Stool of Repentance

Stool of Repentance, one of several names for an engine of ecclesiastical discipline in Scotland, also known as the 'pillory' or 'pillar,' the 'high place,' the 'public spectacle,' and in familiar reference the 'cutty-stool'—a term ordinarily in use for a domestic wooden stool with short legs. The place of repentance was sometimes a stool or bench, sometimes a pew or part of the gallery, sometimes a special erection as high as the gallery, containing several seats or stances, and ascended by stairs. Whatever it was and whatever called, it was about the most conspicuous thing in the church; and here persons who had become subject to ecclesiastical discipline for immoral conduct were required by the kirk-session to stand during public worship in profession of their penitence. The penitent was usually bare-headed and bare-footed, clothed in sackcloth or a linen sheet (kept for the purpose by the kirk-session); the ceremony might or might not be concluded by a public rebuke from the minister. For minor offences one appearance in the place of penitence might suffice; for the sin of fornication three several Sundays' penitence were usually inflicted; a much larger number of days was not at all unusual; and some offences (such as incest) might imply fifty-two Sabbaths in the place of penance unless the culprit were condemned by the civil courts to capital punishment. The stool of repentance was steadily maintained during great part of the 18th century, but gradually fell into desuetude, its place being taken by public rebuke before the congregation (still enforced in some places to near the middle of the 19th century), and afterwards by rebuke administered in presence of the session only. See Dr Edgar on 'Discipline' in The Church of Scotland, vol. v. (1891).