Sketches of the Covenanters Part 33

4. How did the Cameronians regard it?

5. When was the General a.s.sembly reorganized?

6. What was its general character?

7. How many in it represented the Covenanted Societies?

8. What course did they take?

9. What line of action did the Societies follow?

10. Who were the men of broad principles in those times?

11. By whom was the Reformed Presbytery organized?

L.

THE VOICE OF THE MARTYRS' BLOOD.

The mountains and moors of Scotland are decorated with the tombstones of the martyrs. The descendants of the Covenanted fathers have erected many memorials in the places made sacred with the blood of the martyrs. The memorials range from the humble stone to the costly monument. The fathers have not been forgotten; yea, they are still highly esteemed for the heroic struggle, by which every son and daughter has a birthright to the richest inheritance of Christian liberty on earth.

The persecution lasted twenty-eight years, with few "blinks" to take the chill of horror out of the air. During this time, 18,000 persons, it is said, suffered death, or utmost hardships, for their faith in Jesus Christ. Of this number, 7,000 went into voluntary banishment; 2,500 were shipped to distant lands; 800 were outlawed; 680 were killed in battle, or died of their wounds; 500 were murdered in cold blood; 362 were, by form of law, executed. We have no account of the number that perished in shipwrecks, or succ.u.mbed to the horrors of transportation; nor of hundreds that were shot at sight by the soldiers who ravaged the country for years; nor of the thousands who wasted away through cold, hunger, and exposure in the mountains and moors. Gloomy caves, dripping moss-hags, and unmarked graves, were asylums of mercy to mult.i.tudes, who are without any earthly record; but their names are written in heaven.

Truly Scotland has been consecrated to the Lord. The blood of the martyrs has watered her heather, crimsoned her streams, stained her streets, and bedewed her fields. Scotland is the Lord's. The blood means much.

THE BLOOD EMPHASIZES THE TRUTH OF CHRIST.

The blood of the martyrs testifies to the value of the truth--the superlative importance of all revealed truth. Their blood placed emphasis on the sovereignty of G.o.d, the supremacy of Christ, the inspiration of the Bible, the preciousness of the Gospel, the independence of the Church, the liberty of conscience and the thousand and one co-related doctrines of salvation. These Covenanters took their position at Christ's throne, where the rainbow of the Covenant arches the heavens; and from that point of view the plan of salvation lay before them, in matchless detail and glorious perspective. These men received enlightenment from the Holy Spirit, and thereby had a broad, clear, rapturous vision of G.o.d and His redeeming grace. They saw the truth in the harmonious teachings of the Bible, and esteemed it as G.o.d's sanctuary, filled with the presence of Jesus Christ. These Covenanters found Christ in every particle of revealed truth, in every "jot," and in every "t.i.ttle" of the Word of G.o.d. Christ's life was throbbing in it, His glory was streaming through it, His energy was radiating from it.

They were willing to lose the right eye, the right hand, the right foot, yea, life itself, rather than lose the least fragment of the Scriptures.

Rather would they be jostled out of their homes, and wander in deserts, than depart from Bible doctrines. James Renwick was offered his life, if he would let a drop of ink fall on a sheet of paper. He chose death in preference to that compromising act. Is the truth, the entire system of truth, every stone in the temple of truth, thus dear to us?

A WITNESSING CHURCH IS NEEDED.

