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September 17: Lady Baille

17 September, 2014 in September 2014 by davidtmyers | No comments

A Post You Can Tell Your Children

Her name was Grisell. Yes, I know that is a strange sounding name, but it was a Scottish name. She was born on December 25, 1665. That’s Christmas, you say.

But Scottish Christians then did not celebrate this day as the birth of Jesus. Grisell Hume was the oldest child of Patrick and Grisell Hume. You can see that she was named after her mother. She had 16 brothers and sisters! Talk about a large family. Her parents were from a royal line of ancestors in Scotland, and they lived in the main city of that nation, Edinburgh.

Both of her parents were Christians. Being a Christian in that time period meant that you were considered an enemy of the government. Despite that, her father continued to witness for Christ. For example,  you couldn’t even hold a Bible study in your home or field without the government soldiers coming in to arrest every one attending that meeting. Hearing of a government plan to place soldiers in every home of Scotland to better keep a watch over Christians in the land, Patrick Hume planned to protest that plan. Because of that, he was thrown into jail when his daughter Grisell was only twelve years of age.

It was at this time that Grisell began to visit her father in prison.The mother couldn’t go because she had the care of the family, and even if she could  have traveled, she would not have been given permission to see her imprisoned husband. But a twelve year old girl could get into the prison cell. In those visits, she carried under her garments a letter from her mother to her father, and carried back any messages the father had for her mother. Most of all, she was able to provide  him some comfort for  her father. After a year of being in jail, the father was let go, but he knew that it would not be for long.

When government orders came for his arrest again, Patrick  Hume wanted to flee to Holland, which was a safe location for religious people in Europe. But he wasn’t able to get there due to the many soldiers who were looking for him.  So he hid himself in the family burying place, a vault under ground near their church about a mile away from  his home. (Kids, ask your dad or mom to explain this place further) Placing a bed and bed-clothes there, he began to live there. His only visitor was again his daughter Grisell. At midnight, she would walk to the vault, with food which she had saved from supper, seeking to comfort  him with her presence, telling him the events from the family, including humorous incidents, and walk home around daylight, so no one would see her. Soon, this hidden place was not a good place to continue in for the health of the father.  (How would you like to live in a tomb?)  Finally he was able to escape to Holland, with his family joining him there after three years.  When King William and Queen Mary came to the throne in February of 1689, the reign of evil against Christianity was ended, and the whole family was able to return to Scotland.

Grisell, with her adventurous years behind her, married George Baillie on this day, September 17, 1692, to rear a family where Christ was honored. She continued to take care of her parents until they died and went to  heaven. She was the darling and comfort to her parents all of their lives.

Words to Live By: 
The fifth commandment in Exodus 2012 tells us “to honor your father and mother,” and Paul adds in Colossians 3:20 to “be obedient to your parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing to the Lord.” It is clear that Grisell Hume was a child who honored and obeyed her parents in the Lord. For this, she had a long life in return,  and served Christ all of her life.

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September 5: Covenanter Slaves

5 September, 2014 in September 2014 by davidtmyers | No comments

A Final Covenant

Twenty-eight Presbyterians signed a final covenant on the eve of their departure from Leith, Scotland in early September, 1685. It said in part,

“That, now to leave their own native and Covenanted land by an unjust sentence of banishment for owning truth and standing by duty, studying to keep their Covenantal engagements and baptismal vows, whereby they stand obliged to resist and testify against all that is contrary to the Word of God and their Covenants; and that their sentence of banishment ran chiefly because they refused the oath of allegiance which in conscience they could not take, because in so doing they thought utterly declined the Lord Jesus Christ from having any power in His own house, and practically would by taking it, say, ‘He is not King and Head of His Church and over their consciences.’ And, on the contrary, this was to take and put in His room a man whose breadth was in his nostrils; yea, a man who is a sworn enemy to religion; an avowed papist, whom, by our Covenants; we are bound to withstand and disown, and that agreeable to Scripture: ‘When thou art come unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, and shall possess it and shall dwell therein, and shalt say, I will see a King over me, like as all the nations that are about me, thou shalt  in any wise set him King over thee, whom the Lord thy God shalt choose: one from among thy brethren shalt thou set King over thee: thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother.  Deut. 17:14, 15.”

