Protestantism in Scotland - James Aitken Wylie

knew that, distressing as was their present
condition, their future lot was sure to be more
wretched; but rather than take their hands from the
plough they would part with even dearer
possessions than those of which they had been
stripped. They had counted the cost, and would go
forward in the path on which they had set out,
although they plainly descried a scaffold at the end
of it.
The religious people of Scotland followed with
their affection and their prayers the pastors who
had been torn from them. The throne had loosened
its hold, prelacy had sealed its doom, but the
firmness of principle shown by the ministers had
exalted the cause of Presbytery, and rallied once
more round it the better portion of the Scottish
people. The shepherds had been smitten, but the
flocks would not long escape, and they prepared to
suffer when their day of trial should come.
Meanwhile, lamentation and woe overspread the
country. "Scotland," says Wodrow, "was never
witness to such a Sabbath as the last on which
these ministers preached; and I know no parallel to
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