“The dragoons pursued their way over the hills towards the farm of Cairn, beautifully situated on the slope of the range of mountains that line the sweet vale of the Nith on the south. At this place they came upon two men in a hollow among the green and flowery braes, engaged, it is supposed, in devotional exercises. The sound of their voices employed in prayer, or in the singing of psalms, probably attracted the notice of the soldiers, and drew them to the spot. The names of the individuals were Hair and Corson. The circumstances in which they were found were enough to insure their death, and therefore, according to the custom of the times, and the license of the troopers, they were without ceremony shot on the spot. They lie interred on the south side of the great road between Sanquhar and New Cumnock, where a rude stone pillar points out their resting-place.”
Traditions of the Covenanters by Robert Simpson, p 134.
‘IN MEMORY OF
GEORGE CORSON
AND
JOHN HAIR
WHO WERE SHOT NEAR THIS PLACE
IN 1685, FOR THEIR ADHERENCE TO
DIVINE TRUTH,
AND ATTACHMENTS TO THE
COVENANTED REFORMATION
OF 1638–50.
“They lived unknown,
Till persecution dragged them into fame,
And chased them up to heaven.”
1845’
(Campbell, SW, 181-2; Thomson, Martyr Graves, 339-40.)
“At a Presbytery meeting held on the 31st August Mr. Gary Gunn and Mr. Craig Scott, both members of Glasgow RPCS, were taken under care of Presbytery and given a provisional license to preach.”
Also, Rev. Donnie Mackinnon was ordained and installed as the church planting pastor of Stirling. From the RPCS website:
“On Friday the 30th August, Mr. Donnie Mackinnon, a licentiate of the Scottish Presbytery, was ordained and inducted as organising minister of the new Stirling church plant.”
“The service of ordination and induction was held at Glasgow Reformed Presbyterian Church. Beside the members of Presbytery there were many there from the Airdrie, Glasgow, North Edinburgh, and Stornoway congregations as well as visitors from the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America, the Free Church of Scotland, the Free Church of Scotland, Continuing, and other churches.”
Members of Presbytery present at the ordination Standing left to right: Rev. Peter Loughridge (North Edinburgh); Rev. Andrew Quigley (Airdrie); Mr. D. R. Macdonald (Stornoway); Rev. Tim Donachie; Mr. George Rodger (Airdrie); Mr. Iain Gillies (Glasgow); Mr. Ian Shaw (Airdrie) Seated left to right: Rev. Donald Macdonald (Stornoway); Mr. Sam Bell (Airdrie); Mr. Bill Lucas (Stornoway); Rev. Donnie Mackinnon (Stirling); Rev. Kenneth Stewart (Glasgow); Mr. M.D. Maclean (Stornoway)
“Rev. Kenneth Stewart, the moderator of Presbytery, gave the charge to Mr. Mackinnon and the congregation. Preaching from 2 Timothy 4, he powerfully set out the work of the minister in preaching the Word, reproving, rebuking, and exhorting with patience and teaching. Rev. Andrew Quigley, the Presbytery Clerk, then put the ordination vows to Mr. Mackinnon. Mr. Mackinnon was then ordained and inducted through prayer made by Rev. Donald Macdonald and by the laying on of hands.”
Please pray for this new church plant and these new students.
“Having been considering since April 2012 the possibility of Stirling as the next location for a church plant, the RPCS Presbytery recently took the decision to proceed and begin holding worship services in the city.
Donnie, Karen and Samuel Mackinnon
The Presbytery has called Mr. Donnie Mackinnon, a licentiate of the RPCS, to be the organizing minister. Mr. Mackinnon has accepted the call and will be ordained and installed as the organizing minister at a meeting to be held, God willing, on Friday the 30th August 2013 at 7.30pm in the Glasgow RP Church.
This new church plant will be overseen by the Glasgow RP Session until such time as the RPCS Presbytery adopts a policy for the oversight of church plants.
We give thanks to God for this development and are very conscious that “nothing can hinder the Lord from saving by many or by few.” “
From the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Scotland newsletter found here:
“In June 2010 the Airdrie RP Congregation began afternoon services in Glasgow out of a desire to see Christ establish an RP congregation in the city once again. This step of faith, supported by the RPCS Presbytery, was realised on Lord’s Day morning 22nd May 2011 when over 100 people gathered in Thornwood Primary School for the formal constitution of the new Glasgow RP Church. Many in the congregation, drawn from Airdrie, Stranraer, and Glasgow had a real sense of just how privileged they were, conscious of the fact that it has been 140 years since the last RP Church was established in Scotland.
The Rev. Andrew Quigley preached on the theme of ‘The Christian Faith, our glorious inheritance in Christ’. He made the point that for too long the RP Church in Scotland had been known for what it did not do. That, he said, was changing. Now we are becoming known as a Church which proclaims the gospel of Christ. A Church which is prayerfully expecting and working to see men, women, young people, and children converted and then conformed to the image of Christ.
