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THE REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN SCOTLAND.
THE
REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
IN SCOTLAND
ITS ORIGIN AND HISTORY
1680—1876
WITH AN APPENDIX.
BY THE
REV. MATTHEW HUTCHISON,
NEW CUMNOCK.
INTRODUCTORY NOTE BY THE
REV. W. H. GOOLD, D.D.,
EDINBURGH.
J. AND R. PARLANE, PAISLEY.
J. MENZIES AND CO., EDINBURGH AND GLASGOW. 1893.
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•3070 H©
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INTRODUCTORY NOTE.
This volume may claim attention as supplying an essential link in the ecclesiastical history of Scotland. It is the history of that body of men who adhered to the civil part of the Second Reformation, according to which Presbytery was established and recognised by the State between 1638 and 1649. Acts of Parliament had been passed in that period, by which the king held his crown on certain express conditions. When Charles II. violated these conditions, both in regard to the civil liberties of the nation and the spiritual independence of the Church, multitudes, especially in the South of Scotland, were disposed to offer strenuous resistance to his assertion of arbitrary power. The more resolute and discerning among the Presbyterians came at length to feel that a change of dynasty was necessary, if freedom and order were to be secured, and hence the celebrated Queensferry Paper and the Sanquhar Declaration. More formidable still to the reigning despotism was the remarkable organization of the Societies, as they were called, designed to secure the enjoyment of religious ordinances, as well as to assert the liberties of the nation. They were the first to urge that the dynasty should be changed, and their contention was ratified by the nation at the Revolution. The terms, however, upon which a settlement was effected were not accepted as suffi- cient by a considerable body of Presbyterians. The Church of which this volume is a history took its rise in its distinctive character at this period, and on the ground that it could not, while acknowledging the relief from oppression which the Revolution afforded, acquiesce in the arrangements made by the State for the recognition of the Church and the due
vi Introductory Note.
exercise of its authority within its own spiritual domain. They were jealous in regard to the terms on which an alliance was proposed between Church and State. They were equally jealous in regard to the character of the ally with which the Church was invited to connect itself. They had felt the evils of prelatic despotism too long to view without fore- bodings the continuance of the system in England and the influence it might still exert on Scottish interests.
Apart, however, from their testimony in regard to this evil and danger, resulting from a Civil Government in which Prelacy was continued as an essential element, those who dissented from the Revolution Settlement, and from whom the Reformed Presbyterian Church arose, were animated with an earnest zeal for the maintenance of religious ordinances. They strove to exist as a Church, and how far they succeeded, and what difficulties they had to surmount in the attempt, is the interesting story recorded in this volume.
The author has devoted himself with special care to the examination of original sources of information. He writes in a generous spirit, remote from and above the sectarian animosities of past generations. He has the candour to. dissent from positions and views natural at the time, from the circumstances in which the Church whose history he narrates was placed, but he brings out with sufficient distinctness and force of evidence, the attachment of Reformed Presbyterians to the great scriptural principle which has on the whole given an elevation and dignity and generous catholicity to their aims and procedure, in spite of the narrow views of some, and even the occasional errors and failings into which as a Church they may have fallen. Their anxiety to avoid complicity with the evils of the British Constitution,, if, in any instance and for any time, it led them to an extreme position, was due to a pious regard for the principle embodied in the old watchword of the Church in days of trial and persecution — " The Crown Rights and Royal Prerogatives of the Lord Jesus Christ."
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.— Introductory, I06O-I66O.
I. — General Introduction — Parliament of 15G0— First General Assembly — First Book of Discipline — Struggle for Spiritual Independence begins — Andrew Melville and Second Book of Discipline— National Covenant- - Black Acts — Act of 1592 : Its Character and Defects, 1-12
IT. — Efforts to overthrow Presbytery — Reaction — Assembly of 1638 — Solemn League and Covenant — Westminster, Standards — Act of Classes — Resolutioners and Pro- testors— Principles and Attainments of Second Re- formation, 12-23
CHAPTER II. — Origin of Reformed Presbyterian Church, 1660-1680.
I.— Scottish Church at the Restoration — Episcopacy Re- stored— Ejection of Faithful Ministers — Conventicles — Persecution — Pentland Rising — Indulgences — Assassination of Sharp — Rutherglen Declaration — Drumclog — Dissensions among Covenanters — Both well Bridge, 24-37
II. — Attitude of Covenanters towards Government — The Queen sferry Paper— Sanquhar Declaration : Its Character and Results— Starting Point of the Re- formed Presbyterian Church, 37-47
viii Contents.
SECTIOX. PAGE.
CHAPTER III. -In the Furnace, 1680-1688.
I. — Cruelties following Sanquhar Declaration — Richard Cameron — Conventicle Preaching — Death of Cameron -— Cargill — Torwood Excommunication — Alexander Peden, ... 48-55
II.— Deplorable Condition of the Persecuted— The " United Societies " — Constitution and Procedure — Matters Discussed — Correspondence — Extent of Organization — Declaration of 1682, 55-65
III. — James Renwick — Minister of the Societies — Apologetic Declaration — Argyll's Expedition — Informatory Vin- dication— Character and Scope— Renwick's Preach- ing and Martyrdom, 65 SO
CHAPTER IV.— At the Revolution, 1688-1690.
I. — Influence of the Societies — Attitude towards the Dutch — Wonderful Change — The Curates — Differences within the Societies — The Convention' of Estates — Addresses adopted, 81-92
II. — Cameronian Regiment — Singular Stipulations — Opposi- tion to it — Strength of Societies — Address to the King — Attitude towards the Church — Petition to Parlia- ment—Petition to the General Assembly : Its Scope and Character — Disorganization that followed, ... 92-106
CHAPTER V.— The Societies and Sir Robert Hamilton, 1690-1706. I.— Condition of the Societies — Lining, Boyd, and Shields — Reorganization: the Tinwald Paper — Reasons for keeping separate from Revolution Church, ... 107-115
II. — Attitude towards the State— Public Declarations— Their Scope — Views influenced by past experience, by Government Oaths, by Ideal of a right Government and of the Magistrate's duty — Permanent Principles involved —Remarks on the position assumed, ... 115 124
III. — Records of General Meeting — Extent of the Organization — Conclusions bearing on attitude towards the Church — And towards the State— About Marriages — Attempts to obtain Preachers — Memorials of the Martyrs, 124-133
Contents, ix
SECTION. . PAGE.
IV. — Sir Robert Hamilton — At Drumclog and Bothwell— On the Continent — Renwiek's opinion of him — Before Justiciary Court — Last Message to the Societies, ... 134-139
CHAPTER VI.— The Societies and Rev. John M'Millan, 1706-1743.
I — Mr M'Millan at Balmaghie — His Grievances — His Deposition — Before the Commission of Assembly — Resumes his Ministry — Efforts to silence and expel him, 140-148
II. — Mr M'Millan's dealings with the Societies — His Call — His Ministry a great boon to Societies — His Labours — Mr M'Neil — Their "Protestation and Appeal" — Resistance to Civil Authorities at Balmaghie— A Successor ordained there — Mr M'Millan leaves Church and Manse, 148-159
III. — Protest against the Union — Kersland and the Cameronians — Covenant Renovation at Auchinsaugh — Celebration of the Lord's Supper — Burton on Auchinsaugh Renovation — Troubles within the Societies — Letter to Kirkpatrick, 159 17*2
IV. — The "Representation" to George I. — The Cloud of Witnesses — Mount Herrick Declaration — Conferences with the Seceders — Effect of the Secession upon the Societies — Efforts to obtain assistance to Mr M'Millan 172-183
CHAPTER VII.— The Reformed Presbytery, 1743-1761.
I. —Rev. Thomas Nairn and the Associate Presbytery — The Reformed Presbytery Constituted— General Meeting — Associate Synod and Mr Nairn — Associate Synod and the Reformed Presbytery, 184-193
II.- Fraser of Brea and his Works -Atonement Contro- versy, and Disruption — Notice of Rev. James Hall and his Party — Death and Character of the Rev. John M'Millan, 193-203
III. — The "Judicial Act, Declaration, and Testimony" — Scope and Intention — Its relation to the Secession Testimony and to former Declarations — Terms of Communion, 203-214
Contents.
SECTION. PAGE,
CHAPTER VIII.— Progress, 1761-1810.
1. — The "Four Johns" — John Thorburn— John Courtass —
John Fairley— John M'Millan, 215-226
II. — Disjunctions — Communion Services — Probationers and their Work — Church in Ireland and America — Decisions anent Lawsuits, etc. — Troubles in the Irish Church, 226-237
III. — Controversy with the Secession— Reid and Steven — "Explanation and Defence of the Terms of Com- munion"— "Short Account of the old Dissenters" — Toleration— Limitations in acceptance of Testimony, 237-244
IV. — Ministerial Training — Professor of Theology appointed — Directory for Fellowship Meetings — Public Warn- ings— Charge against the Presbytery of being un- friendly to Foreign Missions, facts of the case — Ministerial Support — Memorial concerning Youth — A Synod to be Constituted — Authorship of the Period -John Howie, 244-258
CHAPTER IX— The Synod, 1810-1839.
I. — State of the Scottish Churches — Action of Synod respecting Religion and Morals — Respecting Christian Union — Change on Terms of Communion — With- drawal of Rev. Jame3 Reid— Death of Professor M'Millan — The Symingtons— Rev. A. Symington, Professor — Synod and Irish Probationers, 259-270
II. — Action of Synod on Public Questions — On Occasional Hearing — Covenanting — Dr Bates and Foreign Mis sions — Mission to Canada— Disputes in Irish and American Churches, ... ... ... ... ... 271 279
III. — The Franchise Question — Decision of Synod — Its Character — Defence of it by Mr Anderson — Publica- tion of the New Testimony— Its Character— Applica- tion of its Principles to present times — Attitude of the Church towards the Voluntary Controversy — And the Non-Intrusion Controversy, ... ... ... 279-295
Contents. xi
SECTION. PAGE.
CHAPTER X.— Disruption, 1839-1863.
I. - Lectures on Second Reformation— Bicentenary of West- minster Assembly — Sympathy with the Free Church —Overture on Union— Interest in Religious Move- ments— Debt Extinction — Ministerial Support — Liberality— New Zealand Mission — New Hebrides Mission— Jewish Mission, 296-308
II. —Death of Professor Andrew Symington— Appointment of Drs W. Symington and Goold— Death of Prof. W. Symington — Professor Binnie — Tercentenary of Reformation — The return of Mr and Mrs Inglis — Progress of the New Hebrides Mission — Losses and Trials of the Mission — Mr Paton in Australia— Mr and Mrs Inglis return to the Mission Field, 308-324
III. — The Franchise Question — Report on Oaths — Discussion revived — Resolutions of Synod — Diversity of opinion on Voting and Discipline — Withdrawal of Dr Cunningham — Committee of Inquiry — Their Report — Overture anent Voting and Discipline— Agitation in the Church — Overture adopted— Withdrawal of Rev. W. Anderson and others, ... ... ... ... 324-340
CHAPTER XI.- Union, 1863-1876.
I. — Union Negotiations begun — Reformed Presbyterian Union Committee appointed — First Report and "Statement of Principles" — Statements on the Covenants — Progress of the Movement— Union on the basis of the Standards agreed to by the other Churches— Refused by the Free Church— Movement checked — Mutual Eligibility Act — Result of Negotiations, 34I-3">(J
II. — Interest in Revivals— Home Missions— Questions for Admission of Members— Revised Formula— Growth of Liberality — Debt Extinction — New Hebrides Mission— The Dayspring Mission Ship— Progress of the Mission— Discouragements— The Labour Traffic- Condition of the Mission in 1876— Rev. Dr Inglis — Livingstonia Mission, 356-367
xii Contents.
SECTION. TAOK.
III.— Friendly attitude of United Presbyterian Synod— Position of Reformed Presbyterian Church— Negotia- tions re-opened with the Free Church — Statements by Reformed Presbyterian Committee — Response of Free Church Committee — Synod resolves to unite with the Free Church — Overture on Union sent down to Presbyteries and Sessions— Similar action of the Free Assembly — Dr Rainy's Speech — Overture for Union adopted by Synod — Arrangement of details — Last Meeting of Synod— The "Act of Union" sanctioned — Overture on Union passed by the Free Assembly — Joint Meeting of the Two Supreme Courts — Union Consummated —Dr Goold's Speech — Evening Meeting of Assembly — Representatives present — Dr Dykes's Speech — Retrospect and Conclusion, 367-385
APPENDIX,
•AOE.
No. I. The Queeusferry Paper, 387
II. Extract from the " Articles of Society," 391
III. The Active Testimony-Bearers and Non-Hearers, ... 393
IV. Notes on Some Early Editions of "The Cloud of Witnesses," 396
V. Sketch of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in Ireland, 397 VI. Sketch of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in
America, 403
VII. Report on Union presented to Synod in 1822, 411
VIII. The Minority Synod and the Ferguson Bequest, .. 414 IX. Statement of Principles by Reformed Presbyterian
Union Committee, 419
X. Principles held in Common by the Negotiating
Churches, 422
XI. Statement by Reformed Presbyterian Union Com- mittee. January, 1875, 424
XII. Statement by Free Church Union Committee.
February, 1875, 429
XIII. The "Act of Union," 430
XIV. Speech of Rev. Dr Goold at the Union, 43-1
XV. List of Ministers of the Reformed Presbyterian
Church in Scotland, 439
Index, 4-13
HISTORY OF THE
REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
IN SCOTLAND.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY — 1560-1660.
Section First.
TT may be affirmed with a large measure of truth, that the -*- history of the Scottish Church from the Reformation to the Revolution is the history of the Scottish nation. All through this long period we find that, on the one hand, the Church through its Assemblies and its ministers took an active interest in the conduct of public affairs, and on the other, that the State was constantly interfering with the policy of the Church. The consequence was, that the two were so closely connected together, the movements and the condition of things in the one department were so vitally affected by those in the other, that it is impossible to read aright the history of the State without taking into account what at the same time was transpiring within the domain of the Church. This state of things arose very much from the circumstances in which the reformation of religion began in Scotland, and the character which it bore from its commencement. It may be said generally, that in England the Reformation started into being under the direct influence of the Crown; but in Scotland, the cause was taken up and carried forward by the nobles and 2
The Reformed Presbyterian Church.
the people in direct opposition to the will of the Sovereign. Doubtless, when Henry the Eighth severed England from the domination of Rome, he was sustained by men far nobler than himself, who were animated by high religious principle, and he had the sympathy and support of a large portion of his subjects. But the Scottish Reformation, though lacking this element of royal patronage and support, yet had a firmer basis in the convictions of the people, was altogether broader and deeper in its nature, and more popular in its character, than was the corresponding movement in the southern kingdom. From the first, the Scottish Church laid claim to a larger measure of freedom and independence of action than was ever dreamed of by the founders of the English Church. The latter was fettered by the ecclesiastical supremacy of the Crown, which was imposed upon it at the beginning of its career, was submitted to by generation after generation, and often gloried in as the very palladium of security. The acceptance of this unscriptural claim tended to sustain the doctrine of passive obedience to the mere will of the Sovereign, to make the Church the creature and servant of the State, and a great buttress of religious exclusiveness and political tyranny. But in Scotland, the Church from the first asserted for itself an exclusive jurisdiction within the sphere of spiritual things, claimed the right to carry out its spiritual functions inde- pendent of the prerogatives of the Crown or the interference of Parliament, and only sought from the State the legal recognition of its jurisdiction, and support and security in the enjoyment of its rights. In this way the Scottish Church fostered the love of freedom among the people, and became, what the Church of England never was, the chief defence of the rights of the people against the encroachments of civil tyranny. While stating thus broadly this general conclusion, it is not meant to assert that, in the course of a struggle stretching over more than a century, and carried on amid varying complications, the Church never acted unwisely. It is freely granted that at times it was too closely entangled
Introductory. 3
with civil affairs, and meddled with matters which did not directly lie within its proper sphere ; and that its claims may sometimes have been presented in a doubtful form, or even pushed to a dangerous extreme. But it still remains true, that, on the whole, the influence of the Scottish Church was favourable to liberty and the rights of the people both civil and ecclesiastical. The form of church government which was adopted has never found much favour with those who believe in the divine right of kings ; it is too democratic to co-exist harmoniously with a system of civil tyranny ; and the claim of spiritual independence is about the last thing that arbitrary rulers are disposed to recognize.
Though we are to concern ourselves in the sequel with the history of only a small section of the Scottish Church, which emerged into separate existence as an ecclesiastical body near the close of the period referred to, when the struggle had risen to supreme intensity ; yet it seems not out of place in itself, and will conduce to a clearer understanding of the position occupied by that section, if we introduce the more limited subject by a brief sketch of the Church between 1560 and 1660, — a period, with whose ecclesiastical leaders and the principles they maintained, the Reformed Presbyterian Church has always claimed to stand in closest affinity. No attempt will be made in this brief survey of a whole eventful century, to enter into a minute detail of facts. Our main purpose is to ascertain as clearly as possible the lines upon which the Scottish Protestant Church was originally constituted, to trace the fortunes of its fundamental principles during the struggle that followed, to mark the progressive advancement to higher attainments at successive epochs, and to realize what was the actual position of the Church, with respect to its claims and distinctive principles, at the close of the first century of its existence. We shall thus be prepared to understand the circumstances which resulted in the formation of the Reformed I Presbyterian Church as a separate religious community, having henceforth a history of its own.
4
The Reformed Presbyterian Church.
During the thirty -five years that preceded 1560, the doctrines of the Reformation had made great progress in Scotland. Despite all the repressive measures that were employed, converts were multiplied among all ranks, and notably among the higher classes. The dangers with which they were surrounded induced the leaders of the Protestants to enter into those leagues for mutual support, and for defence of religion and liberty, which are known as "Bands" or " Covenants." In 1558 civil war broke out between the Queen Regent as the head of the Popish party, and the "Lords of the Congregation" as representing the Protestants. When, through the intervention of England on behalf of the Reforming party, the war was brought to a close, the govern- ment of the country was left practically in the hands of the Protestants. John Knox had meantime returned to his native land, and he threw all his energy into the great work of advancing the cause of truth and liberty. The time had come when the Reformation in Scotland should assume a regular organized form; and the year 1560 is memorable in Scottish history for two meetings which had a most important bearing on the future of the Church. The first of these was the meeting of the Scottish Parliament in August of that year. " The Confession of Faith as Professed and Believed by the Protestants within the realm of Scotland," was presented to the Estates, and was by them ratified and approved as the embodiment of what was henceforth to be regarded as the national religion of Scotland. It was drawn up by Knox and his colleagues, and is an able and vigorous statement of evangelical doctrine ; it continued to be the only standard of orthodoxy adopted by the Scottish Church, till it was superseded by the Westminster Confession and Catechisms. Two other Acts were passed, by one of which the Papal jurisdiction was abolished, and by the other the celebration of the Mass was forbidden under severe penalties. Thus so far as the Legislature could accomplish it, the old religion was set aside and the new was put in its place ; while as yet there
Introductory. 5
was no organized Protestant Church. The next step therefore was to bring this church into regular form ; and this required action on the part of another body than the Parliament of the Kingdom.
Accordingly, the First General Assembly of the Reformed Church of Scotland met in Edinburgh on the 10th of December, 1560. It was not marked by any of the pomp and pageantry that characterized the conclaves where the dignitaries of Rome were gathered ; there was something far better than these. The members were few in number ; but they were the repre- sentatives of the new "life that was beginning to throb in the heart of the Scottish people, — the vanguard of a great and glorious army which through coming times of trial would bravely fight the battle of liberty and religion. This Assembly was not summoned by royal authority — no decree of Parlia- ment called it together ; but in the exercise of its own intrinsic right the Church convened for the furtherance of the Kingdom of Christ within the realm. No representative of royalty or of the state presided over its deliberations ; nor indeed were any such present during the first fourteen Assemblies that were held. It was manifest that the Reformers were not disposed to make the validity of their ecclesiastical acts dependent on the presence or sanction of the civil power ; but they claimed for the Church the right to meet in General Assembly, and to discuss and decide in all spiritual matters by its own authority. When the question respecting the queen's sanction was introduced at the second meeting by Secretary Maitland, it was answered, "If the liberty of the Kirk should depend on the queen's allowance or disallowance, we are assured we shall be deprived not only of Assemblies but of the public preaching of the gospel." "No such thing," said Maitland. " Well, time will try," replied Knox ; " but I will add, take from us the freedom of Assemblies and take from us the evangel ; for without Assemblies how shall good order and unity of doctrine be kept 1 " One step towards the organization of the Church had been taken in the preparation
6
The Reformed Presbyterian Church.
