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1826-1827.
THE time of my
marriage was now close at hand, and I made preparations accordingly.
The first was to provide supplies for the pulpit of Resolis during
my absence, which could not be less than a fortnight. The Thurso
sacrament was to be administered on the 11th of June, and my
marriage to take place nine days afterwards. On my journey to Thurso
I stopped at Kincardine manse, on Wednesday,. the 7th of June. Mr.
and Mrs. Allan, my kind friends, received me with much cordiality.
Mrs. Allan was sister of my co-presbyter, Mr. Stewart of Cromarty.
Some years before then I had seen her when a young lady at the manse
of Kirkhill. Her marriage with Mr. Allan took place very soon after
mine with my departed and beloved Harriet; for on our way north we
met Mr. Allan near Pitmachie going south for a similar purpose.
Nothing could have conveyed to my mind at the time a more perfect
idea of connubial bliss than that presented to my view by this most
amiable couple during my stay under their most hospitable roof. [Mr.
Hector Allan was ordained missionary-minister of Fort-William in
1819, and translated on 12th April, 1821, to Kincardine in the
Presbytery of Tain. He died 9th December, 1853, in the 63rd year of
his age and 35th of his ministry.—Ed.] Next day I proceeded on my
journey, and after crossing Bonar Bridge, struck across the hill, by
Torboll and the Mound, to Golspie. I arrived at Thurso on the
evening of Friday, the 9th.
I had resolved, in
existing circumstances, to make as few public appearances on that
occasion as I possibly could, and, notwithstanding Mr. Mackintosh's
pressing solicitations, I declined preaching in English at all. I
consented only to preach in Gaelic at the tent on Saturday, and
exhort at a few tables in the same language on Sabbath. My venerable
friend Mr. Cook of Dirlot preached in English on the Monday, and I
engaged his services to solemnise our marriage.
On the 20th June,
1826, our marriage took place as appointed. Mr. Cook performed the
nuptial rite. Those present were, Mr. and Mrs. Mackintosh and
family. Capt. and Mrs. Sutherland, Mr. George Sinclair, yr. of
Ulbster, and Mr. William Smith, minister of Bower. We all dined
together at the manse, and my wife and I remained over night. Capt.
Sutherland and his wife (who was Mr. Mackintosh's eldest daughter)
and Miss Margaret Sutherland, from Dunfermline, the youngest
daughter of Mr. William Sutherland, minister of Wick, accompanied us
next day as far as Ulbster, Capt. Sutherland's place of residence.
Whilst visiting at Wick, in her father's lifetime, I had seen Miss
Margaret Sutherland, but had little or no acquaintance with her. She
might then be about twenty years of age, and fifteen years had
passed since, so that she was now considerably beyond her prime. She
accompanied us from Caithness to Resolis, and resided with us for
nearly twelve months. It was then that I was able to appreciate the
excellence of her Christian character. In respect of meekness I
never met with her equal. It was indomitable, and rose above every
rude assault made upon it. Nor did this arise from any natural want
of perception or sensibility. Her perceptions on all subjects were
clear and scriptural, and she was largely endowed with all the finer
sensibilities of our common nature. This great equanimity of mind,
and temperance in all things, contributed to secure to her
uninterrupted health; and, when at last attacked with a deadly
disease, the patience with which she bore it helped to defer the
final issue.
Arriving at Ulbster
in the evening, Captain and Mrs. Sutherland received us with much
cordiality. Next day I accompanied Captain Sutherland on an
excursion over his farm. It was a sweet, south-lying, sunny, and
sequestered spot, sheltered by the hills of Yarrows, and situated on
the very edge of dizzy and beetling precipices. Some of them were
huge, insular, and detached rocks, presenting to the eye the
gigantic fragments of an antedeluvian world. To the far north-east
might be seen the bold promontory of Noss Head, on which are
situated the castles of Girnigoe and Sinclair, the baronial
fortresses of the earls of Caithness when in the zenith of their
power to do evil. South of Wick, but still to the north, and nearer
Ulbster, were the dusky, weather-beaten walls of the "Auld Man of
Wick " (or Auldwick), which had been the chief residence of Count
Rognvald Cheyne ; and nearer still was Castle Gunn, or the fortalice
of the "Great Gunn of Ulbster," the old Norse lord of the district,
situated on an almost entirely insulated rock jutting into the sea.
