“The ministers that were took not their pattern from any Kirk in the world, no, not from Geneva itself; but, laying God’s Word before them, made reformation according thereunto…”
John Row 1637
History of the Kirk of Scotland, p. 12
“…for in very deed as the reformation of Geneva did pass the reformation of Germany, so the reformation of Scotland did pass that of Geneva.”
George Gillespie
English Popish Ceremonies, pt. 3, ch. 8, p. 157 ff.
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Subsections
Special Topics in the History of Scottish Worship
Scottish Religious Life
Scottish Books of Discipline
Defenses of Scottish Covenanting & the Indulgence & Occasional Hearing
. Controversies, 1661-1688
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Order of Contents
Westminster Directory & the Scots
Texts & Service Books
Specific Time Periods
Journal
Bibliographies
Treatises on Worship
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The Main Works
Overview of the Whole Span
Articles
Short & Concise
Maxwell, William – Pt. 4, Section 5, ‘The Reformed Rites & their Successors in Scotland’ in An Outline of Christian Worship, its Development and Forms, p.120-136 1936
Maxwell was a leading proponent of Liturgical Renewal in Scotland in the late-1800’s, which philosophy of worship was at variance with the practice of the Biblical, simplicity of worship agreed upon by Westminster.
Forrester, D.B.
‘Worship’ in Dictionary of Scottish Church History & Theology (1993), pp. 894-97 Concisely surveys the whole history of Scottish worship
Ch. 14, ‘The Reformed Tradition in Scotland’ in eds. Wainwright & Tucker, The Oxford History of Christian Worship (Oxford, 2006), pp. 473-83 A liberal, academic assessment.
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Lengthy & Dense
Leishman, Thomas – ‘The Ritual of the Church’ in ed. Robert Story, The Church of Scotland, Past & Present (1890 ff.), vol. 5, pp. 306-426 A dense and lengthy article treating of the whole span of the Scottish Church.
Leishman was a leader in the Liturgical Renewal movement in late-1800’s Scotland (the thrust of which was directly contrary to the Biblical doctrine of the purity of worship, as exemplified in the Westminster Standards), but he here provides very valuable historical information.
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Books
1800’s
M’Crie, Charles G. – The Public Worship of Presbyterian Scotland Historically Treated (1892) 490 pp. Cunningham Lectures M’Crie was of the Free Church of Scotland.
From a review by David Hay Fleming, ‘Scottish Presbyterian Worship’: “Mr. M’Crie has tried to write impartially–as one holding no brief, and receiving instructions from no party–and has succeeded better than most writers… while a presbyterian by birth and conviction, his tastes would rather lead him into the modern renaissance [of worship in Scotland at that time]… This work on the whole can be recommended as thoroughly reliable in its presentation of facts…”
Sprott, George – The Worship & Offices of the Church of Scotland, or the Celebration of Public Worship, the Administration of the Sacraments & other Divine Offices, according to the order of the Church of Scotland; being Lectures… (1882) 270 pp.
Sprott was a chief proponent of the Liturgical Renewal movement in Scotland, but provides helpful historical data.
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1900’s
Maxwell, William – A History of Worship in the Church of Scotland Buy (Oxford Univ. Press, 1955) 195 pp. ToC Baird Lectures
Maxwell was a chief proponent of the Liturgical Renewal movement in Scotland. Here is a review by John Lamb in the journal of the Church Service Society (which was a leading organ of the Liturgical Renewal movement).
Forrester, Duncan & Douglas Murray – Studies in the History of the Worship in Scotland Buy (T&T Clark, 1984) 190 pp. ToC Liberal, academic scholarship
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The 1500’s through the Early-1700’s
Books
Steuart of Pardovan, Walter – Collections & Observations concerning the Worship, Discipline and Government of the Church of Scotland (1709) 330 pp.
This is a classic.. Steuart, at the beginning of the 1700’s, intended to preserve the knowledge of the ways in which the presbyterian Church of Scotland had done things since the Reformation.
Leishman, Thomas – The Westminster Directory (1901) 205 pp. The Introduction is 35 pp, followed by the Directory. The notes afterward, commenting through the sections of the Directory, are 75 pp.
