The Bulwark Magazine of the Scottish Reformation Society

OCT - DEC 2013 // £1

Oct - Dec 2013 1 The Bulwark Magazine of the Scottish Reformation Society The Magdalen Chapel 41 Cowgate, , EH1 1JR Tel: 0131 220 1450 Email: [email protected] www.scottishreformationsociety.org Registered charity: SC007755

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cO-OPEraTIOn OBJEcTS OF ThE SOcIETy (a) To propagate the evangelical Protestant faith In pursuance of its objects, the Society may co- and those principles held in common by operate with Churches and with other Societies those Churches and organisations adhering to whose objects are in harmony with its own. the Reformation;

(b) To diffuse sound and Scriptural teaching on Magazine Editor: Rev Douglas Somerset the distinctive tenets of Protestantism and All literary contributions, books for review and Roman Catholicism; papers, should be sent to: (c) To carry on missionary work among The Magdalen Chapel adherents of the latter faith with a view to winning them to the doctrines of grace and to 41 Cowgate, Edinburgh the fellowship of the true Gospel; EH1 1JR (d) To produce and distribute evangelistic, religious and other literature in connection with The views expressed in articles are those of the promotion of the Protestant religion; the contributor and may not necessarily reflect those of the Editor or the Committee of the (e) To promote the associating together of men and women, and especially young people, Society. Scriptural references are from the A.V. for systematic Bible Study and holding of except where stated otherwise. meetings for the above specified purposes.

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2 The Bulwark The Part II Reformation in Ireland John Smith

I. DANGER AND DELIVERANCE placed in positions of authority and form the basis of a future Romanist regime. James With the Restoration of the monarchy in began to appoint Roman Catholics to key 1660, Anglicanism was re-established. positions in the government, the armed In Ireland, fourteen new bishops were forces and the judiciary. In Ireland, Richard consecrated to supplement the eight who Talbot, Earl of Tyrconnell was appointed had survived the Commonwealth era. It Lord Deputy. Following the failed Monmouth is interesting to note that had Cromwell Rebellion, James unleashed thousands of survived only a few more years, all the Jesuits in England, and brought over Irish bishops would have been dead, thus mercenary units to subjugate the people. breaking the line of ‘apostolic succession’ Those suspected of disloyalty were hunted which certain Anglicans regarded as down by the bloodthirsty Judge Jeffries essential. Charles II, as well as being a lover ‘of the bloody assizes’, tried by kangaroo of pleasure known as ‘the Merry Monarch’, courts and hung on trees along the was a closet Papist and his co-religionists roadsides as a warning to others. Because were hopeful of a reversal of their fortunes. Irish Protestants were a minority, many In spite of his private inclinations, however, feared a repeat of the 1641 massacres. Charles was well aware that having received his throne from Parliament, he would at least In 1688, James’s second wife gave birth have to pay lip service to Protestantism. It of a son. Leading politicians viewed the was a period of frustration for Irish Roman prospect of an enduring Roman Catholic Catholics and anxiety for all Protestants, dynasty with horror and invited Prince Anglican and Presbyterian alike. William of Orange, who was married to James’s daughter Mary, to cross the Charles’s younger brother James II, who Channel with his army and depose the succeeded in 1686, was a fanatical Papist Papist tyrant. James’s support collapsed who was bent on re-establishing the Roman and he fled to France. William was a true Catholic Church throughout his realms. In friend of the Reformation who solemnly Ireland and to a lesser extent in England, promised, “The Protestant Religion and there remained a nucleus of Roman Catholic the liberties of England, I will maintain”. noblemen and professionals, who could be James remained popular in Ireland, where

Oct - Dec 2013 3 Londonderry, he hoped to launch his bid to win back the with 6,000 French troops and immediately throne of England. Tyrconnell marshalled marched to , where he received a an army and secured the main towns and rapturous reception, before joining up with strong points for his exiled master. The only his Irish supporters and heading for Derry. significant resistance was in Ulster, where James reluctantly agreed to restore the the population was mainly Protestant. By lands confiscated by Cromwell, to their November 1688, only the walled city of original Roman Catholic owners. The siege Derry held out against the . was eventually lifted by William’s warships It later became famous as ‘the Maiden City on 28th July 1689. Two weeks later, on the Foyle’ because its walls were never William’s army, commanded by the Dutch breached. Marshal, Frederick Schomberg, landed at Ballyholme Bay, County Down but they When the Jacobite forces arrived there on made little headway against the Jacobites th 7 December 1688, the thirteen renowned and suffered badly from harsh weather and Apprentice Boys of Derry saved the city disease over the winter. from probable mass murder by closing the Bishop’s Gate against them. The cry William was frustrated by Schomberg’s of the defenders was “No Surrender!” On slow progress and decided to take personal th 12 March 1689, James landed at charge of operations. On 14th June 1690

4 The Bulwark The Cathedral, he landed at Carrickfergus with 36,000 event remembered as ‘the flight of the wild men, including his elite Dutch Blue Guards. geese’. Some 14,000 men subsequently Following William’s hard-won victory at the formed the in the French Army. River Boyne on 12th July, James panicked Irish Roman Catholics retained a fondness and abandoned his virtually undamaged for the Stuarts and the Papacy remained army, before returning to France. The committed to restoring them to the throne Protestant army entered Dublin unopposed until 1766. Soldiers of the Irish Brigade and the war might have ended there and joined the army of the Young Pretender and then but for William’s published peace fought at the in 1746. terms which excluded the Roman Catholic landowners and officers from the pardon II THE ASCENDANCY YEARS offered to the rank and file. Hostilities dragged on, with the Jacobites doggedly As Irish agriculture improved, church defending a large area of western Ireland, benefices became more valuable. As a until the Treaty of was signed on result, instead of being a dumping ground 3rd October 1691. for rejects, Ireland became a desirable location for ambitious English clergy. Irish The treaty required the Roman Catholic Irish bishops were powerful figures, employing army to leave Ireland for the Continent, an armies of servants, dispensing justice and

Oct - Dec 2013 5 Duke of Wellington dominating local affairs. Sad to say, most less than the diocese of Durham, the Church Episcopal appointments were made without of Ireland had four archbishops and twenty- reference to spiritual qualities and were often two bishops and possessed immense determined by political horse-trading. Some revenues, mainly derived from tithes paid by bishops had little or no interest in religion and Roman Catholic peasants. proved indolent and useless. And far from providing security and stability, the great Most clergymen were sons of the aristocracy, wealth and political privilege of the Church of accustomed to hard drinking and country Ireland was a disadvantage which led to an pursuits. Many had never even studied almost grotesque alienation from the bulk of theology at university. “Ignorant of the truth, the population. In spite of having a population they and their congregations were satisfied

