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RENWICK, JAMES, a celebrated
non-conforming clergyman, was born in the parish of Glencairn,
Dumfries-shire, on the 15th of February, 1662. His parents, who were in
humble circumstances, and of whom he was the only surviving child, seem to
have looked upon him with peculiar fondness—especially his mother, who
regarded him as a special gift, an answer to her prayers, and one who was
intended to be more than ordinarily useful in the world. His childhood was
watched over with peculiar solicitude; and their hopes were still further
excited, and their confidence strengthened, by the sweetness and docility of
his disposition. Piety marked his earliest years, and his attention to his
books was unwearied; circumstances which induced his parents, amidst many
difficulties, to keep him at school, till he found the means of putting
himself in the way of attaining greater proficiency in the city of
Edinburgh, where, by attending upon, and assisting in their studies, the
children of persons more wealthy than himself, he was enabled to prosecute
his own. After having attended the university there, however, he was denied
laureation, in consequence of refusing to take the oath of allegiance, and
was under the necessity of prosecuting his studies more privately, and in
the best manner he could. In the mean time, he was a diligent attendant on
the secret meetings of the persecuted presbyterians, and took a deep
interest in the questions which at that time were so keenly agitated among,
and at length so widely divided, that unfortunate party. Of the
unfaithfulness of the indulged ministers in general, he had long had strong
impressions, and these seem to have been confirmed, by hearing the
testimony, and witnessing the martyrdom, of Mr Donald Cargill, on the 27th
of July, 1681; an event which determined him to attach himself to the small
remnant which adhered to the principles of that sincere and excellent
Christian.
It was on the death of Mr
Cargill, when, being deprived of public ordinances, this portion of the
sufferers formed themselves into particular societies, united in one general
correspondence, in which Mr Renwick was particularly active. In the month of
October, he held a conference with a number of the more influential of the
party, concerning the testimonies of some of the martyrs lately executed;
when, it is said, he refreshed them much, by showing them how much he was
grieved to hear these martyrs disdainfully spoken of; how much he was
offended with some that attended the curates, pled for the paying of cess,
and for owning and defending the authority of the tyrant, and how much he
longed to see a formal testimony lifted up against all those, with their
attendant defections. On the 15th of December, in the same year in which Mr
Cargill suffered, his adherents held their first general meeting, at which
was drawn up the paper, known by the name of The Lanark Declaration, from
the place where it was proclaimed, on the 12th day of January, 1682. Mr
Renwick was not the writer of this document, some parts of which he always
allowed to be "inconsiderately worded;" but he was one of the party who
proclaimed it, and at the same time burnt the test, and the act of
succession of the duke of York to the crown.
The boldness of this
declaration, which embraced both the Rutherglen and Sanquhar declarations,
emitted in the years 1679 and 1680, and declared the whole acts of the
government of Charles Stuart, from his restoration in 1660, down to that
day, to be utterly illegal, as emanating from a pure usurpation upon the
fundamental laws of the kingdom, and many of them, in their own nature,
tyrannical, and cruel in the highest degree, astonished their enemies, and
astounded not a few of their best friends, who, to correct the unfavourable
reports concerning them, which, through the malice of their enemies, were
circulated among the churches of the low countries, found it necessary to
commission Gordon of Earlston to the United Provinces, to state their case
as it actually stood, and to solicit that compassion and sympathy which was
denied them by their own countrymen. Earlston met with a very favourable
reception; and it was proposed, seeing the universities in Scotland were
