( 32 )
MY Master is the rider, and I am the horse; I never love to ride, but when I find the spurs; I know not ⟨what⟩ I have to do amongst you this night; I wish it may be for your good, for it will be the last: it is long since ⟨it⟩ was our desire to God, to have you taken off our ⟨hands⟩ and now he's granting us our desire. There are ⟨four⟩ or five things I have to tell you this night, and the ⟨first⟩ is this, A bloody sword, a bloody sword, a bloody sword for thee, O Scotland, that shall tear the hearts ⟨of⟩ many, 2dly, Many miles shall you travel, and shall see nothing but desolation and ruinous wastes in thee, O Scotland, 3dly, The fertilest places in Scotland ⟨shall⟩ be as waste and desolate as the mountains. 4thly, The women with child shall be ript up and dashed to pieces. 5thly, Many a conventicle has God had in thee, O Scotland; but e'er long God will have a conventicle ⟨that⟩ will make Scotland tremble; many a preaching ⟨has⟩ God wared upon thee; but e'er long God's judgments shall be as frequent as these precious meetings were wherein he sent forth his faithful servants to give faithful warning of the hazard of thy apostasy from God in breaking, burning and burying his covenant, persecuting, slighting and contemning the gospel, shedding the precious blood of his saints and servants; God sent forth a Welwood, a Kid and a King, a Cameron and a Cargil, and others to preach to thee; but e'er long God shall preach to thee by fire and a bloody sword; God will let none of these mens words fall to the ground, that he sent forth with a commission to preach these things in his name: he will not let one sentence fall to the ground, but they shall have a sure accoplishment, to the sad experience of many. In ⟨his⟩ prayer after sermon, he said, Lord, thou hast been both good and kind to old Sandy, ⟨thro⟩ a long tract of time and given him many years in thy service, which has been but as so many months, but now he's tyr'd of the world, and hath done the good in it that he will do, let him win away with the honesty he has, for he will gather no more.
45. When the day of his death drew near, and not being able to travel, he came to his brother's house in the parish of Sorn, where he was ⟨born; he caused dig a cave, with a saughen-bush covering the mouth of it.⟩
