Teaching Theology for 140 Years - Conclusion.

The United Presbyterian Synod considered carefully the question of altering the way theological education was carried out in the Church. While the old system had produced some of the greatest theological minds of the nineteenth century, and the professors had more than proved the possibility of combining deep theological learning with a pastoral charge, the Synod felt that the Church's reputation would be raised still further by a full-tile theological college and faculty. It was decided to open, for the first time in the history of the body, a theological seminary like that already possessed by the Free Church of Scotland in New College. It was resolved that the old Hall should cease to exist at the end of the 1875 session, and that in November 1876 the new Seminary should open with a full staff of professors.

Of the existing faculty, two would never see the new system begin. In 1874 Dr. M'Michael died suddenly. He would be replaced before the opening of the new College. The other man to die before opening was Dr. John Eadie. The brilliant commentator died on 4th June 1876, again, quite unexpectedly. He was at the time of his death the greatest Biblical scholar in Scotland, a man who had entered into the depths of the Word of God. His Greek Text Commentaries and other writings have recently been reprinted by Solid Ground Christian Books, and will amply repay the reader. He combined this deep scholarship with a confessional orthodoxy even greater than that of Dr. John Brown of Broughton Place.

The opening of a theological seminary, as opposed to the old-style Hall, meant that three new Professors had to be elected. They were Mr. Paterson, Professor of Hebrew, Dr. Duff, Professor of Church History, and Dr. Ker, Professor of Pastoral Training. Dr. Harper was elected Principal of the new College.

The United Presbyterian College was moved to its permanent home in the Synod Hall (illustrated above in its later guise as a cinema), in 1877, where it remained until it was dissolved by the union of the United Presbyterian Church and the majority of the Free Church of Scotland to form the United Free Church of Scotland. While it was to boast such brilliant professors as Dr. James Orr, it never really attained to its promise. It was as if the separation of the professors from their pastorates, rather than setting them free, bound them to a more speculative scholarship.

We have said several times that there is no one 'right way' to give theological education. Some men -although they are the exception, not the rule - need little guidance, they learn easily, and all they need is a little advice on what to read. Others - and they are probably the majority - need some more formal education. We feel that the method pursued in the Secession Hall is at least as good as any, that learned men are enabled, whilst retaining their pastorates, to pass on their learning in an academic setting to ministerial students. This has method combines all the advantages of the academic seminary with those of the informal study. Let us not despise seminaries because some have become seed-beds of heresy rather than orthodoxy, but let us seek instead a seminary that keeps Professors and students close to the Church. This is the ideal, Scholarship and pastoral ministry combined, not separated. It is this separation of learning and the pastoral ministry that has given us on the one hand seminaries that overflow with heresy, and on the other ministers who have little learning, and who are as a result mere entertainers.

Teaching Theology for 140 Years - XIX.

Apologetics, or the Defence of the Faith, is a vital subject in any theological curriculum today. Every responsible Christian has a shelf of apologetics works. Unfortunately all too often this vital task is left to mavericks outside the oversight of the Church, and to men with little theological training. No field is more open to abuse by the semi-educated, or by those who substitute philosophy for the Bible.

Today we are blessed with a number of excellent Reformed apologists. In the second half of the nineteenth century, things were rather different. For one thing, apologetics in the English-speaking world was entirely dominated by the study of 'evidences' for the Christian faith, for another, the attacks came from German Rationalism in particular, and were dominated by a reductionist version of Christianity, shorn of its miracles, not by radical atheism. The Synod of the United Presbyterian Church faced this situation as they considered the appointment of a Professor of Apologetical Theology. There was only one man in their sights, the Rev. Dr. John Cairns of Berwick-Upon-Tweed (pictured). A brilliant man, Cairns had himself been through the German University System, but was too thoughtful and too grounded in the faith to be led astray by the novelties of German speculation. In May 1867 Dr. Cairns was elected to the post. He was to fill it admirably, the best monument of his labours being his 1880 Cunningham Lectures on the subject of Unbelief in the Eighteenth Century, published by Adam and Charles Black in 1881. In this work he considered unbelief in England and Scotland, France and Germany, analysing the thought of such men as Toland, Hume, Voltaire, Rousseau, Reimarus and Lessing, closing with an overview of nineteenth century unbelief and how it had built on the eighteenth century writers. He closed with a pointed appeal to the students and ministers who heard and read his lectures to maintain the supernatural character of Christianity.

Dr. Cairns strove manfully to vindicate the old Scottish theology, and to show that Christianity is based on a divine revelation, not on human wisdom. The fact that he was the first Cunningham Lecturer not to belong to the Free Church of Scotland shows the regard with which he was viewed beyond the boundaries of his own church.

The United presbyterian Hall functioned well. Its curriculum was equal to that of the schools of the other Scottish Presbyterian Churches, and it had among its faculty some of the best minds in the Scottish Churches. But the United Presbyterian Church Synod, as it considered its position as the third Presbyterian Church in the country, and the only one without a staff of full-time professors, began to think of change once again.

Teaching Theology for 140 Years - XVIII.

The Union of 1847 brought the teaching staff for the newly-formed United Presbyterian Divinity Hall up to five professors. These were Dr. John Eadie, Dr. John Brown of Broughton Place Church, Dr. Harper, Dr. Lindsay and Dr. M'Michael. Before the first session of the United Presbyterian Hall began in August 1847, the speheres of the various professors had to be assigned. As was to be expected, Dr. Brown continued to teach Exegetical Theology, the department in which he excelled. Dr. Eadie taught Apologetics and Hermeneutics, something that his legacy, his commentaries on Paul, show him to have been an expert in. Dr. Harper was restored to his proper place, teaching Pastoral theology, while Dr. M'Michael taught Historical Theology. Finally Dr. Lindsay taught Biblical Languages and Criticism. It should be noted that the Synod did not change its stance that really only four professors were necessary, but that, finding itself with five, it resolved to use all five of them.

Relief students found that there was something new and fresh about the old Secession Professors, and the former Secession students found the same thing about the Relief Professors. It seems that every church develops its own way of doing things, and when anyone departs from that, it seems radical and fresh. But then, who could not be impressed by the ability of Eadie and John Brown? They are names that still today have a halo of scholarship around them!

John Brown did not long remain after the union. His physical strength decayed, and he was laid aside in 1858. Dr. Lindsay filled his place in that session, but a few weeks afterwards Dr. Brown died, after twenty-four years as Professor of Exegetical theology. There was effort to appoint a new professor, since the Synod's desired number was still four, and Dr. Lindsay was transferred to Dr. Brown's old Chair. He taught for six years, but in 1866 he died, necessitating a fresh appointment.

It had been felt by many that the arrangement of subjects had been rather peculiar and not particularly useful. The Synod thus decided to re-arrange the curriculum, the shape of which had hitherto been formed by the subjects that had been taught by the various Professors before the Union of 1847. The field of Apologetics was detached from Systematics and given to a new Professor. In doing this the Synod recognised the challenges of the times. Scotland was passing from an era in which the Reformed Faith was secure to one in which it, and Christianity in general, would be under attack. They had then to find a man who could defend the faith from all the attacks of agnosticism, heterodoxy and atheism.

Next time, God willing, we shall see what the United Presbyterian Synod decided.

Teaching Theology for 140 Years - XVII.