6 The Bulwark with some short moral discourse. The people were generally as ignorant of the Scriptures as the inhabitants of Hindustan. The priests were meanwhile at work among the people. The sick and dying were watched; their fears were wrought upon. They were told of the power the priests had—of the influence possessed by the Virgin, and much about the OLD CHURCH; and as soon as any seemed to give way, on whatever point, the priest was sent for—he plied them anew, and seldom failed with the poor ignorant people... the protestant clergyman being the while at a distance, neither knowing nor caring much what was going on. In this way more than two thirds of the lower and middle classes of protestants went over to the church of Rome. Throughout whole districts our churches were almost emptied, and in many country places were allowed to fall into 3rd Earl of Roden (1788-1870) ruins.” air. After the spread of the French Revolution After the death of the Old Pretender, the forced the closure of most of the Continental Roman Catholic Church withdrew the seminaries, the Government controversially right of the exiled Stuarts to nominate their provided funds for the construction of Irish bishops and the hierarchy sought to Maynooth College in 1795. The outbreak of distance itself from anti-government views. war between Britain and France encouraged They strongly denounced the violence the radical nationalists, known as the United which terrorised many rural areas following Irishmen. A minority of Ulster Presbyterians the emergence of armed gangs of both held radical and deist views and sympathised Protestants and Romanists: the Peep O’ with the French Revolution and many of the Day Boys and the Whiteboys. In 1795, the leaders of the United Irishmen, including the Orange Order was founded at Dan Winter’s famous Wolfe Tone, were Presbyterians. But cottage in Loughgall, Co. Armagh, in order their mass support came from the Roman to preserve the and Catholic peasantry. to “hold sacred the name of our glorious deliverer William the Third”. It soon became Although the Roman Archbishop Troy a nationwide organisation. criticised “the irreligious and wicked agitators who are violating the laws of our country In response to the new attitude of the and attempting by insurrection and murder Roman hierarchy, the government relaxed to subvert the laws of our gracious king”, the and allowed the construction the peasants could not be restrained and of purpose-built chapels. Only in the poorest rebellion broke out in 1798. While Tone and rural areas was Mass still held in the open

Oct - Dec 2013 7 his friends may have been inspired by the relied upon the Roman Catholic hierarchy ideals of ‘Liberty, Equality and Fraternity’, the to restrain the rebellious tendencies of their rank and file, the storied ‘Pikemen of ’98’, flock. However the rise of the nationalists were motivated by a bitter hatred of ‘heretics’. under Daniel O’Connell resulted in a Before the rebels were decisively defeated sea-change in relations between the by the army, hundreds of Protestants were government and the Church of Rome. murdered, including a hundred burned alive Many priests became deeply involved in in a barn at Scullabogue, near New Ross. Nationalist politics, giving rabble-rousing Many priests intervened and pleaded with speeches at mass meetings. Roman the rebels to spare the lives of Protestant Catholic emancipation was reluctantly hostages. The government’s response was granted in 1829 by the government the Act of Union (1801) which abolished the of the Duke of Wellington, himself an Irish Irish parliament and made the country an Protestant. The Church Temporalities Act integral part of the United Kingdom, with Irish (1833) abolished some of the worst abuses members sitting at Westminster. in the Established Church and the civil disobedience of the ‘Tithe War’ forced the III. THE SECOND REFORMATION government to transfer the church tax from the peasants to the landowners in 1834. By the early nineteenth century, around half of the two thousand clergy in the Church From the 1820s onwards, the Revival of Ireland, including many of the new movement known as ‘the Second generation of bishops, were Evangelicals. Reformation’ saw the conversion of tens of Presbyterians, too, largely returned to the thousands of Roman Catholics, particularly ‘old paths’ under the powerful leadership in the west of Ireland. Missionaries from of Rev. Henry Cooke, who was anxious to various agencies were involved in teaching, make common cause with the Anglicans medical, and social work as well as direct against the growing power of Popery. Irish evangelism, including public debates with Protestants had been deeply shaken by the the priests, many of which ended in a riot. rebellion and were determined to see the Many Evangelical clergy learned to preach Gospel prosper in Ireland. Missionary zeal in Irish. inspired the formation of the Hibernian Bible Society (1806), the Church of Ireland Jews Because they were mainly located in Society (1810) and the Hibernian Church remote areas, converts were vulnerable to Missionary Society (1814). Among the victimisation and violence and many left Irish Evangelicals were numerous wealthy the country. Priests pronounced fearful aristocrats, such as Lady Powerscourt who imprecations upon anyone associating with “filled her house with the most eminent the Evangelicals, for instance this curse put divines of every denomination in England, on the work of a school: “I pray God to pour Scotland and Ireland. Topics were arranged down all vengeance on those who shall for discussion, chiefly on prophetical send their children to Kiltrellig school. May subjects, and all the neighbourhood was they be struck blind and deaf so as never invited to hear them.” to see their children again ... I pray God that every child who goes to the school that for The government was wary of zealous every day he spends in it his life may be Protestants, having for several decades curtailed a twelvemonth”.

8 The Bulwark The most prominent advocate of the leading role in helping famine victims, but Second Reformation was Power Le Poer Anglican clergy were also deeply involved Trench, Archbishop of Tuam (1770-1839). and scores of them perished from disease He was a forceful, uncompromising man as a result. Nationalist propagandists and a firm believer in the potential of ‘the sought to discredit Protestantism by Open Bible’. Trench’s ‘hands on’ approach branding Gospel outreach as “Souperism”, was remarkable for the time: he personally implying the starving peasants were fed catechised peasant children and helped only on condition that they renounced to serve soup to the poor. The benevolent Romanism. Archbishop was respected by the whole community. “I never saw less ostentatious IV. DISESTABLISHMENT AND DECLINE respect shown to any man of his station,” a colleague recalled. “It seemed habitual For decades, the enemies of the Established to the people to see the venerable man Church had been campaigning for the come amongst them and listen to their removal of her privileges, pointing out, for tales of suffering.” Bishop Robert Daly of instance, that there were scores of benefices Cashel (1783-1872) was another stalwart, in which Protestant services were never who reportedly looked remarkably like held. The 1861 Church census revealed Martin Luther. A distinguished Irish scholar, that the Established Church could only with formidable organisational skills, his claim the allegiance of one eighth of the views were “those of Irish Toryism, pure population and over 10% of the Church’s and simple, hatred of popery which 2,428 parishes had no resident Protestants. nothing could mollify, hostility to all sorts of In 1871, Gladstone’s government liberalism, which nothing could conciliate”. disestablished the Irish Church, which the Liberals regarded as an indefensible Another leading figure was therd 3 Earl of bastion of Tory privilege. Queen Victoria was Roden (1788-1870), Deputy Grand Master furious and understandably thought that of the Orange Lodge. In 1834 he organised granting Royal Assent involved breaking the largest ever Orange rally when over her Coronation Oath. By contrast, the 60,000 men gathered at Hillsborough. Roman Catholic Church rejoiced in her now Yet the Earl’s militant Protestantism was undisputed status as the Mother Church of combined with a genuine and prayerful Ireland and looked forward to the day when compassion for his fellow countrymen. He the ancient cathedrals would once again diligently visited sick tenants on his estate resound with the Latin Mass. The Anglicans and travelled thousands of miles to support retreated into something of a siege mentality, Gospel outreach to Roman Catholics. although they remained firmly Protestant— His record of these journeys, Progress of for instance banning crosses in churches— the Reformation in Ireland, was recently and they were virtually unaffected by the republished. Oxford Movement which had such a baneful effect upon the Church of England. In the dreadful Potato Famine (1845-49), at least a million people died of starvation In 1880, the Nationalists won three quarters or disease and an even larger number of Irish parliamentary seats and Archbishop emigrated to America. The priests took the Croke urged his flock, many of whom were

