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tibrarp of Che Cheolocjical Seminary
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THE DIVINi; Ml/I, IN THE CHURCH
AN AFFIRMATION «»l
Zbc Doctrine of 1fool\> Baptism
\\ ITII CONTR1 BUI I' >NS RELA1 ING I o
TEhc Scottish Church
Ibcr 1bi0ton>, Morh, an& present IRcefc
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SCOTTISH CHURCH SOCIETY CONFERENCES
Seconfc Series
VOLUME II
JE o i n b u r g b
J. GARDNER II ITT, 37 GEORGE STREET
GLASGOW: JOHN SMITH & SON. 19 RENFIELD STREET
LONDON : ELLIOT STOCK, 62 PATERNOSTER ROW
1395
" Ask for the Old Paths, . . . and walk therein."
PA PEE 8
A \ ■ ! •
CONTi; I BUTORS.
voir ME II.
The Celtic Inheritance of the Scottish Church —
Rev. James Cooper, 1>.I>., Minister of Easl St paoi
Nicholas's, Aberdeen .... 1
Key. Duncan MacGregor, Minister of Inverallochy 22
Neglected Provisions and Remediable Defects in the Presbyterian Organisation, and its better Adaptation to Existing Needs —
Rev. Thomas Leishman, D.D., Minister of Linton .
Rev. Q. \Y. Sprott, D.D., Minister of North Berwick 59
The Revival of Churchmanship in Scotland —
J. H. Millar, Esq., Advocate, Edinburgh . . <;7
Rev. H. J. WOTHERSPOON, M.A., Minister of St
Oswald's, Edinburgh .... 77
Candidates for the Holy Ministry : their Training, their Position as Probationers, and how best to remove the disadvantages under which they labour —
Rev. Thomas Leishman, D.D., Minister of Linton . 90
Rev. M. P. Johnstone, B.D., Minister of Fraserburgh 96
Rev. H. J. WOTHERSPOON, M.A., Minister of Si
Oswald's, Edinburgh . . . . 106
The Development on right lines of Lay Work in the Church —
(o) That of Men- Rev. A. Wallace Williamson, M.A.. one of the
Ministers of St Cuthbert's, Edinburgh . . 11
(b) That of Women —
Rev. Henry M. Hamilton, D.D., Minister of the
First Charge, Hamilton .... 1 :_':'>
vi Contents.
The Duty of the Church ro Special Classes —
Introductory : The Developmenl of the General Home page
Mission Work of the ( ihurch and (-0 Emigrants
Rev. John Macleod, B.A., D.D., Minister of
( lovan, < Hasgow . . . .132
(/-) Seamen —
Rev. John Parker, Minister of St James's, Glasgow 1 43
(c) [nmates of Hospitals —
Patrick Cooper, Esq., M.A., Advocate in Aberdeen Lr>2
('/) Paupers —
Rev. II. J. Wotherspoon, M.A., Minister of St
Oswald's, Edinburgh . . . .157
(< ) Prisoners —
David Patrick, Esq., Honorary Sheriff-Substitute
at Hamilton ..... L66
The Attitude which the Church should assume towards the leading phases of modern Thought, and especially towards Modern Criticism of the Holy Scriptures —
Rev. Robert Flint, D.D., LL.D., Professor of Sys- tematic Theology in the University of Edinburgh 171 Rev. James Robertson, D.D., Professor of Hebrew and Oriental Languages in the University of Glasgow . . . . . .182
Rev. John H. Crawford, M.A., Minister of Abercorn 196
Church Music and Choirs—
H. H. Almond, M.A., LL.D., Loretto . . . 206
.1. M. Nisbet, Esq., Organist, East St Nicholas's,
Aberdeen ...... 213
Rev. W. 11. Macleod, B.D., Ministerof Buchanan . 220
Church Fabrics: their right Arrangement in relation to the various ordinances and Services of Worship, and with regard to
varying local circumstances
R. Rowand Anderson, Esq., LL.D., R.S A., Archi- tect, Edinburgh ..... 227 Rev. E. L.Thompson, D.D., Minister of the Second
( !harge, Hamilton .... 238
Rev. James Cooper, D.D., Minister of East St
Nicholas's, Aberdeen. .... 249
THE CELTIC INHERITANCE OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH.
Rev. James Cooper, D.D.
The claim of the Church of Scotland to be the national branch of the Church Catholic implies her acknowledgment and acceptance of the obligation to bring home the Gospel to every human being in the land. If we have a mission from God to Scotland, we have it to the whole country aDd to every section of the people.
But if there be a part of Scotland, or a race within its borders, to whom the Scottish Church owes a peculiar debt, it is to the Highlands and Islands, and to their population, which is still everywhere predominantly, and in many places entirely, Celtic.
In whatever aspect we contemplate the circumstances of the Highlanders, — their natural temperament, the halo of romance which gilds their past, or the changes coming over them at present, the services they have rendered alike to the British nation and the Scottish Church, or (alas !) the treatment they have too often and too long received from her who ought to have been their spiritual Mother, we feel that they have a claim, at once urgent and pathetic, for sympathy, consideration, help.
Was it Christ's chief boast that under Him "tJie poor have the Qottpel preached t<> them" (St Matt, xi. 5)? Then let the Church think of the poverty of these people, theii
II. A
2 The Celtic Inheritance of the Scottish Church.
isolation, their hardships, more particularly in "seasons such as these"! Think of their small infertile crofts, their wide, bleak moors, their stormy seas. Think how long they have "suffered in silence," the passion which burned in their hearts disdaining to utter an unmanly wail ; think of their unfailing and graceful courtesy. Remember the incorruptible Highland faith that shielded Prince Charles in his wanderings, and the prodigality with which the Highland regiments have shed their blood for us on many a victorious field. That perfervidum ingenium, too, and the patriotic fire of which we boast, owe not a little to the admixture of Celtic blood which flows even in Lowland veins ; while the name of Scot, which kindles it, is itself a memorial of the Celtic origin of our ancient Monarchy. Have they not merited, were it by these deeds and qualities alone, the utmost kindness and assistance which the Church of Scotland, both theirs and ours, can show to them ?
Yet the services which in camp or council the High- landers have rendered to the British nation are as nothing in comparison with those which they once conferred on the Churches alike of England and of Scotland. Without attempting to decide the vexed question whether it is to St Aidan and the clerics of Iona, or to the Roman mission which landed in Kent with St Augustine, that the greater part of England owes the Christian Faith, we can have no hesitation in affirming that the real cradle of the Church of Scotland was "that illustrious island " to the west of Mull. However deep may be our debt to St Ninian, to St Kentigern, to St Cuthbert, it is St Columba whom we must hail as the apostle of our country. He was the father of that monastic family which spread " the benefits of know- ledge and the blessings of religion " * over by far the greater portion of our land, and made it permanently Christian. Every one of our pioneer missionaries (except St Palladius) was Celtic. The Teutonic settlers, important as were the * Johnson, Tour in the Hebrides.
The Celtic Inheritance of the Scottish Church. 3 dements 1 1 m ■ y added to the national -lurk, did not bring
the Faith, but found it here and here received it.
I.
The story of how these benefits have been repaid is, to say the least of it, sufficiently humiliating.
Celtic Christianity was very probably effete when St Margaret began her reformation. Few royal person have deserved better than she did the honours of saintship. She was good, and she did incalculable good to Scotland. Yet it is not an altogether pleasing thing to read how the young English lady # lectured the most venerable of tin' Northern clergy ; and one would like to know, before homologating Turgot's epithet of " barbarous," t what the rites were in the Liturgy as then celebrated in Scotland which his royal mistress succeeded in obliterating. Moreover, the Queen's dislike to "any practice with which she was not familiar in her much-loved English Church " set an example which was but too easily copied and outdone. A speaking witness of the contemptuousness wherewith the new diocesan bishops too frequently regarded the work of their Celtic predecessors remains in the east gable of the Cathedral of St Andrews. Imbedded in the lower courses of that gable are the fragments of numerous Celtic ci which had adorned the churchyard of the early " Bishops of the Scots," but were broken up, under the Anglo-Norman Bishop Ernald (11G2), simply for building material !
But if there be something to regret in St Margaret's " Anglicising," § there can be nothing but praise and grati- tude for her personal piety, for her religious upbringing of her children, for her refining the manners of her Court, and for
* She was only forty-eight when she died in 1093, and these interviews with the Scottish clergy began soon after her marriage in 1070.
t His words are nescio quo ritu barbaro. Vita Sa .20.
t Bishop Dowden, The Celtic Church i,i Scotland, p. 284.
§ Cf. Joseph Robertson's masterly essay, Scottish Abbeys and < PP. 26, 27.
4 The Celtic Inheritance of the Scottish Church.
very much that she did both to civilise the Scottish nation and to purity and enrich the Scottish Church. How excel- lent was her zeal for the better observance of the Lord's Day, and for the suppression of those incestuous marriages — of a man with his step-mother, * or a woman with her deceased husband's brother — which, to the disgrace of Scottish Christianity, were then too common among our countrymen ! Admirable also were her arguments against tlic servile dread which prevented the people from receiving the Holy Eucharist ; nor is it much to the credit of our Scottish Church in later times that the perverted conscien- tiousness which she so vigorously combated still exercises too much sway over the Highland mind.
There was another noble feature in the Church policy introduced by St Margaret, and carried out so effectually by her sons, especially St David, the remembrance of which may well make the Reformed Church ashamed. I refer to their munificent liberality towards the Church. Of the thirteen dioceses of pre-Reformation Scotland, do fewer than nine were founded under the sons of St Margaret,*f" while at the same time the parochial system was gradually established throughout the entire kingdom. Dr Rankin estimates " the total number of churches in the thirteen dioceses," before the Reformation at "101<2 churches with 546 chapels " £ — in all, 1588. Compared with that, the present total in connection with the National Church, 1696 (including "196 non-parochial churches and 155 preaching and mission stations ") § is not much to boast of, especially when we bear in mind the enormous increase in the wealth and population of Scotland. Then, besides the parish churches and chapels, let us remember
* 1 Cor. v. 1.
t Moray and Dunkeld under Alexander I. Glasgow restored by David when Prince of Cumbria (1116) ; Aberdeen, Brechin, Ross, Caithness, Dunblane, and Galloway (restored), in the reign of David (1123-1154). Argyle was separated from Dunkeld in 1200.
X Th<- Church of Scotland, Past and Present, vol. ii. p. 398.
§ Year Book of the Church of Scotland, 1893.
The Celtic Inheritance of the Scottish ( hurch. 5
the cathedrals and ahbeya which the splendid munificei towards religion of the twelfth and thirteenth centui provided, and the collegiate churches whereby "the earnest Christians <>l the fifteenth century laboured to find from fresh gifts the means of endowing institutions bettei adapted than the then decadent monasfc ries to meel the
l\r>i\s of 1 li.it ago."
In nil tlicso various foundations the Highlands had their share. Indeed, the Eighlanda were better off then than they are now. The great increase of our pari has been in the Lowlands. In the Highlands, although in the present century many new churches and chapels bave been built, we have not yet reached the number of pn - Reformation days. Thus, whereas in the Synod of R there are now twenty-eight churches and chapels, there were in the pre-Reformation diocese thirty-eight parish churches and thirty chapels. The .Synod of Caithness has now thirty-four churches and chapels: of old the dio had twenty-five parish churches and sixty-seven chapels. There were actually more Houses of God in the Highlands in the reign of William the Lion (11 65-12 14) than there were in the reign of William IV. (1820-1837). Indeed, had it not been for that "Church Extension" which was one result of the lamentable secession of 1843, it is not easy to see how many parts of the Highlands could have been supplied with ordinances at all.t Moreover, we have nothing nowadays except these churches and chapels ; whereas in the old time the Highlands, considering their poverty and inaccessibility, had a fair proportion of ecclesiastical establishments of superior size and dignity. The Cathedral of Argyle, in the island of Lismore, was small ; but that of the Isles, at Iona, was sufficiently hand- some. The Cathedral of Caithness at Dornoch, and the Cathedral of Dunkeld were far larger and more statrlv
* The Church of Scotland, Vast ami Present, ii. p. 361. f It is but just to recognise also what the Scottish Episcopal Church, and the Roman Catholics, as well as the Five Church, have done in this respect.
6 The Celtic Inheritance of the Scottish. Church.
than any sanctuary that the Church of Scotland has reared since 1500 ; while the Cathedral of Ross at Fortrose was a work of the very finest quality of the loveliest period of Gothic architecture. There were also within the High- land line no fewer than fourteen monasteries — the Abbeys of Inchaffray (founded in 1200), and Fearn (1227), the Priories of Loch Tay (1122), Roseneath (1199), Saddel (1150), Dull, Scarinche in Lewis, Rowadil in Harris, Oronsay (about 1350), Ardchattan (1231), Beauly (1252), Inchmahome (1296), Inchkenneth and Strathfillan (1314); and the Collegiate Churches or Provostries of Methven (1439), Tulliebardine, (1446), Innerpeffray (1466), in the Highland portion of the Diocese of Dunblane ; Abernethy (1460), far up the Spey in the Diocese of Moray; St Duthus at Tain (1481), in the Diocese of Ross; and Kihnun (1481), in the Diocese of Argyle. At the present day the National Church provides absolutely nothing in the whole of the Highlands to take the place, in any way, of these establishments — no Divinity Hall, no Training College, no Higher Class School, no Clergy-house, no Students' " Settlement," scarcely a minister is provided with so much as an assistant.*
The tale which lies behind these figures is a lamentable one. Several of the Highland chiefs had voted for the Reformation in the "Parliament" of 1560; but the number of the Reformed ministers was small, and it was many years ere the remoter parishes could be supplied even with " catechists," "readers," or " exhorters." In 1581 it was reported to the General Assembly that " besyde the Diocie of Argill and the Isles of quhilke boundes never rentalls war yet gine up, f there is in Scotland about nyne hundred and twenty-four kirks. Of thir, syndrie are pendicles and small parochines, and many
* Some excellent work has been done under the General Assembly's Com- mittee on Life and Work for the fisher-folk who congregate in large numbers at certain seasons at several points in the Western Isles.
t See Dr Rankin's remarks on this, Church of Scotland, Past and Present, II. p. 425.
The Celtic Inheritance of the Scottish Church. 7
kirks demolischit. . . . Jt baa been thocht meil there! bo reduce thir nyne hundred and twenty-four kirks to \| (six hundred)" which are to " be devydit in fyftie Pri teries," three of which, or thereby were to make " ane diocie." * Even this was more than the Church <>!' that date was able fully to equip. The scarcity of mini was the opportunity of "the merciless devourers of the patrimonie of the Kirk;"-f- and the dilapidations and sacrilege which had gained a footing in the twenty ;. after loo'O went on till the reign of Charles I. The whole country suffered from that cause, but the Highlands suffered most. Take the following testimony from the most learned and moderate of our divines of that age, .John Forbes, the leader of the "Aberdeen Doctors." Writing, about 1628, on the Eighth Commandment and on Sacri- lege as a breach thereof, he refers to " the present condition of the Church of Scotland." } " Some men will tell you," he says, "that there remains abundance to the Church for all religious purposes. But this is monstrous impudence tempered with bitterest sarcasm ; after ye have robbed the Church, and devoured it like a dragon, and filled your belly with its delicates (Jeremiah li. 34), to speak of Its calamity and poverty as wealth and plenty, is a savage joke." . . . "What shall I say," he goes on, "of the Highlanders of Mar, Strathavon, Strathspey, Atholl, Bade- noch, Lochaber and other similar districts '. What of the Islanders of whom many only very seldom, and many hardly ever, hear anything whatever about Christ ; because among them there are almost no ministers of the gospel, or very unskilled and evil ones, or stationed at enormous distances from each other ? In other places there are parishes so large and populous that, for the purpose of instructing a third part of the population, two very strong and vigilant preachers would not be sufficient ;
* Booke of the Universal Kirk of Scotland, pp. 211 ag.
t Knox's Letter from his sick-bed to the General Assembly [1571).
X John Forbes, Theologies Moralis, Lib. viii. 3. 13.
8 The Celtic Inheritance of the Scottish Church.
yet as matters stand that province of a parish must be Left to ;i single minister. Elsewhere parishes, formerly
manageable, have now, to our shame be it said, at the bidding of men's avarice, been so united, now to this one, now to another, that the poor solitary pastor, however much he may attempt, can accomplish nothing."
In the next century, the Rev. Lachlan Shaw, the his- torian of Moray, who died at the age of ninety-one in 1777, informs us that " in the year 1G50 the country of Lochaber* was totally desolate, and no Protestant ministers had before that time been planted there. And when the number of ministers increased, very few of them understood the Erse language, and teachers were settled in the Highlands who were mere barbarians t to the people. Through want of schools, few had any literary education ; and they who had, would not dedicate themselves to the Ministry when the livings were so poor as not to afford bread." \ "I well remember," he adds, " when from Speymouth (through Strathspey, Badcnoch, and Lochaber) to Lorn, there was but one school — viz., at Ruthven in Badenoch, and it was much to find in a parish three persons that could read or write." §
" The Highlands and Islands of Scotland," says a much greater historian, Principal Robertson, preaching in 1750 before the Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge, " present to us a scene which we would little expect in a nation where true religion and polished manners have long flourished. There society still appears in a rude and imperfect form. Strangers to industry, averse from labour, inured to rapine, the fierce inhabitants scorned all the arts of peace, and stood ready for every bold and desperate action. Attached to their own customs, from ignorance and habit, they have hitherto continued a separate
* The Synod of Glenelg was erected by the General Assembly in Ml I. f 1 Cor. xiv. 11.
* " History of Moray," 2nd edition, p. '■'< 12. «; Ibid., ].. 344.
The Celtic Inheritance of the Scottish Church, g
people ; ;uid tlioiigb the religion established among then be the same which we enjoy, its progress hath been imperfeel ; and the fixed pastors were never able to surmounl the disadvantages of their situation, or the obstinacy of their people" Then, after mentioning the efforts of the Society whose claims be was engaged in advocating, Robertson goes on : "Happily they (the Society; do not labour alone in this aoble work. The reformation of the Highlands was never totally neglected by the legislature;* but, roused by
a recent danger,! it li.it 1 1 merited of late more particular attention. Suitable to this view, laws have been enacted with a most humane spirit, in order to retrieve this part of the kingdom from ignorance and barbarism, and to intro- duce the same regular government and independence which are the blessings of other Britisli subject-. From these salutary laws, the members of this Society expect great assistance in the prosecution of their design."! We may smile to find the treatment of the Highlands after Culloden by the government of George II. spoken of as " humane " ; we can scarcely fail to be indignant at men characterising the Highlanders as barbarous, who had done nothing to improve their condition; and we may blush at the frank avowal by the Church's leader that she leant so heavily on an arm of flesh ; but there can be no doubt that this was the period when the Church, under her restored Presbyterian constitution, began to make a real effort to discharge her duties toward that portion of the flock committed to her care. The magnanimity and wisdom of George III. in trusting in his army men who had fought for Prince Charles, contributed greatly to win for hi^ government the confidence of the Highland people. The culture which distinguished the Scottish clergy of his reign was revealed, by Johnson's celebrated Tour, shining
* The Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge was ei by letters patent by Queen Anne.
t The Jacobite Insurrection of 1745-6.
$ The sermon is printed in "The Scotch Preacher," Vol. I., Edin. 1S06, and it appears in some of the collected editions of Robertson's works.
io The Celtic Inheritance of the Scottish Church.
in not a few of the Hebridean ministers ; while, in regard to the earlier days of the present century, who could wish a more delightful picture of a mountain pastorate than that immortalised in Dr Norman MacLeod's Remvndscences of a
Highln ml I'm ■is/,. In 182G, forty-two new chapels were built in the Highlands and Islands. These regions pro- fited too by Dr Chalmers' zeal in the cause of Church extension. Alas ! that the people's warm reverence for him and for other leaders became in 1843 the strongest cord to draw so large a proportion of them away from the communion (though, happily, not yet from the principles) of their old spiritual Mother. Much (much at least as compared with our former remissness) has been done for the Highlands since 1843; and I think we may say with confidence of the whole Church, that we are awakening at last to their needs and claims. We do not deem them a burden, but a sacred charge ! The very small amount * contributed last year through the collection for the High- lands and Islands may seem to bespeak indifference ; but it may be questioned whether the case has ever been pro- perly put before our Lowland congregations. That in some of the church-building and in not a little of the church- embellishment, which have been accomplished in those parts, lower motives have commingled — the desire, for example, that the National Church should not be disgraced in the eyes of English tourists — must be confessed ; and that there have been cases where, through the same con- temptuousness of the Saxon immigrant for the Celtic population which we reprobated in the case of Bishop Ernald of St Andrews, parishes full of Gaelic-speaking non-communicants have had thrust on them, by a handful of Lowland resideuters who were communicants, ministers who, however able and however willing, are debarred by their ignorance of Gaelic from getting to the inmost hearts of the bulk of their parishioners. These things ought not so to be. Still, the heart of the Church beats warmly * It amounted only to £1707, 8s. 8d.
The C eltic Inheritance of the Scottish ( hurch. \ \
towards the Bighlands. We have tried t<> show our love; but there is still large scope for it- effective exerci
The fabrics of seme parish churches in the Highlands, and of very many of the chapels, are bare and mean in the extreme. They might at least be clean ; but they are
sometimes ill-kept and squalid ; BO much so that it can
scarcely be but " through tin: unseemliness of the place the ministration of th^ Word and Sacraments rails" with Borne at least " into contempt." The lack is general of suit- able utensils for Divine service— bells, books, robes, almsdishes, fonts, vessels, and seemly Tables for the Sacra- ment of the Lord's Supper.* To give these things is an exercise of piety which seldom fails to bind the donoi - heart with new affection to the church he has enriched : the want of them, besides involving oftentimes grotesque makeshifts, leads directly to slovenliness, irreverence, and unbelief.
Public worship, too, as celebrated in the Highlands requires attention. It has not been much affected by the movements which have so greatly altered our form of service in the Lowlands ; and where it has changed, it has copied, I fear, rather the bad features than the good ones.
The Highland parishes, again, are still far too extensive, and far too few. The clergy are too far apart ; in con- sequence, whereof, work that should be done cannot be done ; and the men themselves grow rusty, lacking stimulus to study, and that intellectual companionship whereby as iron sharpeneth iron, so o, man sharpeneth the com of It is friend, f
In these circumstances, the defects rather than the advantages of our Presbyterian form of Church govern- ment come into prominence. The need of " Superintendents "
* The First Book of Discipline, while craving for "the hasty repairing of all parish-kirks," declares that " this reparation should not be only in the walls and fabric, but also in all things needful within, for the people, and decencies of the place appointed for God's service" (sec. xix.)
+ Proverhs xxvii. 17.
i 2 The Celtic Inheritance of the Scottish Church,
is widely felt ; while on the other hand the work Buffers grievously from the abeyance among us of a true Diaconate. The Order of Deacons, jure Divi.no debitos, to use John Forbes' phrase, was dropped, says that writer, after the Reformation, because the wholesale sacrilege which followed left the Church without the means to support them.*
A still deeper evil must be mentioned — the grievous excesses, the no less grievous defects of the popular religion within the Northern section, at any rate, of the Highlands. We may not go so far as the eminent authority who is reported to have said that of all the corrupt forms of Christianity which Church History records there is none so unlike the Christianity of the New Testament as that which prevails in Ross and Inverness-shire. He spoke by hyperbole. But while we admit the fervent devotion, and the fine fidelity of these people to the great truth which their fathers taught them of " Christ's Headship over the nations " we must yet acknowledge with sorrow the self-righteousness which the system generates, the supersti- tious Sabbatarianism, the morbid dread of communicating, the proscription in some quarters of all music from the peoples' homes, and the unreasoning antipathy to anything that can be called an innovation. Nor, however we allow the provocation, can we rejoice in the secession from the Free Church which is at present taking place, or love the bitterness of that " spirit of the Disruption " into which the secessionists seem anew to be " baptised." f One wonders sometimes how those errors have been met from the pulpits of the Parish Churches. Have they been boldly confronted and rebuked ? Has the National Church stood up in the face of them to vindicate the Uberti/ wherewith Christ hath made us free ? % Or have her clergy been
* Theologia Moralis, Lib. viii. 3. 13.
t Dean Stanley used to tell the story of a Fire Church minister who publicly prayed soon after 1843 that his ilock might "be baptised into the spirit of the Disruption."
t Calat. v. 1.
The Celtic Inheritance of (he Scottish Church. 13
content sometimes to bend before the blast and offer t h.- people only a feebler version of the Bame perverted fan< Just beciin.se the Highlanders are so receptive and emotional, we owe to them the soundest ;ind most careful teaching
careful, I mean, not of our repute, but of the truth, Moreover, ;is has been already hinted, the DT(
moment is for the Highlands a crucial time. It i- nol merely that the allegiance of the people to the Free Church,
long strained, is breaking. Far beyond the circle whose waters are embittered by the new secession, a profound change is coining over the thoughts and aspirations of the people. In Ross-shire (and I have qo doubt elsewhere "the land" is becoming the engrossing question. The people are meeting and discussing agrarian and social topics; and I am told that they are already far more regular in their attendance at these gatherings than they are at church on Sundays. It is not a question now of this Church or of that : it is a question of their remaining Christian. They are in that stage which our Scottish proverb describ< " between the tyning and the winning." Well may their spiritual Mother redouble her prayers and labours for their confirmation in the gospel.
II.
But secondly, the same All-ruling Providence who gave these people in spiritual charge to the Scottish Church has given us along with them not a little of the wherewithal to win their affectionate hearts for Him and for His service. Our Celtic population has no need to sue in the form of a pauper. It brings with it a dower worth having, however much we may have overlooked or undervalued it. The Scottish Church, in short, has received along with her Celtic charge a Celtic Inheritance.
I may speak of it under three heads with reference to the three main wants which we have noted in the present condition of our Church in those districts.
14 The Celtic Inheritance of the Scottish Church.
First, to inspire and guide US in the providing of seemlier fabrics for the worship of the Church, we have an inherit- ance of ancient Highland architecture, scanty indeed, but sufficient to supply examples for the various buildings which are immediately demanded or likely in our day to be called for.
Second, to aid us in the no less needful, if less immedi- ately acceptable, task of improving the worship in those parts, and making it at once more frequent, more scriptural, more instructive, more awe-inspiring, and more touching, we possess a treasure as yet insufficiently explored of devotional material, our legacy not merely from the Celtic period of our own Church, but from the early days of her Irish parent and of her Welsh and Continental sisters.
Third, and best of all, in the character, the lives, and methods of St Columba and other great Celtic saints (now, through the labours of such scholars as the late Dr Reeves, much more perfectly understood than they were formerly) we have at once magnificent examples of personal holiness and self-denying zeal, and notable illustrations of the ways in which the most successful and enduring work for Christ may be achieved among a Celtic people, whether congregated in islands, or scattered anions mountains.
(1.) The Architectural remains which may help us in the Highlands, belong, it is true, rather to the Mediaeval than to the Celtic period. But there are some chapels of the earlier age, a few of which might possibly be re-roofed and used again, and many of which may supply hints to the modern builder. It is chapels, be it remembered, that we require, which shall be under the jurisdiction of the parish minister, and be served b}r him at intervals, and for the rest by ordained assistants or missionaries sent by him. Such chapels ought to be small, for a small congregation in a large church is both discouraged and discouraging ; and they should be chapels, not halls or school-rooms ; modest, yet bearing in every line and feature the impress of their sacred purpose, which is that man in them may meet
The Celtic Inheritance of (he Scottish Church. 1 5
with God and receive His grace through Word .nid Sacrament.
It is recorded in Adamnan's Life of St Golumba, thai before the writer's time, ;it least two crosses bad been erected in Iona, one <>n the spot where the sainl rested on his way from the barn to the monastery, on the last day of his life, the other " before the door of the kiln,'' where Ernan, the saint's uncle, suddenly died, Certainly, n'> form of memorial stone is more beautiful than thai which is now commonly known as the [ona Cross. Why should there not be set up, at the numerous spots in the \V< -t 0! Scotland and the Isles which arc consecrated by Baintly memories, in churchyards also, and by the wayside some monuments of that kind? There is no fear now oi super- stition connecting itself with them. They would simply be silent preachers — reminders to the lonely wayfarer of the Saviour's lonelier conflict on the Tree, of His all-victorious love, and of His call to us to be crucified with Him.
But the Mediaeval remains in the Highlands are also part of our inheritance. They too remind us of bygone piety, and most Christian liberality. They too supply examples which we should do Avell to imitate. Something in this way has been done already. The beautiful church at Connel Ferry, which successfully reproduces many features of the Cathedral of Iona, the chapel at Loch Awe, and the chapel at Grantully, cannot fail to be, by their very appear- ance, full of helpfulness both to ministers and people. I have heard favourable accounts of restored ]>i< -Reformation church at Killearnan, and of the good effect of it : while the new church at Crathie, which is rightly arranged, and is to be enriched by gifts from Her Majesty and many members of the Royal Family, ought to set a potent example in the same direction. The Highland Cathedrals of Dunkeld and Dornoch are practically under the control of two Highland dukes, whose piety and patriotism, if properly approached, might surely do something to make them once again houses of glory for the Highland Church.
* Vita St Columbcv, i. 35 ; iii. 24.
1 6 The Celtic Inheritance of the Scottish Church.
The Cathedral of Iona and the Priory Church of Beauly, though both have lain desolate for centuries, are capable of being raised up from their ruins ; and if this was done with careful and reverent hands, they might serve, the latter as a noble church for a village which is perhaps the most beautiful in Scotland, and the former as a place to which our ministers and people might do well on occasion to resort, seeking more than mere physical recuperation or mental pleasure. "That man," said Dr Johnson, "is little to be envied, whose piety would not grow warmer amid the ruins of Iona." If its ruins are thus helpful, what would its services be, when its ivaste places* had been rebuilt in love, and Divine worship once more offered in the beauty ofholineasi within its walls !
(2.) The Liturgical part of our Church's Celtic Inherit- ance will be spoken of, I trust, by the two ministers whose papers are to follow, and whose researches in this field are far more extensive and thorough than any I have been able to make. But I may refer to some of the treasures we possess. The Confession of St Patrick seems to be beyond doubt a genuine relic of that great son of Alban, who carried from our shores to Ireland the light which was in due course to stream back upon Iona. The Altvs of St Columba has been translated into euphonious English verse l>y the Rev. Anthony Mitchell for Bishop Dowden's C'lt'tc Church in Scotland, and might supply in a Gaelic version a whole series of hymns. The Antiphonary of Bangor, of which the whole text is now accessible in the magnificent edition published by the Henry Bradshaw Society, is described by its editor, the Rev. F. E. Warren, as a " priceless monument of ecclesiastical antiquity . . . one of the oldest service-books of western or indeed of universal Christendom." + Its date is between G80 and 091.§ It contains, in addition to six canticles,|| and
* Isaiah lviii. 12. t Psalm xcvi. 9.
J Th' AntipJionary of Bangor. Lonrl. 1893. Introd., p. xxvi. % Ibid., p. viii. Tlir two Bongs of Moses (Exod. xv. 1-18 and Deut. xxxii. 1-43), Bene- ra, Te Deum Laudamus, and Gloria in cxcclsis.
The Celtic Inheritance <>/ the Scottish ( hurch. \ 7
twelve, metrical hymns, including an alphabetical one in honour of St Patrick, who is styled " Magister Scotorum," no fewer than sixty-nine collects for the canonical bourn, seventeen collects on behalf of special persona or for use on
special occasions, seventy anthems ami versicles, besides
ji most interesting versi >f the Creed,* and the Lord's
Prayer. It is Irish; but the Churcb of the Irish St Columba may well count it as pari of her inheritance. The Stowe Missal is the mosl venerable of the [rish orders for the celebration of the Holy Eucharist: "some would place it as early as not very long after the death of St Columba."! Mr Warren, however, believes that its oldest part dates but from the ninth century. The same authority admits that the Litany of Dunkeld "may contain portions of a genuine Culdee document": Mr Adamson, who has made an excellent adaptation of it for modern use, which is said every Friday in his church at Broughty Ferry, contends that it belongs substantially to the eleventh century.* Of the one unquestioned liturgical relic of the Scottish Celtic Church, the office for the Communion of the Sick (with the reserved Sacrament) in the Book of !>■ r. 1 have veutured to make a translation for myself : § I have used it, with the addition only of a suitable Epistle and
* It is as follows : —
"Credo in deuni patrem omnipotentem invisibilem omnium creaturarum visibilium et invisibilium conditorem.
"Credo et in ihesum christum filium ejus unicum dominum nostrum deum omnipotentem conceptum de spiritu sancto Datum de maria virgine passum sub pontio pylato qui crucifixus et sepultua discendit ad inferos tertia die resurrexit a mortuis ascendit ad dexteram dei patris omnipoteutis ezinde ventnrns judicare vivos et mortuos.
" ('redo et in spiritum sanctum deum omnipotentem unam babentem sub- stantiam cum patre et filio Banctam esse a?cclesiam eatbolicam abremiaa peccatorum sanctorum commonionem carnis resurreetionem credo vitani post mortem et vitam seteruam.
" In gloria cbristi haec omnia credo in deum.''
f Liturgy and Ritual of the C< Itic Church, p. 199.
X Transactions of Aberdeen Ecciesiological Society, iv. 62. The Latin text will be found in Bishop Forties's Kalendars of Scottish Saints, pp. lvi. to lxv.
>; Transactions of the Aberdeen Ecciesiological Society, iv. p. 43. II. B
1 8 The Celtic Inheritance of the Scottish Church.
Gospel, on several occasions when giving the Blessed Sacra- ment to the sick on a Communion Sunday : nothing could be more appropriate, and I can testify how acceptable it was to the invalid communicants.
We believe that for the Church in the Highlands, as for the whole Church in Scotland, there is no need more press- ing than the revival of a much more frequent and careful celebration of the central act of Christian worship.* There air tew documents outside the Bible which those who seek this restoration might study with more advantage than these beautiful monuments of the liturgical practice of their fathers in the Faith ; and I believe that our Highland con- gregations in particular, the children of those fathers, would l>e delighted with the richness of the devotional material drawn from that venerable quarry. Some of the special features, indeed, of the ancient Celtic ritual have lived on in the Scottish Church through all changes ; I may instance the use, during the Communion, of the text in Canticles, Eat, 0 friends, drink, 0 drink abundantly, 0 beloved, f These words, so familiar to the older of us at the Communions of our youth, occur as the Communion Anthem in the Stowe Missal. They are cited by Bishop Dowden as evidence of the existence of Communion in both kinds in our Church in her Celtic period. J
(3.) Even in the last century an eloquent preacher § of our Church advised that the attention of the Highlanders should be directed to the early ages of their Church, because, as he remarks, " no people have a greater veneration for their ancestors." There are few peoples, we may add, whose first teachers in the Christian Faith shine with a brighter lustre than that which adorns the name of St Columba.
* At the last interview I had with tin- late revered President of this Society, Professor Milligan, on his death-hed, he said to me that he felt there was nothing our Church needed more than the restoration of the weekly Eucharist.
t Song of Solomon, v. 1.
X The Celtic Church in Scotland, p. 241.
§ I>r Patrick Cumruing, The Gospel preached to the l'o<n\ MM.
The Celtic Inheritance of (he Scottish Church. 19
Montalembert, if I remember rightly, places bim qi
St. Paul among the apostles of tin- West. We in the
Lowlands know how deeply interested our people have
been in what tlioy have lately heard of him ami hi- fellow- labourers through Church Defence Lectures and tin' like. The Highlanders of the Isles ami of the West, to their honour be it spoken, have never let St Columba'a Dame drop out of their remembrance. I am confident that the giving them more and more accurate information concerning him and the other great Celtic saints would be in a high degree acceptable and advantageous.
Ami besides the lives of these noble servants of Jesus Christ, the Church, and especially the Church in the High- lands, should study the methods they employed. It was not by priests drawn from the lowest of the peoplt ; it was not by ill-instructed agents ; it was not by preachers few, isolated, and discouraged ; it was not by men who led easy-going, luxurious lives; it was not by a system where authority was weakened by division among many, that they accomplished their splendid work. It was by a system tin- very reverse of this. St Columba himself was of royal blood ; so was St Ninian, so was St Kentigern. " We shall not be wrong in believing," is Bishop Dowden's com- ment,! "that, among a people so keenly alive to the claims of hereditary rank as the Celtic populations of Scotland and Ireland," this advantage added vastly to their influence alike as preachers, missionaries, and church rulers. Their monasteries, too, at Whithorn,* at Burrow, at Iona, v says Mr Green, " the Universities of the West." St Columba's preachers were sent out, like the seventy dis- ciples, hvo and hvo ; § they were settled in little colh _ where their light was concentrated, and whence it radiated through the surrounding gloom. Their life, though civilised, was yet ascetic. Their abbot, at Iona, was the absolute
* 1 Kings xii. 31. t The Celtic Church in Scotland, pp. S4, SO.
J See The Life of St Ninian, Historian* of Scotland.
$ St Luke x. 1.
20 The Celtic Inheritance of the Scottish Church.
head of a monastic family who were obedient to him as the clansmen to their chiefs.
We cannot, of course, in the Scotland of the nineteenth century, reproduce in every detail the arrangements, ecclesi- astical or other, of the sixth century. But neither are the circumstances altogether different. The people whom the Church in the Highlands must address are the same in blood and temperament. High lineage, courage, and the spirit of adventure powerfully affect them still. They love Leaders. Their country, too, though strangely altered, is still unsuitable, through its physical features, for an inelastic application of the parochial system unsupplemented by other agencies. Above all, the spiritual factors of success remain unchanged. The gospel must still be preached, as Vener- able Bede says it was preached by the Iona monks, " as much by example as by the word " ; # and visible self-denial is an essential element of that example.
Plainly we need agencies additional to that of the paro- chial clergy. Why should not the spiritual wants of their neighbours and their clansmen summon to our aid in the ministry (I do not mean only in the parochial pastorate, though there also), the gifted sons of our nobles and our chiefs ? Even if our Church system has defects, a son should not desert his mother because she is ill-clad !
It seems to me, moreover, that much effective work might be done in the Highlands now by such milder representa- tives of the methods of Iona as retreats for the clergy, mission weeks in the parishes, summer schools of theology for our divinity students at such centres as Dingwall, Fort- William, and Stornoway. The last-mentioned would afford those preparing for the Scottish ministry at once an oppor- tunity for reading, and to gain a sympathetic knowledge of the difficulties of Highland ministers and the needs of Highland parishes.
In conclusion, how are these things to be got, so that the
* His words are — " Genteinque illaiu (Pictoruni) vcrbo et exeniplo ad fidcin Christi con vertit."— Hist. Eccl., iii. 4.
The Celtic Inheritance of the Scottish Church. 2 i
Celtic Inheritance of the Scottish Church maybe turned by her to some practical account 1 Material resources are do doubt needed. Bu1 it is not material resources that are needed in the first place. The great missionary Baints had no material resources, except what their converts gave them. What is wanted is ;i revival of the spirit of true churchman- ship; it is the recognition by the Church of her heavenly calling as the Body of the exalted Jesus. It is a renewal unto repentance for onr "sins, negligences, and ignorao< It is shame and penitence before Almighty God for tin- divisions of onr Scottish Christianity. It is the healing of these divisions on Catholic lines. Christ has given to His members in Scotland gifts sufficient for all onr needs. but we limit and tie down their usefulness by onr grievous schisms. He has legislated for a Church united ; it is inevitable there should be hindrances when the Church attempts to work in neglect or defiance of His laws.
THE CELTIC INHERITANCE OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH.
Rev. Duncan MacGregor, Inverallochy.
"Nulle race ne prit le christianisme avec autant d'originalitc, et en s'assujettissant a la foi commune, ne conserva plus obstinement sa physio- nomie nationale." — RiLnan.
Toe first, or so-called " Celtic," # period in the history of the Church of Scotland, because it was the earliest and the longest, is necessarily, in many respects, the most interest- ing and important. To those who believe in the strict
* The application of the term "Celtic" to the Scots and Britons is purely modern, and is due to the theorisings of one school of antiquaries. The pro- gress of scientific investigation has dispelled the illusions of that school, but the misleading term has become imbedded in the popular language of school- books, newspapers, and magazines, and we are compelled to use it for the sake of intelligibility. This is unfortunate, as it is associated with ideas that are in part ludicrous, in part (so far as Scotland is concerned) politically and ecclesiastically mischievous, and in every respect destitute of foundation. There were never any people in Scotland called Celts by themselves or their neighbours, till the rise of the theory alluded to. The early Scottish Church was not Celtic in the historic sense of the word, had no .special connection with the Church of the Celts, and was never called Celtic till quite recent times. Racially, it was Scoto- Britannic, i.e., Goidelic and Cymric ; but this fact does not justify the habit of describing it by the name of a Gaulish or < (ennan nation.
We ought also to be very careful in using the term " Saxon " of any period of our history. Whatever theories are broached by antiquaries and philolo- gists without regard to historical documents of undoubted authenticity and antiquity cannot be allowed much weight, though in the absence of such documents they might have been provisionally accepted. The only part of 22
The Celtic Inheritance of the Scottish Church. 23
continuity of Scottish history, tho Btrong individuality, in all ages, of the Scottish character, and the homogeneity (in the main) of tho Scottish people, the life, the ideals, the constitution, the worship, the modes <>r action, the sue© and also the failures, and, above all, the dominanl principles of the National Scottish Church during the firsl seven hundred years, nearly one-half of her existence, musl ever be nol only a source of antiquarian delight, but also of practical and present-day instruction. That era was, in much more than a merely poetic souse, the age of the Baints — the golden morning of Scottish Christianity. It was the time when the nation, slowly evolving oul of its infancy, presented to its religious teachers a susceptibility of mind that it will never again possess, when in its thoughts and affections streams of tendency were started that will never cease to flow. Then the Church, in the best sense Catholic,* and in every sense National, was at once the
Scotland which can be called Saxon with any degree of historic accuracy is the district of ancient Lothian, winch belonged to England till a.h. 101*, when Cudbert Cudel was compelled to cede it to the Scots. In all our ancient literature the inhabitants of ancient Lothian are known as Saix-Brit, '>., Sazo-Britons, because they were a Cymric people, governed by the Saxons of Northumbria.
The "English" influences that inspired the changes effected under King David, &c, were strictly and exclusively Norman.
The adoption by the Scots of the composite tongue, or lingua franca, con- ventionally known as "English," proves nothing as to their race. Few races arc now pure, but in the sense in which any nation retains its original identity, the mass of the Scottish people, so far as historical evidence enables us to judge, is descended from the Scoto-Picts and Britons of ancienl times ; and the people of the Highlands arc not and never were a separate nationality, but are simply those Scots who have been the last to abandon our native language, customs, virtues, and failings.
* The ancient Seoto-Britannic communion, including (1) the Churches of Ireland, Wales, and Cornwall, which were finally absorbed by conquest into the Anglican, and (2) the Pictish and Britannic Churches of Albany, ulti- mately fused into the independent National Church of Scotland, was always purely Catholic, i.e., its theology, sentiments, and practices, were Catholic in the early meaning of the word. But it was not Catholic' in the secondary and later sense, which refers mainly to ecclesiastical attitude and organisa- tion. The Roman Catholics of the seventh century (for till that time they had made practically no appearance in these islands) always regarded the S
24 The Celtic Inheritance of the Scottish Church.
guide and the exponent of our forefathers' spiritual life. Supremely conscious of her own dignity, and clearly recog- nising. (Hi the one hand, her duty to Scotland, and, on the other, her peculiar position and mission among the churches and nations of the world ; deeply lamenting the progress of that long-continued Continental movement by which, in the
and Britons as non-Catholics, and railed them schismatics and heretics. The Scots and Britons, on the other hand, looked on the Roman party with aver- sion and contempt. For these statements there is abundant support in writings ill' tlir period. Laurence and Mellitus, leading representatives of the Papal party, in a letter preserved by Bede (Hist. Eng. II. 4), acknow- ledge that they are now assured of the inveterate hostility of the British Christians, and complain bitterly "that the Scots diner nut at all from the Britons in their habits ; for Bishop Dagan, when he came to us, not oidy would not take food with us, but would not even eat in the same lodging where we were eating." Bede, who wrote one hundred and twenty-seven years afterwards, laments the unchanged attitude of the Britons in his time towards the Anglo-Koman Church. The Britons held their foreign rivals in Buch abhorrence that " they refused to pray with us in the churches, or to seat themselves at the same table. More than this, what is left from our meals is thrown to dogs and swine, the dishes and bottles that we have used have to be rubbed with sand or purified by fire before they will condescend to use them" (Aldhelm's letter to Geruntius). See also Dinoth's reply to the assertions of Papal supremacy. Pope Vitalian calls the Scottish and British clergy tares, which must be "eradicated." Ep. to Oswy. Eddius speaks of the schismatics of Britain and Ireland. Vit. Wil. cap. 5. The Penitential of Theodore ( + 690) says that the clergy of the Scots and Britons are not ( atliolics, that they are not in communion with the Church (adunati ecclesiae non sunt), that churches consecrated by them are not to be used by Catholics till they be ceremonially purified, that the eucharist is not to be given them till they repent and become Catholics, and that the baptism conferred by them is of doubtful validity (II. 9). When the King of Northumbria, at the Synod of Whitby, decided in favour of the Roman party, Colman, the Head of the Scottish Mission, "seeing that his doctrine was rejected and his sect despised," resigned his high position at the Northumbrian Court, and with all the Scots adhering to him, returned to his native country (see the whole of the narrative in Bede). His "sect" was the Scoto-Britannic Communion, and particularly the Church of Scotland, and his "doctrine" was that that Church was not bound to observe the decrees of the Pope, but as an auto- cephalous branch (if the Catholic Church was entitled to follow the decrees and customs of her own seniores. The questions at issue were merely par- ticulars of this general principle.
Bede notices of a King of Northumbria who had been educated at Iona, that "although ht had been brought up by flu Scots, nevertheless hi' understood t/i"t the Holy Roman /■■<//<<■ Catholic Church." These ([notations will suffice to indicate in what sense our forefathers of that period were Catholics.
The Celtic Inheritance of the Scottish ( hurck. 2 s words of Si Columba, " ;ill the glorious ordwu 1 of truth were
being changed ; * and still pref i rin- li«-r proper custom
being, to use her own oft- repealed expression, " secundum morem et ritum e1 normam ecclesiae primitivae,"1 she pre- sented as yel a united and determinedly hostile front, as to sin and unbelief wherever found, so also and more especially to the insidious influences and arroganl pretensions of foreign ecclesiasticism.
Since it is chiefly from the past thai wisdom for the future can be acquired, and since the highest honour of the Church of Scotland is to be thoroughly Scottish, one of the supreme duties of a modern Scottish ecclesiastic 18 to study with the utmost attention the Church of our country, as it was when least affected by extraneous forces. Changes of various kinds are in a living church inevitable, and when modern methods become ineffective, we might do worse than look for hints of possible improvement to everything that was noblest and purest in our own early Church. With all deference to those who admire the many excel- lencies of other communions, I hold that we ought in the first place to be true to ourselves, to our country, and to our own richly suggestive part. We, the ministers of the Church of Scotland, ought to consider by what means our ancient predecessors so powerfully affected the minds and hearts of the ancestors of our people that Scottish piety became almost proverbial, even in distant lands. Whatever of holy example, and true doctrine, and successful method, the early Church of Scotland has bequeathed to posterity, is, in one sense, the property of all Christendom ; but primarily, and naturally, and chiefly, it is the rightful inheritance of her own children. We ought to claim our inheritance ; to think, and speak, and act, as if it belonged to us ; for so it does. It belongs to all Christians ; but to the Scot first. We ought to recognise our own personal identity.
* Antiphon to the Altus: Quis potest Deo placei
f Breviary of Aberdeen, July 1 and (>, f. xv., xxv., lect. •"> et 6. Jocelyn' Life of Kentigern, chap, xx., kc.
26 The Celtic Inheritance of the Scottish Church.
and to rise to the responsibilities involved in our hereditary position. The pastor of a congregation first presided over l>y (say) St Col man * is in positive fact St Colman's co a eh or successor. Enemies may argue that for some reason he is not qualified for the post, but in point of fact he occupies it. To put the matter more generally, the modern Kirk of Scotland, whatever be her faults and deficiencies, is by historic descent, by national position, by actual office, the very same church that was founded by St Ninian, and built up by Saints Buidc, Kentigern, Columba, Barchan, Calmonel, Marnock, kc, in precisely the sense in which the present Church of Armenia (a "heretical and schismatic" but intensely national communion) is the Church established in that country by St Gregory the Illuminator, or as the national Church of Abyssinia is the ancient Ethiopic, or, to use a similitude, as the river Clyde at Glasgow is the same river Clyde that passes Lanark. We are only further down the stream.
The idea of reverting more and more (where to do so would be useful and feasible) to the ancient position and practices of the Church of Scotland herself, in preference to what is merely modern and foreign — a principle that some might be inclined to designate Scoticanism — is certainly a beautiful and exalted conception. To give it some concreteness, I propose to indicate the more im- portant elements, ideal and material, of the heritage bequeathed to us by our earliest predecessors — elements which, so far as they still survive, we ought to maintain and strengthen, and which, so far as they have been lost, we ought, in their essence, gradually to restore.
I. A comjrfete and exclusice subjection to the Sacred Scrip- tures. — What did our fathers bequeath to us ? First and foremost, the Bible as the sole fountain of all Divine Truth. They contemned the fallen and darkened mind
* Instanced because the Conference opened on St Colman's Day, 18th February.
The Celtic Inheritance of the Scottish Church. 27
of man as a discoverer of the mind of God. They drew the whole of their religious beliefs and their preaching out of the Scriptures.* They refused to bind themselves to any practice, no matter who sought to impose it, if it is not pronounced obligatory in the Word of God, i Night and day they exercised themselves in the study of the sacred page.} They were essentially and con- spicuously and peculiarly a Bible - loving community. The Mic Cle'irich (sons of the clergy — i.e., the Theological students), during their long and severe curriculum, were •constantly and mainly drilled in this study. § The Fir
* It is impossible to examine the remains of the Early Scottish Church ■without being stunk by the intense faith, love, reverence, and submission everywhere exhibited towards the Bible. Quotations cannol show how the mind of the ('lunch bad penetrated into the deeps of th<' Scriptures, and con- templated the truths there revealed, till it gleamed and flamed with the light ami tire of ( loll. "The Word of God is bright," said St Patrick, "and His speech like a powerfully glowing brand." (Jocel. Vit. S. Pat. Li
I St Columbanus, a pupil of the Si Comgall, who, like his friend St Columba, was one of the Apostles of Scotland, in answer to the constant assertions of his persecutors in Gaul, that all are bound to obey the Catholic canons, replies, " We, dwelling in the uttermost parts of the earth, receive nothing but what is taughl in the evangelical and apostolical writings. are our canons, our sword, our spear, and our shield, &e."
