We're really glad to have all of you here today, and I think we'll have some historical introductions, the way the day has gone. At these conventicles they have a number of preachers preaching at different hours. Usually the sermons would last between an hour and two, and we've adapted ourselves here a little bit for our more modern audience, but we see this as the first of a yearly celebration that we'll have at this time. So you're at the very first conventical held here, conventical reenactment. And we hope that in the future that we'll do even better, but this is a dry run this year, and so we're really blessed to have each and every one of you that has come down. I know many of you came down from Bell Center, but we're glad that you're here. We have some historical notes here that you can see in your program. Pre-Reformation Scotland comes first, then secondly Conventicles, then lastly the Killing Times. So you'll be getting some history in the midst of messages from various speakers and then lots of songs. But the Conventicles of this day, as you'll find with the histories, are very relevant for today. Because what really, if you look at the broadest possible explanation for why and how these things took place, it was because at this time, the late 1600s, there was a clash between a Reformation worldview and life view, Reformation philosophy, Reformation theology, and the theology of humanism or the Renaissance. And of course, what was the Renaissance was in the 1300s and 1400s. The Reformation really dominated the 1500s. But what we call the Enlightenment period began in the 1700s. And while it was really beginning in the 1600s amongst the intellectuals and especially amongst the aristocracy, But what the Enlightenment was, was really a reawakening of the Renaissance theory. And the Renaissance theory of life was that man is the measure of all things. Well, what was the theology of the philosophy of the Reformation? That God was the measure of all things. That God and the Bible were the measure of all things. So there was this clash. And at the time when these services were made, illegal. They were made illegal precisely on this idea that the king or the state, he was the big man. I've already said man is the measure of all things. Well, if the king was the big man or the great man, then He, it was thought at that time, had authority over the Church of Christ. And that's exactly what the battle was about during the covenanting years from 1660 when Charles II was invited back to the throne and 1688 when there was the Glorious Revolution. And the Scottish people were freed of the persecution that they had been under for almost 30 years at that time. Well, today we see we are still under a tremendous battle between these two philosophies of life. Who is God? Who is king? Who is the most important? Is it God or man? And even in our present election, these things are being debated out, and I wish they were being debated out more clearly. But anyway, we won't go into that. Our first history is going to be given to us by Matt Philbert. And so Matt, I ask you to come forward, and I welcome you to Mason, Ohio. Before the first millennia, Scotland was a nation committed to the proclamation and evangelism of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Men of zeal would travel in small boats to brave the treacherous seas so that the lost could hear the gospel of Christ. However, the Roman Catholic doctrines also crept across the North Sea and infiltrated Scotland's borders. By the 12th century, under the reign of King David I, the demolition of the true Church was completed and in its stead sat Catholicism. By the 1500s, the nation which was once deep-seated in the truth was adulterated by false teaching. However, this did not deter a remnant from the desire to know and live for the truth of Christ. In 1526, a 23 year old Scottish man named Patrick Hamilton began hearing rumblings of men who were teaching the riches of God's word in Europe. With a passion for truth, he left his homeland to find and meet with this modern day heroes of the faith. He went from country to country and eventually traveled to Germany, where he met with William Tyndale, John Frith and Martin Luther. Hamilton heard how Christ's death on the cross was the perfect sacrifice for God, that Christ was the only worthy sacrifice and salvation comes by grace alone through faith. But upon this hour, Hamilton's heart was fixated on the hearts of his countrymen. He longed for them to hear this truth and embrace that which had transformed him. He headed back to Scotland to bring the light of Christ's gospel. He did not return as an educated noble, but the first Reformed preacher armed with the impenetrable truth of God's word that would unveil the deception ingrained in his dear Scotland. His popularity began to spread and eventually made way to the Archbishop of St. Andrews. Hamilton was summoned by the Archbishop and a decree was issued to nationally expel him and his heretical teaching. The arrogance of the church was displayed as they sought to make Hamilton a national example despite his popularity and nobility. The trial was just as shameful as it was unjust, and the verdict that was determined before the trial ended was pronounced dead. Hamilton was taken before St. Andrews, tied to the stake, and the timber was lit. They burned him and sent him into the gates of eternal heaven. The news of his death echoed through Scotland, and was met with curiosity as to the message he proclaimed. Patrick Hamilton's ministry lasted only one year, yet it catapulted the true gospel of grace to his countrymen. The Archbishop, thinking he was putting out a flicker of light, lit a fuse leading to a paramount reformation. He was the first of the Scottish reformers, and his life, ministry and death ignited a passion in many others. George Wishart was unusually gifted intellectually, excelling not only in general studies