Stom  t^e  feifitari?  of 
 (pxofmox  "Wmam  ©tiffer  (pa^fon,  ©.©.,  &E.®. 
 
 to  t^e  £i6tari?  of 
 (princefon  C^eofogicaf  ^eminarg 
 
 BX  9081  .A55  1848 
 Aikman,  James,  17797-1860. 
 An  historical  account  of 
 covenanting  in  Scotland 
 
 \ 
 
 1 
 
AK  HISTORICAL  ACCOUNT 
 
 COYENANTING  IN  SCOTLAND. 
 
\<- 
 
 ^^wimi 
 
 APR  20  19: 
 AN  HISTORICAL  ACCOUNT  \^a^„, 
 
 COVENANTING  IN  SCOTLAND, 
 
 FROM  THE  FIRST  BAND  IN  MEARNS,  1566, 
 
 TO  THE  SIGNATURE  OF 
 
 THE  GRAND  NATIONAL  COVENANT,  1638. 
 
 BY   JAMES   AIKMAN,   Esq. 
 
 AUTHOR  OK  THE  UISTORT  OF  SC0TLAN1>,  ETC. 
 
 EDINBURGH: 
 JOHN  HENDERSON  AND  CO.. 
 
 2,  NOltTH  ST.  ANDUKW  STUKJ-T 
 MDCtCXLVIII. 
 
kdinburgh:  t.  constable  printek  to  her  aiajesty. 
 
HISTOH.ICAL  ACCOUNT,  &c. 
 
 The  gospel  appears  to  have  been  vei'y  early  intro- 
 duced into  Scotland.  The  Chnrch  there  received  the 
 Christian  faith  a  little  after  the  days  of  our  Saviour,  in 
 the  reign  of  Domitian,  as  it  is  thought,  from  some  of 
 John's  disciples,  which  was  by  tliem  committed  to  faith- 
 ful men,  who  were  nothing  acquainted  either  with  the 
 glory  of  a  hierarchy  or  man's  tyranny  over  conscience  ; 
 and  was  a  chaste  virgin  some  centuries  of  years  before 
 she  had  the  least  correspondence  with  Rome,  or  ever 
 heard  of  the  notion  of  a  bishop  distinct  from,  or  superior 
 to,  an  ordinary  pastor.  Her  ministers  were  called 
 Culdees.  When  this  name  was  first  imposed  cannot 
 now  be  ascertained — its  etymology  is  uncertain  ;"'  but 
 Dr.  Jamieson  appears  to  come  pretty  near  the   fact, 
 
 *  Lloyd,  Bishop  of  St,  Asaph,  after  saying  that  he  had  not  met  with  the  word 
 in  this  form  in  any  author,  before  the  time  of  Giraldiis  Cambrensis,  observes  : 
 "  Then  it  was  a  very  usual  thing  to  find  out  Latin  derivations  for  those  words 
 of  which  men  did  not  know  the  original ;  and  thus  the  Kyldees  or  Kyllcdci 
 came  to  be  called  Culdei  or  Coiidei,  that  is,  the  worshippers  of  God,  being  sncli 
 as  spent  their  whole  time,  or  a  great  part  of  it,  in  devotion.  The  origin  assigned 
 by  O'Brien  is  certainly  very  plausible.  In  Irish,  he  says,  it  is  Cei/r  Dc,  fmni 
 cei/e — a  servant,  and  De — God.  Toland  contends  that  it  is  from  the  original 
 Ii'ish  or  Scottish  word,  ceile-de,  signifying  sepi/r<tted  or  espoused  to  God.  It  has 
 also  been  derived  from  the  notion  of  their  retreat  and  seclusion :  the  original 
 Celtic  word  ccl — a  shelter,  jdnral,  Cehjdi . — fuwiesntt^s  Jlistorical  Account  of  thr 
 Aiicifut  Cu'defs,  pp.  4,  .">. 
 
 A 
 
Z  AN   HISTORICAL  ACCOUNT  OF 
 
 when  he  says  :  "  We  may  safely  assume  that  there  must 
 have  been  a  considerable  number  of  Christians  in  the 
 northern  part  of  our  island,  about  the  time  assigned  to 
 the  reign  of  a  prince  designated  Donald  I.,  that  is,  to- 
 wards the  close  of  the  second  century.  ForTertullian, 
 who  flourished  in  this  age,  asserts  that  the  gospel  had 
 not  only  been  propagated  in  Britain,  but  had  reached 
 those  parts  of  the  island  into  which  the  Roman  army 
 had  never  penetrated."  The  successors  of  these  early 
 evangelists  continued  "discharging  the  office  of  ane 
 ordinary  country  pastor — instructing  the  people  in  the 
 simplicity  of  the  gospel,"  till  "  the  Pope  sent  his  factor 
 into  Scotland  to  accommodate  it  into  his  model  in  hier- 
 archy and  rites,  which  two  are  the  vitals  of  the  Romish 
 religion  ;  but  both  he  and  his  successors  were  opposed 
 by  these  godly  men  with  pious  zeal,  equally  in  the  one 
 and  in  the  other,  for  many  a  year  thereafter,  till  near 
 the  fourteenth  century,  when,  through  the  influence  of 
 the  Pope  and  the  neghgence  of  the  king,  they  were 
 entirely  supprest ;  yet  was  not  the  gospel  supprest  in 
 Scotland,  the  Lord  raised  up  for  himself  in  their  place 
 another  band  of  witnesses — the  Lollards  of  Kyle.""  A 
 singular  proof  of  the  providence  of  God,  in  preserving 
 the  truth  in  our  native  country,  even  during  the  time 
 that  the. Man  of  Sin  was  reigning  with  absolute  author- 
 ity over  the  other  nations  of  Europe  ;  and  in  transmit- 
 ting some  of  its  most  important  articles,  at  least,  nearly 
 to  the  time  of  its  breaking  forth  with  renewed  lustre  at 
 
 ^'  Lollards — a  I'eligious  sect,  who  separated  from  the  Church  of  Rome  in 
 1315;  so  named  from  their  leader,  Walter  Lollard,  burnt  at  Cologne,  1322. 
 This  epithet  was  applied  as  a  term  of  reproach  to  all  heretics,  previous  to  the 
 appearance  of  Luther. 
 
COVENANTING  IN   SCOTLAND. 
 
 the  Reformation/'  John  Knox,  who  was  honoured  to 
 be  one  of  the  chief  instruments  employed  in  this  impor- 
 tant work,  in  a  letter  to  his  mother-in-law,  Mrs.  Bowes, 
 thus  describes  the  state  of  the  country,  immediately 
 previous  to  the  entering  into  the  first  of  those  religious 
 bonds  or  Covenants,  by  which  the  confederation  of  the 
 Protestants  in  Scotland  was  so  frequently  ratified  : — 
 
 "  The  wayis  of  man  ar  not  in  his  awn  power.  Albeit 
 my  journey  toward  Scotland,  belovit  mother,  was  maist 
 contrarious  to  my  awn  judgement  befoir  I  did  interprys 
 the  same  ;  yet  this  day  I  prais  God  for  thame  wha  was 
 the  cause  externall  of  my  resort  to  their  quarteris  : 
 that  is,  I  prais  God  in  yow,  and  for  yow,  whom  hie  maid 
 the  instrument  to  draw  me  from  the  den  of  my  aAvn 
 eas,  (you  allane  did  draw  me  from  the  rest  of  quyet 
 studie,)  to  contemplat  and  behald  the  fervent  thirst  of 
 oure  brethrerene,  night  and  day,  sobbing  and  gronyng 
 for  the  breid  of  lyfe.  Gif  I  had  not  sene  it  with  my 
 eis,  in  my  awn  contry,  I  culd  not  beleveit  it !  I  praisit 
 God  when  I  was  with  you,  perceaving  that  in  the 
 middis  of  Sodome,  God  had  mo  Lottis  than  one,  and 
 ma  faithfull  dochteris  than  tua.  But  the  fervencie  heir 
 doith  fer  exceid  all  utheris  that  I  have  seen.  And 
 thairfoir  ye  sail  pacientUe  bear,  altho'  I  spend  heir  yet 
 sum  day  is  ;  for  depart  I  cannot,  unto  sic  tyme  as  God 
 quenche  thair  thirst  a  litill.  Yea,  mother,  thair  fer- 
 vencie doith  sa  ravische  me  that  I  can  not  but  accus 
 and  condemp  my  sleauthfull  coldnes.  God  grant  them 
 thair  hartis  desyre  ;  and  I  pray  yow  adverteis  [me]  of 
 your  estait,  and  of  thingis  that  have  occurit  sense  your 
 last  wrytting.      Comfort  yourself  in  Godis  prommissis, 
 
AN  HISTORICAL  ACCOUNT  OF 
 
 and  be  assureit  that  Grocl  steiris  up  mo  friendis  than  we 
 be  war  of.  My  commendation  to  all  in  your  company. 
 I  commit  you  to  the  protection  of  the  Omnipotent.  In 
 great  haist :  the  4th  of  November,  1555.  From  Scot- 
 land.    Your  son  Johne  Knox." 
 
 About  this  time,  Mr.  Erskine,  of  Dun,  invited  the 
 Reformer  to  accompany  him  to  his  family  seat  in  Angus, 
 where  he  remained  for  a  month,  preaching  every  day, 
 and  had  among  his  hearers  the  principal  personages  in 
 that  neighbourhood.  On  his  return  to  the  south,  in 
 the  beginning  of  the  year  1556,  he  accompanied  Lock- 
 hart  of  Bar,  and  Campbell  of  Kineancleugh,  to  Kyle,  the 
 ancient  residence  of  the  Scottish  Lollards,  and  there 
 preached  in  several  of  the  gentlemen's  houses,  observ- 
 ing the  ordinance  of  the  Lord's  supper,  of  which  a 
 number  of  the  nobility  participated  ;  among  whom,  the 
 Earl  of  Glencairn,  his  lady,  and  two  of  his  sons,  were 
 particularly  noticed.  He  remained  not  long  here,  how- 
 ever, but  soon  paid  another  visit  to  the  north. 
 FIRST  A  majority  of  the  chief  men  of  Mearns,  who  at  this 
 1^9.  time  made  profession  of  the  reformed  religion,  after 
 sitting  down  at  the  Lord's  table,  entered  into  a  solemn 
 and  mutual  bond,  in  which  they  renounced  the  Popish 
 communion,  and  engaged  to  maintain  the  true  preach- 
 ing of  the  gospel,  according  as  Providence  should  favour 
 them  with  opportunity.  "  This,"  Dr.  M'Crie  remarks, 
 "  seems  to  have  been  the  first  of  these  religious  bonds 
 or  Covenants,  by  which  the  confederation  of  the  Pro- 
 testants of  Scotland  was  so  frequently  ratified;"'"  and 
 he  adds  in  a  note  :  "  The  silver  cups  which  were  used 
 
 *  Life  of  Knox,  p.  150. 
 
COVENANTING  IN  SCOTLAND. 
 
 on  this  occasion  are  still  carefully  preserved  by  the 
 family  of  Glencairn,  at  Finlayston.  The  parish  of 
 Kilmacolm  is  favoured  with  the  use  of  them  at  the 
 time  of  dispensing  the  sacrament."  Perhaps  there  is 
 nothing  that  shows  more  powerfully  the  great  advantage 
 of  early  religious  instruction  than  this  fact :  that 
 amongst  all  those  who  have  been  honoured  to  be  the 
 greatest  blessings  to  their  country  or  the  world,  have 
 been  those  who,  early  in  life,  have  been  called  to 
 ministrate  in  the  work  of  the  Lord.  In  early  life,  Lord 
 Lorn,  afterwards  the  remarkable  and  distinguished  Earl 
 of  Argyle  ;  the  Master  of  Mar,  afterwards  the  much 
 loved  Earl  of  Mar ;  and  that  name  which  stands  so 
 high  in  his  country's  annals,  Lord  James  Stewart, 
 (natural  son  of  James  V.)  afterwards  Earl  of  Moray, 
 were  almost  all  early  religiously  instructed  ;  and  owed 
 that  instruction  to  female  tuition,  or  female  superintend- 
 ence upon  their  early  tuition.  Of  this  original  bond  I 
 apprehend  nothing  more  can  now  be  known  than  what 
 is  mentioned  by  Knox  in  his  history,  and  noticed  (as 
 above)  by  Dr.  M'Crie  ;  it  was  followed  up,  however, 
 in  1556  [or  1557,]'''  by  a  similar  Covenant  in  the 
 following  terms  : — 
 
 "  We,  perceiving  how  Satan,  in  his  members,  the 
 antichrists  of  our  time,  cruelly  do  rage,  seeking  to  over- 
 throw and  destroy  the  gospel  of  Christ  and  his  congre- 
 
 *  In  our  wiitLi-s  of  this  period  tliere  is  often  a  variety  of  dates  for  the  same 
 action,  which  has  occasioned  confusion,  by  their  successoi-s  not  attending  to 
 the  circumstance  that  tiiere  were  two  annual  dates,  between  whicli  tliere  was  a 
 difference  of  twelve  months,  and  that  some  reckoned  by  the  one  and  some  by 
 the  other.  The  difference  is  not  essential,  but  it  deserves  to  be  noticed,  as 
 attention  to  this  frequently  reconciles  apparent  inconsistencies. 
 
AN  HISTORICAL  ACCOUNT  OF 
 
 gation,  ought,  according  to  our  bounden  duty,  to  strive 
 in  our  Master's  cause,  even  unto  the  death,  being  cer- 
 tain of  victory  in  Him  :  The  which  our  duty  being 
 Avell  considered,  We  do  promise  before  the  Majesty  of 
 God  and  His  congregation  that  we — by  His  grace — shall 
 with  all  diligence  continually  apply  our  whole  power, 
 substance,  and  our  very  lives,  to  maintain,  set  forward, 
 and  establish  The  most  blessed  ivord  of  God  and  His 
 congregation  :  And  shall  labour,  according  to  our  power, 
 to  have  faithful  ministers  truly  and  purely  to  minister 
 Christ's  gospel  and  sacraments  to  his  people.  We  shall 
 maintain  them,  nourish  them,  and  defend  them  :  the 
 whole  congregation  of  Christ,  and  every  member  there- 
 of, according  to  our  whole  powers  and  waging  of  our  lives 
 against  Satan,  and  all  wicked  power  that  doth  intend 
 tyranny  or  trouble  against  the  foresaid  congregation. 
 Unto  the  which  holy  word  and  congregation,  We  do 
 join  us ;  and  so  do  forsake  and  renounce  the  congrega- 
 tion of  Satan,  with  all  the  superstitions,  abominations, 
 and  idolatry  thereof  And,  moreover,  shall  declare 
 ourselves  manifest  enemies  thereto,  by  this  our  faithful 
 promise  before  God,  testified  to  this  congregation  by 
 our  subscriptions  to  these  presents." 
 
 "  At  Edinburgh,  the  third  day  of  December,  Anno 
 1557,  God  called  to  witness." 
 
 Before  subscription,  the  Lords  and  Barons  came  to  a 
 resolution  that  the  common  prayer  with  the  Lessons 
 out  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament  should  be  read  in 
 every  Parish  Church,  upon  the  Lord's  Day,  publicly ; 
 but  that  preaching  should  not  be  public  till  authorized 
 by  the  Queen  Regent,  who  then  governed.     In  order  to 
 
COVENANTING  IN  SCOTLAND.  7 
 
 obtain  this,  they  immediately  despatched  Sir  James 
 Sandilands,  of  Calder,  with  their  petition  to  her,  pray- 
 ing that  any  quaHfied  person  being  present  when  the 
 Common  Prayers  were  read,  might  be  allowed  "  to  open 
 up,  or  interpret  in  the  vulgar  tongue  any  hard  place  of 
 the  Scripture  where  it  should  occur ;  that  the  sacra- 
 ment of  Baptism  should  be  administered  in  the  vulgar 
 tongue,  as  also  the  Lord's  Supper,  which  should  like- 
 wise be  served  in  both  kinds,  according  to  Christ's 
 injunction  ;"  and  finally,  "  that  the  slanderous  and  de- 
 testable lives  of  the  prelates  and  state  ecclesiastical 
 might  be  reformed." 
 
 The  Queen  Regent  received  them  graciously,  and  as 
 she  was  exceedingly  desirous  to  obtain  the  crown 
 matrimonial  for  the  Dauphin  of  France,  then  married 
 to  her  daughter.  Queen  Mary,  and  wished  to  secure 
 their  concurrence  in  the  ensuing  Parliament,  returned 
 a  gracious  answer,  permitting  them  to  proceed  accord- 
 ing to  their  wishes,  provided  they  held  no  public 
 assemblies  in  Edinburgh  or  Leith,  and  promised  to 
 assist  them  in  the  maintenance  of  their  preachers  till 
 some  regular  parliamentary  endowment  were  ob- 
 tained. They  departed  from  her  presence  highly  de- 
 lighted, and  as  a  proof  of  their  inclination  to  promote 
 peace  and  quiet,  ordered  one  of  their  most  popular 
 preachers,  Mr.  John  Douglas,  (sometimes  surnamcd 
 Grant,)  to  be  silenced — a  person  of  high  and  honourable 
 birth,  descended  from  the  family  of  Douglas  of  Pittin- 
 dreich,  formerly  domestic  chaplain  to  the  Earl  of  Argyle, 
 who  then  preached,  and  was  gathering  public  assemblies 
 6f  the  people  at  P^dinburgh  and  Tjeitli. 
 
8  AN  HISTORICAL  ACCOUNT  OF 
 
 When  the  Convention  of  Estates  met,  in  the  month 
 of  December,  Commissioners  were  appointed  to  proceed 
 to  Paris,  to  be  present  at  the  marriage  of  their  young 
 Queen  with  the  Dauphin ;  the  persons  chosen  to  com- 
 pose it  were  eight.  For  the  Spiritual  Estate — James 
 Beaton,  Archbishop  of  Glasgow,  Robert  Reid,  Bishop  of 
 Orkney,  and  James  Stewart,  Prior  of  St.  Andrews,  the 
 Queen's  natural  brother ;  for  the  Nobility — Gilbert 
 Kennedy,  Earl  of  Cassils,  George  Leslie,  Earl  of  Rothes, 
 and  James  Lord  Fleming  ;  for  the  Burgesses — George 
 Lord  Seaton,  Provost  of  Edinburgh,  and  John  Areskine, 
 of  Dun,  Provost  of  Montrose.  They  sailed  from  Leith 
 for  France,  in  the  month  of  February  1558,  and 
 experienced  most  disastrous  weather,  in  which  one  of 
 the  vessels  was  lost,  with  all  the  fLirniture  for  the 
 marriage,  which  was  very  rich  and  costl}^ ;  nor  Avas 
 the  expedition  less  disastrous  to  the  embassage — 
 the  Earl  of  Rothes,  the  Earl  of  Cassils,  and  the  Lord 
 Fleming  all  died  in  France,  and  being  all  friendly  to 
 the  Protestant  cause  it  was  strongly  suspected  that  they 
 had  been  poisoned,  especially  as  they  did  not  carry 
 with  them  the  matrimonial  crown  for  the  Dauphin,  at 
 which  his  father  was  highly  displeased.  The  survivors 
 returned  home  in  October  the  same  year. 
 
 The  absence  of  so  many  of  the  influential ,  reformers 
 seems  to  have  stimulated  the  Romanist  Priests  to  fresh 
 exertions  against  the  Reformers,  (the  Congregation), 
 especially  Mr.  John  Douglas,  whom  Archbishop  Ha- 
 milton was  exceedingly  desirous  to  have  in  his  hands ; 
 but  whom  he  knew  it  was  in  vain  to  think  of  taking 
 by  force  from  the  Earl  of  Argyle  ;  he  therefore  endea- 
 
COVENANTING  IN  SCOTLAND. 
 
 Toured  to  persuade  the  Earl  to  dismiss  him  from  his 
 service.  In  a  correspondence  carried  on  for  this  purpose, 
 March  1558,  he  reminded  the  Earl  of  the  high  anti- 
 quity of  his  house,  for  which  he  expressed  his  great 
 loYe  and  his  desire  that  it  should  ever  continue  pros- 
 perous and  free  from  blemish  ;  but  he  was  surprised 
 that  so  noble  a  man  should  be  seduced  by  a  perjured 
 apostate,  and  lamented  that  in  his  old  age  he  should 
 waver  from  the  faith  when  he  ought  to  be  more  than 
 ever  conformed  to  it  ;  he  represented  that  Douglas  was 
 chargeable  with  heresy,  and  with  spreading  pestilential 
 doctrines  ;  and  therefore  he  wished  that  the  Earl  would 
 put  him  from  his  company,  and  from  the  company  of 
 his  son  in  some  honest  way  ;  and  that  if  he  did  it  not, 
 danger  would  arise  to  him,  his  son,  and  their  friends. 
 He  also  represented  that  as  Primate  of  the  Church  of 
 Scotland  and  Legate-a-Latere,  all  the  evils  of  Doug- 
 las's heretical  doctrines  would  be  laid  to  his  charge  be- 
 fore God,  because  of  his  having  so  long  refrained  from 
 correcting  such  a  man  ;  upon  which  account  his  con- 
 science was  sorely  troubled,  and  many  persons  blamed 
 him  for  the  lenity  he  had  hitherto  exercised.  "  If  your 
 Lordship,"  continued  the  Archbishop,  "  desire  a  man  to 
 instruct  you  truly  in  the  faith,  I  will  provide  a  cunning^'" 
 man,  and  shall  put  my  soul  thereon  that  he  shall  teach 
 nothing  but  what  is  truly  according  to  our  Catholic 
 Faith."  The  Earl  greatly  thanked  tlie  Archbishop  for 
 the  love  which  he  professed  towards  him  and  his  house, 
 but  he  feared  no  danger,  for  he  had  always  been  true 
 to  his  Prince  and  his  God,  adding,  "  as  to  my  being  se- 
 
 *  Clover — skilful. 
 
10  AN  HISTORICAL  ACCOUNT  OF 
 
 duced  by  a  man-sworn  apostate,  may  the  God  who 
 created  the  heaven  and  the  earth,  and  all  that  is 
 therein,  preserve  me  from  being  so  seduced ;  but  I 
 dread  there  are  many  who  under  the  colour  of  godli- 
 ness, are  so  far  seduced  as  to  think  that  they  do  God 
 a  pleasure  when  they  persecute  those  who  profess  his 
 name.  If  this  man,  Mr.  Douglas,"  continued  he,  "  made 
 an  unlawful  oath,  viz.,  to  the  Popish  Church,  it  w^ere 
 better  for  him  to  violate  it  than  to  observe  it.  He 
 preaches  nothing  but  the  Evangel ;  and  if  he  were  to 
 preach  any  other  doctrine  we  would  not  believe  him — 
 nay,  not  even  an  angel  from  heaven.  We  hear  no  flat- 
 tery from  him  ;  he  sows  no  schism  or  divisions  but 
 such  as  may  stand  with  God's  word,  which  we  shall 
 cause  him  to  confess  in  the  presence  of  your  Lordship, 
 and  of  the  other  clergy  when  you  shall  require  him 
 thereto.  My  Lord,  I  waver  not  in  my  faith,  but  I 
 praise  God,  who,  in  his  goodness  to  me  in  my  latter 
 days,  has  in  his  infinite  mercy  revealed  his  grace, 
 making  me  to  acknowledge  his  Son  Jesus  Christ  to  be 
 one  sufficient  satisfaction  and  to  refuse  all  manner  of 
 idolatry.  I  cannot  put  away  this  man  without  his 
 being  an  offender,  and  I  cannot  well  want  him  or  some 
 other  preacher.  Your  Lordship  says  you  will  send  me 
 one  to  instruct  me  in  the  true  Catholic  Faith.  God 
 Almighty  send  us  many  of  that  sort,  who  will  teach  us 
 the  true  faith  and  nothing  else. — We  Highland  rude 
 people  have  need  of  them,  for  the  harvest  is  great,  and 
 there  are  but  few  labourers.  If  your  Lordship  will  pro- 
 vide me  such  a  man  I  will  provide  him  a  corporal  living  ; 
 and  I  am  able  to  maintain  more  than  one.     If  your 
 
COVENANTING  IN  SCOTLAND  11 
 
 Lordship  shall  please  to  call  this  man  to  confess  to  you 
 his  faith,  and  to  show  you  how  ftir  it  is  agreeable  to 
 the  Evangel  of  Jesus  Christ,  I  will  cause  him  to  attend, 
 will  assist  at  the  judgement,  and  with  God's  pleasure, 
 be  present  thereat,  that  he  may  render  reckoning  of 
 his  and  our  doctrine."  The  Archbishop  Hamilton,  ac- 
 cording to  Spottiswood,  was  a  person  of  dissolute  morals, 
 which  the  Earl  pointedly  alluded  to  in  his  concluding 
 remarks  on  Mr.  Douglas's  doctrine  : — "  This  man,"  says 
 he,  "  preaches  against  idolatry  ;  I  remit  to  your  Lord- 
 ship's conscience  if  that  be  heresy  or  not.  He  preaches 
 against  adultery  and  fornication  ;  I  refer  that  to  your 
 Lordship's  conscience.  He  preaches  against  all  abuses 
 and  corrupting  of  Christ's  sincere  religion  ;  I  refer  that 
 to  your  Lordship's  conscience.  My  Lord,  I  exhort  you, 
 in  Christ's  name,  to  weigh  all  these  affairs  in  your  con- 
 science, and  to  consider  if  it  be  your  duty  not  only  to 
 thole  (to  suffer)  or  permit  the  sethings,  but  in  like 
 manner  to  do  the  same.  This  is  all,  my  Lord,  in  which 
 I  vary  in  my  old  age,  and  in  no  other  thing  ;  for  I  knew 
 not  before  these  offences  to  be  abominable  to  God,  but 
 now,  knowing  his  will  by  the  manifestation  of  his  word, 
 I  abhor  them." 
 
