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"Commit wholly the management of all matters to God, and make it your entire study, night and day, to keep your very garments clean it is hard in times of so general corruptions not to be defiled one way or other; be free of the sins as ye would be of the judgments, which will certainly be such as will make all the churches know, that God is the searcher of the hearts, and trier of the reins,' Rev. ii. 23. and so will not be mocked by these pretences, whereby men colour their going along in an evil course, from the real love that they have to a present world. If simple presence amongst them who are esteemed rebels by men, be sufficient to engage them in the crime and punishment, (for that is all the ground of my condemnation,) shall not God be much more zealous of his own glory, against all who so much as seem to go along with this course of backsliding.

"As a good mean and encouragement, to all the duties of our time, labour to be rooted and grounded in the love of Jesus Christ; this will be tender of any thing, that may have the least reflection upon him, his words or works, and will prompt the soul to zealous appearing for him at the greatest hazard, and to as much willingness to die for him, as to live that they may glorify him. And for the en

couragement of you all in this matter, I do declare, that ever since the day of my coming into prison, God hath kept my soul free from all amazement or fear of death; that since my indictment and sentence, God hath so manifested himself at several times, that he hath lifted up my soul above prelates, principalities, and powers, death, and hell, to rejoice and be glad in his salvation; and from my soul to account him worthy, for whom, in this his cause, I should undergo the greatest shame or pain; and to the assured hopes of eternal communion with him in heaven: and that nothing hath more brangled my peace, than shifting an open and free testimony before my examinators, to the work that I was engaged in.

"I do freely pardon all that have accession to my blood, and wish that it be not laid to the charge of this sinful land, but that God would grant repentance to our rulers, that they may obtain the same reconciliation with him, whereof I myself do partake. Truly, I believe many of them, if not instigated by the cruel prelates, (at whose door our blood doth principally lie) would have used more mitigation: but that reluctancy of mind to shed blood, will be so far from vindicating of them, that, upon the contrary, it will be a witness against them in the day of the Lord.

"I heartily submit myself to death, as that which God bath appointed to all men because of sin, and to this particular way of it, as deserved by my particular sins. I praise God for this fatherly chastisement, whereby he hath made me in part, and will make me perfectly partaker of his holiness. I glorify him that called me forth to suffer for his name and ordinances, and the solemn engagements of the land to him, and that he hath taken this way to take me away from the evil to come. The Lord bless all his poor afflicted groaning people that are behind.

"Hereafter, I will not talk with flesh and blood, nor think on the world's consolations: farewell all my friends, whose company hath

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been refreshful to me in my pilgrimage; I have done with the light of the sun and moon. Welcome eternal life, everlasting love, everlasting praise, everlasting glory! Praise to him that sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb for ever! Though I have not been so with thee as I ought to have been in the house of my pilgrimage, yet thou hast made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure: and this is all my salvation, and all my desire.' Bless the Lord, O my soul! that hath pardoned all mine iniquities in the blood of his Son, and healed all my diseases! 'Bless him, O all ye his angels that excel in strength, ye ministers that do his pleasure! Bless the Lord, O my soul !' Hallelujah!

66

Edinburgh Tolbooth,
Dec. 22d, 1666."

