An important group of sermons preached in the heat of the controversy which ultimately led to the establishment of the United Presbyterian / Relief Churches in Scotland.
These sermons, preached by a committed Church of Scotland / Episcopal divine in 1752, were delivered in Kirriemuir, just 20 or so miles from Inverkeithing where, in the same year, Thomas Gillespie was deposed of his ministerial office with the Church of Scotland. Gillespie had refused to ordain a minister to the church in that place to whom the people were opposed. Thomas Boston and others soon joined him in leaving to form what ultimately became the United Presbyterian / Relief Church, so-called because the local churches were brought "relief" from wealthy, often governmentally connected, patrons being able to appoint whatever minister they wanted in a community . . . ministers who were often vocally supportive of the concerns of the crown and the wealthy.
There were overlapping concerns that led to the crisis. The Scottish awakenings of the 1740's led local congregations to demand a more spiritual ministry. There was also a growing sense that the world was flattening politically as ideas central to democracy and populism percolated. This had ripple effects impacting how people thought about access to education, financial equality, and the centralized power of the Church, often perceived as over and against the actual wants and needs of a given local community.
It was not an accident that the majority of the radical pro-American Revolutionary War preachers were Presbyterian. This moment and that moment grew out of the same idealogical soil. At one point, our preacher even connects the radicals who introduce new forms of doctrine and new governments into the world.
In sermons II & III, our preacher, who is yet not identified, seems patient at first, building a theological case for the spiritual authority of the Episcopal Church of Scotland, established and validated through its commitment to the Apostolic Creed, spiritually constituted through Baptismal Regeneration, and continuous in its authority through ordination via Apostolic Succession.
But then, gloves do come off. His meaning becomes clear, and he unabashedly reproves the new sectarians. He reproves them for heresy, for sectarianism, and for being able to be bought and influenced by those whose interests were against the Crown. And as a result, he charges them with blasphemy against the Holy Ghost and warns them with apostacy and hell-fire.
Worthy of preservation and further research.
Extracts:
"We ought to hold fast & be well grounded in [our profession], & yt so much the more because the grand Deceiver of Mankind hath always been doing his utmost to shake the Belief of Xtian concerning these Fundamental Doctrines of our religion, & never more so than in our Days, wherein he hath raised up many false Teachers, who privily bring in damnable Heresies . . . Our Saviour's advice was never more Seasonable. Beware false Prophets, wc come to you in Sheeps cloathing, but inwardly are ravening wolves."
"The allurements of Profit & preferment have a mighty influence on the minds of men, & the Byass of Interest draws very strongly wc way soever it inclines. There are many yt will stick to the Church in the Sunshine of Prosperity, when they can partake of its Endowments & Plenty; who yet can easily leave it in time of Adversity, when the clouds gather & threaten; & when Trouble & Tribulation arise because of the Word, by & by they are offended. Such as these court Religion, not for the beauty, but for the Dowry of it; & when yt i gone they can see no form or comeliness in it yt it should be desired. This is not to hold fast but to let go the faith & betrays an evil Heart of unbelief, yt draws into Infidelity or Apostacy."
"To hold fast the profession of faith is to continue firm & stedfast in the Belief of the Xn Doctrine. It is not only to retain it in our memories, but to study to understand it, & fervently embrace it in our Hearts & affections, and give our full & unfeigned assent to it in its true & proper signification . . . not putting any false Glosses or misinterpretations upon it to please any party of men: Not adding to or diminishing from it: Not building, wt the Church of Rome, strange Doctrines, Wood, Hay & Stubble upon it, but keeping the truth in its native Simplicity, pure and unmixed. And wt the best of our Abilities, maintaining & defending it agt the Erroneous Inventions & Opinions of the world, agt the Deceit and malice of Spiritual Widkedness in high places; wt unwearied Diligence & Perseverance, opposing Error wt truth, & all modern Heresies wt the primitive, Orthodox faith, . . . would any drwa you from the one salutary Communion of the Catholick [i.e. Episcopal] Church or secude you into Schism or Separation from yt sound part fo it, wc by the Blessing of God is still continued amongst us? Be not carried away by such Delusions, nor run into Sects & Divisions under pretext of Xn Liberty, but stand fast in one Spirit, wt one mind, striving togr for the faith of the Gospel, agt all such dangerous Errors & sinful practices."
"We let go our profession by falling into Heresy or Schism on the one hand, or into vice & Corruption of manners on the oyr; & by both we are carried away wt the Error of the wicked & fall from our own stedfasteness.
