In the summer of the year 1679, in the 22nd year of her age, she was married to Mr. Alexander Campbell of Torich, a young gentleman descended like herself from the family of Calder, and a cousin of her own. In the prospect of entering into this new relation, her unwillingness to have the service performed by any of the Pilatic clergy occasioned her no small perplexity. it being a crime, as the law then stood, to employ for that purpose an unconforming ministers. Quote, this matter, unquote, says she, quote, which gave me much trouble before and was likely to give more, was then so presented to my view that it was a sharp trial to my faith, end of quote. The union, however, was performed by Mr. John Stewart, who at the restoration was minister of a parish in the Presbytery of Deer. in the Senate of Aberdeen, but who was ejected for non-conformity. This we learn from the examination of Mr. Stewart before the Committee of the Privy Council, which met at Elgin on the 2nd of February, 1685, when he, quote, deponed that he married out Alexander Campbell in Calder's Land with Lilius Dunbar, who had been the Lady Innes's servant long before the indemnity, end quote. This new relation proved to her the source of much domestic happiness. In Mr. Campbell, who was a man of genuine piety as well as an intelligent and warm friend of the Presbyterian interest, she found a husband whose character, tastes, and habits were congenial to her own, and she records twelve years after this that his, quote, tender affection and care of her in all her bodily distresses was one of the greatest mercies bestowed on her, end quote. The persecution which raged in the South of Scotland also embraced Mooratia. The non-conforming ministers there, like those in the South, were ejected from their charges, and some of them, as Mr. Thomas Hogg, Mr. John McGilligan, and Mr. Thomas Ross, were imprisoned both in the North and in the Baths. Several of the laity, too, were fined and imprisoned by the Sheriff of the Shire. It was not, however, till the year 1685 that Mrs. Campbell was subjected to trouble and accounted for Presbyterian principles. To put the laws against non-conformity into execution, the government had adopted the method of sending commissioners invested with ample powers to different parts of the country to hold courts for trying such as were guilty of church disorders. And about the close of the year 1684, It was resolved to adopt vigorous measures against the Presbyterians in the North. On the 30th of December that year, the Privy Council, in obedience to a letter received from His Majesty, appointed and commissioned the Earl of Errol, the Earl of Kentor, and Sir George Monroe to proceed to Moorishire, quote, to meet and hold courts, and in these courts to call and convene all parties guilty of conventicals, withdrawing from the public ordinances, disorderly baptisms or marriages, and such like disorders and irregularities, and to take their oath or examine witnesses against them, as they shall see cause, pronounce sentences, and cause the same to put to due execution by imprisonment or other legal diligence, either as to witnesses not comparing or comparing refusing to depone, or as to parties also refusing to depone when the verity of the libel is remitted to their oath conformed to the laws of this realm. The bounds included in their commission were betwixt Spey and Ness, including Strathspey and Abernethy, and their first meeting was to be at Elgin, January 22nd, 1685. Footnote. Warrants of Privy Council. On the 9th of January, 1685, their commission was extended to the shires of Inverness, Ross, Comarty, and Sutherland, the council having heard that there were several persons guilty of the like delinquencies in these shires. End footnote. To facilitate the proceedings of these commissioners, the council on the 8th of January 1685 wrote a letter to the Bishop of Moray recommending him to advertise all his ministers within the bounds specified to attend the commissioners on the above day, bringing with them their elders and lists of persons guilty of church disorders or suspected of disaffection to the present established government in church or state. And to afford all encouragement and protection to the commissioners, the council at the same meeting wrote a letter to Lord Downe, Sheriff of Moray, requiring and commanding him to convene all the heritors and freeholders in his shire and bounds foresaid. and his militia regiment to attend the commissioners until the end of their commission, and to receive and obey such orders as should be given them by the commissioners from time to time. As a further means of facilitating the proceedings of the commissioners, the Council obtained a list of between two and three hundred non-conformists in Moorishire and the adjacent districts, made up, it is probable, by the assistance of the established clergy who throughout the whole of Scotland were particularly zealous in furnishing the government with lists of persons who did not attend the parish churches. And on the 10th of January, 1685, the council ordered letters to be addressed to His Majesty's messengers at arms, and also to the sheriff in that part of the country, commanding them to summon, according to the legal forms, the persons named and creminated in the letters, to appear personally before the Lords Commissioners of the Privy Council and Judiciary, To meet at Elgin, quote, to answer the foresaid complaint and to give their oath of verity thereupon or such articles thereof as shall be by the said lords referred thereto with certification to them, if they refuse to be pwned as aforesaid, the said lords are to hold them as confessed and proceed to pronounce sentence against them for an arbitrary punishment as offers under the pain of rebellion in putting of them thereto simpliciter. End quote. In the list of those against whom these letters were raised were Mrs. Campbell, Mr. Campbell, and his mother, and they were duly summoned. On the 30th of January, two messengers-at-arms proceeded to the market cross of Nairn, the head of the shire in which Mrs. Campbell and many of the others whose names appear in the letters resided, and thereat, after three several oyes, open proclamation and public reading of the letters in time of public market, commanded and charged them in the name and by the authority of His Majesty to come here before the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Council and Judiciary at Eldon upon the 4th of February next to answer the said complaint. The charges brought against Mrs. Campbell and the other individuals against whom these letters were directed will be best learned from the letters themselves. Mr. Roderick McKenzie of Dalvinand, Advocate Substitute for His Majesty's Advocate, is the prosecutor. End footnote. They begin with affirming that, quote, by the laws and customs of all well-governed nations, laws and practices of this kingdom, and many clear and express acts of Parliament, the crimes of sedition, the enticing, persuading, instigating, or encouraging any persons to rebellion, the supplying and furnishing them with money or provisions for carrying on thereof, the giving them any help or counsel thereinent, the keeping of intelligence or correspondence with them, the concealing, resetting, harboring, supplying, conversing, intercommuning, or corresponding with, or doing favors to any traitors, rebels, fugitives, vagrant preachers, or intercommuned persons, the giving meat, drink, house, harbor, or relief, comfort, or counsel to them, the maintaining of the treasonable positions and principles of resisting, suspending, depriving, or deposing us from the exercise of our royal government, putting limitations on their due allegiance and obedience to us, the malicious speaking, advising, and writing, preaching, or expressing such treasonable intentions, the attempting or endeavoring any manner of way, the diversion or suspension of the right of succession to the imperial crown of this realm, or debarring the next lawful successor from the immediate actual and free administration of the government, the plotting and contriving against us and our government, the uttering of any slanderous or seditious speeches against us, our counsel, or proceedings, the stirring up of our people to sedition, rebellion, or dislike of our government, the leasing-making to, of, or betwixt us and our people, the concealing and not revealing of treason, and the hearing of seditious and treasonous speeches and proposals of contributing and collecting money for fourfold to traitors, rebels, or fugitives, and not discovering and giving notice of the same, are in themselves crimes of a very high and dangerous nature, and consequence punishable with the pains of death, forfeiture of life, lands, and goods. and by three several warrants under our royal hand, our advocate is allowed and authorized to pursue the four said treasonable crimes, or any one or other of them, in order to an arbitrary punishment before the Lords of our Privy Council, and to pursue the same to the Defender's Oath of Verity, and a refusing allegiance to us, the Native Sovereign. The owning or refusing to disown, disclaim, and renounce the treasonable combination against us and our authority, called the Solemn League and Covenant, so oft condemned by our laws and proclamations of our Council by which they put most undutiful and treasonable limitations upon the due allegiance which they owe to us, are crimes of a high nature and severely punishable. And by the laws and acts of Parliament of this Kingdom, the withdrawing, from their own parish curts being present at house or field conventicles, the baptizing and marrying irregularly are declared to be seditious and of dangerous consequence, and the not communicating once in the year and not taking the oath of allegiance, the suffering of conventicles in their house or lands are, by several acts of Parliament and Proclamation, severely punishable with the pains and penalties therein expressed. and the refusing to depone anent conventicles, persons present there, and circumstances done therein, or resetting or intercommuning with rebels or fugitives, are punishable with fining, close imprisonment, or banishment to the plantations." The letters next proceed to bring home the charges. Nevertheless, it is of verity that Mr. James Park, Mr. John