Chapter VI: Front Matter (6)

The reader will readily observe, that a high degree of fortitude and boldness appeared in all his actions; where the honour of his Lord and Master was concerned, the fear of man made no part of his character. He is by Spotswood styled the principal agent or apostle of the presbyterians in Scotland[45]. He did indeed assert the rights of presbytery to the utmost of his power against diocesan episcopacy; he possessed great presence of mind, and was superior to all the arts of flattery, that were sometimes tried with him; he was once blamed, as being too fiery in his temper, he replied, "If you see my fire go downward, set your foot upon it, but if it goes upward, let it go to its own place." He died at Sedan in France, in a few years after.

_The Life of Mr. PATRICK SIMPSON._

Mr. Simpson, after having finished his academical course, spent some considerable time in retirement, which he employed in reading the Greek and Latin classics, the antient Christian fathers, and the history of the primitive church. Being blamed by one of his friends for wasting so much time in the study of pagan writers, he replied, That he intended to adorn the house of God with these Egyptian jewels.

He was first ordained minister at Cramond, but was afterwards transported to Stirling, where he continued until his death. He was a faithful contender against the lordly encroachments of prelacy. In the year 1584, when there was an express charge given by the king to the ministers, either to acknowledge Mr. Patrick Adamson as arch-bishop of St. Andrews, or else to lose their benefices, Mr. Simpson opposed that order with all his power, although Mr. Adamson was his uncle by the mother's side; and when some of his brethren seemed willing to acquiesce in the king's mandate, and subscribe their submission to Adamson, so far as it was agreeable to the word of God, he rebuked them sharply, saying, It would be no salvo to their consciences, seeing it was altogether absurd to subscribe an agreement with any human invention, when it was condemned by the word of God. A bishopric was offered him, and an yearly pension besides from the king, in order to bring him into his designs, but he positively refused all, saying, That he regarded that preferment and profit as a bribe to enslave his conscience, which was dearer to him than any thing whatever; he did not stop with this, but having occasion _anno_ 1593, to preach before the king, he publicly exhorted him to beware that he drew not the wrath of God upon himself in patronizing a manifest breach of divine laws: Immediately after sermon, the king stood up and charged him not to intermeddle in these matters.

When the assembly which was held at Aberdeen _anno_ 1684, was condemned by the state, and in a very solemn manner denounced the judgment of God against all such as had been concerned in distressing, and imprisoning the ministers of Linlithgow, who maintained the lawfulness and justified the conduct of that assembly, and the protestation given in to the parliament in 1606, which did many things to the further establishment of prelacy. This protestation[46] was wrote by him, and delivered out of his own hands to the earl of Dunbar.

He was not more distinguished for zeal in the cause of Christ, than for piety and an exemplary life, which had a happy effect upon the people with whom he stood connected. He was in a very eminent degree blessed with the spirit and return of prayer; the following fact attested by old Mr. Row of Carnock, shews how much of the divine countenance he had in his duty:--His wife, Martha Baron, a woman of singular piety, fell sick, and, under her indisposition, was strongly assaulted by the common enemy of salvation; suggesting to her, that she should be delivered up to him, which soon brought her into a very distracted condition, and continued, for some time, increasing; she broke forth into very dreadful expressions:--She was in one of these fits of despair, one Sabbath morning, when Mr. Simpson was going to preach; he was exceedingly troubled at her condition, and went to prayer, which she took no notice of. After he had done, he turned to the company present, and said, That they who had been witnesses to that sad hour, should yet see a gracious work of God on her, and that the devil's malice against that poor woman, should have a shameful foil. Her distraction continued for some days after. On a Tuesday morning, about day-break, he went into his garden as private as possible, and one Helen Gardiner, wife to one of the baillies of the town, a godly woman, who had sate up that night with Mrs. Simpson, being concerned at the melancholy condition he was in, climbed over the garden wall, to observe him in this retirement, but, coming near the place where he was, she was terrified with a noise which she heard, as of the rushing of multitudes of people together, with a most melodious sound intermixed; she fell on her knees and prayed that the Lord would pardon her rashness, which her regard for his servant had caused. Afterwards, she went forward, and found him lying on the ground; she intreated him to tell her what had happened unto him, and, after many promises of secrecy, and an obligation, that she should not reveal it in his life-time, but, if she survived him, she should be at liberty, he then said, "O! what am I! being but dust and ashes! that holy ministring spirits should be sent with a message to me!" And then told her, That he had had a vision of angels, who gave him an audible answer from the Lord, respecting his wife's condition; and then, returning to the house, he said to the people who attended his wife, "Be of good comfort, for I am sure that ere ten hours of the day, that brand shall be plucked out of the fire." After which he went to prayer, at his wife's bed-side;--she continued for some time quiet, but, upon his mentioning Jacob wrestling with God, she sat up in the bed, drew the curtain aside, and said, "Thou art this day a Jacob, who hast wrestled and hast prevailed, and now God hath made good his word, which he spoke this morning to you, for I am pluckt out of the hands of Satan, and he shall have no power over me." This interruption made him silent for a little, but afterwards, with great melting of heart, he proceeded in prayer, and magnified the riches of grace towards him. From that hour she continued to utter nothing but the language of joy and comfort, until her death, which was on the Friday following, August 13th, 1601.

