PICTURE: The High Church of Glasgow: East View PICTURE: The High Church of Glasgow: West View
DONALD CARGILL was the fourth minister, in succession from the Reformation, of the Barony parish, Glasgow; his predecessor being Zachary Boyd, the author of the quaint poem, the “Last Battle of the Soul,” and a metrical version of the Psalms. He was a native of the parish of Rattray in Perthshire, and received his early education in Aberdeen.
From school he went to the University of St. Andrews, where he passed through the regular curriculum.
His father, a godly and religious gentleman, says Sir Robert Hamilton, in his “Relation of some Remarkable Passages in the Life of Mr. Donald Cargill” (given in the Appendix to this volume), was desirous that he should study for the ministry; but he declined, under the conviction that the responsibilities of the office were greater than he could bear. His father still continued to urge him, when he resolved to set apart a day for fasting, and prayer for Divine direction. The result was, that he yielded to his father’s wishes.
Professor James Wodrow, the father of the historian, was a fellow-student, and was very intimate with him. The Professor says that he was shy and reserved, and for a time was troubled with grievous temptations, which drove him to such despair that he at length determined to put an end to his miserable life. Under the horrible fury of those fiery darts, he went out once or twice to the river Clyde, with a dreadful resolution to drown himself; but somebody or other coming by him, always stayed his
purpose. The temptation still continued, and one day he was on the point of throwing himself into an old coal pit, when that word struck him in the mind, “Son, be of good cheer, thy sins are forgiven.” It put new life into him. His fears and doubts vanished, and his faith acquired the confidence that so strikingly appears in his after life.
He became minister of the Barony parish in 1654. Little, however, is known of him during his ministry, further than the general statement of
Wodrow, that he was “a pious and zealous minister,” and a “successful preacher of the Gospel.” In 1662 he refused to keep the anniversary day of thanksgiving for the restoration of Charles II, and to accept a presentation from the archbishop of Glasgow; and in November he was banished north of the Tay.
He was at the battle of Bothwell Bridge — June 22, 1679 — when he was severely wounded and taken prisoner, but was set free by his two captors when they found who he was. As soon as his wounds healed he went over to Holland; but after a short residence there he returned to Scotland, and lived in retirement at Queensferry. The escape he here made when surprised by his enemies, through Haughhead’s grappling with the governor of Blackness until he got safely away, is detailed in the Appendix, in the “Brief Relation,” etc., of Henry Hall. After this
deliverance he preached much in company with Richard Cameron, until the fatal encounter at Airsmoss — July 22, 1680 — left him well-nigh alone.
In September, before a great assemblage at the Tonvood, half way between Laxbert and Stirling, he pronounced sentence of excommunication upon Charles II, and the Dukes of York, Monmouth, Lauderdale, Rothes, Sir G.
M’Kenzie, and Dalziel of Binns. The sentence itself is in the Appendix.
The Government was now stirred up more than ever against him. On November 22, he was declared to be “one of the most seditious preachers,”
and “a villainous and fanatical conspirator,” and a reward of 5000 merks offered to any one who should bring him in, dead or alive. In December following he made a second narrow escape from the governor of Blackness.
He spent the next three months in England, where, according to Patrick Walker, “the Lord blessed his labors in the ministry to the conviction and edification of many souls.”
In April 1681 he came back to Scotland, and passed his few remaining weeks in almost constant preaching. His last sermon was preached, July 10th, at Dunsyre, a parish in Lanarkshire on the confines of Midlothian, and on the watershed between the east and west of Scotland. Next morning he was seized while in bed, and was immediately hurried on to Lanark, and thence to Glasgow; on the 15th he was brought before the Council in Edinburgh, and again on the 19th. His “interrogatories” and “answers” on both occasions are in Wodrow’s History. During his imprisonment
Professor Wodrow visited him. After some conversation, he asked how he found matters with him? Mr. Cargill answered, “as to the main point, my interest in Christ, and the pardon of my sins, I have no doubts there;
neither have I been ever shaken since the Lord’s condescension to me in my extremity about twenty-five years ago, which communicated to you a little after; and no thanks to me, for the evidence was so clear that I could, never since, once doubt.”
