"To my young friends I would, as a parting word, say, look to the lives and conversation of your parents--they were plain, honest, and devout Christians, fearing God and honouring the King.They believed the Bible was the word of God; and, when they practised its precepts, they found, by the good that came from them, that it was truly so.They bore in mind the tribulation and persecution of their forefathers for righteousness' sake, and were thankful for the quiet and protection of the government in their day and generation.
Their land was tilled with industry, and they ate the bread of carefulness with a contented spirit, and, verily, they had the reward of well-doing even in this world; for they beheld on all sides the blessing of God upon the nation, and the tree growing, and the plough going where the banner of the oppressor was planted of old, and the war-horse trampled in the blood of martyrs.Reflect on this, my young friends, and know, that the best part of a Christian's duty in this world of much evil, is to thole and suffer with resignation, as lang as it is possible for human nature to do.
I do not counsel passive obedience: that is a doctrine that the Church of Scotland can never abide; but the divine right of resistance, which, in the days of her trouble, she so bravely asserted against popish and prelatic usurpations, was never resorted to till the attempt was made to remove the ark of the tabernacle from her.I therefore counsel you, my young friends, not to lend your ears to those that trumpet forth their hypothetical politics;but to believe that the laws of the land are administered with a good intent, till in your own homes and dwellings ye feel the presence of the oppressor--then, and not till then, are ye free to gird your loins for battle--and woe to him, and woe to the land where that is come to, if the sword be sheathed till the wrong be redressed.
"As for you, my old companions, many changes have we seen in our day; but the change that we ourselves are soon to undergo will be the greatest of all.We have seen our bairns grow to manhood--we have seen the beauty of youth pass away--we have felt our backs become unable for the burthen, and our right hand forget its cunning.--Our eyes have become dim, and our heads grey--we are now tottering with short and feckless steps towards the grave; and some, that should have been here this day, are bed-rid, lying, as it were, at the gates of death, like Lazarus at the threshold of the rich man's door, full of ails and sores, and having no enjoyment but in the hope that is in hereafter.What can I say to you but farewell!
Our work is done--we are weary and worn out, and in need of rest--may the rest of the blessed be our portion!--and in the sleep that all must sleep, beneath the cold blanket of the kirkyard grass, and on that clay pillow where we must shortly lay our heads, may we have pleasant dreams, till we are awakened to partake of the everlasting banquet of the saints in glory!"When I had finished, there was for some time a great solemnity throughout the kirk; and, before giving the blessing, I sat down to compose myself, for my heart was big, and my spirit oppressed with sadness.
As I left the pulpit, all the elders stood on the steps to hand me down, and the tear was in every eye, and they helped me into the session-house; but I could not speak to them, nor them to me.Then Mr Dalziel, who was always a composed and sedate man, said a few words of prayer, and I was comforted therewith, and rose to go home to the manse; but in the churchyard all the congregation was assembled, young and old, and they made a lane for me to the back-yett that opened into the manse-garden--Some of them put out their hands and touched me as I passed, followed by the elders, and some of them wept.It was as if I was passing away, and to be no more--verily, it was the reward of my ministry--a faithful account of which, year by year, I now sit down, in the evening of my days, to make up, to the end that I may bear witness to the work of a beneficent Providence, even in the narrow sphere of my parish, and the concerns of that flock of which it was His most gracious pleasure to make me the unworthy shepherd.