\
of a doctrinal confession ; bub this, however important in itself, did not go far towards the attainment of the desired end. The machinery necessary for maintaining and diffusing the gospel throughout the land must he put in operation ; and in this more than in legal enactments lay the grand security against the restoration of Popery. Accordingly, the first Book of Discipline was prepared ; it was adopted and acted upon by the Assembly, but though it was approved by many members of the Council, it never received legislative sanction. This venerable document bears the unmistakeable stamp of the vigorous, comprehensive and practical mind of John Knox, and is an enduring monument of his statesman-like breadth of view, and of his noble Christian aims. It is referred to here simply as presenting an outline of the ecclesiastical polity of the Reformed Church of Scotland, as that was conceived by Knox and his associates ; and the system therein developed, and the principles set forth were those which the Church through all the subsequent struggles endeavoured to maintain and to perfect. What these were, a few sentences will suffice to show. The form of government was undoubtedly Presby- terian,— the arrangements regarding superintendents and readers being only temporary and designed to meet the urgent necessities of the times, and were dictated more by a supreme desire to promote the spread of evangelical religion, than by any considerations connected with a rigid form of church polity. The rights of the people were distinctly asserted, — " It appertaineth to the people and to every several congregation to elect their minister " ; any deviation from this general rule was only allowed in the special circumstances of the infant state of the Church. The rights of the Church in the admission of ministers were maintained, and none were to be permitted to exercise the office of the ministry, unless duly elected, approved by the Church after due examination, and regularly admitted to the charge. From the first the Headship of Christ over the Church and its direct subjection to His authority was recognized and acted upon. It belonged to the
Introductory. 7
Church under the guidance of Christ speaking in his Word, to decide as to doctrine, worship, discipline and government; who are to be ministers and how admitted ; and who ought to enjoy the privileges of the Church. As a spiritual community having jurisdiction within the sphere of spiritual things, the Church claimed to be free and independent of civil control, owning no authority but that of Jesus Christ. As to the relation between Church and State, according to this document, the early Reformers held that civil rulers had duties to discharge towards religion and the Church, such as involved the subjection of civil authorities to the law of Christ; and while refusing to recognize the interference of the State in sacris, they were prepared to allow to it a considerable sphere circa sacra. Holding fast the principles of evangelical doctrine and Presbyterian government, maintaining the Headship of Jesus Christ, and its own spiritual freedom and independence under Christ as King, and full of zeal in the service of its Lord, the Reformed Church of Scotland began its eventful career in 1560.
During the first seven years of its history the Church was neither established nor endowed ; yet during that short period great progress had been made ; the blessed message of the gospel was carried far and wide through the land, and its agencies vastly increased. In 1560 there were only about 85 Christian labourers in all, ministers and laymen; but in 1567 there were 257 ordained ministers, 455 readers, 151 exhorters, and 5 superintendents ; altogether 868 agents engaged in Christian work. Civil Establishment and partial endowment came in 1567 ; and with this union between Church and State began a struggle on the part of the latter to fetter the liberties of the Church which continued for more than a century. The struggle began about the time of John Knox's death, in 1572, and was initiated by the greed of the nobles, who sought, by the institution of a sort of bastard Episcopate, to secure for themselves a large share of the wealth of the Popish Church. It was afterwards maintained and intensified by the king's
w
8 The Reformed Presbyterian Church.
love of arbitrary power, and his special dislike for the freedom of the Presbyterian Church ; and there were parties within the Church willing to he the tools of the Court in bringing it into bondage. From 1572 to 1592 bishops and archbishops nominated by the State existed in Scotland, but the office was little more than nominal. Those who held it exercised no proper episcopal functions; the General Assembly steadily refused to recognize them as superior to their brethren, and held them to be subject to its authority even though they occupied a seat in Parliament. By and by the office was declared to be unscriptural, and those who had accepted it were required to lay it aside under pain of excommunication. In the case of Montgomery, the Assembly proceeded to this extreme sentence, notwithstanding the threats of the king. The Episcopate of this period was entirely a political creation ; it had no real influence on the procedure of the Church, and may be said indeed to have existed practically outside the Church.
During this epoch and beyond it the celebrated Andrew Melville was the leading spirit in the Presbyterian Church, lie was a worthy successor of John Knox, a man of equal ability and greater learning, and of a more fervid temperament ; as fearless in the assertion of the rights and liberties of the Church, and less fastidious in the mode of doing so. His experience on the Continent, his ripe scholarship, and his position as Principal and Professor, first at Glasgow and then at St. Andrews, gave him great influence in the Councils of the Church. It was largely owing to his efforts that the Second Book of Discipline was drawn up, and after full deliberation, adopted by the Assembly. Identical in point of principle with the earlier work, it develops its teaching on some subjects that had been less fully and clearly treated. It reasserts the Headship of Christ and the spiritual independence of the Church; the system of Presbyterian government is more fully stated, and an attempt is made to define the respective jurisdictions of the Church and the State. Lay
Introductory. &
patronage is more strongly condemned as inconsistent with the popular election of ministers, which is held to have been practized in the primitive church. It is a valuable and authoritative restatement of the ecclesiastical polity of the Keformed Church of Scotland.
Alarmed by rumours of Popish plots, which menaced alike the religious and civil liberties of the land, the famous National Covenant, called also the King's Confession, was in 1580 drawn up by command of the king, and was largely subscribed by all ranks. It consisted of a solemn renunciation of the errors of Popery, an engagement to uphold the Reformed faith, and a pledge to defend the person and authority of the king at all risks in the maintenance of the gospel and of liberty. This memorable event, while it doubtless tended to* deepen the attachment of the people to the Protestant faith, did nothing in the way of settling the controversy between the Church and the civil power. The principles so empha- tically asserted in the Second Book of Discipline were extremely distasteful to the councillors and the king, and they set them- selves to complete the overthrow of the ecclesiastical constitution. What may be regarded as the royal counterblast to the manifesto of the Church is found in the " Black Acts," which were passed by the Parliament of 1584. By these Acts the General Assembly was forbidden to meet without the royal sanction ; all adverse criticism of the proceedings of the king and Council was condemned ; it was declared to be treason to- decline the jurisdiction of the king or the civil courts in any matter civil or ecclesiastical; and all ministers were commanded to own the superiority of the bishops. Nothing could be more clearly at variance with the leading principles of the Church as declared in its standards ; the Headship of Christ- was ignored; the spiritual independence of the Church was condemned ; Presbyterian government was set aside ; and the liberties of the subject were menaced. But there were faithful men in Scotland who could not allow their convictions to be overridden by Acts of Parliament ; and although Melville was-
10 The Reformed Presbyterian Church.
in exile, other ministers fearlessly condemned these Acts from the pulpit, and publicly protested against them in the name of the Church of Scotland, when they were proclaimed at the cross of Edinburgh.
These Acts continued in force for eight years, but in 1592 a strong reaction had set in. In that year a memorable Act was passed, by which Presbytery as developed in the Second Book of Discipline received the sanction of the Legislature. The constitution which the Church had framed for itself was thus recognized and approved by the State as the basis of the Establishment. It is true, that this Act can scarcely be regarded as acknowledging all that the Church had claimed ; but it certainly went a long way in that direction. Lay patronage was modified but not abolished ; while the right of the Assembly to meet of its own accord was not fully conceded. It was declared to be lawful for the Assembly to meet twice a year or oftener pro re nata ; but if the King or his Commis- sioner was present it devolved on him to fix the next meeting, and only in his absence could the Assembly do so. The phraseology employed with reference to the rights and liberties of the Church is, to say the least, unfortunate. It ratifies and approves all "liberties, privileges, immunities and freedoms which were given and granted by his Highness to the true and holy Kirk presently established." But the Church of Scotland had never owned that any spiritual rights were derived from the State ; and only when given and granted are taken in a non-natural sense as equivalent to recognized as belonging to the Church, can this clause be regarded as free from an implied claim to interfere in spiritual matters. At the same time, the Act does recognize the privileges that God has given to the spiritual office-bearers in the Kirk, concerning heads of religion, matters of heresy, collation or deprivation of ministers, etc. Notwithstanding the defects, which at various points it is possible to find in it as the legal guarantee of the rights of the Church, this Act of 1592 was welcomed as a great boon ; and considering the amount of freedom which it did secure —
Introductory. 11
its emphatic recognition of the power and jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical courts, and the relief which it gave from perplex- ities and troubles — we cannot wonder that it was so heartily received. If it had continued to be observed as it was for a few years after it passed, the people of Scotland would have been saved a vast amount of suffering. Whether we may now set much value on these legal guarantees, or whether we may doubt the expediency of them, as almost necessarily involving more or less a right on the part of the State to interfere in Church matters, is not the question. In those days it was deemed right and necessary to have them ; there behoved to be a national establishment of religion, for no one •dreamt of a church existing and doing effective work without State recognition and support. This Act of 1592 has been regarded as the Magna Charta of the Scottish ecclesiastical establishment : it was revived at the Revolution, and continues in force to the present day.
It seemed that now at last the Church of Scotland was settled on a firm constitutional basis ; what it had claimed and struggled for during thirty years was now recognized and sanctioned by the law of the land. But whatever hopes were entertained of continued rest and prosperity were destined only too soon to be disappointed. Meanwhile, the zealous ministers devoted themselves diligently to the work of the gospel. A great mistake would be made, as we look back to these times, if it be thought that the energies of the Church were all but exclusively concentrated on public matters, that the one thing that occupied the attention of the Church Courts was, how to secure the recognition of the claim to independent jurisdiction — the status and provision of an Established Church. These things were esteemed of great value in themselves, and worth contending for, inasmuch as they touched the honour of Christ as the only Head of the Church ; and the noble men who strove to obtain them realized that they were intimately related to the spiritual interests of the people and the progress of true religion. These latter were the objects that lay nearest
12 The Reformed Presbyterian Church.
to their hearts ; and to the furtherance of them they laboured diligently in their several spheres. The men who took the most prominent part in the public affairs of the Church were not only men of ability and learning but of earnest piety ; zealous not only for the public interests of the Church, but intensely devoted to the spiritual work of the ministry. None were more devout and God-fearing, none whose lives more commended the gospel of Christ, none were more thoroughly consecrated to the duties of the pastorate, than those who fear- lessly defended the scriptural freedom and rights of the Church against the arbitrary encroachments of the State. Not to speak of the Melvilles, such were Bruce of Kinnaird, Davidson of Prestonpans, Welch of Ayr, and many others who both laboured and suffered in the cause of Christ.
Section Second.
Notwithstanding the legal guarantees of the Act of 1592r securing the rights and privileges of the Church, the old controversy was speedily revived. It was with reluctance that the king had consented to it, and in a very few years he began to destroy that which he had so unwillingly conceded. There is little reason to suppose that, even though the phrase- ology of the Act recognizing the liberties of the Church had been faultless, it would have prevented the subsequent encroach- ments of the king. The love of arbitrary power, and the penchant for interfering in church affairs, were too strong in James VI. to be restrained by even the most exact definitions or regulations of any statute. Scarcely had the Assembly of 1596 come to a close — an Assembly memorable for the renewal of the National Covenant and for the intense religious feeling which pervaded it, and which spread widely among the people — an Assembly which Calderwood characterizes as the last of the sincere Assemblies of the Church of Scotland, — ere the king began to undermine the church's liberties. How he induced the Assembly to appoint Commissioners to advise with him
Introductory. 13
regarding the interests of the Church, persuaded Parliament to declare the representatives of the Church to be the Third Estate of the realm, and the Church to consent to these being called bishops: how he called, prorogued and discharged Assemblies by his own authority, bribed and intimidated the members and packed the meetings with those prepared to fall in with his plans ; how he constrained these illegal Assemblies to allow bishops to be constant Moderators in Presbyteries and Synods ; established a High Commission Court to exercise a summary authority over those opposed to the new order of things ; procured by most unscrupulous means the adoption of the Articles of Perth and their subsequent sanction by Parliament ; — into all this crafty and tyrannous procedure it is not necessary to enter. Suffice it to say, that before the death of James, the whole ecclesiastical system of Scotland was changed, and the Act of 1592 trampled under foot. Presbytery had given place to Episcopacy, the spiritual freedom and independence of the Church had vanished, and it lay prostrate and helpless at the feet of the king ; the Headship of Christ was ignored, and the ecclesiastical supremacy of the king was established ; and the General Assembly, which had of old proved so powerful an opponent to the arbitrary measures of the Crown, had altogether ceased to meet. Yet all this was not attained without strenuous opposition on the part of the more zealous and faithful ministers. When through the unfaithfulness and timidity of the majority and the unscrupu- lous dealings of the king, the corrupt Assemblies yielded up the freedom of the Church, acknowledged the king's supremacy and bowed to the yoke of prelacy, yet the protest against these evils was continued till Assemblies ceased to meet. The Melvilles, Black, Davidson, and Bruce, and the faithful few who met in Assembly at Aberdeen and refused to dissolve without appointing another meeting ; the protesting minority in the packed Assemblies called by the king, others who in subordinate courts resisted the measures of the Crown, and those who through those dismal years suffered loss, imprison-
\w
14
The Reformed Presbyterian Church.
+
V
ment or banishment rather than bow to the yoke, — all these were more or less fully and decidedly witnesses for the true principles of the Scottish Church. By speech, by vote, by public protestation or by suffering, they testified for the freedom of the Church and the prerogatives of Christ. It was by such men mainly that the spiritual life of the people was sustained ; their ministry had the seal of God, and here and there throughout the land times of refreshing were enjoyed.
It is well to remember that although Presbytery was over- thrown and Episcopacy established, though the king exercised an ecclesiastical supremacy utterly at variance with the Head- ship of Christ, the Church had never in any free regular Assembly endorsed these proceedings. It was put under coercion, to which it is not to its credit that it yielded, even though sullenly and unwillingly. The action of the corrupt Assemblies of this period can in no true sense be held as expressing the unfettered judgment of the Church on such matters. As soon as opportunity was given freely to deal with them, a very different result was seen. But the patience of the Church and people of Scotland had yet to be more severely tried, and a nobler race of men prepared through the grace of God for the work, ere the day of deliverance came. That time was hastened by the infatuated obstinacy and blind bigotry of Charles First. Every one even slightly acquainted with the history of the period knows, that discontent and anxiety were produced by his conduct in civil affairs ; and this, combined with grave fears awakened regarding the interests of religion, boded ill for future years. His great aimr under the guidance of Laud, was to assimilate the Scottish more completely to the English Church. To obliterate the small remnants of Presbytery that lingered in Scotland, a Book of Canons was prepared ; and to regulate worship, a new Liturgy was drawn up and imposed by royal authority. The attempt to enforce the use of the Liturgy produced great excitement and indignation throughout the land. It was not that there was any objection to the reading of public prayers,
Introductory. 15
for Knox's Liturgy had continued in use more or less up to this time, though it was not obligatory, nor was it used by the ministers, but only by the readers. But this new book was offensive in itself, on account of its nearer approximation to the Popish Mass-l)ook, and awakened afresh the dread of a restored Popery ; and the manner in which it was imposed added to the offence. Many serious innovations had already been introduced, vitally affecting the constitution, government, and discipline of the church ; but hitherto no attempt had been made to alter its form of worship. This was a matter with which the people were more airectly concerned, it came home to their personal religious life ; and however quietly they had borne what preceded, and might have continued to bear, to this new encroachment they were not prepared to submit. There appears also to have been a wide-spread spiritual awakening, and over all the country, south of the Grampians- especially, a wave of dee]) religious enthusiasm passed. In the Providence of God, moreover, a band of noble men had arisen, full of zeal alike for religion and civil freedom, both of which were manifestly threatened by the course pursued by the Government. The prevailing excitement found expression and stimulus in the renewal of the National Covenant in March, 1638. To the original document of 1580 a new bond was added, in which the subscribers bound themselves to " adhere to and defend the true religion, and forbearing the practice of all innovations already introduced into the worship of God, and to labour by all means lawful to recover the purity and liberty of the gospel, as it was professed and established before the aforesaid innovations." This was a great religious and constitutional deed, by which the people freely pledged themselves to the cause of religion and liberty ; it took place at a critical time ; it awakened the slumbering memories of the past, intensified the popular enthusiasm, and nerved for the struggles of the future. The object of the Covenanters indicated in the bond, was significant of the drift of opinion; and in the Assembly of 1638 this avowed
hh*
tf
16 The Reformed Presbyterian Church.
purpose was largely realized. This famous Assembly marks m\ important epoch in the history of the Church of Scotland. Not for twenty years had any Assembly met, and we must go twenty years further back ere we reach such as were free and legally constituted. This meeting bore ample evidence of the reawakened spiritual life of Scotland and of a fresh stirring of the old national spirit of liberty. It were pleasant to dwell upon the scene as ministers and elders gathered within the High Church in Glasgow, and to recall the person, character and work of the more prominent members whose names and memories abide fresh among us ; — of Henderson and Dickson, •of Loudon, Argyll and Warriston, and many others of Scotland's noblest and best by birth and worth. The Assembly had been called by royal authority ; but when, early in the proceedings, the royal Commissioner attempted to dissolve it, he was answered with a distinct refusal by the Moderator. When he withdrew, the following Protestation was pre- sented in behalf of the Assembly by the Earl of Rothes ; "In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the only Head and Monarch of His Church, from a consciousness of our duty to God and His truth, the king and his honour, the kingdom and her peace, this Assembly and her freedom, and the safety of -ourselves and our posterity in our persons and estates, we profess with sorrowful and heavy but loyal hearts, we cannot dissolve this Assembly." Thus fearlessly and decidedly was the ground of the Scottish Church taken up anew ; thus •clearly did the Assembly send forth the old watchword, — subjection to Christ the only Head, and freedom from the domination of the State in all spiritual matters. In the face of the tyrant the Church stood forth to claim and to exercise that spiritual independence which is its birthright, the liberty wherewith Christ has made it free. In the short space of a month, the whole ecclesiastical fabric, towards the erection of which all the resources of force and kingcraft had been devoted for forty years, was swept away. Episcopacy was abolished .and Presbytery restored as it was in 1592, the Canons,
fl
Introductory. 17
Liturgy and Articles of Perth were set aside, and all the Assemblies from 1@06 to 1618 were declared null and unlawful. When this memorable Assembly closed, the Church of Scotland was once more Presbyterian and free, and that by its own proper action. After forty years of trial and bondage, of sad declension, and culpable acquiescence in the will of the sover- eign, the old principles were more emphaticalty reasserted than ever, and in due time they received anew the sanction of the Legislature. Henceforth the Assembly continued to meet and discuss all matters within its sphere without waiting for the summons of the king. Thus was the SecondTfeformation (by which Prelacy was abjured) inaugurated ; and by all who realize how deeply the interests of spiritual religion were effected by this movement, how closely it was connected with the vigour and prosperity of the Church as a divine institution, how intimately it was bound up with the progress of both civil and religious liberty, and how noble and inspiring were the aims of its chief promoters, it will be acknowledged to be worthy of this designation.
