After he had given the clerk of Kirkudbright some suitable advice anent his Christian walk and particular calling, he caused him swear in the most solemn terms, that he should never consent to, but oppose the election of a corrupt minister and magistrate.--And to his coachman he said, You will go to any one who will give you the most hire, but do not so, go where you can get the best company; though you get less wages, yet you will get the more grace. Then he made him hold up his hand, and promise before God so to do.--And to two young serving-men, who came to him weeping to get his last blessing, he said, Content not yourselves with a superficial view of religion, blessing yourselves in the morning only for a fashion, yea though you would pray both morning and evening, yet that will not avail you, except likewise ye make your account every day. Oh! ye will find few to direct or counsel you; but I will tell you what to do, first pray to the Lord fervently to enlighten the eyes of your mind, then seek grace to rule your affections; you will find the good of this when you come to my situation. Then he took both their oaths to do so. He gave many powerful exhortations to several persons, and caused each man to hold up his hand and swear in his presence that by God's grace they should forbear their former sins and follow his counsel, &c. When giving a divine counsel to a friend, he rested in the midst of it, and looked up to heaven, and prayed for a loosened heart and tongue, to express the goodness of God to men, and thereafter went on in his counsel (not unlike Jacob, Gen. xlix. 18. who in the midst of a prophetical testament, rested a little and said, _I have waited for thy salvation._) He gave his lady divers times openly an honourable and ample testimony of holiness, goodness and respective kindness to him, and earnestly craved her forgiveness wherein he had offended her, and desired her to make the Lord her comforter, and said, He was but gone before, and it was but fifteen or sixteen years up or down[59].