JOHN WITHERSPOON HIS SCOTTISH MINISTRY JOHN ••' ITIIERSPOCN HIS SCOTTISH MINISTRY by William Oliver Brackett submitted to the Faculty of Divinity of the University of Edinburgh in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Introduction The subject of this thesis a^earea at first to lack promise. It seemed that John v'itherspoon T s career had been thoroughly described. His place in history is fixed by the great service he rendered in America during the years that include the birth of the United States. He ^Tas president of a leading college; he was a member of the Continental Congress; he was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence; and he was moderator of the first General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the newly founded American republic. On closer examination,however,the subject showed great promise. The career of John '.Yitherspoon in America has overshadowed his earlier life in his native land. He was born in Scotland, and for twenty-four years he was a minister of the Scottish Church. This period should be brought to light, because it is important in itself and because it contains the elements of his later achievements. V.L.Collins,in his two volume work, President Witherspoon, leaves nothing to be desired in his exposition of ""itherspoon ! s American career; but he has not fully treated his attainments in his native land. No one has written fully on this period. It is the object of this thesis to discover and elucidate the facts of the career of John V'/it her spoon as a Scottish churchman. ""itherspoon T s Scottish ministry naturally divides itself iv in such a way that the outline I have followed in this work is almost inevitable. Chapter one supplies the necessary material and spiritual background; chapter two describes Witherspoon T s home and formal education. Because V7ither spoon separated his parish ministry from his extra-parochial ministry,I have done so. His parish work at Beith and Paisley is treated in chapters three and four,respectively. Of his extra-parochial ministry,the part dealing with Tpitherspoon T s place in the church controversies is considered in chapter five; his general influence,other than controversial,is described in chapter six. I wish to make grateful acknowledgment of the kindly and helpful interest of all the ministers,librarians and employees in government offices to whom I have applied for information in the course of my investigations. CONTENTS Introduction iv Synopsis viii Chapters I Material and Spiritual Background 1 II Early Life and Education 17 III Ministry at Beith 52 IV Ministry at Paisley 70 V Ministry in Ecclesiastical Controversy 114 VI Ministry in Theology and Morals 195 Conclusion 244 Appendices 1. Table of Patrons of Scottish Benefices 247 2. Date of Witherspoon's Birth 247 3. Alleged Descent of Witherspoon from John Knox 249 4. Witherspoon T s Call to Beith 252 5. "Five Feued Houses" of Beith 254 6. Witherspoon and the Beith Militia 255 7. Value of the Scots Merk 257 8. Verdict in the Snodgrass Case 258 9. An Essay Doubtfully Attributed to Eitherspoon 258 10. Reference of the Phrase, "strange cattle" 261 11. Conditions of V/itherspoon f s leaving Scotland 262 12. Financial Status of Witherspoon 263 Bibliography 266 SYNOPSIS John Witherspoon His Scottish Ministry SYNOPSIS Chapter page I Material and Spiritual Background 1 Darien Scheme 1 Act of Union between Scotland and England 2 Scottish Church in the beginning of the eighteenth century 4 Clergy and civil freedom 5 Marrow controversy 7 Simson heresy trials 8 Secession of 1752 10 Law of patronage 10 II Early Life and Education 17 Birth ana childhood 17 James 7ritherspoon 18 Mrs. James \7itherspoon (Anna Walker) 25 Haddington Grammar School 27 University of Edinburgh: academic period 31 Professor John Stevenson 41 University of Edinburgh: theological period 46 Licensure 50 III Ministry at Beith 52 Presentation to Beith Parish 52 Call to Beith Parish 53 Ordination to Beith Parish 55 Beith Parish 56 Jacobite rebellion of 1745 57 Prison experience 59 Parish work and discipline 62 The ideal minister 64 Marriage 65 Beith church re-built 66 Controversy over county roads 67 Presentation to Laigh Church, Paisley 69 viii Chapter page IV Ministry at Paisley 70 Delay in call to Laigh Church 70 Opposition from the Presbytery of Paisley 71 Witherspoon»s defence 71 Call to the Laigh Church, Paisley 75 John Witherspoon and Thomas Boston compared 75 Theatre and amusements 80 Admission tJo Laigh Church 85 Burghal Parish of Paisley 84 Laigh Church 85 Witherspoon ! s part in the life of Paisley 88 Controversy over erecting two kirk-sessions 88 Call to Scots Church, Rotterdam 91 Controversy over uniting oiiices of session clerk and schoolmaster 93 Call to Dundee 94 Lawsuit against the heirs of Bail^ie Fulton 