perform his dreadful vocation; three times made his escape from the scaffold, and was as often compelled to return to complete his work. This is one hangman, now let us turn to another, but first to the saints whom it was his mission to destroy.

We hold in our hands M'Crie's sketches of "Scottish Church History,' a work which ought to be universally read, and A.D. 1665. "The oppressions of the soldiery became perfectly intolerable, particularly in the west, when Sir James Turner and Sir Wm. Bannatyne vied with each other in plundering and harassing the unhappy peasantry. A faint idea of these exactions may be formed when we state that within a few weeks, the curates and soldiers gathered upwards of £50,000 Scots, purely for nonconformity; in other parts, still larger sums were imposed, and to crown the whole, after committing these outrages, the soldiers would compel the people to sign a declaration that they had been used with the greatest tenderness and civility. It seemed as if government determined to try the utmost limits to which the endurance of the people would go. In the course of five years they had seen the legal securities for their beloved Reformation, one after another, rescinded, the civil liberties laid low, their ministers scattered, and a set of men intruded into their churches, whose practice, not to speak of their principles,-made them little better than public nuisances. And now, because they would not consent at the command of their rulers to renounce their religion, they found themselves placed under a barbarous military execution; while all liberty of petitioning, or addressing the throne, for redress of their grievances, was discharged under the highest penalties. Few people in any other country would have submitted so long as they did, silently and without a murmur,hoping that Providence would open a door of relief, and that the cry of their oppression might come up to heaven.

"But oppression, long continued, will make even wise men mad. Four fugitive countrymen, passing through the village of Dalry in Dumfriesshire, beheld a party of soldiers who had seized a poor old man (because he could not pay his church fines) threatening to strip him naked and roast him on a red-hot gridiron. They interfered, the soldiers fell upon them with their swords, a scuffle ensued, one of the soldiers was wounded, and the

prisoner rescued. A partial rising now took place for the countrymen. Knowing what they had to expect, induced others to join them, and at Pentland stood in their own defence. The rising was however soon put down, and all who had been engaged in it, or were even suspected of being accessory, were treated with unrelenting severity. Very quick despatch was made with the prisoners. They were crowded like cattle into a dungeon, and though they had been taken prisoners in battle, upon quarter asked and given, the greater part of them were brought to trial and condemned as traitors and rebels. "It was a moving sight," says Burnet, "to see ten of these prisoners hanged upon one gibbet." They all declared their innocence of the crime of treason or rebellion. "We are condemned by men," they said, "and esteemed by many as rebels against the king, whose authority we acknowledge. But this is our rejoicing, the testimony of our conscience, that we suffer not as evil doers, but for righteousness, for the word of God and testimony of Jesus Christ, and particularly for our renewing the covenants, and, in pursuance thereof, defending and preserving ourselves by arms against the usurpation and insupportable tyrany of the prelates, and against the most unchristian and inhuman oppression, that was ever enjoined and practiced by unjust rulers upon free, innocent, and peaceable subjects." This was the joint testimony of the ten who were executed December 7th, 1666.

The firmness with which the sufferers endured not only an ignominious death, but the tortures which preceded it, astonished their adversaries and left a strong impression on the multitude. Two persons, however, distinguished for their high character and extraordinary sufferings, deserve peculiar mention. These were John Neilson of Corsack, and Hugh Mackail, preacher of the gospel. Neilson was a gentleman of property, remarkable for the mildness and generosity of his disposition. He was the means of saving the life of Sir James Turner, for he not only gave him quarter, but on some of the party offering to shoot him, he interfered, saying, "You shall as soon kill me Sir, for I have given him quarter." Mr. Mackail was a young man of 26 years of age, and in his first sermon gave mortal offence to the rulers, by declaring that "the Church of Scotland had been persecuted by a Pharaoh on the throne,—a

called a rebellion, (though had they succeeded they would have been termed patriots,) but the hand of God was with them still the fury of their enemies the sooner reached its climax, and such scenes of blood and terror and depravity, as were enacted, alienated the affections of the nation from a prince who, in spite of his follies, might have been popular, and prepared the way for the overthrow of the Stuart dynasty, and for the settlement of the crown of England on a more firm and protestant foundation.

But the worst event of all remains to be noticed, before these executions were finished, a letter had come down from the King, addressed to the Archbishop, as President of the Council, discharging them from taking any more lives; and this letter was kept back by the Archbishop, till Mackail, and the others who had been condemned, were executed. The infatuated Sharp never forgave Mackail the expression-" a Judas in the Church."

And now, in conclusion, let us look at the hangman. So convinced were all classes of the innocence and moral worth of those who suffered, that no executioner could be prevailed upon to carry the sentence into effect. At last one of the prisoners, bribed and dragged into service, executed his companions, but soon afterwards died himself in despair. In Irvine, the hangman, a poor simple Highlander, named William Sutherland, peremptorily refused to execute the good men merely for opposing the bishops, whom, he said, he had never liked since he knew how to read his bible. Solicitations, promises, and threats were all used with him, but in vain. They threatened him with the boots. "You may bring the boots and the spurs too, you shall not prevail." They swore they would pour melted lead on him-they would roll him in a barrel full of spikes; but the Highlander stood firm. They then put him in the stocks, and the soldiers having charged their pieces and blind-folded him, rushed on him with frightful shouts, but all in vain. Confounded at his fortitude, they declared that the devil was in him." "If the devil be in me," said William, "he is an unnatural devil, for if he were like the rest, he would bid me take as many lives as I could; but the Spirit that is in me will not suffer me to take good men's lives.' "Tell me," said one of the judges, "who put these words into your mouth ?" "Even He

who made Balaam's ass to speak and reprove the madness of the prophet," replied William. At length finding that they could make nothing more of him, they allowed him to escape. SUCH WAS

THE HANGMAN OF BY-GONE DAYS.

