Scottish Church History

National Covenant

The Signing of the National Covenant
Feb. 28th, 1638

“We… do hereby profess, and before God, his angels, and the world, solemnly declare, That with our whole heart we agree, and resolve all the days of our life constantly to adhere unto and to defend the foresaid true religion…”

“Some wept aloud; some burst into a shout of exultation; some, after their names, added the words ‘unto death’; and some opening a vein, subscribed with their own warm blood.”

Subsections

History of Scottish Worship
Scottish Books of Church Order, Discipline & Minutes
Patronage

Order of Contents

Start
Whole History 12+
Early & Medieval 8+
Reformation to Modern 28+
. 1560-1689 Covenanters
. Early-1500’s
. 1560 1st Reformation
. Luther’s Influence
. 1560-1638
. 1600-1640’s
. 1638-1640’s 2nd Reformation
. 1638-1689
. 1650’s Resolutioners/Protesters
. 1661-1688 Persecution
.    Scots in the Netherlands
. 1679-1688 Cameronians
. Graves
. 1689-1715 Glorious Revolution
. United Societies
. 1700’s-1800’s
. 1700’s
. Marrow Controversy
.    Secession Church
.   Reformed Presbyterians
.    Relief Church
. 1800’s
.   Free Church of Scotland
. United Presbyterian Church
Special Topics
. Political Thought
. Religious Life
. Constitutionalism
. Theology
. Poetry
. Preachers & Bios
. Dress

Reference
. Reference Works
. Journals & Series
. Dictionaries: Scots Language
. Bibliographies

Start Here

Histories

The Best, Brief Book

Collins, G.N.M. – The Heritage of our Fathers: the Free Church of Scotland: Her Origin & Testimony Buy 1974 171 pp. Covers 1560-1900’s

The is the best, most thrilling short account of Scottish Church history. It reads like an adventure story; you will find it hard to put down. From a mid-1900’s Free Churchman who embodied the Free Church principles and ethos.

The Best, Longer, Detailed Book

M’Crie, Thomas (the younger) – The Story of the Scottish Church: from the Reformation to the Disruption (1529-1843) Buy (1875) 602 pp.

This is the best, longer book on Scottish church history there is. M’Crie was an old school presbyterian in the Scottish Secession Church (who came into the Free Church of Scotland), writing in vindication of the Scottish reformers and covenanters against revisionist historians.

The work includes all the stirring and famous stories that the Scottish church is known for. Fill your sermons with powerful, thrilling illustrations from church history from these pages.

Advanced

Macleod, John – Scottish Theology in Relation to Church History since the Reformation Buy 330 pp.

Masterful, dense, and full of jewels. Macleod (1872-1948) was a Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland minister who became a professor in the Free Church of Scotland.

The Best, Massive, In-Depth Set on the 1500’s-1600’s Covenanters

Hewison, The Covenanters: a History of the Church in Scotland from the Reformation to the Revolution, vol. 1 (1557-1649), 2 (1650-1690) (1908)

This work contains a wealth of information and is still academically respectable. Hewison is sympathetic with the covenanters, a trait not found in most modern scholarship. For the background on this work, see Morton, Covenanters, pp. 14-16. Note also David Hay Fleming’s review.

Devotional

Purves, Jock – Fair Sunshine: Character Studies of the Scottish Covenanters Buy (Banner of Truth, 1968)

In a class all of its own. Historical, poetic and devotional.

Historical Fiction

See the volumes by Robert Simpson under Cameronians.

On the Whole of Scottish Church History

One Volume

1700’s

Brown, John, of Haddington – A Compendious History of the British Churches in England, Scotland, Ireland & America… to which is added an Historical Account of the Secession, vol. 2 (1820) 540 pp. ToC Volume 2 is about Scotland.

Brown (1722–787) was a professor in the Scottish Secession Church.

1800’s

Hetherington, William – History of the Church of Scotland. From the Introduction of Christianity to the Period of the Disruption in 1843 (431-1843) (1854) 500 pp. ToC

Highly Recommended. Hetherington was a minister and professor in the Free Church of Scotland.

Stanley, Arthur P. – Lectures on the History of the Church of Scotland (1872) 220 pp. ToC

Dean Stanley (1815–1881) was a liberal, English churchman and academic.

“Delighted the moderate and liberal, but displeased the orthodox people of Scotland.” See Rainy’s response below.

ed. Chambers, W. – The Scottish Church from the Earliest Times to 1881 (1881) many contributors, the St. Giles Lectures at ElectricScotland

Walker, Norman – Scottish Church History (1882) 172 pp. in Handbooks for Bible Classes, ed. Dods & Whyte Covers from the earliest time.

Walker was a minister in the Free Church of Scotland. “…his manual contains at once the most scholarly and spiritual treatment of the subject which has yet appeared.” – see more in Johnston, Treasury, p. 521

1900’s

MacPherson, John – A History of the Church in Scotland, from the Earliest Times Down to the Present Day (1901) 470 pp. ToC

MacPherson was a professor in the Free Church of Scotland.

Hill, Ninian – The Story of the Scottish Church from the Earliest Times (1919) 290 pp. ToC

Hill appears to be writing from the perspective of the Church of Scotland.

Raleigh, Thomas – Annals of the Church in Scotland (Oxford, 1921) 390 pp. ToC

Burleigh, J. H. S. – A Church History of Scotland (Oxford Univ. Press, 1960) 455 pp. ToC

Multi-Volume

Grub, George – An Ecclesiastical History of Scotland from the Introduction of Christianity to the Present Time, vol. 1 (to 1521), 2 (1521-1638), 3 (1638-1727), 4 (1727-1857) 1861

Grub (1812–1892) was an Episcopalian, Tory, and a supporter of the (High-Church) Oxford Tract movement.

Cunningham, John – The Church History of Scotland, from the Commencement of the Christian Era to the Present Time, vol. 1 (AD to 1638), 2 (1638-1860) (1882)

Cunningham (1780–1861) was an evangelical clergyman of the Church of England, known also as a writer and editor.

“Dr. Cunningham belongs to the extreme Broad Church party… The narrator, who finds so much to admire in the latitudinarianism of the latter half of the eighteenth century has but little sympathy with the great evangelical struggles of the nineteenth. While he beholds little worth contending for on the part of the evangelicals… Apart from ‘Secession’ and ‘Disruption’, the history is generally distinguished by great fairness and impartiality.” – Johnston, Treasury, pp. 432-33

ed. Story, Robert – The Church of Scotland, Past & Present (1890 ff.)

vol. 1, The Church of Scotland from its Foundation to the Reign of Malcolm Canmore – James Campbell

vol. 2 – The Church from the Reign of Malcom Canmore to the Reformation and then to the Revolution of 1688 – James Rankin

See David Hay Fleming’s review.

vol. 3 – The Church from the Revolution of 1688 to the Present Time – T.B.W. Niven

vol. 4 – The Church in Relation to the Law and State – Andrew MacGeorge

vol. 5 – ‘The Ritual of the Church’ – Thomas Leishman, ‘The Discipline of the Church’ – Andrew Edgar, ‘Tiends or Tithes and Church Property in Scotland’ – Elliot Nenion

Special Studies

Revivals

Gillies, John – Historical Collections relating to Remarkable Periods of the Success of the Gospel with a continuation by Horatius Bonar to 1845 (Kelso, 1845) 600 pp. ToC

This gives accounts of revivals from the first century upwards, particularly in Scotland.

Gillies (1712-96) was an evangelical Church of Scotland minister.

Reviews

Fleming, David Hay – Critical Reviews Relating Chiefly to Scotland (1912) 630 pp. ToC Covers the whole of Scottish history; chiefly, though not exclusively, ecclesiastical.

Fleming (1849–1931) was one of the greatest historians of the Scottish Church, and this collection of review articles demonstrates it. The time period for most of the articles is the 1500’s-1700’s. Fleming often wrote for the Original Secession Church magazine.

Early & Medieval Church

One Volume

1800’s

Innes, Thomas – The Civil & Ecclesiastical History of Scotland (AD 80-818) (1853) 400 pp. ToC

M’Lauchlan, Thomas – The Early Scottish Church: the Ecclesiastical History of Scotland from the First to the Twelfth Century (1865) 460 pp. ToC

M’Lauchlan was a minister in the Free Church of Scotland in Edinburgh.

Moffat, James – The Church in Scotland, a History of its Antecedents, it Conflicts & its Advocates, from the Earliest Recorded Times to the First Assembly of the Reformed Church (1882) 455 pp. ToC

Moffat was a professor of Church History at Princeton Theological Seminary.

Paton, Robert – The Scottish Church & its Surroundings in Early Times (1884) 175 pp. ToC

Brown, Peter Hume – Early Travellers in Scotland 1295-1689 (1891) 355 pp.

Brown (1849–1918) was a Scottish historian and professor who played an important part in establishing Scottish history as a significant academic discipline.

1900’s

Edmonds, Dom – The Early Scottish Church, its Doctrine & Discipline (1906) 325 pp. ToC

MacEwen, Alexander R. – A History of the Church in Scotland, vol. 1 (397-1546) (1913) 510 pp. ToC

MacEwen (1851-1916) was a minister in the United Presbyterian Church and the United Free Church of Scotland (post-1900) and a professor of Church History in New College, Edinburgh. MacEwen described himself as liberal and evangelical, and a ‘resolute advocate of central and unifying beliefs’.

Multi-Volume

MacEwen, Alexander – A History of the Church in Scotland, vol. 1 (397-1546), 2 (1546-1560) (1918)

“The outstanding work for the period covered.” – Shirley Case

Bios

Dowden, John – The Bishops of Scotland, being Notes on the Lives of All the Bishops, under each of the Seas, Prior to the Reformation (1912) 500 pp. ToC

For the Young

Anderson, John – Chronicles of the Kirk, or Scenes & Stories from the History of the Church of Scotland, from the Earliest Period to the Second Reformation [1638], for the Young (T&T Clark, 1849) ToC

Anderson was of the Free Church of Scotland.

Histories from the Reformation to Modern Times

Brief

1800’s

Anderson, John – The Footsteps of the Flock, or the Contendings of our Forefathers for the Headship of Christ, with the Disruption of the Church of Scotland, & the Duty of Separation from the Residuary Establishment [1638-1843] (1843) 214 pp. ToC

Anderson was of the Free Church of Scotland. “A small but singularly seasonable and interesting work.” – Robert Buchanan

D’Aubigne, Merle J.H. – chs. 3-8 of Germany, England & Scotland: or, Recollections of a Swiss Minister, pp. 113-349 (1848)

From the famed historian of the Reformation. For some remarks on this work, see Johnston, Treasury, p. 432.

Rainy, Robert – 3 Lectures on the Church of Scotland in Response to Dean Arthur Stanley (1872) 100 pp. ToC

Rainy was a leading progressive in the Free Church of Scotland. For a bit on this work, and more on Stanley’s, see Johnston, Treasury, pp. 518-519.

Rankin, James – A Handbook to the Church of Scotland (1879) 215 pp. ToC

From the viewpoint of the late-1800’s Church of Scotland.

Wordsworth, Charles – A Discourse on Scottish Church History, from the Reformation to the Present Time (1881) 120 pp. no ToC

Wordsworth was bishop in St. Andrews and claims that the views of the Scottish reformers were not necessarily opposed to prelacy. See Johnston, Treasury, pp. 535-6 for more.

Taylor, James – The Scottish Covenanters (1881) 200 pp. ToC

Taylor (1813–1892) was a Scottish, United Secession Church minister and historical author.

Cameron, Allan – The Church of Our Fathers: being Lectures on the History & Principles of the Scottish Church Buy (1887) 240 pp.

Cameron was of the Free Church of Scotland.

Brown, Thomas – Church & State in Scotland: a Narrative of the Struggle for Independence from 1560-1843 Chalmers Lectures, 3rd Series (1891) 260 pp. ToC

Brown (1811–1893) was one of the original Disruption fathers of the Free Church of Scotland.

Mackinnon, Duncan – Some Chapters in Scottish Church History. A Souvenir of the Jubilee of the Free Church of Scotland Buy (1893)

Mackinnon was in the Free Church of Scotland.

1900’s

MacPherson, Hector – Scotland’s Battles for Spiritual Independence (1905) 285 pp. ToC

MacPherson (1888-1956) was a Scottish astronomer and minister in the Church of Scotland. He earned a PhD from Edinburgh in 1923, for his research on the Covenanter movement.

Balfour – A Historical Account of the Rise & Development of Presbyterianism in Scotland in The Cambridge Manuals of Science & Literature (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1911) 160 pp. ToC

Collins, G.N.M.

“Whose Faith Follow” Buy (1943) 102 pp. Covers 1560-1900’s

Written at the request of the Free Church of Scotland for the 100 year anniversary of the Disruption of 1843. This is different than the below work.

The Heritage of our Fathers: the Free Church of Scotland: Her Origin & Testimony Buy (1974) 171 pp. Covers 1560-1900’s

One Volume, In-Depth

1800’s

M’Crie, Thomas (the younger) – The Story of the Scottish Church: from the Reformation to the Disruption (1529-1843) Buy (1875) 602 pp. ToC

This is the best, longer book on Scottish church history there is, written by an orthodox presbyterian who was in the Scottish Secession Church and came into the Free Church of Scotland.

The work includes all the stirring and famous stories that the Scottish church is known for. Fill your sermons with powerful, thrilling illustrations from church history from these pages. Written by an old school presbyterian in vindication of his church and their reformers against revisionist historians. You will come away with renewed zeal for the cause of God’s truth in our land.

1900’s

Macleod, John – Scottish Theology in Relation to Church History since the Reformation (Reformed Academic Press, 1995) 330 pp. ToC

Masterful, dense, and full of jewels. Macleod (1872-1948) was a Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland minister who became a professor in the Free Church of Scotland.

Vos, J.G. – The Scottish Covenanters: Their Origins, History & Distinctive Doctrines Buy (Pittsburgh, 1940) Covers c. 1560 to early 1900’s This was his ThM thesis.

Vos gives the Reformed Presbyterian perspective on the history of the period covered. A helpful compendious digest, especially of the political and ecclesiastical dates and events.

His treatment after 1700 focuses nearly exclusively on the United Societies and Reformed Presbyterians. His objective in the book is to justify them, and show that they are right (mainly from history) in their leading principles.

2000’s

Muirhead, Andrew T.N. – Reformation, Dissent & Diversity: The Story of Scotland’s Churches, 1560-1960 Buy (Bloomsbury, 2015)

Multi-Volume

Cook, George – The History of the Church of Scotland from the Establishment of the Reformation to the Revolution, vol. 1 (1567-1592), 2 (1593-1645), 3 (1646-1690) (1815)

Cook (1772–1845) was a Church of Scotland minister, author of religious tracts and professor of Moral Philosophy at St Andrews University.

“The historian of the Moderate party of the Church of Scotland–he regards with complacency the Erastian policy of King James, and glorifies the ecclesiastical policy [of moderatism] of Principal Robertson and Dr. Hill. C.f. p. 427.” – Johnston, Treasury, p. 430

Bibliography

Johnston, John C. – Treasury of the Scottish Covenant (1560-1880) (1887) 675 pp. ToC

Special Studies

Miscellaneous

1800’s-1900’s

Innes, Alexander Taylor – Studies in Scottish History: Chiefly Ecclesiastical (1892) 340 pp. ToC Covers 1600’s to 1800’s

Innes (1833-1912) was a lawyer in the Free Church of Scotland. Most of the studies are about the 1800’s. Most of the studies are about the 1800’s.

Maclean, Donald – Aspects of Scottish Church History: Lectures Delivered on the Calvin Foundation in the Free University of Amsterdam, March, 1927 Ref Buy (T&T Clark, 1927) 183 pp.

Maclean (1869-1943) was a principal in the Free Church of Scotland. G.N.M. Collins’ ‘Whose Faith Follow’ was dedicated to him.

Currie, Janette – History, Hagiography & Fakestory: Representations of the Scottish Covenanters in Non-Fictional & Fictional Texts from 1638 to 1835 (1999)

2000’s

Whytock, Jack – ‘An Educated Clergy’: Scottish Theological Education & Training in the Kirk & Secession (1560-1850) Buy (Milton Keynes, UK: Paternoster, 2007)

Moore, Joseph – Irish Radicals, Southern Conservatives: Slavery, Religious Liberty & the Presbyterian Fringe in the Atlantic World, 1637-1877 (2011) 488 pp.

Abstract: “This dissertation is a study of Covenanter and Seceder Presbyterians in Scotland, Ireland and the American South from 1637-1877. Correspondence, diaries, political pamphlets, religious tracts and church disciplinary records are used to under the cultural sensibility, called the Covenanter sensibility…”

Regional

Northern Scotland

Stephen, John Rothney – Challenges Posed by the Geography of the Scottish Highlands to Ecclesiastical Endeavour over the Centuries PhD thesis (University of Glasgow)

Kennedy, John – The Days of the Fathers in Ross-shire (1560-mid-1800’s) (1867) 285 pp.

Kennedy (1819-1884) was a famed constitutionalist in the Highlands in the Free Church of Scotland. The work is an account of the men and history of that area from the previous generation.

Porteous, J. Moir – ‘God’s Treasure-House in Scotland’; a History of Times, Mines & Lands in the Southern Highlands (1876) 292 pp. The fourth part deals specifically with Church history.

Porteous was of the Free Church of Scotland.

Taylor, J.W.

Some Historical Antiquities, Chiefly Ecclesiastical connected with St. Andrews 80 pp.

Taylor was of the Free Church of Scotland.

Some Historical Antiquities of Fife, Chiefly Ecclesiastical connected with some of its Districts, vol. 1, 2

Southern Scotland

Greenshields, J.B. – chs. 6-9 of The Annals of the Parish of Lesmahagow Lesmahagow is in Southern Scotland in Lanarkshire.

Bibliography

Johnston, Treasury, p. 542

Histories of the Scottish Church, 1560-1689

One Volume

1600’s

Scott, John – The Staggering State of Scottish Statesmen, from 1550-1650 (1872) with a memoir of the author and historical illustrations by Charles Rogers

Scott disapproved of the Service Book and signed the National Covenant of 1638. See Johnston, Treasury, p. 293.

1700’s

Defoe, Daniel – Memoirs of the Church of Scotland, in Four Periods 1560-1707 (London, 1717)

Defoe (c. 1660–1731) was an English presbyterian, trader, writer, journalist, pamphleteer, spy and the author of Robinson Crusoe. See Johnston, Treasury, p. 423 for more on this work.