Oct - Dec 2013 9 already withholding their rents, to refuse In Ulster, resistance to Home Rule was fierce. to pay any taxes either, as they would be The Ulster Volunteer Force was founded “spent on bludgeons for policemen to be under the leadership of Sir Edward Carson used in smashing the skulls of our people who warned that “Home rule is Rome rule”. and generally for the support of a foreign The 1912 Ulster Covenant was signed by garrison or native slaves who hate and hundreds of thousands of Loyalists. Its despise everything Irish.” centenary was commemorated last year by the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland. Tensions Yet most Irish nationalists, who included rose with the growth of paramilitary groups some Protestants, wanted no more than on both sides. But neither the government Home Rule within the United Kingdom, a nor the public believed that armed nationalist concept championed by the Liberal Party. groups like the Irish Volunteers and the Only a small minority of extremists, such Citizen Army were a serious military threat. as the infamous Fenians, held Republican Following the outbreak of the First World views and even Sinn Fein began life in War, over a quarter of a million Irishmen, 1906 as a constitutional monarchist party. both Protestants and Roman Catholics, When Queen Victoria visited Dublin in 1900 volunteered to fight for King and Country, immense crowds turned out to greet her many of them in the legendary 36th (Ulster) and Edward VII received an equally warm Division. In 1914 Irish Home Rule was welcome three years later. passed into law, scheduled to come into force at the end of hostilities.

Tuam Cathedral, Ireland

10 The Bulwark V. THE EASTER RISING AND INDEPENDENCE

In early April 1916, Count Plunkett, the envoy of the ‘Irish Provisional Government’ had a lengthy meeting in Rome with Pope Benedict XV at which they “discussed the coming struggle for Irish Independence”. Plunkett informed the Pope that the date of the planned insurrection was set for Easter Sunday and assured him that “the Volunteer Executive pledged the Irish Republic to fidelity to the Holy See and the interests of religion”. Benedict then “conferred his Apostolic Benediction on the men who were facing death for Ireland’s liberty”. The exiled Nationalist leader Sir Roger Casement, assisted by Jesuit priests, was meanwhile feverishly conspiring with the Germans to undermine the British Empire. Dublin, Easter Rising - 1916

th The Easter Rising, which began on 24 they were forced to use heavy artillery, April, shocked most people on both sides reducing much of the city centre to ruins. of the Irish Sea. Members of the Irish While hardly surprising in the circumstances, Volunteers seized several key buildings in the execution of fifteen rebels only aided Dublin, and raised the tricolour flag over Republican propagandists. the General Post Office. An eloquent ‘proclamation of independence’, which After the surviving ringleaders were referred to ‘gallant allies in Europe’, i.e. the released from prison, hostilities resumed. Germans, was read out to a bemused and The Anglo-Irish War (1919-21) was a hostile crowd, some of whom waved Union contest between the IRA’s guerrilla tactics flags and shouted, “If you want to fight go and targeted assassinations of policemen to France”. Most Dubliners regarded the and soldiers and the government’s heavy- Volunteers as a band of madcap extremists handed reprisals, latterly involving 60,000 and the mainstream press in both Britain soldiers and the controversial paramilitary and Ireland roundly condemned them as police, the ‘Black and Tans’. Eventually, traitors who were stabbing their country in the government agreed to negotiations the back when it was battling for survival in and the Irish Free State, which remained an all-out war. The Germans unsuccessfully part of the British Empire, was established attempted to land a large quantity of arms in the south. Before long a new civil war and ammunition in . Casement broke out between moderate Nationalists came ashore from a U-boat but was quickly and the more extreme minority, led by the apprehended. charismatic Eamonn De Valera, who would accept nothing less than a fully independent Additional troops were brought over from republic. England and in order to dislodge the rebels,

Oct - Dec 2013 11 The six mainly Protestant counties The Protestant population in the south of Ulster remained part of the United declined from over 10% in 1921 to less Kingdom although Sir James Craig and than 3% in 1991. Interestingly, however, his government faced a massive terrorist it had risen again to 5% by 2006. After onslaught. Gunmen, many of them hired independence, almost the entire Protestant Mexican and American adventurers, working class of Dublin—over 10,000 attacked civilians in trains, crowded streets, people—left the country as did entire factories and even in churches. Businesses communities in Munster. Today, the Church were set on fire and in the countryside crops of Ireland is so weakened that some bishops were destroyed and cattle mutilated. Bank preside over as many as six of the original robberies became commonplace in border sees. Anglicanism has become increasingly counties. However the Ulster authorities concentrated in Ulster which accounts for enlisted almost all the adult male loyalists 75% of its strength. into an auxiliary police force for the defence of their property and province. Before long VI. CONCLUSION the trouble died down, only to resume with a vengeance in the 1960s. The Church of Rome’s Latin motto Sedet Svper Universvm, means, “the whole world In 1932, De Valera won power by the is Her seat”. Having detached Ireland from ballot box and subsequently dominated the United Kingdom by a long process of Irish politics for four decades. The Irish political intrigue, the Papacy has not lost its Republicans’ virulent hatred of Britain was desire to reclaim its ancient primacy over revealed at the end of the Second World the rest of the . A popular idea War. While the rest of Europe celebrated, in Romanist circles is Anglia Dos Mariae, the Irish Government sent a letter of i.e., England as ‘Mary’s Dowry’, a phrase sympathy to the German ambassador first recorded in the reign of Edward the following the suicide of Adolf Hitler. In 1945, Confessor. After the Reformation, this motto the remaining links with the Crown were was used in reference to Rome’s dream to severed and Ireland became a republic, reconvert Britain. In 1893 Cardinal Vaughan until recently dominated by a monolithic consecrated England “to Mary’s Immaculate and corrupt Roman hierarchy. Heart” and no doubt his menacing dream

is still high on the Vatican’s agenda. But The popular view of the independence movement, while highly influential, is loaded instead of this fearful prospect, our prayer with romanticism and half-truths. The British is that multitudes of people would turn to are portrayed as colonial exploiters who Christ in a glorious ‘Third Reformation’ in cruelly held on to Ireland by brute force. By Ireland. “Poor wretched Ireland ... shall yet contrast, the Republican leaders are viewed have a Gospel Day. I can’t yet see how or as legendary Celtic warriors. In reality, it when, but it must be, and till then, my eye is would have been impossible for the British only waiting darkly for its accomplishment,” to rule Ireland without the support of tens of (Selina, Countess of Huntingdon). thousands of Irishmen, in the police, army, civil service and courts and the acquiescence of the majority of the public.