closed against all such as were desirous of maintaining a clear conscience,
to have students educated under the eye of these churches at their
universities, who might be ordained to the work of the ministry, and that
there should thus be a succession of faithful labourers kept up for the
benefit of the present and of future generations. This proposal was at once
embraced by the societies, as the only probable method of being supplied
with a dispensation of gospel ordinances; and Mr Renwick, along with some
others, was accordingly sent over, and admitted into the university of
Groningen. After he had attended six months, the progress he had made was
such, together with the urgency of the case, (for the societies had not so
much as one preacher all this time,) that it was thought proper he should be
ordained, and sent back to his native land. He was, accordingly, after no
little trouble, through the interest of Mr Robert Hamilton, who was well
known there, ordained by the classes of Groningen; when, longing to employ
any little talent he possessed for the advancement of the cause of Christ,
and the benefit of his suffering people, he proceeded to Rotterdam,
intending to avail himself of the first opportunity of a ship going for
Scotland. Finding a ship ready to sail, Mr Renwick embarked at the Brill for
his native country; but, after being some time on board, he was so much
annoyed by some profane passengers, that he left the vessel, and entered
another that was going to Ireland. In consequence of a violent storm, the
vessel put into the harbour of Rye, in England, where he was in no small
danger from the noise and disturbance created at the time by the Rye-house
plot. He, however, got safely off; and, after a tedious and stormy passage,
was landed at Dublin. In a short time he embarked for Scotland, and with no
little difficulty and danger, succeeded in landing on the west coast of that
kingdom, where he commenced those weary wanderings which were to close only
with his capture and death. His first public sermon was delivered in the
moss of Darmead, in the month of September, 1683, where he was cordially and
kindly received by a poor and persecuted people, who had lost, for the
gospel’s sake, whatever they possessed of temporal enjoyments, and were
ready for that consideration to peril their lives. On this occasion, for his
own vindication, and for the satisfaction of his hearers, he gave an account
of his call to the ministry, and declared his adherence to the doctrine,
worship, discipline, and government of the church of Scotland. He, at the
same time, gave these his opinion upon the particular questions which were
agitating the minds of men at the time; stating particularly what class of
ministers and professors he was willing to hold fellowship with, and also
that with which he could not. In this statement, as he studied to be plain
and particular, he mentioned several names, which gave great offence to
some, and was employed with much assiduity to excite prejudices, and create
slanders, against both his person and ministry; and, with all the other
hardships of his lot, he was pursued everywhere by misrepresentation and
calumny.
Amidst so much clamour of
friends and of enemies, he soon attracted the notice of the council, to whom
nothing was so terrible as field-preaching. He was speedily denounced as a
traitor, and all who followed him were pursued as abettors of rebellion. No
house that he entered, if it was known, escaped pillage; and no one who
heard him, if he could be found, escaped punishment. Nothing can be
conceived more desperate than his situation; not daring to venture abroad,
yet finding no place of rest, except in the most remote and inaccessible
retreats. Called upon nightly to confer, to preach, to pray, to baptize, and
to catechise, with no better accommodation than the cavern of the rock, an
excavation in the moss, or, at the best, a ruined and deserted shepherd’s
shiel, where a fire of sticks or heath, and a scanty morsel brought from
afar by the hands of children, were his greatest luxuries; yet he prosecuted
his labours with remarkable success, greatly increasing the number of his
followers in the course of a few months.
