,transcribed from the #ahid ,oliphant   
,anderson and ,ferrier edition by ,david
  ,price1 email ccx#jgd;coventry4ac4uk  
,,samuel ,,rutherford  ,,and ,,some ,,of
  ,,his ,,correspondents      ,,lectures
 ,,delivered ,,in  ,,st4 ,,george',s    
,,free ,,church  ,,edinburgh3 ,,by      
,,alexander ,,whyte1 ,d4,d4    ,,author 
,,of ',,bunyan ,,characters'  ,,etc4    
,,published ,,by  ,,oliphant ,,anderson 
,,and ,,ferrier    #cj ,,st4 ,,mary     
,,street1 ,,edinburgh1 ,,and  #bd ,,old 
,,bailey1 ,,london  #ahid          ,i4  
,,joshua ,,redivivus         ',he sent  
me as a spy to see the land and to try  
the ford4'     ,rutherford4    ,samuel  
,rutherford1 the author of the seraphic 
,letters1 was born in the  south of     
,scotland in the year of our ,lord      
#afjj4  ,thomas ,goodwin was born  in   
,england in the same year1 ,robert      
,leighton in #afaa1 ,richard ,baxter in 
#afae1 ,john ,owen in #afaf1 ,john      
,bunyan in #afbh1 and ,john ,howe in    
#afcj4  ,a  little vellum-covered volume

 now lies open before me1 the title-page
 of  which runs thus3--',joshua         
,redivivus1 or ,mr4 ,rutherford's       
,letters1 now  published for the use of 
the people of ,god3 but more            
particularly for  those who now are1 or 
may afterwards be1 put to suffering for 
,christ and  ,his cause4  ,by a         
well-wisher to the work and to the      
people of ,god4  ,printed in the year   
#affd4'  ,that is all4  ,it would not   
have been safe in  #affd to say more4   
,there is no editor's name on the       
title-page1 no  publisher's name1 and no
 place of printing or of publication4   
,only two  texts of forewarning and     
reassuring ,scripture1 and then the year
 of grace  #affd4    ,joshua ,redivivus3
 ,that is to say1 ,moses' spy and       
pioneer1 ,moses'  successor and the     
captain of the ,lord's covenanted host  
come back again4  ,a second ,joshua sent
 to ,scotland to go before ,god's people
 in that land  and in that day2 a spy   
who would both by his experience and by 

his  testimony cheer and encourage the  
suffering people of ,god4  ,for all this
  ,samuel ,rutherford truly was4  ,as he
 said of himself in one of his letters  
to ,hugh ,mackail1 he was indeed a spy  
sent out to make experiment upon the    
life of silence and separation1         
banishment and martyrdom1 and to bring  
back a report of that life for the      
vindication of ,christ and for the      
support and encouragement of ,his       
people4  ,it was a happy thought of     
,rutherford's first editor1 ,robert     
,m',ward1 his old ,westminster ,assembly
  secretary1 to put at the top of his   
title-page1 ,joshua risen again from    
the dead1 or1 ,mr4 ,rutherford's        
,letters written from his place of      
banishment in ,aberdeen4    ,in         
selecting his twelve spies1 ,moses went 
on the principle of choosing  the best  
and the ablest men he could lay hold of 
in all ,israel4  ,and in  selecting     
,samuel ,rutherford to be the first     
sufferer for ,his covenanted  people in 

,scotland1 our ,lord took a man who was 
already famous for his  character and   
his services4  ,for no man of his age in
 broad ,scotland  stood higher as a     
scholar1 a theologian1 a                
controversialist1 a preacher  and a very
 saint than ,samuel ,rutherford4  ,he   
had been settled at ,anwoth  on the     
,solway in #afbg1 and for the next nine 
years he had lived such a  noble life   
among his people as to make ,anwoth     
famous as long as ,jesus  ,christ has a 
,church in ,scotland4  ,as we say       
,bunyan and ,bedford1 ,baxter  and      
,kidderminster1 ,newton and ,olney1     
,edwards and ,northampton1 ,boston and  
,ettrick1 ,m',cheyne and ,st4 ,peter's1 
so we say ,rutherford and ,anwoth4      
,his talents1 his industry1 his         
scholarship1 his preaching power1 his   
pastoral solicitude and his saintly     
character all combined to make          
,rutherford a marked man both to the    
friends and to the enemies of the       
truth4  ,his talents and his industry   

while he was yet a student in           
,edinburgh had carried him to the top of
 his classes1 and all his days he  could
 write in ,latin better than either in  
,scotch or ,english4  ,his habits  of   
work at ,anwoth soon became a very      
proverb4  ,his people boasted that      
their minister was always at his books1 
always among his parishioners1  always  
at their sick-beds and their death-beds1
 always catechising their  children and 
always alone with his ,god4  ,and then  
the matchless preaching  of the parish  
church of ,anwoth4  ,we can gather what 
made the ,sabbaths of  ,anwoth so       
memorable both to ,rutherford and to his
 people from the books  we still have   
from those great ,sabbaths3 ,the ,trial 
and the ,triumph of  ,faith2 ,christ    
,dying and ,drawing ,sinners to         
,himself2 and such like4  ,rutherford   
was the 'most moving and the most       
affectionate of preachers1'  a preacher 
determined to know nothing but ,jesus   
,christ and ,him crucified1  but not so 

much crucified1 as crucified and risen  
again--crucified  indeed1 but now       
glorified4  ,rutherford's life for his  
people at ,anwoth  has something        
altogether superhuman and unearthly     
about it4  ,his  correspondents in his  
own day and his critics in our day      
stumble at his  too intense devotion to 
his charge2 he lived for his            
congregation1 they  tell us1 almost to  
the neglect of his wife and children4   
,but by the time  of his banishment his 
home was desolate1 his wife and children
 were in  the grave4  ,and all the time 
and thought and love they had got from  
him  while they were alive had1 now that
 they were dead1 returned with new and  
intensified devotion to his people and  
his parish4       ,fair ,anwoth by the  
,solway1        ,to me thou still art   
dear1     ,e'en from the verge of heaven
        ,i drop for thee a tear4        
,oh6 if one soul from ,anwoth           
,meet me at ,god's right hand1     ,my  
heaven will be two heavens        ,in   

,immanuel's ,land4    ,this then was the
 spy chosen by ,jesus ,christ to go out 
first of all the  ministers of ,scotland
 into the life of banishment in that    
day1 so as to  try its fords and taste  
its vineyards1 and to report to ,god's  
straitened  and persecuted people at    
home4    ,to begin with1 it must always 
be remembered that ,rutherford was not  
laid  in irons in ,aberdeen1 or cast    
into a dungeon4  ,he was simply deprived
 of  his pulpit and of his liberty to   
preach1 and was sentenced to live in    
silence in the town of ,aberdeen4  ,like
 ,dante1 another great spy of ,god's    
providence and grace1 ,rutherford was   
less a prisoner than an exile4  ,but  if
 any man thinks that simply to be an    
exile is a small punishment1 or a  light
 cross1 let him read the psalms and     
prophecies of ,babylon1 the  ,divine    
,comedy1 and ,rutherford's ,letters4    
,yes1 banishment was  banishment2 exile 
was exile2 silent ,sabbaths were silent 
,sabbaths2 and a  borrowed fireside with

 all its willing heat was still a       
borrowed  fireside2 and1 spite of all   
that the best people of ,aberdeen could 
do for  ,samuel ,rutherford1 he felt the
 friendliest stairs of that city to be  
very  steep to his feet1 and its best   
bread to be very salt in his mouth4     
,but1 with all that1 ,samuel ,rutherford
 would have been but a blind and        
unprofitable spy for the best people of 
,god in ,scotland1 for ,marion          
,m',naught1 and ,lady ,kenmure1 and     
,lady ,culross1 for the ,cardonesses1   
father1 and mother1 and son1 and for    
,hugh ,mackail1 and such like1 if he    
had tasted nothing more bitter than     
borrowed bread in ,aberdeen1 and        
climbed nothing steeper than a granite  
stair4  ',paul had need1'  ,rutherford  
writes to ,lady ,kenmure1 'of the       
devil's service to buffet him1  and far 
more1 you and me4'  ,i am downright     
afraid to go on to tell you  how ,satan 
was sent to buffet ,samuel ,rutherford  
in his banishment1 and how  he was      

sifted as wheat is sifted in his exile4 
,i would not expose such a  saint of    
,god to every eye1 but ,i look for      
fellow-worshippers here on  these       
,rutherford ,sabbath evenings1 who know 
something of the plague of  their own   
hearts1 and who are comforted in their  
banishment and battle by  nothing more  
than when they are assured that they are
 not alone in the  deep darkness4       
',when ,christian had travelled in this 
disconsolate  condition for some time he
 thought he heard the voice of a man as 
going  before him and saying1 ,though ,i
 walk through the ,valley of the ,shadow
  of ,death ,i will fear no ill1 for    
,thou art with me4  ,then he was glad1  
and that for these reasons3--,firstly1  
because he gathered from thence  that   
some one who feared ,god was in this    
valley as well as himself4  ,secondly1  
for that he perceived that ,god was with
 them though in that  dark and dismal   
state2 and why not1 thought he1 with me8
  ,thirdly1 for  that he hoped1 could he

 overtake them1 to have company by and  
by4'  ,and1  in like manner1 ,i am      
certain that it will encourage and save 
from despair  some who now hear me if ,i
 just report to them some of the        
discoveries and  experiences of himself 
that ,samuel ,rutherford made among the 
siftings and  buffetings of his         
,aberdeen exile4  ,writing to ,lady     
,culross1 he says3--',o  my guiltiness1 
the follies of my youth and the neglects
 of my calling1  they all do stare me in
 the face here2 4 4 4 the world hath    
sadly  mistaken me3 no man knoweth what 
guiltiness is in me4'  ,and to ,lady    
,boyd1  speaking of some great lessons  
he had learnt in the school of          
adversity1  he says1 ',in the third     
place1 ,i have seen here my abominable  
vileness1  and it is such that if ,i    
were well known no one in all the       
kingdom would  ask me how ,i do4 4 4 4  
,i am a deeper hypocrite and a shallower
 professor  than any one could believe4 
,madam1 pity me1 the chief of sinners4' 

,and1  again1 to the ,laird of ,carlton3
 ',woe1 woe is me1 that men should think
  there is anything in me4  ,the        
house-devils that keep me company and   
this  sink of corruption make me to     
carry low sails4 4 4 4 ,but1 howbeit ,i 
am a  wretched captive of sin1 yet my   
,lord can hew heaven out of worse timber
  than ,i am1 if worse there be4'  ,and 
to ,lady ,kenmure3 ',i am somebody in   
the books of my friends1 4 4 4 but there
 are armies of thoughts within  me1     
saying the contrary1 and laughing at the
 mistakes of my many friends4  ,oh6 if  
my inner side were only seen6'  ,ah no1 
my brethren1 no land is so  fearful to  
them that are sent to search it out as  
their own heart4  ',the  land1' said the
 ten spies1 'is a land that eateth up   
the inhabitants  thereof2 the cities are
 walled up to heaven1 and very great1   
and the  children of ,anak dwell in     
them4  ,we were in their sight as       
grasshoppers1  and so we were in our own
 sight4'  ,ah1 no6 no stair is so steep 

as the  stair of sanctification1 no     
bread is so salt as that which is baked 
for a  man of ,god out of the wild oats 
of his past sin and his present         
sinfulness4  ,even ,joshua and ,caleb1  
who brought back a good report of the   
land1 did not deny that the children of 
,anak were there1 or that their  walls  
went up to heaven1 or that they1 the    
spies1 were as grasshoppers  before     
their foes3 ,caleb and ,joshua only said
 that1 in spite of all that1  if the    
,lord delighted in ,his people1 ,he both
 could and would give them a  land      
flowing with milk and honey4  ,and be it
 recorded and remembered to  his credit 
and his praise that1 with all his       
self-discoveries and self-  accusings1  
,rutherford did not utter one single    
word of doubt or despair2  so far from  
that was he1 that in one of his letters 
to ,hugh ,m',kail he  tells us that some
 of his correspondents have written to  
him that he is  possibly too joyful     
under the cross4  ,blunt old ,knockbrex1

 for one1 wrote  to his old minister to 
restrain somewhat his ecstasy4  ,so true
 was it1  what ,rutherford said of      
himself to ,david ,dickson1 that he was 
'made up of  extremes4'  ,so he was1 for
 ,i know no man among all my masters in 
personal  religion who unites greater   
extremes in himself than ,samuel        
,rutherford4  ,who weeps like           
,rutherford over his banishment from    
,anwoth1 while all the  time who is so  
feasted in ,christ's palace in          
,aberdeen8  ,who loathes  himself like  
,rutherford8  ,not ,bunyan1 not ,brea1  
not ,boston2 and1 at the  same time1 who
 is so transported and lost to himself  
in the beauty and  sweetness of ,christ8
  ,as we read his raptures we almost say
 with cautious  old ,knockbrex1 that    
possibly ,rutherford is somewhat too    
full of ecstasy  for this fallen1 still 
unsanctified1 and still so slippery     
world4    ,it took two men to carry back
 the cluster of grapes the spies cut    
down at  ,eshcol1 and there is sweetness

 and strength and ecstasy enough for ten
  men in any one of ,rutherford's       
inebriated ,letters4  ',see what the    
land  is1 and whether it be fat or lean1
 and bring back of the fruits of the    
land4'  ,this was the order given by    
,moses to the twelve spies4  ,and1      
whether the land was fat or lean1 ,moses
 and all ,israel could judge for        
themselves when the spies laid down     
their load of grapes at ,moses' feet4   
',i can report nothing but good of the  
land1' said ,joshua ,redivivus1 as he   
sent back such clusters of its vineyards
 and such pots of its honey to  ,hugh   
,mackail1 to ,marion ,m',naught1 and to 
,lady ,kenmure4  ,and then1 when  all   
his letters were collected and          
published1 never surely1 since the      
,epistles of ,paul and the ,gospel of   
,john1 had such clusters of             
encouragement and such intoxicating     
cordials been laid to the lips of the   
,church of ,christ4    ,our old authors 
tell us that after the northern tribes  

had tasted the  warmth and the sweetness
 of the wines of ,italy they could take 
no rest  till they had conquered and    
taken possession of that land of        
sunshine  where such grapes so          
plentifully grew4  ,and how many hearts 
have been  carried captive with the     
beauty and the grace of ,christ1 and    
with the  land of ,immanuel1 where ,he  
drinks wine with the saints in ,his     
,father's  house1 by the reading of     
,samuel ,rutherford's ,letters1 the day 
of the ,lord  will alone declare4       
,oh6 ,christ ,he is the ,fountain1      
,the deep sweet ,well of love6     ,the 
streams on earth ,i've tasted1          
,more deep ,i'll drink above4     ,there
 to an ocean fulness        ,his mercy  
doth expand1     ,and glory1 glory      
dwelleth        ,in ,immanuel's ,land4  
,,ii4  ,,samuel ,,rutherford ,,and      
,,some ,,of ,,his ,,extremes         ',i
 am made of extremes4'--,rutherford4    
,a story is told in ,wodrow of an       
,english merchant who had occasion to   

visit ,scotland on business about the   
year #afej4  ,on his return home his    
friends asked him what news he had      
brought with him from the north4  ',good
  news1' he said2 'for when ,i went to  
,st4 ,andrews ,i heard a sweet1         
majestic-  looking man1 and he showed me
 the majesty of ,god4  ,after him ,i    
heard a  little fair man1 and he showed 
me the loveliness of ,christ4  ,i then  
went  to ,irvine1 where ,i heard a      
well-favoured1 proper old man with a    
long  beard1 and that man showed me all 
my own heart4'  ,the little fair man who
  showed this ,english merchant the     
loveliness of ,christ was ,samuel       
,rutherford1 and the proper old man who 
showed him all his own heart was  ,david
 ,dickson4  ,dr4 ,m',crie says of ,david
 ,dickson that he was singularly        
successful in dissecting the human heart
 and in winning souls to the  ,redeemer1
 and all that we know of ,dickson bears 
out that high estimate4  ,when he was   
presiding on one occasion at the        

ordination of a young  minister1 whom he
 had had some hand in bringing up1 among
 the advices the  old minister gave the 
new beginner were these3--,that he      
should remain  unmarried for four years1
 in order to give himself up wholly to  
his great  work2 and that both in       
preaching and in prayer he should be as 
succinct  as possible so as not to weary
 his hearers2 and1 lastly1 ',oh1 study  
,god  well and your own heart4'  ,we    
have five letters of ,rutherford's to   
this  master of the human heart1 and it 
is in the third of these that           
,rutherford opens his heart to his      
father in the ,gospel1 and tells him    
that he is made up of extremes4    ,in  
every way that was so4  ,it is a common 
remark with all ,rutherford's           
biographers and editors and commentators
 what extremes met in that little  fair 
man4  ,the finest thing that has ever   
been written on ,rutherford is  ,mr4    
,taylor ,innes's lecture in the         
,evangelical ,succession series4  ,and  

the  intellectual extremes that met in  
,rutherford are there set forth by      
,rutherford's acute and sympathetic     
critic at some length4  ,for one thing1 
the greatest speculative freedom and    
theological breadth met in  ,rutherford 
with the greatest ecclesiastical        
hardness and narrowness4  ,i  do not    
know any author of that day1 either in  
,england or in ,scotland1  either       
,prelatist or ,puritan1 who shows more  
imaginative freedom and  speculative    
power than ,rutherford does in his      
,christ ,dying1 unless it  is his still 
greater contemporary1 ,thomas ,goodwin4 
,and it is with  corresponding distress 
that we read some of ,rutherford's      
polemical works1  and even the polemical
 parts of his heavenly ,letters4  ,there
 is a  remarkable passage in one of his 
controversial books that reminds us of  
some of ,shakespeare's own tributes to  
,england3 ',i judge that in ,england    
the ,lord hath many names and a fair    
company that shall stand at the side  of

 ,christ when ,he shall render up the   
kingdom to the ,father2 and that in     
that renowned land there be men of all  
ranks1 wise1 valorous1 generous1  noble1
 heroic1 faithful1 religious1 gracious1 
learned4'  ,rutherford's  whole passage 
is worthy to stand beside ,shakespeare's
 great passage on  'this blessed plot1  
this earth1 this realm1 this ,england4' 
,but  persecution from ,england and     
controversy at home so embittered       
,rutherford's sweet and gracious spirit 
that passages like that are but  few and
 far between4  ,but let him away out    
into pure theology1 and1  especially1   
let him get his wings on the person1 and
 the work1 and the  glory of ,christ1   
and few theologians of any age or any   
school rise to a  larger air1 or command
 a wider scope1 or discover a clearer   
eye of  speculation than ,rutherford1   
till we feel exactly like the laird of  
,glanderston1 who1 when ,rutherford left
 a controversial passage in a  sermon   
and went on to speak of ,christ1 cried  

out in the church--',ay1 hold  you      
there1 minister2 you are all right      
there6'  ,a domestic controversy  that  
arose in the ,church of ,scotland       
towards the end of ,rutherford's life   
so separated ,rutherford from ,dickson  
and ,blair that ,rutherford would not   
take part with ,blair1 the 'sweet1      
majestic-looking man1' in the ,lord's   
,supper4  ',oh1 to be above1' ,blair    
exclaimed1 'where there are no          
misunderstandings6'  ,it was this same  
controversy that made ,john             
,livingstone say in a letter to ,blair  
that his wife and he had had more       
bitterness over that dispute than ever  
they had tasted since they knew  what   
bitterness meant4  ,well might          
,rutherford say1 on another such        
occasion1 ',it is hard when saints      
rejoice in the sufferings of saints1    
and when the redeemed hurt1 and go nigh 
to hate the redeemed4'  ,watch and      
pray1 my brethren1 lest in              
controversy--ephemeral and immaterial   

controversy--you also go near to hate   
and hurt one another1 as ,rutherford    
did4    ,and then1 what strength1       
combined with what tenderness1 there is 
in  ,rutherford6  ,in all my            
acquaintance with literature ,i do not  
know any  author who has two books under
 his name so unlike one another1 two    
books  that are such a contrast to one  
another1 as ,lex ,rex and the ,letters4 
,a more firmly built argument than ,lex 
,rex1 an argument so clamped  together  
with the iron bands of scholastic and   
legal lore1 is not to be  met with in   
any ,english book2 a more lawyer-looking
 production is not in  all the          
,advocates' ,library than just ,lex     
,rex4  ,there is as much emotion  in the
 multiplication table as there is in    
,lex ,rex2 and then1 on the  other hand1
 the ,letters have no other fault but   
this1 that they are  overcharged with   
emotion4  ,the ,letters would be        
absolutely perfect if  they were only a 
little more restrained and chastened in 

this one  respect4  ,the pundit and the 
poet are the opposites and the extremes 
of  one another2 and the pundit and the 
poet meet1 as nowhere else that ,i  know
 of1 in the author of ,lex ,rex and the 
,letters4    ,then1 again1 what extremes
 of beauty and sweetness there are in   
,rutherford's style1 too often          
intermingled with what carelessness and 
disorder4  ,what flashes of noblest     
thought1 clothed in the most apt and    
well-fitting words1 on the same page    
with the most slatternly and down-at-   
the-heel ,english4  ,both ,dr4 ,andrew  
,bonar and ,dr4 ,andrew ,thomson have   
given us selections from ,rutherford's  
,letters that would quite justify  us in
 claiming ,rutherford as one of the best
 writers of ,english in his  day2 but   
then we know out of what thickets of    
careless composition these  flowers have
 been collected4  ,both ,gillespie and  
,rutherford ran a tilt at  ,hooker2 but 
alas for the equipment and the manners  
of our champions when  compared with the

 shining panoply and the knightly grace 
of the author of  the incomparable      
,polity4    ,and then1 morally1 as great
 extremes met in ,rutherford as         
intellectually4  ,newman has a fine     
sermon under a fine title1 ',saintliness
 not forfeited  by the ,penitent4'  ',no
 degree of sin1' he says1 'precludes the
  acquisition of any degree of holiness1
 however high4  ,no sinner so great1    
but he may1 through ,god's grace1 become
 a saint ever so great4'  ,and then  he 
goes on to illustrate that1 and balance 
that1 and almost to retract  and deny   
all that1 in a way that all his admirers
 only too well know4  ,but  still it    
stands true4  ,a friend of mine once    
told me that it was to him  often the   
most delightful and profitable of       
,sabbath evening exercises  just to take
 down ,newman's sermons and read their  
titles over again4  ,and  this mere     
title1 ,i feel sure1 has encouraged and 
comforted many3  ',saintliness not      
forfeited by the ,penitent4'  ,and      

,samuel ,rutherford's is  just another  
great name to be added to the noble roll
 of saintly  penitents we all have in   
our minds taken out of ,scripture and   
,church  ,history4  ,neither great      
,saintliness nor great service was      
forfeited by  this penitent2 and he is  
constantly telling us how the extreme of
 demerit  and the extreme of gracious   
treatment met in him2 how he had at one 
time  destroyed himself1 and how ,god   
had helped him2 how1 where sin had      
abounded1 grace had abounded much more4 
,in one of the very last letters  he    
ever wrote--his letter to ,james        
,guthrie in #affl--he is still amazed   
that ,god has not brought his sin to the
 ,market ,cross1 to use his own  word4  
,but all through his letters this same  
note of admiration and  wonder          
runs--that he has been taken from among 
the pots and his wings  covered with    
silver and gold4  ,truly1 in his case   
the most seraphic  ,saintliness was not 
forfeited1 and we who read his books may

 well bless  ,god it was so4    ,and    
then1 experimentally also1 what extremes
 met in our author6  ,pascal  in ,paris 
and ,rutherford in ,anwoth and ,st4     
,andrews were at the very  opposite     
poles ecclesiastically from one another4
  ,i do not like to think  what         
,rutherford would have said of ,pascal1 
but ,i cannot embody what ,i  have to   
say of ,rutherford's experimental       
extremes better than just by  this      
passage taken from the ,thoughts3 ',the 
,christian religion teaches  the        
righteous man that it lifts him even to 
a participation in the divine  nature2  
but that1 in this exalted state1 he     
still bears within him the  fountain of 
all corruption1 which renders him during
 his whole life  subject to error and   
misery1 to sin and death1 while at the  
same time it  proclaims to the most     
wicked that they can still receive the  
grace of  their ,redeemer4'  ,and again1
 ',did we not know ourselves full of    
pride1  ambition1 lust1 weakness1 misery

 and injustice1 we were indeed blind4 4 
4  4  ,what then can we feel but a great
 esteem for a religion that is so  well 
acquainted with the defects of man1 and 
a great desire for the truth  of a      
religion that promises remedies so      
precious4'  ,and yet again1 what  others
 thought of him1 and how they treated   
him1 compared with what he  knew himself
 to be1 caused ,rutherford many a bitter
 reflection4  ,every  letter he got     
consulting him and appealing to him as  
if he had been ,god's  living oracle    
made him lie down in the very dust with 
shame and  self-abhorrence4  ,writing on
 one occasion to ,robert ,blair he told 
him  that his letter consulting him     
about some matter of ,christian         
experience  had been like a blow in the 
face to him2 it affects me much1 said   
,rutherford1 that a man like you should 
have any such opinion of me4  ,and1     
apologising for his delay in replying to
 a letter of ,lady ,boyd's1 he says     
that he is put out of all love of       

writing letters because his             
correspondents think things about him   
that he himself knows are not true4     
',my white side comes out on paper--but 
at home there is much black work4  ,all 
the challenges that come to me are      
true4'  ,there was no man then  alive on
 the earth so much looked up to and     
consulted in the deepest  matters of the
 soul1 in the secrets of the ,lord with 
the soul1 as  ,rutherford was1 and his  
letters bear evidence on every page that
 there  was no man who had a more       
loathsome and a more hateful experience 
of his  own heart1 not even ,taylor1 not
 even ,owen1 not even ,bunyan1 not even 
,baxter4  ,what a day of extremest men  
that was1 and what an inheritance we    
extreme men have had left us1 in their  
inward1 extreme1 and heavenly  books6   
,once more1 hear him on the tides of    
feeling that continually rose and  fell 
within his heart4  ,writing from        
,aberdeen to ,lady ,boyd1 he says3 ',i  
have not now1 of a long time1 found such

 high springtides as formerly4  ,the sea
 is out1 and ,i cannot buy a wind and   
cause it to flow again2 only  ,i wait on
 the shore till the ,lord sends a full  
sea4 4 4 4  ,but even to  dream of ,him 
is sweet4'  ,and then1 just over the    
leaf1 to ,marion  ,m',naught3 ',i am    
well3 honour to ,god4 4 4 4 ,he hath    
broken in upon a poor  prisoner's soul  
like the swelling of ,jordan4  ,i am    
bank and brim full3 a  great high       
springtide of the consolations of       
,christ hath overwhelmed me4'  4 4 4    
,but sweet as it is to read his         
rapturous expressions when the tide  is 
full1 ,i feel it far more helpful to    
hear how he still looks and waits  for  
the return of the tide when the tide is 
low1 and when the shore is  full1 as all
 left shores are apt to be1 of weeds and
 mire1 and all  corrupt and unclean     
things4  ,rutherford is never more      
helpful to his  correspondents than when
 they consult him about their ebb tides1
 and find  that he himself either has   

been1 or still is1 in the same          
experience4    ,but why do we disinter  
such texts as this out of such an author
 as ,samuel  ,rutherford8  ,why do we   
tell to all the world that such an      
eminent saint  was full of such sad     
extremes8  ,well1 we surely do so out of
 obedience to  the divine command to    
comfort ,god's people2 for1 next to     
their having no  such extremes in       
themselves1 their next best comfort is  
to be told that  great and eminent      
saints of ,god have had the very same   
besetting sins and  staggering extremes 
as they still have4  ,if the like of    
,samuel ,rutherford  was vexed and      
weakened with such intellectual         
contradictions and  spiritual extremes  
in his mind1 in his heart and in his    
history1 then may  we not hope that some
 such saintliness1 if not some such     
service as his1  may be permitted to us 
also8          ,,iii4  ,,marion         
,m',,naught         ',o woman beloved of
 ,god4'--,rutherford4    ',the world    

knows nothing of its greatest men1' says
 ,sir ,henry ,taylor in  his ,philip    
,van ,artevelde2 and it knows much less 
of its greatest women4  ,i have not     
found ,marion ,m',naught's name once    
mentioned outside of ,samuel            
,rutherford's ,letters4  ,but she holds 
a great place--indeed1 the foremost     
place--in that noble book1 to be written
 in which is almost as good as to  be   
written in heaven4    ,rutherford's     
first letter to ,marion ,m',naught was  
written from the manse  of ,anwoth on   
the #fth of ,june #afbg1 and out of a   
close and lifelong  correspondence we   
are happy in having had preserved to us 
some forty-five  of ,rutherford's       
letters to his first correspondent4     
,but1 most  unfortunately1 we have none 
of her letters back again to ,anwoth or 
,aberdeen or ,london or ,st4 ,andrews4  
,it is much to be wished we had1 for    
,marion ,m',naught was a woman greatly  
gifted in mind1 as well as of quite     
exceptional experience even for that day

 of exceptional experiences in  the     
divine life4  ,but we can almost        
construct her letters to ,rutherford    
for ourselves1 so pointedly and so      
elaborately and so affectionately does  
,rutherford reply to them4    ,marion   
,m',naught is already a married woman1  
and the mother of three well-  grown    
children1 when we make her acquaintance 
in ,rutherford's ,letters4  ,she had    
sprung of an ancient and honourable     
house in the south of  ,scotland1 and   
she was now the wife of a well-known man
 in that day1  ,william ,fullarton1 the 
,provost of ,kirkcudbright4  ,it is     
interesting to  know that ,marion       
,m',naught was closely connected with   
,lady ,kenmure1  another of             
,rutherford's chief correspondents4     
,lord ,kenmure was her  mother's        
brother4  ,kenmure had lived a          
profligate and popularity-hunting  life 
till he was laid down on his death-bed1 
when he underwent one of the  most      
remarkable conversions anywhere to be   

read of--a conversion that1 as  it would
 appear1 his niece ,marion ,m',naught   
had no little to do with4  ,as  long as 
,kenmure was young and well1 as long as 
he was haunting the  purlieus of the    
,court1 and selling his church and his  
soul for a smile  from the ,king1 the   
,provost of ,kirkcudbright and his      
saintly wife were  despised and         
forgotten2 but when he was suddenly     
brought face to face  with death and    
judgment1 when his ribbons and his      
titles were now like  the coals of hell 
in his conscience1 nothing would satisfy
 him but that  his niece must leave her 
husband and her children and take up her
 abode  in ,kenmure ,castle4  ,the ,last
 and ,heavenly ,speeches of ,lord       
,kenmure was  a classic memoir of those 
days1 and in that little book we read of
 his  niece's constant attendance at his
 bedside1 as good a nurse for his soul  
as she was for his body4    ,samuel     
,rutherford's favourite correspondent   
was1 to begin with1 a woman  of quite   

remarkable powers of mind4  ,we gather  
that impression powerfully  as we read  
deeper and deeper into the remarkable   
series of letters that  ,rutherford     
addressed to her4  ,to no one does he go
 into deeper matters  both of ,church   
and ,state1 both of doctrinal and       
personal religion than to  her1 and the 
impression of mental power as well as of
 personal worth she  made on            
,rutherford1 she must have made on many 
of the ablest and best men  of that day4
  ,robert ,blair1 for instance1 tells us
 that when he was on  his way home from 
,london to ,ireland he visited ,scotland
 chiefly that he  might see ,rutherford 
at ,anwoth and ,marion ,m',naught at    
,kirkcudbright1 and  when he came to    
,kirkcudbright he found ,rutherford also
 there4  ,and when  ,rutherford was in  
exile in ,aberdeen1 and in deep anxiety 
about his people  at ,anwoth1 he wrote  
beseeching ,marion ,m',naught to go to  
,anwoth and give  his people her counsel
 about their congregational and personal

 affairs4  ,but1 above all1 it is from  
the depth and the power of ,rutherford's
  letters to herself on the inward life 
that we best gather the depth and  the  
power of this remarkable woman's mind4  
,there is no other subject of thought   
that gives such scope for the  greatest 
gifts of the human mind as does the life
 of ,god in the soul4  ,there is no book
 in all the world that demands such a   
combination of  mental gifts and        
spiritual graces to understand it aright
 as the ,bible4  ,the history and the   
biography of the ,bible1 the            
experimental parts of the  ,bible1 the  
doctrines of grace deduced by the       
apostles out of the history  and the    
experience recorded in the ,bible1 and  
then the personal1 the most  inward and 
most spiritual bearing of all           
that1--what occupation can be  presented
 to the mind of man or woman to compare 
with that8  ,true  religion1 really true
 religion1 gives unequalled and         
ever-increasing  scope for the best     

gifts of mind and for the best graces of
 heart and  character4  ',in truth1     
religious obedience is a very intricate 
problem1  and the more so the farther we
 proceed in it4'  ,and he has poor eyes 
and  a poor heart for true religion1 and
 for its best fruits both in the mind   
and the heart and the character1 who    
does not see those fruits increasing    
letter by letter as ,rutherford writes  
to ,marion ,m',naught4    ,her public   
spirit also made ,marion ,m',naught to  
be held in high honour4  ,her husband   
was a public man1 and his intelligent   
fidelity to truth and  justice in that  
day made his name far more public than  
ever he wished it  to be4  ,and in all  
his services and sufferings for the     
truth he had a  splendid wife in ,marion
 ,m',naught4  ',remember me to your     
husband1'  ,rutherford writes2 'tell him
 that ,christ is worthy to be suffered  
for not  only to blows but to blood4    
,he will find that innocence and        
uprightness  will hold his feet firm and

 make him happy when jouking will not do
 it4'  ,and again1 ',encourage your     
husband and tell him that truth will yet
 keep  the crown of the causey in       
,scotland4'  ,and when the petition is  
being got  up for his being permitted to
 return to ,anwoth1 ,rutherford asks his
  correspondent to procure that three or
 four hundred noblemen1 gentlemen1      
countrymen and citizens shall be got to 
subscribe it--a telling tribute1        
surely1 to her public spirit and her    
great influence4    ,but an independent 
mind and a public spirit like hers could
 not exist in  those days1 or in any day
 this world has yet seen1 without       
raising up  many and bitter enemies4    
,and both she and her husband suffered  
heavily1  both in name and in estate1   
from the malice and the hatred that     
their  fearless devotion to truth and   
justice stirred up4  ,so much so1 that  
some  of the finest passages in         
,rutherford's early letters to her are  
those in  which he counsels her and her 

husband to patience1 and meekness1 and  
forgiveness of injuries4  ',keep ,god's 
covenant in all your trials4  ,hold  you
 by ,his blessed word1 and sin not2 flee
 anger1 wrath1 grudging1  envying1      
fretting4  ,forgive an hundred pence to 
your fellow-servant1 for  your ,lord has
 forgiven you ten thousand talents4'    
,and again3 ',be  patient2 ,christ went 
to heaven with many a wrong4  ,his      
visage was more  marred than that of any
 of the sons of men4  ,he was wronged   
and received  no reparation1 but        
referred all to that day when all wrongs
 shall be  righted4'  ,and again3 ',you 
live not upon men's opinion4  ,happy are
 you  if1 when the world trampleth upon 
you in your credit and good name1 you   
are yet the ,king's gold and stamped    
with ,his image4  ,pray for the spirit  
of love1 for love beareth all things1   
believeth all things1 hopeth all        
things1 endureth all things4  ,forgive1 
therefore1 your fellow-servant his  one 
talent4  ,always remember what has been 

forgiven you4'  ,and on every  page of  
the ,kirkcudbright correspondence we see
 that1 amid all these  temptations and  
trials1 no man had a better wife than   
the provost1 and no  children a better  
mother than ,grizel and her two         
brothers4  ,her talents  sought no      
nobler sphere for their exercise and    
increase than her own  fireside2 and her
 public spirit was better seen in her   
life at home than  anywhere out of      
doors4  ,hers was truly a public spirit1
 and like a spirit  it inspired and     
animated both her own and her husband's 
life with  interest in and with care for
 the best good1 both of the ,church and 
the  ,state4  ,her public spirit was not
 incompatible with great personal       
modesty and humility1 and great         
attention to her domestic duties1 all   
rooted in a life hid with ,christ in    
,god4    ,and then1 all this--her birth1
 her station1 her talents1 and her      
public  spirit--could not fail to give  
her a great influence for good4  ,in a  

single line of ,rutherford's on this    
subject1 we see her whole lifetime3     
',you are engaged so in ,god's work in  
,kirkcudbright that if you remove out   
of that town all will be undone4'  ,what
 a tribute is that to the  provost's    
wife6  ,and again1 far on in the        
,letters he writes to ,grizel           
,fullarton3 ',your dear mother1 now     
blessed and perfected with glory1 kept  
life in that place1 and my desire is    
that you succeed her in that way4'      
,what a pride to have such a mother2 and
 what a tradition for a daughter  to    
take up6  ,so have we all known in      
country towns and villages one man  or  
one woman who kept life in the place4   
,out of the memories of my own  boyhood 
there rises up1 here a minister and     
there a farmer1 here a cloth-  merchant 
and there a handloom weaver1 here a     
blacksmith's wife and there  a working  
housekeeper1 who kept life in the whole 
place4  ,it is not  station that does   
it1 nor talent1 though both station and 

talent greatly  help2 it is character1  
it is true and genuine godliness4  ,true
 and  genuine godliness--especially when
 it is purged of pride1 and harsh       
judgment1 and too much talk1 and is     
adorned with humility and meekness1  and
 all the other fruits of holy love--true
 and pure godliness in a most  obscure  
man or woman will find its way to a     
thousand consciences1 and  will impress 
and overawe a whole town1 as ,marion    
,m',naught's rare  godliness impressed  
and overawed all ,kirkcudbright4  ,just 
as1 on the  other hand1 the ignorance1  
the censoriousness1 the bitterness1 the 
intolerance1 that too often accompany   
what would otherwise be true  godliness1
 work as widespread mischief as true    
godliness works good4  ',one  little    
deed done for ,god's sake1 and against  
our natural inclination1  though in     
itself only of a conceding or passive   
character1 to brook an  insult1 to face 
a danger1 or to resign an advantage1 has
 in it a power  outbalancing all the    

dust and chaff of mere profession--the  
profession  whether of enlightened      
benevolence or candour1 or1 on the other
 hand1 of  high religious faith and     
fervent zeal2' or1 as ,rutherford could 
write to  ,marion ,m',naught's daughter3
 ',there is a wide and deep difference  
between  a name of godliness and the    
power of godliness4'  ,even the         
schoolboys of  ,kirkcudbright could     
quite well distinguish the name from the
 reality2 and  long after they were     
,christian men they would tell with     
reverence and  with love when1 and from 
whom1 they took their first and         
never-to-be-forgotten impressions4  ,it 
was1 they would say to their  children1 
from that woman of such rare godliness  
as well as public  spirit1 ,marion      
,m',naught4    ,it was all this1 and    
nothing other and nothing less than all 
this1 that  made ,marion ,m',naught     
,rutherford's favourite correspondent4  
,her mind and  her heart together early 
and often drew her across the country to

  ,rutherford's preaching4  ,marion     
,m',naught had a good minister of her   
own  at home2 but ,rutherford was       
,rutherford1 and he made ,anwoth        
,anwoth4  ,i  think ,i can understand   
something of her delight on ,communion  
forenoons1  when his text was ,christ   
,dying1 in ,john xii4 #cb1 or the       
,syro-,phoenician  woman1 in ,matt4 xv4 
#bh4  ,and then the feasts on the       
fast-days at  ,kirkcudbright1 over the  
cloud of witnesses1 in ,heb4 xii4 #a1   
and all tears  wiped away1 in ,rev4 xxi4
 #d1 and the marriage of the ,lamb1 in  
xix4 #g4  ,and  then1 on the other hand1
 ,rutherford is not surely to be blamed 
for loving  such a hearer4  ,his ,master
 loved a ,mary also of ,his day1 for    
that also  among other good reasons4    
,if a good hearer likes a good preacher1
 why  should a good preacher not like a 
good hearer8  ,take a holiday1 and give 
us another day soon of such and such a  
preacher1 our people sometimes say  to  
us4  ,and why should that preacher not  

also say to us1 ,give me a day  soon    
again of your good hearers8  ,as a      
matter of fact1 our good preaching      
friends do say that to us4  ,and why    
not8  ,fine hearers1 deep hearers1      
thoroughly well-prepared hearers1       
hearers of genius are almost as scarce  
as fine1 deep1 thoroughly well-prepared 
preachers and preachers of  genius4     
,and who shall blame ,rutherford for    
liking to see ,marion ,m',naught  coming
 into the church on a ,sabbath morning  
as well as she liked to see  him coming 
into the pulpit8  ',i go to ,anwoth so  
often1' she said1  'because1 though     
other ministers show me the majesty of  
,god and the  plague of my own heart1   
,mr4 ,samuel does both these things1 but
 he also  shows me1 as no other minister
 ever does1 the loveliness of ,christ4' 
,it  is as great a mistake to think that
 all our ,christian people are able to  
take in a sermon on the loveliness of   
,christ as it is that all ordained  men 
can preach such a sermon4  ,there are   

diversities of gifts among  hearers as  
well as among preachers2 and when the   
gifts of the pulpit meet  the           
corresponding graces in the pew1 you    
need not wonder that they  recognise and
 delight in one another4  ,jesus ,christ
 was ,rutherford's  favourite subject in
 the pulpit1 and thus it was that he was
 ,marion  ,m',naught's favourite        
preacher1 as she1 again1 was his        
favourite hearer in  the church and his 
favourite correspondent in the ,letters4
  ,to how many  in this house to-night  
could a preacher say that he wished them
 all to be  'over head and ears in love 
to ,christ'8  ,what preacher could say a
 thing  like that in truth and          
soberness8  ,and how many could hear it8
  ,only a  preacher of the holy passion 
of ,rutherford1 and only a hearer of the
  intellect and heart and rare          
experience of ,marion ,m',naught4  ',o  
the fair  face of the man ,jesus        
,christ6' he cries out4  ,and again3 ',o
 time1 time1  why dost thou move so     

slowly6  ,come hither1 ,o love of       
,christ6  ,what  astonishment will be   
mine when ,i first see that fairest and 
most lovely  face6  ,it would be heaven 
to me just to look through a hole of    
heaven's  door to see ,christ's         
countenance6'  ,no wonder that the      
congregations were  few1 and the        
correspondents who could make anything  
of a man of such a  'fanatic humour' as 
that6  ,but1 then1 no wonder1 on the    
other hand1 that1  when two fanatics so 
full of that humour as ,samuel          
,rutherford and ,marion  ,m',naught met1
 they corresponded ever after with one  
another in their own  enraptured        
language night and day4          ,,iv4  
,,lady ,,kenmure         ',build your   
nest1 ,madam1 upon no tree here1 for    
,god hath sold this     whole forest to 
death4'--,rutherford4    ,lady ,kenmure 
was one of the ,campbells of ,argyll1 a 
family distinguished  for the depth of  
their piety1 their public spirit1 and   
their love for the  ,presbyterian       

polity2 and ,lady ,jane was one of the  
most richly-gifted  members of that     
richly-gifted house4  ,but1 with all    
that1 ,lady ,jane  ,campbell had her own
 crosses to carry4  ,she had the sore   
cross of bad  health to carry all her   
days4  ,then she had the sad misfortune 
to make a  very bad marriage in the     
morning of her days2 and1 partly as the 
result  of all that1 and partly because 
of her peculiar mental constitution1 her
  whole life was drenched with a deep   
melancholy4  ,but1 as we are told in    
,john ,howie and elsewhere1 all these   
evils and misfortunes were made to  work
 together for good to her through the   
special grace of ,god1 and  through the 
wise and wistful care of her lifelong   
friend and minister and  correspondent1 
,samuel ,rutherford4  ,lady ,jane       
,campbell had very remarkable  gifts of 
mind4  ,we would have expected that from
 her distinguished  pedigree2 and we    
have abundant proof of that in          
,rutherford's sheaf of  letters to her4 

