Civil Government: Magistracy, Authority, and Romans 13: Christian & Civil Government

Richard Cameron

Transcript: AI Transcript

Professor: John Weaver

Subject: Civil Government

Genre: Sermon

Dictation Name:

Date: 2011-06-05

Synopsis: John Weaver preaches on the life and martyrdom of Richard Cameron, the 'Lion of the Covenant,' a 17th-century Scottish Covenanter who resisted King Charles II's tyranny over the church and gave his life for Christ's crown and covenant. Using Hebrews 11 and other Scriptures, Weaver emphasizes that suffering for Christ is a gift, that true faith esteems Christ above all comforts, and that believers today should be stirred from lukewarmness to stand boldly for Christ's kingship in every sphere.

[John Weaver] Let's open our Bibles to the book of Hebrews chapter 11, Richard Cameron, the Lion of the Covenant. And you will understand just shortly. Hebrews chapter 11, and let's begin reading there with verse 32, Hebrews 11, verse 32. We deprive ourselves of a great deal of truth by not studying history, Not only biblical history, but what you and I would simply call history in general. Because God is the God of history, all history belongs to him. In fact, history is linear, it has a definite beginning, it has a definite ending. And history is nothing less than God's eternal decree coming to pass in time. So therefore, history is indeed important. So if you look in Hebrews chapter 11, beginning there, verse 32, The Word of God says, and what shall I more say?

[John Weaver] For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon, and of Gorak, and of Samson, and of Jephthah, of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets, who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the vows of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again, and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourging, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sewn asunder, were tempted, were slain with a sword.

[John Weaver] They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented, of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and in mountains and in dens and caves of the earth. And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise, God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect. I want you to understand that not every hero of faith is listed in Hebrews chapter 11. There were many heroes of faith who lived during the New Testament era who were not listed in Hebrews chapter 11. Likewise, there have been many biblical heroes of faith that have lived and died since New Testament times that certainly are not recorded in Scripture.

[John Weaver] Could not possibly be because the canon had been closed. And yet, we have the history of these saints who stood, who lived for Christ, and who died for Christ. These were individuals who stood firm In the gospel of Jesus Christ, Richard Cameron was one such martyr. Most people have never heard of Richard Cameron. He is known as the Lion of the Covenant. He was a Scottish Presbyterian. And consequently, many people do not know of the incidents surrounding his martyrdom.

[John Weaver] We live in a day-to-day where principles and convictions are usually a thing of the past. The very few principles and convictions that do exist today, most people do not think that they're worth suffering for and especially not worth dying for. Thankfully, there are some that do not hold that position. They understand, of course, that truth is truth and it is worth fighting for. It is worth dying for as well.

[John Weaver] No one likes to suffer. In fact, we want everything extremely comfortable. Have you ever noticed that most people are willing to do a lot of things as long as comfort is involved? In fact, I'm thinking of that verse in the book of Hosea where God condemns Israel because he said they sacrificed under oak trees because the shade thereof was good. In other words, they were going to worship their pagan idols, but they wanted to be cool and comfortable as they did that as well.

[John Weaver] But, however, there is a principle in Scripture that teaches us that the right way is not always the easy way. It's not always the cool and comfortable way. If you'll look in Hebrews chapter 11 again, but let's begin reading there with verse 24. I want you to notice what the Bible says concerning Moses. Hebrews 11, verse 24, By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter.

[John Weaver] Let me just stop there. He refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. What he was refusing was the throne of Egypt, one of the wealthiest countries in the world at that time, one of the most powerful countries. And so he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He was not interested in following after Pharaoh. But notice that the Bible says, verse 25, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. Esteeming the reproach of Christ, greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he had respect and the recompense of the reward, and by faith he forsook Egypt. Now I want you to note the Bible tells us in verse 25, that Moses chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. He chose affliction over the pharaohship of Egypt. He chose affliction over all the treasures of Egypt. And the reason why he did that, if you look in verse 6, is he esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he had respect and the recompense of the reward."

[John Weaver] In other words, Moses saw the beauty and the wonder of salvation in the one true and living God. Let me point this out. No one will ever, ever choose suffering and affliction and persecution until they understand and until they rightly estimate the beauty and the glory and the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. And Moses was willing to suffer for he stained the reproach of Christ greater than all the treasures of Egypt. Did you know the Bible says in Philippians 1 in verse 29, For unto you it is given, not only to believe on Christ, but also to suffer for his sake." Now that verse teaches us that not only is faith the gift of God, but it also teaches us that suffering is likewise the gift of God. Not only does God not give faith to every individual, He does not give suffering to every individual. Also, may I point out, that just like there are degrees in faith, We read about little faith and a great faith, a small faith. So likewise, there are degrees in suffering.

[John Weaver] God does not call upon each one to suffer immeasurably. Some do. That is a fact. But some do not. So just like God gives faith, God also gives the gift of suffering. And to some individuals, He gives the greater gift of suffering, and they suffer immeasurably. But you must remember that those who suffer greater also have greater grace and greater mercy given to them.

[John Weaver] Now, if you look in your Bibles to the book of Acts chapter 9 very quickly, Just showing you how God has chosen some to suffer, look in Acts chapter 9, and let's begin reading there with verse 15. Many of you will remember the conversion of Saul of Tarsus. He has been convicted and converted by the Lord, and so now we are told in Acts chapter 9, beginning there with verse 15, Ananias is protesting when the Lord Tells him to go see Saul. But here's what the Lord says to Ananias. Acts 9 verse 15. But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way. For he, that is Saul, who became the apostle Paul, he is a chosen vessel unto me to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. Now watch verse 16.

[John Weaver] For I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake. What did God say? I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake. If you would turn in your Bibles now to 2nd Corinthians chapter 11. Here is just a few of those things that the Apostle Paul suffered. Notice 2nd Corinthians chapter 11 and let's begin reading there verse 24. 2nd Corinthians 11 verse 24. Paul writes, of the Jews, five times received I forty stripes, save one.

[John Weaver] Thrice was I beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Thrice I suffered shipwreck. A night and day I have been in the deep, in journeyings often, in perils in waters. in perils of robbers, in perils of mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren, in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness, besides those

[John Weaver] things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches." Notice, if you would, the Apostle Paul is just listing a small number of the things which he suffered. Moreover, you remember he had his head chopped off in the end.

[John Weaver] Now, like Paul, many in Scotland and in England were being persecuted for their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and many In Scotland and in England at that time were seeking to leave those countries so that they may freely worship the Lord. In liberty and freedom, each one in this room knows about the Mayflower. You remember how those pilgrims made it from England to Holland, then from Holland here to America? But what many people do not understand that it was King Charles Stewart. that forced or caused those people to go, because of his persecution.

[John Weaver] Now, certainly, the king probably meant it for evil in one sense of the word, but God meant it for good. So Charles of the Divine Right imperiously began forbidding people to leave either Scotland or England. And may I point out, had Charles I really known what he was doing, He would have never done what he did because two of the men who were scheduled to leave on the next ship were Oliver Cromwell and John Hampton. So basically, when Charles I then forbade any other people from leaving the country, he sealed his own destiny because it was those two men who are most responsible for charging him with treason and insisting that his head be cut off. You talk about divine justice. Charles I retained in that country the very men who would cause and bring about his own death because of his sin. So this period of time then is known as the killing time for the Covenanters because many people were being killed for their faith in Jesus Christ. Let me give you very quickly A quick illustration of what it was like to live during the time of Richard Cameron.

[John Weaver] And we're talking about the 1670s and the 1680s. Here is a Covenanter's wedding. Listen carefully. John Brown, who happened to be a very close friend, not only of Richard Cameron, who was known as the Lion of the Covenant, and I'll explain the Covenant a little bit later. But he was also a very close friend of Alexander Paden, who was known as the Prophet of the Covenant. Paden had married John Brown to Isabel Weir in 1682, after the marriage ceremony. Here is what Alexander Paden said to Isabel.

[John Weaver] You have a good man to be your husband. But ye will not enjoy him long. Prize his company, and keep linen by you for his winding sheet, for you will need it when you are not looking for it, and it will be a bloody one." What an amazing thing to say right after a marriage ceremony. A few short years later, Lord Claverhouse, the murderer, hunted down John Brown and asked John why he did not attend the Anglican or the Episcopal Church and asked him if he would not pray for the King. Well, John Brown, of course, gave the usual covenant answer in which Claverhouse explained, Go to your knees, you shall immediately die. John Brown prayed so fervently that the dragoon's eyes began to moisten.

[John Weaver] And after he finished praying, he turned to his wife and he said, Do you remember at the time that I proposed to you? I told you that this might come to pass. I must ask now. Are you willing to part with me? Her reply was heartily willing. John Brown then said, this then is all I desire. I have nothing else to do but to die. Then he kissed his children and said, may all purchased and promised blessings be upon you.

