BY THE REV. D. BEATON, WICK.
INTRODUCTION.
IN writing to the Philippian Christians, the Apostle Paul speaks of certain women who laboured with him in the gospel, and calls upon the Philippians to help them. The generous nature of the great Apostle of the Gentiles recalls with pleasure those days of happy fellowship enjoyed at Philippi, and whatever sphere their labours may have covered it may be taken for granted that these did not encroach on the provinces of public teaching and ruling in the Church of Christ, for there are certain very-explicit statements in the Apostle’s own writings that expressly prohibit any such interference. But though the Word of God so strongly condemns any such infringement of the constituted order of God’s House, yet there are many outlets in the service of Christ for the zeal and devotion of godly women. When the Son of God was on earth there were among those who waited on His gracious ministry a few godly women, who were privileged to enjoy such blessed fellowship, and who, in turn, ministered to Him of their substance. It was a high privilege, and the happy experience of receiving the blessing of those who give, must have brought its own reward. But the ministry of women in the gospel is not limited to acts of benevolence; it may and has found a sphere for its exercise in prayer and in “the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is, in the sight of God, of great price.” The chaste conversation and the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit of godly women have had untold influence upon the lives of those they came into contact with. While women are not called upon to lead, yet there may be times when the sense of duty may be so overwhelming as to call them forth from their place of comparative obscurity to act and suffer for their Lord and Master. In Scotland we have had a noble band of such witnesses—women, who with all the tenderness of their nature and the full consciousness of the place ordained to them of Heaven, yet when the call of duty came shrank not from the suffering their action involved, nor from the publicity which their devotion to the call of duty demanded. It is to a brief account of the lives of some of these heroic women that this series of brief sketches is devoted.
The Reformation, that mighty movement of the Spirit of God,
had scarcely been begun in Scotland when persecution claimed as one of its victims Mrs. Ronaldson. The heroic fortitude of this woman in circumstances peculiarly trying to the tender feelings of a wife and mother is told in the first sketch. Another of Scotland’s heroic female figures is Mrs. Welsh, the daughter of John Knox. The story of her quick-witted and heroic replies to King James is well known. Daughter of a fearless father, and wife of as brave a husband, she did no discredit to her ancestry, nor did she prove unfit to be a helpmeet to such a man as John Welsh. But, trying though the Reformation struggle was to many, and we may take it for granted that the name of many a one not written on the page of history is written in the Lamb’s book as that of one who suffered much for the Master’s sake, yet the period that called for the most heroic endurance was not that covered by the Reformation struggle, but that of the second Reformation. It is to this period that all who appreciate high-souled devotion to the claims of the Lord Jesus as King, turn with unwearied interest and read again and again the heart-moving history of those who were faithful unto death. It will be seen from the following sketches that the greater number of them deal with this period, but they by no means exhaust the account that might be given of the great cloud of witnesses who suffered during this period. The truths for which the Covenants contended are now regarded by many as being of comparative insignificance, but they were life-and-death matters to those who died and suffered for them. The attempt of the infatuated House of Stewart to impose Episcopacy on the Scottish people was one of the most disastrous experiments ever tried by kingcraft. It ended in the complete overthrow of the ill-fated house of Stewart, and it wrung blood and tears from the Scottish people. For the better understanding of this great struggle it may be as well to briefly review some of the great issues at stake. The struggle for the mastery began in the reign of James VI., and though the Melvilles and others courageously withstood the measures of the King, yet by and bye the Royalist party seemed to a great extent to get much of its own way. When Charles I. ascended the throne in 1625 he, unwisely following the advice of evil counsellors, persisted in a course that was to cost him his head and end in the complete overthrow of his policy.
It is not to be thought that during a period in which so much controversy reigned, that vital godliness died. It was quite otherwise, for it was during this period that the remarkable effects took place under the preaching of David Dickson at Stewarton, and under John Livingstone at Kirk of Shots. The remarkable revival at Stewarton—known as the Stewarton Sickness by the unbelievers—began in 1625 and continued for five years. The story of the revival at the Kirk of Shots is so well known that we need not do more than refer to it in passing. These were days of the right hand of the Son of Man, and were, no doubt, the preparation the Son of God was giving for the fiery ordeal through which He was soon to make the Church of Scotland pass.
The step that was to lead to such disastrous results for Charles was at last taken. Listening to the evil counsels of Laud, he determined to introduce the English Book of Canons and Liturgy into Scotland. It was on the 23rd of July, 1637, that the experiment was made that was destined to fan the smouldering fires of a people’s indignation into a fierce and vehement flame. The Dean of Edinburgh had scarcely begun the reading of the service for the day when Jenny Geddes, lifting her three-legged stool, with unerring skill aimed it at the Dean’s head, at the same time exclaiming, “Villain, dost thou say Mass at my lug?” Whatever may have been Jenny Geddes’s motive—and there are not wanting many who say that it could not be a highly religious one—there can be no doubt that it was the means of setting in motion the pent-up feelings of the Scottish people. The movement begun at St. Giles bore fruit in the signing of the Covenant in the Cemetery of Greyfriars. On the 28th February, 1638, the Covenant was signed by a great number of the nobility, gentry, and ministers of the country. The greatest excitement prevailed, and some in their enthusiasm signed it with their blood. It was one of the great days in the ecclesiastical history of Scotland. Soon afterwards the Covenanters found it necessary to take up arms in defence of their liberties. The struggle ended at last in the overthrow of the King and finally in his execution. During this struggle the Covenanters were at one, but soon afterwards they were divided into different parties, distinguished by the names of Protesters and Resolutioners. An Act had been passed in 1649, called the Act of Classes, owing to its dividing into certain four separate classes, according to their respective degrees of short-coming, the characters of persons not to be entrusted with power.
At a meeting of the Commission of the General Assembly two resolutions were favourable to the admission of all fencible persons in the time of great necessity, with the exception of ex-communicated and wicked persons. This gave an excuse to Parliament to rescind the Act of Classes, which was accordingly done in 1650. The Resolutions of the Commission were condemned by the most discerning of the Scottish Ministers, hence those who condemned them were called Protesters and those who favoured them were called Resolutioners. As the struggle went on, it was more and more evident that the Resolutioners had made a serious mistake, and the verdict of history is on the side of the Protesters. The latter were few in numbers, among the ministers at least, but the people gladly gathered around them, and the custom of great gatherings at Communion seasons, is sometimes said to be traced to the times of the Protesters. There were pious men on both sides, such as David Dickson, Robert Blair, James Wood, among the Resolutioners, and Samuel Rutherford, and James Guthrie, among the Protesters. As time went on, the Resolutioners became more and more involved in the policy of laxity that characterised their attitude to the repeal of the Act of Classes at the beginning.
(To be Continued.)