GLA8SITES OR SANDEMANIANS.
This sect observed the weekly administration of the Lord's Supper;
the weekly collection before tho Lords Supper for the support of the
poor, ayd defraying other expenses, mutual exhortation, and a plurality
of elders* pastors, or bishops, in each church. In the choice of
these elders, want of learning and engagemeut in trade, were no
sufficient objection, if qualified according to the instructions given by
Paul to Timothy and Titus. In their discipline they **ere strict and
severe, and separated from all other religionists, who they conceived
dii not profess the simple truth, or walk in obedience to it. All
which is Scriptural and Apostolical and highly commendable. Nevertheless,
thef had tho mark of the Beast on their foreheads, which they
did not wash off. They were unbaplized baby sprinklers. Out of the
controversies between those professors and the established church
arose another sect about tho year 1797, called th
NEW INDEPENDENTS.
Messrs. R. & I. Haldane wero the chief originators of the societies
classed under this name. They were aided tty Messrs. innes, Aikman,
and Κ wing, clergymen of the national church: The Η aidants were
laymen and men of the most unbounded liberality, and primitive
self-denial. Robert Haldanc : old bis large estates and devoted his
fortune to the enlightenment of his countrymen from onef"end Of
Scotland to the other. Ho attacked the corruptions of the church,
and was more indebted to the government, than to the ecclesiastical
powcrf, that ho was not subjected to tbe rigor of the law for his nonconformity.
He educated several young men at his own expense,
and sent them forth as missionaries 10 attack the strong holds of Satan
Many oi% these arc in the United States, among the Baptists.
Robert Hdldane, after having convulsed the clergy on their thrones,
and having enlightened the minds of the people to a considerable
extent» at length becime a Christian by being immersed into the name
of Christ. AUo in 1797, the celebrated Mr. V\ ilberforce, surprised
the publ.c by appearing as a religious writer, in England, his work
was iiiMtled a "practical view of the prevailing religriou* system of
professed Christians, in the higher and middle classes in this country,
contrasted with real Christianity." He lived and died a Churchman,
notwithstanding his protest. The period we have now arrived at
coincides with the resurrection of the Witnesses, which took place at
the French revolution. The Bible Society was established at or about
this time, which, from its foundation, must have circulated some mil·-
lions of copies of the Testimony of the Apostles and Prophets,
Ihroueh all the nations of the earth. It will also be remarked that
from the breaking out to the termination of the war against the Two
Witnesses there was the bitterest opposition imaginabie to the circulation
of their testimony among the people; but at their resurrection
it became fashionable to patronize the Parent and Auxiliary Bible
Societies. This» is another incident confirmatory of my view of this
subject before treated of. All the sects that arose between 1685 and
1790, can have no pretensions to the character of Christian churches,
for during that period, the bodies of the Witnesses laid dead and unburied
in the street (Platea) of the city, which runs thrDugh the nations
of different languages. Many of the New Independents becamo
Christians, and by doing so added to the number of the witnesses for
the truth.
While Mr. Glass was strengthening his sreessron, some other divine?,
on different grounds, were meditating their retreat from the National
Church. They wished to reform the establishment, but rot succeeding,
they renounced their allegiance to the assembly, and formed now congregations.
Four of the olergy were suspended in 1733 and in 1740
debarred from aU clerical functions in the Kirk. The cliiof of thorn
was Ebenezer Erskine. Their disciples rapidly increased* and were
at length embodied under the generic denomination of
6ECEDERS.
The Scotch Burgess oath in a certain clause runs thus—UI profets
and allow with my heart the true religion presently professed within this
realm and authorized by the laics thereof. I it ill abide at and defend tht
sime to my hfet end, renouncing the Romish Η eh'β ion, called Ρ apis·
try." Whoever took this oath declared that he believed the National
25
Kirk was the true religion. One part, therefore, of the Seceders
refused to take it; the other contended it might be taken with a safe
conscience, as the religion of the State was still the true faith, though
many abuses had crept in. Each party adhered to its own opinions,
and» about the year 1747» split into two opposite and contending factions,
called
BURGHERS AND ANTI-BURGHERS.
