A biographical address this morning pertains to a minister named Thomas Hogg of Kiltern. Kiltern is the name of the parish where he was minister. It would be closest to the town of Eventon in the north highlands of Scotland. One of the temptations that we face in our study of church history is to create a comfortable barrier, a comfortable barrier between ourselves and what we read. Thus, we have expressions like, that was then, but this is now. And we create this buffer, this space, this comfort zone, as it were, between ourselves and those who've gone before us. And without minimizing the historical context and the obvious differences that exist between eras of the past and today, differences like geographical location and language and social custom and so on, while not minimizing those differences, nevertheless, what we have in common outweighs these discrepancies. Even scripture teaches us this in the book of James, where we're told that even Elijah was a man of like passions to ourselves. After all, we share the same God. God does not change from country to country and from generation to generation. He is the same God and comes to us with the same glory. So we share the same God. We share the same Bible. The Bible is timeless. It's eternal truth from the mind of God himself. We share the same principles and practices to many of our forefathers. We also share the same kind of pressures. They come in a different package than they have in other times and places, but they're the same sorts of pressures from generation to generation. We also share the same spiritual obligations. and the same standards of holiness. So I say all of this to say that we need to close the gap in our minds. That temptation for us to somehow think that things are so different now than they have been needs to be set aside. Because after all, Christian biography is not for our entertainment, it is for our edification. It's not for our entertainment. Very interesting to sit and listen about, you know, a godly man or woman from the past, or to read about such things. But it's not given merely for our entertainment. So if our response in any of these biographical addresses, of which we've had many, many now, if our response is merely to say, wow, Isn't that fascinating? Isn't that inspiring? Isn't that interesting? If our response, if your response, is to say, wow, and to remain unchallenged and unchanged, then please be aware of the fact that you will be held accountable for the light that has been given to you and to me. The temptation takes various forms. One has aptly described the trend of chronological snobbery. We think because we have computers and airplanes that somehow we're superior to those of the past. And that, of course, is quickly dismissed upon any serious reading of the past. We see how they've excelled us in nearly, not every area, but in many, many areas that leave us astonished. You say, well, they had their issues. They had their blind spots. It's true. But we also have our blind spots. And if we only look at ourselves, and if we only read books from our own time, then the problem is that we can't see our own blind spots. Yes, they had blind spots. But by reading in the history of the Church, we discover their blind spots were different than ours. And therefore, our blind spots are exposed. And we see ourselves even more clearly as a result. The fact is that despite our computers and airplanes, we live in an era of deep spiritual declension and decline. All is not well in Zion. We are living in what appears to be trends that look more akin to what led to the medieval ages, to the dark ages, than to times of greater blessing. In many ways we are abnormal. We think of what we see and know as being what is right and usual and supposed to be. When in fact we compare ourselves to the Bible and to the way in which that Bible has been applied and lived out in the past, we certainly discover that we are abnormal. We have departed, in fact, and lost and forsaken many of the godly attainments that God gave to our fathers. We are not where they were. We are not anywhere near exceeding them. We are, in fact, far behind them on many, many points of doctrine, worship, government, and Christian life. So I say all of that as a preface to put us in the right frame of mind. Spiritual biography is tremendous, very, very, very inspiring to us. but let us be sure that we are in dead earnest to seek to follow them as they followed the Lord Jesus Christ. So this morning we are focusing on Thomas Hogg of Kiltern, 1628-1692, a remarkable man in a heroic age. His life spanned much of the 17th century. He lived in Scotland. One of the greatest eras of the history of the church. as some would say, perhaps the greatest era of the history of the Church. It's the period that we call the Second Reformation, or the Post-Reformation era, in which our forefathers took all that God had given in that first generation, 16th century reformers, and sought to build upon it and to flesh it out, to work out the details into the life of the Church. And so the Lord raised up, especially in the middle of that century, a great constellation of vibrant, God-fearing, extremely gifted men. We have right in the middle there the Westminster Assembly, beginning in 1643, and if we're thinking especially of Hogg's contacts north of the border in Scotland, I mean, we could sit here for 10 minutes and