Reformation in Scotland: the National Covenant

As the Protestant Reformation made its way to Scotland in the sixteenth century, proponents in that country began to form in small groups of believers. Being literate, they contracted their adherence to the reformation ideas through written documents now called collectively “Covenants.” Around 1557, three local covenant groups were formed at Perth, Edinburgh and Stirling. These covenants outlined the purposes of the group, basically the rejection of “papist” beliefs and the acceptance of beliefs based on their understanding of the Holy Scriptures.

Another covenant, somewhat political in nature, brought forth in 1560 resulted in the termination of affairs between Scotland and (Catholic) France and led to the Treaty of Edinburgh resulting in an alliance with Scotland and (Protestant) England. The invasion of the Spanish fleet in 1588 led to another covenant called the “General Band” which further cemented the Scottish/English alliance.

Episcopacy

In 1603, James VI of Scotland accepted the throne of England thereby uniting the two countries under one crown. By accepting this crown, James found himself under the legacy of Henry VIII as “Head” of the Church of England (the Episcopal Church). Episcopacy is the organization of a church into hierarchical levels of office, i.e. priest, bishop, arch-bishop, and king. From Henry VIII to modern day, the Head of the Church of England was and is the reigning monarch.

James VI/I evidently accepted his role as head of the church, wrote a lengthy treatise on the “divine right of kings,” and began to exert pressure on his northern countrymen to fall in line with the Epicopacy of the mother church. He could not have chosen a rougher row to hoe. All efforts seemed to strengthen the covenanter position.

James’ death in 1625 left the throne open to his second son Charles I. Charles inherited many governmental, financial and religious problems from his father, but perpetrated one of his greatest problems in his marriage to the fifteen year old daughter of France’s King Henry IV, Henrietta Marie. She was devoutly Catholic and flooded the royal court with her Catholic friends and advisors. More than any one act, this marriage caused Charles to lose the support of the Puritan nobility.

 King Charles was firmly of a mind to extend Anglican forms to Scotland, particularly as expressed in the Book of Common Prayer, and the great majority of the Scottish people were equally determined to resist. Charles was not one for compromise, and so had the Scottish (Episcopal) Bishops and Archbishop William Laud draw up a Book of Common Prayer for Scotland. This Book was promulgated in 1637 and was immediately denounced by the Scottish people.

In the first use of the prayer book on Sunday, July 23, 1637, James Hannay Dean of Edinburgh, began to read the "collects," part of the prescribed service. As he began, a street-merchant, Jenny Geddes, stood, threw her stool at the minister and shouted, "Deil colic the wame o' ye, fause thief; daur ye say Mass in my lug?" (May the devil cause you severe stomach pains, false thief; dare you say the Mass in my ear?) The ensuing tumult in the church spilled into the streets and riots and protests followed even in other cities.

A committee was formed requesting that Charles withdraw the Anglican liturgy from the Scottish churches, a request which he characteristically denied.

National Covenant

In 1638, at a gathering in Greyfriar’s Church in Edinburgh, a representative group of Scotland’s finest men, wrote and signed the “National Covenant,” declaring “the firm determination of its Presbyterian authors and subscribers to resist to the death the claims of the King and his minions to override the Crown Rights of the Redeemer in His Kirk.”

http://www.reformation-scotland.org.uk/articles/outline-of-covenanter-history.html

In the opening paragraphs of this detailed National Covenant (1638), the authors proclaim, “We…do protest…and…we believe…that this only is the true faith and religion…and now…we detest and refuse the usurped authority of that Roman Antichrist…all his tyrannous laws…his erroneous doctrine 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 justification by faith only” and further offenses perpetrated by the Papal regent in Rome against the pure Church of Christ. A full three-fourths of this lofty and well-thought out document is dedicated to the Church of Rome and its deviation from Scriptural truths. They lambasted the “five bastard sacraments”, the “rites, ceremonies and false doctrine,” the teaching of “transubstantiation,” his “blasphemous priesthood,” and his “wicked hierarchy.”

 http://www.constitution.org/eng/conpur023.htm

Beginning to wind down, the authors state that “we declare before God and man, that we have no intention or desire to attempt anything that may turn to the dishonor of God or the diminution of the Kings’s greatness and authority.” They further attempt to reassure the King that they are “most humbly beseeching the Lord to strengthen 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 this land, to the Glory of God, the honour of our King, and peace and comfort of us all.” Despite these assurances of honor to the King, the prior reference to "wicked heirarchy" stuck in the craw of Catholic and Episcopal bishop alike. Their advice to the king: tighten the screws.

Bishops' Wars


In November 1638, the bishops and archbishops were formally expelled from the Church of Scotland, which was then established on a full Presbyterian basis. The glove was thrown and immediately picked up. Charles reacted by launching the Bishops' Wars.


http://www.british-civil-wars.co.uk/military/bishops-wars.htm