Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1965 (SND Vol. VI).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
MORISONIAN, n., adj. Also Morrisonian.
I. n. A follower of the Rev. James Morison, a Secession Minister in Kilmarnock, suspended from his charge in 1841 because of his opposition to certain Calvinist doctrines, esp. on predestination, and later the founder of the Evangelical Union denomination which united with the Congregational Union in 1896. Hence Morisonianism (Sc. a.1861 J. Cunningham Hist. Theol. (1864) I. 324).Sc. 1846 Justiciary Reports (1849) 210:
She belonged to the body denominated Morrisonians.Fif. 1894 J. Menzies Our Town 66:
There's nae Burghers, nor Seceders, nor Reliefs noo. They're a' U.P. An' you forgot the Morisonians.Sc. 1943 J. Macleod Sc. Theology 242:
Morison of Kilmarnock, who became the founder of the Evangelical Union, a body that were called after him in popular speech the Morisonians, was a minister of the United Secession Church who made himself conspicuous by preaching an Atonement that was universal.
II. adj. Holding or pertaining to the doctrines of Rev. James Morison.Sc. 1878 Encycl. Brit. VIII. 726:
Nine students were expelled from the Congregational Academy for holding “Morisonian” doctrines, and in 1845 eight churches were disjoined from the Congregational Union of Scotland and formed a connexion with the Evangelical Union.