list off the names which have continued to influence the history of the church. Obviously, Rutherford and Gillespie and people like Hugh Benning and Andrew Gray and David Dixon and on and on and on it goes. Or then the next generation who came in the Covenanting era, of which Thomas Hogg was one. People like Rennick and Cameron, who we heard about previously. Pedan and Cargyle and many, many others, John Brown of Wemfrey and so on. So there's this, the context is one that is itself heroic and remarkable. came on the heels of a significant season of revival. One of the things that marks Thomas Hogg out, he's in the younger generation, if you will, that extends into and through the covenanting period. But one of the things that marks him out is that he was a Highlander. Most of the Reformation, post-Reformation work was concentrated in the lowlands. And so all of the great names I've mentioned and dozens more were lowlanders. The gospel didn't really come with power to the highlands of Scotland until the 18th century and especially the 19th century. In the 19th century the highlands became a stronghold of reformed and biblical orthodoxy. But we're talking about the 17th century. when the highlands were largely filled with either barbarians or papists or Roman Catholic stronghold during the Jacobean conflicts and so on and so it's he stands out in that sense he's born and ministered in the Highlands. Some of you will remember the biographical address of Gustavus Adolphus, and that one of the seeds of the gospel that came to the Highlands came via Sweden, or really the continent, where this Reformation king had recruited mercenaries from the Highlands to augment his armies as he went to wage war in what is now Germany and the surrounding areas in defense of the reformed religion over against Roman Catholicism. This is during the Thirty Years' War. And so many of those Highlanders came under the gospel in the army. and ended up being converted and going back. And there were seeds there. Another source of seeds for the gospel was Robert Bruce, the minister of Edinburgh at St. Giles. He's a kind of late Reformation figure, turn of the century figure, 16th, 17th century. He's best known for his book, his series of sermons on the sacraments, on the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, which is one of the top ten classics of Scottish Presbyterian literature, and it's still been in print in recent days. So he was actually exiled to the Highlands for a time because of his faithfulness, and the gospel took root through his labors there as well. Thomas Hogg was born in a place called Tain, If you think of Inverness, which is kind of the capital of the highlands, you go pretty much straight north, a little bit east, and you have this town of Tain. That's where Hogg was born. It's east Rossshire. And he ended up growing up there in a decent family. He went off to study at the University of Aberdeen in the east coast of Scotland and excelled in his studies, showed himself diligent and also manifest a measure of genius in his gifts and abilities. He secured for himself a Master's of Arts there. Remember that university education then would have been equivalent to more than a PhD today, right? So their high school education would have been comparable in many ways to a college education today. To get into the university, there were very stringent requirements with regards to their previous studies and preparation. And I've spoken about that in some of the past addresses here at the picnic. During that period, we have a few accounts given to us of his time in Aberdeen while he was studying there. He ended up taking a trip down to the mouth of the Dee with the merchant of Aberdeen. And on the way back, there were two burgesses that were traveling with him as well. And they ended up going into an inn to get some refreshment and food and beverage. And they were drinking for a little while and when Hogg felt like the limit had been reached and it was time to go, he tried to go. These two burgesses decided they wanted him to stay and they tried to secure him. Physically, Hogg was six foot tall, he'd been fairly tall for that era of stout built, and so he was able to actually defend himself and to break loose from their grip, and he went home, went to bed. And he lay in bed, uneasy, until one o'clock in the morning. One o'clock in the morning, he had a sense of rest and ended up falling asleep. and getting a good night's rest. He woke up the next day and went to classes. And as he came to the university, some of his friends came running, and they're crying and weeping. And they began to explain to him that after he had left the inn, these two burgesses had fell into a conflict, which resulted in an actual combat, fighting with one another. And one of the burgesses had actually killed the other. And when Hogg asked at what time that took place, they said it was about one o'clock in the morning. And so he had escaped this terrible incident and was restless in his heart until about the time that the event ended up happening. The 1630s were a time of change in Scotland. This is all leading up to the National Covenant in 1638. You have the revival that I've described, I think, in a sermon at the Kirk of Shots in 1630. There was a great movement of God. Many, many people converted and sound biblical religion being recovered. Those attainments were