What are you doing here this day? There are several of you come from afar. Is it your zeal for the Lord of hosts that has brought you here? Oh how few can say that the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up! As for you that have not this end before you, that Christ may come unto this land, and have the crown set upon his royal head, you have little to do here, and we would willingly be rid of you. And we take these hills around us to witness against you this day, if this be not your end to bring Christ back again unto this land.
What are you come here for? Are you come to seek Jesus of Nazereth who was crucified? Last year about this time our Lord was, as it were, upon the Mount of Olives; he rode as it were triumphantly upon the head of a small party to the market cross of Rutherglen, and many cried, 'Hosanna to the Son of David' for a few days after. But since the 22nd of June 1679 how many have cried out, 'Crucify him, crucify him, away with him; we will have no more to do with him; Christ is too dear a Lord for us; these field meetings of his are too costly for us; we wish there had never been any of these field meetings in Scotland'? And are there none of you crying out, 'I have not seen a sigh of him since' and also crying out, 'Oh, where shall I find him?'
But I will tell you sirs, our Lord has appeared to some since. We can instance the day and particular place, wherein the Lord has of late appeared gloriously in this land, even as gloriously as ever heretobefore, if ye will suffer us to say it without boasting or vanity. And may this not beget a longing desire in you, to get a sight of him too; as it is now more than a twelve month since you saw his power and glory in his sanctuary and his meetings? See if you will take him again to be your King; and see if you will put your hands to his crown which is now lying upon the ground, and do what you can to set it upon his royal head again, for it becomes him best of all to wear it.
It was even Israel, a people near unto the Lord. The most of heathens will not do this. Nay, animals of the brute creation will not do it. And yet men, yeah men that are called Christians, will do it; many who are baptized in the name of Christ will do it. But if there be any place of destruction in the caverns of hell, hotter than another, as we doubt not that there is, many of those who call themselves Christians will not rest until they have cast themselves into that place.. There is that in the heart of man that would destroy him. Oh, but man is a blind darkened creature! He has a great aversion to that which is good, and a great proness unto that which is evil. There is no creature upon earth so mad and wild as man.
It is true, you are not bound at the very first (if you can without sin shift it) to tell them; but beware of lying on any account; rather tell them that such a one was there, though you and your house should be ruined by it; yea, though it should tend to the predjudice of the best ministers in Scotland. God will not you thanks for saving ones life by a lie. Let us be strict and ingenuous, both with God and man.
There are many ministers in Scotland (it is true I am but a young man that says it) that shall not be any ministers, if there were no more ministers to be had in it. We must speak against ministers, and we much cry for the sins of the ministers of Scotland, that have betrayed the work of the Reformation; and even gone beyond curates and bishops in betraying and destroying it. The Lord will lay that woe unto their charge.
But let all of us look unto ourselves, and see what we have brought upon ourselves. We will not get a field meeting in Scotland but what is here at this time. Last year we had twenty or thirty, that carried the Lord's banner from one place to another in Scotland. It is not so now; but it is much that we have such a meeting as this. God be thanked for it. But we are brought very low and our persecutors are greater than we; and they are now saying: 'We have got them under, and let us keep them so.' They think they will get us all apprehended, and there is a great appearance of it. They will behead and hang us, if possible eradicate us from the face of the earth. We look upon our right hand, and upon our left hand, and there is no man that knows or cares for us. We are a party on whom few look upon the right hand, few of the ministers and professors. The most part of them have got into towns and country places; and the best news they could hear would be that a party of the enemy had come and cut everyone of us off.
Let us speak about the matters of God, we will scarcely agree together; not one speaks comfortably, nor agrees with another.. We may say, 'Where will we cause our shame to go?' Our enemies laugh at us, and it is sad, that we have done it all with our own hands. If we had kept our hands free of sin, it had been otherwise with us, we might have defied our enemies. But now we are scattered, like sheep without a shepherd, or like a leaf tossed and driven to and fro with the wind.
There is help for us in him who brought Israel out of Egypt through the Red Sea. We are not in a more dangerous case than the Israelites were in when came out of Egypt. They had as great an army pursuing them as our king can command; yet they passed through safely, while Pharoah, and all his host were drowned. We are not to look for miracles; but we may look for wonders for the people that own his cause. He is able to save all that come unto him.
Our Lord is saying: 'If you would have help from me, you must take me to be your King; you must take me to be head of the church.'. Our Lord Jesus is, and must be King upon his holy hill of Zion. There is no king in the church besides him; the Lord has given him to be King to rule in you and over you. Now, are you content to be let the King of Glory, the Lord of hosts, enter into your hearts and souls? And, oh, what say you in Galloway and Nithsdale? Will you take Christ to be your King, and to be the anointed King of the Church? And what say you at Clydesdale and Lothian? Are there any of you here content to cast yourselves at his feet, and to enter your name in his list among his subjects? Come and set down your names, and submit unto him, and give away yourselves unto him. There were hope in Israel concerning our case, if there were any this day crying, 'I am content to take him for my King, my Lord, and Saviour.'
We must cry we will have no other king but Christ. If you would have him be for you, you must cut off his king, and these princes, and make able men to be rulers, endued with suitable qualifications both of body and mind, that employ their power for the cause and interest of God. If we had the zeal of God within us we would not call him our king; and even with regard to the nobles and magistrates of this land, we would not acknowledge them to be magistrates. The Lord knows we are obliged to speak these things. I will tell you, if ever you see a good day in Scotland without disowning the present magistrates, then believe me no more. I know not if this generation will be honoured to cast off these rulers; but those that the Lord makes instruments to bring back Christ, adn to recover our liberties civil and ecclesiastic, shall be such as shall disown the king, and those inferiors under him, against whom our Lord is denouncing war. Let them take heed to themselves; for though they should take us to scaffolds, or kill us in the fields, the Lord will yet raise up a party who will be avenged upon them. And are there none to execute justice and judgment upon those wicked men who are both treacherous and tyrannical? The Lord is calling men of all ranks and stations to execute judgment upon them. And if it be done, we cannot but justify the deed; and such are to be commended for it, as Jael was.
Let us fight against those wicked rulers with the weapons of Spiritual warfare, the arms of secret prayer. Let us pray unto the Lord to cut them off; and the Lord will raise up those that will contemn and despise them. The juncture of tiem is such, that we must state ourselves in opposition to those enemies. WE must not trifle with them any more. We must be content either to quit them all, or comply with them. If we would resovle to quit all for Christ, he would return su all, and give us as much as we had, and twice as good and more. [from a sermon by Richard Cameron]
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