s ladder with less fear and
perturbation of mind than ever I entered the pulpit to preach." Having
reached the platform, where the rope was waiting for his neck, he bade
adieu to earth, and welcome to heaven. "Farewell," he exclaimed;
"Farewell, all relations and friends in Christ; farewell acquaintances
and all earthly enjoyments; farewell reading and preaching, praying and
believing, wanderings and reproaches and sufferings. Welcome joy
unspeakable and full of glory. Welcome Father, Son, and Holy Ghost! into
Thy hands I commit my spirit." What was death to a man like that but the
beginning of glory! The black scaffold was lighted up with the radiance
that streamed through the pearl gates.

How much does the spirit of zeal, courage, witness-bearing, and
discipline, stir the descendants of the martyred Covenanters in the
present day?

* * * * *

POINTS FOR THE CLASS.

1. What may be said of Cargill's last years of service?

2. How many years of persecution did he suffer?

3. What aroused him against the king?

4. What official act did he perform on the king and six others?

5. What was the nature of this excommunication?

6. How did he protect himself against wrong criticism?

7. Was his prophecy fulfilled?

8. How did Cargill die?

9. What service is much neglected in the Church in our day?

XL.

THE SOCIETIES.--A.D. 1682.

After the death of Cameron, the Covenanters of the Cameronian type
formed themselves into societies for the worship of God, for their own
spiritual edification, and for the defence of the Covenant. Half a dozen
families or more, having the same faith, spirit, and purpose, met
together on the Sabbath day, to engage in social worship. This was
called a society.

Those were days of woeful declension. Defection had swept the great body
of Covenanters from their basis. Under the strain of persecution and the
snare of the royal Indulgence, many ministers and people had abandoned
wholly, or in degree, Reformation grounds. The Society People alone
refused to make concessions by which truth would be suppressed,
conscience defiled, or any divine principle surrendered. They stood by
the Covenant, and accepted the consequences, including hardest service
and greatest sufferings.

The Society People have been censured for exclusiveness; they refused to
associate with others in the worship of God, and would hear no ministers
except their own. But why? C