fe*«
H* J *Wotherapoom **Jalm Maoleod of G oven’2 in She Constructive Quarterly * 1920, p.666*
G.fTBprotts fhe Doctrxne of Gchxew in the Church
Sewtown-on-Ayr In the pulpit occupied by <Tohn Caird
and A* I* II4 Boyd in their first pastorate©$> ffiaoleod was called in 1862 to the parish of Duns# nAt
Maelood*© coming to Duns a new star arose in the i
ecclesiastical' f irmament of Ueviot&ala”• ’
When Maelend began his ministry, the Established Ohnroh was beginning to recuperate, in numbers and
influence, from the effects of the Disrupt ion * Dr,
Bbbert Dee* a reforms in worship - at Old Greyfx-im?© Church in Edinburgh were forcing themselves upon public
attentions and in the .realm of doctrine the hard Cal vinism so long characteristic of Presbyterianism was
being softened and reorientated* To these developments Maeleod was not, insensitive* But the most potent
influence during his time at Duns •*• nan influence which undoubtedly shaped end coloured his whole theology1’ -
was the teaching of Edward Irving# °2)o him, as to the
living and abiding spiritual influence which have some times been associated with his name? Macleod was always
« willing to recognise his debt’1#4*
J» F# ,Irishman9 whose father had been associated with Macleod as a member of the same Synod, records that the young minister of Duns was introduced to f3Irvinglte*?
1• ■ J ♦E* he ishm&n
2
Linton Reaves, p«164#views through the influence of certain friends in
the districtt notably the sheriff of the county and
the sietex’s of Lord Lowe, all of whom were ’’Jrvingit*
’♦In the faith which that teaching awakened in his soul
he never afterwards wavered> WMe key to everything distinctive in his religious end ecclesisatical
attitude lies in that unrecorded. passage of Ms spirit ual development1* ♦ n$here can be no doubt that from this time onward John Macleod’s ministry exhibited an
ever-grov/ing sense of the reality of the gx'eat evangel*
ical verifies, a deeper and gtwder conception of the Church, a fervent belief in the power and efficacy of the Sacraments 9 and in that doctrine of the Second Coming
of our Lord which is the mark of a living faith in the
• 2 Church and the individual soul”#'"
It was during this period* too, that Maoleod formu lated those conceptions of public worship which came to full fruition in his Govan ministry • Although unable to put it into practice at Duns he declaimed that nthe Buehurist should be the Lord? s appointed ordinance for
the Lord’s House on the Lord’s Pay”# It woe at Buns
that he began the observance of the cardinal commemora-
1« ?I♦ Kirkpatricks. AHnlgt ry^. of doto....Macleod in A
recall that he had been the first in Scotland to ■
restore thia beautiful and venerable custom"*^
Mis ministry in' the Box*ders was marred by a pres- byterial enquiry in X8?$**‘?6 into a phrase used by the young minister in a pastoral letter in which.he
comended the use of "absolution"#"*" Objection was also raised to his observance of the Christian Tear* After
® period of acrimonious debate the verdict of both
Presbytery and Synod was upheld by the General Assembly of X3?S.@ and Maoleod was enjoined to a greater caution of language * forbidden to use the ’English Church or Mornaa Catholic "days", unauthorised hymns> and bidden restore the address- known as "fencing the tables’1 at Communion seasons# During the vacancy in Duns Pax»ish Church occasioned by Macleod? s translation to Govan, a petition from members of the congregation to the
Px*esbytory noted that cex’tain changes hecls during his incumbency, taken place in the mode and conduct of 1« A«W<Williams0ns op*eit#, pav.
2, In this Pastoral Debter Macleod wrote s 4SI desire to
have the privilege of approach to every sick-bed; and X cannot be held responsible if the sick perish
without receiving any ghostly counsel, blessing, warning, opportunity of confession, and, if there bo special need for it, absolution at the hands of
an ordained -minister, if you will not take the
trouble of distinctly and directly informing me
s *
public worship* She petitioners expressed their
di s sat is fact! on with, $
(1) She symbol and letters on the cloth covering the table in front of the pulpit, and the symbol on the
cover of the baptismal, font in the session-house,
which they deemed unnecessary and needlessly offensive to ih?e&H
(2) She observance by having public worship on these
days of the English Church - the feast of Christmas Day, Ooocl fx-iday, Ascension Day, and Pentecost - for which our Church standards give no sanction*
(3) We monthly Communion and printed Communion service, for which they would recommend a return to quarterly Communion, with the old form of fencing the tables, and also the observance of half-yearly fast-*
^*1* / $■
(4) The use of the ao-oallod Appendix ,fea..W-.
v/toioh they complained of as being introduced without
authority, and as containing certain hymns which seemed to them to want due reverence-and to be x*epugnanh to true cievotioxia 1 feeling*
(5) ®he posture of kneeling at the benediction, for which they desired a return to the standing posture as