Covenanter Prophet

Covenanter Prophet

One seldom meets a literal prophet of doom.

DONALD CARGILL, by nature a shy, troubled person, was born in Scotland in the early 1600s. During his theological studies at St. Andrews University, he was so troubled by various temptations that he decided suicide was the only escape. More than once he went to the Clyde River to drown himself, but each time a passerby dissuaded him. On another occasion as he was about to throw himself into an abandoned coal pit, God gave him the words “Son, be of good cheer, thy sins are forgiven.” Immediately his fears and doubts disappeared, and all thoughts of suicide vanished.

After completing his studies at St. Andrews, he was ordained as the minister of the Barony Church of Glasgow in 1655. Things went well until 1660 when Charles II was restored to the throne after the Commonwealth and the Protectorate ended. In 1662 the king went back on his earlier promises, restoring Episcopal government to the Church of Scotland, which was Presbyterian. This forced 270 Presbyterian pastors, called Covenanters, out of their churches. Donald Cargill was banished to the area north of Scotland’s Tay River. Meanwhile the Presbyterians who had been forced from their churches met together in fields.

In 1669 when the banishment order was relaxed, Cargill began to preach in the fields. As the persecution of the Covenanters escalated, Cargill became increasingly prominent as a leader, and thousands went to hear him preach.

In May 1679 Cargill was one of the leaders of a Covenanter army of four thousand attacked by a government army of ten thousand at Bothwell Bridge. More than four hundred Covenanters were killed and twelve hundred taken prisoner, including a wounded Donald Cargill. Yet when his captors learned he was a minister, they let him go.

Cargill joined Richard Cameron in preaching in the fields until Cameron’s death at Ayrsmoss. Then in September 1680 Donald Cargill publicly excommunicated King Charles II and other leading persecutors of the church. This action infuriated the authorities, and they offered a reward for his capture.

Cargill was finally arrested in May of 1681. As one of his captors was tying him on his horse, Cargill said to him, “Your wickedness is great: You will not escape the just judgment of God; and if I am not mistaken, it will seize you in this very place.” A year later the man was murdered on the same exact spot.

Coming to Glasgow, an assistant to the Anglican archbishop made fun of Cargill, repeatedly saying, “Will you give us one word more?” quoting an expression Cargill often used in his sermons. Cargill replied, “The day is coming, when you will not have one word to say, though you would.” A few days later the man’s tongue swelled so that he could not speak, and he died.

Cargill was taken to Edinburgh to appear before the council. There Chancellor Rothes, one of those he had excommunicated, raged against him. Cargill replied, “My Lord Rothes, forbear to threaten me, for die what death I will, your eyes shall not see it.” Chancellor Rothes died the morning of July 27, 1681, and Donald Cargill was executed that afternoon.

On the scaffold before he was hanged, Cargill called out, “Farewell, all created enjoyments, pleasures, and delights; farewell sinning and suffering; farewell praying and believing; and welcome heaven and singing. Welcome, joy in the Holy Ghost; welcome, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; into thy hands I commend my spirit.”

After he died, the hangman cut off his head with an ax and set it on the Netherbow Port.

Reflection

Acts 5 tells of Ananias and his wife, Sapphira, who lied to Peter and to the church after which God struck Ananias dead. Later Peter asked Sapphira, “How could the two of you even think of doing a thing like this—conspiring together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Just outside that door are the young men who buried your husband, and they will carry you out, too.” Instantly she died (Acts 5:9). Do you believe that Donald Cargill’s prophecies of the death of his enemies was similar to what occurred in Acts 5? What lessons can you learn from Cargill’s life?

Great fear gripped the entire church and all others who heard what had happened.

Acts 5:11