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INTRODUCTION: Welcome back to Part 2 in our # part series “The History of the RPCNA”. Last time if you recall, we went from Luther to Knox. This installment focuses on various changes enacted by the Scottish General Assemblies and Scottish Parliament until the end of the 16^th century. SOLI DEO GLORIA.

PART 2:

The first legal steps towards changing the Church in Scotland began in 1542. That year, the Parliament in Scotland made it legal to read the Bible in the common language. The biggest changes however took place in 1560. The Scottish Parliament asked John Knox, John Spottiswoode, John Willock, John Row, John Douglas, and John Winram (known collectively as the “6 Johns”) to draft a confession for the Scottish Church. This confession was accepted by Parliament, and it provided a stable Reformed basis for the Scottish Church. This Scots Confession of Faith was only replaced eighty-some years later by the Westminster Confession of Faith.

That same year, Parliament abolished any papal authority in Scotland, and they repealed all pro-Catholic or anti-Protestant legislation. Parliament passed an act in 1567 that provided protected Protestants from injury for their beliefs. Also, Parliament passed an act saying that no prince could be given authority in Scotland if they did not swear an oath to maintain Protestantism. The first General Assembly of the Scottish Church met in 1560, with only 42 representatives, including half of the 12 Protestant ministers in Scotland. By 1567, the Reformation had flourished, and there were 252 ministers in Scotland.

In 1567, one of Parliament’s most important acts was to declare what power they knew they did not have. Parliament declared that the Scottish Church had the sole power to choose its own ministers. This act was one of the first of its kind where the government admitting to not having control over the Church.

However, soon the Church would soon have to decide about the Church was to govern. Under the guidance of John Knox, the Scottish General Assembly had provided 2 temporary church officers, readers and superintendents. These officers were meant to be able to aid in leading the church until more ministers could be ordained. However, at the Convention of Leith in 1572, Episcopal supporters were able to get an officer called a “Bishop” allowed in church organization. These “Bishops” were called “tulchan bishops” because their purpose was to garner the revenues of Episcopal offices for the nobility (a tulchan was the skin of a calf stuffed with straw placed in front of a cow while it was being milked in order to induce it to give more milk).

In 1578, Andrew Melville led the fight against the office of bishops in the Scottish Church. That year, Melville was Moderator of a General Assembly that wrote the Second Book of Discipline for the Church, which set forth a Presbyterian form of church government for the Church in Scotland. Though Parliament did not ratify it, it was considered in the Church to be a legitimate standard for the Scottish Church. In 1580, the General Assembly declared that there was no Biblical basis for the office of bishop, and, in 1582, the General Assembly passed an act which said that no lay person could attempt to appoint any church official.

However, the struggle between Prelacy (the form of church government that includes bishops, often just called Episcopalian) and Presbyterianism came to a head in late 16^th century. In 1584, Parliament passed what Presbyterian supporters called the “Black Acts”, which condemned all anti-prelatic as treasonous. They further went on to declare that the king was had authority over all “states and subjects within this realm” and they declared it unlawful for the General Assembly to meet without the consent of the King of Scotland. For the following 8 years, the Church in Scotland was a confused mix of Presbyterianism and Prelacy, with some supporting the acts of the General Assembly and others the acts of Parliament and the king.

The king allowed the General Assembly to meet in 1592, and they elected Robert Bruce Moderator. The Assembly made a list of requests which it then presented to the king. Parliament met a month later and approved an act that instituted Assemblies, Synods, and Presbyteries, upheld the most important portions of the Second Book of Discipline, and declared the “Black Acts” to have expired. Some of the compromises reached in this act, called the Great Character of Presbytery, were that the General Assembly should meet at least once a year, with the king or his commissioner choosing the time and place; lay patronage was allowed, but only Presbyteries could ordain and install those prospective ministers; and the observance of Christmas and Easter was ended. Supporters of Presbyterianism recognized this as a step in the right direction, though they acknowledged that Parliament was not actually conferring rights to the Church, only affirming its rights.

However, it was not long before King James was trying to force Prelacy into the Church of Scotland again. In 1598, he managed to get the General Assembly to agree to a commission that would consult with him and be given the right to vote in Assemblies. In 1599, the Assembly also agreed he could nominate who and how many this commission would be, and the commission was given Episcopal titles. Finally in 1607, “Perpetual Moderators” were introduced, bishops who would be moderators while they held their ecclesiastical position.

I hope you enjoy this second installment of the series. If you have questions or want clarifications, just comment them.