Rev. Benjamin Glaser

The Lion of the Secession: Alexander Moncrieff and the Strength of the Church

Written by Rev. Benjamin Glaser |
Monday, April 4, 2022
What would Moncrieff’s solution be to our troubles today? More Jesus Christ. Not His glory mixed with the wisdom of men, but His power and His gifts alone being the source of our trust and hope.

In my study right next to a deer skull/antler mount is a picture of Seceder and original Marrow Man Alexander Moncrieff. He’s long been my favorite of the Gairney Six due to his doggishness and godly spirit, both as a minister and as a fighter for the truth of the Scriptures. Moncrieff was called “the Lion of the Secession” and was later appointed as the Secession Church’s Professor of Divinity and served faithfully at the Associate congregation in Abernethy near Perth. He was most well-known later in life for aligning himself with those who were against the imposition of the Burgher Oath, which sadly caused a break amongst his brethren. Yet in all these things Ebenezer Erskine was able to say of Moncrieff that he was the backbone that allowed others to stand tall in the day of trial in the difficult days of 1733.
Here recently I had the blessing to re-read a pamphlet of his entitled, The Glory of Immanuel and the Desolation of Immanuel’s Land For the Sins of Them That Dwell Therein. For these sermons he takes as his primary texts Isaiah 8:7-8 and John 1:14. In the former portion of Holy Scripture Moncrieff notes that there is a prediction made concerning the coming invasion of the Holy Land by the Assyrians. The reason given for the troubles that were afoot came because the people sought safety in Rezin and Remaliah rather than in Shiloh. The whole focus of this treatise by Moncrieff is that what had happened in Scotland is that the people rather than resting and trusting in Christ, they had instead given themselves over to idolatry and the doctrines of demons, particularly the pomp and circumstance of popery, and the false philosophy of deism.
So what is Moncrieff’s solution to the declension of the Scottish Church?
More Jesus Christ and less man.
Through the opening chapter he spends a considerable amount of space eloquently stating a deep doctrine of Christ which marks out how and why the believer brings himself to poverty each time he chooses fleshly idols rather than  the sweet honey from the Rock.
Here are couple examples:
His Glory is a divine glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, He is the Son of God by an ineffable generation. And it is an encouragement to the sons of men to look to Him and be saved, that He is full of grace and truth. He is Immanuel, and His Church is called the Land of Immanuel, because in it the pure worship of God and His ordinances are observed; and because of His interest in it, He is the Lord and King of Immanuel’s Land, which is His free and independent kingdom, God having set Him as King over Zion, the Hill of His Holiness.
The word ‘Flesh’ in Scripture is often used to signify the entire human nature, consisting both of body and soul: the Word was made Flesh, that is, He took the human nature into an intimate and real union with His divine person. To what height and honor has He raised our nature by making it the Temple of the Deity, the Habitation of eternal Wisdom? By this the glorious Majesty of Heaven is become related in a surprising manner to the despicable race of man; for now both He  that sanctifieth, and they who are sanctified, are all of one; for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren.
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Make Our Worship Spaces Presbyterian Again

Written by Rev. Benjamin Glaser |
Monday, October 11, 2021
We must remember that architecture communicates much truth. It speaks loudly to what is important. Where the pulpit is in the house of the Lord says something to those who are listening.

We’ve all heard the jokes about Presbyterian’s being anti-fun, the so-called frozen chosen. The seen, but not heard denomination. The post you are about to read is going to sound like it came from the official spokesman of the “Presbyterians against anything nice” coalition. Maybe it’s true, maybe I am the grumpiest Presbyterian alive, but my goal here today is not to get hits or cause trouble. Rabble rousers are boring people. Men who seek out controversy don’t have enough to do and they aren’t really seeking to win converts to their position. They just like to see the fight.
At the end of the day I’m really a harmless little fuzzball who just wants Presbyterians to be Presbyterians, Baptists to be Baptists, and Anglicans to be Anglicans. Good fences make good neighbors. If you know where the other person stands it makes it easier to know where you stand.
The topic I’d like to get into today is about the meeting space. Some call it the “sanctuary”, others the “preaching hall”, and whatever you want to call it is fine by me. I’m not interested in getting into arguments over words. There are legit reasons why some people demur from the sanctuary term, and why others like it as a description of where we meet for worship. Christians who are members of long-standing congregations likely are used to a more traditionally-expressed term than church plants and/or younger churches. But regardless of where you meet or what you call it there are certain things as Presbyterians we should expect to see, and not see.
In this brief piece I want to talk about some of the reasons behind the austere look favored by the Reformed, where it came from, and why it matters. To be sure there is a sense in which in the New Testament it doesn’t matter where we meet with God’s people. As men and women who descend from Covenanters who hid in vales and caves to lift up the psalms to the Lord and be fed by His word we should acutely feel that. This is also a very American, if not Western, question. I’ve never been to the nations of Africa, but it is a safe assumption through pictures and the witness of native believers that what is expected in Malawi is different than what is to be understood in South Carolina. Part of the beauty of Presbyterian worship is that you don’t need a fancy place with a bunch of pomp and circumstance. All you need is a Bible and Christians. The Scriptures contain the text for instruction and the book of songs to sing, the people have the voices to raise to Heaven.
What more do you need?
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