Sketches of the Covenanters Part 6

Alexander Henderson, another minister, encountered the displeasure of the men in power and suffered much at their hands. In his early life he accepted the Prelatic creed and entered the ministry in favor with the party. He was sent to a church which, a short time previous, had experienced the violent removal of their beloved pastor. The people were indignant at Henderson's coming. They barricaded the door of the church.

The delegates that had come to ordain him, not being able to effect an entrance through the door, entered by a window. Henderson was that day settled as the pastor of an absent congregation. In the lapse of time he won the people. He was faithful and powerful as a preacher of the Word, and the Lord Jesus honored him in the eyes of large audiences.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ALEXANDER HENDERSON.

Alexander Henderson was born in 1583, and died in the 63rd year of his age. He began his ministry in the Prelatic Church. Under a sermon by Robert Bruce, he was convinced of the error of that system--and became a powerful defender of the Presbyterian faith. He became a distinguished leader of the Covenanters, taking a prominent part in the Covenant of 1638, in the Solemn League and Covenant, and in other notable events.

His grave is in Greyfriars' churchyard.]

One day Henderson went to hear a Covenanted minister, Robert Bruce, at a communion. He was shy and concealed himself in a dark corner of the church. Mr. Bruce took for his text, "He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber." The minister having read his text paused, and in dignified posture, with head erect, scanned his congregation with eyes that gleamed with holy fire. Such was his custom before beginning his sermon. Henderson felt the blaze of those eyes. He seemed to be the very man for whom they were searching. The recollection of having entered upon his ministry by climbing through a window horrified him. He went from that meeting determined to investigate Prelacy in the light of the Scriptures. The result was conviction of the truth and conversion to the Covenanted cause. Deportation from his devoted flock quickly followed.

He was thereafter found in the forefront of the fight against the supremacy of the king over the Church, and against Prelacy that upheld the king in his arrogant a.s.sumption of the royal prerogative of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The minister of Christ is the watchman of the Church. He is placed upon Zion's walls to sound an alarm at the approach of danger. He is charged with responsibility for the people. If they perish through his neglect to give warning of dangers, his life for theirs. Faithful preaching may not be pleasant or profitable to the minister. Declaring the whole counsel of G.o.d may involve the pastor in trouble, demand sacrifices, result in hardships, controversies, separations; yet the Lord requires it, the people need it, no safety without it for either the flock or the shepherd. Without fidelity no power with G.o.d, no comfort of the Spirit, no approval from Christ. Are they who serve as ministers of Christ willing to sacrifice ministerial support, relationship, popularity, applause--everything temporal, rather than one jot or one t.i.ttle of the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ?

POINTS FOR THE CLa.s.s.

1. Why does G.o.d send trials upon His Church?

2. Mention some of the fluctuations in the Church's condition.

3. What cla.s.s of ministers then had the ascendancy?

4. How did the faithful ministers suffer?

5. What became the test for the pastorate?

6. What faithful young minister declined the test?

7. What was Alexander Henderson's experience?

8. Explain the responsibility of ministers.

XI.

THE ADVANCE GUARDS.--A.D. 1630.

King James VI. continued his warfare against Presbyterianism until his death. This occurred March 27, 1625. With advancing years he grew more bitter, using every means to coerce the Covenanters and bring them into submission. They stood as a wall of fire between him and his cherished ambition to rule supreme over Church and State. He resolved to break down that wall and quench that fire.

Covenanted Presbyterianism has always stood for liberty, conscience, enlightenment, progress, and exalted manhood, resisting all tyrants and oppressors. Presbyterianism recognizes as the crowning glory of man, his relation to G.o.d, all men alike being subjects of His government and accountable at His throne; all being under law to G.o.d and under law to no man, except in the Lord. Presbyterianism honors every honest man as a real king, clothed with innate majesty, crowned with native dignity, and exalted far above the conventional office of earth's highest monarch.

Yet does Presbyterianism sustain all rightful rulers as ministers of G.o.d, and enjoin upon all people submission in the Lord.

In the beginning of 1625, while the snow was yet mantling the mountains in white, the symbol of moral purity and goodness, the king was grimly planning to debase and corrupt the best people in his realms. He gave orders to celebrate Easter with a Communion according to the Articles of Perth, announcing a severe penalty against all who would not comply. The decree was not enforced, for the Lord came suddenly to the unhappy monarch, saying, "Thy soul is required of thee." Easter came with its soft winds and opening buds, its singing brooks and flowery nooks, but King James was not there; the Judge had called him, death had conquered him, the grave had swallowed him; his miserable life was broken off under sixty years of age; and after death, eternity; the long, long eternity.

His Son, Charles I., inherited the father's troubled kingdom, despotic principles, and wilful doggedness. The young ruler began his reign by breathing out threatenings against the Covenanters. Yet the Lord in many ways strengthened His people. He gave them at this time some remarkable Communions and memorable seasons of refreshing. He pitied them for they were nearing the fiery trials that would try their faith to the utmost.

To prepare them for the testing times. He led them up into the mountain of His loving favor and gave them another memorable privilege of renewing their Covenant.

John Livingston, an honored minister of Jesus Christ, was of great service to the Church at this time. He preached Christ and his contested truths with power and striking effect. He stood in the strength and majesty of the Chief Shepherd and fed the flock given into his care.