secured by the National Covenant in 1638. And it was during this season, when the Lord is at work, powerful preaching that's going on, many people being converted, that Hogg himself was brought under the influence of the gospel. He describes it, and he went through a season, first of all, of deep law work. So he was under severe conviction of sin, the ministry of the Holy Spirit, bringing him to see his need for a Savior, and it was quite acute. He was, at the time, chaplain to the Earl of Sutherland. And it was so bad, and he was under such a dark temper in this season, that he was sitting one day at his desk, and the devil came to attack him. And he was given this very sudden, out of the middle of nowhere it seemed, temptation to take his own life. and in despair, and he recognized it for what it was and resisted it firmly. He picked up the penknife that was on his desk, went to the window, and threw it out the window. It was shortly after that that the Countess, who was gracious and familiar at the table but wasn't in the habit of actually close, you know, contact with him. He came to his door and took him out to get some summer fruit and could sense that there was this work that was going on in his soul and ended up proving to be an encouragement and help to him. In time, he was brought to Christ and so the gospel was brought home with power to him. He saw the glory of the crucified Christ and his willingness and ability to save him, and he was soundly and sincerely converted by that gospel. He had a friend whose name was Monroe that he had had contact with before. But as a result of this conversion, many changes took place in his life, including changes in his friendship. His friend Monroe was given to kind of idle, fruitless, worldly conversation, and would idle away his time with this sort of thing. As he had contact with Hogg, on the heels of his conversion, he was convicted and struck by this change in him. Actually, Hogg had occasion to reprove him and to point him in the direction of the Savior. He ended up himself being converted. It's an interesting story because this friendship was established in these early days when When Hogg eventually went to Kiltern and became the minister there, one day there's a knock on the door and he opens the door and there's his friend whom he hadn't seen for some time. And his friend said to him that he was nearing death. that he had a sense that he was going to be dying and that he wanted to die in the company and bosom of one to whom he owed so much spiritually. Hog looked at him, he's in perfect health, no signs of any problems, and tried to dissuade him of this thought. Nevertheless, he took him in. Within a few days, he fell into a deep sickness, a fever. And Hogg was given the privilege in many ways of caring for him during this season of sickness, nursing him day by day by day. And the men did indeed eventually die there in the manse in Kiltern. And so you see these connections, the seeds sown early and then the fruitfulness that continues to be born later. Hogg was ordained in 1654 or 1655, around there. He had many calls, but took the call to Kiltern near Evington, Scotland. He came to a people that were pretty ignorant. They had been without any formal ministry for some time and so Hogg was busy distributing books and catechisms and going house to house to instruct them as well as in his labors and so you think of For example, the model that's given of Baxter, it's mirrored in many ways in Hogg's labor among the population of the people there. There were many, many people converted under his preaching, people like John Monroe and Angus McBean and John Wellwood and other names that will be familiar to those who've studied history. One example is Monroe of Montmlair. He was a heritor, so a man of position and of power. And he took great offense at the denunciations that Hogg brought to bear upon the sins of the population and actually tried to pursue Hogg and to get the leadership within the community to silence him. He was aggravated by the preaching that he was hearing. And yet he was one who the Lord was actually striving with, this reaction came from the prick of conscience that ended up giving way to saving faith and repentance in him. He ended up becoming a dear friend of Hogg throughout the remainder of his days and a helper to him throughout his many, many seasons of persecution and suffering. There's a list of remarkable answers to prayer with hog. Man of great prayer will come back to this. And I'm not going to take time to give them, but there are lists of instances where those who were sick or other extenuating circumstances, hog would set aside a day for prayer, fasting, sometimes call upon other ministers to join him. And there were records of the Lord blessing that labor to the good of many people. There's another instance of a conflict in his. In his parish where I was minister there, there was a man of some standing who had, one who had died in his house, and he was insistent on burying this individual inside the church. Well, the General Assembly had, in its legislation, forbidden this as superstitious, something that should be discontinued, the acts of the Assembly. And of course, Hogg stood very firmly in defense of those acts. Nevertheless, the people were persuaded, because of the man's influence, that this would be done, and so they began to take the body to the