£ Aelr. Vit. s. Nin. " Whithersoever he went forth, he raised his soul to heavenly things either by prayer or by contemplation. But as often as, turning aside from his journey, he indulged in rest either for himself or for the beast on which he rode, bringing out a book which he carried with him for the very purpose he delighted in reading or singing something, for he felt, with the prophet, 'How sweet are thy words unto my throat, yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth.'"
St ( iolumba regularly all his life spent hours every morning in studyii B Tsalter ; he also set apart a considerable portion of every day for the reading of the Scriptures. Quint. Vit. Col. ii. 37.
St Bride made her chaplain (sagart meis) read and expound a Scripture to herself and her maidens before they began their meals. Brigid.) Cn one occasion the lesson read thus at tabic was Matt. v. 1-12. — Ibid.
In quoting from Scripture the formula was often used. " As the Holy Ghost saith." See Sermons, &c,
£ In almost all the lives of our saints it is stated that when these men were at school, and afterwards under higher masters, they acquired great proficiency in the Scriptures. They were taught Latin. Greek (though at that time Greek was neglected on the Continent), the •"divine science of Arithmetic" (then more difficult than to us who have the Arabic nunc
28 The Celtic Inheritance of (he Scottish Church.
Graid (men of grades, ordained men), devoted all their energies daily, in the first place, to the reading- of the Word, and only then to the preaching of what they found there. * The heaven-taught St Fursey declared that if the docton s ecclesice would but study the Scriptures they would preach with more effect than would one who had risen from the dead.f Any one reading the extant writings of Gildas Albanicus, Patrick, Columchille, &c, will readily perceive that their minds were simply saturated with Scrip- tural ideas and phraseology. At Iona, doctrines were proved, " jyrolatis sacrae scripturae te8tirnonijs"l All the ancient Biographies of the Fathers § of the Church of Scotland,
Music, Versification. Caligraphy, Drawing. Astronomy, History, Genealogy, Law, Medicine, and Manual Arts, and other branches of education, as is often narrated in their lives ; but the chief study was always the Scripture, especially the Gospels and the Psalter. Every student had to learn all the Psalms by heart, and for this purpose they were written in daily portions on a waxed tablet. The pension quotidianum of other parts of the Bible was usually three sections. Many pleasant and instructive incidents are recorded of the saints in their boyhood — e.g., Ciaran's resolution when he came to Matt. vii. 12 when reading among other boys on the " Xorth Green :' ; How St Ernan was cured of his idleness by a lew encouraging words from Colnmba ; How St Baithen was delivered from his despair of ever learning anything, &C. — See Livt s, &c.
St Boswell at Melrose, during the week before his death, caused his pupils to read the seven quaternions on which his copy of St John's Gospel was written, one quaternion a day, and he expounded as they read.— Fit. St. Cuthb.
* A Culdee priest was required to occupy all his time (not occupied with pastoral duty) in the reading of psalms, &c. — Prose Rub' of the Culdees.
The general idea was to avoid believing and preaching a Gospel invented by oneself, but to preach, as accurately as possible, what Christ and his accredited messengers teach in the Xew Testament.
+ " Against the teachers of the church the Lord is angry, when, neglecting the Divine books, they attend to the cares of this world with all affection. For if the neglectors understood the science of the prophets, not even he who has arisen from the dead could awaken the hearers to greater fear and com- punction. But there is no one to hinder or to stimulate. For a king and a priest, according as it is written, whatever seems right to himself, that does he. But the cause and root of all evils is pride," &c. — Vit. Furs. lib. I.
£ According to Adamnan. Of Adamnan himself Bede says that "he was a good and wise man and remarkably learned in the knowledge of the Scrip- tures.*'—H. E., V. 15.
§ An individual of this class was called Athair Baitsi, Father of Baptism.
The Celtic Inheritance of the Scottish Church. 29
whether written by Scottish and Irish or by foreign authors are careful to describe in very Btrong language how might) these Saints were in the Scriptures. Bede, who was an ardent partisan of a rival communion, though be repre- hends the missionaries from Scotland for rejecting the canons of the Catholic Church and despising the deer* the l'<>|»\ yet candidly confesses their high character and repeatedly describes their extraordinary devotion to the Scriptures, more than hinting, in a patronising way, thai
their exclusive submission to Biblical authority was due to
their rusticity and provincialism. < )ur Fathers called the Bible the "Pandects,"* a term applied by others to tie- laws of Justinian; and the "Canons/'t a word used else- where in a widely different sense. The title, "Vicar of Christ," so familiar with another meaning, was given only to the Book of the Gospels. Christ speaking in the Gospels was the Infallible Head of the Scottish Church. Moline, the " Perfect," reckoned one of the great prophets of the Scots,! is stated in an old MS. to have >,» used the title.§
* Pannechte, old Gaelic for the scriptures of both testaments. In a MS. of Angus the Culdee's Fed ire (Cod. Rawl.), there is a poem on the scriptures under the name of the Pandects. (The word continued to be so applied in North- umbria for some time after the Scots missionaries had withdrawn.)
t " In Canone legitur " is one mode of introducing a Biblical quotation. Orduigther ican&in, it is commanded in scripture. Canon i-> also used to signify a text or verse of scripture. Thus in the notes to the Altus, tip " Argument" of the first capitulum La stated to be the Canon in Daniel or in Isaiah, "The Ancient of days shall sit on his throne."
X " The four prophets of the pure Sets,
The country whence they came (Ireland) was the bitter of it (their
departure) : Columchille, Moling the Perfect, Brendan of Birr and Berchan." — Ancient MS.
§ "Once as he was praying in his church, he saw a youth [delaeh] coming to him into the building (issintech), purple raiment upon i. round
him) and a dignified appearance. ' Well done {matih sin), O cleric,' said he. 4 Amen,' said Moling. ' Why do you not bless me ? ' says the youth. ' Who are you?' says Moling. 'I am Christ the Son of God/ said he. 'That cannot be,' said Moling ; ' when Christ conies to commune with the Culdi i -, it is not in purple and splendour that he comes, but it is in the shapes of the wretched — i.e., the sick and the lepers, that Christ is.' ' Do you not have faith in me?' said the youth ; 'who do you think I am ' ' 'I think,' said
30 The Celtic Inheritance of the Scottish Church.
Again, in other churches, controversies were usually closed with a ([notation from a papal decree, or the like, and the dictum, Boma locuta est. The Scots and Britons closed their controversies with a quotation from scripture, and they sometimes added to it, Deus locutus est. Thus St Patrick, when arguing apparently against some who thought that he too easily pronounced his converts "saved," points out that " these are not my words, but those of Christ and his apostles, who were inerrable, which I here exhibit in Latin:* 'He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, he that believeth not shall be condemned ' (condemnabitur). God hatJt spoken." t In his opinion that quotation settled the point. And it is to us a valuable fact that a Scoto-Britannic writer of the fifth century quotes as from what was universally recognised to be canonical scripture, a verse from a passage, of which the authenticity has been on strong grounds often keenly questioned.
The sole member of that cycle of saints who appears to have ever doubted the plenary inspiration of scripture was St Mochta, known in our topology as Muchty. When the book of Genesis was read to him, the statements as to the longevity of the antediluvians and the shorter but still very long life of the fathers " after the cataclysm," appeared to him incredible on the ground, that, in the nature of things, the human frame could not subsist for so prolonged a period. St Patrick, his Master and friend, was highly incensed at the remark. "For St Patrick said (used to say, dicebat)
Moling, ' that you are the Devil come to injure me.' ' Curse ou you for your unbelief,' said the youth. 'Well,' said Moling, raising the Gospel, ' here is your Vicar, the Gospel of Christ.' ' Don't raise it, 0 cleric,' said he ; ' perhaps I am the one you think. I am the Man of Tribulation,' &c. — Scholia, dr., in the Felirc of Angus. The people for whom this legend was purveyed must have been habituated to the application of the term Co'-arb of Christ to the Gospels.
* ' Ad Lat iiium c.i-jiusui.' Patrick's Latinity, as he states that he himself suspected, is often very bad. Gaelic or Cymric idioms appear frequently in all their nakedness. Gaelic speakers will smile on learning that for bene he
ttSeS nil hinlllnl.
t Patr. Ep. adv. Corot. s.f.
The Celtic Inheritance of the Scottish Church. 31
that the whole canonical scripture had been dictated and written by the finger of God. He asserted asB&rwit) also
that it was not more difficult lor tin- Maker <if .til tliin
prolong the life of a, man For a thousand years than t.. do
so tor u single (lay if he wished, lor, according to the testi- mony of the psalmist, a thousand years before his ey< - ar< as yesterday when it is past."-' — In later lilt; Bfochta accepted the dogma
The fundamental principle of " Scoticanism " — of oui hereditary Scottish Christianity — is that the Scriptures are the only and a ll-sullieieiit source of spirit nal knowledge.
II. The ideal of an effective worker for God as < .<■< mpU- fted 1 a the character and labov/r of the early Scottish Saints.
— These men are acknowledged by ecclesiastical writers of far distant lands and of every age f to have possessed an exceptional and peculiar holiness. There are two kinds of saintship, produced by devotion to the Vila Actualis, or to the Vita Conh iiij>/<!/ir<t (Jtrtha /<dir). Very few are re- garded as having excelled both in the Practice' and in the Theorice*. This, however, is exactly what the Fathers of the Church of Scotland are said to have done. Their idio- syncrasy was the blending in equal proportions of both elements of saintliness ; and though their greatness may have been exaggerated by both their contemporaries and their later admirers, the fact remains thai such was of old the recognised type of a prominent Scottish Christian.
There is abundant evidence that these saiuts produced a deep and lasting impression on the people of Scotland. Even yet their names are "names to conjure with." No subject is of such quickening interest as some incident in the lives of Columba or Kentigern, of Marnoch or Wynning. Besides largely affecting our own surnames.} their names
* Jocel. Vit. Patr. 135.
f See e.g. Lections for their festivals compiled for use in Continental churches.
J K.ij. Malcolm (Tonsured one of Columba), MacLauren (.Son of the Servant of Odran), Gilmour (Servant of Marie), &c. The titles of ecclesiastical officials also abound, as MacNab, ftfacKellar, Gillespie, Storie, kc
32 The Celtic Inheritance of the Scottish Church.
are borne by a certain proportion of our parishes,* and are
traditionally connected with almost all our churches,-f- and
notwithstanding all that has come and gone are household © ©
words in the mouths of our peasantry. \
Nothing can be to us so fresh and stimulating as the study of the men who formed the Church in its most plastic period, especially if one has the capacity to discern and overlook the later accretions that disfigure them. And I venture to recommend strongly that the Church, or this Society, should disseminate at an easy price suitable popular narratives compiled from the numerous Yitae that have been published or are waiting publication.
The ideal of a Christian worker in Scotland can never rise higher than that of an early Scottish saint. A differ- ence was recognised between what was necessary for one's personal salvation and what was required to make one a successful labourer in the vineyard. The mere salvation of the soul was placed on a much lower footing, for in that sphere mere faith was sufficient, mere unbelief fatal. " The raging fury of fire," says Columba, " shall devour the adver- saries who refuse (nolentes) to believe that Christ came forth from God the Father" (Alt as). But to be an effec- tive servant of God in Scotland or anywhere else, required a certain spiritual condition. One must be lost to his own personality, his soul must be abiding in heaven, his body must be dead except as it is vitalised by the Indwelling- Spirit of God.§ The man must be nothing but an organ
* Although the principle adopted in naming our parishes has been ordinarily the territorial one, so that they generally bear descriptive Gaelic appellations, yet at least 100 are named after saints connected with early Scotland. Almost all the ruined and disused churches are also so named.
1 Almost every old parish church is dedicated to a "Celtic" saint as its founder. Cambuslang to Cadoc, Govan to Custantin, Holywood to Comgall, &c, &c.
+ £.g. in Proverbs, ''Like St Mungo's work, it was never done." "He that sups wi' you needs a lang spoon, as Conan said to the De'il." In dating family events : "The week before St Dustan's Fair," &c. In the Highlands days are still thus named — " Feil l>hrighde," St Bride's Festival (1 Feb.), &c., &c.
§ It woidd need a volume to expound their ideas as to how the events of
Tki Celtic Inheritance of the Scottish ( hurch.
o.>
of tin; Holy Ghost. Th.it tlii Btate of being could I)' how it could be, attained, was constantly taughl by men whose own lives wen ■ tin- astonishment and admiration of their nearest friends and their bitterest foi
III. The Literature of /I"- First Period. The extant works composed by the founders and builders of our Church, by the various groups of Baints to which the) belonged, by the turn who moulded their religious concep
lions, and by the men whose minds they more or less directly influenced, so far from being Blight and insignifi- cant, is simply immense, of very greal importance, and at Least in variety exceedingly rich. A large proportion ot this literature is preserved in Ireland, and vast masses of it have been published in the original and in English as tin- fruit of infinite pains and high genius on the part of Irish scholarship, and of the most honourable patriotism on the part of Irish wealth. Much of even Irish literature has a direct bearing on our own ecclesiastical history. Great quantities of similar literature are lying unheeded by us in the public and private libraries of France, Spain, and Ger- many. German scholars do not find it so uninteresting we evidently do.j In Edinburgh, in the Advocates' Library alone, with few so poor as do them reverence, are over sixty ancient MSS., many of them bundles of more or less valuable
Christ's life, death, &c, were to be reproduced in the body ami .soul of Hi> faithful servants. They must he "con-crucified," dea<l to the world, fee., by faith. Cold, rain, snow, distance, fatigue, &c, must have lost their power ; sin, pleasure, ease, comfort, must be things of nought. '* Be always 'naked' in imitation of Christ and I lis apostles" (Columba).
* Their mysterious times of seclusion, their constantly praying to an in- visible Being, their total lack of interest in mundane things, their habits of silence except to speak in God's name, struck the people with awe and even fear, and produced an ideal of a minister in the Scottish mind whirl. from having even yet evaporated.
t Consider the patient researches of Zeuss, Greith, Httbner, Keller, W schleben, Sehoell, &c. For a German to acquire an intimate and cultured acquaintance (out of scarcely decipherable MSS.) with classical Gaelic must be a herculean task compared to what it would be to many among • would begin with a full knowledge of the modern dialect. II. C
34 The Celtic Inheritanct of the Scottish Church.
works, partly in Latin, but chiefly in the Lingua Scotica.* Some of it relates to ecclesiastical matters, and all or nearly all of it was composed and transcribed by ecclesiastics. Why should we, who study everything that, is studied by others, neglect almost utterly the literary remains of our predeces- sors in office and their friends ? t
The uniform Latin expression for the Gaelic language.
f I subjoin a list of some of the literature to which I refer : —
A prayer attributed to St Mugint (Ninian). Lib. Hymn, edited by Todd.
Works of St Patrick — (1) Confessio, his autobiography ; (2) Epistola adv. Coroticum ; (3) His Canticum Scoticum, a Gaelic hymn ; (4) His Confession of Sins, recently found in a Galliean Psalter, and published in La Revue ' '■ Iticpb . Other works are attributed to him mistakenly.
"Works of St Columba — (1) Altus Prosator, the Great Creed-Hymn of the Scotican Church ; (2) In te Christe ; (3) Noli Pater ; (4) His travelling hymn, Gaelic, " I am alone upon the mountain," &c. The following are of doubtful authenticity — (1) His Rule for a Recluse ; (2) Regula Cujusdam ; (3) An address on the necessity of mortifying the flesh. Many apocryphal pieces hear his name.
Cummian of Iona — Vita Columbae.
Adamnan — (1) Vita Columbae ; (2) De Locis Sanctis ; (3) A hymn, in Stokes' Goidelica ; (4) The substance of his preaching (MS. apparently of tenth century) in a sermon on Ps. cxlvii. 5, 6.
The lives of Scottish saints and of all Irish and Welsh saints who contri- buted to the establishment of Christianity in Scotland — very numerous — Latin and Gaelic and "Welsh — contain interesting documents, such as St Mini's 5 Rules for a Christian congregation, St Serf's Dispute with the Devil, Last address of St Gild as to his congregation, St Patrick's Prayer on the liard- heartedness of the N. Britons, &c, &c.
Book of Deer.
Litany of the Culdees of Dunkeld (fourteenth century. But the name of the King of Scotland mentioned in it is Grig — ninth century).
Works of Gildas Albanicus— Haddan and Stubbs. Also Lorica Gildae (Leabhar Breac), unpublished.
Prophecy of St Berchan — not authentic — eleventh century.
Antiphonary of Bangor represents Pictish Services in Ireland ; largely compiled by St Comgall, one of the apostles of Scotland.
( 'hronicles of the Picts and Scots : Skene.
&c, &c., 4c.
The following, among others, are lying almost unknown in the Advocates' Library : —
A Gaelic Treatise on the importance of frequent Communion.
Diminutive MS. containing Ps. cxix.; Two Prayers at the Reception of the Eucharist ; &c.
Gaelic Litany on paper (mediseval), " 0 Heavenly Father, have mercy on me," with prayers ; a collect for bedtime, " Deos qui famulos " (paper MS.) ;
The Celtic Inheritance oj the Scottish ( hurch. 35
The extant writings of the great leaders of our Church, who not only made our nation Christian, but really made if a nation, are by no means so fragmentary or of so little value as many suppose. Whatever be the meritfl or de- merits of these remains, their character, nationality, and authorship give them a greater interest and importance to Scotsmen than to any Others.
IV. A great body of ecclesiastical customs, practices, and
methods, which deserve to be studied even when their
resuscitation may not be desirable. -For instance: the
regular observance day and night of the scriptural hours
of prayer;* of the more public daily morning and
evening offices ; t and the practice of celebrating the
a verse of the Compline Hymn, with Gaelic notes; part of a hymn, "0
Gloriosa"; a half-intelligible benediction, seemingly for a marriage : a |
on Betting out on a journey (bears traces of having been gilded) ; a beautiful
prayer of confession, "0 Lux nostra in tenebris."
A leaf of a large black letter Latin Breviary — almost illegible — for 17th December ; the office is like the Roman, but is not Roman. It lias musical notes, and (iaelie words for them have been inserted.
Gaelic Sermons on the Passion, the Ten Commandments, &c.
Part of a MS. giving a legend of the last interview between Moses and the ancestor of the Scots.
The Repentance of Adam.
" The Ever-New Tongue" — very remarkable.
Story of "James of the Noses" — amusing discussion between James and his confessor, Proinnsias.
&c, &c, &c.
* These were (1) larmeirge, Midnockt or Meddn-aidehe Midnight) ; (2) Matdin (Lauds); (3) Priomli (Prime, in Latin called Secunda ; (4) Teirt (Terco) ; (5) Etrud, Med&nZai, or St ist (Sext) ; (6) N6in (none) ; (7) Espartain, Fescor (Vespers) ; and (8) CompUit (compline). It was always thought to be the duty of all Christians "to recite their office" at the proper times, in whatever circumstances they were placed. Among many other instances that might be quoted, the following will suffice : — St Gildas (not Albanicus), while on board ship, one morning at prime, said to the mariners, " Let us pay our vows unto the Lord." They refused as they were too much engaged. "But he. seeing the wickedness of their disposition, asking again and again, said to them, ' Let us not neglect to pay our vows ! ' To whom they, now begin- ning to get angry, said, ' Why do you disturb us with your vovosf But the holy man, hearing this, began, '0 God, unto mine aid incline.' bending bis knees." — 1'if. Oild. j- Such a service was called a Collecia.
2,6 The Celtic Inheritance of the Scottish Church.
Eucharist, on no account less frequently than once a week.* Also a very strict sanctification of what was known neither as Sunday nor as the Sabbath, but more Scrip- turally as the Lord's Day. "f" further, in that era we had thoroughly Scottish yet truly Catholic Forms for the Com- munion and other offices — forming a Sacred Deposit — the emblems and concentrated life of the National Church.^ Where is that Sacred Deposit now ? We lost it. We loved strangers and after them we would go. In the end of the eleventh century a general Assembly of our Presbyters
* The references to this practice are so numerous as to preclude the fusi- bility of even illustrative quotation. The Communion was always ccli-bi it««l on the Lord's Day. Many incidents arc recorded as having occurred when it was being performed ''Dominica die ex more." (Ad. Vit. Col. III. 17 et passim). In the great centres of ecclesiastical life it was held every day. The usual hour was terce.
t Vit. II. S Patr. cap. 77 and 79. — "When he heard the sound of the hells at vespers of the Lord's Day ton Saturday evening), he ceased his journey in honour of the Dominical Festivity, and in the same place gave himself to quiet and holy rest." Vit. V. Columbae II. 8. — "They came at eventide to the town of Aidan Mae Engussa, and while they were entering at the vesper hour of the Lord's night (Saturday evening), the saint (Calmonell), looking back saw another cutting wood with an axe (ferro), and said to one of his disciples, "Tell that brother to stop; behold the Lord's Day approaches." Vit. Calmonell. c. 11 — S. Aid reproved certain women for washing their heads on Saturday evening, thus profaning the approaching Lord's Day (Vit. c. 34). See also an incident in the. life of Guaire or Guaithre (a name corresponding to our "Cowrie" and "Guthrie"), a disciple of St Ciaran of Campbelltown. Vit. Giui. — The Lord's Day was reckoned from vespers on Saturday till prime on Monday. St Fursey, however, regarded it with such veneration that he reckoned it from None on Saturday, Vit. S. Furs. c. 12.
£ There was a Lcbor uirdd (Book of Order) for the performance of every c&ir in' creitme (ritt of the faith). To such books there are many references.
Si Columba had a book for the celebration of the Eucharist, which had once belonged to St Martin of Tours. Probably the formulae were written on the fly-leaves of a Kerlowre (in Gaelic Catarlcbur, i.e., FourfohLbook), as it is frequently called a Soisceal, Gospel.
St Gildas had a similar book written in Greek characters. He gave a Eucharistic book to St Brendan. These statements appear in their lives. St Finan, the leper (founder of Lumphanan ami Lumphinnans), received such a book from St Columba.
The Scottish Liturgy, introduced into Northumbria by the missionaries from lona, was not abolished even at York till c. 800. See Alcuin's Ep. ad Simeonem.
The Celtic Inheritance of the Scottish Church. $J
was persuaded to abolish our native in favour of a foreign liturgy, then already in partial use, and from that date on- wards we have used in turn, without lasting satisfaction, almost every form of service, Catholic and Protestant, in the Western world, and ended at last in having none at all.* But for that sycophantic Assembly's unpatriotic act we should probably be using to-day the forms of worship (or an adaptation of them) bequeathed to us by Columba and Kentigern, as the Church of Rome uses to-day the Missal completed by Gregory I., and the Church of Constantinople the liturgy named after Chrysostom.
Further, the Early Church left us certain regulations, derived from Scripture, for the ordering of the private and public life of a Scottish clergyman, and specially for the secret devotional life, which is the internal condition of Divine power ; f and personal instructions how to gather and retain a congregation, for they held that, by a certain process, one taking up his abode in the remotest corner of an uninhabited wilderness would in time collect around him a crowd of devoted disciples,; and, in fact, many a country village in Scotland is the residuum of an establishment thus created.
Great emphasis was laid on the office of Anamchara
* Viz. (1) the Roman ; (2) The Use of Sarum. Some think that other Anglo-Norman Uses were received in some parts of Scotland, but the evidence is slender. The Arbuthnot Missal is largely a copy of the Sarum. Duncan MacGregor, shortly before the Reformation, in a poem composed by Mm in view of his approaching execution, anticipates that after his death the Church will "sing my Dirige eftir l's»m Sarum." Bk. of Taymouth. (3) The various peculiar Uses of the different Orders of monks, e.g., the Carmelites. (4) The Lollard Services, such as they were. (5) The second English Protes- tant Prayer Book, in some places before the Reformation. (6) The Genevan English. (7) The same adapted to Scottish circumstances. (S) The West- minster Directory. (9) A non-descript service derived mainly from the Brownist's. (10) The falsely-named Presbyterian service. There was never but one Scottish Liturgy, and it has been entirely lost for 800 years.
f These are now to be picked up almost solely from scattered notices and descriptions in our ancient literature.
* This idea was derived from the Church of the Thebaid— the spiritual Parent of the whole Scoto- Britannic Church. The latter was mainly a native growth, due to the adoption of the principles taught by the former.
3S The Celtic Inheritance of the Scottish Church.
(soul-friend) or spiritual adviser. Some of the rules to be observed in exercising it are yet extant. It was, on the whole, free from the elements which render the office of Confessor in certain churches offensive to many intelligent and pious people.
I can merely mention the great spiritual benefit believed to he derivable! from manual labour, early rising, J the daily cekl hath, $ frequent genuflections (slechtain), and repetitious of the short prayer called Croisfigil, confession of sins to God, meditation, regular fasting (triwad), frequent seasons of total silence and solitude, and habitual abstinence from flesh meat and all intoxicating drinks. || These and
* Is it not lamentable when a person in spiritual distress, seeking counsel of his parish minister, finds his pastor unable to deal with his ease ? It is worse when the troubled soul, despairing of sympathy and instruction from the parish minister, betakes himself to one of the earnest sects which are con- stantly scouring town and country for proselytes. Here we find one of the defects of our system.
t These statements are extracted from numerous descriptions given of the Saints' personal habits, exhibiting, at least, the ideal conceived by the Church at large.
J All the saints rose regularly at midnight, and again long before daylight, for prayer and praise. The sole extant fragment of St Calmonell's is the following : —
Cohnonela dx [dixit] : Exsurgam diluculo ; Confitebor Domino ; Quia non est inane Sperare in domino. — Schol. Ang. !■'</.
§ Every religious Scot bathed himself in cold water the first thing every morning, reciting psalms as he did so. This was regarded as a strictly reli- gious custom, and some supposed that the Creator of water had endowed it with certain properties, spiritually beneficial to those using it. "0 God, who for the welfare of the human race hast created in the substance of waters certain very great mysteries (sacramenta), attend unto our invocations," &c. Lat. prayer in Gael, letters, MS. at St Gall.
!| Joe. Vit. Kentigern, 12. "He abstained wholly from flesh and fiom blood and from all that could inebriate." Similar remarks are made of most or all of our saints. St Brendan from his ordination never tasted anything in which was the breath of life. St Patrick had a struggle before he could abandon the use of swine's flesh. St Finnian " never ate anything but bread and vegetables ; and for drink he drank water. But on festive days he ate bread defrumento, and for drink [took] a cup of cervisia or of whey. But he never ate the flesh of any living thing (animalis), except only a part of a broiled fish." St Mochta " for thirty years never uttered an idle word, or tasted anything fat." — Vit. 19.
1'hc Celtic Inheritance of the Scottish Church. 59
similar observances,* they thought, contributed to make
the body and mind healthy, the intellect keen, the will
forceful, and the whole man a more effective instrument in the hands of the Holy CJhost.
I may refer also to the enormous importance attached to the institution of itinerant preaching, accomplished not by uneducated and unauthorised evangelists, but by the most eminent as well as the most cultured and eloquent ministers of the Church. f
Early Scottish preaching had its own idiosyncrasies. Some preachers first enlarged in terrifying accents on the necessity of repentance, and then encouraged their hearers by the promises of Cod. + Some giving scope to their perfervid imaginations enlarged the sayings of Scripture into vivid pictures of the Judgment, the glories of heaven, and the terrors of hell.§ Subjected to these floods of fiery eloquence, even the stolid and haughty Picts || often wept
* St Modan of Fraserburgh. Sen. , after preaching round all the country and visiting the congregations he had gathered, used to sit for thirty or forty 'lays at a time on Dumbarton Rock " in the utmost austerity of life, meditating on the divine scriptures and the mj'steries of Christ." — Vit. Mod.
t Columba, Cuthbert, Kenneth, Comgall, &c, were great itinerant preachers. An evangelising tour was called Cuairt Proccpta, Circuit of Preaching.
X The statements in this paragraph are collected from numerous sources. A few illustrative but necessarily inadequate quotations and references are subjoined.
"In the first place terrifying them from the sayings of the Gospels and of the Apostles and Prophets : then recalling them to penitence, he confidently promised that they would obtain the mercy of God if they would worthily repent." — Vit. Gildae, c. 14.
§ Besides the first Fis Adamnian, which may be supposed to have some connection with the Albanian Church over which he presided, many Gaelic sermons of this class are preserved in Ireland and elsewhere. Xo one who reads the sermon on Matt. xxv. 31-46, entitled "Tidings of the Judgment," will ever forget it. Published with Translation by Mr Whitley Stokes in La Revue Celtique.
II The Picts or Irian Scots, especially the Albanian Picts, were universally regarded as fearful men, as semi-demoniacs. They were supposed to be capable of any action, however dreadful and difficult. Nothing affected them. They despised danger, fatigue, &c. The haughtiness of all Scots was proverbial. " In naso Scoti piper."
40 The Celtic Inheritance of the Scottish Church.
and wailed aloud, and beat their breasts, and sang for joy.* Others of our ancient predecessors used to dilate on the unfathomable love of God, the significance of the Incarnation (an event which occupied a first place in their theology), the reality, efficacy, and finality of the sacrifice on the cross, the tremendous nature of the gift of the Holy Ghost, and similar doctrines.! Much of modern preaching would to them appear Judaistic, and even Pagan.
Again our forefathers intensified the corporate life of the church by setting up in every district a powerful central establishment,* with its collegiate Church, its ecclesiastical Seminary, and Missionary Institute, its appliances for the reproduction and dissemination of religious literature, its streets of houses for students working under strict super- vision, its refuge for the penitent, its Hospital for the sick and aged, its Hostel for the traveller, and its Almshouse for the poor. Such an establishment was a comprehensive model of Christian life and work, a glorious temple where the worship of God and the instruction of men went on
* St Kenneth, himself a Pict, came on the Lord's Day to Comgall, also a Pict and president of a Pictisli community, "and was received by him with great joy. Comgall said to the guests. 'The office of preaching is due, therefore let Cannech preach to us to-day.' This precept, therefore, Cannech receiving with humility, preached a most admirable sermon, and all the people wept vehemently. Then Comgall said, 'This people have often wept when they were hearing the Word of God, but they have never till to-day poured forth such and so great a lamentation.' " — Vit. Oann.
f " Perfect in faith and full of devotion, he began to preach to them with confidence the Gospel of Christ, and to tell them the good news of salvation in Jesus, but they . . . still full of pride, refused to receive the doctrine of salvation." — Colg. Suppl. Acts of St Patr. i. 20. Taken from Acta Fingar. c. iii. 3.
The distinctively Christian doctrines were called " the profundity of the evangelical disputation." — " In what manner the Son of God was incarnate, namely by being born of the virgin Mary ; and why he endured the toilsome whirlpool of this world, namely because of our sins ; or (and) what he suffered for us, especially his most base death, when he was hanged on the tree of the cross, but on the third day without corruption he rose again," &c. — Vit. Fn'il. I. 7. et passim.
X E.g. at Whithorn, Dumbarton, Iona, Applecross, Dornoch, Deer, Aberdeen, Abernethy, Kingarth, Culross, Melrose, &c. The information in the text is gleamed from many sources.
The Celtic Inheritance of the Scottish Church. 41
continually, and whence a thousand hallowing influences radiated far and wide.
The early Scottish mode of attacking heathenism at home and abroad ought to be keenly examined, for they were admittedly the most successful evangelists that ever entered the mission field. They never dreamed of sending one lone man to struggle helplessly in a far land, with the gigantic forces of superstition. These " soldiers of Christ " (milites s. atldetae Christi) went to the war by companies, by battalions, not to say armies. When the Seniores of Strathclwyd authorised St Patrick to begin the evangeliza- tion of the then heathen Irish, there accompanied him 24 presbyters, with other clerics. St Buyd (Uuite or Boethius) came to Pictland with GO assistant missionaries ; St Kenti- gern returned from Wales to work in Scotland with 660 ; and St Carthy * settled at Lismore with 840. All these labourers were first highly trained and severely disciplined for their life-work. How far the figures are literally historic, it is unnecessary to inquire, as the fact that the statements are made indicates what was the dominant ideal. Vigorously attacked by forces like these, no paganism could stand for any length of time. The aim was to build up in heathen districts establishments similar to the great centres in Christian provinces, to accomplish the evangeliza- tion of the ignorant and unbelieving, not merely by preach- ing, but by Christian colonisation. One generally known instance was that of Lindisfarne. And it is instructive to know that when the Assembly of the Seniores of Albany sent Aidan to preach to the pagan English, one of the first proceedings of the Mission was to begin the training of twelve carefully selected Saxon boys for the future evangeli- zation of their countrymen.
V. I should have expounded the teachings of the early Church of Scotland on the very important subject of
* Some think this Lismore was the Irish Lismore, but there is good modern Irish authority for believing that it was the Lismore in Argyle.
42 The Celtic Inheritance of the Scottish Church.
Thaumaturgic Science, but the mind of the Church is
qoI at present prepared to discuss a subject so abstruse and mysterious.
VI. The ecclesiastical organisation of our early Church exhibits many points that always encourage and often fully justify us in maintaining our present Church system. The facts I refer to are such as these: (1) The peculiar position of the Presbyter during the whole of the first period, and the oft repeated complaints on the part of the contemporary English Church that our Scottish orders because uucanonical, were irregular if not invalid.'7"
* A thorough and impartial examination of ancient documents relative to the Church of Scotland leaves no doubt as to the accuracy of the following statements : — (1) that the Scottish Presbyter always occupied an abnormally high position ; (2) that the Scottish Bishop, when there was such an official, was far from being identical in function with the ordinary Catholic Bishop ; (3) that other churches, and especially the English, held the Church of Scot- land to be radically in error on these points ; (4) that the Scottish Church maintained her practice to be scriptural and primitive, and (5) that even in the middle ages, when the native organisation had been replaced by one then common to Christendom, many Scottish ecclesiastics, though loyal to the Church of their period, did not believe that the Church had been formerly in error. If our present position is peculiar in the eyes of outsiders, it is at least hereditary and national.
The Christians of Scotland (according to various mediaeval writers), about 430, had no bishops at all, "having, for teachers of the faith and ministers of the Sacraments, presbyters and monks, following the sole rite and custom of the primitive Church." — Brrv. Abcrd. tith July. This book, the hist printed in Scotland, was compiled shortly before the Reformation, profess- edly from ancient documents, by members of the party which opposed the growing tide of Presbyterianism.
Afterwards, however, there were many bishops in Scotland, but it is to be noted that they were Irish bishops — i.e., (1) They were Irishmen working in Scotland ; (2) they were bishops in the Irish sense — not diocesan nor even congregational, but simply presbyters empowered to ordain and consecrate. Their powers, so far as they were episcopal, gave them no jurisdiction or authority to rule, superintend, legislate, or preside ; (3) They were bishops whose sees, such sees as they had, were in Ireland ; (4) they did not come to Scotland as bishops, but as evangelists, or apostles. Thus Ibar, the Apostle of Teviotdale, was a bishop, but he was not bishop of Teviotdale. His bishopric was in Ireland. Dagan, an Apostle of Galloway, Avas Bishop of Inverdoyle in Wexford. There is as yet no reliable evidence that there was a single native Scotsman ever appointed bishop over a congregation, far less
The Celtic Inheritance of the Scottish Church. 43
(2) The general conception of each branch of the
Catholic Church as being properly racial, national, tribal,
local ; and the rejection of all denominational bonds of
union.*
overadioce.se, till the twelfth century; SI Kentigern, whom the assembled Seniores of Strathclwyd elected, appointed, blessed, and enthroned, after- wards Bending to Ireland for a bishop to consecrate him (Joe. Vit. Kent, c. 11), and the later Bishops of Albany are no real exceptions, for they presided over entire National Churches.
William of Malmesbury, in his Gesta Pontif. lib. III. and Eddius in his life of Wilfred Bishop of Northumbria from 664, indicate very clearly that the Anglican Church of that period regarded all Scotican ordinations as at least of doubtful validity. Eddius speaks of the "sin" of being ordained by the schismatics of Britain and Ireland, cap. XV.
The Council of Chelsea. \.i>. 816, passed the following resolution : — "That none of the nation of Scots be permitted in any one's diocese to usurp to himself the sacred ministry, and that it shall not be lawful to allow him to meddle with any sacred ordinance, or to be received by them in baptism or at the celebration of the mass, or even that they should give the eucharist to the people : because among them the ordi r of Metropolitans neitlier exists nor is /<> Id in honour, and because m are uncertain by whom they are ordained or whether they be ordained at all," can. V.
When Queen Margaret wished to begin what she believed to be a Reforma- tion, why did she not address herself to an Archbishop or the Bench of Bishops ? Why did she deal with an assembly of the presbyters ? Because there was not at the time a single bishop in all Scotland.
An inquisition was ordered by King David as to whether there ever had been a bishop in the principality of Cumbria. The presbyters of the Cumbrian Church reported that there had been one famous Bishop Kentigern ; and that he had many successors (whose names, however, were not forth- coming). It was tacitly admitted that there had not been a bishop in that Communion for many centuries.
From the middle of the ninth century there seems to have been occasionally, not always, an ofiicial at the Scottish Court known as the Bishop of Albany — i.e., Scotland. What his duties were is not very clear ; certainly the primate of Scotland was the Abbot of Dunkeld. The successive National Bishops were not recognised by the Pope.
When the country was at last divided into dioceses, there was not a single bishop in Scotland. The men appointed to the sees received a foreign con- secration, and were nearly all foreigners.
All Scottish Mediaeval writers attribute the corruptions of that age to the •' evill prelattis."
* The national and tribal sentiment dominated all the ecclesiastical ideas of the Scots. From their point of view there are two possible kinds of Church Communion — the National and the Denominational. A Church formed on the latter principle embraces all who hold the same views ou ecclesiastical or theological points — e.g., all who believe in papal
44 The Celtic Inheritance oj the Scottish Church.
(3) The ordination of the King, and the assignation to
him of a seat, as of natural right, in the assembly of the Seniores of the Church, though he could neither preside in it nor rule over it.*
(-4) One of the grandest facte in our history, is, that amid all the changes of custom, organisation, relationship to other churches, and even to a certain degree of doctrine, the most important factor in our ecclesiastical life has endured, practically without change. The throbbing heart of the church may always be heard and felt in every crisis. This throbbing heart, this abiding centre which makes the church one in all its ages and stages, is the national representative gathering of the Elders, the Conventus Seniorum, the Concilium Generale, the Ard-Seuad (the Arch-Synod) or Genera] Assembly. "f
supremacy find in it their bond of union. Natural ties are to them nothing, a common faith in Christ is nothing. Members of the same nation and even family may belong to that denomination or to some other. The idea of the Scots was to avoid making anything the term of communion that is not made so in the New Testament. Faith in Christ and a common nationality are the Divine and natural bonds. All Scots who receive the gospel should belong to one National Scottish Church, and ought not to separate from it on any ground whatever, even though they think that in some things it is wholly in the wrong. So all English Christians should belong to the historic English Church, not because it has this or that kind of government or doctrine, but because it is the English Church.
* King Aidan was "ordained" by St Columba. I have not observed the same application of the word except in the Irish Canons and the Mozarabic Hymn-book. It probably signifies a recognition of the King as being a Church official as well as the supreme officer of state. The Kings of Cumbria and Albany are often described as having sat in the assemblies of the Clergy — e.g., at the election of St Kentigern ; at the Perth Assembly, A.r>. 876 ; &c. Even in mediaeval times the King of Scotland was represented in the Concilium Generale, as the Sovereign appears by a Commissioner in our General Assembly.
t During the whole of the First period there were two distinct and inde- pendent but friendly branches of the Church in Scotland — the Cumbrian and the Albanian. There were therefore two separate Assemblies having no control over each other. They consisted of the principal Presbyters, Abbots, and Priors, &c, the King and his associates, and possibly others. How often they met has not yet been discovered, but they were certainly summoned in times of crisis, and naturally it is only in important events that we find them on the page of history. Their duties were (1) the passing and enforcing of
The Celtic Inheritance of the Scottish Church. 45
These points I merely mention and others I omit : for if I have aroused more interest in the general subject, the greatest and most appropriate that can engage the attention of modern Kirkmen, I have accomplished the object of my paper.
I close with a suggestion. The year 1897 will be the fifteenth centenary of the advent of Ninian.* I venture to iir^e that the Seniores of the Church should arrange that
ecclesiastical laws, (2) the shaping of the Church's policy. St Patrick (Con fessio) alludes to an effort that was made in the Assembly of the Seniores of Cumbria to prevent his appointment to a Missionary Episcopate. Mention has already been mad." of the election of Kentigcrn by the assembled presbyters of the same Kingdom. An assembly of the Seniores of the Parocliia of lona (the Provinces of the Picts and Northern Irish) responded to Northumbrian request for a missionary by sending Carman, who reported to a subsequent meeting of the same body that lie had found the English to he unteachable and unconvertible savages, whereupon the same assembly sent Aidan in his stead. In 876 the assembled clergy of Albany, with their Bishop, covenanted, together with the King, to observe the laws of the church uniformly with the Irish. And so on.
In the twelfth century the two branches of the church were finally fused into one, though there continued till the Reformation a certain amount of distinctiveness between them. Hence the quarrels between Glasgow and St Andrews.
In the thirteenth century the Assembly of the Scottish Church obtained papal sanction for its meetings, and it may have been reconstituted at that time.
Before the Reformation it seems to have met annually, a practice which it continued when it reasserted the absolute national independence of the Church.
* The first building certainly known to have been opened in Scotland for worship was the church which St Ninian caused to lie erected at Whithorn. While it was being built Ninian heard of the death of his uncle, the famous St Martin of Tours, to whose memory he dedicated it {Aelr. Vit. Nin.). This fixes the date of the erection at a.d. 397 (Skene, Celtic Scotland, Vol. II.). Some students of our History, however, place the actual birth of the Scottish Church at a much earlier date. This opinion seems to me to lie inadequately supported.
The historical continuity of the Church of Scotland from the days of St Ninian is sometimes denied, and in particular there are three periods at which it is variously alleged to have been broken : (1) at an indefinite point between the death of St Ninian and the coming of St Columba, (2) in the age of Queen Margaret and her immediate descendants, and (3) at the Reformation. 1. It is asserted that before the coming of St Columba, Christianity had entirely died out in Scotland, and that it is to this great saint that we really
46 The Celtic Inheritance of the Scottish Church.
so notable an event should be honoured with a deliberate and fitting national celebration.
owe the conversion of our countrymen, and that, therefore, we ought to date the foundation of our Church about 56S. This supposition is without evi- dence and against evidence. "We have nothing to depend on hut the same kind of sources from which we draw our information regarding Columha himself. Thence we learn the following facts, which are as worthy of accept- ance as any other alleged facts of very ancient history. St Patrick, who was horn before the death of his grand-uncle, Ninian, laboured in the south of Scotland and in Fife with little, but some, success, and founded twelve churches in his native land before he set out for Ireland. St Falladiusis said to have found a nourishing church in the east of Albany (Kincardine, &c.) in the second quarter of the fifth century, a few years after Ninian's death. St Serf, a Pict, was president of a religious community of Picts when St Kenti- gera (a contemporary of Columba) was born. Tertian was Serf's fellow- labourer. St Gildas, according to an ancient authority, the praedicator clarissimus per tria regna Britanniae, the great open-air preacher of ancient Scotland and Wales, whose ministrations were attended by many thousands daily, and whose prayer of thanksgiving for the marvellous success of his labours in North Britain is preserved in Fit. Gild, c. 9, worked during the second half of the fifth century, and died in 512 at a very advanced age. Nectan, King of St Pictland (458-482, lilt a church at Abernethy
for St Bride, and at its consecration Darlugda, her disciple, sang the Alleluia at the offertory. St Darcrca, another disciple of St Brile, founded seven churches in Cumbria, and died in 519. Buite of Monast^rboiee, who, with his sixty-six followers, fixed his headquarters at Kingarth, and made his influence felt as far as Kirbuddo in Angus, and who educated St Blaneand St Fillan, died in 521, on the day on which Columchille was born. Finnian or Wynning was educated in the fifth century at Whithorn, in company with Drust, a Pict, and Rioch and Talmach, North Britons. He established a great seminary at Moville, but he also laboured much in southern Scotland, and was buried at Coningham. He was aged when Columba, yet a youth, studied theologv under him in Ireland. The infant Church of Scotland was beset by many trials, but it was not. destroyed. The sacred hush was even then enveloped in fire, nee tamen consumebattcr. In the second quarter of the sixth century there lived at Carnock an old Christian named Fergus, who, while bewailing with his friends the troubles of the Church, had formed the expectation, which he attributed to the Holy Ghost, that before his death he would see a great man raised up by "Divine providence to strengthen the Church. When Kentigern visited Carnock, no sooner did Fergus hear him speak than he recognised the saint to be the very man for whom they had been waiting so long. And so he said his Nunc dimittis and died in peace [Fit. Kent.). When Columba came to Iona there were many Christian com- munities in Cumbria, South Pictland, and Dalriada. He was the apostle mainly of North Pictland. In token of their countrymen having been but once converted, the Pictish priests wore a single shoulder-strap on the alb, to spite the North English priests, who wore two, and whose country, after
The Celtic Inheritance of the Scottish Church. 47
its lir.st conversion, apostatized. This Pictish foible indicates that the perfect
continuity of the Church was a traditional belief. 2. It is .asserted that, through the changes effected l>y Queen Margarel
King David, &c, the ancient Church was annihilated, so that we ought to date the Church's existence from the end of the eleventh century. Only three changes were then effected — (1) the Scottish Liturgy was abolished and the universal use of the Roman made obligatory. But the supersession of an ancient liturgy does not destiny the identity of a Church. About 798 the Gallican Liturgy in France was replaced by the Roman, but the Church still continued to be Gallican. (2) The native order of monks was suppressed in favour of Italian and French orders, introduced partly from England partly from the Continent. But the suppression or introduction of monastic orders is never supposed to affect the continuity of a Church. (3) The Diocesan form of Episcopacy was introduced for the first time. Those who think that form to be essential to a Church's existence, must logically sup- pose the previous history of the Scottish Church to be a mere blank. The Church of Scotland does not accept that theory. In all other respects the Church remained as and where it was before. Xot a single congregation was destroyed, not one (secular) priest was deprived of his cure.
8. It is asserted that the chain of continuity was snapped by the reorganisa- tion of the Church in 1560. The reorganisation was effected by the same body that for more than a thousand years had legislated, organised, and reorganised when it thought necessary. In 1559 it met and inter alia dis- cussed the proposed alterations, and the feeling on the whole was not un- favourable. Next year it met and, with riper and stronger opinions, made drastic changes on a few but important points in the Church's polity and custom. Many believe the Assembly of 1560 to have been an entirely new body. Scarcely any of the bishops were present, only six priests attended, and the rest (about forty) were laymen. The absence of some of the bishops was not remarkable ; they were often mere noblemen with an ecclesiastical title frequently conferred while they were children ; they were often absent and were represented by their proxies (presbyters). The six priests were a regular institution of the Council, a kind of committee of prime con- ference, the creation of the Assembly for its own convenience. No others sat there as priests. Certain laymen always sat in the Council. But the statement that all the rest were laymen is misleading. True, by a prevalent abuse they were in fact laymen. But the most of them did not sit there in that capacity. They were technically and legally and titularly the abbots and priors who constituted from of old the general body of the Assembly. They were members of the National Council in virtue of their ecclesiastical titles, and would have sat in it though there had been no Reformation. There was, therefore, no break of the Church's continuity.
NEGLECTED PROVISIONS AND REMEDIABLE DEFECTS IN THE PRESBYTERIAN ORGAN- ISATION, AND ITS BETTER ADAPTATION TO EXISTING NEEDS.
Rev. Thomas Leishman, D.D.
When we begin to compare our present organisation with what it lias been, and thence to speculate on what it might be, we find that the Church's order in the first age of Reformation differed widely from her present constitution. In the well-known words of the Act of the Revolution Settlement, we had been " reformed by Presbyters." But the court called the Presbytery did not exist. There was a supreme court meeting several times a year. Under it most of the Church's work was done by two classes of men now forgotten. The provinces were under the inspection of officials called superintendents, commissioners, or visitors, each supported by a council of such preaching ministers as were within the bounds of his charge. The parishes in most cases were served by incumbents called readers, usually ecclesiastics who, when serving under the Roman rule, had not been trained to preach, and were therefore commis- sioned to read in church the Scriptures, the prayers of the Common Order, and sometimes the book of Homilies, and in the parish to tend the flock. In the management of the Church they had no share, but were responsible to the synodical assemblies and their presidents. Besides these,
Neglected Provisions and Remediable Defects. 49
elders and deacons complete flic lis! of offico-bojircrs pro- vided for by the First Book of Discipline. Jn the nexl age the Second Book of Discipline sets forth a platform of church rule somewhat different. Superintendent and reader are disappearing, and are not acknowledged. The offices of minister, elder, and deacon remain, with another added — that of doctor, which, like the rest, is declared to be ordinary and perpetual. The immediate erection of presbyteries is provided for, and before long was carried out. The defini- tion of the functions of this new court is, in some particu- lars, vague, from the use of the word eldership as the common denominator of presbytery and kirk-session. Hence Calderwood considered the session to be merely a com- mittee of the Presbytery, and Henderson, in his " Govern- ment and Order," distinguished the two courts as the greater and the lesser presbytery. Before this there had been weekly meetings for the discussion of Scripture, held generally in the same centres of population which now became presbytery seats. As adjuncts to the presbyteries, they survived down to the last century. The presbytery then was the last-formed link in the chain of church courts which, under Presbytery and Episcopacy alike, continued thenceforth unbroken, except when meetings of the Assembly were suspended, now by the Scottish king, now bj' the English commonwealth.