12 The Bulwark Notes of Communion Table Addresses

These notes were taken down by a hearer and were first printed in the Free Church Monthly Record in 1937

by Dr. John Kennedy, Dingwall

I. Fencing of the Tables who are called “dogs”. The Father has said, “Thy people shall be willing in the day of There are two tables in the House of God, thy power,” and the Son has said, “All that with the same kind of food on both, yet the Father has given me shall come to me.” they are two different tables. There is first There will be guests for the Table. What will the Gospel Table: what bread does it have? they be the better for coming? “He that It is the provision of God in the Covenant eateth of this shall never hunger or thirst.” If of Grace, in the doctrines, calls and that it is not gain I don’t know what is. And promises of the Gospel; in the doctrines of what do the “dogs” do? They keep from the Gospel are calls to come to Christ and one table and break in to the other! Christ promised to all that come to Him. There is the second table, that of the Lord’s Where are we to find guests for this table? Supper. Some will not come to the first, Why, you say, in all the congregation surely! but will come to the second. How awful, There are plenty of guests, but all except refusing to come to the table to which you those called by God are reckoned “dogs” are invited and aggravating your guilt by and their place is under the table. There is coming to the other! I see two wonders a sense in which all have an opportunity here. God deals with some who are “dogs” of being guests to whom the Gospel is and the next sight I get of them they are sent, but there is a difference between sons at His table. And the other is that an opportunity and the guest’s seat at there are some children at the table who the table. The great number, however, say, “I am not a son but a dog,” and yet keep away, and are under the intention of they in partaking of this table they have keeping away from the table. What will it this hope, “I will yet sit at a table to which mean but adding to your guilt in refusing to Satan will have no access.” It is good for come when this table is spread before you? them to have this. Whatever their condition But God did not leave the table to those is, their duty is to come, and to “do this in

Oct - Dec 2013 13 14 The Bulwark Dr. John Kennedy remembrance” of Him. But there is danger II. Pre-Communion Table Address in putting confession in room of inward partaking. There is a danger in confessing “As far as east is from the west, so far hath the Christ you do not know. It is like a He removed our transgressions from us.” person dying of hunger with a dish and East is far from the west, but what is more spoon beside him, and he puts the [empty] wonderful, they will never come nearer spoon to his mouth, but what is he the each other; however many turns the earth better for that? It is so with those who feast may make, its distance is between them. outwardly today, and do not come to Christ He puts His people’s sins so far from Him! How was it done? In two great steps; first, that He may be “all in all,” and do not come by the glorious Surety. His people have a in dependence upon His Spirit as the Spirit Covenant union with Him and so there was of Life and Faith. imputed to Him what put their sins for ever from them. Whatever they could be charged Someone says, “I would not like to be with, it would require to rest on Him. In without the right or without the frame of Christ their sins are put away as far as spirit meet for coming.” Only by reaching east is distant from the west, and as these Christ can you attain to both, and in that never come together, so their persons and case I would be the better of sitting beside condemnations will never come together. you at the table! It would be better than Many are the seas that lie between east sitting beside him who says, “my profession and west, but what are they in comparison is not broken, the Church gives me credit, with the ocean of merit there is in Christ, and what would, therefore, keep me from which stretches between them and their the table?” You are on the Tower of Babel, sins! There is another sea between them and you will have a fall, either in mercy or in and their sins; it is the love of Jehovah! judgment! But He will raise up the poor man and the indigent; He has invited him, and Will I go further? Yes, the eternal ocean He will not take his warrant from any other of the glory of the Godhead is between on earth, no, not from the angels in Heaven. them and their sins and that is enough! But if He put them and their sins so far from each other in their persons, that does I would not wish to see at the table any not say that He put them far from their that would put their own works in the place memory, from their understanding, from of Christ. I would not wish to see any that their conscience. In the self-same sense in have not this, that God would not allow him which God forgets them, He makes them to to be without a token for good, and without remember them. Is it as sins to be pardoned His presence. You say, “I had something of that they are remembered? No, He gives this, but not much.” Never mind, I would them to remember them as sins that were think less of you if you thought more of your pardoned, and when they remember them own prayers! God brings under obligation as such they will be truly humbled and sin to Him those on whom He spoils everything will be bitter in truth to them. they have. I would not wish any to know the step [i.e. the frame of mind] of some going You may think that if you forget to remember to the public worship of God, but it is good them as evil, your mind would be easy, but for them that He will not betray their privacy. it is when remembering them as having

Oct - Dec 2013 15 Dingwall from the Black Isle pierced the Loved One, when seeing them Testament in my blood.” “Drink ye all of it.” in His wounds, that they will teach the This is the proof that He put your sins as far conscience and the heart. What effect will as east is distant from the west. You might this have? A broken and a contrite heart! say it is too much for you to take that in! “Oh, what a beast I am, what a stone, what No, it is not too much for you, for it is not a devil!” These are three bad companions, too much for God to do it, and to give you but nothing better can be said of the natural a proof of it in the ordinance. heart. And when His people are given the tenderness of the new heart, this will be Another thing for you to remember is the their plaint! There are two words from God second great step, that the pollution of sin to them: “A new heart will I give you ... and will be put as far from you as the guilt. He I will take away the stony heart out of your makes sure that everything in the Covenant flesh”, and, “I will pour upon the house of is yours, and Himself yours to look after Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, you, to keep your soul from death until he the spirit of grace and of supplications”. puts you without spot in His Presence. You Not a moment but you will require these may say if you got the first thing, it would two words to be impressed upon you! And be easier to keep the second. Let me ask your cry will not end until it is turned into the you if you will agree with Christ in this way, song that will never have an end! that you cast yourself upon Him as a hell- deserving sinner, that your sins should be III. Post-Communion Table Address put down to Him and what is in you of sin should be cleansed. Take hold of Him and God seals forgiveness through the blood I will promise you for Him that He will give whether the believer can take it to himself you a proof of His power to put eternal or not! He says, “This cup is the New separation between you and your sins.

16 The Bulwark James Begg and Scottish Independence

Rev Alasdair J Macleod

Rev Alasdair Macleod is a probationer of the Free (Continuing), currently living in Glasgow, where he works for the publishing trust Church Reformation Scotland.

