Question 151. What are those aggravations that make some sins more heinous than others? Answer. Sins receive their aggravations, one, from the person's offending. If they be of riper age, greater experience or grace, eminent for profession, gifts, place, office, guides to others, and whose example is likely to be followed by others. Two. from the parties offended, if immediately against God, His attributes and worship, against Christ and His grace, the Holy Spirit, His witness and workings, against superiors, men of eminency, and such as we stand especially related and engaged unto, against any of the saints, particularly weak brethren, the souls of them or any other, and the common good of all or many. 3. From the nature and quality of the offense, if it be against the express letter of the law, break many commandments, contain in it many sins, if not only conceived in the heart, but breaks forth in words and actions, scandalize others, and admit of no reparation, if against means, mercies, judgments, light of nature, conviction of conscience, public or private admonition, censures of the church, civil punishments, and our prayers, purposes, promises, vows, covenants, and engagements to God or men. If done deliberately, willfully, presumptuously, impudently, boastingly, maliciously, frequently, with delight, continuance, or relapsing after repentance. 4. From circumstances of time and place, if on the Lord's day or other times of divine worship, or immediately before or after these, or other helps to prevent or remedy such miscarriages, if in public or in the presence of others who are thereby likely to be provoked or defiled. Question 152. What doth every sin deserve at the hands of God? Answer. Every sin, even the least, being against the sovereignty, goodness, and holiness of God, and against His righteous law, deserveth His wrath and curse, both in this life and that which is to come. and cannot be expiated but by the blood of Christ. Question 153. What doth God require of us that we may escape his wrath and curse due to us by reason of the transgression of the law? Answer. That we may escape the wrath and curse of God due to us by reason of the transgression of the law. He requireth of us repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. and the diligent use of the outward means whereby Christ communicates to us the benefits of his mediation. Question 154. What are the outward means whereby Christ communicates to us the benefits of his mediation? Answer. The outward and ordinary means whereby Christ communicates to his church the benefits of his mediation are all his ordinances. especially the Word, sacraments, and prayer, all which are made effectual to the elect for their salvation. Question 155. How is the Word made effectual to salvation? Answer. The Spirit of God maketh the reading, but especially the preaching of the Word, an effectual means of enlightening, convincing, and humbling sinners. of driving them out of themselves and drawing them onto Christ, of conforming them to His image and subduing them to His will, of strengthening them against temptations and corruptions, of building them up in grace and establishing their hearts in holiness and comfort through faith unto salvation. Question 156. Is the Word of God to be read by all Answer. Although all are not to be permitted to read the word publicly to the congregation, yet all sorts of people are bound to read it apart by themselves and with their families, to which end the Holy Scriptures are to be translated out of the original into vulgar languages. Question 157. How is the Word of God to be read? Answer. The Holy Scriptures are to be read with a high and reverent esteem of them, with a firm persuasion that they are the very Word of God and that He only can enable us to understand them, with desire to know, believe, and obey the will of God revealed in them, with diligence and attention to the matter and scope of them, with meditation, application, self-denial, and prayer. Question 158. By whom is the Word of God to be preached? Answer. The Word of God is to be preached only by such as are sufficiently gifted and also duly approved and called to that office. Question 159. How is the Word of God to be preached by those that are called thereunto? They that are called to labor in the ministry of the Word are to preach sound doctrine, diligently, in season and out of season. Plainly, not in the enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. Faithfully, making known the whole counsel of God. Wisely, applying themselves to the necessities and capacities of the hearers. zealously with fervent love to God and the souls of his people, sincerely aiming at his glory and their conversion, edification, and salvation. Question 160. What is required of those that hear the word preached? Answer. It is required of those that hear the word preached that they attend upon it with diligence, preparation, and prayer. Examine what they hear by the scriptures. Receive the truth with faith, love, meekness, and readiness of mind as the word of God. Meditate and confer of it. Hide it in their hearts. And bring forth the fruit of it in their lives. Question 161. How do the sacraments become effectual means of salvation? Answer, the sacraments become effectual means of salvation not by any power in themselves or any virtue derived from the piety or intention of him by whom they are administered, but only by the working of the Holy Ghost and the blessing of Christ by whom they are instituted. Question 162. What is a sacrament? Answer, a sacrament is a holy ordinance instituted by Christ in his church to signify, seal, and exhibit unto those that are within the covenant of grace the benefits of his mediation, to strengthen and increase their faith and all other graces, to oblige them to obedience, to testify and cherish their love and communion one with another, and to distinguish them from those that are without. 163. What are the parts of a sacrament? The parts of a sacrament are two, the one an outward and sensible sign used according to Christ's own appointment, the other an inward and spiritual grace thereby signified. 164. How many sacraments hath Christ instituted in his church under the New Testament? Answer, under the New Testament Christ hath instituted in his church only two sacraments, baptism and the Lord's Supper. Question 165, what is baptism? Answer, baptism is a sacrament of the New Testament wherein Christ hath ordained the washing with water in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost to be a sign and seal of ingrafting into himself of remission of sins by his blood, and regeneration by his spirit, of adoption and resurrection unto everlasting life, and whereby the parties baptized are solemnly admitted into the visible church, and enter into an open and professed engagement to be holy and only the Lord's. Question 166. Unto whom is baptism to be administered? Baptism is not to be administered to any that are out of visible church, and so strangers from the covenant of promise till they profess their faith in Christ and obedience to Him, but infants descending from parents, either both or but one of them, professing faith in Christ and obedience to Him, are in that respect within the covenant and to be baptized. Question 167. How is our baptism to be improved by us? Answer, the needful but much neglected duty of improving our baptism is to be performed by us all our life long, especially in a time of temptation and when we are present at the administration of it to others. By serious and thankful consideration of the nature of it and of the ends for which Christ instituted it, the privileges and benefits conferred and sealed thereby, and our solemn vow made therein. By being humbled for our sinful defilement, our falling short of and walking contrary to the grace of baptism and our engagements, by growing up to assurance of pardon of sin and of all other blessings sealed to us in that sacrament, by drawing strength from the death and resurrection of Christ into whom we are baptized for the mortifying of sin and quickening of grace, and by endeavoring to live by faith, to have our conversation in holiness and righteousness as those that have therein given up their names to Christ, and to walk in brotherly love as being baptized by the same Spirit into one body. Question 168. What is the Lord's Supper? Answer. The Lord's Supper is a sacrament of the New Testament wherein, by giving and receiving bread and wine according to the appointment of Jesus Christ, His death is showed forth. And they that worthily communicate feed upon His body and blood to their spiritual nourishment and growth in grace. Have their union and communion with Him confirmed? testify and renew their thankfulness and engagement to God and their mutual love and fellowship each with other as members of the same mystical body. Question 169. How hath Christ appointed bread and wine to be given and received in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper? Answer. Christ hath appointed the ministers of His Word in the administration of this sacrament of the Lord's Supper to set apart