I.
OF all the great men raised by God for defence of His cause in Scotland perhaps none excelled Alexander Henderson in sanctified sagacity. There have been leaders in the Church with more brilliant gifts, and greater oratorical powers but taking him all in all Alexander Henderson was God’s gift to Scotland when a cool head and wise leadership were required to steer the bark of the Church through the tempestuous seas that broke over it. The Church of Scotland has been very fortunate in its leaders. The inflexible resolution of John Knox to have the Church of the Reformation set on a sure basis and the steadfastness with which he pursued his purpose gives him a unique place among Scotland’s great and worthy sons. The courage of Andrew Melville who feared neither king nor commoner made him a pillar of strength at a critical time in the Church’s struggles. And when the Second Reformation movement was set in motion Henderson was the leader raised up by God to be the Church’s faithful and wise counsellor in a critical moment of its history.
Alexander Henderson was born at or near the village of Luthrie, in the parish of Creich, Fifeshire, sometime during 1583. Tradition asserts that he was the son of a feuar, and that he was a cadet of the Hendersons of Fordel, an old Scottish family. This tradition is evidently correct for Henderson’s remains lie in the family burying ground in Greyfriars Churchyard, Edinburgh. At the age of 16 he matriculated at St. Salvator’s College, St. Andrews. He acted as regent of philosophy till 1611. During this period he finished his divinity course. His ecclesiastical sympathies were on the side of Episcopacy and were strongly anti-Presbyterian. Between 17th December, 1613, and 26th January, 1614, he was presented to the parish of Leuchars, a quiet country village lying some six miles to the north-east of St. Andrews. The parishioners strongly opposed Archbishop Gladstane’s nominee and when the day of Henderson’s institution arrived Henderson and his friends found the door securely nailed. Those who had to take part in the ordination and induction were under necessity of entering the church by the window. The story of his conversion to the Presbyterian cause though well-known bears re-telling. Robert Bruce of Kinnaird, the famous Covenanter preacher, had come to the neighbourhood. Henderson was anxious to hear him and slipped into a quiet corner in the church. When Robert Bruce gave out his text it was from John x. 1.: “Verily, verily I say unto you, he that cometh not in by the door, but climbeth up another way, the same is a thief and a robber.” The sermon made a lasting impression on his mind and in his moderatorial sermon to the famous Glasgow Assembly of 1638 there is the following reference made to his change of view: “There are divers among us that have had no such warrant for our entry to the ministry as were to be wished. Alas! how many of us have rather sought the Kirk than the Kirk sought us! How many have rather gotten the Kirk given to them, than they have been given to the Kirk for the good thereof! And yet, there must be a great difference put between those who have lived many years in an unlawful office without warrant of God, and, therefore, must be abominable in the sight of God, and those who, in some respects, have entered unlawfully, and with an ill conscience, and afterwards have come to see the evil of this, and to do what in them lies to repair the injury. If there were any faults or wrong steps in our entry (as who of us are free!) acknowledge the Lord’s calling of us if we have since got a seal from heaven of our ministry, and let us labour with diligence and faithfulness in our office.” Soon after his conversion and his adoption of Presbyterianism Henderson gradually came to the front. In 1618 the Five Articles of Perth were passed notwithstanding the strenuous opposition of the Presbyterians. In 1619 he was summoned before the High Commission Court at St. Andrews but we find him exercising his parochial duties without intermission. For the next eighteen years we hear little or nothing of Henderson. This was in all likelihood a preparation for the coming crisis and when the hour came the man was ready to take command. We find him attending private conferences of the faithful in default of regularly convened Assemblies. Efforts were made to get him transferred to Stirling in 1631 and Dumbarton in 1632 but unsuccessfully.
The sinister figure of Laud now appears in the ecclesiastical movements in both England and Scotland. In the latter country his meddlesome policy was to cause a conflagration which neither he nor his royal master could quench. Charles, with the infatuated folly of the Stewart house, was determined to bring a brave and free people to his way of thinking, not only politically but ecclesiastically. In doing so he was making the mistake of his life and by his infatuated policy he was ultimately to lose his throne and his head by the executioner’s axe. In carrying out his policy, guided by the evil genius of Laud, Knox’s Book of Discipline and Book of Common Order were to be displaced by the “Canons and Constitutions Ecclesiastical for the Government of the Church of Scotland.” In 1637 the Liturgy appeared and was ushered in with the pomp of royal sanction and episcopal approval. It was proclaimed throughout the land that all men should conform to the new order under pain of horning and each parish was to procure at least two copies of the Prayer-Book. The Book caused a tremendous upheaval among the people. Three great objections were made to it—(1) It had been imposed by the mere fiat of the King without consent of General Assembly or Parliament. (2) It came from England and (3) It was popish. It was this last point that roused the laity. They might not fully understand the disputes about church policy but the issues between Protestantism and Popery were very clearly defined in their minds.
On 16th July, 1637, the order arrived directing the introduction of the Prayer-Book on the following Sabbath. The story of the riot, when an attempt was made to read the hated Prayer-Book in St. Giles, is well known as one of the great dramatic events in Scottish history setting a nation on fire and letting loose elements that neither Charles nor his episcopal advisers could control. Henderson was in the prime of his powers and stepped at once into the place of unquestioned leadership. On 13th July, proceedings had been commenced against Henderson and other ministers for not obeying the Privy Council’s proclamation in regard to the Liturgy. The ministers retaliated by presenting bills of suspension to the Privy Council anent the letters if horning that had been issued against them. This was done on the ground that the recent innovations were illegal. They further stated they had ordered to take a copy of the book to study it before deciding on its use. The Council were in a dilemma and they had to compromise matters by saying that it was compulsory to buy the book without using it. On 29th July the Council temporarily suspended the use of the obnoxious Liturgy. Charles was enraged at the course events had taken. He sent down peremptory instructions ordering the immediate use of the Prayer-Book and rebuked the Privy Council for their weak-kneed policy. On intimation of the King’s foolish decision Henderson, with the three other ministers who had won a moral victory over the Council renewed their petition. The opposition was gathering strength and soon there were 69 petitions presented against the Prayer-Book from all parts of the Lowlands. The signatories included 24 peers, many of the gentry, and 66 commissioners from towns and parishes and nearly a hundred ministers. The Council was at its wit’s end and decided to despatch the Duke of Lennox with a message to the King informing him of the real state of matters.
(To be continued.)