church. Hog went to the church, stood in the door, filling it with his six-foot figure, and physically withstood them, and said, you're not coming in. And when they volunteered that they would overpower him, he assured them that if they attempted, they would lose. And in the end, they are turned back and he was able to keep these principles. In the course of that, he declared before the people in the pulpit door, that with regards to this man, that either repentance would follow these actions or soon judgment would fall. Within a few months, the man was assaulted by a villain and stabbed in the stomach and his bowels came out and he died a gruesome death in that place. There's another instance like this where he was preaching and there was a person in the congregation who laughed at the rebukes that he was giving. He continued preaching. Second time he was scoffing at what the minister was saying. Third time he scoffed again and Hogg stopped and and proclaimed there was one that was, didn't identify him, but said there's one in the congregation scoffing at the Word of God. What does the Word of God teach us about such things? And he declared from the scriptures the judgments that come to such people. The man, again, died shortly thereafter. Some of you will be familiar with the division that took place within the Church of Scotland in the 1650s. This is one of the most gruesome, unseemly divisions within the history of the Church. It's often passed by the historians, passed over with hushed silence. It was the debate between the protesters and the resolutioners. So you have the Covenanters, Scottish Presbyterians as a whole. There was a division, and that would take more time than to spell out. Hogg sided with the protesters who were the more conservative, who were unwilling to yield in terms of compromise with the king and some of the demands that were being placed upon the ministers with regards to prelacy. So that resulted in 1662, him being deposed from the ministry along with a whole host of other faithful Scottish ministers. He was a protester and he was vehemently opposed to prelacy. And so he was booted from his pulpit. In his farewell sermon, he called the stones inside the church to witness against the congregation if they departed from the truths that they had received. Though he was a protester, and thus a man of firm conviction, The protesters were often maligned as kind of scrupulous, unyielding, bigoted people. Nevertheless, that was a false accusation, but they were accused of it nonetheless, he was of a gracious temperament. There was a division even among the protesters because some would have no fellowship with those who sided with the resolutioners. And while Hogg maintained his principles and would not compromise at all, he was... He was not overly harsh with the indulged ministers, so the ministers who had accepted the indulgence that was offered from the king in order to preach in their pulpits. So this was a point of compromise, things that they would submit to, that the word of God and the principles of the church had forbidden. He nevertheless dealt charitably with these erring brethren. During this season, he went through extraordinary times of suffering. So he was not allowed to preach, told that he wasn't allowed to preach by the government. And the people of God were not allowed to assemble to hear him preach. Well, the people, of course, obeyed the Lord and not men. They weren't going to cease and desist from what God required of them. They defied the king. And they would meet in secret in the moors. out in the hills and so on, in what they called conventicles. These would be secret gatherings where the faithful band would come together and ministers would come out of hiding and preach and minister the sacraments and so on and so forth. Well, he was caught, as many were, engaging in conventicles and he was imprisoned, first of all, in 1668 in Fours. But then again, after being released in 1676, he was imprisoned in Edinburgh, and when he was tried, he was sentenced to the Bass Rock. So this is something you should be familiar with if you studied this era of history. The Bass Rock is kind of the dreaded notorious, worst of the worst of the worst places to be sent. In 1671, it was purchased by the government as a prison. So it's basically this little island, and you can find pictures on the internet. It's just rock, sheer chunk of rock, rising out of the sea. It's on the outer section of the Firth of Forth. If you go just north of Edinburgh, the Firth of Forth comes all the way in, kind of north of Edinburgh, and then it opens to the sea in the east. So if you go east along the coastline, it sits off the coastline in the Firth of Forth. 