Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-10-12
COVENANT OF BLOOD
Pact Which Declared the Re-
Iigious Freedom of Scotland.
BORN OF WOMAN'S PROTEST
People Rebelled Against Prayer
Book Prescribed by the King.
DIED FOR CONSCIENCE SAKE
Story of the Covenanters and Their
Valiant Defense Of Their
Religious Rights.
BORN OF WOMAN'S PROTEST
DIED FOR CONSCIENCE SAKE

Va4460t 0C4cnSS VI 4uSII
Religious Rights.
BY WILLIAM F. CURTIS
Special Correspondence Of The Star and the
Chicago Record Herald.
EDINBURGH, October 6, 1903.
Attached to a column in the center of
st. Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh is a
modest brass tablet bearing an inscrip-
ton written by Lord Ingles, which Rev.
DR.. MacGregor declares is one of the
most exquisite examples of the kings
English he has ever known. 1t reads:
Constant oral tradition afirms
That near this spot brave Scottish
Struggle which after fifty years
Ended in the establishment Of
Civil and religious liberty.
This refers to dramatic incident which
occurred at a morning service Sunday,
July %, 1887. King Charles / had
prayer book prepared chiefly by Arch
bishop Laud. which Is practically the
same as that now in use by the Church
of England, which he commanded the
bishop and clergy of Scotland to use
regularly at divine service. The Scottish
PresbyterianS were already in a state of
revolt against what they considered the
tyranny Of the king. and they were not
disposed to submit to any further inter-
ference with their liberty Of conscience.
thought and action. He had introduced
numerous innovations, imposed onarouS
regulations in the transaction Of business.
He had even forbidden the Scots to wear
their native costume. or the women to
wear plaids over their heads under q
penalty of IS and the forfeiture Of the
garment for each nffpnSo 9 his Scnt-
fish subjects paid no attention to that
prohibition new act was passed max
ing the penalty corporal punishment.
The common people mad reached the
stage where endurance was no longer
considered a virtue. SO that when they
learned their king had commanded they
should say their prayers to God in Ian
guage that he prescribed they were ready
The Old Woman's Protest.
When the authorities announced that
the prayers the king had composed were
to be used for the first time at service
that Sunday morning. st. Giles was
crowded to it's uttermost limits. The
lord chancellor. the lords of the privy
council, the judges, bishops, earls. gen.
erals and every person of distinction were
ed with the people Of Edinburgh. The
preliminary service proceeded undisturb-
ed. but when Dean Hanna arose at the
lectern, opened the new prayer book and
announced that he would read the col
lect for the seventh Sunday after Trinity.
Jenny Geddes, an old woman who kept
a movable vegetable stand In the street
outside of the cathedral, one Of the kali
wives" as they were called. arose from
the crowded congregation and cried out
in a shrill tone:
Collie, did ye say. dell collie the wane
lstomach) o'ye!" and then, hurting the
folding stool upon which she sat all day
behind her trays of vegetables. she added:
Eye false thief, wull We say mass at my
lug (ear)?"
The stool missed fire and struck the
pillar back of the deans head; but it was
an unintended signal for deafening
tumult. The crowd made rush for the
center, first to see what was going on
and secondly to get whack at bishop
II possible, SO that the service could not
be resumed. The Archbishop Of St. An
drews. the Bishop Of Edinburgh and the
lord chancellor narrowly escaped with
their lives.
Determined to Defend Their Prayers
The news spread through the city and
into the country. And people fiocked to
Edinburgh by thousands from every cor
ner Of Scotland. determined to defend
their freedom of worship which had been
guaranteed them by the king. Mass
meetings were held in various parts of
the city to give them an opportunity to
relieve their Indignation and to discuss
ways and means to maintain and defend
their rights Thus Jenny Geddes applied
the match that set Scotland ablaze in a
religious rebellion by what are known
as the Covenanters.
The actual stool that she threw at Dean
Hanna Is now in the historical museum.
1t Is a rude little affair with two legs
that fold up under it.. Rev. DR.: Mac
have said. is practically the same as that
now used by the Church Of England and
the Episcopal Church in the United
States. And the Covenant. by which
the leading men of Scotland pledged
themselves not to use it, but to maintain
to their last drop of blood their right
to make their own prayers is now in
the Municipal Museum opposite st. Giles
Cathedral on High street
1T was not what the king did," said
DR.. MacGregor. the other day, that
caused the civil war, but the way he did
1t. The Introduction of the prayer book
was not the issue. but was the last. the
elimination Of a series of acts Of tyranny
The king prescribed rules for every
thing in their daily life. He ordered what
they should do, what they should eat and
what they should wear, and when he told
them how they should pray. they con-
cluded that 1t was time to rebel"
Covenant Signed With Blood.
The original copy of the covenant is
written upon a large sheepskin reduced
to parchment, about three feet long and
thirty inches wide. and 1t contains $3.50
signatures, some of them in the blood Of
enthusiasts. who pierced their veins and
dipped their pens into their blood instead
Of the ink bottle.
The document was written by Alexander
Henderson. chaplain to the king. minister
In Edinburgh and professor of divinity
in the university. He had been dele
gate from Edinburgh to the Westminster
assembly and was elected the presiding
officer of that memorable body which met
in the Jerusalem Chamber" of West
minister Abbey and prepared and adopted
the Westminster Catechism. series of
questions and answers explanatory Of the
confession of faith of the Presbyterian
Church.
Mr.. Henderson is buried in the old
Greyfriars Churchyard. with an imposing
monument and an epitaph which recites
his ability. his virtues and his public
services as a scholar. "a bountiful en-
larger" "a most diligent defender Of the
Freedom and discinline of the kirk a