[John Weaver] Claverhouse shouted, no more of this. And he ordered his five or six dragoons to fire. But the dragoons stood motionless. They refused to murder John Brown. Claverhouse became so enraged and fearing mutiny of his own troops, he drew a pistol from his belt and pointed to the head of John Brown and pulled the trigger and blew his brains out. Then Claverhouse looked at his wife, Isabel, and said, What do you think of your husband now?

[John Weaver] To which she replied, I ever thought much good of him and more so even now. Isabel Brown then set her child upon the ground, gathered up her husband's brains, tied his head together, straightened his body, covered it with a sheet, and sat on the ground and wept. Those were the kind of times that Richard Cameron lived in. Richard Cameron was much like the Apostle Paul. Not only did he suffer in life as the Apostle Paul suffered, But he also lost his life at the hands of the enemies of the gospel of Christ, just like the Apostle Paul did. You see, Richard Cameron was a Scottish Covenanter.

[John Weaver] So you ask, who were the Covenanters? Well, the Covenanters were basically Scottish Presbyterians who, during the 17th century, gave their support to what is known as the National Covenant of 1638, which covenant, of course, said that Jesus Christ was the head of the church. The National Covenant then was in opposition to the attempts by the king to establish a Scottish Episcopalian church, or something like the Anglican church there in England. The Covenanters believe that Jesus Christ alone was the head of the church. They believe that Jesus Christ alone was the head of the conscience. They believe that Jesus Christ alone was Lord, and they refuse the King's claim as being head of the conscience and head of the church. And they said that the king had no right or power to try to direct the church or to lead the church or force the church to do anything. Consequently, those who believe like that were cast out of the churches by the king. And those churches that were still in existence then, the king replaced with preachers.

[John Weaver] who agreed to go along with the king. So that meant many of these preachers then were outcasts. They were cast out of their church, and hence they began to preach in the open fields. And this open field preaching, when people would meet together, they were called conventicals. And simply because there were so many preachers cast out of their churches and people who believed the truth, they refused to go to the king's church.

[John Weaver] and consequently they met in these conventicles. Now, in 1670, these conventicles were declared illegal. In 1678, an act was passed, listen carefully, to enable military forces to be raised for the suppression of these conventicals. So here's a military force being raised just to put down the preaching of the gospel, just to put down men who did not agree with the king and would not follow what the king said concerning religion. Moreover, there was a law passed that demanded a CESS, C-E-S-S, which was a tax to support the military that had been raised to persecute the field preachers or the conventicles.

[John Weaver] In other words, here the people now were being forced to pay for their own persecution and for their own destruction. It was a tax that was applied to the faithful, but if the payment was refused, The King's Dragoons had their commission to plunder and to kill. There were some Scottish believers and some English believers who of course submitted at the point of bayonet. There were others who refused and they gave their life in doing so.

[John Weaver] James Gavin had his ears cut off and was banished to Barbados for his beliefs. Donald Cargill, James Guthrie, John Nisbet, and David Haxton and many others lost their lives as well. Richard Cameron and his younger brother Michael, whom you will hear about, were together in their death. They also had a sister named Marion who also lost her life at the hands of the King's troopers. Richard Cameron was a preacher of the gospel and his bold preaching remained a treasured memory for those who heard him long after he was put to death. His willingness to die for the right of Christ to rule his church emboldened many Scottish Covenanters to persevere in their faith. When you stop and think about a man like Richard Cameron or a man like David Haxton or James Guthrie, Their bold preaching and their bold stand for Jesus Christ should indeed embarrass most of us today. These men, their lives and even their death rebukes our compromise, our lukewarmness, our unwillingness to stand for Christ and to take up His cross.

[John Weaver] These men knew what it was to suffer. They knew what it was to stand. And they believed that Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone was king. Now listen carefully. They believed he was not only king of the conscience. They believed that he was king of the church. They believed that he was the king of the nation. And they believed that Jesus Christ was king of everything. And they were willing to fight and die for the kingship of Christ.

[John Weaver] That is why One of the slogans you will find in those days was for Christ's crown and covenant. They were willing to stand and fight and die for the kingship of Jesus Christ. Henry Inglis has written a couplet that summarizes the life and death of Richard Cameron. I want you to just listen to this brief couplet. Cameron of the Covenant stood and prayed the battle prayer, then with his brother side by side took up the cross of Christ and died upon the Moss of Ayr. I'll explain that just momentarily. You'll remember that one of the main reformers in Scotland was John Knox. John Knox Was a tremendous preacher feared by Bloody Mary. Bloody Mary said she feared the prayers of John Knox more than all the troops of Scotland. And rightly so. But John Knox taught.

[John Weaver] That it was the right and the duty of a lesser magistrate. To resist the tyranny of higher magistrates. So in other words, a lower magistrate could indeed resist the king or resist the queen in their tyranny and in their totalitarianism. And so when it came to Richard Cameron and all these other Covenanters, all they were doing was simply this. They were applying the teaching and the preaching and the doctrine of John Knox. Now, Richard Cameron was born approximately in 1648.

[John Weaver] He gave his life on July the 22nd, 1680. He was a leader of the Presbyterians who resisted the Stuart monarchs and their attempts to control the affairs of the Church of Scotland, acting through bishops. His followers took the name of Cameroonians. By the way, even after the death of Richard Cameron, the Cameroonians became known as the Scottish Rifles. And the Scottish Rifles, or the Cameroonians, were only disbanded in 1968. So it went all the way from 1680 to 1968. Alan Cameron was the father of Richard and Michael.

[John Weaver] He was a merchant in Falkland Fife. He had three sons, of which Richard was the eldest. Michael and Alexander were also believers, and they followed the covenanting banner of blue. There was the blue banner of the covenants. The only daughter, Marian, was a sincere Christian woman who also died at the hands of the king's dragoons. After his university days, Richard Cameron was a schoolmaster. But at that particular point, he did not know the Savior. And so Richard Cameron did something that a lot of people did in those days.

[John Weaver] He would go out and occasionally listen to the field preachers, to the outcast. He would go to some of those conventicles. And guess what? One day, as he listened, he heard unto life. The Lord regenerated him. The Lord convicted him. The Lord converted him. And when God saved him, He became exceedingly zealous and what you and I would call white hot for the gospel of Jesus Christ. And Richard Cameron was one of those individuals who had a disposition who had absolutely no use for anything that was lukewarm. So by his sincere and genuine example, he stood up many in that day. Even just before his death, people were testifying to the blessings of God in his ministry and upon their lives through him.

[John Weaver] Richard Cameron, who was also known as Ritchie, soon left Scotland temporarily only to study theology in Holland. You have to remember that it was Holland that a lot of these Puritans and pilgrim preachers went to for safety in order that they might teach and preach and worship freely. It was while he was there that he was ordained a minister in the Church of Scotland. In 1679, he was ordained at the Scotch Church in Rotterdam. He was in safe Holland. He had been studying theology. But even while he was in Holland, he had a longing to go back to Scotland, to what was then known as the Land of Blood. So he was ordained into the ministry, and I want you to listen carefully.

[John Weaver] Here is the ordination of a Scottish Covenanter. During the ceremony, after Brown and Coleman, a Dutch minister, lifted their hands from Cameron's head, the great Robert McWard kept his hand upon Cameron's head and he said this. Richard. The public standard of the gospel is fallen in Scotland. And if I know anything of the mind of the Lord. You're called to undergo your trials before us and go home and lift up the fallen standard and display it before the world. But before you put your hand to it, you shall go to as many of the field ministers as you can find and give them your hearty invitation to go with you. And if they will not go, go you alone, and the Lord will go with you.

[John Weaver] Listen to what he said. Behold, you spectators, 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 the sun and the moon in the public view of the world.

[John Weaver] Now, how would you like to be ordained like that? Here is the head of a faithful minister of Jesus Christ who shall lose the same for his master's interest. And then the great McWard said this, and it, that is his head, shall be set up before the sun and the moon in the public view of the world. Such was the ordination of a Scottish Covenanter. Secretly, Richard Cameron got back to Scotland in October of 1869, and very soon his name was associated with Cargill, Wedgwood and Hall, who were all martyred. Donald Cargill, blessed singular Christian and faithful minister and martyr, Henry Hall, who was a worthy gentleman, martyr and partaker of Christ's sufferings, and also John Wellwood, who seeing the last day from his cold den of his native hills said, welcome eternal light, no more night or darkness for me. The course of Richard Cameron was much like a blazing meteor.

