The Five Articles of
Perth were five episcopal and Roman Catholic worship practices that
were forced on the church by king James VI in 1618. The
articles were accepted by Parliament in 1621 and became the law of the
land, but many of the people were very unhappy with them.
The five articles
were:
1. Kneeling rather than sitting at the Lord’s Supper.
2. Private Communion.
3. Baptism not withheld longer than one Lord’s Day and administered
privately where necessary (ie if the baby was about to die).
4. Confirmation by bishops.
5. The observance of holy days such as Christmas and Easter.
In opposition to this,
the Reformed church believed that kneeling at communion made it like
the Roman Catholic mass, baptism wasn’t needed for salvation, there was
no need for bishops or confirmation by them and that the only holy day
that the New Testament church was meant to observe was the weekly
Lord’s Day.
Some of the ministers
who refused to accept the Five Articles, such as David Dickson, were removed
from their churches. Others were put in prison.
Read more:
J. G. Vos, The
Scottish Covenanters (Edinburgh, 1998 [1940]),
pp 38-9.
DSCHT:
Perth, Five Articles of
George Gillespie, Dispute against the English popish ceremonies
(Leiden, 1637).
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