The Assembly failed to take a stand against the use of public transport on the Lord’s day even although it was the travelling of pulpit supply preachers which was in question. A motion by Rev. Kenneth MacLeay would have banned the use of public transport on Sabbath by preachers on supply duty. He told the General Assembly that to take public transport on Sabbath would mean that you are involved in the sin of making men work on the Lord’s day. Rev. Kenneth MacKay, Govanhill, said that if Mr. MacLeay’s argument was taken to the full, it would mean that not only preachers but congregations would be banned from using public transport on Sabbath. He said his own congregation could not get to church without public transport. Prof. Cameron stated that three congregations in Fife would have to do without supply ministers if the Church had not been able to rely on ministers who were prepared to travel by public transport on Sabbath. By an overwhelming majority the Assembly rejected Mr. MacLeay’s faithful stand on the side of the Sabbath.
Closing Address.
In his closing address the Moderator warned that the majority of Scots were in danger of being swept into the Roman fold and said that Scotland needs another John Knox. He asked “Is our national culture incapable of throwing up a figure of the calibre of John Knox who shall sound the alarm and arrest the landslide?” and answered it by saying “It seems improbable unless God intervenes in a spectacular way.” Our comment is—If we are to wait for a product of our national culture we will wait long for a saviour. It is a little thing with the Lord to raise up a John Knox or many of them if that is His will. If, however, instead of looking for some leader-figure to be raised up, the converted ministers of the present day showed more faithfulness to the truth of God’s Word they might well be instrumental, under the Lord’s Hand, in stemming the tide of ungodliness and in raising a standard on the side of Christ.
We cannot refrain from mentioning how incongruous two items appeared which were printed side by side in the “Press and Journal”. One was entitled “Oh for a new Knox” and gave excerpts from the closing address mentioned above; the other was a report on the visit of the Lord High Commissioner, Lord Clydesmuir, to Inverness for an ecumenical lunch and stated that his guests were “the Rev. R. M. Gilmour, Kiltarlity, moderator of the Inverness Presbytery of the Church of Scotland; the Scottish Episcopal Bishop of Moray, Ross and Caithness, the Rt. Rev. George Sessford, the Rev. A. P. W. Fraser, of the Free Church, and Canon Alexander Sullivan of St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Chapel.” Perhaps after all we will have to amend our strictures and say: Oh, for a John Knox!