Mr. Simpson lived for several years after this, fervent and faithful in the work of the ministry. In the year 1608 when the bishops and some commissioners of the general assembly conveened in the palace of Falkland, the ministers assembled in the kirk of the town, and chose him for their moderator; After which they spent some time in prayer, and tasted some of the comfort of their former meetings. They then agreed upon some articles for concord and peace to be given into the bishops, &c.----This Mr. Simpson and some others did in the name of the rest, but the bishops shifted them off to the next assembly, and in the mean time, took all possible precautions to strengthen their own party, which they effected.

In 1610, the noblemen and bishops came to Stirling, after dissolving the assembly. In preaching before them, he openly charged the bishops with perjury and gross defection. They hesitated for some time, whether they should delate him, or compound the matter:--But, after deliberation, they dropt the affair altogether for the present.----There is no reason to doubt but he would have been subjected to the same sufferings with many others of his brethren, had he lived, but before the cope-stone was laid on prelacy in Scotland, he had entered into the joy of his Lord.----For, in the month of March 1618, which was about four months before the Perth assembly, when the five articles were agreed upon[47], he said that this month should put an end to all his troubles, and he accordingly died about the end of it, blessing the Lord, that he had not been perverted by the sinful courses of these times; and said, As the Lord had said to Elijah in the wilderness, so, in some respects he had dealt with him all the days of his life.

He wrote a history of the church, for the space of about ten centuries. There are some other little tracts, besides a history of the councils of the church, which are nearly out of print altogether. Upon some of his books he had written, "Remember, O my soul, and never forget the 9th of August, what consolation the Lord gave thee, and how he performed what he spake according to Zech. iii. 2, _Is not this a brand pluckt out of the fire?_" &c.

_The Life of Mr. ANDREW DUNCAN._

Mr. Duncan was settled minister at Crail, in the shire of Fyfe, and was afterwards summoned before the high commission court at St. Andrews, in the year 1619. on account of his faithfulness in opposing the five articles of Perth. At the first time of his compearance, he declined their authority; and at the second, he adhered to his former declinature, upon which the high commission court passed the sentence of deposition against him, and ordained him to enter himself in ward at Dundee. After the sentence was pronounced, he gave in a protestation, which was as follows, "Now, seeing I have done nothing of this business, whereof I have been accused by you, but have been serving Jesus Christ my master in rebuking vice, in simplicity and righteousness of heart. I protest (seeing ye have done me wrong) for a remedy at God's hand, the righteous Judge, and summon you before his dreadful judgment-seat, to be censured and punished for such unrighteous dealings, at such a time as his majesty shall think expedient, and, in the mean time decline this your judgment _simpliciter_ now as before, and appeal to the ordinary assembly of the church, for reasons before produced in write. Pity yourselves for the Lord's sake; lose not your own dear souls, I beseech you for Esau's pottage: Remember Balaam, who was cast away by the deceit of the wages of unrighteousness; forget not how miserable Judas was, who lost himself for a trifle of money, that never did him good. Better be pined to death by hunger, than for a little pittance of the earth, to perish for ever, and never be recovered, so long as the days of heaven shall last, and the years of eternity shall endure. Why should ye distress your own brethren, sons and servants of the Lord Jesus; this is not the doing of the shepherds of the flock of Christ: if ye will not regard your souls nor consciences, look I beseech you, to your fame, why will ye be miserable both in this life and in the life to come."

When the bishop of St. Andrews had read some few lines of this admonition, he cast it from him, the bishop of Dumblane took it up, and reading it, said he, calls them Esau's, Balaams and Judases "Not so, said Mr. Duncan, read again, beware that ye be not like them." In the space of a month after, he was deposed for non-conformity.

In the month of July 1621, he presented a large supplication, in name of himself, and some of his faithful brethren, who had been excluded the general assembly, to Sir George Hay clerk register, on which account he was in a few days after, apprehended by the captain of the guards, and brought before the council, who accused him for breaking ward, after he was suspended and confined to Dundee, because he had preached the week before at Crail. Mr. Duncan denied that he had been put to the horn; and as for breaking ward, he said, That, for the sake of obedience, he staid at Dundee, separated from a wife and six children for a half a year, and the winter approaching forced him to go home. In the end, he requested them not to imprison him on his own charges, but the sentence had been resolved on before he compeared. He was conveyed to Dumbarton castle next day (some say to Blackness castle); here he remained until the month of October thereafter, when he was again brought before the council, and by them was confined to Kilrinnie, upon his own charges; This was a parish neighbouring to his own.

