The Defender Of The Covenant

The Defender Of The Covenant

What is worth dying for?

IN THE late 1640s Alan Cameron, a Scottish merchant, had three sons. The oldest was Richard, followed by Michael and Alexander. Richard attended St. Andrews University, receiving a master of arts degree in 1665. He became a schoolteacher, indifferent to matters of faith. Then he began going to listen to the field preachers, men who went from town to town preaching the gospel outdoors. One day the message of mercy and grace suddenly became real to Richard Cameron, and he gave his life to Christ, soon becoming a field preacher himself.

By the end of 1678 Richard Cameron had joined the Covenanters—Presbyterians who challenged the government’s authority not only in spiritual matters but also in the realm of civil government.

In 1679 he went to Holland, where he was ordained. There an exiled Scottish pastor laid his hands on Cameron’s head and said, “Here is the head of a faithful minister and servant of Jesus Christ who shall lose the same for his Master’s interest, and it shall be set up before sun and moon in the public view of the world.”

Returning to Scotland, Cameron could find no one willing to join him in preaching in the fields because the laws had become so restrictive. Eventually Donald Cargill joined him in holding field meetings in the inaccessible parts of the country. By 1680 thousands were attending.

Cameron and the other Covenanters felt that the character of a ruler determines the extent of the subjects’ obedience. Therefore they believed that King Charles II must be rejected because he was a tyrant who rejected both covenants he had earlier signed: the 1638 National Covenant, which preserved the Reformed faith in Scotland and guaranteed the church’s freedom from civil control and the 1643 Solemn League and Covenant, which again preserved the Reformed faith and Presbyterian government in the Church of Scotland. In fact, Charles II had sworn to establish Presbyterianism throughout his realm. Instead he reestablished the Anglican Church in Scotland and outlawed the covenants.

In response, Richard Cameron rode into the city of Sanquhar with twenty horsemen on the first anniversary of the Battle of Bothwell Bridge and delivered what became known as the Sanquhar Declaration. The declaration rejected Charles II as king and declared war on him as a tyrant. It also rejected his brother, the duke of York, as heir apparent because he was a Roman Catholic. Although regarded at the time as a futile protest by a small minority, it became the position of Britain as a whole within nine years .

As a result of the Sanquhar Declaration, Richard Cameron was declared a traitor and a reward was placed on his head.

A month later he preached what was to be his last sermon. Cameron spent that night at the home of William Mitchell, a Covenanter. The next morning, July 22, 1680, as he washed his hands he placed them on his face and said, “This is their last washing.” Mrs. Mitchell wept.

About four that afternoon, Cameron and about sixty Covenanters were at Arysmoss, a moor in Ayrshire. Suddenly they were surrounded by government troops. Richard Cameron led the Covenanters in prayer. Then to his brother he said, “Come Michael, let us fight it out to the last; for this is the day that I have longed for, to die fighting against our Lord’s avowed enemies; and this is the day that we shall get the crown.” To the rest he said, “Be encouraged all of you, to fight it out valiantly, for all of you who fall this day I see heaven’s gates cast wide open to receive them.”

In the ensuing battle, twenty-eight government troops and nine Covenanters fell. One of the nine was Richard Cameron. His head and hands were taken to Edinburgh, where they were displayed on the Netherbow Port.

The next Sunday Donald Cargill preached on the passage “Know ye not that there is a prince and great man fallen this day in Israel?” (2 Samuel 3:38, KJV).

Reflection

If you had been living in Scotland in 1680, would you have been a Covenanter? Is it ever right to rebel against one’s government? If so, under what circumstances?

Give to Caesar what belongs to him. But everything that belongs to God must be given to God.

Matthew 22:21