This is the most historically detailed commentary on the Directory, though do be aware that Leishman (1825-1904) was part of the Liturgical Renewal movement in late-1800’s Scotland, which philosophy of worship was directly contrary to the Biblical simplicity of worship contained in the Westminster Directory.. This work is fuller and substantially different than the similar one linked below on this page, written 33 years earlier.
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The Reformation
On John Knox’s Genevan Liturgy 1556-59
Maxwell, William –The Liturgical Portions of the Genevan Service Book Used by John Knox While a Minister of the English Congregation of Marian Exiles at Geneva, 1556-1559 Buy (1931)
The significant Introduction and notes closely examine the origins of Scottish reformed worship. Knox’s Genevan liturgy formed a significant basis for the Scottish Book of Common Order of 1564.
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On the Book of Common Order, c. 1564-1645
Sprott, George W. – The Book of Common Order of the Church of Scotland Commonly Known as John Knox’s Liturgy… with Historical Introductions & Illustrative Notes Buy (1868)
From the Introduction: “As an introduction to the Book of Common Order, we purpose giving an account of the law and usage of the Church, as to worship, from the Reformation till 1645.”
Mitchell, Alexander – Ch. 7, ‘The Book of Common Order’ in The Scottish Reformation: its Epochs, Episodes, Leaders & Distinctive Characteristics ed. David H. Fleming (1900)
Mitchell (1822-99) was a Church of Scotland ecclesiastical historian, known for his studies on the Westminster Assembly.
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1500’s-1640’s
McMillan, William – The Worship of the Scottish Reformed Church, 1550-1638 Buy (1931)
Baird, Charles – Chs. 5-7, ‘John Knox and the Church of Scotland’, ‘The First Sacrament in Scotland’ & ‘Traces of the Scottish Liturgy’ in Eutaxia, or the Presbyterian Liturgies: Historical Sketches, pp. 91-137 (1855) Surveys up to Westminster.
Baird, a presbyterian, was an initial and leading figure in the Liturgical Renewal in America in the mid-1800’s.
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The Era of the Protesters
Article
Sprott, George W. – The Worship of the Church of Scotland during the Covenanting Period, 1638-1661, the Lee Lecture of 1893 48 pp.
Sprott was part of the Liturgical Renewal in late-1800’s Scotland, which affects his selection of evidence, interpretation of evidence and the opinions that he gives along the way.. He is in no way friendly to the Biblically simple worship of the covenanters during the time he surveys.
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Book
Langley, Christopher R. – Times of Trouble & Deliverance: Worship in the Kirk of Scotland, 1645-1658 Pre PhD thesis (University of Aberdeen, 2012)
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More Books
More books on specific time periods are in the sections below.
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1800’s
A Churchman – The Worship, Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of Scotland Compared with those of the Other Reformed Churches and of the Primitive Church 1863 54 pp.
Lee, Robert – The Reform of the Church of Scotland in Worship, Government and Doctrine: Part 1, Worship 1866
Lee (1804-1868) was a chief innovator in worship in the Church of Scotland, specifically popularizing the organ as well as numerous other variant practices (including standing for singing).
Gibson, James – The Public Worship of God: its Authority and Modes, Hymns and Hymn Books 1869 186 pp. Gibson was a professor in the Free Church of Scotland, and here defends exclusive psalmody.
Duncan, Andrew – The Scottish Sanctuary as it Was & as it Is, or Recent Changes in the Public Worship of the Presbyterian Churches in Scotland 1882? 185 pp.
Bannerman, David Douglas – The Worship of the Presbyterian Church with Special Reference to the Question of Liturgies 1884 120 pp. Douglas Bannerman was not as strong on the purity of worship as his father James Bannerman.
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1900’s
Wotherspoon, H.J. & J.M. Kirkpatrick – A Manual of Church Doctrine (1919) 200 pp.
Wotherspoon was part of the Liturgical Renewal movement in Scotland.
Barkley, John – The Worship of the Reformed Church: an Exposition & Critical Analysis of the Eucharistic, Baptismal & Confirmation Rites in the Scottish, English-Welsh & Irish Liturgies Buy (John Knox Press, 1967) 125 pp. ToC Liberal
Ross, John MacDonald – Four Centuries of Scottish Worship Buy (St. Andrews Press, 1972)
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More Articles
More articles on specific time periods are in the sections below.