Upon another occasion, of the same nature with this just now narrated, this worthy man was banished out of the kingdom, and went to settle at Berwick, but having several children, and his wife big with another, they were reduced to great hardships, being obliged to part with their servant, they had scarcely subsistence sufficient for themselves. One night in particular, the children asking for bread, and there being none to give them, they cried very sore; the mother was likewise much depressed in spirit, for Mr. Duncan had resource sometimes to prayer, and in the intervals endeavoured to cherish his wife's hope, and please the children, and at last got them to bed, but she continued to mourn heavily. He exhorted her to wait patiently upon God, who was now trying them, but would undoubtedly provide for them, and added, that if the Lord should rain down bread from heaven, they should not want. This confidence was the more remarkable, because they had neither friend nor acquaintance in that place to whom they could make their case known. And yet before morning, a man brought them a sackful of provision, and went off without telling them from whence it came, though entreated to do it. When Mr. Duncan opened the sack, he found in it a bag with twenty pounds Scots, two loaves of bread, a bag of flour, another of barley and such-like provisions; and having brought the whole to his wife, he said, "See what a good master I serve." After this she hired a servant again, but was soon reduced to a new extremity; the pains of child-bearing came upon her, before she could make any provision for her delivery, but providence interposed on their behalf at this time also: While she travailed in the night-season, and the good man knew not where to apply for a midwife, a gentlewoman came early in the morning riding to the door, and having sent her servant back with the horse, with orders when to return. She went in, and asked the maid of the house, How her mistress was, and desired access to her, which she obtained; she first ordered a good fire to be made, and ordered Mrs. Duncan to rise, and without any other assistance than the house afforded, she delivered her, and afterwards accommodated Mrs. Duncan and the child with abundance of very fine linen, which she had brought along with her. She gave her likewise a box, containing some necessary cordials and five pieces of gold, bidding them both be of good comfort, for they should not want. After which, she went away on the horse, which was by this time returned for her, but would not tell her name, nor from whence she came.

Thus did God take his own servant under his immediate care and providence, when men had wrongfully excluded him from enjoying his worldly comforts. He continued zealous and stedfast in the such, and, to the end of his life, his conduct was uniform with the circumstances of this narrative.

_The Life of Mr. JOHN SCRIMZEOR._

He was settled minister at Kinghorn, in the shire of Fyfe, and went as chaplain with King James in the year 1590, to Denmark, when he brought home his queen. He was afterwards concerned in several important affairs of the church, until that fatal year 1618, when the five articles of Perth were agreed on in an assembly held at that place. He attended at this assembly, and gave in some proposals[48], upon being (along with others of his faithful brethren) excluded from having a vote by the prevailing party of that assembly.

In 1620, he was with some others, summoned before the high commission-court, for not preaching upon holy days, and not administring the communion conform to the agreement at Perth, with certification if this was proven, that he should be deprived of exercising the functions of a minister in all time coming. But there being none present on the day appointed, except the bishops of St. Andrews, Glasgow and the isles, and Mr. Walter Whiteford, they were dismissed at that time; but were warned to compear again on the first of March. The bishops caused the clerk to exact their consent to deprivation, in case they did not compear against that day. Nevertheless, they all protested with one voice, That they would never willingly renounce their ministry, and such was the resolution and courage of Mr. Scrimzeor, that notwithstanding all the threatening of the bishops, he celebrated the communion conform to the antient practice of the church, a few days thereafter.

On the day appointed for their next compearance, the bishops of St. Andrews, Dunkeld, Galloway, the isles, Dumblain, Mr. Hewison commissary of Edinburgh, and Dr. Blair, being assembled in the bishop of St. Andrews lodging in Edinburgh, Mr. John Scrimzeor was again called upon to answer, and the bishop of St. Andrews alleged against him, that he had promised either to conform or quit his ministry, as the act at his last compearance on January 26th reported; he replied, "I am fore straitned, I never saw reason to conform; and as for my ministry, it was not mine and so I could not quit it." After long reasoning betwixt him and the bishops, concerning church policy and the keeping of holy days, he was removed for a little. Being called in again, the bishop of St. Andrews told him, "You are deprived of all function within the kirk, and ordained within six days to enter in ward at Dundee." "It is a very summary and peremptory sentence," said Mr. Scrimzeor, "ye might have been advised better, and first have heard what I would have said." "You shall be heard," said the bishop. This brought on some further reasoning, in the course of which Mr. Scrimzeor gave a faithful testimony against the king's supremacy over the church, and among other things said, "I have had opportunity to reason with the king himself on this subject, and have told him that Christ was the sovereign, and only director of his house; and that his majesty was subject to him. I have had occasion to tell other mens matters to the king, and could have truly claimed this great preferment." "I tell you Mr. John," said the bishop of St. Andrews, "that the king is pope, and shall be so now;" He replied, "That is an evil style you give him:" And then gave in his reasons in write, which they read at leisure. Afterwards the bishop of St. Andrews said to him, "Take up your reasons again, if you will not conform, I cannot help it; the king must be obeyed, the lords have given sentence and will stand to it." "Ye cannot deprive me of my ministry," said Mr. Scrimzeor, "I received it not from you; I received it from the whole synod of Fyfe, and, for any thing ye do, I will never think myself deposed." The bishop of St. Andrews replied, "You are deprived only of the present exercise of it."--Then he presented the following protestation, "I protest before the Lord Jesus, that I get manifest wrong; my reasons and allegations are not considered and answered. I attest you to answer at his glorious appearance, for this and such dealings, and protest that my cause should have been heard as I pled, and still plead and challenge. I likewise appeal to the Lord Jesus, his eternal word, to the king my dread sovereign, his law, to the constitution of this kirk and kingdom, to the councils and assemblies of both, and protest that I stand minister of the evangel, and only by violence I am thrust from the same." "You must obey the sentence," said the bishop of St. Andrews; he answered, "That Dundee was far off, and he was not able for far journeys, as physicians can witness." And he added, "Little know ye what is in my purse." "Then where will you choose the place of your confinement," said the bishop: He answered, "At a little room of my own called Bowhill, in the parish of Auchterderran." Then said the bishop, "Write, At Bowhill, during the king's pleasure." Thus this worthy servant of Christ lived the rest of his days in Auchterderran. In his old age he was grievously afflicted with the stone. He said to a godly minister, who went to see him a little before his death, "I have been a rude stunkard all my life, and now by this pain the Lord is humbling me to make me as a lamb, before he take me to himself."

