Page:Life of James Renwick.pdf/5

5 witnesses of Christ, and conferring about the testimonies of some other martyrs lately executed, whiehwhich [sic] he was very earnest always to gather and keep on record, he refreshed them greatly by a discourse, shewing how much he was grieved and offended with those who heard the curates, pleaded for cess paying, and defended the owning of the tyrants’ authority, &c.; and how sad it was to him that none were giving a formal testimony against these things; and in the end added, That he would think it a great ease to his mind to know and be engaged with a remnant that would singly prosecute and propagate the testimony against the corruptions of the times to the succeeding generations, and would desire nothing more than to be helped to be serviceable to them."

At his first eomingcoming [sic] among them he could not but be taken notice of, for while some were speaking of removing the bodies of the martyrs, lately executed at the Gallowlee, Mr Renwick was very forward to promote it, and active to assist therein, and when the sincere seekers of God, who were interspersed up and down the land, and adhered to the testimony, as Messrs Cameron and Cargill left it, towards the end of 1681, began to settle a correspondence in general, for preserving union, understanding one another’s minds, and preventing declensions to right or left hand extremes. In the first of which, (the Duke of York holding a parliament at Edinburgh) they agreed upon emitting that declaration published at Lanark, January 12th, 1682, wherein Mr Renwick was employed proclaiming it, but had no hand in the penning thereof, otherwise it might have been more considerately worded than what it was; for though lie approved of the matter of it, yet he always acknowledged there were some expressions therein rather unadvised.

After the publishing of this deelarationdeclaration [sic], the next general meeting, finding themselves reproached and informed against, both at home and abroad, in foreign