1800’s

Gilfillan, George – The Martyrs, Heroes & Bards of the Scottish Covenant (1832; 1858) 270 pp.

Gilfillan (1813–1878) was a minister in the Church of Scotland and a poet.

1900’s

Fleming, David H.

The Story of the Scottish Covenants in Outline (1904) 100 pp.

Fleming (1849–1931) was one of the Scottish Church’s greatest historians. He often wrote for the Original Secession Church magazine. This documents in depth the many specific covenants that were made in that period.

Scotland after the Union of the Crowns [1603] (1890)

Beveridge, John – The Covenanters in Bible Class Primers (London: T&T Clark, 1905?)

“Mr. Beveridge writes in the temper which we might expect if he had triumphed at Drumclog, or escaped with his life at Bothwell Bridge… It would be difficult to find a kind word used of any non-Covenanter in this volume, save Leighton only.” – The Spectator

McFeeters, J.C. – Sketches of the Covenanters 1913

McFeeters was a minster at the Second Church of the Covenanters (Reformed Presbyterian), Philadelphia.

Lumsden, John – The Covenants of Scotland Buy (Paisley, 1914)

Barr, James – The Scottish Covenanters Buy (Glasgow, 1946) 245 pp.

Barr (1924–2006) was a Scottish Old Testament scholar who had an appreciation for the covenanters, though by no means followed in their steps, being a minister in the Church of Scotland.

Douglas, J.D. – Light in the North: The Story of the Scottish Covenanters (Eerdmans, 1964) 215 pp. ToC

Donaldson, Gordon – Scotland: James V to James VII Buy (1965) 449 pp.

Donaldson (1913–1993) was a 20th-century Scottish historian. This was one of the first, major, treatments of Scottish history according to modern standards.

Whitley, Elizabeth – The Two Kingdoms Buy (Scottish Reformation Society, 1977) 210 pp. Forward by G.N.M. Collins

Colorful, poignant and orthodox, but sometimes dense to those not conversant in Scottish history.

Two Volumes

1800’s

Lee, John – Lectures on the History of the Church of Scotland from the Reformation to the Revolution Settlement, vol. 1 (Pre-Ref to 1574), 2 (1575-1690) (1860)

“Principal Lee of Edinburgh was the son of a worthy elder, James Lees (he retained the ‘s’), in the Secession congregation of Stow, and began his theological course under Dr. [George] Lawson of Selkirk. He had a warm place in his heart for the Covenanters.” – Johnston, Treasury, p. 434

Sime, William – History of the Covenanters in Scotland, vol. 1 (1560-), 2 (1678-1689) (n.d.) Dedicated to Thomas M’Crie

Sime was of the Free Church of Scotland.

1900’s

Mathieson, William – Politics & Religion, a Study in Scottish History from the Reformation to the Revolution, vol. 1 (1560-1638), 2 (1639-1690) (1902)

See David H. Fleming’s review of this work.

Hewison, James King – The Covenanters: a History of the Church in Scotland from the Reformation to the Revolution, vol. 1 (1557-1649), 2 (1650-1690) (1908)

For the character of this very detailed, good and in-depth work, see Morton, Covenanters, pp. 14-16. See also David Hay Fleming’s review. Hewison is sympathetic to the covenanters.

Records

The Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, 1545-69, 1569-78, 1578-85, 1585-92, 1593-1598, 1599-1604, 1604-07, 1608-09, 1610-13, 1613-16, 1616-19, 1619-22, 1622-25, Addenda 1545-1625, 1625-27, 1627-28, 1629-30, 1630-32, 1633-35, 1635-37, 1638-43, Addenda 1544-1660, 1661-64, 1665-69, 1669-72, 1673-76, 1676-78, 1678-80, 1681-82, 1683-84, 1684, 1684-85, 1685-86, 1686, 1686-89, 1689, 1690, 1691

“The Council exercised enormous powers–executive, judiciary, semi-legislative. It acted directly under the King through the Scotch secretary.” – John C. Johnston

Selections from the Records of the Kirk Session, Presbytery & Synod of Aberdeen (1562-1681) (Aberdeen: Spalding Club, 1846)

Catechism

Laing, Benjamin – A Catechism on the History of the Church of Scotland from the Beginning of the Reformation to the Restoration of Patronage in 1712 (1842) 132 pp.

Laing was a minister in the Original Secession Church. This Catechism is very faithful, though he would later, in another work, advocate for the union of the numerous conservative presbyterian churches in late-1800’s Scotland on a fairly broad platform.

Special Studies

1800’s

M’Crie, Thomas (elder) – Miscellaneous Writings, Chiefly Historical (1841) 688 pp.

Both of the M’Crie’s were some of the finest historians of the Scottish Church.

M’Crie, Thomas (younger) – A Vindication of the Scottish Covenanters: a Review of ‘Tales of my Landlord’ (1843) 157 pp.

M’Crie (1797-1875) demonstrates in detail the inaccurate prejudices against the covenanters in the famous Walter Scott’s ‘Tales of my Landlord’. For Scott’s reaction to M’Crie’s piece, see Johnston, Treasury, p. 429.

Brown, Peter Hume – Early Travellers in Scotland 1295-1689 (1891) 355 pp.

Brown (1849–1918) was a Scottish historian and professor who played an important part in establishing Scottish history as a significant academic discipline.

1900’s

Henderson, George D. – Religious Life in Seventeenth-Century Scotland Pre (Cambridge: 1937)

ed. Boran & Gribben – Enforcing Reformation in Ireland & Scotland, 1550-1700 Pre

Sprunger, Keith L. – Dutch Puritanism: A History of English & Scottish Churches of the Netherlands in the Sixteenth & Seventeenth Century Buy (Brill, 1982) 495 pp. ToC

Mullan, David – ‘A Hotter Sort of Protestantism? Comparisons between French & Scottish Calvinisms’ The Sixteenth Century Journal, Vol. 39, No. 1 (Spring, 2008), pp. 45-69

Regional

South

Morton, A.S. – Galloway and the Covenanters, or the Struggle for Religious Liberty in the Southwest of Scotland (1560-1688) 1914

Hewat, Kirkwood – A Little Scottish World as Revealed in the Annals of an Ancient Ayrshire Parish n.d. 263 pp.

Hewat was a minister in the Free Church of Scotland in Ayrshire.

Lawson, Roderick – The Covenanters of Ayrshire: Historical & Biographical (Paisley, 1887)

ed. Robertson – Ecclesiastical Records: Selections from the Registers of the Presbytery of Lanark 1623-1709 165 pp. Abbotsford Club

North

Fleming, David Hay – Handbook to St. Andrews 1910 170 pp.

Fleming (1849–1931) was one of the Scottish Church’s greatest historians. He often wrote for the Original Secession Church magazine.

King, Robert – The Covenanters in the North, or Sketches of the Rise and Progress, North of the Grampians, of the Great Religious and Social Movement of which the Covenant of 1638 was the Symbol 1846 400 pp.

See the interesting background info on the topic of this work in Johnston, Treasury, p. 294-5.

Miller, Hugh – Scenes and Legends of the North of Scotland, or the Traditional History of Cromarty 1878 500 pp. from early Scotland to 1690

Miller (1802–1856) was a self-taught Scottish geologist, a writer, folklorist and a a leader in the Free Church of Scotland.

Latin Article

1600’s

Voet, Gisbert – Of the Swiss, French, Scottish, Belgic, Polish, Bohemian, Hungarian, Transylvanian & Numerous German Churches in Syllabus of Theological Problems (Utrecht, 1643), pt. 1, section 2, tract 4 Abbr.

Prisons & the Bass Rock a famous prison that covenanters suffered in

M’Crie, Miller, Anderson, Fleming & Balfour – The Bass Rock: its Civil and Ecclesiastical History, Geology, Martyrology, Zoology and Botany Buy 1855 600 pp.

The Bass Rock is a famous and infamous island two miles off of the east coast of Scotland. It acted as an Alcatraz for many of Christ’s beloved saints who were exiled thereto, particularly the Covenanters of the 1600′s whom the world was not worthy of.

It also has very unique geography and wildlife. Read here for a fascinating description of this conspicuous place alluded to in church history.

Phillimore, R.P. – The Bass Rock, its History & Romance (1911) 150 pp.

Cameron, J. – Life & Conditions in Scottish Prisons from Earliest Times to the Present (1978)

Pre-Reformation, Early-1500’s

History

MacEwen, Alex. R. – A History of the Church in Scotland, vol. 1 (397-1546), 2 (1546-60)

Special Topics

Auer, Leroy F. – The Scottish Church, 1525-1559: A Study in Abortive Reform MA thesis (Creighton University, 1964) 125 pp.

Dotterweich, Martin Holt – Emergence of Evangelical Theology in Scotland to 1550 2014

Foggie, Janet P. – Dominicans in Scotland: 1450-1560 (1998) PhD thesis

Fitch, Audrey-Beth – The Search for Salvation: Lay Faith in Scotland, 1480-1560 (1994) 430 pp.

Tapscott, Elizabeth – Propaganda & Persuasion in the Early Scottish Reformation, c.1527-1557 (2013) 245 pp. PhD thesis, Univ. of St. Andrews

1500’s & the Reformation, 1560

Primary Sources

Histories

Lindsay, Robert, of Pitscottie – The History of Scotland: 1436 to 1565, to which is added a continuation by another hand to 1604 1728 239 pp.

Lindsay (c. 1532–1580) was a Scottish chronicler. His work was the first history of Scotland to be composed in Scots rather than Latin.

Knox, John – History of the Reformation in Scotland, vol. 1, 2 (1527-1567)

Knox (c. 1513–1572) was a chief reformer of Scotland.

Lesley, John (Bishop of Ross) – The History of Scotland from the Death of King James I, 1436, to 1561 1830 355 pp. Bannatyne Club

Lesley (1527–1596) was a Roman Catholic bishop.

M’Crie, Thomas – ‘An Account of a Manuscript of Bishop Lesley’s History of Scotland’ (1823) 10 pp.

The History & Life of King James VI, being an Account of the Affairs of Scotland, 1566-1617 Bannatyne Club

The Bannatyne Club, named in honour of George Bannatyne and his famous anthology of Scots literature, was a text publication society founded by Sir Walter Scott to print rare works of Scottish interest, whether in history, poetry, or general literature. It printed 116 volumes in all and was dissolved in 1861.

Memoirs

The Diary of Mr. James Melville, 1556-1601 (1829) 365 pp. Bannatyne Club

Melville (1556–1614) was a presbyterian reformer. The presbyterian view of Scottish Church history (that the Reformation in 1560 was presbyterian, episcopacy is bad and the Church by divine right ought to be non-Erastian) is sometimes referred to by secularists as the Melvillian view.

“It is indeed in memoirs that the Presbyterians excel as historians… in association with his famous uncle, Andrew Melville, he [James] was a the centre of the troubled relations between the Presbyterians and James VI. It would be hard for a first hand account of those matters to be dull.” – David Reid, History of Scottish Literature, p. 189

Memoirs of his own Life by Sir James Melville of Halhill, 1549-1593 (1827) 485 pp. Bannatyne Club

This Melville (1535–1617) was a minor Scottish diplomat. His memoirs are not closely connected with church politics.

“He was a rather unsuccessful courtier, and since he never won his way to the centre, his memoirs treat peripheral affairs… But… Melville, of all the historical writers of the period, has by far the sharpest appreciation of political character.” – David Reid, History of Scottish Literature, p. 191

Documents

ed. Fleming, David H. – Register of the Minister Elders & Deacons of the Christian Congregation of St. Andrews, vol. 1 (1559-82), 2 (1582-1600)

Fleming (1849–1931) was one of the Scottish Church’s greatest historians. He often wrote for the Original Secession Church magazine.

Secondary Sources

Books

1700’s-1800’s

Robertson, William – The History of Scotland during the Reigns of Queen Mary and King James VI till 1602 (1787) 460 pp.

Robertson (1721–1793) was a Scottish historian, minister in the Church of Scotland, and Principal of the University of Edinburgh.

“Robertson is good, but he gives but a section of the [total] history [of Scotland].” – Free Church Magazine, VI, p. 348

“Principal Robertson was unquestionable a great man… Great in literature–not like Timothy of old, great in his knowledge of the Scriptures; aged men who sat under his ministry have assured me that in hurrying over the New Testament, he had missed the doctrine of the atonement. Great as an author and a man of genius–great in his enduring labors as a historian–great in the sense in which Hume, and Gibbon, and Voltaire were great.” – Hugh Miller

Keith, Robert – History of the Affairs of Church & State in Scotland from the Beginning of the Reformation to 1568, vol. 1, 2, 3 (1527-1568) 1844

Keith (1681–1757) was a Scottish Episcopalian bishop and historian.

Lorimer, Peter – The Scottish Reformation, a Historical Sketch (1525-1561) (1860) 270 pp.

Lorimer (1812-79) was a minister of the Free Church of Scotland, a chief architect of the English Presbyterian Church, a professor, principal and historian. He was a founding member of the Wodrow Society.

1900’s

Mitchell, Alexander – The Scottish Reformation: its Epochs, Episodes, Leaders & Distinctive Characteristics (1900) 395 pp. ed. David H. Fleming

Mitchell (1822-99) was a Church of Scotland ecclesiastical historian, known for his studies on the Westminster Assembly.

Fleming, David Hay

The Scottish Reformation: Handbooks for Senior Classes Buy (1903) 112 pp. Hard to find.

Fleming (1849–1931) was one of the Scottish Church’s greatest historians. He often wrote for the Original Secession Church magazine.

The Reformation in Scotland: Causes, Characteristics, Consequences (1910) 695 pp. The Stone Lectures at Princeton, 1907-1908

Donaldson, David – Influence of England on the Scottish Reformation 1926

See James Kirk’s Patterns of Reform for an even more up-to-date and definitive answer to the question, showing that the Continent’s influence was much greater than that of England.

Collins, G.N.M. – The Torch Still Burns Buy (1959) 77 pp.

This brief, semi-popular book was written at the request of the Free Church of Scotland for the 400th Anniversary of the Reformation. Collins was a professor in Church History for the Free Church.

Renwick, A.M. – The Story of the Scottish Reformation Buy 1960 224 pp.

Renwick was the professor of Church History at the Free Church of Scotland College in Edinburgh.

Donaldson, Gordon – The Scottish Reformation Buy (Cambridge, 1960, 1972).

“For many years the standard. Though now largely superseded, it still contains great value. The author had a mastery of contemporary documents.” – Christian History Institute

Kirk, James – Development of the Melvillian Movement in Late Sixteenth Century Scotland 1972 PhD Univ. of Edin.

Kirk is a leading, contemporary, presbyterian, Scottish historian. ‘Melvillian’ is the scholarly nickname (from James Melville of that day) of divine-right presbyterianism.

Young, John Graeme Bennett – Scottish Political Parties 1573-1603 1976 PhD thesis

Cowan, I.B. – The Scottish Reformation: Church & Society in 16th Century Scotland (London, 1982) 250 pp. ToC

“One of the best studies of the social background of the Scottish Reformation.” – Christian History Institute

Kirk, James – Patterns of Reform: Continuity & Change in the Reformation Kirk (1989) 500 pp. ToC

Kirk is a leading, contemporary, presbyterian, Scottish historian.

“A meticulous, magisterial study of the background and context of the Reformation, with full references to contemporary sources.” – Christian History Institute

Mason, Roger – Kingship & Commonweal: Political Thought in Renaissance & Reformation Scotland Buy 1998

Here is a review by John Durkan.

2000’s

Todd, Margo – The Culture of Protestantism in Early Modern Scotland (Yale Univ. Press, 2002) 470 pp. ToC

John Knox

1800’s

M’Crie, Thomas (elder) – The Life of John Knox: containing illustrations of the history of the Reformation in Scotland containing illustrations of the History, of the Reformation in Scotland. With Biographical Notices of the Principal Reformers and Sketches of Progress of Literature in Scotland during the 16th Century, and an Appendix Consisting of Original Papers, Buy 1840 550 pp.

“…the unwearied research of M’Crie…” – David Hay Fleming

Lorimer, Peter – John Knox and the Church of England: his work in her pulpit and his influence upon her liturgy, articles and party 1875 330 pp.

Brown, P. Hume – John Knox: a Biography, vol. 1, 2 1895

Brown (1849–1918). See David Hay Fleming’s positive review of this work.

1900’s

Lang, Andrew – John Knox and the Reformation 1905

Fleming, David Hay – pp. 165-227 of Critical Reviews 1912

Fleming (1849–1931) was one of the Scottish Church’s greatest historians. He often wrote for the Original Secession Church magazine.

Bodonhelyi, Jozsef – John Knox’s Superintendents: an Enquiry into the origins of the Office, its Functions and Later History 1936 PhD thesis, Aberdeen

For something more up-to-date and definitive, showing that the superintendents were consistent with the development of presbyterianism (and not episcopacy), see James Kirk’s Patterns of Reform, ch. 5

Contemporary Academic Resources on Knox

‘John Knox & the Scottish Reformation: Recommended Resources’ of the Christian History Institute

Farrow, Kenneth D. – John Knox: Reformation Rhetoric & the Traditions of Scots prose 1989 PhD thesis, University of Glasgow

The Roman Catholic Counter-Reformation

Maclean, Donald

“The Counter-Reformation in Scotland: The Beginnings 1560-1580,” The Evangelical Quarterly 3.3 (July 1931), pp. 278-96

“The Counter-Reformation in Scotland: First Jesuit Assault 1580-1603,” The Evangelical Quarterly 2.1 (Jan. 1930), pp. 46-69

Grant, Ruth – George Gordon, sixth Earl of Huntly and the politics of the counter-reformation in Scotland, 1581-1595 (2010) 390 pp. PhD thesis, Univ. of Edin.

Biographies

Lorimer, Peter – Patrick Hamilton, the First Preacher and Martyr of the Scottish Reformation, a Historical Biography, collected from Original Sources 1857 280 pp.

Trickey, Kenneth Weldon – Henry Balnaves: a Study of a Layman’s contribution to the Reformation in Scotland in the Sixteenth Century 1963 230 pp. M.A. thesis, Dept of History, McGill Univ.

Fleming, David Hay – Mary Queen of Scots: from her Birth to her Flight into England 1898 560 pp.

