Alexander Henderson (c. 1583 – 19 August 1646) was a Scottish theologian, and an important ecclesiastical statesman of his period. He is considered the second founder of the Reformed Church in Scotland. He was one of the most eminent ministers of the Church of Scotland in the most important period of her history, namely, previous to the middle of the seventeenth century.
Alexander Henderson was born in 1583, and studied at the University of St. Andrews. He was, through the influence of Archbishop Gladstanes, presented to the church living of Leuchars, Fifeshire, and was in 1615 inducted forcibly into the charge. He was then a supporter of episcopacy; he subsequently changed his views and became a zealous upholder of Presbyterianism. He opposed the adoption of the Five Articles of Perth in 1618, and resisted the use of the Scottish Prayer Book in 1637.
He drafted both the National Covenant of 1638 with Archibald Johnston, Lord Warriston, and the Solemn League and Covenant of 1643. He preached in the Greyfriars church on 28 February 1638, when the National Covenant was signed, and presided as Moderator of the memorable General Assembly held at Glasgow in the following November. On two subsequent occasions he was chosen Moderator of Assembly. He was Rector of Edinburgh University, and instituted a Professorship of Oriental Languages in that seat of learning. With a view to conciliate the Presbyterians, Charles I appointed him his chaplain on his visit to Scotland in 1641.
Henderson was entrusted with various important missions; he was one of the commissioners who represented the Scottish Church at the Assembly of Divines at Westminster, and he was honoured with several interviews by Charles I when he endeavoured, though unsuccessfully, to bring the king over to Presbyterianism. He died at Edinburgh on 19 August 1646. At the Restoration the inscriptions on his tombstone were obliterated; they were restored at the Glorious Revolution.
Alexander Henderson was born at Guthrie, in the Fife parish of Creich, in 1583. Of his parentage and family history hardly anything is known. Tradition, following from Wodrow, says he was the son of a feuar, and a cadet of the Hendersons of Fordel. In support of the latter statement, his remains lie in the burying-ground of that family in Greyfriars Churchyard, and a contemporary portrait of him is still in possession of a representative of that house. His birthplace was between the villages of Luthrie and Branton. To the maintenance of a school at Luthrie he left two thousand marks Scots in his will. On 19 December 1599, at the age of sixteen, he matriculated at St Salvator's College, St Andrews, and took his degree of M.A. in 1603. From 1603 to 1611 he was a Regent of Philosophy, and during that period he completed his course in divinity.
He adopted strong prelatic principles, and was a staunch upholder of Archbishop Gledstanes, who afterwards became his patron, and presented him to the parish of Leuchars. His settlement was so unpopular that on the day of his ordination, probably in January 1614, the church doors were found securely nailed up, and he and his friends were obliged to enter by the window. Mr. Henderson at first showed but little concern for the spiritual interests of his people; but his sentiments and character soon underwent a complete change.
A Communion sermon preached in a neighbouring parish by Robert Bruce of Kinnaird, was the means of changing Henderson's spiritual outlook. Attracted by the fame of the preacher, he slipped (so goes the story) into the darkest corner of the church, hoping to steal out again unrecognised. Bruce chose for his text the words: "He that entereth not by the door," etc. This passage, so applicable to his situation, and the sermon which followed, made such an impression on his mind as led to an entire change in his views and conduct. Bruce, nevertheless, seems to have been aware of his presence; or, if not, there was a singular coincidence in the applicability of the text which he chose, to the remarkable circumstances which attended Henderson's induction to his charge.
Robert Bruce's sermon made such a powerful impression upon him that it effected an entire change in his religious conduct and sentiments; and from being a careless and indifferent pastor over his flock, and an upholder of a system odious in the highest degree to the people, he became a watchful and earnest minister, and a resolute champion in the cause of Presbyterianism. He now became thoroughly convinced that the proceedings of the prelatical party were injurious to the interests of religion, and he resolved at once to take part with the Presbyterians. His first appearance in that connection was at the Perth Assembly of 1618, when he strenuously opposed the Five Articles, notwithstanding the threats of the Government.
Henderson stood among the foremost of those who opposed, though unsuccessfully, the obnoxious measure; and this too, in defiance of the king's utmost wrath, with which all who resisted the adoption of the Five articles were threatened. "In case of your refusal," said the archbishop of St Andrews, addressing the assembled clergymen, "the whole order and estate of your church will be overthrown, some ministers will be banished, others will be deprived of their stipends and office, and all will be brought under the wrath of authority."
In August 1619 he appeared before the Court of High Commission charged with the publication of a pamphlet denouncing the Perth Assembly. On their appearance, Mr. Henderson answered the accusation with so much eloquence and truth, that the bishops could gain no advantage over him and his friends, and were obliged to dismiss them with threatenings, and Henderson returned to his parish. Of the next eighteen years we know little or nothing.
The National Covenant - Contending against Episcopacy
With the memorable year 1637 Henderson reappears on the scene, a keen opponent of the Scottish Prayer Book, also known as "Laud's Liturgy," which King Charles was determined to foist on the Church.
In common with other ministers, he had been charged to purchase two copies of the liturgy for the use of his parish within fifteen days, under the pain of rebellion. He immediately went to Edinburgh, and, 23 August, presented a petition to the privy council, representing that the service book had not received the sanction of the General Assembly, nor was recognised by an act of parliament, and praying a suspension of the charge. To this remonstrance the council returned a favourable answer, and the reading of the liturgy was ordered to be suspended until the king's farther pleasure should be known.
Charles, however, only the more peremptorily insisted that the service book should be received; and from this time forward Mr. Henderson took a prominent share in all the proceedings of the nonconformists. A great number of the nobility, gentry, clergymen, and representatives of burghs, with others, had assembled in Edinburgh from all parts of the country; and after another supplication had been presented to the privy council, praying them to bring the matter again before the king, a proclamation from his majesty was made, requiring all persons to depart to their homes within twenty-four hours, on pain of being denounced rebels. Instead of dispersing, the leaders of the popular party, after some farther ineffectual petitions to the king, resolved to appeal to the people, and the result was the renewal of the National Covenant of 1580 and 1581, with only some slight changes adapted to the circumstances of the times. It was prepared by Mr. Henderson, assisted by Lord Warrison, Archibald Johnston, an advocate in whom, we are told, the suppliants chiefly confided, and was sworn and subscribed in the Greyfriars' church of Edinburgh, on 28 February 1638, by thousands of the nobility, gentry, ministers of the gospel, burgesses, and others. Mr. Henderson addressed the vast multitude assembled with great fervour and eloquence, aud the enthusiasm of the people knew no bounds. He was subsequently sent with several noblemen, and Messrs. Cant and Dickson, to Aberdeen, to prevail on the inhabitants of that city to take the Covenant, and, after urging upon them the strongest arguments in favour of the document, no less than 500 persons subscribed it, many of them being of the highest respectability.