CHAPTER XXVI.

Fergussons of Threerigs-Craigdarroch-Wilson of CroglinJohn Gillespie.

THE small estate of Threerigs, in the parish of Glencairn, was, in the times of persecution, possessed by a worthy gentleman of the name of Fergusson, who died a few years prior to the Revolution. This gentleman was related to the laird of Craigdarroch, mentioned in a former chapter. He had two sons, Alexander and William-the former of whom was the heir of Threerigs. The two sons were Nonconformists, and ardently attached to the principles of civil and religious liberty. But though they approved themselves the warm friends of the oppressed, and abetted the suffering followers of Christ to the utmost of their power, it does not appear that they were taken notice of before the year 1684. The house of Caitloch, in Glencairn, seems to have been a place of frequent resort to the Covenanters in those troublous times. It was to this place that the Rev. John Blackadder of Troqueer, near Dumfries, fled for refuge when he was ejected from his parish. One day Alexander Fergusson, the eldest son of the laird of Threerigs, paid a visit to Caitloch, for the purpose of meeting with any of the suffering party who might happen to be there in concealment; and during his stay at this place, a company of troopers reached the neighbouring village of Minihive, on their way to Caitloch and the parts adjacent, in search of Nonconformists. The pleasant village of Minihive lies in the midst of a sweet opening among the hills by which it is surrounded, and commands a delightful variety of scenery. In the immediate vicinity of this secluded village stands the ruin of the identical house in which was born Renwick, the last of the martyrs, to whose memory a handsome monument is erected near the spot. It was to Minihive that one of the

sons of Mr Blackadder, a boy of ten years of age, fled naked in the night season, when the dragoons were plundering his father's house at a short distance from the village. I ran," he says, "the length of half-a-mile in the dark night, naked to the shirt. I got to a neighbouring toune called the Brigend of Minihive, where, thinking to creep into some house to save my life, I found all the doors shut, and the people sleeping; upon which I went to the cross of the toune, and got up to the uppermost step of it, and there I sat me down and fell fast asleep till the morning. Between five and six a door opens, and an old woman comes out, and seeing a white thing on the cross, comes near it, and when she found it was a little boy, cries out, 'Jesus, save us ! what art thou?' With that I awoke, and answered her: I am Mr Blackadder's son. 'Oh, my puir bairn, what brought thee here? I answers There is a hantle of fearful men with red coats has burnt all our house; my breether, and my sister, and all the family. 'O puir thing,' says she, 'come in and lie down in my warm bed;' which I did, and it was the sweetest bed I ever met with."

Mr James Brotherstones, minister of the parish of Glencairn, in which Minihive is situated, was ejected at the Restoration. He was, consequently, one of those who remained firm to his principles, both doctrinally and ecclesiastically; and not a few of his parishioners followed his example, and some of them obtained the crown of martyrdom; of whom it is unnecessary to take notice here, as they have already obtained an honourable niche in the page of the historian.

When the dragoons left Minihive, the first place to which they proceeded was Caitloch; and having, it would appear, arrived rather unexpectedly, they seized a number of persons, among whom was Alexander Fergusson. This little band of captives was conducted to Minihive to undergo an examination before the authorities. Fergusson had in his pocket a number of musket balls, which he scattered unnoticed among the thick grass by the way-side, that he might divest himself of everything which, in the view of his enemies, might be deemed suspicious. It happened that the laird of Craigdarroch was among the examinators when the prisoners were introduced; and seeing the son of his friend of Threerigs among the rebels, he was deeply distressed at the circumstance. He was fully aware that the slightest evidence of his being a Covenanter would insure the ruin of the fine young man who stood before him, and perhaps the ruin of

the whole family. Craigdarroch did not seem to recognise him as a kinsman, nor did Fergusson take any notice of the laird. They knew that anything like a mutual recognition would be viewed in an unfavourable light. Meanwhile Craigdarroch was endeavouring to devise some means for the rescue of his friend; and the plan which he formed was successful. He was sitting apparently at his ease, and casting a careless look at the prisoners, when all on a sudden, as if caught by surprise, be raised his voice in a loud and indig nant tone, and addressing Fergusson as if he had been his shepherd, exclaimed: "Sandy, what business have you here? how came you to leave my sheep on the hill without my permission? what right have you to go strolling from house to house, exposing yourself to danger in gratifying your taste for silly gossiping? Begone, Sir, begone instantly, and attend more carefully to your flock, else you may expect a quick dismissal from my service." On his being accosted in this authoritative manner by his friend, Fergusson took the hint, and stole away, as if ashamed, under the weight of the reproach which had been thus sharply administered. In this way the young laird of Threerigs escaped the danger which was pending over him; and he retired without interruption, and without a question being asked at him. Some time after this occurrence Craigdarroch met him, and congratulated him on his seasonable deliverance; at the same time remarking, that great caution was to be observed by him in his future movements. "I am," said he, " as warmly attached to the cause as you are; for it is the cause of liberty and religion. I have been successful in effecting your rescue by very simple means on this occasion; but should you happen again to be apprehended and brought before these men, it will not be in my power to deliver you a second time. Information has been lodged against you as a suspected person, and no means will avail to save you should you now fall into the hands of your enemies: therefore, my young friend, look to yourself." It appears that the family of Threerigs showed very great kindness to the persecuted Covenanters. There was a wood on the estate, in the thickets of which numbers of the sufferers were concealed, and fed by the family; and the knowledge of this circumstance eventually proved their ruin.

