* * * * *

Points for the class.

1.  Describe the location of John Brown’s home.

2.  What meetings were held in this cottage?

3.  What interests were here under deliberation?

4.  Who visited the home the evening before the sad event?

5.  How was John Brown captured?

6.  Describe the death of this martyr.

7.  How could John Brown have saved his life?

XLVIII

Last, but not least.—­A.D. 1688.

James Renwick was the last martyr publicly executed for adhering to Scotland’s Covenant.  He was a child of maternal vows.  His mother dedicated him to the Lord, praying that he might live, and do worthy service for Christ.  She saw her prayer answered; yea, more than answered; it became, also, a sword that pierced through her own soul.  She had not asked too much; but great prayers always imply self-immolation.

The Renwick home was beautiful for situation.  It was located near the quiet town of Moniaive.  The building is gone, but the place is kept in remembrance by an attractive monument.  The cottage stood on a hillside, overlooking a charming valley, and beyond the valley, a range of mountains reaching to the clouds, glistening with snow in the winter, and purple with heather in the summer.  Young Renwick was a passionate lover of nature.  Oft did he sit on this grassy slope, where stands the monument, and gaze, and ponder, and dream, till filled with amazement.  Well did he know, that all the magnificence of earth and sky was but the shadow of the glory beyond, the frills of the Creator’s robe, the evidence of a personal God.  This boy, like young Samuel, did not yet know the Lord.  He knew his Bible, his prayers, his Catechism, his Psalm-book, and his church; but he had no personal acquaintance with God.  This he eagerly sought.  One day, as he gazed upon valley and mountain, a wave of melancholy dashed upon his soul, and he exclaimed, “If these were devouring furnaces of burning brimstone, I would be content to go through them all, if so I could be assured that there is a God.”  Such agonizing for an experimental acquaintance with God is sure of reward.  God revealed Himself.  No great light breaking through the sky fell upon him; but there came an inner illumination by the Holy Spirit, which increased till his penetrating eyes saw God in everything; every bush was burning with His glory; every mountain was clothed with His majesty; all the heavens were speaking His praise; and yet he saw a thousand-fold more of the beauty of the Lord in the holy Covenant, and in the poor despised Covenanters who kept the faith, than in all the grandeur of nature.  Renwick in this deep experience had his introduction to God.  Oh, what a life we may expect of such a man!  An introduction to God must result in a wonderful character.  Look out for the boy, who says that he must find God; his life will yet be transfigured with real greatness and moral grandeur.