It is natural to suppose, that, during the first century of its existence, the political and ecclesiastical revolutions which took place in Scotland subsequently to the year 1560, the Records of the Church could not escape unscathed amid the turmoils of conflicting factions in Church and State. It appears from the MS. _Abbreviates_[1] still extant, that, betwixt the years 1580 and 1587, the earlier portions of the General Assembly’s Registers, filling five volumes, had passed into the hands of Adamson, Bishop of St Andrews, and had suffered mutilation (were “mankit”) by him, or, as has been alleged, by his Royal Master, King James VI., in order to destroy the proofs of submission by certain Prelates to the jurisdiction of the General Assembly. During a certain space, however, it is proved that they were not in possession of the Church or its Officers; and when, in the years 1586 and 1587, the custody of the Books was reclaimed by the Assembly, they were allowed by the King’s Commissioner to be exhibited to that Judicatory,--but with a proviso, that at the close of each sederunt, they were to be redelivered to the Lord Privy Seal.[2] There is no satisfactory evidence known to us with respect to the custody of these Books during the space which elapsed till the year 1638, when they were again recovered by the Presbyterian Church--fully authenticated--and once more restored to the custody of the Clerk of Assembly as the legitimate custodier.[3] The subsequent history of these volumes--the best, perhaps, that can now be given--is to be found in a “Statement” concerning them, drawn up by Dr John Lee, the present Clerk of the General Assembly, in 1828, and printed in 1829, with the view of effecting the recovery of these Registers from the Trustees of Sion College, who, as already stated, had obtained possession of them. Dr Lee having kindly communicated a copy of that “Statement,” we gladly avail ourselves of the opportunity of embodying it entire on this occasion. “STATEMENT concerning three Volumes of the Earliest Records of the Church of Scotland, now deposited in Sion College, London. “A few years ago, a Committee of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland was appointed for the purpose of collecting and recovering the various Manuscripts, connected with their Ecclesiastical Establishment; and, among other objects to which this Committee were desired to direct their attention, they were specially instructed to print the ancient Record, entitled, ‘The Book of the Universal Kirk of Scotland.’