! it was far removed from the true foundation; it was
conspicuous only for its hay, wood, and stubble; they saw and wept. The
Covenanted cause was practically abandoned. What Satan could not win by
fire and sword, he had won by the enchantments of peace.

The Assembly submitted to the king's supremacy over the Church. King
William, like the former rulers, had seized the gem of Christ's
authority and set it in his own crown. For this royal truth the martyrs
had died. Now their blood was reckoned an unnecessary expenditure. The
Covenant was ignored, and its principles set aside; the Church was
placed on a new basis. Thus the glory of Scotland's Reformation sank
behind a fog-bank that has never yet cleared away.

The Covenanted Societies resolved to maintain their organization, as
the true representatives of Scotland's Reformation Church; the
legitimate successors of Knox, Melville, Guthrie, Cameron, Cargill, and
Renwick; the rightful heirs of the Covenant, its obligations and
blessings; the devoted witnesses of Jesus Christ, going forth unto Him
without the camp, bearing His reproach. They had much for which to
contend. The supremacy of Christ, the independence of the Church the
Covenant of the fathers, the testimony of the martyrs, the purity of
Divine worship, the dignity of Church discipline--all had suffered at
the hands of this Assembly. Against the great defection they resolved to
lift up a testimony. They would not deny their Covenant Lord, by
entering into relation with Church or State, as at that time constituted
and administered. These Covenanters were ridiculed as a fanatical,
narrow-minded faction. James Renwick had been taunted with the question,
"Do you believe that none, but those of your principles, can enter
heaven?" "I never said so," he replied; "but I do say, These are
principles worth suffering for." A noble reply to the sarcastic question
which often reappears.

Narrow-minded! Breadth may be viewed from various positions. He, who
attempts to broaden himself by accepting error, becomes the narrow man.
Every error adopted means a truth rejected. This process may continue
till the heart is so contracted that there is no room for either God or
man. Ah, the irony of such broadness! How different with him who will
not surrender a hairbreadth of truth! He is the broad man; broad as the
law of God, broad as the Gospel of Christ, broad as the principles of
the everlasting Covenant, broad as the kingdom of h