Born at Falkand in Fife, he was initially a parish scool teacher and then a highly successful field preacher of the strict Presbyterian school, a Covenanter. He spent some years in exile in the Netherlands when the authorities decided his brand of religious zealotry was not conducive to law and order.
He returned to Scotland in 1680 and issued with others such as Donald Cargill the Sanquar Declaration, calling for war against the king, Charles II and the exclusion of his brother from the succession. He was killed in a skirmish with government troops later the same year. However after the accession of William III his followers were pardoned and incorporated into the British Army as the Cameronian Regiment.