WITH the issue of the May number of the Magazine we enter on our fortieth volume. Through good report and through evil report the Magazine has held steadily on its way since its beginning. The Church had not long taken up its separate position when it was considered advisable to publish a periodical as the recognised organ of the Church. The first number appeared in May, 1896, and on looking over it, all the contributors to that number, as far as we are aware, are either dead or gone from us with the exception of one. In turning over the pages of this record of our Church’s battles and progress we come across the names of some who were very valiant in the fight and whose love to the Free Presbyterian Church was expressed in the strongest terms of attachment but who ultimately left us for other folds. Others faithfully held on to the end and among these were some who made little noise but who showed by their steadfastness and adherence to the cause they professed that the race is not always to the swift nor the battle to the strong. To the older people among us there is a pathetic interest in reading the volumes covering well-nigh forty years of our Church’s history. The choice of editing the Magazine fell upon the late Rev. James S. Sinclair, and it is not too much to say that the Church was wisely guided in the choice it made. Mr. Sinclair possessed gifts that fitted him as an editor of a church magazine. He had a lucid English style whose very distinctiveness was apt to be lost sight of
through its very lucidity. Combined with these literary gifts he was endowed with a sound judgment which did not bend to every sweeping wind or lend itself to mere emotional excitement. We know that he was keenly sensitive to criticism and at times he confided to us how grieved he felt at some unkind word or unbrotherly action but he almost invariably presented a calm, imperturbable exterior. Besides all these gifts he had a warm love to the Church of which he was a minister and above all to the truth as it is in Jesus. By his pen, for twenty-five years, he shaped the policy of the Magazine along such sound lines that they are followed practically to this day. There were times when some arose among us who severely criticised the Church for her alleged unfaithfulness and caused considerable disturbance by ill-advised criticism and at such times Mr. Sinclair, however severely criticised for it, defended the Church’s position against its critics.
To begin with the Magazine had a circulation of 2,200 per month. This fell to 2,000 and from that gradually rose until it reached a maximum of 4,000 copies per month during the Great War. It is only right to point out, however, that 1,420 copies of these were sent for free distribution among the soldiers and sailors engaged in the War; thus the total ordinary circulation was really 2,580. In 1920, the year prior to Mr. Sinclair’s death the normal circulation had increased to 2,850 with 250 copies for free distribution among soldiers and sailors through Mr. Brider’s Mission. The present circulation is 3,500 copies with 50 sent to Mr. Brider.
During the War the Magazine fluctuated in price and in the number of pages. Its highest price was five shillings (including postage) and its number of pages was reduced from forty to thirty-two, making a total of 384 pages for the year. As our readers are aware, the price is now 3/9 (including postage) for 516 pages. It will thus be seen that the Magazine is expanding as the Church’s activities at home and abroad are extending. If one turns to the report of the Synod (including reports of
Committees and Financial Statement), say in 1920, we find that it extends to only 24 pages; whereas in 1934 (though the Synod report is cut down as much as possible) it extends to nearly 80 pages. These statistics may be of very little interest to some of our readers but they are recorded here for the sake of those who may be interested in the growth of the Church’s record during its existence of almost forty years.
We now turn away from this aspect of the Magazine to another which has a pathetic interest as we read over again the obituaries of worthy men and women now in glory, yes, of little children too who were accorded a corner in its pages telling how the Saviour, who said “Suffer the little children to come unto me,” prepared them, ere He took them to be in heaven with Himself forever. What a beautiful company they were! how pleasant are the memories they left with us and how much colder the world seems now that they are gone. We could give the number of obituaries within the pages of the Magazine from 1896 to 1935 but what would that convey to those who knew so many of the excellent of the earth. Many a time we had thoughts of publishing the most striking of these obituaries in a volume but when we sat down to face the task it was too difficult. There rose up before us a vast army of critics, and though, through having fought on many a field, we are now becoming more hardened to what people have to say than once we were, yet, we could not face these. Such imaginary questions came from this one and that one: “Why did you publish this obituary and leave out that one,” and as it was difficult to answer, this is one of the many tasks which will likely remain unaccomplished. Some of the obituaries are finely written and we are sure our readers will agree with us when it is said that this is a kind of writing in which our ministers generally excel.
The Magazine not only recorded the doings of our own Church but it called attention to what was going on in the larger and smaller churches in Scotland and in the activities of churches
far beyond the bounds of our native land. In its pages will be found also references to national events that affected the well-being of the British people and the world at large.
The Magazine is not perfect and never was and none of those who had ever anything to do with it believed that it was. But the policy laid down by its first editor, as has already been said, is the policy that is generally followed to-day; and the editor endeavours ever to keep before his mind that the Magazine he edits is the organ of the Free Presbyterian Church and not of any individual. It carries its messages throughout the homeland and to distant places of the earth—England, Wales, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, India, South Africa, Palestine, Holland, France, Canada, the United States of America, etc. While editorial work has its heavy responsibilities and its worries yet it is extremely interesting. Appreciative letters reach us from all quarters, from people who have no connection with the Free Presbyterian Church and while most of these are from people beyond our borders—owing to our Scottish reticence we are not ready to let people know we appreciate them or their work, though, perhaps too ready to let them know what we consider their faults, still our Scottish readers have their own way of showing their appreciation and it is none the less valued because it comes in the Scottish way. There are many other things from the purely personal side that might interest our readers but for the present we will not burden them further.
We conclude our remarks by saying that the policy of the Magazine as it is the policy of the Church is not only to expose error, superstition and idolatry and to condemn it with no uncertain voice but to declare the truth as it is revealed in the Scripture. The Free Presbyterian Church came into existence as a witness for the doctrine of the infallibility of God’s Word and the doctrine contained in that Word. It has witnessed against error in creed and in practice. By the direction of the Synod it has asked its ministers to preach a sermon once a year on the principles of the Church, and we have as much
confidence in our ministers as to believe that they are doing their duty faithfully in preaching the truth and warning their hearers of soul-destroying errors. The Synod has drawn up a Statement of Differences between our Church and the other Presbyterian bodies. This Statement was published in the Magazine and was drawn up very carefully, examined and revised by the Synod and published with its sanction. It has, therefore, an authority which no individual statement could have and once again we recommend any of our readers who are in the slightest doubt where we stand to read that Statement. Once a year the proceedings of the General Assemblies are reviewed in our pages and erroneous teaching and practices are exposed. In addition to this the false teaching and unscriptural practices of churches, etc., are exposed in the opening articles at times and in Notes and Comments. There is also the Annual Report of the Committee on Religion and Morals in which religious matters and public questions are reviewed and criticised. These reports are printed annually in the Magazine, so, if Free Presbyterians after all this are ignorant of the doctrines and principles of the Church to which they belong they cannot blame the Church for failing it its duty to them, and in making public its standing in relation to other Churches.
We ask a place in the prayers of our readers that the Lord may bless the labour of our hands and the work of those whose articles or sermons appear in its pages. A prayerful interest by our readers would lighten our editorial work and perhaps have the effect of making those who think they could produce a more perfect Magazine to remember the divine words: “So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things that were commanded of you, say, We are unprofitable servants” (Luke, xvii. 10).
Better to present truth in her native plainness than to hang her ears with counterfeit pearls.—Thomas Brooks.
News may come that Truth is sick, but never that it is dead.—
William Gurnall.