This flock was very large. Mult.i.tudes gathered about him waiting for the Word at his lips; the church could not hold them. G.o.d gave the people spiritual hunger that brought them from afar; they came over the hills and along the vales, converging upon the place of worship as doves fly to their windows. They journeyed solemnly from their homes to the House of G.o.d, both in the calm of summer and in the storms of winter. They came in the dew of the morning and tarried till protected by the gloaming. Men and women, old and young, gathered around this man of G.o.d who ministered comfort, strength, and eternal life, through Jesus Christ, with wonderful power and grace unto their troubled souls.

Our Monday service of the Communion originated under Mr. Livingston. The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper had been administered to a large congregation. The preaching and serving of tables filled the long summer Sabbath. It was June 20, 1630. The great congregation had come with souls lifted up to G.o.d in prayer; the church was not large enough to hold the people, and the churchyard was filled with devout worshipers.

They sat upon the gra.s.s like the thousands that were fed by Christ in the days of old. The soft wind blew upon them as it listed, and the Holy Spirit, too, came with mysterious power; the vast a.s.sembly was deeply moved. The long Sabbath was followed by a short night. Monday came, and the people, having been profoundly affected by the services of the preceding day, were again early on the grounds. They felt that they could not separate without another day of worship--a day of thanksgiving to the Lord for the wondrous revelations of His love at His holy table.

Mr. Livingston was constrained to preach, and that day proved to be the great day of the feast. An unusual awe fell upon the preacher and his hearers; the Holy Spirit wrought marvelously, melting the hearts of the vast congregation and filling them with comfort, strength, and thankfulness.

Mr. Livingston and his people declined to conform to the "Articles of Perth." A goodly number of other ministers and their churches likewise refused. The king determined to force them into submission by authorizing a "Book of Public Worship", called the Liturgy. July 23, 1637, was the day appointed for its introduction. An attempt to force a mode of worship upon Scotch Presbyterians! No experiment could be more perilous to the king; it was indiscretion bordering on insanity. The very announcement produced an underground swell such as precedes a moral earthquake. Murmurings, groanings, threatenings, dark forebodings swayed the nation. These were gusts fore-running the storm.

The day for testing the Liturgy arrived. Attention was chiefly concentrated upon the Church of St. Giles at Edinburgh. The large auditorium was filled with Presbyterians who were accustomed to worship G.o.d in the plain, solemn manner of the apostles. The suspense preceding the service was painful. Each heart was beating fast, repressed emotion was at white heat, the atmosphere was full of electricity, no one could tell where the fiery point would first appear. At length the dean stood in the pulpit before the gaze of his insulted audience. He opened the new book and began. That was enough, the spark struck the powder, the explosion was sudden. Jean Geddes, a woman whose name is enshrined in history, and whose stool is a souvenir in the museum,--Jean, impelled by a burst of indignation, bounced from her seat and flung her stool at the dean's head, crying with a loud voice, "Villain, dost thou say ma.s.s at my lug?" The unpremeditated deed acted as a signal; the whole congregation was immediately in an uproar; the dean fled and the service came to an undignified conclusion.

The indignation manifested itself in many other places that Sabbath. In the Greyfriars' Church, there were deep sobs, bitter crying, and wails of lamentation. Over the entire kingdom the excitement was intense. The Scotch blood was stirred; the king had outraged the most sacred feelings of the people. They held meetings, prayed to G.o.d, and pet.i.tioned the king. The king replied to their pet.i.tion, like Rehoboam, with bl.u.s.tering insolence. The Covenanters were not intimidated, their determined resistance was contagious and stirred vast communities, national sympathy was aroused; the Holy Spirit wrought mightily upon mult.i.tudes.

Three days after the king's haughty reply had been received, a procession, including twenty-four n.o.blemen, one hundred ministers, and bands of commissioners from sixty-six churches, marched boldly into Edinburgh and enforced their pet.i.tion by a demonstration of strength, with which not even the king could afford to trifle.

[Ill.u.s.tration: JEAN GEDDES THROWING HER STOOL.

Jean Geddes sat convenient to the pulpit on the eventful Sabbath, when the dean attempted to introduce the new "Prayer Book" in St Giles'

Church. The innovation had by antic.i.p.ation filled the people with intense indignation. A storm was brewing. This heroine, unable to restrain herself, sprang to her feet and hurled her stool at the dean's head, exclaiming. "Villain, dost thou say ma.s.s at my lug?" The dean dodged the stool and escaped. Confusion followed, and the service for that day was abandoned.]

Do the children of these Covenanters appreciate the value and power of the truth? Have the fundamental principles of the kingdom of Jesus Christ become incarnated in our lives? Do the doctrines of the Word circulate in the blood, throb in the heart, flash in the eye, echo in the voice, and clothe the whole person with strength and dignity? Is the Covenant of these ancestors a living bond that binds the present generation to G.o.d, through which His energy, sympathy, purity, life, love, and glory descend upon us in continual streams of refreshing?

Then will our mission on earth be fulfilled, our work in the Church will be blessed, our testimony for the Lord will be powerful, and our efforts to win others for Christ will be fruitful.

POINTS FOR THE CLa.s.s.

1. When did King James VI. die?

2. What was he planning when death claimed him?

3. Who was his successor?

4. What course did his son Charles pursue?

5. How did G.o.d prepare His Church for the approaching trials?

6. How did Communion Monday service originate?

7. How did the king try to enforce uniformity on the Church?

8. How was the Liturgy received by the Presbyterians?

9. What demonstration of strength by the Presbyterians?

10. What practical lesson here for us?