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FREE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND
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See also:FREE See also: For twenty years no Assemblies whatever were held. This See also:interval must necessarily be regarded from the Presbyterian point of view as having been one of very deep depression. But a second reformation, characterized by greatenergy and vigour, began in 1638. The proceedings of the Assembly of that See also:year, afterwards tardily and reluctantly acquiesced in by the state, finally issued in the acts of parliament of 1649, by which the See also:Westminster See also:standards were ratified, See also:lay-patronage was abolished, and the See also:coronation See also:oath itself framed in accordance with the principles of Presbyterian church See also:government. Another period of intense reaction soon set in. No Assemblies were permitted by See also:Cromwell after 1653; and, soon after the Restoration, See also:Presbytery was temporarily over-thrown by a See also:series of rescissory acts. Nor was the Revolution See also:Settlement of 16go so entirely favourable to the freedom of the church as the legislation of 1649 had been. Prelacy.was abolished, and various See also:obnoxious statutes were repealed, but the acts rescissory were not cancelled; See also:presbyterianism was re-established, but the statutory recognition of the See also:Confession of Faith took no See also:notice of certain qualifications under which that document had originally been approved by the Assembly of 1647; 4 the old rights of patrons were again discontinued, but the large See also:powers which had been conferred on congregations by the act of 1649 were not wholly restored. Nevertheless the great principle of a distinct ecclesiastical jurisdiction, embodied in the Confession of Faith, was accepted without See also:reservation, and a Presbyterian polity effectively confirmed both then and at the ratification of the treaty of See also:Union. This settlement, however, did not long subsist unimpaired. In 1712 the act of Queen See also:Anne, restoring patronage to its ancient footing, was passed in spite of the See also:earnest remonstrances of the Scottish See also:people. For many years afterwards (until 1784) the Assembly continued to instruct each succeeding See also:commission to make application to the king and the parliament for redress of the grievance. But meanwhile a new phase of Scottish ecclesiastical politics commonly known as Moderatism had been inaugurated, during the prevalence of which the church became even more indifferent than the lay patrons themselves to the rights of her congregations with regard to the " calling " of ministers. From the Free Church point of view, the period from which the secessions under Ebenezer See also:Erskine and See also: ' The Second Book of Discipline was not formally recognized in that act; but all former acts against " the jurisdiction and discipline of the true Kirk as the same is used and exercised within the See also:realm " were abolished; and all " liberties, privileges, immunities and freedoms whatsoever " previously granted were ratified and approved. of that year a new declaration of the doctrine of the spiritual independence of the church. The " exclusive jurisdiction of the civil courts in regard to the civil rights and emoluments secured by law to the church and the ministers thereof " was acknowledged without qualification; and continued implicit obedience to their decisions with reference to these rights and emoluments was pledged. At the same See also:time it was insisted on " that, as is declared in the Confession of Faith of this National Established Church, `the See also:Lord Jesus Christ, as King and Head of the church, hath therein appointed a government in the See also:hand of church See also:officers distinct from the civil See also:magistrate '; and that in all matters touching the doctrine, discipline and government of the church her judicatories possess an exclusive jurisdiction, founded on the Word of God, which power ecclesiastical " (in the words of the Second Book of Discipline) " flows immediately from God and the Mediator the Lord Jesus Christ, and is spiritual, not having a temporal head on earth, but only Christ, the only spiritual King and Governor of His Kirk." And it was resolved to assert, and at all hazards defend, this spiritual jurisdiction, and firmly to enforce obedience to the same upon the See also:office-bearers and members of the church. The decision of the court of session having been confirmed by the See also:House of Lords See also:early in 1839, it was decided in the Assembly of that year that the church, while acquiescing in the loss of the temporalities at Auchterarder, should reaffirm the principle of non-intrusion as an integral part of the constitution of the Reformed Church of Scotland, and that a See also:committee should be appointed to confer with the government with a view to the prevention, if possible, of any further collision between the civil and ecclesiastical authorities. While the See also:conference with the government had no better result than an unsuccessful See also:attempt at See also:compromise by means of Lord See also:Aberdeen's See also:Bill, which embodied the principle of a dissent with reasons, still graver complications were arising out of the Marnoch and other cases). In the circumstances it was resolved by the Assembly of 1842 to transmit to the queen, by the hands of the lord high See also:commissioner, a " claim, declaration, and protest," complaining of the encroachments of the court of session,2 and also an address praying for the abolition of patronage. The See also:home secretary's See also:answer (received in See also:January 