rom her youth. She appears
exceedingly beautiful in her first love, coming up from the wilderness
with her right hand taking firm hold upon the Lord Jesus Christ, her
gracious Redeemer and mighty Protector.

The Church of Scotland was then known as the Church of the Culdees. They
had a flourishing Theological Seminary on the Isle of Iona. The ruins of
it still remain.

Papal Rome however quickly scented this noble vine, with its rich, ripe
clusters of grapes. Embassies were sent to win these children of light
over to the Papacy. But they had tasted of the freedom and blessedness
in Christ and refused. A long sanguinary struggle ensued, which resulted
in the apparent suppression of the Protestant faith in the Twelfth
century. The ministers in general, under the severity of prolonged
persecution, surrendered their liberty and became servants of the Roman
pontiff.

Yet were there always some to resist the cruel conqueror. The excellent
of the earth are always to be found at their unpurchasable value, when
mankind is on the market selling cheap. These had the courage to
challenge popes and kings, who dared to assume the power or the
prerogatives of Jesus Christ. They believed that Christ was the Head of
the Church, and were willing to yield up their lives rather than their
convictions. The doctrine of Christ's supremacy was incarnated in these
worthies, and they became invincible in its defence. As the granite
rocks, beneath whose shelter they worshiped, withstood the blasts of
winter, so these insuppressible men withstood the storms of persecution.
The sovereignty of Christ over Church and nation was dearer to them than
life. They saw the glory of God involved in this fundamental truth, also
the honor of Jesus Christ, and the liberty, purity, and permanence of
the Church. They counted the pre-eminence of the Lord Jesus Christ
worthy of every sacrifice. They suffered bonds and imprisonment, exile
and slavery, torture and death, for its sake. Their blood watered the
moss of the moors and the heather of the mountains. Thousands and tens
of thousands of Scotland's noblest sons and purest daughters gave their
lives freely for the contested doctrine of Christ's crown rights and
royal supremacy. As these valiant soldiers of the cross fell, their
children arose, and, grasping the banner of the Covenant crimsoned with
the blood of their fathers, carried it defiantly along the firing line
of the fierce battle. The dreadful confli