John Stevenson

As a young man of no fixed views, Stevenson attended a service in the hall of Killochan

Castle. There he heard Thomas Kennedy, the ‘outed’ minister of Lasswade, preaching from Psalm That was the start of a new life for John Stevenson. Later, he heard John Cunningham speak in Kirkmichael churchyard. Then in August 1678 he was present at a great conventicle at Craigdow, near Maybole. Stevenson heard John Welsh of Irongray and what he heard that day completed the work begun at Killochan. John Stevenson was Christ’s man now, and a

Covenanter.

Stevenson was at Bothwell Bridge and only just escaped. Outside Hamilton his companion was shot. For the next nine years Stevenson was on the run. Often he hid in the fields near his father’s farm. One winter he spent in a haystack. Twice he was nearly captured. Through all the Killing Times he ran and hid, through it all he hoped and prayed. And he survived.

In later years Stevenson wrote in his autobiography, A Rare Soul Strengthening and

Comforting Cordial for Old and Young Christians. There he recalls not only his adventures, but his inner struggles for faith. Still in print, Stevenson’s Comforting Cordial lets us see the mind and soul of the true Covenanter.