Bruce story ...but not King Robert

 

Part 2 Bruce but not King Robert

 

James and Eliza with their two children are  out of their manse banned from the house living in a cave in Ayrshire . A Highlander Mr MacDuff had been placed in the parish to replace Rev Bruce. One September evening  Rev Bruce his wife and children left their Cave to meet some of the church in the wild Ayrshire glen. Bruce had arrived to deliver a sermon based on Ps 23. He spoke for a time and encouraged the flock in as much as “ even though I walk through the shadow of death, yet I will fear no evil. For thou art with me : thy rod and thy staff they comfort me…” he expanded on the passage bringing out other parts of the old testament to back his comments. As he finished his sermon he mentioned that Presbyterians would have more persecution and the house of Stuart for some time, had wanted control over the church. The little congregation sang again and just before Bruce was going to dismiss the congregation there was a sudden trampling of horses lighted torches shown and a few dragoons arrived. This was so unexpected; the small group had not even put out a watch person.

 

The spies who had informed the soldiers left and the commanding officer ordered the firing of carbines into the flight of the poor people. Without checking the result of this work the soldiers turned and rode off.

Several people were hurt but Mrs Bruce “received a mortal wound”. “I am gone” she said while her husband caught her in his arms to keep her from falling. !I am killed I must leave you”. She indicated some final instructions before she died in his arms. Son Andrew threw himself on the ground in silence and his sister shrieked and took hold of the body.

After a time and weeping the group considered what to do. Andrew Indicated to his father that they could not stay in the glen.

They decided to take the body to a neighbour’s house. Rev Bruce wanted to bury the body,- but it would not be possible to do so  in the church yard. For if he appeared he would surely be captured. Andrew consoles his father by indicating that it does not matter where their bodies are  laid. It was decided that they would bury the body the next day.

The next day after making a coffin of sorts a group of about 20 gathered in the dark of the evening near where she had been killed in the glen. After the burial and a short tearful sermon about continuing to follow God Rev Bruce Andrew and his sister went back to the cave for rest.

These events were not isolated events but regular and frequent in the west of Scotland. Many battles took place and in Ayrshire MacDuff had a real hatred for Rev Bruce  and complained that Bruce was preventing the people in that quarter from complying with the established form of worship. Two spies were on the payroll to find Bruce and a reward of considerable amount was available for his capture. Rev Bruce still in the area managed to avoid capture and carryout some pastoral care of his flock.

One afternoon young Andrew was out walking, and his father and sister were “at home “ in the cave. A group of soldiers with Macduff out for sport and killing wild fowl came across Andrew. As was the case in meeting anyone they required him to take the test and confirm acceptance of the new authority of the Church and renounce the previous ( presbyterian) way. Without hesitation he refused. The refusal in terms of the law was that the soldiers were authorised to shoot the young man on the spot.

While he was dressed as a peasant they remarked that he had “ a fine manner and speech” that the soldiers considered he must be the son of a gentleman- so maybe they could force some money from the family. With that in mind they spared him and took as a prisoner to the village. Andrew had not given way as to his family but as he reach the village the locals shouted, “Will you murder the son of our dear minister?” With Macduff finding this news He said to the group leader of the soldiers “we have made good sport today.” “We shall now get on the scent of the old fox”.

 

Now having confessed to being the son of Rev Bruce he was locked in the Church. He considered his position and after thinking through the situation was able to trust in his God for the outcome.

Now a shepherd had seen the events in the village and gone back to  Rev Bruce and his daughter, Mary, to tell the tale. Mary wept for her brother as if he were already dead. Mr Bruce feared the worst, but he knew that Andrew would not renounce his faith. The following day the soldiers and government representatives with Macduff  tried to have the boy Andrew renounce his faith. But in all that had happened Andrew had become stronger in his reliance to his God.  Now with torture by way of thumbscrew Andrew did not yield.

With father hoping to see his son, he was dissuaded by young Mary, as it would most likely be a trap. One of the soldiers had during this time dressed as a peasant with the hope of infiltrating the villagers to get both Bruce and the reward.

