Robert Hamilton: First 'Reformed Presbyterian'

To Sir Robert Hamilton of Preston (1650-October 20/21, 1701) is credit given for the first recorded instance of the term "Reformed Presbyterian,"* which he wrote of himself in his dying declaration. He was:

• A leader of the Scottish Covenanters;
• A combatant at the Battle of Drumclog (June 22, 1679);
• A fugitive from English justice, who was exiled in Holland for many years for his Covenanter convictions;
• The man whose influence led to the Dutch Presbyterian ordination of James Renwick, the last Scottish Covenanter minister to be publicly executed; and he was
• An author of the 1679 Rutherglen Declaration and the 1692 Sanquhar Declaration.

John Howie, biographer of the Covenanters, devoted a chapter to the record of his life in his famous "Scots Worthies." His life indeed was the stuff of heroic adventure novels. Much maligned, ever zealous, hunted and on the run, willing to sacrifice lands and title, "with Moses he made that noble choice, rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than enjoy the pleasure of sin for a season, and did esteem a stedfast adherence to the cause of Christ, (with all the reproaches that followed thereon) greater riches than all his brother's estate. For out of a true love to Jesus Christ, his covenanted cause, interest and people, he laid his worldly honour in the dust, continuing still a companion in the faith, patience, affliction and tribulation of that poor, mean and despised handful of the Lord's witnesses in these lands, who still owned and adhered unto the state of the Lord's covenanted cause in Scotland" (John Howie, Scots Worthies, p. 600).

When he finally returned to Scotland in 1689, he could not in good conscience accede to the Erastian Revolution Settlement. On account of his involvement in publishing the 1692 Sanquhar Declaration, he was arrested and spent some eight months in prison until he was released upon the magistrates' prerogative. After a life spent in the service of Christ's covenanted cause in Scotland, he left this world with a dying testimony in which he stated:

I die a true Protestant, and to my knowledge a reformed Presbyterian, in opposition to popery, prelacy, and malignancy, and whatever is contrary to truth, and the power of godliness, as well against flattering pretenders to unwarrantable zeal on the right hand, as against lukewarmness on the left; adhering with my soul to the holy sweet scriptures, which have often comforted me in the house of my pilgrimage, our confession of faith, our catechisms, the directory for worship, covenants, national and solemn league and covenant, acknowledgment of sins and engagement to duties, with the causes of God's wrath, and to all the faithful public testimonies given against defections of old or late, particularly these contained in the informatory vindication, and that against the toleration, and the two last declarations emitted since this fatal revolution, which testimonies I ever looked upon as a door of hope of the Lord's returning again to these poor backslidden lands.

And now, my dear friends, let nothing discourage you in that way. The Lord will maintain his own cause, and make it yet to triumph. The nearer to-day it may be the darker, but yet in the evening time it shall be light, and the farther distant ye keep from all the courses and interests of this generation, the greater will your peace and security be. O! labour to be in Christ, for him, and like him, much in reading of the holy scriptures, much in prayer and holy unity among yourselves. Be zealous and tender in keeping up your private fellowship for prayer and Christian conference, as also your public correspondences and general meetings, go to them and come from them as these intrusted, really concerned and weighted with Christ's precious controverted truths in Scotland, and labour still to take Christ along with you to all your meetings, and to behave yourselves as under his holy and all-seeing eye when at them, that ye may always return with a blessing from his rich hand. Now farewell, my dear Christian friends, the Lord send us a joyful meeting at his own right hand after time; which shall be the earnest desire, while in time, of your dying friend,

Sic subscribitur,R. HAMILTON.

Matthew Hutchison wrote concerning this testimony:

In such sentiments as these we find the true inner spirit, the real sustaining power of these faithful men. Religion was to them after all much more than a public testifying for the truth; it was a living and walking by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and the joy of his holy fellowship upheld them in all their sorrows and trials. 'In Christ, for Him, like Him,' that was the sum of their testimony, that was their aim and their glory.

