A Hind Let Loose

In Short

Written in the crucible of the "Killing Time," A Hind Let Loose is a monumental treatise of radical Presbyterian political theology. Alexander Shields constructs a exhaustive defense of the militant Cameronian Covenanters who refused to conform to the restored Stuart monarchy of Charles II and James VII. Combining historical narrative with rigorous scholastic argumentation, the text traces the Scottish Reformation's struggle for the sole headship of Jesus Christ over the Church against royal Erastianism and prelacy. Shields systematically defends the most controversial practices of the persecuted remnant: holding illegal outdoor field conventicles, rejecting un-covenanted royal authority, refusing to take state-imposed oaths or pay military taxes, and exercising the natural and biblical right of defensive armed resistance—even extending, in extreme circumstances of tyranny, to private acts of extrajudicial execution. It remains a foundational text in the history of resistance theory and Scottish ecclesiastical history.

The Story

The argument of A Hind Let Loose unfolds across two distinct sections: an ecclesiastical history of Scottish reformational struggles followed by a series of rigorous, head-by-head theological and political vindications. Shields begins by framing the ongoing crisis of the late seventeenth century not as a novel rebellion, but as the natural continuation of a long testimony for the prerogatives of Christ, the privileges of the Kirk, and the fundamental liberties of mankind.

He divides the history of the Church of Scotland into distinct historical periods to demonstrate how the core of the Christian testimony evolved over time. Early martyrs contended for Christ’s prophetical and priestly offices against paganism and Roman Catholicism. However, from the era of John Knox and the First Reformation, through the reign of King James VI and the Second Reformation of the 1630s and 1640s, the battle shifted explicitly to Christ's kingly office—asserting His sole mediatory supremacy over the Church as an independent spiritual kingdom, free from the dictation of earthly monarchs or prelatical hierarchies.

The narrative reaches its catastrophic turning point with the Restoration of the Stuart monarchy in 1660. Shields details how Charles II tore down the National Covenant and the Solemn League and Covenant, burning them publically and re-establishing Episcopacy through an absolute royal supremacy. This act of national apostasy inaugurated twenty-seven years of escalating deformation and bitter persecution. The text charts the growing rift within Presbyterianism itself: while the majority of ministers accepted "indulgences" and official pardons—purchasing relief by compromising the Kirk’s independence and silent compliance with tyranny—a small, uncompromising remnant retreated to the hills and moors.

Shields details the series of tragic defeats and heroic stands that defined this remnant, including the disaster at Bothwell Bridge in 1679. The aftermath of Bothwell marked an intensification of state violence: field meetings were outlawed under pain of death, whole regions were quartered with brutal military forces, and individuals were executed on the spot simply for refusing to say "God save the king" or for declining to abjure radical manifestos like the Lanark Declaration. Prominent leaders and martyrs, such as Donald Cargill, were sent to the scaffold, while hundreds of ordinary believers were tortured, imprisoned in deadly dungeons, or sold into indentured servitude in Carolina and the Caribbean.

From this history of blood and oppression, Shields transitions to his primary objective: a systematic justification of the Cameronians' stance. He argues that government is a conditional trust instituted by God for the good of the community and the preservation of true religion. When a ruler overturns fundamental laws, promotes idolatry (Popery), and wages open war on his own innocent subjects, he forfeits all divine authority and degenerates into a tyrant and a beast of prey. Consequently, subjects are no longer bound by allegiance or the Fifth Commandment to own his power.

Shields then methodically works through the practical applications of this principle. He vindicates the practice of outdoor field-conventicles, asserting that ministers retain a divine commission to preach anywhere when the constitutional church is overthrown. He defends the refusal of all state-imposed oaths, bonds, and taxations that directly support tyrannical violence or imply recantation of the Covenanted Reformation.

