This thesis has been submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for a postgraduate degree (e.g. PhD, MPhil, DClinPsychol) at the University of Edinburgh. Please note the following terms and conditions of use: This work is protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights, which are retained by the thesis author, unless otherwise stated. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author. The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author. When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given. John Kennedy and the Development of Evangelicalism in the Scottish Highlands, 1843–1900 Alasdair J. Macleod Doctor of Philosophy, University of Edinburgh, 2018 Declaration I declare that this thesis has been composed by me, and that the work herein contained is my own. I hereby indicate that this thesis does not include work submitted for any other academic degree or professional qualification. Signed Alasdair J. Macleod 23 August 2018 2 ABSTRACT Between the Disruption in 1843 and 1900, the evangelical Presbyterianism of the Highlands of Scotland diverged dramatically and enduringly, in theology, worship, piety and practice, from that of Lowland Scotland. That divergence was chiefly the product of change in the Lowland Church, as evangelicals increasingly rejected Calvinistic theology, Confessional subscription, church establishment, conservative practices in worship, high views of the inspiration of Scripture, and emphasis on Divine sovereignty in evangelism. This thesis addresses the question why this divergence occurred: why did the Highlands follow so different a course with regard to this process of change? In addressing the question, the thesis argues for the significance of the leadership of John Kennedy (1819–84), minister of Dingwall Free Church, the ‘Spurgeon of the Highlands’. The thesis demonstrates that by his preaching, writing and ecclesiastical leadership Kennedy helped to guide the trajectory of evangelicalism in the Highlands in a conservative direction that continued to emphasise the authority of Scripture, Divine sovereignty and the need for personal self-examination, and that maintained sacramental practices reflecting these priorities. In his historical and biographical writings, Kennedy challenged readers of his own day to uphold the same priorities as the historic Highland Church, and the thesis shows that he helped to build a new confidence and cohesion around its distinctive practices in opposition to trends in wider evangelicalism. In his leadership of the Highland part of the constitutionalist party, the thesis proves that Kennedy was significant in forging a resolute commitment amongst the majority of the Highland Free Church in opposition to any change to the constitutional position of 1843. In various controversies, Kennedy consistently opposed movements for change, and helped to unite the Highland people of the Free Church in general opposition to the revolutions of the Victorian Church. These he saw as a single movement of departure from the Reformation heritage that he was determined to maintain. The thesis concludes that Kennedy’s legacy was evident in the divergence between Highland and Lowland evangelicalism during his own lifetime, but even more so in the divisions of 1893 and 1900, when his heirs took up separate institutional forms to maintain these principles. 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgments 5 Introduction 7 i. The Question ii. Terms of the Question iii. Thesis iv. Alternative Explanations v. Life of John Kennedy I. Ministry 29 i. Kennedy the Preacher ii. Kennedy the Pastor II. Writing 83 i. Kennedy the Historian ii. Kennedy the Biographer iii. Kennedy the Mystic III. Constitutionalism 144 i. Kennedy and the Atonement ii. Kennedy and the Union Controversy iii. Kennedy and Disestablishment Controversy IV. Controversy 215 i. Kennedy and Worship ii. Kennedy and Mass Evangelism iii. Kennedy and Biblical Criticism Conclusion 280 Bibliography 282 4 Acknowledgments I would like to express gratitude to my supervisors, Professor Ewen A. Cameron and Professor Stewart J. Brown for their consistent encouragement and support during the course of this project. For assistance with primary sources, particular appreciation is due to Mr Maurice Grant, Rev John MacLeod, Rev Angus MacRae and Dingwall Free Church, and Mr Roy Middleton. I am especially grateful to my grandmother, Mrs Christina Johnston, for the translation of primary source material in Scottish Gaelic. For general discussion and advice, I extend thanks to Dr Donald Boyd, Mr Norman Campbell, Rev John Keddie and Rev William Macleod. Finally, I am deeply appreciative for the support of my wife, Esther, and children James and Marcus, throughout this course of study. 