Naismith History of the RP Church IV.
James Dodson
CHAPTER IV.
1660–79.
Restoration of Charles II.—Resolutioners and Protesters—Act Recissory—Restoration of Episcopacy—Condemnation of the Covenants—Martyrdom of Marquis of Argyll and James Guthrie—Earl of Loudoun and Lord Warriston—James Sharp—Ejection of 400 ministers—Their pulpits filled with Highland herds—Conventicles—Ensnaring oaths—Cruel proceedings at Dalry—Battle of Pentland—Captain John Paton—Torture by bootkins—Hugh Mackail—Indulgence—Conventicle at Beath Hill—Communion at East Nisbet.
THE period, we now proceed to notice, is one of the saddest in the history of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, and of the land in which it was persecuted. Charles II. was restored in 1660. During the progress of the Second Reformation in Scotland, and even during the Protectorate in England, there were many who adhered to Charles I., whom they called the martyr, and who afterwards embraced the cause of his son Charles II. Kept down for a time by the strong arm of Cromwell, they lived and plotted in secret. The High Church followers of Laud, and the No Church adherents of Hobbes, agreed in hating the plain worship and the strict morality of the Puritans of England, and the Covenanters of Scotland. No longer needing the aid of the Scottish Covenanters in restoring the King, whom they had blindly supported, these anti-Christian allies helped the King to persecute his deceived friends. The bigotry of the Laudeans, and the licentiousness of the Hobbists, had not been diminished but merely pent up. Favoured by the accession of a monarch whose religion, if he had any, was Romish in kind, and whose
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morals were of the most licentious nature, the enemies of piety greatly flourished. A vile man was now high in place, and therefore the “wicked walked on every side.” The most immoral were highest in royal favour. Drunkenness was deemed more respectable than sobriety. Profanity abounded; piety was persecuted. The restoration of the exiled prince was evidenced everywhere by the reign of the “Prince of Darkness.” Strange to say, a Church that has contained many learned, and some pious men, gratefully commemorated, during a long series of years, the restoration of this perjured debauchee and cruel persecutor. So soon as Charles had surrounded his throne with men of kindred spirit and morals, and found himself sufficiently strong for publicly acting, according to his long-cherished wishes, he restored the hierarchy both in England and Scotland. In England, on the 1st of August 1662, 2000 faithful ministers, chiefly Presbyterian, were ejected from their pulpits. The people were required, under severe penalties, to renounce the Solemn League. All who attended the ministry of the ejected ministers were exposed to severe penalties—such as imprisonment for three or six months, transportation for seven years, or death itself. The pulpits of these men were partly filled with curates who had formerly been expelled for error and immorality. With such an immoral example in the King and his court, with the teachings of such curates from the pulpit, and the influence of such writings as those of Hobbes from the press, we need not wonder that such a King was not only tolerated, but encouraged. In Scotland, the Reformation was also rapidly reversed. During the ten years preceding, there had been two parties among the Covenanters. Those called Resolutioners, who had resolved to be more easy and accommodating in their principles, and admission to their society. Those called Protesters, who protested against the resolutions of the Broad Church party. Many of the Resolutioners virtually took the side of the enemy, and hastened the ruin of the Reformation. Soon after his restoration,
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Charles appointed the Committee of Estates to act in the management of the kingdom of Scotland, until the Parliament should assemble. This temporary Government soon gave evidence of its servile character, by imprisoning ten ministers who proposed to petition the King. When the Scottish Parliament met, in January 1661, the servile character of its members was secured by their being required, at their admission, to swear not only allegiance to the King, but also their acknowledgment of his absolute supremacy in all matters, civil and sacred. By the 15th Act of the first session of this Parliament, all the Acts passed between 1638 and 1650 were rescinded. This is usually called the Act Recissory, which annulled, so far as King and Parliament could do so, all the attainments of the Second Reformation in Scotland. In the second