For surely we may say of these our times (and with as much propriety) what some of these worthies said of theirs, _Quam graviter ingemescerent illi fortes viri qui ecclesiæ Scoticanæ pro libertate in acte decertarunt, si nostram nunc ignaviam (ne quid gravius dicam) conspicerent_, said Mr. Davidson in a letter to the general Assembly 1601, _i. e._ "How grievously would they bewail our stupenduous slothfulness, could they but behold it, who of old thought no expence of blood and treasure too much for the defence of the church of Scotland's liberties."--Or to use the words of another[16] in the persecuting period, "Were it possible that our reformers (and we may add our late martyrs) who are entered in among the glorious choristers in the kingdom of heaven, (singing their melodious songs on harps about the throne of the Lamb) might have a furlough for a short time, to take a view of their apostatizing children, what may we judge would be their conceptions of these courses of defection, so far repugnant to the platform laid down in that glorious work of reformation." For if innocent Hamilton, godly and patient Wishart, apostolic Knox, eloquent Rollock, worthy Davidson, the courageous Melvils, prophetic Welch, majestic Bruce, great Henderson, renowned Gillespie, learned Binning, pious Gray, laborious Durham, heavenly-minded Rutherford, the faithful Guthries, diligent Blair, heart-melting Livingston, religious Welwood, orthodox and practical Brown, zealous and stedfast Cameron, honest-hearted Cargil, sympathizing M'Ward, persevering Blackadder, the evangelical Traills, constant and pious Renwick, &c. "were filed off from the assembly of the first-born, sent as commissioners to haste down from the mount of God, to behold how quickly their offspring are gone out of the way, piping and dancing after a golden calf: Ah! with what vehemency would their spirits be affected, to see their laborious structure almost razed to the foundation, by those to whom they committed the custody of the word of their great Lord's patience; they in the mean time sheltering themselves under the shadow of a rotten lump of fig-tree leaf distinctions, which will not sconce against the wrath of an angry God in the cool of the day, &c."