June 1987 Department of Theology and Church History Q Kenneth G
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HOLY COMMUNION IN THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY A Thesis submitted to the University of Glasgow for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy KENNETH GRANT HUGHES IFaculty of Divinity, June 1987 Department of Theology and Church History Q Kenneth G. Hughes 1987 i ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to record my indebtedness to the late Rev. Ian A. Muirhead, M. A., B. D., formerly lecturer in the Department of Ecclesiastical History in the University of Glasgow, who guided my initial studies relating to the subject of this thesis. I am particularly conscious, also, of my special debt to his successor, Dr. Gavin White, who accepted me as one of his research students without demur and willingly gave time and consideration in guiding the direction of my writing and advising me in the most fruitful deployment of the in- formation at my disposal. The staff of the University Library, Glasgow, have been unfailingly helpful as have the staff of the Library of New College, Edinburgh. Mr. Ian Hope and Miss Joyce Barrie of that Library have particularly gone out of their way to assist in my search for elusive material. I spent a brief period in Germany searching for docu- mentary evidence of Scottish-students of divinity who matric- ulated at the universities of Germany and, again, I wish to acknowledge the help given to me by the Librarians and their staffs at the University Libraries of Heidelberg and Ttbingen. My written enquiries to Halle, Erlangen, Marburg, Giessen, G6ttingen and Rostock met with a most courteous response, though only a small amount of the interesting material they provided was of use in this present study. Miss Beatrice Morton of Edinburgh, hearing of my interest in Professor J. T. Beck, informed me that her grand- father, William Stevenson, had studied under Beck at Ttbingen and had handed down within his family a bound unpublished MS of his lecture notes for the year 1863. These Miss Morton generously entrusted to me for a time, prior to her presenting them to the-National Library of Scotland. Dr. Hazel Horn of the Scottish Record office, Edinburgh, has shown a sympathetic and informed interest in my work and has hidden from me any trace of impatience at my frequent ii enquiries of her. Dr. I. E. O'Brien, Assistant Principal Archivist of the Strathclyde Regional Archive has also been of help in providing material relating to John Macleod of Govan. The excellent typing skills of Miss Alna McMillan speak for themselves on each successive page and I thank her for her willingness to undertake this task and to make her experience and competence available to me. My greatest debt, however, is that which I owe to my wife, Nancy, who encouraged me to bring this work to completioi when there were often pressing and conflicting claims upon my time and energy as a parish minister. She has consistently maintained that the subject is central to the life of the Scottish Church, and it is in this hope that I now present the thesis. KENNETH GRANT HUGHES MANSE OF CROWN COURT CHURCH, LONDON, W. C. l. iii TA13LE OF CONTENTS CHA; TER PAGE ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS CONTENTS SUMMARY iv vii 1. "SO EXCELLENT A GIFT AND TREASURE". THE 1-10 REDISCOVERY OF COMMUNION IN THE SCOTTISH REFORMED CHURCH. 2. THE SCOTTISH COMMUNION AND FREQUENCY OF 11-36 CELEBRATION. 3. SOME THEOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON THE 37-71 PERIOD 1750-1800. 4. THE OLDER SACRAMENTAL STANDARDS AND THE 72-98 EMERGENCE OF A NEW APPROACH, 1800-1850. 5. THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND AND THE ANGLICAN 99-119 SACRAMENTAL TRADITION. 6. SCOTTISH STUDENTS, GERMAN THEOLOGY AND 120-149 THE EUCHARIST, 1850-1870. 7. THE MERCERSBURG MOVEMENT: ROMANTICISM 150-174 IN GERMANY AND AMERICA. 8. THE MERCERSBURG HERITAGE. 175-191 9. EUCHARISTIC PRAISE: PSALMODY TO HYMNODY 192-218 10. THE COMMUNION HYMN AND THE CHURCH'S 219-245 BELIEF. ii. PROFESSOR WILLIAM MILLIGAN AND THE 246-272 ASSERTION OF CATHOLIC PRINCIPLES. 12. THE EUCHARISTIC TEACHING OF THE 273-302 SCOTO-CATHOLICS. 13. THE LATER NINETEENTH CENTURY AND 303-315 MODERN DEVELOPMENTS. APPENDIX: DOCUMENTS RELATING TO SCOTTISH STUDENTS OF THEOLOGY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TtBINGEN. BIBLIOGRAPHY. iv SUMMARY The purpose of this thesis is to indicate the extent to which nineteenth century eucharistic thought and practice underwent a process of change within the Church of Scotland. It seeks also to identify those aspects of the Sacrament which were most affected by such a process, and to examine the theological and cultural influences which brought about a development of eucharistic thought throughout the course of the century. The thesis begins by showing that'the older Scottish Reformed Communion did not remain intact, either in form or in theological emphasis. Within a century of the in- auguration of Reformed discipline and teaching, such was the