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1800’s
Lorimer, John – Review of ‘The Liturgy of the Church of Scotland, or John Knox’s Book of Common Order’ etc. in Edinburgh Review (Jan-Apr, 1852), pp. 453-81 A major article in its day.
Edgar, Andrew – ‘Lecture 2: Public Worship in Olden Times’ in Old Church Life in Scotland: Lectures on Kirk Session & Presbytery Records, vol. 1 1885-6 about the 1500’s-1700’s
Kennedy, John – Ch. 4, ‘The Religion of Ross-Shire’ in The Days of the Fathers in Ross-shire, pp. 113-56 Buy (1895)
Kennedy was a Free Church of Scotland minister. This was his most well known work, which sought to preserve the heritage of the generation before him (in the early-1800’s) in his part of the Highlands.
Leishman, Thomas – ‘The Moulding of the Scottish Reformation’ The Lee Lecture of 1897
The Lee Lectures were named after Robert Lee (see above) and were intended to promote Liturgical Renewal in Scotland.
Here is a review by David Hay Fleming. Sometimes the discretionary forms for prayer in the Book of Common Order are construed to be an historical example of the near equivalent of ministers regularly relying on reading prayers in the administration of public worship (as in a liturgy).. On pp. 246-249 Fleming gives the abundant evidence that many or most of the ministers of that day freely inputted their own free prayer apart from the forms.
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1900’s
Fleming, David Hay – ‘Scottish Presbyterian Worship’ in Critical Reviews Relating Chiefly to Scotland, pp. 488-92 (1912) Being a review of Charles M’Crie’s The Public Worship of Presbyterian Scotland Historically Treated.
Fleming, one of the greatest historians of the Scottish Church, demonstrates on pp. 490-1 that the use of the uninspired Doxology in Scottish worship does not go back (as often alleged) to the Book of Common Order (1564) at the Reformation, but only started being printed in the Book of Common Order around 1575 and following.
Gwynne, Walker – ‘The Scottish, American and Irish Revisions’ in Primitive Worship and the Prayer Book: Rationale, History & Doctrine of the English, Irish, Scottish and American Books, p. 120 ff. (1917)
McMillan, William – ‘The Anglican Book of Common Prayer in the Church of Scotland’ Scottish Church History Society (1932) McMillan surveys from the Reformation till 1735.
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On the Westminster Directory & Scottish Worship
1800’s
Leishman, Thomas – ‘A Directory for the Public Worship of God’ Buy (1868) 110 pp. in The Book of Common Order of the Church of Scotland… & The Directory for the Public Worship of God with Historical Introductions & Illustrative Notes, pp. 257-367 There is a 22 page Introduction before a reprinting of the Directory. The 43 page commentary notes commence on p. 325
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1900’s
Leishman, Thomas – The Westminster Directory (1901) 205 pp. The Introduction is 35 pp, followed by the Directory. The notes afterward are 75 pages.
This is the most historically detailed commentary on the Directory (which includes significant info on Scottish practice), though do be aware that Leishman (1825-1904) was part of the Liturgical Renewal movement in late-1800’s Scotland, which philosophy of worship was directly contrary to the Biblical simplicity of worship contained in the Westminster Directory.
This work is fuller and substantially different than the one above, written 33 years earlier.
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2000’s
Ward, Roland – ‘Part 2: The Directory for Public Worship’ (2007) 57 pp. in Richard Muller & Rowland Ward, Scripture & Worship Buy (P&R) pp. 83-140
Ward is not as historically detailed as Leishman, and adds little to his predecessor.
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Texts & Service Books
1500’s
The Practice of the Lord’s Supper
ed. Gibson & Earngey – Ch. 15, ‘The Practice of the Lord’s Supper’ (1550), ‘Form of Prayers’ (1556), ‘Book of Common Order’ (1564) in Reformation Worship: Liturgies from the Past for the Present, pp. 543-600 (2018)
“When the English government procured the release of the Scottish galley prisoners, John Knox was freed in 1549 and became Army chaplain to the English garrison town at Berwick-upon-Tweed, just south of the Scottish border. This congregation was comprised of an assortment of worshippers (soldiers, exiled Scots, and immigrants) and was given ecclesiastical freedoms akin to the ‘Strangers’ congregations in England. This liberty, and isolation from London, afforded Knox the space to carve out his own liturgy, distinct from that of [Thomas] Cranmer’s recently released [First] Book of Common Prayer [of 1549].
