with no sympathy or assistance at the hands of the United Free Church,
and her work was conducted at first under considerable hardships, nor
was her position one to appeal to the general popular sentiment of
Scotland. But the little church continued her course with indomitable
courage and without any compromise of principle. The Declaratory Act of
1892 was repealed after a consultation of presbyteries, and the old
principles as to worship were declared. A professor was obliged to
withdraw a book he had written, in which the results of criticism, with
regard to the Synoptic Gospels, had been accepted and applied. The
desire of the Church of Scotland to obtain relaxation of her formula was
declared to make union with her impossible. Along with this unbending
attitude, signs of material growth were not wanting. The revenue of the
church increased; the grant from the sustentation fund was in 1901 only
L75, but from 1903 onwards it was L167.
The decision of the House of Lords in 1904 did not bring the trials of
the Free Church to an end. In the absence of any arrangement with the
United Free Church, she could only gain possession of the property
declared to belong to her by an application in each particular case to
the Court of Session, and a series of law-suits began which were trying
to all parties. In the year 1905 the Free Church Assembly met in the
historic Free Church Assembly Hall, but it did not meet there again.
Having been left by the awards of the commission without any station in
the foreign mission field, the Free Church resolved to start a foreign
mission of her own. The urgent task confronting the church was that of
supplying ordinances to her congregations. The latter numbered 200 in
1907, and the church had as yet only 74 ordained ministers, so that many
of the manses allocated to her by the commissioners were not yet
occupied, and catechists and elders were called to conduct services
where possible. The gallant stand this little church had made for
principles which were no longer represented by any Presbyterian church
outside the establishment attracted to her much interest and many hopes
that she might be successful in her endeavours to do something for the
religious life of Scotland.
See SCOTLAND, CHURCH OF, for bibliography and statistics. (A. M.*)
FOOTNOTES:
[1] "It is her being free, not her being established, that
constitutes the real historical and hereditary identity of the
Reformed National Church of Scotland." See _Act and Declaration,
&c._, of Free Assembly, 1851.
[2] In the act _Anent the true and holy Kirk, and of those that are
declared not to be of the same_. This act was supplemented by that of
1579, _Anent the Jurisdiction of the Kirk_.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account