,his dedication of that most remarkable 
piece1 ,the ,trial  and ,triumph of     
,faith1 is sufficient of itself to show 
how highly  ,rutherford esteemed ,lady  
,kenmure1 both as to her head and her   
heart4  ,till  our theological students 
have been led to study ,the ,trial and  
,triumph of  ,faith3 ,christ ,dying and 
,drawing ,sinners to ,himself--which1 to
 my mind1  is by far the best of        
,rutherford's works--,the ,covenant of  
,grace and  ,the ,influences of ,grace1 
they will have no conception of the     
intellectual rank of ,samuel ,rutherford
 himself1 or of the intelligence  and   
the attainments of his hearers and      
readers and correspondents4  ,thomas    
,goodwin was always telling the         
theological students of ,oxford in those
  days to thicken their too thin        
homilies with more doctrine3            
,rutherford's  very thinnest books are  
almost too thick1 both with theology and
 with  thought4    ,how ever a woman    
like ,jane ,campbell came to marry a man

 like ,john ,gordon  will remain a      
mystery4  ,it was not that he was a man 
of no mind2 he was a  man of no worth or
 interest of any kind4  ,he was a rake  
and a  lick-spittle1 the very last man  
in ,scotland for ,jane ,campbell to     
throw  herself away upon4  ,and she was 
too clever and too good a woman not to  
make a speedy and a heart-breaking      
discovery of the fatal mistake she had  
committed4  ,poor ,jane ,campbell soon  
wakened up to the discovery that she    
had exchanged the name and the family of
 a brave and noble house for the  name  
and the house of a poltroon4  ,no wonder
 that ,rutherford's letters to  her are 
so often headed3 ',to ,lady ,kenmure1   
under illness and depression  of mind4' 
,could you have kept quite well had you 
been a ,campbell with  ,john ,gordon for
 a husband8  ,think of having to nurse  
your humbug of a  husband through a     
shammed illness4  ,think of having to   
take a hand in  sending in a sham       
doctor's certificate because your       

husband was too much  of a time-server  
to go to ,edinburgh to give his vote for
 a persecuted  church4  ,think of having
 to wear the title and decoration your  
husband  had purchased for you at the   
cost of his truth and honour and        
manhood4  ,lady ,kenmure needed ,samuel 
,rutherford's very best letters to help 
to keep  her in bare life all the time  
the county dames were green with envy at
  the dear-bought honours4  ,and        
,kenmure himself had to be brought to   
his  death-bed before he became a       
husband worthy of his wife4  ,we still  
read  in his ,last ,speeches how ,god   
made ,lord ,gordon's sins to find him   
out1  and with what firmness and with   
what tenderness ,rutherford handled the 
soul of the dying man till all his      
cowardice1 title-hunting1 and truth-    
betraying life came back to his         
death-bed with a sharper sting in them  
than even his grossest sins4  ,whoredom 
and wine after all are but the  lusts of
 a man1 whereas time-serving and        

truth-selling are the lusts of a  devil4
  ',dig deeper1' said ,rutherford to the
 dying courtier1 and ,kenmure  did dig  
deeper1 till he came down to the seals  
and the titles and the  ribbons for     
which he had sold his soul4  ,but he    
that confesses and  forsakes his sins   
even at the eleventh hour shall always  
find mercy1 and  so it was with ,lord   
,kenmure4       ',between the stirrup   
and the ground     ,mercy ,i sought and 
mercy found4'    ,we do not grudge      
,viscount ,kenmure all the grace he got 
from ,god2 we shall  need as much grace 
and more ourselves2 but we do somewhat  
grudge such a  man a place of honour    
among the ,scots worthies4  ,we are     
tempted to throw  down the book and to  
demand what right ,john ,gordon has to  
stand beside  such men as ,patrick      
,hamilton1 and ,john ,knox1 and ,john   
,wishart1 and  ,archibald ,campbell1 and
 ,hugh ,m',kail1 and ,richard ,cameron1 
and ,alexander  ,shields8  ,but         
,lochgoin answers us that ,god sometimes

 accepts the late  will for the whole   
timeous deed1 and the bravery and       
loyalty of the wife  for the meanness   
and poltroonery of the husband4  ',have 
you a present  sense of ,god's love8'   
',i have1 ,i have1' said the dying      
,viscount4  ,as  ,rutherford continued  
in prayer1 ,kenmure was observed to     
smile and look  upwards4  ,about sunset 
,lord ,kenmure died1 at the same instant
 that  ,rutherford said ,amen to his    
prayer4  ,the ,last and ,heavenly       
,speeches is  a rare pamphlet that will 
well repay its price to him who will    
seek it  out and read it4    ,this was  
the correspondent1 then1 to whom ,samuel
 ,rutherford wrote such  counsels and   
encouragements as these3 ',therefore1   
madam1 herein have  comfort1 that ,he   
who seeth perfectly through all your    
evils1 and who  knoweth the frame and   
constitution of your nature1 and what is
 most  healthful for your soul1 holdeth 
every cup of affliction to your head    
with his own gracious hand4  ,never     

believe that your tender-hearted        
,saviour will mix your cup with one     
drachm-weight of poison4  ,drink1 then1 
with the patience of the saints3        
wrestle1 fight1 go forward1 watch1 fear1
  believe1 pray1 and then you have all  
the infallible symptoms of one of  the  
elect of ,christ within you' 7,letter   
,,iii474  ,on the death of her  infant  
daughter1 ,rutherford writes to the     
elect lady3 ',she is only sent  on      
before1 like unto a star1 which1 going  
out of our sight1 doth not die  and     
vanish1 but still shineth in another    
hemisphere4  ,what she wanted of  time  
she hath gotten of eternity1 and you    
have now some plenishing up in  heaven4 
,build your nest upon no tree here1 for 
,god hath sold the whole  forest to     
death' 7,letter ,,iv474  ',madam1 when  
you are come to the other  side of the  
water and have set down your foot on the
 shore of glorious  eternity1 and look  
back to the water and to your wearisome 
journey1 and  shall see in that clear   

glass of endless glory nearer to the    
bottom of  ,god's wisdom1 you shall then
 be forced to say1 ,if ,god had done    
otherwise  with me than ,he hath done1  
,i had never come to the enjoying of    
this crown  of glory' 7,letter ,,xl74   
',madam1 tire not1 weary not2 for ,i    
dare find  you the ,son of ,god caution 
that when you are got up thither and    
have cast  your eyes to view the golden 
city and the fair and never-withering   
,tree  of ,life that beareth twelve     
manner of fruits every month1 you shall 
then  say1 ,four-and-twenty hours' abode
 in this place is worth threescore and  
ten years' sorrow upon earth' 7,letter  
,,xix474  ',your ladyship goeth on      
laughing and putting on a good          
countenance before the world1 and yet   
you  carry heaviness about with you4    
,you do well1 madam1 not to make them   
witnesses of your grief who cannot be   
curers of it' 7,letter ,,xx474  ',those 
who can take the crabbed tree of the    
cross handsomely upon their  backs and  

fasten it on cannily shall find it such 
a burden as its wings  are to a bird or 
its sails to a ship' 7,letter ,,lxix474 
',i thought it  had been an easy thing  
to be a ,christian1 and that to seek    
,god had been  at the next door2 but1   
oh1 the windings1 the turnings1 the ups 
and downs  ,he hath led me through6'    
7,letter ,,civ47  ',i may be a book-man 
and yet be  an idiot and a stark fool in
 ,christ's way6  ,the ,bible beguiled   
the  ,pharisees1 and so may ,i be       
misled' 7,letter ,,cvi474  ',i find you 
complaining of yourself1 and it becometh
 a sinner so to do4  ,i am not  against 
you in that4  ,the more sense the more  
life4  ,the more sense of  sin the less 
sin' 7,letter ,,cvi474  ',seeing my sins
 and the sins of my  youth deserved     
strokes1 how am ,i obliged to my ,lord  
who hath given me a  waled and chosen   
cross6  ,since ,i must have chains1 ,he 
would put golden  chains on me1 watered 
over with many consolations4  ,seeing ,i
 must have  sorrow 7for ,i have sinned1 

,o ,preserver of men671 ,he hath waled  
out for me  joyful sorrow--honest1      
spiritual1 glorious sorrow' 7,letter    
,,ccvi474  ,there are hundreds of       
passages as good as these scattered up  
and down the  forty-seven letters we    
have had preserved to us out of the     
large and  intimate correspondence that 
passed between ,samuel ,rutherford and  
,lady  ,kenmure4          ,v4  ,,lady   
,,cardoness         ',think it not      
easy4'--,rutherford4    ,what a lasting 
interest ,samuel ,rutherford's pastoral 
pen has given to the  hoary old castle  
of ,cardoness6  ,those nine so          
heart-winning letters that  ,rutherford 
wrote from ,aberdeen to ,cardoness      
,castle will still keep the  memory of  
that old tower green long after its last
 stone has crumbled  into dust4         
,readers of ,rutherford's letters will  
long visit ,cardoness  ,castle1 and will
 musingly recall old ,john ,gordon and  
,lady ,cardoness1 his  wife1 who both   
worked out each their own salvation in  

that old fortress1  and found it a task 
far from easy4  ,for nine faithful years
 ,rutherford  had been the anxious      
pastor of ,cardoness ,castle1 and then1 
after he was  banished from his pulpit  
and his parish1 he only ministered to   
the ,castle  the more powerfully and    
prevailingly with his pen4  ,after      
reading the  ,cardoness correspondence1 
we do not wonder to find the stout old  
chieftain heading the hard-fought       
battles which the people of ,anwoth made
  both against ,edinburgh and ,st4      
,andrews1 when those cities and colleges
  attempted to take away their minister4
    ,rough old ,cardoness had a warm    
place in his heart for ,samuel          
,rutherford4  ,the tough old pagan did  
not know how much he loved the little   
fair man  with the high-set voice and   
the unearthly smile till he had lost    
him2 and  if force of arms could have   
kept ,rutherford in ,anwoth1 ,cardoness 
would  soon have buckled on his sword4  
,he was ashamed to be seen reading the  

letters that came to the ,castle from   
,aberdeen2 he denied having read them   
even after he had them all by heart4    
,the wild old laird was nearer the      
,kingdom of ,heaven than any one knew2  
even his ,christian lady did not know   
all that ,rutherford knew1 and it was a 
frank sentence of ,rutherford's in  an  
,aberdeen letter that took lifelong hold
 of the old laird1 and did more  for his
 conversion and all that followed it    
than all ,rutherford's sermons  and all 
his other letters4  ',i find true       
religion to be a hard task2 ,i  find    
heaven hard to be won1' wrote           
,rutherford to the old man2 and that    
did more for his hard and late salvation
 than all the sermons he had ever       
heard4  ',a hard task1 a hard task6' the
 serving-men and the serving-women      
often overheard their old master        
muttering1 as he alighted from the hunt 
and as he came home from his monthly    
visit to ,edinburgh4  ',a hard task6'   
he was often heard muttering1 but no one

 to the day of his death ever  knew all 
that his muttering meant4    ',read over
 your past life often1' ,rutherford     
wrote to the old man4  ,and  ,cardoness 
found that to be one of the hardest     
tasks he had ever tried4  ,he  had not  
forgotten his past life2 there were     
things that came up out of  his past    
continually that compelled him to       
remember it4  ,but what  ,rutherford    
meant was that his old parishioner      
should willingly1  deliberately and     
repeatedly open the stained and torn    
leaves of his past  life and read it all
 over in the light of his old age1      
approaching death1  and late-awakened   
conscience4  ,rutherford wished         
,cardoness to sit down as  ,matthew     
,henry says the captives sat down by the
 rivers of ,babylon1 and  weep          
'deliberate tears4'  ,there were pages  
in his past life that it was  the very  
pains of hell to old ,cardoness to read2
 but he performed the  hard task1 and   
thus was brought much nearer salvation  

than even his old  pastor knew4  ',it   
will take a long lance to go to the     
bottom of your  heart1 my friend1' wrote
 ,rutherford1 faithfully1 and1 at the   
same time1  most respectfully1 to the   
old man4  ',human nature is lofty and   
head-strong in you1 and it will cost you
 far more suffering to be  mortified and
 sanctified than it costs the ordinary  
run of men4'  ,and1  instead of that    
plain speech offending or angering the  
old laird1 it had  the very opposite    
effect2 it softened him1 and humbled    
him1 and  encouraged him1 and gave him  
new strength for the hard task on which 
he  was day and night employed4         
,cardoness was a small property1 heavily
 bonded1 and some of the leaves  that   
were hardest to read in the diary of    
,gordon's early manhood told the  bitter
 history of some added bonds4  ,sin     
would need to be sweet1 for it  is very 
dear4  ,and then had come years of      
rack-renting of his tenants2  the       
virtuous tenantry had to pay dearly for 

the vices of their lord4  ,rutherford   
had not been silent to old ,cardoness   
about this matter in  conversation1 and 
he was not silent in his letters4  ',you
 are now upon  the very borders of the  
other life4  ,i told you1 when ,i was   
with you1 the  whole counsel of ,god in 
this matter1 and ,i tell it you again4  
,awake to  righteousness4  ,do not lay  
the burden of your house on other       
people2 do  not compel honest people to 
pay your old debts4  ,commit to memory  
#a ,sam4  xii4 #c1 and ride out among   
your tenantry1 my dear people1          
repeating1 as  you pass their stables   
and their cattle-stalls1 ,behold1 ,i am 
old and  grey-headed2 behold1 here ,i   
am3 whose ox have ,i taken8  ,whose ass 
have ,i  taken8  ,whom have ,i          
defrauded8  ,whom have ,i oppressed8  ,i
 charge you to  write to me here at     
once1 and be plain with me1 and tell me 
whether your  salvation is sure4  ,i    
hope for the best2 but ,i know that your
 reckonings  with the righteous ,judge  

are both many and deep4'  ,that was a   
hard task  to set to a tyrannical old   
landlord who had been used to call no   
man  master1 or ,god either1 to take    
such commands from a poor banished      
minister6  ,but ,cardoness did it4  ,he 
mastered his rising pride and           
resentment and did it2 and though he    
found it a hard task to go through  with
 his reductions at next rent-day1 yet he
 did it4  ,such boldness in  the ,day of
 ,judgment will a good conscience give a
 man1 as when old  ,cardoness actually  
stood up before the parishioners in the 
kirk of ,anwoth  and read to them1 after
 the elders had conducted the exercises1
 a letter  he had received last week    
from their silenced minister4  ,it is   
one of  ,rutherford's longest and most  
passionate letters4  ,take a sentence or
 two  out of it3 ',my soul longeth      
exceedingly to hear whether there be any
 work  of ,christ in the parish that    
will bide the trial of fire and water4  
,i  think of my people in my sleep4     

,you know how that1 out of love to your 
souls1 and out of the desire ,i had to  
make an honest account of you1 ,i  often
 testified my dislike of your ways1 both
 in private and in public4  ,examine    
yourselves4  ,i never knew so well what 
sin is as since ,i came to  ,aberdeen1  
though ,i was preaching about it every  
day to you4  ,it would be  life to me if
 you would read this letter to my       
people1 and if they would  profit by it4
  ,and now ,i write to thee1 whoever    
thou art1 ,o poor broken-  hearted      
believer of the free salvation4  ,let   
,christ's atoning blood be on  thy      
guilty soul4  ,christ has ,his heaven   
ready for thee1 and ,he will make  good 
,his word before long4  ,the blessing of
 a poor prisoner be upon you4'          
,salvation was all this time proving    
itself to be a hard and ever harder     
task to ,john ,gordon1 with his proud   
neck1 with his past life to read1  with 
his debts and bonds and increasing      
expenditure1 and with old age  heavy    

upon him and death at his door4  ,and   
,lady ,cardoness was not finding  her   
salvation to be easy either in all these
 untoward circumstances4  ',think it not
 easy1' wrote ,rutherford to her4  ,and 
to make her salvation  sure1 and to lead
 her to help her burdened husband with  
his hard task1  ,rutherford made bold to
 touch1 though always tenderly and      
scripturally1  upon the family cross4   
,their burdened and crowded estate lay  
between the  whole ,cardoness family and
 their salvation4  ,rutherford had seen 
that  from the first day he arrived in  
,anwoth1 and ,cardoness and its         
difficulties lay heavy upon his heart in
 his prison in ,aberdeen4  ,and he      
could not write consolations and        
comforts and promises to ,lady          
,cardoness  till he had told her the    
truth again as he had told her husband4 
',the  kingdom of ,god and ,his         
righteousness is the one thing needful  
for you and  for ,cardoness and for your
 children1' wrote ,rutherford4          

',houses1 lands1  credit1 honour may all
 be lost if heaven is won4  ,see that   
,cardoness and  you buy the field where 
the pearl is4  ,sell all and buy that   
field4  ,i  beseech you to make         
conscience of your ways4  ,deal kindly  
with your  tenants4  ,i have written my 
mind at length to your husband1 and my  
counsel to you is that1 when his passion
 overcometh him1 a soft answer  will    
turn away wrath4  ,god casteth your     
husband often in my mind2 ,i  cannot    
forget him4'    ,what a power for good  
is in ,samuel ,rutherford's pen6  ,at a 
few touches it  carries us across       
,scotland to the mouth of the ,fleet1   
and back two  hundred and fifty years1  
and summons up ,cardoness ,castle1 and  
peoples the  hoary old keep again with  
,john ,gordon and his wife and children4
  ,we see  the castle2 we see the       
rack-rented farms lying around the rock 
on which  the castle stands2 we see     
,anwoth manse and pulpit empty and      
silenced2 and  then we see ,rutherford  

dreaming about ,cardoness as he sleeps  
in his far-  off prison4  ,the stout old
 laird rises before our eyes with more  
than his  proper share of human         
nature--a mass of sinful manhood1 strong
 in will1  hot in temper1 burdened with 
debt--debt in ,edinburgh1 and a deeper  
and  darker debt elsewhere4  ,the old   
lion lay1 taken in a net of trouble1 and
  the more he struggled the more        
entangled he became4  ,and then her     
ladyship1 a religious woman2 yes1 really
 a religious woman1 only1 like so  many 
religious women1 more religious than    
moral2 more emotional than  practically 
helpful in everyday life4  ,all who have
 only heard of ,samuel  ,rutherford and 
his letters will feel sure that he was  
just the effusive  minister1 and that   
his letters were just the soft stuff1 to
 foster a  piety that came out in       
feminine moods and emotions rather than 
in well-  kept accounts and a           
well-managed kitchen and nursery4  ,but 
we who have  read ,rutherford know      

better than that4  ,lady ,cardoness is  
told1 in  kindest and sweetest but most 
unmistakable language1 that she has to  
work  out a not easy salvation in       
,cardoness ,castle1 and that1 if her    
husband  fails in his hard task1 no     
small part of his blood will lie at her 
door4    ,but as we stand and look at   
,cardoness ,castle1 with its hard tasks 
for  eternal life1 a divine voice says  
to ourselves1 ,work out your own        
salvation with fear and trembling2 and  
at that voice the old keep fades  from  
our eyes1 and our own house in modern   
,edinburgh rises up before us4  ,here1  
too1 are old men with hard tasks between
 them and their salvation--a  past life 
to read1 to repent of1 to redress1 to   
reform1 to weep  deliberate and bitter  
tears over4  ,there are debts and many  
other  disorders that have to be put    
right2 there are those under us--tenants
  and servants and poor relations--whose
 cases have to be dealt with            
considerately1 justly1 kindly1          

affectionately4  ,there are things in   
those  we love best--in a father1 in a  
mother1 in a husband1 in a wife--that we
  have to be patient and forbearing     
with1 and to command ourselves in the   
presence of ,salvation was not easy in  
,cardoness ,castle1 with such a  master1
 and such a mistress1 and such children1
 and such tenants1 and  with such debts 
and straits of all kinds2 and ,cardoness
 ,castle is  repeated over and over     
again in hundreds of ,edinburgh houses  
to-night4          ,,vi4  ,,lady        
,,culross         ',grace groweth best  
in winter4'--,rutherford4    ,elizabeth 
,melville was one of the ladies of the  
,covenant4  ,it was a  remarkable       
feature of a remarkable time in         
,scotland that so many ladies  of birth1
 intellect and influence were found on  
the side of the  persecuted             
,covenanters4  ,i do not remember any   
other period in the  history of the     
,church of ,christ1 since the day when  
the women of ,galilee  ministered of    

their substance to our ,lord ,himself1  
in which noble women  took such a noble 
part as did ,lady ,culross1 ,lady ,jane 
,campbell1 the  ,duchess of ,hamilton1  
the ,duchess of ,athol1 and other such  
ladies in that  eventful time4  ,we had 
something not unlike it again in the ten
 years'  conflict that culminated in the
 ,disruption2 and in the social and     
religious movements of our own day1     
women of rank and talent are not  found 
wanting4  ,at the same time1 ,i do not  
know where to find such a  cloud of     
witnesses for the faith of ,christ from 
among the eminent women  of any one     
generation as ,scotland can show in her 
ladies of the ,covenant4    ,lady       
,culross's name will always be held in  
tender honour in the innermost  circles 
of our best ,scottish ,christians1 for  
the hand she had in that  wonderful     
outpouring of ,god's grace at the kirk  
of ,shotts on that  ,thanksgiving       
,monday in #afcf4  ,under ,god1 that    
,covenanters' ,pentecost was  more due  

to ,lady ,culross than to any other     
human being4  ,true1 ,john  ,livingstone
 preached the ,thanksgiving ,sermon1 but
 it was through ,lady  ,culross's       
influence that he was got to preach it2 
and he preached it  after a night of    
prayer spent by ,lady ,culross and her  
companions1 such  that we read of next  
day's sermon and its success as a matter
 of course4  ,i cannot venture to tell a
 heterogeneous audience the history of  
that  night they spent at ,shotts with  
,god4  ,it is so unlike what we have    
ever  seen or heard of4  ,there may be  
one or two of us here who have spent    
whole nights in prayer at some crisis in
 our life1 going from one promise  to   
another1 when1 in the ,psalmist's words1
 the sorrows of death compassed  us1 and
 the pains of hell gat hold upon us4    
,and we1 one or two of us1  may have had
 miracles from heaven forthwith         
performed upon us1 fit to  match in a   
private way with the hand of ,god on the
 kirk of ,shotts4  ,but  even those of  

us who have such secrets between us and 
,god1 we1 ,i fear1  never spent a whole 
,communion night1 never shutting our    
eyes but to pray  for a baptism of      
spiritual blessing upon to-morrow's     
congregation4  ,what  a mother in       
,israel was ,lady ,culross1 with five   
hundred children born of  her travail in
 one day6    ,i have not found any of   
,lady ,culross's letters to ,samuel     
,rutherford1 but  ,john ,livingstone's  
literary executors have published some  
eight letters  she wrote to             
,livingstone1 her close and lifelong    
friend4  ,and ,lady  ,culross's first   
letter to ,john ,livingstone is in every
 point of view1 a  remarkable piece4    
,it has a strength1 an irony1 and a     
tenderness in it  that at once tell the 
reader that he is in the hands of a very
 remarkable  writer4  ,but it is not    
,lady ,culross's literature that so much
 interests  us and holds us1 it is her  
religion2 and it is its depth1 its      
intensity1  and the way it grows in     

winter4  ,after a long and racy         
introduction1  sometimes difficult to   
decipher1 from its ,fife idioms and     
obsolete  spelling1 she goes on thus3   
',did you get any heart to remember me  
and my  bonds8  ,as for me1 ,i never    
found so great impediment within4       
,still1 it  is the ,lord with whom we   
have to do1 and ,he gives and takes1    
casts down  and raises up1 kills and    
makes alive as pleases ,his ,majesty4 4 
4 4 ,my  task at home is augmented and  
tripled1 and yet ,i fear worse4  ,sin in
 me  and in mine is my greatest cross4  
,i would1 if it were the ,lord's will1  
choose affliction rather than           
iniquity4--,yours in ,c41 ,e4 ,,melvil4'
    ,it was now winter with ,john       
,livingstone4  ,the persecution had     
overtaken  him1 and this is how her     
ladyship writes to him3--    ',my very  
worthy and dear brother3 ,courage1 dear 
brother3 it is all in  love1 all works  
together for the best4  ,you must be    
hewn and hammered and  drest and        

prepared before you can be a            
,leiving-ston fit for ,his  building4   
,and if ,he is minded to make you meet  
to help others1 you must  look for      
another manner of strokes than you have 
yet felt1 4 4 4 but when  you are laid  
low1 and are vile in your own eyes1 then
 ,he will raise you  up and refresh you 
with some blinks of ,his favourable     
countenance1 that  you may be able to   
comfort others with those consolations  
wherewith you  have been comforted of   
,him4 4 4 4  ,since ,god has put ,his   
work in your  weak hands1 look not for  
long ease here3 you must feel the full  
weight of  your calling3 a weak man with
 a strong ,god4  ,the pain is but a     
moment1  the pleasure is everlasting1 4 
4 4 cross upon cross3 the end of one    
with  me is but the beginning of        
another3 but guiltiness in me and in    
mine is  my greatest cross4'  ,and after
 midnight one ,sabbath she writes again 
to  ,livingstone3 ',you cannot but say  
that the ,lord was with you to-day2     

therefore1 not only be content1 but     
bless ,his name who put ,his word in    
your heart and in your mouth1 and has   
overcome you with mercy when you        
deserved nothing but wrath1 and has not 
only forgiven your many sins1 but  has  
saved you from breaking out1 as it may  
be better men have done2 but  ,he has   
covered you and restrained you2 has     
loved you freely and has made  ,his     
saints to love you2 who will guide you  
also with ,his counsel1 and  afterwards 
receive you to ,his glory4'    ,it was  
from his silent prison in ,aberdeen that
 ,samuel ,rutherford wrote to  ,lady    
,culross the letter in which this       
sentence stands3 ',i see that grace     
groweth best in winter4'  ,rutherford   
had had but a short and unsettled       
summer among the birds at ,anwoth4  ,his
 wife and his two children had been     
taken from him there1 and now that which
 he loved more than wife or child  had  
been taken from him too--his pulpit and 
pastoral work for ,jesus  ,christ4  ,he 

felt his banishment all the more keenly 
that he was the first  of the           
evangelical ministers of ,scotland to be
 so silenced4  ,he will have  plenty of 
companions in tribulation soon1 if that 
will be any comfort to  him2 but1 as it 
is1 he confesses to ,lady ,culross that 
it was a peculiar  pang to him to be    
'the first in the kingdom put to utter  
silence4'  ,the  bitterness of          
banishment has been sung in immortal    
strains by ,dante1  whose grace under   
banishment also grew to a fruitfulness  
we still partake  of to this day3--     
',thou shall leave each thing           
,beloved most dearly3 this is the first 
shaft     ,shot from the bow of exile4  
,thou shall prove     ,how salt the     
savour is of other's bread1     ,how    
hard the passage to descend and climb   
,by other's stairs4  ,but that shall    
gall thee most     ,will be the         
worthless and vile company     ,with    
whom thou must be thrown into these     
straits4'    ,but all this1 to use a    

figure familiar among the ,puritans of  
that day1  only made ,rutherford's true 
life return1 like sap in winter1 into   
its  proper root1 till we read in his   
later ,aberdeen letters a rapture and a 
richness that his remain-at-home        
correspondents are fain to tone down4   
,not only does true grace grow best in  
winter1 but winter is the best  season  
for planting grace4  ',i was to be      
married1 and she died1' was a  young    
man's explanation to me the other day   
for proposing to sit down at  the       
,lord's ,table4  ,the winter cold that  
carried off his future wife saw  planted
 in his ploughed-up heart the seeds of  
divine grace2 and1 no  doubt1 all down  
the coming winters1 with such short     
interludes of summers  as may be before 
him in this cold climate1 the grace that
 was planted in  winter will grow4  ,it 
is not a speculation1 it is a personal  
experience  that hundreds here can      
testify to1 that the ,bible1 the        
,sabbath1 the  ,supper1 all became so   

many means of grace to them after some  
great  affliction greatly sanctified4   
,the death of a bride1 the death of a   
wife1 the death of a child2 some blow   
from bride or wife or child worse  than 
death2 a lost hope quenched for         
ever--these1 and things like these1  are
 needful1 as it would seem1 to be       
suffered by most men before they  will  
wholly open their hearts to the grace of
 ,god4  ',before ,i was  afflicted ,i   
went astray3 but now have ,i kept ,thy  
word4'    ,at the same time1 good and   
necessary as all such wintry experiences
 are1  their good results on us do not  
last for ever4  ,in too many cases they 
do  not last long4  ,it is rather a     
start in grace we take at such seasons  
than a steady and deep growth in it4    
,the growth in grace that comes to  us  
in connection with some sore affliction 
is apt to be violent and  spasmodic2 it 
comes and it goes with the affliction2  
it is not slow1  constant1 steady1 sure1
 as all true and natural growth is4  ,if

 one might  say so1 an unbroken winter  
in the soul1 a continual inward winter1 
is  needed to keep up a steady1 deep and
 fruitful growth in grace4  ,now1 is    
there anything in the spiritual         
husbandry of ,god that can be called    
such  a winter of the soul8  ,i think   
there is4  ,the winter of our outward   
life--trials1 crosses1 sickness and     
death are all the wages of sin2 and  it 
is among these things that grace first  
strikes its roots4  ,and what is  the   
continual presence of sin in the soul   
but the true winter of the  soul1 amid  
which the grace that is planted in an   
outbreak of winter ever  after strikes  
deeper root and grows8  ,once let a man 
be awakened of ,god  to his own great   
sinfulness2 and that not to its fruits  
in outward  sorrow1 but to its malignant
 roots that are twisted round and round 
and  through and through his heart1 and 
that man has thenceforth such a winter  
within him as shall secure to him a     
lifelong growth in the most inward      

grace4  ,once let a poor wretch awake to
 the unbroken winter of his own         
sinfulness1 a sinfulness that is with   
him when he lies down and when he  rises
 up1 when he is abroad among men and    
when he is at home with himself  alone3 
an incessant1 increasing1 agonising1    
overwhelming sense of  sin1--and how    
that most miserable of men will grow in 
grace1 and how he  will drink in all the
 means of grace6  ,how he will hear the 
word of grace  preached1 mixing it no   
longer with fault-finding1 as he used to
 do1 but  with repentance and faith     
under any and every ministry4  ,how he  
will  examine himself every day2 or1    
rather1 how every day will examine1     
accuse1 expose and condemn him2 and how 
meekly he will accept the  exposures and
 the condemnations6  ,that man will not 
need you to preach to  him about the    
sanctifying of the ,sabbath1 or about   
waiting on this and  that means of      
grace4  ,he will grow with or without   
the means of grace1  but he will be of  

all men the most diligent in his        
devotion to them4  ,he  will almost get 
beyond the ,word and within the         
,sacrament1 so close up  will his       
corruptions drive him to ,christ and to 
,god4  ,till1 having  provided for that 
man so much grace and so much growth in 
grace1 ,god will  soon have to give him 
glory1 if only to satisfy him and pacify
 him and  lift him out of the winter of 
his discontent4  ,and then1 ',thy sun   
shall  no more go down2 neither shall   
thy moon withdraw herself2 for the ,lord
  shall be thine everlasting light1 and 
the days of thy mourning shall be       
ended4'          ,,vii4  ,,lady ,,boyd  
',be sorry at corruption4'--,rutherford4
    ,out of various published and       
unpublished writings of her day we are  
able  to gather an interesting and      
impressive picture of ,lady ,boyd's life
 and  character4  ,but there was a      
carefully written volume of manuscript1 
that  ,i much fear she must have burned 
when on her death-bed1 that would have  

been invaluable to us to-night4  ,lady  
,boyd kept a careful diary for many     
years of her later life1 and it was not 
a diary of court scandal or of  social  
gossip or even of family affairs1 it was
 a memoir of herself that  would have   
satisfied even ,john ,foster1 for in it 
she tried with all  fidelity to         
'discriminate the successive states of  
her mind1 and so to  trace the progress 
of her character1 a progress that gives 
its chief  importance to human life4'   
,lady ,boyd's diary would1 to a         
certainty1 have  pleased the austere    
,essayist1 for she was a woman after his
 own heart1  'grave1 diligent1 prudent1 
a rare pattern of ,christianity4'       
,thomas ,hamilton1 ,lady ,boyd's father1
 was an excellent scholar and a very    
able man4  ,he rose from being a simple 
advocate at the ,scottish ,bar to be    
,lord ,president of the ,court of       
,session1 after which1 for his great    
services1 he was created ,earl of       
,haddington4  ,christina1 his eldest    

daughter1 inherited no small part of her
 father's talents and strength of       
character4  ,by the time we know her she
 has been some ten years a widow1  and  
all her children are promising to turn  
out an honour to her name and  a        
blessing to her old age4  ,and1 under   
the ,divine promise1 we do not  wonder  
at that1 when we see what sort of mother
 they had4  ,for with all  sovereign and
 inscrutable exceptions the rule surely 
still holds1 ',train  up a child in the 
way he should go1 and when he is old he 
will not depart  from it4'  ,all her    
days ,lady ,boyd was on the most        
intimate terms with the  most eminent   
ministers of the ,church of ,scotland4  
,we find such men as  ,robert ,bruce1   
,robert ,blair1 ,john ,livingstone1 and 
,samuel ,rutherford  continually        
referring to her in the loftiest terms4 
,but it was not so  much her high rank1 
or her great ability1 or her fearless   
devotion to the  ,presbyterian and      
,evangelical cause that so drew those   

men around her2 it  was rather the      
inwardness and the intensity of her     
personal religion4  ,you  may be a      
determined upholder of a ,church1 of    
,presbytery against ,prelacy1  of       
,protestantism against ,popery1 or even 
of ,evangelical religion against        
,erastianism and ,moderatism1 and yet   
know nothing of true religion in your   
own heart4  ,but men like ,livingstone  
and ,rutherford would never have        
written of ,lady ,boyd as they did had  
she not been a rare pattern of  inward  
and spiritual ,christianity4    ,i have 
spoken of ,lady ,boyd's diary4  ',she   
used every night1' says  ,livingstone1  
'to write what had been the state of her
 soul all day1 and  what she had        
observed of the ,lord's doing4'  ,when  
all her neighbours were  lying down     
without fear1 her candle went not out   
till she had taken pen  and ink and had 
called herself to a strict account for  
the past day4  ,her  duties and her     
behaviour to her husband1 to her        

children1 to her  servants1 and to her  
many dependants2 the things that had    
tried her  temper1 her humility1 her    
patience1 her power of self-denial2 any 
strength and wisdom she had attained to 
in the government of her tongue  and in 
shutting her ears from the hearing of   
evil2 as1 also1 every  ordinary as well 
as extraordinary providence that had    
visited her that  day1 and how she had  
been able to recognise it and accept it 
and take  good out of it4  ,thus the    
,lady ,boyd prevented the night-watches4
  ,when  the women of her own rank sat  
down to write their promised letters of 
gossip and scandal and amusement she sat
 down to write her diary4  ',we  see    
many things1 but we observe nothing1'   
said ,rutherford in a letter to  ,lady  
,kenmure4  ,all around her ,god had been
 dealing all that day with ,lady        
,boyd's neighbours as well as with her1 
only they had not observed it4  ,but    
she had not only an eye to see but a    
mind and a heart to observe also4  ,she 

had a heart that1 like the fabled       
,philosopher's ,stone1 turned all it    
touched and all that touched it         
immediately to fine gold4  ,riding home 
late one night from a hunting           
supper-party1 young ,lord ,boyd saw his 
mother's candle still burning1 and he   
made bold to knock at her door to  ask  
why she was not asleep4  ,without saying
 a word1 she took her son by  the hand  
and set him down at her table and       
pointed him to the wet sheet  she had   
just written4  ,when he had read it he  
rose1 without speaking a  word1 and went
 to his own room1 and though that night 
was never all their  days spoken of to  
one another1 yet all his days ,lord     
,boyd looked back on  that night of the 
hunt as being the night when his soul   
escaped from the  snare of the fowler4  
,i much fear the diary is lost1 but it  
would be well  worth the trouble of the 
owner of ,ardross ,castle to cause a    
careful  search to be made for it in the
 old charter chests of the family4      

