The business of this Assembly included two important appointments. The first was the election of a Principal to the Glasgow College in room of the late Dr. Lindsay, and the second was the election of a Professor to fill Dr. Lindsay’s place in the chair of Church History.
Rev. Dr. Reith moved that the Assembly appoint Dr. Denney, Professor of New Testament Language and Literature, to the office. He commended Dr. Denney as one who already occupied a high place in the Church’s esteem, and took a prominent part in its work. The motion was seconded by Sir David Paulin. No other name was suggested, and Dr. Denney, who is fifty-nine years of age, was elected with unanimity and enthusiasm.
As to the Chair of Church History, three names were proposed, Dr. James Moffat, Mansfield College, Oxford, Dr. Fairweather, Kirkcaldy, and Rev. Hugh Watt, Bearsden. The Rev. P. D. Thomson, Glasgow, moved the appointment of Dr. Moffat, and the motion was seconded by the Rev. Donald Fraser, Livingstonia. At the first test, Dr. Moffat had a clear majority over the other two names. The movers and seconders of Dr. Fairweather and Mr. Watt then saw their way to withdraw the names of these gentlemen, and Dr. Moffat was elected with a unanimous vote. He is forty-five years of age.
Note.—Our readers may find a note of criticism on these appointments elsewhere in our pages. Here a few sentences will suffice. Possibly it is not surprising, according to the natural course of things, that Dr. Denney has been raised to the Principalship of Glasgow College, owing to the popular position he has had for years in the United Free Church. All the same, the fact remains that he is an exponent of very erroneous opinions on fundamental truth (see F.P. Magazine, January, 1907) which he has never retracted, and it speaks ill for the United Free Assembly that they have never condemned these opinions, but have honoured to the full the man who holds them. As for Dr. Moffatt, who has been made Professor of Church History, he is one of the most dangerous heretics in the modern religious world (see F.P. Magazine for October, 1911). These appointments clearly show that the United Free Church is not retracing its steps in the matter of fundamental error, and in those solemn times—when God’s judgments are in the earth—they add another dark cloud to the sky.
The Assembly was closed with an able address by the Moderator (Professor MacEwen). In the course of his remarks he admitted that there had been a disposition, “for at least a generation,” to evade or slur over the doctrine of the Atonement, and to treat the death of Christ as only an illustration of self-sacrifice. He said that there was a call for explicit teaching on the truth of Christ’s Atonement.