James Renwick himself once wrote the following witness to the legacy of Robert Hamilton:

But let the world say what it they will, I must say this, and I say it without vanity or flattery, that a little of Robert Hamilton's spirit in such a day as this is very much worth.

John Howie adds:

The faithful Mr. Renwick called him Mi pater, my father, and ever had a high esteem and regard for him, as the contents of most part of his letters bear: Yea, in the very last letter he wrote, he accosts him thus, 'If I had lived and been qualified for writing a book, and if it had been dedicated to any, you would have been the man; for I have loved you, and I have peace before God in that; and I bless his name that ever I have been acquainted with you, &c.'

* "He left a written testimony to the cause for which he had laboured and suffered, urging his brethren to unwavering steadfastness and watchfulness against defections. In this deed, we find for the first time that we have noticed, the combination of the words that afterwards became the designation of the church, "I die a true Protestant, and to my knowledge a Reformed Presbyterian." (Matthew Hutchison, The Reformed Presbyterian Church in Scotland: Its Origin and History, 1680-1876, p. 138)

"How We Got the Name Reformed Presbyterian
...
The first recorded use of the term was in 1701. In that year Robert Hamilton died. Among his last words were these: 'I die a true Protestant, and to my knowledge a Reformed Presbyterian.'" (Peter Lippincott, ed., Psalm Singing of the Covenanters, p. 19)

Pharaoh, Haman, Judas and Herod

His life was like a shooting star, that burned brilliantly but briefly. Hugh McKail, a young minister for only about five years, the reason he died a martyr's death can largely be traced to certain comments in his inaugural sermon on September 1, 1662, in Edinburgh, and the revenge that was exacted for those remarks.

John Howie, The Scots Worthies, p. 453:

From the last sermon which [Hugh McKail] delivered at that time, in the High Church of Edinburgh, from Song i.7., may be dated the commencement of his sufferings. In this sermon he fearlessly showed that it was no new thing for the church to be involved in persecution; and, amplifying the subject, he said, -- a Pharaoh on the throne, a Haman in the state, and a Judas in the church, had done the work in former times; and although in his allusion to Haman and Judas he made no application, yet [Archbishop James] Sharp and [John Maitland, Duke of] Lauderdale thought their portraits had been very accurately drawn; and therefore M'Kail was singled out as a very proper person to be put to silence.

The Coltness Collections, p. 47, add that he said:

Let Pharoah, let Haman, let Judas, let Herod, let each of them speak their expeience of God's faithfulness! Let all that have ears to hear, and hearing acknowledge, that these that made themselves remarkable for persecution God stigmatized by his judgments.

Following this sermon, McKail became a hunted man, and was forced to flee to Holland for 2-3 years. After his return, though he had little involvement in the Pentland Rising, upon his capture, he was made an example, and suffered excruciatingly under the Boot, before uttering his famous dying words on the scaffold on December 22, 1666:

Farewell father and mother, friends and relations; -- Farewell the world and all delights; -- Farewell meat and drink; -- Farewell sun, moon, and stars; -- Welcome God and Father; -- Welcome sweet Jesus Christ, the Mediator of the new covenant; -- Welcome blessed Spirit of grace, and God of all consolation; -- Welcome glory; -- Welcome eternal life; -- and, Welcome death!

Although not all applications are precise, the following are the leading candidates corresponding to the references made, and it is well known that Archbishop Sharp never forgave nor forgot that 1662 sermon and personally ensured that McKail paid the price.

Pharoah -- King Charles II (subscribed the National Covenant of Scotland and the Solemn League and Covenant at Spey on June 23, 1650, and at Scone on January 1, 1651, and after the Restoration had copies of the latter burned by the hangman all over England on May 22, 1661). He was the king during the Killing Time.

Haman -- Commissioner John Middleton, Earl of Middleton (served the king's interests in Scotland, appointed commander-in-chief of the troops in Scotland and Lord High Commissioner to the Scottish Parliament); John Maitland, Duke of Lauderdale (Maitland was a former Covenanter and served as a member of the Westminster Assembly, but switched loyalties and ingratiated himself with King Charles, becoming his close confidant, a member of the Cabal Ministry, and a persecutor of the Covenanters).