 The  venerable  Earl  did  not  long  survive  this  corre- 
 spondence ;  he  died  in  August  the  same  year.  Knox 
 thus  mentions  his  death  : — "  Shortly  after  this,  the  Lord 
 called  to  himself  the  said  Earl  of  Argyle  from  the  mi- 
 series of  this  hfe  ;  whereof  the  Bishops  were  glad,  for 
 they  thought  that  their  great  enemy  was  taken  away. 
 But  God  disappointed  them  ;  for  as  the  said  Earl  de- 
 parted most  constant  in  the  true  faith  of  Jesus  Christ, 
 
12  AN  HISTORICAL  ACCOUNT  OF    • 
 
 with  a  plain  renunciation  of  all  impiety,  superstition, 
 and  idolatry,  so  he  left  it  in  his  testament  to  his  son 
 that  he  should  study  to  set  forward  the  public  and  true 
 preaching  of  the  Evangel  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  to  sup- 
 press all  superstition  and  idolatry  to  the  uttermost  of 
 his  power.  In  which  point,  small  fault  can  be  found 
 Avith  him  to  this  day,  the  10th  of  May,  1568/' 
 
 Disappointed  in  getting  hold  of  Mr.  Douglas,  the 
 Archbishop  determined  to  wTcak  his  vengeance  on 
 Walter  Mill,  an  aged  priest,  who  having  ceased  attend- 
 ing mass,  became  suspected  of  holding  "  the  new 
 opinions  ;''  and  he  caused  two  of  his  own  priests,  Sir 
 George  Strachan  and  Sir  Hugh  Torry,  to  apprehend 
 him,  which  they  did,  in  Dysart,  and  committed  him  to 
 the  castle  of  St.  Andrews,  where  he  was  earnestly  dealt 
 with,  in  order  to  induce  him  to  recant  and  acknowledge 
 his  errors.  He  continued,  however,  steadfast  ;  and  was 
 in  consequence,  ordered  to  stand  trial  before  a  court, 
 composed  of  the  Bishops  of  St.  Andrews,  Moray, 
 Brechin,  Caithness,  and  Athens  ;  the  Abbots  of  Dun- 
 fermline, Lindores,  Balmerinoch,  and  Cowper  ;  Dean 
 John  Winrame,  Sub-Prior  ;  John  Grison,  a  black  friar ; 
 Mr.  Wilham  Cranston,  Provost  of  the  College,  and 
 several  other  Doctors  of  the  University.  When  he 
 came  into  the  church,  where  the  court  was  held,  he 
 was  obliged  to  be  led  to  the  place  where  he  was  ap- 
 pointed to  stand  ;  he  looked  so  feeble,  partly  by  age 
 and  fatigue,  and  partly  by  ill-treatment,  that  it  was 
 supposed  no  one  would  be  able  to  hear  what  he  should 
 answer  :  yet,  no  sooner  did  he  begin  to  speak,  than  he 
 delivered  himself  with  a  readiness  of  reply  and  an  ele- 
 
COVENANTING  IN  SCOTLAND.  LS 
 
 vation  of  voice  which  amazed  his  enemies.  Having 
 knelt  to  pray,  Sir  Andrew  OUi)hant,  one  of  the  Arch- 
 bishop^s  priests,  when  ordering  him  to  answer  to  the 
 charges  brought  against  him,  addressed  him  thus : — "  Sir 
 Walter  Mill,  get  up  and  answer,  for  you  keep  my  lords 
 here  too  long."  He  continued,  however,  still  to  kneel 
 till  he  had  finished  his  devotions.  When  done,  he 
 arose  and  said,  "  We  ought  to  obey  God  rather  than 
 man  ;  I  serve  a  mightier  Lord  than  your  Lord  is. 
 And  when  you  call  me  Sir  Walter,  they  call  me  Walter, 
 not  Sir  Walter  ;  I  have  been  too  long  one  of  the  Pope's 
 knights.  Now,  say  what  you  have  to  say."  Oliphant 
 then  asked  him — "  What  thinkest  thou  of  priests'  mar- 
 riage ^ "  He  answ^ered — "  I  esteem  it  a  blessed  bond 
 ordained  by  God,  approved  by  Christ,  and  made  free 
 to  all  sorts  of  men  ;  but  you  abhor  it,  and  in  the  mean- 
 time, take  other  men's  wives  and  daughters — you  now 
 chastity,  and  keep  it  not."  Oliphant  then  proceeded — 
 "  Thou  sayest  that  there  is  not  seven  sacraments."  Mill 
 reulied — "  Give  me  the  Lord's  Supper  and  Baptism,  and 
 take  you  the  rest  and  part  them  amongst  you."  Oli- 
 phant—" Thou  sayest  that  the  mass  is  idolatry."  Mill — 
 "  A  lord  sendeth  and  calleth  many  to  his  dinner,  and 
 when  it  is  ready,  ringeth  the  bell,  and  they  come  unto  the 
 hall  ;  but  he,  turning  his  back  upon  the  guests,  eateth 
 all  himself,  giving  them  no  part — and  so  do  3^ou." 
 Oliphant — "  Thou  deniest  the  sacrament  of  the  altar  to 
 be  the  body  of  Christ  really  in  flesh  and  blood."  Mill — 
 *'  The  Scripture  is  not  to  be  taken  carnally,  but  spiritu- 
 ally ;  and  your  mass  is  wrong  :  for  Christ  was  once 
 oifered  on  the  cross  for  man's  sins,  and  will  never  be 
 
14  AN  HISTORICAL  ACCOUNT  OF 
 
 offered  again — for  then  he  put  an  end  to  all  sacrifices." 
 OHphant — "Thou  deniest  the  ofiice  of  a  bishop."  Mill — 
 "  I  affirm  they  whom  you  call  bishops  do  not  bishops' 
 works,  nor  use  the  offices  of  bishops,  but  live  after  their 
 own  sensual  pleasures,  taking  no  care  for  the  flock,  nor 
 yet  regarding  the  word  of  God."  Oliphant — "  Thou 
 speakest  against  pilgrimage,  and  callest  it  pilgrimage  to 
 whoredom."  Mill — "  I  say  that  pilgrimage  is  not  com- 
 manded in  the  Scripture  ;  and  that  there  is  no  greater 
 whoredom  in  any  place  than  in  your  pilgrimages,  except 
 it  be  in  the  common  brothels."  Oliphant — "  Thou 
 preachest  privatel}^  in  houses,  and  sometimes  in  the 
 fields."  Mill — "  Yea,  man  ;  and  upon  the  sea,  too,  when 
 I  am  sailing."  Oliphant — "  If  thou  wilt  not  recant  thy 
 opinions,  I  will  pronounce  sentence  against  thee."  Mill — 
 "  I  know  I  must  die  once  ;  therefore,  as  Christ  said  to 
 Judas,  '  Quod  facts  fac  cito'  [what  thou  doest,  do 
 quickly].  You  shall  know  that  I  will  not  recant  the 
 truth,  for  I  am  corn,  and  no  chaff :  I  will  neither  be 
 blown  d.\Ya.y  with  the  wind  nor  burst  with  the  flail,  but 
 will  abide  both." 
 
 This  frank  and  courageous  avowal  of  his  sentiments 
 by  the  accused  in  such  a  court,  was  pleading  guilty  to 
 the  charge  of  heresy  ;  and  Oliphant  accordingly  pro- 
 nounced sentence,  ordaining  him  to  be  delivered  over 
 to  the  temporal  judge,  and  burned  as  an  heretic.  Pro- 
 testant principles  had,  however,  now  so  much  gained 
 ground  on  public  opinion,  that  the  Bailift'  of  the  Regal- 
 ity absolutely  refused  to  sit  as  a  temporal  judge  ;  nor 
 in  the  whole  city  could  any  one  be  found  who  would 
 produce  a  cord,  or  even  sell  one,  for  money,  so  that  his 
 
COVENANTING  IN  SCOTLAND. 
 
 life  was  prolonged  for  a  day.  Next  morning,  a  domestic 
 of  the  Archbishop's,  Alexander  Somervaile,  "  a  wicked 
 and  flagitious  man,"  acting  as  judge,  condemned  him  to 
 the  flames  ;  and  the  ropes  of  the  Archbishop's  pavilion 
 were  used  to  bind  the  martyr.  When  brought  to  the 
 place  of  execution,  by  a  number  of  armed  men,  the 
 priest  ordered  him  to  go  to  the  stake.  "  No ! "  said  he, 
 "  I  will  not  go,  except  thou  put  me  up  with  thy  hand, 
 for  by  the  law  of  God  I  am  forbidden  to  put  hand  to 
 myself ;  but  wilt  thou  put  to  thy  hand  and  take  part 
 in  my  death,  thou  shalt  see  me  go  up  gladly." 
 
 On  which,  Oliphant  pushing  him  forward,  he  went 
 up  with  a  cheerful  countenance,  saying,  "  Introiho  ad 
 altare  Dei"  [I  will  go  to  the  altar  of  God,]  and  desired 
 he  might  be  permitted  to  speak  to  the  people.  Oliphant 
 told  him  he  had  spoken  too  much  already,  and  that  the 
 bishops  were  displeased  at  the  delay  ;  and  the  execu- 
 tioners interfering,  some  young  men,  desiring  both 
 executioners  and  bishops  to  go  to  the  devil,  expressed 
 their  wish  that  he  should  speak  what  he  chose.  He 
 then  knelt,  and  after  offering  up  a  prayer,  arose  and 
 spake  thus  to  the  people — "  Dear  friends,  the  cause  why 
 I  suffer  this  day  is  not  for  any  crime  laid  to  my  charge, 
 though  I  acknowledge  myself  a  miserable  sinner  before 
 God,  but  only  for  the  defence  of  Jesus  Christ,  set  forth 
 in  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  for  which  so  many 
 faithful  martyrs  have  offered  their  lives  most  gladly, 
 being  assured,  after  their  death,  to  enjoy  endless  feli- 
 city ;  so  this  day  I  praise  God  that  he  hath  called  me 
 of  his  mercy,  amongst  the  rest  of  his  servants,  to  seal 
 up  his  truth  with  my  life,  which  as  I  have  received  of 
 
16  AX  HISTORICAL  ACTOUNT  OF 
 
 him,  so  willingly  I  offer  it  to  his  glory.  Therefore,  if 
 you  would  escape  eternal  death,  he  no  more  seduced 
 with  the  lies  of  the  priests,  monks,  friars,  priors,  abbots, 
 bishops,  and  the  rest  of  the  sect  of  antichrist  ;  but  de- 
 pend only  upon  Jesus  Christ  and  his  mercy,  that  you 
 may  be  delivered  from  condemnation."  The  spectators 
 looked  on,  weeping,  and  *'  made  a  great  lamentation, 
 for  they  were  exceedingly  moved  with  his  address." 
 His  last  words,  when  the  flames  kindled  around  him, 
 were — "  Lord,  have  mercy  on  me  !  pray,  good  people, 
 whilst  there  is  time." 
 
 This  was  the  last  martyr  that  died  in  Scotland  for 
 rehgion  under  the  Papacy  ;  "  and  his  death,"  remarks 
 Spottiswood,  "  was  the  very  death  of  Popery  in  this 
 realme.  The  citizens,"  he  adds,  "  took  his  death  so 
 grievously  that,  lest  it  should  be  forgotten,  they  made 
 up  a  great  heap  of  stones  in  the  place  where  his  body 
 was  burnt  ;  and  when  the  priests  had  caused  the  heap 
 twice  or  thrice  to  be  carried  away,  denouncing  such  as 
 should  bring  any  stones  thither  accursed,  still  it  was 
 i-enewed,  until  watches  were  appointed  to  see  who  they 
 were  that  brought  any  stones  to  the  place,  and  charge 
 given  to  apprehend  them.  The  Lords  of  the  Congre- 
 gation complained  to  the  Queen  Regent,  who  promised 
 to  call  the  Archbishop  to  account  for  his  conduct,  for 
 she  imputed  the  Avhole  transaction  to  him,  but  she 
 never  proceeded  farther  in  the  matter.  As,  however, 
 the  meeting  of  Parliament  approached,  and  she  was 
 eagerly  desirous  to  obtain  their  consent  to  grant  the 
 matrimonial  crown  to  the  Dauphin,  she  was  very  liberal 
 in  her  promises,  and  assured  them  if  that  could  be 
 
COVENANTING  IN  SCOTLAND.  17 
 
 accomplished,  she  would  accede  to  whatever  they  wished 
 with  regard  to  religion  ;  they,  therefore,  were  the  most 
 zealous  in  forwarding  her  object.  In  Parliament  all 
 went  smoothly,  the  wishes  of  the  French  king  ^verc 
 gratified,  and  a  treaty  of  peace  concluded  between 
 France,  England,  and  Scotland ;  but,  as  soon  as  it 
 arose,  the  Queen  Regent,  supposing  there  was  no  longer 
 any  necessity  for  dissembhng,  began  to  show  a  very 
 altered  countenance  to  the  professors  of  the  gospel. 
 She  ordered  the  Easter  Communion  to  be  celebrated, 
 and  strictly  enjoined  all  the  people  to  attend  mass, 
 especially  at  Montrose,  Dundee,  and  Perth,  and  all  the 
 places  wdiere  the  principles  of  the  Reformers  had  taken 
 effect,  and  w^ere  openly  avowed.  But  this  being  de- 
 cidedly refused,  she  got  highly  enraged,  and  ordered 
 all  the  preachers  to  be  summoned  to  compear  at  Stir- 
 hng,  the  tenth  of  May  1559.  The  professors  of  Dun- 
 dee, and  the  gentlemen  of  Angus  and  Mearns,  accom- 
 panied their  preachers,  intending  to  make  open  confes- 
 sion of  their  holding  similar  principles,  and  to  defend 
 them  in  case  of  any  attack  upon  their  persons,  but  pro- 
 ceeded no  further  than  Perth,  being  stopped  on  their 
 journey  by  a  messenger  from  the  Regent,  who  met 
 them  with  fair  speeches,  to  which  they  gave  full  credit ; 
 meanwdiile,  the  preachers  not  appearing  at  the  day  ap- 
 pointed were  denounced  as  rebels. 
 
 At  this  critical  juncture,  Mr.  John  Knox  most  op- 
 portunely arrived.  He  had  intended  to  come  through 
 England,  and  to  visit  his  friends,  with  whom  he  had 
 held  communion  when  all  were  in  exile  at  Geneva,  but 
 could  not  obtain  a  passport  from  Elizabeth,  who  now 
 
 B 
 
18  AN  HISTORICAL  ACCOUNT  OF 
 
 reigned,  as  she  was  highly  offended  with  his  "  First 
 Blast  of  the  Trumpet  against  the  monstrous  Regiment 
 of  Women/'  -  He,  therefore,  came  home  by  sea,  and 
 landed  at  Leith  on  the  2d  of  May,  whence  he  went 
 with  all  expedition  to  St.  Johnston  (Perth)  to  assist  his 
 brethren,  and  give  confession  of  his  faith  with  them. 
 In  one  of  his  earliest  sermons  (if  not  his  first)  he  in- 
 veighed against  the  veneration  of  images,  and  declared 
 what  commandments  God  had  given  for  the  destruction 
 of  all  the  monuments  of  idolatry  as  tending  to  his  dis- 
 honour ;  and  that  such  idols  and  monuments  of  super- 
 stition as  were  erected  in  churches  ought  to  be  pulled 
 down,  they  being  offensive  to  all  good  and  godly  people. 
 The  sermon  being  ended,  and  the  better  sort  gone 
 to  dinner,  a  priest,  opening  "  a  glorious  tabernacle,"  "^^ 
 standing  above  the  high  altar,  preparing  in  contempt 
 to  say  mass,  a  young  boy  cried  out,  "  This  is  intoler- 
 able ;"  on  which  the  priest  gave  him  a  blow  ;  and  the 
 boy,  in  return,  hfting  a  stone,  threw  it  at  the  priest, 
 but  missing  him,  it  hit  the  tabernacle,  and  broke  down 
 an  image ;  "  whereupon  a  great  stirre  was  presently 
 raised,  some  of  the  common  sort  falling  upon  the  priest, 
 others  running  to  the  altar  and  breaking  down  the 
 images,  so  as  in  a  moment  all  was  pulled  down  in  the 
 church  that  carried  any  mark  of  idolatry,  befpre  a  tenth 
 man  in  the  town  knew  anything  of  the  matter  ;  but  so 
 soon  as  this  was  noised  abroad,  the  rascal  multitude 
 assembled,  and  finding  nothing  to  do  in  the  kirk,  they 
 ran  to  the  monasteries,  and  invading  the  cloysters,  made 
 
 *  A  great  case,  whei-ein  was  the  historie  of  divers  saints,  exquisitly  carved. — 
 Spottis<wood''s  History  of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  p.  121. 
 
COVENANTING  IN  SCOTLAND.  19 
 
 spoile  of  all  they  found  therein."  The  Franciscans  had 
 store  of  provision,  both  of  victuals  and  of  household 
 stuff;  the  Dominicans,  though  not  quite  so  well  pro- 
 vided, had  yet  sufficient  to  show  that  the  profession 
 they  made  of  poverty  was  not  remarkably  well  founded; 
 the  Carthusians  surpassed  both  in  wealth,  yet  was  the 
 Prior  permitted  to  carry  off  the  gold  and  silver  plate  ; 
 nor  did  any  of  the  respectable  citizens  touch  an  article, 
 but  I'ather  allowed  the  monks  and  friars  to  take  away 
 as  much  as  they  could  of  their  property. 
 
 Tidings  of  these  horrible  sacrileges  being  brought  to 
 the  Queen  Regent,  she  vowed  that  she  would  devote 
 the  town  to  utter  destruction,  and  salt  it  with  salt,  in 
 token  of  perpetual  desolation.  The  Congregation  treat- 
 ing this  menace  as  a  mere  ebullition  of  angry  feeling 
 returned  to  their  homes,  and  left  John  Knox  at  Perth 
 to  instruct  the  inhabitants,  considering  them  "  but  yet 
 young  and  rude  in  Christ."  The  Queen  Regent,  how- 
 ever, denounced  them  as  rebels,  and  prepared  to  carry 
 her  threats  into  execution.  The  Lords  of  the  Congre- 
 gation prepared  to  meet  her,  and  being  reinforced, 
 were  able  to  present  so  formidable  a  front,  that  the 
 Queen  Regent  considered  it  expedient  to  enter  into  an 
 arrangement  with  them,  by  which  it  was  agreed  that 
 none  of  the  inhabitants  should  be  called  to  account  for 
 the  destruction  of  the  monasteries,  that  no  one  should 
 be  interrupted  in  the  exercise  of  his  religion,  and  the 
 preaching  of  the  gospel  should  be  left  free.  Yet,  to 
 show  the  sincerity  of  their  desires  for  peace,  and  their 
 wilhngness  to  render  all  due  obedience  to  the  Queen 
 Regent  in  other  matters,  they  consented  to  withdraw 
 
20  AN  HISTORICAL  ACCOUNT  OF 
 
 from  the  place,  and  to  allow  her  to  enter  the  town,  and 
 depart  at  her  pleasure,  only  she  should  bring  no  French 
 soldiers  with  her.'"" 
 o¥ena5t  Before  separating,  the  Congregations  of  the  West  and 
 1579.  of  the  North,  again  entered  into  Covenant  together, 
 "  according  to  the  good  hand  and  spirit  of  God  upon 
 his  servants,  in  these  words  : — 
 
 "  At  Perth,  the  last  day  of  May,  the  year  of  God 
 1559,  the  Congregations  of  the  West  country,  wdth  the 
 Congregations  of  Fife,  Perth,  Dundee,  Angus,  Mearnes, 
 and  Montrose,  being  convened  in  the  towne  of  Perth, 
 in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ,  for  setting  forth  of  his 
 glory,  understanding  nothing  more  necessary  for  the 
 same  than  to  keep  a  constant  amity  and  fellowship 
 together,  according  as  they  are  commanded  by  God, 
 are  confederate,  and  become  bound  and  obliged  in  the 
 presence  of  God  to  concur  and  assist  together  in  doing 
 all  things  required  of  God  in  his  Scripture  that  may  be 
 to  his  glory,  and  at  thair  whole  powders  to  destroy  and 
 put  away  all  things  that  doth  dishonour  to  his  name, 
 so  that  God  may  be  truley  and  purely  worshipped. 
 And  in  case  that  any  trouble  be  intended  against  the 
 said  Congregation,  or  any  part  or  member  thereof,  the 
 whole  Congregation  shall  concur,  assist,  and  convene 
 together  to  the  defence  of  the  same  Congregation  or 
 persons  troubled  ;  and  shall  not  spare  labours,  goods, 
 substance,  bodies,  and  lives  in  maintaining  the  liberty 
 of  the  whole  Congregation,  and  every  member  thereof, 
 against  whatsoever  person  shall  intend  the  said  trouble 
 
 *  All  Scottish  men  receiving  foreign  pay   were  counted   French  soldiers  ; 
 and  such  were  many  in  the  Regent's  army. 
 
COVENANTING  IN  SCOTLAND.  21 
 
 for  cause  of  religion,  or  any  other  cause  depending 
 thereupon,  or  layed  to  their  charge  under  pretence 
 thereof,  although  it  happen  to  be  coloured  with  any 
 other  outward  cause." 
 
 On  the  very  day  on  which  the  above  agreement  was 
 signed,  and  the  Congregation  had  left  Perth,  the  Queen 
 Regent  entered  the  town  with  her  troops,  and,  in  direct 
 violation  of  what  the  Lords  had  considered  one  of  the 
 principal  articles,  brought  some  French  soldiers  along 
 with  her.  Their  entrance  was  marked  by  an  act  of 
 wanton  cruelty  :  in  passing  the  house  of  Patrick  Mur- 
 ray, a  citizen  distinguished  for  his  zeal  in  support  of  the 
 reformed  religion,  a  shot  was  fired,  which  killed  his  son, 
 a  boy  of  about  thirteen  years  of  age,  who  was  looking 
 at  the  Regent's  army.  The  body  of  the  murdered 
 child  was  brought  and  laid  before  her  lodging ;  wdien 
 informed  of  the  unhappy  incident,  her  unfeeling  remark 
 was — "  The  case  was  to  be  pitied ;  and  the  more  so, 
 that  it  had  fallen  on  the  son  and  not  on  the  father ;  but 
 she  could  not  help  misfortunes."  When  reminded  that 
 she  had  engaged  not  to  bring  any  French  soldiers  with 
 her,  she  replied — "  Promises  were  not  to  be  kept  with 
 heretics  ;  and,  besides,  Princes  ought  not  to  have  their 
 promises  so  strictly  urged." 
 
 Such  deceitful  conduct  excited  universal  indignation 
 among  the  people,  and  proved  the  ruin  of  her  own 
 government,  for  the  Earl  of  Argyle,  and  Lord  James 
 Stew^art,  who  had  negociated  the  pacification,  consider- 
 ing their  honour  stained  by  this  breach  of  the  terms, 
 forsook  her,  and  w^ent  over  to  the  Congregation,  declar- 
 ing "  they  would  have  no  more  meddling  in  such  dis- 
 
22  AN  HISTOEICAL  ACCOUNT  OF 
 
 honest  courses,  but  do  their  best  to  repair  the  mischief." 
 Apprehending  that  the  Regent,  displeased  with  their 
 conduct,  might  make  some  sudden  attempt  against  the 
 cause,  they  requested  a  general  meeting  of  the  Lords  ; 
 and  all  who  favoured  the  true  religion,  in  the  counties 
 of  Angus  and  Mearnes,  to  meet  at  St.  Andrews,  early 
 in  June. 
 