He was a man somewhat rude-like in his clothing, and in some of his expressions and behaviour; and yet was a very loving tender hearted man; of a deep natural judgment; and very learned, especially in Hebrew. He often wished that most part of books were burnt, except the bible, and some short notes thereon. He had a peculiar talent for comforting the dejected. He used a very familiar but pressing manner of preaching. He was also an eminent wrestler with God, and had more than ordinary power and familiarity with him, as appears from the following instances.

When he was minister at Kinghorn, there was a certain godly woman under his charge, who fell sick of a very lingering disease, and was all the while assaulted with strong temptations, leading her to think that she was a cast-away, notwithstanding that her whole conversation had put the reality of grace in her beyond a doubt. He often visited her while in this deep exercise, but her trouble and terrors still remained; as her dissolution drew on, her spiritual trouble increased. He went with two of his elders to her, and began first, in their presence, to comfort her and pray with her, but she still grew worse: He ordered his elders to pray, and afterwards prayed himself, but no relief came. Then sitting pensive for a little space, he thus broke silence, "What is this! Our laying grounds of comfort before her will not do; prayer will not do: We must try another remedy. Sure I am, this is a daughter of Abraham; sure I am, she hath sent for me, and therefore, in the name of God, the Father of our Lord Jesus, who sent him to redeem sinners; in the name of Jesus Christ, who obeyed the Father, and came to save us; and in the name of the Holy and blessed Spirit, our Quickner and Sanctifier--I, the elder, command thee, a daughter of Abraham, to be loosed from these bonds." And immediately peace and joy ensued.

Mr. Scrimzeor had several friends and children taken away by death, and his only daughter who, at that time survived (and whom he dearly loved), being seized with the king's evil, by which she was reduced to the very point of death, so that he was called up to see her die; and finding her in this condition, he went out to the fields (as he himself told) in the night-time, in great grief and anxiety, and began to expostulate with the Lord, with such expressions as, for all the world, he durst not again utter. In a fit of displeasure he said, "Thou, O Lord, knowest that I have been serving thee in the uprightness of my heart, according to my power and measure, nor have I stood in awe to declare thy mind even unto the greatest in the time, and thou seest that I take pleasure in this child. O that I could obtain such a thing at thy hand, as to spare her." And being in great agony of spirit, at last it was said to him from the Lord, "I have heard thee at this time, but use not the like boldness in time coming, for such particulars." When he came home the child was recovered, and, sitting up in the bed, took some meat, and when he looked at her arm it was perfectly whole.