After the death of Dr. Thomson the Relief Church elected two professors to replace him, Rev. William Lindsay of Glasgow and Rev. Neil M'Michael of Dunfermline. It was decided that the hall would remain at Glasgow, which had been the main centre for education for the Relief since its origin. Thus the Relief Church was quicker to come to the conclusion that a single Professor simply cannot be expected to know everything that must be taught to theological students. It must be remembered, however, that the men who came to the Halls had been trained up from youth on the Westminster Confession and Catechism, and had sat under solid doctrinal and expository preaching. They came to the Hall with a grounding in the Scriptures that was far deeper than that of today's students who may have been fed a diet of popular Christian paperbacks! It must also be recalled that this was the period when ministers of the Church of England received no specialist theological training at all!

Lindsay and M'Michael began their work as Relief Professors on 16th August 1842, teaching forty-six students. They were the two foremost ministers of their denomination. M'Michael would have been the foremost of the two if he had not been possessed of a rather unclear utterance, and other bad habits of speaking. One of these was the tendency to sprinkle what he said with the word 'p'raps', even when there was no real uncertainty as to what he was saying, such as the occasion that he said "Ye ken there's but one God, p'raps," implying no doubt on his part as to the truth of monothesism. M'Michael was a good old Scotsman, and that common tough won him what his bad vocal mannerisms could not. Lindsay was a deep scholar of the Scriptures, and, like his colleague, a defender of the old Calvinistic faith. They were two affable, genial and accessible men, who modeled for their students what ministers ought to be. This is another aspect of the theological professor's role, to show the students that a theologian is not some impractical old scholar who spends his time with dusty old books, but that he is a pastor whose theology is practical. Not pragmatic, please note, accepting 'what works, but practical, that is, a theology that has, to use Luther's expression, hands and feet, that sets Christians free to work.

The separation of the Secession and Relief Churches was more of an historical accident than a theological matter. Both Churches held to the Westminster Standards, and they taught that theology. The idea that is still to be found in some older works that the Relief Church was less strict on subscription is a fallacy, based on an idea dreamed up from who-knows-where that Gillespie subscribed the Confession with scruples. No evidence exists for this. As time went on, the two bodies began to communicate with one another, and slowly the path to union was worked out. It took many years, and finally it was the Disruption of the Church of Scotland in 1843 that galvanised the two bodies to action. The two synods entered into serious talks, and in 1847 the two bodies united. With the union of the churches came the union of their seminaries. In prospect of this the United Secession Synod had not filled up the vacancy caused by the death of Professor Balmer, expecting it to be filled, and more than filled, by the Relief Professors.

So what had been the Secession Church became, by union with the Relief Church, the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland. United because it had been formed by the union of Churches that had been separated, and Presbyterian in government. From henceforth its seminary would be the United Presbyterian Divinity Hall.

Of which more, God willing, next time.

Teaching Theology for 140 Years - XVI.

Instead of replacing Dr. Balmer immediately, the United Secession Synod transferred Dr. Harper to the Chair of Systematic Theology. This was seen by many as a strange step, since Dr. Harper so excelled in the Chair that he had held. The historian of the Hall compared this to asking a Greek Professor to teach Hebrew - the two roles may sound similar, but the actual work in question is quite different. This left three professors in the Hall, rather than the four the plan called for. But there was a good reason for this - the United Secession Church was about to unite with another denomination, the Relief Church, which had its own Hall, and the enlarged denomination would also see an enlargement of the Divinity Hall. As they looked forward to the Union, the Synod decided on yet another complete overhaul of the way theology would be taught in the Church, which from the union would be known as the United Presbyterian Church.

The United Presbyterian Church, formed by the union of the Relief Church and the United Secession Church, would be the third largest denomination in Scotland, after the Church of Scotland and the Free Church of Scotland. The union was the latest in a number that were re-uniting the splinters of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland. The Relief Church, like the Secession, had originated in the ecclesiastical struggles of the eighteenth century. Rev. Thomas Gillespie of Carnock, a correspondent of Jonathan Edwards and a devoted evangelical, had opposed the unconstitutional intrusion of a minister upon the parish of Inverkeithing (located across the Firth of Forth from Edinburgh) in 1752, and had refused to take part in the ordination. Since he was a member of the local Presbytery, he had been ordered to take part in the intrusion by the Moderate-dominated General Assembly, and he had been deposed as an example. A beloved pastor, he had been followed from the Church of Scotland by his congregation, and when he was joined by Rev. Thomas Boston of Jedburgh, son of the famous Thomas Boston of Etterick, in 1757, they formed the 'Relief Presbytery'. It relieved those who had unpopular and non-evangelical ministers forced on them by the General Assembly. This denomination slowly grew, and in time it came to be the fourth largest Presbyterian church in Scotland, after the United Secession.

For the first seventy years of its history the Relief Church had no Divinity Hall. Instead it sent its future ministers to the Divinity Halls of the Scottish universities, where they trained alongside the future pastors of the Church of Scotland. Slowly it came to be felt that this was undesirable. Firstly several men sent to train by the Relief Church, and thus supported by the Relief financially, decided to join the Church of Scotland instead, and secondly the teaching in the University Halls, where it was not actually erroneous, was dry and uninteresting, unlikely to fire the hearts and imaginations of men with a zeal for and love of the Truth. Most Relief students attended Glasgow University, and at first all went fairly well. But when a sectarian bias against the Relief students was added to the two issues mentioned above, it was resolved that the Relief should have its own Hall. Thus, in 1823, the Relief Hall was opened, with Rev. James Thomson of Paisley (later awarded the degree of D.D. by Glasgow University) as the first Professor. He used the Westminster Confession as his text-book, and lectured on it with admirable ability. His methods also improved the preaching style of his students, so that the Relief Church for a time had more eloquent preachers than any of the other Churches in Scotland. His death in 1841 was a great blow to many.

God willing, next time we shall continue with our remarks on the history of the Relief Hall, and shall have something to say about the Union of the Relief and the United Secession.

Teaching Theology for 140 Years - XV.

The aim of a theological seminary is not to make academic theologians, but to train pastors and preachers. Its professors are not employed to display their academic skills or to earn acclaim from the universities, they are there to train future pastors, and everything at the seminary has to be directed to that end.

So the United Secession Hall had a staff of professors who were also working pastors. It had a Chair of Exegetical theology to teach students how to interpret the Bible, and taught the original languages so that students were not dependent on an English translation. There was a chair of Pastoral theology to teach pastors about the other responsibilities of their office, and of course there was a chair of Systematic theology. Systematic Theology has fallen on hard times in recent times, with modern seminaries preferring Biblical Theology. Yet both have their place in a theological seminary. The aim of systematic theology is to bring together all that the Bible has to say on the various doctrines of Christianity. The Biblical theologian shows the progress of revelation. We need both.

Owing to the limited time in which he had to teach the subject, Professor Balmer had to leave about half of the field of systematic theology uncovered in his lectures. He made up for this by making sure that students read up on those parts of the system, and he made sure that they did the reading by means of examinations. Although he was Dr. Dick's successor, he did not rely on Dick's lectures, but followed his own direction. In criticising his students' preaching, he paid particular attention to the sort of preaching that relied too much on ornamentation and lacked real Biblical substance.

