secrets of the popularity of the Fathers of the Secession. Like the good preacher of whom Luther speaks in his "Table Talk," they knew when to leave off. Mr Brown of Inverkeithing was once asked by a young man, looking forward to the ministry, for advice as to his future work, and the answer was, "Be short, begin well, go on, and when you see the people all eagerly listening, close, and be certain what you have said will be remembered." Fisher was the principal author of the Synod's Catechism, a book that did much to mould the theology of Scotland for his own and the succeeding generation. It is little read now, but, excepting the peculiar views of the Seceders it sets forth on the deed of gift and the mediatory dominion of Christ, it would be difficult to say where a better exposition of the Shorter Catechism is to be found. At Crosshill we pass out of Lanarkshire into Renfrew, and we are now in sight of the battlefield of Langside. On the right, the clumps of trees on the heights are said to mark out the disposition of the army of the Regent Murray previous to the battle. Murray's forces were smaller than those of Mary, but they were better disciplined and under more skilful command. Mary's came from the direction of Cathcart, where tradition points out the tree, hidden in whose foliage she viewed the engagement. Sir Walter Scott says that she viewed the battle from Crookstane Castle, about four miles from Paisley, but the country round Langside has only to be looked at to see that the local tradition is much more likely to be true. Buchanan, a contemporary, narrates that the Queen stood a spectator of the action about a mile distant from the field, language quite in harmony with the local tradition, but directly opposed to the statement of the gifted novelist. The military skill of the Good Regent soon routed the forces of Mary, and sent her on the flight to England, which ended in her twenty years imprisonment, and the tragedy of Fotheringay Castle,-events which, ever since they happened, have done so much to call forth sympathy for, and warp the judgment in its decisions upon the demerits of this fascinating but abandoned woman. Do Turning from Langside, we have, on the east side of the road, the parish church of Cathcart, and on the hill, among the trees, is the village of Old Cathcart. In the churchyard, at its west end, not far from the entrance to the church, lie the mortal remains of Robert Thom, Thomas Cook, and John Urie, shot at Polmadie, to the south of Glasgow, not far from Rutherglen Bridge, on May 11, 1685, the same day that witnessed the murder of Andrew Hislop in Eskdale Muir, and Margaret Maclachlan and Margaret Wilson at Wigton, whose story has been so much the theme of discussion in recent days. Thomas Cook and John Urie were seized at the loom, and Robert Thom, a labourer, shortly after, by Major Balfour and a company of soldiers. They were asked would they pray for King James VII They answered they would pray for all within the election of grace. you question," said Balfour, "the king's election?" The reply was, "Sometimes they questioned their own." Three musketeers were drawn out. Cook and his two companions knelt down; they were blindfolded with cravats taken from some of the country people that stood by, and within an hour after they had been apprehended their blood was lapped up by the dogs. Lord Macaulay tells their story, as he does that of the other martyrs who suffered from the fury of the persecutor on the same day, with the vivid power for which his history is so remarkable. Unfortunately, in introducing the narrative of their murder, he gives expression to the prejudices against Calvinism which he shared in common with so many of the literary men of our time. Reviewers took exception to his anti-Calvinism, and shewed that his allegations were neither the teaching of Calvinism, nor warranted by the narrative of Wodrow. In the edition * See Reformed Presbyterian Magazine for March 1855, p. 87. of the history which he annotated shortly before his death, he attempted to defend himself by a quotation from Wodrow. But the defence is a failure. The passage quoted substantiates the statement of the reviewers, but certainly not his own. Lord Macaulay's note will be found in the latter part of his fourth chapter, and is a curious instance of how little Calvinism is understood by many of whom better things might have been expected. A monument marks the place where the bodies of the three witnesses lie. It is a single flat stone, six feet and a-half in length by three and ahalf in breadth, and is raised a few inches from the ground. It is in good preservation. The inscription, which was becoming illegible, has been retouched some years ago, and is easily made out. We give it as we copied it verbatim, more especially as in our edition of the "Cloud of Witnesses" —that of Dr Bates-it is found in an imperfect and altered form :— THE BLOODY MURDERERS OF THESE MEN : AS SOON AS THEY HAD THEM OUT: FOUND: Leaving Old Cathcart we soon reach New Cathcart, a thriving village, that owes its prosperity to the paper-mills that were founded by a French Protestant, who, with the best blood of France, had to flee from his country at the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. 