasted, and listened to prayers and
sermons for more than eight hours. On Saturday they heard two or three
sermons; and on Sunday, the number of sermons was so great that they
stayed in church more than twelve hours; while, to conclude the whole,
three or four additional ones were preached on Monday by way of
thanksgiving.[433]
[427] No one, perhaps, carried this further than John Menzies, the
celebrated professor of divinity at Aberdeen. 'Such was his
uncommon fervour in the pulpit, that, we are informed, he "used to
change his shirt always after preaching, and to wet two or three
napkins with tears every sermon."' Note in _Wodrow's
Correspondence_, vol. ii. p. 222. James Forbes, also, was 'an able
and zealous preacher, who after every sermon behooved to change
his shirt, he spoke with such vehemency and sweating.' _Select
Biographies_, published by the Wodrow Society, vol. i. p. 333.
Lord Somerville, who wrote in 1679, mentions 'their thundering
preachings.' _Memorie of the Somervilles_, vol. ii. p. 388. A
traditionary anecdote, related by the Dean of Edinburgh, refers to
a later period, but is characteristic of the class. 'Another
description I have heard of an energetic preacher more forcible
than delicate--"Eh, our minister had a great power o' watter, for
he grat, and spat, and swat like mischeef."' _Reminiscences of
Scottish Life and Character_, by E. B. Ramsay, Dean of Edinburgh,
p. 201.
[428] He 'was a very learned and pious man; he had a strange faculty of
preaching five or six hours at a time.' _Burnet's History of his
own Time_, vol. i. p. 38. Even early in the eighteenth century,
when theological fervour was beginning to decline, and sermons
were consequently shorter, Hugh Thomson came near to Forbes. 'He
was the longest preacher ever I heard, and would have preached
four (or) five hours, and was not generally under two hours; that
almost every body expected.' ... 'He was a piouse good man, and a
fervent affectionat preacher, and, when I heard him, he had a vast
deal of heads, and a great deal of matter, and generally very good
and practicall, but very long.' _Wodrow's Analecta_, vol. iv.
p. 203.
[429] In 1653, Lamont casually mentions, in his journal, that 'the one
came doune from the pulpit and the other went vp, in the tyme that
the psalme after the first sermon was singing, so that ther was no
intermission of the exercise, nether were the peopell dismissed
till both sermons were ended.' _The Diary of Mr. John Lamont of
Newton_, p. 58. Burnet (_History of his own Time_, vol. i. p. 92)
says, 'I remember in one fast day there were six sermons preached
without intermission. I was there myself, and not a little weary
of so tedious a service.'
[430] When Guthrie preached at Fenwick, 'his church, although a large
country one, was overlaid and crowded every Sabbath-day, and very
many, without doors, from distant parishes, such as Glasgow,
Paisley, Hamilton, Lanerk, Kilbryde, Glasford, Strathaven,
Newmills, Egelsham and many other places, who hungered for the
pure gospel preached, and got a meal by the word of his ministry.
It was their usual practice to come to Fenwick on Saturday, and to
spend the greatest part of the night in prayer to God, and
conversation about the great concerns of their souls, to attend
the public worship on the Sabbath, to dedicate the remainder of
that holy day in religious exercises, and then to go home on
Monday the length of ten, twelve or twenty miles without grudging
in the least at the long way, want of sleep or other refreshments;
neither did they find themselves the less prepared for any other
business through the week.' _Howie's Biographia Scoticana_, 2nd
edit., Glasgow, 1781, p. 311. One woman went forty miles to hear
Livingstone preach. See her own statement, in _Wodrow's Analecta_,
vol. ii. p. 249.
[431] Spalding gives the following account of what happened at Aberdeen
in 1644. 'So heir in Old Abirdene, upone the sevint of July, we
had ane fast, entering the churche be nyne houris, and continewit
praying and preiching whill tua houris. Efter sermon, the people
sat still heiring reiding whill efternone's sermon began and
endit, whiche continewit till half hour to sex. Then the prayer
bell rang to the evening prayeris, and continewit whill seven.'
_Spalding's History of the Troubles_, vol. ii. p. 244, edit.
Edinburgh, 1829, 4to. See also p. 42: 'the people keipit churche
all day.' This was also at Aberdeen, in 1642.
[432] 'Out of one pulpit now they have thirty sermons per week, all
under one roof.' _A Modern Account of Scotland_, in _The Harleian
Miscellany_, vol. vi. p. 138, edit. Park, London, 1810, 4to.
[433] 'But where the greatest part was more sound, they gave the
sacrament with a new and unusual solemnity. On the Wednesday
before, they held a fast day, with prayers and sermons for about
eight or ten hours together: on the Saturday they had two or three
preparation sermons: and on the Lord's day they had so very many,
that the action continued above twelve hours in some places: and
all ended with three or four sermons on Monday for thanksgiving.'
_Burnet's History of his own Time_, vol. i. p. 108.
Such eagerness, and yet such patience, indicate a state of society
altogether peculiar, and for which we find no parallel in the history of
any civilized country. This intense desire to hear whatever the preachers
had to say, was, in itself, a homage of the most flattering kind, and was
naturally accompanied by a belief that they were endowed with a light
which was withheld from their less gifted countrymen. It is not
surprising that the clergy, who, at no period, and in no nation, have
been remarkable for their meekness, or for a want of confidence in
themselves, should, under circumstances so eminently favourable to their
pretensions, have been somewhat elated, and should have claimed an
authority even greater than that which was conceded to them. And as this
is intimately connected with the subsequent history of Scotland, it will
be necessary to collect some evidence respecting their conduct, which
will have the further advantage of exhibiting the true character of
spiritual domination, and of showing how it works, not only on the
intellectual, but also on the practical, life of a people.
According to the Presbyterian polity, which reached its height in the
seventeenth century, the clergyman of the parish selected a certain
number of laymen on whom he could depend, and who, under the name of
elders, were his councillors, or rather the ministers of his authority.
They, when assembled together, formed what was called the Kirk-Session,
and this little court, which enforced the decisions uttered in the
pulpit, was so supported by the superstitious reverence of the people,
that it was far more powerful than any civil tribunal. By its aid, the
minister became supreme. For, whoever presumed to disobey him was
excommunicated, was deprived of his property, and was believed to have
incurred the penalty of eternal perdition.[434] Against such weapons, in
such a state of society, resistance was impossible. The clergy interfered
with every man's private concerns, ordered how he should govern his
family, and often took upon themselves the personal control of his
household.[435] Their minions, the elders, were everywhere; for each
parish was divided into several quarters, and to each quarter one of
these officials was allotted, in order that he might take special notice
of what was done in his own district.[436] Besides this, spies were
appointed, so that nothing could escape their supervision.[437] Not only
the streets, but even private houses, were searched, and ransacked, to
see if any one was absent from church while the minister was
preaching.[438] To him, all must listen, and him all must obey. Without
the consent of his tribunal, no person might engage himself, either as a
domestic servant, or as a field labourer.[439] If any one incurred the
displeasure of the clergy, they did not scruple to summon his servants
and force them to state whatever they knew respecting him, and whatever
they had seen done in his house.[440] To speak disrespectfully of a
preacher was a grievous offence;[441] to differ from him was a
heresy;[442] even to pass him in the streets without saluting him, was
punished as a crime.[443] His very name was regarded as sacred, and not
to be taken in vain. And that it might be properly protected, and held in
due honour, an Assembly of the Church, in 1642, forbad it to be used in
any public paper unless the consent of the holy man had been previously
obtained.[444]
[434] 'The power of those kirk-sessions, which are now private
assemblages, in whose meetings and proceedings the public take no
interest whatever, is defined to be the cognizance of parochial
matters and cases of scandal; but in the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries, especially during the Covenanting reign of terror after
the outbreak of the Civil War against Charles I., the
kirk-sessions of Scotland were the sources of excessive tyranny
and oppression--were arbitrary, inquisitorial, and revengeful, to
an extent which exceeds all belief. It is truly stated by the
author of the "Memoirs of Locheill"--"Every parish had a tyrant,
who made the greatest Lord in his district stoop to his authority.
The kirk was the place where he kept his court; the pulpit his
throne or tribunal from whence he issued out his terrible decrees;
and twelve or fourteen sour ignorant enthusiasts, under the title
of Elders, composed his council. If any, of what quality soever,
had the assurance to disobey his orders, the dreadful sentence of
excommunication was immediately thundered out against him, his
goods and chattels confiscated and seized, and he himself being
looked upon as actually in the possession of the devil, and
irretrievably doomed to eternal perdition."' Introduction to _The
Kirk-Session Register of Perth_, in _The Spottiswoode Miscellany_,
vol. ii. pp. 229-230, Edinburgh, 1845. In regard to the perdition
which the sentence of excommunication was supposed to involve, one
of the most influential Scotch divines of that time merely
expresses the prevailing notion, when he asserts, that whoever was
excommunicated was thereby given up to Satan. 'That he who is
excommunicated may be truly said to be delivered to Sathan is
undeniable.' _Gillespie's Aaron's Rod Blossoming, or the Divine
Ordinance of Church Government Vindicated_, 1646, 4to, p. 239.
'Excommunication, which is a shutting out of a Church-member from
the Church, whereby Sathan commeth to get dominion and power over
him.' _Ibid._ p. 297. 'Sure I am an excommunicate person may truly
be said to be delivered to Sathan.' p. 424.