400 feet tall, seven acres, about a mile around this big rock, this dismal, dreary prison. There are other men that you'll know of, Peden, Livingston, Fraser, Blackadder, who were also sent to the Bass Rock. They basically carved out of this a prison and created dungeons and and so on. Those who went, of the many who were sent there, a great percentage of them died under the privation and extreme circumstances. The others who didn't die suffered crippled health that usually went with them throughout the rest of their lives. So here is Hogg. He's sent to the Bass Rock. He becomes sick, of course, terribly sick. And a physician comes, analyzes him, and is alarmed at the condition. And so he goes and pleads with the council that he be released from the brass rock. He says this is a death sentence. He's absolutely fallen to pieces. He has to be given a release here. Some of the lords actually were in support of this. And so they were favorable toward releasing him. And they said, for example, Hogg isn't like a lot of the other covenantaries. He's not going all over the fields and all over the country, creating problems. He, you know, he stays pretty much in his own place and so on. However, on that council was Archbishop James Sharpe. So many of you have heard this name, you should know this name. Every Scottish Presbyterian should know the name James Sharpe. James Sharpe was the Judas of the Covenant. He was early on one of the Covenanters, incredibly gifted. individual trusted by the godly, and in fact they trusted him so much that he was one of the representatives sent to the king to negotiate with the king the terms for the Presbyterians north of the border. Well, little did they know at the time that he would actually betray them, and he, like Judas, had more love for money than he did the things of God. And he cut a deal with the king and ended up siding with the king. He was given an archbishopric in St. Andrews and given tremendous property and wealth and power and position. He ended up becoming one of the most fierce, dogged, tyrannical persecutors of his brethren. And this is often the case. Those who apostatize end up becoming the most ferocious persecutors of the godly. And it was so with James Sharpe. He was bloodthirsty and was the cause of a great deal of suffering to women and children as well as to faithful ministers. On par with Graham of Claverhouse. So he's on this council as well, and he listens to all that they say, and he rises up and says, you know, Hogg can do more damage from his armchair than other ministers that are traipsing up and down the country. And he said, no, this is God going to kill one of these, you know, evil men. And so James Sharp insisted, instead of him being released, that he should be put in the lowest and the most dank and desperate dungeon on the Bass Rock. It was seconded by one of the prelates, and it passed, and he was sentenced to be taken further down into the worst part of the Bass Rock. His servant, who was with him at that time, went weeping, and told him that for sure it was his death sentence. When he first, Hogg first got it, he said if this had come from Satan himself, it couldn't have been dripping with more evil. But when his servant said to Hogg, this is your death sentence, he said, no, I have a sense that in fact I'm going to date my recovery from the time that they take me down into that dungeon. And that, in fact, ended up proving to be the case. He was taken down in the dungeon remarkably. Obviously, God's gracious hand, his health turned and ended up being restored to some measure of strength before his release. He ended up spending 30 months on the Bass Rock. You think to yourself, what was Hogg's response to all of this, to Jane Sharp? There was never, ever any hint of bitterness. He didn't have vitriol in his reaction. In fact, whenever James Sharp's name would come up in conversation, he would say, and it was heard many times, commend him to me for a good physician. So he would always have this kind of tongue-in-cheek, playful remark. He was the best physician I ever had. It was his sentence that led to my recovery. No hint of bitterness there. He was released, but then again, 1679. Put in prison again, released again, 1683. Finally, the king decided that he needed to be banished, as were many of the covenanters sent into exile. So he went to London. Interestingly, he actually had intention of going from London to South Carolina. And historians are at a loss to know exactly what he was thinking. There were some who immigrated to the coast of South Carolina, some were actually sent here as slaves. white slaves to South Carolina as well, but he had this idea of going to South Carolina. While he was in London, he ended up being without money, and so in the desperate circumstance of knowing what's he going to do, he only had a certain number of days to get out of the country, he decided to devote a day to prayer and fasting. He told his servant, don't allow anybody to interrupt me, I'm going to be shut away in my closet today. Seek the Lord for help. Well, a gentleman appeared at the door and the servant told him, listen, the master is preoccupied and he's not able to receive anyone at this time. Gentleman insisted, and the servant noting he's a man of standing, he went to Hogg and interrupted him and said, there's this man here. So Hogg received him. The man came in and commended him for the godly stand that he had been taking, and for his willingness to bear Christ's cross, and placed into his hand some paper, which by the weight, Hogg could perceive, contained some money. And so he asked the man for his name, and the man said, no, I'm not going to give you my name. I'm merely a servant sent by your master to convey to you some help as you labor in Christ's name. And he said, well, I'm not, you know, I just, I want your name because I'm anticipating that if I come back, I'd like to come visit you and see you and so on. And the man said, no more questions. No more questions. And he turned around and left. So Hogg never knew who the person was. They