See also his reviews of other writers on Mary, on pp. 83-153 in Fleming’s Critical Reviews.

ed. Wodrow, Robert & William Cunningham – Sermons and Life of Robert Bruce 630 pp. Wodrow Society

Scoto-Britannico – Life of John Erskine of Dun, 1508-1591 (1879) 110 pp.

Charteris, Henry – Narrative of the Life and Death of Mr. Robert Rollock of Scotland 28 pp.

Charteris succeeded Rollock as the Principal of the University of Edinburgh. For more, see Johnston, Treasury, p. 277.

Gillon, R. Moffat – John Davidson of Prestonpans [1549-1604]: Reformer, Preacher and Poet in the Generation after Knox Buy (1936) 270 pp.

Reid, Steven – Education in Post-Reformation Scotland: Andrew Melville & the University of St Andrews, 1560-1606 2009 PhD thesis, Univ. of St. Andrews

Regional

Northeast

McMillan, Catherine – Aberdeen and the Reformation: Implementation and Interpretation of Reform 2011 110 pp.

Scott, J. Moffat – The Martyrs of Angus and Mearns: Sketches in the History of the Scottish Reformation 1885 315 pp. in the Northeast of Scotland

Scott was in the Free Church of Scotland.

Fleming, David Hay – The Martyrs and Confessors of St. Andrews 1887 205 pp. in the Northeast of Scotland

Fleming (1849–1931) was one of the Scottish Church’s greatest historians. He often wrote for the Original Secession Church magazine.

Mid-Eastern

Sionosky, Timothy – Civil Reformations: Religion in Dundee and Haddington C.1520-1565 2014 240 pp. PhD diss., Univ. of Pennsylvania

Bardgett, Frank Denton – Faith, Families and Factions: the Scottish Reformation in Angus and the Mearns 1987

Southern

Green, Thomas Matthew – Court of the commissaries of Edinburgh: consistorial law and litigation, 1559 – 1576 2010 380 pp.

MacLeod, Daniel – Servants to St. Mungo: The Church in Sixteenth-Century Glasgow 2013 250 pp. PhD Diss., Univ. of Guelph

Special Studies

ed. Wylie, J.A. – Tercentenary of the Scottish Reformation in 1860 370 pp. Including historical and thematic addresses by Begg, Guthrie, Lorimer, M’Crie, Binnie, Cunningham, Hetherington & Symington

Christie, George – The Influence of Letters on the Scottish Reformation 1908

Drummond, Andrew L. – The Kirk & the Continent Buy (St Andrews Press, 1956)

ed. Shaw, Duncan – Reformation and Revolution: Essays presented to the very Reverend Principal Emeritus Hugh Watt, D.D., D. Litt. on the Sixtieth Anniversary of his Ordination Buy 1967 320 pp.

Consists of narrowly defined articles by scholars covering 1554 to the early 1700’s.

Donaldson, Gordon – The Relations between the English & Scottish Presbyterian Movements to 1604 (Univ. of London, 1938) PhD thesis

For something more up-to-date and definitive, see James Kirks, Pattern’s of Reform, chs. 3,5 & 9.

Abbott, Lewis – The Problem of Poverty in the Thought of the English and Scottish Protestant Reformers, 1528-1563 1965 190 pp. M.A. thesis Dept. of History, McGill Univ.

‘The Exercise’

Komlósi, Péter Attila – Dual Aspects of Ministerial Training in Late Sixteenth Century: Edinburgh’s ‘Tounis College’ & the Formation of Ministers’ Early Career with Special Regard to the ‘Exercise’ (2013) 260 pp. PhD thesis, Univ. of Edin.

The Church of Scotland on the Spiritual Conferencing of Elders

Articles

Fleming, David Hay – ‘The Discipline of the Reformation’, part 1, 2, 3 Originally appeared in the Original Secession Magazine, 1878

Kirk, James

‘The Influence of Calvinism on the Scottish Reformation’ 20 pp.

Kirk is an excellent, contemporary, presbyterian, Scottish Church historian.

‘Iconoclasm and Reform’ 18 pp.

Blakeway, Amy – ‘The Anglo-Scottish War of 1558 and the Scottish Reformation’ in History: the Journal of the Historical Association, vol. 102, issue 350 (April 2017), pp. 201–24

Luther’s Influence on Scotland

Article & Pamphlet

Cameron, James – ‘Aspects of the Lutheran Contribution to the Scottish Reformation, 1528-1552’ (1984) 12 pp.

McGoldrick, James – Patrick Hamilton: Luther’s Scottish Disciple Buy (1987) a pamphlet

Books

McGoldrick, James – Luther’s Scottish Connection Buy (1979) 148 pp.

Lindseth, Erik Lars – Evolution of Protestant Ideas & the Humanist Academic Tradition in Scotland: with Special Reference to Scandinavian / Lutherian Influences (1991)

First to Second Reformations, 1560-1638

Primary & Early Sources

Histories

Calderwood, David

The True History of the Church of Scotland, from the Beginning of the Reformation unto the End of the Reign of King James VI This is a one vol. abridgment of the 8 vol. set

The History of the Kirk of Scotland, vol. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

Calderwood was a staunch Presbyterian. This treats in detail the period from 1514-1625.

“…is an official production, but a Presbyterian one, assisted by grants from the Covenanting General Assembly [of 1648]. Less a historian than editor of an enormous collection of constitutional documents and first hand accounts from a cloud of witnesses…” – David Reid, History of Scottish Literature, p. 189

Spottiswood, John – History of the Church of Scotland (AD 203-1625), vol. 1, 2, 3

Spottiswood (1565-1669) was Archbishop of Glasgow & St. Andrews. He wrote this history at King James’ request.

“…might properly be called calumnies against the Church of Scotland. This historian was engaged in all the jesuitical plots of the government for overturning Presbytery, which he had sworn to support.” – Thomas M’Crie

Stephen, Thomas – The History of the Church of Scotland from the Reformation to the Present Time, vol. 1, 2, 3, 4 (1524-1638)

Scot, William – An Apologetical Narration of the State and Government of the Kirk of Scotland Since the Reformation (1560-1633) with Certain Records touching the Estate of the Kirk, 1605-6 by John Forbes Wodrow Society

Petrie, Alexander – ‘A Continuation of the History of Scotland’s Assemblies’ (1590-1602) in A Compendious History of the Catholic Church, from the year 600 until the year 1600: showing her deformation and reformation, together with the rise, reign, rage, and begin-fall of the Roman Antichrist 1662

Petrie (c.1594-1662) was a reformed divine.

Row, John – The History of the Kirk of Scotland, 1558-1637 Maitland Club his son continues the history to 1639

Row (1568–1646) was a Scottish reformer and opponent of Episcopacy.

Baillie, Robert – An Historical Vindication of the Government of the Church of Scotland from the manifold base calumnies which the most malignant of the prelates did invent of old, and now lately have been published with great industry in two pamphlets at London… ToC (1646)

Baillie (1620-1662) was a commissioner to the Westminster Assembly.

Miscellaneous Narratives, Letters & Historical Documents

ed. Laing, David – The Miscellany of the Wodrow Society, containing Tracts and Original Letters, Chiefly Relating to the Ecclesiastical Affairs of Scotland during the Sixteenth and Seventeenth centuries 1844 655 pp.

ed. Laing, David – The Bannatyne Miscellany: containing original papers and tracts Relating to the History and Literature of Scotland, vol. 1, 2 Bannatyne Club

ed. Forbes-Leith – Narratives of Scottish Catholics under Mary Stuart and James VI 1889 390 pp.

For the significance of this, see Johnston, Treasury, p. 540.

Copwer, William 1566-1619

The Life and Death of… William Cowper, Bishop of Galloway… Whereunto is added a resolution penned by himself some few days before his death touching the Articles concluded in the late general Assembly holden at Perth, 1618 (1619) 34 pp.

For background, see Johnston, Treasury, p. 289.

An Account of the Work of Grace upon the Soul of… William Cowper… with some relation of the success and opposition his lordship met with in the work of the ministry, written by his own pen in 1616 24 pp.

Cameron, James K. – Letters of John Johnston [c.1565-1611] and Robert Howie [c.1565-c.1645] Buy (1963) 388 pp.

Secondary Sources

1800’s

Breed, W.P. – Jenny Geddes, or Presbyterianism and its Great Conflict with Despotism 1869 480 pp. Presbyterian Board of Publication Covers 1560-1638

Bayne, Peter – The Chief Actors in the Puritan Revolution 1879 525 pp.

Bayne was of the Free Church of Scotland.

Aikman, James – A Historical Account of Covenanting in Scotland in Scotland, from the First Band in Mearns, 1556, to the National Covenant, 1638 1848 98 pp.

1900’s-2000’s

Foster, W. Roland – The Church before the Covenants. The Church of Scotland, 1596-1638 Buy 1975

Wormald, Jenny – Court, Kirk and Community: Scotland 1470–1625 Buy (London, 1981)

“A lively, short account that sets the Reformation in the context of politics and the larger society.” – Christian History Institute

Wells, Vaughan – The Origins of Covenanting Thought and Resistance: c. 1580-1638 1887 dissertation Univ. of Stirling

Mullan, David G. – Scottish Puritanism: 1560-1638 Pre 2000 Oxford

See the abstract, this review and this review for more about the book.

Harada, Koji – A Study of the Origin of Scottish Presbyterianism (1560-1638) 2010 MTh thesis Free Church College & Univ. of Glasgow

Abstract: “every effort has been made to describe the process of the emergence of the Presbyterian government and its development during the period from the 1520s to the point before the Second Reformation of 1638.”

On Individual Persons

Wodrow, Robert

Collections upon the Lives of the Most Eminent Ministers of the Church of Scotland, vol. 1, 2 (Maitland Club, 1845)

Selections from Wodrow’s Biographical Collections: Divines of the Northeast of Scotland (New Spalding Club)

Pearce, A.S. Wayne – John Spottiswoode, Jacobean Archbishop & Statesman Buy 350 pp.

“Archbishop John Spottiswoode (1565-1639) was one of the most important men of his generation in Scotland. Originally a zealous Presbyterian, he became an Episcopalian sympathizer sometime in the 1590s, and was nominated as Archbishop of Glasgow in 1603 following the death of the pre-Reformation Archbishop James Beaton… In 1615 he was elevated to the Archbishopric of St Andrews where he dominated Scottish politics for the rest of his life. In this careful study, Dr Wayne Pearce considers the career of Spottiswoode until the death of James VI in 1625.”

M’Crie, Thomas (elder) – The Life of Andrew Melville: Containing Illustrations of the Ecclesiastical and Literary History of Scotland during the latter part of the 16th and beginning of the 17th century, with an Appendix consisting of Original Papers, vol. 1, 2 Buy (1824) 532 & 570 pp.

Continues the account of the ecclesiastical affairs in Scotland from M’Crie’s Life of Knox. “The two memoirs form, the one the ‘Illiad’, and the other the ‘Odyssey’ of the Church of the Scottish Reformation.” – Johnston

ed. M’Crie, Thomas (younger) – The Life of Mr. Robert Blair, minister of St. Andrews, containing his autobiography, from 1593-1636: with supplement of his life and continuation of the history of the times, to 1680 1848 662 pp.

Young, James – The Life of John Welsh, Minister of Ayr, including Illustrations of the Contemporary Ecclesiastical History of Scotland and France 1866 510 pp.

Wodrow, Robert – Collections as to the Life of Mr. Robert Bruce, minister at Edinburgh 160 pp.

Regional

McCallum, John – The Reformation in Fife, 1560-1640 2008 PhD thesis, Univ. of St. Andrews Fife is in East Scotland, above Edinburgh

Flett, Iain E. F. – The Conflict of the Reformation and Democracy in the Geneva of Scotland, 1443-1610: an Introduction to edited texts of documents relating to the Burgh of Dundee 1981 200 pp.

Architecture

Chernoff, Graham Thomas – Building the Reformed Kirk: the cultural use of ecclesiastical buildings in Scotland, 1560–1645 2013

Printing

Dickson, R. & Edmond, J.P. – Annals of Scottish Printing from 1507 to the Beginning of the 17th Century 1890 560 pp.

1600-1640’s Church of Scotland

Primary Sources

Spalding, John – Memorials of the Troubles in Scotland and England, 1624-1645, vol. 1, 2 1850 Spalding Club

Spalding (fl. 1650) was a Scottish historian, possibly a native of Aberdeen. The Spalding Club was the name of three successive antiquarian and text publication societies founded in Aberdeen, which published scholarly editions of texts and archaeological studies relevant to the history of Aberdeenshire and its region.

ed. Barclay – The Diary of Alexander Jaffray, on of the Scottish Commissioners to King Charles II

Jaffray (1614-73) was a Quaker.

ed. Houston, Thomas – A Brief Historical Relation of the Life of John Livingstone, written by himself 1661 300 pp.

Livingstone (1603-1672) was an important covenanting Protester.

ed. Stevenson – Some Remarkable Passages of the Lord’s Providence towards Mr. John Spreull [elder], Town-Clerk of Glasgow, 1635-1664

On this, see Johnston, Treasury, p. 380.

Bereton, William – Travels in Holland, the United Provinces, England, Scotland & Ireland, 1634-1635 (1844) 225 pp. Chetham Society

The Chetham Society is “for the publication of remains historic and literary connected with the Palatine Counties of Lancaster and Chester”.

From the English Side

Clarendon – The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, to which is added a historical view of the affairs of Ireland, vol. 1 (1625-), 2 (1641-), 3 (1642-), 4 (1643-), 5 (1644-), 6 (1648-), 7 (1653-1660), 8 (Ireland) 1st ed. 1702-4

Edward Hyde (1609-1674) was an English statesman, royalist and the First Earl of Clarendon. His work was the first detailed history of the English Civil War from a key player in those events. The republican Whig historian Catharine Macaulay believed the History to be “as faithful an account of facts as any to be found in those times.”

Rushworth, John – Historical Collections of Private Passages of State, Weighty Matters in Law, and Remarkable Proceedings in Parliament (1618-1629), vol. 1 (1618-1629), 2 (1629-1638), 3 (1639-1640), 4 (1640-1644) 5 (1645-1648) 1721 Also known as The Rushworth Papers

Rushworth was an English lawyer, historian and politician.

“The author (1607-1690), a native of Northumberland, was a barrister in London. The Restoration of Charles [II in 1660] proved fatal to his fortunes. ‘The work has been violently attacked by royalist and High Church writers as unfair, and even false, but their charges have not been substantiated.'” – Johnston, Treasury, p. 424

Secondary Sources

History

MacInnes, Allan Iain – The Origin and Organization of the Covenanting Movement during the reign of Charles I, 1625-41: with a particular reference to the West of Scotland 1987 500 pp.

Adams, Sharon – Regional Road to Revolution: Religion, Politics and Society in South-West Scotland, 1600-50 2002

ed. Adams & Goodare – Scotland in the Age of Two Revolutions Pre (2014) Covers 1616-1701

Alexander Henderson

Thomson, G. Webster – ‘Alexander Henderson’ 1883 38 pp. in The Evangelical Succession: a Course of Lectures, delivered in St. George’s Free Church Edinburgh, 1882-3, Second Series

M’Crie, Thomas (elder) – Life of Alexander Henderson 1846 66 pp. in Miscellaneous Writings Also reprinted by the Free Church of Scotland.

This has an introduction and notes by Thomas M’Crie (younger), who thought that Aiton did scrimp justice to his hero.

Aiton, John – The Life and Times of Alexander Henderson, giving a History of the Second Reformation of the Church of Scotland and of the Covenanters during the Reign of Charles I 1836 690 pp.

Orr, Robert – Alexander Henderson, Churchman and Statesman 1919 420 pp.

Jackson, L. Charles – For Kirk and Kingdom: The Public Career of Alexander Henderson (1637-1646) 2012 370 pp. PhD Thesis, Univ. of Leicester This has been printed by RHB as Riots, Rvolutions and the Scottish Covenanters: the Work of Alexander Henderson

The Aberdeen Doctors

MacMillan, D. – The Aberdeen Doctors: A Noble Group of Scottish Theologians of the First Episcopal Period, 1610-1638 and the Bearing of their Teaching on some Questions of the Present Time 1909 330 pp.

Ogilvie, James D. – ‘The Aberdeen Doctors and the National Covenant, with Bibliography’ in Publications of the Edinburgh Bibliographical Society, vol. 11 (1912-20), p. 73 ff.

Biographies

Gregg, Pauline – King Charles I (Univ. of California, 1984)

Rubinstein, Hilary – King Campbell: the Public Career of the Marquis of Argyll (1607?-1661) 1980 PhD thesis

Bowman, Harold – William Guthrie: 1620-1665 1953 PhD thesis, Univ. of Edinburgh

Guthrie was a covenanting Protester, known for his small, experimental book, The Christian’s Great Interest.

Willcock, John

The Great Marquess: Life and Times of Archibald, 8th Earl and Marquess of Argyll (1606-1661) 430 pp.

Both the elder and younger Earls of Argyll were very much involved with, and suffered for, the covenanting cause.

A Scots Earl in Covenanting Times: Being Life and Times of Archibald, 9th Earl of Argyll (1629-85) 500 pp.

Articles

Henderson, G.D. – ‘Scotland & the Synod of Dort’

Mackay, P.H.R. – ‘The Reception Given to the Five Articles of Perth’

McMahon, George – ‘The Scottish Courts of High Commission, 1610-38’ 1964-66

Wedgwood, C.V. – Anglo-Scottish Relations, 1603-40 Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, vol. 32 (1950), pp. 31-48

Mullan, David – ‘Theology in the Church of Scotland 1618-c. 1640: A Calvinist Consensus?’ The Sixteenth Century Journal, vol. 26, no. 3 (Autumn, 1995), pp. 595-617

Ecclesiology

Dunlop, A. Ian – ‘The Polity of the Scottish Church, 1600-1637’ 1954-1956

Foster, W. Roland – ‘The Operation of Presbyteries in Scotland, 1600-1638’ 1964-1966

Stevenson, Donald – ‘Conventicles in the Kirk, 1619-37: the Emergence of a Radical Party’

By ‘radical party’ Stevenson means the presbyterian covenanters which spurred the 2nd Reformation of 1638.

1638-1640’s, The 2nd Reformation

Primary Sources

Documents

Earl of Rothes, John – A Relation of the Proceedings Concerning the Affairs of the Kirk of Scotland from Aug. 1637 to July 1638 1830 245 pp.

The Earl of Rothes was a puritan, first-hand witness of these events. See Johnston, Treasury, p. 291.

