Page:Life of the martyr, John Brown, of Priesthill, in the parish of Muirkirk, Ayrshire (3).pdf/21

21 place, I think it is to the muirs and mountains of Scotland.' Rutherford many a time declares, ' Sweet, sweet is the cross ; and no wonder, when Christ bears both us and it.' The sorrow of the righteous is better far than the joys of the wicked, that are only like the crackling of thorns under a pot, and worketh death. Had a miracle opened the eyes of Claverhouse, as it did the eyes of the prophet's servant, to have seen John Brown's soul from insult springing,' at the moment his body fell a mangled corpse, he would have seen himself changed from a powerful oppressor, like Haman, to a mean servant, only fit, as an instrument, to clothe the humble sitter at the king's gate in royal robes, and a glorious crown, and usher him in to the city Shushan, as a man whom the King delights to honour. It was not granted that his eyes should be epened by a miracle, or by faith in God's written testimony, to see himself as be really was ; but God's vicegerent, conscience, even in this life, speaks oat awful things of righteousness and judgment to come. He afterwards acknowledged that John Brown's prayer made such an impression on his spirit, that he could never get altogether worn off, when he gave himself liberty to think. Thus, mischief haunts the violent man, and the bloody and deceitful man shall not live half his days.? His maxim, of terror being true mercy, if it pres verted or put an end to war, like every other attempt to do evil that good may come ont of it, proved fallacious, and acting up to it was the mean of bringing on the Revolution of 1658, and of banishing James VII. from the throne and hearts of the people of Scotland.' Claverhouse, for various reasons, had no alternative than to follow the fortune of his benefactor. When he found a large majority in the Scotch Convention on the side of William, he left Edinburgh with the determination of exerting himself in the cause of James, in the