Treats of Independent forebears--the Glasites--(who alone fought the battle of the mind), the Sandemanians, Old Scotch Baptists (and New); and the Haldanes. The latter were evangelicals who warmed the intellectualism of earlier cults.

      So that enquirers both within and without the Disciples may be informed of origins, there is here preserved some trace of most of the characteristics of earlier groups which helped to mould the Disciples of Christ. David Oliphant, Ontario editor and publisher for many years (after beginning in 1846), writes a summary of the ideas of two bodies tributary to the Disciple stream. In his Banner of the Faith, Brighton, Ont., March-April, 1859, he informed his brethren about the Glasites and the Scotch Baptist (and since that time no other such information has been offered to the Disciples in Canada.)

      Some quotations from his article (p. 72) follow, and some further notes condensed in brief. "Not one of the numerous bodies of non-Conformists in Glasgow city deserves more credit for uniformity of practice and steadiness of purpose than the congregation called Glasites, or Sandemanians. Their constitution and polity as a separate and independent body are ably defined in that original and interesting work by the self-denying and noble-minded John Glas, in his Testimony of the King of Martyrs (John 18:35) and published by him in 1729. The Glasites have never deviated from the succinct and lucid statements therein made: and they have just ground to esteem them. The gist of them is that the kingdom of the Lord Jesus on earth is a spiritual kingdom, and that his laws and institutions can only be understood and obeyed by believing men. With this as a leading principle, they have never asked the assistance of educated or talented men to propound their convictions of sacred duty. No college nor university degree has ever graced (or rather disgraced) their eldership. Their simplicity and sincerity are observable in all they do; they court no popular attraction; they are most exclusive; they never extend their influence beyond the walls of their own chapel; those without are, in their judgment, brought to the knowledge of the true God in Christ Jesus, more by the divine power through the written word, illustrated and exemplified by the meeting of [47] the church on the first day of the week, than by sermon-making or preaching. They hold to a plurality of elders in each congregation, though they retain one when without two. They depose an elder from office if, after the decease of his wife, he enters a second time into matrimony. They decline the services of evangelists, and neither aid Bible or missionary societies."

      "John Glas, the originator or founder of the Glasites in Scotland, was born September 25, 1696, at Auchtermuchty in Fife. His father was the parish minister there and the son followed in his footsteps. After completing his classical studies at the Universities of St. Andrews and Edinburgh, he was 'ordained' minister of the parish of Tealing, near Dundee, in 1749. His new position caused him to make a minute examination of the principles taught in the 'Confession of Faith' and in 'The Solemn League and Covenant.' The consequences were his openly declaring the anti-scriptural nature of the teachings of both. No sooner did he make this conscientious avowal than the Church courts formally deposed him, on April 12, 1726."

      Great distress and trial for himself and family followed this act, and one instance of being relieved of lack of food through prayer to the Almighty is on record. Being freed from the trammels of prescribed thought and the emoluments of a State church, "He spoke his mind with great conviction, at a time when no religious body existed that attempted to disprove the claims of the Church Establishment. The efforts at reform by Ebenezer and Ralph Erskine to found the Secession Church (later the Free Church of Scotland) did not begin until 1736. The Glasites stood alone and fought the battle of the mind."

      A numerous congregation gathered in Dundee. Mr. Glas lived to witness the fact that a congregation of believing men can exist independent of State pay, equally as with a paid ministry. The first congregation in Glasgow assembled about the year 1740, and groups were formed in Edinburgh, Paisley, Aberdeen, London, Liverpool, and in seven other places. Glas published forty-one volumes on important subjects, lived a spotless life and died in Dundee in 1773. His son-in-law, Robert Sandeman, carried on as leader for a time, and the group in England was known by his name." (Sandeman churches were founded in New York City, and in Danbury, Conn.)