The Rev. Gerald Milligan, Moderator of Presbytery, then put the terms of membership of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Scotland to the 20 men and women who were becoming members. The Church was then formally constituted by the Rev. Milligan as he led the congregation in prayer. After the singing of Psalm 72, Rev. Kenneth Stewart, the newly appointed organising minister, led in prayer and pronounced the benediction. The new congregation has been averaging in the 40s at both morning and evening worship which is a cause for great thanksgiving. We also know of another dozen or so people who have indicated that they will be coming to the church from the middle of June on.”
The Rev. Kenneth Stewart of Dowenvale Free Church of Scotland
The Rev. Kenneth Stewart provides a response to the recent Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland that voted to allow the singing of uninspired hymns and instrumental music in worship. This is a well written and very informative response that I recommend for your reading.
“The situation now created is a mess. I will say something on its practical implications below, but it should give pause for thought that our vow on worship (which is part of our constitution) is now officially committing us to uphold two mutually exclusive views on worship as both being biblical. We now solemnly vow to uphold uninspired hymns as being both commanded and forbidden! The fact that we could enshrine such a legislative position in our constitution is worthy of several adjectives but ‘remarkable’ will have to do for now.”
“This brings us rather neatly to the novel and convenient idea that by binding us to ‘purity of worship as presently authorised and practised in this church’ our forefathers meant to leave the form of worship an open question, something to be decided at any given time by the church. In other words, anyone taking the vow would be required to commit themselves to what was, effectively, an unknown. Surely, a little serious reflection should expose the absurdity of requiring a solemn vow to an unknown practice! After all, how could the person taking the vow know what would be ‘presently authorised and practiced’ in, two, five or ten years time and how then could he pretend to swear to it?”
“The church to which we belong, in continuity with its Reformed heritage and practice, could only find express authority for singing psalms. These psalms could arguably include the ‘scripture songs’ of the Bible which are, of course, psalms themselves. (These are the ‘scripture songs’ which the 1707 Assembly gave consideration to singing, not ‘paraphrases’ or ‘hymns’). This is why the Westminster Confession, in its chapter on worship, specifies the ‘singing of psalms’ as an element of worship.”
“As was pointed out on the floor of the Assembly, the list of worship elements offered by the Confession is not a suggestive list but an exhaustive one. In other words, it does not say ‘worship consists of things like this of which there may be many others besides’, but, ‘all this and nothing else is worship’. That is why the Assembly produced a psalm book, rather than a psalm/hymn book for singing. This Confessional position of psalm singing was what was ‘authorised and practiced’ when I took my vow and, indeed, when Mr Robertson took his. I promised, as he did, to assert, maintain and defend this, and not allow anything that is subversive of it. He now believes that I should have no difficulty in switching the subject of my allegiance to the permission of accompanied uninspired songs.”
“It seems to be the case that Mr Robertson is completely ignoring what my vow requires me to do: it now requires me to believe that our new position (psalms and hymns permissible) is ‘founded on the Word of God and agreeable to it.’ I am now supposed to follow no ‘divisive course’ from this position.”
“Put simply, a vow to uphold purity of worship as presently authorised and practised is not the same as a vow to uphold whatever practice the church authorises. Can Mr Robertson not see the difference?”
“On the contrary, as in the areas of doctrine and government, the church meant to bind itself for all time in its worship practice. Some people profess to find this horrifying. I fail to see why. If the church can bind its government to perpetual Presbyterianism (because that’s what it finds in the Bible) and bind its doctrine to perpetual infant baptism (because that’s what it finds in the Bible), I fail to see why it cannot bind its worship to perpetual Psalm singing (because that’s what it finds in the Bible as well). As in the areas of doctrine and government, the church meant to bind itself in public worship, for all time, to what could be proved expressly from scripture with no addition whatsoever.”
“Sadly, I think it is all too obvious why the Barrier Act was sidestepped, against the advice of both Clerks: it was put rather eloquently by one of the speakers, proposing change, who asked ‘What is the point of putting this back down to Presbyteries when we know what the result will be?’ I think that question reveals it all. It indicates very plainly that the main motive for sidestepping the Barrier Act was to rush through what was felt to be possibly out of step with the views of a majority of office bearers. This is clearly contempt of established church procedure as well as contempt of office-bearers.”
“The church is clearly, and with astonishing accuracy, repeating all the mistakes of the 19th century. And it should be a source of wonder to all that the Free Church is looking for her examples in public worship to the era of the Moderates (which introduced the paraphrases, only officially authorised for one year, in the 1780’s) and the era of Rainy (which introduced hymns and musical accompaniment in the 1870’s and 1880’s respectively). It shouldn’t be forgotten that the church which chose to do this was a church which fragmented shortly afterwards.”
“The Free Church needs less sniping at its constitution, more confidence in her heritage, history and message, and an aggressive reaching out with it to a needy country. The country isn’t fed up of psalms: it needs to hear and understand them. It is astonishingly typical of the so-called ‘progressives’ in the Free Church to reject what is in fact just coming back into vogue: all over the world, there is a resurgence of psalm singing and when that world most needs our witness to the exclusive use of the Songs of the Covenant King, we downgrade and compromise them.”
“The Lord is sovereign, and who can doubt that he is shaking the Scottish churches? This shaking will be done in God’s way and in God’s time, and who amongst us knows how the ecclesiastical landscape may look when he is done with it?”
Exclusive Psalmody 