John Glas (5 October 1695 – 2 November 1773) was a Scottishclergyman who started theGlasite church movement.
He was born atAuchtermuchty,Fife, where his father wasparishminister. He was educated atKinclaven andPerth Grammar School, graduated from theUniversity of St Andrews in 1713, and completed his education for theministry atEdinburgh. He was licensed as apreacher by thepresbytery ofDunkeld, and soon afterwardsordained by that ofDundee as minister of the parish ofTealing (1719), where his preaching soon drew a large congregation. Early in his ministry he was brought to a halt while lecturing on theShorter Catechism by the question"How doth Christ execute the office of a king?" This led to an examination of theNew Testament foundation of theChristian Church, and in 1725, in a letter to Francis Archibald, minister ofGuthrie,Forfarshire, he repudiated the obligation of national covenants.
In the same year he formed a society separate from the multitude, numbering nearly a hundred, and drawn from his own and neighbouring parishes. The members of thisecclesiola in ecclesia pledged themselves to join together in the Christian profession, to follow Christ the Lord as the righteousness of his people, to walk together in brotherly love, and in the duties of it, in subjection to Glas as their overseer in the Lord, to observe theLord's Supper once a month and to submit themselves to the Lord's law for removing offences. From the scriptural doctrine of the essentially spiritual nature of the kingdom of Christ, Glas in his public teaching drew the conclusions that:
This argument is most fully exhibited in a treatise entitledThe Testimony of the King of Martyrs (1729). For the promulgation of these views, which were at variance with the doctrines of the national church of Scotland, he was summoned (1726) before hispresbytery, where in the course of being investigated, he affirmed his belief that every national church established by the laws of earthly kingdoms is anti-Christian in its constitution and persecuting in its spirit, and further declared opinions upon the subject of church government which amounted to a repudiation ofPresbyterianism and an acceptance of thepuritan type of Independence.
For these opinions he was in 1728 suspended from his ministerial functions, and finally deposed in 1730. The members of the society already referred to, however, for the most part continued to adhere to him, thus constituting the firstGlassite or Glasite church. The seat of this congregation was shortly afterwards transferred to Dundee (whence Glas subsequently removed toEdinburgh), where he officiated for some time as an elder. He next laboured in Perth for a few years, where he was joined byRobert Sandeman,[1] who married his daughter Catherine — eventually Sandeman was recognized as the leader and principal exponent of Glas's views; these he developed in a direction which laid them open to the charge ofantinomianism.
Ultimately in 1730 Glas returned to Dundee for the remainder of his life. He introduced in his church the primitive custom of theosculum pacis and theagape celebrated as a common meal withbroth. From this custom his congregation was known as 'the kail kirk'. In 1739 the General Assembly, without any appeal from him, removed the sentence of deposition against him, and restored him to the status of a minister of the gospel of Christ, but not that of a minister of the EstablishedChurch of Scotland, declaring that he was not eligible for a charge until he should have renounced principles inconsistent with the constitution of the church.
In 1721 Glas married Katherine Black, the youngest daughter ofRev Thomas Black of St John's Church in Perth. Black wasModerator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.[2]
The couple had a happy marriage and brought forth 15 children – all of whom predeceased him, as did his wife, who died oftuberculosis in 1749, 24 years before him. His son, captain George Glas R.N. was murdered along with his wife and daughter on board a treasure ship traveling from Tenerife to London in 1765. The case was notorious at the time and is believed to be the inspiration behind R.L. Stevenson’s ‘Treasure Island’. Stevenson grew up beside the Glasite church in Edinburgh and the family may have worshiped there. According to the accounts of the time, Glas was a most kind-hearted man, very fond of children, a most humane man, with not a trace offanaticism orbigotry. One daughter Agnes Glas marriedHector Turnbull who developedbleachfields inLuncarty nearPerth.
John Glas died on 2 November 1773 and was buried atThe Howff in Dundee on 5 November 1773.[3] The grave lies in the south west near a north-south path. The original sandstone monument eroded and was replaced by a long-lasting red granite monument around 1880.
As Glas found inconsistencies with the Church of Scotland and what he found in the New Testament, he led a church movement during the first half of the 18th century which promoted the ideal that the church should be governed by the simple order in the New Testament rather than by human councils and synods. About thirtyChurches of Christ were established in Great Britain through the efforts of Glas and others, including his son in law,Robert Sandeman. These churches emphasized the wearing of only New Testament names - usually "Church of Christ," taught baptism is for the remission of sins, and practiceda cappella singing in worship.
Glas's published works bear witness to his vigorous mind and scholarly attainments. His reconstruction of theTrue Discourse ef Celsus (1753), fromOrigen's reply to it, is a competent and learned piece of work.The Testimony of the King of Martyrs concerning His Kingdom (1729) is a classic repudiation oferastianism and defence of the spiritual autonomy of the church under Jesus Christ. His common sense appears in his rejection ofJohn Hutchinson's attempt to prove that theBible supplies a complete system of physical science, and his shrewdness in hisNotes on Scripture Texts (1747). He published a volume ofChristian Songs (Perth, 1784; 13th ed., 1847). A collected edition of his works was published at Edinburgh in 1761 (4 vols., 8vo), and again at Perth in 1782 (5 vols., 8vo).
Though the Glasite Church is now 'extinct', certain former Glasite chapels, which tended to be of unusual form, survive, e.g. inEdinburgh,Dundee andPerth. The former Dundee Glasite church is still used for religious purposes, having been acquired by the adjacent St Andrew's Parish Church in 1973 and transformed into part of a complex of halls.[4] The archives of the Glasite Church are held by Archive Services, University of Dundee.[5]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Dugald Macfadyen (1911). "Glas, John". InChisholm, Hugh (ed.).Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.| International | |
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