During all the troubles of subsequent years the Scottish Church held fast its position, and consolidated and advanced its work. Common dangers, and to no small extent, common religious sympathies drew together the Covenanters of Scotland and the friends of liberty and Reformation in England. This community of interest found expression first of all in the Solemn League and Covenant of the three kingdoms, entered 1 into in 1643. This famous document, which was not properly speaking a church deed, was drawn up by Alexander Henderson, was sworn to by the Assembly and Parliament of Scotland, and was also adopted by the Westminster Assembly and the English Parliament. That it exercised a very important influ- ence on the course of public events for a few years, uniting as it did all the friends of liberty in one common bond, cannot be called in question. It was entered into with great enthu- siasm by all classes, and wras made the test of loyalty to the cause of religion and liberty. It is in itself a noble document, 3
•M
18 The Reformed Presbyterian Church.
inspired by devotion to the honour of Christ, the interest of religion, and the well-being of society. In its form and substance it was quite characteristic of the time when, and the men by whom, it was drawn up. In its substance it was partly civil and partly religious, and was thus appropriate to an age arm condition of things in society, in which religious and civil interests, the affairs of the Church and those of the State, were united and commingled in a way and to an extent that scarce any other age has seen. It was like the age in not being quite free from the spirit of intolerance, which, notwithstanomg all efforts to explain ' it away as referring to principles and practices rather than persons, and to moral means rather than coercion, cannot be wholly exorcised from one of its articles. It was ordained to be taken by all ranks under severe penalties, and though it is true that this never entailed any serious hardship, yet the mere passing of such a law was itself of a coercive nature, — and it is certain, from their avowed sentiments, that those who supported the Covenant were favourable to the employment of strong measures against those who differed from them. Yet are we bound to take into consideration the critical circumstances of the times, and the fact that for the most part those who were the enemies of the Covenant were the foes of religion and liberty, and that it was therefore a rea- sonable and justifiable mode of securing the privileges of the Church and nation against those who were prepared to use any means whatever to destroy them. The Solemn League was eminently worthy of the men and of the time, in its assertion of the essential principles of constitutional govern- ment, in the noble spirit of liberty which it breathes, in its homage to the supremacy of Qhrist, to the truths of God's word, and the interests of religion and personal godliness, and riot "less worthy of regard for its far-reaching aims regarding the spread of religion and the unity of the Kingdom of Christ ; in its original purpose it was above all a bond of union. In Scotland especially the Covenant gathered round it the
Introductory. 19
intensest devotion ; and when days of darkness and persecution came, the memories of the past with which this venerable deed was identified, sustained an enthusiastic attachment to the principles it embodies, as well as to the document itself ; for these many were willing to dik, Christ and His Church, the king and the commonwealth, law and liberty, morality and religion, and God supremein every sphere; these were its leading ideas, and gave it life and power.
The community of feeling and interest between the Cove- nanters and the Puritans found further expression in the pres- ence of Scottish Commissioners in the Westminster Assembly. With this great convocation we have no further concern in this place than to notice, how the documents it issued gave fresh emphasis to the principles for which the Scottish Church had contended from the beginning of its history. The West- minster Standards were carefully considered and cordially accepted by the General Assembly as the confession of the Church's faith, and in this respect superseded the earlier document of 1560. In so 'accepting them the Church anew bore testimony to the exclusive Headship of Christ, to the freedom and spiritual independence of the Church, and the rights of the Christian people. It declared its belief that the civil power owes allegiance to Christ, is bound to frame its laws in accordance with the Word of God, and that magistrates have important duties to discharge towards religion and the Church. On one point in connection with this latter subject, the Assembly introduced a caveat, and on other points it has come to be generally recognized that the doctrine of the Confession is too strongly stated. Regarding these great matters above-mehfioned^ along with Presbyterian Church government, the Westminster Standards are in full harmony with the ecclesiastical polity of the Church of Scotland from the Reformation downwards. It had always condemned patronage, but had never quite got rid of it ; in 1649, however, that grievance was altogether removed by an Act of Parliament, and by this Act the Second Reformation was completed.
\h
20 The Reformed Presbyterian Church.
Its stability was very soon put to the test. It was soon discovered that it was no easy matter, amid the perplexities of those troublous times and the fierce conflict of parties, to secure steadfast and harmonious action in carrying out the obligations of the Covenant. The frequency with which the Assembly passed Acts and issued Declarations and Warnings anent Covenant Subscription and the treatment of those who refused, seems to mark a waning zeal among the people. What with the lukewarmness of friends, the open opposition of the adherents of arbitrary government at home, and the rapid growth of Independency in England, the difficulties of the Church increased from year to year. For some time Parliament and Assembly went cordially together ; the former readily endorsing the decrees of the latter, while the Assembly freely gave its advice or passed its judgment on political actions, so far at least as they seemed to affect the interests of religion. It condemned and declared unlawful and sinful the Act of the Parliament of 1648, approving Hamilton's move- ment for the rescue of Charles First. On the other hand, it .approved the Act of Classes of 1649, whereby all who were | not of the stricte7~p!5rttoU'ortheXIovenanters, all who had in any degree supported Hamilton's expedition, and all who were guilty of immorality, of Sabbath profanation, of neglecting divine worship, etc., were declared unfit to be in the army, or on the bench, or to occupy any office under government. All belonging to the classes specified in the Act were, because of their defections, political or moral, put under ecclesiastical discipline, and arrangements were made for removing all such, until the Church saw good reason to free them from its censures. This extreme measure, though it may possibly be explained and vindicated by the peculiar circumstances of the times, could not fail to awaken feelings of indignation and a sense of injustice in those who were thus excluded. It practically made the Church the judge as to who should be the rulers of the land, and to that extent made it a political^ body. It embodied doubtless the conception entertained by
Introductory. 21
its authors as to what should be the character and qualifications of civil rulers in a Christian State : and was designed to be a safeguard of what was held to be most precious — religion and liberty ; yet it could hardly fail to act as a sort of premium on hypocrisy, and to bring Church discipline itself into contempt. It contemplated a high ideal when it insisted that a soldier was only to be permitted to serve in the army, on much the same conditions as would warrant a church in admitting him to the Lord's Table. Theoretically a very desirable state of things was aimed at, thorough Christian character in every sphere of life ; but the method adopted for realizing this aim seems dangerously near the Popish idea of making the Church dominate over the State.
The position of the Church in relation to this Act became very unfortunate when the young king, to whom, not without much misgiving, it had pledged allegiance, reduced to great straits by Cromwell, sought the advice of the Church. Courts as to its relaxation and afterwards as to its repeal. The Commission and General Assembly passed resolutions practically granting what the royalists desired. This was done in the face of a strong minority, and thereby was . kindled, within the bosom of the Church, the lamentable 1 1 controversy between the Resolutioners and the Protestors, which continued to be waged with great keenness till the Restoration. The former party had among them men of high character and worth, some of whom afterwards regretted the position they had taken in this controversy. They were more tolerant in the application of their principles; among them the Second Charles found afterwards many of his willing tools, and they constituted the bulk of those who accepted the Indulgences and Toleration. The Protestors held firmly to the principle of the Act of Classes — no association with malignants, was one of the watchwords of the party then, and continued to be so to those that followed them. They included many of the most learned, earnest, and faithful ministers, and furnished the larger proportion of the sufferers
V
22 The Reformed Presbyterian Church.
and martyrs of later years. The General Assembly, disliking the Kepublicanism, and still more the Independency of Cromwell, was by him summarily dismissed and forbidden to meet ; but otherwise the great Protector left the Church free to do its work, and the time of his rule seems to have been a season of much earnest and fruitful labour.
Looking back over the period now sketched, and considering the action of the Church, whenever it was in a position to choose and to act, free from the constraint of the civil power, there is no room for doubt as to its principles and aims. As to government, it had always decided in favour of Presbytery. Equally certain is it that there was claimed for it an independent spiritual jurisdiction, with which the State had no right to interfere. Within that sphere, which included doctrine, worship, discipline, and government, the Church owned no Head but the Lord Jesus Christ, and no rule but His Word. It maintained the right of the people to choose their own pastors, and the right of the Church to meet in Assembly without the sanction of the Sovereign. It entered into the testimony of the Church, that Christ is King of nations, that rulers in a Christian land are bound to regulate their official procedure according to His will, that they have a duty to discharge towards religion and the Church, and this being so, that they should be possessed of such moral qualifications as Scripture sets forth. As to the particular form of action on the part of the State towards religion and the Church, it is certain that no department of the Church in our times, while approving of the general principle, commits itself wholly to the position or action of our Reformers either in the earlier or later stages of the Reformation. Our forefathers, placed in perilous circumstances, which in modern criticism of their conduct are often but little understood or appreciated, had a very difficult task to perform. And while we are not called on to endorse all they said or did, it is well to consider the noble ideal of a Christian Church and Christian State which they contemplated, but failed to realize; to
Introductory. 23
admire the lofty spirit by which they were animated ; and to recognize the great principles which they held and to which they sought to give effect in all their contendings.
24 The Reformed Presbyterian Church.
CHAPTER II.
its origin— 1660-1680.
Section First.
A T the Restoration of Charles II. to the throne of Britain -*--*- in 1660, the position of the Scottish Church was exactly the same as at the close of the Second Reformation in 1649. It was an evangelical, free, covenanted, Presbyterian Church. Its spiritual jurisdiction was recognized by the State, its government and doctrinal standards were approved and sanctioned by legal enactments, and the yoke of patronage was abolished. During the Protectorate, no attempt was made to set aside any of the civil guarantees of the constitution and privileges of the Church. Cromwell did, indeed, for political reasons, prohibit the meetings of the General Assembly ; but otherwise he did not interfere with Church affairs. Presbyteries and Synods continued to meet and discharge their proper ecclesiastical functions j and in these Courts many a keen conflict took place between the Resolutioners and Protestors. It is our duty now to indicate, as briefly as possible, how the constitution of the Church was set aside ; how its privileges were rudely taken away, and it was again brought into bondage ; and how divisions arose among the Presbyterians. In doing this, it will not be necessary to recall at length the oft-told story of the dismal years from 1660 to 1680. It is a story that will never lose its interest so long as religion exists in its life and power, and the love of righteousness and liberty survives among the children of men ;
Its Origin. 25
and there are times when it is very necessary both to recall the facts, and to impress the lessons which they teach. At present, it is only needful to deal with the facts, so far as they help us distinctly to understand what was peculiar in the position of that party among the persecuted Presbyterians, of which the Re7oTmecTT)resbj;terian Church has always claimed to be the legitimate ecclesiastical successor.
Knowing, as they had too good reason to know, the worthless character of the king, and distrusting the party that was mainly instrumental in effecting his restoration, the best men in the Scottish Church — those most deeply interested, not only in the preservation of its rights and privileges, but in the progress of spiritual religion — could hardly fail to have serious misgivings as to the immediate future. This was especially the case with the party of Protestors, and all too soon were their forebodings verified ; for upon them first, and most heavily, fell the rod of the oppressor. Within little more than a year after the Restoration, their two most prominent and influential leaders, the Marquis of Argyle and the Rev. James Guthrie, were led to the scaffold. The real crime in both cases was not any violation of law, but zeal in the cause of reformation and liberty. It was very soon discovered that whatever trust the Presbyterians may have been disposed to place in a covenanted king, was doomed to disappointment; and that Acts of Parliament were a very insecure guarantee of religion and liberty, when the spirit of freedom languishes among the people, and the government is in the hands of selfish and unscrupulous men. The character of the men who were at this time entrusted with the management of Scottish affairs, boded ill for the interests alike of Church and State, of civil and religious liberty. With Middleton at the head of the executive ; and Sharp, the emissary of the Church, basely plotting its overthrow, and seeking place and power for himself, — the outlook for Scottish Presbytery was dark indeed. Men such as these formed the majority of the base
26
The Reformed Presbyterian Church.
subservient Parliament, by whose instrumentality the king carried out his purpose of overthrowing the Church which he had sworn to maintain. The first step was to deprive the Church of all the legal guarantees of its constitution and government, and in one short session every obstacle of this nature was removed. *Fhe king was declared to be supreme in all matters civil and ecclesiastical ; an oath of allegiance was adopted affirming this, and making the denial of it treasonable ; the Covenants were pronounced to be unlawful oaths, and no longer binding on any ; all meetings for either civil or ecclesiastical purposes, and all rising in arms without the king's authority, were declared to be treason ; and it was affirmed, that it belonged to the Crown by inherent right to decide all questions affecting the discipline and government of the Church. And then, to clear the whole ground at one sweep, instead of repealing a great number of separate Acts, this miserable Parliament passed the A^^Racjssory^ by which all the Parliaments of the Second Reformation period were declared to have been seditious meetings, and all their legislative Acts were annulled. The result of this infamous Act was that neither the Covenant nor the government and doctrinal standards of the Church had any civil sanction, and matters were virtually brought back to the status quo of 1638, before the meeting of the General Assembly of that year. Every attempt at protest, remonstrance or petition, against these reckless high-handed proceedings, was summarily put down by the strong hand of the government.
Following upon this came the intimation from the king that he regarded Presbyterian government as inconsistent with monarchy, and that it was his intention to interpose his royal authority for "the Restoration of the Church of Scotland to its right government by bishops, as it was before the late troubles." Parliament at once proceeded to put the royal will into legislative Acts ; it abolished Presbytery and restored Episcopacy, forbade the meeting of the Church Courts, and decreed that imprisonment was to be the reward of all who
•/
Its Origin. 27
dared to speak or write against the new order of things, ^a Thus Episcopacy rose with a rapidity equal to its former fall ; only, in the latter case, the change was accomplished by the Church itself in the exercise of its rightful authority, while in the present instance, it was carried out by Parliament in obedience to the mere will of the king, and the Church was never consulted at all. James VI. did his utmost to secure the consent of the Church to his innovations, and failed to do so in any true sense ; but Charles II., stronger and more reckless of consequences, exercised his supremacy to the full, and utterly ignored any rights on the part of the Church. Thus easily did Presbytery fall ; not because it was distasteful to the great body of the people, not because of their preference for Episcopacy, as the dismal history of the years that followed indubitably shows ; but as the result of internal divisions and animosities, of the treacherous dealings of some and the indifference of others, of the audacity of the Government in boldly carrying out its intentions, together with other influences connected with the diminished vigour of religion and the increase of immorality among the people, which marked the epoch of the Restoration.
Bishops having been appointed to the several sees, it behoved that due honour should be given to them by the attendance of the ministers at their courts ; and to secure this the civil power had to interpose its authority. The law of patronage being again in operation, it was decreed that all ministers who had been ordained since 1649 should receive a presentation from the patron and collation from the bishop. As great numbers showed no disposition thus easily to renounce their Presbyterianism at the bidding of the State, a monstrous decree was issued by the Scottish Council, by which it was ordained that all those who did not submit before the 1st of November, 1662, should leave their churches and manses, lose the portion of stipend then due, and remove beyond the bounds of their Presbyteries. It was characteristic of men such as those who then ruled Scotland, to scoff at the idea of men
28 The Reformed Presbyterian Church.
giving up all they had for conscience' sake. Great therefore was their chagrin and amazement, when on that day 350 ministers chose rather to suffer than obey this iniquitous Taw.' It was a noble testimony to the rights of conscience and the power of religion, similar to that borne by the two thousand, who a few months before had been driven from the English Church by the Act of Uniformity. The blow fell mainly on the younger, more vigorous and popular portion of the ministers, located for the most part in the West and South of Scotland : and the self-denial demanded was great. Winter was close at hand, no time was allowed to make any provision for the support of themselves and families, yet, at the call of duty, they never hesitated to make the sacrifice. In so acting, they bore emphatic testimony to the time-honoured principles of the Scottish Church, to the royal prerogatives of Christ, the freedom and independence of the Church and the rights of the people. They declared their approbation of Presbytery and rejected Episcopacy, and with it the yoke of patronage and the impious ecclesiastical supremacy of the Crown. No nobler act is recorded in the heroic pages of Scottish history, and no more memorable Sabbath had dawned since the Reformation, than that on which these faithful pastors took farewell of their flocks. It needed no more than this act of self-denial to rouse the people from the lethargy into which they had largely sunk, and to secure for the outed ministers a higher place than ever in their hearts. The ancient spirit was not dead ; and however quietly the legislative undoing of the work of reformation had been borne, now that the practical results of that course came home to the people in such a form as this, touching their spiritual interests and hallowed associations, they were no longer apathetic. All that was best and truest in the religious life of Scotland rallied round the outed ministers, and, at vast risk and loss, sustained them in their protest and sufferings through long and gloomy years. We wonder less at this when we find among the ejected, men of such high character, distinguished ability, devoted piety and evangelistic
Its Origin. 29
fervour, as Welch and Blackadder, Cargill and Peden, Semple and Wellwood.
This was the first stage of that active persecution, which with varying degrees oF intensity continued during the next twenty-six years. If after this tyrannical act was accomplished the civil authorities had been content to let matters alone, — if the bishops had been satisfied to rule the Church now moulded to their mind, and to leave the outed ministers to exercise their office if they felt called on to do so, — if the people had been permitted freely to choose between the curates and their old pastors, it would have prevented incalculable wrong and suffering. But anything so reasonable as this was not in harmony with the spirit of the age, least of all was it in keeping with the character and spirit of the ruling powers. Uniformity was the dream of all parties in those days ; the Solemn League and Covenant bound its adherents to strive for it; the Covenanters in their day of power vigorously endeavoured to realize it, and now the civil power attempted to enforce it in a more summary way. We may not approve of all the steps taken by the Covenanters to realize their ideal, but all now unite in condemnation of the means employed ^ i , * by the government of Charles II. to impose the yoke of civil y • and religious bondage on the people of Scotland.
Having thus overthrown the constitution and destroyed the liberty of the Church, the authorities went on to more coercive measures. After a time, many of the ejected ministers felt constrained to resume their work, at first privately and then more openly. There was a craving among the people for the gospel which they had been wont to hear from their former pastors, and which they did not get from the curates who had been installed in the vacant parishes. Hence originated the field conventicles which began in 1663, and were sometimes attended by vast numbers. This roused the bishops and the Council to more active efforts to compel the people to attend the ministrations of the curates, and to put an end to the field preaching of the Presbyterian ministers.
30 The Reformed Presbyterian Church.
To preach without the sanction of the bishop was declared to be sedition ; and to hear any unlicensed preacher was visited with fines, imprisonment, and other forms of oppression. But all was in vain ; and equally ineffective was the erection of a High Commission Court, whose tyrannical procedure and unjust and cruel sentences, extending even to banishment and slavery, so shocked public feeling as to bring about its abolition in two years. It is unnecessary to repeat the story of the arbitrary decrees, the military cruelties, plunderings and oppressions which led up to what is called the "Pentland Rising," in 1666, the aim of which was to obtain redress of the terrible grievances under which the country groaned, for the removal of which all ordinary constitutional means were denied them. It was an unpremeditated, unwise and unfortunate movement, condemned by the great body of the Presbyterians; but it was a symptom of the extremities to which the people were being driven by the tyranny of the government. Its failure only aggravated the sufferings of the persecuted ; the dragoons under Dalziel swept through the western counties, despoiling, fining, scourging, torturing, killing, without any distinction of age or sex. Great numbers were executed ; and many more, driven from their homes, wandered cold and hungry among the hills and moors. By and by relief came, the standing army was reduced, the people were, to some extent, freed from the unlicensed cruelties of the soldiers, and the existing laws were not enforced with the same remorseless barbarity.
