Three areas where faith overcomes

Three areas where faith overcomes

Three areas where faith overcomes
James Renwick (1662 – 1688) was the last of the Covenanter field preachers to be put to death. He was just twenty six when he was executed in the Grassmarket.

Jean Hamilton corresponded with several prominent Covenanting ministers, including James Renwick. Here are updated excerpts from three letters which she received from Renwick while her personal and family circumstances were in turmoil and she was dealing with a lot of uncertainty as to what to do for the best for herself and her children. When the troubles of the moment and the inadequacies within ourselves threaten to obscure God’s plain truth, Renwick’s wise advice helps us to refocus, and to fortify ourselves against the temptation to get so bogged down in problems that we forget we are journeying onwards to meet Christ in glory.

How to interpret providence

31st March 1683

I hope you will not think me so far out of my duty as to be unmindful of your case, for I am very conscious of the circumstances you find yourself in. However, though your trials be many, and your fears not few, yet I do not think your case is strange – similar things have happened to the Lord’s people.

O take it well, whatever comes from the Lord’s hand. Look to His purposes in His providences, and then you will be able to read love to you in the saddest of them. Away with scanty sense, which always interprets God’s heart to be the same as His face. Faith is a noble thing – it soars high, and can read love in God’s heart even when His face frowns. Do you not have reason to think the best of Him? You can depend on getting good from His hand. Your evening of sorrow shall be turned into an everlasting morning of joy.

Let the faith of this sweeten your present situation to you. The Lord be with you all. Remember your friend and servant in the Lord, who sympathises with you in your trials.

How to interpret yourself

20 June 1684

I received your letter, which unbosomed to me a troubled case, which touches me in no small measure. But as I am touched by the trouble of spirit which you express, I am just as much refreshed to see that you are not insensible about your situation. Your great complaint is that you lack light and life. I am convinced, however, that anyone who utterly lacks one or the other of these cannot be troubled to realise that they lack them. Nobody misses what never belonged to them. A horse has no sense of loss about the wings of an eagle, because they never belonged to him, but he would soon notice if he lacked his feet. Those who never knew anything of light and life would never miss them.

But what shall I say to you? Let nothing less than Christ Himself satisfy you. Try to live under the impression of His preciousness, for contemplating this fills the heart with love to Him, and love, you know, is a most active and lively thing.

Do not judge your own state by how you feel about yourself. A very fruitful tree will bear neither fruit not leaves in the winter, but there will still be plenty sap in the root. Do not spend time debating it, but make sincere and serious use of the means that you have of union and communion with Christ. This is both the surest and the shortest way to reach fixedness.

Also, do not seek simply to have your feelings satisfied for the time being – what you need is a well-grounded assurance for the future. So, look to the infinite power and infinite love of Christ. That is a two-edged sword to cut in pieces all your Gordian knots! Infinite power, what can it not do? Infinite love, what will it not do? Never seek anything in yourself to commend you to Christ, for that will keep you continually staggering. Instead I recommend you to the grace of Him who is able to perfect what concerns you.

I remain your ladyship’s soul’s well-wisher, sympathiser, and obedient servant in the Lord.

How to spend your time

18 November 1685

You doubtless think my long silence strange, and it is far contrary to my own resolution, but the abundance of cares and ongoing troubles block me up from doing many things I would like.

I think that when the Lord returns to us again, it will be with such a measure and outpouring of His Spirit that the remnant that are left shall have almost a heaven on earth, and our land shall be made the joy of all lands.

For us today, though, what is there but to make sure of Christ for ourselves, and to spend our days here below admiring the loveliness and condescension of our Beloved, and our own happiness in enjoying such a potion.

But this is a great work! Time isn’t enough for it! That is why we shall get eternity for it. O let us pursue the increase of the beauty of holiness, for happiness is inferior to it. It is by holiness that we are made like God, and is this not true nobility? O what is like it?! If we knew more of this pursuit – and attainment – we would feel less as if we have been deserted by the Lord, and we would enjoy more of the smilings of His sweet countenance, and of the breathings of His Spirit.

Also, while we are in this pilgrimage, let His will be ours in all things. Whatever He may carve out for us, or whatever we are involved in, let us say Amen to it, for if He wills it, it is enough for us. For that matter, let us reckon on the worst that can happen, so that whatever comes, we will not be surprised.

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Should We Be Afraid?

Should We Be Afraid?

Should We Be Afraid?
James Renwick (1662 – 1688) was the last of the Covenanter field preachers to be put to death. He was just twenty six when he was executed in the Grassmarket.

