John Livingston 

Brief biography of John Livingston (minister of Ancrum 1648-1662) He was born in on June 21st 1603, the year of the Union of the Scotland and England, at Monyabroch (now Kilsyth) in Stirlingshire. His father was a church minister, as his paternal grandfather had been. This grandfather was a grandson of the fifth Lord Livingston, one of the nobles entrusted with the care of Queen Mary in her infancy and an ancestor of the Earls of Linlithgow and Callander.

He was educated at the grammar school of Stirling by Mr William Wallace, studying Latin and Greek, and stayed there from 1613 until 1617 when he was called to Lanark as his mother was dying. In his first year he was often beaten, once being hit in the face by a ruler. He was persuaded to stay and extra year at school and this was largely self study and was the most profitable he says. At Stirling he took the Lord's Supper in Mr Patrick Simson's church which initially caused him to tremble. He continued his education at the University of Glasgow, from where he graduated in 1621. His father wished him to marry and to settle down on an estate which he had purchased, but he resolved to study for the church, and having completed his theological course, received license to preach in 1625. He had been devout from his early years and did not remember, as he tells us in his ‘Autobiography,’ any particular time of conversion. 

However, due to his staunch anti-Episcopalian views, which drew the opposition of influential Bishops, he met with difficulty in obtaining a pastorate. For about five years he served where he could, including being a private chaplain to the Earl of Wigton, and preaching when invited in other churches. One notable sermon he preached in 1630 during a Monday morning Communion service at Shotts reputedly resulted in the conversion of about 500 people. Shortly after that, in the same year, he at last received and accepted a call to the congregation of Killinchy in the north of Ireland (now Northern Ireland). He was ordained by a Bishop, who was willing to act as a Presbyter with several other ministers in conferring Presbyterian orders on Livingston, thus obviating Livingston's scruples as to the biblical validity of episcopal orders. A significant proportion of the population at Killinchy were Scots but Livingston had been scarcely a year there when he was suspended by another Bishop for non-conformity and "stirring up the people to extasies and enthusiasms". Although this suspension was later relaxed, his ministry at Killinchy was soon effectively brought to an end, when in 1632 he was deposed from the ministry. 

In 1635 Livingston married the daughter of a staunch Presbyterian Edinburgh merchant and kinsman of the Earl of Wigton. They made several unsuccessful attempts to emigrate to New England where, like the Pilgrim Fathers before them, they hoped to practice their faith in peace. On the final attempt their boat was badly damaged in storms off Newfoundland and had to return to port. Livingston had invested a lot of money in that final voyage, and now was much poorer financially. By this time also, his young wife had a child. Learning that a warrant was issued for his arrest in Ireland, they returned to Scotland where there was much unrest due to the imposition of the Book of Common Prayer, which was perceived to be an attempt to impose Anglo-Catholicism on the Church of Scotland. Livingston took a prominent part in the movement of the Solemn League and Covenant to resist the innovations and evils recently introduced into the Kirk, venturing to London in 1638 with several copies of the covenant and letters to friends at Court. In the same year he became minister at Stranraer and was a member of the General Assembly which met at Glasgow. With the exception of the one which convened at Aberdeen in 1640, he served in each General Assembly until 1650. During his ten years at Stranraer, Livingston also served as a chaplain with the Scottish forces in the Bishops' Wars, when Scots forces made forays into England. In 1648, the General Assembly appointed him to the parish of Ancrum.

 When the English Civil War broke out, Scots Covenanters sided with English Puritans/Parliamentarians, not because they supported republicanism but to safeguard Presbyterianism. So, after the execution of Charles I, Livingston was commissioned by the General Assembly to go to Holland as a representative to negotiate with the late King’s son Charles to find out if he would agree to Presbyterian government of the Church in Scotland. Even when the Prince agreed to subscribe to the Covenants, and other Commissioners expressed their satisfaction, Livingston voiced his conviction that Charles was insincere in his professions and totally unsuited and unqualified to be the ruler of the kingdom. Charles did become King in Scotland in 1651, and then, by the Act of Restoration, King in England in 1660, and reneged on his agreement. By the Oath of Allegiance, church ministers were required to acknowledge Episcopacy and the rule of Bishops. Livingston appeared in court in Edinburgh in December 1662 and sentenced to banishment for his refusal to do so and refusing to honour the anniversary of the restoration of Charles II as a holiday of the Lord. He was required to leave Edinburgh within 48 hours and reside on the north side of the Tay until arrangements were made for his expulsion. He lived at Leith until ordered to leave by boat for Rotterdam in April 1663.

 Much of his time in Rotterdam was spent in compiling a polyglot Bible, producing a new Latin translation of the Old Testament, writing his autobiography and an account of the work of other devout Scots during his lifetime. He died in Rotterdam, exiled from his native Scotland, in August 1672 at the age of 68. John Livingston had fifteen children, nine of whom died before he did, including five of his eight sons.

 One of his sons, Robert, born at Ancrum on December 13th 1654, emigrated to America in 1673.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Roger J. Owen