Henderson, Alexander

HENDERSON, ALEXANDER: Scotch Presby terian; b. in the parish of Creich (12 m. w. of

St. Andrews), Fifeshire, 1583; d. in

Ministry in Edinburgh Aug. 19, 1646. He studied

Leuchars. at St. Salvator's College, St. Andrews

(matriculated Dec., 1599; M.A.,1603), and taught philosophy in the university for several years. In Sept., 1611, he is known to have been

an "expectant" or probationer, and soon thereafter he was presented to the church of Leuchars (a parish adjoining St. Andrews on the north and

west). So unpopular was his settlement there that

the people fastened the church doors on the day of his ordination, and he had literally to enter by a window. A year or two afterward he went, perhaps out of curiosity, to hear Robert Bruce preach at a communion in the adjoining parish of Forgan. In order to be hid, he sat in a dark corner of the church; and there the sharp arrows of the king pierced his heart as Bruce read for his text, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other. way, the same is a thief and a robber."

Henderson's views on church government and, worship appear to have undergone a radical change at this time, and in 1618 he opposed the "Five Articles" in the Perth Assembly (see Perth, Five Articles of). In 1619 he was charged with not having given the communion according to the prescribed order, and explained that his disobedience was due not to contempt, but to doubts of its lawfulness. For the next eighteen years he seems to have been allowed to live in Leuchars in comparative peace, storing his mind with knowledge, doing good work among his people, and educating young men boarding with him. He bought a house and lands which, with a thousand pounds Scots, he gave as an educational endowment to the parish. To the school of his native parish he bequeathed two thousand merks.

In 1636 Charles I., instigated by Archbishop Laud, tried to force upon the Church of Scotland a book of canons, a book of ordination,

Resistance and a book of common prayer. The to arbitrarymannerinwhichitwassought Episcopacy. to impose these on the ScottishChuroh was perhaps more offensive than their matter. To please the king, the Scottish privy council issued a proclamation in Dec., 1636, com manding all the people to conform in public worship, and that two copies at least of the prayer-book should be procured for each parish before Easter, 1637. In June the council issued an order charging those ministers who had not already provided them selves with copies of the book to do so Within fifteen days, under penalty of being considered in rebellion. An attempt to use the book in St. Giles's, Edinburgh, in July, 1637, led to the "Jenny Geddes riot" (see Geddes, Jenny). The next month Henderson and two other ministers appeared before the privy coun cil and presented formal reasons for suspension of the letters of outlawry under which they had been charged to procure the book. Petitions, many of which are still preserved, poured in upon the coun cil. Soon the body of the nation was embarked in the cause; and four committees were appointed to represent the noblemen, gentlemen, burgesses, and ministers. These committees, each of which con tained four members, were called'( the tables," and met in the parliament house. On their meetings being prohibited by royal proclamation, they re solved to renew the old covenants, and on Feb. 28, 1638, the "National Covenant," in the drafting of which Henderson had a part (see Covenanters, � 3), was sworn and subscribed by thousands in the Greyfriars' Church and Churchyard, Edinburgh. Copies were circulated through the country; and almost everywhere it was sworn with zeal and alac-

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rity by all ranks and classes. The shires subscribed by their commissioners, and so did the towns, save Aberdeen, St. Andrews, and Crail. Henderson preached at St. Andrews, and won it over, not a burgess refusing to sign. Henderson, Dickson, and Cant were sent to the north, and preached to great crowds at Aberdeen, securing several hundreds of subscriptions; but with the doctors of divinity they had only a fruitless controversy. The king had to call a general assembly and parliament to consider the national grievances. Henderson was unanimously chosen moderator of the former, which met on Nov. 21, 1638, in the High Church or Cathedral of Glasgow. Though the royal commissioner dissolved it in the king's name, it continued its sittings, condemned the six spurious assemblies from 1606 to 1618, as well as the service-book, the book of canons, the book of ordination, and the court of high commission. It also excommunicated eight of the bishops, deposed the other six, and prohibited episcopacy and the articles of Perth. Though anxious to remain in Leuchars, Henderson was translated by this assembly to Edinburgh, and was inducted into the Greyfriars' Church on Jan. 10, 1639.

