Series 5 > Religious Controversy in Scotland 1625-1639

JOHN GUTHRIE, BISHOP OF MORAY,‘LIFE’ 223
upon me, for my soul trusteth in the[e], and in the shadow of thy wings will I
trust till those afflictions overpass. My sole resolution is to wait on the[e], my
God, whose ways are all mercy and truth to them that fear thee. Being perswaded
of my innocencie and the equity of the causes which I stand to, I have resolved
and shall crave streignth and grace of God for that effect, to continue unmoved
to the end, not fearing my adversarrys, but hoping that he who has given me to
beHeve, if he call me to suffer, shall give me also to suffer, and furnish me with
patience and courage.That God whom I serve is able to deliver me from the rage
and out of the hands of men. But if he will not, my heart shall not swerve from
the way of truth. If I fall in the hands of man, I shall not think that I am forsaken
of God, seeing I suffer not as an evil doer but as a faithfull martyr, a loyall subject,
and good patriot. The saints and martyrs perished not, although it seemed so to
the world. It is a comfortable observation that St Augustine [21] has, that he who
saves the three young men from the fire, forsook not the seven martyrs that
suffered under the cruel Antiochus et hos servant et Mas,33 the one by a bodyly
deliverance to confound the unbeleivers, the other by a spirituall, to confirm the
behevers. I refer the manner to my wise Father. Haveing lived the life of the
righteous, I wish and hope to die the death of the righteous. God comfort the
hearts of them who suffer in the same cause, and the Lord pity his poor torn and
dismembred kirk and kingdome, and repair the breaches thereof for his Christ’s
sake.
Correct us, O Lord, but with judgement, not in thy anger, lest thou bring us to nothing;
in wrath, which we have deserved, remember thy undeserved mercy. Lighten our dark¬
ness, thou Lord who brings light out of darkness, and out of those fearfull combustions
produce thou a work of mercy, whereby glory may be to thy great name,andjoy to them
who are upright in heart. Spare thy people, O Lord, and make us not a reproach unto our
enemys. In those, O Lord, I poured out my heart to thee. Lord, let thy servant depairt in
peace. And hereby I chairge them into whose hands these presents shall come, as they shall
answer to the great God of heaven, that they keep not up but let it be seen for manifesting
to the world what is therein contained. Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.34
All the premisses I have written and subscribed with heart and hand at Spynie
the seventh day of Aprile 1639, the great God and his holy angels witnesses. Sic
subscribitur,
Jo: B. of Moray.
33 ‘and he delivered both the former and the latter’.
34 But not in fact for ten years; he died in 1649.The prayer contains at least four biblical textsrjeremiah
10:24, Habakkuk 3:2, Psalm 125:4, Luke 2:29.