THE PRESENT CAST AND TENDENCY OF RELIGIOUS THOUGHT AND FEELING IN SCOTLAND. By the late Rev. John Kennedy, D.D., Dingwall. With Preface by the Rev. D. M. Macalister, Moderator of Free Church Assembly. Edinburgh: R. W. Hunter, George IV. Bridge. Glasgow: John Macneilage. Price, sixpence.
This well-printed pamphlet contains a series of eight articles on the religious current in Scotland, contributed by the late eminent Dr. Kennedy to the Perthshire Courier. The writings of Dr. Kennedy require no eulogy from us; their praise is on the lips of all them who fear God and love His truth. Even those persons who have no sympathy with the religious views of the deceased divine freely acknowledg his literary skill and intellectual power. The articles under notice were written with his usual ability, and although composed more than twenty years ago are markedly applicable to the circumstances of the present moment. The only difference is that some features of the picture he gives of the times must now be painted in darker colours. In the first article Dr. Kennedy describes the general character of the views and preaching of the excellent men of earlier days; in the second he notes the religious drift of the present, the superficiality of its teaching and the worldliness of its practice; while in the third he proceeds to examine the state of religion in the three great Presbyterian Churches of Scotland, beginning with the U.P. Church. He takes up the Declaratory Statement, adopted by that
body in 1879, with reference to the Confession of Faith, and subjects it to a fair as well as a trenchant criticism. It may be said that the Declaratory Act passed in the Free Church in 1892 bears a striking resemblance to this Act of the U.P. Church, and much of Dr. Kennedy’s criticism of the latter may be applied word for word to the former. The U.P. Act is, if anything, more open and straightforward than the Free Church one. In the fifth article he deals with the Free Church, and condemns the Voluntaryism that was manifesting itself in the Disestablishment movement and the Rationalism that was emerging in the pernicious views of Professor Robertson Smith. The sixth is devoted to a review of the Established Church, where he notices with sadness the inroads of Ritualism and Rationalism in that body, which discourage the hope of union. At the same time he expresses a strong desire for “a rightly constituted and a well-conditioned Established Church.” In the seventh article he examines the various agencies that have become adjuncts of church work in modern times. He does not disapprove of Sabbath schools, but he points out some of the dangers that attach to the way in which they are often conducted, while he also submits to criticism Young Men’s Christian Associations, quasi religious soirees, modern evangelistic work, and Christian conventions. The concluding section treats of the way in which the Church is to act in relation to the newer circumstances of the age. We have thus given a brief summary of these interesting and suggestive articles, and would strongly recommend their perusal to all who value the truth in our degenerate times. Any work of Dr. Kennedy’s—he was a man remarkably taught of God—ought to find a place in every home library.
The preface by the Rev. D. M. Macalister is neatly and pointedly written, and suitably introduces the pamphlet. There is one paragraph in it, however, that we feel requires a little gentle elucidation especially at the present time. It is as follows:— “The position therefore that Dr. Kennedy would take up in the present crisis, were he still with us, cannot be doubtful, especially when we note the attitude that he took up towards the Declaratory Statement of the United Presbyterian Church. He knew that it was what it turned out to be, a forshadowing of a similar, or worse, Declaratory Act by the Free Church (in this case in the face of determined opposition and protest) after his ‘departure.'” Here we point out that the Free Church Declaratory Act was passed in 1892, eight years after the death of Dr. Kennedy, and that it is our firm conviction from what is known of his views that if he had been spared he would then have ceased to identify himself with the body which adopted that Act and continued inconsistently to call itself the Free Church of Scotland. His affection for the majority in the Church had become entirely alienated in his own day, and the only thing that seemed to keep him within the pale of the same organisation with them was the fact that the
innovations which had been then introduced had not been made part of the Church’s standing constitution. There can be little doubt, therefore, that he would have taken up an attitude of separation in 1892 or 1893, when a Declaratory Act became a standing law and constitution in the Church, by which liberty was given to one and all to hold an erroneous system of belief, and the Church’s banner for truth was unfaithfully pulled down; and that he would not have waited with the party which Mr. Macalister represents until the time of union with the U.P. body in 1900. This party no doubt dissented from the passing of the Declaratory Act, but they continued in fellowship with the majority and submitted to its pernicious operation. It is our opinion of course that the Free Church of 1843 was continued in the Free Presbyterian Church which raised its testimony in 1893 in order that by the grace of God the Free Church in its purity might be perpetuated to coming generations.