1843) gave no See also:hope of redress. Meanwhile the position of the . According to the Free Church " Protest " of 1843 it was in these cases decided (1) that the courts of the church were liable to be compelled to intrude ministers on reclaiming congregations; (2) that the civil courts had power to interfere with and See also:interdict the See also:preaching of the See also:gospel and administration of ordinances as authorized and en-joined by the church; (3) that the civil courts had power to suspend spiritual censures pronounced by the courts of the church, and to interdict their See also:execution as to spiritual effects, functions and privileges; (4) that deposed ministers, and probationers deprived of their See also:licence, could be restored by the See also:mandate of the civil courts to the spiritual office and status of which the church courts had deprived them; (5) that the right of membership in ecclesiastical courts could be determined by the civil courts; (6) that the civil courts had power to supersede the majority of a church court of the See also:Establishment in regard to the exercise of its spiritual functions as a. church court, and to authorize the minority to exercise the said functions in opposition to the court itself and to the See also:superior judicatories of the church; (7) that processes of ecclesiastical discipline could be arrested by the civil courts; and (8) that without the See also:sanction of the civil courts no increased See also:provision could be made for the spiritual care of a parish, although such provision See also:left all civil rights and patrimonial interests untouched. 2 The narrative and See also:argument of this elaborate and able document cannot be reproduced here. In substance it is a claim " as of right " on behalf of the church and of the nation and people of Scotland that the church shall freely possess and enjoy her liberties, government, discipline, rights and privileges according to law, and that she shall be protected therein from the foresaid unconstitutional and illegal encroachments of the said court of session, and her people secured in their See also:Christian and constitutional rights and liberties. This claim is followed by the " declaration " that the Assembly cannot intrude ministers on reclaiming congregations, or carry on the government of Christ's church subject to the See also:coercion of the court of session; and by the " protest " that all acts of the parliament of Great See also:Britain passed without the consent of the Scottish church and nation, in alteration or derogation of the government, discipline, rights and privileges of the church, as also all sentences of courts in contraventionof said government, discipline, rights and privileges, "are and shall be in themselves void and null, and of no legal force or effect."evangelical party had been further hampered by the decision of the court of session declaring the ministers of chapels of ease to be unqualified to sit in any church court. A final See also:appeal to parliament by See also:petition was made in See also: During the first ten years the annual income averaged £84,057; during the next See also:decade £108,643; and during the third £130,246. The minimum of £150 was reached at last in 1868; and subsequently the See also:balance remaining after that minimum had been provided was treated as a surplus fund, and distributed among those ministers whose congregations have contributed at certain specified rates per member. In 1878 the See also:total amount received for this fund was upwards of £177,000; in this 1075 ministers participated. The full equal dividend of £157 was paid to 766 ministers; and additional grants of £36 and £18 3 The Scottish members voted with the minority in the proportion of 2 to 12. 4 The number ultimately See also:rose to 474. were paid out of the surplus fund to 632 and 129 ministers respectively. To provide for the erection of the buildings which, it was foreseen, would be necessary, a general See also:building fund, in which all should See also:share alike, was also organized, and See also:local building funds were as far as possible established in each parish, with the result that at the first Assembly a sum of £104,776 was reported as already available. By May 1844 a further sum of £123,060 had been collected, and 470 churches were reported as completed or nearly so. In the following year £131,737 was raised and 6o additional churches were built. At the end of four years considerably more than 700 churches had been provided. During the See also:winter session 1843–1844 the divinity students who had joined the Free Church continued their studies under Dr Chalmers and Dr See also:David Welsh (1793–1845); and at the Assembly of 1844 arrangements were made for the erection of suitable collegiate buildings. The New See also:College, See also:Edinburgh, was built in 1847 at a cost of £46,506; and divinity halls were subsequently set up also in See also:Glasgow and Aberdeen. In 1878 there were 13 professors of See also:theology, with an aggregate of 230 students,—the See also:numbers at Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen respectively being 129, 69 and 32. A somewhat unforeseen result of the Disruption was the See also:necessity for a duplicate See also:system of elementary See also:schools. At the 1843 Assembly it was for the first time announced by Dr Welsh that " schools to a certain extent must be opened to afford a suitable See also:sphere of occupation for parochial and still more for private teachers of schools, who are threatened with deprivation of their present office on See also:account of their opinions upon the church question." The See also:suggestion was taken up with very great See also:energy, with the result that in May 1845, 280 schools