Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. Excerpt from book: Section 3CHAPTER III. THE GLASITES. The tyrannical oppression to which the Scottish Presbyterians were subjected during the reigns of the last two Stuart Kings had the effect of compelling them to close their ranks in defence of both their civil and religious liberty. The symbols of their union in this sacred cause were the
Covenants. In former days there had gathered around these documents fervent and reverent enthusiasm, and it seemed to the best men of the Scottish nation that never in their former history had the need of a common testimony in defence of their principles been greater than amid the conflicts with the civil powers that took place during the thirty years prior to the Revolution of 1688, Presbyterianism assumed a new complexion, and became
covenanted
Presbyterianism. While the old Confession and Books of Discipline were retained, and the Westminster Confession still held its place as the acknowledged creed of the Church, yet the documents which most really embodied the faith and sentiments of the people were the national covenants, especially the Solemn League and Covenant of 1643, which was the protest of the nation against Prelacy, as the National Covenant of 1581 had been against Popery. All the more impressive was the attitude of the people with regard to the covenants from the circumstance that there had arisen the practice of
covenanting, or a solemn swearing of adherence to the covenants by the people onspecial occasions, especially at communion seasons, when no one who desired to maintain any reputation for religious faith or patriotic feeling neglected to take the solemn oath which formed part of the covenants. Strange as it may seem, it was as a protest against the covenants and covenanting that Independency in Scotland took its rise early in the eighteenth century, and the …