I entered the burying-ground. My attention was first directed to the
tomb—a square, low building covered over with a slated pavilion
roof. The door was in the centre of its southern wall, the wood of
which, once painted, was crumbling into rottenness, spray-pelted by
the pitiless blasts of ocean. The Sinclairs came into the possession
of the tlbster estate immediately after the Gunns, and this tomb was
their last restin'-place. All the lairds were buried here down to,
and except, Sir John Sinclair. As I was passing out of the cemetery,
I came upon a large mossy slab which bore upon its surface some rude
attempts at sculpture. I understood that this marked the grave of a
Danish princess whom, as tradition of long standing affirms, one of
the great Gunns of Ulbster married, but, after conveying her by see,
to her future home, the boat in which she was passing from the ship
to the shore was swamped, and the princess drowned.
Accompanied by Miss
Margaret Sutherland we left Ulbster ou Friday, the 23rd of June,
1826. On Saturday evening we arrived at the manse of Kincardine,
where we received a cordial welcome. On the Sabbath I preached in
Gaelic, and Mr. Allan in English. We left Kincardine on Monday after
breakfast, but instead of crossing the Struhie, which was the
shortest road, we came round by Tain to Invergordon, and arrived at
Resolis late in the evening. There we were received by our household
servants with all honour and respect. [Mrs. Elizabeth Mackintosh or
Sage was born on the 13th Oct., 1807. In the relationships of wife
and mother she ever acquitted herself as a true and devoted helper
in the Lord. She departed this life on Friday, the 23th Jan., 1889,
in the 82nd year of her age.—Ed.]
The Hon. James
Sinclair was, with his amiable wife, a resident proprietor in the
parish of Resolis in 1826. According to the old regime, Caithness
and Bute returned members to the House of Commons alternately. Bute
had returned a member to the last Parliament, which was dissolved
sometime in the beginning of the summer of this year. The electors'
turn of Caithness next came to send their representative. The family
of Ulbster, though not the highest in rank, was the most potent in
point of territory in the county. Sir John Sinclair, accordingly,
for a long series of years, was, alternatively with the
representative for Bute, elected M.P. for Caithness. His son Mr.
George Sinclair succeeded him; but on the present occasion an
opposing candidate was started, supported by Mr. James Horne of
Langwell, who got a majority of the proprietors to give him their
votes. The opposing candidate was Mr. James Sinclair of Braelangwell.
The election took place on the 3rd July, and the Honble. James
carried his election by five votes. The vanquished candidate,
however, though rejected by the electors, was honoured by the
multitude. He was carried in procession in a chair of state, with
colours flying and a band of music, mingled up with the loudest
plaudits of the populace, whilst his successful opponent and his
agent Mr. Horne were saluted with every mark of scorn and contempt.
Mr. Sinclair of
Braelangwell was the second son of James, Earl of Caithness. He had
been in the army, and had married in 1819 Miss Triton, daughter of
George Triton, a porter-brewer in London. I had seen Mr. Sinclair
many years before, when he was a mere youth, at the manse of
Canisbay. When he first came to Ross-shire he resided at Allan Bank,
in the parish of Knockbain. Having purchased the estate of
Braelangwell for £12,000 from the heirs of the late Mr. Roderick
Kilgour Mackenzie of Flowerburn, he came to reside there. His wife,
an amiable and accomplished woman, was in very delicate health.
Although intemperate and wasteful in his habits, he was
nevertheless, a most expert financier; he was always in need of
money, but never seemed at a loss to procure it to clear scores with
pressing creditors. At length, however, his estate fell to Mr.
Duncan Davidson of Talloch, then a young man, who, having recently
succeeded his father—the head of the firm of Davidson, Barclay, &
Co.—and being in great affluence himself, had lent money to Captain
Sinclair, and entered upon Braelaugwell as being the largest of the
creditors.
