desire the condemnation of any man, simply upon that account, that they dare not come and continue where you are; or to put a bar by prayer between them and a return, is a glorifying of God: we glorify him in this kind, when, as he himself desires, we acquiesce in his sentence, when it is past, though we wrestle against it, before it be known to us. "I cannot bid you go forward in all, but I desire you to go forward in that which is surer and better. And, dear friends, let not the world have that to say, that when ye are become right, ye are become the less zealous; only take the right object, and let your zeal grow. O let not your sufferings be stained with such wildness, and think it not strange that ye have not such liberty in your return, as ye seemed to have before; if ye take the right way, and hold on, ye shall find it, in his time, greater and better, and surer. I shall only add, that there must be an express owning of his truths, whereof ye have been persuaded before now, which now are either denied or doubted, otherwise you will come to nothing of religion, or worse; this will either state your sufferings right, or be a mean to obtain a cleanly liberty from God, in his due time. Grace, mercy, and peace be with you. Amen. "DONALD CARGILL." XII. WALTER SMITH. [Mr. Smith was a native of St. Ninians, in Stirlingshire. After the usual preliminary education, he went to Holland, and studied divinity under the famous Leusden. Upon his return, he became eminent among the suffering presbyterians, was Clerk to the council of war, and a commanding officer at the battle of Bothwellbridge. After this, he became the constant attendant, as he was the intimate friend, of Mr. Cargill,—in his wanderings over Scotland. He was along with that venerable person, in the neighbourhood of Lanark, when taken; and shared his fate. It does not appear that he was ever licensed as a preacher, though he had this in prospect at the time of his apprehension. He seems to have been highly esteemed, by those who knew him, as a young man of good learning and genuine piety. Being brought before the council upon two several occasions, on the 14th and 19th of July, he was thereafter tried on the 26th, and executed on the 27th of that month. His testimony and last words, follow.] 1. HIS TESTIMONY. "DEAR Friends and Acquaintances,-As I desire, while in the body, to sympathize somewhat with you in lamenting your various cases, and the case of the church, whereof we are the sons and daughters; so I must lay this request upon you, and leave it with you, that ye • Cloud of Witnesses, pp. 45-52. take some of your time, and set it apart particularly, to solace your souls, in blessing and magnifying your God and my God, for the lot he hath decreed and chosen out for poor unworthy me, from eternity, in time, and to eternity; in the immediate enjoyment of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, one God, incomprehensible and unchangeable in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth'; and that, because he hath made me a man and a Christian. And now, I set to my seal to all his truths, revealed in his word; and particularly these: Ist, That he is one God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. But alas! who can think of him? who can hear of him, or write of him aright? O he is God! he is God! 2dly, That he made man perfect; and though we have destroyed and incapacitated ourselves to do any thing that is right, while out of Christ,-yet we are under the obligation of the whole law, which is the perfect rule of righteousness. 3dly, That my Lord, (yea through free grace, I can say, my Lord Jesus Christ) came to the world to save sinners: and though I cannot say that I have been the greatest of sinners, yet I can say, that he hath covered, pardoned, prevented and hid from the world, sins in me that have been heinous by many aggravations. 4thly, That except a man be born again, he cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven.' My friends, this is the new birth, this is regeneration, that I am speaking of, to which the great part, even of professors, I fear, will be found strangers. 5thly, I set to my seal to the truth of that precious promise, Josh. i. 5. repeated Heb. xiii. 5. For he hath said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee;' together with all the other promises to that purpose: and I am sure he hath carried me through divers conditions of life, many various and singular difficulties and damping discouragements. But, omitting these things whereof the profane persecutors may as much boast (as to the outward) as any, He hath led me through the several steps of soul exercise, and the pangs of the new birth, unto himself. This, this my friends, is the cognizance and distinguishing character of a saint indeed; and by this, and this only, we pass from death to life.' "And as I adhere to the Confession of Faith and work of reformation, (as I shall afterwards speak to)-so particularly, I set to my seal to these truths in the eighteenth chapter thereof, anent the assurance of grace and salvation. Alas! the ignorance