My uncle kent weel the consequences of standing, and of being taken captive; and ye see, my bairn, life is sweet to us a"; sae he e"en dashed into the thicket, and, in an instant o" time, and ere the dragoon could shoulder his musket, he was tumbling head-foremost (but holding by the branches) towards the bottom of Whiteside Linn. There lay my worthy uncle, breathless, and motionless, and silent, expecting every moment that the dragoon would dismount and secure him. However, the man o" sin contented himsel wi" firing several times (at random) into the linn. The last shot which was fired took effect on my uncle"s knee; the blood sprung from it, and he fainted. As G.o.d would have it, at this time no further pursuit was attempted, and my uncle was lame for life. The blood still remains on the stane, as witness against the unholy hand that shed it. But, alas! we are a" erring creatures; and who knows but even a dragoon may get repentance and find mercy! G.o.d forbid, my wee man, that we should condemn ony ane, even a persecutor, to eternal d.a.m.nation!
It"s awfu--it"s fearfu! But that"s no a" ye shall hear. When the trooper came up to the house, and joined his party, he repeated what had pa.s.sed, and a search was set about in the linn for my uncle; but William had by this time crippen into his cauld, dripping cave, over which the water spouted in a cascade, and thus concealed him from their search; sae, after marking the blood, and almost raving like bloodhounds with disappointment, they tied up a servant girl--whom they had first abused in the most unseemly and beastly manner--to a tree, and there they left her, incapable, though she had been able, of freeing herself. She was relieved in an hour; but never recovered either the shame or the cruelty. She died, and her grave is in the east corner, near the large bushy tree in Closeburn kirkyard. "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord; for they rest from their labours, and their works do follow them."
Muckle better, my dear, was her fate, though seemingly a hard one, than that o" the unG.o.dly curate o" Closeburn--o" him wha was informer against the puir persecuted remnant, and wha, through the instrumentality o" his spies and informers, had occasioned a" this murder and cruelty. Ye shall hear. He--I mean, my bairn, the curate--had been hurlin the folk, whether they would or no, to the kirk, for weeks, in carts and hurdles--for oh, they liked his cauld, moral harangues ill, and his conduct far waur. He had even got the laird to refuse burial in the kirkyard to ony who refused to hear his fushionless preaching. Puir Nanny Walker"s funeral (she who had been sae horribly murdered) was to tak place on sic a day. The curate had heard o" this, and he was resolved to oppose the interment. But G.o.d"s ways, my wean, are not as our ways, nor his thoughts as ours; in his hands are the issues of life and of death; he killeth and he maketh alive--blessed be his name, for ever, amen! Weel, as I was telling ye, out cam the curate, raging, running, and stamping like a madman; coming down his ain entry like a roaring lion, and swearing--for he stuck at naething--that Nanny Walker"s vile Covenanting heart should never rot in Closeburn kirkyard.
Aweel, when he had just reached the kirk stile, and was in the act o"
lifting up his hand against them who were bearing the coffin into the kirkyard, what think ye, my bairn, happened? The unG.o.dly man, with his mouth open in cursing, and his hand uplifted to strike, instantly fell down on the flagstanes, uttered but one groan, and expired! Ye see, my bairn, what a fearfu thing it is to persecute, and then to fall into the hands o" an angry and avenging G.o.d. Oh, may never descendant o" mine deserve or meet wi" sic a fate! But there is mair to tell ye still. Just at the time when this fearfu visitation o" Providence took place, the family o" Auchincairn war a" engaged wi" the Buik, whan _in_ should rush wha but daft Gibbie Galloway, wha had never spoken a sensible word in his life--for he was a born innocent, he and his mither afore him! Weel, and to be sure, just about this time, for they compared it afterwards, _in_ Gibbie stammered into the kitchen, whar they war a" convened, and interrupted the guidman"s prayer, wha happened at the time to be prayin to the Lord for vengeance against the unG.o.dly curate:--
"Haud at him," said Gibby--"haud at him! he"s "ust at the pit-brow!"
Ay, fearfu, sirs--thae war awfu times!
II.--THE COVENANTERS" MARCH.