The offices of our organisation have been less permanent than its courts. Of the four ordinary functions which the Second Book of Discipline says " ought to continue per- petually in the Kirk, as necessary for the government and policy of the same," the minister and elder remain. But where shall we look for the " doctor," whose office is there said to be " one of the two ordinary and perpetual functions that travel in the Word ? " He seems to have disappeared about the time of the Westminster Assembly, after a differ- ence of opinion between Scotland and England as to his ministering the sacraments. The office of deacon survives, but in a state of suspended animation, and attempts to
II. D
50 Neglected Provisions and Remediable Defects
revive it do not meet with much sympathy or success. Here, surely, there is a remediable defect iu our organi- sation. The prominent place given to the diaconate in Scripture cannot be denied. Its origin is earlier and its warrant more clear than any that can be claimed for the ruling eldership. The office of Stephen and Philip is not one to be depreciated. Its association in the epistles with that of the scriptural bishop seems to imply that they were to be equally permanent. When we turn to humbler and later authorities, the men of the Reformation era seem to have given to deacons a higher place than has been con- ceded to them since. The First Book of Discipline says that they may assist in judgment with the minister and elders, and, if allowed, may read in assemblies (x. 11). An Act of the fifth General Assembly required each minister to take an elder or deacon with him to the Superintendents' Synod " to consult upon the common affairs of their diocies." (" Book of the Universal Kirk," p. 29.) At the seventh Assembly complaint was made that in certain kirks "there was no convention of elders and deacons for connection of faults." (Ibid., p. 39.) The Second Book of Discipline says that the deacons are not of the presbyteries or elder- ships. The language is ambiguous, for it may refer to different courts, or to the same court under alternative names. But Henderson's "Government and Order" (1641) says more plainly that at that time they were present at session meetings, not for government, but for their proper duty. Further, there is evidence that before the West- minster era they were accustomed to share with the ruling elders a different duty, which indeed seems to fall to them more naturally than to the other body. The sacramental elements after consecration were distributed by them. (" Calderwood," vii. 3G2, 363, 437, 456. "St Andrew's Register," 803, 816, 932). In later days the elders also displaced them from their primary duty of ministering to the poor. These things may explain, they do not justify the virtual suppression of a scriptural office. Though the
in the Presbyterian Organisation. 5 1
elder has reserved for himself the "serving of tables," and first the elder, and then the civil power, has relieved the deacon of the care of the poor, there is still work for him to do. We hear much of new monetary agencies for tin- furtherance of church work, and complaints of the in- efficiency of the old. Men speak of the hardness of man- agers, the unwisdom of collectors, the frivolity of bazaars, the deliberate incurring of debt, and a general unwilling- ness among those who, as members of the body of Christ, are bound to deny themselves, to give liberally of their substance to God. Instead of devising novel remedies, whose motives and methods are learned from a world where every one seeks his own rather than another's wealth, the Church would do well to remember that there is lying dormant a spiritual office, instituted of old to stimulate and direct Christians in the fulfilment of this duty. Were it once more held by men full of the Holy Ghost and of power, this ministry of God's appointing could not but prosper in the thing whereto He sent it.
Returning from the offices to the courts of the church, I propose to treat in what remains of this paper of the highest of these. Since the final decision on most questions affecting the welfare of the church lies with the General Assembly, its object ought to be to draw up into itself the most matured intelligence of the courts below. The mode in which its members are nominated is, therefore, a matter of the first importance. The theory is that certain bodies select the persons who are best qualified for the trust. The practice is that they are chosen at random as their names stand on certain lists. It is all but entirely so as regards ministers, and increasingly so as to presbytery elders. Any continuity of identity that joins Assembly to Assembly is supplied by elders who are returned year after year by burghs, or by such presbyteries as prefer tried representa- tives to novices, the good of the church to the gratification of individuals. The general result is that the church is broken up into a series of grand committees, each ruling
52 Neglected Provisions and Remediable Defects
her in turn for twelve months. Election by rotation is defended on the ground that it alone accords with the genius of Presbyterianism, because it rests on the principle of absolute parity. But is not representation itself incon- sistent with parity ? When, in any other organisation, men delegate to any the care of their interests, they take pains to select the most capable substitutes. They would refuse to have them forced upon them by any such mechanical rule as this. The claims of parity are satisfied to the full when each presbyter has the same right to elect. It does not follow that each has the same claim to be elected. To be equal in office is one thing, to be equal in intelligence or in experience is another, or rather an impossible thing. In truth, the question is one of duty more than of right. Every office-bearer is bound to serve the church with his best, but obviously the body of brethren see more clearly than the individual himself whether it is he that can best serve her in her high places. The members of a court of appeal ought to be, as a class, more highly qualified for their duties than those whose decisions they review. A section of office-bearers called up by chance-medley, constitute not a higher, only a broader court, reviewing the conclusions of men of equal capacity with themselves, who may have pronounced on the matters at issue with fuller knowledge, and on a more deliberate examination of them. And, if from one point of view rotation seems to guard Presbyterian parity, seen from another it violates it. For it gives to the young an advantage over the old, the untrained over the experi- enced. The junior clergy seldom decline the duty of representing their presbyteries. The refusals come from men of mature years, to whom the honour, which they once accepted with such eagerness, has become familiar or burdensome. And to this natural advantage which youth has, an artificial one is added by the strange custom which sends a newly ordained man to the very next Assembly, that he may mould decisions from which there is no appeal,
in the Presbyterian Organisation. 53
when he has hardly learned how to hold a kirk-session. The result of all this is, as has been ascertained by calcula- tion, that the average age of the clerical members of Assembly is appreciably less than that of the clergy in general. As regards the election of presbytery-elders by rotation of parishes, it is plain that, if it were fully carried out, many elders would never reach the Assembly a second time, to apply the scanty knowledge of forms and principles of procedure acquired at their first appearance
It is also argued in defence of appointment by rotation that it is a check on the tyranny of party. The civil community has a long way to advance before it will have learned to respect the liberties of minorities, and experi- ence shows that ecclesiastics are not in this respect more to be trusted than other men. But protection against partisanship is dearly purchased if the body created by rotation is feebler than it might be. The same result might be attained by other means. We have among our presbyteries no single-member constituencies. A fair repre- sentation of various opinions by the selection of their best advocates might be secured by the cumulative vote, or some other of the schemes that have been proposed for the pro- tection of minorities, which, though unpopular with profes- sional wirepullers, can be understood and worked by intelligent and fair-minded men. Or, if rotation must be adhered to, might not each minister who did not choose to claim his turn have the right to nominate another in his stead, without prejudice to his substitute's own claim thereafter. Presumably he would be the fittest man of his selector's own way of thinking whom the presbytery could supply.
Leaving speculation, let us inquire whether the history of the past throws any light on this question. So far as we can judge from such records as remain, the General Assembly at the first seems to have been, to a great extent, framed on the model of the Scottish parliament, with its several estates. Besides clergy, we find in its sederunts
54 Neglected Provisions and Remediable Defects
commissioners of kirks, shires, provinces, and universities, with burgesses, barons, noblemen, lords of council, king's commissioners, and even Majesty itself. What at this moment chiefly concerns us is the footing on which ministers took their places. In 15G2, ministers were for- bidden to leave their flocks to come to the Assembly, unless they were parties in some case, " or at least be warned thereto by the superintendent" {Book of Univ. Kirk, p. 14). In 1568 this was modified by an enactment that none should vote " except superintendents, commissioners ap- pointed for visiting kirks, ministers brought with them, pre- sented as persons able to reason, and having knowledge to judge," and these last were to be selected by the provincial synods, and changed at each Assembly {Book of Univ. Kirk, p. 124). There were thus to be of ministers both a per- manent and an elective body, the last chosen for their ability. In 1597 it was ordained that each presbytery, irrespective of its numbers, should send three at the most of the wisest and gravest of the brethren, besides one in the name of the barons {Book of Univ. Kirk, p. 947). This continued to be the law till the system of proportionate representation was introduced after the Revolution. All these acts evidently provide for the election of the fittest, not the appointment of every minister in turn.
It may be said that if rotation is an evil, presbyteries have the remedy in their own hands, and that in some cases they already apply it. But now that the custom is of some continuance, the abolition of it would be a self- denying ordinance not to be expected from a body of men, most of whom would be making their own election a privilege rarer and more remote. The impulse would come- best from above. The Assembly has just largely increased its members. The body of the clergy would be returned as frequently as they have been hitherto, if some or all of the newly-created seats were assigned to members sitting in permanence. The liberties of the Church would be in no danger from them, for, like the corresponding class of
in the Presbyterian Organisation. 55
men in the sixteenth century, they would be nominated by the Assembly, responsible to it, and, at its pleasure, might have their commissions withdrawn. To some this might appear a serious inroad on our constitution. Yet it is remarkable that the Church, in a field of administration where six.' is not hampered by usage, has decided that such an arrangement is the best. In those large committees, to which she delegates some of her most important work, she combines two classes of men, representatives chosen annually by presbyteries, though not in rotation, and members in perpetuity, whose tenure of their seats is not disturbed so long as they serve with diligence and regularity. Would not an Assembly so constituted have a richer store of experience within itself, greater steadiness in procedure, and more influence for good than the present court ? The only approach to such a change that has of late been made is the suggestion that ministers who have been Moderators of Assembly should sit there ever after. For this there is a quasi-precedent in an Act of 1705, which gave permanent seats in the Commission of Assembly to all ministers who had been ordained before the Restoration. But the privi- lege, if granted to old Moderators, would be a very limited one. There are seldom more than ten alive at any one time, some of them too enfeebled by age to avail themselves of the right. The concession, however graceful a compliment to the men, would do little to strengthen the composition of a body so large as the Assembly has come to be. A larger number of continuous members might be nominated, either by the court itself, or by Synods, or by Presbyteries. The additional stability thus given to the Assembly would be the more valuable because our constitution does not admit of a second chamber. If, in this particular, we cannot imitate the British legislature, we should at least be following a national tradition in reproducing the characteristic feature of the old Scottish Parliament — a single house where the fixed and the unstable elements kept each other in equi- poise. We have, no doubt, in the Barrier Act a partial check
56 Neglected Provisions and Remediable Defects
on rash or panic-stricken Legislation. But there is a pro- vision attached to it which lessens its usefulness. An ill- considered statute may be brought into operation at once without the approval of the presbyteries by the device of making it an interim Act. A measure of doubtful acceptance may thus be rushed by eager tacticians, in the hope that the Church, once committed to it in practice, will shrink from the strong measure of withdrawing what she has given. An interim Act is justifiable only when without it some part of the machinery of the Church must come to a stand- still. Even when a new law is submitted to Presbyteries without their decision being thus forestalled, we know how often it is discussed with an imperfect understanding of its import, how often passed without examination. Still, the Barrier Act ought to be jealously guarded, since time taken for the consideration of a new measure is always a gain. But a previous safeguard of at least equal value would be the examination of overtures in full Assembly under the eye of a body of selected and skilled legislators, controlling by their just influence the impulsiveness of youth, and the confidence of ignorance.
A retrospect of the history of the General Assembly might show that, not only as to its composition but as to its procedure, there are lessons to be relearned by the Church. The field of work which it has to occupy is wider than ever, and the time allotted to it less than it once was. It is now limited to one meeting annually, and that meeting to a fixed number of days. While the date of its openiDg might be so chosen as to include only one Sunday within its term of sitting, it extends over two, with the result of thin attendance and perfunctory discussion on the days before and after each, and sometimes the passage of measures unopposed which would have been challenged in a full house. Some of its time is occupied by what are rather May meetings than the deliberations of an ecclesi- astical court. What remains is supposed to be sufficient for the due exercise of the three forms of power — the legis-
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lative, the judicial, and the administrative, which general experience lias shown to be best exercised by different hands, at different times, and in different places, except where the area of jurisdiction is very limited. The right of legislation the Assembly must obviously retain in its own hands. Its judicial work is confined to the review of processes which have been initiated, often under great diffi- culties, in the lower courts, and have been carried on with more of care and antecedent knowledge of circumstances than the Assembly can usually command. If their decisions are appealed from, the mode of procedure in the upper court is in strong contrast with the sharp and summary courses taken with offenders in older times. The ways of our early Assemblies may have been somewhat high- handed, and not always impartial. But the tendency of our latter-day judges is towards undue scrupulosity, and it is a question whether they might not learn something from their predecessors without reviving all their severity. They apply too stringently to the cases that come before them principles of jurisprudence that are most necessary where a man's natural rights are affected, such as his life, his liberty, or his propert}'. Even among these the necessary strength of evidence is modified by circumstances. Proof would convict of a petty theft that would not be accepted on a capital charge, and a still less degree of probability would be of weight in a money dispute. But no man has a natural right to serve God in the offices of His Church. He has been selected to the exclusion of others, and if he proves manifestly unfit, his removal is merely making room for some other of equal right, but greater worth. If men sitting in judgment on such cases allow compassion to warp their judgment, the flock ought to have their share of pity as well as the pastor. The honour of the profession may be as much tarnished by the escape of an offender as by his conviction. As to the administrative functions of the Assembly, we know how largely and with what advantage matters connected with the expansion of the Church have
58 Neglected Provisions and Remediable Defects.
been entrusted to committees. The same principle of dele- gation might with safety and advantage be followed in working the older parts of the Church's organisation. For this there is abundant precedent in the appointment and duties of the visitors and commissioners of the times follow- ing the Reformation. Power given to inspect parishes and ministers would probably, in the first instance, be regarded with suspicion, perhaps withstood. This irritation would be evinced not only by unworthy men, disturbed by measures which let in the unwelcome light of publicity on their care- less or selfish ways, but by those who, diligent and irre- proachable themselves, were faithful to the brotherhood of their presbyterial body, and jealous of its rights. But such would soon come to see that occasional supervision was more fairly and faithfully exercised by strangers than by neigh- bours, in whose hands it would in most cases be perfunc- tory, and in exceptional instances very painful. The questions touched on in this paper may perhaps help to show that we need not go beyond the earlier practice of the Church to find remedies for admitted evils.
NEGLECTED PROVISIONS AND REMEDIABLE DEFECTS IN THE PRESBYTERIAN ORGAN- ISATION, AND ITS BETTER ADAPTATION TO EXISTING NEEDS.
Rev. G. W. Sprott, D.D.
The following question has been sent down to presbyteries by authority of last General Assembly, with instructions to return an answer to it : — " How can pi-esbyterial responsi- bility for parishes be most satisfactorily realised, and how can the function of supervision be most satisfactorily dis- charged ? "
It is necessary to consider this question not only in the light of the past legislation of the Church, but of recent attempts of the Assemby to deal with it.
At the Reformation superintendents were appointed with authority to visit parishes, to examine the doctrine and life, diligence and behaviour of the ministers, the order of the kirks, and the manners of the people, and also to consider how the poor were provided and the youth instructed.* The notion that the superintendents were meant to be temporary is an error founded on a misapprehension of the meaning of some expressions in the First Book of Discipline."!* Knox asserted the necessity of superintendents as well as ministers, and year after year the General Assembly peti- tioned the Government that they should be appointed throughout the whole realm. Our Reformers did not be- lieve that the Episcopate was a distinct order by Divine right, but they quoted the passages of Scripture on which
* First Book of Dis., Ch. vi. t Sage's Presby. Exam., p. 195.
59
60 Neglected Provisions and Remediable Defects
Episcopalians rely for the support of their system, as amply sufficient to justify permanent superintendentship,* and this was the view of all the Continental Reformed Churches.
Iu 15 72 titular Episcopacy was introduced, and formed part of the legal establishment of the Church for the next twenty years. The bishops had the same power of visitation as the superintendents, and were like them, subject to the jurisdiction of the General Assembly. The superintendents were continued in office, and as the bounds assigned to them and to the bishops were still too large for efficient oversight, the Assembly appointed additional visitors, whose duties were nearly the same.
The section of the Church which followed the leadership of Andrew Melville, while strongly maintaining the original identity of bishop and presbyter, held, at the same time, that from among the presbyters some might be chosen to " visit such reasonable bounds, beside their own flocks, as the General Assembly should appoint ; " f and when they succeeded in getting Presbytery established in 159 2, the Assembly year after year appointed commissioners to try the brethren within the bounds committed to them in their life, doctrine, qualifications and conversation ; and to try the presbyteries if they kept their ordinary meetings and par- ticular visitation of their own kirks. The Assembly of 1G02 sanctioned a uniform order of visitation for the guid- ance of these commissioners, which was to be observed in all time coming.
When an Episcopate of English consecration was intro- duced in 1610, it was decided that "the visitation of each diocese should be made by the bishop himself, and that if the bounds were greater than he could overtake, he should make choice of some worthy men of the ministry within the diocese to visit in his place."
After the abolition of Episcopacy in 1638, each presby- tery was obliged to visit every parish within its bounds once a year. Presbyteries again were tried by Synods as to the *Cald. Hist. III., p. 157. tCald. Hist. III., p. 365.
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way in which they had discharged their duties. The records were carefully examined ; each presbytery was asked in turn whether they had obeyed the Acts and injunctions of the Assembly; and inquiry was made of the whole court whether they knew of anything censurable in them or in any of their number. The Synod acted as bishop, and any neglect of duty on the part of presbyteries was promptly and effectively dealt with.
During the Second Episcopate (1GG1-1G88) the Church government of the Covenanting period, like its worship, was in the main continued, but bishops now presided in the synods, and the presbyteries had constant moderators. Presbyteries were required to visit annually the parishes within their bounds, and they in turn were tried at the meeting of Synod just as in Presbyterian times, and per- haps not less strictly that a bishop presided instead of a moderator.
When the Presbyterial Government of 1592 was restored at the Revolution, the Assembly recommended Presbyteries to continue the use of Privy Censures according to the practice of previous times, and to be diligent and faithful in visiting the Parishes within their bounds, and recom- mended Synods to take account of their diligence therein. The Assembly then began to recommend, instead of to enjoin — a practice which it retains till the present day — with the result that Presbyterian Government has almost completely broken down. Visitation of parishes is un- known, " except when a Parish has become a scandal, and the Presbytery is compelled, for shame, to look into the matter," and the Synod, which in Presbyterian ism is the proper Episcopate, has almost ceased to exist. The right arm of the Church's executive has been broken at the shoulder blade. With one or two exceptions, no questions are asked of ministers as to wrh ether the Acts and recommendations of the Assembly are obeyed by them, and it is notorious that many of them are habitually dis- regarded. Ministers who strive to be obedient to those
62 Neglected Provisions and Remediable Defects
who arc over them in the Lord find none to back them, and after a time give up in despair the attempt to keep laws which so many of their neighbours are breaking. To speak of minor things, there can be no question that ecclesiastical rights have been forfeited, that Church pro- perty has been lost or misappropriated, and that many valuable Church records have disappeared, all for want of propei- clerical supervision.
All that remains in the way of superintendence is an attempt at Church government by schedule, which seems to have been grafted on to the old system of Privy Censures. These were formerly practised twice a year, when very searching questions were put, and this was a security for clerical faithfulness, additional to and quite separate from Presbyterial or other visitation.
The amended schedule of 1890, which is now in force, requires a particular judgment of the Presbytery on the return of every minister, and I question whether this is generally obeyed. The Reports on these returns, when they leave the Presbytery, are practically buried in oblivion. They find their way to a small Standing Committee of the Church, which classifies them, and gives in a brief report to the General Assembly. The Convener of this Committee is the agent of the Church, and his rule as Archbishop has hitherto been exceedingly mild.
To come now to a remedy for an evil in our administra- tion which is very widely felt, and of which, I believe, many of the laity in particular are becoming very sensible. Some years ago a Committee was appointed by the Assembly to consider what should be done to secure a more efficient superintendence of the clergy. They reported to the Assembly of 1888, recommending "that on the day on which the schedules of statistics are considered, the Moderator, going seriatim through the parishes, shall put to the Presbytery the following question : —
" Having respect to the laws and statutes of the Church, and to all other circumstances known to you in connection
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with the parish of , are you satisfied that the duties
of the ministry are there faithfully and adequately dis- charged ? " and it was recommended further that, when the answer was unfavourable, steps should be taken, by visitation or otherwise, to have the evil rectified.
The Assembly rejected the proposal, and instructed the Committee to reconsider the subject. In 1889 the Com- mittee recommended a return to the practice of regular visitation of parishes by presbyteries, and the proposal was sent down to Presbyteries for their consideration. In 1890 the Committee reported that it had been almost unanimously disapproved of. Bishop Burnet says, " that as presbyters degenerate, they become very gentle to one another." But this was not the chief reason why the proposal was re- jected, and would, I suppose, be rejected again. The main reason was the extreme invidiousness of any member of Presbytery taking the initiative in condemning a brother for neglecting his duty, and the certainty of its creating bad feeling in the local court.
Not to speak of the physical difficulties which stand in the way of some Highland Presbyteries visiting the parishes under their charge, or the difficulty of the country members of Synod grappling with such huge Presbyteries as those of Edinburgh and Glasgow, should they honour that Court with their presence, I am persuaded that the restoration of that system is for other reasons inexpedient, and that the wise course for the Church to pursue, and the only one to secure the efficient oversight of the clergy, would be the revival of the order of superintendent. If superintendents were ap- pointed by the Assembly, one for and from each of the Synods, to deal with the returns, and, by order of Synod, to meet with Presbyteries, and to visit parishes, with delegates from the Presbytery, when such visits were called for ; and if the reports of the superintendents were fully considered by the Assembly, and such instructions given them from time to time as seemed necessary, it would have an immense influence for good. I believe that such a completion of
64 Neglected Provisio7is and Remediable Defects
the Presbyterian system -would be welcomed by the clergy who are striving to do their duty ; and that it would pre- vent others from falling into careless and disobedient courses. Superintendentship has been introduced partially into the Canadian Church, with most successful results, and our chaplains and missionaries in India have been considering the necessity of a movement in the same direction. The truth is, that in tropical countries, where the physical con- ditions are all against democratic forms of government, and where there is the additional difficulty arising from the fact that the clergy consist partly of Europeans and partly of natives, Presbytery, as we have it, is quite unworkable.
It will be said that the revival of Superintendentship would be an imitation of Episcopacy, whereas it would be simply a return to the old paths of the Reformed as well as of the early Church. In religious controversy it is the right course to admit everything for which those who differ from you can shew good reason, and only to take your stand where you are sure that the ground is firm beneath your feet. In the interests of Christian reunion we should be ready to approximate to others in things indifferent. Un- happily, as a Northern clergyman remarked, the nearer we approach our Episcopal friends the further they move away from us : but we must not forget that courtships begun in this fashion sometimes end in mutual attraction. Super- intendentship does not touch the question of orders, which many Episcopalians now make a vital question betwixt them and us. Without entering upon this question, in which I have been much interested all my life, I may say that there are certain matters of fact and history which Anglicans must frankly admit before they can expect us to begin to treat.
(1) They must admit that we have an unbroken ministerial succession from the ancient Scottish Church. The latest blunder in connection with this subject which I have noticed is one made by the Rev. Cosmo G. Lang, Vicar of St Mary's, Oxford, who I had fondly hoped would
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make himself useful in enlightening the ignorance of Anglicans as to Scottish Church History. In a pamphlet recently published by Mr Lang on the Future of the Church in Scotland, by way of throwing doubts on our succession, he says : " One of the first Acts of the first General Assembly after the Revolution was to admit to their Communion, without any ordination, three Cameronian preachers."
Mr Lang reminds me of a parish minister who once asked an old Cameronian elder Avhat were the peculiar principles that prevented the Cameronians from joining the National Church. " Ye'll no be acquaint wi' history, sir," was the reply. " Oh, yes," said the minister, " I have read history, and much of it too." " Aye," replied the elder, " but ye'll no hae read richt history." It is pathetic to think of how the " persecuted remnant " who, according to their lights, were loyal at all costs to the King of Zion and the Prince of the Kings of the earth, amid almost insuperable difficulties, and not without scruples of con- science, because of the festival days of the Dutch Church, sent their most promising youths from the moorlands of Galloway and Dumfries, to study in the Universities of Holland, and to be ordained by Dutch classes, rather than that men without a lawful commission should minister to them in holy things ; and of how, after they were cut off from this stream of succession, they remained for more than twenty years without a ministry at all, rather than violate the holy order of God's house.
(2) Anglicans must admit frankly that for a hundred years after the Reformation, the ordination of the Scottish Church and of the other Reformed Churches was recoc:- V* nised as valid by the Church of England, and always in Scotland when Episcopacy was established, and even afterwards, — that as late as 1820, ministers in the Channel Islands belonging to the Diocese of Winchester had no other orders than those which they had received from the French Reformed Church, and that down till a still later
11. E
66 Neglected Provisions and Remediable Defects.
period many of the missionaries employed by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, presided over by the whole bench of bishops, were foreigners in Presbyterian orders.
I will even venture to say that if the Scottish Church Society should succeed in leavening to a large extent the Church of Scotland, this might have some influence in leading the Church of England to resile from certain peril- ous positions, and to resume those relations with other Reformed Churches which she maintained in the days of Edward VI., of Queen Elizabeth, King James, and Charles I.
The Church of England may indeed become on a large scale the Church of the reconciliation, and it is my earnest hope that she may, but I venture to say that it will not be by making advances to Rome, which will never be recipro- cated, and which may prove disastrous to herself.
THE REVIVAL OF CHURCHMANSHIP IN SCOTLAND.
J. H. Millah, Esq., Advocate..
It is only right at the outset, if not to attempt a formal definition of ° the word " Churchmanship," at all events to give some indication of the sense in which it is here to be employed. Formal definition is, indeed, difficult, if not impossible. It is with Churchmanship as with poetry; we can define neither the one nor the other, though we all, I trust, know a good churchman and a good poet when we' come across him. It will be sufficient, perhaps, to say that I shall use the word throughout in that well-recog- nised, almost technical, sense, which is probably familiar to most of us. A good Churchman must be assumed to belong to the genus good Christian. With the genus we are for the present not concerned : our business is with the differentia of the species Churchman, and with
that alone.
Having thus premised the signification which is to be attached to the word Churchmanship— a signification which, if somewhat vague, is still, I think, perfectly intelligible— we may proceed to review some of the causes of the decline of Churchmanship in the Church of Scotland. The fact of that decline needs no elaborate proof. It meets us at every turn of life ; and, in any case, the very title of the subject under consideration seems to assume its substantial reality ;
68 The Revival of Churckmanship in Scotland.
for where there has been no decline, there is no necessity to talk about a revival.
(1.) The first, then, and perhaps the most potent of these causes is the want of a liturgy. I desire to call in question none of the arguments so justly and forcibly advanced in favour of extemporaneous prayer. ]>ut the most zealous advocate of that manner of public devotion must surely admit that the want of a suitable liturgy means the want of a never- tailing spring of instruction and refreshment; the want of a settled standard of orthodoxy, independent of the freaks and mannerisms of individual ministers ; the want of some- thing which regularly and insensibly, as it were, insinuates the cardinal doctrines of the faith into the heart and mind of the worshipper. It is a truism that under our ordinary system in Scotlaud the congregation is at the mercy of the minister. If he is latitudinarian in his sermon, he is not likely to be orthodox in his prayers. I say nothing here of the mischievous effects that may be produced upon the habit of mind of his people by a steady course of ill-chosen and unscriptural language ; that consideration is beside the present purpose. But surely we may be permitted to envy the Church of England the jjossession of a form of divine service which, whatever its defects may be, has served as a repository of Catholic truth in the days of a triumphant and intolerant Evangelicalism, which has proved a bulwark against the attacks of a shallow and scarce-disguised scepti- cism, and which, -lot us hope, will effectually correct the extravagances of a few of her less loyal ministers who display only too manifest a propensity towards some of the most deplorable errors of Rome.
(2) In the second place, the decline of Churchmanship in Scotland seems attributable to a violent reaction, hardly yet spent, from the fever and frenzy generated by those miserable ten years of "conflict" which led to the secession of 1843. It is, indeed, impossible even to dip into the Non-intrusion controversy without being struck with ad- miration for many of the mental and moral qualities which
The Revival of ChurclimansJiip in Scotland. 69
it called forth. We find in the ephemeral pamphlets on both sides a conception of the Church, a confident belief alike in the necessity ami the validity of Presbyterian ordination, a view of the Presbyterian form of Church Government, a steady attempt to reason from primary principles, that would vastly surprise a generation which is all but ignorant of such matters, and all but unaware that such things as first principles — or principles of any sort — exist at all. We find, in effect, anything save indifference, anything save the spirit which prompts men to prate with a light and cheerful heart of " minor differ- ences." But, alas ! How were these admirable qualities marred and disfigured by hatred and passion ! What evil tempers, what malignity did that celebrated struggle evoke • Truly those who left the Church in 1843 "spared no acerbity of reproach," even if they refrained from every " brutality of insolence." Who can wonder at the impres- sion then deeply stamped upon the national mind ? We may well excuse those who, disgusted at the virulence, the rancour, and the vindictiveness of the contest, were led to believe that the firm assertiou of principle is synonymous with a discharge of some of the vilest humours of the human mind, and who have taught their children to hold that what is called " broadmindedness " is preferable to settled conviction. Thanks to the tone and temper of the Non-intrusionists, many of our countrymen seem reluctant to admit that if the proposition A is A be true, the proposition A is not A must needs be false. This society, I hope and believe, may be able to show, in some measure, that unswerving devotion to principle and unhesitating, and, if need be, unsparing condemnation of error are not incompatible with absolute fairness and charity towards all men.
(3.) The decline of Churchmanship, in the third place, may be attributed to the natural results of the prevalence of Evangelicalism. I do not, of course, refer to the school of Evangelicalism represented by a great party
7<d The Revival of Cknrchmanship in Scotland.
in the Church of Scotland. Evangelicalism with that party meant a strenuous and uucompromising assertion of Church principles, and an invincible distrust and dis- like of the views of the various species of seceders. What I do refer to is the type of Evangelicalism which dominated the Church of England in the early- and middle-Victorian periods, and which was embodied for many years in every fresh addition to the Episcopal Bench. It has been the singular fate of Scotland to be indebted to England for most of what is mischievous and un-catholic in her ecclesiastical arrangements, and the Evangelical virus from beyond the border worked surely, though silently, stealing into every home in works de- signed for the edification of the young, or for the " Sunday reading " of the old. The ideal presented to the mind by such Evangelicalism was, indeed, a high one, and it found expression in many lives of unwearied benevolence and fervent piety. But in most cases how different was the theory from the practice ! A scrupulous delicacy of conscience was transformed into a lively sense of the failings of others : a nice discrimination of little points of conduct into an inhuman and savage censoriousness. An admirable confidence in the divine government of the universe and in a special Providence degenerated into the hideous and expressly forbidden tendency to recognise the hand of an angry and avenging Deity in the misfortunes of other people. A praiseworthy con- currence in the truth that godliness is profitable for the life that now is led to the frank and unashamed avowal of the view that honesty is desirable because it is the best policy, and that we should all read our Bibles because that is the surest road to wealth. Much mischief, too, lay in the sophistries with which the Evangelicals sought to recommend virtue or to deter from vice ; * sophistries
* I allude to such an irrelevant question as, " How would you like to die in a theatre ? " or " in a ball-room ? " The Evangelicals never asked, " How would you like to die when you are eating an excellent dinner ?" or " when you are doing a good stroke of business ? "
The Revival of Churchmanship in Scotland. 7 1
■which the honest and straightforward intellect of child- hood and youth could penetrate in an instant, though it might not be able to expose them ; and scarcely less mischief lay in their violent and exaggerated denunciation of innocent amusements, though much more, it must be said, lurks in the modern way of talking as though amusements were the chief means of grace, and play-act- iug of infinitely greater moment than public worship. Worst of all, perhaps, was the implicit assumption that there is one moral law for the rich and another, a very grievous one, for the poor. It may be the duty of the rich man, faring sumptuously every day, to inculcate upon a starving fellow-creature the virtue of contentment, and to borrow a sanction for his teaching from all the terrors of the Mosaic Law and all the most awful warnings of Scripture ; but such exhortations are as little likely to convince as such threats to convert, for nowhere is example more efficacious as compared with precept than in regard to asceticism. In short, Evangelicalism exercised an un- fortunate influence in two ways ; («) it led men to believe that it matters not whether you are a baptist a congregationalist, an anglican, an original seceder, or a follower of the Countess of Huntingdon, so long as you can repeat with tolerable ease the evangelical shibboleth ; that is to say, it found no place in the order of religion for the Church and for the Sacraments ; and (b) the pith and marrow of its ethical code being the claim and the effort to be "better than one's neighbours," the serious consideration of moral questions was brought into something like contempt with plain men, when, as a matter of fact, it appeared in the case of many of the loudest professors that that claim was entirely unfounded and that effort either never made or ludicrously unsuccessful.
(4.) The fourth and last cause which has been operative in contributing to the decline of Churchmanship in Scotland I approach with some trepidation. It is, the lines on which the battle of so-called " innovations " was fought
72 The Revival of Churchmanship in Scotland.
and won five and twenty years ago. No one, I earnestly trust, will suspect me of the very slightest intention to make light of the substantial service which the advocates of "innovations" rendered to the Church of Scotland, or to depreciate the perseverance and devotion — I might almost say the heroism — displayed in fighting against the hosts of ignorance, prejudice, and malignity by men like our own revered Vice-President, i)r Boyd. But we are all from time to time the victims of circumstances, and it so chanced that the strategy of that campaigu was not, perhaps, precisely what we now wish it had been. The appeal was made to considerations of good sense and good taste rather than to anything higher ; and in order to win acceptance for changes in ritual, which to members of this Society have no value, or may even be distasteful, unless they are intimately bound up with doctrine and explicitly avowed to be so, it was doubtless necessary that their significance should be less prominently brought forward than their consonance with a feeling for good music and for what is pleasant to the eye. A consideration of the arguments habitually employed by the anti-innovation party will surely banish any remnant of astonishment that such should have been the case. Innovations were denounced as the " offspring of Judaism," and at the same time as " relics of Popery." Instrumental music was to be taboo, because we are told in the book of Job that the wicked " rejoiced at the sound of the organ," and because King Nebuchadnezzar was a notorious patron of the "cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of music." " Organs," it was seriously contended, " are the mere invention of man, played often by hirelings, who, while they modulate certain sounds, may possess a heart cold and hard as the nether millstone." Such is a specimen of the arguments with which men of the exceptional ability of the late Dr Candlish deigned to bolster up the cause of a truly innovating Puritanism. Ridicule, good humour, and good sense seemed weapons amply sufficient to repel such
The Rcjival of Chtu'chmanship in Scotland. J $
assaults. To go deeply into the matter naturally appeared to be superfluous. Yet we cannot shut our eyes to the unfortunate consequences of this accident : ritual has been almost entirely dissociated from doctrine ; it has been sought to make the services of the sanctuary " attractive," and nothing more, as though a church were a theatre or a music-hall ; and a considerable section of the public believes that a High Churchman is a man who is given up to anthems, who rarely uses the psalms, who ignores the paraphrases, and who wears the hood of his degree in the pulpit.
Such being some, at all events, of the causes which have depressed our national standard of Churchmanship, it remains to consider by what methods that standard may be raised. The institution of a proper liturgy and the regular observance of the Christian year will probably at once occur to everyone as effective and appropriate means to the desired end ; and it is significant and cheering to observe that those who have connived at the adoption of the latter expedient by sanctioning the Scottish Hymnal are effectually precluded from objecting to it on the ground of its apparent inconsistency with the standards of the Church, to which, as we know, many members of that party within the Church which views this Society with grave suspicion, cherish from time to time so profound and jealous an attachment. But both these eminently desirable reforms — the establishment of a proper liturgy and of the regular and systematic observance of the Christian year — are more likely to be effects than causes of the revival of Churchman- ship. To judge from what has happened within the last year or two, we are not likely to see a proper liturgy adopted, or the Christian year observed throughout the Church until our Churchmanship rises to a much higher level than it has hitherto attained. Nor, again, is much assistance to be expected from the secular press. I am far from blaming the secular press for that. If our daily papers occasionally display, as we presume to think,
74 The Revival of Churchmanship in Scotland.
something less than intelligence in the discussion of re- ligious and ecclesiastical matters, it is well to remember that such affairs are not really their business at all, and that the press follows and strives to catch the tone of its readers at least as much as it endeavours to lead opinion. Of the so-called religious papers it is perhaps unnecessary to say more than this, that, with a few honourable exceptions, they are too deeply pledged to the propagation of various forms of sectarian error, to afford any ground for hope.
Dismissing, then, these means as impracticable, we are left, it seems to me, with only one resource, and that is the ministers. If the standard of Churchmanship is to be raised, if the bulk of the laity is to be brought to an intelligent and living apprehension of Church principles, if we are to get rid of the idea that the Church of Scot- land depends for the validity of her credentials solely upon her connection with the State, if we are ever to perceive that we are really pronouncing the gravest censure upon the dissenting bodies when we assert that we are one with them in essentials though we differ in " minor matters," if we are ever to be cured of the astounding blindness and ignorance which prevail on questions of the utmost moment, or ever to shake off the sluggishness and indiffer- ence which that ignorance begets — it is to the ministers we must look to achieve these results. What we want — what we most urgently want — is systematic doctrinal teaching. We can get plenty of graceful essays in the magazines and reviews ; we can gather from a hundred other sources that dogma is valueless, nay, mischievous (in other words that ethics must be altogether divorced from metaphysics ) ; we can learn glibly to distinguish the Christ of Theology from what is called " the Christ of the Oospels " : a being whose character is only arrived at by a wholly arbitrary mutilation of the documents out of which it is by way of being constructed. But it is from the pulpit, and the pulpit alone, that we are entitled to expect a perpetual supply of wholesome teaching, a constant
The Revival of Chiirchmanship in Scotland. 75
insistancc upon the cardinal doctrines of the faith, a keen sense of the magnitude of the questions at stake, a merci- less exposure of the assumptions upon which the sceptic builds. If we invariably got what we are entitled to expect, we should soon, for example, cease to hear the national establishment of religion and the sanctity of the <'hurch's endowments defended upon the footing that the ( 'hurch is not a bad assistant of the policeman, and that she is consequently rather a cheap pennyworth to the ♦State. To secure what we are entitled to expect, we would cheerfully sacrifice much. If every minister would be good enough to treat the Bible as inspired, and would condescend to employ its phraseology and its vocabulary, we will, though it cost us a pang, forego the elegant ex- tracts from Mr Browning and Mr Ruskin which so often embellish our modern discourses. Nay, the familiar quotations from " In Memoriam," and " Crossing the Bar " itself, might go by the board, if their places were taken by the language of a psalmist or of a prophet. It is not, indeed, for me to presume to take to task the ministers of Christ's Evangel in Scotland. All that I would venture to do is, with the utmost possible deference, to offer this one suggestion, of capital importance as it seems to me, that the }Tounger ministers especially should devote themselves to the study of metaphysics. If I dared to go into detail, I should particularly recommend to their attention the works of Bishop Butler, the Bampton Lectures of Dean Mansel on the " Limits of Religious Thought," and Mr Arthur Balfour's " Defence of Philosophic Doubt " — these on the one side ; and on the other the writings of that great man David Hume, in whose lucid page they will find scepticism in its real essence ; sceptical even of itself, and divested of the rags in which its modern devotees attempt to conceal its deformities, — that hysterical gush about ethics and about conduct which forms so character- istic and so fatiguing a part of the latter-day unbeliever's stock-in-trade. The perusal of such works will surely, at
j6 The Revival of Churchmanship in Scotland.
all events, help to clear the mind of cant: we shall know what things are worth fighting for and what are not. The laws of nature will be recognised to be mere generalisations of matters of fact, and totally different in kind from the laws of thought or from moral laws ; it will be seen that natural science has never yet discovered the real " why " of any phenomenon, and that its inductions ultimately de- pend upon some major premise which the mere observa- tion and collection of natural facts cannot possibly supply. Above all, that awful but inevitable dilemma will be restored to its position of paramount importance — Christus, si non Deus, non bonus. When a few such leading prin- ciples and ideas are thoroughly grasped and enforced, ex- plicitly or implicitly, from the pulpits of the Church of Scotland, while concurrently there is a whole-hearted and courageous enunciation of the specific doctrines of the gospel, depend upon it that the revival of Churchmanship in Scotland will not be much longer delayed.
THE REVIVAL OF CHURCHMANSHIP IN SCOTLAND.
Rev. H. J. Wotherspoon, M.A.
One has first to ask what we mean by Churchmanship. It is often said that we are a " Churchy " people ; but that is another matter. Churchmanship is not Denominationalism — not interest in our own communion and its affairs, because it is ours. It is not that esprit de corps which one finds characteristic of separated communions, and generally the stronger the smaller and the more recent the separation, and the more dissident its dissent. Churchmanship is not Congregationalism. Neither, again, is it a strong sense of the value of Establishment or a loyalty to National Religion, which in our day are often called Churchmanship. A devout Churchman will doubtless be zealous for the recognition by the nation of positive religion and of corporate Christianity, but not necessarily he only ; those also who have not the idea of the Church as a Divine Society will share his zeal, often precisely because they see no point of stability in Church matters except that which can be given by a \ State alliance, and because if there were no Estab- lishment the}7 would not know where to look for the Church. And just as little is Churchmanship clericalism, addiction to matters ecclesiastical, keenness in trivial con- troversy, or intensity of feeling upon details of local Church interest. There may be a habit of unwearied criticism and
77
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gossip over Church affairs, which only testifies to the lack of Churchmanship.
By that we rather mean, I think, the patriotism of the Kingdom of Heaven, in which our citizenship lies. It is the temper of mind which results (1) from a belief in the Church of God as a heavenly thing, a Divine creation, a supernatural entity — the living Body of the Lord Jesus, the organism of the Holy Ghost, and the locus of the Pente- costal endowment, and (2) next, from the recognition of the actual and visible society of the baptised as the local and temporal manifestation of the Church of God — the recognition that this which we see is that of which glorious things are spoken, the City of God, in the world the Kingdom of Heaven — that it is this which Christ Jesus loves, as a man his own flesh ; it is the confession that, poor and despicable as this society may appear to the eye, torn and broken, weak through the infirmity of its members, fail- ing iu obvious measure, coming short in everything, it is that our Blessed Lord has in the world for which He gave Himself, which iu His eyes is holy and precious, and by His grace is strong for His will ; also (3) from a realisation of our own relation to this — the existing Church, the actual organisation — seeing it as that of which we are by the act of God members, which embodies for us the Divine calling, which possesses us, which is the Temple of God in which we can offer to God of His own, the medium by which Christ works upon the world, and, therefore, the channel of our self-yielding to Him — something which claims us with an inexhaustible claim, inasmuch as to minister to it in the least of its members is to minister to Him, and to serve in the lowliest of its offices is to serve in the name of Christ ; and (4) perhaps, also, from a resolute clinging to this convic- tion and a persistence in acting upon it, in defiance of appearances, in face of discouragements, and even in despite of the Church's apparent denial that such she is — in spite of her disbelief in herself.
At its root Churchmanship is the result of the habit of
The Revival of Church)) i an skip in Scotland. 79
seeing the Church, not as seen by the eyes of the flesh, but with eyes of faith ; not as it seems to the world, but as it is seen from the right hand of God, whence our Lord bends over it in His love and yearning, not to accuse or judge it, but to bless it with the continual riches of His Spirit, and to bear it in His heart before the Father; from whence also He continually sends it into the world, " the extension of His incarnation," His own arm reached from heaven among men to encircle and guard His own and to gather for God those who will be saved. In this, too, we must see with Christ's eyes and think His thoughts, which are not as our thoughts. In respect of His Church Christ still endures the humiliation of mortality, as when He veiled His glory in the poor and despised manhood which laboured in common tasks and was fed by the alms of the rich, and hungered, and was weary, and fainted under the cross — yet God was there. This, also, which now shares His reproach, is the body of Christ, and in it He suffers the same things. Shall we not know it ? " Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God" ;* and Churchman- ship seems to me very much that confession in practice, the recognition of things which actually are as " things of God" ; of an actual Kingdom of God, in which that which is ordained of Christ actually is what it professes and is called to be — the Church His Church ; her members the members of His body ; her ministry His ministry ; her sacraments His acts ; her benediction His benediction ; her proclamation of the forgiveness of sins in truth His ; in short, each thing really what the Ascended Lord gives it to be. To some the Church is an ideal, to many it is an abstraction, to a few apparently it means themselves and their own particular friends, to most, perhaps, it is a name for the aggregate of the sincerely devout, or it is something that never was but shall be — the gathering of the finallv perseverant in the end of the Divine purpose, a thing known
* St John it. 2.
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to God and already seen of Him Who calls the things that are not as though they were, but to us essentially invisible and unknowable.
To any of these Churchinanship is, of course, impossible. To them the Church — or in other words, what they perceive to exist as a society — is a man-made thing, the result of our exertions, the product of our manufacture, an expedient, a convenience ; one thing here, another thing there ; a thing to be arranged and modified to suit local peculiarities and racial idiosyncracies ; a thing to use if it be useful, or dispense with if it annoys us ; a thing to be adapted to necessities; a thing to take or to leave, to "join" or to forsake, as seems convenient ; a thing to patronise, to help, to encourage, to befriend — as generally useful, and, " iu some form," hardly (as yet) to be dispensed with.
The churchman, on the other hand, believes the church to be as the Holy Scriptures teach concerning it ; and believes without the explanation which explains away, or the preliminary definition which leaves to faith only a truism for acceptance. The church is to him the church sans phrase. He sees the " substantive corporation " of the church as a society, born not by the will of man, but of God : divinely quickened, divinely ordered, divinely en- dowed. It is in his faith more than the aggregate of believers, and more than the sum total of its membership, as a building is more than the heap of material out of which it has been reared, as an army is more than a gathering of armed men, or rather, perhaps, as the human body is more than a quantity of cells ; not a construction (as a machine is planned, and hammered, and put together for its work), but an organism ; the result, that is, not of labour but of life. It is not something that does work, but something that bears fruit. It is not a dead thing which we can make and unmake, take from and add to, shaping it to our ingenuity, but a living thing of faculty, and organ, and gift inherent in it ; subject to laws — not of mechanism — but of vital health. Of the machine that we
The Revival of Clmrchmanship in Scotland. 81
have made, one asks, " How can it be improved ?" ; but of* the living thing, one asks, " How has the Giver of life appointed for it ? What are the conditions of well-being in its destination from God ? " The attitude of Church man - ship to the church is, then, an attitude of belief that, con- cerning it, there exists a will of God which we have to learn and obey, conditions of its existence and capacities of its activity which inhere in its nature, as, for example, con- ditions and capacities inhere in the human organism. God has given it a certain life, fitted it with certain organs, appointed for it definite functions : it is an organism, not a mechanism ; which may, therefore, be by us mutilated, dis- torted, paralysed, crippled ; or may be allowed its full and healthy activity and growth : but cannot be of us made, unmade, or remade. Life makes the organism, not the organism the life, and this is gathered to itself and moulded by a Heavenly life ; it is builded together by the Spirit for an habitation of God." He then believes that in matters of its order and way there is a positive true and false ; something that is right and according to the Divine will ; which we have, therefore, not to contrive, but to dis- cover and submit to. He believes that sin can be com- mitted in matters which relate to the church — that there is a mind of Christ concerning it — that at our peril and to our cost we " change the King's word " and substitute well- meant invention of our own for acceptance of what He has given and set among us — and that whatever is near to His heart the things of His kingdom are near, and not to be recklessly handled by us for our will and at our wisdom. He " discerns the Lord's Body " ; he is himself of it by his Baptism, and lives in it by the Holy Communion ; and in it he is a servant and not a master, judged and not judging, ministering, perhaps, but not the less serving the ordinance in which he stands — chosen and not choosing. He discerns the Lord's Body ; the Church which he sees is the repre- sentative to him in time and place of that. And as he sees, so he endeavours to order himself in relation to it.
II. F
82 The Revival of Churchmanship in Scotland.
Churchmanship in this sense must always be an effort of faith, always and everywhere difficult, because of the unworthiness and failure of the human element in which the supernatural veils itself; specially difficult, perhaps, to ourselves because of the defacement and confusion of the external order of the Church. Nowhere else has the Church been so much men's sport and farm — nowhere else have men so " served themselves of Zion " — nowhere else has human self-will been so reckless and imperious in the things of God — nowhere else has the Church's history been so vexed and sorrowful : — they might remember it some- times, who are so scornful in their criticism and so lofty in their counsel for us. Very specially, as the times have grown later and evil, by the fierceness of schism and the clamour of contending claims, until schism has grown weary of considering its own excuse, and peaceable men have ceased to try to see principle in the turmoil. The end of the contests and partings of the last century is, that pious people, out of mere goodness and charity, have turned from the whole conception of the Church to take refuge in a theory of denominationalism. " What does it all matter ? There are good men in every Church — we are all serving- one Lord — let us agree to differ— let us agree to go our several ways, and every man in Church matters please him- self. Let us taboo the subject. Let us give up the idea of the Church as unworkable." This seems to be very much where matters stand. People are sick of the task of unravelling the position and of toiling to keep the justice of a complex case always in mind ; and so have dismissed the matter, adopting the theory of " separate regiments of an army," and leaving themselves (for purposes of faith) churchless.
It is easy to understand and even to sympathise — impos- sible for us to accept ease of mind or a modus Vivendi at the cost of dropping an article of the Faith and of losing a root motive of Christian action, a main inspiration of the Christian life. We cannot contemplate persistence in that down grade in life and doctrine and order to which
The Revival of Churchmansliip in Scotland. 83
acceptance of the theory of " Poly-churchism " inevitably commits.
There is a law in the spiritual world as in the physical of "reversal to type" — of the survival of the truest to type. In the trial of the future that Church will inherit which is the more churchly, truest to the ideal of the Church, having faith, believing in its commission and in what it has to offer.
The basis of Churchmansliip, as I have tried to show, is so purely doctrinal, that the one way to its revival is by the teaching of the Gospel in this application — teaching it as it was first preached, " the Gospel of the Kingdom." Individualism has had its day, in religion as in things secular. That day is passing. The Gospel is more than a message to the single soul of the way of its salvation. It is a proclamation of the Kingdom of Heaven that it is among us. The Church has to know itself as representing that kingdom to the world, that the world may be saved. It must know its commission to do this ; it must take seriously the word of Revelation concerning itself as well as concerning the individual. It must become interested in its own order and its internal life as matters of religion, and of obedience to the will of God and of loyalty to Christ. Recognising herself as the instrument of the Saviour of the world for the world's help, she must recognise the primary duty of being a perfect and complete instrument and such as He has chosen and willed. And one must look to this — a revived faith concerning the Church, and a teaching of the truth with regard to corporate Christianity as fearless and full as teaching with regard to individual religion has habitually been. There is a Gospel concerning the Church as well as concerning the soul. It is Gospel — good tidings — that there is actually a Divine Society, a fold and shelter for us ; that there is an atmosphere of grace and help in which we may abide ; that in the world there is something which is not of the world ; that there are voices which speak for Christ, and hands which minister at His will out
84 The Revival of Churchmanskip in Scotland.
of His fulness ; that there is Bread in the Father's House ; that there are points of substantive contact with the unseen. Men ciave for more than teaching, more than history, more than hope. It is not enough for us to be told of the supernatural in the past and in the future — in Judtea and in Eternity. Our life is here and to-day. Our heart and our flesh cry out for the living God, and for His touch where we stand. There is Gospel concerning this also ; and how can we keep it back, or hint and falter it and explain it till it speaks of nothing that any of us ever saw or can see ? We have to declare the truth ; if the fact of our surroundings poorly accords with it, so much the worse for the surroundings. We have no commission to praise the " best of possible worlds." " The Scripture cannot be broken " ; and we have its foundation, standing sure. Men believe the truth when it is taught.
