[BBC List] scotland

[Mike Abendroth]

ON A MONUMENT AT MONIAIVE


In memory of the late Reverend James Renwick, the last who suffered to death
for attachment to the Covenanted Cause of Christ in Scotland - born near
this spot, 15th February 1662, and executed at the Grassmarket, Edinburgh,
17th February 1688.

  _____  


JAMES RENWICK


JAMES RENWICK was born February 15, 1662, at Moniaive, in the parish of
Glencairn, Dumfriesshire. His father, Andrew Renwick, was a weaver, and in
profession and practice a fervent and faithful Christian, which was enough,
says Alexander Shields in his Life of Renwick, to nobilitate the birth of
his worthy son, who had what honor was wanting in his first birth made up in
the second. He died as he lived, in the Lord, February 1st, 1676, the same
day twelve years after that his son was taken to die for the Lord [age 26].

His mother, Elizabeth Corsan, was of like piety with her husband. She had
several children, but all died previous to the birth of James. Their loss
filled her with grief. Her husband tried to comfort her by declaring that he
was well satisfied if his children, die when they might, were heirs of
glory. Her prayer, however, was Hannah like, for a child from the Lord that
might not only be an heir of glory, but live to serve Him on earth. When
James was born, she received him as an answer to prayer, and felt herself
bound to dedicate him to the Lord. It soon appeared that the dedication was
accepted. As he learned to speak he learned to pray. His mother lovingly
tells, that, by the time he was but two years of age, he was discerned to be
aiming at prayer even in the cradle and about it. Along with the work of
grace on his soul, his natural faculties came to early ripeness. He could
read the Bible in his sixth year, a wonderful attainment in that century,
when learning was not made easy as it is now; and' ' "his inclination was
constant for his book."

With some difficulty his parents kept him at the parish school, for they
were poor, until means were found, through the assistance of friends who
admired the good parts of the boy, of sending him to Edinburgh. Here he
remained until ready for the University, which he attended until he passed
through the classes necessary for a degree. The piety of his childhood was
not cast aside by him when a student at college. He resisted the temptations
that abound in a city, and at the close of his curriculum such was his
tenderness of conscience, that he would not take the oath of allegiance
required before the degree of Master of Arts could be conferred.

But shortly afterwards, by some means not mentioned by his first biographer,
he, along with other two students, obtained the degree privately, without
taking the oath of allegiance.

After taking his degree he remained in the capital for some time,
prosecuting his studies in theology, and associating with the indulged
ministers, or with those who, unable to comply with the Erastian demands of
the government, lived in retirement in Edinburgh or in its neighborhood.
Their silence respecting the sins of the time, and the spectacle of the
frequent martyrdoms that took place, set him a thinking, and led him to
inquire after ministers who had not in any form consented to the supremacy
exercised by the crown over the church. These he could not find, while he at
the same time came to the conclusion that he could no longer attend the
ministrations of the indulged. The execution of Donald Cargill, at which he
was present, so moved him that he determined to adopt the martyrs'
testimony, and to cast in his lot with the persecuted. He entered heartily
into the plan formed in the close of 1681, by those who sympathized with the
cause for which the martyrs suffered, of establishing societies throughout
the country, to meet at regular intervals for prayer and conference.

He was present at the publication of the Declaration at Lanark, January 12,
1682, although he had no share in drawing it up, otherwise he would have
softened some of its expressions. In the same year, the Societies sent
Alexander Gordon of Earlstoun to the United Provinces, in order to vindicate
themselves from the slanders that had been circulated, to their discredit,
among the foreign churches. One result of this mission was, that steps were
taken to send young men abroad to study for the Christian ministry. In the
"Faithful Contendings," in the account of the fifth General Meeting of the
Societies, held at Edinburgh, October 11, 1682, is recorded what was done to
send out Renwick and three companions. Twenty-five pounds Scots were voted
to each to defray the expenses of the voyage, as well as what was needful to
provide them in clothes and other necessaries. Renwick sailed in December,
and went to Groningen, where John a Marck, the author of the "Medulla
Theologia" -a favorite text book with Dr. Chalmers - was at that time
Professor of Divinity and Church History. Here he made such progress in his
studies, that, at the recommendation of Marck himself, he was ordained by
the Classis of Groningen, 10th May 1683. He left Holland early in the
following August, and, after a long and stormy passage, in which the vessel
had to put into Rye, in Sussex, where he narrowly escaped apprehension, he
reached Dublin. Here, after a short stay, he found friends who procured him
a passage to Scotland. But his difficulties were not at an end, for all the
harbors were then strictly watched, and the captain at first would not land
him but at a regular port. At last he was prevailed to put him ashore,
tradition says, somewhere below Gourock.