In the following days, the hanging of the boy, the death of his sister in seeing the trauma and the capture of the Rev Bruce in a cave all lead to this horrible story. On finding the Rev Bruce he was asked to renounce the faith as was, and to commit to the new Episcopalian way with   the leader being the King Charles. He refused. When the soldiers were instructed to shot Rev Bruce they refused, and  this resulted in the commanding officer grabbing a gun and shooting Rev Bruce in the chest.

It is very easy for matters to grow and become a greater responsibility. When dictatorship becomes an evil and when liberties are stifled.  The Scottish Government should take heed as they put through the bill for Scotland known as  Hate Crime Bill 2020 with good intentions this bill may raise evil and show human nature at its worst. The Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill aims to update existing laws for protected characteristics such as disability, race, religion, sexual orientation, and transgender identity.  Whilst the bill is still being adjusted there is a sense of threat to freedom of speech. The bill itself is designed to stop hatred but its premise will do just the opposite and create hatred.

 

 

A Bruce tale...But not King Robert

 

Mr Bruce’s son James was a person of good intellect and taste. So much so that he encouraged the son to go into the Ministry. James went off to Glasgow University and applied himself to the task. He was a quick learner and excelled in “divine literature”. He understood the challenges from varying theological stances and their ability to be controversial. His childhood and education had been like a dream.

At the age of 26 he received a call to an Ayrshire village with little concern for the place and his focus on the people he took up the charge. Soon after his settlement he married Eliza Inglis a daughter of a gentlemen from his hometown. She too was  one of  a mind, for progress, not lazy, interested in matters and of setting up home and a great support to Rev James Bruce who was smitten with her kind-heartedness, good looks and her willingness to follow in faith the God she loved.  So, at 24 she  is found in the locality as the minister wife engaging with all those around making a mark and blessing to those around.

James was a  good preacher and was practical in his advice to the walk of God. He was a steady person “ dignified without loftiness”. He was accepted by both young and old. House to house visiting was a part of his routine where he would share from the Bible. He was a pastor of care comforting where he went encouraging the broken hearted.

The manse had seen better days but the Heritors on their own accord took steps to upgrade and repair the manse to make it more appealing. Garden and lawn were refreshed, and the place looked well manged both inside and out.

In time they had Andrew and daughter Mary. They were dedicated to education and loved their parents and “feared God.”

After the passing of fourteen years, the Restoration threatened the overthrow of the Scottish Church. King Charles had with advice from others  introduced the episcopal form of worship into Scotland. This change brought about the renewing of “Patronage and the requirement for Ministers to acknowledge the new authority of the Church. Some in the West were not for agreeing with this spiritual supremacy and refused to submit to the episcopalian authority through Bishops. The Bishop of Glasgow (Burnet) and the Primate of St Andrews ( Sharpe) were over enthusiastic in having everyone in ministry submit to this new authority.

Within little time Ministers who refused to yield were forbidden to preach even in fields or to be within 20 miles of their parishes. Those who harboured the “outlawed ministers” were punished. Things escalated quickly and where courts had decided outcomes of those not yielding these were done away with as the military succeeded in its persecution. Gentlemen Ministers and peasants were ousted out  and placed in jails, exile, or even slavery. Torture and hanging were regular as was rapes, robberies, and “outrageous doings” by the soldiers.

 

In this time of shedding blood of the innocent was Rev Bruce. He was brave in his stand to refuse to yield to this manmade authority over the Church. For a man who was for good and to be law abiding he found this circumstance strange, but he trusted his God. He was driven to either yield or to give up his charge at the church.

The acknowledgement being asked for was, to declare that the king was the supreme head of the church, to come under the jurisdiction of the bishops, to be re ordained and convert,  and be a curate and use the episcopal mode of worship by denouncing Presbyterianism.

After a closing sermon one day and after great upset he stood down from the pulpit weeping with all his family and parishioners. That Sunday evening his wife consoled James.

“Do not be so sorrowful on our account dear James “ She said “ I have shared enjoyments and I can suffer with you too; and so, can these children. He agreed and indicated that their God would comfort them. He suggested that it might be prudent for Eliza and the children to live with friends in Lanark. He planned to  stay and care for the flock and their “spiritual Interests.”

