of what passed between Mr. Guthrie and the curate upon this occasion. The paper which contains it was found among some valuable papers belonging to Mr. Guthrie, which were some years after this violently taken from his widow, and fell into the hands of the bishops.

The curate on entering the manse, showed, "That the bishop and committee, after much lenity shown to him for a long time, were constrained to pass the sentence of suspension against him, for not keeping of presbyteries and synods with his brethren, and his unpeaceableness in the church, of which sentence he was appointed to make public intimation to him, for which he read his commission under the Archbishop of Glasgow's hand."

Mr. Guthrie answered-" I judge it not convenient to say much in answer to what you have spoken; only, whereas you allege there has been much lenity used towards me, be it known unto you, that I take the Lord for party in that, and thank him for it; yea, I look upon it as a door which God opened to me for preaching this gospel, which neither you nor any man else was able to shut, till it was given you of God. And as to that sentence passed against me, I declare before these gentlemen (the officers of the party) that I lay no weight upon it, as it comes from you, or those who sent you; though I do respect the civil authority, who by their law laid the ground for this sentence, and were it not for the reverence I owe to the civil magistrate, I would not cease from the exercise of my ministry for all that sentence. And as to the crimes I am charged with, I did hold

presbyteries and synods with my brethren; but I do not judge those who now sit in these to be my brethren, but men who have made defection from the truth and cause of God; nor do I judge those to be free or lawful courts of Christ that are now sitting. And as to my unpeaceableness, I know I am bidden follow peace with all men, but I know also I am bidden follow it with holiness; and since I could not obtain peace without prejudice to holiness, I thought myself obliged to let it go. And as for your commis

sion, Sir, to intimate this sentence, I here declare, I think myself called by the Lord to the work of the ministry, and did forsake my nearest relations in the world, and give up myself to the service of the gospel in this place, having received an unanimous call from this parish, and being tried and ordained by the presbytery; and I bless the Lord he hath given me some success, and a seal of my ministry upon the souls and consciences of not a few that are gone to heaven, and of some that are yet in the way to it. And now, Sir, if you will take it upon you to interrupt my work among this people, as I shall wish the Lord may forgive you the guilt of it, so I cannot but leave all the bad consequences that follow upon it betwixt God and your own conscience. And here I do further declare before these gentlemen, that I am suspended from my ministry, for adhering to the covenants and work of God, from which you and others have apostatized."

"The Lord," said the curate, "had a work before that covenant had a being, and I judge them apostates who adhere to that covenant. I wish, not only that

the Lord would forgive you, but, if it be lawful to pray for the dead, (at which expression the soldiers laughed,) that the Lord would forgive the sin of this church these hundred years past.”

"It is true," replied Mr. Guthrie, "the Lord had a work before that covenant had a being, but it is as true that it hath been more glorious since that covenant; and it is a small thing for us to be judged of you in adhering to that covenant, who have so deeply corrupted your ways, and seem to reflect on the whole work of Reformation from Popery these hundred years past, by intimating that the Church had need of pardon for the same.-As for you, gentlemen," added he, directing himself to the soldiers, “ I wish the Lord may pardon you, for countenancing this man in this business."

One of them scoffingly replied, "I wish we may never do a greater fault."

"Well," said Mr. Guthrie, "a little sin may damn a man's soul."

When this had passed, he entertained them with suitable refreshments, and drank with much kindness and complaisance to the curate and soldiers, conscious that they were the mere servile instruments in the execution of a deed, however overwhelming to himself and his parish; and he showed the temper and spirit of that gospel of which he was a faithful minister, in so doing.

His constitution and frame, which at best were not vigorous, now began to languish, from the depression necessarily consequent upon the recent calamity, and from fresh attacks of his old malady, the gravel.

He lived for some time in the parish, but never preached; but the death of his brother, to whom he had, upon his entering the ministry, assigned his paternal estate, gave a new direction to his thoughts, and aroused him from the stupor with which his disease and suspension from the ministry had thrown him. He set out immediately for Pitforthy, near Brechin, being about two months after the close of his preaching in the parish of Fenwick; and a comfortable asylum was thus opened for him, amidst the scenes of his boyhood, by the melancholy bereavement of now an only brother. He was not destined to enjoy it long. No scene could be joyous to him, whose happiness was interwoven with the weal of the church, while she was in such affliction. His health declined daily, and a complication of severe and painful diseases stretched him on a bed of the keenest suffering. The gravel, gout, a violent heartburning and ulcer in the kidneys, all at once attacked him, and their violence was such as to render him an object of the greatest commiseration to his friends, and those around him. Yet he had his thoughts and his hopes firmly fixed upon the Lord, and often expressed his gratitude and love to him for the wonderful marks of his kindness, in the midst of his severest pain. "Though I die mad," said he, on one occasion, yet I know I shall die in the Lord. Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord, at all times, but more especially when a flood of errors, snares, and judgments, are beginning, or coming on a nation, church, or people.”

"In the midst of all his heavy affliction, he still

His compassionate pious breathing of days illness, he was

adored the measures of divine Providence, though at the same time he longed for his dissolution, and expressed the satisfaction and joy with which he would make the grave his dwelling-place, when God should think fit to give him rest there. Master did at last indulge the his soul; for, after eight or ten gathered to his fathers, in the house of his brotherin-law, Mr. Lewis Skinner of Brechin, upon Wednesday afternoon, October the 10th, 1665, in the forty-fifth year of his age, and was buried in his family burying-place, under the Pitforthy gallery in the church of Brechin."*

During his last illness he was visited by gentlemen of all parties. The bishop of Brechin, and several Episcopal clergymen among others, came to see him, to whom he expressed himself freely on the affairs of Scotland and the church. But no difference in church opinions could destroy that love he had for all men, and he felt the kindness of the visit of such friends stronger, in proportion to the decided stand he had taken against the measures of prelacy in the country. He died in the full con

fidence of pardon and acceptance with his heavenly Father, to whom he had early personally dedicated himself, and he knew whom he believed, and was persuaded that he would accomplish that which he had committed to him, both in the complete redemption of himself, and in the final triumph and prosperity of the Church of Scotland.

See his Life in the Biographia Scoticana.