The material of this tribute was gathered by one who seems to have been an admirer of the Covenanters and may have been one of their descendants, for there may be a number of them still in the south of Scotland. The unflinching courage in the face of terrible persecution of this Christian lady and her love for the Crown Rights of her Redeemer and His Cause are shown in the narrative. In a backsliding age, her faithfulness should serve to encourage the people of God in their opposition to false religions, sinful pleasures and all the Devil’s wiles whereby he is deceiving immortal souls.
The mind and spiritual condition of our nation is becoming very low and to crown all, so-called Protestant ministers are now conferring with Roman Catholic Priests with a view to collaboration with a system described in God’s Word as “Babylon the great Mother of Harlots drunken with the blood of the Saints and the Martyrs of Jesus.”
This ecclesiastical system has been responsible for the merciless slaughter of vast numbers of the human race because they refused to give up true religion and obey Popes and Jesuits.—Rev. D. M. MacDonald.
There was no more ardent adherent of the Covenant in Scotland that Jean Moffat of Netherbarns.
Netherbarns was a small farm by the Tweed, opposite Abbotsford. The farmer, James Moffat, was, like his daughter, a staunch Covenanter. They attended conventicles and meetings, journeying mostly on foot, to listen to the eloquent preachers of the time.
The activities of Jean and her father came to the notice of the persecutors. All absentees from “the new kirk” were listed by the dragoons and threatened. To Jean Moffat threats were to no purpose. For absenting herself from the Episcopal Church she was heavily fined.
The fining continued until 1,000 merks had been extracted from the Moffats for Jean’s non-conformity. More severe measures were then introduced, but the steady gaze of Jean never wavered from the banner of the Covenant. The farm was ransacked. Furniture was taken away, horses, cattle and sheep were stolen, the corn and stacks were sold. James Moffat escaped, but was outlawed. The other members of the family, including Jean, were imprisoned, and many years of trial and hardship were to pass before they were reunited.
Along with the other prisoners, 300 of them, men and women, Jean Moffat was taken to Leith. It was May, 1685. Three hours before sunset they were put in open boats and at dawn they landed at Burntisland. They were kept for two days in two small rooms with no comforts whatever. Nothing was allowed for their subsistence and they were forbidden to purchase food or water. At the end of two days a messenger arrived from Edinburgh with an offer to release those who would take the oath of allegiance and acknowledge the King’s supremacy. Forty of them yielded, but the rest were prepared to face any trial rather than bend their wills. Jean Moffat, needless to say, was one of them. With her hands tied behind her, she was given over to the militia of Fife, and, with her fellow-prisoners, driven northward, on foot.
They were ferried over the Tay and continued their march through Forfarshire. There were 166 of them and they were put into the dungeons of Dunottar Castle, weak and worn with fatigue. They were ankle-deep in sand. One of them wrote “We could not sit without pressing or leaning on one another.”
Some died and the bodies were left in the dungeons. The only aperture for air was at floor level and they took turns of lying down to get fresh air through this opening. For three months Jean Moffat lay in the dungeons and then one day those who survived were taken back to Leith.
There were now 100 of them, 20 of them women. One of the men, John Fraser, was almost too weak to stand. He had shown an unflinching belief in their cause and had incurred the wrath of the governor of Dunottar to such an extent that the latter gave orders to the captain of the escort that Fraser was not to be allowed to ride any of the 70-odd miles. When they arrived they were put into the Common Prison of Leith, and, eventually were called before the Lords of the Privy Council in Edinburgh.
The minutes of this meeting lie in Register House. It was held on August 18, 1685, the Duke of Atholl presiding. The prisoners were told they would be set free on taking the oath of abjuration. Refusal would mean banishment.
Some gave in and renounced the Covenant, but not the girl from Tweedside. The record names John Fraser and 40 other men and Jean Moffat and 18 women as refusing to take the oath. They were ordered to be delivered to George Scott, of Pitlochrie, and to be transported by him as slaves to a plantation in East New Jersey which he was about to establish; or, if he preferred it, he could sell them to other slave-owners.
A fragment of a letter written on board ship before they sailed reads: “Roads of Leith, August 28, 1685. We are banished for keeping by our Covenants. We leave our testimony to all that was done by His faithful servants such as Mr Donald Cargil, Mr Richard Cameron, Mr John Livingstone, and Mr Renwick.” (These were all well-known conventicle preachers). Among the signatures to this letter is that of Jean Moffat.
During the voyage fever and plague broke out. Some prisoners went mad; corpses were thrown overboard. The owner, George Scott, and his wife, fell victims of the plague. The ship’s commander, a ruffian from Newcastle named Hutton, urged Scott’s son-in-law to steer for Jamaica, where prices for slaves were higher.
This was planned, but a great storm rose and the ship was carried to East New Jersey on December 13. They had been 17 weeks at sea and they were emaciated beyond recognition. They were put in prison on landing, but justice here was more merciful and after a few formalities they were set free.
After a long time strength gradually returned to the broken bodies of the faithful Covenants. John Fraser became a preacher in the New England Presbyterian Church. Very suitably, he and Jean Moffat married. After the Revolution of 1688 they returned to Scotland. At last Jean and her father met again, and the old man was able to return to Netherbarns.
Mr Fraser became minister at Glencorse until, at the end of the seventeenth century there was a demand for ministers “who had the Gaelic.” Fraser was one of them and he received a call to Alness, near Dingwall, where he ministered for 15 years. He and Jean had a family of two sons and a daughter.
When he died in 1711 his widow remained in the North and was a fountainhead of spiritual strength and wisdom to her friends. Her faith, which had carried her through torture and humiliation, conveyed itself to those around her and there were many sad hearts at the passing of Jean Moffat of Netherbarns.
Note.—It may be of interest to know that one of Mrs Fraser’s sons, the Rev. James Fraser who was minister of Pitcalzean, Ross-shire, from 1726 to 1769, became a notable theologian. He wrote a treatise on Sanctification which may still be got in book form.—D. M. M.