On the 7th of July
Mr. Mackintosh of Thurso wrote me % letter in which he expresses the
hope that "Miss Sutherland will see her sister, Mrs. Milne, settled
in Canisbay before she returns to Dunfermline." He did not. then
anticipate any opposition to Mr. Milne's settlement. "The
presentation was received," he remarks, "from the patron's own
hands. Such a favour, however, whatever the intention might be,
could in no way enhance either the honour or the benefit it
conferred upon the presentee, when bestowed by such a man as
Freswick, as he was supremely indifferent to what a minister's duty,
or a congregation's benefit, really was. Freswick, who was an
out-spoken, practical atheist, had no other object in view in giving
Mr. Milne the presentation to Canisbay than to show forth his own
"little brief authority " in the matter. He knew well enough that
poor Milne, though naturally a mild, gentle creature, was neither a
practical nor a popular preacher. It would therefore please him all
the more if the parishioners should oppose his settlement, as an
opportunity would be thereby afforded him for the sweeping exercise
of his power as patron. But whilst all this was only what might be
expected of such a men as William Sinclair of Freswick, it is also
true that there were faults on all sides. My much-revered friend,
the minister of Thurso, received the intelligence of his
brother-in-law's promotion in too much of a secular spirit, and as a
happy occurrence in Providence for providing a comfortable home for
his wife's sister %nd family. The people of Canisbay were at first
entirely passive in the matter. They knew so little of true religion
that whatever their parish minister chose to preac,h from the pulpit
on Sabbath, whether "orthodox, heterodox, or any dox," they supposed
it must surely be what was called the gospel. But they had
occasionally met with some who said they felt the power of it on
their hearts. Such persons went among them at this time, and
persuaded them to resist Mr. Milne's induction as that of one who
could not edify the Church of Christ. Two pious men from Thurso were
specially active this way, their only call thereto being the
unerring accuracy and weight which they attached to their own
private judgment. There was also one Alexander Campbell, a preacher,
who had joined the separatists, and acted as a sort of missionary to
the Highlanders in Dunnet, who busied himself to stir up the people
of Canisbay against the presentee. The consequence was that, when
the Presbytery met in their church to moderate in the cull, the
majority of the parishioners refused to sign it, and, instead,
protested against Mr. Milne's induction. Several meetings of
Presbytery followed, and in the discussions which ensued only the
worthy Mr. Gunn of Watten took the part of the people of Canisbay,
joining them in an appeal to the higher courts. Later, however, tie
too was led to alter his course. The appeal was fallen from, and Mr.
Milne inducted. [One objection made by the parishioners before the
Presbytery was to the effect that Mr. Milne was "above the priest's
age." He died is 1832, aged 64, after a ministry of 5 years.—Ed.]
Freswick was generally present at these meetings, and at one of
them, when I was myself there, he indulged in one of his usual
ebullitions of passion towards Mr. Gunn because of the opposition to
his presentee.
The parish school of
Rasolis had at this time a very inefficient teacher, and, in great
contrast to it, was a little subscription school at Balblair, in the
easter end of the parish. This was taught by a young man named Henry
Macleod, who kept it in a high state of efficiency and order.
MacLeod's parents were from Sutherlandshire, and had been evicted
with many others. I took a special interest in him, inviting him to
came to the manse to learn Greek, and afterwards procuring for him
the Assembly's school at Jarnimaville. Mr. MacLeod of Cadboll helped
him to get the parish school of Kincardine (Ross-shire), where he
remained, highly respected by all, till he finished with the college
and the hall, and was licensed to preach. He has now been for many
years Free Church minister of Ardclach.
About mid-way between
Inverness and -Nairn, on the southern shores of the Moray Firth, is
situated the parish of Croy, which, at the commencement of my
ministry, from various associations in my mind connected with it,
was to me at least a " Holy Land." In that part of the north I met
with a goodly number of men, bearing the name of Christ, who were
certainly among the most eminent Christians I ever had the privilege
to meet during my life and ministry. Their names are engraved upon
my most vivic'and affectionate remembrances of the past. These were,
Hugh MacDonald at Campbeltown; his senior in years and in grace,
John Macnishie, and his son Donald, who lived at Connage of Petty;
John Macllvaine at Milton of Connage; John Munro at Croy; Angus
Ross, catechist of Nairn; Hugh Cluness at Ardclach; William Sinclair
at Auldearn; John Fraser, catechist, both of Ardersier and Petty,
and many others. I was first introduced to this Christian circle in
1822, during the vacancy at Croy, caused by the death of Mr. Hugh
Calder. John Munro had obtained permission from the Presbytery of
Nairn to get supplies for all the vacant Sabbaths from the
neighbouring presbyteries; and having made application to me, I at
once agreed, and accompanied him thither. After crossing the
Fort-George Ferry, we arrived at Campbeltown, and, in passing, dined
at Hugh MacDonald's house. We afterwards proceeded to Culblair, the
hospital mansion of Captain Eneas Shaw, who, conjointly with his