Dr. Duncan was one of those preachers for whom amplification was developed. Although undoubtedly a very leaned man, and popular with his congregation, he tended to mumble a little. Nevertheless, he was a beloved pastor, and thus his lectures on pastoral theology were delivered with the benefit of years of experience as a pastor. His lectures covered much of systematic theology, and went on to go over the manner of teaching doctrine to the congregation, finally covering the church itself.

Dr. Duncan taught at the Hall until 1843, when he and Dr. Mitchell resigned their chairs. The Synod was thus left to replace them. Dr. Duncan was replaced in the Chair of Pastoral Theology by Dr. James harper of Leith, and Dr. Mitchell by Dr. John Eadie of Glasgow. But no sooner had Drs. Eadie and Harper begun their work, than Dr. Balmer died suddenly in the summer of 1844.

God willing, next time we shall see how the new Faculty developed the work of the Hall.

Teaching Theology for 140 Years - XIV.

While Dr. Dick had been professor, the Chair of Systematic Theology at the United Secession Hall had been the most important, simply because of Dr. Dick. With the reorganisation that followed his death, all four chairs were on a level. Each professor was equal to the others, there was no principal or president of the Hall.

The new professors were all older men, Dr. Balmer was forty-six, Dr. Brown fifty, and Dr. Duncan was fifty-six. While some thought that professors ought to be younger, the Synod had in fact acted wisely. Older men tend to be more stable and less easily drawn aside by the allure of novelty. Thus older professors act as an anchor to keep their students from wandering too far from the old landmarks. Secondly, in maintaining the old tradition of the professors being pastors at the same time, the Synod ensured that they were not mere ivory-tower academics, separated from the congregational life of the church and the realities of the ministry. This also tends to act as a check on foolish speculations, as it keeps the mind on the practical aspects of Christianity. Of course, there is no easy way to keep some men from embracing heresy, but by the time a man is fifty, the direction of his thinking ought to be obvious. A man who is an orthodox Calvinist at forty-six will probably still be one at sixty, but a man who is an orthodox Calvinist at thirty may be an Arminian by the time he is sixty.

The question of location was solved by the Synod dividing the class in two, with the junior class consisting of students in the first two years, and the senior of students in the last three years of their course. The Senior class, taught by Dr. Balmer and Dr. Duncan, was to meet in Edinburgh for the convenience of Dr. Balmer, who had to travel from Berwick-upon-Tweed, while the Junior class met alternately in Glasgow and Edinburgh, again because of the professors. Whilst this was an understandable system, it meant that the 'Hall' did not in fact have one location, and therefore that the hall library was not equally accessible to all the students whilst the Hall was in session.

Every theological institution has a top capacity of students, and even with four professors, the United Secession Hall struggled with an increasing intake of students. For one thing, there were fears that there would not be enough churches for them, even if some went to the colonies. As it turned out, however, the intake stabilised at an acceptable figure of twenty-five or so new students every year.

Dr. John Brown, Professor of Exegetical theology, was undoubtedly the Hall's best known professor in this period. AS we have previously written about him on Free St. George's, we direct the readers there for further information on this notable man. Dr. Brown taught exegesis as it ought to be taught- by example. He worked through books of the Bible. The final results of these lectures may be found in all good Christian bookshops today. Simply put, Dr. John Brown was probably the greatest exegetical theologian of his day. Thus he taught his students how to interpret the Bible by means of the Bible. This is the first rule of good preaching, that it has to be founded on the exegesis of the text itself. Thus, by providing a Chair of Exegetical Theology, the United Secession Hall gave students exactly the foundation that they needed to be accurate and Biblical preachers.

Next time, God willing, we shall continue this series.

Teaching Theology for 140 Years - XIII.

With the death of Dr. Dick in 1833, the United Secession Synod was once again set upon the task of seeking a new professor. Although appointing a well-qualified younger man might have lessened the frequency of these crises, the Synod wisely recognised that age brings wisdom, especially if the younger years are spent in the pastorate. An older man, settled in his theology and given the balance that a pastorate of many years brings, is a far safer guide for youth than a man not much younger than his students, and lacking in the practical experience of the ministerial calling. The Synod maintained the old method of retaining the pastoral office with the Professorial, to ensure that the teaching of theology never became merely academic. What the Professors taught to their students they also taught to their congregations. In recognition of the calls of the Professorial role, not only did the Synod pay pulpit supplies for the Professors during the session of the Hall, but the professors received a salary of £100 a year - enough to buy the books needed for the course, but not enough to live on.

But the Synod did not appoint one man to succeed Dr. Dick. Instead it resolved to once more double the size of the faculty, appointing a committee to decide on three men to take the place of Dr. Dick. They hoped that this larger faculty would secure a more through education.

The Committee examined the teaching methods in other seminaries, Scots, English, Welsh and American. They were determined to learn from the experience of others, a wise move. In their report they recommended the creation of new professorships, and to that they added the recommendation that the provinces of the professorships should be clearly defined, so that each professor knew exactly what he was supposed to be teaching. Although all the men who had taught the Secession students had been excellent scholars and teachers, they had each proceeded in a slightly different way, and that had made the change-over period difficult for existing students. If each professor had a defined province of teaching, and a rough outline of how the course would proceed, this would tend to make the teaching more efficient. One thing the Synod's committee did not change was the fact that each professor would also be a pastor.

The new appointments were as follows: Rev. Alexander Duncan of Mid-Calder was elected to the Chair of systematic theology to succeed Dr. Dick, and two new professors were appointed, Rev. Robert Balmer of Berwick-on-Tweed to the Chair of Pastoral theology, and Rev. Dr. John Brown of Broughton Place to the Chair of Exegetical Theology. Some surprise was later expressed that Dr. Balmer (he was later awarded a D.D.) had not been appointed to the Systematics chair. He was undeniably gifted in that department, but then so was Duncan. Both were men of orderly minds, and well-read in the old Puritanical theology. Nevertheless, subsequently Doctors Duncan and Balmer did exchange chairs. As before, classes were divided into Junior and Senior. However, the appointment of professors from four different places presented a problem. Dr. Dick and Dr. Mitchell had both been Glasgow ministers, and in the days of a single professor the Hall had migrated to follow the Professor. But now, with four professors, that was impractical, and so the question had to be asked, where would the Hall be located? Glasgow would be convenient for Dr. Mitchell and Dr. Duncan, but unquestionably Edinburgh would be better situated for Dr. Brown and Dr. Balmer.

Next time, God willing, we shall see how the problem was solved, at least for a time, and how the increase in professors affected the Hall.

Teaching Theology for 140 Years - XII.

Dr. John Dick taught theology to the United Secession Students as sole professor for five years, but with the number of students increasing, and Dr. Dick over sixty years of age, it was felt that it would be best for him to be joined by another man. Dr. Dick was far from being unsatisfactory. His lectures were and remain classic statements of Calvinist theology, and his brethren in the Synod had total confidence in him. Nevertheless it was becoming plain that one man could not teach everything that a future minister needs to be taught. Of course, as the course only took two months of each of the five years that a student had to study for, much was done in private study, guided by the Presbyteries of the Church. One thing that is difficult to learn alone, however, is another language. Since at this time Greek (albeit the Classical Attic Greek of the philosophers and poets, not the Koine Greek of the New Testament) was commonly taught in schools, the Divinity Hall's main responsibility in terms of language study would be Hebrew.

