1). For which we long earnestly to be absent from the body, to be present with the Lord, which is far better.

"Now, I declare I am free of the blood of all men; and although men have no public scandal to charge me with, yet by original and actual transgressions I am the chief of sinners; but His love hath been great; the manifestations of His presence have been great also, for Satan hath not been wanting to assault; but yet glory to His name who hath resisted him, and hath not permitted him to get his will.

Now, as my last words, I recommend it to all, to be tender one of another, without sinning, and be in earnest with God, for ye will find death will have enough ado with itself, therefore delay not repentance lest He come when ye are not aware. Now as for these men that are unjustly taking away my life, only for adhering to the truth, and for no other end; now, for what they do to me, as I am of myself, I freely forgive them and all others, and especially these blinded soldiers, that do what they do ignorantly some of them; but as they do it to the image of God in me, that is not mine to forgive, but I leave it to Him to whom vengeance doth belong, that He may do with them what may most glorify Himself.

"Now my work is finished. I have fought the good fight, I have finished my course; henceforth is laid up for me a crown of righteousness. But let such as will condemn me read that Scripture: 'Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? it is God that justifieth, who is He that condemneth?' (Rom. viii. 33, 34). For my lot is fallen to me in pleasant places, I have a goodly heritage; for I would not change my lot with the greatest man upon earth. Men and angels, praise Him for this; all the Creation, praise Him. Oh! my soul shall praise Him, through all the ages of eternity.

"Now, farewell all true friends in Christ; farewell Christian relations; farewell sweet and holy Scriptures; farewell prayer and meditation; farewell sinning and suffering. Welcome heaven; welcome innumerable company of angels, and the Church of the firstborn, and the spirits of just men made perfect; welcome Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; welcome praises for evermore. Now, dear Father, receive my spirit, for it is Thine. Even so come, Lord Jesus. "Sic subscribitur,

"JOHN NISBET."

John Wilson.

OHN WILSON was a captain at the battle of Bothwell Bridge. His name is given in the "Proclamation against Rebels, June 26, 1679," as "John Wilson, son to Alexander Wilson, town-clerk of Lanark." In a proclamation, October 8, 1681, his name occurs along with eighty-eight others, as forfeited in life, lands, and goods, for being concerned in the rising at Bothwell. His sentence refers to a previous condemnation in March that same year:

"John Wilson, writer in Lanark, having been formerly condemned to die, and to be demeaned as a traitor when apprehended, and acknowledging himself that same person who was formerly condemned March 1, 1681, for rebellion, the Lords adjudge him to be hanged at the Grassmarket, May 9, betwixt two and four in the afternoon."

It is not recorded when he was apprehended, but on April 17th he was twice before the Council, once before a committee of their number in Holyrood Abbey, and again before a full meeting. He himself has given the substance of his answers.

In his last speech he gives a single glimpse of his early history. Three books still prized in Scotland were the means of awakening him to a sense of sin, and leading him to give himself to God. The three books were: "The Fulfilling of the Scriptures," by the elder Robert Fleming, the father of the writer of the "Rise and Fall of Papacy," a work that twice over in its history-in 1793 and 1848has attained a fame such as its author could scarcely have dreamed of; the youthful Andrew Gray's four discourses, entitled, "Directions and Instigations to the Duty of Prayer," discourses that by their seriousness, and by their directness of appeal, were well-fitted to carry on the work begun by the "Fulfilling of Scripture;" and the vade mecum of John Owen, William Guthrie's "Trial of a Saving Interest in Christ."

Wilson's trial took place May 4th. On the 7th he was induced by his relations to supplicate for a reprieve, and it was granted till the 16th. Wodrow gives the conference he had with Sir William Paterson. Wilson's answers are able and catholic in their spirit, but neither changed in their opinions, and the sentence was carried into effect. No account has been preserved of his last moments. There was executed along with him David Macmillan, a man of a kindred spirit. Macmillan had been at Bothwell. Wodrow gives the substance of his testimony. He blesses God, that made him see the odiousness of his sin, his nakedness, and gave him white raiment from Himself, and made him close with Himself on His own terms. He closes by saying, "My soul shall bless Him through all the ages of eternity. Amen."

