The Churches in Scotland To-day, by Dr. John Highet, Lecturer in Sociology at Glasgow University. Price 15/-. Publishers, Jackson, Son & Company, Glasgow.
This book contains a great deal of useful information and data regarding all Churches and religious organisations in Glasgow and Scotland. The historical sketches of each denomination is of necessity brief and may be thought unsatisfactory by some. The first chapter gives a survey of the Principles, Government and Strength of the Presbyterian, Episcopal, Roman Catholic and Independent Churches, and also of all other religious organisations. There are interesting references to the democratic character of the Presbyterian form of Church government. The author, for instance, points out regarding the Moderator of a General Assembly, “He is not ‘head’ of the Church. It is not correct even to style him ‘Moderator of (for example) the Church of Scotland’: the sole permissible designation is ‘Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland,’ and so in the case of the other denominations mutatis mutandis.” The Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland is cited as one of the six Presbyterian Churches in Scotland and fourth in the author’s chronological list, being placed after the United Original Secession Church and before the present Free Church. The doctrinal standpoint of the Church of Scotland and the view it takes of Scripture are said to be liberal, which observation is only too true. Dr. Highet writes:—”The Church recognises ‘liberty of opinion in points (of doctrine) which do not enter into the substance of the Faith.'” And indeed this liberty of opinion has long since developed into license to hold and teach opinions contrary to the doctrine and substance of the Christian Faith within the Church of Scotland. It is recorded that “the Free Presbyterian Church came into existence in 1893, formed by a group within the then Free Church, who, on the passing by that Church in 1892 of its Declaratory Act, felt bound in conscience to sever connection. In its doctrinal standpoint, the Free Presbyterian Church is said to manifest “an outlook perhaps even more austere and conservative than that of the Free Church.” The author thus describes an observable difference between these two Churches; and so it seems that opinion outwith the Free Presbyterian Church and the Free Church recognises that these two Churches are not so identical as some would aver. With this opinion we, of course, agree, although we would use words other than “austere” and “conservative” to describe the difference indicated. Several pages are devoted to outlining the history of the Free Church, and it is stated that after the Union of 1900, the present Free Church later “repealed the 1892 Act”; that is the Declaratory Act. This statement supports the contention of the Free Presbyterian Church that the present Free Church were under this infamous Act until it was repealed.
Brief outlines are given also of the principles, statistics, etc., of other Protestant Churches, and the Roman Catholic Church. Roman Catholics aged 20 and over are estimated to number: 472,000 in Scotland and 185,565 in the city of Glasgow; the Roman Catholic population, as is well known, being densest in the Clyde Valley area, “no doubt owing to a large extent to the concentration there of the descendants of Irish immigrants.”
Dr. Highet has a chapter on “The Retreat from Religion,” in which he does not appear to recognise the dangerous extent to which Scotland has become irreligious. He measures matters largely by numbers in Church membership. This is an unwise rule to go by to-day, inasmuch as membership in so many cases has no relationship to conversion or the true practice of the Christian religion. Then in a chapter on “The Gospel in Action,” the multifarious organisations, especially of the Church of Scotland, are dealt with, such as “The Open Door,” “Christian Commandoes,” “Film Society,” and “Iona Community,” etc. A criticism of the Iona Community, made by Rev. William Grant, in the Free Presbyterian Church Synod, in May, 1948, is given correctly, although apparently not acceptable to Dr. Highet. In his chapter, “The Mind of the Church,” the author writes on a wide range of subjects wherein the convictions of all the denominations in Scotland are expressed on such as Sabbath Observance, Betting, Temperance, Sales of Work, Raffling, etc. The last chapter on “The Situation in 1949-50,” gives a very brief summary of up-to-date information upon matters already dealt with. The Glasgow “Christian Commandoes” Campaign during 1950 is said to have been supported by the Church of Scotland, the Episcopal Church, the Free Church, the United Free Church, and several other denominations. “The aim of the enterprise is not only to ‘take the Gospel to the churchless but to revitalise the life of the individual congregation’.” We remark in passing that Dr. Highet finds no place here or indeed throughout his book, for any reference in a particular way to the Holy Spirit, His office and work in the Church of Christ in the world. The Churches in Scotland to-day, after all that may possibly be recorded regarding them, need a day of power, the power exercised by God, the Holy Ghost. Spiritual death reigns in Scotland to-day; and Pentecost came not only by the preaching of what was the pure Gospel of Christ, but also by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in abundant measure, according to the promise of the Father.
From Darkness to Light, by Miss Norah E. Hersee. Price, 3d. per copy, post 1d.; 12 for 3/-, post free; 50 for 10/6. To be obtained from the authoress, 15 St. George’s Road, Worthing.
This is a little pamphlet of eight pages, telling in simple words and in a concise manner, without any effort to enlarge, the narrative of the authoress’s abandonment of the Protestant religion, her entry into a convent in 1932, experiences as a nun, removal from the convent on account of ill-health, and her ultimate conversion to the Lord Jesus Christ. Her father was a Church of England clergyman, and in her home the Word of God was read. But Miss Hersee came under the influence of the Anglo-Catholic faith and later joined the Church of Rome. This was a great grief to her parents. She entered a convent, and after the white veil of the novice was placed on her head, prior to other ceremonies and mass, she tells what followed:—”The following morning I was sent for by the Mistress of Novices. After kneeling by her side, I was handed a whip and a bracelet which she informed me I wore on my left arm above the elbow. I found this was a very painful procedure as there were small spikes all along the inside of the bracelet . . . And the whip, I was to use at the times stated by her, beating myself an ordered number of times.” The narrative ultimately tells of her being persuaded to hear a sermon by a pastor in Worthing. She writes:—”In His infinite mercy, He showed me I was a sinner in His sight, and as I saw Christ as my only Saviour, I came to His feet in sorrow and contrition.” One drawback in the pamphlet is, that Miss Hersee gives no dates in her most revealing and interesting story. We wrote to her about this and she replied saying, “I entered the convent in 1932, leaving after 2½ years; that would be about the middle of 1935. Had I once received my black veil, I could not have left.” She asks in her letter that she be prayed for, “That God, if it is His will, will strengthen me physically as my health is not too good, due in the main to all I went through in the convent.” We are strongly under the impression that Miss Hersee could have written a great deal more than she has done, worth reading, as to her being brought “from darkness to light.”