It was September when he arrived, but he refrained from preaching until the
tenth General Meeting - October 3, 1683 - at Darmead, in Cambusnethan
parish, where he gave an account of his studies; and handed in his testimony
to the truths of God, and to His cause; a document drawn up by him before he
left Groningen, and containing some expressions which he afterwards
regretted, but valuable as showing how well acquainted he was, at that early
age, with the true state of the controversy between the persecuted and the
Government, and how earnestly he had espoused the cause for which the
martyrs suffered. At this meeting they gave him a call to be their minister,
which he accepted, and entered on his ministry by preaching at the same
place, Sabbath, November 23.

William Wilson, in his collection of sermons by Renwick, has given notes of
the discourses he preached that day. After a short preface he lectured on
Isaiah 40:1-8: "Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people, saith your God," etc.;
and preached two sermons on Isaiah 26:20:

"Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about
thee: hide thyself, as it were, for a little moment, until the indignation
be overpast."

The notes of the lecture are meager: they occupy little more than two octavo
pages; but those of the sermons are much fuller: they extend to seventeen
pages, and are evidently a faithful report of what he said. They are
remarkable sermons for one so young in years, and more than justify the
recommendation of Marck, that he should be ordained as speedily as possible.

Those who fancy that the burden of Renwick's preaching was upon matters of
church government, and declamation against the tyranny of the time, will
have their fancies sent to the winds when they read such a statement of the
Gospel message, and such impassioned pleading that men would come to Christ,
as are contained in the following paragraphs, in illustration of the
proposition - "There is both ability and willingness in the Lord to give you
whatsoever your necessity requires."

"There is Ability. What would you have? Salvation and deliverance? then He
is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto Him. Lift up your eyes,
and behold a wonder which you cannot know, and put forth this question, 'Who
is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? - this that
is glorious in His apparel, travelling in the greatness of His strength?'
[Isa 63:1] And His answer will be unto you: 'It is I that speak in
righteousness, mighty to save.' Gainsay it who will, the pleasure of the
Lord shall prosper in His hand. He shall see of the travail of His soul, and
be satisfied.

"And now, methinks, I hear some of you saying, All this is true; we can set
to our seals to it. But is He willing? This is our question.

"Willing He is indeed. He is not more able than He is willing. What are all
His promises, but declarations of His free willingness? What are all His
sweet invitations, but to tell you that He is willing, and ye are welcome.
'Let him that is athirst come, and whosoever will, let him come, and take of
the water of life freely.' [Rev 22:17] Ah! what say you to it? Give us your
seal to His willingness also. Go, say you, why not? you have it. Then come
away, there is no more wanting, save, Come; we know He is willing, and we
set to our seal to His willingness. But is He willing to receive me? Satisfy
me in this, and then I will be right. Ah cheat! ye are taking your word back
again now, and lifting off your seal. If ye except not yourself, He will not
except you. His invitation is unto all: 'Every one, come; he that thirsteth,
come; he that hath no money, come.' [Isa 55:1]

"Now, why will ye be so ill to yourselves, as to debar yourselves? for He
doth not do it. Ye may as well and as rationally say, that ye are not a body
as to say He debars you. His invitation is to every one. Now assent to this;
and then, before you except yourself: out of this invitation, you must first
say you have not a being, neither of soul nor body. We say, for you to think
that He excepts you, it is all one as to deny yourself to be one of the
children of Adam.

"Now, O come, come niggard! what aileth thee? Come, what would ye have that
is not in Christ? Oh! that sweet invitation, Come! we cannot tell you what
is in it. There is a depth in it that all the angels in heaven cannot
fathom. It is no less than Jesus Christ, who was delivered for our offenses,
and was raised again for our justification, [Rom 4:25] spreading forth His
arms and inviting you. He is opening up Himself - His all-sufficiency and
super-transcendent excellency - and calling to all poor, needy things,
'Come, here is enough for you; give in your desires, and you shall have them
satisfied to the full.' What, then, have ye to say to the bargain? Come,
come; it is a rich commodity, and there is no sticking at the price; only
receive and have - the easiest of all terms. There is no more required at
your hands.

"But say ye, ha! sir, ye go without your bounds; the invitation in your text
is to His people only: ye are, then, all wrong. We are not so far wrong as
ye trow [i.e., believe], for the invitation is to His people to enter into
their chambers, and to all who will come and become His people to enter into
their chambers; and so this is a free market. We must invite all to come. Ye
who are enemies, lay down your arms against Him, and come. Ye who are
upholding His enemies, and complying with them in their sinful courses and
abominations, by paying them cess and locality, and by furnishing them meat
and drink (which is more than a bidding them God speed, which the Holy
Ghost, by the mouth of John, forbids), quit the putting of the sword into
God's enemies' hands, and come. Ye who have given bonds to the adversary;
break your covenant with hell and death, and come; break your sworn
allegiance to the devil, and come and swear a new allegiance to Jesus
Christ, and ye shall never rue it. Ye who compear [i.e., appear] before
their courts, and pay them fines, whereby ye both acknowledge them who are
robbers of God, and call your duty your sin, quit these courses, and come.
Ye who go to the curates, leave these perjured, blind guides, and come. Ye
who go to the indulged, leave these traitors to God. Ye who go to the
backslidden, silent ministers, leave these betrayers of the cause, and
deserters of the cross of Christ, and come; leave all these, and follow Him;
He is a true guide, and will be so to you. Ye who any ways seek or take the
enemy's protection, leave it, and come; come to Him, and ye shall find
chambers indeed both for safety and delight. All ye that are strangers to
Him, come; ye that are in nature, come; and ye that know Him, come. We must
preach this word 'Come' unto you so long as ye are here, until ye be
transplanted out of this spiritual warfare into celestial triumph. Oh! sirs,
come, come, ask what ye will, and He shall give it. Oh! come, come!

