The struggle of the Scottish Covenanters in the seventeenth century for religious and political freedom is among the most stirring in Scottish history. In the 1680s, they jump-started the movement which drove a tyrannical Stuart king off the British throne, to be replaced by his own daughter and son-in-law, Mary and William.
The most consistent of those Covenanters continued after the Revolution of 1688 a separate existence from the (Presbyterian) Church of Scotland. They sought to bear a faithful witness to the kingship of Jesus Christ as Mediator between God and man. These Covenanters argued for more political and religious liberties in the Three Kingdoms of Scotland, England, and Ireland. These “Reformed Presbyterians”, as they came to be called, reminded their nation of its obligation to follow the National Covenant of Scotland of 1638 and the Solemn League and Covenant of 1643 — which also involved England and Ireland — or at the very least, its universal principles.
Through emigration and missionary endeavors, Scottish Covenanters now are found in over a dozen nations worldwide, on all the inhabited continents, in countries as varied as Japan and South Sudan, France and Chile. Since 1920, there has been a Covenanter congregation in Florida, in Orlando, and more recently, daughter congregations developing in Celebration and Gainesville.
Of interest to our clan is that the pastor of the Gainesville Fellowship is named Thomas Reid. (There is a Duncan in the Fellowship as well!) He bears a distinguished name, the same as the famous Scottish Common Sense philosopher whose thought had such an outsized influence upon the Founding Fathers of the USA and their generation. (The Florida Thomas Reid is a member of Clan Donnachaidh of Florida.)
Modern Florida is a long way from the hillsides of Scotland where the Covenanters took their stand for Christ’s “Crown and Covenant” and a long time removed from the horrific events of the Killing Times they endured in the 1660s through the 1680s. Nevertheless, Florida has some real connection to them from the Reformed Presbyterians who live and minister here today.