James Begg

I. Introduction: Begg the against the abuse of patronage during the Scottish Nationalist? Disruption controversy (1834-43), against the proposed union with the doctrinally The name of James Begg (1808-1883), compromised United Presbyterian Church minister of the Free Church of Scotland (1867-73), against the unbelieving Biblical in Newington, Edinburgh, for forty years, criticism pioneered by William Robertson will be familiar to most readers of The Smith in Aberdeen (1877-81). We may Bulwark, and rightly so: he was the well have heard of his compassionate magazine’s founding editor, and the driving advocacy for the Highland crofters during force behind the Scottish Reformation the Clearances, and for the working Society for the first few decades of its classes in Edinburgh, especially in the existence. We know Dr Begg as a bold areas of housing and sanitation. and crusading voice for the Protestant faith, for Reformed principles of worship, But we may well be surprised to learn that for confessional purity in church doctrine. Dr Begg’s name has a crucial place in a We remember his courageous fight very different connection, as a vital link

Oct - Dec 2013 17 in the development of modern Scottish Begg’s criticism of Scottish governance nationalism. When H. J. Hanham wrote in the nineteenth century, and his vision the classic history of Scottish political for the re-building of the Scottish nation, nationalism in 1969, he gave a prominent which so profoundly influenced the early place in his narrative to Begg’s writings development of Scottish nationalistic as “the first Scottish nationalist agitation,” assertion, it will be necessary to examine protesting against the marginalisation of his relevant writings in more detail. The Scotland within the Union and the British crucial pamphlets by Begg on this subject Parliament’s failure to tackle pressing are The History of the Act of Queen Anne national issues like education. Hanham (Edinburgh, 1841), National Education shows how Begg’s bold critique on these for Scotland (Edinburgh, 1850), and A issues led directly to the establishment of a Violation of the Treaty of Union (Edinburgh, short-lived but important organisation, the 1871). National Association for the Vindication of Scottish Rights (NAVSR). This organisation II. The Context of Begg’s did not field candidates for election, but in Nationalist Writings its central concerns is a direct precursor to the twentieth-century development of The Scottish Enlightenment left Scotland specifically Scottish Nationalist political in the nineteenth century with a legacy parties, most obviously the SNP. that regarded much of Scottish history with contempt, or at best, condescension. Begg, and another prominent Free Educated people strove to purge Churchman, , were leading “Scotticisms” from their speech, anxiously figures within the Association, and stressed their loyalty to the Hanoverian the NAVSR drew inspiration from the monarchy, and united in praise of the experience of the Disruption, when benefits of the parliamentary union of hundreds of Scottish ministers had defied 1707. Many Scots concluded their postal the British Government and withdrawn addresses, “North Britain”, abandoning from the Establishment rather than accept their Scottish self-consciousness for a the imposition of patronage on the Church new and wider Anglo-British identity. It of Scotland. It was Miller’s assistant at seemed that “Scotland” as a distinctive The Witness newspaper, Patrick Dove unit would belong increasingly in the (1815-73), who wrote the NAVSR’s sentimental novels of Sir Walter Scott, famous Address to the People of Scotland and in the pages of history – the Scots of which commenced their campaign, and the nineteenth century would be Britons he was clearly following Begg’s lead when first. Even in the so-called Radical War of he asserted that “these [Union] articles 1820, the revolutionaries, all from Lowland have been infringed to the disadvantage Scotland, couched their call to arms in of the Scottish nation.” It is important to Anglo-British terms, calling on all citizens note that these words demand not the to take up arms to “replace to BRITONS, breaking of the Treaty of Union, merely, those rights consecrated to them, by as historian Graeme Morton explains, MAGNA CHARTA,” thus appropriating “better administration of Scotland under English constitutional history for the whole the terms of the Union.” To understand United Kingdom.

18 The Bulwark Oct - Dec 2013 19 Queen Anne But Scotland still had certain distinct clearly the work of an English-dominated national institutions: pre-eminently Parliament, Erastian in its interpretation its Established Presbyterian Church, of the relationship between Church and separate from, and wholly independent State. Appeals directed to the House of of, the Church of England. And if some Lords met a barrier of incomprehension, in the Scottish Church looked with and the Government, reassured that the approval on the vestments, organs, and agitation would come to nothing, took no prayer books of Anglicanism, and worked action. quietly to pave the way for introducing such innovations north of the border, Historian Keith Webb is thus undoubtedly others were determined to preserve correct to discern in the eventual Disruption the confessional integrity of Scottish of 1843 “both political and nationalistic Presbyterianism. Consequently, the first undertones,” as defiance by Scottish real and sustained pressure on the Union churchmen of the Act of an English of 1707 came from the most evangelical Parliament, the rulings of an English men within the Church of Scotland, court and the indifference of the English- especially from 1834 onwards, directed dominated Government. Evangelicals against the breach of the Treaty of Union did not hanker after the pre-Union state, they saw in the hated Patronage Act of but rather after an idealised conception 1712, which gave to local heritors the right of the unchallenged parish church of the to appoint ministers to Scottish parishes. early eighteenth century, bolstered by the To the Presbyterians, this Act was all too moral authority of its State connection, free of the blight of patronage. With a new focus as a distinct national institution, and overtly drawing on the seventeenth- century Scottish heritage of resistance to the state in the name of religious liberty, the Free Church of Scotland had undoubted potential as a new focus for nationalistic sentiment. Another historian, John Wolffe, calls the Free Church a “cradle for proto- nationalism,” emphasising not only Begg’s role, but the editorial work of Hugh Miller in emphasising Scottish national grievances against England in The Witness.

III. The Problems Identified by Begg’s Nationalist Writings

Begg began his career of church controversy during the Ten Years Conflict, challenging the British State’s right to impose patronage on the Scottish church. Crucially, he argued the case against Old Scottish Parliament

20 The Bulwark Scottish Parliament Building patronage in directly nationalistic terms, assault upon the religious freedoms of the setting it in the historical context of the people of Scotland, enacted “because the battles of the , persecuted destruction of our venerable Establishment for their refusal to accept Episcopalian was meditated, – because we were weak ministers. The Union was, he insists, and England and the Jacobites [i.e. ] “regarded with great suspicion by the were strong.” Presbyterians of Scotland in consequence of the bitter experience which they had Ultimately, the failure of the Government had of the inability of the English nation to heed the concerns of Scottish to understand their Church Government, Presbyterians was “perhaps leading the and the recklessness with which they people of this kingdom to conclude that tampered with their most sacred feelings.” England has, with her own hand, torn When an assurance of the inviolable asunder the link of Union with Scotland at status of the Church of Scotland was the very time that she is threatened with given, the General Assembly acquiesced violent dismemberment by the millions in the parliamentary union of 1707, but of Ireland.” That Begg claims to discern as Begg comments grimly, “they had a frustration with the British Government no idea of national perjury.” Thus in actually amounting to a disillusionment Begg’s analysis, the English Government threatening the future of the Union itself, was not only uncomprehending of underlines the political and nationalistic Presbyterianism, it was actively dishonest dimensions of the Ten Years Conflict. in its treatment of the Scottish Church. In a later pamphlet of 1871, Begg went Patronage he construed as a malevolent even further in his rhetoric, claiming