[John Weaver] He did not have long to live. And while he was there, he certainly shone brightly. He was fiercely hunted, but he was kindly housed. And although there was a very exceedingly high price placed upon his head, no one would betray him. He was closely sought. He was also forever sheltered. He was greatly loved, even to his death, with, of course, his brother Michael by his side. Thousands hung on to his sermons, weeping as he preached. Many times Richard Cameron himself wept as he preached. His sermons were always full of a warm welcome and love of the Lord Jesus Christ to poor simple sinners. Listen to what he said in closing one of his sermons. After talking about Jesus Christ, he asked, would you take him?

[John Weaver] Tell us what you say. These hills and mountains around us witness that we have offered him to you this day. Angels are wondering at this offer. They stand beholding with admiration that our Lord is giving you such an offer this day. They will go up to and report at the throne what is everyone's choice. Listen to what he said. They will go up to the throne and report your choice, whether you would have him or whether you would not.

[John Weaver] He preached from such texts as Jeremiah 3, 19, but I said, how shall I put thee among the children and give thee a pleasant land and a goodly heritage of the host of the nation? He preached from Matthew 11, 28, coming to me, all you that labor and heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. He preached from Isaiah 32 in verse 2, and a man shall be a hiding place from the wind and a cover from the tempest. He preached from Isaiah 49, 24, shall the prey be taken from the mighty? And he preached from John 5 in verse 40, and you will not come unto me that you might have life. Here was a man who was an excellent, wonderful preacher, and preached with great passion and great power.

[John Weaver] God's hand was indeed upon him. Let me give you an example that John Howey gave in his book, Scott's Worthies, on Richard Cameron. He tells of an incident. where Richard Cameron was preaching and he was opposed not only by one singular individual who stood out more than others, but also by two leaders in that particular city. And so as he was preaching, he was challenged by this one very wicked man and two of the leaders. Cameron told the people that to mind that they were in the presence of a holy God and that all of them were hastening to an endless state of either will or woe. At that point, one Andrew Dalzio cried out, Sir, we neither know you nor your God. Richard Cameron replied, you and all who do not know my God and mercy shall know him in his judgments.

[John Weaver] which shall be sudden and surprising in a few days upon you, and I, as a sent servant of Jesus Christ, whose commission I bear, and whose badge I wear upon my breast, give you warning and lead you to the justice of God." A few days later, Andrew Dalziel, being in perfect health, ate a very hearty breakfast, but as soon as he finished, he began to vomit and then died in a most frightful manner. The two leaders that opposed him on understanding the death of Dalziel asked for a meeting with Cameron and they asked for his forgiveness. to which Cameron said that from his heart he forgave them for what wrongs they had done to him. But for the wrongs they had done to the interest of Christ, it was not his part to forgive them.

[John Weaver] But he was persuaded that they would be punished remarkably for their sins. And soon, both men were remarkably punished. and died. So here's a man who evidently not only had the power of God and the blessing of God upon him. But here is a man who understood the justice of God as well in the midst of his sermons. He not only gave forth the blessings and the promises of God, he also warned of God's judgment, and he always sought to make a covenant between those who heard him and the Lord Jesus Christ. And of course, God rewarded his faithful preaching of the word, and many came to Christ savingly through that preaching. Cameron's preaching. And his praying.

[John Weaver] And his practicing were all the same. What I'm trying to say is simply this. He lived what he preached. He lived that which he believed. It was while he was in Scotland that came the famed Sanquahar Declaration. This was three weeks before the fierce battle of Ars Mas. When you hear the word Ars Mas, it's a place, and it's a place where a battle took place. Three weeks before the Sanquahar Declaration, Richard Cameron said, I shall be but a breakfast to the enemies of Christ shortly. After a day of prayer, twelve days from the end, his word was this, my body shall dung the wilderness within a fortnight.

[John Weaver] He seldom prayed, whether at a meal, or with a family, or with friends, except that he asked the Lord to give him patience to wait until the Lord's time come. It was right before the San Quijar declaration. San Quijar town, June the 12th, 1680. Richard Cameron, along with his brother Michael, and a few others rode into town. And when people saw them, they began to cry, It's Richie! It's Richie!

[John Weaver] The hill men are coming. It was indeed Richard Cameron, known as the Lion of the Covenant, along with some of his faithful remnant. He and his brother Michael dismount. The others form a circle around them. And as the circle is completed, a psalm is sung and a prayer is offered. It's the first anniversary of what is known as the Bothwell-Briggs slaughter, where many of the Scottish Covenanters had been literally murdered by the forces of Charles I. On this anniversary, Richard Cameron has an answer.

[John Weaver] It is the Sanquahar Declaration. His brother Michael opens the Declaration and reads it aloud before it is posted in San Juan town. Listen carefully to the Declaration. Although we be for government and governors, such as the word of God in our covenant allows, Yet we for ourselves and all that will adhere to us as the representatives of the true Presbyterian Church and covenant nation of Scotland, considering the great hazard of lying under such a sin any longer, do by this disown Charles Stuart, who have been reigning, or rather tyrannizing, as we may say, on the throne of Britain these years bygone, as having any right, title to, or interest in the said crown of Scotland for government, as forfeited several years since by its perjury and breach of covenant both to God and His Church, and usurpation of His crown and royal prerogatives therein.

[John Weaver] And also as being under the standard of our Lord Jesus Christ, the captain of our salvation, do declare a war with such a tyrant and usurper and all the men of his practices as enemies of the Lord Jesus Christ and his cause and covenant, and against all such as have strengthened him. As also we disown by this the recent reception of the Duke of York that professed papist as repugnant to the principles and vows to the Most High God.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to listen to what they said. We're for government and governors, such as the Word of God and the covenant allows. But we're not for tyrants. And King Charles I has been reigning, or rather tyrannizing, these years. The Duke of York whom they denounced as the papist, the Catholic, had sneeringly said that he would make Scotland a hunting field. That is, he would kill all the Scottish people that he could kill. And the Scottish people referred to him as the devil's lieutenant.

[John Weaver] Thomas Campbell, then after the declaration was read, took it and nailed it upon the wall. After that, another verse or two of scripture was read, a psalm was sung, and those men who had stood for righteousness then left into the hills. What exactly had they done? Well, they had cast off the usurped authority of a tyrant. They had not done it in anarchy. They had not done it in rebellion.

[John Weaver] They made their refusal a religious act. They began it with prayer and scripture and the singing of a song. They disavowed, they disowned Charles I. And they ended it with a song and with a song. They disowned the unworthy ruler that they might enthrone the sovereign, the Lord Jesus Christ. They refused the tyrant that they might honor Christ the Supreme Ruler. What they did was basically this.

[John Weaver] They were choosing a theocracy over a despotism. They were actually reversing 1 Samuel 8, where Israel cried, give us a man that he may reign over us. And they said, no, we do not want a man to reign over us. We want God. It was a demonstration of Acts 5 in verse 29 where the Word of God is declared by the disciples. We ought to obey God rather than man.

[John Weaver] The last Sunday of his life. He spent with Donald Cargill and preached from Psalm 46 in verse 10. Be still and know that I am God. During that sermon, Cameron said, that the Lord was going to lift up a standard against Antichrist, and would take it to the gates of Rome and burn it with fire, and that blood would be their sign and no quarter would be their word.

[John Weaver] And he earnestly wished that it might begin in Scotland. The next Sunday, Donald Cargill was preaching from the words Know you not that a great man and a prince has fallen this day in Israel over the death of Richard Cameron? It was what the Covenanters called a time of eating the bread of affliction. The last week of Cameron's life was lived with about 60 others. Patrick Walker, The Covenanter peddler and the Covenanting John Bunyan. Remember Bunyan spent 14 years in prison because he refused a license to preach. He was a Covenanter as well. So Walker and Bunyan wrote of the last week of Cameron's life. And they said this. Talking about Cameron and about the 60 men who were with him, they were of one heart and soul, their company and converse being so edifying and sweet and having no certain dwelling place, they stayed together waiting for further light and that none such juncture of time.

[John Weaver] They were somewhat armed and about 20 of them had horses. Some may feel that they should not have taken up arms at all. Many covenanters themselves felt like this, believing that there was a better testimony to be gained by suffering than by resisting. Their own outlawed ministers and writers counseled them to be as jewels surrounded by the cutting irons, and so to seal from your own experience the sweetness of suffering for Christ, since there is an inherent glory in suffering for Christ. But there were many others who, while they could go through much themselves, Could not endure seeing what others subjected to the utmost miseries and cruelties, whereas those when every man had his sword upon his thigh.

[John Weaver] So there were some Scottish Covenanters who said, well, we'll just suffer and die. Others said, no, we will fight. And we will only try to protect ourselves, but we'll try to protect others who are suffering as well. Whatever anyone may think, you cannot help but love these men because they were so brave and so glorious. Richard Cameron, the Lion of the Covenant, spent his last night on earth at Meadowhead Farm, the home of William Mitchell.

