Alexander Moncrieff (Secession minister)

First Secession Churchmen - Moncrieff is second from the right

Alexander Moncrieff, presbyterian minister, born 17 July 1695, was the eldest son of the laird of Culfargie in the parish of Abernethy, Perthshire, and, as his father died when Alexander was a boy became heir to that estate. His grandfather, Alexander Moncrieff of Scoonie, Fifeshire, was the companion of the martyr James Guthrie, whose history and character deeply influenced Moncrieff. After passing through the grammar school at Perth he attended the university of St. Andrews, where he took his degree, and then entered the Divinity Hall of the same university. At the conclusion of his curriculum, in 1716 he went to Leyden, where he pursued his studies for a year. He was licensed by the presbytery of Perth as a preacher in 1718, and in September 1720 he was ordained in his native parish of Abernethy. Keen controversies were agitating the church of Scotland. The Marrow Controversy, in which Thomas Boston of Ettrick was a conspicuous leader, began shortly after Moncrieff's ordination, and he joined the little band who were contending for purity of doctrine in the church. The agitation regarding patronage, or the power of patrons to present to vacant churches, apart from the co-operation or even against the wish of the people, followed. Moncrieff joined the Erskines in denouncing attempts to invade the people's rights. He was one of the four ministers whom the assembly suspended, and who, having formally separated themselves from the judicatories of the Church of Scotland, formed on 6 December 1733, at Gairney Bridge, Kinross-shire, the Secession Church of Scotland. The new denomination met with much sympathy and success, and was soon able not only to supply ordinances in different parts of the country, but even to organise a theological hall for the training of its future ministers. In February 1742 Moncrieff was unanimously chosen professor of divinity, a position which he filled with great ability and zeal. He was also an active and influential member of the associate presbytery and synod. In 1749 his son was ordained as his colleague and successor in the charge of the congregation at Abernethy. Moncrieff published in 1750 a vindication of the secession church, and in 1756 'England's Alarm, which is also directed to Scotland and Ireland, in several Discourses, which contains a warning against the great Wickedness of these lands/ A little devotional work by him, entitled 'A Drop of Honey from the Rock of Christ,' was published posthumously at Glasgow (1778). He died on 7 October 1761, in the sixty-seventh year of his age and the forty-second of his ministry.[3]

He appears to have been a man of resolution and daring. He was jocularly called the lion of the secession church by his colleagues. With Erskine, William Wilson, and James Fisher he was joint author of the 'judicial testimony' against the church of Scotland, issued in December 1736. His church, since its union with the relief church, formed the United Presbyterian Church.[3]

Alexander Moncrieff

He married (1) 10 March 1722, Mary, eldest daugh. of Sir John Clerk of Penicuik, Bart., and had issue — Christian, born 1723, died in infancy ; Margaret, born 1724, died in infancy ; Matthew of Culfargie, min. of Associate Congregation at Abernethy, born 1725, died 11 June 1767 : (2) 19th Sept. 1728, Jean (died 1791), daugh. of William Lyon of Wester Ogle, min. of Airlie, and had issue — William, min. of Associate Congregation at Alloa, and Professor of Divinity in succession to his father, born 1729, died 4th Aug. 1786 ; James, died young ; George, physician, Perth ; Ebenezer, born 1731 ; Margaret (marr. George Murray, min. of Secession Church, Lockerbie) ; Agnes (marr. Robert Cunningham of Balgownie, Secession min. at Eastbarns, died 1775) ; Ann, born 1740 (marr. Captain James Hutchison, Burntisland) ; Jean (marr. Alexander Pringle, D.D., Perth); and seven who died in infancy.[2]

• The Deity of Jesus Christ proved and asserted from the Holy Scriptures (Edinburgh, 1730)
• The Duty of Contending for the Faith, a sermon (Edinburgh, 1732)
• An Enquiry into the Principle, Rule, and End of Moral Actions (Edinburgh, 1735)
• A Review and Examination of some Principles in Campbell's Discourse, proving that the Apostles were no Enthusiasts (Edinburgh, 1735)
• Christ's Call to the Rising Generation considered, three sermons (Edinburgh, 1740)
• The Duty of National Covenanting explained (Edinburgh, 1747)
• An Examination of the separating Brethren's pretended Right to the Exercise of the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven (1748) *Animadversions upon Mr Ralph Erskine's Fancy, Still no Faith, etc. (1749)
• England's Alarm (Edinburgh, 1756)
• The Countenancing of Mr Whitefield's Administrations (Glasgow 1758)
• The Artifices of the Burghers (Glasgow, 1761)
• Sermons and Tracts, 2 vols (1779)
• and jointly with Eben. Erskine Act of the Associate Presbytery concerning the Doctrine of Grace (Edinburgh, 1744)
• A Drop of Honey from the Book of Christ (Glasgow, 1778)[4]

• Seton's House of Moncrieff, 101[5]
• The Lyons of Cossins, 67
• Butler's Abernethy, 411-60
• Hist, of the Secession Church Vol.1,[6] Vol.2[7]
• Young's Memorials, with a selection from his works (1849)[8]
• McKerrow's Hist. of the Secession Church, 1848
• Landreth's United Presbyterian Divinity Hall, 1876.[9]

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