Stewart, Mr. George Meldrum of Crombie, Mr. Alexander Dunbar, Mr. James Urquhart. They grant preachers. Janet Watson, spouse to Joan Barber. Elizabeth Weems, Lady Bray. Jean Campbell, good wife of Toritch. Edwin Campbell, lately in Calder Parish. Jean Thompson, his spouse. Alexander Campbell, lately there. Lilius Dunbar, his spouse. Jean Taylor, sometime servant to the good wife of Toritch. Footnote. There are between two and three hundred other names. End footnote. Being persons of seditious and pernicious principles, highly disaffected to us and our government, have most reasonably incited, persuaded, instigated, and encouraged several persons to go out to the late rebellion at Bothwell Bridge in June 1679 years. Did supply or promise to supply and furnish them with money, horse, arms, provisions for carrying on thereof. Kept intelligence and correspondence with them. Gave them help or counsel thereinent. Did most treasonably conceal, harbor, supply, converse, intercommune, and correspond with, give meat, drink, house, harbor, relief, comfort, and counsel, and do favors to note or open and manifest traitors, rebels, fugitives, four-faulted and intercommuned persons, seditious and vagrant preachers, or such who were actually in the late rebellion. and had been indicted, challenged, or pursued therefore, or holden, repute, and known to them to have been therein, particularly to Archibald, late Earl of Argyle, James Nimmo, Mr. Robert Martin, sometime clerk to the Justice Court, John Hay of Park, Mr. Alexander Fraser, Mr. Thomas Hogg, Mr. John McGillian, Mr. James Fraser of Bray, Mr. John Hepburn, Mr. William Mackay, Mr. Alexander Dunbar, Mr. James Urquhart, Mr. James Park, Mr. Thomas Ross, Mr. John Stewart, Mr. Duncan Forbes, Mr. William Ramsey, William Cranston, servant in gutters, or one or other of the four faulted or printed rebels and fugitives treated and consulted by word, writ, or message with them and the persons above named and others in both England, Holland, and this Kingdom, for carrying on the late horrid inexecrable plot against our sacred person, the person of our royal brother, and our government and authority, contributed or promised to contribute money and provisions for carrying on thereof, did here conceal and not reveal treasonable proposals, discourses, contributions offered and sought therein and or for them, and against us and our government. Have and do maintain these treasonable positions, that it is lawful for subjects to enter into leagues and covenants, and to take up arms against us and our authority, to suspend, deprive, and depose us from the style, honor, and kingly name of the imperial crown of this realm, and from the exercise of our royal government. Have and do put limitations upon their due obedience and allegiance to us, have maliciously spoken, written, or otherwise expressed these, their treasonable intentions, Have attempted and endeavored the suspension and the diversion of the right of succession, and debarring our lawful successor. Have plotted and contrived against us and our government. Have uttered slanderous and seditious speeches against us, our council, and proceedings. Have and do decline the judgment of us and our council. Have endeavored the innovation of our government. Have impugned or sought the diminution thereof. Have made and told leasings to, of, and betwixt us and our people. Have concealed and not revealed treason, seditious and treasonable speeches and proposals. Have withdrawn from and not kept and joined in the public ordinances and ordinary meetings of divine worship in these our parish churches. Have been present at house or field conventicles where several seditious preachers did take upon them to preach, pray and expound scripture. Have married and baptized disorderly. have not communicated once a year, have or do refuse and delay to depone anent conventicles, persons present thereat, things done therein, anent receipting and intercommuning with fugitives and rebels, have and do refuse to take the oath of allegiance required, and offer to swear and renew the covenant, or refuse to disclaim, disown, or renounce the same, have expressed words and sentences to stir up the people to a dislike of us, our prerogative and supremacy, and the government of church and state. And the said ministers did pray, preach, and the persons above named adhere to reasonable and seditious doctrine, and have suffered and heard conventicals in their houses and on their lands, whereby the said and other persons above complained upon have directly contravened the foresaid laws and acts of Parliament. have committed and are guilty of one or other of the crimes particularly above mentioned, and are art and part thereof, or accessory thereto." These are heavy accusations, but the most of them are wholly unfounded. The only points in which Mrs. Campbell, or indeed any of the non-conformists in the North, had violated the laws then existing, were their not attending the parish kirk, their being present at house conventicles, and their hospitably entertaining the non-conforming ministers. But, like the persecutors of the primitive church who covered the Christians with skins of wild beasts and then exposed them to be torn in pieces by the fury of dogs, the persecuting government of the stewards was in the practice of charging the Presbyterians with crimes of which they were altogether innocent, with the view of making them odious, and of giving the color of justice to the cruelty with which they were treated. Such has been the policy of the persecutor in every age. He has never avowedly persecuted the disciples of Jesus on the simple ground of their being the disciples of Jesus. He has first calumniously accused them of sedition, rebellion, or other flagitious acts, which the magistrate is bound to punish, and then under this pretext has proceeded to wreak his vengeance upon them. After charging Mrs. Campbell and her associates with the crimes just now specified, the letters proceed as follows, quote, which being verified and proven by their own oath or otherwise, they ought to be punished with the pains above mentioned and with such arbitrary punishments as the lords of our privy council shall think fit to discern and determine. And if they shall refuse to depone upon the hail or any part of this libel, that they ought to be holden as confessed thereupon, conformed to the letters and warrants directly under our royal hand for that effect, and punished therefore with such arbitrary pains as the privy council or their committee or commissioners shall think fit, and the crimes deserve, to the terror of others, to commit the like hereafter." On hearing of the intended meeting of the commissioners of the Privy Council, a considerable number of the persons summoned to appear before them fled, among whom was Mrs. Campbell's husband. Having been intercommuned for hearing and countenancing the persecuted Presbyterian ministers, he deemed it prudent to flee for his safety. He fled first to Strathnaver and afterward to Ireland. Mrs. Campbell remaining at home to wait upon her mother-in-law, Mrs. Jean Campbell, who was dangerously ill, was apprehended and carried prisoner to Elgin. At the meeting of the commissioners of the Privy Council on the 3rd of February, the role of delinquents was called and their libel read, the tenor of which has already been laid before our readers. On the 5th, Mrs. Campbell was brought before them. The only part of the libel proved against her was that she, quote, had withdrawn from and not kept and joined in the public ordinances and ordinary meetings of divine worship in her own parish church, end quote. Mr. Donald McPherson, minister of the parish of Calder in which she resided, gave in a list of disorderly persons in his parish which consisted of only seven individuals, among whom are, quote, Alexander Campbell, who, unquote, says he, quote, has removed, and Lillias Dunbar, his wife, who for the most part remains in the said parish but always stays from ordinances. Jean Campbell, good wife of Torich, who has been this long time bygone valetudinary, and Jean Taylor, servant to the Forsaid Jean Campbell, who is now removed from the Forsaid parish, but during her abode always abstracted from ordinances." Mr. MacPherson, being solemnly sworn, deponed that the above was a correct list of all who were disorderly in his parish, and that all of them, quote, except Jean Campbell, good wife of Torridge, who is at the point of death, unquote, and Lillias Dunbar, who waited upon her, had fled, he knew not whither, and on hearing that the committee of the Privy Council was to sit at Elgin, the elders of the parish of Calder, being solemnly sworn and interrogated, also, quote, deep home that Jean Campbell, the good wife of Torridge, and Lillian Dunbar, her good daughter, to Alexander Campbell of Torrich, who has fled, did and does withdraw." End quote. Footnote. Warrants of Privy Council. End footnote. Being brought before the commissioners, Mrs. Campbell was examined upon oath. To the question whether she attended her parish church, she answered in the negative. And being further interrogated how long she had withdrawn from it, she replied, for the last six years. To the question whether she had been present at Conventicles, she answered in the affirmative. If being then demanded whether she would engage to attend the parish church in future, she replied that she could not come under such an obligation. Quote, are you then willing, unquote, said the commissioners, quote, to find security to leave the kingdom or engage to keep the church? End quote. To this she answered by expressing her readiness to leave her native land rather than come under an engagement which appeared to her to be inconsistent with her duty to God, and to find such security as might be required. Her depositions, subscribed by her own hand, which are preserved in the minutes of the proceedings of the commissioners, are as follows. Quote, February 5th, 1685. Clulius Dunbar spoke to Alexander Campbell, sometime at Calder, being solemnly sworn, deponed she has not kept the Kirk these six years past, and has been at the conventicles, and is not free to engage to keep the Kirk in time coming, and therefore is content to find caution to depart this kingdom, and the first of August next, she being now with child, or otherwise to keep