[435] Clarendon, under the year 1640, emphatically says (_History of the
Rebellion_, p. 67), 'The preacher reprehended the husband,
governed the wife, chastised the children, and insulted over the
servants, in the houses of the greatest men.' The theory was, that
'ministers and elders must be submitted unto us as fathers.'
_Shields' Enquiry into Church Communion_, 2nd edit., Edinburgh,
1747, p. 66. In the middle of the seventeenth century, one of the
most famous of the Scotch preachers openly asserted the right of
his profession to interfere in family matters, on the ground that
such was the custom in the time of Joshua. 'The Ministers of God's
house have not only the ministry of holy things, as Word and
Sacraments, committed to their charge, but also the power of
ecclesiastical government to take order with scandalous offences
within the familie; both these are here promised to Joshua and the
Priests.' _Hutchison's Exposition of the Minor Prophets_, vol.
iii. p. 72, London, 1654. In 1603, the Presbytery of Aberdeen took
upon themselves to order that every master of a house should keep
a rod, that his family, including his servants, might be beaten if
they used improper language. 'It is concludit that thair salbe in
ewerie houss a palmar.' _Selections from the Records of the Kirk
Session, Presbytery, and Synod of Aberdeen_, printed for the
Spalding Club, 4to, Aberdeen, 1846, p. 194. It also appears
(p. 303) that, in 1674, the clergyman was expected to exercise
supervision over all visitors to private houses; since he ought to
be informed, 'iff ther be anie persone receaved in the familie
without testimoniall presented to the minister.'
[436] In 1650, it was ordered, 'That everie paroche be divydit in
severall quarteris, and each elder his owne quarter, over which he
is to have speciall inspectioun, and that everie elder visit his
quarter once everie month at least, according to the act of the
Generall Assemblie, 1649, and in thair visitatioun tak notice of
all disorderlie walkeris, especiallie neglectouris of God's
worship in thair families, sueareris, haunteris of aill houses,
especiallie at vnseasonable tymes, and long sitteris thair, and
drinkeris of healthis; and that he dilate these to the Sessioun.'
_Selections from the Minutes of the Synod of Fife_, printed for
the Abbotsford Club, Edinburgh, 1837, 4to, p. 168. 'The elders
each one in his own quarter, for trying the manners of the
people.' _The Government and Order of the Church of Scotland_,
Edinburgh, 1690, p. 14. This scarce little volume is reprinted
from the edition of 1641. See the advertisement at the beginning.
[437] In 1652, the Kirk-Session of Glasgow 'brot boyes and servants
before them, for breaking the Sabbath, and other faults. They had
clandestine censors, and gave money to some for this end.'
_Wodrow's Collections_, vol. ii. part ii. p. 74, Glasgow, 1848,
4to.
[438] 'It is thocht expedient that ane baillie with tua of the sessioun
pas throw the towne everie Sabboth day, and nott sic as thay find
absent fra the sermones ather afoir or efter none; and for that
effect that thay pas and _sersche sic houss as they think maist
meit_, and pas athort the streittis.' _Selections from the Records
of the Kirk Session, Presbytery, and Synod of Aberdeen_, p. 26.
'To pas throw the towne to caus the people resort to the hering of
the sermones.' p. 59. 'Ganging throw the towne on the ordinar
preiching dayes in the weik, als weill as on the Saboth day, to
caus the people resort to the sermones.' p. 77. See also p. 94;
and _Wodrow's Collections_, vol. ii. part ii. p. 37: 'the Session
allous the searchers to go into houses and apprehend absents from
the kirk.'
[439] 'Another peculiarity was the supervision wielded over the movements
of people to such a degree that they could neither _obtain lodging
nor employment_ except by a licence from the Kirk-Session, or, by
defying this police court, expose themselves to fine and
imprisonment.' _Lawson's Book of Perth_, p. xxxvii. Edinburgh,
1847.
[440] In 1652, Sir Alexander Irvine indignantly writes, that the
presbytery of Aberdeen, 'when they had tried many wayes, bot in
vaine, to mak probable this their vaine imaginatione, they, at
lenthe, when all other meanes failed thame, by ane unparalelled
barbaritie, enforced my serwandis to reweall upon oathe what they
sawe, herd, or knewe done within my house, beyond which no
Turkische inquisitione could pase.' _The Miscellany of the
Spalding Club_, vol. iii. p. 206, Aberdeen, 1846, 4to.
[441] In 1656, a servant was ordered to be brought before the
Kirk-Session of Aberdeen 'for her rayleing againest Mr. Andrew
Cant, minister, in saying that becaus the said Mr. Andrew spak
againest Yuill, he spak lyke ane old fool.' _Selections from the
Records of the Kirk Session, Presbytery, and Synod of Aberdeen_,
p. 138. In 1642, the Presbytery of Lanark had up a certain James
Baillie, because he stated the extremely probable circumstance,
'that two fooles mett togither, when the Minister and his sone
mett togither.' _Selections from the Registers of the Presbytery
of Lanark_, printed for the Abbotsford Club, Edinburgh, 1839, 4to,
p. 30.
[442] In 1644, 'If you dissent from them in a theological tenet, it is
heresy.' _Presbytery Displayed_, 1644, p. 39, reprinted London,
1663, 4to. In 1637, 'If ye depart from _what I taught you in a
hair-breadth_ for fear or favour of men, or desire of ease in this
world, I take heaven and earth to witness, that ill shall come
upon you in end.' _Rutherford's Religious Letters_, p. 116. In
1607, 'Mr. William Cowper, Minister, complained upon Robert Keir
that he had disdainfully spoken of his doctrine. The (Kirk)
Session ordained him to be warned to the morrow.' _Lawson's Book
of Perth_, p. 247.
[443] In 1619, a man was summoned before the Kirk-Session of Perth,
because, among other things, he would not perform 'that civil duty
of salutation, as becomes him to his pastor;' but 'passed by him
without using any kind of reverence.' _The Chronicle of Perth_,
Edinburgh, 1831, 4to, p. 80. The complaint was preferred by the
minister himself. Indeed, the Scotch clergy took these things so
much to heart, that they set up a theory to the effect that
whoever showed them any disrespect, was prompted thereto by Satan.
'It is Satan's great engine to draw men to contemne God and his
word, under pretext of disrespect and prejudice against the
Messengers only.' ... 'It may let us see their guilt who despise
most eminent ordinary Messengers.' _Hutcheson's Exposition of the
Minor Prophets_, vol. i. pp. 205, 233.
[444] The General Assembly of Saint Andrews, in 1642, passed 'an act
against using ministers' names in any of the public papers,
without their own consent.' _Stevenson's History of the Church of
Scotland_, p. 503.
These and similar proceedings, being upheld by public opinion, were
completely successful. Indeed, they could hardly have been otherwise,
seeing that it was generally believed that whoever gainsaid the clergy,
would be visited, not only with temporal penalties, but also with
spiritual ones. For such a crime, there was punishment here, and there
was punishment hereafter. The preachers willingly fostered a delusion by
which they benefited. They told their hearers, that what was spoken in
the pulpit was binding upon all believers, and was to be regarded as
immediately proceeding from the Deity.[445] This proposition being
established, other propositions naturally followed. The clergy believed
that they alone were privy to the counsels of the Almighty, and that, by
virtue of this knowledge, they could determine what any man's future
state would be.[446] Going still further, they claimed the power, not
only of foretelling his future state, but also of controlling it; and
they did not scruple to affirm that, by their censures, they could open
and shut the kingdom of heaven.[447] As if this were not enough, they
also gave out that a word of theirs could hasten the moment of death, and
by cutting off the sinner in his prime, could bring him at once before
the judgment-seat of God.[448]
[445] 'Directions for a believer's walk, given by Christ's ministers from
his word, are his own, and are accounted by him as if he did
immediately speak them himself.' _Durham's Exposition of the Song
of Solomon_, p. 102. I quote from the Glasgow reprint of 1788.
That my references may be easily verified, and any error, if error
there be, detected, I mention that the exact edition used will, in
every case, be found specified in the List of Authors at the
beginning of this work. But, if it will give the reader any
additional confidence, I will venture to observe, that I am always
scrupulously careful in reference to quotations, having looked out
each passage afresh, as the sheets came from the printers hands.
Some of the circumstances narrated in this chapter are so
monstrous, that I hope to be excused in saying that I have taken
all possible pains to secure their literal accuracy.
[446] 'Yea, such was their arrogance, that, as if they had been privy to
the councils of God, or the dispensers of his vengeance to the
world, they presumed to pronounce upon their future state, and
doomed them, both body and soul, to eternal torments.' _Wishart's
Memoirs of the Marquis of Montrose_, p. 237. 'Ye heard of me the
whole counsel of God. _Rutherford's Religious Letters_, p. 16. 'I
am free from the blood of all men; for I have communicated to you
the whole counsel of God.' _Ibid._ p. 191. 'This is the great
business of Gospel Ministers, to declare the whole counsel of
God.' _Halyburton's Great Concern of Salvation_, p. 4. 'Asserting
that he had declared the whole counsel of God, and had keeped
nothing back.' _Life of the Rev. A. Peden_, p. 41, in vol. i. of
_Walker's Biographia Presbyteriana_.
[447] 'The power of the keys is given to the Ministers of the church,
wherewith not only by the preaching of the word, but also to
church censures (sic) they open and shut the kingdom of heaven.'
_Dickson's Truth's Victory over Error_, p. 282. 'To preach the
Word, impugne, rebuik, admonishe, exhort and correct, and that
under no less paine then casting both bodie and soull into
eternall hell's fire.' _Forbes' Certaine Records touching the
Estate of the Kirk_, p. 519. 'The next words, "Whatsoever ye shall
bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven," being spoken to the
Apostles, and in them to other Ministers of Jesus Christ.'