,till ,lady ,boyd's lost diary is       
recovered to us let us gather a few     
things  about this remarkable woman out 
of the letters and reminiscences of such
  men as ,livingstone and ,rutherford   
and her namesake1 ,principal ,boyd of   
,trochrig4  ,rutherford1 especially1    
was1 next to her midnight page1 her     
ladyship's confidential and bosom       
friend4  ',now ,madam1' he writes in a  
letter from ,aberdeen1 'for your        
ladyship's own case4'  ,and then he     
addresses himself in his finest style to
 console his correspondent1  regarding  
some of the deepest and most painful    
incidents of her rare and  genuine      
,christian experience4  ',yes1' he says1
 'be sorry at corruption1  and be not   
secure about yourself as long as any of 
it is there4'  ,corruption1 in this     
connection1 is a figure of speech4  ,it 
is a kind of  technical term much in    
vogue with spiritual writers of the     
profounder  kind4  ,it expresses to     
those unhappy persons who have the thing

 in  themselves1 and who are also       
familiar with the ,scriptural and       
experimental use of the word--to them it
 expresses with fearful truth and  power
 the sinfulness of their own hearts1 as 
that sinfulness abides and  breaks out  
continually4  ,now1 how could ,lady     
,boyd1 being the woman she  was1 but be 
sorry and inconsolably sorry to find all
 that in her own  heart every day8  ,no 
wonder that she and her son never       
referred to what  she had written and he
 had read in his mother's lockfast book 
that never-  to-be-forgotten night4     
',be sorry at corruption1 and be not    
secure4'  ,how could she be secure  when
 she saw and felt every day that deadly 
disease eating at her own  heart8  ,she 
could not be secure for an hour2 she    
would have been anything  but the grave 
and prudent woman she was--she would    
have been mad--had she  for a single    
moment felt secure with such a corrupt  
heart4  ,you must all  have read a      
dreadful story that went the round of   

the newspapers the  other day4  ,a      
prairie hunter came upon a shanty near  
,winnipeg1 and  found--of all things in 
the world6--a human foot lying on the   
ground  outside the door4  ,inside was a
 young ,english settler bleeding to     
death1  and almost insane4  ,he had lost
 himself in the prairie-blizzard till   
his  feet were frozen to mortification1 
and in his desperation he had taken a   
carving-knife and had hacked off his    
most corrupt foot and had thrown it  out
 of doors4  ,and then1 while the        
terrified hunter was getting help1 the  
despairing man cut off the other corrupt
 foot also4  ,i hope that brave  young  
,englishman will live till some         
,winnipeg minister tells him of a yet   
more terrible corruption than ever took 
hold of a frozen foot1 and of a  knife  
that cuts far deeper than the shanty    
carver1 and consoles him in  death with 
the assurance that it was of him that   
,jesus ,christ spoke in  the ,gospel    
long ago1 when ,he said that it is      

better to enter into life  halt and     
maimed1 rather than having two feet to  
be cast into everlasting  fire4  ,there 
was no knife in ,ardross ,castle that   
would reach down to ,lady  ,boyd's      
corrupt heart2 had there been1 she would
 have first cleansed her  own heart with
 it1 and would then have shown her son  
how to cleanse his4  ,but1 as           
,rutherford says1 she also had come now 
to that 'nick' in religion  to cut off a
 right hand and a right foot so as to   
keep ,christ and the  life everlasting1 
and so had her eldest son1 ,lord ,boyd4 
,as ,bishop  ,martensen also says1      
',many a time we cannot avoid feeling a 
deep sorrow  for ourselves because of   
the bottomless depth of corruption which
 lies  hidden in our heart--which       
sorrow1 rightly felt and rightly        
exercised1 is  a weighty basis of       
sanctification4'    ,to an able woman   
building on such a weighty basis as that
 on which ,lady  ,boyd had for long been
 building1 ,rutherford was quite safe to

 lay weighty  and unusual comforts on   
her mind and on her heart4  ',christ has
 a use for  all your corruptions1' he   
says to her1 to her surprise and to her 
comfort4  ',beata culpa1' cried         
,augustine2 and ',felix culpa1' cried   
,gregory4  ',my sins have in a manner   
done me more good than my graces1'  said
 holy ,mr4 ,fox4  ',i find advantages of
 my sins1' said that most               
spiritually-minded of men1 ,james       
,fraser of ,brea4  ,those who are       
willing  and able to read a splendid    
passage for themselves on this          
paradoxical-  sounding subject will find
 it on page xii4 of the ,address to the 
,godly  and ,judicious ,reader in       
,samuel ,rutherford's ,christ ,dying and
 ,drawing  ,sinners to ,himself4        
,what ,rutherford was bold to say to    
,lady ,boyd about her corruptions she   
was able herself to say to ,trochrig    
about her crosses4  ',right ,honourable 
,sir1--,it is common to ,god's children 
and to the wicked to be under  crosses1 

but their crosses chase ,god's children 
to ,god4  ,o that anything  would chase 
me to my ,god6'  ,there speaks a woman  
of mind and of heart who  knows what she
 is speaking about4  ,and1 like her and 
her correspondents1  when all our other 
crosses have chased us to ,god1 then our
 master cross1  the corruption of our   
heart1 will chase us closer up to ,god  
than all our  other crosses taken       
together4  ,we have no cross to be      
compared with our  corruptions1 and when
 they have chased us close enough and   
deep enough  into the secret place of   
,god1 then we will begin to understand  
and adorn  the dangerous doxologies of  
,augustine and ,gregory1 ,fraser and    
,fox4  ,yes2  anything and everything is
 good that chases us up to ,god3 crosses
 and  corruptions1 sin and death and    
hell4  ',o that anything would chase me 
to  my ,god6' cried saintly ,lady ,boyd4
  ,and that leads her ladyship in       
another  letter to ,trochrig to tell him
 the kind of preaching she needs and    

that  she must have at any cost4  ',it  
will not neither be philosophy nor      
eloquence that will draw me from the    
broad road of perdition3 ,i must have  a
 trumpet to tell me of my sins4'  ,that 
was a well-said word to the then        
,principal of ,glasgow ,university who  
had so many of the future ministers  of 
,scotland under his hands1 all vying    
with one another as to who should  be   
the best philosopher and the most       
eloquent preacher4  ,trochrig was  both 
an eloquent preacher and a philosophic  
principal and a spiritually-  minded    
man1 but he was no worse to read ,lady  
,boyd's demand for a true  minister1 and
 ,i hope he read her letter and gave his
 students her name in  his pastoral     
theology class4  ',lady ,boyd on the    
broad road of perdition6'  some of his  
students would exclaim4  ',why1 ,lady   
,boyd is the most saintly  woman in all 
the country4'  ,and that would only give
 the learned  ,principal an opportunity 
to open up to his class1 as he was so   

well  fitted to do1 that saying of      
,rutherford to ,lady ,kenmure3 that     
'sense of  sin is a sib friend to a     
spiritual man1' till some1 no doubt1    
went out of  that class and preached1 as
 ,thomas ,boston did1 to 'terrify the   
godly4'  ,such results1 no doubt1 came  
to many from ,lady ,boyd's letter to the
  ,principal as to the preaching she    
needed and must at any cost have3 not   
philosophy1 nor eloquence1 but a voice  
like a trumpet to tell her of her  sin4 
,rutherford was in ,london attending the
 sittings of the ,westminster  ,assembly
 when his dear friend ,lady ,boyd died  
in her daughter's house at  ,ardross4   
,the whole ,scottish ,parliament1 then  
sitting at ,st4 ,andrews1  rose out of  
respect and attended her funeral4       
,rutherford could not be  present1 but  
he wrote a characteristically comforting
 letter to ,lady  ,ardross1 which has   
been preserved to us4  ,he reminded her 
that all her  mother's sorrows were     
comforted now1 and all her corruptions  

healed1 and  all her much service of    
,christ and ,his ,church in ,scotland   
far more than  recompensed4    ,children
 of ,god1 take comfort1 for so it will  
soon be with you also4  ,your           
salvation1 far off as it looks to you1  
is far nearer than when you  believed4  
,you will carry your corruptions with   
you to your grave2 'they  lay with you1'
 as ,rutherford said to ,lady ,boyd1 'in
 your mother's womb1'  and the nearer   
you come to your grave the stronger and 
the more loathsome  will you feel your  
corruptions to be2 but what about that1 
if only they  chase you the closer up to
 ,god1 and make what is beyond the grave
 the  more sure and the more sweet to   
your heart4  ,lady ,boyd is not sorry   
for  her corruptions now4  ,she is now  
in that blessed land where the          
inhabitant shall not say1 ,i am sick4   
,take comfort1 ,o sure child of ,god1   
with the most corrupt heart in all the  
world2 for it is for you and for  the   
like of you that that inheritance is    

prepared and kept1 that  inheritance    
incorruptible1 and undefiled1 and that  
fadeth not away4  ,take  comfort1 for   
they that be whole need not a physician1
 but they that are  sick4               
,,viii4  ,,lady ,,robertland            
',that famous saint1 the ,lady          
,robertland1 and the rare outgates she  
so     often got4'--,livingstone's      
,characteristics4    ,the ,lady         
,robertland ranks in the ,rutherford    
sisterhood with ,lady ,kenmure1  ,lady  
,culross1 ,lady ,boyd1 ,lady ,cardoness1
 ,lady ,earlston1 ,marion ,m',naught    
and ,grizel ,fullarton4  ,lady          
,robertland1 like so many of the other  
ladies  of the ,covenant1 was not only a
 woman of deep personal piety and great 
patriotism1 she was also1 like ,lady    
,kenmure1 ,lady ,boyd1 and ,marion      
,m',naught1 a woman of remarkable powers
 of mind4  ,for one thing1 she had a    
fascinating gift of conversation1 and1  
like ,john ,bunyan1 it was her habit  to
 speak of spiritual things with         

wonderful power under the similitude    
and parable of outward and worldly      
things4  ,at the time of the famous     
',stewarton sickness' ,lady ,robertland 
was of immense service1 both to the     
ministers and to the people4  ,robert   
,fleming tells us that the profane      
rabble of that time gave the nickname of
 the ,stewarton sickness to that        
'extraordinary outletting of the        
,spirit' that was experienced in those  
days over the whole of the west of      
,scotland1 but which fell in perfect    
,pentecostal power on both sides of the 
,stewarton ,water4  ',i preached  often 
to them in the time of the ,college     
vacation1' says ,robert ,blair1         
'residing at the house of that famous   
saint1 the ,lady ,robertland1 and ,i    
had much conference with the people1 and
 profited more by them than ,i  think   
they did by me2 though ignorant people  
and proud and secure livers  called them
 the daft people of ,stewarton4'  ,the  
,stewarton sickness was  as like as     

possible1 both in its manifestations and
 in its results1 to  the ,irish ,revival
 of #ahei1 in which1 when it came over  
and awakened  ,scotland1 the ,duchess of
 ,gordon1 another lady of the ,covenant1
 acted much  the same part in the ,north
 that ,lady ,robertland acted in her day
 in the  ,west4  ,many of our ministers 
still living can say of ,huntly ,lodge1 
',i  resided often there1 and preached  
to the people1 profiting more by them   
than they could have done by me4'       
,outgate is an old and an almost        
obsolete word1 but it is a word of      
great expressiveness and point4  ,it    
bears on the face of it what it  means4 
,an outgate is just a gate out1 a way of
 redemption1 deliverance  and escape4   
,and her rare outgates does not imply   
that ,lady  ,robertland's outgates were 
few1 but that they were extraordinary1  
seldom  matched1 and above all          
expectation and praise4  ,lady          
,robertland's  outgates were not rare in
 the sense of coming seldom and being   

few2 for1  the fact is1 they filled her 
remarkable life full2 but they were rare
 in  the sense that she1 like the       
,psalmist in ,mr4 ,james ,guthrie's     
psalm1 was a  wonder unto many1 and most
 of all unto herself4  ,but a gate out1 
and  especially such a gate as the ,lady
 ,robertland so often came out at1 needs
  a key1 needs many keys1 and many keys 
of no common kind1 and it needs a       
janitor also1 or rather a redeemer and a
 deliverer of a kind  corresponding to  
the kind of gate and the kind of        
confinement on which  the gate shuts and
 opens4  ,and when ,lady ,robertland    
thought of her rare  outgates--and she  
thought more about them than about      
anything else that  ever happened to    
her--and as often as she could get an   
ear and a heart  into which to tell     
them1 she always pictured to her        
audience and to  herself the majestic   
,figure of the first chapter of the     
,revelation4  ,she  often spoke of her  
rare outgates to ,david ,dickson1 and   

,robert ,blair1 and  ,john ,livingstone1
 and to her own ,stewarton minister1    
,mr4 ,castlelaw1 whose  name written in 
water on earth is written in letters of 
gold in heaven4  ',not much of a        
preacher himself1 he encouraged his     
people to attend ,mr4  ,dickson's       
sermons1 and he often employed ,mr4     
,blair to preach at  ,stewarton1 and    
accompanied him back and forward1       
singing psalms all the  way4'  ,her     
ladyship often told saintly ,mr4        
,castlelaw of her rare  outgates1 and   
always so spoke to him of the ,amen1 who
 has the keys of  hell and of death1    
that he never could read that chapter   
all his days  without praising ,god that
 he had had the ,lady ,robertland and   
her rare  outgates in his sin-sick      
parish4    ,but it is time to turn to   
some of those special and rare outgates 
that  the ,amen with the keys gave to   
,his favoured handmaiden1 the ,lady     
,robertland2 and the first kind of      
outgate1 on account of which she was    

always such an astonishment to herself1 
was what she would call her  outgate    
from providential disabilities1         
entanglements1 and  embarrassments4     
,she was wont to say to ,william        
,guthrie1 who best  understood her witty
 words and her wonderful history1 that  
the wicked  fairies had handicapped her 
infant feet in her very cradle4  ,she   
could  use a freedom of speech with     
,guthrie1 and he with her1 such as      
neither of  them could use with         
,livingstone or with ,rutherford4       
,rutherford could not  laugh when his   
heart was breaking1 as ,lady ,robertland
 and the witty  minister of ,fenwick    
were often overheard laughing4  ',yes1  
but your  ,ladyship has won the race    
with all your weights1' ,guthrie would  
laugh and  say4  ',one of my many       
races1' she would answer1 with half a   
smile and  half a sigh2 'but ,i have a  
long race1 many long races1 still before
 me4  ,it seemed conclamatum est with   
me1' she would then say1 quoting a well-

  known expression of ,samuel           
,rutherford's1 which is1 being          
interpreted1  ,it's all over and gone   
with me1 'but ,providence1 since the    
,amen took it  in hand1 has a thousand  
and more keys wherewith to give poor    
creatures  like me our rare outgates4'  
,there were few alive by that time who  
had  known ,lady ,robertland in her     
early days1 and she seldom spoke of     
those  days2 only1 on the anniversary of
 her early marriage1 she never forgot   
her feelings when her life as a ,fleming
 came to an end and her new life  as a  
,robertland began4  ,there was a famous 
preacher of her day who  sometimes spoke
 familiarly of the 'keys of the         
cupboard1 that the ,master  carried at  
,his girdle1' and she used sometimes to 
take up his homely  words and say that  
she had had all the sweetest morsels and
 most delicate  dainties of earth's     
cupboard taken out from under lock and  
key and put  into her mouth4  ',he ties 
terrible knots1' she would say1 'just to

 have  the pleasure of loosing them off 
from those ,he loves4  ,he lays nets and
  sets traps only that ,he may get a    
chance of healing broken bones and      
setting the terrified free4'  ,no wonder
 that ,wodrow calls her 'a much-        
exercised woman1' with such ingates and 
outgates1 and with such miracles  of an 
interposing ,providence filling her     
childhood1 her youth1 her  married and  
her widowed life4  ,the ,analecta is    
full of remarkable  providences1 but    
,lady ,robertland's exercises and       
outgates are too  wonderful even for the
 pages of that always wonderful and     
sometimes too  awful book4    ',my      
,master hath outgates of ,his own which 
are beyond the wisdom of man1'  writes  
,rutherford1 in her own language1 to    
,lady ,robertland from ',christ's       
prison in ,aberdeen4'  ,rutherford's    
letters are full of more or less        
mysterious allusions to the rare        
outgates that ,god in ,christ had given 
him also from the snares and traps into 

which he had fallen by the sins  and    
follies of his unregenerate youth4      
,whatever trouble came on  ,rutherford  
all his days--the persecution of the    
bishop1 his banishment to  ,aberdeen1   
the shutting of his mouth from preaching
 ,christ1 the loss of  wife and child1  
and the poignant pains of               
sanctification--he gathered  them all up
 under the familiar figure of a waled   
and chosen cross4  ',seeing that the    
sins of my youth deserved strokes1 how  
am ,i obliged to  my ,lord1 who1 out of 
many possible crosses1 hath given me    
this waled and  chosen cross to suffer  
for the name of ,jesus ,christ4  ,since 
,i must have  chains1 ,he has put golden
 chains on me4  ,seeing ,i must have    
sorrow1 for ,i  have sinned1 ,o         
,preserver of mankind1 ,thou hast waled 
and selected out for  me a joyful       
sorrow--an honest1 spiritual1 glorious  
sorrow4  ,oh1 what am  ,i1 such a rotten
 mass of sin1 to be counted worthy of   
the most honourable  rod in my ,father's

 house1 even the golden rod wherewith   
the ,lord the ,heir  was ,himself       
stricken4  ,thou wast a ,god that       
forgavest them1 though ,thou  tookest   
vengeance of their inventions4'         
,rutherford also was forgiven1  and the 
only vengeance that ,god took of his    
inventions1 the  irregularities of his  
youth1 was taken in the form of a 'waled
 cross4'  ',i  might have been          
proclaimed on the crown of the causey1' 
says ,rutherford1  'but ,he has so waled
 my cross and ,his vengeance that ,i am 
suffering not  for my sin but for ,his  
name4'  ,what a life hid with ,christ in
 ,god he must  live1 who1 like          
,rutherford1 takes all his trials on    
earth as a transmuted  and substituted  
cross for his sins3 and who is able to  
take all his  deserved and demanded     
chastisements in the shape of inward and
 spiritual  and sanctifying pain4  ,o   
sweet vengeance of grace on our sinful  
inventions6  ,o most intimate and most  
awful of all our secrets1 the  secrets  

of a love-waled1 love-substituted cross6
  ,o rare outgate from the  scorn of the
 causeway to the smelting-house of ',him
 who hath ,his fire in  ,zion6'    ',the
 sorrows of death compassed me1' sings  
the ,psalmist1 and 'the pains  of hell  
gat hold upon me2 ,i found trouble and  
sorrow4'  ,what1 you may  well ask1 were
 those pains of hell that gat such hold 
of ,david while yet  he was a living and
 unreprobated man8  ,was it not too     
strong language to  use about any       
earthly experience1 however terrible1 to
 call it the pains  of hell8  ,ask that 
man whose sin has found him out what he 
thinks the  pains of hell were in       
,david's case1 and he will tell you that
  remorse--unsoftened1 unsweetened1     
unquenchable remorse--is hell2 at any   
rate1 it is hell upon earth2 and till he
 confessed his sin it was ,david's      
hell4  ,sin taken up and laid by ,god's 
hand on the sinner's conscience1  that  
makes that sinner's conscience hell4    
,and1 then1 do we not read that         

,jehovah laid on our ,surety the sin of 
us all till ,he was three hours in  hell
 for us1 and came out of it1 as         
,rutherford says1 with the keys of  hell
 at ,his proud girdle8  ,and it is with 
those captured keys that ,he now        
unlocks the true hell-gate in every     
guilty sinner's conscience4       ',he  
comes the prisoners to relieve          
,in ,satan's bondage held2     ,the     
gates of brass before ,him burst1       
,the iron fetters yield4       4 4 4 4 4
 4       ,we may not know1 we cannot    
tell        ,what pains ,he had to bear1
     ,but we believe it was for us      
,he hung and suffered there4            
,there was no other good enough         
,to pay the price of sin2     ,he only  
could unlock the gate        ,of heaven1
 and let us in4'    ',myself am hell1'  
cried out ,satan1 in his agony of pride 
and rage and  remorse4       ',divines  
and dying men may talk of hell1     ,but
 in my heart her several torments       
dwell4'    ,so you say of yourself1 as  

you well may1 after such a life as yours
 has  been4  ,the ,judge of all the     
earth would not be a just judge unless  
hell  were already kindled in your      
heart4  ,but ,he who is a just ,god is  
also a  ,saviour1 and ,he has with ,his 
own hand hung the key of hell and of    
your  self-made bed in it at the girdle 
of ,jesus ,christ4  ,go to ,him         
to-night1  and tell ,him that you are in
 hell4  ,tell ,him that1 like ,david1   
and very  much1 so far as you can       
understand1 for ,david's sins1 you1 too1
 are in  the pains of very hell4  ,cast 
yourself1 like ,john in the ,revelation1
 at  ,his feet1 and see if ,he does not 
say to you what ,he said through ,nathan
  to ,david1 and what ,he said ,himself 
to ,john1 and what ,he said to ,lady    
,robertland1 and what ,he said to       
,samuel ,rutherford4  ,cast yourself at 
,his  feet1 and see if you do not get at
 ,his hands as rare an outgate and as   
wonderfully waled a cross as the very   
best of them got4    ,then all the rest 

of your life on this prison-house of an 
earth will be a  history in you and to  
you of all kinds of rare outgates4      
,for1 once ,he  who has the keys has    
taken your case in hand1 ,he will not   
let either rust  or dust gather on ,his 
keys till ,he has opened every door for 
you and set  you free from every snare4 
,there are many evil affections1 evil   
habits1  and evil practices that are    
still closely padlocked both on your    
outward  and your inward life that you  
must be wholly delivered from4  ,and ,he
 who  has all the keys of your body and 
your soul too at ,his girdle1 will not  
consider that you have got your full    
outgate1 or that ,he has at all         
discharged ,his duty by you1 till1 as   
,rutherford says1 your sinful habits    
and practices are all loosened off from 
your life and are driven back  into the 
inner world of your inclinations2 and   
then1 after that1 ,he will  only take up
 still more skilful and still more      
intricate keys wherewith  to turn the   

locks of delight1 desire1 and           
inclination4  ,o blessed keys of  hell  
and of death1 of habit and inclination  
and evil affection6  ,o  blessed people 
who are under such a ,redeemer from sin 
and death and hell6  ,o truly famous    
saint1 the ,lady ,robertland1 who got so
 many and so rare  outgates from the    
,amen with the keys6  ,who shall give me
 an outgate from  this body8 cries the  
great apostle1 not chafing in his chains
 for death1  but for the true life that 
lies beyond death4  ,paul1 with all his 
intense  love of life and service--nay1 
because of that intense love--felt      
sometimes that this present life at its 
very best was but a life of  relaxed    
imprisonment rather than of true        
liberty4  ,paul was1 as we say1 a  kind 
of first-class misdemeanant1 as ,samuel 
,rutherford also was in his             
prison-palace in ,aberdeen1 and the     
,lady ,robertland in ,stewarton ,house2 
they had a liberty that was not to be   
despised2 they had light and air  and   

exercise2 they were not in chains in the
 dungeon2 they had pen and  ink2 they   
had books and papers1 and their friends 
might on occasion visit  them4  ,they   
might have better food also if they paid
 for it2 and1 best of  all1 they could1 
till their full release came1 beguile   
and occupy the  time in work for ,christ
 and ,his ,church4  ,but still they were
 present in  this body of sin and death1
 and absent from the ,lord1 and they    
pined1  and1 ,i fear1 sinfully murmured 
sometimes1 for the last and the greatest
  and the best outgate of all4  ',as for
 myself1' writes ,rutherford1 ',i  think
 that if a poor1 weak1 dying sheep seeks
 for an old dyke1 and the  lee-side of a
 hill in a storm1 ,i surely may be      
allowed to long for  heaven4  ,i see    
little in this life but sin1 and the    
sour fruits of sin2  and oh6 what a     
burden and what a bitterness is sin6    
,what a miserable  bondage it is to be  
at the nod of such a master as ,sin6    
,but ,he who hath  the keys hath sworn  

that our sin shall not loose the        
covenant bond1 and  therefore ,i wait in
 hope and in patience till ,his time    
shall come to take  off all my fetters  
and make a hole in this cage of death   
that the  imprisoned bird may find its  
long-promised liberty4'       ',i would 
not live alway1 thus fettered with sin1 
,temptation without and corruption      
within2     ,in a moment of strength1 if
 ,i sever the chain1     ,scarce the    
victory is mine ere ,i'm captive again2 
,e'en the rapture of pardon is mingled  
with fears1     ,and the cup of         
thanksgiving with penitent tears2       
,the festival trump calls for jubilant  
songs1     ,but my spirit her own       
miserere prolongs4       ',who1 who     
would live always away from his ,god6   
,away from yon heaven1 that blissful    
abode     ,where the rivers of pleasures
 flow o'er the bright plains1     ,and  
the noon-tide of glory eternally reigns2
     ,where the saints of all ages in   
harmony meet1     ,their ,saviour and   

brethren transported to greet2          
,while the songs of salvation exultingly
 roll1     ,and the love of the ,lord is
 the bliss of the soul4'          ,,ix4 
,,jean ,,brown         ',sin poisons all
 our enjoyments4'--,rutherford4    ,jean
 ,brown was one of the selectest        
associates of the famous ,rutherford    
circle4  ,we do not know so much of     
,jean ,brown outside of the ,rutherford 
,letters as we would like to know1 but  
her son1 ,john ,brown of ,wamphray1 is  
very well known to every student of the 
theology and ecclesiastical  history of 
,scotland in the second half of the     
seventeenth century4  ',i  rejoice to   
hear about your son ,john4  ,i had      
always a great love to dear  ,john      
,brown4  ,remember my love to ,john     
,brown4  ,i never could get my love  off
 that man4'  ,and all ,rutherford's     
esteem and affection for ,jean  ,brown's
 gifted and amiable son was fully       
justified in the subsequent  history of 
the hard-working and well-persecuted    

parish minister of  ,wamphray4  ,letter 
#hd is a very remarkable piece of       
writing even in  ,rutherford1 and the   
readers of this letter would gladly     
learn more than  even its eloquent pages
 tell them about the woman who could    
draw such a  letter out of ,samuel      
,rutherford's mind and heart1 the woman 
who was also  the honoured mother of    
such a student and such a minister as   
,john ,brown  of ,wamphray4  ,this      
letter has a bite in it--to use one of  
,rutherford's  own words in the course  
of it--all its own4  ,and it is just    
that profound  and pungent element in   
this letter1 that bite in it1 that has  
led me to  take this remarkable letter  
for my topic to-night4    ,there had    
been some sin in ,samuel ,rutherford's  
student days1 or some  stumble          
sufficiently of the nature of sin1 to   
secretly poison the whole  of his       
subsequent life4  ,sin is such a        
poisonous thing that even a             
mustard-seed of it planted in a man's   

youth will sometimes spring up into  a  
thicket of terrible trouble both to     
himself and to many other people  all   
his and all their days4  ,an almost     
invisible drop of sin let fall  into the
 wellhead of life will sometimes poison 
the whole broad stream of  life1 as well
 as all the houses and fields and       
gardens1 with all their  flowers and    
fruits1 that are watered out of it4     
,when any misfortune  falls upon a      
,hebrew household1 when any ,jewish man 
or woman's sin finds  them out1 they say
 that there is an ounce of the golden   
calf on it4  ,they  open their ,exodus  
and they read there in their bitterness 
of how ,moses in  his hot anger took the
 calf1 which the children of ,israel had
 polluted  themselves with1 and burned  
it in the fire1 and ground it to powder1
 and  strewed it upon the water1 and    
made the children of ,israel to drink of
  it4  ,and1 though ,god turned the     
poisoned1 dust-laden waters of ,samuel  
,rutherford's life into very milk and   

wine1 yet to ,rutherford's subtle and   
detective taste there was always a      
certain tang of the unclean and         
accursed thing in it4  ,the best waled  
and most tenderly substituted cross  in 
,rutherford's chastised life had always 
a certain galling corner in it  that    
recalled to him1 as he bled inwardly    
under it1 the lack of complete  purity  
and strict regularity in his youth4     
,and it is to be feared that  there are 
but too few men or women either who have
 not some ,rutherford-  like memory     
behind them that still clouds their now 
sheltered life and  secretly poisons    
their good conscience4  ,some           
disingenuity1 some  simulation or       
dissimulation of affection1 some        
downright or constructive  dishonesty1  
some lack towards some one of open and  
entire integrity1 some  breach of good  
faith in spirit if not in letter1 some  
still stinging  tresspass of the golden 
rule1 some horn or hoof of the golden   
calf1 the  bitter dust of which they    

taste to this day in their sweetest cup 
and at  their most grace-spread table4  
,there are more men and women in the    
,church of ,christ than any one would   
believe who sing with a broken heart  at
 every communion table3 ',he hath not   
dealt with us after our sins1 nor       
rewarded us according to our iniquities4
  ,as far as the east is from the  west1
 so far hath ,he removed our            
transgressions from us4'    ,and even   
after such men and women might have     
learned a lesson1 how soon  we see all  
that lesson forgotten4  ,even after     
,god's own hand has so  conspicuously   
cut the bars of iron in sunder2 after   
,he has made the  solitary to dwell in  
families2 we still see sin continuing in
 new shapes  and in other forms to      
poison the sweetest things in human     
life4  ,what  selfishness we see in     
family life1 and that1 too1 after the   
vow and the  intention of what          
self-suppression and self-denial4  ,what
 impatience with  one another1 what bad 

temper1 what cruel and cutting words1   
what coldness  and rudeness and neglect1
 in how many ways our abiding sinfulness
  continues to poison the sweetest      
springs of life6  ,and1 then1 how soon  
such unhappy men begin to see themselves
 reproduced and multiplied in  their    
children4  ,how many fathers see1 with a
 secret bitterness of spirit  that never
 can be told1 their own worst vices of  
character and conduct  reproduced and   
perpetuated in their children6  ,one    
father sees his  constitutional and     
unextirpated sensuality coming out in   
the gluttony1  the drunkenness1 and the 
lust of his son2 while another sees his 
pride1  his moroseness1 his kept-up     
anger and his cruelty all coming out in 
one  who is his very image4  ,while many
 a mother sees her own youthful         
shallowness1 frivolity1 untruthfulness1 
deceit and parsimony in her  daughter1  
for whose morality and religion she     
would willingly give up her  own soul4  
,and then our children1 who were to be  

our staff and our crown1  so early take 
their own so wilful and so unfilial way 
in life4  ,they  betake themselves1 for 
no reason so much as just for intended  
disobedience and impudent independence1 
to other pursuits and pleasures1  to    
other political and ecclesiastical      
parties than we have ever gone  with4   
,and when it is too late we see how we  
have again mishandled and  mismanaged   
our families as we had mishandled and   
mismanaged our own  youth1 till it is   
only one grey head here and another     
there that does not  go down to the     
grave under a crushing load of domestic 
sorrow4  ,when the  best things in life 
are so poisoned by sin1 how bitter is   
that poison6    ,if an unpoisoned youth 
and an unembittered family life are some
 of the  sweetest things this earth can 
taste1 then a circle of close and true  
and  dear friendships does not come very
 far behind them4  ,rutherford had      
plenty of trouble in his family life    
that he used to set down to the sins  of

 his youth2 and then the way he poisoned
 so many of his best  friendships by his
 so poisonous party spirit is a humbling
 history to  read4  ,he quarrelled      
irreconcilably with his very best       
friends over  matters that were soon to 
be as dead as ,aaron's golden calf1 and 
which  never had much more life or      
decency in them4  ,the matters were so  
small  and miserable over which         
,rutherford quarrelled with such men as 
,david  ,dickson and ,robert ,blair that
 ,i could not interest you in them at   
this  time of day even if ,i tried4     
,they were as parochial1 as             
unsubstantial1  and as much made up of  
prejudice and ill-will as were some of  
those  matters that have served under   
,satan to poison so often our own       
private  and public and religious life4 
,rutherford actually refused to assist  
,robert ,blair at the ,lord's ,supper1  
so embittered and so black was his  mind
 against his dearest friend4  ',i would 
rather1' said sweet-tempered  ,robert   

,blair1 'have had my right hand hacked  
off at the cross of  ,edinburgh than    
have written such things4'  ',my wife   
and ,i1' wrote dear  ,john ,livingstone1
 'have had more bitterness together over
 these matters  than we have ever had   
since we knew what bitterness was4'     
,and no one in  that day had a deeper   
hand in spreading that bitterness than  
just the  hand that wrote ,rutherford's 
letters4  ,there is no fear of our      
calling  any man master if we once look 
facts fair in the face4    ,the         
precariousness of our best friendships1 
the brittle substance out of  which they
 are all composed and constructed1 and  
the daily accidents and  injuries to    
which they are all exposed--all this is 
the daily distress of  all true and     
loving hearts4  ,what a little thing    
will sometimes embitter  and poison what
 promised to be a loyal and lifelong    
friendship6  ,a  passing                
misunderstanding about some matter that 
will soon be as dead to  us both as the 

,resolutions and ,protestations of      
,rutherford's day now are  to all men2  
an accidental oversight2 our simple     
indolence in letting an  absent         
friendship go too much out of repair for
 want of a call1 or a  written message1 
or a timeous gift3 a thing that only a  
too-scrupulous  mind would go the length
 of calling sin1 will yet poison an old 
friendship and embitter it beyond all   
our power again to sweeten it4  ,and1   
then1 how party spirit poisons our best 
enjoyments as it did  ,rutherford's4    
,how all our minds are poisoned against 
all the writers and  the speakers1 the  
statesmen and the journalists of the    
opposite camp1 and  even against the    
theologians and preachers of the        
opposite church4  ,and1  then1 inside   
our own camp and church how new and     
still more malignant  kinds of poison   
begin to distil out of our incurably    
wicked hearts to eat  out the heart of  
our own nearest and dearest friendships4
  ,envy1 for one  thing1 which no       

preacher1 not even ,pascal or ,newman1  
no moralist1 no  satirist1 no cynic has 
yet dared to tell the half of the       
horrible truth  about3 drip1 drip1 drip1
 its hell-sprung venom soaks secretly   
into the  oldest1 the dearest and the   
truest friendship4  ,yes1 let it be for 
once  said1 the viper-like venom of     
envy--the most loyal1 the most          
honourable1  the most self-forgetting   
and self-obliterating friendship is     
never in  this life for one moment proof
 against it4  ,we live by admiration2   
yes1  but even where we admire our most 
and live our best this mildew still     
falls with its deadly damp4  ,what did  
you suppose ,rutherford meant when  he  
wrote as he did write about himself and 
about herself to that so  capable and so
 saintly woman1 ,jean ,brown8  ,do you  
accuse ,samuel  ,rutherford of unmeaning
 cant8  ,was he mouthing big ,bible     
words without  any meaning8  ,or1 was he
 not drinking at that moment of the     
poison-filled  cup of his own youthful1 

family1 and friendship sins8  ,nobody   
will  persuade me that ,rutherford was a
 canting hypocrite when he wrote those  
terrible and still unparaphrased words3 
',sin1 sin1 this body of sin and        
corruption embittereth and poisoneth all
 our enjoyments4  ,oh that ,i were  home
 where ,i shall sin no more6'           
,puritan was an ,english nickname rather
 than a ,scottish1 but our ,scots       
,presbyterians were ,puritans at bottom 
like their ,english brethren both in    
their statesmanship and in their        
churchmanship1 as well as in their      
family and personal religion4  ,and they
 held the same protest as the  ,english 
,puritans held against the way in which 
the scandalous corruptions  of the      
secular court1 and the equally          
scandalous corruptions of the  sacred   
bench1 were together fast poisoning the 
public enjoyments of  ,england and of   
,scotland4  ,you will hear cheap1       
shallow1 vinous speeches  at public     
dinners and suchlike resorts about the  

,puritans1 and about how  they denounced
 so much of the literature and the art  
of that day4  ,when1  if those who so   
find fault had but the intelligence and 
the honesty to  look an inch beneath the
 surface of things they would see that  
it was not  the ,puritans but their     
persecutors who really took away from   
the serious-  minded people of ,scotland
 and ,england both the dance and the    
drama1 as  well as so many far more     
important things in that day4  ,had the 
,puritans  and their fathers always had 
their own way1 especially in ,england1  
those  sources of public and private    
enjoyment would never have been poisoned
 to  the people as they were and are1   
and that cleft would never have been cut
  between the conscience and some kinds 
of culture and delight which still      
exists for so many of the best of our   
people4  ,charles ,kingsley was no      
ascetic1 and his famous ,north ,british 
article1 ',plays and ,puritans1'  was   
but a popular admission of what a free  

and religious-minded ,england  owes on  
one side of their many-sided service to 
the ,puritans of that  impure day4      
,christina ,rossetti is no ,calvinist1  
but she puts the  ,calvinistic and      
,puritan position about the sin-poisoned
 enjoyments of  this life in her own    
beautiful way3 ',yes1 all our life long 
we shall be  bound to refrain our soul1 
and keep it low2 but what then8  ,for   
the books  we now forbear to read we    
shall one day be endued with wisdom and 
knowledge4  ,for the music we will not  
now listen to we shall join in the  song
 of the redeemed4  ,for the pictures    
from which we turn we shall gaze        
unabashed on the beatific vision4  ,for 
the companionship we shun we shall  be  
welcomed into angelic society and the   
companionship of triumphant  saints4    
,for the amusements we avoid we shall   
keep the supreme jubilee4  ,for all the 
pleasure we miss we shall abide1 and for
 ever abide1 in the  rapture of heaven4'
    ,all through ,rutherford's lifetime 

preaching was his chiefest enjoyment    
and his most exquisite delight4  ,he was
 a born preacher1 and his  enjoyment of 
preaching was correspondingly great4    
,even when he was  removed from ,anwoth 
to ,st4 ,andrews1 where1 what with his  
professorship  and principalship        
together1 one would have thought that he
 had his hands  full enough1 he yet     
stipulated with the ,assembly that he   
should be  allowed to preach regularly  
every ,sabbath-day4  ,but sin1 again1   
that  dreadful1 and1 to ,rutherford1    
omnipresent evil1 poisoned all his      
preaching also and made it one of the   
heaviest burdens of his conscience  and 
his heart and his life4  ,there is a    
proverb to the effect that when  the    
best things become corrupt then that is 
corruption indeed4  ,and so  ,rutherford
 discovered it to be in the matter of   
his preaching4  ,do what  he would1     
,rutherford1 like ,shepard1 could not   
keep the thought of what  men would     
think out of his weak and evil mind1    

both before1 and during1  but more      
especially after his preaching4  ,and   
that poisoned and corrupted  and filled 
the pulpit with death to ,rutherford1 in
 a way and to a degree  that nobody but 
a self-seeking preacher will believe or 
understand4  ,rutherford often wondered 
that he had not been eaten up of worms  
in his  pulpit like ,king ,herod on his 
throne1 and that for the very same      
atheistical and blasphemous reason4     
,those in this house who have followed  
all this with that intense and          
intelligent sympathy that a somewhat    
similar experience alone will give1     
will not be stumbled to read what       
,rutherford says in his letter to his   
near neighbour1 ,william ,glendinning3  
',i see nothing in this life but sin1   
sin and the sour fruits of sin4  ,o what
 a miserable bondage it is to be  at the
 nod and beck of ,sin6'  ,nor will they 
wonder to read in his letter  to ,lady  
,boyd1 that she is to be sorry all her  
days on account of her  inborn and      

abiding corruptions4  ,nor1 again1 that 
he himself was sick at  his heart1 and  
at the very yolk of his heart1 at sin1  
dead-sick with  hatred and disgust at   
sin1 and correspondingly sick with love 
and longing  after ,jesus ,christ4      
,nor1 again1 that he awoke ill every    
morning to  discover that he had not yet
 awakened in his ,saviour's sinless     
likeness4  ,nor will you wonder1 again1 
at the seraphic flights of love and     
worship  that ,samuel ,rutherford1 who  
was so poisoned with sin1 takes at the  
name  and the thought of his divine     
,physician4  ,for to ,rutherford that   
divine  ,physician has promised to come 
'the second time without sin unto       
salvation4'  ,the first time ,he came   
,he sucked the poison of sin out of  the
 souls of sinners with ,his own lips1   
and out of all the enjoyments  that ,he 
had sanctified and prepared for them in 
heaven4  ,and ,he is coming  back--,he  
has now for a long time come back and   
taken ,rutherford home to  that         

sanctification that seemed to go further
 and further away from  ,rutherford the 
longer he lived in this sin-poisoned    
world4  ,and1 amongst  all those who are
 now home in heaven1 ,i cannot think    
there can be many  who are enjoying     
heaven with a deeper joy than ,samuel   
,rutherford's sheer1  solid1            
uninterrupted1 unadulterated1 and       
unmitigated joy4          ,x4  ,,john   
,,gordon ,,of ,,cardoness1 ,,the        
,,younger         ',put off a sin or a  
piece of a sin every day4'--,rutherford4
    ,if that gaunt old tower of         
,cardoness ,castle could speak1 and     
would tell  us all that went on within  
its walls1 what a treasure to us that   
story  would be6  ,even the sighs and   
the meanings that visit us from among   
its  mouldering stones tell us things   
that we shall not soon forget4  ,they   
tell us how hard a task old ,john       
,gordon found salvation to be in that   
old  house2 and they tell us still1 to  
deep sobs1 how hard it was to him to    

see the sins and faults of his own youth
 back upon him again in the sins  and   
faults of his son and heir4  ,old ,john 
,gordon's once so wild heart was  now   
somewhat tamed by the trials of life1 by
 the wisdom and the goodness  of his    
saintly wife1 and not least by his close
 acquaintance with ,samuel  ,rutherford2
 but the comfort of all that was dashed 
from his lips by the  life his eldest   
son was now living4  ,cardoness had     
always liked a good  proverb1 and there 
was a proverb in the ,bible he often    
repeated to  himself in those days as he
 went about his grounds3 ',the fathers  
have  eaten sour grapes1 and the        
children's teeth are set on edge4'  ,the
  miserable old man was up to the neck  
in debt to the ,edinburgh lawyers2  but 
he was fast discovering that there are  
other and worse things that a  bad man  
entails on his eldest son than a        
burdened estate4  ,there was no         
,american wheat or ,australian wool to  
reduce the rents of ,cardoness in  that 

day2 but he had learnt1 as he rode in to
 ,edinburgh again and again  to raise   
yet another loan for pocket-money to his
 eldest son1 that there  are far more   
fatal things to a small estate than the 
fluctuations and  depressions of the    
corn and cattle markets4  ,gordon's own 
so expensive  youth was now past1 as he 
had hoped3 but no1 there it was1 back   
upon him  again in a most unlooked-for  
and bitter shape4  ',the fathers have   
eaten  sour grapes' was all he used to  
say as he rose to let in his drunken son
  at midnight2 he scarcely blamed him2  
he could only blame himself1 as his     
beloved boy reeled in and cursed his    
father1 not knowing what he did4    ,the
 shrinking income of the small estate   
could ill afford to support two  idle   
and expensive families1 but when young  
,cardoness broke it to his  mother that 
he wished to marry1 she and her husband 
were only too glad to  hear it4  ,to    
meet the outlay connected with the      
marriage1 and to provide  an income for 

the new family1 there was nothing for it
 but to raise the  rents of the farms   
and cottages that stood on the estate4  
,anxious as  ,rutherford was to see     
young ,cardoness settled in life1 he    
could not stand  by in silence and see  
honest and hard-working people saddled  
with the  debts and expenses of the     
,castle2 and he took repeated           
opportunities of  telling the ,castle   
people his mind2 till old ,cardoness in 
a passion  chased him out of the house1 
and rode next ,sabbath-day over to      
,kirkdale  and worshipped in the parish 
church of ,william ,dalgleish4  ,the    
insolent  young laird continued1 at     
least during the time of his courtship1 
to go  to church with his mother1 but   
,rutherford could not shut his eyes to  
the  fact that he studied all the time  
how he could best and most openly       
insult his minister4  ,he used to come  
to church late on the ,sabbath  morning2
 and he never remained till the service 
was over1 but would rise  and stride out

 in his spurs in the noisiest way and at
 the most unseemly  times4              
,rutherford's nest at ,anwoth was not   
without its thorns4  ,and that  such a  
crop of thorns should spring up to him  
and to his people from ,lady            
,cardoness's house1 was one of          
,rutherford's sorest trials4  ,the      
marriage-  day1 from which so much was  
expected1 came and passed away2 but what
 it  did for young ,cardoness may be    
judged from such expressions in         
,rutherford's ,aberdeen letters as      
these3 ',be not rough with your wife4   
,god  hath given you a wife1 love her2  
drink out of your own fountain1 and sit 
at your own fireside4  ,make conscience 
of cherishing your wife4'  ,his         
marriage did not sanctify young         
,cardoness2 it did not even civilise    
him2  for1 long years after1 when he was
 an officer in the ,covenanters' army1  
he writes from ,newcastle1 apologising  
to his ill-used wife for the way he     
left her when he went to join his       

regiment3 ',we are still ruffians and   
churls at home long after we are counted
 saints abroad4'    ,one day when       
,rutherford was in the ,spirit in his   
silent prison1 whether  in the body or  
out of the body1 he was caught up into  
,paradise to see the  beauty of his     
,lord1 and to hear his little daughter  
singing ,glory4  ,and  among the        
thousands of children that sang around  
the throne he told young  ,cardoness    
that he saw and heard little ,barbara   
,gordon1 whose death had  broken every  
heart in ,cardoness ,castle4  ',i give  
you my word for it1'  wrote ,rutherford 
to her broken-hearted father1 ',i saw   
two ,anwoth children  there1 and one of 
them was your child and one of them was 
mine4'  ,and  when another little voice 
was silenced in the ,castle to sing     
,glory in  heaven1 ,rutherford could    
then write to young ,cardoness all that 
was in  his heart2 he could not write   
too plainly now or too often4  ,not that
 you  are to suppose that they were all 

saints now at ,cardoness ,castle1 or    
that  all their old and inherited vices 
of heart and character were rooted out3 
no number of deaths will do that to the 
best of us till our own death  comes2   
but it was no little gain towards       
godliness when ,rutherford could  write 
to young ,gordon1 now old with sorrow1  
saying1 ',honoured and dear  brother1 ,i
 am refreshed with your letter1 and ,i  
exhort you by the love of  ,christ to   
set to work upon your own soul4  ,read  
this to your wife1 and  tell her that ,i
 am witness for ,barbara's glory in     
heaven4'    ,we would gladly shut the   
book here1 and bring the ,cardoness     
correspondence to a close1 but that     
would not be true to the whole          
,cardoness history1 nor profitable for  
ourselves4  ,we have buried  children1  
like ,john ,gordon2 and1 like him1 we   
have said that it was good  for us to be
 sore afflicted2 but not even the       
assurance that we have  children in     
heaven has1 all at once1 set our        

affections there1 or made us  meet for  
entrance there4  ,we feel it like a     
heavy blow on the heart1 it  makes us   
reel as if we had been struck in the    
face1 to come upon a  passage like this 
in a not-long-after letter to little    
,barbara ,gordon's  father3 ',ask       
yourself when next setting out to a     
night's drinking3 ,what  if my doom came
 to-night8  ,what if ,i were given over 
to ,god's sergeants  to-night1 to the   
devil and to the second death8'  ,and   
with the same post  ,rutherford wrote to
 ,william ,dalgleish telling him that if
 young ,cardoness  came to see him he   
was to do his very best to direct and   
guide him in his  new religious life4   
,but ,rutherford could not roll the care
 of young  ,cardoness over upon any     
other minister's shoulders2 and thus it 
is that  we have the long practical and 
powerful letter from which the text is  
taken3 ',put off a sin or a piece of a  
sin every day4'    ,old ,cardoness had  
been a passionate man all his days2 he  

was an old man  before he began to curb 
his passionate heart2 and long after he 
was  really a man of ,god1 the devil    
easily carried him captive with his     
besetting sin4  ,he bit his tongue till 
it bled as often as he recollected  the 
shameful day when he swore at his       
minister in the rack-renting  dispute4  
,and he never rode past ,kirkdale       
,church without sinning again as  he    
plunged the rowels into his mare's      
unoffending sides4  ,cardoness did  not 
read ,dante1 else he would have said to 
himself that his anger often  filled his
 heart with hell's dunnest gloom4  ,the 
old ,castle was never  well lighted2    
but1 with a father and a son in it like 
,cardoness and his  heir1 it was        
sometimes like the ,stygian pool itself4
  ,rutherford had need  to write to her 
ladyship to have a soft answer always   
ready between such  a father and such a 
son4  ,if you have the ,inferno at hand1
 and will read  what it says about the  
,fifth ,circle1 you will see what went  

