caught glimpses of the glory, basked for a season in the brilliancy,
tasted the sweetness of the banquet, breathed the exhilarating air, then
fell back. By the perfidy of man the vision was shattered and the
idealization wrecked.

We shudder at the loss incurred by these kingdoms in their decline from
their Covenant. What would have been their eminence among nations had
the terms of the Covenant been fulfilled? What would have been their
power and prestige had they, by keeping their Covenant, been sheltered
for the last two and a half centuries from the ravages of rum and Rome,
misrule and tyranny, the violence of unscrupulous men and the wrath of
the offended Lord? What numerous posterity! what fruitful fields! what
prodigious wealth! what industrial prosperity! what educational
institutions! what unparalleled progress! what inexhaustible resources
for development at home and achievements abroad! Enjoying the glorious
millennium two hundred and fifty years ahead of the rest of the
world--what such a start would have done for the British Isles is past
finding out.

Priest-ridden Ireland failed because at that time her best blood was
soaking the roots of her green meadows; the massacre of her Protestants
by the Romanists had left her low. Half-hearted England failed because
treachery was lurking in her ranks from the beginning. But Scotland! Oh,
Scotland, wherefore didst thou doubt? Wherefore turned ye back, ye sons
of the mighty, lacking neither bows nor other arms? Heroes of the
Covenant, why fainted ye in the day of battle? Shame on Scotland. The
high places of the field, where once the banner for Christ's Crown and
Covenant triumphantly waved, testify against thy treason.

But the Standard unfurled by the Covenanters of Scotland has not been