Addressing the charge of rebellion, Shields establishes that defensive arms are not only a natural right but a mandatory Christian duty to protect oneself and rescue innocent neighbours from unlawful violence. Finally, he confronts the most difficult question: the execution of notorious persecutors in extraordinary circumstances when public justice is entirely subverted, citing historic precedents such as the slaying of Cardinal Beaton. Shields concludes that the true unity of the Church can never be achieved through sinful compliance or "adulterate politics," but only by steadfastly adhering to divine truth and resisting tyrannical encroachment unto death.

How It Unfolds

The Scottish testimony established Shields outlines the historical foundation of the Church of Scotland, demonstrating how its unique glory lies in explicitly contending for the supreme, unencroached kingship of Jesus Christ over His own Church against all civil usurpers.

The betrayal of the Restoration The narrative recounts the catastrophic events of 1660, when Charles II overturned the Covenanted Reformation, imposed royal supremacy and prelacy, and plunged the nation into decades of defection, apostasy, and division.

The splintering of the Presbyterians Shields traces how government indemnities and bonded indulgences seduced the majority of ministers into sinful compliance, leaving only a small, hunted remnant to maintain an uncompromised testimony in the fields.

The fury of the Killing Time The text describes the escalation of military cruelty following Bothwell Bridge, detailing the execution of men, women, and children, mass banishments to American plantations, and the martyring of leaders like Donald Cargill.

The rejection of tyrannical authority Shields proves that when rulers subvert fundamental laws and promote idolatry, they forfeit divine authority; therefore, common subjects are morally bound to disown their pretended government.

The duty of armed self-defence The author demonstrates from scripture, natural law, and international precedent that taking up arms against tyrannical violence is a legitimate and mandatory Christian obligation.

The vindication of extraordinary justice Shields addresses extreme cases of self-preservation and vindictive justice, arguing that when public courts become instruments of murder, private citizens may lawfully execute judgment on notorious oppressors.

The call for pure separation The work closes with an unyielding plea to avoid all ensnaring oaths, unlawful taxes, and corrupt church communion, urging the faithful to prefer truth and suffering over false peace and easy compliance.

The People

Alexander Shields (The Author / The Voice of the Remnant) As the primary thinker and spokesman for the strict Cameronian Presbyterians, Shields sees himself as a humble instrument defending a heavy and noble cause. He seeks to provide a reasoned, scriptural foundation for a movement branded by its enemies as fanatic and seditious, standing firmly against both royal tyrants and compromising Presbyterian ministers.

Jesus Christ Framed throughout the text not merely as Savior, but explicitly in His mediatory role as King and Monarch of the Church. His imperial crown, sovereign prerogatives, and exclusive headship over the visible Church form the central spiritual concept for which the Covenanters suffer and die.

The Covenanted Remnant The collective body of hunted, outlawed Presbyterians—comprising ordinary men, women, and youths—who choose cold mountains, imprisonment, banishment, and the scaffold over taking ensnaring state oaths or acknowledging a Catholic king. They view their passive and active resistance as an indispensible testimony for future generations.

Charles II and James VII (The Stuart Monarchs) Characterized in the text as perfidious tyrants, apostates, and usurpers. Charles II is viewed as the breaker of sacred covenants who introduced absolute royal supremacy, while James VII (the Duke of York) is depicted as a "notorious and bigot papist" whose absolute power threatens to subvert the Protestant religion and all civil liberties.

The Indulged Ministers Presbyterian clergymen who accepted royal indulgences to preach under state-imposed limitations. Shields treats them as declining, time-serving brethren whose desire for ease and peace led them to betray the Church's independence and divide the reforming remnant.

Historical Martyrs (e.g., Donald Cargill, George Wishart) Key figures from Scottish history invoked as heroic exemplars of faith. Cargill represents the uncompromising clarity of the recent field-preachers, while Wishart and his avenger James Melvin illustrate the long tradition of resisting prelatical tyranny.

In Its Own Voice

When reflecting on the profound weight of contending for Christ's sole sovereignty over His Church, Shields highlights the unique glory of the Scottish Reformation:

"This is Christ's supremacy, a special radiant jewel of his imperial crown, which as it hath been as explicitly encroached upon in Scotland, by his insolent enemies, as ever by any that entered in opposition to him, so it hath been more expressly witnessed and wrestled for by his suffering servants in that land than in any place of the world."