Oct - Dec 2013 21 that “Scotland, instead of being treated embrace of feudal despotism.” Above as an equal, has been handcuffed and all, it is consistently nationalistic, with a garroted, if we may so speak, by the single-minded focus on the decline of stronger country in the matter of her Scotland as a nation within the union, Church.” In Begg’s view, the Disruption as Begg concludes his assessment by was a conflict caused by a treacherous, commenting on “the English-dominated Government trying to despising us, our natural guardians joining oppress Scots’ freedom, and thus was a in the oppression,” a frank admission that controversy of national as well as spiritual the British Parliament was still essentially significance. As Hanham points out, Begg English, and that its repressive attitude therefore attributed Scotland’s troubles was the most pressing problem of all. as a result of the Disruption “as much to Begg’s oft-quoted, pessimistic judgment English as to Scottish influences.” on Scotland’s national status struck a chord both with readers in the 1850s, In 1850, Dr Begg addressed the future and with historians of later generations of education, commenting scathingly who recognised these remarks as, in of contemporary Scotland that “we see historian Tanja Bultmann’s words, “the first a sinking population around us, whilst nationalist rhetoric,” the beginning of the all other parts of the United Kingdom modern phenomenon of Scottish national are making progress in the matter of self-assertion within the union. education.” He continues this national self-criticism, arguing that Scots seem IV. The Solutions Proposed by “at best, to be perusing the record of a Begg’s Nationalist Writings glory that is fast departing. We are sinking in our national position every year, and Central to Begg’s proposed solutions to simply living on the credit of the past. […] the national problem he had identified A people that might match the world for was a vigorous re-assertion of Scottish energy, and who have heretofore stood in nationhood, not to challenge the Union the first rank of nations, [are] sinking under itself, but rather to remind the world, a combination of increasing evils.” and England especially, that “Scotland must not be regarded as a conquered Thus Begg sees Scotland not only failing province of England, but as a distinct by the standard of the other nations of independent kingdom, which has united the United Kingdom, but even by the with England on equal terms, and under standard of her own history in failing to a clear and solemn treaty.” With regard live up to her national heritage, and realise to the specifics of government, Begg her national potential. His critique is partly pointed out that Scotland’s affairs were religious, seeing “Christianity languishing,” taken up by the House of Commons partly social, seeing “hundreds of our best “always after twelve o’clock at night as a people flying from our shores under the general rule,” and that “Scotland had only pressure of want,” but is also political, one public responsible functionary,” the seeing “the great natural resources of Lord Advocate. “In short,” he declared, our whole country locked up in the iron “they had the fag-end of a single man’s

22 The Bulwark time, and the fag-end of the time of the impression of radicalism in his subject’s Parliament of England, after the members pronouncements, admits that Begg had gone to bed, as the only separate frequently remarked that “he was to a very government of the country.” large extent a home ruler.” Yet crucially, even Begg’s most radical suggestion falls As the NAVSR would also later advocate, far short of the full severance of Scotland Begg urged the re-introduction of the post from the United Kingdom sought by of Scottish Secretary as a partial solution, modern Scottish Nationalists. with the status of Secretary of State, (this reform came in 1885, with the full status V. Conclusion: Begg’s granted in 1926), but proposed further that Nationalism, and the Modern if this was not granted Scots must demand Nationalist Movement a “legislative body in their own country to dispose of purely Scottish questions.” Begg’s vision of the future of Scotland This passage makes a nonsense of was much larger in scope than a mere historian Michael Fry’s assertion of the change in the government of the country; mid-century patriots that “above all they rather, as Hanham writes, he “wanted to did not demand a Scottish legislature, promote a regeneration of Scottish life in believing their essential interests could still all its aspects.” This applies above all in be represented by Westminster,” and that spiritual terms. Like , “to the reformers Scotland happened to he believed fervently in the uplifting be a convenient local unit with customs power and elevating influence that a and institutions of her own; her standing national, established church could exert or lack of it as a nation was a secondary on the nation, and he was one of those concern.” evangelical leaders who, in Colin Kidd’s words, “conjured up potent visions of an On the contrary, it is quite clear that to organic Scottish community of cohesive Begg this was everything, and Fry then territorial parishes flourishing under the asserts that “they called for political equity auspices of the godly commonwealth.” through decentralized administration, His resentment against patronage was not for a distinctively Scottish form of particularly strong because without government – only the latter would have it, he declared, “the Presbyterians of made their claims nationalist in the modern Scotland would in all probability have sense.” It is very clear that if this is the been now united, and the parochial criterion for defining modern nationalism system extended into every corner of the then Begg was emphatically a nationalist, land in all its vigour and efficiency.” He who most certainly wanted a distinctively thus held England directly responsible Scottish form of government, and, if not for many of the contemporary problems immediately demanding home rule, was of Scottish society, social, religious and certainly contemplating it as a possible educational, rooted especially in the solution for the future. Even Begg’s barrier of patronage that left him unable to posthumous biographer Thomas Smith, achieve his ambition of building the godly who consistently strives to negate any commonwealth in Scotland.

Oct - Dec 2013 23 Although dismissed by Michael Fry as if this could not be achieved, set the an “impetuous demagogue,” Begg was political agenda for the NAVSR, and thus nonetheless the first significant Scottish for the future development of the Scottish writer to challenge the subordinate Nationalist movement. position of Scotland in the Union in the mid-nineteenth century. In a context of So how would Begg respond to our increasing anglicisation and sublimation current situation? Would he support the of the historic Scottish national identity ‘Yes’ campaign for the 2014 referendum? within a new Anglo-British nationalism, In my view, almost certainly not. Begg Begg stood in sharp contrast to most never demanded complete Scottish contemporary thinkers by marrying a deep independence, and his imagery of the social concern rooted in his conservative danger of “violent dismemberment” of religious beliefs to a heartfelt sense of the Union, suggestive of the mutilation Scottish national aspiration that saw of a living body, hardly indicates that he the Church at the heart of the nation. would look positively on such a proposal. His assertion of Scottish rights and Fundamentally, he did not oppose the nationhood was the natural conclusion of Union at all, only the abuse of it in the this national vision, a resolute response neglect of the administration of Scottish to a Government seemingly determined affairs, and its direct breach in the to diminish Scotland’s equal status Patronage Act. Begg wanted a Union within the Union, and destroying by its that worked, for Scotland as well as for tyranny the unity of the national Church England. He wanted to see Scotland in the process. Begg offers therefore prospering in educational, social and a profoundly constructive example economic terms, but above all in spiritual of Scottish nationalism, striving and terms, with a faithful Gospel ministry in seeking to make the union function more every parish, upheld and bolstered by beneficially and effectively, not to destroy the support of the State. The tragedy of it altogether. Indeed, as a proud son of modern Scotland is our prosperity and Covenanter stock, embracing the legacy wealth beyond anything Begg could have of the Solemn League and Covenant of imagined, matched only by our spiritual 1643, Begg longed to see yet deeper poverty and theological degradation, Union between England and Scotland, beyond what his worst fears could an ecclesiastical Union of the Established possibly have conceived. Churches to form a true Church of the United Kingdom, united around the Note: this article is published without truth of God’s Word and the Reformed footnotes, but a fully referenced version doctrine, worship and practice of the can be obtained from the Editor on Westminster Standards. Ultimately, there request. is irony that Begg’s emphasis on a return to the equitable spirit of what he pointedly calls the “Treaty” of Union itself, coupled with a willingness to consider more radical solutions, even parliamentary home rule,

