we have come far short. We fear we find not Him such as we would, nor He us such as He would. Oh! we may say, 'From the crown of the head to the sole of the foot there is no place clean.' None can cast a stone at another: we are all wounds, bruises, and defilements. We must put His work upon Him who is the fountain to wash foul souls, who breaks not the bruised reed, nor quenches the smoking flax. Give Him much ado, for we have much ado for Him. Oh! that there were no rest in our bones because of our sin. It is the Father's pleasure, that He should see His seed, and the pleasure of the Lord prosper in His hand. Oh! that He would make every one of us understand our errors, and seek after the good old path, followed in the most pure times of our Church, and get in to our Lord Jesus Christ, by faith in His righteousness, by imputation and virtue of His sufferings for sinners, and keep by Him. There is no safety but at His back; and I beseech you, improve time; it is precious when right improven; for ye know not when the Master calleth, at midnight, or the cock crowing. Dear friends, the work of the day is great, and calls for more nor [i.e., than] ordinary. Oh! be oft at the throne, and give Him no rest. Make sure your soul's interest. Seek pardon freely, and then He will come with peace. Seek all the graces of His Spirit, the grace of love, the grace of holy fear and humility. Oh! but there is much need of this and the promised Spirit.

"Now, I desire to salute you, dear friends in the Lord Jesus Christ, both prisoned, banished, widow and fatherless, or wandering and cast out for Christ's sake and the Gospel's; even the blessing of Christ's sufferings be with you all, strengthen, stablish, support, and settle you; and the blessing of Him who was in the bush, which, while it burned, was not consumed, and my poor blessing, be with you all.

"Now, as to my persecutors, I forgive all of them-instigators, reproachers, soldiers, privy council, justiciaries, apprehenders, in what they have done to me; but what they have done in despite against the image of God's name in me, who am a poor thing without that, it is not mine to forgive them; but I wish they would seek forgiveness of Him who hath it to give; and would do no more wicked

ness.

"Now, I leave my poor sympathising wife and six small children upon the Almighty Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, who hath promised to be a father to the fatherless, and a husband to the widow; the

widow and orphans' stay. Be Thou all in all unto them, O Lord. Now, the blessing of God, and my poor blessing, be with them. And my suit to Thee is, that Thou wouldest give them Thy salvation.

"And now, farewell wife and children. Farewell all friends and relations. Farewell all worldly enjoyments. Farewell sweet Scriptures, preaching, praying, reading, singing, and all duties. welcome Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I desire to commit my soul to Thee in well-doing. Lord receive my spirit.

J

James Nisbet.

AMES NISBET belonged to Highside, a farm in the neighbourhood of Darvel, in the parish of Loudon, Ayrshire.

He was related to John Richmond of Knowe, who was executed March 19, 1684, and he had come to Glasgow to be present at the funeral, when he was recognised by Lieutenant Nisbet, a cousin of his own, and apprehended. He was carried to the guard-house, where the usual questions were put, and not giving satisfactory answers, he was sent to prison.

Nothing is known of his trial except the brief notice he gives of it in his testimony. The chief ground of his condemnation, he says, was that he disowned the authority of the government.

From the note of the compilers, at the close of his testimony, it appears that he experienced much ill-usage when in prison, and it was with difficulty he got his last testimony written. "He died," says

Wodrow, "in much peace and full assurance. And they saw good to execute him a little out of the town, and not at the Cross, which very little diminished the confluence."

The parishioners of Loudon have erected a monument to his memory in Newmilns churchyard. There is one also over the place where his remains lie in Castle Street, Glasgow. The inscriptions on both are in the Appendix. -ED.]

HE LAST TESTIMONY of JAMES NISBET, who lived in the parish of Loudon, and suffered in Glasgow at the Howgate Head, June 5, 1684.

"Now I am brought hither this day, to lay down my life for the testimony of Jesus Christ, and for asserting Him to be Head and King in His own house, and for no matter of fact that they have against me. Wherefore, dear friends and all true lovers of Zion's cause, if I could either speak or write anything to the praise and commendation of my lovely Lord and princely Master, Jesus Christ, King and Head over His own Church and people, although the most part of the men of this generation is counting it death to call Him so, yet I, as a dying man, live and die in the faith of it, that He shall appear to their confusion, and for His own glory now trampled upon, and lying so low; for He has said, 'I am the Lord, that is My name; and My glory will I not give to another' (Isa. xlii. 8).

