Alexander Moncrieff ( — 6 October 1688) was a minister with the Church of Scotland. The youngest son of Matthew Moncrieff of Kintillo, Alexander Moncrieff took a prominent part in the church history of the seventeenth century.
Moncrieff graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1635, and was a preacher and on the shortlist for Kirkcaldy about six years afterwards. On 14 June 1643 he was presented by Charles I to the parish of Scoonie, and admitted on 26 September. He was a member of the Commission of Assembly in 1647. He subscribed the Solemn League and Covenant on 31 December 1648; and was one of the Commissioners appointed to visit the University of St Andrews in January 1649.
He gave in a protest to the Presbytery against the public Resolutions on 3 December 1651. He was named by Oliver Cromwell as one of the commissioners for authorising ministers to enjoy their benefices, etc., in the provinces of Perth, Fife, and Angus. He presented a petition from himself and other ministers of Fife against the Toleration and other encroachments, and having thus made himself obnoxious to the Government was imprisoned on a charge of praying for the King. He along with nine other ministers who had met to draw up an address to the King were arrested and confined in Edinburgh Castle on 23 August 1660. On 12 July 1661 he was barred by the King and Parliament from exercising any office within the parish, to which he was confined. A decree was passed against him for holding conventicles, 16 July 1674, and soon the magistrates of Perth were appointed to arrest him. He died 6 October 1688, after having several times eluded the search of his persecutors, and was buried in Greyfriars Kirk, Edinburgh. His grandson, also Alexander Moncrieff, was one of the first four ministers of the Secession Church.
Early life and ministry
Moncrieff was the grandfather of the celebrated Secession Father, Alexander Moncrieff of Culfargie, minister of Abernethy. Moncrieff was born in Kintillo, a quaint little hamlet near Bridge-of-Earn, in 1613.
Moncrieff was awarded a degree of Master of Arts from Edinburgh. He was on the list to become a minister in Kirkcaldy in 1631, but missed out. When Scoonie, near Leven in Fife became vacant, Moncrieff was one of the applicants for the post, and he had the honour of being presented by Charles I in June 1643. In September of the same year he was ordained to the pastorate of the Scoonie parish. The year of Moncrieff's ordination was an important year in the history of the churches of the Fife. In October the Solemn League and Covenant was subscribed at Dunfermline, and the ancient city gave the key note to the other Presbyterian churches in Fife. Before Moncrieff had been many weeks in Scoonie he showed that his leanings were entirely with the Reformation party. When the Church became broken up into factions he took the side of the stricter Presbyterians or Protesters, and as a Protester he was persecuted almost to the death. A contemporary account of his character is, that he was "a godly, sincere, and painful minister, and fixed to his principles."
Revolutioners versus protesters
The contentions of the Revolutioners and Protesters arose. Brethren contended with the bitterness of enemies against each other. Taylor gives his opinion that "It is not very easy, even with the calmest study, to understand the complications of the controversy. And at the time, it would be very difficult for an upright mind to satisfy itself, in all circumstances, as to the path of duty. There were good Christian men arrayed on both sides." It was to the Protesters that Moncrieff chiefly attached himself, although in many particulars we find him acting an independent part. In common with the Protesters he was willing to submit to the Protectorate of Cromwell. Yet we find him suffering from the annoyance of Cromwell's soldiers. "1652. Jul. 25. Some days before they did beginne to quarter some of their foot upon Mr Alex. Moncriefe, min. of Sconie, this being the first time that ministers quartered either foot or horse in this shyre."