on sometimes  in that debt-drained and  
exasperated house4  ,rutherford was far 
away from  ,cardoness ,castle1 but he   
had memory enough and imagination enough
 to see  what went on there as often as 
fresh provocation arose2 and therefore  
he  writes to young ,gordon to put off a
 piece of his fiery anger every day4    
',let no complaining tenants1 let no    
insulting letter1 let no stupid or      
disobedient servant1 let no sudden      
outburst of your father1 let no  peevish
 complaint of your wife make you angry4 
,remember every day that  sudden and    
savage anger is one of your besetting   
sins3 and watch against  it1 and put a  
piece of it off every day4  ,determine  
not to speak back to  your father even  
if he is wrong and is doing a wrong to  
you and to your  mother2 your anger will
 not make matters better3 hold your     
peace1 till  you can with decency leave 
the house1 and go out to your horses and
 dogs  till your heart is again quiet4' 
,rutherford was not writing religious   

commonplaces when he wrote to           
,cardoness ,castle2 if he had1 we would 
not have been reading his letters  here 
to-night4  ,he wrote with his eye and   
his heart set on his  correspondents4   
,and thus it is that 'night-drinking'   
occurs again and  again in his letters  
to young ,gordon4  ,the ,cardoness bill 
to ,dumfries for  drink was a heavy one2
 but it seems never to have occurred1   
even to the  otherwise good people of   
those days1 that strong drink was such a
 costly  as well as such a dangerous    
luxury4  ,it distresses and shocks us to
 read  about 'midnight drinking' in     
,cardoness ,castle1 and in the houses   
round  about1 after all they had come   
through1 but there it is1 and we must   
not  eviscerate ,rutherford's outspoken 
letters4  ,the time is not so far past  
yet with ourselves when we still went on
 drinking1 though we were in debt  for  
the necessaries of life1 and though our 
sons reeled home from company  we had   
made them early acquainted with4  ,if   

you will not even yet pass  the wine    
altogether1 take a little less every    
day1 and the good  conscience it will   
give you will make up for the forbidden 
bouquet2 till1  as ,rutherford said to  
,gordon1 ',you will more easily master  
the remainder  of your corruptions4'    
,let us all try ,samuel ,rutherford's   
piecemeal way of reformation with our   
own anger2 let us put a bridle on our   
mouths part of every day4  ,let us  do  
this if we can as yet go no further2 let
 us bridle our mouths on  certain       
subjects1 and about certain people1 and 
in certain companies4  ,if  you have    
some one you dislike1 some one who has  
injured or offended you1  some rival or 
some enemy1 whom to meet1 to see1 to    
read or to hear the  name of1 always    
brings hell's dunnest gloom into your   
heart--well1 put  off this piece of your
 sin concerning him2 do not speak about 
him4  ,i do  not say you can put the    
poison wholly out of your heart2 you    
cannot3 but  you can and you must hold  

your peace about him4  ,and if that     
beats  you--if1 instead of all that     
making you more easily master of your   
corruption1 it helps you somewhat to    
discover how deep and how deadly it     
is--then ,samuel ,rutherford will not   
have written this old letter in vain    
for you4          ,,xi4  ,,alexander    
,,gordon ,,of ,,earlston         ',a man
 of great spirit1 but much subdued by   
inward exercise4'     ,livingstone's    
,characteristics4    ,the ,gordons of   
,airds and ,earlston could set their    
family seal to the  truth of the promise
 that the mercy of the ,lord is from    
everlasting to  everlasting upon them   
that fear ,him1 and ,his righteousness  
to children's  children4  ,for the life 
of grace entered the ,gordon house three
 long  generations before it came to our
 ,alexander of to-night1 and it still   
descended upon his son and his son's    
son4  ,his great-grandfather1           
,alexander ,gordon also1 was early      
nicknamed ',strong ,sandy1' on account  

of  his gigantic size and his           
,samson-like strength4  ,while yet a    
young man1  happily for himself and for 
all his future children1 as well as for 
the  whole of ,galloway1 ,gordon had    
occasion to cross the ,english border on
  some family business1 to buy cattle or
 cutlery or what not1 when he made  a   
purchase he had not intended to make    
when he set out4  ,he brought home  with
 him a copy of ,wycliffe's contraband   
,new ,testament1 and from the day  he   
bought that interdicted book till the   
day of his death1 ,strong ,sandy        
,gordon never let his purchase out of   
his own hands4  ,he carried his         
,wycliffe about with him wherever he    
went1 to kirk and to market2 he would   
as soon have thought of leaving his     
purse or his dirk behind him as his     
,wycliffe1 his bosom friend4  ,and many 
were the ,sabbath-days that the  laird  
of ,earlston read his ,new ,testament in
 the woods of ,earlston to his  tenants 
and neighbours1 the ,testament in the   

one hand and the dirk in the  other4    
,tamed and softened as old ,sandy       
,gordon became by that taming and       
softening book1 yet there were times    
when the old ,samson still came to  the 
surface4  ,as the ,sabbath became more  
and more sanctified in ,reformed        
,scotland1 the ,saints' days of the     
,romish ,calendar fell more and more    
into  open neglect1 till the ,romish    
clergy got an ,act passed for the       
enforced  observance of all the fasts   
and festivals of the ,romish ,communion4
  ,one  of the enacted clauses forbade a
 plough to be yoked on ,christmas ,day1 
on  pain of the forfeiture and public   
sale of the cattle that drew the        
plough4  ,old ,earlston1 at once to     
protest against the persecution1 and at 
the same time to save his draught-oxen1 
yoked ten of his stalwart sons to  the  
mid-winter plough1 and1 after ploughing 
the whole of ,christmas ,day1  openly   
defied both priest and bishop to        
distrain his team4  ,christmas  ,day1   

whatever its claims and privileges might
 be1 had no chance in  ,scotland till it
 came with better reasons than the      
threat of a ,popish  king and           
,parliament4  ,the ,patriarch of        
,galloway1 as the south of ,scotland    
combined to call old ,alexander ,gordon 
of ,earlston1 lived to the ripe age  of 
over a hundred years1 and we are told   
that he kept family worship  himself to 
the day of his death1 holding his       
,wycliffe in his own hand1  and yielding
 it and his place at the family altar   
over to none4    ,but it is with the    
name-son and great-grandson of this     
sturdy old saint  that we have chiefly  
to do to-night4  ,and ,i may say of him1
 to begin  with1 that he was altogether 
worthy to inherit and to hand on the    
tradition of family grace and truth that
 had begun so early and so              
conspicuously with the head of the      
,earlston house4  ',alexander ,gordon of
  ,earlston1' says ,john ,livingstone1  
in one of his priceless little          

etchings1 'was a man of great spirit1   
but much subdued by inward  exercise1   
and who attained the most rare          
experiences of downcasting and          
uplifting4'  ,and in ,rutherford's first
 letter to this ,earlston1 written  from
 ,anwoth in #afcf1 he says1 in that     
lofty oracular way of his1 ',jesus      
,christ has said that ,alexander ,gordon
 must lead the ring in ,galloway in     
witnessing a good conscience4'  ,this1  
no doubt1 refers to the prosecution     
that ,gordon was at that moment         
undergoing at the hands of the ,bishop  
of  ,glasgow for refusing to admit a    
nominee of the ,bishop into the pulpit  
of  a reclaiming parish4  ,it would have
 gone still worse with ,earlston than   
it did had not ,lord ,lorne1 the true   
patron of the parish1 taken his place   
beside ,earlston at the ,bishop's bar1  
and testified his entire approval of    
all that ,earlston had done4  ,with all 
that1 the case did not end till         
,earlston was banished beyond the ,tay  

for his resistance to the will of  the  
,bishop of ,glasgow4  ,this all took    
place in the early half of the          
seventeenth century1 so that ,dr4       
,robert ,buchanan might with more       
correctness have entitled his able book 
',the ,two ,hundred ,years' ,conflict'  
than ',the ,ten1' so early was the      
battle for ,non-,intrusion begun in     
,galloway4  ,alexander ,gordon was a    
,free ,churchman #bjj years before the  
,disruption1 and ,lord ,lorne was the   
forerunner of those evangelical and     
constitutional noblemen and gentlemen in
 ,scotland who helped so much to  carry 
through the ,disruption of #ahdc4  ,we  
find both ,lord ,lorne1 and  ,earlston  
his factor1 sitting as elders beside one
 another in the ,glasgow  ,assembly of  
#afch1 and then we find ,earlston the   
member for ,galloway in  the ,parliament
 of #afda4    ,we do not know exactly on
 what occasion it was that ,earlston    
refused to  accept the knighthood that  
was offered him by the ,crown2 but we   

seem to  hear the old ,wycliffite come  
back again in his great-grandson as he  
said1  ',no1 your ,majesty1 excuse and  
pardon me2 but no4'  ,alexander ,gordon 
felt  that it would be an everlasting   
dishonour to him and to his house to let
  his shoulder be touched in knighthood 
by a sword that was wet1 and that  would
 soon be still more wet1 with the best  
blood in ,scotland4  ',no1 your         
,majesty1 no4'    ,almost all that we   
are told about ,earlston in the         
histories of his time  bears out the    
greatness of his spirit2 that1 and the  
stories that gives  rise to1 take the   
eye of the ordinary historian2 but good 
,john  ,livingstone1 though not a great 
historian in other respects1 is by far  
the best historian of that day for our  
purpose4  ,john ,livingstone's          
,characteristics is a perfect gallery of
 spiritual portraits1 and the  two or   
three strokes he gives to ,alexander    
,gordon make him stand out  impressively
 and memorably to all who understand and

 care for the things  of the ,spirit4   
',a man of great spirit1 but much       
subdued by inward exercise4'  ,i do not 
need to tell you what exercise is--at   
least bodily exercise4  ,all that a  man
 does to draw out1 develop1 and         
healthfully occupy his bodily powers  in
 walking1 riding1 running1 wrestling1   
carrying burdens1 and leaping  over     
obstacles--all that is called bodily    
exercise1 and some part of that  is     
absolutely necessary every day for the  
health of the body and for the          
continuance and the increase of its     
strength4  ,but we are not all body2  we
 are soul as well1 and much more soul   
than body4  ,bodily exercise  profiteth 
little1 says the ,apostle1--compared1   
that is1 with the exercise  of the soul1
 of the mind1 and of the heart4  ,now1  
,alexander ,gordon was  such an athlete 
of the heart that all who knew him saw  
well what exercise  he must have gone   
through before he was subdued in his    
high mind and  proud spirit to be so    

humble1 so meek1 so silent1 so          
unselfish1 and so  full of godliness and
 brotherly kindness--what a world of    
inward exercise  all that bespoke6      
,alexander ,gordon's patience under     
wrong1 his low  esteem of himself and of
 all he did1 his miraculous power over  
himself in  the forgiveness of enemies  
and in the forgetfulness of injuries1   
his  contentment amid losses and        
disappointments1 his silence when other 
men  were bursting to speak1 and his    
openness to be told that when he did    
speak he had spoken rashly1 unadvisedly1
 and offensively--in all that  ,earlston
 was a conspicuous example of what      
inward exercise carried on  with        
sufficient depth and through a          
sufficiently long life will do even  for
 a man of a hot temper and a proud      
heart4  ,alexander ,gordon had1 to      
begin with1 a large heart4  ,a large    
heart was a family possession of the    
,gordons2 the fathers had it and the    
mothers had it2 and whatever came and   

went in the family estate1 the ,gordon  
heart was always entailed               
unimpaired--increased indeed--upon the  
children4  ,and after some  generations 
of true religion1 inwardly and deeply   
exercising the ,gordon  heart1 it almost
 came as a second nature to our ,gordon 
to take to heart  all that happened to  
him1 and to exercise his large and deep 
heart yet  more thoroughly with it4     
,the affairs of the family1 the affairs 
of the  estate1 the affairs of the      
,church1 his duties as a landlord1 a    
farmer1 a  heritor1 and a factor1 and   
the persecutions and sufferings that all
 these  things brought upon him1 some of
 which we know--all that found its way  
into ,earlston's wide and deep and still
 unsanctified heart4  ,and then1  there 
is a law and a provision in the life of 
grace that all those men  come to       
discover who live before ,god as        
,earlston lived1 a provision that       
secures to such men's souls a depth1 and
 an inwardness1 and an increasing       

exercise that carries them on to reaches
 of inward sanctification that  the ruck
 and run of so-called ,christians know  
nothing about1 and are  incapable of    
knowing4    ,such men as ,earlston1     
while the daily rush of outward things  
is let in  deeply into their hearts1 are
 not restricted to these things for the 
fulness of their inward exercise2 their 
own hearts1 though there were no        
outward world at all1 would sufficiently
 exercise them to all the gifts  and    
graces and attainments of the           
profoundest spiritual life4  ,for one   
thing1 when once ,earlston had begun to 
keep watch over his own heart in  the   
matter of its motives--it was ,david    
,dickson1 one fast-day at ,irvine1  on  
#a ,sam4 ii41 who first taught ,gordon  
to watch his motives--from that  day    
,rutherford and ,livingstone1 and all   
his family1 and all his fellow-  elders 
saw a change in their friend that almost
 frightened them4  ,there  was after    
that such a far-off tone in his letters1

 and such a far-off  look in his eyes1  
and such a far-off sound in his voice as
 they all felt  must have come from some
 great1 and1 to them1 mysterious advance
 in his  spiritual life2 but he never   
told even his son ,william what it was  
that  had of late so softened and       
quieted his proud and stormy heart4     
,but1 all  the time1 it was his motives4
  ,the baseness of his motives even when
 he  did what it was but his duty and   
his praise to do1 that quite killed     
,earlston every day4  ,the loathsomeness
 of a heart that hid such motives  in   
its unguessed depths made him often weep
 in the woods which his  grandfather had
 sanctified by his ,bible readings a    
century before4  ,rutherford saw with   
the glance of genius what was going on  
in his  friend's heart1 when1 in one    
letter1 not referring to himself at all1
  ,earlston suddenly said1 ',if ,lucifer
 himself would but look deep enough  and
 long enough into his own heart1 the    
sight of it would make him a  little    

child4'  ',did not ,i say1' burst out   
,rutherford1 as he read1 'that          
,alexander ,gordon would lead the ring  
in ,galloway8'    ,earlston frightened  
into silence the ,presbytery of         
,kirkcudbright on one  occasion also1   
when at their first meeting after he had
 spoken out so  bravely before the king 
and the ,parliament1 and they were to   
move him a  vote of thanks1 he cried    
out3 ',fathers and brethren1 the heart  
is  deceitful above all things1 and     
desperately wicked1 and you do not know 
it4  ,for ,i had a deep1 malicious1     
revengeful motive in my heart behind    
all my fine and patriotic speeches in   
,parliament4  ,i hated ,montrose more   
than ,i loved the freedom of the ,kirk4 
,spare me1 therefore1 the sentence  of  
putting that act of shame on your       
books6'  ,it was discoveries like  this 
that accumulated in ,john ,livingstone's
 note-book till he blotted out  all his 
instances and left only the blessed     
result1 ',alexander ,gordon1 a  man of  

great spirit1 but much subdued by inward
 exercise1 and who was  visited with    
most rare experiences of downcasting and
 uplifting4'  ,no  doubt1 dear ,john    
,livingstone2 we can well believe it4   
,too rare with us1  alas6 but every day 
with your noble friend2 every day and   
every night1  when he lay down and when 
he rose up4  ,his very dreams often cast
 him  down all day after them2 for he   
said1 ,if my heart were not one of the  
chambers of hell itself1 such hateful   
things would not stalk about in it  when
 the watchman is asleep4  ,downcastings6
 downcastings6  ,yes1 down to  such     
depths of self-discovery and            
self-detestation and self-despair as    
compelled his ,heavenly ,master to give 
commandment that ,his prostrate  servant
 should be lifted up as few men on the  
earth have ever been lifted  up1 or     
could bear to be4  ,yes2 they were rare 
experiences both of  downcastings and of
 upliftings2 when such downcastings and 
upliftings  become common the end of    

this world will have come1 and with it  
the very  ,kingdom of ,heaven4    ,the  
last sight we see of ,alexander ,gordon 
in this world is after his  ,master has 
given commandment that the last touch be
 put to ,his servant's  subdued and     
childlike humility4  ,the old saint is  
sitting in his  grandfather's chair and 
his wife is feeding him like a weaned   
child4  ,john  ,livingstone tells that  
,mr4 ,john ,smith1 a minister in        
,teviotdale1 had all  the ,psalms of    
,david by heart1 and that instead of a  
curtailed1  monotonous1 and mechanical  
grace before meat he always repeated a  
whole  ,psalm4  ,earlston must have     
remembered once dining in the ,manse of 
,maxton  at a ,communion time2 for1 as  
his tender-handed wife took her place   
beside  his chair to feed her helpless  
husband1 he always lifted up his palsied
  hand and always said to himself1 to   
her1 and above all1 to ,god1 the #acast 
,psalm--       ',as child of mother     
weaned2 my soul     ,is like a weaned   

child2'    till all the godly households
 in ,galloway knew the #acast ,psalm as 
,alexander ,gordon of ,earlston's grace 
before meat4          ,,xii4  ,,earlston
 ,,the ,,younger         ',a renowned   
,gordon1 a patriot1 a good ,christian1 a
 confessor1 and1 ,i     may add1 a      
martyr of ,jesus                        
,christ4'--,livingstone's               
,characteristics4    ,thomas ,boston in 
his most interesting autobiography tells
 us about one of  his elders who1 though
 a poor man1 had always 'a brow for a   
good cause4'  ,now nothing could better 
describe the ,gordons of ,earlston than 
just that  saying4  ,for old ,alexander 
,gordon1 the founder of the family1     
lifted up  his brow for the cause of the
 ,bible and the ,sabbath-day when his   
brow was  as yet alone in the whole of  
,galloway2 his great-grandson ,alexander
 also  lifted up his brow in his day for
 the liberty of public worship and the  
freedom of the courts and congregations 
of the ,church of ,scotland1 and  paid  

heavily for his courage2 and his son    
,william1 of whom we are to  speak      
to-night1 showed the same brow to the   
end4  ,the ,gordons1 as ,john  ,howie   
says1 have all along made no small      
figure in our best ,scottish  history1  
and that because they had always a brow 
for the best causes of  their respective
 days4  ,as ,rutherford also says1 the  
truth kept the  causey in the south-west
 of ,scotland largely through the       
intelligence1  the courage1 and the true
 piety of the ,gordon house4    ,while  
still living at home and assisting his  
father in his farms and  factorships1   
young ,earlston was already one of      
,rutherford's most intimate             
correspondents4  ,in a kind of reflex   
way we see what kind of head and  heart 
and character young ,earlston must      
already have had from the letters  that 
,rutherford wrote to him4  ,if we are to
 judge of the character and  attainments
 and intelligence of ,rutherford's      
correspondents by the  letters he wrote 

to them1 then ,i should say that        
,william ,gordon of  ,earlston must have
 been a remarkable man very early in    
life1 both in the  understanding and the
 experience of divine things4  ,one of  
the ,aberdeen  letters especially1      
numbered #aha in ,dr4 ,andrew ,bonar's  
edition1 for  intellectual power1       
inwardness1 and eloquence stands almost 
if not  altogether at the head of all   
the #cfe letters we have from           
,rutherford's  pen4  ,he never wrote an 
abler or a better letter than that he   
wrote to  ,william ,gordon the younger  
of ,earlston on the #afth of ,june      
#afcg4  ,not  ,james ,durham1 not       
,george ,gillespie1 not ,david ,dickson 
themselves ever got  a stronger1 deeper1
 or more eloquent letter from ,samuel   
,rutherford than  did young ,william    
,gordon of ,airds and ,earlston4        
,william ,gordon was but a  young       
country laird1 taken up twelve hours    
every day and six days every  week with 
fences and farm-houses1 with horses and 

cattle1 but ,i think an  examination    
paper on personal religion could be set 
out of ,rutherford's  letters to him    
that would stagger the candidates and   
the doctors of  divinity for this year  
of grace #ahia4  ',william ,gordon was a
 gentlemen1'  says ,john ,howie1 'of    
good parts and endowments2 a man devoted
 to religion  and godliness4'           
,unfortunately we do not possess any of 
the letters young  ,earlston wrote to   
,rutherford4  ,i wish we did4  ,i would 
have liked to have  seen that letter of 
,gordon's that so 'refreshed'           
,rutherford's soul2 and  that other     
letter of which ,rutherford says that   
,gordon will be sure to  'come speed'   
with ,christ if he writes to heaven as  
well about his  troubles as he had      
written to ,rutherford in ,aberdeen4    
,what a detestable  time that was in    
,scotland when such a man as ,william   
,gordon was fined1  and fined1 and      
fined2 hunted out of his house and      
banished1 till at last  he was shot by  

the soldiers of the ,crown and thrown   
into a ditch as if he  had been a       
highwayman4    ,the first thing that    
strikes me in reading ,rutherford's     
letters to young  ,earlston and to      
several other young men of that day is  
the extraordinary  frankness and        
self-forgetfulness of the writer4  ,he  
takes his young  correspondents into his
 confidence in a remarkable way4  ,he   
opens up his  whole heart to them4  ,he 
goes back with a startling boldness and 
unreserve and plainness of speech on his
 own youth1 and he lays himself         
alongside of his youthful correspondents
 in a way that only a strong man  and a 
humble could afford to do4  ,let young  
men read ,rutherford's letters  to young
 ,william ,gordon of ,earlston1 and to  
young ,john ,gordon of  ,cardoness1 and 
to young ,lord ,boyd1 and such like1 and
 they will be  surprised to find that   
even ,samuel ,rutherford was once a     
young man  exactly like themselves1 and 
that he never forgot the days of his    

youth  nor the trials and temptations   
and transgressions of those perilous    
days4  ,let them read his ,letters1 and 
they will see that ,rutherford could not
  only write home to the deepest        
experiences of ,lady ,boyd and ,lady    
,kenmure  and ,marion ,m',naught1 but   
that he was quite as much at home with  
their  sons and daughters also4         
,rutherford told young ,earlston how    
terribly he had 'ravelled his own  hesp'
 in the days of his youth1 and he tells 
another of his  correspondents that     
after eighteen years he was not sure he 
had even yet  got his ravelled hesp put 
wholly right4  ,young ,edinburgh        
gentlemen who  have been born with the  
silver spoon in their mouth will not    
understand  what a ravelled hesp is4    
,but those who have been brought up at  
the pirn-  wheel in ,thrums1 and in     
suchlike handloom towns1 have the       
advantage of  some of their             
fellow-worshippers to-night4  ,they do  
not need to turn to  ,dr4 ,bonar's      

,glossary or to ,jamieson's ,scottish   
,dictionary to find out  what a ravelled
 hesp is4  ,they well remember the stern
 yoke of their  youth when they were    
sent supperless to bed because they had 
ravelled  their hesp1 and all the old   
times rush back on them as ,rutherford  
confesses to ,earlston how recklessly he
 ravelled his hesp when he was a        
student in ,edinburgh1 and how1 twenty  
times a day1 he still ravels it  after  
he is ,christ's prisoner in ,aberdeen4  
,when the hesp is ravelled the pirn is  
badly filled1 and then the shuttle  is  
choked and arrested in the middle of its
 flight1 the web is broken and  knotted 
and uneven1 and the weaver is dismissed1
 or1 at best1 he is fined  in half his  
wages4  ,and so1 said ,rutherford1 is it
 with the weaver and  the web of life1  
when a man's life-hesp is ravelled in   
the morning of his  days4  ,i stood not 
long ago at the grave's mouth of a dear 
and intimate  friend of mine who had    
fatally ravelled both his own hesp and  

that of  other people1 till we had to   
get the grave-diggers to take a cord and
  help us to bury him4  ,horace said    
that in his day most men fled the empty 
cask2 and all but two or three fled my  
poor friend's ravelled hesp4  ,he  had  
recovered the lost thread before he     
died1 but his tangled life was  past    
unravelling in this world1 and we       
wrapped his ragged hesp around him  for 
a winding-sheet1 and left him with      
,christ1 who so graciously took the     
cumber of ,rutherford's ill-ravelled    
life also4  ,young men whose hesp  still
 runs even1 and whose web is not yet    
torn1 as ,rutherford says to  ,earlston1
 ',make conscience of your thoughts and 
study in everything to  mortify your    
lusts4  ,wash your hands in innocency1  
and ,god1 who knoweth  what you have    
need of before you ask ,him1 will       
,himself lead you to  encompass ,his    
holy altar1 and thus to enter the       
harbour of a holy home  and an          
unravelled life4'    ,rutherford's      

,letters are all gleaming with          
illustrations1 some homely  enough1 like
 the ill-ravelled hesp1 and some        
classically beautiful1 like  the arrow  
that has gone beyond the bowman's       
mastery4  ,writing to young  ,lord ,boyd
 about seeking ,christ in youth1 and    
about the manifold  advantages of an    
early and a complete conversion1        
,rutherford says3 ',it is  easy to set  
an arrow right before the string is     
drawn1 but when once the  arrow is in   
the air the bowman has lost all power   
over it4'  ,look around  at the men and 
women beside you and see how true that  
is4  ,look at those  whose arrow is     
shot1 and see how impossible it is for  
them1 even when  they wish it1 either to
 call their arrow back or to correct its
 erring  flight4  ,and thank ,god that  
you are still in your youth1 and that   
the  arrow of your future life is not   
yet shot4  ,and while your arrow still  
lies trembling on the string be sure    
your face is in the right direction  and

 your aim well taken4  ,rutherford1 with
 all his experience and all his         
frankness and all his eloquence1 could  
not tell his young correspondents  half 
the advantages of an early conversion4  
,nor can ,i tell you half of  the       
changes for good that would immediately 
take place in you with an  early1       
immediate1 and complete conversion4     
,perhaps the very first thing  some of  
you would do would be to get a new      
minister and to join a new  church4     
,then on the week-day some of you would 
at once leave your  present business1   
and seek a new means of livelihood in   
which you could  at least keep your     
hands and your conscience clean4  ,then 
you would  choose a new friend and a new
 lover1 or else you would get ,god to do
 for  them what ,he has been so good as 
to do for you1 give them a new heart    
with which to weave their hesp and shoot
 their arrow4  ,you would read new      
books and new journals1 or1 else1 you   
would read the old books and the  old   

journals in a new way4  ,the            
,sabbath-day would become a new day to  
you1 the ,bible a new book1 and your    
whole future a new outlook to  you2--but
 why particularise and specify1 when all
 old things would pass  away1 and all   
things would become new8  ,oh dear young
 men of ,edinburgh1  and young men come 
up to ,edinburgh to get your bow well   
strung and your  arrow well winged1 look
 well before you let go the string1 for1
 once your  arrow is shot1 you cannot   
recall it so as to take a second aim4   
,with an  early and a complete          
conversion you would have the advantage 
also of  having your whole life for     
growth in grace and for the knowledge of
  yourself1 of the word of ,god and of  
,jesus ,christ2 for the formation of    
your character also1 and for the service
 of ,god and of your generation4  ,and  
then when your friends met around your  
grave1 instead of hiding you  and your  
ravelled hesp away in shame and silence1
 they would stand1 a  worshipping crowd1

 saying over you3 ',those that be       
planted in the house  of the ,lord shall
 flourish in the courts of our ,god4    
,they shall still  bring forth fruit in 
old age1 they shall be fat and          
flourishing4'    ,and then1 like the    
true and sure guide to heaven that      
,rutherford was1 he  led his young      
correspondents on from strength to      
strength1 and from one  degree and one  
depth of grace to another1 as thus1     
',common honesty will  not take a man to
 heaven4  ,many are beguiled with this1 
that they are  clear of scandalous sins4
  ,but the man that is not born again   
cannot  enter the ,kingdom of ,heaven4  
,the righteous are scarcely saved4  ,god
 save  me from a disappointment1 and    
send me salvation4  ,speer at ,christ   
the way  to heaven1 for salvation is not
 soon found2 many miss it4  ,say1 ,i    
must be  saved1 cost me what it will4'  
,and to a nameless young man1 supposed  
to  be one of his ,anwoth parishioners1 
he writes1 ',so my real advice is that  

you acquaint yourself with prayer1 and  
with searching the ,scriptures of  ,god1
 so that ,he may shew you the only true 
way that will bring rest to  your soul4 
,ordinary faith and country holiness    
will not save you4  ,take  to heart in  
time the weight and worth of an immortal
 soul2 think of  death1 and of judgment 
at the back of death1 that you may be   
saved4--,your  sometime pastor1 and     
still friend in ,god1 ,s4 ,r4'  ,the    
civility of the ,new  ,jerusalem1 he is 
continually reminding his genteel and   
correct-living  correspondents1 is a    
very different thing from the civility  
of ,edinburgh1  or ,aberdeen1 or ,st4   
,andrews4  ,and so it is1 else it would 
not be worth  both ,christ and all      
,christian men both living and dying for
 it4    ,and this leads ,rutherford on1 
in the last place1 to say what          
,earlston1  and ,cardoness1 and ,lord   
,boyd1 while yet in their unconversion  
and their  early conversion1 would not  
understand4  ,for1 writing to ,robert   

,stuart1  the son of the ,provost of    
,ayr1 ,rutherford says to him1 ',labour 
constantly  for a sound and lively sense
 of sin1' and to the ,laird of ,cally1  
',take  pains with your salvation1 for  
without much wrestling and sweating it  
is  not to be won4'  ,a sound and lively
 sense of sin4  ,as we read these sound 
and lively letters1 we come to see and  
understand something of what their      
writer means by that4  ,he means that   
,stuart and ,cally1 ,cardoness and      
,earlston1 young laymen as they were1   
were to labour in sin and in their  own 
hearts till they came to see something  
of the ungodliness of sin1  something of
 its fiendishness1 its malignity1 its   
loathesomeness1 its  hell-deservingness1
 its hell-alreadyness4  ',all his       
religious  illuminations1 affections1   
and comforts1' says ,jonathan ,edwards  
of ,david  ,brainerd1 'were attended    
with evangelical humiliation1 that is to
 say1  with a deep sense of his own     
despicableness and odiousness1 his      

ignorance1 pride1 vileness1 and         
pollution4  ,he looked on himself as the
  least and the meanest of all saints1  
yea1 very often as the vilest and  worst
 of mankind4'  ,but let ,rutherford and 
,brainerd and ,edwards pour out  their  
blackest vocabulary upon sin1 and still 
sin goes and will go  without its proper
 name4  ,only let those ,christian      
noblemen and gentlemen  to whom         
,rutherford wrote1 labour in their own  
hearts all their days for  some sound   
and lively and piercing sense of this   
unspeakably evil thing1  and they will  
know1 as ,rutherford wrote to ,william  
,gordon1 that they have  got to some    
sound and lively sense of sin when they 
feel that there is no  one on earth or  
in hell that has such a sinful heart as 
they have4  ,the  nearer to heaven you  
get1 the nearer will you feel to hell1  
said  ,rutherford to young ,earlston1   
till1 all at once1 the door will open   
over  you1 and1 or ever you are aware1  
you will be for ever with ,christ and   

the  blessed2 as it indeed was with     
,william ,gordon at the end4  ,for as he
 was  on his way to join the            
,covenanters at ,bothwell ,bridge1 he   
was shot by a  gang of ,english dragoons
 and flung into a ditch4  ,jesus        
,christ1 says  ,rutherford1 went        
suddenly home to ,his father's house all
 over with his  own blood1 and it was   
surely enough for ,william ,gordon that 
he went home  like his ,master4         
,,xiii4  ,,robert ,,gordon ,,of         
,,knockbrex         ',a single-hearted  
and painful ,christian1 much employed in
 parliaments     and public meetings    
after the year #afch4'--,livingstone4   
',hall-binks are slippery4'--,gordon to 
,rutherford4    ,robert ,gordon of      
,knockbrex1 in his religious character1 
was a combination  of ,old ,honest and  
,mr4 ,fearing in the ,pilgrim's         
,progress4  ,he was as  single-hearted  
and straightforward as that worthy old  
gentleman was who  early trysted one    
,good-,conscience to meet him and give  

him his hand over  the river which has  
no bridge2 and he was at the same time  
as troublesome  to ,samuel ,rutherford1 
his minister and correspondent1 as      
,greatheart's  most troublesome pilgrim 
was to him4  ,in two well-chosen words  
,john  ,livingstone tells us the deep   
impression that the laird of ,knockbrex 
made  on the men of his day4  ,with a   
quite ,scriptural insight and terseness 
of  expression1 ,livingstone simply says
 that ,robert ,gordon was the most      
'single-hearted and painful' of all the 
,christian men known to his widely-     
acquainted and clear-sighted biographer4
    ,now there may possibly be some need
 that the epithet 'painful' should be   
explained1 as it is here applied to this
 good man1 but everybody knows  without 
any explanation what it is for any man  
to be 'single-hearted4'  ,this was the  
fine character our ,lord gave to        
,nathanael when ,he saluted  him as an  
,israelite indeed in whom was no guile4 
,it is singleness of  heart that so     

clears up the understanding and the     
judgment that1 as our  ,lord said at    
another time1 it fills a man's whole    
soul with light4  ,and  ,paul gives it  
as the best character that a servant can
 bring to or carry  away from his       
master's house1 that he is              
single-hearted and not an eye-  servant 
in all that he says and does4  ,i keep  
near me on my desk a book  called       
,roget's ,thesaurus1 which is a rich    
treasure-house of the ,english          
language4  ,and though ,i thought ,i    
knew what ,livingstone meant when he    
called ,robert ,gordon a single-hearted 
man1 at the same time ,i felt sure  that
 ,roget would help me to see ,gordon    
better4  ,and so he did4  ,for when  ,i 
had opened his book at the word         
'single-hearted1' he at once told me    
that ,knockbrex was an open1 frank1     
natural1 straightforward1 altogether    
trustworthy man4  ,he was above-board1  
outspoken1 downright1 blunt even1  and  
bald1 always calling a spade a spade4   

,and with each new synonym  ,robert     
,gordon's honest portrait stood out     
clearer and clearer before me1  till ,i 
thought ,i saw him1 and wished much that
 we had more single-hearted  men like   
him in the public and the private life  
of our day4    ,and then1 as to his     
'painfulness1' we have that so well     
expounded and  illustrated in ,john     
,bunyan's ,mr4 ,fearing1 that all ,i    
need to do is to  recall that inimitable
 character to your happy memory4  ',he  
was a man  that had the root of the     
matter in him1 but at the same time he  
was the  most troublesome pilgrim that  
ever ,i met with in all my days4  ,he   
lay  roaring at the ,slough of ,despond 
for above a month together4  ,he would  
not go back neither4  ,the ,celestial   
,city1 he said he should die if he  came
 not to it1 and yet was dejected at     
every difficulty and stumbled at  every 
straw4  ,he had1 ,i think1 a ,slough of 
,despond in his mind1 a slough  that he 
carried everywhere with him1 or else he 

could never have been as  he was4'      
,yes1 both ,mr4 ,fearing and the laird  
of ,knockbrex were painful  ,christians4
  ,that is to say1 they took pains1     
special and exceptional  pains1 with the
 salvation of their own souls4  ,they   
took their religion  with tremendous    
earnestness4  ,they would have pleased  
,paul had they lived  in his day1 for   
they both worked out their own salvation
 with fear and  trembling4  ,they looked
 on sin and death and hell with         
absorbing and  overwhelming solemnity1  
and they set themselves with all their  
might to  escape from these direst of   
evils4  ,pardon of sin1 peace with ,god1
 a  clean heart and a ,christian        
character1 all these things were their  
daily  prayer2 for these things they    
wrestled many a night like ,jacob at the
  ,jabbok4  ,the day of death1 the day  
of judgment1 heaven and hell--these     
things were more present with them than 
the things they saw and handled  every  
day4  ,and this was why they were such  

troublesome pilgrims4  ,this  was why   
they sometimes stumbled at what their   
neighbours called a straw2  and this was
 why they feared neither king nor       
bishop1 man nor devil1 they  feared ,god
 and sin and death and hell so much4    
,this was why1 while all  other men were
 so full of torpid assurance1 they still
 carried1 to the  annoyance and anger of
 all their serene-minded neighbours1    
such a ,slough  of ,despond in their    
anxious minds4  ,this was why sin so    
poisoned all  their possessions and     
enjoyments that ,greatheart could not   
get ,fearing1  any more than ,rutherford
 could get ,gordon1 out of the ,valley  
of  ,humiliation4  ,and this was why    
,gordon so often turned upon ,rutherford
  when he was exalted above measure1 and
 reminded his minister1 in the old      
,scottish proverb1 that ',hall-binks are
 slippery4'  ,seats of honour1 ,mr4     
,samuel1 are unsafe seats for           
unsanctified sinners4  ,ecstasies do not
  last1 and they leave the soul weaker  

and darker than they found it4  ,it  is 
a comely thing even for a saint to be   
well-clothed about with  humility1 and  
the deepest valley is safer and seemlier
 walking for a lame  man than the       
mountain-top2 and so on1 till           
,rutherford admitted that  ,robert      
,gordon's warnings were neither         
impertinent nor untimeous4  ,the sin-   
stricken laird of ,knockbrex was like   
,mr4 ,fearing at the ,house ,beautiful4 
,when all the other pilgrims sat down   
without fear at the table1 that so      
timid and so troublesome pilgrim1       
remembering the proverb1 stole away     
behind the screen and found his meat and
 his drink in overhearing the  good     
conversation that went on in the        
banquet-hall4  ,gordon could not        
understand all ,rutherford's joy4  ,he  
did not altogether like it4  ,he did    
not answer the ecstatic letters so      
promptly as he answered those which     
were composed on a soberer key4  ,he was
 a blunt1 plain-spoken1 matter-of-  fact

 man2 he immensely loved and honoured   
his minister1 but he could not  help    
reminding him after one of his specially
 enraptured letters that  ',hall-binks  
are slippery seats4'  ,the golden mean  
lay somewhere between  the hall-bink and
 the ash-pit2 somewhere between         
,rutherford's ecstasy and  ,gordon's    
depression4  ,but as the ,guide said in 
the exquisite  conversation1 the wise   
,god will have it so1 some must pipe and
 some must  weep3 and1 for my part1 ,i  
care not for that profession that begins
 not  with heaviness of mind4  ,only1   
here was the imperfection of ,mr4       
,fearing  and ,robert ,gordon1 that they
 would play upon no other music but this
 to  their latter end4  ,so much so1    
that the thick woods of ,knockbrex are  
said  to give out to this day the sound 
of the sackbut to those who have their  
ears set to such music2 there are men in
 that country who say that they  still  
hear it when they pass the plantations  
of ,knockbrex alone at night4           

,knockbrex is now a fine modern mansion 
that is sometimes let for the  summer to
 city people seeking solitude and rest4 
,among these thick woods  and along     
these silent sands ,samuel ,rutherford  
and ,robert ,gordon were  wont to walk  
and talk together4  ,and here still a   
man who wishes it may  be free from the 
noise and the hurrying of this life4    
,here a man shall  not be let and       
hindered in his contemplations as in    
other places he is  apt to be4  ,there  
are woods here that he who loves a      
pilgrim's life may  safely walk in4     
,the soil also all hereabouts is rich   
and fruitful1 and1  under good          
management1 it brings forth by handfuls4
  ,the very shepherd  boys here live a  
merry life1 and wear more of the herb   
called heart's-  ease in their bosoms   
than he that is clad in silk and velvet4
  ,what a  rich inheritance to the right
 heir is the old estate of ,knockbrex6  
,what  an opportunity1 and what an      
education1 it must be to tenant         

