Early records of an old Glasgow family

AN OLD GLASGOW FAMILY 101
the first page of which is here given. The tradition is that these
were composed and written, and also preached, by Mr. Ninian
Hill at Conventicle meetings, and the considerably heavier fine
he had to pay than others of his co-offenders, under the before-
mentioned sentence, gives support to the supposition.
The caligraphy of the Sermons closely resembles that of
several manuscripts among papers which were unquestionably
in Ninian Hill's handwriting, as well as also resembling his
signature to the Solemn League and Covenant in 1648.
Several leaves of the volume, viz., pages 1 and 2, 5 and 6, 25 to
40, 57 to 68, and 77 to 84 inclusive, are awanting, and there would
appear to have been further pages at the end, also awanting, the
catchword " James " at the foot of the last page of the MS.
indicating this.
The sermons, which are closely, neatly, and distinctly written
throughout, extend to 520 pages of manuscript, numbered up to
page 275. The dates of their delivery or intended delivery, all of
which were Sundays, are prefixed to each, commencing (the
second of the series) on 23rd February, 1672, the next on 1st
March, the next again on 22nd March, and the three last
sermons are dated respectively 1 8th April, 25th April, and
1 6th May, 1673.
The texts are from the general Epistle of St. James, commenc-
ing with chapter i., verse 1, " James, a servant of God and of the
Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad,
greeting," on which verse the first three sermons are written,
containing upwards of 24 pages ; that of 23rd February being
divided into 10 heads, with a sub-division of 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th,
and " now the 5th and last " ; the text of the last sermon in the
volume being the 23rd and 24th verses of chapter i. of the
Epistle.