, he would
probably first consult whether he was likely to be useful to the parish he
should be called to; and if there appeared a fair prospect of his proving so,
his friend must be aware, that in every other point of view, it would be highly
advantageous for him.«
    »Right, Reuben, very right, lad,« answered the monitor, »your ain conscience
is the first thing to be satisfied - for how sall he teach others that has
himsell sae ill learned the Scriptures, as to grip for the lucre of foul earthly
preferment, sic as gear and manse, money and victual, that which is not his in a
spiritual sense - or wha makes his kirk a stalking-horse, from behind which he
may tak aim at his stipend? But I look for better things of you - and specially
ye maun be minded not to act altogether on your ain judgment, for therethrough
comes sair mistakes, backslidings and defections, on the left and on the right.
If there were sic a day of trial put to you, Reuben, you, who are a young lad,
although it may be ye are gifted wi' the carnal tongues, and those whilk were
spoken at Rome, whilk is now the seat of the scarlet abomination, and by the
Greeks, to whom the Gospel was as foolishness, yet nae-the-less ye may be
entreated by your weel-wisher to take the counsel of those prudent and resolved
and weather-withstanding professors, wha hae kend what it was to lurk on banks
and in mosses, in bogs and in caverns, and to risk the peril of the head rather
than renounce the honesty of the heart.«
    Butler replied, »That certainly, possessing such a friend as he hoped and
trusted he had in the goodman himself, who had seen so many changes in the
preceding century, he should be much to blame if he did not avail himself of his
experience and friendly counsel.«
    »Eneugh said - eneugh said, Reuben,« said David Deans, with internal
exultation; »and say that ye were in the predicament whereof I hae spoken, of a
surety I would deem it my duty to gang to the root o' the matter, and lay bare
to you the ulcers and imposthumes, and the sores and the leprosies, of this our
time, crying aloud and sparing not.«
    David Deans was now in his element. He commenced his examination of the
doctrines and belief of the Christian Church with the very Culdees, from whom he
passed to John Knox, - from John Knox to