the bread and wine from common use by the word of institution, thanksgiving, and prayer, to take and break the bread, and to give both the bread and the wine to the communicants. who are, by the same appointment, to take and eat the bread, and to drink the wine, in thankful remembrance that the body of Christ was broken and given, and his blood shed for them. Question 170. How do they that worthily communicate in the Lord's Supper feed upon the body and blood of Christ therein? As the body and blood of Christ are not corporally or carnally present in, with, or under the bread and wine in the Lord's Supper, and yet are spiritually present to the faith of the receiver, no less truly and really than the elements themselves are to their outward senses, so they that worthily communicate in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper do therein feed upon the body and blood of Christ, not after a corporal and carnal, but in a spiritual manner. Yet truly and really, while by faith they receive and apply unto themselves Christ crucified and all the benefits of His death. Question 171. How are they that receive the sacrament of the Lord's Supper to prepare themselves before they come unto it? Answer. They that receive the sacrament of the Lord's Supper are, before they come, to prepare themselves thereunto by examining themselves of their being in Christ, of their sins and wants, of the truth and measure of their knowledge, faith, repentance, love to God and the brethren, charity to all men, forgiving those that have done them wrong, of their desires after Christ, and of their new obedience. and by renewing the exercise of these graces by serious meditation and fervent prayer. Question 172. May one who doubteth of his being in Christ, or of his due preparation, come to the Lord's Supper? Answer. One who doubteth of his being in Christ, or of his due preparation to the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, may have true interest in though he be not yet assured thereof. And in God's account hath it, if he be duly affected with the apprehension of the want of it, an unfainly desire to be found in Christ, and to depart from iniquity, in which case, because promises are made, and the sacrament is a point of the relief even of weak and doubting Christians, he is to bewail his unbelief, and labor to have his doubts resolved. and so doing he may and ought to come to the Lord's Supper that he may be further strengthened. Question 173. May any who profess the faith and desire to come to the Lord's Supper be kept from it? Answer. Such as are found to be ignorant or scandalous, notwithstanding their profession of the faith, and desire to come to the Lord's Supper, may and ought to be kept from that sacrament by the power which Christ hath left in his church, until they receive instruction and manifest their reformation. Question 174. What is required of them that receive the sacrament of the Lord's Supper in the time of the administration of it? Answer. It is required of them that receive the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, that during the time of the administration of it, with all holy reverence and attention, they wait upon God in that ordinance, diligently observe the sacramental elements and actions, heedfully discern the Lord's body, and affectionately meditate on His death and sufferings, and thereby stir up themselves to a vigorous exercise of their graces in judging themselves and sorrowing for sin. in earnest hungering and thirsting after Christ, feeding on Him by faith, receiving of His fullness, trusting in His merits, rejoicing in His love, giving thanks for His grace, in renewing of their covenant with God and love to all the saints. Question 175. What is the duty of Christians after they have received the sacrament of the Lord's Supper? Answer, the duty of Christians after they have received the sacrament of the Lord's Supper is seriously to consider how they have behaved themselves therein and with what success. If they find quickening and comfort, to bless God for it, beg the continuance of it, watch against relapses, fulfill their vows, and encourage themselves to a frequent attendance on that ordinance. If they find no present benefit, more exactly to review their preparation to and carriage out the sacrament, in both which, if they can approve themselves to God and their own consciences, they are to wait for the fruit of it in due time. But if they see they have failed in either, they are to be humbled and to attend upon it afterwards with more care and diligence. Question 176. Wherein do the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper agree? Answer. The sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper agree in that the author of both is God. The spiritual part of both is Christ and His benefits. Both are seals of the same covenant, are to be dispensed by ministers of the gospel and by none other, and to be continued in the church of Christ until His second coming. Question 177. Wherein do the sacraments of baptism in the Lord's Supper differ? Answer, the sacraments of baptism in the Lord's Supper differ in that baptism is to be administered but once with water to be a sign and seal of our regeneration and ingrafting into Christ and that even to infants. Whereas the Lord's Supper is to be administered often in the elements of bread and wine to represent and exhibit Christ as spiritual nourishment to the soul and to confirm our continuance and growth in Him, and that only to such as are of years and ability to examine themselves." Question 178. What is prayer? Answer. Prayer is an offering up of our desires unto God, in the name of Christ, by the help of His Spirit, with confession of our sins and thankful acknowledgment of His mercies. Question 179. Are we to pray unto God only? Answer. God only being able to search the hearts, hear the requests, pardon the sins, and fulfill the desires of all, and only to be believed in and worshipped with religious worship, prayer, which is a special part thereof, is to be made by all to Him alone and to none other. Question 180. What is it to pray in the name of Christ? Answer. To pray in the name of Christ is in obedience to his command and in confidence on his promises. To ask mercy for his sake, not by bare mentioning of his name, but by drawing our encouragement to pray and our boldness strength and hope of acceptance in prayer from Christ and his mediation. Question 181. Why are we to pray in the name of Christ? Answer. The sinfulness of man and his distance from God by reason thereof being so great that we can have no access into his presence without a mediator. and there being none in heaven or earth appointed to, or fit for, that glorious work, but Christ alone, we are to pray in no other name but His only. Question 182. How doth the Spirit help us to pray? Answer. We, not knowing what to pray for as we ought, the Spirit helpeth our infirmities. by enabling us to understand both for whom and what and how prayer is to be made, and by working and quickening in our hearts, although not in all persons nor at all times in the same measure, those apprehensions, affections, and graces which are requisite for the right performance of that duty. Question 183. For whom are we to pray? We are to pray for the whole Church of Christ upon earth, for magistrates and ministers, for ourselves, our brethren, yea, our enemies, and for all sorts of men living, or that shall live hereafter, but not for the dead, nor for those that are known to have sinned the sin unto death. Question 184. For what things are we to pray? We are to pray for all things tending to the glory of God, the welfare of the church, our own or others' good, but not for anything that is unlawful. Question 185. How are we to pray? Answer. We are to pray with an awful apprehension of the majesty of God and deep sense of our own unworthiness, necessities, and sins. with penitent, thankful, and enlarged hearts, with understanding, faith, sincerity, fervency, love, and perseverance, waiting upon Him with humble submission to His will. Question 186. What rule hath God given for our direction in the duty of prayer? Answer. The whole Word of God is of use to direct us in the duty of prayer. But the special rule of direction is that form of prayer which our Savior Christ taught his disciples, commonly called the Lord's Prayer. Question 187. How is the Lord's Prayer to be used? Answer. The Lord's Prayer is not only for direction as a pattern according to which we are to make other prayers, but may also be used as a prayer, so that it is done with understanding, faith, reverence, and other graces necessary to the right performance of the duty of prayer. Question 188. Of how many parts doth the Lord's Prayer consist? Answer. The Lord's Prayer consists of three parts, a preface, petitions, and a conclusion. Question 189. What doth the preface of the Lord's Prayer teach us? Answer. The preface of the Lord's Prayer, contained in these words, Our Father which art in heaven, teaches us when we pray to draw near to God with confidence of His fatherly goodness and our interest therein. with reverence