I blefs the Lord for it. They faid, when faw ye him laft? I answered, never fince ye murdered him. They defired me to fay over what I faid the last day. I faid, Would they have me to be my own accufer?. He said, The Advocate was my accufer? I faid, Let him fay on then. Then they went over the things that paft betwixt the council and me the other day, and put me to it, yea, or nay. I faid, Ye have troubled me too much with answering questions, feeing you are a judicature which I have no clearness to answer. They faid, Do ye difown us, and the King's authority in us? I faid, I difown you all, because you carry the fword against God, and not for him, and have these nineteen or twenty years made it your work to dethrone him by fwearing year after year against him, and his work, and affuming that power to a human creature, which is due to him alone, and have rent the members from their head Christ, and one another. Then they afked, Who taught you thefe principles? I faid, I was beholden to God that taught me thefe principles. They faid, Are ye a Quaker? I said, Did ye hear me fay, I was led by a fpirit within me? I blefs the Lord, I profited much by the perfecuted gofpel; and your acts of indemnity after Bothwel eleared me more, than any thing I met with fince. They faid, How could that be? I faid, By your meddling with Chrift's interefts and parting them as ye pleafed They faid, They did not ufurpt Chrift's prerogatives I faid, What then mean your indulgencies, and your fetting up of Prelacy? for there has none preached publickly theic twenty years without perfecution, but thefe that have their or ders from you. Then they caufed bring Sanquhair declarati on and the paper found on Mr. Richard Cameron, and the papers taken at the Queens-ferry, and asked, if I would adhere to them? I faid, I would, as they were according to the Scrip tures, and 1 faw not wherein they did contradict them. They afked, if ever Welth or Mr. Riddle taught me these principles ? I answered, I would be far in the wrong to fpeak any thing that might wrong them. They they bade me take heed what f was faying, for it was upon life and death that I was questioned. I asked them, if they would have me to lie? I would not quit one truth, though it would purchase my life a thousand years, which ye cannot purchase, nor promise me an hour.

*

This paper being taken from him as his death, by the enemies who flew him; no Copy thereof (for what I know) has ever been procured, and hence it cannot be certaintly known what was the nature of it,

They faid, when faw ye the, two Henderfons, and John Bal four? Seeing ye love ingenuity, will ye be ingenuous, and tell us, if ye faw them fince the death of the Bishop? I faid. They appeared publickly within the land fince, They asked, if I converfed with them within thefe twelve months? A which I keeped filence. They urged me to fay either yea, or nay. I answered, Yes. Then they faid, Your blood be upon your own head, we shall be free of it. antwered, to faid Pi late; but it was a queftion if it was fo; and ye have nothing to fay against me, but for owning of Chrift's truths, and his perfecuted members. To which they answered nothing. Then they defired me to fubfcribe what I owned, I refufed, and they do it for me b

Account what ISABEL ALISON faid before the Aizers.

T

Hefe are to fhew you what paft betwixt the black crew and me, They read my indictment, and afked if I had ought to fay against it? I faid, Nothing. They read the pa pers as they did formerly, and afked, if I owned them? I faid, I did own them. Then they called the aflizers and fwore them. Then I told them, All authority is of God, Rom xiii. 1. and when they appeared against him I was clear to difown them; and if they were not against him, I would not have been there: I take every one of you witnefs, against another, at your an pearance before God, that your pcceeding againft me is only for owning of Chrift, his golpel, and members, which I could not difown, left I fhould come under the hazard of denying Chrift, and fo be denied of him, And when the affize came, they asked, if I had ought to fay against them? faid, They were all alike, for there would no honeft man take the trade in hand. They faid to the affize, it was against their will to take our lives? I faid, if that had been true, they would not have brought me lo far off, purluing me for my life. This is the fubftance of what. patt as I remember.

Account of Mr. Archbald Riddel's Examination of Ifabel Alifon da and Marion Harvic. bod

A Bout feyen of the clock at night the goodman of the Tol

booth caufed call us down againft our will, to be exa mined by Mr. Riddel at the council's order. So we came down and were brought to the weft fide of the houfe, to an empty room, where they brought him into us: The good man of the Tolbooth being prefent, and the keepers. and fome Gentle

men with them, and they caufed us fit down. The goodman or the Tolbooth faid, Mr. Riddel, the Council caufed me bring you to confer with these women: to fee if ye can bring them to repentance. Then we protefted, and faid, As for repentance, we know not what fault we have done, then, faid they, You cannot be the worfe to have one of your Minifters to confer with. We told them, Thefe Minifters being their fervants, we looked no more upon them as Minifters of Jefus Chrift, and therefore he is no Minister to us. Mr. Riddel afked, If the Council would fend Mr. Cargil to us, would we not confer with him? We faid, He was not at their command; but if Mr Cargil would do as ye and the rest of you have done, we would do the like with him. So he offered to pray, We faid, We were not clear to join with him in prayer. He faid, Wherefore? We faid, We know the ftrain of your prayers will be like your difcourfe. He faid, I fhall not mention any of your principles in my prayer, but only defire the Lord to let you fee the evil of your doings. We told him, We defired none of his prayers at all. They faid, Would we not be content to hear him? We said, Forced prayers had no virtue. Then we faid, What means he to pray with us, more than he did with our brethren that have gone before us? Mr Riddel faid, Mr. Skeen converfed with Mr Robert Rofs. We faid, He did not fend for him, but as he intruded himself upon him. The goodman of the Tolbooth faid, He converfed with Mr. Meldrum, and we smiled at that, and faid, He might talk of him of his perjury, but for no other thing. So they urged prayer again. We faid, It would be a mocking of God They faid, Why fo? We faid, Becaufe we cannot join with it. So Mr Riddel began to debate with us, and faid, We would not find it in all the Scripture, nor any hiftory, to difown the civil Magiftrate. We anfwered, There were never fuch Magiftrates feen, as we have. He inftanced Manaffch, who "made the ftreets of Jerufalem to run with the blood of the prophets." We faid, It was a queftion, if he came the length in perjury: He inftanced Joafh. We anfwered, He was but a child when that covenant was fworn, and it was not fo with thefe he now pleaded for; he then inftanced Nero, how he fer the city on fire and robbed the churches; and yet notwithstanding the Apostle exhorteth fubmiffion to the Magiftrates then being We an fwered, it was in the Lord, and as they were a terror to evil doers He faid, Although they were wicked, yet they should not be altogether caft off We faid. Before their excommuni cation we thould not have been fo clear to caft them off He faid, There were but only feven in the excommunication, then why do ye caft at all the reft ? We aniwered, Thefe feven

