The Covenanters

As we finish this series on the Covenanters this week, it would be good to acknowledge the benefits that came through this movement of the 17th century in Scotland. It is true that some people have given an almost angelic retelling of the story, which is a form of...

With the peaceful enthronement of King William and Queen Mary, after they had agreed to the English Bill of Rights and Scottish Claim of Rights, the clergy in Scotland focused their attention on the re-establishment of the Presbyterian Church. Back in 1592, Scottish...

With the tyrant king James VII in exile, the leaders in London had to move quickly to make sure an orderly joint coronation of William, Prince of Orange, and his wife, Mary Stuart, the daughter of James VII, could go ahead. As her uncle, Charles II, had had no...

With James VII determined to reset Britain and bring us back to Rome, even the liberals had had enough. When the seven bishops in England, who had opposed the king because of his tyrannical policies, were tried for seditious libel and acquitted by the court on 30 June...

When Charles II lay dying in 1685, his anger against the faithful Covenanters was still boiling. Despite his two-pronged attack of persecution and temptation through Indulgences, a remnant stood firm, unmoved. This group had openly exposed his perjury and called him a...

As we drew near Bass Rock, opposite North Berwick, I was elated. We had discussed coming here often, and now, on my 60th birthday, it was happening. Amidst the surf of a rough sea and the raucous calling of the seabirds, we finally reached our destination. ‘Any moment...

It was a quiet, grey day when I first visited the Covenanters’ prison in Greyfriars’ Kirk graveyard. Peering through the locked iron gate, I tried to imagine the horrendous scene that the stones would have witnessed. The plaque outside states: ‘Behind these gates lies...

On a bitterly cold day on 28 November 1666, a protest march of Covenanters met face-to-face with the government soldiers led by General Thomas (‘Tam’) Dalziel. The Covenanters had hoped that their march would snowball into thousands and that they would enter Edinburgh...

We resume our account of the period of the Covenanters, after an earlier series on the martyrs. Last week I wrote a special article on her Majesty, the Queen, whose virtue and dedicated Christian faith have been upheld as an example to the 5.1 billion people around...

The tour guide was in full throttle. His group stood outside St Giles’ by the brass markers outlining where the old Tolbooth Prison used to stand. ‘Edinburgh was once a hotbed for a group of religious fanatics called Covenanters’, he yelled; ‘today we would regard...

If you venture down to Greyfriars’ Kirk graveyard, which these days sees hordes of Harry Potter devotees brandishing their wands and reciting Potterite spells, you will find a large monument at the bottom right of this fascinating corner of Edinburgh. The monument...

One grey day we arrived at the Martyrs’ Stake in Wigtown. A stillness came upon us as we stood on the wooden boards next to the stone pillar. Well over 300 years have passed since the local people witnessed the deaths of two brave women at this spot. Today, it is...