e hearts of the
common people, and know, as I truly do, what prayers are going up with
it from the humblest homes of Scotland, I am encouraged. I believe it is
God who inspires this feeling, and I believe God never inspired it in
vain. I feel an assurance that the Lord hath looked down from heaven to
hear the groaning of the prisoner, and according to the greatness of his
power, to loose those that are appointed to die. In the human view,
nothing can be more hopeless than this cause; all the wealth, and all
the power, and all the worldly influence is against it. But here in
Scotland, need we tell the children of the Covenant, that the Lord on
high is mightier than all human power? Here, close by the spot where
your fathers signed that Covenant, in an hour when Scotland's cause was
equally poor and depressed--here, by the spot where holy martyrs sealed
it with their blood, it will neither seem extravagance nor enthusiasm to
say to the children of such parents, that for the support of this cause,
we look, not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are not
seen; to that God, who, in the face of all worldly power, gave liberty
to Scotland, in answer to your fathers' prayers. Our trust is in Jesus
Christ, and in the power of the Holy Ghost, and in the promise that he
shall reign till he hath put all things under his feet. There are those
faithless ones, who, standing at the grave of a buried humanity, tell us
that it is vain to hope for our brother, because he hath lain in the
grave three days already. We turn from them to the face of Him who has
said, 'Thy brother shall rise again.' There was a time when our great
High Priest, our Brother, yet our Lord, lay in the grave three days; and
the governors and powers of the earth made it as sure as they could,
seeding the stone and setting a watch. But a third day came, and an
earthquake, and an angel. So shall it be to the cause of the oppressed;
though now small and despised, we are watchers at the sepulchre, like
Mary and the trusting women; we can sit through the hours of darkness.
We are watching the sky for the golden streaks of dawning, and we
believe that the third day will surely come. For Christ our Lord, being
raised from the dead, dieth no more; and he has pledged his word that he
shall not fail nor be discouraged till he have set judgment on the
earth. He shall deliver the poor when He crieth, the needy, and him that
hath no helper. The night is far spent--