But first we must consent to see the truth as this truth also is in Jesus ; we must yield to it, though it compel the reconsideration of intellectual positions in which, under stress of adverse and perplexing circumstances, many of us have been driven, perhaps reluctantly, to take refuge. Any revival of teaching must be first among the teachers. Those who bear the Ark must lead the way; only when their feet are dipped, the flood of indifference, rationalising, Erastianism, latitudinarianism, rolls back and is heaped against itself.
There is encouragement to such reconsideration of questions of the root and nature of the Christian Society in the fact that it is so obviously demanded by present movements of thought. It is the social, not the individual aspect of any question which now becomes prominent. Denominationalism has no promise for the masses. A Christianity represented by self - associated congregations can have little light or teaching in the direction of con- sideration for the depressed and neglected sections of the population. Congregationalism, whether established or un- established, is representative of the contented and comfort-
The Revival of Churchmanship in Scotland. 85
able classes. It comes to be ministered to, not to minister ; it pays for that, and it takes good care to get what it pays for. It will be a vain thing to look to it for any witness to Christianity in social or economic relations. It is quiet in safe generalisations. The evangelical school (using the word in its narrower sense — Churchmanship must, by its nature, include evangelical doctrine) is concerned with personal salvation. It has never grasped, and from the limitation of its doctrinal position it can never adequately handle, the wider question — how the conditions of life may be so ameliorated that the salvation of the individual may be the easier, and his perdition less probable. The Broad- church school has done " much to raise and widen the ideals of Christian men," to bring into prominence the conception of the Kingdom of Heaven upon Earth, and to insist upon a practice of Christianity. It has not been able to do more. It is not to the idea of the worth of the soul and of the possibility of its redemption, nor to the generous and fearless testimony which liberalism in Chris- tianity has borne to ethical justice, that working-men leaders appeal when they claim the countenance of Chris- tianity for their aspirations : it is to the idea of the Church, its conception of brotherhood, and its tradition of resistance to oppression and of protection for weakness. They re- member the past and what the Church has been, if now it is not, to the poor and forgotten ; and they remind us of it. If they look at all to Christianity for help in these days — and they do — it is not apparently to Evangelicalism, endless and fruitful as its spending of itself has been for the evangelisation of the masses and manifold its works of mercy ; and it is not to a studiously critical theology ; least of all is it to popular Non-conformity with its self-centred religion and congregational ministry ; there are tokens, I think, that they look hopefully to the revival in ihe Church itself of Churchmanship — of the consciousness of the Church that it is to be itself the Kingdom of Heaven, and that it has a message for mankind, as well as for the
86 The Revival of Ckurchmanship in Scotland.
soul of this man and that. Those who think for the masses are quick to recognise Church revival as so far a return to the ideas of Jesus and the Apostles, and as a hope that the teaching of the Sermon on the Mount may be hearkened to.
Churchmanship, then, will revive, I believe, only through the teaching of a full Scriptural doctrine of the nature of the Church — " its divine basis, supernatural life, and heavenly calling." And this will the more readily come, as those who teach perceive that such doctrine is the necessary complement of faith in the Incarnation (using that phrase emphatically as inclusive of all that is implied in the Ascension of the Risen Lord) — is as much part of Christianity as the doctrine of individual experience ; and that we cannot consistently walk by faith in relation to our Lord, but walk by sight in relation to His body — believe as regards the work of the Saviour, and rationalise as regards the work of the Holy Ghost : or hold doctrines of supernatural grace as regards the soul, and reject them as regards the corporate society of the Redeemed. It will come as it is perceived that the doctrine of the Church is necessary to consistent positive belief, and is part of a reasoned Christian thought ; that it alone in- terprets experience, harmonises the Christian life with its environment, or gives stability to Christian institutions. It will come as it is seen to be demanded by the social movement in which we stand. It will be encouraged and aided in various subordinate ways. There will probably be in the future less and less of the curious habit of depreciating the positive value of Divine ordinance, the gifts of the ascended Christ. There will probably be a greater disposition to represent the actual ministra- tions and activities of the Church as " things of God." It will cease to be a hindrance and disadvantage to any beneficent undertaking that it is " connected with the Church." It will cease to be a commendation of a good work that it is " wholly unconnected with any Church."
The Revival of Churchmanship in Scotland. 87
The Church itself will grow to labour less in its own name and more in Christ's. There will be less comparing of ourselves with one another; more measurement of our service by the work undone — more sense of failure — more zeal to serve, and more willingness to be least. We will cease to think of " my Church " and " our Church," and instead, the Church which is not ours, but we of it, will be in our minds. There will be an end, one may hope, of that painfully external attitude which at present so many of our devout people occupy to a lonely clergy. For they will no longer see the Church as a clerical institution to which they " adhere," but as a Divine organisation, in which their own mem- bership is as intimate and their own function as high and sacred as that of the ministry, though each member has in it his own and not another's office. At present they love their Church — thank God for that ; but many of them apparently with a curious antiquarian interest in its peculiarities — love it as they love the old dialect which they no longer speak — love it as the " Church of their fathers," rather than as the Church of God and Bride of Christ — after the flesh rather than after the Spirit. Therefore it seems to many of them something which they support and favour, rather than God's shelter for them — something which they protect, rather than Christ's fold protecting them. They are not " offered upon its faith." Work for the Church is one thing, work for Christ another ; that is sought outside ; outside of the Church lie the romance and enthusiasm of religion ; Church matters are matters of business. We will enter on a new era of devoted and joyful service as the spiritual and Scriptural conception of the actual Church revives. It must revive : it is life or death to us that it should.
It is for the clergy to make it easier for the flock in general to see the Church with eyes of faith. We should have compassion on human nature and should strive to show men a reverend Church, moving and acting before the
SS The Revival of Churchmanship in Scotland.
world in something of the solemnity of its calling and in something of the beauty of its holiness. It is not in any spirit of cynicism, but as a matter of right expediency, that 1 suggest how needful it is that discussions of Church business, for example, should be in private. The publicity of our Church Courts has been a grievous stumbling-block and is a grave hindrance. No authority can maintain a due dignity and reserve whose intimate processes are so stripped bare to criticism.
For the rest, it requires no apology to commend such belief concerning the Church of God. We may all remember Dr Norman M'Leod's acceptance of the epithet " broad " : " They call me broad ; I desire to be broad, broad as the charity of Almighty God, and narrow as His righteousness." So we may say that we would wish our thoughts of the Church to be high as the thoughts of our Lord concerning it, deep as His love for it, and low as the foot of His Cross. We will think lowly of ourselves, and the more lowly as we have the higher conception of His grace, of the trust committed to us, and of the failure of so much of His blessed purpose because we have ourselves been its instrument. But of what His Church is in His will, as it is seen by His wonderful goodness, as He has appoiuted for it, as He has called it to be, and as He has filled it with life and power by the Holy Ghost ; of the reality of its function, of the energy of its ordinance, of the sacredness of its fellow- ship, and of the truth of its communion with the eternal and unseen ; of all this, our despair will be to think thoughts high as the truth concerning it ; our despair is for our own unbelief and incapacity to see with eyes of faith the City of God descending, the River of Life flowing, the fruit that we may gather for our strength, and the leaves that we may pluck for the healing of the nations, the golden street which our feet are treading in the light of God, Who is in the midst of us our glory.
Yet we will strive to know it ; it is the consecration of our life to know it — that it is not we who live, but Christ lives
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in us — not we who work, but Christ who works by us — not wo who minister, but Christ who stands above and behind His own ordinance and fills it with His power. And we will preach it, because it is the inspiration of the Church to know itself as it is known of God, as the very Body of Christ, the organism of the Holy Ghost, by and through which alone Christ, from His far removal, reaches the world which He has loved, and the men for whom He died.
CANDIDATES FOR THE HOLY MINISTRY: THEIR TRAINING, THEIR POSITION AS PROBA- TIONERS, AND HOW BEST TO REMOVE THE DISADVANTAGES UNDER WHICH THEY LABOUR.
Rev. Thomas Leishman, D.D.
The place which the Probationer now holds in our system is very different from what it was in the beginning. His occupation is other than it usually was in those earlier times, and with it the popular estimate of his status has changed, to the detriment of the greater office to which he looks forward. The Probationer's connection was not so much with the Church at large, or with any single congre- gation, as with his presbytery. It watched over his studies. After due trial it allowed him to preach occasionally within its bounds. It expected him to be present at its weekly meetings, and to take his part in the exercise, the theo- logical discussion which was thu invariable prelude to the proper business of the Court. The discourse, called exer- cise and addition, still required as one of the trials before license, is a relic of the time when his aptitude for this form of debate was carefully tested. His presbytery's con- sent was necessary before he could pass under the jurisdic- tion of another presbytery and perform the same functions there. When a parish became vacant, the expectants on the leet of the presbytery were the first to have their
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Cci7ididatcs for the Holy Ministry. 91
claims submitted to those with whom the appointment lay, under that large, though undefined, power of regulating procedure in cases of vacancy, of which the Church never denuded herself till our own day. But the Probationers, as a body, were never regarded as a section of the working ministry. The choicest of them served as regents in the universities, some of them as chaplains in country houses, many of them in the combined office of reader and school- master. But whatever their work was, their name exactly defined their position. They were expectants, and the advancement to which they looked forward was the cure of souls with ordination. Their status is plainly indicated in the words of the Westminster Directory, " such as intend the ministry may occasionally both read the Word and exercise their gift in preaching in the congregation, if allowed by the Presbytery thereunto." That these words were meant to apply to licentiates alone is clearly stated by George Gillespie (" Miscell. Quest.," III. 5), and in "Jus Divinum Minis terii Evangelici " (p. 113). It will be observed that even for the public reading of the Scriptures a presbyterial warrant was necessar}r, and with this agree the words of the Larger Catechism, " all are not to be permitted to read the word publicly in the congregation " (Q. 156). It was at one time a question in the Assembly whether even to expectants these rights ought to be con- ceded. Baillie, in his Letter to his Colleagues, pleads for them thus — " If none but a pastor or doctor may pray or preach or read in a congregation, our expectants may not speak to God for any people, nor to any people for God, they having no calling so to do, and not being in any true or proper sense officers in any congregation."
In times nearer our own, a fuller supply of ordinances became necessary, in consequence of the growth of popula- tion in cities and industrial centres, if the people were not to fall away from the Church. The obvious remedy was the erection of new parishes. But this was prevented by the loss, in great part, of old endowments and the cost of
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creating new, besides the via inertice of those incumbents to whom the division of their charge seemed a greater evil than the lapsing of their flock. The only quarter to which the Church could look for immediate help was the class of expectants. As time went on they found themselves, instead of waiting for the privilege of occasional preaching, called on in increasing numbers to act virtually as the colleagues of men whose work was too onerous. Nay, separate congre- gations were frequently committed to their charge for pastoral care and the ordinary services of the sanctuary. In these circumstances, it was natural that the wide differ- ence between the minister and the non-minister should be narrowed, and in the eyes of the people all but effaced. And none of us who consider, who remember what youthful humanity is, will wonder that the Probationer was as ready as the people were to see in himself a cleric. The name preacher, once synonymous with minister, had been aban- doned by the clergy, and somehow the expectant came into possession of the vacant title. Presently the word reverend began to be prefixed to his name, and was not declined. And of late he has been willing to be described, by those who know no better, as assistant-minister. These are not ques- tions of the fitness of designations. They touch principles that underlie our Church order. They create and express a belief that there are two grades in the Christian ministry, differing in this, that one reserves to itself the right of ministering sacraments and order, not so much as the differentia of its mission, as to be a badge of dignity attached to posts of higher emolument, held under a surer tenure. In all this there is an unnatural development, under new circumstances, of what was a wise regulation for carrying on and completing the training of young laymen who aspired to the ministry. The guarded privilege granted by each presbytery to its neophytes has become a com- mission co-extensive with the Church, entitling them, with- out any further warrant from her, to enter on the pastorate of separate flocks.
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The remedy for this seems to be, that the Church should, on the one hand, replace the expectant in something like his original position, and on the other confer ordination much more freely. Whoever has a fixed sphere of duty assigned to him which he is to occupy for the immediate future with something of permanence, either in association with another or independently, ought to be equipped for his ministerial work by being invested with the ministerial office. It may be said that he ought not to be admitted to an office for life without having a provision secured to him for life. This is certainly most desirable, but it is not indispensable. Our calling has life-endowments attached to it, a share of which conies sooner or later to most men who pass without discredit through the earlier stage of service. But though benefice is, or is likely to be, associated with office, we must not confound two things so very different. Our endowments are increasing, but not so fast as the needs of the people. If the lower privilege of a monetary provision and the higher privilege of a Divine mission obstruct each other, it is the lower that must give way, if the work of Christ is not to be hindered. The question, how the flock shall feed the shepherd, is of less moment than that other, how the shepherd may best feed the flock. As matter of fact, the position of an ordained assistant or a minister in charge of a mission station would not differ in its comfort or its prospects from that which the same man holds at present as a stipendiary probationer. In either case he has entered on his life-work with the intent of serving in his present post till he is transferred to a new one. Another objection is that every such ordina- tion would be creating a ministerium vagum. But that phrase, properly used, means the ordaining of one who has no field of labour awaiting him, but has to go in search of it, as a probationer does on being licensed. What is now advocated is the ordaining of a man to whom fixed work in a particular field is already assigned. What is perhaps in the mind of the objector, is that one who has been thus
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ordained may at some future period of life come to be without employment. Suppose that he is, what harm can come to the Church thereby ? None can come from his being a peripatetic preacher, for every unemployed probationer is so at this moment, and to the Church's advantage. If it is supposed that some evil would result from his being entitled to celebrate the sacraments or administer discipline, here, too, appeal may be made to present experience. We have already among us ordained men without charges, and one does not hear of their violating ecclesiastical order in these particulars. They have no congregations to receive the one, nor kirk-sessions to authorise the other. If abuses in these departments of duty were laid to their charge, they would find that they are still subject to the law of the Church. It is difficult to see where irregularities could arise from their celebrating marriages. It is no part of the Church's mission to discourage matrimony. Then, as regards the interests of the men themselves, if at any time they were without employment, their social status would be no worse than that of unsuccessful probationers, and in the eyes of many it would appear better. There could come no detriment to the Church or to themselves, to outweigh the great benefit which would flow from the more frequent ordination of our younger men, making their work more quickening to themselves, more serviceable to the people, and more helpful to the ministers whose work they shared.
CANDIDATES FOR THE HOLY MINISTRY : THEIR TRAINING, THEIR POSITION AS PROBA- TIONERS, AND HOW BEST TO REMOVE THE DISADVANTAGES UNDER WHICH THEY LABOUR.
Rev. M. P. Johnstone, B.D.
There are two modes by which defects in the training of the Ministry may be recognised. We may consider the present Ministry and its adaptation to the work in which it has to engage, or we may have regard to the preparation which actually exists, and compare it with the Christian fitness of things. Judged from either standpoint, the cultivation of the ministerial gift within the Church seems at present defective alike on the devotional and on the social side. The subject of the minister's intellectual train- ing is beyond the scope of this paper. It is a very large one, and has always occupied, one might almost say absorbed, the attention of the Church. New university rules, moreover, have recently brought into sharp relief its transitional aspect at the present day. Only indirectly shall I refer to it.
Of the two, the devotional and the social training, we naturally give the chief place to the devotional. I have, first to prove my statement in this connection.
The general condition of Scottish religious life is the fountain-head of defects in its Ministry. A low public
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opinion is the ultimate cause of ministerial inefficiency of every kind and degree. We probably do not err if we regard the decay of zeal and spirituality in the church in its corporate aspect — for with individual and domestic piety it is otherwise — as an inheritance from the eigh- teenth century. With all due allowance for the natural reticence of Scottish character, and that reserve in holy things which is not only the guardian of authority but also the companion of wisdom, it cannot be disputed that church life in Scotland in those days was flat and commonplace. Religion seems to have ceased to be either a creed or an emotion, and had become a bald and cold morality — a Christian counterpart of that extremely respectable Confucianism which, it is said, is responsible for the stagnation of China. Scotland had no Wesley and no Whitfield. Perhaps she needed them less than England, but few will say she did not need them at all. Fervour, moreover, where it did exist, did not run in the channel of the National Church. It was conscientiously accounted wildness and extravagance by the Moderates, so admirable in their general theory on other matters. Thomas Carlyle tells us that, in his boyhood, whoever had a soul to be saved was a Dissenter. Things were slowly but surely altering for the better in the first half of the present century until 1843, Avhen, whatever else happened, an amount of enthusiasm and earnestness, which could ill be spared, was withdrawn from among the elements which combine to make up a proportionate faith, and are all essential to an adequate reflection by the National Church of the religious life of the nation.
The effects of this withdrawal still appear in the spiritual condition and character of the Church. A certain half-con- scious repugnance to the devotional in religion characterises her, I fear, more than any other religious body in Scotland. There are features of our church life which have no signifi- cance at all, unless it be that they betray a certain lack of in- stinct in the Ministry itself for the spiritual as distinct from
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the intellectual. To this cause is probably due much of our extremely learned preaching. A little common-sense might tell us how few are the points of contact between the aver- age communicant and the Tubingen theory, or even the " Higher Criticism." The great, the overwhelming majority of our people have never heard of J>aur or Strauss. Perhaps one or two in recent months have some acquaintance with Dr Pfleiderer. Even with these it is, to a large extent, a mere newspaper acquaintance. And perhaps it were better, even for them, that they should be told to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God, than be taught how to dissect the Pentateuch or how to criticise St Paul. The intellectualism I have referred to is responsible for this phase of ineffective preaching. It in- directly proves our lack of devotion — our want of apprecia- tion of the true object of preaching. It fastens our attention on the human side of Scripture instead of on the Divine. It eclipses the one Beatific Vision by the interposition as of a swarm of asteroids darting hither and thither in wild col- lision. Forgetfulness of the devotional has produced amongst us that feverish passion to be, or appear to be, abreast with modern thought : that facile incorporation of new theories concerning the Sacred Record, so much admired nowadays, and so little edifying. It need not be said that the ministers should be able, when necessary, to defend the faith. But the necessity does not arise in the pulpit, and it is bad even for the minister himself that he should bury himself and his message under a mountain of external evidences.
The same absence of the devotional is conspicuous in much of our Church Court life. There are, of course, those who say that it is inappropriate and incongruous there, since these Courts exist simply for the despatch of business. This opinion might be controverted. Church Courts were not originated only, or mainly, for the despatch of business. And it admits of question whether, as now conducted, they furnish the best and most effective means for that end. Certainly, whether it be desirable or no, Church Courts are almost
II. G
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indistinguishable, save in their subject matter, from a School or Parochial Board, or other such meeting. In view of the impatience with which any directly spiritual topic is received, it would sometimes seem as if no place at all was to be reserved for corporate ministerial devotion. The scantiness of the attendance at the service with which Synod meetings open — much the most interesting and edifying of the transactions of these reverend Courts — and the ceaseless demand for the abolition of that service, go far to confirm my point that among the ministers of the Word there is at present a lack of the devotional temper proper to their work, and indispensable to the due discharge of their function as servants of the altar.
These things being so, one would have anticipated that they would have arrested the attention of the Church, and that an endeavour would have been made to find some corrective. We would have expected that (for example) stress would be laid on obvious deficiencies in the methods of preparing candidates for the Ministry. We might expect that even a disproportionate degree of attention would have come to be concentrated upon the spiritual as distinct from the intellectual side of their preparation, at least until the balance were redressed. There is, how- ever, as yet, no indication that even the need of any such remedial policy has been recognised.
Most of us can remember our attitude in student days towards things spiritual — our exclusive occupation with the technicalities or purely controversial aspects of theological questions, combined with an utter unconsciousness of the power of the vital principles involved in these questions, or of their bearing upon ourselves. As far as professorial influence went, it did little to modify that attitude. The raw material at their disposal was no doubt unresponsive to such efforts as they made. Not that the material was in- trinsically unsuitable. It is doubtful, after all, to those of us who look straight at life, whether we can say what kind of college tone and temper precedes the more fruitful ministry.
The Parochial or Mission work which is sometimes under-
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taken by students does not go far towards remedying the defects referred to. Such work is generally regarded as merely a familiarising of the workman with his tools. It is seldom looked at as an opportunty for the acquisition of a tone or disposition, as the forging and finishing of the tool itself. The Church-work engaged in is, of course, laudable in its place, but it only obliquely touches the spiritual. District visitation and periodic gatherings to compare notes may be useful on the lower planes of preparation. Perhaps they are calculated rather to retard than to aid the gaining of a vivid ministerial consciousness.
Nor are the means presently in use by the Church her- self for testing the progressive culture of divinity students more likely to improve their spiritual tone. The present writer has no direct knowledge of the Synodical examination, but, as far as his information goes, it proceeds according to a purely intellectual standard. He can, however, speak from personal knowledge of Presbyterial examinations, and he can conceive few things less likely to impress a young man with a sense of the character of his future office. Most of us have, in these matters, modest ambitions. We are thankful if the presence of one or two unwise men in the presbytery — and the presbytery is rare where all the members are wise — does not degrade the whole proceed- ings into a sham or a burlesque. We are thankful on such occasions when no great harm is done, and compara- tive decorum is unbroken.
And even though such examinations were ideally conducted, it is difficult to see how they could conduce towards the end to be desired — the creation, namely, and the maintenance -of a spirit in harmony with what falls to be set forth in the ordination charge. Intellectual tests are needful, but the}' are not everything. " This ought ye to have done, hut not to leave the other undone."
Passing from mere defects in devotional culture, I pro- ceed to notice a practice which, in my opinion, exercises a positively adverse influence on the development of a Minis-
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1 1 rial tone and temper. I refer to the too common practice of the supply of the pulpit by students. A curious indirect proof of the absence of a just devotional ideal in the Church is furnished by the character of the objections urged against this practice by Professors of Theology. I have often heard them very properly declaim against the habit, but it has almost always been on the ground of the interruption to purely academic work caused by such excursions during the winter session.
It can, however, scarcely be without graver loss than this, that, as matters stand, students should act as though they were already authorised to preach. The law of the ( Ihurch is emphatic on the subject : it is re-enacted year by year. This being so, the morale, of both ministers and students cannot escape serious hurt in the process of a deliberate contravention of that law, which must tell in man}r ways. It may be said that the law should be changed. Perhaps it should, but that is not the question ; and anyhow it is more to be desired that the law, however defective in form, should be observed, than that it should be theoretically perfect, and yet be left practically in abeyance. In short, a bad law kept is a better discipline than a good law set at naught. The law-abiding spirit is one spirit. The spirit of Christianity is a law-abiding spirit, and manifests itself in obedience, whether the enacting authority be human or divine. " He that offends in one point is guilty of all." " Is the law sin ! God forbid : nay, I had not known sin but by the law." It is no sign that the law is bad that some feel tempted to traverse it. I do not wish to take upon myself the invidious task of apportioning blame. Were I to do so, I should probably say that the minister who invites deserves much heavier censure than the student who accepts the illicit invitation. My present point is that such a practice cannot but deteriorate the moral as well as spiritual sensibility of candidates for the ministry. It confirms in them an utterly false impression of the functions they will one day be called to discharge.
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It is defended, I am aware, on the ground that it familiar- ises the student witli his future work, and gives him con- fidence in appearing before a congregation. On this level, I should answer that there is such a thing as injurious familiarity and over-confidence. The probationer stage is expressly provided to meet the need of a period of probation. But I decline to answer on that level. It can never be right that the first contact of a student with the work of the ministry should be through a breach of Church law. He that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep, and not he who climbeth up some other way. It cannot be good for a student to feel that he is doing this. It would be difficult to conceive of the presence of a worse element in the training of the ministry.
Beyond those means to which I have adverted it would be hard to say what the Church does to train her ministers. It may be alleged that the lack of devo- tional culture in her curriculum is inevitable, and had best be provided for by merely private preparation. To some extent this is true. There are certain matters in every Christian life which are between God and the in- dividual soul only : there must needs be such in the life of one who "intends the ministry." But surely some devotional direction is desirable : is not silence in such a matter on the part of the Church utterly unjustifiable ? Has she nothing to offer more quickening than a merely intellectual and scientific theology, essential though that may be ? What does the Church, or anyone acting in her behalf, kuow of the daily religious life of her students of theology ? What provision does she offer specially for their help ? What security does she take for the fulfilment of her obligation to train them, to whom, of all her sons, she surely owes the most anxious care ? If the ministry ever needed such provision, it is now. If the ministry of any church needs it, that of the Church of Scotland does to-day, with its strong temptation to rural lethargy on the one hand and city fussiness on the other.
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It is easier to point out defects than to provide remedies. Yet even negative criticism is useful if it evoke positive and constructive reform. The ministry must always more or less resemble in tone and temper the Church from which it is evolved. One would fain see the dawn of better things within the circle of the ministry itself ; it may, however, be among the devouter laity that the kind- ling of a real reformation may originate. Come whence it may, come it must, if disaster is to be averted.
I fear it is in vain to look either to the Church Courts or the Church periodicals for aid in this matter. The Church Courts, as we have seen, are at present indifferent to such questions. The Church periodicals do not reflect the real but their ideal Church from their pages. I do not think it is unjust to say that they are too firmly bound, in perhaps a blameless sense, to the policy of writing up the Church to make them a very hopeful source of Church reform. No one would ever learn from them that there were any abuses at all within the four corners of the Kirk. Probably this is inevitable. In many ways they are interesting. But their Church complacency is sometimes too stupendous.
The difficulty of reform is increased when we remember, what I trust none of us absolutely forget, that the culture of the devotional life is incapable of being tested in the same manner as intellectual attainments. And it may be asserted that the Church, as a corporate body, can scarcely take direct cognisance of such needs. Plausible reasons may no doubt be advanced for the maintenance of a purely negative attitude in the matter of spiritual training ; to my thinking, these reasons, however, are not conclusive.
While the Church could not examine on such matters, she could yet, by prescribing the perusal of devotional works, readjust in some measure the balance in which she weighs the candidates for her ministry. "Well-chosen devo- tional classics are not less relevant to preparation for the spiritual ministry than the ponderous volumes of Hill or Hod<;e. The resources of the whole Catholic Church are
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available, and we should have recourse to the best devo- tional help, wherever it can be found.
Again, the Ordination Examination — perhaps at present the most formal and inept of the whole course — might at least be profitably supplemented by a special service intended only for the clergy and candidates. This would accomplish a double purpose: it would bring home the magnitude of the event on its Divine side to the can- didate, and it would remind the presbyters of what we are all too apt to forget, that we ourselves stand in constant need of the care of the Chief Shepherd.
Finally, under this topic one can but suggest — for it is a large subject — the establishment of a Church House, in which divinity students might associate during the college session. The constant supervision and friendship of the suitable head of such a house would be an inestimable benefit and comfort to the young men at the time and for after life. I have no fear lest such an institution should be unpopular with our students themselves. Being honest and Christian young Scotsmen, who love the Church, they would hail any agency which would help them to serve her better.
In venturing now to refer to the need of greater social experience on the part of some of our ministers and students, I offer two considerations in vindication of my so doing.
Even self-respect requires every true man, be he minister or layman, to do what in him lies to get rid of whatever in any degree hinders the efficient discharge of the duties which fall to him. Were it only on this ground, matters which might in some aspects appear trivial have their own importance, and claim attention. No petty amour propre should resent reference to them.
The Church of Scotland is necessarily called to minister to all classes. As compared with the Church of England it may be conceded that in fulfilling this calling she labours under certain obvious disadvantages. This notwith- standing, she has never repudiated her duty to the aristoc-
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racy, nor has she ever permitted the idea that her ministers occupy no other relation to them than that of almoners. The question then arises, whether she furnishes her ministers fitly for their work in all its social relations. The efficient discharge of a minister's work requires in an increasing degree a careful social training, as regards refine- ment of feeling, tact, and good manners. The general improvement in these respects has rendered any short- coming the more conspicuous and offensive. Times have changed. The rough old dram-drinking bonnet - laird has disappeared. His successor is less autochthonous — -, generally a person of some social and even intellectual culture. But our Church has done nothing — as other churches have — to adapt her ministerial training to these changed conditions. Our ministers, from whatever circles drawn, need, more than ever, to be true gentlemen, in the best and highest sense of that often misused word, if the Church is to fulfil her duty to any class. For true refine- ment is as needful in dealing with the poor as with the rich. There are certain minor graces, the presence of which is little, the absence of which is much. It has been shrewdly said, " No one can help his manner : every one can help his manners." Cowper long ago denounced flippancy among the clergy. One sometimes wishes him back again to speak of other defects.
It is probably because the scholastic aspect of the office has grown so abnormally prominent in our time that such things are possible. It is the Church's fault that minis- terial power should so often languish under the pressure of preventible ills. It is not merely the single strand of preach- ing to which she should attend, but the whole web of clerical life. To secure a parish or to gather a congregation is not the one thing needful for a true minister. The Apostolic injunction is, "Watch thou in all things: make full 'proof of thy ministry." In conclusion. I can only hastily recur to the Church House formerly referred to, as one most likely means not only to train in devotion, but also to remedy
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such social deficiencies as may exist among candidates for the ministry. The dreary abodes with which seme of our poor students have to be content during the college session furnish little comfort for body or soul. The common stair is the pillar of our modern Simeon — a hermitage which brings no heroic repute to the scholastic anchorite, to compensate for its grievous drawbacks. I think tin; Church might be more kindly and considerate in her treat- ment of her students of divinity. If something more like a home, and a manner of living more becoming their posi- tion, were offered by the Church, there can be little doubt that such a provision would be gratefully accepted, and fruitful of much cfood.
CANDIDATES FOR THE HOLY MINISTRY : THEIR TRAINING, THEIR POSITION AS PROBA- TIONERS, AND HOW BEST TO REMOVE THE DISADVANTAGES UNDER WHICH THEY LABOUR.
Rev. H. J. Wotherspoon, M.A.
I. No Church has insisted as our own has done on the intellectual equipment of its ministry, and none pi'obably has ignored so entirely the need of any other preparation than the intellectual. We require of our candidates for license evidence of seven (or six) years' university education, and besides that they have passed four presbyterial and two synodical examinations, which, in quantity at least, may seem ample security for their scholastic development. For the rest, we require certain certificates of character.
It may be said that the intellectual equipment can be ascertained by examination, while other conditions cannot. But on the intellectual side we do not only examine — we educate. We require seven years' mental training. Can we do nothing to educate conscience for approaching respon- sibility ? nothing to discipline the soul to accept with resolve the yoke and burden which are easy only to those who have learnt of Christ ? nothing to train our candidates in the mind of consecration, in the habit of devotion, or in the temper of enthusiasm ? nothing to encourage the formation of a disposition to unworldlincss, or of high purpose ? nothing to impart full conceptions of the sacredness of the calling to be accepted ? nothing to form a religious tone
1C6
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in our future ministers? I do not say that these things are not to be found in those who leave our divinity halls — they are often to be found, and in a surprising degree — but when they are there, they are certainly there without thanks to us, and in spite of our neglect to culti- vate them. First and last, our students of Divinity have to fight their own battle, and do the best they can for themselves. So far as the Church's provision for them goes (other than that which exists for young men in lodgings generally), I am afraid that they might say, " No man has cared for our souls."* As it is, she periodically examines them, and warns them to keep a clean moral record — that, and no more ; till she examines them over again, and gives them her license — nominally, to preach the Gospel, but, in fact, to go into the scramble for occupation — license to make application to vacancy committees — license to sink or swim. I submit that there is room for a wiser interest in our students of Divinity, and that the Church should under- take their training for the Holy Ministry ; not that she should neglect their education, but that she should begin their real training as the more important of the two. They have need of the Theological College as well as of the University. They require the personal iufluence of spiritual and pastoral instructors and formers of youth, as well as the discipline of the class lecturer and the official examiner. This want may be supplied by gathering our students into a residentiary hall, under some wisest and fittest warden, or it may be done, if less efficiently, by the warden without the Hall — as Dean Yaughan has carried on his system of personal intercourse, and influence, and instruc- tion for theological candidates in Doucaster and Loudon and at Llandaff. Here, as everywhere, of course, we are met by the lack of material resources. The Church cannot do her work on endowments which have to be supplemented to
* I refer only to what the Church provides. That professors and ministers do care, and individually interest themselves in efforts of our students to train themselves in Home Mission work, we all know, and should gratefully acknowledge.
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feed her ministry, or upon a scale of offering by her people which only suffices to starve Home and Foreign Mission work. On every side we are met by the need that the flock of God should begin to "bring into the Storehouse" of God " all the tithes." But if the want were known, is it possible that the means should be withheld ? En- dowments in the form of bursaries are abundant, and always being added to, because our people wish to help the work of equipment for the ministry ; and to found more bursaries is the only way of doing so that they know. However it be done, officially or by private effort, it is evident that some better provision in the direction of training for our students must be obtained. If one precious life, suddenly and lamentably extinguished, had been sj3ared us, we might have known already how a beginning might be made.*
There is room for more than the formation of such a centre for collegiate life during the present brief Winter Session. It is not reasonable in these days, whatever it may once have been, that the greater part of each of these three long years of Divinity studies should be left un- occupied. A vacation of seven months is an anachronism. We must utilise those precious months. What other church has such wealth to utilise and lets it run to waste ? There is room in them for three summer terms, devoted to pastoral theology, homiletics, catechetics, church law, and disciplined instruction in methods of ministry and pastoral work.
II. In the second place, we need to reform our arrange- ments for licensing probationers. (1.) We must bring repose and leisure into them. At present the scramble for place dominates everything — lest the date of licensing in one presbytery be earlier than in another — lest oue batch of licentiates have by a week the start of another. I do not blame the students for their anxiety, — we put them in a position in which almost anything is excusable. But the
* I refer to the late Professor Dobie.
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position is lamentable. If, at any moment of life, a man requires and should have quietness, deliberation, leisure to think, and opportunity for self-examination, it is then, when he is quitting his old life and entering on the work of the ministry. Theoretically, of course, ordination is the point of which this should be said ; practically, and while we preserve the anomalous status of the " probationer," license is the actual occasion of severance to the ministerial life. And instead of being a time of reflection and quiet pre- paration, it is for our unfortunate students a time of con- centrated toil and fevered occupation. The student finds himself in the last weeks of his divinity course burdened and pressed beyond endurance by a congestion of examina- tions— his final class examinations — his scholarship exa- minations — his degree examinations — his presbyterial examinations — his presbyterial discourses possibly as well : and withal, in a hurried forenoon snatched from the demands which perplex him, he appears before one of eighty-four presbyteries (with interim certificates, if there has not been time for the issue of the regular certificates) passes such an examination as he can ; receives license ; and is sent away to go on doing the best he can for him- self— but "licensed," and his fellow students "have no advantage over him," although the same haste has been practised by their presbyteries in their behalf as well.
The remedy here is of the simplest. It is only necessary to fix a date uniform over the Church before which license shall not be conferred. Let this date be not earlier than the September or October following the close of the student's course of divinity. No one will suffer ; and the gain in repose and deliberation to the student and to those who license him will be absolute.
(2.) We need, further, to reform our procedure in the act of licensing — not only to remove it to a date subse- quent to all examinations — but also to conduct it (as an Ordination Service is conducted) in the house of prayer, and with some decency of surrounding and solemnity of
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procedure.* It is a cruel thing, and nothing less than cruel, that .young men should find the act which devotes them to the lifelong service of God and His Church left to the close of a long business meeting, and hastened through by the weary remnant of presbytery, who have been conscientious enough to remain to " secure a quorum."
III. As for the disadvantages under which, once licensed, probationers labour, it is, I fear, hopeless to suppose that any but heroic measures can remove them — and we seem in no humour for things heroic. The one thing conclusively needful is to deliver probationers out of the competitive atmosphere — to give them rest for their souls, that they may serve God.
It might seem hardly excusable, that at a time when no inconsiderable section of society seems growing to a con- viction of the hurtful tendency of competitive methods in the common affairs of the world, the Church of God should have deliberately and of set policy adopted them into the very sanctuary and well-spring of her life (for the youth of her ministry is no less to her than that) — methods which indeed are flatly antithetic to the Christian conception. The Church, at least, should seek the ideal life ; at the least, might seek it for her own ministry. Instead of this — if she has not sent them to print testimonials, to watch for openings, to devise influence, to celebrate the high praises of God one man against another — she has allowed them to be driven to do so, in order to find for themselves " spheres of usefulness " at the hands of congregational committees. Fifteen years ago this evil was to cure itself; — it was a recognised evil then. The evil has not cured itself, — what evil ever did ? And now the evil is a matter of course. It has, in fact, spread, so that now even a vacant assistantship generally involves a leet and a competition.
* I am personally aware of a ease in which the proposal to offer prayer before licensing a student was demurred to as an innovation, and not required by law, though ultimately permitted. One would fain put in a plea for the restoration of the Holy Communion to Ordination Services, and therewith to occasions of licensing.
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It would be a very hard thing to lay upon our pro- bationers the blame for this state of matters. That blame must rest elsewhere. It is not the probationers who shape the Church's legislation, or have its oversight, and it is not to them that the Church has to look for guidance. They are men driven by harsh circumstances which others have created for them, and often driven most unwillingly. Yet this " disadvantage " of a com- petitive life is one which conceivably they might remove for themselves by their general refusal to compete. And they could suffer nothing thereby — there are just so many vacancies, and so many men qualified to accept of them. The parishes must come to them if they decline to go in quest of the parishes. Other professions are able to maintain a professional etiquette to protect their dignity ; it is strange that the ministry cannot protect the sacredness of theirs.
But failing that, as the hope of it has failed us, it remains that the Church, when she ventures to face what she has repeatedly recognised to be an evil, and which to some of us has appeared to be an evil of the utmost gravity, has it in her own power to deliver us from it. It is with her to define what she means by " undue practices " — and apart from all question of the intrinsic rightness or wrongness of any practice, it be- comes " undue " if so declared by the Church. An excellent model for a reforming Act in this direction can be found in the Act anent Simony ; which may serve as an example of the Church's power to end an abuse when she is in earnest on the subject — and of the way for her to do so. As for the cry of interference with popular rights, there can be no such interference in what would regulate only the conduct of ministers and licentiates.
IV. Other changes are called for. (1.) It is urgently necessai-y to fix some period of probation, during which the licentiate may devote himself to the work of his assistantship and to the acquisition of experience, without distraction. I think that there is a feeling among licentiates, and not con-
i 12 Candidates for the Holy Ministry.
fined to them, thai the status of licentiate ought itself to be reviewed. The probationer of the eighteenth century stood in a different relation to the actual ministry from that occupied by the modern parochial assistant. A Diaconate is recognised by our theory of church order, though we do not seem to know how to fit it into our use. Could it not be revived, and limited to describe the assistant minister and to supply for him a constitutional position ?
(2.) That by itself, however, would not be enough. Any form of probation should have its term, apart from success in securing preferment. It is a reproach to the Church that good men should go on for five, or seven, or more years, and it may be for life, debarred from the presby- terate — from the ministry to which they have devoted themselves — because they have not obtained a sole charge. The case of able and pious men remaining " unplaced " for long is not rare. On what ground does the Church with- hold from them ordination ? Probation is probation for the Holy Ministry — not for a good living. Let it have its term ; and at the end of that, ordain as a matter of due and justice whoever has served it rightly. As for the bug- bear of ministerium vagum, there is no more fear of it here than elsewhere ; and elsewhere ordination is not con- ditional on the will of patrons, as it is with us. If fortune does not deal equally with all in temporal things, God's Church may deal equally in spiritual things.
At present the position of the probationer is anomalous and full of difficulty. Ought any man to be so placed that it shall be life or death to him to secure a " call," to get himself " elected " somehow and to something ? Were it only from common consideration the question is one that ought to be near the hearts of the presbyterate, but also because the well-being of the whole ministry depends on it. They and we are one. Can we not bring the assistant nearer the presbyter — into some more definite relation of order and properly assigned share of function and status in the one ministry ?
THE DEVELOPMENT ON RIGHT LINES OF LAY WORK IN THE CHURCH— THAT OF MEN.
Rev. A. Wallace Williamson, M.A.
I propose to put briefly before you three considerations in regard to the work of the laity, leaving other branches of the subject for those who are to follow. These considera- tions will naturally group themselves under the following questions : — (1) What is the true basis for the work of the laity? (2) What is its proper scope? (3) What has actually been attained in the development of such work, especially in regard to men ? and, what might still be done ?
(1) As to the true basis of the work of the laity in the Church, there can be no hesitation. It rests upon the deep, but much-neglected, truth of the universal priesthood of Christians which it is one of the main objects of this society to revive in the mind of the laity. There can be no doubt that the sense of a personal priesthood, into which all Christians have, so to speak, been dedicated through their baptism has been largely lost among us. It is a curious commentary on the history of the Reformed Church, and not least of our branch of it, that, whereas the Reformed movement took its rise from our assertion of the priesthood of the laity, there
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1 14 The Development on Right Lines
has always been a tendency among ns practically to throw exclusively upon the Ministry the burden of responsibility, both in the service of the sanctuary and in the work of the Church.
Take it that the main elements in the Christian priest- hood, in its highest as well as in its lowest phase, are Inter- cession and Sacrifice, or, in other words, Worship and Work, it is, I think, not too much to say that, in both of these elements, the rights and privileges of the laity at many periods in the history of the Church of Scotland have been (largely through their own fault) almost entirely ignored. In the matter of public worship, for instance, the minister has really been compelled to usurp and unite with his own, many of the functions which should at least be shared by the people. One advantage of recent improvement in the order and conduct of divine worship lies in the fact that it has, in the main, moved in the direction of giving to the people a larger share in the common worship of the Church, of calling from them a heartier response, and of teaching them that the Divine service is an act in which they them- selves, in virtue of their priesthood in Christ, are entitled and bound to participate ; that, in fact, the daily interces- sion and the daily sacrifice of thanksgiving and praise are not merely for personal edification, but are an expression of the priestly life of the whole body of Christ, in the member- ship of which they stand.
It is impossible, however, that there can be any real im- provement in the worship of the Church which does not make itself felt in the work and service to which, in this world, the Church is called. She is summoned to unite with her Lord in the glorious privilege of intercession. But she is also summoned to give herself in His name for the saving of souls and for the furtherance of His kingdom. It is natural, therefore, that with the revival of worship there should come also a revival of the desire for service, for definite practical helpfulness on the part of the pious laity Some may rest content with the aesthetics of worship.
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It will not be so with all, or even, I believe, with the majority. This desire is certainly a marked feature of our recent history ; a deeper consciousness of the responsibility of the laity for the work of the Church has unquestionably been manifesting itself. But it can only bear permanent fruit, it can only render real help, if it is founded on the true basis, the basis of the consciousness of our Baptismal standing in Jesus Christ. Lower motives may have their place. Nothing but this higher motive can ever give to the work of the laity its true dignity and its real power.
This is neither the time nor the place to expound the doctrine of the priesthood of the laity. It is a truth of great depth and beauty, but it has many aspects which are liable to misunderstanding. For the purposes of this paper, I take it to mean a consecration of the natural responsibility of all men, that responsibility from which neither Christian nor atheist can escape, to dedicate himself, body, soul, and spirit, to the service of God — a consecration, however, which, in the case of the Christian man or woman, brings with it a renewed divine call and a gift of grace through union with Christ equal to the call thus made.
(2.) Such, then, being the true basis for the work of the laity, what is its proper scope ? Here we are brought to consider the relation between the work of the ministry and that of the Christian laity. This, again, is too great a subject to dispose of here, but something must be said. Part of the practical difficulty in the development of lay work in the Church is due to misunderstanding and jealousy on this very point. There is, on the one side, the danger of an exaggerated claim on the part of the ministry, and an undue depreciation of the undoubted rights of the laity. There is, on the other side, a danger which is no less real. One would almost imagine, to judge from statements •occasionally made, and even by clergymen themselves, that the functions of the holy ministry were a self-imposed task, or were apportioned to them by the people to whom •they minister, instead of being commissioned to them by
1 1 6 The Development on Right Lines
the Great Head and Lord of the Church. As I see nothing to be gained, and much to be lost, by disparaging the high calling of the Christian laity, so also I can discover no possible advantage in ignoring the true claims of the Christian ministry as the servants, for Christ's sake, of the whole priesthood of believers. Either we have or we have not been ordained on sufficient authority to administer the Word and Sacraments. If we have not, our ministry is an impertinence ; if we have, what purpose can it serve — save to create confusion and bitterness — to appear to teach that there is no difference between the ministerial office and the lay vocation ? A clear understanding on this matter is of the highest importance. It would prevent jealousy on both sides, which has always been a great hindrance to the development of lay work. The minister would understand that earnest laymen desired only to help, and not to assume, his proper functions. The layman, on the other hand, would understand that the minister only valued his distinc- tive position and special powers for the high purpose, on account of which they were given to him, of developing in all his flock not merely the gifts of inner grace, but the capacity of outward service.
With such a clear understanding there should be no difficulty in defining the scope of lay work. In a sense, of course, it is necessarily indefinite ; for it involves in its ideal the active employment in the service of the Church of all the varied gifts of each individual member. No less than this should be aimed at. As Bishop Light- foot has said : " We cannot rightly rest till every Church- man is a Church- worker." Of course it may be said in attempting to realise such an ideal we are in danger of raising " an army of busybodies " ; and certainly the lay worker, like the clerical worker, in the wrong place, is more of a hindrance than a help. Still, it is surely part of the minister's work to study the special gifts of his people, and to try in every way to utilise them. In the early Church, as we know, there was a very rapid development of lay work.
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■Quite outside of the recognised orders of the ministry an immense variety of offices began to appear, all intended to embrace and utilise the capacities of laymen. Such were the Catechists, the Readers, the Defensores Pauperum, the Defensores Ecclesiae, and other offices of which we read as early as the third century. The same object is aimed at even in connection with the monastic orders of the thirteenth century, which asserted " the claim of the laity to a share in the preaching and teaching of the Church." In connection with both the Dominican and Franciscan Orders there was a third grade, on a wider and more secular basis, which embraced "men or women, old or young, married or unmarried, bound by none of the monastic vows, acting as lay coadjutors, or, as they were sometimes called, the Soldiers of Jesus Christ." In modern times the remarkable move- ment known as Methodism owed much of its success to the institution of lay preaching, which has continued to be a feature of the numerous bodies which claim spiritual descent from Wesley.
These are examples of methods which have been adopted at various periods for solving the problem always presented to the Church " of providing for her people the ministry which every member of the body may legitimately claim to fill." The scope of lay work in the Church is only to be limited by the definite functions laid upon the ministry, and for the rest may legitimately embrace every possible form of service which the Christian layman can render. To use the words of Bishop Earle — "The Church, in my judg- ment, should welcome all, under such conditions as prudence and experience may dictate."
(3) In regard to what has already been done in our own branch of the Church, let me now say a few words. As my paper refers only to the work of men, I merely mention the remarkable development of woman's work which has been shown in recent years, and which is full of hope for the Church in her mission to the world. There are many reasons, of course, for women taking a greater share in
1 1 8 The Development on Rig/it Lines
definite Church work than men are able to do. Chief among these reasons is their greater amount of leisure. Neither let it be forgotten that the faithful discharge of our calling in life is, after all, a man's first duty. Diligence in business is not at all inconsistent with fervency of spirit, and is a form of divine service which receives the apostolic commendation. At the same time, the constitution of our Church presents special facilities for utilising the pious laity. The institution of the eldership, for instance, is a valuable link between the ministry and the congregation. The possibilities presented by it have, it must be acknowledged, been very imperfectly realised. Still, it has succeeded to a remarkable degree in engaging the laity in definite respon- sibilities for service to the Church. Making every allow- ance for failure and the mere perfuuetoriness in discharge of solemn duties which in many cases no doubt prevails, it must be admitted that a vast amount of helpful service has been rendered and is being rendered now by the eldership of the Church. I can conceive no institution better fitted for this purpose, and the development of lay work will certainly be immensely furthered, not by neglecting this peculiarity of our Presbyterian system but by insisting on the dignity and honour, while also clearly distinguishing between the duties of that office and those of the holy ministry. We certainly have in the eldership a powerful adjunct, a most valuable source of lay help ready to our hands.
Of the Diaconate it is not possible to say much. I am not aware that, even in the somewhat confused conception of its function, it has to any large extent been adopted through- out the Church. In some parishes it has been found useful in enlisting a body of young men for the work, which certainly belonged to the primitive deacon, of distributing to the necessities of the poor. The entire subject of the Diacon- ate, however, has been left in a very vague condition. It is high time that the whole position of the Church in regard to it should be revised. The course of events in
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the recent history of the Church seems to be working out a practical solution, and bringing us back to historic posi- tions. For there can be no doubt that, while the work of the deacon has been merged in the eldership, the rapid development and extension of the system of parochial assistants has virtually raised a body which certainly is our nearest approach to the primitive deacon. I touch here, however, on matters of debate on which I do not wish to enter. I merely state the fact that the Diaconate, as defined in the Form of Church Govern- ment, has practically ceased to be an institution of our Church.
The recent Guild movement seems to present a means of supplying the defect which the loss of the Diaconate involves — I mean the securing of young men for the work of the Church. I am much more struck, however, with the practical nature of the Woman's Guild in this respect. The preponderance of the debating element has rather obscured the call to service, which is a main element, if not the main element, in the constitution of the Guild. The institution of Sunday Morning Fellowship Meetings has a tendency in some cases to interfere with attendance at the public service of the Church, and in others to form an apparent reason for refraining from active helpfulness in Sunday School work or otherwise. I cannot help feeling, also, that the tie between the Church and the Guild is somewhat slack. The Guild is sometimes regarded too much as an independent society, too little as a training school provided by the Church for those who are to do her work. These are drawbacks, doubtless, which must attach more or less to all such institutions. They can only be met by more distinct teaching as to the nature of the Church — her responsibility for all her members, and the claim which she is bound to make in the name of her Lord for definite consecration to His work and service. At the same time, it must be recognised that an immense power for good has been exercised through the Young Men's Guild, and that
1 20 The Development on Right Lines
it possesses unbounded possibilities. It has inspired in its members a deep enthusiasm for the cause of Christ. It has moved great numbers of them to give themselves for that cause. It has held up before them an ideal of Christian life and Christian service, which is all the more persuasive because it comes to them through the ministry of personal fellowship. The clergy must themselves be to blame if they cannot so guide and instruct this beautiful enthusiasm as to draw from it a continual supply of help, and make of it a powerful lever for the development of Christian character.