,knockbrex  with recollection1 with     
understanding1 and with sympathy even   
for a  season4    ,robert ,gordon would 
very willingly have remained behind the 
screen all  his days4  ,he would very   
willingly have given himself up to the  
care of  his estate1 to the upbringing  
of his children1 and to the working out 
of  his own salvation1 but such a man as
 he now was could not be hid4  ,the     
stone that is fit for the wall is not   
let lie in the ditch4  ,we have a       
valuable letter of ,rutherford's        
addressed to ,marion ,m',naught about   
the  impending election of a            
commissioner for ,parliament for the    
town of  ,kirkcudbright4  ,in that      
letter he urges her to try to get her   
husband1  ,william ,fullarton1 to stand 
for the vacant seat4  ',it is an        
honourable  and necessary service1' he  
says4  ,and speaking of one of the      
candidates1  he further says3 ',i fear  
he has neither the skill nor the        
authority for  the post4'  ,now1 it was 

either at this election1 or it was at   
the next  election1 that an influential 
deputation of the gentry and burgesses  
and  ministers and elders of the        
district waited on ,robert ,gordon to   
get him  to stand for one of the vacant 
seats in ,galloway2 and once he was     
chosen  and had shown himself to the    
world he was never let return again to  
his  home occupations4  ',he was much   
employed in those years1' says          
,livingstone1 'in parliaments and public
 meetings4'    ,there are some good men 
among us who think that the world is so 
bad that  it is fit for nothing but to  
be abandoned to the devil and his angels
  altogether1 and that a genuine man of 
,god is too good to be made a member  of
 ,parliament or to be much seen on the  
platforms of public meetings4  ,such was
 not ,samuel ,rutherford's judgment1 as 
will be seen in his #cfth  ,letter4     
,and such was not ,robert ,gordon's     
judgment1 when he left the  woods and   
fields of ,knockbrex and gave himself   

wholly up to the politics  of his       
entangled and distressful day4  ,what he
 would have said to the  summons had the
 marches been already redd between ,lex 
and ,rex1 and had  the affairs of the   
,church of ,christ not been still too   
much mixed up with  the affairs of the  
,state1 ,i do not know4  ,only1 as long 
as the ,crown and  the ,parliament had  
their hands so deeply in the things of  
the ,church1  ,knockbrex was not hard to
 persuade to go to ,parliament to watch 
over  interests that were dearer to him 
than life1 or family1 or estate4        
,robert  ,gordon carried the old family 
brow with him into all the debates and  
dangers of that day2 and he added to all
 that a singleness of heart and a       
painstaking mind all his own4  ,and it  
was no wonder that such a man was  much 
in demand at such a time4  ,in our own  
far happier time what a mark  does a    
member of ,parliament still make1 or a  
speaker at public meetings1  who is seen
 to be single in his heart1 and is at   

constant pains with  himself and with   
all his duties4  ,it is at bottom our   
doubleness of heart  and our lack of    
sufficient pains with ourselves and with
 the things of  truth and righteousness 
that so divide us up into bitter        
factions1  hateful and hating one       
another4  ,and when all our public men  
are like  ,robert ,gordon in the        
singleness of their aims and their      
motives1 and when  they are at their    
utmost pains to get at the truth about  
all the subjects  they are called to    
deal with1 party1 if not parliamentary  
government1  with all its vices and     
mischiefs1 will have passed away1 and   
the absolute  ,monarchy of the ,kingdom 
of ,heaven will have come4    ,so much1 
then1 is told us of ,robert ,gordon in  
few words3 ',a  single-hearted and      
painful ,christian1 much employed in    
parliaments and  public meetings4'  ,to 
which may be added this extract taken   
out of the  ,minute ,book of the        
,covenanters' ,war ,committee3 ',the    

same day there was  delyverit to the    
said commissioners by ,robert ,gordoun  
of ,knockbrax sex  silver spoones ,scots
 worke1 weightan vi4 unce xii4 dropes4' 
,had  ,knockbrex also1 like the         
,earlstons1 been fined by the bishops   
and harried  by the dragoons till he had
 nothing left to deliver to the         
,commissioners  but six silver spoons   
and a single heart8  ,it would seem so4 
,like the  woman in the ,gospel1 ,gordon
 gave to the ,covenant all that he had4 
,had  ,robert ,gordon been a ,highlander
 instead of a ,lowlander2 had he been a 
,ross-shire crofter instead of a small  
laird in ,wigtown1 he would have  been  
one of the foremost of the well-known   
'men4'  ,his temperament and  his       
experiences would have made him a prince
 among the ministers and the  men of the
 far north4  ,were it nothing else1 the 
pains he spent on the  growth of the    
life of grace in his own soul1--that    
would have canonised  him among the     
saintliest of those saintly men4  ,he   

would have set the  ,question on many a 
,communion ,friday1 and the ,question in
 his hands would  not have concerned    
itself with surface matters4  ,was it   
because  ,rutherford had now gone nearer
 that great region of experimental      
casuistry that he started that excellent
 ,friday problem in a letter from       
,aberdeen to ,knockbrex in #afcg8  ,with
 ,rutherford everything1--the most      
doctrinal1 experimental1 ecclesiastical1
 political1 all--ran always up  into    
,christ1 ,his love and ,his             
loveableness4  ',is ,christ more to be  
loved  for gaining for us justification 
or sanctification8'  ,such was one of   
the  questions ,rutherford set to his   
correspondent in the south4  ,did any of
  you north-country folk ever hear that 
question debated out before one of  your
 ,highland communions8  ,if you care to 
see how ,rutherford the minister  and   
,knockbrex the man debated out their    
debt to ,jesus ,christ1 read the        
priceless correspondence that passed    

between them1 and especially1 read  the 
#agjth ,letter4  ,but first1 and before 
that1 do you either know1 or  care to   
know1 what either justification or      
sanctification is8  ,when you  do know  
and do care for these supreme things1   
then you too will in time  become a     
single-hearted and painstaking          
,christian like ,robert ,gordon1 or     
else an ecstatic and enraptured         
,christian like ,samuel ,rutherford4    
,and  that again will be very much      
according to your natural temperament1  
your  attainments1 and your experiences4
  ,and nothing in this world will       
thereafter interest and occupy you half 
so much as just those questions  that   
are connected first with all that       
,christ is in ,himself and all that  ,he
 has done for you1 and then with the    
signs and the fruits of the life  of    
grace in your own souls4          ,,xiv4
  ,,john ,,gordon ,,of ,,rusco          
',remember these seven                  
things4'--,rutherford4    ,there were   

plenty of cold ,covenanters1 as they    
were called1 in  ,kirkcudbright in ,john
 ,gordon's day1 but the laird of ,rusco 
was not one of  them4  ,rusco ,castle   
was too near ,anwoth ,kirk and ,anwoth  
,manse1 and its  owner had had ,samuel  
,rutherford too long for his minister   
and his near  neighbour to make it      
possible for him to be 'ane cold        
covenanter quha did  not do his dewtie  
in everything committed to his charge   
thankfullie and  willinglie4'  ,we find 
,gordon of ,rusco giving good reasons   
indeed1 as he  thought1 why he should   
not be sent out of the ,stewartry on the
 service of  the covenant1 but the war  
committee 'expelled his resounes' and   
instantly  commanded his services4  ,and
 from all we can gather out of the old  
,minute  ,book1 ,rusco played all the   
noble part that ,rutherford expected of 
him in  the making of ,scotland and in  
the salvation of her kirk4    ,like the 
,psalmist in the hundred and second     
,psalm1 we take pleasure in  the stones 

of ,rusco ,castle1 and we feel a favour 
to the very dust  thereof4  ,even in    
,rutherford's day that rugged old pile  
was sacred and  beautiful to the eyes of
 ,rutherford and his people1 because of 
what the  grace of ,god had wrought     
within its walls2 and1 both for that1   
and for  much more like that1 both in   
,rutherford's own day and after it1 we  
also  look with awe and with desire at  
the ruined old mansion-house4  ,a       
hundred  years before ,john ,gordon bade
 ,rusco farewell for heaven1 we find a  
friend  of ,john ,knox's on his deathbed
 there1 and having a departure from his 
deathbed administered to him there as   
confident and as full of a desire  to   
depart as ,john ,knox's own4  ',the     
,last and ,heavenly ,speeches of ,john1 
,viscount ,kenmure' also still echo     
through the deserted rooms of ,rusco1   
and after he had gone up from it we find
 still another ,gordon there with  his  
wife and children and farm-tenants1 all 
warm ,covenanters1 and all  continuing  

the ,rusco tradition of godliness and   
virtue4  ,at the same time  ,samuel     
,rutherford was not the man to take it  
for granted that ,john ,gordon  and his 
household were all saved and home in    
heaven because they lived  within such  
sacred walls and were all church members
 and warm  ,covenanters4  ,he was only  
the more anxious about the ,gordon      
family  because they had such an        
ancestry and were all bidding so fair to
 leave  behind them such a posterity4   
,and thus it is that1 from his isle of  
,patmos1 ,samuel ,rutherford1 like the  
apostle ,john to his seven churches1    
sends to ,john ,gordon seven things that
 are specially to be remembered and     
laid to heart by the laird of ,rusco4   
#a4  ,remember1 in the first place1 my  
dear brother1 those most solemn and  too
 much forgotten words of our ,lord1 that
 there are but few that be  saved4  ,is 
that really so8 said a liberal-minded   
listener to our ,lord one  day4  ,is    
that really so1 that there are but few  

that be saved8  ,mind your  own         
business1 was our ,lord's answer4  ,for 
there are many lost by making  their own
 and other men's salvation a matter of  
dialectic and debate in  the study and  
in the workshop rather than of silence1 
and godly fear1 and  a holy life4  ,yes1
 there are few that be saved1 said      
,samuel ,rutherford1  writing again the 
same year to ,farmer ,henderson1 who    
occupied the home-  steading of ,rusco4 
,men go to heaven in ones and twos4     
,and that you may  go there1 even if it 
has to be alone1 love your enemies and  
stand to the  truth ,i taught you4      
,fear no man1 fear ,god only4  ,seek    
,christ every day4  ,you will find ,him 
alone in the fields of ,rusco4  ,seek a 
broken heart for  sin1 for1 otherwise1  
you may seek ,him all your days1 but you
 will never  find ,him4  ,and it is not 
in our ,new ,testament only1 and in such
 books as  ,rutherford's ,letters only1 
that we are reminded of the loneliness  
of  our road to heaven2 in a hundred    

places in the wisest and deepest books  
of the heathen world we read the same   
warning2 notably in the ,greek  ,tablet 
of ,cebes1 which reads almost as if it  
had been cut out of the  ,sermon on the 
,mount4  ',do you not see1' says the old
 man1 'a little door1  and beyond the   
door a way which is not much crowded1   
for very few are  going along it1 it is 
so difficult of access1 so rough1 and so
 stony8'  ',yes1' answers the stranger4 
',and does there not seem1' subjoins the
 old  man1 'to be a high hill and the   
road up it very narrow1 with precipices 
on each side8  ,well1 that is the way   
that leads to the true instruction4'    
',a cause is not good1' says ,rutherford
 in another of his pungent books1       
'because it is followed by many4  ,men  
come to ,zion in ones and twos out  of a
 whole tribe1 but they go to hell in    
their thousands4  ,the way to  heaven is
 overgrown with grass2 there are the    
traces of but few feet on  that way1    
only you may see here and there on it   

the footprints of  ,christ's bloody feet
 to let you know that you are not gone  
wrong but are  still on the right way4' 
#b4  ,remember also that other word of  
our ,lord1--that heaven is like a       
fortress in this1 that it must be taken 
by force4  ,only our ,lord means  that  
the force must not be done to the gates 
or the walls of heaven1 but  to our own 
hard hearts and evil lives4  ',i find it
 hard to be a  ,christian1' writes      
,rutherford to ,rusco4  ',there is no   
little thrusting  and thringing to get  
in at heaven's gates4  ,heaven is a     
strong castle  that has to be taken by  
force4'  ',oh to have one day more in my
 pulpit in  ,aberdeen6' cried a great   
preacher of that day when he was dying4 
',what  would you do8' asked another    
minister who sat at his bedside4  ',i   
would  preach to the people the         
difficulty of salvation1' said the dying
 man4  ',remember1' wrote ,rutherford to
 ,rusco from the same city1 ',remember  
that  it is violent sweating and        

striving that alone taketh heaven4'     
#c4  ,remember also that there are many 
who start well at the bottom of the     
hill who never get to the top4  ,we     
ministers and elders know that only  too
 well2 we do not need to be reminded of 
that4  ,there are the names of  scores  
and scores of young communicants on our 
session books of whom we  well remember 
how we boasted about them when they took
 the foot of the  hill1 but we never    
mention their names now1 or only with a 
blush and in a  whisper4  ,some take to 
the hill-foot at one age1 and some at   
another2  some for one reason and some  
for another4  ,a bereavement awakens    
one1 a  sickness--their own or that of  
some one dear to them--another2 a       
disappointment in love or in business   
will sometimes do it2 a fall into  sin  
will also do it2 a good book1 a good    
sermon1 a conversation with a  friend   
who has been some way up the hill2 many 
things may be made use of  to make men  
and women1 and young men and women1 take

 a start toward a  better life and a    
better world4  ,but for ten1 for twenty1
 who so start  not two ever come to the 
top4  ',heaven is not next door1' writes
  ,rutherford to ,rusco2 'if it were we 
would all be saved4'  ,there was a      
well-known kind of ,christians in       
,rutherford's day that the ,english     
,puritans called by the nickname of the 
,temporaries2 and it is to pluck  ,rusco
 from among them that ,rutherford writes
 to him this admonitory  letter4  ,and  
there is an equally well-known type of  
,christian in our day1  though ,i do not
 know that any one has so happily       
nicknamed him as yet4    ',the          
,scriptures beguiled the ,pharisees1'   
writes ,rutherford2 and the  ,christian 
,i refer to is self-beguiled with the   
very best things in the  ,scriptures4   
,the cross is always in his mouth1 but  
you will never find it  on his back4    
,he has got1 at least in language1 as   
far as the cross1 but  he remains there4
  ,he says the burden is off his back1  

and he takes care  that he shall keep   
out of that kind of life that would put 
it on again4  ,he has been once         
pardoned1 and he takes his stand upon   
that4  ,he strove  hard till he was     
converted1 and he sometimes strives hard
 to get other  men brought to the same  
conversion4  ,but his conversion has    
been all  exhausted in the mere         
etymology of the act1 for he has only   
turned round  in his religious life1 he 
has not made one single step of         
progress4  ,but  let one of the greatest
 masters of true religion that ever     
taught the  ,church of ,christ speak to 
us on the subject of this gin-horse     
,christian4  ',the ,scriptures1' says   
,jonathan ,edwards1 'everywhere         
represent the  seeking1 the striving1   
and the labour of a ,christian as being 
chiefly to  be gone through after his   
conversion1 and his conversion as being 
but  the beginning of the work4  ,and   
almost all that is said in the ,new     
,testament of men's watching1 giving    

earnest heed to themselves1 running  the
 race that is set before them1 striving 
and agonising1 pressing  forward1       
reaching forth1 crying to ,god night and
 day2 ,i say1 almost all  that is said  
in the ,new ,testament of these things  
is spoken of and is  directed to ,god's 
saints4  ,where these things are applied
 once to sinners  seeking salvation1    
they are spoken of the saint's          
prosecution of their  high calling ten  
times4  ,but many have got in these days
 into a strange  anti-scriptural way of 
having all their striving and wrestling 
over  before they are converted1 and so 
having an easy time of it  afterwards4' 
#d4  ,remember1 also1 wrote ,rutherford1
 to look up the ,scriptures and read    
and lay to heart the lessons of ,esau's 
life and ,judas's1 of the life of       
,balaam1 and ,saul1 and ,pharaoh1 and   
,simon ,magus1 and ,caiaphas1 and ,ahab1
  and ,jehu1 and ,herod1 and the man in 
,matthew viii4 #ai1 and the apostates   
in ,hebrews vi4  ,for all these were at 

best but watered brass and  reprobate   
silver4  ',one day1' writes ,mrs4       
,william ,veitch of ,dumfries in  her   
autobiography1 'having been at prayer1  
and coming into the room where  one was 
reading a letter of ,mr4 ,rutherford's  
directed to one ,john ,gordon  of       
,rusco--giving an account of how far one
 might go and yet prove a  hypocrite and
 miss heaven--it occasioned great       
exercise in me4'  ,dr4  ,andrew ,bonar  
is no doubt entirely right when he says 
that this letter1  now open before us1  
must have been the heart-searching      
letter that caused  that ,god-fearing   
woman1 fresh from her knees1 so great   
exercise4  ,let us  share her great     
exercise1 and in due time we shall share
 her great  salvation4  ,not otherwise4 
#e4  ',and remember1' he proceeds1 'what
 your besetting sin may cost you in  the
 end4  ,i beseech you therefore and     
obtest you in the ,lord1 to make        
conscience of all rash and passionate   
oaths1 of raging and avenging  anger1 of

 night-drinking1 of bad company1 of     
,sabbath-breaking1 of hurting  any under
 you by word or deed1 of hurting your   
very enemies4  ,except you  receive the 
,kingdom of ,god as a little child1 you 
cannot enter it4  ,that  is a word that 
should make your great spirit fall4'    
',if men allow  themselves in malice and
 envy1' writes ,thomas ,shepard1 a      
contemporary of  ,rutherford's1 'or in  
wanton thoughts1 that will condemn them1
 even though  their corruptions do not  
break out in any scandalous way4  ,such 
thoughts  are quite sufficient evidence 
of a rotten heart4  ,if a man allows    
himself  in malice or in envy1 though he
 thinks he does it not1 yet he is a     
hypocrite2 if in his heart he allows it 
he cannot be a saint of ,god4  ,if      
there be one evil way1 though there have
 been many reformations1 the man  is an 
ungodly man4  ,one way of sin is        
exception enough against any man's      
salvation4  ,a small shot will kill a   
man as well as a large bullet1 a  small 

leak let alone will sink a ship1 and a  
small1 and especially a  secret and     
spiritual sin1 will cost a man his      
soul4'    #f4  ',remember1 also1 your   
shortening sand-glass4'  ,on the day    
when ,john  ,gordon was born a          
sand-glass with his name written upon it
 was filled1  and from that moment it   
began to run down before ,god in heaven4
  ,for how  long it was filled ,god who 
filled it alone knew4  ,whether it was  
filled  to run out in an hour1 or to run
 till ,gordon was cut down in mid-time  
of  his days1 or till he had attained to
 his threescore years and ten1 or       
whether it was to run on to the labour  
and sorrow of four-score years1  not    
even his guardian angel knew1 but ,god  
only4  ,and then beside that  sand-glass
 a leaf1 taken out of the seven-sealed  
book1 was laid open1 on  the top of     
which was found written the as yet      
unbaptized name of this new-  born      
child4  ,and under his name was found   
written all that ,john ,gordon  was     

appointed and expected to do while his  
sand-glass was still running4  ,his     
opening life as child and boy and man in
 ,galloway2 his entrance on  ,rusco2 his
 friendship with ,samuel ,rutherford2   
his duties to his family1  to his       
tenants1 to his ,church1 and to the     
,scottish ,covenant2 the inward  life he
 was commanded and expected to live     
alone with ,god2 the seven  things he   
was every day to remember2 the          
evangelical graces of heart and  life   
and character he was to be told and to  
be enabled to put on2 the  death he was 
to die1 and the 'freehold' he was after 
all these things to  enter on in heaven4
  ,and it is of that sand-glass that was
 at that moment  running so fast and so 
low within the veil that ,rutherford    
writes so  often and so earnestly to the
 so-forgetful laird of ,rusco4  ,and how
  solemnising it is1 if anything would  
solemnise our hard hearts1 that we  all 
have a sand-glass standing before ,god  
with our names written upon it1  and    

that it is running out before ,god day  
and night unceasingly4  ,we  shall all  
be too suddenly solemnised when the last
 grain of our measured-  out sand has   
dropped down1 and the blind ,fury will  
come1 and without pity  and without     
remorse will slit our thin-spun life    
with her abhorred  shears4  ,and that   
whether our life-work is finished or no1
 half-finished  or no1 or not even      
begun4  ,the night cometh1 and the      
shears with it1 when  no man can work4  
,our family must then be left behind us1
 however they  have been brought up2 our
 farm also1 however it has been worked2 
our  estate also1 however it has been   
managed2 our pulpit1 our pew1 our       
church1 our character1 and even our     
salvation1 and we must1 all alone  with 
,god1 face and account for the empty    
sand-glass and the accusing  book4  ,is 
it any wonder that ,john ,gordon's      
minister1 when he was in the  spirit in 
,patmos1 should write him as we here    
read8  ,what kind of a  minister would  

he have been1 and what a sand-glass1 and
 what a book of  angry account he would 
have had soon to face himself1 if he had
 let all  his people in ,anwoth live on 
and suddenly die in total forgetfulness 
of  the sand and the shears1 the book of
 duty and the book of judgment4         
',remember1' ,rutherford wrote1         
'remember and misspend not your short   
sand-  glass1 for your forenoon is      
already spent1 your afternoon has come1 
and  your night will be on you when you 
will not see to work4  ,let your heart1 
therefore1 be set upon finishing your   
journey and summing up and laying  out  
the accounts of your life and the       
grounds of your death alone before      
,god4'    #g4  ,and1 above all1 remember
 that after you have done all1 it is the
  blood of ,christ alone that will set  
you down safely as a freeholder in      
,heaven4  ,but ,his blood1 and your     
everyday remembrance of ,his blood1 and 
your everyday obligation to it1 will    
surely set you1 ,john ,gordon of ,rusco 

on earth1 so down a freeholder in       
heaven4       ',soon shall the cup of   
glory        ,wash down earth's         
bitterest woes1     ,soon shall the     
desert briar        ,break into ,eden's 
,rose3     ,i stand upon ,his merit1    
,i know no other stand1     ,not e'en   
where glory dwelleth        ,in         
,immanuel's land4'          ,,xv4       
,,bailie ,,john ,,kennedy         ',die 
well4'--,rutherford4    ,bailie ,john   
,kennedy1 of ,ayr1 was the remarkable   
son of a remarkable  father4  ,old ,hugh
 ,kennedy's death-bed was for long a    
glorious tradition  among the godly in  
the ,west of ,scotland4  ,the old saint 
was visited in  his last hours on earth 
with a joy that was unspeakable and full
 of  glory3 the mere report of it made  
an immense impression both on the       
,church and the world4  ,and his son    
,john1 who stood entranced beside his   
father's chariot of fire1 never forgot  
the transporting sight4  ,he did  not   
need ,rutherford's warning never to     

forget his father's example and  his    
father's end4  ,for ,john ,kennedy was a
 'choice ,christian1' as a well-  known 
writer of that day calls him4  ,and he  
was not alone4  ,there were  many choice
 ,christians in that day in ,scotland4  
,were there ever more1  for its size1 in
 any land or in any church on the face  
of the earth8  ,i  do not believe there 
ever were4  ,next to that favoured land 
that produced  the ,psalmists and the   
,prophets1 ,i know no land that1 for its
 numbers1  possessed so many men and    
women of a profoundly spiritual         
experience1 and  of an adoring and      
heavenly mind1 as ,scotland possessed in
 the sixteenth  and seventeenth         
centuries4  ,the ,wodrow volumes should 
be studied  throughout by every lover of
 his church and his country1 and        
especially  by every student of divinity
 and church history4    ,but we need go 
no further than ,samuel ,rutherford's   
letter-bag2 for1 when  we open it1 what 
rich treasures of the religious life    

pour out of it6  ,what minds and what   
hearts those men and women had6  ,and   
how they gave up  their whole mind and  
heart to the life of godliness in the   
land1 and to  the life of ,god in their 
own hearts6  ,how thin and poor our     
religious  life appears beside theirs6  
,what minister in ,scotland to-day could
 write  such letters8  ,and to whom     
could he address them after they were   
written8  ,was it the persecution8  ,was
 it the new reformation doctrines8  ,was
 it  the masculine and ,pauline         
preaching3 preaching1 say1 like ,robert 
,bruce's  and ,rutherford's that did it8
  ,what was it that raised up in        
,scotland  such a crop of ripe and rich 
saints8  ,who are these1 and whence came
  they8    ,rutherford was always on the
 outlook for opportunities to employ his
  private pen for the conversion of     
sinners1 and for the comfort1 the       
upbuilding1 and the holiness of ,god's  
people4  ,from his manse at ,anwoth1    
from his prison at ,aberdeen1 from his  

class-room at ,st4 ,andrews1 and from   
the ,jerusalem ,chamber at ,westminster1
 his letter-bag went out full of  those 
messages1 so warm1 so tender1 so        
powerful1 to his multitudinous          
correspondents4  ,public events1        
domestic joys and sorrows1 personal     
matters1 special providences1--to turn  
them all to a good result  ,rutherford  
was always on the watch4    ,news had   
come to ,rutherford's ears of an almost 
fatal accident that  ,kennedy had had   
through his boat being swept out to sea2
 and that was too  good a chance to lose
 of trying to touch his correspondent's 
heart yet  more deeply about death1 and 
the due preparation for it4  ,read his  
letter  to ,john ,kennedy on his        
deliverance from shipwreck4  ,see with  
what  apostolic dignity and sweetness he
 salutes ,kennedy4  ,see how he lifts up
  ,kennedy's accident out of the hands  
of winds and waves1 and traces it all   
up to the immediate hand of ,god4  ,see 
how he speaks of ,kennedy's reprieve    

from death2 and how the spared man      
should make use of his lengthened  days4
  ,altogether1 a noble1 powerful1       
apostolic letter2 a letter that  must   
have had a great influence in making    
,bailie ,kennedy the choice  ,christian 
that he was and that he became4  ,we    
have only three letters  preserved of   
,rutherford's to ,kennedy4  ,but we have
 sufficient evidence  that they were    
fast and dear friends4  ,rutherford     
writes to ,kennedy from  ,aberdeen1     
upbraiding him for forgetting him2 and  
what a letter that also  is6  ,it stands
 well out among the foremost of his     
letters for fulness of  all the great   
qualities of ,rutherford's intellect and
 heart4    ,but it is with the shipwreck
 letter that we have to do to-night2 and
 with  the expressions in it we have    
taken for our text3 ',die well1 for the 
last  tide will ebb fast4'  ',it is     
appointed to all men once to die1' says 
the  ,apostle1 in a most solemn passage4
  ,think of that1 think often of that1  

think it out1 think it through to the   
end4  ,god has appointed our death4  ,he
 has our name down in ,his seven-sealed 
,book2 and when the ,lamb opens  the    
,book1 and finds the place1 ,he reads   
our name1 and all that is  appointed us 
till death1 and after death4  ,the exact
 and certain time of  our death is all  
appointed2 the place of it also2 and all
 the  circumstances4  ,just when it is  
to happen2 to-night1 to-morrow1 this    
year1 next year1 perhaps not this dying 
century2 we shall perhaps live to  write
 ,a4,d4 #aija on our letters4  ,near or 
afar off1 it is all appointed4  ,and all
 the circumstances of it also4  ,i don't
 know why ,rutherford should  say to    
,kennedy that it is a terrible thing to 
'die in one's day clothes1'  unless he  
hides a parable under that4  ,but       
whether in day clothes or  night        
clothes2 whether like ,dr4 ,andrew      
,thomson1 our first minister1 in        
,melville ,street1 and with his hand on 
the latchkey of his own door2 or1  like 

,dr4 ,candlish1 his successor1 in his   
bed1 and repeating1 now  ,shakespeare1  
and now the ,psalmist2 by the upsetting 
of a boat1 the shape  in which death    
came near to ,kennedy1 or by the        
upsetting of a coach1 as ,i  escaped    
myself1 not being ready4  ',the ,lord   
knew1' writes ,rutherford1  'that you   
had forgotten something that was        
necessary for your journey1  and let you
 go back for it4  ,you had not all your 
armour on wherewith to  meet with the   
last enemy4'  ,by day or by night2 by   
land or by sea2 alone1  or surrounded by
 weeping friends2 in rapture like ,hugh 
,kennedy1 or in  thick darkness like    
your ,lord2 all1 all is appointed4      
,just think of it2  the types may be    
cast1 the paper may be woven1 the ink   
may be made that  is to announce to the 
world your death and mine4  ,it is all  
appointed1  and we cannot alter it or   
postpone it4  ,the only thing we have   
any hand  in is this3 whether our death1
 when it comes1 is to be a success or a 

failure2 that is to say1 whether we     
shall die well or ill4  ,since we die   
but once1 then1 and since so much turns 
upon it1 let us take advice how  we are 
to do it well4  ,we cannot come back to 
make a second attempt2 if  we do not    
shoot the gulf successfully1 we cannot  
climb back and try the  leap again2 we  
die once1 and1 after death1 the         
judgment4  ,now1 when we  have any      
difficult thing before us1 how do we    
prepare ourselves for it8  ,do we not   
practise it as often as we possibly can8
  ,if it is running in a  race1 or      
wrestling in a match1 or playing a tune1
 or shooting at a  target1 do we not    
assiduously practise it8  ,yes1 every   
sensible man is  careful to have his    
hand and his foot accustomed to the     
trial before the  appointed day comes4  
,practice makes perfect3 practise dying1
 then1 as  ,rutherford counsels you1 and
 you will make a perfect thing of your  
death1  and not otherwise4  ,but how are
 we to practise dying8  ,fore-fancy it1 

as  ,rutherford says4  ,act it over     
beforehand2 die speculatively1 as       
,goodwin  says4  ,say to yourself1      
,suppose this were death at my door     
to-night4  ,suppose he were to visit me 
in the night1 what would ,i say to him1 
and  what would he say to me8  ,make    
acquaintance with death1 ,rutherford    
writes  to ,lady ,kenmure also4  ,learn 
his ways1 his manner of approach1 his   
language1 and his look4  ,conjure him   
up1 practise upon him1 have your  part  
rehearsed and ready to be performed4    
,let not a heathen be  beforehand with  
you in dying4  ,seneca said that every  
night after his  lamp was out1 and the  
house quiet1 he went over all his past  
day1 and  looked at it all in the light 
of death4  ,what he did after that he   
does  not tell us2 but ,rutherford will 
tell you if you consult him what you    
should do4  ,well1 that is one way of   
practising dying4  ,for ,sleep is the   
brother of ,death4  ,and to meet the one
 brother right will prepare us to  meet 

the other4  ,speculate at night1        
then--speculate and say1 ,suppose  this 
were my last night4  ,suppose1 ,o my    
soul1 thou wert to cast anchor to-      
morrow in ,eternity1 how shouldst thou  
close thine eyes to-night8  ,speculate  
also at other men's funerals4  ,when the
 clod thuds down on  their coffin1 think
 yourself inside of it4  ,when you see  
the undertaker's  man screwing down the 
lid1 suppose it yours4  ,take your own  
way of doing  it2 only1 practise dying1 
and let not death spring upon you       
unawares4  ,die  daily1 for1 as ,dante  
says1 ',the arrow seen beforehand slacks
 its flight4'    ,writing to another old
 man1 ,rutherford points out to him the 
gracious  purpose of ,god in appointing 
him his death in old age4  ',it is1'    
says  ,rutherford1 'that you may have   
full leisure to look over all your      
accounts and papers before you take     
ship4'  ,what a tangle our papers also  
are in as life goes on2 and what need we
 have of a time of leisure to set       

things right before we hand them over4  
,rutherford1 therefore1 makes us  see   
old ,carlton on his bed with his pillows
 propping him up1 and a drawer  open on 
the bed1 and bundles of old letters and 
bills spread out before  him4  ,old love
 letters2 old business letters2 his     
mother's letters to him  when he was a  
boy at ,edinburgh ,college2 letters in  
cipher that no human  eye can read but  
those old1 bleared1 weeping eyes that   
fill that too late  drawer with their   
tears4  ,the old voyager is looking over
 his papers  before he takes ship4  ,and
 he comes on things he had totally      
forgotten3  debts he had thought paid2  
petitions he had thought answered2      
promises he  had thought fulfilled2 till
 he calls young ,carlton1 his son1 to   
his  bedside1 and tells him things that 
break both men's hearts to say and to   
hear2 and commits to his son and heir   
sad duties that should never have  been 
due2 debts1 promises1 obligations1      
reparations1 such that1 to  remember    

them1 is a terrible experience on an old
 man's deathbed4  ,but  what mercy that 
he was not carried off1 and his drawer  
unopened6    ,now1 speaking of taking   
ship1 when we are preparing for a       
voyage1 and a  visit to another country 
and another city1 we 'read up1' as we   
say1  before we set sail4  ,before we   
start for ,rome we read our ,tacitus and
 our  ,horace1 our ,gibbon and our      
,merivale4  ,if it is ,florence we take 
down  ,vasari and ,dante1 ,lord ,lindsay
 and ,mrs4 ,jamieson1 and so on4  ,now1 
if  ,eternity holds for us a new world1 
with cities and peoples that are all    
new to us1 should we not prepare        
ourselves for them also8  ,have you1    
then1 laid in a library for your old    
age1 when1 like old ,carlton1 you  will 
be lying waiting at the water-side8     
,what books do you read when you  wish  
to put on the mind of a man who intends 
to die well8  ',read to me  where ,i    
first cast my anchor1' said ,john ,knox1
 when dying1 to his weeping  wife4      

,does your wife know where you first    
cast your anchor8  ,does she  know      
already what to read to you when you are
 preparing for the last  voyage8    ,and
 then1 having prepared for1 and         
practised dying well1 play the man and  
perform it well when the day comes4     
',die as your father died1' says        
,rutherford to ,kennedy4  ,now1 that is 
too much to ask of any man1 because  old
 ,hugh ,kennedy's deathbed was what it  
was by the special grace of ,god4  ,you 
cannot command any man to die in        
rapture4  ,but ,rutherford does not     
mean that1 as he is careful to explain4 
,he means1 as he says1 'die  believing4'
  ,it will be your last act as a        
believer1 therefore do it  well4  ,you  
have been practising faith all your     
days2 show that practice  makes         
perfection at the end4  ,as ,rutherford 
said to ,george ,gillespie when  he was 
on his deathbed1 ',hand over all your   
bills1 paid and unpaid1 to  your surety4
  ,give him the keys of the drawer1 and 

let him clear it out  for himself after 
you are gone4'  ,and then1 with the     
ruling passion  strong in death1 he     
added1 ',die not on sanctification but  
on  justification1 die not on inherent  
but on imputed righteousness4'  ,and    
then1 to come to the very last act of   
all1 there is what we call the          
death-grip4  ,a dying man feels the     
whole world giving way under him4  ,all 
he built upon1 leaned upon1 looked to1  
is like sliding sand1 like sinking      
water2 and he grasps at anything1       
anybody1 the bedpost1 the bed-curtains1 
the bed-clothes1 his wife's hand1 his   
son's arm1 the very air sometimes4  ,on 
what1 on whom will you seize hold in    
your last gasp and death-grip8          
',rock of ,ages1 cleft for me1     ,let 
me hide myself in ,thee6'               
,,xvi4  ,,james ,,guthrie         ',the 
short man who could not                 
bow4'--,cromwell4    ,james ,guthrie was
 the son of the laird of that ilk in the
 county of  ,angus4  ,st4 ,andrews was  

his alma mater1 and under her excellent 
nurture  young ,guthrie soon became a   
student of no common name4  ,his father 
had  destined him for the ,episcopal    
,church1 and1 what with his descent from
 an  ancient and influential family1 his
 remarkable talents1 and his excellent  
scholarship1 it is not to be wondered at
 that a bishop's mitre sometimes        
dangled before his ambitious eyes4  ',he
 was then prelatic1' says ,wodrow  in   
his ,analecta1 'and strong for the      
ceremonies4'  ,but as time went on1     
young ,guthrie's whole views of duty and
 of promotion became totally  changed1  
till1 instead of a bishop's throne1 he  
ended his days on the  hangman's ladder4
  ,after having served his college some 
time as regent or  assistant professor  
in the ,moral ,philosophy ,chair1       
,guthrie took licence1  and was         
immediately thereafter settled as parish
 minister of ,lauder1 in  the momentous 
year #afch4  ,and when every parish in  
,scotland sent up its  representatives  

to ,edinburgh to subscribe the covenant 
in ,greyfriars  ,churchyard1 the parish 
of ,lauder had the pride of seeing its  
young  minister take his life in his    
hand1 like all the best ministers and   
truest patriots in the land4  ,but just 
as ,guthrie was turning in at the  gate 
of the ,greyfriars1 who should cross the
 street before him1 so as  almost to run
 against him1 but the city executioner6 
,the omen--for it  was a day of         
omens--made the young minister stagger  
for a moment1 but  only for a moment4   
,at the same time the ominous incident  
made such an  impression on the young   
,covenanter's heart and imagination1    
that he said  to some of his            
fellow-subscribers as he laid down the  
pen1 ',i know that ,i  shall die for    
what ,i have done this day1 but ,i      
cannot die in a better  cause4'    ,in  
the lack of better authorities we are   
compelled to trace the footsteps  of    
,james ,guthrie through the ,laodicean  
pages of ,robert ,baillie for  several  

years to come4  ,baillie did not like   
,guthrie1 and there was no  love lost   
between the two men4  ,the one man was  
all fire together in  every true and    
noble cause1 and the other we spew out  
of our mouth at  every page of his      
indispensable book4  ,as ,carlyle says1 
,baillie contrived  to 'carry his dish  
level' through all that terrible jostle 
of a time4  ,and  accordingly while we  
owe ,baillie our very grateful thanks   
that he kept  such a diary1 and carried 
on such an extensive and regular        
correspondence  during all that         
distracted time1 we owe him no other    
thanks4  ,he carried  his dish level1   
and he had his reward4    ,as we trace  
,james ,guthrie's passionate footsteps  
for the years to come  through          
,principal ,baillie's sufficiently      
gossiping1 but not unshrewd1  pages1 we 
soon see that he is travelling fast and 
sure toward the ,nether  ,bow4  ,we hear
 continually from our time-serving      
correspondent of  ,guthrie's 'public    

invective1' of his 'passionate debates1'
 of his  'venting of his mind1' of his  
'peremptory letters1' of his 'sharp     
writing1' and of his being 'rigid as    
ever1' and so on4  ,all that about  his 
too zealous co-presbyter1 and then his  
fulsome eulogy of the  returning        
king--his royal wisdom1 his moderation1 
his piety1 and his  grave carriage--as  
also what he says of 'the conspicuous   
justice of ,god  in hanging up the bones
 of ,oliver ,cromwell1 the disgracing of
 the two  ,goodwins1 blind ,milton1     
,john ,owen1 and others of that         
maleficent crew1'  all crowned with the 
naive remark that 'the wisest and best  
are quiet  till they see whither these  
things will go'--it is plain that while 
our  wise and good author is carrying   
his dish as level as the uneven roads   
will allow1 ,guthrie is as plainly      
carrying his head straight to the ,cross
  of ,edinburgh1 and to the iron spikes 
of the ,canongate4    ,all the untold   
woes of that so woful time came of the  

sword of the civil  power being still   
grafted on the crook of the ,church2 as 
also of the  insane attempt of so many  
of our forefathers to solder the crown  
of  ,charles ,stuart to the crown of    
,jesus ,christ4  ,how those two so      
fatal1 and  not even yet wholly         
remedied1 mistakes1 brought ,argyll to  
the block and  ,guthrie to the ladder in
 one day in ,edinburgh1 we read in the  
instructive  and inspiriting histories  
of that terrible time2 and we have no   
better  book on that time for the mass  
of readers than just honest ,john       
,howie's  ,scots ,worthies4  ,there is a
 passage in our ,scottish martyr's last 
defence of himself that has always      
reminded me of ,socrates' similar       
defence before the judges of ,athens4   
',my lords1' said ,guthrie1 'my         
conscience ,i cannot submit4  ,but this 
old and crazy body ,i do submit1 to  do 
with it whatsoever you will2 only1 ,i   
beseech you to ponder well what  profit 
there is likely to be in my blood4  ,it 

is not the extinguishing of  me1 or of  
many more like me1 that will extinguish 
the work of reformation  in ,scotland4  
,my blood will contribute more for the  
propagation of the  ,covenant and the   
full reformation of the kirk than my    
life and liberty  could do1 though ,i   
should live on for many years4'  ,one   
can hardly help  thinking that ,guthrie 
must have been reading ,the ,apology in 
his manse  in ,stirling at the moment he
 was apprehended4  ,but in the case of  
,guthrie1 as in the case of ,socrates1  
no truth1 no integrity1 and no          
eloquence could save him2 for1 as       
,bishop ,burnet frankly says1 ',it was  
resolved to make a public example of a  
,scottish minister1 and so ,guthrie  was
 singled out4  ,i saw him suffer1' the  
,bishop adds1 'and he was so far  from  
showing any fear that he rather         
expressed a contempt of death4'  ,james 
,cowie1 his precentor1 and beadle1 and  
body-servant1 also saw his  master      
suffer1 and1 like ,bishop ,burnet1 he   

used to tell the impression  that his   
old master's last days made upon him4   
',when he had received  sentence of     
death1' ,cowie told ,wodrow's informant1
 'he came forth with a  kind of majesty1
 and his face seemed truly to shine4'   
,it needed  something more than this    
world could supply to make a man's face 
to shine  under the sentence that he be 
hanged at the ,cross of ,edinburgh1 his 
body  dismembered1 and his head fixed on
 an iron spike in the ,west ,port of the
  same city4  ,the disgraceful and      
ghastly story of his execution1 and the 
hacking up of his body1 may all be read 
in ,howie1 beside a picture of the      
,nether ,bow as it still stands in our  
,free ,church and ,free ,state ,day4    
',art  not ,thou from everlasting1 ,o   
,lord my ,god8' were ,james ,guthrie's  
last  words as he stood on the ladder4  
',o mine ,holy ,one3 ,i shall not die1  
but  live4  ,now lettest ,thou ,thy     
servant depart in peace2 for mine eyes  
have  seen ,thy salvation4'    ,there is

 one fine outstanding feature that has  
always characterised and  distinguished 
the whole of the ,rutherford circle in  
our eyes1 and that is  their deep1 keen 
,pauline sense of sin4  ,without this1  
all their  patriotism1 all their true   
statesmanship1 and even all their       
martyrdom  for the sake of the truth1   
would have had1 comparatively speaking1 
little  or no interest for us4  ,what   
think ye of sin8 is the crucial question
 we  put to any character1 scriptural or
 ecclesiastical1 who claims our time    
and our attention4  ,if they are right  
about sin1 they are all the more  likely
 to be right about everything else2 and 
if they are either wrong or  only       
shallow about sin1 their teaching and   
their experience on other  matters are  
not likely to be of much value or much  
interest to us4  ,we  have had written  
over our portals against all comers3    
,know thyself if  thou wouldst either   
interest us or benefit us1 or with the  
understanding  and the spirit worship   

with us4  ,and all the true ,rutherford 
circle1  without one exception1 have    
known the true secret and have given the
 true  password4  ,their keen sense and 
scriptural estimate of the supreme evil 
of sin first made them correspondents of
 ,rutherford's2 and as that sense  and  
estimate grew in them they passed on    
into an inner and a still more  inner   
circle of those ,scottish saints and    
martyrs who corresponded with           
,rutherford1 and closed1 with so much   
honour and love1 around him4  ,and  the 
two ,guthries1 ,james and ,william1 as  
we shall see1 were famous even in  that 
day for their praying and for their     
preaching about sin4    ,there is an    
excellent story told of ,james          
,guthrie's family worship in the  manse 
of ,stirling1 that bears not unremotely 
on the matter we have now on  hand4     
,guthrie was wont to pray too much1 both
 at the family altar and in  the pulpit1
 as if he had been alone with his own   
heart and ,god4  ,and he  carried that  

bad habit at last to such a length in   
his family1 that he  almost drove poor  
,james ,cowie1 his man-servant1 out of  
his senses1 till  when ,cowie could     
endure no longer to be singled out and  
exposed and  denounced before the whole 
family1 he at last stood up with some   
boldness  before his master and demanded
 to be told out1 as man to man1 and not 
in  that cruel and injurious way1 what  
it was he had done that made his  master
 actually every day thus denounce and   
expose him4  ',o ,james1 man1  pardon   
me1 pardon me4  ,i was1 ,i see now1 too 
much taken up with my own  heart and its
 pollutions to think enough of you and  
the rest4'  ',it was  that1 and the like
 of that1' witnessed ,cowie1 'that did  
me and my wife  more good than all my   
master's well-studied sermons4'  ,the   
intimacy and  tenderness of the minister
 and his man went on deeper and grew    
closer1  till at the end we find ,cowie 
reading to him at his own request the   
,epistle to the ,romans1 and when the   

reader came to the passage1 ',i will    
have mercy on whom ,i will have mercy1' 
the listener burst into tears1 and      
exclaimed1 ',james1 ,james1 halt there1 
for ,i have nothing but that to  lippen 
to4'  ,and then1 on the ladder1 and     
before a great crowd of  ,edinburgh     
citizens3 ',i own that ,i am a          
sinner--yea1 and one of the vilest  that
 ever made a profession of religion4    
,my corruptions have been strong  and   
many1 and they have made me a sinner in 
all things--yea1 even in  following my  
duty4  ,but blessed be ,god1 who hath   
showed ,his mercy to such  a wretch1 and
 hath revealed ,his ,son unto me1 and   
made me a minister of  the everlasting  
,gospel1 and hath sealed my ministry on 
the hearts of not  a few of ,his        
people4'  ,james ,guthrie's ruling      
passion1 as ,cowie remarked1  was still 
strong in his death4    ,on one occasion
 ,guthrie and some of his               
fellow-ministers were comparing         
experiences and confessing to one       

another their 'predominant sins1' and   
when it came to ,guthrie's turn he told 
them that he was much too eager to  die 
a violent death4  ,for1 said he1 ,i     
would like to die with all my wits      
about me4  ,i would not like eyesight   
and memory and reason and faith all  to 
die out on my deathbed and leave me to  
tumble into eternity bereft of  them    
all4  ,guthrie was greatly afraid at the
 thought of death1 but it was  the      
premature death of his reason1 and even 
of his faith1 that so much  alarmed and 
horrified him to think of4  ,he envied  
the men who kneeled  down on the        
scaffold1 or leaped off the ladder1 in  
full possession at the  last moment of  
all their senses and all their graces4  
',give me a direct  answer1 sir1'       
demanded ,dr4 ,johnson of his physician 
when on his deathbed4  4 4 4 ',then ,i  
will take no more opiates1 for ,i have  
prayed that ,i may be  able to render up
 my soul to ,god unclouded4'  ,and when 
pressed by his  attendants to take some 

generous nourishment1 he replied almost 
with his  last breath1 ',i will take    
anything but inebriating sustenance4'   
,but in nothing was good ,james         
,guthrie's tenderness to sin better seen
  than in the endless debates and       
dissensions of which that day was so    
full4  ,so sensitive was he to the pride
 and the anger and the ill-will  that   
all controversy kindles in our hearts   
that1 as soon as he felt any  unholy    
heat in his own heart1 or saw it in the 
hearts of the men he  debated with1 he  
at once cut short the controversy with  
some such words  as these3 ',we have    
said too much on this matter already2   
let us leave it  till we love one       
another more4'  ,if hot-blooded ,samuel 
,rutherford had sat  more at ,james     
,guthrie's feet in the matter of        
managing a controversy1 his  name would 
have been almost too high and too       
spotless for this present  life4        
,samuel ,rutherford's one vice1 temper1 
was one of ,james ,guthrie's  chief     

