The Life of James Renwick: A Historical Sketch Of His Life, Labours And Martyrdom And A; Vindication Of His Character And TestimonyHouston, Thomas
History
The Life of James Renwick: A Historical Sketch Of His Life, Labours And Martyrdom And A; Vindication Of His Character And Testimony
Houston, Thomas
Covenanters; Renwick, James, 1662-1688; Scotland -- Church history -- 17th century
"Words would fail me to express my own frame, and the frame of many
others; only this I may say, we would have been glad to have endured any
kind of death, to have been home at the uninterrupted enjoyment of that
glorious Redeemer who was so livelily and clearly offered to us that
day.
"He was the only man that I ever knew that had an unstained integrity.
He was a lively and faithful minister of Christ and a worthy Christian,
such as none who were acquaint with him could say any other but this,
that he was a beloved Jedidiah of the Lord. I never knew a man more
richly endowed with grace, more equal in his temper, more equal in his
spiritual frame, and more equal in walk and conversation. When I speak
of him as a man--none more lovely in features, none more prudent, none
more brave and heroic in spirit; and yet none more meek, none more
humane and condescending. He was every way so rational, as well as
religious, that there was reason to think that the powers of his reason
were as much strengthened and sanctified as any man's I ever heard of.
When I speak of him as a Christian--none more meek, and yet none more
prudently bold against those who were bold to sin--none more frequent
and fervent in religions duties, such as prayer, converse, meditation,
self-examination, preaching, prefacing, lecturing, baptizing, and
catechising; none more methodical in teaching and instructing,
accompanied with a sweet, charming eloquence, in holding forth Christ,
as the only remedy for lost sinners; none more hated of the world, and
yet none more strengthened and upheld by the everlasting arms of
Jehovah, to be steadfast, and abound in the way of the Lord, to the
death; wherefore he might be justly called "Antipas," Christ's faithful
martyr. And as I lived then to know him to be so of a truth, so, by the
good hand of God, I yet live, thirty-six years after him, to testify
that no man upon just grounds had any thing to lay to his charge. When
all the critical and straitening circumstances of that period are well
considered, save that he was liable to natural and sinful infirmities,
as all men are when in this life, and yet he was as little guilty in
this way as any I ever knew or heard of, he was the liveliest and most
engaging preacher to close with Christ, of any I ever heard. His
converse was pious, prudent, and meek; his reasoning and debating was
the same, carrying almost with it full evidence of the truth of what he
asserted. And for steadfastness in the way of the Lord, few came his
length. He learned the truth and counted the cost, and so sealed it with
his blood. Of all men that ever I knew, I would be in the least danger
of committing a hyperbole when speaking in his commendation. And yet I
speak not this to praise men, but for the glory and honour of God in
Christ, who makes men to differ so much from others, and in some periods
of the Church more than others."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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