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for it, and say, 'Come all ye that fear the Lord, and I will tell you what He hath done for my soul.' And now I am made to say, that the Lord doth all things well, and holy is His name. And as for my part, I have good cause to bless the Lord that ever I was a hearer of the persecuted Gospel, and however the world think of us, that our lot is hard in a world, yet remember, that He saith in His holy word, that whosoever will live godly, must suffer persecution; and whosoever will not take up his cross and follow Me, is not worthy of Me and fear not him that can kill the body; but He hath said, 1 will forewarn you whom ye shall fear; fear Him that can kill both soul and body, and cast both into hell. And if judgment begin at the house of God, where shall the wicked and ungodly appear in that day, when He shall take vengeance on them that fear Him not, and obey not the Gospel?

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"And now, alas! I am afraid, that even much of the Gospel amongst us will be a witness against us; for it was the judgment of Capernaum that so many mighty works were done in it, and yet they believed not: and yet, for all that came upon it, it was said to be exalted up to heaven, and then we hear of its being thrust down to hell. Even so I fear, the having of so much light is the plague of our land; for it was once a praise to all the earth, but now a mocking, even among the heathens.

"And now, as a dying man, I do heartily declare my adherence unto all the holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament; and preaching of the blessed Gospel by a faithful sent Presbyterian Gospel ministry. As also, I do with all my soul and heart agree with, and assent unto the Confession of Faith, Larger and Shorter Catechisms, the Sum of Saving Knowledge, the National and Solemn League and Covenants, Directory for Worship, the Solemn Acknowledgment of public Sins and Breaches of the Covenant, and Engagement to all Duties, together with all and whatsoever is contained within the foresaid book.

"And likewise, I do hereby heartily witness and testify against Popery, Prelacy, Erastianism, Heresy, and other errors, especially Quakerism, and whatsoever is disconform, and disagreeable to the holy Scriptures, and these other sound writings above-mentioned. And siclike [i.e., in the same manner] I witness and testify my abhorrence and detestation of that abominable and blasphemous Test, which is now so violently pressed upon the people, tending to the destruction of their souls.

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Moreover, I leave my wife and six small children to the care and protection of the almighty God, who hath promised to be a father to the fatherless, and an husband to the widow: and my soul to God who gave it, for whose cause I now willingly lay down my life. And I bid farewell to all earthly and carnal comforts.

"Farewell all Christian acquaintance; and welcome Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, into whose hands I do commit my spirit.

"Sic subscribitur,

"JOHN COCHRAN."

IT the same time also suffered upon the same heads of truth, and adhering to the same testimony, these two pious martyrs, JOHN WHITELAW and ARTHUR BRUCE, who were interrogate upon the same things before the council of Lords of Justiciary, and do agree with the foregoing martyr in every respect, and express in their testimonies the like satisfaction with their lot and cheerfulness under the cross, and their adherence to the same principles, and abhorrence of the same errors.

John Wharry.

OHN M'WHARRIE, or JOHN WHARRY as he is called by the compilers of the "Cloud," was the younger brother of the laird of Scorryholm, a small property on the Logan water, about three miles to the south-west of Lesmahagow. He was at the battle of Bothwell Bridge. In Mr J. B. Greenshield's valuable Annals of Lesmahagow, his sword, an Andrea Ferrara, is said to be in possession of J. G. M'Kirdy, Esq. of Birkwood. His presence at Bothwell Bridge seems to have been unknown to his captors, for he was apprehended on an entirely different charge.

Alexander Smith, of the parish of Cambusnethan, was seized in May 1681, and taken to Edinburgh on the charge of being at He escaped out of prison, disguised in women's clothing,

but was afterwards captured. A party of soldiers were taking him again to prison, and when at Inchbelly Bridge, about a mile to the east of Kirkintilloch, a few country people suddenly attacked them and rescued the prisoner. In the affray some were wounded on both sides, and a soldier killed. The country people retired in good order, and Alexander Smith got off in safety. He lived to be taken prisoner in 1685, and was sent to Dunottar Castle, a lonely prison, now in ruins on a rock on the sea-shore, not far from Stonehaven. He soon afterwards again escaped, and was again captured in 1687, and was kept in prison till the Revolution of 1688 set him free.

After Alexander Smith and his friends were out of sight, the soldiers rallied and went in search of them. In a wood about threequarters of a mile east from Inchbelly Bridge, at a spot still pointed out, they came upon John M'Wharrie and James Smith, sitting without arms, and merely with walking sticks in their hands. The soldiers alleged they belonged to the company that rescued Alexander Smith, and brought them to Glasgow prison. At their preliminary examination, the soldiers suborned of their number to depone they saw them kill the man at Inchbelly Bridge; but at their trial no witnesses were produced, and they made no confession. Nevertheless, the court judged the fact, that they were found near the place where the soldier was killed, a proof of their having been present. No judgment could have been more unreasonable, for had they known of, or been at the rescue, they would have, like the others, speedily got out of the way, and certainly would never have thrown aside their arms. Such reasonings, however, were of no avail. They were sentenced to die on the 11th-according to the compilers of the "Cloud;" but according to Wodrow, other papers make it more justly the 13th-to have their right hands cut off, and then to be hanged, and their bodies to be carried to Inchbelly Bridge, and there hung in chains.

