Jesus universally acknowledged, honoured, and obeyed.  They believed firmly the sure word of prophecy that “all kings shall fall down before Him; and all nations shall serve Him.”  “He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth.”  Psal. lxxii. 11, 8.  So should we also aim to be faithful to Christ and His cause; to our own sacred vows; to the souls of men; and to the blood-bought privileges that have been entrusted to us to preserve and transmit.  We are responsible, not for success, but for fidelity; and the promised reward will be a glorious recompense for all trial and suffering.  “Be thou faithful unto the death, and I will give thee a crown of life.”

Renwick was, furthermore, distinguished by a catholic, genial, loving spirit.  This characteristic is not generally thought to have been prominent in the spirit of illustrious reformers and suffering confessors.  Luther, Calvin, and Knox, have been represented as unsocial, morose fanatics, and gloomy bigots.  Renwick has been branded as rigid and austere, and those who have embraced and faithfully maintained the same testimony have been exhibited as sectaries of the deepest dye.  No representation could be more unjust, and none is more opposed to historic truth.  Luther was most genial and loving, as his “Table Talk,” and the record of his domestic life, abundantly testify.  Calvin’s “Letters” collected by Bonnet, show how keenly and long he felt the death of his wife and infant child; how deeply his heart was affected with the sufferings of Protestants everywhere, even of those who differed from him in principle; and attest, moreover, the warmth and constancy of his friendship.  Knox’s declaration before Queen Mary, that he was always affected by the crying of his infant children, shows his gentle and susceptible disposition; while his letters to his wife and mother-in-law bear witness, equally to his piety, and to the depth of tender feeling that filled his large heart.  Renwick was, at all times, a loving, thoughtful, and confiding friend, as many passages in his “Letters” declare.  The annals of the persecution, and the traditions of suffering times, testify to his genial disposition, even when he was harassed by relentless enemies, and his heart was overwhelmed with incessant cares and anxieties.

In proof of the catholic, unsectarian, Christian spirit of Renwick and his followers, the clear statements of the INFORMATORY VINDICATION, the work which most fully and clearly defines their position, may be referred to.  After laying down an admirable platform of fellowship and discipline, the persecuted Covenanters declare in effect, “We are not a Church at present, and cannot act fully as an organized Church.  We are a broken, persecuted remnant.  Our societies are not a Church, but a temporary means of enjoying proper religious instruction and ordinances of worship.  They are, besides, associations for self-defence, and