The blood testifies to the need of a witnessing Church. While Satan remains above the pit, and iniquity abounds in present proportions, a faithful and fearless testimony for Jesus Christ, and His glorious Gospel and royal rights, will be a moral necessity. G.o.d has His own way of calling out His witnesses, and a.s.signing service to them. The Church, as a whole, has invalidated and incapacitated herself for this responsibility, by weakness, declension, and compromise. G.o.d does not commit His testimony to the Church, while in such condition; nor to the faithful in the Church, whose voice and actions are weakened or neutralized by majorities. This important and hazardous task throughout the ages has not been committed to a Church, that is recreant at any point; nor to individuals, that are true at every point; but to a distinctive body of earnest, faithful, and fearless believers. For this purpose the Lord has divided, and sub-divided, His people time and again. He will have a testimony by a Church that is distinct from every retrograde organization. While the Covenanted Church was faithful under Henderson, Johnston, Guthrie, Gillespie, and other worthy leaders, she was united, happy, and prosperous; "she was beautiful as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners." But when she suppressed, by resolution, one principle of the Covenant, G.o.d drew the dividing line. He sent the persecution that brought out His witnesses, four hundred ministers, and people in proportion. And when these ministers weakened under the royal Indulgences, He intensified the persecution and called out the "Cameronians." These witnesses He qualified to see the truth in its vast proportions and feel it in its divine dreadfulness. They became the embodiment of the Gospel of Jesus Christ; they were the incarnation of the doctrines of His kingdom on earth. They dwelt in the presence of G.o.d, lived on the hidden manna, and pulsated with the power of the endless life. Such were the martyrs who defied death and all the instruments of torture. Have the Covenanters of to-day spirit, power, and character like this?

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE BURIAL.

The burial service was peculiarly sad and solemn, in the times of persecution. The deceased Covenanters were, in many cases, buried at night, for fear of the enemy. The friends, with breaking hearts, gathered around the new grave, and waited under the dim star-light, while the minister, with the use of a flickering candle, offered consolation from the Word of G.o.d. Great was the grief when one of the leaders had fallen in death.]

A CRY FOR VENGEANCE.

The blood of the martyrs cries unto G.o.d for vengeance. "How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost Thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?" Such was the cry of them that were "slain for the Word of G.o.d, and for the testimony which they held." Vengeance in the Gospel! Vengeance in Jesus Christ! Vengeance in the heart of G.o.d!

How we are shocked! We try to veil our eyes and shut out the dreadful fact. We attempt to explain away the terrible doctrine. Yet there it is.

A sharp sword is sheathed in this scabbard, and it will yet be drawn for dreadful work. "Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord." "And shall not G.o.d avenge His own elect? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily." G.o.d is just as well as merciful; yea, necessarily just, but conditionally merciful. Justice is an essential attribute of His life; mercy is volitional. The blood of the martyrs, their groans, tears, wanderings, the desolation of home, the cries of mothers and children, the horrors worse than death--all are ever before His face; nothing is forgotten. Without repentance, no remission; sin does not grow feeble with, years, nor die of old age. Judgment must be meted out, or rect.i.tude would forsake the universe; the whole structure of G.o.d's kingdom would fall into ruins. The guilty must suffer. The individual perpetrators of these horrid crimes have suffered already; they have appeared personally before Christ's tribunal. But the State! Oh, the guilty State! The State was the chief party in the slaughter of these innocents. True, she has ceased to shed the blood of saints; but has she repented of the blood she has shed? Her eyes are dry; her brow is bra.s.s.

Her children build monuments, but her hand's are still red; the blood that once dripped is now dried, but it is still on her hands. Genuine repentance means reformation. The Reformation is under Scotland's feet.

The twenty-eight years' struggle is to her a splendid drama; the principles are amusing. When He inquireth after blood, what shall Scotland do? The angel answers in the Revelation: "They have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and Thou hast given them blood to drink."

WEIGHTY MORAL OBLIGATIONS.

The blood of the martyrs imposes obligations upon posterity from generation to generation. The martyrs deeply felt their responsibility for the Church, her purity, doctrines, discipline, membership; for her loyalty to Christ, her separation from the world, and her administration in the Holy Spirit. Their zeal for the House of G.o.d brought them to the front; their pa.s.sionate love for Jesus Christ placed them on the firing line. There they met every attack made upon Christ and His House; there they stood for the royal rights of Jesus and the honor of His kingdom; there they fell under the murderous fire, giving place to their successors. These soldiers of Jesus knew how to die, 'but not how to retreat. They did their work well, yet necessarily left it unfinished.

The victory was a.s.sured, though not in sight. The death-stricken hand reached the blood-stained banner out to another to be carried forward.

