Crime & punishment > Times of Claverhouse, or, Sketches of the persecution

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THE TIMES OF CLAVERHODSE.
hinder us from improving our condition by all
righteous and constitutional means, and to carry
matters forward to a still higher degree of perfection,
—nay, the victory which our fathers gained ought
to encourage us to proceed in rectifying what is
obviously wrong, in the hope that we also shall
obtain our laudable object.
But this gratitude for privileges plainly involves
the duty of exerting every effort to retain the pos¬
session of them. We must not be unfaithful to the
trust committed to us, because we hold it not for
ourselves only, but also for posterity; and hence
there lies upon us a heavy responsibility. We should,
therefore, be careful to watch against every attempt
to abridge our just privileges; for the least infringe¬
ment may open the door to an invasion on all that
we regard sacred as Christians and as citizens.
Had the nation, at the commencement of the per¬
secution, manifested a sensitive dread of the slightest
aggression on the rights of the subjects, and made
a corresponding effort to withstand it, the wide¬
spread mischief which desolated the country for
nearly thirty years, might have been prevented.
The same spirit that wrought in the days of our
fathers works still, and if a free scope were given
to it, it would be productive of the same baleful
results. We must not forego a single iota of our
privileges; no, not one grain of sand must be pur¬
loined from the heap,—we must rather add to the
amount, for much yet remains to be added, and the
adversaries of the popular rights will hold back
as long as they have the power of retention. Al¬
most every one will say, We ought highly to value