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It was in the month of July—a month since become so memorable in the history of human freedom—on the twenty-third day of the month, that Jenny emerged from domestic obscurity to historic celebrity and renown.
From the pen of Wiliam Pratt Breed we have a reminder of an historical event of great importance to Presbyterians and all lovers of civil and ecclesiastical liberty. When authorities attempted on July 23, 1637, at St. Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh to impose the Book of Common Prayer upon the Presbyterian people of Scotland, a lady named Jenny Geddes is reputed to have started a riot by throwing her three-legged sitting stool at the prelate who was officiating the service while crying “Villian! dost thou say mass in my lug?” (meaning: “in my hearing”). This incident was pivotal in the ensuing Second Reformation of Scotland, which included the signing of the National Covenant in February 1638 and the purging of Episcopal bishops from the Church of Scotland later that year, as well as the military conflict which followed.
For a helpful resource on the significance of this event in history, consider Breed’s Jenny Geddes, or, Presbyterianism and Its Great Conflict With Despostism (1869). As he walks the reader through those remarkable events in Scottish history, he highlights the debt that American Presbyterians and all Christians owe to Jenny and other faithful Scots during those troubled but inspiring times. As long as liberty is treasured, Jenny Geddes and her stool will be remembered.