_Gillespie's Aaron's Rod Blossoming_, p. 366. 'The keys of the
kingdom of Heaven' ... 'are committed and intrusted to the pastors
and other ruling officers of the Church.' _Ibid._ p. 260.
[448] 'Gird up the loins of your mind, and make you ready for meeting
the Lord; I have often summoned you, and now I summon you again,
to compear before your Judge, to make a reckoning of your life.'
_Rutherford's Religious Letters_, p. 235. 'Mr. Cameron, musing a
little, said, "You, and all who do not know my God in mercy, shall
know him in his judgments, which shall be sudden and surprising in
a few days upon you; and I, as a sent servant of Jesus Christ,
whose commission I bear, and whose badge I wear upon my breast,
give you warning, and leave you to the justice of God."
Accordingly, in a few days after, the said Andrew, being in
perfect health, took his breakfast plentifully, and before he rose
fell a-vomiting, and vomited his heart's blood in the very vessel
out of which he had taken his breakfast; and died in a most
frightful manner.' _Howie's Biographia Scoticana_, p. 406.
Utterly horrible as such a pretension now appears, it was made, not only
with impunity, but with advantage; and numerous instances are recorded,
in which the people believed that it was strictly enforced. The
celebrated John Welsh, sitting one night at table, round which a party
were assembled at supper, began to discourse to the company respecting
the state of their souls. Those who were present listened with humility;
but to this general feeling there was one exception. For, it so happened
that a Roman Catholic was in the room, and he, of course, disagreed with
the opinions expressed by the Presbyterian divine. If he had been a
cautious man, he would have kept his disagreement to himself; but being a
hot-headed youth, and being impatient at seeing a single person engross
the conversation, he lost his temper, and not only ridiculed Welsh, but
actually made faces at him. Thereupon, Welsh charged the company to take
heed, and see what the Lord was about to do to him who mocked. Scarcely
had this threat been uttered, when it was carried into execution. He who
had dared to jest at the minister, suddenly fell, sank under the table,
and died there in presence of the whole party.[449]
[449] 'Sitting at supper with the Lord Ochiltree (who was uncle to
Mr. Welsh's wife), as his manner was, he entertained the company
with godly and edifying discourse, which was well received by all
the company save only one debauched Popish young gentleman, who
sometimes laughed, and sometimes mocked and made faces; whereupon
Mr. Welsh brake out into a sad abrupt charge upon all the company
to be silent, and observe the work of the Lord upon that profane
mocker, which they should presently behold; upon which immediately
the profane wretch sunk down and died beneath the table, but never
returned to life again, to the great astonishment of all the
company.' _History of Mr. John Welsh, Minister of the Gospel at
Ayr_, in _Select Biographies_, vol. i. p. 29. 'Mr. Welsh being by
the Captaine, set at the upper end, intertained the company with
grave and edifying discourse which all delighted to hear, save
this young Papist, who, with laughter and derision, laboured to
silence him, which was little regarded by Mr. Welsh. But after
supper, while the guests sate a little, this youth stood up at the
lower end of the table, and while Mr. Welsh proceeded from grave
to gracious entertainment of his company, the youth came to that
height of insolence as with the finger to point at him and with
the face to make flouting grimaces, whereby he grieved the holy
man, so as on a suddain he was forced to a silence. The whole
company, who had heard him with delight, were silent with him.
Within a little, Mr. Welsh, as moved by the spirit of God, broke
forth into these words: "Gentlemen, the spirit of God is provoked
against us, and I shall intreat you not to be afraid to see what
God shall do among you before you rise from the table, for he will
smite some of you with death before you go hence." All were
silently astonished, waiting to see the issue with fear. And while
every man feared himselfe, except the insolent youth, he fel down
dead suddenly at the foot of the table to shew the power of God's
jealousie against the mockers of his Spirit and the offers of his
grace.' _Fleming's Fulfilling of the Scripture_, pp. 374, 375.
This happened early in the seventeenth century, and being bruited abroad,
it became a great terror to all evil-doers. But, after a time, its effect
appears to have been weakened; since another man was equally rash some
forty or fifty years afterwards. It seems that a Scotch clergyman of
considerable repute, Mr. Thomas Hog, was, like Welsh, sitting at supper,
when it so chanced that the servants forgot to lay the knives. Mr. Hog,
thinking the opportunity a favourable one, observed that such
forgetfulness was of little moment, and that, while we thought so much of
our comforts here, it was far more necessary to consider our condition
hereafter. A gentleman present, amused, either by the manner of Mr. Hog,
or by the skill with which he introduced the topics of his own
profession, was unable to restrain himself, and burst out into a violent
fit of laughter. The minister, however, was not to be checked, and he
continued after such a fashion, that the laughter was repeated louder
than ever. At length Mr. Hog turned round, and told his merry comrade
that very shortly he should seek for mercy, but find it not. That same
night, the scoffer was taken ill, and in great alarm sent for Mr. Hog. It
was, however, useless. Before the clergyman could reach his room, the
sinner was lying dead, a lost and ruined man.[450]
[450] 'When they sat doun to supper, it seems, knives were forgote; and
when the servant was rebuked, Mr. Hogg said, there was noe matter,
for he had one in his pocket, and it was a necessary companion for
a travailer; and, as his use was upon evry thing, he took occasion
to raise a spirituall discourse from it: "If we wer soe carefull
about accommodations in our way here, what care should we take in
our spirituall journey!" and the like; at which the factour takes
a kink of laughing. Mr. Hogg looked at him with a frown, and went
on in his discourse. Within a little, at somewhat or other, he
laughed out yet louder, and Mr. Hogg stoped a litle, and looked
him very stern in the face, and went on in his discourse, upon the
free grace of God; and, at some expression or other, the man fell
a laughing and flouting very loud: Upon which Mr. Hogg stoped, and
directed his discourse to him, to this purpose: "Alace!" sayes he,
"my soul is afflicted to say what I must say to you, sir, and I am
constrained and pressed in spirit to say it, and cannot help it.
Sir, you nou dispise the grace of God, and mock at it; but I tell
you, in the name of the Lord, that the time is coming, and that
very shortly, when you (will) seek ane offer of grace, but shall
not find it!" Upon which the man arose, laughing and flouting, and
went to his room. After he was away, the lady asked Mr. Hogg, What
he thought would come upon him? He answered, he kneu noe more then
he had said, and that he was constrained and oblidged to say it
against his inclination; and he could not accompt for some of
these impressions he sometimes felt, and after Providences would
clear, and that shortly; but what it was, when, or where, he kneu
not. The man told some of the servants that a phanatick Minister
had been pronouncing a curse on him, but he did not value him nor
it either. After Mr. Hogg had been somtime with the lady, he went
to his room; and after he had, as he used to doe, spent some time
in prayer, he putt off his cloaths, and just as he was stepping
into his bedd, a servant comes and knocks at the dore and cryes,
"For the Lord's sake, Mr. Hogg, come doun staires, presently, to
the factour's room!" He put on his cloaths, as quickly as
possible, and came doun, but the wretch was dead before he reached
him!' _Analecta, or Materials for a History of Remarkable
Providences, mostly relating to Scotch Ministers and Christians_,
by the Rev. Robert Wodrow, vol. i. pp. 265, 266. Compare _The Life
of Mr. Thomas Hog_, in _Howie's Biographia_, p. 543, where a
version is given, slightly different, but essentially the same.
Nor was it merely in private houses that such examples were made.
Sometimes the clergyman denounced the offender from the pulpit, and the
punishment was as public as the offence. It is said that Gabriel Semple,
when preaching, had a strange habit of putting out his tongue, and that
this excited the mirth of a drunken man, who went into the church, and,
by way of derision, put out his tongue also. But, to his horror, he
found that, though he could put it out, he could not draw it in again.
The result was, that the tongue stiffened; it lost all sensibility;
and, paralysis coming on, the man died a few days after his
transgression.[451]
[451] 'He tells me, that when in the South country, he heard this story,
which was not doubted about Geddart' (i.e. Jedburgh): 'Mr. Gabriel
Semple had gote a habite, when speaking and preaching, of putting
out his tongue, and licking his lipps very frequently. Ther was a
fellou that used to ape him, in a way of mock; and one day, in a
druken caball, he was aping him and putting out his tongue; and it
turned stiffe and sensless, and he could not drau it in again, but
in a feu dayes dyed. This accompt is soe odd, that I wish I may
have it confirmed from other hands.' _Wodrow's Analecta_, vol. ii.
p. 187.
Occasionally, the penalty was less severe, though the miracle was equally
conspicuous. In 1682, a certain woman took upon herself to scold the
famous divine, Peden, who was justly regarded as one of the great lights
of the Scotch Church. 'I wonder,' said that eminent man, 'I wonder your
tongue is not sore with so much idle clatter.' She indignantly replied,
that she had never suffered, either from a sore tongue, or from a sore
mouth. He told her that she soon would. And the consequence of his saying
so was, that her tongue and gums swelled to that degree, that for some
days she was unable to take her usual food.[452]
[452] 'About the same time, wading Douglas-water very deep,' (he) 'came
to a house there; the good wife of the house insisted (as most
part of women do not keep a bridle-hand) in chiding of him; which
made him to fret, and said, I wonder that your tongue is not sore
with so much idle clatter. She said, I never had a sore tongue nor
mouth all my days. He said, It will not be long so. Accordingly,
her tongue and gooms swelled so, that she could get no meat taken
for some days.' _Account of the Life and Death of Mr. Walter
Smith_, p. 93, in vol. ii. of _Walker's Biographia Presbyteriana_.
