The Covenanter Story
Earlier this year, I was asked to give a series of historical talks on the Covenanters. After one of them, someone asked what would be the best and most accessible introduction to the Covenanters for someone who knew very little about them. I pointed them to a 4-part video series that the Banner of Truth had just begun to release (along with an interview they had recorded with RPTS professor and Banner trustee David Whitla). As of last month the series is complete, and our friends at Banner have asked me to review it, which I am very happy to do.
Why study the Covenanters?
The series is a high-quality production, filmed at locations around Edinburgh, Dumfries & Galloway, and Ayrshire. It is narrated by Banner's Communications Manager, Joshua Kellard. In fact, I quoted Kellard's introduction to the series in my opening talk when addressing the question of why we should care about the Covenanters.
Kellard shares his own experience:
I didn't know much about the Covenanters until I moved up to Scotland to work for the Banner of Truth Trust. What I learned then from the two-volume history of the Covenanters by J.K. Hewison blew me away. I came to see that the Covenanters were not just overlooked in our national history, but desperately neglected in the church's own historical consciousness. Many evangelicals have no idea what these brave Scottish Christians suffered for the cause of Christ in their generation. And that is our loss, for they have much to teach us in the darkening times in which we live.
Indeed, according to Daniel Defoe, as quoted in episode #3, the Scottish government's treatment of Covenanters in 1685 — "a terrible year in a terrible era" — was worse even than the persecuting campaigns of Roman emperors and the Popish inquisitors.
A story told through individuals
In general, the Covenanter story is best — and certainly most memorably — told through the stories of some of the individuals who lived through those perilous times. This series follows that pattern, with 3 of the 4 videos focussing on individual martyrs — James Guthrie, John Brown of Priesthill, and James Renwick — with a fourth on the Pentland Rising (including the torture and dying testimony of Hugh Mackail).
It is fitting that one of the individuals in focus was not a minister, but an ordinary Christian:
The story of John and Isobel Brown is particularly poignant because they were just ordinary Christians, ordinary covenanting folk, not rich, not powerful, not close to any of Scotland's power centres in the church or state. They represent to us the sufferings of the greater body of the Covenanters, who were not church ministers, but members, Christ's flock, scattered and pursued across moor and mountain, as they remained faithful to their Lord in evil days.
The series also highlights the suffering of the families of the martyrs — particularly James Guthrie's son Willie (having to regularly walk past his father's impaled head) and Isobel Brown.
A careful and sympathetic retelling
This is a careful retelling which acknowledges differing details in some of the accounts we have. Above all, it is sympathetic in relating events that the Covenanters have been criticised for, including the Pentland Rising ("the protest of down-trodden men" — Smellie) and the declaration of war against Charles II. (Indeed, it could have been noted that in rejecting Charles II and his brother, James VI, the Covenanters were simply a few years ahead of the rest of the nation). Thankfully, the series also gives short shrift to the idea that the Covenanters were "early, misunderstood advocates of religious freedom".
Enough to whet your appetite
There is obviously much that can't be covered in four 15-minute videos. Personally, I would have liked at least a mention of the Solemn League & Covenant (1643) — described by one academic historian as "the climax of Scotland's Calvinist reformation" — rather than simply the National Covenant of 1638.
Understandably, there isn't time to cover all the battles, enemies or martyrs. The Pentland Rising is featured, but not the battles of Drumclog or Bothwell Bridge. Dalyell and Claverhouse are mentioned, but not the Judas of the Covenanting movement, Archbishop Sharp. In terms of the field preachers, Renwick is there, but not Cameron or Cargill. Perhaps most notably, the Two Margarets — executed by drowning in the Solway Firth — are not included. In short, there's scope for a second series!
But what is included is enough to whet your appetite and leave you wanting to find out more. One way to do just that would be to check out the current series on some of the Covenanters in the RP Witness magazine, written by Gentle Reformation authors. Fittingly, some of the best books to turn to have been republished by the Banner of Truth (Fair Sunshine, The Scots Worthies, and The Covenanters). Maybe we'll even see one of the works by a Stranraer minister than Banner formerly published — quoted in episode #2 — brought back into print!
Come to Scotland and find out more!
If you'd like to come to Scotland, and see some of the martyr sites for yourself, check out Scottish Reformation Tours — all proceeds go to church planting in Scotland. If you'd like to also serve in one of the churches here for a month or more (just as an ordinary person in the pew), check out our article from earlier this month: Give Us Scotland Again: The Stranraer Renewal Cooperative.