session of this Parliament, held in May 1662, it was in its first Act declared that, “the ordering and disposal of the external government and policy of the Church doth properly belong unto his Majesty, as an inherent right of the Crown, by virtue of his royal prerogative and supremacy in causes ecclesiastical.” Here we have the assertion of the very essence of Erastianism, and the main principle of the following quarter of a century of persecution. In exercise of the royal right thus claimed, the King and his Parliament immediately restored “the state of Bishops to their ancient places and undoubted privileges in Parliament, and to all their other accustomed dignities, privileges, and jurisdictions.” By the second Act of this session of Parliament, the stamp of treason was put upon all the acts of the Covenanters, and all the Acts of Parliament by which these had been confirmed, between 1638 and 1650. It was at the same time specially enacted, that “it is treasonable and rebellious, upon pretence of reformation, or on any other pretence, to enter into leagues or covenants, or take up arms against the King, or put limits upon the due obedience or allegiance of his subjects.” The Covenants were cancelled as unlawful oaths; the Assembly of
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Glasgow, in 1638, declared unlawful and seditious. It was further enacted, that all who took or administered the Covenants, all who wrote in defence of them, or even acknowledged their obligation, should be punished as traitors. In accordance with the rights claimed by him, at this time, the King might have established—not only Episcopacy, which he did establish, but even Popery, Mohammedanism, or Paganism. Some ignorant detractors of the Covenanters represent them as opposing the King on trivial grounds; but never had subjects more abundant reason for opposing the tyranny of a king, who had grossly outraged their natural rights in matters both civil and sacred. They have been called disloyal. They were more loyal than the King himself. Blind obedience to any law that a king may choose to make, may be termed royalty, but it is not loyalty. True loyalty is allegiance to the constitution—the bargain between king and people—a law or bargain, to which both parties are sacredly bound, and which has equal claims on the loyalty of both parties.
Having enacted such outrages on the constitution, the King and his creatures soon proceeded to put them into execution, in persecution of the bitterest kind. On May 27, 1661, the Marquis of Argyll suffered martyrdom in Edinburgh. Ten years before this he had placed the crown on the King’s head. There is reason to believe that the King had promised to marry a daughter of the Marquis. But the promise and the gratitude of the royal deceiver were equally worthless. Argyll received a formal trial. All the charges brought against him he completely disproved. Even the judges felt convinced that they could not condemn him justly. But they were compelled to obey the tyrant. The Marquis was condemned as guilty of treason, and sentenced to be beheaded. When told of his sentence, Argyll said, “I had the honour to set the crown upon the King’s head, and now he hastens me to a better crown than his own.” When taking farewell of his friends before he went to
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the scaffold, he said—“I could die like a Roman, but choose rather to die as a Christian.” In the address which he gave from the scaffold, he said, “God hath laid engagements on Scotland. We are tied by Covenants to religion and reformation; those who were then unborn are yet engaged; and it passeth the power of all the magistrates under heaven to absolve them from the oath of God. These times are likely to be either very sinning or very suffering times, and let Christians make their choice; there is a sad dilemma in the business—Sin or Suffer; and surely he that will choose the better part will choose to suffer. Others that will choose sin will not escape suffering—they shall suffer—perhaps not as I do, but worse. When I shall be singing, they shall be howling. I have no more to say, but to beg the Lord, that when I go away, He would bless every one that stayeth behind.” The head of this truly noble martyr was struck off, and affixed to the west end of the Tolbooth. Howie of Lochgoin says of him, “He had piety for a Christian, sense for a counsellor, courage for a martyr, and a soul for a king. If ever any was, he might be said to be a true Scotsman.” The next martyr for covenanted truth was James Guthrie, a member of a very ancient and respectable family. Like Argyll, he had been a distinguished Covenanter. In addition to