While at college he came under the teaching of John Mair (1469–1550) and Patrick Hamilton the martyr, and, like his elder brother, became an ardent reformer.
Having the gift of poetry, he joined with his two brothers, James and Robert, in composing ballads directed against Roman Catholicism, and in 1538–9 he was accused of heresy.
It is not known whether he stood his trial, but he was certainly convicted and his goods forfeited and given over to his youngest brother Henry, on payment of a small sum to the king's treasury.
It was expected, after the death of James V, that the governor Arran would be favourable to the Protestants, but this hope was not realised, and several Acts of Parliament were passed forbidding the publication of these ballads, which were known as "the Dundee Psalms".
Wedderburn was in Dundee in the early part of 1546, but was forced to flee to England in that year to avoid prosecution, and he died there in exile in 1556.