As with any major shift in church polity, there were unforeseen issues. The church rejoiced in the nature of the compromise, and the fact that the denomination did not fall to pieces. But there was still the issue of clarity in the Act and how it would be applied.

At the general assembly of 1728, John Thomson forced the issue by putting forward an overture to adopt the Westminster Standards as the governing body of the Presbyterian church.

This issue of denominational identity was a contentious one for the Presbyterians who traced their roots back to Calvin’s Geneva, Knox’s Scotland, and the Puritan nonconformists in the Church of England.