As they are ordained, Reformed Presbyterian ministers pledge:

Do you believe that Jesus Christ is Saviour and Lord of men and nations, and that in loyalty and obedience to Him, it is our duty to follow the noble example of the faithful confessors and martyrs of Jesus in their witness for divine truth, and in their sacrifices and labors to establish the Kingdom of God on earth?

To follow these noble examples, we must know them. We begin this new series, called Favorite Covenanters, with Richard Cameron.

Brief Biography

Richard Cameron was born in 1647 into a believing family in Falkland, Scotland. After graduating from college, he returned home in 1669 and worked as a schoolteacher. As a young man, Cameron attended the parish church and served as the curate’s precentor.

Eventually, however, conventicle preachers captured his attention. King Charles II had been restored to the throne in 1660. Charles officially rejected the national covenants in 1662. All the covenanting ministers were expelled from their pulpits. These men preached against the king’s abuse of power in appointing prelates in the church. Cameron became convinced of their cause, joined their ranks, and was licensed to preach in 1678.

Cameron’s gospel preaching drew large crowds. Efforts to silence him, whether through intimidation or indulgences (offers from the king to not persecute those who accepted his actions), failed as Cameron preached more boldly. In 1679, he fled from persecution to Holland, where other Covenanters found refuge in the Reformed Church. Three milestones quickly followed.

Cameron’s Ordination

The church in Rotterdam ordained him to go back to Scotland. As the ordination service concluded, Minister Robert M’Ward cried out, “Behold, all ye beholders, here is the head of a faithful minister and servant of Jesus Christ, who shall lose the same for his Master’s interest, and shall be set up before sun and moon, in the view of the world.” A year later, Cameron would die accordingly.

Sanquhar Declaration

Returning to Scotland in 1679, Cameron found many ministers had stopped preaching because of the danger. Yet he did not, believing it was his duty. By year’s end, thousands were coming to his services. Though constantly pursued, Cameron escaped and kept preaching. Yet he believed further action was needed.

On June 22, 1680, Richard and 20 armed men rode into Sanquhar. In the town center, his brother Michael read a speech known as the Sanquhar Declaration. This document renounced King Charles:

(W)e, for ourselves, and all that will adhere to us as the representative of the true Presbyterian Kirk and covenanted nation of Scotland…do by these presents, disown Charles Stuart, that has been reigning, or rather tyrannising, as we may say, on the throne of Britain these years bygone.

These Cameronians went further. “As also we, being under the standard of our Lord Jesus Christ, Captain of Salvation, do declare a war with such a tyrant and usurper.” From that moment on, the king viewed Cameron as treasonous.

Cameron’s Martyrdom

Exactly one month after this declaration, 120 of the king’s dragoons came upon Cameron with half that number at Airds Moss. As he headed into battle, Cameron prayed for his men three times, “Spare the green, and take the ripe.” After a valiant fight, Cameron’s men were defeated, and Cameron, ripe for glory, was killed. The dragoons removed Cameron’s head and hands from his body. With glee, they took them to his father, in prison for his faith, and asked him if he recognized them. Allan Cameron replied, “I know them, I know them. They are my son’s, my dear son’s. It is the Lord. Good is the will of the Lord, who cannot wrong me nor mine, but has made goodness and mercy to follow us all our days.”

In our modern era, vast multitudes live compliantly under Communist dictators, Islamic tyrants, and secularized leaders. Hearing of one preaching Christ’s crown rights over a nation, defying a king who reneged on a covenant with the Lord, and taking up arms against evil soldiers sounds extreme. Yet, read Cameron’s biography by Maurice Roberts, The Lion of the Covenant, and his sermons online. You may discover he has a kingdom message we all need to hear.