brother George, leased the farm from the Earl of Moray. Thus then
did I first become acquainted with Hugh MacDonald; and from that
time until the day of his death, the more we knew of each other the
more united we became in the bonds of Christian brotherhood, and the
oftener we met the better we understood one another, as travellers
to the same country and partakers of the same faith in the one
common Lord. We journeyed together in the wilderness of this world
for about 33 years. I look back, as on some of the most prosperous
periods of my ministerial life, to the many passing hours, both by
day and night, spent under his lowly and hospitable roof, on my way
to and from the Moray side, when fulfilling my numerous engagements
to preach either at sacraments or on special week-day services. When
I entered the village, as his honse stood close to the street, my
eye was never satisfied until it lighted upon his tall, spare figure
standing before his shop-door, clad with a linen apron, eagerly
waiting for my arrival, of which he had got previous notice. Both
his hand and his countenance bespoke at once how cordially he
welcomed our meeting. We entered the house together, and, passing
through his small shop or wareroom, ascended a narrow and somewhat
steep stair, sat down in the neat little attic above, and eagerly
engaged, so far as time permitted, in alternate question and answer
on the business of a King and Kingdom which but few, alas! of the
age in which we lived either knew or cared for. When we parted, if
on my way going, he convoyed me to the top of the brae at the end of
the village, or, if returning, he accompanied me from his house to
the ferry-boat at Fort-George. He lived at that time in close
Christian fellowship with John Macnishie, "an old disciple," then at
the extreme limits of his earthly pilgrimage, who a few years
afterwards entered into his "everlasting rest." But John Macnishie's
son Donald, and John Macllvaine, were Hugh's almost daily and
inseparable companions and fellow-travellers to Sion. They were all
three brought to the knowledge of Divine truth under the ministry of
that eminent man of God, the late Mr. Charles Calder of Feriutosh,
the immediate predecessor of Mr. MacDonald. 'I'hey made me ashamed
of myself, though it not a little "puffed up" self within me, by
bringing my preaching into favourable comparison with that of so
great a man and of so highly honoured a servant of Christ Jesus as
Mr. Calder. From the similarity of our views of the truth, ever
after they heard me at Croy on the occasion already alluded to, they
continued to be my hearers at Resolis every Sabbath. [Groups of
people also crossed the ferries of Invergordon and Alness from the
north on Sabbath mornings, and took their places in the church of
Resolis as regular bearers during the ministry there of Mr.
Sage.—Ed,]
But the oldest and
most venerable of the many eminent Christians whom I found in
Resolis was Hugh Ross, or Buidh, so called from the colour of his
hair. He was a native of the parish of Alness, but resided
afterwards in Rosskeen. At an early age he was led by the Spirit of
God to feel deep anxiety about his soul's welfare in view of a world
unseen and eternal, under the able and honoured ministry of Mr.
James Fraser, minister of Alness, the author of one of the
profoundest theological treatises ever written on "Sanctification."
Under such ministerial training, Hugh became, in his time, an
exceedingly bright example of "a sinner saved by grace." He finally
came to reside in Resolis, where I frequently met with him, and lie
entertained me with many interesting passages in the life and
teaching of his spiritual father in Christ. Though intimately
conversant with the Scriptures, yet, strange to say, he could not
read. It was justly said of him, however, that though he had not the
Bible on his table or in his pocket, he had it in his heart. One
anecdote which he told me of Mr. James Fraser is interesting. It was
as follows:—Mr. Hector MacPhail, at the beginning of his ministry in
Resolis, was very low-spirited. This arose, not from physical but
from moral causes. Not having experienced the consolations of the
gospel in his own soul, he was greatly straitened in preaching it to
others. The impression on his mind, therefore, was that, in the
circumstances, it was his duty to resign his office. He,
accordingly, invited his beloved brother and neighbour, Mr. Fraser
of AIness, to preach at Resolis on a day named, and to intimate his
intention to the congregation. Mr. Fraser readily complied with the
request to preach, but made no reference whatever to the intended
resignation. Such was the fervour, the unction, and the enlargement
with which he declared "the whole counsel of God," that the large
audience present was deeply moved, and no one so agitated as was the
venerable Hector MacPhail himself. The comforts of the gospel, to
which he had been so long a stranger, returned with double their
former energy and influence. He could no longer contain himself,
hut, starting up to his feet, his eyes streaming with tears, and his
bands stretched out towards his honoured brother in the pulpit, he
exclaimed —"qty father! my father! the chariots of Israel and the
horsemen thereof." This exclamation was instantly followed up by the
sobbing of the people. Mr. Fraser paused for some minutes until the
emotion had somewhat subsided. Then, addressing his weeping brother,
he asked, "Do you still persist in your resolution to resign?" "O
no, no, no," he replied, "I adopted that resolution hastily, but, so
help me, my Father in Heaven! I resolve, in his name and strength,
to devote myself to his service, in soul and body, mind and spirit.
