Glas, John

Glas or Glass, John (both: gläs, glăs), 1695–1773, Scottish minister, founder of an independent Presbyterian sect whose members were often called Glasites or Glassites. He believed that national churches and civil interference in religious matters are not authorized in the Scriptures. These views found expression in his Testimony of the King of Martyrs (1727). Glas was deposed from the ministry in 1730; he formed an independent congregation at Dundee. The Glasite church moved to Perth in 1733, where it was joined by Robert Sandeman, who later took the lead in extending the movement to England and America. There the Glasites were known as Sandemanians.