The reader of these paragraphs will not wonder that Renwick at once became a
favorite preacher among the persecuted Covenanters, and that there were
demands for his services from many quarters. In a few months, in the first
year of his ministry, he is said to have baptized no less than six hundred
children. His fame as a preacher soon came to the ears of the enemies of
liberty then in power, and August 30th, 1684, the form of summoning him
before the Privy Council was gone through at the Cross of Edinburgh and the
Pier of Leith; and, in the following month, letters of intercommuning were
issued against him, in which he is called, after the fashion in which the
Government of the time were wont to speak of the salt of the earth, a
seditious vagabond and pretended preacher, is accused of debauching some of
our unwary subjects into the same wicked, unnatural, and seditious
principles with himself, and closing with the following sentences, as
notable for their virulence as for their grammar:

"We command and charge all and sundry our lieges and subjects that they nor
none of them presume, nor take upon hand to reset, supply or intercommune
with the said Mr. James Renwick, rebel foresaid; nor furnish him with meat,
drink, house, harbor, victual nor no other thing useful or comfortable to
him; or to have intelligence with him by word writ or message or any other
manner of way whatsoever under pain of being esteemed art and part with him
in the crimes foresaid, and pursued therefore with all rigor to the terror
of others. And we hereby require all our Sheriffs to apprehend and commit to
prison, the person of the said Mr. James Renwick wherever they can find or
apprehend him."

Renwick and the Societies answered the Letters of Intercommuning by the
Apologetic Declaration. The Government rejoined by a proclamation,
characterized by the same wild fury of expression as the Letters of
Intercommuning, in which 'the Societies are styled insolent and desperate
rebels, and the Declaration execrable and treasonable. At the same time,
sterner and more relentless measures than ever were taken to suppress the
meetings of the Societies, and to seize the persons of their members. The
Lords of the Privy Council asked the opinion of the Court of Session whether
an owning of the Apologetic Declaration was an act of treason, and received
as answer that it was. Fortified by this answer, it was resolved that all
who owned, or would not disown, the Apologetic Declaration, whether they had
arms or not, should be immediately put to death, wherever persons holding
the commission of the Council might find them; provided two witnesses were
present. The result of these steps was that of all the twenty-eight years of
persecution, 1685 was the most terrible and most marked by the cruelty of
the persecutor. Renwick himself had many a hairbreadth escape, yet none of
his meetings was ever surprised by the emissaries of Government; and
persecution had no other effect upon him than to strengthen his conviction
that the work he was engaged in was the Lord's. And by the grace and
goodness of God, says his biographer and companion in tribulation, Alexander
Shields, he was still more animated and enlarged in spirit, and enabled in
body to increase his diligence in preaching, baptizing, and examining every
week once at least; which had such success, that a great and effectual door
was opened to the bringing in of many to Christ, out of ignorance and
darkness of nature, and bringing back many from the times' sins and
compliances, and calling out such multitudes, flocking after the persecuted
Gospel ordinances in the open fields, that it was impossible for him to
answer all the calls he received from all parts to preach to them.

At the nineteenth general meeting of the Societies, held May 28, 1685, at
Blackgannoch, on the Spango Water, in the parish of Kirkconnel, the second
Sanquhar Declaration was agreed upon.

Immediately after the meeting, about two hundred and twenty men drew up in
arms, and marched to Sanquhar, five miles to the south of Blackgannoch,
where, after a psalm and prayer by Renwick, the Declaration was published,
and a copy left on the Cross. The Declaration is manifestly from the pen of
Renwick, and is a well expressed vindication of the Societies from the
charge of encouraging assassination brought against them by their enemies,
as well as a protestation against the illegality of the Duke of York, a
professed Papist, ascending the throne as James II. Defiant as was this
Declaration, the Government found it most prudent to take no notice of it.
They evidently felt that the less said about the religion of the new king
the better.

But the misrepresentations of Renwick and the Societies by their enemies did
not cease. The failure of the Earl of Argyle's enterprise, which Renwick had
refused to join until its aims were stated more in harmony with the
principles he had been accustomed to maintain, increased the numbers of
those who misrepresented him, but his usual answer, when told of their
misrepresentations was, "I will not say so of them," while he charged his
friends not to contend with such weapons, and to have a care not to render
railing for railing. Slanders, too, rose up among the members of the
Societies, but he pursued his course undeterred by all that might be said
against him.

