Cameronian

▪ Scottish religious group

      any of the Scottish Covenanters who followed Richard Cameron (Cameron, Richard) in adhering to the perpetual obligation of the two Scottish covenants of 1638 and 1643 as set out in the Queensferry Paper (1680), pledging maintenance of the chosen form of church government and worship. After Cameron's death, the Cameronians began in 1681 to organize themselves in local societies all over the south of Scotland, and by 1690 they numbered several thousand. Their three ministers left them, but in 1706 John Macmillan became their minister and carried out an active itinerant ministry. The name Macmillanite came to supersede Cameronian. Under his leadership Macmillanites set up a presbytery in 1743 at Braehead, called the Reformed Presbytery. They grew in Scotland and had considerable effect on Scottish communities overseas. They still refused to take any part in the civil affairs of an “uncovenanted” nation. In 1863 they decided to refrain from disciplining those who exercised the franchise. In 1876 the majority united with the Free Church in Scotland and thus became incorporated in 1929 in the reunited Church of Scotland (Scotland, Church of).

      In the British army, the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) are a direct descendant of the Cameronian guard, which was first used to restore order in the Highlands after the Battle of Killiecrankie (1689).

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