 In  the  meanwhile,  they  themselves  went  to  Crail,  where 
 John  Knox  at  this  time  was,  whither  all  the  professors, 
 to  whom  they  could  send  notice,  also  came.  Here  they 
 were  addressed  by  Knox,  who,  in  a  sermon,  reminded 
 them  how  he  had  warned  them  at  Perth  against  trust- 
 ing to  the  Regent's  promises,  as  there  was  no  since- 
 rity in  her  dealing,  nor  would  any  of  the  conditions 
 agreed  upon  be  kept.  This  they  had  now  found  to  be 
 the  case  ;  he,  therefore,  advised  them  to  be  no  longer 
 deluded  by  fair  speeches,  seeing  there  was  no  peace  to 
 be  hoped  for  at  their  hands,  who  paid  no  regard  to  the 
 contracts  they  had  solemnly  sworn  to  observe  ;  and  as 
 there  would  be  no  rest  till  one  of  the  parties  were  mas- 
 ters, and  all  strangers  expelled  the  kingdom,  he  ex- 
 horted them  to  quit  themselves  like  men  resolved  to 
 prove  victorious  or  die. 
 
 The  hearers,  being  highly  excited  by  this  address, 
 immediately  pulled  down  the  altars  and  images,  and 
 destroyed  all  the  monuments  abused  to  idolatry  in  the 
 town.  Next  day  a  similar  scene  took  place  at  An- 
 struther.  From  thence  they  came  directly  to  St.  An- 
 drews, where  they  arrived  on  the  9  th  of  June. 
 
 The  Archbishop,  hearing  of  what  they  had  done  in 
 the  coast  towns,   and    apprised  of  Knox's   design  to 
 
COVENANTING  IN  SCOTLAND.  23 
 
 preach  in  his  cathedral,  assembled  an  armed  force,  and 
 sent  him  notice  that  if  he  mounted  his  pulpit  he  would 
 order  his  soldiers  to  fire.  The  noblemen,  thereupon, 
 would  have  persuaded  him  to  desist,  but  he  intrepidly 
 replied  to  their  solicitations  :  That  he  could  take  God 
 to  witness  that  he  never  preached  in  contempt  of  any 
 man,  nor  with  the  design  of  hurting  an  earthly  creature ; 
 but  to  delay  to  preach  that  day  (unless  forcibly  hindered) 
 he  could  not  in  conscience  agree.  In  that  town,  and  in 
 that  church,  had  God  first  raised  him  to  the  dignity  of 
 a  preacher  :  and  from  it  he  had  been  reft  by  French 
 tyranny,  at  the  instigation  of  the  Scottish  bishops. 
 The  length  of  his  imprisonment,  and  the  tortures  which 
 he  had  endured,  he  could  not  at  present  recite  ;  but  one 
 thing  he  could  not  conceal,  that,  in  the  hearing  of  many 
 yet  alive,  he  had  expressed  his  confident  hope  of  again 
 preaching  at  St.  Andrews.  Now,  therefore,  when  Pro- 
 vidence, beyond  all  men's  expectations,  had  brought 
 him  to  that  place,  he  besought  them  not  to  hinder  him, 
 adding,  "  As  for  the  fear  of  danger  that  may  come  to 
 me,  let  no  man  be  solicitous  ;  for  my  life  is  in  the  cus- 
 tody of  him  whose  glory  I  seek.  I  desire  the  hand  nor 
 weapon  of  no  man  to  defend  me.  I  only  crave  audi- 
 ence ;  which  if  it  be  denied  here  unto  me  at  this  time, 
 I  must  seek  where  I  may  have  it." 
 
 Next  day,  being  Sunday,  Knox  preached  in  the 
 parish  kirk,  taking  for  his  subject,  our  Saviour's  casting 
 the  buyers  and  sellers  out  of  the  temple,  and  applying 
 the  corruption  which  was  at  that  time  in  Jerusalem  to 
 the  then  present  state  of  the  Church  in  Scotland,  he 
 took  occasion  to  expose  the  enormous  corruptions  which 
 
24  AN  HISTORICAL  ACCOUNT  OF 
 
 had  been  introduced  into  the  Church  under  the  Papacy 
 and  to  point  out  what  was  incumbent  upon  Christians 
 in  their  different  spheres  for  removing  them.  The  ex- 
 citation occasioned  by  this  discourse  was  as  great  as 
 by  his  former,  and  similar  consequences  followed  ;  "  the 
 auditors/"*  as  soon  as  the  sermon  was  ended,  went  all 
 and  made  spoil  of  the  churches,  razing  the  monasteries 
 of  the  Black  and  the  Grey  Friars  to  the  ground. 
 
 Immediately  the  Queen  Regent  ordered  the  French 
 troops  to  march  upon  St.  Andrews,  and  issued  a  pro- 
 clamation summoning  all  loyal  subjects  to  attend  her  in 
 arms  next  morning  at  Coupar.  The  Lords  of  the  Con- 
 gregation on  receiving  intelligence  of  the  proposed  ar- 
 ray, anticipated  her  Majesty,  and  that  same  night  went 
 thither,  though  their  force  only  amounted  to  about  one 
 hundred  horse  and  about  as  many  foot,  but  such  was 
 the  enthusiasm  of  the  people  that  before  ten  o'clock 
 next  morning  the  "  gathering''  mustered  more  than 
 three  thousand  men.  The  Earl  of  Rothes  and  Lord 
 Ruthven  were  accompanied  by  many  of  the  Lothian 
 gentlemen.  The  Lairds  of  Calder,  Ormiston,  Restalrig, 
 Hatton,  and  Colston  were  slenderly  attended,  as  they 
 had  only  received  short  notice,  but  their  presence  did 
 greatly  encourage  the  others,  w^hile  the  inhabitants  of 
 Dundee,  St.  Andrew^s,  and  Coupar  showed  the  greatest 
 boldness  and  heart  in  the  camp.  Early  on  Monday 
 morning,  the  troops  of  the  Congregation  were  drawn  up 
 on  the  west  side  of  the  moor,  under  the  direction  of 
 Mr.  James  Halyburton,  provost  of  Dundee,  a  man  of 
 much  experience  and  gi-eatly  esteemed  both  for  valour 
 and  talents.     The  Queen  Regent's  army,  the  French 
 
COVENANTING  IN  SCOTLAND.  25 
 
 commanded  by  Mons.  D'Oscll,  and  the  Scots  by  the 
 Duke  of  Chattcllerault,  (Hamilton,)  drawn  up  in  order 
 of  battle,  halted  on  the  opposite  banks  of  a  small  river, 
 but  the  morning  was  so  foggy  that  they  could  not  see 
 one  another,  and  were  thus  prevented  from  engaging. 
 
 When  the  air  began  to  clear  the  French  sent  spies 
 to  ascertain  the  strength  of  the  Congregation,  who,  per- 
 ceiving a  number  of  servants  and  others  assembled  be- 
 hind the  troops,  reported  at  their  return  that  they  were 
 much  more  formidable  than  they  really  were  ;  at  the 
 same  time  the  Scots  in  the  Eegent's  army  showed  a 
 spirit  of  mutiny,  many  openly  declaring  that  they 
 would  not  fight  against  their  friends  and  countrymen 
 for  the  pleasure  of  strangers ;  she  expressed  to  the  Lords 
 a  desire  for  some  arrangement,  and  truce  was  entered 
 into  at  Garlibank,  13th  of  June  1559,  for  eight  days, 
 till  commissioners  should  be  appointed  with  sufficient 
 powers  to  conclude  a  solid  peace ;  meanwhile  the 
 French  should  be  withdrawn. 
 
 The  Lords  then  returned  to  Coupar,  and  dismissing 
 the  multitude  proceeded  to  St.  Andrews,  where  the 
 meeting  was  to  be  held  ;  no  messengers  however  from 
 the  Regent  made  their  appearance,  but  complaints  being 
 brought  daily  from  Perth  of  the  oppressions  the  towns- 
 men suffered  from  the  Laird  of  K^infauns,  whom  the 
 Queen  Regent  had  forced  upon  them  as  provost,  the 
 Earl  of  Argyle  and  Lord  James  Stewart  wrote  to  her 
 Majesty  complaining  of  her  breach  of  agreement,  when, 
 receiving  no  answer,  they  laid  siege  to  Perth,  which 
 surrendered  after  a  very  short  show  of  resistance,  and 
 the  inhabitants  cheerfully  rejoined  the  Congregation. 
 
26  AN  HISTORICAL  ACCOUNT  OF 
 
 Next  day,  a  message  was  sent  by  the  Lords  to  the 
 Bishop  of  Moray  (Patrick  Hepburn),  who  was  residing 
 in  Scone  Abbey,  and  had  threatened  Perth,  that  unless 
 he  came  in  to  them  they  could  not  promise  that  his 
 palace  would  be  secure.  To  this  warning  no  attention 
 was  paid,  whereupon  the  men  of  Dundee,  who  were 
 highly  incensed  against  the  bishop  for  his  violent  con- 
 duct towards  Walter  Mill,  marched  off  for  Scone  ;  a 
 party  was  sent  after  them  to  prevent  mischief,  but  upon 
 their  arrival  at  the  place,  finding  the  church  filled  with 
 clerical  treasure,  which  had  been  brought  there  for  pre- 
 servation, the  multitude  could  not  be  stayed  till  the 
 ornaments  of  the  church  were  destroyed — yet  the  Lords 
 so  far  succeeded,  that  for  that  night  the  church  and 
 palace  were  spared  ;  but  on  the  following  day,  some  few 
 persons  going  to  look  after  what  had  been  done,  were 
 rudely  attacked  by  the  bishop's  servants,  and  one,  it 
 was  said,  run  through  with  a  rapier,  by  a  son  of  the 
 bishop,  because  he  happened  to  look  in  at  the  girnel- 
 door.  The  people  re-assembled  highly  enraged  and 
 were  easily  excited  to  set  fire  to  the  palace,  and  quickly 
 reduced  the  ancient  residence  of  our  Scottish  Kings  to 
 a  mutilated  ruin. 
 
 Many  were  offended,  when  an  ancient  woman,  hear- 
 ing them  take  it  so  ill,  said  : — "  Now  I  see  God's  judg- 
 ments are  just,  and  that  no  man  can  save  where  God 
 will  punish ;  since  I  remember,  this  place  has  been 
 nothing  else  but  a  den  of  whoremongers ;  it  is  incre- 
 dible how  many  wives  have  been  abused  and  young  wo- 
 men deflowered  by  these  filthy  beasts,  which  have  been 
 fostered  in  this  den,  especially  by  that  wicked  man  who 
 
COVENANTING  IN  SCOTLAND.  27 
 
 is  called  the  bishop  ;  if  every  man  knew  all  as  well  as  I, 
 they  would  praise  God  and  no  man  would  be  offended." 
 Next  morning  all  the  monasteries  in  Stirling  were  like- 
 wise levelled,  and  all  the  altars  and  images  in  the 
 churches  in  the  town  and  neighbourhood  defaced ;  at 
 the  same  time  the  Abbey  of  Cambuskenneth  was  cast 
 down.  After  resting  three  days,  on  the  fourth  the 
 Lords  marched  for  Edinburgh,  and  taking  Linlithgow 
 in  their  way,  treated  the  monasteries  there  in  a  simi- 
 lar manner. 
 
 A  rumour  of  their  approach  having  reached  the 
 capital,  Lord  Seton,  the  provost,  who  had  undertaken 
 the  protection  of  the  Black  and  Grey  Friars,  abandoned 
 his  charge  and  left  all  to  the  mercy  of  the  multitude, 
 who,  before  the  arrival  of  the  Lords,  had  demolished 
 every  monastery  within  the  town,  and  carried  off  every 
 moveable  of  value  they  could  lay  their  hands  on.  The 
 Queen  Regent,  when  apprised  of  the  formidable  array 
 of  the  Congregation,  and  perceiving  that  but  little  reh- 
 ance  could  be  placed  upon  the  native  Scots  in  her  army, 
 endeavoured  to  disunite  the  leaders  :  of  this  the  Lords 
 were  aware,  and  in  order  to  counteract  her  attempts, 
 before  leaving  Stirling  on  the  1st  of  August,  entered 
 into  a  new  "bond,''  or  "covenant,"  in  the  following 
 terms  : — "  We  foreseeins;  the  craft  and  slioht  of  our  ad- 
 
 *-*  ^  15.)9 
 
 versaries,  who  try  all  ways  to  circumvene  us,  and  by 
 privy  means  intend  to  assault  every  one  of  us,  particu- 
 larly by  fair  heights  and  promises,  thereby  to  separate 
 us  one  from  another  to  our  utter  ruin  and  destruction  : 
 for  remedy  thereof  we  faithfully  and  truly  bind  us  in 
 the  presence  of  God,  and  as  we  tender  the  maintaining 
 
 THIRD 
 COVENANT. 
 
28  AN  HISTORICAL  ACCOUNT  OF 
 
 of  true  religion,  that  none  of  us  shall  in  time  coming 
 pass  to  the  Queen  Dowager  to  talk  or  commune  with 
 her,  for  any  letter  or  message  sent  by  her  unto  us,  or 
 yet  to  be  sent  without  consent  of  the  rest  or  common 
 consultation  thereupon  ;  and  how  soon  either  writing  or 
 message  shall  come  from  her  unto  us,  with  all  diligence 
 we  shall  notify  the  same  one  to  another,  so  that  nothing 
 shall  proceed  therein  without  common  consent  of  us  all." 
 They  then  appointed  the  next  meeting  to  be  held  at 
 Stirling,  September  10th,  and  then  parted. 
 
 Previously  to  their  meeting.  Lord  James  had  re- 
 ceived two  letters  of  similar  import  from  the  King  and 
 Queen  of  France,  which  he  now  resolved  to  answer. 
 The  letter  from  his  Majesty  was  as  follows  : — 
 
 "  From  the  King  of  France,  to  James,  Prior  of  St. 
 
 Andrews, 
 
 "  Cousin, — When  I  understand,  as  well  by  letters 
 as  by  common  report,  the  tumults  raised  at  this  time 
 in  Scotland,  I  was  much  commoved ;  especially  when 
 it  was  said  that  you,  to  whom  my  dear  wife,  my  father 
 deceased,  and  myself  have  given  so  many  benefices, 
 should  be  the  head  and  principal  fosterer  of  the  same. 
 That  you  should  be  so  forgetful  of  our  love,  and  of  the 
 duty  you  have  at  all  times  professed  unto  the  Queen, 
 I  would  not  believe  ;  or  if  it  was  so,  as  the  fame  com- 
 monly reporteth,  I  did  think  that  you  were  induced, 
 by  the  promises  and  flattering  persuasions  of  others, 
 to  take  the  fault  upon  you,  whereof  they  were  the 
 cause,  supposing  the  offence  would  be  esteemed  either 
 none  or  very  small  in  your  person.     This  my  conceit 
 
COVENANTING  IN  SCOTLAND.  29 
 
 of  you,  if  it  be  true,  shall  be  as  joyfuU  to  me  as  that 
 which  should  be  most  joyfull ;  for  I  should  wish,  by 
 this  means,  some  part  of  my  displeasure  mitigated, 
 into  which  you  are  worthily  fallen,  having  deceived 
 the  hope  which  I  had  of  your  piety  towards  God,  and 
 your  faithful  service  towards  myself.  Therefore,  since 
 nothing  can  be  more  acceptable  to  me  than  to  hear 
 that  controversies  are  composed,  and  all  things  com- 
 pacted without  tumult,  according  to  law  and  good  order ; 
 and  since  I  am  persuaded  this  may  be  easily  done  by 
 your  credit,  I  thought  meet  to  advertise  you  by  these 
 letters  ;  and  for  the  good  will  I  bear  j^ou,  I  do  earnestly 
 request  that  you  will  return  to  the  obedience  from 
 wliicli  you  have  foully  fallen,  that  so  I  may  see  you 
 carry  another  mind  than  that  which  your  foolish  actions 
 have  manifested.  *  This  will  appear  to  be  so,  if  you 
 apply  your  diligence  to  bring  these  things,  which  now 
 are  out  of  order  in  those  parts,  back  again  to  the 
 ancient  and  sound  form  of  obedience  which  you  know 
 is  due  to  God  and  me.  Otherwise,  T  would  have  you, 
 and  all  those  that  adhere  unto  you,  perswaded  that, 
 ere  it  be  long,  I  shall  take  such  punishment  of  you  and 
 them  as  your  wickedness  deserveth,  which  I  have  given 
 the  bearer  charge  to  make  known  unto  you  at  more 
 length,  whom  I  will  you  to  credit  as  myself,  praying 
 God,  my  Cousin,  to  have  you  in  his  protection.  Paris, 
 the  17  day  of  July,  1559." 
 
 To  this  epistle.  Lord  James  returned  the  following 
 answer,  which  was  shown  by  the  ambassador  fn-st  to 
 the  Queen  Regent  : — 
 
 "SiiJ,  —  My  most  humble  duty  remembered;  your 
 
30  AN  HISTORICAL  ACCOUNT  OF 
 
 Majesty's  letter  I  received  from  Paris,  July  17,  im- 
 }3orting  in  effect  that  your  Majesty  cloth  marvel  that  I, 
 being  forgetful  of  the  graces  and  favours  shewed  me 
 by  the  King  of  bl.  memory,  your  Ma.  self,  and  the 
 Queen  my  sovereign,  have  declared  myself  head,  and 
 one  of  the  principal  beginners  of  these  alledged  tumults 
 and  seditions   in   those   parts,  deceiving  hereby  your 
 Majesty's  expectation  in  all  times  had   of  me,   with 
 assurance  that  if  I  do  not  declare  by  contrary  effect 
 my  repentance,  I,  with  the  rest  that  have  put  or  yet 
 may  put  hands  to  this  work,  shall  receive  that  reward 
 which  we  have    deserved.      Sir,   it   grieves  me  very 
 heavily  that  the  crime  of  ingratitude  is  laid  to  my 
 charge  by  your  Majesty  ;  and  the  rather,  that  I  per- 
 ceive the  same  to  have  proceeded  of  sinister  information 
 of  them  whose  part  it  was  not  to  have  reported  so,  if 
 true  ser^dce  past  had  been  regarded  ;  and  as  for  repent- 
 ance and  declaration  of  the  same,  by  certain  effects 
 that  your  Majesty  desireth  I  show,  my  conscience  per- 
 swades  me  in  those  proceedings  to  have  done  nothing 
 against  God,  nor  the  dutiful  obedience  towards  your 
 Majesty  nor  the  Queen  my  sovereign.     Otherwise  it 
 should  not  have  been  to  be  repented,  and  also  it  should 
 have  been  repented  already,  according  to  your  Majesty's 
 expectation  of  me.     But  your  Majesty  being  truly  in- 
 formed and  perswaded  that  the  thing  which  we  have 
 done  makes  for  the  advancement  of  God's  glory,  with- 
 out any  manner  of  derogation  to  your  Majesty's  due 
 obedience,  we  doubt  not  but  your  Majesty  shall  be  well 
 contented  with  our  proceedings,  which  being  grounded 
 on  the  commandment  of  the  eternal  God,  we  dare  not 
 
COVENANTING  IN  SCOTLAND.  31 
 
 leave  the  same  unaccomplished,  only  wishing  and  de- 
 siring yom^  Majesty  might  know  the  same  and  the 
 truth  thereof,  as  we  are  perswaded  in  our  consciences, 
 and  all  them  that  are  truly  instructed  in  the  eternal 
 w^ord  of  our  God,  upon  wdiom  we  cast  our  care  from  all 
 dangers  that  may  follow  the  accomplishment  of  his 
 eternal  wdll,  and  to  w^liom  we  commend  your  Majesty, 
 beseeching  him  to  illuminate  your  heart  with  the  gospel 
 of  his  eternal  truth,  to  know  your  Majesty's  duty  to- 
 wards your  poor  subjects,  God's  chosen  people,  and 
 what  you  ought  to  crave  justly  of  them  again  ;  for  then 
 we  should  have  no  occasion  to  fear  your  Majesty's  wTath 
 and  indignation,  nor  your  Majesty  have  any  suspicion  of 
 our  obedience  ;  the  same  God  have  your  Majesty  in 
 his  eternal  safeguard.  At  Dumbarton,  August  12th, 
 15.99." 
 
 When  her  Majesty  had  read  this  letter,  she  tartly 
 remarked — "  So  proud  an  answer  was  never  given  to 
 any  king  or  princess."  Her  hopes  of  obtaining  the 
 complete  ascendency  being  raised  by  the  arrival  of  a 
 thousand  French  soldiers,  and  a  large  sum  of  money, 
 with  the  assurance  of  their  being  speedily  followed  by 
 fresh  reinforcements,  for  whose  reception  she  began  to 
 fortify  the  port  of  Leith,  which  would  afford  a  safe 
 landing-place  and  a  secure  citadel,  whence  she  niiglit 
 hurl  defiance  at  all  opposition,  till  she  was  enabled 
 to  resume  active  operations  with  an  overpow^ering 
 force. 
 
 At  the  time  appointed,  the  Congregation  met  at 
 Stirling ;  while  there,  they  were  joined  by  the  Earl  of 
 Arran,  the  Duke  of  Chattellerauk's  eldest  son,  who  had 
 
32  AN  HISTORICAL  ACCOUNT  OF 
 
 hurriedly  returned  from  France,  where  he  had  been 
 residing  at  the  Court,  in  consequence  of  certain  dark 
 speeches  which  had  escaped  the  Cardinal  of  Lorraine, 
 threatening  the  destruction  of  some  Protestant  noble- 
 men who  thought  themselves  as  high  as  princes  ;  which 
 he  understood  as  directed  against  his  brother  and  him- 
 self, and  whose  suspicions  appeared  to  have  been  well- 
 founded,  as  his  brother  who  stopped  behind  was  thrown 
 into  prison  shortly  after  he  left  Paris.  Returning  home 
 through  England,  he  had  been  introduced  to  Queen 
 Elizabeth,  who  received  him  most  graciously,  and  by 
 her  flattering  attentions  so  won  upon  him  that  he  en- 
 gaged, on  reaching  Scotland,  to  join  wdth  those  who 
 sought  to  expel  the  French,  and  endeavour  to  induce 
 his  father  to  espouse  the  same  cause.  In  pursuance  of 
 this  arrangement,  as  soon  as  he  had  agreed  with  the 
 Lords  at  Stirling,  he  paid  a  visit  to  Hamilton,  where  he 
 effected  a  reconciliation  between  his  Grace  and  several 
 of  the  noblemen  of  the  opposite  party  ;  he  invited  them 
 to  meet  together  and  join  in  a  common  letter  to  the 
 Queen  Regent,  "  expressive  of  their  astonishment  that 
 she,  without  any  provocation,  should  so  soon  violate  her 
 good  faith,  as  to  expel  the  inhabitants  of  Leith  from 
 their  habitations,  and  place  there  a  colony  of  strangers, 
 wdth  the  evident  design  of  reducing  the  co.untry  to  sub- 
 jection ;  wherefore  they  entreated  her  to  desist  from 
 such  a  course,  and  not  drive  them  to  take  the  necessary 
 measures  for  resisthig  the  mischief  intended."  This 
 letter,  dated  Hamilton,  29th  September,  was  subscribed 
 by  the  Duke  of  Chattellerault,  the  Earls  of  Arran, 
 Argyle,  Glencairn,  and  Monteith,  the  Lords  Ruthven, 
 
COVENANTING  IN  SCOTLAND. 
 
 Boyd,  and  Ochiltree,  along  with  divers  other  Barons 
 and  gentlemen.  They  also  wrote  Lord  Erskine,  Keeper 
 of  the  Castles  of  Edinburgh  and  Stirling,  desiring  him 
 not  to  allow  himself  to  be  deceived  by  any  promises, 
 and  assuring  him  of  speedy  assistance  should  any  at- 
 tempt be  made  to  obtain  possession  of  these  fortresses. 
 The  Regent,  in  reply  to  the  Duke,  said  she  Avondered 
 much  at  his  joining  with  the  Lords,  or  that  he  should 
 have  permitted  the  Earl  of  Arran  to  do  so,  and  not 
 rather  have  advised  him  to  visit  her  and  reside  at 
 Court. 
 
 An  interchange  of  several  epistles  followed,  but 
 leading  to  no  satisfactory  result,  and  the  fortifications 
 of  Leith  being  still  carried  on,  the  Duke  and  the  Lords 
 of  the  Congregation  concentrating  their  wdiole  force, 
 marched  from  Stirling  to  Edinburgh  on  the  7th  of  Oc- 
 tober. Another  correspondence  took  place  upon  their 
 reaching  the  capital,  they  requiring  the  Queen  Regent 
 to  send  back  the  French  soldiers,  and  she  requiring  the 
 Congregation  to  submit  to  her  lawful  authority ;  to 
 which  they  replied,  they  were  ready  to  yield  all  obe- 
 dience in  civil  matters  if  they  were  only  allowed  the 
 free  exercise  of  religion,  and  saw  their  country  relieved 
 from  the  tyranny  and  oppression  of  foreigners,  who  in- 
 terrupted the  whole  trade  by  keeping  possession  of 
 Leith,  the  main  commercial  port. 
 
