The hour for the service having arrived, the audience sat down upon the grass or on the rocks.  The minister took his stand on a prominent spot.  Sentinels occupied elevated points, from whence they could detect and report the approach of troops.  The mountain extended its friendly shelter over the congregation.  The sun shed its light upon them like the smile of their heavenly Father.  The sky spread over them as the canopy of God’s high throne.  The winds swept through the bushes and over the heather with regaling freshness.  This was God’s sanctuary built without hands; here His people worshiped in spirit and in truth.

The minister from his granite pulpit would catch the inspiration.  The waiting people, the earnest faces, the gleaming eyes, the solemn hour, the charming scenery, the occasion, the danger, the privilege, the responsibility, the presence of God, the nearness of heaven—­how much here to awaken all that was noble, courageous, and overpowering in God’s messenger!  The fiery, pathetic, powerful eloquence, that echoed among those rocks and swept through the coves, was beyond the reporter’s skill.  Here heaven touched earth; eternity overlapped time; glory overspread the worshipers.  These were days when that which is most sacred, awful, and sublime burdened men’s souls.  Here holy oratory distilled like dew, breathed like zephyrs, crashed like storms, leaped like devouring flames.  The recorded sermons of these ministers are yet regarded as the very marrow of Christian literature.

Have we the zeal of these fathers for the house of our God?  Are we carried to the place of worship at the appointed hour by our love for Jesus Christ?  One glance at the enthusiasm of the Conventicle Covenanters would surely make the present generation blush.

* * * * *

Points for the class.

1.  State the demands Commissioner Middleton made upon the Covenanted ministers.

2.  How would such a demand agitate the mind?

3.  How long had they to decide?

4.  What proportion remained faithful under the trial?

5.  In what way did these continue their ministry?

6.  Describe a Conventicle service.

7.  How will present zeal for Divine services compare with their zeal?

XXVII.

The Covenanters’ communion.—­A.D. 1664.

The Lord Jesus Christ loves His Church with love that arises into flames.  “I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy.”  The Church is His Bride, His well-beloved, His only one; He has bestowed His heart upon her.

The love of Jesus for His Church has ever been excessive in intensity.  His blood was shed for her redemption.  Love laid Him on the altar, where His life was consumed for her sake.  It laid all Covenant blessings at her feet, placed the angelic hosts at her service, made the universe tributary to her welfare, opened heaven for her admission, prepared her throne at the right hand of God, and gave the eternal ages to her for service and enjoyment, in Jesus Christ her Lord.  And this love has never abated; His voice resounds across the centuries, falling upon her ears in sweetest accents, saying, “I have loved thee with an everlasting love.”