who was in the habit of over-sleeping himself, used to be roused to his duty in the morning, by three mysterious knocks at his door, which, if they did not produce a proper effect, were repeated close to his bed. These knocks never failed on Sunday, and on days when he had to administer the communion; and they lasted during the whole of his ministry, until he became old and infirm, when they entirely ceased.73

By the propagation of these and similar stories, in a country already prepared for their reception, the Scotch mind became imbued with a belief in miraculous interposition, to an extent which would be utterly incredible if it were not attested by a host of contemporary and unimpeachable witnesses. The clergy, partly because they shared in the general delusion, and partly because they derived benefit from it, did every thing they could to in

sitting on the grasse beside the well; and when they asked him, Hou he gote out? he said, after he was once at the bottome, he came up to the tope, and ther was a bonny young man pulled him out by the hand. Ther was noe body near by at the time; and soe they concluded it was noe doubt ane angell. The Lord had much to doe with him." Wodrow's Analecta, vol. i. p. 57. See also vol. iii. pp. 88, 89, where this circumstance is again mentioned as "a tradition anent him" in the place of his birth.

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73 Mr. William Trail, minister at ****, tells me that his father, Mr. William Trail, minister at Borthwick, used every morning, when he had publick work on his hand, to hear three knocks at his chamber dore; and if, throu wearynes, or heaviness, he did sitt these, ther wer ordinarily three knocks at his bed-head, which he never durst sitt, but gott up to his work. This was ordinarly about three in the morning. This, at first, in his youth, frighted him; but at lenth it turned easy to him, and he believed these knocks and awaknings proceeded from a good art. That these never failed him on Sabbaths and at Communions, when he was oblidged to rise early: That when he turned old and infirm, toward the close of his dayes, they intirely ceased and left him." Wodrow's Analecta, vol. ii. p. 307. This work, in four quarto volumes, is invaluable for the history of the Scotch mind; being a vast repertory of the opinions and traditions of the clergy, during the seventeenth, and early part of the eighteenth, century. Wodrow was a man of ability, certainly above the average; his honesty is unimpeachable, as the jealous scrutiny which the episcopalians have made of his great work on the History of the Church of Scotland, decisively proves; and he was in the constant habit of personal and epistolary communication with the leading characters of his age. I have, therefore, freely used his Analecta; also his Collections upon the Lives of Ministers, which is likewise in four quarto volumes; and his Correspondence, in three thick octavo volumes. It would be difficult to find a more competent witness respecting the sentiments of his ecclesiastical brethren. It would be impossible to find a more candid one.

crease the superstition of their countrymen, and to familiarize them with notions of the supernatural world, such as can only be paralleled in the monastic legends of the middle ages. How they laboured to corrupt the national intellect, and how successful they were in that base vocation, has been hitherto known to no modern reader; because no one has had the patience to peruse their interminable discourses, commentaries, and the other religious literature in which their sentiments are preserved. As, however, the preachers were, in Scotland, more influential than all other classes put together, it is only by comparing their statements with what is to be found in the general memoirs and correspondence of the time, that we can at all succeed in re-constructing the history of a period, which, to the philosophic student of the human mind, is full of great, though melancholy, interest. I shall, therefore, make no apology for entering into still further details respecting these matters; and I hope to put the reader in possession of such facts as will connect the past history of Scotland with its present state, and will enable him to understand why it is, that so great a people are, in many respects, still struggling in darkness, simply because they still live under the shadow of that long and terrible night, which, for more than a century, covered the land. It will also appear, that their hardness and moroseness of character, their want of gaiety, and their indifference to many of the enjoyments of life, are traceable to the same cause, and are the natural product of the gloomy and ascetic opinions inculcated by their

