diff options
| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:42:54 -0700 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:42:54 -0700 |
| commit | 5cb3de4e37634820d024bea6ee133d9eaae1ca3c (patch) | |
| tree | 95ae2184e78e8cc1fc7e7115e331b5e2b6c37a4e /13781-0.txt | |
Diffstat (limited to '13781-0.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 13781-0.txt | 1840 |
1 files changed, 1840 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/13781-0.txt b/13781-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e9b31be --- /dev/null +++ b/13781-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1840 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13781 *** + +[Illustration] + +The Life of + +JAMES RENWICK + +A historical sketch of his life, +labours and martyrdom and a +vindication of his character +and testimony. + +_by Thomas Houston, D.D._ + +Originally this life was written as an introduction to "The Letters of +Renwick" Published by Alex. Gardner, Paisley, 1865. + +Cover Picture: Execution of James Renwick, Edinburgh, 1688. + + + + +HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION. + + +The prophet's message to Eli, "Wherefore the Lord God of Israel said +* * * THEM THAT HONOUR ME, I WILL HONOUR," (1 Sam. ii. 30,) declares a +fundamental law of the divine government, which the history alike of +individuals and of communities has illustrated in all by-past ages. The +works of many men of eminent talent and remarkable energy--admired in +their own day,--have speedily passed into oblivion, or have been +productive of few permanently salutary results. Despising God, "they +have been lightly esteemed." Those, on the other hand, who honoured God, +and were devoted to His service--however humble their talents or +position in society,--however contemned and persecuted by the +world--have been honoured of God. Their labours have been accepted to +advance His glory in the earth--their memories have continued long +fragrant, and their principles and character have furnished the most +valuable instruction and the brightest examples to future generations. + +Of this we have a striking instance in JAMES RENWICK,--the last, and in +various respects the most illustrious of the Scottish martyrs of the +seventeenth century. Hated and persecuted in his own day, by the men in +authority in Church and State--caluminated and reproached by ministers +and others, who professed evangelical sentiments and affected piety--and +his principles generally misrepresented and condemned even to our own +day,--there is yet abundant evidence to show that the Master whom he +faithfully served, and for whose cause he willingly surrendered his +life, singularly owned and honoured him. His faithful contendings and +arduous labours contributed not a little to subvert the throne of a +bigot and tyrant, and to achieve the nation's liberties. They served +also to secure the purity and independence of the Church, and to +transmit a legacy of imperishable principles to future times, when "the +handful of corn" upon the top of the mountains, "shall shake with fruit +like Lebanon." Scant and fragmentary as are the memorials of +Renwick--clothed in the most homely garb, and written with no artistic +skill, they have yet been the means of nurturing vital piety in many a +humble breast and household, in these and other countries, from the +martyr era, to our own day; and not a few of the most devoted ministers, +who have earnestly contended for precious truth, and been wise to win +souls to Christ, have received from the record of the labours and +sufferings and testimony of Renwick, some of their first solemn +impressions for good, and propelling motives to holy diligence and +self-devotion. As the story of Joseph in the Old Testament has been +remarkably blessed, above other parts of the divine word, for promoting +the conversion and early piety of the young, so the unadorned narrative +of the life, labours, and death of the youthful Scottish martyr, has led +not a few to prefer the cause and reproach of Christ to the world's +favour--to imbibe his spirit, and to imitate him, in seeking ends the +most important and glorious. + +Renwick's work in the Church is not yet fully accomplished, nor is the +influence of his name losing its attractive power. On the contrary, +there is evidence, increasing as it is cheering, that while the one is +drawing to it more earnest regard and willing workers, the other is +constantly becoming more powerful and widespread. Let any person compare +the manner in which the later Scottish martyrs--Renwick and the Society +people,--were spoken of in the histories, civil and ecclesiastical, +emitted in these countries, forty or fifty years ago, with the altered +tone of historians of a recent date, and he will see that posterity is +beginning to do tardy justice to the memories of men of whom "the world +was not worthy,"--- who were the noblest, most disinterested patriots of +which their country could ever boast, and whose services to the cause of +pure and undefined religion were invaluable. Occasionally, we yet find, +in the works of some popular writers, Renwick and his fellow-sufferers, +designated enthusiasts and fanatics, their principles misrepresented, +and some of their most heroic deeds held up to ridicule and scorn. Even +the brilliant Macaulay, while exposing to deserved condemnation their +cruel and heartless persecutors, and while depicting with graphic power +some of the incidents of the deaths of the Scottish martyrs, yet shews +his strong aversion to evangelical principle and godly practice, by +applying to the honest confessors the same opprobrious epithets. The age +in which the martyrs and their principles were kept entombed, by heaping +on them reproach and slander, is past, however, not to return again. +Their names are destined not to perish. God designs in his providence to +honour them more and more, by bringing more clearly to light the great +principles for which they contended unto blood, striving against sin. +The era long predicted and desired is approaching, when the saints shall +rise to reign with Christ on the earth, when the spirit which +distinguished them shall be extensively revived, and the great +principles of their testimony shall be triumphant. + +Meanwhile, the resurrection of the _names_ of the confessors and martyrs +of a former age, is a sure indication of the resurrection of their +principles too. Through the evidence furnished by the faithful +contendings and devoted lives of men of sanctified wisdom and high-toned +piety, and the light reflected from the story of their sufferings and +triumphant deaths, we cannot doubt that numbers will be led to earnest +inquiry concerning the principles for which they testified in life, and +in confirmation of which they willingly laid down their lives, that they +might transmit the precious heritage to future generations. The result +will be a wider appreciation of the value and excellency of a +martyr-testimony; and in the period of promised light and enlargement, +the lifting up of a standard in many places, and by strong hands, in +behalf of the same great principles. + +As prefatory to the memorials of the piety, wisdom, and devotedness of +the martyr Renwick, it appears desirable to present a brief sketch of +his personal history--to notice the particular time in which he +laboured, and the principles for which he contended,--his martyrdom, +character, and the distinct and honourable position assigned him in the +great work of maintaining and advancing the Redeemer's cause in the +earth. + + + + +RENWICK'S LIFE + + +James Renwick was the child of godly parents in humble life. His father, +Andrew Renwick, was a weaver, and his mother, Elizabeth Corson, is +especially mentioned, like the mother and grandmother of Timothy, or +like Monica, the mother of Augustine, as a woman of strong faith, and +eminently prayerful. As several of her children had died in infancy, she +earnestly sought that the Lord would give her a child, who would not +only be an heir of glory, but who might live to serve God in his +generation. Her prayer was heard and graciously answered. The son of her +vows was born at Moniaive, in the parish of Glencairn, Gallowayshire, on +the 15th of February, 1662. His father died before he reached the age of +fourteen, but not before he felt assured--probably from observing in the +boy remarkable indications of early piety--that, though his course on +earth would be short, the Lord would make singular use of him in his +service. The early training of this distinguished martyr was, in a great +measure, through the instrumentality of a devoted mother, who could +boast of no worldly affluence or accomplishments, but whose heart was +richly pervaded by the grace of the Spirit, and intensely concerned for +the Saviour's glory; and who, in times of great difficulty and great +trial, maintained unwavering confidence in the faithful word of promise. + +If James Renwick was not "sanctified from the womb," there was clear +evidence afforded, that, in early childhood, he was the subject of +gracious motions of the Spirit. At two years of age, he was observed to +be aiming at secret prayer; and as his childhood advanced, he evinced +love to the ways of God, by reading and pondering the Scriptures, +delight in secret prayer, and by reverential regard to the authority of +his parents. Like Luther, and other eminent servants of God, Renwick was +trained for his life-work in the school of _temptation_; he experienced +painful mental conflicts, and the assaults of the tempter, at a very +early period. It is recorded that, at six years of age, he was conscious +of distressing doubts, in relation to the Divine existence and +perfections. These exercised and agitated his mind for a period of two +years. In answer to prayer, and by meditation on the power and goodness +of God, as seen in creation, he overcame the temptation, and attained to +internal composure and tranquillity. At a time of life considerably +subsequent, when he had reached mature youth, and had acquired extensive +acquaintance with Scriptural truth, a like temptation again assailed +him. He himself relates that he fell into deeper perplexity and distress +about these fundamental truths. Like the excellent Robert Bruce of the +First Reformation, he was strongly tempted to atheism. So powerful at +one time was the assault, that, being in the fields and looking to the +distant mountains, he exclaimed, "Were all these devouring furnaces of +burning brimstone, he would be content to go through them, if he could +thereby be assured of the existence of God." There was at length made +for him a way of escape from this severe temptation, and not only did he +attain to a full and joyful persuasion of God's existence, but to the +assurance of his personal interest in God as his covenant portion. + +James Renwick was endowed with a vigorous reflective mind, and from his +childhood he was devoted to reading and study. Amidst considerable +difficulties, he commenced and prosecuted with ardour studies for the +ministry. There is ample evidence from his writings that his attainments +in learning were by no means superficial. Through the kindness of +friends raised up in providence, he was enabled to pursue classical +studies in Edinburgh, and while attending the University there, he +maintained himself till he had finished the undergraduate course, partly +by teaching and aiding others in their studies. When his scholarship +entitled him to a University degree, he refused to receive this honour, +because it was required at the time that students, on graduating, should +swear the oath of allegiance, which expressly owned the royal supremacy. +In company with two fellow-students, he sometime after received his +degree privately. + +Continuing in Edinburgh to prosecute his studies, he was brought to +attend the private fellowship-meetings of the persecuted covenanters. He +met with the "outed" ministers, and was led to study, by the light of +the Divine word and the teaching of the Spirit, the exciting and deeply +important questions of the day. Thus did he become convinced of the +numerous defections from the principles and ends of the Covenanted +Reformation, of the majority of the ministers and Presbyterian people of +Scotland; and he was persuaded that the stricter Covenanters,--the +followers of Cargill and Cameron, and those associated in Societies, and +who frequented conventicles,--alone consistently carried out the grand +principles and aims of the national vows. At length, after much +searching of heart, and according to his words, testifying to his deep +conscientiousness, "with great grief, reluctance, and trembling of +soul," he became identified with the persecuted remnant. Soon after, +while yet only _nineteen years of age_, Renwick witnessed the martyrdom +of the venerable servant of Christ, Donald Cargill. He stood near the +scaffold, beheld his courageous and triumphant departure to glory, and +heard the clear and powerful last words, in which he nobly testified for +the crown-rights of the Redeemer, and against Erastian usurpation. "As +to the causes of my suffering," said the dying martyr, "the chief +is--not acknowledging the present Authority, as it is established in the +Supremacy and Explanatory Act. This is the magistracy I have resisted, +that which is invested with Christ's power. Seeing that power taken from +Christ, which is His glory, and made the essential of an earthly crown, +it seemed to me as if one were wearing my husband's garments, after he +had killed him. There is no distinction we can make, that can free the +acknowledger from being a partaker of this sacrilegious robbing of God. +And it is but to cheat our consciences to acknowledge the _civil power_ +alone, that it is of the essence of the crown; and seeing they are so +express, we ought to be plain; for otherwise, we deny our testimony and +consent that Christ be robbed of His glory." + +These mighty utterances, so solemnly confirmed by the martyr's blood, +could not fail to make a deep impression on the heart of the youthful +Renwick. His purpose was fixed, and his resolution taken, to maintain +the same great principles; and reproach and persecution and death could +not turn him aside. His Christian decision had its reward. He declared +that he did not fully know what the gracious presence of God with His +people meant, till he joined the fellowship of the persecuted remnant. A +large measure of the spirit of the "faithful Cargill" rested on his +youthful successor; and when, some two years after, he entered on the +work of the ministry, it was justly said--"he took up the Covenanted +Banner as it fell from the hands of Cargill." + +At the time that Renwick united with the Society People, they were +destitute of a public ministry. Cargill and Cameron had sealed their +testimony with their blood. The Churches were either filled with +Episcopal curates, or by time-serving Presbyterian ministers, who had +accepted the indulgence flowing from the royal supremacy. By an act of +Parliament passed in 1672 against "unlawful ordinations," the way to the +ministry was barred against all who could not accept Prelatical +ordination. The Societies, having organized a general correspondence, +earnestly desired a stated ministry, while they manifested the strictest +regard to scriptural order. Animated by a noble public spirit, they +selected James Renwick and two other young men, and sent them to +complete their studies for the ministry in Holland, then renowned for +its theological Seminaries, where deep sympathy was manifested for the +suffering Church of Scotland. He studied at the university of Groningen, +where some of the most distinguished theologians in Europe occupied +professorial Chairs. Studying in the spirit of entire devotedness, and +actuated by an earnest desire to return to Scotland, where there was +pressing need for faithful ministerial services, he made such +proficiency, that in a short time, he was fully qualified to receive +ordination. According to the usage of the Dutch Church, he was ordained +at Groningen, by a Classis or Presbytery of learned and godly ministers, +who evinced their catholic spirit by yielding to his request to allow +him to subscribe the standards of the Church of Scotland, instead of +their own formula. There was remarkable evidence of God's gracious +presence being enjoyed in the solemn service.