but also in spiritual matters. He at one time was at Dundee teaching from the Epistle to the Romans. Cardinal Beaton recruited a leading citizen of Dundee, Mr. Robert Mill, to publicly interrupt Wishart's teaching and warned him in front of everyone gathered that he was to stop preaching and stop troubling the town right away, that they would put up with no more of it. Wishart paused a long time, looked up to heaven, then looked upon Mill and the crowd that gathered, and said, God knows that I came here not to trouble anyone, but to bring comfort. If you are being troubled, I assure you, that bothers me more than it does you. But you must realize that to silence me from explaining to you God's word and to chase me out of town is not going to preserve you from trouble. It is just the opposite. It will increase your troubles." So he left and he went to the western region where his teaching was received warmly by many. But again the Cardinal stepped in and influenced the Bishop of Glasgow to interfere. This kind of opposition spread so that George was not allowed to enter churches to teach. Local parishioners who wanted to hear him got so upset they were ready to take over the churches by force to allow him to teach. But Wishart would not hear of it. There was to be no bloodshed for the sake of gaining a place to preach the word. He was bringing a word of peace. He reminded them how the Lord Christ Jesus was just as potent in the open fields as inside the walls of a synagogue. So on a pleasant and hot day, he went up upon a dike at Moore's Edge on the southwest side of Moklin and preached for three hours. There was a large and attentive turnout and the power of God was manifested. In fact, one of the most wicked nobles of the area, Lawrence Rankin, was wonderfully converted that day, tears streaming down his face even in front of the others gathered there. However, the Cardinal continued to pursue him. On another occasion, he had a phony letter written to Wishart as if it were from his friend, John Kinnear, saying he had taken suddenly ill and urging George to come to him right away. The Cardinal had about 60 armed men hidden along the road a mile and a half from Kinnear's house. George left without delay, but en route, suddenly stopped. I will not go on. God is restraining me, he exclaimed. Knowing that George was the one that they wanted, his companions went on ahead and discovered the gang waiting to harm George. When the news got back to him, George replied, I know that I shall finish my life in that bloodthirsty man's hands, but it will not be of this manner. Wishart's end did come soon. In December of 1545, Cardinal Beaton arranged to have him apprehended through a trusted nobleman who promised protection. Bishops were convened to condemn Wishart. He was strangled and burned at the stake on March 1st, 1546 at the age of 33. His enemies thought they had solved their problem with this pesky advocate of reform. Nothing could have been further from the truth. His death set loose forces in Scotland that could never be contained. Shortly after Wishart's execution, a band of men got into the Cardinal's castle early in the morning of May 29, 1546 and assassinated him. Sympathizers of reform thrust a reluctant John Knox into the leadership. Knox's power as a preacher came to the attention of John Ruff, the chaplain of St. Andrew's garrison. While Ruff was preaching in the parish church on the Protestant principle of the popular election of a pastor, He proposed Knox to the congregation for that office. Knox did not relish the idea. According to his own account, he burst into tears and fled to his room. Within a week, however, he was giving his first sermon to the congregation. He expounded on the seventh chapter of the book of Daniel, comparing the Pope with the Antichrist. His sermon was marked by his consideration of the Bible as his sole authority and the doctrine of justification by faith alone. two elements that would remain in his thought throughout the rest of his life. Knox's chaplaincy of the castle garrison was not long to last. On June 29, 1547, 21 French galleys approached St. Andrews under the command of Leon Strozzi. The French besieged the castle and forced the surrender of the garrison on July 31. The Protestant nobles and others, including Knox, were taken prisoner and forced to row in the French galleys. The galley slaves were chained to benches and rowed throughout the day without a change in posture while an officer watched over them with a whip in his hand. Knox and the other galley slaves continued to naunt and stayed on the Luor throughout the winter. They were threatened with torture if they did not give proper signs of reverence when mass was performed on the ship. Knox recounted an incident in which one Scot, possibly Knox himself, was required to show devotion to a picture of the Virgin Mary. The prisoner was told to give it a kiss of veneration. He refused, and when the picture was pushed up to his face, the prisoner seized the picture and threw it into the sea, saying, Let our lady now save herself. She is light enough. Let her learn to swim. After that, according to Knox, the Scottish prisoners were no longer forced to perform such devotions. In the summer of 1548, the Galleys returned to Scotland to scout for English ships. Knox's health was now at its lowest point due to the severity of his confinement. He was ill with fever, and others on the ship were afraid for his life. While the ships were lying offshore between St. Andrews and Dundee, the spires of the parish church where he preached appeared in view. James Balfour, a fellow prisoner, asked Knox whether he recognized the landmark. He replied that he knew it well, recognizing the steeple of the place where he first preached, and he declared that he would not die until he had preached there again. In February of 1549, after spending a total of 19 months in the galley prison, Knox was released.