of this generation is great! My dear friends, I leave this as my last advice to you, make use of that book which contains the Confession of Faith, Catechisms, Sum of Saving Knowledge, Practical Use of Saving Knowledge, Directory for Worship, the Causes of God's Wrath, &c. And let none think this work below them; for, the spiritual enlightening of the mind, which requires the literal with it, is the first work of the Spirit, after we first begin to come to ourselves, or rather to what we were in innocency, and ought to be by grace. But as to this, I do confidently refer you to Shepard's Sound Believer; which, in my poor apprehension, is the surest ye can meet with. And, 6thly, I set to my seal to the covenant of grace, particularly that clause of it, Isa. lix. 21. As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the Lord, My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put 6 in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and for ever.' And here I leave my testimony against all atheists, speculative (if there be any such) and practical; and all mockers of godliness, all formalists and hypocrites, Quakers and enthusiasts, who either pretend to the Spirit, neglecting the word, or lean upon the word, neglecting the teaching of the Spirit. And what shall I more say, but by what of truth I have in experience seen, I am bold to believe what I have not seen: His testimony is a ground sufficient, and there can be no deceit under it. "And now I am to die a martyr; and I am as fully persuaded of my interest in Christ, and that he hath countenanced me in that, for which I am to lay down my life, as I am of my being. And let the world and biassed professors say their pleasure, I am here in no delusion; I have the free and full exercise of reason and judgment; I am free of passion and prejudice, and, excepting that I am yet in the body, I am free of Satan's fire and fury: I have no bitterness nor malice at any living; so that what I am owning and dying for, I am solidly and firmly persuaded to be truth and duty, according to my mean capacity. And this is the main point, this day, in controversy, upon which I was peremptorily questioned, and desired positively to answer, yea, or nay, under the threatening of the boots, viz. Whether I owned the king's authority as presently established and exercised? which, I did positively disown, and denied allegiance to him, as he is invested with the supremacy-proper to Jesus Christ only. And who knoweth not, that at first he was constituted and crowned a covenanted king, and the subjects sworn in allegiance to him, as such, by the Solemn League and Covenant? This was the authority wherewith he was clothed, and the exercise of it was to be for God, religion, and the good of the subjects; and is not all this, as to God and his people, overturned and perverted? But, secondly, The whole of this pleaded for authority at present, is established on the ruin of the land's engagements to God, and to one another. But I say no more as to this. Consider things seriously, and ponder them deeply; zeal for God is much gone: look to it, and labour to recover it; your peace shall be in it, as to duty; though Christ's righteousness, I see, is the only sure foundation. "I leave my testimony against malignancy, ungodliness, and profanity, and whatsoever is contrary to sound doctrine,-professed and owned by the reformed anti-erastian Presbyterian party in Scotland whereof I die a member and professor;-being fully satisfied and content with my lot. And as to my apprehending, we were singularly delivered by Providence into the adversaries' hand, and, for what I could learn, were betrayed by none; nor were any accessory to our taking, more than we were ourselves: and particularly let none blame the lady St. Johns-kirk in this. I have no time to give you an account of the Lord's kindness and tenderness to us, in restraining the adversaries' fury; for they began very brisk, by making us lie all night bound, and expressly refused to suffer us to worship God, or pray with one another, until we came to Linlithgow. But the Lord hasteneth to come; beware of going back, wait for him, be not anxious about what shall become of you, or the remnant; He is concerned, his intercession is sufficient: get him set up, and kept up in his own room in your souls, and other things will be the more easily kept in theirs. Be tender of all who have the root of the matter; but beware of compliance with any, whether ministers, or professors, or adversaries. As to my judgment, insignificant as it is, I am necessitated to refer you to the draught of a paper, which I drew, at the desire of some societies in Clydesdale, entitled, 'Some Steps of Defection,' &c. Beware of a spirit of bitterness, peremptoriness, and ignorant zeal, which hath been the ruin of some, and will be the ruin of more, if mercy prevent not. I was withdrawn from by some, as having given offence to them by my protesting against their way in particular, wherein, I am sure, as to the manner,-they were wrong; and though they had been right, it was not a ground to have made such a separation from me, much less from those who joined with me and if any division be longer kept up upon that account, they will find it a great iniquity, if rightly considered. I can get no more written, nor see I great need for it; for the testimonies of martyrs are not your rule. Farewell. Sic sub.