A change had come in the administration of Scottish affairs, and it would seem that the government had begun to realize that the oppressive measures of past years had not done much to bring the people into sympathy with the Prelatic Church. Another mode of accomplishing the same end was resorted to, which, though plausible and apparently moderate, yet had the effect in the end of greatly aggravating the sufferings of the faithful Covenanters. In 1669, the first Indulgence, as it was called, was published. By this royal decree, authority
;
Its Origin. 31
was given to the Scottish Council to admit such of the ejected ministers as they thought proper to the vacant parishes, under certain restrictions both as to the exercise of their ministry and as to the means of temporal support; the privileges of those who accepted being increased in proportion to the extent to which they were prepared to commit themselves to the established system. Another Indulgence of similar nature was published later. The temptation thus held out by an apparently friendly hand, proved too strong for many of the poor outed ministers. For nearly seven years many of them had led a very hard life, and had refrained from the exercise of their office j but now a door was opened whereby, even without submitting to Episcopal ordination, or giving attendance at the bishop's court, they might at least preach to the people of the parish, and receive a share of the emoluments ; and not a few accepted this as a boon. At the same time it is evident, that in resuming their work under such conditions, they were acting in contradiction to the undoubted principles of the Church of Scotland in its best days. They accepted from the civil power that which, according to the authoritative Standards of the Church, that power could neither give nor take away ; they submitted to the usurped supremacy of the Crown, and laid themselves open to continual interference on the part of the State with the discharge of their official duties. Their conduct in this matter could not fail, if it was not also intended by the authors of the scheme, to produce a serious breach in the Presbyterian ranks ; the more faithful part would stand aloof more or less from the Indulged, and bitterness of feeling would be intensified as controversy arose between them. On the other hand, this Indulgence could only be the occasion of more severe trials to those who refused to accept it. Thus the Presbyterians were divided into two parties, the Indulged and the Non-Indulged, and a painful strife with unfaithful brethren was added to the trials which the more zealous had to endure at the hand of their enemies.
yh
\
ff
32 The Reformed Presbyterian Church.
After all, this method failed to put an end to field preaching or to secure for Prelacy the sympathy and support of the people; and with the return of "Sharp to power, the former oppressions and cruelties were resorted to in an increased degree. Conventicles were branded as rendezvous of rebellion to be put down by any means j the soldiers were once more let loose on a peaceful people, and iniquitous and ensnaring bonds were exacted from landlords and magistrates, masters and heads of families, making these responsible for all who were under them. Then began that system of intercommuning particular individuals, which continued till the Eevolution, and which in its shocking inhumanity exceeds all the cruelties of this cruel time. For by these edicts every one was forbidden under severe penalties to " reset, supply or hold any intercourse with the intercommuned person, be he father or husband, brother or son,'— to furnish them with meat, drink, shelter or clothing, or to have intelligence with them by word, writ or message or any other manner of way." Who can estimate the misery and suffering that were caused by such barbarous edicts 1 Is it to be wondered at that, assailed in their dearest rights, interrupted in the peaceable worship of God in the fields and desolate places of the land, driven from their families, cut off from all the amenities of life, and exposed on every hand to the hazard of their lives, the people, who had courage thus to meet, should sometimes carry arms for their own defence against wanton wrong 1 So it was under the pressure of extreme persecution that the armed conventicle came into existence. It can easily be understood how it should be regarded as a menace, a foreshadow of active rebellion, by such a government as then ruled Scotland. It was at least a very significant form of protest on the part of men who valued truth, conscience, and liberty more than life, against the whole spirit and procedure of the rulers, and it might grow to be a source of serious danger. To crush if possible the spirit of the people, a host of savage Highlanders was sent into the western counties. For months they plundered
Its Origin. 33
and destroyed at their will • and the memory of that terrible visitation lingered long in that district of the country. Yet despite all efforts to destroy it, the armed conventicle continued.
Irritated by repeated failure, Sharp proposed another measure more severe than any yet tried, in the hope of finally crushing the hated thing and fully establishing both tyranny and Episcopacy. He was about to proceed to London to obtain the king's sanction to his proposal, when he was assassinated near St. Andrews. This was the act of a few extreme misguided men driven almost mad by persecution; but it pleased the government to regard the whole party as implicated ; and it afforded an excuse for increasing the already almost intolerable bitterness of the persecution. The rulers professed to be terribly scandalized by the violent death of one man, an Archbishop ; but it was nothing to them that this same man had been largely responsible for the death of hundreds of men, guiltless of any crime but that of seeking to serve God according to conscience and to live quiet and godly lives. Ere long the last proposal of Sharp for stamping out Conven- ticles received the royal assent. The sum of this measure was, that any man who was found in arms going to or returning from a Conventicle, or who might be supposed to be i doing so, should be shot on the spot without form of trial, and that by the meanest officer in the army. The furnace was ' speedily heated seven times j a new tax was imposed, called the cess, for the avowed purpose of supporting the troops \^* engaged in the persecution ; and the army was increased and placed under the command of Graham of Claverhouse, who implemented his instructions with interest.
Evidence of the state of feeling that prevailed among some of the Non-indulged Presbyterians, and of an altered attitude towards the existing government, was afforded by the publica- tion of a Declaration at Eutherglen in May, 1679. On that occasion, the various Acts that had been passed since 1660 for the overthrow of the Second Keformation and the establishment of Episcopacy, were publicly burnt at the Cross. The Decla- 4
34
The Reformed Presbyterian Church.
ration itself is a protest against the tyranny and oppression of the Government, and is tlje first of a long series that will come under our notice as we proceed. From the exasperation produced by long and severe persecution and the greater keenness with which it was carried on, it was hardly possible that collision between the soldiers and the armed peasantry who frequented the Conventicles could be avoided. Serious consequences resulted from a skirmish between about two hundred armed Covenanters and a party of dragoons under Claverhouse, at Drumclog, on 1st June, 1679. The Covenanters were victorious ; and feeling that they were now seriously compromised, they resolved to keep together at all risks, and make one more effort to secure redress of grievances, and in behalf of civil and religious freedom. Adherents rapidly joined them, and when a few weeks later they encamped on Bothwell Moor, they numbered about 6000 men. They were under the command of Robert Hamilton of Preston, a young man of good family, of high character and of ardent piety, who had by his zeal in the cause acquired considerable influence among the Non-indulged Presbyterians ; but he does not seem to have possessed any special qualifications for such a post at so critical a time. While the army lay at Bothwell, serious dissensions broke out among the Covenanters. The occasion of these was the proposal to issue a Declaration setting forth the reasons that had constrained them to take up arms, and the objects they sought to attain. This was a very proper and necessary thing to do ; the great difficulty was as to what ought to be put into it, and what, meanwhile at least, ought to be left out ; or as they would have put it, as to the best way of stating the quarrel between themselves and the Government. To do this was found to be a less easy matter than it was thirteen years before, on the occasion of the Pentland Rising. Since that time, events had occurred that were the occasion of serious differences among the Covenanters, and these became painfully manifest at this critical moment. In the first place, no Indulgence had been published in 1666, but now
Its Origin. 35
there were two; and these, though extremely odious to all zealous upholders of the ancient constitution of the Church, had been taken advantage of by many of their brethren. And now came the question : Should any reference be made in a public Declaration of a very important character to those who had done so, and who by their conduct had proved unfaith- ful to the cause of Christ, and brought aggravated hardship on brethren who would rather suffer than surrender the rights of conscience 1 Welch and others pleaded against any reference, direct or indirect, to the Indulged clergy; they held that these should first of all be dealt with by the proper church judicatories, and that aid should be welcomed from any quarter in behalf of the common cause. Those who pleaded thus had not availed themselves of the proffered boon, nor did they at all approve of those who had done so. Hamilton and his friends urged that, as the Indulgence was grossly Erastian, and utterly at variance with the principles of the Church, it was their duty to testify against those who had accepted it; and besides, all that was proposed was an indirect and not an explicit reference. On this point the parties could come to no agreement. The second point of difference was one of even more serious import, and involved issues of a very weighty character. Those who took part in the Pentland Eising freely acknowledged the civil authority of the king, while they protested against his ecclesiastical supremacy. But now, after thirteen years of tyrannical government and terrible sufferings for conscience' sake, there were many among the persecuted who were beginning to have serious doubts as to their duty in this matter. The moderate party proposed that in their Declaration they should simply take up the ground of former witnesses, recognize the authority of the king in civil affairs, and confine their testimony to matters that concerned religion and the Church. The more advanced party urged that they should deal with this matter as was done in the Eutherglen Declaration, in which the king's authority was neither expressly owned nor
36 The Reformed Presbyterian Church.
disowned ; all they wanted was that the proposed Declaration should be of the same neutral character. The one party was anxious, now that they were" in arms, to avow their allegiance to the king as head of the State j but the other refused to be committed further by any fresh Declaration on that point. To these points were added differences regarding the payment of cess and the Causes of fasting. And so for days, that should have been employed in preparing to meet the royal troops that were fast approaching, little was heard throughout the camp but eager and heated discussions on the points mentioned, among ministers, officers and soldiers. The result was that the moderate party left the camp, and published a Declaration at Hamilton which was afterwards disowned by the other party.
We need give no account of the battle that followed, and in which the Covenanters were completely routed ; nor need we enter into any details regarding the miserable fate of those who were taken prisoners. Nor yet shall we dwell on the sufferings of the people after the defeat at Bothwell, through the cruelty of Claverhouse and his dragoons. In the fields and on the highway, men were shot on the merest suspicion and without any form of trial. It was enough if they could not or would not answer ensnaring questions about the murder of Sharp or the Bothwell Eising. The whole south and west of the country, where the Covenanting interest was strongest, was given up to the domination of a brutal soldiery, whose barbarous and inhuman treatment of the peasantry exceeded everything that had hitherto been experienced. The rage of the Government was specially directed against those who had joined the Covenanting army, and they were excluded from the benefit of a thLird Indulgence which was issued this year. Many ministers from this date ceased to take any part in the field preaching; but there were still a faithful few whom no terrors and suffering could daunt, and who still dared to bear aloft the old banner for Christ and Church, for conscience and liberty. It is to the course
Its Origin. 37
pursued by these, and .the position which they took up, that our attention must now for the most part be confined.
Section Second,
In the early part of 1680, it seemed as if the tyrant had all but succeeded in his purpose, and that the people were worn out by the long continued and remorseless persecution. There were few Conventicles, and there were fewer ministers to take part in them j but the cause which these few represented had a much larger support among the people than among the non-conforming ministers. There were but two, Donald Cargill and Eichard Cameron, who had the faith and courage to preach the gospel in the fields, and they found great numbers ready toTiear them. Gradually the attitude of this party towards the government that had stripped them of their rights as freemen, trampled under foot the claims of God and conscience, and pursued them with unrelenting hate, under- went a change. In all the personal testimonies of the martyrs by dying speech or otherwise, from the Marquis of Argyle in 1661, to the Rev. John King in 1679, we find express recognition of the authority of the king in civil matters. They avow their allegiance, they refuse to be called rebels, even when they rose in arms to obtain redress of clamant grievances, being debarred from every other means of doing so. At the same time they protest against tyranny in civil affairs, by which the constitution was overturned and the rights of the people taken away. More fully they bore witness against the ecclesiastical supremacy claimed and exercised by the Crown, and against all the unrighteous and cruel procedure that had flowed therefrom. We find one of those who were taken prisoners at Bothwell, the Rev. John King, in his dying testimony thus defining his attitude towards the civil government, and doing so in a calm Christian spirit, which, in the circumstances, makes the statement more emphatic. "As for those things for which sentence of death was passed
38
The Reformed Presbyterian Clmrc)
m
against me, I bless the Lord my heart doth not condemn me. Rebellious I have not been, nor do I judge it to be rebellion for me to have endeavoured in my capacity what possibly I could for the ruined and borne-down interest of our Lord and Master, and for the relief of my poor brethren, afflicted and persecuted, not only in their liberties, privileges and persons, but also in their lives ; therefore it was that I joined that poor handful. The Lord knows, who is the Searcher of hearts, that neither my design nor practice was against his Majesty's power and just government, but I always intended to be loyal to lawful authority in the Lord. I thank my God, my heart doth not condemn me of any disloyalty. I have been loyal, and do recommend it to all to be obedient to the higher powers in the Lord." True, it was a limited allegiance that they tendered; but so is it ever where "the spirit of freedom exists, — allegiance within the limits of the constitution to which the sovereign is bound, with freedom to act when these bounds are transgressed, — allegiance limited by the higher claims of duty to God and fidelity to conscience. This is all that any power has right to demand, all that any man who values liberty and righteousness will give. But it was not all that was demanded of our noble suffering ancestors by the tyrants of their day ; hence those who asserted their rights as Christians and freemen were stigmatized as rebels and hunted to the death. Through all these weary years till 1680, the persecuted Presbyterians owned the royal authority in things civil, while protesting against the arbitrary and tyrannical courses that had been pursued. And all through this period they rejected and disowned the authority usurped by the king over conscience and the Church, and were content to suffer incredible hardships and die a martyr's death rather than be false to God and His truth, to Christ and His honour, to religion, conscience and liberty.
But the year 1680 marked the epoch when a section of the persecuted Covenanters took up a position towards the Government, that had the effect of separating them from
Its Origin. 39
many godly men who had hitherto been their fellow-witnesses and fellow-sufferers. We have seen that in the discussions that took place at Bothwell, one point upon which difference of opinion was found to exist, was this : Should they insert in their Declaration an acknowledgment of the royal authority in civil matters, or make no mention of it 1 Plainly, Hamilton and his adherents were not clear as to their duty in this matter, but the tendency of their convictions was evident. Thus far they went immediately after Bothwell, that they repudiated the Declaration published by the other party, just because the royal authority was distinctly owned in it, or, in the language of the period, because it took in the tyrant's interest. Within less than a year thereafter they had come to a clear conclusion as to the position which they felt bound to assume towards the existing civil government, and they were neither ashamed nor afraid to avow it. The question that agitated the minds of these devoted men was just this : Can we any longer as Christians and freemen own the authority, even in civil things, ofa king who has violated so flagrantly his coronation oath, who has overturned the constitution of the realm, stript us of our dearest rights, treated us as traitors when we only follow the dictates of"" conscience, put forth all his power to exterminate the faithful witnesses for God, authorized the most barbarous cruelties towards his peaceable subjects, and dealt with all who refused to submit to his tyrannical authority and impious supremacy as outcasts and pests of society whom no true subject should aid 1 Has he not, by such a course of conduct, pursued for twenty years, really forfeited all claim upon our allegiance, and by his reckless violation of the essential conditions of the social compact, set us free % Things had come to a terrible condition when patriots, earnest high-principled Christian men, were forced to look such a question in the face. They have borne long and patiently, all constitutional means of obtaining redress have been denied to them, and now they feel that thorough consis- tency, fidelity to God and to country, to truth and conscience,
40 The Reformed Presbyterian Church.
impose a very solemn duty upon them. They know that the step they are about to take will intensify the wrath of the enemy and increase their own sufferings ; they clearly recognize that at the same time it will deprive them of the sympathy of many friends whom they highly esteem for their character and labours : yet conscience demands this of them, and they must obey its behests, and disown all allegiance to the Govern- ment that regards and treats them as rebels.
The first intimation that was given of this advanced position was in what is called the "Queensferry Paper." This document was found on the person of Hall of Haughhead when he fell mortally wounded in a scuffle with some soldiers at Queens- ferry on 3rd June 1680. Cargill, who was with him, was also wounded, but escaped. It was evidently only a rude draft of a Declaration that was being prepared for publication by the parties above-named, or more probably by Cargill. But it was [ unsubscribed, and had not been adopted by the party in whose name it speaks. It is a very interesting, able and thorough- going document. Though it was never formally approved, yet as it is highly significant of the state of feeling of those by whom it was drawn up, and strongly expresses the convictions they held and the position which they felt constrained to assume, we may give a brief outline of its contents. Its avowed design is to give a clear statement of the objects contemplated by its framers, and certainly its terms leave no room for doubt as to what these are. It first of all takes all who accept it bound to adhere to the system of evangelical truth set forth in the Westminster Standards, to endeavour to secure the establishment of that system through- out the whole realm, to maintain intact the Presbyterian form of church government, and in fulfilment of Covenant obliga- tions to seek the overthrow of whatever is opposed to these things. Then there follows a statement of the unconstitutional, tyrannical and cruel conduct of the Government both in Church and State. After this review the inquiry is started, — Can they any longer be justly held bound to submit to this state of
Its Origin. 41
things, out of consideration either for the deed and obligation of their ancestors as embodied in the constitutional laws of the realm, or on account of the Covenants, or from any reasonable hope of a change on the part of the rulers ! Being satisfied that there is nothing in any of these so to oblige them, and being persuaded that the true ends of government are utterly frustrated by the past and present conduct of the rulers, they come to the conclusion, that they reckon themselves free from all obligation to existing authorities in the State, and accordingly these are solemnly disowned and rejected. Having thus asserted their liberty, this is what they propose to do : " We do declare that we shall set up over ourselves and over what God shall give us power of, government and governors according to the Word of God . . . That we shall no more commit the government of ourselves and the making of laws over us to any one single person or lineal successor . . . That those men whom we shall set over us shall be engaged to govern us principally by that civil and judicial law . . . given by God to His people Israel." Thus far as concerns civil matters, — then, after defining their attitude towards the unfaithful ministers of the church, the authors proceed in this strain : " We bind and oblige ourselves to defend ourselves and one another in our worshipping of God, and in our natural, civil and divine rights and liberties, till we shall overcome or send them down under debate to the posterity, that they may begin where we end." l
It is not to be wondered at that the Government of Charles II. was startled by the discovery of such a document as this, in which it is so calmly and convincingly condemned and rejected j a document which, notwithstanding some extreme positions maintained in it, yet embodies the essential principles which lie at the foundation of true liberty, and breathes the indomitable spirit of those who in all lands have fought and won the battle for civil and religious freedom, and who amid weakness and reverses have full confidence in the
1 Appendix No. I.
42 The Reformed Presbyterian Church.
ultimate triumph of truth and righteousness. It is the bold outspoken protest of earnest Christians, driven to their last resort by intolerable wrong, in behalf of their rights and privileges as Christians and freemen. This singular Paper requires no further consideration here, inasmuch as no party ever formally adopted it, though in after years the owning or disowning of it was one of the ensnaring questions which the persecutors put to their prisoners. p It is different with that which was published within three weeks after the seizure of the " Queensferry Paper."
On the 22nd of June, 1680, a party of about twenty horsemen, fki by Oameron, rode into the ancient burgh of Sanquhar, in Upper Nithsdale. Doubtless the inhabitants regarded them with no little interest, ignorant as they were of the object of this unexpected incursion. It was manifest that this little troop did not belong to the military forces of the country, with whose visits in those troublous times the towns and villages, especially in the South and West of Scotland, were only too painfully familiar. The men were armed, but otherwise they had all the appearance of simple countrymen. Their aspect was grave and resolute, as that of men bent on the discharge of some weighty but hazardous duty. They advanced slowly into the town, till they reached the market-cross, round which they formed a circle. One of their number dismounted and engaged in prayer; after which another read a document, of which the following is the essential part. " Therefore, although we be for government and governors such as the word of God and our Covenants allow, yet we, for ourselves and all that will adhere to us, the representatives of the true Presbyterian Church and Covenanted nation of Scotland, considering the great hazard of lying under sin any longer, — do by these presents disown Charles Stuart who hath been reigning these years bygone (or rather we may say tyrannizing) on the throne of Britain, as having any right, title to or interest in the said crown or government of Scotland, as forfeited several
Its Origin. 48
years since by his perjury and breach of Covenant with God and His Church, and usurpation of His crown and royal prerogative, and many other breaches in matters ecclesiastic, and his tyranny and many breaches of the very leges regnandi_ in matters civil. For which reason we declare that several years since he should have been denuded of being king, ruler or magistrate : — As also, we do declare a war with such a tyrant and usurper and all the men ot his practices; — and against all such as have strengthened him, sided with or any way acknowledged him in his tyranny civil or ecclesiastic." Having affixed a copy of the document to the burgh-cross, the horsemen quietly left the town, and soon disappeared among the surrounding hills. The document was the famous Sanquhar Declaration.
