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.