We have noted that by this time it was expected that students at the Hall would have taken a University degree. Readers should not suppose that this would be a modern specialised degree. The Scottish Universities of the period were truly universities, and the arts course was designed to give students a rounded knowledge of history, philosophy and literature. What was more, students were much younger than they are today. Commonly modern university students in Britain are eighteen or nineteen. In the period with which we are dealing the average age of a freshman student was about fifteen years old. The undergraduate course was, in terms of age at least, much more like a modern English A-level course. It was not uncommon for boys of fourteen to be sent to university - something to remember when we read of great men of the past entering university at such an age.

The Synod resolved to establish a second Professorship, for the express purpose of "expounding the history, evidences, and interpretation of the sacred Jewish and Christian books, and for examining the students in Greek and Hebrew." Thus this was a Chair of Biblical Languages and Literature, leaving to Dr. Dick the fields of Systematic Theology, Pastoral Theology, Church History and Apologetics. Quite enough for any one man. Since Dr. Dick had been of the Burgher Party before the Union, it was felt best to appoint his colleague from the ranks of the former Anti-Burgher party.

The man chosen by the Synod was Rev. Dr. John Mitchell of Glasgow. As well as possessing the scholarship needful for the task, he was an exemplary Christian, regarded by some as like 'a second Saint John'. A tall, powerfully-built man, he dressed impeccably, not wanting to give offence by slovenly attire. In an age when neat clothing was more appreciated than today, a scruffy minister would have increased the offence of the Gospel. He combined in himself love and learning, godliness and amiable simplicity. Indeed, he was such an amiable man that his intellectual brilliance was noticed by few. His students, however, soon came to appreciate it as he expounded the Sacred Oracles.

Mitchell was appointed on 15th September 1825. To make things easier for the students and the professors, the class was now for the first time divided, the Junior Class, consisting of students in the first two years of their course, would be under Dr. Mitchell, while the Seniors, the remaining three years, would be under Dr. Dick. As the average yearly intake of students was 26, this meant that Mitchell's class would be about fifty-two in number, while Dr. Dick would be teaching some 78 students at a time.

In terms of languages, as has been said, Dr. Mitchell's main responsibility was the teaching of Hebrew. Mitchell knew his Hebrew well, and he loved it. HIs enthusiasm for the language helped him to teach it. He assumed that, as the men before him were future ministers, they would not employ any methods of 'cheating' to appear to know more Hebrew than they did. This is not so. We know of a seminary where students took advantage of the fact that the lecturer's desk was in an alcove to surreptitiously post a 'crib' to Hebrew grammar above the alcove. Thus a student would look upwards as if in though, and read the crib. So it was in Dr. Mitchell's day. Some men had the Psalms by heart in English, and thus 'translated' by repeating the English from memory. Others read from the English Bible that was open on the desk before them. One enterprising man, who had been a Glasgow Police surgeon before his call to the ministry, hit on a splendidly bizarre method. One of his class-mates was afflicted with epilepsy, and of course was glad of the doctor's medical assistance when seized with a fit. Thus, when the former surgeon foresaw that he would be 'stumped' in Hebrew, he would pretend to observe some sign of a forthcoming fit in his friend, and drag the man from the room, to sit quietly with him for the rest of the morning.

The two professors worked well in their respective spheres until 1833. It was on 25th of January of that year that Dr. Dick, by now very nearly seventy, died after a short illness. With his death the synod began to consider that more professors should be added to the faculty. Theological scholarship was beginning its nineteenth century growth, and literature was beginning to increase. If one man was no longer sufficient to teach the full curriculum, it was now felt that two were still not enough.

What changes this brought we shall see, God willing, next time.

Teaching Theology for 140 Years - XI.

While Dr. Lawson had been the obvious and only successor to John Brown of Haddington, there was no such obvious succession at Dr. Lawson's death. The Synod ordered a committee to 'nominate a leet' of candidates for the Synod to choose from. Four were nominated, Dr. Dick, Dr. Peddie, Mr. John Brown of Biggar, and Mr. Marshall. By two successive votes the number of candidates was reduced to two, Dr. John Dick of Glasgow, and Mr. John Brown. The choice was between two of the best theological minds in the Church, but the Synod recognised that brilliance ought to be joined with experience, and Dr. Dick was elected by a large majority. What was more, John Brown's brilliance lay in the area of Biblical and exegetical studies, not systematic theology, and that was the field in which Dr. Dick was unquestionably more gifted.

Though the Church thereby declared that it wanted Dr. Dick, it found itself in a rather awkward situation when it emerged that Dr. Dick did not desire to take up the Chair. Urged by a committee, he at last consented to take charge of the students for the session of 1820, before the union of the two main branches of the Secession. The Hall met for the first time in Glasgow a few days before the Union. Dr. Dick regarded his post as for one year only. Perhaps he hoped that Mr. Paxton would enter the United Church, and thus relieve him of the post.

But it was not to be. Indeed, though the union of the two Halls resulted in a United Hall with more than one hundred students, there was a real prospect that there would be no-one to teach them! It had been hoped that the United Hall would have two professors, now it seemed it would have none!

The two branches of the Secession had been separated for seventy-three years, and the two Divinity Halls had developed on slightly different lines. We have seen how the Anti-Burgher Synod finally decided that the Professor ought to be relieved from the burden of caring for a congregation and teaching theology, while the Burgher Synod retained the old system of the Professor being a serving pastor. The Anti-Burgher Synod, conversely, had retained the old system of examining students on a text-book, while the Burgher Synod Professors had developed their own systems in lectures.

The United Secession Church's newly-formed Synod was faced with a crisis. They recognised that, as things stood, there was only one man with the ability to teach the United Hall, and that was Dr. John Dick, who showed extreme reluctance to take up the post. It took iron determination and a great deal of persuasion, but at last Dr. Dick relented, and he was confirmed as the Synod's Professor. It was decided that he should retain his pastoral charge as well as taking up the Professorship. No doubt the challenge was immense, but Dr. Dick rose to it. A former member of the Burgher Synod, he adopted the Burgher practice of giving his own lectures in Systematic Theology. The result was a work that Archibald Alexander of Princeton regarded as one of the finest English works on Systematic Theology. Today Dr. Dick's Lectures are published by Tentmaker Publications. It was the opinion of Peter Landreth, the historian of the United Presbyterian Hall, that Dr. Dick's work was only displaced by the Systematic Theology of Charles Hodge. He would not, however, admit that Dr. Dick's Lectures on Systematic Theology were in any way inferior to Hodge.

The arrangement of time was that adopted by Dr. Lawson, two meetings an hour-and-a-half in length, morning and afternoon. He examined students not only in his own lectures, but in the best Reformed works available, no doubt availing himself of, among others, the publications of Mr. Thomas Nelson, of whom we have written.

Dr. Dick thus began the United Hall on a good footing. Though aged fifty-six when he began his work, he was in excellent health. But good health or not, the Synod decided that a Hall of a hundred or more students required more than one man to teach them.

Of which more, God willing, next time.

Teaching Theology for 140 Years - X.

Finding a successor to John Brown of Haddington as Professor was a challenge, of course, but it had to be done. Thankfully there was a man who fitted the post - Rev. George lawson, pastor of the Burgher congregation at Selkirk, in the Borders. Aged thirty-six, Mr. Lawson had been one of John Brown's students at Haddington, where his love of Christ and his extensive scholarship and Biblical and theological knowledge had drawn John Brown to him. Privately Brown had said that Lawson would probably be his successor, and so he was. Lawson combined a beautiful simplicity of character with his learning, and Selkirk, as the seat of the Hall, made for an unrivalled setting. We have dealt with Lawson in more detail elsewhere, and so in this post we shall confine our remarks to Lawson as a teacher.