Sic Sub.-HUGH M'KAIL."*

3. HIS LAST WORDS.

Having done speaking to the people, who heard him with great attention, he sung a part of the 31st Psalm, and then prayed with such power and fervency, as forced many to weep bitterly. Having ended, he gave his cloak and hat from him; and when he turned himself, and took hold of the ladder to go up, he said with an audible voice, “I care no more to go up this ladder, and over it, than if I were going home to my father's house:" and as he went up, hearing a great noise amongst the people, he called down to his fellow-sufferers, saying, "Friends and fellow-sufferers, be not afraid, every step of this ladder is a degree nearer heaven." Then having seated himself thereon, he said, "I do partly believe, that the nobles, counsellors, and rulers of the land, would have used some mitigation of this punishment, had they not been instigated by the prelates; so our blood lies principally at the prelates' door. But this is my comfort now, that I know my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth, and though after my skin, worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God, whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold', pointing to his eyes, ⚫ and not another, though my reins be consumed in me.' And now I do willingly lay down my life for the truth and cause of God, the covenant, and work of reformation, which were once counted the glory of this nation. And it is for endeavouring to defend this, and to extirpate that bitter root of prelacy, that I embrace this rope," (the executioner putting the rope about his neck.) Then hearing the people weep, he said, "Your work is not to weep, but to pray that we may be honourably borne through; and blessed be the Lord, that supports me: now, as I have been beholden to the prayers and kindness of many since my imprisonment and sentence, so I hope you will not be wanting to me now, in this last step of my journey, that I may witness a good confession: and that you may know the ground of my encouragement in this work, and what my hope is, I will read to you the last chapter of the Bible:" and having read it, he said, "Here you see the glory that is to be revealed upon me,

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pure river of water of life, and so forth (reading the passage) 'where the throne of God is, and the Lamb is in it, where his servants serve him and see his face, and his name is in their foreheads, and the Lord God giveth them light, and they shall reign for ever and ever;' and here you see my access to my glory and reward. 'Let him that is athirst come, and whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely.' And here you see also my welcome, The Spirit and the bride say, Come.'" Then he said, "I have one word more to say to my friends, (looking down to the scaffold) Where are you? You need neither lament me nor be ashamed of me in this condition, for I may make use of that expression of Christ, I go to your Father and my Father, to your God and my God, to your King and my King, to the blessed apostles and martyrs, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the first-born, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant;' and so I bid you all farewell: for God will be more comfortable to you than I could be; and he will also now be more refreshing to me than you can be: farewell, farewell in the Lord!" Then the napkin being put on his face, he prayed a space within himself, after which he put up the cloth from his face, with his own hand, and said, "He had one word more to say, and that was to show them the comfort he had in his death," saying, "I hope you perceive no alteration or discouragement in my countenance and carriage, and as it may be your wonder, so I profess it as a wonder to myself, and I will tell you the reason of it: besides the justness of my cause, this is my comfort, which was said of Lazarus when he died, that the angels did carry his soul into Abraham's bosom;' so, that as there is a great solemnity here, of a confluence of people, a scaffold, a gallows, and people looking out of windows; so is there a greater and more solemn preparation in heaven of angels to carry my soul to Christ's bosom. Again, this is my comfort, that it is to come into Christ's hands, and he will present it blameless and faultless to the Father, and then shall I be ever with the Lord.' And now I leave off to speak any more to creatures, and turn my speech to thee, O Lord! and now I 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 Lord Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant; welcome blessed Spirit of grace, and God of all consolation; welcome glory; welcome eternal life; welcome death." Then he desired the executioner not to turn him over, until he should himself put over his shoulders, which, after praying a little within himself, he did, saying, "O Lord, into thy hands I commit my spirit: for thou hast redeemed my soul, Lord God of truth!" Thus in the 26th of bis year he died, as he lived, in the Lord.”

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• Naphtali, pp. 341–356.

XVII. JOHN WODROW.

[With respect to this person, who was imprisoned in the same room with Mr. M'Kail, and suffered along with him, very little information has come down to us. It appears he was a merchant in Glasgow, and had probably joined the insurgents during their progress through Ayrshire, or at Lanark. He seems at all events to have been cordial in the cause which they had in view to promote; and as has been observed, has expressed himself in regard to it with a degree of propriety and force not to be expected from his education or condition in life. His last words consist in a letter to his wife, written on December 22d, being the day of his death, and the testimony delivered by him upon the scaffold.]

