THE General Assemblies of the Church of Scotland and the Free Church met at Edinburgh on the 23rd May under the Moderatorships of Rev. Prof. Main, Glasgow, and Rev. Farquhar Matheson, Glen Urquhart, respectively. Sir John Gilmour was the Lord High Commissioner for the year. The proceedings of the Assemblies were not so interesting this year as they have been in the immediately preceding years and do not call for extended comment.
CHURCH OF SCOTLAND.
Representatives of Scottish Churches Received.—Among the representatives from other churches received by the Assembly were those from the Congregational Union, Reformed Presbyterian, and the United Original Secession Churches. Dr. Main himself was brought up in the Original Secession though it is to be feared he has wandered a considerable distance from the real Secession principles and testimony.
Foreign Mission Fund.—Although the crisis, arising from a debt of £67,000, in the Foreign Mission Fund last year, had passed, yet anxiety at a further alarming fall in income this year was expressed when the Report of the Foreign Missions Committee was submitted. A strong appeal by the Convener, Rev. Joseph Muir, was made to have this state of things remedied.
Judicial Committee.—Considerable objection last year was offered to the setting up of what is termed a Judicial Committee to deal with cases of discipline but owing to certain changes made in a revised draft the opposition was considerably less this year. Dr. Cox, joint-senior Clerk, pointed out that, according to the present method, there was strong objection on moral grounds to wide circulation of, if might be, unsavoury evidence, some of it left about indiscriminately and carelessly anywhere.
Moreover, it was hardly fair to the accused if the libel were found not proven. Dr. Cox thought that the tribunal, constituted as proposed, would deal with any case that would come before it with more care and deliberation than was possible in an Assembly of 1,700 members. The overture as amended was sent down to Presbyteries.
The Iona Scheme.—Lord Wark submitted the Report of the Committee appointed to inquire into the Iona scheme. The scheme was described as an informal fellowship bound together by a common aim of Christian service. It was further described as semi-private in its nature and that it involved no financial burden at present on the Church. To allay suspicions it was resolved by the Assembly that the Home Board watch over the scheme. The Assembly “cordially encouraged Dr. Macleod to institute the experiment in Iona for the further and special training of probationers for Home Mission Work.” Notwithstanding all this, we are disposed to appropriate the famous words of John Davidson when the Jacobine scheme of Episcopacy was about to be foisted on the Scottish Church—“Aye, busk, [dress] busk, busk him as bonnlie as ye can and fetch him in as fairly as ye will, we see him weill eneuch, we see the horns of his mitre.”
Conference with Original Secession Church.—Principal Curtis, in presenting the Report of the Committee on Inter-Church Relations, referred to the conference held between representatives of the Church of Scotland and the Original Secession Church. Dr. Curtis said they met on three occasions and the exchange of views was frank and friendly. Dr. Curtis indicated that he would like the Seceders to go a step farther. If we are not mistaken there are still many in the O.S. Church who think Principal Davidson and those like-minded with him have gone too far already.
Gambling.—The Rev. Matthew Stewart, Hamilton, in submitting the Report of the Church and Nation Committee said the evils associated with betting and gambling remained as widespread and as insidious as ever. Football pools absorb £50,000,000, greyhound racing accounts for a like amount, and horse-racing for much more. Any attempt to check the evil by legislation is not supported by the Government. In speaking to his motion, Mr. Stewart said: “There is no very strong feeling against betting and gambling in the minds of the public generally, including church members. So long as this is the case, and particularly so long as members of the church back horses and dogs and find pleasure in filling-up football coupons, there is little hope that anything drastic will be done to combat this evil. Only when members of the church generally refrain from betting and gambling in any form need we have any expectations of a really successful attack on these evils.”
Sabbath Desecration.—In a reference to the observance of the Lord’s Day, attention was called by the Rev. Robert McIntosh to the expressions of a feeling of uneasiness that was coming from different parts of the country regarding the use that was made of the Lord’s Day by local authorities for military and civil defence preparations.
Scottish Education Act.—Rev. J. M. Munro, Falkirk, said ever since the decision in the Bonnybridge case which had gone against the Stirlingshire Education Authority in the House of Lords, demand after demand had been made by Roman Catholic authorities. He characterised the ruthlessness of these demands as Hitlerism and Nazism with a vengeance. Dr. Hutchison Cockburn, Dunblane, in the course of his remarks, said there was no doubt that a sense of rankling injustice existed in Scotland over Clause 18 of the Act. The Church of Scotland was urged to say that the injustice so flagrantly perpetrated by the Act must be ended at the earliest possible moment, and the Assembly’s Committee on Education was instructed to consider the matter and report to the Assembly next year.