The next day the furniture was dispersed among neighbours and some important pieces were sent to Braeside some 4 miles away which was put aside for the Bruce’s’ retirement. The four left the manse  dignified as they walked past the church.

Four years of suffering passed from the leaving of the manse. Now living in a cave as the retirement house was at risk they had adjusted to the trials of life they were enduring.

To be continued...

Apple IOS 14.0.1 is here

 Apples latest operating system is available and will be downloaded automatically. There are a few new features. Remember and plug in overnight to allow the update.

Market still a bit strange?!

 Financial markets are still a bit strange.

is there new hope today?

 

Apple ios

 A new version of IOS for Apple has been upgrading machines in the UK over the last week or so. 13.7 is the latest version. Apple will bring out version 14.0 soon. In the meantime small changes are being implemented.

Thanks for your help

 

I have spent some time altering the background stuff to my blogs. I am hoping that the integration of blogs adverts data and the like is functioning correctly. Thank you for helping.

Apple operating system

There have been two recent updates to the operating system of Apple. We are now on version 13.6.1

This was a small update to fix.

A green tint on screen due to thermal management issues

Some system files not being deleted when the storage was low

Exposure notifications disabled for some users as it relates to apps that need it like the Covid -19 type.

I dont know the name of this plant?

To get updates which are set as automatic or to see which version you are on go to Settings/general/Software updates .

Here you will see the update version currently in use.

Updates are down overnight when you are plugged in to the mains. ( There is a fear that a disaster would happen if battery was flat during an update!)

 

This update refers to I pads and I phones.

Book work over winter

 I have stopped the writing of History of the Church in Scotland as there are so many things that have happened over the last few years that would really make it important to have a reworded document. I may pick this up again in due course.

However, I an in the proces of writing up a draft plan for a new book that will have Highland stories.

These will be short stories regarding people in the Highlands over the years. 

If you are interested in the final product then please indicate to me and I will take a note. Thanks.

Tesco update

I an getting feedback that Tesco staff who make up the orders do not follow the arrows round the shop because their app shows them the most direct route to the product. Does this need to change?  Why is it you instruct your customers to do one thing for safety and allow your staff to do the opposite and unmasked as they pass with in 2 metres of customers in the wrong direction?

Share if you find this strange or have come across similar situation.

Buy British Again!?

Recent comment on facebook regarding the economy is worth considering in light of the economic downturn.

Virus costs on overdraft

Right, first of all without being political any borrowing by the government will need to be repaid or at least, reduced by taxes or the ability to balance the books and repay the debt.

Thinking it through

We feel it for those in businesses who are picking up the threads of their time and energy and bring it back to a sustainable entity once again.

Those businesses, for whatever reason, that did not have a sutable "reserve policy" will have found the situation more challenging.

So what are the steps to have a vibrant economy and self sustaining business growing?

taken 10.30 14/5/2020 last six month trend

Speed of money circulating

One aspect is the " multiplier" effect.

This is the speed of money moving around the economy.

Now it still holds good even with electronic money rather than hard cash.

The speed at which we move money has an impact on the community.

I get paid,  I buy a loaf, the baker buys stationery for his buiness, the Office retailer buys meat from the butcher and the butcher buys a loaf of bread.

The speed of buying is controlled by lots of things.

Having the cash!, Assessing the need to buy now, quality quantity and price all come into the equation. Its the assessment of the buyer to part with money rather than have it holding for a rainy day or a lower borrowing.

Taken at 10.30 14/5/2020 Daily trend

So if the public are feeling secure and confident they are more likely to buy.

One observstions of the last major resession was that people tended to continue to eat out. This is unlikely after the current virus as people assess the risks of eating out. perhaps home decorating will take a lift. Or perhaps car purchases will regain as people refuse to go on public transport.

So if you think about it, if we are all buying then the sellers will buy and so on, which will in turn help the flow of cash and the "muliplier" will increase.

As an aside when there is a faster rate of sales the VAT for the government will increase ( pay the debt?)

