CHURCH OF SCOTLAND.
THE Assembly of the Church of Scotland met in common with the Assemblies of the United Free and the Free Church on Tuesday, 20th May. The Moderator for the year was the Rev. Dr Cathels, Hawick. The King’s representative was the Labour M.P. for South Ayr, and an elder of the Church of Scotland—Mr James Brown—and in the appointment of a commoner as Lord High Commissioner the tradition with the past has been broken; for three hundred years the King had been represented by one of the nobility at the General Assembly. On Tuesday, Dr White, Glasgow, in submitting the Report of the Committee on Church and Nation, made reference, among other things, to the remit made to this Committee to consider the amendment of the Education (Scotland) Act of 1918, so that the right to impart religious instruction should be accorded to all public schools, as is accorded in the transferred schools. As the question, however, was still under discussion with a Committee of the United Free Church, he did not propose to enter into a detailed explanation of the subject. On Thursday the Assembly discussed the report of the Committee on Aids to Devotion, given in by the Rev. W. A. Knowles, Dalton. The latest publication of the Committee—”Prayers for Divine Service in Church and Home”—had, it was reported, a circulation of 1136 copies out of 2000 printed. The Rev. Professor Reid, Glasgow, moved an amendment to delete a part of the deliverance, and to remit the volume, “Prayers for Divine Service,” to a special committee for reconsideration, especially as regarded pages 63 to 71 dealing with the Holy Communion. He said it was a remarkable fact that for the first time in the history of these prayer-books this volume was issued by authority of the General Assembly. It seemed to him, therefore, that before going on with this they should call a halt, and, although not interrupting the circulation of the book in the meantime, have it examined by competent theologians and others to see whether the part to which he referred could be safely adopted without very serious misunderstanding, and without very serious grief and astonishment from those who adhered to the doctrine and practice, particularly in the sacraments, of the Reformed Church of Scotland. Professor Reid criticised a number of the terms used in the book, and said he thought it would be admitted that it needed correction. Dr Reid’s amendment was carried when put to the Assembly. On Friday, Dr Milligan, in speaking to the report on religious instruction, made the following reference to Socialist and Proletariat “Sunday” Schools:—”It was here that the great danger of so many of the Socialist and Proletarian ‘Sunday’ Schools existed. They must not exaggerate that danger, but it was a very real and a living one. They must, however, be careful to distinguish between these two classes of schools, the Socialist schools which failed because, while they had much excellent moral teaching, they had not that teaching inspired by the religious motive; and the Proletarian schools, whose teaching, if carried out, could only land the children in blank atheism and in revolution and class hatred. They remembered the time when, as in Mrs Browning’s ‘The Cry of the Children,’ they were called upon to protect their bodies from the horrors of the pit and the mine. “To-day there was a still graver and more insidious error besetting their souls and their spirit. The Church must make the very best use of all the means at its disposal.” The question of the settlement of the temporalities was the main matter of interest before the Assembly on Tuesday, 27th May, in connection with the Union. Dr White made the announcement that within the last few days an agreement had been reached with the heritors in reference to the commutation of stipends. This removed a barrier out of the way for Parliamentary legislation. The Assembly concluded its deliberations on Thursday, 29th May. The Moderator, in his closing address, rejoiced in the new liberty that had come to the Churches. He himself (he said) could bear witness to the great relief with which the dawn of a better day was hailed by many when the “letter” was distinguished from the “spirit”; when verbal inerrancy and inspiration ceased to be synonymous terms. From these words it would appear Dr Cathels enjoys the liberty of being hitched to the German car of modern theological scholarship. We sincerely trust we are not misconstruing his words, but this is how they read to us.
UNITED FREE CHURCH.
The General Assembly of the United Free Church met under the moderatorship of the Rev. Dr Inch, Dumbarton, who delivered an address on “The Christian Pastorate.” Dr Inch laid stress on the duty of ministers preaching Christ crucified as the only Saviour for sinners. In submitting the Report on Work and Life, attention was called to the widespread epidemic of betting and gambling, of which both men and women were the victims. Both rich and poor were the slaves of this vice, and the Convener, Rev. Alexander Frazer, Edinburgh, added a much-needed warning that, if the Church was to tackle this evil, its own hands must be clean, and no countenance should be given to raffles connected with sales of work. Reference was made to Sabbath desecration, but we miss in these references what the Rev. D. M. Macdonald pointed out at our own Synod, stress laid on the divine commandment. There is much stress laid on dwindling congregations, and it would appear this is the chief concern of many of the speakers. While this report was before the Assembly, Mr Andrew Bennett, Glasgow, in seconding, said the Education Act of 1918 gave special advantages to the Roman Catholic Church. One had only to follow the reports of their Education Authorities in different parts of the country to see how this Act had been the unfortunate cause of introducing disruptive forces in our educational system. Previous to the passing of the Act, their local Education Authorities were a unity that had control right through of all the public schools under the Authorities. Now they had set up two Authorities—one ecclesiastical, representing the Churches who had control of the transferred schools before the passing of the Act, and the other the Education Authority itself. It was evident that these sectarian bodies were taking advantage of the privilege the Act conferred upon them to get their legal pound of flesh. The only solution of the question was to get rid of that obnoxious clause conferring those privileges on sectarian bodies, and putting the whole thing absolutely and entirely, so far as education and religious instruction are concerned, under the control of the popularly elected Education Authority. Reference was also made to broadcasting on the Lord’s Day, and a motion was adopted that influence be brought to bear on Town Councils to discontinue amusements, entertainments, and trading on the Sabbath. On Tuesday, 27th May, the Assembly discussed the question of Union with the Church of Scotland. The Assembly reaffirmed their attitude of welcome to the report of Lord Haldane’s Committee, and expressed the hope that legislation