diversity of belief and practice that the nature of sacra- mental orthodoxy was seriously affected. A review of the relevant literature of the first half of the nineteenth century--reveals that much of the debate on the Lord's Supper in Scotland focussed upon the issue of the frequency of celebration. There is no doubt that the pre- vailing practice of the Church of Scotland was disposed to maintain a system of infrequent celebration allied to the observance of the Communion "Season". However, the theo- logical treatises of the time show a persistent and influential advocacy of greater frequency (not all of it confined to the Auld Kirk), and advanced arguments which raised a greater awareness in the Church of the meaning and purpose of the Lord's Supper. The early nineteenth century debate over the matter of frequency also draws attention to that epoch's preoccupation with the death of Christ as an aspect of sacramental thought which received undue consideration, overshadowing the old Reformed emphasis upon the Supper as a means of entering into communion with Christ who was not only crucified, but incarnate, risen and ascended. Consequently, in place of the traditional teaching of Calvin, an impoverished and uh- .0 V Reformed memorialist view is identified as having been adopted by many ministers and congregations in their practical approach to the. Sacrament. The thesis goes on to attribute such an understanding to the predominance of the federal or covenant theology within the Church of Scotland. An examination is made of the origin and nature of federalism and its effect upon nineteenth century-eucharistic belief and usage. Through the influence of covenant theology, the Lord's Supper is seen to have been relegated to the role of an appendage to the Word, and the celebration of the Sacrament to be in no sense "efficacious", other than as an aid to devotion and a ratification of what had already been done by the covenant of works and the covenant of grace in the life of the believer. However, the thesis also shows that the liturgical awakening of the early nineteenth century helped to bring about the gradual and irreversible recession of federalism in the life. of the Church. Moreover, it is argued that Romanticism provided a background for such a change. Thus, the Romantic emphasis upon history (and especially upon the themes of. the Middle Ages) quickened the Church's awareness of its continuity with earlier times and gave to signs and symbols a new value and a greater force. With the assertion of the values of Romanticism and the erosion of federal theology, other influences made them- selves felt in the nineteenth century Scottish Church. Anglican scholars unaffected by Tractarianism were known and admired by some, at least, of their peers within the Auld Kirk, in spite of a popular suspicion of episcopacy. Thus, Scottish writers on the Eucharist made no attempt to exclude from their treatises the theological insights of certain Anglican divines. The survival of Cudworth's concept of '@a feast upon a sacrifice" in Scottish sacramental sermons and manuals testifies to this fact in a remarkable way. vi In view of the burgeoning of German influence upon Scottish cultural and intellectual life - beginning tentative- ly in the last decades of the eighteenth century to become one of the established features of Scottish life by 1850 - due account is taken of the practice by which students of divinity spent a semester at a German university. In the light of this development, the possibility of a more precise German impress upon Scottish eucharistic thought is examined. The evidence does not bear out the hypothesis, but German influence upon Scottish students of divinity certainly caused among them a "creative restlessness" which made it hard for them to come to terms with a Scotland still emerging from the last stages of an outmoded federalism. German influence manifested itself obliquely, however, during the decade 1850-1860 and prior to the founding of the Church Service Society in 1865. Moreover, this influence was specifically related 'to the Eucharist and was trans- mitted to the Church of Scotland through the work of John Williamson Nevin and Philip Schaff of the American (German) Reformed Church. In particular, Nevin's eucharistic theo- logy in The Mystical Presence (1846) and the formulation of the Mercersburg Liturgy (1857) presented a challenging reassessment of the classical Calvinist understanding of the Lord's Supper and its application to the Church's sacramental worship. The thesis traces the earlier German influences upon both Nevin and Schaff, examines the content of The Mystical Presence and the liturgical significance of the Mercersburg movement, and assesses the role of both in the eucharistic thought and practice of the Church of Scotland. The view is advanced at this stage that the liturgical development of the nineteenth century, particularly in relation to the Lord's Supper, cannot adequately be surveyed without taking into account the Communion psalmody, and latterly hymnody, of the Church.