HT10 Tyrone Askew

Garth Randell 09/01/2023

John Macleod – Scottish Theology

The book deals with Scottish theology from the reformation and gives tribute to Edward I and his

policies that without it Scotland would not have existed as it would have been under England.1 With the efforts

of John Knox the nation of Scotland became a nation that reformed in the Christian religion. John Knox during

the reign of Edward VI became known as one of Scotland’s great preachers of the Gospel. Not only was Knox a

mighty force in preaching and only a few during his time, but he was also a major influence in the inner circles

of the protestant party. He was known in the English Communion Office for the term the Black Rubric, which

expressly disallowed worship of the consecrated elements in the Supper, and kneeling was not to be constituted

as worshipping the bread and wine. After Edward VI’s reign came to an end, he was succeeded by Mary, many

prominent reformers fled for safety to Europe, Knox to Frankfurt Germany2, where he was driven out and fled

to Geneva where e became the pastor of the English refugees.

The Puritans who were seen as serious reformers were caricatured and misrepresented in many ways.

Their aim in their reformation and Theology activities to hit bedrock and when they reached it, they sought to

build it up again. Their goal was the return of the Church in the Apostolic pattern of Order, discipline, and

Worship. These reformed principles emphasized by the Puritan school of thought helped shape and determine

the history of the Scottish Reformation.3

There was a possibility that the Scottish reformation may have taken on a Lutheran or Anglican

complexion with people like Patrick Hamilton (who wrote Patrick’s Places which deals with Justification by

Faith alone) or Alexander Alane. Hamilton was a student of Francis Lambert at Marburg who was a Lutheran

The Scots Confession was developed in 1560 which was a manifesto of the reforming party which

included the six Johns one of whom was John Knox. The doctrine of the Church was a very important section

1 Macleod, John. Scottish Theology. (Edinburgh: Knox Press, 1974): 3

2 Macleod, John. Scottish Theology. (Edinburgh: Knox Press, 1974): 5
3 Macleod, John. Scottish Theology. (Edinburgh: Knox Press, 1974):10
in the confession because Scotland came from an Erastian background with monarchies seeking to take control

of the church with conflicts between the church and civil power. 4

Andrew Melville (1545 – 1622) -a leading man in the Scottish reformation after John Knox, and of

which the times called for a man of grit! And that man of grit was Andrew Melville. Melville was a scholar of

the humanist renaissance. Melville returned to the Scottish homeland after his studies in France and after the

death of Knox. He also taught in Geneva and was a close friend of Beza. Melville was influential in his

teaching life as well as in the courts of the church in Scotland. He sought the freedom of Presbyterianism and

the government of the Reformed church in Scotland against secular aggression. In the fight for the Church and

doing the will of Christ as its Head, the Second Book of Disciple (Knox had produced the First Book) was

produced during Melville’s leadership in the Church. As so was Knox, Melville was both a Puritan and

Presbyterian in the Church of Scotland. Again, the fight was still to be had around the Doctrine of Church and

State, and Melville was expected to give a strong stand against Erastian ideals in the Church of Scotland. The

question at a hand was the matter of who the head of the Church is. The Church of Scotland had many great

theologians working with Melville at the time which included: John Welsh, John Craig, Robert Bruce, Robert

Rollock, and John Davidson whom all have their own stories to tell in their effort for reforming Scotland.

Scotland as a Protestant reforming nation experienced even greater times with the Lord who had raised

up great men such as Alexander Henderson, Samuel Rutherford, George Gillespie, and many others who were

called by God to serve in the Second Reformation which was not tame to say the least.5

Samuel Rutherford (1600 – 1661) a Westminster Divine and Professor at St Andrew’s college and very

well known today in the English-speaking world. His works are of paramount use in the evangelical church

today and he was also known for his vigorous opposition to Arminianism. Rutherford did most of his work in

the city of Aberdeen as he was exiled from his hometown, Galloway. Was the very heart of the district where

conformity stood strong and where the Episcopal model in government stood the strongest, page 68. In

Aberdeen, Rutherford wrote the most remarkable series of devotional letters that the literature of the reformed

church can show. Rutherford showed in his letter his fervid piety, burning zeal, the love he had for his Lord.