Eshcol Grapes, or some of the Ancient Boundaries and Covenanted March Stones set up by Kirk and State, 1638-1649 1708 114 pp. reprinted in Testimony Bearing Exemplified, 1791

Some of the ‘excellent laws’ of the Covenanted Reformation.

ed. Stevenson, David – The Government of Scotland Under the Covenanters, 1637-1651 1982 330 pp. Scottish History Society, 4th Series, vol. 18

From the English Side

A Collection of the State Papers of John Thurloe, Esq. Secretary to the First Council of State and Afterwards to the Two Protectors, Oliver and Richard Cromwell, containing authentic memorials of the English Affairs from 1638-1660, vol. 1 (1638-53)

History

Gordon, James – History of Scots Affairs from 1637-1641, vol. 1 (1637-8), 2 (1638-9), 3 (1639-41)

Gordon (c. 1615-1686) “…from the general tenor of his work, it is evident, that, though he submitted to the Covenant, he was far from bearing it any good-will.” – Editor’s Preface

Gordon, Patrick – A Short Abridgement of Britane’s Distemper, 1639-1649 1844 270 pp. Spalding Club

Gordon (fl. 1640’s, probably died before 1660)

Memoirs

ed. Wishart – The Memoirs of James Marquis of Montrose, 1639-1650 1893 635 pp.

James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose (1612–1650) was a Scottish nobleman, poet and soldier, who initially joined the Covenanters in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, but subsequently supported King Charles I as the English Civil War developed. He is often referred to simply as ‘Montrose’.

Guthry, Henry – Memoirs, Containing an Impartial Relation of the Affairs of Scotland, Civil & Ecclesiastical, 1637-1649 (1747) 345 pp.

“Guthry lived through most of the events he describes as a presbyterian covenanter, but wrote [later] about them as an episcopalian royalist.” – D. Stevenson

Secondary Sources

Histories

1800’s

Gardiner, Samuel – chs. 85-87, ‘The Riots in Edinburgh’, ‘The Scottish Covenant’, ‘The Assembly of Glasgow’ (1884) in History of England, 1603-1642, vol. 8, pp. 304-92

1900’s

Stevenson, David

The Scottish Revolution, 1637-1644 (1973)

Scottish Covenanters and Irish Confederates: Scottish-Irish Relations in the mid-Seventeenth Century Pre (Ulster Hist. Foundation: 1981) covers 1638-1650’s

Kaplan, L. – Politics & Religion during the English Revolution: the Scots & the Long Parliament 1643-1645 (1976)

Buttare, John – The Political Role of the Scottish Covenanting Clergy, 1643-49 (1977) 225 pp.

Young, John R. – The Scottish Parliament, 1639-61: A Political & Constitutional Analysis Buy

See this review by David Stevenson.

Fissel, Mark – The Bishops’ Wars: Charles I’s Campaigns against Scotland, 1638-1640 Buy (1994) 350 pp.

Biographies

Culberson, James – For Reformation and Uniformity”: George Gillespie (1613-1648) and the Scottish Covenanter Revolution Ref PhD Diss. Univ. of North Texas

Cookson, Robert – Archibald Johnston of Wariston, Religion and Law in the Covenanting Revolution, 1637-1641 2003 550 pp. PhD thesis, McGill Univ.

ed. Ross – Glimpses of Pastoral Work in the Covenanting Times, a Record of the Labors of Andrew Donaldson, 1644-1662 255 pp.

“His people showed their gratitude to him, for in 1662 they refused to part with him, and Sharp had to send a party of soldiers to eject him in 1664.” – John C. Johnston

McCoy, F.N. – Robert Baillie and the Second Scots Reformation Buy (Berkley, 1974)

Coffey, John – Politics, Religion and the British Revolutions, The Mind of Samuel Rutherford Buy (Cambridge, 1997)

The Army

Furgol, Edward M.

The Religious Aspects of the Scottish Covenanting Armies, 1639-1651 (1983) DPhil, Univ. of Oxford

A Regimental History of the Covenanting Armies, 1639–1651 Buy (Edinburgh, 1990)

Articles

Stevenson, David

Copies of Covenants

‘The National Covenant: a List of Known Copies’ 45 pp.

‘The Solemn League and Covenant: a List of Signed Copies’ 32 pp.

1638-51

‘The General Assembly and the Commission of the Kirk, 1638-51’ 20 pp.

‘The Deposition of Ministers in the Church of Scotland under the Covenanters, 1638-51’

Young, John

‘Scottish Covenanting Radicalism, the Commission of the Kirk and the Establishment of the Parliamentary Radical Regime of 1648-1649’ 1995 33 pp.

‘The Scottish Parliament and the War for the Three Kingdoms, 1639-51’ 21 pp.

The Second Reformation to the Revolution, 1638-1689

Primary Sources

Personal Accounts

Wodrow, Robert – Analecta, or, Materials for a History of Remarkable Providences mostly relating to Scotch Ministers and Christians, vol. 1 (1701 ff.), 2 (1712 ff.), 3 (1723 ff.), 4 (1728 ff.)

These are Wodrow’s journals from going around the country and recording what anecdotes persons related of the older generations and ministers, hence much of the material includes persons (including the big names) and events from as early as the 1650’s.

“…of which it may be simply said that they contain some of the most amusing reading in the English language.” – Burton, VII, p. 571

ed. Laing, David – The Letters & Journals of Robert Baillie, Principal of the University of Glasgow, 1637-1662, vol. 1 (1637-9), 2 (1642-46), 3 (1647-1662)

“The Covenanters come nearest to producing a continuation of [James] Melville’s first hand history in the Letters and Journals of Robert Baillie (1599-1662).” – David Reid, History of Scottish Literature, vol. 1, p. 190

ed. Sharpe – Memorials, or the Memorable Things that fell out within this Island of Brittain, 1638-1684 by Robert Law (1818) 276 pp.

Law (†1687) was a Scottish covenanter. For the interesting details on his life and this work, see Johnston, Treasury, p. 365.

Spreull, John (elder) – Some Remarkable Passages of the Lord’s Providence towards Mr. John Spreull [elder], Town-Clerk of Glasgow, 1635-1664

On this, see Johnston, Treasury, p. 380.

Documents

Kerr, James – The Covenants & the Covenanters: Covenants, Sermons & Documents of the Covenanted Reformation 1895 440 pp.

Secondary Sources

Booklet

Wylie, James A. – The Story of the Covenant & the Services of the Covenanters Buy 49 pp.

Wylie (1808-1890) was a minister and historian in the Free Church of Scotland.

Books

Dodds, J. – The Fifty Years Struggle of the Scottish Covenanters, 1638-88 1860 410 pp.

“The writer (1813-1874) was brought up by his grandfather, a Secession elder, whose soul was filled with admiration of the Covenanters… For a popular view of the subject there is nothing better.” see more in Johnston, Treasury, pp. 511-12

Barnett, T. Ratcliffe – The Story of the Covenant; Fifty Years of Fighting Faith Buy 1868 298 pp.

Kerr, Robert Pollock – The Blue Flag, or The Covenanters who Contended for “Christ’s Crown and Covenant” 1905 145 pp.

Watt, Hugh – Recalling the Scottish Covenants (Edinburgh, 1946) Covers 1638-1700’s

Watt (b. 1879) was a minister and professor of Church History in the Church Scotland (moderator in 1950). Though expressing some appreciation for the covenanters, he is largely critical of them. The treatment is popular and light. Not recommended. A good example of how persons in his social circle viewed the covenanters.

The Continent

Steven, William – The History of the Scottish Church, Rotterdam 1833 435 pp. begins in the 1640’s and goes into the 1800’s

Biographies

Anderson, James – The Ladies of the Covenant: Memoirs of Distinguished Scottish Female Characters, embracing the period of the Covenant and the Persecution 1862 700 pp.

Beisner, E. Calvin – His Majesty’s Advocate: Sir James Stewart of Goodtrees (1635-1713) and Covenanter Resistance Theory Under the Restoration Monarchy Download 2002 315 pp.

Stewart was lawyer and co-author of Naphtali, a defense of the covenanters, in 1667, and other works, which can be found here. He also played an important role in the civil government after 1690.

Beisner is a conservative presbyterian and evangelical writer.

Regional, Northern

MacDonald, Murdoch – The Covenanters in Moray & Ross (1874) 230 pp. In the Highlands

MacDonald was in the Free Church of Scotland. See Johnston, Treasury, p. 520.

1650’s – Cromwell & the Resolutioner/Protester Controversy

The Scottish Resolutioner-Protester Controversy, 1650’s

The Restoration & the Era of Persecution, 1660-1688

Primary Sources

Histories

Wodrow, Robert – The History of the Sufferings of the Church of Scotland, from the Restoration to the Revolution, vol. 1 (1660-1665), 2 (1666-1678), 3 (1679-1683), 4 (1684-1689) ed. 1835

Wodrow (1679-1734) is the main source book for the period. “For the post-Restoration period knowledge of the facts has increased little since Wodrow” (Cowan, ‘Revision Article’, p. 37) Cowan also speaks of “his faithfully recorded information.” See more: Johnston, Treasury , pp. 424-425; Morton, Covenanters, pp. 8-15.

For a condensed version of this history, see Crookshank.

Burnet, Gilbert

The History of my Own Times, vol. 1 (1660-1662), 2 (1673-1685), 3 (1685-1689), 4 (1690-1701), 5 (1702-1710), 6 (1710-1713) ed. 1823

Burnet (1643-1715) was an Arminian, latitudinarian, Anglican who was born in Edinburgh and was the nephew of Johnston of Warriston. This history was published about the same time as Wodrow’s, and greatly confirms Wodrow’s history as to the events, though takes a view much more sympathetic with the persecuting civil government. See Johnston, Treasury, pp. 425-26.

On Burnet’s life, see the article by David Hay Fleming.

Abridgment of Burnet’s History of his own Times 1906 420 pp. ed. Stackhouse

Kirkton, James – The Secret and True History of the Church of Scotland from the Restoration [1660] to 1678

Kirkton was a 1600’s covenanter. For the interesting details on Kirkton and the 1800’s printing of this work, see Johnston, Treasury, p. 368.

Documents & Personal Accounts

ed. Laing, David – Historical Manuscripts of Scotish Affairs, selected from Manuscripts of John Lauder of Fountainhall, vol. 1 (1661-1683), 2 (1683-1688) Bannatyne Club

“Lord Fountainhall was a distinguished lawyer and statesman (1646-1722)… He offered all constitutional resistance to the despotic measures of the government prior to the Revolution, and proved a zealous supporter of the Protestant cause.” – Johnston, Treasury, p. 431

ed. Burns – Miscellaneous Writings of John Spreull [elder], with some papers relating to his history, 1646-1722 132 pp.

Spreull, John (younger) – Miscellaneous Writings of John Spreull [younger], Commonly Called Bass John, with some Papers Relating to his History, 1646-1722

Spreull the younger was imprisoned at Bass Rock.

M’Kail, Hugh – Samson’s Riddle, or, A Bunch of Bitter Wormwood bringing forth a bundle of sweet smelling myrrh, the first [part] is made up of the sharp sufferings of the Lord’s Church in Scotland… the second [part] of the savory testimonies of those sufferers who witnessed a good confession... ToC 1678

ed. Tweedie, William – Select Biographies, vol. 1, 2 (Wodrow Society)

Includes accounts of:

(1) John Welsh (c.1568-1622), Patrick Simsone, John Livingstone (a Protester), Elizabeth Melville of Halhill (a poet), Viscount Kenmure (letter-friend of Rutherford), Walter Pringle, Janet Hamilton, wife of Alexander Gordon of Earlstoun;

(2) David Dickson, William Guthrie, James Fraser of Brea, John Nisbet of Hardhill, John Stevenson, Mrs. Goodal, Lady Coltness and Anne Elcho.

ed. M’Crie, Thomas – Memoirs of Mr. William Veitch and George Brysson: Written by themselves with other Narratives Illustrative of the History of Scotland, from the Restoration [1660] to the Revolution [1689], including Narratives of the Risings at Bothwel and Pentland, to which are added Biographical Sketches 1825 561 pp.

Memoirs of Mrs. William Veitch, Mr. Thomas Hog of Kiltearn & Mr. Henry Erskine & Mr. John Carstairs 160 pp. Free Church of Scotland Publications Committee

Henry Erskine was the father of Ralph and Ebenezer.

Crichton, Andrew – Memoirs of John Blackader, written by himself while prisoner on the Bass, and containing illustrations of the Episcopal persecution from the Restoration [1660] to the Death of Charles II [1685] 400 pp.

Blackader (ca. 1622–1685) was a presbyterian covenanting preacher.

Row, William – ‘The History of Robert Blair’s Life, which may be called the History of the Times, especially from the year 1643 unto 1666’ in ed. M’Crie, The Life of Mr. Robert Blair, pp. 111-499

Brodie, Alexander – The Diary of, 1652-1680 and of his Son James Brodie, 1680-85

Lamont, John – The Diary of John Lamont of Newton, 1649-71

Lamont

Nicoll, John – A Diary of Public Transactions and Other Occurrances , Chiefly in Scotland, 1650-1667

ed. Macleod – Journal of the Hon. John Erskine of Carnock, 1683-87 1893 340 pp.

Erskine would not take the Erastian Oath of Supremacy to advance his scholarly career. He would not hear the prelates in the Established churches, but frequented field meetings, and joined in the Reorganized Church of Scotland after 1690.

Fraser, James, of Brea – Memoirs of the Rev. James Fraser of Brea, AD 1639-1698 1891 with an introduction by Alexander Whyte

Secondary Sources

Histories

1800’s

Crookshank, William – The History of the State and Sufferings of the Church of Scotland from the Restoration to the Revolution, vol. 1 (1660-1678), 2 (1679-1689) 1812 “with an Introduction containing the most remarkable occurrences relating to that Church from the Reformation to the Restoration”

“Wodrow’s history being deemed too large for general use, Crookshank understook the task of reducing it into narrower compass. He also made use of such other helps as threw light upon the events of the period. He was minister of the Scots Congregation, Swallow Street, Westminster [London, England].” – Johnston, Treasury, p. 426

Aikman, James – Annals of the Persecution in Scotland from the Restoration to the Revolution 1842 585 pp.

1900’s

MacPherson, Hector

Later Covenanting Period with Special Reference to Religion and Ethics 1922 150 pp. PhD thesis Univ. of Edin.

The Covenanters Under Persecution: a Study of their Religious and Ethical Thought Buy (Edinburgh, 1923) This appears to be publishing of the above

MacPherson (1888-1956) was a Scottish astronomer and minister in the Church of Scotland. He earned a Ph.D from Edinburgh in 1923, for his research on the Covenanter movement.

I. B. Cowan – The Scottish Covenanters 1660–1688 (London, 1976) 190 pp. ToC

One of the first and main histories of the Church of Scotland during this time according to modern, academic standards.

Mirabello, Mark Linden – Dissent & the Church of Scotland, 1660-1690 (Univ. of Glasgow, 1988) PhD thesis

Abstract: “This work will examine the struggle between `presbytery’ and `prelacy’ in detail, and it will examine the role of the state in that conflict.”

2000’s

Jackson, Clare – Restoration Scotland, 1660-1690: Royalist Politics, Religion & Ideas Pre Buy (Boydell Press, 2003)

MacIntosh, Gillian – The Scottish Parliament under Charles II, 1660-1685 Pre (2007)

McIntyre, Neil – Saints & Subverters: the Later Covenanters in Scotland c.1648-1682 (Univ. of Strathclyde, 2016)

Regional

North

Innes, Ewan J. – ‘Were the Highlands Politically Unstable 1660-1700’ 1991

South

Brown, J. Wood – The Covenanters of the Merse, their History and Sufferings as found in the Records of that Time (1893) 255 pp. the Southeast of Scotland

Brown was of the Free Church of Scotland.

Morton, David – Covenanters and Conventicles in Southwest Scotland (2012) 130 pp. A Masters Thesis, Univ. of Glasgow

Netherlands

Gardner, Ginny

The Scottish Exile Community in the Netherlands 1660-1690 Ref (Tuckwell Press, 2004) 258 pp.

“A Haven for Intrigue: the Scottish Exile Community in the Netherlands, 1660-1690,” in Scottish Communities Abroad in the Early Modern Period Buy ed. Grosjean & Murdoch (Brill, 2005) 277-299

Collections of Bios & Martyrs

ed. Calderwood, John – A Collection of the Dying Testimonies of some holy and pious Christians, who lived in Scotland before and Since the Revolution [1689] (1806) 510 pp.

Smellie, Alexander – Men of the Covenant: The Story of the Scottish Church in the Years of the Persecution (1903) 520 pp.

Smellie (1857-1923) was a minister in the Original Secession Church.

Purves, Jock – Fair Sunshine: Character Studies of the Scottish Covenanters Buy (Banner of Truth, 1968)

In a class all of its own. Historical, poetic and devotional. Recommended.

Biographies

Covenanters

Bowman, Harold – William Guthrie: 1620-1665 1953 PhD thesis, Univ. of Edinburgh

Willcock, John – A Scots Earl in Covenanting Times: Being Life and Times of Archibald, 9th Earl of Argyll (1629-85) 500 pp.

The Earl of Argyll led a failed resistance revolt in 1685.

Persecutors

M’Crie, Thomas (elder) – Review of the Memoirs of Sir James Turner 1823 31 pp. Turner was a chief, persecuting, government figure at the Pentland Rising.

Archibishop James Sharp, assassinated in 1678

Anon. – A True and Impartial Account of the Life of Dr. James Sharp, Arch-bishop of St. Andrews 1723 200 pp. Very sympathetic to Sharp.

Stephen, Thomas – The Life and Times of Archbishop Sharp 1839 665 pp.

