The Proposed Church of Scotland Enabling Bill

FREE PRESBYTERIAN MEMORANDUM TO GOVERNMENT.

THE following Memorandum has been sent to the Prime Minister and Members of the Government by the Committee on the Church of Scotland Enabling Bill, appointed at last Meeting of Synod:—

I.—Statement re the Free Presbyterian Church, and its History and Constitution.

1. This Church represents the Free Church of Scotland as settled in 1843.

2. This Church represents said Free Church of Scotland in direct historical, and constitutional, continuity.

3. This Church’s constitution is the same as that of said original Free Church of Scotland, embodying the Westminster Confession of Faith, the First and Second Books of Discipline, the Larger and Shorter Catechisms, the Claim, Declaration and Protest of the Church of Scotland in 1842, the Protest of 1843, and other recognised standard documents.

4. This Church (the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland) entered upon its distinctive existence in 1893 by a Deed of Separation (herewith appended) from the then Church, calling herself the Free Church of Scotland.

5. This Church entered upon said distinctive existence, not because its representatives had adopted any new belief or principle whatsoever, but because the majority of the then Free Church had adopted a new Declaratory Act (1892), which seriously altered the Church’s relation to the Confession of Faith and original standards, and which those who now form the Free Presbyterian Church strongly protested against.

6. This Church, by its separation in 1893, continued the existence of the Free Church of Scotland, as settled in 1843, in a distinct, corporate body, without change in constitution or general practice.

7. This Church holds the position enunciated in the Claim, Declaration, and Protest of the Church of Scotland in 1842, and the Protest of 1843, and at the same time has always held, and continues to hold, in entire accordance with said documents, the principle of the National Recognition of Religion in opposition to what is known as “Voluntaryism.”

8. This Church is the legitimate and consistent successor of the ancient Church of Scotland, which accepted the Confession of Faith as its Confession in 1647; a Confession which was acknowledged by the State as “the public and avowed Confession of this Church” in 1690 and at subsequent dates.

9. This Church requires of all her office-bearers by her Formula and Questions, personal and unqualified adherence to the Confession of Faith, and the other standards of the Church.

II.—Statement re the proposed “Enabling Bill” with regard to the Established Church of Scotland and the United Free Church.

The Free Presbyterian Church would point out:

1. That the larger Presbyterian Churches, notably the present Established Church and the United Free Church, do not adhere to the Confession of Faith, and the standards of the Church of Scotland, according to the original terms, but by Declaratory Acts have altered to a grave extent the original relation, and have modified the Formula of subscription, so that ministerial and other subscribers stand in a very indefinite relation to said standards.

2. That the Articles presently put forward to Parliament provide no definition of fundamental doctrines, and propose a basis of Union with the United Free Church of the most latitudinarian description, which makes it competent for the united body to depart almost completely from the Protestant and Presbyterian principles and doctrines of the true Church of Scotland.

3. That there have been for years a considerable party in the Established Church who favour Episcopacy, and even wish for re-union with the Roman Catholic Church, and that the United Free Church is not free from elements of this kind, so that, if the

present proposal is adopted, it is hard to say what grave departures from “the faith” in connection with the united body may take place in the future.

1. This Church therefore STRONGLY PROTESTS against the proposed “Enabling Bill,” and the further serious loosening of the Established Church of Scotland from her subordinate standards, which is plainly involved therein.

III.—Statement re the Ecclesiastical Endowments.

The Free Presbyterian Church would point out:

1. That the Endowments now in possession of the Established Church are the common property of the Presbyterians of Scotland, and should not be considered as belonging to the present Established Church alone.

2. That these Endowments cannot be consistently and legitimately held by any who do not adhere to the constitution and standards of the Church of Scotland, and that the present movement for relaxation of the standards with consent of the State, involves in all justice forfeiture of the Endowments.

3. That if the Endowments are transferred to a united body (consisting of the Established Church and the United Free Church) on the proposed basis, they are given to parties who have forfeited all claim thereto, and the rightful heirs are kept out of their inheritance.

4. That the proposed procedure is marked with extraordinary inconsistency in its relation to the United Free Church, inasmuch as the majority of the members of that body have been for many years professed “Voluntaries,” and have been protesting against Ecclesiastical Endowments as un-Scriptural.

5. That the rightful heirs are those who assert and maintain the Creed and Principles of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland in their integrity, and that such persons, especially in the Highlands, are chiefly to be found outside the larger Presbyterian bodies.