As we read the statements just quoted, we cease to wonder at the grave determined aspect of the men by whom they were set forth. They had performed a strange and daring act, which would speedily be known and talked of through the length and breadth of the land, — being nothing less than the open renunciation of allegiance to the reigning sovereign, and a declaration of war against him. Looking back upon it from our own quiet times, through the long vista of two hundred years, some may say, as was said at the time, that it was perilous, extreme and fanatical. Of the peril incurred there could be no question; but the men who performed it were prepared to bear the disastrous consequences that it would certainly entail. As to its being extreme and unwarranted, opinions will widely differ. It will be so characterized by those who have little or no sympathy with the principles which the Declaration embodied and the motives that animated the men who took so decided a step, as well as by the more timorous class who judge only by the probabilities of success resulting from any such notable acts. Often in the history of the past has such a judgment been pronounced by the hostile and the timid against the pioneers of freedom, and the men who published the Sanquhar Declaration are entitled to be ranked
/
44 The Reformed Presbyterian Church.
among these. Very different will be the judgment of all who set proper value on civil and religious liberty, and who realize the indebtedness of later ages to the heroic struggles of those who, in the face of all danger, had the courage to act upon their convictions and fearlessly assert their rights as Christians and freemen. In this instance any immediate success was not anticipated, but duty must be discharged : and the righteous- ness of the cause vindicated the act performed as worthy of the terrible risks incurred. That the authors of this Declaration were not wild enthusiasts, but the true representatives in their * day of constitutional government, was shown by the fact that they by this bold act only, anticipated the judgment of the nation by eight-and-a-half years. In 1688 the Scottish Convention of Estates declared that James VII. had, by his tyranny, his violation of the rights of Parliament and of the constitution of the kingdom, forfeited the crown of Scotland. It cannot be doubted that the protest and struggle of these humble persecuted Covenanters contributed not a little to bring about the Eevolution. To them, at all events, belongs the honour of Unfurling the banner of freedom on the hills of Scotland, and thus doing something to encourage William of Orange in his memorable enterprise. While the nation lay prostrate under the rod of the oppressor, they had the courage to sound that battle-blast which never ceased to re-echo through the land, and grew louder and louder as the years rolled on, till the tyrant was ignominiously hurled from the throne.
In scope and intention the Queensferry Paper and the Sanquhar Declaration are identical ; the former is longer and much more elaborate than the latter, and includes several matters that find no place in the other. Cargill ably reasons out his position; Cameron comes rapidly to his point, and rings out in clear decisive tones the resolution to which he has come. Both are based upon those principles of constitu- tional government that were coeval with the Reformation in Scotland, that had been boldly enunciated by John Knox
Its Origin. 45
and powerfully defended by Samuel Kutherford, and are
now all but universally accepted. Manifestly, the decision
announced in the Sanquhar Declaration was essentially of a
civil or political character, and the grounds upon which the
decision is based are distinctly stated. They are threefold —
perjury, usurpation and tyranny. Perjury, inasmuch as the
king had proved false to the oath which he had taken at his
coronation with reference to the church j usurpation, inasmuch
as he had claimed and exercised a supremacy in ecclesiastical
matters which belonged only to Christ as Head of the Church ;
and tyranny, in overthrowing the civil constitution of the
realm and depriving the people of their just rights. The
grounds upon which the Covenanters based their act were *
thus partly civil and partly religious ; but the act itself was l/| \ \
essentially civil or political. ^j a/u
A fresh separation among the Covenanters was signalized by the publication of this Declaration. Hitherto they were . spoken of as Indulged and Non-indulged Presbyterians, but now there was a breach among the latter, many of whom disowned this Declaration and separated from those who owned it j or we ought rather to say, that those adhering to it refused fellowship with those who did not. The position of the latter is set forth in the Declaration issued at Hamilton immediately before the battle at Bothwell. Speaking of the objects for which they have taken arms, this is given as one of them : " The preserving and defending the King's Majesty's person and authority in the preservation and defence of the true religion and liberties of the kingdom, that the world may bear witness, with our conscience, of our loyalty, and that we have no thought or intention to diminish his just power and greatness." They protest against the wrongs and oppressions which they endure, and desire the calling of a free Parliament and a free Assembly, for the redress of grievances, but declare their loyalty to the king in civil matters. Such, they held, was the position maintained by their predecessors in former conflicts ; but it appeared to Cameron
The Reformed Presbyterian Church.
and his associates that the time had come when an advance on that position was demanded alike in the interests of religion and liberty. If they would be faithful to the claims of Christ, to the rights of the Church and of conscience, they must no longer temporize. The Government treated them as rebels and outcasts, cut them off from all civil rights, and as far as possible shut them out from all the humanities of life. By this Declaration they virtually say — We accept the situation ; your own acts have dissolved the compact between rulers and ruled ; we disown all allegiance, and will take the consequences. Not in passionate excitement was this done, nor under the influence of personal hatred or revenge, but after serious deliberation, and from a firm conviction that thus only could they discharge their duty to conscience, to country, and to
I God. It was bravely, nobly done, and Scotland may well be proud of that act of heroic courage and Christian patriotism
. performed by Richard Cameron and his associates at the cross
* of Sanquhar two hundred years ago.
The position assumed by these noble men was undoubtedly a new thing in the history of the Church of Scotland, but the principles upon which it was based were not new. They were in truth the old principles, for which, as we have seen, the Church had contended from the first, and which had been fully developed during the Second Reformation. A protest in behalf of Presbytery, of the headship of Christ, of the freedom and independence of the Church, and of the duty of the State to honour Christ in its constitutions and enactments, is involved in the first two reasons given for renouncing allegiance. Episcopacy, Erastianism, and the royal supremacy, were anew rejected. But that which gave to this Declaration its specialty, was the deliberate act of severing themselves from all subjection to the existing Government. In order to give consistency and force to their protest, they disowned the king, and elected to live outside the State as then consti- tuted and governed, as they were already outside the -Church which that State had established. In Richard
Its Origin. 47
ee the founders of the M/14A,
the Sanquhar Declaration
Cameron and his associates we see
Reformed Presbyterian Church, and the Sanquhar Declaration was the first public announcement of its separate position. Without binding itself to every form of expression or detail, that Church has ever regarded this document as embodying principles that are of high importance in themselves, of enduring value, and world-wide application. Amid the manifold changes of the intervening centuries, it has endeavoured consistently to maintain essentially the same testimony against every Church that is unfaithful to Christ's honour and its own rights, and against the State that disregards Christ's claims, and intrudes within the spiritual sphere, that was given forth in 1680 by the representatives of the poor persecuted remnant of the "true Presbyterian Church and covenanted nation of Scotland." Through what experience and by what steps the regular organization of a Church rose out of the scattered company of faithful witnesses for God's truth in troublous times, will be set forth in the narrative that follows. Meantime, it is only needful to say, that it was born amid the gloom and storms of the darkest, saddest epoch in Scottish Church history ; that it was the outcome of a long and terrible perse- cution, during which the constitution in Church and State was recklessly destroyed, and the most disgraceful cruelties inflicted on the best and noblest of the people ; and as a Church it long continued to bear in one form or another the marks of the fearful struggle that characterized its earliest days.
48
The Reformed Presbyterian
mrcl
CHAPTER III.
IN THE FURNACE — 1680-1688.
Section First.
r~PHE decisive step had now been taken ; there was a party -1- in Scotland, comparatively small in numbers, possessing little material strength and no worldly influence, yet strong in the consciousness of right and in devotion to the cause of religion and liberty, that not only refused all fellowship with the Church as then established, but was in avowed antagonism to the authorities in the State, and owned allegiance to no earthly power. Of course, the Government speedily became aware of the Sanquhar Declaration, and it awakened the keenest resentment. Tyrants, as if conscious that their power has no secure basis, are easily alarmed by any move- ment among the people, and are apt to resort to measures of repression beyond what the actual strength of the movement demands ; there being more or less uncertainty as to how far it may have the sympathy of the body of the people. It was so with the Government of Charles II. at this crisis. It could not be known at first to what extent the persecuted Presbyterians approved of the action of Cameron and his friends, or by what further measures it might be followed up. Whatever of fear mingled with their indignation, the Sanquhar Declaration gave some apparent ground for the charge of rebellion, and an excuse for more severe measures. The Government sought to involve the whole body of the Presbyterians in responsibility for that which, after all, was the act of only some of them ; and those
In the Furnace. 49
who repudiated it did not thereby escape the cruel hands of the persecutors. It did not satisfy the authorities that the latter had not gone so far in opposition as some of their brethren, so long as they did not countenance and support the existing order of things. From 1680, very few of the non- indulged ministers ventured to hold any religious meetings except in private ; those only dared to go abroad, and on hill and moorland and secluded glen preach the gospel of Christ, who had taken up the position proclaimed in the Sanquhar Declaration. We by no means withhold our tribute of pro- found respect for the memory of the former class, who had suffered much for their zeal and faithfulness in those perilous times, even though we feel constrained to give to the latter the palmfpj a, ftnuraffe which no terrors could daunt, and a zeal which no trials or tribulations could quench.
It is not necessary for our purpose to enlarge on the suffer- ings of this faithful remnant, nor to detail at length those special instances that are memorable for the youth or sex of the victims, or the aggravated brutality of their treatment. Familiar to most readers, and therefore needing no rehearsal here, are cases such as those of Hackston of Eathillet, Brown of Priesthill, the Wigtown Martyrs, and many others similarly dealt with, which reveal on the one hand the cold-blooded in- humanity and contempt of the commonest principles of justice, on the part of the persecutors ; and on the other, the unflinch- ing courage, the heroic endurance, the calm triumphant faith, and holy joy of the sufferers. During the period now under review the persecution reached a degree of intensity beyond all that had preceded ; this was especially true during 1684 and 1685, years which, because of the vengeful recklessness with which the diabolical work was carried on, and the numbers who suffered death in the fields and on the scaffold, were known as the killing times. There was no rest for the poor broken remnant of faithful witnesses. Misrepresented and calumniated by former friends and open foes, cut off from all the amenities of common Tile, driven into the most remote and inaccessible 5
W
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parts of the Lowlands, wandering cold, wet and hungry- through the misty moorlands, hiding in dens and caves of the earth, a price set upon their heads, beset by infamous spies, tracked to their secret hiding-places by bloodhounds, pursued by dragoons and shot down whenever they were found, — hard indeed was their lot. Yet while many former witnesses, wearied with the ceaseless strife and suffering, cowered before the storm, this feeble remnant held fast to their position with a persistency which many have described as sullen obstinacy, but which to us appears the sublime of heroic self-sacrifice for God's truth and human rights. Upon them, during these eight years, the tempest expended its utmost force, but it swept them not away ; for them the furnace was heated seven times, yet they were not consumed. Through the din and the dark- ness of that weary struggle they bore aloft the banner of liberty, and the nation was not allowed to forget either the wrong-doing of the oppressor, or the claims of God, or the rights of man.
Only two of the non-indulged ministers who had taken part in maintaining the field-conventicles, openly identified them- selves with the party that threw off allegiance to the existing Government, and continued to hold these meetings in defiance of its authority. One of these was Eichard Cameron, from whom came one of the names by which the community of Eeformed Presbyterians was popularly known. His father was a merchant in the old Fifeshire town of Falkland, and gave his son an academical education, doubtless with a view to the ministry of the Episcopal Church, to which his parents belonged. But in his early manhood he was led to attend the ministra- tions of the indulged clergy of the district, and by and by be- gan to frequent the field-meetings of the non-indulged. He became firmly convinced that the position of the latter party was the only one in harmony with the ancient principles of the Scottish Church. About the year 1677, while acting as a tutor in Eoxburghshire, he was brought into contact with John Welch of Irongray, one of the most popular field-preachers,
In the Furnace. 51
who urged him to accept license and join the band of faithful witnesses. After some hesitation Cameron consented, and was licensed by Welch and Sempill. In the confusion of the times, as the indulged ministers held meetings that were called Presbyteries, so did the non-indulged unite to exercise Presby- terial functions, and in the circumstances they were right in doing so. Cameron was now fairly launched on his brief but memorable career, which, though it extended over little more than three years, yet sufficed to send down his name to succeeding generations as one of Scotland's noblest sons. For some time he laboured in fellowship with other worthies at the peril of his life, through Annandale, Nithsdale, and Galloway ; distinguishing himself by the stern fidelity with which he con- demned those who had accepted the royal Indulgence. Con- strained by timid friends, who dreaded the effects of his zeal, to refrain for a time from preaching, Cameron retired to Holland, where he won the high respect of the exiled ministers, Brown and M'Ward. So deeply were they convinced of his fitness for the work to be done in Scotland, that they urged him to accept ordination and return to labour with the perse- cuted party. To this he agreed ; and it is recorded that after the act of ordination, M'Ward kept his hand on Cameron's head and uttered these prophetic words : " Behold, all ye spectators, here is the head of a faithful minister and servant of Jesus Christ, who shall lose the same for his Master's in- terest, and it shall be set up before sun and moon in the view of the world," — so well did the speaker understand the zeal- ous character of the man, and the perilous nature of the work in which he was about to be engaged.
Before Cameron returned to Scotland the disaster at Bothwell had occurred, and the cause of religion and liberty was in a more deplorable condition than ever. In vain he appealed to those who had formerly done noble service to the truth to stand forth in this dark and perilous hour ; all save one — -Cargill — shrank before the pitiless storm that raged around. BuiTKTs- courage and resolution were not to be shaken by the
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dark prospect around him, and he threw his whole energies into the work before him. Far and wide over mountain and moor he travelled, everywhere preaching and baptizing. It was toil- some and dangerous work, but he was in the prime of man- hood, and no fear of man could scare him from the path of duty. And there were thojisands^ throughout the South and West who were hungering after the Word, and ready to brave the fury of the oppressor that their souls might be fed. It is altogether a mistake to represent the field preachers as ranting enthusiasts or fierce fanatics, whose chief aim was to rouse the passions of the people or to stir up opposition to the Govern- ment. They had, all of them, too lofty a conception of the ministerial office, and too solemn a sense of the responsibility it involves to indulge in such a style of address. It is true that they did speak to their own times, they did expose the vices of the people, the unfaithfulness of the ministers, and the oppression and cruelty of the Government. They would not have been faithful to the Master or to the truth if they had not done so; they would not have been preachers of righteousness, such as the times demanded, if they had avoided every word that might have been thought offensive by the tyrannical rulers. But these things did not constitute the burden of their discourses, as must be evident to every one who examines even the imperfect reports of them that the loving reverence of their hearers has preserved to us. Sin and repentance, faith and obedience, the supreme claims of the Lord Jesus, were the themes they pressed home on the con- sciences of their hearers with all the urgency which they could command, and wondrously free and full was the salvation they offered in their Master's name. The circumstances in which the conventicles were held, on the bleak moorland or amid the solitude of the everlasting hills, often in the gloom of night and under the wintry storm, must have had a solemnizing effect on both preachers and hearers. And it is certain that God did honour His own gospel, preached as it was under the ban of the tyrant ; many were brought to the knowledge of
In the Furnace, 53
Christ, and rivers of spiritual blessings were made to flow in the wilderness to refresh the weary souls.
Pre-eminent among these pastors of the desert was Eichard Cameron. He had received such training in classics and philosophy as Scottish Universities then afforded, but he did not draw much upon these to adorn and commend his utterances. He had an unwavering faith in the message which he delivered, and a supreme conviction, born of experience, of the blessedness of those who accepted it. He possessed, moreover, a gift of unadorned popular eloquence that told mightily on his hearers; he knew how to reach the heart, and could sway his vast audiences as the wind the trees of the forest. He was a born preacher, and during his short career secured the affection and confidence of the witnessing remnant. For a few weeks after the publica- tion of the Sanquhar Declaration he moved about with a bodyguard of sixty horsemen prepared to defend him. His last sermon was preached three days before his death; and while he and his wearied followers rested at Airsmoss, they were surprised by a troop of dragoons, and in the conflict that followed, Cameron along with his brother Michael fell mortally wounded. In keeping with the barbarous practice of the age, the head and hands of the martyr were cut off and carried to Edinburgh, to be fixed above the city gates as a warning to others. It is recorded that the person by whom they were delivered up added these words, "These are the head and hands of a man who lived praying and preaching and died praying and fighting " ; on which John Howie remarks : "And wherever the faithful contendings of the Covenanted Church of Scotland are made mention of, this to his honour will be recorded of him." Thus died one of Scotland's noblest sons, a man of pure and earnest piety, of fervent zeal and unwavering steadfastness, a martyr for Christ's crown and covenant, who without ever dreaming of it, has secured for himself a name in history and a place in the memory and regard of his countrymen that will not soon be lost.
54 The Reformed Presbyterian Church.
Only Donald Cargjll now remained to uphold the hated field conventicle. He thoroughly sympathized with Cameron in the step that separated them from the other non-indulged Presbyterians. He was one of those ejected in 1662, having before that been minister of the Barony Church in Glasgow. For well-nigh twenty years he had been a labourer and sufferer in the cause of religion, and though now an old man of seventy, age had not quenched his ardour, though it had weakened his physical powers. He was wounded both at Bothwell and Queensferry, but escaped, and for more than a year after Cameron's death, at great peril, he ministered to the scattered remnant. He had not the same popular gifts as his martyred brother, but in mental power, in logical force and clearness of vision, as well as in zeal for truth ana steadfastness in suffering, he was certainly not inferior. His zeal and courage were signally displayed two months after Cameron's death, when at Torwood, in Stirlingshire, he solemnly excom- municated Charles II., the Duke of York, and the principal actors in the persecution of the Covenanters. Whatever we may think of the wisdom or expediency of the act, or of any ecclesiastical right which he had to perform it, we do not question the purity of the motives under which he acted. These were not personal feelings of hatred, but regard to the glory of God and the honour of religion. Nor can we help admiring the fearless courage which he displayed in doing, for conscience sake, that which he knew could only enrage his enemies and aggravate his sufferings. From that day he was more than ever a marked man ; outlawed, intercommuned, a price set on his head, it is amazing that for ten months he escaped the hands of the persecutor. He was at length appre- hended, tried and condemned, and in July, 1681, sealed his testimony on the scaffold. Thus soon were both of the men who had taken the most prominent part in this new departure among the persecuted Presbyterians, removed from their labours and sufferings. Who was now to take their place as leader of this advanced party 1 Former labourers had in various ways
In the Furnace. 55
disappeared from the scene, and there was not one of the non-indulged ministers prepared openly to assert the position of Cameron, and associate with those who had disowned the civil government of the realm. One man there was who stood high in the esteem of the Covenanters, a man of a peculiar tempera- ment, around jffihp_s£_.name gathered many strange traditions, — Alexander reden, the Prophet of the Covenant. He had been a wanderer and a sufferer since 1662, but now old and worn out, he did not often preach ; according to his own quaint saying, it was "praying folk that would get through the storm." But the followers of Cameron were not clear as to Peden's soundness on the government question, and he never actually joined them. After twenty- three years of almost ceaseless hardship and faithful service, he died quietly at Auchincloich in the parish of Sorn, where he was born ; and his body, after being interred, was removed by the soldiers from the burying-place at Auchinleck, and re-interred at the gallows-foot at Cumnock, and around that spot the dust of many generations has since gathered.
Section Second.
The condition of the party that adhered to the Sanquhar Declaration was now very deplorable. Not only were they the objects of a relentless persecution, their families scattered and impoverished, and themselves exposed to the extremities of cold and hunger in their wretched retreats in moss-hags and secret caves ; but they were without a preacher to administer to them the consolations of the go'SpBl, and their children must remain unbaptized; for to receive this ordinance from the hand of any minister who owned the existing Government was in their view to be unfaithful to the testimony. They keenly felt and mourned over their desolate state ; but they did not despair of the cause which they firmly believed to be that of truth, righteousness and liberty, and resolved at all hazards to maintain their position. But how was this to be done 1 With-
^1
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out organization how were they to prevent a gradual process of decay and absorption 1 That question was answered by the formation of the "United Societies," at the close of 1681. As these " Societies " continued to exist for well nigh a century, and were the germ from which grew up the Reformed Presby- terian Church, it is proper at this point to give some account of their organization. We are enabled to do this, and also to form a tolerably clear idea of the proceedings, spirit and aims of the party, from the " Minutes " of the General Meeting as kept by Michael Shields from 1681 to 1689, that were published by John Howie of Lochgoin in 1780, under the title, "Faithful Contendings Displayed." In these Minutes, and in the correspondence carried on with parties outside of Scotland, which is given along with them, we have the inner life of the Societies unfolded to view in a very interesting and instructive form, and presented too with a singular clearness and force of expression.
