Part 925

"Now we are summoned to a sadder subject; from the sufferings of a private person [John Williams, bishop of Lincoln, pursued and persecuted by Laud] to the miseries and almost mutual] ruin of two kingdoms, England and Scotland. I confess, my hands have always been unwilling to write of that cold country, for fear my fingers should be frostbitten therewith; but necessity to make our story entire puts me upon the employment. Miseries, caused from the sending of the Book of Service or new Liturgy thither, which may sadly be termed a 'Rubric' indeed, dyed with the blood of so many of both nations, slain on that occasion. {2863} It seems the design began in the reign of king James; who desired and endeavoured an uniformity of public prayers through the kingdom of Scotland. … In the reign of king Charles, the project being resumed (but whether the same book or no, God knoweth), it was concluded not to send into Scotland the same Liturgy of England 'totidem verbis,' lest this should be misconstrued a badge of dependence of that church on ours. It was resolved also, that the two Liturgies should not differ in substance, lest the Roman party should upbraid us with weighty and material differences. A similitude therefore not identity being resolved of, it was drawn up with some, as they termed them, insensible alterations, but such as were quickly found and felt by the Scotch to their great distaste. … The names of sundry saints, omitted in the English, are inserted into the Scotch Calendar (but only in black letters), on their several days. … Some of these were kings, all of them natives of that country. … But these Scotch saints were so far from making the English Liturgy acceptable, that the English Liturgy rather made the saints odious unto them. … No sooner had the dean of Edinburgh begun to read the book in the church of St. Giles, Sunday, July 23rd, in the presence of the Privy Council, both the archbishops, divers bishops, and magistrates of the city, but presently such a tumult was raised that, through clapping of hands, cursing, and crying, one could neither hear nor be heard. The bishop of Edinburgh endeavoured in vain to appease the tumult; when a stool, aimed to be thrown at him [according to popular tradition by an old herb-woman named Jenny Geddes], had killed, if not diverted by one present; so that the same book had occasioned his death and prescribed the form of his burial; and this hubbub was hardly suppressed by the lord provost and bailiffs of Edinburgh. This first tumult was caused by such, whom I find called 'the scum of the city,' considerable for nothing but their number. But, few days after, the cream of the nation (some of the highest and best quality therein) engaged in the same cause, crying out, 'God defend all those who will defend God's cause! and God confound the service-book and all the maintainers of it!'"

_T. Fuller, Church History of Britain, book 11, section 2 (volume 3)._

"One of the most distinct and familiar of historical traditions attributes the honour of flinging the first stool, and so beginning the great civil war, to a certain Jenny or Janet Geddes. But a search among contemporary writers for the identification of such an actor on the scene, will have the same inconclusive result that often attends the search after some criminal hero with a mythical celebrity when he is wanted by the police. … Wodrow, on the authority of Robert Stewart—a son of the Lord Advocate of the Revolution—utter]y dethrones Mrs. Geddes: 'He tells me that it's the constantly-believed tradition that it was Mrs. Mean, wife to John Mean, merchant in Edinburgh, that cast the first stool when the service was read in the New Kirk, Edinburgh, 1637; and that many of the lasses that carried on the fray were prentices in disguise, for they threw stools to a great length.'"

_J. H. Burton, History of Scotland, volume 6, pages 443-444, foot-note._

SCOTLAND: A. D. 1638. The Tables, and the signing of the National Covenant.

"Nobles, ministers, gentlemen, and burghers from every district poured into Edinburgh to take part in a national resistance to these innovations [of the Service Book], and an appeal was made from the whole body assembled in the capital, not only against the Service Book, but also against the Book of Canons and the conduct of the bishops. Instead, however, of granting redress of these grievances, the King issued a series of angry and exasperating proclamations, commanding the crowds of strangers in the capital to return immediately to their own homes, and instructing the Council and the Supreme Courts of Law to remove to Linlithgow. But instead of obeying the injunction to leave Edinburgh, the multitudes there continued to receive accessions from all parts of the country. … In answer to the complaint of the Council that their meeting in such numbers was disorderly and illegal, the supplicants offered to choose a limited number from each of the classes into which they were socially divided—nobles, lesser barons, burgesses, and clergy—to act as their representatives. This was at once very imprudently agreed to by the Council. A committee of four was accordingly selected by each of these classes, who were instructed to reside in the capital, and were empowered to take all necessary steps to promote their common object. They had also authority to assemble the whole of their constituents should any extraordinary emergency arise. The opponents of the new Canons and Service Book were thus organised with official approval into one large and powerful body, known in history as 'The Tables,' which speedily exercised an important influence in the country. As soon as this arrangement was completed, the crowds of supplicants who thronged the metropolis returned to their own homes, leaving the committee of sixteen to watch the progress of events." But the obstinacy of the King soon brought affairs to a crisis, and early in 1638 the deputies of The Tables "resolved to summon the whole body of supplicants to repair at once to the capital in order to concert measures for their common safety and the furtherance of the good cause. The summons was promptly obeyed, and after full deliberation it was resolved, on the suggestion of Johnstone of Warriston, that in order to strengthen their union against the enemies of the Protestant faith they should renew the National Covenant, which had been originally drawn up and sworn to at a time [A. D. 1581] when the Protestant religion was in imminent peril, through the schemes of France and Spain, and the plots of Queen Mary and the Roman Catholics in England and Scotland. The original document denounced in vehement terms the errors and devices of the Romish Church, and an addition was now made to it, adapting its declarations and pledges to existing circumstances."

_J. Taylor, The Scottish Covenanters, chapter 1._

"It was in the Greyfriars' Church at Edinburgh that it [the National Covenant] was first received, on February 28, 1638. The aged Earl of Sutherland was the first to sign his name. Then the whole congregation followed. Then it was laid on the flat grave-stone still preserved in the church-yard. Men and women crowded to add their names. Some wept aloud, others wrote their names in their own blood; others added after their names 'till death.' For hours they signed, till every corner of the parchment was filled, and only room left for their initials, and the shades of night alone checked the continual flow. {2864} From Greyfriars' church-yard it spread to the whole of Scotland. Gentlemen and noblemen carried copies of it 'in their portmanteaus and pockets, requiring and collecting subscriptions publicly and privately.' Women sat in church all day and all night, from Friday till Sunday, in order to receive the Communion with it. None dared to refuse their names."

_A. P. Stanley, Lectures on the History of the Church of Scotland, lecture 2._

ALSO IN: _J. Cunningham, Church History of Scotland, volume 2, chapter 2._

_D. Masson, Life of John Milton, volume 1, chapter 7._

_R. Chambers, Domestic Annals of Scotland, volume 2, pages 116-127._

The following is the text of the Scottish National Covenant: