SMM+S

apanderson · Forum Moderator Joined: 25 Nov 2008 Posts: 28

Situated on the A803, Kirkintilloch to Kilsyth Road

Map Reference: NS672759

Twas Martyrs blood Bought Scotland liberty

Erected February 1865, in room of the Old Tombstone, by the people of Kirkintilloch & neighbourhood

In this field lie the corps of John Wharry and James Smith, who suffered at Glasgow 13th June 1683(5) for their adherence to the Word of God and Scotland’s Covenanted Work of Reformation.

‘And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death,’ (Rev. xii. 2.)

Halt, courteous passenger and look on
Our bodies dead, & lying under this stone;
Altho’ we did commit no deed, nor fact
That was against the Bridgeroom’s contract.
Yet we to Glasgow were as prisoners brought
And against us false witnesses they sought.
There, sentence cruel and unjust they past
And then our corps on scaffold they did cast
There we our lives and right hands also lost
The pain was ours, but theirs shall be the cost
From Glasgow we were brought unto this place
In chains of iron hung up for a certain space
Then taken down, interred here we ly
From ‘neath this stone our blood to heaven doth cry
Had foreign foes, Turks or Mahometans
Had Scythians, Tartars, Arabian Caravans
Had cruel Spaniards, the Pope’s blood seed
Commenced the same, less strange had been the deed
But Protestants profest, our Covenants do
Our countrymen this bloody deed could do
Yet nothwithstanding of their hellish rage
The noble Wharry, stepping on the stage
With courage bold and with heart not faint
Exclaims, this blood now seals our covenant.
Ending, They who would follow Christ must take
Their cross upon their back, the world forsake.

See (Page 568): ‘A Cloud of Witnesses for the Royal Prerogatives of Jesus Christ’ which gives an account of the events.

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=N4UaAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA567&dq=martyrs+monument,+kirkintilloch#

Also on page 281 of the same book are letters written by John (Mc)Wharry and James Smith.