She escaped with her life; others were more sharply handled. A clergyman
was interrupted in the midst of his sermon by three gentlemen leaving the
church. It is not stated that there was any thing offensive in their
manner; but their object in going was to amuse themselves at some fair or
race, and the minister, no doubt, thought that they should have been
content with the gratification of hearing him. At all events, he was
dissatisfied, and, after the sermon was over, he censured their conduct,
and threatened them with the divine displeasure. His words were
remembered, and, to the awe of his parishioners, every tittle was
fulfilled. Of the three gentlemen, all died violent deaths; one of them
broke his neck by falling from his horse, and another was found in his
room with his throat cut.[453]
[453] 'I hear from Lady Henriett Campbell, who was present at a
Communion at Jeddart (Jedburgh), some years before Mr. Gabriel
Semple's death, that, either on the fast day, or Saturnday, ther
wer three gentlmen either in the parish or noturely knouen
thereabout, who rose in the time of the last sermon, and with
their servants went out of (the church), either to some fair or
some race, not farr off. After sermon, when Mr. Semple rose to
give the ordinary advertisments, he began with taking nottice of
this, and said, he had remarked three gentlmen rise in time of
sermon, and contemptuously and boldly leave God's service to goe
to a fair, or race, as he supposed; but sayes, "It's born in upon
me, and I am perswaded of it, the Lord will not suffer them to goe
off time, without some remarkable judgment, and I am much mistaken
if the most part that have seen them committ the sin, will not
hear of the punishment of such open despite to the ordinances of
Christ." This peremptoryness did very much surprize Lady
H(enriett), and coming home from sermon with my Lord Lothian and
his Lady, in coach, she expressed her surprize at it. My Lord
Lothian said, "The Minister is a man of God, and I am perswaded
not one word of his will fall to the ground!" Within some feu
moneths, my Lord or my Lady, writing to Lady H(enriett), signifyed
to her, that one of these gentlmen was found in his room, (if I
forgett not), with his throat cutt; and a second, being drunk,
fell off his horse, and broke his neck; and some while after, shee
heard the third had dyed some violent death.' _Wodrow's Analecta_,
vol. i. pp. 344, 345.
Cases of this sort were frequent during the seventeenth century; and as
in that credulous age they were firmly believed and widely circulated,
the power of the clergy was consolidated by them. The Laird of Hilton
once ventured to pull a minister out of a pulpit which was not his own,
and into which he had unlawfully intruded. 'For the injury you have done
to the servant of God,' cried the enraged preacher, 'you shall be brought
into this church like a sticked sow.' And so indeed he was. Yet a little
while, and Hilton became entangled in a quarrel, was run through the
body, and his corpse, still bleeding, was carried into the very church
where the outrage had been committed.[454]
[454] 'In the time of sermon, the Laird of Hiltoun comes in, and charges
him in the midst of his work, to come out of (the) pulpite, in the
king's name. Mr. Douglasse refused; whereupon the Laird comes to
the pulpit, and pulls him out by force! When he sau he behoved to
yeild, he said, "Hiltoun, for this injury you have done to the
servant of God, knou what you are to meet with! In a litle time
you shall be brought into this very church, like a sticked sou!"
And in some litle time after, Hilton was run throu the body, and
dyed by, if I mistake not, Annandale's brother, either in a douell
or a drunken toilzie, and his corpes wer brought in, all bleeding,
into that church. "Touch not mine annoynted, and doe my prophets
noe harm!"' _Wodrow's Analecta_, vol. ii. p. 154. In the same work
(vol. iv. p. 268) the Reverend Mr. Wodrow writes, that he had been
subsequently informed, 'that the story is very true about the
denuntiation upon the Laird of Hiltoun, as I have (I think)
published it; and ther is a man yet alive who was witness to it,
and in the church at the time.'
Even when a clergyman was in prison, he retained the same power. His
authority was delegated to him from on high, and no temporal misfortune
could curtail it. In 1673, the Reverend Alexander Peden, when in
confinement, heard a young girl laughing at him outside the door of his
room, while he was engaged in those vociferous devotions for which he was
celebrated. The mirth of the poor child cost her dear. Peden denounced
against her the judgment of God. In consequence of that denunciation, the
wind blew her from a rock on which she was walking, and swept her into
the sea, where she was quickly drowned.[455]
[455] 'While prisoner in the Bass, one Sabbath morning, being about the
publick worship of God, a young lass, about the age of thirteen or
fourteen years, came to the chamber-door, mocking with loud
laughter: He said, Poor thing, thou mocks and laughs at the
worship of God; but ere long, God shall write such a sudden,
surprising judgment on thee, that shall stay thy laughing, and
thou shalt not escape it. Very shortly thereafter, she was walking
upon the rock, and there came a blast of wind, and sweeped her off
the rock into the sea, where she was lost.' _Life and Death of Mr.
Alexander Peden_, p. 43, in vol. i. of _Walker's Biographia
Presbyteriana_. See also _Howie's Biographia Presbyteriana_,
p. 487.
Sometimes the vengeance of the clergy extended to the innocent offspring
of the man who had offended them. A certain minister, whose name has not
been preserved, met with opposition in his parish, and fell into
pecuniary and other difficulties. He applied for aid to a trader, who,
being wealthy, ought, he thought, to afford him assistance. The trader,
however, thought otherwise, and refused. Upon this, the clergyman
declared that God would visit him. The result was, that his business not
only declined, but his mind became impaired, and he died an idiot. He had
two sons and two daughters. Both his sons went mad. One of his daughters,
likewise, lost her reason. The other daughter being married, even her
husband became destitute, and the children of that marriage became
beggars, that the heinous crime might be visited to the third
generation.[456]
[456] 'He (Mr. Fordyce, in Aberdeen) tells me this following accompt,
which he had from personall observation: When he lived near
Frazerburge, in the North, there was a minister settled there,
_jure devoluto_, the toun being biggotted against Presbytery to a
pitch, and only two or three that had any seeming liking that way.
After the Minister is setled, he expected much encouragement from
one Ougstoun, I think his name was, who had professed much respect
for him in that way. A while after, in some difficulty, the
Minister came to him, and desired his countenance and assistance
in the difficulty. He at first put the Minister off with delay:
and within a litle plainly mocked him, and would doe nothing. The
Minister came from him to my informer, who lived a litle from the
place, and gave him ane account (of) what had befallen him, and
said, "I expected much from that man, and reaconed upon his help
and assistance, in soe comfortless a setlement as I have ventured
on; and he has not only disappointed me, but mocked me!" And the
Minister was like to sink under the thoughts of this carriage; and
after some silence, he said, very peremptorly, "I am much
mistaken, yea, I'le say it, God hath sent me, and spoken by me.
God will visite that man, and something more than ordinary will
befall him and his!" My informer was very much stunned and greived
at such a peremptory declaration. However, it was accomplished, to
my informer's personall knowledge. The man was a trader, who was
very rich, worth near four or five thousand pounds sterling in
stock. He had two sons and two daughters. Within some litle time,
one of his sons turned distracted, and I think continues soe
still. The other son, in some distemper, turned silly, and litle
better, and dyed. His daughters, one was maryed, and her husband
lost all his stock at sea, twice or thrice; his goodfather stocked
him once or twice, and all was still lost, and they and their
children are miserable. The other daughter fell into a distemper,
wherein she lost her reason. The man himself, after that time,
never throve; his means wasted away insensibly; and throu all
things, he fell under melancholy, and turned silly, and dyed
stupide. All this fell out in some feu years after what passed
above; and my relator kneu all this particularly, and had occasion
to be upon the man's bussiness and affairs.' _Wodrow's Analecta_,
vol. ii. pp. 175, 176. See also, in another work by this eminent
Scotch divine, an account of what happened, when 'a rash young
man' having destroyed the property of a clergyman, named Boyd, 'it
was observed that that family did never thrive afterwards, but
were in a decaying condition till they are reduced almost to
nothing.' _Wodrow's Collections upon the Lives of Ministers of the
Church of Scotland_, vol. ii. part. i. p. 215.
To prosecute a minister, or even to assert one's rights against him
before a civil tribunal, was not only a hazard, but a certain ruin. About
the year 1665, James Fraser was sued in a court of law for a large sum of
money, said to be due from his father's estate. As usually happens in
these cases, the party sued, considered that he was unjustly treated, and
that his opponent had no right to make the claim. So far, all was
natural. But the peculiarity was, that Fraser, against whom the action
was brought, was a young man preparing for the ministry, and, therefore,
under the immediate protection of Providence. Such an one was not to be
vexed with impunity; and we are assured by Fraser himself that God
specially interposed to prevent his ruin; that one of his opponents was
made unable to appear in court, and that the Lord, laying his hand upon
the others, put them to death, in order that every obstacle might be at
once removed.[457]
[457] See Fraser's Life of Himself, in vol. ii. of _Select Biographies_,
edited by the Rev. W. K. Tweedie. 'Nothing now remained of all my
father's great fortune but a small wadset of sixteen chalders,
liferented likewise by my mother. And about the same time a new
(though an unjust) adversary charges both her and me for 36,000
merks, and a reduction of our rights; so that our whole livelihood
was either gone or at the stake. For four years did this adversary
vex us, and was like to have undone us as to our temporal
condition, had not the Lord prevented.' p. 196. 'I, ignorant what
defences to make, had in my company a registrate horning, which I
accidentally and without premeditation (God putting it in my mind
at the same time) did cast in, by which he, being the king's
rebel, was incapacitate from pursuing me. And the Lord so ordered
it that he never after compeared to trouble me, by which means I
was delivered from a loss and a fashery, and had but one court to
wait upon.' p. 202. 'My condition during this time was a wrestling
condition with the sons of Zeruiah that were too strong for me;
little or no overcoming, yet violent wrestling.' ... 'For I
humbled myself under the sense of the calamities of our family,
and my own particular wants; I besought him to keep us from utter
destruction. And the Lord was pleased to hear; _he destroyed by
death my chief adversaries_, I found shifts to pay my many petty
debts, gained our law-action, and was restored to some of my
ancient possessions again.' pp. 227, 228.