In December 1686, a reward of 100 pounds sterling was offered to any one who
should bring in James Renwick dead or alive, but it had no effect in leading
any of his followers to betray him.

In 1687, three successive proclamations were issued, allowing Presbyterians
to meet in their private houses for worship and preaching, but field
meetings were strictly forbidden. The object of Government in these
proclamations was to prepare the way for the legal toleration of Popery.
Many, however, took advantage of these proclamations, and some ministers
went so far as, in rather a fulsome manner, to thank the Government for the
fettered permission afforded them to preach. Renwick drew up an answer to
the proclamations, came into Edinburgh, January 1688, and gave a copy of it
to Mr. Hugh Kennedy, then indulged minister in Edinburgh, to be communicated
to the rest of his brethren. From Edinburgh he went to Fife, where he
preached in several places, and for the last time at Borrowstounness on
January 29. Notes of a sermon preached on January 24, from Psalm 45:10:
"Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine eye; forget also thine
own people and thy father's house," of a second, preached January 27 from
Luke 12:32: "Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure
to give you the kingdom,' and of his last sermon, from Isaiah 53:1:" Who
hath believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed," are
in Wilson's collection. They are obviously not so well reported as the notes
of his first sermon, but they are full enough to show the expository, the
evangelical, and earnest character of his preaching up to his last days, If
there be any change in these later sermons from the first, it is to the
better, for they present more exhaustively the lessons taught in the text.

He returned to Edinburgh, January 31. He lodged in the Castle Hill, at the
head of the Bow, in the house of a friend, John Lookup, near where Free St.
John's Church now stands. The house was that of a trader in what were called
"uncustomed goods from England," a profession in that age, from the
character of the men then in power, by no means looked upon with disfavor by
patriotic Scotsmen. An excise officer on the watch for contraband goods
heard family prayer in the house, and suspected the voice was that of
Renwick. He had the house surrounded next morning about daybreak. An
entrance was soon made, when the excise officer exclaimed, "My life for it,
this is Mr. Renwick," and declared that all within must go to the
guardhouse, to show what trade they were of. Renwick rejoined, "I shall soon
show you what is my trade."

The excise officer now went out to the street and called for assistance to
carry the dog Renwick to the guardhouse. Meanwhile Renwick, with two friends
in the house, tried to escape by another door, but it was found watched by
the excise officers, and when one of the two sought to break through he was
driven back. At this Renwick fired a pistol, which at once opened a way for
himself and friends, but as they went out he received a blow from a staff
that partly stunned him, and made him fall once or twice as he ran down the
Castle Wynd towards the head of the Cowgate, where he lost his hat. By his
falls the pursuers gained on him, and the loss of his hat marked him out, so
that he was soon caught by a person on the street, but his two friends made
their escape. He was taken to the guardhouse, and put in irons by the order
of a committee of Council. He was examined on February 3. He himself has
given an account of his examination in a letter contained in the Collection
of his Letters, (Letter 55) When he was searched, his pocket-book was taken
from him, but it contained nothing but a few names in full, as many more in
the first letter only, and notes of two sermons which he had preached
January 18, at the Braid Craigs, two miles south from Edinburgh, at a place
still pointed out. These names, as their owners were out of danger, he
readily explained.

On February 3, he received his indictment, which will be found in full in
Wodrow. He was tried Wednesday, February 8, and was sentenced to be executed
the following Friday. The Lord Justice General, Earl of Linlithgow, asked
him if he desired longer time. He replied it was all one to him; if it was
protracted it was welcome, if shortened it was welcome; his Master's time
was the best time. Without his knowledge, however, the day of execution was
delayed for another week.

During this week his friends were forbidden to see him, and every effort was
made by the government to get him to petition for a reprieve. Writing
materials were taken from him, but he managed to write the testimony and
letter that follow. On the morning of execution he wrote a short letter to
his dear friend Sir Robert Hamilton, full of faith and confidence. He says,
"I go to your God and my God. Death to me is as a bed to the weary. Now, be
not anxious, the Lord will maintain His cause and own His people; He will
show His glory yet in Scotland; farewell." The compilers of the "Cloud" have
given a short account of his last words, to which we have added Alexander
Shields' narrative of what he said just before he was executed. He was
buried in the Greyfriars Churchyard. A monument was erected to his memory in
1828, at Moniaive, near the farmhouse where tradition says he was born.