A Remonstrance of the Nobility, etc., which Henderson drafted (1639), strongly impressed the

English with the justice of the coveftegotia- nanted cause. He accompanied the tions with Scotch army to Dunes Law, and took the Eng- part in arranging the articles of peace lish. The at the Birks, near Berwick-on-Tweed,

West- in June, 1639. Next year he was minster appointed rector of Edinburgh Univer Assembly. sity. He gave it an immense stimulus,

and is now regarded as the ablest educator and the man of clearest insight who had had to do with the university since its foundation. On the king refusing to carry out the stipulations of the pacification, denouncing the Covenanters as rebels, and preparing again to invade the country, the Scotch army entered England in Aug., 1640, and the king was fain to treat a second time. For this treaty Henderson, who had accompanied the army, was appointed a commissioner. While in London he wrote several pamphlets, held service according to the Scottish form, preached in St. Antholine's Church to crowded audiences, and heartily concurred with William Castell's petition to the English Parliament for propagating the Gospel in America as "most pious, Christian, and charitable." Toward the end of July, 1641, he returned to Edinburgh, and was chosen moderator of the assembly then sitting. The king having come to Scotland to preside in Parliament, Henderson was appointed royal chaplain and dean of the chapel royal, and Parliament unanimously declared that, in the matter of the recent treaty, he had proved a loyal subject to the king and a true patriot to his country. By his exertions the revenues of the bishopric at Edinburgh were secured for the university of that city, and probably he helped to secure for the University of St. Andrews the grant of the rents of the archbishopric and priory of St. Andrews, under certain reservations. In 1641, and again in 1644, Parliament appointed him as one of

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the commissioners to visit St. Andrews University; and he manifested his practical interest in that ancient seat of learning by giving a thousand pounds Scots for perfecting the building for its library. In Jan., 1642, he was translated to the East Kirk. As he was anxious to reconcile the king and the English Parliament, he was sent with the Scotch commissioners to Oxford. There he perceived that there was no hope of accommodation consistent with the liberties of England. On his return he had a conference with Montrose, and, seeing that he was determined to support the king, cautioned his friends against him. He was moderator of the general assembly in 1643, when commissioners were present from the English Parliament; and he drafted the Solemn League and Covenant (see Covenanters, � 4), which was cordially adopted by the Assembly and Convention of Estates. The assembly renewed the commission's appointment of members to assist at the Westminster Assembly. Henderson accordingly sailed from Leith for London on Aug 30. He addressed the English House of Commons and the Westminster Assembly, when met in St. Margaret's Church to swear the Solemn League and Covenant on Sept. 25. He was of great service in the Westminster Assembly, and often took a leading part in its debates. Early in 1645 he was appointed to assist the commissioners of both parliaments in their treaty with the king at Uxbridge. On this treaty being broken off without success, he returned to his duties at Westminster, though his health was now failing.

In the spring of 1646 the king threw himself into the Scottish army, who retired with him to Newcastle. The Independents were now

Discussion supreme in the English army, which with had crushed the royal forces; and the

Charles I. king's only hope lay in speedily coming to terms with the Presbyterians. He sent for Henderson as the fittest man to remove the difficulties of his mind. Though unfit for the jour ney, he complied, and reached Newcastle in May. But he soon found that there was little hope of Charles agreeing to abolish prelacy in England. It was arranged that the conscientious scruples of Charles should be discussed in a series of papers between him and Henderson. Of these there are eight, five being by the king. Henderson prepared four; but, perhaps to let the king have the last word, only three were published. The object of Charles seems to have been to gain time; and, as the discussion lasted fully six weeks, he was not altogether unsuccessful. As Henderson's health had grown much worse, he returned to Scotland, arriving in Edinburgh on Aug. 11, sick and exhausted. Eight days after his arrival he entered into his rest. He was undoubtedly, after Knox, the greatest of Scottish ecclesiastics, and has been held in universal honor for his tact, statesmanship, and patriotism, as well as for his attachment to the faith and polity of the Reformed Church.

Most of the principal public papers of the Presbyterians from 1637 to 1646 were drafted or polished by Henderson. In 1641 he published The Order and Government of the Church of Scotland. The Platform of the Presbyterian Government, published by

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authority in 1644, is substantially the same without the preface. He seems to have published a pamphlet against episcopacy, and another against

Writings. Independency. Several of his sermons have been printed separately; and a volume of Sermons, Prayers, and Pulpit Addresses, from the notes of a hearer, was issued at Edinburgh in 1867. His speech.before the Solemn League and Covenant was sworn at Westminster is in the Appendix to James Reid, Memoirs of . . those Eminent Divines who Convened in the Famous Assembly at Westminster (2 vols., Paisley, 1811-15). The papers which passed between him and the king are in Aiton's Appendix (see Bibliography), and are printed with Charles's Works.

D. Hay Fleming.

Bibliography: The beet biography is by J. Aiton, Life and

Times of A. Henderson, Edinburgh, 1838 (embodies Original research into sources and contains documents). Consult further: Wodrow Society publications, Wodrow'e Correspondence, ed. T. MaaCrie, Edinburgh, 1842-43, and Wodrow'e Select Biographies, ed. W. K. Tweedie, ib. 184b-47; T. MacCrie, Life o) A. Henderson, ad. T. Thomeon, Edinburgh, 1848; D. Neel, Hist. of the Puritans, ed. J. Toulmin, iii. 218-217, Bath, 1822; W. M. Hetherington, Hist. of the Church of Scotland, pp . 148-150, et paemm, New York, 1881; DNB, xxv. 390-395 (where may be found a list of references).