Fears are all around us, especially during a time of upheaval. Fear of the future, events and the unknown. The politics of fear on left and right are often heard in relation to society or the economy. The threats feel real and we are made to believe that the world will be more dangerous unless we listen to the rhetoric of influencers. How should we respond to the climate of fear?

Fear may be a natural response in some things. There would not be so many “fear nots” in Scripture if that was not the case. We are not immune to fear but we have no reason to be overcome by it since the peace of God is able to guard our hearts.  Faith in God rather than the wisdom, strength or other resources of ourselves or others is what is able to settle and establish our hearts. There may be deep-seated fears in relation to our personal and family life amongst other things but faith and hope can sustain us. As David Dickson puts it: “the true remedy against tormenting fear, is faith in God. He also says that “when fear assaults most, then faith in God most evidently manifests its force” (Psalm 56:3-4).

The following brief counsels are from someone who was suffering considerably, James Renwick. He was speaking to those who were also suffering. They were in fear for their life and freedoms.

 

1. Do Not Fear Mortals

“Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do” (Luke 12:4).

 

2. Do Not Fear Reproach

This is what we are often afraid of. Do not fear the reproach of tongues (Psalm 31:20).

 

3. Do Not Fear Lack of Provision

We are ready to fear the lack of provisions for our natural life. But do not fear this for those “that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing” (Psalm 34:10). Did the Lord not feed His people in the wilderness with manna from heaven and water out of the flinty rock? (Deuteronomy 8:15-16).

 

4. Do Not Fear Lack of Spiritual Food

Sometimes the Lord’s people fear lack of spiritual food for their souls; the lack of ordinances. But they ought not to fear lacking this for before they lack this the Lord will give them it and provide it for them in an extraordinary way (Isaiah 41:17-18). Even though the Lord should see fit to remove the preached gospel from you do not be discouraged. The Lord can make a portion of Scripture more sweet and refreshing to your souls that they are now, by bringing it to your mind or a note of a sermon which you have heard.

 

5. Do Not Fear Upheaval

The Lord’s people should not fear changes and upheaval that occur in the world and where they are. They ought not to fear this, even “though the earth be removed: and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea” (Psalm 46:2). In Haggai 2:7 there is a prophecy of Christ, the desire of all nations, coming in the flesh. It is said that before He comes He will shake all nations i.e. there would be great changes. So when Christ comes back again to Scotland there will be great changes and revolutions at His coming. He will turn many, indeed the very foundation of the land will be shaken. We should pray and long for it, rather than be afraid of it.

 

6. Do Not Fear Death

Death is another thing Christ’s people should not be afraid of (yet they are). Do not fear death because death has no sting for the believing soul in Christ. Do not be afraid of death because it will put an end to all our toil and wanderings and all our miseries and fightings. Someone says “Life is a way to death, and death is a way to life”.

 

7. Do Not Fear Hell

Christ died for you to free you from the wrath to come. You should not therefore fear any evil thing. “I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).

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What Should We Do if God is Hiding His Face?

What Should We Do if God is Hiding His Face?

What Should We Do if God is Hiding His Face?
James Renwick (1662 – 1688) was the last of the Covenanter field preachers to be put to death. He was just twenty six when he was executed in the Grassmarket.

Sometimes we have to ask ourselves searching questions. Is the spirit of prayer evident to the extent it ought to be? Is the work of the Holy Spirit restrained in relation to the ordinances of God’s worship? Why does the Word not have the powerful effect it ought to have? No doubt there are exceptions but when we take a general view of the professing Church these signs are evident. It’s what Scripture calls God hiding His face (see Isaiah 8:17-18; Job 34:29; Psalm 44:24; Isaiah 64:6). Why would God do this? And if this is the case, is there anything we can do?

James Renwick deals with this sad reality in a sermon on Isaiah 8:17. He knew what it was to face persecution and the painful difficulties of a backsliding generation. The flocks to which Renwick preached were in his own words, “a poor, wasted, wounded, afflicted, bleeding, misrepresented, and reproached remnant and handful of suffering people”.

 

1. Why Would God Hide His Face?

I confess it is hard to tell all the reasons the Lord may have. But the reasons I shall state why the Lord hides His face are:

(a) Sin

Sin separates between God and us. Many gross and grievous transgressions have filled this land and defiled it, so that the Lord has no more honour by His people.

(b) Hypocrisy

The Lord hides His face in the public ordinances of worship, for the defects of the people in approaching God in them. There is hypocrisy. Few come to hear with a resolution to practice what they hear (Micah 2:7).