--It has been appropriately +said, that as the conflicts of the German reformation were acted over by +Luther in his cloister, before he was called to his public work, so the +struggles of the covenanted cause in Scotland, were first engaged in by +Renwick in his retirement and solitary chamber in Groningen. There he +clearly foresaw the conflicts and trials that awaited him; and in near +communion with God, he yielded himself up as an entire self-sacrifice, +anticipating the blessed recompense of the reward. In the early Pagan +persecutions, the church was sometimes symbolically represented by an ox +with a plough on the one side, and an altar on the other, with the +inscription, "Ready for either"--prepared for work or slaughter. Such +was the spirit of Renwick, as he looked forward to the work that lay +before him in his native land. In a letter written from Holland at this +time, he says, "My longings and earnest desire to be in that land, and +with the pleasant remnant, are very great. I cannot tell what may be in +it, but I hope the Lord hath either some work to work, or else is minded +presently to call for a testimony at my hand. If He give me frame and +furniture, I desire to welcome either of them." + +Renwick returned from Holland in the autumn of 1683. Escaping some +dangers at sea, he visited Dublin, where he bore a faithful testimony +against the silence of ministers in the public cause, and left behind +him a favourable impression on the minds of some of his Christian zeal +and devotedness. In September, 1683, he landed in Scotland, and on the +3d of November, he entered on his arduous work of preaching the Gospel +in the fields, and lifting up the standard of a covenanted testimony. He +preached on that day at Darmead in the parish of Cambusnethan. From that +time, till he closed his glorious career and won the martyr's crown, he +preached with eminent fidelity and great power the glorious gospel of +the grace of God. His public labours were continued for a period of +nearly five years, and extended to many districts in the east, south, +and west of Scotland. In remote glens, unfrequented moorlands, often in +the night season, and amid storm and tempest, when the men of blood +could not venture out of their lairs, to pursue the work of destruction, +he displayed a standard for truth, and eagerly laboured to win souls to +Christ. His last sermon was preached at _Borrowstoness_, from Isaiah +liii. 1, on January 29th, 1688. + +Though he ever testified boldly against the defections of the times, +especially the Indulgence, and insisted on disowning the papist James, +as not being a constitutional monarch, and on maintaining fully +Presbyterian order and discipline, and all the covenanted attainments, +his discourses were eminently evangelical. His darling themes were +salvation through Christ, and the great matters of practical godliness. +With wonderful enlargement and attractive sweetness, he unfolded the +covenant of grace--the matchless person and love of Christ--the finished +atonement, and its sufficiency for advancing the glory of the Godhead, +and for the complete salvation of elect sinners. Considering Renwick's +youth, being but _nineteen_ years of age when he entered on his great +work, he was endowed with singular qualifications as a preacher of the +gospel. These remarkably fitted him for the great work to which he was +called--promoting the Redeemer's glory, in awakening and converting +sinners, and in edifying and comforting the Church in a season of +suffering and trial. He was, moreover, gifted with personal talents, +natural and acquired, that rendered him an attractive and powerful +preacher of the gospel. His aspect was solemn and engaging. His personal +appearance, even when harassed by incessant labours and privations, +night wanderings and hair-breadth escapes from enemies, was sweet and +prepossessing. His manner in preaching was lucid and affecting. His +whole heart was thrown into his discourses. He often rose to the height +of the most moving eloquence; and with the constant reality of God's +presence and love, and the dread realities of persecution, and violent +death, and eternity, before him, he poured out his soul in such strains +of heavenly enlargement, that his hearers were melted, subdued, and +raised above the fear of death, and the terror of enemies. + +The following account of Renwick's manner of preaching, and of the +impressions made on his hearers is taken from an unpublished MS. of +Ebenezer Nesbit, son of Captain Nesbit of Hardhill, and may be regarded +as descriptive of the way in which he proclaimed the gospel to the +"flock in the wilderness," during his brief but singularly efficient +ministry. Need we wonder, after reading this narrative, at the spiritual +effects of his preaching to thousands in his day, and at the precious +fruits that resulted from his labours long afterwards, and the sweet +savour of his name throughout subsequent times? "The latter end of this +year, I heard that great man of God, Mr. James Renwick, preach on Song +iii. 9, 10, when he treated greatly on the covenant of redemption agreed +on between God the Father and God the Son, in favour of the elect; as +also on the covenant of grace established with believers in Christ. Oh, +this was a great and sweet day of the gospel! for he handled and pressed +the privileges of the covenant of grace with seraphic enlargement, to +the great edification of the hearers. Sweet and charming were the offers +which he made of Christ to all sorts of sinners. There was one thing +that day that was very remarkable to me; for though it was rain from +morning to night, and so wet as if we had been drenched in water, yet +not one of us fell sick. And though there was a tent fixed for him, he +would not go into it, but stood without in the rain and preached; which +example had a great influence on the people to patience, when they saw +his sympathy with them. And though he was the only minister that kept +closest to his text, and had the best method for the judgment and +memory, of any that ever I heard; yet now, when he preached, the people +crowded close together, because of the rain, he digressed a little, and +said, with a pleasant, melting voice, 'My dear friends, be not disturbed +because of the rain. For to have a covenant-interest in Christ, the true +Solomon, and in the benefits of his blessed purchase, is well worth the +enduring of all temporal, elementary storms that can fall on us. And +this Solomon, who is here pointed at, endured a far other kind of storm +for his people--even a storm of unmixed wrath. And oh, what would poor +damned reprobates in hell give for this day's offer of sweet and lovely +Christ. And oh, how welcome would our suffering friends in prison and +banishment make this day's offer of Christ.' 'And, for my own part,' +said he, 'as the Lord will keep me, I shall bear my equal share in this +rain, in sympathy with you.' And he returned to his sweet Subject again, +and offered us grace and reconciliation with God, through Christ, by his +Spirit. + +"Words would fail me to express my own frame, and the frame of many +others; only this I may say, we would have been glad to have endured any +kind of death, to have been home at the uninterrupted enjoyment of that +glorious Redeemer who was so livelily and clearly offered to us that +day. + +"He was the only man that I ever knew that had an unstained integrity. +He was a lively and faithful minister of Christ and a worthy Christian, +such as none who were acquaint with him could say any other but this, +that he was a beloved Jedidiah of the Lord. I never knew a man more +richly endowed with grace, more equal in his temper, more equal in his +spiritual frame, and more equal in walk and conversation. When I speak +of him as a man--none more lovely in features, none more prudent, none +more brave and heroic in spirit; and yet none more meek, none more +humane and condescending. He was every way so rational, as well as +religious, that there was reason to think that the powers of his reason +were as much strengthened and sanctified as any man's I ever heard of. +When I speak of him as a Christian--none more meek, and yet none more +prudently bold against those who were bold to sin--none more frequent +and fervent in religions duties, such as prayer, converse, meditation, +self-examination, preaching, prefacing, lecturing, baptizing, and +catechising; none more methodical in teaching and instructing, +accompanied with a sweet, charming eloquence, in holding forth Christ, +as the only remedy for lost sinners; none more hated of the world, and +yet none more strengthened and upheld by the everlasting arms of +Jehovah, to be steadfast, and abound in the way of the Lord, to the +death; wherefore he might be justly called "Antipas," Christ's faithful +martyr. And as I lived then to know him to be so of a truth, so, by the +good hand of God, I yet live, thirty-six years after him, to testify +that no man upon just grounds had any thing to lay to his charge. When +all the critical and straitening circumstances of that period are well +considered, save that he was liable to natural and sinful infirmities, +as all men are when in this life, and yet he was as little guilty in +this way as any I ever knew or heard of, he was the liveliest and most +engaging preacher to close with Christ, of any I ever heard. His +converse was pious, prudent, and meek; his reasoning and debating was +the same, carrying almost with it full evidence of the truth of what he +asserted. And for steadfastness in the way of the Lord, few came his +length. He learned the truth and counted the cost, and so sealed it with +his blood. Of all men that ever I knew, I would be in the least danger +of committing a hyperbole when speaking in his commendation. And yet I +speak not this to praise men, but for the glory and honour of God in +Christ, who makes men to differ so much from others, and in some periods +of the Church more than others." + +The "LECTURES AND SERMONS" of James Renwick that remain were published +from the notes taken, at the time of their delivery, by some of his +attached hearers and followers. They were not prepared with any view to +future publication; and the trying circumstances in which their devoted +author was placed, wholly prevented any correction or revisal. Yet they +contain not only remarkably clear expositions of the word, and a full +exhibition of the scheme of salvation, but also many passages which, for +searching application to the conscience, and moving eloquence, are +unsurpassed in the discourses of eminent preachers either in ancient or +modern times. As specimens of the matter of Renwick's discourses +delivered in the _Conventicles_, in the fields, amidst all dangers and +incidents of weather, and by night as well as day, the following are +selected from the published reports of his hearers:-- + +In a discourse on Song i. 7,--"Tell me, O Thou whom my soul loveth, +where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon,"--he thus earnestly pleads, +"Love Him, and you shall not come short of the enjoyment of Him +hereafter. It is true, faith is that which, as an instrument, apprehends +Christ and engrafts us in Him; yet it worketh by love, and love +accompanieth faith, as the sunbeams do the sun. Oh what shall I say? +Love him! love him! Ye cannot bestow your love so well. Turn others to +the door, and take in this Beloved. Here I make offer of Him unto you, +here I present Him unto you! Lift up your heads, O ye doors, that the +king of glory may come in. I present a glorious Conqueror _this night_, +to be your guest. O cast ye open the two foldings of the door of your +hearts, to wit, that ye may receive Him; cast ye open the hearty consent +of faith and love, that He may take up His abode with you. Oh, what say +ye to it? Friends, will ye close with Christ? I obtest you by his own +excellency, I obtest you by the joys of heaven, and the torments of +hell, that you close with Him. _All of you come, whatever you have been +or are; none of you_ shall be cast _out_. Whosoever will, let him take +of the water of life freely." + +"Seeing it is the duty of people to set their love upon Christ, I exhort +you to give some testimonies of love. Think ye that ye love him? Will ye +then show that? I would expostulate for some testimonies of your love. +When Peter confessed that he loved Christ, our Lord desires him to show +that by feeding His lambs and sheep. It is true, you cannot show your +love that way, for ye are not called to that office; but ye ought to +show it in the way that is competent to you in your stations. So as I +was saying before, I expostulate with you for some testimonies of your +love. "Make a free and full resignation of yourselves and your all to +Christ, that ye may say with the spouse, I am my Beloved's! Oh, ye +should not prig (higgle) with Him about anything. Some prig with Him +about their hearts, and will have a part thereof in their darling idols, +which they cannot think to quit. Some prig with Him about their time, +and will make religion but their by-work. If their