RALPH WARDLAW, 1779-1853 With Particular Reference to His Theory of the Atonement, And the Rise of Congregationalism in Scotland by RALPH DOUGLAS HYSLOP Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, The University of Edinburgh (Hew College) CONTENTS Preface. ..........••••••••••••• i Chapter I THE RISE OF CONGREGATIONALISM IN SCOTLAND ... 1 The First Hundred and Fifty Yeers (1583-1733) .. 1 The Eighteenth Century (1733-1795). ..... 5 The Founders and Their Work (1795-18&) ... 11 Rowland Hill. ........... 11 Robert and James Haldane. ..... ... 13 David Bogue. .......... ... 17 The Preaching Tours. ...... ... 21 First Churches. .......... ... 24 The Circus, Edinburgh. .......... 28 The Opposition of the Established Church. 34 II RALPH WARDLAW'S EARLY YEARS (1779-1803). ... 39 III WARDLAW AND THE YOUNG CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES: A PERIOD OF GROWTH AND STRIFE (1803-1813). 48 The Lord's Supper. ........... 49 Social Worship. ............... 51 Baptism. .............. .... 55 Disruption of the Tabernacles in Edinburgh and Glasgow. .............. ., 57 Formation of the Congregational Union of Scotland. .................. 60 The Contributions of Ralph Wardlaw to the Life and Work of the Churches. ..... 62 Chapter Page IV THfl SOCINIAN CONTROVERSY. ........... 67 History. .................. 67 The Grounds of Unitarian Dissent ...... 70 The Discourses on the Socinian Controversy . 73 The Area of Agreement. ........... 76 The Battle of the Texts. .......... 79 The Unity of the Godhead and the Plurality of Persons. .......... 81 The Divinity of Jesus Christ. ...... 88 The Holy Spirit. ........ .... 93 The Irreconcilable Difference. .... 100 The "Discourses" in America. ........ 102 Jedidiah Morse and the Battle Against Unitarianism. .............. 104 Leonard Woods and the Founding of Andover Seminary. ............ 107 V CHURCH AND STATE: THE VOLUNTARY CONTROVERSY AND THE DEBATE ON CHURCH ESTABLISHMENT. .... 112 The Voluntary Controversy. ......... 113 Thomes Chelraers 1 Lectures "On the Establishment end Extension of National Churches". ................. 118 Religious Establishments Defined. • 121 The V/eakness of Voluntaryism. ...... 123 The Character and Necessity of a Territorial Establishment of Religion . 125 "National Church Establishments Examined* by Ralph V/ardlaw .............. 130 Chapter / o^P Pege The Voluntary Principle Truly Defined and Illustrated. ............. 131 The Parish System Examined ........ 137 The Evils of Establishment. ...... 139 The Authority of Scripture. • ..... 144 The Duty and Right of the Civil Magistrate 150 A Free But National Church: The Great Issue. 152 VI THE DOCTRINE OF THE ATCMiENT: PART OM .... 158 Wardlaw's Theory of the Atonement. ...... 158 Sources. ............. .... 158 The Theory in Brief Review. ........ 158 The Justice of God. ............ 162 Atonement and Election . ......... 167 The Universal Sufficiency and Limited Efficacy of the Atonement. ....... 168 The Work of Christ, ......... 180 Pardon, Repentance and Faith. ....... 184 Pardon. ............... 184 Repentance. ............. 185 Faith. ................. 187 Summary. ................ 189 Criticism. ............... 189 VII DOCTRINE OF THE ATuNEMENT: PART TWO. ...... £02 The Atonement Seen in its Own Light: Thomas Erskine and MoLeod Campbell. ......... 202 Chapter \fjj (^ Page Thomas Srskine of Linlathen. ....... 205 MoLeod Campbell. ............. 213 Conclusion. ............. • 219 The Historical Derivation of Ralph Wardlaw'fl Theory of the Atonement. ........ • 220 The Atonement Controversy in the United Associate Synod. ............. • 230 Jemes Morison of Kilmarnook. ....... 232 Edward Polhill on "The Divine Will". ... 238 Conclusion. .............. 247 Toward an Adequate Theory of the Atonement in Reformed Theology: The Corrective of Luther upon Calvinist Doctrine. .....«• 253 The Atonement in the Thought of Luther . 263 Conclusion. ............. 271 VIII RALPH WARDLAW: CALVINIST IN TRANSITION. .... 279 The Problem of the Minor Figure. ..... , 279 Preacher. .................. 282 Christian ^duoetor. ............. 285 Churchman .................. 28S. Controversialist. .............. 290 Calvinist in Transition. ......... 295 Modification or Reconstruction? ....... 300 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ^SSAY. ................ 304 BIBLIOGRAPHY. .......... ....... 311 APPENDIX: Translation of Amyraut's .Exposition of Romans viii: 28-30. ............ 327 FOOTNOTES. ....................... 