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The Martyr Graves of Scotland
By J. H. Thomson, Hightae (1903)


EDITOR’S PREFACE

When a reader finds a book to be in any way specially interesting, there is a natural desire to know something about the author. Assuming that this volume will possess this attraction to many readers, the issue of a new and revised edition affords a fit opportunity for gratifying this reasonable wish. It is true that the life of a country minister seldom presents any great variety of incident, or involves such peculiar experiences as may awaken the interest or stir the curiosity of a succeeding generation. It passes on quietly in the unobtrusive discharge of the duties of his office. He goes in and out among the people of his charge as teacher, guide, and comforter,—content to be unknown to the world at large, if only he can secure a place in the hearts of his people, and be helpful in elevating and moulding their lives to highest ends. And thus it was with the author of this volume.

The late Rev. John Henderson Thomson was born in Edinburgh in 1824. His father was connected with the United Secession Church, and his mother was a Reformed Presbyterian. That he was thus linked by earliest associations with two distinct denominations, doubtless tended to produce that wider outlook and more generous sympathy that characterised Mr Thomson. He became a member of the Reformed Presbyterian congregation of Edinburgh, of which the late Rev. Dr Goold was for more than fifty years the honoured pastor. Destined at first for a business career, Mr Thomson’s thoughts were ere long directed towards the gospel ministry; and with a view to that office he passed through the ordinary curriculum in Arts in the University of Edinburgh. At the close of his college course he entered the Theological Hall, then presided over by the venerable Dr Andrew Symington of Paisley, and was in due time licensed as a preacher of the gospel. He was an excellent classical scholar, and had considerable aptitude for teaching; and both before and after his licensure he acted as tutor in private families, and as assistant in one of the higher-class academies.

On the death of the Rev. Robert Winning, M.A., Mr Thomson was called to succeed him as minister of the Reformed Presbyterian Congregation of Eaglesham, and was ordained to that office in 1857. In ix that rural retreat, and with a small but widely-scattered congregation under his charge, he spent the next twenty years of his life. He was an excellent and instructive preacher, and proved himself to be a diligent and faithful pastor. Lively, intelligent, courteous, and kind, he was always an acceptable visitor in the homes of his people. Never did the attraction of other studies, or his interest in the public affairs of his Church, make him remiss in preparation for the pulpit, or neglectful of any part of pastoral duty. But during these years he found opportunity for a more careful study of the Church history of Scotland, and specially of the period of the persecution under Charles II. and James II. The associations of the Church with which he was connected, claiming, as it did, to be more closely linked with that epoch than any other Church in Scotland, and the circumstance that the whole district over which his labours extended, was fragrant with memories of the martyr times, doubtless tended to deepen his interest in that particular period. When to this we add the fact, that within the sphere of his labour was Lochgoin, and that among the members of his congregation were the Howies, so long the tenants of that moorland farm, and one of whom had done so much to embalm the memory of the martyrs—we have another influence stimulating his studies in the same direction. He had free access to the literary treasures of Lochgoin, in books, pamphlets, and documents bearing more or less directly on the period, and was familiar with the cherished relics of the martyr times. Thus was he led into his own special field. He devoted much of his leisure time for years to the examination of the literary and historical remains of the past; he made many a long journey in order to visit the graves of the martyrs, and the scenes most closely associated with the most memorable events in the history of the Covenanters; and in due time he gave the fruits of his labours to the public.

Mr Thomson was ever ready to take his share in the work of the Church with which he was connected, and was prompt to vindicate her position and claims; but he was by no means a narrow sectarian. In the question of the union of the churches he look a lively interest from the first, and did all that was in his power to help forward that of the Reformed Presbyterian with the Free Church, which was consummated in 1876. Not less hearty was he in support of the larger union which took place twenty-four years later, and which he lived to see accomplished.