and all other childlike dispositions, heavenly affections, and due apprehensions of his sovereign power, majesty, and gracious condescension, as also to pray with and for others. Question 190. What do we pray for in the first petition? Answer. In the first petition, which is, Hallowed be thy name, Acknowledging the utter inability and indisposition that is in ourselves and all men to honor God aright, we pray that God would by His grace enable and incline us and others to know, to acknowledge, and highly to esteem Him, His titles, attributes, ordinances, word, works, and whatever He is pleased to make Himself known by, and to glorify Him in thought, word, and deed. that he would prevent and remove atheism, ignorance, idolatry, profaneness, and whatsoever is dishonorable to him, and by his overruling providence direct and dispose of all things to his own glory. Question 191. What do we pray for in the second petition? Answer. In the second petition, which is, Thy kingdom come, Acknowledging ourselves and all mankind to be by nature under the dominion of sin and Satan, we pray that the kingdom of sin and Satan may be destroyed. The gospel propagated throughout the world. The Jews called. The fullness of the Gentiles brought in. The church furnished with all gospel officers and ordinances purged from corruption. countenanced and maintained by the civil magistrate, that the ordinances of Christ may be purely dispensed and made effectual to the converting of those that are yet in their sins, and the confirming, comforting, and building up of those that are already converted. That Christ would rule in our hearts here, and hasten the time of His second coming, and are reigning with Him forever. and that he would be pleased so to exercise the kingdom of his power in all the world as may best conduce to those ends. Question 192. What do we pray for in the third petition? Answer. In the third petition, which is, Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven, Acknowledging that by nature we and all men are not only utterly unable and unwilling to know and do the will of God, but prone to rebel against his word, to repine and murmur against his providence, and wholly inclined to do the will of the flesh and of the devil. We pray that God would by His Spirit take away from ourselves and others all blindness, weakness, indisposedness, and perverseness of heart, and by His grace make us able and willing to know, do, and submit to His will in all things, with the like humility, cheerfulness, faithfulness, diligence, zeal, sincerity, and constancy as the angels do in heaven. Question 193. What do we pray for in the fourth petition? Answer. In the fourth petition, which is, give us this day our daily bread, acknowledging that in Adam, and by our own sin, we have forfeited our right to all the outward blessings of this life, and deserve to be wholly deprived of them by God, and to have them cursed to us in the use of them, and that neither they of themselves are able to sustain us, nor we to merit, or by our own industry, to procure them, but prone to desire, get and use them unlawfully. We pray for ourselves and others that both they and we, waiting upon the providence of God from day to day in the use of lawful means, may, of His free gift and, as to his fatherly wisdom shall seem best, enjoy a competent portion of them, and have the same continued and blessed unto us in our holy and comfortable use of them, and contentment in them, and be kept from all things that are contrary to our temporal support and comfort." Q194 What do we pray for in the fifth petition? in the fifth petition, which is, forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors, acknowledging that we and all others are guilty, both of original and actual sin, and thereby become debtors to the justice of God, and that neither we nor any other creature can make the least satisfaction for that debt. We pray for ourselves and others that God of his free grace would, through the obedience and satisfaction of Christ, apprehended and applied by faith, acquit us both from the guilt and punishment of sin, accept us in his beloved, continue his favor and grace to us, pardon our daily failings, and fill us with peace and joy in giving us daily more and more assurance of forgiveness. which we are the rather emboldened to ask, and encouraged to expect, when we have this testimony in ourselves, that we, from the heart, forgive others their offenses. Question 195. What do we pray for in the sixth petition? Answer. In the sixth petition, which is, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. acknowledging that the most wise, righteous, and gracious God, for diverse, holy, and just ends, may so order things, that we may be assaulted, foiled, and for a time led captive by temptations. That Satan, the world, and the flesh are ready powerfully to draw us aside and ensnare us. And that we, even after the pardon of our sins, by reason of our corruption, weakness and want of watchfulness are not only subject to be tempted and forward to expose ourselves unto temptations but also of ourselves unable and unwilling to resist them to recover out of them and to improve them and worthy to be left under the power of them. We pray that God would so overrule the world and all in it subdue the flesh, and restrain Satan, order all things, bestow and bless all means of grace, and quicken us to watchfulness in the use of them, that we, and all his people, may by his providence be kept from being tempted to sin. Or, if tempted, that by his Spirit we may be powerfully supported, and enabled to stand in the hour of temptation. Or when fallen, raised again, and recovered out of it, and have a sanctified use and improvement thereof, that our sanctification and salvation may be perfected, Satan trodden under our feet, and we fully freed from sin, temptation, and all evil forever." Question 196. What doth the conclusion of the Lord's Prayer teach us? Answer, the conclusion of the Lord's prayer, which is for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Teach us us to enforce our petitions with arguments which are to be taken not from any worthiness in ourselves or any other creature, but from God. and with our prayers to join praises ascribing to God alone eternal sovereignty, omnipotency, and glorious excellency. In regard whereof, as He is able and willing to help us, so we by faith are emboldened to plead with Him that He would, and quietly to rely upon Him that He will fulfill our requests, and to testify this our desire and assurance we say Amen. Thus ends the reading of the larger Catechism. We now proceed to a reading of the Adopting Act followed by the Solemn Ligon Covenant and followed by the National Covenant. Act 7th June 1690 ratifying the Confession of Faith and settling Presbyterian Church Government. Our Sovereign Lord and Lady, the King and Queen's Majesties, and Three Estates of Parliament, conceiving it to be their bounden duty, after the great deliverance that God hath lately wrought for this Church and Kingdom, in the first place to settle and secure therein the true Protestant religion, according to the truth of God's word, as at half of a long time then professed within this land. as also the government of Christ's church within this nation, agreeable to the word of God, and most conducive to the advancement of true piety and godliness, and the establishing of peace and tranquility within this realm. They by these presents ratify and establish the confession of faith now read in their presence, and voted and approved by them as the public and avowed confession of this church, containing the sum and substance of the doctrine of the Reformed churches. which confession of faith is subjoined to this present act, as also they do establish, ratify, and confirm the Presbyterian Church government and discipline, that is to say, the government of the Church by Kirk Sessions, Presbyteries, Provincial Synods, and General Assemblies, ratified and established by the 114 Act James 6, Parliament 12, M.O. 1592, entitled Ratification of the Liberty of the Kirk, etc. and thereafter received by the general consent of this nation to be the only government of Christ's church within this kingdom, reviving, renewing, and confirming the same in the whole heads thereof, except that part of it relating to patronages, which is hereafter to be taken into consideration. The solemn legion covenant for reformation and defense of religion the honor and happiness of the King, and the peace and safety of the three kingdoms of Scotland, England, and Ireland, taken and subscribed several times by King Charles II and by all ranks in the said three kingdoms." Scripture references, Jeremiah 1.5, Come and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten. Proverbs 25.5 Take away the wicked from before the King, and his throne shall be established in righteousness." 