In conclusion, we express our indebtedness to Mr. Macalister and the other gentleman anonymously referred to in the preface for the excellent pamphlet we have reviewed.
J. S. S.
THE HIGHER CRITICISM: DISASTROUS RESULTS. By the Rev. James Kerr, D.D. Glasgow: Bryce & Murray, 129 Buchanan Street.
Dr. Kerr has done well, at the request of numerous friends, to issue this lecture on the Higher Criticism in neat pamphlet form. It is one of the ablest discourses that has yet appeared on the subject, a subject of momentous interest. The Word of the Lord endureth for ever; it will survive all the attacks of German or Scottish Rationalists, aye of all the hosts of hell; but nevertheless its usefulness may be invalidated for multitudes in the present age by the subtle and pernicious influences of the so-called Higher Criticism. It is therefore the bounden duty and highest privilege of every watchman upon Zion’s walls to blow the trumpet with no uncertain sound when the enemy in this or any other form cometh in like a flood. Dr. Kerr has divided his lecture into four heads with the following impressive titles:—The Bible Deposed; The Heathen Deceived; The Redeemer Despised; The Father Dethroned. He handles each point in an instructive and masterly manner. It is not our intention here to forestal the reader in his perusal of the book, but we may just give a series of “plain but grave statements” which Dr. Kerr draws from the recorded views of Professors Smith and Dods and Denney of the United Free Church, and puts in tabular form (not here reproduced) for the assistance of “the juvenile mind.”
“The Word of God is not inspired, is not infallible, contains errors, contains legends and myths, represents fictions as facts, has errors in its original documents, has many contradictions, contains contradictory teachings, contains irreconcilable discrepancies,
approves of immoralities, sanctions atrocities, contains forged books. The New Testament contains errors, contains contradictions, contains erroneous interpretations, gives “another mind except Christ’s.” The New Testament writers are misleading expositors. The first eight books of the Bible are wholly unreliable. The first eleven chapters of Genesis are full of legends. The Bible account of creation is a myth. The Bible story of Adam and Eve is a fable. The Bible story of the fall of man is a fiction. The Bible narrative of the first promise is imaginary. The Bible story of Cain and Abel is a dream. The Bible story of Noah and the Flood is an invention. The Bible stories of the Patriarchs are fancies. The Bible stories of Moses are a fraud. The Bible stories of Elijah and Elisha are superstitions. The Bible story of Jonah is a nursery rhyme. The Bible story of Nineveh’s repentance is a parable. The Books of Samuel and the Kings are untrustworthy. The Books of the Chronicles are very “precarious.” The prophetic books have alienations to suit the times. The God of the Bible was originally a “tribal god.”
What a fearful list of blasphemies this is, and what a weighty responsibility rests upon the men who are propagating them among the rising generation! We earnestly trust Dr. Kerr’s pamphlet will have the extensive circulation it deserves, and that by the blessing of God it may be made useful for checking the ruinous tide of infidelity that is creeping over the land. A page of the new Polychrome Bible is reproduced at the end.
J. S. S.
Notes and Comments.
An Act to Amend Drunkenness.—A new Act of Parliament in the direction of sobriety and public morals came into force at the beginning of the year. At present, however, the Act only applies to England and Wales. Its main provisions are that public intoxication is made an offence even though unaccompanied by disorderliness, habitual drunkards are noted by the police, and publicans are prohibited under penalties from serving them; separations from drunken husbands or wives are made legally practicable. It remains to be seen whether a good law, as this is, will find administrators sufficiently zealous to execute it. Drunkenness is a root of bitterness incident to man’s fallen nature. No remedy short of regeneration has any real virtue in curing the evil. Nevertheless Acts of Parliament are useful to restrain gross outward exhibitions of vice, and this Habitual Drunkards Act was a measure much needed. Its scope will no doubt be extended to Scotland in due course, and it may then be possible to travel on Saturday evening without the nerve shaking experience of a drink-distracted passenger in the train. We are sternly opposed to the drink vice in all its aspects, but in fairness we must admit that under some modern conditions of life
weak human nature is tempted beyond measure in that direction. The lack of elbow room and fresh air that characterises slum life in our large cities induces a low state of vitality that almost irresistibly drives the victim to the dram shop.