66 Three miles from Cathcart bring us to the Sheddings of Busby, near which, some years ago, were found the remains of an old village, that must have been inhabited by the ancient Britons. From Busby the road runs with a wearisome straightness till we reach the little hamlet of Waterfoot. Here we cross the Earn, a stream on whose banks Professor John Wilson, 'Christopher North," when a boy, spent some of his happiest days. The road now resumes its straightness, and for two good miles rises and rises, until at the Bell Craig, about 500 feet above the level of the sea, we catch sight of the parish church of Eaglesham. Arrived at Eaglesham, we rest and look about us, and secure our guide. Eaglesham is one of the few villages in Scotland that has a pleasing appearance. It owes its present form to Alexander the tenth Earl of Eglinton, shot dead at the foot of the vil lage by a poacher in 1769, who, at the same time that Darvel was laid out as it now is, by the Marquis of Lothian, gave the ground which its two streets and gardens occupy, and turned the site of the old village into an open area of some 200 yards wide by 400 or 500 in length. This area, or park, as it would be called in the city, is dotted here and there with trees, and down through it dashes the stream that drives the cotton-mill that stands in its midst. The old village dated from a very early period. Its name, Eaglesham, i.e., Kirk hamlet, carries its history perhaps as far back as the times of Columba, in the sixth century. In the twelfth century the parish was gifted to one of the Montgomeries, and in the fourteenth the church was attached to the Cathedral of Glasgow. For some time after the Reformation it had no minister. In the dearth that existed of properly qualified men the people had to be content with a reader. In the Register of Ministers and Readers in the year 1574, "Maister Johnne Colvile" is entered as minister to "Kilbride, Torrens, Curmanok, Egleschame;" and "Maister Patrik Wodruif" as "reidare at Egleschame," with a stipend of 20 merks, i.e., £1: 13: 4 sterling. In the list of those who suffered by the Act of 1662, Wodrow gives the name of James Hamilton as minister of Eaglesham, and marks his name with a "C," as confined to his parish. During the long years of persecution much suffering was endured by the people. The district belonged to the Earl of Eglinton, an adherent of the men then in power. The house is still pointed out-that now occupied by the parish schoolmaster-in which an Alexander Hume, or Sheriff Hume, probably because he was sheriff-depute, or was employed by the sheriff, resided, who did much to harass and track out the sufferers. If tidings of a field preaching within his district reached his ears, there he was sure to be Richard Cameron was to preach at Mungo Hill, near the mineral well, of no mean local fame, about three miles to the south of Eaglesham, and one of the wildest and most sequestered spots in a parish affluent to riches in such places. The report came to the ear of Hume, and he and one of his retainers were soon at the spot. They immediately began to pull down the tent, on the plea that it was on Eglinton's grounds. Richard Cameron interfered, and told them, says tradition, that he was upon the ground of the great God of heaven, unto whom the earth and its fulness did belong, and charged them in his Master's name to forbear. Hume, though at first a man of large means, and, according to the "Cloud of Witnesses," a great exactor," came to poverty, and died a dependent on the charity of those whom in the days of his prosperity he persecuted. A story is told of his going with the wooden bowl used for the porridge or broth in olden times, before plates of earthenware were introduced into this country, to a farmer whom he had greatly wronged in the years of persecution, and begging from him. The farmer took pity on his former enemy, and filled his dish with meal. Hume thanked him by saying, "Thou art heaping coals of fire on my head." Upon Hume's grave, says John Howie's informant, writing in 1780, the schoolboys cast their ashes till it became a kind of dunghill, and so remains to this day. Notwithstanding Hume's vigilance the moors to the south of Eaglesham were a favourite place for preaching during the persecution. Indeed, their vast extent, and the dangerous footing the moss affords for cavalry, made them comparatively safe. Still horsemen did sometimes attempt to traverse them in pursuit of the Covenanters, but it was often only to come to an untimely end in some treacherous bog. "I have been told," said an old man to us, "that some years after the Revolution a king's horseman, and his horse beneath him, were found in a flow in the moss away in the moor back from Mungo's Well." They had sunk, and the soft moss had sucked them in, and they died. In the churchyard, at the north-west corner, near where the ministers of the parish have been buried since, is the grave of two martyrs, who were shot by a party of Highlandmen and dragoons, under the command of Ardincaple, on May 1, 1685-a day also memorable as that on which John Brown, the Christian carrier, was murdered by Claverhouse at Priesthill. Their names are not in Wodrow. Little is known of them except that they were strangers passing through the parish. "I have searched the histories of the old times," said one to us, "to find an account of them, and have never found it; but nothing is more certain than that they were shot in this parish, and that their bodies lie in the churchyard." Tradition points out the foot of Melowther Hill, not far from Hole Hall farm, about a mile and a-half to the south-west of the village, as the place where they suffered martyrdom. After the Revolution a flat stone was put over their grave. About thirty years ago, as the stone was mouldering away,* a monument was erected close by it, and the old inscription, with the text of the sermon preached on the occasion, reproduced. We give it in full, as, like the one at Cathcart, it is in an incomplete form in the “Cloud of Witnesses: " PSA. CXII. & VI. THE RIGHTEOUS HERE LIE GABRIEL THOMSON AND ROBERT LOCKHART WHO WERE KILLED FOR OUNING THE COVEN- THESE MEN DID SEARCH THROUGH MOOR AND MOSS, FOR PRESBYTRY GAINST PRELACY Like many villages in Scotland, Eaglesham is overchurched. Its four different places of Protestant worship, besides a chapel for the adherents of Rome, afford accommodation for every man, woman, and child, in the parish. Forced settlements, during the iron rule of Moderatism, have succeeded in dividing the people into sects, and alienating from the Church of Scotland the best of her children. In April 1767 