[John Weaver] In the morning, he washed his face and hands in the old stone trough. On drying his hands and his face, He looked at Mrs. Mitchell and her daughter and he said, This is their last washing. I have need to make them clean, for there are many to see them. Mrs. Mitchell wept and seeing her weeping, he said, Weep not for me, but for yourselves. and yours, and for the sins of a sinful land, for you have many melancholy and sorrowful weary days before you."

[John Weaver] That afternoon, about four o'clock, a hundred and twenty of the king's dragoons came upon the little Bible-reading band in Ars Mas. There were about sixty-two of them. What were they doing? Praying, reading the Bible. 120 governmental troops. They outnumbered the men, the Covenanters 2 to 1. They not only had greater numbers, they had greater arms. And when Richard Cameron saw the King's troops coming, He led the little band in prayer three times.

[John Weaver] And each time he prayed, Lord, spare the green and take the right. And then he looked at his brother, Michael, and 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 about enemies. And this is the day. that we shall get the crown. To his beloved fellows, he said, Be encouraged, all of you, to fight it out valiantly. For all of you who follow this day, I see heaven's gates cast wide open to receive you.

[John Weaver] Then with their eyes turned toward heaven and calm resignation, the little band of Bible-praying, Bible-reading men sang their last psalm to the God of their salvation. The Dragoons were emboldened by greater numbers and better arms and they attacked at once. The Covenanters sometime were called Wanderers because they wondered about having no certain dwelling place. But David Haxton, and I will tell you about him a little bit later, David Haxton was with Richard Cameron and he wrote before he died As the dragoons attacked, he says, the rest of us advanced fast on the enemy, a strong body of horse coming hard upon us. Whereupon, when we were joined, our horse fired first and wounded and killed some of them, both on horse and on foot. Our horse advanced to their faces and we fired on each other.

[John Weaver] I being foremost after receiving their fire and finding the horse behind me broken, I then rode in amongst them and went out at a side without any wrong or wound. I was pursued by several with whom I fought a good space. Sometimes they followed me, sometimes I followed them. At last, a treacherous and unfair blow, David Haxton was struck down and he says, they gave us all testimony being brave and resolute men.

[John Weaver] Nine of the Covenanters were slain that day. Among them, where Richard Cameron, the Lion of the Covenant, and his brother Michael, who was always inseparable. That Cameron's men, according to the Dragoon's own testimony, fought like madmen. In fact, 28 of the King's Dragoons were killed and only nine Covenanters. And yet the battle was lost. There's two stanzas I want to read you from a poem on the slaughter of Richard Cameron and the others at Arzmos, written by Shepard Ladd. I wish I had time to read all. It is a wonderful, wonderful poem. It's rather long, but I'm just going to read two stanzas. Listen to it.

[John Weaver] When the righteous had fallen and the combat was ended, a chariot of fire through the dark clouds descended. Its drivers were angels on horses of whiteness. and its burning wheels turned on axles of brightness. A seraph unfolded its doors bright and shining, all dazzling like gold of the seventh refining, and the souls that came forth of the great tribulation have mounted the chariot and the steeds of their salvation.

[John Weaver] Richard Cameron was no more than 32 years of age, his brother Michael younger, when they gave their lives for Christ's crown and covenant. Six prisoners were taken. They were William Manuel, John Valiance, John Pollock, David Haxton, John Malcolm, and Archibald Allison. From the severity of his wounds and from, of course, the harsh treatment that he received, William Manuel died as he was being carried to Edinburgh. John Valiance died the day following from his wounds. John Pollock was most cruelly treated, but in the midst of it was steadfast and cheerful.

[John Weaver] and was banished as a slave to the American plantations with the marks of his torture still upon him. The other three prisoners were executed. David Haxton being shockingly murdered on the scaffold, which I'll tell you about shortly, and John Malcolm and Archibald Allison were hanged. Right before John Malcolm was hanged, he had this to say to the audience. Let His cause be your cause in weal and woe, O noble cause, O noble work, O noble heaven, O noble Christ that makes it to be heaven. And He is the owner of the work I lay down my life, not as an evildoer, but as a sufferer for Jesus Christ." Before Archibald Allison was hanged, he said, What think you of heaven and glory that is at the back of the cross?

[John Weaver] The hope of this makes me look upon pale death as a lovely messenger to me. I bless the Lord for my lot this day. Friends, give our Lord credit. He is I good, but oh, he is good in the day of trial, and he will be sweet company through the ages of eternity. There were many who escaped that day the battle of the Ars Mas. And some even wept that they did not die that day. But Patrick Walker says those who died on the spot with him went ripe and longing for the day of death.

[John Weaver] After they had killed, dug a hole and push the bodies of the dead covenanters into the hole. Only after They had taken Richard Cameron and cut off his head and his hands. They also cut off the head in the hands of Richard Fowler, thinking that he was Michael Cameron. They put the heads and the hands in a sack. Actually, sacks, they had them separate. On their way to Edinburgh, they stopped at Lanark.

[John Weaver] And they saw a lovely young lass who was named Elizabeth Hope. And they asked her, would she like to buy some calves heads? To which she says, I know not. And they emptied the sacks on the ground. and took the head of Richard Cameron and kicked it as you would kick a soccer ball to the point that Elizabeth Hope fainted. Upon reaching Edinburgh, the dragoons put the heads upon Halbert's and they cried, here are the heads of the traitors, the rebels. There was one man there who knew Richard Cameron personally because he had been a hearer of Cameron And Cameron was fair complexion and fair hair. And he said he saw them stick a halberd in the blessed mouth from which proceeded many gracious words previously.

[John Weaver] Robert Murray, as he delivered the head in the hands of the council, said concerning Cameron, these are the head and hands that live praying and preaching and died praying and fighting. And of course, you know that Richard Cameron died at about the same age as our Savior. Before the hangman set the head and the hands of the bloodstained Richard Camerons. Upon the Netherport bow. There was a hero saint. Lying in prison. And the head of Richard Cameron and the hands were taken to this saint who is imprisoned for the faith's sake. The prisoner's name was Alan Cameron, father of Richard and Michael, who had been imprisoned for supporting the field preachers. They took Richard Cameron's head and his hands to Alan Cameron, thrust them toward him, and said, Do you know them? Alan Cameron, when he saw his son's head and hands, took them and kissed them and said, Yes, I know them. I know them. They are my sons. My own dear sons. It is the Lord.

[John Weaver] Good is the will of the Lord who cannot wrong me or mine, but has made goodness and mercy to follow me all the days of my life. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Here was a man. broken, battered, imprisoned, the father of martyred sons and a martyred daughter. Yet. When he saw the head in the hands of his son, all he could do is praise the Lord.

[John Weaver] And when he quoted from Psalm 23. Goodness and mercy, all my life shall surely follow me and in God's house forevermore. my dwelling place shall be." He was assured of the faith of his sons and his own faith. You remember I told you that David Haxton was captured. He had been wounded, but lived. Haxton was so hated by the King, that eight days after his capture, the King's sentence came down. Here is the sentence passed upon David Haxton for his fellowship and association with Richard Cameron.

[John Weaver] But that his body be drawn backward on a hurdle to the Mercat cross. That there be a high scaffold erected a little above the cross, where in the first place his right hand is to be struck off. And after some time, his left hand. Then he is to be hanged up and cut down alive. His bowels to be taken out and his heart shown to the people by the hangman. than his heart and his bowels to be burned in a fire prepared for that purpose on the scaffold. And afterwards, his head to be cut off and his body divided into four quarters, his head to be fixed on the nether bow, one of his quarters with his hands to be affixed to St. Andrews, another quarter at Glasgow, a third at Lathe and a fourth at Buntusland, that none be presumed to

[John Weaver] be in mourning for him, or any coffin brought, that no person be suffered to be on the scaffold with him, save the two Baileys, the executioner and his servants, that he be allowed to pray to God Almighty, but not to speak to any of the people, that Haxton's and Cameron's heads be fixed on higher poles than all the rest. Do you remember Richard Cameron's ordination when the great McGuard said, Here is the head of a servant of Jesus Christ who shall lose it for his master's interest.

[John Weaver] It shall be in public view of the sun and the moon. And so it was Richard Cameron's head and his hands along with David Haxton's, were lifted up above the others who had died for their faith in Jesus Christ. Thus lived and died Richard Cameron, the Lion of the Covenant, who stood for Christ's crown and covenant. It's times like these that we are reminded of the words of our Lord in John 16, Verses 1-3, listen carefully, where our Lord said, These things have I spoken unto you, that you should not be offended.