had been set up, while in May 1847 this number had risen to 513, with an attendance of upwards of 44,000 scholars. In 1869 it was stated in an authoritative document laid before members of parliament that at that time there were connected with and supported by the Free Church 598 schools (including two normal schools), with 633 teachers and 64,115 scholars. The school buildings had been erected at a cost of £220,000, of which the committee of privy See also:council had contributed £35,000, while the See also:remainder had been raised by voluntary effort. Annual payments made to teachers, &c., as at 1869, amounted to £ 16,000. In accordance with certain provisions of the See also:Education Act of 1872 most of the schools of the Free Church were voluntarily transferred, without See also:compensation, to the local school boards. The normal schools are now transferred to the state. It has been seen already that during the period of the Ten Years' Conflict the non-intrusion party strenuously denied that in any one respect it was departing from acknowledged principles of the National Church. It continued to do so after the Disruption. In 1846, however, it was found to have become necessary, "in consequence of the late See also:change in the outward See also:condition of the church," to amend the " questions and See also:formula " to be used at the licensing of probationers and the ordination of office-bearers. These were amended accordingly; and at the same time it was declared that, " while the church firmly maintains the same scriptural principles as to the duties of nations and their rulers in reference to true See also:religion and the Church of Christ for which she has hitherto contended, she disclaims in-tolerant or persecuting principles, and does not regard her Confession of Faith, or any portion thereof when fairly interpreted, as favouring intolerance or persecution, or consider that her office-bearers by subscribing it profess any principles inconsistent with See also:liberty of See also:conscience and the right of private See also:judgment." The See also:main difference between the " formula " of the Free Church and that of the Established Church (as at the year 'goo) was that the former referred to the Confession of Faith simply as " approven by General Assemblies of this Church," while the latter described it as " approven by the General Assemblies of this National Church, and ratified by law in the year 1690, and frequently confirmed by See also:divers Acts of Parliament since that time." The former inserted an additional clause,—" I also approve of the general principles respecting the jurisdiction of the church,and her subjection to Christ as her only Head, which are contained in the Claim of Right and in the Protest referred to in the questions already put to me "; and also added the words which are here distinguished by italics,—" And I promise that through the grace of God I shall firmly and constantly adhere to the same, and to the utmost of my power shall in my station assert; maintain, and defend the said doctrine, worship, discipline and government of this church by kirk-sessions, presbyteries, provincial synods, and general assemblies, together with the liberty and exclusive jurisdiction thereof; and that I shall, in my practice, conform myself to the said worship and submit to the said discipline [and] government, and exclusive jurisdiction, and not endeavour directly or indirectly the See also:prejudice or subversion of the same." In the year 1851 an act and declaration anent the publication of the subordinate standards and other authoritative documents of the Free Church of Scotland was passed, in which the historical fact is recalled that the Church of Scotland had formally consented to adopt the Confession of Faith, catechisms, See also:directory of public worship, and See also:form of church government agreed upon by the Westminster Assembly ; and it is declared that " these several formularies, as ratified, with certain explanations, by divers Acts of Assembly in the years 1645, 1646, and particularly in 1647, this church continues till this See also:day to acknowledge as her subordinate standards of doctrine, worship and government." 1 In 1858 circumstances arose which, in the opinion of many, seemed fitted to demonstrate to the Free Church that her freedom was an illusion, and that all her sacrifices had been made in vain. John See also:Macmillan, minister of Cardross, accused of immorality, had been tried and found guilty by the Free Presbytery of See also:Dumbarton. Appeal having been taken to the See also:synod, an attempt was there made to revive one particular See also:charge, of which he had been finally acquitted by the presbytery; and this attempt was successful in the General Assembly. That ultimate court of See also:review did not confine itself to the points appealed, but went into the merits of the whole case as it had originally come before the presbytery. The result was a See also:sentence of suspension. Macmillan, believing that the Assembly had acted with some irregularity, applied to the court of session for an interdict against the execution of that sentence; and for this act he was summoned to the See also:bar of the Assembly to say whether or not it was the case that he had thus appealed. Having answered in the affirmative, he was deposed on the spot. Forthwith he raised a new See also:action (his previous application for an interdict had been refused) concluding for reduction of the spiritual sentence of deposition and for substantial See also:damages. The defences lodged by the Free Church were to the effect that the civil courts had no right to review and reduce spiritual sentences, or to decide whether the General Assembly of the' Free Church had acted irregularly or