shall be a witness against all of you that have not received Christ this night. Yea, though he should never be glorified in such a sort by me, yet I will be a witness against you. Here, before the throne of grace, I declare in His name, that I have made an offer of Him unto you; and, therefore, your blood shall be upon your own heads if ye perish, and I shall be free of the same."

In another place, he presses with like earnestness acceptance of the gospel offer:—"If ye would be rightly concerned, ye must at once come, and be a right son or daughter of the church, and member of Jesus Christ; until then, ye cannot have a fellow-feeling of the body. Come then, and Christ will give you a fellow-feeling with the sufferings of the church. Come and embrace Himself, and He will set the stamp of natural children upon you. Without Him, ye can do nothing; without Him, ye cannot be concerned with the sufferings of His name and members. Refuse not; reject not His offers, when He calls you to Himself. It is hard to say if some of you shall have an offer again. Now is the acceptable time—now is the day of salvation. He is now spreading his net, and will ye not come about the net's mouth, that a catch of you may be gotten. He is proclaiming unto you that He hath invincible power, though managed by apparent weakness. Oh, find you any of this irresistible power of Christ? Oh, come unto Him who is the joy of heaven, and it shall be a joyful time in heaven. He will have a good report of you through heaven, if ye shall have it to say that some poor lad or lass hath put a crown upon His head in such a place. But oh, how sad will it be, if Christ shall have it to say, 'I gave offer of myself to a people like stocks and stones, but they would not hear!'"

On the duty of devoting the best to God's service, in another discourse, he thus forcibly reasons:—

"Observe, that it cannot but be a great injury against God, and procure a curse, when people employ not their best things in His service. This is clear from the words, 'Cursed be the deceiver which hath in his flock a male, and voweth and sacrificeth unto the Lord a corrupt thing.' So men that employ not their best things in the Lord's service, believe it, they are chargeable with this. He calls for your best things in His service, and not that you should spend that upon your lusts. Ye are called to employ the best of your time in his service; and many of you give Him but the refuse of your time, or at least, He gets but your by-time for His service. But ye should give Him the best of your time and strength, and your hearts—all should be employed in his service. Do not say that you do the best that you can; for I am persuaded that there is none of you but may do more for Him than ye do. Do not say that ye improve the talent that He hath given you to trade with, for ye but misimprove it; and the best of you, we fear, come short of improving it. If ye improve it, ye should find it increase upon your hand, and you would appear like his children. But because people do not improve their time and abilities to lay them out for God, it procures a curse. For though our obligations go far beyond our duties that we do, yet when we do not lay out all our abilities for Him, and do not bestow our love, our affections, and our time, and all that we have for Him, but bestow them upon other things, we procure His curse. Young folks, set to the work, and be entreated to give up yourselves to his service, and employ your best things for Him, now when your desires are fast and quick. Oh, will ye bestow them on precious Christ? You have a brave prize put in your hand, if ye set aright to the work; ye may see Zion's King come back, and the crown set upon his head again."

Urging the necessity of being found within the kingdom of God, he says:—

"Seeing that the gate is very strait and narrow that leads to the kingdom of heaven, then what shall become of many of you, that never came the length that hypocrites have come? Oh, what will ye say, and how will ye meet with God, when He comes to count with you for a preached gospel? What will ye think of a Mediator that was offered to you, whom ye slighted and despised; when the heaven and earth shall melt away; and great men, and mean men, shall howl and cry, and all the tribes of the earth shall wail because of Him? Oh! this will be the portion of hypocrites from God.

"It is of use for trial—for all of you to try yourselves, and ponder in your hearts, and say, 'Oh, soul, whether art thou in the kingdom of heaven or not?' Oh, be exhorted to this, whatever be thy state, O man and woman. It is safe for thee to search thy state; if matters be right betwixt God and thy soul, it will be thy peace; if not, thou mayest possibly get righted. For my part, I count him the best Christian that is most accurate in this searching and communing with his own heart; for if ye neglect this, ye may come to lose the sight of your interest in Christ, if ever ye had it. Do not satisfy yourselves with being near the kingdom of God, but go into it. For this end, break the bargain and peace with your lusts and idols; and make up your peace with God through Christ, our Peace-maker, and ye shall find great advantage in the exchange; for the wicked have peace, but with sin and sinful men, but the godly have peace with God. Oh, will ye quit all other things, and seek to be interested in Him? For it is to be feared that many here have proclaimed peace with sin, and some idol, or other. Oh, break the bargain, and make peace with Christ! Make choice of Him; for He can give you that which no other lover can give you. O break that peace with your lusts and idols, and make peace with Him. Remember, He offers himself to you freely this day. Choose, therefore, what ye will do. O seek for the fulness of the Spirit of Christ, and rest upon nothing but upon himself alone; and seek to be in the kingdom of God, by the thorough work of conversion upon your souls.

"And now to all that are in the kingdom, I proclaim peace in the name of God, whatever troubles they are under here. So enter into the kingdom through Christ only, for that is the way to it. But as for you who will not come to him, and enter into the kingdom through Christ only, who is the way to it, I do, in like manner, proclaim war with that soul from God, whatever ye be in profession. O friends, lay it to heart, and choose you whether it be better to have heaven's peace, and the devil and the world's feud; or to have the devil and the world's peace, and feud with God for ever! And now to Him who is purchaser of true peace, be glory and praise for ever. Amen."

When it is understood that the discourses from which these extracts are taken were preached in the open air, and often in the night time, amidst the exposure both of the preacher and the hearers to all changes of the weather, not unfrequently in rain and tempest; and that the "Sermons and Lectures" that bear Renwick's name, were not prepared in a quiet study, in peaceful times, but in the midst of frequent removings, incessant labours, and manifold dangers, and that they are transmitted to us from the imperfect notes, and the recollection of attached hearers,—themselves the objects of fierce persecution,—they cannot fail to impress us with a vivid idea of the remarkable power and fidelity as a preacher of the youthful martyr, and to account, at the same time, for the popularity and salutary effects of his preaching.