319
reformation in Great Britain and Ireland. This
testimony occupies ten octavo pages, and is remark-
ably clear and particular. Of his last moments we
can afford space only for a very brief account. He
seemed to enjoy a singular rapture and elevation of
spirit. "I shall shine," he said; "I shall see him
as he his: I shall see him reign, and all his fair com-
pany with him, and I shall have my share. Mine
eyes shall see my Redeemer; these very eyes of mine,
and none for me. I disclaim," he remarked at the
same time, "all that ever God made me will or do,
and I look upon it as denied or imperfect, as coming
from me. But Christ is to me wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption." Of the schisms that
had rent the church, he remarked, "those whom ye
call protesters are the witnesses of Jesus Christ. I
hope never to depart from that cause, nor side with
those of the opposite party who have broken their
covenant oftener than once or twice. But I believe
the Lord will build Zion, and repair the waste places
of Jacob. Oh to obtain mercy to wrestle with God
for their salvation!" To his only surviving child (a
daughter) he said, "I have left you upon the Lord;
it may be you will tell this to others, that the lines
are fallen to me in pleasant places. I have got a
goodly heritage. I bless the Lord that he gave me
counsel." His last words were, " Glory, glory dwell-
eth in Immanuel's land;" and he expired on the
morning of the 2Oth of March, 1661, in the sixty-first
year of his age.
Mr Rutherford was unquestionably one of the most
able, learned, and consistent Presbyterians of his age;
while in his Familiar Letters, published posthum-
ously, he evinces a fervour of feeling and fancy, that,
in other circumstances, and otherwise exerted, would
have ranked him among the most successful culti-
vators of literature. Wodrow has observed, that
those who knew him best were at a loss which to
admire, his sublime genius in the school, or his fami-
liar condescensions in the pulpit, where he was one
of the most moving and affectionate preachers in his
time, or perhaps in any age of the church.
RYMER, THOMAS, ofErcildon, commonly called
Thomas the Rhymer, and otherwise styled Thomas
Learmont, was a distinguished person of the thir-
teenth century. So little is known respecting him,
that even his name has become a matter of contro-
versy. How the name of LEARMONT came to be
given him is not known; but in none of the early
authorities do we find it; and although it has long
been received as the bard's patronymic, it is now, by
inquiring antiquaries, considered a misnomer. In a
charter granted by his son and heir to the convent
of Soltra, he is called Thomas Rymer de Erceldun.
Robert de Brunne, Fordun, Barbour, and Winton
call him simply Thomas of Erceldoun; while Henry
the Minstrel calls him Thomas Rymer.
Erceldoune, or, according to the modern corruption,
Earlstown, is a small village on the right bank of
the Leader water, in Berwickshire. At the western
extremity of this village stand, after a lapse of seven
centuries, the ruins of the house which Thomas in-
habited, called Rhymer's Tower; and in the front
wall of the village church there is a stone with this
inscription on it:—
"Auld_Rymer's race
Lies in this place."
The poet must have lived during nearly the whole
of the thirteenth century. His romance of Sir Tris-
tram is quoted by Gottfried of Strasburg, who flour-
ished about 1230; and it is known he was alive, and
in the zenith of his prophetic reputation, in 1286, at
the death of Alexander III. He must have been
dead, however, before 1299, as that is the date of
the charter, in which his son calls himself  filius el
hceres Thomce Rymour de Erceldon. Henry the Min-
strel makes him take a part in the adventures of
Wallace, in 1296; so, if this authority is to be cre-
dited, he must have died between that year and 1299.
To this day the name of Thomas the Rhymer is
popularly known in Scotland as a prophet; and it
is only by a late discovery of the MS. of a metrical
romance called Sir Tristram that he has acquired a
less exceptionable claim to remembrance. The Pro-
phecies of Thomas the Rhymer were published, in
Latin and English, at Edinburgh, in 1015, and have
been repeatedly reprinted, copies of them being still
to be found among the country people of Scotland.
He is mentioned in his prophetic capacity by many
of our early writers. Among the most noted of his
predictions is the following, regarding the death of
Alexander III., which is thus narrated by Boece, as
translated by Ballenden:—"It is said, the day afore
the kingis dethe, the erle of Marche demandit ane
prophet namit Thomas Rhymour, otherwayis namit
Ersiltoun, quhat wedder suld be on the morow. To
quhome answerit this Thomas, that on the morow
afore none, sall blow the gretist wynd that ever was
hard afore in Scotland. On the morow, quhen it
was neir noon the lift appering loane, but ony din or
tempest, the erle send for this propheit, and reprevit
hym that he prognosticat sic wynd to be, and nae
apperance thairof. This Thomas maid litel answer,
bot said, noun is not yet gane. And incontinent ane
man came to the yet, schawing the king was slain.
Than said the prophet, yone is the wynd that sail
blaw to the gret calamity and truble of all Scotland.
Thomas wes ane man of gret admiration to the peple,
and schaw sundry thingis as thay fell." The common-
sense translation of this story is, that Thomas pre-
saged to the Earl of March that the next day would
be windy; the weather proved calm; but news arrived
of the death of Alexander III., which gave an alle-
gorical turn to the prediction, and saved the credit
of the prophet.
Barbour, Winton, Henry the Minstrel, and others,
all refer to the prophetic character of Thomas. In
Barbour's Bruce, written about 1370, the Bishop of
St Andrews is introduced as saying, after Bruce had
slain the Red Cumin:—
" I hop Thomas' prophecy
Off Hersildowne, werefyd be
In him; for swa our Lord halp me,
I haiff gret hop he schall be King,
And haiff this land all in lading.
—Bruce, ii. 86.
Wintoun's words are these:—
" Of this sycht quhilum spak Thomas
Of Erceldoune, that sayd in derne,
Thare suld meet stalwarty, stark, and Sterne.
He sayd it in his prophecie,
But how he wist, it was ferly."
Henry the Minstrel represents him as saying, on
being falsely told that Wallace was dead:—
"Forsuth, or he decess,
Mony thousand on feild sail mak thar end.
And Scotland thriss he sail bring to the pess;
So gud of hand agayne sail nevir be kend."
—Wallace, b. ii. ch. 3.
How far Rymer himself made pretensions to the
character of a prophet, and how far the reputation
has been conferred upon him by the people in his
own time and since, it is impossible to determine.
It is certain, however, that in almost every subse-
quent age metrical productions came under public
notice, and were attributed to him, though, it might
be supposed, they were in general the mere coin of
contemporary wits applied to passing events. There
are nevertheless a considerable number of rhymes