While stories of this sort were generally believed, it was but natural
that an opinion should grow up that it was dangerous to meddle with a
minister, or in any way to interfere with his conduct.[458] The clergy,
intoxicated by the possession of power, reached to such a pitch of
arrogance, that they did not scruple to declare, that whoever respected
Christ, was bound, on that very account, to respect them.[459] They
denounced the judgments of God upon all who refused to hear the opinions
they propounded in their pulpits.[460] Nor did this apply merely to
persons who usually formed their audience. Such was their conceit, and so
greedy were they after applause, that they would not allow even a
stranger to remain in their parish, unless he, too, came to listen to
what they chose to say.[461] Because they had adopted the Presbyterian
polity, they asserted that the Almighty had never failed to punish every
one who tried to supersede it;[462] and as this was the perfection of the
church, those who were blind to its merits, were given over to wrath, and
were, indeed, the slaves of Satan.[463] The clergy, who held this
language respecting their opponents, exhausted the choicest epithets of
praise on themselves, and on their own pursuits. When one of them got
into the pulpit, or took a pen in his hand, he seemed as if he could not
find words strong enough to express his sense of the surpassing
importance of that class of which he was himself a member.[464] They
alone knew the truth; they alone were able to inform and enlighten
mankind. They had their instruction direct from heaven; they were, in
fact, the ambassadors of Christ; from him they received their
appointment; and since no one else could reward them, so no one else had
a right to rule them.[465] As they were messengers sent by the Almighty,
they were rightly termed angels, and it was the duty of the people to
listen to their minister, as if he really were an angel who had descended
upon earth.[466] His parishioners, therefore, were bound, not only to
acknowledge him and provide for him, but also to submit to him.[467]
Indeed, no one could refuse obedience, who considered who the clergy
were, and what functions they performed. Besides being ambassadors and
angels, they were watchmen, who spied out every danger, and whose
sleepless vigilance protected the faithful.[468] They were the joy and
delight of the earth. They were musicians, singing the songs of
sweetness; nay, they were sirens, who sought to allure men from the evil
path, and save them from perishing.[469] They were chosen arrows, stored
up in the quiver of God.[470] They were burning lights and shining
torches. Without them, darkness would prevail; but their presence
illumined the world, and made things clear.[471] Hence they were called
stars, which title also expressed the eminence of their office, and its
superiority over all others.[472] To make this still more apparent,
prodigies were vouchsafed, and strange lights might occasionally be seen,
which, hovering round the form of the minister, confirmed his
supernatural mission.[473] The profane wished to jest at these things,
but they were too notorious to be denied; and there was a well-known
case, in which, at the death of a clergyman, a star was miraculously
exhibited in the firmament, and was seen by many persons, although it was
then midday.[474]
[458] 'So hazardous a thing it is to meddle with Christ's sent
servants.' _Life of Mr. William Guthrie, Minister at Fenwick_, by
the Rev. William Dunlop, reprinted in _Select Biographies_, vol.
ii. p. 62. To arrest a clergyman on a civil or criminal process,
was an act full of danger, inasmuch as the Deity would hardly fail
to avenge it. This applied even to the officers who executed the
arrest, as well as to him by whom it was ordered. See, for
instance, _Some Remarkable Passages of the Life and Death of Mr.
John Semple, Minister of the Gospel_, p. 171 (in _Walker's
Biographia Presbyteriana_, vol. i.). 'Some time thereafter, he gat
orders to apprehend Mr. Semple; he intreated to excuse him, for
Mr. Semple was the minister and man he would not meddle with; for
he was sure, if he did that, some terrible mischief would suddenly
befal him. Mr. Arthur Coupar, who was Mr. Semple's precentor, told
these passages to a Reverend Minister in the church, yet alive,
worthy of all credit, who told me.' Durham boasts that, 'when
Ministers have most to do, and _meet with most opposition_, God
often furnisheth them accordingly with more boldnesse, gifts, and
assistance than ordinary. Christ's witnesses are a terrible party;
for as few as these witnesses are, none of their opposits do gain
at their hand; _whoever hurteth them shall in this manner be
killed_. Though they be despicable in sackcloth, yet _better
oppose a king in his strength, and giving orders from his throne
covered in cloath of state, than them_: though they may burn some
and imprison others, yet their opposers will pay sickerly for it.
This is not because of any worth that is in them, or for their own
sake; But 1. for His sake and for His authority that sendeth them.
2. for the event of their word, which will certainly come to
passe, and that more terribly, and as certainly, as ever any
temporall judgement was brought on by Moses or Elias.' _Durham's
Commentarie upon the Book of the Revelation_, p. 416.
[459] 'These who are trusted by Christ to be keepers of the vineyard,
and his ministers, ought also to be respected by the people over
whom they are set; and Christ allows this on them. Where Christ is
respected and gets his due, there the keepers will be respected
and get their due.' _Durham's Exposition of the Song of Solomon_,
pp. 450, 451. Fergusson complacently says, that to affront a
clergyman by not believing his statement, or 'message,' as he
terms it, is a 'dishonour done to God.' _Fergusson's Exposition of
the Epistles of Paul_, p. 422.
[460] 'As it is true concerning vs, that necessitie lyeth vpon vs to
preach, and woe will bee to vs if wee preach not; so it is true
concerning you, that a necessitie lyeth vpon you to heare, and
_woe will be to you if you heare not_.' _Cowper's Heaven Opened_,
p. 156.
[461] The following order was promulgated by the Kirk-Session of Aberdeen
on the 12th July 1607. 'The said day, in respect it wes delatit to
the sessioun that thair is sindrie landvart gentillmen and vtheris
cum to this towne, quha mackis thair residence thairin, and
resortis not to the preching nather on Saboth nor vlk dayes;
thairfor, it is ordanit that thrie elderis of everie quarter
convene with the ministrie in the sessioun hous, immediatlie efter
the ending of the sermone on Tuysday nixt, and thair tak vp the
names of the gentillmen and vtheris skipperis duelling in this
burgh, quha kepis nocht the Kirk, nor resortis not to the hering
of Godis word; and thair names being taken vp, ordains ane off the
ministeris, with a baillie, to pas vnto thame and admoneis thame
to cum to the preichingis, and keip the Kirk, vthervayes to remowe
thame aff the towne.' _Selections from the Records of the Kirk
Session, Presbytery, and Synod of Aberdeen_, p. 58. It was not
enough to go occasionally to church; the attendance must be
regular; otherwise the clergy were dissatisfied, and punished the
delinquents. In the Presbytery Book of Strathbogie it is recorded
that, on the 29th September 1649, 'Mr. Johne Reidfurd being posed
quhat diligence he had vsed to the Lady Frendraught, reported,
shoe had hard three sermons, and so, as he thought, shoe intended
to continow ane hearer. The bretheren, considering her long
continowed contumacie and delay of her process, by _heiring a
sermon now and then_, thought not _that kind of heiring
satufactorie_, quherfor Mr. Robert Watson, and Mr. Robert Irving,
ver ordained to goe with Mr. Johne Reidfurd, and requyre the said
Lady to subscryv the Covenant, quherby shoe might testifie her
conformitie vith the Kirk of Scotland, quhilk, if shoe refused,
the said Mr. Johne vas ordained to pronounce the sentence of
excommunicatioun against hir before the Provinciall Assemblie, as
he vold be answerable therto.' _Extracts from the Presbytery Book
of Strathbogie_, p. 115. Neither distance, nor illness, might be
pleaded as a valid excuse. Under no circumstances, would the
preachers tolerate the affront of any one displaying an
unwillingness to hear their sermons. In 1650, 'compeired the Lord
Oliphant, being summondit for not keeping his parish kirk of
Abercherdour, vho declared his inabilitie of bodie many tymes, and
the want of houses for accommodating him and his familie so farr
distant from the same, vas the onlie caus, quhilk he promised to
amend in tym comming. Mr. John Reidfurd ordained to report the
same to the presbytrie, and vpon his continowed absence, to
processe him.' _Presbytery Book of Strathbogie_, p. 149. See more
on this subject in _Registers of the Presbytery of Lanark_, pp. 5,
33, 67; _Minutes of the Presbyteries of St. Andrews and Cupar_,
pp. 67, 68, 90, 153; _Minutes of the Synod of Fife_, pp. 18, 55,
132; and _Spalding's History of the Troubles_, vol. ii. p. 57.
Spalding also mentions (p. 114) that at Aberdeen, in 1643, the
clergy discoursed every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, in the
afternoon; on which occasions, 'the people is compellit to attend
their Lectureis, or ther cryit out against.'