Students coming to Selkirk from the Universities would have been presented with a remarkable contrast, from a great city to a little market town, nestled in the Souther Uplands, from a noted faculty to a single man, from an historic college building to a little rural meeting-house. Yet students would testify that, as they looked back, it was the university, not the Hall, that suffered in the comparison. Lawson's spirit was such that all students loved him, he was a plain man, the very model of what a minister ought to be, if a little eccentric in some points.

Lawson drew up his own lectures rather than taking an existing text-book. Extending through five sessions, the lectures covered the leading doctrines of Christianity, doctrinal and Practical Theology. His finest lectures, however, were those on Pastoral theology, drawing upon his own experience for examples. He was no framer of rules for preaching, but offered friendly advice so that his students could avoid falling into bad habits such as preaching over the heads of their people. Unlike John Brown, he fixed the length of his meetings with the students at about an hour and a half each. Not only were sermons preached before the students by their fellows, but the advanced students were set 'popular sermons', preached during the week to as many of Lawson's congregation as cared to attend.

Dr. Lawson (as he became when Marischal College, Aberdeen honoured him with the degree of D.D.) was a simple man, well-suited to the Scottish Borders, where the folk despised affectation, and whose publications were designed for the common people, not the literati of Edinburgh. He was the last Burgher Professor of Divinity, for he died in 1820, the year of union, but he died before the union was completed. He taught theology at Selkirk for thirty-three years, loved and admired by all.

Once again the Church had to replace a man of great genius, and on the eve of a union of the majority of the Burgher and Anti-Burgher Synods. How they acted we shall see, God willing, next time.

[Our illustration is the former Lawson Memorial Church, Selkirk, now the Parish Church.]

Teaching Theology for 140 Years - IX.

With the sudden and unexpected death of Mr. John Swanston, the Burgher Synod was faced with having to appoint a new Professor of theology for the second time in four years. They fixed on one of the most remarkable men of the age - Rev. John Brown of Haddington.

Unlike all of his predecessors, John Brown had never attended any university, indeed, his formal education went no further than a month at the parish school and two sessions at the Burgher Divinity Hall. Yet John Brown was undoubtedly one of the most learned men in Scotland at the time, and certainly the most learned man in the Burgher Synod. He had, on his own, acquired an enormous stock of knowledge, both ancient and modern. He had mastered Latin, Greek and Hebrew, and learned many modern tongues as well. Born of the lower class of rural people, John Brown had risen to prominence through his remarkable gifts. He had studied under Ebenezer Erskine at Stirling. Born in 1722 near Abernethy, he had lost his parents at an early age, and had improved the time spent caring for the sheep by teaching himself Greek. So remarkable was his acquisition of the language that it was suspected by some that he had used magic, and this suspicion was voiced when Brown sought admission to the Burgher Divinity Hall. Ralph Erskine brushed them aside, saying, "I think the lad has a sweet savour of Christ about him."

Appointed Professor in 1767, John Brown began his formal work in 1768. At this time the Synod passed two regulations concerning the Hall. The first was an act of Synod to secure that those accepted for the Hall had been sufficiently trained in Classics and Philosophy and were properly acquainted with the leading truths of the Christian system and with the Standards of the Church. We hope that it was of such a character that it would not have impeded the admission of the man who was now the Hall's Professor! The question as to the level of education of the ministry is one that will remain a vexed one. Ought all ministers to be graduates? We do not think so! But certainly an ignorant ministry is a scandal. Nevertheless, there must be a recognition that the means of education differ from person to person, and that the self-taught John Brown was no whit behind the university-educated John Swanston.

The other action of the Synod was to begin the collection of a Hall library. This was in response to a petition from the students, and no doubt had behind it the expense that students would otherwise be put to in buying books, and the difficulty of transporting those books from their various homes to the Hall. Today the idea of a theological college without a library is unthinkable - and it ought to be! John Brown was probably relieved that students would not be rootling through his library for books to help in their exercises and essays as well!

Annual intake at the Hall varied greatly, one year as high as eighteen new students, one as low as three. Average class sizes were about thirty, which is about the maximum size that single class can be if it is to be taught well.

Like all the Professors, John Brown took great care of his students. Some though he took too much care, for he was known to visit students in their lodgings between six and eight in the morning. Brown was an early riser, and insisted that his students be so too, but different men have different methods, and many students did not see the need to rise so early. A number of expedients were adopted to 'fool' the professor. One man slept under his bed, so that Brown thought he was already out and taking an early-morning walk. Others arranged for their landladies to wake them when they heard Brown's stick on the road. The student would then leap out of bed and sit down at his desk where some theological work lay, so the Professor saw them at study. They would pretend not to notice his presence, and he would deliver a gentle rebuke to the student for failing to change into his day-clothes before he began to study.

Brown did not use a text-book, but framed his own system in a course of lectures. Christian Focus Publications has done the Church a great service by reprinting these, and we have a copy of this excellent work. Every student at the Haddington Hall was expected to copy out this work, so the modern reader ought to be glad that, if he had obtained it at a greater price financially than John Brown's students, he has certainly spent less pains in acquiring the work. He soon ceased to lecture on the system, preferring to examine the students on it. Church history was dealt with in a series of lectures that Brown himself prepared, and he taught in addition pastoral Theology. His opening and closing addresses to the Hall were deeply impressive, for it was said of Brown that "He preached as if Jesus Christ was at his elbow," and what he was in the pulpit, he was also in the Chair. Those who read his Dictionary of Bible Characters, excerpted from his old Bible Dictionary, will see that this carried through even into the writing of a dictionary!

As was the custom, John Brown met twice daily with his students, and although the opening time for these meetings was set, there was no official closing time. The morning meeting was fixed at ten, but rarely finished before one in the afternoon. These were the meetings in which the System was taught, and in which the lectures on Church history were given. The afternoon was the meeting in which students discourses were given and criticized.

In 1786 the Burger Synod passed an Act requiring all theological students to have attended at least three sessions at one of the Universities. That this would have debarred their brilliant professor seems not to have occurred to them.

John Brown died the following year, after twenty years as Professor. He left behind a body of well-trained and educated ministers, to cherish the memory of the man who had taught them what it is to be a Gospel Minister.

Next time, God willing, we shall see who it was that the Synod determined to succeed him.

Teaching Theology for 140 Years - VIII.

As the breach of 1847 carried the Secession's Professor into the Anti-Burgher church, the Burghers found themselves without a professor to instruct their future ministers. At first they hoped that the breach would be healed and studiously avoided the appointment of a new professor, as they avoided everything that could prolong the breach. It was all to no avail, and at last they set about rebuilding. At first Ebenezer Erskine undertook instruction of students, though he was sixty-seven and all but worn out by his labours. He adopted the same methods as Mr. Moncrieff had, examining students on a textbook. Erskine broke with the Wilson/Moncrieff tradition, however, by taking as his textbook the Institutio Theologiae Elencticae of Francis Turretin. His lectures were comments on the leading doctrines of Turretin's system. The theology of the champion of Geneva was the standard in the Burgher church, so there was obviously no doctrinal declension in the less strict branch of the Secession. One of the great preachers of Scotland, Ebenezer Erskine was well fitted to teach students homiletics, and his total lack of any affectation made him a safe instructor in an age when many were falling under the spell of Moderatism.

