The United Secession Church (or properly the United Associate Synod of the Secession Church) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

denomination which existed between 1820 and 1847.

History

The

First Secession The First Secession was an exodus of ministers and members from the Church of Scotland in 1733. Those who took part formed the Associate Presbytery and later the United Secession Church. They were often referred to as Seceders. The underlying ...

from the established

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 ...

had been in 1732, and the resultant "Associate Presbytery" grew to include 45 congregations. A series of disputes, in 1747 over the burgesses oath, and in the late 18th century over the

Westminster confession The Westminster Confession of Faith, or simply the Westminster Confession, is a Reformed confession of faith. Drawn up by the 1646 Westminster Assembly as part of the Westminster Standards to be a confession of the Church of England, it beca ...

, led to further splits. In 1820 two of the resulting groups, the

New Licht The terms Old Lights and New Lights (among others) are used in Protestantism, Protestant Christian circles to distinguish between two groups that were initially the same but had come to a disagreement. The terms originated in the early 18th century ...

Burghers and the New Licht Anti-Burghers, united to form the United Secession Church. The denomination existed until 1847 when it merged with the

Presbytery of Relief 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. In relation to the history of the Churc ...

to form the United Presbyterian Church.

Theological Professors

# John Dick - Professor of Theology - 1820-1833. #John Mitchell - Professor of Biblical Criticism (Biblical Literature from 1834) - 1825-1843 #

John Brown John Brown most often refers to: *John Brown (abolitionist) (1800–1859), American who led an anti-slavery raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia, in 1859 John Brown or Johnny Brown may also refer to: Academia * John Brown (educator) (1763–1842), Ir ...

- Professor of Exegetical Theology - 1834-1847 #Alexander Duncan - Professor of Pastoral Theology - 1834-1843 # Robert Balmer - Professor of Systematic Theology - 1834-1844. #James Harper - Professor of Pastoral Theology - 1843-1846 and Professor of Systematic Theology - 1846-1847. # John Eadie - Professor of Biblical Literature - 1843-1847.

Other notable members

John Jamieson John Jamieson (3 March 1759 – 12 July 1838) was a Scottish minister of religion, lexicographer, philologist and antiquary. His most important work is the ''Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language''. Life He was born in Glasgow in Ma ...

(died 1838)

References

{{Scottish religion Presbyterianism in Scotland Religious organizations established in 1820 1820 establishments in Scotland 1847 disestablishments in Scotland Presbyterian denominations established in the 19th century Former Presbyterian denominations Presbyterianism in the United Kingdom

History

Theological Professors

Other notable members

See also

References