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

. In relation to the history of the

Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland (CoS; ; ) is a Presbyterian denomination of Christianity that holds the status of the national church in Scotland. It is one of the country's largest, having 245,000 members in 2024 and 259,200 members in 2023. While mem ...

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 of

Oxnam Oxnam () 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", the meanin ...

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

Fife Fife ( , ; ; ) is a council areas of Scotland, council area and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in Scotland. A peninsula, it is bordered by the Firth of Tay to the north, the North Sea to the east, the Firth of Forth to the s ...

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 – 17 January 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 man ...

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'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. Reformed Scots Church Denominations

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 became the United Presbyterian Church.

References

Sources

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