The fragment that survives of Knox’s Practice of the Lord’s Supper gives a sense of his early approach to worship, and bears some similarities to that of the Frenchmen, Farel and Calvin…. the Lord’s Supper… was expressed by sitting–not kneeling–around the Lord’s table…” – pp. 545-6
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The English Congregation at Frankfort 1554-5
ed. Sprott, George – The Liturgy of Compromise used in the English Congregation at Frankfort bound in ed. Wotherspoon, The Second Prayer Book of King Edward the Sixth (1552) with Historical Introduction and Notes, and the Liturgy of Compromise used in the Congregation at Frankfort 1905 Church Service Society
The English Book of Common Prayer formed the liturgical background to the contendings within the English Congregation at Frankfort, Germany. The Anglican party desired such Anglican worship practices, where as John Knox and the English puritans there sought more Biblical worship. This event was an important dividing of ways, as Knox would shortly leave Frankfort for Geneva to establish a more Biblical worship service.
The English Book of Common Prayer was used by protestants in Scotland in the years leading up to 1560, as the best thing available at that time. For more information on the Frankfort context, see William Whittingham’s (c.1524-1579) A Brief Discourse of the Troubles Begun at Frankfort in the Year 1554 about the Book of Common Prayer & Ceremonies and Andrew Lang’s ‘Knox in the English Puritan Troubles at Frankfort: 1554-1555’ in John Knox & the Reformation (1905).
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John Knox’s Genevan Liturgy, 1556-9
Maxwell, William – The Liturgical Portions of the Genevan Service Book Used by John Knox While a Minister of the English Congregation of Marian Exiles at Geneva, 1556-1559 Buy (1931)
This work specializes in the origins of Scottish reformed worship. Knox’s Genevan liturgy formed a significant basis for the Scottish Book of Common Order of 1564.
ed. Gibson & Earngey – Ch. 15, ‘The Practice of the Lord’s Supper’ (1550), ‘Form of Prayers’ (1556), ‘Book of Common Order’ (1564) in Reformation Worship: Liturgies from the Past for the Present, pp. 543-600 (2018)
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The Book of Common Order 1564
ed. Cumming, John – The Liturgy of the Church of Scotland, or John Knox’s Book of Common Order (1840)
Sprott, George – The Book of Common Order of the Church of Scotland Commonly Known as John Knox’s Liturgy… with Historical Introductions & Illustrative Notes Buy (1868)
Sprott was a chief proponent of the Liturgical Renewal movement in Scotland, but here provides some excellent historical background on John Knox’s Liturgy.
From the Introduction: “As an introduction to the Book of Common Order, we purpose giving an account of the law and usage of the Church, as to worship, from the Reformation till 1645.”
ed. Gibson & Earngey – Ch. 15, ‘The Practice of the Lord’s Supper’ (1550), ‘Form of Prayers’ (1556), ‘Book of Common Order’ (1564) in Reformation Worship: Liturgies from the Past for the Present, pp. 543-600 2018
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The Collects (Prayers) of 1595
Church of Scotland – The Scottish Collects from the Scottish Metrical Psalter of 1595 Ref 56 pp.
ed. Calhoun, David – Prayers on the Psalms: From The Scottish Psalter of 1595 (Pocket Puritans) Buy (2010) 152 pp.
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1600’s
Episcopal Documents
1601 ff. ed. Sprott, George – The Scottish Liturgies of the Reign of James VI: the Book of Common Prayer, etc. (1871)
The Book of Common Prayer for Scotland, modeled after the English version which had been used in the years immediately leading up to the Reformation in 1560, began to be pushed in 1601 and following by the Erastian, prelatic party. The ‘Form of Service’ of 1616 is given in the appendix.
Introduction: “…we purpose giving an account of the innovations and liturgical movements in the Scottish Church, from the beginning of the seventeenth century till the great outbreak in 1637 [over Laud’s Liturgy].”
ed. James Cooper – Laud’s Liturgy, 1637: The Book of Common Prayer & Administration of the Sacraments… for the Use of the Church of Scotland, with Historical Introduction & Notes (1637) Church Service Society Here is an original edition
This was filled with the English/Popish ceremonies that George Gillespie broadsided shortly after it came out, starting the 2nd Reformation in Scotland (1638). Modified versions of the 1637 Scottish Book of Common Prayer saw light again with the reviving of the Scottish episcopal party in the 1700’s (see the section below: Episcopal Worship).
