The Solemn League and Covenant
The oath by which the English Parliament and the Scots allied in 1643. Its first article pledges the signers to reform religion in England and Ireland and to bring the churches of the three kingdoms to one confession, government, worship and catechism.
The covenant is sworn in the name of the nobles, gentry, ministers and commons of England, Scotland and Ireland, “with our hands lifted up to the most high God”. The first article binds them to preserve the Reformed religion of the Church of Scotland and to reform that of England and Ireland in doctrine, worship, discipline and government “according to the Word of God, and the example of the best reformed Churches”. The second pledges the extirpation of popery and of prelacy, which it defines as government of the church by archbishops, bishops and the officers who depend on them. The remaining articles concern the rights of the parliaments, the person of the king and the peace between the kingdoms.
It is the text that gave the Westminster Assembly its programme of a common confession, form of government, directory of worship and catechism, and it is cited for that in the Westminster Confession.
Cited in
- 1643 to 1649, firm date