[In 1567] The first Assembly at Edinburgh of the representatives of the individual Reformed Congregations, at which the amalgamation of these churches was agreed to, simply aggregated the Congregations into a Church in Scotland. The Confession of Faith, which was the instrument by which the unification was accomplished, and was the only bond uniting the disjecta membra [scattered members] of the disintegrated Church, makes no reference to a Church of Scotland. Consequently, the indispensable characteristics of a national Church, namely, jurisdiction, active authority, and legal subsidy, all of which requirements had been withheld by the legislature, were for seven years non-existent. . . .

The change of government [from Queen Mary to King James] gave the leaders of the Church their opportunity. They, finding themselves an influential confederation, demanded parliamentary recognition of the Church as an institution of co-equal standing with the civil government, and acknowledgement of the principles of the Headship of Christ over the King in matters of spiritual government.

J. K. Hewison, The Covenanters, Vol. 1, 67-68.