The following is the testimony of a London City missionary:— “What are the surroundings amid which the average working-man’s wife of London lives? Narrow streets, bad air, constant children, the struggle to find food and clothing, the ups and downs of health, and with all a forlorn desire to find some happiness somewhere or in something. Drink, such a woman thinks, holds out promise of this streak of happiness, and before she is aware of it she has become a drunkard.”
“My cities,” saith God, “through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad.” The divine ideal of a city is a populous place of broad spacious build, where men can feel the sun and the wind and view the blue heavens. The present regime of narrow streets and dingy dwellings piled skywards on the top of each other may produce dividends for speculators, but it is evidently fraught with danger to morals and life.
The Cecil Rhodes’ Scholarships.—The Roman Catholic newspaper, the Tablet, announces that the first two scholarships at Oxford granted under the terms of Mr. Rhodes’ will have just been awarded by the Government of Rhodesia. Both the new scholars are Catholics, and students of the Jesuit College in Buluwayo. In a letter announcing the nominations, Earl Grey pays a high tribute to the importance of the work which the Jesuit Fathers have done in Rhodesia among both whites and blacks.— Herald, 24th January. Mr. Rhodes was a rich man possessed with a great enthusiasm for things British. It was his last wish to establish the name and influence of this Empire through the length and breadth of Africa. He had, however, a very imperfect perception of the real roots of Britain’s greatness, and a like ignorance of the deadly schemes and intentions of our hereditary enemy, the Romish Church. As a far-seeing patriot, he ought to have secluded his benefactions from the hands of the Romanists. But the fatal misdirection of the Rhodes’ educational funds has commenced. These Jesuit recipients of the deceased millionaire’s bounty will, without doubt, use the wealth thus gained for the ultimate destruction of that Bible Protestantism which is the vital element in the past history and present pre-eminence of Britain amongst the nations of the earth. While adverted to this we may note our satisfaction that the ill-hearted traitor “Colonel” Lynch, who was tried for treason during last month, has been sentenced to penal servitude for life. He impudently offered to sit in the House of Commons as member for Galway after a career of service with the enemies’ arms in the Transvaal. However this effrontery was too much even for the slack liberal spirit of our time, and Lynch was therefore apprehended and tried for
treason. He received the death sentence, but this has been commuted to penal servitude for life. This proceeding, of course, is another development of Romanism. In connection with the relations that should exist between Protestant governments and Rome, the following answer of the Emperor William of Germany (grandfather to the present monarch) should be noted with admiration. When Pius IX. wrote to him kindly informing him that all baptised persons belonged to the Pope the Emperor replied:—”The Evangelical creed, which must be known to your Holiness I, like my ancestors and the majority of my subjects, profess, does not permit us to accept in our relation to God any other mediator than the Lord Jesus Christ.”
The Beginning of the Nineteenth Century.—We have lately come across a book of reminiscences written by a Canadian clergyman of the last generation. The title is “Memories of Scottish Scenes and Sabbaths more than Eighty Years Ago.” The author, the Rev. Alex. Kennedy, was the son of an old-fashioned seceder household, and attended an old-fashioned seceder church in Old Cumnock, Ayrshire. There is truly very little of the church or household life portrayed in this book to be seen in Ayrshire at the beginning of this twentieth century. The Secession congregation of the author’s boyhood had a membership of 700 gathered out of ten parishes. Some travelled nine miles every Sabbath, and were hardly ever absent from the meeting house. The house was built in 1777 in the teeth of opposition and difficulties. There is a strange story in the book of the masons being stopped for want of building sand because the proprietors were all hostile and would allow no sand to be taken from their estates. The author relates the matter thus:—
“As much sand was got when digging the foundation as served to make mortar till the walls rose a little, perhaps a foot or two, above the level of the ground; a further supply of sand was not to be had, though in the channel of the river or stream close by, not many yards distant, a sand-bed, bared by the summer’s drought, lay as if laughing and mocking at the wants of the builders. But though quite at hand and tempting to their shovels as it must have been, yet it was legally beyond their reach. My Lord Dumfries claimed the channel of the stream and all its contents. Of course the masons had to cease operations for want of sand to manufacture mortar.
