Sketches of the CovenantersMcFeeters, J. C. (James Calvin)
History
Sketches of the Covenanters
McFeeters, J. C. (James Calvin)
Covenanters; Scotland -- Church history -- 16th century; Scotland -- Church history -- 17th century
The horrors which women deliberately faced, in their devotion to Christ
and His servants, seem almost incredible. How great the love of woman
whose heart God's love has filled! How deep, how tranquil, how
inexhaustible, how majestic, how like the love of Jesus is the love of
that woman whose heart rests in her Covenant God! It is measured in part
by the stupendous tasks she accepts and the crucial emergencies she
endures for the sake of others. When Robert Baillie, burdened with years
and weakened with disease, lay in prison waiting for his sentence, his
wife was ill and unable to visit him. But the angelic heart of her
sister, Lady Graden, then found its opportunity. The authorities would
permit her to visit the dying man, only on her consent to become a
prisoner with him. She agreed to the conditions, and entered the dark
sickly cell. His pale face was quickly lighted up with her presence, and
the Word of God, which she read to him in the dim candle-light. Night
and day she watched over him with sympathetic interest. At length he was
brought out for trial, and sentenced to die. She accompanied him to the
gallows, stood by him when swung off; saw him cut down, watched while
his body was quartered and prepared for shipment, to be placed on
exhibition in four cities. And when the service of love was fully
finished, and neither hand, nor tongue, nor eye could do anything
further, she went home to console her sick sister.
[Illustration: CONSOLATION IN PRISON.
Helen Johnston, afterward Lady Graden, was the daughter of the
celebrated Archibald Johnston, who sealed the Covenant with his blood.
Through much tribulation she learned to sympathize deeply with those who
were condemned to die for their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Here she
is seen visiting an aged prisoner of Christ, Robert Baillie. She is
leading the Bible, and conversing upon the consolation of God's grace.
She attended him on the scaffold, where he gave up his life for the
truth.]
And what shall we say more of Isabel Alison, Marion Harvie, Margaret
Dun, Barbara Cunningham, Janet Livingston, Anne Hamilton, Margaret
Colville, Marion Veitch, and the long list of worthy women, which the
pen of man will never complete?
The Covenanted Church is largely dependent on the women for spirit,
courage, fidelity, and activity in the service of Christ. The grace of
God, abounding in the women, will cause the Church to arise and do
valiant work. When mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters beam with
devotion to Christ and His Covenant; when their voice is resonant with
holy courage in the Lord's cause; when their lives are sublime with
deeds of heroic faith; then will the Church become "beautiful as the
morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army
with banners." Jesus said unto her, "O woman, great is thy faith; be it
unto thee even as thou wilt."
* * * * *
POINTS FOR THE CLASS.
1. In what spirit did the women endure the persecution?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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