96 Snodgrass case, parish discipline 98 Degree conferred by St. Andrews University 102 Sermons 103 Views of secular history 108 Call to Dublin 112 Call to College of New Jersey 112 V Ministry in Ecclesiastical. Controversy 114 Moderate Party 114 Controversy over patronage 116 Witherspoon r s opposition to Irvine settlement 118 Torphichen case 120 Inverkeithing case 121 Ascendancy of Moderate Party 126 Theology and clerical conduct of Moderate men 128 Ecclesiastical Characteristics 130 The tragedy, Douglas 150 Serious Inquiry into the Nature and Effects of the Stage 152 Controversy over commissions of members of the Assembly, 1757; 1766 164 Controversy over Kilconquhar settlement 174 Serious Apology for the Ecclesiastical Character istics 178 History of a Corporation of Servants 187 Exclusion from the Assembly of 1766 194 IX Chapter page VI Ministry in Theology and Morals 195 Confession of Faith 195 Theology of the Itodeiate Party 197 Philosophy of Infidels 200 Conduct of Infidels 204 Essay on Justification 207 James Hervey and John Wesley 208 Witherspoon no seceder 214 Treatise on Regeneration 222 Church of England ^23 Foreign Missions 225 John Witherspoon and Hugh Blair compared 229 Subject matter of Witherspoon's writings 238 Style of Witherspoon T s writings 234 Call to College of New Jersey 236 Refusal 237 Acceptance of re-election 238 Preparations for leaving Scotland 238 Termination of Scottish ministry 241 Reasons for Witherspoon ? s going to America 241 CHAPTER I The Material and Siritual Background "ither s : oon T s Scottish Ministry I»iATERIAL AKS SPIRITUAL BACKGRQUKD OF WITHERSPOON* S SCOTTISH MINISTRY. CHAPT3R Xt The material and spiritual forces that affected Scottish life in the early part of the eighteenth century are essen- :tial elements of the environment in which John V/itherspoon wss "born and in which he grew up. These forces made the general background against which '^itherspoon rose to import­ ance as a minister of the Scottish Church. The whole of Scotland was beggared in 1700 &s a result of the failure of the Darien Scheme, the unfoundedly hopeful project for making the Isthmus of Panama, the corm::ercial cross­ roads of the world, to the profit of Scottish pockets. Patriotic enthusiasts had subscribed £400,000, an amount equal to the value of two-thirds of all the coin in circulation in the country; although only a little over half of this (2) subscribed sum was ever paid in, the failure of the scheme brought poverty to the nation and dissipated all hopes of prosperity. But prosperity was "just around the corner", a prosperity less spectacular but more lasting. 1. Graham, Social Life of Scotland in the Eighteenth Century, vol.ii, p.245. 2. Graham, Social Life of Scotland in the Eighteenth Century, vol.ii, p.242 2. This surer prosperity "began to flow as a result of the Act of Uni 0n between Scotland and England in 1707. The provision of the Act of Union removing all customs barriers between England and Scotland stimulated trading between the two kingdoms. But the(i) results of this trade were slightly in England's favour. Another provision of the Act relative to trade had the opposite effect on Scotland; this provision removed the restriction that had prohibited Scotland from trading with English colonies. V/ithin the generation after the Act of Union the commerce with Virginia and the Indes brought fortune to Glasgow. Traffic in tobacco brought the first tide of prosperity. The increased possibility for trade stimulated the manufacture of articles suitable for export. Spinning and weaving developed rapidly; the coal mining and iron industries, more slowly. As over- :seas commerce increased the deriand for ships stimulated shipbuilding. Scotland f s union with England marked the beginning of a world -wide point of view for Scotland. At last she needed no longer to keep a watchful eye of the Borders. 9 looking farther afield she began to see the world as the proving / 1. Graham, Social ^ife of Scotland in the Eighteenth century p. 247; Gunningham, V/. , The Growth of Unglish Industry and Commerce, vol.ii. p. 334. 3. proving ground for her sons and her industries. Interest in war paled as the necessity for it disappeared. In the wake of increased commercial activity came improved stsnd- :ards of living; improved standards of living facilitated the growth of culture and letters. The greater part of Scotland's contribution to human progress was made after 1707, in consequence of the Union. All this directly affected John V/itherspoon. Govern­ ment subsidies given in fulfilment of terms of the Union aided the linen trade(i) in Tester Parish where Vitherspoon 1 s father was minister. As a boy Withers£jon saw the turf on either side of Gifford V/ater used as drying greens for the (2) newly formed British Linen Company.