Articles of Perth

Articles Of Perth, five articles agreed upon at a General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, convened at Perth by command of James VI on the 25th of August, 1618. These articles enjoined kneeling at the Lord's Supper, the observance of Christmas, Good Friday, Easter, and Pentecost, and confirmation, and sanctioned the private administration of baptism and of the Lord's Supper. They were highly obnoxious to the Presbyterians of Scotland, not only on their own account, but as part of an attempt to change the whole constitution of the church; and because they were adopted without free discussion in the Assembly, and in mere compliance with the will of the king, who was also regarded as having unduly interfered with the constitution of the Assembly itself. They were, however, ratified by the Parliament on the 4th of August, 1621-a day long remembered in Scotland -as Black Saturday-were enforced by the Court of High Commission, and became one of the chief subjects of that contention between the king and the people which produced results so grave and sad for both in the subsequent reign.' The General Assembly of Glasgow in 1638 declared that of Perth to have been "unfree, unlawful, and null," and condemned the Five Articles.-Chambers's Encyclopaedia, s.v.; Calderwood, History of Church of Scotland, vol. ii; Hetherington, Church of Scotland, i, 239.