[462] 'And it may be truly said, as the Church of Scotland hath had no
detractors, but such as were ignorant of her, or misinformed about
her, or whom faction, partiality, prejudice, wickedness, or love
of unlawful liberty did inspire; so no person or party hath
endeavoured hithertil to root out Presbytery, but the Lord hath
made it a burdensome stone unto them.' _Naphtali_, sig. B 2 rev.
'The Lord's wrath shall so meet his enemies in the teeth,
wheresoever they turn, that they shall be forced to forsake their
pursuing of the Church.' _Dickson's Explication of the First Fifty
Psalms_, p. 115.
[463] 'The true children of the Kirk are indeed the excellent ones of
the earth, and princes indeed, wherever they live, in comparison
of all other men who are but the beastly slaves of Satan.'
_Dickson's Explication of the First Fifty Psalms_, p. 312. Another
high authority carefully identifies 'the true religion' with 'the
true presbyterial profession.' See _An Enquiry into Church
Communion by Mr. Alexander Shields, Minister of the Gospel at
Saint Andrews_, p. 126. His remark applies to the 'Burgess-oaths.'
[464] Fergusson gives an ingenious turn to this, and says that it was
their duty to praise their own profession, not for their own sake,
but for the sake of others. 'It is the duty of Christ's ministers
to commend and magnify their office, not for gaining praise and
esteem to themselves, 2 Cor. iii. 1, but that the malice of Satan
and his instruments may be hereby frustrated, 2 Cor. xi. 12, who
labours to bring that sacred calling into contempt; that so it may
have the less of success upon people's hearts.' _Fergusson's
Exposition of the Epistles of Paul_, p. 180.
[465] 'Neither is there any mediate authoritie betweene the Lord and his
ambassadours, in the affaires of their message; he only sendeth
them; he alone gives them to be pastors and doctors, etc.; he
alone shall judge them; he alone shall reward them; to him alone
they must give an accompt of their dispensation; and he himselfe
alone doth immediatlie rule them by his spirit and word.' _Forbes'
Certaine Records touching the Estate of the Kirk_, p. 435. In
reference to these amazing pretensions, the Scotch clergy were
constantly terming themselves the ambassadors of the Deity;
thereby placing themselves infinitely above all other men. See,
for instance, _Durham's Commentarie upon the Book of the
Revelation_, pp. 86, 100, 160. _Durham's Law Unsealed_, pp. 85,
96. _Halyburton's Great Concern of Salvation_, p. 402.
_Fergusson's Exposition of the Epistles of Paul_, pp. 17, 273.
_Shields' Enquiry into Church Communion_, p. 72. _Binning's
Sermons_, vol. ii. p. 118, vol. iii. p. 178. _Abernethy's Physicke
for the Soule_, p. 122. _Monro's Sermons_, p. 207. _Gillespie's
Aaron's Rod Blossoming_, pp. 240, 413. _Cowper's Heaven Opened_,
p. 166. _Rutherford's Free Disputation against Pretended Liberty
of Conscience_, p. 41. _Dickson's Truth's Victory over Error_, p.
274. _Gray's Great and Precious Promises_, pp. 50, 74. _Fleming's
Fulfilling of the Scripture_, p. 429. _Cockburn's Jacob's Vow, or
Man's Felicity and Duty_, p. 401. _Hutcheson's Exposition of the
Book of Job_, pp. 461, 479.
[466] 'Ministers are called Angels, because they are God's Messengers,
intrusted by Him with a high and heavenly imployment; and it is a
title that should put Ministers in mind of their duty, to do God's
will on earth as the Angels do it in heaven, in a spiritual and
heavenly way, cheerfully, willingly and readily: and it _should
put people in mind of their duty, to take this word off Ministers
hands, as from Angels_.' _Durham's Commentarie upon the Book of the
Revelation_, p. 496. 'Therefore are Ministers called Angels, and
Angels, Ministers,' p. 596. Cockburn says that this is the reason
why 'we should behave ourselves decently and reverently' in
church; 'for if the presence of Kings overawe us, how much more
should the presence of God and Angels.' _Cockburn's Jacob's Vow,
or Man's Felicity and Duty_, p. 356. Another Scotch divine asserts
that he and his brethren are able to instruct the angels, and free
them from their ignorance. See the audacious passage in
_Fergusson's Exposition of the Epistles of Paul_, p. 180: '_This
may commend the ministers of the gospel not a little unto men_,
and beget reverence in them towards the same, that even the
blessed angels are in some sort bettered by it, and that it is
therefore respected by them: for Paul commendeth his office from
this, that by occasion thereof "unto the principalities and
powers, was made known the manifold wisdom of God." Though angels
be most knowing creatures, as enjoying the immediate sight and
presence of God, Matt. xviii. 10, yet _they are ignorant of some
things, which, by God's way of dispensing the Gospel to his
church, they come to a more full knowledge off_.' After this, it
is a slight matter to find Monro insisting that 'the people should
consider our character as the most difficult and most sacred.'
_Monro's Sermons_, p. 202.
[467] 'He is obliged to minister unto them in the gospel; and they are
obliged to submit to him, strengthen him, acknowledge him,
communicate to him in all good things, and to provide for him,'
&c. _Durham's Commentarie upon the Book of the Revelation_, p. 90.
That the clergy are 'rulers and governors,' and that their
business is 'ruling and watching over the flock,' is likewise
affirmed in _Gillespie's Aaron's Rod Blossoming_, pp. 172, 313.
Compare _The Correspondence of the Rev. Robert Wodrow_, vol. i. p.
181: 'rule over the people and speak the word;' and _Rutherford's
Free Disputation against Pretended Liberty of Conscience_, p. 41:
'the commanding power in the Ambassadour of Christ.' See also the
'reverential estimation' inculcated in _Boston's Sermons_, p. 186.
[468] 'Called watchmen by a name borrowed from the practice of centinels
in armies or cities.' They are 'Satan's greatest eyesores.'
_Hutcheson's Exposition of the Minor Prophets_, vol. ii. p. 158,
vol. iii. p. 208. 'They being made watchmen, do thereby become the
butt of Satan's malice.' ... 'The Enemy's principal design is sure
to be against the watchman, because he prevents the surprising of
his people by Satan,' at least 'tis his business to do so.'
_Halyburton's Great Concern of Salvation_, p. 24. Compare
_Guthrie's Considerations contributing unto the Discovery of the
Dangers that threaten Religion_, p. 259; _Fergusson's Exposition
of the Epistles of Paul_, pp. 97, 106; _Durham's Exposition of the
Song of Solomon_, pp. 278, 443, and _Wodrow's Correspondence_,
vol. i. pp. 84, 244.
[469] One of the most popular of the Scotch preachers in the seventeenth
century, actually ranks himself, in this respect, as doing the
same work as the Son of God. 'Christ and his ministers are the
musicians that do apply their songs to catch men's ears and
hearts, if so be they may stop their course and not perish. These
are blessed syrens that do so.' _Binning's Sermons_, vol. iii. p.
265.
[470] Rutherford terms himself, 'a chosen arrow hid in his quiver.'
_Howie's Biographia Scoticana_, p. 230. To read the coarse
materialism contained in this and other extracts, will, I know,
shock, and so far offend, many pure and refined minds, whose
feelings I would not needlessly wound. But no one can understand
the history of the Scotch intellect, who refuses to enter into
these matters; and it is for the reader to choose whether or not
he will remain ignorant of what I, as an historian, am bound to
disclose. His remedy is easy. He has only either to shut the book,
or else to pass on at once to the next chapter.
[471] 'The Lord calleth men to be preachers, and hath them in his hand
as starres, holding them out sometime to one part of the world,
and sometime to another, that we may communicate light to them
that are sitting in darkness.' _Cowper's Heaven Opened_, p. 360.
[472] 'Ministers are called Stars, for these reasons: I. To signifie and
point out the eminence and dignity of the office, that it is a
glorious and shineing office. II. To point out what is the
especiall end of this office; It is to give light: as the use of
Stars is to give light to the world; so it's Ministers main
imployment to shine and give light to others; to make the world,
which is a dark night, to be lightsome.' _Durham's Commentarie
upon the Book of the Revelation_, p. 43. See also pp. 151, 368;
and _Dickson's Truth's Victory over Error_, p. 176.
[473] The Rev. James Kirton says of the Rev. John Welsh, that some one
who observed him walking, 'saw clearly a strange light surround
him, and heard him speak strange words about his spiritual joy.'
_Select Biographies_, edited by the Rev. W. K. Tweedie, vol. i.
p. 12. But more than this remains to be told. The hearts of the
Scotch clergy were so lifted up with pride, that they
believed--horrible to relate--that they had audible and verbal
communications from the Almighty God, which bystanders could hear.
One of these stories, relating also to Welsh, will be found, as
tradition handed it down, in _Howie's Biographia Scoticana_,
p. 148. I cannot quote such blasphemy; and those who doubt my
statement had better refer to the second edition of Howie's work,
published at Glasgow in 1781. It may probably be met with in the
British Museum.
[474] 'Mr. Johne M'Birnie at Aberdeen, (but first at the South Ferrie,
over aganis the Castell of Broughtie,) a most zealous and painfull
pastor, a great opposer of hierarchie. He was a shyning torch and
a burning starre; wherefore the Lord miraculouslie made, at his
death, a starre to appeare in heaven at the noonetyde of the day;
whilk many yit alive testifies that they did evidentlie see it (at
Whitsunday 1609).' _Row's History of the Kirk of Scotland_,
p. 421.
