12th Covenanter Trip 26th—28th May 2010 In association with Ballymoney Independent Christian School Welcome to our ‘12th’ Covenanter Trip We take a new route this year travelling further north in Scotland where more monuments and places of interest await you on our three day trip visiting several Covenanting sites. We will hold a memorial service to martyred Covenanters, visit the birthplace of Richard Cameron and also have a very special highlight this year by visiting Dunnotar Castle. We hope you will be blessed of God, renew fellowship with old friends and make many more new friends on our trip. “Princes have persecuted me without a cause: but my heart standeth in awe of thy word” Ps 119 v161 1 Remembering Heroes of the Faith Inside This Booklet It is good to remember heroes of the faith in fact it is very biblical indeed. Paul in his letter to the He- Pg 3 This Years Trip brews Chapter 11 remembers some of the Old Tes- tament Heroes of the faith and the results of their Pg 4 Richard Cameron faith. From Abel's more excellent sacrifice to Jo- seph having faith that his bones should return with Israel to the promised land and through to Samuel Pg 5 Monument at Cupar and the prophets. 19 get a mention plus the proph- ets. Verse 33 gives the results of their faith for Pg 5 David Hackston through faith they “ subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouth of lions.” Pg 8 The Sanquhar Declaration In our visits to Scotland in our first 11 years we re- membered many of the Covenanters who were mar- Pg 10 Dunnotar Castle and the tyred but who because of their faith eventually saw Imprisoned Covenanters the freedom to worship and give King Jesus his rightful place at the head of His church after the 50 Pg 11 Dunnotar Church years struggle from the National Covenant in 1638 to the Glorious Revolution in 1688. Last year as well as remembering the struggle of the Covenant- Pg 11 Old Mortality ers we held a service in remembrance of Rev John Blackader who was imprisoned on the Bass Rock Pg 12 Did You Know for ‘Christ’s Crown and Covenant and died of ill health . Pg 13 John Wharry & James All over Scotland lie such heroes of the faith. This Smith year we will visit Falkland, the birthplace of the Lion of the Covenant’ Richard Cameron, Cupar & Dunnotar Castle where Covenanters were impris- Pg 14 About the Covenanters oned and Tortured. We have remembered in the past the many that lie in Greyfriars in Edinburgh who were hung at the Grassmarket. Pg 15 Ballymoney Independent Christian School To them all we owe our religious freedom and to remember their faith as they lived. How they lived for Christ during the struggle should be an inspira- tion to us all. Many great preachers died for their “Blessed are they which beliefs including Rev Richard Cameron and Rev are persecuted for right- John Blackader whose life & death we commemo- rated last year. eousness' sake: for theirs This booklet will hopefully give you a little more is the kingdom of heaven.” insight to what lies behind the headstones to those Matt 5:10 heroes of the faith who stood for ‘Christ's Crown and Covenant’ and we hope you will be compelled to read more of our Reformation and Covenanting heritage. 2 Our 12th Covenanters Trip A very warm word of welcome to this our 12th Covenanters Trip. On our trip this year we will again visit sites never previously visited and we are de- lighted to be able to travel a little further afield by having our two night base in Dun- dee. On our first day we will be crossing from Larne to Troon to enable us to make quicker time to Glasgow. From Glasgow we will head North East on the M80 & then the A80 heading for the Firth of Forth. We cross over the bridge at Kincardine and follow the A977 towards Kinross. Before reaching Kinross we will stop for lunch prepared by some of the ladies on our trip, to whom we are always indebted for their labour of love. After a comfort break near Kinross we turn briefly southeast before heading northerly to our first stop in the historic town of Falkland. Here we will see the birthplace of Richard Cameron and have a little time to explore one of the most visited towns in Scotland. From Falkland we again head northeasterly to Cupar, a town which was a hive of covenanting fervour and where we will visit St Michael’s churchyard to see tha famous headstone with one hand and two heads. The hand is that of David Hackston of whom you can read off later in this booklet. After finishing in Cupar we will make our way to the Landmark Hotel in Dundee where we will stay for two nights bed and breakfast and evening meal, in pleasant surroundings . Day two will see us having an early breakfast and start to give us ample time to go north first of all to Stonehaven (a seaside village) and the memorial in the churchyard there to coven- anters who died trying to escape from Dunnotar Castle. A few miles down the coast we come to our main attraction this year that of Dunnotar Castle where there are lots to see and we hope to have the opportunity to sing a Psalm in the vault where the Covenanters were imprisoned. We will take a leisurely route back down the coast stopping for some time in the town of Montrose where you will be able to get a spot of lunch at your leisure and browse the shops. After some free time we will return to our Hotel for the evening. On Day 3 we will visit Dundee where you will have the choice to shop or visit some of the historical sites in the city such as Rev Murray McCheyne’s church before we leave just after lunchtime. 3 Richard Cameron—The Lion of slain. Richard’s head and hands were struck off and carried to Edinburgh, and it is said that the the Covenant man who laid them before the Privy Council offered the simple but eloquent tribute, One of the most noble of the “There’s the head and hands that lived pray- Covenanters was a young man ing and preaching, and died praying and named Richard Cameron. fighting.” It is said also that the sad relics Born in Falkland, Fifeshire, were shown to Cameron’s father, who had about the year 1648, he was been imprisoned in the Tolbooth for helping the son of a prosperous mer- the field preachers at Falkland. The old man chant, and in due course went recognised them, and even amid the tears to college and took the usual gave thanks to God. degree. At first he may have had little sympathy with To some modern eyes, Richard Cameron may Covenanting principles. But seem a strange figure. Some people may think he got into the way of attend- him little more than a hot headed fanatic. But ing the conventicles; and at we must remember the darkness of the Cove- last he stood forth, not only as nanting times; the lamentable way in which a whole-hearted Presbyterian, the religious problem in Scotland was mis- but as a Covenanter of the handled by those in authority; and the insen- sternest and most unbending sate folly with which loyal and God-fearing type. He was too forceful a men and women were tormented and exasper- man to escape notice, and af- ated beyond endurance. ter a time he was persuaded to allow himself to be licensed as a preacher of the In many respects, Richard Cameron is a heroic figure. Gospel. Soon after he was on a visit to Holland, In his absolute fearlessness and outspokenness, in his where many of the extreme Presbyterians were liv- scrupulous fidelity to what he conceived to be the will ing as exiles; and while he was there great things happened in Scotland. The Covenanters took up of God, in his determination to carry his principles to arms. their logical issue - in all these things the man was At Drumclog, where The Covenanters met Claver- house and his dragoons, they had a short-lived taste of victory. At Bothwell Brig, their cause sank in “Lord, spare the green and what seemed irretrievable defeat. But when Cam- eron came back from Holland in 1680 he struck a take the ripe.” blow of amazing boldness. One day, about a year af- ter Bothwell Brig, he rode into the market-place of Sanquhar in Dumfriesshire. With him were his brother Michael and a few other companions, all truly great. And, withal, he had a tender heart. When fully armed. After praise and prayer, a paper was he was denouncing the iniquities of the Government or produced, solemnly read aloud, and fixed to the the backslidings of his countrymen, he spoke with a Town Cross. After which, prayer was again offered, storm of invective; but when he was beseeching sinners and then the little company rode away as quietly as to be reconciled to God, he poured out his soul in they had come. strains of affectionate and moving solicitude. And, as we shall see, what he did at Sanquhar was only what The paper was the famous Declaration of Sanquhar; the nation itself did a few years after. He had been and in it Cameron, on behalf of himself and all who called “The Lion of the Covenant”; and the name is not might adhere to him, solemnly disowned Charles ill-chosen.