Illustrated Guide

Campbell, Thorbjörn – Standing Witnesses: An Illustrated Guide to the Scottish Covenanters & their Memorials with a Historical Introduction Buy (Edinburgh: The Saltire Society, 1996)

Article

Hyman, Elizabeth – ‘A Church Militant: Scotland 1661–1690’ Sixteenth Century Journal, 26 (1995), 49–74

Scots in the Netherlands

Articles

Dickie, Robert J. – ‘The Scots Church in Rotterdam – a Church for Seventeenth Century Migrants & Exiles’, pt. 1, 2 Scottish Reformation Historical Journal, vol. 3

Garner, Ginny – “A Haven for Intrigue: the Scottish Exile Community in the Netherlands, 1660-1690,” in Scottish Communities Abroad in the Early Modern Period Buy ed. Grosjean & Murdoch (Brill, 2005), pp. 277-99

Books

Steven, William – The History of the Scottish Church, Rotterdam (1833) 435 pp. begins in the 1640’s and goes into the 1800’s

Drummond, Andrew L. – The Kirk & the Continent (Edinburgh: St. Andrews Press, 1956) 260 pp. ToC

Sprunger, Keith L. – Dutch Puritanism: A History of English & Scottish Churches of the Netherlands in the Sixteenth & Seventeenth Century (Brill, 1982) 495 pp. ToC

Gardner, Ginny – The Scottish Exile Community in the Netherlands 1660-1690 Ref (Tuckwell Press, 2004)

The Cameronians, 1679-1688

‘Cameronians’, the nickname for the minority of the resisting covenanters stems from their leader (for a time), Richard Cameron (c.1655-1680). A main distinctive of theirs was, in 1680, declaring King Charles II’s authority to be invalid. See also ‘Defenses of Cameronianism’ & the ‘Reformed Presbyterians’ section below.

On the Origin of the Cameronians

M’Crie, Thomas – Story of the Scottish Church, pp. 328-330 & 334-336

The main and permanent division in the covenanters came in 1679 during the three weeks after the battle of Drumclog and before the battle of Bothwell Bridge. The two main issues in contention were (1) double and triple separation: separating from Indulged ministers (those who would not separate from the Established prelate Church) and separating from those who would not separate from Indulged ministers, and (2) throwing off the authority of King Charles II.

Wodrow, Robert – History of the Sufferings of the Church of Scotland, vol. 3, pp. 90-99

The fullest, easily available primary account (apart from the original manuscripts in Scotland) of the division before Bothwell Bridge.

Grant, Maurice – The Lion of the Covenant: the Story of Richard Cameron Buy (1997)

The origins of the Cameronians began in 1674 in the minister John Wellwood, and the licentiates he influenced (including Cameron), beginning to publicly condemn the ministers who accepted the Indulgence (not just condemning the Indulgence itself), advocating against occasionally hearing their preaching, and beginning to advocate for separation from them.

Grant gives a sufficiently full account (p. 55 ff.) of the developments with many of the motives, words, disciplinary cases and personalities behind these events, including the prime-mover of the separatists, the lay-army leader: Robert Hamilton.

Primary Sources

Shields, Alexander – A Short Memorial of the Sufferings and Grievances Past and Present of the Presbyterians in Scotland particularly of them called by nick-name Cameronians 1690 56 pp.

Shields was the most prolific of the Cameronians, known as ‘The Defender of the Cameronians’.

ed. Shields, Michael – Faithful Contendings Displayed, being a historical relation of the State and Actings of the Suffering Remnant of the Church of Scotland who subsisted in Select Societies… 1681-1691 595 pp.

Michael was the brother of Alexander.

Cargill, Donald – The Torwood Excommunication upon King Charles II, 1680 25 pp.

The solemn account of Cargill in the fields excommunicating King Charles II.

A Collection of Letters, Consisting of 93: 61 of which wrote by the Rev. Mr. James Renwick, the remainder by the Rev. John Livingston, John Brown, John King, Donald Cargil, Richard Cameron, Alexander Peden, and Alexander Shields, also a few by Mr. Michael Shields, at the direction of the general correspondence, from the years 1663 to 1689 inclusive. Containing many remarkable occurrences hitherto unknown in that period, wherein is discovered the true state of the Cause and Testimony at that time published 1764 450 pp.

Walker, Patrick – Six Saints of the Covenant: Peden, Simple, Wellwood, Cameron, Cargill, Smith, vol. 1 (Peden, Simple, Wellwood, Cameron), 2 (Cargill, Smith)

Walker was of the United Societies but not of the Cameronian group, and Walker joined the 1690 Church of Scotland.

Wellwood, says Walker, was one of the first persons to preach against the occasional hearing of indulged ministers, in 1674. This doctrine came to be a distinctive of the Cameronians.

ed. Thomson, John H. – The Cloud of Witnesses for the Royal Prerogatives of Jesus Christ, being the last speeches and testimonies of those who have suffered in Scotland since 1680 1st ed. 1714, 1871 700 pp.

The editor, Thomson, was a Reformed Presbyterian who came into the Free Church of Scotland. For notes on the many various editions and contents of this work, see Johnston, Treasury, p. 393.

Secondary Sources

Histories

Simpson, Robert

Martyrland: A Tale of Persecution form the Days of the Scottish Covenanters (rep. 2006) 264 pp.

Simpson (1792-1867) was the minister of North United Presbyterian Church of Sanquhar, Scotland for 48 years. An honorary degree was conferred by Princeton College in 1853.

This work is a tale: based on historical events but told as historical fiction; a very engaging adventure story.

Traditions of the Covenanters, or Gleanings among the Mountains 1867 485 pp.

“The sources from which these traditions are drawn are chiefly the descendants of the persons themselves to whom the incidents refer. They have been retained as heirlooms in the families of the worthy men..” – Preface

History of Sanquhar 1853 A general history from the Middle Ages to his own day.

Sanquhar was where the Cameronians in 1680 declared that Charles II had no legitimate civil authority, and pronounced war upon the tyrant.

The Banner of the Covenant, or Historical Notices of Some of the Scottish Martyrs whose Lives and Sufferings have not hitherto been sketched in a separate form (1847) 377 pp.

Todd, A.B. – The Homes, Haunts and Battlefields of the Covenanters 1886 305 pp.

Christie, David – Bible & Sword: the Cameronian Contribution to Freedom of Religion (2008)

Be it noted, while the covenanters of the 1600’s believed in the civil freedom of the True Religion, contrary to the implication of much modern scholarship, they did not believe in the public, civil toleration of false religions and erroneous Christian sects. For a prime example of the covenanters teaching on this, see Wholesome Severity Reconciled with Christian Liberty.

Jardine, Mark – The United Societies: Militancy, Martyrdom and the Presbyterian Movement in Late-Restoration Scotland, 1679 to 1688 2009 270 pp. PhD Thesis, Univ. of Edin.

Article

Thompson, Willie – ‘The Kirk & the Cameronians’ in Rebels & their Causes, Essays in Honour of A. L. Morton Buy (London, 1978), pp. 93-106

Biographies

John Graham of Claverhouse, a chief military persecutor

Simpson, Robert – The Times of Claverhouse: or Sketches of the Persecution 1844 219 pp.

Simpson (1792-1867) was the minister of North United Presbyterian Church of Sanquhar, Scotland for 48 years. An honorary degree was conferred by Princeton College in 1853.

Donald Cargill

Grant, Maurice – No King but Christ: the Story of Donald Cargill Buy 1993 274 pp.

Cargill (1619–1681) was a leader amongst the Cameronians and came to be persuaded of separation from indulged ministers, but he never explicitly approved (says Grant, p. 114) of casting off the authority of the civil government.

Thus the title of the book is a misnomer. The phrase ‘No King but Christ’ was not an expression of Cargill’s, but of Cameron (p. 113), who thought (after 1680) there literally was no valid civil king in Scotland, and that there was only Christ, the King of the Church.

Cargill on the Covenants:

“…in his dying testimony Cargill did not once mention the Covenants… his allegiance was to what they represented, not to what they were in themselves. For him, the Covenants did not constitute, but rather expressed, those vital issues of divine truth for which a public testimony must be made. It was here that Cargill parted company with those like Robert Hamilton who in later years saw the Covenants as an indispensable part of the constitution of church and state. For Cargill this could not be so, and one of his contemporaries, Thomas Lining [a fellow Cameronian minister]… writing in 1706, he strongly implied that, had Cargill lived, he would have cast in his lot with the [1690] Revolution Settlement.” (pp. 208-9)

Fleming, David Hay – ‘The Inventory of Margaret Brown, Wife of Donald Cargill, the Martyr’ 3 pp.

Richard Cameron

Bell, G.M. – The Scottish Martyr, or the Life of the Rev. Richard Cameron, comprising an Illustration of the Principles for which He Contended & Died, & the political character of the days in which he lived (1843) 157 pp.

Herkless, John – Richard Cameron (1896) 140 pp. Famous Scots Series

Grant, Maurice – The Lion of the Covenant: the Story of Richard Cameron Buy (1997)

Grant was an elder in the Free Church of Scotland and was sympathetic to the Cameronians.

James Renwick

Shields, Alexander – The Life & Death of James Renwick (1724) 250 pp.

Simpson, Robert – The Life of the Rev. James Renwick: the Last of the Scottish Martyrs 1843 240 pp.

Simpson (1792-1867) was the minister of North United Presbyterian Church of Sanquhar, Scotland for 48 years. An honorary degree was conferred by Princeton College in 1853.

Carslaw, William H. – Life & Times of James Renwick (1900) 110 pp.

Grant, Maurice – Preacher to the Remnant: the Story of James Renwick Buy (2009)

Grant was an elder in the Free Church of Scotland and was sympathetic to the Cameronians.

Alexander Shields

Shield, Alexander – A True & Faithful Relation of the Sufferings of Alexander Shields (1715) 145 pp.

MacPherson, Hector

‘Alexander Shields, 1669-1700’ 1929 13 pp. Scottish Church History Society

The Cameronian Philosopher: Alexander Shields Buy (Edin., 1932) 244 pp.

Vogan, Matthew – ‘Alexander Shields, the Revolution Settlement, and the Unity of the Visible Church’, part 1, part 2 2013 50 pp. Scottish Reformation Historical Society Historical Journal

The last three Cameronian ministers, Alexander Shields, Thomas Lining and William Boyd, all joined the reorganized Church of Scotland post-1690. Shields said that he still affirmed all of the principles of the Informatory Vindication (1687), which he co-wrote, but applied more Scriptural principles to the changed historical circumstances.

This article gives background to, and a summary of the arguments of Shield’s book defending his reasons (and seeking to persuade the rest of the Cameronians), An Enquiry into Church-Communion, or a Treatise against Separation from the Revolution Settlement of this National Church, 1690.

Stodghill, Justin B. – “Alexander Shields’ Response to Sir Robert Hamilton
in 1690″ Scottish Reformation Historical Journal, vol. 7 (2017), pp. 73-103

Graves

Johnston, John C. – ‘Tombstones & Monuments of the Covenanters’ (1887) 11 pp. in Treasury of the Covenant, pp. 617-28

Gibson, James – Inscriptions on the Tombstones & Monuments Erected in Memory of the Covenanters (1875) 334 pp.

Gibson was a professor in the Free Church of Scotland. This is a compilation of descriptions and epitaphs of the graves of the 1660’s-1680’s covenanters organized by town. It has a helpful 17 page historical introduction.

Thomson, J.H. – The Martyr Graves of Scotland (1903)

Thomson was in the Free Church of Scotland.

M’Corkle, Robert – The Tombstones of the Scottish Martyrs (1858) 80 pp.

M’Corkle was of the Free Church of Scotland.

The Revolution Era and the Union of 1707, c. 1688-1715

The era of persecution ended in 1688-9 when the Dutch William of Orange invaded England, and both Scotland and England offered the kingship to him. With the Treaty of Union in 1707, England, Scotland and Ireland became the one kingdom of Great Britain.

Primary Sources

Histories

Wodrow, Robert

Analecta, or, Materials for a History of Remarkable Providences mostly relating to Scotch Ministers and Christians, vol. 1 (1701 ff.), 2 (1712 ff.), 3 (1723 ff.), 4 (1728 ff.)

These are Wodrow‘s (1679-1734) journals from going around the country and recording what anecdotes persons related of the older generations and ministers, hence much of the material includes persons (including the big names) and events from as early as the 1650’s. See more: Johnston, Treasury, pp. 424-425; Morton, Covenanters, pp. 8-15.

Wodrow also gives his account and perspective of the events current to his time. “…of which it may be simply said that they contain some of the most amusing reading in the English language.” – Burton, VII, p. 571

Correspondence, vol. 1, 2, 3

Wodrow kept up correspondence with many of the leading men of the 1690’s through the early 1700’s.

“Six hundred and forty-eight selections out of a total of 3880 letters. They contain notices of many of the covenanting worthies, and the notes by M’Crie are invaluable.” – Johnston, Treasury, p. 444

Life of James Wodrow

Robert Wodrow gives the life of his father (1637-1707) who was a professor of divinity in the University of Glasgow (1692-1707).

Burnet, Gilbert

The History of my Own Times, vol. 1 (1660-1662), 2 (1673-1685), 3 (1685-1689), 4 (1690-1701), 5 (1702-1710), 6 (1710-1713) ed. 1823

Abridgment of Burnet’s History of his own Times 1906 420 pp. ed. Stackhouse

Defoe, Daniel – Memoirs of the Church of Scotland, in Four Periods 1560-1707 (London, 1717)

From the presbyterian author of Robinson Crusoe. See Johnston, Treasury, p. 423 for more.

Personal Accounts & Documents

Spreull, John (younger) – Miscellaneous Writings of John Spreull [younger], Commonly Called Bass John, with some Papers Relating to his History, 1646-1722

Spreull the younger had been imprisoned at Bass Rock.

Civil & Ecclesiastical Documents

ed. Peterkin, Alexander – The Constitution of the Church of Scotland, as Established at the Revolution 1689-90: Exemplified in the Acts of the Estates of Parliament and the Proceedings of the Church 1841 133 pp.

ed. Balfour-Melville – An Account of the Proceedings of the Estates in Scotland, 1689-90, 2 vols. Buy (SHS, 3rd Series, 1954-5)

Secondary Sources

Articles

Glassey, Lionel K.J. – ‘William II and the Settlement of Religion in Scotland, 1688-1690’ 1989 12 pp. SCHS

Raffe, Alasdair – ‘Presbyterianism, Secularization and Scottish Politics after the Revolution of 1688-1690’ 2010 20 pp.

Abstract: “The article focuses on what contemporaries called the ‘intrinsic right’ of the church: its claim to independent authority in spiritual matters and ecclesiastical administration. The religious settlement of 1690 gave control of the kirk to clergy who endorsed divine right Presbyterianism, believed in the binding force of the National Covenant (1638) and the Solemn League and Covenant (1643), and sought to uphold the intrinsic right… and that historians have exaggerated the pace of liberalization in Scottish Presbyterian thought.”

Stephen, Jeffrey – ‘Scottish Presbyterians and Union with England, 1603-1745’ 2014 15 pp.

Barnes, Robert – ‘Scotland and the Glorious Revolution of 1688’ Albion: A Quarterly Journal Concerned with British Studies, Vol. 3, No. 3 (Autumn, 1971), pp. 116-127

Cheyne, A.C. – Ch. 3, ‘The Ecclesiastical Significance of the Revolution Settlement’ in Studies in Scottish Church History, pp. 55-78 Preview 1999

Maxwell, Thomas – ‘Presbyterian and Episcopalian in 1688’ 1959 12 pp.

Clarke, Tristram – ‘The Williamite Episcopalians and the Glorious Revolution in Scotland’ pp. 33-51

Maclean, D. – ‘Scottish Calvinism Resurgent, Especially in the North’ (1689-1715)

Books

1800’s

M’Crie, Charles G. – Scotland’s Part and Place in the Revolution of 1688 1888 250 pp.

M’Crie was in the Free Church of Scotland.

From the English Side

Macaulay, Thomas Babington – The History of England from the Accession of James II [1685], vol. 1 (1685-), 2, 3 (1689-), 4 (-1702)

Macaulay (1800-1859) was a British historian and Whig politician. He wrote extensively as an essayist and reviewer; his books on British history have been hailed as literary masterpieces.

1900’s

Zagorin, Perez – A History of Political Thought in the English Revolution 1954

ed. Eveline Cruikshanks – By Force or by Default? The Revolution of 1688–89 Buy (Edinburgh, 1989)

2000’s

Patrick, Derek J. – People and Parliament in Scotland, 1689-1702 2002 456 pp.

Shukman, Ann

The Fall of Episcopacy in Scotland 1688-1691 2012 140 pp. MPhil(R) thesis, Univ. of Glasgow

Bishops and Covenanters: The Church in Scotland, 1688-1691 Buy 2013

Stephen, Jeffrey – Defending the Revolution: The Church of Scotland, 1689-1716 Download 2013 108 pp. Only about the first third of the book with the bibliography is available at this link

Raffe, Alasdair – Religious Controversy & Scottish Society, c. 1679-1714 (2007) 300 pp.

Ch. 6 gives many primary sources on the various views of the covenants at 1690. Ch. 7 does the same for the United Societies, who kept separate from Church and State.

McGaughy, Joseph – ‘A Louse For A Portion’: Early-Eighteenth-Century English Attitudes Towards Scots, 1688-1725 2008 105 pp.

Sealy, Charles Scott – Church Authority and Non-subscription Controversies in Early 18th Century Presbyterianism 2010 250 pp. PhD thesis, Univ. of Glasgow

Shukman, Ann Margaret – The Fall of Episcopacy in Scotland 1688-1691 2012 140 pp. MPhil(R) thesis, Univ. of Glasgow

Fox, Paul, II – The Scottish Episcopal Church: Religious Conflict in the Late Stuart Period Ref 2013

ed. Adams & Goodare – Scotland in the Age of Two Revolutions Pre (2014) Covers 1616-1701

Biographies

Articles

Memoir of Mr. John Carstairs 1846 10 pp. Free Church of Scotland Publications Committee

Couper, W.J.

‘Robert Wodrow’ 1928 22 pp.

‘Robert Wodrow and his Critics’ 1935 13 pp.

Books

Warrick, John – The Moderators of the Church of Scotland from 1690-1740 1913 395 pp.

John Carstaires

Story, Robert H. – William Carstares: a Character and Career of the Revolutionary Epoch (1660-1715) (1874)

Story (1790–1859), a progressive in the Church of Scotland, gives glimpses of some of the covenanting worthies, though he reads some ‘moderatism’ back onto Carstares.

Ferrie, William – Notices of the Life of the Rev. John Carstaires, with some Letters 1843 205 pp.

Beisner, E. Calvin – His Majesty’s Advocate: Sir James Stewart of Goodtrees (1635-1713) and Covenanter Resistance Theory Under the Restoration Monarchy Download 2002 315 pp.

Beisner is a conservative presbyterian and evangelical writer.

Bibliography of Literature

ed. McLeod – Anglo-Scottish Tracts, 1701-1714: a Descriptive Checklist Download (1979) 225 pp.