From the earliest period in the history of the Scottish Church, the more'"pious and" devoted people had been wont to associate in private fellowship-meetings for prayer and mutual helpfulness in divine things. Meetings of this sort had been maintained by the persecuted Presbyterians through past years of trial, and now in the crisis that had arisen, some of the more zealous of the party conceived the idea of bringing these scattered praying societies into one united organization for mutual consultation and encouragement, and by this means also enable the party to act together in public matters. The basis of the whole was the private fellowship-meetings that were scattered over the whole southern part of Scotland from Fife to Galloway. Those that were situated within the same county were united into district Societies, or Corres- pondences as they were called. If the county was large and had many Societies within it, it might be divided into two or more district Correspondences. Then these district Societies or Correspondences sent Commissioners, who constituted the General Meeting, which met once in three months. The
In the Furnace. 57
framework of the organization was thus somewhat after the model of Preshyterianism with its gradation of courts. Cases that arose in a particular Society were to be considered by the district or county Correspondence; but when the matter was important and concerned the whole body, it could only be settled at the General Meeting. A regular communication was kept up among all the Societies and Correspondences by means of circular letters, and the Conclusions of the General Meeting were regularly intimated to them; while points of difficulty were remitted for consideration to the district meetings, before they were finally disposed of by the General Meeting. In this way they came to know each others' mind regarding any matter on which difference of opinion existed; a firm bond of union was established, and much could be done to promote the cause to which they were devoted by mutual counsel and sympathy.
Each Society consisted of those who owned the Testimony as then stated; in other words, occupied the position taken up by Cameron — separation from all other Presbyterians who accepted the Indulgences, or in any way held communion with the Indulged or ceased to be open witnesses ; and separation from the State, as expressed in the Sanquhar Declaration. Along with this, adhesion to the doctrinal Standards of the Church and to the whole attainments of the Second Reformation was required. At the beginning of every General Meeting, care was taken to ascertain that the members and the Societies were free from scandals and the defections of the times ; and in order to restrain extreme men from putting their own construction on what was defection, a series of questions was drawn up for this purpose. These constituted their "Terms of Communion," and they were certainly very stringent. The sum of them is as follows : No one could be recognized as a member who took any of the bonds tendered by the Govern- ment; who paid cess, locality or militia-money to the civil authorities, or stipend to the curates or indulged clergy ; made use of a government pass, voluntarily appeared before
V
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any court of law, supplied any commodities to the enemy, allowed' another to do any of these things in their name, or who in any form recognized the ministry of the indulged or silent Presbyterians.1 Certainly this was strict com- munion ; but it is plain, considering the circumstances in which they were placed, and the position assumed both towards Church and State, that no other course was open to them if they were to remain a united body. They always repudiated any claim to be regarded as exercising the functions either of civil or ecclesiastical courts, though unfortunately in the first Declaration issued by the Societies, expressions were employed that gave some colour to the charge of assuming civil functions; but that document was somewhat hurriedly adopted, and the expressions cavilled at were afterwards explained. The manner of procedure in dealing Avith cases of defection was this. When a member was accused of having paid cess or of having received ordin- ances from any minister not connected with the Societies, no judicial sentence was pronounced by the General Meeting. If the charge was proved and the individual refused to own it to be a fault, he simply ceased to be a member of the Societies; if he owned his error and promised to avoid it in future, he was continued as a member, but was taken bound to submit to the discipline of a regular church court when any such as they could own was constituted. In cases where no conclusion could be reached, as that of one who had been married by geden, whose relation to the peculiar testimony of the Societies was not clear, the matter was in like manner reserved to an ecclesiastical tribunal. In short, the Societies acted just as any other voluntary association would, in securiug that all the members observed the rules of the association. In the " In- formatory Vindication" their position in its civil aspect is thus stated : " We look upon ourselves as by constant and habitual tyranny reduced to our native and radical liberty in this matter, and desiring faithfully to adhere unto the fundamental
1 Appendix No. IT.
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laws and laudable constitutions of our Church and covenanted nation, with the rest of the purer and better part; and therefore though we cannot and do not assume to ourselves a power of magistracy, yet after we had considered what would be best and contribute most to the security of ourselves and religion, we judged it lawful, expedient and necessary, to join together into one meeting all the particular Societies who were of one judgment and practice in reference to the matter of our stated testimony by formal consent, for mutual help and correspondence." Judging from the words and acts of the Societies, the position they claimed was this : they reckoned themselves free from allegiance to the existing Government, yet they did not attempt to set up another over themselves, but simply waited on Providence to remove that which they had disowned, or otherwise open up their way. Meanwhile, acting on their natural rights, they took what means they could to protect themselves. As to the Church, they renounced all communion with it as presently enslaved and corrupted, but were not schismatics ; and though destitute of Church organization, regarded themselves as representing the true Presbyterian Covenanted Church of Scotland. They regarded this position as merely temporary, and forced upon them by the broken and disordered state of things both in Church and State.
We may form some conception of the spirit and aims of the Societies by a brief reference to some of the matters that came before the General Meeting. About seventy or eighty delegates convene on some moorland waste near a friendly farmhouse or shepherd's dwelling, and often in the gloom of night. Many of them have travelled far, and at the peril of their lives, — from the wilds of Galloway, the pastoral glades of Ettrick or Teviotdale, or the fertile plains of the Merse, Lothian or Fife. Deep solemnity characterizes their proceed- ings from the " modelling " of the meeting till its close. A preses is chosen, and a committee to arrange and discuss the business. Perhaps the question is : Are pontages and other
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dues exacted at markets, to be placed on the same footing as cess and militia-money, and so exclude those who pay them from the Societies 1 Some extreme men insist on this ; but the ; meeting decides that these are not so to be regarded. Or the question relates to the payment of farm rents, part of which goes to support the curates, whether it was "a duty or a sin, and so a head to suffer on." The conclusion arrived at was, that only in cases where money was to be given as stipend in addition to the fixed rent, would it be sinful to pay it, fidelity to the cause required them in such cases rather to suffer than comply; and it was agreed that money thus withheld from the support of prelacy should not be appro- priated by the tenant, but devoted to public purposes by the Societies. As to those who suffered loss for refusing to pay cess or other taxes, it was decided that this loss should be made up to them by the other members who had not so suffered. Thus they bore each others' burdens. When rumours of a possible massacre by Papists or of a rising against the Government were brought to the Meeting, how ought the Societies to act 1 Was it not their duty to defend themselves and join with others against the common enemy, so far as they could do so, without being guilty of a sinful association with malignants *? And so instructions were given to provide arms, to attend to military training, and a place was fixed for the whole to meet armed when occasion demanded. It was at the same time resolved that, in the meantime, none of the Society people should appear in arms unless in necessary self-defence, some being too rash in this matter. Another matter of a very different nature often occupied the attention of the General Meeting. They were destitute of pastors ; how were they to obtain a gosrjeJ__ministry free from all taint of compliance with present defections 1 The only course that seemed open to them, was to send some of their own number to obtain theo- logical training and ordination in Holland. At a meeting in Edinburgh in October, 1682, six young men offered themselves to this perilous work, ready to risk anything for the sake of
In the Furnace. 61
maintaining the cause of Christ in their native land. Of these four were^_chosen, the Societies undertaking to support them abroad. One of these was James Renwick, and he was the only one who realized the hopes of the Societies. Another was John Flint, to whom Sir Robert Hamilton makes frequent reference in his letters, and towards whom he cherished no friendly feelings. A few years later he returned to Scotland, but was disowned by the Societies. He became the indulged minister at Burghlee in the parish of Lasswade; after the Revolution he became minister of the parish, and was after- wards translated to Edinburgh. He appears to have been a man of considerable theological attainments ; and Boston had correspondence with him regarding his theory on Hebrew accents. It was significant of the value set on learning that the General Meeting appointed a teacher of Latin for the youth who were looking forward to the ministry, at a salary of twenty-five pounds Scots per quarter. Money also was collected "for the relief of the widows and children of the martyrs, for the poor, for those who had been banished to the plantations, and for the redemption of those who were sold into slavery. A long correspondence was carried on through the General Meeting with the students and Sir R. Hamilton, with the Dutch Church, and friends in Ireland and in England ; and a large-hearted interest is revealed in the progress of religion and in the suffering Christians of other lands. Nor were they unmindful amid all their distractions and trials of the interests of spiritual religion among themselves; we find the General Meeting admonishing the Societies not to allow public questions to overshadow the claims of devotion and the study of Scripture; while at every meeting days of fasting and humiliation or of thanksgiving were appointed. Work of another kind was assigned to the Societies, congenial in itself t and which ultimately bore tangible fruit. "It was likewise concluded," so the Minute runs, "that every Society should do their utmost to gather up a list of the names, and an
*r|
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account of the sufferings of those within their respective bounds, who suffered martyrdom and otherwise, and also of the enemies' barbarous dealings and cruelty there, and of any signal and remarkable judgments that had been inflicted upon any of these enemies, — that the whole being collected together might be for the good and comfort of the present and succeed- ing generations." There was thus work enough, and sometimes exciting work, to be done at the General Meeting ; and the commissioners carried to the utmost bounds of the community £he reports of its proceedings, so that all were kept aware of the condition of things among themselves, and prepared for united public action when that was required.
No one can examine these old records in an unprejudiced spirit, and with an intelligent apprehension of the times and circumstances of the Societies, without recognizing the high character, the devoted pjety, the fervent zeal for the public interests of the truth, and the unwavering steadfastness of the great body of the members. Their great desire was to be faith- ful to God and to conscience, no matter what it might cost; they were not puffed up by any sense of personal excellency, they judged themselves as severely as they judged others, they mourned and fasted not only for the sins af the land, but for their own shortcomings, even for the_ heat that sometimes marked their debates. And even amid their deep distress they were moved to give thanks to God for protection from danger, and for the security which in a wonderful degree was enjoyed by those who attended the General Meeting. One is amazed, considering the circumstances in which they met, at the gener- ally calm, sober and regular way in which the business was transacted, at the carefulness and thoroughness with which difficult questions of conscience and duty were discussed, and not least at the wisdom and moderation which on the whole characterized the conclusions arrived at. Among the leaders were men of great ability, capable of guiding through most troublous times the affairs of a widespread community, lying under the ban of Government, and including within itself some
In the Furnace. 63
men of a restless fiery spirit, whose rash action might have seriously compromised the whole body. We do not affirm that every decision is defensible, nor that they always expressed their convictions in the best form j but certainly, they were not fiery zealots nor ranting fanatics, but earnest, able, clear-sighted Christian men and patriots who maintained with singular consistency the cause of God and liberty against all the power of the tyrant. There is no doubt that the Societies owed very much during this trying epoch to the wisdom, firmness, tact and organizing power of one whose brief career we must soon refer to, James \Renwickf the last Scottish martyr.
Some may imagine that the United Societies embraced only an insignificant number of individuals. Enemies did their best to create that impression at the time; and some historians have proceeded on the assumption of its truth. The facts of the case point to a different conclusion, though it is impossible to give exact numbers. This we know, on the authority of Gordon of Earlston, that in 1683 there were eighty Societies representing an aggregate of 7000 members, exclusive of women. That the numbers did not diminish during the next five years, notwithstanding the fierce perse- cution, seems evident from the fact, that at the Revolution they mustered 9000 strong on Douglas Moor ; a regimenjb was raised among them in a few days, and another could easily have been obtained had it been wanted. As the Societies were confined to southern Scotland, it is manifest that they must have embraced no inconsiderable proportion of the population.1
The General Meetings were held in different places, to suit the convenience of members and obtain t'n'e greatest security from disturbance. This necessitated their being held generally during the night, and in the wildest and most inaccessible spots, chiefly in the upland region stretching from Galloway to the borders of Lothian, though, occasionally, meetings were held in Edinburgh and Glasgow. Few places iDodds' "Fifty Years Struggle," pp. 297, 389-91.
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are more bleak and uninviting than Blagannock, Wanlockhead, Priesthill, Hyndbottom, or Darmead ; and it was justTbecause these were all but unapproachable to the dragoons, and there- fore comparatively safe, that they were selected. Members convened from Fife on the one hand to remotest Galloway on the other; and it is remarkable, that through the hottest period of the persecution, not only were the meetings held with wonderful regularity, but that they were never disturbed by the military ; nor is it known that any fell into the hands of the enemy when going to or returning from the meetings, — a fact that is recognized with gratitude more than once in the Minutes of the Societies.
The first General Meeting was held at Logan House, in Lesmahagow parish, on 15th December, 1681 ; and a Protest was then adopted against the reception of the Popish Duke of York as Koyal Commissioner to the Scottish Parliament. It was more than these sturdy Presbyterians could bear in silence, that such a position should be occupied by a member of a church which they regarded as the enemy of Scriptural Christianity and of human freedom ; and their Protest, though objectionable in some points, did somewhat to keep alive the dread of Popery among the people. Not less emphatic was their Protest against the Test Act passed by this Parliament, which imposed an oathoinding to support the Protestant religion, and yet obliging the swearer never to exercise his rights as a Protestant. It was so absurd and self-contradictory that many who had not scrupled about those that preceded, shrank from taking it without expla- nation. It was not to be expected that it would find any favour among the Covenanters ; they alone had the courage and public spirit to speak of and deal with it as it deserved. In coming years it became an occasion of great suffering to the faithful, for it was pressed by a brutal soldiery on all ages and both sexes, and those who refused to take it were summarily put to death. Another occasion of great trouble to the Society people was the putting of ensnaring questions
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to the simple peasantry suspected of disloyalty. They were asked if they would pray for the king; but as they knew that in the sense of the questioner this was meant to be a test of loyalty, and to assent to it thus would be an owning of his authority and a prayer for its continuance, they refused so to pray for him. While ready to pray for his salvation, they felt that it would be a mockery of God and a condemnation of their avowed principles to pray for the continuance of the power that persecuted them. Side by side with the actual facts of the case, the magniloquent denunciations of the martyrs as narrow and unchristian, appear worse than ridiculously absurd. Yet it was by such mean unmanly tricks that the persecutors sought some weak pretence for destroying many of the best in the land.
Section Third. .
It can scarcely be questioned that the man who exercised the greatest influence among the Societies during this period was James\Kenwick,i In him we find the true embodiment of their spirit and aim ; and it is proper that some distinct notice should here be taken of his brief career and manifold labours. Born of poor but pious parents in the parish of Glencairn, Dumfriesshire, in 1662, he was early brought under the power of religion, and after a period of intense spiritual anxiety and doubt, fully realized peace and joy in believing. His amiable disposition and promising talents procured for him friends, by whose assistance he was enabled to prosecute his studies at the University of Edinburgh till 1681. Hitherto he had associated with the moderate Presbyterians and frequented their private meetings, but he became dissatisfied with their position and conduct. His gentle soul shuddered at the barbarities daily committed on God-fearing men and women under cover of law ; while the boldness, fidelity, patience and self-denial of the sufferers won his admiration. He mingled with the throng that surrounded the scaffold on which Cargill 6
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suffered, and the dying testimony of the martyr made an impression upon him that was never effaced. After careful examination he felt constrained by a sense of duty to cast in his lot with the followers of Cameron, and henceforth through good report and through bad report, through labours and sufferings manifold, he upheld the down-trodden cause. He was in his twentieth year when he took this important step. His wisdom and skill contributed largely to the successful organization of the Societies ; and though after his ordination he was not a member of the General Meeting, he yet exercised a great and most beneficent influence on all their proceedings and decisions. Such was the high position which he speedily attained among them, that he was sent to Holland in 1682 to correct the false statements that had been circulated among the Scottish exiles and Dutch divines, regard- ing the principles and practices of this witnessing remnant. As we have already mentioned, he was one of those chosen to go abroad to complete his studies and obtain ordination. He went to Groningen, where he studied ; and in May, 1683, after a thorough examination, he was ordained by the Classis of that town. Why did he go to Holland for this purpose 1 Simply because no ecclesiastical party in Scotland would ordain one who helcT the position which Eenwick had taken up, and fidelity to the testimony would have prevented him from accepting it even if they had been willing to ordain him. The Dutch Church, though not free from corruption, had not back- slidden, and Eenwick was not ordained on the formula of that Church, but on that of the Scottish Church in its purest times. How entirely his heart was in the work to which he had consecrated himself appears from the letters that he wrote while abroad. His heart bled for the woes of his brethren; the groans of the sufferers wafted over the deep stirred his inmost soul; "I cannot express," he says, "the case I am in, partly from our dear friends falling into the hands of our Lord's enemies, and partly from my being so long detained from my brethren. I cannot tell what may be before my
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hand, but my longings to be in Scotland I cannot express." "0 let us cry and wrestle with the Lord, that He would preserve a remnant from being swallowed up by this weighty cloud of wrath hanging over our heads, ready to break forth when we are ripening for the same." None knew better than he the dangerous character of the work ; but he had counted the cost. He felt that the cause was worthy of the risk and the suffering, and he never hesitated; he entered on his brief career prepared to die in the good cause j he was already " ripening for the same."
In September, 1683, he landed in Scotland; and at Darmead, on 3rd Oct., he preached his first sermon to the Societies at the General Meeting, made a full statement of his principles, was called to minister among them, and accepted the invitation. For more than two years they had been without a pastor, but now they had one on whose ministrations they could eonscientiously wait ; and they set high value on his services. They tenderly watched over him; they loved him for his work's sake, and not less for his own amiable qualities; for he was gentle and affectionate, while courageous and firm; considerate of the feelings and opinions of others, while stead- fast in adherence to his own personal convictions. And he did not spare himself in his endeavour to fulfil the work to which this despised remnant had called him. For them he braved alike the rage of the enemy and the fury of the winter storm ; he was instant in season and out of season, ready to answer every call that was addressed to him. Through the wide region over which his adherents were scattered he travelled almost incessantly, preaching, catechising and visiting the Societies. In three months he baptized three hundred children, a fact which shows that the numbers owning his ministry were by no means inconsiderable.
But while he thus bound his friends to himself by closer ties, his courage and fidelity roused against him a host of enemies ; he was loaded with opprobrium both by the openly profane and the conforming party. Calumnies of every sort
]ti^
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were uttered against him, — he was an upstart enthusiast, one who had no call to the ministry, and taught the wildest doctrines and abominable heresies to an ignorant and deluded rabble. On the other hand, the appearance of Eenwick, and the revival of field-preaching, infuriated the Council and the Prelates. Numerous proclamations were issued against him and his followers, denouncing them as traitors and rebels ; every one was forbidden, on pain of death, to harbour, succour, or hold any intercourse with them. Eenwick himself was hunted from place to place, and could only find a brief repose from labour in the swampy moors or in the clefts of the rugged rocks. He travelled over wide districts, frequenting chiefly the wildest and most desolate parts of Galloway, Ayrshire, Dumfriesshire and Lanarkshire, though sometimes we find him in Fife and at Edinburgh, or in the neighbourhood of Glasgow and Paisley. On the bare hillside, or bleak moorland, or in secluded glen, by day and by night, in calm and storm, that melodious voice poured forth in gentle streams the rich treasures of the gospel, and the hearts of the weary wanderers were refreshed. The persecution went on with intensified violence ; many died on the scaffold, and many more were shot in the fields. Against himself, as leader of the hated conven- ticles, the utmost efforts were put forth, and it is marvellous that he escaped so long. He owed his safety on more occasions than one to his own cool self-possession, — as when resting in an inn in Galloway, the soldiers in pursuit of him came to the same house and talked freely of their object, little dreaming that the youth sitting so quietly by the fire was the very man they were in quest of. On other occasions he was indebted to the devotion of his hearers, who willingly exchanged clothes with him so as to give a better chance of escape. He was naturally of a delicate constitution ; his labours and hardships told seriously upon him, and his physical weakness called forth the deeper sympathy of his followers. He was sometimes so weak that he had to be lifted into the saddle, and supported by a man on each side.
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For weeks his only shelter was found in moss hags, or under a projecting scaur on the banks of some mountain stream, or in the deserted shepherds' shielings on the hills. Comfort- able, compared with these places, must have been the chamber prepared for him in the heart of the peat stack at Castle Maddie.