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Presbyterian
The Westminster Directory for Public Worship Adopted by both civil and ecclesiastical Scotland in 1645
This continued to be the current Directory for Worship for the Scottish Churches till the late-1800’s with the oncoming of constitutional changes.
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1700’s
Episcopalian
Lempriere, P.A. – Scottish Communion Offices of 1637, 1735, 1755, 1764, 1889, together with the English Liturgy of 1549, Arranged to Show their Variations (Edinburgh, 1909)
Dowden, John
The Annotated Scottish Communion Office (1884)
The Scottish Communion Office, 1764, with Introduction, History of the Office, Notes and Appendices (1922) 290 pp.
Here is an Introduction to this work.
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1800’s
For a further listing of such 1800’s service books, see John Lamb, ‘Aids to Public Worship in Scotland, 1800-1850’ (1959) Scottish Church History Society.
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Robertson, Harry – The Scotch Minister’s Assistant, or a Collection of Forms for Celebrating the Ordinances of Marriage, Baptism and the Lord’s Supper according to the Usage of the Church of Scotland (Inverness, 1802)
The first of the following genre of such books.
Brunton, Alexander – Forms for Public Worship in the Church of Scotland (1848)
Anderson, James – The Minister’s Directory, or Forms for the Administration of the Sacraments & other Rites and Ordinances according to the Use of the Church of Scotland (1856)
Bonar, Andrew R. – Presbyterian Liturgies with Specimens of Forms of Prayer used in the Continental, Reformed and American Churches… (1858) Bonar was a minister in the Church of Scotland, to be distinguished from Andrew A. Bonar of the Free Church of Scotland.
Liston, William – The Service of God’s House, or Forms for the Guidance of Ministers and Heads of Families… According to the Practice of the Church of Scotland (1866)
Milne, Robert – Directory & Guide to the Ministerial Office of the Church of Scotland (1888)
Here is a positive review in the Original Secession Magazine.
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Specific Time Periods in Scottish Worship
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Early Scottish Worship
Articles
Holmes, Stephen – ‘Catalogue of Liturgical Books and Fragments in Scotland before 1560’ The Innes Review, 62.2 (2011 – published 2012): 127–212
MacGregor, Duncan – ‘Early Scottish Worship: its General Principles and Leading Details’ 64 pp. being The Lee Lecture of 1895
Sprott, George – ‘The Ancient Cathedrals of Scotland’ in Transactions of the Scottish Ecclesiological Society, vol. 2, part 1 (1906-07), p. 1 ff.
Cooper, James – Reliques of Ancient Scottish Devotion (Edinburgh, 1913) 60 pp.
Donaldson, Gordon – “Scotland’s Earliest Church Buildings” Scottish Church History Society 1974
Currie, David R. – ‘The Order of Friar Preachers in Scotland’ Scottish Church History Society 1950
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Book
Forbes, Alexander – Kalendars of Scottish Saints (1872) 550 pp. This is a survey of the liturgical calendars for the year that various, notable, early Scottish Christians used.
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1500’s
Books
McMillan, William – The Worship of the Scottish Reformed Church, 1550-1638 Buy (1931)
Holmes, Stephen Mark – Sacred Signs in Reformation Scotland: Interpreting Worship, 1488-1590 Buy (Oxford, 2015) 248 pp.
McMillan, Catherine – Keeping the Kirk: The Practice & Experience of Faith in Northeast Scotland, 1560-1610 (2016) PhD dissertation, Univ. of Edinburgh This has been published in book form.
Abstract:
“The main body of the thesis explores the practice and experience of faith in the North East between 1560 and 1610 using three main themes. The first studies the Sabbath, the weekly fixture that was the heart of public worship and observance in the parish. Sacramental practice is the second theme with an in-depth study of the annual administration of Communion, which reinforced temporal and spiritual bonds among Kirk adherents and starkly exposed non-adherents and recusants. The final theme considers the role and position of ministers and readers in religious practice and investigates the relationship between them and their parishioners.
From detailed analysis of these three themes, it is concluded that the North East as a whole was transformed into the general mould of Scottish Reformed Protestantism by 1610, but that there was a spectrum of practices and experiences of faith.”