In 1687, James Renwick, in conjunction with Alexander Shields, drew up the
only work ever published by him: "An Informatory Vindication of a Poor,
Wasted, Misrepresented Remnant of the Suffering, Anti-popish, Anti-prelatic,
Anti-erastian, Anti-sectarian, true Presbyterian Church of Christ in
Scotland; United together in a General Correspondence; By way of Reply to
various Accusations in Letters, Informations, and Conferences given forth
against them." The first eighteen, or perhaps the first thirty, of its 108
pages bear traces of Alexander Shields, but the rest is evidently from
Renwick himself. It is much to be regretted that the "Informatory
Vindication" should be so little known, as its ability, its catholicity, and
its terseness and clearness of statement make it one of the most readable
documents of that age, and altogether worthy of its title. No one who reads
it dispassionately, but will feel that a Government that could put to death
the author of such a document, for no other crime than the avowal of its
opinions, was deservedly overthrown in the Revolution of 1688.

In 1724 John M'Main, M.A, schoolmaster at Liberton's Wynd, published, in an
18mo volume of 248 pages, Alexander Shields' Life of Renwick. Shields
finished it in September 1688, but it had lain in manuscript till it came
into M'Main's hand. M'Main has added to it a preface of forty pages, in
which he takes exception to Wodrow's history for doing scant justice to the
sufferers whose testimonies are given in the "Cloud." Shields' Life contains
more of characteristic declamation against the tyranny of the time than
narrative. Nevertheless, it is one that the reader will be grateful for, and
no doubt wish that we possessed similar lives of more than one of the
sufferers of that age.

In 1748 William Wilson published two 18mo volumes, with the title, "A choice
Collection of very valuable Prefaces, Lectures, and Sermons, preached upon
the mountains and muirs of Scotland in the hottest time of the late
persecution, by that faithful minister and martyr of Jesus Christ, the
Reverend Mr. James Renwick." The collection has been several times reprinted
in one octavo volume. Although printed from notes, taken by hearers, that
are often obviously imperfect, the collection is yet one of interest and
value.

In 1764 the Reverend John M'Millan, for many years minister of the Reformed
Presbyterian Congregation that met at Sandhills, near Glasgow, published a
12mo volume, entitled "A Collection of Letters, consisting of ninety-three,
sixty-one of which were wrote by the Reverend Mr. James Renwick." The first
letter is dated July 1682, and the last is that written to Sir Robert
Hamilton on the morning of his execution. Far more than his sermons, these
letters reveal the character of Renwick, and show him to have been what
Alexander Shields calls him, "a ripe Christian." Mr. M'Millan printed them
from the manuscript, but not very accurately, and with the omission of the
postscripts, which are at least as valuable as the rest of the letters. The
original autographs of Renwick's last speech and testimony, and of his
letter to his Christian Friends, are in the library of the Free College,
Edinburgh. Through the kindness of the acting librarian, the Reverend John
Laing, we have been permitted to examine them. The examination has shown a
great many obvious misprints, or mistakes in the transcription, in all
previous editions of the "Cloud." These we have corrected, and given an
exact copy of what Renwick wrote. The handwriting shows marks of haste or of
being under some restraint, but has much of the legibility, and even beauty,
so characteristic of his earlier letters, at least twenty of which we have
seen in his own autograph. - ED.]


THE LAST SPEECH AND TESTIMONY


OF THE REVEREND MR. JAMES RENWICK,


Minister of the Gospel, who suffered in the Grassmarket of Edinburgh,
February 17, 1688. Emitted from his own hand, the day before his suffering.

"MY DEAR FRIENDS IN CHRIST, - It hath pleased the Lord to deliver me up into
the hands of men; and I think fit to send you this salutation, which I
expect will be the last. When I pose [i.e., question] my heart upon it,
before God, I dare not desire to have escaped this lot; for no less could
have been for His glory and vindication of His cause on my behalf. And as I
am free before Him of the profanity, which some, either naughty, wicked, or
strangers to me, have reported that I have been sometimes guilty of, so He
hath kept me, from the womb, free of the ordinary pollutions of children; as
these that have been acquainted with me through the tract of my life do
know. And now my blood shall either more silence reproachers, or more ripen
them for judgment. But I hope it shall make some more sparing to speak of
those who shall come after me; and so I am the more willing to pay this
cost, both for their instruction, and my succeeders' ease.

"Since I came to prison, the Lord hath been wonderfully kind; He hath made
His word to give me light, life, joy, courage and strength; yea, it hath
dropped with sweet smelling myrrh unto me; particularly these Psalms and
promises:

'For now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy
son, thine only son' (Genesis 22:12).

'Neither be ye sorry, for the joy of the Lord is your strength' (Nehemiah
8:10)

'There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary be at rest.
There the prisoners rest together; they hear not the voice of the oppressor'
(Job 3:17, 18).

'But He knoweth the way that I take: when He hath tried me, I shall come
forth as gold. My foot hath held His steps, his way have I kept, and not
declined. Neither have I gone back from the commandment of His lips; I have
esteemed the words of His mouth more than my necessary food. But He is in
one mind, and who can turn Him? and what His soul desireth, even that He
doeth. For He performeth the thing that is appointed for me: and many such
things are with Him' (Job 23:10-14).

