By Rev. John Colquhoun, Glendale, Skye
(Continued from page 181)
At the Disruption, the Church emerged in its purity, after a long and painful struggle, from State control in spiritual matters, carrying with it all that was dear to the religious people of Scotland, and one would expect that, in some measure, its struggles would be less frequent and less disquieting. This, however, was not to be the case. Her previous conflicts were with the civil power, and that power using its influence and usurped authority to foist upon the Church a form of government and worship which was contrary to the Word of God, and repugnant to the religious convictions of a people well-versed in that Word and deeply taught by the Holy Spirit. Now, however, the enemy of souls changed his tactics, and manifested himself from within the Church. As early as 1849 men who had borne the burden and heat of the day, during the Ten Years Conflict, found it necessary, in the Free Church Presbytery of Edinburgh, to transmit a motion to the Assembly on the subject of innovations in public worship. The burden of their complaint was that efforts were made to have the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper dispensed to the communicants in their pews instead of going to tables appointed for that purpose, as was customary since the Reformation; that the Sacraments were dispensed apart from the preaching of the Word, which had a Popish tendency that the efficacy of the Sacrament depended on its mere administration, and not on the blessing of God on the Word read and preached. This may be looked upon as among the first indications that the carved work was in danger, and that, consequently,
there was a great necessity to keep “to the law and to the testimony.”
This work of decay in the noble fabric of the Free Church, however, went on, for in 1863 we again find that doughty champion of purity of worship, Dr Begg of Newington, introducing an overture into the Edinburgh Presbytery of the Free Church for transmission to the General Assembly, on innovations in public worship, in the following terms: “That the General Assembly shall adopt some effectual plan to prevent the introduction into any of our congregations of unauthorised innovations in the public worship of God.” In speaking to the overture he pointed out that there were matters in respect of worship which were put by Divine authority beyond the reach of the Assembly itself and that, therefore, they could not change them, or sanction a change. This is in accordance with what he stated on another occasion in the General Assembly when the question was debated as to whether or not the Free Church would have intercourse with the Presbyterian Church in England, which was on the point of introducing instrumental music into the public worship; “I trust that, in any arrangements which may be made for our future intercourse with Churches, we shall take care, without pretending to dictate to them, to make it quite clear that, as a Church, we are as determined to maintain the great principle that God’s Word alone shall guide us in our worship, as we were determined at the time of the Disruption that God’s Word alone should guide us in the government and discipline of our Church. The principle is the same in both cases. You may say it is the will of congregations; you may say it is the will of Church courts; but I hold that, if you come down from the very high ground of being regulated in such matters only by God’s Word, and not by man’s will, not only as to government and discipline, but also in the matter of public worship, we descend from the ground on which we notoriously stand as the Free Church of Scotland.” — Memoirs of James Begg. D.D., II, p.258.
In 1871 the General Assembly sanctioned the use of a hymn book in public worship, which was substituted in 1881 by another which was held to be a better one. Thus in the face of strong opposition the inspired manual of praise was practically shelved, and hymns of human composition were given a preference which they have to the present day in the Church of Scotland except in remote congregations in the Highlands of Scotland, and in congregations throughout the land which have disowned the authority of that Church. A somewhat strange argument was used by the supporters of a hymnary, that, if its use was not sanctioned, there would be a demand for the introduction of instrumental
music, while the opponents of hymns maintained that hymns were the forerunners of organs, a prediction which was soon verified, for in 1882 the Assembly decided, in opposition to the findings of previous Assemblies, that there is nothing that they were aware of, in the law or constitution of the Church, which makes the use of instrumental music unlawful. Thus, as far as public worship was concerned, the carved work of the Reformation was broken down by the axes and hammers of the innovators.
This, however, was but an indication of what was going on, and of the determination of men who had sworn to uphold the Constitution of the Free Church, to deface its testimony, and wreck it so as to be unrecognisable. For long there had been efforts put forth in the direction of Union with the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland. The Erskines and their colleagues long after the Secession of 1733 held by the Establishment Principle but their followers gradually veered round to the Voluntary Principle, which principle was held tenaciously by the United Presbyterian Church. It was, no doubt, in order to bring the Free Church into line with Voluntaryism that Dr Rainy and his supporters began their Disestablishment Crusade, and thus make it possible for Union between the two denominations to be effected. Year after year, by increasing majorities in the Assembly, they seemed to be drawing nearer their goal. From the point of view of doctrine it was impossible for the two bodies to be united because of the Arminianism of the United Presbyterian Church and the Scriptural Calvinism set forth in the Subordinate Standards of the Free Church, and, no doubt, this weighed with the union-mongers in the Free Church. They realised that if Union took place those who remained outside the Union could claim the whole of the property of the Free Church. This consideration caused the Union negotiations to drop in 1871, for it was made clear in the opinion of counsel engaged by the anti-Unionists that “a majority of the Free Church, however large, may not lawfully alter the constitution of the Church in the face of a protesting minority of its members.” This, apparently, was the red light which showed to the Voluntaries of the Free Church their danger.
