Both our sons were named for martyrs for the Reformed Faith. Our middle son is “James Cameron” after the great Richard Cameron. This week marks the 335th anniversary of Cameron’s death, when he was hunted down by government soldiers , killed and beheaded at the age of 32, in Ayrsmoss, Scotland.
This did not come as a surprise, since at his ordination one of the ministers who laid hands upon his head said, “Here is the head of a faithful minister and servant of Jesus Christ, who shall lose the same for his Master’s interest, and it shall be set up before sun and moon in the public view of the world”. Cameron knew he was taking up the Reformed and Presbyterian ministry when it was illegal to do so.
Almost all of Cameron’s preaching was in “conventicles”, meetings held in the woods or in fields, since it was illegal to meet anywhere except in the State churches.
When Cameron was caught & killed, this effectively began what was known as “The Killing Times”. In his classic history entitled “The Scots Worthies” John Howie carefully estimates that over 18,000 believers of the Reformed persuasion were executed for the simple reason that they refused to state that the civil magistrate had authority over the church! Amazingly, many of those killed were women.
Frequently these “Covenanters” died while singing the psalms.
Cameron’s head and hands were brought to his father, who himself was in jail for the same reason. And when he was asked if he recognized the head and hands, he responded “I know them. They are my own dear son’s. 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”.
The anniversary of Cameron’s martyrdom reminds us that those who are Christians of conviction must be ready to suffer and even die for those principles.
- The Well-Ordered Home - May 16, 2017
- Grace-Based Parenting - March 8, 2017
- The Civil Government Has Asked Us to Pray - November 16, 2016