Much, I think, might still be done in the development of the Guild idea, especially in great cities. Miuisters in populous parishes feel painfully the difficulty of getting into touch with large numbers, particularly of working men. Personal visitation is, of course, the obvious means of attaining such an end ; but experience shows the im- possibility of accomplishing in this way all that might be desired. There seems to be a call for the institution of Guilds or Associations which would meet this problem. Such a Guild, bearing the name of The Carpenter of Nazareth, already exists in one or two of our parishes, and is, I think, well worthy of more general adoption. Speak- ing from an experience of a few years, I may say that I have found it to be of great service in developing in the minds of its members a sense of their responsibility as communicants for the work of the Church, and a desire to fulfil more definitely the priestly work to which, as members of the Church, they have been called. It is, of course, impossible to expect that working men, who have to toil hard for the maintenance of wife and family, can possibly find much opportunity- to do direct Church work. But I have always found among them a great willingness to do what they can when they are shown the way.
I do not for a moment doubt the need in these times of intellectual pressure and difficulty of a thoroughly trained and educated ministry. But I do believe that the Church
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is failing to use a great means of power when she finds men, pious and devoted, with distinct gifts of teaching, and does not know what to do with them until they have passed through her prescribed curriculum, and received the hall mark of the University. A great deal of the indifference to religion prevailing among the people is certainly not due to intellectual scepticism. It is due almost entirely to moral drift. What is wanted, then, in dealing with such souls is not a discussion of intellectual difficulties which have never occurred to them, but a personal testimony to the power of Christ, and such a testimony, it cannot be doubted, would often come with far greater force from a layman than from the clergy.
Of course, if such a method of utilising the gifts of pious laymen were to be adopted to any extent, the Church would require to provide for them opportunity of training, en- couragement to devote themselves to the work, and a definite position as authorised fellow - workers with the clergy themselves. I have already referred incidentally to the lay-preachers of the Methodist body. The ex- perience of the Church of Eugland in this direction is also instructive. The Warden of Lichfield Diocesan Lay Mission reports that there has been no difficulty in obtaining men, that there has been a growing demand by the clergy for such evangelists, and that their work has had excellent results.
The whole problem of the development of lay work reallv lies in the selection and training of the right men, and I am aware of no system which can infallibly meet this need. Nothing but the old-fashioned method of patience and sympathy will succeed. We shall never get the right men until we appeal to the right motives. In our owrn day, perhaps, more than in others, there is a temptation to appeal to the lower side of human life. But it must be resisted, or rather it must be superseded by that higher appeal to the priesthood of the Christian, which is a reflex of the priesthood of our Lord, and which involves a demand
122 The Development of Lay Work in the Church.
for individual self-sacrifice on the part of every man for the glory of God and the good of the world. With the pre- valence of such a spirit, the development on right lines of lay work will come as a natural consequence ; without such a spirit no work can be of any avail.
THE DEVELOPMENT ON RIGHT LINES OF LAY WORK IN THE CHURCH— THAT OF WOMEN.
Rev. H. M. Hamilton, D.D.
The subject assigned to me, " The Development on right lines of Woman's Work in the Church," is a very important and interesting one, a subject which every year is at- tracting greater thought and attention in our Reformed Churches. We cannot, I think, be too grateful for the gradual awakening of people's minds on this matter of service for the young, the poor, the ignorant, the afflicted, and tempted, or for the way in which many women have been led to desire for themselves more devoted and consecrated lives. Already the movement has made con- siderable progress. It has been taken up by the Protest- ant Churches of France and Germany and Holland ; it has advanced in the Sisterhoods and among the Deaconesses of the Church of England ; and it has made a very fair beginning in our own Church with its Deaconesses' Home, and in the ventilating of the subject more generally by the Convener of our Home Mission Scheme, the Moderator- Elect of our General Assembly. We cannot, however, but regret that unworthy fears and prejudices have hindered the work, which, but for these, might long ere this have attained amid us a very much surer basis and wider field of action.
I believe that in this and many directions our Church
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has lost immensely by not taking a bolder position, by not carrying into her reformed life her own heritage and modes of work, which at root were right and wise and good, though grievous errors had been allowed to grow up amid, but not necessarily in consequence of, them. I feel sure that, instead of gaining through this policy, we have in the end suffered grievously, that we have done the very thing we wished to avoid, and driven to other Communions many cultured, devout people who sought in these, what we allowed them to think was not to be found or even encouraged in our own. Therefore among the many other benefits which I trust will arise from the development in right lines of Woman's Work in the Church, will be a deepening in the hearts of many of her members of the spirit of loyalty to the Scottish Church, and the enabling of many to find within her pale opportunities for useful and devoted lives, who hitherto have fancied they had to look elsewhere for the exercise of these.
As to " the right lines," I doubt very much whether this is the time or place to say a great deal. I doubt if we would all agree as to what the right lines are, or would feel ourselves prepared to define them very minutely. Rather let us aim to get the right people and set them to the right kind of work, and the right lines will follow.
I wish to have it at once understood I am not forgetting the immense debt of gratitude we owe to the women of all our parishes and congregations for the large amount of work they do, and the sacrifices which, in behalf of Christ's cause, they are ready to make. But when I speak of Women's Work in the Church I understand it to refer in the first place, at any rate, to work to which they have solemnly and formally given themselves over with the desire and resolution to dedicate themselves to it as the great purpose of their lives, causing these to be eminently lives of devotion and charity. Now I
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can quite imagine some one asking — " If from the wives and daughters of your people you are getting bo many who, as district visitors, teachers in your Sunday Schools, members of Clothing or Work Societies, collectors for Missions, &c, give their time and energy to Christ's work, where is there room or necessity for more distinct or formal dedication ? " I think there are three directions to which we may point as showing the benefit of or need for this.
First of all, in affording employment and opening up means for a very useful and blessed life to many who long for some more entire yielding of their being to Christ than they feel can be found in their ordinary avocations at home and in society, even when combined with good and useful forms of activity. It is quite true that in the last few years there have been many positions and occupations opened up for women in which they may find useful work, and honourable maintenance for themselves ; but still, it is often felt a very great difficulty to provide our unmarried women with these, and besides, there are many who desire a religious life beyond all else. You have only to let it be known that some such position is vacant, and you will be inundated with applications which often show that the place would be extremely convenient for those seeking it, rather than that those seeking for it are suited to the place, or could be expected to be very useful in it. But it is not from those who are somewhat useless and troublesome or discontented at home, and who can readily be spared out of the family circle, that the Church must seek her workers ; it is rather from those who are prized there, yet who feel there are others who can take their place, who are conscious, too, of a special call, and that in a life more set apart from distractions, they can serve God more fully and perfectly. I do not mean to draw any comparisons between a life of faithful self-denying- attention to home duties and a life set free from these,
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and formally dedicated to religious work. There may often be as much true religion in the former as in the latter, nay, there may often be more, and there may be very many cases where " to abide in the same calling wherein they are called," is the plain and paramount duty laid on them. At the same time there may be, there are, many cases where these duties come to an end, when a woman is left free to devote herself unstintedly to work for Christ, and when she feels it would be the ful- filment of her fondest wishes and noblest aspirations to do so. With all that St Paul enjoins in another direction, " because of the weakness of the flesh," he does hold up this view of life as the highest and best to many women when speaking as he thinks "with the mind of Christ."
There is a book (Law's " Serious Call ") which used to be read in Scotland a good deal more than it is now. By a quotation of a passage from it, which I came across lately, I was reminded of the impression it made on me long ago. " If," he says, " the religion of Christians is founded upon the infinite humiliations and cruel mockings and scourgings and prodigious sufferings, the poor per- secuted life, and painful death of a crucified Son of God, what wonder is it if many humble adorers of this profound mystery, many affectionate lovers of the crucified Lord, should renounce their share of worldly pleasure and give themselves up to a continual course of mortification and self-denial ; that thus, suffering with Christ here, they may reign with Him hereafter ? If truth itself has assured us that there is but one thing needful, what wonder is it that there should be amongst Christians so full a faith as to believe this in the highest sense of the words, and to desire such a separation from the world, that their care and attention to the one thing needful may not be in- terrupted ? If our blessed Lord hath said, if thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast and give to the poor, .and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come and
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follow Mc, what wonder is it that there should be some such zealous followers of Christ so intent upon heavenly treasure, so desirous of perfection, that they should re- nounce the enjoyment of their estates, choose a voluntary poverty, and relieve all the poor they are able ? " And then, having quoted these words of St Paul to which I have referred, " there is this difference between a wife and a virgin, the unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and spirit," he asks what wonder that praise and honour should have been given to this state in the first and purest ages of the Church ? I doubt not we feel this is a holding forth of a standard higher than many of us have attained to, or even ventured to raise, but it is not higher than that raised by Christ Himself. We all know what evil came in former times from forcing these maxims referred to by Law on those who were not able to live up to them, and assuredly, if it were ever thought that promises or declarations of purpose should be taken (and that, I hold, is one of the very doubtful matters), it should only be for a specified time, and only with fullest consent of all concerned. There have been those in the Protestant Churches of France and Germany, and in the Church of England, who have answered joyfully to such requirements, and in our Foreign Mission Field many have yielded obedience to the Saviour's demand implied in the words, " he that loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me." Why should they not also be found among ourselves, and for Home Mission Work ?
Another direction in which good might be looked for from the formal dedication of lives to God's service would be, I feel sure, the fostering of a higher tone through the whole Church. When the clergy devote themselves with zeal and self-denial to their work, it is only regarded as their duty, " what they are paid to do," consequently their example is apt not to go for very much, and to be taken as a matter of course ; for while there is great jealousy on the
128 The Development on Right Lines
part of some of the laity at any thought of a clergyman's assuming special functions, there is no jealousy at all as to his assuming the whole burden of work, or being prominent for devotion, or the bearing of the Master's Cross, which things are the portion of the people as well as of the minister. But when, from among the people themselves, here and there one steps forth and says, I desire to give myself in this or that way to the religious life, I desire to do it without distraction, then that cannot but have its effect on those around, causing them, if not to go and do likewise, at anyrate to inquire into their own lives, and see if something of this spirit of self-denial and discipline is not required of them as well. And in this age of self- complacent respectability, when it is thought an affront and a liberty to seem to expect anything approaching a real act of self-sacrifice, and when the time, the money, the thought spent in pleasure and indulgence and worldly gain, so infinitely exceed all it ever enters into men's minds to imagine might be given to Christ, in this age, I say, such inquiry and heart-searching is just what we need. Take but one instance of the spirit of the world. How many parents part joyfully with their daughters at marriage, even though it be to go to foreign lands ! How many would even sell them for gold or position ! But how many, I wonder, would part with them willingly for Christ, or such a life as I have indicated, happy and honourable though it be ?
The third and last direction in which we may look for good from woman's work on right lines in the Church is the work itself which thus would be done. I have referred already to the debt of gratitude we owe to the women in our parishes, for the amount of help which, as district visitors and otherwise, they give us. In speaking as I have of more formal dedication, I am not the least haunted by Dr Hook's fear of "opposition from ladies who at present control visiting societies and employ the clergy as their agents." I have never been conscious of being
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placed in such a position, and I think it must be ;i minister's own fault if this ever happens to him. I have always been most unfeignedly grateful lor any information Ladies working in the parish have been able to give me regard- ing cases coming under their observation, indeed, have often wished they would send more, but necessarily their work cannot be so constant or systematic or thorough as that of one whose time is wholly given to it. It is different to a certain extent in spirit and aim, and it must differ in regularity. If epidemic or some infectious trouble comes to a family or district, the lady visitor's work must, on account of home ties in most cases, cease for months, it may be just when help is most required ; and when, after all the trouble is over, she returns, there is apt, unjustly I grant, to be a feeling of estrangement. Then, too, the work of a deaconess or parish sister is more aggressive. We talk of district visitors, but in densely-populated places I do not find it is easy to get them to go from house to house, or to do more than undertake a few specified families in a district, and perhaps more is scarcely to be expected. I have often been asked for " the names of a few nice old women whom I might visit." I have sometimes been told, " if you ask my wife or daughter to go to such houses, I must forbid her continuing to take a district ; " or if you ask as to a particular family about which you are anxious, you are some- times told " I have not seen them for long, the last time I was there so and so happened, and I have been afraid to go back." Then, too, new families or young people coming as lodgers are not found out unless there is frequent door-to- door visitation. Of course that is the work of the parochial assistant as well, but there are cases where an influence is gained by a woman's visits and counsels, and there is help and advice which thus can be given in sickness and in many other circumstances, e.g., amid fallen sisters, which no missionary can attempt. In our cities and densely- populated places, with " their intensity of accumulated misery," making constant demands for assistance, I do not 11. I
130 77/ e Development on Right Lines
see how the work is to be accomplished without the actual loss and neglect of thousands if some such agency as I have referred to is not set agoing to help the clergy and their assistants and ordinary parochial organisations. It is in populations like these that homes for our lady workers should be opened under an experienced and trusted head, and with careful supervision and wisely-considered rules for discipline — discipline in such things as learning to live to- gether in unity, not always so easy a lesson as it seems. But it is not only among the erring and lost in our towns that woman's work is needed. From our beautiful rural districts we are always hearing dark reports of a sad state of matters among certain classes of our people. I can scarcely fancy any means better suited to raise the tone of morality and a sense of the glory of pure womanhood than to send down to these districts some of our devoted female workers, who, by kindly intercourse, by holding classes, &C.,. might exercise immense power for good among women engaged in outdoor labour. Then there is our fisher population, for whom something has already been done, though not perhaps, as some might think, in the best lines, for people who have so fallen away from the sacraments and beliefs of the Church. There are our hospitals, our poor- houses, our prisons, so far as these would be open to receive their visits.
I have only had time to glance at a few of the various branches of work which might be taken up, all which tend to confirming or bringing back those who more or less have wandered from Church influences. Inexperienced people fancy one or two visits will accomplish this, those who have tried know it is only after long patient waiting, constantly repeated visits, prayer, and efforts of many kinds that this is brought about. Do you ask, is it worth all the labour ? Ask the Good Shepherd Who went after the lost sheep till He found it.
In a word, what we need are Deaconesses or Parish Sisters, organised on some system which shall be free from such
of Woman s Work in the Church. 1 3 1
objections as arc applicable to Romish Sisterhoods. For this reason permanent vows ought not in my opinion to be allowed. And why should it not be possible to find the right workers in sufficient numbers ? Some people will tell you our Church system does not lend itself to that sort of thing. If that is so, so much the worse for the system ; but I take a more hopeful view. And I believe that if the Church showed her desire for this form of work, and appealed in earnest to the devotion of her daughters, asking God to incline their hearts to His service, and preparing for them fields of labour, such an appeal would not be in vain.
THE DUTY OF THE CHURCH TO SPECIAL CLASSES. Introductory : and (a) Emigrants.
Rev. John Macleod, B.A., B.D.
The necessity of an advance along the whole line in the matter of the practical and specially the mission work of our Church is now being increasingly felt year by year. The first step is to get a clear idea of what ought to be done, and to devise with full deliberation the best methods of doing it. Any method adopted, to be effectual, must obviously involve an immense development in our existing administration. In proportion, however, to the scope of our aims, and to the promise of efficiency which the methods resolved upon supply, will be the likelihood of our awakening enthusiasm, and evoking, as becomes a national Church, support on a national scale.
In this introductory paper I propose to indicate one general principle of fundamental importance in its bearing on the reorganisation and development of the mission work of our Church. That principle is this : that in what is known as her mission work, and in every branch of it, the Church requires to concentrate her attention in all cases first on the immediate spiritual good of the people.
I. Let us by way of illustration look first at the bearing of this principle on the existing " Endowment Scheme " as one foremost branch of the Home Mission work of the Church.
The immediate aim of the Church in her Endowment
182
Introductory. 133
Scheme, as at present presented, is, as is well known, the ereation of additional parishes. Tlie Church undoubtedly applies herself to this work in the belief that it is through ( be creation of new parishes that the spiritual good of the people will in the end be best served. None the less true, how- ever, is it, that the end which is immediately in view is the creation of additional parishes rather than simply the endowment of work. From this fact, these results follow. In the first place, (1) the application of the principle of endowment is in practice limited to such districts of the country, or of our cities, as are supposed to require parochial sub-division. (2) Even in the process of constituting a parish, the help needed for carrying on work among the poor is unduly delayed. Instead of the work being endowed from the outset in the proportion practicable through local and other effort, all help from the Endowment Committee is withheld (no matter how much endowment be needed, or how effective the work in the district may be) until that point is reached (often seven or eight years after the work is started) at which a full parochial constitution can be obtained. (3) The product of the general liberality of the Church in the matter of endowment is thus in all cases rigorously confined to certain fixed districts ; in other words there is no such thing as a partial endowment, or as a transferable endowment created purely out of refer- ence to the work to be done, and apart from the constitu- tion of a new parochial charge. And (4) the impractic- ability of obtaining help for the endowment of work apart from the constitution of an independent parish tends (at least in some cases) to the creation of additional parishes in circumstances which might be better dealt with in another way.
Is it not conceivable then, that the time has arrived at which the spiritual good of the people (apart altogether from making the constitution of a new parish an indispensable condition) ought to be made the immediate and primary, or at least one principal end of the Endowment Scheme,
134 The Duty of the Church to Special Classes.
or of a branch of the Home Mission Scheme ? I do not mean for a moment to say that the creation of additional parishes, through the sub-division of the present parochial areas, is a mistake. In many cases it is a necessity. I have no sympathy with much said without due discrimina- tion in regard to this point, which can only have the effect of hindering the work of endowment (on its original basis) requiring yet to be carried on. All I plead for is that in no case ought the creation of an additional parish to be the immediate or first motive of endowment. What we should aim at primarily is not the endowment of parishes but the endowment of ivork. (1) This would involve the introduction, in certain cases, of a system of graduated endowment Instead of withholding all help in the form of endowment until the work in a district has been carried on for a protracted period, a church built, and the funds raised enabling that church to obtain the grants required in order to its constitution as the church of a separate charge, there seems no reason why the work carried on in a populous district should not receive year by year such proportionate endowment, according to local effort, as would from the first both lessen the difficulties to be con- tended with in doing the work required in the district, and, undoubtedly, vastly stimulate and encourage local effort in supplying better resources to provide for that work. Supposing that for every sum of a hundred pounds locally raised a proportionate endowment could be secured, it would follow that whatever good is to be derived from endowment would from the very first be matter of experience, instead of being, as at present, postponed until the entire completion of the undertaking of creating a parish. Again, (2), this further advan- tage would arise from looking primarily to the spiritual work to be done rather than merely to the creation of a parish ; that there would be brought about throughout the church a more diffused and consistent sense than now exists as to our responsibility for co-operation in efforts of this
Introdtictory. 135
character. At present few church men are deeply interested in the question of endowment except those who are placed in circumstances appearing to involve a necessity for the creation of a new parish. But if the principle of endow- ment is good in itself, it is good all through, and should be acted upon far more widely than it is, apart altogether from its application to the constitution of parishes. If the idea of the endowment of work as distinguished from that of the endowment of parishes were more clearly and gener- ally apprehended, it is impossible to suppose that we should continue to find (as at present) scarcely a single example in a century of a provision arising out of the offerings of faith- ful people for the endowment of purely and simply pastoral work. Apart from the creation of additional parishes, we need vastly to multiply the staff of labourers in every department, and especially in that of the pastorate, even in the parishes that exist; and we are not likely to make much progress in this direction without new endowments for that purpose : nor to obtain these until a higher conception of the power and range of the principle of endowment is diffused throughout the country. (3) It would follow, further, from the development of the policy of endowment to which I point, that there might be accumulated, in due time, endowments of a transferable character. There seems to be no reason why the Church should not — especially in existing circumstances — keep a certain number of the en- dowments she provides entirely under her own control, so that, in cases in which it may be considered expedient, such endowments might be transferred from one district to an- other, or from one branch of work to another, or even, in certain conceivable contingencies, be altogether readjusted as regards their application for the general good. All this would require careful regulation. But that is a matter of detail ; and it does not appear to present any insuperable difficulty.
In short, instead of accepting the view, now too often suggested, that the policy of endowment is, as it were,
136 The Duty of the Church to Special Classes.
played out, T entertain precisely the opposite view, viz.: that what is needed in practice is an immense development of that policy.
It is through the application, in one form or another, of the principle of endowment that the National Church has derived all such material resources as she now possesses for the fulfilment of her work in the land, and what we need to do is to resuscitate faith in that principle, and to aim at still further and more varied development in its application in order to a vast enlargement of her capacity for usefulness.
II. As regards what is called the "Home Mission" Work of the Church : in this also the advance needed can only be brought about by our keeping primarily in view the immediate spiritual good of the people, and subordinating to that consideration every other arising out of a timid regard to mere routine. At present, we as a general practice lay the principal burden of mission work on " licentiates " who, under existing conditions, cannot but be subject to an almost irresistible temptation to think first of obtaining parochial charges for themselves. A " licentiate " or " 23robationer" in charge of Mission work is called to do work in which he obviously needs the support of a divine commis- sion and the gift of ordination in order to its effective fulfil- ment. This notwithstanding, we refuse to him that support until he attains the position of being called to an indepen- dent parochial charge. In the law and constitution of the Church, there is nothing, so far as I have been able to ascertain, which makes this policy imperative ; * and, if
* See exhaustive report on ordination of duly qualified assistants, submitted to the Presbytery of Glasgow, March, 1891. The recommendations with which the report concluded were as follows : —
Recommendations. Your Committee conclude by suggesting the following regulations as among those that should lie adopted :—(") No licentiate shall be admitted as a candidate for ordination until a careful statement of the grounds on which his ordination is asked, and of all other particulars on which the Presbytery desires information, has been submitted to, and reported upon, by a Com-
Introductory. i 3 7
licentiates are to fulfil aright the work tints commonly entrusted to them, they should, after due probation, although continuing in mission work and not admitted to an in- cumbency, be admitted into the position of duly ordained ministers of God. This is an opinion which will no doubt be made light of by some, but that is only to say that there are those who attach no importance to ordination as a spiritual act, or to any other act of a sacramental character based on the mediation of our Lord. Again, if the Church were to resolve to let her policy be moulded in everything by an immediate regard to the spiritual good of the people, there can be little doubt but that she must exhibit, more emphatically than she now does, her readi- ness, in certain cases, to admit into the ministry of Christ (though, possibly, with certain limitations as regards offices to be fulfilled in the Church in her secular or parochial relations) candidates who have not had the advantage of a University training. A learned ministry is in these times indispensable. I do not propose any diminution of the effort which the Church is making to secure a
mittee of Presbytery. (/>) The report of the Committee shall in every case show (1) on whose application the ordination is asked, (2) the position of the licentiate, including the probation through which he has passed, the char- acter of the training he has received, and the circumstances of the parish in which he is to minister, and all such circumstances as may enable the Presbytery to decide as to the expediency of ordination, (c) Ordination shall not be granted to any assistant who has not acted as such for at least two years, of which one must have been spent continuously in one charge. (d) Ordination shall not be granted except when the assistant presents a title to a fixed appointment for a year following the date of ordination, together with a satisfactory guarantee of adequate payment, which shall in no case be less than £120 a year, (e) The rite of ordination shall take place wherever the Presbytery may appoint, but it is expedient that it should be fulfilled in the parish where the licentiate is to labour, such modifications being introduced in the ordination service as may serve to distinguish ordina- tion to office from induction or admission, in the ordinary sense of the jmrase, to an ordinary or full parochial charge. (/) The ordained assistant shall be responsible to, and under the immediate jurisdiction of, the minister of the parish, the Presbytery remaining, of course, the ultimate judges as to questions which may arise as to demission of office or removal from it, and of all other questions.
1 3S The Duty of the Church to Special Classes.
higher standard of scholarly attainment in her ministers. I suggest only that the Christian Ministry should not be treated to such an undue extent as a mere " pro- fession/' and that the way of access into it should not invariably, and without exception, be made dependent, as it now is, upon a protracted University course. The time is approaching when the Church of Scotland, like the Church of England, should take more into her own control the arrangements which may be most suitable and effective for the training of candidates for the work of the ministry ; and there can be little doubt that important reforms in the direction of making such preparation more accessible than at present, as well as in other directions, are a clamant necessity.
We need also vastly to increase the number of properly accredited lay agencies. It is not enough to call upon the laity as we are continually doing, to take part in the mission work of the Church. Many, and probably the best dis- posed of our laity, are restrained by a spiritual instinct from assuming responsibility for such work in the absence of definite authority. They will not act upon our invita- tion unless the Church devise means whereby she may give them the sense and support of duly accredited voca- tion. In our congregations there are many and varied gifts waiting to be evoked and consecrated to the further- ance of her mission work, which will never be put at the disposal of the Church so long as we content ourselves with vague appeals. There is no valid reason, as above pointed out, why the Church should not sometimes admit into offices of ministry persons who, though engaged in secular callings ami without the advantage of University training, are willing or desire to consecrate a portion of their time to ministerial service ; and neither is there any reason why the Church should not (without in the least degree tampering with the specific powers of an ordained ministry) invest laymen, by acts suitable to that end, with
Introductory. 1 39
authority to carry the message of the Church from house to house and from door to door.
It is impossible within the limits of this paper to enter into details which would fall to be discussed in the application of these principles. We are not, however, likely to make any progress until we first of all apprehend the force of the principles themselves.
III. I wish now, in a word, to connect my reference to these matters with the special topics which we are about to discuss.
Obviously one thing that would follow from the endeavour to mould the policy of the Church in her Mission Work on the principle of an immediate regard to the spiritual good of the people — apart from the constitution of parochial charges and such objects — is that greater attention would be bestowed upon such special classes of the people as are now, so far as the Church in her corporate capacity is concerned, almost wholly neglected. When we speak at present of Home Mission Work, we think only of the maintenance of a " station " or " hall " to which a " probationer " is appointed, and where sermons of a somewhat irregular character are preached. The limitations, under which our Church works, are such that it does not naturally occur to us to think of her as fulfilling an untiring, watchful, devoted, loving ministry in the poorhouse, in the hospital, in the prisons, or upon the sea, or as following with that ministry her sons and daughters to far-off lauds wherever they may roam. Surely, however, the fields of activity here indicated are, above all others, those proper to the mission of a National Church. Can any one doubt that a far higher degree of enthusiasm would be elicited in support of the Mission Work of the Church if we could only stretch forth somewhat beyond our present self-imposed restrictions aud press on to occupy these fields ? Her work in these various directions might count for little in the building up of parishes ; but it would be infinitely blessed of God in the comforting of human hearts.
140 The Duty of the Church to Sfeeial Classes.
There are no doubt many hindrances. Some of those most difficult to overcome arise, it must be admitted, out of the weakened condition of the Church through the virulence and activity of dissent. It may also be pleaded that the resources of the Church arc barely adequate to her present efforts, and arc wholly insufficient for additional tasks. To all those objections it may be answered, however, that the re- sources of the Church will never be increased until a policy of mission work at once more comprehensive, and appealing more vividly to the heart and imagination of the nation, is courageously inaugurated, and that, imperfectly as we may be able to fulfil our duty to the classes referred to, our very failure in the effort will at least be less discreditable than our making no effort at all.
TV. As regards the duty of the Church to emigrants, one tiling which has to be looked to is the organising of some ministerial provision for emigrant ships. This, looking to the multitude who from year to year leave our shores, is a matter in a high degree desirable, and surely, con- sidering the number of " unemployed probationers," not impracticable.* In other parts of the world, the subject of the position of emigrants with their special temptations and need of sympathy and encouragement is much more con- sidered than in our own land. An interesting illustration of that care is furnished in the service for the public recep- tion of emigrants provided in several of the churches of America. *|*
* Interesting statistics bearing upon the subject of the number of European emigrants, and the work done among them, will be found in the report of the Fifth General Council of the Alliance of Reformed Churches, &c, held al Toronto, 1S92, page 183.
t One of the most beautiful examples is given in the liturgy of the German Reformed Church. The rubric introductory to the service runs as follows : — "As early as convenient after the arrival of Christian brethren from a foreign land, they shall come into the church, on the occasion of a public service, or at any other time appointed for that purpose, to render thanksgiving to God for His goodness in bringing them safely through the dangers of the sea, and that they may be publicly commended to the Christian fellowship and sym- pathies of the congregation."
Emigrants. 141
What, however, is specially to be thought of in connec- tion with the duty of the Church to emigrants is the position of the scattered sons of our Church in foreign lands. Take, by way of illustration, India. There are districts of India as large as Scotland, in which the European element consists chiefly of Scotsmen, who received their baptism and Christian training in the Scottish Church, and who still nominally retain their connection with the Church at home. The government of India no doubt makes more or less adequate pro- vision for government servants scattered over the Indian Empire ; and the Anglo-Indian Evangelisation Society has done much good in carrying on what is practically a railway mission along the various lines in India. At the present moment, however, there are to be found numbers of our fellow-countrymen, and of the youth of Scotland, scattered over wide districts of India, engaged in the pursuit of various branches of commercial industry, for whose religious wants there is simply no provision whatever; who, perhaps, for years have scarcely any opportunity of attending Divine Service, and are under no Christian ministry ; who naturally come to pay no regard whatever to the recurrence of the Lord's Day, and who are apt through the pressure of the temptations which surround them, wholly to abandon their Christian profession. The Church clearly owes a duty to her sons in these and in all such positions ; and that duty is all the more incumbent upon her because it is in no degree impracticable, and would not involve in the dis- charge of it any undue tax, nor ultimately any tax at all, upon her resources.
What is needed is (1) that the exact scope of the need to be met should be ascertained by inquiry on the spot. This might imply, in the first instance, the appointment of a deputy or deputies for the purpose. (2) Steps would thereafter require to be taken to organise, among the many comparatively prosperous Scotsmen living in such positions, the maintenance of an adequate Christian ministry acting
142 The Duty of the Church to Special Classes.
under responsible authority. And (3) it is expedient that in places where, from the distances which separate them, Scottish residents are too scattered to admit of the main- tenance of a duly ordained minister, authoritative com- mission (within certain restrictions) should be given to Christian laymen for the prosecution of certain branches of work.
The discussion of these suggestions will, probably, lead to other suggestions, possibly of a more effective character ; but the first step is here taken in calling the attention of the Church to the clamorous need which exists for the consideration of this subject.
THE DUTY OF THE CHURCH TO SPECIAL CLASSES.
Seamen.
Rev. John Parker.
Did time permit, J might enlarge upon the immense ser- vices rendered to the community by our seamen, and upon the hardships, dangers, and pathos of their lot. But you are all sufficiently alive to the claims which they have upon us as patriots, as Christians, and as members of a National Church, charged with the spiritual oversight of the whole communit}7, except in so far as sections of it have deliber- ately withdrawn from our fellowship. Our glory is that we are under a solemn obligation to minister to all and especially to the neglected ; our shame, that too often obligation has been foi'gotten.
1. Let us then ask what is being done for the seamen who visit our ports, whether they be strangers or born in the land. I am glad to be able to say that a great deal of good work is being done among them by voluntary effort, and that both the ministers and the members of the National Church actively participate in that work.
In Glasgow there is a " Seamen's Evangelistic Mission " with a chaplain, Mr A. M. A. Graham, who ministers in a Sailor's Bethel, in which a number of religious services are conducted on Sundays and week days. Services are also held in the ships as opportunity permits, the Lord's Supper
144 ^c' Duty of the Church to Special Classes.
is dispensed every fortnight, and the chaplain is occasionally assisted by ministers of different Churches. Lectures are delivered on various subjects, and " library bags " for the forecastle presented to the crews of vessels visited by the chaplain. He is assisted by a number of helpers, who visit the ships on Sunday mornings, distribute tracts, and invite the crews to the services. The work done by these helpers is of a most laborious character, and shows much self-denial and enthusiasm in the good work on the part of these de- voted young men. During the year the chaplain conducted 142 services in the Bethel and paid 1400 visits to ships. He says that there have been " many splendid cases of con- version," and that nineteen of the converts have become members of churches, one of them having been elected to the eldership. The committee is composed entirely of lay- men. The cost of the Mission annually is about £2 GO, and some well-known members of the Church are among the contributors. It was founded in 1884.
The Greenock " Seamen's Friend Society " is of the same description. There is a chapel with a chaplain, and a great amount of good work is being done. There are also special .services for Scandinavians, conducted by a minister from Leith, and by a Captain Pettersen, a Norwegian. The Aberdeen Mission is also undenominational, and there are no ministers on the committee. The report is of the most interesting character. Mr George Jack, the agent, says that as his services are held in church hours he cannot get direct help from the ministers, but that he has the cordial sympathy of them all. The Lord's Supper is not administered, but resident sailors are mostly members of churches. A native of Friesland assists him in his work among Scandinavians. The Dundee " Seamen's Friend Society " is managed by a committee of laymen, and Mr Tait, the missionary, is doing excellent work. No men- tion is made in the Report of any co-operation on the part of ministers, and it is stated in the constitution that the committee must consist of laymen.
Seamen. 145
The Scottish Coast Mission, the most important of the agencies at work among our sailors, has eleven stations and eleven missionaries. The Right Honourable the Earl of Haddington is president, and among the office-bearers are — Lord Elibank, Sir James G. Baird, Admiral Rolland, the Rev. Dr M'Murtrie, the Rev. Dr Mitchell, the Rev. Arthur Gordon, Mr William Blackwood, and other members of the Church of ■Scotland, along with gentlemen belonging to other denomi- nations. From the Report for 1894 we find that there are 5000 resident fishermen, with a fishing population of 18,000 in the district ministered to by the agents of the Society, and that nearly 80,000 sailors, of whom 25,000 are foreigners, frequent the harbours. The agents also visit among dock labourers and canal boatmen. They report an enormous number of visits, and have conducted 1318 meetings, with an average of 126 in attendance on Sundays and 31 on week-days, as also 361 open-air meet- ings. Copies of the Holy Scriptures and Tracts in twelve different languages are distributed. The cost of the Mission was £1136, lis. 3d. in the year ending 30th November 1894. The work of this mission has been commented upon unfavourably by some parish ministers, on the ground that their meetings interfere with attendance at public worship, and tend to neglect and depreciation of the sacra- ments, more especially of the sacrament of baptism. The only item in the Report which seems to give countenance to this complaint is the statement that 731 meetings for young people have been held by the missionaries, with an average attendance of 87. No obvious need for these appears to exist, since each of the towns included in the sphere of their operations has a large number of churches with their Sunday schools and Bible-classes. However, on referring to the Report we find that the ministers of each district are generally included in the local committees. It would seem to be their duty, if there are any abuses con- nected with the working of the Mission, to use their in- fluence as members of these committees to rectify them. II. K
1 46 The Duty of the Church to Special Classes.
I was informed lately by Mr William Allardyce, secretary and superintendent of the Mission that " no Sabbath school or children's service is established until the local ministers are consulted and a clear case of necessity made out, and that, in the teaching given, the duty of connecting them- selves with the Church is distinctly taught to the young." He also emphatically denies that the people are taught to consider the meetings as a substitute for church attendance.
It will be observed that all these missions are " unde- nominational," a term, however, which has not as yet in Scotland the evil significance which is attached to it in England. The promoters of them are, for the most part, members and office-bearers of the various Presbyterian churches. Still the Church has no direct control over these missions, and her pastors do not seem to take any special oversight of these their occasional parishioners. In other words, that baneful Congregationalism, which has been so vigorously denounced here in the course of the Conference, has injured this as it has other departments of our parochial work. It has often been remarked that too frequently in the construction of our churches all that is designed for the use of man is costly and luxurious, while what is specially devoted to the service of God is as mean and sordid as possible. In something of the same spirit the privileges of re- ligion are profusely supplied to the respectable seat-holding middle-class, but it is thought that anything is good enough for the lapsed masses, for the inmates of our poor houses, or for our seamen. They are not supposed to stand in need of an educated ministry, of the sacraments, of the godly discipline and supervision of the Church. The stately Gothic church for the rich and respectable, the sordid mission hall for the poor — that is thought to be perfectly consistent with the spirit of the Gospel of Christ.
2. Before hinting at what might be done to remedy matters, let me state what has been effected in England as a result of the revival of her National Church.
Not many years ago undenominational missions were
Seamen. 1 47
there also the rule, and much noble work was done by their agents. We say this, while fully realising that it could not be work of the same quality or leading to such permanenl results as that which can be done by the Church herself, when, awakened from slumber, she rises in her ancient might and says to the neglected and fallen, " Come." Looking, then, at the thirty-eighth annual report (that for 1894) of "The Society for Missions to Seamen," we find that the Duke of Edinburgh is patron, and that the vice-patrons are the Duke of York and the Archbishops of England and Ireland. There are two superintendents, ten secretaries, thirty-seven chaplains, a large force of Scripture readers, and a whole army of helpers. The income at the end of 1893 was £30,000. They publish a quantity of special literature for sailors, and have a quarterly magazine, The Word on the Waters.
Take as an example the work done in the port of Sunder- land. I can remember when the Church was apathetic in the matter, and the sole agency for work among the seamen there was an undenominational mission. Only a a few earnest men among the Presbyterians and others took any interest in the work. My own father, who for many years took an active part in the support of this mission, found it increasingly difficult towards the close of his career to interest the religious public in its operations. The National Church has now a Seaman's Church and Institute. There are four Sunday services ; Holy Com- munion is dispensed each Lord's Day at 8 a.m.; and on every alternate Sunday there is an additional celebration at mid- day. There is daily morning prayer at ten, and a great variety of other meetings. The chaplain is the Rev. G. B. Barton, M.A. 1521 came to the Holy Communion during the course of 1893, and of these 5G6 were seamen. Fifteen were confirmed by the Bishop of Durham. There is a Bible class attended by 60 members, and 10,129 attended the Sunday services. The chaplain says, in a very kind letter, " I am glad to hear you are going to say
148 The Duly of the Church to Special Classes.
a good word for the sailors. . . . We get any number of Scotchmen to our mission, notwithstanding- the fact that most of them arc not members of our church. The Scotch sailors are really splendid fellows."
One can imagine the feelings of one of our licentiates if he were asked to become a sailor's missionary under the present system. Pie would realise that in accepting the invitation he would forego all chance of becoming a parish minister, much more of being made a Royal chaplain, or a convener of committee. He would feel, and rightly too, that he would have to work under conditions which would be fatal to any attempt on his part to create a genuine church life among his hearers, while his own position would be that of a Christian worker, not that of a Christian pastor and a parish minister. The seamen's chaplains in England are in a very different position. The churches are often most beautiful, internally and externally, and are attended by large congregations. The interest of the nobility and gentry is evidenced by gifts of communion plate for the use of these churches. During 1894, Mr Woosman, one of those chaplains, was made Archdeacon of Macclesfield, a post which he holds with his chaplaincy, as a recognition of his great services in the cause of seamen's missions, and the Rev. Herbert W. Farrar, after eleven years' hard work in the Seamen's Mission church at South Shields, has been appointed vicar of St James's, Carlisle.
3. I now proceed to indicate what we might ourselves do to recover lost ground.
The consideration of this would lead us naturally to a much larger subject, viz., the quickening of the parochial system and the extinction of that pernicious congregational- ism, which is really at the root of most of the evils which we are seeking to remove. The congregational system is only allowable in missions among the heathen ; in Christian lands the parish is the expression of the fact that we are, as a nation, a part of Christendom, and that all within its bounds are, however careless and forgetful, claimed as
Seamen. 1 49
lier children by the Church. Congregationalism is part of the evil legacy left us, not by the more enlightened, but by the narrowest and most intolerant of the Puritans, who regarded themselves and their fanatical adherents as a "garden walled around," an oasis in the waste howling wilderness of a mere nominal Christianity. And the Con- gregationalism of their descendants is even worse, for it is supported by no conviction, but is simply the gratifica- tion of the separatist instinct, a revival of that caste system against which Christianity ceaselessly contends. This evil growth is beginning to flourish among us.
Let no one say that the parochial system has failed. Those who are sworn to administer it may have failed in their duty, but the system itself can never fail, and must always be the normal method by which the Church carries on her s;reat work of feeding and guiding the flock of Christ. But this is a very great subject. The restoration of the parochial system in its integrity in those great centres of population where it, to a certain extent, has with the very worst results been given up, would demand a great sum of money, a large increase of the working staff, and a consider- able sub-division of territory.
All that we can do is to strive to awaken the conscience of the Church on the subject. To this end : —
(1) It must be impressed upon the conscience and heart of ministers and office-bearers that they are responsible before God and His people, and to the nation, for all those resident within their bounds, and that they cannot be in the same sense responsible for any others ; that all pastoral work done, on whatever pretext, outside the parish is supererogatory, and, if done at the cost of neglecting the parishioners is sinful, and will not receive the Divine blessing. We must strive to get our young ministers to realise that a parish minister — and this is his proudest dis- tinction—is, or ought to be, in one aspect, a superior kind of city missionary, and, as such, occupies an infinitely higher position than that of a mere popular preacher, the
150 The Duty of the Church to Special Classes.
idol of a little religious coterie. Whenever this conviction is awakened, the sailors within each parish will be attended to as a matter of paramount duty and obligation.
(2.) Parish ministers should get into touch with existing agencies, not to capture them, not to disparage their methods, but to gain an influence with their promoters by the power of Christian love and sympathy. They should offer the Sacraments to the congregations working in the Bethels, and in other ways co-operate with those presently active in the matter.
(3.) The river or harbour should be constituted as soon as possible into a parish, which should be endowed ; its minister should have a seat in the Presbytery (as the incumbents of our extra- parochial Gaelic charges have), and should be in all respects on a level with the parochial clergy. They should be appointed by the Presbytery ad vitam aut culpam. As this is a work which young men can best do, they should be assured that a term of hard work as Seamen's Chaplain would not interfere with promotion. To this end the office should be made as dignified and attractive as possible. There should be a church, the best that can be got — and nothing could be too good for the brave fellows in question — reading rooms, recreation rooms, &c, &c. There should also be a guild of lay-helpers to assist the chaplains. If the Church were in earnest in this matter it might be an easy matter to come to an amicable arrangement with existing agencies, and to incor- porate them in the parochial system.
But we need not expect this or other reforms until the Church is revived and has risen to a higher conception of her being and her mission. A church which has nothing to give but moral advice has nothing to get. Men are not likely to give large sums of money to an institution which professes to do no more for them than they can do for themselves. It is only a Divine institution, with super- natural gifts and powers, which can inspire enthusiasm or elicit devotion and self-sacrifice. Money and men for this
Seamen, 1 5 1
and other great ends will be forthcoming in far greater abundance than we can even dream of at present, when the base modern conception of the Church as a merely voluntary religious club has been discredited, and our people learn to recognise in our National Zion, what is really the vaison d'etre of her existence — viz., that she is a living branch of* the Holy Catholic Church of the Redeemer, founded upon the Rock, inhabited by the Holy Spirit, the Channel of Divine Grace, the Pillar and Ground of the Truth, destined to abide and to be a witness for Divine things until the present dispensation come to an end.
THE DUTY OF THE CHURCH TO SPECIAL CLASSES.
Inmates of Hospitals.
Patrick Cooper, M.A.
The duty of the Church to the inmates of hospitals is the duty of a parent to her children. For not only is the Church the spiritual mother of all her members : she is also, in a special sense, the mother of hospitals.
The term " hospital " includes three distinct classes of institutions : — (1) For the reception and relief of sick and injured persons ; (2) for the reception and maintenance of the poor and aged ; and (3) for the board and education of poor children. At one time it was also understood to include an institution for the reception of strangers and travellers ; but it is to the inmates of only the classes above specified that the following observations refer.
The hospital, as a place for the relief of the sick, the maintenance of the poor or the education of the young, is the peculiar offspring of the Christian Church. Although in ancient times there may have been hospitals for the re- ception of strangers or travellers, there is no evidence of the existence of a charitable institution for the relief of the sick, the infirm or the poor until after the propagation of Christianity. The earliest institutions of the kind of which any record has been preserved are two — one founded by Valens in Csesarea, the other by Fabriola, a friend of St Jerome, at Eome, both in the fourth century.
152
Inmates of Hospitals. 1 5 3
The immediate origin of the hospital as we know it, whether for the care of the sick or the relief of the indi- gent, we owe — as we owe much else that is good — to a body of bygone labourers in the vineyard, whose beneficence is now forgotten, of whom a great statesman has said — " They lived long ago, and their history has been written by their enemies." I refer to the monks of the mediaeval Church.
Every monastery had its infirmary for the reception and relief not only of the sick, but of the aged, the weak, the helpless. In the course of time separate establishments were founded in most centres of population for these purposes, and special revenues were set apart for them ; but all, be it remembered, under the immediate care of the Church. Since the lCth century the bonds between Christ's Church and His poor have been severed one by one, and, among others, the relation between the Church and the hospital — the temporal relation, at least. The spiritual relation still remains, though in some quarters it is barely acknowledged.
But the inmates of hospitals have another and a higher claim on the Church. She is their spiritual mother, they, her sick and helpless children ; and what mother will not lavish her tenderest care upon her sick child ?
The visitation of the sick is one of the primary duties of the Christian Church. We have the highest warrant for it; it needs no elaborate enforcement. The sick and aged poor are in trouble — bodily trouble, certainly — perhaps mental as well ; and they require spiritual as well as tem- poral comfort — a fact not always recognised in this material- istic age. They are under the hand of God, receiving from Him a quiet time free from the active cares of life, that they may hear His voice, " Son — daughter, give Me thine heart." Perhaps it may be a last breathing space, in which to receive His peace before they die.
It is difficult to conceive of any more effective field in which to labour for the cure of souls. The quiet, the good
154 The Duty of the Church to Special Classes.
order, the absence of distracting influences offer special oppor- tunity for the imparting of religious impressions. When bodily strength is low, the spirit is often more acutely sensitive.
Now, in what manner should the spiritual mother dis- charge her duty to her sick and infirm children ? Clearly through the Ministry of God's Word and Sacraments, — she has no other means. And as their needs are, so must be her supply. To all large hospitals there should be attached a regular chaplain, not merely to read and pray with the inmates, but to administer the Sacraments to them. To fulfil those purposes the chaplain must be an ordained minister — ordained to the charge. And why not ? Surely an hospital, with 200 or 300 beds, is a heavier pastoral charge than many a country parish with scarce as many souls. It is vain to say that such a chaplain would have too little to do. In truth he would have too much to do. The patients would be ever coming and going. In a general hospital they would stay only a short time. The chaplain's work would be hard and exacting. The post would be no sinecure, nor one for which a suitable incum- bent would be easily found. It would require the very best man that could be got. In the case of smaller hos- pitals, one chaplain might serve the cure of two or more.*
But until the national Church fulfils her duty by the pro- vision of chaplains to hospitals, her obligation must not go wholly undischarged. The parish minister is her agent in that behalf. An hospital having no regular ordained chaplain cannot possibly be considered extra-parochial. The minister of the parish within which it lies has a duty to its inmates — as to his other parishioners — and that whether he recognises it or no. Regular and frequent visitation, the services of public worship, the administration of the Sacraments, the burial of the dead : these duties, in the absence of a chap-
* A sign of the small attention which is given to this subject is surely seen in the fact that it does not seem to occur to any of our wealthy laymen that one of the noblest services which they could render in the Lord's name would be that of assisting to provide on a right basis of properly endowed hospital chaplaincies.
Inmates of Hospitals. 155
lain, undoubtedly fall to be discharged by the parish minister.
In this connection reference may be made to the ques- tion of the visitation by the clergy of persons labouring under infectious disease. Many medical men object to ministers of religion visiting fever patients, lest they carry away infection and spread it among the members of their families or others with whom they come in contact. Again, some persons claim it as one of the advantages of a celibate clergy that the absence of home ties enables the readier assistance to be given to the sick in infectious cases. Such objections scarcely require an answer. Is there any magic in a medical degree which protects its holder from infection, or which confers immunity upon his other patients ? Or does the married doctor shrink from attend- ing fever cases lest he should infect his family ? The clergyman can take the same precautions as the doctor takes.
Reference was made during the Conference to the services now being rendered by women in the field of hos- pital nursing. Has the Church no special help for them ? Why should she not extend her hand to them also, and unite them in a Guild under a Rule of Life ? Has she no help for them in their work ? Can it be supposed that the clergy and nurses in East London and elsewhere would have worked so fearlessly during the awful cholera visita- tion, had they not been nourished and sustained by the daily Communion of the Body and Blood of our Lord ?
Although there is not always that provision for the regular ministration of the services of the Church in hospi- tals which it is the duty of the Church to make, there is much good work being done there by pious persons, chiefly laymen and women, whose efforts are highly appreciated by the patients. Far be it from me to say one word in de- preciation of their self-denying labours ; but owing to the unhappy divisions of the Church such workers are compelled in large measure to renounce the help which their work would derive from a closer Church connection. I am certain
156 The Duty of the Church to Special Classes.
that many who at present strive to overtake this work, proper to, but neglected by, the Church, would be glad of ministerial counsel and oversight.
In favour of the better provision for the spiritual com- fort of the sick and aged poor, I would urge another con- sideration which may weigh with those at least who have not renounced belief in the efficacy of prayer. If due pro- vision were made by the Church for the spiritual necessities of the ailing and the infirm, she would generate a force which has not hitherto been calculated upon ; for she would encourage and inspire the inmates of hospitals to assist in bearing the troubles of others, and to alleviate the suffer- ings of the world by their intercessions at the throne of grace.
THE DUTY OF THE CHURCH TO SPECIAL CLASSES.
Paupers.
Rev. H. J. Wotherspoon, M.A.
1. The first and most obvious duty of the Church in relation to Paupers seems to be the endeavour that there be none.
There is surely commission in Christianity for a more living interest in social problems than it has latterly shown. The Church has not only to teach principles in their root forms — but also their application ; if not their detail and manner of application, at least the directions in which they ought to be applied.
To her '/.-/ipuy/jja she must add her hiSayji, to such plain purpose that every Christian heart among us shall feel accused before God — either while the blamelessly unfor- tunate among us are branded as Paupers — or while pauper- ism is, as it so often at present is, the natural close of the honest labourer's life — or while preventible conditions exist which suppty a class of intemperate and improvi- dent, never far removed from pauperism.
There might be fewer paupers if the preaching of the Gospel had always been held to include the teaching of Christianity.
