THE General Assemblies of the Established, Free, and United Free Churches have come and gone during the past month, and very little transpired at any of them that was of much general interest or moment, and certainly nothing that promised much good for the cause of Christ in the country. Dinners and dances at Holyrood Palace seemed to be among the great attractions of the Assembly of the National Church. The closing address of the Moderator (Dr. Niven) was not a brilliant composition from the literary point of view, but was marked by a certain wisdom and orthodoxy of tone and statement. The United Frees were much taken up with a discussion of the amalgamation of the Sustentation and Augmentation Funds, about which they are not agreed. They had also a great night on the subject of their cause in the Highlands, and it was lamentable to read the reports of speeches of elderly north-country ministers from whom better things might be expected. All with one accord flatter themselves with the idea that the future spiritual prosperity of the Highlands is bound up with the U.F. Church. All that we can say is, “Pity on that prosperity!—a prosperity in error and worldliness.” Dr. Hutton, the Moderator (who in some respects may be more honest and consistent in his sentiments than other leaders), still regaled the Assembly with his strong Voluntary opinions, and argued strongly in his closing address that it was not the province of the State to provide religious education in the schools. An incident that proclaimed the almost extinct Protestantism of the U.F. Church was the agreement by the Assembly to omit all reference to the Anglo-Spanish marriage out of one of the reports which expressed a mild disapproval of it, on the ground that the Assembly was not called upon to express any opinion on the alliance.
From some points of view we might be disposed to enter upon a more lengthy criticism of events at the Free Church Assembly than at the others, but we refrain from discussing details. There was certainly nothing that transpired that would occasion the least degree of regret to Free Presbyterians that they have retained their separate and distinctive position. Rather the opposite; a good deal that would convince them, if they needed conviction, that they were on the right standing ground. Some of the oldest F.C. leaders took special pains to show that any thoroughgoing steps or outspoken utterances in favour of reformation were not wanted in their Church, no probing of the disease, but only remedies of a worldly-wise and soothing-up nature. It is perfectly evident that there is a strong modern new light element in the present Free Church that is only keeping under meantime for policy’s sake, but which will likely assert itself yet very vigorously indeed. A sample of it may be seen in an article which appeared in the British Weekly of 7th June. There is clearly plenty of room in Scotland for the Free Presbyterian Church as a distinct organisation, standing for purity of doctrine and worship in accordance with God’s Word. Union with the Free Church in its present condition would only mean the shattering to pieces of a sound, united testimony for God’s truth, and a casting to the winds the prospect of transmitting to posterity a reliable Church organisation.