THE STORY OF ABBEY CHURCH OF SCOTLAND, NORTH BERWICK
A REVISED VERSION OF A BOOKLET PUBLISHED
BY
E.S.P. HEAVENOR, M.A., B.D., Ph.D.
First published in 1963 and revised and up-dated in 1993
Page One
The story of the Abbey Church in North Berwick is a story of unity, of faith matched with works, of prayer and progress. Although little is known about the origin of the church - Session Minutes only go back to 1784 and financial records to 1817 - it is well known and vouched for that the Abbey pioneers started a ‘Praying Society’ as far back as 1769. They were few in number, but intensely earnest, the kind of people whose faithful intercession was the seedbed of the famous Cambuslang revival in 1742. Their strong belief in prayer found many echoes in the years that were to come. Quite frequently in the early Session Minutes, one reads that, as there was no business before the Session the evening was devoted to prayer. These people who prayed together wanted to say together in a permanent fellowship, and so in 1778 they built a meeting house on the present site of the Westgate Gallery.
On 27th February 1782 they established themselves as an ‘associate Congregation.’ The first minister was the Rev. James Scrimgeour (1784-1799). The Term ‘Associate Congregation’ plunges us immediately into the stormy waters of Scottish denominational controversy. The ‘Association’ was with the United Session Church, which stemmed from the religious convictions of Ebenezer and Ralph Erskine. It is quite impossible to go in detail into the complications of these days. They cannot be understood without some understanding of the patronage issue. Patronage was the villain of the piece, and was behind some of the most disastrous divisions in our Scottish Church. Under the system of patronage the right to nominate a Minister in a vacancy was vested in the landowners and the Elders. Only when a man had been nominated had the congregation any say in the matter. The value of the say was highly questionable in many cases. The Erskines were adamantly opposed to the system because of its glaring deficiencies. The landowner might be an Episcopalian. Much more serious, he might be as rich in material things as the farmer in Jesus’ parable, but as poor as the proverbial Church mouse, again like Jesus’ farmer. Also, if the Elders came from humble stock they had a way of being overawed by their ‘betters’. In 1733 the Erskines, and others, cam out from the Established Church of Scotland to form the Associate Presbytery of Seceders. They believed in the right of the people to choose their own Minister. They sought to carry on the covenanting traditions which were so precious to them. The first Abbey members desired to identify themselves with such principles. They, too, loved the stories of the Covenanters and longed to be their spiritual successors standing for the right of the people, for the kingship of conscience, and supremely for Christ as King of the conscience. This was the reason Abbey Church used to be called ‘The Church of the Martyrs.’
The term ‘Abbey Church’ only goes back to 1900, the year of the union between the Free and the United Presbyterian Churches. Unfortunately, the Session Minute which refers to the unanimous decision to use the name ‘Abbey United Free Church’ gives no guidance about the reason for the choice. There are two possibilities. One is that it was because the original Church stood on the ‘Abbey lands’ which stretched from the site of William Struth and Sons, and took in the ruins of the Cistercian Priory in Old Abbey Road. The other possibility connects the Church more directly with ‘the Abbey’, the local name for the ruins of the Priory. Perhaps the former theory is the more likely. It is improbable that loyal Presbyterians would name their Church after a Roman monastic order. The Cistercian order was started by St. Robert in 1098 because he was dissatisfied with the life of the hermits with whom he was associating. The Cistercian way of life was austere. In the Middle Ages the monks were famous agriculturists depending on the land for their income. For simplicity of reference ‘Abbey Church’ will be used throughout this brochure.
One would give a great deal to know more about the first Abbey Seceders. The opportunities to know them intimately are slight. Session Minutes are sometimes only 8 or 9 lines in length. Even this scanty record has long gaps in it. There was no meeting of Session from May 1794 to November 1796 ‘owing to the indisposition’ of Mr Scrimgeour. After his death in 1799 the congregation was without a Minister for two years. The next Minister, Rev. John McQueen was spared for only two years (1801-1803). From 1803-1807 there is no record whatsoever of a Session Meeting. Mr McQueen’s successor, Rev. George Brown, was privileged to carry through the longest ministry in the history of the congregation (1807-1843). Any attempt to reconstruct the personality and outlook of the Abbey people in the early period must fall back on a great deal of reading between the lines. They would, however, conform to Principal Burleigh’s portrayal of the Seceders as ‘persons of sturdy, independent minds.... Ministers were humble men of great seriousness with strong evangelical, Presbyterian, even covenanting principles.’ There were members in Dirleton, Gullane, Kingston, Fenton Barns and Haddington. Did they walk to Church? Did they ride? Whatever they did, it cannot have been as easy for them to attend Church as it is for us in these days of cars and buses. No doubt they thought nothing of the effort required. This is well illustrated in a story about one of the Elders whose boat was blown in a storm to the other side of the Firth. When the storm subsided he sailed to South Queensferry, and walked to North Berwick to make sure that he was able to attend Communion. Another Abbey stalwart walked every Sunday from Fenton Barns. After the Morning Service he enjoyed his meal on the beach, waited for Evening Service, and then returned to Fenton Barns, to finish the day with Family Worship and instruction of the family.