The narratives of the Rev. Mr Frazer of Alness, as well as those of Quentin d.i.c.k, William M"Millan, and Mr Robert M"Lellan, Laird of Balmagechan--all sufferers by, and MS. historians of the same events--we have carefully perused; and it is from a collection of these hitherto unpublished MSS. that the following paper is composed.
Mr Frazer had gone to London about the end of the year 1676, and had continued there till 1685, when he was seized, along with the Laird of Balmagechan, in Galloway, whilst they were listening to the instructions of the Rev. Mr Alexander Shields, the celebrated author of the "Hynd let loose," and forwarded by sea, under fetter and hatchway, to Leith. After a variety of tossing and council-questioning, as was the order of the day at this time, they were marched from the Canongate Tolbooth, along with upwards of 200 prisoners, to Dunnottar Castle in Kincardineshire.
Of the sudden and unexpected summoning which they experienced, the reverend autobiographer speaks in these terms:--
"We were engaged, as was usual with us in our Babel captivity, in singing a psalm. It was our evening sacrifice, and whilst the sun was sinking ayont the Pentlands. The voice of a G.o.dly and much-tried woman, Euphan Thriepland, ascended clear and full of heavenly melody above the rest. The prison-door was suddenly thrown open, and we at first imagined--alas!--that our captivity had ended; but it was not so. The Lord saw meet to put us to still severer trials. We were marched, under the command of Colonel Douglas, to Leith. This poor woman, who was labouring under great bodily weakness, pled hard and strove sair for leave to stay behind. But she was mounted behind a corporal, and, amidst many an obscene jest and much blasphemous language, conveyed to the pier at Leith."
Next morning, we find the whole prisoners put up in the most indecent and uncomfortable manner in two rooms of the Tolbooth at Burntisland, and undergoing an examination before the Laird of Gosford, as to their opinions of allegiance and absolute supremacy. Forty acknowledged King James as head of our Presbyterian Church, and superior lord over all law and authority in the kingdom; and the forty-first was standing in the presence of the oath administrator, with his hand uplifted, and in the very act of following the example of his brethren, when his aunt, Euphan Thriepland, _alias_ M"Birnie (for her husband"s name was such), advancing with difficulty towards the table, thus proceeded, with violent gesticulation, and in a firm tone of voice, to address her nephew. Here we use the words of the Laird of Balmagechan, who has given the whole scene with singular force and fidelity:--
"Jamie M"Birnie, what"s that ye"re about? Down wi" yer hand, man!--down wi" yer hand, this moment!--or ye may weel expect it to rot aff by the shackle-bane, man! Ye"re but a young man, Jamie, and muckle atweel ye seem to require counsel. Had Peter M"Birnie, yer worthy faither--now with his Maker--stood where I now (though with tottering joints and a feeble voice) stand, he would neither have held his peace nor withheld his admonition. He would rather hae seen that hand--now stretched oot to abjure Christ and his Covenanted Kirk--burning and frying in the hettest flame, than hae witnessed the waefu sicht I now see. It"s weel wi"
him!--oh, it"s weel wi" him, that his eyes are shut on earth, and that, in heaven, there is nae annoyance; otherwise, sair, sair would his heart hae been, to see my sister"s wean devoting himsel wi" his ain uplifted hand to Satan. O Jamie, what says the Bible? It says awfu things to you, Jamie--it says, "If thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, for it is better to go into heaven with one eye, than that the whole body"--Jamie, mark that! the whole body--"should be cast into h.e.l.l fire." And is not an eye dearer than a hand, and must not the dearest member be sacrificed, if it stand in the way of the soul"s salvation? Ye may own King James, and muckle thanks ye"ll get for"t; and ye may abjure and renounce Christ, and ye"ll sune see wha will gain or lose by that. And ye may adhere to the king"s curates, or to the bishops" curates, and starve at the breast o" a _yeld_, a milkless mither; but tak tent that ye dinna feed and nourish in your bosom a fearful _worm_, that winna die nor lie still, but will gnaw and gnaw as lang as the fire burns and isna quenched."
