Still, in those days of depravity and corruption, I had some of those principles implanted in my mind which were afterwards to spring up with such amazing fertility among the heroes of the faith and the promises. In particular, I felt great indignation against all the wicked of this world, and often wished for the means of ridding it of such a noxious burden. I liked John Barnet, my reverend father’s serving-man, extremely ill; but, from a supposition that he might be one of the justified, I refrained from doing him any injury. He gave always his word against me, and when we were by ourselves, in the barn or the fields, he rated me with such severity for my faults that my heart could brook it no longer. He discovered some notorious lies that I had framed, and taxed me with them in such a manner that I could in no wise get off. My cheek burnt, with offence, rather than shame; and he, thinking he had got the mastery of me, exulted over me most unmercifully, telling me I was a selfish and conceited blackguard, who made great pretences towards religious devotion to cloak a disposition tainted with deceit, and that it would not much astonish him if I brought myself to the gallows.
I gathered some courage from his over-severity, and answered him as follows: “Who made thee a judge of the actions or dispositions of the Almighty’s creatures—thou who art a worm and no man in his sight? How it befits thee to deal out judgments and anathemas! Hath he not made one vessel to honour, and another to dishonour, as in the case with myself and thee? Hath he not builded his stories in the heavens, and laid the foundations thereof in the earth, and how can a being like thee judge between good and evil, that are both subjected to the workings of his hand; or of the opposing principles in the soul of man, correcting, modifying, and refining one another?”
I said this with that strong display of fervour for which I was remarkable at my years, and expected old Barnet to be utterly confounded; but he only shook his head, and, with the most provoking grin, said: “There he goes! Sickan sublime and ridiculous sophistry I never heard come out of another mouth but ane. There needs nae aiths to be sworn afore the session wha is your father, young goodman. I ne’er, for my part, saw a son sac like a dad, sin’ my een first opened.” With that he went away, saying with an ill-natured wince: “You made to honour and me to dishonour! Dirty bow-kail thing that thou be’st!”
“I will have the old rascal on the hip for this, if I live,” thought I. So I went and asked my mother if John was a righteous man. She could not tell, but supposed he was, and therefore I got no encouragement from her. I went next to my reverend father, and inquired his opinion, expecting as little from that quarter. He knew the elect as it were by instinct, and could have told you of all those in his own, and some neighbouring parishes, who were born within the boundaries of the covenant of promise, and who were not.
“I keep a good deal in company with your servant, old Barnet, father,” said I.
“You do, boy, you do, I see,” said he.
“I wish I may not keep too much in his company,” said I, “not knowing what kind of society I am in. Is John a good man, father?”
“Why, boy, he is but so so. A morally good man John is, but very little of the leaven of true righteousness, which is faith, within. I am afraid old Barnet, with all his stock of morality, will be a castaway.”
My heart was greatly cheered by this remark; and I sighed very deeply, and hung my head to one side. The worthy father observed me, and inquired the cause, when I answered as follows: “How dreadful the thought, that I have been going daily in company and fellowship with one whose name is written on the red-letter side of the book of life; whose body and soul have been, from all eternity, consigned over to everlasting destruction, and to whom the blood of the atonement can never, never reach! Father, this is an awful thing, and beyond my comprehension.”
“While we are in the world, we must mix with the inhabitants thereof,” said he; “and the stains which adhere to us by reason of this mixture, which is unavoidable, shall all be washed away. It is our duty, however, to shun the society of wicked men as much as possible, lest we partake of their sins, and become sharers with them in punishment. John, however, is morally a good man, and may yet get a cast of grace.”
“I always thought him a good man till to-day,” said I, “when he threw out some reflections on your character, so horrible that I quake to think of the wickedness and malevolence of his heart. He was rating me very impertinently for some supposed fault, which had no being save in his own jealous brain, when I attempted to reason him out of his belief in the spirit of calm Christian argument. But how do you think he answered me? He did so, sir, by twisting his mouth at me, and remarking that such sublime and ridiculous sophistry never came out of another mouth but one (meaning yours) and that no oath before a kirk session was necessary to prove who was my dad, for that he had never seen a son so like a father as I was like mine.”
“He durst not for his soul’s salvation, and for his daily bread, which he values much more, say such a word, boy; therefore, take care what you assert,” said my reverend father.
“He said these very words, and will not deny them, sir,” said I.
My reverend father turned about in great wrath and indignation, and went away in search of John, but I kept out of the way, and listened at a back window; for John was dressing the plot of ground behind the house; and I hope it was no sin in me that I did rejoice in the dialogue which took place, it being the victory of righteousness over error.
“Well, John, this is a fine day for your delving work.”
“Ay, it’s a tolerable day, sir.”
“Are you thankful in heart, John, for such temporal mercies as these?”
“Aw doubt we’re a’ ower little thankfu’, sir, baith for temporal an’ speeritual mercies; but it isna aye the maist thankfu’ heart that maks the greatest fraze wi’ the tongue.”
“I hope there is nothing personal under that remark, John?”
“Gin the bannet fits ony body’s head, they’re unco welcome to it, sir, for me.”
“John, I do not approve of these innuendoes. You have an arch malicious manner of vending your aphorisms, which the men of the world are too apt to read the wrong way, for your dark hints are sure to have one very bad meaning.”
“Hout na, sir, it’s only bad folks that think sac. They find ma bits o’ gibes come hame to their hearts wi’ a kind o’ yerk, an’ that gars them wince.”
“That saying is ten times worse than the other, John; it is a manifest insult: it is just telling me to my face that you think me a bad man.”
“A body canna help his thoughts, sir.”
“No, but a man’s thoughts are generally formed from observation. Now I should like to know, even from the mouth of a misbeliever, what part of my conduct warrants such a conclusion.”
“Nae particular pairt, sir; I draw a’ my conclusions frae the haill o’ a man’s character, an’ I’m no that aften far wrong.”
“Well, John, and what sort of general character do you suppose mine to be?”
“Yours is a Scripture character, sir, an’ I’ll prove it.”
“I hope so, John. Well, which of the Scripture characters do you think approximates nearest to my own?”
“Guess, sir, guess; I wish to lead a proof.”
“Why, if it be an Old Testament character, I hope it is Melchizedek, for at all events you cannot deny there is one point of resemblance: I, like him, am a preacher of righteousness. If it be a New Testament character, I suppose you mean the Apostle of the Gentiles, of whom I am an unworthy representative.”
“Na, na, sir, better nor that still, an’ fer closer is the resemblance. When ye bring me to the point, I maun speak.