'The word of the Lord tried Him' (Psalm 105-19).

'Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak unto them all that I
command thee: be not dismayed at their faces, lest I confound thee before
them. For, behold, I have made thee this day a defenced city, and an iron
pillar, and brasen walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah,
against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the
people of the land. And they shall fight against thee; but they shall not
prevail against thee; for I am with thee, saith the Lord, to deliver thee'
(Jeremiah 1:17-19).

'A glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary. O
Lord, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they
that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have
forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters. Heal me, O Lord, and I
shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved' (Jeremiah 17:12-14).

'He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of His eye' (Zechariah 2:8).

'But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you,
delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before
kings and rulers for My name's sake. And it shall turn to you for a
testimony' (Luke 21:12, 13), and 19 of St. John's Gospel.

'Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy
that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set
down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him that endured
such contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest ye be wearied and faint
in your minds' (Hebrews 12:2, 3).

'Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall
receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love
Him' (James 1:12).

'Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt
you in due time: casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you. Be
sobers be vigilant; because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion,
walketh about, seeking whom he may devour' (1 Peter 5:6-8).

'I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man
can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and
hast not denied my name. Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan,
which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them
to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.
Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from
the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them
that dwell upon the earth. Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou
hast, that no man take thy crown. Him that overcometh will I make a pillar
in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon
him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is New
Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write
upon him my new name' (Revelation 3:8-12).

Revelation, chapters 19, 20, 21, and 22, and several other Scriptures. O
what can I say to the Lord's praise! It was but little that I knew of Him
before I came to prison; I have found sensibly much of His divine strength,
much of the joy of His Spirit, and much assurance from His word and Spirit
concerning my salvation.

"My sufferings are stated upon the matters of my doctrine, for there was
found with me the sum of my two last sermons at Braid's Craigs, which I
wrote after I did preach them: the former whereof was upon Psalm 96:10:

'Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the heathen, I
will be exalted in the earth.'

And in the latter upon Hebrews 10:38:

'Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall
have no pleasure in him.'

And I was examined upon the application made therein unto the sins of the
time; all which I owned once and again, as it is to be seen in my
indictment; and being tried, and an assize set, I adhered to my former
confessions explicitly; so my sentence of death was drawn forth upon these
three heads:

1.	Because I could not own James VII to be my lawful sovereign.
2.	Because I taught the unlawfulness of paying the cess, expressly
exacted for suppressing the faithful and free preaching of the Gospel.
3.	Because I taught it was people's duty to carry arms at the preaching
of the Gospel, now that it is persecuted, for defending of themselves, and
resisting unjust violence. 

"I think such a testimony is worthy many lives, and I praise the Lord, for
His enabling me to be plain and positive in all my confessions; for therein
I found peace, joy, strength, boldness. I have met with many assaults in
prison, some from some of the Indulged party, and some from some of the
Prelatic; but by the strength of God I was enabled to stand, that they could
neither bow me nor break me. I was also assaulted by some of the Popish
party. I suppose they were of their ecclesiastic creatures; but they found
none of their own stuff in me; I told them, after sundry debatings, that I
had lived, and should die, an enemy to their way. However, some that knew me
not, reproached me with Jesuitism. But I was much pressed by sundry to seek
a reprieve, and my answer was always, that I adhered to my former
confession, and if they pleased to let their appointed time of my death
stand, let it stand; and if they pleased to protract it, let them protract
it; for I was ready and willing both to live and die. Howbeit there came a
reprieve for eight days, but I had no hand in it.

"They still urged, Would I but say that I desired time, for conference with
some persons anent my principles? I answered, that my time was in the Lord's
hand, and I was in no hesitation or doubt about my principles myself: I
would not be so rude as to decline converse with any, so far as it might not
be inconvenient for me in my present circumstances, but I would seek it with
none.

"I have no more to say upon this head, but my heart doth not smite me for
anything in the matters of my God, since I came to prison. And I can further
say to His praise, with some consciousness of integrity, that I have walked
in His way, and kept His charge, though with much weakness, and many
infirmities, whereof you have been witnesses.

"Now, my dear friends in precious Christ, I think I need not tell you that,
as I have lived, so I die, in the same persuasion with the true reformed and
covenanted Presbyterian Church of Scotland. I adhere to the testimony of the
day, as it is held forth in our Informatory Vindication, and in the
testimony against the present toleration; and that I own, and seal with my
blood, all the precious truths, even the controverted truths, that I have
taught. So I would exhort every one of you to make sure your personal
reconciliation with God in Christ, for I fear many of you have that yet to
do; and when you come where I am, to look pale death in the face, ye will
not be a little shaken and terrified if ye have not laid hold on eternal
life. I would exhort you to much diligence in the use of means; to be
careful in keeping your societies; to be frequent and fervent in secret
prayer; to read much the written Word of God, and to examine yourselves by
it.

