5. Public Worship. The worship of God is to be from the heart, and to be undertaken with reverence and godly fear. There ought to be a solemnity in the Divine presence, which excludes all frivolity and joking. The clothing worn should be formal – as befits such a solemn and holy occasion – rather than casual (except in cases of necessity, where God “will have mercy and not sacrifice”). Men should have their heads uncovered in public worship
1Taken, with editing, from Expository Thoughts on John, vol 3. Here are his final comments on John 20:11-18.
1This is the final section of a document approved in 2019: “Synod Statement of Differences Between the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland and the Other Presbyterian Churches in Scotland, Brought Up to Date (2019)”. The previous section contained the first part of the material on differences in practice.
(1 Cor 11), and women should have their heads covered. Women should not occupy prominent roles such as addressing the assembly or leading in public prayer (1 Cor 14:34-35).
The Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland, in contrast with most other Scottish Churches, upholds the Regulative Principle of worship; that is, that only what God has appointed in His Word should have a place in divine worship. Thus, she confines herself to the singing of psalms in praise and rejects the use of musical instruments as pertaining to the Old Testament worship. She regards it as a glaring inconsistency for ministers of Churches which profess the Regulative Principle to conduct public worship in circumstances where the Regulative Principle is disregarded and hymns and musical instruments are used. In pursuit of the covenanted uniformity of religion, the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland continues the exclusive use of the 1650 metrical psalms, a faithful and accurate translation which was adopted by the 1650 General Assembly in pursuit of uniformity.
The Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland maintains the biblical practice of standing for public prayer; and she continues to employ the singular pronouns “thee” and “thou” in addressing the Most High in English prayer, a usage which dates back to the Reformation. The practice of using “you” in prayer – introduced in the twentieth century through the influence of modern Bible versions – has not benefited the Church but has brought irreverence, division, increasing conformity to the world, and loss of contact with the religious heritage of the past.
6. Church festivals. The Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland rejects the practice, re-introduced by ritualists in the Church of Scotland in the nineteenth century, and now spread throughout most of the Scottish Churches, of observing Christmas and Easter. She regards the observance of these days as a step back towards Romanism. At the time of the Reformation in Scotland all these festivals were cast out of the Church as things unscriptural and unprofitable.
7. Family worship. Family worship is a duty laid upon all heads of families who are communicant members or are seeking baptism in the Free Presbyterian Church. It is a duty that is firmly based in Scripture. For example, Abraham was commended by the Lord for commanding his household in “the way of the Lord” (Gen 18:19).
8. The burial of the dead. In 1560, the Scottish Reformers reintroduced the simplicity found in the New Testament in the burial of the dead, and the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland has sought to adhere to this. She therefore confines the devotions at funerals to family worship with a brief address at the grave. The Directory of Public Worship states that prayers at the grave have been “grossly abused, are no way beneficial to the dead, and have
proved many ways hurtful to the living”, and for this reason – as valid today as ever – the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland rejects them. Likewise, she rejects cremation as a heathen practice, unknown among the people of God in the Bible. While recognising the sacrifice of those who died in battle, and deeply sympathising with those who mourned them, the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland condemns “Remembrance Day” services as tending to idolatry and leaning in the direction of prayers for the dead.
9. Worldliness. The world is the enemy of Christ. Its spirit is as much opposed to Him today as when He tabernacled among men, and if its hostility may not be so apparent, yet this is not because of its friendliness but the outcome of changed tactics on the part of the god of this world. The Church is Christ’s witness in the world, and it is her duty as the professing Bride of Christ to keep her garments unspotted from the world. In Scotland the Churches have opened the door, and the world has poured into the sanctuary, until in many cases it is difficult to distinguish the one from the other. That spurious “charity”, which condones evil and condemns those who speak against it, has been a powerful agent for defending and promoting worldliness in the Church. How different is such a Laodicean spirit from that charity extolled by the Apostle, which “rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth” (1 Cor 13:6).
One common way in which the world enters the Church is through various social meetings organised in connection with the Church. These meetings have many advocates, but when one remembers the cheap buffoonery often indulged in by professing ministers of Christ, the frivolous atmosphere, the copious floods of empty flattery, and the mixture of the songs of Sion with the songs of the world, the less said in their defence the better. Almost every ordination or induction of a minister in a congregation is accompanied with these excrescences of the flesh, bringing what ought to be a most solemn event in the life of a congregation into the deepest contempt. The history of these meetings in Scotland ought to be a warning to all who say that they are quite innocent and in keeping with the aims of the Church of Christ.
Another means of entry for the world is through sport: communicant members enthusing about professional sport, ministers casually mentioning sporting events in the pulpit, and children being entertained by sports clubs run by the Church. The professing Church of Christ was never intended to provide recreation for the young. The plea usually offered is that something must be done to keep hold of the young, but there are legitimate ways of caring for their interests which do not dangle before them a hook with such baits.
Among the innumerable other ways, direct or insidious, in which the world seeks to draw the Church and the people of God away from Christ are immodest clothing and alluring makeup; dances and ceilidhs; Mòds; raffles and
gambling; public houses and nightclubs; popular music; acting and theatre; atheistical and immoral novels; pornography; and fictional films whether at the cinema, on television, or on the internet.
10. Distinction between the sexes. The Word of God requires a distinction in dress between the sexes. The practice of men and women wearing clothes which obliterate this distinction is quite contrary to God’s Word and expressly declared to be an abomination to Him. “The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the Lord thy God” (Deut 22:5). In the same way, the Word of God clearly teaches that the hair of women should be long and the hair of men (and boys) short. Long and short are relatives. To argue from hence that the matter cannot be determined is to cast aspersions upon Divine wisdom. “Doth not even nature itself teach you that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him? But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering” (1 Cor 11:14,15). The Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland refuses privileges to those who blatantly and persistently blur the distinction between the sexes in matters of clothing and hair length.
11. Marriage and Divorce. The Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland has witnessed over many years against the departures from the biblical law of marriage – in particular the Deceased Wife’s Sister Marriage Act of 1907 – which have increasingly made their way into the civil law of the land. She rejects the idea of marriage as a “sacrament”, and believes that the innocent party in a case of adultery is entitled to seek a divorce, and after the divorce to remarry another, as if the guilty party were dead. She rejects the idea of “no-fault” divorces as subversive of the binding nature of marriage; and she utterly condemns the redefinition of marriage to allow sodomites – male and female – to “marry”. Of such unions, it cannot be said that they are “honourable” and “the bed undefiled” (Heb 13:4), but rather that such people “dishonour their own bodies between themselves” (Rom 1:24).
Conclusion. In summing up, the Free Presbyterian Church accepts the Bible as her infallible supreme standard; and the whole doctrine of The Confession of Faith, which we believe to be founded on the Bible, as her subordinate standard. Our desire is to hand down to our children and our children’s children this precious heritage which God has given to the Scottish Church. We make no claim to perfection; we are painfully conscious of many defects in ourselves and in our witnessing for the truth; yet we believe that the truths for which we are contending and which call us at present to maintain a separate existence are the truths of God’s Word, and therefore are to be upheld at all costs.