Jamie M"Birnie"s hand continued to fall gradually during this address, and, when his aunt had concluded, his arm hung pendulous and seemingly powerless by his side. At this instant, a young woman of uncommon personal attractions was seen hurrying from a boat which had just landed. She had scarcely set foot on sh.o.r.e, when a commotion was observed in the court, and a face full of anguish and despair was presented to the party a.s.sembled in the Tolbooth. The Laird of Gosford, after cursing the aunt for an old Covenanting hag, had just put the question of abjuration to Jamie for the last time. Jamie now remained inflexible, and was immediately ordered to be handcuffed, and marched with the rest to Dunnottar Castle. Hereupon, as the Laird of Balmagechan expresses it--The maiden, who was fair to look upon, pushed herself suddenly forward, and rushed into the arms of her lover--for such he behoved, from her words and her conduct, to be.
"O Jamie, Jamie, tak the oath--tak the oath--tak ony oath--tak onything; do a" that they bid you do; say a" that they bid ye say--rather than leave yer ain Jeanie Wilson to break her heart wi" downright greeting. O Jamie, we were to be married, ye ken, at Martinmas; and I have athing ready, and the bit house is taen, and ye can work outby, and I can spin within, and--and--but, O Jamie, speak, man, just speak, and say ye"ll tak the oath. Haud up yer hand!" Hereupon she lifted his seemingly powerless right hand, till it came to a level with his head. "Look there, sir," addressing Gosford; "look there--swear him, man, swear him, man; he"s willing, dinna ye see, to swear--what for dinna ye swear him?"
Being informed that the oath must be voluntary, and his hand not be propped, with great reluctance, and looking in Jamie"s face with a look of inexpressible persuasion, she whispered something in his ear which was inaudible, and retired a few paces from her station. No sooner, however, had she done so, than the hand, as if by the law of gravitation, resumed its former position, and a loud scream indicated that the young heart of Jeanie had found a temporary stillness in insensibility. The poor creature was borne out of court, amidst some sympathy even from the hardened and merciless soldiery; and Jamie, now a stupid, pa.s.sive clod, was handcuffed, and ordered to march.
Lieutenant Beaton of Kilrennie commanded the detachment to which was intrusted the execution of the higher orders. They were all compelled to walk, with the exception of Euphan Thriepland, who was mounted, as formerly, behind a corporal, together with a poor lame schoolmaster, whose feet were closely and most cruelly tied down to the sides of a wild and unbroken colt. Upon these two helpless and tormented beings, princ.i.p.ally, did it please and amuse the commander and his men to exercise their wit and expend their jeers. At one time the schoolmaster was likened to a perched radish, and again he was "riding the stang" for his sins. Euphemia was designated "Dame Grunt," in humane allusion, no doubt, to the painful position which she occupied _a la croupe_, and which compelled her frequently to groan. Again she was accosted as the "mother of all saints," and the "true Blue Whigamore." One observed that the dominie would look wonderfully handsome in boots (referring, no doubt, to the instrument of torture); and another observed that the lady would wondrous well become a St Johnstone"s cravat--namely, a halter.
The foot-soldiers, who were armed with long pikes, made excellent application of their weapons; and ever and anon, as some weary wretch lagged behind, or some hungry or thirsty one seemed inclined to turn aside to procure food or drink, the "_argumentum a posteriori_" was applied vigorously and unsparingly. The people of Fife, who were universally favourably disposed toward the prisoners, flocked in upon their retired and out-of-the-way route with every kind of provision and refreshment; but, instead of being permitted to bestow them where they were needed, they were met with taunts, and in some cases with blows; and the food which was intended for the prisoners was uniformly devoured by their tormentors, or wasted and destroyed in the very presence, and under the very eyes, of those who were almost famishing for hunger. A strolling piper, who happened to be crossing their route, was sportively enlisted into their service, and compelled, like Barton at Bannockburn, to play, very much to his own annoyance, such tunes as "The Whigs o"
Fife," well known to be offensive to the friends of the Covenant.
"It was, indeed," says the Rev. Mr Frazer, with more of navete and good-humour than might have been expected--"it was, indeed, an uncommon sight to behold a large and mixed company of men and women, but indifferently clad and ill-a.s.sorted, marching over muirs and hill-sides, with a roaring bagpipe at their tail; the piper puffing and blowing, and ever and anon casting a suspicious look behind, towards the pike points, which were occasionally applied to his person in a manner the least ceremonious possible." Might not this group form an appropriate subject for an Allan, a Wilkie, or a Harvey? About dusk the party had skirted the Lomonts, and were billeted for the night in the poor, but pleasantly-situated, village of Freuchie. Each head of a family was made answerable with his property and life for the persons of those prisoners who were committed to his charge. And it is worthy of notice that not one of those poor oppressed and insulted sufferers--who were all day long endeavouring to escape--once attempted to implicate a single individual amongst all their kind and hospitable landlords.