Judas -- Archbishop James Sharp (once a leader of the Scottish Resolutioners, during his negotiations with King Charles, he secretly switched sides, forsaking the Covenanters for preferment by the king, he adopted a policy of persecution towards his former friends). He survived one assassination attempt in 1668, but was killed by a group of Covenanters in 1679.

Herod -- James, Duke of York (brother of King Charles II, he later became King James II during the final phase of the Killing Time until he was deposed by the Glorious Revolution).

Happy Art of Winning Souls

He that winneth souls is wise (Prov. 11.30), and William Guthrie's (1620-1665) methods of evangelism, though unorthodox, reveal the wisdom of one particular Puritan minister's labors to bring forth much good fruit from stony ground.

John Howie, The Scots Worthies, pp. 435-436:

Soon after having obtained his license, Guthrie left St. Andrew's, and became tutor to lord Mauchlin, eldest son to the earl of London, in which situation he remained until appointed pastor to the parish of Fenwick, which at that time was disjoined from Kilmarnock. Having been appointed to preach at Galston, on a day preparatory to the celebration of the Lord's Supper, and a number of persons belonging to the newly erected parish being present, they were so much captivated by his discourses, that they immediately resolved to call him to be their pastor, which being very harmonious, he felt it to be his duty to accept. It is said that he, along with the people, made choice of the spot of ground on which the church was to be built, and that he preached within the walls before the edifice was completely finished.

Many were the difficulties and discouragements he had to encounter at the outset; yet through the divine blessing upon his labours, he was eminently successful in reforming the manners of the people. Many of them, indeed, were so unconcerned about religion as never to enter a place of worship; and the face of their pastor was altogether unknown by them. Numbers even refused his visits, and would not suffer him to enter their houses. Such was the state of Fenwick at the time this pious man entered upon his ministerial duties among them. But things did not remain long in that state; for, he had a happy art of winning souls to the Saviour. Disguised in the habit of a traveller, he frequently called at their houses in the evening, and asked lodgings, which he did not even obtain without much entreaty; but, when once admitted, he made himself a very agreeable guest, by his amusing and instructive conversation. One question always was,—how did they like their minister?—and when told that they did not go to church, he pressed them to go, and hear what he had to say. To some he even gave small sums of money to visit the house of God; and, before retiring to rest for the night, he was always solicitous to know if family worship was observed by them.

Upon one occasion, in a family where the duty had never been performed, he urged the goodman of the house to make the attempt; and, as this person's only objection was, that he could not pray, that he had never been in the habit of praying, and therefore could not, Gnthrie was so very earnest in his entreaties to make trial, that the man cried out:—"O Lord, thou knowest that this man would have me to pray; but thou knowest I cannot pray!" This was sufficient, —Guthrie desired him to stop, saying, he had done enough, and immediately began himself, to the great wonder and edification of the family. When prayer was over, the mistress of the house said to her husband—"Surely this man must be a minister." The people were overawed, and felt as if a charm had come over them. It was no difficult matter, under such feelings, to gain their compliance to appear in church on the following Sabbath. But, what was their surprise, when they saw that it was the minister himself who had been their guest, and who, in the guise of an humble peasant, upon their own hearth, had supplicated for them so many blessings.

Within his parish, too, there was a person who, instead of going to church on the Lord's day, betook himself to the fields with his dog and gun. Guthrie was determined to reclaim this man, and the effort was blessed. The minister asked him what reason he had for desecrating the Sabbath; and the answer he received was, that it was the most fortunate day in the week for that exercise. Guthrie asked him how much he could make by it; and, upon being told that he could at least realize half a crown, the good pastor at once told him that he would pay him that sum, if he would appear in church next Sabbath. After the congregation was dismissed, Guthrie told him that he would renew the bargain, if he would appear again, which the man consented to do. From that time afterward, he never failed to give regular attendance in the house of God; and, relieving the minister from his obligation, he felt to his sweet experience that godliness was of itself great gain. This man, ere long, became a member of the kirk-session, and ever after continued to live a godly and useful life.