CHURCH HISTORY IICHURCH HISTORY II

Lesson 14 Lesson 14 SCOTTISH PRESBYTERIANISMSCOTTISH PRESBYTERIANISM

Greyfriars Bobby

Two Reformations

First Reformation John Knox

None but Christ saves

Second Reformation Death of Knox to Glorious Revolution (1572-1688)

Erastianism

Prelacy

None but Christ reigns

Any system in which the King (or whatever form of government it is) dominates the church.

ANGLICAN PRESBYTERIAN

KING GENERAL ASSEMBLY

ARCHBISHOP

Bishop Bishop Bishop

REGIONAL SYNODS

(made up of churches in area)

LOCAL PRESBYTERIES

(Groups of parish churches)

CHURCH SESSIONS

(ELDERS: Teaching & Ruling)

Priest-Priest-Priest-Priest-Priest

For Christ’s Crown and CovenantFor Christ’s Crown and Covenant

I. Death of Knox (1572) to Restoration of Stuart King (1660)

II. Restoration (1660) to Glorious Revolution (1688)

“no bishop no King”

Setting:

James VI

Andrew Melville

1581 2nd Book of Discipline

jure divino Revealed by God

There can be no other

Jure humano In accord with the principles of God

“ Sir, as divers times I have told you, so now again I must tell you, there are two kings and two kingdoms in Scotland: there is King James, the lord of this commonwealth, and there is Christ Jesus, the King of the Church, whose subject James the Sixth is, and of whose Kingdom he is not a king, nor a lord, nor a head, but a member.”

1607 Exiled to tower of London

d. 1622

Robert Bruce (1554-1631)

St. Giles

Brevity & Clarity

Christ in life and death gain

“I shall be short, by God’s grace”

“By God’s grace, I shall be clear”

Kirk o’ Shotts June 21, 1630

John Livingstone Ezk. 36:25-26

Alexander Henderson

“He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climeth up some other way, is a thief and a robber”

“Then I will sprinkle clean water upon you and you shall be clean”

“What a mercy it is that the Lord sifts that rain through these heavens on us and does not rain down fire and brimstone as he did upon Sodom and Gomorrah.”

ca 1615 Communion service lead by Robert Bruce

500 + trace their conversion to that day!

Samuel Rutherford

Letters

Lex Rex (The Law is King)

“Tell them that sent you that I have got a summons before at the superior judicatory”

1636 Exiled to Aberdeen

1643-49 Commissioner to Westminster Assembly

“The Law is king-the law of God and the law of the land-is king”

“Government is from God. The form of government is from the people. And everyone, including the king, must obey the law”

July 23, 1637 St. Giles

Jenny Geddes “Will you read that book in my lug?”

“The picturesque legend of Jenny Geddes and her stool has almost attained the dignity of history” B.B. Warfield

1638 National Covenant signed Churchyard at Greyfriars

‘That this our union and conjunction may be observed without violation, we call the LIVING GOD, THE SEARCHER OF OUR HEARTS, to witness, who knoweth this to be our sincere desire and unfeigned resolution, as we shall answer to Jesus Christ in the great day, and under the pain of God’s everlasting wrath, and of the infamy and loss of all honour and respect in this world: most humbly beseeching the LORD to strengthen us by HIS HOLY SPIRIT for this end, and to bless our desires and proceedings with a happy success; that religion and righteousness may flourish in the land, to the glory of GOD, the honour of our King, and peace and comfort of us all’,1643 Solemn League and Covenant

“for the preservation of the Reformed religion in Scotland and the reformation of religion in Ireland and England”

Commonwealth of 1650’s

II. Restoration (1660) to Glorious Revolution (1688)

Charles II

The deformation of the church

** There were good Anglican’s**

Robert Leighton I Peter “truly heavenly” CHS

Henry Scogal The Life of God in the soul of man

Presbyterians Divided!

“The Resolutioners” and “The Protestors”

Accommodate Strict opposition “The Covenanters”

Policy not Doctrine!

1661 “OUTED” MINISTERS

1662 300+ Went to the fields

“Lord, cast the lap of thy cloak over us and we will keep it in remembrance what thou didst do for us at such a time as this”

1666 Defeat at Rullion Green

1679 Defeat at Bothwell Bridge

1684-85 “The Killing Times”

“lived unknown til persecution dragged them into fame and pushed them up to heaven”

How do we view the Covenanters?

Negative

Positive

“…be charitable to what was evil, and honest to what was good about (The Covenanters) who fought for life and liberty, for country and religion…” Robert Louis Stevenson

“it stands to their credit that they alone had the courage to challenge the oppressive policies of the later Stuarts long before James II so antagonized all Britain as to bring on the Great Revolution of 1688”

John T. McNeill History and Character of Calvinism

“The Covenanters were the exact equivalent of the I.R.A. in Ireland. A small irreconcilable minority, and as bloodthirsty a crowd as ever disgraced a Christian nation.” Josephine Tey

The Glorious Revolution 1688

Toleration Act of 1689

1. Presbyterian Church established in Scotland

2. Reformed Presbyterian (Covenanter) tradition begins