Chernoff, Graham Thomas – Building the Reformed Kirk: the Cultural use of Ecclesiastical Buildings in Scotland, 1560–1645 (2013) 230 pp. PhD dissertation
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Articles
Holmes, Stephen – ‘Catalogue of Liturgical Books and Fragments in Scotland before 1560’ The Innes Review, 62.2 (2011 – published 2012): 127–212
Slonosky, Timothy – ‘Divine Services’ in Civil Reformations: Religion in Dundee and Haddington C.1520-1565, pp. 59-64 2014 PhD dissertation
Dotterwiech, Martin Holt – ‘Sacraments & the Church in the Scottish Evangelical Mind, 1528-1555’ Scottish Church History Society 2006
Somerset, Douglas
‘John Knox & the Destruction of the Perth Friaries in May 1559’ in Scottish Reformation Society Historical Journal, vol. 3
‘The Reforming of the Aberdeen Friaries on 4th January, 1559/60’ in Scottish Reformation Society Historical Journal, vol. 4, pp. 63-95
‘The Scottish Reformation in late June 1559: the Destruction of the Friaries of Stirling, Linlithgow, Glasgow, and Edinburgh’ in Scottish Reformation Society Historical Journal, vol. 5, pp. 1-33
Thompson, Bard – ‘History of Knox Liturgy’ ed. Glen Cary (1960) 23 paragraphs
Mitchell, Alexander – Ch. 7, ‘The Book of Common Order’ in The Scottish Reformation: its Epochs, Episodes, Leaders & Distinctive Characteristics (1900) ed. David H. Fleming
Mitchell (1822-99) was a Church of Scotland ecclesiastical historian, known for his studies on the Westminster Assembly.
MacRae, John – ‘The Scottish Reformers & Their Order of Public Worship’ (1929) Scottish Church History Society
Leishman, Thomas – pp. 334-5 in ‘The Ritual of the Church’ in ed. Robert Story, The Church of Scotland, Past & Present, vol. 5 (1890 ff.)
On the length of the average sermon at the Reformation being about an hour.
Spicer, Andrew – “‘Accommodating of Thame Selfis to Heir the Worde’: Preaching, Pews & Reformed Worship in Scotland, 1560–1638” Ref in History, vol. 88, no. 3 (291) (July, 2003), pp. 405-422
Fleming, David Hay – pp. 246-9 of ‘The Moulding of the Scottish Reformation’ Being a review of Thomas Leishman’s Lee Lecture of 1897 of the same name.
Sometimes the discretionary forms for prayer in the Book of Common Order are construed to be an historical example of the near equivalent of ministers regularly relying on reading prayers in the administration of public worship (as in a liturgy). On pp. 246-249 Fleming gives the abundant evidence that many or most of the ministers of that day freely inputted their own free prayer apart from the forms.
Lamb, John A. – ‘The Kalendar of the Book of Common Order: 1564-1644’ in Scottish Church History Society (1956)
About half of the seventy editions of the Book of Common Order (from 1560-1644) contained calendars of church seasons and festival days, in spite of the fact that the First Book of Discipline (1560, First Head: ‘Of Doctrine’) explicitly called for the abolishing of such holydays, they having no warrant in God’s Word. The General Assembly, in their letter to Theodore Beza in 1564 also condemned such holydays for the same reason.
Lamb, who was part of the Liturgical Renewal and was for such holydays, analyzes these calendars in the BCO (some of which information is helpful). Strangely, he neglects to investigate the most obvious reason for this phenomenon: the episcopal influence and push of the certain printers that published these calendars, and the presbyterianism of the printers who did not.
McCallum, John – Pt. 1, Ch. 3, ‘The Reformation of Worship’ in The Reformation in Fife, 1560-1640, pp. 77-100 (2008) PhD dissertation
Vogan, Matthew – ‘Conventicles from the First to the Second Reformation in Scotland’ in Scottish Reformation Society Historical Journal, vol. 6, pp. 53-85
Conventicles were the separate worship meetings of the Scottish puritans during this time.
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1600’s
Books
McMillan, William – The Worship of the Scottish Reformed Church, 1550-1638 Buy (1931)
Spinks, Bryan – Liturgy in the Age of Reason: Worship and Sacraments in England and Scotland 1662–c.1800 Buy (Routledge, 2008) 294 pp.
