Customer Reviews

Fair Sunshine

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This is an excellent overview of the Scottish martyrs for the Christian faith who died during the 16th and 17th centuries. Many of these men and women were Presbyterians who were zealous for "the crown rights of King Jesus" and who died simply for their desire to worship and serve Christ according to His word.

The author has served as an ruling elder in a Presbyterian church in Scotland and knows both the facts and the spirit of the Covenanters. He gives a very readable account of their lives and deaths, and the spiritual motives for their martyrdom.

The book is divided into 12 chapters which are character sketches of noteworthy Covenanters. My personal favorites are the chapters on Richard Cameron and on "the two Margarets", although each chapter is beneficial and edifying.

There are also included some helpful aids, such as a chronology of Scottish church history during those years, and a Bibliography.

This book is a nice complement to Foxes' Book of Martyrs and comes with highest recommendations.

In an age of easy believe-ism, Jock Purves' classic Fair Sunshine, is a much-needed reminder that, as Bonhoeffer wrote, "When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die". We take freedom of religion for granted here in America. These stories of the martyrs of the Scottish church in the 17th Century are great reminders of the cost that all believers must be willing to bear if they are to take up Christ's cross and follow him. The stories reveal men and women who feared God more than men. In the face of deprivation, torture, and death, they remained faithful. The issue that most died for was over who was the head of the church, Jesus Christ or King Charles II. The established church and the royal officials were determined to bring the church under the control of the King, and many faithful ministers and laypersons were persecuted, tortured and executed as a result. The stories point us not to how great these men and women were, but to how great a God they loved and served. The last words many spoke were of praise and thanksgiving to their great God that they were able to live and die for Him. Use this book to remind you of the cost of discipleship, and the power of a life lived Coram Deo- before the face of God. Read it - you won't regret it!

Author: Jock Purves

This is a book of character studies of the Scottish Covenanters. There are many volumes which deal with that terrible yet glorious period in the

history of the Scottish church between the restoration of Charles II and

the ascention of William III. But Fair Sunshine deserves a place alongside the very best of them.

His graphic descriptions of that horrible period during which these dedicated Christians were hunted down in the hills of Scotland and massacred for holding outlawed church services and refusing to replace the Bible with the King's prayer book. This book relates a series of stories of these Scottish martyrs, the ancestors of a great many people in the United States.

What the issue boiled down to as far as the Covenanters were concerned was whether a temporal monarch or the Lord Jesus Christ was to be 'Head over all things to the Church'. To faithful Covenanters only one answer was possible, and whether their problems concerned individuals, families, conventicles, or general assemblies they urged with fierce and unshakable tenacity that 'Jesus Christ is Lord'. No suffering could be too great to endure in such a cause.

Whether Jock Purves was writing about James Guthrie at the beginning or James Renwick at the very end of this time of martyrdom and suffering there is a lyrical quality about his treatment. When taken together, with his spiritual perception and moral earnestness, this drives every one of these biographical chapters to the heart of the reader.

Paperback

206 pages

Fair Sunshine is a mighty reminder from the past, what being a Christain really means, there is a price to one's faith, even our life. To read of such love for Jesus Christ,shown in the Scottish Covenanteers willingness to suffer and die willingly and bravely, rather than bow to an earthly king who had no respect for God's Word or the King of Kings, as being the sole authority of the Christian. Stories of their love for Jesus, has changed my lukewarm heart to one now beating with a zealous Love for Christ and His Word which I have never before experienced.

I first read this book several years ago at the recommendation of my late father, who was a sovereign grace Baptist minister. The faith and willingness these people show in going to their death is remarkable. They all went to their death praising God and blessing His name. Truly the hand of God was upon these martyrs. These persecutions were the very reason the Pilgrims came to America.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone. And anyone who reads this book will be truly blessed. If it were possible the book would have more than five stars.

If you are like me, you enjoy reading about people who make an uncompromised stand for Christ. This book is about men who would not confess the king as head of the church and their willingness to die to preserve Chirst's headship of the church. This book will enciourage you to make a stand for Jesus Christ.

Jock Purves' book Fair Sunshine give several glimpses into different lives of Scottish Covenanters during the late seventeenth century as they stand up against opposition to the true gospel. All of the men who Purves writes about were martyred and as a pattern we can see that the richest communion any of these men had was while on death row. God seemed to draw closer at these times and sustain them all the way to death. While Purves writing style is sometimes hard to understand, it doesn't take away from the story in the end.