this, he had, in the estimation of his persecutors, been guilty of an offence peculiar to himself. He had, by appointment of the Church, publicly pronounced the sentence of excommunication against the wicked apostate, the Earl of Middleton. Middleton was now, by the King’s appointment, presiding over the Parliament. Nothing would satisfy him short of the death of his excommunicator. Guthrie was condemned as a traitor to be hanged at the Cross of Edinburgh, on the 1st of June 1661; his head to be struck off; his estate confiscated; his coat-of-arms reversed; and his family for ever degraded. This sentence was executed, and his head cut off and affixed to the Netherbow. Immediately before his death, he, standing on the
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ladder leading to the scaffold, spoke for about an hour, and, in referring to the Covenants, said, “These sacred, solemn, public oaths of God, I believe, can be loosed or dispensed by no person, party, or power upon earth, but are still binding upon these kingdoms, and will be so for ever hereafter; and are ratified and sealed, by the conversion of many thousand souls, since our entering thereinto. I take God to record, upon my soul, I would not exchange this scaffold with the palace or mitre of the greatest prelate in Britain.” Immediately before he was turned over, he exclaimed—“The Covenants—the Covenants shall yet be Scotland’s reviving.” The Earl of Loudoun would likely soon have suffered as another victim, but natural death prevented that which his enemies would doubtless have inflicted. Lord Warriston, however, suffered as a martyr for the cause which he had so ably supported.
These eminent men being now removed, it was easier for the King, and his corrupt Parliament, to establish Episcopacy in Scotland. A minister named James Sharp, played a very deceitful part in this matter. Betraying the interests of those by whom he had been sent to London, he became the vile instrument of the King, and was ultimately rewarded for his treachery by being made Archbishop of St Andrews. Other apostates were similarly rewarded, and got the office of a bishop, as a balm to their conscience. The bishops had diocesan courts, appointed in their various districts. The Parliament enacted that no one should hold a ministerial charge, unless he had first satisfied one of these courts; and that all existing ministers must thus qualify before the 1st of November 1662. To enforce this Act, a commission, under the charge of the Earl of Middleton, made a circuit in the West Country, where opposition was chiefly feared. The carrying out of this commission was characterised by scenes of drunkenness and debauchery. It was boasted by the royal drunkards that few, if any, of the Presbyterian ministers would dare to disobey them.
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To their surprise, nearly four hundred ministers preferred ejectment to cowardly compliance. Rudely turned out of their churches and manses, in the depth of winter, they bravely endured great suffering. The bereaved people deeply sympathised with their suffering pastors, and followed them with their loud lamentations and prayers. Thus, about four hundred churches, chiefly in the southwest of Scotland, were emptied in one day. The bishops next attempted to fill these empty pulpits. They could not get any educated or otherwise respectable ministers to enter them. They betook themselves to the North of Scotland, where there had long lingered some adherents of Episcopacy. There they got a number of raw lads, described by Kirkton as “unstudied and unbred.” It is reported that a proprietor in the North cursed the Presbyterian ministers, because, said he, “since they left their churches, we cannot get a lad to keep our cows. They turn all ministers.” Bishop Burnet says of these new incumbents, “They were the worst preachers I ever heard; they were ignorant to a reproach, and many of them were openly vicious. They were a disgrace to their orders and the sacred function, and were indeed the dregs and refuse of the northern parts. Those of them who rose above contempt, or scandal, were men of such violent tempers, that they were as much hated as the others were despised.” Those ministers who ventured to preach against such evils, were threatened with prosecution; and some of them escaped death only by voluntary banishment. The ejected ministers were forbidden to preach within twenty miles of the churches from which they had been ejected, or in any place within six miles of Edinburgh, or any royal burgh. Soon the prohibitions became more severe, and they were forbidden, under pain of death, to preach even in a private dwelling.