virtues4    ,we have only two1 or at    
most three1 of the many letters that    
must have  passed between ,rutherford   
and ,guthrie preserved to us4  ,and1 as 
is usual  with ,rutherford when he      
writes to any member of his innermost   
circle1 he  writes to ,guthrie so as    
still more completely to win his heart4 
,and in  nothing does dear ,rutherford  
win all our hearts more than in his deep
  humility1 and quick1 keen sense of his
 own inability and utter  unworthiness4 
',i am at a low ebb1' he writes to      
,guthrie from the  ,jerusalem ,chamber1 
'yea1 as low as any gracious soul can   
possibly be4  ,shall ,i ever see even   
the borders of the good land above8'  ,i
 read that  fine letter again last      
,sabbath afternoon in my room at        
hospitable  ,helenslee1 overlooking the 
lower reaches of the ,clyde1 and as ,i  
read this  passage1 ,i recollected the  
opportune sea-view commanded by my      
window4  ,i  had only to rise and look  
out to see an excellent illustration of 

my much-  exercised author2 for the     
forenoon tide had just retreated to the 
sea1  and the broad bed of the river was
 left by the retreated tide less a      
river than a shallow1 clammy channel4   
,shoals of black mud ran out from  our  
shore1 meeting and mingling with shoals 
of black mud from the  opposite shore4  
,there was scarce clean water enough to 
float the  multitude of buoys that      
dipped and dragged in their bed of mire4
  ,that  any ship1 to call a ship1 could
 ever work its way up that sweltering   
sewer seemed an utter impossibility4    
,there was ,rutherford's low ebb1  then1
 under my very eyes4  ,there was low    
water indeed4  ,and the low water       
seemed to laugh the waiting seamen's    
hopes to scorn4  ,but next morning my   
heart rose high as ,i looked out at my  
window and saw all the richly-laden     
vessels lighting their fires and        
spreading their sails1 and setting their
  faces to the replenished river4  ,and 
,i thought of ,samuel ,rutherford's     

ship1 far past all her ebbing tides now1
 and for ever anchored in her  haven    
above4    ,on the wall of my room in the
 same beautiful house there was a       
powerful  cartoon of ,peter's           
crucifixion1 head downwards1 for his    
,master's sake4  ,the masterpiece of    
,filippino ,lippi ,i felt to be an      
excellent illustration  also of         
,rutherford's letter to ,james ,guthrie 
and the rest of the  ministers and      
elders who were imprisoned in the       
,castle of ,edinburgh for  daring to    
remind ,charles ,stuart of the contents 
of the ,covenant to which  both he and  
the whole nation had solemnly sworn4    
',if ,christ doth own  me1' ,rutherford 
wrote to the martyrs in the ,castle1    
'let me be laid in my  grave in a bloody
 winding-sheet2 let me go from the      
scaffold to the  spikes in four         
quarters--grave or no grave1 as ,he     
pleases1 if only ,he but  owns me4'     
,and ,i seemed to see the crucified     
disciple's glorified ,master  appearing 

over his reversed cross and saying1     
',thou art ,peter1 and with  this thy   
blood ,i will sow widespread my         
,church4'  ,yes1 my brethren1 if        
,christ but owns us1 that will far more 
than make up to us in a moment for  all 
our imprisonments1 and all our          
martyrdoms1 and all our ebbing tides    
down here4  ',angels1 men1 and ,zion's  
elders eye us in all our suffering  for 
,christ's sake1 but what of all these8  
,christ is by us1 and looketh  on1 and  
writeth it all up ,himself4'    ,james  
,guthrie was hanged and dismembered at  
the ,cross of ,edinburgh on the  first  
day of ,june1 #affa4  ,his snow-white   
head was cut off1 and was fixed  on a   
spike in the ,nether ,bow4  ,james      
,guthrie got that day that which he  had
 so often prayed for--a sudden plunge   
into everlasting life with all  his     
senses about him and all his graces at  
their brightest and their  keenest      
exercise4          ,,xvii4  ,,william   
,,guthrie         ',a merry heart doeth 

good like a medicine4'--,solomon4       
,william ,guthrie was a great humorist1 
a great sportsman1 a great  preacher1   
and a great writer4  ,the true ,guthrie 
blood has always had a  drop of humour  
in it1 and the first minister of        
,fenwick was a genuine  ,guthrie in this
 respect4  ,the finest humour springs up
 out of a wide and  a deep heart1 and it
 always has its roots watered at a      
wellhead of tears4  ',william ,guthrie  
was a great melancholian1' says ,wodrow1
 and as we read  that we are reminded of
 some other great melancholians1 such as
 ,blaise  ,pascal and ,john ,foster and 
,william ,cowper4  ,william ,guthrie    
knew1 by his  temperament1 and by his   
knowledge of himself and of other men1  
that he  was a great melancholian1 and  
he studied how to divert himself        
sometimes  in order that he might not be
 altogether drowned with his melancholy4
  ,and  thus1 maugre his melancholy1 and
 indeed by reason of it1 ,william       
,guthrie  was a great humorist4  ,he was

 the life of the party on the moors1 in 
the  manse1 and in the ,general         
,assembly4  ,but the life of the party  
when he  was present was always pure and
 noble and pious1 even if it was        
sometimes  somewhat hilarious and       
boisterous4  ',if a man's melancholy    
temperament is  sanctified1' says       
,rutherford in his ,covenant of ,grace1 
'it becomes to  him a seat of sound     
mortification and of humble walking4'   
,and that was  the happy result of all  
,william ,guthrie's melancholy2 it was  
always  alleviated and relieved by great
 outbursts of good-humour2 but both his 
melancholy and his hilarity always ended
 in a humbler walk4  ,samuel            
,rutherford confides in a letter to his 
old friend1 ,alexander ,gordon1 that  he
 knows a man who sometimes wonders to   
see any one laugh or sport in  this so  
sinful and sad life4  ,but that was     
because he had embittered the  springs  
of laughter in himself by the wormwood  
sins of his youth4  ,william  ,guthrie  

had no such remorseful memories         
continually taking him by the  throat as
 his divinity professor had1 and thus it
 was that with all his  melancholy he   
was known as the greatest humorist and  
the greatest  sportsman in the ,scottish
 ,kirk of his day4  ,no doubt he        
sometimes felt  and confessed that his  
love of fun and frolic was a temptation 
that he  had to watch well against4  ,in
 his ,saving ,interest he speaks of some
  sins that are wrought up into a man's 
natural humour and constitution1  and   
are thus as a right hand and a right eye
 to him4  ',my merriment6' he  confessed
 to one who had rebuked him for it1 ',i 
know all you would say1  and my         
merriment costs me many a salt tear in  
secret4'  ,at the same time  this was   
often remarked with wonder in ,guthrie1 
that however boisterous  his fun was1 in
 one moment he could turn from it to the
 most serious  things4  ',it was often  
observed1' says ,wodrow1 'that1 let ,mr4
 ,guthrie be  never so merry1 he was    

presently in a frame for the most       
spiritual duty1  and the only account ,i
 can give of it1' says wise ,wodrow1    
'is1 that he  acted from spiritual      
principles in all he did1 and even in   
his  relaxations4'  ,poor ,guthrie had a
 terrible malady that preyed on his most
  vital part continually--a malady that 
at last carried him off in the mid-     
time of his days1 and1 like ,solomon in 
the proverb1 he took to a merry  heart  
as an alleviating medicine4    ,like our
 own ,thomas ,guthrie1 too1 ,william    
,guthrie was a great angler4  ,he  could
 gaff out a salmon in as few minutes as 
the deftest-handed  gamekeeper in all   
the country1 and he could stalk down a  
deer in as few  hours as my lord himself
 who did nothing else4  ,when he was    
composing his  ,saving ,interest1 he    
somehow heard of a poor countryman near 
,haddington  who had come through some  
extraordinary experiences in his        
spiritual  life1 and he set out from    
,fenwick all the way to ,haddington to  

see and  converse with the              
much-experienced man4  ,all that night  
and all the next  day ,guthrie could not
 tear himself away from the conversation
 of the man  and his wife4  ,but at     
last1 looking up and down the country1  
his angling  eye caught sight of a      
trout-stream1 and1 as if he had in a    
moment  forgotten all about his book at 
home and all that this saintly man had  
contributed to it1 ,guthrie asked him if
 he had a fishing-rod1 and if he  would 
give him a loan of it4  ,the old man    
felt that his poor rough tackle  was to 
be absolutely glorified by such a       
minister as ,guthrie  condescending to  
touch it1 but his good wife did not like
 this come-down  at the end of such a   
visit as his has been1 and she said so4 
,she was a  clever old woman1 and ,i am 
not sure but she had the best of it in  
the  debate that followed about         
ministers fishing1 and about their      
facetious  conversation4  ,the          
,haddington stream1 and the dispute that

 rose out of  it1 recall to my mind a   
not unlike incident that took place in  
the street  of ,ephesus1 in the far     
,east1 just about #ahjj years ago4      
,john1 the  venerable ,apostle1 had just
 finished the fourteenth chapter of his 
great  ,gospel1 and felt himself unable 
to recollect and write out any more that
  night4  ,and coming out into the      
setting sun he began to amuse himself   
with a tame partridge that the ,bactrian
 convert had caught and made a  present 
of to his old master4  ,the partridge   
had been waiting till the  pen and the  
parchment were put by1 and now it was on
 ,john's hand1 and now  on his shoulder1
 and now circling round his sportful    
head1 till you would  have thought that 
its owner was the idlest and foolishest 
old man in all  ,ephesus4  ,a huntsman1 
who greatly respected his old pastor1   
was passing  home from the hills and was
 sore distressed to see such a saint as 
,john  was trifling away his short time 
with a stupid bird4  ,and he could not  

keep from stopping his horse and saying 
so to the old ,evangelist4  ',what  is  
that you carry in your hand8' asked     
,john at the huntsman with great        
meekness4  ',it is my bow with which ,i 
shoot wild game up in the  mountains1'  
replied the huntsman4  ',and why do you 
let it hang so loose8  ,you cannot      
surely shoot anything with your bow in  
that condition6'  ',no1'  answered the  
amused huntsman1 'but if ,i always kept 
my bow strung it  would not rebound and 
send home my arrow when ,i needed it4   
,i unstring my  bow on the street that  
,i may the better shoot with it when ,i 
am up among  my quarry4'  ',good1' said 
the ,evangelist1 'and ,i have learned a 
lesson  from you huntsmen4  ,for ,i am  
playing with my partridge to-night that 
,i  may the better finish my ,gospel    
to-morrow4  ,i am putting everything out
  of my mind to-night that ,i may       
to-morrow the better recollect and set  
down a prayer ,i heard offered up by my 
,master1 now more than fifty years      

ago4'  ,we readers of the ,fourth       
,gospel do not know how much we owe to  
the  ,bactrian boy's tame partridge1 and
 neither ,john ,owen nor ,thomas        
,chalmers  knew how much they owed to   
the fishing-rods and curling-stones1 the
  fowling-pieces and the violins that   
crowded the corners of the manse of     
,fenwick4  ,i do not know that ,william 
,guthrie made a clean breast to the     
,presbytery of all the reasons that     
moved him to refuse so many calls to a  
city charge1 though ,i think ,i see that
 ,david ,dickson1 the ,moderator1       
divined some of them by the joke he made
 about the moors of ,fenwick to  one of 
the defeated and departing deputations4 
,william ,guthrie1 the eldest son and   
sole heir of the laird of ,pitforthy1   
might have had fishing and shooting to  
his heart's content on his own  lands of
 ,pitforthy and ,easter ,ogle had he not
 determined1 when under  ,rutherford at 
,st4 ,andrews1 to give himself up wholly
 to his preaching4  ,but1 to put himself

 out of the temptation that hills and   
streams and  lochs and houses and lands 
would have been to a man of his tastes  
and  temperament1 soon after his        
conversion ,william made over to a      
younger  brother all his possessions and
 all his responsibilities connected     
therewith1 in order that he might give  
himself up wholly to his  preaching4    
,and his reward was that he soon became1
 by universal consent1  the greatest    
practical preacher in broad ,scotland4  
,he could not touch  ,rutherford1 his   
old professor1 at pure theology2 he had 
neither  ,rutherford's learning1 nor his
 ecstatic eloquence1 nor his surpassing 
love of ,jesus ,christ1 but for handling
 broken bones and guiding an  anxious   
inquirer no one could hold the candle to
 ,william ,guthrie4  ,descriptions of   
his preaching abound in the old books1  
such as this3 ,a  ,glasgow merchant was 
compelled to spend a ,sabbath in ,arran1
 and though he  did not understand      
,gaelic1 he felt he must go to the place

 of public  worship4  ,great was his    
delight when he saw ,william ,guthrie   
come into the  pulpit4  ,and he tells us
 that though he had heard in his day    
many famous  preachers1 he had never    
seen under any preacher so much concern 
of soul  as he saw that day in ,arran1  
under the minister of ,fenwick4  ,there 
was  scarcely a dry eye in the whole    
church4  ,a gentleman who was well known
  as a most dissolute liver was in the  
church that day1 and could not  command 
himself1 so deeply was he moved under   
,guthrie's sermon4  ,that day  was      
remembered long afterwards when that    
prodigal son had become an  eminent     
,christian man4  ,we see at one time a  
servant girl coming home  from          
,guthrie's church saying that she cannot
 contain all that she has  heard to-day1
 and that she feels as if she would need
 to hear no more on  this side heaven4  
,another day ,wodrow's old mother has   
been at ,fenwick1  and comes home saying
 that the first prayer was more than    

enough for all  her trouble without any 
sermon at all4  ',he had a taking and a 
soaring  gift of preaching1' but it was 
its intensely practical character that  
made ,guthrie's pulpit so powerful and  
so popular4  ,the very fact that he     
could go all the way in those days from 
,fenwick to ,haddington1 just to  have a
 case of real soul-exercise described to
 him by the exercised man  himself1     
speaks volumes as to the secret of      
,guthrie's power in the  pulpit4  ,his  
people felt that their minister knew    
them2 he knew himself1  and therefore he
 knew them4  ,he did not pronounce windy
 orations about  things that did not    
concern or edify them4  ,he was not     
learned in the  pulpit1 nor eloquent1   
or1 if he was--and he was both--all his 
talents1  and all his scholarship1 and  
all his eloquence were forgotten in the 
intensely practical turn that his       
preaching immediately took4  ,all the   
broken hearts in the west country1 all  
those whose sins had found them  out1   

all those who had learned to know the   
plague of their own heart1 and  who were
 passing under a searching              
sanctification--all such found their    
way from time to time from great        
distances to the ,kirk of ,fenwick4     
,from  ,glasgow they came1 and from     
,paisley1 and from ,hamilton1 and from  
,lanark1  and from ,kilbride1 and from  
many other still more distant places4   
,the  lobbies of ,fenwick ,kirk were    
like the porches of ,bethesda with all  
the  blind1 halt1 and withered from the 
whole country round about4  ,after      
,hutcheson of the ,minor ,prophets had  
assisted at the communion of  ,fenwick  
on one occasion1 he said that1 if there 
was a church full of  ,god's saints on  
the face of the earth1 it was at        
,fenwick communion-table4  ,pitforthy   
and ,glen ,ogle1 and all the estates in 
,angus1 were but dust in  the balance   
compared with one ,sabbath-day's        
exercise of such a preaching  gift as   
that of ,william ,guthrie4  ',there is  

no man that hath forsaken  houses and   
lands for ,my sake and the ,gospel's1   
but shall receive an  hundredfold now in
 this life1 and in the world to come    
life everlasting4'    ,but further1     
besides being a great humorist and a    
great sportsman and a  great preacher1  
,william ,guthrie was a great writer4   
,a great writer is  not a man who fills 
our dusty shelves with his forgotten    
volumes4  ,it is  not given to any man  
to fill a whole library with first-rate 
work4  ,our  greatest authors have all  
written little books4  ,job is a small  
book1 so  is the ,psalms1 so is ,isaiah1
 so is the ,gospel of ,john1 so is the  
,epistle  to the ,romans1 so is the     
,confessions1 so is the ,comedy1 so is  
the  ,imitation1 so are the ,pilgrim and
 the ,grace ,abounding1 and though      
,william ,guthrie's small book is not   
for a moment to be ranked with such     
master-pieces as these1 yet it is a     
small book on a great subject1 and a    
book to which ,i cannot find a second   

among the big religious books of our    
day4  ,you will all find out your own   
favourite books according to your  own  
talents and tastes4  ,my calling a book 
great is nothing to you4  ,but  it may  
at least interest you for the passing   
moment to be told what two  men like    
,john ,owen1 in the seventeenth century1
 and ,thomas ,chalmers1 in  the         
nineteenth1 said about ,william         
,guthrie's one little book4  ,said ,john
  ,owen1 drawing a little gilt copy of  
,the ,great ,interest out of his        
pocket1 ',that author ,i take to be one 
of the greatest divines that ever       
wrote4  ,his book is my vade mecum4  ,i 
carry it always with me4  ,i have       
written several folios1 but there is    
more divinity in this little book  than 
in them all4'  ,believe ,john ,owen4    
,believe all that he says about         
,guthrie's ,saving ,interest2 but do not
 believe what he says about his  own    
maligned folios till you have read      
twenty times over his ,person and       

,glory of ,christ1 his ,holy ,spirit1   
his ,spiritual-mindedness1 and his      
,mortification1 ,dominion1 and          
,indwelling of ,sin4  ,then hear ,dr4   
,chalmers3 ',i am on the eve of         
finishing ,guthrie1 which ,i think is   
the  best book ,i ever read4'  ,after   
you have read it1 if you ever do1 the   
likelihood is that you will feel as if  
somehow you had not read the right  book
 when you remember what ,owen and       
,chalmers have said about it4  ,yes1    
you have read the right enough book2 but
 the right book has not yet got  in you 
the right reader4  ,there are not many  
readers abroad like ,dr4 ,john  ,owen   
and ,dr4 ,thomas ,chalmers4    ,in its  
style ,william ,guthrie's one little    
book is clear1 spare1 crisp1  and curt4 
,indeed1 in some places it is almost too
 spare and too curt in  its bald        
simplicity4  ,true students will not be 
deterred from it when ,i  say that it is
 scientifically and experimentally exact
 in its treatment  of the things of the 

soul4  ,they will best understand and   
appreciate this  statement of ,guthrie's
 biographer that 'when he was working at
 his  ,saving ,interest he endeavoured  
to inform himself of all the ,christians
  in the country who had been under     
great depths of exercise1 or were still 
under such depths1 and endeavoured to   
converse with them4'  ,guthrie is       
almost as dry as ,euclid himself1 and   
almost as severe1 but1 then1 he         
demonstrates almost with mathematical   
demonstration the all-important  things 
he sets out to prove4  ,there is no room
 for rhetoric on a finger-  post2 in a  
word1 and1 sometimes without a word1 a  
finger-post tells you  the right way to 
take to get to your journey's end4  ,and
 many who have  wandered into a far     
country have found their way home again 
under ,william  ,guthrie's exact marks1 
clear evidences1 and curt directions4   
,you open  the little book1 and there is
 a sentence of the plainest1 directest1 
and  least entertaining or attractive   

prose1 followed up with a text of       
,scripture to prove the plain and       
indisputable prose4  ,then there is     
another sentence of the same prose1     
supported by two texts1 and thus the    
little treatise goes on till1 if you are
 happy enough to be interested in  the  
author's subject-matter1 the eternal    
interests of your own soul1 a  strong1  
strange fascination begins to come off  
the little book and into  your          
understanding1 imagination1 and heart1  
till you look up again what  ,dr4 ,owen 
and ,dr4 ,chalmers said about your      
favourite author1 and feel  fortified in
 your valuation of1 and in your         
affection for1 ,william  ,guthrie and   
his golden little book4                 
,,xviii4  ,,george ,,gillespie          
',our apprehensions are not             
canonical4'--,rutherford4    ,george    
,gillespie was one of that remarkable   
band of statesmanlike  ministers that   
,god gave to ,scotland in the           
seventeenth century4  ,gillespie  died  

while yet a young man1 but before he    
died1 as ,rutherford wrote to  him on   
his deathbed1 he had done more work for 
his ,master than many a  hundred        
grey-headed and godly ministers4        
,gillespie and ,rutherford got          
acquainted with one another when        
,rutherford was beginning his work at   
,anwoth4  ,in the good providence of    
,god1 ,gillespie was led to ,kenmure    
,castle to be tutor in the family of    
,lord and ,lady ,kenmure1 and that threw
  ,rutherford and ,gillespie continually
 together4  ,gillespie was still a      
probationer4  ,he was ready for         
ordination1 and many congregations were 
eager to have him1 but the patriotic and
 pure-minded youth could not  submit to 
receive ordination at the hands of the  
bishops of that day1 and  this kept him 
out of a church of his own long after he
 was ready to begin  his ministry4  ,but
 the time was not lost to ,gillespie    
himself1 or to the  ,church of ,christ  
in ,scotland1--the time that threw      

,rutherford and  ,gillespie into the    
same near neighbourhood1 and into       
intimate and  affectionate friendship4  
,the mere scholarship of the two men    
would at  once draw them together4      
,they read the same deep books2 they    
reasoned  out the same constitutional1  
ecclesiastical1 doctrinal1 and          
experimental  problems2 till one day1   
rising off their knees in the woods of  
,kenmure  ,castle1 the two men took one 
another by the hand and swore a covenant
  that all their days1 and amid all the 
trials they saw were coming to          
,scotland and her ,church1 they would   
remain fast friends1 would often  think 
of one another1 would often name one    
another before ,god in prayer1  and     
would regularly write to one another1   
and that not on church  questions only  
and on the books they were reading1 but 
more especially on  the life of ,god in 
their own souls4  ,of the correspondence
 of those two  remarkable men we have   
only three letters preserved to us1 but 

they are  enough to let us see the kind 
of letters that must have frequently    
passed  between ,kenmure ,castle and    
,aberdeen1 and between ,st4 ,andrews and
  ,edinburgh during the next ten years4 
,gillespie was born in the parish manse 
of ,kirkcaldy in #afac2 he was  ordained
 to the charge of the neighbouring      
congregation of ,wemyss in  #afch1 was  
translated thence to ,edinburgh in      
#afdb1 and then became one of  the four 
famous deputies who were sent up from   
the ,church of ,scotland to  sit and    
represent her in the ,westminster       
,assembly in #afdc4  ,gillespie's  great
 ability was well known1 his wide       
learning and his remarkable             
controversial powers had been already   
well proved1 else such a young man      
would never have been sent on such a    
mission2 but his appearance in the      
debates at ,westminster astonished those
 who knew him best1 and won for  him a  
name second to none of the oldest and   
ablest statesmen and scholars  who sat  

in that famous house4  ',that noble     
youth1' ,baillie is continually         
exclaiming1 after each new display of   
,gillespie's learning and power of      
argument2 ',that singular ornament of   
our ,church'2 ',he is one of the best   
wits of this isle1' and so on4  ,and    
good ,john ,livingstone1 in his wise    
and sober ,characteristics1 says that1  
being sent as a ,commissioner from  the 
,church of ,scotland to the ,assembly of
 ,divines at ,westminster1  ,gillespie1 
'promoted much the work of reformation1 
and attained to a gift  of clear1       
strong1 pressing1 and calm debating     
above any man of his time4'    ,many    
stories were told in ,scotland of the   
debating powers of young  ,gillespie as 
seen on the floor of the ,westminster   
,assembly4  ,selden was  one of the     
greatest lawyers in ,england1 and he had
 made a speech one day  that both friend
 and foe felt was unanswerable4  ,one   
after another of the  ,constitutional   
and ,evangelical party tried to reply to

 ,selden's speech1  but failed4  ',rise1
 ,george1 man1' said ,rutherford to     
,gillespie1 who was  sitting with his   
pencil and note-book beside him4        
',rise1 ,george1 man1  and defend the   
,church which ,christ hath purchased    
with ,his own blood4'  ,george rose1 and
 when he had sat down1 ,selden is       
reported to have said to  some one who  
was sitting beside him1 ',that young man
 has swept away the  learning and labour
 of ten years of my life4'  ,gillespie's
 ,scottish  brethren seized upon his    
note-book to preserve and send home at  
least the  heads of his magnificent     
speech1 but all they found in his little
 book  were these three words3 ,da      
lucem1 ,domine2 ,give light1 ,o ,lord4  
,rutherford had foreseen all this from  
the days when ,gillespie and he  talked 
over ,aquinas and ,calvin and ,hooker   
and ,amesius and ,zanchius as  they took
 their evening walks together on the    
sands of the ,solway ,firth4  ,it is    
told also that when the ,committee of   

,assembly was engaged on the            
composition of the ,shorter ,catechism1 
and had come to the question1 ,what  is 
,god8 like the able men they were1 they 
all shrank from attempting an  answer to
 such an unfathomable question4  ,in    
their perplexity they asked  ,gillespie 
to offer prayer for help1 when he began 
his prayer with these  words3 ',o ,god1 
,thou art a ,spirit1 infinite1 eternal1 
and unchangeable in  ,thy being1 wisdom1
 power1 holiness1 justice1 goodness1 and
 truth4'  ,as  soon as he said ,amen1   
his opening sentences were remembered1  
and taken  down1 and they stand to this 
day the most scriptural and the most    
complete answer to that unanswerable    
question that we have in any creed  or  
catechism of the ,christian ,church4    
,as her best tribute to the talents and 
services of her youngest  ,commissioner1
 the ,edinburgh ,assembly of #afdh      
appointed ,gillespie her  ,moderator2   
but his health was fast failing1 and he 
died in the ,december  of that year1 in 

the thirty-sixth year of his age4  ,the 
inscription on  his tombstone at        
,kirkcaldy ends with these sober and    
true words3 ',a man  profound in genius1
 mild in disposition1 acute in argument1
 flowing in  eloquence1 unconquered in  
mind4  ,he drew to himself the love of  
the good1  the envy of the bad1 and the 
admiration of all4'  ,such was the life 
and  work of ,george ,gillespie1 one of 
the most intimate and confidential      
correspondents of ,samuel               
,rutherford2--for it was to him that    
,rutherford  wrote the words now before 
us1 ',our apprehensions are not         
canonical4'    ,every line of life has  
its own language1 its own peculiar      
vocabulary1  that none but its experts1 
and those who have been brought up to   
it1  know4  ,go up to the ,parliament   
,house and you will hear the advocates  
and  judges talking to one another in a 
professional speech that the learned    
layman no more than the ignorant can    
understand4  ,our doctors1 again1  have 

a shorthand symbolism that only         
themselves and the chemists  understand4
  ,and so it is with every business and 
profession2 each  several trade strikes 
out a language for itself4  ,and so does
 divinity1  and1 especially1            
experimental divinity1 of which         
,rutherford's letters are  full4  ,we   
not only need a glossary for the        
obsolete ,scotch1 but we need  the most 
simple and everyday expressions of the  
things of the soul  explained to us till
 once we begin to speak and to write    
those  expressions ourselves4  ,there   
are judges and advocates and doctors and
  specialists of all kinds among us who 
will only be able to make a far-off     
guess at the meaning of my text1 just as
 ,i could only make a far-off  guess at 
some of their trade texts4  ,this       
technical term1 'apprehension1'  does   
not once occur in the ,bible1 and only  
once or twice in ,shakespeare4  ',our   
death is most in apprehension1' says    
that master of expression2 and1  again1 

he says that 'we cannot outfly our      
apprehensions4'  ,and ,milton has  it   
once in ,samson1 who says3--            
',thoughts1 my tormentors1 armed with   
deadly stings1     ,mangle my           
apprehensive tenderest parts4'    ,but1 
indeed1 we all have the thing in us1    
though we may never have put  its proper
 name upon it4  ,we all know what a     
forecast of evil is--a  secret fear that
 evil is coming upon us4  ,it lays hold 
of our heart1 or  of our conscience1 as 
the case may be1 and will not let go its
 hold4  ,and  then the heart and the    
conscience run out continually and lay  
hold of the  future evil and carry it   
home to our terrified bosoms4  ,we      
apprehend the  coming evil1 and feel it 
long before it comes4  ,we die1 like the
 coward1  many times before our death4  
,now1 ,rutherford just takes that       
well-known word and applies it to his   
fears and his sinkings of heart about   
his past sins1 and about the  unsettled 
wages of his sins4  ,his conscience     

makes him a coward1 till he  thinks     
every bush an officer4  ,but then he    
reasons and remonstrates with  himself  
in his deep and intimate letter to      
,gillespie1 and says that these  his    
doubts1 and terrors1 and apprehensions  
are not canonical4  ,he is  writing to a
 divine and a scholar1 as well as to an 
experienced ,christian  man1 and he uses
 words that such scholars and such      
,christian men quite  well understand   
and like to make use of4  ,the canon    
that he here refers  to is the ,holy    
,scriptures2 they are the rule of our   
faith1 and they are  also the rule of   
,god's faithfulness4  ,what ,god has    
said to us in ,his  word1 that we must  
believe and hold by2 that1 and not our  
deserts or our  apprehensions1 must rule
 and govern our faith and our trust1    
just as  ,god's word will be the rule   
and standard of ,his dealings with us4  
,his  word rules us in our faith and    
life2 and again it rules ,him also in   
,his  dealings with our faith and with  

our life4  ,god does not deal with us as
  we deserve2 ,he does not deal with us 
as we1 in our guilty apprehensions1     
fear ,he will4  ,he deals with the      
apprehensive1 penitent1 believing sinner
  according to the grace and the truth  
of ,his word4  ,his promises are        
canonical to ,him1 not our              
apprehensions4    ,thomas ,goodwin1 that
 perfect prince of pulpit exegetes1 lays
 down this  canon1 and continually      
himself acts upon it1 that 'the context 
of a  scripture is half its             
interpretation2 4 4 4 if a man would    
open a place  of scripture1 he should do
 it rationally2 he should go and        
consider the  words before and the words
 after4'  ,now1 let us apply this rule  
to the  interpretation of this text out 
of ,rutherford1 and look at the context1
  before and after1 out of which it is  
taken4    ,remembering his covenant with
 young ,gillespie in the woods of       
,kenmure1  ,rutherford wrote of himself 
to his friend1 and said3--',at my first 

entry  on my banishment here my         
apprehensions worked despairingly upon  
my  cross4'  ,by that he means1 and     
,gillespie would quite well understand  
his  meaning1 that his banishment from  
his work threw him in upon his          
conscience1 and that his conscience     
whispered to him that he had been       
banished from his work because of his   
sins4  ,god is angry with you1 his      
conscience said2 ,he does not love you1 
,he has not forgiven you4  ,but his     
sanctified good sense1 his deep         
knowledge of ,god's word1 and of ,god's 
ways with ,his people1 came to his      
rescue1 and he went on to say to        
,gillespie that our apprehensions are   
not canonical4  ,no1 he says1 our       
apprehensions tell lies of ,god and of  
,his grace4  ,so they do in our case    
also4  ,when any trouble falls upon us1 
for any reason1--and there are  many    
reasons other than ,his anger why ,god  
sends trouble upon  us1--conscience is  
up immediately with her interpretation  

and explanation  of our troubles4  ,this
 is your wages now1 conscience says4    
,god has been  slow to wrath1 but ,his  
patience is exhausted now4  ,as         
,rutherford says in  another letter1 our
 tearful eyes look asquint at ,christ   
and ,he appears to  be angry1 when all  
the time ,he pities and loves us4  ,is  
there any man  here to-night whose      
apprehensions are working upon his      
cross8  ,is there  any man of ,god here 
who has lost hold of ,god in the thick  
darkness1 and  who fears that his cross 
has come to him because ,god is angry   
with him8  ,let him hear and imitate    
what ,rutherford says when in the same  
distress3  ',i will lay inhibitions on  
my apprehensions1' he says2 ',i will not
 let my  unbelieving thoughts slander   
,christ4  ,let them say to me there is  
no  hope1 yet ,i will die saying1 ,it is
 not so2 ,i shall yet see the salvation 
of ,god4  ,i will die if it must be so1 
under water1 but ,i will die  gripping  
at ,christ4  ,let me go to hell1 ,i will

 go to hell believing in  and loving    
,christ4'  ,rutherford's worst          
apprehensions1 his best-grounded        
apprehensions1 could not survive an     
assault of faith like that4  ,imitate   
him1 and improve upon him1 and say1 that
 with a thousand times worse            
apprehensions than ever ,rutherford     
could have1 yet1 like him1 you will     
make your bed in hell1 loving1 and      
adoring1 and justifying ,jesus ,christ4 
,and1 if you do that1 hell will have    
none of you2 all hell will cast you     
out1 and all heaven will rise up and    
carry you in4    ',challenges' is       
another of ,rutherford's technical terms
 that he  constantly uses to his expert 
correspondents4  ',i was under great    
challenges1' he says1 in this same      
letter2 and in a letter written the     
same month of ,march to ,william ,rigg1 
of ,athernie1 he says1 ',old  challenges
 revive1 and cast all down4'  ,dr4      
,andrew ,bonar1 ,rutherford's  expert   
editor1 gives this glossary upon these  

passages3 ',charges1 self-  upbraidings1
 self-accusations4'  ,challenges of     
conscience came to  ,rutherford like    
these3 ',why art thou writing letters of
 counsel to other  men8  ,counsel       
thyself first4  ,why art thou appealed  
to and trusted and  loved by ,god's best
 people in ,scotland1 when thou knowest 
that thou art a  ,cain in malice and a  
,judas in treachery1 all but the        
outbreaks8  ,why art  thou taking thy   
cross so easily1 when thou knowest the  
unsettled  controversy the ,lord still  
has with thee8'  ',hall binks are       
slippery1'  wrote stern old ,knockbrex1 
challenging his old minister for his too
 great  joy4  ',old challenges now and  
then revive and cast all down again4'   
,that  reminds me of a fine passage in  
that great book of ,rutherford's1       
,christ  ,dying1 where he shows us how  
to take out a new charter for all our   
possessions1 and for the salvation of   
our souls themselves when our           
salvation1 or our possessions and our   

right to them1 is challenged4  ,it  is  
better1 he says1 to hold your souls and 
your lands by prayer than by  obedience1
 or conquest1 or industry4  ,have you   
wisdom1 honour1 learning1  parts1       
eloquence1 godliness1 grace1 a good     
name1 wife1 children1 a house1  peace1  
ease1 pleasure8  ,challenge yourself how
 you got them1 and see that  you hold   
them by an unchallengeable charter1 even
 by prayer1 and then by  grace4  ,and if
 you hold these things by any other     
charter1 hasten to get  a new conveyance
 made and a new title drawn out4  ,and  
thus old1 and  angry1 and threatening   
challenges will work out a charter that 
cannot be  challenged4    ,and1 then1   
when ,george ,gillespie was lying on his
 deathbed in ,edinburgh1  with his      
pillow filled with stinging             
apprehensions1 as is often the case     
with ,god's best servants and ripest    
saints1 hear how his old friend1 now    
professor of divinity in ,st4 ,andrews1 
writes to him3--    ',my reverend and   

dear brother1 look to the east4  ,die   
well4  ,your life of  faith is just     
finishing4  ,finish it well4  ,let your 
last act of faith be  your best act4    
,stand not upon sanctification1 but upon
 justification4  ,hand all your accounts
 over to free grace4  ,and if you have  
any bands of  apprehension in your      
death1 recollect that your apprehensions
 are not  canonical4'  ,and the dying   
man answered3 ',there is nothing that ,i
 have  done that can stand the          
touchstone of ,god's justice4  ,christ  
is my all1  and ,i am nothing4'         
,,xix4  ,,john ,,fergushill             
',ho1 ye that have no money1 come and   
buy in the poor man's                   
market4'--,rutherford4    ,it makes us  
think when we find two such men as      
,samuel ,rutherford and ,john           
,fergushill falling back for their own  
souls on a ,scripture like this4  ,we   
naturally think of ,scriptures like this
 as specially sent out to the  chief of 
sinners2 to those men who have sold     

themselves for naught1 or1  at least1 to
 new beginners in the divine life4  ,we 
do not readily think  of great divines  
and famous preachers like ,rutherford1  
or of godly and  able pastors like      
,fergushill1 as at all either needing   
such ,scriptures as  this1 or as finding
 their own case at all met in them4     
,but it is surely  a great lesson to us 
all--a great encouragement and a great  
rebuke--to  find two such saintly men as
 the ministers of ,anwoth and ,ochiltree
  reassuring and heartening one another 
about the poor man's market as they  do 
in their letters to one another4  ,and  
their case is just another  illustration
 of this quite familiar fact in the     
,church of ,christ1 that  the preachers 
who press their pulpits deepest into the
 doctrines of  grace1 and who1 at the   
same time1 themselves make the greatest 
attainments in the life of grace1 are   
just the men1 far more than any of      
their hearers1 both to need and to      
accept the simplest1 plainest1 freest1  

fullest offer of the ,gospel4  ,if the  
men of the house of ,israel will not    
accept the peace you preach to them1    
said our ,lord to ,his first apostles1  
then take that peace home to yourselves4
  ,and how often has that been  repeated
 in the preaching of the ,gospel since  
the days of ,peter and ,john6  ,how     
often have our best preachers preached  
their best sermons to  themselves6  ',i 
preached the following ,lord's ,day1'   
says ,boston in his  diary1 'on ,why art
 thou cast down1 ,o my soul8 and my     
sermon was mostly  on my own account4'  
,and it was just because ,boston        
preached so often in  that egoistical   
way that the people of ,ettrick were    
able to give such a  good account of    
what they heard4  ,weep yourselves1 if  
you would have your  readers weep1 said 
the shrewd old ,roman poet to the       
shallow poetasters of  his ,augustan    
day4  ,and the reproof and the          
instruction come up from every  pew to  
every pulpit still4  ',feel what you    

say1 if you would have us feel  it4     
,believe what you say1 if you would have
 us believe it4  ,flee to the  refuge   
yourselves1 if you would have us flee4  
,and let us see you selling  all in the 
poor man's market1 if you would see us  
also selling all and  coming after you4'
  ,the people of ,anwoth and ,ochiltree 
were very well off  in this respect also
 that their ministers did not bid them  
do anything  that they did not first do 
themselves4  ,the truest and best       
apostolical  succession had come to     
those two parishes in that their two    
pastors were  able1 with a good         
conscience before ,god and before their 
people1 to say  with ,paul to the       
,philippians3 ',those things1 which ye  
have both learned1  and received1 and   
heard1 and seen in me do2 and the ,god  
of peace shall be  with you4'    ,as to 
the merchandise of the poor man's       
market1--that embraces everything  that 
any man can possibly need or find any   
use for either in this world  or in the 

next4  ,absolutely everything is found  
in the poor man's  market--everything1  
from ,god ,himself1 the most precious of
 all things1  down to the sinner        
himself1 the most vile and worthless of 
all things4  ,the whole world1 and all  
the worlds1 are continually thrown into 
this  market1 both by the seller and by 
the purchaser4  ,the seller holds       
nothing back from this market1 and the  
purchaser comes to this market for      
everything4  ,even what he already      
possesses2 even what he bought and paid 
for but yesterday2 even what everybody  
else would call absolutely the  poor    
man's own1 he throws it all back again  
upon ,god every day1 and thus  holds all
 he has as his instant purchase of the  
great ,merchantman4  ,the  poor man's   
market is as far as possible from being 
a ,vanity ,fair1 but the  catalogues and
 the sale-lists of that fair may be     
taken as a specimen of  the things that 
change hands continually in the poor    
man's market also4  ,for here also are  

sold such merchandise as houses1 lands1 
trades1 places1  honours1 preferments1  
pleasures and delights of all sorts2    
wives1  husbands1 children1 masters1    
servants1 lives1 blood1 bodies1 souls1  
gold1  silver1 and what not4  ,all these
 things ,god sells to poor men every    
day2  and for all these things1 as often
 as they need any of them1 ,his poor men
  come to ,his market for them4  ,and1  
as has been said1 even after they have  
got possession of any or all of these   
things1 as if the market had an         
absolute fascination for them1 like     
gamblers who cannot stay away from  the 
wheel1 they are back again1 buying and  
selling what1 but yesterday1  they took 
home with them as the best bargain they 
had ever made4  ,yes1  the things that1 
once possessed1 either by inheritance or
 by purchase or  by gift1 you would     
think they would die rather than part   
with--a  patrimony in ancient lands and 
houses1 a possession they had toiled and
  prayed and waited for all their days1 

