1689 Revolution Settlement

The end of the "Killing Times" came not through a military victory by the Covenanters, but through a massive political shift known as the Glorious Revolution of 1688.

When the Catholic King James VII (II of England) was deposed and replaced by the Protestant William of Orange, the legal and religious landscape of Scotland was completely rewritten. This period is known as the 1689–1690 Revolution Settlement.

1. The Restoration of Presbyterianism

The primary victory for the Covenanter cause was the Act Settling Presbyterian Church Government (1690).

• The End of Bishops: The system of Prelacy (rule by Bishops) was finally abolished in the Church of Scotland.

• The Return of the "Outed" Ministers: The ministers who had been driven into the hills or exiled during the reigns of Charles II and James VII were invited back to their pulpits.

• The Westminster Confession: The Scottish Parliament officially ratified the Westminster Confession of Faith as the public confession of the nation.

2. The Legal Vindication

The Settlement essentially admitted that the Covenanters had been right about the Stuart kings. The new government acknowledged that James VII had acted as a tyrant and had forfeited the throne. In this sense, the Sanquhar Declaration—once viewed as high treason—was vindicated by the fact that the entire British establishment had now done exactly what Richard Cameron had done: disowned the King.

3. The "Covenanter Dissent": The Great Unfinished Business

Despite these massive gains, the Revolution Settlement created a deep split among the Covenanters. While the majority were happy to return to the Church of Scotland, a strict minority (the Society People [United Societies] or Cameronians) refused to join.

Why did they still dissent?

• The Covenants were Ignored: The new government restored Presbyterianism, but it did not renew the National Covenant or the Solemn League and Covenant. To the strict Covenanters, a church without the Covenants was like a building without a foundation.

• The King’s Authority: William of Orange was still seen as an "Erastian" ruler (a king who claimed too much power over the church).

• The Union of 1707: Later, when Scotland and England merged into Great Britain, the Covenanters saw it as the ultimate betrayal of the Solemn League and Covenant, which had aimed for a religious union, not a political one.

4. Summary of the Settlement Results

The 1689–1690 Revolution Settlement produced a complex legacy that can be viewed as both a monumental victory and a disappointing compromise. On one hand, the Settlement achieved the primary goal of the long struggle by legally restoring Presbyterianism as the official government of the Church of Scotland and permanently abolishing the rule of Bishops. It ratified the Westminster Confession of Faith, brought an end to the brutal "Killing Times," and allowed exiled ministers to return to their pulpits in peace. In this regard, the blood of the martyrs was vindicated, as the state finally acknowledged that the Stuart monarchy had acted as a tyranny and that the church had the right to govern its own spiritual affairs.

However, for the strictest Covenanters, the Settlement was deeply flawed because it was based on political expediency rather than a national return to the Covenants. While the new government restored the structure of the church, it did not renew the National Covenant or the Solemn League and Covenant, essentially leaving those sacred vows as "dead letters" in the eyes of the law. Furthermore, King William III was seen by many as an "Erastian" ruler, one who still claimed a level of authority over church assemblies that the Covenanters found biblically unacceptable. Consequently, while the majority of the nation accepted the peace of the Settlement, a dedicated minority remained in dissent, forming the Reformed Presbyterian Church to preserve a vision of a nation explicitly and formally bound to the Kingship of Christ.

The Legacy Today

This "strict minority" that stayed out of the 1690 Settlement became the Reformed Presbyterian Church, and from the dissension the United Covenanted Presbyterian Church. They lived on to ensure that the stories of the martyrs and the principles of the "Kingship of Christ" were never forgotten.

In a sense, every modern Presbyterian church owes its existence to the Covenanters' refusal to let the State dictate the terms of worship. The "Men of the Hills" changed the world by insisting that the conscience is subject to God alone.