permanently imposed on them by the base minions of a court, and an unprincipled hierarchy. Whatever errors they subsequently committed, and however much we may deplore the infatuation by which Charles was misled in urging his Scottish subjects into such decisive measures, no one who is versed in the elements of the British Constitution, or imbued with the spirit of genuine freedom, can hesitate to admit that, in adopting the Covenant, the people of Scotland were, at the time, not only fully justified, but were imperatively constrained to do so by every motive which can influence Christians, patriots, and brave men. The most eminent lawyers of these times, too, declared their opinions that there was nothing in the Covenant inconsistent with loyalty to a constitutional sovereign; nor has anything ever yet appeared, whether in the contemporary defences of the Court, or in the pages of more recent historians and critics, to shake the soundness of that opinion. Deviating from the practice of historians, who merely give an abstract and brief statement of the contents of the Covenant, we deem it more suitable and convenient, in a compilation like the present, to embody in this Introductory Sketch the entire document, as it appears in the authenticated records, and, therefore, have subjoined it, as deserving of the reader’s attention, before proceeding to consider the events which followed its adoption. THE =National Covenant;= OR, CONFESSION OF FAITH OF THE KIRK OF SCOTLAND. “_The Confession of Faith, subscribed at first by the King’s Majesty and his Houshold, in the yeere of God 1580; thereafter by Persons of all rankes, in the yeere 1581, by ordinance of the Lords of the Secret Councell, and Acts of the Generall Assembly; subscribed againe by all sorts of persons in the yeere 1590, by a new Ordinance of Councell, at the desire of the Generall Assembly, with a generall Band for maintenance of the true Religion and the King’s person; and now subscribed in the yeere 1638 by us, Noblemen, Barons, Gentlemen, Burgesses, Ministers, and Commons under subscribing, together with our resolution and promises, for the causes after specified, to maintaine the said true Religion, and the King’s Majestie, according to the Confession foresaid, and Acts of Parliament. The tenor whereof here followeth._ “Wee All and every one of us underwritten, Protest, That, after long and due examination of our owne Consciences in matters of true and false Religion, are now throughly resolved of the Truth, by the Word and Spirit of God, and, therefore, we beleeve with our hearts, confesse with our mouths, subscribe with our hands, and constantly affirm, before God and the whole World, that this only is the true Christian Faith and Religion, pleasing God, and bringing Salvation to man, which now is, by the mercy of God, revealed to the world by the preaching of the blessed Evangel.