BARCLAY, JOHN

Founder of a religious sect known as Bereans or Barclayites; b. Muthill, Perthshire, Scotland, 1734; d. Edinburgh, July 29, 1798. He studied for the Presbyterian ministry at St. Andrews University, where he supported the heterodox views of his professor, Dr. Archibald Campbell, "that the knowledge of the existence of God was derived from revelation and not from nature." He was licensed as a preacher in the Church of Scotland in 1759 and held assistantships at Errol and Fettercairn; but while he gained a popular reputation as a preacher, his clerical brethren regarded his theological opinions as dangerous. Defying the censure of his theological opinions by the presbytery of Fordoun, he published his views in several books between 1766 and 1771. Since he was refused any appointment in the Church of Scotland, Barclay was ordained in 1773 at Newcastle, England, outside the jurisdiction of the Scottish church. Adherents of his views formed themselves into independent churches in Edinburgh, Fettercairn, and a few other places. These sectarians, while accepting the general Calvinist theology of the Church of Scotland, held that natural religion undermines the evidences of Christianity, that assurance is of the essence of faith, that unbelief is the unpardonable sin, and that the psalms refer exclusively to Christ. Their constant appeal to Scripture in vindication of their views was regarded as similar to the attitude of the Bereans mentioned in Acts 17.10. Barclay was given charge of the Edinburgh congregation.

Bibliography: The Works of John Barclay, ed. j. thomson and d. mcmillan (Glasgow 1852). r. chambers, A Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Scotsmen, ed. t. thomson, 3 v. (3d rev. ed. London 1868–70).

[d. mcroberts]