For twenty-eight years (1660-88) it was the lot of the Church of Christ in Scotland to pass through the furnace of affliction and trial. During this period, with little respite, the true worshippers of Christ in Scotland were pursued by their enemies and exposed to many privations and to sword and fire and water. Their case was similar to that of David in his day when he was hunted as a partridge in the mountains by his enemy Saul.
For two or three months it is our intention to bring before the readers of the magazine this particular period of Scottish Church history by including in the magazine an address by Rev. James Kerr of Greenock, delivered in 1880, on Scotland’s Covenanted Martyrs, the first part of which appeared in the August issue. The same issues of the magazine will also contain sermons by noted Covenanter preachers, including the sermon delivered by Rev. Donald Cargill at the Torwood Excommunication when the Covenanters took the solemn step of publicly casting out of the Church the leading oppressors of the Church of God.
We make no apology for reminding our readers of the struggles of the Church of Scotland during that trying period of its history for it should teach us at what cost our religious liberties have been purchased. Also the dangers to which the true Church of Christ is exposed at the present time, and the very real possibility that the Church may have again to pass through a period of persecution should be sufficient reason for reminding ourselves of the faithfulness of the Covenanters to Christ in a dark day. They counted not their lives dear unto the death in order that they might obtain a better resurrection and bequeath to the generations following the faith for which they lived and died.
We have known little in our day of suffering for Christ’s sake. This is not true of other parts of the world at the present time. In different parts of the world, under Communism, Romanism and other anti-Christian systems, the true followers of Christ are subjected to fierce persecution from these enemies of the Cross of Christ. What they suffer today may be our lot tomorrow.
What need there is then of seeking preparation in a day of comparative quiet for the day of trial that may lie ahead. It is not in carnal strength that Christians will be able to stand in the day of trial but only in the strength of divine grace. May we seek then to be humble followers of the Lord Jesus Christ in this our day, looking to Him as the One who is able to keep us in the evil day and to preserve us unto His heavenly kingdom.