worldly employments +be throng, they will neglect the worship in their families, and prayer +in secret. Others, if they keep any family worship, it is in the +evening: ordinarily they are impatient, and haste to an end in it: and +neglect it in the morning altogether. Oh, what a sad prigging is this. +Some prig with him about their relations. They will not quit these when +He calls them to suffer for His sake; but will tempt them, or will +insinuate upon them to comply, and deny His cause. Some prig with Him +about their possessions, and yielding to this or that iniquity, will +keep their houses and lands, they will not quit them. And some will prig +with Him about their lives; and if the swearing of a sinful oath, the +subscribing to an iniquitous bond, or denying of His cause, will save +their lives, they will not lose them. Oh, what sad prigging is this! Oh, +be ashamed of it. Will ye lay all at his feet, and count it your honour +and joy that He dispose of the same as He pleaseth? Give this testimony +of your love to Christ, rejoice in Him when present, and keep His room +empty when absent. I say rejoice in him when present. I need not press +you much to do this, for in his presence there is great joy: though the +enjoyment of Him here be imperfect, yet it brings exceeding gladness +with it. Therefore saith the Psalmist,--'Thou hast put gladness in my +heart, more than when corn and wine are increased.' But when He is +absent, see that ye keep His room empty for Him. When He sees it meet at +any time for your correction, trial, and instruction, to withdraw +Himself, or hide His face, then idols or other lovers will readily +present themselves, and seek to possess His room. But, be chaste and +true to your Beloved, as the spouse who, in His absence, could not be +contented, but used all means and diligence until she found Him." + +In a sermon on Song v. 16,--"His mouth is most sweet, yea, He is +altogether lovely. This is my Beloved, and this is my friend, O ye +daughters of Jerusalem,"--the following affecting views are presented: +"The second property of Christ's love is, that it is a _strong_ love, +which appears from what He hath done for sinners. He has done great +things for sinners. He took upon Himself all the sinless infirmities of +human nature--not sinful nature. Yea, He endured a shameful and +lingering death, besides a flood of wrath that he waded through, such a +flood of wrath as would have drowned all the sons and daughters of Adam +to all eternity. Thus 'He who knew no sin became sin for us, that we +might be made the righteousness of God in Him.' Greater love hath no man +than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Oh, my friends, +if ye will follow Christ through all the steps of his humiliation, ye +may see that the love of Christ is strong love, which makes him endure +such things for sinners. He gives great things to sinners, whereby He +shows the strength of his love to them; for He gives grace and glory, +and no good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly; for He +saith, 'Father, I will that they also whom Thou hast given me, be with +me where I am, that they may behold my glory which Thou hast given me.' +Christ gives the believer union with himself and communion in glory with +the Father, even a share of that glory which the Father giveth Him, He +giveth them. He gives them a crown of righteousness which shall never +fade away; and He gives them to drink of the rivers of his pleasures, +that are at his right hand for evermore. Oh, my friends, Christ doth not +prig with His spouse: He will keep nothing back from them, that He sees +to be for her profit.--Oh, but His love is _strong_. He requires no more +for all that He has done, and all that He hath given, but that He see +the travail of His soul. He will think but little of all that He hath +done, if we will but accept of His love, and lay our love upon Him. Yea, +so may be said of Him, as was said of Jacob,--the seven years that he +served for Rachel seemed but a few days, for the love that He bare unto +her. His love is so strong, that although thou shouldest run away from +Him never so fast, yet His love will overtake thee, and bring thee back +again. Paul ran very fast in opposition to His love, when he was going +to Damascus to persecute the Church. But Christ's love overtook him +suddenly. Manasseh ran very fast from Christ, when he made the streets +of Jerusalem to run with innocent blood, and set up an abomination in +the house of God, and used witchcraft; and yet Christ's love overtook +him, and brought him back again from the pit. If thou art one of those +that the Father hath given to the Son, though thou shouldest run to the +brink of hell, He will bring thee back again from thence. + +"Christ's love is _pure_ and _sincere_ love. 'Herein is love, not that +we loved Him, but that He loved us;" not for any advantage that He can +have by us, for He is infinite in all perfections without us; therefore +we can neither enrich Him, nor add any more glory to Him. We may well +magnify His power; that is all we can do, and all the advantage is our +own. Christ's love is not a base love; He loves us not for His good or +advantage, but for our real good and advantage. It is pure and sincere +love, for all the advantage is ours. + +"Christ's love is an _enriching_ love, for those upon whom His love is +bestowed are no more poor. How can they be poor who have Christ for +their riches? for, saith the Apostle, 'All things are yours, and ye are +Christ's, and Christ is God's.' If ye have this love bestowed on you, +then all other things are made to serve for your good--ye shall lack +nothing. + +"Christ's love is a _free_ love. He gives His love freely, without any +reward, and so it is free love; the offer is _alike to all_. If ye will +but take it off his hand, He makes open proclamation of it to you all, +saying, 'Ho every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters.' Oh, my +friends, all other love is infinitely beneath this. He took not on him +the nature of angels, but He took the seed of Abraham. Oh, my friends, +God hath made us the centre of His love; and therefore, I beseech you, +do not despise His love. He came not to redeem any of the fallen angels, +but the seed of Abraham." + +In the following moving terms, he pleads with his hearers to accept of +Christ and his salvation:--"Your eternal enjoyment of God will be your +element, which ye shall for ever delight in, and this shall be to praise +and admire his love. For, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath +it entered into the heart of man to conceive the things that the Lord +hath prepared for them that love Him. Oh, then, sirs, what think ye of +Christ? Will ye not, at _this time_, say, He is your Beloved and your +Friend? Oh, give your consent to become His friends, and accept of Him +as your friend. I leave this offer at your door; He is willing to +befriend you, if you will come into an estate of friendship with Him. +Come, come, and take His offer off his hand. Say not that ye have +continued so long in sin, that ye know not if He will befriend you now; +for if ye will come to Him, He will yet befriend you. Therefore, for the +Lord's sake, put not away such an offer, but take it _in the present +time_; for ye know not if ever ye shall have an offer again. If ye will +not take his offer off His hand _this day_, I will be a witness against +you in the great day of judgment, that this day, the Son of +righteousness offered Himself to be your friend, and ye have made light +of the offer. Yea, the hills and mountains about us shall be witnesses +that ye had Christ in your offer such a _day_, in such a _place_; +therefore, my dear friends, say now that He is your beloved, and that He +is your friend." + +His close dealing with the conscience, and his solemn warnings and +exhortations are exemplified in the following passages:-- + +"Consider your own condition without Christ. Ye are lost and undone, +limbs of Satan, children of wrath, hell to be your dwelling-place, and +devils and damned souls to be your company eternally, and where sin +shall be your eternal torment. This is your condition without Jesus +Christ. What think ye of eternal exclusion from the presence and comfort +of God? What think ye of hell, where there is nothing but utter +darkness, weeping and wailing for evermore, to be your dwelling-place? +What think ye of devils to be your continual company? And what think ye +of sin to be your continual life--always blaspheming the glorious name +of God? And what think ye of your final condition--to be in continual +torment--always weeping and gnashing your teeth? All this, I say, is +abiding you who will not embrace Jesus Christ, whatever your profession +be. For, believe me, a profession will not save you from this eternal +misery, if ye receive not Jesus Christ. Whatever your sufferings be +here, yet ye shall suffer this hereafter, if ye receive not Jesus +Christ. My heart bleeds for many sufferers in Scotland, who shall suffer +everlasting torment in hell, because they will not receive and embrace +Jesus Christ, this gracious and free Saviour, who is now in your offer. +Oh, embrace Jesus Christ, otherwise, be ye who ye will, and do what ye +will, God's justice shall pursue you, and He shall have war against you +without cessation: there shall be no discharge in that war. The great +warriors of the earth are all lying with their weapons broken under +their heads; but here is a war that hath no end. You who will not +receive Jesus Christ, you will see that ye have made an evil choice, +when ye pass through the dark gates of hell, to the inner chambers +thereof. To move you, further consider, that if ye will take Him, ye +shall have Him and all His. Ye shall drink of the waters of life; your +feet shall stand on the sea of glass before the throne. Ye shall have +His name, and bear His image, and wear a crown of pure gold upon your +heads, and follow the Lamb with palms in your hands, saying, +'Hallelujah! and glory, and honour and power, unto the Lord our God.' Ye +shall have the fine white linen garments of Christ's righteousness, to +wear in heaven, in clothing eternally. Ye shall have the glorious cloud +of witnesses--angels and the spirits of just men made perfect, for your +continual company; and ye shall have a life of love and joy everlasting, +with Him that is altogether lovely. Oh, then, come and take Jesus +Christ. Would ye make a happy choice? Then take Him and embrace Him, old +and young, man and woman, lad and lass. Now Christ is in your offer; and +you are all invited to come to Him. And now I charge you all, as ye +respect the glory of God, and as ye desire this happy condition that I +have spoken of to you, slight not this offer. Now the golden chain of +salvation is let down to you. Grip, grip it fast, before it is taken up +again. Go not away fools, lest ye never be at such a market-day again. +"What shall I say to persuade you? Let the excellency and glory of His +great name do it. Be entreated to accept of Christ in this present +offer. Here I obtest you, by what He hath purchased for sinners, and by +what He has suffered, come and embrace Him. I obtest you by the blood He +shed on the cross; I obtest you by the great drops of blood He shed in +the garden, and by all the joys that are above the clouds in heaven, +that ye put not this offer away. I obtest you, by all the torments of +hell, that ye put not this offer away. I obtest you by the glory of +heaven, and by the crowns which believers put on His head, that ye +slight not this offer. + +"Here I take every man and woman to witness against one another, that ye +had Christ in your offer; and I shall be a witness against all of you +that have not received Christ _this night_. Yea, though he should never +be glorified in such a sort by me, yet I will be a witness against you. +Here, before the throne of grace, I declare in His name, that I have +made an offer of Him unto you; and, therefore, your blood shall be upon +your own heads if ye perish, and I shall be free of the same." + +In another place, he presses with like earnestness acceptance of the +gospel offer:--"If ye would be rightly concerned, ye must at once come, +and be a right son or daughter of the church, and member of Jesus +Christ; until then, ye cannot have a fellow-feeling of the body. Come +then, and Christ will give you a fellow-feeling with the sufferings of +the church. Come and embrace Himself, and He will set the stamp of +natural children upon you. Without Him, ye can do nothing; without Him, +ye cannot be concerned with the sufferings of His name and members. +Refuse not; reject not His offers, when He calls you to Himself. It is +hard to say if some of you shall have an offer again. _Now_ is the +acceptable time--_now_ is the day of salvation. He is _now_ spreading +his net, and will ye not come about the net's mouth, that a catch of you +may be gotten. He is proclaiming unto you that He hath invincible power, +though managed by apparent weakness. Oh, find you any of this +irresistible power of Christ? Oh, come unto Him who is the joy of +heaven, and it shall be a joyful time in heaven. He will have a good +report of you through heaven, if ye shall have it to say that some poor +lad or lass hath put a crown upon His head in such a place. But oh, how +sad will it be, if Christ shall have it to say, 'I gave offer of myself +to a people like stocks and stones, but they would not hear!'" + +On the duty of devoting the best to God's service, in another discourse, +he thus forcibly reasons:-- + +"Observe, that it cannot but be a great injury against God, and procure +a curse, when people employ not their best things in His service. This +is clear from the words, 'Cursed be the deceiver which hath in his flock +a male, and voweth and sacrificeth unto the Lord a corrupt thing.' So +men that employ not their best things in the Lord's service, believe it, +they are chargeable with this. He calls for your best things in His +service, and not that you should spend that upon your lusts. Ye are +called to employ the best of your time in his service; and many of you +give Him but the refuse of your time, or at least, He gets but your +by-time for His service. But ye should give Him the best of your time +and strength, and your hearts--all should be employed in his service. Do +not say that you do the best that you can; for I am persuaded that there +is none of you but may do more for Him than ye do. Do not say that ye +improve the talent that He hath given you to trade with, for ye but +misimprove it; and the best of you, we fear, come short of improving it. +If ye improve it, ye should find it increase upon your hand, and you +would appear like his children. But because people do not