6. That the Government is justly bound, if the new proposal is carried through, to consider the valid claims of the people in many parishes, who are outside the pale of the present Established Church.

IV.—Presentation of the Claim of Right, etc.

This Church, in conclusion, submits to Parliament the Claim, Declaration and Protest of the Church of Scotland in 1842, and the Protest of 1843 (hereby appended), and humbly appeals to the Legislature to do justice to the claims of truth and righteousness in connection with the various interests involved.

[Two documents were appended—(1) The Claim of Right of 1843, and (2) The Deed of Separation of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland, 1893.]

Memoirs of Elizabeth Cairns.

Written by herself some years before her death, and now taken from her original Copy with great care and diligence.

“Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul.”—PSALM lxvi. 16.

“As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the Lord of Hosts.”—PSALM xlviii. 8.

“Beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”—2 COR. iii. 18.

(Continued from page 151.)

L O, here my question was answered, and I believed that my name was written among them that were given by God the Father to the Son, to be saved by Him according to the covenant of redemption. Here I desire to lay my hand on my mouth, and say no more as to those great mysteries I was allowed to behold; for I am persuaded they are better felt than can be told. For my mind could never indite, much less my pen write, what I was allowed to behold. “O the height, the depth, the breadth, and the length of this love of God that passeth knowledge,” in descending so far to one of the vilest of all the race of Adam, who never deserved a blink of His reconciled face, much less to have the veil as it were rent, and to get such a view of manifested glory! But in none of all those attainments do I desire to glory, but in a reconciled God, in a mediator, for a portion to my soul in time and for eternity. And thus ends the eighteenth year of my age. This year, places, and times, I desire to remember as long as I live, which were my Bethels and my Peniels, because there I had so great discoveries of God, and my life was preserved.

The next year began with the powerful operations of the Spirit and blinks of divine love, with frequent views of the glory of God. And on the days following those Scriptures abounded with me, “The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver” (Ps. cxix. 72). And when I was meditating on this word, that objection arose in my mind: David had thousands of gold and silver to lay in the balance with the Word of God, and so could try which of them were dearest to him, but thou hast none of them, and what knowest thou but if thou hadst them thou wouldst prefer them to the Word of God? But here I reasoned with myself, my little was my all, and so as dear to me as David’s thousands were, and that thus I could appeal to God as my witness; that His word of promise, Christ and all His purchase being contained therein, was better to me than all I did possess, according to Ps. lxxiii. 25, “Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.” Those Scriptures, and many more, were made the matter of my meditation, and frequently there shined a light on my soul when I was

thus meditating that represented to my view inexpressible mysteries, so that I would have forgotten where I was and what I was doing. And thus when the veil was drawn aside, and I allowed to come to the threshold of the door, as I thought, and allowed to behold the glory of the higher house, I would fain have been in; but, alas! I behoved to come down again; and I cried, “O death, death, when wilt thou come, and when will the veil rend, and never return to cover the glory again?”

This made me undesirous to keep company, or yet to follow my employment, which brought me in a great strait. So I went to God with those words in my mouth, that if He would not take me out of the world He would give me two capacities, or a strength of mind, one to serve Him, and another to serve the world. And accordingly as I asked He answered me, so that immediately after He endowed me with a strength of mind, by which I could accomplish my business, and yet keep up my intercourse with heaven; so that, even in time of harvest, when there was no absenting from company, nor yet time for prayer, yet when I lifted up my head with my handful to lay it in the sheaf, I would have sent up a short prayer, in which time there shined rays of divine light that filled my soul with sensible manifestations of divine love; and when I was thus engaged in company, and could not win out of hearing their idle and vain talking, I would have been as one deaf, while my meditation was taken up in maintaining my intercourse with God; yet, at that time there was as much reason given me as guided my hand in my employment.

Oh, here I got a wonderful discovery of that title God hath taken to Himself, “I am the hearer of prayer,” according to Ps. lxv. 2.

I remember one Sabbath morning, it was remarkable to me, when I awaked out of sleep I began in meditation on the covenant of redemption, and there shined a light into my soul, by which I got a view of the glorious contrivance of redemption and wonderful transaction between God the Father and God the Son. Here my soul was brought to such a capacity and strength so as to get a view of what the Father demanded of the Son, and proposed to Him, concerning man’s redemption, as also the Son’s sweet compliance with every particular required in that covenant, as in Ps. xl. 6-8: “Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt-offering and sin-offering hast thou not required. Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.” My mind could never indite, nor my pen write, what here I was allowed to behold. From this I was led to view the covenant of works, and man’s happy state in paradise before he fell, and how he fell, and his misery after he fell; and from this I was led to behold the glorious covenant of redemption, as displayed in a covenant of grace, and revealed to Adam immediately after he fell, in those words: “The seed of the woman shall bruise the head of the serpent” (Gen. iii. 15).