Upon rallying their numbers next morning, it was found that one aged individual, a forebear of ours, of the name of Watson, had died of over-fatigue; and that the poor schoolmaster was so much injured by his horsemanship, that he could not possibly advance farther. When they arrived at the south ferry of the Tay, the tide did not serve, and a most cruel and barbarous scene was exhibited. A young man, the son of the Rev. Mr Frazer, with the view of making interest for his father"s release, had endeavoured to escape during the night. He was challenged by a sentinel in pa.s.sing along the rocks, and not answering instantly, was immediately shot dead on the spot. His head was cut from the body, and with the return of day, presented to the unfortunate and horrified parent, with these words, "There"s the gallows face of your son!" Mr Frazer"s own reflections on this scene deserve to be extracted from his written ma.n.u.scripts:--"O my Charles! my dear, heart-broken Charles! thy mother"s joy and thy father"s hope, and prop, and comfort! To be thus deprived of thee, and for ever! But I am wrong, very wrong: I had thee only as a loan from the Lord; and I know well that he gives--
"And when he takes away, He takes but what he gave."
Thou hast perished in the ranks amidst the soldiers of Christ; and I doubt not that when the Captain of our salvation shall appear, thou wilt appear with him."
It would only fatigue and disgust the reader to give one t.i.the of the atrocities which were perpetrated during the whole march to Dunnottar Castle. Really, the ma.n.u.script narratives here concur in such statements as are calculated to make us conceive favourably of Hottentots and cannibals: children torn from their mothers" arms, and transfixed on pike points; a woman in labour thrown into a pool in the North Esk; lighted matches applied betwixt the fingers of old Euphan Thriepland, because she ventured to denounce such atrocities, &c. &c. &c. Come we, then, after three or four days" march, to Dunnottar Castle.
The Castle of Dunnottar stands upon a rocky peninsula; and at the time of which we are writing was only accessible by a drawbridge. It has been in successive years the scene of much contention and bloodshed. It was here that Sir William Wallace is said to have burned to the death not less than four thousand Southrons in one night. It was within these fire-seared and blackened walls that the unfortunate Marquis of Montrose renewed the horrors of conflagration; and it was here, too, that the brave Ogilvy so long and so determinedly defended our Scottish regalia against the soldiers of the Commonwealth. It was, too, from out these walls, that Mrs Granger, wife of the minister of Kinneff, conveyed away, packed up and concealed amidst a bundle of clothes, the emblems of Scottish independence; and that, after having concealed them till the Restoration, at one time beneath the pulpit, and at another betwixt the plies of a double-bottomed bed, she returned them, upon the accession of Charles II., to Mr Ogilvy, who, along with the Earl Marischal and keeper of the regalia, Keith, were rewarded for their fidelity, the one with a baronetcy, and the other with the earldom of Kintire; whilst neither this woman nor her husband, nor any of their posterity, have once yet been visited by any mark of royal or national grat.i.tude:--
"Hos ego versiculos feci, tulit alter honores."
It is thus that the great man stands in the light of the small, and that the royal vision is prevented from penetrating beyond the objects in immediate juxtaposition.
This Castle of Dunnottar, which had so recently been honoured as the receptacle of the regalia, was now about to be converted into a state prison, and, like the Ba.s.s, to become subservient to the views of an alarmed and fluctuating council, at a time when the rebellion of the unfortunate Monmouth in England, and of the haughty and ill-advised Argyle in Scotland, had set the whole kingdom in a ferment, either of hope or apprehension. Mr Frazer"s narrative of the entrance of the prisoners into the castle, upon Sabbath the 24th day of May, 1685, is sufficiently graphic and intelligible:--
"We pa.s.sed along," says he, "a narrow way or drawbridge, and from thence ascended under a covered road towards the castle, which stands high up, and looks down upon the sea from three of its sides. A person in the garb of a jailer, with a bunch of large and rusty keys in his hand, opened a door on the seaward side of the building, and we were very rudely and insultingly commanded to enter. "Kennel up, there, kennel up, ye dogs of the Covenant!" were amongst the best terms which were applied to us.