opened it up and it was five pounds sterling, which was a significant sum of money. He ended up being sent to Holland. This is now close to 1684, 1685. He's sent to Holland, the Netherlands. There were many godly covenanting ministers sent there. So Robert McWard, who was kind of the assistant to to Rutherford at Westminster and who ended up writing prefaces and seeing published a number of works. He was there. John Brown of Wemphrey, some of whose books are still in print today, he spent a long period of time in the Netherlands. Fleming, I mean there were people like Carstairs that ended up there for a little while, Livingston and others were exiled there. There was in the Netherlands The ecclesiastical climate was different. There was a greater measure of liberty that was given. And in fact, the Scottish Presbyterians were incorporated into the Dutch Synod in English-speaking congregations. And this is a story in and of itself, a very interesting story. But they were given certain allowances. So the English-speaking Scottish congregations of Rotterdam and some of these other places didn't have to participate in the feast days, the church law required it, didn't have to use instruments in worship and other allowances. So they were given freedom, they had a seat in the Synod, and were full participants with these exceptions given to them. in my address on Cameron, that he ended up going to the Netherlands, and it was while he was there that he was ordained by some of these men that I've just listed for you. I remember the story of them saying, when they placed their hands on his head, this head will be lost for the king's cause. Of course, he's killed on Ayres Mosque back in Scotland, beheaded, his head is put on the Netherboat port. So he's there in the Netherlands. While he's in the Netherlands, he makes acquaintance with the Prince of Orange. The Prince of Orange took a particular interest in Hogg, and a friendship developed there, which ended up proving interesting later. 1688, this is now near the close of the season of persecution. He returns to Scotland. And in 1691, he is called back to his original parish in Kiltern. However, he's only able to labor there a very short time. In fact, when the Prince of Orange comes as the liberator, Glorious Revolution, during that period, because of his interest and respect for Hogg, he actually petitions to have Hogg serve as his personal chaplain, one of his chaplains. The invitation's given, Hogg ends up dying before accepting the invitation. So at the end of his life, there's this difficult illness, It gets to the point where it's obvious that he's going to die, and he's telling his friends, you know, I have served the Lord in this vineyard a long time, don't pray for my recovery anymore. You know, it was severe, painful, protracted illness, and yet the scenes around his deathbed are filled with the savor of spiritual conversation. At one point, in between bouts of pain and inability to speak, he declares, the unchangeableness of my God is my rock. When he comes to the very end, his last words before he leaves this world, where now he has come, my Lord has come, praises, praises to him forever. He died on January 4th, 1692. Under his instructions, he was actually buried at the door of the church of Kiltern. So, the ruins are still there, and what I'm about to describe is still there. That piece, in fact, has put another plaque over it so that you can make sure you're able to read it well. So, there's no longer a worshiping church on that place. The church moved to Evington. The ruins are there, and there's a burial ground there. In fact, he attended a funeral of a free church elder who was buried in that place. But he's buried right at the church door, so they would have to walk past him as they went in the door, and he instructed that a plaque be attached to the wall of the church over which he was buried. And the stone, the plaque said this. This stone shall bear witness against the parishioners of Kiltern if they bring one godly minister in here. And so for generations, people would walk by with this declaration of a godly minister of the past, holding them, as it were, accountable. A handful of things that we can glean, I think, from Hogg's life. One is what it means to suffer for the Lord Jesus Christ. Suffering in the Old Testament and in the New Testament and in the history of the Church is not the exception, but the norm. Paul says to Timothy, all who are godly in Christ Jesus will suffer. Suffering is part of the training ground of the Christian. It is part of what it means to walk with the Lord. There are things you cannot understand about the Bible without affliction. And there are things you cannot see in the Lord Jesus Christ without fellowship with Him in His sufferings. And in Hogg we see this, really, a life given to suffering for Christ's cause. One of the things that he said about suffering, this is something easily remembered and I think worth memorizing, is this. Consolation pleaseth us, but submission pleaseth God. Consolation pleaseth us, but submission pleaseth God. In other words, the exercise of faith in the Christian, in the furnace of affliction, is manifest by our submission, our coming under, our yielding, our acquiescing to the wisdom of God and his dealings with us. He was also known, obviously, for his piety and prayer. He would set one day a month, disciplined, observed