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.