Erskine Theological Seminary, organized in 1837, is the seminary of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. While the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church is of Scottish origin, it never had organic existence in Scotland. It was organized in Philadelphia on Nov. 1, 1782. Its name is historical, and implies that it was formed by union of Associate Presbyterians and Reformed Presbyterians. Each of these constituent bodies came from Scotland.
The Associate Presbytery of Scotland was organized at Gairney Bridge, near Kinross, on Dec. 6, 1733. Ebenezer Erskine, James Fisher, William Wilson, and Alexander Moncreiff seceded from the Church of Scotland, for which they and their followers are sometimes called “Seceders.” These men adhered to the Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms without alteration or dissent.
They objected to certain situations in the established church: the Episcopal form of government forced upon the Church of Scotland in 1661, the church’s failure to discipline confessedly Arminian and Socinian ministers, and the practice of patronage, in which the chief landowner of the parish had a veto over the parish’s selection of a pastor.
In October 1732, the Synod met at Perth. Ebenezer Erskine preached the opening sermon, in which he protested against the assembly’s endorsement of the Patronage Act as being an unscriptural encroachment upon the rights of Christian people. The Synod rebuked him, from which he appealed to the assembly.
This was the beginning of a series of proceedings that resulted in his suspension, together with his associates, and the loss of their pastorates. Finally they were removed from the ministry of the Church of Scotland. In 1737, Ralph Erskine and Thomas Mair joined the Associate Presbytery. In 1744, a Synod was organized with 26 ministers and 3 Presbyteries.
The Reformed Presbyterian Church of Scotland began its organic existence Aug. 1, 1743, when John McMillan and Thomas Nairn constituted themselves as what they called the Reformed Presbytery. The Reformed Presbyterians were “Covenanters.” They are so called because they are the lineal descendants of those who suffered and died for the crown rights of Jesus Christ. The Solemn League and Covenant of 1643 called for those signing it to defend the Reformed religion against all hostile influences and to die rather than allow it to be supplanted. This new document, an enlargement of the National Covenant of 1638, included Covenanters from Scotland, England, and Ireland.
The Scottish Parliament soon passed an act of uniformity, requiring Anglican services. This was so repugnant to the Covenanters that their refusal to submit led to armed resistance. They were defeated at the battle of Bothwell’s Bridge in 1679. The Covenanters refused to submit, and this led to persecution. The period 1684 to 1688 was called the “killing time.” Many were killed for holding doctrines that were opposed to episcopacy. One widow was persecuted, her home destroyed, and one of her sons killed for sheltering an afflicted Covenanter. Two women, Margaret MacLachlin and Margaret Wilson, were drowned in the Solway River for refusing to consent to Episcopal worship. Scenes like these were enacted all over western Scotland.
The accession of William and Mary in 1689 ended religious persecution in the Church of Scotland by reestablishing presbyterianism in Scotland and episcopacy in England and Ireland. The majority of Covenanter congregations accepted this new religious settlement. Three Covenanter ministers—Shields, Linning, and Boyd—together with their congregations, refused to connect with the reorganized Church of Scotland.
They gave two reasons for this. First, the Solemn League and Covenant was not recognized in the settlement; and second, the settlement recognized the supremacy of the king over the church, which destroyed its spiritual independence and was in conflict with the headship of Jesus Christ.
The three ministers, however, soon applied for admission to the Church of Scotland and were received in October 1690. This left the Covenanters without a minister. They organized themselves into praying societies, met for religious worship, watched over each other’s spiritual condition, and prayed and waited on God to send pastors to them.
John McMillan accepted a call from these “Society People,” and a licentiate, John McNeil, attached himself to them also. For more than 30 years, McMillan was their only ordained minister. Thomas Nairn of the Associate Church joined them, and, with McMillan, organized the Reformed Presbytery Aug. 1, 1743—ten years later than the organization of the Associate Presbytery. The Reformed Presbyterians adhered to the Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms, held to the divine right of presbytery, used exclusive psalmody in praise, and committed their testimony to the crown rights of Christ.