"The Laird of Balmagechan being amongst the last to penetrate into this abode of stench, damp, darkness, suffocation, and death, a soldier made a lunge at him with the point of his pike. Balmagechan was a peaceable man and a Christian; but this was somewhat too much--so, turning round in an instant, and closing at once with his insulting tormentor, he fairly wrested the pike from the soldier"s grasp, and, splintering it in shivers over his head, he added, "Tak, then, that in the meantime, thou devil"s gaet, to teach thee better manners!" The apartment into which, with scarcely room to stand, 177 (our numbers having thus diminished from 200, on the march) human beings were thrust was, in fact, dug out of the rock, and, unless by a small narrow window towards the sea, had no means of admitting either light or air. As the night advanced, the heat became intolerable, and a sense of suffocation, the most painful of any to which our frail nature can be exposed, seemed to threaten an excruciating, if not an immediate death. In vain we knocked, and called upon the guard, and implored a little air, and asked water, for G.o.d and mercy"s sake. We were only answered by scoffs and jeers. At last nature, in many instances being entirely worn out, gave way. Some turned their heads over upon the shoulder of the persons nearest them, as if in the act of drinking water, and expired--others lost their reason entirely, struck out furiously around them, tore their own hair and that of others, and then went off in strong and hideous convulsions. Happier were they, at this awful midnight hour, who entered this dungeon with a feeble step, and in a wasted state of bodily strength; for _their_ struggle was short, and their death comparatively easy--_they_ died ere midnight. But far otherwise was it with many upon whom G.o.d had bestowed youth, health, and unimpaired strength. They stood the contest long; and frequently, after they appeared to be dead, awoke again in renewed strength, and ten times increased suffering. After the fatal discovery was made, that the door was not to be opened, the rush toward the opposite window became absolutely intolerable. The feeble were trodden down, and even the strong wasted their strength in contending with each other.
"Morning at last dawned, and our prison-door flew suddenly open. The governor"s lady had learned our fate; and, even at the risk of giving offence to her lord, she had ordered us air and water, whilst _he still slept_. "O woman, woman," exclaims Mr Quentin d.i.c.k, in his MS. before me, "thou art, and hast ever been, an angel. What does not man--what do not we owe thee?""
In a word, more than the half perished on that dreadful night, and amongst those who were ultimately liberated by order in council, were the individuals who have been particularised in this narrative.
Reader, we inquire not into thy political creed--we ask not whether thou art a Whig or a Tory, a Conservative or a Radical--we can allow thee to be an honest and conscientious man, on all these suppositions: all we ask of thee is this, "_Art thou a man?_" The inference is inevitable.
Perhaps some may wish to know what became of Euphan Thriepland, Jamie M"Birnie, and Jeanie Wilson. We are happy that, owing to an accidental occurrence, we can throw some light upon the subject. Last time we were in Dumfries-shire, and in Closeburn, our native parish, we read upon the door of a change-house, in the village of Croalchapel, this inscription, "Whisky, Ale, and British Spirits, sold here, by James M"Birnie." The coincidence of the name revived my long-obscured recollection of the past, and led, in fact, ultimately to the whole of this narrative. We learned, from an old bedrid woman, the grandmother of this James, that he of Dunnottar celebrity had returned to Edinburgh and married Jeanie Wilson; that he had taken auld aunt Euphan home to their dwelling; and had been employed for several years after the Revolution, as a nursery and seeds-man, in Edinburgh; that, having realised a competency, they had ultimately retired to their native parish of Closeburn, and had tenanted a small farm called Stepends; that their son had been a drover, and unsuccessful even to bankruptcy; and that the family were now reduced to the condition which we beheld.
III.--PEDEN"S FAREWELL SERMON.
We believe there never was such a sad Sabbath witnessed, as that upon which nearly four hundred of the Established clergy of Scotland preached their farewell sermons and addresses to their several congregations. It was a day, as the historians of that period express it, of "wailing, and of loud lamentation, as the weeping of Jazer, when the lords of the heathen had broken down her princ.i.p.al plants; and as the mourning of Rachel, who wept for her children, and would not be comforted."
