When Cargill was yet a youth, he was known to spend whole nights in prayer.  What those nights must have been to that young heart!  What unfoldings of the Gospel and of the love of God!  What revelations of the beauties of Christ, the preciousness of His blood, and the treasures of His Covenant!  What insight into the value of the soul and its commission from God!  What views of stewardship, accountability, rewards, punishments, destiny, eternity!  What visions of the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, His royal rights, His glory and majesty, His jealousy over the Church, His indignation against evil, His vindication of right!  What those nights of prayer must have been to that boyish heart!  The Holy Spirit came down upon the tender suppliant; the glory of the Lord shone round about him; the heavens bent and burst with blessings above his head; he made many an incursion into the upper world.  What a wonderful life we may expect to arise out of a beginning like this!  Look out for the boy that spends whole nights in prayer, or even whole hours talking with God!  Assuredly the outcome will be amazing.

Courage was prominent among the qualities that brought Cargill to the front and made him one of Scotland’s many mighties.  He was afraid of nothing except God’s displeasure.  His towering intellect, polished with education, instructed in the Bible, and irradiant with the Holy Spirit, gave him a wide horizon.  He made the throne of the Lord Jesus Christ his viewpoint, and therefore saw things in their true relation.  He had a strong, spiritual grasp of the truths of Christ and His universal dominion.  He saw Jesus crowned with many crowns; the Church united to Christ in marriage; and all the universe subject to Christ for the Church’s sake.  Cargill’s clear and comprehensive view of Christ and His universal dominion enabled him to take the right side in the great struggle that was then shaking Scotland’s foundations.  He wisely chose the strong side.  He cast his lot in with the poor “remnant,” who were hunted, captured, and executed as fast as the bloodhounds of King Charles could do their cruel work.  Most men called this the weak side, but Cargill’s eyes took in the spiritual world.  He gazed upon the infinite power of God, the omnipotence of truth, the armies of heaven.  He knew that all the forces of righteousness were moving forward in matchless harmony in support of the “remnant” who kept faith with the Lord Jesus Christ.  In the consciousness of this almighty strength, which was at his back, how could he be afraid?

Cargill accepted the office of the Gospel ministry with a deep sense of unworthiness.  When urged to enter the ministry he hesitated and spent a day in fasting and prayer to discover the mind of the Lord.  God spoke to him by sending into his heart the irresistible command:  “Son of man, eat this roll, and go speak unto the house of Israel.”  He took this to be the answer, as these words rang in his ears day and night.  He hesitated no longer; from that time he was consecrated to the work of the Gospel, and his zeal made him a bright target for the foe.