The Covenanters grew very spirited and fearless in defence of the independence of the Church.  When these two leaders, Argyle and Guthrie, had been sacrificed, their enemies doubtless thought the people would be as sheep scattered upon the mountains without a shepherd.  But the Good Shepherd was ever with them and gave them faithful ministers, who fed the flock amidst their wintry desolations.  The Covenanted Church had noble sons to lift up the head of their fainting mother even when persecution was at its worst.

The Church of Christ was very dear to these Covenanters.  They gazed with rapturous eyes upon her high origin, her mysterious character, her indescribable glory.  She dwelt in the very heart of God; she was the Bride of the Son of God; she was clothed with the righteousness of God; she was adorned with all the excellencies of character God could lavish upon her.  The Church was the habitation of the Holy Spirit.  The Covenant was the marriage bond joining her to her Lord and Husband.  The love of the Covenanters for the Church of the Lord Jesus arose in flames of jealousy when they saw a mere man, a dissolute and sinful man, attempt to woo her heart and alienate her affections from her Lord and King.  They could not endure it.  Her honor and purity were worth more to them than life itself.

The testimony of the Covenanters against the wrongs done the Church was both pathetic and vehement, ranging all the way from tender tearful supplication, to pointed fearless denunciation.  At times they spoke with meekness and hope, as if standing on the Mount of Beatitudes; again with severity and sadness, as if the voice came from the fiery summit of Sinai.  Their eloquence in the sacred office matched the tenderness of the dove and the terribleness of thunder; distilled like the dewdrop and smote like pointed lightning.  The sword of burnished steel they wielded to good purpose in self-defence, and the sword of the Word they used with telling effect in the spiritual warfare for their Lord and His Church.

The strength which the Covenanters possessed and employed in battling for the rights of the Church, and the prerogatives of their Lord, amazes the contemplative mind.  Their power was always sufficient, new every morning, fresh every hour, inexhaustible under most excessive strains, and mighty to win moral victories everywhere.  Whence the power?  What was its source?

Explain as we may the fortitude, inspiration, enthusiasm, exalted purpose, indestructible hope, and unconquerable faith of the Covenanters under the cruel treatment and prolonged persecution they endured, we must reach the conclusion that their strength lay in their Covenanted union with the Lord Jesus Christ.  Being thus united, the God’s strength was theirs.