      The Glasites were distinguished by the following characteristics: they met every morning and evening of 'first days', observed a 'love-feast' between these services, ending with a "kiss of charity". Mutual exhortations [48] from male members and mutual prayers were observed every first day. They refused to renew communion with a person twice excluded from the body; instead of having one general collection they had three: one at the meeting-house door, one at the love-feast, and a third before the 'breaking of bread', which they called 'the fellowship.' But their approach to the New Testament did not include believers' baptism; they substituted infant sprinkling--a most singular position. However, amongst them were a large number who admitted believers' baptism as the baptism of the Scriptures, and it is on record that the ranks of the Old Scotch Baptists were largely filled from the Glasites. Two well-known men, Archibald McLean and Henry D. Inglis, were with the Glasites before they became leaders in the Scotch Baptists, and they carried with them into the Scotch Baptist congregations many of the patterns set by the earlier Glasites.

      David Oliphant, at the time of this summary (1859), stated that the Glasites were dwindling in the old land, partly owing to some diffusion of their views amongst other independent sects. In his opinion, reform was not sufficiently scriptural amongst them: they retained too many of the corrupting principles of John Knox (that is, evils he did not renounce from the Catholic practices.) Oliphant concludes, "a tenacity in maintaining indefensible positions is painfully witnessed in the fathers of the respected Glasites. They venerate their forefathers and will not reveal their failings. Their expositions of Scripture are deemed superior to any other, and they refuse to be instructed unless through their medium. This position is not honorable to themselves, nor to the sacred cause in which they are embarked."

      In our day we can distinguish easily the failings of the reformers, who were so bound in a misconceived attempt to find in the New Testament rules carrying on of the faith of Christendom that would apply equally in every community for all time: that is, treating the general as in the light of the particular. These have their mistaken followers today. In them, however, certainly can be distinguished a worthy and inflexible desire to be guided by the written Word, and to rule out of spiritual realms the opinions and prejudices of men. They, too, were forerunners and pioneers. What they dissented from distinguishes their courage and value. In a way they helped, with other Independents, to shape the trend of liberal and more rational interpretation of the New Testament, in both Britain and America. But that was to follow later. It was David Oliphant's observation that, they had done a little in the work of reformation." [49]

      We deal here not with forerunners--folks struggling towards a threshold--but with a religious body which, in a number of localities throughout Canada, provided a school wherein the religious faith of some was re-born to a new freedom. Some local histories in Part Two--Eramosa Lobo, and others--outline the historical facts. We deal here with the teachers. Again, the observant Oliphant is the medium of exposition of what the Scotch Baptists were. This present chronicler was long past early manhood before he learned these facts. Generations of Disciples have grown up in Ontario without the following historical facts and relationships becoming known. Our precedents were supposed to be mainly Campbellian. These notes were preserved for a succeeding time, by an essay appearing in a Scotch Disciple journal published in Edinburgh, called the Christian Advocate. Oliphant reprinted it, with some comments, in his Banner of the Faith, in the July-August issue, 1859. Quotations and condensations follow.

      "The Old Scotch Baptists had their rise from one man, Archibald M'Lean. A hundred years ago the Baptist name was unknown to Scotland and a simple circumstance originated it. Mr. M'Lean had a mutual friend and fellow-member of the Glasites congregation, Mr. Robert Carmichael, who asked him, in 1763, "What think you on the subject of baptism?" Mr. M'Lean began for the first time to search the Scriptures on the subject, and the result was a change of mind, which was communicated to Mr. Carmichael by letter, stating his convictions--that only believing men and women could receive baptism. After a further examination the two friends avowed themselves. But, who were to baptize? No one could be found in Glasgow, in Edinburgh, in Scotland. On September 19, 1765, Mr. Carmichael sailed from Leith to London, and was immersed by the learned Dr. Gill, the fourth predecessor to Mr. Spurgeon, in Park Street chapel, on October 9, and speedily returned to Edinburgh, whither Mr. M'Lean immediately repaired and was baptized by Mr. Carmichael. The sensation created in Glasgow on the report spreading of a Baptist being in the city, was amazing. Some were filled with wonder, others with contempt, and all with a determination to oppose the innovation. Friends and foes were alike hostile. Mr. M'Lean was pointed at with scorn. His business as a letter-press printer went from him, and to avoid poverty, he and his family withdrew from the city about the close of 1767". [50]

