Archibald Johnston of Wariston
1611–1663
Co-author of the National Covenant and Solemn League; executed at the Restoration.
Biography
Edinburgh advocate who co-authored the National Covenant of 1638 with Henderson and rose to be Lord Advocate and Clerk Register. At Westminster he was the Scottish delegation's chief layman. He served Cromwell as Lord Clerk Register during the Protectorate, was attainted at the Restoration, fled to Hamburg, was kidnapped by royalist agents in Rouen in 1663, and was hanged at Edinburgh in July of that year — one of the most striking Covenanter martyrdoms.
Scottish Commissioner
Under the Solemn League and Covenant (1643) the Church of Scotland sent commissioners — ministers and ruling elders — to sit with the Assembly. They had voice in debate but no formal vote, yet their influence on the Standards, especially on worship and presbyterian polity, was decisive. Alexander Henderson, Samuel Rutherford, George Gillespie, and Robert Baillie were the leading ministerial commissioners.