not. Judgments adverse to the defenders were delivered on these points; and appeals were taken to the House of Lords. But before the case could be heard there, the lord See also:president took an opportunity in the court of session to point out to the pursuer that, inasmuch as the particular General Assembly against which the action was brought had ceased to exist, it could not therefore be made in any circumstances to pay damages, and that the action of reduction of the spiritual sentence, being only See also:auxiliary to the claim of damages, ought therefore to be dismissed. He further pointed out that Macmillan might obtain redress in another way, should he be able to prove malice against individuals. Very soon after this deliverance of the lord president, the case as it had stood against the Free Church was withdrawn, and Macmillan gave notice of an action of a wholly different See also:kind. But this last was not per-severed in. The appeals which had been taken to the House of Lords were, in these circumstances, also departed from by the Free Church. The case did not advance sufficiently to show 1 By this formal recognition of the qualifications to the Confession of Faith made in 1647 the scruples of the majority of the See also:Associate Synod of See also:Original Seceders were removed, and 27 ministers, along with a considerable number of their people, joined the Free Church in the following year. how far the courts of law would be prepared to go in the direction of recognizing voluntary tribunals and a kind of secondary exclusive jurisdiction founded on See also:contract.' But, whether recognized or not, the church for her part continued to believe that she had an inherent spiritual jurisdiction, and remained unmoved in her determination to act in accordance with that See also:resolution " notwithstanding of whatsoever trouble or persecution may arise." 2 In 1863 a motion was made and unanimously carried in the Free Church Assembly for the See also:appointment of a committee to confer with a corresponding committee of the See also:United Presbyterian Synod, and with the representatives of such other disestablished churches as might be willing to meet and deliberate with a view to an incorporating union. Formal negotiations between the representatives of these two churches were begun shortly afterwards, which resulted in a See also:report laid before the following Assembly. From this document it appeared that the committees of the two churches were not at one on the question as to the relation of the civil magistrate to the church. While on the part of the Free Church it was maintained that he " may lawfully acknowledge, as being in accordance with the Word of God, the creed and jurisdiction of the church," and that " it is his See also:duty, when necessary and expedient, to employ the national resources in aid of the church, provided always that in doing so, while reserving to himself full See also:control over the temporalities which are his own See also:gift, he abstain from all authoritative interference in the See also:internal government of the church," it was declared by the committee of the United Presbyterian Church that, " inasmuch as the civil magistrate has no authority in spiritual things, and as the employment of force in such matters is opposed to the spirit and precepts of See also:Christianity, it is not within his See also:province to legislate as to what is true in religion, to prescribe a creed or form of worship to his subjects, or to endow the church from national resources." In other words, while the Free Church maintained that in certain circumstances it was lawful and even See also:incumbent on the magistrate to endow the church and on the church to accept his endowment, the United Presbyterians maintained that in no case was this lawful either for the one party or for the other. Thus in a very See also:short time it had been made perfectly evident that a union between the two bodies, if accomplished at all, could only be brought about on the understanding that the question as to the lawfulness of state endowments should be an open one. The Free Church Assembly, by increasing majorities, manifested a readiness for union, even although unanimity had not been attained on that theoretical point. But there was a minority which did not sympathize in this readiness, and after ten years of fruitless effort it was in 1873 found to be expedient that the See also:idea of union with the United Presbyterians should for the time be abandoned. Other negotiations, however, which had been entered upon with the Reformed Presbyterian Church at a somewhat later date proved more successful; and a majority of the ministers of that church with their congregations were united with the Free Church in 1876. (J. S. BL.)
In the last See also:quarter of the 19th century the Free Church continued to be the most active, theologically, of the Scottish Churches. The College chairs were almost uniformly filled by advanced critics or theologians, inspired more or less by See also:Professor A. B. See also:Davidson. Dr A. B. See also:Bruce, author of The Training of the Twelve, &c., was appointed to the See also:chair of See also:apologetics and New Testament exegesis in the Glasgow College in 1875; See also: In 1892 the Free Church, following the example Of the United Presbyterian Church and the Church of Scotland (1889), passed a Declaratory Act:relaxing the stringency of subscription to the confession, with the result that a small number of ministers and congregations, mostly in the See also:Highlands, severed their connexion with the church and formed the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland, on strictly and straitly orthodox lines. In 1907 this See also:body had twenty congregations and twelve ministers.
