|
GLASS, JOHN, founder of a
sect still known by his name, was the son of the Rev. Alexander Glass,
minister of the parish of Auchtermuchty, in the county of Fife, where he
was born on the 21st of September, 1695. In the year 1697, his father was
translated to the parish of Kinclaven, at which place Mr John Glass
received the rudiments of his education. He was afterwards sent to the
grammar school of Perth, where he learned the Latin and Greek languages.
He completed his studies at the universities of St Andrews and Edinburgh,
and having been licensed as a preacher by the presbytery of Perth, was, in
1719, ordained a minister of the church of Scotland, in the parish of
Tealing, in the neighbourhood of Dundee. Mr Glass had been a diligent
student, was deeply impressed with the importance of the ministerial
character, and the awful responsibility which attached to it, and was
anxious, in no common degree, about the due discharge of the various
duties which it involved. In his public services he was highly acceptable;
had a singular gift of prayer; and in his sermons, which, according to the
fashion of the time, were seldom less than two, sometimes three, hours in
length, he attracted and kept up the unwearied attention of crowded
audiences. His fame as a preacher, of course, soon spread abroad, and his
sacramental occasions attracted vast crowds from distant quarters; the
usual concomitant, in those days, of popularity. But it was not public
services alone that absorbed his attention; the more private duties of his
station were equally attended to. Even so early as 1725, only two years
after his settlement, he had formed within his parish a little society of
persons, whom he found to be particularly under serious impressions, and
with whom he cultivated a more intimate intercourse, though no part of his
charge was neglected. It is probable, however, that his peculiar notions
of the constitution of a Christian church were by this time beginning to
be developed, and this intercourse with a detached and particular part of
his charge, must have tended to hasten the process. Breach of covenant
engagements, from a combination of circumstances, was at this time very
generally insisted on in the ministrations of the Scottish clergy. The
binding obligation of both the National Covenant of Scotland, and the
Solemn League and Covenant of the three kingdoms, being universally
admitted, Mr Glass began to preach against these covenants, as
incompatible with the nature of the gospel dispensation and the sacred
rights of conscience. A paper written by him at this time to the above
effect excited a very great sensation throughout the country, and called
forth some of the ablest defences of these famous deeds that have yet
appeared. In the above paper, Mr Glass did not state himself as formally
an enemy to the covenants, but only as an inquirer, wishing further light
and information respecting them; yet it was evident to every intelligent
person that he was no longer a Presbyterian. He was forthwith summoned
before the church courts; and refusing to sign the formula, and some
passages of the Confession of Faith, was, by the synod of Angus and Mearns,
deposed from his office, on the 12th of April, 1728.
The same year he published
his "King of Martyrs," in which he embodied his views more fully
matured. This book had no inconsiderable share of popularity, and it has
served for a general storehouse, whence Mr Patrick Hutchison, and after
him all the modern advocates of spirituality, as a peculiar and
distinguishing characteristic of the New Testament church, have drawn
their principal arguments. On his deposition, Mr Glass removed from
Tealing to Dundee, where, several persons joining him, he formed the first
church of the kind in Scotland. This small body was not without its share
of the obloquy to which Independency had long been exposed in Scotland,
nor were the members without their fears respecting the practicability of
the scheme, being doubtful of a sufficiency of gifts in the lay brethren.
When they came to the proof, however, they were agreeably disappointed;
and wherever they had occasion to form churches, which was in a short time
in a great many places, appear to have found no lack of qualified persons.
In the year1733, Mr Glass removed from Dundee to Perth, where he
erected a small meeting-house, which was thought great presumption,
especially as the handful of people that attended arrogated to themselves
the name of a church. Attempts were even made to eject them forcibly from
the town, and a zealous lady beholding Mr Glass in the street, was heard
to exclaim, "why do they not rive (tear) him to pieces!" In the
year 1739, the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, the same that
gave positive orders to the commission to proceed against the Seceders
with the censures of the church, took off, by a very curious act, the
sentence of deposition that had been passed against Mr Glass. In this act
he is stated to hold some peculiar views, which the Assembly do not think
inconsistent with his being a minister. They accordingly restored him to
the character of a minister of the gospel of Christ but declared at the
same time, he was not to be considered a minister of the Established
church of Scotland, or capable of being called and settled therein, till
he should renounce these peculiar views. This act, even among the
anomalous acts of church courts, was certainly a very strange one. If Mr
Glass, however, was satisfied on scriptural grounds that he was a minister
of Christ, it could make little difference, whether he belonged to the
church of Scotland or not. At the time of his deposition, Mr Glass had a
large family, and when he was deprived of his stipend, had no visible
means of supporting it. This, taken in connection with the persecutions of
another kind which he was made to endure, affords sufficient evidence,
whatever any may think of his principles, that he was sincere and
conscientious in their profession. In this sacrifice of worldly interests,
it is pleasing to learn that he had the cheerful concurrence of his
excellent wife, Catharine Black, a daughter of the Rev. Mr Black of Perth.
This worthy woman, persuaded that the cause in which he was engaged was
the cause of God, encouraged him in his darkest moments to perseverance,
and to a cheerful trust in Divine providence, even for such things, as
might be needful for this present frail and transitory life; nor was his
confidence in vain. In the death of their children (fifteen in number, all
of whom he survived), their faith and patience were also severely tried,
especially in the case of such of them as had arrived at the years of
maturity. One of his sons was the occasion of much trouble to him, and
left his house a disobedient son. Like the prodigal in the parable,
however, he repented in his affliction, and returned a very different
person. His son Thomas lived to become a respectable bookseller in Dundee,
where he was settled in life, and was pastor to the congregation which his
father had left in that place; but he was cut off in the prime of life by
a fever. Another of his sons, George, was a sea-captain, and known as the
author of the History of the Canary Islands, published by Dodsley, in
1764. He afterwards went out for a London company to attempt forming a
settlement on the coast of Africa, where he was seized by the Spaniards,
and kept a prisoner for several years. The men whom he had conducted to
Africa were in the meantime murdered, and his ship plundered. Having, by a
pencil note inclosed in a loaf of bread, found means to make his case
known to the British consul, the government interfered, and he was set at
liberty. He took his passage with his wife and daughter for London,
intending to revisit his native country. The ship in which he embarked was
unfortunately loaded with specie, which, awakening the cupidity of a part
of the crew, they conspired to murder the captain and secure the vessel.
Captain Glass, hearing the disturbance on deck when the mutiny broke out,
drew his sword, and hastening to the rescue, was stabbed in the back by
one of the conspirators, who had been lurking below. Mrs Glass and her
daughter clung to one another imploring mercy, but were thrown overboard
locked in each other’s arms. The murderers landed on the coast of
Ireland, where they unshipped the money chests, which they hid in the
sands, and went to an ale-house to refresh themselves. Here they were
taken up on suspicion, confessed the atrocious crime, and were
subsequently executed. Mr Glass and his friends in Perth had been apprised
by letter that his son was on his voyage home, and were in daily
expectation of his arrival, when intelligence of the fate of the ship and
her crew reached Perth in a newspaper. Mr Glass sustained the shock with
his wonted resignation and equanimity. He died in 1773, aged 78. The
doctrines and practices of his sect were afterwards modified by his son
in-law, Mr Robert Sandeman, author of the letter on Theron and Aspasio,
and from whom the members of the body are sometimes denominated
Sandemonians. |
