Erskines

i 4 6 FAMOUS SCOTS
on this account, that my bed is made to ease me and my couch to
comfort me ; nor am I, like poor Job, scared with dreams, or terrified
with visions. Many a time my meditations of Him are sweet, in the
silent watches of the night. Many, many a time the Lord says, I am
the Lord thy God ; and then follows, Oh my soul, thou hast said
unto the Lord, Thou art my God ; Thine am I, Oh David, and on
Thy side will I be, Thou Son of Jesse.'
Throughout his illness, his general demeanour and his
occasional sayings disclosed that deep, brave, quiet piety
which has been distinctive of Scottish religion. ' I have
always,' he said, ' found my times of severe affliction my
best times. Many blasts I have endured through life;
but I had this comfort under them — a good God, a
good conscience, a good cause.' When one of his
elders asked him, 'Sir, you have given us many good
advices ; may I ask what you are now doing with your
own soul,' he replied, 'I am just doing with it what I
did forty years ago ; I am resting on that word, " I am
the Lord thy God." ' Another friend, surprised at his
serenity, asked him if he was not afraid of his sins.
1 Indeed, no,' he answered ; ' ever since I knew Christ,
I have never thought highly of my frames and duties,
nor am I slavishly afraid of my sins.' One of his
relatives thought to console him by expressing a hope,
in the language of the school of Rutherford, that he
would now and then get a blink to bear him up when
in pain. He promptly replied, ' I know more of words
than of blinks. " Though He slay me, yet will I trust
in Him." The covenant is my charter. If it had not
been for the blessed Word, my hope and strength had
perished from the Lord. I have known more of God
since I came to this bed than through all my life.'
So the months wore on, weakening him in body but not
in spirit. The thoughts of both Secession Churches were
turned towards Stirling. The Antiburghers forgot that
they had handed him over to Satan. From Sunday to