      "The enquiry into Baptist principles did not subside on his withdrawal. A suspicion came into the minds of many that infant baptism was at least questionable. Individuals quietly retired to Edinburgh and were baptized, and so numerous did they become that in 1769, the first Baptist congregation in Glasgow was constituted. Neil Stewart and George Beg were the first pastors. From this origin has come the multiplied Scotch Baptist congregations of Scotland. The membership in Glasgow increased exceedingly. Under the fostering care of their devout elders, Robert Moncrief, James Duncan, Andrew Duncan, David Smith, Dr. Watt and others, they at one period before their first disruption in 1812, counted nearly four hundred members. This was in one body, meeting in the Braekirk, George Street. Now they are four times that number in Glasgow, but they are broken and scattered and greatly divided on matters of opinion. Scarcely had they met after their organization in 1769, till a division took place in the separation of their two elders, Neil Stewart and George Begg, on the vital subject, the unity of the Godhead. The schism extended to Edinburgh, and one elder, Dr. Walker, countenanced it."

      This shock was sustained and new elders appointed. Mr. M'Lean wrote an elaborate work on the Divinity and Sonship of Christ, in 1777, but division continued. Six works appeared from the pen of M'Lean, one the "Commission" being the most popular. Ninian Lockhart, of Kirkcaldy, in 1825 published a commentary on the public teachings of the Church. These topics are familiar to Disciples of any age. Some of the characteristics of the new Baptist body--new to that day--are the following: they meet regularly on the morning of the 'first day' of the week at ten o'clock, and with few exceptions all the members are present They make the 'breaking of the loaf' as their most important ordinance, yet they observe it after the congregation have retired, as the last part of their service. About the observance of this ordinance they suffered another division. This occurred in Glasgow in 1810, the second in Edinburgh, in 1833. The claim was that only the regularly appointed elders could dispense the Supper. On this there was adamantine resistance, but the leader, M'Lean, by his works and preaching labors, was able to stir a more extensive interest in his principles than had any Non-conformist in Scotland. He was joined by Henry D. Inglis, an able pleader at the Scottish bar, and Wm. Braidwood from the Old Scotch Independents of Edinburgh, and they were strong supporters. Men who had received this partial light rejoiced in it and spread it joyfully, even though it was not full illumination. The writer of this Scotch [51] essay records his conviction that the avowal of Baptist principles by James and Robert Haldane in 1808, with others, checked the advance of the Scotch Baptists and even drew away some of their members. The writer of the essay concludes as follows: "Some more perfect bond of union has yet to be presented to the world than the Scotch Baptists have given. They are high Calvinists and strict communionists. They never extend their fellowship beyond their own body. Their terms of brotherhood are acquiescence in their order and a submission to their doctrines. With these they are shut up; they yield not to any suggestion; they advance not a step; they are just where their fathers left them. As pioneers, they paved the way for the end to be reached."

      These editorial comments from the Edinburgh Disciple journal reflect somewhat the progress of reform in Scotland, and the same is true of England. Edmund Sheppard came from Nottingham in 1843, and James Kilgour, from Kirkcaldy in 1845. They came with developed views as Disciples, not as Scotch Baptists. James Black, and others, who came earlier, were not then developed to the full Scotch Baptist views, but were advancing steadily. David Oliphant closes his quotations from the Edinburgh journal by stating that there was a branch of the Old Scotch Baptists who were more liberal, than the old stock. Judging by the history of Eramosa township (Part Two) it seems that the Scotch Baptists, whom David Oliphant respected (and among whom his father was an elder) were of the more liberal order, and so called the New Scotch Baptists. At all events, out of them came, without a recorded division, the fruitful congregations of Eramosa, Esquesing, Lobo, Aldborough, Mosa, and Howard townships. Add the distant congregation of Cross Roads (Lot 48), P.E.I. (1810) and River John, N.S. (June 15, 1815), and we have eight Scotch Baptist congregations that amicably became Disciples of Christ in early days.

