Bible and sword : the Cameronian contribution to freedom of religion
Date
2008-03
Authors
Christie, David Osborne
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch
Abstract
During the 16th and 17th centuries, the Stewart rulers of Scotland and England
endeavoured to enforce Royal Absolutism on both countries. This included
ecclesiastical pressure on the Scottish Presbyterians, giving rise to a movement
known as the Covenanters. One identifying aspect was their fieldpreachings,
or Conventicles, held in secret, frequently on the moors. As persecution
increased, worshippers took weapons to these Conventicles for selfdefence
in case of attack during the service.
Royal efforts to impose Episcopalianism on Scotland intensified after the
Restoration of 1660 and were met with resistance. In 1666 open revolt broke
out in The Pentland Rising, which was put down with great severity after the
Covenanters were defeated at Rullion Green.
Open revolt broke out again in 1679, when some Covenanters defeated a
small royalist force at Drumclog, but they were soundly defeated by the royal
army at Bothwell Brig shortly afterwards. The Covenanters split into two
factions, moderate and extreme; the extreme element becoming known as
Cameronians after the martyred covenanting preacher Rev Richard Cameron,
“The Lion of the Covenant.”
The hypothesis researched was that; The development and actions of the
Cameronian movement made a significant contribution to Freedom of
Religion in Scotland. The hypothesis rests on whether Cameronian
influence was significant, and to what degree. Subsequent to Bothwell Brig, the Covenanting movement virtually collapsed in
Scotland. The leaders fled to Holland and the common people who remained
were severely persecuted. But by early 1680, two covenanting ministers,
Richard Cameron and Donald Cargill, had returned from Holland to preach in
the fields against Erastian limitations on doctrine, worship, discipline, and
church government. They were hunted down and killed, but their followers
(now called Cameronians) formed their own ecclesiastical polity known as the
United Societies. This was a presbyterial Church, separate but not sundered
from the Church of Scotland (The Kirk), which had by now largely accepted a
considerable degree of Erastianism.
The Cameronians became a small but vociferous pressure group, not only
persecuted, but denigrated by moderate Presbyterians. Throughout this
period they ensured a considerable degree of freedom of religion for
themselves, despite the ever intensifying persecution. Their stance was
vindicated at the Glorious Revolution of 1688/9, one outcome being the
raising of both a guard, and a regiment, of Cameronians, both of which
enabled a period of comparative calm and safety to prevail, thus allowing
Parliament and the General Assembly to finalise the Revolution Settlement for
both Church and State, without any external threat from Jacobitism.
The Cameronian clergy then became reconciled with the Kirk in 1690, and
brought two-thirds of the United Societies with them, thus ending their period
of isolation, and once more presenting a (virtually) united Presbyterian front to
the world. Rev Alexander Shields was critical to both the formation of the
regiment and reconciliation with the Kirk.
The thesis demonstrates that the Cameronians made four significant
contributions to freedom of religion in Scotland.
Firstly, they made a significant contribution to freedom of religion by
their struggle to protect the right to retain their own freedom of doctrine,
worship, discipline and church government, resisting every effort to
remove these by force. In 1690 they secured these freedoms. Secondly by their new-found military effectiveness, they secured a
climate of comparative peace and stability in the latter half of 1689 and
1690, during which both Parliament and General Assembly were able
to carry through vital legislation for Church and State, without any
external threat.
Thirdly, through the reconciliation of their clergy with the Kirk, the
Cameronians were catalytic in the establishment of a [virtually] united
Presbyterian front in Scotland,1 thereby ensuring that the Kirk was
strong enough to accept the existence of other denominations without
feeling unduly threatened.
Fourthly, Rev Alexander Shields stands out as catalytic in the
achievement of the Second and Third significant contributions. It can
be argued that his behaviour, in itself, was a significant contribution to
Freedom of Religion.
Description
Thesis (DTh (Systematic Theology and Ecclesiology))—University of Stellenbosch, 2008.
Keywords
Cameronian(s), Covenanters, Erastianism, Freedom of religion, Presbyterianism, Reconciliation, Revolution, Royal absolutism, Scotland -- Church history, Dissertations -- Systematic theology and ecclesiology, Theses -- Systematic theology and ecclesiology