so; and ye have nothing to say against me, but for owning of Christ’s truths and His persecuted members. To which they answered nothing. Then they desired me to subscribe what I owned. I refused, and they did it for me.
good man, but mistaken as to his views of the character of the men then in power, for he soon got into trouble with them. About September 1680, he was apprehended on the charge of frequenting field conventicles. His examination occupies about six pages in “Wodrow.” It justifies what Marion Harvie says of his excellence as a preacher. He was kept in prison for seven months, and then for three or four years in the Bass; but was ultimately allowed to go to America. On the tidings of the Revolution, he left America, June 1689, but on the way home the ship in which he had set sail was captured by a French man-of-war, and for twenty-two months Mr. Riddell suffered all the horrors which prisoners in that cruel age were made to undergo. He was at last exchanged, but now his ship was driven into Bantry Bay, where he and the ship’s company were plundered by the Irish, and for eleven days suffered all manner of hardship, until rescued by the Government.
Mr. Meldrum, alluded to by the goodman of the Tolbooth, was George Meldrum, minister at Aberdeen. In 1681 he left his charge rather than take the test. Shortly after the Revolution he was called to Edinburgh, where, says Wodrow, “he preached many years to great edification, and was a mighty master of the Holy Scriptures, and blessed with the greatest talent of opening them up or lecturing of any I ever heard.” — ED.]
ACCOUNT
OF MR. ARCHIBALD RIDDELL’S EXAMINATION Of ISABEL ALISON and MARION HARVIE.
“About seven of the clock at night the goodman [i.e., governor] of the Tolbooth caused call us down, against our will, to be examined by Mr. Riddell at the Council’s order. So we came down and were brought to the west side of the house, to an empty room, where they brought him into us, the goodman of the Tolbooth being present, and the keepers, and some gentlemen with them; and they caused us sit down.
“The goodman of the Tolbooth said, ‘Mr. Riddell, the Council caused me bring you to confer with these women, to see if you can bring them to repentance.’
“Then we protested and said, As for repentance, we know not what fault we have done.
“Then said they, You cannot be the worse to have one of your ministers to confer with. We told them, These ministers being their servants, we looked no more upon them as ministers of Jesus Christ; and therefore he is no minister to us.
“Mr. Riddell asked, If the Council would send Mr. Cargill to us, would we not confer with him? We said, He was not at their command; but if Mr. Cargill would do as ye and the rest of you have done, we would do the like with him.
“So he offered to pray. We said, We were not clear to join with him in prayer.
“He said, Wherefore? We said, We know the strain of your prayers will be like your discourse.
“He said, I shall not mention any of your principles in my prayer, but only desire the Lord to let you see the evil of your doings. We told him, we desired none of his prayers at all.
“They said, Would we not be content to hear him? We said, forced prayers had no virtue.
“Then we said, What means he to pray with us more than he did with our brethren that have gone before us? Mr. Riddell said, Mr.
Skene conversed with Mr. Robert Ross.
“We said, He did not send for him, but he intruded himself upon him.
“The goodman of the Tolbooth said, He conversed with Mr.
Meldrum; and we smiled at that, and said, He might talk to him of his perjury, but for no other thing.
“So they urged prayer again. We said, It would be a mocking of God.
“They said, Why so? We said, Because we cannot join with it.
“So Mr. Riddell began to debate with us, and said, We would not find it in all the Scripture, nor any history, to disown the civil magistrate. We answered, There were never such magistrates seen as we have.
“He instanced Manasseh, who made the streets of Jerusalem to run with the blood of the prophets. We said, It was a question, if he came the length in perjury.
“He instanced Joash. We answered, He was but a child when that covenant was sworn, and it was not so with these that he now pleaded for.
“He then instanced Nero, how he set the city on fire and robbed the churches; and yet, notwithstanding, the apostle exhorteth submission to the magistrates then being. We answered, It was in the Lord, and as they were a terror to evil doers.
“He said, Although they were wicked, yet they should not be altogether east off. We said, Before their Excommunication we would not have been so clear to cast them off.
“He said, There were but only seven in the Excommunication, then why do you cast at all the rest? We answered, These seven carried the great sway, and the rest came in under them.
“He said, How can one man take upon him to draw out the sword of excommunication; for the like was never heard tell of in any generation? We answered, Why not one man, since there were no more faithful? and the Church hath power to cast out scandalous persons, be they high, be they low.
“He said, Who is the Church? We said, If there was a true Church in the world, that little handful was one, though never so
insignificant, of which handful we own ourselves a part; and though
our blood go in the quarrel, yet we hope it will be the foundation of a new building, and of a lively Church.
“He said, Thought we all the ministers wrong? We answered, We desire to forbear, and not to add; for we desire not to speak of ministers’ faults. And we desired him to forbear, and let us be gone;
but he urged his discourse, and fell on upon the papers that were taken at the Queensferry, chiefly on that part of them: ‘When God gives them power, it is a just law to execute justice upon all
persons that are guilty.’