"Do not weary to maintain, in your places and stations, the present
testimony; for when Christ goeth forth to defeat antichrist, with that name
written on His vesture and on His thigh, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS,
He will make it glorious in the earth. And if you can but transmit it to
posterity, ye may count it a great generation work. But beware of the
ministers that have accepted this toleration, and all others that bend that
way; and follow them not, for the sun hath gone down on them. Do not fear
that the Lord will cast off Scotland; for He will certainly return, and show
Himself glorious in our land. But watch and pray, for He is bringing on a
sad overthrowing stroke, which shall make many say that they have easily got
through that have got a scaffold for Christ; and do not regard the
sufferings of this present world, for they are not worthy to be compared to
the glory that shall be revealed.

"I may say, to His praise, that I have found His cross sweet and lovely unto
me; for I have had many joyful hours, and not a fearful thought since I came
to prison. He hath strengthened me to outbrave man and outface death; and I
am now longing for the joyful hour of my dissolution; and there is nothing
in the world I am sorry to leave but you; but I go unto better company, and
so I must take my leave of you all.

"Farewell beloved sufferers, and followers of the Lamb. Farewell Christian
intimates. Farewell Christian and comfortable mother and sisters. Farewell
sweet societies. Farewell desirable general meetings. Farewell night
wanderings, cold and weariness for Christ. Farewell sweet Bible, and
preaching of the Gospel. Farewell sun, moon, and stars, and all sublunary
things. Farewell conflicts with a body of death. Welcome scaffold for
precious Christ. Welcome heavenly Jerusalem. Welcome innumerable company of
angels. Welcome General Assembly and Church of the first-born. Welcome,
crown of glory, white robes, and song of Moses and the Lamb. And, above all,
welcome, O thou blessed Trinity and One God! O Eternal One, I commit my soul
into Thy eternal rest!

" Sic subscribitur,
"JAMES RENWICK.
"February 13, 1688."


A LETTER TO HIS CHRISTIAN FRIENDS,


WRITTEN IN THE TIME OF HIS REPRIEVAL.

"MY DEAR FRIENDS IN CHRIST, - I see then what hath been the language of my
reprieve; it hath been, that I might be further tempted and tried; and I
praise the Lord He hath assisted me to give further proof of steadfastness.
I have been often assaulted by some Popish priests; but the last time that
they came, I told them that I would debate no more with such as they were,
and that I have lived and would die a Presbyterian Protestant, and testified
against the idolatries, heresies, superstitions, and errors of their
antichristian way.

"But yesterday, I was cast into a deep exercise, and made to dwell under the
impression of the dreadfulness of everything that might grieve the Spirit of
God. I found sin to be more bitter than death, and one hour's hiding of
God's face more insupportable. And then at night I was called before a party
of the Council, and the Chancellor produced the Informatory Vindication, and
asked if I knew it. I answered, 'I did know it.' And being interrogated, I
confessed that I had a great hand writing of it. They pressed me to tell my
assistants. I told them they were those they were persecuting; but would
satisfy them no further. They also urged me, upon pain of torture, to tell
where were our societies, who kept our general correspondences, and where
they were kept. I answered, though they should torture me, which was
contrary to all law after sentence of death, I would give them no further
notice than the book gave. I was, moreover, threatened to tell of my haunts
and quarters, but I refused to make known any such thing to them; so I was
returned to prison again. Such an exercise as I had was very needful for
such a trial; and I would rather have endured what they could do unto me
than have dishonored Christ, offended you, and brought you into trouble.

"But I hope, within less than three days, to be without the reach of all
temptation. Now I have no more to say. Farewell again in our blessed Lord
Jesus.

"JAMES RENWICK.
"February 15, 1688.


SHORT ACCOUNT OF HIS LAST WORDS


UPON THE SCAFFOLD.

Before he went out of the Tolbooth, he was at dinner with his mother,
sisters, and some Christian friends, when the drum beat the first warning to
his execution; which so soon as he heard, he leapt up in a ravishment of
heavenly joy, saying,

"Let us be glad and rejoice, for the marriage of the Lamb is come;"

and I can say, in some measure,

"The bride, the Lamb's wife, hath made herself ready."

And, till dinner was over, he enlarged upon the parallel of a marriage, and
invited all of them to come to the wedding, meaning his execution. When he
was come to the scaffold, the drums being beat all the while, none of the
distant spectators could hear anything that he said; only some very few,
that were close by him, did hear it; whereof one has collected the following
account. He delivered himself to this effect:

"Spectators, or (if there be any of you) auditors, - I must tell you I am
come here this day to lay down my life for adhering to the truths of Christ,
for which I am neither afraid nor ashamed to suffer; nay, I bless the Lord
that ever He counted me worthy, or enabled me to suffer anything for Him;
and I desire to praise His grace that He hath not only kept me free from the
gross pollutions of the time, but also from many ordinary pollutions of
children; and such as I have been stained with, He hath washen me from them
in His own blood. I am this day to lay down my life for these three things:

1.	For disowning the usurpations and tyranny of James Duke of York.
2.	For preaching that it was unlawful to pay the cess expressly exacted
for bearing down the Gospel.
3.	For preaching that it was lawful for people to carry arms for
defending themselves in their meetings for receiving the persecuted Gospel
ordinances. 