_The Life of Mr. JOHN WELCH._

Mr. John Welch was born a gentleman, his father being laird of Colieston (an estate rather competent than large, in the shire of Nithsdale), about the year 1570, the dawning of our reformation being then but dark. He was a rich example of grace and mercy, but the night went before the day, being a most hopeless extravagant boy: It was not enough to him, frequently when he was a young stripling to run away from the school, and play the truant; but, after he had past his grammar, and was come to be a youth, he left the school, and his father's house, and went and joined himself to the thieves on the English border, who lived by robbing the two nations, and amongst them he stayed till he spent a suit of clothes. Then when he was clothed only with rags, the prodigal's misery brought him to the prodigal's resolution, so he resolved to return to his father's house, but durst not adventure, till he should enterpose a reconciler. In his return homeward, he took Dumfries in his way, where he had an aunt, one Agnes Forsyth, and with her he spent some days, earnestly intreating her to reconcile him to his father. While he lurked in her house, his father came providentially to the house to visit his cousin Mrs. Forsyth; and after they had talked a while, she asked him, Whether ever he had heard any news of his son John; to her he replied with great grief, O cruel woman, how can you name him to me? The first news I expect to hear of him, is, That he is hanged for a thief. She answered, Many a profligate boy had become a virtuous man, and comforted him. He insisted upon his sad complaint, but asked, Whether she knew his lost son was yet alive. She answered, Yes, he was, and she hoped he should prove a better man than he was a boy, and with that she called upon him to come to his father. He came weeping, and kneeled, beseeching his father, for Christ's sake, to pardon his misbehaviour, and deeply engaged to be a new man. His father reproached him and threatened him. Yet at length, by his tears, and Mrs. Forsyth's importunities, he was persuaded to a reconciliation. The boy entreated his father to send him to the college, and there to try his behaviour, and if ever thereafter he should break, he said, He should be content his father should disclaim him for ever: So his father carried him home, and put him to the college, and there he became a diligent student, of great expectation, and shewed himself a sincere convert; and so he proceeded to the ministry. His first settlement was at Selkirk, while he was yet very young, and the country rude. While he was there, his ministry was rather admired by some, than received by many; for he was always attended by the prophet's shadow, the hatred of the wicked; yea, even the ministers of that country, were more ready to pick a quarrel with his person, than to follow his doctrine, as may appear to this day in their synodal records, where we find he had many to censure him, and only some to defend him; yet it was thought his ministry in that place was not without fruit, though he stayed but short time there. Being a young man unmarried, he boarded himself in the house of one Mitchelhill, and took a young boy of his to be his bedfellow, who to his dying day retained both a respect to Mr. Welch and his ministry, from the impressions Mr. Welch's behaviour made upon his apprehension, though but a child. His custom was when he went to bed at night, to lay a Scots plaid above his bed-clothes, and when he went to his night-prayers, to sit up and cover himself negligently therewith, and so to continue. For from the beginning of his ministry to his death, he reckoned the day ill spent if he stayed not seven or eight hours in prayer; and this the boy did not forget even to old age.

An old man of the name of Ewart in Selkirk, who remembered Mr. Welch's being in that place said, He was a type of Christ; an expression more significant than proper, for his meaning was, That he was an example that imitated Christ, as indeed in many things he did: He also said, That his custom was to preach publicly once every day, and to spend his whole time in spiritual exercises, that some in that place waited well upon his ministry with great tenderness, but that he was constrained to leave that place, because of the malice of the wicked.

The special cause of his departure was, a prophane gentleman in the country (one Scot of Headschaw, whose family is now extinct), because Mr. Welch had either reproved him, or merely from hatred, Mr. Welch was most unworthily abused by the unhappy man, and among the rest of the injuries he did him, this was one:--Mr. Welch kept always two good horses for his own use, and the wicked gentleman, when he could do no more, either with his own hand, or by his servants, cut off the rumps of the two innocent beasts, upon which they both died. Such base usage as this persuaded him to listen to a call to the ministry at Kirkcudbright, which was his next post.

But when he was to leave Selkirk, he could not find a man in all the town to transport his furniture, except only Ewart, who was at that time a poor young man, but master of two horses, with which he transported Mr. Welch's goods, and so left him; but as he took his leave, Mr. Welch gave him his blessing, and a piece of gold for a token, exhorting him to fear God, and promised he should never want, which promise, providence made good through the whole course of the man's life, as was observed by all his neighbours.

At Kirkcudbright he stayed not long; but there he reaped a harvest of converts, which subsisted long after his departure, and were a part of Mr. Samuel Rutherford's flock, though not his parish, while he was minister at Anwoth. Yet when his call to Ayr came to him, the people of the parish of Kirkcudbright never offered to detain him, so his transportation to Ayr was the more easy.

While he was at Kirkcudbright, he met with a young man in scarlet and silver lace (the gentleman's name was Mr. Robert Glendining) new come home from his travels, he much surprised the young man by telling him, he behoved to change his garb, and way of life, and betake himself to the study of the scriptures, which at that time was not his business, for he should be his successor in the ministry at Kirkcudbright, which accordingly came to pass sometime thereafter.

Mr. Welch was transported to Ayr in the year 1590, and there he continued till he was banished, there he had a very hard beginning, but a very sweet end; for when he came first to the town, the country was so wicked and the hatred of godliness so great, that there could not one in all the town be found, who would let him a house to dwell in, so he was constrained to accommodate himself the best he might, in a part of a gentleman's house for a time; the gentleman's name was John Stuart merchant, and sometime provost of Ayr, an eminent Christian, and great assistant of Mr. Welch.

And when he had first taken up his residence in that town, the place was so divided into factions, and filled with bloody conflicts, a man could hardly walk the streets with safety; wherefore Mr. Welch made it his first undertaking to remove the bloody quarrelings, but he found it a very difficult work; yet such was his earnestness to pursue his design, that many times he would rush betwixt two parties of men fighting, even in the midst of blood and wounds. He used to cover his head with a head-piece before he went to separate these bloody enemies, but would never use a sword, that they might see he came for peace and not for war, and so, by little and little, he made the town a peaceable habitation.

