THE FREE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND
The Signing of the Deed of Demission – 18th May, 1843
David Octavius Hill
“As soon as Welsh, who wore his Moderator’s dress, appeared in the street, and people saw that principle had really triumphed over interest, he and his followers were received with the loudest acclamations.”
“It is the most honourable feat for Scotland that its whole history supplies.”
Lord Henry Cockburn, Court of Session judge, quoted in Burleigh (1960)
Two significant secessions from the Church of Scotland had taken place in the 18th century in protest against what was regarded as the State's interference in Church affairs, and its acceptance by the Church's Moderate party. The products of these breaches had been the Secession Church (the Associate Presbytery) and the Relief Church. The causes of dissension, largely centring upon the principle and consequences of patronage, had not been successfully addressed following these splits, and the disharmony intensified during the period 1834-1843 , known as the Ten Years Conflict.
In 1834 the Evangelical party of the Church, which more stridently opposed State interference, dominated the General Assembly for the first time in over a hundred years. Under its influence, the Chapels Act was passed by the Assembly giving chapel of ease ministers the right to sit in the various Church Courts. These clergymen tended to be Evangelical ministers who had been excluded due to the laws relating to patronage. In the same year, the Veto Act was also passed. Although congregations could still not call their own choice of minister, this Act allowed them to veto the choice of the patron. These measures were intended to limit the practice of patronage and its divisive effects within the Established Church.
The Veto Act was challenged in the civil courts, with a Court of Session judgement given in 1838 - the Auchterarder decision - which declared that the Act infringed the rights of the patrons and therefore could not be implemented. The Court further declared that the Established Church was the creation of the State and derived all its powers from Acts of Parliament. This decision was considered by the Evangelical Party as elevating the problem from one concerning State intrusion into internal Church affairs, to the graver and more fundamental one of the State challenging the spiritual independence of the Church.
The situation deteriorated further in 1839 when the Presbytery of Strathbogie was forced by the Court of Session to accept a previously rejected minister, the alternative being imprisonment. The Church responded by suspending seven ministers from the Presbytery for proceeding with the induction of the minister against the orders of the General Assembly.
It became increasingly clear to many within the Church who could not accept the ongoing situation that a break with the Establishment was imminent. In 1842 Parliament was petitioned by the General Assembly to end patronage and affirm the spiritual autonomy of the Church.
Matters finally came to a head in 1843. In January, in the Stewarton judgement, the Court of Session declared the Chapels Act to be incompetent thus depriving chapel ministers of their places in the Church Courts. Also in January, the Government gave its decision on the petition placed before it. Failing either to recognise the seriousness of the situation or choosing not to, the Government made it known that it would not act in accordance with the Assembly's requests.
Most of the Evangelical party could no longer accept the principals upon which Establishment was apparently founded and resolved to quit the Established Church. At the General Assembly in Edinburgh of May, 1843, there followed the event known as the Disruption. The Moderator declined to constitute the Assembly and walked from St. Andrew’s Church, followed by about 190 others. They immediately gathered at Tanfield Hall, Canonmills where they constituted the first Assembly of the Church of Scotland Free. The first Moderator of the Assembly to be elected was the celebrated Thomas Chalmers, one time minister at Glasgow’s Tron Church and then St. John’s. In all, an estimated 451 ministers quit the Established Church, representing fully one third of that body.
As with the rest of Scotland, the effects of the Disruption in and around Glasgow were profound. Congregations either “came out” in the majority or minority. In the case of the former, they tended to retain control of their church for ongoing use, especially since many of these were chapels of ease which had been built by public subscription. This situation continued until a 1849 decision of the House of Lords determined that they remained the property of the Established Church and should be returned to it. When a minority of a congregation “came out” they tended to depart from their church immediately and seek interim accommodation until they could build anew.
Of the Established churches in Glasgow’s eastern districts and beyond, all lost most or part of their congregations and sometimes their minister too. New congregations sprang from the Burgh Churches of St. Andrew’s, St. James’s and St. John’s, and from the chapels of ease at St. Luke’s, Calton, Greenhead, Bridgeton, Camlachie, Shettleston and Wellpark. One immediate problem for the new Free Church was the provision of church buildings for those of its congregations which could not remain in their old buildings. However, such was the popularity of the stance taken that 470 new churches were erected throughout the country within the year, and 700 by 1847. This was an extraordinary feat, and was in no small measure due to the labours of Thomas Chalmers who had been the architect of Church Extension within the Established Church. As the denomination undertook missionary work, additional congregations were established in the decades that followed at Carntyne, Baillieston, Tollcross, Carmyle, Dennistoun, Gallowgate and Calton.