24 The Bulwark Abuse at Fort Augustus Abbey School

Fort Augustus Abbey School

Fort Augustus Abbey was a Benedictine prominent Roman Catholic historian Mark monastery opened in 1878. The godly Dilworth who died in 2004. The Abbey Alexander MacColl was Free Church Library was auctioned off, with the Gaelic minister of Fort Augustus and Invermoriston material going to the Sabhal Mor Ostaig from 1870 to 1877 but his prayers against Gaelic college in Skye and the Theological the founding of the Abbey, recorded section going to the Highland Theological in Murdoch Campbell’s Gleanings of College in Dingwall. Highland Harvest, did not prevail at that stage. The Abbey had a boys’ secondary The former Abbey school is currently in the school, which closed in 1993, and the news for numerous allegations of sexual monastery itself became defunct in 1998 abuse—and concealing of sexual abuse— when Alexander MacColl’s prayers were against ex-members of staff, most of them finally answered. The last abbot was the now deceased. At the time of writing, no

Oct - Dec 2013 25 fewer than fourteen Fort Augustus monks never mentions one central point in the have allegations against their names. case: that the monks involved were homosexual or ‘gay’. They were men A trawl through some Roman Catholic preying on boys. The case is not only blogs raises some interesting points. One part of the vast child-abuse scandal in writer observes that BBC Scotland have the Church of Rome but also part of the devoted disproportionate space to the equally vast child-abuse scandal in the Fort Augustus scandal to divert attention homosexual movement. The notorious from the news that some of their own staff Jimmy Savile was a regular visitor to the are accused of sex abuse in the wake of Abbey and while the majority of his victims the Jimmy Savile scandal. Another writer were female, a small number of them were notes that the Fort Augustus school is the male (though none at the Abbey, as far sixth Benedictine school in Britain at which as we are aware). The deeds of the Fort sexual abuse has come to light in recent Augustus monks, like those of Jimmy years, the others being Ealing, Buckfast, Savile, were committed by people of that Downside, Belmont, and Ampleforth. ‘sexual orientation’ (i.e. not exclusively One known child-abuser from Downside, heterosexual) favoured and promoted by currently in jail, was transferred to Fort the LGBT movement. Augustus for a while before returning to Downside. The Roman Catholic Bishop Mark Dilworth, the final abbot, had close of Aberdeen, who has recently made a connections with the school, having public ‘apology’ for what happened at Fort attended it as a boy, taught at it for a number Augustus, is himself a Benedictine monk of years, and twice been headmaster. He and was at Fort Augustus Abbey in the was a prolific writer on pre-Reformation 1970s. Scottish monasticism, which he tended, One surprising feature of the story is naturally enough, to represent in more that the Roman Catholic parents did not favourable terms than a Protestant would believe their children when they told them have done. The recent revelations at Fort about the abuse. It seems that they were Augustus will put his work in a new light. so deluded about the sanctity of the The gist of his argument was that, contrary monks with their long robes, their hands to the claims of Protestant historians, pre- pressed together in an attitude of prayer, Reformation Scottish monasticism was not and the pseudo-religious expressions on in a deplorable state because many of the their faces, that they found it easier to buildings were attractive, well furnished, think that their own children were lying, and well maintained; the libraries were even on such an unlikely and important well stocked; the monks were tolerably matter. One can only think that there must educated; there were enough applicants to be a strange atmosphere and attitude to maintain the numbers; etc, etc. The line of truth in some Roman Catholic homes. argument seemed somewhat superficial, in that these things are hardly the heart A third Roman Catholic blog makes the of religion, but the current scandal has astute observation that the BBC reporting exploded it completely. Fort Augustus

26 The Bulwark Fort Augustus Abbey School

Abbey had all these things, most of them not need historical research to know that in a high degree, and yet religion was very the same problems must have been around far from flourishing there, even from a in the numerous Scottish monasteries Roman Catholic perspective. Furthermore before the Reformation. The fact is that Dilworth can hardly have been ignorant of monasticism is a recipe for immorality, the Fort Augustus allegations. He was the whether the victims are children or other headmaster in 1962 when the alleged rape men’s wives. occurred at the school; and presumably, therefore, was the headmaster who told One reason, we think, for the delay in the the boy concerned to ‘stop telling lies’ or answer to Alexander MacColl’s prayers he would go to hell. was to give later generations a fresh view of this scourge. The world had to learn Fort Augustus Abbey was a flagship again that a Roman Catholic monastery, Roman Catholic institution in Scotland, no matter how much praised by its own frequently referred to with pride by Roman writers, may be a ‘cage of unclean birds’. Catholic writers. It lasted a hundred and Reformation drove monasticism out of twenty years and during at least a third of Scotland but the folly of the nineteenth that time there were major problems with century allowed it back. The ruins of these sexual immorality. This should come as places may be beautiful but the reality no surprise: if one gathers a few dozen of them was and is as depraved as the unmarried men together in a building for human heart without the Holy Spirit. a long period of time there will be such problems, one way or another. One does

Oct - Dec 2013 27 Financial Report for 2012

The accounts for 2012 were approved at the rate was also increased from £5 to £8 p.a. Committee Meeting in February 2013 and However 2012 also saw an encouraging were audited in March 2013. During 2012 inflow of new Membership applications a large individual donation was received and this has continued into 2013. With towards fabric work and redecoration on the the subscription rates being unchanged for Magdalen Chapel, along with several smaller 2013, income from these sources is unlikely legacies. The result was that the Society’s to show such a marked increase for this total income for 2012 passed the threshold year. of £25,000 at which OSCR (the Office of the Scottish Charities Register) requires a Any of the Society’s supporters for whom more detailed level of financial information. Gift Aid would be applicable, and who have The Society is, of course, delighted at the not signed one of the “new” Gift Aid Forms extra income, but the increase in paperwork, (in 2012 or 2013) are warmly encouraged coupled with a bottleneck in the receipt of to do so. At present the Society has just statements from the bank, resulted in the under 100 Gift Aid supporters, and is always delay in securing OSCR approval for the looking to increase this number. In 2012 accounts. The bottleneck has now been Gift Aid meant that the Society was able to cleared, however, and the approval obtained. reclaim £1300 in tax.

