Preface
Preface
This volume is a reworking of an older book compiled by Reverend James Kerr called “The Covenants and the Covenanters.” It was originally published in the 19th century to bring to light the covenants of Presbyterianism, or rather, the pact and agreement that the Scottish and English Divines agreed upon as the basis for worship through England, Ireland and Scotland. Everything in the original work is in this volume, though some new material has been added that compliments the original work. Kerr’s preface and introduction have been treated as part of the introductory matters that comprise the background to the National Covenant, as well as the pivotal Solemn League and Covenant. Some new material is added to create a more complete picture of the desire of the Westminster Assembly in their work for a covenanted Reformation. The Covenanters, as they are commonly known, are virtually unknown to the modern church. If only a small portion of their faithfulness to the Word of God should brush off upon the ministers and laymen of the church in our day, there would be great resolve in upholding the orthodox truths that are housed not only for true and holy worship, but in the Confession as well.
The reason this work has been brought up to date and revised is to drink from the wells of its zealous and hearty resolve for the truth by those who both preached and taught the doctrine which stood behind both the National Covenant in Scotland, and Solemn League and Covenant. These documents create a religious and binding foundation for the framers of the Westminster Confession of Faith, and the Catechisms. What was their purpose? To uphold the “reformation and defense of religion.” They desired this in a twofold manner, 1) to preserve “the reformed religion in the Church of Scotland, in doctrine, worship, discipline, and government, against our common enemies,” and 2) to bring about 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” (i.e. the Scottish Reformed churches). The Scottish Ambassadors themselves would not be part of an Assembly if the divines would not set up a religious oath to uphold true worship and government first. Such a consensus of unity on the issue of doctrine should be a hearty witness to the 21st century’s church.
If revival should ever occur, it will revolve around the energetic resolve of doctrinally accurate church members, ministers and theologians of our day bound together in the truth. Revival has often happened when the country or state is under their greatest duress of sin and blindness. However, no matter how far a country or state may sink into sin, or despise the Gospel, revival will never occur at the expense of the truth. Wickliffe was in his Roman Catholic Oxford, Huss in his dark Bohemia, and Luther was in his religiously superstitious Germany. Calvin and Zwingli were Roman Catholic priests turned Christian in a politically tender Switzerland, and the Scottish Presbyterians were facing the onslaught of a Roman Catholic persecution. This is how God brings revival – in deep darkness and distress, but never at the expense of the truth. For, as our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ said, only the truth shall set you free. Thus, the National Covenant and the Solemn League and Covenant, and the men who penned them and upheld them, ought to be admired for their constructive tenacity to conform the church and purify the church in regaining its original doctrinal foundation. Without first making a hearty determination to uphold the truth, how will truth ever be upheld? It is no wonder in a day of ecumenical expediency and the wayward doctrines behind the “emergent church culture” that the covenanters are happily forgotten. Persecution, blood, and ultimately martyrdom in many respects, were the covenanters’ calling card. Was this not Christ’s?
Yes, the Church would do well to mimic their godly brothers in holding to the truth at any cost in a revived covenanted reformation. Thus, the greatest benefit derived from such a volume as this is to spark the reader, not only to love Jesus Christ all the more, but to imitate the steadfastness and resilience of what it means to “buy the truth and do not sell it” (Proverbs 23:23). In this volume such a godly perspective cannot be missed, though most of the time, such a stance is often treated as overkill. May the reader meditate on whether Christ thinks such a holy frame towards truth is overkill, or if it is simply obedience to the Word of God.
It should also be noted that most of the strange capitalizations and sentence structures of the original works were contained in their entirety in this volume. Though this may be more of a hindrance to modern readers, it was thought that such faithfulness to the original would be more suitable. Very few of these punctuations were changed, and were only changed if the original manuscript copy was unreadable, or that the structure of the sentence or numbering was unintelligible. Some “stray” marks may be found, but these were also part of the original manuscript (the strange use of dashes, misplaced semi-colons for periods, etc.).
Humbly before Him,
Dr. C. Matthew McMahon
March 10, 2008