 She  then  charged  the  Duke  of  Chattellerault  with  de- 
 signing to  obtain  the  Crown  of  Scotland  for  his  son,  the 
 Earl  of  Arran,  and  asked  him  how  he  could  think  her 
 so  unnatural  as  to  aid  him  in  depriving  her  own  daugh- 
 ter of  her  right  by   delivering  up  tlie  only  place  of 
 
 c 
 
;'^4  .     AN  HISTORICAL  ACCOUNT  OF 
 
 strength  she  held  for  her,  and  the  only  line  of  communi- 
 cation which  it  commandecL  She  therefore  ordered 
 him  to  withdraw  his  troops  from  Edinburgh  and  the 
 vicinity  upon  the  19th  October. 
 
 In  return,  he,  in  conjunction  with  the  Lords  of  the 
 Congregation,  decreed  to  suspend  her  from  the  function 
 of  Regent,  which  they  formally  announced  by  proclama- 
 tion at  the  Cross,  upon  the  21st  day  of  October,  for 
 the  following  reasons  : — "  Because  she  pursued  the 
 barons  and  burgesses  within  the  realm  as  strangers 
 with  weajDons,  without  any  form  of  law  ;  laid  garrisons 
 in  towns,  which  oppressed  the  lieges  and  forced  a  great 
 part  of  the  inhabitants  to  flee  out  of  their  own  houses, 
 till  they  were  restored  by  arms ;  placed  strangers  in 
 the  highest  oflices,  one  of  them  as  Chancellor  of  the 
 Kingdom  ;  thrust  provosts  and  baillies  upon  burghs 
 without  free  election ;  coined  current  money  without 
 consent  of  the  nobility,  and  that  so  base,  that  the 
 country  was  likely  to  be  depaupered  ;  they,  therefore, 
 required  her  to  leave  Leith,  as  they  were  determined 
 to  recover  it  by  force  of  arms/^ 
 
 As  she  refused  to  depart,  the  Lords  sat  down  before 
 the  port,  which  they  summoned  to  surrender ;  the 
 French  answered  by  a  sally  and  drove  them  back — 
 this  they  again  repeated,  and  the  Lords  were  forced  to 
 return  to  Stirhng. 
 ^,ENANT  Meanwhile,  the  Marquis  of  Huntly  arrived  with  re- 
 i57o.  inforcements,  when  the  siege  of  Leith  was  resumed, 
 and  on  the  27th  April  1560,  he  joined  with  the  Lords 
 in  renewing  the  Covenant,  in  the  following  terms  : — 
 
 "  We,  whose  names  are  underwritten,  have  promised 
 
COVENANTING  IN  SCOTLANL>.  35 
 
 and  obliged  ourselves,  faithfully  in  the  presence  of  God, 
 and  by  these  presents  do  promise,  that  we  together  in 
 general,  and  every  one  of  us  in  special  by  himself,  with 
 our  bodies,  goods,  and  friends,  and  all  that  we  can  do, 
 shall  set  forward  the  reformation  of  religion  according 
 to  God's  word ;  and  procure,  by  all  means  possible, 
 that  the  truth  of  God's  w^ord  may  have  free  passage 
 within  this  realm,  with  due  administration  of  sacra- 
 ments, and  all  things  depending  upon  the  said  word. 
 That  w^e  shall  each,  one  with  another,  all  of  us,  effec- 
 tually concur,  join  in  one,  take  and  hold  one  plain  pur- 
 pose for  the  recovery  of  our  ancient  freedom  and  liber- 
 ties, and  that  we  may  be  ruled  by  the  laws  and  custom 
 of  the  countiy.  Again,  that  we  shall  tender  the  com- 
 mon cause  as  if  it  w^ere  the  cause  of  every  one  of  us  in 
 particular,  and  that  the  causes  of  every  one  of  us  now 
 joined  together,  being  law^ful  and  honest,  shall  be  all 
 our  cause  in  general  :  and  that  he  that  is  enemy  to  the 
 cause  foresaid,  shall  be  enemy  to  us  all  in  so  far." 
 
 Queen  Elizabeth  having  formed  an  alHance  with  the 
 Scottish  Covenanters,  and  sent  a  number  of  troops  to 
 their  assistance,  the  garrison  in  Leith  was  reduced  to  an 
 extremity.  The  French  King,  on  account  of  the  state 
 of  his  owai  affairs,  being  unable  to  render  any  aid,  de- 
 spatched two  ambassadors  to  the  Queen  of  England,  with 
 offers  to  restore  her  the  town  of  Calais  if  she  would 
 withdraw  her  troops  from  Scotland ;  but  while  they 
 w^ere  on  their  journey,  the  Queen  Regent,  w^orn  out  with 
 fatigue,  anxiety,  and  vexation,  sickened  and  died  on 
 the  10th  of  June  1560.  Perceiving  er  end  drawing 
 near,   she  i-equested  an   interview   with  the   Duke  of 
 
36  AN  HISTORICAL  ACCOUNT   OF 
 
 Chattellerault,  the  Earls  of  Argyle,  Glencairn,  Maris- 
 chal,  and  Lord  James  Stewart,  to  whom  she  expressed 
 her  sorrow  for  the  troubles  of  the  realm.  Commending 
 earnestly  the  study  of  peace,  she  advised  them  to  send 
 both  French  and  Enghsh  troops  out  of  the  country,  and 
 besought  them  to  continue  in  obedience  to  the  Queen 
 their  sovereign,  and  to  maintain  the  old  amity  with 
 France.  With  tears,  she  asked  pardon  of  all  of  them 
 whom  in  any  way  she  had  offended,  as  she  said  she 
 did  freely  forgive  those  who  had  injured  her  in  any 
 manner ;  then  embracing  the  nobles  one  by  one  and 
 kissing  them,  she  bade  them  farewell ! — to  the  others, 
 of  meaner  sort,  she  gave  her  hand  and  sent  them  away. 
 After  composing  herself  for  a  while,  she  sent  for  John 
 Willock,  one  of  the  covenanting  ministers,  with  whom 
 she  had  a  long  conversation,  and  openly  professed  that 
 she  did  trust  to  be  saved  only  b}"  the  death  and  merits 
 of  Jesus  Christ.  "  And  thus,"  says  Spottiswood,  "  ended 
 her  life  most  Christianly." 
 
 Shortly  after  tlie  death  of  the  Queen  Regent,  the 
 parties  in  Scotland  entered  into  a  truce,  on  purpose  to 
 hear  the  ambassadors  who  had  arrived  from  France 
 and  England  to  act  as  negociators,  when  a  peace  was 
 concluded,  the  leading  articles  of  which  were: — That 
 all  the  French  and  English  soldiers  should, be  sent  out 
 of  the  country  within  a  given  time  ;  that  no  foreigners 
 should  in  future  be  entrusted  with  high  official  situa- 
 tions, nor  any  admitted  to  places  of  trust,  without  the 
 approbation  of  the  nobles  and  Estates  of  Parliament ; 
 that  no  one  should  be  troubled  on  account  of  anything 
 that  had  happened  since  the  6th  of  March  1558  ;  that 
 
COVENANTING  IN   SCOTLAND.  37 
 
 when  any  bishops,  abbots,  or  other  churchmen  should 
 allege  themselves  to  have  received  any  injuries,  either 
 on  their  persons  or  goods,  the  same  should  be  considered 
 by  the  Estates  of  Parliament  and  redress  made  according 
 to  reason  ;  and  in  the  meantime,  that  no  man  should 
 stop  them  to  enjoy  their  rents  nor  do  any  hurt  or 
 violence  to  their  persons,  and  if  any  should  do  contrary 
 to  this  article  he  should  be  pursued  by  the  Lords  as  a 
 perturber  of  the  Commonwealth  ;  and  with  regard  to 
 the  religious  disputes  and  demands  of  the  Lords  of  the 
 Congregation  and  others,  it  was  provided  that  a  certain 
 number  of  noblemen  should  be  chosen  in  the  next 
 Convention  and  Parliament  to  be  sent  to  their  Majesties 
 the  Queen  of  Scotland  and  her  husband  the  King  of 
 France,  to  expose  unto  them  the  things  that  should  be 
 thought  needful  for  the  estate  thereof;  and  for  the 
 articles  personally  decided,  they  should  carry  with  them 
 the  ratification  of  the  same  by  the  Estates,  and  bring 
 back  a  confirmation  thereof  from  their  Majesties  ;  and 
 as  a  finale,  that  the  Queen  of  Scotland  and  King  of 
 France  should  delete  the  arms  of  England  out  of  their 
 scutcheons  and  whole  household  stuff. 
 
 On  the  16th  of  July,  immediately  after  the  confir- 
 mation of  this  agreement  by  the  Estates,  the  French 
 embarked  at  Leith  for  their  own  country,  and  tlie 
 English  army  took  their  departure  for  Berwick.  The 
 third  day  after  their  departure,  a  day  of  solemn 
 thanksgiving  was  kept  in  the  church  of  St.  Giles  by 
 the  Lords  and  others  professing  true  religion,  wliere, 
 after  sermon,  they  all  united  in  rendering  thanks  to 
 God  for  the  merciful  deliverance  of  their  country  from 
 
38  AN  HISTORICAL  ACCOUNT  OF 
 
 the  tyrannical  oppression  of  the  Frenchmen.  Ministers 
 were  then  appointed  "  to  serve  the  various  burghs  of 
 the  evangel,"  along  with  whom  several  men  were  no- 
 minated as  superintendents  to  take  the  direction  of 
 Church  affairs  ;  but  lest  they  should  assume  any  arro- 
 gant superiority  from  their  office,  it  was  especially  pro- 
 vided, in  detailing  their  duties,  that  "these  men  must  not 
 be  suffered  to  live  as  your  idle  bishops  have  done  here- 
 tofore ;  neither  must  they  remain  where  they  gladly 
 would,  but  they  must  be  preachers  themselves,  and 
 such' as  may  not  make  longer  residence  in  any  place 
 than  till  they  see  the  kirks  properly  planted  and  pro- 
 vided of  ministers,  or  at  least  of  readers,  charge  must 
 be  given  them  that  they  remain  in  no  place  above 
 twenty  days  in  their  visitation  till  they  have  passed 
 through  their  whole  bounds.  They  must  preach  at 
 least  thrice  every  week  ;"  "  and  also  examine  the  life, 
 diligence,  and  behaviour  of  the  ministers,  the  order  of 
 their  kirks,  and  the  manners  of  the  people."  "  They 
 must  further  consider  how  the  poor  are  provided  for, 
 and  the  young  instructed  ;  and  finally,  they  must  note 
 such  crimes  as  be  heinous,  that  by  censure  of  the  Kirk 
 the  same  may  be  corrected." 
 
 Under  these  favourable  circumstances  the  meeting 
 of  the  Estates  approached,  and  never  had  there  been  a 
 period  of  greater  excitation  than  the  short  time  which 
 preceded  the  elections,  all  who  had  any  title  to  attend 
 the  Great  Council  of  the  nation  were  called  upon  to 
 come  forward,  and  all  were  eager  to  come.  Not  only 
 was  there  a  full  turn  out  of  the  nobility  and  the  prelates, 
 but  even  the  lesser  barons,  instead  of  appearing  by  re- 
 
COVENANTING  IN   .SCOTLAND.  39 
 
 presentation,  came  personally,  and  all  the  connnissioners 
 for  the  bnrghs  presented  themselves.  Various  obstacles 
 were  raised  to  prevent  this  assemblage  from  meeting,  as 
 that  the  Sovereign  was  not  in  the  country,  nor  was  there 
 any  legal  chief  magistrate  resident  among  them  to  open 
 the  session  ;  but,  although  the  Lords  agreed  to  dispense 
 with  the  ceremony  of  carrying  the  crown,  sceptre,  and 
 sword,  which  were  wont  to  be  borne  before  royalty,  or 
 the  representative  of  royalty,  on  such  occasions,  they 
 would  not  consent  to  delay  this  meeting  ;  and  besides, 
 insisted  that  although  not  formally,  they  had  essentially 
 the  royal  assent,  as  in  the  agreement  it  was  said  that 
 a  ParKament  should  be  kept  in  the  month  of  August, 
 which  was  warrant  sufficient  for  their  present  meeting. 
 Accordingly,  when  the  time  arrived,  that  high  court 
 sat  down,  nor  had  they  ever  done  so  under  more  criti- 
 cal circumstances.  Their  meeting  without  any  direct 
 warrant  from  their  Sovereign  was  objected  to  and  de- 
 bated for  several  days,  but  overruled.  Then  the  choice 
 of  the  Lords  of  the  articles  became  another  object  of 
 contention  ;  the  noblemen  who  had  the  nomination  of 
 the  clerical  members,  passing  over  all  those  whom  they 
 knew  to  be  friendly  to  the  Popish  creed,  chose  only  such 
 as  favoured  the  Protestant  cause,  at  which  the  prelates 
 stormed  mightily,  alleging  that  some  of  them  were 
 mere  laicks,  never  having  been  regularly  ordained  to 
 the  priesthood,  and  all  of  them  were  perjured  apos- 
 tates, having  abjured  the  faith  they  had  sworn  to 
 support.  But  these  wailings  produced  Uttle  eflect 
 upon  the  Estates,  who,  by  an  overwhelniing  majority, 
 su})ported  the  Lords. 
 
40  AN  HISTORICAL  ACCOUNT  OF 
 
 The  first  thing  moved  in  the  articles,  and  by  the 
 Lords  brought  before  Parhament,  was,  "  A  supphcation 
 of  the  barons,  gentlemen,  burgesses,  and  all  the  other 
 professors  of  the  true  faith,"  requiring  "  that  the  Ro- 
 mish Church  should  be  condemned  and  abohshed.  It 
 reprobated  the  tenet  of  transubstantiation,  the  merit  of 
 works,  papistical  indulgences,  purgatory,  pilgrimages, 
 and  prayers  to  departed  saints  ;  and  considering  them 
 as  pestilent  errors,  and  as  fatal  to  salvation,  it  demand- 
 ed that  all  those  that  should  teach  and  maintain  them 
 should  be  exposed  to  correction  and  punishment.  It 
 demanded,  that  a  remedy  should  be  applied  against 
 the  profanation  of  the  holy  sacraments  by  the  Roman 
 Cathohcs,  and  that  the  ancient  discipline  of  the  Church 
 should  be  restored.  In  fine,  it  insisted  that  the  supre- 
 macy and  authority  of  the  Pope  should  be  abohshed ; 
 and  that  the  patrimony  of  the  Church  should  be  em- 
 ployed in  supporting  the  Reformed  ministry,  in  the 
 provision  of  schools,  and  in  the  maintenance  of  the 
 poor  of  a  long  time  neglected." 
 
 This  supplication  was  received  with  the  greatest 
 marks  of  deference  and  respect  ;  the  censures  it  con- 
 veyed upon  the  doctrines  of  the  Romish  Church  were 
 considered  as  just  and  requisite  ;  the  last  clause,  how- 
 ever, was  not  quite  so  palatable.  The  nobility  and  lay 
 gentlemen  who  had  participated  in  the  spoil  of  the 
 fallen  hierarchy,  did  not  think  it  expedient  that  the 
 whole  patrimony  of  the  Church  should  be  allotted  to 
 the  Reformed  ministry,  the  support  of  schools,  and  the 
 poor  ;  they,  therefore,  dela^^ed  giving  any  decisive  an- 
 swer regarding  that  point,  but  they  called  upon  the 
 
COVENANTING  IN  SCOTLAND.  41 
 
 ministers  to  draw  up,  under  distinct  heads,  "  the  summe 
 of  the  doctrine  they  craved  to  be  by  law  estabUshed  ;" 
 an  important  task,  which  they  speedily  accomplished. 
 
 On  the  fourth  da}^  August  1 7th,  these  were  laid  be- 
 fore Parliament.  The  Confession  of  the  Faith  and 
 Doctrine  believed  and  professed  by  the  Protestants  of 
 Scotland,  when  read,  was  put  to  the  vote  ;  of  all  the 
 Temporal  Estate,  three  only  dissented — the  Earl  of 
 A  thole,  the  Lords  Sommervile  and  Borthwick — saying, 
 "  they  would  believe  as  their  fathers  before  them  had 
 believed."  The  Prelates  sat  still,  and  made  no  reply. 
 The  Earl  Marischal,  provoked  at  their  silence,  thus 
 broke  forth — "  It  is  long  since  I  bore  some  favourable 
 leaning  toward  the  tenets  of  the  Reformed  and  became 
 rather  jealous  of  the  Roman  religion  ;  but  this  day  hath 
 fully  resolved  me  of  the  truth  of  the  one  and  the  false- 
 hood of  the  other.  For  seeing,  ray  Lords,  the  bishops, 
 who,  by  their  learning  and  zeal,  should  be  able  to  de- 
 fend the  truth,  say  nothing  against  The  Confession 
 we  have  heard,  I  cannot  but  think  it  is  the  very  truth 
 of  God,  and  the  contrary  false  and  deceivable  doctrine." 
 
 In  the  same  session,  three  other  acts  were  passed — 
 one  for  abolishing  the  Pope's  jurisdiction  and  authority 
 within  the  realm  ;  another,  annulling  all  statutes  en- 
 acted in  former  times  in  favour  of  idolatry  ;  and  a  third, 
 for  the  punishment  of  the  sayers  and  hearers  of  mass. 
 This  last  bore  a  strong  imprint  of  the  times,  and  of  one 
 of  the  worst  features  of  the  religious  bondage  from 
 which  they  were  making  their  escape.  By  it,  all  per- 
 sons saying  or  hearing  mass,  for  the  first  ofience  were 
 to  be  confiscate  of  their  estates,  and  also  subjected  to 
 
42  AN  HISTORICAL  ACCOUNT  OF 
 
 corporal  chastisement  at  the  discretion  of  the  magis- 
 trate ;  for  the  second  offence,  thej  were  to  be  banished 
 out  of  the  kingdom  ;  and  for  the  third  offence,  they 
 were  to  suffer  the  pains  of  death !  These  decisive 
 statutes  achieved  the  complete  overthrow  of  the  Romish 
 religion/'^' 
 
 To  obtain  the  sanction  of  Mary  and  Francis  to  them, 
 was  an  object  of  the  greatest  importance  and  anxiety 
 to  the  Estates.  Sir  James  Sandilands,  a  Knight  of 
 Rhodes,  afterwards  Lord  Torphichen,  was  therefore  ap- 
 pointed to  go  to  France,  to  the  King  and  Queen,  to 
 solicit  their  royal  assent ;  but  though  a  man  of  high 
 estima,tion  in  his  own  country  he  was  treated  with  in- 
 sult ;  the  Guyses,  the  Queen's  uncles,  reviling  him  bit- 
 terly at  his  first  audience,  inasmuch  as  that  he,  being 
 a  knight  of  the  holy  order,  should  have  accepted  a  com- 
 mission from  rebels,  to  solicit  a  ratification  of  execrable 
 heresies  ;  he  endeavoured,  by  every  means  in  his  power, 
 to  mitigate  their  wrath,  but  all  in  vain  ;  he  was  haugh- 
 tily dismissed  without  obtaining  any  satisfactory  an- 
 swer.    The  cold  reception  he  had  met  with  at  Court 
 
 *  Spottiswood  having  noticed  that  the  Estates  deferred  considering  an  act 
 for  the  polity  of  the  Church  to  a  more  convenient  season,  adds — "  An  Act  was 
 passed  for  demolishing  cloysters  and  abbey  churches,  such  as  were  not  yet 
 pulled  down  ;"  "  thereupon  issued  a  pitiful  vastation  of  chui'ches  and  church 
 buildings  throughout  all  the  parts  of  the  realm  ;  for  every  one  made  bold  to 
 put  to  their  hands,  the  meaner  sort  imitating  the  example  of  the  greater,  and 
 those  who  were  in  authority.  No  difference  was  made,  but  the  churches 
 either  defaced  or  pulled  to  the  ground  ;  the  holy  vessels,  or  whatever  men 
 could  make  gain  of,  as  timber,  lead,  and  bells,  were  put  to  sale.  The  very 
 sepulchres  of  the  dead  were  not  spared  ;  the  registers  of  the  Church  and  Bib- 
 liotheques  cast  into  the  fire."  "  Report  also  went  that  John  Kuox  did  say  the 
 sure  way  to  banish  the  rookes,  was  to  pull  down  their  nests  ;  which  words,  if 
 any  such  did  escape  him,  were  to  be  understood  only  of  the  cloysters  of  monks 
 and  friers,  according  to  the  act  ;  but  popular  fury  once  armed,  can  keep  no 
 measure." — Book  III.  p.  17^. 
 
COVENANTING  IN  SCOTLAND.  43 
 
 was  soon  spread  abroad,  which  greatly  distressed  the 
 reformers,  who  were  sensible  of  their  own  inability  to 
 withstand  the  power  of  their  Queen,  united  with 
 France,  and  were  very  doubtful  of  what  aid  they  might 
 expect  from  the  wary,  selfish  policy  of  Elizabeth. 
 
 At  this  critical  juncture,  news  arrived  of  the  French 
 King's  (Francis  II.)  death.  An  event  not  more  ele- 
 vating to  the  Congregation  than  discouraging  to  the 
 Romanist  party,  as  with  him  fell  the  power  of  the 
 Guyses,  and  all  Mary's  influence  in  France  ;  the  latter, 
 therefore,  instantly  sent  off  privately  Mr.  John  Les- 
 ley, afterwards  Bishop  of  Ross,  with  a  pressing  entreaty 
 to  the  Queen  to  return  to  Scotland,  and  to  make  her 
 first  landing  at  Aberdeen,  where  she  would  be  honour- 
 ably received ;  and  from  the  concourse  of  nobles,  her 
 friends  in  that  quarter,  obtain  such  a  following  as 
 might  enable  her  to  re-establish  the  Popish  religion  in 
 her  kingdom.  The  associated  noblemen  also,  as  soon 
 as  they  knew  their  Queen  was  a  widow,  despatched 
 Lord  James  to  his  sister,  with  a  dutiful  invitation,  ex- 
 pressive of  the  great  desire  her  subjects  had  for  her 
 presence  among  them  ;  these  embassies  found  the  dis- 
 consolate Mary  at  Vitrie,  in  Campaigne,  whither  she 
 had  retired  to  nourish  in  secret  her  poignant  sorrow. 
 To  both  she  gave  favourable  answers,  particularly  to 
 Lord  James,  whom  she  requested  immediately  to  re- 
 turn, and  announce  her  resolution  to  comply  with  the 
 Lords'  request ;  and  at  the  same  time  to  take  particular 
 care  that  nothing  should  be  done  with  regard  to  the 
 previous  treaty  of  pacification  concluded  at  Leith  till 
 her  arrival.     While    preparing    to   proceed,    she    was 
 
44  AN  HISTORICAL  ACCOUNT  OF 
 
 seized  with  tertian   fever,   which   detained  her   some 
 months. 
 
 During  this  period,  Catherine  cle  Medicis,  Queen 
 Mother  of  France,  who  had  a  personal  dishke  to  the 
 Scottish  Queen,  endeavoured  by  an  insidious  pohcj  to 
 increase  the  difficulties  with  which  the  latter  was  sur- 
 rounded in  the  peculiar  situation  she  now  occupied 
 with  her  Protestant  subjects.  She  induced  Charles 
 IX.,  who  succeeded  his  brother,  to  despatch  Mens. 
 Noailles,  a  senator  of  Bordeaux,  as  envoy  to  the  Scot- 
 tish Council,  to  urge  strongly  upon  them,  under  pretence 
 of  great  regard  for  "  the  ancient  nation  :" — First,  a  re- 
 newal of  the  old  league  between  France  and  Scotland ; 
 next,  a  dissolution  of  the  late  treaty  with  England  ;  and 
 finally,  that  the  churchmen  should  be  restored  to  their 
 livings  from  which  they  had  been  removed.  The  Coun- 
 cil delayed  giving  any  answer  till  the  meeting  of  Par- 
 liament in  Ma}^  when  the  envoy  had  audience,  and 
 was  desired  to  report  as  their  answer  to  his  master — 
 "  That  the  Scots  were  no  ways  conscious  to  themselves 
 of  any  breach  of  the  ancient  league,  but  contrariwise, 
 the  French  had  broken  it  to  them,  seeking  of  late  to 
 deprive  them  of  their  native  hberties,  and  under  the 
 profession  of  friendship,  to  bring  them  into  a  miserable 
 servitude.  That  they  could  not  violate  the  confederacy 
 with  England,  after  having  received  from  that  people 
 the  greatest  kindness  which  one  nation  could  possibly 
 render  to  another  ;  and  as  to  restoring  the  churchmen 
 to  their  charges,  they  did  not  acknowledge  these  whom 
 they  so  styled  to  be  office-bearers  in  the  Church,  and 
 Scotland  having  renounced  the  Pope  would  maintain 
 
COVENANTING  IN  SCOTLAND.  45 
 
 no  longer  his  priests  and  vassals."  Noailles  being  thus 
 dismissed,  tlie  Earls  of  Morton  and  Glencairn  returned 
 from  an  embassage  they  had  been  sent  on  to  England, 
 highly  delighted  with  the  gracious  manner  in  which 
 they  had  been  treated,  and  the  assurances  of  assistance 
 they  had  received  from  Elizabeth  to  enable  them  to  de- 
 fend their  liberties  should  they  at  any  time  be  invaded. 
 