"I think a testimony for these is worth many lives, and if I had ten hundred
[Wodrow's Manuscript has "ten thousand." - ED.] I would think it little
enough to lay them all down for the same.

"Dear friends, spectators, and (if any of you be) auditors, - I must tell
you that I die a Presbyterian Protestant.

"I own the Word of God as the rule of Faith and manners; I own the
Confession of Faith, Larger and Shorter Catechisms, Sum of Saving Knowledge,
Directory for Worship, etc.; Covenants, National and Solemn League; Acts of
General Assemblies, - and all the faithful contendings that have been for
the work of reformation.

"I leave my testimony approving the preaching of the Gospel in the fields,
and the defending the same by arms.

"I adjoin my testimony to all that hath been sealed by blood, shed tither on
scaffolds, fields, or seas, for the cause of Christ.

"I leave my testimony against Popery, Prelacy, Erastianism, etc.; against
all profanity, and everything contrary to sound doctrine; particularly
against all usurpations made upon Christ's right, who is the PRINCE OF THE
KINGS OF THE EARTH, who alone must bear the glory of ruling His own kingdom,
the Church; and, in particular, against the absolute power usurped by this
usurper, that belongs to no mortal, but is the incommunicable prerogative of
JEHOVAH, and against this toleration flowing from that absolute power."

Upon this, he was bid have done. He answered,

"I have near done."

Then he said:

"Ye that are the people of God, do not weary in maintaining the testimony of
the day, in your stations and places; and whatever ye do, make sure an
interest in Christ, for there is a storm coming that shall try your
foundation. Scotland must be rid of Scotland before the delivery come. And
you that are strangers to God, break off your sins by repentance, else I
will be a witness against you in the day of the Lord."

Here they caused him desist. Upon the scaffold he sung a part of the 103d
Psalm, from the beginning, and read the 19th chapter of the Revelation.

[In prayer he said,

"Lord, I die in the faith that Thou wilt not leave Scotland, but that Thou
wilt make the blood of Thy witnesses the seed of Thy Church, and return
again, and be glorious in our land. And now, Lord, I am ready - 'the bride,
the Lamb's wife, hath made herself ready.'"

The napkin then being tied about his face, he said to his friend attending
him -

"Farewell. Be diligent in duty. Make your peace with God, through Christ.
There is a great trial coming. As to the remnant I leave, I have committed
them to God. Tell them from me not to weary, nor be discouraged in
maintaining the testimony. Let them not quit nor forego one of these
despised truths. Keep your ground, and the Lord will provide you teachers
and ministers, and when He comes, He will make these despised truths
glorious upon the earth.

Then he was turned over the ladder, with these words in his mouth:

"Lord, into Thy hands I commit my spirit, for Thou hast redeemed me, Lord
God of truth."

- From Alex. Shields' "Life of Renwick." - ED.]

And having thus finished his course, served his generation, and witnessed a
good confession for his Lord and Master, before many witnesses, by the will
of God, he yielded up his spirit into the hands of God who gave it.

He was the last that sealed the testimony of this suffering period in a
public way upon a scaffold.

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Thanks.

 

Charis,

 

Mike Abendroth

 

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Ephesians 3:21 auvtw/| h` do,xa evn th/| evkklhsi,a| 

 

2 Tim 1:2b  "Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our
Lord."

 

"Faith is not our physician; it only brings us to the Physician ... Faith is
not our saviour. It was not faith that was born at Bethlehem and died on
Golgotha for us. It was not faith that loved us, and gave itself for us;
that bore our sins in its own body on the tree; that died and rose again for
our sins.  It is a sin-bearer that we need, and our faith cannot be a
sin-bearer. Faith can expiate no guilt; can accomplish no propitiation; can
pay no penalty; can wash away no stain; can provide no righteousness. It
brings us to the cross, . but in itself it has no merit and no virtue.
Faith is not Christ, nor the cross of Christ. Faith is not the blood, nor
the sacrifice; . Our faith does not divide the work of salvation between
itself and the cross. It is the acknowledgment that the cross alone saves,
and that it saves alone. Faith adds nothing to the cross, nor to its healing
virtue. It owns the fulness, and sufficiency, and suitableness of the work
done there, and bids the toiling spirit cease from its labours and enter
into rest. Faith does not come to Calvary to do anything. It comes to see
the glorious spectacle of all things done, and to accept this completion
without a misgiving as to its efficacy. It listens to the "It is finished!"
of the Sin-bearer, and says, "Amen."   

NOT FAITH, BUT CHRIST 

by Horatius Bonar 
(1808-1889) 

 

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