His manner was, after he had ended a skirmish amongst his neighbours, and reconciled these bitter enemies, to cause cover a table upon the street, and there brought the enemies together, and beginning with prayer he persuaded them to profess themselves friends, then to eat and drink together, then last of all he ended the work with singing a psalm: For after the rude people began to observe his example, and listen to his heavenly doctrine, he came quickly to that respect amongst them, that he became not only a necessary counsellor, without whose council they would do nothing, but an example to imitate.

He gave himself wholly to ministerial exercises, he preached once every day, he prayed the third part of his time, was unwearied in his studies, and for a proof of this, it was found among his papers, that he had abridged Suarez's metaphysics when they came first to his hand, even when he was well stricken in years. By all which it appears, that he has not only been a man of great diligence, but also of a strong and robust natural constitution, otherwise he had never endured the fatigue.

Sometimes, before he went to sermon, he would send for his elders and tell them, he was afraid to go to pulpit; because he found himself sore deserted: and thereafter desire one or more of them to pray, and then he would venture to pulpit. But, it was observed, this humbling exercise used ordinarily to be followed with a flame of extraordinary assistance: So near neighbours are many times contrary dispositions and frames. He would many times retire to the church of Ayr, which was at some distance from the town, and there spend the whole night in prayer; for he used to allow his affections full expression, and prayed not only with audible, but sometimes a loud voice.

There was in Ayr before he came to it, an aged man, a minister of the town, called Porterfield, the man was judged no bad man, for his personal inclinations, but so easy a disposition, that he used many times to go too great a length with his neighbours in many dangerous practices; and amongst the rest, he used to go to the bow-butts and archery, on the sabbath afternoon, to Mr. Welch's great dissatisfaction. But the way he used to reclaim him was not bitter severity, but this gentle policy; Mr. Welch together with John Stuart, and Hugh Kennedy, his two intimate friends, used to spend the sabbath afternoon in religious conference and prayer, and to this exercise they invited Mr. Porterfield, which he could not refuse, by which means he was not only diverted from his former sinful practice, but likewise brought to a more watchful and edifying behaviour in his course of life.

While Mr. Welch was at Ayr, the Lord's day was greatly profaned at a gentleman's house about eight miles distance from Ayr, by reason of great confluence of people playing at the foot-ball, and other pastime. After writing several times to him to suppress the profanation of the Lord's day at his house, (which he slighted, not loving to be called a puritan) Mr. Welch came one day to his gate and calling him out to tell him, that he had a message from God to shew him, that because he had slighted the advice given him from the Lord, and would not restrain the profanation of the Lord's day committed in his bounds; therefore the Lord would cast him out of his house, and none of his posterity should enjoy it: which accordingly came to pass; for although he was in a good external situation at this time; yet henceforth all things went against him until he was obliged to sell his estate; and when giving the purchaser possession thereof, he told his wife and children that he had found Mr. Welch a true prophet[49].

He married Elizabeth Knox, daughter to the famous Mr. John Knox minister at Edinburgh, and she lived with him from his youth till his death. By her he had three sons[50].

As the duty wherein Mr. Welch abounded and excelled most in his prayer, so his greatest attainments fell that way. He used to say, He wondered how a Christian could ly in bed all night, and not rise to pray, and many times he rose, and many times he watched. One night he rose from his wife, and went into the next room, where he staid so long at secret prayer, that his wife, fearing he might catch cold, was constrained to rise and follow him, and, as she hearkened, she heard him speak as by interrupted sentences, Lord, wilt thou not grant me Scotland, and after a pause, Enough, Lord, enough; and so she returned to her bed, and he following her, not knowing she had heard him, but when he was by her, she asked him, What he meant by saying, Enough, Lord, enough? he shewed himself dissatisfied with her curiosity, but told her, He had been wrestling with the Lord for Scotland, and found there was a sad time at hand, but that the Lord would be gracious to a remnant. This was about the time when bishops first overspread the land, and corrupted the church. This is more wonderful still, An honest minister, who was a parishioner of Mr. Welch many a day, said, "That one night as he watched in his garden very late, and some friends waiting upon him in his house, and wearying because of his long stay, one of them chanced to open a window toward the place where he walked, and saw clearly a strange light surround him, and heard him speak strange words about his spiritual joy." But though Mr. Welch had upon the account of his holiness, abilities and success, acquired among his subdued people, a very great respect, yet was he never in such admiration, as after the great plague which raged in Scotland in his time.