Nor was this to be regarded as a solitary occurrence. On the contrary, it
usually happened, that when a Scotch minister departed from this life,
the event was accompanied by portents, in order that the people might
understand that something terrible was going on, and that they were
incurring a serious, perhaps an irretrievable, loss. Sometimes the
candles would be mysteriously extinguished, without any wind, and without
any one touching them.[475] Sometimes, even when the clergyman was
preaching, the supernatural appearance of an animal would announce his
approaching end in face of the congregation, who might vainly mourn what
they were unable to avert.[476] Sometimes the body of the holy man would
remain for years unchanged and undecayed; death not having the power over
it which it would have had over the corpse of a common person.[477] On
other occasions, notice was given to him of his death, years before it
occurred;[478] and, to strike greater awe into the public mind, it was
remarked, that when one minister died, others were taken away at the same
time, so that, the bereavement being more widely felt, men might, by the
magnitude of the shock, be rendered sensible of the inestimable value of
those preachers whose lives were happily spared.[479]
[475] Mr. James Stirling, minister of Barony, Glasgow, writes respecting
his father, Mr. John Stirling, minister at Kilbarchan, that the
'day he was burryed ther wer two great candles burning in the
chamber, and they did go out most surprisingly without any wind
causing them to go out.' _Analecta, or Materials for a History of
Remarkable Providences_, by the Rev. Robert Wodrow, vol. iii.
p. 37.
[476] 'This night, Glanderston told me, that it was reported for a truth
at Burroustoness, that about six weeks since Mr. David Williamson
was preaching in his own church in Edinburgh, and in the midle of
the sermon, a ratton came and sat doun on his Bible. This made him
stope; and after a little pause, he told the congregation that
this was a message of God to him, and broke off his sermon, and
took a formall fareweel of his people, and went home, and
continoues sick.' _Wodrow's Analecta_, vol. i. p. 12.
[477] 'The same person' (_i.e._ the Rev. Mr. White) 'adds, that some
years ago, when Mr. Bruce's grave was opened, to lay in his
grandchild, his body was almost fresh and uncorrupted, to the
great wonder of many; and if I right remember, the grave was again
filled up, and another made. The fresh body had no noisome smell.
It was then nearly eighty years after he was buried. My informer
was minister of Larbert when this happened.' _Wodrow's Life of
Bruce_, p. 150, prefixed to _Bruce's Sermons_.
[478] 'He' (John Lockhart) 'tells me Mr. Robert Paton, minister at
Barnweel, his father-in-lau, had a particular for-notice, seven or
eight years before, of his death: That he signifyed so much to my
informer.' ... 'When my informer came, he did not apprehend any
hazard, and signifyed so much to his father-in-lau, Mr. Paton. He
answered, 'John, John, I am to dye at this time; and this is the
time God warned me of, as I told you.' In eight or ten dayes he
dyed. Mr. Paton was a man very much (beloved) and mighty in
prayer.' _Wodrow's Analecta_, vol. iii. p. 451. Compare the case
of Henderson (in _Wodrow's Correspondence_, vol. iii. p. 33),
where the notice was much shorter, but 'all fell out as he had
foretold.'
[479] 'Generally, I observe that Ministers' deaths are not single, but
severall of them together.' _Wodrow's Analecta_, vol. iii. p. 275.
It was, moreover, generally understood, that a minister, during his abode
in this world, was miraculously watched over and protected. He was
peculiarly favoured by angels, who, though they did good offices to all
members of the true church, were especially kind to the clergy;[480] and
it was well known, that the celebrated Rutherford, when only four years
old, having fallen into a well, was pulled out by an angel, who came
there for the purpose of saving his life.[481] Another clergyman, who was
in the habit of oversleeping himself, used to be roused to his duty in
the morning, by three mysterious knocks at his door, which, if they did
not produce a proper effect, were repeated close to his bed. These knocks
never failed on Sunday, and on days when he had to administer the
communion; and they lasted during the whole of his ministry, until he
became old and infirm, when they entirely ceased.[482]
[480] The Rev. William Row (in his _Continuation of Blair's
Autobiography_, p. 153) says, 'Without all doubt, though it cannot
be proven from Scripture, that every one has a tutelar angel, yet
it is certain that the good angels do many good offices to the
people of God, _especially to his ministers and ambassadors_,
which we do not see, and do not remark or know.'
[481] 'Mr. James Stirling, and Mr. Robert Muir, and severall others in
the company, agreed on this accompt of Mr. Rutherford. When about
four years old, he was playing about his father's house, and a
sister of his, somewhat older than he, with him. Mr. Rutherford
fell into a well severall fathoms deep, and not full, but faced
about with heuen stone, soe that it was not possible for any body
to get up almost, far less a child. When he fell in, his sister
ran into the house near by, and told that Samuell was fallen into
the well; upon which his father and mother ran out, and found him
sitting on the grasse beside the well; and when they asked him,
Hou he gote out? he said, after he was once at the bottome, he
came up to the tope, and ther was a bonny young man pulled him out
by the hand. Ther was noe body near by at the time; and soe they
concluded it was noe doubt ane angell. The Lord had much to doe
with him.' _Wodrow's Analecta_, vol. i. p. 57. See also vol. iii.
pp. 88, 89, where this circumstance is again mentioned as 'a
tradition anent him' in the place of his birth.
[482] 'Mr. William Trail, minister at ****, tells me that his father,
Mr. William Trail, minister at Borthwick, used every morning, when
he had publick work on his hand, to hear three knocks at his
chamber dore; and if, throu wearynes, or heaviness, he did sitt
these, ther wer ordinarily three knocks at his bed-head, which he
never durst sitt, but gott up to his work. This was ordinarily
about three in the morning. This, at first, in his youth, frighted
him; but at lenth it turned easy to him, and he believed these
knocks and awaknings proceed from a good art. That these never
failed him on Sabbaths and at Communions, when he was obliged to
rise early: That when he turned old and infirm, towards the close
of his dayes, they intirely ceased and left him.' _Wodrow's
Analecta_, vol. ii. p. 307. This work, in four quarto volumes, is
invaluable for the history of the Scotch mind; being a vast
repertory of the opinions and traditions of the clergy, during the
seventeenth, and early part of the eighteenth, century. Wodrow was
a man of ability, certainly above the average; his honesty is
unimpeachable, as the jealous scrutiny which the episcopalians
have made of his great work on the History of the Church of
Scotland, decisively proves; and he was in the constant habit of
personal and epistolary communication with the leading characters
of his age. I have, therefore, freely used his _Analecta_; also
his _Collections upon the Lives of Ministers_, which is likewise
in four quarto volumes; and his _Correspondence_, in three thick
octavo volumes. It would be difficult to find a more competent
witness respecting the sentiments of his ecclesiastical brethren.
It would be impossible to find a more candid one.
By the propagation of these and similar stories, in a country already
prepared for their reception, the Scotch mind became imbued with a belief
in miraculous interposition, to an extent which would be utterly
incredible if it were not attested by a host of contemporary and
unimpeachable witnesses. The clergy, partly because they shared in the
general delusion, and partly because they derived benefit from it, did
every thing they could to increase the superstition of their countrymen,
and to familiarize them with notions of the supernatural world, such as
can only be paralleled in the monastic legends of the middle ages.[483]
How they laboured to corrupt the national intellect, and how successful
they were in that base vocation, has been hitherto known to no modern
reader; because no one has had the patience to peruse their interminable
discourses, commentaries, and the other religious literature in which
their sentiments are preserved. As, however, the preachers were, in
Scotland, more influential than all other classes put together, it is
only by comparing their statements with what is to be found in the
general memoirs and correspondence of the time, that we can at all
succeed in reconstructing the history of a period, which, to the
philosophic student of the human mind, is full of great, though
melancholy, interest. I shall, therefore, make no apology for entering
into still further details respecting these matters; and I hope to put
the reader in possession of such facts as will connect the past history
of Scotland with its present state, and will enable him to understand why
it is, that so great a people are, in many respects, still struggling in
darkness, simply because they still live under the shadow of that long
and terrible night, which for more than a century, covered the land. It
will also appear, that their hardness and moroseness of character, their
want of gaiety, and their indifference to many of the enjoyments of life,
are traceable to the same cause, and are the natural product of the
gloomy and ascetic opinions inculcated by their religious teachers. For,
in that age, as in every other, the clergy, once possessed of power,
showed themselves harsh and unfeeling masters. They kept the people in a
worse than Egyptian bondage, inasmuch as they enslaved mind as well as
body, and not only deprived men of innocent amusements, but taught them
that those amusements were sinful. And so thoroughly did they do their
work, that, though a hundred and fifty years have elapsed since their
supremacy began to wane, the imprint of their hands is everywhere
discernible. The people still bear the marks of the lash; the memory of
their former servitude lives among them; and they crouch before their
clergy as they did of old, abandoning their rights, sacrificing their
independence, and yielding up their consciences, to the dictates of an
intolerant and ambitious priesthood.
[483] In illustration of this, a volume might be filled with extracts
from the writings of the Scotch divines of the seventeenth
century. The following passage is, perhaps, as good as any. 'Yea,
it can hardly be instanced any great change, or revolution in the
earth, which hath not had some such extraordinary herald going
before. Can the world deny how sometimes these prodigious signes
have been shaped out to point at the very nature of the stroke
then imminent, by a strange resemblance to the same, such as a
flaming sword in the air, the appearance of armies fighting even
sometimes upon the earth, to the view of many most sober and
judicious onlookers, also showers of blood, the noise of drummes,
and such like, which are known usually to go before warr and
commotions.' _Fleming's Fulfilling of the Scripture_, 1681,
p. 216.