[John Weaver] They shall put you out of the sin of God's. Yea, the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think they do with God's service. And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me. The time will come, he said, that whosoever killeth you will think that he does God's service. All this was done by King Charles I so that he could establish his church.

[John Weaver] I hope you understand that In light of today's message, first of all, we should be convicted for our own lukewarmness, our lack of love, our lack of zeal for Jesus Christ. But the second, I believe this message ought to stir us up in light of the times in which we live, that God would raise up some Richard Camerons and some David Haxtons. some Donald Cargill's, James Guthrie's, that we would have men who would not only stand against tyranny and totalitarianism and despotism, but in standing against those things, they would be standing for Christ, and His word, and His crown, and His covenant. May God be pleased to give us men like Richard Cameron.

[John Weaver] Father, in Thy name we bow to Thee this day. We thank You. We acknowledge, Lord, all of Your mercy and all of Your grace to us. And we're so thankful, Lord, for these men that Thou hast allowed to live and die for Your honor and Your glory. Give us a holy determination, Lord, that we would have grace to live for Thee. Don't even need to think about dying for You, Lord. We need to think about living for You, because if we will not live for You, we certainly will not die for You. So, Father, give us living grace right now. And when it comes time to die, You'll give us dying grace. But give us, Lord, grace. who we may be true witnesses and testimonies for Thee, and exalt Thy crown and Thy covenant. In the name of Jesus Christ we ask and pray. Amen. Amen.

[John Weaver] This program was produced by Dominion Ministry. For more information about Pastor Weaver's sermons, You may contact Dominion Ministry by mail at 7400 Abercorn, that's A-B-E-R-C-O-R-N Street, Suite 705, PMB 175, Savannah, Georgia, 31406. Or give us a call at 912-925-0995.

[John Weaver] You can also visit our website at www.dominionministry.com

Richard Cameron

John Weaver | SermonAudio

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	SermonAudio
Media ID	1017111446568
Subject	Civil Government
Course	Civil Government: Magistracy, Authority, and Romans 13: Christian & Civil Government
Genre	Sermon
Date	2011-06-05
Dictation Name
Book	Book 008: Civil Government: Magistracy, Authority, and Romans 13 — Chapter 15
Source Timed Segments	78

Formatted Transcript

Introduction: The Importance of History and Faith's Heroes

Weaver opens with Hebrews 11:32-40, arguing that history is God's decree unfolding and that many unnamed heroes of faith have lived since biblical times, including Richard Cameron.

Let's open our Bibles to the book of Hebrews chapter 11, Richard Cameron, the Lion of the Covenant. And you will understand just shortly. Hebrews chapter 11, and let's begin reading there with verse 32, Hebrews 11, verse 32. We deprive ourselves of a great deal of truth by not studying history, not only biblical history, but what you and I would simply call history in general. Because God is the God of history, all history belongs to him. In fact, history is linear, it has a definite beginning, it has a definite ending. And history is nothing less than God's eternal decree coming to pass in time. So therefore, history is indeed important. So if you look in Hebrews chapter 11, beginning there, verse 32, the Word of God says,

Scripture Reading — Hebrews 11:32-40

"And what shall I more say?" "For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthah; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets: who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: and others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: they were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword." "They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; (of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect."

I want you to understand that not every hero of faith is listed in Hebrews chapter 11. There were many heroes of faith who lived during the New Testament era who were not listed in Hebrews chapter 11. Likewise, there have been many biblical heroes of faith that have lived and died since New Testament times that certainly are not recorded in Scripture.

Could not possibly be because the canon had been closed. And yet, we have the history of these saints who stood, who lived for Christ, and who died for Christ. These were individuals who stood firm in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Richard Cameron was one such martyr. Most people have never heard of Richard Cameron. He is known as the Lion of the Covenant. He was a Scottish Presbyterian. And consequently, many people do not know of the incidents surrounding his martyrdom.

The Call to Suffer for Christ

Using Moses (Hebrews 11:24-26) and Paul (Acts 9:15-16; 2 Corinthians 11:24-28), Weaver teaches that suffering for Christ is a gift from God, with degrees of suffering matched by degrees of grace.

But, however, there is a principle in Scripture that teaches us that the right way is not always the easy way. It's not always the cool and comfortable way. If you'll look in Hebrews chapter 11 again, but let's begin reading there with verse 24. I want you to notice what the Bible says concerning Moses. Hebrews 11, verse 24,

Scripture Reading — Hebrews 11:24-26

"By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter."

Let me just stop there. He refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. What he was refusing was the throne of Egypt, one of the wealthiest countries in the world at that time, one of the most powerful countries. And so he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He was not interested in following after Pharaoh. But notice that the Bible says, verse 25,

Scripture Reading — Hebrews 11:24-26

"Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt."

Now I want you to note the Bible tells us in verse 25, that Moses chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. He chose affliction over the pharaohship of Egypt. He chose affliction over all the treasures of Egypt. And the reason why he did that, if you look in verse 26, is he esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.

In other words, Moses saw the beauty and the wonder of salvation in the one true and living God. Let me point this out. No one will ever, ever choose suffering and affliction and persecution until they understand and until they rightly estimate the beauty and the glory and the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. And Moses was willing to suffer for he esteemed the reproach of Christ greater than all the treasures of Egypt. Did you know the Bible says in Philippians 1 in verse 29,

Scripture Reading — Philippians 1:29

"For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake."

Now that verse teaches us that not only is faith the gift of God, but it also teaches us that suffering is likewise the gift of God. Not only does God not give faith to every individual, He does not give suffering to every individual. Also, may I point out, that just like there are degrees in faith, we read about little faith and a great faith, a small faith. So likewise, there are degrees in suffering.

God does not call upon each one to suffer immeasurably. Some do. That is a fact. But some do not. So just like God gives faith, God also gives the gift of suffering. And to some individuals, He gives the greater gift of suffering, and they suffer immeasurably. But you must remember that those who suffer greater also have greater grace and greater mercy given to them.

Now, if you look in your Bibles to the book of Acts chapter 9 very quickly, just showing you how God has chosen some to suffer, look in Acts chapter 9, and let's begin reading there with verse 15. Many of you will remember the conversion of Saul of Tarsus. He has been convicted and converted by the Lord, and so now we are told in Acts chapter 9, beginning there with verse 15, Ananias is protesting when the Lord tells him to go see Saul. But here's what the Lord says to Ananias. Acts 9 verse 15,

Scripture Reading — Acts 9:15-16

"But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel."

Now watch verse 16.

Scripture Reading — Acts 9:15-16

"For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake."

What did God say?

Scripture Reading — Acts 9:15-16

"I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake."

If you would turn in your Bibles now to 2nd Corinthians chapter 11. Here is just a few of those things that the Apostle Paul suffered. Notice 2nd Corinthians chapter 11 and let's begin reading there verse 24. 2nd Corinthians 11 verse 24, Paul writes, "Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one."

"Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness." "Besides those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches." Notice, if you would, the Apostle Paul is just listing a small number of the things which he suffered. Moreover, you remember he had his head chopped off in the end. Now, like Paul, many in Scotland and in England were being persecuted for their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and many in Scotland and in England at that time were seeking to leave those countries so that they may freely worship the Lord. In liberty and freedom, each one in this room knows about the Mayflower. You remember how those pilgrims made it from England to Holland, then from Holland here to America? But what many people do not understand that it was King Charles Stuart that forced or caused those people to go, because of his persecution.

Historical Context: The Killing Time and the Covenanters

Weaver describes the persecution under Charles II, the National Covenant of 1638, the outlawing of field preaching (conventicles), and the tax imposed to fund persecution.

Now, certainly, the king probably meant it for evil in one sense of the word, but God meant it for good. So Charles of the Divine Right imperiously began forbidding people to leave either Scotland or England. And may I point out, had Charles I really known what he was doing, he would have never done what he did because two of the men who were scheduled to leave on the next ship were Oliver Cromwell and John Hampden. So basically, when Charles I then forbade any other people from leaving the country, he sealed his own destiny because it was those two men who are most responsible for charging him with treason and insisting that his head be cut off. You talk about divine justice. Charles I retained in that country the very men who would cause and bring about his own death because of his sin. So this period of time then is known as the killing time for the Covenanters because many people were being killed for their faith in Jesus Christ. Let me give you very quickly a quick illustration of what it was like to live during the time of Richard Cameron.

And we're talking about the 1670s and the 1680s. Here is a Covenanter's wedding. Listen carefully. John Brown, who happened to be a very close friend, not only of Richard Cameron, who was known as the Lion of the Covenant, and I'll explain the Covenant a little bit later. But he was also a very close friend of Alexander Peden, who was known as the Prophet of the Covenant. Peden had married John Brown to Isabel Weir in 1682, after the marriage ceremony. Here is what Alexander Peden said to Isabel.