2 Chronicles 15 15 And all Judah rejoiced at the oath, for they had sworn with all their heart. Galatians 3 15 Though it be but a man's covenant, yet if it be confirmed by an oath, no man disannoweth or addeth thereto. The solemn League and Covenant for Reformation and Defense of Religion, the Honor and Happiness of the King, and the Peace and Safety of the Three Kingdoms of Scotland, England, and Ireland, agreed upon by Commissioners from the Parliament and Assembly of Divines in England, with Commissioners of the Convention of Estates and General Assembly in Scotland, approved by the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, and by both Houses of Parliament and Assembly of Divines in England, and taken and subscribed by them. Anno 1643. And thereafter, by the said authority, taken and subscribed by all ranks in Scotland and England the same year, and ratified by Act of the Parliament of Scotland. Anno 1644. and again renewed in Scotland with an acknowledgement of sins and engagement to duties by all ranks, N.O. 1648, and by Parliament, 1649, and taken and subscribed by King Charles II at Spey, June 23, 1650, and at Scone, January 1, 1651. We noblemen, barons, knights, gentlemen, citizens, burgesses, ministers of the gospel and commons of all sorts, in the kingdoms of Scotland, England, and Ireland, by the providence of God, living under one King, and being of one reformed religion, having before our eyes the glory of God and the advancement of the kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the honor and happiness of the king's majesty and his posterity, and the true public liberty, safety, and peace of the kingdoms, wherein everyone's private condition is included, and calling to mind the treacherous and bloody plots, conspiracies, attempts, and practices of the enemies of God against the true religion and professors thereof in all places, especially in these three kingdoms, ever since the reformation of religion. and how much their rage, power, and presumption are of late, and, at this time, increased and exercised, whereof the deplorable state of the Church and Kingdom of Ireland, the distressed state of the Church and Kingdom of England, and the dangerous state of the Church and Kingdom of Scotland, are present in public testimonies. We have now, at last, after other means of supplication, remonstrance, protestation, and for the preservation of ourselves and our religion from utter ruin and destruction, according to the commendable practice of these kingdoms in former times and the example of God's people in other nations. After mature deliberation, resolved and determined to enter into a mutual and solemn league and covenant, wherein we all subscribe, and each one of us for himself, with our hands lifted up to the Most High God, Do swear that we shall sincerely, really, and constantly, through the grace of God, endeavor in our several places and callings the preservation of the Reformed religion in the Church of Scotland in doctrine, worship, discipline, and government against our common enemies. the reformation of religion in the kingdoms of England and Ireland, in doctrine, worship, discipline, and government, according to the word of God, and the example of the best reformed churches. And shall endeavor to bring the churches of God in the three kingdoms to the nearest conjunction and uniformity in religion, confession of faith, form of church government, directory for worship, and catechizing. that we in our posterity after us may, as brethren, live in faith and love, and the Lord may delight to dwell in the midst of us. 2. That we shall in like manner, without respect of persons, endeavor the extirpation of popery, prelacy, that is, church government by archbishops, bishops, their chancellors, and commissaries, deans, deans and chapters, archdeacons, and all other ecclesiastical officers depending upon that hierarchy, superstition, heresy, schism, profaneness, and whatsoever shall be found to be contrary to sound doctrine and the power of godliness, lest we partake in other men's sins, and thereby be in danger to receive of their plagues, and that the Lord may be one, and his name one in the three kingdoms. We shall, with the same sincerity, reality, and constancy in our several avocations, endeavor, with our estates and lives, mutually to preserve the rights and privileges of the Parliaments and the liberties of the Kingdoms, and to preserve and defend the King's Majesty's person and authority in the preservation and defense of the true religion and liberties of the Kingdoms. that the world may bear witness with our consciences of our loyalty, and that we have no thoughts or intentions to diminish His Majesty's just power and greatness. We shall also, with all faithfulness, endeavor the discovery of all such as have been, or shall be, incendiaries, malignants, or evil instruments, by hindering the reformation of religion, dividing the king from his people, or one of the kingdoms from another, or making any faction or parties amongst the people, contrary to this league and covenant, that they may be brought to public trial, and receive condined punishment, as the degree of their offenses shall require or deserve or the supreme judicatories of both kingdoms respectively, or others having power from them for that effect shall judge convenient. 5. And whereas the happiness of a blessed peace between these kingdoms, denied in former times to our progenitors, is, by the good providence of God granted unto us, and hath been lately concluded and settled by both parliaments, We shall, each one of us, according to our place and interest, endeavor that they may remain conjoined in a firm peace and union to all posterity, and that justice may be done upon the willful opposers thereof in manner expressed in the preceding article. 6. We shall also, according to our places and callings in this common cause of religion, liberty, and peace of the kingdoms, assist and defend all those that enter into this legion covenant in the maintaining and pursuing thereof. and shall not suffer ourselves, directly or indirectly, by whatsoever combination, persuasion, or terror, to be divided and withdrawn from this blessed union and conjunction, whether to make defection to the contrary part, or to give ourselves to a detestable indifference or neutrality in this cause, which so much concerneth the glory of God, the good of the kingdom, and honor of the king. but shall all the days of our lives zealously and constantly continue therein against all opposition, and promote the same according to our power against all lets and impediments whatsoever. And what we are not able ourselves to suppress or overcome, we shall profess and declare before God and the world our unfeigned desire to be humbled for our own sins and for the sins of these kingdoms. especially that we have not, as we ought, valued the inestimable benefit of the gospel, that we have not labored for the purity and power thereof, and that we have not endeavored to receive Christ in our hearts, nor to walk worthy of Him in our lives, which are the causes of other sins and transgressions so much abounding amongst us, and our true and unfeigned purpose desire and endeavor for ourselves and all others under our power and charge, both in public and in private, in all duties we owe to God and man to amend our lives and each one to go before another in the example of a real reformation. That the Lord may turn away His wrath and heavy indignation and establish these churches and kingdoms in truth and peace. And this covenant we make in the presence of Almighty God. the searcher of all hearts, with a true intention to perform the same as we shall answer at that great day when the secrets of all hearts shall be disclosed. Most humbly beseeching the Lord to strengthen us by His Holy Spirit for this end, and to bless our desires and proceedings with such success as may be deliverance and safety to his people, and encouragement to other Christian churches groaning under or in danger of the yoke of anti-Christian tyranny, to join in the same or like association and covenant to the glory of God, the enlargement of the kingdom of Jesus Christ, and the peace and tranquility of Christian kingdoms and commonwealths. The confession of faith of the Kirk of Scotland, or the National Covenant, with the designation of such acts of Parliament as are expedient for justifying the union after mentioned. Scripture references Joshua 24-25, So Joshua made a covenant with a people that day, and set them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem. 2 Kings 11-17 And Jehodiah made a covenant between the Lord and the king and the people, that they should be the Lord's people, between the king also and the people." Isaiah 44, verse 5, 1 shall say, I am the Lord's, and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob, and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord, and surname himself by the name of Israel. The Adopting Act Charles I, Parliament 2, Act 5, Act to Nent the Ratification of the Covenant, and of the Assembly's Supplication, Act of Council, and Act of Assembly concerning the Covenant, at Edinburgh, June 11, 1640. The Estates of Parliament presently convened by His Majesty's Special Authority, considering the supplication of the General Assembly to Edinburgh the 12th of August 1639, to His Majesty's High Commissioner and the Lords