THE Free Church Commission met at Edinburgh on 4th March. Reference was made to the death of the Rev. John Noble, Lairg, Moderator-elect, which took place suddenly on the 31st January. A motion was adopted to send a respectful remonstrance to the King in connection with his recent attendance at Mass in London.
Overtures were submitted from the Presbyteries of Dornoch and Dingwall, requesting that they authorise the Assembly to discontinue “the Receptions” usually held on the evening of the first day of the meetings of the General Assembly, and that the evening be devoted to the ordinary business of the Assembly. The Clerk (Prof. J. Kennedy Cameron) moved that the overtures be remitted to the Assembly Arrangements Committee to consider whether effect could be given to them. He said that the Committee were proposing to have a social gathering, and to take up Sustentation Fund business afterwards. Rev. George Mackay, Stornoway, moved that the Receptions be discontinued. He said there was far too much secularism about the Church, and that they ought to get rid of the rags of other Churches. Captain Morrison, Lamlash, seconded. Principal M’Culloch objected to such an opprobrious term being used in connection with a practice which had been approved and carried on by the fathers of the Church. Major Greig moved that the Receptions be not discontinued. Rev. A. Mackay, Kingussie, said it would be more seemly to have fasting, not feasting, at the beginning of the work of the Assembly. He always thought in this connection of the words, “What, have ye not houses to eat in?” Mr. Coltart (who is reported somewhat variously) said he believed that humiliation and prayer were very necessary, because there were signs of the Almighty’s displeasure with their Church, but he doubted whether that displeasure was incurred by these small social gatherings. Last year, he thought, “the Reception” was a miserable affair altogether, and the Receptions, in the form they had been, were not conducive either to the dignity or welfare of the Church. Rev. George Mackay ultimately withdrew his motion, and the motion of the Clerk was agreed to. [It was this Reception that was criticised in the pages of this Magazine in July last.]
There were two applicants for admission. One of these, Rev. George Macarthur, B.A., came to this country last winter as an emigration agent for the Canadian Government. The Admissions Committee did not, on account of his age (55), recommend in his favour; but, on the motion of Mr. Maclean, St. Columba’s, it was agreed by 19 votes to 18 that he be admitted. Mr. Mackay, Kingussie, who moved that he be not admitted, said, in reply to Principal M’Culloch, that he did so because Mr. Macarthur had preached in one or two places in Lewis, and the discerning people in those places were not at all enamoured of his preaching. The other applicant, aged 69, was not admitted.
It is intimated that the Rev. William M’Kinnon, Gairloch, has been appointed to the Moderatorship of Assembly, in the room of the late Rev. John Noble, Lairg.
On the evening after the Commission, a Committee of Commission visited the Elder Memorial Church, Leith, to confer with the Rev. James Watson and his office-bearers, and to put certain questions regarding the use of the organ, and flowers on the Communion Table, to which reference has already been made in these columns. The conference was to be a private one, but the office-bearers decided that it should be open to the press, and the Committee refused to attend. They withdrew after an interview in the vestry of the Church. Mr. Watson then addressed those present, and declared that when the matter was begun in public they thought it surely fair it should finish in public. Mr. Hay Thorburn also spoke, and said that one of the visitors that night had been denouncing him and others as being disloyal to the Free Church. These things were very hard to bear, and he thought the congregation had a right to protest against the misrepresentations that had been manufactured against them. It was the first time in the history of the Church of Scotland that a Committee had been appointed by a snatch vote in Commission to come down with inquisitorial powers and over-ride and dictate to a congregation.
These various discussions speak for themselves, and plainly exhibit the conflicting and apparently incompatible elements in the present Free Church. The foreign element is clearly showing fight, and, it is to be feared, it will hold its own, considering the uncertain methods of those who profess to stand for purity. Mr. Hay Thorburn is very strong in his expressions, but it would suit him better to be quiet and humble. It is not before time that his views and actions were denounced. He has all along wanted uninspired hymns and instrumental music to be open questions in the Free Church, and his methods as General Secretary have been far from commendable. Almost any kind of preacher who came the way was good enough for Mr. Thorburn to send forth among the congregations. Indeed, it says very little for the Free Churchism or consistency of the other leaders that they could have given Mr. Thorburn the high position he has occupied all along, and the sooner he is relegated to a back seat the better for all concerned. That, of course, is the business of the Free Church. Still, we have a duty to perform, and shall perform it, by the grace of God, in spite of all unfavourable criticisms from whatever quarter. We claim to represent the Free Church of 1843, and feel it our Christian duty to expose the hollowness of the cry of “No difference,” which many have raised regarding the present Free Church and the Free Presbyterian. In this matter we have a duty to our own people as well as to those outside.