ants in Ireland, halted the persecution of Christians on the
Continent, and gave Rome the alternative, to cease the work of
slaughter, or listen to the thunder of his legions at her gates.

The Church of the Covenanters however had strange experience at the
hands of Cromwell. In a ruthless and despotic manner he dissolved the
General Assembly, put the Supreme Court of God's house out of existence
to appear no more for thirty-five years. The meeting previous to this
act of violence had been held in the mid-summer of 1653. The ministers
and elders had come from all parts of Scotland, to sit in counsel, or
rather in debate, concerning the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. The
salubrious air and genial sky of Edinburgh united with, the sacred and
exhilarating interests of the Gospel to arouse all that was noble, and
divine in every heart. The Moderator reverently led the Assembly in
prayer and constituted the court most solemnly in the name of Jesus
Christ. Such a prayer should overwhelm the soul with God's presence,
burden the conscience with responsibilities, make the spiritual world
dreadfully visible, and bring God's servants close to His throne of
judgment.

The Assembly had met last year in this prayerful and solemn mariner, but
the business of the Lord Jesus soon degenerated into an acrid, harmful
discussion, that lasted two weeks and ended in confusion. The debate
evidently was now to be renewed with the additional bitterness and
vehemence that had accumulated during the ensuing year. The ministers
and elders having convened, the regular business was under way, when
suddenly the Assembly witnessed what was unexpected--a regiment of
soldiers in the churchyard. Cromwell had sent them. The soldiers, in
bright uniform and bristling with swords and guns, struck amazement into
the hearts of the delegates. The colonel ordered them to leave the
house. They walked out in front of the soldiers and, being escorted
beyond the city limits, were sent home, not to return, under pain of
punishment.

The General Assembly had fallen into a state of bitter strife--the snare
of Satan. There were two parties and these were quite well balanced.
Their power for good was greatly neutralized by one another; their
influence for harm was incalculable; the baneful effect spread like a
withering shadow over the land. The two parties, at the beginning,
chiefly differed in the methods employed to accomplish the same end. The
one was governed b