,christ on ,his cross1 their own  child 
in his cradle--absolutely everything    
they possess1 or would die to  possess1 
they part with again1 just that they may
 have the excitement1  the debate1 the  
delight1 the security1 and the liberty  
of purchasing it  all over again every  
day in the poor man's market4    ,over  
all this merchandise ,god ,himself is   
the ,master ,merchant4  ,it all  belongs
 to ,him1 and ,he has put it all into   
the poor man's purchase4  ,he  owns all 
the merchandise1 and ,he has opened the 
market3 ,he invites and  advertises the 
purchasers1 fixes the prices1 and       
settles the conditions  of sale4  ,and  
the first condition of sale is that all 
intending  purchasers shall come to     
,himself immediately for whatever they  
need4  ,all  negotiation here must be   
held immediately with ,god4  ,there are 
no  middlemen here4  ,they have their   
own place in the markets of earth2 but  
there is no room and no need for them   
here4  ,the producer and the  purchaser 

meet immediately here4  ,he employs     
whole armies of servants to  distribute 
and deliver ,his goods1 but the bargain 
itself must be struck  with ,god alone4 
,the price must be paid directly to     
,him2 and then1 with  ,his own hand1 ,he
 will write out your right and title to 
your purchase4  ,let every poor man1    
then1 be sure to draw near to ,god1 and 
to ,god alone4  ,draw near to ,god1 and 
,he will draw near to you4  ,ho1 ye that
 have no  money3 incline your ear1 and  
come to ,me3 hear1 and your soul shall  
live6    ,now1 surely1 one of the most  
remarkable things about the purchasers  
in  this market is just their fewness4  
,we find ,isaiah in his day canvassing  
the whole of ,jerusalem1 high and low1  
and glad to get even one purchaser  here
 and another there4  ,and ,rutherford1  
looking back to ,anwoth from  ,aberdeen1
 was not sure that he had got even so   
much as one really earnest  purchaser   
brought near to ,god4  ,and thus it was 
that1 while at ,anwoth1 he  was so much 

in that market himself4  ,partly on the 
principle that  preachers are bidden to 
take to themselves for their trouble    
what their  proud people refuse1 and    
partly because ,rutherford was out of   
all sight  the poorest man in all       
,anwoth4    ,now1 what made ,isaiah and 
,rutherford and ,fergushill such poor   
men  themselves1 was just this1 that    
they came out of every money-making     
enterprise in the divine life far poorer
 men than they entered it4  ,there  are 
some unlucky men in life who never      
prosper in anything4  ,everything  goes 
against them4  ,everything makes        
shipwreck into which they adventure     
their time and their money and their    
hope4  ,they go into one promising      
concern after another with flying       
colours and a light heart4  ,other men  
have made great fortunes here1 and so   
will they2 but before long their  old   
evil luck has overtaken them1 and they  
are glad that they are not all  their   
life in prison for the uttermost        

farthing4  ,and so on1 till at last     
they have to go to the poor man's market
 for the last decencies of their  death 
and burial2 for their winding-sheet1 and
 their coffin1 and their  grave4  ,and  
so was it with the ministers of ,anwoth 
and ,ochiltree2 and so  it is with all  
that poverty-stricken class of ministers
 to which they  belonged4  ,for1        
whatever their attainments and          
performances in preaching  or in        
pastoral work may do to enrich others1  
one thing is certain3 all  they do only 
impoverishes to pennilessness the men   
who put their whole  life and their     
whole heart into the performance of such
 work4  ,their  whole service of ,god1  
both in the public ministry of the word1
 and in  their more personal submission 
to ,his law1 has this fatal and hopeless
  principle ruling it1 that the better  
it is done1 and the more completely  any
 man gives himself up to the doing of   
it1 the poorer and the weaker it  leaves
 him who does it4  ,so much so1 that    

while he leads other men into  the way  
of the greatest riches1 he himself sinks
 deeper and deeper into  poverty of     
spirit every day4  ,till1 out of sheer  
pity1 and almost  remorse1 that ,his    
service should entail such poverty on   
all ,his servants1  ,christ sends them  
out continually less with an invitation 
to their people  than to themselves1    
saying always to them1 ',take the       
invitation to  yourselves2 and he of ,my
 servants who hath no money let him buy 
without  money and bear away what he    
will4'  ',my dear ,fergushill1 our ,lord
 is not  so cruel as to let a poor man  
see salvation and never let him touch it
  for want of money2 indeed1 the only   
thing that commendeth sinners to        
,christ is their extreme necessity and  
want4  ,ho1 he that hath no money1  that
 is the poor man's market4'  ,when      
,james ,guthrie was lying ill and  like 
to die1 he called in his man1 ,james    
,cowie1 to read in the ,epistle to  the 
,romans to him1 and when ,cowie came to 

these words1 ',i will have mercy  on    
whom ,i will have mercy1' his master    
burst into tears1 and said1  ',james1 ,i
 have nothing but that to lippen to4'   
,look now at the prices that are        
demanded and paid in the poor man's     
market4  ,and1 paradoxical and past all 
understanding as are so many of  the    
things connected with this matter1 the  
most paradoxical and past all           
understanding of them all is the price  
that is always asked1 and that is       
sometimes paid1 in that market4  ,when  
any man comes here to buy1 it is  not   
the value of the article on sale that is
 asked of him2 but the first  question  
that is asked of him is1 ,how much money
 have you got8  ,and if it  turns out   
that he is rich and increased with      
goods1 then1 to him1 the  price1 even of
 admittance to this market1 is all that 
he has4  ,the very  entrance-money1     
before he comes in sight of the stalls  
and tables at all1  has already stripped
 him bare of every penny he possesses4  

,and that is  why so few purchasers are 
found in this market2 they do not feel  
able or  willing to pay down the        
impoverishing entrance-price4  ,as a    
matter of  fact1 it is a very unusual   
thing to find a young man who has been  
so well  taught about this market by his
 parents1 his schoolmasters1 or even by 
his ministers1 that he is fit to enter  
early on its great transactions4  ,and  
increasing years do not tend of         
themselves to reconcile him to the      
terms on which ,god sells ,his          
salvation4  ,the price in the poor man's
  market is absolutely everything that a
 rich man possesses2 and then1 when  he 
has nothing left1 when he has laid down 
all that he has1 or has lost  all1 or   
has been robbed of all1 only then the   
full paradox of the case  comes into his
 view2 for then he begins to discover   
that the price he  could not meet or    
face so long as he was a rich and a     
well-to-do man is  such a price that1 in
 his absolute penury1 he can now pay it 

down till  all the market is his own4   
,multitudes of poor men up and down the 
land  remember well1 and will never     
forget1 this poor man ,rutherford's so  
,isaiah-like words1 ',our wants best    
qualify us for ,christ'2 and again1     
',all my own stock of ,christ is some   
hunger for ,him4'  ',say ,amen to the   
promises1 and ,christ is yours1' he     
wrote to ,lady ,kenmure4  ',this is     
surely an easy market4  ,you need but to
 look to ,him in faith2 for ,christ     
suffered for all sin1 and paid the price
 of all the promises4'    ',faith cannot
 be so difficult1 surely1' says ,william
 ,guthrie in his  ,saving ,interest1    
'when it consists of so much in desire4'
  ,now1 both  its exceeding difficulty  
and its exceeding ease also just consist
 in  that4  ,nothing is so easy to a    
healthy man as the desire for food2 but1
  then1 nothing is so impossible to a   
dead man1 or even to a sick man1 as     
just desire4  ,desire sounds easy1 but  
how few among us have that capacity  and

 that preparation for ,christ and ,his  
salvation that stands in desire4  ,have 
you that desire8  ,really and truly1 in 
your heart of hearts1 have  you that    
desire8  ,then how well it is with you6 
,for that is all that ,god  looks for in
 him who comes to the poor man's market2
 indeed1 it is the  only currency       
accepted there4  ,isaiah's famous       
invitation is drawn out  just to meet   
the case of a man who has desire1 and   
nothing but desire1 in  his heart4  ,all
 the encouragements and assurances that 
his evangelical  genius can devise are  
set forth by the prophet to attract and 
to win the  desiring heart4  ,the       
desiring heart says to itself1 ,i would 
give the  whole world if ,i had it just 
to see ,christ1 just to be near ,christ1
 and  just1 if it were but possible1    
that ,i should ever be the least thing  
like  ,christ4  ,now1 that carries ,god4
  ,god1 the ,father of our ,lord ,jesus 
,christ1 cannot resist that4  ,no true  
father could1 and least of all a  father

 who loves his son1 and who has such a  
son to love as ,god has in  ,christ4    
,well1 ,he says2 if you love and desire1
 honour and estimate ,my  ,son like     
that1 ,i cannot deny ,him the reward and
 the pleasure of  possessing you and    
your love4  ,and thus1 without any      
desert in you--any  desert but sheer    
desire--you have made the greatest1 the 
easiest1 the  speediest1 the most       
splendid purchase that all the poor     
man's market  affords4  ,no1 ,william   
,guthrie2 faith is not so very difficult
 to the  sinner who has desire4  ,for   
where desire of the right quality is1   
and the  right quantity1 there is       
everything4  ,and all the merchandise of
 ,god is  at that sinner's nod and bid4 
,ho1 then1 he that hath no money1 but   
only the desire for money1 and for  what
 money can1 and for what money cannot1  
buy1 come and buy1 without  money and   
without price4  ,instead of money1      
instead of merit1 even if you  have     
nothing but ,rutherford's only fitness  

for ,christ1 ',my loathsome             
wretchedness1' then come with that4     
,come boldly with that4  ,come as if    
you had in and on you the complete      
opposite of that4  ,the opposite of     
loathsomeness is delightsomeness2 and   
the opposite of wretchedness is         
happiness4  ,yes6 but you will search   
all the ,book of ,god and all its       
promises1 and you will not find one     
single letter of them all addressed  to 
the abounding and the gladsome and the  
self-satisfied4  ,it is the poor  man's 
market2 and this market goes best when  
the poor man is not only  poor1 but poor
 beyond all ordinary poverty3 poor1 as  
,samuel ,rutherford  always was1 to     
'absolute and loathsome wretchedness4'  
,let him here1  then1 whose sad case is 
best described in ,rutherford's dreadful
 words1  let him come to ,rutherford's  
market and make ,rutherford's           
merchandise1  and let him do it now4    
,ho1 he that hath no money1 he that hath
 only  misery1 let him come1 and let him

 come now4           ,,xx4  ,,james     
,,bautie1 ,,student ,,of ,,divinity     
',you crave my mind4'--,rutherford4     
,as a rule the difficulties of a        
divinity student are not at all the     
difficulties of the best of his future  
people4  ,a divinity student's          
difficulties are usually academic and   
speculative1 whereas the  difficulties  
of the best people in his coming        
congregation will be  difficulties of   
the most intensely real and practical   
kind4  ,and thus it  is that we so often
 hear lately-ordained ministers         
confessing that they  have come to the  
end of their resources and experiences1 
and have nothing  either fresh or       
certain left to preach to the people    
about4  ,just as1 on  the other hand1 so
 many congregations complain that they  
look up to the  pulpit from ,sabbath to 
,sabbath and are not fed4  ,it is not   
much to be  wondered at that a raw      
college youth cannot all at once feed   
and guide  and extricate an old saint2  

or that a minister1 whose deepest       
difficulties hitherto have been mostly  
of the debating society kind1  should   
not be able to afford much help to those
 of his people who are  wading through  
the deep and drowning waters of the     
spiritual life4  ,and  whether something
 could not be done by the institution of
 chairs of  genuine pastoral and        
experimental theology for the help of   
our students  and the good of our people
 is surely a question that well deserves
 the  earnest attention of all the      
evangelical churches4  ,meantime we are 
to be  introduced to a divinity student 
of the middle of the seventeenth century
  who was early and deeply exercised in 
those intensely real problems of  the   
soul which occupied such a large place  
both in the best religious  literature  
and in the best pulpit work of that     
intensely earnest day4  ,james ,bautie1 
or ,beattie1 as we shall here call him  
on ,dr4 ,bonar's  suggestion1 was a     
candidate for the ministry such that the

 ripest and  most deeply exercised      
saints in ,scotland might well have     
rejoiced to have  had such an able and  
saintly youth for their preacher on the 
,sabbath-day  as well as for their      
pastor all the week4  ,as ,james        
,beattie's college  days drew on to an  
end he became more and more exercised   
about his mental  deficiencies1 and     
still more about his spiritual unfitness
 to be  anybody's minister4  ,beattie   
had1 to begin with1 this always         
infallible  mark of an able man--an     
increasing sense of his own inability3  
and he  had1 along with that1 this      
equally infallible mark of a            
spiritually-minded man--an overwhelming 
sense of his utter lack of  anything    
like a spiritual mind4  ,no man but a   
very able man could have  written the   
letter that ,beattie wrote about himself
 to ,samuel ,rutherford2  and           
,rutherford's letter back to ,beattie   
will not be a bad test of a  divinity   
student whether he has enough of the    

true divinity student mind  in him to   
read that letter1 to understand it1 and 
to translate it4  ,beattie had an       
excellent intellect1 and his excellent  
intellect had not  been laid out at     
college on those windy fields that so   
puff up a beginner  in knowledge and in 
life2 his whole mind had been given up  
already to  those terrible problems of  
the soul that both humble and exalt the 
man  who spends his life among them4    
,beattie's future congregation will not 
vaunt themselves about their minister's 
ability or scholarship or  eloquence2   
his sermons will soon push his people   
back behind all such  superficial       
matters4  ,beattie's preaching and his  
whole pastorate will  soon become       
another illustration of the truth that  
it is not gifts but  graces in a        
minister that will in the long-run truly
 edify the body of  ,christ4  ,you have 
,james ,beattie's portrait as a divinity
 student in  ,rutherford's #bdith       
letter1 and you will find a             

complementary portrait of  ,beattie as a
 grey-haired pastor in ,dr4 ,stalker's  
,preacher and his  ,models4  ',he was a 
man of competent scholarship1 and had   
the reputation  of having been in early 
life a powerful and popular preacher4   
,but it was  not to those gifts that he 
owed his unique influence4  ,he moved   
through  the town1 with his white hair  
and somewhat staid and dignified        
demeanour1  as a hallowing presence4    
,his very passing in the street was a   
kind of  benediction2 the people1 as    
they looked after him1 spoke of him to  
each  other with affectionate reverence4
  ,children were proud when he laid his 
hand on their heads1 and they treasured 
the kindly words which he spoke  to     
them4  ,they who laboured along with him
 in the ministry felt that his  mere    
existence in the community was an       
irresistible demonstration of           
,christianity and a tower of strength to
 every good cause4  ,yet he had not     
gained this position of influence by    

brilliant talents or great  achievements
 or the pushing of ambition2 for he was 
singularly modest1  and would have been 
the last to credit himself with half the
 good he did4  ,the whole mystery lay in
 this1 that he had lived in the town for
 forty  years a blameless life1 and was 
known by everybody to be a godly and a  
prayerful man4  ,the prime qualification
 for the ministry is goodness4'         
,beattie as a student challenged himself
 severely on this account also1  that   
some truths found a more easy and       
unshaken credit with him than  other    
truths4  ,this is a common difficulty   
with many of our modern  students also1 
and how best to advise with them under  
this real  difficulty constantly puts   
their professors and their pastors to   
the  test4  ,whatever ,beattie may have 
got1 ,i confess ,i do not get much help 
in  this difficulty out of ,rutherford's
 letter back to ,beattie4  ,rutherford1 
with all his splendid gifts of mind and 
heart1 had sometimes a certain  dogmatic

 and dictatorial way with him1 and this 
is just the temper that  our students   
still meet with too often in their old  
and settled censors4  ,the 'torpor of   
assurance' has not yet settled on the   
young divine as it  has done on too many
 of the old4  ,there was a modest1 a    
genuine1 and an  every way reasonable   
difficulty in this part of ,beattie's   
letter to  ,rutherford1 and ,i wish much
 that ,rutherford had felt himself put  
upon his  quite capable mettle to deal  
with the difficulty4  ,or1 if he had not
 time  to go to the bottom of all       
,beattie's deep letter1 as he says he   
has not1  he might have referred his    
correspondent--for his correspondent was
 a  well-read student--to a great sermon
 by the greatest of ,english            
,churchmen--a sermon that a reader like 
,rutherford must surely have had by     
heart1 entitled1 ',a ,learned and       
,comfortable ,sermon of the ,certainty  
and  ,perpetuity of ,faith in the       
,elect4'  ,but1 unfortunately for       

,england and  ,scotland both1 ,england  
was thrusting that sermon and all the   
other  writings of its author on the    
,church of ,christ in ,scotland at the  
point  of the bayonet1 and that is the  
very worst instrument that can be       
employed in the interests of truth and  
of ecclesiastical comprehension  and    
conformity4  ,and among the many things 
we have to be thankful for in  our more 
emancipated and more catholic day1 it is
 not the least that  ,rutherford and    
,hooker lie in peace and in complemental
 fulness beside one  another on the     
tables of all our students of divinity4 
,coming still closer home to himself1   
our divinity student puts this acute    
difficulty to his spiritual casuist3    
,whether a man of ,god1 and especially  
a minister of ,christ1 can be right who 
does not love ,god for ,himself1 for    
,his nature and for ,his character      
solely and purely1 and apart altogether 
from all ,his benefactions both in      
nature and in grace4  ,james ,beattie   

had  been brought up with such a love   
for the ,kirk of ,scotland1 and for her 
ministers and her people2 he had of late
 grown into such a love for his  books  
also1 and for the work of the ministry1 
that in examining himself  in prospect  
of his approaching licence he had felt  
afraid that he loved  the thought of a  
study1 and a pulpit1 and a manse1 and   
its inhabitants1  and1 indeed1 the whole
 prospective life of a minister1 with   
more keenness  of affection than he     
loved the souls of men1 or even his     
,master ,himself4  ,and he put that most
 distressing difficulty also before     
,rutherford4  ,now  there was an        
expression on that matter that was      
common in the pulpits of  ,rutherford's 
school in that day that ,rutherford     
would be sure to quote in  his second   
letter to ,beattie1 if not in his first4
  ,it was a ,latin  proverb1 but all the
 common people of that day quite well   
understood it1  not to speak of a       
student like ,beattie4  ,aliquid in     

,christo formosius  ,salvatore1 wrote   
,rutherford to distressed ,beattie2 that
 is to say1 ,there  is that in ,christ  
which is far more fair and sweet than   
merely ,his being  a ,saviour4  ,never  
be content1 that is1 till you can rise  
up above manses  and pulpits and books  
and sermons1 and even above your own    
salvation1 to  see the pure and infinite
 loveliness of ,christ ,himself4  ,dost 
thou1 ,o my  soul1 love ,jesus ,christ  
for ,himself alone1 and not only as thy 
,redeemer8  though to love ,him as such 
,he doth allow thee1 yet there is that  
in  ,christ that is far more amiable    
than merely in ,his being thy ,saviour4 
,and  yet the two kinds of love may     
quite well stand together1 writes       
,rutherford1 just as a child loves his  
mother because she is his mother1  and  
yet his love leaps the more out when she
 gives him an apple4  ,at the  same     
time1 to love ,christ for ,himself alone
 is the last end of a true  believer's  
love4    ,it was one of the great       

experimental problems much agitated     
among the  greater evangelical divines  
of that deep1 clear-eyed1 and honest    
day1 ,why  the truly regenerate are all 
left so full of all manner of indwelling
  sin4  ,we never hear that question    
raised nowadays1 nor any question at    
all like that4  ,the only difficulty in 
our day is why any man should have  any 
difficulty about his own indwelling sin 
at all4  ,but neither ,beattie1  nor    
,rutherford1 nor any of the masters who 
remain to us had got so far as  we4     
,and as for the ,antinomian1            
perfectionist1 and higher-life preachers
  of that day1 they are all so dead and 
forgotten that you would not know  their
 names even if ,i repeated them4        
,beattie1 as a beginner in the          
spiritual life1 had made this still not 
uncommon mistake4  ,he had taken  those 
,new ,testament passages in which the   
apostles portray an ideal  ,christian   
man as he stands in the election and    
calling of ,god1 and as he  will be     

found at last and for ever in heaven1   
and he had prematurely and              
inconsequently applied all that to      
himself as a young man under            
sanctification and under the painful and
 humiliating beginnings of it2  and no  
wonder that1 so confusing the very first
 principles of the ,gospel1  he confused
 and terrified himself out of all peace 
and all comfort and  all hope4  ,now1   
that was just the kind of difficulty    
with which  ,rutherford could deal with 
all his evangelical freedom and fulness1
 depth  and insight4  ,no preacher or   
writer of that day held up the absolute 
necessity of holiness better than       
,rutherford did2 but then1 that only the
  more compelled him to hold up also    
such comfort as he conveys in his       
consoling and reassuring letter to      
despairing ,beattie3 ',comparing the    
state of one truly regenerate1 whose    
heart is a temple of the ,holy ,ghost1  
with your own1 which is full of         
uncleanness and corruption1 you stand   

dumb and dare not call ,christ          
heartsomely your own4  ,but1 ,i answer1 
the  best regenerate have their         
defilements1 and1 wash as they will1    
there  will be the filth of sin in their
 hearts to the end4  ,glory alone will  
make our hearts pure and perfect1 never 
till then will they be absolutely       
sinless4'  ,and if we1 ,rutherford's so 
weak-kneed successors1 preached the  law
 of ,god and true holiness as he        
preached those noble doctrines1 the     
sheer agony of our despairing people    
would compel us to preach also the  true
 nature1 the narrow limits1 and the     
whole profound laws of  evangelical     
sanctification as we never preach1 and  
scarce dare to preach1  those things    
now4  ,they who preach true holiness    
best are just thereby  the more         
compelled to preach its partial1        
tentative1 elementary1 and  superficial 
character in this life4  ,and the hearer
 who knows in the word  of ,god and in  
his own heart what indeed true holiness 

is1 will insist on  having its          
complementary truths frequently preached
 to him to keep him  from despair2 or   
else he will turn continually to those  
great divines  who1 though dead1 yet    
preach such things in their noble books4
  ,and that  those books are not still  
read and preached among us1 and that the
 need  for them and their doctrines is  
so little felt1 is only another         
illustration of the true proverb that   
where no oxen are the crib is  clean4   
,james ,beattie was in very good company
 when he said that he must have  more   
assurance1 both of his gifts and his    
graces1 before he could enter  on his   
ministry4  ,for ,moses1 and ,isaiah1 and
 ,jeremiah1 and many another  minister  
who could be named1 have all felt and   
said the same thing4  ,now  that he is  
near the door of the pulpit1 ,beattie   
feels that he cannot  enter it till he  
has more certainty that it is all right 
with himself4  ,but our young ministers 
will attain to assurance not so much by 

consulting ,rutherford1 skilled casuist 
in such matters as he is1 as by         
themselves going forward in a holy life 
and a holy ministry4  ',it is not       
,god's design1' says ,jonathan ,edwards1
 'that men should obtain assurance  in  
any other way than by mortifying        
corruption1 increasing in grace1 and    
obtaining the lively exercises of it4   
,assurance is not to be obtained so     
much by self-examination as by action4  
,paul obtained assurance of  winning the
 prize more by running than by          
reflecting4  ,the swiftness of  his pace
 did more toward his assurance of the   
goal than the strictness of  his        
self-examination4'  ',i wish you a share
 of my feast1' replies  ,rutherford4    
',but1 for you1 hang on our ,lord1 and  
,he will fill you with a  sense of ,his 
love1 as ,he has so often filled me4    
,your feast is not far  off4  ,hunger   
on2 for there is food already in your   
hunger for ,christ4  ,never go away from
 ,him1 but continue to fash ,him2 and if

 ,he delays1 yet  come not away1 albeit 
you should fall aswoon at ,his feet4'   
,pray1 says  ,rutherford1 and you will  
not long lack assurance4  ,work1 says   
,edwards1  and assurance of ,god's love 
will be an immediate earnest of your    
full  wages4          ,,xxi4  ,,john    
,,meine1 ,,junr41 ,,student ,,of        
,,divinity         ',if you would be a  
deep divine ,i recommend you to         
sanctification4'--,rutherford4    ,old  
,john ,meine's shop was a great howf of 
,samuel ,rutherford's all the  time of  
his student life in ,edinburgh4  ,young 
,rutherford had got an  introduction to 
the ,canongate shopkeeper from one of   
the elders of  ,jedburgh1 and the old   
shopkeeper and the young student at once
 took to  one another1 and remained fast
 friends all their days4  ,john ,meine's
 shop  was so situated at a corner of   
the ,canongate that ,rutherford could   
see  the ,tolbooth and ,john ,knox's    
house as he looked up the street1 and   
,holyrood ,palace as he looked down1 and

 the young divine could never hear      
enough of what the old shopkeeper had to
 tell him of ,holyrood and its  doings  
on the one hand1 and of the ,reformer's 
house on the other4  ,the  very         
paving-stones of the ,canongate were    
full of sermons on the one hand1  and of
 satires on the other1 in that day4     
',he was an old man when he  came to    
live near my father's shop1' ,john      
,meine would say to the eager  student4 
',but1 even as an errand boy1 taking    
parcels up his stair1 ,i  felt what a   
good man's house ,i was in1 and ,i used 
to wish ,i was already a  man1 that ,i  
might either be a soldier or a          
minister4'  ,the divinity  student often
 sat in the shopkeeper's pew on         
,sabbath-days1 and after  sermon they   
never went home till they had again     
visited ,john ,knox's  grave4  ,and as  
they turned homeward1 old ,meine would  
lay his hand on  young ,rutherford's    
shoulder and say3 ',knoxes will be      
needed in ,edinburgh  again1 before all 

is over1 and who knows but you may be   
elect1 my lad1 to  be one of them8'     
,barbara ,hamilton1 who lived above her 
husband's shop1 was almost more  young  
,rutherford's intimate friend than even 
her intimate husband4  ,barbara         
,hamilton was both a woman of eminent   
piety and of a high and bold  public    
spirit4  ,and stories are still told in 
the ,wodrow ,books of her  interest and 
influence in the affairs of the ,kirk   
and its silenced  ministers4  ,the godly
 old couple had two children3 ,john1    
called after his  father1 and ,barbara1 
called after her mother1 and ,barbara   
assisted her  mother in the house1 while
 ,john ran errands and assisted his     
father4  ,rutherford and the little boy 
had made a great friendship while the   
latter was still a boy2 and one of      
,rutherford's fellow-students had made  
a still deeper friendship upstairs than 
any but the two friends  themselves     
suspected4  ,twenty years after this    
,barbara ,hume will receive  a letter   

from ,samuel ,rutherford1 written in the
 ,jerusalem ,chamber at  ,westminster1  
consoling and sanctifying her for the   
death of his old  friend ,william ,hume1
 lately chaplain in the ,covenanters'   
army at  ,newcastle4    ,by the time    
that ,rutherford was minister at        
,anwoth1 and then prisoner in           
,aberdeen1 ,john ,meine1 junior1 had    
grown up to be almost a minister        
himself4  ,he is not yet a minister1 but
 he is now a divinity student1  hard at 
work at his books1 and putting on the   
shopkeeper's apron an hour  every       
afternoon to let his father have a rest4
  ,the old merchant used to  rise at all
 hours in the morning1 and spend the    
early summer mornings on  ,arthur's     
,seat with his ,psalm-book in his hand1 
and the winter mornings at  his shop    
fire1 reading translations from the     
,continental ,reformers1  comparing them
 with his ,bible1 singing ,psalms by    
himself and offering  prayer4  ,till his
 student son felt1 as he stood behind   

the counter for an  hour in the         
afternoon1 that he was like ,aaron and  
,hur holding up his  father's praying   
and prevailing hands4    ,there have    
always been speculative difficulties and
 animated debates in  our ,edinburgh    
,theological ,societies1 and1 from the  
nature of the study1  from the nature of
 the human mind1 and from the nature of 
the ,scottish  mind1 there will always  
be4  ,john ,meine's difficulties were   
not the same  difficulties that exercise
 the minds of the young divines in our  
day1 but  they were anxious and         
troublesome enough to him1 and he       
naturally turned  to his old friend at  
,anwoth for counsel and advice4  ,when  
,rutherford came  in to ,edinburgh1     
there was always a prophet's chamber in 
,barbara  ,hamilton's house ready for   
him2 and when the winter session came to
 a  close her young son would set off to
 ,anwoth with a thousand questions in   
his head4  ,but ,aberdeen was too far   
away1 and1 though the posts of that  day

 were expensive and uncertain1 the old  
merchant did not grudge to see  his     
son's letters sent off to ,samuel       
,rutherford4  ,samuel ,rutherford knew  
that ,john ,meine1 junior1 was not      
shallow in his divinity1 young as he    
was1 nor an entire stranger to          
sanctification1 else he would not have  
written that still extant letter back to
 him3--',i have little of ,christ  in   
this prison1 little but desires4  ,all  
my present stock of ,christ is  some    
hunger for ,him2 ,i cannot say but that 
,i am rich in that4  ,but1  blessed be  
my ,lord1 who taketh me as ,i am4       
,christ had only one summer in  ,his    
year1 and shall we insist on two8  ,my  
love to your father4  ,and1 for         
yourself1 if you would be a deep divine1
 ,i recommend you to  sanctification4'  
,what with his father and his mother1   
his books1 his  acquaintance with       
,rutherford and ,hume1 and1 best of all1
 his acquaintance  with his own evil    
heart1 young ,john ,meine must have been

 a somewhat deep  divine already1 else  
,rutherford would not have cast such    
pearls of  experience down before him4  
,a divine1 according to our division of 
labour1 is a man who has chosen as  his 
life-work to study the things of ,god2  
the things1 that is1 of ,god in         
,christ1 in ,scripture1 in the ,church1 
and in the heart and life of man4  ,john
 and ,james and ,peter and ,andrew      
ceased to be fishermen1 and became      
divines when ,christ said to them       
',follow me4'  ,and after seventy years 
of  sanctification the second son of    
,zebedee had at last attained to        
divinity  enough to receive the         
,revelation1 to write it out1 and to be 
called by  the early ,church ,john the  
,divine4    ,but what is this process of
 sanctification that makes a young man  
already  a deep divine8  ,what is       
sanctification8  ,rutherford had a deep 
hand in  drawing up the well-known      
definition1 and1 therefore1 we may take 
it as  not far from the truth3          

',sanctification is the work of ,god's  
free grace1  whereby we are renewed in  
the whole man after the image of ,god1  
and are  enabled more and more to die   
unto sin and live unto righteousness4'  
,that1  or something like that1 was the 
recipe that ,samuel ,rutherford sent    
south  to ,john ,meine1 student of      
divinity1 with the assurance that1 if he
  followed it close enough and long     
enough1 it would result in making him a 
deep divine4  ,i wonder if he took the  
recipe2 ,i wonder if he kept to it2  ,i 
wonder how he pictured to himself the   
image of ,god2 ,i wonder1 nay1 ,i  know1
 how he felt as he submitted his whole  
man--body1 soul1 and  spirit--to the    
renewing of the ,holy ,ghost4  ,and did 
he begin and continue  to die more and  
more unto sin1 till he died altogether  
to this sinful  world1 and live more and
 more unto righteousness1 till he went  
to live  with ,knox1 and ,rutherford1   
and ,hume1 and his father and mother in 
the  ,land of ,life8    ',did he begin  

with regeneration8' ,dr4 ,john ,duncan1 
of the ,new ,college1  asked his        
daughter1 one ,sabbath when she had come
 home from church full  of praise of a  
sermon she had just heard on            
sanctification4  ,dr4 ,duncan  was      
perhaps the deepest divine this century 
has seen in ,edinburgh2 and  his        
divinity took its depth from the same   
study and the same exercise  that       
,rutherford recommended to ,john ,meine4
  ,dr4 ,duncan was a great  scholar1 but
 it was not his scholarship that made   
him such a singularly  deep divine4  ,he
 was a profound philosopher also2 but   
neither was it his  philosophy4  ,he was
 an immense reader also2 but neither was
 it the piles  of books2 it was1 he     
tells us1 first the new heart that he   
got as a  student in ,aberdeen1 and then
 it was the lifelong conflict that went 
on  within him between the old heart and
 the new4  ,and it is this that makes   
sanctification rank and stand out as the
 first and the oldest of all the        

experimental sciences4  ,long before    
either of the ,bacons were born1 the    
humblest and most obscure of ,god's     
saints were working out their own       
salvation on the most approved          
scientific principles and methods4      
,long  before science and philosophy had
 discovered and set their seal to that  
method1 the ,church of ,christ had      
taught it to all her true children1 and 
all her best divines had taken a deep   
degree by means of it4  ,what           
experimentalists were ,david and ,asaph 
and ,isaiah and ,paul2 and that1 as  the
 subtlest and deepest sciences must be  
pursued1 not upon foreign  substances   
but upon themselves1 upon their own     
heart1 and mind1 and will1  and         
disposition1 and conversation1 and      
character4  ,aristotle says that        
',young men cannot possess practical    
judgment1 because practical judgment  is
 employed upon individual facts1 and    
these are learned only by  experience1  
and a youth has not experience1 for     

experience is gained only  by a course  
of years4'    ',a truly great divine1'  
was ,jonathan ,edwards' splendid        
certificate to our  own ,thomas ,boston4
  ,now1 when we read his ,memoirs1      
written by himself1  we soon see what it
 was that made ,boston such a truly     
great and deep  divine4  ,it was not the
 number of his books1 for he tells us   
how he was  pained when a brother       
minister opened his book-press and      
smiled at its  few shelves4  ',i may be 
a great bookman1' writes ,rutherford to 
,lady  ,kenmure1 'and yet be a stark    
idiot in the things of ,christ4'  ,it   
was not  his knowledge of ,hebrew1      
though he almost discovered that hidden 
language  in ,ettrick4  ,no1 but it was 
his discovery of himself1 and his       
experimental study of his own heart4    
',my duties1 the best of them1 would    
damn me2 they must all be washed with   
myself in that precious blood4  ,though 
,i cannot be free of sin1 ,god ,himself 
knows that ,he would be  welcome to make

 havoc of all my lusts to-night1 and to 
make me holy4  ,i  know no lust ,i would
 not be content to part with to-night4  
,the first  impression on my spirit this
 morning was my utter inability to put  
away  sin4  ,i saw that it was as       
possible for a rock to raise itself as  
it was  for me to raise my heart from   
sin to holiness4'    ,but the study of  
divinity is not a close profession3 a   
profession for men  only1 and from which
 women are shut out2 nor is the method  
of it shut off  from any woman or any   
man4  ',i counsel you to study          
sanctification1'  wrote ,rutherford1 the
 same year to the ,lady ,cardoness4     
,and if you think  that ,rutherford was 
a closet mystic and an unpractical and  
head-carried  enthusiast1 too good for  
this rough world1 read his letter to    
,lady  ,cardoness1 and confess your     
ignorance of this great and good man4   
',deal  kindly with your tenants1' he   
writes1 'and let your conscience be your
  factor'2 and again1 ',when your       

husband's passion overcomes him1 my     
counsel to your ladyship is1 that a soft
 answer putteth away wrath4'  ,and      
lastly1 ',let it not be said that the   
,lord hath forsaken your house  because 
of your neglect of the ,sabbath-day and 
its exercises4  ,i counsel  you to study
 sanctification among your tenants1 and 
beside your husband1  and among your    
children and your guests4  ,your lawful 
and loving pastor1  in his only1 only   
,lord1--,,samuel ,,rutherford4          
,,xxii4  ,,alexander ,,brodie ,,of      
,,brodie         ',mr4 ,rutherford's    
letter desiring me to deny              
myself4'--,brodie's     ,diary4         
,alexander ,brodie was born at ,brodie  
in the north country in the year  #afag4
  ,that was the same year that saw      
,samuel ,rutherford matriculate in  the 
,college of ,edinburgh4  ,of young      
,brodie's early days we know nothing2   
for1 though he has left behind him a    
full and faithful diary both of his     
personal and family life1 yet1          

unfortunately1 ,brodie did not begin to 
keep that diary till he was well        
advanced in middle age4  ,young         
,brodie's  father died when his son and 
heir was but fourteen years old1 and    
after  taking part of the curriculum of 
study in ,king's ,college1 ,aberdeen1   
the  young laird married a year before  
he had come to his majority4  ,his      
excellent wife was only spared to be    
with him for two years when she was     
taken away from him1 leaving him the    
widowed father of one son and one       
daughter4    ,as time goes on we find   
the laird of ,brodie a member of        
,parliament1 a  member of ,general      
,assembly1 and a ,lord of ,session4  ,he
 was one of the  commissioners also1 who
 were sent out to the ,hague to carry on
  negotiations with ,charles1 and during
 the many troubled years that  followed 
that mission1 we find ,brodie           
corresponding from time to time  with   
,cromwell and his officers1 and with    
,charles and his courtiers1 both  about 

public and private affairs4  ,brodie was
 one of the ablest men of  his day in   
,scotland1 and he should have stood in  
the very front rank of  her statesmen   
and her saints2 but1 as it is1 he falls 
very far short of  that4  ,we search the
 signatures of the ,national ,covenant  
in vain for the  name of ,alexander     
,brodie1 and the absence of his name    
from that noble  roll is already an     
ill-omen for his future life4  ,david   
,laing1 in his  excellent preface to    
,brodie's ,diary1 is good enough to set 
down the  absence of ,brodie's name from
 the ,covenant to his youth and retired 
habits4  ,i wish ,i could take his      
editor's lenient view of ,brodie's      
absence from ,greyfriars church on the  
testing day of the ,covenant4  ,it      
would be an immense relief to me if ,i  
could persuade myself to look at        
,brodie in that matter with ,mr4        
,laing's eyes4  ,i have tried hard to do
 so1  but ,i cannot4  ,far younger men  
than the laird of ,brodie were in the   

,greyfriars churchyard that day1 and far
 more modest men than he was4  ,and  ,i 
cannot shut my eyes to what appears to  
me1 after carefully studying his  life  
and his character1 a far likelier if a  
far less creditable reason4  ,after the 
,restoration ,brodie's life1 if life it 
could be called1 was  spent in a        
constant terror lest he should lose his 
estates1 his liberty1  and his life in  
the prelatic persecution2 but1 with his 
sleepless  management of men1 if not    
with the blessing of ,god and the peace 
of a  good conscience1 ,alexander       
,brodie died in his own bed1 in ,brodie 
,castle1  on the #agth of ,april1 #afhj4
    ,there were some things in which    
,alexander ,brodie ran well1 to employ  
the  apostle's expression2 in some      
things1 indeed1 no man of his day ran   
better4  ,to begin with1 ,brodie had an 
excellent intellect4  ,if he did not    
always run well it was not for want of a
 sound head or a sharp eye4  ,in        
reading ,brodie's diary you all along   

feel that you are under the hand of  a  
very able man1 and a man who all his    
days does excellent justice to his      
excellent mind1 at least on its         
intellectual side4  ,the books he enters
  as having read on such and such a     
date1 the catalogues of books he buys   
on his visits to ,edinburgh and ,london1
 and the high planes of thought on      
which his mind dwells when he is at his 
best1 all bespeak a very able man  doing
 full justice to his great ability4     
,the very examinations he puts  himself 
under as to his motives and mainsprings 
in this and that action  of his life2   
the defences and exculpations he puts   
forward for this and  that part of his  
indefensible conduct2 the debate he     
holds now with the  presbyterian party  
and now with the prelatist2 the very way
 he puts his  finger down on the weak   
and unsound places in both of the       
opposing  parties2 and1 not least1 his  
power of aphoristic thought and         
expression  in the running diary of his 

spiritual life1 all combine to leave the
  conviction on his reader's mind that  
,lord ,brodie was one of the very       
ablest men of a very able day in        
,scotland4  ,i open his voluminous diary
  at random1 and ,i at once come on such
 passages as these3 ',if substantial    
duties are neglected or slighted it is a
 shrewd suspicion1 be the  repentance   
what it will1 that all is not right4    
,lord1 discover ,thyself  in the duties 
of the time1 and in every substantial   
duty4  ,at the same  time1 hang not the 
weight of our wellbeing on our duties1  
but on ,christ  by faith4  ,i am a      
reeling1 unstable1 staggering1          
unsettled1 lukewarm  creature4  ,for    
,thy compassion's sake forgive and heal1
 warm1 establish1  enlighten1 draw me   
and ,i will follow4  ,i am full of      
self-love1 darkness  in my judgment1    
fear to confess ,thee1 or hazard myself1
 or my estate1 or  my peace4 4 4 4  ,we 
poor creatures are commanded by our     
affections and  our passions2 they are  

not at our command2 but the ,holy ,one  
doth exercise  all ,his attributes at   
,his own will2 they are all at ,his     
command2 they are  not passions or      
perturbations in ,his mind1 though they 
transport us4  ,when  ,i would hate1 ,i 
cannot4  ,when ,i would love1 ,i cannot4
  ,when ,i would  grieve1 ,i cannot4    
,when ,i would desire1 ,i cannot4  ,but 
it is the better  for us that all is as 
,he wills4 4 4 4  ,another of the deep  
deceits of my  heart is this1 that ,i   
have more affection in prayer than ,i   
have  corresponding holiness in my walk 
or conversation4  ,i wondered not to see
  the men of the world so taken up with 
covetous1 ambitious1 vain projects1  for
 no man's head and heart can be so full 
of them as my head and heart  are4  ,oh 
keep me from these unsober1 distempered1
 mad1 unruly thoughts6  ,when ,i am away
 from ,thee then ,i am quite out of my  
wit4  ,but ,god can make  use of poison 
to expel poison4  ,oh1 if ,i were       
examined and brought to the  light1 what

 a monstrous creature ,i would be seen  
to be6  ,for as ,i see  myself ,i am no 
better than a devil1 void of sincerity  
and of uprightness  in what ,i do       
myself1 and yet judge others1 condemning
 in another man what  ,i excuse and even
 approve in myself3 plunged in deep     
snares of self-love1  not loving others 
nor judging nor acting for others as ,i 
do for myself  and for my relations4'   
,and then a passage which might have    
been taken  from ,the ,confessions      
itself3 ',ere ,i come to glory and to my
 journey's  end1 ,i shall have spent so 
much of ,thy free grace--what in        
pardoning1  what in preventing1 what in 
convincing1 what in enlightening1 what  
in  strengthening1 and confirming1 and  
upholding2 what in watering and making  
me to grow2 what in growth of           
sanctification1 knowledge1 faith1       
experience1 patience1 mortification1    
uprightness1 steadfastness1             
watchfulness1 humiliation1 resolution1  
and self-denial2 what for public1  what 

for private1 and what for the family2   
what against snares on the  right hand  
and on the left2--,o ,lord1 the         
all-sufficiency of ,thy grace6'  ,surely
 the man must run well and must make a  
good goal at last who can  write about  
sin and grace in himself in that        
fashion6  ,and that is not  all he wrote
 on that subject and in that style4     
,you have no idea of the  wealth of     
personal and experimental matter there  
lies buried in ,alexander  ,brodie's    
diary4  ,when ,i first read ,brodie's   
big diary ,i said to myself1  ,what a   
treasure is this ,i have stumbled upon6 
,here is yet another of  ,scotland's    
statesmen1 scholars1 and eminent saints4
  ,here1 ,i thought1 is  an author on   
the inward life to be set beside ,brae  
and ,halyburton1 if not  beside ,shepard
 and ,edwards themselves4    ,in the    
religious upbringing also1 and lifelong 
care of his orphaned son  and daughter1 
,brodie was all we could wish to see4   
,in the sanctification  and wise        

occupation of the ,sabbath-day2 in the  
family preparation for  communion       
seasons2 in the personal and private    
covenants he encouraged  his children to
 make with ,god in their own religious  
life2 in the company  he brought to his 
house and to his table2 in his own      
devotional habits at  home--in all these
 all-important matters ,brodie was all  
that a father of  children too early    
bereft of their mother ought to be4     
,till we do not  wonder to find his son 
commencing his diary on the day of his  
father's  death in this way3 ',my       
precious1 worthy1 and dear father6  ,i  
can hardly  apprehend the consequence of
 it to the land1 and the ,church1 and   
his  family4  ,the ,lord give           
instruction4  ,i have seen the godly    
conversation1  holy and ,christian walk 
of a father1 his watchfulness and       
fruitfulness1  his secret communion with
 ,god1 and yet ,i cannot say that my    
heart has  been won to ,god by his      
example4'  ,a complete directory1       

indeed1 for a  ,highland gentleman's    
household religion might easily be      
collected out of  ,alexander ,brodie's  
domestic diary4    ,another thing that  
greatly drew me to ,brodie when ,i first
 read his diary  was his noble and truly
 ,christian acknowledgment of ,god in   
all the  manifold experiences and events
 of his daily life4  '#bcrd ,july1      
#affa4--;,came through the fells in     
,england to ,alsbori and dined there1   
saw  a country full of grass1 plentiful 
in comparison of us1 and acknowledged   
,god in it4 4 4 4 ,thus ,i saw a large  
beautiful country1 not straitened  with 
the poverty that my native soil labours 
under4  ,i desired to  consider and     
understand this4 4 4 4 ,i saw a mighty  
city1 ,london1  numerous1 many souls in 
it1 great plenty of things1 and thought 
him a  great king that had so many      
things at his command2 yet how much     
greater  is ,he who hath at ,his command
 all things created in heaven and on    
earth4  ,who shall not fear ,him8 4 4 4 