“And he came to us, and laid by his coat, and said, Would ye stab me with a knife in my breast, even now? And we smiled, and said, We never murdered any.
“But, said he, They swore to do so. We said, Why did he not debate these things with men, and not with lasses? For, we told him, we never studied debates.
“He said again, Thought we all the ministers wrong? We answered, They were wrong; and forbade him to put us to it, to speak of ministers’ faults; for, if he knew what we had to say of them, he would not urge us. So we desired to be gone.
“And he said, If ye come to calm blood, and desire me, or any other of the ministers, to speak to you; ye may tell the keepers, and ye may have them.
“And there was a chirurgeon among them, and the goodman of the Tolbooth said, He might draw blood of us, for we were mad. We said, Saw ye any mad action in us?
“This is all we can mind at present.”
THE DYING TESTIMONY
AND LAST WORDS OF ISABEL ALISON.
PICTURE: Tolbooth of Edinburgh: South Front
“I, being sentenced to die in the Grassmarket of Edinburgh, January 1681, thought fit to set down, under my hand, the causes
wherefore I suffer. I being apprehended at Perth, in my own chamber, by an order from the Council, and brought to Edinburgh with a strong guard, and there put in prison, and then being examined first by a committee, and then by the criminal court, the manner of my examination was:
“First, If I conversed with David Hackston and others of our friends? Which I owned upon good grounds.
“Second, If I owned the Excommunication at the Totwood, and the papers found at the Queensferry, and Sanquhar Declaration, and a paper found on Mr. Cameron at Airsmoss? All which I owned.
Likewise, I declined their authority, and told them that they had declared war against Christ, and had usurped and taken His prerogatives, and so carried the sword against Him, and not for Him.
“So I think none can own them, unless they disown Christ Jesus.
Therefore, let enemies and pretended friends say what they please, I could have my life on no easier terms, than the denying of
Christ’s kingly office. So I lay down my life for owning and adhering to Jesus Christ, He being a free King in His own house, for which I bless the Lord that ever He called me to that.
“Now, in the first place, I adhere to the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament; and likewise I adhere to the Confession of Faith, because according to the Scriptures; the Larger and Shorter Catechisms; and our Solemn Covenants, both National and Solemn League, as they were lawfully sworn in this land; and I adhere to the Acknowledgment of Sins and Engagement to Duties; I adhere likewise to these aforementioned papers, and to the
Excommunication at Torwood, they all being according to the Scriptures of Truth, and so both lawful and necessary; likewise I adhere to the Rutherglen Testimony, and to all the testimonies of our worthies, who have suffered in Edinburgh, and elsewhere.
“In the next place, I enter my protestation against all the violation done to the work of God these twenty years bygone. First, The burning of the Covenant made with God, and the “Causes of God’s Wrath,” and the thrusting in of prelates into the Lord’s house, contrary to the Word of God, and our sworn Covenants. I leave my testimony against Popery, which is so much countenanced at this day, and against the receiving that limb of antichrist, the Duke of York. Likewise I leave my testimony against all the blood shed both on scaffolds, and in the fields, and seas; and against all the cruelty used against all the people of the Lord. And I leave my testimony against the paying of that wicked tess, for maintaining of these profane wretches, to bear down the work of God. I leave my testimony against all unlawful bonds; and likewise against the shifting of a testimony, when clearly called by the Lord to give it.
“I leave my testimony against all profanity of all sorts; and likewise against lukewarmness and indifferency in the Lord’s matters. I leave my testimony against the unfaithfulness of ministers, first and last; their silence at the first, when their Master’s work was broken down; for the most part they slipped from their Master’s back, without so much as giving one word of a testimony against the wrongs clone to Him and now are become a snare to the poor people in going to hear the curates; and poor things, following their example, are ensnared. My finding the sad experience of it, brings it the more into my memory. Yet,
notwithstanding of their being convinced of their error in this, many of them carry now, as if they rued that ever they came forth to the fields to proclaim their Master a free King in His own house.
And now they are fallen in under the shadow of the sworn enemies;
and, alas! they are become profound to lay snares, yea, they are a trap upon Mispeh, and a net spread upon Tabor! Oh! for the sad defection both of ministers and professors in Scotland! It is like, our carriage may make many of our carcasses lie in the wilderness.
“I leave my testimony against the Indulgences, first and last, and against all that comply therewith, or connive thereat. I leave my testimony against the censuring of worthy Mr. Cameron, or any other whom God raised up to declare the whole counsel of God,
and to witness against the evils of this generation. I fear, when God makes inquisition for blood, ministers’ hands will not be found free thereof.
