A Goodly Heritage

. WILLIAM HANNAH, the Covenanter, lived in the parish of Sundergarth, in Annandale. He was made a prisoner for his faith, and was faithful to the end. Besides his other retreats, he had, when under persecution, a hiding place in his own barn. When he was lying on one occasion among the straw reading his bible, which he always carried with him as his sweetest companion in his solitariness, the house was visited by a party of soldiers in search of him. In his haste to flee from the place, he left his bible among the straw, and fled to a distance. The troopers, in the course of their searching, entered the barn, every corner of which they pried into, turning everything upside down, and tossing about the straw that had so recently been the bed of him whom they were so eagerly seeking. According to their custom, they thrust their long swords down through the heaps of straw and hay that lay on the floor, with the view of stabbing any one who might happen to be concealed beneath. In this proc

. THE Reformer Knox had many interviews with Mary Queen of Scots, and these brought out the character of both parties. In a sermon in St. Giles’s Church, when the Queen’s marriage was talked about, he said,—“Now, my Lords, to put an end to all, I hear of the Queen’s marriage. . . . Whensoever the nobility of Scotland professing the Lord Jesus consent that an infidel (and all Papists are infidels) shall be head to your sovereign, you do so far as in you lieth to banish Christ Jesus from this realm.” Mary as well as Knox knew that this was the hinge of the whole question, and the preacher was instantly sent for to the palace. On his appearance the Queen burst into a passion of tears. Never had Prince been handled as she was—she had borne with him, had listened to him, and had sought his favour—“and yet I cannot be quit of you. I vow to God, I shall be once revenged.” Knox stood unmoved, and then calmly reasoned that in the pulpit, and as preacher, he was not his own master, and was bound

. An Anecdote of Scotch Honesty. IT will be seen that trust begets trust Only by the same principle can true friendship exist. When human beings distrust and suspect each other, then good-bye to honourable friendships. There’s an end to the confidence and love attached to this beautiful silken tie that binds man to man, family to family, nation to nation. Two centuries ago it was thought an insult in the Highlands to ask a note from a debtor. It was considered the same thing as saying, “I doubt your honour.” If parties had business matters to transact they stepped into the open air, fixed their eyes on the heavens, and each repeated his obligation with no mortal witness. A mark was carved upon some rock or tree near by as a remembrance of the compact. Such a thing as a breach of contract was rarely met with, so highly did the people regard their honour. When the march of improvement brought the new mode of doing business, they were often pained by those innovations. An anecdote is hand

. An Anecdote of Ross-shire. ROBERT MACLEOD was an honest and ardent Christian, and lived in Killearnan, Ross-shire, and was much given to prayer. The story of his first prayer in Donald Macpherson’s family is worthy of repeating. To Robert’s bewilderment, his host abruptly asked him to pray at family worship, during a visit which he paid him. He dare not refuse; so turning on his knees, and addressing his Creator, he said—“Thou knowest that though I have bent my knees to pray to Thee, I am much more under the fear of Donald Macpherson than under the fear of Thyself.” Not, perhaps, a bad beginning. It was at once earnest and honest. A remarkable instance of Robert’s warm love to the brethren, and of his nearness to God in prayer, has been often repeated, and is undoubtedly true. The case of the godly John Grant was pressed closely on his spirit, along with an impression of his being in temporal want. He was strongly moved to plead with God for “daily bread,” for His child, and so const