WE feel compelled this month to call attention to certain events in connection with the United Free Church which show that true religious life is at a very low ebb in that body, and that her influence is detrimental in the extreme to the real welfare of the country.
The first thing we shall note is the attitude of United Free Churchmen to the question of Home Rule for Ireland. To anyone who uses his commonsense without bias or prejudice, it appears as clear as a noonbeam that Home Rule in that unhappy country means Rome Rule. It stands to reason that the power of the Roman Hierarchy has much to gain by the formation of a Roman Catholic Parliament, for Roman Catholic it can only be called when the great majority of its members will be at the same time loyal devotees of the “Church” of Rome. The Protestants of Ulster, who are nearer the zone of danger than any others, clearly see this, and are much alarmed. They naturally expect much sympathy and help from the Protestants of Scotland, the past history of whose country is a record of strong and faithful witnessing against the encroachments of Popery. It is lamentable to observe, however, that their expectations are not realised to anything like the extent that might be anticipated.
Ulster Presbyterians have sent messages to the United Free Church among other Churches, with a view to elicit expressions of sympathy and support, but the response has not been satisfactory. The U.F. Presbytery of Glasgow—one of the largest and most influential in the whole body—by a considerable majority refused to send a message of sympathy to their Irish brethren. The reasons which they gave were that Home Rule was a political matter, and that it was the duty of the Church to devote itself to “higher” interests. We regard these reasons as a piece of solemn mockery—a shutting of eyes to the light and to Christian responsibility. The Presbyterians of Ireland clearly regard Home Rule as a religious question, otherwise they would not appeal directly to the Churches in Scotland. They are not a people who are ignorant of the fitness of things. But in addition to that, we make bold to assert that whatever even Irish Presbyterians think of Home Rule or make of it, the question is a religious one, and affects the highest religious interests of the whole of Ireland and as a consequence, it is not too much to say, the whole of Great Britain. It is the United Frees themselves and those who are likeminded with them who are making Home Rule a purely political affair. If they were as much taken up with the “higher” interests of the Church of God in the nation as they profess to be, they would have a different view of Irish Home Rule from what they have. It is because they are forgetting the higher claims of Protestant and spiritual truth that they are prepared, on grounds of mere political expediency, to leave their brethren in Ireland to perish under the heel of Romish oppression. The thing is disgraceful to a degree. We are glad to observe that many of the laity in the U.F. Church are seeing this, and are indignant at their leaders.
Now, what does this state of affairs proclaim regarding the United Free Church? It proclaims that she, especially as represented by her ministry, has ceased to be a witness for Protestant truth. Of course, the lack of sympathy with the Irish Protestants is not the only proof we have of this defection. It is only a very small handful of the ministers of the United Free Church who identify themselves with Protestant societies or Protestant effort at any time. The principal United Free leaders are conspicuous by their absence from any out-and-out Protestant demonstration. Some of their names are associated with the “Knox Club,” but the Protestantism of the Knox Club is a milk-and-water affair at best. The Church that has ceased to be a decided opponent of Popish error and religion is no benefit to a country, and will be no bulwark against the enemy when he comes in like a flood. Can we wonder that this should be the case when the general doctrine preached in United Free pulpits is essentially the same as that in the Church of Rome—salvation by works? No doubt, there is a slight veneer of evangelical truth, but the cry of “Do—do—do” entirely drowns the note of “Grace.” We would solemnly warn the people of the United Free Church against the dangers of their religious environment.
The second thing we call attention to is the ascendancy of the Higher Criticism in the same body. This ascendancy is proved by the recent utterance of a United Free Professor. Professor J. A. Paterson took as the subject of his opening address at the U.F. College, Edinburgh, “The Biography of Professor Robertson Smith,” and delivered a glowing eulogium of the late Professor Smith and his work. As our readers know, Robertson Smith was deprived of his professorship by the Free Church Assembly in 1881 on account of his heretical views as to the Old Testament Scriptures. He was one of the pioneers of the so-called Higher Criticism in Scotland, and was thus instrumental in doing incalculable harm to the minds of many by destroying belief in the infallibility and integrity of Holy Scripture. Now, Professor Paterson feels at liberty to stand up in the chief theological Hall of the United Free Church, and trumpet forth the victory of the cause which Robertson Smith represented. One of his sentences was the following: “Among the names which shed lustre in the Free Church of Scotland during her separated existence, that of Professor Robertson Smith would, as the generations lengthened, shine the brightest.” Another: “The apparent defeat of Professor Robertson Smith was in reality one of the greatest triumphs an individual scholar was ever privileged to win in the long and chequered history of religious thought.” And still further: “Did the victors triumph or the victim? Let events reply. The most outspoken defenders of the Professor were not prosecuted, but were soon receiving from one Assembly after another the highest honours it had in its power to bestow. It was thus an indisputable fact that his prosecution enabled William Robertson Smith to impress his views on the ministers and members of the Free Church as he could not otherwise have done, and therefore it was that his name was already inscribed in indelible characters on the scroll of fame.” Professor Paterson evidently glories in the success of the Higher Criticism and its supporters. In doing so, he glories in the shame and loss of the body to which he belongs. The growth of unbelief in the inspiration and infallibility of the Scriptures has been the decay of everything spiritually good. The Spirit of God has been grieved away, and young men have risen up to fill the pulpits who are more adapted for a secular occupation than a spiritual—more at home in the discussion of the affairs of the world than in meditation and prayer with regard to unseen and eternal realities—strangers to communion with God at a throne of grace. With such men as the spiritual guides of congregations, no wonder that the pulpit has lost its power, and the pews have lost their occupants. The people feel that they are not in the least degree profited by the short, formal, essay sermons with which they are regaled, and they prefer to stay at home. If they are aware that the minister does not believe in considerable parts of the Bible as possessing any inspiration or trustworthiness—a thing that is not hid—they say to themselves that they need not trouble very much about such a book. And thus the evil has proceeded until secularity of spirit, and indifference to vital godliness prevail to a deplorable extent in this supposedly enlightened and progressive Church. The Higher Criticism is one of the great causes of the spiritual death and gross worldliness that so widely obtain. The Word of God is the line along which heaven’s electric energy flows into the souls of individuals and of worshipping assemblies, but the current of the Spirit’s powerful influences has been interrupted by the cruel hands of unbelieving rationalism and cold materialism, and thus the Church is dead.
Let our readers then reflect for a little upon the melancholy situation. Here is a body that claims descent from the Free Church of Scotland of 1843—a Church that was truly Protestant and believing, full of love to God’s Word, and the doctrines of grace—and yet this body has given up her witness against Popery and has ceased to be a bar against the inroads of “the man of sin,” while she allows Rationalism to reign in her Colleges and hold a large place in her pulpits. This is not the Church of Scotland, Free, but the Church of Scotland in bondage and that to a far worse tyranny than the tyranny which the Disruption fathers justly rebelled against. Freedom in soul-destroying error and progress in spiritual death are miserable forms of success. If the Lord does not step in with His gracious wonder-working power, and put a stop to this downgrade career, the United Free Church, in partnership with others, will prove a dreadful bane to our beloved country. May the Lord in His infinite mercy arise for deliverance!