The Free Church always regarded herself as a National Church, and during this period she sought actively to be true to that character by providing church ordinances for the increasing See also:population of Scotland and applying herself to the new problems of non-church-going, and of the changing habits of the people. Her Assembly's committee on religion and morals worked toward the same ends as the similar organization of the Established Church, and in her, as in the other churches, the See also:standard of parochial and congregational activity was raised and new methods of operation devised. She passed legislation on the difficult problem of See also:ridding the church of inefficient ministers. The use of instrumental See also:music was sanctioned in Free Churches during this period. An association was formed in 1891 to See also:pro-mote the ends of edification, order and reverence in the public services of the church, and published in 1898 A New Directory for Public Worship which does not provide set forms of See also:prayer, but directions as to the See also:matter of prayer in the various services. The Free Church took a large share in the study of hymnology and church music, which led to the See also:production of The Church Hymnary. From 1885 to 1895 much of the energy of all the Presbyterian churches was absorbed by the disestablishment agitation. In the former year the Free Church, having almost entirely See also:shed the establishment principle on which it was founded, began to See also:rival the United Presbyterian Church in its resolutions calling for the disestablishment of the Church of Scotland. In spite of the offers of the Establishment Assembly to confer with the dissenting churches about union, the assaults upon its status waxed in vigour, till in 1893 the Free Church hailed the result of the general See also:election as a See also:verdict of the constituencies in favour of disestablishment, and insisted upon the government of the day taking up See also:Sir See also: The Synod of the United Presbyterian Church resolved in 1896 to " take steps towards union," and in the following year the Free Assembly responded by appointing a committee to confer with a committee of the other church. The See also:joint committee discovered a "remark-able and happy agreement " between the doctrinal standards, rules and methods of the two bodies, and with very little See also:con-cessions. on either See also:side a See also:common constitution and common "questions and formula" for the See also:admission of ministers and office-bearers were arranged. A minority, always growing smaller, of the Free Church Assembly, protested against the pro-posed union, and threatened if it were carried through to test its legality in the courts. To meet this opposition, the suggestion is understood to have been made that an act of parliament should be applied for to legalize the union; but this was not done, and the union was carried through on the understanding that the question of the lawfulness of church establishments should be an open'one. The supreme courts of the churches met for the last time in their respective places of meeting on the 3oth of See also:October 1900, and on the following day the joint meeting took place at which the union was completed, and the United Free Church of Scotland (q.v.) entered on its career. The protesting and dissenting minority at once claimed to be the Free Church. They camps on confiscated See also:Southern See also:property, where they were cared for alternately by the war See also:department and by the See also:treasury department until the organization of the Freedmen's See also:Bureau. At the head of the bureau was a commissioner, General O. O. See also:Howard, and under him in each Southern state was an assistant commissioner with a See also:corps of local superintendents, agents and inspectors. The officials had the broadest possible authority in all matters that concerned the blacks. The See also:work of the bureau may be classified as follows: (1) distributing rations and medical supplies among the blacks; (2) establishing schools for them and aiding benevolent See also:societies to establish schools and churches; (3) regulating labour and contracts; (4) taking charge of confiscated lands; and (5) administering See also:justice in cases in which blacks were concerned. For several years the ex-slaves were under the almost See also:absolute control of the bureau. Whether this control had a See also:good or See also:bad effect is still disputed, the Southern whites and many Northerners holding that the results of the bureau's work were distinctly bad, while others hold that much good resulted from its work. There is now no doubt, however, that while most of the higher officials of the bureau were good men, the subordinate agents were generally without character or judgment and that their interference between the races caused permanent discord. Much necessary See also:relief work was done, but demoralization was also caused by it, and later the institution was used by its officials as a means of securing See also:negro votes. In educating the blacks the bureau made some progress, but the instruction "imparted by the missionary teachers resulted in giving the ex-slaves notions of liberty and racial equality that led to much trouble, finally resulting in the hostility of the whites to negro education. The See also:secession of the blacks from the See also: The failure of the bureau system and its discontinuance in the midst of reconstruction without harm to the blacks, and the intense hostility of the Southern whites to the institution caused by the irritating conduct of bureau officials, are indications that the institution was not well conceived nor wisely administered.
See P. S. See also:Pierce, The Freedmen's Bureau (See also:Iowa See also:City, 1904) ; Report of the Joint Committee on Reconstruction (See also:Washington, 1866); W. L. See also:Fleming (ed.), Documents See also:relating to Reconstruction (See also:Cleveland, O., 1906) ; W. L. Fleming, Civil War and Reconstruction in See also:Alabama (New See also:York, 1905) ; and See also: Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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