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HENDERSON, ALEXANDER (1583-1646)

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Originally appearing in Volume V13, Page 267 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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HENDERSON, See also:ALEXANDER (1583-1646) , Scottish ecclesiastic, was See also:born in 1583 at Criech, Fifeshire. He graduated at the university of St See also:Andrews in 1603, and in 1610 was appointed See also:professor of See also:rhetoric and See also:philosophy and questor of the See also:faculty of arts. Shortly after this he was presented to the living of Leuchars. As Henderson was locc2d upon his See also:parish by See also:Arch-See also:bishop See also:George Gladstanes, and was known to sympathize with See also:episcopacy, his See also:settlement was at first extremely unpopular; but he subsequently changed his views and became a Presbyterian in See also:doctrine and See also:church See also:government, and one of the most esteemed ministers in See also:Scotland. He See also:early made his See also:mark as a church See also:leader, and took an active See also:part in petitioning against the " five acts " and later against the introduction of a service-See also:book and canons See also:drawn up on the See also:model of the See also:English See also:prayer-book. On the 1st of See also:March 1638 the public See also:signing of the " See also:National See also:Covenant " began in Greyfriars Church, See also:Edinburgh. Henderson was mainly responsible for the final See also:form of this document, which consisted of (1) the " See also:king's See also:confession " drawn up in 1581 by See also:John See also:Craig, (2) a See also:recital of the acts of See also:parliament against " superstitious and papistical See also:rites," and (3) an elaborate See also:oath to maintain the true reformed See also:religion. Owing to the skill shown on this occasion he seems to have been applied to when any manifesto of unusual ability was required. In See also:July of the same See also:year he proceeded to the See also:north to debate on the " Covenant " with the famous See also:Aberdeen doctors; but he was not well received by them. " The voyd church was made fast, and the keys keeped by the See also:magistrate," says See also:Baillie. Henderson's next public opportunity was in the famous See also:Assembly which met in See also:Glasgow on the 21st of See also:November 1638. He was chosen See also:moderator by See also:acclamation, being, as Baillie says, " incomparablie the ablest See also:man of us all for all things." See also:James See also:Hamilton, 3rd See also:marquess of Hamilton, was the king's See also:commissioner; and when the Assembly insisted on proceeding with the trial of the bishops, he formally dissolved the See also:meeting under See also:pain of See also:treason.

Acting on the constitutional principle that the king's right to convene did not interfere with the church's See also:

independent right to hold assemblies, they sat till the loth of See also:December, deposed all the Scottish bishops, excommunicated a number of them, repealed all acts favouring episcopacy, and reconstituted the Scottish See also:Kirk on thorough Presbyterian principles. During the sitting of this Assembly it was carried by a See also:majority of seventy-five votes that Henderson should be transferred to Edinburgh. He had been at Leuchars for about twenty-three years, and was extremely reluctant to leave it. While Scotland and See also:England were preparing for the " First Bishops' See also:War," Henderson See also:drew up two papers, entitled respectively The Remonstrance of the See also:Nobility and Instructions for Defensiale Arms. The first of these documents he published himself; the second was published against his wish by John See also:Corbet (1603-1641), a deposed See also:minister. The " First Bishops' War " did not last See also:long. At the Pacification of Birks the king virtually granted all the demands of the Scots. In the negotiations for See also:peace Henderson was one of the Scottish commissioners, and made a very favourable impression on the king. In 164o Henderson was elected by the See also:town See also:council See also:rector of Edinburgh University—an officeto which he was annually re-elected till his See also:death. The Pacification of Birks had been wrung from the king; and the Scots, seeing that he was preparing for the Second Bishops' War, took the initiative, and pressed into England so vigorously that See also:Charles had again to yield everything. The maturing of the treaty of peace took a considerable See also:time, and Henderson was again active in the negotiations, first at See also:Ripon (See also:October 1st) and afterwards in See also:London. While he was in London he had a See also:personal interview with the king, with the view of obtaining assistance for the Scottish See also:universities from the See also:money formerly applied to the support of the bishops.