The United Societies at & After the Revolution, post-1690

In 1661-1662, the covenanting ministers were kicked out of their charges to the fields and many of the faithful people followed them. Upon the reorganization of the Church of Scotland in 1690, being re-established as presbyterian, a minority of the lay-persons in the United Societies (guided by the lay-army leader, Robert Hamilton) stayed separate from the established Church.

The United Societies would begin the Reformed Presbyterian denomination in 1743. See also the ‘Reformed Presbyterians’ section below.

Articles

Vogan, Matthew – ‘Alexander Shields, the Revolution Settlement, and the Unity of the Visible Church’ 2013 50 pp. Scottish Reformation Historical Society Historical Journal

McMillan, W. – ‘The Covenanters After the Revolution of 1688’ (1950) 12 pp. SCHS

Somerset, Douglas W.B. – ‘Notes on Some Scottish Covenanters & Ultra-Covenanters of the Eighteenth Century, Part 1’ (2016) 45 pp. Scottish Reformation Society Historical Journal

Biographies

Robert Hamilton, Character & Characteristics of

Grant, Maurice – The Lion of the Covenant: the Story of Richard Cameron Buy 1997 pp. 76-7,100-1,111-12,116-20,125-7,132-3,139,144-8,153,155-7,255

M’Crie, Thomas

Story of the Scottish Church, pp. 329-330

Memoirs of William Veitch, etc., pp. 452-4

M’Crie’s description of Hamilton is fully evidenced by Hamilton’s own words and actions documented by Grant (who is sympathetic to, and agrees with, the Cameronians) above.

Reid, H.M.B. – A Cameronian Apostle, being some Account of John MacMillan of Balmaghie 1896 335 pp.

Macmillan, William – John Hepburn and the Hebronites. A Study in the Post-Revolution history of the Church of Scotland (London, 1934)

Bibliography

Johnston, John C. – ‘Reformed Presbyterian Church Literature’ (1887) 15 pp. in Treasury of the Scottish Covenant, pp. 451-465

Couper, W.J. – ‘The Literature of the Scottish Reformed Presbyterian Church, part 1′ (1705-1749), part 2 (1753-1800), part 3 (1801-1831), part 4 (1831-1841) (1935)

Couper was of the Free Church of Scotland. The un-annotated bibliography includes works written against the RP’s, such as by the Seceders.

1700’s-1800’s

General History

Struthers, John – The History of Scotland from the Union [1707] to the Abolition of the Heritable Jurisdictions, 1748, to which is subjoined a review until 1827, vol. 1, 2 (1828)

Struthers (1776–1853) was a Scottish poet and miscellaneous writer.

Broadie, Alexander – The Cambridge Companion to the Scottish Enlightenment Buy 2003 360 pp.

Church History

1800’s

Dodds, James – A Century of Scottish Church History: a Historical Sketch of the Church of Scotland from the Secession [1733] to the Disruption [1843], with an Account of the Free Church 1846 98 pp.

Dodds was in the Free Church of Scotland.

Struthers, Gavin – The History of the Rise, Progress and Principles of the Relief Church, embracing notices of the other Religious Denominations of Scotland 1843 595 pp.

Struthers was the main Relief Church historian.

Walker, Norman – Our Church Heritage: or the Scottish Churches Viewed in the Light of their History, addressed to the New Generation that has Risen up since the Disruption [1843] (1690-1843) 1893 125 pp.

Walker was a minister in the Free Church of Scotland.

1900’s

M’Crie, C. G. – The Church in Scotland, Her Divisions and Reunions (Edinburgh: MacNiven & Wallace, 1901)

Henderson, Henry – The Religious Controversies of Scotland (1700’s-1800’s) 1905 285 pp.

Drummond, A. L. & Bulloch, J. – The Scottish Church 1688-1843. The Age of the
Moderates Buy (St. Andrew Press, 1973)

Bebbington, David – Evangelicalism in Modern Britain: A History from the 1730’s to the 1980’s Buy (Routledge, 1989)

Sher, Richard – Church and University in the Scottish Enlightenment: The Moderate Literati of Edinburgh Buy 1985 420 pp.

Regional

North

Sage, Donald – Memorabilia Domestica: or Parish Life in the North of Scotland (1700’s-1800’s) 1899 345 pp.

Sage was a minister in the Free Church of Scotland.

Auld, Alexander – Ministers and Men in the Far North 1891 300 pp.

Auld was in the Free Church of Scotland.

MacCowan, Roderick – The Men of Skye 1902 225 pp.

Netherlands

Steven, William – The History of the Scottish Church, Rotterdam (1833) 435 pp. begins in the 1640’s and goes into the 1800’s

1700’s

General

Mathieson, William Law – Scotland and the Union: A History of Scotland from 1695-1747 1905 400 pp.

Social Life

Graham, Henry – The Social Life of Scotland in the Eighteenth Century 1906 555 pp.

Plant, Marjorie – The Domestic Life of Scotland in the Eighteenth Century 1952 330 pp.

The Church

1800’s

Mathieson, William Law – The Awakening of Scotland, a History from 1747-1797 1919 330 pp.

1900’s-2000’s

McIntosh, John Rattray – The Popular Party in the Church of Scotland, 1740-1800 1989 520 pp. PhD thesis

The ‘Popular Party’ refers to those in the Church of Scotland who opposed Erastian patronage.

Clark, I.D.L. Moderatism and the Moderate Party in the Church of Scotland, 1752-1805 Ref. 1963 Ph.D. diss., Cambridge Univ.

Brekke, Luke G. – ‘In an age so enlightened, enthusiasm so extravagant’: popular religion in Enlightenment Scotland, 1712-1791 2009 370 pp.

Miscellaneous Articles

Vincent, Emma – ‘The Responses of Scottish Churchmen to the French Revolution, 1789-1802’ The Scottish Historical Review Vol. 73, No. 196, Part 2 (Oct., 1994), pp. 191-215

Voges, Friedhelm – ‘Moderate and Evangelical Thinking in the Later Eighteenth Century; differences and shared attitudes’ 1985 16 pp. SCHS

Biographies

Warrick, John – The Moderators of the Church of Scotland from 1690-1740 1913 395 pp.

ed. Allardyce, Alexander – Scotland and Scotsmen of the Eighteenth Century, vol. 2 1888 600 pp.

Moffatt, Charles L. – James Hog of Carnock (1658-1734), Leader in the Evangelical Party in Early Eighteenth Century Scotland 1960 Univ. of Edin.

John Erskine

Yeager, Jonathan

Articles

‘John Erskine (1721-1803): a Scottish evangelical minister’ 2008 22 pp. SCHS

‘Puritan or Enlightened? John Erskine & the Transition of Scottish Evangelical Theology’ EQ 80.3 (2008), 237-253

Book

John Erskine (1721-1803): Disseminator of Enlightened Evangelical Calvinism 2009 PhD thesis, Univ. of Stirling

Covenanting

Frazier, Nathan – Maintaining the Covenant Idea: the Preservation of Federal Theology’s Corporate Dimensions among Scotland’s Eighteenth-Century Evangelical Presbyterians (2010)

Abstract: “This thesis explores how Scotland’s federal theology helped to perpetuate the seventeenth-century Presbyterian conception of a covenanted Church and nation among a significant portion of eighteenth-century evangelical Presbyterians. It examines… Scotland’s Covenants were preserved among many Scottish Presbyterians between 1690 and the 1790s, until a broader and more individualistic evangelicalism increasingly eclipsed the corporate aspects of federal theology. The thesis focuses on the experiences of the Secession and Reformed Presbyterian Churches…”

Revivals

1800’s

MacFarlan, D. – The Revivals of the Eighteenth Century, particularly at Cambuslang… compiled from original manuscripts 1800 315 pp.

MacFarlan was of the Free Church of Scotland.

Smeaton, George – ‘The Suitableness of Erskine’s Writings to a Period of Religious Revivals’ in The Beauties of Ralph Erskine Buy ed. Samuel M’Millan (1829)

Smeaton was a professor in the Free Church of Scotland later in his life.

MacGillivray, Angus – Sketches of Religion & Revivals of Religion in the North Highlands During Last Century Preview 1859

Tyerman, Luke – Life of George Whitefield 1890

vol. 1, ‘First Visit to Scotland. 1741’, pp. 497-529

vol. 2, ‘Second Visit to Scotland, 1742’, pp. 1-35

Butler, D. – John Wesley and George Whitefield in Scotland: or the Influence of the Oxford Methodists on Scottish Religion 1899 325 pp.

1900’s

Fawcett, Arthur

The Cambuslang Revival; the Scottish Evangelical Revival of the Eighteenth Century 1971 Banner of Truth

‘Scottish Lay Preachers in the Eighteenth Century’ 1956 22 pp.

Mitchell, Christopher – ‘Jonathan Edwards’s Scottish connection and the eighteenth-century Scottish evangelical revival, 1735-1750’ 1998 PhD thesis

Pastoral & Preaching

Woodruff, Stephen – Pastoral Ministry in the Church of Scotland in the Eighteenth century, with special reference to Thomas Boston, John Willison and John Erskine 1965

McCain, Charles Rodgers – Preaching in Eighteenth Century Scotland: a Comparative Study of the extant sermons of Ralph Erskine (1685-1752), John Erskine (1721-1803) & Hugh Blair (1718-1800) (1949) 315 pp.

Ryken, Philip Graham – Thomas Boston as Preacher of the Fourfold State Buy (Edinburgh: Rutherford House, 1999)

Theology

McGowan, A.T.B. – The Federal Theology of Thomas Boston 1990 365 pp.

MacLeod, Ian – The Sacramental Theology and Practice of the Reverend John Willison (1680-1750) 1994 PhD thesis, University of Glasgow

Willison was a godly and orthodox minister in the Church of Scotland. His Sacramental theology and practice has been a standard throughout Church history. His sacramental meditations are second to none.

Bailey, Hunter – Via Media Alia: Reconsidering the Controversial Doctrine of Universal Redemption in the Theology of James Fraser of Brea (1639 – 1699) (Univ. of Edinburgh, 2008)

Fraser of Brea was a godly, persecuted covenanter. He wrote a Treatise on Justifying Faith. In the appendix to the work, ‘Concerning the Object of Christ’s Death’, Fraser argues for a certain universal object and intention in the Atonement (in addition to other limited aspects). This work was the impetus for the ‘New Light’ theology and secessions in the 1700’s. Bailey is sympathetic to Fraser’s view; see the abstract.

Bibliography of Primary Literature

Johnston, John C. – ‘Established Church Literature’ (1887) 12 pp. in Treasury of the Scottish Covenant, pp. 438-451

The Marrow Controversy

The Marrow Controversy

The Secession Church 1733 ff.

Intro

In protesting patronage (civil officers, or ‘patrons’, being involved in the church-elections of ministers), Ebenezer Erskine, Alexander Moncrieff, James Fisher and William Wilson were removed from their charges. They refused to accept the sentence, declared their secession from the Church of Scotland and formed the Associate Presbytery in 1733.

Becoming quite popular amongst the people, the Secession Church would be the main evangelical light in Scotland through the 1700’s. In 1747, ‘the Breach’ occurred over taking a certain civil oath, the Burgess Oath, from which the unfortunate split formed between the Burghers and Anti-Burgers (the ‘stricter’ party).

‘New Light’ divisions (over giving up the Establishment Principle and the continuing moral obligation of the Scottish national covenants) occurred in the Burgher Synod in 1799 and in the Anti-Burger Synod in 1806. Thomas M’Crie the elder and others continued the Anti-Burgher, Old Light constitution as the Original Secession Church (Constitutional Associate Presbytery).

Histories

Associate Presbytery – The Rise of the Secession Testimony in Adam Gib, The Present Truth a Display of the Secession Testimony… 2 vols. (Edinburgh: R. Fleming, 1774), vol. 1, pp. 25-50

The actual name of the popularly called ‘Secession Church’ was the Associate Presbytery. Adam Gib was a leading minister amongst them, and here compiled and defended many of their numerous and various publications in this work, preserving their official testimony and history.

The work generally contains many primary resources on Secession history, including their controversy with Thomas Nairn (who became a Reformed Presbyterian minister for a short while) over civil and covenanting issues, and the Burgher controversy (Gib led the Anti-Burghers).

‘Act of the Associate Presbytery, concerning the Doctrine of Grace’ is not included in this online edition of Adam Gib’s work (vol 1, pp. 171-210 is cut out). The reason may be that the act of the Church of Scotland condemning the Marrow is technically still in effect, and the Edinburgh Theological Seminary may not feel comfortable making the piece available (which criticizes the Church of Scotland on this point). ‘A View of Evangelical Subjection and Obedience to the Moral Law’, pp. 211-220, is also left out of this online edition.

Brown, John, of Haddington – A Historical Account of the Rise & Progress of the Secession in A Compendious History of the British Churches in England, Scotland, Ireland & America… (Edinburgh: Monteith, 1820), vol. 2 92 pp. independently paginated no ToC

Brown was a professor in the Scottish Secession Church.

United Associate Synod – Testimony of the United Associate Synod of the Secession Church, in Two Parts: Historical & Doctrinal (Edinburgh: John Lothian, 1828) 210 pp. ToC

M’Kerrow, John

History of the Secession Church rev. & enlarged (Glasgow: Fullarton, 1841) 930 pp. no ToC Index Statistics Secession Literature The history begins at A.D. 1690.

The classic history and defense of the Secession.

History of the Secession Church, vols. 1 (1690-1790), 2 (1790-1830’s) (Edinburgh: Oliphant, 1839) ToC 1, 2

Thomson, Andrew – Historical Sketch of the Origin of the Secession (Edinburgh: Fullarton, 1848) 178 pp. ToC The history begins at A.D. 1690.

Scott, David – Annals & Statistics of the Original Secession Church: till its Disruption & Union with the Free Church of Scotland in 1852 (1886) 612 pp. ToC The history begins in the Medieval Church.

Scott was a Free Church minister who was very acquainted and friendly with men of the Secession Church. He sought to give a faithful narrative of their whole history and their union with the Free Church in 1852 in order to preserve their memory.

Chapter 7 gives the account of the history leading up to the union, with the thought of its various leaders in both churches. In particular, give careful consideration to the view and reasons of the covenanter Dr. Thomas M’Crie the younger on page 181, as also signed by the majority of the Original Seceders, that the Free Church is the true Church of Scotland and fulfills the terms of the Solemn League and Covenant upon which the union was made.

M’Crie the younger, said that he was sure his father, M’Crie the elder, would have been for the terms of the union, as always having represented the Seceders’ principles, and those of the Church of Scotland from 1638-1651. Seceders that joined the Free Church included Robert Shaw, J.A. Wylie and Andrew Thomson.

Special Topics

Leckie, J. H. – Secession Memories, the United Presbyterian Contribution to the Scottish Church Buy (1926)

Hamilton, Ian – The Erosion of Calvinist Orthodoxy: Seceders & Subscription in Scottish Presbyterianism Buy (1990)

Whytock, Jack – ‘An Educated Clergy’: Scottish Theological Education & Training in the Kirk & Secession (1560-1850) Buy (Milton Keynes, UK: Paternoster, 2007)

VanDoodewaard, William – The Marrow Controversy & Seceder Tradition: Marrow Theology in the Associate Presbytery & Associate Synod Secession Churches of Scotland (1733-1799) (2009) 330 pp.

Missions

M’Kerrow, John – History of the Foreign Missions of the Secession & United Presbyterian Church (Edinburgh: Elliot, 1867) 525 pp. ToC

Articles

MacWhirter, A. – ‘The Last Anti-Burghers: a Footnote to Secession History’ in Scottish Church History Society (1944), pp. 254-91

The Stirling Congregations

Scott, Kenneth B. – ‘Ebenezer Erskine, the Secession of 1733, and the Churches of Stirling’ (Edinburgh, 1983) 24 pp.

Muirhead, Andrew T.N. – ‘A Secession Congregation in its Community; the Stirling Congregation of the Rev. Ebenezer Erskine 1731-1754’ (1986) 22 pp.

Smith, Richard M.

‘Auld Licht, New Licht & Original Secessionists in Scotland and Ulster’ (2006) 28 pp.

‘The United Secession Church in Glasgow’ (2004) 41 pp.

McIntosh, John R. – ‘Lessons from the Secession of 1733’ (2014) 5 pp.

McIntosh, amongst other things, helpfully surveys John Willison’s works and reasons for remaining in the Church of Scotland, contra the Secession.

Biographies (see also the Bios in the Marrow Men section)

Young, David & John Brown of Edinburgh – Memorials of Alexander Moncrieff & James Fisher, with selections from their Writings 2 vols. in 1 (1849) 400 pp.

The reference to the United Presbyterian Church (1847-1900, a union between the United Secession Church and Relief Church) in the original title was ex post facto. These 1700’s Secession founders had nothing to do with the 1847 union.

Ferrier, Andrew – Memoirs of the Rev. William Wilson, minister at Perth, one of the four brethren, founders of the Secession Church & professor of theology to the Associate Presbytery, with brief sketches of the state of religion in Scotland, for fifty years immediately posterior to the Revolution, including a circumstantial account of the origin of the Secession (1830) 388 pp.

Harper, Eadie & Lindsay – Lives of Ebenezer Erskine, William Wilson & Thomas Gillespie, Fathers of the United Presbyterian Church (1849) 310 pp.

The title of the work is an anachronistic misnomer. Erskine and Wilson were fathers of the Secession Church, Gillespie of the Relief Church. The United Presbyterian Church formed by a union in 1847 between the United Secession Church and the Relief Church.

John Brown of Haddington

Brown, William – Memoir & Select Remains of the Rev. John Brown, Minister of the Gospel, Haddington (1856) 230 pp.

Brown, John Croumbie – Centenary Memorial of the Rev. John Brown of Haddington: a Family Record (1887) 240 pp. This Brown was the grandson of Brown of Haddington.

MacKenzie, Robert – John Brown of Haddington (1918) 400 pp.

Theology

See also the ‘Marrow Controversy’ section.

Primary Sources

Moncrieff, Alexander – The Duty of National Covenanting Explained: in Some Sermons Preached at the Renovation of our Covenants, National & Solemn League, in the bond adapted to our present situation & circumstances in this period, by the Associate Presbytery, at Abernethy, July 1744 (1747) 140 pp.

Wilson, William – A Defence of the Reformation Principles of the Church of Scotland, bound with a Continuation of the Defence of Reformation Principles (1769) 570 pp.

