nimated some valiant champions
(Messrs. Hamilton, Wishart, and others) with a spirit of truth and
heroic courage, to contend against the abominations of the Babylonish
whore, whose labors, by the blessing of Heaven, were rendered
successful, to open the eyes of some to see, and engage many others to
inquire after, and espouse the truth as it is in JESUS. These, not
regarding the fear of man, nor the cruelty of their enemies, but as good
soldiers of JESUS CHRIST, enduring hardness, chose, rather than desert
their Master's cause, to offer their bodies to be devoured by the
tormenting flames, no more merciless than their hellish persecutors;
while in that fiery chariot, through the serial regions, their souls
ascended to the celestial country. And herein, also, did GOD frustrate
the expectation of that monster of iniquity, Cardinal Beaton (whose
memory let it for ever perish), and his wicked accomplices, and turned
their counsel into foolishness, who, by the death of a few zealous
contenders for the faith, intended the total suppression of CHRIST'S
truth for ever; but GOD having purposed the contrary, made the effusion
of their blood the occasion of rousing many from the deep sleep of gross
ignorance, by putting them to search into the truth of those doctrines,
which these martyrs sealed with their blood; so that JESUS CHRIST, the
only true light in the orb of the gospel, began again to shine forth
within this realm.

Upon this begun revival of reformation, the glory of the LORD went
remarkably before his people, and the GOD of Israel was their reward,
uniting the hearts, and strengthening the hands, both of noble and
ignoble, to a vigorous and active espousing of his gospel, and concerns
of his glory, in opposition to the tyranny of the lordly bishops,
persecuting rage, and masked treachery of the two bloody Marys, the
mother and daughter, who then successively governed, or rather
tyrannized, in Scotland. Their number, as well as their zealous spirit,
still increasing, they, for the more effectual management of this noble
enterprise, entered into covenants to advance that begun work of
reformation, and to defend the same and one another in the maintenance
thereof, against all opposition whatsoever. Several such covenants our
early reformers solemnly entered into at Edinburgh, Perth and Leith, in
the years 1557, '59, '60 and '62. In 1560, _the Confession of the Faith,
and doctrine believed and professed by the Protestants