3. Differences in Practice.
3. 1. Creed and Practice. The Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland firmly maintains that while it is the duty of all Churches to have a sound scriptural creed, it is also incumbent upon them that the practice should be in keeping with the profession. She regards the profession of a sound creed without a practice in keeping with the same as a glaring inconsistency unbecoming a professing Church of Christ.
In this connection the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland strongly condemns the disingenuous making of ordination vows and signing of strict formulas which are never intended to be kept. The Free Presbyterian “Resolution on Creed Subscription” (1904) rejects any notion that the Free Presbyterian Church will “at any time be at liberty to depart from the doctrine, government, mode of worship, and discipline which the said Confession sets forth.” It protests against “the dishonest and degrading manner in which the most solemn promises and engagements relative to subordinate standards are violated by many that hold office in Presbyterian Churches”. It further laments “the great reproach brought thereby on the name of Christ, and the reflection cast upon all office-bearers”. It asserts that these are binding vows made to God and that if any office-bearers cease to believe “in any of these doctrines and principles, or to approve of the mode of worship, which they have vowed to maintain, they should lay down their office and not help to deprive the Church of its peace and purity”. The Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland requires her Church courts to preserve discipline in this matter.
2. Admission as Office-Bearers. (1) We condemn the practice of allowing
1This is a further section of a document approved in 2019. Its full title is: “Synod Statement of Differences Between the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland and the Other Presbyterian Churches in Scotland, Brought Up to Date (2019)”. Last month’s section completed the material on doctrinal differences.
into office in the Church men whose only qualifications may be gifts, social position, or wealth, but who manifest signs that they are still in a state of nature, spiritually dead, and have never come under the quickening power of the Holy Spirit. Dead material of this kind is only a drag on the Church which carries it. (2) We condemn, as contrary to Scripture, the practice of the Church of Scotland and the United Free Church of Scotland in admitting women to office as ministers or ruling-elders in the Church. (3) We condemn, as contrary to Scripture, the admission of sodomites to office, or to communicant membership, in the Church.
3. Misguided ecumenism. The Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland maintains that there should be a single Christian Church in Scotland, united in doctrine, government, and practice, as there was after the Reformation of 1560. Furthermore, she believes that her separations (from the Church of Scotland in 1843 and from the Free Church of Scotland in 1893) were justified; and she regards herself, therefore, as that Church in Scotland around whose testimony all Christians should unite. The “pulpit-swapping” that is widely practised between other Scottish denominations she thinks is a misguided attempt to promote unity, tending instead to foster low views of the importance of Church principles, and to cement rather than to heal the divisions between the Churches.
In 1975, therefore, the Synod of the Free Presbyterian Church declared that “conduct giving the impression that there is no obstacle to association with other churches undermines the necessity for a separate position and is therefore inconsistent with loyal adherence to the Free Presbyterian Church, and is consequently disapproved of by this Church”. If every Church in Scotland would adhere faithfully to the scriptural position which the Church of Scotland adopted at the First and Second Reformations, the fractured state of the visible Church would be healed.
In 1905, the Synod of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland resolved that “the Synod refuses to consider any motion for union with any Church which does not hold the absolute infallibility of the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, and the whole doctrine of the Confession of Faith, both in her profession and practice; and it warns the office-bearers of this Church of the danger of following divisive courses contrary to the solemn engagements under which they came at their ordination; and further, it instructs the Presbyteries and Kirk Sessions to maintain order and discipline in the several congregations under their charge, in accordance with the constitution of the Church, as necessity may arise.”
The Free Presbyterian Church holds that the Pope of Rome is the Antichrist prophesied in the Word of God. She utterly repudiates, on scriptural
grounds, the practice of giving place to Roman Catholic priests and prelates in ecumenical services and other activities.
4. Church Privileges. While the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland does not hold the doctrine of Close Communion, she seeks to exercise the greatest care in granting Church privileges. The Church’s rule is that Church privileges, such as baptism and admission to the Lord’s Table, are to be granted only to those who have been carefully examined by, and have given satisfaction to, the Kirk Session. All who engage in Sabbath work (except works of necessity and mercy), or who travel by buses, trains, trams, taxis, aeroplanes, or ferries run in systematic disregard of the Lord’s Day, and all who are members of secret societies such as Freemasonry are denied Church privileges.
The Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland condemns the carelessness of Church courts, too prevalent in Scotland, in granting Church privileges to those who, on account of the life they lead, ought never to get such privileges. For Church discipline to be effective, there needs to be a consistency of standard across the courts of the Church. We therefore condemn, in particular, the practice of granting privileges to fugitives from our discipline on the part of other Presbyterian Churches without ever enquiring as to why they have been refused Church privileges. Such action renders useless the very purpose for which discipline was set up in the Christian Church. We utter an emphatic protest against the custom of asking young people to become communicants when they reach a certain age, or of presuming that those baptized and brought up in church must be regenerated, regardless of whether they display marks of a saving change.
The Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland maintains a distinction in administering the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper. These signify and seal the same Covenant, but the privileges of the Lord’s Supper are greater than those of baptism; and the Free Presbyterian Church follows scriptural example in examining those who desire to sit at the Lord’s Table with more scrutiny than she examines those members of the visible Church who desire baptism for their children yet do not feel able to profess saving faith in Christ. This important distinction in administering the sacraments is often neglected, with the practical outcome either of unduly raising the standard required for baptism, leading to the exclusive “gathered church” of Congregationalism, or, more commonly, of lowering the standard required for communicant membership so that virtually everybody becomes a communicant.
It is miserable to have to do when doing-time is past. He is a foolish servant who has to seek the key when his Lord knocks. He is a poor advocate who has to find a plea when he is called to plead. When death comes, have nothing to do but just to die.
Henry Law