The first portion of the present Work was published in the year 1846, under the title of "Sketches of Scottish Church History," embracing the period from the Reformation to that of the Revolution. It then appeared in two small volumes. This portion has now been revised throughout, and whatever was only of passing interest, in the Appendices or elsewhere, has been removed. But the body of the narrative has been almost entirely retained. The continuation of "The Story" — from the Revolution to the Disruption, is recently written, and is now published for the first time. Thus, in its present form, the whole book comprises, within reasonable compass, a connected "Story of the Scottish Church," from its earliest development at the Reformation, with the varying fortunes of its progress, its revivals, its sufferings, and its declensions — down to the aspect which it bears at the present day.
Thomas McCrie was a Scottish Secession minister and the eldest son of the Rev. Dr. Thomas McCrie (1772 - 1835) by his first wife.
Thomas McCrie the younger was educated at the High School in Edinburgh then studied divinity at the University of Edinburgh. He then transferred to the Theological Hall, run by the Secessionist Church and was ordained as a minister around 1818. His first position was as minister of the Secessionist Church in Crieff then he moved to Clola in Aberdeenshire. He succeeded his father as minister of the Davie Street Church Original Secession Church in Edinburgh.