improve their +time and abilities to lay them out for God, it procures a curse. For +though our obligations go far beyond our duties that we do, yet when we +do not lay out all our abilities for Him, and do not bestow our love, +our affections, and our time, and all that we have for Him, but bestow +them upon other things, we procure His curse. Young folks, set to the +work, and be entreated to give up yourselves to his service, and employ +your best things for Him, now when your desires are fast and quick. Oh, +will ye bestow them on precious Christ? You have a brave prize put in +your hand, if ye set aright to the work; ye may see Zion's King come +back, and the crown set upon his head again." + +Urging the necessity of being found within the kingdom of God, he +says:-- + +"Seeing that the gate is very strait and narrow that leads to the +kingdom of heaven, then what shall become of many of you, that never +came the length that hypocrites have come? Oh, what will ye say, and how +will ye meet with God, when He comes to count with you for a preached +gospel? What will ye think of a Mediator that was offered to you, whom +ye slighted and despised; when the heaven and earth shall melt away; and +great men, and mean men, shall howl and cry, and all the tribes of the +earth shall wail because of Him? Oh! this will be the portion of +hypocrites from God. + +"It is of use for trial--for all of you to try yourselves, and ponder in +your hearts, and say, 'Oh, soul, whether art thou in the kingdom of +heaven or not?' Oh, be exhorted to this, whatever be thy state, O man +and woman. It is safe for thee to search thy state; if matters be right +betwixt God and thy soul, it will be thy peace; if not, thou mayest +possibly get righted. For my part, I count him the best Christian that +is most accurate in this searching and communing with his own heart; for +if ye neglect this, ye may come to lose the sight of your interest in +Christ, if ever ye had it. Do not satisfy yourselves with being near the +kingdom of God, but go into it. For this end, break the bargain and +peace with your lusts and idols; and make up your peace with God through +Christ, our Peace-maker, and ye shall find great advantage in the +exchange; for the wicked have peace, but with sin and sinful men, but +the godly have peace with God. Oh, will ye quit all other things, and +seek to be interested in Him? For it is to be feared that many here have +proclaimed peace with sin, and some idol, or other. Oh, break the +bargain, and make peace with Christ! Make choice of Him; for He can give +you that which no other lover can give you. O break that peace with your +lusts and idols, and make peace with Him. Remember, He offers himself to +you freely this day. Choose, therefore, what ye will do. O seek for the +fulness of the Spirit of Christ, and rest upon nothing but upon himself +alone; and seek to be in the kingdom of God, by the thorough work of +conversion upon your souls. + +"And now to all that are in the kingdom, I proclaim peace in the name of +God, whatever troubles they are under here. So enter into the kingdom +through Christ only, for that is the way to it. But as for you who will +not come to him, and enter into the kingdom through Christ only, who is +the way to it, I do, in like manner, proclaim war with that soul from +God, whatever ye be in profession. O friends, lay it to heart, and +choose you whether it be better to have heaven's peace, and the devil +and the world's feud; or to have the devil and the world's peace, and +feud with God for ever! And now to Him who is purchaser of true peace, +be glory and praise for ever. Amen." + +When it is understood that the discourses from which these extracts are +taken were preached in the open air, and often in the night time, amidst +the exposure both of the preacher and the hearers to all changes of the +weather, not unfrequently in rain and tempest; and that the "Sermons and +Lectures" that bear Renwick's name, were not prepared in a quiet study, +in peaceful times, but in the midst of frequent removings, incessant +labours, and manifold dangers, and that they are transmitted to us from +the imperfect notes, and the recollection of attached +hearers,--themselves the objects of fierce persecution,--they cannot +fail to impress us with a vivid idea of the remarkable power and +fidelity as a preacher of the youthful martyr, and to account, at the +same time, for the popularity and salutary effects of his preaching. + + +RENWICK'S SPECIAL TESTIMONY. + +To understand properly the position of James Renwick and his associates, +and the distinctive testimony which they maintained at the peril of +life, and transmitted, sealed with their blood, to posterity, it is +necessary to advert to the particular time in which these devoted +witnesses were called to appear in behalf of precious truth; and to the +public measures which had been adopted at that period for extinguishing +the liberties of the nation, and for destroying the independence and +purity of the church. + +The Prelatic persecution in Scotland, which commenced with the +restoration of Charles II. to the throne of his ancestors in 1660, had +continued for nearly _twenty-three_ years, when Renwick entered on his +ministry. Instead of the perfidious rulers in church and state being +satiated with the number of the victims of their cruelty, their thirst +for blood became more intense, as the time wore on; and when they found +they could not crush the spirit of a free people, or extinguish the +light of gospel truth, they had recourse to the most despotic and +atrocious measures for effecting their diabolical purposes. What has +been designated "THE KILLING TIME" of the Scottish persecution, embraced +the greater part of Renwick's public ministry. The graphic pens of such +able writers as De Foe, Charles James Fox, and Macaulay, have but +imperfectly sketched the barbarities perpetrated by the infamous royal +brothers, and their base counsellors, and the sufferings of an oppressed +nation, and of thousands of godly people of all ranks, during this dark +and distressing period. + +Two matters of general public interest, and intimately connected with +the position of Renwick and his associates, excited particular attention +in the concluding period of the persecution. These were, 1, The measure +called THE INDULGENCE; and, 2, The limits of Civil Authority, and of the +allegiance of the subject. + + +I.--THE INDULGENCE. + +When the power of the persecutors was unable to put down the preaching +of the gospel in the fields, and to crush the spirit of liberty in the +breasts of multitudes of the people of Scotland, the Indulgence was a +master contrivance of the arch-enemy to divide the Presbyterians, and to +seduce them to abandon some of their fundamental principles, for the +sake of outward advantages. The first indulgence was issued by Charles +II. and his council in June, 1669. It was proclaimed as flowing directly +from the royal supremacy. The power was granted to the persecuting +Council, at their discretion, to appoint certain of the outed ministers +to vacant parishes, on ensnaring conditions. In case they refused to +receive collation from the bishops, they could not have the stipends or +tiends, they were only to possess the manse and glebe, and be allowed an +annuity. If they did not attend diocesan synods, they were to be +confined within the bounds of their own parishes. They were not to +dispense ordinances to persons from other parishes, nor, on any account, +to hold conventicles. They were prohibited from speaking against the +king's authority, or the public measures of the government; and they +were to report their peaceable behaviour from time to time to the +Council. + +Two other indulgences were issued at intervals during the latter part of +the reign of Charles II. All of them by public proclamation denounced +relentless vengeance against the faithful men who refused the royal +boon. They threatened utter extermination to all who pleaded for the +independence of the Presbyterian Church, and who maintained the freedom +of the gospel by holding conventicles, preaching and administering +ordinances in their purity in the fields. + +The indulgence unhappily proved a snare in which by far the largest +number of the Presbyterian ministers in Scotland were entangled. We +cannot hesitate to agree with the historian Hetherington, in holding +that "It was offered on a principle clearly subversive of the +Presbyterian Church, and that not one of the ejected ministers ought to +have accepted of it, because it was impossible to do so, without +sacrificing the fundamental and essential principle of the Presbyterian +Church--that which constitutes its glory and its life--the sole +sovereignty of Christ."[1] Three results followed the acceptance of the +indulgence, which proved highly injurious to the Presbyterian Church, +and which were, in all likelihood, foreseen by the contrivers of the +measure, and led them to introduce it. These were--1. The constant +interference of the government with the indulged in the discharge of +their strictly ministerial functions. 2. A rupture between the indulged +and the non-indulged, with many of the best of the people clinging to +the latter; and, 3. The more systematic, virulent, and crushing +persecution of those who, defying the tyrant's rage, bared their bosoms +to the storm; and had the courage at all hazards to plead for the royal +prerogatives of Messiah the Prince, and to contend for the chartered +liberties of the Presbyterian Church. This honour belongs exclusively to +Cargill, Cameron, and Renwick, and the Society people; when the large +majority of the Presbyterian ministers in Scotland, followed by great +numbers of the people, proved recreant to sound scripture principle, and +unfaithful to the sacred engagements of their fathers. However belied +and misrepresented the persecuted covenanters were in their own day, +impartial history has not failed to do justice to their memory, and to +show that their faithful contendings had no little influence in the +nation's deliverance from degrading oppression. + + +II.--THE LIMITS OF PUBLIC AUTHORITY, AND OF A PEOPLE'S ALLEGIANCE. + +A question was raised in the later times of the persecution of difficult +solution, but of vast practical importance. This was the due limit of +submission to civil rulers, and the withdrawal of allegiance and +submission from those who had violated their compact with the people, +and had trampled under foot their constitutional rights. It is ably +shown by Dr. D'Aubigné,[2] as had been done before, that civil freedom +and religious reformation, originating with the people, have ever been +closely united and advanced together. Wherever the principles of +evangelical truth have been rightly understood and firmly maintained, +the people have refused to tolerate civil oppression. "_He is a freeman +whom the truth makes free._" All genuine civil freedom is based on +religious liberty. Calvinism, as is admitted even by many who are +opposed to it as a doctrinal system, has been the irreconcileable foe of +despotism all over the world;--by the heroic struggles, and cheerful +sacrifices of its adherents, the battle of freedom has been fought, and +its triumphs achieved in many lands. Particularly in Scotland, where the +Reformation, from the first, originated with the people, and was carried +forward in opposition to the mandates of arbitrary rulers, and +notwithstanding the relentless persecution of the civil powers, the +eminent instruments whom God honoured for advancing the truth, all along +contended for the liberties of their country, and earnestly pleaded that +the duties of rulers and ruled should be clearly defined, and the rights +of the people settled on a constitutional basis. This was the plea of +the illustrious Knox, as is seen in his expostulations with the Queen +and nobles of Scotland, and in his intercourse with the statesmen of the +day--English and Scottish--and in his writings. The works of Buchanan, +Rutherford, and Gillespie, bear ample testimony to the enlarged views of +their authors in relation to the proper bounds of civil and +ecclesiastical authority, and to their fidelity to the cause of genuine +liberty. The same great principles were contended for by Alexander +Henderson, embodied in the scriptural attainments of the memorable +Second Reformation, and clearly enunciated in the Solemn League and +Covenant of the three kingdoms, in which the covenanters explicitly +bound themselves to support the king and parliament in "the maintenance +of the true reformed religion." When the Scottish nation, forgetful of +their sacred vows, tamely submitted to the tyranny of the royal +brothers, and Presbyterian ministers remained silent under an infamous +indulgence, it devolved upon a few despised and persecuted +covenanters,--the Society people,--to lift up and hold aloft the torch +of freedom; and by their faithful testimonies and declarations uttered +in fields and on scaffolds, and more still, by their blood freely shed +to confirm their righteous cause, to sow broadcast the principles of +genuine liberty. These, after lying buried in the earth for a time, +sprung up vigorously, and bore fruit, when the perfidious race of the +Stuarts was driven ignominiously from the throne; and, at the +Revolution, some of the fundamental truths for which the martyrs of the +covenant contended, became ascendant and triumphant.