In 1877 he received a call from the congregation of Hightae, Dumfriesshire (formerly Reformed Presbyterian), which he accepted, and he laboured there for twenty-three years. In his new sphere he set himself to discharge, with his wonted fidelity, the duties of his sacred office. He speedily won the affection of his own people, and secured the esteem and confidence of the ministerial brethren with whom he was associated; while he was ever ready to aid in every movement fitted to promote the well-being of the community and the advancement of religion and godliness. He was still in a region where the memory of the martyrs was fondly cherished, and he continued his investigations of their history, visiting almost all the scenes of their martyrdom throughout Dumfriesshire and the wilder regions of Galloway; and he had well-nigh exhausted this special field ere the infirmities of advancing years laid a restraint on his activities. After a ministry of forty-two years, he sought relief from the burden of his work, and in 1899 he obtained the assistance of the Rev. Charles Davidson, formerly of Strathmiglo. A year later he applied for leave to have a colleague and successor, and Mr Davidson was associated with him in that capacity. Mr Thomson took up his residence in Lochmaben, but did not long survive his retiral. He died on 14th January 1901, and was interred in the cemetery of that town, in the presence of a large gathering of the members of his own congregation, and of friends from different parts of the country.

Mr Thomson was widely known and highly respected throughout the Church of his early ministry, and not less so in the larger Church with which his later life was more closely associated. Well did he serve his own generation, and he has left a memorial of his life-work, on a theme that can never be without interest to all leal-hearted Scotsmen who cherish the memory of the great and good of the past, and value aright the privileges which their labours and sufferings did so much to secure to future generations. While zealously defending the character of the martyrs and the principles for which they suffered, he was at the same time fully alive to the demands and needs of the present day. He was no mere literary “Old Mortality,” furbishing up afresh the memorials of the past. He held that the Church in every successive age must adapt its methods, and direct its energies, so as best to fulfil the ends of its institution amid the ever-changing conditions of national life. He realised that a true veneration for the past should be a powerful stimulus to the Church of later times, to do faithfully that form of service which the altered circumstances of society demanded of her. It was thus that she would best approve herself as the genuine successor of the noble men who bore the standard of Zion among the mountains and moors of Scotland, and witnessed even unto death for the rights of conscience and the honour of the Church’s only Head.

Mr Thomson’s literary labours extended over a very considerable period. For about ten years prior to the Union of 1876 he conducted the Reformed Presbyterian Magazine, and was a frequent contributor to its pages. He edited for some time the Christian Treasury, in succession to Dr Horatius Bonar; and he took charge of the Childrens Record of the Free Church for a short period after the Union. But his chief literary work was of a more special and permanent character, and is to be found in the volume which is now afresh issued to the public. Regarding this work, it is proper that a brief statement should be made by way of Introduction.

The volume consists of a series of papers descriptive of the visits made by Mr Thomson to the graves of the martyrs, and to places closely associated with memorable events in Covenanting history. They were written by him at intervals during a period of about twenty-five years preceding 1894, and were all published in one form or other during his lifetime. The first eleven chapters of the present volume appeared in the Reformed Presbyterian Magazine under the title, “Travels of a Country Minister in his own Country.” In 1875 they were issued in a volume, which was well received by the public. A second volume, including Chapters XII. to XXVI., was published in 1877. These also had appeared in the same magazine. The remaining chapters of this volume were written after a considerable interval, when he was minister in Hightae, and appeared as a series of articles in the Dumfries and Galloway Standard. These were to a certain extent revised by Mr Thomson, but were never issued in book form. They were finished in September 1894; and in closing the series he says in a brief epilogue:—“I have now brought these chapters to a close. The travels that have led to their composition have been a source of great pleasure to me. The memory of the martyrs who suffered in the twenty-eight years of persecution under the reigns of Charles II. and James II., and the great principles for which they contended, are still dear to multitudes in Scotland. Wherever I have gone I have found my countrymen ready to assist me, as soon as the object of my visit was made known. Indeed, in my inquiries I have made not a few valued friendships. Meanwhile I have to own my obligations to the friends who have in any way aided me in my work; and I have also to thank the many readers who have expressed to me the deep interest they have taken in my travels to the Martyr Graves of Scotland.” All the three serieses are now issued in one volume, and thus made more accessible to the public.