McMillan, Catherine – Keeping the Kirk: The Practice and Experience of Faith in Northeast Scotland, 1560-1610 (2016) PhD dissertation, Univ. of Edinburgh
Abstract:
“The main body of the thesis explores the practice and experience of faith in the North East between 1560 and 1610 using three main themes. The first studies the Sabbath, the weekly fixture that was the heart of public worship and observance in the parish. Sacramental practice is the second theme with an in-depth study of the annual administration of Communion, which reinforced temporal and spiritual bonds among Kirk adherents and starkly exposed non-adherents and recusants. The final theme considers the role and position of ministers and readers in religious practice and investigates the relationship between them and their parishioners.
From detailed analysis of these three themes, it is concluded that the North East as a whole was transformed into the general mould of Scottish Reformed Protestantism by 1610, but that there was a spectrum of practices and experiences of faith.”
Chernoff, Graham Thomas – Building the Reformed Kirk: the Cultural use of Ecclesiastical Buildings in Scotland, 1560–1645 (2013) 230 pp. PhD dissertation
Langley, Christopher R. – Times of Trouble and Deliverance: Worship in the Kirk of Scotland, 1645-1658 Pre unpublished PhD thesis (University of Aberdeen, 2012)
Defenses of Scottish Covenanting & the Indulgence and Occasional Hearing Controversies, 1661-1688
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Articles
McCallum, John – Pt. 1, Ch. 3, ‘The Reformation of Worship’ in The Reformation in Fife, 1560-1640, pp. 77-100 2008 PhD dissertation
Vogan, Matthew – ‘Conventicles from the First to the Second Reformation in Scotland’ in Scottish Reformation Society Historical Journal, vol. 6, pp. 53-85
Vogan is an elder in the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland, who is orthodox, unlike Stevenson below.
Mackay, P. H. R. – ‘The Reception Given to the Five Articles of Perth’ Scottish Church History Society 1977
Stevenson, David – ‘Conventicles in the Kirk, 1619-37: The Emergence of a Radical Party’ Scottish Church History Society
Stevenson is a liberal scholar. The ‘radical party’ Stevenson refers to, who were unsatisfied with the worship and government of the Church of Scotland in the early-1600’s (and hence were holding conventicles), were the orthodox presbyterians who rose to strength in 2nd Reformation of 1638. For an orthodox viewpoint, see Vogan above.
M’Crie, Charles – ‘Covenanting Preaching’ in Religious Life in Scotland, from the Reformation to the Present Day (1888)
Vogan, Matthew – ‘Samuel Rutherford & the Theology & Practice of Preaching’ in Scottish Reformation Society Historical Journal, vol. 1
Leishman, Thomas – pp. 392-3 in ‘The Ritual of the Church’ in ed. Robert Story, The Church of Scotland, Past & Present, vol. 5 (1890 ff.)
On the new style of preaching by some in the mid-1600’s.
Ross, William – Ch. 5, ‘The Minister’s Labors in the Preaching of the Word and Catechizing’ in Glimpses of Pastoral Work in the Covenanting Times, a Record of the Labors of Andrew Donaldson, 1644-1662 (1877) 255 pp. Ross was in the Free Church of Scotland.
Sprott, George W. – The Worship of the Church of Scotland during the Covenanting Period, 1638-1661, the Lee Lecture of 1893 48 pp.
Sprott was part of the Liturgical Renewal in late-1800’s Scotland, which affects his selection of evidence, interpretation of evidence and the opinions that he gives along the way. He is in no way friendly to the simple worship of the covenanters during the time he surveys.
Henderson, G.D. – Religious Life in Seventeenth Century Scotland Buy (Cambridge, 1937)
Ch. 7, ‘Externals of Church Worship and Church Government in Scotland under Charles II’
Ch. 9, ‘The Scottish Pulpit in the Seventeenth Century’
Mirabello, Mark Linden – Ch. 8, ‘The Worship of the Established Church’ in Dissent & the Church of Scotland, 1660-1690, pp. 153-167 PhD dissertation
Abstract: “Chapter eight is an analysis of the worship of the post-Restoration [Establishment] kirk [under Erastian Episcopacy]. It will discuss the various developments in worship–the rejection of the Director of Public Worship, the resurrection of set forms of prayer, the repudiation of the lecture, the reinstitution of kneeling, the revival of the Perth Articles–and it will argue that the post-Restoration kirk was slowly drifting from the simple, spontaneous covenanter mode of worship to a more elaborate and structured mode that derived its inspiration from the Church of England.”
