Introduction
When one contemplates about the Covenanters, many things come to mind. One thing would be, that they were men of God, for God used them greatly to advance His Kingdom. The Covenanters greatly desired to advance Christ’s Kingdom, and asserted that Christ had Crown Rights of everything, as He is the Sovereign King over all things (Matthew 28:18). Another would be, their national covenanting, as seen in the National Covenants of 1580 and 1638, then also the Solemn League and Covenant of 1643. Other things would be, the restoration of the Word of God to its proper place as the only rule of faith and conduct for the church, families, and Civil Magistrates, the complete removal of Roman Catholicism and Prelacy in Scotland, liberty for everyone to read and apply the teachings of Holy Scripture under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the freedom of the Church to convene and worship and conduct Christ’s affairs without interference from the Civil Magistrates, the rights of churches to choose their own ministers and have any appeals heard in church and civil courts free from ideology and prejudice and vested interests of Popery and Prelacy, and many other things. Prelatism and a Prelate were bishops, either Roman Catholic or Anglican, who had some authority in the church and civil government, who wanted to remove Presbyterianism and establish Episcopalianism as the national church. These all came about from ministers of the Word courageously, boldly, and lovingly proclaiming God’s Word. One of these ministers was Master Alexander Henderson; he was known as one of the chief theologians in Scotland and England, but what he was also a remarkable preacher.
The Rising of Master Henderson
Sadly, there is little information on the early life of Pastor Henderson, but what is known is that he was born in the year 1583. This was the same time that Presbyterianism had gained solid footing in Scotland, especially due in large part John Knox and Andrew Melville. Alexander Henderson was born in Fifeshire, at or close to the town of Luthrie in the parish of Creich. There is nothing else known of Minister Henderson until he is sixteen years old. At the age of sixteen, he began his Bachlor of Arts degree at St. Salvator’s College at the University of St. Andrews, this was in the year 1599 (Thomson 23). At this point it was clear to those at the University of St. Andrews that Pastor Henderson was greatly skilled in the liberal arts, for he did very well in his study in the languages, rhetoric, and the most profitable and needful parts of the Aristotelian logic and physics, and being under the superintendent of Principal James Martine till the year 1603, he also received a Master of Arts. From then until 1611, he was Professor of Philosophy there, and it was during this time that he gained his Master of Divinity degree and was educated under the Scottish Reformer Andrew Melville (Henderson). Although at this time, Master Henderson was a staunch Episcopalian, or as they called them then, Prelatists, being anti-Presbyterian. During December 13, 1613 and January 26,1614, he was presented to the Church of Leuchars, to be ordained. The elders and congregation heard about this great Prelate, and as Presbyterians right in the midst of tension between Presbyterianism and Prelatism, nailed the door shut so that Mr. Henderson had to climb in through a window, because the Presbyterians did not want a minister who would seek to make the church Anglican. Mr. Henderson was ordained and installed, but it is not known what his duties were, since he being an Episcopalian amongst strong Presbyterians. Not long after he was ordained, he started transitioning towards Presbyterianism, in large part thanks to Minister William Scott and Minister Robert Bruce (Thomson 105). He accounts his conversion to Presbyterianism to when he clandestinely sat in in one of Minister Bruce’s sermons providentially, accordingly the first words out of Minister Bruce’s mouth were those of the Lord, “He that cometh not in by the door, but climbeth up another way, the same is a thief and a robber.”(Henderson). This cut Minister Henderson to the heart because shortly after the sermon on January 26, 1614 is when the first evidence being that he was a Presbyterian as he signed a certificate as a member of the presbytery. Not long into Henderson being Presbyterian, he had a chief opportunity to stand for proper ecclesiastical government, for King James in 1617 visited Scotland, and the Five Articles of Perth were the result of his visit, so that Scotland’s Church Liturgy would be the same as the Church of England (Thomson 113). Mr. Henderson along with many other ministers from their Presbyteries were selected to be commissioners (governmental diplomats), at the Assembly of Perth in 1618 as he and only three others boldly stood against the Articles of Perth (Henderson). From there, not much is heard of Minister Henderson until 1630, so it is assumed that he did regular pastoral duties in this time, yet he clearly grew in reputation among the presbyteries.