On the 4th day of October, 1662, a council, under the commission of the infatuated and ill-advised Middleton, was held at Glasgow; and, in an hour of brutal intoxication, it was resolved and decreed that all those ministers of the Church of Scotland who had, by a popular election, entered upon their cures since the year 1649, should, in the first instance, be arrested, nor permitted to resume their pulpits, or draw their stipends, till they had received a presentation at the hands of the lay patrons, and submitted to induction from the diocesan bishop. In other words, Presbytery, which had been so dearly purchased, and was so acceptable to the people of Scotland, was to be superseded by Prelacy; and the mandate of the prince, or of his privy council, was to be considered in future as _law_, in all matters whether civil or ecclesiastical. It was not to be supposed that the descendants and admirers of Knox, and Hamilton, and Welsh, and Melville could calmly and pa.s.sively submit to this; and accordingly the 20th day of October--the last Sabbath which, without conformity to the orders in council, the proscribed ministers were permitted to preach--was a day antic.i.p.ated with anxious feelings, and afterwards remembered to their dying day, by all who witnessed it. It was our fortune, in early life, to be acquainted with an old man, upwards of ninety, an inhabitant of the village of Glenluce, whose grandfather was actually present at the farewell or parting sermon which Mr Peden, the author of the famous prophecies which bear his name, delivered on this occasion to his parishioners. We have conversed with this aged chronicler so frequently and so fully upon the subject, that we believe we can give a pretty faithful report of what was then delivered by Peden.
I remember well (continued, according to my authority, the old chronicler)--I mind it well, it seems but as yesterday--the morning of this truly awful and not-to-be-forgotten day. It had been rain in the night-time, and the morning was dark and cloudy--the mist trailed like the smoke o" a furnace, white and ragged, alang the hill-taps. The heavens above seemed, as it were, to scowl upon the earth beneath. I rose early, as was my wont on the Sabbath morning, and hitched away towards the tap o" the Briock. I had only continued, it micht be, an hour in private meditation and prayer, when I heard the eight-o"clock bells beginning to toll. Indeed, I could hear, from the place where I was, I may say, every bell in the presbytery. The sound o" these bells is still in my ears--it was unusually sweet and melodious; and yet there was something very melancholy in the sound. I thought on the blood of the saints by which these bells had been purchased; upon the many souls, now gone to a better place, who had been summoned to a preached gospel by these bells; and I thought, too, on the sad alteration which a few hours would produce, when the pulpits would be deserted by the worthy Presbyterian ministers who filled them, and be filled, it micht be, by Prelatical curates--wolves in sheep"s clothing, and fushionless preachers at the best. Even at this early hour, I could see, every here and there, blue bonnets, and black-and-white plaids, and scarlet mantles, mixing with and coming forth every now and then from the broken and creeping mist. The Lord"s own covenanted flock were e"en gaun awa to pluck a mouthfu (it micht be the last) o" hale-some and sanctified pasture.
The doors o" the kirk o" New Luce had been thrown open early in the morning; but, owing to an immense concourse of people, a tent had been latterly erected on the brow face, immediately opposite to the kirk-stile, and the mult.i.tude had settled, and were, when we arrived, settling down, like bees around their queen, on all sides of it. Having advanced suddenly over the height, and come all at once within view of this goodly a.s.sembly, I found them engaged, as was their customary, till the minister"s appearance, in psalm-singing. A portion of the Thirty-second Psalm had been selected by the precentor, and he was in the act of _giving out_, as it is termed, these appropriate and comforting lines--
"Thou art my hiding-place; thou shalt From trouble set me free; And with songs of deliverance About shall compa.s.s me"--
when Peden made his appearance above the brow of the adjoining linn, where he had probably been engaged for some time in preparatory and private devotion. He advanced with the pulpit Bible under his arm, and with a rapid, though occasionally a hesitating, step. All eyes were at once turned upon him; but he seemed lost in meditation, and altogether careless or unconscious of his exposed situation. His figure was diminutive, but his frame athletic and his step elastic. He wore a blue bonnet, from beneath which his dark hair flowed out over his shoulders, long, lank, and dishevelled. His complexion was sallow, but his eyes dark, keen, and penetrating. He had neither gown nor band, but had his shirt-neck tied up with a narrow stock of uncommon whiteness. Thus habited, he approached the congregation, who rose up to make way for him, ascended the ladder attached to the back-door of the tent, and forthwith proceeded to the duties of the day.