Ebenezer and Ralph Erskine, sons of Henry Erskine, understood the cost of being faithful to Christ and His Church. Their father was persecuted during the “killing times” and was banished from Scotland. Rev. Henry Erskine was one of nearly two thousand ministers ejected under the Act of Uniformity of 1662. Both men were excellent preachers, preaching the gospel and central Christian truths.
They were noted as the champions of “the free offer of the gospel,” and rarely ever preached without making a free offer of grace to all without distinction. They did not discard the doctrine of election, but boldly preached Christ. They also took the side of those known as the “Marrow men.” The Marrow of Modern Divinity was published in 1646 by one “E.F.,” whose identity was never corroborated. Some claim the author to be Edward Fisher; others attribute it to an illiterate barber.
The Marrow men were ardent defenders of particular redemption. Those who held to a High Calvinist position rejected the book and its proponents. The Erskines, then, protested against a hyper-Calvinism which would limit the offer of the gospel to the elect. They preached that in Christ, God has visited and redeemed His people. They announced that by His cross and resurrection God in Christ has won victory over all that would keep us from Him—sin and the grave are vanquished—and all because of God’s free and overflowing grace, and not because of our merit or status. They helped establish a Church that was not only thoroughly presbyterian but also thoroughly evangelical.
Covenanters came to America as early as 1685, settling in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, the New England States, and South Carolina. Shortly after the establishment of the Associate Presbytery in Scotland, that body began receiving petitions for preachers from congregations in America.
Scottish settlers from New England to the Carolinas needed ministers. The first American Associate Presbytery was formed in Pennsylvania in November 1753. The Presbytery of New York was organized in 1776. The first Reformed Presbyterian minister arrived in America in 1752. He labored alone for 23 years. The first Reformed Presbytery in this country was formed in Pennsylvania on May 10, 1774. The Associate and Reformed bodies united in 1782, though some members of both groups declined to join the union.
Associate Synod of North America was organized in May 1801, consisting of 4 presbyteries and 17 ministers. The Presbytery of the Carolinas was organized in January 1803. When the union of 1858 between the Associates and Associate Reformed congregations in the North took place, the new denomination was called the United Presbyterian Church. The United Presbyterian Church of North America and the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America united in 1958 to form the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. In 1983, the UPCUSA and the Presbyterian Church U.S. merged to form the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
The Associate Reformed Church was organized in Philadelphia on Oct. 31, 1782. The presbyteries forming the union were the Associate Presbyteries of Pennsylvania and New York, and the Reformed Presbytery of North America. This new denomination held to the Westminster Standards and practiced exclusive psalmody in worship. The denomination flourished, new fields were opened, and after 20 years the original Synod was divided into four Synods: the Synod of New York, the Synod of Pennsylvania, the Synod of the Carolinas, and the Synod of Scioto. When the original Synod divided, it planned to meet annually in a General Synod. The first meeting of this body was held at Greencastle, Pa., on May 30, 1804.
The General Synod did not have a harmonious existence. The Synod of Scioto withdrew in 1820 and became an independent Synod under the name “The Associate Reformed Synod of the West.” On the first day of April, 1822, the Synod of the Carolinas withdrew by permission of the General Synod and constituted itself under the name, “The Associate Reformed Synod of the South.”
In 1912, a new name for the Synod was adopted, “The Associate Reformed Synod.” In 1935 the official title became, “The General Synod of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church.” In 1946 an overture was adopted permitting the use of some hymns in those congregations desiring to use them. In 1951 the question of union with the Presbyterian Church-U.S. or the United Presbyterian Church, or both, was rejected after two years of study.
—H. Neely Gaston
Neely Gaston is an ARP minister serving as chief advancement officer with Gordon-Conwell Seminary (Charlotte campus). He has written a brief history of the ARP Church and Erskine Seminary. This article first appeared in the Associate Reformed Presbyterian.