[3] + +In the _Queensferry Paper_, penned by Cargill, in a rough draft, and +found on the person of Henry Hall of Haughhead, when he was taken, the +heroic sufferers expressly disowned the authority of Charles II. and his +government. The terms employed, it has been remarked, very much resemble +those used by the English nation when they rejected the Government of +James II., and transferred the crown to William and Mary. + +"We reject the king and those associate with him in government from +being our king and rulers, being no more bound to them. They have +altered and destroyed the Lord's established religion,--overturned the +fundamental and established laws of the kingdom--taken away altogether +Christ's church government, and changed the civil government of this +land, which was by a king and free parliament, into tyranny." The +conclusion expresses sentiments worthy of the most distinguished +patriots, and that are fit to be taken as the watchward of struggling +freemen all over the world. "We bind and oblige ourselves to defend +ourselves and one another in our worshipping of God, in our natural, +civil and divine rights and liberties, till we shall overcome, or send +them down under debate to posterity--_that they may begin where we +end_." + +The grand principle of the rejection of tyrannical power was boldly +proclaimed by Cargill, in preaching to thousands of Conventicle hearers, +and was prominently held forth in his last testimony:--"As to the cause +of my suffering," said he, "the chief is, not acknowledging the present +authority, as it is established in the supremacy and explanatory act. +This is the magistracy I have rejected--that which is invested with +Christ's power. Seeing that power taken from Christ which is His glory, +and made the essential of an earthly crown, seemed to me, as if one were +wearing my husband's garments, after he had killed him. There is no +distinction we can make that can free the conscience of the acknowledger +from being a partaker of this sacrilegious robbery of God. And it is but +to cheat our conscience to acknowledge the civil power alone, that it is +of the essence of the crown; and seeing they are so express, we _ought +to be plain_, for otherwise we deny our testimony, and consent that +Christ be robbed of His glory." + +The same testimony against the Indulgence and against unconstitutional +power was firmly maintained by RICHARD CAMERON, during the whole of his +public ministry, and in the noble testimony emitted by him shortly +before his death. Soon after his return from Holland in 1680, in one of +his earliest sermons, he declared, "I know not if this generation will +be honoured to cast off these rulers. But those that the Lord makes +instruments to bring back Christ, and to recover our liberties, civil +and ecclesiastical, shall be such as shall disown this king and the +magistrates under him." He added this warning to the persecuting +authorities, with the heroic resolve--"Let them take heed unto +themselves; for though they should take us to scaffolds, and kill us in +the fields, the Lord will yet raise up a party who will be avenged on +them. We had rather die than live in the same country with them, and +outlive the glory of God departing altogether from these lands." + +A short month before his death, the intrepid Cameron, his brother +Michael, and some twenty other covenanters, armed and on horseback, +posted up at the market cross of the burgh of SANQUHAR, the "_Sanquhar +Declaration_" in which are contained these ever memorable words:-- + +"We do, by these presents, disown Charles Stuart, who has been reigning, +or rather tyrannizing in the throne of Britain, these years bygone, as +having any right, title to, or right in the crown of Scotland, for +government:--as forfeited several years since, by his perjury, and +breach of Covenant both to God and His truth, and by his tyranny and +breach of the very _leges regnandi_--the very essential conditions of +government, in matters civil." This was a noble deed, and ranks Cameron +and his followers with the purest and most disinterested patriots of any +age or country. It has been justly remarked by an eloquent writer, "The +real matter of fact for which the Cameronians contended was just the old +claim of the Covenanters--'a free Parliament and a free Assembly.'" "It +is the glory of the Cameronians, in which no other party shares, that +when most people lay prostrate, and many of the bravest stood aloof, +they were the first to hoist the flag, disowning the government of the +Stuarts, without whose expulsion liberty was impossible."[4] + +The testimony which Cargill and Cameron boldly proclaimed and sealed +with their blood, was cordially espoused by Renwick, and faithfully +maintained by him during the whole course of his public ministry. He was +called, besides, to the great work of preaching a full and free Gospel, +throughout many parts of his native country, to multitudes who were +hungering for the bread of life, when through terror of oppressive +rulers, or from seeking their favour, others shrunk from the performance +of so important and hazardous a duty. He was required, moreover, to +dispense the ordinances of religion in Scriptural purity, to the +scattered, persecuted remnant, and thus to repair "the desolations of +Zion," and to transmit the truth to future generations. In the year of +Cameron's martyrdom, the Societies framed their "General +Correspondence," and formed a simple but effective organization, for +mutual fellowship and edification,--for preserving their precious gospel +liberties, and for taking advantage of any event in public affairs, for +re-establishing the Covenanted order in Church and State, which had been +violently taken away, by despotic power and prelatic intolerance. The +extent of this organization, in a time of great suffering is remarkable. +Gordon of Earlston, when examined before the Privy Council in 1683, with +the instruments of torture placed in view, testified that several +counties were divided into districts, of which there were 80, with 7000 +associated members. There is evidence that, chiefly through the Divine +blessing upon Renwick's faithful preaching, and his singular wisdom in +council, those Societies increased, instead of diminishing, in the +latter part of the prelatic persecution. + +To the friends of evangelical truth, and the faithful witnesses for the +Redeemer's royal prerogatives, the services of Renwick, at the crisis in +which he exercised his public ministry, were invaluable. He was +eminently the man for the time. Through the influence of the unhappy +Indulgence, the strict Covenanters were reduced to what they style +themselves in the "Informatory Vindication," a "wasted, suffering, +anti-popish, anti-prelatic, anti-erastian, anti-sectarian remnant." By +the death of Cargill and Cameron, they were left as "sheep without a +shepherd,"--broken and scattered. Through the fierceness of persecution, +and the machinations of enemies, they were in danger of falling into +confusion, and of being entirely wasted and destroyed. We admire the +gracious providence of God in preparing, at this particular crisis, an +instrument of such rare and suitable endowments for feeding "the flock +in the wilderness," and for unfurling and upholding so nobly the "Banner +of truth" amidst hosts of infuriated enemies. + +James Renwick, though a very youth when he entered on his arduous work, +and trained under great outward disadvantages, had a powerful and +well-cultivated mind. He was endowed with singular administrative +talent, and had great tact and skill in managing men. He was an acute +and logical thinker, an eloquent and attractive public speaker, and was +distinguished by fertility and force as a writer. The "Informatory +Vindication"--his testimony against king James's toleration, with his +"Letters," and "Sermons and Lectures," bear ample evidence of his sound +judgment, comprehensive mind, and ability as an author. His prudence, +meekness and loving disposition, combined with his sanctified zeal, and +heroic courage, deservedly gave him great influence among those to whom +he ministered. He was eminently fitted to be "a first man among men." +The Lord held him in the hollow of his hand, and made him a "polished +shaft in his quiver." + +The services which Renwick rendered to the Protestant cause were +invaluable. He organized the scattered remnant, and imparted new life +and ardour to their proceedings. He set forth clearly the principles of +the "Society people;" and in a number of able and logical papers, +clearly defined their plans of action. He rendered it, in a great +measure, impossible for enemies to misrepresent and accuse them falsely +to the Government. He was their Secretary in their correspondence with +foreign churches; and he did much to evoke the prayerful sympathy of +Protestants in other lands in behalf of the victims of persecution in +Scotland. The presence and influence of Renwick among the suffering +Presbyterians were of the highest importance in his own day; and not to +them alone, but also to the whole church of Christ in these lands, and +to the constitutional liberties of the nation. So far as we can see, but +for the singular power and devoted spirit of Renwick, and the firm and +unyielding position which the Cameronians through him were led to +assume, the cause of truth would have been completely borne down, and +Erastianism, and Popery, and Despotism had triumphed. Renwick and his +followers were the vanguard "in the struggle for Britain's liberties, +and for the Church's spiritual independence." Though, like other +patriots born before their time, they were doomed to fall, yet posterity +owes to them a large part of the goodly heritage which they enjoy. + +The _manifold labours and sufferings_ of Renwick, which were ended by +his martyrdom, deserve a brief notice. For a period of five years, after +he entered on his public ministry, he was in constant movement and +unremitting and exhausting labours. He was employed at all seasons, and +often in the night time, and in the most inclement weather, preaching +the gospel in the fields, visiting families, and conversing with the +people individually and in groups, attending stated general +meetings--taking part in their deliberations, composing differences, +confronting gainsayers and opponents, and writing the papers and +manifestoes of the persecuted party. His services were in constant and +increasing demand, in various places widely scattered. After he had been +engaged in the most arduous labours, he had little or no rest, and no +comfortable place of retirement. He was obliged to lodge in moss-hags, +sheils of shepherds, or holes dug in the ground by his followers; when +sticks were kindled for a fire, and children conveyed to him food, not +unfrequently without the knowledge of their parents. Naturally of a weak +constitution, he was, at times, so borne down by sickness and total +prostration of strength, that he was literally carried on the shoulders +of faithful followers, or supported when on horseback. He had frequently +to flee from one hiding place to another, barefoot, or without some of +his garments, as he had also to travel in disguise. Letters of +intercommuning were launched against him. A price was set upon his head, +and persons were forbidden, on pain of death, to yield him shelter, or a +mouthful of food, to converse, or correspond with him by writing, or +offer him the smallest service of humanity. + +It is recorded that in 1687, the year before Renwick's martyrdom, the +royal troops, _thirteen times_, made the strictest search for him +throughout all the country. To avoid the pursuit of enemies, he had to +travel in disguise, and often in the dark night, and to seek shelter in +caves, and rocks, and dens of the earth. Whenever he was engaged in his +ministerial work, friendly watches were placed around him, to give the +alarm on the approach of danger. When he preached, a fleet horse was +standing beside him saddled and bridled, by which he could speedily +distance the pursuit of enemies. He had, moreover, to suffer much from +disputes, contentions, and reproaches among those for whom he was +expending his energies, and for whom he was prepared to sacrifice his +life. On one occasion, when entering the cottage of John Brown of +Priesthill, he is said to have given momentary utterance to the pent-up +grief of his heart by exclaiming, "Reproach hath broke my heart." "From +an enemy," he added, "he could have borne it, but it was hard when it +came from those whom he loved as himself, and for whom he was undergoing +such privations and sufferings." From the Presbyterian ministers and +people, who had closed in with the Indulgence and James's toleration, he +received no kindly recognition, nor a single act of friendship. On the +contrary, they heaped on him every term in the vocabulary of abuse, +calling him "Jesuit," "devil," &c. They misrepresented his principles, +and sought to excite prejudice against him throughout the country and +among foreign churches, especially in Holland, where Renwick had many +attached sympathisers and friends. What was the ground of such dislike +and hostility? His life,--even his enemies being witnesses,--was +blameless. He preached fully and powerfully the glorious gospel. He +enforced a strict Scriptural discipline, and he was constantly careful +to promote practical godliness. His sole fault in the eyes of the +Indulged was that he strictly adhered to the great principles of the +Covenanted Reformation, when his opponents had plainly abandoned +them,--that he refused to accept a royal toleration which was designed +to establish Popery and absolute power, and that he disowned a +perfidious race of monarchs, whose oppressive and galling yoke was felt +by many, and whose rule the whole nation soon after rejected. The +fidelity of Renwick to the cause of God and truth powerfully reproved +those who had made defection; while his holy living and devotedness +strongly condemned such as, to secure immunity from suffering and the +world's favour, were at ease in Zion. Therefore was it, that, in the +spirit of apostates in all ages, they laboured to misrepresent and +calumniate him and the cause which he maintained, and abetted the +designs of those who persecuted him to the death. + + +RENWICK'S MARTYRDOM AND TESTIMONY. + +This devoted servant of Christ, though worn with incessant labours, was +found actively engaged in his darling work when he was called to receive +his reward. On the 24th and 27th of January, he preached in Fifeshire, +and at Borrowstoness, on the 29th. The last night of the month, he +lodged with a friend in Edinburgh. On the morning of the 1st of +February, the house was beset with soldiers, in the employment of the +persecuting Council. When Renwick attempted to escape, he was arrested +near the Cowgate, and was carried by Graham the captain of the guard, +before a quorum of the Council, by whom he was committed to close +prison, and laid in irons. When he stood in the presence of those who +had issued against him fierce proclamations, and had sought his life, +they were surprised at his youthful appearance, and his comely +countenance, and one exclaimed, "Is this the boy Renwick, that the whole +nation was so troubled with," Renwick replied only with a quiet smile. + +On the 3d of February, he was brought before the Council, and received +his indictment. In it, he was charged with casting off the fear of +God--disowning the king's authority--preaching in the fields--and +teaching the people to refuse to pay cess, and to carry arms in +self-defence. It is related of Renwick, when he became a prisoner, that, +though he had grace given willingly to offer his life to confirm his +testimony, he yet dreaded torture. Having in prayer freely surrendered +his life to God, he obtained in answer the assurance that enemies would +not have the power to inflict on him torture. This he afterwards told +his mother in prison, shortly before his execution, when she was +expressing concern about seeing his head and hands on the