The Relief Church (or Presbytery of Relief) was a Scottish Presbyterian denomination founded in 1761. In 1847 it united with the

United Secession Church The United Secession Church (or properly the United Associate Synod of the Secession Church) was a Scottish Presbyterian denomination. The First Secession from the established Church of Scotland had been in 1732, and the resultant "Associate Pre ...

to form the

United Presbyterian Church of Scotland The United Presbyterian Church (1847–1900) was a Scottish Presbyterian denomination. It was formed in 1847 by the union of the United Secession Church and the Relief Church, and in 1900 merged with the Free Church of Scotland to form the Uni ...

. In relation to the history of the

Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland ( sco, The Kirk o Scotland; gd, Eaglais na h-Alba) is the national church in Scotland. The Church of Scotland was principally shaped by John Knox, in the Reformation of 1560, when it split from the Catholic Church ...

it is known as the Second Secession: relating to the First Secession of 1733.

History

The church was founded by Thomas Gillespie, a former minister of the

. He had been deposed by the General Assembly in 1752 after he refused to participate in inducting a minister to the Inverkeithing parish since the parishioners opposed the appointment. Gillespie was joined by

Thomas Boston Thomas Boston (17 March 167620 May 1732) was a Scottish Presbyterian church leader, theologian and philosopher. Boston was successively schoolmaster at Glencairn, and minister of Simprin in Berwickshire, and Ettrick in Selkirkshire. In additio ...

Oxnam Oxnam ( sco, Owsenam) is a village near Jedburgh, in Roxburghshire in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland. It is a primarily residential village. The placename Oxnam is from Old English ''oxa'' (genitive ''oxan'') "oxen" and ''ham'' "village", ...

and Thomas Colier of Westmoreland. They held the first meeting of the Presbytery of Relief at Colinsburgh in

Fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross ...

in 1761. The name was chosen to mean relief from the patronage that was common in the Church of Scotland at the time. The Relief body was liberal, welcoming independents, Episcopalians and other devout men to join them. In 1766 the distinguished minister

James Baine James Baine (1710–1790) was one of the ministers of the secession from the Church of Scotland which took the name of the Relief Church. Life Baine was the son of the parish minister of Bonhill, Dumbartonshire, and born in the manse there in 1 ...

resigned from his presbytery of Paisley and joined the Relief Church. In his letter of resignation Baine asserted that his faith and belief in his former creed was unchanged, but he was resigning due to abuses of church power. The number of congregations grew rapidly, and a Relief Synod was formed in 1773, which in 1847 had under its jurisdiction 136 congregations. The Relief Church issued no distinctive testimonies, and a certain breadth of view was shown in the formal declaration of their terms of communion, first made in 1773, which allowed occasional communion with those of the Episcopal and Independent persuasion. In 1794 the Relief Church adopted as its hymn-book

Patrick Hutchison Patrick Hutchison (1741–1802) was a Presbyterian minister who produced the first systematic definition of the beliefs of the Relief Church in Scotland. Early life and religious loyalties Hutchison was born on 3 January 1741 into a farming famil ...

's ''Sacred Songs and Hymns on Various Passages of Scripture'', and it was Hutchison who established the first systematic definition of the Relief Church's beliefs. A Relief theological hall was instituted in 1824. In 1847 a union was formed between all the congregations of the United Secession Church and 118 out of 136 of the Relief Churches, in what now became the United Presbyterian Church. Reformed Scots Church Denominations

References

Sources

* * * * * * {{Scottish religion Presbyterian denominations in Scotland Religious organizations established in 1761 1761 establishments in Scotland 1847 disestablishments Former Presbyterian denominations Church of Scotland