Erskine taught the Burgher students for only two sessions, 'age and feebleness extreme' were pressing on him, and he now insisted that another take the Chair. He resigned in 1749, at the same time requesting a colleague and successor be appointed in the Stirling congregation. Ebenezer Erskine finally died in 1754, aged seventy-four.

The second Burgher Divinity Professor was Rev. James Fisher, then of Glasgow. He is best known for his exposition of the Shorter Catechism, and this study would have prepared him well for the teaching of theology. The last of the Fathers of the Secession to occupy the Chair, he was by no means the least. An educated man, full of zeal for God, he held the Chair for fifteen years, until declining health forced him to resign it in his sixty- seventh year. We know very little about his teaching, not even what text-book he used. Nevertheless, he held the post well.

His successor was Rev. John Swanston of Kinross, but Swanston held the Chair only for three years before his sudden death at the age of forty-six. From the village of Stitchel in the Borders, he had been one of Mr. Wilson's students, and continued his studies as pastor at Kinross. A beloved pastor, he was a genial companion and sympathetic friend as well as an earnest teacher and faithful mentor to his students. He reverted, as might be expected, to the Medulla of Markius, but enriched his prelections on the leading points of the Dutch divine from his own knowledge of the Puritans. Swanston was taken ill suddenly while assisting at a communion at Perth, and he declined rapidly, dying in a few days, in the summer of 1767. He left a son who was a brilliant young man, but one of those men who cannot find on earth a church to his liking. He remained an Evangelical Christian all his life, but could never settle down in any church. When he died, Dr. Lawson of Selkirk remarked: "Now Andrew Swanston has got a Church to his mind!"

The Burgher Synod had then to appoint a successor to Mr. John Swanston. God willing, next time we shall say something about the man of their choice.

Teaching Theology for 140 Years - VII.

We have seen how the Anti-Burgher Hall was effectively broken up by the departure of its professor, Archibald Bruce, with the Original Seceders. For three years the Chair was vacant and there was effectively no Hall, but at last it was decided to appoint a successor. The choice of the Synod fell on Rev. George Paxton of the Kilmaurs Anti-Burgher congregation. Aged forty-four at the time, Paxton was very able minister of deep learning and superior Biblical scholarship.

But whereas previous Professors had taught in their parishes, and the Hall had been without premises, a peripatetic school that followed the Professor wherever he happened to be, it was decided that Paxton should be separated from his pastorate and be a full-time professor, residing in what was to be henceforth the permanent seat of the Hall, Edinburgh. The Anti-Burgher Seceders were in essence declaring that they were no whit behind the Church of Scotland. Their Divinity Hall was now to be an embryo theological college, not an additional labour given to a pastor to combine with the duties of his work.

It is of course essential that any theological professor should have been a pastor, but the Anti-Burgers now considered that it was not needful that the man retain his pastorate whilst teaching. Let us recall that this one man was to teach Systematic Theology, Church History, Exegesis and Homiletics at a minimum. Modern theological institutions usually have one professor for each of these subjects. Paxton, moreover, was a man of delicate health. He was already suffering under the strain of a rural pastorate, to insist that he be professor at the same time would probably have killed him.

In the first year of the new arrangement, there were nine first-year students studying under the one professor. Soon it rose to an average of fourteen, and in 1819, the year of the reunion of the Burgher and Anti-Burgher synods, there would be twenty-eight.

Paxton would be granted the degree of D.D. by St. Andrews University in 1834, an unusual honour for a Seceder, as the universities were still institutions connected to the Church of Scotland, and university Divinity faculties Church of Scotland theological Halls. His scholarship was thus recognised by even the Church of Scotland.

He had two meetings each day with his students during sessions, except for Saturday, when they met once for devotional services and essay-reading and conversation on some practical question of religion. Each morning was taken up with a lecture on the textbook, still Markius' Medulla, save for Monday, when the morning lecture would be on the exegesis of a difficult passage of Scripture, combined with reading and examination in the Greek New Testament. The afternoon meetings were longer and consisted in two main things, the hearing of discourses and exercises by the students and their examination in the morning lecture. This was followed by a lecture on some other topic. Most popular were Paxton's lectures on the Holy Land. The homiletics classes were further enriched by exercises in which Professor Paxton gave his students a text from which they had to give, extempore, a 'skeleton' discourse.

The fact that the Professor was now a full-time teacher and living and working in Edinburgh meant that he was able to introduce a winter course on Hebrew, which had hitherto been neglected owing to the constraints of time. Unfortunately students living far from Edinburgh were usually unable to attend these classes, but they were a start.

Paxton was, of course, expected to devote himself full-time to the students, and he did so. He even did what he could to help those future Secession ministers who were still at the University. He soon won the admiration and love of his pupils, and the admiration of many outside the Anti-Burgher denomination.

In 1819 the majority of the Anti-Burgher and Burgher Synods united. Yet Paxton remained outside the united church. He felt that the union involved a compromise that he could not make, and so ended the Anti-Burgher Hall. At a future date, God willing, we shall deal with the Hall of what was called the United Secession Church, but to this point we have been following the Anti-Burghers alone. We must now double back and survey the history of the Burgher Hall, which we shall do, God willing, next time.

Teaching Theology for 140 Years - VI.

William Moncrieff continued the tradition established by Professor Wilson of teaching from a textbook rather than drawing up his own system in lectures. While the Medulla of Markius of Leyden was retained, he added to it Turretin, and lectures on the Westminster Confession. There were four lectures every week, in addition to homiletics classes and the reading of exegetical and critical exercises by the students. For its day, this was a very thorough course, and Alloa students went forth into the ministry with a preparation that would be admired even today.

William Moncrieff died in August 1786, having held the Chair of theology in the Anti-Burgher Synod for twenty-five years. The Moncrieff United Free Church in Alloa is named in his memory, and we have used a picture of it as our illustration. The congregation meeting there is the direct descendent of that pastored by William Moncrieff.

His successor was Rev. Archibald Bruce of Whitburn, and of course the location of the Hall thus changed to Whitburn. He was paid £50 a year for his services, and although even then such a sum was not large, we must recall that he received the £50 in addition to his stipend. Mr. Bruce was forty years old at the time of his appointment, and his parents, of reasonable means, had been able to give him the best education that Scotland could offer. He was a graduate of Glasgow and undoubtedly the best scholar the Anti-Burger Synod had at the time. He was also the first Anti-Burgher professor to be a regular authour, ahving begun his career by the publication of a satire on the Church of Scotland called The Kirkiad at the age of twenty-eight. As minister of Whitburn, he was responsible for bringing a printer to the town solely to print his tracts, pamphlets and books! A devoted scholar, he was well-equipped to impart to the Anti-Burgher students the results of his years of study.

Bruce was, however, only professor in the Anti-Burgher Hall for some seventeen years before, in 1803, he withdrew from the Synod when they revised the 'Testimony' of the church to soften its stance on the relation of the civil magistrate to the Church. With a few other eminent men, including Dr. M'Crie, the biographer of Knox, Bruce formed the Original Secession Church, or Constitutional Associate Presbytery. He continued to teach students in connection with the Original Secession Church until his death in 1816.