To inflict such cruel penalties the Government had no lack of suitable agents. The Covenanters, on account of any such assemblies for worship, private or public, were
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heavily fined and otherwise pillaged. As the informers and pillagers got a share of the spoil, the very worst persons in the nation—those who, under a good Government, would have been in prison or banishment—flocked to the help of the persecutors. To aid this lawless rabble in their infamous work, several Highland regiments were employed. These traversed the Lowlands, especially Fife and the south-western counties, where the Covenanters most frequently assembled in what are termed “conventicles.” Such troops were empowered to fine or imprison, without judge or jury, all who attended the ministrations of the ejected ministers, or even absented themselves from the services of the curates. A favourite spot for Covenanters was Glenvale, a secluded valley between West Lomond and Bishop Hill, in Fife. There were many similar places in the Upper Ward of Lanarkshire, the hills and moorlands of Ayrshire, and in Dumfriesshire and Galloway. Numerous and well-authenticated traditions still linger in these localities, in connection with wild secluded meeting-places, where souls had been converted, the fainting encouraged, and deadly perils encountered. With all the faults of the peasantry in these districts, they have generally a pious and patriotic respect for these places that have been consecrated by the Covenanters.
The persecutors were not content with spoiling the goods and harassing the bodies of the Covenanters. They tried also to lead them into sin with ensnaring oaths and bonds. For instance, they endeavoured to impose upon them the Oath of Allegiance, which involved their acknowledgment of the King’s supremacy in all things; the Declaration, which required a renunciation of the Covenanters and of the whole work of Reformation, and an acknowledgment that it is high treason to rise in arms on any ground whatever without the King’s permission; the Bond of Peace, which bound all who took it not to hear the ejected ministers; the Bond for Conformity, by which the masters and land-proprietors were bound for them-
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selves, wives, children, servants, and tenants, that they would never hear such ministers, nor hold communion with any who heard them, and that they would inform on such, and endeavour to bring them to justice—so called; the Test, a bond self-contradictory, by which the swearer was first made to acknowledge the first Scottish Confession of Faith, in which Christ is declared to be the only Head of the Church, and afterwards made to acknowledge the King as the supreme Head of the Church, and to promise never to enter into covenants without the King’s permission, and never decline the King’s power and jurisdiction in any matter, civil or sacred.* By the Government issuing what were called letters of inter-communing, both the ministers and their adherents were declared outlaws, and forbidden the common rites of hospitality.
Possessed of such laws, the judges or even the common soldiers did not require long time to try and condemn any sincere Christian. If the accused had not done anything that might by these laws be termed treasonable, he would at least hold some religious opinion that by these laws were prohibited. If he refused to take the test, or some of the other sinful oaths before mentioned, condemnation was certain, and imprisonment or death sure to follow. The inspired Book tells us that “oppression makes even a wise man mad.” It would have been more than human had the Covenanters, under the terribly oppressive and provoking administration of such laws, continued wholly unresisting. And yet there are writers, both ancient and modern, who accuse them of inconsistency in attempting to defend themselves with material arms. An instance of such provocation occurred near the village of Dalry, in Galloway, in 1666. Sir James Turner, in command of a large number of soldiers, had been quartered on the inhabitants of Galloway for a long time. These soldiers had been most licentious, rapacious, and cruel. Some of them attempted to torture, by fire, a hapless person who had fallen into their hands; they
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* Wodrow, vols. ii. and iii.
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threatened to roast this old man for his inability to pay some unjust fines. Some neighbours interposed to prevent this. The excitement spread. The inhabitants rose and disarmed the soldiers. Some of the neighbouring gentry, who had been unjustly used, joined the rising. They marched to Dumfries, surprised Sir James Turner, and disarmed his soldiers. The news of this insurrection soon reached the bishops; by them, much exaggerated, it reached the Government.