He was tried on the 26th, along with Walter Smith, James Boig, William Thomson, and William Cuthill, martyrs whose testimonies are also in this volume. According to Patrick Walker, in “Some Remarkable Passages in the Life and Death of that singular Exemplary, holy in life, zealous and faithful unto the death, Mr. Cargill,” when he was first brought before the Council, “they were very fierce and furious against him, especially
Chancellor Rothes.” But, in the interval, Cargills words at the examination, as well as the spectacle of Rothes, now in sore suffering upon his death- bed, [so remarkably in accordance with the martyr’s answer to his
threatenings: “My Lord Rothes, forbear to threaten me; for die what death I will, your eyes will not see it,”] had done much to allay their wrath; and it was proposed, that “as he was old, and had done all the ill he would do, to let him go to the Bass and be prisoner there during life.” It was put to the vote, but by the casting vote of the Earl of Argyle, who said, “Let him go to the gallows and die like a traitor,” it was carried that he be hanged next day.
Argyle’s vote afterwards troubled him. His premature rising in 1685 against the Government with which he had been so long associated,
brought him few followers. One morning, after his landing, he was walking at the waterside very sad, when he was accosted by a Thomas Urquhart.
“I am sorry to see your Lordship so melancholy.” “How can I be otherwise?” replied Argyle. “I see few coming to our assistance. I am persuaded I will be called Infatuate Argyle. But all does not trouble me so much as the unhappy, wicked vote I gave against that good man and minister, Mr. Cargill; and now I am persuaded I shall die a violent death in that same spot where he died,” a persuasion unhappily soon verified. On the morning of his execution, it is said that Argyle again spoke of the vote to some of his friends, and declared, “That above all things in his life, it lay heaviest upon him.”
The sentence passed upon Cargill and his fellow-sufferers was executed July 27th, 1681. “The hangman hashed and hagged off all their heads with an axe. Mr. Cargill’s, Mr. Smith’s, and Mr. Boig’s heads were fixed upon the Netherbow Port; William Cuthill’s and William Thomson’s upon the West Port.”
Donald Cargill’s dying testimony, and the four letters that follow it, are all of the same character — earnest and evangelical, and written in nervous English. M’Millan’s “Collection of Letters,” Edinburgh, 1764, contains two by Cargill They are of the same nature as those in this volume. John Howie of Lochgoin, in his “Collection of Lectures and Sermons,” etc., has given four lectures and seven sermons, from notes taken by hearers. But they are obviously imperfect, and by no means do justice to Donald Cargill. One of them is said to be his last sermon. Patrick Walker gives the close of the same discourse, and in a form much superior to that of Howie, which indeed justifies Wodrow’s commendation, as well as his own, of Donald Cargill as a preacher:
“I had the happiness to hear blest Mr. Cargill preach his last public sermons (as I had several times before, for which, while I live, I desire to bless the Lord) in Dunsyre-Common, betwixt Clydesdale and Lothian, where he lectured upon the 1st chapter of Jeremiah, and preached upon that soul-refreshing text, Isaiah 26, two last verses, ‘Come, my people, enter into your chambers,’ etc. Wherein he was short, marrowy, and sententious, as his ordinary was in all his public sermons and prayers, with the greatest evidences of concernedness, exceeding all that ever I heard open a mouth, or saw open a Bible to preach the Gospel, with the greatest indignation at the unconcernedness of hearers. He preached from experience, and went to the experience of all that had any of the Lord’s gracious dealing with their souls. It came from his heart, and went to the heart; as I have heard some of our common hearers say, that he spake as never man spake, for his words went through them.
“He insisted what kind of chambers these were of protection and safety, and exhorted us all earnestly to dwell in the clefts of the rock, to hide ourselves in the wounds of Christ, and to wrap ourselves in the believing application of the promises flowing
therefrom; and to make our refuge under the shadow of His wings, until these sad calamities pass over, and the dove come back with the olive-leaf in her mouth. These were the last words of his last sermon.”
The following testimony, and those of Walter Smith and James Boig, are given first, because of their importance, and the high character and influence of Donald Cargill. With David Hackston a chronological
arrangement begins which is strictly followed throughout the volume. — ED.]