James Meek - Disputed Calling To Cambuslang

Disputed Calling To Cambuslang

In 1772, Commissioners of Douglas, 8th Duke of Hamilton presented him to the living of the ancient parish of Cambuslang. This was an act of Patronage, dating from an Act of Parliament from Queen Anne’s reign (1712). It is said that only about a dozen parishioners agreed to sign the formal call to the parish, while others lodged objections on theological grounds. These were set out in a pamphlet and later laid before the Presbytery of Hamilton. The objectors were local farmers, coal miners and weavers and show the lingering influence of the "The Cambuslang Wark". In particular, they objected that Meek seemed not to accept that faith alone made one worthy in the face of God or that Man was utterly depraved. Worse, he gave too much weight to reason and suggested that men cooperated with God in their own salvation. Alleged quotes from Meek's sermons were put forward as proof of his heresy. Meek denied all of this, so began a long process through the Courts of the Church.

The charges were

• That Mr Meek, when lecturing in his own church on the parable of the labourers, said—"We may see from what has been said that our sincerity is the ground of our acceptance with God."
• When preaching at Cambuslang in May, 1772, from John iii. 16, …Mr Meek " not only neglected to represent that the guilt of Adam's first sin was imputed to his posterity... but on the contrary taught that we have corrupt natures only by imitation and example."
• That Mr Meek, when about to dispense the sacrament of the Lord's Supper in his own church at Lesmahagow, in the year 1773, invited the people in Christ's name to come to the Lord's table, "however enormous their crimes had been, if they resolved to do better."
• ...on another sacramental occasion at Hamilton, in 1772, he said that "our faith and sincerity or sincere endeavours cooperate with the righteousness of Christ."
• Again, on the last mentioned occasion, viz., at Hamilton, he is said to have declared " that when faith goes above and beyond reason it becomes credulity."

In 1774, the General Assembly ordered the Presbytery of Hamilton to proceed with Meek's induction. Accordingly, Mr Park, of Old Monkland, served the edict upon the congregation, and summoned them to state what objections they might have to the life and doctrine of the presentee, at a meeting of the Presbytery to be held in the Manse of Cambuslang on 1 September 1774.

The objectors asked the Presbytery "to find that Mr Meek was unworthy of the character of a minister, therefore to depose or lay him aside from preaching; at least, to find that he cannot be settled in Cambuslang, etc., etc." Many of the ministers in the Presbytery knew Meek and his work, so it dismissed these objections, and even threatened the objectors. They declared some of the objections frivolous and unworthy of notice, others absurd and unintelligible; and all of them irrelevant, and that not a single habile (that is, competent) witness was offered for the proof of them.

An appeal was lodged with the Synod of Glasgow and Ayr. This, on the 12th of October, ordered the Presbytery to investigate the objections thoroughly, which it did by means of a committee. It restated its earlier findings (that the objections were groundless) and issued a lesser form of excommunication on some of the objectors. The objectors appealed again to the Synod, which, in October 1774, overturned the judgement of the Presbytery. It was then referred to the following year's General Assembly. Mr Meek had been invited to preach to the Lord High Commissioner, the King's emissary to the Assembly - an indication of the high esteem in which Mr Meek continued to be held. He preached from Luke xxiv. 26, and in his sermon repeated some of the doctrines which the objectors had raised. The Assemblly considered the case on 31 May 1775. During the debate, Meek had some heavyweight support, including that of a previous Moderator of the General Assembly, namely the famous historian Principal Robertson, whose nephew John Robertson was to become Meek's assistant and successor. Its judgement was "The General Assembly having reasoned on this affair, did, and hereby do dismiss the process... and sustain Mr James Meek, minister of Cambuslang." This ended the formal objections to Meek becoming minister at Cambuslang.