the Kirk, and not to return to the kingdom, unless she live regularly therein. Under this examination Mrs. Campbell displayed a dignity of bearing and a superior intelligence which struck the adversaries with conviction and the judges with admiration, one of whom spoke in her favor in the face of the court. Her uncompromising fortitude also stands favorably contrasted with the timidity of most of those brought before the commissioners on that day. and on the other days who, with a few honourable exceptions, solemnly swore that they would keep the Kirk in time coming. She was formally banished from the Kingdom of Scotland by the following act of the Commissioners of Council. Elgin, 11th February 1685. The Lords having considered the depositions of Lillia Stunbar, spouse to Alexander Campbell, sometime in Calder, with a libel against her, they in respect she has been irregular and disorderly, and will not engage to keep the Kirk, banish her forth of this kingdom and ordain her to enact herself to go out thereof under the pain of one thousand mercs." Footnote. Warrants of Privy Council. Mrs. Campbell's friend, Jean Taylor, who was servant to Lady Beartown at that time, was similarly treated. On being examined by the commissioners, she declared that she had not kept the parish kirk, refused to engage to keep it in future, confessed that she had been at several conventicles and had heard Mr. Alexander Dunbar preach at Leffen and Mr. James Urquhart at his own house, but refused to depone upon oath. Accordingly, on the same 11th of February, sentence of banishment from the kingdom was pronounced upon her, and it was also ordained that she should be detained prisoner till she should be transported. But on petitioning the commissioners, she was set at liberty upon her finding caution to depart the kingdom betwixt that time and the 1st of May following, under the pain of 500 merc. End footnote. Mrs. Campbell immediately found the security required. John Campbell of Langnoderry, her brother-in-law, who attended her during the proceedings against her at Eldon, readily became surety that she should depart out of Scotland within the time specified. It may be observed that the Commissioners of Council excused the absence of her mother-in-law, Mrs. Jean Campbell, upon a testimonial signed by Mr. Macpherson, Minister of Calder, and three of the elders of that parish, bearing that she was then confined to her bed and in so low and wicked condition of body as to be unable to travel any distance from her own house without imminent hazard of her life. They also excused the absence of Mr. Campbell, who is dead in the minute of the court, to be now in Ireland, but the ground upon which he was excused is not stated. Similar sentences were passed upon several others who refused to engage to attend their parish churches in future, and on the same 11th of February the Lords publicly required and commanded the sheriffs, baileys of regalities, and their deputies, magistrates of boroughs, and other inferior judges to put the laws vigorously in execution against church dissenters and all irregular and disorderly persons from time to time, and to imprison their persons till they sign and take the bond of peace and regularity, and oblige themselves to keep the Kirk in time coming, or till the privy counts of the Lord are concerning them, and especially against the delinquents now sighted before them, in case they keep not the Kirk hereafter, agreeably to their own engagements. The vigor with which the Lord Commissioners proceeded against the nonconformists in the North, gave great satisfaction to the established clergy in that quarter. On the same day on which sentence of banishment was pronounced upon Mrs. Campbell and others, the Bishop and clergy of the Diocese of Moray attended the Lords in a body and gave them their hearty thanks for the great pains and diligence they had used for the good and encouragement of the Church and clergy in this place, and for reducing the people to order and regularity, and begged the Lords would allow them to represent their sense and gratitude thereof to the Lords of His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council." Footnote. Warrants of Privy Council. End footnote. It is to be regretted that that part of Mrs. Campbell's diary, which relates to the story of her persecution, is lost. Footnote. The Reverend John Russell, Stamford, Canada West, in the letter to the author, formerly referred to, says, Mrs. Campbell's diary, before a transcript of it was taken, fell into the hands of persons not friendly to the cause for which she suffered, who mutilated it by cutting out some leaves." End footnote. We, however, meet with subsequent occasional allusions to it. She felt it to be a matter of thankfulness to God in afterward looking back upon that period of her life that she had been enabled to witness a good confession at a time when many had yielded through fear. and acknowledged that the afflictions which had befallen the church had, by the divine blessing, been the means of promoting her spiritual improvement. On this subject she thus writes, quote, May 24th, 1691, being the Lord's Day, I cried unto the Lord that if he would lengthen my days, he would make me live more for himself, that he would smell a savor of rest in my dwelling, and that there might be a savor of God where I should be. I mourned when I remembered how little of this had been. Then the Lord gave me ease in making me look back upon what special care He had of me, although some things had been denied me, in giving food and raiment to me and mine, in helping me to keep the word of His patience, and in keeping me in the hour of temptation. In the evening I was made to remember the Lord's great condescension to me in gaining my forward will to submit to His holy will. as to my greatest troubles and the sad dispensation which the Church of God in this land had been tristed in my time, in letting me see a spiritual good and advantage in them, so that I have been ashamed of my own miscarriages. I was made to see that there was no God like to Him who does all things well, and works out of contraries, giving meat out of the eater and sweet out of the strong." Contrary to their expectations, Mrs. Campbell and her fellow confessors who had received the sentence of banishment were relieved from the necessity of leaving Scotland. Charles II, dying during the sitting of the commissioners, and his brother James, Duke of York, succeeding to the throne, the court quickly rose. And though James was a bloody persecutor, exceeding in cruelty his deceased brother, Yet he and his government were so actively employed in imprisoning, banishing, and executing the nonconformists in the South, and in crushing the insurrection of the Earl of Argyle, which took place soon after, that Mrs. Campbell and the Presbyterians in the North were overlooked. Afterward, when James, with the view of paving the way for establishing in Britain the Popish religion, of which he was a bigoted adherent, began to court the favour of dissenters and to emit proclamations and indemnifying them for all pains and penalties incurred for non-conformity. This, which afforded relief to many who were suffering in Scotland for conscience's sake, furnished another cause of her remaining unmolested. And lastly, the Revolution of 1688, which by the expulsion of James from the throne and the accession of the illustrious William, Prince of Orange, put an end to the persecution and established the liberties of the subjects upon a permanent basis, brought her troubles and the troubles of Scotland in this respect to a termination. Mrs. Campbell's own experience of the tyranny of the stewards, and especially her sympathy with others who suffered more severely than herself for their constancy in the cause of Christ, made her hail the revolution as a wonderful deliverance vouchsafed by God to the Church. On this subject she has the following entry in her diary, quote, June 14, 1691. I set myself to be comforted in the favorable and wonderful steps of providence which had come to pass in this land in behalf of the Church of God within these three years past. The providence of God has been wonderful in these lands since that time. King James VII's toleration in the Lord's bringing a ravenous bird from the east Such he was to the enemies of his church, but a glorious deliverer to her friends. A man to execute his counsel from a foreign country by breaking the scepter of the ruler and the staff of the oppressor. But still she rejoiced in that event with trembling. The prevalence of sin around her, the small success of the gospel, and the little disposition which existed to make a suitable improvement of this great deliverance excited apprehensions in her that Providence might again frown upon Scotland. In the same part of her diary she observes that when thinking of that great deliverance she, quote, could not get comfort but was in fear of a common calamity in the land and a strait through which Zion had to pass through. This, she adds, was an old fear with me and often renewed that proceeded not from the dictates of my own mind, which is but weak, erring, and sinful, but from a deep impression which some places of Scripture made upon my spirit when I was exercised in prayer, from a bounding of sin and the many evidences of God's displeasure, so that I had much ground to fear though not to prophesy. and never more ground to fear than since the yoke of persecution began to break four years ago by King James's liberty of conscience, which was like an untimely birth, which tended to death rather than to life. Zion has been languishing in this land, and her king in a great measure absent as to his spiritual and powerful presence in his public ordinances since that time." While highly esteeming all the non-conforming ministers in the North, of the most of whom she makes honorable mention in her diary, Mrs. Campbell regarded with peculiar veneration one of them, the celebrated Mr. Thomas Hogg of Kiltern, both on account of his eminence as a minister of the gospel and because he, of all other ministers, had been most instrumental in promoting both her own and her husband's spiritual interests. His being forced by persecution to leave Morayshire occasioned her deep sorrow, and it was her earnest prayer that he might be restored to that part of