 As  Elizabeth  would  not  consent  to  give  the  Queen 
 of  Scots  a  safe  passage  through  England,  strong  sus- 
 picions were  entertained  that  she  intended  to  entrap 
 her  royal  sister  by  the  way,  especially  as  she  put  a 
 large  navy  to  sea  under  pretence  of  suppressing  pirates, 
 and  captured  one  of  the  vessels  of  the  Scottish  sqiiadron, 
 on  board  of  which  was  the  Earl  of  Eglinton  ;  but  the 
 weather  happening  to  be  hazy,  the  vessel  in  which  the 
 Queen  herself  was,  passed  the  English  fleet  unperceivcd 
 during  a  thick  fog,  and  on  the  20th  of  August  1561, 
 arrived  at  Leith. 
 
 Her  reception  was  loyal  and  dutifully  affectionate  ; 
 all  her  subjects  viewed  with  peculiar  interest  a  lovely 
 girl,  about  nineteen  years  of  age,  whose  life  had  been 
 chequered  by  the  most  striking  vicissitudes  :  bereaved 
 of  her  father  when  but  six  days  old,  and  forced  thus 
 early  into  exile,  she  only  escaped  the  enemies  who  lay 
 in  wait  to  intercept  her,  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  friends 
 whose  kindness  proved  the  source  of  her  greatest  mis- 
 fortunes. Educated  amid  all  the  gaity  and  splendour 
 of  the  most  luxurious  court  in  Europe,  and  manicd  to 
 the  then  most  powerful  prince  in  Christendom,  two 
 crowns  adorned  her  brow,  and  a  third  appeared  to 
 hano-  over  her  head.     Now  she  returned  a  widow  to 
 
46  AN  HISTORICAL  ACCOUNT   OF 
 
 an  empty  palace,  and  to  a  kingdom  torn  by  the  most 
 intractable  of  all  divisions — religious  contention.  Nor 
 could  the  dark  apartments  of  Holyrood  cheer  a  young 
 spirit  accustomed  to  the  splendid  halls  of  Parisian 
 royalty ;  neither  would  a  little  incident,  which  occurred 
 within  a  few  days,  tend  greatly  to  chase  her  melancholy 
 or  dissipate  her  dismal  forebodings. 
 
 She  had  agreed  to  the  public  establishment  of  the 
 Protestant  religion  in  the  kingdom,  only  stipulating  for 
 herself,  that  she,  wdth  her  family,  should  have  a  private 
 mass.  This,  as  she  was  the  sovereign  princess  of  the 
 realm,  and  educated  from  her  youth  in  the  Romish  faith, 
 was  considered  by  many  as  no  unreasonable  demand  ; 
 but  the  ministers  declaimed  vehemently  against  allow- 
 ing the  worship  of  that  idol  again  to  take  place  within 
 the  realm,  and  John  Knox,  in  a  sermon  on  the  second 
 Sunday  following  her  arrival,  bore  testimony  against 
 what  he  considered  a  dangerous  infringement  of  the  laws 
 of  the  country.  "  One  mass,"  said  he,  "tolerated,  is  more 
 fearful  unto  me  than  if  ten  thousand  men  w^ere  arrived 
 in  any  part  of  the  realm  for  the  suppression  of  the 
 holy  religion.  There  is  strength  in  God  to  resist  and 
 confound  multitudes,  if  w^e  unfeignedly  depend  upon 
 him  ;  of  this  we  have  heretofore  had  experience  ;  but 
 if  we  join  hands  wdtli  idolatry,  there  is  no  doubt  that 
 his  amiable  presence  and  comfortable  presence  will  de- 
 part from  us,  and  then  w^hat  shall  become  of  us  V 
 This  severity  was  occasioned  by  the  following  circum- 
 stance : — 
 
 On  the  previous  Sunday,  while  preparations  w^ere 
 making  for  performing  mass  in  the  Queen's  Chapel  of 
 
COVENANTING  IN  SCOTLAND.  47 
 
 Holyrood  House,  as  the  tapers  and  other  things  re- 
 quired for  that  service  were  being  carried  through  the 
 court,  some  of  the  crowd  who  had  assembled  attacked 
 the  person  that  bore  the  wax  hghts,  and  taking  them 
 from  him,  brake  them  in  pieces,  and  wouhl  have  demo- 
 Hshed  the  whole  "  idolatrous  furniture,"  had  not  others 
 more  moderate  interfered ;  in  particular  Lord  James, 
 who  himself  protected  the  ecclesiastics  and  their 
 servants  from  any  damage,  and  caused  them  to  be 
 conducted  in  safety  to  their  dwellings.  His  mode- 
 ration, however,  was  not  very  generally  acceptable  to 
 the  multitude,  some  saying  that  their  endurance  was 
 too  far  tampered  with,  while  others  asserted  that  if 
 right  were  done,  the  Priest,  according  to  God's  law 
 against  idolaters,  ought  to  be  put  to  death.  The  nobles 
 did  not,  however,  now  join  so  cordially  against  "the 
 toleration  of  idolatry"  as  they  did  previously  to  the 
 Queen's  arrival  among  them  ;  some  who  had  shewn 
 themselves  most  zealous  against  Papistry,  gained  by 
 the  smiles  of  their  fascinating  sovereign,  were  induced 
 to  look  on  the  reintroduction  of  the  ancient  religion 
 with  less  abhorrence  than  they  had  been  wont  to  ex- 
 press ;  others,  emulous  of  similiar  honours,  became 
 equally  complaisant,  and  all  appeared  exceeding  an- 
 xious to  enjoy  a  plentiful  share  of  Court  favour,  whicli 
 was  chiefly  bestowed  on  such  as  seemed  either  indiffer- 
 ent to  the  Protestant  cause,  or  not  too  violently  opposed 
 to  the  superstition  of  Rome.  And  this  produced  effects 
 upon  their  conduct  extremely  distressing  to  the  true 
 professors,  especially  in  regard  to  those  measures  pur- 
 sued by  the  reformers  for  promoting  and  perfecting 
 their  grand  object  of  thoroughly  evangelizing  the  nation. 
 
48  AN  HISTORICAL  ACCOUNT  OF 
 
 Next  day,  her  Majesty  in  Council,  ordered  a  procla- 
 mation to  be  made  requiring  all  her  subjects  to  keep 
 the  j)eace  until  the  Estates  should  be  assembled  ;  and 
 she  should  come  to  some  final  agreement  respecting  the 
 state  of  the  country  by  their  advice,  which  she  hoped 
 should  be  to  the  contentment  of  all;  the  law  bidding 
 that  none  should  take  in  hand,  jDrivately  or  openly,  any 
 alteration  of  the  state  of  religion,  or  attempt  anything 
 against  the  same  which  she  had  found  publicly  standing 
 at  her  arrival,  under  pain  of  death ;  and  whosoever 
 should  act  in  opposition  to  this,  should  be  considered  a 
 seditious  person.  And  her  Majesty  commands,  with 
 advice  of  her  Secret  Council,  that  none  of  the  lieges 
 take  in  hand  to  molest  or  trouble  any  of  her  domestic 
 servants  or  persons  whatsoever  come  out  of  France 
 in  her  company  at  this  time,  for  any  cause  whatsoever, 
 either  mthin  her  palace  or  without,  under  the  said  pain 
 of  death. 
 
 Immediately  upon  this  proclamation  being  published, 
 the  Earl  of  Arran  made  the  following  protestation  : — 
 "  In  so  far  as  by  this  proclamation  it  is  made  known 
 unto  the  Church  of  God  and  members  thereof,  that  the 
 Queen  is  minded  that  the  true  religion  and  worship  of 
 God  alread}^  established  proceed  forward,  that  it  may 
 daily  increase  until  the  Parliament,  that  order  may  be 
 taken  then  for  the  extirpation  of  all  idolatry  out  of  this 
 realm.  We  render  most  hearty  thanks  to  the  Lord  our 
 God  for  her  Majesty's  good  mind,  earnestly  praying 
 that  it  may  be  increased  in  her  Majesty,  to  the  honour 
 and  glory  of  his  name  and  good  of  his  Church  within 
 this  realm.  And  as  touching  the  molestation  of  her 
 Highnesses  servants,  we  suppose  that  none  dare  be  so 
 
COVENANTING  IN  SCOTLAND.  4i) 
 
 bold  as  once  to  move  their  finger  at  them  in  doing  their 
 lawful  business ;  and  we  have  learned  at  our  master 
 Christ's  school  to  keep  peace  with  all  men  ;  and  there- 
 fore, for  our  part,  we  will  promise  that  obedience  to 
 her  Majesty,  as  is  our  duty,  that  none  of  her  servants 
 shall  be  troubled,  molested,  or  once  touched  by  the 
 Church,  or  any  member  thereof,  in  doing  their  lawful 
 business.  But  seeing  that  God  hath  said,  The  idolater 
 shall  die  the  death,  we  protest  solemnly,  in  the  presence 
 of  God,  and  in  the  ears  of  all  people  that  hear  this 
 proclamation,  and  especially  in  the  presence  of  you, 
 Lyon  Herauld,  and  the  rest  of  your  colleagues,  makers 
 of  this  proclamation,  that  if  any  of  her  servants  shall 
 commit  idolatry,  shall  say  mass,  participate  therewith, 
 or  take  the  defence  thereof,  (which  we  are  loath  should 
 be  in  her  Highness's  company,)  in  that  case,  that  this 
 proclamation  is  not  extended  to  them  in  that  behalf, 
 nor  shall  be  a  safeguard  or  girth  to  them  in  that  behalf, 
 no  more  than  if  they  commit  slaughter  or  murder,  see- 
 ing the  one  is  much  more  abominable  and  odious  in  the 
 sight  of  God  than  is  the  other ;  but  that  it  may  be 
 lawful  to  inflict  upon  them  the  pains  contained  in  God's 
 word  against  idolaters,  wherever  they  may  be  appre- 
 hended, without  favour.  And  this  our  protestation,  we 
 desire  you  to  notify  unto  her,  and  give  her  the  copy 
 hereof,  lest  her  Highness  may  suspect  an  uproar  if  we 
 all  shall  come  and  present  the  same." 
 
 Preparatory  to  a  legal  establishment  of  Protestantism 
 in  the  land,  it  was  deemed  necessary  not  only  to  have 
 a  Confession  of  Faith  drawn  up,  but  also  a  form  of 
 Church  polity,   which  was  contained   in   the   Book  of 
 
 D 
 
50  AN  HISTORICAL  ACCOUNT  OF 
 
 Discipline  ;  according  to  it,  following  the  rule  of  Geneva, 
 there  were  recognised  four  ordinary  and  perpetual  office- 
 bearers in  the  Kirk — Pastors,  Doctors,  Elders,  and  Dea- 
 cons ;  and  four  regular  Courts — General  Assemblies, 
 Synods,  Presbyteries,  or  Elderships,  and  Sessions. 
 
 Pastors,  or  ministers,  were  those  who  preached  the 
 gospel  and  administered  the  sacraments  ;  doctors,  who 
 interpreted  the  Scripture  and  taught  theology  in  schools 
 or  universities  ;  elders,  who  assisted  the  pastor  in  exer- 
 cising ecclesiastical  discipline  and  government ;  deacons, 
 who  had  the  charge  of  the  revenues  of  the  Church  and 
 oversight  of  the  poor.  Besides  these,  there  were  three 
 temporary  officials,  adapted  to  the  exigencies  of  the 
 times  ;  readers,  who  read  the  Scriptures,  and  the  com- 
 mon prayers  usually  prefixed  to  the  psalms  in  metre  ; 
 exhorters,  who  added  a  few  plain  exhortations  to  the 
 reading  of  the  Scriptures  ;  and  superintendents,  who 
 had  large  districts  assigned  them,  over  which  they  iti- 
 nerated, preaching,  planting  churches,  and  officially 
 inspecting  the  conduct  of  pastors,  exhorters,  and  read- 
 ers. The  mode  of  admission  to  all  these  offices  was  by 
 the  free  election  of  the  people,  examination  of  the  can- 
 didate, and  pubhc  reception,  accompanied  with  prayer 
 and  exhortation.  Imposition  of  hands  at  the  ordina- 
 tion of  ministers  was  not  used  at  this  time,  although 
 afterwards  introduced. 
 
 Courts  rose  in  gradation.  The  Session,  which  con- 
 sisted of  the  ministers,  elders,  and  deacons  of  a  parti- 
 cular congregation,  who  met  once  a-week,  or  oftener, 
 and  managed  their  affairs.  The  Presbytery,  composed 
 of    the   ministers,    exhorters,    and   elders    of    several 
 
COVENANTING  IN  SCOTLAND.  51 
 
 churches,  who  met  cat  first  for  mutual  edification,  but 
 afterwards  to  manage  the  general  business  of  the  vari* 
 ous  churches  to  which  they  belonged.  The  Synod, 
 in  which  the  superintendent  met  the  ministers  and 
 delegated  elders  of  his  district  thrice  a-year,  and  took 
 cognizance  of  the  ecclesiastical  affairs  within  its  bounds. 
 And  the  General  Assembly,  wdiicli  was  composed  of 
 ministers  and  elders  commissioned  from  the  different 
 parts  of  the  kingdom,  who  met  twice  or  sometimes 
 thrice  in  the  year,  to  take  under  their  consideration  the 
 interests  of  the  whole  national  Church.'" 
 
 The  first  General  Assembly  was  held  at  Edinburgh, 
 before  Mary's  arrival,  on  the  20th  of  December  1560, 
 when  their  future  meetings  were  arranged,  ministers 
 were  appointed  for  the  chief  towns,  and  others,  with 
 the  superintendents,  to  itinerate  and  preach  through- 
 out the  country. 
 
 At  tlie  Convention  of  Estates,  which  was  held  in 
 January  1561,  their  proceedings  were  legally  recog- 
 nised, and  the  Book  of  Discipline  subscribed  by  a  ma- 
 jority of  the  nobility,  among  whom  were  the  Duke  of 
 Chattellerault,  (Hamilton ;)  the  Earls  of  Arran,  Argyle, 
 Glencairn,  Marshall,  Monteith,  Morton,  and  Rothes ; 
 Lords  James,  Yester,  Ochiltree,  and  many  others  of  in- 
 ferior rank  ;  but  wdien  it  was  desired,  after  the  Queen's 
 arrival,  that  the  same  should  be  acknowledged  and 
 authorized  by  Her  Majesty,  Secretary  Lethington 
 "  scripped  at  this  motion,"  L  e.  objected,  and  the  mat- 
 ter was  not  pushed  ;  but  John  Knox,  when  informed  of 
 that  conclusion,  thus  addressed  the  versatile  courtier — 
 
 *  Dunlop's  Onifcssions — Caldorwood's  Cliurch  History,  p.  9G. 
 
52  AN  HISTORICAL  ACCOUNT  OF 
 
 "  Let  God  require  the  detriment  which  this  Kirk  and 
 Commonwealth  shall  find  by  the  want  of  things  therein 
 prescribed  from  the  hands  of  such  as  stop  the  same/^ 
 The  frequent  minorities  which  had  occurred  in  Scotland 
 during  the  last  century,  (generally  times  of  turbulence,) 
 and  the  imbecility  or  folly  of  many  of  her  kings,  had 
 given  the  nobility  a  most  pernicious  ascendency  in  the 
 realm  ;  and  one  great,  if  not  the  sole,  leading  object  of 
 their  policy  being  to  uphold  the  power,  or  what  they 
 styled  the  "  privileges  of  their  order,''  the  question  now 
 came  to  be,  whether  they  or  the  Sovereign  were  to  rule 
 the  kingdom  ;  and  this  had  an  effect  in  the  establish- 
 ment of  Protestantism  in  Scotland,  which  I  think  has 
 not  been  sufficiently  attended  to  ;  it  rendered  many 
 men  who  cared  nothing  about  religion,  and  who  were 
 actually  opposed  to  religious  freedom,  the  most  zeal- 
 ous advocates  and  promoters  of  both — as  the  Queen 
 Eegent  professed  the  Roman  Catholic  "  Idolatry,"  and 
 strenuously  exerted  herself  to  oppose  the  introduction 
 of  the  "  blessed  evangile"  and  the  sequestration  of 
 Church  property. 
 
 While  many  of  the  nobility  were  eager  to  share  in 
 the  spoil  of  the  fallen  hierarchy,*  and  assist  the  rising 
 establishment,  a  question  of  serious  import  arose  re- 
 specting the  right  of  subjects  to  resist  the  ordinances 
 
 *  Had  the  then  existmg  nobility  been  the  legal  descendants  of  those  nobles 
 who,  induced  by  the  craft  of  the  priesthood  operating  on  their  superstitious 
 fears  in  the  dark  hours  of  sickness  and  approaching  death,  bequeathed  their 
 property  to  the  Church  and  defrauded  their  rightful  heirs,  as  some  still  do,  in 
 the  anxious  desire  to  save  their  souls,  there  might  have,  perhaps,  been  a  kind 
 of  equity  in  their  seizing  for  themselves  the  property  of  the  Papistical  priest- 
 liood  ;  but  as  few  of  them  could  have  established  in  a  court  of  law  any  such 
 claim,  their  dividing  among  themselves  what  was  indisputably  public  propertt/, 
 places  their  religious  professions  in  a  very  doubtful  point  of  view. 
 
COVENANTING  IN  SCOTLAND,  6*S 
 
 of  their  superiors  respecting  religious  practice  and  pro- 
 fession. As  upon  the  solution  of  this  question  de- 
 pended the  decision  of  the  other — to  whom  belonged 
 the  disposal  of  the  confiscated  clerical  property,  per- 
 haps no  occurrence  in  modern  history  can  be  produced 
 which  shows  more  strongly  the  injustice  and  impolicy 
 of  state  establishments  of  religion  than  what  took  place 
 upon  this  occasion,  when  the  Reformers  forced  upon 
 their  princes  the  support  of  a  religion  opposed  to  their 
 own. 
 
 When  the  young  Queen  landed  in  Scotland,  she 
 found  the  ordinary  revenues  of  the  Crown  quite  inade- 
 quate to  sustain  what  her  flatterers  called  the  necessary 
 splendours  of  the  Court  ;  it  was  therefore  resolved  in 
 her  Privy  Council  to  supply  the  deficiency  from  the 
 revenues  of  the  prelates.  These  dignitaries,  who  were 
 allowed  to  hold  their  livings  upon  professing  outward 
 compliance  with  the  new  order  of  things,  being  called 
 upon,  consented  to  give  up  a  third  part  of  their  bene- 
 fices for  this  purpose,  but  at  the  same  time  bargained 
 to  be  relieved  from  maintaining  the  ministers  with 
 which  they  were  burdened.  "  This,"  says  Spottiswood, 
 "  carried  some  show  of  commodity  at  first,  but  the  pre- 
 lates and  beneficed  men,  under-valuing  their  rents," 
 "  the  poor  ministers  scarcely  received  what  sufficed  for 
 their  provisions." 
 
 The  arrangement,  however,  which  was  agreed  to  by 
 the  Protestant  nobles  to  please  her  Majesty,  called  forth 
 the  indignation  of  John  Knox,  who  exclaimed,  when 
 he  heard  of  it — "  Weall,  if  the  end  of  this  ordour  pre- 
 tendit  to  be  taken  for  sustentation  of  ministers  be  hap- 
 
54  AN  HISTORICAL  ACCOUNT  OF 
 
 pie,  my  jugement  failes  me.  I  sie  twa  pairts  frielie 
 gevin  to  the  clevill,  and  the  thrid  mon  be  devjded  be- 
 twix  God  and  the  devill.  Who  wald  have  thocht 
 that  when  Joseph  reuUed  in  Egypt,  his  brethren  sould 
 have  traveUit  for  victualles  and  have  returned  with 
 emptie  sacks  unto  their  famihes '?  0  happie  servants 
 of  the  devill  and  miserabill  servants  of  Jesus  Christ,  if 
 efter  this  lyf  thair  w^er  not  hell  and  heavin  V 
 
 Hitherto  Mary  had  made  no  open  attempt  against 
 the  Protestantism  of  her  country,  but  w^herever  she 
 could  she  endeavoured  to  prepare  the  w^ay  for  an 
 effective  attack.  In  the  choice  of  her  Privy  Counsellors 
 she  had  named  Huntly,  one  of  the  most  pow^erful 
 chieffains  of  the  North,  \vho  was  greatly  incHued  to 
 the  Romish  superstition.  Now  she  received  letters 
 from  the  Pope,  the  Cardinal  of  Lorraine,  and  her 
 uncles,  strongly  advising  her  to  attach  him  to  her 
 service,  as  a  nobleman  most  fitted  to  aid  her  in  re- 
 storing the  ancient  religion  ;  at  the  same  time  promising 
 her  large  supplies  of  money  and  of  the  munitions  of  war, 
 for  enabling  her  to  crush  the  heretics,  of  whom  the 
 Lord  James,  her  brother,  now  Earl  of  Moray,  was 
 placed  in  the  first  rank.  These  letters  appear  to 
 have  induced  her  to  make  a  more  open  display  of  her 
 rehgion  ;  and  it  has  been  generally  alleged  that  she 
 had  taken  the  advice  they  offered,  and  w^as  preparing, 
 in  conjunction  with  Huntly,  to  re-establish  by  force 
 the  ancient  religion,  for  soon  after  their  receipt  she 
 prepared  to  take  a  tour  through  the  North,  and  before 
 setting  out,  when  petitions  were  presented  to  her  by 
 several    Commissioners  of    the  Presbyterian    Church, 
 
COVENyVNTING  IN  SCOTLAND.  55 
 
 praying  that  the  mass  and  other  superstitious  rites  of 
 the  Roman  rehgion  might  be  abolished,  she  made 
 answer — "  That  she  woukl  do  nothing  in  prejudice  of 
 the  rehgion  she  professed,  and  hoped  before  a  year 
 was  expired  to  have  the  mass  and  the  Catliohc  pro- 
 fession restored  through  the  whole  kingdom." 
 
 On  this  occasion,  John  Knox  acted  with  that  bold- 
 ness and  decision  which  characterized  him ;  for  being  ap- 
 pointed by  the  General  Assembly  to  visit  the  churches 
 of  the  West,  he  engaged  the  gentlemen  in  these  districts 
 to  enter  into  a  new  bond  of  defence,  or,  to  use  the 
 terms  of  the  day,  to  renew  their  Covenant  obligation. 
 It  does  not  appear,  however,  that  any  general  national 
 engagement  respecting  rehgion  took  place  during  the 
 remainder  of  the  unhappy  Mary's  reign  in  the  shape  of 
 covenanting  ;  indeed  there  rather  appeared  among  the 
 higher  ranks  a  halting  between  two  opinions,  and  such 
 a  desire  to  please  the  Queen  and  ingratiate  themselves 
 at  Court,  that  it  is  even  doubtful,  if  her  Majesty  had 
 conducted  herself  with  any  degree  of  propriety  in  her 
 domestic  hfe,  whether  she  might  not  have  succeeded 
 in  re-introducing  Popery,  or  at  least  in  preventing  the 
 legal  establishment  of  Presbyterianism,  and  obtaining, 
 as  the  more  artful  Elizabeth  did,  a  semi-Popish  Episco- 
 pahanism.  This  was  what  her  son  tried,  and  what 
 the  National  Covenant  was  the  grand  means  of  pre- 
 venting. 
 