From that day Mr. MacPhail continued to be a living and eminently
successful preacher of the gospel. "For the period of three years
afterwards," said Hugh, "scarcely a Sabbath passed in Resolis
without one or more being brought under saving impressions of divine
truth." On a Sabbath afternoon, immediately after public worship,
when partaking of some dinner with me in the manse, Hugh Buidh
expired suddenly, and entered an eternal world as placidly as he had
begun his former night's sleep.
The birth of our
first child in the end of July brought me many congratulatory
letters, but I shall only notice the writers of three of these. One
was from Mr. John Sutherland of Dunfermline. This gentleman was the
eldest son of Mr. William Sutherland, minister of Wick, and he was
thus the brother of Airs. Mackintosh of Thurso. His father was
descended from a long line of ministers of the Episcopalian and
Presbyterian Churches of Scotland, who had, besides John, a throng
family of at least fifteen sons and daughters. Mr. John Sutherland
had been for a time a linen manufacturer in Dunfermline, but at this
period he had retired into private life. He was unmarried, and his
sisters Mary and Margaret lived with him till his death some years
after.
Mr. John Fraser,
banker and merchant, Inverness, was another of our friends who, on
this occasion, sent his hearty congratulations. This gentleman was
the son of Air. William Fraser, a wealthy burgess of Inverness, who,
for reasons which I never could ascertain, was, by his
fellow-townsmen, called Buchtie. His only son John succeeded his
father in business. His mother was the daughter of a Air. Munro,
tenant of the farm of Delnies, on the estate of Cadboll. Mr. John
Fraser bad several sisters who were married respectively to Mr. Hugh
MacBean, minister of Ardclach; Mr. James Russel, minister of
Gairloch; and Mr. MacBean, a merchant in Florence, Italy. Some years
before, Air Fraser had married Miss Lilias Fraser, eldest daughter
of my near and very dear relative, Air. Donald Fraser, minister of
Kirkhill. [Mr. William Fraser was proprietor of Buchtie, a small
estate near Inverness. Mr. John Fraser finally removed to Canada,
where he became a banker at London, Ontario. While there, he was the
faithful friend and adviser of Highland Scotch emigrants, whom he
directed to settlements in the surrounding forest-lands, which by
industry they soon converted into fertile and fruitful fields. His
third son William became minister of the Free Church of Scotland,
first, at Gourock, then in Edinburgh, and lastly in the Presbyterian
Church, Brighton, where he died suddenly in 1887, when preaching a
special sermon to soldiers. Dr. Donald Fraser, the distinguished and
talented minister of Marylebone Church, London, is Mr. John Fraser's
second son.—Ed,] In this same letter he intimates the birth of his
third son William, which took place on 27th July, 1827.
A third letter was
from my early acquaintance and next neighbour, Mr. 'MacDonald of
Ferintosh. He always sympathised with us both in our joys and
sorrows, and often visited us. He and I lived on terms of closest
intimacy, interrupted only by his many engagements from home. These
were entered into so much and so frequently that nothing but a more
than ordinary, and perhaps more than human, zeal for the success of
the gospel could justify. In the north or in the south, and
especially in the Highlands of Perth, Argyll, and Inverness-shires
he occupied himself in evangelistic work, almost uninterruptedly for
at least two-thirds of the whole year. It is true that, at stated
intervals, he returned and preached at home, but it as often
happened that, on his way from the south to fulfil an engagement in
the far north, he passed his own house, and remained within a mile
of it until Such time as a change of raiment could be sent to him.
This was surely carrying matters to an extreme, the consequence of
which was the neglect of his own people; so much so, that even after
the close of Mr. Calder's ministry, and during the whole of his own,
piety and pious men rapidly declined, and finally almost died out
among them.
