| Administrative History | The names of the ministers whose sermons are recorded in the volume are given as John Welsh, Michell Brwice, William Thomsone, Georg Bartlae and Thomas Linnin. The first is presumably John Welsh (d.1681), minister of Kirkpatrick-Irongray (Dumfriesshire), who became a noted field-preacher. He refers in his preface to the hill-side from which he speaks and gives the date of the occasion as February 1676. Brwice may be identified with Michael Bruce, the Presbyterian, who spent much of his time after 1668 in exile in Ireland. He occasionally travelled and preached in Scotland, however, and may have delivered the sermon recorded in the volume around 1672, when he is known to have visited Carluke (Lanarkshire), since he makes at least two references to Clydesdale in it. William Thomsone cannot be identified with certainty but he may have been the Thomson who was licensed in 1663 and instituted two years later to Crawfordjohn (Lanarkshire). He was deprived in 1681. Bartlae is presumably George Barclay (d.1714), who preached frequently at conventicles in the 1680s and was associated for a time with the Cameronians. Thomas Linnin or Lining, a leader of the Cameronians, was minister of Lesmahagow from 1691 until his death in 1733. The sermon and lecture delivered by him are of interest because they ante-date by only a few months his break with the Cameronians. The verses addressed to William of Orange can be ascribed to the first half of 1687 from a reference to the forthcoming appearance of 'The hynd let louse'. As with the sermons and other discourses in the volume, no printed version has been traced. |
| Custodial History | From the 18th-century inscriptions on the covers and leaves, it seems that the volume passed into the hands of William Liddell and George Liddell (one of whom wrote an ownership-verse inside the back cover); and by 1749 it was owned by members of a family called Mure, who seem to have visited or lived in Carstairs (Lanarkshire). The rough notes about yarns and cloth are undated but contain a reference to Falside, possibly Fallside (Bothwell, Lanarkshire). |
| Description | The volume contains notes and transcripts of sermons, lectures and prefaces delivered mainly by Presbyterians, together with some verses alleged to have been addressed to William of Orange by the Cameronian Presbyterians. The sermons, dated 1662 - 1690, are by John Welsh, Michell Brwice [Michael Bruce], William Thomsone, Georg Bartlae [Barclay], and Thomas Linnin. The contents are written in a small, neat hand with a distinctive C, I, O and T. The compiler may have been the John Flemin whose name is written inside the back cover. During the 18th century several unused leaves in the book were used for rough notes by someone dealing with cloth, and elsewhere there are miscellaneous jottings, some in childish hands. The volume contains 119 folios. It has been used like a modern writing-pad with the spine at the top and the text written parallel to it. From folio 55 onwards the volume has been reversed. The contents are as follows:
Pages torn out but fragments remain. (folios 1-2)
Part of discourse; begins 'he had bein upon mens hearts', ends 'aw of God'. (folios 3 - 4 verso)
not dated
'Ane preface befor sermon by Mr. John Vielsh upon ane afternoone'; begins: 'If it be asked'; ends: 'And a blising with it. Let us pray'. (folios 4 verso - 6 verso)
not dated
'Folows the sermon preached by Mr. John Welsh in the 53 ch. of Isai at the 8v. ...'; see folio l5 verso. (folios 6 verso - 14)
not dated [20 February 1676]
Blank page. (folio 14 verso)
Inscribed 'In tyme of neid a man may sie how/thankful! that a friend may be/Take tyme in tyme and not deferre/for tyme may come and make it war'. (folio l5)
Sermon of John Welsh, continued from folio 14. (folio l5 verso)
'Ane sermon or exercise by Mr Michell Brwice, acts 24 from the begining to the 16 v.'. (folios l5 verso - 24 verso)
not dated
'Ane sermon preached by Mr. William Thomsone (expectant), preached in the old kirk of Edinburgh ... being the afternoone. Text John 16 ch. 22 v.'. (folios 25 - 42)
29 December 1662
Inscription. (folio 42)
Blank page. (folio 43)
'Some nots of ane preface by Mr. Bartlae'; begins: 'It is a sad matter'; ends: 'bot to him that bowght yow. Let us pray'. (folios 43 verso - 45)
not dated
'Folows some notts of the rector by Mr. Georg Bartla[e] in the 15 psalm'; incomplete; inscriptions. (folio 45 verso)
not dated
Blank pages. (folios 46 - 47)
Inscription giving methods of finding the Golden Number and the Epact. (folio 48)
Inscriptions. (folio 48 verso)
Pages cut out (fragments remain). (folios 49 - 54)
'Reasons why a godli minister [should] not [ take] the bond oath of aleggence [ or] the bond of asurance'; and 'Reasons why some ministers refuse this oath of aledgence ...'. (folios 55 - 61 verso) (reversed)
not dated [post 1688]
Pages cut out (fragments remain). (folio 58)
Pages cut out (fragments remain). (folios 62 - 75)
Notes of prices of yarns and cloth. (folios 76 - 77 verso) (reversed)
Blank pages. (folios 78 - 81)
Inscription. (folio 82)
Blank pages. (folios 82 verso - 93 verso)
Inscriptions. (folios 94 - 94 verso)
c.1749
'Folows some notts oi the sermon forenoon by Mr. Thomas Linnin in that 1 episle of Pal1 to Timothy 6 ch. 12 v.'. (folios 95 - 100)
not dated
'Some notts of ane lector by Mr. Thomas Linnin at Lasmahagow, upon the 37 psalm from the beginning and downward to [--] v.'. (folios 100 - 106 verso) (reversed)
July 1690
'To his highnes the prince of orange/The most humble adrese and suplicatione/of the cameronian presbeterians in Scotland'. Begins (in verse): 'In first place sir we humblie crave'; ends: 'and will you serve with life and swird'. (folios 107 - 109) (reversed)
not dated [c. l687]
'Some [doubts] of a weak beliver [presented] and solved by way of questions and answer'. (folios 109 verso - 110 verso)
not dated
Pages torn out (fragments remain). (folios 111 - 119) |
| Copyright | Subject to the condition of the original, copies may be supplied for private research use only on receipt of a signed undertaking to comply with current copyright legislation. Permission to make any published use of material from the collection must be sought in advance from the University Archivist and, where appropriate, from the copyright owner. Where possible, assistance will be given in identifying copyright owners, but responsibility for ensuring copyright clearance rests with the user of the material. |