John Livingston, an honored minister of Jesus Christ, was of great service to the Church at this time.  He preached Christ and his contested truths with power and striking effect.  He stood in the strength and majesty of the Chief Shepherd and fed the flock given into his care.  This flock was very large.  Multitudes gathered about him waiting for the Word at his lips; the church could not hold them.  God gave the people spiritual hunger that brought them from afar; they came over the hills and along the vales, converging upon the place of worship as doves fly to their windows.  They journeyed solemnly from their homes to the House of God, both in the calm of summer and in the storms of winter.  They came in the dew of the morning and tarried till protected by the gloaming.  Men and women, old and young, gathered around this man of God who ministered comfort, strength, and eternal life, through Jesus Christ, with wonderful power and grace unto their troubled souls.

Our Monday service of the Communion originated under Mr. Livingston.  The Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper had been administered to a large congregation.  The preaching and serving of tables filled the long summer Sabbath.  It was June 20, 1630.  The great congregation had come with souls lifted up to God in prayer; the church was not large enough to hold the people, and the churchyard was filled with devout worshipers.  They sat upon the grass like the thousands that were fed by Christ in the days of old.  The soft wind blew upon them as it listed, and the Holy Spirit, too, came with mysterious power; the vast assembly was deeply moved.  The long Sabbath was followed by a short night.  Monday came, and the people, having been profoundly affected by the services of the preceding day, were again early on the grounds.  They felt that they could not separate without another day of worship—­a day of thanksgiving to the Lord for the wondrous revelations of His love at His holy table.  Mr. Livingston was constrained to preach, and that day proved to be the great day of the feast.  An unusual awe fell upon the preacher and his hearers; the Holy Spirit wrought marvelously, melting the hearts of the vast congregation and filling them with comfort, strength, and thankfulness.

Mr. Livingston and his people declined to conform to the “Articles of Perth.”  A goodly number of other ministers and their churches likewise refused.  The king determined to force them into submission by authorizing a “Book of Public Worship”, called the Liturgy.  July 23, 1637, was the day appointed for its introduction.  An attempt to force a mode of worship upon Scotch Presbyterians!  No experiment could be more perilous to the king; it was indiscretion bordering on insanity.  The very announcement produced an underground swell such as precedes a moral earthquake.  Murmurings, groanings, threatenings, dark forebodings swayed the nation.  These were gusts fore-running the storm.