A few sentences may be added here regarding the work that has fallen to the Editor in preparing this new edition. Mr Thomson was careful and thorough in his investigations, and accurate in his statements, and comparatively little required to be done in the way of correcting mistakes. Wherever any such were discovered, they have been put right,—though some slight errors may have escaped notice. In a series of papers, written at intervals during a period of twenty-five years, and on closely related subjects, it is not to be wondered at that some repetitions should occur. These have been omitted whenever that could be done without interfering with the continuity of the narrative; but in no case has anything been left out that was fitted to give clearness and force to the Author’s statement. The Editor has not felt called on to interfere with the Author’s style or mode of statement. All that has been done in this connection is,—the occasional substitution of one word for another, the omission of words or clauses that seemed superfluous, the transposition of words or clauses, and the breaking up of long and obscure sentences. Such alterations are not of very frequent occurrence.

Throughout the book there is a frequent recurrence of certain time-phrases, such as “last century,” “this century,” “fifty years ago,” and such like. These have been allowed to stand; but the reader can be in no difficulty as to the meaning if he remembers that the papers were written between 1868 and 1894; so that “last century” means the 18th, and so on. Then as to the spelling of some proper names. Every one knows that two or three hundred years ago, names were spelled differently at different times, even by the person to whom they belonged. With respect to such names as Welch, Rutherfurd, Macmillan, and Lauchlison, which frequently occur in this volume, the Editor has followed the mode, as given above, which seems to have been finally adopted by the Author, though it is not the common form. As to the additional matter scattered throughout the volume, and for which the Editor alone is responsible (with the exception of what is noted at the close of Dr Hay Fleming’s Introduction, and his interesting Appendix on the “Prisoners at Dunnottar”), a word may be enough. The Author had indeed pretty well accomplished his task; yet there were a few places that he had not visited; and it was deemed desirable that something should be said regarding these, so as to give greater completeness to the work. Reference is specially made to New Cumnock, Barr, and Kirkmichael. In other instances additions are made with the view of completing the statements in the text by fuller or more correct information. In all cases additional matter is marked by brackets [ ].

Two Indexes have been added. The one is general, and includes all the more important matters referred to in the book. There are certain authors and works that are very frequently mentioned,— Howie, Wodrow, and the “Cloud of Witnesses.” It appeared to the Editor that no good purpose was to be served by including a complete list of the references to these in the Index. He has accordingly simply given the references to what is personal to the Author, and to what relates to the origin and character of the work. The second Index is more special, and includes only the names of the sufferers mentioned in the book, whether they were executed on the scaffold, shot in the fields, banished to the plantations, drowned on the way to America, or in other ways were sufferers for the truth.

Of this work itself, as now re-issued in this complete form, it is not needful to say much. While occupied with one general subject, every reader will recognise that it is somewhat composite in character. It is descriptive, so far as the Author in his own lively way sketches the districts through which he passed in his travels, and the scenes which he visited; it is historical, in the frequent references to the public events of the period with which it deals; and it is biographical, in the notices introduced regarding the lives and characters of the martyrs, and of others whom he has occasion to mention. This variety contributes not a little to sustain the interest of the reader, while never withdrawing his attention from the tragic subject with which the work mainly deals. The Editor need not withhold an expression of his own high appreciation of the interest and value of Mr Thomson’s work. The books that are ever and anon issuing from the press, dealing with some aspect of the same epoch, testify that the interest in Scottish Martyrology does not seem to grow less, despite the engrossing character of many subjects of present day moment, that are ever pressing on public attention. It is well that it is so. The subject is not one of mere antiquarian interest, for the essence of the Martyr Testimony is something of perennial value. Among such works, this of Mr Thomson is well entitled to have its own place, alike for its subject and the manner in which it has been treated. The preparation of the work involved no small amount of toil; but the Author’s sympathy with the cause for which the martyrs suffered, his reverence for their character, and his admiration of their faithfulness and self-denying zeal, made the work a labour of love to him. Doubtless there were expressions uttered, and deeds done by some of the persecuted, which he could not approve; and for ourselves we could have wished that he had given a more emphatic condemnation of the murder of Archbishop Sharp. That unjustifiable deed was the act of individuals, for which the body of the Covenanters could not be held responsible. And surely it is quite competent to object to some expressions in the martyrs’ testimonies, or to some isolated acts done by some of them, and at the same time to give a hearty approval of the essential matters for which they were called to suffer. We can truly speak of them as witnesses for liberty of conscience, even while we grant that they had not attained, what very few in that age had attained, a full conception of what that phrase involves. Very slowly indeed have Christian men come to realise its full import; and indications appear now and again, showing that some have not yet reached it in our own day. The battle may have to be fought over again, though it may not involve the same form or fierceness of persecution and suffering.