For three years after the split of 1816 the Anti-Burger church tried to regain the services of Mr. Bruce, but at last it was realised that this was hopeless. During these years students were taught under the direction of their own presbyteries, and usually by their own ministers. A standard reading list was drawn up to be read in place of the lectures of the professor, and students were tested by their presbyteries. While there were no new students in 1804, there were seven in 1805 and eight in 1806. It was recognised that something had to be done to fill up the place of a professor.

But there were to greater changes than merely one of professor, and that we shall see, God willing, next time.

Teaching Theology for 140 Years - V.

The 'Breach' in the Associate Presbytery in 1747 resulted in two denominations where there had been one. Neither abandoned the high ideal of an educated ministry, and so two Halls results where there had been one. There had been a Secession Hall for only ten years, henceforth, until the splinters of the Secession reunited, there would be many. Mr. Moncrieff adhered to the Anti-Burgher party, those who held the oaths of office sworn by some Burgesses in some Scots towns and cities, to be unlawful, and so the Anti-Burgher Hall met at Abernethy in 1748 with eight new students. The Burgher Church were therefore forced to find a new Professor, quickly settling on Ebenezer Erskine of Stirling, perhaps the pre-eminent leader of the Secession. The Burgher body hoped that the division would be short-lived, so Ebenezer Erskine did not teach new students, but those existing students who had adhered to their party in the division. With time, however, came the realisation that it was not to be.

Moncrieff continued to teach in Abernethy, and many of the students went from the pews at Abernethy, where they had been brought up, to the Hall. A powerful preacher, he was an excellent theological Professor, and probably no better man could have been found in his day. His death in 1761 left the Anti-Burgher denomination with a great challenge to find a man who was his equal.

The Synod debated the relative merits of a number of ministers, including Rev. Adam Gib of Edinburgh. He was the first choice, but he felt that he would be unable to combine a busy pastorate in the capital of Scotland with the Chair, and so he declined. The choice of the Synod then fell upon William Moncrieff of Alloa, second son of the deceased Professor. He would teach Anti-Burgher students for twenty-four years. Under his Professorship the length of a Hall session was reduced to nine weeks from the original three months. There were concerns that few students were able to stay for all three months, and as a consequence the instruction of all was being affected. As it was, students were positively required to attend for a minimum of six weeks, indicating that even nine weeks was too long a session for some. To ensure regular and punctual attendance, the Synod ordered that those students who were most punctual at the Hall should be first considered in the settlement of vacant congregations. A full course consisted of five sessions.

An increase in the status of the Secession Church during William Moncrieff's Professorship led to the need for the Synod to condemn in students and preachers tendencies to "an affectation of literary and philosophical refinement." In other words, preaching that was too 'academic' in tone and aimed at the intellectual, not the ordinary folk. Preaching of this kind had become all too common in the Church of Scotland as the reign of the 'Moderates' intensified. Preaching, as William Moncrieff must have reminded his students, is directed to the whole congregation, and it is intended to set forth not an exalted system of morality, but Christ crucified for sinners. A style that reeks of affectation can only ever be an impediment to that. What had happened was that some students had been published in the Royal Magazine. That was not the offence. The offence was that their published effusions were shallow, pompous and overblown productions extolling human culture and morality at the expense of the truths of Scripture. Laurence Wotherspoon, the first offender (although having to go around attached to that name may be a mitigation of his faults). Called before the Synod for a ridiculous piece on 'A Liberal and Polite Education', was brought to see the error of his ways through discipline. The second offender, Andrew Marshall, wrote a piece on 'Ambition' that was even worse, and he too was placed under discipline.

It was soon discovered that the root of this scandal was none other than Mr. Alexander Pirie, the student entrusted with the teaching of the Philosophy class. A class that had been established to guard against the dangers of the University Philosophy classes had become far more dangerous to Anti-Burgher students than the universities of that period could have been! Pirie was discovered to be advising his students to read anti-Christian books, to the horror of the Synod. He was swiftly dismissed, and joined the Burgher denomination. From THAT denomination he was in turn compelled to flee when he was accused of heresy before the Burgher Synod, and as he fled he issued a pamphlet that poured forth animosity against both branches of the Secession. They, no doubt, were glad to be rid of him.

God willing, next time we shall say something about the course of theology taught by William Moncrieff at Alloa.

Teaching Theology for 140 Years - IV.

Wilson, with the other Secession Fathers, was ejected from his church by the Church of Scotland. His students watched in amazement as their professor retired to the Glovers' Yard to preach, and his people followed him. The students saw then what it was to suffer for a faithful testimony. Wilson was not long spared afterwards, he died towards the end of 1741, having taught Secession students in Perth for five sessions only. He was only fifty-one, broken by his titanic efforts.

His successor was Alexander Moncrieff of Abernethy, and the Hall was thus removed to Abernethy. Laird of Culfargie, Moncrieff was popularly knows as 'Culfargie' by his congregation and students. He had studied under Markius at Leyden in addition to taking his compulsory courses at the University of St. Andrews, and he was in addition a champion of Reformed doctrine. He was thus chosen over the other possible candidates, the Erskines and Mr. Fisher. No doubt many a student was awed by the new professor's learning, and pleased to dine together with him in the mansion at Culfargie. Further information about the Moncrieffs and Abernethy is to be found here.

Moncrieff followed Wilson's method. As a student of Markius himself, he had a great regard for the Dutch divine's writings, and the system contained in the Medulla was that which he had heard from Markius himself in the university of Leyden. A man of deep piety, he was a worthy man to continue the great work that Wilson had begun in Perth. His lectures dwelt on the central points of theology, such as the deity of Christ. There was, however, one major change. The language of instruction was changed from Latin to English. Since the text-book was still in Latin, the students were required to know the language, but as they had to answer the Professor's questions in English, they were forced to translate the substance of Markius into the English tongue. This certainly forced them to understand the work better, and probably made still better theologians.

In one aspect of training the Secession Hall was in advance of the Church of Scotland, for the Seceders were very careful to train their students in exegesis and homiletics, the interpretation of the Bible and preaching. The Seceders never lost sight of the fact that students were being trained to preach the Gospel, not to teach theology in an academic setting. To preach well, students had to be able to interpret the Bible and know how best to communicate the results of that interpretation. A great deal of the time of the Hall sessions was taken up with students preaching before the Hall. Their discourses would then be criticized by their fellow-students and Professor, hopefully in a loving spirit.

Moncrieff also added a philosophy class to the Hall's instruction. He had become aware that the philosophy taught at that time in the Scottish universities was anti-Christian in spirit and tended to undermine faith in the Bible. The Laird of Culfargie thus appointed one of his students who was competent in philosophy to teach a class in which it would be shown that true philosophy is not opposed to Christianity, and in which a Christian philosophy would be taught. For the first session this class was taught by Mr. Archibald, a student in his final session, and for the next four or five years it was taught by Mr. David Wilson. Students who had already studied philosophy at one of the Universities were not compelled to take this course, but it was strongly suggested that they ought to do so.

In 1743 the 'Associate Presbytery', as the Seceders had called themselves, numbered nineteen ministers, and it was divided into two Presbyteries, forming the Associate Synod. Alas, the Synod itself would soon be divided in a far less pacific way, for a debate over whether or not Church members should be allowed to take a certain oath required of civic officials in some Scottish towns divided the young Secession Church in 1746. God willing, next time we shall deal with the impact of the split on the Hall.

