The first manifestation of the views held by the So- ciety People took place during the dissensions at Both- well Bridge, when a body of the Covenanters refused to make a public avowal of their allegiance to the king in their declaration. A rude outline of the declaration was drawn up by Cargill, assisted by Henry Hall, of Haugh- head, who was mortally wounded at Queensferry, and the document, being found on his person, received the name of the "Queensferry Paper." It contained some
of the chief points held by the Society People; hut it
unfortunately embodied in it an avowal of dislike to a hereditary monarchy, as "liable to inconvenience, and apt to degenerate into tyranny." Though the paper in question emanated from only a lew persons, and its er- rors, therefore, could not he charged upon the whole of the strict Presbyterian party, yet it was quoted without reserve by their enemies as a proof of disloyal and even treasonable intentions. To counteract the prejudices thus excited against them, the leaders of the Society People drew up deliberately a statement of their prin- ciples, which is usually known by the name of the "Sanquhar Declaration." This document. which care- fully excluded all reference to a change in the form of
government, was. nevertheless, classed by the persecu- tors along with the Queensferry Paper in all their proc- lamations, as if they had keen identical, and made an excuse for issuing to the army the most ruthless and cruel commands to pursue to the death all who were
suspected of being connected with these hold declara- tions. Cameron, Cargill, and ten other persons wire
proclaimed traitors, and a price was set upon their
heads. Nothing daunted, Car-ill in L630 boldly pro- nounced what is known as the Torwood Excommu- nication. In a meeting held at Torwood. in Stirling- shire, the intrepid Covenanter, after divine service, sol- emnly excommunicated Charles and his chief support- ing them out of the Church, and delivering them up to Satan. This hold act of a Christian hero roused the government to greater fury, and a series of civil and military executions followed, down to the Revolution in L688. In the persecutions of this eventful period, the Socii tj
People had keen subjected to painful i liseourageme u I by the loss of their ahle and devoted leader-. Cameron and Cargill. and many others, had sealed their testimo-
ny with their blood, but in this time of sore trial Provi- dence graciously raised up admirably calculated to
take a prominent part in promoting Christ's cause in days of bloody persecution. The individual to whom we refer was Mr. James Renwick, who, having himself
witnessed the executi f Mr. Donald Cargill, resolved
from that unit to engage with bis whole soul in the
good cause. Having studied for the ministry in Hol- land, and received ordination, he returned to 1 1 i — native land that he might share with his persecuted brethren in their trials, and preach among them the unsearchable riches of Christ. Often, accordingly, were the Society People encouraged amid their severe hardships by his faithful instructions. Danger and persecution every- where awaited him, hut he was ready to endure hard- ness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. In 1683, at the
early age of twenty-six. he died on the scaffold with a heroism and unflinching fortitude worthy of the last of that noble band of martyrs who sealed with their blood their devoted attachment to the work of Cove- nanted Reformation in Scotland.
The deeperthe darkness, the nearer the dawn. < >u the death of Charles II in 1685, his brother dames ascended the throne. At heart a bigoted adherent of the Church of Rome, he sough: to restore popery to the ascendant both iii England and Scotland. In making the attempt,
however.be rushed U| his own ruin. He fell a victim
to his own infatuated policy. After bearing for a time with his tyranny, an indignant people rose as one man, and hurled him from his throne, substituting in his place William and Mary, prince and princess of < (range, who, in the Revolution of 1688, restored civil and relig- ious liberty to an oppressed and persecuted people, to a
greater extent than had ever before been enjoyed.
The arrival of the prince of ( (range in England was hailed by all classes of Presbyterians in Scotland as an event likely fo be fraught with blessings to their dis- tracted country. Lord Macaulay. in his History of Eng- land, indeed, strangely accuses the Society People of eagerness to disown William. So far is this charge from being well founded, that they wire the first to own and hail him as their deliverer. Thus in the ••.Me- morial of Grievances" issued by the societies, they de- clare. -We have given as good evidence of our being willing to be subject to king William as we gave before of our being unwilling to be slaves to king dames. Upon the first report of the prince of Orange's expedi- tion, we owned bis quarrel, even while the prelatic tac- tion were in arms to oppose his coming. In all our meetings we prayed openly for the success of his arms, when in all the churches prayers were made for his ruin: nay. when, even in the indulged meetings, prayers
were o tiered for the popish tyrant wh we prayed