CAMERONIANS CAMILLUS. 



831 



led in life, nnd lias since been erroneously extended 

 to the persecuted Presbyterians in general. The 

 twenty-sixth regiment, which was raised at the Revo- 

 lution out of the west-country people who flocked to 

 Edinburgh, was styled, on that account, the Camer- 

 onian Regiment ; which appellation, notwithstanding 

 the obvious error, it still retains. 



CAMERONIANS; the name bestowed on a sect of 

 Christians who trace their descent from the martyrs of 

 the Scottish church, and hold by the principles of that 

 church, as settled, at what is called the second Re- 

 formation in 1649. The government perceiving that 

 the Presbyterians in Scotland were still formidable in 

 number and determined in their opposition, notwith- 

 standing the tyrannical and cruel measures that had 

 been adopted in order to awe or subdue them into 

 conformity, resolved to attempt the same object by 

 other and milder means, judging, that, though they 

 had proved superior to force and to fear, they might 

 be won by concession. For this purpose an act was 

 passed in 1669, granting permission to such of the 

 ejected ministers as had " lived peaceably and order- 

 ly," to return to their respective parishes, and exercise 

 the duties of their office. But this act was so framed 

 contained so many reservations and restrictions, 

 that the more conscientious could not take advantage 

 of the boon it conferred. A similar act, or indul- 

 gence, as it is called, was granted in 1072. The 

 majority of the Presbyterians accepted the gift held 

 out by their civil rulers, many, perhaps, from the 

 purest motives, but more, as subsequent events proved, 

 by those of a selfish and worldly nature. A few of 

 the more enlightened and decidedly pious could by 

 no means comply, persuaded that if they did so, 

 they virtually admitted and sanctioned the Erastian 

 power exhibited in these acts, and the ecclesiastical 

 supremacy which had been exercised by the king. 

 They could not sacrifice those principles, which, by 

 vows solemnly taken before the world, they were 

 bound to maintain. In these circumstances, they re- 

 solved to separate from their conforming brethren, 

 and contend alone for their civil and religious liber- 

 ties, determined to brave the fires of a fiercer perse- 

 cution than they had yet experienced, rather than 

 permit the sacred "rights of conscience to be thus 

 wantonly set at nought. They were not slack to de 

 clare their sentiments, and denounce in the most un- 

 ceremonious and fearless manner the proceedings of 

 those in high place. The consequence was, that a 

 ruthless soldiery were let loose upon the country, 

 whose marches over the wilds of Caledonia may be 

 traced by humble monuments, which here and there 

 meet the eye of the traveller, telling that some 

 of her worthiest sons " were shot for their adherence 

 to the word of God, and the covenanted work of Re- 

 formation." Such were the earlier Cameronians, and 

 if pride of ancestry be in any case allowable, their 

 descendants may well cherish this feeling for the 

 nobility here was that of moral worth. 



It has been too much the custom to speak con- 

 temptuously of Cameronians, as if they had been 

 men void of understanding, and of the most rerk- 

 less character, but this is not only uncharitable, 

 but unfair, indicating either ignorance or prejudice. 

 It must be admitted that they frequently acted im- 

 prudently and rashly often applied harsh and un- 

 seemly names to their Presbyterian brethren, who 

 differed little from them in sentiment ; but they also 

 manifested traits of character of the purest and most 

 exalted kind, which should go far to cover their 

 failings, especially when we remember the times in 

 which they lived, and the circumstances in which 

 they were placed. In these days the many were 

 comparatively unenlightened, and their rulers goaded 

 them almost to madness, so that they did what in 



other circumstances they would have abhorred. In 

 deed, the wonder is that they kept so much within 

 the bounds of moderation : had it not been that they 

 were actuated in no ordinary degree by the spirit of 

 that religion for which they suffered, their conduct 

 would have been much more reprehensible. In the 

 year 1680, the Cameronians assumed more the form 

 of a society, and became more explicit in their views, 

 holding meetings from time to time, and taking the 

 name of "The Society united in Correspondence." 

 The government directed their measures against this 

 little uut unbending band. This tended to force the 

 adherents of the covenant to still bolder steps. They 

 met in arms at Sanquhar, and published a testimony, 

 in which they broadly disowned the king's right to 

 the crown of Scotland. This, with other declarations 

 of a like nature, brought down upon them the direst 

 vengeance of government. From this time to the 

 Revolution, in 1688, they were subjected to every 

 species of privation and suffering. No pity was 

 shown to age or sex. Their property and persons 

 were alike exposed to the merciless rage of a brutal 

 soldiery. During these times of darkness and of 

 blood, deeds were perpetrated in Scotland, and under 

 the cloak of religion too, that would disgrace the an- 

 nals of the most savage and barbarous nation under 

 heaven. But the change of dynasty, in 1688, hap- 

 pily put a period to arbitrary sway and persecution 

 for conscience' sake, and proved the dawn of a bright- 

 er and happier day to the poor oppressed Camer- 

 onians. For a considerable time they were without 

 regular pastors, but in August 1, 1743, Mr M'Mil- 

 lan and Mr Nainie, with a few elders who had 

 been regularly ordained, " formed and constituted a 

 Presbytery in the name of Christ, the alone King and 

 Head of his Church, under the title of the Reformed 

 Presbytery." Owing to an increase of numbers, they 

 now took the title of The Reformed Synod, not that 

 they "consider themselves better than other men, or 

 as having in their own persons arrived at higher de- 

 grees of perfection ; such thoughts they never enter- 

 tained, but purely for this reason, that it is at least 

 their honest intention faithfully to adhere to the whoie 

 Reformation attainments both in church and state, 

 without knowingly dropping any part of these." They 

 still exist as a distinct sect, but have never become 

 a numerous or popular body, probably because some 

 of their tenets or terms of communion are somewhat 

 subversive of the rights of conscience and civil liber- 

 tysavour of persecution a fact very extraordinary 

 indeed, seeing that their forefathers, the founders of 

 their sect, and for whom they justly cherish a pro- 

 found veneration, suffered and bled on their own 

 principles. The points in their creed to which we 

 refer, and which chiefly distinguish them from several 

 other Presbyterian bodies in Scotland, are, that they 

 do not acknowledge the authority of civil rulers, un 

 less these have sworn or subscribed the covenants 

 that the magistrate, properly constituted, has a right, 

 nay, is bound, to suppress error of every kind, and 

 encourage the true religion, and that the covenants, 

 in toto, are binding on posterity. It is but justice to 

 say that, as a body, they are strict disciplinarians 

 their ministers diligent and faithful men and their 

 flocks generally remarkable for piety. There are at 

 present three presbyteries in this connexion, consist- 

 ing of thirty-five congregations. 



CAMES are slender rods of cast lead, of which gla- 

 ziers make their turned or milled lend, for joining 

 the, panes or quarrels of glass. 



CAMILLUS, Marcus Furius. This Roman hero was 

 chosen tribune of the people in the year B. C. 401, 

 and took part in the siege of Veii. Three years 

 after, he was invested with the same dignity, and 

 went against the Falisci. Afu-r he hail become cen- 



