You think if the Word of God contains already all that God has thought fit to make known, the Clergy of the Church of Scotland must not only be as well able to preach it as those whom you call Gospel preachers, but so much the more so as they are men of better education, and have applied themselves more to the study of it.

When it came to reviewing the preachers’ claim to learning and, therefore, to a possible alternative source of authority, their clerical opponents betrayed a strong sense of professional jealousy. Great emphasis was laid on the lengthy preparation undertaken by the regular clergy and their mastery of the biblical languages – factors that were assumed automatically to undermine claims that they failed to preach the gospel. By way of contrast the lay preachers were represented as ignorant and in some cases almost illiterate. They were described collectively as showing an antipathy towards learning and as having a low level of understanding. In pointing up this difference the clergy believed that no rational observer could fail to see that they constituted the only reliable spiritual and moral guides. In the contest for the allegiance and trust of the rising generation there was only one possible winner: the publicly ordained religious teacher who had traditionally been entrusted with the people’s welfare.32