Wednesday, April 2, 2008

A Covenantal Cause

Gracie at Jamestown, comtemplative, as is her usual way. Actually, when she was little, we sometimes called her Spacy Gracie, not realizing this is how the Lord works His gift of creativity into her heart.

I promised several people to post Grace's wonderful poem about her Scots Covenanter forebears here. It has blessed her family so much, and I trust it is a blessing to you, too. (If you need a translation, let me know!) I hope to post other of the grandchildren's compositions soon. My heart overflows with gratitude to the Lord for the precious gifts our grandchildren have -- and are.

A Covenantal Cause

"When the King of England said tha' he wished tae be the head
Of the whole united church of our dear Laird,
Then we put up quite a fight, for we knew it wadnae richt,
Nor the loss of God could Scotland's church afford.

For a king of man to make of himself a god, an’ take
Frae Christ Jesus His authority an’ crown
Was profanity in full, an’ tae sic ungodly rule
We, as children of the King, wadnae bow down.

Sae then we, as loyal Scots, put aside dividin' thoughts,
An' we joined taegether in the common cause,
We a' came taegether an’ wi the sword an' pen in hand
We each signed our names withoot a siccent pause.

Then wi' blood an' firebrand, Charles spread throughoot the land
Sic a multitude of horrors, dark an' grim.
But, when put tae fire an' sword for the sake of Christ, our Laird,
We stayed true an' took our strength an' pow'r frae Him.

There were some, indade, wha bent, an' the way of Judas went,
Tae these few the trials were tae hard tae bear;
Yet those raised with Him on high, frae the fire tae the sky,
Would repate a joy, worth any pain tae share.

Wi' the cry of "Christ an' Kirk," clasping claymore, shield, an' dirk,
We, the Covenanters took our richteous stand;
For tae keep God's banner pure, bitter hardships we endure,
Sae we gladly gave up a', an’ clasped His hand.

An’ the few wha lived tae tell how the foes of Jesus fell
Had a story where God's richteous wrath was known;
For when wicked men assail God's beloved – no avail
Will divest frae them the harvest they hae sown."


By Virginia Grace Discher
in honor of my Scots Covenanter forbears

5 comments:

lisa said...

Oh, Bonnie this is beautiful! is there any way you could post a video of her saying the poem? I'd love to hear her do it in dialect!
What a talented girl!

The Stricklen Family said...

That is so beautiful -- every time I read it. And Grace is so beautiful in that picture!

Molly

Bonnie said...

Lisa, I don't know if her mother got a video of her reciting it for the student convention, but I will check. Hmmm, which grandchild can I tap to figure out how to put video on for me??? Another step into the unknown world of the Net . . .

Bonnie said...

Lisa, I don't know if you saw my earlier post on this, but here is a link where Grace is interviewed by the local newspaper and slips into her brogue ever-so-casually toward the end of the interview:

http://www.theledger.com/article/20080228/NEWS/802280539/0/ABOUTLEDGER99

Bonnie said...

Well, that didn't come out! Let me try again. If the link doesn't show up right, I will post it on the blog proper.

http://www.theledger.com/article/20080228/NEWS/802280539/0/ABOUTLEDGER99