the Presbytery was appointed to meet at Eaglesham for the ordination of a Mr Clark, the presentee to the parish, but a man whom the parishioners detested. When Principal Leechman and a few others came to the village, a crowd was in waiting for them. At the church every avenue was found guarded by the people, armed with sticks, resolved to dispute possession to the last; and when they tried to enter they were hooted and pelted with dirt and stones until they had to flee for refuge to a neighbouring house. Here their difficulties were not over. There were several ministers belonging to other Presbyteries, but not the three needed from the Presbytery of Glasgow. The court could not be constituted. Great was the joy of the people when they learned the ordination could not take place. When the baffled intrusionists came out they were received with shouts of derision, and were followed by the mob in full cry, until at the Bell Craig the road down hill enabled their steeds to carry them beyond the reach of their pursuers. In June following Mr Clark was ordained, but with the aid of a detachment of soldiers. He came to an untimely end. The spot is pointed out in the south side of the village where, some few years after, he fell from his horse and was killed. The last forced settlement was that of Mr Davidson in 1816. In a large parish three only-the baron-bailie, the gamekeeper, and Since the above was written we have learned that, when this stone was lifted, and the foundation dug out for the present monument, two skulls were found about the length of a man from each other, not far from the surface, lying "heads and thraws," i. e., in opposite directions. No trace of a coffin was to be seen. The probability is that the bodies had been carried down under the cover of night to the churchyard by friends, a shallow grave had been hastily dug, and, through want of time to make it large enough, they had been put in "heads and thraws,” another-were found to sign the call. Dr Chalmers, who had shortly before come to Glasgow, was present at the moderation, but all he said was to ask if there were no more to sign the call. The three were left alone, and in due time Mr Davidson was ordained. His settlement led to the formation of the Reformed Presbyterian Congregation. There had long been a Society in the district. When the second Mr M'Millan's stipend was £40, the contribution from Eaglesham was £5. In summer they had sermon about once a-month, and seldom twice in succession in the same place. Eaglesham Green, or the Kirkland, the Rivoch, the Blackwood, farms within the parish, were the favourite spots for the preaching tent. One mother in Israel tells of being proclaimed in three different places-for it was the custom then to be proclaimed before your own congregation,— and of being "kirked" at a fourth, the Blackwood. The gatherings at the communion season were very large, especially in the days of "the four Johns." People came from great distances, even so far as from Ireland. They remained for several days, and the hospitality of the congregation was shewn to all who could certify themselves to be of the good old stock. A relic of this kindly custom still survives in the bread and cheese and coffee that are freely provided for all comers in the session-house on the communion Sabbath, in the interval preceding the evening sermon. Of late years sometimes as many as forty partake of this social meal. The expenses are defrayed out of the congregational funds. It is said, however, that the treasurer's experience is, that the more he invites to the viands he has provided, so much the larger is the collection at the evening sermon ; in other words, he finds his hospitality profitable. These comers from far in old times were a pious, God-fearing people. "Had you gone out at the gloaming," our informant's mother has often told her, "you would have seen plenty of them on their knees behind the dyke on the roadside." They made the communion season a communion season in the best sense of the words. It was at one of these great gatherings at the Rivoch, a farm a mile to the south-west of Eaglesham, that Dr Andrew Symington was baptised. Largely reinforced by adherents who had left the Establishment in consequence of Mr Davidson's forced settlement, the congregation looked about for a minister. They would have called Dr William Symington, then a licentiate full of the promise that his riper years so sustained, but he gave them no encouragement, and they tried Mr Osborne, and offered him a stipend of £100. He accepted the call from Castle-Douglas, and in good time they secured Mr Winning. For more than thirty years Mr Winning ministered to them in holy things, and has left behind him a name that will long be dear to the congregation. In number the congregation is not large, but small as it is, at least seven of its families can trace their lineage to ancestors who suffered during the years of persecution. A touching story is told of the wife of one of these sufferers. Her husband had to flee to Holland, where he found the freedom his native land had denied him. He remained abroad for several years, during which, for some reason or another, no tidings of him reached her ears. From the long silence she sorrowfully concluded he must be dead. The Revolution came, and two years more passed by, but still no word of him, when one day, and it is said it was a day of bright sunshine, she and a neighbour were standing at the house door talking of the ways of the world. Suddenly the neighbour notices a man coming over the rising ground about a mile away, and says, "Yonder's a man coming over the hill uncommonly like Allan Watt. Impossible," replied the wife. "It cannot be him. He's dead long ago." The winding of the road soon hid him from view, but it was not long until he again appeared, and within a hundred yards of his own door, where the two were still talking. For a moment Mrs Watt fixed her eye upon the |