The Free Church was joined by the Original Secession Church in 1852 and by the Reformed Presbyterian Church in 1876. In the lead up to union with the United Presbyterian Church, there occurred a significant secession of mostly Highland adherents to form the Free Presbyterian Church in 1893. When the Free Church finally united with the United Presbyterian Church in 1900 the resultant United Free Church was the largest denomination in Scotland.
All of the original churches and the subsequently founded charges participated in the 1900 union to become United Free congregations and again in that of 1929 to become Church of Scotland parish churches. Some of these have now vanished, having been incorporated into the congregations of other churches, but some others continue in their new roles. Existing Churches of Scotland which have their origins in the Free Church include St. Andrew’s East, Carntyne Old, Sandyhills, St. Thomas’s Gallowgate, Victoria Tollcross, Carmyle, Dennistoun Central and Baillieston Mure Memorial.
Churches of Free origin which no longer have an independent existence include the following Churches of Scotland; Barony North, Bridgeton West, Gillespie Central, St James' Glasgow Cross and Wellpark. One which terminated as a United Free Church was St. Luke's.
A remnant of the Free Church which did not agree to the 1900 union, and which was represented by 27 ministers, was recognised by a House of Lords decision in 1904 as being the lawful continuation of that Free Church established in 1843. This had major legal significance as it substantiated the continuing Free Church’s claims to be the rightful owner of all the property and funds of the pre-1900 Church. However, its entitlement was modified by later Parliamentary intervention, and a fairer division of the assets was effected.
The post-1900 Free Church was estimated to have a membership of about 70,000 adherents by mid-decade, but these were mostly located in Highland and Island parishes. The only representative of the Church in the east end of Glasgow was that established at Wellshot Road in 1910 – Shettleston Free Church.
Reconstitution of the Free Church
Magdalen Chapel, January, 2000
In January,2000, the centenary of the last division, the Free Church split yet again at its Commission of Assembly in the St. Columba’s Hall, Edinburgh. Doctrinal differences which had figured so strongly in the 1900 event had arisen again within the church, but the separation was not precipitated by these according to the minority view. A court trial had taken place concerning a notable figure within the Church. Although the individual was found innocent of the charges brought against him, major concerns had arisen as to how the Church had dealt with the matter internally.
Complaints against what were perceived to be breaches of Church’s constitution were not sympathetically dealt with. This culminated in a minority part of the Church walking from the Hall, in scenes no doubt reminiscent of 1843, and signing a Declaration of Reconstitution at the Magdalene Chapel in the Cowgate. The participants took the temporary title of the Free Church of Scotland (Continuing) and consider themselves to be in a direct line of continuation of the Reformed Church of 1560. The church at Shettleston allied itself with the minority.
“Today the Free Church of Scotland, although much reduced in size, maintains in continuity with the Church of 1843 the system of doctrine and the form of worship adopted by the Church of Scotland at the Reformation. The singing of the Scottish Metrical Psalms unaccompanied by instrumental music is, perhaps, the most distinctive feature of its liturgy, but the chief emphasis of its worship is still to be found in the centrality of the pulpit and the proclamation of a free and sovereign salvation.” Free Church of Scotland (Continuing) web site.
For the time being Scotland now effectively has two Free Churches. As in 1900, the matter of which body truly represents the continuation of the Free Church is before the Courts, and as in that case the issue of property rights is a significant factor.
It is both sad and remarkable to note some of the bitterness which has attended this dispute. It is highly reminiscent of the previous divisions within the Presbyterian bodies and the animosity which they engendered between their adherents. It must give pause for thought for the difficulties which at one time faced the founders of the Free Church and which are now being faced on a personal level by so many of its present membership.
The Historical Congregations of the Free Church of Scotland;
Burleigh, J.H.S. (1960); “A Church History of Scotland.” London, Oxford University Press.
Cameron, Nigel M.de S. (Organizing Ed.) (1993); “Dictionary of Scottish Church History & Theology.” Edinburgh, T & T Clark Ltd.
Herron, Andrew. (1984); "Historical Directory to Glasgow Presbytery."
© Gordon Adams
www.freechurchcontinuing.co.uk