To this final covenant, they signed their names.

It is not known to countless Christians today that many Presbyterians were carried from their beloved land of Scotland to the shores of this America, not as free immigrants, but as slaves. Slaves? Yes, slaves! The black African was not the only race to be transported to the new world as slaves. Joining them in that cruel trade were white Covenanters, who were removed from prisons all over the British isles, all for the sole reason that they refused to take an oath of allegiance to the King and failed to recognize the King’s authority over the church of Scotland.

On this occasion, the twenty-eight who signed the last covenant and another ninety seven Covenanters left on September 5, 1685 on the war ship “Henry and Frances” for landfall at Perth Amboy New Jersey. It was a terrible journey with the  ship carrying leaks, shortages of food and water, fever among the prisoners, resulting in 31 of the number dying and buried at sea. The captain of the ship was very cruel. When worship services were attempted to be held in the hold, the captain would throw wooden planks down to disrupt the services and injure the worshipers.

When they arrived at their destination in New Jersey, the inhabitants of Perth Amboy were inhospitable to them. However inhabitants of a further town inland, thought to be Woodbridge, received them and cared for their needs. Eventually they were able to find employment according to their gifts, not as slaves, but as free people.

Words to Live By:
Still other Covenanters continued to serve as slaves in places like South Carolina and the Barbados, which raises an interesting question. From where did the African slaves hear the Gospel of the Lord Jesus? Certainly their home land did not have it. Many believe, and studies have been made on the question, that they heard it from their fellow slaves, the Covenanters. May we who live in increasingly difficult days in these United States, with biblical Christianity under attack from all directions, remember the example of the early Covenanters, and be faithful to stand up for the gospel by our lips and lives, wherever the Lord may take us. Moreover, should the Lord take us into difficult places, may we remember that He has us there for a great purpose.

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September 4: Death of Beatrix Umpherston, lead writer of Children’s Covenant  (1686)

4 September, 2014 in September 2014 by davidtmyers | 2 comments

Children’s Covenant

Our post today is set in the context of the small devotional groups which arose in central and southern Scotland after the death of Richard Cameron and Donald Cargill (see July 22 and July 27). They were known as the Society People of Scotland, and we will consider their existence on December 15.  For now, this was a family oriented commitment to faith and devotion in Christ. It so permeated their spiritual lives that even the youngest of their families had a sincere belief in that faith and life.  And nowhere is this seen better than what has been called the Children’s Bond.

Fourteen young girls, the oldest of them around ten years of age, came together in Pentland outside of Edinburgh to commit  themselves to God and His Word.  One of them, Beatrix Umpherston, is thought to be the originator of the bond made between them. Precious is personal faith by any Christian, but especially precious is this seen in young girls at the dawn of their teenage years. The Bond is worth reprinting in full, as a witness to all ages.

“This is a Covenant made between the Lord and us, with our whole hearts, and to give up ourselves freely to Him without reserve, soul and body, hearts and affections, to be  His children and Him to be our God and Father, if it please the Lord to send His gospel to the land again, that we stand to this Covenant which we have written, between the Lord and us, as we shall answer at that great day. That we shall never break this Covenant which we have made between the Lord and us, that we shall stand to this Covenant which we have made; and if not, it shall be a witness against us in the great day when we shall stand before the Lord and his holy angels. O Lord, give us real grace in our hearts this day to mind Zion’s breaches which are in such low case this day: and make us mourn with her, for Thou hast said them t hat mourn with her in the time of trouble shall rejoice when she rejoiceth, when the Lord shall bring back t he captivity of Zion, when he shall deliver her out of her enemies’ hand, when her King shall come and raise her from the dust, in spirit of all her enemies that oppose  her, either devils or men. That thus, they have banished their King, Christ out of the land, yet he will arise and avenge His childrens’ blood at her enemies’ hands, which cruel murderers have shed.”