The sentences in Wilson's testimony are occasionally somewhat involved, and are like those of a man not much accustomed to express his thoughts in writing, yet no one of the sufferers quotes or refers to so many books as he does. Besides Fleming, Guthrie, and Gray, already noticed, he refers to Honeyman, Gouldman, Calderwood, Knox, and Philpots. Calderwood's and Knox's Histories are well known. Andrew Honeyman was minister of Ferryport-on-Craig in 1642, and was successively transported to the second, and then to the first charge of St Andrews. In 1664 he was made Bishop of Orkney. When (July 11, 1668), Archbishop Sharp was fired at, as he sat in his carriage at the head of Blackfriars' Wynd, Edinburgh, by James Mitchell, the shot missed him but struck Honeyman, as he was on the step, in the wrist, and so shattered the bone that ultimately it was the cause of his death. In his early years he was strongly Presbyterian, but shortly after the Restoration he adopted the principles of the Court. He died February 21, 1676. He was a man of some learning, although in his answer to "Naphtali," published in two parts in 1668 and 1669, he really weakened the cause he sought to defend. The fallacy of his reasoning was effectually shown by one of the authors of "Naphtali," Sir James Stewart, in his Jus Populi Vindicatum.

Gouldman's Dictionary has long been supplanted by other works, but it was of some repute in the seventeenth century. Its title is “Latin and English Dictionary," by Francis Gouldman, London.

Philpots is the English martyr, John Philpots, Archdeacon of Winchester. He suffered at Smithfield, December 18, 1555. The passage quoted is from "Coverdale's Letters of the Martyrs."

It is

quoted from memory, and gives the sense rather than the exact words. It will be found at length in the "Parker Society's Edition of Philpots' Letters," page 221.

James Laurie, mentioned in Wilson's answers, was a writer in Lanark. He was at Bothwell, and was sentenced to be hanged, April 4, 1683. The Council registers record the granting a reprieve to November, and in April 1684 a recommendation for a remission of his sentence, which seems to have been granted.

The Test repeatedly alluded to by John Wilson and several of the other sufferers was a strangely contradictory oath enacted by Parliament, August 31, 1681, to be taken by all persons in places of public trust. As the Westminster Confession had been disowned in the Act Rescissory, it went back to the confession of Knox's time, 1567. It took the swearer bound to own the true Protestant religion professed in this early confession, in whose eleventh article Christ is said to be "the only Head of His Kirk,” and "if man or angel presume to intrude" into this office, they are declared to be blasphemous to our sovereign and supreme governor Christ Jesus; and at the same time required him to acknowledge Charles II. to be supreme in all causes, ecclesiastical as well as civil. -ED.]

HE TESTIMONY of JOHN WILSON, Writer in Lanark, who suffered at the Grassmarket of Edinburgh, May 16, 1683.

His Answers before seven or eight of the Council,

April 17.

The Chancellor said: "We having called James Laurie, produced to him a letter writ by you to him, wherein you re prove him for calling Bothwell rebellion. He owned that it had convinced his conscience, and said that he was sorry for what he supposed to be writ Tell us who writ that

spoke, and we produced to him a letter in answer to yours, which he denied. letter ? "

John Wilson answered, "I will not tell by whom, only it was not writ by James Laurie."

Q. "Who is the lady mentioned in the end of the letter ?"

A. "I dare not burden my conscience to tell."

Q. "Do you own authority ?"

A. "What authority?"

l. "What think you of Bothwell? Was it not unlawful to rise in arms?"

A. "I dare not say that it is unlawful, for the Confession contained in your Test says, article 15, 'That it is a good work to defend the life of the harmless; and however God hath disposed of those people, yet I suppose the Lord will own these, that, hearing their neighbours had been worshipping God (for defending themselves against those that sought their life) [and] were in jeopardy of their lives, thought it their duty to rise for their relief."

Q. "Was Pentland rebellion ?"

A. "The oppression of these poor people was such that the then rulers condemned Sir James Turner for his cruelty."

Upon this, one answered, that he knew Sir James went not the length of his commission.

Q. "Was the Bishop's death murder?"

A. "Have me excused, gentlemen; I will not answer to that.” Being urged further, he said, "It being nothing concerning my salvation, I do not pry into it."

Upon this, they said, "Did Bothwell concern your salvation ?" To which he replied, "There are none that engage themselves in service to God, but it behoves them to be at His call; and it being for saving the life of the harmless, I durst not sit [¿.e., disobey] God's bidding."

Q. "Are you a minister ?"

A. "No."

They here alleged that some of his letters imported so much, and, being desired to read the place, they read somewhat about a call to some ministry, nothing relating thereto.

Q. "Will ye not condemn the Bishop's death as murder?"

A. "I dare not, for fear, God having justified some of these actors, they should rise in judgment and condemn me."

Q. "Is there no other way but to rise in arms against the king?" A. "I suppose you have read Bishop Honeyman's answer to 'Naphtali,' wherein he says, 'A king may be resisted, in case he should alienate the kingdom to strangers.' And that being granted, religion being taken away, was as dear to us as any outward interest."