Gib, Adam – The Present Truth a Display of the Secession Testimony in 2 vols (1774)

Adam Gib was a leading minister amongst the Secession. Here he compiled and defended many of their numerous and various publications in order to preserve their testimony. The work includes the Secession publications on the Marrow controversy (the moral law, atonement, etc.), their dispute with Thomas Nairn (who became a Reformed Presbyterian minister for a short while) over civil and covenanting issues, and the Burgher controversy respecting the lawfulness of taking a certain Scottish oath (Gib led the Anti-Burghers).

On the Relief Church

Smith, James – ‘The Principal Subjects of Controversy between the Relief Church & the Secession’ (1773) 27 pp. being book 2 of Historical Sketches of the Relief Church and a few subjects of Controversy Discussed, with an Address to the Burgher Clergy, pp. 47-74

Smith argues the Relief Church perspective against the Secession, relating to Occasional Hearing, Communion, and Covenanting. Part 3 is an appeal to the Burgher side of the Secession, which was the ‘less strict’ side (as opposed to the Anti-Burghers).

Ramsay, James – A Review of a Late Publication entitled A Compendious View of the Religious System… by P. Hutchison… containing a Defence of the Secession Against the Charges Exhibited… on the articles of Intolerant Principles, Promiscuous Hearing, and Unscriptural Terms of Communion, and a further display of the Relief Scheme… (1779) 90 pp.

Ramsay was of the Secession.

Brown, John, of Haddington – The Absurdity & Perfidy of All Authoritative Toleration of Gross Heresy, Blasphemy, Idolatry, Popery, in Britain, in Two Letters to a Friend (1780) 157 pp.

The first letter defends the Biblical and Westminster doctrine against the civil toleration of false religions and sects. The second letter defends the continuing moral obligation of the Scottish national covenants.

Fletcher, William

The Scripture-Loyalist: Containing a Vindication of Obedience to the Present [Scottish] Civil Government, in things Lawful… a postscript: containing Twelve Queries Proposed to the Serious Consideration of the Reformed Presbytery (1806) 80 pp.

The Scripture-Loyalist Defended… in a Letter to William Steven (1795) 107 pp.

Steven, a minister in the Reformed Presbytery, had responded to the Scripture-Loyalist’s 12 questions with Answers to 12 Queries. Here is Fletcher’s reply to those Answers.

M’Crie, Thomas, the elder – Statement of the Difference… particularly on the Power of Civil Magistrates Respecting Religion, National Reformation, National Churches & National Covenants (1807)

This was written upon the Old Light – New Light division of the anti-Burgher Synod. M’Crie, in order to bring importance to the issue, states the difference between the Old Light theology on the Establishment Principle and national covenanting and the New Light theology, and argues for the older (correct) theology.

The Original Secession Magazine, 1 (1847-48), 2, (1849-50), New Series: 1 (1852-4), 2 (1854-56), 3 (1856-8), 4 (1858-60), 5 (1860-2), 6 (1863-64), 7 (1865-6), 8 (1877-78), 9 (1869-70), 10 (1871-2), 11 (1873-74), 12 (1875-77), 13 (1877-78), 14 (1879-80), 15 (1881-2), 16 (1883-4), 17 (1885-86), 18 (1887-8), 19 (1889-90)

Secondary Sources

Macleod, John

‘Theology in the Early Days of the Secession’ (1944) 15 pp. SCHS

Ch. 6, ‘Theology in the Early Days of the Secession’ in Scottish Theology in Relation to Church History since the Reformation Buy This is nearly the same as the above article.

Macleod (1872-1948) was a Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland minister who became a professor in the Free Church of Scotland.

VanDoodewaard, William – The Marrow Controversy & Seceder Tradition: Marrow Theology in the Associate Presbytery & Associate Synod Secession Churches of Scotland (1733-1799) (2009) 330 pp.

Carson, John – The Doctrine of the Church in the Secession PhD thesis (Univ. of Aberdeen, 1987) 365 pp.

Myers, Stephen G. – “The Gospel in its Majesty”: the Theology & Ministry of Ebenezer Erskine (Univ. of Edinburgh, 2008)

Robertson, Andrew – History of the Atonement Controversy in the Secession Church (1846) 370 pp.

The author is in favor of the controverted general aspects of the atonement in question.

Bibliography

See also the bibliographies in many of the academic works above.

Johnston, John C. – ‘Secession Church Literature’ in Treasury of the Covenant (1778), pp. 465-99

Couper, W.J. – ‘The Literature of the Scottish Reformed Presbyterian Church, pt. 1′ (1705-1749), pt. 2 (1753-1800), pt. 3 (1801-1831), pt. 4 (1831-1841) (1935)

This un-annotated bibliography also contains works against the Reformed Presbyterians, a number of which came from Seceders. Couper was of the Free Church of Scotland.

Paton, Henry – ‘Some Secession Pamphlets’ (1959) 25 pp.

This was an introduction to his complete Secession Bibliography of 200+ works, which, unfortunately, was never completed before his death.

Moderators, Ministers & Students of

Scott, David – Annals & Statistics of the Original Secession Church

ch. 10, ‘Lists of Old Light Divinity Students, Probationers & Ministers, with an Epitome of their subsequent Careers’

ch. 12, ‘List of Moderators & other Prominent Officials of the Several Branches of the Original Secession Church’

Reformed Presbyterians

The Reformed Presbytery formed from the United Societies in 1743 with two ministers (John Macmillan and Thomas Nairn). This presbytery formed the basis of nearly all later ‘Reformed Presbyterian’ denominations (not to be confused with some of the larger denominations that are reformed and presbyterian but do not use that exact name).

In 1753, there was a ‘Breach’ which resulted in New Light and Old Light presbyteries, over the issue of the particularity of the Atonement.

History of

Books

1800’s

Reformed Presbytery in Scotland – A Short Account of the Old Presbyterian Dissenters, in Scotland, Ireland and North America 1806, rep. 1824

Naismith, Robert – Historical Sketch of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Scotland, to its Union with the Free Church in 1876 1877 116 pp.

Naismith was a Free Church minister, who, seeing that there was no complete history of the Reformed Presbyterian Church up to his day, decided to write it himself. Chapters 7 and 8 focus on the decade leading up to the majority of their churches’ union with the Free Church in 1876.

Hutchison, Matthew – The Reformed Presbyterian Church in Scotland, its Origin and History, 1680-1876 1893 460 pp. The historical sketch starts at 1560

Hutchison was for the majority of the Reformed Presbyterian Synod joining the Free Church of Scotland in 1876. The notable covenanter William H. Goold, the editor of John Owen’s (and many other puritan’s) works, was among them.

Glasgow, Melancthon – History of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in America, with sketches of all her ministry, congregations, etc. 1888 890 pp. The historical sketch starts with the early Church

Glasgow and Hutchison are the two main, classic, histories of the Reformed Presbyterians.

1900’s

Couper, W.J. – The Reformed Presbyterian Church in Scotland, its Congregations, Ministers and Students 1925 165 pp.

Vos, J.G. – The Scottish Covenanters: Their Origins, History, and Distinctive Doctrines Buy (Pittsburgh, 1940) Covers from c. 1560 to early 1900’s This was his ThM thesis.

Vos gives the Reformed Presbyterian perspective on the history of the period covered. A helpful compendious digest, especially of the political and ecclesiastical dates and events. His treatment after 1700 focuses nearly exclusively on the United Societies and Reformed Presbyterians. His objective in the book is to justify them, and show that they are right (mainly from history) in their leading principles.

Clark, Nancy Elizabeth – A History of the Reformed Presbyterian Church 1966 105 pp. Master of Arts thesis, Butler University Covers 1560-1900’s. The flowchart at the beginning may be helpful, but it is simplistic.

Hutchinson, George P. – The History Behind the Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod (Cherry Hill, NJ: Mack Publishing Company, 1974) The history begins in the 1500’s.

Carson, David – Transplanted to America: A Popular History of the American Covenanters to 1871 Buy (Pittsburgh: Crown & Covenant Publications, n.d.)

Articles

Couper, W.J. – ‘A Breach in the Reformed Presbytery, 1753’ 1926 28 pp. On the Old Light / New Light split

Keddie, Gordon – ‘The Reformed Presbyterian Church of Scotland and the Disruption of 1863’ part 1, part 2 (The Long Decline, 1900-Present) 1993

In 1833 the Reformed Presbyterian Church declared that civil voting (in Britain) was incompatible with Church membership, as they saw it as ‘incorporating’ with and approving a corrupt, Erastian state. In 1863 the Synod relaxed censures on voting and a minority, led by William Anderson of Loanhead, withdrew, which body has continued the Reformed Presbyterian Church till today.

Steele, David – ‘History of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America (General Synod)’ 1901 Journal of the Presbyterian Historical Society (1901-1930) Vol. 1, No. 1 (MAY A. D. 1901), pp. 41-55

Carson, David – ‘The Covenanters in America: a Brief History’ from Transplanted to America: A Popular History of the American Covenanters to 1871 Buy (Pittsburgh: Crown & Covenant Publications, n/d)

Shawnee R.P. Church – ‘Reformed Presbyterian History: Syllabus Notes’ 2011 19 pp.

Biographies

Article

Couper, W.J. – ‘John Howie of Lochgoin–and Fenwick’ 12 pp.

Special Topics

Pritchard, John W. – Soldiers of the Church: The Story of What the Reformed Presbyterians (Covenanters) of North America, Canada and the British Isles, did to Win the World War of 1914-18 1919 225 pp.

Keddie, Gordon – ‘Twenty-Five Unbelievable Years: the Foreign Missions Policy of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America, 1945-1970’ Puritan Reformed Journal 4, 1 (2012): 279–306

Registers of Ministers, etc. (see also Glasgow above)

Robb, J. – Cameronian Fasti of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Scotland (1680-1929) n.d. 35 pp.

‘Fasti’ in Latin means a register.

Dickson, James – Ministers and Congregations of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Scotland, 1688-2016 Buy 2016

Bibliography

Johnston, John C. – ‘Reformed Presbyterian Church Literature’ 1887 15 pp. in Treasury of the Scottish Covenant, pp. 451-465

Couper, W.J. – ‘The Literature of the Scottish Reformed Presbyterian Church, part 1′ (1705-1749), part 2 (1753-1800), part 3 (1801-1831), part 4 (1831-1841) 1935

Couper was of the Free Church of Scotland. The un-annotated bibliography includes works written against the RP’s, such as by the Seceders.

Keddie, Gordon – Bring the Books: The Literature of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America Buy (1991)

Relief Church

The Relief Church formed in 1761 with three ministers, two of which had been deposed from the moderatism-dominated Church of Scotland due to resistance to patronage. They sought to give relief to other congregations from ministers being intruded upon them by civil patrons. The name of the Relief Church ended in 1847 when they united into the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland.

The Relief Church’s distinctives included being opposed to patronage, though they (contrary to the Secession) repudiated the continuing moral obligation of the Scottish national covenants and their imposition as terms of communion. They were also early supporters of Voluntary views of Church and State.

Books

Struthers, Gavin – The History of the Rise of the Relief Church (1848) 150 pp.

Smith, James – Historical Sketches of the Relief Church & a Few Subjects of Controversy Discussed, with an Address to the Burgher Clergy (1773) 84 pp.

Part 2 of the work argues the interesting points of their differences with the Secession Church, relating to Occasional Hearing, Communion, and Covenanting. Part 3 is an appeal to the Burgher side of the Secession, which was the ‘less strict’ side (as opposed to the Anti-Burghers).

Biography

Lindsay, William – Life and Times of Thomas Gillespie, Father and Founder of the Relief Church 1849 94 pp.

Articles

Drummond, Robert

‘Gavin Struthers, the Historian of the Relief Church’ 1941 16 pp.

‘Traditions and Reminiscences of the Relief Church’ 1944 12 pp.

Theology & Controversy

Smith, James – ‘The Principal Subjects of Controversy between the Relief Church and the Secession’ 1773 27 pp. being book 2 of Historical Sketches of the Relief Church and a few subjects of Controversy Discussed, with an Address to the Burgher Clergy, pp. 47-74

Hutchison, Patrick – A Compendious View of the Religious System Maintained by the Synod of Relief, together with a Distinct Account of the Points in Difference Between the Synod of Relief and the National Establishment on one Hand & the Secession on the Other (1779) 86 pp.

This was responded to by the Secession minister, James Ramsay, A Review of a Late Publication entitled A Compendious View of the Religious System… by P. Hutchison… containing a Defence of the Secession against the charges exhibited… on the articles of Intolerant Principles, Promiscuous Hearing, and Unscriptural Terms of Communion, and a further display of the Relief Scheme… (1779) 90 pp.

1800’s

Coming in the Future

Free Church of Scotland

The Free Church of Scotland came from the Disruption of 1843 (a widespread, national event) in the Church of Scotland (over the issue of civil intrusion into ecclesiastical affairs), and continued the Church of Scotland as Free from civil intrusion.

The Free Church of Scotland This page will be greatly expanded in the future

The United Presbyterian Church

The United Presbyterian Church (1847-1900) formed as a union between the United Secession Church (1820-1847, the two new light branches of the Secession, Burgher and Anti-Burgher) and the Relief Church. The denominational name in Scotland ended with its union into the United Free Church of Scotland at 1900.

The U.P.C. was significant in Scotland for its sheer size and its embodiment of the trend towards church unions. The Church was known for (1) the Voluntary (Disestablishment) Principle, (2) its emphasis on missions, and (3) its openness to progressive ideas in theology (involving Higher Criticism, general aspects of the Atonement, hymns and organs, etc.).

Notable names in the denomination included John Eadie, John Brown of Edinburgh, James Orr and James Harper. The histories below are also very valuable for the history of the Secession and Relief Churches.

Histories

MacKelvie, William – Annals and Statistics of the United Presbyterian Church 1873 720 pp. covers 1700’s-1800’s

Blair, William – The United Presbyterian Church: a Handbook of its History and Principles 1888 150 pp.

Small, Robert – History of the Congregations of the United Presbyterian Church, from 1733-1900, vol. 1, 2 (Edinburgh: 1904)

Woodside, D. – The Soul of A Scottish Church, of the Contribution of the United Presbyterian Church to Scottish Life and Religion (Edinburgh: 191?)

Special Topics

M’Kerrow, John – ‘History of the Foreign Missions of the Secession and United Presbyterian Church’ (1867) 525 pp.

Memorial of the Jubilee Synod of the United Presbyterian Church, May 1897 330 pp.

Leckie, J. H. – Secession Memories, the United Presbyterian Contribution to the Scottish Church Buy (1926)

Political Thought of the Covenanters (more works with a more limited time frame are in the above subsections)

Articles & Chapters

MacPherson, H. – ‘Political Ideals of the Covenanters, 1660-1688’ in Records of the Scottish Church History Society 1 (1926), pp. 224-32

Smart, Iain – ‘The Political Ideas of the Scottish Covenanters 1638–1688’ in History of Political Thought, 1 (1980) pp. 167-93

Donald, Peter – ‘Archibald Johnston of Warriston and the Politics of Religion’ (1991) 17 pp.

Friedeburga, Robert – ‘From Collective Representation to the Right to Individual Defence: James Steuart’s ius populi vindicatum and the use of Johannes Althusius’ Politica in Restoration Scotland’ in History of European Ideas, vol. 24, iss. 1, 1 (Jan., 1998), pp. 19-42

Reformed theologians up till Stewart’s time typically argued that a private individual could not take up arms against a civil magistrate executing an unjust law. Stewart in the 1670’s did, along with the later Cameronians, especially A. Shields in A Hind Let Loose.

While Rutherford in the 1640’s allowed for private individuals to defend themselves from immediate attack from a government executing injustice, yet he distinguished that this could not be offensive (which is one reason why it was not lawful for David to kill Saul in the cave). Stewart, and others after him, used Biblical texts beyond what Rutherford did to justify a more offensive defense by private individuals.

Baxter, Jamie – ‘Presbytery, Politics & Poetry’ (2004) 21 pp. about the late-1500’s

Erskine, Caroline – “The Political Thought of the Restoration Covenanters” in Scotland in the Age of Two Revolutions, ed. S. Adams & J. Goodare (Boydell & Brewer, 2014) about the 1660’s-80’s

Books

Mathieson, William – Politics an d Religion, a Study in Scottish History from the Reformation to the Revolution, vol. 1 (1560-1638), 2 (1639-1690) 1902

See David H. Fleming’s review of this work.

Lyall, Francis – Church and State in Scotland 1972 480 pp. Faculty of Law,
University of Aberdeen

Smart, Ian – Liberty and Authority: the Political Ideas of Presbyterians in England and Scotland During the Seventeenth Century 1978 285 pp.

John Coffey – Politics, Religion and the British Revolutions, The Mind of Samuel Rutherford Buy (Cambridge, 1997)

Beisner, E. Calvin – His Majesty’s Advocate: Sir James Stewart of Goodtrees (1635-1713) and Covenanter Resistance Theory Under the Restoration Monarchy Download 2002 315 pp.

Stewart was lawyer and co-author of Naphtali, a defense of the covenanters, in 1667, and other works, which can be found here. He also played an important role in the civil government after 1690.

Beisner is a conservative presbyterian and evangelical writer.

From the English Side

Allen, J.W. – English Political Thought, 1603-1660, vol. 1 (1603-44) 1935

The Civil Parliament

Articles

Young, John – ‘Seventeenth Century Scottish Parliamentary Rolls and Political Factionalism: the Experience of the Covenanting Movement’ 1997 in Parliamentary History, vol. 16, pt. 2, pp. 148-170

Bowie, Karen – ‘A Legal Limited Monarchy’: Scottish Constitutionalism in the Union of Crowns, 1603-1707′ (2013) 27 pp.

Mason, Roger – ‘Debating Britain in Seventeenth-Century Scotland: Multiple Monarchy and Scottish Sovereignty’ (2015) Journal of Scottish Historical Studies, vol. 35, issue 1, pp. 1-24

Books

Rait, Robert – The Scottish Parliament before the Union of the Crowns [1603] 1901 Rait carries the history up through 1707

Terry, Charles – The Scottish Parliament, its Constitution and Procedure, 1603-1707 1905 235 pp.

Young, John R. – The Scottish Parliament, 1639-61: A Political and Constitutional Analysis Buy

See this review by David Stevenson.