The men and women of whom this volume speaks, despite all their imperfections, did their work nobly in their own day. They were, first of all, Christians, inspired by a personal faith in Christ Jesus; they knew the value of religion, for they had felt its blessed power, and that sustained them under all their tribulations. They recognised, moreover, how closely genuine godliness and religious freedom are bound up with civil liberty and the true welfare of a nation; and they were willing to suffer rather than be unfaithful to their cherished convictions. The testimonies that were given forth from scaffold or from prison show how clear was their apprehension, and how firm their grasp of vital truths; and we wonder at the manner in which even simple peasants could give expression to them. It seems manifest that their spiritual experience had been to them, as it has been to others, a quickening intellectual force.

That the martyrs loved their country, and were ardently desirous of its welfare, cannot reasonably be questioned. They were in the line of succession to the patriots who, in days long gone by, struggled so successfully for national freedom; and they were the genuine successors of the noble Christian leaders of an earlier age of the Scottish Church—Knox and Welch, Melville and Henderson. Standing forth as witnesses for the same glorious truths in their own dark day, they had an unwavering conviction that a brighter era was approaching, when these truths would receive a full recognition and disclose their beneficent influence. They kept alive the fire of patriotism and of genuine religion in a degenerate age; they bore aloft the banner of freedom when the great mass of the nation cowered under the tyrant’s sway; and they are worthy of being held in everlasting remembrance. We do not envy the man—least of all, the Scotsman—who can speak lightly of these martyr heroes, or hold them up to ridicule for some incidental extravagance of speech, or some unhappy expression of zeal. More reasonable it is to give due consideration to the great truths for which they witnessed, to recognise how much succeeding generations owe to them; to admire their courage, zeal, endurance, and triumphant faith; ay, and to covet such a possession of these qualities as will enable us to be as faithful to the claims of truth, righteousness, and liberty in our days as they were in theirs.

It may be said that to some the subject of this book is not attractive; that its very title is suggestive only of what is painful and depressing; and it need not be denied that in some aspects there is in it not a little that is sad and humiliating. On the other hand, if there be anything interesting and stimulating in heroic self-denial for truth and freedom, anything in the spectacle of youths and maidens, aged women and grey-haired men, ploughmen and artisans, the simple and the learned, enduring hardships, sufferings, and death for conscience’ sake, for Christ’s sake, anything in all this that discloses the power of genuine religion and the dignity and worth of Christian manhood,—then there is much in these pages that should prove attractive and cheering. Nay, should not such a record stir the question; Do I, dwelling in peace and safety, know religion as they knew it who, driven to mountains and moors, to dens and caves of the earth, rejoiced in fellowship with Christ, faced sudden death with unwavering courage, and on the scaffold gloried in the hope of immediate and eternal blessedness? This volume will accomplish a good purpose if it helps to keep alive and extend the interest of Scotsmen in the memorable epoch with which it deals, to deepen their sense of the noble character of the men who maintained the long struggle against tyranny, of the value of the truth for which they contended, and of the privileges they have bequeathed to succeeding generations.

The Editor desires, in conclusion, to express his obligations to M. S. Tait, Esq., Edinburgh, for the interest he has taken in the work and the help he has given; to Dr Hay Fleming, for his revisal and additions to Chapter XII.; to Mr Tait and the Rev. T. H. Lang, Ayr, for their kindness in going over the proofs; and to other friends who have so promptly responded to the Editor’s inquiries.

By the kindness of Messrs J. & R. Parlane, Paisley, several illustrations from the “Covenanters of Ayrshire,” by the Rev. R, Lawson, Maybole, appear in this volume.

The Martyr Graves of Scotland
By J. H. Thomson, Hightae (1903) (pdf)


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