Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...
: ), sometimes known as the King's Confession, is a
confession of faith
A creed, also known as a confession of faith, a symbol, or a statement of faith, is a statement of the shared beliefs of a community (often a religious community) in a form which is structured by subjects which summarize its core tenets.
The e ...
issued by King
James VI
James is a common English language surname and given name:
*James (name), the typically masculine first name James
* James (surname), various people with the last name James
James or James City may also refer to:
People
* King James (disambiguat ...
of
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...
on 2 March 1580 (
Old Style
Old Style (O.S.) and New Style (N.S.) indicate dating systems before and after a calendar change, respectively. Usually, this is the change from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar as enacted in various European countries between 158 ...
).
Background
In 1580 Scottish
Protestants
Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
feared the influence of Counter-Reformation forces in Scotland and were suspicious of King James's
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...
favourite
A favourite (British English) or favorite (American English) was the intimate companion of a ruler or other important person. In post-classical and early-modern Europe, among other times and places, the term was used of individuals delegated s ...
, Ésme Stewart. They suspected that Catholics had obtained a
papal dispensation
In the jurisprudence of the canon law of the Catholic Church, a dispensation is the exemption from the immediate obligation of law in certain cases.The Law of Christ Vol. I, pg. 284 Its object is to modify the hardship often arising from the ...
to allow them to subscribe to the
Scots Confession
The Scots Confession (also called the Scots Confession of 1560) is a Confession of Faith written in 1560 by six leaders of the Protestant Reformation in Scotland. The text of the Confession was the first subordinate standard for the Protestant c ...
of 1560.G. D. Henderson, 'Introduction', ''The Scots Confession, 1560, and Negative Confession, 1581'' (Edinburgh: Church of Scotland, Committee on Publications, 1937), p. 26.
David Calderwood
David Calderwood (157529 October 1650) was a Church of Scotland minister and historian. Calderwood was banished for his nonconformity. He found a home in the Low Countries, where he wrote his great work, the Altare Damascenum. It was a serious ...
later asserted that "many masked ''Papists'' subscribed the old Confession deceitfully". In order to allay these fears and demonstrate his fidelity to Protestantism, James commissioned John Craig to draft a confession of faith that would appeal to Protestants and which no Catholic would be able to sign.
Robert Baillie
Robert Baillie (30 April 16021662) was a Church of Scotland minister who became famous as an author and a propagandist for the Covenanters.
later wrote:
In the year 1580 some prime courtiers and others truly popish in their heart, yet for their own ends was content to dissemble and to abjure popery with their owne equivocations and mentall reservations, the King, desiring to stop all starting holes, caused Mr Craige, the pastor of his familie, to draw up a confession of every particular rejecting expressly the most of the Romish errors.Henderson, 'Introduction', p. 27.
The document became known as the Negative Confession because it defined what the
Church of Scotland
The Church of Scotland ( sco, The Kirk o Scotland; gd, Eaglais na h-Alba) is the national church in Scotland.
The Church of Scotland was principally shaped by John Knox, in the Scottish Reformation, Reformation of 1560, when it split from t ...
was against rather than declaring those doctrines which it approved.Burrell, 'The Apocalyptic Vision of the Early Covenanters', p. 48. However, the Confession did include an affirmation of the Scots Confession.
Reception
The Confession was first subscribed by the King and his courtiers (including Ésme Stewart), hence the name King's Confession. According to Calderwood "almost all citizens of all ranks followed" James in subscribing to the Confession. The
General Assembly of the Church of Scotland
The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland is the sovereign and highest court of the Church of Scotland, and is thus the Church's governing body.''An Introduction to Practice and Procedure in the Church of Scotland'' by A. Gordon McGillivra ...
approved of it and declared it "a true and Christian Confession to be agreed unto by such as truly profess Christ and his true religion". The Church also received orders to prosecute "refusers" and university graduates were required to subscribe to it. The Confession was frequently renewed throughout Scotland and John Craig included it in his popular ''Catechism''.
In 1637
Charles I Charles I may refer to:
Kings and emperors
* Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings
* Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily
* Charles I of ...
ordered the use of a new prayer book in Scotland, which was similar to the Anglican
Book of Common Prayer
The ''Book of Common Prayer'' (BCP) is the name given to a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion and by other Christianity, Christian churches historically related to Anglicanism. The original book, published in 1549 ...
. This was met with widespread resistance and many Scots believed that Charles's Archbishop of Canterbury,
William Laud
William Laud (; 7 October 1573 – 10 January 1645) was a bishop in the Church of England. Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury by Charles I in 1633, Laud was a key advocate of Charles I's religious reforms, he was arrested by Parliament in 16 ...
, was trying to re-introduce Catholic practices. Scottish Church leaders took the Negative Confession, with its strident anti-Catholicism, as their inspiration in the campaign against Charles's ecclesiastical policies. In 1638
Archibald Johnston
Archibald Johnston, Lord Wariston (1611 – 1663) was a Scottish judge and statesman.
He assisted Alexander Henderson in writing the Scottish National Covenant in 1638, and was appointed Procurator of the Kirk in the same year. He helped ne ...
National Covenant
The National Covenant () was an agreement signed by many people of Scotland during 1638, opposing the proposed reforms of the Church of Scotland (also known as '' The Kirk'') by King Charles I. The king's efforts to impose changes on the church ...
, which was signed across Scotland.
In 1831
Edward Irving
Edward Irving (4 August 17927 December 1834) was a Scottish clergyman, generally regarded as the main figure behind the foundation of the Catholic Apostolic Church.
Early life
Edward Irving was born at Annan, Annandale the second son of Ga ...
said the Confession "is one of the most nervous protestations against the Papacy that was ever penned". The 19th-century Protestant theologian
Philip Schaff
Philip Schaff (January 1, 1819 – October 20, 1893) was a Swiss-born, German-educated Protestant theologian and ecclesiastical historian, who spent most of his adult life living and teaching in the United States.
Biography
Schaff was born ...
called it "the most fiercely anti-Popish of all Confessions". In 1902
W. L. Mathieson
William Law Mathieson (26 February 1868 – 26 January 1938) was a Scottish historian.G. M. Trevelyan, 'Dr. W. L. Mathieson', ''The Times'' (3 February 1938) p. 14.
He was born in Edinburgh, where he was also educated. He regularly reviewed boo ...
spoke of "that exhaustive execration of all things papal which the Presbyterians of the next century were content to revive as the confession of their faith".
Hugh Pope
Henry Vincent Pope, better known as Fr. Hugh Pope (1869–1946), was an English Dominican biblical scholar, Professor of New Testament Exegesis at the ''Pontificium Collegium Internationale Angelicum'', the future Pontifical University of Saint T ...
in the ''
Catholic Encyclopedia
The ''Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church'' (also referred to as the ''Old Catholic Encyclopedia'' and the ''Original Catholic Encyclopedia'') i ...
'' described it as the "most violent condemnation of Papistry that ever issued from a
Calvinistic
Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Calv ...
pen".Hugh Pope, Faith , ''The Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church, Volume 5'' (1913), p. 764.
Editions
*''The Scots Confession, 1560, and Negative Confession, 1581'', introduction by