CHURCH OF SCOTLAND.
ONE of the principal subjects before this Assembly was the Church Union Report. Dr. Wallace Williamson moved the adoption of a deliverance on the subject, which recommended the continuance of the Committee in conference with the Union Committee of the United Free Church, with a view to further mutual explanations of their respective views, and gave power to Presbyterian deputies to visit congregations in order to instruct them on the subject. The deliverance admitted that the War had put some arrestment on the Committee’s progress, but expressed the hope and prayer that the desired object of a United Church of Scotland would be ultimately accomplished. Dr. Williamson, at the conclusion of his speech, made use of an illustration from the blacksmith’s forge—describing how two pieces of iron are welded together into one when molten by the heat of the fire. He hoped that the War would have a similar effect upon the two Churches, and would be the means of welding them into one body. The motion was seconded by Dr. Turnbull Smith (elder), Edinburgh.
Rev. Malcolm McCallum, Muckairn, who is a dissenter from the Union proposals, said that he did not record any dissent on this occasion, in view of a sentence in the report that made steps contingent on the present course of events. He remarked that Voluntaryism at present was dead or dying. The motion was unanimously carried.
The Assembly extended a cordial welcome to a deputation from the United Free Assembly, the members of which delivered friendly addresses.
In connection with the Report of the Psalmody and Hymnal Committee, a minister proposed the insertion of more chants for the singing of prose Psalms in a Church Service Book, but another minister opposed the increase of chants as not in harmony with Scottish views of praise, and the proposal was rejected.
The Assembly was closed by an address from the Moderator (Dr. David Paul). He dwelt, in the second part of his address, on “The War,” but in the first made reference to various forms of Church work. We are sorry to observe that Dr. Paul explicitly approved of modern changes in worship, such as the use of hymns and instrumental music as steps in the right direction, and of certain other things as conducing to greater reverence in divine worship. We believe that the growth in reverence is entirely apparent, not real. In the days when there was nothing but simple New Testament worship, without ritualistic show, there was far more genuine reverence. “God is a spirit; and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”
The voice of Pastor Jacob Primmer is no longer heard in this Assembly, raising a faithful note of witness against Ritualism and Popery. That voice is still in death. He appears to have no successor.