We  are  confronted  first  with  Ephraim  Macbriar  after  the
Covenanters  have  gained  Drumclog.  Hardly  twenty  years  old  he
is ;  but  already,  though  he  is  half  an  invalid,  he  has  gone  through
the  vigils,  the  rigours,  the  imprisonments  of  a  veteran.  He
throws  his  faded  eyes  over  the  multitude  and  over  the  scene  of
battle ;  and  a  light  of  triumph  rises  in  his  glance.  His  hands
are  folded,  his  face  is  raised  to  heaven,  and  he  is  lost  in  mental
prayer  before  he  addresses  the  people.  His  sermon  follows,  a
sermon  outlined  not  ungenerously.  If  he  is  not  free  from  the
coarseness  of  his  sect,  he  is  an  orator  who  understands  liow
to  compel  masses  of  men.  He  paints  the  desolation  of  the
Church.  She  is  like  Hagar,  watching  the  waning  life  of  lier
l)oy  in  the  fountainless  desert ;  like  Judah,  mourning  for  her
Temple ;  like  Eachel,  weeping  for  her  children.  He  fans  into
new  heat  the  souls  of  the  men  who  have  just  returned  from
pursuing  Claverhouse.  Everyone's  heart  is  to  be  as  the  heart
of  Maccabaeus,  everyone's  hand  as  the  hand  of  Samson,  every-
one's sword  as  the  sword  of  Gideon  which  turned  not  back
from  the  slaughter.     There  are  false  notes  here  and  there ;  but


142  MEN  OF  THE  COVENANT

there  is  no  deliberate  injustice.  We  see  the  wounded  for-
getting their  pain,  the  hungry  their  privations,  as  they  hsten
to  truths  which  identify  their  cause  with  that  of  God  Himself.