[Pictured: the old Kirk at Abernethy]

Teaching Theology for 140 Years - III.

The Secession Theological Hall, then, began in Perth, with only one Professor and six students. There was no ceremony when the Hall opened, just a teacher and his students getting down to the serious business of preparing for the ministry .

The shortness of the session meant that Wilson decided to teach from a textbook, the Medulla of Markius, a Dutch Reformed theological professor from Leyden, was the textbook, and it was, of course, in Latin. The students were expected to master this systematic theology, and they were examined on its teaching. Wilson supplemented this with lectures upon the cardinal points of doctrine contained in the system. Since the Professor was also a full-time pastor, this was a thoroughly efficient way of teaching, and had the advantage that students could study the system while they were not at Perth. Wilson, for his part, did not have to prepare in essence a whole new systematic theology in his lectures. Having to build on another's foundation, Wilson chose to do so openly. He took great care that his students mastered Markius, examining every part of the system and understanding and remembering it. The desired end was that the Secession Church would possess a throughly educated ministery, and ministers who knew the system of Calvinistic doctrine. Today we have swung away from systematic theology to Biblical theology, and whilst the older Calvinists may have given too little place to Biblical theology, we have tended to err in the opposite extreme.

What influenced Wilson to take up a method of teaching that was quite different from that found in the Scottish universities and under which he had himself been trained? We shall never know for sure, but certainly one factor was that Dr. Philip Doddridge, head of the Dissenting Academy at Northampton, England, used the same method. Bishop Burnet, one-time Professor of Divinity in Glasgow University, who adopted this system of examining students on a text-book and giving supplementary lectures.

As we have noted, all instruction was in Latin, as was the text-book. The native language spoken by the students was not English, but Scots, a rather different, though similar, language, in which no systematic theologies existed. What was more, Latin theological works were far better known then, and so Latin was the key to the best of European Reformed and Lutheran Theology.

Students lodged with members of the congregation, ensuring that there was no way for them to be aloof from the local Church. Students were bound together by the closest of ties, living and learning together.

The average class size during the Hall's time at Perth was six students, quickly giving Wilson a class as large as any of the Scottish university Divinity classes.

But the relative peace of the Secession Hall was soon to be disturbed, of which more, God willing, next time.

Teaching Theology for 140 Years - II.

The four 'Fathers' of the Secession were Ebenezer Erskine, Alexander Moncrieff of Abernethy, William Wilson of Perth and James Fisher of Kinclaven. Others, such as Ralph Erskine, joined them later. At first they sought to remain in the Church of Scotland, but at last they were forced out. One cause of their concern over the Church of Scotland had been Professor Simson, who had been charged with heresy before the Assembly in 1729. He, the man who ought to have been training young men for the ministry of a Church that was based on the Westminster Confession, had been teaching them instead that Christ was just a man, and his death merely martyrdom for the sake of truth.

In seeking a theological professor, these men were moved by a deep concern for the Truth. Nothing, they held, was worse than a heretical professor. A heretical preacher infected one congregation, a heretical theology professor infected dozens, even hundreds, through his students. Heretical preachers often left their congregations relatively untouched, but a heretical theology professor could wreck a denomination. The sad destruction of English Presbyterianism through dissenting academies infected with Unitarian teaching bore witness to this fact. So the first qualification the professor needed was a living faith in Christ, which is the only certain preventative for heresy. The second was sound theological learning. What was demanded of the man was, in fact, evangelical scholarship.

The Church of Scotland Halls possessed three Professors, one of Theology, one of Hebrew and one of Church History (Greek had already been taught at school). These were full-time academics, based in the universities. While they were also usually elders in local congregations, and some preached, they were not parish ministers. The Secession, on the other hand, was faced with a serious shortage of preachers and funds. They were actually unable to have a full-time professor, so their single professor, in addition to having to be a versatile teacher, would have to combine his professorship with a pastorate.
A Committee composed of Moncrieff and Erskine was appointed to consider the question of appointments to the professorship, effectively ensuring that either Fisher or Wilson would be the Professor. In the end their choice fell on Mr. Wilson. He was the sort of evangelical scholar that was needed, in temperament and intellect gifted for the work. As he was pastor in Perth, the Hall was located there for the duration of his professorate. Instruction was in Latin, the international language of scholarship, and the level of learning was equal to that in the University.

The first class consisted of six students, a small number, but equal in number to the entire ministry of the Secession Church at that time! When all six were ordained, they would double the size of the church's ministry. Few institutions can make such a claim.

We have then seen how it began. God willing, next time we shall continue our story.

Teaching Theology for 140 Years - I.

One of the questions that has exercised the Church for the last two thousand years is the training of the ministry. The LOrd Jesus Christ chose men who had for the most part no more than the usual level of education for their day, and most of the early leaders of the Church were of average education, although as Jewish men they were trilingual (knowing Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic) and literate, having to read the Scriptures.

So should there be any special training for the ministry? There are some who answer in the negative forcefully, and say that all a minister needs is a call from God. Others treat the ministry like a profession. Three years in a semionary, they think, gives anyone all that is needed to be a minister. In fact we think things are not so clear cut. An ignorant ministry was the sacandal of the Middle Ages, when many priests knew little of the Bible, but an unspiritual minstry was the scandal of the eighteenth century, when many university-trained ministers were utter strangers to the new birth, just as Nicodemus was.

We begin with the assumption that there must be a divine call for any man to minister the Gospel. But when that call is recognised, is it enough? Historically the Reformed Churches have said that it is not. There must be some preparation, some sort of teaching. This existed in the early Church, as 2 Timothy 2.2 shows us:

"And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also."

But how to do this teaching? On that the Churches have differed, and will differ. In this series, God willingg, we shall trace the history of answers to that question in what would become the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland, from 1736 to 1876.

In 1736 the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland cast out of her some of the finest and most evangelical ministers of the period. Among them were the Erskine brothers. These men were cast out simply for refusing to tolerate unconstitutional actions by the Assembly in its riding rough-shod (almost literally) over the rights of the lower courts. At once they found themselves faced with the question of how to train the future ministers of their infant church. The Church of Scotland demanded a learned ministry; ministers were expected to be graduates of a university, preferably one of the four Scottish ones (counting as we do today, though in 1736 the university of Aberdeen was in fact two universities, leading to the quip that Aberdeen had as many universities as the whole of England), and then had to pass through the Church's theological curriculum, taught in Divinity Halls that were part of the universities, though faculty were appointed by the General Assembly.

These halls were of course shut to the Seceders, and even if they had not been, it is doubtful that the infant denomination would have sent its students to them. The theology professors, where not actually suspected of heresy, were on the whole dry and unspiritual, and the tone in the universities was low. The Seceders had to find another way.

This was the age of Methodism, and it is entirely within the realm of possibility that the Seceders could have acted as Wesley did and waived the need for a university education, supplying their ministers with a sort of distance learning course majoring on solid Reformed literature. They did not follow this course, however. Instead they resolved to set up their own Divinity Hall and to appoint one of their number as Theological Professor. Yes, just one professor was to teach all the students. The session of the Hall was timed during the summer vacation of the schools, as most students supported themselves by teaching.

God willing, having seen the plan, we shall see how it actually worked, at least in part, next time.