"You have a good man to be your husband. But ye will not enjoy him long. Prize his company, and keep linen by you for his winding sheet, for you will need it when you are not looking for it, and it will be a bloody one." What an amazing thing to say right after a marriage ceremony. A few short years later, Lord Claverhouse, the murderer, hunted down John Brown and asked John why he did not attend the Anglican or the Episcopal Church and asked him if he would not pray for the King. Well, John Brown, of course, gave the usual covenant answer in which Claverhouse explained, "Go to your knees, you shall immediately die." John Brown prayed so fervently that the dragoons' eyes began to moisten. And after he finished praying, he turned to his wife and he said, "Do you remember at the time that I proposed to you? I told you that this might come to pass. I must ask now. Are you willing to part with me?" Her reply was heartily willing. John Brown then said, "This then is all I desire. I have nothing else to do but to die." Then he kissed his children and said, "May all purchased and promised blessings be upon you."

Claverhouse shouted, "No more of this." And he ordered his five or six dragoons to fire. But the dragoons stood motionless. They refused to murder John Brown. Claverhouse became so enraged and fearing mutiny of his own troops, he drew a pistol from his belt and pointed to the head of John Brown and pulled the trigger and blew his brains out. Then Claverhouse looked at his wife, Isabel, and said, "What do you think of your husband now?" To which she replied, "I ever thought much good of him and more so even now." Isabel Brown then set her child upon the ground, gathered up her husband's brains, tied his head together, straightened his body, covered it with a sheet, and sat on the ground and wept. Those were the kind of times that Richard Cameron lived in. Richard Cameron was much like the Apostle Paul. Not only did he suffer in life as the Apostle Paul suffered, but he also lost his life at the hands of the enemies of the gospel of Christ, just like the Apostle Paul did. You see, Richard Cameron was a Scottish Covenanter.

So you ask, who were the Covenanters? Well, the Covenanters were basically Scottish Presbyterians who, during the 17th century, gave their support to what is known as the National Covenant of 1638, which covenant, of course, said that Jesus Christ was the head of the church. The National Covenant then was in opposition to the attempts by the king to establish a Scottish Episcopalian church, or something like the Anglican church there in England. The Covenanters believe that Jesus Christ alone was the head of the church. They believe that Jesus Christ alone was the head of the conscience. They believe that Jesus Christ alone was Lord, and they refuse the King's claim as being head of the conscience and head of the church. And they said that the king had no right or power to try to direct the church or to lead the church or force the church to do anything. Consequently, those who believe like that were cast out of the churches by the king. And those churches that were still in existence then, the king replaced with preachers.

who agreed to go along with the king. So that meant many of these preachers then were outcasts. They were cast out of their church, and hence they began to preach in the open fields. And this open field preaching, when people would meet together, they were called conventicles. And simply because there were so many preachers cast out of their churches and people who believed the truth, they refused to go to the king's church. and consequently they met in these conventicles. Now, in 1670, these conventicles were declared illegal. In 1678, an act was passed, listen carefully, to enable military forces to be raised for the suppression of these conventicles. So here's a military force being raised just to put down the preaching of the gospel, just to put down men who did not agree with the king and would not follow what the king said concerning religion. Moreover, there was a law passed that demanded a cess, C-E-S-S, which was a tax to support the military that had been raised to persecute the field preachers or the conventicles.

In other words, here the people now were being forced to pay for their own persecution and for their own destruction. It was a tax that was applied to the faithful, but if the payment was refused, the King's dragoons had their commission to plunder and to kill. There were some Scottish believers and some English believers who of course submitted at the point of bayonet. There were others who refused and they gave their life in doing so.

Richard Cameron's Life and Ministry

Cameron's conversion, theological training in Holland, ordination prophecy of martyrdom, and his bold, passionate preaching that drew many to Christ are recounted.

He gave his life on July the 22nd, 1680. He was a leader of the Presbyterians who resisted the Stuart monarchs and their attempts to control the affairs of the Church of Scotland, acting through bishops. His followers took the name of Cameronians. By the way, even after the death of Richard Cameron, the Cameronians became known as the Scottish Rifles. And the Scottish Rifles, or the Cameronians, were only disbanded in 1968. So it went all the way from 1680 to 1968. Alan Cameron was the father of Richard and Michael.

He was a merchant in Falkland Fife. He had three sons, of which Richard was the eldest. Michael and Alexander were also believers, and they followed the covenanting banner of blue. There was the blue banner of the covenants. The only daughter, Marian, was a sincere Christian woman who also died at the hands of the king's dragoons. After his university days, Richard Cameron was a schoolmaster. But at that particular point, he did not know the Savior. And so Richard Cameron did something that a lot of people did in those days.

He would go out and occasionally listen to the field preachers, to the outcast. He would go to some of those conventicles. And guess what? One day, as he listened, he heard unto life. The Lord regenerated him. The Lord convicted him. The Lord converted him. And when God saved him, he became exceedingly zealous and what you and I would call white hot for the gospel of Jesus Christ. And Richard Cameron was one of those individuals who had a disposition who had absolutely no use for anything that was lukewarm. So by his sincere and genuine example, he stood up many in that day. Even just before his death, people were testifying to the blessings of God in his ministry and upon their lives through him.

Richard Cameron, who was also known as Ritchie, soon left Scotland temporarily only to study theology in Holland. You have to remember that it was Holland that a lot of these Puritans and pilgrim preachers went to for safety in order that they might teach and preach and worship freely. It was while he was there that he was ordained a minister in the Church of Scotland. In 1679, he was ordained at the Scotch Church in Rotterdam. He was in safe Holland. He had been studying theology. But even while he was in Holland, he had a longing to go back to Scotland, to what was then known as the Land of Blood. So he was ordained into the ministry, and I want you to listen carefully.

Here is the ordination of a Scottish Covenanter. During the ceremony, after Brown and Coleman, a Dutch minister, lifted their hands from Cameron's head, the great Robert McWard kept his hand upon Cameron's head and he said this. "Richard. The public standard of the gospel is fallen in Scotland. And if I know anything of the mind of the Lord, you're called to undergo your trials before us and go home and lift up the fallen standard and display it before the world. But before you put your hand to it, you shall go to as many of the field ministers as you can find and give them your hearty invitation to go with you. And if they will not go, go you alone, and the Lord will go with you."

Listen to what he said. "Behold, you spectators, 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 the sun and the moon in the public view of the world." Now, how would you like to be ordained like that? "Here is the head of a faithful minister of Jesus Christ who shall lose the same for his master's interest." And then the great McWard said this, "and it, that is his head, shall be set up before the sun and the moon in the public view of the world." Such was the ordination of a Scottish Covenanter. Secretly, Richard Cameron got back to Scotland in October of 1679, and very soon his name was associated with Cargill, Welwood and Hall, who were all martyred. Donald Cargill, blessed singular Christian and faithful minister and martyr, Henry Hall, who was a worthy gentleman, martyr and partaker of Christ's sufferings, and also John Welwood, who seeing the last day from his cold den of his native hills said, "Welcome eternal light, no more night or darkness for me." The course of Richard Cameron was much like a blazing meteor.

He did not have long to live. And while he was there, he certainly shone brightly. He was fiercely hunted, but he was kindly housed. And although there was a very exceedingly high price placed upon his head, no one would betray him. He was closely sought. He was also forever sheltered. He was greatly loved, even to his death, with, of course, his brother Michael by his side. Thousands hung on to his sermons, weeping as he preached. Many times Richard Cameron himself wept as he preached. His sermons were always full of a warm welcome and love of the Lord Jesus Christ to poor simple sinners. Listen to what he said in closing one of his sermons. After talking about Jesus Christ, he asked, "Would you take him?"

"Tell us what you say. These hills and mountains around us witness that we have offered him to you this day. Angels are wondering at this offer. They stand beholding with admiration that our Lord is giving you such an offer this day. They will go up to and report at the throne what is everyone's choice." Listen to what he said. "They will go up to the throne and report your choice, whether you would have him or whether you would not." He preached from such texts as Jeremiah 3:19, "But I said, How shall I put thee among the children, and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of nations?" He preached from Matthew 11:28, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." He preached from Isaiah 32:2, "And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest." He preached from Isaiah 49:24, "Shall the prey be taken from the mighty?" And he preached from John 5:40, "And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life." Here was a man who was an excellent, wonderful preacher, and preached with great passion and great power.