"Now I am to lay down my life, and indeed I do it willingly, and not by constraint; and I bless Him that ever He carved out my lot such as to be a sufferer for Him, who am such a poor, unworthy thing. For if I would have acknowledged a mortal man to be supreme, I might have redeemed my life, viz., C[harles] [tuart] to be supreme over all causes civil and ecclesiastic, as they have now set him up, which belongs to no mortal man upon earth, and to have prayed for him. And shall I pray for that man, in his person and government, who hath broken down the work of the Lord, and has laid waste the sanctuary of our Lord, who was given of the Father, as it is said, 'And hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the head over all things to the church' (Eph. i. 22); and in the second Psalm? Now I say, it is for the hope of Israel, and a witness for the name of Jesus Christ, of which hope I am not ashamed. Now I invite all who love His name, and the welfare of Zion, to praise Him, for I may set to my seal to it, that He is a good master to all who will come to Him; for I may say, He has been good to me, who has letten me see a sight of my sins and a sight of the remedy that He has purchased by His blood, and through His death, to me, who was born an heir of hell and wrath by nature; but glory be to

His great name, who has made me free from my sin, and made me as if I had never sinned; O glory and praise be to Himself. But what shall I say? for heart cannot conceive, hand cannot write, tongue cannot express! for surely if I could say anything to the praise and commendation of my lovely Lord Jesus Christ, I have many things for which to do it.

"1. For that, that He has not letten me deny His truths and cause, and His persecuted work; for there is nothing in me, as I am of myself, but I might have been amongst these that have displayed a banner against God, and have made the blood of His people to run in the streets, and have dyed their garments with their blood.

"2. That He has carved out my lot to be in a land where He has set up His pure ordinances, both in doctrine, worship, discipline and government; for indeed he might have trysted [i.e., appointed] it to be amongst these that are worshipping antichrist, that whore of Rome, whose sentence may be read, Rev. xix. 2. And if C[harles] S[tuart] has not overturned His work, and corrupted the whole land, by overturning the whole fundamental laws, both civil and ecclesiastic, I leave it to any judicious person, that is not biassed and drawn away by that woeful Erastian Supremacy, which is like to overspread the whole land.

"3. That He hath given His word for a rule to walk by, which word is truth, and the true Word of God. He has made me to walk by it, and it to be my rule; and by His Word and Spirit bearing witness with my Spirit, making me spotless and clean; and I shall be clothed with these robes of His righteousness, which are spotless and clean.

"Now I shall only give a short account of my principles, as the Lord shall assist; and the Lord help me to get it done in truth and sincerity; for there are many eyes looking on me; the eyes of an allseeing God, who is of purer eyes than that He can behold iniquity, and the eyes of men who are thirsting for my blood.

I mean

"I. I adhere and sweetly set to my testimony to the covenant of redemption, betwixt the Father and the Son, made before the foundation of the world, for the redemption of poor lost mankind. of these who are elected, called, justified, and sanctified; for which my soul shall bless the Lord that ever I heard tell of the same, and that ever I heard tell that He came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.

"2. To the sacred Scriptures; that they are the true Word of God,

and that there is life everlasting to be had in them, if ye will apply your hearts to search diligently, and pursue after them with a sincere and diligent seeking, with all the soul and heart; and without sincere endeavouring to make it your rule, there is no life; for, says our blessed Lord, 'I came not to destroy the law, but to fulfil it.'

"3. To the work of Reformation; as it was reformed in all the several steps thereof from under Popery, Prelacy, and Erastianism, and all other errors whatsomever, not agreeable to the Scriptures, the written Word of God.

"4. To the Confession of Faith, the Sum of Saving Knowledge, Directory for Worship and Discipline, and to our Catechisms Larger and Shorter.

"5. To the Covenants, National and Solemn League, whereby these lands were engaged unto the Lord; and Scotland may bless the Lord that ever He engaged them in a covenant with Himself. I say to you that desire to own the same, make it your ground to plead with the Lord, till He come back again to these lands.

"6. To the preaching of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, as it was faithfully preached by faithful ministers, called and commissionated, and sent by Himself; and also my testimony to the Acknowledgment of Sins and Engagement to Duties, and the Causes of the Lord's Wrath against this land this day. But alas! it may be said, Many have gone backward, and not forward; the most part of this generation have refused to walk any more with Him, ever since Bothwell, only these two, viz., Mr D[onald] C[argill] and Mr R[ichard] C[ameron], which I desire to set to my seal to the faithfulness of these two men's doctrines, for my soul has been refreshed by them. And I set to my seal to all their proceedings and actings in the work they were called to, and my soul blesseth the Lord that ever I heard them preach.

"7. To all the appearing in arms, in defence of the Gospel, and self-defence, both before Bothwell and since.

"8. To the Excommunication at the Torwood, by Mr D[onald] C[argill], as it is just and lawful, and will stand in force and record, ay, till repentance make it null, of which there is little appearance.

"9. To the testimony given at Rutherglen, May 29, 1679; the declaration given at Lanark, January 12, 1682, by a party whom the Lord raised and stirred up by His Spirit, and owned them in that work, to give a public testimony against that soul destroying and lan ruining thing called the Test, although many in this generation be