In the succeeding year, 1684,
his difficulties and discouragement. were considerably increased. The
revilings of those who should have been his helpers, became more bitter, and
the vigilance of his persecutors more unremitting. Often was he pursued for
days and nights together, and to all appearance left without the possibility
of escape; yet he still escaped as if by miracle. Enraged beyond measure at
the increase of his followers, and their want of success in so many attempts
to apprehend him, the council, in the month of September in this year,
issued out letters of intercommuning against him; which, reducing the whole
body of the sufferers to the most incredible hardships, drove them, between
madness and despair, to publish, in the month of October following, their
apologetical declaration; wherein, after stating their abhorrence of the
idea of taking the lives of such as differ from them in opinion, they
declared their firm persuasion of their right, from the word of God, and
fundamental laws of the kingdom, to defend themselves in the exercise of
their religion: and, after naming the persons whom they supposed to be their
chief persecutors, and whom they threatened with immediate and full
retaliation, they add, "Now, let not any think, our God assisting us, we
will be so slack-handed in time coming, to put matters in execution as
heretofore may have been, seeing we are bound faithfully and valiantly to
maintain our covenants and the cause of Christ. Therefore, let all these
foresaid persons be admonished of their hazard. And particularly all ye
intelligencers, who, by your voluntary information., endeavour to render us
up to the enemies’ hands, that our blood may be shed—for by such courses ye
both endanger your immortal souls, if repentance prevent not, seeing God
will make inquisition for shedding the precious blood of his saints,
whatever be the thoughts of men; and also your bodies, seeing ye render
yourselves actually and maliciously guilty of our blood, whose innocency the
Lord knoweth. However, we are sorry at our very hearts, that any of you
should choose such courses, either with bloody Doeg, to shed our blood, or
with the flattering Ziphites, to inform persecutors where we are to be
found. So we say again, we desire you to take warning of the hazard that ye
incur by following such courses; for the sinless necessity of
self-preservation, accompanied with holy zeal for Christ’s reigning in our
land, and suppressing of profanity, will move us not to let you pass
unpunished. Call to your remembrance, all that is in peril, is not lost; and
all that is delayed, is not forgiven. Therefore, expect to be dealt with, as
ye deal with us, so far as our power can reach; not because we are incited
by a sinful spirit of revenge for private and personal injuries; but,
mainly, because by our fall, reformation suffers damage, yea, the power of
godliness, through ensnaring flatteries, and terrible threatening will
thereby be brought to a very low ebb, the consciences of many more
dreadfully surrendered, and profanity more established and propagated. And
as upon the one hand, we have here declared our purposes anent malicious
injurers of us; so, upon the other hand, we do hereby beseech and obtest all
you who wish well to Zion, to show your good-will towards us, by acting with
us, and in your places and stations, according to your abilities,
counselling, encouraging, and strengthening our hands, for this great work
of holding up the standards of our Lord Jesus Christ. Think not that in
anywise you are called to lie by neutral and indifferent, especially in such
a day; for we are a people, by holy covenants dedicated unto the Lord, in
our persons, lives, liberties, and fortunes, for defending and promoting
this glorious work of reformation, notwithstanding all opposition that is or
may be made thereunto, yea and sworn against all neutrality and indifferency
in the Lord’s matters. And, moreover, we are fully persuaded that the Lord,
who now hideth his face from the house of Jacob, will suddenly appear, and
bring light out of darkness, and perfect strength out of weakness, and cause
judgment return again unto righteousness."
When this declaration was
first proposed, Mr Renwick was averse to it, fearing that it might be
followed by bad effects: nor were his fears disappointed. A reward of five
hundred merks was offered for every person who owned the declaration, or
rather who would not disown it upon oath. No person was allowed to travel
without a pass, who was above the age of sixteen; many were shot instantly
in the fields, if they refused to take, even at the hands of a common
trooper, the oath of abjuration; others, refusing the oath, were brought in,
sentenced, and executed. On all which accounts, Mr Renwick was often heard
to say, he wished from his heart that that declaration had never been
published. The year 1685 did not at all better his situation; he was still
persecuted with the utmost fury, yet he ventured, in the month of May that
year, to the market cross of Sanquhar, accompanied by two hundred men, where
he published a declaration against the succession of James, duke of York,
called from that circumstance, the Sanquhar Declaration. Refusing to concur
with Argyle, who this year made an unsuccessful attempt from Holland, a
division arose among his followers, several of whom withdrew from the
societies, and became, both by word and pen, his bitter traducers; and in
addition to all his other afflictions, when he had put his life in his hand,
as it were, to dispense the ordinances of the gospel to the bereaved people,
he was met even by those who had been his friends, with protestations
against him, taken in the name of large districts of the country. Even Mr
Peden was, by the multiplied slanders of his enemies, spirited up
against him, and was not reconciled, till after a conversation with him,
when he was upon his death-bed, and unable to repair the injury. In the
midst of these multiplied discouragements, he was cheered by the assistance
and fellowship of Mr David Hunston, a minister from Ireland, and Mr
Alexander Shields, a preacher who had made his escape from London, both of
whom espoused the same testimony, and periled their lives along with him. It
was but a short time, however, that he enjoyed the aid of these intrepid
men; Mr Hunston being necessitated to go to Ireland, and Mr Shields going
over to Holland, to superintend the printing of the informatory vindication.