“As for charging my blood on any particular person, I cannot, for I have never gotten the certainty of what hath brought me to the stage [i.e., to trial]; but if any have done it willingly, I leave it to God and their own conscience. But I may warrantably charge it upon all the declared enemies of God within the land.
“And first, I leave it on the bloody Council, that sent an order to take me, for they are guilty of it.
“Secondly, the sheriff-clerk of Perth, and these that were with him when he took me, are guilty of it; the sheriff-clerk of Kinross, and the men that guarded me, are all likewise guilty of my blood.
“And I leave my blood on Sir George Mackenzie, and the rest of that bloody court, and I take the Lord to witness against them, whether or not it was on easy terms, that they offered me my life;
they said only, they would not trouble me with their bishops; but I said that Supremacy was as evil as Prelacy. And they said that I behooved to say, that the king was not a usurper, and pass from all my former confession, and that it was my duty to obey authority.
I told them that they were sworn enemies to God, so that it was impossible to obey God and them both; so I told them I would not retract an hair-breadth. They said, Thought I ever that he [Charles II] was our lawful king? I said, Yes; for he entered into covenant with God and with the land; but he hath broken and cast off that tie, and hath exercised so much, both tyranny and cruelty, that I had just ground to decline him and them both. Then they bade my blood be upon my own head; but I told them they would find it would be on their heads, for it was for owning of Christ’s kingly office that they put me to suffer, say the contrary who will. Now I bless the Lord I am free from Jesuitical principles. The Scripture is my rule, and when obedience to men is contrary to obedience to God, I am clear to disown them.
“I leave my testimony against Mr. Riddell, for his obeying these wicked men to ensnare us, and to hold out to us, before these accursed enemies of Christ that were seeking our lives for our adhering to the truth, that it was all delusion that we held. I many times rued that I bare so well with him, and now I hear that he denies that which we wrote. But if ye will believe me, who am within a little to appear before God, there was nothing added, but rather wanting; I wish the Lord may forgive him. I bless the Lord, what strikes against myself only I can very heartily forgive; but what strikes against God and His truths, I leave that to God, who is the Judge of all.
“Now I would only say this to you who are seeking to keep your garments dean; be sober, be vigilant, for your adversary the devil goes about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. And as I would have you to be zealous for the truth, and not to quit one hoof, so I would have you labor against a spirit of bitterness;
beware of self; and be more ready to mourn for the slips of others than to make them the subject of your discourse; and labor to make earnest of religion, for I find there is need of more than a good cause when it comes to the push. Oh! the everlasting covenant is sweet to me now!
“And I would also say; they that would follow Christ need not scar [i.e., be alarmed] at the cross, for I can set to my seal to it,
‘His yoke is easy and His burden is light.’ Yea, many times hath He made me go very easy through things that I have thought I would never win [i.e., get] through; He is the only desirable Master; but He must be followed fully. Rejoice in Him, all ye that love Him. Wherefore lift up your heads, and be exceeding glad, for the day of your redemption draweth nigh. Let not your heart faint, nor your hands grow feeble. Go on in the strength of the Lord, my dear friends, for I hope He will yet have a remnant both of sons and daughters that will cleave to Him; though they will be very few, even as the berries on the top of the outmost branches. As for such as are grown weary of the cross of Christ, and have drawn to a lee-shore that God never allowed; it may be, ere all be done, it
will turn like a tottering fence, and a bowing wall to them, and they shall have little profit of it, and. as little credit.
“But what shall I say to the commendation of Christ and His cross? I bless the Lord, praise to His holy name, that hath made my prison a palace to me; and what am I that He should have dealt thus with me? I have looked greedy-like to such a lot as this, but still thought it was too high for me, when I saw how vile I was; but now the Lord hath made that Scripture sweet to me, in the sixth of Isaiah, ‘Then flew one of the seraphim unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:
And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.’
“Oh! how great is His love to me, that hath brought me forth to testify against the abominations of the times, and kept me from fainting hitherto, and hath made me to rejoice in Him! Now I bless the Lord that ever He gave me a life to lay down for Him.
“Now, farewell all creature comforts; farewell, sweet Bible;
farewell, ye real friends in Christ; farewell, faith and hope; farewell, prayers and all duties; farewell, sun and moon; within a little I shall be free from sin, and all the sorrows that follow thereon. Welcome everlasting enjoyments of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, everlasting love, everlasting joy, everlasting light.
“Edinburgh Tolbooth, Jan. 26, 1681.
“Sic subscribitur,
“ISABEL ALISON.”
BEING come to the scaffold, after singing the eighty-fourth Psalm, and reading the sixteenth of Mark, she cried over the scaffold, and said,
“Rejoice in the Lord, ye righteous; and again, I say, rejoice.” Then she desired to pray at that place, and the Major came and would not let her, but took her away to the ladder foot, and there she prayed.
When she went up the ladder, she cried out,