"Therefore watch and remember; for the s.p.a.ce of three years I ceased not to warn every one, night and day, with tears."
These words of the text were read out in a firm, though somewhat shrill and squeaking tone of voice; and as he lifted up his eyes from the sacred page, and looked east and west around him, there was a general preparatory cough, and adjustment of position and dress, which clearly bespoke the protracted attention which was about to be given. And, truly, although he continued to discourse from twelve o"clock till dusk, I cannot say that I felt tired or hungry. Nor did it appear that the speaker"s strength or matter failed him--nay, he even rose into a degree of fervid and impressive eloquence towards the close which none who were present ever heard equalled.
"And now, my friends," continued he, in a concluding appeal to their consciences--"and now I am gaun to warn ye anent the future, as weel as to admonish you o" the past. Ye"ll see and hear nae mair o" puir Sandy Peden after this day"s wark is owre. See ye that puir bird" (at this moment a hawk had darted down, in view of the whole congregation, in pursuit of its prey)--"see ye that puir panting laverock, which has now crossed into that dark and deep linn, for safety and for refuge from the claws and the beak of its pursuer? I"ll tell ye what, my freends--the twasome didna drift down this way frae that dark clud, and along that bleak heathery brae-face, for naething. They were sent, they were commissioned; and if ye had arisen to your feet, ere they pa.s.sed, and cried, "Shue!" ye couldna hae frichtened them oot o" their mission. They cam to testify o" a persecuted remnant, and o" a cruel pursuing foe--o"
a kirk which will soon hae to betak hersel like a bird to the mountains, and o" an enemy which will not allow her to rest, by night nor by day, even in the dark recesses o" the rocks, or amidst the damp and cauld mosses o" the hills. They cam, and they war welcome, to gie auld Sandy a warning, too, and to bid him tak the bent as fast as possible; to flee, even this very nicht, for the pursuer is even nigh at hand. But, hooly, sirs, we maunna part till our wark is finished; as an auld writer has it--"till our work is finished, we are immortal." I hae e"en dune my best, as saith an apostle, amang ye; and I hae this day the consolation, and that"s no sma", to think that my puir exertions hae been rewarded wi" some sma" success. And had it been _His_ plan, or _His_ pleasure, to have permitted me to lay down my auld banes, when I had nae mair use for them, beneath ane o" the through-stanes there, I canna say but I wad hae been content. But, since it"s no His guid and sovereign pleasure, I hae ae request to mak before we separate this nicht, never in this place to meet again." (Hereupon the sobbing and the bursting forth of hitherto suppressed sorrow was almost universal.) "Ye maun a" stand upon your feet, and lift up your hands, and swear, before the great Head and Master o" the Presbyterian Kirk o" Scotland" (there was a general rising and show of hands, whilst the speaker continued), "that, till an independent Presbyterian minister ascend the pulpit, you will never enter the door o" that kirk mair; and let this be the solemn league and covenant betwixt you and me, and betwixt my G.o.d and your G.o.d, in all time coming! Amen!--so let it be!"
In this standing position, which we had thus almost insensibly a.s.sumed, the last prayer or benediction was heard, and the concluding psalm was sung--
"For he in his pavilion shall Me hide in evil days, In secret of his tent me hide, And on a rock me raise."
I never listened to a sound or beheld a spectacle more overpowering. The night-cloud had come down the hill above us--the sun had set. It was twilight; and the united and full swing of the voice of praise ascended through the veil of evening, from the thousands of lips, even to the gate of heaven. Whilst we continued singing, our venerable pastor descended from the tent--the Word of G.o.d in his hand, and the accents of praise on his lips; and at the concluding line he stood fairly and visibly out by himself, upon the entry towards the east door of the kirk. Having shut the door and locked it, in the view and in the hearing of the people, he knocked upon it thrice with the back of the pulpit Bible, accompanying this action with these words, audibly and distinctly p.r.o.nounced--