The letters showed a spiritual genius, and he was marked as a writer of the first order. Rutherford was known

4 Macleod, John. Scottish Theology. (Edinburgh: Knox Press, 1974): 38

5 Macleod, John. Scottish Theology. (Edinburgh: Knox Press, 1974): 66
as the keen schoolman, the seraphic preacher, the patient pastor, the diligent Catechist, the militant Churchman,

and the mystical man of God all in one. There were many excellent men during this time, but this time can be

marked as a time when the Faith of the Gospel message preached was on fire with preachers like David Hume

and John Brown. The era was marked as Macleod says, “a time where the preaching of such a pulpit was not

only sound and correct, but that it was also the message of men aflame with zeal for the honour of God and

coming of His Kingdom.”

Now moving to the Post-Revolution Church in Scotland, which came about after the fiery trials of a

long and bitter persecution which the Reformed Church was subject to in the reigns of the two sons of king

Charles I that came to an end at the Revolution in 1688-9.6 There were many graves of humble martyrs who

loved not their life to death. With a change in government power, the Presbyterian church was again recognized

by the civil power. The Westminster Confession of faith had been adopted as the Church’s Confession and as

such has the sanction of the Scottish Parliament (although later withdrawn). There were many ministers who

lived through the furnace days and were the survivors of the old presbyterian order. These ministers were

restored to the status from which they had been driven and are now entrusted with the administration of the

government and discipline of the church. Some of these preachers’ names were Carstares, John Monro, James

Wodrow, and many others. The preaching of the age was experimental with definite Protestant and Presbyterian

convictions as it handled the Evangel in its application. The preaching had hand in hand with the therapeutic

method which tended to obscure the openness of the way of return to God and to His favour with the Gospel set

before sinners.

One preacher and teacher I would like to bring to the forefront is James Wodrow (1637–1707) was the

ninth son of the Scottish clergyman and historian, Robert Wodrow. James filled the Divinity Chair at the

university of Glasgow but was also a Professor in Theology where about 700 young men who had been in his

pulpit became ministers in Scotland. During tis time many theologians wrestles with the doctrine of

Justification and Regeneration such as Halyburton and Kuyper who asked the question of which precedes the

other.7 In Lutheran teaching, Regeneration is a consequence of Justification. Halyburton taught that

Regeneration in the order of nature goes before Justification, and in doing so we taught that the full and definite

6 Macleod, John. Scottish Theology. (Edinburgh: Knox Press, 1974): 103

7 Macleod, John. Scottish Theology. (Edinburgh: Knox Press, 1974): 128
judicial act or sentence which follows on faith’s acceptance of the Lord as our Righteousness. This was the

Scottish way of dealing with Justification and righteousness. On the matter of faith, Halyburton taught “that

faith which saves is essentially a cordial approbation of God’s way of saving sinners thought the mediation and

righteousness of Christ.” During this time in the Anglican circles the High Church movement affected the

Catholic doctrine in the Article of Justification. It did not accept the Roman teaching of Trent but tried to sail as

near to their teaching as possible but trying to reconcile James and Paul in Romans – this reactionary

Catholicising movement made faith that justified a kind of fides formato which gave way somewhat for the

work of repentance and the good works of the penitent. The teaching of the Reformers maintained the full and

free justification of sinners by faith in Christ alone. Their teaching in this subject was met with opposition from

more than the Anglo-Catholics. Men like Richard Baxter were surprised by the new method which became

popular in the latter Huguenot church, which held that to teach that the sinner who believed in Christ is fully

accepted before God on the grounds of His Sons obedience has an Antinomian strain in it (failing to see the law

of God in His special Covenant, and the Will of God bearing on man’s obedience) – this was the beginning of

the Marrow controversy. The reformed church’s doctrine of Justification had consequences that caused

breakoffs with the followers of Baxter that founded the Neonomians which was characterized by their teaching

of an Arminian character. They spoke of a new law of works.