"Their carriage," says Wodrow, "at their execution, was cheerful and gallant. John M'Wharrie was ordered to lay his hand on the block; he thinking they required him to lay his head down, did so with much courage. Major Balfour said in a great rage, 'It is not your head but your hand we are seeking.' John answered, he had then heard wrong, but was most willing to lay down not only his hand, but his neck, and all the members of his body, for the cause of Christ. When his hand was cut off, he was not observed to shrink; but holding up the stump with great courage, said, 'This and other blood now shed, will yet raise the burned Covenants.'

"James Smith died in much peace and comfort, not in the least discomposed.

"I have some of their letters to their friends, from the prison at Glasgow, dated June 11th and 12th, full of pious matter, and discovering a very great measure of Divine joy they were under. They appear to have been sensible, serious Christians."

Their testimonies amply justify Wodrow's opinion. They have fervour and earnestness, and strength of faith, that show them to have been no ordinary men.

Although made

Fountainhall's notice of them is characteristic. from a government point of view, it justifies the statement that they were condemned without evidence. "Five of the king's guards being conveying one Smith, a fanatic, prisoner to Glasgow, seven whigs fell on them at Inchbelly Bridge, rescued the prisoner, and killed David Murray, and wounded another; and two Lesmahagow men, called M'Wharrie and Smith, were seized in Stevenson Wood, on suspicion, and hanged at Glasgow, 13th June 1683."

How long their bodies hung in chains is not known; but they were ultimately buried at the spot where they were taken, and a monument erected over them. The inscription is in the Appendix. Some years ago, the farmer disliking people walking over the field to visit the monument, moved it fifty yards to the south, close to the road-side, where it now lies under an iron railing.-ED.]

LETTER from JOHN WHARRY, who suffered at the Market-cross of Glasgow, June 11th, 1683. Written during his imprisonment, to his mother and other relations.

"DEAR MOTHER, BROTHER AND SISTERS,-I beseech you, in the name of my sweet, and altogether lovely, incomprehensible, matchless, precious, beautiful and glorious Redeemer, Captain and Conqueror over all his enemies, be not discouraged; for through His free love, cast on me in black nature, who was born an heir of sin and wrath, I am now by His blessed purchase made free by the laying down of His sweet life for poor sinners, of which I was one of the chiefest in the world, that I

might get life eternal, which is His own gift bestowed on me. And now, through His blessed hand of providence, He has made choice of poor unworthy me, to be His prisoner, who ordereth all things well to these whom He sets His love on; and these whom He loves, He loves to the end. I do not question His all-sufficiency. Dear mother, do not ye question it, but that He is sufficient to make me conqueror over my inward and outward enemies.

"Oh! mother, bless the Lord, that ever He gave you a son, and flesh and bones, to be honoured to be a sufferer for His precious name, truths and interest, cause and Covenant, and concerns, according to His own rule in His blessed word, which is contained in the Old and New Testaments, agreeable to all truths contained therein. Oh! mother, will ye be entreated for His love's sake, to give me back again to Him in a free-will offering? Oh! I am persuaded that it would please my matchless Lord, and then it would fare better with me and you both.

"Oh! if ye knew what of the kisses of love and kindness I got, since I was brought to carts, stocks, and irons. Oh! unworthy I, that should be honoured with this. Oh! mother, I beseech you for His love's sake, that ye do not repine, and thereby provoke the Lord to anger. Oh! bless Him, for making all things pleasant and delightsome, refreshful and comfortable, to my soul and my brother's. I cannot express what of love I have met with, since they apprehended me and my brother. Oh! bless Him, for dealing so with me. I beseech you, mother, be serious with the Lord, that what He hath begun, He may also perfect in us to His own glory, and for His own work, in the souls of all that are within the compass of the decree of election of free grace. I cannot describe Him; He is incomprehensible, and He is without compare. Oh! He is beautiful and glorious, strong and almighty, powerful to break through difficulties, and to bring through His own elect; all which is necessary, and nothing less, that His own, being cast in the furnace for the trial of their faith and patience, may be helped to endure; for He knows well enough to purge away the dross and the scum of His own elect. Oh! but some souls He plunges over and over; to others He limits and permits their winnowing by Satan. Oh! but true faith, believing, and casting all the weight upon the promises, will bring you to the accomplishment, if ye endure with patience. He is the same always to poor sinners, to make them to conquer over all their inward and outward enemies, to these that have received Him in the precious offers of

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