      A comprehensive setting forth in a pamphlet of 48 pages, entitled Primitive Christianity as the only Antidote against National Establishments and Ecclesiastical imposition, by John Mc'Cartney, Glasgow, was almost wholly printed by editor W. W. Eaton, of The Christian, St. John, N.B., in January, 1848. The controversy that then arose lasted the readers for nearly a year. The editor was respectful and tried gently to ameliorate the author's idea that ignorance was the handmaid of religion. The errors lay in claims that had no support from Scripture. One claim was that 'pastors' [52] should support themselves. The editor closed the controversy by the following:

      "The Master is now absent: he has committed to his servants talents; to meet his approbation these talents must be improved. Some disciples have property; others have positions of influence in society; one has a talent to teach and another to exhort; some excel in many things. The Church should seek the order of the New Testament. Every church should have her bishops and deacons, and, as far as they can, they should be imitators of the apostles and the primitive overseers and ministers of the churches. And in their individual capacity and through evangelists, they should send out light and truth to the world. This cannot be done in this country without money. Everyone, therefore, should contribute as the Lord has prospered him for this purpose . . . I have read my Bible to little purpose if this is not the only view of the subject under consideration that can be sustained by the general tenor of apostolic teaching and example of the primitive Christians." Such are ideas familiar almost everywhere in Canada, in undeveloped churches, existing in the inflexible belief that in them there is the complete realization of religious fidelity. The Campbells made a positive, not negative, interpretation of Scripture. We await the day when all Canadian churches will more clearly apprehend their liberty, not their bondage to church order. The whole teaching of the New Testament devolves upon the development of the command to "Go teach all nations, make disciples, teaching them." This is the burden of the New Testament, not church order, about which there is little to record that is not commonly practised.

      At a time in Scotland when true religious light burned low under the chill of an established Church, two brothers, of a distinguished Scottish family, arose to call a halt to sterile formalism and to re-create evangelical Christianity. It was Scripture study that drove them out. Robert and James A. Haldane, had both retired from the navy, aiming to devote their wealth and talents to the spread of the gospel. James Haldane began to preach in May, 1797. The next year the brothers were agitating for a foreign Christian missionary society. They attempted something there, but owing to certain difficulties they devoted themselves to Scotland in earnest. They had deep convictions that the "whole system of revelation and the mystery of God seems to be resolved into the provision for the universal propagation of the gospel (Richardson, Memoirs, i, p. 162.) Few have [53] done so much for their own lands as did the Haldanes. Some of their projects were 'Sabbath' schools, preaching tours to distant parts of Scotland, the establishment of churches of their own order, provision for them by tabernacles, and particularly by the establishment of a seminary where young laymen could be sufficiently educated to preach an urgent gospel of 'fleeing from the wrath to come'. The celebrated Rowland Hill, of England, co-operated with them in a tour of Scotland. They formed the first Scottish Congregation (New order) in January, 1799, with the aid of able men who with them had left the established Church. James Haldane became the first pastor of this Edinburgh church of nearly 400 members. They had yet to learn to abandon infant sprinkling and to adopt believers' baptism, but did so in 1807. A relative, Greville Ewing, was placed in charge of the Glasgow seminary. He was a fine character and a reforming student of the Word. When the young Alexander Campbell, fresh from Ireland, came to Glasgow in 1808 to enter Glasgow University, he brought a letter of introduction to Mr. Ewing, who gave him good counsel and particularly introduced him to the books of Glas and Sandeman. From this extended contact Alexander Campbell found that his leaving the Presbyterian Church in Ireland was but a prelude to the new views he received about primitive Christianity. He was to learn of a Church that was congregationally independent, that had a plurality of elders, observed the Lord's Supper weekly, and the duty of the lay brethren to have a place in its conduct, and so on. For it was Mr. Ewing that had altered the teachings of the Haldanes, which led to some of these changes. Altogether, Mr. Ewing's influence is credited as helping to re-mould Alexander Campbell to the temper and viewpoint of a religious reformer. (See Chapter Two, "Alexander Campbell Joins His Father.") [54]

[DCC 47-54]