"Wavering . . . 'tis a metaphor taken from the waves of the Sea, wc by the impetuous motion & stirring of the waters, rage & swell, & are carried contrariways by the variable Course & Violence of the Winds. He yt wavereth, saith Saint James, is like a wave of the Sea, driven wt the wind & tossed. They yt in matters of Religion, are, by the same Apostle, stiled double minded men, yt are unstable in all yr ways. For having no settled Principles to guide yr Actions by, they vary & turn wt the wind & Tide of human Affairs; & being moved only by the Wheels of worldly Interest, they wind & wheel about as the world turns. . . In our days there are some yt halt between the Communion of the true Church, & yt of Hereticks & Schismaticks, who differ from it, wc things have begot yt Giddiness & Instability in Religion, wc is the great misery & malady of the present age, wherein many have run from one Sect to anoyr till they have run ymselves out of all Religion & landed at last in Enthusiasm or Infidelity."
"Hold fast the profession of our faith . . . not leaving the Communion of the Catholick Church to join in the worship of Schismaticks & Sectaries, nor dividing the one Body of X by a sinful Separation from it; but wt a steady & resolved mind to stock to the Church of X & the true faith profest in it."
"Adhering firmly to the fundamental Principles of our Holy Religion, will keep the Church pure & uncorrupted in its faith; prevent, or in Time root out Sects and Errors, & Be the best means to preserve its Unity . . . neyr Heresy, nor Schism, neyr Superstition, nor Fantaticism, nor even the Gates of Hell would ever be able to prevail against her. But it is the want of a well settled Belief of the Essentials of our Religion, too visible in some & the want of a vigorous Dfence of ym in oyrs, yt is one greta Cause of the Sundry Sects & parties, the miserable Divisions, yt so much distract & tear asunder ye Church & Nation. There is scarce a Sect yt separates from the Church, however they pretend only to dislike our Worship, but if it were examined to the bottom, would be found not firmly absent to some Article of the Apostle's Creed. The truth is, many of our adversaries . . . do not comprehend the Nre of the Sacraments so absolutely necessary to Salvation, nor the Constitution & Government of the Catholic Church; but in ye sprl Pride, fancy themselves to be the only Elect People of God, & all oyrs to be Reprobates, despise the Authority of the Church, & deem ymsels the only Prophets inspired from Heaven to expound & delcare the sense of Scripture & cast off all the authorised forms of worship & ascribe yr confused Rambles of extempore Prayer, wc arise eyr from the fumes of Melancholy or the Rage of Enthusiasm, to the powerful indwelling of the B[lessed] Spirit; & so make him who is the God of order, the author of Confusion. But let such men seriously reflect whether ys be not a kind of blasphemy agt the H. Ghost, & whether they are not liable to the dreadful Anathema pronounced agt such as presume to teach any thing contrary to sound Doctrine."
"And indeed, as the Church received its Establishment from the infallible Spirit of God, so the Devil always makes it his Business by such factions & Heresies to destroy it. And as long as upon ys pretense, some shall refuse to hold steadily the fundamental Principles of Religion, & oyrs shall prove Advocates for ym yt do so, under the notion of Xn Liberty, it is the Cause of so much deep Hypocrisy, such bare-fac'd Heresy in self-conceited , covetous, ambitious men, yt the Church can never be at Peace."
Our author also understands, there is a linkage between the present unsettlings in the political world and in the religious world; between ecclesiastical independence, religious liberty, and political liberty and populism.
"And it is certainly much safer for us to rest upon yr [being the Creeds, etc.] in interpreting these Mysteries of our Faith than to presume upon the strength & subtilty of our own Reason, & to press unusual Expositions & doubtful Conjectures upon ym; wc is now the practice of too many, on purpose to beguile factious & unstable minds, to debauch men in the principles of yr faith, & thereby introduce new schemes of Government & Religion into the World."
"If the errors wc the Church of Rome has superstructed upon our Xn faith were the Cause why we of ys Church do & ought to adhere to the primitive & orthodox faith; then to admit of Changes in yt is to run back to ye erroneous Church, from wc we were reformed, wc they wish & yr Emissaries endeavour, who think it lawful to depose & murder both Kings & Bishops, to overturn the best Constitution in the world."
Etc. etc.
The manuscripts include:
Sermon I. "Thy Prayers & thing Alms are come up for a Memorial before God." Acts 10.4. 14pp. Preached at Kirriemuir, Ennoch, and Shielhill [?]. September 21, 1752.
Sermon II. "Let us hold fast the profession of our faith w/out wavering, for he is faithful that promised." Acts 10.4. 16pp. Preached at Kirriemuir. October 15, 1752.
Sermon III. "Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for he is faithful that promised." 14.5pp. Preached at Kirriemuir. October 22, 1752.
Sermon IV. "For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world, & ys is the victory that overcometh the world, even our Faith." I John 5.4. 12pp. Preached at Kirriemuir. July 1, 1753.
Legible and in a very good state, though there are a few minor corner and gutter losses that do not substantially infringe on the meaning of the text.