All this I was led to see in meditation before I arose that morning; so, after I arose, I went to secret prayer, and there I was led to see the covenant of grace in a deeper view than ever formerly I had seen it. Here I saw that all that passed between the Father and the Son in the covenant of redemption was displayed and applied to the believer in the covenant of grace; and here also I got another sight of my name in it; as also I felt a power bringing up my soul to a compliance with every particular therein represented to the view of my faith.

Those glorious mysteries so filled my soul with joy, wonder and praise, that I was made with the Psalmist (Ps. cxlviii. throughout) to invite all the creation, heavens, earth, seas, and all things therein, to join with me in praising. And I came from that place and that prayer in the clear view and felt impression of those glorious mysteries, so that I was forced to lay my hand on my mouth, and hold in my voice. For when I came to the family and saw my relations, I would have heartily invited them to join with me in the praises of free grace, but I had no will to discover myself to the world.

I remember, another day after this, I sat down with my Bible in my hand, and, as my custom was, as I was asking a blessing before I read, immediately there shined a light in my soul that represented to my view those glorious mysteries that so transported me, that I could read none, but turned over the leaves, and beheld the glory that shined in it; so I laid by my Bible, and fell to prayer and praise, and enjoyed for a moment those divine blinks.

I remember another time that was remarkable to me. There was a place where the Lord’s Supper was to be celebrated, at which I had occasion to be present. On the preparation-day I got nothing in the sermons, but, by after reflection, my conscience witnessed to me that such and such things I had experienced; but, on the Sabbath morning, the sermon before the action came near to my present case. The text was, “While the king sitteth at his table, my spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof” (Song i. 12). And the observation from the text was, “That the presence of Christ had a special influence on the graces of His people, to draw them forth into exercise.” From which he took occasion to show what the presence of Christ was, and what the graces were that were drawn forth in exercise thereby, which was all applicable to my present case. And at the table there shone a light on my soul that so transported me that I dare not take upon me to mark down what I was allowed to behold; but this I can say, I was allowed in my meditation to travel, as it were, between the cross and the crown. There I considered Mount Calvary, and what was done there; and through those elements of the bread and wine, I got a distinct view of the sufferings of Christ; and also to me this was a Mount Pisgah, where I got a view of the promised land, in faith of being possessed of it after death. And on the night following, in my sleep, I thought I was brought

into immediate fruition and enjoyment, and so allowed to behold the glory of the higher house, and heard, as I thought, the Mediator saying, “Him that overcometh, will I give to sit with me on my throne, and will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, and I will write upon him my new name,” as in Rev. iii. 12. So I awoke out of sleep, and when I saw the light of this world, I cried out, and my tears ran down in abundance, because I found it was a dream, but I endeavoured to compose myself, and so reasoned thus: “It is the overcomer to whom it is said, ‘He shall go no more out.’ And I am yet covered with a body of flesh and blood, and with a body of sin and death, and so liable to the temptations of Satan and the motions of sin, and, therefore, not yet an overcomer.” When this I thought on, I cried out, “O death! when wilt thou come, and destroy this body of death, and body of flesh and blood together?”

(To be continued.)

Searmon Ullachaidh.

LE MR. EOIN UELSH.

A Shearmaonaicheadh aig frithealadh Suipeir an Tighearna aig Maibole ann an Carric, 4-amh là do cheud mhios an Fhoghair sa bhliaidhna 1678 (ach do reir Wodrow, ‘sa bliadhna 1677), ‘shearmaonaich Mr. Earchie Riddel, an t-Searmon roimh na bùird o’n t-Sailm lxxxii. 10, “Fosgail do bheul gu farsuinn, agus lìonaidh mise e.” Tha an t-Searmon sin, maille ris a chuid eile de’ chomhlabhairt aig a chomh-chumuinn, ann an sgriobhdh. B’iad an luchd cobhrach Mr’n Eoin Uelsh agus Merion, Patric Uarner, Seòras Barclaidh, etc., maille ri Mr. Richard Cameron, a bha aig àm sin fo’ dheuchainn.