[Illustration:  Monument at Ayrsmoss.

This monument marks the grave of Richard Cameron and eight other Covenanters, who fell on this moorland fighting for religious liberty.  The place is reached by passing from the road over a wide mossy field.  The solitude is oppressive with solemn tragic memories.  These heroes were martyrs who faithfully sealed their testimony with their blood.  This battle was fought on July 22, 1680.]

These men were sent forward, to stand on the firing line, and show the spirit, the courage, and the faith of the soldiers of Christ; behind them the spiritual world was filled with the armies of God.  His twenty-thousand chariots and thousands of angels, were coming up for the successive engagements, that will yet fill the world with righteousness and the heavens with praise.

Bruce and his troop were received with a deadly volley; many of their saddles were emptied.  Hackston led his horsemen in a desperate charge; he almost split the enemy’s force in two; but his men being few, the dragoons enveloped him.  His horse bogged; he dismounted, and used his sword with fearful effect.  At last he fell, bleeding from many wounds.  The Covenanters were overwhelmed and driven from the field.  Nine lay dead, among whom was Richard Cameron.  Twenty-six were killed on the other side, so steady the nerve and deliberate the aim of the Covenanters in the face of crushing odds.  The war for freedom was now on; the first blood was shed and had consecrated Ayrsmoss.  But the prize of liberty was of high value; other fields must yet be crimsoned with streams flowing from many a heart.

Our enjoyment of civil and religious liberty is so constant and ordinary that we scarcely wait a moment to think of the original cost.  What pangs of sorrow, what years of hardships, what streams of blood our fathers paid for the inheritance of truth and freedom they have left their children!  Let us be careful to appreciate the blood-bought blessings lest they flee away.

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Points for the class.

1.  What monument has been erected at Ayrsmoss?

2.  What previous proclamation occasioned this battle?

3.  What charges did the Covenanters prefer against the king?

4.  How long after the declaration till this fight occurred?

5.  How did Cameron and his associates employ their time?

6.  Who appeared in search of them?

7.  How many men were on each side?

8.  Who won the battle?

9.  How account for God’s people suffering defeat?

10.  What was the cost of the liberty we enjoy?

11.  How should we guard it for other generations?

XXXVII.

The Cameronians.—­A.D. 1681.