The Original Secession Church or United Original Secession Church was a Scottish Presbyterian denomination formed in 1827 by the union of (1) the Anti-Burgher

Old Lights The terms Old Lights and New Lights (among others) are used in 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 from a split i ...

, led by Thomas M'Crie the Elder and known as "the Constitutional Associate Presbytery" and (2) the portion of the Anti-Burgher New Lights that refused to merge with the

Burgher Burgher may refer to: * Burgher (social class), a medieval, early modern European title of a citizen of a town, and a social class from which city officials could be drawn ** Burgess (title), a resident of a burgh in northern Britain ** Grand Bur ...

New Lights, led by

George Paxton George Paxton (March 24, 1914 – April 19, 1989) was an American big band leader, saxophonist, arranger, and publisher during the 1930s and 1940s. He was president of Coed Records and a producer for the label. Early career He was born in Jack ...

and known as "the Synod of Protesters". The title 'United Original Secession Church' was adopted in 1842, after the 'Original Secession Church', by then led by

Thomas M'Crie the Younger Thomas M'Crie (earlier spellings include McCree and Maccrie) (7 November 1797–9 May 1875) was a Presbyterian minister and church historian. He was a Scottish Secession minister who joined the Free Church of Scotland and served as the Mo ...

, united with the portion of the

that refused to merge with 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 ...

. In 1852 some of its members, including

, merged with the

Free Church of Scotland In contemporary usage, the Free Church of Scotland usually refers to: * Free Church of Scotland (since 1900), that portion of the original Free Church which remained outside the 1900 merger; extant It may also refer to: * Free Church of Scotland (1 ...

formed by the

Disruption of 1843 The Disruption of 1843, also known as the Great Disruption, was a schism in 1843 in which 450 evangelical ministers broke away from the Church of Scotland to form the Free Church of Scotland. The main conflict was over whether the Church of Sc ...

. In 1956 the remainder of the Original Secession Church merged with the Church of Scotland.

Notable Original Secession churchmen

* Thomas M'Crie, the elder (died 1835) * Thomas M'Crie, the younger (died 1875) *

(died 1837)

Sources

* *

References

Presbyterian denominations in Scotland Religious organizations established in 1822 1956 disestablishments in Scotland 1822 establishments in Scotland Religious organizations disestablished in 1956 {{Presbyterianism-stub