1. HIS LETTER TO HIS WIFE.

"My heart,-Reverence the good providence of the Lord our God, who can do nothing wrong; for whatsoever he doth is well done, and my soul saith, Amen. I had not a will of my own, my heart, since that day wherein you and I parted, my Lord and my God captivated it, and brought it to a submission unto his will: I bless him for evermore for it, that I was never left to my own will: praise, O praise him all ye living and O thou, my soul, praise the Lord for it. I bless the Lord for evermore, that ever he visited my father's family, that ever he condescended to come unto my father's family, and to give a visit to the like of me he visited me there, and set his love upon me, and hath chosen me for this very end, to be a witness for his covenanted refor. mation. For this my soul is glad, and my glory rejoiceth for this honour, wherewith he hath honoured me; and that, though I be condemned to die by men on earth, yet am I justified of God through the blood of my Saviour Jesus Christ, who standeth in our nature in heaven, and hath made me free through his imputed righteousness, made over unto me, in which I stand for ever: and within a few hours I shall see him in peace, as I am seen of him, and behold and wonder, and wonder and behold for evermore, even that most glorious excellency which is in him! All that which is spoken of him is but little: O my heart, my dear love, come and see, I beseech you! I thought I had known something of my dearest Lord before, that I had some love from and to him before, but never was it so with me as it hath been with me since I came within the doors of this prison many a precious visit hath his gracious Majesty given unto me. He is without all comparison; O love, love him! O come to him: 0 taste and see, and that shall resolve the question best. The thing I

suffer for is the covenanted reformation. I bless God, and all that is within me doth bless and magnify his holy name for this, that Scotland did ever enter into a covenant with the Lord, into a sworn covenant, with the hand lifted up to the Lord: and I have now sworn and renewed this covenant again for myself, and you, and my four children, in all the parts and points thereof; and I pray, God help you to abide in the covenant for ever!

"And now I give you and my four children unto the Lord, and commit you to him as your covenanted God and Husband, and my children's covenanted Father. I say no more, but either study to be indeed a sincere Christian, and seeker of his face in sincerity, or else you will be nothing at all. I recommend you and your young ones to him who is God all-sufficient, and aboundeth in mercy and love to them that love him, and keep his covenant. The blessing of the covenant be upon you, so fare you well. So saith your loving and dying husband, JOHN WODROW."*

2. HIS SPEECH ON THE SCAFFOLD.

"Dear friends,—I am condemned to die. I shall say little concerning men who have judged and condemned me, they are to answer to God for it; but I bless the Lord, who hath counted me worthy to die for so good and honourable a cause. And that I be not mistaken after I am gone hence, I have thought fit to testify, that in singleness and sincerity of heart, I came into the service, not constrained, but from conscience of my being engaged by covenant to God, and with a full purpose to perform my vows made in that covenant unto the Lord, in the strength of Jesus Christ; and that I might endeavour to restore again the precious ordinances to their former purity and power, and to recover the fair church in this land (which our blessed Lord hath purchased to himself, and bought at so dear a rate) to her former beauty, which is now defaced: and particularly to bring down that antichristian prelacy, and that perjured crew of prelates, who have so perfidiously wronged the interests of our blessed Lord and Master, Jesus Christ. This is the only cause for which I undertook this service, and joined with others my dear and covenanted brethren; and that I had no intention to wrong the king's person or authority, but to seek his real good, according to my duty in the word of God, and also as I sware in the same covenant wherein I did swear against prelacy. And notwithstanding I be condemned of men as a rebel, yet I am justified of God, my God and Father, in and through my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who giveth me sweet peace of conscience and joy of heart: I grant it is not enough to justify me before him, that I had a just cause, unless likewise I had therewith the acceptation of my person through faith in the merits of Jesus Christ, who standeth in our nature in heaven, which I dare declare this day as a dying man, that I have obtained; for I am confident

• Naphtali, pp. 360-362.

Perhaps to some into whose hands this volume may fall, the statement here made may seem to require explanation. Let it then be observed, that it is in complete consistency with the acknowledged principles of revealed truth, to inculcate the necessity of the Mediator's righteousness towards the acceptance on the part of God, of even our best and most laudable actions. Hence says the apostle, "whatsoever is not of faith, is sin," thereby intimating, that, without faith in Christ, and the consequent acceptance of our persons in and through him, all our actions, however excellent in themselves, must be destitute of value in the sight of God.

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