The Last To Be Hanged

The Last To Be Hanged

Witnessing an execution was life changing.

BORN IN 1662 in Moniaive in Dumfriesshire, Scotland, James Renwick was the only surviving son of Christian parents. He graduated from Edinburgh University in 1681, and that same year he witnessed the execution of Donald Cargill, a field preacher of the Covenanters, the persecuted Scottish Presbyterians who had covenanted together to maintain the Reformed faith in Scotland. Their struggle was against the imposition of the Church of England with its bishops on a land of Presbyterians.

The martyrdom of Cargill caused Renwick to align wholeheartedly with the Covenanters. With their assistance he studied theology in Holland at the University of Groningen and was ordained in 1683. He returned to Scotland, where he was called to be the minister of the United Societies, a Covenanter gathering in southwest Scotland.

The period from 1684 to 1688, known as the “Killing Time,” was the height of Covenanter persecution. This coincided with Renwick’s ministry. More than any other, he was responsible for guiding the resistance of the Covenanters.

James VII, a Roman Catholic, became king of Scotland in 1685. He issued indulgences guaranteeing freedom of worship if meetings were held in private homes, chapels, or places dedicated for this purpose. Conventicles—all other worship services, especially in secret and in open fields—were against the law and considered organized rebellion. Many ministers, tired of the struggle, accepted the conditions of the indulgences, but Renwick and a few others refused to be told where they could preach. Renwick continued to preach in the fields and villages, often to men, women, and children who were in hiding and wandering in the mountains to survive. In one year Renwick baptized six hundred children. Soon the government identified him as a traitor and issued an order for his arrest. But protected by so many friends, he was able to continue preaching without capture for three more years.

Finally one winter night he was seized at the Edinburgh home of a friend. The Privy Council condemned him to death for refusing to acknowledge the king’s authority and for telling his followers to come armed to meetings. He agreed with the council that he was guilty of these charges. The council, attempting to entice him to change his allegiance, gave him a week’s reprieve.

During his reprieve his mother asked him how he was doing. His reply, “I am well; but, since my last examination, I can hardly pray, being so much taken up with praising, and so ravished with the joy of the Lord.”

The night before his execution he obtained pen, ink, and paper and wrote to his Christian friends: “He has strengthened me to brave man and face death, and I am now longing for the joyful hour of my dissolution, and there is nothing in the world that I am sorry to leave but you.”

The morning of his death he said to his mother and young sisters, “Death is the king of terrors but not to me now, as it was some times in my hidings; but now let us be glad and rejoice. . . . Would ever I have thought that the fear of suffering and of death could be so taken from me?”

A huge crowd gathered in Grassmarket in Edinburgh on February 17, 1688, to witness the final minutes of James Renwick’s life. From the gallows he sang Psalm 103, read Revelation 19, and prayed, “Lord, I die in the faith that Thou wilt not leave Scotland, but that Thou wilt make the blood of Thy witnesses the seed of Thy church, and return again and be glorious in our land. And now, Lord, I am ready.”

James Renwick, just twenty-six years old, was the last Covenanter to be hanged in public. One year later the Catholic King James VII was in exile; the persecution was over.

Reflection

If you had lived in Scotland between 1684 and 1688, would you have been a Covenanter? If you had been in James Renwick’s position, would you have done anything differently? What can you learn from his life?

Cling tightly to your faith in Christ, and always keep your conscience clear. For some people have deliberately violated their consciences; as a result, their faith has been shipwrecked.

1 Timothy 1:19