5 Note regarding referencing In citations, honorifics have been used to distinguish individuals with the same name, e.g. ‘Rev Donald Munro’; note also that ‘John Macleod’ should not be confused with ‘John MacLeod’. For the primary sources by John Kennedy, I have cited the fullest nineteenth- century edition. The only exceptions are two instances where exceedingly rare publications have been reprinted in modern editions, which are widely available, and which I have therefore cited in preference. These are: 1. John Kennedy, Hyper-evangelism, ‘Another Gospel’, though a Mighty Power (Edinburgh, 1874); Horatius Bonar, The Old Gospel: Not ‘Another Gospel’ but the Power of God unto Salvation (Edinburgh, 1874); and John Kennedy, A Reply to Dr Bonar’s Defence of Hyper-evangelism (Edinburgh, 1874); republished and cited hereafter as Evangelism: A Reformed Debate (Gwynned, 1997). 2. Articles in the Perthshire Courier, 4 February to 1 April 1879; later published as John Kennedy, The Present Cast and Tendency of Religious Thought (Edinburgh, 1902); republished and cited hereafter as Signs of the Times (Aberdeen, 2003). 6 Introduction (i) The Question In the Disruption of 1843, the great majority of those adhering to the Established Church of Scotland in the Highlands responded to the call of Thomas Chalmers to abandon the temporal properties of the establishment in defence of the crown rights of Jesus Christ over His church.1 Thus the Highlands participated enthusiastically in a truly national religious movement in 1843. But in the later years of the nineteenth century, a divergence became increasingly evident. The Highlands became known as the ‘chief bastion’ of Calvinism, in the face of the theological, critical and confessional revolutions that profoundly changed the face of Lowland evangelicalism.2 The resulting divergence between the two regions was a formidable one, identified by one author as ‘a divide between two different cultures, two languages, two value-systems, two economic realities, and, more than anything else, two different forms of Christianity’.3 This divergence in religious outlook requires explanation, as its scale can scarcely be exaggerated. Highland evangelicals largely rejected any modification of Calvinistic theology, opposed Biblical higher criticism, maintained a commitment to the establishment principle, and objected to any proposal for loosening the strict confessional subscription required of office bearers in the Presbyterian churches. Many thousands of Highlanders eventually separated themselves from the national churches to form distinct and overwhelmingly Northern denominations committed to these principles, namely, the Free Presbyterian Church and the continuing Free Church after 1900. Even within the churches of national scale, the United Free Church and the Established Church, the Highland congregations retained their own 1 I.R.M. Mowat, Easter Ross, 1750–1850 (Edinburgh, 1981), 121–2. 2 David W. Bebbington, The Dominance of Evangelicalism (Leicester, 2005), 126. The revolutions in late nineteenth-century Presbyterianism are identified in A.C. Cheyne, The Transforming of the Kirk (Edinburgh, 1983), passim. 3 James Lachlan MacLeod, The Second Disruption (East Linton, 2000), 125. 7 distinctive character, culturally, certainly, but also in theological terms.4 Yet, as Allan MacColl has demonstrated, the later nineteenth century was actually a period of growing integration between Highlands and Lowlands in broader social, cultural and economic terms.5 The divergence was in theology, religious outlook and religious practice, and this largely rooted in Lowland change and Highland continuity. Furthermore, the divergence was progressive: the opposition to union between the Free Church and the United Presbyterian Church during their first period of negotiations, 1863–73, by the so-called constitutionalist party, was broadly national in character, albeit drawing substantial support from the North; but by the time of the second round of negotiations, 1896–1900, the opposition came overwhelmingly from the Highlands.6 Nor was the divergence subtle: on the contrary, by 1887, the Free Church Moderator criticised the Calvinistic theology of the Highland congregations from the chair of the General Assembly.7 Above all, the divergence was self-perpetuating as one controversy followed another. Increasingly, mutual suspicion tarnished relations between the Highlanders and even Lowlanders generally in sympathy with Calvinistic