THE General Assemblies of the larger Presbyterian bodies held their annual meetings in May. The Established and United Free Assemblies met as usual in Edinburgh, while for this year the Free Church Assembly met at Inverness. The meetings of these supreme courts of the Presbyterian Churches was at one time recognised as an event of national importance, but the glory of former days has to a great extent vanished. Still their deliberations are worthy of the most serious consideration of all those who wish to learn the trend of ecclesiastical events in Scotland, at least as far as the larger bodies are concerned.
The Church of Scotland and the United Free Church are busy carrying through the scheme for Union, and have so far been successful in getting Parliament to pass an Act to smooth the way towards the desired goal. That Act has been severely criticised by some in the Established Church, who think that their ecclesiastical leaders have sold them into the hands of the Voluntaries; and, on the other hand, there has been strong opposition from the thoroughgoing Voluntaries in the United Free Church, who maintain that the State connection is too much in evidence. This was to be expected in an Act which has defects which we do not intend to deal with presently, but which may yet occupy an importance in the days to come which are not yet realised. The attitude of our own Church towards these Union negotiations has been clearly set forth in a Memorandum presented to the Government, and which appeared in the pages of this Magazine a few years ago. The opposition to the Union in the Established Church was led by the Rev. Dr. A. Gordon Mitchell, Killearn, and when his motion was put to the Assembly it was supported only by himself and his seconder. But it is only right to say that this gives no indication of the strength of the opposition in the Church of Scotland. Whether the dissentients have sufficient moral courage to show by action, and not merely by words, their opposition remains to be seen. The thorny question of the temporalities was referred to in the debate, and it is possible that the ecclesiastical leaders may find much more difficulty in engineering a bill on property and finance than they did on doctrine and church principles. In the United Free Assembly the opposition mustered over one hundred of a following. These were led by Rev. James Barr, a thoroughgoing Voluntary. Here, again, we are in the dark yet as to whether these dissentients are willing to carry their opposition the length of refusing to enter the new Church.
Another matter which came up before the Assemblies of the Established and United Free Churches was the menace of Romanism, and it is encouraging to see that, at long last, many in these churches are being aroused from their apathy on this question. The betrayal so flagrantly seen in the Education (Scotland) Act of 1918, in which Roman Catholic teaching in the transferred Voluntary Schools has touched many to the injustice inflicted upon Protestant ratepayers in this matter. The Established Church appointed a Committee to look into the whole matter of the alarming increase of Roman Catholicism in the great industrial centres, and in the United Free Church the question of the Bible and the Shorter Catechism in the school was sympathetically dealt with.
Certain other matters are referred to under another heading, and also certain points brought up at the Free Church General Assembly.