(c) Need for Prayer

The Lord hides His face, in respect to pouring out the spirit of prayer because He does not have a mind to make haste to deliver the Church (Psalm 10:17). Whenever the Lord has a mind to deliver a people He usually pours out the spirit of prayer.

(d) Need for Faith

The Lord hides His face so that He may reduce his people to pure believing or nothing at all.

 

2. What Should We Do When God Hides His Face?

(a) Search Our Ways and Turn to God

God’s people should search and try their ways and turn again to the Lord. This is considered a common truth yet it is a good old truth. Until the land, and especially the godly in it, search and try the evil of their own ways and turn from it, you need never expect peace with God or that He will be at peace with the land again. This was the way that His people took of old (Lamentations 3:40).

(b) Justify God

When the Lord hides His face it is the duty of all the godly to justify the Lord in all that He does and to judge yourselves guilty. Many of you are ready to say, the rulers and ministers have the blame of what is in the land but no one says “What have I done?” But until everyone looks to what they themselves have done and justify the Lord in saying that He has done nothing contrary to the covenant (Psalm 89:31-32) you need not expect that your trouble will cease.

(c) Strengthen What Remains

When God hides His face it is the duty of His people to strengthen what remains. Is there anything left? I urge you to strengthen it. Go and take words with you and though there be nothing more except words left, make use of these. Speak often one to another. Is prayer left with you? Use it well. Can you pray better with others than alone? Then use it well. Whatever duty you find most freedom in, make it your concern to do it. Whatever remains, strengthen it. It is the will of the Lord to do so. If you do not, you know what is threatened in Revelation 3:2-3. Strengthen that which remains which is ready to die, for Christ threatens to come on them  unexpectedly or suddenly as a theif.

(d) Wait on God

It is the duty of all the Lord’s people to wait on Him when He hides His face (Psalm 130:5-7; Psalm 27:14). Wait, I say, on the Lord with courage, reflect on the grounds of hope you had long since and see what grounds you had more than now. Did you think the work of God would yet thrive when it was low before? What grounds of hope do you lack now that you had then? Why should you be ashamed to hope in Him now?

  • Wait on God because those who do so will never be ashamed.
  • Wait on God because this is the most quieting and composing posture in an evil time (Lamentations 3:26)
  • Wait on God because this has been the work of the people of God in time past (Psalm 130:6).
  • Wait on God because this always has a joyful outcome (Isaiah 25:9).

 

 

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The Church is Still Christ’s Glory

The Church is Still Christ’s Glory

The Church is Still Christ’s Glory
James Renwick (1662 – 1688) was the last of the Covenanter field preachers to be put to death. He was just twenty six when he was executed in the Grassmarket.

​The Church is often given scant regard in society at large. Changing values and trends push the church well into the shadows. Statistics like those in the recent Scottish Church Census are not lacking to underline how secularised things have become. It is easy to see the Church as weak when viewed outwardly. Again, however, we must see the Church from Christ’s perspective rather than look through the blurred lens of unbelief.

Christ’s true Church in Scotland seemed perhaps even more weak and despised in the times of James Renwick than it does now.  Renwick was ordained as a minister in Holland in 1683, before coming back to Scotland to begin preaching.  The flocks to which Renwick returned were in his own words, “a poor, wasted, wounded, afflicted, bleeding, misrepresented, and reproached remnant and handful of suffering people”. They had no congregations and no buildings in which to worship. Conventicles or illegal worship services in the fields and hills were held at the risk of their lives, liberty and livelihoods.

Renwick preached intensively and travelled incessantly across the country.  For his safety he had to take shelter in moors and caves and travel under cover of darkness. It broke his health – he said that  “Excessive travel, night wanderings, unseasonable sleep and diet, and frequent preaching in all seasons of weather, especially in the night, have so debilitated me that I am often incapable for any work”.

On one of these occasions Renwick opened his remarks with the following moving observation. “The Lord, by a special providence, has brought us together, not knowing if ever we shall have the like occasion to meet together again”. It seems likely from some of what he said that the service was at night in order to be better concealed under cover of darkness. The sermon he proceeded to preach was from Zechariah 2:8. His theme was that the Church is Christ’s glory (see also Isaiah 4:5).

Christ has the Church for His special and unique kingdom where he delights to manifest His glory. She is His declarative glory, His purchase and the price of His precious blood. She is His society where He desires to dwell. O who can set forth the love of Christ to His Church? She is beautiful through His comeliness.

