Riots, Revolutions, and the Scottish Covenanters

Book excerpt: Coauthor of the famous Scottish National Covenant, moderator of the Glasgow General Assembly that defied King Charles I, and member of the Westminster Assembly, Alexander Henderson (1583–1646) led Scotland during the tumultuous period of the British Revolutions. He influenced Scotland as a Covenanter, preacher, Presbyterian, and pamphleteer and earned an important place in the nation’s history. Despite his numerous accomplishments, no modern biography of Henderson exists. In Riots, Revolutions, and the Scottish Covenanters , L. Charles Jackson corrects this omission. He avoids the extremes of casting Henderson as a forerunner to liberty or as a theological tyrant and instead places his actions in their historical setting, presenting this important leader as he saw himself: primarily a minister of the gospel who was struggling to live faithfully as he understood it. Using neglected and, in some cases, new sources, Jackson reassesses the role of religion in early modern Scotland as reflected in the life of Alexander Henderson. Table of Contents: 1. The Preparation 2. The Covenanter 3. The Preacher 4. The Presbyterian 5. The Pamphleteer 6. The Collapse of the Cause