would soon be passed which would be acceptable to the Church of Scotland and the nation, and which the United Free Church could approve of. An amendment, moved by Dr Young, was supported by 138, as compared with 121 last year. The motion adopted by the Assembly was supported by 375 votes. We cannot say whether the dissentients are of the type with which we were too familiar in the past, who put up a feeble, half-hearted fight, and then went with the crowd in the end, or whether they are men who have the courage of their convictions, and mean to oppose this Union out and out—time will tell. When the Assembly met in the evening, it took up the question of the revision of the Confession, a document whose bed-rock scriptural theology is an offence to the builders on sand, who so largely control this Assembly. The Committee was continued, with instructions to draw up a doctrinal statement which would set forth with more religious adequacy the sum and substance of the Christian faith in the language of our own time and the lines on which such a statement might wisely be constructed. Prof. Mackintosh was convinced that the situation was not one which could any longer be treated by Declaratory Acts. They wanted to get into the atmosphere of the New Testament gospel: what they aspired to do was to make it easier to outsiders and insiders to know what the Gospel was. These statements were received with applause by the fathers and brethren. One needs to read this statement over again to make sure that one is not duped. It almost passes the wit of man to conceive how such a statement could be received by men, many of whom have done their best to destroy the very atmosphere of the Gospel by the encouragement the Assembly has given to rationalistic teaching. We certainly admit the United Free Church needs to get back to the atmosphere of the Gospel, but we have no hesitation in saying that Prof. Mackintosh’s way is not the right way. The Assembly concluded its deliberations on Wednesday, 28th May. The Moderator’s closing address dealt with the mission of Evangelism. He combated the idea that it was necessary to go outside the regular ministry to get successful evangelism—such an idea had not a good effect in the Church. The Moody and Sankey movement of 1874 was an exception, he said. We prefer, however, to accept Dr Kennedy’s opinion of that movement, which was decidedly antagonistic, and after events have proved conclusively that this noted servant of Christ was a true and clear-sighted prophet.
FREE CHURCH.
The Free Church Assembly met at Edinburgh, under the Moderatorship of the Rev. Kenneth Cameron, Stornoway, who delivered an address on “Our Age, its Needs, and the Duty of the Church thereto,” in which he made reference to the present unrest and unemployment, and emphasised the fact that the chief need of the age was the acknowledgment of the supremacy of God. The Rev. John Macleod, Glasgow, in giving in the report on the Sustentation Fund, said that while the Committee aimed at giving a ministerial salary of £300 per annum, they were only able to give £244, a slight reduction on last year. Mr D. M. Smith reported that the total income for 1923 was £19,662, as compared with £19,092 for 1922—showing an increase of £570. The Rev. A. M. Renwick, in giving in the report of the Committee on the Training of the Ministry, reported that five students had finished their course this year in the Divinity Hall, and that they had now 86 ordained ministers and 5 professors. On Saturday evening a deputation from the Free Church met Mr Adamson, the Scottish Secretary, and laid before him their views on the proposed legislation in connection with the endowments of the Church of Scotland. Sir James Simpson, Rev. John Macleod, Inverness, Prof. Maclean and Mr A. MacNeilage were the spokesmen. Mr Adamson promised the deputation that he would give due consideration to the documents laid before him, and to the statements made to him. He was rather touched by the manner in which they referred to this possibly being the last opportunity in which they would get their historic claim placed before the representatives of the British Government, and he would keep that part of the statement very clearly in mind in dealing further with the question of the bill which was before the House to which they had drawn his attention. While the report on Religion and Morals was under discussion reference was made to the inroads of Romanism. Mr Archibald Mackenzie, Glasgow, referring to Sabbath desecration, said they were very grateful to Mr Ramsay Macdonald for his fine statement before the Free Churches Council at Brighton, but the place where he should have spoken, and where it would have had most power, was in the assemblies of his followers, who made the Sabbath hideous in the great city. But the Labour Party were not the only offenders now. On a recent Sabbath there was a demonstration in favour of Home Rule for Scotland, addressed by men belonging to political parties other than Labour. He did not want a Home Rule for Scotland that was going to be put under the government of men who did not respect the Lord’s Day. On the closing day of the Assembly the report on the Claim of Right and Public Questions was given in by Rev. John Macleod, Inverness, in which he set forth the Church’s claim to be considered by the legislature in view of the impending legislation affecting the temporalities of the Church of Scotland. The Rev. John MacNeilage proposed an addition to the Committee’s deliverance relating to public questions on anti-Christian Labourism, which was supported by a characteristic speech. Mr MacNeilage, not only on this occasion but on others during the Assembly, was rather severely handled by some of his brethren, so that his memories of the Assembly can scarcely be of the happiest kind. In his closing address, the Moderator made reference to the higher criticism, pointing out that recent discoveries were falsifying the theories of the critics. He also made reference to the proposed Union between the Church of Scotland and the United Free Church, and said in the event of the Union becoming an accomplished fact it would create for them a new situation. He hoped that he might not be thought a prophet of evil, with dark presages, when he forecasted greater trials in the future.
COMMUNION.
“Judas saith unto Him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that Thou wilt manifest Thyself unto us, and not unto the world?” (John xiv. 22). God marks His love to the world in outward respects, but to His own in His privy chamber. It is the work and office of the Spirit to set home the love of God upon the hearts of His people, and to every one of them alone, as it were; He takes them aside, that they may have some private conversation with Christ, such as the women had when Christ was the only Preacher and she was the only hearer. O, but the view of this distinguished grace raises in the soul both David’s note—“What am I, and what is my father’s house, that Thou hast brought me hitherto?”—and Mary’s note at the same time—“My soul doth magnify the Lord.”—Ralph Ershine.