“The Declaration and Testimony of the True Presbyterian, Anti-prelatic, Anti-erastian, persecuted party in Scotland.” Published at Sanquhar, June 22, 1680. It is not amongst the smallest of the Lord’s mercies to this poor land, that there have been always some who have given their testimony against every cause of defection that many are guilty of; which […]
Eaglewing – Livingstone`s account. John Livingstone’s account is given in Reid’s History of the Presbyterian Church: We had much toil in our preparations and many hindrances in our undertaking, and both sad and glad hearts in taking leave of our friends. At last, about the ninth of September 1636, we loosed from Loch Fergus, but […]
THE COVENANTERS’ VOW. Ho ! Watcher of the silent hill, What of the night ? What of the night The winds are hushed—the earth is still The voiceless stars are sparkling bright— From out this heathery moorland glen, By the shy wild fowl only trod, We raise our hymn, unheard of men, To thee, an […]
The Cameronians and the Sanquhar Declaration. Sanquhar is a small town in Dumftries and Galloway, in the south west of Scotland. It is of ancient origin, the name being Celtic and meaning Old Fort, it lies in north Nithsdale and is approximately midway between Dumfries and Kilmarnock. Small though it may be on the map, […]
Glossary (supplementary). It would be a Herculean task to give a glossary of every obscure word in the Scots dialect. This glossary is confined to words and terms that occur in the articles on this site. A more detailed Glossary of 17C Scots that appears in eg verbatim quotes of business in Parliament and the […]
Mary Tudor – “Bloody Mary” (1516, r 1553 -1558) Mary was the only surviving child of Henry VIII and Catharine of Arragon and came to the throne almost by accident; certainly not by design. The untimely death of Edward Vi thrust Mary into the limelight in a country where the people had had enough of […]
The Kirk and its impact on the people Underpinning the Presbyterian beliefs is the cornerstone that there is but one King of the Church – Jesus Christ. This inevitably meant an opposition to the King`s claim of supremacy in church matters, although they readily acknowledged his supremacy in civil matters. Moreover, they desired to […]
Sir Thomas More (1478 – 1535) Thomas More was born in London ca 1478. The son of a judge he had a reasonably comfortable youth and was sent to Oxford University. Later he completed his legal studies at New Inn and Lincoln’s Inn. He went on to teach law at Furnival’s Inn before becoming a […]
The Book of Articles, 1536; devised by Henry VIII. Extracted from Foxes Monuments. Ed Rev Geo. Townsend (1846) vol 5 p 163-4.. [ Note: It will be seen that some `Romish` practices were allowed, certainly during the transition, but became subject of criticism by the Calvinist Puritans in later years.] In the contents of this […]
King Henry`s Oration to the people 8 November 1528. Our trusty and well-beloved subjectsboth you of the nobility, and you of the meaner sort: It is not unknown to you, how that we, both by God’s provision, and true and lawful inheritance, have reigned over this realm of England almost the term of twenty […]
Gravestone decorations and symbols. The Pelican feeding its young with drops of its own blood. The symbol of Piety. A superb example of it by Alice Meredith Williams will be found in the National War Memorial, Edinburgh. The Bannantyne tomb in Greyfriars Kirk Yard, Edinburgh dates from 1635 and was at one time much larger. […]
The First Admonition to Parliament 1572. Following the succession of Queen Elizabeth I to the throne of England in 1558, very many dissenters and non conformists returned from exile on the continent. Among them were many who had been in Geneva who were keen to bring a Calvinist reformation to the Church of England. As […]
Wigtown and St Ninian The peninsula of Galloway has a long history and for centuries was a natural stopping off point for traders, raiders and missionaries who found the climate mild and fertile land for settlement. Lying so close to Ireland there has been a regular two way traffic of both people and trade goods, […]
Thomas Bilney As a young student Bilney had been under the wing of the priests who had been driven to despair and penury. After much thought and fear, knowing the new translation of the New Testament by Erasmus was banned by the priests, he finally gathered together the nerve to secretly buy a copy and […]