 

1. Glorified by Christ’s Redemption

The Church is Christ’s glory because He has glorified Himself in the great work of His Church’s redemption.  He manifests the glory of His power in His Church in the conversion of His elect. More of God’s power is to be seen in the conversion of a soul to Himself than in the creation of heaven and earth. God could and did create the heaven and the earth without the merit or mediation of His Son Jesus Christ. Heaven and earth are God’s works not as Redeemer but as Creator. It is true indeed, that, in the work of creation and all God’s works all three persons of the ever blessed Godhead concurred together. But the work of creation is not attributed to Jesus Christ as Redeemer.

The second creation (the soul’s conversion to God) deals with the corrupt nature in man which strongly opposes and resists the work of grace. There is therefore greater glory in beginning and carrying on the work of grace against this strong opposition and resistance than in creating heaven and earth where there was no such resistance.

What shall I say of the glory which Christ manifests in the work of conversion? It surpasses the rhetoric of angels to express it.

 

2. Glorified with Christ’s Ordinances

The church is Christ’s glory, because He has dignified and beautified her with his ordinances. Psalm 147:19-20 mentions the ordinances of God bestowed upon His church. This shows the glory of God and the beauty, dignity, and privileges of His Church. God’s ordinances are part of that by which He makes Himself known. Since He beautifies and dignifies His church with His ordinances, therefore His church is called Christ’s glory.

 

3. Glorified with Christ’s Presence

The Church is called Christ’s glory, because He makes known His glorious presence in her with His ordinances (Psalm 68:15-16). His Church is His glorious mount Zi0n where He delights to dwell and where His presence is with His ordinances. How gloriously sometimes He has shined and appeared in His ordinances, even in Scotland. He has made His glorious voice heard and His footsteps seen. His stately goings have been seen in the sanctuary. There has been much of His glorious presence manifested in His ordinances in Scotland on hills and brae-sides. His voice has been heard there and his stately goings have been seen. Do you see anything of the stately goings of His gracious presence in His ordinances, which is one way whereby He makes His church glorious?

 

4. Glorified with Christ’s Image

The Church is called Christ’s glory because she carries His image (1 John 3:3). The godly man strives to be holy as Christ is holy. O what glory it is to be like Jesus Christ. This special privilege of His children (Psalm 45:13; Song 4:9). How glorious Christ’s image makes His Church. He is the express image of His Father and the brightness of that glory (Hebrews 1:3). He sets His image on the true Church, those who are real members of His spiritual body.

See what He says concerning the beauty of His Church in Song 6:4-5. The Church is called Christ’s glory because she bears His image. You must be sure that you have Christ’s image on you, if you would be amongst those on whom He puts His name. For the mere profession of religion will not give you a right to that name “His glory” but rather truly bearing His image.

 

5.Glorified by Christ’s Acts for Her

The Church is called Christ’s glory because He delights to manifest His glory, in appearing and working for her and making her triumph over her enemies (Exodus 15:1 and 21). God gets glory in His wonderful appearing and working for His people. Thus, His Church is His glory because glorifies Himself in this way. Her low condition does not obstruct this His people since despite visiting His people with trouble and affliction, His Church is still His glory.

The time when His Church and people are low and in trouble is when He most manifests His glory in doing for them as Israel saw in the wilderness. Thus, Israel’s marching through the wilderness is said to be God’s marching (Psalm 68:7).

 

6. Glorified with Christ’s Praise

The Church is called Christ’s glory because she sets forth His glory by praise (Psalm 50:23). The Christian is greatly taken up with declaring God to be a glorious God. The Christian adorns his profession by gospel living. He is takes great delight in praising Him and pursuing a life of thankfulness to Him as well as praying to Him.

A Christian must take up much of his time in praying to and praising God so that He may be glorified. Slothfulness is a great dishonour to the name of God but diligence exalts the name of God; it glorifies His name. “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength and honour, and glory, and blessing” is what they are crying this night above the clouds and stars (Revelation 5:11-12). All who expect to have their life through eternity should begin their work now, in glorifying and praising God.

 

7. Glorified with Christ’s Working for His Name’s Sake

The Church is called Christ’s glory because it is only for His name’s glory that He does all things for her (Ezekiel 36:22; Psalm 79:19). Christ’s name sake is the only moving argument that the Church should make use of.

James Renwick

“As to the remnant I leave, I have committed them to God. Tell them from me not to weary, nor be discouraged in maintaining the testimony. Let them not quit nor forego one of these despised truths. Keep your ground, and the Lord will provide you teachers and ministers, and when He comes, He will make these despised truths glorious upon the earth…’Lord, into Thy hands I commit my spirit, for Thou hast redeemed me, Lord God of truth'”

(His very last words before being executed, 17 February 1688)

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