"Do we ask what were the feelings of this devoted servant of Christ under his aggravated sufferings 1 — these we learn from his own lips. He spent a few davsin the cottage of John Brown at Priesthill, not long before that worthy fell by the pistol of Claverhouse. Brown expressed a fear that he had not been received by his friends as he ought to have been, for there were discontented people in the Societies, and this wras the substance of Renwick's answer : " Their reproach has not broken my heart, but the excessive travelling, night wander- ings, unseasonable sleep, frequent preaching in all weathers, especially in the night, have so debilitated me that I am often unfit for my work. Some have declared that I will never be honoured of the Lord to do His poor remnant good, but one thing I know and may say, that the Lord has done me good. Enemies may think themselves satisfied that we are put to wander in mosses and in mountains, but even amid the storms of the last two nights I cannot express what sweet times I have had, when I had no covering but the dark curtains of night. Yea, in the silent watch, my mind was led out to admire the deep and inexpressible ocean of joy wTherein the whole family in heaven swim." "Though the world," he writes in one of his letters, " thinks my case most miserable, yet I think it so happy that I know not a man this day on the face of the earth with whom I would exchange my lot. Oh, it is more sweet and pleasant to be swimming in the swellings of Jordan for Christ and with Christ, than to be wallowing in the pleasures of sin and the delights of the flesh." There was nothing of the wild_fanatic in James Renwick, nothing of the fierce bigotry so oft attributed to his party. Neither the malice of enemies nor the coldness of friends could chafe that
tfil
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noble, gentle spirit. Tribulation in its severest form only opened up to him more fully the highest consolations. It is no marvel that the hearts of the wanderers warmed towards the amiable youth, who, with all his gentleness, revealed such steadfastness and power of endurance, and mingled no scorn nor anger with his bitter trials. In all matters requiring tact, moderation and sound judgment, they confided in him ; and the great influence that he acquired among them was of vast advantage to the community and the cause they main- tained.
That the Societies were not content merely to protest against wrong, but also to aid in the removal of it, is quite certain. In 1683 rumours reached them of a plot formed in England against the Government, and their aid was sought. A paper was drawn up in which was set forth the willingness of the Societies to take part in the overthrow of tyranny ; but even for so desirable an end, they could not enter into any associa- tion that was inconsistent with their avowed position and principles, they could not commit themselves to any enterprise that involved association with malignants. This paper was entrusted to Gordon of Earlston to be given to those engaged in the plot in London ; but Gordon was arrested at Newcastle, and the document fell into the hands of the Government, and stirred up a fiercer outbreak of persecution. To such terrible straits were the sufferers put at this time that in 1684 the Societies issued "The Apologetic Declaration and Admonitory Vindication," in which they warn all spies and informers of the danger they run, and of their resolution to defend themselves and deal with their enemies as they deserve. We grant that there are expressions in this document that we care not to vindicate; but a just conception of its purpose, and of the deplorable straits of its authors, must greatly mitigate our censure. They do not threaten to kill all of a different religion, as enemies alleged, nor do they allow private individuals to take vengeance, nor in any case is punishment to be inflicted without clear proof of having continued to offend after this
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warning. The main object was to deter the crew of base informers who swarmed in some districts, and to a large extent it served this end. The history of the times shows that these reputed zealots did not shed the blood of their enemies ; no well authenticated case can be given of any one being cut off under the ban or by the sanction of the Societies, though they had many opportunities of destroying individual oppressors. This Declaration furnished fresh excuse for persecution, and it J was at its extreme point when Charles II. died. That event could bring no relief to Renwickand the Society people, for his successor was a bigoted Papist, who had declared that there would be no rest till the whole South and West of Scotland was turned into a hunting-field. Nor were the Societies long in making known their attitude towards the new king. They k refused to recognize him, disowned the Parliament that pro- claimed him, declared anew their rejection of Popery, appealed to the Churches of England ancl Ireland to consider their defections and rouse themselves to meet this new danger, and then to all Protestant Churches for sympathy and help in their distressed condition. It is refreshing to turn from the servility of Parliaments and Prelates and listen to the manly voice of these despised Covenanters, which touched a chord in, the heart of the nation that did not cease to vibrate till the tyrant was expelled. The Societies did good service to religion and liberty by their fearless protest ; and it was noticed that it did not create fresh trouble ; none suffered for it, and none were required to disown it, — a negative testimony to its righteousness and opportuneness.
The position which the Societies assumed towards Argyle's unfortunate expedition is quite intelligible and consistent, though it has been grossly misrepresented by some modern historians of note. It was only what was to be expected, that Argyle's friends should look for support from those who for five years had maintained so practical a protest against tyranny, and had suffered so much from it, as the Society people had done. When the matter was brought before the General
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Meeting, in May, 1685 this was the issue of their deliberations : " But though they (desiring to adhere to the principles of the Church concerning sinful associations) had not freedom to jom with such, nor could they espouse Argyle's Declaration as the state of their quarrel, because it was not concerted according to the ancient plea of the Scottish Covenanters, and because it opened a door for a sinful confederacy ; yet they were willing to do what lay in their power against the common enemy." The honesty and fidelity of these men are apparent. They longed for freedom as ardently as Argyle did, but conscience forbids them to enrol among his followers j there was too little in common between them and many of his associates, and his grounds for action did not cover all that they reckoned right and necessary in the case. But if allowed liberty of action, un- fettered by his Declaration, they will do their part for the overthrow of the tyrant, and thus open up a way for a satisfactory settlement. They were not hostile but favourable to the enterprise ; they were only anxious to keep free from homologating the faults and defections of others, and to main- tain their testimony untarnished. The speedy collapse of the expedition rendered it unnecessary to take any further steps in the matter.
Hitherto the Societies had not been greatly troubled by internal dissensions, but they were now plunged into a painful and protracted controversy. Several Presbyterian ministers who had come from Holland with Argyle, were met by some of the Society people, and by them introduced to the General Meeting in July, 1685. • In the conference that followed, proposals for the union of these ministers to the Societies were made; this led to much heated debate, which Shields says, it is unpleasant to remember. No result flowed from these discussions, save the unhappy one, that the Societies became seriously divided among themselves; some accepted the services of the returned ministers, while the most part refused to own them. It is unnecessary to enter into details regarding this dispute, further than to say, that
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these ministers were willing to go on with the work along with Eenwick, provided their past conduct was not called in question; but, as they were charged with having grossly misrepresented the Societies and calumniated their minister, Eenwick' s friends insisted that these aspersions must be with- drawn, ere anything like harmonious action was possible. Instead of doing this, they repeated them throughout the country, and endeavoured to create a prejudice against Eenwick and mar his usefulness. The latter fully cleared himself from all the charges brought against him ; and it says little for the impartiality of Wodrow, that he gives the accusations but takes no notice of the refutation they received.
This dispute was the occasion of the preparation of the most important of all the documents issued by the Societies during this epoch. It bears the following title, which clearly indicates its character. "An Informatorv 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." This tractate was undoubtedly in the main the work of James Eenwick, and reveals the high qualities of head and heart that he possessed. It is a clear and able statement and defence of the position and principles of the Societies ; and for a long time a higher degree of authority was ascribed to it than to any other of the numerous Declarations that were published. When we consider the circumstances in which it was drawn up, the long persecution, the keen controversy that had agitated the party, the youth, the manifold labours, the hardships and unsettled life of the writer, it must be pronounced a remarkable document. It is wonderfully moderate and conciliatory in tone, and free from that narrow- ness of view which their circumstances tended so much to engender; indeed, the uncommon breadth of view on some points is one of its most interesting features. While decided
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and strong in its assertion of principles, it is generous towards- those whom it censures for unfaithfulness, fully recognizing their personal worth and past service. When essential principles are not imperilled, it does not seek to bind all to approve of every thing in manner or form, or to endorse every phrase or every act ; and it avoids an indiscriminate censure of those guilty of defection. Its candour is evinced by ^ | frank concessions, by retractation of some things in earlier v\ \ Declarations, and by an avowed readiness to correct whatever is extreme, wrong or uncharitable. Again and again it faments that the tyranny and confusion of the times have \ compelled the party to assume a peculiar position from which they long to be relieved, and they yearn and pray for the time when, with a good conscience, they can renew their brotherly * Jintercourse with fellow-Christians, and return to their place in a Christian State. Meanwhile, a due regard, on the one hand, to their rights and privileges as freemen and Christians, and on the other, to what was due to Cfi'rist as Head of the Church and King of nations, constrain tKem to stand apart from both the State and the Church. They have renounced allegiance to the king, they disown the Government, not because they think lightly of magistracy, " for it is a holy and divine institution, for the good of human society, the encour- agement of virtue and piety," but because the present rulers have ceased to " act as the ministers of God, in a direct line of subordination to God, in defence of our covenanted Reformation and the subjects' liberties," and have become habitual tyrants, destroyed liberty and made void all contracts with the subjects. Though they be a minority, they claim the right to act as they have done ; but they do not claim for themselves any magistratical authority, "they cannot act judicially in either civil or criminal courts ; only in the interim, that they may lawfully do that which may most conduce to the securing of themselves, religion and liberty " ; H J a position that is equally intelligible and constitutional. They in like manner refuse to have fellowship with the
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Church as presently constituted, they have been driven out of its fellowship; and they are specially concerned to vindicate their refusal to associate with other Presbyterian ministers, " whom we love in the Lord and acknowledge to be ministers of this Church, with whom we sometimes had sweet fellowship while they were faithful in their Master's work, and with whom again we would desire to have communion in ordinances." Did this refusal proceed from any narrow conceptions as to the nature of Christian communion 1 If any one imagines that this is so, let him read the second section of Head Seventh, and he will be astonished to find a breadth and liberality of sentiment far beyond what might have been expected, and principles enunciated regarding communion as broad as those of the Evangelical Alliance. He will also find admirably- drawn distinctions with respect to the action proper to the members of a particular church, when it is considered as reformed and regularly constituted, or as only in the process of being reformed, or again when considered as falling back from former attainments, " and broken down by complete and habitual tyranny and epidemical apostasy." This last is the condition in which they find themselves ; and under Head Fourth ample grounds are given why they are bound by regard to the principles of the Scottish Reformation, to refuse communion with those who were guilty more or less of the defections of the times. But does not this attitude of theirs make them chargeable with the sin of schism *? They were charged with that, but were well able to repel the charge. They still regarded themselves as a part of the historic Church of Scotland, and were wont to speak of it as their poor, torn and bleeding mother. A careful distinction is drawn between a positive separation involving the erection of a new Church, different in doctrine, worship or government, and a "negative separation which does not involve this. This negative separation is distinguished into active and passive ; and it is only this negative-passive separation that is acknow-
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ledged by the Societies. They claim that they have not left the Church ; they are faithful to the covenanted Reformation, but the declining and corrupt part has left them ; they are separate only as refusing to follow in this evil course, or to hold ecclesiastical fellowship with those who do so. They did not claim to be a Church, but only fellowship-societies of private Christians meeting together for mutual edification and strengthening, and having no idea of forming a separate Church. They longed for such a change as would render their present position of protest unnecessary. At the basis of all their contendings on these points lie the principles of constitutional freedom in civil things, and in ecclesiastical matters, the time-honoured principles of the Scottish Church — Presbyterian, and Free — in regard to the honour of Christ its only Head, and the Governor among the nations.
This interesting document was carefully considered by the Societies, and was approved in March, 1687, at a General Meeting held at Friarminion, a lonely farmhouse on the borders of Lanarkshire and Dumfriesshire, some six or seven miles north of Kirkconnell. It says much for the character and training of these Society people, that they were able to discuss the weighty themes, and follow the nice distinctions so carefully and lucidly stated in this able paper. Bearing in mind the conditions of their life, spent in the upland wilds, and beset on every hand by fierce enemies, it is marvellous to find these hunted men calmly discussing such matters as schism, nat- ural rights, and the relations of rulers and subjects. No doubt a great many of the points considered in the "Informatory Vindication," referred only to existing circumstances ; on some others, the position taken was extreme ; but after all, it contained nothing quite new, and for its purpose it was masterly, clear, and satisfactory.
In the meantime, the sufferings of the persecuted remnant did not lessen. In 1686, the hands of Renwick were strength- ened by the accession of other two preachers, Messrs Shields and Houston ; but in the following year he was again left to
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bear the burden alone, as the latter went over to Ireland, and the former was sent to Holland to superintend the printing of the " Informatory Vindication," and to carry forward the writing of his work in defence of the same cause, entitled "A Hind Let Loose." Amid growing difficulties, and under increasing weakness, Renwick continued his journeys and preaching. As at the beginning, so to the end, he was a gospel minister ; Christ was ever the burden of his theme, and there in the wilderness God bare witness to His own truth. Many had reason to bless God for the message the faithful preacher proclaimed, and others who had stood aloof from the witnessing remnant were brought, through the felt power of religion, to identify themselves with their cause. It was thus that their numbers increased rather than diminished, despite all their sufferings, through the instrumentality of the field conventicles. There was much in the preacher himself to win the sympathy of his hearers ; his voice was soft and musical ; his manner was calm and dignified as became his solemn theme ; his eloquence was mild and persuasive, rather than impassioned, — like the murmur of a gentle fertilizing stream, rather than the rush of a mountain torrent. He riveted the attention of his hearers on his subject more than on himself ; and so great was his power over his audience, that the crowds that gathered around him were often melted to tears under his earnest and pathetic appeals. One of his hearers thus writes : "I went sixteen miles to hear Mr Ren wick, a faithful minister of Jesus Christ, a young man endowed with great piety, freedom, and moderation. The meeting was held on a desolate moor. His method was clear, plain, and well- digested, suiting the substance and simplicity of the gospel. This was a great and sweet day of the gospel, for he handled and pressed the privileges of the covenant of grace with seraphic-like enlargement, to the great edification of his hearers."
The calls upon the services of this brave and noble servant of Christ were more than he could overtake j yet amid all his
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toils and hardships he found time to write letters of consolation to fellow-sufferers at home and to Christian friends abroad, which not only reveal the gentle, loving and devoted spirit of the man, but discover also a mind capable of dealing with the loftiest themes. While according to the regulations of the United Societies, Eenwick was not a member of the General Meeting, yet by his weight of character, his wisdom and moderation, combined with gentleness and firmness, he was enabled to exercise a wholesome influence on all the proceedings of the party. Faithful to his testimony against Popery and tyranny, among the last of his public acts was to give in to some of the ministers of Edinburgh a solemn protestation against the Toleration granted by the king, from the benefits of which he and his followers were excluded, and against those who availed themselves of it. His whole public life had been a protest against the assumption of such a power by the State, and he could not bear that Presbyterians should homo- logate the act of a Papist in presuming, of his own royal will and absolute authority, to tolerate the exercise of the true relig- ion. The career of this noble witness for Christ and liberty was now nearly ended. His physical constitution, never robust, was utterly broken by his manifold labours and hardships; and singled out as he was as the special object for persecution, it was hardly possible that he could much longer escape the hands of his enemies. He preached his last sermon in Fife, on 29th Jan., 1688, and was arrested in Edinburgh on the 31st. At his trial he was charged with having cast off the fear of God, disowned the king, refused to pay cess, and carried arms at his meetings. He owned all these charges except the first, — "That," he said, "I deny; for it is because I fear God and to violate His law that I am here standing ready to be condemned." He was executed on the 17th of February, 1688, rejoicing in the immediate prospect of the crown of glory. Thus died, in the 26th year of his age, the last martyr for Scotland's Covenanted Reformation, young in years, but ripe in Christian experience. His body was prepared for burial by
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the loving hands of devoted friends, and lies interred in the Churchyard of the Greyfriars, where rest in hope the remains of many a Scottish worthy.
The death of Renwick was a great loss to the Societies j but the organization which he had done so much to create and to guide remained intact, and their position was held as firm as ever. Little more, however, requires to be said regarding them in bringing this chapter to a close. Persecution continued during the first half of 1688, though in a somewhat mitigated form. The place of Renwick as preacher was supplied by the return of Shields from Holland, and also by Messrs Lining and Boyd, two young men who had been educated there at the expense of the Societies, and had obtained license ; of these three we shall have occasion to say more by and by. None watched with a keener interest than the Society people, the course of events that were transpiring in England and on the Continent, which foreboded an approaching change ; and none had greater reason to long for it. Rumours came of the negotiations of leading politicians with William of Orange, of the alienation of the Church of England from the king, and of the wide-spread anxiety and alarm which the policy of James had excited among the people. The Government began to realize that it had other work to do than to chase the godly peasantry of Scotland ; its very existence was threatened, and it bestirred itself too late to avert the impending doom. In Scotland proclamations rapidly followed each other, calling to arms for the defence of the throne, but they were received in sullen silence. While the king was compelled to listen to unpleasant truths from his English councillors, it makes one ashamed to read the servile addresses sent to him by his Scottish Council. Blind as the latter were to the actual state of feeling among the people, they were rudely awakened to a sense of their own utter weakness, and of the hopeless condition of the evil system which they had so vigorously sustained, when they learned that the Prince of Orange was in England, and that the king whom they had flat-
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tered had ignominiously fled. All at once the dark cloud that had so long brooded over Scotland was jifted up ; the storm that had for twenty-six miserable years swept over her was still. The persecution that had desolated many homes, that had forced so many of her best and noblest to become wanderers on the bleak moorlands and to die on field and scaffold as witnesses for God's truth and human freedom, came to an end when William of Orange landed at Torbay. A dark, sad chapter in the history of the faithful Presbyterians closes, and a new epoch opens ; how they dealt with the new set of circumstances which they were immediately called to face, must be left to another chapter. Meanwhile we anew avow our sympathy with them in the long and weary struggle through which they had passed, our hearty approval of their principles and general course of procedure, our admiration of them as patriots and Christians, and of the fidelity, patience and courage with which they maintained the unequal strife.
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CHAPTER IV.
AT THE REVOLUTION — 1688-1690.
Section First.
\\J E have now to trace the course pursued by the Societies ** during the two critical years when the Revolution Settlement in Church and State was being wrought out. In some respects it was for them a more trying ordeal than even the persecution through which they had passed. A transition period is ever a testing time ; there is the danger, on the one hand, of adhering blindly or doggedly to the forms and traditions of the past amid an entirely new set of circum- stances ; and there is on the other, the risk of being carried away by the excitement that so frequently marks the beginning of a new and hopeful era. It was therefore no easy matter for the Societies, particularly after such an experience as they had passed through, and with so much uncertainty yet resting on the future, to adopt such a course as would attest their fidelity to the attainments of the past, and at the same time secure a wise and faithful application of their principles to the altered circumstances. The narrative we have now to give will show to what extent they were able to realize the new state of things around them, and to assume a position that would give worthy expression to what was essential and permanent in their testimony. In order to understand the actings of the Societies we must, of course, keep distinctly in view the changes that at the same time were taking place both in civil and ecclesiastical affairs. 7
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The Kevolution was the result of the tyranny and arbitrary government of the king, and of his manifest efforts to prepare the way for the restoration of Popery; and it was brought about by a combination of parties that had during the pre- ceding reign been violently opposed to each other. The interests of liberty and religion were at stake, and this for a time welded together Churchmen and Nonconformists. In no part of the realm had tyranny shown itself in a more repulsive form than in Scotland, and nowhere had its results been more keenly felt. There, too, the dread and dislike of Popery were even more intense than in England ; and the Scottish Parlia- ment, hitherto so basely subservient to the arbitrary will of the sovereign, had already refused to comply with the king's request to annul the penal statutes against Popery ; while the popular feeling against that system was evinced in various ways before the Revolution was accomplished. The clergy of the Established Church in Scotland were, to a very large extent, out of sympathy with the sentiments and feelings of the people; and even after their Episcopal brethren in England had lost confidence in the king, they continued to fawn upon and flatter the Popish despot. In Scotland, however, the protest against tyranny, civil and ecclesiastical, as well as against Popery, had been all along maintained in a very direct and emphatic form, and in circumstances well fitted to arrest the attention of such as carefully regarded the state of things in the land. For about twenty years it had been maintained by the ejected Presbyterian ministers and those who at all risks adhered to them, — by the conventicle preachers and the conventicle hearers, with all the witnesses and sufferers of those days. During eight weary years this protest had been maintained amid unparalleled hardships by the devoted Society people, who had renounced allegiance to Charles and refused to own James as king, and had preserved their freedom on the mountains and moors. In every Declaration that they issued, the protest was renewed, and every martyrdom sealed it afresh. Their testimony and their sufferings were ever before
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the people, and helped to keep alive the nickering flame of freedom till it burst forth in its strength at the Revolution. The banner, upheld by feeble but resolute hands on the Scottish hills, was a clear indication to the patriots of England and to the Prince of Orange that the spirit of freedom had not been extinguished in the northern kingdom. They had good ground to believe, that those who at infinite hazard had not shrunk from the post of danger in the darkest hour, would tnot fail to give effective help when the time of deliverance came. Whatever peculiarities belonged to the position of the Societies, there was no shadow of doubt as to their sincere love of liberty and devotion to the interests of the Protestant religion, and of this fresh proof was given by their action during the period now to be considered.
