The Covenants And The Covenanters | Page 5

read them in a clear, calm voice.
"When he had finished, all was still as the grave. But the silence was
soon broken. An aged man of noble air was seen advancing. He came
forward slowly, and deep emotion was visible in his venerable features.
He took up the pen with a trembling hand and signed the document. A
general movement now took place. All the Presbyterians in the Church
pressed forward to the Covenant and subscribed their names. But this
was not enough; a whole nation was waiting. The immense parchment
was carried into the churchyard and spread out on a large tombstone to
receive on this expressive table the signature of the Church. Scotland
had never beheld a day like that." "This," says Henderson, "was the day
of the Lord's power, in which multitudes offered themselves most
willingly, like dewdrops of the morning. This was, indeed, the great

day of Israel, wherein the arm of the Lord was revealed--the day of the
Redeemer's strength, on which the princes of the people assembled to
swear their allegiance to the King of kings." Charles I. understood well
the force of that mighty movement when, on hearing of it, he said, "I
have no more power in Scotland than a Doge of Venice." The renewal
of that covenant, 28th February, 1638, was a thunderbolt against
despotism in Scotland, and the world over. "The chariots of God are
twenty thousand."
The covenant was transcribed into hundreds of copies, carried
throughout the country from north to south and east to west, and
subscribed everywhere. The spirit that thrilled the thousands filling and
overflowing Greyfriars Church and churchyard, spread with rapidity
over the whole land. It combined the "whole nation into one mighty
phalanx of incalculable energy." The last sparks of the King's fury burst
out in secret instructions to his followers to use all power against the
"refractory and seditious," and in a threat to send his army and fleet to
Scotland, but these soon died away. The "refractory and seditious" king
eventually surrendered to the Covenanters, abolished courts, canons,
liturgies, and articles, and consented to the calling of a General
Assembly. This was the first free General Assembly of the Church of
Scotland for the last forty two years. It was held in Glasgow, on 21st
November, 1638; and its work in the overthrow of Prelacy and the
royal supremacy and in the re-assertion of the spiritual independence of
the Church, was one of the most signal successes in the still
progressing conflict of the second Reformation.
Meanwhile, Charles II. was endeavouring to secure the recognition of
his absolute monarchy in England. There also he rigorously demanded
submission to despotic claims. By abolishing Parliaments, annulling
charters, appointing the star chamber, he introduced a reign of terror. In
the room of those legislative bulwarks of liberty, which the nation had
constructed through the skill and experience of generations, a "grim
tyranny," writes Dr. Wylie, "reared its gaunt form, with the terrible
accompaniments of star chamber, pillory, and branding irons. It
reminded one of sunset in the tropics. There the luminary of the day
goes down at a plunge into the dark. So had the day of liberty in

England gone down at a stride into the night of tyranny." The
oppressed people turned to the Covenanters of Scotland for sympathy
and counsel. The negotiations resulted in the preparation of an
international league in defence of religion and liberty. Against the
banner of the King they raised the banner of the Covenant. Alexander
Henderson drafted the new Bond. The document breathed the spirit of
the National Covenant of Greyfriars, condemned the Papal and Prelatic
system, pled for a constitutional monarchy, and outlined a
comprehensive programme for future efforts in extending the principles
of the Reformation. On September 25, 1643, it was subscribed in St.
Margarets Church, Westminster. The members of Parliament in
England and the Westminster Assembly of Divines stood with uplifted
hands, and, as article after article was read, they took this Oath to God.
The Commissioners from Scotland to the Westminster Assembly united
with the people of England in the solemnity of the day. Thus the
representatives of the two nations stood before the Lord. This was the
Solemn League and Covenant, "the noblest in its essential features,"
writes Hetherington, "of all that are recorded among the international
transactions of the world." The Parliament and Westminster Assembly
issued instructions for its subscription throughout the kingdom. The
classes and the masses in England, Scotland, and Ireland received it
with gladness. In the face of a despotism unexampled in the history of
these lands, high and low, rich and poor, bowed themselves as one
before the throne of God. "For at that time day by day there came to
David to help him, until it was