Accordingly I went down to him,
&and when we were retired toge-
ther into a Room by our selvesourselves,
with Eyes full of Tears, he relat-
ed to me the Conference he had
just then had with this Minister
(whose Name, I think, is Porting-
ton) complaining very patheti-
cally of his cruel &and unchristian
Treatment.

“Being born &and brought up (said he)
“a Presbyterian, I was recommend-
“ed to this Man by my Friends
“for his Assistance, in Order to
“prepare my selfmyself the better for
“the great Change just now ap-
“proaching, and, having thereupon
“had the Help of his Prayers for
“two or three Times before, I ex-pected808(808)
“expected this Day to have had the
“Comfort of receiving the Sacrament
“from him, when, to my great Sur-
“prizeSurprise, instead of that, he set upon
“me with great Vehemence, charg-
“ing me with the most horrid Crimes
“of impiously embruing my Hands
“In Christian Blood, murdering his
“Majesty’s Subjects, &and of rebelling a-
“against the wisest, most just, most
“pious &and best of Kings in Favour
“of a popish Pretender, with a great
“deal more of such like unbecom-
“ing Rant; bidding me repent, &and ask
“God’s pardon for what I had done,
“otherwise he should not give me
“the Sacrament, nor have any Thinganything
“more to do with me.”

“And to prove this to him (says
“Mr Wood) I alleged that the Re-
“volution was both contrary to the
“Laws of our Church &and the State;
“&and I put him in Mind of the 23rd
“Article of the Westminster Con-
“fession, which Confession we hold,
“&and that tells us, that no Difference
“in Religion, no, not even Infidelity
“it selfitself in the Prince can absolve
“us from our allegiance to Him, nor 810 (810)
“nor take away his Right of Domini-
“on over us. — I desired him also
“at the same Time, to reflect what
“our poor Country had got by the
“Revolution, besides Beggary &and Sla-
“very, with almost the entire Loss
“of all Virtue &and good Principles.
"I bid him remember the Massacre
"of Glencoe, the Destruction of the
"Scots in Darien; the base &and scan-
"dalous Union, the Articles of which
"had constantly been violated, as
"often as ever it served the wick-
"ed Purposes of the Usurpers and
"their infamous Tools; &and particu-
"larly, on the present Occasion, with
"Regard to us, poor Prisoners, who
"are brought here out of our own
"Country, the ancient Kingdom, to
“be tried, condemned &and murdered by
"Strangers &and Foreigners, who most
“inhumanely thirst after our Blood.
"And, last of all, I added farther
"what I my selfmyself had been Witness
"to in the Murders &and Massacre in cool
"Blood after the Battle of Culloden,
"so barbarous &and unchristian, that I ve-
rily believe the like had never be-fore811(811)
“fore been heard of in any civiliz-
“ed, much less Christian, Country.
“But here (said he) the Minister
“bid me take Care what I said;
“for ^if I went on to talk at this
“Rate, I should not only endanger
“my own Safety, but perhaps that
“of my Fellow-prisoners also.
“But I answered, I could not help
“that; for I thought my selfmyself oblig-
“ed before God &and Man to declare
“the Truth; to which, I hoped, I
“should neither be ashamed nor
“afraid to bear Testimony to my
“latest Breath, whatever might
“be the Event.

“When I had said this, the Mini-
“ster got up, &and went away with-
“out making me one Word of An-
“swer.