The Sanquhar Declaration

On June 12, 1680, Cameron and his brother Michael publicly disowned Charles II as a tyrant and declared war in the name of Christ, choosing theocracy over despotism.

and his practicing were all the same. What I'm trying to say is simply this. He lived what he preached. He lived that which he believed. It was while he was in Scotland that came the famed Sanquhar Declaration. This was three weeks before the fierce battle of Airds Moss. When you hear the word Airds Moss, it's a place, and it's a place where a battle took place. Three weeks before the Sanquhar Declaration, Richard Cameron said, "I shall be but a breakfast to the enemies of Christ shortly." After a day of prayer, twelve days from the end, his word was this, "My body shall dung the wilderness within a fortnight."

He seldom prayed, whether at a meal, or with a family, or with friends, except that he asked the Lord to give him patience to wait until the Lord's time come. It was right before the Sanquhar declaration. Sanquhar town, June the 12th, 1680. Richard Cameron, along with his brother Michael, and a few others rode into town. And when people saw them, they began to cry, "It's Richie! It's Richie!" "The hill men are coming." It was indeed Richard Cameron, known as the Lion of the Covenant, along with some of his faithful remnant. He and his brother Michael dismount. The others form a circle around them. And as the circle is completed, a psalm is sung and a prayer is offered. It's the first anniversary of what is known as the Bothwell Bridge slaughter, where many of the Scottish Covenanters had been literally murdered by the forces of Charles I. On this anniversary, Richard Cameron has an answer.

It is the Sanquhar Declaration. His brother Michael opens the Declaration and reads it aloud before it is posted in Sanquhar town. Listen carefully to the Declaration. "Although we be for government and governors, such as the word of God and our covenant allows, yet we for ourselves and all that will adhere to us as the representatives of the true Presbyterian Church and covenant nation of Scotland, considering the great hazard of lying under such a sin any longer, do by this disown Charles Stuart, who have been reigning, or rather tyrannizing, as we may say, on the throne of Britain these years bygone, as having any right, title to, or interest in the said crown of Scotland for government, as forfeited several years since by its perjury and breach of covenant both to God and His Church, and usurpation of His crown and royal prerogatives therein."

"And also as being under the standard of our Lord Jesus Christ, the captain of our salvation, do declare a war with such a tyrant and usurper and all the men of his practices as enemies of the Lord Jesus Christ and his cause and covenant, and against all such as have strengthened him. As also we disown by this the recent reception of the Duke of York that professed papist as repugnant to the principles and vows to the Most High God." Now, I want you to listen to what they said. We're for government and governors, such as the Word of God and the covenant allows. But we're not for tyrants. And King Charles I has been reigning, or rather tyrannizing, these years. The Duke of York whom they denounced as the papist, the Catholic, had sneeringly said that he would make Scotland a hunting field. That is, he would kill all the Scottish people that he could kill. And the Scottish people referred to him as the devil's lieutenant.

Thomas Campbell, then after the declaration was read, took it and nailed it upon the wall. After that, another verse or two of scripture was read, a psalm was sung, and those men who had stood for righteousness then left into the hills. What exactly had they done? Well, they had cast off the usurped authority of a tyrant. They had not done it in anarchy. They had not done it in rebellion. They made their refusal a religious act. They began it with prayer and scripture and the singing of a song. They disavowed, they disowned Charles I. And they ended it with a song and with a song. They disowned the unworthy ruler that they might enthrone the sovereign, the Lord Jesus Christ. They refused the tyrant that they might honor Christ the Supreme Ruler. What they did was basically this.

They were choosing a theocracy over a despotism. They were actually reversing 1 Samuel 8, where Israel cried, "Give us a man that he may reign over us." And they said, "No, we do not want a man to reign over us. We want God." It was a demonstration of Acts 5:29 where the Word of God is declared by the disciples, "We ought to obey God rather than man."

The Battle of Airds Moss and Martyrdom

Cameron's last days, the battle where he and his brother were killed, the mutilation of his body, and the display of his head and hands before his imprisoned father are detailed.

In the morning, he washed his face and hands in the old stone trough. On drying his hands and his face, he looked at Mrs. Mitchell and her daughter and he said, "This is their last washing. I have need to make them clean, for there are many to see them." Mrs. Mitchell wept and seeing her weeping, he said, "Weep not for me, but for yourselves and yours, and for the sins of a sinful land, for you have many melancholy and sorrowful weary days before you." That afternoon, about four o'clock, a hundred and twenty of the king's dragoons came upon the little Bible-reading band in Airds Moss. There were about sixty-two of them. What were they doing? Praying, reading the Bible. 120 governmental troops. They outnumbered the men, the Covenanters 2 to 1. They not only had greater numbers, they had greater arms. And when Richard Cameron saw the King's troops coming, he led the little band in prayer three times.

And each time he prayed, "Lord, spare the green and take the ripe." And then he looked at his brother, Michael, and 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 his beloved fellows, he said, "Be encouraged, all of you, to fight it out valiantly. For all of you who follow this day, I see heaven's gates cast wide open to receive you." Then with their eyes turned toward heaven and calm resignation, the little band of Bible-praying, Bible-reading men sang their last psalm to the God of their salvation. The dragoons were emboldened by greater numbers and better arms and they attacked at once. The Covenanters sometime were called Wanderers because they wandered about having no certain dwelling place. But David Haxton, and I will tell you about him a little bit later, David Haxton was with Richard Cameron and he wrote before he died as the dragoons attacked, he says, "The rest of us advanced fast on the enemy, a strong body of horse coming hard upon us. Whereupon, when we were joined, our horse fired first and wounded and killed some of them, both on horse and on foot. Our horse advanced to their faces and we fired on each other."

"I being foremost after receiving their fire and finding the horse behind me broken, I then rode in amongst them and went out at a side without any wrong or wound. I was pursued by several with whom I fought a good space. Sometimes they followed me, sometimes I followed them. At last, a treacherous and unfair blow," David Haxton was struck down and he says, "they gave us all testimony being brave and resolute men." Nine of the Covenanters were slain that day. Among them, where Richard Cameron, the Lion of the Covenant, and his brother Michael, who was always inseparable. That Cameron's men, according to the Dragoon's own testimony, fought like madmen. In fact, 28 of the King's Dragoons were killed and only nine Covenanters. And yet the battle was lost. There's two stanzas I want to read you from a poem on the slaughter of Richard Cameron and the others at Airds Moss, written by Shepherd Lad. I wish I had time to read all. It is a wonderful, wonderful poem. It's rather long, but I'm just going to read two stanzas. Listen to it.

"When the righteous had fallen and the combat was ended, a chariot of fire through the dark clouds descended. Its drivers were angels on horses of whiteness, and its burning wheels turned on axles of brightness. A seraph unfolded its doors bright and shining, all dazzling like gold of the seventh refining, and the souls that came forth of the great tribulation have mounted the chariot and the steeds of their salvation." Richard Cameron was no more than 32 years of age, his brother Michael younger, when they gave their lives for Christ's crown and covenant. Six prisoners were taken. They were William Manuel, John Valiance, John Pollock, David Haxton, John Malcolm, and Archibald Allison. From the severity of his wounds and from, of course, the harsh treatment that he received, William Manuel died as he was being carried to Edinburgh. John Valiance died the day following from his wounds. John Pollock was most cruelly treated, but in the midst of it was steadfast and cheerful.

and was banished as a slave to the American plantations with the marks of his torture still upon him. The other three prisoners were executed. David Haxton being shockingly murdered on the scaffold, which I'll tell you about shortly, and John Malcolm and Archibald Allison were hanged. Right before John Malcolm was hanged, he had this to say to the audience. "Let His cause be your cause in weal and woe, O noble cause, O noble work, O noble heaven, O noble Christ that makes it to be heaven. And He is the owner of the work I lay down my life, not as an evildoer, but as a sufferer for Jesus Christ." Before Archibald Allison was hanged, he said, "What think you of heaven and glory that is at the back of the cross?"

"The hope of this makes me look upon pale death as a lovely messenger to me. I bless the Lord for my lot this day. Friends, give our Lord credit. He is good, but oh, he is good in the day of trial, and he will be sweet company through the ages of eternity." There were many who escaped that day the battle of the Airds Moss. And some even wept that they did not die that day. But Patrick Walker says those who died on the spot with him went ripe and longing for the day of death.

After they had killed, dug a hole and push the bodies of the dead covenanters into the hole. Only after they had taken Richard Cameron and cut off his head and his hands. They also cut off the head and the hands of Richard Fowler, thinking that he was Michael Cameron. They put the heads and the hands in a sack. Actually, sacks, they had them separate. On their way to Edinburgh, they stopped at Lanark. And they saw a lovely young lass who was named Elizabeth Hope. And they asked her, would she like to buy some calves heads? To which she says, "I know not." And they emptied the sacks on the ground and took the head of Richard Cameron and kicked it as you would kick a soccer ball to the point that Elizabeth Hope fainted. Upon reaching Edinburgh, the dragoons put the heads upon halberds and they cried, "Here are the heads of the traitors, the rebels." There was one man there who knew Richard Cameron personally because he had been a hearer of Cameron and Cameron was fair complexion and fair hair. And he said he saw them stick a halberd in the blessed mouth from which proceeded many gracious words previously.