They had not, however, abandoned their plans for Union. The Word of God tells us that “the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.” A good deal of worldly wisdom manifested itself in ecclesiastical circles at this time, and the union-mongers could wait for a short time and their opponents would then be off this earthly scene. No sooner were the doughty champions of the constitution of the Free Church, such as Dr Begg and Dr Kennedy taken
to their Heavenly rest than the innovators, led by Dr Rainy and his henchmen, began to undermine the constitution by endeavouring to change the relationship of the Free Church to the Confession of Faith. They asserted that there were aspirants to the ministry who had “difficulties and scruples” about many of the statements in the Confession and that it was not right of the Church to be deprived of the talents and abilities of these men. One may make the observation that it must have been extraordinary talents and abilities which they possessed when the Church was asked to depart from her constitution, and thus dishonour God, in order to retain these aspirants to her ministry. The creed of the Church was considered too rigid, and yet it was based four-square upon the Word of God. However, they were determined not to take this into their consideration, and means had to be devised to relieve the tender consciences of these modern sons of Anak in whose sight others were as grasshoppers. The result was the passing of the Declaratory Act of 1892, an Act noted for its Arminianism, and so devoid of any literary merit as to show its framers to be men of very mediocre talents and abilities. Its adoption by the Church marked another instance of the havoc done to the carved work by the axes and hammers of men whose appreciation of the glorious truths of the gospel was conspicuous by its absence. Any one who wished, could now preach the most glaring heresies, sure of the protection of the courts of the Church, and thus the Church became instrumental in ruining a countless number of immortal souls. It was a time for the friends of Christ to be up and doing, and, if deeds speak louder than words, these friends were comparatively few. It was left to one man in the General Assembly of 1893, and that man perhaps the weakest among them, to protest and separate. The Rev. Donald Macfarlane, then of Raasay and afterwards of Dingwall, was but a feeble instrument who had learned, through the teaching of the Holy Spirit, to cease from man whose breath is in his nostrils, but was honoured, in his weakness and lack of influence, to be a witness for Christ, and the Lord upheld him in his stand. The carved work was again set up, in what afterwards became known as the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland, and, in the midst of opposition and scoffing it is still to be seen, not only in Scotland but also in foreign lands, proving the truth of what is written, “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.”
That this was coming was apparent to any one who had eyes to see the signs of the times. The notorious Robertson-Smith case, which took up the attention of the General Assembly from 1876 to 1881, by this time had become past history. This Professor, more bold than others of his
kind in the Free Church, gave utterance to views which reflected on the infallibility and inspiration of the Scriptures, and when brought before the Church courts, it became very evident that he had many friends. Principal Rainy, with that astuteness which was characteristic of him, did not support him openly but, no doubt, was favourable to him though that favour did not go to the extent which Robertson-Smith had, evidently, reason to expect, awakening in that unhappy man a bitterness which he expressed many years afterwards when he said to Dr P. Carnegie Simpson, the future biographer of Principal Rainy, at least ten years after the close of the case, “You are a young man — you are going into the Free Church — do not trust Rainy — he is a Jesuit.” Life of Principal Rainy. Vol. I. p.396.
That the Declaratory Act of 1892 was passed with a view to Union with the United Presbyterian Church is denied by none, but that it led to breaking up the Free Church into fragments is apparent to all. As was pointed out already, the Rev. Donald Macfarlane tabled his Protest and separated when all hope was gone of rescinding the obnoxious Act, and was followed by a considerable number who formed the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland. When the Union was effected in 1900 a minority remained out of it, declaring themselves to be the Free Church of Scotland, so that instead of two separate denominations in Scotland there were three, each claiming to be the Free Church of the Disruption. Two of these appealed to the civil courts over the property and Caesar in the House of Lords allocated the property to the minority, but Caesar in the Royal Commission divided the property between the two contending parties according to the numerical strength of each, while the party who were the real representatives of the Free Church of the Disruption, being more interested in what was of real and more lasting value than property, were left to depend upon the God whom they served, and He did not fail them. As God built houses for the mid-wives in Egypt who did His will, not obeying the command of the king, so He built churches and manses for the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland as these were needed, and preserved among them His own witness, and a conscience void of offence toward God. Numerically small as they are and conscious of many imperfections the carved work of the Church of God, in all its aspects, is still preserved among them as it was at the Reformation, notwithstanding all that a hostile world, outside the professing church and within the professing church, has done against them since 1893.
(To be continued).