e am I, that frae the provocation given to the
people of Scotland by the King's miscounselled majesty, nothing but
tears and woes can ensue; for by the manner in which they hae already
rebutted the aggression, he will in return be stirred to aggrieve them
still farther. I'm now an auld man, and may be removed before the woes
come to pass; but it requires not the e'e of prophecy to spae bloodshed
and suffering, and many afflictions in your fortunes. Nevertheless,
friens, be of good cheer, for the Lord will prosper his own cause.
Neither king, nor priest, nor any human authority has the right to
interfere between you and your God; and allegiance ends where
persecution begins. Never, therefore, in the trials awaiting you, forget
that the right to resist in matters of conscience is the
foundation-stone of religious liberty; O see, therefore, that you guard
it weel!"

The voice and manner of the aged speaker melted every heart. Many of the
women sobbed aloud, and the children were moved, as I was myself, and as
I have often heard them in their manhood tell, as if the spirit of faith
and fortitude had entered into the very bones and marrow of their
bodies; nor ever afterwards have I heard psalm sung with such melodious
energy of holiness as that pious congregation of simple country folk
sung the hundred and fortieth psalm before departing for their lowly
dwellings on that solemn evening.

CHAPTER XXXIX

It was on the Wednesday that my father came home from Edinburgh. On
Friday the farmer lads and their fathers continued coming over to our
house to hear the news, and all their discourse was concerning the
manifest foretaste of papistry which was in the praying of the prayers,
that an obdurate prince and an alien Arminian prelate were attempting to
thrust into their mouths, and every one spoke of renewing the Solemn
League and Covenant, which, in the times of the Reformation and the
dangers of the Spanish Armada, had achieved such great things for THE
TRUTH AND THE WORD.

On Saturday, Mr Sundrum, our minister, called for my father about twelve
o'clock. He had heard the news, and also that my father had come back. I
was doing something on the green, I forget now what it was, when I saw
him coming towards the door, and I ran into the house to tell my father,
who immediately came out to meet him.

Little passed in my hearing between them, for, after a short inquiry
concerning how my father had fared in the journey, t