2. For the Church's duty towards existing Pauperism : it seems axiomatic that the Church cannot be content while any of her own members are left to the public charity. Before addressing herself to the aid of the World to which she is sent, she ought to care for those of her own house — I will not say lest she " deny
158 The Duty of the Church to Special Classes.
the faith," but I may say, " lest she seem to be worse than some who are unbelieving." What the Parsee and the Jew can do, the Christian Church ought to find possible. Certainly the difficulties of the position created for us by our divisions and its consequences in legislation are great. On the one hand, while the public dole exists for the resource- less, their fellow Christians are unwilling so to aid them as to save the rates. They are prepared to supplement rate aid ; but not to preserve from rate aid. Many good Christian people seem to regard their payment of poor rates as sub- stantially relieving them from further duty to the poor. One often hears it said — " I pay a heavy poor-rate — it is very hard that I should be asked," &c, &c. On the other hand, it is far from clear that our poor would themselves in all cases prefer the help of the Church to that of the Parish. They regard the latter as their right. The stigma of pauperism (in the form at least of out-door relief) has come to be little felt — partly as such relief seems for so many the common lot — and also, one is bound to admit, from the feeling that it has been fairly secured by payment of rates during the Avorking years. Further, while it may seem plain that each congregation should maintain its own poor, it is also plain that wealthy congregations have few poor and ample means — but that on the other hand where the poor to be provided for are many, the congregation to which it falls to provide for them is also poor. Further, the mainten- ance of its own poor might be a heavy tax on partially endowed congregations.
It is, nevertheless, true that the Church should care for her own. So far as " distribution to the widows " is con- cerned, the practice of the first days ought to stand. In no congregation is the proportion of communicants on the poor roll so large that it would be hopeless to support so many — at least so far as at present they are supported. We should have no widow of ours on the poor roll, no sick or hurt of ours left to be visited by the public inspector (kindly as such a visit often is), no orphan of
Pmipers. 159
ours sent to the workhouse. For each town there might be such " Combination " (as there are Combination Poor- houses), as should bring the west end parish to share equally this holy care with the east end parish. We cannot return to the good old days, when each Parish Church supported all the Parish's poor — but we can come to the support of our own. At present each minister who will do more than give some casual temporary help, must make interest with the Parochial Board, or cast about to what " undenominational " institution he can apply for help and mercy for his stricken — the help and mercy which surely the Church of Cod should herself extend to her own.
The cost of doing something in this direction would no doubt be felt more heavily in these days than it was two generations ago, inasmuch as the scale of congregational expenditure on fabrics and services, and on the working of the complicated machinery of church life, is so much greater. It may mean that in some of these directions we must limit ourselves and stint expenditure in familiar channels of outlay, in order that we may have to give to him that needeth. If so, there is a simplicity in service which is not squalid ; an austere worship need not be undignified. Costliness in worship or its accessories is not beauty. If it were to be necessary to spare somewhat on what we offer to God in acts of public devotion, that we may offer more in the tending of the unfortunate, I do not think such service would be less acceptable to Him, or less "attractive" to those earnest human souls, whom we should most desire to draw to our fellowship. " Maintenance of ordinances " must be a first object of the Church's care ; but public worship is not the only thing ordained of God and com- mitted to our care. The daily mercy to the widow and fatherless — the two pence to the wounded by the way — these are also ordinances of God, which, perhaps, we are equally called to maintain ; and perhaps, although we have barely enough for what we do preserve, our little should.
160 The Duty of the Church to Special C/asses.
in some degree greater than at present, be shared over the several departments of our calling.
It is certainly no object to me to lessen the poor pittance which commonly falls to the ministry, and I do not count money wasted which is spent to God's honour in a seemly worship; but if the Church has not money enough for all her charge, it seems a strange thing that she should let the poor and their care go utterly from her, and everything go to maintain worship and its staff. This ought we to have done, and not to have left the other undone. Let us take our pauper communicants off the roll — let us see to our widows and orphans and suddenly afflicted — and then con- sider supplements of stipend and expenditure on services. If the ministry be yet more pinched than it is, better for us to be pinched with the poor than that they go to the public charity. If the Church be bare and the service plain, it will not be the less " attractive " if enriched with such jewels as Laurence the Deacon could boast of for it in his day.
Yet, in truth, the question need never be between the neglecting of God's worship and the neglect of His poor. We have wealth enough among us, if it paid its due to God. If the rich gave in proportion only as the comparatively poor already do, I believe there would be enough in the treasury of the Lord's House for any demand that is likely to be made upon it. When our country was poorer than it is now, it was able to endow its Church to be the nation's almoner. When one considers the abounding comfort and luxury that surround us, one is ready to think how easily and happily the little that the Church now asks and cannot find, for the most entirely unselfish purposes, might be poured into her lap. Must she suffer for ever for the abuses of the fourteenth anJ fifteenth centuries ? Surely she has received double for all her sins, in her plundering by one generation, and her humiliation at the hands of each genera- tion since. Christ in these days is left to gather the crumbs that fall from our tables.
Paupers. 1 6 1
3. It remains to say a word of what the ( 'lunch might per- haps do for the pauperism that is accommodated in our poor- houses. The charge is here in the hands of carefully-selected and responsible officials, governors, chaplains, and others, who, I believe, discharge their duties with every fidelity and consideration ; who work under rules, framed with the utmost care, which they have only to carry out — rules that, in those matters of which alone I speak here, seem kindly and equal ; and who, moreover, have to deal with persons many of whom belong to the most difficult and perplexing class of our population. I do not for a moment take it upon me to hint any criticism of matters which are in their care — I am not aware that there is any occasion to do so. I would only suggest directions in which the Church might come to the aid of officials in their humane efforts, and, working within general or local rules, be serviceable both to the inmates of workhouses and those who have their oversight.
It seems obvious, too, that in every case there might be provision by which those inmates of workhouses, who are such in faith and character that in ordinary circumstances they would be received to the Holy Communion, may obtain the sacrament. Take the case of a poorhouse in which leave of absence to attend Church is not given, and in Avhich the Holy Communion is nev-er administered ; can the Cliurch feel that the position of such of her people as may rind themselves there is in this respect satisfactorv '. There are, I fancy, in every poorhouse a considerable pro- portion of the inmates who are old, infirm, or bedrid, who, of all others, may seem to require the consolation and sup- port of that blessed ordinance ; who are there, one may suppose, for a considerable time — often for the remaining term of their lives. I think that in smaller county work- houses this class forms their normal population. One can- not doubt that these, isolated under the continual care of their chaplains, would, in most cases, naturally, if not com- municants previously, be led to a frame in which they ir. l
1 62 The Duty of the Church to Special Classes.
would both be fitted for, and would desire, communion. The fact that in an appreciable number of Avorkhouses the Holy Communion is at present regularly celebrated, seems to show that there is no insuperable difficulty in the way of this becoming the rule, and not the exception. And this, again, seems to me to call for the ordination of chaplains.
With respect to leave of absence on Sundays for the purpose of attending ordinary public worship, all will feel, 1 am sure, how fortunate it is when this can be granted — as in very many cases it is — as in many more it would be, if desired. It is entirely in the discretion of House Com- mittees to give or withhold it. In a considerable number of instances, it is not the practice to give leave ; and it must be remembered that in all these cases, service is con- ducted by the chaplain within the house. Still, one must feel how good a thing it is that the pauper should be able to maintain the link of common worship with the Church ; and at least on the Lord's Day, and at least in the House of God, feel that he is as other men, and that his tie to the fellowship which is in Christ is not broken by the adverse circumstances which divide him from almost every other intercourse. I do not question the discretion which, in many instances, sees it impossible to permit this indulgence. There are practical reasons which must be considered. Some poorhouses contain a large population, embracing very difficult elements. In a large town, it would be hard to know that Sunday leave of absence was always used only for the purpose for which it is given. It might imply the necessity of a quarantine on return in every case where granted. In dealing with so many and so various indi- viduals, exceptions are difficult — a fixed rule for all may seem essential to discipline. The Governor and Chaplain of a large poorhouse have a heavy task and no small responsi- bility, with which we cannot interfere. Yet it is precisely in these larger poorhouses that there are likely to be the more cases of merely unfortunate poverty — of persons who have
Patipers. 163
lived in the Communion of tlio Church, who would desire to maintain it, and to whom the Sunday leave of absence would be precious.
Jt is here, and in like matters, that I think the Church might come to the help of the authorities in the extension of facilities by which the inmates of poorhouses, who desire so do so, might maintain a part in the common life of the Church, and at the same time might do much for the inmates generally in various directions. Where there is a poorhouse there should be, I suggest, a Church Guild de- voted to the poorhouse as its field of mercy. It should be the Chaplain's aid and helper — his staff and support. His work must often be lonely and discouraging to a degree. He must be helpless for much that he would wish to do, because unsupported by any such organisation outside of his poor flock. Such a Guild could arrange to be responsible for the Church attendance of those to whom leave of exit should be given, and for their safe and immediate return. It could provide suitable clothing for Church attendance. (I know of one poorhouse in which that is at present clone.) It could do far more. It could care for the Sunday of the children of the poorhouse. It could take them to Church, and to Sunday School and back. (That again is at present done in one case of which I know. In another, one lady herself keeps Sunday School for the children of the poorhouse in her own home.) It could take these children to the fields of a summer evening or on a Saturday afternoon. It could follow them when they are boarded out, and main- tain a kindly watch over their welfare. If it did so much as this, it would be warranted in providing sponsorship for the baptism of the children in whose future it was prepared to maintain an interest, and so could obviate the difficulty which our discipline, necessarily perhaps, but often most painfully, interposes. It could systematise visitation and the provision of literature. It could minister to the com- fort of those cases of blameless poverty and unfortunate •old age which everyone is equally anxious to consider. It
164 The Ditty of the Church to Special Classes.
would find no hindrance (I am sure) from authorities. What those would desire would be the guarantee of re- sponsible persons, that indulgence will not be misused, and that discipline will not be subverted. Where authorities are fettered by regulation, regulations can be altered if the guarantees required are forthcoming — such guarantee as a Church Guild would be able to give. The tendency of the future will certainly be to the classification of the inmates of poorhouses, and to a clear distinction between honour- able poverty and that which is the retribution of intemper- ance or thriftless idleness, — between the unfortunate poor and the professional tramp. It will be easier than it has been to lighten and brighten the lot of the former. And to be interested in doing so is the manifest duty of the Church. The other class need not be forgotten. It should be the aim of such a Guild to know what is possible for each who finds his way to the poorhouse — to gather out of it the hopeful and restorable elements, to find work for those who can take it, to aid the convalescents, to rescue the fallen who seek refuge there, to go to the poorhouse with those who must go to it, and to take from the poorhouse every one for whom a place or a usefulness can be found outside, helping to find not only the employment, but the clothing, the tools, the encouragement which a new start requires. There can be little doubt that those who have the oversight of the pauperdom of the country would only too gladly welcome such aid, and would give it every facility. Inside the poorhouse there would still remain enough to do — to cheer the sick-wards, to comfort the aged, to care for the children, to brighten the weekly services with music, to supply the chaplain and nurses with whatever additional provision they can use beyond what official responsibility can feel warranted in providing from the rates. Even a flower by a sick-bed is not without its value.
I cannot think that it is impossible, or even Quixotic, to suppose that such associations might be found. Most poorhouses are placed at centres of population, where there
Paupers. 165
is abundant church energy. Guild life languishes among us for want of object. A Guild requires a work. Hero is work waiting for us — definite, local, Christian, full of interest and promise. To be effective it would need to embrace Christian experience and wisdom, and to com- mand something of influence and means. It could not be carried on effectively by the young, or by women only. There is no reason why it should be.
The poorhouse is the pool occupying the lowest social level, to which drains the poverty and misfortune of a district, the extremest poverty and utmost misfortune, in many cases self-caused, yet not criminal, or it would be elsewhere, and often only unfortunate, only friendless. That is to say, in each city or district the Avhole extremity of poverty and ill-fortune is concentrated in a single build- ing— what in less degree is scattered everywhere is here sorted out and gathered for us — all that is most necessitous and most helpless. To such as these there can be no ques- tion of the Church's mission. One would suppose that her anxiety and pity would brood over these accumulations of affliction, and that if anywhere she was found active, there certainly, there especially. I am afraid that it is not so, and yet it is strange that it should not be so.
This is a field of work for the National Church. Let her show that she is the Church of the poor, of those poorest, who can render her nothing again ; and her reward shall be in the sight of Heaven.
THE DUTY 0¥ THE CHURCH TO SPECIAL CLASSES— PRISONERS.
David Patrick, J.P.
''The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek ; He hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound."
The Hebrew prophet had doubtless here in anticipation the advent of Christianity, which has done so much to ameliorate the condition of prisoners. In pagan times, and even in more recent, those who have transgressed the ordinances of man have been subjected to such inhuman treatment, as only the ingenuity of evil could devise ; but as the true knowledge of the principles of Christianity deepened, and the influence of its precepts became felt in all the conditions of life, the prison gates, it may be said, were opened, and it became the mission of philanthropists to see that, while misdoing received merited punishment, the rigours of confinement were yet not such as to be inconsistent with the duty of man to man. There is scarcely a prison now which is not supplied with a chaplain — -or chaplains, if diversity of Church connection makes it advisable. Excellent men as many of these are, and, I believe, much interested in their work, which cannot be of the most exhilarating description, I still think the Church could do something more in supplying specially qualified
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Prisoners. 167
workers for this particular branch of Christian philanthropy. Times have been, I believe, when prison chaplains were generally ministers who had not been quite successful in other directions, and who betook themselves to this form of work not on account of special aptitude to deal with the criminal classes, but because their ministrations had not been duly appreciated by those outside the prison walls. This, happily, is no longer the case. On the contrary, it is easy to instance prison chaplains, as, for example, in both Glasgow and Edinburgh, who are not only well-fitted for the duties they have undertaken, but have even renounced incumbencies to undertake them. My view, however, is that there should be distinct and special training for such work, and that, of course, the emoluments of the office should cor- respond to the sacrifice which it involves, and should thus tend to draw to the rescue of prisoners those best fitted to reclaim them from the errors of their ways. No one ought, as a rule, to be appointed to such an office who has not acquainted himself with the peculiar characteristics of the criminal classes, and is not imbued with the desire to work out their reformation. The object of punishment is two-fold, to deter, according to legal phraseology, the transgressor from committing like crimes in all time coming, and to be an example to others, so as to prevent them from falling into similar transgressions. The Church has only to consider the former of these, viz., the influence of punishment on the culprit, and how best, when his term of punishment has expired, he may be fitted for ordinary life. It is accordingly of great importance that the teaching which the prisoner receives should be such as will brins home to him that he has entered upon a thorny path, which, if persevered in, can only lead to misery, and to bring back to him what I may call the balance of morality, which nothing is better fitted to do than Christian ministrations. But while a great duty rests on the Church to see that properly qualified ministers are appointed to every prison, I think a still greater remains to be fulfilled in paying attention to,
1 68 The Duty of (he Church to Special Classes.
and looking after the interests of those who have served their term of punishment and arc cast abroad on the world penniless and friendless. A great work has been accom- plished in this direction by the " Prisoners' Aid Society " ; but why should it be left to that or any Society ? No more important Home Mission could be undertaken than a specially directed effort towards the reclamation of these who may be sorely tempted to fall back into evil courses. I think the Church has done too little in this respect ; such work is not confined to that of the prison chaplain alone, but is open to all Christian workers, clerical and lay alike, and it is worth doing, if even one renegade can be turned again into a respectable and well-to-do citizen. The difficulties of carrying out such work systematically are obvious. There is in the first place the difficulty of keeping a hold upon the discharged prisoner. Arrangements, however, might be made with the prison chaplains to ascertain the precise requirements of those about to be released, so that when they pass from his ministrations they could be handed over to others who could undertake the still harder task of their reformation when beset with temptations and discouraged by the cold indifference of those who pass by on the other side. Another difficulty is the mixed character of our criminal population, composed, as it is, of old and young offenders, those hardened in transgressions and those who may be just entering upon a course of crime. The former on release generally resort to their old haunts, to which there is natur- ally a difficulty in tracing them, but I think special attention at least might be directed to convicts out on licence, whose addresses can easily be found if they are continuing to report themselves according to the terms of their licence. I am not aware that any particular mission towards this class exists, and it would be well that the thoughts of Christian people were turned in their direction. Farther, an important work lies in the attention to be given to young or juvenile, offenders ; how to deal most effectually with these is a
Prisoners. 1 69
problem which lias not yet been solved. In the course of now many years' experience as a magistrate, I have been struck to observe how little compulsory education has done for this class, and how frequently lads, who must have grown up under the Education Act, cannot even write their names. I deprecate the separation of secular and religious teaching, and maintain that the former without the latter is not in the interest either of morality or of true educa- tion ; but while it is the duty of the Church first to see that every young person understands his or her responsi- bility towards God, it is even more obviously a Christian duty, when one lamb has been lost, to find and bring it back to the fold. The Church should, therefore, have some organisation to deal with youthful offenders, to come into direct contact with everyone who has been in a police court, and who has been convicted of any crime, however trivial. In this way much good might be done and the downward tendency of many arrested.
Another difficulty to be met with arises from the varying degrees of turpitude in prisoners. I have always thought it an anomaly in our law that we should have but one mode of punishment for all offences, the signalman or engine-driver who mistakes a signal light being subjected to the same treatment as the thief and house-breaker ; and that these should be put in the same category and classed together as jail-birds. Particular attention should be given that the moral culpability of a prisoner should not, when he comes out of prison, be unduly exaggerated, and means should be taken for obtaining him suitable employment. There is a natural hesitation in employing discharged prisoners, but by careful supervision this might be over- come, and the perjudice which exists abated.
No one who has any experience of our criminal courts can shut his eyes to the fact that intemperance is in the great majority of cases the initial cause of crime, but how to deal with this is not the subject of this paper; those, how- ever, who have been convicted as "drunk and incapable"
i/O The Duty of the Church to Special Classes.
should be specially looked after by those interested in Christian work. The man or woman who has undergone the statutory penalty of twenty-four hours' imprisonment for such an o Hence is not beyond the hope of reformation, and should be followed with careful supervision. When once anyone has been within the prison walls the return journey is a very easy matter.
In the treatment of discharged prisoners there should be kindness and charity ; the time for punishment is over when the convict comes out of prison, and life should be shown to him as worth living. With this class of the community there is a great field for Christian enterprise, hitherto, perhaps, too much neglected.
Christianity alone can prevent additions to this unfortu- nate class ; and Christianity alone can rescue those who have drifted into its ranks. The Church of God is as the hand of Christ reached into the world for this as for every work of mercy. These also who fill the gaols, are His Who came to call, not the righteous, but sinners to repentance — Who has even claimed our regard for them as a debt to Himself, saying, " I was in prison and ye came unto Me."
THE ATTITUDE WHICH THE CHURCH SHOULD ASSUME TOWARDS THE LEADING PHASES OF MODERN THOUGHT, AND ESPECIALLY TOWARDS MODERN CRITICISM OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES.
Rev. Professor Robert Flint, D.D., LL.D.
The age in which we live is powerfully affected by certain prevalent tendencies and comprehensive movements of thought which have originated, for the most part, in a re- mote past, but which have acquired in the present time a peculiar character, a special significance, and a hitherto unknown force. They tell upon the thoughts, and control and modify the beliefs, feelings, and conduct, often even of men who are quite unconscious of their influence. All are more or less, in one way or another, affected by them. They all act strongly on religion. They all, therefore, vitally concern the Church. And, consequently, it is im- portant that the Church should take up a right attitude towards them.
It is not difficult to see, in a general way, what that attitude must be. It must obviously be one primarily dic- tated by a strictly conscientious regard to what it holds to be the truth in Christ, vital religious truth. The Church exists to be a pillar and ground of that truth. It should bear a clear and distinct testimony for it ; a clear and dis- tinct testimony against what conflicts with it. The Church cannot do its duty in relation to such phases of modern thought as Agnosticism, Pessimism, Pantheism, Empiricism, Rationalism, Socialism, and the like, if it lack the courage
172 The Attitude of the Church to Modern Thought
and candour required to combat what is false and evil in them.
The Church may easily err in this direction. Indeed, it was never, perhaps, subjected to stronger temptation so to err than at the present day. Undoubtedly one of the phases of modern thought most prevalent among us is a Liberalism which cares little to distinguish clearly between truth and error ; which is desperately afraid of being, or of being considered, illiberal, if it decidedly oppose any popular phase of current thought ; and which, therefore, loves to expatiate only on what it can praise in them. This liberalism is as one-sided, as superficial, as unveracious as the unreasoning conservatism and dogmatism which pre- vailed in a former age, and from which it may be con- sidered as a reaction. It is certainly not by the spirit of such liberalism that the attitude of the Church towards the leading phases of Modern Thought ought to be deter- mined.
It does not follow that the right attitude towards them should ever be one of mere aversion and antagonism ; that it should ever even be other than so far a sympathetic and receptive attitude. Leading phases of thought, those which persistently or widely prevail, have always important truth, precious good, in them. The Church may always derive instruction and profit from them. Were it not so, it would be very difficult indeed to believe that the world of history is a world providentially guided with a view to the advance- ment of the Kingdom of Christ. And if so, the love which the Church bears to the truth as it is in Christ ought to be precisely what leads her also to be just and sympathetic towards the intellectual movements or tend- encies of the age, and ready to learn from them whatever they are capable of teaching her.
They may all teach her useful lessons. It is the special temptation of religion, and of the teachers and preachers of religion, to exaggerate the merits of believing and faith, and to depreciate and denounce unbelief and doubt. Agnos-
and Criticism of the Holy Scriptures. 173
ticism is an excessive extension of the sphere of doubt and unbelief, and as excessive is, of course, to be opposed ; but it will serve an important spiritual purpose if it cause those ■who minister in the Church to realise aright that believing as well as doubting ought always to be in accordance with truth ; that doubt has appropriate functions, and has done great and indispensable things, and that man's utmost knowledge of God must necessarily be very imperfect.
The greatest impediment to the formation and diffusion of right religious views is a frivolous hopefulness, a super- ficially optimistic conception of life, founded on unsuscepti- bilit}r and blindness to the awful prevalence of vanity, sorrow, and sin in existence. Pessimism may help to remove it. The Gospel of Christ begins where pessimism ends. It implies that pessimism would be true but for itself. It i^epresents the merely natural life — the earthly, sensuous, selfish life — life when separate from God and alien to God — as a fallen, futile, and w-oeful state of being ; as a state of sin and misery, of darkness and death.
The most extensive and powerful of contemporary move- ments of thought is probably the one variously designated empiricism, positivism, phenomenalism, or naturalism. There can be no doubt that it is incompatible with Chris- tian faith, and, therefore, must be viewed by the Christian Church as, in the main, a dangerous enemy. Yet this should not prevent the Christian Church from acknowledg- ing what is good in it, and learning from it to set a higher value on scientific method in the study of the critical and historical branches of theology ; to give more heed to the ascertainment of various kinds of facts ; to appreciate more fully the importance in religion of verification ; not to accept religious truths merely on authority or on external grounds, when they can be known by us through a living insight into their own nature, and a veritable although spiritual experience of their character ami influence ; when they can be tested, as even the highest truths of Revelation
i 74 The Attitude of tJic Church to Modern Thought
may, by their power to sustain piety, to promote virtue, to purify the heart, and to ennoble the nature.
That Socialism has brought with it to the Churches of the present day a message of the utmost urgency, which may have the most far-reaching influence, is what only a Church dead, deaf, and blind can fail to perceive. To sum.' extent all our Churches are perceiving it and reflect- ing on it.
The right attitude of the Church, then, towards the lead- ing phases of Modern Thought is one which cannot be de- scribed by any single term. It has various characteristics.
It should be an attitude of independence. The Church should never act as the mere servant or follower of any intellectual movement, as the passive recipient and un- intelligent repeater of its message. She ought to realise, and show that she realises, that she is a Divinely-instituted power, entrusted with a message to mankind grander and more important than any temporary phase of thought can bring, and bound to judge of the teaching contained in all phases of thought by its relation to her own doctrine. Her attitude must, therefore, further be no weak or undecided attitude. She must in many cases, and indeed on all vital points of faith, have a clear Yes or a clear No to utter ; and in all such cases she ought to give forth no uncertain sound.
At the same time, her attitude ought to be a dis- criminating one. She should distinguish in all prevalent systems and tendencies between what does not concern her and what does. What does not concern her she should let alone. In what does concern her she should separate what is false from what is true. The former she should fairly and courageously oppose. The latter she should candidly and gratefully assent to, and wisely and diligently profit by.
What has just been said manifestly applies in a general way to the attitude which the Church should assume towards Modern Criticism of the Holy Scriptures.
By Modern Criticism is meant, I suppose, what is often
and Criticism of the Holy Scriptures. 175
called the Higher Criticism or Historical Criticism, in contra- distinction to the so-called Lower Criticism or Textual Criti- cism. The Lower Criticism in the present day awakens no anxieties in the Church, raises and agitates no burning questions. And it is agreed on all hands that it can be rightly carried on only in one way namely, by the appli- cation of certain principles and rules of evidence appropriate to the subject, in the spirit of strict objective impartiality, one which seeks simply to ascertain the state of facts, not either to establish or refute any hypothesis or doctrine.
It is very different as regards the so-called Higher or Historical Criticism. It deals with the historical bases of our religion, a religion which rests largely on history, and which centres in an historical person. It analyses and criticises the sources of our knowledge of this religion, and pronounces on the character, authenticity, age, and credi- bility of every constituent portion of the Bible. It treats of all that bears on the explanation of the origin and formation of the Bible. It thus obviously and directly affects faith and doctrine, and searches and tries their very foundations.
Criticism of this kind cannot fail to be widely and intensely interesting. There may be much good in the interest which it awakens. But there should be no un- necessary impulse given to its diffusion or intensification. There are some serious evils accompanying it, and these are all very much increased by the fact that the vast majority of those who get excited over the results said to be reached by the historical criticism of the Scriptures are very in- competent to judge for themselves whether they have been really attained or not, and can only accept them on the authority of those whom they are told are the highest authorities. And told by whom ? Perhaps by a credulous partisan disciple of these authorities. Or, more probably, by writers who are no more entitled than themselves to say who is or is not an authority ; journalists say, who really know almost nothing about the higher Biblical Criticism
176 The Attitude of (he Church to Modern Thought
than what they pick up to enable them to compose the articles which are supposed to mould, and perhaps do mould too much, public opinion.
But the clergy themselves may, in this connection, be even greater sinners than the journalists. It is not long since they wore too apt, when dealing with any psalm ascribed to David in the Psalter, to waste their own time and that of their hearers by fanciful descriptions of the circumstances in which they alleged that the Hebrew monarch had written it. This fashion has happily now become out of date ; but I am told, and rather fear it may be true, that there are some who have adopted the still more objectionable one of arguing when engaged on such a psalm that David did not write it, and speculating when and in what circumstances it may have been written. This sort of thing, I confess, seems to me extremely foolish ; and I doubt much if those who have so little sense as to fall into such a fault can have had faculty enough to acquire much knowledge either of the Hebrew language or of his- torical criticism. It is not the work of the Christian minister to discuss in the pulpit, and before people who cannot possibly judge of them with adequate knowledge, the hypotheses debated in the schools of Biblical criticism. His real duty as an expositor of Scripture is to set forth to his people as clearly and fully as he can the Divine truths contained in it, and to apply these as wisely and effectively as he can to their spiritual edification and guidance.
The clergy may do a great deal to keep those to whom they minister, and the Church in general, in a right attitude to the historical criticism of Scripture. But the way to do so is certainly not that of throwing about them from their pulpits handfuls of critical chaff, but that of so feeding their flocks with the pure and true wheat of the Word that they will so fully appreciate the spiritual value, the divinely nourishing power of it, that no kind of historical criticism of the Scriptures will be able to destroy their faith in their
and Criticism of the Holy Scriptures. ijj
Divine inspiration, seriously to mislead them, or foolishly to alarm them.
I The higher criticism of Scripture may be rightly enough classed, as it is in your programme, among modern phases oi thought. For the critical analysis of the sources of history, the free and searching investigation of the documents from which our knowledge of the history of any people or age is drawn, has never been so generally or zealously prosecuted as during the last half century.
The movement which has drawn a Kuenen and Well- hausen to the study of the sources of the history of ancient Israel is the same movement which has drawn a Giesebrecht and Wattenbach to the study of the sources of the history of mediaeval Germany. But those who have been drawn to the criticism of the sources of the history of ancient Israel have, compared with the critical investigators of the sources of German mediaeval history, very few documents to compare, very scanty means of correcting and controlling their assumptions, processes, and conclusions ; have been free to make, and strongly tempted to make, a far larger and bolder use of hypotheses ; and have actually been much more influenced by subjective considerations, by individual preconceptions, tastes, and tendencies. Hence the findings of the historical critics of the Bible can, as yet, by no means be received, as a rule, with nearly the same confidence as those of the modern critics of mediaeval chronicles. Hence there is as yet no steady consensus of opinion among the historical critics of the Bible. The conclusions reached by Baur and his followers are almost all flatly denied, not only by conservative critics, but by those of the new school of Pierson and Lomans ; and those of Kuenen and Wellhausen have not only failed to convince the orthodox, but are rejected almost in toto by the new school headed by Vernes.
Modern criticism of the Bible, since it awakened from its dogmatic slumber, has been largely conjectural. It will doubtless become strictly scientific ; but in order to become
II. M
178 The Attitude of the Church to Modem Thought
so it must be far more Largely self-critical than it has yet been. The criticism of the higher criticism by competent critics is a chief want of the age, and for modern Biblical criticism itself a necessary means of transition to a positively scientific condition.
The needed critics of a too hypothetical criticism of the Biblical writings will come ; and, perhaps, the Church should in no small measure leave it to them to deal with their too adventurous brethren. She should be very cautious not to attempt unduly limiting critical freedom. Historical criticism of the Bible may seem for a time to be her enemy, but in the end it will be found to be her friend and servant. In many respects it has already greatly benefitted her.
The historical criticism of the Scriptures ought to be of the impartial, independent, thorough kind, which is alone appropriate in all other historico-critical inquiry. There may be some who deem it irreverent to subject the books of the Bible to analysis and criticism at all ; who are content to pronounce them inspired and infallible, and all free research into their character and credibility unwarranted and profane. But such an attitude towards them is un- reasonable, for what it affirms it ought not to assume but to prove. And it is far from really tending to honour them. It rather gives evidence of a latent scepticism, an unworthy fear that the sacred writings will not stand being strictly tested. Under pretext of exalting them it discredits them by treating them as in danger should they be closely investigated.
It is not close historical investigation, not the most searching historical criticism, which is dangerous to the authority and credit of the holy Scriptures. It is the investigation which is not close, the criticism which is not searching, the investigation and criticism which are not purely and properly historical, but which is based on and biassed by extra-historical, uncritical presuppositions.
Let me, if I have not already taken up too much of your
and Criticism of the Holy Scriptures. 179
time, close by using just one example to illustrate what I mean.
The very eminent Edinburgh Clifford Lecturer of last year, Professor Pfleiderer, devoted a part of his second course to an account of the " Origin of Christianity." That account, it seems to me, was in one respect neither properly historical nor critical. It was not only obviously and largely, but avowedly, influenced by the notion that belief in miracle is inconsistent with the reality of a truly historical sequence ; that to adopt it in any case, no matter how complete may be the evidence in that case, virtually implies that there is no order in human affairs ; that " the appearing of a heavenly being for an episodic stay upon our earth breaks the con- nection of events in space and time upon which all our ex- perience rests, and therefore it undoes the conception of history from the bottom." *
Now, surely this is a dogmatic and purely metaphysical assumption of a kind which no historian is entitled to bring with him to the criticism of historical documents. To do so is virtually to rule impartial and reasonable historical criticism irrelevant. It allows the so-called critic to decide only in one way, no matter what the historical evidence may be. Scientific criticism not only does not require, but does not allow, of the subjection of historical criticism to any such preconception, one foreign to its own nature and fetched from afar.
And who will undertake to show us that the notion assumed is itself true ? I have never met with any proof that a miracle must be a violation of the principle of causality, or break the connection of events in space and time. Those who think it would must logically either con- ceive of a miracle as an event without a cause — i.e., in an absurd manner, or that there can be no order in history if there be any freedom, any self-determining causes in it, which is a very rash and groundless hypothesis. For all that we know every mind which comes into the world may * ,: Philosophy and Development of Religion," Vol. II. p. 2.
i8o The Attitude of the Church to Modern Thought
come direct from God, Who is our home, with a given measure of power which cannot be explained by the absolute neccssitation which is characteristic ouly of, and conceivable ouly iu, material objects merely mechanically connected. History would not be undone from the bottom were this true ; nay, rather it would be undone were there no free causes, no acts but those absolutely necessitated.
When 1 look at the history of the world before Christ, and contemplate the preparation, negative and positive, made for His coming, and when I study history after Christ, and see how dependent it has been for all that is best in it on the Gospel which He revealed, it seems to me that history, far from having been made unintelligible by His Advent, would have been vastly more obscure, mysterious, and perplexing than it is had it not taken place. What the history of the world shows that humanity supremely needed for the satisfaction of its deepest wants, and for enabling it to realise its worthiest ends, was not some mighty conqueror, some great genius, some superlative philosopher or scientist, but one who had dwelt in closest union with God, and could adequately reveal to mankind the mind and will of God for their salvation. Therefore, although in the highest degree wonderful, it was also in the highest degree natural, that such an one should have appeared.
Every historical personage is essentially an original force, an unexplained quantity. The historian can trace the in- fluences which act on his character, which so far determine the direction of his activities, and which explain, in a measure, his success or failure ; but he does not account for, and cannot account for his personality, his mind, his will itself. Ca?sar and Napoleon, Dante and Shakespeare, Socrates and Kant, Newton and Laplace, can be historically studied in many respects and relations, but they cannot be necessarily accounted for. They are free causes, and, for us, with our present knowledge, as inexplicable as would be an immediate Divine creation, an absolute miracle. Yet
and Criticism of the Holy Scriptures. 1 8 1
no historian imagines that these men, by any thought or action of theirs, broke the connection of events in space and time upon which all experience rests, and so upturned the conception of history from its foundation. On the con- trary, the historian recognises that the world of history is just the world of such causes, and that it is precisely because it is so that history has its distinctive value, and that it is so specially and profoundly interesting to trace the connections in space and time which are given in historical experience. It is, therefore, a (^uite arbitrary affirmation that " the appearing of a heavenly being for an episodic stay on earth would break " historical connections ; and certainly the assumption that it would do so ought not to be allowed to relieve the historian of any of the obliga- tions of historical criticism, or to affect the findings of such criticism.
THE ATTITUDE WHICH THE CHURCH SHOULD ASSUME TOWARDS THE LEADING PHASES OF MODERN THOUGHT, AND ESPECIALLY TOWARDS MODERN CRITICISM OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES.
Rev. Professor Robertson, D.D.
I shall confine myself strictly to that part of the subject that concerns the criticism of the Old Testament.
And it is obvious to remark at the outset that everything will depend upon the sense in which we employ our terms. As there are different aspects in which we may regard the Church, and opinions may differ widely as to any "attitude" the Church may assume towards any subject, so there are various kinds and degrees of criticism. And attitude here will be a reciprocal relation, the position assumed by the Church being, so far, determined by the standpoint occupied by the School of Criticism.
Let us instance two extreme attitudes which have actually been assumed. The thorou£li£oin<_r traditionalist takes the Bible on the authority of the Church, to which he has surrendered his judgment. For him the chief fact is that the Bible is the inspired rule of faith ; as to critical dis- cussions regarding its composition and transmission, he regards them either as matters of supreme indifference or even as rash handling of holy mysteries. At the other extreme the thoroughgoing rationalist, recognising no authority of the Church in these questions, and acknow- ledging no difference in kind among the various religions
182
The Attitude of the Church to Modern Thought. 183
of history, regards the Scriptures simply as one set of the sacred books of the world. Religion, in his view, is merely one of the forms of human activity. He believes he has ascertained the fixed laws according to which religious beliefs and practices are always developed, and he under- takes the task of exhibiting this process in the records of the Old and New Testaments.
The attitude of these two positions to one another is sufficiently clear. The one simply ignores or despises the other. Between them a great gulf is fixed ; there must be movement on the one side or the other before they can even come into contact.
Let us then suppose a modification of attitude on the side of the Church. The spirit of enlightened Christianity not only admits but courts free enquiry. The Church, in the interest of her own life and growth, should be ever ready to ward off attacks, or even prepared to attack with rational weapons those who assail her. In a word, criticism of the most pronounced or hostile form cannot be ignored. It must be met.
And it must be met on undisputed ground. However firmly the Church may be convinced that she has a special inheritance in these Scriptures, she must exhibit the title- deeds in the open court of reason. At the same time, if the Church is not allowed, in this controversy, to plead authority on her side, neither should the unbelieving critic be allowed to proceed on the assumption of his theories of development or of his postulates that all religions are speci- fically alike. Moreover, if a claim is made on behalf of specialism on the one side, a corresponding claim cannot be refused on the other. Here the Christian apologist need not concede, as he is sometimes inclined to do, more than is demanded of him. For it is too often taken for granted that it is by processes of linguistic scholarship, with which the English reader is incompetent to intermeddle, that the conclusions of the higher criticism are reached, whereas the critics themselves admit that the positive linguistic iudica-
184 The Attitude of the Church to Modern Thought
tions go but a very little way in the determination of the chief problems. And when the critical processes are closely scrutinised, it will be found that they are controlled by principles, and conducted on methods which are quite within the competence of ordinary literary judgment. One may have a sound literary taste without being a specialist in Hebrew learning, and even a poorly cultured Christian may be an authority and a specialist in not a few of the vexed questions of criticism.
If a criticism is brought to bear upon the Old Testament which, applied to other literature, would lead to absurd results, a man of ordinary literary enlightenment is not to be blamed for hesitating to accept it. If a critic explicitly lays down or implicitly proceeds upon principles at variance with common experience, a man of ordinary knowledge of human nature has a perfect right to controvert him in spite of all claim to specialism in learning. To insist, for example, that because events occurred in a certain order they must be recorded in that order, or because a move- ment can be analysed into simpler and more complex elements, the simpler must have emerged first, is to make a demand which common experience cannot concede, for we can all give abundant instances of early annexations of things in the distant future, and of the survival of the most crude in the heart of the most refined social con- ditions. And precisely in the domain of Old Testament criticism, where the enquiry concerns the movements of religious life and feeling, the mere scholar has no ad- vantage over the man of practical religious experience, and may even stand on a lower level. When it is a question whether some Old Testament personage could have sus- tained two characters which are declared to be inconsistent, or whether another may have been actuated by two different (though not inconsistent) motives in the per- formance of some action, or whether a prophet, addressing one audience, exhibits one tone, and yet, in addressing another audience, or privately putting down his
and Criticism of the Holy Scrip hires. 185
thoughts in writing, may have varied his strain, a religious man, accustomed to reflect on his own inner experience, is as competent a judge as any critic; and indeed he is, for the time, the specialist to whom the critic ought to appeal.* A criticism which is unable to give an intelligible account of itself to intelligent people is foredoomed to failure ; and although the results gathered by the patient exercise of criticism are not to be under- valued, the accumulated religious conviction and unvarying Christian experience of centuries form also a criticism of its kind which is not hastily to be set aside. It is not to be expected that compositions like many of the Psalms, to which, age after age, devout souls have been drawn as the fullest expression of their internal trials and sorrows, should be received off-hand at the command of criticism, as inspired originally by no such intense personal experi- ences as those they evoke, but occasioned merely by some national emergency and local situation. And if the common consciousness refuses to accept them in the latter sense, this should not be set down to a blind adherence to tradi- tion, but treated as an element to be reckoned with in the critical process of determining such compositions in Old Testament Scripture. For, just as there is a poetic faculty and an artistic faculty, without which the productions of poetry and art cannot be appreciated and judged, so is there a religious faculty which discerns relations and aspects of Scripture, that may be quite unperceived by the mere scholar. And the Church is quite as amply entitled to ask that allowance be made for this as the scholar to claim that he is the best judge in matters of technical learning.
It must not, however, be assumed that the attitude of criticism is necessarily antagonistic to Christianity and
* Even the Talmudists, accustomed to settle all difficulties by appeals to authorities or by critical canons of their own, acknowledge the value of observation and experience. When they come, at times, face to face with a matter of human nature or a fact of daily life, their canon for deciding the difficulty is, "Go out and see." — "Talm. Bab. Menaeh.," 35ft, "Ketub.,': 647>.
[86 The Attitude of the Church to Modern Thought
hostile to the Church. Indeed, it is to be remarked that some of those who arc most thoroughgoing in their treat- ment of the Old Testament would scorn to be called auy- thing else than Christians, and stoutly protest, even when they are eliminating all that is supernatural from the Bible, that they are most faithfully representing and most fully carrying out the spirit of genuine Christianity. But as this position rests on speculative presuppositions, which belong rather to the domain of philosophy, we need not here dwell on this aspect of the question.
That criticism is not necessarily antagonistic to the Church, but may even be greatly subservient to its growth in intelligence, a very little reflection will show. Its function, broadly speaking, is to examine and determine the circumstances in which, and the processes through which, the writings of the Bible came into their present form, from first to last. And surely it is to the interest and profit of the Church that everything pertaining to the history of these documents should be investigated. Under other names criticism has been exercised in the Church, and also in the synagogue before the Christian era, ever since men concerned themselves with the preservation and handing down of the sacred books. And if it should now assume new names, avail itself of new appliances, and follow more exact methods, this is only what might be expected in days when knowledge is increased and views widened. Every- thing, therefore, that it can accomplish in the way of placing us in the most favourable position for estimating the standpoints of the original writers is a positive gain. The services which criticism has rendered in this direction are immense, and have been too often overlooked. To them we owe the modern histories of Israel and lives of Christ, which, by toning up the background on which the Bible picture is sketched, have made the whole more life- like, impressive, and attractive. And many of those who have deserved best of the Church in this labour have been most loyal to all that the Church holds dear.
and Criticism of the Holy Scriptures. 187
Moreover, it is to be observed tbat there are, within the Church, and holding distinguished positions in it, not a few who claim that the exercise of the freest criticism is con- sistent with fidelity to the Church position, and that even the conclusions of some of the most advauced critics of the Old Testament are compatible with a belief in its inspiration.
In point of fact, it is this criticism within the Church, or, at all events, the somewhat startling conclusions arrived at by these avowed Christian critics, that cause the peculiar unrest or even alarm on the part of many members of the Church who have not given themselves to critical study. It is much to be deplored when these feelings express themselves, as they sometimes do, in severe judgments pro- nounced upon the motives or the sincerity of men who profess their allegiance to the Church ; and it is equally to be lamented when the harshness or inconsiderateness of critics gives occasion to such judgments. No good can come of acrimonious discussion of this kind. The fact must be recognised that criticism of a most thorough and searching kind has come into operation within the Church, ami is being exercised by men who declare they are doing the Church the best service. If they are wrong, it is for those who think so to show it by reasoned arguments ; if they are right, they ought to be able, just because they claim to be most truly in sympathy with the Church, to convince the best intelligence of the Church, and the heart of the Church, that it is so.
We may conclude, in a word, that criticism is a duty of the Christian Church; the "searching of the Scriptures" implies an inquiry into their origin and first occasion, the " proving of all things " should include the verification of the documents which we accept as the oracles of God. So that the question we have now to consider is — What atti- tude should a Christian student assume when he proceeds to critical investigation of the Scriptures ?
Into what is called the " lower criticism," a ver}' great
1 88 The Attitude of the Church to Modem Thought
majority of intelligent Christians cannot enter. It is a purely technical matter to trace the history of the handing down of the text, the relations of versions and manuscripts to the originals and to one another, and so forth. Bui the problems of the so-called " highei criticism " are actually within the reach of a wider circle, and, one might almost say, demand another class of investigators. The lower criticism has to do with documents as such, with the Scriptures after they are written, and requires a linguistic knowledge and dijslomatic skill. The higher criticism, however, seeks to determine the circumstances in which the documents were first committed to writing, the situa- tions of the writers, the purposes and aims they had before them, the audiences they addressed, the breadth of their horizon, and such like. It concerns itself, therefore, not merely, or not so much, with documents, as with men, with events, with things, with relations and circumstances of a historical kind, and also with motives and movements of a psychological kind. And it requires for its proper exercise a knowledge of human nature, a broad experience and generous sympathy, a well-balanced judgment and a delicate taste ; and these qualities, though they may be possessed by the erudite scholar, are not his by virtue of his scholar- ship, nor are they his exclusive possession.
How, then, should the Christian critic proceed to the critical examination of the Old Testament Scriptures ? It is not enough to say that he should preserve an attitude of reverence, for in this attitude one should approach the study of any religion. The best efforts of men in the search of the best should always command our respect, even when the results attained are the most crude ; they are stirrings within man's soul of the Divinity, the strivings of the spirit to mount to its source. But the Old Testament Scriptures are more to the Christian than the sacred books of other religions ; and just because the critic now is a Christian, he is committed to a certain estimation of these books which may have a practical influence on his criticism.
and Criticism of the Jfoly Scriptures. 1 89
The specific quality of the Holy Scriptures is usually denoted by the statement that they arc inspired, or contain a Divine element as well as ;i human one ; and the free exercise of criticism is generally defended on the ground that it concerns itself primarily or mainly with the human element. The question, however, arises whether it is possible to do this with the entire neglect of the Divine element. Has the Christian critic done his work when he lias set forth all the ordinary human and historical circum- stances under which the Old Testament books originated, without ever hinting that another factor was at work in their production ? Or, having done this, is it sufficient for him to maintain that his criticism has not deprived the books of their value as part of the Scriptures accepted by the Christian Church ? It may be questioned whether such a procedure is either permissible, or even practicable, and likely to yield a satisfactory conclusion. The case is quite different from that of the "lower" criticism. In all that relates to the transcription, translation, and transmission of the sacred books, when once they are Scriptures, we do not postulate anything more than the care, intelligence, and fidelity of men who had the best education of their time for the work. Beyond the wonderful providence under which things were so ordered that those books have not been lost, but have been handed down with scrupulous care, we do not speak of any Divine factor in the process. But if there is any distinctively Divine element in these Scriptures, over and above the intelligence and insight of ordinary writers, this element cannot be left out of account in the full representation of the circumstances and situa- tions of the original writers. If there is such an element at all, it must have been an operative factor. Moreover, it is, in all probability, an element that cannot be so sharply separated from the other or human element, that we can say where the one ends and the other begins. But if this is so, if the Divine works in and through the human, then a criticism which avows*its concern to be solelv with
190 The Attitude of the Church to Modern Thought
the human element, is in danger either of ascribing to the
human what is the effect of the Divine, or of seeking a human explanation for a Divine phenomenon, and thus, on cither hand, of being insufficient as a criticism of the situation of the writer and of the occasion of the writing. In fact, it would seem that a criticism, from a Christian standpoint, of the Old Testament, should not merely give a formal adherence to the inspiration of these books, nor take it as a matter of course, but, to be thorough and exhaustive, it ought to prove the inspiration — that is to say, it should so thoroughly exhaust the human element, and put it so clearly face to face with the product, as to make it appear that that product still requires another element for its explanation. Criticism, instead of being the enemy or passive ally of faith, should be its strongest support, its most active promoter.
What, then, is the Divine element in the Old Testament Scriptures ? In particular, what is it in these books that qualifies them to take rank as Scriptures of the Christian Church ? It is not enough to say that they clearly insist upon a morality of a high tone, that they furnish con- spicuous examples of tried faith, patience, and noble char- acter, or even that they contain high ideals of life and society, and hold up a standard of spiritual religion. This might be said, though in a qualified way, of other sacred books ; and even this has to be somewhat modified in view of certain parts of the Old Testament, in which lower principle and cruder morality are seen in operation. The Christian critic is not only entitled, but required, to take a higher position than this. In point of fact, the books of the Old Testament are not conspicuously didactic at all, and those of them that might be so described stand, we may say, on a lower spiritual level than other books, — witness, for example, Ecclesiastes, Proverbs, and even the Book of Job. But the one characteristic of the Old Testa- ment as a whole, and the characteristic that makes it a whole, is its historical aspect. The books, one after
and Criticism of the Holy Scriptures. 191
another, arise out of the history of the chosen people, and are bound together with the life of the nation, whether they tell of its fortunes in the past or anticipate its future ideal condition. It is this feature that gives special pre- eminence to Old Testament Scripture in the Christian Church. As a matter of history Christianity came out of Judaism. The Old Testament is the preparatory history of the Gosisel. So our Lord, " beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, interpreted in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself" (Luke xxiv. 27).
But the history has two aspects — a human and a Divine. We see, on the one side, a people apparently going their own way, learning or refusing to learn the lessons of experience, working out their own destiny in the world. On the other side, we see God's dealings with the people in a very special manner, following up a primal promise, pursuing an ultimate purpose. And it is not so much, or primarily, what He teaches them as what He does for them, and to them, that is put in the foreground ; in other words, the main aspect is practical rather than speculative, the guiding in a way of life rather than the imparting of more light. And the fall of Israel at length was not so much owing to want of knowledge as to want of faith and obedience. Now, it is this latter aspect of the Old Testa- ment dispensation that was so specially regarded by our Lord and His Apostles, and, in their view, so overshadowed the other, that the whole Old Testament together was regarded as fulfilled in the New. There wras a Divine plan to be unfolded, a Divine work to be executed, and the whole Old Testament economy is part of the movement towards it.
And it may be remarked in passing how this practical element in the Old Testament dispensation throws light upon what are often felt as difficulties in the Old Testa- ment Scriptures. We see that we are not to judge of the religion by the attainment of it by the people who professed it, but by the end and purpose of it in the Divine economy.
192 The Attitude of the Church to Modern Thought
It is not what men do or say, even the best of them, but what God Himself is bringing to pass through them — that is the main tiling. So that even those matters of an external and formal nature, which seem to have little to do with a heart religion, had a high purpose of a disciplinary kind ; and the harsh and unlovely particularism, that sounds to us so inconsistent with the charity of the Gospel, was the ex- pression, from the human side, of the providential separation of Israel from the nations, the hard and unattractive shell that protected the tender seed till the day-spring should arrive.
Now, if our Lord and His Apostles thus discerned the Divine element in the older dispensation, and appealed to the Old Testament Scriptures as making it known, we may surely take it that it teas there in these Scriptures, and that it was an operative factor in the composition of the books, or, in the language of criticism, that it formed part of the " situation " of the original writers. And that it was so we have proof in the declarations and presuppositions of these writers themselves. The principle that God was dealing with Israel in the execution of a definite purpose, guiding them forward to a definite end, and that meanwhile they maintained towards Him a relation different from that of the nations, this is the very atmosphere in which prophets and prophetic historians lived. Moreover, they themselves claim to have a knowledge of the Divine plan and purpose directly from God Himself. At the very dawn of written prophecy Amos declares, " Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but He revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets " (Amos iii. 7) ; and Jeremiah speaks of the charge he received for his prophetic work in the same matter-of-fact terms that he employs in relating his intercourse with his contemporaries. And, therefore, we can no more explain the " situation " of such writers by a sole regard to the external circumstances of the times in which they lived, without taking account also of this, their essential standpoint, than we can unfold the history of the growth of a plant by analysing the soil in which it has its
and Criticism of the Holy Scriptures. 193
root, without taking into account also the sun and air in which it grows.
