INTRODUCTION: Welcome back to Part 3 in our # part series “The History of the RPCNA”. Last time if you recall, we went from the legal changes that supported Presbyterianism to King James’ work in Scotland to restore Prelacy. This installment chronicles the defeat of Prelacy in Scotland, tells of the first raising of a banner bearing “For Christ’s Crown and Covenant”, and finishes at the start of the English Civil War. SOLI DEO GLORIA.
James I, the VI of Scotland, continued to seek to institute a prelatic form of church government in Scotland. In 1610, a heavily bribed and royally pressured General Assembly met. They approved the power of the king to call and end assemblies, and they gave most of the power back to bishops that they had lost during the reforming of the Scottish Church.
The repeal of Reformation changes continued in 1618 with the Five Articles of Perth. The General Assembly met at the place and time appointed by the king, and supporters of Prelacy controlled the meeting from the beginning. They succeeded in passing the Five Articles of Perth, which restored kneeling to receive the Lord’s Supper, private Communion, private baptism, the training of young people and their being blessed by bishops, and lastly the observance of Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, and other holy days.
In 1625, James died and his son became Charles I. Charles sought to expand the changes started by his father. In 1636, the Scottish bishops published the “Book of Canons” which, among other things, forbade disapproving of the king’s supremacy in the Church, proclaimed Prelacy as the true form of church government, and prohibited private church meetings and extemporaneous prayer.
Scottish bishops also desired a liturgy, which they published in 1637 under the title, “The Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and other Parts of divine Service for the use of the Church of Scotland”. The book was one of the most flagrant returns to Catholicism since the start of the Reformation in Scotland. The book included the use of altars in sanctuaries, portions of the Apocrypha, and a calendar with the days of many Catholic saints. The bishops required each Scottish church to buy two copies.
However, the Prayer Book proved to be too much for the Protestants of Scotland. On July 23rd, 1637, the book was first read in Edinburgh at St. Giles Cathedral. As the speaker read, a woman stood up and threw the stool she was sitting on at the reader, reportedly saying, “Villain, dost thou say mass at my lug?” Others in the congregation began to throw their Bibles and stools at the speaker until he escaped from the building. Two months later, many ministers and noblemen assembled in Edinburgh to protest the Prayer Book.
The Privy Council of Scotland, a body that advised the king, was set to meet in November of 1637. Large numbers of Presbyterians came to Edinburgh at this time to protest the Prayer Book, and to dissipate the crowd, the Privy Council accepted a delegation of ministers, burgesses, nobility and gentry which were called the “Four Tables”. The “Four Tables” complained about the bishops, the Book of Canons and the Prayer Book, but King Charles I only cracked down more on any kind of Presbyterian activity.
Many in Scotland had believed that the king did not understand their position because he was in London; however his actions made it clear what he supported. Because of the continued destruction of Presbyterianism in Scotland, Presbyterian ministers drafted the National Covenant of 1638, which contained the Covenant of 1580-1581, a section on why Presbyterianism was lawful due to the acts of Parliament, and a practical section on what should be done to fix the Scottish Church. People from all over Scotland swore to the National Covenant in February of 1638.
In November of 1638, the first truly open General Assembly in over 3 decades met against the command of the king and affirmed the Presbyterian changes of 1892 and decried the recent attempts to institute Prelacy. King Charles became alarmed at the Scottish support for the covenant, and took army north to Scotland. The Scottish prepared to defend themselves and they raised an army under the command of General Alexander Leslie. The banner that this army flew said “For Christ’s Crown and Covenant”. Seeing the resolve of the Scots, Charles procured a treaty with them that allowed for a Parliament and General Assembly to meet the following year. When these bodies met, Prelacy was soundly defeated in ecclesiastical and civil legislation. Presbyterianism was restored, and soon English Puritans would rise against this same king.
I hope you enjoy this second installment of the series. If you have questions or want clarifications, just comment them.
