nt writer, "The
real matter of fact for which the Cameronians contended was just the old
claim of the Covenanters--'a free Parliament and a free Assembly.'" "It
is the glory of the Cameronians, in which no other party shares, that
when most people lay prostrate, and many of the bravest stood aloof,
they were the first to hoist the flag, disowning the government of the
Stuarts, without whose expulsion liberty was impossible."[4]

The testimony which Cargill and Cameron boldly proclaimed and sealed
with their blood, was cordially espoused by Renwick, and faithfully
maintained by him during the whole course of his public ministry. He was
called, besides, to the great work of preaching a full and free Gospel,
throughout many parts of his native country, to multitudes who were
hungering for the bread of life, when through terror of oppressive
rulers, or from seeking their favour, others shrunk from the performance
of so important and hazardous a duty. He was required, moreover, to
dispense the ordinances of religion in Scriptural purity, to the
scattered, persecuted remnant, and thus to repair "the desolations of
Zion," and to transmit the truth to future generations. In the year of
Cameron's martyrdom, the Societies framed their "General
Correspondence," and formed a simple but effective organization, for
mutual fellowship and edification,--for preserving their precious gospel
liberties, and for taking advantage of any event in public affairs, for
re-establishing the Covenanted order in Church and State, which had been
violently taken away, by despotic power and prelatic intolerance. The
extent of this organization, in a time of great suffering is remarkable.
Gordon of Earlston, when examined before the Privy Council in 1683, with
the instruments of torture placed in view, testified that several
counties were divided into districts, of which there were 80, with 7000
associated members. There is evidence that, chiefly through the Divine
blessing upon Renwick's faithful preaching, and his singular wisdom in
council, those Societies increased, instead of diminishing, in the
latter part of the prelatic persecution.

To the friends of evangelical truth, and the faithful witnesses for the
Redeemer's royal prerogatives, the services of Renwick, at the crisis in
which he exercised his public ministry, were invaluable. He was
eminently the man for the time. Through the influence of the unhappy
Indulgence, the strict Covenanters wer