by Rev. John Colquhoun, Glendale, Skye
The Assembly of the Church of Scotland decided to ascertain the mind of the various Presbyteries within its bounds as to their attitude to the Westminster Confession of Faith, and last November the Glasgow Presbytery of that Church, which is the largest Presbytery of the Church of Scotland, decided by an overwhelming majority to do away with that document which has been the creed of the Presbyterian Church in this land and in other lands for over three hundred years. It is rather significant that they did not substitute any other document in its place, an omission which, if a majority of Presbyteries agree with this decision, renders that Church creedless.
Many attempts were made during the past eighty years to change the Church’s attitude to that historic subordinate standard, but the present attempt in the Glasgow Presbytery has gone further than any of its predecessors. The infamous Declaratory Act of 1892 in the Free Church changed the attitude of the subscribers to the Constitution so that the Confession of Faith was to be understood in a manner different from that in which it was formerly understood; but the present attack is the most glaring one that has ever been made on it. We have every right to ask why office-bearers in the Presbyterian Church should want to do away with a document which was compiled with such meticulous care, based four-square on the Bible, not having one statement out of harmony with that infallible rule, and has stood the test of friend and foe for over three hundred years. After having examined this clamour to do away with the Confession of Faith from every conceivable angle, the only rational conclusion that one can come to is that the objections are not to the Confession alone but to the Bible upon which it is based.
It does sound strange that there should appear such a desire to do away with the Confession of Faith on the part of such stout protagonists of ecumenism as the modern office-bearers of the Church of Scotland appear to be, when one considers that the Confession of Faith arose out of a desire to bring about harmony of belief and worship “in all the Churches of His Majesty’s dominions.” Two and a half years before the calling of the Westminster Assembly, a document, supposed to be the work of Alexander Henderson, was drawn up and laid before the English Lords of the Treaty of London, in which there is the explicit and emphatic statement that “It is to be wished that there were one Confession of Faith, one form of Catechism, one directory for all parts of the public worship of God . . . in all the Churches of His Majesty’s dominions.” This clearly shows that the first motion for a uniform Confession of Faith came from the Church of Scotland. After several years of laborious work the documents which form the subordinate standards of the Church of Scotland were produced. The Confession was approved by the General Assembly which met at Edinburgh on 27th August, 1647, by an Act of Assembly in which they say, “and the said Confession being, upon due examination thereof, found by the Assembly to be most agreeable to the Word of God, and in nothing contrary to the received doctrine, worship, discipline, and government of this Kirk. And lastly, it being so necessary, and so much longed for, that the said Confession be, with all possible diligence and expedition, approved and established in both kingdoms, as a principal part of the intended uniformity in religion, and as a special means for the more effectual suppressing of the many dangerous errors and heresies of these times; the General Assembly doth therefore, after mature deliberation, agree unto, and approve the said Confession, as to the truth of the matter; (judging it to be most orthodox and grounded upon the Word of God;) and also, as to the point of uniformity, agreeing for our part, that it be a common Confession of Faith for the three kingdoms.” These subordinate standards were ratified by the Scottish Parliament at Edinburgh on 7th February, 1649, and again on 7th June, 1690, in the reign of William and Mary.
We have seen how the Westminster Confession of Faith was accepted by the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland and ratified by the Scottish Parliament. This leads us to further difficulties which materially affected the Church of Scotland. These were in connection with the Union of England and Scotland which took place in 1707. This Union was to end the Scottish Parliament; Scotland was to be ruled by an English Parliament in which mitred bishops were to sit and vote. However, the Act of Security was passed in which the Acts confirming the Confession of Faith and the Presbyterian form of church government were ratified and established, “to continue without any alteration to the people of this land in all succeeding generations;” and it was further declared, that this Act of Security, “with the establishment therein contained, shall be held and observed in all time coming, as a fundamental and essential condition of any treaty of union to be concluded betwixt the two kingdoms, without any alteration thereof, or derogation thereto, in any sort forever.”
From this Act of Union, and the inclusion of the Act of Security in it, we can see that when the Church of Scotland casts overboard the Confession of Faith, she no longer represents the Church of the Reformation in Scotland. Her Confession and her Presbyterian Church Government are gone, and, therefore, her right to the property and funds of the Church of Scotland are gone, and can lawfully be claimed by such as can show a better right to them. An analogy to this may be seen in the Free Church House of Lords Case. The Constitution of the Free Church did not make any provision for a change, and, therefore, the prevailing party who made the change were declared to have no right or title to the funds or property. The Act of Security, which is embodied in the Act of Union, makes no provision for a change, but is “for all time coming,” and therefore those who cast out the Confession of Faith flout the Act of Security, and may be treated as having alienated from themselves the material benefits which accrued to them through being covered by that Act. It is probable that most of the Presbyteries of the Church of Scotland will act in the same way as the Presbyteries of Glasgow and Edinburgh and cease to look upon the Confession of Faith, even in the form in which they now accept it, modified by Declaratory Acts, as their subordinate standard. Thus they will not only cast away the Scriptural doctrine of the Confession, but they will cease to uphold the Presbyterian form of church government which our ancestors prized so much that they embodied it in the Act of Security which became part and parcel of the Treaty of Union of 1707. Should such a catastrophe take place, and a catastrophe it indeed would be, the way would be opened for union with, or rather absorption by, the Episcopal Church, and the ministers of the Church of Scotland would have to submit to the most humiliating farce ever recorded in the annals of history, that is, re-ordination by a bishop.
One of the duties of the people of the Church of Scotland under these circumstances is to refuse to follow the religious guides, who are indeed blind guides. If these want to go to Canterbury or Rome let them do so. The Church of Scotland is poor enough with them, and cannot be poorer without them. Perhaps it would be much richer without them. We judge by the voting in the various Presbyteries that there is a considerable number in the Church of Scotland who are not prepared to throw away the Confession of Faith; let these bond themselves together and set up the Church of Scotland on its original basis, purging it of all the excrescences of the flesh, with which it has been overloaded by those men who are seeking to do away with the Confession of Faith, and let them return to the simplicity of Scripture, as that is systematised in the Confession of Faith, in doctrine, worship, and practice. Let them go forth trusting in the Lord, and there is no doubt but that their way will prosper. The Church of Scotland prospered at the time of the Reformation when the vast majority were against it, as well as the power of those in authority. Its leaders came through fire and water, but the Lord took them to a wealthy place. He is the same God yet, without variableness or shadow of turning, and is able to help the few as well as the many, and no power can stand against Him. Let those people who are for the old paths adhere to the Bible as their Supreme Standard, and to the Westminster Documents as their subordinate standards. Let the Confession of Faith be the confession of their faith, not as it is understood in the Declaratory Act of the United Free Church and the Declaratory Act of 1892 of the Free Church, but as it was understood by those who framed the Act of Security which was embodied in the Act of Union of 1707, and we have no doubt but that they will succeed.