Times of persecution

About the commencement of the persecution in Scotland, nearly three hundred and fifty ministers were ejected from their churches in the depth of winter, and driven with their families to seek shelter among the peasantry. - These ministers were forbidden to preach even in the fields, or to approach within twenty miles of their former charges; and the people as well as the pastors, who would not abjure their dearest rights, were denounced as traitors, their property confiscated, and they themselves hunted like heath-cocks upon the mountains. Not only this, but there was a prohibition laid upon any one who supplied them with food or who gave them the shelter of a roof; and those who in any way showed kindness to these friendless followers of Christ exposed their property and their persons to the avarice and cruelty of a wicked and injurious authority. Often in the moorland solitudes, concealed from the eyes of their persecutors, did these servants of the Redeemer bring from the wells of salvation water for the refreshment and life of thirsting souls; and many a blessed outpouring of the Holy Spirit was experienced by them when, in some hallowed retreat, they congregated at the risk of all that was dear to them on earth, to worship the God of their fathers. Very precious was the comfort the Saviour vouchsafed to his suffering children, revealing himself to them as he did to the disciples of old, till they counted it no loss that every earthly prop was removed, causing them to lean more confidingly upon the Divine arm, asking only the more earnestly that he would lead them in his way. The desolation and distress of many a family after the gospel began to be preached in the fields were unutterable. The tender, loving wife knew not how it fared with her husband, traversing the waste or lodged in a cold, damp cave; and many a disconsolate hour did she spend in weeping over her helpless children, who had apparently nothing before them but starvation. On the other hand, the husband, far from his dearly cherished home, was full of the bitter remembrance of his family, picturing to himself their many wants, which he could in no way relieve, their many sorrows which he could not soothe, and the countless insults from which he could not defend them. But with all this they had peace, for God was with them.