betraying life came back to his death-bed with a sharper sting in them
than even his grossest sins. Whoredom and wine after all are but the
lusts of a man, whereas time-serving and truth-selling are the lusts of a
devil. 'Dig deeper,' said Rutherford to the dying courtier, and Kenmure
did dig deeper, till he came down to the seals and the titles and the
ribbons for which he had sold his soul. But he that confesses and
forsakes his sins even at the eleventh hour shall always find mercy, and
so it was with Lord Kenmure.

'Between the stirrup and the ground
Mercy I sought and mercy found.'

We do not grudge Viscount Kenmure all the grace he got from God; we shall
need as much grace and more ourselves; but we do somewhat grudge such a
man a place of honour among the Scots worthies. We are tempted to throw
down the book and to demand what right John Gordon has to stand beside
such men as Patrick Hamilton, and John Knox, and John Wishart, and
Archibald Campbell, and Hugh M'Kail, and Richard Cameron, and Alexander
Shields? But Lochgoin answers us that God sometimes accepts the late
will for the whole timeous deed, and the bravery and loyalty of the wife
for the meanness and poltroonery of the husband. 'Have you a present
sense of God's love?' 'I have, I have,' said the dying Viscount. As
Rutherford continued in prayer, Kenmure was observed to smile and look
upwards. About sunset Lord Kenmure died, at the same instant that
Rutherford said Amen to his prayer. _The Last and Heavenly Speeches_ is
a rare pamphlet that will well repay its price to him who will seek it
out and read it.

This was the correspondent, then, to whom Samuel Rutherford wrote such
counsels and encouragements as these: 'Therefore, madam, herein have