[4] On 24 October 1654 he was ordained minister of Kiltearn, a parish six miles from Dingwall, on the shore of Cromarty Firth, and entered on the discharge of his duties with great ardour.

[8] In July 1668 he was delated by the Bishop of Moray for preaching in his own house and ‘keeping conventicles.’ For these offences he was imprisoned for some time in Forres, but was at length liberated at the intercession of the Earl of Tweeddale, upon giving bail to appear when called on.

In January 1677 he voluntarily surrendered to the Earl of Moray, was removed to Edinburgh Tolbooth and sent to the Bass Rock, where he became seriously ill. An Edinburgh physician who was called to see him, petitioned the council for his release, to which some of the members were disposed, but Archbishop Sharp stated "the prisoner did and was in a capacity to do more hurt to their interests sitting in his elbow chair than twenty others could, and if the justice of God was pursuing him to take him off the stage, the clemency of the Government should not interpose to hinder it."

King says about the incident: "he became so sickly that his physician and the lay lords of the council urged his liberation;when, in place of release, he was, on the motion of Sharpe, backed by the other prelates, thrown into the lowest vault of that dreary and filthy prison.

""[9] On 9 October 1677 he was brought back to the Tolbooth, but was again returned to the Bass until set at liberty with others in July 1679, giving bond for 10,000 merks to appear before the Council when called but forbidden to go beyond ‘the bounds of Kintyre’.

[10] He lived for a year in Berwick-upon-Tweed and in 1685 found his way to London, intending to sail to Carolina, but he was apprehended on suspicion of being concerned in the Rebellion of the Duke of Monmouth.