which was about four months
before the Perth assembly, when the five articles were agreed upon[47],
he said that this month should put an end to all his troubles, and he
accordingly died about the end of it, blessing the Lord, that he had not
been perverted by the sinful courses of these times; and said, As the
Lord had said to Elijah in the wilderness, so, in some respects he had
dealt with him all the days of his life.

He wrote a history of the church, for the space of about ten centuries.
There are some other little tracts, besides a history of the councils of
the church, which are nearly out of print altogether. Upon some of his
books he had written, "Remember, O my soul, and never forget the 9th of
August, what consolation the Lord gave thee, and how he performed what
he spake according to Zech. iii. 2, _Is not this a brand pluckt out of
the fire?_" &c.

_The Life of Mr. ANDREW DUNCAN._

Mr. Duncan was settled minister at Crail, in the shire of Fyfe, and was
afterwards summoned before the high commission court at St. Andrews, in
the year 1619. on account of his faithfulness in opposing the five
articles of Perth. At the first time of his compearance, he declined
their authority; and at the second, he adhered to his former
declinature, upon which the high commission court passed the sentence of
deposition against him, and ordained him to enter himself in ward at
Dundee. After the sentence was pronounced, he gave in a protestation,
which was as follows, "Now, seeing I have done nothing of this business,
whereof I have been accused by you, but have been serving Jesus Christ
my master in rebuking vice, in simplicity and righteousness of heart. I
protest (seeing ye have done me wrong) for a remedy at God's hand, the
righteous Judge, and summon you before his dreadful judgment-seat, to be
censured and punished for such unrighteous dealings, at such a time as
his majesty shall think expedient, and, in the mean time decline this
your judgment _simpliciter_ now as before, and appeal to the ordinary
assembly of the church, for reasons before produced in write. Pity
yourselves for the Lord's sake; lose not your own dear souls, I beseech
you for Esau's pottage: Remember Balaam, who was cast away by the deceit
of the wages of unrighteousness; forget not how miserable Judas was, who
lost himself for a trifle of money, that never did him good. Better be
pined to death by hunger, than for a little pittance of the earth,