Poor Captain wood (Captain I call
him, because he told me he had
a Captain’s Commission in his Pock-
et) having ended his Account of
this extraordinary Interview with his
pretended Pastor, who had now
most uncharitably forsaken &and left him 812 (812)
him destitute of all the spiritual
Assistance he had depended on re-
ceiving from him, appeared to me
(&and which was indeed really the
Case) as a Person in the utmost Dis-
tress, quite bewildered, not know-
ing whither to turn, where to ap-
ply for Relief, or what Course to
take. Seeing this, I confess, I was
greatly moved, &and felt for him very
much: I bid him, however, take Heart,
&and be of good Comfort; for I trusted,
there was still Mercy reserved in
Store for him, &and a Passage yet o-
pen for his entering into the Joy of
his Lord; &and that too even by Means
of this very Incident, how grievous
&and discouraging soever it might be
to him for the present. And in my
Opinion (said I) Captain Wood, it
would be a Piece of the most gross
&and inexcusable Inattention in you not
to consider this Event as a signal
Instance of God's Goodness, &and also
as an farther Earnest of his farther
most gracious Intentions towards You 813 (813)
You, in putting You in a Way of
discovering, &and making Proof of,
the Want of Charity, &and the bad
Principles of the Sect you have
unhappily been brought up in; &and
by this Means to lead You to the
Truth, &and bring You to the Gates
of the true Church of Christ, qchwhich,
I trust, will speedily be opened
to You; in which Communion you
may indeed find true Comfort &and
Peace, for to Her &and Her only
do the Promises belong. And, for
this great Grace, in an especial
Manner, bestowed upon You, for
your steady Adherence to, &and the
honest &and noble Confession you
have just now been making of,
the Truth. And let us not cease
then to admire &and adore God’s
Wisdom, &and Mercy, &and Goodness here-
in, who, out of the painful &and griev-
ous Disappointment occasioned
by the Minister’s uncharitable Be-
haviour towards you, is, I trust
bringing You by sure Steps to ever-lasting814(814)
lasting Peace &and Comfort.

You tell me, Mr Wood, you expect-
ed this Minister should have given
You the Sacrament this Morning:
But, pray, did you ever ask, or exa-
mine, by what Authority he, or nay
one of his Brethren, does take upon
him to administer this most holy
Ordinance? Is he called of God
or was Aaron? No surely; he has no
lawful Commission for the valid &and
effectual Administration of Gos-
pel-Ordinances: ‘Tis all sacri-
legious Presumption, &and Nothing less
than the Sin of Core. Hence I
took Occasion to speak to him of
the Nature of Christ’s Kingdom
here upon Earth, of the Powers
given by Him to his Apostles, &and
by them to their Successors, the
Bishops, &and so handed down regu-
larly, without Opposition or Contra-
diction, from Age to Age, through a
continued Series of 1500 Years and
upwards, till the Time of John Cal-
vin, the false Apostle of your Kirk.
To all this he listened very patiently,
&and only once said, “Are not the secret in-ternal815(815)
“ternal Call, and the external Qua-
“lifications of a Minister, a suffi-
“cient Authority?”— By no means,
said I; for to these might any
Man pretend, &and hence Nothing
but Confusion &and Disorder would
ensue.

Having now pretty well satisfied
Mr Wood of the absolute Necessity
of a lawful Commission for the
valid Administration of Gospel-Or-
dinances, &and that the pretended
Church, or Communion, he had
been brought up in had no Man-
ner of Title or Shadow of Au-
thority, the Episcopal Church of Scot-
land, &and her Sister, the Church of
England, were fully invested
with all competent Power &and
Authority, derived by an uninter-
rupted Succession from Christ,
the Head, &and his Apostles; I then
proceeded to speak of Baptism,
which, from what had been al-
ready said, he saw plainly, could only 816 (816)
only be validly &and savingly administredadministered
by the lawfully commissioned Officers
of Jesus Christ the Church of Christ.
I turned then to the Office it selfitself,
as it stands in our Liturgy, read
it with him, &and explained it, where,
I thought, he might be at a Loss;
with all which he seemed perfect-
ly well satisfied, earnestly de-
siring the Benefit of my Office
in that great &and Holy mystery, qchwhich
accordingly, in the Presence of pro-
per Witnesses, I most chearfullycheerfully
&and joyfully administredadministered to him;
giving withal most hearty Thanks
to Almighty God &and our Lord Je-
sus Christ, in that He had been
most graciously pleased to make
me, though unworthy, yet, happily
the Instrument of bringing home
a poor, lost &and wandering Sheep to
Christ’s Fold. This done, we proceed-
ed immediately to the next Di-
vine Institution, and, after that,
perfected &and consummated all in
the truly Divine &and Heavenly Wor-
ship, the Christian Sacrifice; where-in817(817)
in we are in Mercy permitted
to plead before God, the Father
Almighty, the Benefits of the
great &and all-sufficient Atonement,
in shewingshowing the Lord’s Death till
He come.

To whom, with the Father &and
the Holy Spirit, the ever-blessed
&and adorable Trinity, for this &and
all other his unspeakable
Mercies, be all Glory, ^&and Honour,
&and Adoration by Angels, &and Men,
&and all rational Natures, now
&and to all Eternity. Amen, A-
men, Amen.