of His Majesty's Honourable Privy Council. and the Act of Council of the 30th of August, 1639, containing the answer of the said supplication and the Act of the said General Assembly, ordaining, by their ecclesiastical constitution, the subscription of the confession of faith and covenant mentioned in their supplication. And withal, having supplicated His Majesty to ratify and enjoin the same by His Royal Authority, under all civil pains, as tending to the glory of God, the preservation of religion, the King's Majesty's honour, and the perfect peace of this Kirken Kingdom, do ratify and approve the said supplication, Act of Council and Act of Assembly, and confirm thereto to ordain and command the said Confession and Covenant to be subscribed by all His Majesty's subjects of what rank and quality soever, under all civil pains and ordain the said supplication, Act of Council and Act of the Assembly, with the whole Confession and Covenant itself, to be insert and registrate in the Acts and Books of Parliament, and also ordain the same to be presented at the entry of every Parliament, and, before they proceed to any other Act, that the same be publicly read and sworn by the whole Members of Parliament claiming voice therein. Otherwise the refusers to subscribe and swear the same shall have no place nor voice in Parliament. And the sick-like ordain all judges, magistrates, or other officers of whatsoever place, rank, or quality, and ministers at their entry to swear and subscribe the same covenant, whereof the tenor follows. The National Covenant or the Confession of Faith Subscribed at first by the King's Majesty and his household in the year 1580, thereafter by persons of all ranks in the year 1581, by ordinance of the Lords of Secret Council and Acts of the General Assembly. Subscribed again by all sorts of persons in the year 1590, by a new ordinance of council, at the desire of the General Assembly, with a general bond for the maintaining of the true Christian religion and the King's person. and together with a resolution and promise for the causes after expressed to maintain the true religion and the King's Majesty according to the foresaid confession and acts of Parliament subscribed by Barons, Nobles, Gentlemen, Burgesses, Ministers and Commons in the year 1638. Approven by the General Assembly 1638 and 1639, and subscribed again by persons of all ranks and qualities in the year 1639, by an ordinance of counsel upon the supplication of the General Assembly, an Act of the General Assembly, ratified by an Act of Parliament 1640, and subscribed by King Charles II at Spey, June 23, 1650, and Scone, January 1, 1651. We all and every one of us under written protest that after long and due examination of our own consciences in matters of true and false religion, we are now thoroughly resolved in the truth by the word and spirit of God. And therefore we believe with our hearts, confess with our mouths, subscribe with our hands, and constantly affirm before God and the whole world that this only is the true Christian faith and religion. pleasing God and bringing salvation to man, which now is, by the mercy of God, revealed to the world by the preaching of the blessed evangel, and is received, believed, and defended by many and sundry notable Kirks and realms, but chiefly by the Kirk of Scotland, the King's Majesty, and three estates of this realm, as God's eternal truth and only ground of our salvation. as more particularly is expressed in the confession of our faith, established and publicly confirmed by sundry acts of parliaments, and now of a long time hath been openly professed by the King's Majesty and whole body of this realm, both in bird and land. To the witch, confession, and form of religion we willingly agree in our conscience in all points, as unto God's undoubted truth and verity, grounded only upon His written word. and therefore we abhor and detest all contrary religion and doctrine, but chiefly all kind of papistry in general and particular heads, even as they are now damned and confuted by the Word of God and Kirk of Scotland. But in special we detest and refuse the usurped authority of that Roman Antichrist upon the Scriptures of God, upon the Kirk, the civil magistrate, and consciences of men. all his tyrannous laws made upon indifferent things against our Christian liberty, his erroneous doctrine against the sufficiency of the written word, the perfection of the law, the office of Christ and his blessed evangel, his corrupted doctrine concerning original sin, our natural inability and rebellion to God's law, our justification by faith only, our imperfect sanctification and obedience to the law, the nature, number, and use of the holy sacraments. His five bastard sacraments with all his rites, ceremonies, and false doctrine added to the ministration of the true sacraments without the word of God. His cruel judgment against infants departing without the sacrament. His absolute necessity of baptism. His blasphemous opinion of transubstantiation, or real presence of Christ's body in the elements, and receiving of the same by the wicked or bodies of men. His dispensations with solemn oaths, perjuries, and degrees of marriage forbidden in the word. His cruelty against the innocent divorced. His devilish mass. His blasphemous priesthood. His profane sacrifice for sins of the dead and the quick, His canonization of men, Calling upon angels or saints departed, Worshipping of imagery, relics, and crosses, Dedicating of kirks, altars, days, Vows to creatures, His purgatory, prayers for the dead, Praying or speaking in a strange language, with his processions and blasphemous litany and multitude of advocates or mediators, his manifold orders, auricular confession, his desperate and uncertain repentance, his general and doubtsome faith, his satisfaction of men for their sins, his justification by works, opus operatum, works of supererogation, merits, pardons, paragonations and stations. His holy water, baptizing of bells, conjuring of spirits, crossing, seining, anointing, conjuring, hallowing of God's good creatures with the superstitious opinion joined therewith. His worldly monarchy and wicked hierarchy. his three solemn vows, which, with all his shavings of sundry sorts, his erroneous and bloody decrees made a trent with all the subscribers or approvers of that cruel and bloody band conjured against the Kirk of God. And finally, we detest all his vain allegories, rites, signs, and traditions brought in the Kirk. without or against the Word of God and doctrine of this true Reformed Kirk, to the which we join ourselves willingly in doctrine, faith, religion, discipline, and use of the Holy Sacraments as lively members of the same in Christ our Head, promising and swearing by the great name of the Lord our God that we shall continue in the obedience of the doctrine and discipline of this Kirk, and shall defend the same according to our vocation and power all the days of our lives, under the pains contained in the law, endanger both the body and soul in the day of God's fearful judgment. And seeing that many are stirred up by Satan and that Roman Antichrist to promise, swear, subscribe, and for a time use the holy sacraments in the Kirk deceitfully against their own conscience, minding hereby first, under the external cloak of religion, to corrupt and subvert secretly God's true religion within the Kirk, and afterward, when time may serve, to become open enemies and persecutors of the same, under vain hope of the Pope's dispensation, devised against the word of God, to his greater confusion and their double condemnation in the day of the Lord Jesus. We therefore, willing to take away all suspicion of hypocrisy, and of such double dealing with God and His Kirk, protest and call the searcher of all hearts for witness, that our minds and hearts do fully agree with this our confession, promise, oath, and subscription, so that we are not moved with any worldly respect, but are persuaded only in our conscience, through the knowledge and love of God's true religion imprinted in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, as we shall answer to him in the day when the secrets of all hearts shall be disclosed. And because we perceive that the quietness and stability of our religion and Kirk doth depend upon the safety and good behavior of the King's Majesty, as upon a comfortable instrument of God's mercy granted to this country for the maintaining of his Kirk and ministration of justice amongst us, we protest and promise with our hearts, under the same oath hand-writ and pains, that we shall defend his person and authority with our goods, bodies, and lives in the defense of Christ, his evangel, liberties of our country, ministration of justice and punishment of iniquity against all enemies within this realm or without, as we desire our God to be a strong and merciful defender to us in the day of our death and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. To whom with the Father and the Holy Spirit be all honour and glory eternally. Amen. Like as many acts of Parliament not only in general do abrogate, annul, and rescind all