General Dalziel was commissioned to quell the insurrection. The insurgents, marching to Lanark, increased to about three thousand. They were generally, however, untrained and badly armed. Here their leaders issued a short declaration, justifying their taking arms in self-defence. Here they also renewed their Covenant. Colonel Wallace, a brave officer, was their commander. They marched towards Edinburgh, expecting their number to be there augmented. In this, however, they were disappointed. Weakened with hunger and long marching among snow, “they looked,” Kirkton the historian says, “rather like dying men than soldiers going to conquer.” Reduced in number to nine hundred men, wearied and hungry, they drew up on a spot called Rullion Green, among the Pentland Hills. Here they were attacked by cavalry, commanded by General Dalziel. This attack was bravely met and repulsed by a party of the Covenanters, led by Major Learmont. Had they immediately followed up this success, it is said that they might have gained a complete victory; but their horsemen were untrained and exhausted with fatigue. After a desperate conflict they were defeated, with fifty killed and as many taken prisoners. The rest escaped during the night. This disastrous conflict took place on 28th November 1666. Sir James Turner, who was a prisoner among the Covenanters during this fight, bears testimony to their bravery. He says, “the rebels, for their numbers, fought desperately enough.” Captain John Paton was, in the flight, closely pursued by five troopers. He jumped his
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horse over a ditch, faced round towards his pursuers, cut down the first and second as they leaped over, and advised the rest to return, which they did.
Of the fifty prisoners, thirty-five were executed on the scaffold. Of these, twenty suffered at Edinburgh and seven at Ayr. One of the most distinguished of the sufferers at Edinburgh was Hugh Mackail, a very pious and amiable young minister, only twenty-six years of age. At his trial he was tortured with the bootkin. This was a long square box, into which the lower extremity of the leg was put. Wedges were then inserted, and driven in with heavy hammers until the flesh was bruised, and even the bones crushed. Mackail’s comely, youthful appearance, combined with the dreadful tortures he endured, deeply moved the spectators. The profane cursed the bishops; the pious prayed for the martyr. While mounting the ladder, and afterwards on the scaffold, the youthful martyr solemnly addressed the spectators. At the close of his address, he said, “And now I leave off to speak any more to creatures, and begin my intercourse with God, which shall never be broken off. Farewell, father and mother, friends and relations; farewell, the world and all delights; farewell, meat and drink; farewell, sun, moon, and stars! Welcome, God and Father; welcome, sweet Jesus Christ, the Mediator of the New Covenant; welcome, blessed Spirit of Grace, the God of all consolation; welcome, glory; welcome, eternal life; and welcome, death!”
Many pages might be occupied in describing the death-scenes of these prisoners. The people generally sympathised with them. At one place—Irvine—the executioner refused to act, though threatened by the soldiers.
On the 17th of June 1669, the Government, at the advice of the Earl of Lauderdale, granted what is usually called the Indulgence. The ministers who accepted of this Erastian toleration were allowed to preach within certain limits, and under certain conditions, very humbling to the acceptors, and quite inconsistent with the principles they
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had professed. Those who accepted this toleration were usually called the indulged ministers. They did not thus wholly escape persecution from the King; and they were henceforward disgraced in the eyes of the more consistent Covenanters. This indulgence was renewed in 1672 and 1679. Those who accepted of it found their true position beside the conformed curates, in the Church established in 1688. Among the royal conditions laid on the indulged were such as these:—If they refused to attend the Episcopal courts, they could not hold, or exercise, discipline in any other; they could not preach, baptise, or marry beyond the limits of their own parishes, or allow those to attend their preaching who refused to hear the curates; they were required to hold all their communions on one day; to exclude from their pulpits all the non-indulged ministers; and forbidden to lecture or expound Scripture, that practice not being in accordance with the Episcopal mode of preaching—or, rather, of reading homilies. Such conditions were, in themselves, sufficiently galling, apart from the arbitrary and grossly Erastian manner in which they were imposed.