,august #ag4--,went this afternoon with 
,cassilis to the ,bridge for natural    
refreshment1 and ,i saw this populous   
city1 and plenty in it4  ,i therein saw 
something of the ,lord's  providence1   
who hath divided the kingdoms of the    
earth and given them  their habitations1
 not all alike1 but as ,his wisdom hath 
seen fit4  ,i saw  the copper-works     
also1 and acknowledged the ,lord in the 
gifts and the  faculties ,he hath given 
to the children of men4  #bg4--;,i did  
see the ,lord  ,mayor1 his solemnities1 
and desired to be instructed by what ,i 
saw4  ,the  variety of the ,lord's      
creatures on other parts of the earth   
was  represented4  ,in this ,i did      
acknowledge ,him4  ,but all the glory of
 the  city neither abides nor can make  
its owner any the happier4  ,it cannot  
be  laid hold upon4  ,it is not solid2  
it is but in conceit4  ,oh learn me to  
be crucified to all this and the like1  
and make me wise unto salvation6  ,nov4 
#i--;,dined at ,billingsgate2 saw the   

prison of ,king's ,bench at  ,southwark1
 and the workers of glass1 in all which 
,i saw the manifold  wisdom of ,god in  
all the gifts and faculties ,he hath    
given to the sons of  men4  ,but alas6  
,i am so barren of any thoughts of ,god1
 and so have ,i  found myself this day  
and at all times4'       ',yet1 all     
these fences1 and their whole array1    
,one cunning bosom sin blows quite      
away4'    ,now1 there is no more cunning
 bosom sin in some men than the sin of  
covetousness1 and that sin in ,alexander
 ,brodie's heart and life blew  almost1 
if not altogether1 away all these and   
many more fences of his  salvation4     
,well as ,david ,laing edits ,alexander 
,brodie's ,diary1  unfortunately for    
some of his readers he leaves his index 
an index of  names only1 neglecting     
things4  ,and thus ,i have had to       
extemporise an  index for myself under  
such sad heads as those of ,brodie's    
'passionateness1' his 'covetousness1'   
his 'time-serving' and  'tuft-hunting1' 

and suchlike4  ,and ,i am compelled in  
truth to say that  the entries in my    
index under 'covetousness' and under    
'time-serving' and  'tergiversation' is 
a long and yet far from exhaustive list4
  ,and now1  acting1 ,i hope1 on the    
,scriptural principle that       ',the  
saints are lowered that the world may   
rise1'    ,i shall say a single word on 
each of ,brodie's two so besetting sins4
  ,and1  doing in the matter of         
,brodie's vices as ,i have just done in 
the matter  of his virtues1 ,i shall let
 the singularly honest ,diarist speak   
for  himself4  ,i certainly would not   
dare1 on any evidence1 to characterise  
or  condemn a man like ,brodie as he    
will now characterise and condemn       
himself4  ',july #cj1 #afec4--;,i find  
covetousness getting deeper and  deeper 
into my heart1 insatiable desires of    
lands and riches1 the desire  of        
acquiring my neighbour's property1 and  
many vain projects and want of          
contentment1 albeit ,i have already what

 might satisfy and well content  me4  ,i
 find that it is not ten hundred times  
what ,i possess that would  content and 
stay my mind from greedy lusts and      
insatiable desires4  ,what  avails      
prayer as long as these lusts remain8   
,i scarcely allow meat and  fish and    
beer and victual to my family and to the
 poor4  ,lord1 pity6  #ba  ,aug4--,sin  
and snare are inseparable from this     
haste to be rich4  ,lord1  in this ,thou
 punishest one sin with another1 with   
unrighteousness1  oppression1           
unevenness1 uncharitableness1 deceit1   
falsehood1 rigour to  tenants1          
straitenedness to the poor4  #bd        
,sept4--,read #a ,cor4 viii4 #ad1  #ae1 
which did reprove my straitenedness1 my 
coldness1 and my parsimony4  #ai        
,july4--,was taken up inordinately with 
trash and hagg4  ,let not the  ,lord    
impute it6  #i ,oct4--,my heart         
challenged me that ,i could so freely   
lay out money on books1 plenishing1     
clothes to myself1 and was so loth to   

lay out for the ,lord4  ,oh1 what does  
this presage and witness but that ,i  am
 of the earth and that my portion is not
 blessed1 but that my goods are  rather 
accursed6  #d ,nov4--,neil ,campbell    
staid with me4  ,i found my  niggardly  
nature still encroaching upon me1 and   
made my supplication for  escape4  ,july
 #a4--;,because ,i have not employed my 
wealth in charitable  uses1 therefore   
does the ,lord take other ways more     
grievous to me to  scatter what ,i have 
so sinfully kept back4'  ,and so on1    
alternately  scrimping and confessing2  
filling his pockets with money1 and     
praying  that he may be enabled to open 
them1 he goes on till we read such      
miserably self-deceiving entries as this
 almost at the end of his doleful       
diary3 ',i purpose1 if the ,lord would  
give strength and grace and  constancy1 
and an honest and sound heart1 to lay by
 some money for such  uses from time to 
time1 whereof this much shall be a sign 
and memorial4'    ,and then1 as to his  

fear of man1 his time-serving1 and      
vacillation in the  day of difficult    
duty1 hear his own humiliating          
confessions3 ',jan4 #bj1  #affb4--,my   
perplexity continues as to whether ,i   
shall move now or not1  stay or return1 
hold by ,lauderdale1 or make use of the 
,bishop4  ,i desired  to reflect on     
giving titles1 speaking fair1 and       
complying4  ,i found  ,lauderdale       
changed to me1 and ,i desired to spread 
this out before ,god4  ,i  went to ,sir 
,george ,mushet's funeral1 where ,i was 
looked at1 as ,i thought1  like a       
speckled bird4  ,i apprehend much       
trouble to myself1 my family1 and  my   
affairs1 from the ill-will of those who 
govern4  ,may ,god keep me under  the   
shadow of ,his wings4  ,oct4 #af4--;,did
 see the ,bishop1 and in my  discourse  
with him did go far in fair words and   
the like4  ,the #ca4--;,james  ,urquhart
 was with me4  ,oh that ,i could attain 
to his steadfastness and  firmness6     
,but1 alas6 ,i am soon overcome2 ,i soon

 yield to the least  difficulty4  ,the  
#bf4--;,duncan ,cuming was here1 and ,i 
desired him to tell  the honest men in  
the south that though ,i did not come up
 their length1 ,i  hoped they would not 
stumble at me4'  ,in other words1 ',tell
 the prisoners  in the ,bass and in     
,blackness1 and the martyrs of the      
,grass-market and the  ,tolbooth1 that  
,lord ,brodie is a ,presbyterian at     
heart1 and ought to be a  ,covenanter   
and a sufferer with his fellows2 but    
that he loves ,brodie  ,castle and a    
whole skin better than he loves the     
,covenant and the  ,covenanters1 or even
 the ,surety of the better covenant4'   
,and having  despatched his sympathetic 
message to the honest men in the ,south1
 he  takes up his pen again to carry on 
his diary1 which he carries on in  these
 actual terms4  ,believe me1 ,i copy    
literally and scrupulously from  the    
humiliating book4  ',die ,dom4--,i find 
great averseness in myself to           
suffering4  ,i am afraid to lose life or

 estate4  ,i hold it a duty not to      
abandon those honest ministers that have
 stuck to the ,reformation4  ,and  if   
the ,lord would strengthen me1 ,i would 
desire to confess the truth like  them4 
4 4 4 ,i questioned whether ,i might not
 safely use means to decline  the cross 
and to ward off the wrath of the ,lords 
and the ,magistrates4  ,shall ,i begin  
to hear ,mr4 ,william ,falconer8  ,shall
 ,i write to ,seaforth  and ,argyll to  
ask them to clear and vindicate me8     
,shall ,i forbear to  hear that honest  
minister1 ,james ,urquhart1 for a time1 
seeing the storm  is like to fall on me 
if ,i do so8  ,what counsel shall ,i    
give my son8  ,shall ,i expose myself   
and my family to danger at this time8   
,what is ,thy  will8  ,what is my duty8'
  ,and then this able and honest        
hypocrite has the  grace to add3 ',a    
grain of sound faith would easily answer
 all these  questions4'  ,i have a sheaf
 of such passages4  ,it is sickening    
work to  speak and hear such things4    

,but they must sometimes be spoken and  
heard1  if only to afford a reply to    
,paul's question in the text3 ',ye did  
run  well3 what did hinder you8'  ,how  
well ,alexander ,brodie ran for a time1 
and how well he might have run to the   
end but for those two sins that did  so 
easily beset him--the love of money and 
the fear of man6  ,but under  the arrest
 and overthrow that those two so mean   
and so contemptible vices  brought on   
,brodie1 we see his spiritual life1 or  
what might have ripened  into spiritual 
life1 gradually but surely decaying1    
even in his diary1  till we read this   
last entry on the day of his death3 ',my
 darkness has  not taken an end1 nor my 
confusions4'    ,alexander ,brodie being
 long dead yet speaketh with terrible   
power in  every page of his solemnising 
diary4  ,young men of ,scotland1 he     
says1  young statesmen1 young senators  
of the ,college of ,justice1 young      
churchmen1 young magistrates1 young     
landlords1 and all young men of  talent 

and of influence1 sons of the ,cavaliers
 and the ,covenanters  alike--seek the  
right and the true1 the just and the    
honourable1 in your  day2 choose it for 
your part1 and take your stand firmly   
and boldly upon  it4  ,make hazards in  
order to stand upon it4  ,read my       
humbling life1 and  take warning from   
me4  ,and when your times are confused  
and perplexed2  when truth and duty are 
not wholly and commandingly clear2 give 
a good  conscience the benefit of the   
doubt1 and suspect the side on which    
safety  and promotion and public praise 
lie4  ,pray without ceasing1 and then   
live  as you pray4  ,and then my diary  
shall not have been written and left    
open  among you in vain4                
,,xxiii4  ,,john ,,fleming1 ,,bailie    
,,of ,,leith         ',i wish that ,i   
could satisfy your desire in drawing up 
and framing for     you a ,christian    
,directory4'--,rutherford4    ,samuel   
,rutherford and ,john ,fleming1 ,bailie 
of ,leith1 were old and fast  friends4  

,away back in the happy days when       
,rutherford was still a  student1 and   
was still haunting the back-shop of old 
,john ,meine in the  ,canongate of      
,edinburgh1 he had formed a fast        
friendship with the young  wood-merchant
 of ,leith4  ,and all the trials and    
separations of life1  instead of        
deadening their love for one another1 or
 making them forget  one another1 had   
only drawn the two men the closer to one
 another4  ,for  when ,rutherford's two 
great troubles came upon him1--first his
 dismissal  from the ,latin regency in  
,edinburgh ,university1 and then his    
banishment  from his pulpit at          
,anwoth1--,john ,fleming came forward on
 both occasions  with money1 and with   
letters1 and with visits that were even 
better than  money1 to the penniless and
 friendless professor and exiled pastor4
  ',sir1  ,i thank you kindly for your  
care of me and of my brother4  ,i hope  
it is  laid up for you and remembered in
 heaven4'    ,robert ,m',ward1 the first

 editor of ,rutherford's ,letters1 with 
all his  assiduity1 was only able to    
recover four letters out of the heap of 
correspondence that had passed between  
the rich timber-merchant of ,leith  and 
the exiled minister1 but1 those four    
tell us volumes1 both about the         
intimacy of the two men and about the   
depth and the worth of the bailie's     
character4  ,fleming wrote a letter to  
,rutherford in the spring of #afcg1     
which must have run in some such terms  
as these3--',my life is fast ebbing     
away1 and ,i am not yet begun aright to 
live4  ,i am in mid-time of my  days4   
,i sometimes feel that ,i am coming near
 the end of them2 and what  evil days   
they have been6  ,my business that my   
father left me is  prosperous4  ,i have 
a good and kind wife1 as you know4  ,my 
children are  not wholly without        
promise4  ,my place in this town is far 
too honourable  for me1 and ,i have many
 dear friends among the godly both in   
,leith and in  ,edinburgh4  ,but ,i feel

 bitterly that ,i have no business to   
mix myself  among them1 and to be       
counted one of them4  ,for1 what with   
the burdensome  affairs of this great   
seaport1 and my own growing business1 my
 days and  my nights are like a weaver's
 shuttle4  ,i intend and ,i begin well1 
but  another year and another year comes
 to an end and ,i am just where ,i was4 
,i have had some success1 by ,god's     
blessing1 in making money1 but ,i am a  
bankrupt before ,him in my soul4  ,my   
inward life is a ravelled hesp1 and ,i  
need guidance and direction if ,i am    
ever to come out of this confusion  and 
to come to any good4  ,protestant and   
,presbyterian as ,i am1' he goes  on1   
'if ,i could only find a director who   
would take trouble with me and  command 
me as ,i take trouble with and command  
my servants1 ,i vow to you  that ,i     
would put the reins without reserve into
 his hands4  ,will you not  take me in  
hand8  ,you know me of old4  ,we used to
 talk in dear old ,john  ,meine's       

back-shop on week-nights and upstairs on
 ,sabbath nights about  these things4   
,and long as it is since we saw much of 
one another1 ,i feel  that you know me  
out and in1 and through and through1 as 
no one else  knows me4  ,tell me1 then1 
what ,i am to do with myself4  ,i will  
try to do  what you tell me1 for ,i am  
wearied and worn out with my stagnant   
and  miserable life4  ,pity me1 ,mr4    
,samuel1 my honoured and dear friend1   
for my  pirn is almost run out1 and ,i  
am not near saved4'    ',my worthy and  
dearly beloved brother in the ,lord1'   
replied ,rutherford to  ,fleming1 ',i   
dare not take it upon me to lay down    
rules and directions for  your inner    
life4  ,i have not the judiciousness1   
nor the experience1 nor  the success in 
the inner life myself that would justify
 me4  ,and1  besides1 there is no lack  
of such ,directories as you ask me for4 
,search  the ,scriptures4  ,buy ,daniel 
,rogers1 and ,richard ,greenham1 and    
especially  ,william ,perkins4  ,my own 

wall is too much broken down1 my own    
garden is  too much overrun with weeds2 
,i dare not attempt to lay down the law 
to  you4  ,but ,i will do this since you
 are so importunate2 ,i will tell you1  
as you have told me1 some of my own     
mistakes and failings and shipwrecks1   
and the rocks on which ,i have foundered
 may thus1 be made to carry a  lantern  
to light your ship safely past them4'   
',fool1 said my ,muse to me1 look in thy
 heart and write2    and1 like ,sir     
,philip ,sydney1 ,samuel ,rutherford    
looked into his own heart1  and drew a  
,directory out of it for the better     
,christian conduct of his  friend ,john 
,fleming4    #a4  ,now--would you       
believe it8--the first thing ,samuel    
,rutherford found  his own heart        
accusing him in before ,god was1 of all 
things1 the way he  had wasted his time4
  ,would you believe it that the student
 who was  summer and winter in his study
 at three o'clock in the morning1 and   
the  minister who1 as his people        

boasted1 was always preparing his       
sermons1  always visiting his people1   
always writing books1 and always        
entertaining  strangers1--would you     
believe it that one of his worst        
consciences was  for the bad improvement
 of his time8  ,what an insatiable      
thirst for  absolute and unearthly      
perfection ,god has awakened in the     
truly gracious  heart6  ,give the truly 
gracious heart a little godliness and it
 cries out  night and day for more4     
,give it more1 and it straightway       
demands all4  ,give it all and it still 
accuses you that it has literally got   
none at  all4  ,samuel ,rutherford gave 
all his time and all his strength to his
  pastoral and his professorial duties1 
and yet when he looked into his own     
heart to write a letter to ,bailie      
,fleming out of it1 his whole heart     
condemned him to his face because he had
 so mismanaged his time1 and had  not   
aright redeemed it4  ',you complain that
 your time is fast speeding  away1 and  

that you have not even begun to employ  
it well4  ,so is mine4  ,i  give a good 
part of my time to my business1 as you  
say you do to yours2  but1 just like    
you1 that leaves me no time to give to  
,god4  ,god forgive  me for the way ,i  
forget ,him and neglect ,him all the    
time that ,i am  bustling about in the  
things of ,his house6  ,let us both     
begin1 and me  especially1 to give some 
of ,god's best earthly gift back to ,him
 again4  ,let us spare a little of ,his 
time that ,he allows us and bestow it   
back  again upon ,himself4  ,he values  
nothing so much as a little of our      
allotted time4  ,let us meditate on ,him
 more1 and pray more to ,him4  ,let  us 
throw up ejaculations of prayer to ,him 
more and more while we are at  our daily
 employments2 you in the timber-yard1   
down among the ships1 at  the desk1 and 
at the ,council-table2 and ,i among my  
books1 and among my  people1 and in my  
pulpit4  ,these are always golden       
moments to me1 and why  they do not     

multiply themselves into hours and days 
and years is to me  but another proof of
 my deep depravity4  ,and1 ,john        
,fleming1 sanctify you  the ,sabbath4   
,as you love and value your immortal    
soul1 sanctify and do  not waste and    
desecrate the ,sabbath4  ,let no man    
steal from you a single  hour of the    
,sabbath-day4  ,six days shalt thou     
labour and do all thy work1  but the    
seventh day is the ,sabbath of the ,lord
 thy ,god4'    #b4  ,and again and again
 in his letters to ,fleming ,rutherford 
returns to  the sins of the tongue4     
,rutherford himself was a great sinner  
by his  tongue1 and he seems to have    
taken it for granted that the bailies of
  ,leith were all in the same           
condemnation4  ',observe your words     
well1' he  writes out of the bitterness 
of his own heart4  ',make conscience of 
all  your conversations4'  ,cut off a   
right hand1 pluck out a right eye1 says 
,christ4  ,and ,i wonder that half of   
,his disciples have not bitten out      

their offending tongues4  ,what a world 
of injury and of all kinds of  iniquity 
has the tongue always and everywhere    
been6  ,in ,jerusalem in  ,david's day2 
and still in ,jerusalem in ,james's day2
 in ,anwoth and  ,aberdeen and ,st4     
,andrews in ,rutherford's day2 and in   
,leith in ,john  ,fleming's day2 and    
still in all these places in our own    
day4  ,the tongue  can no man tame1 and 
no wonder1 for it is set on fire of     
hell4  ',i shall  show you1' says       
,rutherford1 'what ,i would fain be at  
myself1 howbeit ,i  always come short of
 my purpose4'  ,rutherford made many    
enemies both as a  preacher and as a    
doctrinal and an ecclesiastical         
controversialist4  ,he  was a hot1 if   
not a bad-blooded man himself1 and he   
raised both hot and  bad blood in other 
men4  ,he was a passionate-hearted man1 
was ,rutherford2  he would not have been
 our sainted ,samuel ,rutherford if he  
had not had a  fast and a high-beating  
heart4  ,and his passionate heart was   

not all  spent in holy love to ,jesus   
,christ1 though much of it was4  ,for   
the dregs  of it1 the unholy scum and   
froth of it1 came out too much in his   
books of  debate and in his differences 
with his own brethren4  ,his            
high-mettled  and almost reckless sense 
of duty brought him many enemies1 and it
 was  his lifelong sanctification to try
 to treat his enemies aright1 and to    
keep his own heart and tongue and pen   
clean and sweet towards them4  ,and  he 
divined that among the merchants and    
magistrates of ,leith1 anger and        
malice1 rivalry and revenge were not    
unknown any more than they were  among  
their betters in the ,presbytery and the
 ,general ,assembly4  ,he knew1  for    
,fleming had told him1 that his very    
prosperity and his father's  prosperity 
had procured for ,fleming many enemies4 
,the ,norway timber  trade was not all  
in the ,fleming hands for nothing4  ,the
 late ,council  election also had left  
,fleming many enemies1 and his simple   

duty at the  ,council-table daily       
multiplied them4  ,it was quite         
unaccountable to him  how enemies sprang
 up all around him1 and it was well that
 he had such an  open-eyed and          
much-experienced correspondent as       
,rutherford was1 to whom  he could      
confide such ghastly discoveries1 and   
such terrible shocks to  faith and trust
 and love4  ',watch well this one thing1
 ,bailie ,fleming1  even your deep      
desire for revenge4  ,be sure that it is
 in your heart in  ,leith to seek       
revenge as well as it is in my heart    
here in ,aberdeen4  ,watch1 as you would
 the workings of a serpent1 the workings
 of your sore-  hurt heart in the matter
 of its revenges4  ,watch how the       
calamities that  come on your enemies   
refresh and revive you4  ,watch how     
their prosperity  and their happiness   
depress and darken you4  ,disentangle   
the desire for  revenge and the delight 
in it out of the rank thickets of your  
wicked  heart2 drag that desire and     

delight out of its native darkness2 know
 it1  name it1 and it will be impossible
 but that you will hate it like death   
and hell1 and yourself on account of it4
  ,do you honestly wish1 as you  say you
 do1 for direction as to your duty to   
your many enemies in ,leith1  and to    
,god and your own soul among them8      
,then begin with this3 watch and  find  
yourself out in your deep desire for    
revenge1 and in your secret             
satisfaction and delight to hear it and 
to speak it4  ,begin with that2  and1   
then1 long after that1 and as the divine
 reward of that1 you will be  enabled to
 begin to try to love your enemies1 to  
bless them that curse  you1 to do good  
to them that hate you1 and to pray for  
them that  despitefully use you and     
persecute you4  ,you need no ,directory 
for these  things from me when you have 
the ,sermon on the ,mount in your own   
,new  ,testament4'    #c4  ,and1 still  
looking into his own heart and writing  
straight out of it1  ,rutherford says to

 ,fleming1 ',i have been much challenged
 in my  conscience1 and still am1 for   
not referring all ,i do to ,god as my   
last  and chiefest end4'  ,which is just
 ,samuel ,rutherford's vivid way of     
taking  home to himself the first       
question of the ,shorter ,catechism     
which he had  afterwards such a deep    
hand in drawing up4  ,i do not know any 
other  author who deals so searchingly  
with this great subject as that prince  
among experimental divines1 ,thomas     
,shepard1 the founder of ,yale in ,new  
,england4  ,his insight is as good as   
his style is bad4  ,his ,english is     
execrable1 but his insight is nothing   
short of divine4  ',the pollution of    
the whole man1 and of all his actions1' 
he says in his ,parable of the  ,ten    
,virgins1 'consists chiefly in his      
self-seeking1 in making ourselves  our  
utmost end4  ,this makes our most       
glorious actions vile2 this stains  them
 all4  ,and so the sanctification of a  
sinner consists chiefly in  making the  

,lord our utmost end in all that we do4 
,every man living seeks  himself as his 
last end and chiefest good1 and out of  
this captivity no  human power can      
redeem us4 4 4 4 ,make this your last   
and best end--to  live to ,christ and to
 do ,his will4  ,this is your last end2 
this is the  end of your being born     
again--nay1 of your being redeemed by   
,his  blood--that you may live unto     
,christ4'  ,and in the same author's    
,meditations and ,spiritual             
,experiences1 he says1 ',on ,sabbath    
morning ,i  saw that ,i had a secret eye
 to my own name in all that ,i did1 and 
,i  judged myself to be worthy of death 
because ,i was not weaned from all      
created glory1 from all honour and      
praise1 and from the esteem of men4 4  4
 4  ,on ,sabbath1 again1 when ,i came   
home1 ,i saw into the deep hypocrisy  of
 my own heart1 because in my ministry ,i
 sought to comfort and quicken  the     
people that the glory might reflect on  
me as well as on ,god4 4 4 4  ,on  the  

evening before the sacrament ,i saw it  
to be my duty to sequester  myself from 
all other things and to prepare me for  
the next day4  ,and ,i  saw that ,i must
 pitch first on the right end4  ,i saw  
that mine own ends  were to procure     
honour to myself and not to the ,lord4  
,there was some  poor little eye in     
seeking the name and glory of ,christ1  
yet ,i sought not  it only1 but my own  
glory1 too4  ,after my ,wednesday sermon
 ,i saw the  pride of my heart acting   
thus1 that when ,i had done public work 
my heart  would presently look out and  
inquire whether ,i had done it well or  
ill4  ,hereupon ,i saw my vileness to be
 to make men's opinions my rule1 and    
that  made me vile in mine own eyes1 and
 that more and more daily4'  ',i have   
been much challenged1' writes           
,rutherford to ,fleming1 'because ,i do 
not  refer all ,i do to ,god as my last 
end3 that ,i do not eat and drink and   
sleep and journey and speak and think   
for ,god4'  ,and1 the fanatic that he   

is1 he seems to think that that is the  
calling and chief end not only of       
ministers like himself and ,shepard1 but
 of the bailies and  timber-merchants of
 ,edinburgh and ,leith also4    #d4     
,lastly1 in the closing sentences of    
this inexhaustible letter1  ,rutherford 
says to his waiting and attentive       
correspondent3 ',growth in  grace1 sir1 
should be cared for by you above all    
other things4'  ,and so  it should4     
,literally and absolutely above all     
other things4  ,above good  health1     
above good name1 above wealth1 and      
station1 and honour4  ,these  things1   
take them all together1 if need be1 are 
to be counted loss in  order to gain    
growth in grace4  ,but what is growth in
 grace8  ,it is  growth in everything   
that is truly good2 but ,fleming1 as he 
read his  ,directory daily1 would always
 think of growth in grace as the right  
improvement of his remaining time1 and1 
especially1 its religious use and       
dedication to ,god2 as also of the      

government of his own untamed tongue2   
the extinction of the desire for        
revenge1 and of all delight in the      
injury of his enemies2 and1 above all1  
and including all1 in making ,god  his  
chief end in all that he did4  ,how     
all-important1 then1 is a sound  and    
,scriptural ,directory to instruct us   
how we are to grow in grace4  ,and  how 
precious must that directory-letter have
 been to a man in dead  earnest like    
,john ,fleming4  ,it was precious to his
 heart1 you may be  sure1 above all his 
ships1 and all his woodyards1 and all   
his fine  houses1 and all his seats of  
honour4  ,and if his growth in grace in 
,leith  has now become full-grown glory 
in ,heaven1 how does he there bless ,god
 to-  day that ever he met with ,samuel 
,rutherford in old ,john ,maine's shop  
in  his youth1 and had him for a friend 
and a director all his after-days4  ,and
 when ,john ,fleming at the table above 
forgets not all ,his benefits1  high up1
 you may be very sure1 among them all he

 never forgets to put  ,samuel          
,rutherford's letters2 and1 more        
especially1 this very directory-  letter
 we have read here for our own direction
 and growth in grace this               
,communion-,sabbath night4              
,,xxiv4  ,,the ,,parishioners ,,of      
,,kilmacolm         ',for want of time  
,i have put you all in one              
letter4'--,rutherford4    ,there is a   
well-known passage in ,lycidas that     
exactly describes the  religious        
condition of the parish of ,kilmacolm in
 the year #afci4  ,for the  shepherd of 
that unhappy sheepfold also had climbed 
up some other way  before he knew how to
 hold a sheephook1 till1 week after     
week1 the hungry  sheep looked up and   
were not fed4  ,the parishioners of     
,kilmacolm must  have been fed to some  
purpose at one time1 for the two letters
 they write  to ,rutherford in their    
present starvation bear abundant witness
 on every  page to the splendid         
preaching and the skilful pastorate that

 this parish  must at one time have     
enjoyed4  ,there must have been men of  
no common  ability1 as well as of no    
common profundity of spiritual life in  
,kilmacolm during those trying years1   
for the letters they wrote to           
,rutherford would have done credit to   
any of ,rutherford's ablest and best    
correspondents--to ,william ,guthrie1 or
 ,david ,dickson1 or ,robert ,blair1 or 
,john ,livingstone4  ,indeed1 the expert
 author of the ,therapeutica  himself   
would have been put to it to answer     
fully and satisfactorily  those two so  
acute and so searching letters4  ,the   
,kilmacolm people had  heard about the  
famous answers that ,samuel ,rutherford1
 now home again in  ,anwoth1 had written
 both from ,anwoth and from ,aberdeen to
 all classes of  people and on all kinds
 of subjects2 copies1 indeed1 of some of
 those now  already widespread letters  
had come to ,kilmacolm itself1 till1 at 
one of  their private meetings for      
conference and prayer1 it was resolved  

that a  small committee of their elders 
should gather up their painful          
experiences in the spiritual life that  
got no help from the parish  pulpit1 and
 should set them by way of submission   
and consultation before  the great      
spiritual casuist4  ,everybody else was 
getting what counsel and  comfort they  
needed from the famous adviser of       
,anwoth1 and why not they1  the         
neglected parishioners of ,kilmacolm8   
,and thus it was that two or  three of  
the oldest and ablest men in the        
kirk-session so wrote to  ,rutherford1  
as1 after some delay1 to get back the   
elaborate letter from  ,anwoth numbered 
#bhf in ,dr4 ,bonar's edition4    ,i am 
tempted to think it possible that the   
old1 long-experienced1 and              
much-exercised saints of ,kilmacolm may 
have demanded a little too much of      
their minister3 at any rate1 ,i am quite
 as anxious to hear what  ,rutherford   
shall say to them as they can be to hear
 from him themselves4  ,and all that    

leads me to believe that not only must  
there have been some  quite remarkable  
people in the parish church at that     
date1 but that they  must also have had 
some very special pulpit and pastoral   
work expended on  them in former years4 
,or1 if not that1 then their case is    
just another  illustration of what      
,rutherford says in his reassuring      
answer1 namely1  that the life of grace 
among a people is not at all tied up to 
the lips  of their minister4  ,which1   
again1 is just another way of putting   
what the  ,psalmist says of himself in  
his humble and happy boast3 ',i have    
more  understanding than all my         
teachers1 for ,thy testimonies are my   
meditation4  ,i understand more than the
 ancients1 because ,i keep ,thy         
precepts4'    #a4  ,the first complaint 
that came to ,anwoth from ,kilmacolm was
 expressed  in the quaint and graphic   
language natural to that day4           
',security1  strong and sib to nature1  
is stealing in upon us4'  ,the holy law 

of ,god1  they mean1 was never preached 
in their parish2 at any rate1 it was    
never  carried home to any man's        
conscience4  ,nobody was ever disturbed4
  ,nobody's feelings were ever hurt4    
,nobody in all the parish had ever      
heard a voice of thunder saying1 ,thou  
art the man4  ,toothless and timid      
generalities made up all the preaching  
they ever heard either on the  ethical  
or on the evangelical side3 and         
generalities disturb no man's  peace of 
mind4  ,the pulpit of ,kilmacolm was but
 too sib to the pew1 and  both pulpit   
and pew slept on together in undisturbed
 security4  ,and that  supplied ,samuel 
,rutherford with an excellent text for a
 sermon he was  continually preaching in
 every utterance of his--the constant   
danger we  all lie under as long as we  
are in this life4  ,danger from sin1    
and1 in  its own still subtler way1 as  
much danger from grace2 danger from     
want1  and danger from fulness2 danger  
from our weakness1 and danger from our  

strength4  ,so much danger is there that
 if any man in this life is in a  state 
of security about himself he is surely  
the foolishest of all  foolish men4     
,for1       ,thy close pursuers' busy   
hands do plant     ,snares in thy       
substance1 snares attend thy want2      
,snares in thy credit1 snares in thy    
disgrace2     ,snares in thy high       
estate1 snares in thy base2     ,snares 
tuck thy bed1 and snares attend thy     
board2     ,snares watch thy thoughts1  
and snares attack thy word2     ,snares 
in thy quiet1 snares in thy commotion2  
,snares in thy diet1 snares in thy      
devotion2     ,snares lurk in thy       
resolves1 snares in thy doubt2          
,snares lurk within thy heart1 and      
snares without2     ,snares are above   
thy head1 and snares beneath2           
,snares in thy sickness1 snares are in  
thy death4    ,what a fool and what a   
sluggard nature must be1 as ,rutherford 
here says  she is1 if she can lull us   
into security about ourselves in such a 

life  as this6  ,and what a noble field 
does this snare-filled life supply for  
all a preacher's boldest and best       
powers6    #b4  ,they have some new     
beginners in ,kilmacolm in spite of all 
its  spiritual stagnation1 and the older
 people are full of anxiety lest those  
new beginners should not be rightly     
directed4  ',tell them for one thing1'  
says ,rutherford in reply1 'to dig deep 
while they are yet among their          
foundations4  ,tell them that a sick    
night for sin is not so common either   
among young or old as ,i would like to  
see it4  ,make them to understand  what 
,i mean by digging deep4  ,i mean deep  
into their own heart in order  to       
discover and lay bare to themselves the 
corrupt motives from which  they act    
every day even in the very best things  
they do4  ,and that of  itself will give
 them many sufficiently sick days and   
nights too1 both as  new beginners and  
as old believers4  ,and tell them1 also1
 from me1 that  once they have seen     

themselves in their own hearts1 and     
,jesus ,christ in  ,his heart1 it will  
be impossible for them ever to go back  
from ,him4  ,absolutely impossible4  ,so
 much so that it is perfectly certain   
that he  who goes back from ,christ has 
never really seen himself or ,christ    
either4  ,he may have seen something    
somewhat more or less like ,christ1 but1
 all  the time1 it was not ,christ4     
,let your soul once come up to close    
quarters with ,christ1 and ,i defy you  
ever to forget ,him again4  ,tell all   
your new beginners that from me1 ,samuel
 ,rutherford1 who1 after all1 am  not   
yet well begun myself4'    #c4  ',you   
complain bitterly of a dead ministry in 
your bounds4  ,i have  heard as much4   
,but ,i will reply that a living        
ministry is not  indispensable to a     
parish4  ,all our parishes ought to have
 it1 and we  ought to see to it that    
they all get it2 but neither the        
conversion of  sinners1 nor the         
sanctification and comfort of ,god's    

saints1 is tied up  to any man's lips4  
,you will read your unread ,bibles more3
 you will buy  more good books3 you will
 meet more in private converse and      
prayer3 and  it will not be bad for you 
for a season to look above the pulpit1  
and to  look ,jesus ,christ ,himself    
more immediately in the face4'  ,as     
,fraser of  ,brea also said in a        
striking passage in his diary1 so       
,rutherford says in  his reply letter3  
'in your sore famine of the water of    
life1 run your  pipe right up to the    
fountain4'    #d4  ,if the parishioners 
of ,kilmacolm were severe on their      
minister it was  not that they let      
themselves escape4  ,and there was      
something in their  present letters that
 led ,rutherford to warn them against a 
mistake that  only people of the        
,kilmacolm type will ever fall into4    
',some of the  people of ,god1' says    
their sharp-eyed censor1 'slander the   
grace of ,god  in their own soul4'  ,and
 that is true of some of ,god's best    

people still4  ,we meet with such people
 now and then in our own parishes       
to-day4  ,they  are so possessed with   
penitence and humility2 they have such  
high and  inflexible and spiritual      
standards for measuring themselves by2  
the law  has so fatally entered their   
innermost souls that they will not even 
admit or acknowledge what the grace of  
,god has1 to all other men's  knowledge1
 done in them4  ,seek out1 says         
,rutherford1 the signs of true  grace in
 yourselves as well as the signs of     
secret sin4  ,and when you  have found  
such and such an indubitable sign of    
grace1 say so4  ,say  this1 and this1   
and this1 pointing it out1 is assuredly 
the work of  ,god in my soul4  ,when    
you1 after all defeat1 really discover  
your soul  growing in grace2 in patience
 under injuries2 in meekness under      
reproofs  and corrections2 in love for1 
or at least in peace of heart toward1   
those  you at one time did not like1 but
 disliked almost to downright hatred2 in

  silent and assenting acceptance1 if   
not yet in actual and positive          
enjoyment1 of another man's talents and 
success1 gain and fame2 in the  decay   
and disappearance of party spirit1 and  
in openness to all the good  and the    
merit of other men2 in prayerfulness2 in
 liberality1 and so on2  when you cannot
 deny these things in yourself1 then    
speak good of ,christ1  and do not      
traduce and backbite ,his work because  
it is in your own soul4  ',some wretches
 murmur of want while all the time their
 money in the bank  and their fat       
harvests make them liars4'  ,rutherford 
thinks he has put  his finger upon some 
such saintly liars in the kirk-session  
of ,kilmacolm4    #e4  ',fear your      
light1 my lord1' wrote ,rutherford to   
,lord ,craighall from  ,aberdeen2 'stand
 in awe of your light4'  ,but the poor  
,kilmacolm people  did not need that    
sharp rebuke1 for they had written to   
,rutherford at  their own instance to   
consult him in their terror of          

conscience about  this very matter1 till
 ,rutherford had to exhaust his         
vocabulary of  comfort in trying to     
pacify his correspondents just in this  
sufficiently  disquieting matter of     
light in the mind with great darkness in
 the heart  and the life4  ,our light in
 this world1 he tells them1 is a broad  
and  shining field1 whereas our life of 
obedience is at best but a short and    
straggling furrow4  ,only in heaven     
shall the broad and basking fields of   
light and truth be covered from end to  
end with the songs of the  rejoicing    
reapers4  ,and ,rutherford is very bold 
in this matter1 because  he knows he has
 the truth about it4  ,a perfect life1  
he says1 up to our  ever-increasing     
light1 is impossible to us here1 if only
 because our  light always increases    
with every new progress in duty4  ,the  
field of  light expands to a new length 
and breadth every time the plough passes
  through it4  ,and1 knowing well to    
whom he writes on this subject1         

,rutherford goes on to say that there is
 a sorrow for sin1 and for  shortcoming 
in service1 that is as acceptable with  
,god in the evangelical  covenant as    
would be the very service itself4  ,but1
 then1 it must be what  ,rutherford     
calls 'honest sorrow after a sincere    
aim4'  ,and let no man  easily allow    
himself to take shelter under that1 lest
 it turn out to him  like taking shelter
 in a thunderstorm under a lightning    
rod4  ,for what an  aim must that be1   
and then1 what a sorrow1 that is as good
 in the sight  of ,god as a full        
obedience is itself4  ,at the same time1
 ',a sincere aim1  and then an honest   
sorrow1 both of the right quality and   
quantity1 taken  together with ,christ's
 intercession1 must be our best life    
before ,god  till we be over in the     
other country where the law of ,god will
 get a  perfect soul in which to fulfil 
itself4  ,your complaint on this head is
  already booked in the ,new ,testament 
7,rom4 vii4 #ah74'    #f4  ',the less   

sense of liberty and sweetness1 the more
 true spirituality  in the service of   
,god1' is ,rutherford's reply to their  
next perplexity4  ,ought we to go on    
with our work and with our worship when 
our hearts are  dry and when we have no 
delight in what we do8  ,that is just   
the time to  persevere1 replies their   
evangelical guide1 for it is in the     
absence of  all sense of liberty and    
sweetness that our duties prove         
themselves to be  truly spiritual4  ,a  
sweet service has often its sweetness   
from an  altogether other source than   
the spiritual world4  ,let a man be     
engaged  in divine service1 or in any   
other religious work1 and let him have  
sensible support and success in it2 let 
him have liberty and enjoyment in  the  
performance of it2 and1 especially1 let 
him have the praise of men  after it1   
and he will easily be deceived into     
thinking that he has had  ,god's ,spirit
 with him1 and the light of ,god's      
countenance1 whereas all  the time it   

has only been an outpouring on his      
deceived heart of his own  lying spirit 
of self-seeking1 self-pleasing1 and     
self-exalting4  ,while1  again1 a man's 
spirit may be all day as dry as the     
heath in the  wilderness1 and all other 
men's spirits around him and toward him 
the  same1 yet a very rich score may be 
set down beside that unindulged         
servant's name against the day of the   
'well-dones4'  ',i believe that many    
think that obedience is lifeless and    
formal unless the wind be in the  west1 
and all their sails are filled with the 
joys of sense4  ,but ,i am  not of their
 mind who think so4'    #g4  ,the       
scrupulosity of the ,kilmacolm people   
was surely singular and  remarkable even
 in that day of tests and marks and     
scruples in the  spiritual life4  ,the  
ministry may not have been wholly dead  
in and around  ,kilmacolm1 though it    
could not keep pace and patience with   
those so eager  and so anxious souls who
 would have ,rutherford's mind on all   

possible  points of their complicated   
case4  ,six of their complaints we have 
just  seen1 but their troubles are not  
yet all told4  ',surely1' they wrote1 'a
  ,master like our ,lord1 who gave such 
service when ,he was still a servant    
,himself1--surely ,he will have hearty  
and unfeigned service from us1 or  none 
at all4  ,will ,he not spue the lukewarm
 servant out of ,his mouth8'  ,i  grant 
you1 wrote ,rutherford1 that our ,master
 must have honesty4  ,the one  thing ,he
 will unmask and will not endure is     
hypocrisy4  ,but if you mean  to        
insinuate that our hearts must always be
 entirely given up to ,his  service in  
all that we do1 else ,he will cast us   
away1 for all ,i am worth  in the world 
,i would not have that true of me4  ,i  
would not have that  true1 else where   
would my hope be8  ,an ,english         
contemporary of  ,rutherford's puts it  
memorably3 ',our ,master tries ,his     
servants not with  the balances of the  
sanctuary1 but with the touchstone4'    

,take that1 says  ,rutherford1 for my   
reply to your opinion that ,christ must 
always have a  perfect service at our   
hands1 or none at all4    #h4  ,again1  
hold by the ground-work when the        
outworks and the  superstructure are    
assailed4  ,fall back the more nakedly  
upon your sure  foundation4  ,keep the  
ground of your standing and acceptance  
clear1 and  take your stand on that     
ground at every time when despair       
assaults you4  ,for great faults and for
 small1 for formality in spiritual      
service1 for  cold-heartedness and for  
half-heartedness1 you have always open  
to you  your old and sure ground1 the   
blood and the righteousness of your     
,covenant-surety4  ',seek still the     
blood of atonement for faults much and  
little4  ,know the gate to the fountain1
 and lie about it4  ,make much of       
assurance1 for it keepeth the anchor    
fixed4'    #i4  ,the last paragraph of  
,rutherford's letter to the parishioners
 of  ,kilmacolm is taken up with the    

consolation that always comes to a      
,christian man's heart after every deed 
of true self-mortification4  ,that  is  
an experience that all ,christian men   
must often have1 whether they  take note
 sufficiently of it or no4  ,let any man
 suffer for ,christ's  sake2 let any man
 be evil-entreated and for ,christ's    
sake take it  patiently2 let him be     
reviled and persecuted in public or in  
private for  the truth2 let him deny    
himself some indulgence--allowed1       
doubtful1 or  condemned--and all truly  
for the sake of ,christ and other men2  
and  immediately1 and as a consequence  
of that1 a peace1 a liberty1 a light as 
of ,god's countenance will infallibly   
visit his heart4  ,after temptation     
resisted and overcome angels will always
 visit us4  ',temptations1' says        
,bunyan in the fine preface to his      
,grace ,abounding1 'when we meet them   
first are as the lion that roared upon  
,samson2 but1 if we overcome them1  the 
next time we see them we shall find a   

nest of honey within them4'  ',blessed  
are they that mourn1' says our ,lord1   
'for they shall be  comforted4'  ',after
 my greatest mortifications1' said      
,edwards1 ',i always  find my greatest  
comforts4'  ,and even ,renan tells us of
 a ,roman lady who  had 'the ineffable  
joy of renouncing joy4'  ',a ,christ    
bought with  strokes1' says ,rutherford 
in closing1 'is the sweetest of all     
,christs4'