Grampian Club > Monuments and monumental inscriptions in Scotland > Volume 1

PARISH OF STEVEXSTON. 399
" When proud apostates did abjure
Scotland's Eeformation pure,
And iill'd this land with perjury,
And all sorts of iniquity ;
Such as would not with them comply.
They persecute with hue and cry.
I in the chase was o'erta'en,
And for the truth by them was slain."
PAEISH OF STEVENSTOK
A tombstone commemorates the Rev. John Bell, minister of the
parish. Son of Mr. John Bell, minister of Stevenston, he studied
at the University of Glasgow, and was in 1640 settled in the
parish of Glasford, Lanarkshire. In 1642 he succeeded his father
as minister of Stevenston. He died in September, 1652. His tomb-
stone is thus inscribed : —
" The childless mother's resolution.
" Strength to my tryal hath my Lord made even.
Oh to bedew his feet that tears w^ere given ;
His weel's my weel, in him my sole content,
Nor grieves to go, nor give what he hath lent."
On the tombstone of Alexander Crawford, his wife, and two sons,
are these lines : —
" How vain are all our earthly joys !
Stop, passenger, and shed a tear ;
A father, mother, and two boys,
Within six months interr'd lie here.
Presume not then that wealth nor strength
Will save thee from the fatal hour.
For thou, like these, must yield at length
To death's unconquerable power."