ports of the +city. He said he was persuaded that the persecutors would "not be +permitted to torture his body, nor touch one hair of his head farther." + +He was so open and candid hi his answers that the members of the +Justiciary were to some extent favourably impressed, and this had +doubtless some influence in preventing him from being tortured. He +enjoyed so much of Divine presence from his entrance into prison, till +his execution, that to his mother he said, "he could hardly pray, being +so much taken up with praise, and ravished with the joy of the Lord." +When before the Justiciary, on the 14th February, he confessed to all in +the indictment, save the first article, charging him with having "cast +off all fear of God." He said, "It is because I feared to offend God, +and to violate His law, that I am here to-day, standing to be +condemned." When asked about disowning the king's authority, he answered +like a true Protestant and a heroic patriot--"I own all authority that +hath its prescriptives and limitations from the word of God; but I +cannot own this usurper as lawful king--seeing both by the word of God, +such a one is incapable to bear rule, and likewise by the ancient laws +of the kingdom, which admit none to the crown of Scotland until he swear +to defend the Protestant religion, which a man of his profession cannot +do." + +At the close of his examination, when asked if he would subscribe his +Testimony, he did so, with protestation that he subscribed it as his +testimony, but not as recognizing the authority of his judges. When +condemned to be executed in the Grassmarket, on the Friday following, he +was asked by the Justice General if he desired a longer time, he +declared, "It was all one to him; if the time was protracted, it was +welcome; if it was shortened, it was welcome too;--his Master's time was +the best." Without his knowledge he was reprieved for ten days, till the +17th of February, as the persecutors were to some degree sated with +blood, and perhaps somewhat troubled in conscience by the demeanor of +the youthful confessor. After his condemnation was pronounced, many +attempts were made to shake his constancy. Several petitions were +written for him, but he refused resolutely to sign any of them. It was +at one time proposed to him, that his dropping a few drops of ink on +paper would be sufficient: this however, he promptly refused, alleging +that it would be so far an owning of wicked authority, and a +renunciation of his whole testimony. + +His friends were denied access to him in prison; paper and ink were +removed from him, and also part of his dying testimony which he had +written. Others--persons in authority--prelates, curates, and popish +priests visited him. His Christian firmness resisted all their attempts +to make him swerve from his principles; while several of them were +struck and overawed by the power of his singular wisdom, gentleness, and +unaffected goodness. Viscount Tarbet, a man of intellect, but noted for +his lax accommodating principles, said of Renwick, after several times +visiting him, "He was the stiffest maintainer of his principles that +ever came before us. Others we used always to cause at one time or other +to waver; but him we could never move. We could never make him yield nor +vary in the least. He was of old Knox's principles." + +The testimony of Renwick contained in the "CLOUD OF WITNESSES," was +written the night before he suffered, and in near anticipation of his +martyrdom. His mother and sisters were allowed to be with him for a +short time, on the morning of the day of his execution: In giving thanks +at food in their presence, he said--"Lord! Thou hast brought me within +two hours of eternity, and this is no matter of terror to me, more than +if I rose to go to lie down on a bed of roses. Nay, through grace, to +thy praise, I may say, I had never the fear of death since I came within +this prison; but from the place I was taken in, I could have gone very +composedly to the scaffold." Again, he said, "Let us be glad and +rejoice, for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made +herself ready. Could I ever have thought that the fear of suffering and +death could be so taken from me? What shall I say of it? It is the doing +of the Lord and marvellous in our eyes." He asked, "I have many times +counted the cost of following Christ, but never expected it would have +been so easy. Now, who knows the honour and happiness of that--'He that +confesseth me before men, him will I confess before my Father!' Several +times, he said, _"Now that I am so near the end of time, I desire to +bless the Lord: it is inexpressibly sweet and satisfying peace to me, +that He has kept me in the least from complying with enemies."_ On the +morning of his execution, he wrote his last letter to his most attached +friend, Sir Robert Hamilton, who was then an exile in Holland, for the +sacred cause for which Renwick suffered. Every part of this brief +epistle is calm and thoughtful, and bespeaks the joyful serenity of the +martyr's spirit. "This," he writes, "being my last day on earth, I +thought it my duty to send you this, my last salutation. The Lord has +been wonderfully gracious to me since I came to prison. He has assured +me of His salvation, helped me to give a testimony for Him, and to say +before his enemies all that I have taught, and strengthened me to resist +and repel many temptations and assaults." He closes, with these simple, +solemn, and affecting words--"But I must break off, I go to your God and +my God. _Death is to me as a bed to the weary._" + +When the drums beat for his execution, he exclaimed, "Yonder is my +welcome call to the marriage. The Bridegroom is coming. I am ready." On +the scaffold, he sung the first part of the 3d Psalm, read the 19th +chapter of Revelations, and prayed. When he was rudely interrupted, he +said, "I shall soon be above these clouds. Then shall I enjoy Thee and +glorify Thee, O my Father, without intermission and interruption for +ever." In the few sentences that he was permitted to speak to the +spectators from the scaffold, after commending the Lord's special mercy +to him, in washing away his sins, and honouring him to suffer for His +name's sake, he declared he laid down his life mainly for three things: +1. For disavowing the usurpation and tyranny of James, Duke of York. 2. +Preaching that it is unlawful to pay cess, expressly exacted for bearing +down the gospel, and 3. Teaching that it is lawful for people to carry +arms for defending themselves in their meetings for persecuted gospel +ordinances." At the close, he said, "I leave my testimony against +Popery, Prelacy, and Erastianism, and against all profanity, and every +thing contrary to sound doctrine, and the power of godliness; +particularly against all usurpations and encroachments made upon +Christ's rights, who alone must bear the glory of ruling His own +kingdom, the Church; and in particular, against this absolute power, +usurped by this usurper, that belongs to no mortal; but is the +incommunicable property of Jehovah; and against this toleration flowing +from this absolute power." Here he was compelled to leave off speaking, +and to go up the ladder. He then prayed again, and said, "Lord! I die in +the faith that Thou wilt not leave Scotland, but that Thou will make the +blood of thy witnesses to be the seed of the Church, and will return +again and be glorious in our land. And now, Lord, I am ready; the Bride, +the Lamb's wife, hath made herself ready." When the napkin was tied +about his face, he uttered a few affectionate words to the single friend +who was permitted to attend him on the scaffold; his last counsels then +spoken to the suffering remnant, show how much his heart was with them, +and the cause of truth in their hands. "As to the remnant I leave, I +have committed them to God. Tell them from me, not to weary, nor be +discouraged in maintaining their testimony. Let them not quit or forego +one of these despised truths. Let them keep their ground; and the Lord +will provide them churches and ministers. And _when He comes, He will +make these despised truths glorious in the earth._" + +In the close of his testimony, written in prison, the day before his +execution, there are those sublime and affecting expressions, which were +designed to be his last words from the scaffold--"Farewell, beloved +sufferers, and followers of the Lamb. Farewell, Christian and +comfortable mother and sisters. Farewell, sweet societies and desirable +general meetings. Farewell! night wanderings in all seasons for Christ, +and all sublunary things. Farewell! conflicts with a body of sin and +death. Welcome, scaffold, for precious Christ. Welcome, heavenly +Jerusalem. Welcome, innumerable company of angels. Welcome, crown of +glory. Welcome, above all, O Thou blessed Trinity and one God. O Eternal +One, I commit my soul into thy eternal rest." + +The relentless persecutors of our Presbyterian forefathers were not +content with removing this eminent servant of God, by a violent death; +as if to throw upon him the utmost indignity, his body was buried in the +common grave of felons, at the lower entrance of the Greyfriars +Church-yard, a plain slab of stone erected over the spot, stating that +the dust of the Rev. James Renwick lies interred with that of eight +other martyrs, and with the remains of a hundred common felons. The +emblem and inscription on the stone point, however, to the glory +reserved for faithful servants of Christ, when the sufferings of the +Church shall have been completed, and antichristian power shall have +been overthrown. The emblem is an open Bible, with the words in +Revelation vi. 9, 10, 11, inserted underneath. + +Though enemies thus did their utmost to pour dishonour on the name and +memory of Renwick, and to extinguish the cause for which he suffered, +yet the Redeemer whom he intensely loved, and faithfully served, has in +his providence, vindicated the one, as He has preserved, and will yet +more extensively and gloriously display the other. Not only have eminent +historians and other distinguished writers, in recent times, done +justice to the character and labours of Renwick, and the contendings of +the Society people; but within the last few years, by several public +Commemorative services in Scotland, the spirit and testimony of the +later Scottish martyrs, have been held forth as worthy of the grateful +regard of posterity, and commended to their imitation and adoption. The +Bicentenary of the SANQUHAR DECLARATION was commemorated with +appropriate services,--upwards of 4000 persons of different religious +denominations convening at the ancient burgh of Sanquhar for this +purpose. The addresses delivered on the occasion by ministers and +others, ably displayed and vindicated the position assumed by Richard +Cameron, and his followers, and commended to public approval their +testimony. Some three years ago, a like public commemoration of +Renwick's birth and martyrdom was celebrated, at the place of his +nativity near MONIAIVE, in the south of Scotland,--ministers and people +of the Free, United, and Reformed Presbyterian Churches manifesting the +deepest interest in the proceedings. Besides the ministers and large +concourse of people--many of them gathered from great distances, that +met in the open air, near the place of Renwick's birth,--numerous +congregations assembled in different houses of worship, observed the +solemn occasion with solemn devotional exercises. The addresses +delivered were a suitable tribute to the spirit and conduct of the +covenanted martyrs; and various articles of their special testimony were +clearly displayed and ably vindicated. An admirable sermon was preached +at this commemoration by Rev. WILLIAM ANDERSON of Loanhead, which has +since been published under the title of "_the Voice of Renwick_," and +extensively circulated. It contains a condensed, yet lucid sketch of the +life, labours and sufferings of Renwick, a faithful portraiture of his +character, and an able exposition and defence of the great principles of +the testimony of the Scottish martyrs. There has been published in +modern times no juster or more appropriate tribute to the character, +principles, and heroic deeds of these faithful confessors, than is +contained in this discourse. On this account, as well as for the weighty +practical lessons which it enforces, it is of no local or ephemeral +interest, but deserves to be transmitted along with the testimonies of +the Presbyterian martyrs to future generations. These movements indicate +the gracious design of Zion's King to put lasting and increasing honour +upon those who cheerfully suffered the loss of all things in maintaining +his cause, and of yet reviving the principles for which they nobly +contended. Though the day may be distant when these nations shall +voluntarily and generally return to allegiance to Prince Messiah, yet, +as the dimness of the hour is the sure precursor of the perfect day, and +the cloud like a man's hand betokened "abundance of rain," so these +grateful reminiscences of the covenanted martyrs and their distinctive +testimony, point to a day of deliverance and brightness approaching, +when Antichristian error and idolatry shall be overthrown, and the reign +of righteousness and truth shall be universally established. + + +CONCLUSION. + +The record of the life, labours, and testimony, of James Renwick is +fraught with _practical lessons_ of the highest value to the Church in +the present day; and ministers, theological students, and the rising +youth of the Church generally have a special interest in pondering them +deeply, and in seeking to reduce them to practice. + +From Renwick's personal history, we see--1. An instance of the Divine +blessing on parental dedication, and early religious instruction, +confirming the truth of the Divine promise, and exhibiting the +unspeakable benefit of the faithful labours of godly parents, especially +of mothers, to the Church. 2. It is impressively shown too, that a +person's work and influence for good, is not dependent on birth or +station in life, or on outward advantages. Many of the most eminent +servants of Christ, like Luther and Renwick, sprung from the humbler +ranks of society, and before they came forward to public usefulness, had +to contend with great difficulties. Grace ennobled them. God often +chooses "the weak things" of the world to "confound the mighty." His +servants are raised from the dunghill to sit among princes. In heaven's +heraldry, a man's rank is taken, not from hereditary titles, or +possessions, but from grace renewing and sanctifying the heart, and a +life of true devotedness to Christ and his service. 