Among the last acts of the Societies before the turmoil of the Revolution was upon them, was one that revealed their practical sympathy with those who were sufferers in the same •cause, and who for their fidelity had been sold as slaves to the West Indies. Out of their deep poverty the scattered remnant collected 4300 merks Scots for the redemption of fourteen persons, including one woman, held in bondage in Barbadoes ; and these in due time were restored to liberty and returned to their native land.
During the summer and autumn of 1688, the country was kept in a state of excitement by rumours of the preparations that were being made in Holland, for the invasion of England and the overthrow of the existing Government. At the General Meeting, at Wanlockhead, on October 24th, this was the principal subject under consideration, and it was discussed in its various aspects with the calmness, fulness, and precision that were characteristic of the men. Interested as they, above all others, were in the success of such an enterprise, they were not carried away by the excitement of the time, so as to overlook what was due to the position and the principles, which at the cost of so much suffering they had maintained. The question they had to face was, — in the event of the
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arrival of the Dutch army, what should they do who had stood forth as openly disowning the authority of James 1 This branched off into several distinct questions. In the Minutes of the General Meeting the matter is stated for discussion in this form :
" What ought to be done in case the Dutch and other confederate Protestants should make an expedition into this kingdom, providing their declaration and ends of the war were right 1 Next, it was divided into several branches for the better understanding thereof : — As, 1. Whether duty and safety did call for a rising in arms, or to sit still and hide 1 2. If there should be a rising resolved, when this should be attempted 1 3. Who should be admitted to concur ? 4. Whether there should be an association with the Dutch, or continuing in a separate body 1 5. Whether there should be any treating with them in such a separate appearance, or if any, how far might we proceed 1 " After full discussion a decision was come to on each of these questions to the following effect: — "Duty and safety seemed to require rising in a posture of defence . . . and declare whom they were for . . . for it would be a reproach, when now the quarrel would be stated for religion and liberty, if they who have borne arms hitherto for the defence thereof should now lay them by as indifferent, . . . that our appearance in that posture should not be sudden, — nor that it should be at all, if the expedition should only be in England," unless " all the country were in a combustion, and they were generally pressed to declare themselves on what side they were." The third point evidently caused a great deal of debate ; were they to admit all who were willing to associate themselves with the Society men in arms 1 and they decided in substance thus : — " Publish a Declaration of the cause, occasion and ends of our appearing in arms ; appoint a day of humiliation for defections and compliances, thus giving those guilty of these an oppor- tunity of confessing their faults ; renew the Covenants with adaptation to existing circumstances; then admit all who
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accept the Declaration, confess compliances, engage to avoid them for the future, and subscribe the Covenant. But those guilty of very gross steps of defection might possibly be admitted as common soldiers, but not as officers ; while those who by their evil deeds had justly forfeited their lives were not to be received at all." As to the fourth question : "it was concluded unanimously that we could not have an association with the Dutch in one body, nor come formally under their conduct, being such a promiscuous conjunction of reformed Lutheran malignants and sectaries, to join with whom were repugnant to the testimony of the Church of Scotland." As to the fifth point, it was agreed that they might treat so far with the Dutch, "as to keep some cor- respondence with them, to co-operate together against the common enemy, to inform them of their motion, to take ammunition from them, and to admit some of them to come and teach the art of war, but not to take them for our officers, nor come under their conduct."
Such was the course marked out for the Societies by the General Meeting at this critical time ; we shall by and by see how far they were able to adhere to it. Meanwhile it is proper to notice, how exactly these decisions correspond with the position which they have maintained for eight years, and with the principles which they have avowed. They do not here act as a religious community or as a church party, but as a body of freemen, who by their own act stand apart from the great body of the people, and own no subjection to any civil authority. In the prospect of a possible change in the government of the country, which may or may not realize their ideal of what a Christian State should be, they are anxious not to commit themselves to any course that is inconsistent with their position and principles. They are manifestly prepared with all their strength to aid in over- throwing the tyranny that has oppressed them, but their action in this direction must not be controlled by those whose principles on religious questions materially differ from
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theirs. That association with malignants, that mingling of the faithful with the unfaithful in the army and the Government, to which they traced the overthrow of the covenanted cause forty years earlier, they resolve to keep clear of — they will keep themselves apart, and not allow their unity to be broken up by an admixture of alien elements. All the more resolved are they in the meantime to retain their position, inasmuch as they have no certainty regarding the object and ends of this expected invasion ; and they care not to pledge themselves to become identified too closely with it, till they are satisfied that it is in harmony with their ideas of religion and liberty. Leave them thus free, and they will not be the last to rise against tyranny. Some may deem that at such a crisis they were over-scrupulous, but they were certainly consistent. It is moreover to be remarked that as they were sane, intelligent Christian men, the attitude they assume, and the resolutions they adopt, imply that they knew their own strength; they were conscious that they could bring into the field a body of men, whose numbers might very easily turn the scale at any critical moment, and whose zeal and courage might be thoroughly depended on. Had it been otherwise, had they been only a small handful of fanatics, their resolutions would have appeared simply ridiculous, and the authorities would not have set so much value, as they certainly did, on their co-operation.
In the interval that elapsed before the next General Meeting was held, events of great moment took place elsewhere. On 4th November, 1688, William of Orange landed without opposition at Torbay ; in a few weeks James was an exile in France, and William had assumed the direction of affairs, pending the meeting of the English Parliament. In Scotland, too, the change was rapid, thorough, and wonderfully peaceful. The nation was manifestly ripe for it ; the power slipped out of the hands of the adherents of James, and arrangements were made for carrying on public business till the Convention of Estates met. The popular dislike of Popery showed itself
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in the destruction of Holy rood Chapel by an Edinburgh mob ; and in some country districts the people stripped the houses of the Papists of the images and other accompaniments of worship. In this kind of work we are not surprised to learn that the Society people were particularly zealous, but they disturbed nothing in the houses they visited except what pertained to Popish worship. Neither did they appropriate what they carried off either to private or public use, but, as with accursed things under the Mosaic law, they burned them in the public squares. The Society men were the first to appear under arms, ready to fight against the adherents of the exiled king; for when a rumour was spread abroad that Irish Papists had landed and burned Kirkcudbright, the "hillmen" gathered in large numbers, their zeal for liberty being stimulated by their hatred of Popery. The rumour was false, but the armed band kept together till the General Meeting on 4th January, 1689. They needed not now to skulk among the lonely glens or desolate moors, nor yet to meet under the dark wing of night ; and they convened openly in the Kirk of Douglas. "Behold," writes Michael Shields, " on a sudden a very wonderful altera- tion. He who not long before claimed an absolute power and prerogative royal, which all were to obey without reserve, was made to flee, and could get few to obey him, yea, despised by many of those whom he exalted. The wicked were ensnare^ in the work of their own hands, and the counsel of the heathen brought to nought. Those who formerly were persecuted were now in quiet, and those who had been persecutors are in fear and glad to hide themselves. Those who formerly were a terror to many, are now feared for those whom they made afraid before. These are the doings of the Lord, and should be wondrous in our eyes." They fully appreciated the great change in their condition ; and it was characteristic of the religious spirit that pervaded the party, that a day of thanks- giving to God for the deliverance He had wrought was appointed at this meeting. At the same time the Declaration of the cause of their rising in arms was adopted and published
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at Douglas with due solemnity, in the presence of three hundred armed men. Some other matters were discussecT at this meeting, to which reference will afterwards be made.
During the interval that elapsed between the fall of one Government and the establishment of another, the people, especially in the western counties, took the redress of some grievances into their own hands. The curates had been settled in their parishes without the consent of the people, and many of them had obtained an unenviable notoriety by their zeal against the Covenanters ; and now, when the arm of the persecutor was broken, many of the offensive incumbents were summarily ejected by the parishioners. This of course was not strictly legal, and a great deal was made at the time by the prelatic party of the " rabbling of the curates " ; yet after all, though there was a little rough handling in some places, it was trifling compared with the cruelties lately inflicted on the Presbyterians, with the approbation and often with the aid of those who whined and stormed over the lot of the curates. Many of them were doubtless driven from their parishes amid the contempt and scorn of the people, but without personal injury ; and this shows that after twenty-six years' experience, the people had not learned to love Episcopacy, and that the conduct and character of those expelled had not been such as to win respect. As might have been expected, the followers of Cameron were specially active in this treatment of the curates ; so much so, that the General Meeting took steps to restrain their zeal, and to accomplish the desired end as quietly as possible. For this purpose a document was drawn up to be given to the obnoxious incumbents, to induce them to withdraw without any further trouble. The following is an extract from
it, — "We, belonging to the parish of , remembering
the obligation of our solemn covenants to endeavour the extirpation of Prelacy, and being resolved to prosecute it by all approven means to the utmost as our Lord shall enable us,
do, therefore, to prevent other tumults, warn you to
surcease and desist from preaching and all other ministerial
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exercises in the kirk of , and to depart from the care and
benefice of the said kirk, and to deliver up the keys of the same, under Certification that if you refuse, you shall be forced to do it." A warning of this sort, coming from such a quarter and in the troubled state of the country, was sufficient to induce many to forsake their charges and retire peaceably to Edinburgh. At the same time, it was found necessary to restrain some connected with the Societies from taking the redress of past wrongs into their own hands. During the persecution much property had been forcibly taken from them by individuals in the service of the Government, and they had been unable to recover just debts while they lay under the ban of the oppressor. The General Meeting now urged them to be patient and refrain from taking any rash steps, as there was now the hope of getting redress in a legal and orderly way. The spirit that generally prevailed in the Societies and regulated their actings, was shown to be not that of blind fanaticism and fierce revenge, as has often been asserted, but rather that of moderation and self-restraint, to an extent which, in the circumstances, was not a little remarkable.
Before the Prince of Orange had left the shores of Holland, it had been found comparatively easy for the United Societies, in discussing the attitude which they should assume in the event of his making an attempt to overturn the British Government, to arrive at a tolerabty unanimous conclusion. They decided to be very cautious till they understood better the intentions of the Prince. But when the Revolution had been practically accomplished, and the reins of government were in his hands, — amid the keen excitement and strong feeling created in the community by so great an event, and the widespread fear of troubles from the adherents of James, — it was found much more difficult to maintain the same attitude of reserve and waiting. The whole country was stirred, and rumours of attempts to bring about a ^counier- revolution were current. The sympathies of the Societies were wholly opposed to the Jacobites, from whom they could
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expect no redress; and they were nearly as decidedly in favour of William, from whom much that they had contended and suffered for might be obtained. But it very soon became evident, that this sympathy with the Revolution cause led many among them to more active steps for its defence, than were deemed by others consistent with the principles and position which they felt bound to maintain. The consequence was, that from the beginning of 1689, the Societies were distracted by heated disputes on almost every step that was taken by the General Meeting. Two parties existed ; the one, disposed more actively to aid in the establishment and defence of the new Government, was under the leadership of the preachers of the community, Shields, Lining and Boyd ; and the other, resolved to keep free from all complicity with it, found its representative in Sir Robert Hamilton, who soon after the Revolution returned from Holland. That the former party carried their proposals for the most part in the General Meetings seems evident from the printed Minutes, but at every step they were earnestly opposed by the other party, by whom nearly all their actings were afterwards regarded as steps of defection.
At the General Meeting in January, 1689, a strong desire was manifested to present an Address to the Prince, acknowledging him as God's instrument in freeing them from persecution, reminding him of what he owed to God for his great goodness, representing the cause for which they had suffered so much, and craving his aid in redressing their grievances. This was surely not an unreasonable step to take ; but many looked upon it with suspicion and dislike, as com- mitting them to the side of a ruler whose Declaration, while promising constitutional government and liberty of conscience, made no reference to the covenanted Reformation. The Address was adopted, but was never presented ; delays occurred caused by more exciting matters ; and in the meanwhile William was proclaimed King of England. When the time appointed for the meeting of the Convention of Estates
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approached, rumours became current of plots among the Jacobites to prevent the meeting or frustrate its objects. Great numbers of the most ardent friends of liberty came armed to Edinburgh, and prominent among these was a large body of the "hillmen" from the West. It might be doubtful whether they would obtain from the Convention all that they reckoned necessary, but they were resolved not to allow the opposite party to prevent it from doing its allotted work. So- these stern men, so recently the objects of relentless persecution T were the first in Scotland to take arms in the cause of liberty, and became a volunteer guard to the Legislature at this critical time. But this action of theirs, though not officially approved, being indeed that of individuals moved by a common aun~and ardent love of liberty, was a sore point with many of their brethren in the Societies. Sworn friends of freedom as they were, it was to them a perplexing fact, that their companions in suffering had become the guardians of a Con- vention, many of whose members had been supporters of the tyrant and persecutors of the people of God. They could not see how this harmonized with the principles and position they had hitherto maintained ; rather it seemed to them to compromise both. Yet it is not easy to see how the mere act of protecting the Legislature at this important crisis from the worst enemies of the people, could commit them to an approval of what the Convention afterwards did. At all events, they did good service to the country at this juncture ; the adherents of tyranny were watching their opportunity to strike an effective blow for their master ; but manifestly it was not in Edinburgh that they could hope to do this; they were re- strained by the dread of the "hillmen," whom it had been their chief work in past years to hunt and murder. Clavei> he-use and his associates accordingly fled to the North, and took up arms on behalf of the exiled king. Besides this act of individuals in the Societies, another step was proposed by a Committee of the General Meeting appointed to watch the course of events. A memorial was drawn up for presentation
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to the Convention, setting forth the reasons for disowning the late Government, and asking that the Prince of Orange should be chosen king upon such conditions and provisions as would secure religion and liberty. It was not presented, because some members of Convention stated that William would certainly be chosen king, while it was urged that some expres- sions it contained were likely to irritate some not too well affected to the cause, and produce discussion and division when unity of action was of so great importance.
Section Second.
The deep interest that the Societies felt in the success of the Revolution was shown in another and more practical form, but one that greatly intensified the discord within the community itself. This was a project to raise a regiment, composed entirely of members of the Societies, for the defence of the country, liberty and religion. This was too weighty a matter to be decided by the Committee in Edinburgh, and a General Meeting was summoned for its consideration. Before this meeting could be held, the Convention of Estates had adopted the historic " Claim of Right," in which it is declared that James VII. "hath fore faulted the right to the Crown and that the Throne of Scotland is become vacant." It must have been matter of not a little satisfaction to these- persecuted Covenanters, who for eight years had been branded as traitors and rebels, to find in the decision of the Convention so ample a justification of their position as announced in the Sanquhar Declaration of 1680 ; it was now endorsed by the representa- tives of the nation itself. If the Claim of Right was justifiable, so was the Sanquhar Declaration. So they had their revenge, but in a form that secured blessings to the kingdom and called for devout thanksgiving to God. When the General Meeting convened at Douglas on April 29th, William and Mary had been proclaimed King and Queen of Scotland.
The discussion regarding the proposal to embody a regiment
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of Cameronians (to use a convenient designation) was carried on with great keenness at this and the subsequent meeting, and at its close left much embittered feeling. All were agreed that it was right and dutiful for them to do something for the defence of the country and religion, at a time when dangers were so threatening ; how to do this and yet be faithful to their principles was the difficult point. In what relation were the troops they raised to stand to the rest of the army 1 were they to be subject to the same regulations, to be officered in the same way, to receive pay from the Government, to mingle with others in encampments and in military manoeuvres, and be treated like any other division of the army 1 It was decided by a majority that this would be a violation of their testimony, it would be a sinful association with those whose principles they repudiated and against whose conduct they had solemnly protested. They must keep themselves clear of all such complicity with evil. To avoid this, a paper of proposals was drawn up, embodying the conditions upon which the Cameronians might, without breach of testimony, take part in the war against the adherents of the exiled king, who were now in arms in the north under the leadership of one whom they knew too well, Graham of Claverhouse, now Viscount Dundee. A petition embodying the same stipulations with additions was afterwards presented by the men of the regiment, and also a Declaration to be subscribed by officers and men setting forth their objects in entering the service. Never perhaps were any similar documents drawn up as the conditions of military service : the Declaration indeed resembles in some of its paragraphs the ordination vows of Scottish Pres- byterian ministers ; and the desire of the proposers evidently was, that the authorities should make a special arrangement with them as with a semi-independent party, as the condition upon which their aid was to be obtained. When we look at the contents of these singular papers we will scarcely be surprised to find that, with the exception of a few smaller points, the military authorities refused to accept the
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proposals. It was stipulated that the officers should be all steadfast adherents of the Covenanted Reformation ; if they had formally fallen in with prevailing defections, they must make open acknowledgment of their faults and promise submission to the censures of the Church ; that they should •choose their own inferior officers, and a minister to conduct religious services ; that the officers should be bound to help forward the Reformation in Church and State, and endeavour to purge the army of all criminals and persecutors j that rules should be made for punishing immoralities, such as uncleanness, lying, swearing, &c. ; that the regiment be not mingled with the other detachments of the army either in military move- ments or encampments ; and that when the danger was past, all who desired might return home, and their places be filled up with the approbation of the rest ; as also, that opportunities should be given for public worship and fellowship meetings. The refusal of these conditions increased the opposition to this movement; but the spirit of military ardour was kindled .among the Society people ; the full strength of the proposed regiment was already in the field, and the Lieut.-Colonel, William Clelland, who had himself been a sufferer for the cause, took advantage of this by proposing a short statement explanatory of the motives that animated them in joining the army. This was drawn up by Sir Patrick Hume of Polwarth, and is to the following effect : " To declare that you engage in this service of purpose to resist Popery and Prelacy and arbitrary power, and to recover and establish the work of Reformation in Scotland in opposition to Popery, Prelacy and arbitrary power in all the branches and steps thereof, till the government in Church and State be brought to that lustre and integrity which it held in the best times." This was read to each company, and very soon afterwards they were marched off to join the army that was to oppose Dundee in the north. This was the origin of the Cameronian Regiment, afterwards so famous in the annals of British warfare. It was composed of men animated by strong religious convictions and by an intense
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hatred of tyrann}', who had passed through the furnace, and were ready to risk their lives in defence of truth, which to them was dearer than life. They speedily obtained immortal renown by their gallant defence of Dunkeld against a vastly superior force ; an exploit which practically put an end to the rebellion against King William, so far as concerned Scotland. And surely it was not unfitting, that those who had borne the heaviest load of oppression should thus give the final blow to the hopes of the oppressor.
In these singular transactions to which we have now referred, two characteristic features stand forth as influencing the action of the Societies. There was the strong desire to do something to prevent the restoration of the tyranny from which they had suffered so much, and to secure the establishment of constitutional liberty, without which there could be no hope of seeing what they so earnestly longed for, the revival of the glory of Scotland's Covenanted Eeformation. At the same time, they were filled with anxiety, lest in rendering aid they should compromise their position, or do anything in support of principles and practices inconsistent with their testimony. They had their own ideal of what ought to take the place of the tyranny and usurpation of the late Government ; and in the step they had taken they believed that they were doing something towards its realization. But to many members of the Societies this action appeared utterly wrong and inconsistent. The Declaration was much too vague to satisfy them ; they saw in it none of the good and safe conditions on which they had insisted, but rather a sinful association with the enemies of the cause. So they protested against it, and ever regarded it as a serious defection. Avowedly the regiment went to the war to assist in the destruction of Popery, Prelacy and . arbitrary power ; while in reality they were fighting for a king who was not a Covenanter, but Head of the Prelatic Church of England — on the side of a Government many of whose members had taken part with the tyrant and persecutor, and deserved punishment rather than
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