It is a source of thankfulness to the Lord Whilst being a charity of modest means, that even aside from the legacies and the the Society has in recent years been individual fabric donation (all of which are enabled by the Lord’s goodness to progress naturally one-off contributions) the overall and increase its work, and to meet all its income trajectory for 2012 was up on that necessary commitments, despite many of the previous year. There can be no doubt obstacles. The Committee remains assured that this was partly due to the increase that this work is “of the Lord” and that He in subscription rates from £5 to £7 so will continue, as He has hitherto done in the that income from Membership alone was past, to provide the means for its growth considerably up on the previous year, as and progression. were donations (leaving aside Legacies etc.) with most Membership renewals including Andrew W F Coghill a small donation. The Bulwark subscription Treasurer

28 The Bulwark John Knox’s Grave in Edinburgh

It seems not to be generally known that in the last twelve months the Edinburgh Council has—at long last—introduced a moderately appropriate marker for John Knox’s grave. Knox died on Monday 24th November 1572 and was buried two days later in the old cemetery of St Giles at the back of the church. It is unknown whether there was any tombstone at that stage, but in the 1633 the churchyard was obliterated Mr James Dickson at John Knox’s grave in the construction of Parliament Close, and any marker that there might have been was to Knox. We have found nothing on the lost. internet accounting for this new stone, but we are delighted both with its appearance This situation remained until the second and with its inscription: ‘The above stone half of the nineteenth century when a small marks the approximate site of the burial in stone with the letters ‘I.K 1572’ was placed St Giles graveyard of John Knox, the great on the traditional site of his grave. In 1960s Scottish divine, who died 24 Nov. 1572.’ this stone, unwanted by the Edinburgh Council, was moved into St Giles and It is presumed that Knox was buried with once again Knox’s grave was unmarked. In his first wife Marjory Bowes who died in 1970 an unattractive yellow plaque with no 1560. At the building of Parliament Close, inscription whatever was placed on the site a considerable number of bones were re- of his grave, and this plaque, together with interred in Greyfriars churchyard so it is the number 23 which identified the parking possible that Knox’s body was moved at space, was all the recognition given to our that stage. In one sense it is of no great great Reformer. moment where he is buried, but it is biblical to take notice of the honour or dishonour This new situation continued for over forty done to people in their death (Jacob, Gen. years until August 2012 or later; but since 50:13; Joseph, Heb. 11:22; David, Acts May 2013 pictures have been appearing 2:29; Jehoiakim, Jer. 22:19), so we are glad on the internet of the new marker illustrated that Knox’s reproach has been somewhat above. The site is still a parking lot but at taken away. least some public honour is being given

Oct - Dec 2013 29 Society News

Resignation of Mr Norman been prepared by Rev John J Murray. We Fleming from the Committee are grateful to Mrs Chloe Esson for help We regret to announce that Mr Norman with the photography. An electronic copy of Fleming has felt compelled to retire from the brochure can be viewed on the Chapel the Society’s Management Committee page of the Society’s website. on account of age. Mr Fleming, who is an elder in Chryston Parish Church, has served on the Committee for nearly thirty 2013-14 Writing and years. We are grateful to Mr Fleming for his Project Competition loyal support and service during that time. Winners Magdalen Chapel Redecoration and Doors For details, see the Open Day Society website: www. Thanks to the kindness of a donor who scottishreformationsociety.org. wishes to remain anonymous, the interior of the Magdalen Chapel was redecorated John Knox Conference during the month of June. Those who have April 2014 seen it say that it looks very attractive. The To mark the five hundredth anniversary work was carried out by Nevin of Edinburgh of the probable date of the birth of John who have also recently worked on the Knox, the Society has arranged a ‘John Edinburgh Assembly Rooms and the Royal Knox Conference’ on 4th and 5th April Palace in Stirling. The redecoration was 2014 at Faith Mission Conference Centre, completed in time for the Edinburgh Doors Gilmerton, Edinburgh. The speakers will be Open Day on Saturday 28th September. Rev. Keith Watkins, Rev. David Silversides, New Chapel Brochure Rev. Gavin Beers, Dr Donald John Maclean, and Mr Matthew Vogan. Further details will A glossy brochure on the Magdalen Chapel be available in due course (DV). for distribution on Doors Open Day has

30 The Bulwark New Publication The Society has just published Alexander Branch News Peden by Maurice Grant, 54 pp., £4 (including p&p). This is the second item in The following branch meetings have been the Scots Worthies Series, after Rev Hugh arranged for the 2013-14 session. Cartwright’s George Gillespie. The purpose of the work is ‘to place the main facts of Aberdeen Branch Peden’s life in Meetings are on Fridays in the Dunbar St a convenient form before Hall, Old Aberdeen, AB24 1UU at 7.30pm the modern (DV). reader. At a 11th October, ‘Andrew Cant: Apostle of the time when Covenant’, Dr John Smith (Aberdeen) the truths for 29th November, ‘John Knox’s ministry at St which Peden Giles’, Rev John J Murray (Glasgow) contended are 28th February 2014, ‘Hugh Martin: at a discount Troubled Genius’, Rev D Somerset in our land, (Aberdeen) it is right that his testimony 28th March 2014, ‘The 1707 Treaty of to the grace Union for Today’, Dr Jeffrey Stephen of God should be kept in remembrance.’ (Dufftown) Available through the Society website: www.scottishreformationsociety.org. Inverness Branch Meetings are on Mondays in the Inverness Current Publications Royal Academy, Culduthel Road, Current publications by the Society include: Inverness at 7.30pm (DV). George Gillespie by Hugh Cartwright (£3.50). 21st October, ‘Conscience and the Kirk’, Trembling for the Ark: James Begg and Rev Iain Murray (Edinburgh) the Free Church of Scotland by James W. th Campbell (£7.95). 18 November, ‘Robert Murray McCheyne, a beacon for our times’, Leen Samuel Rutherford: An Introduction to His van Valen (Holland) Theology edited by Matthew Vogan (£10.95). 20th January 2014, ‘Perseverance of the Scottish Reformation Society Historical Saints’, Rev Richard Brooks (Matlock) Journal, Volume 1 (£9.95).

Scottish Reformation Society Historical Glasgow Branch Journal, Volume 2 (£9.95). Scottish Reformation Society Historical Meeting at the Reformed Presbyterian Journal, Volume 3 (£10.95). Church, Gardner Street, Glasgow, 7.30 pm (DV) These can be ordered from the th Society website 18 October, ‘Scottish Independence: www.scottishreformationsociety.org. A Covenanter Perspective’, Prof Robert All prices include postage and packing. McCollum (Lisburn)

Oct - Dec 2013 31 CONTENTS

The Reformation in Ireland: Part 2 3 John Smith

Notes of Communion Table Addresses 13 Dr Kennedy of Dingwall

James Begg and Scottish Independence 17 Rev Alasdair J Macleod

Abuse at Fort Augustus Abbey School 25

Financial Report for 2012 28

John Knox’s Grave in Edinburgh 29

Society News 30

Membership & Bulwark Subscriptions

All correspondence regarding Membership and Bulwark subscriptions should be sent to the Membership Secretary, Mrs Deborah Coghill, Free Church Manse, Outend, Scalpay, Isle of Harris, HS4 3YG.

The subscription is £7 per annum for membership of the Society and £8 per annum for the Bulwark. Membership forms can be obtained from the Membership Secretary or downloaded from the website www.scottishreformationsociety.org

Front cover: Magdalen Chapel, Edinburgh (courtesy of Mrs Chloe Esson)

32 The Bulwark