the church. Her prayer was answered, and his restoration to his old parish afforded her unfeigned joy. Writing July 3, 1691, she says, quote, In the afternoon a friend came to me who told me that Mr. Thomas Hogg was come to Moray and was at present at Muirtown. This was desirable news to me, which I had longed and prayed for, he being one in whom there was much of the Lord to be seen, and who of all others had done most good by the blessing of God to my husband's soul and to mine, and was, I may say, an interpreter one of a thousand. When I got an opportunity to retire, I looked up to the Lord to bless this man's coming, and entreated of the Lord to put a song of praise in my mouth. These words were brought to me He strengthens the spoiled against the strong. He turneth the shadow of death into the morning. Then I saw the first part of this scripture largely made out in him, so that it might afford matter of great praise and thankfulness that the God of power had strengthened him even when spoiled of his lovely flock, and had now given him victory over the strong, even king and council, who imprisoned him thrice, and then banished him from his native kingdom for the gospel's sake, and that now he was returned with honor, having kept the faith and a good conscience, to exercise his ministry in that parish where the Lord at first placed him and where he blessed his labors. The dangers and troubles under which the Lord supported and relieved him enlarged my heart in love and praise to God, who exercises wonderful, infinite wisdom, love, and power toward his servants and people." On the 7th of July, Mrs. Campbell and her husband went to Muirtown to visit Mr. Hogg, where she met with several pious, intimate friends whose society was very refreshing to her. The next day, she had an opportunity of conversing with Mr. Hogg, to whom she had not spoken for eight years before. As he was very infirm, and as several other persons were waiting to speak with him, there were only two particulars about which she was desirous of unburdening her mind to him at that time. In the first place, she wished to know his thoughts concerning her state, and in the second place, she wished to tell him some of her secret spiritual troubles with respect to which she could not attain to submission. As to the first, he seemed to be displeased with her for putting to him such a question, and refused to let her know what were his thoughts respecting her state. As to the other points, the little he said in answer was by way of reproof, telling her that the want of submission proceeded from the pride and stubbornness of her spirit. Mr. Campbell, having returned home in the afternoon, she stayed a few days in the family of Meartown, in which there was much of the savour of God, and during that time she obtained relief from the spiritual troubles which pressed upon her spirit. On the morning of the day on which she left Meartown for Torich, which was the 11th of July, having had a private interview with Mr. Hogg, she told him of the submissive state of mind to which Through the goodness of God toward her the two preceding days she had attained in reference to what troubled her, and expressed her fears that some sharp trial was awaiting her for which this submissive temper was preparing her, and which would test its reality. But he disapproved of her giving place to such thoughts, charging her with authority as well as in much love to beware of anxious thoughts about tomorrow, and earnestly urged her to a confident and consistent trusting in God, quoting the words of Job, Though he slay me, yet will I trust him. Thus, says she, did the blessed man press me to live the life of faith, and, she adds, took leave of me, embracing me as a father does his child. Over the death of this eminently holy man she was soon called to mourn. In her diary that event is recorded in the character of Hogg, drawn with much feeling. The passage is deserving of being quoted, both from the pleasing simplicity with which it is written, and because it contains the estimate, formed by an intelligent contemporary of a minister highly venerated in his day, and whom Wadrow calls that great, and, I had almost said, apostolic servant of Christ, Mr. Thomas Hogg. Footnote, Wadrow's Correspondence, Volume 1, page 166. I heard, says she, quote, of Mr. Thomas Hogg's being removed from time to eternity. Footnote, Mr. Hogg died on the 4th of January, 1692. End footnote. It was not a surprise to me, though a great matter of lamentation. My husband and I had been seeing him in August. We then saw he was near the end of his journey by his spirit being transported with the hopes of glory, and his bodily health and strength failed. He endured much trouble in his body two months before his death, which was dark and afflicting to me. As I was enabled, my prayer was to God for him in the day of his calamity, whose reproof had been a kindness to me, and his smiting an excellent oil that did not break my head. The tongue of the learned was given him, indeed, to speak a word in season to the weary. He had the heart of the wise, which taught his mouth and added learning to his lips. He gave reproofs of instruction which by his Master's blessing were the way of life. He walked so with God that his conversation shone to the glory of his Heavenly Father. He had a large measure of the Spirit of God by which he knew the deep things of God, and it was given him to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of God. He had a divine experimental understanding of the Scriptures, of the work of conversation, and cases of conscience. For the day whose ears heard him blessed him. He was a Caleb indeed who followed the Lord fully in his ministry in prison, in banishment, in strange lands, and unto death. Even the haters of godliness were forced to own that God was in him of a truth, and that he kept his integrity. It is not my design to praise men, and therefore I will drop this subject though it be a large field, and shall only further observe that I never knew one that came his length, and I wish I had ground to believe that I shall yet know them. I cannot forget him who was the bridegroom's friend, who, when I was lying in my blood, told me of my hazard, and where there was help for me, and with the authority of his master, charged me not to delay, showing me that delays in a matter of so great importance came from the devil. He preached Christ in conversion to me in private conference, which had blessed effects on me. When under the greatest trouble I ever felt with respect to the case of my soul in March 1677, he being then a prisoner at Forrest, I went to speak to him. I was like one dumb and could not utter one word of my case to him, yet he spake to me as if I had told him of it and said when I parted with him, Fear not, ye seek Jesus. Which would begot some hopes in me, which did not altogether leave me, until I got the manifestation of Christ to my soul, which was within six weeks afterward. Yea, I do not remember any time I saw him, but I got good by him, and in the end, more than in the beginning. I cannot show at large what was the exercise of my spirit upon hearing of his death. When it was told me, I spoke not a word till I went to the Lord in secret and mourned before him. I was four days much troubled, but strove against excessive grief, and I have reason to bless my rock who gave me a composal frame of mind, and made my soul to profit by the death of this blessed man. His removal made the earth desolate in my esteem, and raised my affections from things below to things above where Christ and the spirits of just men made perfect are. In my mourning I was made to bless the Lord, who had put an end to the sufferings of this faithful servant, and to submit to his will who had said, He that will be my servant, let him follow me, and where I am, there shall my servant be. I remembered to my comfort how this blessed man, the last day I saw him, kindly embraced me, and rejoicing in spirit, said to me, You and I shall be together with the Lord forever. That night being the last night I was in his house, my sleep departed from me, upon which I rose at three o'clock in the morning and had two hours of sweet communion with God in prayer. After that time I did not see this blessed man's face anymore. He being very sick that morning and not fit for speaking, my husband and I left him. I then looked on what was given me that morning as given to prepare me for his death. The day before he died, my thoughts were taken up with him, and these words in Job were brought to my mind in relation to him, that he should go to his grave in a full age, as a shock of corn cometh in in his season, which was quickly fulfilled. Having served God in his generation, he went to his grave in peace, and pleasantly gave up the ghost. Though he endured much pain in his body before, Yet at the hour of his death he had ease and went out of the world praising and rejoicing." From the whole of Mrs. Campbell's diary it is evident that she greatly delighted in secret prayer, and to find time for that duty she was in the habit of rising very early, that the exercises of devotion might be no obstruction to her performing such household duties as devolved upon her. Some of her acquaintance expressed surprise that she who had time at her command and was not obliged to labor should so abridge her hours of sleep, to which she replied that she did not wish to give the enemies of religion occasion to say that she neglected her worldly matters through attention to religious duties. End quote. Footnote. Traditional information communicated by the Reverend John Russell, Stamford, Canada West. End footnote. The concluding part of her diary contains few facts respecting her subsequent history. It is chiefly occupied in describing her religious experience. Writing toward the latter part of her life, she complains that she had been, quote, for several years seeking the Lord and still tossed with fears that the foundation was not right, unquote, and that, quote, after several years when the church was filled with Presbyterian ministers, Her darkness and deadness became more dreadful to her so that ordinances were to her for the most part no small burden. When I spoke to the ministers, unquote, she adds, quote, they all said my help was not to be found in them. Yet this was observable that such as were most zealous for the purity and interests of Christ were most comforting to my soul in public and private duties. But they could not cure my wound. Therefore, I continued solitary for many days." During this period, she was in a very weak state of health, and her bodily indisposition combined with a melancholy temperament, for she informs us that her natural temper inclined to be melancholy, no doubt contributed greatly to produce these unhappy apprehensions with respect to her interest in Christ, which so greatly afflicted her. At last, however, she was relieved by being enabled to take a more just and encouraging view of the gospel. Quote, after continuing, unquote, says she, quote, a considerable time in this way, thus tossed with tempest and not comforted, some words of scripture were brought to my mind which were made use of for keeping me from utterly despairing and giving over. I came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. Look unto me, all ye ends of the earth, and be ye saved. The whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. Thus in my extremity my spirit was in some measure supported. But afterward, when new darkness and fears filled my soul, I was no ways able to draw comfort from these words, unless they were conveyed with new power. On a certain night, after sad and affecting fears which men or angels could not allay, these words came with power to my soul. Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, make your requests known unto God. And the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds by Christ Jesus. O how was my weary soul made to behold in prayer a wonderful beauty and glory in the deep contrivance of infinite free love displayed to guilty sinners in a mediator, whose voice my soul was made to hear in these words. In this way she was at length delivered from these distressing fears. I was particularly informed, says her grandson Mr. James Calder of Croy, by the above-named Mrs. Jean Taylor, who resided with her from the end of the persecution till her decease, that she attained to very great stability with respect to the state of her soul, and a glorious sunshine of spiritual comfort and joy in the Lord for some years before her death." And when the last enemy approached, she was not only calm and resigned, but expressed a holy exultation and triumph of soul. The dark valley of the shadow of death had lost all its terrors to her, and she described beyond it the land of everlasting light, purity, and happiness. A little before she expired, being in the full possession of her reason and enjoying a celestial tranquility of mind, quote, she called on her pious attending friends, unquote, to use again the words of Mr. Calder, quote, to sing with her once more on earth the praises of her best beloved, in which exercise she joined with particular ardor insomuch that the sweetness, the melody, and elevation of her voice were distinguished by all who were present. Then, having spoken a sentence or two in the language of a triumphant faith, with eyes lifted up to heaven and arms stretched out, this heaven-born soul quitted its cottage of clay with a smile and sprang forward to meet her celestial bridegroom, who was now come to receive her into the beatific embracements of his everlasting love." Footnote, The Religious Monitor, Volume 9, page 131. End footnote. Mrs. Campbell had 12 children. In her diary, she makes an allusion to her son John, who was born about September 1692. Another of her sons, Hugh, became a minister of the gospel. As to her other children, we are ignorant even of their names, except of one of her daughters, Jean, respecting whose descendants, as has been said before, we have been favoured with some interesting facts, communicated by Mr. Russell of Stamford, Canada West. who, after stating that Mrs. Campbell had 12 children and that he can furnish no information respecting any of her other children or their descendants save her daughter Jean, named after her intimate and godly companion, Jean Taylor, adds, quote, Jean was married to a Mr. Calder, a minister somewhere in the north. She and her husband died leaving five young children. One of them, named James, was for many years minister of Croy, Nairnshire. Another of them, named Grisel, was married to Robert Falconer, merchant, Nairn, and a third, named Lilius, and placed under the care of Jean Taylor after the death of her parents, died in her fifth year, old and mature in Christian attainments. The other two, whose names I cannot give, died unmarried, but though they have left no name on earth, they are said to have been such as to leave no doubt that their names are written in heaven. The Reverend James Calder of Croy, Mrs. Campbell's grandson, was so esteemed in his day that he was called the Hervey of the North. He had three sons, ministers of the Church of Scotland. Hugh was his successor in Croy. Charles, footnote, for some interesting notices of Mr. Charles Calder, see memoirs of the Reverend Alexander Stewart, D.D., one of the ministers of Canongate, Edinburgh, pages 207 to 211. and pages 290 to 295. End footnote. Charles was minister in Urquhart, the immediate predecessor of Dr. MacDonald, and John was settled in a parish in the South. The Reverend Hugh Calder had a son named Alexander, ordained his colleague and successor before he had completed the age of 21. This youth was a burning and shining light, but died when men were only beginning to rejoice in his light. and to magnify the grace of God that was in him. The Reverend Charles Calder had a daughter married to the late Reverend Dr. Stewart, formerly of Dingwall, and afterward of the Canongate Church, Edinburgh. Griselle Calder, granddaughter of Mrs. Campbell, left a son of the same name with his father, Robert Faulkner, and a daughter named Mary. Robert was, for many years, Sheriff of the County of Nairn, and died nearly 30 years ago, leaving two sons and two daughters. His sister, Mary Faulkner, was married to the Reverend Henry Clark, minister of the anteburgers to Cedar Congregation of Boghole in the county of Nairn. She died about the same time with her brother, and her only surviving descendant is she who, for 23 years, has been companion of my cares and labors in Canada. Imperfect as this account is, you will not fail to observe how God has been graciously pleased to render the descendants of that eminently pious woman and their immediate relatives eminently instrumental in publishing that gospel for which she suffered when it was rare and therefore precious in that part of our native country." Margaret McLaughlin and Margaret Wilson The years 1684 and 1685 were years of terrible suffering to the Covenanters. The history of these years is written in letters of blood and they were emphatically called by the sufferers the Killing Time. The savage ruffians who were scouring the country like incarnate demons hunted the poor helpless victims of their cruelty like wild beasts over moors and mountains. If they met with a person who refused to answer their questions or who did not satisfy them in their answers, or if they found another reading the Bible, or observed a third apparently alarmed or attempting to escape, they reckoned all such persons fanatics. and in many instances shot them dead on the spot. The devil had gone forth having great wrath as if knowing that his time was short. Patrick Walker remarks that during these two years 80 persons were shot in the fields in cold blood and he further says, quote, since that time some that write of court affairs of Britain for 20 of these years assert that the very design of that killing time was to provoke the Lord's people in the west of Scotland to rise in arms in their own defense, as at Pentland, Bothwell, and Eresmoth, that they might get the sham occasion to raise fire and sword in the West, and make it a hunting field, as the Duke of York had openly threatened, saying, there is no other way of rooting fanaticism out of it." End quote. Footnote. Biography. Presbytery. Volume 1, page 302. End footnote. But whatever may be as to this, the ferocity of the persecutors had risen to an unprecedented height, creating general alarm and threatening to wear out the saints of the Most High. We are now to narrate the history of one of the bloody scenes enacted during the last of these years, the year 1685, the scene of the judicial murder of two blameless, inoffensive, and pious females, Margaret McLaughlin, footnote, or Laughlison, which is the name given her in her petition to the Privy Council, end footnote, an aged widow, and Margaret Wilson, a young girl who were drowned in the tide at the mouth of the River Blednof, which runs into the sea about a hundred yards to the south of the town of Wigton in Lower Galloway. The tragical fate of Isabelle Allison and Marion Harvey has already been brought under the notice of the reader. And the case before us is no less touching whether we consider the advanced age of the one sufferer and the youth of the other, or the kind of death to which they were subjected, or the shocking barbarity of their ruthless murderers, or the undaunted courage with which they suffered and yielded up their spirits to God. Margaret Wilson, the younger of the two martyrs, who was only about 18 years of age at the time of her death, was the daughter of Gilbert Wilson, farmer of Glendronach, the property of the Laird of Castlewort, in the parish of Penningham, in Wigtonshire. He was in good outward circumstances, and his farm, which was excellent soil, and in the best condition, was well stocked with sheep and cattle. Both he and his wife were conformists to prelacy, and regularly attended the ministry of the Curate of Penningham. Nor could the government lay anything to their charge. Their children, however, which is rather remarkable, were, at an early age, not only well acquainted with the principles of religion, but, contrary to the example of their parents, ardently attached to the persecuted faith, and would on no consideration attend the ministry of the Palladic incumbent of that parish. On this account, though scarcely of such an age as rendered them obnoxious to the law, they researched for. and to secure their safety were compelled to betake themselves, like many others, to the desert solitudes of the upper part of Galloway. They were, in fact, treated in every