If, then, there is a Divine side to the history, and the recognition of it was a Divine factor in the production of the books — and surely nothing short of this can be under- stood by inspiration in a specifically religious sense — the Christian critic is bound by his postulates to take reckoning of it in his estimate of the original composition of these books. That is to say, while giving due consideration to ordinary motives and intentions on the part of an Old Testament writer, the critic should not overlook motives of a higher source ; in estimating the " tone " and " mode of representation " of a writer he should leave room for the influence of the Divine Spirit of prophecy ; and while scanning the " horizon " as narrowly as he can to discover the occasion and reference of a passage, he should remember that, besides looking north, south, east, and west, he is not precluded from looking upward. And, while so employed, he should be able to show not only that he does ample justice to the human element in Scripture, but also that a criticism which ignores the Divine element leads to con- fusion and a false representation of the books in question.
It need not be denied that the conclusions arrived at by some Old Testament critics have caused not a little concern, or even alarm, on the part of many intelligent people in the Church. And I will not conceal my opinion that much of this might have been obviated, without detriment to genuine Biblical scholarship, by the exercise of greater cir- cumspection on the part of the critics themselves. No doubt there was a tendency in a new science to rejoice in its newly-found strength and to over-estimate its powers. And in the domain of Old Testament criticism, where there is a lack of documentary materials, such as are found in the New Testament field, there must of necessity be an appeal to internal evidence and the bringing in of subjective con- siderations. This circumstance, however, instead of making criticism more bold, should have made it more cautious, for
II. N
194 The Attitude of the Church to Modern Thought
the experience of New Testament criticism has shown how the rash speculations of subjective criticism have been held in check and refuted by the evidence of documents, thus demonstrating the precariousness of this kind of reasoning. I think it could be shown that, on the lower plane of literary criticism, there is too great a tendency at the pre- sent time so to overestimate the merely local and temporary " occasion " of a writing as to overlook the fact that " there is a spirit in man," and thus to deprive much of the Old Testament of its poetic beauty and idealism which have captivated the literary instincts of readers in all ages. And, further, as to matters on a higher plane, I think it might be argued that many phenomena of the Old Testa- ment books, which certain critics can only explain as later additions, redactional glosses, and after -thoughts, are better explained on the supposition that the writer had a deeper insight, a wider view — in a word, a higher inspiration than the critics are disposed to allow. As the subject of this brief paper, however, is not a criticism of criticism, I shall conclude with two somewhat more practical observations on the attitude which should be maintained in all such dis- cussions.
In the first place, it will have a wholesome influence on criticism, to approach it in the active rather than the speculative attitude. The deepest and most determinative points for settlement relate less to texts and documents than to inner motives, religious experiences, heart religion. The minister, actively engaged in laborious pastoral work, may have all the less leisure for entering into the minute details of technical criticism, but he is all the more favour- ably situated for grasping the vital principles in discussion. Things which cloistered critics declare to be impossible are happening daily around us ; the history of Israel, with all its contradictions, is being enacted in many hearts and many homes. Things which are hidden from the wise and the prudent are revealed unto babes.
In the second place, it will ennoble criticism to maintain
and Criticism of the Holy Scriptures. 195
the attitude of our high calling in Christ Jesus, and to remember the great work for which He was manifested in the flesh. Christianity is not a speculative system, nor is the Church a school of philosophy. The Sun of Righteous- ness, hidden under the clouds of the older dispensation, had not only light but healing in His beams. The whole pro- cess of revelation is the coming of Christ in power. In proportion as we hold fast the fact that we are raised with Him to heavenly places, we shall the more clearly discern the footprints of His goings from of old. Why should we be afraid of seeing more in the Old Testament than He saw in it ? The highest criticism is surely that which sees most plainly the unity of the whole in one great plan of liedemption ; and the more our critical inquiries are pur- sued from this high level, the more luminous will the Old Testament page become with His light, the warmer will it glow with His life. Should a coming generation of Chris- tian critics start from this point and maintain this attitude, then the present phase of criticism through which we are passing, though depressing for the time, may turn out to be only the cold shiver that precedes the dawn.
THE ATTITUDE WHICH THE CHURCH SHOULD ASSUME TOWARDS THE LEADING PHASES OF MODERN THOUGHT, AND ESPECIALLY TOWARDS MODERN CRITICISM OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES.
Rev. John Howard Crawford, M.A.
The Church has always appealed to the authority of the New Testament. We read that certain Christians in the time of Ignatius* refuse to acknowledge any apostolical writing except it were the original manuscript. This shows how early New Testament criticism began, and on what a sound principle it was based.
A catena of Fathers could easily be given down to the sixth century, but it will suffice to instance the mode in which St Augustine uses it. In his various controversies he appeals to Scripture as a judge ; as, for instance, against the Pelagians, he says, " The controversy needs a judge ; accordingly let Christ judge," then quotes St Matthew xxvi. 28 ;t again, "Let the Apostle John sit as judge between us," quoting 1 John iv. 7.} Discussing with the Donatists, he says, " I would not have the Holy Church demonstrated by human testimonies, but by the Divine oracles." § It is needless to say more on the evident fact that the Church admitted the authority of the New Testament.
But why did they admit that authority ?
The fact is, that there was no New Testament in our sense of the term for three centuries. At first the various
* Ep. ad Philadelph. , § 8. + De nupt. et concup.,
X De grat. et lib. ark, xviii. § De unit. Eccles., xviii.
196
The Attitude of the Church to Modern Thought. [97
writings were local in their acceptation, being confined to the Churches for whom they were written ; and after the Churches began to be in closer communication with each other, each shared in the sacred possessions of the other, till, by the end of the second century, there were two main classes of writings received, rb evayytXr/.bv and rb ' AiroeroXixbv.
Why, then, were these received ? Take the Gospels first. We know that other Gospels were current as well as the four canonical, such as the Gospel of the Hebrews and the Gospel of the Egyptians. Who made the selection between the various claimants to authority ? Did the Church, as a corporate body through a Council, make any declaration so as to guide the faithful ? We know that it is the end of the fourth century before there is an enumera- tion of the books of the New Testament by a council, and yet, before that time they were received and quoted as a final authority by the Christian writers.
It is evident that they were accepted by the early Fathers, because they were written by Apostles or those who were contemporary with them and companions of their lives. But did the individual writer form an opinion on the subject himself ? There are few traces of such a weighing of evidence ; the Fathers and the Church gener- ally accepted the current opinion on the genuine character of the Gospels.
We here come in sight of an importaut principle, which must rule our consideration of the subject. It was a part of the traditional testimony of the Church, which was handed on from generation to generation, to acknowledge the Gospels. The Church was a unity, not only in extent, but in descent, and it was because the Church received the Gospels that the individual Christian admitted their authority.
The faith of the Christian was given to his teachers ; they again depended on the generation before them, back to the Apostles, who were the witnesses for Christ Himself. The light was handed down from generation to generation ;
198 The Attitude of the Church to Modern Thought
men were always fount! to carry on tlie succession of the Church, as Plato says in the Republic — " When they have brought up others like themselves, and left them in their place to be governors, then they will depart to the Islands of the Blest and dwell there." * It is clear that it was no summing up of evidence which made the early Christians, and indeed the Church throughout all ages, believe the Gospels to be the Word of God. It was the heart that gave its assent, and not the reason ; and that heart was Divinely guided. The same inward voice that brought the Apostles to Jesus' feet, also impelled their hearers to trust them, and the gift of faith has been continued to all genera- tions. Despite the divisions of Christendom, this unity of the spirit has ever manifested itself, and is the hidden bond which will restore the universal Church to a universal communion.
What place, then, has historical investigation in a theory which seems to base the acceptance of the Gospels and Epistles on the fact that they have been received by the Church ?
It is worth while looking at the view which the early Fathers took of this question. Eusebius, at the beginning of the fourth century, divides the books of the New Testa- ment into opoXoyovfieva — the Gospels, the Acts, the Pauline Epistles, 1 S. John, and 1 S. Peter ; avr/Xsyo/xsKz — the Epistles of S. James and S. Jude, 2 S. Peter, 2 S. John, and 3 S. John ; v69a — the Apocalypse.
Half a century later, St Jerome recognises that some books are still disputed, and St Augustine gives a criterion by which to decide such discussions. " In the matter of the Canon, one should follow the authority of. the majority of the Catholic Churches. We should prefer those which are received by all Catholic Churches to those which some do not receive ; of those, again, which are not received by all, we should prefer those which the Churches more
* Rep. vii. 540. <5iXXoi's del TraidevcravTas toiovtovs avTiKaTaXiirovTus rrjs TroXews (pvXanas et's fiaadpuv v-qaovs amovTa? oiKelv.
and Criticism of the Holy Scriptures. 199
iu number, and weightier in authority, receive, to those which are held by Churches fewer and less authoritative."*
It is manifest that a freedom of opinion on the Canon was common in the days of St Augustine ; that men dis- cussed the right of any book of the New Testament to their allegiance, and gave it because they were satisfied there was good reason.
The formation of the Canon was one of the elements of the Catholic character of the Church. It was not, as M. Scherer says, because " men had recourse to the authority of the Episcopate," but was the natural result of the Divine guidance of the Church. There is no early decision of a Council on the subject, and I doubt whether any such decision would have had so much weight with us as the insensible growth of the gradual recognition of the New Testament. For men would desire to inquire into the Council's decision and go behind it. Who were the judges ? and on what grounds did they decide ? We could not know these things, and in the absence of accurate know- ledge, there would be a lack of certainty. The fact is, that the Church had accepted the New Testament long before any formal decision ratified the general consensus.
This consensus is a part of the being and life of the Catholic Church, before its great divisions. But after the divisions, the sense of true canonicity is lost. In the Greek synod of Jerusalem, the Apocryphal books are added to the canon, at the same time that the Scriptures are held not to be the common possession of Christians, and their clearness to all Christians denied.!
The Council of Trent (154G), similarly departs from the primitive faith, f
But in the early Church what labour was spent on the sacred canon, what an earnestness in its exposition !
* St Augustine De Doet. Christ., II. 12, 13. Sec Charteris' Canonicity, 22.
+ Confession ofDositheus (1672), Questions 1, 2, 3. X Sessio IV. De Canonicis Scripturis.
200 The Attitude of the Church to Modern Thought
It was the sure sign of a heretic to diverge from the primitive tradition, to rely on apocryphal books,, or to deny the authority of the canonical scriptures.
The care with which the Church clung to the apostolic deposit of the New Testament is manifest from the fact that even so venerated an epistle as St Clement's was never put in the same category with the canonical books. Such writings were often characterised as wonderful (Oav- fidffiai), but never as inspired (Oeomtuorai). The books of the New Testament, on the other hand, are cited in some words such as these : — A/ QeTai ypafai, or hptti or fcorm-jarai, &c. There is nothing on which the unanimity of the ancient Church is so remarkable as the supreme authority of the New Testameut.
In the mediaeval Church the case was different. There was an absence of interest in the question of the canon, which arose partly from the dominance of Aristotelianism, and partly from the development of a narrow ecclesi- asticism, doubtless fostered by the great Schism.
There are three periods in Church history which may be called formative; and in each of these, the canon came to be the centre of attention. We have, first, the original development under the Apostles and their im- mediate successors, which gave us the canon. After it had been settled, it passed into the general structure of church authority, which existed during the middle ages as a compact rule of faith.
This rule of faith lost its hold on men, and a second formative period of the Church had again the question to face. If the authority by which the canon was sup- posed to hold its place, namely that of the Church, had come to an end, what should the Reformers say about it?
The view they took generally was that the Bible "con- tained, embraced, and conveyed " the Word of God ; but the reformed confessions more distinctly stated the in- fallibility and authority of the actual writings as known
and Criticism of the Holy Scriptures. 201
to them. During a period of change, there was naturally not a little discussion as to the contents of the canon.
The third formative period is practically identical with this century, when the principles of the Reformation have been again subject to examination by all the churches which left the Roman communion. In our century, more has been done to investigate the canon than at any previous period.
Let us ask what is the actual ground why the Church now receives the canon ? We do so because it has been universally received ; we believe in the Divine guidance of the Church ; we believe that the Spirit inspires the Church as well as the Scriptures ; and that, therefore, the Scriptures of the New Testament speak with a double authority.
Our position is better than that of the primitive Church, because there has been a longer period of trial ; the Scrip- tures of the New Testament have been found to be in accord with the general consciousness of the Church, which is the voice of the Divine Spirit ; and all the books of the New Testament are in this respect alike.
Luther attempted to make an individual application of this theory. He made the test of canonicity lie in the power of a book to teach Christ. But one at once asks, who was to be the judge of what "teaching Christ" meant? The answer was Luther himself, and " teaching Christ " came to be the same as Lutheranism. What a dangerous doctrine have we here ! Did not Luther see that his question as to each book was already answered by the universal experience of the Church, which had decided, through its living development in the Spirit of God, what books taught the true faith ?
Semler's canon was equivalent. A book must be uni- versally use-able to be canonical. But surely the universal Church alone can judge as to the universal value of any book. The Church, as a whole, has more knowledge of the truth than any one individual mind can grasp.
202 The Attitude of the Chunk to Modern Thought
Let me urge that this question of the Canon of Scripture and its inspiration and authority is conditioned by a correct belief as to the Church. A correct belief lies dormant in our Protestant communions, else they had made shipwreck of this question long ago.
Although Baur and his followers had a glimpse of this truth, they applied it in an arbitrary manner. Like our own Buckle, the Hegelians were not particular where they got anything that looked like a fact. Hilgenfeld first saw the weak point of his own school ; and Harnack has, by examining into the actual facts of church history, made it impossible for a man of the great talents of Banr to build on false foundations in any future inquiry.
We must keep clearly before our minds, that the authority of the New Testament does not depend on the historical investigator, and the results he reaches. The authentica- tion which the sacred volume has already obtained in the life of the Church far surpasses any credentials which au individual testimony could give to it.
There is to be kept in mind also the individual aspect of this truth which is correctly stated in the Westminster Confession. " Our full persuasion and assurance of the infallible truth and Divine authority [of the Scriptures] is- from the inward work of the Holy Spirit, bearing witness by and with the word in our hearts." In the " Orthodox Doctrine," by Platon, Metropolitan of Moscow, we read — " The real Christian is convinced that the Holy Scriptures are the Word of God, from the internal effects which he feels them produce in himself in reading them, or on hearing the great doctrines which they contain." * What place, then, has the historical investigator?
The Theses of the Old Catholic Church attach import- ance to the consensus of the churches, and the information which scientific method derives from historical research through all the Christian countries.-f-
Protestants will not admit these elements as part of the * Pinkerton'a Translation. f Theses at Bonn, 1874.
and Criticism oj the Holy Scriptures, 203
rule of faith, which is found in the Holy Scriptures alone ; but they admit the consensus and scientific investigation as aids to faith.
This is substantially the universal Protestant theory ; and gives to the inquirer every freedom for his work. Scientific method precludes any a priori theories, such as those of Baur ; though such theories are found also in others, as when the Roman Catholic Krawutzcky wishes to nullify the Didache because he thinks it Ebionite ; or an English scholar wishes to repudiate the Curetoniau Syriac because he thinks it heretical.
If the inquirer comes with open mind we must give him full scope.
We must allow freedom as to the text. In this we are better qualified to judge than any previous generation, because of the great accumulation of materials, — witness what a larire number of MSS. have been found during the last dozen years, — and we have a more exact way of measuring their value.
We must not think, as many seem to do, that the questions of text are settled, that there is nothing to do after Westcott and Hort. I believe that these critics rather begin than close an era in this study.
And, as regards the wider matters of Biblical Criticism, the Church has generally allowed a wide field to the inquirer. It has not opposed him by bringing against them the weight of its dogmatic authority. We believe that the truth must essentially be a unity, and that different methods will arrive at the same goal.
We have obtained valuable confirmation of the early date of the gospels and of the Pauline Epistles from sceptical critics, and no year passes without some new aid to faith.
Nor must we think lightly of such evidence. Mr Romanes tells us in his posthumous book * that it was the light of such criticism which led him back to the Church. * " Thoughts on Religion," edited by Gore.
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When the nexus of faith is lost to the soul, reason leads it back to the sphere of sacred influences. I agree with Mr Gore when he says,* "We are justified in feeling thai modern investigation has resulted in immensely augmenting our understanding of the different books, and has distinctly fortified and enriched our sense of their inspiration." In the case of the Apocalypse, whose unity is again denied by Volter, t after Ewald was supposed to have settled the question, the study can only be helpful to knowledge of a book too much neglected.
We are bound, however, to lay down two canons which should regulate our dealing with the New Testament. The New Testament is not an ordinary book. It is bound up with the faith, and hope, and love of the whole Church, and with the life of Christ Himself. It should be approached with that holy fear which is one of the noblest qualities of the human soul.
And, secondly, when we enter the field of criticism, we must do so with full armour on. It will not do to make perfunctory statements in a halting way, after we find our- selves without in the open. The kind of scattered treat- ment which we find in many parts of the " Speaker's Commentary," and less known works, is of little worth. A thorough examination must be made if made at all.
And here let me say, I can conceive nothing of less service than for the clergy in their public instructions to give scraps of criticism or hasty refutations of negative critics. In popular commentaries, even for young people, this plan is often adopted. To what profit ? Charles Lamb tells us that, when young, he read Stackhouse's " History of the Bible," which is arranged with sceptical objections and orthodox answers. It made him a young doubter. Let us remember not to offend one of these little ones. Criticism is a science for men who know the whole ground, who can see how little any doubt can
* The Holy Spirit anil Inspiration, Lux Mundi, p. 361. t Die Entstelmng dor Apocalypse, 1882.
and Criticism of the Holy Scriptures. 205
affect the whole body of the New Testament. We have better work to do in the pulpit than turning it into a weak academic platform.
But, in its proper place, Biblical Criticism is one of the most useful evidences of our holy religion. It raises the value of the Church's approval of the sacred writings from an act of authority to a solemn witness to their authentic- character.
CHURCH MUSIC AND CHOIRS.
Hely H. Almond, LL.D.
My thesis — introduced, of necessity, without preface or apology — is that Church Music, regarded as an integral part of the public worship of God, is at present in an unhealthy condition. It was not so in the days of the Primitive Church. At those weekly meetings to celebrate the Lord's Supper which were the origin of all our services, we hear that the people themselves sang Psalms and Hymns, and that the sound of their " Amens " was as the noise of thunder.
And from that time to the present, I believe that it has been generally true that Psalms and Hymns have been vigorously sung by the people when religion has been vigorous, and that they have been more or less sung to the people when the world has got mixed up with the Church.
What is our present condition in these respects ? I fear that there cannot be much doubt about the answer.
First, to give my personal experience, limited as it is. All the cases I can think of, in which during the last forty years I have heard really hearty congregational singing or responding are — a few country Churches, both in England and Scotland, and especially in the Highlands, St Philip's and St James' Church, Oxford, and Inveresk Church on the Jubilee Celebration of the Queen's Accession. The singing of the 100th Psalm on that occasion was the grandest thing I have ever heard, and I have been at the Handel Festival.
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The best Church Music in the country used, I believe, to be heard at the Tabernacle during Mr Spurgeon's life- time.
But I fear that in an increasing number of churches of all denominations, the voices of perhaps five per cent, of the congregation acting as a choir cause at least ninety-five per cent, of the total sound.
This is not from the inability of the silent or mumbling majority. There arc few who cannot sing if they will try — whenever, at least, the music is of a robust, melodious, diatonic, and simple kind. Why, then, do they not do so ?
From a combination of reasons, partly because the music is too seldom suitable, but chiefly from sheer cowardice. They will be stared at if they sing out heartily by those who regard Church partly as a social function and partly as an opportunity of hearing pretty or fashionable music artistic- ally rendered. I have even known more than one case of requests being made privately and officially, to people who dared to sing out, not to repeat the offence. In fact, I fear that in many city churches it is not thought "good form" to sing, except in a suppressed sort of fashion.
My attention was first directed to this subject by observ- ing how few boys come to us who have ever been accus- tomed to sing in Church with mouths open, and with full power of lung. I need hardly say, however, that it is much easier for a schoolmaster to get hearty singing than it is for a clergyman, because boys are more accessible to reason than their elders are. But though a number of a boy con- gregation are always " breaking their voices," our choir would constitute more than its present proportion (viz., seventy per cent, of our congregation), and more of the rest would join in the unison passages, if we were not hampered by the habitually silent weight of our new boys.
This circumstance led me to make enquiries about Churches in all parts of the country, from colleagues, boys, and other friends.
If the scores of cases to which such evidence applies are
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fairly representative, two conclusions appear to me to follow — viz., first that the heartiness of congregational singing is little affected by organs, either way, and secondly, that it is generally in inverse ratio to the excellence of the choir and the modem or fashionable character of the hymns and tunes.
A word or two on both these points. Let me premise that I am not attacking Cathedrals or Anthems.
The former have their own special function. They are a standing memorial that we should dedicate to God all our treasures of art and beauty. But they are not the homes of congregational worship.
Anthems again, when they are of the pure old English stamp, or when they lift us up towards Heaven as Handel choruses do, and when, though of a more modern type, they keep clear of theatrical, sentimental, or sensational effects, are a dignified and beneficial interlude in worship.
But whenever choirs silence the people in Psalms and Hymns some drastic change is needed — even if we have to sacrifice Anthems.
The practical suggestions which [ would venture to indicate are as follows : —
1st. Dismiss all paid singers.
2nd. Encourage as many as possible of the people to come to practices.
3rd. Let the minister follow the example of the late Dr Muir of Glasgow, who, after the opening Psalm had been sung by a fine choir, in a church where he was officiating, said — " Now we have all derived great pleasure from the singing of the choir. Let us now begin the worship of God by singing the same Psalm ourselves." He led it himself, and the effect was marvellous.
4-th. Let the choir be dispersed all over the Church, or placed behind the congregation, and never in the worst place of all — viz., in front of it.
oth. Let the same tunes be sung frequently, till the people become familiar with them. One minister is said
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to have told his people that the same tunes would be sung every Sunday till they tried to take the roof off. Such extreme methods are not for ordinary use, but there is no doubt that far too great a variety of tunes is now being usually attempted. Choirs may like this, but the average churchgoer — whom all who do not regard Church simply as a music hall wish to hear joining in the praise of God — cannot catch a tune the first or second time he hears it, or if he hears it only twice or thrice a year. " One hymn one tune," or even, sometimes, " one hymn two tunes," which is the system of most of the modern hymn-books, is enough of itself to make true congregational singing unpopular. Similar principles apply to too great a variety of hymns. The great hymns should be sung frequently, and known by everyone. It would be better to be confined to Psalter and Paraphrases than to indulge in a great variety of inferior Hymns. It is far better for Congregations to err on the side of familiarity than of variety in this matter.
6th. The fashionable modern tunes are not, as a rule, such as elicit hearty singing. They have not the strength, the swing, or the obviousness of the grand old Scotch psalm tunes, or even of those rolling old English melodies, which are often dubbed Methodistical, as if this were a name of reproach, though those who thus use it ought to know that if the Church of England had been less on stilts, in music as in other things, there would have scarcely been such a thing as a political Dissenter. For myself, I cannot under- stand how " Hymns Ancient and Modern " and the " Scottish Hymnal " ignore these old English tunes as they do. The only one which is included in both is Morgan's Easter Hymn, and even for that glorious melody, which can surely rouse every tongue to sing, they both supply a dry alternative. In other cases both books omit the time- honoured tunes altogether. " Hymns Ancient and Modern " — e.g., substitutes a modern tune for the dear old St Asaph's for " How bright those glorious spirits shine." Both books have Mendelssohn's fine tune for " Hark, the herald angels
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sin^ !" But the old tune, which both omit, had far more of the simple and pastoral character suitable to the words. " Hymns Ancient and Modern" has spared the magnificent old tune for " All hail the power," but supplies an alternative. The Scottish Hymnal gives two tunes for it, neither of which, 1 am sure, would have become rooted in my memory, like the melody which used so exquisitely to suit the Avords. But of all omissions by both books the most unaccountable is that of " Helmsley" for " Lo He comes " — " Holy wood " is not a bad tune ; my opinion of " Regent's Square " I would prefer not to give ; but for majesty or singableness, one might as well compare either of them to " Helmsley," as some chorus in the last poor creature of an oratorio, to the "Censer" or the "Hailstone." I cannot but attribute much of the transfer of sacred song from congregation to choir, in large measure to the set which was made against tunes like " Helmsley," " Alcester," " Weston Favel," &c, by the " Modern School " of musical artists, and those who follow a fashionable lead in music as in other things. Of course I fully recognise that there are a number of modern tunes, such as Nicoea, St Oswald, St Gertrude, St Philip, Holling- side, Maidstone, and others, which have not only every quality calculated to produce a hearty burst of congrega- tional praise, but are invaluable and imperishable additions to sacred music.
My complaint is that modern hymn-books teem with tunes which have no such qualities and no such claims, and that, to make room for them, they have excluded time- honoured tunes, beloved by those who know them, and which, as a matter of fact, had the power of eliciting smofinc, which, in volume and in fervour, it would be diffi- cult to match in churches where those hymn-books have become supreme. But I have a further complaint of a still more serious character. These modern books have included a number of positively objectionable hymns and tunes. I do not refer to the tunes of a Salvationist char- acter at the end of the Scottish Hymnal, for I believe that,
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with certain congregations, hymns and tunes of this class may be helpful to devotion, but to hymns of what I may term the " Jerusalem " or " Paradise" class. Anything more mawkish, words and music, than " Oh Paradise," I cannot conceive.
To hear a choir of healthy young people softly singing, " Tis weary waiting here," is a crowning proof of how far an unreal, voluptuous element has been allowed to intrude into the worship of the Sanctuary. They are not " Weary waiting here." If they say so without thinking of what they say, their singing the hymn is a godless sham : if they say so deliberately, it is a falsehood.
I once, long ago, found an organist practising " Weary of Earth " with a class of young boys. I stopped the perform- ance, and afterwards asked him whether he thought it was right to teach children to tell lies. Other hymns, again, not only contain no approach to poetry, but much absolute drivel. If I were myself compiling a supplement to the dear old Psalter and Paraphrases, I should aim at a collection which should contain nothing but really good hymns which express such thoughts and emotions as all Christians, old and young, can feel and utter without hypocrisy, and tunes which are melodious, robust, and singable. I know of no such hymn- book in print ; Bickersteth's (old edition) is the best I know. But so far as tunes are concerned, the introduction of Houlds worth's recent edition of Cheetham's book would inspire fresh life into many "a languid congregration."
Seeley's book is, I fear, out of print. My own edition is dated 1806. How some of the tunes which it contains have been suffered to drop out of use is more than I can understand. There are multitudes of congregational tunes in " Cheetham." Let me recommend especially Northgate, Edwiston, Montgomery, Carey, Heighingtons, Mount Ephraim, and Trinity. But the Scottish Psalter (Editions 1855 and 1880, the former being the best), contains more good tunes than any other book I know.
The ideal hymn-book would not contain too mauy
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hymns, and the ideal tune-book would not contain too many tunes. Having too large a selection is a constant temptation to organists and choirs to indulge their craving for " something new." Only the best of each should be included, and with these the people should become so familiar that they can easily and fearlessly take their part in praising God.
Perhaps about forty of the old tunes of the Scotch type, thirty of the old English ones, thirty modern, and twenty more of the types of Adeste Fideles, Haydn's Hymn, Hanover, Sicilian Mariners, Ein Feste Burg, Russian National Anthem, &c, would make a quite large enough tune-book.
As to hymns, a collection of not more than fifty or sixty of the really great hymns of all ages is all that is needed to supplement the old Psalter and Paraphrases, the use of which should always, in my judgment, remain predominant in Scotland.
To conclude, the clergyman must be master in his Church. Organists and choirs must be made to under- stand that their function is subordinate, and that the chief test of their success is the strength and fervour which they are able to infuse directly or indirectly into the singing of the congregation.
I am aware that my views will be strongly objected to by persons who prefer tunes and singing which they call " nice," and by all admirers of Mrs Grundy in her newly- fashioned Sunday clothes.
CHURCH MUSIC AND CHOIRS.
J. M. Ntsbet.
In the following paper I propose to consider the music of the sanctuary mainly from the point of view of a musician -whose place is at the organ seat, but with due regard also to the points of view of the clergy and people. Although much has in recent years been done for Scottish Church music, it must be admitted that changes have often run upon wrong lines. They have not always been improve- ments, an aesthetic rather than an edifying and devotional effect being aimed at. More attention has been given to the accumulation of material in the form of pretty music than to the arrangement of the acts of praise according to the principles which govern the right order of worship. The result has been a development of good organ playing and choir part song, rather than of congre- gational worship.
Considering the transitioual state in which Scottish Church music stands at present, it would be perhaps diffi- cult for all to agree on a type of musical service to re- commend for adoption in our churches ; but I am here to face the difficulty, not to evade it, and so I shall venture to offer for your consideration a form of service, and I shall close my paper by discussing the very difficult ques- tion of the part the congregation should have in it.
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Now that the praise in the larger number of churches in towns is no longer confined to a few psalms and hymns, it is, I think, desirable to revert, as far as possible, to the usual form of Catholic order. Whether the Holy Com- munion is celebrated every Sunday or not, the morning service of each Lord's Day ought to follow the normal lines of the pro-anaphoral portion of the Euch aris tic service. Let the service by all means commence with some well- known metrical psalm (the gathering psalm of traditional Scottish use) set to some simple tune : in their due places would follow some proper portion of the psalter, the great Catholic hymns, Te Deum or Benedict!}?, the creed, the anthem as a vicarious offering by the choir of the highest musical expression of devotion attainable. A suitable place for a hymn may be after the sermon (the better known the hymn the more heartily it will be sung). If the service is completed by the celebration of the Holy Communion, the "Sanctus," "Gloria in Excelsis," and " Agnus Dei," may, with advantage, be treated musically. To many this form of service may appear to be unduly elaborate, and that it would have the effect of silencing the congregational voice of praise altogether ; but I feel convinced that if the proper means be taken this will not be the case. The average congregation is perfectly capable of taking its proper part in a service which is both devotional in tone, and also, from the musician's point of view, beautiful.
To consider first the music for the metrical Psalms and Paraphrases : these are specially dear to the Scottish people, and it is to be hoped that they will always have a large place in our service. No one can estimate the influence they have had on the spiritual life of the people, and many are greatly loved both by young and old. The Psalms and Paraphrases should be sung to the old music. On the whole it is good ; the people like it ; and they are an- noyed when something new is substituted. I have heard it asserted that congregations have been known to stand silent while the 100th Psalm was being sung by the choir.
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I can scarcely believe this, but if it be so, a remedy cm surely be found .
Will ministers and organists ask the people to sing the melody in unison or octaves ? Who has not been thrilled when the 100th Psalm has been sung in unison by a large congregation, the majestic words and music pealing forth as with one voice from the hearts of all present ? and what can be more feeble or objectionable than the impotent efforts of individuals in a congregation to fill in a " part," vainly asserting itself as tenor or bass ? Let the melody be given out by choir and organ, and there will be little difficulty in the congregation taking it up.
The Prose Psalms furnish a more diilicult problem for our Scottish people. Older folk sometimes seem to find it almost impossible to sing them. We must be patient and look to the cominsf generation to make chanting universal. The Church of Scotland has been much to blame in the matter ; her apparent indifference and lukewarmness for many years to the necessity of popularising this most im- portant part of the people's praise is strangely at variance with her activity in other things, and has had the effect of crystallising — so to speak — the prejudice against chanting. She has improved matters no doubt, but can her people even yet learn to chant easily with the means at their dis- posal ? The Church has issued a good psalter with Anglican pointing, but in many cases it is like putting strong meat before babes to offer it to ordinary congregations as the sole means of ensuring a general revival of the art of chant- ing. The Prose Psalms are essentially part of the people's worship, and if they are to be sung, they must be sung by the people, and not by the choir alone. Let me endeavour to suggest a means to attain that desirable end, namely, by the revival of the ancient Plainsong. In commending the use of Plainsong, I am advocating a return to the ancient usage of the Church — to a style of music for many centuries the heritage of the people. Properly used, it is peculiarly suitable for the
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musical recitation of the prose version of the Psalms, and it does not interfere with the proper rhythm of the text. It has never been improved upon for its particular office ; it will be found, when properly adapted, more simple than anything else, and with all deference to the opinions of others entitled to respect, I venture to say it will be found much more devotional in character. By the use of a Psalter noted — that is, with the Plainsong music written along with the text, a note for each syllable, the danger of losing hold of the congregational element in chanting will be
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avoided. Plainsong can also be adapted to the great Hymns of the Church with advantage ; The Te Deum, Benedictus, Magnificat, Nunc Dimittis, Benedicite, and the various Creeds, can readily be obtained, set to Plain- song ; and in that form are easily mastered.
A very effective way of using Plainsong to the Canticles is by giving alternate verses to the congregation in unison, the choir singing the other verses in harmony, but always retaining the Plainsong in one of the parts, tenor or soprano.
The Church would do well in the interests of her people to issue settings of this kind. Any one of musical taste will find the study of Plainsong an interesting one. Handbooks on the subject are published by the Rev. Thomas Helmore,* Messrs Doran & Nottingham, &c. ; a little manual by Rev. Charles Walker, entitled " Plain- song : the Reason Why," will give much valuable informa- tion to those wishing to look into it. The great hymns of the Church — The Te Deum, Magnificat, &c, are, however, worthy of more elaborate treatment than the Plainsong melodies can give, and settings suitable for congregational
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use, adapted for the most part from ancient sources, can be had, such as those by Stainer, Garrett, Bunnett, Wesley, and others.
The anthem, the glorious crown to our Service of Praise, should never be sung by the people. This, which, from a musical point of view, is the highest expression of our praise * Novello h Co.
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to God, must be a vicarious offering by means of the choir. The anthem has a twofold function to fulfil in our service ; it should interpret and bring home to the hearts and con- sciences of the congregation the holy beauty of the Divine message contained in its words, and it should also give noble and beautiful and satisfying expression to the emotions of the worshippers. The ideal anthem is thus partly a sermon — an fact one of the most moving and touching sermons possible. Many of us indeed may remember an anthem long after the sermon is forgotten. The anthem should be beautiful, and can only be so if the choir alone sing it.
This view of the anthem will in the main commend itself to most thoughtful people. It has been said that " in every church where an anthem is sung, the majority of the congregation seem to belong to one of two classes — those who look upon the anthem as an unwarrantable inter- loper, and those who regard it simply in the light of a show-off for the choir." It may be doubted, however, if, in the churches in Scotland where anthems are sung, the two classes mentioned are so large. The anthem has, in most churches, for many years been the only kind of music other than the usual Metrical Psalms and Hymns tolerated in the service, possibly from the fact that precentors with choirs found it necessary to have pieces for practice, so as to keep choristers interested in their work. At all events, anthems have gradually crept into the church services, and, up to a certain point, have a greater hold on the people than the infinitely more important Prose Psalms. There can be little doubt that the anthem has hindered the advance of the necessary improvements in our worship music.
I may further refer to the use of versicle and response, and to the advantage of a monotone in certain parts of the service. The people have a clear right to take a responsive part in the worship other than the praise, and even if it is in merely responding Amen to a prayer
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— however thankful we should be for their doing that in
any form — we should adopt the method most likely to invoke the hearty and reverent consent of all. In many churches the people repeat their Confession of Faith in the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds ; in some they join in repeating responses. That all things maybe done decently and in order, it is desirable that, where possible, these be sung softly to a monotone, with an inflection at the termination of a sentence. Singing or reciting to a mono- tone leads all to unite in one voice, and tends to the reverence and dignity of the worship, and helps those who require encouragement to take their part. Timid persons are to be found in all churches, and for them the musical cadence will be a help. In large churches, where the prayers are read from a stall on the floor of the building, it will be an advantage for the minister to intone the prayers; he will thus enable all to hear distinctly without effort. The in- telligent organist will easily arrange a simple plainsong suitable for these various acts.
I cannot conclude without saying a word in deprecation of the too common practice of giving concerts of sacred music under the name of "services of praise" — musical performances which are services in no sense of the word. A farrago of anthems, choruses, hymns, and songs does not become a service by being interposed between one or two passages of Scripture and a couple of irrelevant collects. These performances are a travesty of worship — depressing to the spiritual life of a congregation, and hurtful to the devotional tone of a choir. They defraud devout worship- pers of the due opportunity to worship to which they have a right. From every point of view they are objection- able, and ought to be interdicted by the proper authorities.
Let us aim at having the finest music possible in our churches, and let us also as sedulously endeavour to culti- vate and to retain the present church style, avoiding that which savours of the concert hall or theatre. On great
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occasions, when more elaborate music is desirable, an oratorio or sacred piece of some length can be substituted for the anthem, or placed at the end of the service. It is manifestly the duty of the Church to encourage the use in the service of the great sacred works handed down to us, and I for one will indulge the hope that the day is not far distant when the Church of Scot- land, like other branches of the Church Catholic, will be able, and will have the courage to make a full use, at least in her larger temples, for the glory of God and the edifica- tion of souls, of all the noblest gifts of sacred harmony which her Lord has bestowed on singer and musician.
CHURCH MUSIC AND CHOIRS.
Rev. W. H. Macleod, B.D.
Choral worship to the extent contemplated in the use made here of the term, needs no defence at my hands. It will rather be my aim, after touching upon various matters which should be kept before us in connection with this subject, to indicate certain steps which might be taken to place our choirs upon a more satisfactory basis. It is undoubtedly expedient that a more intelligent attention be given in our Scottish churches to the subject of choirs, their position and training, than has hitherto been given. We have not been careful either to educate them in a high conception of their vocation or to support them by right methods in the discharge of their sacred responsibilities. What is first needed is not so much to develop their musical gifts as to infuse into them that spirit of devotion which is essential to the right discharge of their office. Only as they grasp the full significance of the sacrifice of praise, will their offering be acceptable to God, and they themselves be delivered from the temptations incident to their position.
There are two great acts of praise the history of which, as recorded in Holy Scripture, helps us to under- stand the attitude of mind in which the praises of the Church should be offered. The one is the song of Moses, the other the song of the Blessed Virgin. The one sounds
the first note of praise in the Jewish, the other the first 220
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note of the song of the Christian Church. Both are songs uttered in the joy of a conscious experience of the wondere of a Divine redemption. Their deliverance from Egypt and their formation into a nation whose Sovereign was Jehovah Himself, made the Chosen People sing for joy. They could not but sing unto the Lord in that He had triumphed gloriously. In like manner the first song of the Christian Church celebrates the praises of salvation. The Blessed Virgin, as she sings her Magnificat, leads the choirs of Christendom in the praises of God the Saviour. The Spirit of Christ foretold * that in the midst of the church He would sing praise unto the Father. It is this ineffably glorious characteristic of the Praise of the Christian Church,— the fact that it is offered by the Ckv/rch in union with the Son to the Majesty of the Father, — which is prophetically embodied and foreshadowed in the song of the Virgin. If the sacrifice of praise implies such a glorious mystery, it surely follows that they to whom is assigned the special vocation of being foremost in presenting that sacrifice, should have their position recognised as one of high honour and responsibility. Heretofore, it seems to me, that such a recognition has been unduly withheld. Neither choir nor congregation have adequately realised the meaning of their sacrifice of praise. This more than anything else accounts for the defects of our congregational praise, and also for hindrances to the Divine blessing aris- ing, as often is the case, from the presence of unworthy motives among members of the choir.
The reform of the musical part of our worship has in one aspect developed of late years with almost dispropor- tionate rapidity. In other words, it has outrun our growth in the apprehension of what worship is. Instead of being incorporated into the reasonable worship of God in spirit and in truth, improvement in the merely musical attain- ment has been (as it were) superimposed upon an order, in many cases bare and lifeless. In many of our churches, for * Ps. xxii. 22-25.
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example, we find the organ usurping the place which should be occupied by the Holy Table. Its position there is sug- gestive rather of an idol to be worshipped than of an instru- ment to accompany praise ; and when we have, in addition, a meagre choir (enclosed in a species of pen round the base of the organ), utterly out of proportion to the power of the organ or to the size of the congregation which they are supposed to lead, the result is the reverse of edifying. The whole arrangement, indeed, except in the size of the choir, savours more of the concert-room than of the church, and the well-cushioned reserved pews help the illusion. Another illustration of what attends upon this disproportionate de- velopment, is seen in the instructive circumstance that the critics who are most clamorous for farther advances as regards better music, are precisely those who are most opposed to advance in all other and far more important directions. I do not allude to this point for any other purpose than that of emphasising the comparative novelty of the choir ques- tion. Musical reform has not reached the point which I trust it will reach in all our congregations at no distant date. If rightly directed, and especially if combined with the recovery of a true idea of worship, we may hope ere long to witness many salutary changes.
For instance, when our congregations have once appre- hended their heavenly priesthood and have been led to per- ceive that there is laid upon them (if they would rightly fulfil their own Divinely appointed part) the bounden duty of joining audibly in the service, they cannot long remain content to keep silence. They cannot but perceive that it lies with them to say their AMEN in the public prayer : and unless opposed to all change (an attitude which pre-supposes perfection), they will more readily sing an "Amen" when led by the choir than say it. The sustaining voice of the choir, with the almost imper- ceptible foundation of organ tone, will more readily draw forth an answer from their lips than if they are left to utter the Amen without such help. The careful instruc-
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tion of the people in the theory of worship Bhould always be the first step ; but there can be no doubt that when this point is <luly attended 1", every musical Improvement is itself an education of the devotional spirit. We are essentially a musical nation, and for my part 1 believe that a modified choral worship would, in this way, be readily accepted if introduced with proper explanation — and that, perhaps, more readily in our rural than in our town parishes. In the former, the absence of the opportunity for comparison makes them more willing to accept what appears to them- selves reasonable and helpful, while, in the latter, the fear lest they may do anything savouring of the order of an alien church keeps them so suspiciously on the alert that they are in danger of not worshipping at all. However this may be, one thing certain is that our choirs occupy a position which ought now to be intelligently acknowledged. The support and sympathy of the congregation should be gratefully accorded to them. As the case stands they are almost always subjected to criticism, and mostly of an unfriendly kind. Congregations often listen to, and criticise, the choir's performance precisely as they might at a place of entertainment, forgetful of the help they are receiving in their common worship of God.
How then, we ask, are we to get our choirs and people to recognise the loftiness of their work ? I suggest that the minister must begin by taking a more active interest in this part of his organisation. The minister should also, in every way possible, encourage his choir by his appreciation of their helpful and self-denying service. He is sometimes apt to associate them with a record of petty disputes and conten- tions which might perhaps all be averted, or at least greatly alleviated, were he himself to take greater pains in imparting to them the spiritual idea of their office. He should know the members of his choir personally, and be careful to evince the honour in which he holds them. He should take the utmost pains in ordering the psalms and hymns for the sacred services, and should explain to the singers the
224 Church Music and Choirs.
meaning of what they are to sing. It should be his endeavour from time to time to impress upon them the sacred character of their work, and to guard them against such temptations as are incidental to it. He should make a point of attending, when possible, the weekly meetings for choir practice, and should secure that such meetings are invariably consecrated by prayer. If such meetings are held in the church it is doubly important that he should exhort the members of his choir to such reverence of demeanour as is appropriate to that place. He should impress upon them the fact that their work is religious ; that it offers to them a most valuable opportunity of personal spiritual discipline ; that they cannot discharge it aright unless they are endeavouring to set an example to the congregation (a duty all the more incumbent upon them because of the prominence of their position in church) of self-recollection and reverence ; that they have need continually to pray to God and to strive earnestly that the things which they sing with their lips they may oelieve in their hearts and practise in their lives. As a precaution against the jealousies and disputes which often bring dispeace, he should impress upon them the blessed- ness which, according to the Christian law, follows upon the postponement of self. And lastly, in order to secure punctu- ality, perseverance, and fidelity in their work, he should seek to cultivate in them the habitual thought that what they do they do not for their own gratification, or that of the congregation, but for the glory of God.
In order that these lessons may be more deeply im- pressed upon tbem, and that they and the congregation may rise to a higher conception of what praise is as a part of worship, it seems to me desirable to band our choirs together under some Rule of Life.
I should propose, for this end, the formation of a Choir Guild, under a definite Rule of Life with branches in parishes. The observance of such a Rule would be essential to the higher usefulness as well as to the
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coherence of any such organisation. It would help to cultivate a sense of the spiritual and devotional qualifi- cations that are desirable in the singers of the sanctuary. Such a guild would lay hold of the lives of the individual members of the Choir, and by doing so would tend to attach to it the most desirable material. It would also impress upon them the sacred nature of their work ; and it would inspire a right enthusiasm. Such an organisation is pre- eminently suited for a country parish. It creates that esprit de corps which is often so lamentably wanting in our rural districts. Faithfulness in attendance becomes a question of principle. In fact the whole spiritual tone of the choir is raised. We are convinced that in the forma- tion of a Choir Guild lies the solution of the chronic choir difficulty.
It would be practically a revival of the old system of " song schools " which once existed in this country.
The necessity for such an organisation occurred to me before I was aware that a Church Choir Guild existed in the Church of England. But since I have heard of their Guild, and of the success which has attended it, I have all the more confidence in urging the formation of a guild on somewhat similar lines in the Church of Scotland. We have already, it is true, church choir unions, but they are not altogether on the lines on which a church choir guild should be formed. If I mistake not, their object is merely "to improve the con- gregational singing of the people by the practice of the ordin- ary authorised music"; the object of the guild, on the other hand, would be primarily to deepen the spiritual life of the members of our choirs. As for improvement in the singing, that would naturally follow. It is not ability to render music well which we chiefly desire to find in our choirs, but devoutness of spirit and holiness of life. Such a choir guild has been recently formed in a few parishes, and although it is too soon yet to say definitely whether it will fulfil its object or not, the experiment has so far met with more success than was anticipated. This guild is composed of two sections —
II. p
226 Church Music and Choirs.
members, — who must bo communicants — and associates. Both members and associates " undertake so to order their lives by prayer, and especially by the use of the guild prayer, that they may worthily fulfil the end for which they joined the guild," that end being the offering of a worthy sacrifice of praise to Almighty God. Provision is made in the con- stitution for quarterly meetings, at which addresses are given upon technical subjects, such as acoustics, pronunciation, history of music, management of the voice, lives of the great composers ; and also on subjects relating to the work of the choir in its spiritual and religious aspects. A badge also has been devised which may be adopted by all branches of the guild.
May I with all earnestness commend to you the adoption of this suggestion ? In any case let us concur in deliberate and well instructed effort to make the Offering of Praise in the congregation of the Church more worthy, through the Mediation of our Blessed Lord, of His Glory to whom we offer it, and more fruitful of joy and blessing to His worshippers.
CHURCH FABRICS: THEIR RIGHT ARRANGE- MENT IN RELATION TO THE VARIOUS ORDINANCES AND SERVICES OF WOR- SHIP, AND WITH REGARD TO VARYING LOCAL CIRCUMSTANCES.
R. Rowand Anderson, LL.D.
I have been invited to take part in this interesting and instructive conference by contributing some remarks from the architect's point of view on Church Fabrics in relation to the various ordinances and services of worship.
To deal with this subject fully would require a much longer time than has been allotted to it. I must, therefore, condense my remarks as much as possible. I would also beg of you to understand that I do not appear here as advocating the tendencies of any party in the Church. What I have to say to you are the thoughts that have occurred to me while engaged in the designing and erection of churches, and in such excursions as I have been able to make into history. I am quite prepared for dissent more or less strong from my views, but I do not think I can look for any erroneous views being corrected, or hope to have any influence on yours, unless I am perfectly frank, and do not shape my utterances to secure support or escape opposition.
A church, like all other structures, is built for a definite
227
228 Church Fabrics.
end. Utility must be at the foundation of it, and all its parts must be adapted and conform to the purposes which call it into existence, and to the structural methods em- ployed. The problem now before us is — " What is the form of fabric best adapted for the modes of worship in use in the Church of Scotland ? " and the first question to put here is — " What are the elements of that worship, and what are the rites to be fulfilled within the building ? " The answer must be taken from the standards of the Church — viz., " Knox's Book of Common Order " and the Directory for Public Worship issued by the Westinster Assembly.
These rites may be stated to be the Reading and Preaching of the Word, Prayer, Praise, and the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper. Can a building be designed which will provide for all these functions in the best and most appropriate way for each, where everything can be done decently and in order, where the structure and its decorations emphasise and add dignity to the sacred offices, and all is brought into that harmony which our natures, when not warped and cramped, instinctively desire ?
Before stating my own views and suggestions, it will be proper to make a short inquiry into the state of church architecture from the time of the Reformation till now.
The Reformation, regarded purely as affecting church architecture in Scotland, must be looked upon as most disastrous for art, seeing that, through its agency, most of the old church buildings were more or less destroyed, and that up to the present day no beautiful and enduring type as a model for its sacred edifices has been evolved by religion as reformed.
Too much of the responsibility for having destroyed church property is commonly attributed to the fury of the Scottish Reformers. The work was begun fifteen years before they took it up by the expedition sent b}" Henry VIII. under Hertford, who destroyed most of the abbeys and collegiate and parish churches in the Lothians, the Merse, and Teviotdale. Much more moderation seems to have
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been exercised by the early Reformers than by the Cove- nanters of a later date. All images, altars, &c., were certainly removed from the churches and burned, but in Knox's " First Book of Discipline " provision is specially made for the maintenance of all cathedral, conventual, and collegiate churches and chapels which were also parish churches. Neglect, not actual violence, must be held accountable for much. So moderate indeed were the early Reformers that we find the Kirk actually petitioning the King in 1588 to take some measures to protect the Cathedrals of Glasgow, Dunfermline, and Dunblane from utter ruin.
This spirit was unfortunately not inherited in the next centur}7 by the adherents of the Covenants. These men assailed such abbeys and cathedrals as had survived and utterly destroyed them and their contents. They did not limit themselves to the emblems of Roman Catholicism, as Knox and his followers had done ; everything decorative fell before them. Spalding, an eye-witness of much of the ruin wrought at this time, gives an account of the destruction of the reredos in Aberdeen Cathedral, which lie concludes thus — " Now, our minister devised a loft going athwart the Church south and north, which took away the stately sight and glorious show of the body of the whole kirk ; and with this back of the altar he decored this beastly loft."
This lamma^e shows that the love of the beautiful in church worship was still inherent in many breasts, and many a sigh must have been heaved from hearts faithful to the Reformation on seeing the havoc and destruction, and, at best, total disfigurement wrought on the monuments of religion. Church property might seem now to have suffered humiliation enough, but it was yet reserved for the sacred edifices to have the troopers of Cromwell stabling their horses within their walls, building fortifications from their materials, and turning church and chapel into arsenal and barrack.