It was in this year that James VII., for the encouragement of the catholics,
set aside the penal statutes, and gave out his indulgences, allowing all to
worship in their own way, except in barns or in fields; which, to the
disgrace of the Scottish church, was embraced with abundance of gratulatory
addresses by her whole body, ministers, and members, Mr Renwick and his
followers excepted. This was a new addition to his troubles, and opened the
mouths of complying professors still more against him. About this time, too,
he became infirm in body, could neither walk afoot nor ride, and was carried
to his preaching places in the fields with great difficulty; though, in the
time of preaching, he felt nothing of his weakness. The pursuit after him
was now doubly hot, and an hundred pounds sterling was offered for him,
either dead or alive. Coming to Edinburgh in the beginning of the year 1688,
to give in a testimony to the synod of tolerated ministers, against the
toleration which they had accepted, and having delivered it into the hands
of Mr Kennedy, their moderator, he passed over to Fife, where he continued
preaching at different places, till the end of January, when he returned to
Edinburgh, and took up his lodgings in the house of a friend on the Castle
hill, a dealer in uncustomed goods. A party coming to search for these,
discovered Mr Renwick, and apprehended him. He did not, however, surrender
himself into the hands of his enemies without resistance. He drew out and
fired a pocket pistol, and having thus made an opening among his assailants,
escaped into the Castle wynd, and ran towards the head of the Cowgate; but,
one of the party having hit him a violent stroke on the breast with a long
staff as he passed out, he was staggered, and fell several times, and having
lost his hat, was laid hold of by a person in the street, who probably knew
nothing of the man, or the crimes laid against him. Being taken to the
guard-house, he was there kept for a considerable time, and suffered much
from the insolence of some that came to see him. The captain of the guard
seeing him of little stature, and of a comely countenance, exclaimed, "Is
this the boy which the whole nation has been troubled about?" After
undergoing examination before the council, he was committed close prisoner,
and put in irons. Before he received his indictment he was carried before
the lord chancellor, Tarbet, and examined upon his owning the authority of
James VII., the paying of cess, carrying arms at field meetings, &c.; upon
all of which he delivered his mind with such faithfulness, freedom, and
composure of mind as astonished all that were present. He was examined upon
the paying of cess, in consequence of the notes of two sermons on the
subject being found upon him when he was taken. Among these notes were also
some memorandums of names, some in full, and some with merely the initials;
all these, to avoid threatened torture, he explained with the utmost
freedom, knowing that the persons were already as obnoxious as anything he
could say would make them. This ingenuousness on his part had a wonderful
effect in calming their rage against him, and Tarbet mildly asked him, what
persuasion he was of; to which he replied, of the protestant presbyterian.
He was then asked how he differed from other presbyterians who had accepted
his majesty’s toleration, owned his authority, &c., &c.? to which he
answered, that he adhered to the old presbyterian principles (which all were
obliged by the covenants to maintain) as generally professed by the chuch
and nation, from the year 1640 to 1660, from which some had apotatized for a
little liberty (they knew not how short) as they themselves had done for a
little honour. Tarbet admitted that these were the presbyterian principles,
and that all presbyterians would own them as well as he, if they had but the
courage. Mr Renwick was tried, February 8, before the high court of
justiciary, upon an indictment which charged him with denying the king’s
authority, owning the covenants, refusing to pay cess, and maintaining the
lawfulness of defensive arms; and, upon his confession, was condemned to
die. The day fixed for his execution was the 11th, but it was
postponed to the 17th, in the hope that he would gratify the
court by petitioning for a pardon, which, it has never been doubted, would
have been gladly extended to him. With the constancy which had marked his
whole life, he refused to do so, and was accordingly executed, being the
last person who suffered a judicial death for religion’s sake in Scotland.
The Life of The Rev. James
Renwick
The Last of the Scottish Martyrs by The Rev. Robert Simpson (1843) (pdf) |