74 In illustration of this, a volume might be filled with extracts from the writings of the Scotch divines of the seventeenth century. The following passage is, perhaps, as good as any. "Yea, it can hardly be instanced any great change, or revolution in the earth, which hath not had some such extraordinary herald going before. Can the world deny how sometimes these prodigious signes have been shaped out to point at the very nature of the stroke then imminent, by a strange resemblance to the same, such as a flaming sword in the air, the appearance of armies fighting even sometimes upon the earth, to the view of many most sober and judicious onlookers, also showers of blood, the noise of drummes, and such like, which are known usually to go before warr and commotions." Fleming's Fulfilling of the Scripture, 1681, p. 216.

religious teachers. For, in that age, as in every other, the clergy, once possessed of power, showed themselves harsh and unfeeling masters. They kept the people in a worse than Egyptian bondage, inasmuch as they enslaved mind as well as body, and not only deprived men of innocent amusements, but taught them that those amusements were sinful. And so thoroughly did they do their work, that, though a hundred and fifty years have elapsed since their supremacy began to wane, the imprint of their hands is every where discernible. The people still bear the marks of the lash; the memory of their former servitude lives among them; and they crouch before their clergy, as they did of old, abandoning their rights, sacrificing their independence, and yielding up their consciences, to the dictates of an intolerant and ambitious priesthood.

Of all the means of intimidation employed by the Scotch clergy, none was more efficacious than the doctrines they propounded respecting evil spirits and future punishment. On these subjects, they constantly uttered the most appalling threats. The language, which they used, was calculated to madden men with fear, and to drive them to the depths of despair. That it often had this consequence, and produced most fatal results, we shall presently see. And, what made it more effectual was, that it completely harmonized with those other gloomy and ascetic notions which the clergy inculcated, and according to which, pleasures being regarded as sinful, sufferings were regarded as religious. Hence that love of inflicting pain, and that delight in horrible and revolting ideas, which characterized the Scotch mind during the seventeenth century. A few specimens of the prevailing opinions will enable the reader to understand the temper of the time, and to appreciate the resources which the Scotch clergy could wield, and the materials with which they built up the fabric of their power.

It was generally believed, that the world was overrun by evil spirits, who not only went up and down the earth, but also lived in the air, and whose business it was to

tempt and hurt mankind.75 Their number was infinite, and they were to be found at all places and in all seasons. At their head was Satan himself, whose delight it was to appear in person, ensnaring or terrifying every one he met.76 With this object, he assumed various forms. One day, he would visit the earth as a black dog;77 on another day, as a raven;78 on another, he would be heard

75 Durham, after mentioning "old abbacies or monasteries, or castles when walls stand and none dwelleth in them," adds, "If it be asked, If there be such a thing, as the haunting of evil spirits in these desolate places? We answer 1. That there are evill spirits rangeing up and down through the earth is certain, even though hell be their prison properly, yet have they a sort of dominion and abode both in the earth and air; partly, as a piece of their curse, this is laid on them to wander; partly as their exercise to tempt men, or bring spirituall or temporall hurt to them," &c. Durham's Commentarie upon the Book of the Revelation, p. 582. So, too, Hutcheson (Exposition of the Book of Job, p. 9): "We should remember that we sojourn in a world where Devils are, and do haunt among us ;" and Fleming (Fulfilling of the Scripture, p. 217): "But the truth itself is sure, that such a party is at this day, encompassing the earth, and trafficking up and down there, to prove which by arguments were to light a candle to let men see that it is day, while it is known what ordinary familiar converse many have therewith." One of their favourite abodes was the Shetland Islands, where. in the middle of the seventeenth century, "almost every family had a Brouny or evil spirit so called." See the account given by the Rev. John Brand, in his work entitled A Brief Description of Orkney, Zetland, Pightland-Firth, and Caithness, pp. 111, 112, Edinburgh, 1701.

76 There is not one whom he assaulteth not." Abernethy's Physicke for the Soule, p. 101. "On the right hand and on the left." Cowper's Heaven Opened, p. 273. Even early in the eighteenth century, the "most popular divines" in Scotland, affirmed that Satan frequently appears clothed in a corporeal substance." Memoirs of Charles Lee Lewes, written by Himself, vol. iii. pp. 29, 30, London, 1805.