 Under  the  Regents  who  governed  during  the  mino- 
 rity of  James,  the  cause  of  Protestantism  continued  to 
 advance,  and  as  the  ministers  were  unceasingly  active 
 in  their  labours   among  the  people,   and  particularly 
 
56  AN  HISTORICAL  ACCOUNT  OF 
 
 attentive  to  the  instruction  of  the  young,  their  endea- 
 vours were  eminently  blessed  of  God ;  and  this  period 
 forms  a  remarkable  era  in  the  history  of  Scotland  for 
 the  success  of  the  gospel,  especially  in  the  South  and 
 West,  where  the  presence  of  practical  godliness  was 
 especially  marked  in  the  great  and  evident  moral 
 change  which  overspread  the  face  of  the  land.  Where 
 heretofore  the  grossest  iniquities  had  prevailed,  a  grave 
 sobriety  of  manners  succeeded,  and  where  property 
 had,  to  a  proverb,  been  insecure,  a  child  could  watch 
 in  safety  the  herds  in  the  fields.  This  most  importantly 
 beneficial  change  was  accompanied  with  the  utmost 
 aversion  to  Popery  and  a  horror  at  every  vestige  of  the 
 broken  down  superstition,  either  in  its  forms  of  worship 
 or  Church  government. 
 
 Their  youthful  monarch  did  not  sympathize  with 
 the  reformed.  James,  although  educated  by  the  lady 
 Marr  and  the  celebrated  Buchanan,  both  decided  Pro- 
 testants, appears  to  have  very  early  imbibed  a  kindness 
 for  his  mother's  religion,  and  shown  an  attachment  to 
 some  of  its  professors,  which  caused  his  conduct  to  be 
 viewed  by  the  ministers  with  anxious  distrust,  although 
 he  was  very  liberal  in  his  protestations  of  attachment 
 to  their  profession. 
 
 Were  not  nations  and  assemblies  of  men  so  often 
 guilty,  en  masse  or  in  majorities,  of  deeds  'which  as 
 individuals  would  send  them  to  bedlam,  the  folly  of 
 the  Scottish  people,  or  rather  the  nobles,  in  allowing  a 
 boy  hardly  twelve  years  of  age  to  assume  the  govern- 
 ment would  be  incredible — yet  so  it  was. 
 
 In    the  year  1578,   James  began  to   exercise    the 
 
COVENANTING  IN  SCOTLAND.  51 
 
 functions  of  royalty.  As  might  have  been  expected, 
 favouritism  formed  a  principal  feature  of  the  juvenile 
 potentate's  early  reign  ;  nor  were  his  favourites  chosen 
 with  the  most  consummate  judgment.  Towards  the 
 end  of  next  year,  Esme  Stuart,  his  father's  cousin- 
 german,  born  in  France,  where  he  inherited  the  title 
 of  Lord  D'Aubigne,  arrived  in  Scotland,  sent,  as  was 
 generally  supposed,  by  the  family  of  Guyse,  to  regain 
 the  French  influence  and  restore  the  discarded  religious 
 regime.  He  was  a  remarkably  handsome  man  and  of 
 the  most  insinuating  manners.  At  his  first  introduction 
 he  captivated  the  King,  and  soon  obtained  complete 
 influence  over  his  Majesty.  Within  a  few  days  he  was 
 created  Earl  of  Lennox,  and  had  the  Abbacy  of  Arbroath 
 bestowed  upon  him  that  he  might  support  his  Earldom 
 with  sufiicient  splendour. 
 
 Such  an  accumulation  of  honours  and  wealth  upon 
 a  foreigner  gave  much  dissatisfaction  to  the  nobles, 
 while  his  being  a  Papist  awakened  the  jealousy  of  the 
 ministers ;  and  as  a  number  of  Jesuits  and  priests  on 
 hearing  of  the  favourable  reception  he  had  met  with, 
 and  the  high  favour  in  which  he  stood  at  Court,  "  did 
 frequently  resort  into  the  country,  and  such  as  were 
 Fopishly  aff'ectcd  at  home  began  to  avow  their  profes- 
 sion. Nicholl  Burn,  professor  of  philosophy,  and  Archi- 
 bald and  John  Hamilton,  two  regents  in  the  Xew 
 College,  Aberdeen,  made  open  apostasie  from  the  truth ; 
 in  Dumfries,  Ninian  Dalziel,  schoolmaster,  taught  his 
 scholars  the  Romane  catechisme ;  and  in  Paisley,  a 
 number  of  Papists  assembling  together,  did  in  derision 
 sing  a  soule  masse  for  the  ministers,  as  if  they  and  their 
 
58  AU  HISTORICAL  ACCOUNT  OF 
 
 religion  had  been  utterly  gone."  All  this  contributed 
 to  raise  loud  murmuring  among  the  Protestant  popula- 
 tion, while  the  ministers  in  their  sermons  expressed 
 their  regret  at  the  countenance  thus  given  to  Papists, 
 and  the  dangers  with  which  both  King  and  country 
 were  threatened  from  the  machinations  of  the  French 
 and  the  Roman  Catholics. 
 
 To  appease  these  discontents,  which  had  become  too 
 wide  spread  to  be  unheeded,  James  called  a  meeting  of 
 the  ministers,  and  told  them  what  strenuous  exertions  he 
 had  made  to  enlighten  and  convert  Lennox  ;  that  that 
 nobleman  had  consented  to  take  instructions,  and  would 
 willingly  receive  one  of  their  number  as  a  teacher.  Mr. 
 David  Lindsay,  then  minister  at  Leith,  was  nominated, 
 and  under  his  labours  the  nobleman  profited  so  much 
 that  in  a  short  time  he  professed  his  willingness  to  join 
 himself  to  the  Church.  He  was  received  accordingly, 
 and  after  having,  in  St.  Giles'  Kirk,  renounced  Papistry, 
 he  partook  of  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper  ;  be- 
 sides which  he  sent-a  letter  to  the  General  Assembly, 
 thus  stating  the  circumstances  of  his  conversion — "  It  is 
 not,''  said  he,  in  this  communication,  "  I  think,  unknown 
 to  you  how  it  has  pleased  God  of  His  goodness  to  call  me 
 by  His  grace  to  the  knowledge  of  His  salvation,  since  my 
 coming  to  this  land,  wherefore  I  render,  most  earnestly, 
 humble  thanks  unto  his  Divine  Majesty,  finding  my 
 voyage  towards  these  parts  most  happily  bestowed  in 
 this  respect.  And  although  I  have  made  open  declara- 
 tion of  this  my  calling,  first  by  my  own  mouth  in  the 
 Church  of  Edinburgh,  and  secondly,  by  my  hand- writing 
 in  the  King's  Church  at  Stirling,  where  I  subscribed 
 
COVENANTING  IN  SCOTLAND.  59 
 
 the  Confession  of  Faith,  yet  I  found  it  was  my  duty,  you 
 being  generally  convened,  to  send  this  gentleman,  my 
 cousin  and  friend,  accompanied  with  my  letter  towards 
 you,  to  make  you,  in  my  name,  free  and  humble  offer 
 of  due  obedience,  and  to  receive  your  will  in  anything 
 that  shall  please  you.  And  I  further  assure  you,  that 
 I  shall  procure  and  advance  all  other  things  which  may 
 promote  the  glory  of  God  and  increase  of  His  Church." 
 This  lulled,  but  did  not  set  at  rest  public  suspicion, 
 which  shortly  after  was  roused  to  a  much  higher  pitch 
 by  the  intercepting  of  some  dispensations  from  Rome, 
 granting  permission  to  "  the  Catholicks  to  promise, 
 swear,  subscribe,  and  do  whatever  should  be  required 
 of  them,  so  as  in  mind  they  continued  firm  and  did 
 use  their  diligence  to  advance  in  secret  the  Roman e 
 faith."  His  Majesty  now  found  it  necessary  to  inter- 
 fere, both  for  the  sake  of  Lennox  and  from  a  dread 
 that  he  might  himself  be  implicated  in  the  charge  of 
 leaning  to  the  religion  of  his  favourite,  and  of  coldness 
 in  his  attachment  to  the  Reformers'  doctrine.  He  com- 
 manded Mr.  John  Craig,  one  of  the  ministers  to  the 
 royal  household,  and  held  in  high  estimation  by  all  his 
 Protestant  brethren,  to  compose,  in  addition  to  the 
 Covenant,  a  short  Confession,  abjuring  all  the  corrup- 
 tions of  Rome,  both  in  doctrine  and  superstitious  rites, 
 especially  disclaiming  the  Pope's  usurped  authority 
 over  the  Church  and  his  wicked  hierarchy ;  at  the 
 same  time  promising  "  obedience  to  the  doctrhie  and 
 discipline  of  this  Church,  and  to  defend  the  same  all  the 
 dales  of  their  lives,  under  the  pains  contained  in  the 
 law."      In   conclusion,   they    thus   s(jlemiily  avouched 
 
60  AN  HISTORICAL  ACCOUNT  OF 
 
 their  sincerity — "  And  seeing  many  are  stirred  up  by 
 Satan  and  that  Roman  Antichrist  to  promise,  swear, 
 subscribe,  and  for  a  time  use  the  holy  sacraments  in 
 the  Church  deceitfully,  against  their  own  consciences, 
 minding  thereby,  first,  under  the  external  cloak  of 
 religion,  to  corrupt  and  subvert  secretly  God's  true 
 religion  within  the  Church,  and  afterwards,  when  time 
 may  serve  to  become  open  enemies  and  persecutors  of 
 the  same,  under  vain  hope  of  the  Pope's  dispensation, 
 devised  against  the  word  of  God,  to  his  greater  confu- 
 sion and  their  double  condemnation  in  the  day  of  the 
 Lord  Jesus.  We,  therefore,  willing  to  take  away  all 
 suspicion  of  hypocrisy  and  such  double  dealing  with 
 God  and  his  Church,  protest  and  call  the  Searcher  of 
 hearts  to  witness,  that  our  minds  and  hearts  do  fully 
 agree  with  this  our  confession,  promise,  and  subscrip- 
 tion, so  that  we  are  not  moved  [to  the  same]  for  any 
 worldly  "respect."  This  last  clause  was  added,  as 
 many  hypocrites  came  forward  and  subscribed  the 
 Covenant  from  merely  political  and  mercenary  motives, 
 who  were  strongly  suspected  and  not  unfrequently 
 known  to  be  Papists  or  infidels,  which,  says  Petrie,  is 
 the  same  thing.  With  this  appendage,  the  Covenant 
 COVENANT  was  subscribed  by  the  Kins:  and  his  household,  Janu- 
 
 5UBSCRIBED  «/  O  ' 
 
 1580.  ^^J  28th,  1580,  or,  according  to  the  new  reckoning, 
 1581,  and  on  March  2d,  a  proclamation  was  issued 
 commanding  commissioners  and  ministers  to  urge  their 
 parishioners  to  subscribe,  and  to  give  in  the  names  of 
 those  who  should  refuse  to  his  Majesty's  ministers,  that 
 they  might  be  prosecuted. 
 
 To  this  the  Church  lent  efi'ectual  aid.     The  Assem- 
 
COVENANTING  IN  SCOTLAND.  Q^ 
 
 bly  convened  at  Glasgow,  April  24th,  of  which  Robert 
 Pont  Avas  chosen  Moderator,  in  their  ninth  session, 
 concluded  that  the  Book  of  Policy,  being  agreed  unto 
 in  divers  Assemblies  before,  should  be  registered  ad 
 perpetuam  memoriam,  and  copies  thereof  be  taken  by 
 every  Presbytery.  And  in  the  same  session,  the  Con- 
 fession of  Faith,  or  Covenant,  lately  set  forth  by  His 
 Majesty's  proclamation,  and  subscribed  by  him,  they  in 
 one  voice  acknowledged  to  be  a  true.  Christian,  and 
 faithful  confession,  and  the  tenor  to  be  followed  out, 
 i  e.  subscribed,  as  is  ordered  in  the  proclamation. 
 
 Parliament,  which  met  at  Edinburgh,  October  24th, 
 by  their  first  act  ratified  all  former  laws  and  acts  made 
 for  the  liberty  of  the  true  Church  and  religion  presently 
 professed  within  the  realm  ;  and  by  another  denounced 
 all  Papists  practising  against  the  true  religion  by  dis- 
 persing libels  in  praise  of  the  Pope  or  seducing  the 
 people.  The  policy  of  the  Church  was  confirmed,  the 
 King  consenting  to  the  registration  of  the  Book  of  Dis- 
 cipline, and  appointing  Commissioners  to  concur  with 
 the  deputies  of  the  Assemblies,  thus  fixing  the  form  of 
 Presbyterianism  previously  to  again  subscribing  the 
 National  Covenant.  Towards  the  close  of  the  year,  as 
 several  of  the  ministers  had  not  been  so  diligent  as 
 they  ought  in  procuring  their  parishioners^  subscrip- 
 tions to  this  sacred  bond,  they  were  reminded  by  the 
 General  Assembly  of  their  duty,  and  straitly  required 
 to  obtain  the  subscriptions  of  their  flocks. 
 
 In  the  winter  of  1587,  Europe  resounded  with  the 
 alarming  news  of  the  great  armaments  going  forward 
 by  King  Philip  in  Spain,  and  as  it  was  generally  un- 
 
HOLY 
 LEAGUE. 
 
 1587, 
 
 62  AN  HISTORICAL  ACCOUNT  OF 
 
 derstoocl  that  Britain  was  to  be  the  object  of  attack, 
 being  the  grand  bulwark  of  Protestantism,  "  the  Pa- 
 pists," says  Calderwood,  "  w^ere  practising  busily,  and 
 preparing  for  the  I'eceipt  of  the  Spaniards,"  while  "  fer- 
 vent were  the  prayers  of  the  godly,  powerful  and 
 piercing  were  the  sermons  of  the  preachers."  The  un- 
 justifiable murder  of  the  Queen  of  Scots  by  her  royal 
 sister  Elizabeth,  which  had  strongly  exasperated  the 
 English  Papists,  and  the  indignation  of  James  at  such 
 an  atrocious  indignity  done  his  Crown — setting  aside 
 all  filial  affection,  for  which  he  was  not  very  remark- 
 able— were  calculated  upon  by  the  Spanish  monarch 
 as  motives  sufficient  to  induce  the  young  King  to  join 
 him  in  his  projected  attack  upon  England.  In  order 
 to  prepare  the  country  for  such  a  crisis,  numbers  of 
 Jesuits  and  seminary  priests  were  sent  to  Scotland  by 
 Philip,  and  wdiile  he  was  carrying  on  his  secret  negocia- 
 tions  with  the  chiefs  Huntly,  Errol,  and  Crawford, 
 they  were  busily  employed  disseminating  amongst  the 
 lieges  their  plausible  and  urgent  exhortations  to  seduce 
 them  from  their  allegiance  to  the  King,  and  their  ad- 
 herence to  the  Protestant  profession.  The  ministers, 
 ever  watchful,  soon  caught  the  alarm,  and  roused  both 
 the  people  and  the  King  to  a  sense  of  their  danger ;  in 
 consequence  of  which,  a  committee  composed  of  some 
 members  of  the  Privy  Council  and  a  deputation  of 
 ministers  from  the  General  Assembly  was  appointed, 
 and  by  their  especial  direction,  "  a  bond "  was  framed, 
 and  carried  through  Parliament,  for  the  defence  of 
 "  the  true  and  Christian  religion  presently  professed 
 within  this  our  realme  ;  and  our  Sovereigne  Lord^s  Es- 
 
COVENANTING  IN  SCOTLAND.  6.3 
 
 tate  standing  now  threatened  alswell  by  foreignc  pre- 
 parations for  prosecution  of  that  detestable  conspiracie 
 against  Christ  and  his  Evangel,  called  the  Holy  League, 
 also  by  outeward  and  inward  practices  of  the  fixvourers 
 and  supports  thereof  among  ourselves,  who  now  ani- 
 mated by  the  report  of  foreigne  powers  repairing  to 
 this  realm  e,  begin  more  plainly  to  utter  and  professe 
 their  long  conceived  evil  meaning  to  the  truth,  and  con- 
 sequently to  the  standing  of  his  Majestic  our  Sovereigne 
 Lord,  whom  they  have  found  and  tried  to  be  a  constant 
 and  inflexible  professor  of  the  same." 
 
 On  the  5th  of  August  1588,  a  proclamation  was 
 made  at  the  cross  of  Edinburgh,  wherein  were  dis- 
 covered the  dangers  imminent  to  religion,  arising  either 
 from  intestine  enemies  or  foreigners  ;  and  the  bond  de- 
 vised for  maintenance  of  rehgion  was  ratified. 
 
 Next  day,  the  General  Assembly  convened  in  the 
 little  Kirk,  appointed  a  fast  to  be  kept  on  the  Thursday 
 and  Sabbath  following,  and  despatched  two  of  their 
 number  to  pass  to  the  King  to  put  him  in  mind  of  the 
 present  danger,  that  with  concurrence  of  the  nobility 
 he  might  provide  for  timeous  defence.  After  the  de^ 
 feat  of  the  Livincible  Armada,  in  October,  "  another 
 solemn  fast  was  keeped  which  continued  three  Sabbath 
 dayes,  wherewith  was  joined  the  celebration  of  the 
 Lord's  Supper,  when  thanks  were  given  for  that  notable 
 delivery  from  the  invasion  attempted  by  the  cruel 
 Spaniard." 
 
 Li  January  1589,  the  King  was  again  required  by 
 the  minister^,  now  in  his  perfect  age,  to  subscribe  the 
 Confession  of  Faith,  and  to  renew  the  charge  gi^'en  in 
 
 1.5J)0. 
 
()4  AN  HISTORICAL  ACCOUNT  OF 
 
 his  minority  to  all  his  subjects  the  same  of  new  again, 
 which  he  did.  Next  year,  1590,  at  their  usual  meeting 
 in  January,  they  sent  a  common  letter  to  the  King  to 
 deplore  the  estate  of  the  Kirk,  and  specially  to  crave 
 that  he  would  grant  a  commission  to  some  of  the 
 Council  to  concur  with  some  of  the  ministers  to  promote 
 a  renewal  of  the  Covenant,  similar  to  what  had  taken 
 place  when  the  Spanish  invasion  was  feared  ;  this  was 
 accordingly  granted,  and  in  order  that  it  might  be 
 done  effectually,  the  Lords  of  the  Secret  Council  gave 
 license  to  Robert  Waldgrave  to  print  the  Confession 
 of  Faith  with  the  General  Bond,  having  two  blank 
 leaves  appended,  and  appointed  a  commission  of  ninety- 
 six  ministers,  and  about  an  hundred  and  thirty  of  the 
 noblemen,  barons,  and  others,  to  circulate  them  through- 
 out the  country  and  receive  signatures.  Everywhere 
 they  were  welcomed,  and  the  revered  documents 
 cheerfully  subscribed. 
 
 Rumours  having  arisen  towards  the  close  of  this 
 year  that  another  attempt  would  be  made  by  the 
 Spanish  King  against  England,  and  there  being  a 
 general  impression  that  James  had  too  favourable  a 
 leaning  towards  the  Roman  Catholics,  the  General  As- 
 sembly which  met  early  next  year,  resolved,  that  the 
 Covenant  should  be  again  renewed.  Upon  Tuesday, 
 30th  "March  1596,  they  came  together  in  the  little 
 Kirk,  at  nine  of  the  clock  in  the  morning,  in  number 
 amounting  to  about  four  hundred  persons,  all  ministers 
 or  choise  professors."  Mr.  Davidson,  minister  of  Pres- 
 tonpans,  who  presided,  after  the  first  prayer  "  caused 
 read  33  and  34  chapters  of  Ezekiel,  he  then  stated 
 
COVENANTING  IN  SCOTLAND.  05 
 
 that  the  end  of  that  meeting  was  the  confession  of 
 their  own  sinnes,  with  promise  of  amendment,  and  so 
 to   enter  into  a  new  league  with  God."     "  He  was," 
 says  the  historian,  "  so  powerful  and  moving  in  applica- 
 tion, that  within  an  hour  after  they  entered  in  the  kirk, 
 they  looked  with  another  countenance  nor  that  where- 
 with they  entered ;   he  exhorted  them  to  enter  into 
 private  meditation,  to  acknowledge  their  sins  and  pro- 
 mise amendment."     A   solemn  silence   reigned  for  a 
 quarter  of  an  hour,  only  interrupted  by  sighs  and  sobs, 
 with   shedding    of  tears,    "  so   that  the    place   might 
 worthily  have  been  called  Bochim  ;  for  the  like  of  that 
 day  had  not  been  seen  in  Scotland  since  the  Heforma- 
 tion.     There  have  been  many  days  of  humiliation  for 
 present  judgments  and  imminent  dangers,  but  the  like 
 for  sinne  and  defection  was  never  seen  since  the  Re- 
 formation."    After  the   concluding  prayer,  when   the 
 brethren  were  about  to  depart,  they  were  stayed  by  the 
 Moderator,  and  desired  to  hold  up  their  hands  to  testify 
 their  entering  into  a  New  League  and  Covenant  with  KE^Kw^iL^ 
 God.     They  held  up  their  hands  presently  and  readily,     1596. 
 which  was  a  moving  spectacle  to  all  that  were  present. 
 At  their  next  session,  it  was  resolved,  that  the  Covenant 
 should  be   renewed   when  the    brethren   returned   to 
 their  flocks,  at  their  first  convenings  in  their  Synods 
 and  Presbyteries,  which  was  generally  done,  and  after- 
 wards also  in  many  of  the  parishes,  during  the  course 
 of  this  and  the  following  years.     No  national  renewal 
 of  this  sacred  bond,  however,  again  took  place  till  that 
 most  solemn  and  impressive  renewal  in  1638,  of  which 
 we  are  now  to  give  an  account  from  the  documents 
 
 E 
 
66  AN  HISTORICAL  ACCOUNT  OF 
 
 handed  down  to  iis  by  those  who  were  partakers  in 
 that  important  transaction. 
 
 James  VI .  during  the  latter  years  of  his  reign  in 
 Scotland,  had  attempted  to  introduce  a  kind  of  mon- 
 grel Episcopacy  into  his  native  realm,  which  had  been 
 resolutely  withstood  by  the  consistent  Covenanters  ; 
 but  he  had  obtained  from  Parliament  several  Acts 
 which  went  to  allow  him  ecclesiastical  supremacy — a 
 power  in  the  Church  wholly  incompatible  with  Presby- 
 terian principles.  His  son  Charles,  who  ascended  the 
 throne,  March  27,  1625,  for  the  first  twelve  years 
 after  he  came  to  the  Crown,  was  so  much  occupied  with 
 the  agitated  state  of  England,  that  he  directed  but 
 little  of  his  attention  to  the  ecclesiastical  affairs  of  the 
 ancient  kingdom,  only  ordering  the  late  innovations  to 
 be  followed  out,  and  enforcing  more  rigidly  those  cere- 
 monies his  father  had  so  unwisely  commenced,  which 
 had  already  spread  discontent  throughout  the  whole 
 population,  now  heightened  mightily  among  the  nobles 
 by  the  not  altogether  unfounded  apprehension  that  the 
 grants  of  church  lands  they  had  received,  were  about 
 to  be  recalled. 
 
