ted in standing by
duty, conviction, and principle, owning their Covenant and honoring
Christ Jesus, in the face of the king's wrath? The Assembly continued
its sessions one month. The work was stupendous, and it was thoroughly
done. The Church was cleansed, the ministry purified, true worship
restored, and enactments adopted for the protection of the Reformed
religion. After pronouncing the final benediction, the moderator said,
"We have now cast down the walls of Jericho; let him that rebuildeth
them beware of the curse of Hiel the Bethelite."

Behold how these fathers stood at the risk of their lives for the
sovereignty of Jesus Christ! What devotion, what courage, what
self-immolation! How great the moral grandeur of those lives, lifted up
in the service of Christ far above the fear of man! They felt deeply the
presence and power of the Holy Spirit, giving them wisdom, peace, joy,
and success, in their tasks! Had we the same enduement of the Spirit of
God, surely the Lord's work would prosper in our hands! May God grant
it.

* * * * *

POINTS FOR THE CLASS.

1. In what spirit did the people retire from the Covenant Convention in
Edinburgh?

2. How was the Covenant received by the nation?

3. How did King Charles regard it?

4. How did he attempt to counteract its power?

5. In what manner did the Covenanters receive his commissioner?

6. When and where was the General Assembly reorganized?

7. With what interference did it meet?

8. What good work did it accomplish?

9. What trust did it commit to future generations?

XV.

THE KING WAGES WAR.--A.D. 1639.

The year of our Lord, 1638, exalted the Covenanted Church into
prominence and power. The Covenant in the beginning of the year, and the
General Assembly at the end, were achievements that arose in sublimity
and moral grandeur like mountains, and all the months between, being
filled with spiritual refreshing, were like table lands covered with the
glory of the Lord, and shaking like Lebanon with prosperous fruit. "The
light of the moon was as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun
sevenfold, as the light of seven days."

During the next ten years the Church experienced rapid growth. The
Covenant always seemed to give the Church about ten years of
extraordinary prosperity. The Holy Spirit descended in power,
multiplying the ministry and membership exceedingly. New congregations
sprang up in the town