respect as outlaws. Their parents were forbidden, at their highest peril, to harbour them, to supply their wants, or to have any intercourse with them, and were even commanded so far to disregard natural affection as to lodge information against them that they might be apprehended. But the barbarous and unprincipled men who were ravaging Wigtownshire did not stop at this. Mr. Wilson being a man of substance, they looked with a greedy eye upon his wealth. And notwithstanding his own compliance with policy, fined him for the nonconformity of his children. In addition to this, he was grievously harassed by parties of soldiers who, sometimes to the number of a hundred, would come to his house and not only live at free quarters, but commit that wanton destruction upon his property, to which, by the fierceness of their dispositions, they were prompted. To hardships of this nature he was subjected for several years, and these hardships, together with his frequent attendance upon courts at Wigton, which was thirteen miles distant from his own house, and at Edinburgh, reduced him from comparative affluence to poverty. So heavy indeed were his pecuniary losses, amounting at a moderate calculation to upward of 5,000 marks, that though before being thus pillaged he was one of the most substantial men in that part of the country, he died about the year 1704 or 1705 in destitution, and his widow, who was alive in 1711, then very aged, subsisted upon the charity of her friends. This is one instance among many others which might be adduced in which persons of property against whose loyalty and religion the government had nothing to object were exposed to the spoliation of their goods and were even sometimes reduced to absolute penury for the recusance of those connected with them and over whom they often had no control. Loyal and conforming parents were fined and otherwise punished for the non-conformity of their children. Loyal and conforming husbands for the non-conformity of their wives. Loyal and conforming masters for the non-conformity of their servants. Loyal and conforming proprietors for the non-conformity of their tenants. The troopers too, who, like licensed robbers, traversed the country, in many cases pillaged with indiscriminate wantonness such as were friendly to the government and conformist to policy and such as were not. Margaret Wilson and her sister Agnes, who was then only about 13 years of age, at length fell into the hands of the persecutors. In the beginning of the year 1685, these two girls, to secure their safety, were obliged to leave for some time their father's house. and in company with their brother, a youth of not more than 16 years of age, and other persecuted wanderers, to seek shelter in the mosses, mountains, and caves of Carrick, Nithsdale, and Galloway. On the death of Charles II, when the persecution was for a brief period relaxed, the two sisters, leaving their hiding places, ventured to come secretly to Wigton to visit some of their fellow sufferers in the same cause and particularly the aged Margaret MacLachlan, whom they greatly loved and who was well qualified to minister comfort and counsel to them under their trouble. Here both of them were discovered and made prisoners through the treachery of a man named Patrick Stewart, with whom they were personally acquainted and who professed to take a deep and friendly interest in their welfare. This base fellow, from what motive is not said, but doubtless either from pure marignity of disposition or from the love of the paltry wages given to informers, purpose to betray these friendless and unsuspecting girls. To find some plausible ground of complaint against them, he, with much apparent kindness, invited them to go with him and partake of some refreshment, which, being brought, he proposed that they should drink to King's health. This, as he probably anticipated from what he knew of their character, they modestly declined to do. Upon which he left them, and immediately proceeded to the authorities of Wigdon to lodge information against them. A party of soldiers was forthwith dispatched to apprehend them. The two girls were cast into that abominable place called the Thieves' Hole, and after lying there for some time were removed to the prison in which their beloved friend Margaret MacLachlan, who had been apprehended about the same time, or very shortly after, was confined, and of whom we now proceed to give some account. Margaret MacLachlan was the widow of John Mulligan, or Millican, carpenter, a tenant in the parish of Kirkiner in the Shire of Galloway in the farm of Drumjargon, belonging to Colonel Vance of Barnborough, and she now had nearly reached the venerable age of seventy. Footnote. The inscription on her gravestone in the churchyard of Wigton makes her age sixty-three, but in her petition to the Privy Council she says that she is about the age of threescore and ten years. End footnote. She was a plain country woman but superior to most women of her station in religious knowledge. Blameless in her deportment and a pattern of virtue and piety. Being strictly Presbyterian in her principles, she had regularly absented herself from hearing the curate of the parish of Kirkener. She had also attended the sermons of the proscribed ministers. and had afforded shelter and relief to her persecuted non-conforming relations and acquaintances in their wanderings and distresses. Honorable as was all this to her character, it was in those days of oppression regarded as highly criminal, and on this account she suffered much in her property, and at last was apprehended on the Sabbath day when engaged in the exercise of family worship in her own dwelling, the day of rest being now the season when the persecutors were most active in searching for the fanatic and often most successful in discovering them. She was immediately carried to prison, in which she lay for a long time and was treated with great harshness, not being allowed a fire to warm her, nor a bed upon which to lie, nor even an adequate supply of food to satisfy the cravings of nature. When Margaret MacLachlan, Margaret Wilson, and her sister were apprehended, it was demanded of them as a test of their loyalty that they should swear the abjuration oath. This was an oath abjuring a manifesto published by the society people or the Cameroonians on the 8th of November, 1684. Footnote, it was fixed upon the marked crosses of several birds and upon a great many church doors. entitled, The Apologetic Declaration and Admonitory Vindication of the True Presbyterians of the Church of Scotland, especially and Intelligencers and Informers. In this manifesto, after expressing their adherence to their former declarations in which they disowned the authority of Charles Stuart and declared war against him and his accomplices, And after testifying that they utterly detest and abhor the hellish principle of killing all who differ in judgment or persuasion from them, they declare it to be their purpose to punish according to their power and according to the degree of the offense, such as should stretch forth their hands against them by shedding their blood on account of their principles, or willingly give such information as should lead thereto. This step we do not undertake to vindicate, it being calculated notwithstanding all their qualifications and in spite of all the precautions they might use to open a door to lawless bloodshed and to give encouragement to assassination. At the same time, it is impossible to condemn them with great severity when we reflect that they were cast out of the protection of law, driven out of the pale of society, and hunted like wild beasts in the woods and on the mountains to which they had fled for shelter." Footnote. McCree's review of Tales of My Landlord in his Miscellaneous Writings, page 443. End footnote. It is also to be noticed that what they chiefly aimed at was to inspire their persecutors with a wholesome terror. Footnote. The only instances in which it is alleged, so far as we recollect, that it led to murder were those of two soldiers at Swine Abbey and of the curate of Karstern. The last of these was publicly disowned and condemned by the society people. McCree's Reviews of the Tales of My Landlord in His Miscellaneous Writings, page 444. End footnote. And this object was to a considerable degree gained in regard to the more active and malignant informers who dared not now, as they had done before, to dog the footsteps and discover to the soldiers the hiding places of men whom intolerable impression had driven to desperation. The more virulent and persecuting of the curates in Knitsdale and Galloway were also so panic-struck on the publication of the paper as to leave their parishes and seek safety elsewhere for a time. On the government, the effect was different. It roused their fury to the utmost height. On the 22nd of November, they passed an act which Wadrow justly calls a bloody act, ordaining, quote, every person who owns or will not disown the late reasonable declaration upon oath, Whether they have arms or not, to be immediately put to death, there being present two witnesses and the person or persons having commission for that effect." Footnote, Wardrobe History, Volume 4, page 155. An act on which is to be charged the blood of not a few who were shot in the fields by officers and even by private sentinels who pretended to be invested with such powers. On the following day they gave commission with a judiciary power to certain noblemen, gentlemen, and military officers to convocate all the inhabitants, men and women above fourteen years of age, in certain parishes named, to execute by military commission upon the place such of them as owned the late traitorous declaration, and also to execute the sentence of death on such as refused to disown it, after trying them by a jury. An oath was also framed abjuring the apologetic declaration, and hence called the abjuration oath, which all, both men and women above the age of 16 years, were required to swear under the pains of high treason. Margaret MacLachlan and the two youthful sisters, Margaret and Agnes Wilson, refused to swear the abjuration oath. They were accordingly brought to a formal trial before Sir Robert Gruerson of Lagg. Footnote. Of these commissioners, Grierson of Lag has obtained the most infamous celebrity in the annals of