He was third son of John Gillespie, minister of Kirkcaldy, by his wife Lilias, daughter of Patrick Simson, minister of Stirling; and brother of George Gillespie. He was baptised 2 March 1617, was educated at the University of St Andrews, where he graduated in 1635, became minister of the second charge of Kirkcaldy in 1642, and of the High Church of Glasgow in 1648. From that time he took a very prominent part in public affairs, first as an extreme covenanter, and next as a friend and supporter of Cromwell.\n', '

He strenuously opposed the "Engagement" for the rescue of Charles I, helped to overthrow the government that sanctioned it, and advocated severe measures against all \'malignants.\' He considered the terms made with Charles II unsatisfactory, and after the battle of Dunbar (3 September 1650) he assembled a meeting of gentlemen and ministers in the west, and persuaded them to raise a separate armed force, which was placed under the command of officers recommended by him. He was the author of the "Western Remonstrance" (December 1650) addressed to parliament by the "gentlemen, commanders, and ministers attending the Westland Force", in which they made charges against the public authorities, condemned the treaty with the king, and declared that they could not take his side against Cromwell. Soon after the commission of assembly passed resolutions in favour of allowing malignants, on profession of their repentance, to take part in the defence of the country. Against this Gillespie and his friends protested, and when the general assembly met in July 1651 they protested against its legality. For this he and two others were deposed from the ministry. They and their sympathisers disregarded the sentence, and made a schism in the church.\n', '

Many of the "Protesters", as the dissenters were called, preferred Cromwell to the king, and some of them became favourable to independency. Gillespie was the leader of this section, and there was no one in Scotland who more influence with the Protector. His appointment to the principalship of the University of Glasgow followed in 1652, over protests on the grounds that the election belonged to the professors, that he was insufficient in learning, and had been deposed from the ministry. In 1653 Cromwell turned the general assembly out of doors, and in the following year he called Gillespie and two other protesters to London to consult with them on a new settlement of Scottish ecclesiastical affairs. The result was the appointment of a large commission of protesters, who were empowered to purge the church, and to withhold the stipend from any one appointed to a parish who had not a testimonial from four men of their party. This was known as \'Gillespie\'s Charter,\' hated by the Resolutioners, who formed a majority of the church.\n', '

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