338 PREFACE The Congregational Churches of the United States are now engaged in discussion of a proposed union with the Evangelical and Reformed denomination. The opposition to this union, voiced in many quarters, reveals both how strongly the churches afrirm their historic position of congregational independence and how completely they have abandoned the Calvinist theology which was once their own. This study of Ralph Wardlaw, an early Scottish Congregetionalist, is an attempt to examine in some detail the thought of one who had begun to move away from Calvinism even while defending its doctrines. The recovery of a vital theological tradition in a free church must come in part through the understanding of the forces which led to the loss of that tradition. The life and thought of this nineteenth oentury Congregetionalist suggest some of the reasons for the loss of theological vitality in the/Congregational Churches of the present. ( ft.!/! i Among these are: failure to maintain end re-state a valid Protestant doctrine of Scripture and the work of the Holy Spirit; acceptance of a Grotien theory of atonement rather than the reconstruction of Reformation doctrine; uncritical belief in the power of the voluntary church to serve the religious needs of the whole community. ii The positive theological work to be done in the Congregational Churches must, we believe, follow the lines of development suggested in the foregoing statement. We must state anew our belief concerning the word of God as contained in the Bible, and interpreted and confirmed by the Holy Spirit. We must develop a theory of the atonement which combines the truth and power of Lutheran and Calvinist thought. We must examine our concept of the church and ask whether our churches as presently conceived and organized are adequate for the task of Christianizing the community. These are tasks great enough to engage the efforts of many in the United States and Britain. The insights gained in this study have strengthened my own determination to bo numbered among those who will seek the reformation of Congregationalism in our time. For the opportunity to undertake this research I wish to thank the Faculty and Directors of the Chioego Theological Seminary which granted a two year fellowship, 1938-1940; the National Council on Religion in Higher Education for election as a Fellow in 1946, and the Board of Home Missions of the Congregational Christian Churches of the U. S. A. which granted leave of absence to complete my work in the same year. The libraries of New College and the Congregational Divinity College in Edinburgh; New College, London; the New York Public Library and Union Theological Seminary Library, ill Hew York were used in the preparation of this dissertation. I wish to acknowledge especially the helpfulness of Hiss Lucy W. Merkley, Librarian of Union Theological Seminary* CHAPTER I THE RISE OF CONGREGATIONALISM IN SCOTLAND The First Hundred end Fifty Years 1583-1733 In November or December of the year 1583, Robert Browne took ship/for Scotland. With him were four or five r» Englishmen and their wives and families. They landed at Dundee, and, finding some support there, proceeded to S^ti^t Andrews. There, Andrew Melville gave Browne a letter to Mr. James Lawsone in Edinburgh and the company arrived in j* that city on Thursday, January 9, 1584.. Browne took up residence in the Canongate and began at once as King James afterwards said, "to sow his popple there*" The kin<g had no high opinion of Browne end the latter did not think well of Scotland, for he said in a sermon preached in 1588, "I have seen all manner of wiokednesse to abounde much more in their best places in Scotland than in our worser places heere in England." Browne, though he gave his name to that movement which is the first evidence of distinctive Congregetional principles of churchmanship in England, later recanted and died a member of the Anglican church. It is recorded of John Penry, the Welsh martyr whose name is associated with the Mer-Prelete Tracts, (though not as the author, it is now believed) that he also spent some time in Scotland between 1589 and 1592. There were other contacts between the first Congregationalists and Scottish churchmen, especially after the Sorooby group removed to Leyden. But it is doubtful whether these contacts had any influence upon the churches of Scotland whose struggle was not yet against JSpisoopacy but against Papacy. The Scottish Commissioners at the Westminster Assembly certainly became acquainted with the principles of Congregationalism when they confronted in debate those able representatives of Independency, "The Five Dissenting Brethren." Baillie in his Letters and Journals says of them and others: "The Independent men, whereof there are some ten or eleven in the Synod, menie of them very able men, as Thomas Goodwin, Nye, Burroughs, Bridge, Carter, Ceryll, Philips, Sterry, were for the divine institution of a Dootorp in everie congregation as well as a Pastor." "Mr. Hendersone travelled betwixt them (and their opponents) and drew on