In rejecting the forced, state-mandated prayers for rulers who were actively destroying the Church and executing the innocent, Shields writes:

"Whatever they may force the mouth to speak dissemblingly, they can never compel the heart to think such wishes are due to them; and so they can never be cordial, nor confident with candor: and to interpose the holy and dreadful name of God, in a dissembling compliment, to flatter base men, is a horrid mocking of God..."

Addressing the nature of Christian unity, Shields insists that true peace cannot be built upon the surrender of fundamental biblical principles:

"That union that hath the Spirit for its author, the scripture for its rule, peace for its bond and beauty, love for its cement, faith for its foment, Christ for its foundation, and truth and holiness for its constant companions, cannot but be intensely desired... But it must be in the way of truth and duty, and consistent with holiness and the honour of Christ, otherwise if it be in the way of apostasy and defection, it is but a confederacy and conspiracy against the Lord."

What It's Really About

At its core, A Hind Let Loose is an exploration of the limits of political allegiance and the supreme authority of conscience under God. It tackles the fundamental question of what a religious community must do when the state transforms from a minister of justice into an instrument of terror and apostasy.

Shields argues against the doctrine of passive obedience and the divine right of kings, replacing them with a contractual theory of government. Power is not absolute; it is a fiduciary trust granted by God and mediated through the consent and fundamental laws of the people. When a magistrate systematically violates the constitutional compact—by attempting to usurp Christ’s spiritual kingdom or by slaughtering his own innocent subjects—he strips himself of legitimate authority. In such a state of anarchy from above, subjection ceases to be a duty, and resistance becomes a moral necessity.

The book also grapples deeply with the ethics of compromise during times of widespread societal collapse. Shields rejects the pragmatic argument that minor concessions (taking a peace bond, attending state-approved churches, or paying war taxes) are acceptable to preserve life or property. For Shields, these minor compliance markers are symbolic endorsements of a tyrannical system. The text insists on absolute ideological purity, arguing that true spiritual liberty requires standing aloof from every appearance of defection, no matter how small or socially isolated the remaining faithful may become.

Why Read It Today

A Hind Let Loose is a vital primary document for anyone fascinated by the history of radical political thought, the Scottish Covenanters, or the development of modern constitutional theory. While written from a specific seventeenth-century theological framework, its arguments regarding the right of resistance to tyranny closely mirror and prefigure the revolutionary political philosophies of John Locke and the American Founding Fathers. Reader who enjoy deep historical theology, political philosophy, and intense primary sources will find it a compelling study in unyielding conviction.

The experience of reading the book is intense, intellectually rigorous, and uncompromisingly dense. Shields writes with the meticulous structure of a scholastic logician; every point is mapped out into numbered heads, propositions, syllogisms, and scriptural deductions. His prose is urgent, passionate, and heavily steeped in biblical imagery and legal terminology.

However, modern readers must navigate significant difficulties. The work is extraordinarily long and relentless in its detail. Its language reflects the polemical style of 17th-century religious controversy, complete with archaic vocabulary, long complex sentences, and harsh, unsparing epithets directed at opponents ("prelatical beasts of prey," "malignants," and "the antichristian hierarchy"). Furthermore, the author’s rigid world view leaves no room for modern concepts of religious toleration—Shields opposes royal tyranny not to promote broad pluralism, but to establish the exclusive, uncompromised reign of the Covenanted Presbyterian Kirk.

What remains with the reader is the chilling, vivid portrait of a hunted community pushed to the absolute extreme. The descriptions of field conventicles held in freezing bogs, extrajudicial executions, mass transportations, and the unwavering resolve of ordinary people facing the scaffold give the book a gripping, visceral weight. It stands as a monument to human endurance and an uncompromising manifesto on the absolute sovereignty of God over human tyrants.