The extraordinary reputation and usefulness of his ministry were admired and followed by all the country around him, which provoked the jealous and angry prelates against him, and was one of the causes of his being at last attacked by them. Then the earl of Glencairn made a visit to the arch-bishop of Glasgow at his own house, and at parting asked as a favour in particular from him, That Mr. Guthrie might be overlooked, as knowing him to be an excellent man.——The bishop not only refused him, but did, with a disdainful haughty air, tell him, That shall not be done; it cannot be, he is a ringleader and keeper up of schism in my diocese,——and then left the chancellor very abruptly. Row, Allan, and some other presbyterian gentlemen, who were waiting on him, observing the chancellor discomposed when the bishop left him, presumed to ask him what the matter was; to which the earl answered, "we have set up these men, and they will tread us under their feet." In consequence of this resolution of bishop Burnet, Mr. Guthrie was, by a commission from him, suspended; and the bishop dealt with several of his creatures, the curates, to intimate the sentence against him, and many refused, for (saith Wodrow), "There was an awe upon their spirits, which feared them from meddling with this great man." Be as it will, at last he prevailed with the curate of Calder, and promised him five pounds sterling of reward. Mr. Guthrie, being warned of this design of the bishop against him, advised with his friends to make no resistance at his deposition from the church and manse, since his enemy wanted only this as a handle to persecute him criminally for his former zeal and faithfulness.
Accordingly, on Wednesday July 20, he, with his congregation, kept the day with fasting and prayer. He preached to them from Hos. xiii. 9. O Israel! thou hast destroyed thyself, &c. From that scripture, with great plainness and affection, he laid before them their own sins, and the sins of the land and age they lived in; and indeed the place was a Bochim——At the close of this day's work, he gave them intimation of sermon on the next Lord's day, very early; and accordingly his people, and many others, met him at the church of Fenwick, betwixt four and five in the morning, when he preached to them from the close of his last text, But in me is thine help.——And as he used on ordinary Sabbaths, he also now had two sermons, and a short interval betwixt them, and dismissed the people before nine in the morning. Upon this melancholy occasion he directed them unto the great Fountain of help, when the gospel and ministers were taken from them; and took his leave of them, commending them to God, who was able to build them up, and help them in time of need.
Upon the day appointed, the curate came to Fenwick, with a party of twelve soldiers, on the sabbath-day; and, by commission from the arch-bishop, discharged Mr. Guthrie to preach any more in Fenwick, declared the church vacant and suspended him from the exercise of his ministry.
The curate left the party without, and came into the manse; and declared, That the bishop and committee, after much lenity shewed to him for a long time, were constrained to pass the sentence of suspension against him, for not keeping of presbyteries and synods with the rest of his brethren, and his unpeaceableness in the church; of which sentence he was appointed to make public intimation unto him, for which purpose he read his commission under the hand of the arch-bishop of Glasgow.
Mr. Guthrie answered, "I judge it not convenient to say much in answer to what you have spoken; only, whereas you alledge there hath been much lenity used toward me—be it known to you, that I take the Lord for party in that, and thank him first——yea, I look upon it as a door which God opened to me, for the preaching of this gospel, which you nor any man else was able to shut, till it was given you of God; and as to that sentence, passed against me, I declare before these gentlemen (meaning the officers of the party) that I lay no weight upon it, as it comes from you, or those that sent you—though that I do respect the civil authority, who, by their law, laid the ground for this sentence passed against me.——I declare I would not surcease from the exercise of my ministry for all that sentence.——And as to the crimes I am charged with,—I did keep presbyteries and synods with the rest of my brethren; but I do not judge those who do now sit in these to be my brethren, who have made defection from the truth and cause of God; nor do I judge those to be free and lawful courts of Christ, that are now sitting; and as to my peaceableness—I know I am bidden follow peace with all men, but I know also I am bidden follow it with holiness; and since I could not obtain peace without prejudice to holiness, I thought myself obliged to let it go.——And as for your commission, Sir, to intimate this sentence,—I here declare, I think myself called by the Lord to the work of the ministry, and did forsake the nearest relation in the world, and gave up myself to the service of the gospel in this place, having received an unanimous call from this parish, and was licenced and ordained by the presbytery; and I bless the Lord, he hath given me some success and seals of my ministry, upon the souls and consciences of not a few, who are gone to heaven, and of some who are yet in the way to it.——And now, Sir, if you will take it upon you to interrupt my work among this people, I shall wish the Lord may forgive you the guilt of it; I cannot but leave all the bad consequences that may fall out upon it betwixt God and your own consciences, and here I do further declare, before these gentlemen, that I am suspended from my ministry for adhering to the covenants and word of God, from which you and others have apostatized."
Here the curate interrupting him, said, The Lord had a work before that covenant had a being, and that he judged them apostates that adhered to that covenant, and he wished that the Lord would not only forgive him (meaning Mr. Guthrie) but if it were lawful to pray for the dead (at which expression the soldiers laughed) that the Lord might forgive the sin of this church these hundred years by-past. It is true, answered Mr. Guthrie, the Lord had a work before that covenant had a being, but it is as true, that it hath been more glorious since that covenant; and it is a small thing for us to be judged of you, in adhering to this covenant, who have so deeply corrupted your ways; and seem to reflect on the whole work of reformation from popery these hundred years bygone, by intimating that the church had need of pardon for the same.——As for you, gentlemen (added he, to the soldiers), I wish the Lord may pardon your countenancing this man in his business. One of them scoffingly replied, I wish we never do a greater fault. Well, said Mr. Guthrie, a little sin may damn a man's soul.
After all this and more had passed, Mr. Guthrie called for a glass of ale, and, craving a blessing himself, drank to the commander of the soldiers. After they were by him civilly entertained, they left the house. At parting with the curate, Mr. Guthrie signified so much to him, that he apprehended some evident mark of the Lord's displeasure was abiding him, for what he was a-doing; and seriously warned him to prepare for some stroke coming upon him, and that very soon.
When the curate left the manse, he went to the church with the soldiers his guard (now his hearers) and preached to them not a quarter of an hour, and intimated to them from the pulpit the bishop's sentence against Mr. Guthrie. Nobody came to hear him but his party, and a few children, who created him some disturbance, till they were chased away by the soldiers[139]. Indeed his people were ready to have sacrificed their all, and resisted even unto blood, in his defence and the gospel, had they been permitted by him.
As for the curate, (says Mr. Wodrow) I am well assured he never preached any more after he left Fenwick; he reached Glasgow, but it is not certain if he reached Calder (though but four miles from Glasgow): However, in a few days he died, in great torment of an iliac passion, and his wife and children died all in a year or thereby, and none belonging to him were left.——His reward of five pounds was dear bought; it was the price of blood, the blood of souls. Neither he, nor his had any satisfaction in it. Such a dangerous thing it is to meddle with Christ's servants.
After this Mr. Guthrie continued in Fenwick until the year 1665. The brother, to whom his paternal estate was made over, dying in summer, Mr. Guthrie's presence at home was the more necessary, for ordering of his private affairs; which made him and his wife make a journey to Angus about the same time. He had not been long in that country until he was seized with a complication of distempers; the gravel, with which he had been formerly troubled; the gout; a violent heart-burning; and an ulcer in his kidneys: All which attacked him with great fury. And being thus tormented with violent pain, his friends were sometimes obliged to hold down his head and up his feet; and yet he would say, The Lord hath been kind to him, for all the ills he had done; and at the same time said, "Though I should die mad, yet I know I shall die in the Lord.—Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord at all times, but more especially when a flood of errors, snares and judgments are beginning, or coming on a nation, church or people."