One of the mediators in the controversy was Herman Witsius who was a Hyper-Calvinist and at the time

was chaplain to the Netherlands Embassy in London it was at this time he published his Animadversiones

Irenicae.

Just as a high-level overview without going into too much detail, the Marrow controversy had two sides,

the Legal and the Evangelical school. The one dealt in merit which lives from man to man which even aspires

to lay his Maker under obligation (The men who held the legal view held a high place in the councils of the

Church or Scotland and posed as the champions of law and good morals). The other rested for acceptance

before God in the merit of Another, who too our nature and place that he might save from everlasting death.

The one view stemmed from Trent and the other from Warburg and Geneva.

The Secessionists during the early days of the secession had no problem with the Confessions and

Constitution of the Church in Scotland. Their issue was with the prevailing faction who they believed were

more or less false to the Confession and who had perverted the fundamentals of the Constitution of the Church
for selfish ends. In 1733 the First Secession was held and headed by figures including Ebenezer Erskine (one of

the Marrow men) which led to the creation of a series of secessionist churches. The Seceders were critical of

the drudging and ungracious way in which the truth of our Lord’s essential Godhead had been vindicated in the

case of Professor Simson who was silenced and put under suspicion. The preaching of the Gospel during this

time was scrutinized by the Orthodox side such as Willison of Dundee and his co-workers who showed their

strength in the Assemblies from 1734-1736 end put an end to doctrinal errors in the pulpit with the passing of

the Act of Assembly.8

The “Moderates” was a name for those who had a reproach against a high doctrine view and the

mysteries of the faith and preach a minimum of the characteristic of the Gospel message. On the other side were

the “worthies” or evangelicals, who represented and strictly adhered to Reformed Tradition in terms of the

Faith confessed, the Church symbols and who stood out stoutly in defence of the jus divinum of Presbyter and

the inherent freedom of the Church to do the will of the Lord, its Head and King.9

Towards the end of the 18th century, the New Light movement was a separation of shoot-off from the

main Church based on unfaithfulness to the truth already professed. There was an easing off from the

intenseness and conviction of which where the old truth was held and taught as seen in the Confession of Faith.

The New Light movement was accepted because it claims a fresher Gospel truth. Many were accused of

liberalizing the Theology of the Church, Dr John Cairns gave that credit to Dr. John Brown, many others were

accused, and Synod meetings were held in relation to the New Light movement.10

Scotland also had a strong Puritan tradition and had established since the reformation a strong

evangelical Presbyterian church. Later the Scottish Reformed church faced many challenges such as the

Authority of Scripture with Rationalism sweeping the church in general in the 1900s. It also dealt with

Amyraldianism, but overall the Lord blessed the Church in Scotland and it produces many great Biblical

scholars, theologians, and preachers that we learn from today and must be truly grateful to the Lord.

What I have learned from this book is that Scotland was a wonderful example of God’s grace to a

seemingly insignificant nation, and without the Lord mercy and grace to the people of Scotland,

8 Macleod, John. Scottish Theology. (Edinburgh: Knox Press, 1974): 169

9 Macleod, John. Scottish Theology. (Edinburgh: Knox Press, 1974): 200
10 Macleod, John. Scottish Theology. (Edinburgh: Knox Press, 1974): 245
Presbyterianism would not have existed in the United Stated or even anywhere else in the world. The Scottish

Reformed Christians faced many trials, but the Lord was faithful with his elect and enabled the reformed faith

to continue spread from the reformation in Europe, to Scotland, then America and the rest of the world.