And one cause was this: The magistrates of Ayr, forasmuch as this town alone was free, and the country about infected, thought fit to guard the ports with centinels and watchmen; and one day two travelling merchants, each with a pack of cloth upon a horse, came to the town desiring entrance that they might sell their goods, producing a pass from the magistrates of the town from whence they came, which was at that time sound and free; yet notwithstanding all this, the centinels stopt them till the magistrates were called, and when they came they would do nothing without their minister's advice; so Mr. Welch was called, and his opinion asked: He demurred, and putting off his hat, with his eyes towards heaven for a pretty space, though he uttered no audible words, yet continued in a praying posture; and after a little space told the magistrates, They would do well to discharge these travellers their town, affirming, with great asseveration, the plague was in these packs, so the magistrates commanded them to be gone, and they went to Cumnock, a town about twenty miles distant, and there sold their goods, which kindled such an infection in that place, that the living were hardly able to bury their dead. This made the people begin to think of Mr. Welch as an oracle: Yet, as he walked with God, and kept close with him, so he forgot not man, for he used frequently to dine abroad with such of his friends as he thought were persons with whom he might maintain the communion of the saints; and once in the year, he used always to invite all his familiar acquaintances in the town, to a treat in his house, where there was a banquet of holiness and sobriety.

He continued the course of his ministry in Ayr, till king James's purpose of destroying the church of Scotland, by establishing bishops was ripe, and then it became his duty to edify the church by his sufferings, as formerly he had done by his doctrine.

The reason why king James was so violent for bishops, was neither their divine institution, which he denied they had, nor yet the profit the church should reap by them, for he knew well both the men and their communications, but merely because he believed they were useful instruments to turn a limited monarchy into absolute dominion, and subjects into slaves; the design in the world he minded most.

Always in the pursuit of his design, he followed this method; in the first place, he resolved to destroy general assemblies, knowing well that so long as assemblies might convene in freedom, bishops could never get their designed authority in Scotland; and the dissolution of assemblies he brought about in this manner.

The general assembly at Holyrood-house, _anno_ 1602, with the king's consent, indict their next meeting to be kept at Aberdeen, the last tuesday of July _anno_ 1604, and before that day came, the king by his commissioner the laird of Laureston, and Mr. Patrick Galloway moderator of the last general assembly, in a letter directed to the several presbyteries, prorogued the meeting till the first tuesday of July 1605, at the same place; last of all, in June 1605, the expected meeting to have been kept in July following, is by a new letter from the king's commissioner, and the commissioners of the general assembly, absolutely discharged and prohibited, but without naming any day or place, for any other assembly; and so the series of our assemblies expired, never to revive again in due form, till the covenant was renewed _anno_ 1638. However, many of the godly ministers of Scotland, knowing well, if once the hedge of the government was broken, the corruption of the doctrine would soon follow, resolved not to quit their assemblies so. And therefore a number of them convened at Aberdeen, upon the first tuesday of July 1605, being the last day that was distinctly appointed by authority; and when they had met, did no more but constitute themselves and dissolve. Amongst those was Mr. Welch, who, though he had not been present upon that precise day, yet because he came to the place, and approved what his brethren had done, he was accused as guilty of the treasonable fact committed by them. So dangerous a point was the name of a general assembly in king James's jealous judgment.

Within a month after this meeting, many of these godly men were incarcerate, some in one prison, some in another. Mr. Welch was sent first to Edinburgh tolbooth, and then to Blackness; and so from prison to prison, till he was banished to France, never to see Scotland again.

And now the scene of his life begins to alter; but, before his sufferings, he had this strange warning.

After the meeting at Aberdeen was over, he retired immediately to Ayr; and one night he rose from his wife, and went into his garden, as his custom was, but stayed longer than ordinary, which troubled his wife, who, when he returned, expostulated with him very hard for his staying so long to wrong his health; he bid her be quiet, for it should be well with them. But he knew well, he should never preach more at Ayr; and accordingly, before the next sabbath, he was carried prisoner to Blackness castle. After that, he, with many others, who had met at Aberdeen, were brought before the council of Scotland at Edinburgh, to answer for their rebellion and contempt, in holding a general assembly, not authorized by the king. And because they declined the secret council, as judges competent in causes purely spiritual, such as the nature and constitution of a general assembly is, they were first remitted to the prison at Blackness, and other places, and thereafter, six of the most considerable of them, were brought under night from Blackness to Linlithgow before the criminal judges, to answer an accusation of high treason at the instance of Sir Thomas Hamilton the king's advocate, for declining, as he alleged, the king's lawful authority, in refusing to admit the council judges competent in the cause of the nature of church judicatories; and, after their accusation and answer was read, by the verdict of a jury of very considerable gentlemen, they were condemned as guilty of high treason, the punishment deferred till the king's pleasure should be known; and thereafter their punishment was made banishment, that the cruel sentence might somewhat seem to soften their severe punishment, as the king had contrived it.