Religious Life

The Whole Span

Edgar, Andrew – Old Church Life in Scotland: Lectures on Kirk Session & Presbytery Records, vol. 1, 2 (1885-1886) ToC 1, 2 about the 1500’s-1700’s

Lindsay, M’Crie, Blair, Landels, Walker – Religious Life in Scotland, from the Reformation to the Present Day (1888) 328 pp. ToC

The Highlands

MacPherson, Alexander – Glimpses of Church & Social Life in the Highlands in Olden Times: & other Papers (1893) 580 pp. ToC Covers the Middle Ages through the 1700’s

Kennedy, John – The Days of the Fathers in Ross-shire Buy (1895) 260 pp. ToC about the 1500’s-1800’s

This is Kennedy’s most well known work, which preserves a glimpse into the deep (somewhat unique) evangelical spirituality of the Highlands from the days before Kennedy. “Ross-shire” is a county (“shire” is a division of land, think Lord of the Rings) in Northern Scotland that is the local area around Dingwall. “Fathers” refers to the revered fathers of the faith of the older generation before Kennedy.

1600’s

Ross, William – Glimpses of Pastoral Work in the Covenanting Times, a Record of the Labors of Andrew Donaldson, 1644-1662 (1877) 255 pp. ToC

Ross was in the Free Church of Scotland.

Henderson, George D. – Religious Life in Seventeenth-Century Scotland Pre (Cambridge: 1937)

Constitutionalism

Constitutionalism

Scottish Theology

General Surveys

Walker, James – Theology & Theologians of Scotland, Chiefly of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries 1888 236 pp. being one of the Cunningham Lectures, with a three page introductory note by W.G. Blaikie

Walker was a theologian of the Free Church of Scotland. “For those who would understand the richness of old Scottish theology, there is the admirable volume of Dr. Walker of Carnwath.” – John Ker

Macleod, John – Scottish Theology in Relation to Church History since the Reformation Buy 330 pp. ToC

Masterful, dense, and full of jewels. Macleod (1872-1948) was a Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland minister who became a professor in the Free Church of Scotland.

Campbell, W.M. – The Triumph of Presbyterianism Buy (1958)

Ryken, Philip G. ‘Scottish Reformed Scholasticism’ in Protestant Scholasticism: Essays in Reassessment Buy ed. Trueman & Clark (Paternoster, 1999)

ed. Denlinger – Reformed Orthodoxy in Scotland: Essays on Scottish Theology 1560-1775 Buy (London: 2015)

Mullan, David – ‘Theology in the Church of Scotland 1618-c. 1640: A Calvinist Consensus?’ The Sixteenth Century Journal, Vol. 26, No. 3 (Autumn, 1995), pp. 595-617

Specific Doctrines

Agnew, David C.A. – The Theology of Consolation: or an Account of Many Old Writings & Writers on that Subject (1881) 420 pp.

Agnew was of the Free Church of Scotland.

MacPherson, John – The Doctine of the Church in Scottish Theology 1903 240 pp.

MacPherson was a professor in the Free Church of Scotland.

Interpretation of Scripture

Christie, George – ‘Scripture Exposition in Scotland in the Seventeenth Century’ 13 pp.

Drinnon, David – The Apocalyptic Tradition in Scotland, 1588-1688 (2013) 225 pp. PhD for Univ. of St. Andrews

Poetry, Verse & Satire

Covenanters Specifically

Johnston, John C. – ‘Poetical Literature & Tales of the Covenant’ (1887) 36 pp. in Treasury of the Covenant, pp. 543-79

Baxter, Jamie – ‘Presbytery, Politics & Poetry’ (2004) 21 pp. about the late-1500’s

ed. Dickson, James – Poems of Fighting Faith Buy 64 pp.

Scottish, Generally

Ancient Scottish Poems published from the Manuscripts of George Bannatyne, 1568 (1770) 350 pp.

ed. Pinkerton, John – Ancient Scottish Poems Never Before in Print, from the Manuscript Collections of Richard Maitland, from 1420-1586, vol. 1, 2 (1786)

Sibbald, J. – Chronicle of Scottish Poetry from the Thirteenth Century to the Union of Crowns [1603], vol. 1 (1200-1513), 2 (1513-42), 3 (1542-1603), 4 (Glossary) (1802)

Eyre-Todd, George – Scottish Poetry of the 16th Century, 17th Century, 18th Century, vol. 1, 2 (1896)

A Book of Scottish Pasquils, 1568-1715 (1868) 465 pp.

A ‘pasquil’ was a satire written under a fictional name. For instance, many pasquils were hurled at the Papacy during the Reformation.

ed. Cranstoun, J. – Satirical Poems of the Time of the Reformation, vol. 1, 2, 3 (1884-1893)

Scottish Elegiac Verses, 1629-1729, with Notes (1842) 350 pp.

Preachers

Taylor, William M. – The Scottish Pulpit from the Reformation to the Present Day (1887) 287 pp.

Blaikie, William Garden – The Preachers of Scotland – from the Sixth to the Nineteenth Century (1888) 380 pp.

Blaikie (1820–1899) was a notable Free Churchman.

Webber, F.R. – A History of Preaching in Britain & America, including Biographies of Many Princes of the Pulpit, vol. 2 (Scotland) (Milwaukee: Northwestern Publishing House, 1952) 670 pp. ToC

Collection of Bios

1600’s

Naphtali

The Last Words & Dying Testimonies of the Scots Worthies, containing the Cloud of Witnesses & Naphtali (1846) 580 pp.

This is a combined edition of two works: Naphtali and Cloud of Witnesses. Naphtali was originally written in 1667 by James Stewart and James Stirling. Cloud of Witnesses was a collection of the Cameronian martyrs in the 1680’s, collected and edited by the United Societies.

1700’s

Howie, John (1735-1793)

The Scots Worthies (1844) 840 pp. with a historical introduction by the Free Churchman, Robert Buchanan

Howie was of the Reformed Presbyterian persuasion. For notes on the various differing editions and contents of this work, see Johnston, Treasury, p. 396.

ed. Carslaw, W.H. – The Scots Worthies (1870) 670 pp.

ed. Wylie, J.A. – The Scots Worthies 595 pp. with a historical introduction, ToC

Wylie was a professor of history in the Free Church of Scotland.

1800’s

The Martyrs & Covenanters of Scotland (Robert Carter, 1849) 233 pp.

Mitchell, James – Scottish Divines, 1505-1872 (1883) 470 pp. ToC being the St. Giles Lectures, on 12 divines

Craven, J.B. – Scots Worthies, 1560-1688: Thirty-Five Sketches (1894) 160 pp.

1900’s

Carslaw, W.H. – Six Martyrs of the Scottish Reformation (1907) 225 pp.

Barnett, T. Ratcliffe – The Makers of the Kirk (1915) 370 pp. ToC 30 persons

MacMillan, Donald – Representative Men of the Scottish Church (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1928) 95 pp. ToC

Scottish Dress

Articles

McMillan, William – ‘Scottish Ecclesiastical Dress’ Church Service Society Annual, 20 (1950), pp. 32-43

“The author looks at the history of the use of the cassock, scarf and bands in Scotland. The cassock was for many centuries the outdoor dress of all men and the Reformers continued to wear the garment. James VI ordered the wearing of ‘cassikins’ or short cassocks, to which there appears to have been no objection. It seems, from post-Revolution portraits, that Church of Scotland ministers ceased to wear cassocks after that event. The practice was revived after the middle of the 19th century.

The scarf is reported as being worn ‘by quite a number of ministers’, its use having been revived ‘about half a century ago’. Theories regarding its origin vary and are described. James Melville writes of seeing John Knox wearing a type of forerunner. They fell into disuse after the Revolution and until ‘our own times’.

Bands are medieval in origin, though whether civil or ecclesiastical is in dispute. They are the only article which distinguishes the minister from the probationer. They were worn by some of the clergy in pre-Reformation times and in Reformed circles in England as early as 1566. They appear in Scotland from the end of the 16th century and their use appears unaffected by the Revolution.”

Tarrant, Naomi – Costume in Scotland through the Ages (Glasgow, 1986) 34 pp. with pictures The ToC is on the title page

French, Morvern & Perin Westerhof Nyman – ‘Dress, Décor and Identity in Scotland to 1700’ Ref The Scottish Historical Review, vol. C, 3, no. 254 (Dec. 2021), pp. 305-13

Morgan, Christy – ‘Historical Customs & Dress of Scotland’ 43 pp. PowerPoint

TartansAuthority.com

‘Ancient Highland Dress’
‘Women’s Dress’

Windsor Scottish – ‘Traditional Dress: Women’s Clothing’

Riley, Mara – ‘Before the Clearances: 17th & 18th Century Scottish Costume’

Books

1800’s

Logan, James – The Clans of the Scottish Higlands, illustrated by appropriate Figure Displaying their Dress, Tartans, Arms, Armorial Insignia & Social Occupations (London, 1845) 485 pp. ToC

1900’s

Dunbar, John Telfer

History of Highland Dress; a Definitive Study of the History of Scottish Costume & Tartan, both Civil & Military, including Weapons (Philadelphia: Dufour Editions, 1964) 345 pp. ToC

The Costume of Scotland (London: B.T. Batsford, Ltd., 1981)

Grange, R.M.D. – A Short History of Scottish Dress (NY: Macmillan Co., 1967) 170 pp. ToC

Reference Works

Dictionary, Handbook, Encyclopedia

ed. Cameron, Wright, Lachman & Meek – Dictionary of Scottish Church History & Theology Buy (Edinburgh: IVP, 1993) 925 pp.

Love, Dane – The Covenanter Encyclopedia Buy (Fort Publishing, 2009)

ed. Devine & Wormald – The Oxford Handbook of Modern Scottish History Buy (Oxford, 2012)

Collections of Biographies

Dictionary of National Biography

ed. Scott, Hew – Fasti Ecclesiae Scotticanae: The Succession of Ministers in the Church of Scotland from the Reformaion, vol. 1 (Lothian, Tweeddale), 2 (Merse, Teviotdale, Dumfries, Galloway), 3 (Glasgow, Ayr), 4 (Argyll, Perth, Stirling), 5 (Fife, Angus, Mearns), 6 (Aberdeen, Moray), 7 (Ross, Sutherland, Caithness, Glenelg, Orkney, Shetland, England, Ireland, Overseas) 1915 ff. These Church of Scotland ministerial bios are organized by geographical region, then they proceed chronologically

‘Fasti’ in Latin means a register.

Chambers, Robert – Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Scotsmen, vol. 1 (A-Brown), 2 (to Dalrymple), 3 (to Fordyce), 4 (to Horner), 5 (to Lesley), 6 (to Ramsay), 7 (to Wilson), 8 (to Young; Supplement, A-Hepburn), 9 ( Heriot-Wood) 1855

ed. Gordon – Scotichronicon: Ecclesiastical Chronicle for Scotland, including Bishop Keith’s Catalogue of Scottish Bishops, vol. 1, 2, 3

Irving, David – Lives of Scottish Writers (1839) 2 vols. in 1

ed. Ewan & Innes – The Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women: From Earliest Times to 2004 Buy (Edinburgh, 2006)

Civil Statutes

All of the Scottish Parliament’s Civil Statutes Online, 1424-1707

See also the historical survey, ‘The Scottish Parliament: a Historical Introduction’ by Brown, Mann & Tanner, and their Bibliography.

Genealogy

MacLean, Isabelle – The Scottish Covenanter Genealogical Index (1630-1712) Pre

Journals & Series

Records of the Scottish Church History Society (RSCH) at Internet Archive

Many of the back-issues are online. More than likely you will find something here related to your topic of inquiry.

Scottish Church History Society Articles Complete

This listing is of many more article by the society than what are at Internet Archive, and they are arranged by subject. Other arrangements are available.

Scottish History Society Publications, 5 Series: Bibliography All of the volumes are online at the National Library of Scotland

These are the volumes, listed in chronological order, that were published by the society.

The Scottish Reformation Historical Society Historical Journal Only the table of contents are online. Many of the articles can be read online here.

The Scottish Historical Review on JSTOR

Transactions of the Scottish Ecclesiological Society, 6 vols.

Dictionaries of the Scots Language

Dictionaries of the Scots Language (DSL)

DSL Online brings together the two major historical dictionaries of the Scots language:

Modern Scots (after 1700)
in The Scottish National Dictionary (SND)

Older Scots (before 1700)
in A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (DOST)

Bibliographies

See also the bibliographies in many of the academic works above.

The Whole Span

General

Johnston, John C. – ‘Bibliography’ 1887 340 pp. being part 2 of Treasury of the Scottish Covenant (1560-1880) From the Reformation onward. Limited to those in the tradition of the covenanters.

Black, George F. – A List of Works Relating to Scotland [in the New York Public Library] 1916 1,250 pp. Arranged by topic with an index

Anderson, A.K. – A Short Bibliography on Scottish History and Literature Buy 1922

Bibliography of Scottish History (National Book Council, 1926)

Macgregor, William – The Sources and Literature of Scottish Church History Buy (Glasgow, 1934)

“A classified and briefly annotated bibliography of primary and secondary material, with emphasis on the Reformation period… Good coverage of pre-1930 materials.” – Muether & Kepple

ed. Bateson, F.W. – Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature, 5 vols. Buy

“If someone turned to the Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature eager to find out what Scottish prose after Knox consisted in, its twenty pages of double column would richly satisfy his curiosity.” – David Reid, History of Scottish Literature, vol. 1, p. 183

ScottishHistory.com Reading Lists:

‘Standard Works’

‘Early Modern, 1500-1800’

Catalogues of Publications

Terry, Charles – A Catalogue of the Publications of Scottish Historical and Kindred Clubs and Societies, and of the volumes relative to Scottish history… 1780-1908 (1909) 270 pp.

Matheson, Cyril – A Catalogue of the Publications of Scottish Historical and Kindred Clubs and Societies and of the papers relative to Scottish history issued by H. M. Stationery office, including the Reports of the Royal Commission on Historical Mss., 1908-1927 Buy (1928) 230 pp.

This and Terry above are partially replaced by Stevenson below.

Stevenson, David & Wendy – Scottish Texts & Calendars: an Analytical Guide to Serial Publications Buy (Scottish Historical Society, 1987) 230 pp.

Lists all of the publications of the Wodrow Society, Maitland Club, Scottish History Society, Bannatyne Club, Spalding Club, Spottiswoode Society, etc. This is intended to *partially* replace Terry and Matheson above.

Publications of the Edinburgh Bibliographical Society, 1896-1935 15 vols.

Lists of Printed Books

Scottish

Aldis, Harry G. – A List of Books Printed in Scotland before 1700 1904 170 pp. Arranged by year

National Library of Scotland – ‘Scottish Books, 1505-1700’ Arranged by year

“The standard bibliography of books printed in Scotland, or outside Scotland for the Scottish market, before 1701.”

British

The English Short-Title Catalogue 1473-1800

World

WorldCat The World’s Largest Library Catalogue

Catalogues of Libraries

National Library of Scotland

Catalogue of Printed Books, vol. 1 (A-B), 2 (C-Eng), 3 (Eng-Hom), 4 (Hom-Marx), 5 (Mary-R), 6 (S-Z) 1867 by topic and author’s last name

Online Search

K., J. – Abridged Catalogue of Books in New College Library, Edinburgh (1893) 223 pp.

New College was the seminary of the Free Church of Scotland from its origins in 1843 to 1900. The first half of the work lists the books by author, the second half is by topic.

The British Library

Histories of Scottish Literature

Walker, Hugh – Three Centuries of Scottish Literature, vol. 1 (1560-1707), 2 (1707-1832) (1893)

Henderson, Thomas F. – Scottish Vernacular Literature: A Succinct History (1898) 484 pp.

Millar, J.H. – A Literary History of Scotland (1903) 715 pp.

Smith, G. Gregory – Scottish Literature: Character & Influence (1919) 300 pp.

Philip, Adam – The Devotional Literature of Scotland (1922) 190 pp.

MacKenzie, Agnes M. – An Historical Survey of Scottish Literature to 1714 Buy (1933) 252 pp.

Various – The History of Scottish Literature (Aberdeen Univ. Press)

vol. 1, Origins to 1660 Buy
vol. 2, 1660-1800 Buy

Medieval Church

Cowan, Ian B. – The Medieval Church in Scotland: a Select Critical Bibliography (1981) 19 pp.

1500’s-1600’s

Terry, Charles S. – An Index to the Papers relating to Scotland, Described or Calendared in the Historical Mss. Commission’s Reports (1908) 45 pp.

Lists and describes collections of manuscripts mainly for the 1500’s-1700’s time period.

ed. Jack, R.D.S. – Scottish Prose, 1559-1700 Buy (1971)

Kirk, James – The Scottish Reformation and Reign of James VI [1567-1625]: a Select Critical Bibliography (1987) 45 pp.

Dilworth, Mark – The Counter-Reformation in Scotland: a Select Critical Bibliography (1984) 18 pp.

Cowan, I.B. – ‘The Covenanters: a Revision Article’ (1968) 17 pp.

Cowan gives a survey of the academic literature on Scottish Church history. He seeks to encourage not reading Scotland’s history through the presbyterian or episcopal views, but to seek an admixture of them with a focus on other non-religious aspects.

1500’s

Forbes-Leith, W. – Pre-Reformation Scholars in Scotland in the 16th Century, their Writings & their Public Services with a Bibliography & a List of Graduates from 1500-1560 (1915) 205 pp.

1600’s

Stevenson, David – Scottish Church History, 1600-1660, a Select Critical Bibliography (1982) 11 pp.

Brown, Keith – ‘Scotland’ in ‘Bibliography’, pp. 7-11 of Kingdoms in Conflict: the Origins & Course of the British War of the Three Kingdoms, 1603-1660

1600’s-1700’s

Millar, John Hepburn – Scottish Prose of the Seventeenth & Eighteenth Centuries, being a Course of Lectures (1908) 290 pp.

1700’s

Sweney, Merle Arthur – The Scottish Current in the English Literature of the Eighteenth Century (1913) 175 pp.

1700’s-1800’s

Dixon, James – A Survey of Scottish Literature in the Nineteenth Century, with Some Reference to the Eighteenth (1906) 55 pp.

1800’s

McCaffrey, John – Scottish Church History in the Nineteenth Century: a Select Critical Bibliography (1989) 20 pp.

White, Gavin – Scottish Overseas Missions: a Select Critical Bibliography (1980) 8 pp.

Mochrie, Robert & Sawkins, John – A Bibliography of Sources of Quantitative Data for Studies in the Economic History of the Scottish Churches in the mid-Nineteenth Century (2008) 38 pp.

Related Pages

The History of Scotland