carried the great fway, and the reft came in under them. He faid, How can one man take upon him to draw out the fword of excommunication, for the like was never heard tell of in no generation? We anfwered, Why not one man, fince there were no more faithful, and the Church hath power to caft out fcan dalous perfons, be they high, be they low. He faid, Who is the Church? We faid, If there was a true Church in the world, that little handful was one, though never fo infignificant, of which handful we own ourselves a part: and though our blood go in the quarrel, yet we hope, it will be the foundation of a new building, and of a lively Church.

He faid, Thought we all the Minifters wrong? We anfwered, We defire to forbear, and not to add; for we defire not to fpeak of Minifters faults. And we defired him to forbear, and let us be gone but he urged his difcourfe, and fell on upon the papers, that were taken at the Queensferry, chiefly on that part of them: When God gives them power, it is a juft "law, to execute juftice upon all perfons that are guilty.” And he came to us, and laid by his coat, and faid, Would ye fab me with a knife in my breaft, even now? And we fimiled, and faid, We never murdered any: But faid he, they swore to do fo. We faid, Why did he not debate these things with Men, and not with Laffes? For, we told him, We never ftu died debates. He faid again, Thought we all the Minifters wrong? They were wrong, and forbad him to put us to it, to fpeak of Minifters faults; for if he knew what we had to fay of them, he would not urge us. So we defired to be gone. And he faid, if ye come to calm blood, defire me, or any o ther of the minifters to fpeak to you, ye may tell the keepers and ye may have them: And there was a Chirurgeon among them, and the good man of the Tolbooth faid, He might draw blood of us, for we were mad. We faid, Saw ye any mad action in us? This is all we can mind at prefent.

The dying Testimony and laft Words of ISABEL ALISON.

Being fentenced to die in the Grafs-market of Edinburgh, January 1680 thought fit to fet down under my hand, the causes wherefore I fuffer. I being apprehended at Perth, in my › own chamber, by an order from the council, and brought to Edinburgh with a strong guard, and there put in prifon, and then being examined firft by a Committee, and then by the criminal Court, the manner of my examination was. Firft, If I converfed with David Hackftoun and others of our friends? Which I owned upon good grounds. 2dly, If I owned the excommunication at the Torwood, and the papers found at the Queensferry, and Sanquhair declaration, and a paper found on

Mr Cameron at Airfmofs? All which I owned. Likewife, declined their authority, and told them, That they had de clared war againft Chrift, and had ufurped and taken his prerogatives, and fo carried the fword against him, and not for him: So I think, none can own them, unless they difown Chrift Jefus. Therefore let enemies and pretended friend, fay what they will; I could have my life on no cafier terns, than the denying of Chrift's kingly office. So I lay down my life for owning and adhering to Jefus Christ, his being a free king in his own houfe, for which i bless the Lord, that ever he called me to that.

Now in the first place, I adhere to the holy Scriptures of the Old and New Teftament. And likewife I adhere to the Confeffion of Faith, becaufe according to the Scriptures, the larger and fhorter Catechifms: and our folemn Covenants, both National and Solemn League, as they were lawfully fworn in this land; and I adhere to the Acknowledgment of Sing, and Egagement to Duties; I adhere likewife to thefe forementioned papers, and to the excommunication at Torwood, they all being according to the Scriptures of truth, and so both lawful and neceffary. Likewife I adhere to the Rutherglen Teftimony, and to all the teftimonies of our Worthies, who have fuffered in Edinburgh, and elsewhere.

In the next place, I enter my proteftation against all the violation done to the work of God these twenty years bygone. First, The burning of the Covenant made with God, and the Caufes of God's wrath, and the thrufting in of Prelates into the Lord's house, contrary to the word of God, and our fworn Covenants. I leave my teftimony against Popery, which is fo much countenanced at this day, against the receiving that limb of Antichrift the Duke of York. Likewife I leave my teftimony against all the blood-fhed both on fcaffolds, and in the fields, and feas; and againft all the cruelty ufed against all the people of the Lord. And I leave my teftimony against the paying of that wicked cefs, for maintaining of thefe profane wretches, to bear down the work of God. I leave my teftimony againft all unlawful bonds. And likewife against the fhifting of a teftimony, when clearly called by the Lord to give it. I leave my teftimony against all profanity of all forts, and likewise against lukewarmnefs and indifferency in the Lord's matters. I leave my teftimony against the unfaithfulness of Minifters, first and laft, their filence at the firft, when their mafter's work was broken down, for the most part they flipped from their master's back, without fo much as giving one word of a teftimony against the wrongs done to him; and now are become a fnare to the poor people in going to hear the Curates, and poor things follow