Thus the work stood for a time, but whether for a few days only or for weeks I cannot tell. However in no great time Providence supplied them with abundance of sand without putting them to any trouble or cost, not even the cost of cartage, and by means as little expected by the friends as by the foes of dissent. The Lord sent “a plenteous rain,” causing an unusually high flood—in all likelihood a “Lammas flood.” The two streams which here united overflowed their banks, covering the low walls of the deserted
building. When the waters subsided it was found that a large quantity of sand brought down by the rushing stream had been deposited within and around the walls—amply sufficient, it was said, to complete the building. In this there was no miracle, but what Christian can doubt, or refuse, adoringly and gratefully to acknowledge, that the Lord in this case commissioned His ever obedient servants the elements to do a timely service to His struggling people?”
There is a characteristic chapter on “Secession Singing,” relating the methods taken to upset the time-honoured custom of reading the line, and the grief and indignant protests of the elder and soldier section of the congregation at the march of innovation.
It was customary for the precentor to preface the morning prayer by requests of distressed persons to be remembered at the throne of grace. He describes also the methodical pulpit work of the respected minister. Rev. M. Wilson, who lectured in order through a selected book of Scripture, and who always prefaced the first Psalm with a preliminary exposition of its contents. The minister kept two Bible classes—one for scholars under twelve years of age, which met fortnightly on Wednesday during the winter months, and another for more advanced scholars, which met during the summer at the close of the Sabbath services. The juvenile scholars at the close of the session always received some gift book—such as a copy of Brown’s Catechism, Solomon’s Proverbs, or the Proverbs and Psalms bound together. By this, we see the simple, uncorrupted taste both of the master and the pupils. In these times scholars must have gilded books, with spicy fictitious contents, dealt out even in the Sabbath School. We quote the following passage exhibiting the Sabbath evening order in a devout Scotch household a hundred years ago:—
“It was my inestimable privilege in youth to be a member of a family in which a goodly portion of the evening of every Sabbath was specially devoted to religious instruction. After returning from the public services of the day, and the evening meal over, every one able to read took up some suitable and congenial book, of which there was no lack either for Sabbath or week-day reading. Several of the religious magazines of the day were also available, and were greedily devoured by the elder branches of the family. Missionary intelligence, then not so rife as now, was greatly relished. I may remark there was seldom much conversation indulged in on Sabbath in the family, and none whatever was allowed of a worldly or trifling character. Any unnecessary allusion to country news or secular matters was instantly checked and the erring one solemnly and severely repreved.
Reading and silence usually continued till about eight o’clock, when the head of the house ordered the books to be put aside, and all the members of the family to be called. Then he put to each a question from the Assembly’s Shorter Catechism, and proceeded thus round and round till the half of the Catechism was
gone over. It was an invariable rule to make the Fifth Commandment the point of division; all the questions before it on one Sabbath evening, and all after it to the end on the next Sabbath evening—so that the whole Catechism was gone over every two weeks. This exercise, chiefly of the memory, being finished, some doctrine was taken up and investigated in the light of Scripture with great minuteness and much logical acumen.
These catechetical exercises on Sabbath evening were of the most instructive character, deserving and demanding the attention, and not seldom heavily taxing the reflective powers of the catechumens. There was no tolerance for inattention or indifference, and scant enough patience with those who manifested anything like obtuseness of mind.
After putting a few simple questions, and tendering some good advice to the mere juveniles of the household, and hearing them repeat the Lord’s Prayer and the Creed, and the verses of the psalm and chapter committed to memory during the day the “big ha’ Bible” was taken down and opened, and family worship engaged in as usual, only, if possible, with a deeper solemnity, induced by engagement in the services of the sanctuary and the immediately preceding exercises in the family. After reading the verses of the psalm to be sung, a short prayer was offered up for Divine aid in worship—a most becoming practice, and one that I like exceedingly, though through the influence of current Christian custom, I have in general dispensed with it, but not with the entire approbation of my own mind. The Psalm on Sabbath evening was generally sung to some plaintive air, such as Coleshill, and the exercise was peculiarly sweet and solemn. The father’s manly but not unmusical voice guiding and blending with the voices of the large family God had given him,—some of them mere children, and others often men and women grown, constituted music to the mind and to the ear worth learning and remembering, and which I doubt not was graciously heard in Heaven.