A Great Grievance. Laurence A.B. Whitley
centring harmoniously upon a candidate. If he is successful, a call is signed by the electors. He then attests it and submits it to Presbytery for concurrence
patrimony—the estates belonging to the Church and their revenues
planting a church—filling a vacancy
Popular Party (also, wild, narrow, zealous, warm, hot men)—the mostly evangelical, anti-prelatic, anti-patronage wing of the Church.
Praying Societies—groups of devout evangelicals, originating in the mid-Seventeenth century, which met, usually outside the compass of the Established Church, for prayer and Bible study.
prebends—pensions granted to canons or chapter members
probationer (also, expectant, preacher, entrant)—a candidate for the ministry after receiving his licence.
pro hac vice—for this turn or occasion
qualified according to law—having taken the appropriate Oaths
rabbling—mobbing of a clergyman, either evicting him from his charge or resisting his admission
Reduction—in civil law the annulling of a sentence or deed
serving an edict—proclaiming it in the appointed manner, time and place
simony—the buying or selling of ecclesiastical preferments, benefices or emoluments [see Acts, 8, vv.18–19]
simoniacal paction—where a candidate forms an mercenary agreement with another in order to gain an ecclesiastical preferment
sist—where an appeal to a higher court suspends the operation of the lower court’s sentence
spiritualities— the fruits, rents, revenues and offerings of a benefice, as well as the manse and glebe. The temporality referred to the land and the profit pertaining to its jurisdiction
Squadrone—known before the Union as the New Party; earned nickname of Squadrone Volante through avoidance of permanent alliances. Family ties were strong between the Montrose, Tweeddale, Rothes, Haddington, Hopetoun, Findlater, Dundas, and Roxburghe families. Later associated with English opponents of Walpole, known as the Patriots.
tack—a lease of land or of a benefice
tanquam jure devoluto—as by devolved right
teinds—or tithes: the tenth part of the fruits and profits of a parish, to be paid to its minister
temporality ... the land and the profit pertaining to the jurisdiction of a benefice
Thirds of benefices—an arrangement of 1561 whereby the Crown and the reformed ministry were to share a third of the revenues of all ecclesiastical benefices
transportation (or translation)—the loosing of a minister’s relation to one charge and the making up of it to another. The vacant charge prosecutes its call before the Presbytery of the minister it seeks, giving in reasons to show that the move would be for the greater good of the Church. The filled parish is invited to submit answers, and the Presbytery judges accordingly.
trials for licence—after completing his studies, a candidate for the ministry is “tried” by his presbytery, and if deemed suitable, issued with a licence to preach.
trials for ordination—similar to above, and conducted by the Presbytery within whose bounds his future parish lies.
#—when this occurs after a surname, it indicates that a biographical note may be found at Appendix VIII
Acknowledgments
I am most grateful to those who at various times have been of great help and guidance. Most of all, I must thank the late Dr. Eric Stevenson of Edinburgh University, the late Bishop of Portsmouth, Dr. Kenneth Stevenson, Emeritus Professor James Cameron, University of St. Andrews, Dr. Deryck Lovegrove, formerly Lecturer, University of St. Andrews, and Emeritus Professor Ian Hazlett, University of Glasgow.
As well as being indebted to my family for their patience, heartfelt thanks must go to the congregations of Busby, Glasgow, and Montrose Old and St. Andrew’s, for their loyalty, affection and kindness. To be their minister was an inexpressible privilege. Although only a short time at Glasgow Cathedral, I would also thank the congregation for their kind welcome.
Abbreviations
‘15 the Jacobite Rising of 1715
‘45 The Jacobite Rising of 1745
APS Acts of the Parliament of Scotland
AUP Aberdeen University Press
BL British Library
DSCHT Dictionary of Scottish History and Theology
EU Edinburgh University
EUP Edinburgh University Press
FES Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae
GA General Assembly
GAC General Assembly Commission
GU Glasgow University
HMC Historic Manuscripts Commission
LA Lord Advocate
LHC Lord High Commissioner
LUP London University Press
NLS National Library of Scotland
n.d. .no date of publication
n.p. no place of publication
ODNB Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
OUP Oxford University Press
RSCHS Records of the Scottish Church History Society
SAP Scottish Academic Press
SAPL Select Anti-Patronage Library
StAP St. Andrew Press
SHR Scottish Historical Review
SHS Scottish History Society
SRO Scottish Record Office*
WRH West Register House
* from 1 April 2011 this became The National Records of Scotland (NRS)
Introduction
Ecclesiastical lay patronage is a system, dating back to the early middle ages, whereby a benefice without an incumbent is supplied with a replacement, a benefice being a church office involving duties for whose discharge, property (sometimes called the temporalities) and income (sometimes called the spiritualities) are provided. Where the patronage system still operates, as in the Church of England, the church’s patron, be it a private individual, college, trust, local council, bishop, dean and chapter, or the Crown, has the right, whenever there is a vacancy, to choose who should be the one to fill it. The patron’s preferred candidate is intimated to the church authorities, and in England this is the bishop, in the form of a presentation to the charge. If the authorities are satisfied that certain criteria concerning the presentee have been met, he/she is then installed as the legal incumbent.
Although the historic practice remains commonplace within the Church of England, that the right of patronage (jus patronatus) continued to exist within the Church of Scotland after the Reformation, especially after the emergence of its presbyterian structure, has sometimes caused surprise. This is despite the fact that lay patronage was the reformed Church of Scotland’s official system for filling, or “planting” vacancies, for by far the greater part of its history after 1560, and thus in general continuity with pre-Reformation practice. On occasion, the practice did fall into disuse, and twice it was formally abolished by Parliament, but its absences were never of long duration. Only as recently as 1874 did it disappear for what would seem to be the final time.1
When in 1712 it was restored, after a short suspension, for its last appearance in Scotland, the disruptive effects were deep and