Free Church

in Scottish history, a large body of Presbyterians, dating from 1843. In that year nearly 500 ministers and their congregations withdrew from the established Presbyterian church. Like the Church of England, the Church of Scotland enjoys large revenues from property owned by the church, and from a system of public taxation for church purposes. The right to public revenue was accompanied, however, by an assumption of authority on the part of the government to appoint the ministers of the various parishes and the professors in the universities. After a long struggle in Parliament to obtain permission for the individual parishes to select their own ministers absolutely free from the interference of higher authority, a large part of the church seceded, as stated. A peculiar condition of affairs ensued. Church buildings with ample revenues were without congregations; the congregations were without revenue or church accommodations. The Free Church of Scotland, as the denomination was called, set to work with determination, however. Churches were built, funds were raised for the assistance of the weaker congregations, departments of theology were established at the universities of Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Aberdeen. At the beginning of the twentieth century the denomination has a membership of half a million and a body of 1,800 ministers. So far as the denominations correspond to the various political organizations, the members of the Free Church are supporters usually of the Liberal party; the established Presbyterians, of the Conservative or Tory party. See Presbyterian; Chalmers