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1700’s
Books
Spinks, Bryan – Liturgy in the Age of Reason: Worship & Sacraments in England and Scotland 1662–c.1800 Buy (Routledge, 2008) 294 pp.
Henderson, Allan Bruce – Evangelism, Worship and Theology: a Study of Certain Revivals in Scottish Parishes Between 1796 and 1843, and their Relation to Public Worship (1977) PhD dissertation
This surveys the evangelical revivals, and their influence on public worship, which gained strength over Moderatism and led up to the Disruption of the Free Church of Scotland in 1843. Figures surveyed include J.A. Haldane and W.C. Burns.
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Articles
Anderson, James – ‘The History of the Introducing the Usage of the Lord’s Prayer in Dumbarton’ (1705) in Transactions of the Scottish Ecclesiological Society, vol. 1, part 2 (1904-1905), p. 159 ff.
This a documentary account of how Rev. James Anderson, an eminent defender of presbyterianism after the Revolution Settlement and minister of Dumbarton, introduced the unison (it appears, top of p. 166) recitation of the Lord’s Prayer into his congregational worship. The article gives helpful background on the history of the use and disuse of the Lord’s Prayer in Scotland.
Leishman, Thomas – middle of p. 405 in ‘The Ritual of the Church’ in ed. Robert Story, The Church of Scotland, Past & Present, vol. 5 1890 ff.
On the reading of sermons beginning in the 1700’s by the Moderates.
Witherspoon, John
Ecclesiastical Characteristics, or the Arcana of Church Policy, being a Humble Attempt to Open the Mystery of Moderation… in the Church of Scotland 1750’s-1760’s in Works, vol. 3 (in 4 vols.), Philadelphia, 1802
Bynum, William – ‘“The Genuine Presbyterian Whine”: Presbyterian Worship in the Eighteenth Century’ American Presbyterians, vol. 74, No. 3 (FALL 1996), pp. 157-70
“We will concentrate on Virginia, but there will be excursions to other colonies and to the homeland in Scotland.”
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1800’s
Book
Henderson, Allan Bruce – Evangelism, Worship & Theology: a Study of Certain Revivals in Scottish Parishes Between 1796 & 1843, & their Relation to Public Worship (1977) PhD dissertation
This surveys the evangelical revivals, and their influence on public worship, which gained strength over Moderatism and led up to the Disruption of the Free Church of Scotland in 1843. Figures surveyed include J.A. Haldane and W.C. Burns.
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Articles
Lamb, John – ‘Aids to Public Worship in Scotland, 1800-1850’ (1959) Scottish Church History Society
Kennedy, John – Ch. 4, ‘The Religion of Ross-Shire’ in The Days of the Fathers in Ross-shire, pp. 113-156 Buy 1895
Kennedy was a Free Church of Scotland minister. This was his most well known work, which sought to preserve the heritage of the generation before him (in the early-1800’s) in his part of the Highlands.
Norman Campbell – ‘The Sabbath Protest at Strome Ferry in 1883’ in Scottish Reformation Society Historical Journal, vol. 3
Brackenridge, R. Douglas – “The ‘Sabbath War’ of 1865-66: the Shaking of the Foundations” Scottish Church History Society
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Journal
Transactions of the Scottish Ecclesiological Society, 6 vols. 1903-19
See also our Collection of Journals on Scottish Church History generally.
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Bibliographies
Maxwell, William – VI. ‘Worship in the Church of Scotland’ in ‘Bibliography’ in An Outline of Christian Worship, its Development and Forms, p. 186 ff. (1936)
See also our Collection of Bibliographies on Scottish Church History generally and the bibliographies in many of the dissertations linked on this page.
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Historic, Scottish Treatises on Worship
See Gillespie, Rutherford and MacWard’s works on our page ‘Worship’. Much more will be coming in the days ahead, Lord willing.
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Related Pages
Special Topics in the History of Scottish Worship
The Works of the Westminster Divines on Worship
The Regulative Principle of Worship
The Protester-Resolutioner Controversy
Reformation and Puritan History
Musical Instruments in Worship
Spiritual Conferencing of Elders