the persecution. So cruel and brutal was his temper that he seems to have felt an infernal delight in murdering in cold blood the unarmed and unresisting peasantry of his country. In 1685, he shot five Covenanters dead on the spot without giving them leave to pray. And when one of them, Mr. Bell of Whiteside, who was acquainted with him, begged for a quarter of an hour to prepare for death. He remorselessly answered, What the devil? Have you not got time enough to prepare since Bothwell? Among the Wadwell manuscripts we have met with some specimens of his profanity, but they are too shocking to be here repeated. Volume 37, Number 1. He outlived the persecution nearly half a century, having died on the 23rd of December, 1733. Many of the cruelties which he perpetrated have been recorded in his elegy, or mock lamentation of the Prince of Darkness upon his death, which is supposed to have been written long before the time of his demise. Of this production, the following lines taken from the 21st edition are a specimen. Quote. What fatal news is this I hear? On earth, who shall my standard bear? For Lag, who was my champion brave, is dead, and now laid in his grave. The want of him is a great grief. He was my manager and chief. He bore my image on his brow. My service he did still avow. He had no other deity, but this world, the flesh, and me. Unto us he did homage pay, and did us worship every day. In Galloway he was well known, his great exploits in it were shown. He was my general in that place, he did the Presbyterians chase. Through Moss and Moore and many a hag, they were pursued by my friend Lag. He many a saint pursued to death, he feared neither hell nor wrath. His conscience was so cauterized he refused nothing that I pleased, for which he's had my kindness still since he his labors did fulfill. Any who read the scriptures through, I'm sure they'll find but very few of my best friends that's mentioned here that could with Greer of Lag compare. The History of Galloway, Volume 2, pages 281 and 282. End footnote. They were accordingly brought to a formal trial before Sir Robert Gerson of Lag, Colonel David Graham, brother to the bloody Claverhouse, Major Windram, Captain Straughan, and Provost Coltrane at Wigton on the 13th of April, 1685. In their indictment, they were charged with being at the Battle of Bothwell Bridge at the Skirmish of Ayresmouth at 20 field conventicles and at an equal number of house conventicles. The first two charges were notoriously false. None of the panels had ever been within many miles of either of these places. It is besides to be noticed that at the time of the Battle of Brothwell Bridge, the two girls were mere children, the one only about seven years of age and the other only about eleven or twelve. While sixty-five years had passed over the head of the aged widow, and it cannot for a moment be supposed that two girls of so tender an age, or that a humble, inoffensive female who had nearly reached the utmost limits of human-earthly existence, could be concerned in that insurrection. The same remark applies to the skirmish at Ayres Moss, which took place only a little more than a year after the rising at Bothwell Bridge. The other charges brought against these sufferers may have been true in part or in whole, but nothing was proved against them. Being again required to swear the abjuration oath, all of them refused to swear it, and this refusal seems to have been the main ground upon which they were condemned. After the mockery of a trial, a jury was found so unprincipled as to bring in a verdict of guilty against a whole three, and the sentence pronounced upon them was that upon the 11th of May they should be tied to stakes fixed within the flood mark in the water of Rednock, near Wigton, where the sea flows at high water there to be drowned. They were commanded to receive their sentence on their bended knees, and refusing to kneel they were pressed down by force till it was pronounced. But they were by no means daunted. They heard the cruel sentence with much composure, and even with cheerful countenances, accounting it their honor that they were called to suffer in the cause of Christ. This extraordinary sentence could not but produce great excitement in Wigdon, and the friends of the three females were plunged into the deepest distress. The afflicted father of the two girls on going to Edinburgh was allowed to purchase at the price of £100 sterling the life of his younger daughter in consequence of her tender age. When in Edinburgh he would also, no doubt, use every means in his power to save the life of his other daughter, and his intercessions, as we shall afterwards see, had a mollifying effect upon the members of the Privy Council. At the same time, Margaret Wilson's friends did all they could to prevail with her to swear the abjuration oath and to promise to attend the ministry of the curate of the parish in which she lived, but without effect, for by no solicitations would she surrender her convictions of truth and duty, whatever it might cost her. During her imprisonment she wrote a long letter to her relations, highly honorable to her character. It was full of the deep and affecting sense which she had of God's love to her soul, and expressed an entire resignation to his sovereign disposal. It also contained a vindication of her refusal to save her life by swearing the abjuration oath and by engaging to conform to prelacy, written with a cogency of argument and a solidity of judgment far above her years in education. The aged Margaret McLaughlin, it would appear, exhibited in prison less heroic resolution than her youthful companion. She was induced to send a petition to the Privy Council praying them to recall the sentence of death pronounced upon her, acknowledging the justice of the sentence and expressing her willingness to take the abjuration oath and regularly to attend her parish church. The petition is as follows, quote, unto his grace, my lord high commissioner and remnant boards of his majesty's most honorable honorable proby council, the humble supplication of Margaret Laughlison now prisoner in the tollbooth of Wigton, show us that whereas I, being justly condemned to die by the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council and Justiciary in a court holden at Wigton the thirteenth day of April instant, for my not disowning that traitorous apologetical declaration lately affixed at several parish churches within this kingdom, am I refusing the oath of abjuration of the same, which was occasioned by my not perusing the same, and now I, having considered the said declaration, do acknowledge the same to be traitorous, and tends to nothing but rebellion and sedition, and to be quite contrary unto the written word of God, and am content to abjure the same with my whole heart. May it therefore please your grace and remnant lords, as said is, to take my case to your serious consideration, being about the age of threescore and ten years, and to take pity and compassion on me, and recall the foresaid sentence so justly pronounced against me, and to grant warrant to any your grace thinks fit to administrate the oath of abjuration to me, and upon my taking of it, to order my liberation, and your supplicant shall live hereafter a good and faithful subject in time coming, and shall frequent the ordinances and live regularly and give what other obedience your grace and remnant Lord shall prescribe thereinent, and your petitioner shall ever pray." Written by William Moore, W. Dunbar witness, Will Gordon witness. Footnote. Warrants of Privy Council. End footnote. Yielding to the prayer of this petition and to the representations of Margaret Wilson's father, the Privy Council granted a reprieve to these two females and recommended them to the Secretaries of State for His Majesty's pardon. The Act of Council is as follows, quote, Edinburgh, April 30, 1685. The Lords of His Majesty's Privy Council do hereby reprieve the execution of the sentence of death pronounced by the Justices against Margaret Wilson and Margaret Laughlison, and discharge the Magistrates of Wigton from putting of the said sentence to execution against them until the fourth that day, and recommend the said Margaret Wilson and Margaret Laughlison to the Lords Secretaries of State to interpose with His Most Sacred Majesty for the royal remission to them." Footnote. Register of Acts Privy Council. End footnote. But notwithstanding this reprieve, these two women were, on the day appointed, the 11th of May, conducted from the toll-booth of Wigdon to the place of execution amid a numerous crowd of spectators who had assembled to witness so unusual a sight. They were guarded by Major Windram. It is not unworthy of notice, as affording a singular instance of the sovereignty of divine grace, that several of this persecutor's children gave pleasing evidence of early piety. Mr. James Rennick, in a letter to the Honorable Mr. Robert Hamilton, dated July 9, 1684, says, quote, A grand persecutor called Major Windram had three children who, within a little while of each other, died, one of them a very young boy and two daughters come to the years of discretion, who died very sweetly and pleasingly, declaring that the Lord's hand was stretched forth against them because of the hand their father hath in shedding the blood of the saints. and outtested him before God that he would quit the course he followed, which things had some, though no lasting, effect upon him." They were guarded by Major Windram, with a company of soldiers, and on arriving at the place were fastened to stakes, fixed in the sand between high and low water marks. Margaret MacLachlan, who is said to have now manifested great fortitude, though when in prison she had offered to make concessions, was tied to the stake placed nearest the advancing tide, that she might perish first, for the obvious purpose of terrifying into submission the younger sufferer, who was bound to a stake nearer the shore. The multitude looked on, thrilled with horror. The flood gradually made its way to the aged matron, rising higher and higher at each successive quote, mounting up from knee, waist, breast, neck, chin, lip, unquote, until it choked and overwhelmed her. Margaret Wolfson witnessed the whole scene and knew that she would soon share the same fate. But her steadfastness remained