Of all the means of intimidation employed by the Scotch clergy, none was
more efficacious than the doctrines they propounded respecting evil
spirits and future punishment. On these subjects they constantly uttered
the most appalling threats. The language, which they used, was calculated
to madden men with fear, and to drive them to the depths of despair. That
it often had this consequence, and produced most fatal results, we shall
presently see. And, what made it more effectual was, that it completely
harmonized with those other gloomy and ascetic notions which the clergy
inculcated, and according to which, pleasures being regarded as sinful,
sufferings were regarded as religious. Hence that love of inflicting
pain, and that delight in horrible and revolting ideas, which
characterized the Scotch mind during the seventeenth century. A few
specimens of the prevailing opinions will enable the reader to understand
the temper of the time, and to appreciate the resources which the Scotch
clergy could wield, and the materials with which they built up the fabric
of their power.
It was generally believed, that the world was overrun by evil spirits,
who not only went up and down the earth, but also lived in the air, and
whose business it was to tempt and hurt mankind.[484] Their number was
infinite, and they were to be found at all places and in all seasons. At
their head was Satan himself, whose delight it was to appear in person,
ensnaring or terrifying every one he met.[485] With this object, he
assumed various forms. One day, he would visit the earth as a black
dog;[486] on another day, as a raven;[487] on another, he would be heard
in the distance, roaring like a bull.[488] He appeared sometimes as a
white man in black clothes;[489] and sometimes he came as a black man in
black clothes, when it was remarked that his voice was ghastly, that he
wore no shoes, and that one of his feet was cloven.[490] His stratagems
were endless. For, in the opinion of divines, his cunning increased with
his age; and having been studying for more than five thousand years, he
had now attained to unexampled dexterity.[491] He could, and he did,
seize both men and women, and carry them away through the air.[492]
Usually, he wore the garb of laymen, but it was said, that, on more than
one occasion, he had impudently attired himself as a minister of the
gospel.[493] At all events, in one dress or other, he frequently appeared
to the clergy, and tried to coax them over to his side.[494] In that, of
course, he failed; but, out of the ministry, few, indeed, could withstand
him. He could raise storms and tempests; he could work, not only on the
mind, but also on the organs of the body, making men hear and see
whatever he chose.[495] Of his victims, some he prompted to commit
suicide,[496] others to commit murder.[497] Still, formidable as he was,
no Christian was considered to have attained to a full religious
experience, unless he had literally seen him, talked to him, and fought
with him.[498] The clergy were constantly preaching about him, and
preparing their audience for an interview with their great enemy. The
consequence was, that the people became almost crazed with fear. Whenever
the preacher mentioned Satan, the consternation was so great, that the
church resounded with sighs and groans.[499] The aspect of a Scotch
congregation in those days, is, indeed, hard for us to conceive. Not
unfrequently the people, benumbed and stupefied with awe, were rooted to
their seats by the horrible fascination exercised over them, which
compelled them to listen, though they are described as gasping for
breath, and with their hair standing on end.[500] Such impressions were
not easily effaced. Images of terror were left on the mind, and followed
the people to their homes, and in their daily pursuits. They believed
that the devil was always, and literally, at hand; that he was haunting
them, speaking to them, and tempting them. There was no escape. Go where
they would, he was there. A sudden noise, nay, even the sight of an
inanimate object, such as a stone, was capable of reviving the
association of ideas, and of bringing back to the memory the language
uttered from the pulpit.[501]
[484] Durham, after mentioning 'old abbacies or monasteries, or castles
when walls stand and none dwelleth in them,' adds, 'If it be
asked, If there be such a thing, as the haunting of evill spirits
in these desolate places? We answer 1. That there are evill
spirits rangeing up and down through the earth is certain, even
though hell be their prison properly, yet have they a sort of
dominion and abode both in the earth and air; partly, as a piece
of their curse, this is laid on them to wander; partly as their
exercise to tempt men, or bring spirituall or temporall hurt to
them,' &c. _Durham's Commentarie upon the Book of the Revelation_,
p. 582. So, too, Hutcheson (_Exposition of the Book of Job_, p.
9): 'We should remember that we sojourn in a world where Devils
are, and do haunt among us;' and Fleming (_Fulfilling of the
Scripture_, p. 217): 'But the truth itself is sure, that such a
party is at this day, encompassing the earth, and trafficking up
and down there, to prove which by arguments were to light a candle
to let men see that it is day, while it is known what _ordinary
familiar converse many have therewith_.' One of their favourite
abodes was the Shetland Islands, where, in the middle of the
seventeenth century, 'almost every family had a Brouny or evil
spirit so called.' See the account given by the Rev. John Brand,
in his work entitled _A Brief Description of Orkney, Zetland,
Pightland-Firth, and Caithness_, pp. 111, 112, Edinburgh, 1701.
[485] 'There is not one whom he assaulteth not.' _Abernethy's Physicke
for the Soule_, p. 101. 'On the right hand and on the left.'
_Cowper's Heaven Opened_, p. 273. Even early in the eighteenth
century, the 'most popular divines' in Scotland, affirmed that
Satan 'frequently appears clothed in a corporeal substance.'
_Memoirs of Charles Lee Lewes, written by Himself_, vol. iii.
pp. 29, 30, London, 1805.
[486] 'This night James Lochheid told me, that last year, if I mistake
not, at the Communion of Bafrou, he was much helped all day. At
night, when dark somewhat, he went out to the feilds to pray; and
a terrible slavish fear came on him, that he almost lost his
senses. Houever, he resolved to goe on to his duty. By (the time)
he was at the place, his fear was off him; and lying on a
knou-side, a black dogg came to his head and stood. He said he
kneu it to be Satan, and shooke his hand, but found nothing, it
evanishing.' ... 'Lord help against his devices, and strenthen
against them!' _Wodrow's Analecta_, vol. i. p. 24. The _Registers
of the Presbytery of Lanark_, p. 77, contain a declaration, in
1650, that 'the devill appeared like a little whelpe,' and
afterwards, 'like a brown whelpe.'
[487] The celebrated Peden was present when 'there came down the
appearance of a raven, and sat upon one man's head.' ...
Thereupon, 'going home, Mr. Peden said to his land-lord, I always
thought there was Devilry among you, but I never thought that he
did appear visibly among you, till now I have seen it. O, for the
Lord's sake quit this way,' _The Life and Death of Mr. Alexander
Peden, late Minister of the Gospel at New Glenluce in Galloway_,
pp. 111, 112, in vol. i. of _Walker's Biographia Presbyteriana_.
[488] 'I heard a voice just before me on the other side of the hedge,
and it seemed to be like the groaning of an aged man. It continued
so some time. I knew no man could be there; for, on the other side
of the hedge, where I heard the groaning, there was a great stank
or pool. I nothing doubted but it was Satan, and I guessed his
design; but still I went on to beg the child's life. At length he
roared and made a noise like a bull, and that very loud. From all
this I concluded, that I had been provoking God some way or other
in the duty, and that he was angry with me, and had let the enemy
loose on me, and might give him leave to tear me in pieces. This
made me intreat of God, to shew me wherefore he contended, and
begged he would rebuke Satan. The enemy continued to make a noise
like a bull, and seemed to be coming about the hedge towards the
door of the summer-seat, bellowing as he came along.' _Stevenson's
Rare, Soul-Strengthening, and Comforting Cordial for Old and Young
Christians_, p. 29. This book was published, and prepared for the
press, by the Rev. William Cupples. See Mr. Cupples' letter at the
beginning.
[489] In 1684, with 'black cloaths, and a blue band, and white
handcuffs.' _Sinclair's Satan's Invisible World Discovered_, p. 8.
[490] 'He observed one of the black man's feet to be cloven, and that the
black man's apparel was black, and that he had a blue band about
his neck, and white hand-cuffs, and that he had hoggers upon his
legs without shoes; and that the black man's voice was hollow and
ghastly.' _Satan's Invisible World Discovered_, p. 9. 'The devil
appeared in the shape of a black man,' p. 31. See also _Brand's
Description of Orkney_, p. 126: 'all in black.'
[491] 'The acquired knowledge of the Devill is great, hee being an
advancing student, and still learning now above five thousand
yeares.' _Rutherford's Christ Dying and Drawing Sinners to
Himselfe_, p. 204. 'He knowes very well, partly by the quicknesse
of his nature, and partly by long experience, being now very neere
six thousand yeeres old.' _Cowper's Heaven Opened_, p. 219. 'Hee,
being compared with vs, hath many vantages; as that he is more
subtill in nature, being of greater experience, and more ancient,
being now almost sixe thousand yeeres old.' _Ibid._ p. 403. 'The
diuell here is both diligent and cunning, and (now almost of sixe
thousand yeeres) of great experience.' _Abernethy's Physicke for
the Soule_, p. 142. 'Satan, such an ingenious and experimented
spirit.' _Binning's Sermons_, vol. i. p. 67. 'His great sleight
and cunning.' _Ibid._ p. 110. Other eulogies of his skill may be
seen in _Fergusson's Exposition of the Epistles of Paul_, p. 475;
and in _Fleming's Fulfilling of the Scripture_, p. 45. A
'minister,' whose name is not mentioned, states that he is 'of an
excellent substance, of great natural parts, long experience, and
deep understanding.' _Sinclair's Satan's Invisible World
Discovered_, p. 78.