diligently, one day a month given to self-examination, and to seeking the Lord in prayer and fasting. He was notorious for following the biblical injunctions with regards to speech. So he was careful about what he said, that it would be seasoned with salt and edifying and good to the building up of the Lord's people. He engaged very much in conversation that left a mark on those who had contact with him. It's like Samuel, whose words did not fall to the ground. He's also known for his love for souls. He was a tremendous pastor, really a pastor's pastor. Catherine Collis was one of the members in his church, and her memoirs, the memoirs of Catherine Collis are remarkable in and of themselves in terms of spiritual biography. But we actually learn some things about Hogg from her. He developed very close relationships with his people and had affectionate bonds. They loved him, he loved them. And she gives us a lot of interesting insight into his pastoral work. He was known for his sage counsel, biblical wisdom, and pastoral skills. So people would come from near and far to bring their cases to him, maybe a person that's struggling on the way to conversion, it may be a Christian who's struggling with various facets of the Christian life, and they would come to get help from him. So Catherine Callas, Mistress Ross, tells us one of the quotes, I put this in the bulletin not too long ago, when he was speaking to her, about circumstances that she was facing, he said, quote, though thou shouldst kill me, speaking of the Lord, to the Lord, though thou shouldst kill me, I will trust in thee. If I had no way to come at Christ, but to run myself on a drawn sword, I would be at him. For I know if I might but get hold of him, there is virtue in him to make me live. Hogg's also known for being a man of principle, and yet principle that was coupled with humility and love. He was unyielding in the pressures that were placed within the church, to bend, as it were, and to yield the demands of God's Word. He was unyielding in the pressures that were placed upon him within the state by the king and so on, and yet he did not walk as a pompous, inflated, caustic individual. He carried himself with a spirit of humility. And though he walked in the light given him, he wasn't overly harsh on those who differed with him. And you see this in the love that he bore even toward his enemies, much less toward brethren whom he strongly disagreed with and would admonish and yet handle with courtesy and with esteem. Most of all, I think, we see in Hogg a man who lives for what counts. He lived for what lasts. So he didn't view life as... Life primarily exists for my enjoyment. Life primarily exists so that I can get all the fun I can, and I will reserve, you know, something for Christ as well. Christ is an appendage, and of course I have to give certain things to Him, but by and large, life is about me and my pursuits, my interests, my enjoyments, my attainments and success, and so on and so forth. Quite to the contrary. He saw that life existed for God's glory and that his life was to be devoted entirely to the service of Christ and that his interests and his desires and his comforts were rather not inconsequential. The Lord, of course, cares for His people, provides for His people, gives us blessings that we enjoy in our service of Him. But the Lord does not serve our end, but rather we serve His end. And so while He does bring many types of blessing into our life, they are fuel, as it were, for the main thing, which is the service of Christ, the pursuit of His kingdom, the cause of His glory. He saw that what counts and lasts is what endures into eternity. and not the trivial, fleeting, insignificant things that occupy the heart and mind of the world-ling. And so he was a man who lived for the glory of God, who was spending and being spent for Christ's cause. Well, in all of these addresses, many of you come up and say, where can I read more about this individual? I've done, what, 15, 16, maybe more of these now. So let me give you a couple pointers here. Probably the best are the memoirs of Thomas Hogg. These were edited by Alexander Stevenson. They haven't been published for a long time, but in the 19th century, the Free Church published a small volume. which contained memoirs of Hogg, and the memoirs of Mrs. Veitch, one of the leading Scottish Presbyterian ministers' wives, and Henry Erskine, and so on. That's probably the best, maybe on Google Books or something. You'll also find a treatment of him in the Scots Worthies, largely drawing on the portion that I, the memoirs that I just mentioned to you, they're not nearly as full, but there is a chapter in the Scots Worthies on him. There was also a book that's now very rare that was published at the end of the 19th century, a whole book on Thomas Hogg called The Banished Minister. And then, if you're really interested, I would commend to you the, which are not, again, not easy to come by, but the memoirs of Catherine Collis, Mistress Ross, who was one of the members of his congregation. And her life and spiritual walk is tremendous all by itself, but you also learn a lot about the personal things of Hogg's ministry as well. So Thomas Hogg, a worthy, an eminent saint of the Lord in the 17th century, and a model of one who is seeking, by God's grace, to walk with Christ and for Christ while God gave him breath.