The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1882-07-26
The Scottish Churches.


had been carried on during the previous decade
between the Free, the United, and the Reformed
Presbyterian Churches had come to humiliat
ing, though happily to none of them, dshon-
orable close.
A combination of favorable circumstances.
and notably the growing prestige of the Kirk
herself, the manifest proof she had begun to
give of having not only outlived the disaster of
1843, but of having learned much during the
years of humiliation which followed, invited and
justified the Kirk assuming the office of peace
maker. By a judicious overture to the sister
churches to unite with her in an approach to
Parliament for such legislative action as might
remove existing causes of offence the Kirk would
have created asentiment Of union, which would
undoubtedly have borne good fruit.
The successive secessons from the Kirk had
been really in the interest of the Kirk herself :;
they had been forced on those that took part in
them, not by any hostility to the Establish
ment but out of an ardent, and as events proved
a iustifable desire to secure for the people of
Scotland the full benefits of the Establishment
Neither the Erskines in l743, nor Chalmers and
his compeers in 1S43 went out as enemies of the
Kirk, but as friends Of the Kirk they ceased to
share in her benefits not because they loved her
less but because they loved her. as they believed.
more than those whom they left behind them.
And the Kirk had reaped what her children had
thus sown. The sacrifices for principle which
GneSe nODle men maze nave DOrne 1rult Which
the Kirk to day enjoys No Scottish churchman
in 1873 would have dared to repeat the policy
which drove the Erskines out of the Kirk in
1743. No British stateman in 1873 would have
dared to repeat the policy which precipitated
the secession of 1S43. Just estimate of the
situation would have led the leaders of the Kirk
in 1873 to recognize the fact that so far as sac
rifces made in her behalf could give it every
Presbyterian church in Scotland with the ex-
ceptIon of the Cameronians, had living inter
est in the Kirk and vested right to be con-
suited In any measures undertaken to make the
Kirk a more effective, because free and spirit.
ually independent National Church.
Unhappily, neither the late DIR. Norman
Macleod, nor those who acted with him at this
eventful moment, had any real sympathy with
the principles of spiritual freedom and though
not unwilling to enter on the heritage, they had
small affection for the sturdy spirit which at
great price had brought it within their reach.
Lord Beaconsfeld used to boast of how he
dished" the Wings by the simple process of
appropriating and carrying, when in power,
the measures which he had successfully resisted
when in opposition he found, as he said, the
Wings bathing, and he stole their clothes. DR.
Macleod and his party did ,nt dHeHi 1t an nm
worthy thing to attempt similar game in 1878,
When tney o"l.ie1 resolution In the General
Assembly to approach the government with
proposal for the total abolition of Law Patron
aSO' lHSlI Suuu0u conversion 10 Jle views
this very vexed question, tor their assertion of
which the Seceders of 1S43 had sacrificed their
earthly all, had really no higher inspiration
than the blunt old Tory acknowledged. They
had set their heart on, and they thought the
time propitious for dishing" the Free Church
Thirty years experience Of Lord Aberdeen's
Act for the regulation of the patronage of parish
churches had not convinced the now dominant
party in the Kirk of any thing except the ex
treme practical inconvenience of Lay Patronage
Each recurring vacancy in parish church re.
called the humiliating fact, and in such form
as could not be explained away, that the mem
bers OF the Kirk were not free to choose their
OWL: pastor, and that if at any time they exer
clsed that privilege they did so by the grace of
the legal patron who bestowed or denied il at
his pleasure. If Patronage" could only be
abolished, and the status quo of the Revolution
settlement restored, so far at least as collation.
10 benehces was concerned, mighty step would
be taken towards the popularization of the
hlrk step which, by removing the most
patent symbol of her Erastian constitution.
would apparently reduce to the vanishing point
the difference between himself and the Free
Churches. and impose on them the ungracious
TASK OF either committing what the japanese are
SAID to call " the happy dispatch" or falling
back on an effete ecclesiastical controversy a.
the reason of their existence.
The strong 0nimus in favor of Disestablisb-
lehU' WhlOh ndS developed In Scotland since
1874, IS mainly due to the ungracious action
taken by the Kirk in connection with the Par.
llamentary Legislation of that year. The Free
Church had spent ten years OF fruitless work
negotiating for an Incorporating union, and
were content to prosecute their work for the
future on the old lines, hopefully anticipating
that at no distant day the much desired union
OF Presbyterlanism in Scotland might be
achieved on some better and broader basis than
seemed as yet possible They had purchased
their freedom at large price but they neither
regretted the sacrifice nor grudged the Kirk the
possession of her loaves and fishes" But il
was felt to be at once challenge and a blow
when after procuring for herself a Parliamen
tary recognition Of the very principles for which
they had contended and suffered, the Kirk
coolly turned round and invited the other
churches to reconsider their position, and accent
as a token Of her most gracious favor "a share
in that trust which the State had as she said
reposed in the Kirk alone" The United Pres
byterians were Voluntares TO the backbone
and their old blood was instantly "uB" at the
assumption that a reunion was only possible on
the basis Of an Establishment. The very exist
ence Of the Kirk aggrieved them as gross
political injustice. They desired union. but
they would neither enter into an alliance with
the State themselves nor would they allow
others to rtmain in such an alliance The Free
Church, properly so called, maintained theoret
ically the principle Of an Establishment. al.
though a strong party had sprung MP within
her to whom the ancient State relation had no
longer the peculiar attraction which it possessed
to their fathers but the Free Church resented
the assumption that the Kirk had any legal
right ae she certainly felt that fbn r. irL baJ 10