Meanwhile, the stricter Covenanters, who spurned the indulgence, held their meetings for worship, on Sabbaths or other days, as often as they could, with any degree of safety. These were mostly held in the wilder parts of the south-western counties. Self-defence from lawless violence rendered it necessary that those who had arms should use them. And though the armed yeomen and peasants were generally untrained to the use of arms, they had sometimes the advantage of being led by men who had fought, and even held command, in many a battlefield. Leslie was now dead; but some soldiers and officers survived, some of whom, like him, had fought under Gustavus Adolphus. Such was Captain John Paton, already referred to; and such, in bravery also, were Captain Hall of Haughhead, and Balfour of Burleigh, usually called “Burley.” With such men as these with them, at an armed conventicle, the people felt more
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secure. Among the first of these armed conventicles was one held at Beath Hill, near Dunfermline, on 18th June 1670. At this there was a large multitude. During the sermon, an officer of militia rode up to the meeting, as a spy, to reconnoitre. When about to ride away for his troops, some gentlemen present told him to remain quiet until the service was over. He blustered, but was told to remain quiet, or he would be shot on the spot. This incident was reported in an exaggerated form to the Government, and made the occasion of increased severity against the conventicles.
Notwithstanding these increased severities, the attendance at such conventicles increased, while the attendance on the services of the curates and indulged ministers decreased. One conventicle was held even within sight of the palace of Archbishop Sharp. Evidence was given of good resulting from such meetings. Souls were converted. Even soldiers that came to the meeting with evil intentions were converted. In this way the persecuted ministers were encouraged to continue such meetings, even in the face of danger. The writer of this sketch may be excused in giving more fully, in the words of one who was present, an account of an armed conventicle, held at East Nisbet, in Berwickshire. The spot is about a mile south from Chirnside, on the banks of the Whitadder, and within view of the writer’s study window. The Rev. John Blackader, who had been ejected from his church and manse near Dumfries, was present at this conventicle, or communion, one of the largest ever held in Scotland. The following graphic narrative of it is in his own words:—
“Meantime, the communion elements had been prepared, and the people in Teviotdale advertised. Mr Welsh and Mr Riddell had reached the place on Saturday. When Mr Blackader arrived he found a great assembly, and still gathering from all airts. The people from the East brought reports that caused great alarm. It was rumoured that the Earl of Hume, as ramp a youth as any
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in the country, intended to assault the meeting with his men and militia, and that parties of the regulars were coming to assist him. He had profanely threatened to make their horses drink the communion wine, and trample the sacred elements under foot. Most of the gentry there, and even the commonalty, were ill set. Upon this we drew hastily together about seven or eight score of horse on the Saturday, equipped with such furniture as they had. Pickets of twelve or sixteen men were appointed to reconnoitre and ride towards the suspected parts. Single horsemen were despatched to greater distances, to view the country and give warning in case of attack. The remainder of the horse were drawn round, to be a defence, at such distance as they might hear sermon, and be ready to act if need be. Every means was taken to compose the multitude from needless alarm, and prevent, in a harmless, defensive way, any affront that might be offered to so solemn and sacred a work. Though many of their own accord had provided for their safety—and this was the more necessary, when they had to stay three days together, sojourning by the lions’ dens and the mountains of leopards—yet, none had come armed with hostile intentions.
