The discussion continued year after year till all other interests in the General Assembly were overshadowed.  The voice of the Church, once powerful in guiding public issues, was now despised; the tones were guttural, sepulchral, alarming, making the blood run in chills.  Then came Cromwell and snuffed the Assembly out like a candle.  It was sending forth ill—­odored smoke and but little light.  Are we surprised that God permitted him to quench the noisome spark?

The Protesters stood for all that the Covenant embodied.  The Covenant lay heavy upon their conscience; they trembled at its violation.  They saw in the breach of the Covenant the wrath of God against themselves, against the Church, and against the nation.  They believed that nothing could compensate for the loss incurred by forsaking the Covenant.  They trusted in God with absolute faith; would not resort to expediency for any purpose; temporized with no principle, no, not for greatest advantages.  They knew that God could send peace, victory, and prosperity to their country through the Covenant; and that He would send defeat, distress, and desolation through the breach of it.

The Resolutioners grew more and more lax.  They may have dreaded to be termed narrow-minded; they may have sought to be reputed broad and charitable.  They weakened in morals and influence, and lost power and position when tried by the fires of persecution.  They finally melted away and disappeared among the enemies of the Covenant, as snowflakes falling on the mire.

The Protesters were the Covenanters who continued with the Lord Jesus Christ in His temptation.  When the Covenant called for martyrs, they were the martyrs.  When the cause of Christ demanded witnesses, they were the witnesses.  They gave their testimony with a clear voice, and sealed it with their blood.  These are they whose crimson path we will now follow, our Lord Jesus permitting, till we come to the last of Scotland’s honored roll—­the pleasant, youthful, innocent James Renwick.

God requires His Church to receive, proclaim, and defend the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, as it is in the Lord Jesus Christ.  This obligation is weighty, and the duty is difficult, yet no release is granted.  The Church that holds most truth should draw most people; the Church that abandons any truth for any reason must be unsatisfying to honest souls.  The organization that embodies the largest measure of God’s Word is the largest Church; that which contains the smallest is the least.  “Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven.”  These are the words of Jesus.  In His sight a Church is measured, not by the number enrolled, but by the truth professed, incarnated, and proclaimed.

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Points for the class.

1.  How long did Oliver Cromwell rule Scotland?