Lesmahagow

The first of these innovations was peculiarly distasteful to the feelings of rigid: Presbyterians, being regarded as a reaction towards the Popish doctrine, that the real flesh and blood of Christ are partaken of when the Lord's Supper is commemorated. The other four articles were also regarded as stepping?stones to Popery. The King's choristers and singing boys were seen arrayed in white surplices, and in the King's private chapel were hung pictures representing scriptural subjects, all which was in violation. of the national will.

In 1623, James VI. died, and was succeeded by his son, Charles L That prince, like his father, was under the influence of Archbishop Laud, and endeavoured. to introduce still farther innovations Laud's Liturgy, or printed form of service, is memorable as a close approximation to the Service Book of the Church of England and Jenny Geddes, when she threw the " cutty stool " at the Dean of St. Giles' head, exclaiming in wrath, "Dolt thou say the mass at my lug ?"with other words scarce fit for ears polite, was but expressing the general feeling of the Scottish people regarding it.
Soon after this, the King became involved in serious pecuniary embarassments, in consequence of his disputes with the English Parliament, which contentions and disagreements, in some measure, he inherited from his father. Historians are agreed that Scotland was a strange quarter to look to for pecuniary relief; yet Charles did look to Scotland. The possessions of the Romish Church at the Reformation were immense, and the Crown was held entitled to succeed to them. Many of the Romish ecclesiastics, contemplating the downfall of their system, had alienated their possessions either for money or in gifts to their relatives. During the Royal minority, the Regents had disposed of more, and the King himself, in violation of an Act of Parliament, had also alienated vast possessions. The result was, that the possessors of quondam Church lands, from the defective nature of their title?deeds, trembled at the prospect of a counter Revolution; and this uneasiness reached a climax when Charles I. executed a regular deed, revoking all grants of Church lands and tithes made by his father and others, and subsequently raised actions in the Court of Session for a reduction of these grants. '1 'he parties in possession of Church lands speedily combined to defend their acquisitions, when the King, finding the combination formidable, shifted his ground, and alleged that his only motive was to obtain for the clergy a subsistence out of the tithes. The tithes accordingly were valued, and ultimately a provision was made for the Established Church; but the alarm created could not be allayed, and the nobles and gentry sympathized with the people afresh in their aversion to the King's measures, and the National Covenant was renewed, with an addition rejecting the Five Articles of Perth. All classes united in sub scribing and swearing their adherence to a covenant or agreement, which originally was merely a bond of union against Popery,?the people because they detested Prelacy, the nobles because they dreaded a counter Revolution which would strip them of their possessions.

Meanwhile a General Assembly met in Glasgow in 1639, which was attended by the Marquis of Hamilton, as Lord Commissioner for the King. The folly of Charles in seeking to coerce the national conscience was fully exposed, the Covenant was adopted, Episcopacy condemned, existing Bishops deprived of their power, and eight of them excommunicated. In support of these bold measures, the Covenanters took up arms under General Leslie. Charles invaded Scotland, and the English would now have met with the same stubborn resistance which their ancestors experienced, had not the King coquetted with the subject in dispute, proposing that all matters concerning the regulation of Church government should be left to a new Constitution of the Church. The General Assembly met, and confirmed all that their predecessors had done at Glasgow. The Scottish Parliament, on their part, demanded several privileges necessary for freedom of debate. The King, rather than accede to these, prepared to renew the war. Both parties rushed to arms, and the battle of Newburn was fought in 1640, when the King was defeated; but being previously on bad terms with the English Parliament, he resolved to assemble a new one, which was afterwards so well known in history as the " Long Parliament" A treaty of alliance was concluded between the English Parliament and the Scottish leaders, styled " The Solemn League and Covenant," stipulating for mutual aid, declaring its object to be the reformation of religion in England and Ireland, and the "extirpation of Popery, Prelacy, superstition, heresy, schism, and profaneness." By the English Commissioners, however, it was viewed as an emancipation from established government of every kind.