This war still rages. The supremacy of Jesus Christ is yet disputed; His royal rights are yet usurped by mortals; His Bride, the Church, still halts amid many opinions; the ordinances of grace are unblushingly corrupted; the teachings of the Gospel are adroitly doctored. The attacking forces are active, determined, and numerous, as in the days of the martyrs. The tactics differ, but the fight goes on. Heavy, heavy are the moral obligations, that fall to the successors of those who gave their lives for the truth. To recede would be cowardice, desertion from the ranks, perjury within the Covenant, treason against Jesus Christ. Is this too strong? Listen: "If any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him." Surely the times call for Christian soldiers; yea, heroes; possibly, martyrs. Do Covenanters feel their obligations to the Lord?

POINTS FOR THE CLa.s.s.

1. How long did the persecution last?

2. What is the estimated number of those who suffered?

3. What significance is attached to the martyrs' blood?

4. How does it show the value of Gospel truth?

5. In what manner does the blood cry for vengeance?

6. How does it lay obligations on posterity?

LI.

THE OLD BLUE BANNER YET.

The Covenanters in Scotland's struggle for liberty carried a significant banner. Letters of gold, on a field of blue, displayed the soul-stirring motto: "FOR CHRIST'S CROWN AND COVENANT."

The men of the Covenant unfurled their colors with dauntless spirit, and went forth in the name of the Lord, conquering and to conquer. And this is the victory by which they overcame the world, even their faith.

The Covenanters carried their banner as an emblem of the truth in Jesus Christ. The Bible focussed its light in the burning words that flashed on their ensign. These fathers accepted the Bible without reservation or apology, as G.o.d's Book, inspired, inerrable, authoritative, the rock foundation of faith, and the supreme law of life. They grasped the wondrous system of redeeming truth, as bearing on their own lives, on the Church, on the world, and on all generations to come. They embodied it in their Covenant, and wove it into their flag. They saw all Bible truth converge in Christ, the Only Begotten of the Father, the Mediator of the Covenant of grace, the crucified and risen Redeemer, the exalted Prince and Saviour; and on their banner they emblazoned their faith. But while their profession was embroidered on their colors, their creed was pulsating in their veins. This standard they carried boldly into the battle in defence of Christ and His Church. The deadly missiles that tattered its folds, and plowed through their flesh, could not subdue their spirit. Their blood often stained it, but it was never surrendered. One standard-bearer fell, and the flag-staff was grasped by another. Thus the Old Blue Banner, in all its significance, has come down through the ages; it is the Covenanter's banner yet.

THE COVENANTERS' STANDARD OF RELIGION.

The standard of truth is the real banner of the Covenant. The standard of religion in the Covenanted Church exalts the truth of Christ, and makes it most conspicuous. Nothing in a nation so public as her colors.

Where the flag flies, the power, honor, and greatness of the country are represented by the folds that flap on the winds. The Covenant commits the Covenanted Church to the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth of G.o.d's Word. This obligation, when honored, carries the Covenanter into all truth, and all truth into the Covenanter. The doctrines of grace will throb in his heart, flow in his veins, illumine his mind, dominate his thoughts, deepen his life, enlarge his capacities, control his actions, and purify all the fountains of his being. To all such the truth is concrete, not abstract; it has form, color, action, energy, atmosphere, horizon, immensity: To the true Covenanter, knowledge is experience; he deals with G.o.d, worships in spirit, battles with sin, glories in Jesus, and listens to the Eternal Spirit. His faith is power; his love is life; his hope is realization.

The invisible world looms up with awful visibility before him. Such is the life that is distinguished by Covenant fidelity; in it the truth of G.o.d has grandest publicity. It shines like the sun. The voice of that life has the majesty of thunder, testifying for Christ. They who are thus animated with the truth cannot hide the great principles of the Church. They will glory in her Covenant and publish the truth. Behold the martyrs, how they witnessed for Jesus Christ, while fire and sword had no more power over their faith than over the stars. The truth demands publicity. Our poor, deceived, demon-ridden world needs the truth, Gospel truth shining like the sun, convicting truth pointed like lightning; the sweet truth of love and the fiery truth of wrath; truth that reveals life, death, immortality, judgment, heaven, h.e.l.l, and eternity. The world needs the truth that will rend the heavens with prayer, and make the earth quake with fear.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE BANNER OF THE COVENANT.]