On Henderson's return to Edinburgh in July 1641 the Assembly was sitting at St Andrews. To suit the convenience of the parliament, however, it removed to Edinburgh; Henderson was elected moderator of the Edinburgh meeting. In this Assembly he proposed that " a confession of faith, a See also:

catechism, a See also:directory for all the parts of the public See also:worship, and a See also:platform of government, wherein possibly England and we might agree," should be drawn up. This was unanimously approved of, and the laborious undertaking was See also:left in Henderson's hands; but the " notable See also:motion " did not See also:lead to any immediate results. During Charles's second See also:state-visit to Scotland, in the autumn of 1641, Henderson acted as his See also:chaplain, and managed to get the funds, formerly belonging to the bishopric of Edinburgh, applied to the See also:metropolitan university. In 1642 Henderson, whose policy was to keep Scotland neutral. in the war which had now broken out between the king and the parliament, was engaged in corresponding with England on ecclesiastical topics; and, shortly afterwards, he was sent to See also:Oxford to mediate between the king and his parliament; but his See also:mission proved a failure. A memorable meeting of the See also:General Assembly was held in See also:August 1643. Henderson was elected moderator for the third time. He presented a draft of the famous " See also:Solemn See also:League and Covenant," which was received with See also:great See also:enthusiasm. Unlike the " National Covenant " of 1638, which applied to Scotland only, this document was See also:common to the two kingdoms. Henderson, Baillie, See also:Rutherford and others were sent up to London to represent Scotland in the Assembly at See also:Westminster. The " Solemn League and Covenant," which pledged both countries to the extirpation of prelacy, leaving further decision as to church government to be decided by the " example of the best reformed churches," after undergoing some slight alterations, passed the two Houses of Parliament and the Westminster Assembly, and thus became See also:law for the two kingdoms.

By means of it Henderson has had considerable See also:

influence on the See also:history of Great See also:Britain. As Scottish commissioner to the Westminster Assembly, he was in England from August 1643 till August 1646; his See also:principal See also:work was the drafting of the directory for public worship. Early in 1645 Henderson was sent to See also:Uxbridge to aid the commissioners of the two parliaments in negotiating with the king; but nothing came of the See also:conference. In 1646 the king joined the Scottish See also:army; and, after retiring with them to See also:Newcastle, he sent for Henderson, and discussed with him the two systems of church government in a number of papers. Meanwhile Henderson was failing in See also:health. He sailed to Scotland, and eight days after his arrival died, on the 19th of August 1646. He was buried in Greyfriars See also:churchyard, Edinburgh; and his death was the occasion of national See also:mourning in Scotland. On the 7th of August Baillie had written that he had heard that Henderson was dying " most of heartbreak." A document was published in London purporting to be a "See also:Declaration of Mr Alexander Henderson made upon his Death-See also:bed "; and, although this See also:paper was disowned, denounced and shown to be false in the General Assembly of August 1648, the document was used by See also:Clarendon as giving the impression that Henderson had recanted. Its See also:foundation was probably certain expressions lamenting Scottish interference in English affairs. Henderson is one of the greatest men in the history of Scotland and, next to See also:Knox, is certainly the most famous of Scottish ecclesiastics. He had great See also:political See also:genius; and his statesman-See also:ship was so influential that " he was," as See also:Masson well observes, " a See also:cabinet minister without See also:office." He has made a deep mark on the history, not only of Scotland, but of England; and the existing Presbyterian churches in Scotland are largely indebted to him for the forms of their dogmas and their etclesia'stical organization. He is thus justly considered the second founder of the Reformed Church in Scotland.

See M'Crie's See also:

Life of Alexander Henderson (1846) ; See also:Aiton's Life and. Times of Alexander Henderson (1836); The Letters and See also:Journals of See also:Robert Baillie (1841—1842) (an exceedingly valuable work, from an See also:historical point of view); J. H. See also:Burton's History of Scotland; D., Masson's Life of See also:Drummond of Hawthornden; and, above all, Masson's We of See also:Milton; See also:Andrew See also:Lang, Hist. of Scotland (1907), vol. iii. Henderson's own See also:works are chiefly contributions to Current controversies, speeches and sermons. (T. Gt.; D.

End of Article: HENDERSON, ALEXANDER (1583-1646)

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