laws, statutes, acts, constitutions, canon, civil, or municipal, with all other ordinances and practice penalties whatsoever, made in prejudice of the true religion and professors thereof, or of the true court, discipline, jurisdiction, and freedom thereof, or in favours of idolatry and superstition, or of the pathistical Kirk, as Act III, Act 31, Parliament 1, Act 23, Parliament 11, Act 114, Parliament 12 of King James VI, that papistry and superstition may be utterly suppressed according to the intention of the Acts of Parliament, repeated in the Fifth Act, Parliament 20, King James VI. And to that end they ordain all papists and priests to be punished with manifold civil and ecclesiastical pains as adversaries to God's true religion, preached and by law established within this realm. Act 24, Parliament 11, King James 6. As common enemies to all Christian government. Act 18, Parliament 16, King James 6. as rebellious and gainsayers of our sovereign Lord's authority, Act 47, Parliament 3, King James 6, and as idolaters, Act 104, Parliament 7, King James 6. But also in particular, by and atour the confession of faith, to abolish and condemn the Pope's authority and jurisdiction out of this land, and ordains the maintainers thereof to be punished, Act 2, Parliament 1. Act 51, Parliament 3. Act 106, Parliament 7. Act 114, Parliament 12, King James 6. Do condemn the Pope's erroneous doctrine, or any other erroneous doctrine repugnant to any of the articles of the true and Christian religion publicly preached and by law established in this realm, and ordains the spreaders and makers of books or libels or letters or writs of that nature to be punished. Act 46, Parliament 3. Act 106, Parliament 7. Act 24, Parliament 11, King James 6. Do condemn all baptism conformed to the Pope's Kirk and the idolatry of the Mass, and ordains all Sayers, Willful Hearers, and Concealers of the Mass, the Maintainers and Resetters of the Priests, Jesuits, Trafficking Papists, to be punished without any exception or restriction. Act 5, Parliament 1. Act 120, Parliament 12. Act 164, Parliament 13. Act 193, Parliament 14. Act 1, Parliament 19. Act 5, Parliament 20, King James 6. Do condemn all erroneous books and writs containing erroneous doctrine against the religion presently professed, or containing superstitious rites and ceremonies papistical, whereby the people are greatly abused, and ordains the home-bringers of them to be punished. Do condemn the monuments and dregs of bygone idolatry as going to crosses, observing the festival days of saints, and such other superstitions and papistical rites to the dishonor of God, contempt of true religion, and fostering of great error among the people. and ordains the users of them to be punished for the second fault as idolaters. Act 104, Parliament 7, King James 6. Like as many acts of Parliament are conceived for maintenance of God's true and Christian religion, and the purity thereof, and doctrine and sacraments of the true Church of God, the liberty and freedom thereof, and are national, synodical assemblies, presbyteries, sessions, policy, discipline, and jurisdiction thereof, As that purity of religion and liberty of the church was used, professed, exercised, preached, and confessed according to the reformation of religion in this realm, as, for instance, the 99th Act, Parliament 7, Act 25, Parliament 11, Act 114, Parliament 12, Act 160, Parliament 13 of King James VI, ratified by the 4th Act of King Charles, so that the Sixth Act, Parliament One, and Sixty-Eighth Act, Parliament Sixth of King James Six in the year of God, 1579, declare the ministers of the blessed evangel whom God of His mercy had raised up, or hereafter should raise, agreeing with them that then lived in doctrine and administration of the sacraments. and the people that profess Christ, as he was then offered in the evangel, and doth communicate with the holy sacraments, as in the reformed kirks of this realm they were presently administrate, according to the confession of faith, to be the true and holy kirk of Christ Jesus within this realm, and discerns and declares all and sundry, who either gainsay the word of the evangel received and approved as the heads of the confession of faith, professed in Parliament in the year of God 1560, specified also in the first Parliament of King James VI, and ratified in this present Parliament, more particularly to express, or that refused the administration of the holy sacraments as they were then ministrated, to be no members of the said Kirk within this realm, and true religion presently professed, so long as they keep themselves so divided from the society of Christ's body. and the subsequent Act 69, Parliament 6 of King James 6 declares that there is no other face of Kirk nor other face of religion than was presently at that time by the favor of God established within this realm. Quote, which therefore is ever styled God's true religion, Christ's true religion, the true and Christian religion, and a perfect religion. which by manifold Acts of Parliament all within this realm are bound to profess to subscribe the Articles thereof, the Confession of Faith, to recant all doctrine and errors repugnant to any of the said Articles. Act 4 and 9, Parliament 1. Acts 45, 46, 47, Parliament 3. Act 71, Parliament 6. Act 106, Parliament 7. Act 24, Parliament 11. Act 123, Parliament 12. Act 194 and 197, Parliament 14 of King James 6. And all magistrates, sheriffs, etc., on the one part, are ordained to search, apprehend, and punish all contraveners. For instance, Act 5, Parliament 1. Act 104, Parliament 7. Act 25, Parliament 11, King James 6. and that notwithstanding of the King's Majesty's licenses on the contrary, which are discharged and declared to be of no force, insofar as they tend in any wise to the prejudice and hinder of the execution of the acts of Parliament against Papists and adversaries of true religion. Act 106, Parliament 7, King James 6. On the other part, in the 47th Act, Parliament 3, King James 6, it is declared and ordained, seeing the cause of God's true religion and His Highness' authority are so joined, as the hurt of the one is common to both, that none shall be reputed as loyal and faithful subjects to our sovereign Lord or His authority, but be punishable as rebellers and gainstanders of the same, who shall not give their confession and make their profession of the said true religion. and that they who, after defection, shall give the confession of their faith anew, they shall promise to continue therein in time coming, to maintain our sovereign Lord's authority, and at the uttermost of their power to fortify, assist, and maintain the true preachers and professors of Christ's religion, against whatsoever enemies, and gain standards of the same. and namely against all such of whatsoever nation, estate, or decree they be of, that have joined, or bound themselves, or have assisted, or assist, to set forward and execute the cruel decrees of the Council of Trent, contrary to the true preachers and professors of the word of God, which is repeated word by word in the Articles of Pacification at Perth, the 23rd of February, 1572. approved by Parliament the last day of April 1573, ratified in Parliament 1587, and related Act 123, Parliament 12, King James 6. With this addition, that they are bound to resist all treasonable uproars and hostilities raised against the true religion, the King's Majesty, and the true professors. Like as all legions are bound to maintain the King's Majesty's royal person and authority, the authority of parliaments, without the which neither any laws or lawful adjudicatories can be established. Act 130 and 131, Parliament 8, King James 6. And the subjects' liberties, who ought only to live and be governed by the King's laws, the common laws of this realm, Eleanor Lee. Act 48, Parliament 3, King James 1. Act 79, Parliament 6, King James 6. Repeated in the Act 131. Parliament VIII, King James VI, which, if they be innovated and prejudiced, the Commission unment the Union of the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, which is the sole Act of the Seventeenth Parliament of King James VI, declares. Such confusion would ensue as this realm could be no more a free monarchy. Because by the fundamental laws, ancient privileges, offices, and liberties of this kingdom, not only the princely authority of His Majesty's royal descent hath been these many ages maintained, but also the people's security of their lands, livings, rights, offices, liberties, and dignities preserved. And therefore, for the preservation of the said true religion, laws, and liberties of this kingdom, it is statute by the Eighth Act, Parliament One, repeated in the Ninety-Ninth Act, Parliament Seven, ratified in the Twenty-Third Act, Parliament Eleven, and One Hundred Fourteenth Act, Parliament Twelve, of King James Six, and Fourth Act, Parliament One, of King Charles First. that all kings and princes, at their coronation and reception of their princely authority, shall make their faithful promise by their solemn oath, in the presence of the Eternal God, that, enduring the whole time of their lives, they shall serve