Pastor Henderson the Beginning of the Second Reformation
From 1618 until 1629 both Presbyterianism and Prelatism grew in Scotland. In 1635 King Charles ratified the book, Canons and Constitutions Ecclesiastical for the Government of the Church of Scotland, and this book contrasted Prebyterianism in every conceivable way. This greatly upset the sessions and presbyteries of the churches of Scotland because this ordinance brought back the Prelaty. It was formally established in 1637, thus mandating each church adhere to the Book of Common Prayer for its liturgy. Pastor Henderson at this point became one of the most prolific and bold leaders of the Second Reformation because this began his involvement in every civil and ecclesiastical dispute, until his death (Henderson). August 23 of 1637 began his and other Presbyterian ministers' offensive by presenting bills of suspension to the Privy Counsel declaring the act of the mandatory liturgy as lawless, since the General Assembly nor Parliament sanctioned it. Through his spearheading, launched sixty-nine other petitions, and protesters began massing in villages all over, and they began preparing representatives, there King Charles banished the Privy Counsel and the liturgy (Thomson 120). Altercations were now reaching their climax, and some Scottish magistrates, Minister Henderson, along with Minister David Dickson as representatives met many times with the civil magistrates to get things resolved, yet no resolve came, inevitably these men began to write a Covenant that all the protesting Presbyterians had to fasten to, in order to have a more firm defense. This Scottish Covenant consisted of the 1581 Covenant, Acts of Parliament condemning Roman Catholicism, and a declaration of continued resistance while sustaining Establishmentarianism of Presbyterianism. This National Covenant was published February of 1638 (Henderson). These led to the Glasgow Assembly in 1639, and nothing was settled there, but further resentment between Scotland and the Crown of England. This resentment led to a war between the Covenanters and the Crown of England, and in this war Master Henderson penned many pamphlets to urge the Covenanters in the war effort. There were no shots fired, but many conferences and meetings between the Covenanters and the King. Alexander Henderson was Moderator of the General Assembly of the Scottish Presbyterians, and he also was appointed Commissioner for the Scots as a Chief Debater during the conferences between English Crown and the Covenanters. At this point, King Charles desired Henderson to be his Chaplain, and Henderson refused speedily for he feared that it would be the first step to Prelaty, yet after some contemplation, he decided to become the Chaplain.
Minster Henderson and the Westminster Assembly
From there until 1642, things escalated rapidly for the benefit of the Covenanters, the King and Parliament sent letters to the General Assembly of Glasgow, and Mr. Henderson was the one charged with responding to them (Thomson 134). From there until 1643, the Commissioners and Parliament met many times trying to come to peace, and it was by the hand of Master Alexander Henderson that it came through him having wrote a Covenant that leagued Scotland, Ireland, and England, and Henderson presented the Covenant to the Westminster General Assembly on August 17, 1643. The General Assembly and the Convention of Estates passed the Covenant without exception (Thomson 142). On August 25, 1643 the Covenant was ratified by Parliament and thus the three nations became the United Kingdom under the Covenant, and this through the great oration and pen of Alexander Henderson according to God’s grace. From there, the next thing to do was to eradicate the Thirty Nine Articles of Episcopalianism, and so a Presbyterian General Assembly formed in Westminster, England, included were the Scottish Commissioners, who with Minister Henderson, were Robert Baillie, Samuel Rutherford, and George Gillespie, as ministers, with Lord Maitland and Sir Archibald Johnston of Warriston, as elders. These godly men spearheaded the establishment of Presbyterianism in the United Kingdom, through their bold and thorough sermons and arguments to the Assembly at Westminster. These men had the integral part of creating the Directory of Public Worship, the Westminster Confession, and the total abolishment of Roman Catholicism and Prelatism, by not allowing the Assembly and Parliament to dismiss on Christmas day. Just after these were passed into law by Parliament, on August 19, 1646 Minister Henderson went to rest with the Lord (Thomson 145).
Conclusion
To conclude this section, God used Minister Alexander Henderson substantially during his lifetime for the advancement of His Kingdom around the world. Mr. Henderson was a master Theologian, Minister, Civil Commissioner, and Westminster Divine. His sermons, dissertations, pamphlets, and other works greatly strengthened the Scottish Presbyterians in their reformation against Roman Catholicism, Anglicanism, Antinomianism, and others. The preaching and dissertations of Mr. Henderson always were precise exegetically, thorough in their refutation of the arguments presented, and Henderson was bold and courageous in either proclaiming truth or in defending against false teachings. He did not keep himself from the civil affairs, rather he was a bulwark in declaring that God has ordained governments to be run according to His Law and not tyrannical, and he also greatly influenced the USA because of his partnership with Mr. Samuel Rutherford, who was a fellow Scottish pastor who wrote Lex Rex, which many of the New England Puritans cited in the formation of the colonies.
Works Cited
1. Henderson, Alexander. The Life and Times of Alexander Henderson: Giving a History of the Second Reformation of the Church of Scotland, and of the Covenanters, during the Reign of Charles I. Fraser, 1836, books.google.com/books?id=QLddAAAAcAAJ&pg=PR18&lpg=PR18&dq=Covenanter+Alexander+Henderson&source=bl&ots=hISDsCjqsa&sig=ACfU3U14w6AvPKo49jmsTMOvTH4FVFgJVQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwivvLmf56PnAhVolXIEHZUgCOc4HhDoATAEegQIChAB#v=onepage&q=Covenanter%20Alexander%20Henderson&f=false.
2. Henderson, Alexander. “Sermons, Prayers and Pulpit Addresses / by Alexander Henderson, 1638, Edited from the Original Ms. by R. Thomson Martin.” HathiTrust, 1994, babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nnc1.cr60035366&view=plaintext&seq=33&skin=mobile.
3. Thomson, James. “Alexander Henderson: The Covenanter.” Internet Archive, 2007, ia802706.us.archive.org/30/items/alexanderhenders00thomuoft/alexanderhenders00thomuoft.pdf.
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