nny over conscience, and took every occasion to
assert his power.

The General Assembly had appointed the date and place for a meeting in
1604. The king arbitrarily postponed the meeting one year, and at the
expiration of the year postponed it again. But there were
high-principled men who resisted the domineering monarch. Nineteen
faithful ministers had met with a number of elders, just as fearless
and faithful as the ministers, and constituted the Assembly against the
king's specific orders. Their defiance of the king's authority was at
the risk of their lives. This was their last free Assembly for thirty
years. These men were haled before the judges, and, being found guilty
of disobeying the king, were sentenced. During the next twelve years the
king dominated the Assembly, after which he dissolved it, permitting no
more meetings while he lived. The Prelatic party henceforth held the
power and ruled the Church with a high hand.

[Illustration: SOUVENIRS OF THE COVENANTERS.

Battle-flag, carried at Drumclog; drum, seen at Lochgoin, said to have
been in use at the battle of Bothwell Bridge; Captain Paton's Bible,
which he gave his wife from the scaffold; his sword, which he wielded
with terrible effect; and a powder horn used in those times.]

The form of worship was changed; human devices, in place of God's
appointments flooded the Church. Departure from the old ways was
especially marked by a measure known as the "Five Articles of Perth."
These were sanctioned by the king, and rigorously enforced in his effort
to subdue all who resisted or protested. Henceforth Presbyterians had to
conform to the new mode of worship, or feel the weight of the law in
confiscation, imprisonment, banishment, or death.

These Articles of Perth were sanctioned by the Parliament. This act of
ratification was accompanied by a remarkable demonstration of
Providence. Parliament was then evidently carrying out the will of the
king, for the subversion of the Presbyterian Church, the Reformed
religion, the liberty of conscience, and the rights of the people.
Parliament met for this purpose in Edinburgh, August 4, 1621. The
morning was gloomy. With the advancing hours the clouds grew denser and
darker; the whole sky became covered with blackness; a storm of divine
wrath seemed to bend the very heavens with its weight. Just at the
moment when the Marquis of Hamilton, performing the final act of
ratification in the name of the king, touched the