-WALTER SMITH." * "From the Tolbooth of Edinburgh, July 27th, 1681." } 2. HIS LAST Words. Being come to the scaffold, he accosted the multitude to this purpose: "All ye beholders, who are come here upon various designs, I entreat you, be not mistaken anent the cause of my suffering this day; for, however ye may be misinformed, yet it is of verity, that we are brought here upon the matters of our God;-because we testified against the supremacy, and would not consent to the setting of Christ's crown upon the head of him who had by usurpation aspired thereto, contrary to his former engagements." Upon this they caused beat the drums, which obliged him a little to silence; but beckoning with his hand, he said, "I shall only say something to three particulars: and first, anent that which some are apt to believe,—that we are against authority;-we detest that, and say, that we own all the lawful exercise of authority; and we hope there are none that are Christians will allow us to own the unlawful exercise, or rather tyranny of authority." At this the drums were again beat; and so, he sung a part of the ciii. Psalm from the beginning, and prayed; which done, he turned his face to the Cross, and said, "I bless the Lord, I am not surprised, neither terrified with this death or the manner of it. I confess the thoughts of death have been sometimes very terrible to me, when I have been reflecting upon my mis-spending of precious time; yea, sometimes the strength of temptation, and my own weakness, have made me herein to raze the very foundation of my interest; but my God builds faster than he permits the devil Cloud of Witnesses, pp 52-55. and my false heart to cast down. I have had some clouds ever since I came to prison, but blessed be God, these are all removed: for my God hath said to my soul, Be of good cheer, thy sins are forgiven thee.' And the faith of this makes me not to fear grim death;though it be called the king of terrors, yet it is not so to me: for, this that you think a cruel and sudden death, is but an inlet to life, which shall be eternal !—Let none be offended at Christ and his way because of suffering, for I can persuade you, there is more of Christ's help, and supporting grace and strength, in a suffering lot, than all that ever I heard of by the hearing of the ear: but now I am made to find it in my own experience, and I can say,' He is altogether lovely.' "But a second thing that I promised to speak to, is,—that I detest and abhor all Popery, Prelacy, Erastianism, and all other steps of defection from the truths of God, and turning aside to the right and left hand. Also, I testify against all errors, as Quakerism, Arminianism, &c. and all that is contrary to sound doctrine, who walk not according to the Scriptures, and make not the word and Spirit of God their rule to walk by. I have lived, and now am ready to die, a Christian, a Protestant, and a Presbyterian in my judgment; therefore, let none hereafter say, that we walk not by the Scriptures; for once Britain and Ireland, and especially Scotland, were deeply sworn to maintain what now they disown; therefore beware of standing in the way of others, seeing ye will not go in yourselves. Thirdly, I exhort all you that are the poor remnant, to be serious in getting your interest cleared; you that are in the dark with your case, take not flashes for conversion: study a holy conversation: be at more pains to know the Scriptures, and believe them; be serious in prayer; slight not time; take Christ on his own terms, and resolve to meet with trials, and that shortly; slight not known duties; commit not known sins,-whatever suffering ye may meet with, for your cleaving to duty. Lippen* to God, and you will not be disappointed. Construct well of him under all dispensations; weary not of suffering; lie not at ease in a day of Jacob's trouble. I have one word more to speak to all that are going on in persecuting the way and friends of Christ, and that is the very words of our Lord, Remember, whatever you do to one of these little ones, you do it unto me.' I pray the Lord, that he may open the eyes of all the elect, who are yet strangers to regeneration; and also convince such of them as are fallen from their first love. Now, my friends, I have this to say in my own vindication, that, however I have been branded by some, and misconstructed by others,-yet I can say in the sight of the Lord, before whom I am now to appear, that I am free of any public scandal; I say, I am free of drunkenness, I am free of whoredoms, thefts, or murder; therefore, let none say, that we are murderers, or would kill any, but in self-defence, and in defence of the gospel. I truly forgive all men the wrongs they have done to me, as I desire to be forgiven of the Lord but as for the wrongs • 1. e. trust. |