While he was in Blackness, he wrote his famous letter to Lilias Graham countess of Wigton; in which he utters, in the strongest terms, his consolation in suffering; his desire to be dissolved, that he might be with the Lord; the judgments he foresaw coming upon Scotland, &c. He also seems most positively to shew the true cause of their sufferings, and state of the testimony in these words:

"Who am I, that he should first have called me, and then constituted me a minister of the glad tidings of the gospel of salvation these years already, and now last of all to be a sufferer for his cause and kingdom. Now, let it be so, that I have fought my fight, and run my race, and now from henceforth is laid up for me that crown of righteousness, which the Lord that righteous God will give, and not to me only, but to all that love his appearance, and choose to witness this, that Jesus Christ is the king of saints, and that his church is a most free kingdom, yea as free as any kingdom under heaven, not only to convocate, hold, and keep her meetings, and conventions and assemblies; but also to judge of all her affairs, in all her meetings and conventions amongst her members and subjects. These two points, 1. That Christ is the head of his church. 2. That she is free in her government, from all other jurisdiction except Christ's: These two points, I say, are the special cause of our imprisonment; being now convict as traitors for the maintaining thereof. We have been ever waiting with joyfulness to give the last testimony of our blood in confirmation thereof, if it should please our God to be so favourable as to honour us with that dignity; yea, I do affirm, that these two points above-written, and all other things which belong to Christ's crown, sceptre and kingdom, are not subject, nor cannot be, to any other authority, but to his own altogether. So that I would be most glad to be offered up as a sacrifice for so glorious a truth: It would be to me the most glorious day, and the gladdest hour I ever saw in this life; but I am in his hand to do with me whatsoever shall please his Majesty.

"I am also bound and sworn, by a special covenant, to maintain the doctrine and discipline thereof, according to my vocation and power all the days of my life, under all the pains contained in the book of God, and danger of body and soul, in the day of God's fearful judgment; and therefore, though I should perish in the cause, yet will I speak for it, and to my power defend it, according to my vocation."

He wrote about the same time to Sir William Livingston of Kilsyth: There are some prophetical expressions in this letter that merit notice.

"As for that instrument Spotswood, we are sure the the Lord will never bless that man, but a malediction lies upon him, and shall accompany all his doings; and it may be, Sir, your eyes shall see as great confusion covering him, ere he go to his grave, as ever did his predecessors. Now surely, Sir, I am far from bitterness, but here I denounce the wrath of an everlasting God against him, which assuredly shall fall, except it be prevented. Sir, Dagon shall not stand before the ark of the Lord, and these names of blasphemy that he wears of arch and lord bishop, will have a fearful end. Not one book is to be given to Haman, suppose he were as great a courtier as ever he was; suppose the decree was given out, and sealed with the king's ring, deliverance will come to us elsewhere, and not by him, who has been so sore an instrument, not against our persons, that were nothing, (for I protest to you, Sir, in the sight of God, I forgive him all the evil he has done, or can do, to me) but unto Christ's poor kirk, in stamping under foot so glorious a kingdom and beauty as was once in this land; he has helped to cut Sampson's hair, and to expose him to mocking, but the Lord will not be mocked: He shall be cast away as a stone out of a sling, his name shall rot, and a malediction shall fall upon his posterity after he is gone. Let this, Sir, be a monument of it, that it was told before, that when it shall come to pass, it may be seen there was warning given him: And therefore, Sir, seeing I have not the access myself, if it would please God to move you, I wish you would deliver this hand-message to him, not as from me, but from the Lord."

The man of whom he complains, and threatens so sore, was bishop Spotswood, at that time designed arch-bishop of Glasgow; and this prophecy was punctually accomplished, though after the space of forty years: For, first the bishop himself died in a strange land, and, as many say, in misery; next his son Robert Spotswood, sometime president of the session, was beheaded by the parliament of Scotland, at the market-cross of St. Andrews, in the winter after the battle of Philiphaugh, to which many thousands witnessed, and as soon as ever he came upon the scaffold, Mr. Blair, the minister of the town, told him, That now Mr. Welch's prophecy was fulfilled upon him; to which he replied in anger, That Mr. Welch and he were both false prophets.

But before he left Scotland, some remarkable passages in his behaviour are to be remembered. And first, when the dispute about church-government began to warm, as he was walking upon the street of Edinburgh, betwixt two honest citizens he told them, They had in their town two great ministers, who were no great friends to Christ's cause presently in controversy, but it should be seen, the world should never hear of their repentance. The two men were Mr. Patrick Galloway and Mr. John Hall; and accordingly it came to pass, for Mr. Patrick Galloway died easing himself upon a stool; and Mr. John Hall, being at that time in Leith, and his servant woman having left him alone in his house while she went to the market, he was found dead at her return.

He was sometime prisoner in Edinburgh castle before he went into exile, where one night sitting at supper with the Lord Ochiltry, who was uncle to Mr. Welch's wife, as his manner was, he entertained the company with godly and edifying discourse, which was well received by all the company, except a debauched popish young gentleman, who sometimes laughed, and sometimes mocked and made wry faces; whereupon Mr. Welch 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 the profane wretch sunk down and died beneath the table, to great astonishment of all the company.