Robert Murray, as he delivered the head and the hands of the council, said concerning Cameron, "These are the head and hands that live praying and preaching and died praying and fighting." And of course, you know that Richard Cameron died at about the same age as our Savior. Before the hangman set the head and the hands of the bloodstained Richard Camerons upon the Netherbow port. There was a hero saint lying in prison. And the head of Richard Cameron and the hands were taken to this saint who is imprisoned for the faith's sake. The prisoner's name was Alan Cameron, father of Richard and Michael, who had been imprisoned for supporting the field preachers. They took Richard Cameron's head and his hands to Alan Cameron, thrust them toward him, and said, "Do you know them?" Alan Cameron, when he saw his son's head and hands, took them and kissed them and said, "Yes, I know them. I know them. They are my sons. My own dear sons. It is the Lord.

Good is the will of the Lord who cannot wrong me or mine, but has made goodness and mercy to follow me all the days of my life. Blessed be the name of the Lord." Here was a man broken, battered, imprisoned, the father of martyred sons and a martyred daughter. Yet when he saw the head and the hands of his son, all he could do is praise the Lord.

The Fate of Fellow Prisoners and David Haxton

Weaver recounts the executions and banishments of other Covenanters, including the gruesome sentence carried out on David Haxton, whose head was displayed alongside Cameron's.

Scripture Reading — Psalm 23

Good is the will of the Lord who cannot wrong me or mine, but has made goodness and mercy to follow me all the days of my life. Blessed be the name of the Lord." Here was a man broken, battered, imprisoned, the father of martyred sons and a martyred daughter. Yet when he saw the head and the hands of his son, all he could do is praise the Lord. And when he quoted from Psalm 23, "Goodness and mercy all my life shall surely follow me, and in God's house forevermore my dwelling place shall be." He was assured of the faith of his sons and his own faith. You remember I told you that David Haxton was captured. He had been wounded, but lived. Haxton was so hated by the King, that eight days after his capture, the King's sentence came down. Here is the sentence passed upon David Haxton for his fellowship and association with Richard Cameron.

"But that his body be drawn backward on a hurdle to the Mercat cross. That there be a high scaffold erected a little above the cross, where in the first place his right hand is to be struck off. And after some time, his left hand. Then he is to be hanged up and cut down alive. His bowels to be taken out and his heart shown to the people by the hangman. Then his heart and his bowels to be burned in a fire prepared for that purpose on the scaffold. And afterwards, his head to be cut off and his body divided into four quarters, his head to be fixed on the Netherbow, one of his quarters with his hands to be affixed to St. Andrews, another quarter at Glasgow, a third at Leith and a fourth at Burntisland, that none be presumed to

be in mourning for him, or any coffin brought, that no person be suffered to be on the scaffold with him, save the two baillies, the executioner and his servants, that he be allowed to pray to God Almighty, but not to speak to any of the people, that Haxton's and Cameron's heads be fixed on higher poles than all the rest." Do you remember Richard Cameron's ordination when the great McWard said, "Here is the head of a servant of Jesus Christ who shall lose it for his master's interest. It shall be in public view of the sun and the moon." And so it was Richard Cameron's head and his hands along with David Haxton's, were lifted up above the others who had died for their faith in Jesus Christ. Thus lived and died Richard Cameron, the Lion of the Covenant, who stood for Christ's crown and covenant. It's times like these that we are reminded of the words of our Lord in John 16, verses 1-3, listen carefully, where our Lord said, "These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended.

Application: A Call to Zeal and Courage

Weaver concludes by urging believers to repent of lukewarmness and pray for God to raise up modern-day Camerons who will stand for Christ's crown and covenant against tyranny.

I hope you understand that in light of today's message, first of all, we should be convicted for our own lukewarmness, our lack of love, our lack of zeal for Jesus Christ. But the second, I believe this message ought to stir us up in light of the times in which we live, that God would raise up some Richard Camerons and some David Haxtons, some Donald Cargills, James Guthries, that we would have men who would not only stand against tyranny and totalitarianism and despotism, but in standing against those things, they would be standing for Christ, and His word, and His crown, and His covenant. May God be pleased to give us men like Richard Cameron. Father, in Thy name we bow to Thee this day. We thank You. We acknowledge, Lord, all of Your mercy and all of Your grace to us. And we're so thankful, Lord, for these men that Thou hast allowed to live and die for Your honor and Your glory. Give us a holy determination, Lord, that we would have grace to live for Thee. Don't even need to think about dying for You, Lord. We need to think about living for You, because if we will not live for You, we certainly will not die for You. So, Father, give us living grace right now. And when it comes time to die, You'll give us dying grace. But give us, Lord, grace who we may be true witnesses and testimonies for Thee, and exalt Thy crown and Thy covenant. In the name of Jesus Christ we ask and pray. Amen. Amen.

Study Guide

Major Themes

Suffering as a Gift from God

Summary: Suffering for Christ is not merely endured but is a divine gift, with greater suffering accompanied by greater grace, as seen in Paul and the Covenanters.

Evidence: Weaver cites Philippians 1:29 and Acts 9:16, stating, 'Not only is faith the gift of God, but it also teaches us that suffering is likewise the gift of God.'

The Kingship of Christ Over All Spheres

Summary: The Covenanters believed Jesus Christ is king over conscience, church, nation, and everything, and they were willing to die for His crown and covenant.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'They believed that he was king of the church. They believed that he was the king of the nation. And they believed that Jesus Christ was king of everything.'

The Cost of Discipleship and Lukewarmness

Summary: The boldness and sacrifice of the Covenanters rebuke modern believers' compromise, comfort-seeking, and unwillingness to suffer for truth.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'These men, their lives and even their death rebukes our compromise, our lukewarmness, our unwillingness to stand for Christ and to take up His cross.'

God's Sovereignty in History and Martyrdom

Summary: History is linear and under God's control; the persecution and deaths of the Covenanters were part of His decree, and He gave them grace to endure.

Evidence: Weaver opens with, 'History is nothing less than God's eternal decree coming to pass in time.'

The Right to Resist Tyranny

Summary: Following John Knox's teaching, the Covenanters believed lesser magistrates could resist higher tyrants, and the Sanquhar Declaration was a religious act of disowning a usurper.

Evidence: Weaver explains, 'They were applying the teaching and the preaching and the doctrine of John Knox' and that the declaration was 'a religious act.'

Key Arguments

Faith esteems Christ above all earthly treasures and comforts.

Summary: Moses chose affliction with God's people over Egypt's pleasures because he valued the reproach of Christ as greater riches.

Evidence: Weaver expounds Hebrews 11:24-26: 'Moses saw the beauty and the wonder of salvation... No one will ever choose suffering... until they understand... the beauty and the glory... of the Lord Jesus Christ.'

God sovereignly appoints some to greater suffering and supplies corresponding grace.

Summary: Just as faith is given in degrees, so is suffering; those who suffer more receive greater grace, as exemplified by Paul.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'God does not call upon each one to suffer immeasurably... those who suffer greater also have greater grace and greater mercy given to them.'

The Covenanters' stand was not rebellion but obedience to Christ's kingship.

Summary: By disowning Charles II, they were choosing a theocracy over despotism, reversing Israel's demand for a human king, and obeying God rather than man.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'They were choosing a theocracy over a despotism... It was a demonstration of Acts 5:29... We ought to obey God rather than man.'

Modern believers lack the zeal and willingness to suffer that marked the Covenanters.

Summary: The comfort-seeking, principle-avoiding culture of today stands in stark contrast to those who died for Christ's crown, and we should be convicted.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'We live in a day-to-day where principles and convictions are usually a thing of the past... most people do not think that they're worth suffering for.'

Scripture References

Hebrews 11:32-40

Context: Weaver reads this passage to introduce the concept of unnamed heroes of faith and to set the stage for Richard Cameron's story.

Hebrews 11:24-26

Context: Used to illustrate Moses' choice to suffer affliction with God's people rather than enjoy the pleasures of sin, esteeming Christ's reproach greater than Egypt's treasures.

Philippians 1:29

Context: Cited to show that suffering for Christ is a gift from God, just as faith is.

Acts 9:15-16

Context: God's words to Ananias about Paul being a chosen vessel who must suffer great things for Christ's name.

2 Corinthians 11:24-28

Context: Paul's catalog of sufferings, read to demonstrate the reality of suffering for the gospel.

Hosea (implied 4:13)

Context: Weaver references Israel sacrificing under oak trees for shade, condemning comfort-seeking in worship.