
St
Giles p. 57
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in St Giles. The result was a brawl, when the famous Jenny
Geddes flung her stool at the Dean's head. The service was interrupted;
Bishop and Dean were pelted by the mob, and protests against the English
Prayer Book were bitter and universal. Seldom has there been a popular
tumult leading to greater results. " It not only suppressed the
English Liturgy almost until the nineteenth century, but it gave an
impulse to the Civil War of England, which ended in the overthrow
of church and monarchy" (Dean Stanley's Lectures on the Church
of Scotland). H. was dep. 1st Jan. 1639, for declining the General
Assembly, and reading and defending the Service Book. He died before
21st June 1661, when his children had £100 allowed by Parliament,
out of vacant stipends, on account of their father's sufferings. He
marr. Isobel Brown, who was buried in the Kirk of Holyrood House,
July 1674 (Canongate Reg.), and had issue-Magdalen; John; Martha;
William ;James; George; Marion (marr. George Smelholm, servitor to
the Earl of Tweeddale: P. C. R., Third Series, i., 517); Isobel.-[Reg.
Sec. Sig., Edin. Counc. and Canongate Reg. (Bapt.); Baillie's Lett.,
i.; Stevenson's Hist., Peterkin's Rec., Wodrow's MSS.; Acts Parl.,
v., vii.; Maitland Miscell., ii.; Charters of St Giles, Lees' St Giles.] 1639 ALEXANDER HENDERSON was born at Luthrie,
in the Fife parish of Creich, in 1583. Of his parentage and family history
hardly anything is known. Tradition says he was the son of a feuar, and a
cadet of the Hendersons of Fordel. In support of the latter statement, his
remains lie in the burying-ground of that family in Greyfriars Churchyard,
and a contemporary portrait of him is still in possession of a representative
of that house. At the age of sixteen he matriculated at St Salvator's
College, St Andrews, and took his degree of M.A. in 1603. From 1603 to 1611
he was a Regent of Philosophy, and during that period he completed his course
in divinity. He adopted strong prelatic principles, and was a staunch
upholder of Archbishop Gledstanes, who |
afterwards became his patron, and presented him to the parish
of Leuchars. His settlement was so unpopular that on the day of his
ordination, probably in Jan. 1614, the church doors were found securely
nailed up, and he and his friends were obliged to enter by the window.
A Communion sermon preached in a neighbouring parish by Robert Bruce
of Kinnaird, was the means of changing Henderson's spiritual
outlook. Attracted by the fame of the preacher, he slipped (so goes
the story) into the darkest corner of the church, hoping to steal
out again unrecognised. Bruce chose for his text the words:
"He that entereth not by the door," etc. The effect of his
earnest appeal won Henderson to the side of Presbyterianism. His first
appearance in that connection was at the Perth Assembly of 1618, when
he strenuously opposed the Five Articles, notwithstanding the threats
of the Government. In Aug. 1619 he appeared before the Court of High
Commission charged with the publication of a pamphlet denouncing the
Perth Assembly. But nothing came of the matter, and Henderson returned
to his parish. Of the next eighteen years we know little or nothing.
With the memorable year 1637 he reappears on the scene, a keen opponent
of "Laud's Liturgy," which King Charles was determined to
foist on the Church. Mainly through Henderson's influence the National
League and Covenant was signed, 21st Feb. 1638, and he was Moderator
of the Assembly which met at Glasgow, 21st Nov. of the same year.
He received calls to St Andrews, and Greyfriars, Edinburgh, and was
translated to this charge, 10th Jan. 1639. He was appointed a Commissioner
for framing a treaty of peace with England, and was again Moderator
in 1639. In Jan. 1640 he was Rector of the University of Edinburgh,
and held office for the rest of his life. In 1641 he preached before
King Charles at Holyrood, and was made Dean of the Chapel Royal. A
third time he was Moderator, 2nd Aug. 1643, and was elected a member
of the Westminster Assembly of Divines. He declined the principalship
of St Mary's College, St |
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