So buying and keeping the money in the community is a good way if improving sustainability.

Buy British again

This is where the Buy British makes sense we buy "locally" and the benefit not only to the purchaser but the seller is all local. As the multiplier works, confidence continues revenue comes in- we pay the debt.

At some point we as a nation can consider the selling abroad as part of the medium trend but for present buy British makes sense. I appreciate that there are some items that we will need to import and we have businesses where all their revenue comes from abroad. (There is also the Brexit ramifications- Buy British will help?)

Please Share!
Thank you

Have Tesco got it right?

But first a Risk conversation

The Corona Virus has involved all of us in risk assessments.

How often should I go to the shops? Weekly shops are more common than monthly now.

Should I go for a paper every day?

How much distance should I give for runners and cyclist? More than 2 metres?

I remember the first time I had the opportunity to stand behind a shop till. It was a newsagent. I was a paper boy. An emergency took place and the shop manager said, "you cover the counter while I deal with this situation." Apart from the buzz for a child to be in control of a shop, I had never dealt with cash before, I was terrified.

But what of the lasting impression about that situation as I saw the shop from a different viewpoint.

Years of paper rounds delivering in the local village, leaning on the counter, several visits each day I had got used to seeing the shop from one side the customer side.

Now I was seeing the other side. It was strange.

If you have lived in the same house for a long time and you haven't been in the garden of next door then when you do go and visit -Its strange because you are seeing it from a different eye, a different perspective!

Looking at risks is to some extent looking from a different angle.

While you might have an insight the rest of the street or community might not!
To move forward in risk management there is a need to have everyone increase their awareness.

With change, like behaviour, it might take time, but as you carry on others will see this new perspective and what a benefit it could be. A disaster missed, a more efficient home or workplace, no loss or a catastrophe averted.  This virus still has the potential to be more than a Catastrophe if we do not act wisely.

So, what are risks?

Risk is the possibility of something bad happening.

Risk involves uncertainty about the effects/implications of an activity with respect to something that humans value (such as health, well-being, wealth, property or the environment), often focusing on negative, undesirable consequences. Many different definitions have been proposed. The international standard definition of risk for common understanding in different applications is “effect of uncertainty on objectives”.

How do we deal with risks?

We can try and reduce the risk, minimise the risk, eliminate the risk, insure against the risk.

One way to reduce risk is to put controls in place.

Examples might be :

Locks on doors!

£45.00 limit on card transactions without a PIN!

Eat your main course before you get sweet.

Wear protective clothing.

Safe distancing, “Social distancing” or as Radio four tried to adopt the term “Physical distancing”.

Other controls might be documented to help reduce the risk and formulate thinking and practice. A policy or procedure.

Examples:

Child protection policy

Fire procedures

Tesco

One of the first retail outlets to re shape the shopping experience was Tesco. They implemented restricted times. Times for care workers etc , a one-way system  2-metre markers and the use of a separate exit for customers who had completed their transactions. There installed splash screen to protect the staff. Trolleys being wiped down.

All these were controls to reduce the likely hood of virus spread.

But here is an observation.

The staff making up the customer orders on the face of it do not act with distancing aspects to themselves or customers.

Is this a weakness?

Then we have the pleasant door person holding the door, nice touch,  to let customers out the fire exit. No handles to touch. Good control.

But he is less than 2 meters, and he is near every person leaving the shop!

Is this a weakness?

As we all take stock and consider more so in the subconscious our responsibility in this period of Corona 19 virus we all need to take recognition of good controls.

If we feel 2 metres is not enough control we could implement our own control of 3 metres.

As we have seen in walking the streets as part of exercise people do change behaviour and are influenced by others’ actions. Those who are unaware or lack risk awareness or have a larger threshhold for what is acceptable risk will see hopefully why we act in a particular manner.

With all risks this is not static. Reviews need to be held regularly and be part of on-going practice.

I think Nicola Sturgeon was right to leave lock down in Scotland for a further period as the information was showing we had not reached the peak of the “first wave” of the virus.

I am sure she has had lots of risk conversations over the last two months.

Please Share from here or from where you game from. Thank you.