the same Eternal God to the uttermost of their power, according as He hath required in His most holy word, contained in the Old and New Testaments. And according to the same word shall maintain the true religion of Christ Jesus, the preaching of his holy word, the due and right ministration of the sacraments now received and preached within this realm, according to the confession of faith immediately preceding, and shall abolish and gainstand all false religion contrary to the same. and shall rule the people, committed to their charge, according to the will and command of God revealed in His foresaid word, and according to the laudable laws and constitutions received in this realm, no wise repugnant to the said will of the Eternal God, and shall procure, to the uttermost of their power, to the Kirk of God and whole Christian people, true and perfect peace in all time coming. and that they shall be careful to root out of their empire all heretics and enemies to the true worship of God, who shall be convicted by the true cook of God of the foresaid crimes." Which was also observed by His Majesty at his coronation in Edinburgh 1633, as may be seen in the order of the coronation. In obedience to the commandment of God, conformed to the practice of the godly and former times, And according to the laudable example of our worthy and religious progenitors, and of many yet living amongst us, which was warranted also by act of counsel, commanding, a general ban to be made and subscribed by His Majesty's subjects of all ranks, for two causes. One was for defending the true religion, as it was then reformed, and is expressed in the Confession of Faith above written. and a former large confession established by sundry acts of lawful general assemblies and of parliaments, unto which it hath relation, set down in public catechisms, and which hath been for many years, with a blessing from heaven, preached and professed in this kirk and kingdom, as God's undoubted truth, grounded only upon His written word. The other cause was, for maintaining the King's majesty, His person and estate, the true worship of God and the King's authority being so straightly joined as that they had the same friends and common enemies and did stand and fall together. And finally, being convinced in our minds and confessing with our mouths that the present and succeeding generations in this land are bound to keep the foresaid national oath and subscription inviolable. We noblemen, barons, gentlemen, burgesses, ministers, and commons undersubscribing. Considering diverse times before, and especially at this time, the danger of the true Reformed religion, of the King's honor, and of the public peace of the kingdom by the manifold innovations and evils generally contained and particularly mentioned in our late supplications, complaints, and protestations, 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, and, forbearing the practice of all innovations already introduced in the matters of the worship of God, or approbation of the corruptions of the public government of the Kirk, or civil places and power of Kirkmen, till they be tried and allowed in free assemblies and in Parliament, to labor, by all means lawful, to recover the purity and liberty of the gospel as it was established and professed before the foresaid novations. And because, after due examination, we plainly perceive and undoubtedly believe that the innovations and evils contained in our supplications, complaints, and protestations have no warrant of the word of God, are contrary to the articles of the foresaid confession, to the intention and meaning of the blessed reformers of religion in this land, to the above-written acts of Parliament, and do sensibly tend to the re-establishing of the Popish religion in tyranny, and to the subversion and ruin of the true reformed religion, and of our liberties, laws, and estates. We also declare that the foresaid confessions are to be interpreted and ought to be understood of the foresaid novations and evils no less than if every one of them had been expressed in the foresaid confessions, and that we are obliged to detest and abhor them amongst other particular heads of papistry abjured therein. And therefore, from the knowledge and conscience of our duty to God, to our king and country, without any worldly respect or inducement, so far as human infirmity will suffer, Wishing a further measure of the grace of God for this effect, we promise and swear by the great name of the Lord our God to continue in the profession and obedience of the foresaid religion, and that we shall defend the same, and resist all these contrary errors and corruptions according to our vocation and to the uttermost of that power that God hath put in our hands all the days of our life. And in like manner, with the same heart, we declare before God and men that we have no intention nor desire to attempt anything that may turn to the dishonor of God or to the diminution of the King's greatness and authority. But on the contrary, we promise and swear that we shall, to the uttermost of our power, with our means and lives, stand to the defense of our dread sovereign, the King's Majesty, his person and authority, in the defense and preservation of the foresaid true religion, liberties, and laws of the kingdom. as also to the mutual defense and assistance, every one of us of another, in the same cause of maintaining the true religion and His Majesty's authority, with our best counsel, our bodies, means, and whole power, against all sorts of persons whatsoever, so that whatsoever shall be done to the least of us for that cause shall be taken as done to us all in general, and to every one of us in particular. And that we shall neither directly nor indirectly suffer ourselves to be divided or withdrawn by whatsoever suggestion, combination, allurement, or terror from this blessed and loyal conjunction. Nor shall cast in any let or impediment that may stay or hinder any such resolution, as by common consent shall be found to conduce for so good ends. But on the contrary, shall by all lawful means labor to further and promote the same. And if any such dangerous and divisive motion be made to us by word or writ, we and every one of us shall either suppress it, or, if need be, shall incontinent make the same known, that it may be timelessly obviated. Neither do we fear the foul aspersions of rebellion, combination, or what else our adversaries from their craft and malice would put upon us. Seeing what we do is so well warranted, and ariseth from an unfeigned desire to maintain the true worship of God, the majesty of our King, and the peace of the kingdom, for the common happiness of ourselves and our posterity. And because we cannot look for a blessing from God upon our proceedings except with our profession and subscription, we join such a life in conversation as beseemeth Christians who have renewed their covenant with God. We therefore faithfully promise for ourselves our followers, and all others under us, both in public and in our particular families and personal carriage, to endeavor to keep ourselves within the bounds of Christian liberty, and to be good examples to others of all godliness, soberness, and righteousness, and of every duty we owe to God and man. And that this our union and conjunction may be observed without violation, we call the living God the searcher of our hearts to witness, who knoweth this to be our sincere desire and unfeigned resolution, as we shall answer to Jesus Christ in the great day, and under the pain of God's everlasting wrath, and of infamy and loss of all honor and respect in this world, most humbly beseeching the Lord to strengthen us by His Holy Spirit for this end, and to bless our desires and proceedings with a happy success, that religion and righteousness may flourish in the land to the glory of God, the honor of our King, and peace and comfort of us all, in witness whereof we have subscribed with our hands all the premises. The article of this covenant, which was at the first subscription referred to the determination of the General Assembly, being now determined, and thereby the five articles of Perth, the government of the Kirk by bishops, and the civil places and power of Kirkman, upon the reasons and grounds contained in the Acts of the General Assembly, declared to be unlawful within this Kirk, we subscribe, according to the determination aforesaid. The following is from the Acts of the General Assemblies of the Church of Scotland, July, Session 21, 1648. Whosoever brings in any opinion or practice in this Kirk contrary to the confession of faith, directory for worship, or Presbyterian government, may be justly esteemed to be opening the door to schism and sects. And therefore, all depravers and misconstruers of the proceedings of the Kirk Judicatories especially the General Assembly, would take heed, lest, making a breach upon the walls of Jerusalem, they make a patent way for sectaries to enter." And as time will permit, here are some quotes from the Acts of the General Assemblies of the Church of Scotland on covenanting. First, the blessings of God upon covenanting, January 