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BAINE, JAMES (1710-1790),
one of the most distinguished ministers of the second great secession
from the church of Scotland which took the name of ‘the Relief Church,’
was son of the parish minister of Bonhill, Dumbartonshire, and born in
the manse there in 1710. His elementary education was received at the
parish school. He afterwards proceeded to the university of Glasgow, lie
had a brilliant career there and graduated M. A. Having been licensed as
a preacher of the gospel, he was presented by the Duke of Montrose to
the church of Killearn, the parish adjoining his father’s. In 1756 he
was translated to the high church of Paisley, and in 1757 had the
celebrated Dr. John Witherspoon for a colleague. From the outset lie was
ardent in support of evangelical doctrine as opposed to the morality
which came to be known as ‘moderatism.’ So early as 1745, he is found
promoting a revival of religion in the west of Scotland. In the general
assembly and presbytery, and from his pulpit, he stood forth as a
zealous defender of the church’s spiritual freedom and against all
ecclesiastical tyranny. When the general assembly of the church of
Scotland in 1752 deposed Thomas Gillespie of Carnock, Baine leaded for
him. Ultimately circumstances determined him to join Gillespie, the
founder of the Relief church. He therefore resigned his great living of
Paisley, in a letter to the presbytery of date 10 Feb. 1766. Called
thereupon to the bar of the general assembly,’ he made a masterly
statement and vindication of himself and Gillespie. He foresaw the
issue, viz. that he was declared to be no longer a member of the church
of Scotland. He published, on his deposition, ‘Memoirs of -Modern Church
Reformation, or the History of the General Assembly, 1766, with a Brief
Account and Vindication of the Presbytery of Relief.’ This rare book
takes the form of letters to a ministerial friend. His sketches of the
‘moderates’ are in the vein made famous later by Witherspoon. On 13 Feb.
1766, he was inducted into the ministry of the first Relief congregation
erected in Edinburgh—in College Street. He was soon surrounded by a vast
and devoted body of adherents. College Street church remains one of the
largest and most important of the now United Presbyterian churches.
Prior to his deposition and induction—the latter of which was conducted
by Thomas Gillespie, of Carnock and Dunfermline—a tradition runs that he
and his people worshipped in Old Greyfriars under the Venerable Dr. John
Erskine, and sat down together at the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper
there.
Baine had remarkable
popular gifts, and even at Killearn his musically modulated voice had
earned for him the name of the ‘Swan of the West.’ His sermons were
eloquent and convincing. He was plain-spoken in denunciation of the
vices of the day. He came into collision with Foote in 1770 by preaching
and publishing a sermon entitled ‘The Theatre Licentious and Perverted.’
Foote’s memorable ridicule of the great evangelist, George Whitfield,
stung him. John Kay, the caricaturist portrait-taker, introduced him
into his gallery. In 1777 he published a volume of sermons of fairly
representative character, though, as is frequently the case, it is very
evident that they needed his eye and voice to interpret them. He married
the only daughter of Dr. Michael Potter, professor of divinity in
Glasgow University, and son of Michael Potter, one of the martyrs of the
Bass Rock. By her he had a large family, and representatives remain till
now of varied distinction. He died on 17 Jan. 1790, aged eighty. |
