A portrait of him painted on timber in a small oval, and presented by John Row to the University Library, Edinburgh, cannot now be traced.

[notes 2] Robert Wodrow states that he was by trade a glover, but gave up business and went to school, in order to fit himself for the duties of a preacher or expounder among the reformers.

Ferguson formed one of a deputation to wait on James VI in 1583 to discharge the duty of admonishing him 'to beware of innovations in court', to check reports before credit was given to them, and remind him of the affair of the escaped Jesuit, William Holt.

In the discussion warmth was displayed by some of the deputies, but Ferguson succeeded in giving a new turn to the topics at critical points, the result being that as they took their leave 'the king laid his hands upon every one of them.'

In August of the same year Ferguson and six other ministers were cited by the king to attend a convention at St Andrews to answer for certain proceedings of the assembly.

[7] On 12 May 1596, on the renewal of the covenant by the synod of Fife at Dunfermline, Ferguson gave an address, with reminiscences of his experiences of the early reform period.

At a meeting of the synod of Fife, held at Cupar in February 1598, in regard to a proposal to give ministers a vote in parliament, Ferguson, the eldest minister at that time in Scotland, after relating pat difficulties of the church in contending against efforts to introduce episcopacy, opposed the proposal, which he compared to the 'busking up of the brave horse' for the overthrow of Troy.

[7] His position as minister of Dunfermline was filled by John Fairfoul who translated from Aberdour to the east.Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae In 1563 Ferguson published a reply to René Benoît, confessor to Mary Queen of Scots.

Other editions appeared in 1659, 1675, 1699, and 1706, the latter bearing the title, 'Nine Hundred and Forty Scottish Proverbs, the greater part of which were first gathered together by David Ferguson, the rest since added.

He left a diary containing a record of the principal ecclesiastical events of his time, which has been lost, but which probably his son-in-law, John Row (1568–1646), incorporated in his 'History.