“Let us start talking . . .”
In the June issue of the “Free Church Record” the editor calls for discussions between the Free Church and Free Presbyterian Church with a view to union between the two Churches. The editor alleges that there are no biblical, theological or historical grounds on which the continued separation between the two Churches can be justified.
In the light of this one would expect the tone of the article to be at least conciliatory but this is far from being the case. Professor MacLeod, besides misrepresenting the position of the Free Presbyterian Church, makes statements so objectionable that if they were true the last thing he should be thinking about is union with such a self-deluded body. He attempts to prove that the Free Presbyterian Church has become an “innovating” Church and goes on to surmise that she has had to innovate in order to present to her people “a face that is as different as possible from the face of the Free Church.” This latter notion is so ludicrous as to require no refutation. If the editor really believes this he can believe anything. With regard to the “innovations” he enumerates, he will have to find stronger evidence than that so far produced in order to sustain the charge. If (1) requiring that those who desecrate the Sabbath or connive at its desecration in the use of public transport run in systematic disregard of the Lord’s Day should be dealt with as Sabbath-breakers, (2) recognising that those who repudiate the authority of the Supreme Court of the Church inevitably put themselves out of the Church, (3) accepting the Authorised Version as the most faithful version of the Scriptures in the English language, and having a high regard for the Textus Receptus as representative of the Majority Text — if these are ‘innovations’ then the sooner they are adopted by other Churches the better.
We repudiate the charge that we have departed from the original position of the Free Presbyterian Church. We stand today exactly where the godly fathers of our Church stood in 1893 when they faithfully and courageously separated themselves from the corrupt Declaratory Act Free Church. We have need more than ever of maintaining our distinctive position as declension sets in and the Sabbath and the other Commandments are trampled under-foot and all the doctrines of God’s Word assailed through an ecumenicalism that cares little for the Truth of God: We have a goodly heritage and one that we are not willing to part with and would urge our people to steadfast adherence to it and not to give any heed to the insinuation of those who manifestly declare themselves to be, not friends, but enemies of the Free Presbyterian Church. For our part we have no intention of accepting an invitation to a meeting on the plain of Ono.