Birth Control Committee.—At its last session the Assembly appointed a Committee to consider Birth Control and to see how far it is possible for the Church to give positive guidance on this and other aspects of Christian married life. The Rev. W. W. Clark, Midealder, moving the rejection of the overture asking the Assembly to give consideration to the above matter, said that the movers of the overture were asking a departure from a wise tradition in the region of morals and asking for guidance on matters that are intrusions upon the freedom of conscience and alien to the temper of the Scottish people. The motion for the adoption of the overture was carried by a vote of 78 to 58 votes.
Aesthetics in Church Buildings.—When the Report of the Advisory Committee on Artistic Questions was submitted by the Convener, Dr. Millar Patrick, the Rev. J. E. M. Baikie, Dundee, moved an addendum to the Committee’s deliverance in which he stressed the increasing tendency of churches becoming more ornate. This movement, he said, was part of a still larger movement, and one which he regarded with dismay, because the Reformation gave to them the principles of freedom, of the true spirit of the gospel, of the faith, of worship, and throughout the Church to-day this movement was spreading by which they were being led back to the bondage and the fetters of priestly domination and ecclesiastical wizardry. “Surely it is a pitiful thing,” he said, “that at a time when education and scientific enlightenment have reached such a height, we in the Church of Christ are sinking back to the obscure darkness of the Middle Ages. Sometimes, we deplore the advance the Roman Catholic Church is making in Scotland, but surely it is not the advance that it is making from the outside but from the heart of our own Church that shows us the greatest danger.” It is refreshing to learn that one of the younger ministers of the Church of Scotland has the courage of his convictions and that he is not afraid to condemn Romeward tendencies.
FREE CHURCH.
Salaries of Ministers.—In submitting the Report of the Sustentation Fund Committee, the Convener, Mr. Roderick Cameron, indicated that there had been a considerable increase to the Fund last year and that this had been the case for four or five years yet, owing to the settlement of ministers in vacant charges, to make accounts balance they should lessen the dividend by £17. The Committee, however, recommended that £250 be declared as the equal dividend. An amendment was moved, but only found six supporters.
Nominations to Committees.—In presenting an overture the Rev. Kenneth A. Macrae, Stornoway, said there were some members who had been serving on Committees far too long, and he hoped to have this changed. A motion by Rev. William Macleod to the effect that the overture be received and remitted to the Law and Advisory Committee was carried.
National Service Rallies on the Sabbath.—In presenting an overture from the Synod of Glenelg, the Rev. Kenneth A. Macrae gave a deserved trouncing to the R.C. Lord Provost of Glasgow, Mr. Patrick Dollan, a keen advocate of National Service rallies on the Lord’s Day.
Victimisation of men refusing to work on the Sabbath.—An overture from the Synod of Moray was presented asking the Assembly to take into consideration the victimisation of Christian men and women for refusing to undertake work on the Lord’s Day, and to approach the various Trade Unions with a view to securing their protection. The overture was submitted to the Public Questions Committee.
Licensing of Students from other Denominations.—An overture was transmitted to the Assembly by the Presbytery of Edinburgh anent the repealing of the Assembly Act III., 1938. This Act ordained that students from other denominations who had taken a theological course in our college should not, under normal circumstances, be licensed by the Presbyteries of the Free Church, but should have their educational record sent to their respective Churches that they might receive licence in accordance with the regulations existing in these Churches. The Rev. Prof. Kennedy Cameron appeared in support of the overture. He maintained that it was ultra vires for the Assembly to interfere with the rights of Presbyteries as happened under this Act. He spoke strongly against the action of the Assembly passing the above Act last year and moved that the Assembly sustain the overture and enact and ordain that the Act be repealed. This motion was seconded by Prof. D. Maclean who also condemned the Act of last year as it was, in his opinion, a contradiction of the practice of the Free Church. Mr. W. Rounsfell Brown moved that the Assembly pass from the overture and was seconded by Mr. W. M. Mackay, B.Sc., Dundee. Mr. Macbeath moved that the overture be received but that it be remitted to a Committee for consideration in all its aspects and to report to next Assembly. Prof. Kennedy Cameron’s motion to have the Act repealed was carried by a majority.