Modern British Heresy

Welsh nonconformity was overwhelmingly Calvinist in the eighteenth century but it was not immune to the winds of change. In the second half of the century Methodism was growing rapidly in England. In 1750 and 1751 when on the way to Ireland and back, Charles Wesley preached in Bala and Dolgellau - then usually spelled Dolgelly -  but he did not did not give the principality his full attention.  Nonetheless some heard him and a Mr Foulkes of Bala published the Rules of the Methodist Societies in Bala in 1761.  One William Jones of Byrntirion (a large house and estate some five miles to the north of Dolgellau) was a devout man who “… was a good linguist, had mastered Greek, Latin and Hebrew, but declined to go on to the University, because, as he said, he did not feel called to preach the gospel, and with that conviction could not tell a lie and take Holy Orders. So instead he became a joiner."  (The Origin and History of Methodism in Wales, p.590, here , my sole source for this acc

Seeking to discover the story of Finlay Macrae’s heresy has been both interesting and frustrating. I have a conclusion, but very little detail as to the journey, and nothing at all on the substance of the heresy which Macrae was alleged to have propounded. On the other hand, reading a little about life on the edge of Scotland in this period was a fascinating diversion.  Context   Finlay Macrae was born in 1792, educated at Kings College, Aberdeen (MA, 1812) and minister of North Uist [ map , wiki ] from 1818. ( History of the Clan Macrae ). In 1841 he preached to the assembled synod of Gleneig. Whatever he said caused some consternation amongst his colleagues. He was accused of heresy and found guilty.  He appealed to the General Synod meeting in 1841. In the course of the Synod a committee was formed which   “... having read and considered the [sermon], they were of opinion, that no unsoundness of opinion was chargeable upon Mr Macrae; and, consequently, that his complaint should be

  Rev. Nathan Rouse was a Methodist minister, ordained in 1834. He served in Cambridge from 1836 and in Brigg, near Hull, in 1838 ( Dictionary of Methodism ). He was described as “ a literary man, and an excellent preacher, cultured and lovable.” (George Lester, Grimsby Methodism and the Wesleys in Lincolnshire , Archive.org )  A letter to Rev. George Steward In 1854 the Wesleyan Methodist Penny Magazine (April, p.51, here ) noticed Rouses’ publication A letter to the Rev. George Steward containing an examination of some of the statements and arguments of his recently published work. The author assumed most of its readers did not know who Rouse was and the review was sardonic and unenthusiastic, citing Swift’s maxim “Blessed is the man that expecteth nothing, for he shall never be disappointed.”(p52), and ending “... we feel that the insolence, bigotry, and folly of a Rouse leave all former absurdity floundering far behind.” ( ibid. p54 col.2) Contesting Archbishop Ussher’s date of C

Robert Imrie MA was the second minister of Kinkell in the Secession Church. He had been ordained on the 11th April 1792 and arrived in Kinkell in 1798. McKerrow, in his History of the Secession Church, repeated a comment that “so long as he contented himself with simply preaching the gospel and attending to his pastoral duties, he had around him an attached congregation. But this was not to continue…” (Small, p. 608) . The case is not especially significant for the miscellaneous content of Imrie’s heresy, but it is outstanding for the number of years and sessions of Synod it took to come to a final conclusion. 1801 In 1801 Imrie’s congregation brought 13 charges against him in the Presbytery of Perth. The complaint asserted that Imrie “... was accustomed, in his public ministrations, to employ modes of expression that were novel and unguarded, and calculated to unsettle the minds of his hearers with regard to some of the fundamental articles of the Christian faith.” (McKerrow, p484.)

  This case sits firmly at the trivial end of the scale of heresy accusations. On Friday May 23rd, 1834, at an Assembly of the Church of Scotland, Andrew Johnstone, M.P. ( probably this man ) complained about “the alleged heretical doctrine” in a book by Rev. Dr. David Ritchie, “Lectures on the Epistle of Paul to the Romans ”.  ( Ritchie, D., & Blackwood, W. (1831). Lectures: Explanatory and practical, on the doctrinal part of the Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Romans . Edinburgh: William Blackwood.) Johnstone called for a committee of inquiry to discover the author and to ascertain “whether it did not impugn the doctrine of justification by faith.” he had given no prior notice of his complaint. ( Report of the proceedings of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, for the year 1834 , Edinburgh, Wm Whyte and Co., p.10 here .)  Dr Ritchie immediately declared himself the author, and affirmed  “I cordially believe in the doctrine of by faith alone without works, - I tea

William Angus Knight ( wiki ) was Minister of St Enoch’s Church , Dundee in the Free Church of Scotland though he was more an academic than a local minister. In 1872 he offended his presbytery by accepting an invitation from his friend, the Rev James Martineau ( wiki ), and preaching in his Unitarian Church. The invitation to preach did not come out of the blue: the men had known one another for some years and had long corresponded on their theological differences. (Newcastle Daily Chronicle - Friday 12 July 1872 p2 col 6-7) Knight was not accused of heresy itself, but of causing offence by publicly associating with and, at least by implication, endorsing a renowned heretic. Knight is included in this blog mostly because I found his story interesting in itself and in particular because his case comes closer than any other I have so far found to drawing a border in the sands between who was and was not a heretic. (He wasn’t.) The course of events Knight preached in Martineau’s church on

On Saturday 11th April, 1896, the Bishop of Limerick, Edward O’Dwyer, charged the Rev Richard Henry Cotter, incumbent of Kildimo, County Limerick ( wiki ), with having deliberately avowed and maintained that 1) the baptism of infants was not agreeable with Scripture, and should not be retained by the Church;  2) that, following his own logic, Rev Cotter had himself baptised publicly within a service of worship in the Baptist House of Prayer, in Limerick;  3) That he failed to baptise “ the child of Isaac Langrill, a parishioner of Kildino, though requested to do so by its parents.” Cotter had published his views in: Deliberate Steps towards Hell Fire!!! now being made by Freemason sorcerers, Episcopalian idolaters, and Government liars-and inevitable political ruin! (1886) I have not found a copy online.  He had also described the martyred Roman Catholic Archbishop, Plunket, as “as a member of the blaspheming scorpion Freemasons, the Grand Pontiff scorpion president of the Synod.” (Pl