The caution given by Craigdarroch was not without reason; nor were his apprehensions for his friend's safety groundless. It soon became publicly known that Alexander and his brother had fully espoused the covenanting interest; and the

violent party took up the matter, and resolved to bring the malcontents to punishment. Accordingly, they were summoned before the superintendents of the district; but not choosing to appear, they were declared rebels. Their cattle and their goods were seized, their house pillaged, and their estate transferred to their neighbour, the laird of Glencrosh. Being thus reduced to the greatest straits, and destitute of all things but a good conscience and a good cause, they were obliged to retire with the rest of the wanderers to the wilds and mountains for safety. They had lost, for Christ's sake, everything they valued on earth but their lives; and now to preserve them in an honest and Christian manner was their chief care. The privations to which they were subjected, and the trials they endured in common with their Christian friends, with whom they were now obliged to wander from place to place, were neither few nor small. It furnishes us with an eminent proof of the power of the Gospel on the heart, when we witness two young persons, in comparative affluence, in comfortable circumstances, and with the prospect of rising in the world, voluntarily renouncing all, that they might "hold fast the profession of their faith without wavering." Nothing tests a man's religious sincerity more perfectly than the call to the entire renunciation of self and the world for the truth's sake. It was this which put the character of Moses to the proof, as a believer in the God of his fathers, when he might have enjoyed the highest honours in the land of Egypt; but he "refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he had respect to the recompense of reward."

Alexander Fergusson, though exposed to manifold hardships during the few years that remained of the persecution from the time of his open avowal of his profession, nevertheless escaped the merciless hands of his persecutors, and lived many years after the Revolution, though he did not regain the possession of his estate. The fate of his brother William, however, was somewhat harder. His name is found in Wodrow's list of those who, in 1684, were declared fugitives: "William Fergusson, son to the deceased William Fergusson of Threerigs." He was on one occasion, when wandering in the parish of Tynron, hotly pursued by a company of dragoons, who observed him lurking near the road along which they were travelling. He fled to the base of a

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huge rock called Craigturrach, with a view to ascend the rugged precipice. One of the troopers having dismounted, followed him, and fired upon him as he was climbing the giddy eminence. Having missed his aim, however, he flew to the rock, and mounting its beetling front with nimble hands and feet, reached the summit in equal time with the fugitive. The merciless trooper, on nearing him, struck him a furious blow with his pistol, and overpowered him. He then brought him a prisoner to the party at the bottom of the hill, who gave him up to the proper authorities, by whom he was banished to America, from which exile he never returned. It must have been painful to these pious and affectionate brothers, to be thus separated by the rude hand of persecuting violence. They were all that was dear to each other on earth; they were sufferers in the same common cause of goodness; they had an interest in the same heaven, where all their hopes and wishes centred; and there, in that land of peace, when all their toils and wanderings on earth should terminate, they expected to rest together. How sweet is the idea of rest to the weary! and how surpassingly sweet is the thought of the heavenly rest to God's weary heritage! The Church of Christ may, in times of tribulation, be like a solitary bark tossed on the tumultuous billows of a troubled sea, and every moment ready apparently to be engulfed in the raging flood; but still she sinks not; for though she seems to descend to the depths below, anon she is seen heaving on the crest of the wave. An invisible hand upholds her the Lord is in the ship; and though he appear to be asleep when "the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing, when the kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Christ," yet he will rise up in the greatness of his might, and rebuke the winds and the waves, and there shall be a great calm. Heaven, however, is the only haven of repose to which the Church of God can look, and where she is to expect a quietude without interruption and without end.

Fergusson of Craigdarroch, though he did not go the full length of his kinsmen of Threerigs in the avowal of his principles, was always friendly to the Covenanters; and when it was in his power, he uniformly shielded them from the vengeance of their enemies. It was his custom, it is said, to ride almost every day to some part of the district in which he resided, to gather what information he could respecting the situation of the persecuted, and then to lay his plans for