3. We are taught to +lay no stress on present prosperity, but to do God's work, looking for +the recompense of reward which He gives. A noble forgetfulness of self, +and mortification to the favour of the world, have characterized all +Christ's most approved servants. Dr. Payson relates about himself, what +has been experienced by many faithful men, "When I thought myself to be +_something_, I never knew happiness of mind; since I came to feel myself +nothing, and Christ all, I have realized full satisfaction and joy." +Renwick reviled, calumniated, and persecuted in his day, while esteeming +all but loss for Christ, enjoyed in life and death, peace surpassing +understanding--his name will be ever fragrant, and his memorial +everlasting. + +4. Again, Renwick's life presents a bright and attractive _example of +the graces of fervent piety_. There shines forth in his character, in +harmonious display and concentrated lustre, an array of lovely and +ennobling features. To faith, he added virtue, and knowledge, patience, +temperance, godliness, &c. (2 Pet. i. 5-7.) His Christian _wisdom_ is +singularly conspicuous. Renwick was blamed in his own day by +time-servers and backsliders as imprudent; and those who maintain the +same testimony even in our times, are characterized as foolish, +imprudent, and infatuated. Certainly, if wisdom consists only in +securing present temporal gain--fleeting pleasure and the applause of +the world, then Renwick and his followers have no claim to be considered +wise. But if the "beginning" and spirit of true wisdom are the "fear of +the Lord;" and if it is shown in preferring the advancement of God's +glory and the enjoyment of His favour to all else, and in seeking the +attainment of those ends by means divinely appointed, and approved, then +the persecuted remnant were eminently wise. By opposing Popery, Prelacy, +Erastianism, and arbitrary power, and pleading resolutely for the +covenant liberties of the Church and nation, they proposed to themselves +holy ends. Their faithful contendings; their stern denunciations of +royal perfidy and tyranny; their organization of societies, and a +general correspondence; their proclaiming open opposition to usurped +authority; and, above all, their willing sacrifice of life rather than +abandon right principles, evince true wisdom. These were the best means +that could possibly have been adopted to expose the countless evils of +the government of the royal brothers; and to rouse the dormant spirit of +the nation, to hurl tyrants and oppressors from the throne, and to +establish constitutional liberty. Then, the _fidelity_ of Renwick and +the Cameronians were seen in maintaining fully their testimony to the +whole covenanted reformation, amidst manifold perils, when the large +body of Presbyterians had made defection. The standard which they firmly +grasped and refused to surrender had its glorious motto, "FOR CHRIST'S +CROWN AND COVENANT." The central doctrine of the Redeemer's Headship +over the Church and the nations, occupied a first place in all the +testimonies emitted in their general meetings, and uttered on scaffolds +and fields of blood. Connected with this, as necessary corollaries, were +the supremacy of Holy Scripture--the spiritual independence of the +Church, and the subjection of rulers and national legislation to the +sceptre of the reigning Mediator. On these grounds, they not only +rejected infamous rulers, but condemned and rejected with utter +abhorrence the royal supremacy. The sentiment expressed in the words +subscribed to the minutes of their general meetings--"LET KING JESUS +REIGN,[5] declare the leal allegiance of Renwick and the persecuted +Covenanters to Prince Messiah. Earnestly did they seek to have the +authority of King Jesus universally acknowledged, honoured, and obeyed. +They believed firmly the sure word of prophecy that "all kings shall +fall down before Him; and all nations shall serve Him." "He shall have +dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the +earth." Psal. lxxii. 11, 8. So should we also aim to be faithful to +Christ and His cause; to our own sacred vows; to the souls of men; and +to the blood-bought privileges that have been entrusted to us to +preserve and transmit. We are responsible, not for success, but for +fidelity; and the promised reward will be a glorious recompense for all +trial and suffering. "Be thou faithful unto the death, and I will give +thee a crown of life." + +Renwick was, furthermore, distinguished by a _catholic, genial, loving +spirit_. This characteristic is not generally thought to have been +prominent in the spirit of illustrious reformers and suffering +confessors. Luther, Calvin, and Knox, have been represented as unsocial, +morose fanatics, and gloomy bigots. Renwick has been branded as rigid +and austere, and those who have embraced and faithfully maintained the +same testimony have been exhibited as sectaries of the deepest dye. No +representation could be more unjust, and none is more opposed to +historic truth. Luther was most genial and loving, as his "Table Talk," +and the record of his domestic life, abundantly testify. Calvin's +"Letters" collected by Bonnet, show how keenly and long he felt the +death of his wife and infant child; how deeply his heart was affected +with the sufferings of Protestants everywhere, even of those who +differed from him in principle; and attest, moreover, the warmth and +constancy of his friendship. Knox's declaration before Queen Mary, that +he was always affected by the crying of his infant children, shows his +gentle and susceptible disposition; while his letters to his wife and +mother-in-law bear witness, equally to his piety, and to the depth of +tender feeling that filled his large heart. Renwick was, at all times, a +loving, thoughtful, and confiding friend, as many passages in his +"Letters" declare. The annals of the persecution, and the traditions of +suffering times, testify to his genial disposition, even when he was +harassed by relentless enemies, and his heart was overwhelmed with +incessant cares and anxieties. + +In proof of the catholic, unsectarian, Christian spirit of Renwick and +his followers, the clear statements of the INFORMATORY VINDICATION, the +work which most fully and clearly defines their position, may be +referred to. After laying down an admirable platform of fellowship and +discipline, the persecuted Covenanters declare in effect, "We are not a +Church at present, and cannot act fully as an organized Church. We are a +broken, persecuted remnant. Our societies are not a Church, but a +temporary means of enjoying proper religious instruction and ordinances +of worship. They are, besides, associations for self-defence, and for +watching and taking advantage of any public movement for overturning the +present despotism, and recovering our liberties, civil and religious. We +require to make the terms of admission strict, to guard against spies, +and those who are contentious or quarrelsome. At the same time they +declare the close and hallowed relations that bound them to all the true +disciples of their common Lord. In a noble spirit of Christian +brotherhood, they virtually proclaim, "On the communion of saints, let +us impose no new restrictions. Though others differ from us in the word +of their special testimony, let us embrace and love them, and +acknowledge fellowship with them as Christian brethren."[6] In these +noble utterances, we have strikingly exemplified the true spirit of +Christian brotherhood and Catholic communion. This is the genuine import +of the vow of the Solemn League and Covenant, which binds Covenanters to +regard whatever is done to the least of them, as done to all and to +every one in particular. While firmly holding fast all Scriptural +attainments, and contending "earnestly for the faith once delivered to +the saints," we should cordially rejoice in the evidences of grace in +Christ's servants wherever we find them. We should love them as +brethren, fulfil the law of Christ by bearing their burdens, wish them +God speed in all that they are doing for the advancement of His glory, +and fervently labour and pray for the coming of the happy period when +divisions and animosities shall cease, and when there shall be one King, +and His name one in all the earth. + +5. The testimony of Renwick and his associates is of permanent value and +of special importance in our day, as it was directed against _systems of +error and idolatry_, which serve to corrupt the Church and enslave the +State. Against Popery in every form Renwick was a heroic and +uncompromising witness. At the peril of life, he publicly testified +against the usurpation of the papist James, and rejected him as having +no claim to be regarded as a constitutional sovereign, and as utterly +disqualified to reign in a Protestant reformed land. This was the main +ground of his objection against James's toleration, for which the +Indulged ministers tendered obsequious thanks to the usurper. Yet this +edict of toleration was issued for the purpose of opening the way for +the practice of Rome's abominations, and for the advancement of papists +to places of power and trust in the nation. None of the Cameronians +would, for any earthly consideration, even to save their lives, for a +moment admit that a papist had any right to exercise political power in +a reformed land. Our martyred forefathers we regard as worthy of high +respect and imitation, for their deeply cherished dread of the growing +influence of Popery, and for their determined resistance to its +exclusive and extravagant claims. The system of Popery is the abnegation +of all precious gospel truth; and is a complete politico-religious +confederacy against the best interests of a Protestant nation. The boast +of its abettors is that it is _semper eadem_--ever the same. Rome cannot +reform herself from within, and she is incapable of reformation from +external influences and agencies. The Bible never speaks of Antichrist +as to be reformed, but as waxing worse and worse till the time when he +shall be completely subverted and irrecoverably destroyed. Whatever +changes may be going on in some Popish countries, whereby the power of +the Papacy is weakened, it is evident that the principles and spirit of +the Romish priesthood, and of those who are under their influence, +remain unchanged. The errors of the Antichristian system, instead of +being diminished, have of late years increased. Creature worship has +become more marked and general. The Immaculate Conception has been +proclaimed by Papal authority as the creed of Romanism. In these +countries, and some other Protestant lands, the influence of Popery in +government and education, and so on the whole social system, has been +greatly on the increase. Among those who have most deeply studied +inspired prophecy, there is a general expectation that the period of +Babylon's downfal is hastening on, and is not far distant. There is a +general presentiment too, that the Man of Sin, prior to his downfal, +will make some dire and violent attempt through his infatuated followers +against the truth, and against such as faithfully maintain it. The +"_Slaying of the Witnesses_,"--which we are disposed to regard as yet +future--may take place, not so much by the actual shedding of blood, +though it is plain that Jesuit policy and violence will not hesitate to +re-enact former persecution and massacre, to accomplish a desired +purpose. It may mainly be effected, as Scott, the expositor, suggests, +by silencing the voice of a public testimony in behalf of fundamental +truths throughout Christendom; and of this there are at present +unmistakeable signs not a few, throughout the churches in various +countries. + +The Protestant church in all its sections should be thoroughly awake to +its danger from the destructive errors, idolatry and power of its +ancient irreconcilable enemy; and should, by all legitimate means, +labour to counteract and nullify its political influence. The ministry +and the rising youth of the church should study carefully the Popish +controversy, and should be intimately acquainted with the history of the +rise and progress of the Papacy--its assumed blasphemous power--its +accumulated errors and delusions, and its plots, varied persecutions and +cruel butcheries of Christ's faithful witnesses. Above all, they should +set themselves earnestly, prayerfully and perseveringly to diffuse the +Bible and Gospel light in the dark parts of their native country, and +among Romanists in other lands. By embracing fully and holding fast, in +their practical application, the principles of the British Covenants, +and by imbibing the spirit of covenanted martyrs--men like Renwick and +the Cameronians, we will be prepared for the last conflict with +Antichrist. The firm and faithful maintenance of a martyr-testimony will +be a principal instrument of the victory of truth over the error and +idolatry of Rome. "They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by +the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the +death," (Rev. xii. 11.) + +Finally--the testimony of Renwick is valuable, as throwing light on +_great evils connected with systems of civil government_, and _with +Protestant churches_, and as pointing out clearly the duty of faithful +witnesses in relation to them. Two great principles--the one +_doctrinal_, and the other _practical_, were essential to it, or rather +constituted its whole speciality. These were--first--that, according to +the national vows, and the reformation attainments, the whole civil +polity of the nation should be conformed to the Scriptures,--and +secondly, the positive duty of distinct separation from whatever systems +in the state or the church that are opposed to entire allegiance to +Messiah, the Prince. The civil constitution and the national legislation +and administration, as well as the lives of rulers, were required to be +in subjection to His authority, and in accordance with the prescriptions +of His word. When such subjection is withheld, Christ's servants, if +they would be faithful to the exalted Saviour, cannot do otherwise than +refuse to incorporate with the national society, and to homologate the +acts of its rulers; and from Churches that do not testify against +national defection, they are constrained to maintain distinct +separation. The past history of the Church bears clear testimony that +truth has been frequently preserved, when it was in danger of being +lost, by open separation from those who were bent on declension and +apostacy. + +In our day, it should not be regarded as enough to profess in theory the +doctrine of Christ's Headship, or merely to speak in commendation of a +martyr-testimony. We should aim, as Renwick and his followers, at +whatever inconvenience and hardship, to give it _practical effect_. The +reason why these honoured confessors disowned the authority of Charles +and his brother, was, not solely or chiefly, because of their tyranny or +persecuting measures, but principally because the authority assumed was +opposed to the exclusive royal prerogatives of the Redeemer. The public +evils against which Renwick and the later martyrs testified to the +death, did not cease at the Revolution; nor can we admit that the +Revolution Settlement embodied all the principles for which the +Covenanted martyrs contended, and suffered, and died. On the contrary, +there are essential and inherent evils in the Revolution Settlement, +both civil and ecclesiastical, which exist to this day, and which render +a decided testimony against it dutiful now, as it was at the period of +the Revolution. The Act Rescissory, which was passed at the Restoration, +is still retained in the Statute Book: the National Covenants were +abandoned, both by the Church and the nation, and neither has returned +to a sense of their obligation. The Scriptural attainments of the +Reformation were left under a gravestone. Presbyterianism was +established in Scotland--not because it was Scriptural or right in +itself, but because it was agreeable to the wishes of the majority of +the nation, and it was set up on an Erastian basis. By the introduction +of the curates into the ministry of the Scottish establishment, at the +king's behest, without any public confession or renunciation of +Prelacy--the germ of Moderatism was laid, which, in due time, budded and +brought forth bitter fruits, in numerous corruptions and oppressions, +and in multiplied divisions and separations. + +Prelacy, abjured in the Solemn League of the three kingdoms, was, at the +Revolution, established in England and Ireland, and the supremacy of the +monarch as head of the National Church, and in "all causes, civil and +ecclesiastical," was declared to be an inherent prerogative of the +crown. These evils yet exist in the civil and ecclesiastical +establishments of these countries; and others have in recent years been +added, such as the admission of papists to places of power and trust +throughout the nation, the national endowment of popish institutions, +and the public favour shown by rulers to the Antichristian system. The +national policy in these instances and others that might be mentioned, +is wholly inconsistent with the doctrine of the Redeemer's Headship in +its legitimate application, and is the source of many of the evils that +in our day corrupt and degrade the Church of England, and that prevent +the developement and prevalence of genuine Protestantism throughout the +nation. The Presbyterian Churches that claim descent from the +covenanting reformers and martyrs, should seriously consider whether +they do not compromise a faithful testimony, and encourage national +apostacy, by incorporating with a civil system that refuses homage to +the reigning Mediator, and obedience to the authoritative prescriptions +of His word. + +The rising youth of the Church should carefully study in its legitimate +application, and vitally important consequences, the grand article of +Renwick's testimony,--the Redeemer's Headship over the Church and the +nations, and the cognate principles of the supremacy of the word, the +spiritual independence of the Church, and the claim of the subjection of +the nation and its rulers to the authority of the reigning Mediator. +Whether viewed in the light of the past or of the present state of the +nations, as of America, and the kingdoms of the antichristian earth; or +of prophecy yet unfulfilled, a testimony for these truths is of grand +and overwhelming importance. This is emphatically, the _present +truth_--the cause of God and truth, now to be pleaded in the earth. It +is "the word of Christ's patience," which we are required to hold fast. +It is at our peril If we be found neutral here; our preservation from +the coming "hour of temptation," is alone to be expected in fidelity to +the great trust committed to us. We are assured in the faithful word of +prophecy, that the Redeemer will ere long take to Him his power to +reign. The "Little Stone" shall bruise and break in pieces the feet and +toes of the "great Image,"--the representative of the world-powers,--and +become a "great mountain," and fill the earth. Then shall the cause for +which Christ's witnesses testified in sackcloth, and for which chosen +martyrs died, gloriously triumph. "The kingdoms of this world shall +become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ." + +The peaceful, triumphant death of Renwick, shows impressively that there +is a reward to the righteous; that a life of self-denial and devoted +piety appears at the close, enstamped with heaven's approval; and that +labours and sufferings for Christ's sake conduct to the joy of completed +victory, and to perfect communion with the Redeemer, and the redeemed in +glory. "Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright; for the end of +that man is peace." (Ps. xxxvii. 37.) "After this, I beheld, and lo, a +great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and +kingdoms, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before +the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands. And cried +with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God, which sitteth upon the +throne, and unto the Lamb." (Rev. vii. 9, 10.) + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 1: Hist of Ch. of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 64] + +[Footnote 2: Calvin and Geneva, vol. I., II.] + +[Footnote 3: See Appendix,--Note A.] + +[Footnote 4: Dodds' "Fifty Years' Struggle," p. 275.] + +[Footnote 5: See "Faithful Contendings."] + +[Footnote 6: Dodds' "Fifty Years' Struggle," p. 275.] + + + +APPENDIX. + + +It has been common in some quarters of late, to speak of Renwick and his +associates in testimony-bearing and suffering, as only contending +against the unconstitutional and persecuting measures of the government +of the Royal brothers,--and to declare that, had they lived to witness +the change of government which took place at the Revolution, they would +have joyfully hailed it as the realization of their eager +aspirations,--and would have incorporated readily with the national +society. Thus, Dodds in his "_Fifty Years' Struggle of the Scottish +Covenanters_,"--while acknowledging the important services rendered to +the cause of the Prince of Orange, by the bold and resolute position +taken by the Cameronians, represents Renwick, as not only "the last +martyr of the Covenanting struggle," but also as "the _Proto-martyr of +the Revolution_." He adds, "Like the shepherd overwhelmed in the +snow-storm, he perished within sight of the door. The door of +deliverance was speedily opened, on the arrival of William, in November, +1688." And, again, speaking of Cameron, Renwick, and the stricter +Covenanters, he says, "So far, the REVOLUTION SETTLEMENT--in the main +adopting what was universal, and rejecting what was exclusive, or +over-grasping in their views,--was the consummation and triumph, civilly +and politically, and to a large extent, ecclesiastically, of the FIFTY +YEARS' STRUGGLE OF THE SCOTTISH COVENANTERS." These statements, though +plausible, and such as seem likely to be readily embraced by those who +have no relish for a full Covenanted testimony--or who desire to +maintain fellowship with corrupt civil and ecclesiastical systems, are +liable to one fundamental and unanswerable objection,--they are wholly +unsupported by historical evidence. All pains were taken by Cameron and +Renwick, in preaching and in their dying testimonies, and by the United +Societies in their published declarations, to show that they testified +not merely against the usurpation and blasphemous supremacy of the last +of the Stuarts,--but likewise, principally, against all invasion of the +Redeemer's royal prerogatives,--and all departure from the scriptural +attainments of the former happy Reformation. In nothing were they more +decided than in testifying to the death, that the National Covenants +were the oath of God, perpetually binding on all classes in the +realm,--"the marriage tie," which no power on earth could dissolve--that +all departure from the principles of these federal deeds was sinful, and +involved the land in the guilt of national apostacy and perjury,--and +that the authority of the Scripture was supreme in constituting the +national society, in enacting and administering the laws, and in +regulating the lives and official acts of the rulers. + +The Revolution Settlement, in both its civil and ecclesiastical +departments, instead of being the exemplification and carrying forward +of the work of the Second Reformation,--for the maintenance of which the +Scottish martyrs shed their blood,--was a deliberate abandonment of it, +and was established in open opposition to its grand and distinguishing +principles. The faithful companions and followers of Renwick refused to +incorporate with this Settlement, on the ground of adhering firmly to +the scriptural vows of the nation, and the testimonies of illustrious +martyrs. While giving the best proof of their genuine patriotism, they +withheld allegiance from the government of William, and they took the +name and position of "Old Dissenters," for reasons which they clearly +stated, which those who opposed and misrepresented them, were unable to +answer, and the greater part of which are as applicable to the present +British government, and existing ecclesiastical systems, as they were to +the Settlement of the Revolution. Several of the political changes which +have taken place in recent times, have supplied strong additional +grounds for faithful Covenanters maintaining the position of public +protest against, and active dissent from the establishments, civil and +ecclesiastical, of the nation. The reasons of separation from the +Revolution Church and State, as given by the "Society People," are +presented in a lucid and convincing manner, in the work entitled--"Plain +Reasons for Presbyterians dissenting from the Revolution Church in +Scotland, as also their Principles concerning Civil Government, and the +difference betwixt the Reformation and Revolution Principles." They are +likewise exhibited in a condensed form in the "Short Account of Old +Dissenters," emitted with the sanction of the Reformed Presbytery, and +in very luminous terms in the Historical part of the "Testimony of the +Reformed Presbyterian Church." + +No person who peruses these works, and ponders their carefully prepared +statements, can with candour and honesty affirm that Renwick and his +fellow-sufferers would have willingly incorporated with the Revolution +Settlement; or that fellowship with the present British political +system, by taking oaths of allegiance and office, and setting up rulers, +is consistent with their declared and dearly prized principles. Let the +"Plain Reasons" to which we have referred, be duly weighed--and it must +be perfectly apparent, that Mr. Dodds's oracular statement--that the +"REVOLUTION SETTLEMENT" was the consummation and triumph, civilly, and +politically, and to a large extent ecclesiastically, of the "Fifty +years' Struggle of the Scottish Covenanters," is completely destitute of +any solid foundation. These _reasons_ are such as the following--The +Scottish reformation in its purest form was deliberately abandoned in +the Revolution Settlement--Both the Church and State concurred in +leaving unrepealed on the Statute-book, the infamous Act Rescissory, by +which the National Covenants were declared to be unlawful oaths, and all +laws and constitutions, ecclesiastical or civil, were annulled, which +approved and gave effect to them. The Revolution Church was, in every +respect, an entirely different establishment from that of the Second +Reformation. Its creed was dictated by Erastian authority--its +government established on the ground of popular consent and not of +Divine right--its order and discipline were placed in subjection to +Erastian civil rulers--and the Scriptural liberties of the ministry and +membership interfered with; and corruption in doctrine, and ordinances +of worship, without the power of removing it, extensively spread +throughout the ecclesiastical body. How sadly different a structure did +this appear to the eyes of faithful men, who lamented that the carved +work of a Covenanted Sanctuary had been broken down, and the "beautiful +House where their fathers worshipped, was laid waste!" Nor could the +civil and political part of the Revolution Settlement have any +pretensions to be a proper carrying out of the civil system of the +Reformation era. In this the federal deeds of the nation were the +compact between rulers and ruled, and were an essential part of the oath +of the Sovereign on admission to supreme power. Civil rulers were +required to be possessed of scriptural and covenant qualifications--and +were taken bound to make a chief end of their government the promotion +of the divine glory in the advancement of the true reformed religion, +and the protection and prosperity of the Reformed Presbyterian Church. +They were likewise solemnly engaged to employ their official influence +and authority to put away systems that had been abjured in the National +vows,--Popery, Prelacy and Erastianism, and to discourage all +profaneness and ungodliness. At the Revolution, all these engagements +were deliberately set aside. The sovereign's coronation oath, and the +oath of allegiance of subjects, bind both equally to the support of +Prelacy--which is declared to be established unchangeably in England and +Ireland. The whole civil system is based on expediency and the popular +will, and not on Scriptural principles. The authority claimed and +exercised by the monarch over the Presbyterian Establishment in +Scotland, and the National Church in England and Ireland, is grossly +Erastian. The introduction of Popery into the bosom of the State--the +admission of Papists to offices of power and trust in the nation, and +the endowment of Popish Seminaries and chaplains--which the Revolution +Settlement barred--but which the Antichristian and infidel policy of +recent times has enacted, show still more clearly that the civil and +political system established in these countries is diametrically opposed +to that which was set up at the era of the Reformation, and was +contended for by the Scottish martyrs--and impose on all who would +honestly promote the ends of the National Covenants, the obligation to +maintain distinct separation from it. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Life of James Renwick, by Thomas Houston + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13781 *** |