At the time he wrote
me this good man had set his heart upon entering on a mission to
Ireland. The state of that country was such as would have awakened
the sympathies of Paul the Apostle. It also arrested the attention
of "the apostle of the North." He decided to go thither and preach
the gospel, believing it to be the only moral, spiritual, and even
political panacea for all the evils which lay so heavily on the poor
Irish. He, therefore, made the necessary preparations, asking me, in
common with other of his brethren, to supply his pulpit, and fulfil
his other pastoral duties during his absence. On the 6th of August,
1827, therefore, he set out for the Emerald Isle. He met with a most
favourable reception from the Irish people, both Popish and
Protestant. The strain of his preaching was calculated to gain him a
hearing from all parties. It was purely and thoroughly scriptural,
and all controverted points, so frequently and fiercely debated
between ultra-Protestants and Papists, were carefully excluded. He
preached the doctrines of the Cross in their divine and majestic
simplicity, and this secured for them a reception into the hearts
and consciences of men of every grade, class, age, and religious
opinion. But as even in the apostolic age, so honoured by the
presence of the Holy Ghost, was found an "Apollos, an eloquent man,"
so in his age was Mr. Macdonald. He had a natural eloquence not
surpassed, or even equalled, by his ablest contemporaries. Like the
gospel itself, it was powerfully and irresistibly persuasive. The
impression it made on the minds of his audience was not altogether
that conviction of sin which they might be led to feel by mere
logical power of reasoning, so much as a sense of contrition and
self-accusation for what they found and felt themselves to be under
the rich manifestations of the superabounding grace of the gospel.
To Mr. Macdonald,
therefore, the Irish, without distinction of denomination, listened
with profound attention. Addressing them as he did, if not in their
own dialect of the Celtic, yet in a kindred one which they
understood nearly as well, he was gladly heard, even by the Papists,
for the sake of the language in which he spoke. They neither knew
nor cared to enquire whether this extraordinary preacher was a
Protestant or a Papist, an Episcopalian or a Presbyterian. These
distinctions were swept aside by the flood of precious gospel truth
poured so copiously from his lips upon their minds, and they
received him as a preacher of righteousness, giving to the doctrines
which he set forth a reception similar to that so readily accorded
to those of his Divine Master by the mixed multitude when they
acknowledged that "He taught as one having authority, and not as the
scribes." Through the whole of his itinerancy in Ireland his fame
always preceded him; wherever he went he was never without a crowd
and a welcome, and whether he travelled by day or by night he was
equally safe. The wildest and most lawless of the Popish mob in
Ireland, be they "White-boys" or " Peep-of-Day-boys," however much
in use and wont to fight with others or among themselves, were under
a law of amity and good behaviour towards the Irish-speaking,
Scottish preacher. So far were they from injuring or annoying him
that, if any difficulty arose to his onward progress from the state
of the road, or any danger to his person were threatened by those
who did not know him, they were ready to come to his rescue. Not so,
however, did it fare with other preachers travelling through these
same districts for similar purposes. Notwithstanding their good
intentions, they unfortunately met with a very different reception.
These zealous ministers (dissenters from the south of Scotland),
fell unwittingly at the very outset into two blunders. In preaching
to the native Irish, they used the language of the Saxon, the medium
of all others the most abhorrent to the Irish people. This error,
perhaps, they could not avoid, but they made a greater mistake when
they decided to substitute, as the leading subject of their sermons,
the Popish controversy for the gospel. This was the torch applied to
light up a general conflagration. The preacher spoke and waxed hot
on the abuses, delusions, and errors of Popery; the Popish audience
heard and waxed hotter still at the public insult thus thrown out
against the religion of their country. The speaker was often obliged
to stop, and even to flee for his Iife to find shelter from an
enraged hand of fanatical devotees.
It was in the end of
this year that I received a letter from Mr. Hugh Davidson of Wick,
conveying the melancholy intelligence of the death of his
sister-in-law, Mrs. Davidson of Latheron. Maria Serena Robertson,
wife of Mr. George Davidson, minister of Latheron, died most
peacefully on the 1st of November, 1827, in the 25th year of her
age. She was the younger sister of my dearly beloved Harriet, and
was a meek, gentle, loving woman, on whose face was never seen a
frown, and from whose lips was never heard a rude or angry word. I
fully believe her to have been one of Christ's beloved disciples,
and that when she gently glided from this earthly scene, it was to
take her place in an infinitely better world. |
