CHAPTER II. THE BEGINNING OF SORROWS.
While I was yet young I often heard people talk about the troubles that had beset, and were likely still to befall, the Kirk of Scotland. As I grew older I comprehended what was meant by the troubles of the kirk, for it was my lot to live through one period of her persecution, and to see her deliverance in the Lord's own good time. Troubles assailed the kirk during the greater part of the long reign of James VI. of Scotland and I. of England. He had no love for Presbyterianism, and endeavored to establish Episcopacy among us; and many a faithful minister bore imprisonment or banishment for the truth and conscience' sake. Charles I. was even more self-willed than his father. He could not endure that we should have a church different from his own, or that the king's will should not rule in all things. In 1637 he ordered a new and popish Service-Book to be used in the Scottish churches instead of the liturgy of John Knox, which had been in use for many years. Our people could not accept it. They humbly petitioned the king that they might be allowed to worship God in their own way; but he paid no heed to their petition, except to strive the more to force Episcopacy upon us.
Seeing that our religious liberty was threatened, the Scottish people signed a solemn agreement, called "the National Covenant," pledging themselves before God to adhere to the pure doctrine of his Word as confessed by the Scottish Kirk, and to defend it and each other against all attacks. This Covenant was first signed in Grayfriars Kirk and kirkyard in Edinburgh on February 28 of the year 1638.
My father was in the prime of life at the time of the signing of the Covenant. He did not go to Edinburgh with the vast throng that came from far and near to sign it—and folk say that many of them wrote their names with their own blood—but that did not prevent him from putting his name to it, for copies of it were carried through the whole country. Gentle and simple signed it, and he was not slow to set his name with those of so many of his fellow-countrymen. From this time a cloud of war began to form and gather blackness.
When it appeared that the king was resolved to enforce obedience to himself by the sword, our people, convinced of their duty to obey God rather than man, made preparations to insure their liberty of conscience.
My father's occupation prevented him from enrolling his name as a soldier. But he was no disinterested spectator of his country's troubles. Many were the consultations held under our own roof at the time of the first uprising of the Covenanters; many a "God-speed" did he bid those who went, and many a prayer did he put up for those who should stand in battle.
The first army was soon disbanded, as you will remember; for King Charles, seeing our forces so strong, made concessions to meet the demands of our people, though that these were made in good faith it would be difficult to believe. Peace, indeed, lasted but a short time. The king, displeased with the decision of the General Assembly condemning Episcopacy in Scotland, gathered another army; and again the Covenanters took the field. This time they advanced into England, and their success prepared the way for a treaty with the king, which was concluded in 1641.
Meanwhile the great conflict ending in civil war broke out between Charles and the English Parliament, and gave him something to do nearer home; and the spread of Presbyterianism in England, together with the "Solemn League and Covenant" for its defence and for the protection of the liberties of the kingdoms which the English Parliament and its adherents made with our Scotch nobles and people in 1643, freed our kirk from molestation during a period of several years.