"This night James Lochheid told me, that last year, if I mistake not, at the Communion of Bafron, he was much helped all day. At night, when dark somewhat, he went out to the feilds to pray; and a terrible slavish fear came on him, that he almost lost his senses. Houever, he resolved to goe on to his duty. By (the time) he was at the place, his fear was off him; and lying on a knou-side, a black dogg came to his head and stood. He said he kneu it to be Satan, and shooke his hand, but found nothing, it evanishing." "Lord help against his devices, and strenthen against them!" Wodrow's Analecta, vol. i. p. 24. The Registers of the Presbytery of Lanark, p. 77, contain a declaration, in 1650, that the devill appeared like a little whelpe," and afterwards, "like a brown whelpe."

78 The celebrated Peden was present when "there came down the appearance of a raven, and sat upon one man's head.". Thereupon,

going home, Mr. Peden said to his land-lord, I always thought there was Devilry among you, but I never thought that he did appear visibly among you, till now I have seen it. O, for the Lord's sake quit this way." The Life and Death of Mr. Alexander Peden, late Minister of the Gospel at New

in the distance, roaring like a bull.79 He appeared sometimes as a white man in black clothes:80 and sometimes he came as a black man in black clothes, when it was remarked that his voice was ghastly, that he wore no shoes, and that one of his feet was cloven.81 His stratagems were endless. For, in the opinion of divines, his cunning increased with his age; and having been studying for more than five thousand years, he had now attained to unexampled dexterity.82 He could, and he did, seize both men and women, and carry them away through

Glenluce in Galloway, pp. 111, 112, in vol. i. of Walker's Biographia Presbyteriana.

79"I heard a voice just before me on the other side of the hedge, and it seemed to be like the groaning of an aged man. It continued so some time. I knew no man could be there; for, on the other side of the hedge, where I heard the groaning, there was a great stank or pool. I nothing doubted but it was Satan, and I guessed his design; but still I went on to beg the child's life. At length he roared and made a noise like a bull, and that very loud. From all this I concluded, that I had been provoking God some way or other in the duty, and that he was angry with me, and had let the enemy loose on me, and might give him leave to tear me in pieces. This made me intreat of God, to shew me wherefore he contended, and begged he would rebuke Satan. The enemy continued to make a noise like a bull, and seemed to be coming about the hedge towards the door of the summer-seat, bellowing as he came along." Stevenson's Rare, Soul-Strengthening, and Comforting Cordial for Old and Young Christians, p. 29. This book was published, and prepared for the press, by the Rev. William Cupples. See Mr. Cupples' letter at the beginning.

80 In 1684, with "black cloaths, and a blue band, and white handcuffs.” Sinclair's Satan's Invisible World Discovered, p. 8.

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81" He observed one of the black man's feet to be cloven, and that the black man's apparel was black, and that he had a blue band about his neck, and white hand-cuffs, and that he had hoggers upon his legs without shoes; and that the black man's voice was hollow and ghastly." Satan's Invisible World Discovered, p. 9. "The devil appeared in the shape of a black man." p. 31. See also Brand's Description of Orkney, p. 126: "all in black.”

"He

82 The acquired knowledge of the Devil is great, hee being an advancing student, and still learning now above five thousand yeares." Rutherford's Christ Dying and Drawing Sinners to Himselfe, p. 204. knowes very well, partly by the quicknesse of his nature, and partly by long experience, being now very neere six thousand yeeres old." "Cowper's Heaven Opened, p. 219. "Hee, being compared with vs, hath many vantages; as that he is more subtill in nature, being of greater experience, and more ancient, being now almost sixe thousand yeeres old." Ibid., p. 403. "The diuell here is both diligent and cunning, and (now almost of sixe thousand yeeres) of great experience." Abernethy's Physicke for the Soule, P. 142. "Satan, such an ingenious and experimented spirit." Binning's Sermons, vol. i. p. 67. "His great sleight and cunning." Ibid., p. 110. Other eulogies of his skill may be seen in Fergusson's Exposition of the Epistles of Paul, p. 475; and in Fleming's Fulfilling of the Scripture, p. 45.