At break of day we found ourselves on a lonely brae-side, sorely weary,
hungry and faint in spirit; a few whin-bushes were on the bank, and the
birds in them were beginning to chirp,--we sat down and wist not what to
do.
Mr Witherspoon prayed inwardly for support and resignation of heart in
the trials he was ordained to undergo; but doure thoughts began to
gather in my bosom. I yearned for my family,--I mourned to know what had
become of my brother in the battle,--and I grudged and marvelled
wherefore it was that the royal and the great had so little respect for
the religious honesty of harmless country folk.
It was now the nine-and-twentieth day of November, but the weather for
the season was open and mild, and the morning rose around us in the
glory of her light and beauty. As the gay and goodly sun looked over the
eastern hills, we cast our eyes on all sides, and beheld the scattered
villages and the rising smoke of the farms, but saw not a dwelling we
could venture to approach, nor a roof that our fears, and the woful end
of poor Nahum Chapelrig, did not teach us to think covered a foe.
While we were sitting communing on these things, we discovered, at a
little distance on the left, an aged woman hirpling aslant the route we
intended to take. She had a porringer in the one hand, and a small kit
tied in a cloute in the other, by which we discerned that she was
probably some laborous man's wife conveying his breakfast to him in the
field.
We both rose, and going towards her, Mr Witherspoon said, "For the love
of God have compassion on two famishing Christians."
The old woman stopped, and, looking round, gazed at us for a space of
time, with a countenance of compassionate reverence.
"Hech, sirs!" she then said; "and has it come to this, that a minister
of the Gospel is obligated to beg an almous frae Janet Armstrong?" And
she set down the porringer on the ground, and began to untie the cloute
in which she carried the kit, saying, "Little did I think that sic an
homage was in store for me, or that the merciful Heavens would e'er
requite my sufferings, in this world, wi' the honour of placing it in my
power to help a persecuted servant of the living God. Mr Witherspoon, I
ken you weel; meikle sweet counselling I hae gotten frae you when ye
preached for our minister at Camrachle in the time of the great
covenanting. I was then as a lanerly widow, for my gudeman was at the
raid of Dunse-hill, and my heart was often sorrowful and sinking wi' a
sinful misdooting of Providence, for I had twa wee bairns and but a toom
garnel."
She then opened the kit, which contained a providing of victual that she
was carrying, as we had thought, to her husband, a quarrier in a
neighbouring quarry; and bidding us partake, she said,--
"This will be a blithe morning to John Armstrong, to think that out of
our basket and store we hae had, for ance in our day, the blessing of
gi'eing a pick to ane o' God's greatest corbies; and he'll no fin' his
day's dark ae hue the dreigher for wanting his breakfast on account of
sic a cause."
So we sat down, and began to partake of the repast with a greedy
appetite, and the worthy woman continued to talk.
"Aye," said she, "the country-side has been in a consternation ever
since Dalziel left Glasgow;--we a' jealoused that the Lanerk Covenanters
would na be able to withstand his power and the King's forces; for it
was said ye had na a right captain of war among you a'.--But, Mr
Witherspoon, ye could ne'er be ane of the ministers that were said to
meddle with the battering-rams o' battle.--No; weel I wat that yours is
a holier wisdom--ye would be for peace;--blessed are the peacemakers."
Seeing the honest woman thus inclined to prattle of things too high for
her to understand, Mr Witherspoon's hunger being somewhat abated, he
calmly interposed, and turned the discourse into kind inquiries
concerning the state of her poor soul and her straitened worldly
circumstances; and he was well content to find that she had a pleasant
vista of the truths of salvation, and a confidence in the unceasing care
of Providence.
"The same gracious hand that feeds the ravens," said she, "will ne'er
let twa auld folk want, that it has been at the trouble to provide for
so long. It's true we had a better prospek in our younger days; but our
auld son was slain at the battle of Worcester, when he gaed in to help
to put the English crown on the head of that false Charlie Stuart, who
has broken his oath and the Covenant; and my twa winsome lassies diet in
their teens, before they were come to years o' discretion. But 'few and
evil are the days of man that is born of a woman,' as I hae heard you
preach, Mr Witherspoon, which is a blessed truth and consolation to
those who have not in this world any continued city."
We then inquired what was the religious frame of the people in that part
of the country, in order that we might know how to comport ourselves;
but she gave us little heartening.
"The strength and wealth o' the gentry," said she "is just sooket awa
wi' ae fine after anither, and it's no in the power of nature that they
can meikle langer stand out against the prelacy."
"I hope," replied Mr Witherspoon, "that there's no symptom of a laxity
of principle among them?"
"I doot, I doot, Mr Witherspoon," said Janet Armstrong, "we canna hae a
great dependence either on principle or doctrine when folk are driven
demented wi' oppression. Many that were ance godly among us can thole no
more, and they begin to fash and turn awa' at the sight of their
persecuted friends."
Mr Witherspoon sighed with a heavy heart on hearing this, and mournfully
shook his head. We then thanked Janet for her hospitable kindness, and
rising, were moving to go away.
"I hope, Mr Witherspoon," said she, "that we're no to part in sic a
knotless manner. Bide here till I gang for John Armstrong and the other
twa men that howk wi' him in the quarry. They're bearing plants o' the
vineyard--tarry, I pray you, and water them wi' the water of the Word."
And so saying, she hastened down the track she was going, and we
continued on the spot to wait her return.
"Ringan," said Mr Witherspoon to me, "I fear there's owre meikle truth
in what she says concerning the state of religion, not only here, but
among all the commonality of the land. The poor beast that's overladen
may be stubborn, and refuse for a time to draw; but the whip will at
last prevail, until, worn out and weary, it meekly lies down to die. In
like manner, the stoutness of the covenanted heart will be overcome."
Just as he was uttering these words, a whiz in a whin-bush near to where
we were standing, and the sound of a gun, startled us, and on looking
round we saw five men, and one of the black-cuffs with his firelock
still at his shoulder, looking towards us from behind a dyke that ran
along the bottom of the brae. There was no time for consultation. We
fled, cowering behind the whin-bushes till we got round a turn in the
hill, which, protecting us from any immediate shot, enabled us to run in
freedom till we reached a hazel-wood, which having entered, we halted to
take breath.
"We must not trust ourselves long here, Mr Witherspoon," said I. "Let us
go forward, for assuredly the blood-hounds will follow us in."
Accordingly we went on. But it is not to be told what we suffered in
passing through that wood; for the boughs and branches scourged us in
the face, and the ground beneath our feet was marshy and deep, and
grievously overspread with brambles that tore away our very flesh.
After enduring several hours of unspeakable suffering beneath those wild
and unfrequented trees, we came to a little glen, down which a burn ran,
and having stopped to consult, we resolved to go up rather than down the
stream, in order that we might not be seen by the pursuers whom we
supposed would naturally keep the hill. But by this time our strength
was in a manner utterly gone with fatigue, in so much that Mr
Witherspoon said it would be as well to fall into the hands of the enemy
as to die in the wood. I however encouraged him to be of good cheer;
and it so happened, in that very moment of despair, that I observed a
little cavern nook aneath a rock that overhung the burn, and thither I
proposed we should wade and rest ourselves in the cave, trusting that
Providence would be pleased to guide our persecutors into some other
path. So we passed the water, and laid ourselves down under the shelter
of the rock, where we soon after fell asleep.