unshaken, and so far from exhibiting any symptoms of terror, she displayed a calm courage rivaling that of the most intrepid martyrs. When her fellow sufferer was struggling in the waters with the agonies of death, A heartless bystander, perhaps one of the soldiers, asked the youthful Margaret, to whom the tide had not yet advanced so far, what she thought of the spectacle before her. Quote, What do I see? unquote she answered. Quote, But Christ in one of his members wrestling there. Think you that we are the sufferers? No, it is Christ in us, for he sends none of warfare upon their own charges. End quote. When bound to the stake, Margaret Wilson sang several verses of the 25th Psalm, beginning at the 7th verse. Quote, Let not the errors of my youth nor sins remembered be. In mercy for thy goodness sake, O Lord, remember me. The Lord is good and gracious. He upright is also. He therefore sinners will instruct in ways that they should go. End quote. She then repeated with a calm and even cheerful voice a portion of the eighth chapter of Paul's epistle to the Romans. And through steadfast faith in the great and consoling truths exhibited in that sublime chapter, and in the interesting verses of the psalm she had sung, she was enabled to meet death with unshrinking courage, looking forward with humble hope to that exceeding great and eternal weight of glory, which would do more than counterbalance all her sufferings in the cause of Christ. She next engaged in prayer, and while so employed, the waters had risen upon her so high as to reach her lips, and she began to struggle with the agonies of death. At this moment, by the command of her murderers, who pretended to be willing to preserve her life, provided she should swear the abjuration oath, footnote, we say pretended because it may fairly be questioned from what we know of the character of her persecutors whether her life would have been spared even though she had sworn the abjuration oath. The other questions which it was common to put to the Covenanters might also have been put to her as, will you renounce the covenant? Was the killing of the Archbishop of St. Andrews murder? Was the rising of Bothwell Bridge rebellion? And failing to answer any of these questions in the affirmative, she might after all have been drowned by these bloodthirsty men. End footnote. But the cords which bound her to the stake were unloosened and she was pulled out of the waters. As soon as she recovered and was able to speak, it was asked her by Major Windram's orders if she would pray for the king. With the Christian meekness which forms so engaging a feature in her character, she answered, quote, I wish the salvation of all men and the damnation of none. Dear Margaret, exclaimed a friend deeply moved with pity and anxious to save her life, Say God save the king! Say God save the king!" With the greatest composure, she replied, God save him if he will, for it is his salvation I desire. Immediately her friends called out to Windrum, Sir, she has said it! She has said it! But with this, her murders were not satisfied. Lag, we are told, bellowed out. Damned bitch! We do not want such prayers! Tender the oath to her! Footnote, Aikman's Annals of the Persecution, page 518. End footnote. And Windrum, coming near her, demanded that she should swear the abjuration oath, else she should be again instantly cast into the sea. She needed not long to deliberate. In an instant, her resolve was taken. Preferring to die rather than to do what she believed would be a denial of Christ and His truth, she firmly replied, I will not. I am one of Christ's children, let me go. And so after her sufferings were thus inhumanly protracted, and after being thus cruelly tantalized with the hope of life, she was, by Windram's orders, thrust into the waters, which speedily closed over her for the last time. These females, it would appear, as has been said before, were executed in disregard of the reprieve granted to them by the Privy Council, who recommended them to the royal clemency. The date to which they were reprieved is left a blank in the records of the Council, but there is every reason to believe that it would be to a later date than the 11th of May, as at that period the facilities of communication being greatly less than at present, there would hardly be time between the 30th of April and the 11th of May to get a return from London. It seems, therefore, highly probable that our two martyrs were, by the brutality of their judges and the magistrates of Wigton, executed without orders from the government. But of the blood of these women the government were not altogether guiltless. They had ordained the abjuration oath to be put to all persons above sixteen years of age, whether male or female, and such as refused to swear it were liable to be tried and punished capitally. They had invested in inferior officers with the power of trying and condemning such as refused it. They had even given instructions to their commissioners to condemn such women as had been signally active in supporting the apologetic declaration to be drowned. Footnote, Wadros History, Volume 4, page 165. End footnote. And though in the present instance they granted a reprieve to these condemned women and recommended them to the mercy of the king, Yet, when their unprincipled and hardened officers executed the sentence contrary to orders, they did not even censure them for such a deed of revolting atrocity. The bodies of the two martyrs on being taken from the waters were buried in the churchyard of Wigton. A stone was afterward erected to their memory. The particular date of its erection cannot now be ascertained, but from the freedom of its language, it is evident that it was after the Revolution. It is placed in the wall of the church, and the inscription upon it, copied verbatim ad literatum, is as follows. Quote, Here lies Margaret Loughlin, who was by unjust law sentenced to die by Lag, Strawn, Winram, and Graham, and tied to a stake within the flood for her memento mori, adherence to Scotland's Reformation Covenants, National and Solemn League, age 63, 1685. Here lies Margaret Wilson, daughter to Gilbert Wilson in Glenvernach, who was drowned Anno 1685, aged 18. Let earth and stone still witness bare, there lies a virgin martyr here, murdered for owning Christ Supreme, head of his church and no more crime, but not of during presbytery, and her not owning prelacy, They, her condemned by unjust law, of heaven nor hell they stood no awe. Within the sea, tied to a stake, she suffered for Christ Jesus' sake. The actors of this cruel crime was Lag, Strawn, Winram, and Graham. Neither young years nor yet old age could stop the fury of their rage. End footnote. It may here be stated that a monument in honor of these and other martyrs whose ashes repose in the churchyard of Wigton is about to be erected. A sermon was preached by the Reverend Dr. William Symington of Glasgow in the parish church of Wigton on Sabbath the 24th of September 1848 in aid of a fund for carrying that object into effect. The subject chosen by the preacher was the opening of the fifth seal, Revelation 6, 9 to 11. And in an address at the close of public worship, he thus vindicates the erection of such memorials to the memory of our martyrs. Quote, let not our object be mistaken. It is not by any means to canonize the sufferers or to imitate the conduct of the Church of Rome by cherishing a superstitious and undue veneration for departed saints. Our object is to draw attention to the principles rather than to the persons of the martyrs. And this we propose to do by commemorating their noble deeds and their sufferings. We affect to tell the simple tale of their martyrdom and to renew those touching memorials which are falling into a state of decay and obliteration by a lapse of time. The principle upon which we act we regard as distinctly recognized in the approved example of the saints, the statements of holy writ, and the procedure of God himself. We have read of the pillar of Rachel's grave reared by patriarchal hands. in the way to Ephrath which is Bethlehem. This Reformation audio track is a production of Stillwater's Revival Books. You are welcome to make copies and give them to those in need. SWRB makes thousands of classic Reformation resources available free and for sale in audio, video, and printed formats. It is likely that the sermon or book that you just listened to is also available on cassette or video or as a printed book or booklet. Our many free resources, as well as our complete mail order catalog, containing thousands of classic and contemporary Puritan and Reform books, tapes and videos at great discounts, is on the web at www.swrb.com. We can also be reached by email by phone at 780-450-3730 by fax at 780-468-1096 or by mail at 4710-37A Edmonton Alberta, abbreviated capital A, capital B, Canada, T6L3T5. You may also request a free printed catalog. And remember that John Kelvin, in defending the Reformation's regulative principle of worship, or what is sometimes called the scriptural law of worship, commenting on the words of God, which I commanded them not, neither came into my heart. From his commentary on Jeremiah 731, writes, God here cuts off from men every occasion for making evasions, since He condemns by this one phrase, I have not commanded them, whatever the Jews devised. There is then no other argument needed to condemn superstitions than that they are not commanded by God. For when men allow themselves to worship God according to their own fancies, and attend not to His commands, they pervert true religion. And if this principle is adopted by the papists, all those fictitious modes of worship in which they absurdly exercise themselves would fall to the ground. It is indeed a horrible thing for the Papists to seek to discharge their duties towards God by performing their own superstitions. There is an immense number of them, as it is well known, and as it manifestly appears. Were they to admit this principle, that we cannot rightly worship God except by obeying His word, they would be delivered from their deep abyss of error. The Prophet's words, then, are very important, when he says that God had commanded no such thing, and that it never came to his mind, as though he had said that men assume too much wisdom when they devise what he never required, nay, what he never knew.