On the back of the written Covenant were found these words: “Them that will not stand to every article of this Covenant which we have made betwixt the Lord and us, that they shall not go to the Kirk to hear any of those soul-murdering curates we will neither speak nor converse with them. Any that break this Covenant, they shall never come into our Society.  We shall declare before the Lord that have bound ourselves in Covenant, to be covenanted to  Him all the days of our life, to be His children and Him to be our Covenanted Father.”

And then: “We subscribe with our hands these presents — Beatrix Umpherston, Margaret Galloway, Helen Moutray, Janet Brown, Helen Straiton, Helen Clark,  Marion Swan, Janet Swan, Margaret Brown, Janet Brown, Isobel Craig, Margaret McMoren, Martha Logan, Christian Laurie, Agnes Aitken.

It would be neat to trace the development of each young person who signed this Covenant.  We only have discovered one follow-up, that of the first signer, Beatrice Umpherston.  He eventually married a Covenanter pastor by the name of John M’Neil.  God gave  her a long life in service for Christ.  She died when she was 90 years old, on this day, September 4, 1763 and was buried in Old Pentland Cemetery, Scotland.

Words to Live By:
Is there not a spiritual lesson for us readers today, pastors or lay people?  If the church is to recover her spiritual soul and be a powerhouse for the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, then she must surely work toward,  and pray for, a family faith in the Triune God to be existent in our homes.  Fathers and Mothers of This Day in Presbyterian History, is your family  setting the Lord Jesus first in all that you believe and do?  Pastors and Ministers of This Day in Presbyterian History, is your congregation aiding the family to be Christian families in the world today?  Would/Could any similar covenant by our children and teenagers today be similar in commitment as this Chrildren’s Bond was written?  Lord God, we pray for the Christian families of America, and especially those represented by our Presbyterian churches.

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September 2: Andrew Melville’s Two-Kingdom Speech

2 September, 2014 in September 2014 by davidtmyers | No comments

The day is lost to church history. We know the month and the year of the Two Kingdom Speech of Andrew Melville. That month and year was September 1596. But the exact day is lost to us.  So this author is going to put it on September 2, this day in Presbyterian history, because it is too important not to consider it.

The elders of the General Assembly were meeting in Cupar, Fife, Scotland. Due to a breach of faith on the part of King James, the assembly had decided to sent a deputation to seek the resolution of their concerns. Heading that deputation was James Melville, who was chosen because of his courteous manner and the apparent favor he had with the king. Along side him, out of the spotlight, was his uncle, Reformation leader Andrew Melville.

Barely had James Melville begun speaking before the king cut him off and accused him of meeting in a seditious manner with other elders of the kirk, and bringing causeless fears before the people of Scotland. Andrew Melville stepped in, despite his nephew’s attempt to keep him silent, by taking the king’s robe by the sleeve, and saying that the king was “God’s silly vassal.”

