But the four hundred ministers were not silenced.  Who can silence tongues of fire?  They were scattered, but not conquered.  They took shelter where it could be found—­under friendly roofs, within dismal caves, under dripping moss-hags, in the open fields, and on mountain tops.  They wandered over desolate moors and on lonely ridges.  They suffered hunger, weariness, sickness, exposure.  The rains of summer drenched them and the snows of winter stiffened them.  They were clothed with plaids, shawls, and threadbare garments.  They hastened from place to place to elude pursuers, and wherever they went they carried their Bibles.  The Bible to them in their desolation was meat, drink, light, shelter, fellowship,—­everything the soul could wish.

These men of God were devoted preachers, they loved to preach, had a passion for preaching.  The Word of God that carried them into such excess of suffering was in their bones as fire, an unquenchable flame; and in their hearts as rising waters, an overflowing river.  As Christ their Lord and Master preached in summer and in winter, in the house and in the field, to as many as came, so preached they to one soul, or to ten thousand.

The king sent detachments of his army over the country to compel the people, who had lost their pastors, to attend services under the ministers of the Episcopal Church.  They refused.  The new clergymen preached to empty pews in many of the Covenanted parishes.  The Covenanters instinctively discovered the haunting places of their own ministers, and thither they repaired for their preaching.  They traveled far that they might hear the precious Gospel, in its richness and fulness from consecrated lips.  They were hungry for the Word of God and willingly incurred hardships and dangers to get a feast.  These meetings at first were small; in time they developed into the great Conventicles at which thousands assembled to worship God.

A Conventicle Sabbath was a solemn day.  The time and place having been fixed beforehand, the people were notified in a very private manner.  A kind of wireless telegraphy seemed to have been operated by the Covenanters.  The news spread and thousands came at the call.  The place selected was usually in the depression of a lonely moor, or under the shelter of a desolate mountain; yet any spot was dangerous.  The king had issued successive proclamations against the Conventicles, and his troops were constantly scouring the country in search of them.

The services were of necessity sensational.  At the appointed time the people were on the ground.  Many came a great distance, some of them traveling under the shades of night.  From every direction they converged.  Fathers and mothers with their sons and daughters were there.  The young and the old were equally full of zeal, and the women were courageous as the men.  On the way they would cannily scan the country from the hilltop, to see if the dreaded dragoons were in sight.