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Bible Dictionaries
Scotland, Free Church of
1910 New Catholic Dictionary
or
Ecclesiastical organization dating from 1843 when 47 lay and ecclesiastical members of the Established Church of Scotland severed their connection with that body as a protest against the encroachments of civilauthorities on the independence of the Church, especially regarding the matter of the presentation to vacant benefices. Ministers and professors renounced all claim to the benefices which they had had and built churches and colleges of their own for the training of their clergy. They adopted no new article of faith but represented the Presbyterian Church of the country enjoying its full spiritual liberty. They maintained, however, that the Church and State should be in intimate alliance. In 1876 they were joined by the Cameronians or Reformed Presbyterians and by the United Presbyterians in 1900 when they assumed the name of the United Free Church of Scotland. A small minority resisted fusion and these were successful in the House of Lords in claiming, as the original Free Church, nearly all the buildings. This was rectified by an Act of Parliament which permitted them to retain only such churches and other edifices as were proportionate to their need.
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Entry for 'Scotland, Free Church of'. 1910 New Catholic Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/ncd/s/scotland-free-church-of.html. 1910.
