 From the beginning of the First Civil War , the Long Parliament recognized that they would need assistance from the Scots . In return for a military alliance , the Scottish Parliament required the English to sign the <unk> League and Covenant in 1643 , which stipulated that the English would bring their church into greater conformity with the Church of Scotland . The Scottish Parliament sent commissioners to London to represent Scotland 's interests to the English Parliament . Eleven of these , four theologians and seven members of Parliament , were also invited to the Assembly . The commissioners were given the opportunity to become full voting members of the Assembly but declined , preferring to maintain their independence as commissioners of their own nation and church . Samuel Rutherford , George Gillespie , and Alexander Henderson were the most outspoken of the commissioners . 
