Signing of the National Covenant

Today is the 382nd anniversary of the signing of Scotland’s National Covenant.

On the 28th February 1638 in Greyfriars in Edinburgh, Scotland’s National Covenant was signed. Upwards of 60,000 people had gathered in the city for the event. Its architects were Alexander Henderson, who was a sedate and statesman-like minister, and Archibald Johnston of Warriston, later Lord Clerk Register of Scotland. Warriston read the Covenant and a prayer was offered by Henderson, thereafter the Earl of Sutherland stepped forward and began the signing amidst great emotion.

They agreed to renew the 1581 King’s Confession with two extra sections. (The King’s Confession was a covenant signed by the king and people across Scotland in 1581. It was made because people were worried about Roman Catholic influences on the young King James VI. In it, the people promised before God that they would accept the true religion and oppose Roman Catholicism. It ended with a promise to defend the king, the gospel, and the country.) The two extra sections were a legal section written by Archibald Johnston of Warriston which listed over sixty acts of Parliament which supported the Presbyterian cause and a practical application written by Alexander Henderson.

The National Covenant pledged those who swore it to defend the true religion against innovations, such as those that had recently been introduced, that were against the Bible, the teachings of the Reformers, and the acts of Parliament listed – and which would lead to Roman Catholicism. This desire of the Covenant was to maintain ‘the true worship of God, the majesty of our King, and the peace of the kingdom’, for the happiness of those who swore it and their children. They also promised to live lives that showed they were in covenant with God and to be good examples to others.

The Covenant was indeed national and at the time a mighty move forward in the Reformation in Scotland. Copies were drawn up and sent all over the kingdom that many would have the opportunity of signing. So serious was the move that many broke into their veins and signed their names in their own blood. One minister said, “I have seen more than a thousand at once lifting up their hands and tears falling from their eyes, entering into covenant.”

So on that day the name “Covenanter” was born.

Would you like to hear about this major event in Scotland’s history in more detail? Join us for a walking tour of the Reformation and Covenanter sites in Edinburgh, see where these events took place, and also get up close and see the original National Covenant that was signed in Greyfriars.

We provide private walking tours for any size of group and for all fitness levels. Contact us at admin@reformationtours.org

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