 When  the  nation  was  in  this  mood,  all  united  against 
 the  establishment  of  Prelacy,  considering  it  as  prepara- 
 tory to  the  introduction  of  Popery  and  despotism,  for 
 which  the  King  had  evinced  his  predilection  by  uniting 
 himself  to  a  Popish  consort.  Charles,  placing  himself 
 under  the  guidance  of  Laud,  afterwards  Archbishop  of 
 Canterbur}^,  visited  Scotland,  accompanied  by  him  in 
 1633  ;  while  there  Laud  celebrated  divine  worship  in 
 the  Royal  Chapel  at  Holyrood  House,  clothed  in  those 
 
COVENANTING  IN  SCOTLAND;  67 
 
 clerical  vestments  that  the  Scots  had  been  taught  by 
 their  first  reformers  to  style  "  Romish  rags,"  and  de- 
 livered  a  sermon   in   wliich    he  expatiated  upon   the 
 benefit  which  would  be  derived  from  conformity  to  the 
 English  ritual,  and  went  through  the  English  liturgy 
 before  an  audience  consisting  chiefly  of  courtiers,  who 
 expressed  their  approbation  at  the  performance.    Grati- 
 fied by  their  applause,  he  called  the  bishops  together, 
 enlarged  upon  the  nakedness  of  the  form  of  worship  in 
 Scotland,  and  proposed  to  remedy  it  by  introduchig  a 
 liturgy,  and  composing  certain  canons  as  the  regula- 
 tions of  public  devotions.     Nearly  three  years,  how- 
 ever, elapsed  before  the  Book  of  Canons  was  completed, 
 but  in  1636,  they  were   sent  down  to  be  printed  at 
 Aberdeen,  and  ordered  to  be  enforced  solely  by  the 
 royal  authority,  without  being  submitted  to  the  cog- 
 nizance of  any  spiritual  or  civil  court.     By  them  the 
 supremacy  of  the  King  and  divine  authority  of  the 
 bishops  in  religious  matters  were  affirmed,  thus  setting 
 aside  the  entire  ecclesiastical  constitution  of  the  coun- 
 try, while  they  prescribed  in  the  liturgy  a  number  of 
 observances  in  the  divine  ordinances  irreconcilable  with 
 the   Scriptural  accounts   of  their   original   institution. 
 For  administering  baptism,  a  font  was  to  be  fixed  near 
 the  church  door,  as  in  ancient  times,  and  the  water  be- 
 fore being  used  in  baptism  was  to  be  consecrated  by 
 prayer,  and  afterwards  applied  on  the  sign  of  the  cross. 
 For  celebrating  the  eucharist  a  table  w^as  to  be  placed 
 at  the  chancel,  covered  with  a  handsome  stuff  carpet, 
 and  during  the  sacred  ceremony  with  a  white   linen 
 cloth  ;  the  people  were  to  receive  the  elements  from  the 
 
68  AN  HISTORICAL  ACCOUNT  OF 
 
 priest's  hands  in  a  kneeling  posture,  and  what  remained 
 of  the  bread  and  wine  were  to  be  consumed  by  the 
 poorer  sort  within  the  church,  as  being  too  sacred  to 
 be  used  on  unconsecrated  ground.  All  private  meet- 
 ings of  presbyters,  or  any  other  persons,  for  expound- 
 ing the  Scriptures  or  debating  ecclesiastical  subjects, 
 were  prohibited.  No  clergyman  was  to  reveal  what 
 was  told  him  in  confession,  unless  the  concealment  of  it 
 endangered  his  own  hfe.  Bishops  and  presbyters  who 
 had  no  children  were  to  leave  their  effects  for  pious 
 uses,  and  those  who  had,  were  at  least,  to  bequeath 
 large  legacies  to  the  Church.  Thanks  were  then  to  be 
 returned  for  departed  saints,  a  number  of  whom  had 
 their  names  enrolled  in  the  Scottish  Kalendar.  The 
 introduction  of  this  liturgy  was  intimated  from  the 
 jDulpits  of  Edinburgh,  on  the  16th  July  1637.  And 
 next  Sabbath,  July  23,  the  memorable  experiment  was 
 tried.  On  that  day,  immense  numbers  of  the  inhabi- 
 tants of  Edinburgh  and  persons  from  the  surrounding 
 country,  crowded  the  churches.  In  St.  Giles,  where  the 
 Chancellor,  some  of  the  Lords  of  Council,  and  several 
 of  the  bisliops,  together  with  the  magistrates,  had  taken 
 their  seats,  great  quietness  prevailed  till  the  Dean, 
 having  opened  "  the  book,''  was  proceeding  to  read  the 
 service,  when  the  congregation,  losing  all  patience,  par- 
 ticularly the  women,  whose  zeal  was  most  conspicuous, 
 rushed  to  the  desks,  when  the  terrified  Dean  fled, 
 leaving  his  surplice  behind  him,  glad  to  escape.  The 
 Bishop  of  Edinburgh  then  ascended  the  pulpit,  and  en- 
 deavoured to  allay  the  tumult,  but  he  too  had  soon  to 
 leave  his  perilous  elevation,  amid  the  cries  of  "  A  Pope  ! 
 
COVENANTING  IN  SCOTLAND.  69 
 
 a  Pope  1  Anti-Christ !  pull  him  down !"  and  thus  the 
 service  was  put  to  an  end. 
 
 Heedless  of  this  portentous  display  of  public  feeling, 
 the  Prelates  proceeded  to  enforce  the  royal  mandate 
 for  using  the  Hturgy  ;  they  were  met  by  a  supplication 
 from  Alexander  Henderson,  minister  of  Lcuchars,  one 
 of  the  most  eminent  of  the  Presbyterian  leaders,  who 
 had  himself  once  favoured  Episcopacy.  He  prayed  for 
 a  suspension  of  the  charge,  "  because  the  new  service 
 had  neither  the  sanction  of  the  General  Assembly,  nor 
 the  authority  of  any  Act  of  Parliament,  and  too  nearly 
 resembled  the  service  of  the  Church  of  Rome  to  be  ac- 
 ceptable to  the  people,  even  although  their  pastors 
 should  have  had  no  scruples.''  Similar  supphcations 
 were  presented  from  leading  members  of  the  three 
 Presbyteries  of  Irvine,  Glasgow,  and  Ayr,  recommended 
 by  several  noblemen  and  gentlemen  to  the  members  of 
 Council,  as  worthy  of  their  most  serious  attention. 
 
 Numerous  applications  from  various  and  different 
 (quarters  of  the  country  to  the  Council  having  been 
 unavailing,  and  the  multitudes  who  assembled  proving 
 rather  unmanageable,  a  committee  was  originated, 
 1638,  consisting  of  delegates  from  the  nobles,  barons, 
 ministers,  and  cities,  divided  into  separate  bodies,  who 
 sent  four  members  each  to  Edinburgh,  that  formed  an 
 executive  for  the  appellants,  afterwards  well  known 
 under  the  name  of  The  Tables. 
 
 The  Tables.— The  members  of  this  political  body, 
 guided  by  the  most  fervent  zeal,  enjoying  the  full  con- 
 fidence of  the  great  majority  of  the  people,  venerated 
 as  the  guardians  of  pure  religion,  and  as  the  generous 
 
/O  AN  HISTORICAL  ACCOUNT  OF 
 
 defenders  of  civil  liberty,  were  implicitly  obeyed,  while 
 the  decrees  of  the  Council  were  disregarded  or  despised. 
 The  main  object  of  the  Presbyterian  leaders  now  was 
 to  preserve  the  veneration  of  their  followers  for  "  the 
 cause,"  which  they  believed  to  be  the  cause  of  Christ 
 and  his  gospel,  and  with  admirable  address  they  had 
 recourse  to  what  had  proved  so  powerful  before — they 
 c^oiENANT.  resolved  to  renew  the  Covenants.  A  fast  was  appoint- 
 1638.  ed,  March  1,  for  humiliation  and  the  solemnization  of 
 this  important  transaction  ;  multitudes  rushed  to  the 
 capital  to  witness  it,  although  I  rather  doubt  their 
 numbers  have  been  over-rated  when  stated  so  high  as 
 sixty  thousand ;  yet  such  was  the  excitation  that  it  is 
 perhaps  hardly  fair  to  doubt. 
 
 The  subscription  was  appointed  to  take  place  in  the 
 Grey  Friars'  Church,  and  long  before  the  hour  both 
 church  and  churchyard  were  crowded.  Alexander 
 Henderson  opened  the  meeting  with  prayer ;  the 
 Covenant  was  then  read ;  after  which  the  Earl  of 
 Loudon  addressed  the  assembled  multitude,  dwelt  upon 
 the  importance  of  this  bond  of  union,  and  exhorted 
 them  to  perseverance  in  the  good  cause.  The  Earl  of 
 Rothes  called  upon  any  who  might  have  scruples  of 
 conscience  respecting  the  object  of  this  meeting  to  come 
 forward.  Few  came,  and  these  were  speedily  satisfied. 
 Silence  ensued,  The  noblemen  present  then  slowly 
 stepped  forward  and  affixed  their  signatures ;  after 
 whom  the  gentry,  ministers,  and  persons  of  every  rank, 
 age,  and  sex,  subscribed  and  swore.  The  enthusiasm 
 was  universal,  every  face  beamed  with  joy,  and  the 
 city  presented  one  scene  of  devout  congratulation  and 
 
COVENANTING  IN  SCOTLAND.  ^1 
 
 rapture.  "Behold!"  says  one  of  the  Presbyterian 
 writers,  "the  nobihty,  the  barons,  the  burgesses,  the 
 ministers,  with  the  commons  of  all  sorts  in  Scotland, 
 all  in  tears  for  their  breach  of  Covenant,  and  for  their 
 backsliding  and  defection  from  the  Lord,  and  at  the 
 same  time  returning  with  great  joy  unto  their  God,  by 
 swearing  cheerfully  and  willingly  to  be  the  Lord's. 
 It  may  well  be  said  of  this  day  :  '  Great  was  the  day  of 
 Jezreel.  It  was  a  day  wherein  the  arm  of  the  Lord 
 was  revealed  ;  a  day  wherein  the  princes  of  the  people 
 were  assembled  to  swear  fealty  and  allegiance  to  that 
 great  king  whose  name  is  the  Lord  of  Hosts. 
 
 Amazed  at  such  a  powerful  expression  of  public 
 feeling,  the  Prelates,  in  this  grand  triumph  of  the 
 Covenanters,  saw  the  Episcopalian  fabric  they  had  so 
 long  laboured  to  establish,  at  once  crumble  to  pieces, 
 and  the  apostate  Archbishop  of  St.  Andrews  in  agony 
 exclaimed — "  Now  all  that  we  have  been  doing  these 
 thirty  years  past  is  at  once  thrown  down  ! " 
 
 The  Covenant  was  signed  on  the  28th  of  February. 
 Arrangements  were  made  for  obtaining  additional  sig- 
 natures without  delay.  At  a  meeting  on  the  following 
 day,  nearly  300  ministers  subscribed  it.  It  was  carried 
 through  Edinburgh  and  signed  by  multitudes  with  tears 
 of  joy.  All  ranks  of  society  appended  their  names  under 
 mingled  feelings  of  patriotism,  love  of  freedom,  and  reli- 
 gious duty,  till,  with  the  exception  of  the  Lords  of  Privy 
 Council,  and  five  others  of  the  nobility,  the  names  of 
 the  whole  Scottish  Peerage  were  attached  to  the  docu- 
 ment.    In  the  provinces  also  it  was  subscribed  with 
 
72 
 
 AN  HISTORICAL  ACCOUNT  OF 
 
 equal  cordiality.  No  coercion  was  allowed  in  order 
 to  procure  signatures.  The  matter  was  so  holy  says 
 Rothes,  that  they  held  it  to  be  irreligious  to  use  wicked 
 means  for  advancing  so  good  a  work.  "Some  men," 
 we  are  assured  by  Henderson,  "  of  no  small  note,  offered 
 their  subscription  and  were  refused,  till  time  should 
 show  that  they  joined  from  love  to  the  cause,  and  not 
 from  fear  of  man."  Zeal  for  the  principles  asserted  in 
 the  bond  ^principles  recognising  the  paramount  rights 
 of  conscience  in  matters  of  religion,  and  the  claims 
 of  constitutional  liberty — spread  through  Scotland,  till 
 the  most  distant  counties,  Moray,  Inverness,  Ross,  and 
 Caithness,  sent  in  their  adhesion  to  the  Covenant. 
 
 It  was  impossible  to  withstand  a  movement  con- 
 ducted with  such  enthusiasm  and  vigour.  The  most 
 eminent  law^yers  of  the  day  on  being  consulted,  gave  it 
 as  their  opinion,  that  there  was  nothing  decidedly  ille- 
 gal in  the  Covenant,  or  the  procedure  of  the  Covenant- 
 ers. The  famous  Assembly  of  1638,  met  at  Glasgow, 
 when  Prelacy  was  overthrown  throughout  Scotland, 
 as  contrary  to  the  usages  of  primitive  and  apostolic 
 times,  the  ancient  law^s  of  the  realm,  and  the  conscien- 
 tious judgment  of  the  nation.  The  Covenant  was  after- 
 wards ratified  by  an  Act  of  Parliament  in  1640.  It 
 T  s  made  a  test  of  admissibility  to  office,  and  Charles 
 11.  at  his  coronation  sw^ore  and  subscribed  it.  It 
 was  everywhere  regarded  as  the  Magna  Charta  of  the 
 civil  and  religious  liberties  of  Scotland.  Nor  was  the 
 influence  of  the  deed  confined  to  Scotland.  The  pa- 
 triots and  reformers  in  England,  in  their  struggle 
 against  arbitrary  power,  adopted  the  National  Cove- 
 
COVENANTING  IN  SCOTLAND.  73 
 
 nant  as  the  model  and  basis  of  the  Solemn  League  and 
 Covenant  among  the  three  kingdoms,  so  that  the  former 
 indirectly  but  powerfully  contributed  to  the  great 
 movement  in  behalf  of  liberty,  which  the  Long  Parlia- 
 ment began,  and  for  a  time  successfully  maintained  ; 
 what,  according  to  the  high  authority  of  Guizot, 
 "  founded  the  power  of  the  Commons,"  and  "  caused 
 English  society  to  take  a  wide  step  from  the  monstrous 
 inequality  of  the  feudal  system/' 
 
 It  is  proper  to  add  that  these  national  deeds  w^ere 
 also  regarded  by  the  Covenanters  under  a  religious 
 aspect.  The  great  principle  on  which  these  bonds 
 proceeded  was  the  duties  of  nations  to  owm  and  sub- 
 mit to  Christ  as  the  reigning  Mediator,  the  Prince  of 
 the  kings  of  the  earth. 
 
 It  followed  that  the  nation  in  its  civil  capacity  was 
 bound  to  act  in  accordance  with  the  law  of  Christ,  and 
 ill  subserviency  to  the  interests  of  His  kingdom.  It  is 
 in  consequence  of  this  view  of  these  Covenants,  that  in 
 Scotland  some  religious  denominations  to  this  day  re- 
 tain them  among  their  symbolic  deeds  and  standards. 
 For  a  long  period  after  the  separation  from  the  Estab- 
 lished Church,  that  large  portion  of  the  religious  com- 
 munity, known  formerly  by  the  name  of  the  United 
 Secession  Church,  held  them  under  certain  quali/ Ra- 
 tions. They  still  continue  to  express  approval  of  them 
 as  needed  and  warranted  in  the  emergency  which 
 they  were  framed  to  meet.  The  Reformed  Presbyte- 
 rian Church,  which  professes  to  represent  the  principles 
 of  the  Second  Reformation,  accompHshed  through  the 
 instrumentality  of  the  National  Covenant,  and  which 
 
74  AN  HISTORICAL  ACCOUNT,  ETC. 
 
 is  descended  from  a  large  body  who  refused  to  connect 
 themselves  with  the  Established  Church  at  the  Revolu- 
 tion in  1688,  partly  because  the  Covenants  were  not 
 recognised  in  its  constitution  ;  and  the  United  Original 
 Secession  Church,  an  important  branch  of  the  great 
 Secession  of  1732,  continue  to  own  these  Covenants,  as 
 binding  on  the  nation  in  the  great  principles  they  em- 
 body and  express.  Of  late  years  there  has  been  some 
 discussion  in  the  Free  Church  of  Scotland  in  regard  to 
 the  propriety  of  giving  a  more  formal  recognition  to 
 the  Scriptural  and  religious  aspect  of  these  national 
 vows  than  what  they  at  present  obtain  in  their  ec- 
 clesiastical standards.  It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the 
 influence  of  these  remarkable  bonds  and  Covenants 
 descends  even  to  the  present  times. 
 
THE  NATIONAL  COVKNANT. 
 
 The  Confession  of  Faith,  subscribed  at  first  by  the  Kings  Majesty  and 
 his  household,  in  the  year  of  God  1580;  thereafter  by  persons  of  all 
 ranks  in  the  year  of  God  1581,  by  Ordinance  of  the  Lords  of  Secret 
 Council^  and  Acts  of  the  Genei^al  Assembly;  subscribed  again  by  all 
 sorts  of  persons  in  the  year  of  God  1590.  Secondly:  And  with 
 Ordinance  of  the  Lords  of  Secret  Council,  and  Acts  of  General  As- 
 sembly, subscribed  again  by  all  sorts  of  persons  in  the  year  of  God 
 1 590.  Thirdly :  And  ivith  Ordinance  of  Council,  at  the  desire  of  the 
 General  Assembly;  with  their  general  bond  for  maintenance  of  the 
 true  religion,  and  of  the  King's  Majesty ;  and  now  subscribed  in  the 
 year  of  God  1638,  by  us.  Noblemen,  Baronets,  Gentlemen,  Burgesses, 
 Ministers,  and  Commons  under  subscribed;  and,  together  with  a  re- 
 solution and  promise,  for  the  causes  after  expressed,  to  maintain  the 
 true  religion  and  King's  Majesty,  according  to  the  Confession  afore- 
 said, and  the  Acts  of  Parliament,  the  so  much  of  which  followeth : — 
 
 We  all  and  every  one  of  us  under-written,  protest, 
 That,  after  long  and  due  examination  of  our  own  con- 
 sciences in  matters  of  true  and  false  religion,  we  are  now 
 thoroughly  resolved  in  the  truth  by  the  Spirit  and  Word 
 of  God  :  and  therefore  we  beheve  with  our  hearts,  con- 
 fess with  our  mouths,  subscribe  with  our  hands,  and 
 constantly  affirm,  before  God  and  the  whole  world,  that 
 this  only  is  the  true  Christian  faith  and  religion,  pleas- 
 ing God,  and  bringing  salvation  to  man,  which  now  is, 
 by  the  mercy  of  God,  revealed  to  the  world  by  the 
 preaching  of  the  blessed  evangel ;  and  is  received,  be- 
 
76  THE  NATIONAL  COVENANT. 
 
 lieved,  and  defended  by  many  and  sundry  notable  kirks 
 and  realms,  but  chiefly  by  the  Kirk  of  Scotland,  the 
 King's  Majesty,  and  three  estates  of  this  realm,  as  God's 
 eternal  truth,  and  only  ground  of  our  salvation  ;  as  more 
 particularly  is  expressed  in  the  Confession  of  our  Faith, 
 established  and  publicly  confirmed  by  sundry  Acts  of 
 Parliaments,  and  now  of  a  long  time  hath  been  openly 
 professed  by  the  King's  Majesty,  and  whole  body  of  this 
 realm  both  in  burgh  and  land.  To  the  which  Confes- 
 sion and  Form  of  Religion  we  willingly  agree  in  our 
 conscience  in  all  points,  as  unto  Cod's  undoubted  truth 
 and  verity,  grounded  only  upon  his  written  word.  And 
 therefore  we  abhor  and  detest  all  contrary  rehgion  and 
 doctrine ;  but  chiefly  all  kind  of  Papistry  in  general 
 and  particular  heads,  even  as  they  are  now  damned  and 
 confuted  by  the  word  of  Cod  and  Kirk  of  Scotland. 
 But,  in  special,  we  detest  and  refuse  the  usurped  autho- 
 rity of  that  Koman  Antichrist  upon  the  Scriptures  of 
 God,  upon  the  Kirk,  the  civil  magistrate,  and  consciences 
 of  men  ;  all  his  tyrannous  laws  made  upon  indiflerent 
 things  against  our  Christian  liberty  ;  his  erroneous  doc- 
 trine against  the  sufficiency  of  the  written  word,  the 
 perfection  of  the  law,  the  office  of  Christ,  and  his  blessed 
 evangel ;  his  corrupted  doctrine  concerning  original  sin, 
 our  natural  inability  and  rebellion  to  God's  law,  our 
 justification  by  faith  only,  our  imperfect  sanctification 
 and  obedience  to  the  law  ;  the  nature,  number,  and  use 
 of  the  holy  sacraments ;  his  five  bastard  sacraments, 
 with  all  his  rites,  ceremonies,  and  false  doctrine,  added 
 to  the  ministration  of  the  true  sacraments  without  the 
 word  of  God ;  his  cruel  judgment  against  infants  de- 
 
THE  NATIONAL  COVENANT.  77 
 
 parting  without  the  sacrament ;  his  absohite  necessity 
 of  baptism  ;  his  blasphemous  opinion  of  transubstantia- 
 tion,  or  real  presence  of  Christ's  body  in  the  elements, 
 and  receiving  of  the  same  by  the  wicked,  or  bodies  of 
 men ;  his,  dispensations  with  solemn  oaths,  perjuries,  and 
 degrees  of  marriage  forbidden  in  the  word  ;  his  cruelty 
 against  the  innocent  divorced  ;  his  devilish  mass  ;  his 
 blasphemous  priesthood ;  his  profane  sacrifice  for  sins 
 of  the  dead  and  the  quick ;  his  canonization  of  men  ; 
 calling  upon  angels  or  saints  departed,  worshipping 
 of  imagery,  relics,  and  crosses  ;  dedicating  of  kirks, 
 altars,  days  ;  vows  to  creatures  ;  his  purgatory,  prayers 
 for  the  dead ;  praying  or  speaking  in  a  strange  lan- 
 guage, with  his  processions,  and  blasphemous  litany, 
 and  multitude  of  advocates  or  mediators  ;  his  manifold 
 orders,  auricular  confession ;  his  desperate  and  uncer- 
 tain repentance  ;  his  general  and  doubtsome  faith  ;  his 
 satisfactions  of  men  for  their  sins  ;  his  justification  by 
 works,  opus  operatum,  works  of  supererogation,  merits, 
 pardons,  peregrinations,  and  stations  ;  his  holy  water, 
 baptizing  of  bells,  conjuring  of  spirits,  crossing,  sayning, 
 anointing,  conjuring,  hallowing  of  God's  good  creatures, 
 with  the  superstitious  opinion  joined  therewith ;  his 
 worldly  monarchy,  and  wicked  hierarchy ;  his  three 
 solemn  vows,  with  all  his  shavelHngs  of  sundry  sorts  ;  his 
 erroneous  and  bloody  decrees  made  at  Trent,  with  all  the 
 subscribers  or  approvers  of  that  cruel  and  bloody  band, 
 conjured  against  the  Kirk  of  God.  And  finall}^  we  de- 
 test all  his  vain  allegories,  rites,"  signs,  and  traditions 
 brouglit  in  the  Kirk,  without  or  against  the  word  of 
 God,  and  doctrine  of  this  true  reformed  Kirk  ;  to  the 
 
78  THE  NATIONAL  COVENANT. 
 
 which  we  join  ourselves  willingly,  in  doctrine,  faith, 
 religion,  discipline,  and  use  of  the  holy  sacraments,  as 
 lively  members  of  the  same  in  Christ  our  head  :  pro- 
 mising and  swearing,  by  the  great  name  of  the  LORD 
 our  GOD,  that  we  shall  continue  in  the  obedience  of 
 the  doctrine  and  discipline  of  this  Kirk,  and  shall  defend 
 the  same,  according  to  our  vocation  and  power,  all  the 
 days  of  our  lives  ;  under  the  pains  contained  in  the 
 law,  and  danger  both  of  body  and  soul  in  the  day  of 
 God's  fearful  judgment. 
 
 And  seeing  that  many  are  stirred  up  by  Satan,  and 
 that  Roman  Antichrist,  to  promise,  swear,  subscribe, 
 and  for  a  time  use  the  holy  sacraments  in  the  Kirk 
 deceitfully,  against  their  own  conscience  ;  minding 
 hereby,  first,  under  the  external  cloak  of  religion,  to 
 corrupt  and  subvert  secretly  God's  true  religion  within 
 the  Kirk  ;  and  afterward,  when  time  may  sers^e,  to  be- 
 come open  enemies  and  persecutors  of  the  same,  under 
 vain  hope  of  the  Pope's  dispensation,  devised  against 
 the  word  of  God,  to  his  greater  confusion,  and  their 
 double  condemnation  in  the  day  of  the  Lord  Jesus  :  we 
 therefore,  willing  to  take  away  all  suspicion  of  hypocrisy, 
 and  of  such  double  dealing  with  God,  and  his  Kirk,  pro- 
 test, and  call  the  Searcher  of  all  hearts  for  witness,  that 
 our  minds  and  hearts  do  fully  agree  with  this  our  Con- 
 fession, promise,  oath,  and  subscription  :  so  that  we  are 
 not  moved  with  any  worldly  respect,  but  are  persuaded 
 only  in  our  conscience,  through  the  knowledge  and  love 
 of  God's  true  religion  imprinted  in  our  hearts  by  the 
 Holy  Spirit,  as  we  shall  answer  to  him  in  the  day  when 
 the  secrets  of  all  hearts  shall  be  disclosed. 
 