23rd, Session 2, 1645. And when we consider how the Lord has carried on his work here at the first taking of the covenant, and since, against much learning and contradiction, against much policy, power, and all sorts of opposition, such as reformation used to encounter, we are ravished with admiration at the right hand of the Almighty. On the perpetual obligation of the covenant, July Session 21, 1648, to remember that as the violation of the covenant by some in England doth not set us free from the observations thereof, and as no laws nor authority on earth can absolve us from so solemn an obligation to the Most High God, which not only has been professed by this Kirk, but in a petition in the city of London, and in public testimonies of many of the ministry in England, So we are not acquitted and assaulted from the obligation of our solemn covenant because of the troubles and confusions of the times, but that in the worst of times all those duties whereunto by covenant we oblige ourselves do still lie upon us, for we have sworn and must perform it concerning that cause and covenant wherein we solemnly engaged. that we shall all the days of our lives zealously and constantly continue therein against all opposition, and promote the same according to our power against all lets and impediments whatsoever. And if against all lets and impediments whatsoever, then the altering of the way of opposition or of the kind of impediments doth not alter the nature or tie of the covenant, but we are obliged to all the duties therein contained. And from the Acts of the General Assemblies of the Church of Scotland August 6, 1649 Although there were none in the one kingdom who did adhere to the covenant, yet thereby were not the other kingdom, nor any person in either of them, absolved from the bond thereof, since in it we have not only sworn by the Lord, but also covenanted with him. It is not the failing of one or more that can absolve the other from their duty or tie to him. the duties therein contain being in themselves lawful, and the grounds of our tie thereunto moral, though the other do forget their duty, yet doth not their defection free us from that obligation which lies upon us by the covenant in our places and stations. And the covenant being intended and entered into by these kingdoms as one of the best means of steadfastness for guarding against declining times, It were strange to say that the backsliding of any should absolve others from the tie thereof, especially seeing our engagement therein is not only national, but also personal, everyone with uplifted hands swearing by himself, as it is evident by the tenor of the covenant. From these and other important reasons, it may appear that all these kingdoms joining together to abolish that oath by law, yet could they not dispense therewith. Much less can any one of them, or any part in either of them, do the same. The dispensing with oaths have hitherto been abhorred as anti-Christian, and never practiced and aboved by any but by that man of sin. Therefore those who take the same upon them as they join with him in his sin, so must they expect to partake of his plagues. and from July 27, Session 27, 1649, albeit the legent covenant be despised by the prevailing party in England, and the work of uniformity through retardments and obstructions that have come in the way be almost forgotten in these kingdoms, yet the obligation of that covenant is perpetual, and all the duties contained therein are constantly to be minded and prosecuted by every one of us in our posterity. and on covenant subscription a term of communion, August 8, Session 6, 1643. The General Assembly, considering the good and pious advice of the commissioners of the last assembly upon the 22nd of September, 1642, recommending to presbyteries to have copies of the covenant to be subscribed by every minister at his admission, doth therefore ratify and approve the same. and further ordains that the covenant be reprinted with this ordinance prefixed thereto, and that every synod, presbytery, and parish have one of them bound in quattro with some blank paper, whereupon every person may be obliged to subscribe. and that the covenants of the synod and presbytery be keeped by their moderator respective of universities by their principles, of parishes by their ministers, with all carefulness. And that particular account of obedience to this act be required hereafter in all visitations of parishes, universities, and presbyteries, and all trials of presbyteries and synod books. The General Assembly, considering that the Act of the Assembly to Edinburgh 1639, August 30, enjoining all persons to subscribe the Covenant, under all ecclesiastical censure, hath not been obeyed, therefore ordains all Ministers to make intimation of the said Act in their Kirks, and thereafter to proceed with the censures of the Kirk against such as shall refuse to subscribe the Covenant. And that exact account be taken of every Minister's diligence herein by their Presbyteries and Synods, as they will answer to the General Assembly. From August 5, Session 10, 1640, the Assembly ordains that if any expectant, or minister, shall refuse to subscribe the covenant, he shall be declared incapable of pedagogy, teaching in a school, reading at a kirk, preaching within a presbytery, and shall not have liberty of residing within a burg, university, or college, and if they continue obstinate, to be processed. August 1, Session 5, 1640. The Assembly ordains that such as have subscribed to the Covenant and speaks against the same, if he be a minister, shall be deprived, and if he continue so, being deprived, shall be excommunicated, and if he be any other man, shall be dealt with as perjured and satisfied publicly for his perjury. Act against secret disaffecters of the Covenant, 1644. The General Assembly understands that diverse persons disaffected to the national covenant of this Kirk and to the solemn legion covenant of the Three Kingdoms do escape their just censure, either by private and inconsistent abode in any one congregation, or by secret conveyance of their malignant speeches and practices. Therefore ordains all ministers to take notice when any such person shall come into their parishes, and so, soon as they shall know the same, that without delay they cause them to appear before the presbyteries within which their parish lies. And the assembly ordains the said commissioners, not only to proceed to trial and censure of such disaffected persons, but also to take a special account of the diligence of the ministers, elders, and presbyteries herein respected. August 20, Session 15, 1647. And if by the declaration of both kingdoms, Scotland and England, joined in arms, Anno 1643, such as would not take the covenant, were declared to be public enemies to their religion and country, and that they be censured and punished as professed adversaries and malignant. ACT FOR TAKING THE COVENANT AT THE FIRST RECEIVING OF THE SACRAMENT OF THE LORD'S SUPPER. The General Assembly, according to former recommendations, doth ordain that all young students take the covenant at their first entry into colleges, and that hereafter all persons whatsoever take the covenant at their first receiving of the Lord's Supper. requiring hereby provincial assemblies, presbyteries, and universities to be careful that this act be observed, an account thereof taken in the visitation of universities and particular courts, and in the trial of presbyteries. Covenant-breaking, a heinous sin. August 20, Session 15, 1647. Yet we should betray our own sense and betray the truth if we should not resent so great a sin and danger as is the breach of a solemn covenant, sworn with hands lifted up to the Most High God. which breach, however, varnished over with some colorful and handsome pretext, one whereof is the liberty and common right of the free people of England, as once saw break a covenant with the Gibeonite in a zeal to the children of Israel and Judah. Yet God could not then and cannot now be mocked. Yea, it is too apparent and undeniable that among those who did take the covenant of the three kingdoms, as there are many who have given themselves to a detestable indifference or neutrality, so there is a generation which has made defection on the contrary part, persecuting as far as they could that true reformed religion in doctrine, worship, discipline, and government, which by the covenant they ought to preserve against the common enemies, hindering and resisting the reformation and uniformity, which by the covenant ought to be endeavored, preserving and tolerating those cursed things which by the covenant ought to be extirpated. Opposers and slanderers of the covenant considered enemies to the cause of God. But remember that the foulest actions have not wanted specious pretenses. And if they who kill the apostles did both pretend and intend to do God good service, what marvel that they who engage against the covenant pretend to engage for it. Galatians 3 15 Brethren, I speak after the manner of men, though it be but a man's covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth or addeth thereto.