“We entered on the administration of the holy ordinance, committing it and ourselves to the invisible protection of the Lord of Hosts, in whose name we were met together. Our trust was in the arm of Jehovah, which was better than weapons of war, or the strength of hills. The place where we were convened was every way commodious, and seemed to have been formed on purpose. It was a green and pleasant haugh, fast by the water side (the Whittader). On either hand there was a spacious brae, in form of a half-round, covered with delightful pasture, and rising with a gentle slope to a goodly height. Above us was the clear blue sky, for it was a sweet and calm Sabbath morning, promising to be indeed one of the days of the Son of Man. There was a solemnity in the place befitting the occasion, and elevating the whole
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soul to a pure and holy frame. The communion-tables were spread on the green, by the water, and around them the people had arranged themselves in decent order. But the far greater multitude sat on the brae face, which was crowded from top to bottom—full as pleasant a sight as ever was seen of that sort. Each day, at the congregation’s dismissing, the ministers, with their guards and as many of the people as could, retired to their quarters, in three several country towns, where they might be provided with necessaries. The horsemen drew up in a body, till the people left the place, and then marched in goodly array behind, at a little distance, until all were safely lodged in their quarters. In the morning, when the people returned to the meeting, the horsemen accompanied them; all the three parties met a mile from the spot, and marched in a full body to the consecrated ground. The congregation being all fairly settled in their places, the guardsmen took their several stations, as formerly. These accidental volunteers seemed to have been the gift of Providence, and they secured the peace and quiet of the audience; for, from Saturday morning, when the work began, until Monday afternoon, we suffered not the least affront or molestation from enemies, which appeared wonderful. At first there was some apprehension; but the people sat undisturbed, and the whole was closed in as orderly a way as it had been in the time of Scotland’s brightest noon. And truly the spectacle of so many grave, composed, and devout faces, must have struck the adversaries with awe, and been more formidable than any outward ability of fierce looks and warlike array. We desired not the countenance of earthly kings; there was a spiritual and divine majesty shining on the work, and sensible evidence that the great Master of assemblies was present in the midst. It was, indeed, the doing of the Lord, who covered us a table in the wilderness, in presence of our foes; and reared a pillar of glory between us and the enemy, like the fiery cloud of old, that separated between the camp of Israel and the
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Egyptians—encouraging to the one, but dark and terrible to the other. Though our vows were not offered within the courts of God’s house, they wanted not sincerity of heart, which is better than the reverence of sanctuaries. Amidst the lonely mountains we remembered the words of our Lord, that true worship was not peculiar to Jerusalem or Samaria—that the beauty of holiness consisted not in consecrated buildings, or material temples. We remembered the ark of the Israelites, which had sojourned for years in the desert, with no dwelling-place but the tabernacle of the plain. We thought of Abraham, and the ancient patriarchs, who laid their victims on the rocks for an altar, and burnt sweet incense under the shade of the green tree.
“The ordinance of the Last Supper, that memorial of His dying love till His second coming, was singularly countenanced, and backed with power and refreshing influence from above. Blessed be God, for He hath visited and confirmed His heritage when it was weary. In that day Zion put on the beauty of Sharon and Carmel; the mountains broke forth into singing, and the desert place was made to bud and blossom as the rose. Few such days were seen in the desolate Church of Scotland; few will ever witness the like. There was a rich effusion of the Spirit shed abroad in many hearts; their souls, filled with heavenly transports, seemed to breathe in a diviner element, and to burn upwards, as with the fire of a pure and holy devotion. The ministers were visibly assisted to speak home to the conscience of the hearers. It seemed as if God had touched their lips, with a live coal from off His altar, for they who witnessed declared, they carried more like ambassadors from the court of heaven, than men cast in earthly mould.
“The tables were served by some gentlemen and persons of the gravest deportment. None were admitted without tokens as usual, which were distributed on the Saturday, but only to such as were known to some of the ministers, or persons of trust, to be free of public scandals. All the
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regular forms were gone through. The communicants entered at one end, and retired at the other; a way being kept clear, to take their seats again on the hill-side. Mr Welsh preached the action sermon, and served the first two tables, as he was ordinarily put to do on such occasions. The other four ministers, Mr Blackader, Mr Dickson, Mr Riddell, and Mr Rae, exhorted the rest in their turn; the table service was closed by Mr Welsh, with solemn thanksgiving; and solemn it was, and sweet and edifying, to see the gravity and composure of all present, as well as of all parts of the service. The Communion was peacefully concluded, all the people heartily offering up their gratitude, and singing with a joyful voice, to the Rock of their salvation. It was pleasant, as the night fell, to hear their melody swelling in full unison along the hill, the whole congregation joining with one accord, and praising God, with the voice of psalms.
“There were two long tables, and one short across the head, with seats on each side. About a hundred sat at every table. There were sixteen tables in all, so that about three thousand two hundred communicated that day.”*
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* Blackader’s Memoirs, MSS. in Advocate’s Library, Edinburgh.
[Illustration.]