^ The Anties are more numerous than their opponents. The pugnacity
of John Knox still flows in the veins of his disciples; for the Burgess
oath still keeps some of their congregations asunder even in this
Country, so remote and independent or the scene of action· The dis-
Ciplee of Scotch divinity and metaphysics in the United States, must
be considered as Seceders from the Church of Scotland, not from principle
or choice, but from necessity. The revolution it was which severed
them from the mother Kirk; a revolution originating in political,
more than religious, disputes. The first society of emigrant
Presbyterians, was constituted in 1700, thirty· three years before the
quarrel between the Erskines and General Assembly. Their first Presbytery
was formed in 1704. They continued to increase till 1788,
when this ecclesiastical body was consummated in the formation of
the General Assembly of the
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
This sect observed the weekly administration of the Lord's Supper;
the weekly collection before tho Lords Supper for the support of the
poor, ayd defraying other expenses, mutual exhortation, and a plurality
of elders* pastors, or bishops, in each church. In the choice of
these elders, want of learning and engagemeut in trade, were no
sufficient objection, if qualified according to the instructions given by
Paul to Timothy and Titus. In their discipline they **ere strict and
severe, and separated from all other religionists, who they conceived
dii not profess the simple truth, or walk in obedience to it. All
which is Scriptural and Apostolical and highly commendable. Nevertheless,
thef had tho mark of the Beast on their foreheads, which they
did not wash off. They were unbaplized baby sprinklers. Out of the
controversies between those professors and the established church
arose another sect about tho year 1797, called th
NEW INDEPENDENTS.
Messrs. R. & I. Haldane wero the chief originators of the societies
classed under this name. They were aided tty Messrs. innes, Aikman,
and Κ wing, clergymen of the national church: The Η aidants were
laymen and men of the most unbounded liberality, and primitive
self-denial. Robert Haldanc : old bis large estates and devoted his
fortune to the enlightenment of his countrymen from onef"end Of
Scotland to the other. Ho attacked the corruptions of the church,
and was more indebted to the government, than to the ecclesiastical
powcrf, that ho was not subjected to tbe rigor of the law for his nonconformity.
He educated several young men at his own expense,
and sent them forth as missionaries 10 attack the strong holds of Satan
Many oi% these arc in the United States, among the Baptists.
Robert Hdldane, after having convulsed the clergy on their thrones,
and having enlightened the minds of the people to a considerable
extent» at length becime a Christian by being immersed into the name
of Christ. AUo in 1797, the celebrated Mr. V\ ilberforce, surprised
the publ.c by appearing as a religious writer, in England, his work
was iiiMtled a "practical view of the prevailing religriou* system of
professed Christians, in the higher and middle classes in this country,
contrasted with real Christianity." He lived and died a Churchman,
notwithstanding his protest. The period we have now arrived at
coincides with the resurrection of the Witnesses, which took place at
the French revolution. The Bible Society was established at or about
this time, which, from its foundation, must have circulated some mil·-
lions of copies of the Testimony of the Apostles and Prophets,
Ihroueh all the nations of the earth. It will also be remarked that
from the breaking out to the termination of the war against the Two
Witnesses there was the bitterest opposition imaginabie to the circulation
of their testimony among the people; but at their resurrection
it became fashionable to patronize the Parent and Auxiliary Bible
Societies. This» is another incident confirmatory of my view of this
subject before treated of. All the sects that arose between 1685 and
1790, can have no pretensions to the character of Christian churches,
for during that period, the bodies of the Witnesses laid dead and unburied
in the street (Platea) of the city, which runs thrDugh the nations
of different languages. Many of the New Independents becamo
Christians, and by doing so added to the number of the witnesses for
the truth.
While Mr. Glass was strengthening his sreessron, some other divine?,
on different grounds, were meditating their retreat from the National
Church. They wished to reform the establishment, but rot succeeding,
they renounced their allegiance to the assembly, and formed now congregations.
Four of the olergy were suspended in 1733 and in 1740
debarred from aU clerical functions in the Kirk. The cliiof of thorn
was Ebenezer Erskine. Their disciples rapidly increased* and were
at length embodied under the generic denomination of
6ECEDERS.
The Scotch Burgess oath in a certain clause runs thus—UI profets
and allow with my heart the true religion presently professed within this
realm and authorized by the laics thereof. I it ill abide at and defend tht
sime to my hfet end, renouncing the Romish Η eh'β ion, called Ρ apis·
try." Whoever took this oath declared that he believed the National
25
Kirk was the true religion. One part, therefore, of the Seceders
refused to take it; the other contended it might be taken with a safe
conscience, as the religion of the State was still the true faith, though
many abuses had crept in. Each party adhered to its own opinions,
and» about the year 1747» split into two opposite and contending factions,
called
BURGHERS AND ANTI-BURGHERS.
^ The Anties are more numerous than their opponents. The pugnacity
of John Knox still flows in the veins of his disciples; for the Burgess
oath still keeps some of their congregations asunder even in this
Country, so remote and independent or the scene of action· The dis-
Ciplee of Scotch divinity and metaphysics in the United States, must
be considered as Seceders from the Church of Scotland, not from principle
or choice, but from necessity. The revolution it was which severed
them from the mother Kirk; a revolution originating in political,
more than religious, disputes. The first society of emigrant
Presbyterians, was constituted in 1700, thirty· three years before the
quarrel between the Erskines and General Assembly. Their first Presbytery
was formed in 1704. They continued to increase till 1788,
when this ecclesiastical body was consummated in the formation of
the General Assembly of the
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.
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