THE  NATIONAL  COVENANT.  79 
 
 And  because  we  perceive  that  the  quietness  and 
 stabiHtj  of  our  reUgion  and  Kir-k  doth  depend  upon  the 
 safety  and  good  behaviour  of  the  King's  Majesty,  as 
 upon  a  comfortable  instrument  of  God's  mercy  granted 
 to  this  country,  for  the  maintaining  of  his  Kirk  and 
 ministration  of  justice  amongst  us  ;  we  protest  and  pro- 
 mise with  our  hearts,  under  the  same  oath,  hand-writ, 
 and  pains,  that  we  shall  defend  his  person  and  autho- 
 rity with  our  goods,  bodies,  and  lives,  in  the  defence  of 
 Christ  his  evangel,  liberties  of  our  country,  ministration 
 of  justice,  and  punishment  of  iniquity,  against  all  ene- 
 mies within  this  realm  or  without,  as  we  desire  our  God 
 to  be  a  strong  and  merciful  defender  to  us  in  the  day 
 of  our  death,  and  coming  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  to 
 whom,  with  the  Father,  and  the  Holy  Spirit,  be  all 
 honour  and  glory  eternally.     Amen, 
 
 LiKEAS  many  Acts  of  Parliament,  not  only  in  gene- 
 ral do  abrogate,  annul,  and  rescind  all  laws,  statutes, 
 acts,  constitutions,  canons  civil  or  municipal,  with  all 
 other  ordinances,  and  practique  penalties  whatsoever, 
 made  in  prejudice  of  the  true  religion,  and  professors 
 thereof ;  or  of  the  true  Kirk,  discipline,  jurisdiction,  and 
 freedom  thereof ;  or  in  favours  of  idolatry  and  super- 
 stition, or  of  the  Papistical  kirk  :  As  Act  3,  Act  31, 
 Pari.  1;  Act  23,  Pari.  11;  Act  114,  Pari.  12,  of 
 King  James  VI.  That  Papistry  and  superstition  may 
 be  utterly  suppressed,  according  to  the  intention  of  the 
 Acts  of  Parliament,  repeated  in  the  5th  Act,  Pari.  20, 
 King  James  VI.  And  to  that  end  they  ordain  all 
 Papists  and  Priests  to  be  punished  with  manifold  civil 
 and  ecclesiastical  pains,  as  adversaries  to  God's  true 
 
80  THE  NATIONAL  COVENANT. 
 
 religion  preached,  and  by  law  established,  within  this 
 realm.  Act  24,  Pari.  11,  King  James  VL;  as  common 
 enemies  to  all  Christian  government.  Act  18,  Pari. 
 16,  King  James  VL  ;  as  rebellers  and  gainstanders 
 of  our  Sovereign  Lord's  authority,  Act  47,  Pari.  3, 
 King  James  YI.  ;  and  as  idolaters,  Act  104,  Pari.  7, 
 King  James  VI.  But  also  in  particular,  by  and  attour 
 the  Confession  of  Faith,  do  abolish  and  condemn  the 
 Pope's  authority  and  jurisdiction  out  of  this  land,  and 
 ordains  the  maintainors  thereof  to  be  punished.  Act 
 2,  Pari.  1  ;  Act  51,  Pari.  3  ;  Act  106,  Pari.  7  ;  Act 
 114,  Pari.  12,  King  James  VI.  :  do  condemn  the  Pope's 
 erroneous  doctrine,  or  any  other  erroneous  doctrine 
 repugnant  to  any  of  the  articles  of  the  true  and  Chris- 
 tian religion,  publicly  preached,  and  by  law  established 
 in  this  realm ;  and  ordains  the  spreaders  and  makers 
 of  books  or  libels,  or  letters  or  writs  of  that  nature 
 to  be  punished.  Act  46,  Pari.  3;  Act  106,  Pari.  7; 
 Act  24,  Pari.  11,  King  James  VI.  :  do  condemn  all 
 baptism  conform  to  the  Pope's  kirk,  and  the  idolatry  of 
 the  mass ;  and  ordains  all  sa3^ers,  wilful  hearers  and 
 concealers  of  the  mass,  the  maintainors  and  resetters  of 
 the  priests,  Jesuits,  trafficking  Papists,  to  be  punished 
 without  any  exception  or  restriction,  Act  5,  Pari.  1  ; 
 Act  120,  Pari.  12;  Act  164,  Pari.  13;  Act  193, 
 Pari.  14;  Act  1,  Pari.  19;  Act  5,  Pari.  20;  King 
 James  VI.  :  do  condemn  all  erroneous  books  and  writs 
 containing  erroneous  doctrine  against  the  religion  pre- 
 sently professed,  or  containing  superstitious  rites  and 
 ceremonies  Papistical,  whereby  the  people  are  greatly 
 abused,  and  ordains  the  home-bringers  of  them  to  be 
 
THE  NATIONAL  COVENANT.  81 
 
 punished,  Act  25,  Pari.  11,  King  James  VI.  :  do  con- 
 demn the  monuments  and  dregs  of  bygone  idolatry,  as 
 going  to  crosses,  observing  the  festival  days  of  saints, 
 and  such  other  superstitious  and  Papistical  rites,  to  the 
 dishonour  of  God,  contempt  of  true  religion,  and  foster- 
 ing of  great  error  among  the  people  ;  and  ordains  the 
 users  of  them  to  be  punished  for  the  second  fault,  as 
 idolaters.  Act  104,  Pari.  7,  King  James  VI. 
 
 Likeas  many  Acts  of  Parliament  are  conceived  for 
 maintenance  of  God's  true  and  Christian  religion,  and 
 the  purity  thereof,  in  doctrine  and  sacraments  of  the 
 true  Church  of  God,  the  liberty  and  freedom  thereof, 
 in  her  national,  synodal  assemblies,  presbyteries,  ses- 
 £j  sions,  policy,  discipline,  and  jurisdiction  thereof ;  as  that 
 purity  of  religion,  and  hberty  of  the  Church  was  used, 
 professed,  exercised,  preached,  and  confessed,  according 
 to  the  reformation  of  religion  in  this  realm  :  As  for  in- 
 stance, the  99th  Act,  Pari.  7 ;  Act  25,  Pari.  11  ;  Act 
 114,  Pari.  12;  Act  160,  Pari.  13,  of  King  James 
 VI.,  ratified  by  the  4th  Act  of  King  Charles.  So  that 
 the  6th  Act,  Pari.  1,  and  68th  Act,  Pari.  6,  of  King 
 James  VI.,  in  the  year  of  God  1579,  declare  the  minis- 
 ters of  the  blessed  evangel,  whom  God  of  his  mercy  had 
 raised  up,  or  hereafter  should  raise,  agreeing  with  them 
 that  then  lived,  in  doctrine  and  administration  of  the 
 sacraments ;  and  the  people  that  professed  Christ,  as 
 he  was  then  offered  in  the  evangel,  and  doth  communi- 
 cate with  the  holy  sacraments  (as  in  the  reformed  kirks 
 of  this  realm  they  were  presently  administrate)  accord- 
 ing to  the  Confession  of  Faith,  to  be  the  true  and  holy 
 kirk  of  Christ  Jesus  within  this  realm.     And  decerns 
 
 F 
 
82  THE  NATIONAL  COVENANT. 
 
 and  declares  all  and  sundry,  who  either  gainsay  the 
 word  of  the  evangel  received  and  approved  as  the  heads 
 of  the  Confession  of  Faith,  professed  in  Parliament  in 
 the  year  of  God  1560,  specified  also  in  the  first  Parha- 
 ment  of  King  James  VI.,  and  ratified  in  this  present  Par- 
 liament, more  particularly  do  express ;  or  that  refuse 
 the  administration  of  the  holy  sacraments  as  they  were 
 then  ministrated — to  be  no  members  of  the  said  Kirk 
 within  this  realm,  and  true  rehgion  presently  professed, 
 so  long  as  they  keep  themselves  so  divided  from  the 
 societ}^  of  Christ's  body.     And  the  subsequent  Act  69, 
 Pari.  6,  of  King  James  VI.,  declares,  that  there  is  no 
 other  face  of  kirk,  nor  other  face  of  rehgion,  than  was 
 presently  at  that  time  by  the  favour  of  Cod  estabhshed 
 within  this  realm  :     "  Which  therefore  is  ever  styled 
 God's  true  rehgion,  Christ's  true  religion,  the  true  and 
 Christian  religion,  and  a  perfect  religion ;"  which,  by 
 manifold  Acts  of  Parliament,  all  within  this  realm  are 
 bound  to  profess,  to  subscribe  the  articles  thereof,  the 
 Confession  of  Faith,  to  recant  all  doctrine  and  errors 
 repugnant  to  any  of  the  said  articles.  Acts  4  and  9, 
 Pari.   1  ;    Acts   45,   46,   47,  Pari.   3  ;   Act    71,  Pari. 
 6;   Act  106,  Pari.    7;   Act   24,  Pari.   11  ;  Act   123, 
 Pari.  12  ;  Acts  194  and  197,  Pari.  14,  of  King  James 
 VI.     And  all  magistrates,  sheriffs,  &c.,  on  the  one  part, 
 are  ordained  to  search,  apprehend,  and  punish  all  con- 
 traveners  :    For  instance,   Act   5,  Pari.    1  ;  Act   104, 
 Pari.  7  ;  Act  25,  Pari.  11,  King  James  VI.  ;  and  that 
 notwithstanding  of  the  King's  Majesty's  licences  on 
 the  contrary,  which  are  discharged,  and  declared  to  be 
 of  no  force,  in  so  far  as  they  tend  in  any  ^vise  to  the 
 
THE  NATIONAL  COVENANT.  83 
 
 prejudice  and  hinder  of  the  execution  of  the  Acts  of 
 Parhament  against  Papists  and  adversaries  of  true  re- 
 ligion, Act   106,  Pari.  7;   King  James  VI.     On  the 
 other  part,  in  the  47th  Act,  Pari.  3,  King  James  VI, 
 it  is  declared  and  ordained,  Seeing  the  cause  of  God's 
 true  religion  and  his  Highness's  authority  are  so  joined, 
 as  the  hurt  of  the  one  is  common  to  both,  that  none 
 shall  be  reputed  as  loyal  and  faithful  subjects  to  our 
 Sovereign  Lord,  or  his  authority,  but  be  punishable  as 
 rebellers  and  gainstanders  of  the  same,  who  shall  not 
 give  their  confession,  and  make  their  profession  of  the 
 said  true  religion  :  and  that  they  who,  after  defectioai, 
 shall  give  the  confession  of  their  faith  of  new,  they  shall 
 promise  to  continue  therein  in  time  coming,  to  main- 
 tain our  Sovereign  Lord's  authority,  and  at  the  utter- 
 most of  their  power  to  fortify,  assist,  and  maintain  the 
 true  preachers  and  professors  of  Christ's  religion,  against 
 whatsoever  enemies  and  gainstanders  of  the  same  ;  and 
 namely,  against  all  such,  of  whatsoever  nation,  estate, 
 or  degree  they  be  of,  that  have  joined  or  bound  them- 
 selves, or  have  assisted,  or  assist,  to  set  forward  and  exe- 
 cute the  cruel  decrees  of  the  Council  of  Trent,  contrary 
 to  the  true  preachers  and  professors  of  the  word  of  God ; 
 which   is  repeated,  word  by  word,  in  the  articles  of 
 pacification  at  Perth,  the  23rd  of  February  1572  ;  ap- 
 proved by  Parliament  the  last  of  April  1573  ;  ratified 
 in  Parliament  1587,  and  related  Act  123,  Pari.   12, 
 of  King  James  VI.  ;  with  this  addition,  "  That  they  are 
 bound  to  resist  all  treasonable  uproars  and  hostilities 
 raised  against  the  true  religion,  the  King's  Majesty,  and 
 the  true  professors." 
 
84  TUE  NATIONAL  COVENANT. 
 
 Likeas,  all  lieges  are  bonnd  to  maintain  the  King^s 
 Majesty's  royal  person  and  authority,  the  authority  of 
 Parliaments,  without  the  Avhich  neither  any  laws  or 
 lawful  judicatories  can  be  established,  Acts  130  and 
 131,  Pari  8,  KingJames  VI.,  and  the  subjects' liberties,, 
 who  ought  only  to  lire  and  be  governed  by  the  King's 
 laws,  the  common  laws  of  this  realm  allenarly.  Act  48, 
 Pari.  3,  King  James  I. ;  Act  79,  Pari.  6,  King  James 
 IV.  ;  repeated  in  the  Act  131,  ParL  8,  King  James 
 VI. ;  which  if  they  be  innovated  and  prejudged,  "  the 
 commission  anent  the  union  of  the  two  kingdoms  of 
 Scotland  and  England,  which  is  the  sole  act  of  tlie  1 7th 
 Pari,  of  King  James  VI.  declares,"  such  confusion  would 
 ensue  as  this  realm  could  be  no  more  a  free  monarchy  : 
 because,  by  the  fundamental  laws,  ancient  privileges, 
 offices,  and  liberties  of  this  kingdom,  not  only  the 
 princely  authority  of  his  Majesty's  royal  descent  hath 
 been  these  many  ages  maintained,  but  also  the  i>eople's 
 security  of  their  lands,  livings,  rights,  offices,  hberties, 
 and  dignities  preserved.  And  therefore,  for  the  pre- 
 servation of  the  said  true  religion,  lav^s,  and  liberties  of 
 this  kingdom,  it  is  statute  by  the  8th  Act,  Pari.  1,  re- 
 peated in  the  99th  Act,  Pari.  7,  ratified  in  the  23rd 
 Act,  ParL  11,  and  114th  Act,  Pari.  12,  of  King  James 
 VI.,  and  4th  Act,  Pari.  1,  of  King  Charies  I.—"  That 
 all  Kings  aoid  Princes  at  their  coronation,  and  I'eception 
 of  their  princely  authority,  shall  make  their  faithful 
 promise  by  their  solemn  oath,  in  the  presence  of  the 
 eternal  God,  that  enduring  the  whole  time  of  their  lives, 
 they  shall  serve  the  same  eternal  God  to  the  uttermost 
 of  their  power,  according  as  he  hath  required  in  his 
 
THE  NATIONAL  COVENANT.  8o 
 
 most  holy  word,  contained  in  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
 ment ;  and  according  to  the  same  word,  shall  maintain 
 the  true  religion  of  Christ  Jesus,  the  preaching  of  his 
 holy  word,  the  dnc  and  right  ministration  of  the  sacra- 
 ments now  received  and  preached  within  this  realm, 
 (according  to  the  Confession  of  Faith  innnediately  pre- 
 ceding,) and  shall  abolish  and  gainstand  all  false  religion 
 contrary  to  the  same  ;  and  shall  rule  the  people  com- 
 mitted to  their  charge,  according  to  the  will  and 
 command  of  God  revealed  in  his  foresaid  word,  and 
 iiccording  to  the  laudable  kws  and  constitutions  I'O- 
 ceived  in  this  realm,  noAvise  repugnant  to  the  said  will 
 of  the  eternal  God  ;  and  shall  procure,  to  the  uttermost 
 of  their  power,  to  the  Kirk  of  God,  and  whole  Christian 
 people,  true  and  perfect  peace  in  all  time  coming  :  and 
 that  they  shall  be  careful  to  root  out  of  their  empire  all 
 heretics  and  enemies  to  the  true  w^orship  of  God,  who 
 shall  be  convicted  by  tlie  tiiie  Kirk  of  God  of  the  fore- 
 said crimes."  Which  w^as  also  observed  by  his  Majesty, 
 at  his  coronation  in  Edinburgh,  1633,  as  may  be  accn 
 in  the  order  of  the  coronation. 
 
 In  obedience  to  the  commandment  of  God,  conform 
 to  the  practice  of  the  godly  in  former  times,  and  accord- 
 ing to  the  laudable  example  of  our  w^orthy  and  rehgious 
 progenitors,  and  of  many  yet  living  amongst  us,  which 
 was  warranted  also  by  Act  of  Council,  commanding  a 
 general  band  to  be  made  and  subscribed  by  his  Majesty's 
 subjects  of  all  ranks  ;  for  two  causes  :  one  was,  P'or  de- 
 fending the  true  religion,  as  it  was  then  reformed,  and 
 is  expressed  in  the  Confession  of  Faith  above  written, 
 and  a  former  large  Confession  establishe<l  by  sundry 
 
86  THE  NATIONAL  COVENANT. 
 
 acts  of  lawful  General  Assemblies  and  of  Parliaments, 
 unto  which  it  hath  relation,  set  down  in  public  Cate- 
 chisms ;  and  which  hath  been  for  many  years,  with  a 
 blessing  from  Heaven,  preached  and  professed  in  this 
 Kirk  and  kingdom,  as  God's  undoubted  truth,  grounded 
 only  upon  his  written  word.  The  other  cause  was.  For 
 maintaining  the  King's  Majesty,  his  person  and  estate  ; 
 the  true  worship  of  God  and  the  King's  authority  being 
 so  straitly  joined,  as  that  they  had  the  same  friends,  and 
 common  enemies,  and  did  stand  and  fall  together.  And 
 finally,  being  convinced  in  our  minds,  and  confessing 
 with  our  mouths,  that  the  present  and  succeeding 
 generations  in  this  land  are  bound  to  keep  the  foresaid 
 national  oath  and  subscription  inviolable. 
 
 We  Noblemen,  Barons,  Gentlemen,  Burgesses,  Minis- 
 ters, and  Commons  under-subscribing,  considering  divers 
 times  before,  and  especially  at  this  time,  the  danger  of 
 the  true  reformed  religion,  of  the  King's  honour,  and  of 
 the  public  peace  of  the  kingdom,  by  the  manifold  in- 
 novations and  evils,  generally  contained,  and  particularly 
 mentioned  in  our  late  supplications,  complaints,  and 
 protestations  ;  do  hereby  profess,  and  before  God,  his 
 angels,  and  the  world,  solemnly  declare.  That  with  our 
 whole  hearts  we  agree,  and  resolve  all  the  days  of  our 
 life  constantly  to  adhere  unto  and  to  defend  the  foresaid 
 true  religion,  and  (forbearing  the  practice  of  all  nova- 
 tions already  introduced  in  the  matters  of  the  worship 
 of  God,  or  approbation  of  the  corruptions  of  the  public 
 government  of  the  Kirk,  or  civil  places  and  power 
 of  kirkmen,  till  they  be  tried  and  allowed  in  free 
 Assemblies  and  in  Parliament)  to  labour,  by  all  means, 
 
THE  NATIONAL  COVENANT.  87 
 
 to  recover  the  purity  and  liberty  of  the  Gospel,  as  it  was 
 established  and  professed  before  the  foresaid  novations. 
 And  because,  after  due  examination,  we  plainly  per- 
 ceive, and  undoubtedly  believe,  that  the  innovations  and 
 evils  contained   in  our   supplications,  complaints,  and 
 protestations,  have  no  warrant  of  the  word  of  God,  are 
 contrary  to  the  articles  of  the  foresaid  Confession,  to 
 the  intention  and  meaning  of  the  blessed  reformers  of 
 religion  in  this  land,  to  the  above-written  Acts  of  Par- 
 liament ;  and  do  sensibly  tend  to  the  re-establishing  of 
 the  Popish  religion  and  tyranny,  and  to  the  subversion 
 and  ruin  of  the  true  reformed  religion,  and  of  our  liber- 
 ties, laws,  and  estates ;  we  also  declare.  That  the  fore- 
 said Confessions  are  to  be  interpreted,  and  ought  to  be 
 understood  of  the  foresaid  novations  and  evils,  no  less 
 than  if  every  one  of  them  had  been  expressed  in  the 
 foresaid  Confessions  ;  and  that  we  are  obliged  to  detest 
 and  abhor  them,  amongst  other  particular  heads  of 
 Papistry  abjured   therein.     And   therefore,  from  the 
 knowledge  and  conscience  of  our  duty  to  God,  to  our 
 King  and  country,  without  any  worldly  respect  or  in- 
 ducement, so  far  as  human  infirmity  will  suffer,  wishing 
 a  further  measure  of  the  grace  of  God  for  this  effect ; 
 we  promise  and  swear,  by  the  GREAT  NAME  OP 
 THE  LORD  OUR  GOD,  to  continue  in  the  profession 
 and  obedience  of  the  aforesaid  religion  ;  and  that  we 
 shall  defend  the  same,  and  resist  all   these  contrary 
 errors  and  corruptions,  according  to  our  vocation,  and 
 to  the  uttermost  of  that  power  that  God  hath  put  in 
 our  hands,  all  the  days  of  our  life. 
 
 And  in  hke  manner,  with  the  same  heart,  we  declare 
 
88  THE  NATIONAL  COVENANT. 
 
 before  God  and  men,  That  we  have  no  intention  nor 
 desire  to  attempt  any  thing  that  may  turn  to  the  dis- 
 honour of  God,  or  to  the  diminution  of  the  King's  great- 
 ness and  authority ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  we  promise 
 and  swear,  That  we  shall,  to  the  uttermost  of  our  power, 
 with  our  means  and  lives,  stand  to  the  defence  of  our 
 dread  Sovereign  the  King's  Majesty,  his  person  and 
 authority,  in  the  defence  and  preservation  of  the  fore- 
 said true  religion,  liberties,  and  laws  of  the  kingdom  ; 
 as  also  to  the  mutual  defence  and  assistance  every  one 
 of  us  of  another,  in  the  same  cause  of  maintaining  the 
 true  religion,  and  his  Majesty's  authority,  with  our  best 
 counsel,  our  bodies,  means,  and  whole  power,  against  all 
 sorts  of  persons  whatsoever ;  so  that  whatsoever  shall 
 be  done  to  the  least  of  us  for  that  cause,  shall  be  taken 
 as  done  to  us  all  in  general,  and  to  every  one  of  us  in 
 particular.  And  that  we  shall  neither  directly  nor  in- 
 directly suffer  ourselves  to  be  divided  or  withdrawn,  by 
 whatsoever  suggestion,  combination,  allurement,  or 
 terror,  from  this  blessed  and  loyal  conjunction  ;  nor 
 shall  cast  in  any  let  or  impediment  that  may  stay  or 
 hinder  any  such  resolution  as  by  common  consent  shall 
 be  found  to  conduce  for  so  good  ends  ;  but  on  the  con- 
 trary, shall  by  all  lawful  means  labour  to  further  and 
 promote  the  same  :  and  if  any  such  dangerous  and 
 divisive  motion  be  made  to  us  by  word  or  writ,  we,  and 
 every  one  of  us,  shall  either  suppress  it,  or,  if  need  be, 
 shall  incontinent  make  the  same  known,  that  it  may  be 
 timeously  obviated.  Neither  do  we  fear  the  foul  as- 
 persions of  rebellion,  combination,  or  what  else  our  ad- 
 versaries, from  their  craft  and  malice,  would  put  upon 
 
THE  NATIONAL  COVENANT.  89 
 
 US  ;  seeing  what  we  do  is  so  well  warranted,  and  arisetli 
 from  an  unfeigned  desire  to  maintain  the  true  worship 
 of  God,  the  majesty  of  our  King,  and  the  peace  of  the 
 kingdom,  for  the  common  happiness  of  ourselves  and 
 our  posterity. 
 
 And  because  we  cannot  look  for  a  blessing  from  God 
 upon  our  proceedings,  except  with  our  profession  and 
 subscription  w^e  join  such  a  life  and  conversation  as 
 beseemeth  Christians  who  have  renewed  their  covenant 
 with  God  ;  we  therefore  faithfully  promise  for  ourselves, 
 our  followers,  and  all  others  under  us,  both  in  public, 
 and  in  our  particular  families,  and  personal  carriage,  to 
 endeavour  to  keep  ourselves  within  the  bounds  of 
 Christian  liberty,  and  to  be  good  examples  to  others  of 
 all  godliness,  soberness,  and  righteousness,  and  of  every 
 duty  we  ow^e  to  God  and  man. 
 
 And,  that  this  our  union  and  conjunction  may  be 
 observed  without  violation,  we  call  the  LIVING  GOD, 
 THE  SEARCHER  OF  OUR  HEARTS,  to  witness,  who 
 know^eth  this  to  be  our  sincere  desire  and  unfeigned  re- 
 solution, as  w^e  shall  answ^er  to  JESUS  CHRIST  in  the 
 great  day,  and  under  the  pain  of  God's  everlasting  wrath, 
 and  of  infamy  and  loss  of  all  honour  and  respect  in  this 
 world  :  most  humbly  beseeching  the  LORD  to  strength- 
 en us  by  his  HOLY  SPIRIT  for  this  end,  and  to  bless 
 our  desires  and  proceedings  with  a  happy  success  ;  that 
 religion  and  righteousness  may  flourish  in  the  land,  to 
 the  glory  of  GOD,  the  honour  of  our  King,  and  peace 
 and  comfort  of  us  all.  In  witness  whereof,  we  have 
 .subscribed  with  our  hands  all  the  premises. 
 
90  THE  NATIONAL  COVENANT. 
 
 The  article  of  this  Covenant  within  written  and 
 within  subscribed,  which  was  at  the  first  subscription 
 referred  to  the  detei-mination  of  the  General  Assembly, 
 being  now  determined,  on  the  fifth  of  December,  1638, 
 and  hereby  the  five  articles  of  Perth,  the  government 
 of  the  Kirk  by  bishops  being  declared  to  be  abjured  and 
 removed,  and  the  civil  places  and  power  of  kirkmen 
 declared  unlawful,  we  subscribe  according  to  the  de- 
 termination of  the  said  lawful  and  free  General  Assem- 
 bly, holden  at  Glasgow. 
 
 ^/ 
 
 EDINBURGH  :   T.  CONSTABLE,  PRINTER  TO  HKR  MAJESTY. 
 
1                         Date  Due 
 
 0    f^l      Ir^ 
 
 -^  1  0  193S 
 
 11 
 
 f^