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 succumbed 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 multitudes, 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 God, 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 God and His redeeming grace. They saw the
truth in the harmonious teachings of the Bible, and esteemed it as God'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 "tittle" of the Word of God. Christ's life was throbbing in it,
His glory was streaming through it, His energy