[The writer is not aware that Calcraft is a worthy and estimable man and if not a really christian man, is, and has long been, a constant attendant at Hoxton Academy Chapel.-Ed.]

Things Lew and Old.

SCHOOLS IN THE SOUTH SEAS, and at
WESTON, BATH.

Teachers and Scholars who have not read the following in Williams' Missionary Enterprises, and those who have, will be delighted to read it again, concerning the prospects of these schools, and especially the ingenuity of the children in providing themselves with a substitute for slates and pencils.

"The progress which they had made in writing in the schools of Popirha, where there were about five hundred children, in Mr.Buzacott's, seven hundred, and in Mr. Pitman's upwards of nine hundred, is most gratifying. They were taught to write at first by means of sandboard, but, of course, by this mode they could not acquire any great facility in the art. They frequently expressed their regret at this, and as the supply of slates was very small, they determined, if possible, to find a substitute. Having formed the resolution, they were observed one morning, on leaving the school, running in groups up the mountains, and shortly after returning with flakes of stones, which they had broken off from the rocks. These they carried to the seabeach and rubbed with sand and coral until they produced a smooth surface. Thus far successful, they coloured the stones with the purple juice of the mountain plantain, to give them the appearance of English slates. Some of the boys completed the resemblance by cutting them square and framing them, so that, without close examination, you could scarcely detect the difference. The next desideratum was a pencil, and for this they went into the sea, and procured a number of the echinus, or seaegg, which is armed with twenty or thirty spines. These they burnt slightly to render

them soft, that they might not scratch; and with these flakes of stone for a slate, and the spine of the sea-egg for a pencil, they wrote exceedingly well; and hundreds of them took down the principal portions of every discourse they heard." Hence the teaching of writing, as well as the teaching of reading may be of vast advantage in our schools for both worlds, for time and for eternity. Only a few weeks ago, before the writer had read, and particularly noticed this advantage, he had established an adult and a juvenile Sunday School in Weston, near Bath; combining writing on slates, portions of Holy Scriptures, with reading and catechising. As he had more adult and juvenile scholars than teachers, he found the writing on slates of considerable advantage in keeping them employed, while he was hearing other scholars their reading lessons, he has suggested this plan, especially for such schools as may not have a sufficient supply of teachers to keep their scholars employed.

Besides, although this employment may be thought too secular for the Lord's day, yet as it is combined with heavenly and divine things, it may become as useful, and as greatly blessed, and even more so, than the secular teaching and reading of the mere letter of the Holy Scriptures.

Last Sabbath-day four of our Sunday school girls had to write on their slates the following sentence; on which, they were afterwards catechised. The question proposed, was, What is the meaning of the word immortal? Not one of them could at first tell the meaning. They were then told how desirable it was that they should know the meaning, because their souls were immortal, and because their Saviour had brought life and immortality to light by the gospel. They were then asked the meaning of the term mortal, and what their bodies were sometimes called? This they readily and correctly answered, "Sir, our bodies are mortal, and are so called because they will die. Now they were prepared to answer the more solemn and interesting question. We have souls that will never die, but will live for ever and ever! But where? In heaven, or in hell. This gave the catechiser a fine opportunity to point his catechumens to the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world, as preparatory to life and immortality.

Bath.

T. N.

"BEWARE OF COVETOUSNESS." Luke 12-15.

In 1826, the late Dr. Morison writes:"I have been pondering this passage. "Take heed and beware of covetousness." Covetousness implies discontentedness. I thought of preparing an English sermon from these words, but feared it would be thought too pointedly applicable. I met this morning with this little Chinese story. "Hoo Shaon was a very poor man, yet he daily thanked heaven for pure bliss. His wife said to him, we have daily only three meals of greens, rice and water; what do you call pure bliss? He replied, happily we live in times of peace, and experience none of the miseries arising from conflicting armies. Happily there is no one in our family suffering from cold or hunger. Happily there is not one on a bed of sickness, now immured in a dungeon; and if this be not pure bliss I know not what pure bliss is.' This is a Pagan story, butit is an instructive one. We have to thank heaven, perhaps, for all that Hoo Shaon had, and a great deal more. "Beware of covetousness, for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth."

Youths' Department.

LIFE

REMARKS

ON THE

OF GOLDSMITH.
BY WASHINGTON IRVING.

Bolin's Edition, 1s. 6d.

Though this piece of literary biography is late, it is not unseasonable, especially as coming from the fascinating pen of Washington Irving, it will tend to diffuse in juvenile readers a knowledge of the mental power, the taste and the pursuits of the age of Reynolds, Johnson, Burke. Dr. Nugent, Bennet Langton, Topham, Beauclerc, Hawkins, and Goldsmith, besides others whose names were not enrolled among the members of the literary club of which Johnson was "the great chain," and others whose genius has been appreciated more than a century. Though we do not endorse all advanced in Johnson's Lives of the Poets, and in this charming work, we should be sorry for our young friends of moderate education and taste to be deprived of the pleasure and instruction of these works.