“Sir,” said Andrew Melville, “we will always humbly reverence your majesty in public; but since we have this occasion to be with your majesty in private, and since you are brought in extreme danger of your life and crown, and along with you the country and the Church of God are like to go to wreck, for not telling you the truth and giving your faithful counsel, we must discharge our duty, or else be traitors both to Christ and to you. Therefore, Sir, as divers times before I have told you, so now again I must tell you, there are two kingdoms in Scotland: there is King James, the head of the commonwealth, and there is Christ Jesus, the King of the Church, whose subject James the Sixth is, and of whose kingdom he is not a king, nor a lord, nor a head, but a member. Sir, those whom Christ has called and commanded to watch over his church, have power and authority from Him to govern his spiritual kingdom, both jointly and severally; the which no Christian king or prince should control and discharge, but fortify and assist; otherwise they are not faithful subjects of Christ and members of his Church. We will yield to you your place, and give you all due obedience; but again, I say, you are not the head of the Church; you cannot give us that eternal life which we seek for even in this world, and you cannot deprive us of it. Permit us then freely to meet in the name of Christ, and to attend to the interests of that Church of which you are the chief member. Sir, when you were in your swaddling clothes, Christ Jesus reigned freely in this land, in spite of all his enemies. His officers and ministers convened and assembled for the ruling and welfare of his Church, which was even for your welfare, defense and preservation, when these same enemies were seeking your destruction. Their assemblies since that time have continually have been terrible to these enemies, and most steadfast to you. And now, when there is more than extreme necessity for the continuance and discharge of that duty, will you (drawn to your own destruction by a most pernicious counsel) begin to hinder and dishearten Christ’s servants and your most faithful subjects, quarreling them for their convening, and the care they have of their duty to Christ and you, when you should rather commend and countenance them, as the godly kings and emperors did? The wisdom of your counsel, which I call devilish, is this, that you must be served by all sorts of men, to come to your purpose and grandeur, Jew and Gentile, Papist and Protestant; and because the Protestants and ministers of Scotland are over strong, and control the king, they must be weakened and brought low by stirring up a party against them, and, the king being equal and indifferent, both should be fain to flee to him. But, Sir, if God’s wisdom be the only true wisdom, this will prove mere and mad folly; His curse cannot but light upon it; in seeking both ye shall lose both; whereas in cleaving uprightly to God, His true servants would be your sure friends, and He would compel the rest counterfeitly and lyingly to give over themselves and serve you.” (Melville’s Dairy, pp. 245, 246, quoted in W.M. Hetherington, “History of the Church of Scotland” p. 105.

Words to Live By:
Charles Hodge says in commentary on Romans 13:2  “we are to obey all that is in actual authority over us, whether their authority be legitimate or usurped, whether they are just or unjust. The actual reigning emperors were to be obeyed by the Roman Christians, whatever they might think as to his title to the scepter. But if he transcended his authority, and required them to worship idols, they were to obey God rather than man. This is the limitation to all human authority. Whenever obedience to man is inconsistent with obedience to God, then disobedience becomes a duty.” (Commentary to the Epistle to the Romans, by Charles Hodge, p. 406)

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August 27: Church of Scotland Adopts WCF (1647)

27 August, 2014 in August 2014 by archivist | 1 comment

Westminster Confession Approved by Church of Scotland

You may ask upon reading the title of this contribution, why are we thinking about adoption of the Westminster Confession of Faith, when the whole This Day in Presbyterian History blog deals with Presbyterian history in the United States?  And that is a fair question.  But it is quickly answered by two considerations. First, this Reformed standard—The Westminster Confession of Faith—was, with few changes, the subordinate standard of all the Presbyterian denominations in the United States.  And second, the Scots-Irish immigrants who came over to this country in its earliest days held strongly to this Reformed creedal statement.

The Westminster Confession of Faith was formulated by the Westminster Assembly of divines (i.e, pastors and theologians) in the mid-seventeenth century, meeting at Westminster Abby in London, England.  To the one hundred and twenty divines, primarily from the Church of England, were added nine Scottish divines from the Church of Scotland.  While the latter were seated as non-voting members of that Assembly, still their presence was felt in very effective ways during the six-year study that produced this confessional standard.

When it was adopted by the Parliament in England, it then went to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, where it was adopted without amendment on August 29, 1647.  It then became the summary of the teachings of the Old and New Testaments which was “owned” by the officers of the Church—the teaching and ruling elders, as well as the diaconate—in every local congregation. Down through the centuries, some changes in the Confession were made, most notably in 1789, but these have not affected the overall doctrinal content of the Confession. The majority of those changes were made in 1789. You can ask your pastor for more information about those changes.

The historic importance of this document remains relevant to this day as a focal point of our unity as Presbyterians, and so we seek to make our friends more knowledgeable of its magnificent statements.

Words to live by: Most of the Presbyterian denominations do not require their lay members to take vows which speak of their adoption of these historical creedal standards in order to join the church.  Yet a careful study of, and acceptance of this Confession of Westminster will give you a solid foundation for understanding the doctrine and life of the Word of God.  We urge you to do so, perhaps asking for a class in your church on it, or just studying it yourself for your personal and family benefit.

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