Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 4.djvu/281

Rh address which terminated the sittings of the assembly, "we have now cast down the walls of Jericho; let him that rebuildeth them beware of the curse of Hiel the Bethelite:" a sentence which comprised typically all that had been done and all that would be done in the event of such an attempt being made. Episcopacy was overthrown, the king's authority put at defiance, and such an attitude of hostility to the court assumed as fell short only of a declaration of open war.

Such was the accession of popularity which Henderson's conduct procured him on this occasion, that, a day or two before the rising of the assembly, two supplications were given in from two different places earnestly soliciting his pastoral services, the one from St Andrews, the other from Edinburgh. Henderson himself was extremely unwilling to obey either of these calls. Strongly attached to Leuchars, the charge to which he had been first appointed, and which he had now held for many years, he could not reconcile himself to the idea of a removal, pleading in figurative but highly expressive language, that "he was now too old a plant to take root in another soil." The supplicants, however, with a flattering perseverance pressed their suits, and after a strenuous contest between the two parties who sought his ministry, he acquiesced in a removal to Edinburgh; in favour of which the competition terminated by a majority of seventy-five votes. He only stipulated, that when old age should overtake him, he should be permitted to remove again to a country charge. Soon after his removal to Edinburgh, he was promoted to be, what was then called, first or king's minister. This change, however, in no way abated his zeal in the cause of the covenant; he still continued to be the oracle of his party, and still stood with undisputed and unrivaled influence at the head of the church as now once more reformed.

In the year after his translation to Edinburgh (1639) he was one of the commissioners deputed by the Scottish army, then encamped on Dunse Law, to treat with the king, who, with his forces, had taken post at the Birks, a plain on the English side of the Tweed, within three or four miles of Berwick. During the whole of the various negotiations which took place at this critical and interesting conjuncture, Henderson conducted himself with his usual ability, and moreover with a prudence and candour which did not escape the notice of the king. One of the well known results of these conferences was the meeting in Edinburgh of the General Assembly in the following month of August On this occasion the earl of Traquair, who was now his majesty's commissioner, was extremely desirous that Mr Henderson should be re-elected moderator, a sufficient proof of the estimation in which he was held by 'men of all parties. The idea, however, of a constant rnoderatorship was exceedingly unpopular, and contrary to the constitution of the church; and the suggestion of Traquair was overruled to the entire satisfaction of Mr Henderson himself, who was one of the most strenuous opponents of the proposition. As former moderator, however, he preached to the assembly, and towards the close of his discourse, addressed the earl of Traquair "We beseech your grace," he said, " to see that Caesar have his own; but let him not have what is due to God, by whom kings reign. God hath exalted your grace unto many high places within these few years, and is still doing so. Be thankful, and labour to exalt Christ's throne. When the Israelites came out of Egypt they gave all the silver and gold they had carried thence for the building of the tabernacle; in like manner your grace must employ all your parts and endowments for building up the church of God in this land." He next addressed the members, urging them to persevere in the good cause, but carefully inculcating prudence and moderation in all their doings; for zeal, he said, without these, was "like a ship that hath a full sail, but no rudder."