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The sacred edifices were now regarded as so much stone, and utilised for the mending or construction of such build- ings as might be required in their immediate neighbour- hood. Dr Joseph Robertson, an eminent authority in this connection, says — " If a congregation had taken shelter in some aisle or transept of some huge conventual or cathedral pile, down went choir or nave to keep their little place of meeting in repair. Nor was this all, or the worst. Melrose supplied material for building a tolbooth and mending a mill. Kelso was turned into a jail. Arbroath was farmed out as a common quarry. Even where churches remained entire, and might have endured for ages, they were in many cases wantonly pulled down by unconscious town councils or unreflecting heritors."
Let us now turn our attention to what was being done in the way of supplying the places of the ancient buildings thus in process of destruction.
The early Reformers continued to worship in the old churches shorn of their altar-pieces, images, and other appurtenances of the ritual of the Romish Church. We hear of church building again being thought of when the attempt was made to restore Episcopacy by James VI. The Kirks of Alloway and Dairsie are examples of this period. A writer at the end of the seventeenth century gives us an account of the churches of his time — " In the country," he says, "they are poor and mean, covered no better than their ordinary cottages, and some of them so low that they may be compared to those subterraneous houses of Hungary, or like the primitive oratories we read about, more like caves than churches. But in the boroughs and cities they are bricked and tiled and well enough furnished with galleries and other conveniences for the parishioners. The precentor's desk is under the pulpit, and under him the Stool of Penance, or rather a bench for five or six to sit on to be seen by the congregation, and have the shame of their crimes. Chancels they have none, nor altars, and though there are tables for the use of
Church Fabrics. 231
Presbyteries, and to administer the Sacrament, yet they are differently placed in several churches, lest the uniform situation of them might lead to superstition." It seems an undoubted fact that about the middle of the eighteenth cen- tury the old country churches used for service were in a dis- graceful state of disrepair Many of them were roofless, and all had suffered more or less during the troublous times through which they had passed. In the case of many large churches the heritors appropriated one part of the edifice to the use of the congregation, destroying the rest of the building to keep their part in repair ; in other cases they adapted the old buildings to the new require- ments, disfiguring them by the introduction of lofts, fixed pews, and other undesirable innovations. Cathedrals, such as those of Glasgow and Edinburgh, were divided up into three or four separate places of worship. When new parish churches began to be erected, the chief aim seemed to be to produce a large lecture-room, devoid of any salient feature, either in form or arrangement, which could suggest a building for the sacred services of religion. The com- munion table stretched in a single or double line along the entire length of the building ; and as population increased it was crossed b}^ transverse divisions to form a number of square pews. This arrangement furnished, of course, no structural centre for worship, and prevented the evolution of any harmonious ideal of a house of prayer. Another important factor in retarding the progress of church archi- tecture was the legal responsibility imposed on the heritors for the provision and maintenance of places of worship. As all that the law stipulated for was a building which should be wind and water-tight, we see everywhere that little else was provided. Although the law remains the same, a better spirit has risen among the people, whose offerings supple- ment the legal provision ; and now churches are being erected everywhere which, whatever their faults may be, are evidence of a desire on the part of the people to beautify and honour the house of God. Even yet, however, there is
232 CJmrch Fabrics.
an absence of a clear and persistent attempt to evolve a church which shall be as distinctively characteristic of the Church of Scotland as the mediaeval church was of the Church of Rome.
The Church of Scotland has inherited from former days such buildings as the Cathedrals of St Giles, Glasgow, Aber- deen, Dunkeld, Brechin, Dunblane, and many collegiate and parochial churches. It is certain that these buildings could never have been the product of the views which have re- cently prevailed, and neither can one sa}^ that they are in all respects adapted for the service as presently conducted ; but, nevertheless, they should not be deserted, but should be piously cared for and faithfully used, as a precious in- heritance from the past, and as visible witnesses to the historical continuity of the Church of God. There are many interesting buildings throughout the country, valuable historically and architecturally, now neglected ruins and fast disappearing, but which, if roofed in and restored to use, with such additions as the necessities of the place may require, might be handed on to future generations. Im- portant examples of what can be done in this way are St Giles', Edinburgh, and Dunblane Cathedral. The latter, a few years ago, was, with the exception of the choir, a neglected and weatberbeaten ruin, certain to fall very soon before the winter storms ; but is now, by the pious generosity of a good and large-hearted woman, and one or two other friends of the Church, rescued from destruction, and once more a stately and dignified church.
Now for the church of the future. It is interesting in this connection to note that Presbyterianism is not by any means opposed to the use of a liturgy, seeing that a liturgy compiled by Knox was recommended in his First Book of Discipline for use in churches. This liturgy was actually used up till 1645, and might have been in use still had it not been for the attempt made by Charles I., in 1037, to supersede the old liturgy, to which the Scotch were attached, by the one compiled by Laud. This
Church Fabrics. 233
ill-advised attempt led, as one of its results, to the Assembly of Divines at Westminster, where a new Directory for Public Worship was drawn up, which was accepted by the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in the follow- ing year. It was only then that the use of Knox's liturgy was gradually discontinued, and even then it was not, and never has been, formally abrogated.
Let us take the services in order, beginning with preach- ing. I take it that this office must always be prominent in the service of the Church of Scotland. Our national characteristics will always lead us to crave for manly, reverent, and closely-reasoned discourse, while the temper of the time may be trusted to keep this part of the service within bounds for the future. The best and most appro- priate place for this part of Divine service is an Audi- torium, or what is frequently called a Nave, where all can see and hear. The preacher and his audience must be brought face to face. Manner as well as matter enters into the power of a discourse, and speaker and audience ought to act and react on one another. The form of the audi- torium may vary — circular, square, oblong, (there is precedent for each) — and each may be broken up, but never in such a way as to put any of the congregation out of the grasp of the preacher. I shall not say which is the preferable form, because the success or failure of any of the forms indicated will depend on its acoustic qualities and the architectural skill of the designer. Each may be good if it is well done. It should be dignified and sober in its decorations and fur- nishings, and the windows, if possible, kept high up, as the best light comes from above. Many of our churches fail as places to preach in, because of their supposed acoustic defects. This is not always the correct explanation ; the position of the pulpit is often the cause of it. We have hitherto had but one place for it. There ought to be more latitude allowed for this, and then, I am sure, there will be fewer churches condemned for their bad acoustic qualities.
234 Church Fabrics.
Aisles as places to sit in are distinctly objectionable, and opposed to the congregational idea of worship, but the floor space of the nave can always be preserved for the congregation by adding passages on each side and opening into the body of the building by arches.
Transepts which give area for the congregation where it is most wanted; namely, in the immediate vicinity of the pulpit, are a convenient, and, if ivell done, striking way of breaking up the oblong form. Galleries are not to be desired. One at the end may, in certain circumstances, be admissible, and this is a very good place for an organ and choir ; but side galleries, where the one half of the occupants stare at the other half, destroy all reverence and the re- ligious sentiment of the place.
The pulpit should be used for preaching only. The reading of the Word of God should be from a lectern, as is now frequently the practice, and this is facilitated by accepting the services of lay readers.
The worship for which we are providing being congrega- tional, and there being no act of the worship in which the congregation should not, as worshippers, have part, the auditorium or nave of a church will also be the best and proper place for the service of prayer and praise. The great improvement and development of church music in Scotland has led to the practical abolition of the pre- centor, as we knew him of old, and the substitution of a trained choir with its conductor, and to calling in the aid of instrumental music. An appropriate place can always be found or made for the choir and organ. I am not prepared to specify the best place, because that will depend on the shape and extent of the auditorium, but I can specify the worst, and that is behind the pulpit, im- mediately in the face of the congregation. Nothing can lower the religious sentiment of the building or the dignity of this part of the service so much as the placing of an organ, generally much too large for the work it has to do, in the position it would occupy in a music hall. A recent
Church Fabrics. 235
and very bad example of this may be seen in St Maclnu's Cathedra], Aberdeen.
I come now to the service of prayer, which I have already said should be offered in this part of the church. At present prayers, in most cases, are said from the pulpit. It does not seem to me that this is seemly or consistent with the nature of public prayer. It is a practice which suggests the idea of prayer either made at the people or offered to them. A more reverent position, and one more consistent with the service, would be that the minister should kneel with, and at the head of, the people, as that is the position of every leader, whether he is facing the foe or Him to whom the common obeisance is offered. A proper prayer desk, slightly elevated, should be provided for this.
I shall now deal with the administration of the Sacra- ments— viz., Baptism and the Lord's Supper, and I shall take the latter first. Where possible, this should not be celebrated in the nave or auditorium. There are many inconveniences in doing so. The arrangements of an auditorium are not adapted for this functiou. Those who come to hear the preaching, and to join in the services of prayer or praise, do not necessarity come to the communion. For convenience, and the better to emphasise and give dignity and solemnity to this sacred office, it should be celebrated in a part of the building specially designed, furnished, and decorated. At the end, raised on a dais, should be the Lord's Table, with space for the Clergy and Elders, as representing the Government of the Church and the administration of its ordinances. This part should be ample for the accommodating, in a reverent manner, of all who come to join in this sacred ordinance ; it should not be entirely separated from the auditorium, but marked off by open screens, and as much in view of the congregation as possible. There should also be proper arrangement for entering and retiring. The furniture and decorations of this part of the church should surely not be less costly
236 Church Fabrics.
than the furnishings of any banqueting hall. It is a field for the exercise of the best artistic talent and our costliest gifts. Marriages are frequently celebrated in churches, and are so provided for in the " Directory of Public Worship." Here, it seems to me, would be the appropriate place for this function.
We now come to the Sacrament of Baptism. As this rite marks the entrance of the person baptised into the Christian Church, it appears to me that the Font should be placed at or near the entrance of the church.
This completes what I have to say regarding these parts of a church necessary for the recognised ordinances. Much could be said on subsidiary but necessary parts, such as vestries and session-house. As a matter of con- venience and comfort there should be in every well- appointed town church a subsidiary chapel, for the daily service, a hall for congregational meetings, for business or social purposes, with all the necessary adjuncts, and special rooms for women's meetings. The extent and character of these buildings would be regulated by the wealth and population of the district ; in country parishes much less would be required than in the populous districts of towns.
I might say something about towers and spires, but time prevents me saying more than this, that neither a tower nor a spire is essential to a church ; that modern ones, with a few exceptions, are bad in form and meagre in substance, and that the money spent on them would have been more profitably expended on the church proper.
I submit that the suggestions and ideas I have thrown out are not contradictory to the standards of the Church, nor inconsistent with the Scottish religious spirit ; and it is on the lines I have indicated that I feel the development of a distinctively characteristic building will be involved.
If the Church is not to lose its hold on the people, as many say it is doing, it must ally itself with the social and intellectual as well as the religious life of the people,
Church Fabrics. 237
and its Presbyterian constitution eminently fits it to do this. All the arts must be pressed into its service, and such a group of buildings as I have briefly indicated ought to, and could, become a centre of activity as great as any of the monasteries and cathedrals of the past.
CHURCH FABRICS: THEIR RIGHT ARRANGE- MENT IN RELATION TO THE VARIOUS ORDINANCES AND SERVICES OF WORSHIP, AND WITH REGARD TO VARYING LOCAL CIRCUMSTANCES.
Rev. E. L. Thompson, D.D.
In every work of architecture one essential feature is fitness — suitableness for the purpose for which it has been de- signed. It must be admitted that this is a canon which has been generally observed in the construction of our Scottish churches ; for they seem designed principally for the hearing of sermons, and in form and arrangement are sufficiently suitable for that end. Preaching, however, is not the whole, nor even the principal part of worship ; and in a certain sense is not, properly speaking, an act of worship at all.
Certainly we do not wish to disparage the ordinance of preaching. On the contrary, Ave feel profoundly the need at present of a reassertion of the place which belongs in the Divine service to the true preaching of the everlasting gospel to the end of converting sinners and building up the faithful. We object, however, to such misplacement of the office of preaching as has undoubtedly to some extent characterised some of the Reformed Churches, on the ground that it obscures the true conception of Christian worship, and positively hinders, instead of promoting, the
Church Fabrics. 239
just embodiment of that worship. Hence the type of architecture that prevails is obviously open to objection, in so far as it expresses a defective and, indeed, erroneous conception of the objects for which a church is reared. The usual arrangement shows merely a pulpit, or possibly even a "platform," erected immediately against the wall. The minister on emerging from the vestry makes at once for this construction, precisely like a lecturer or professor preparing to enter on his prelections at his class-room desk. The minister, however, unlike the professor, is followed by a beadle, whose duty it is to fasten him securely into the rostrum, where he must remain until the beadle returns to liberate him at the close of the service. During the inter- val between these two pieces of ceremonial in which the beadle plays so important a part, the minister is left to con- duct every part of Divine service, with the exception of the music, and always in the attitude (which is undoubtedly proper to the pulpit) of one who delivers a public address to the congregation. In many of our churches there is absolutely no outward sign that they are places of worship, except the generally rude and inconvenient arrangements for the congregational song. There is often no Font for Baptism, no Lord's Table for the Holy Communion, no choir as a place for the singers, no lectern to give due pro- minence to the part which the reading of Scripture should have in the Service — in a word, no provision for those parts of the worship which are distinctively Christian, no architec- tural expression of the fact that the Church is beyond all other things a House of Prayer.
It is scarcely an exaggeration to say that such churches are not really churches according to the proper usage of the word in the history of Christian architecture. There have been revolutionary periods in which the very name "church" as applied to a building has come to be almost avoided. Rightly or wrongly, extreme Calvinists would almost seem to have been tempted to turn away with positive resent- ment even from the places where the ancient services had
240 Church Fabrics.
been conducted. They were content to use them if denuded of everything but the pulpit, which was removed, however, from its ancient position and placed in front of the place proper to the Holy Table. Take the case of the ancient churches in Holland ; all have been preserved, but what a degrading transformation has taken place. Instead of beiug wisely adapted to a purer Christian worship, the nave has been in most cases converted into a huge lecture hall, fitted with galleries — great box pews rising in tiers around the ugliest of pulpits, and shut in by monstrous wooden erections. The pillars and walls are thickly white-washed, and the noble chancels actually made the receptacles and storehouses of the debris of the church — coal, footstools, old books, and other lumber.
I can understand this excessive reaction. It was natural in the circumstances, but, all the same, it was wrong. To make preaching the " all-in-all " of the newly-arranged services, merely because it had previously fallen into neglect, was certainly a blunder. " Preaching-house," " meeting-house " — these were the names given in some cases to the remodelled churches — the pews and galleries being now arranged with the one object of securing that the hearing ear and the seeing eye might converge and fix themselves on the preacher. Anything would do for the holy ordinances of Baptism and the Lord's Supper. A pewter bowl brought in and suspended by a kind of ring fixed to the pulpit was thought sufficient for the former. On Communion Sundays the poor were turned out of the wretched square boxes in which they were usually allowed to sit, and a rough Table was improvised ; sometimes the passages were fitted with three timber " forms," one higher than the others, so that the squeezing of the people to pass from the pews to the Table, and from the Table to the pews, and from both to the outside, occasioned not seldom an unseemly conflict between three distinct tides of irritated life.
Here, however, let me interpose these remarks — (1) The
Church Fabrics. 241
church or meeting-house, arranged for sermons, is, to my mind, not such an offensive production of architectural art as the cheap modern Gothic structure, with its fairly good front borrowed from some drawing of a pre-Reformation build- ing, its side walls made meaner in style and work because to be partly hidden, its windows bisected by galleries, and its back (not meant to be seen), a mere rubble wall, or possibly the " mutual gable " of the adjoining tenement. Take the common case of an ecclesiastical building, with a cheap and flimsy spire, a chimney in the east gable, ignoble tracery and mouldings everywhere, hideous raw-coloured glass, shining barley-sugar woodwork, a gallery over the vestry for the organ, with stucco arches, stucco ornament everywhere, a huge screen round the pulpit platform, a floor sloping downwards from the back of the church to the pulpit, red cloth dado and red cloth on doors, red carpets, and red and green cushions (in some cases, every seat, or, what is still more repulsive, every other seat cushioned). — what a travesty of a di u. rcli ! — what a revelation of wanton indifference to the fundamental ideas of Christian architecture, of depravity of taste, of vulgarity of mind, and of shameless ignorance of the true principles of evangelical worship ! Even in some of the churches which are more correct as regards internal form and for which a structural chancel has been designed, the outrage which is offered to all rightly-instructed sentiment by the arrangements of the interior, and by the manner in which the chancel is used, is often not less violent. In nine cases out of ten, a gaudily ornamented organ occupies the central position : the pulpit is set against the organ, or is actually bracketted into the organ case : the organ console is placed immediately be- neath the pulpit — in fact, the console and the pulpit form part of one structure, the organist with his back to the congregation performing, as it were, at the feet of the minister ; while the remainder of the chancel is occupied by the choir, who sit facing the congregation as if in a concert hall.
11. Q
242 Church Fabrics.
Give me rather tliau this the old meeting-house, grave, solid, plain, characteristic ; with the good mahogany pulpit, velvet cushion, and drapery and tassels ; the great square pews, in which one could stand up reverently before God in prayer and praise, a tier of windows above the gallery, and the same below, the precentor's desk, the elders' seat ; all decent and homely, often comely, always typical, never vulgar.
(2) No greater disaster could have happened to the service of the Lord's Supper than the introduction of " simultaneous communion," a practice borrowed from the English dissenters. I have no words forcible enough to express my objection to this practice. The blame of its introduction is due to the clergy who, with that insatiable desire for speaking (too common among them) were wont to gave, in the case of, for example, seven tables, four- teen addresses, besides a longer one in the pulpit at the beginning, and another at the close of the service — sixteen
O ©'
in all. This abuse induced at last an intolerable weariness on the part of the people, which made them welcome the proposal of simultaneous communion as at least a deliver- ance from their sufferings under pastoral prolixity. If the change had been delayed twenty or twenty-five years, these addresses would almost certainly have been abolished or at least supplanted by the mere recitation, according to the original custom of the Reformed Churches, of some "comfortable words," and a form of administration would have been continued, necessitating a chancel not merely for the accommodation of the Holy Table, but also of the communicants, and for the orderly, reverent, and convenient distribution of the sacred elements.
Where is a remedy for this deplorable confusion to be found ? There is but one. Here, as in other things, we must ask for the " old paths," and walk in them. The true ideal of Christian worship must be resuscitated and realised alike by ministers and people, and then only may we hope to see churches erected embodying in their form and interior order the power of that ideal.
Church Fabrics. 243
Should it still be asked, " Do you then depreciate the place of preaching in the Church of God? we emphati- cally answer — No. Let the vast nave, the broad transepts, the freedom of the large open spaces around the pulpit, and the pulpit itself, placed in a commanding position (while yet not the central object presented to the eyes of the congregation), testify for us. Let there be no closed pews. Let every worshipper, as he enters, take any seat he chooses. Let the poorest feel that they are as welcome as the richest to the best places. As preaching is so important a function, I would also have the utmost care bestowed on such adaptations as would secure the best possible acoustics. This, undoubtedly, is a matter in which architects are too often negligent. Dr Rowand Anderson's broad nave with narrow aisles (as exemplified in Govan Parish Church) is a good arrangement, but I do not lean to very lofty arches, clerestory, or high roof. There is a type of church very common in the extreme south-west of England, of which I should like to see some notable reproductions in Scotland. A triple nave — i.e., three broad aisles divided by slender pillars, no clerestory, but arches wide and lofty enough to give a necessary dignity — the arches, in fact, very spacious, and giving room for magnificently large traceried windows, letting in and across the area a full flood of light ; the chancel to be singly the extension of the central aisle, with well-marked arch of separation ; the chancel floor broad and long, opened freely to adjoining aisles of like proportions. Let one of these side aisles of the chancel be assigned to the organ, and let the other be fitted up as a chapel for daily service, but in such a way as to be also available when needful for the larger Sunday congregations. Let the chancel proper have, of course, for its central object the Holy Table, and let all the furniture proper to the chancel and required for the accommodation of the clergy and the choir be the best possible in the circumstances of the wor- shippers. Such a church is nobly adapted for the accom- modation of a great throng of worshippers. I had lately
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the pleasure of seeing an interesting example of this type of church in Ilfraconibe, in an edifice capable of holding two or three thousand, but in which every word could be heard. Another admirable example is to be seen in a church built by Sir Gilbert Scott at Byde, in the Isle of Wight. The only example known to me in Scotland is that of Sandy ford Parish Church in Glasgow, but it is on a very meagre scale.
The Font may conveniently be set — if not at the prin- cipal door of entrance to the Church, which might be regarded as its ideal position — at the door of the transept. In this way the ancient and beautiful symbolism of Baptism being the gate into the Church could be preserved, while the administration of the rite would at the same time be visible to the congregation. The Scottish Church is in- sistant on the publicity of the administration of Baptism, but some consideration is to be exercised as to the way in which this requirement should be carried out. It is surely not desirable that the Baptismal rite should be administered before the people in the sense of being done immediately in front of the Lord's Table, or of the pulpit. In my experi- ence parents shrink from being prominently set before the eyes of the congregation. Possibly this trying position, with all that it implies, has done not a little to create or stimulate the desire for the private administration of Bap- tism, and to dissociate the administration of the Baptismal rite from the place and time of the public divine service.
The Church may fitly be cruciform in its ground plan. There should always be a broad central passage extending through the nave between the chairs or benches. I would have no barriers, gates, or rood-screen between the nave and the chancel. The necessary division can be sufficiently secured by the lofty elevation of the chancel, and by the introduction of at least three steps of access, and, if possible,, of a double series of such steps, so that the Holy Table may stand forth before all the congregation. This is not to serve the end of the adoration of the elements, nor to give undue prominence to the ministers who officiate, nor yet
Church Fabrics. 245
to excite any mere emotion of aesthetic pleasure, but for the following purposes : — First, for the sake of general convenience, that, all having an equal interest in the service, none may be debarred from witnessing the solemn actions, and that there may be no hampering of the ministers, the elders, or the worshippers ; and second, to the end of consistently and emphatically setting forth the fact that the celebration of the Holy Supper is the most dis- tinctive rite of Christian worship, and that, according to the Lord's appointment, Christians meet in the House of God primarily to offer up prayer for all people, and to " show forth the Lord's death till He come." To the loner and roomy chancel, I would have the worshippers come up in successive companies at the appointed time, that they may receive the Holy Communion. Let it not be said that this is impracticable. It has been done.*
Meanwhile, however, until chancels, long and broad enough for the purpose, are restored, it would be better even to return to the ancient custom of serving the people from the Holy Table in the old way common throughout Scotland — by some extension, as it were, of the Table proper, covered with a fair white linen cloth, to which the worshippers can come up, singing as they come.
My contention then is that equally in the more general features of our Churches, and in their minutest details, as related to the rites to be fulfilled in them, we must pay obedient regard to the fundamental and far-reach- ing law of sacred architecture — namely, that the build- ing should, in every stone and line of it, declare and ex- pound the object for which it is reared. What has to be insisted upon is that our church architecture should pro- claim a faith, and that the Scriptural faith, seeking expres- sion in the divinely ordained worship. Every building, however humble, reared for the divine service should, alike
* An illustration of what I mean may be seen at the celebration of the Holy Communion as presently conducted in St Giles's, Edinburgh, on the occasion of the meeting of the General Assembly in May.
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in its exterior features and interior arrangements, embody, as it were, to the eye the divine revelation of Christian prayer. In the vision of the structure itself — its design, its proportions, its materials, its order, its beauty, and its adaptation to all its sacred uses — it ought to be impossible for any Christian worshipper to do else than feel and say, " This is none other than the House of God." The build- ing should, by its very form, invite to prayer, and embody a call to prayer, and all its stones, as it were, should cry aloud, " O come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker." We do not plead for waste, for extravagance, for over-lavish display. We desire no show of pretentiousness or assertion. We aim at no im- pression to be achieved by the mere expenditure of money at the dictation of vulgarity and ignorance, such as we see in many so-called churches, in which from costly platforms, there is addressed to the rich plutocratic subscribers to the building fund the usual platitudes against the " consecra- tion " of stone and lime, and "worship in spirit and in truth." We desire only to provide for the eliciting of those pure delights which spring from knowledge, faith, reality, and spiritual beauty, finding expression in forms inspired and moulded by genuine art. Second to that of seeking the glory of God, we have no more compelling motive in advocating such a measure of reform in our church archi- tecture than that of securing for the worshipper, every time he crosses the threshold of the Church, or sees it even afar off, all the help that art can offer towards deepening in him the faith of a Divine presence, and evoking in him the spirit of joyful adoration.
Within the limits of this paper it is impossible to discuss the principles of worship in their bearing on the construction of sacred edifices. We may, however, say in a word, that we would here found on Holy Scripture. We refuse, indeed, to be bound by certain texts often quoted from the Epistles, which by their context are seen mainly to refer not so much to worship as an act of approach to
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God, as to the proclamation of the Gospel in His holy Name. We elect in our search for the guidance of Scripture to begin in historical order with the Temple, the Synagogue, and the Upper Room, and thence by the natural transition to pass to the early Christian Churches. We go to the places where Christ, the first disciples, and the Primitive Church worshipped. We go to the Temple, of which the plan of the fabric and furniture for worship were communicated by direct revelation from the Divine Architect — Who disdained not to inspire by His Holy Spirit the mind and imagina- tion, and to guide the hands of the " wise-hearted men " into whom were " put wisdom and understanding that they might know how to work all manner of work for the service of the sanctuary " ; Who gave the Psalms and their music and set the sacrifices and the sacred seasons in their solemn order, and appointed the holy symbolism which still sets forth in the mystical vision of the Apocalypse the glory of the worship of Heaven. We go to the synagogue to which our Lord Himself day by day went up, in which He once read the prophetic lection for the day, and which, as a building, was in many of its details illustrative of much that is distinctive in Christian worship, and calculated to instruct as to those elements of intercession, adoration, and thanksgiving, which still form so large a part of public prayer. We go to the Upper Room in which the Lord Himself instituted the Holy Eucharist, the one great distinctive act of Christian worship, making it the service from which all other services derive their meaning and support, and which alone he expressly summoned His Church to do for a memorial of Him. And from that Upper Room we pass to the Early Christian Churches, and to those precious remains of the Basilicas left to us in Armenia, Palestine, North Africa, and Asia Minor, and to their later representatives iu the Byzan- tine, Romanesque, and Norman forms of edifice still in use. The historical development, whatever alterations and changes are introduced, implies always one guiding
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principle. The House of God becomes ever more and more emphatically declared to be the House of Prayer, and the memorial of the Sacrifice of Him Who once for all made of Himself a pure, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world, is, of Christian prayer, its most characteristic, holiest, and highest act. We find these early churches arranged as in Ravenna and Torcello, with the Holy Table standing in the chord of the spacious apse beyond a lofty flight of steps ; with the throne of the president behind it, seen by all the congregation to whom and for whom he ministered ; and with the seats of the presbyters round about — all a suggestion of that glorious vision of the Temple above, which breaks upon our eyes when we gaze through the door opened in Heaven. The long nave, the forest of pillars converging to the apse, and in places the dome at the juncture of the transepts blazing like the apse itself with the gold and jewelled colours of the vast mosaics — these are later and yet finer features, making such churches as St John Lateran at Rome, the restored St Paul's outside the gates, and the earlier St Peter's, as grand and withal as simple Christian temples as ever were erected, and constituting them to be, in the opinion of some, the very noblest types of sacred architecture for any church which seeks to embody Divine principles in simple and spiritual worship.
CHURCH FABRICS: THEIR RIGHT ARRANGE- MENT IN RELATION TO THE VARIOUS ORDINANCES AND SERVICES OF WOR- SHIP, AND WITH REGARD TO VARYING LOCAL CIRCUMSTANCES.
Rev. James Cooper, D.D.
I start from the principle that our church fabrics should express, as far as possible, in their structure, arrangement, decoration, and furniture, the purpose for which the Church herself was created and is sustained by her Incarnate and Exalted Head.
That purpose is twofold. The Church has a mission to the world without ; and she has a function to discharge toward her own members.
To those without, she is set to be a light, or rather, in virtue of Him who is within her, the light of the world* This aspect of her calling has been well expressed by Bishop Butler. " One reason," he says, " why the visible Church was instituted appears to be this — to be, like a city upon a hill, a standing memorial to the world of the duty which we owe our Maker, to call men continually both by example and instruction, to attend to it, and, by the form of religion ever before their eyes to remind them of the reality." *f* But the Church of Christ has also a second function towards
* St Matt. v. 14. + Analogy, Part II. chapter i.
249
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its own members — the edifying of itself in love* This aspect of her work has never perhaps been expounded with greater eloquence than by that much-loved Master in our Israel whose latest thoughts on earth for the Christian Church were associated with the work of this Society. " The glorified Lord," says Dr Milligan, " is to be manifested in the worship of His people. We can no more conceive the Church without worship than without life or work. . . ." Aud her worship, designed in the first instance for God's glory, has, in its manward aspect, a view " for the edification of saints rather than the conversion of sinners . . . Their common function, when ministers and people come together, is to help one another to a deeper understanding of their Lord, aud to bestow upon one another some mutual gift of faith." t
Such being the twofold object of the Church, how are her fabrics to express it ? Well, they, too, have an exterior and an interior. The outside of our churches should pro- claim, so far as things inanimate may do, God's message of grace in Christ to a perishing world : the whole decoration and arrangement of their interior should be calculated to instruct men, when they have come in, concerning the glory of their gospel privileges, and to bend their hearts in penitent yet rejoicing adoration.
Let us apply this doctrine —
I.
As to the exterior of our churches : it is not sufficient that they should be handsome or imposing. Mere grandeur may speak only of the wealth and pride of the congregation which assembles in the building, a suggestion which is re- pellant rather than attractive to the outsider. Our churches should have beauty — and that particular kind of beauty
* E^hes. iv. 16.
t The Ascension and Heavenly Priesthood of our Lord. Lect. VI. The whole passage will amply repay perusal.
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which has passed from the Gospels into Christian Art, the beauty of spiritual expression. They should be expressive to the soul. Our church exteriors should speak of Jesus in His Church ; and Jesus, even as King, even on His "Day of Palms " is " meek and lowly in heart." *
2. If the exterior would speak of Christ it should give due prominence on its forefront to the universally-accepted sign of His religion, the Cross. The cross of the Lord Jesus is the standing witness at once of man's sin, from which he needs salvation, and of God's love which has found the ransom.f The cross is the meeting-place of God and sinners. The Gospel of the cross is the power of God unto the salvation, to every one that believeth.X Let Christ but be shewn lifted up upon it, and He will draw all men unto Him. §
We might make, in this way, I am persuaded, the most evangelical use of the sculptor's art, if we set up outside, say above the great door of the church, as there is set on the portal of Rheims Cathedral, the figure of the Crucified, with Isaiah's words written under it : — All day long have I stretched forth My hands to a disobedient and gainsaying people, || or Jeremiah's, Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by ? Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto My sorrow wherewith the Lord hath afflicted Me.^\
3. Christ died upon the cross to atone for our sins ; but now He is passed into the heavens,** our great High Priest. We must preach Him living there ! It has not been for nothing, therefore, that church-builders through so many ages have delighted in the Spire. They have had experience of its value, not as an ornament merely, but as a preacher — with solemn finger pointed ever upward to our Father which is in heaven,ii to our Advocate with Him,\X to the sign of the Son of Man which shall one day be
* St Matt. xi. 29 : compare Zechariah ix. 12. -f Job xxxiii. 24.
t Rom. i. 16. § St John xii. 32.
|| Rom. x. 21. The words are St Paul's version of Isaiah lxv. 2. IT Lament, i. 12. ** Heb. iv. 14.
ft St Matt. vi. 9. JJ 1 John ii. 1.
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seen in heaven,* to the blessed City wherein, even now, oar conversation t ought to be.
4. Nor need our spire be altogether silent. We may put into it a mouth and tongue, — the Bell. The church bell is an instrument associated with the earliest preach- ing of the gospel in our land, with St Ninian and others of the apostles of our country. It has never been given up, and its notes have singular power to linger in the heart.
5. The Church Porch is perhaps the architectural feature of which most use may be made as an instrument for reading to the beholder the ever-needed warnings and the ever-gracious invitations of the gospel. It should be a feature in all our churches : in wayside chapels, or in the smaller class of our town churches, it might even be made with advantage the chief external feature. It should stand open to the wayfarer. It should be provided with stone benches ; and as the traveller sits down to rest on them, his eye should catch, in letters, or in imagery, or in both combined, the Divine promise of eternal refreshment for the soul, Come unto Me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. X
II.
From the porch, let us hope that our wayfarer will pass into the church. If the sacred building cannot be always open, § might there not be, at any rate, in summer and in the country, instead of the locked and solid door of wood, a light gate or wicket of iron, which, besides giving free access to the fresh air, would allow at least the stranger's eye to enter, with resolves (who knows ? ) that the whole body shall ere long go in.
1. The first object in the interior ought unquestionably to be the Baptismal Font. Baptism is the gate of en-
* St Matt. xxiv. 30. + Phil. iii. 20.
t St Matt. xi. 28. S Revelation xxi. 25.
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trance to the Christian Church, for it is the Sacrament of our engrafting into Christ, * who is the Living Source of the Church's life. Even for those who have been baptised, the sight of the font may prove a summons to that duty which our Larger Catechism t declares to be at once a " needful " and a " much-neglected one " — the " duty of improving our baptism," which ought, it says, " to be performed by us all our life long, especially in the time of temptation, and when we are present at the administration of it to others."
It is a mistake, I think, to treat the font (when circum- stances allow its decoration) as if Baptism were only for children. The children's right to it ought, indeed, to be acknowledged ; but there ought also to be reminders of its necessity for all, and of its far-reaching grace and obligations. A text which I have seen inscribed upon a font, seemed to me to bring out this thought, Buried with Him in Baptism, wherein also ye are risen with Him. I
Reverence requires, it may be added, that the font be provided with a cover ; and with means of drawing off the water.
2. My house, says its Owner, shall be called of all nations the house of prayer, § but Prayer seems to be the last thing thought of by many of those who fit up our churches. Not only is there nothing visible to suggest that we should pray, or to help us in prayer, but there is no provision made for our assuming its proper attitude. The pews — at least the pews provided for Presbyterian churches, and one finds it, alas ! even in our restored cathedrals — are for sitting in, not for kneeling in. An ingenious writer in one of our Church publications referred to this not long since, and remarked, with perfect truth and, I have no doubt, from painful experience, that " hunkering " in any form is a posture so constrained that the maintaining of it for ten minutes incommodes the body and distracts the
* Shorter Catechism, 94. Cf. 1 Cor. xii. 18. t Larger Catechism, 167.
t Col. ii. 12. S St Mark xi. 17.
2 54 Church Fabrics.
mind. One would have thought that the conclusion would have been that our pews, wherever possible, should be made to admit of kneeling, a posture which, besides being reverent, scriptural, and catholic, is also free from that physical objec- tion. But no ! the custom of " hunkering " is apparently so firmly established that the only course the writer referred to ventures to suggest is that the minister should curtail the prayers ! What would become of such people if the use of the Litany became general among us ? But if we do not introduce real kneeling — let us not deceive ourselves — the common people will not " hunker." You may see whole congregations not making even a pretence to bow at prayer, sitting bolt upright or lolling back in their pews, staring about them with eyes wide open. They behaved in much the same way when they used to stand at prayer. Nothing will correct the irreverence except kneeling ; and for kneel- ing there are two conditions — it must be made physically possible, and our people must be instructed as to what prayer is. The latter is primarily, of course, the duty of the pastor ; but if an architect is to be an artist and makes his art to speak, he also should provide at least suggestion of prayer, as well as facilities for its exercise.
3. But beyond even prayer, Praise is the Church's exer- cise. " Lift up your hearts unto the Lord." As Dr Milligan observes, " the low dull tone so often marking our public worship, has never been the tone of any Christian liturgy. The service of the Church, as we see from her old service- books, was almost exclusively joyous. ... It was one chant, culminating in the Eucharist, the peculiar sacrifice of thanksgiving." # This feature also should be written broad on the internal arrangements and decorations of our churches. I do not mean, of course, that our churches should be arranged like concert- rooms, with an organ in the east end and a choir platform in front of it. An ar- rangement which suggests a concert is an intimation to the people to sit still and listen. What we want is something
* The Ascension and Heavenly Priesthood of Christ.
Church Fabrics. 255
that will bid them stand up and bless the Lord* The mediaeval architects strove to gain their end by introducing everywhere figures of angels harping on their harps, and thus, as it were, inviting those to whom, as the heir* of salvation,^ they are sent to minister, to " bear their part with them " J even here in the blissful occupation of eternity. To sing and to give praise is an exercise even more helpful to the weary than it is to kneel down and pray.
4. If a Christian church ought not to be a concert-room, neither should it appear a mere lecture-hall. But it is meant for Teaching even as it is for praise — building up yourselves, St Jude says, on your most holy faith.§ A northern sheriff, an acute observer of human life, told the Young Men's Guild in Aberdeen last month that at no period within living memory was the state of religious knowledge so low among us as it is to-day. It is my experience also. People, I fear, do not read their Bibles as they used to do : the poor are less guilty, I believe, in this respect than any. We must by all means try to get our people to resume this habit, without which solid progress in spiritual knowledge is impossible. Surely we may also — of course with due care and moderation, mindful of dangers formerly incurred — occasionally make use of the two great imitative arts. Only, let it be the sacred Facts that are alone set forth. And let symbols wherever used avoid the opposite faults of being faf-fetched or too common-place.
5. Lastly, the place of honour ought, on every ground, to be assigned to that Holy Table which tells both of the great sacrifice offered once for the sins of the whole world, and now for ever pleaded before the Throne, and of the Sacred Feast by which, as God's reconciled children, we are fed.
Throughout the ancient Church the Table of the Lord was fenced by a screen or veil. Whether the restoration of this practice be desirable or not, it would at least serve a
* Nehem. ix. 5. t Hek i. 14.
X Bishop Ken, Morning Hymn. i St Jude 20.
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good and holy use if it reminded ministers and people alike that the Supper of the Lord is not to be approached -with- out preparation, and that Holy Things are for Holy Persons. " Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see god."
THE END.
APPENDIX.
CONSTITUTION OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH SOCIETY.
I. The name of the Society shall be "The SCOTTISH Chtivh Society."
II. The Motto of the Society shall be : " Ask for the Old Paths, .... and walk therein?
III. The general purpose of the Society shall be to defend and advance Catholic doctrine as set forth in the Ancient Creeds, and embodied in the Standards of the Church of Scotland ; and generally to assert Scriptural principles in all matters relating to Church Order and Policy, Christian Work, and Spiritual Life, throughout Scotland.
IV. Among the special objects to be aimed at shall be the following: —
1. The consistent affirmation of the Divine basis, supernatural life,
and heavenly calling of the Church.
2. The fostering of a due sense of the historic continuity of the
Church from the first.
3. The maintaining of the necessity of a valid Ordination to the
Holy Ministry, and the celebration in a befitting manner of the rite of Ordination.
4. The assertion of the efficacy of the Sacraments.
5. The promotion of the religious education and pastoral care of
the young, on the basis of Holy Baptism.
6. The restoration of the Holy Communion to its right place in
relation to the Avorship of the Church, and to the spiritual life of the baptized.
7. The revival of Daily Service wherever practical tie.
8. The observance in its main features of the Christian year.
9. The encouragement, where practicable, of free and open churches.
10. The advancement of a higher spiritual life among the clergy.
11. The restoration of more careful pastoral discipline of clergy and
laity.
12. The deepening in the laity of a due sense of their priesthood, and
the encouraging them to fulfil their calling in the worship and work of the Church.
II.
257
258 Appendix.
13. The promotion ol right methods for the pastoral training of
candidates for the Holy Ministry.
14. Tin' promotion of Evangelistic work on Church lines.
15. The placing on a right basis of the financial support of the
Church through .systematic giving, and the restoration of the Weekly Offering to its proper place in thought and worship.
16. The better fulfilment by the Church of her duties in regard to
Education ; and to the care of the poor.
17. The consideration of Social Problems with a view to their
adjustment on a basis of Christian justice and brotherhood.
18. The maintenance of the law of the Church in regard to Marriage.
19. The maintenance of the Scriptural view (as held by the Re-
formers and early Assemblies) as to the lieinousness of the sin of sacrilege.
20. The reverent care and seemly ordering of churches and church-
yards, and the preservation of ancient ecclesiastical monu- ments.
21. The deepening of a penitential sense of the sin and peril of schism.
22. The furtherance of Catholic unity in every way consisent with
true loyalty to the Church of Scotland.
V. Among the Methods to be adopted for the promotion of these objects shall be : —
1. Private and united Prayer.
2. Meetings for Conference as circumstances may require.
3. A public Church Society Conference or Congress to be held
annually in one of the larger towns in Scotland ; a full Report of the Proceedings of each congress to be afterwards published and circulated.
4. The preparation and publication from time to time of such
( Iccasional Papers, Forms of Service, Sermons, Class-books, Parochial or other Leaflets, and Devotional Literature as shall be approved by the Society.
5. The delivery of Special Sermons or Lectures in connection with
the Society. G. The provision of aids to the spiritual life of the clergy. 7. The organisation of Parochial Missions.
TUIiNBULL AXD Sl'KARS, Pit INTERS, KDINBUI.f.n.
CONTENTS OF VOLUME I.
Uniform with this Volume. Vol. I., price 4s. 6d. nett.
SCOTTISH CHURCH SOCIETY CONFERENCES
Scconft Scries
THE DIVINE LIFE IN THE CHURCH
AN AFFIRMATION OF
TLhc Doctrine of Ifoolp baptism
WITH CONTRIBUTIONS RELATING TO
XTbc Scottisb Cburcb
1bcr Ibtstcrg, TiUorft, anC> present 1HceD
Opening Address —
Rev. Thomas Leishman, D.D., Minister of Linton.
The Holy Sacrament of Baptism : the Place assigned to it in the Divine Economy of Grace, and the present need in Scotland of Explicit Teaching in regard to it —
Rev. John Macleod, B.A., D.D., Minister of Govan, Glasgow.
The Instruction of Catechumens before and after First Communion —
Rev. G. W. Sprott, D.D., Minister of North Berwick. Rev. Roger S. Kirkpatrick, B.D., Minister of Dalbeattie Rev. J. Cromarty Smith, B.D., Minister of Alexandria.
Sponsors : the Obligation resting upon them, how it may best be fulfilled, and what help the church should furnish them with in fulfilling it- —
Rev. A. Wallace Williamson, M.A., one of the Ministers
of St Cuthbert's, Edinburgh. Rev. Evan M. Masson, M.A., Minister of Dull.
£ D t n b u r g b
J. GARDNER HITT, 37 GEORGE STREET
GLASGOW : JOHN SMITH & SON, 19 RENFIELD STREET
LONDON : ELLIOT STOCK, 62 PATERNOSTER ROW
Demy 8uo, cloth. Price 4s. 6d. nett.
SCOTTISH CHURCH SOCIETY CONFERENCES
first Scries
" Ask for the Old Paths, . . . and walk therein?
EXTRACTS FROM REVIEWS. Times. — "This volume will be found very interesting."
Saturday Review.— "Publications of considerable interest. . . . The aim of the Society is to uphold the catholicity of Presbyterianism. . . . We cannol but rejoice thai the glory of the Divine Household and the priceless heritage of the pasl should kindle men's minds anywhere and everywhere. These ideas are the bulwark against laxity and t lie true road to freedom. We tear to say inure, because the chief difficulty these good men have to encounter is the charge thai they are trying to bring the Church of Scotland into bondage to Anglican ideas. What they preach was not invented at Canterbury. It comes from a much higher source, and this consciousness will be their strength in the day of trial."
Scotsman. — "The writer- are no opportunists; they are men who know what they mean, and express it well. . . . Some of the papers are extremely interesting."
Herald.—". . • These papers deserve to be widely read. . . . The S.C.S. has one great advantage. It knows what it would be at."
Scottish Review. — These papers "will have the effect of placing the Society clearly before the public, and dissipating a number of mis- takes which are afloat in respect to it- character and aims."
London Quarterly. — The papers "are devout, and often insist upon truths which all fully-organised Churches need to recognise."
Guardian. — "When we turn to the record of the Society's Con- ferences we are struck at once with two characteristics —the frank con- fession of manifold imperfections in the Presbyterian Communion, and
the boldness of the remedies proposed for their removal. . . . There is much to interesl in these Conferences. . . . After the manner of
'heir countrymen, they advocate a root and branch reformation."
Church Times. — "These papers cover a good deal of ground, and touch subjects of the deepest i in] lortance. . . . We can promise those who care to purchase the volume ample return for their money. We congratulate the Society upon its first important publication. The members clearly have the courage of their opinions, and have exercised praiseworthy skill in the selection and handling of their subjects."
EDINBURGH: J. GARDNER" HITT, 37 GEORGE STREET.
RECENT PUBLICATIONS.
This day is published, Price 4s. 6d. net; per post, 4s. 10d., The Greek Tenses in the New Testament. Their Bear in<j on its accurate Interpretation, with a Rendering of the Gospels, and Notes. By the Rev. P.Thomson, B.D., Minister of Donning.
"An exceedingly able and Interesting volume, . . . well done, and deserves success." — Scots Magazine.
" This highly useful and admirably planned book." — Glasgow Herald.
"... Chapter on the force o( the tenses clearly expressed and cleverly lllastrated." — The Expository Timet.
"A scholarly contribution to the textual literature of the New Testament. . . . The work i< well worthy the attention not only of scholars, but. also of the genera] Bible-reading public.'* — The Christian World.
Crown 8uo. Price 2s. Cloth, or 1s. 6d. Paper. The Story of the Burning Bush : A .Simple Narrative of the Church of Scotland. By the Rev. J. C. Carrick, B.D., F.S.A.
Scot., Minister of Newhattle. " A most readable little hook. . . . Narrated in a most Interesting style."' — Scotsman. In Crown 8uo. Price 2s. Church Establishments ; or, The Bible and the Nation : With a Special Reference to the Church of Scotland. By Rev. Daniel Fraser, A.M., Author of "The Decalogue," &c.
Crown 8uo. Price 3s. 6d. Scottish Liturgies of the Reign of James VI. Edited by G. W. SPROTT, D.D., North Berwick.
Fala and Soutra: Including a History of the Ancient "Donms de Soltre," &c. By James Hunter, F.S.A. Scot., Minister of th Parish. With Portraits and Illustrations of Historical Buildings, Antiquarian Relics, &c. In Crown 4to, Beautifully Printed and Hand- somely Bound. Price 15s.
A few Large Paper Copies, Numbered and Signed, on Hand-made Paper, with the Illustrations on Indian Paper. Price '-Ms. 6d.
" An interesting account of this venerable halting-place of armies and travellers.
Mr Hunter's book is handsomely br night out and profusely illustrated."— Scotsman.
" Mr Hunter's volume will he read wl'h interest and profit by lowers of antiemetic-, and may even be of some service to the historian." — Glasgow Herald.
The Decalogue. Grievous Mistakes about it Corrected, and its Truth Opened it]>. A Tract for the Times. By the Rev. Dakiel Fraser, Author of "The Bible and the Family," and of "The Bible and the Nation."
down 8uo. Price 2s. 6d. The God of Reason and Revelation. By the late Very Rev. W. R. PiRIE, D.D., Principal of Aberdeen University.
•'A singularly acute and clearly reasoned hook."— Glasgow Herald.
EDINBURGH: J. GARDNER HITT, 37 George Street.
A New Edition, Reuised and Enlarged. Crown 8uo. Price 2s.
Handbook of Scottish Church Defence.
By CHRISTOPHER N. JOHNSTON, Advocate. Prepared at the request of the Church Interests Committee.
••It will in' found a must useful and compendious book of reference on the Church question, and its information may be regarded as guaranteed by the author's name. . . . The Inquirer will readily timi t lie facts or explanations he is iu search of on any Scottish eccles- iastical topic, from tenuis, missions, and other weighty matters down to bannsand betherels." — Scotsman.
"As a treasure-house or mine of arguments in favour of the Church of Scotland it will lie found extremely valuable, and, being arranged alphabetically, eminently convenient for purposes Of reference and quotation." — Qlasgoir Herald.
"The work Is almost cyclopaedic in scope, Mini contains much serviceable information to
all interested in, or dealing with, Scottish ueclesiastieal questions." — Dundee Advertiser.
■■ a vast amount of information regarding the history, constitution, endowments, work, and statistics of the Scottish Church is here presented clearly and concisely In alphabetical
order, while space has been found for the utter.inees of statesmen on the subject, which will
be ot .meat service to writers and speakers." — Dumfries Courier.
" It contains reliable information regord'ng everything concerning the Church of Scotland. ... All members of Church Deft nee Associations should obtain copies of the book, and study them." — '1 he Northern Chronicle7.
" EvFiyone who has had to do with the informing of the Scottish people on the question cf their National heritage knoos of what service this book has been. ... It should be in the hands of every number of the Church of Scotland." — Perthshire Advertiser.
Crown 8uo. Price 2s. cloth, or 1s. 6d. paper.
The Story of the Burning Bush,
A SIMPLE NARRATIVE OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND.
By the Rev. J. C. CARRICK, B.D., F.S.A. Scot., Minister of Newbattle.
" Mr Carriek writes in a picturesque style, and his little bonk is full of interest ; indeed, it forms a concise and excellent summary of some of the most notable events in Scottish history." — Dundee Courier.
•• Mr (an irk's style is pleasing, and his arrangement and power of word-painting carry
■with linn tin- sympathy and interest of his readers. Ili.s monograph is one that deserves to be widely read, as it cannot fail to quicken and sustain an interest in t\\<sStory of the Burning Jiitsii." Hamilton Advertiser.
•'To give an account of the crowded events of 1500 years in a small volume of 119 pages is a clever feat; while to do it. as Mr Carriek has done i1, in a bright and easy style, illustrated by anecdotes, inteiesting allusions, quaint and pithy rea ants, lull of information, yet not congested, simple and popular, yet not trivial, is something very like the work of genius." — Dumfries Com ier mid Herald.
" Mr Cnriick has given a readable little book on the Chitreh in Scotland, from the intro- duction of (In istiauity Into Scotland by StNinlan to the present day. We wish the book a wide circulation, as it deserves." — Aberdeen Journal.
■■ \ most readable little book. . . . Narrated in a most inteiesting style." — Scotsman.
•• Mr Cartick has prepared a little volume that will be appreciated by many. It is written in a graphic style and with competent scholarship."- North British Daily Mail.
EDINBURGH: J. GARDNER HITT, 37 George Street. And all Booksellers.
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The divine life in the church : an
Princeton Theological Semmary-Speer Library
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