February - the Free Presbyterian church of Scotland

Christianity in New South Wales 1800-30 43
that the Church of England establishment discriminated against Dissenters.
This, of course, was remedied by the 1836 Church Act to which we have
already referred.
Samuel Marsden’s relationship with the Government, and in particular,
Governor Macquarie, was often strained; Macquarie and Marsden disagreed
on a range of issues. In particular, Marsden’s sense of position and social order
was offended by Macquarie’s support of emancipists in the community.
Macquarie’s authoritarian approach often clashed with Marsden’s role as
Principal Chaplain. For example, the Governor ordered that Government
notices be announced during services, while his interest in and regulation of
commerce brought objections from Marsden who was also a landowner and
successful farmer. Professional relationships can be difficult to maintain
and, when they break down, there is often a certain degree of fault on both
sides. The Apostle exhorts us in Romans 12:18: “If it be possible, as much
as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men”.
In 1814, Marsden showed a lapse in judgement by embracing, for a time,
W Goode’s 1811 revision of the Psalms, A New Version of the Book of
Psalms with original Prefaces and Notes, critical and explanatory, which he
commenced reading in services rather than the Psalms contained in the 1662
Anglican Book of Common Prayer. (It was the practice of the Anglican
Church of that time to “read through the Psalter once every Month, as it is
there appointed, both for Morning and Evening Prayer”. At the end of every
Psalm, and of every part of Psalm 119, the congregation would repeat, “Glory
be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the
beginning, is now, and ever shall be; world without end. Amen.”)
The Governor, by way of correspondence from his secretary John Campbell,
quite rightly reminded one of Marsden’s assistant chaplains of his obligation
to use only the Psalms appointed for reading. Macquarie reported this matter
to Earl Bathurst in a letter on 14 October, 1814, in which he said, “If these
principles were sanctioned by me (as they would appear to be, were I not
to repress them), they would give such latitude to Dissent, that I am fully
convinced various sectaries would spring up in this young and unschooled
colony, much to the injury of that established uniformity of worship, which
I conceive to be of the utmost importance to the peace and harmony of the
colony to preserve inviolate”. 4
It is sad to note that in process of time, relations between the Governor
and the Senior Chaplain broke down so irretrievably that in January 1818
4 Governor Macquarie to Earl Bathurst, 7 October 1814, Historical Records of Australia,
vol VIII, pp 336-8. Cited in B N Kaye ed, Anglicanism in Australia, A History, Melbourne
University Press, 2002) pp 10, 317 n 21.