THE JUBILEE OF THE FREE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND.

Auckland Star, Volume XXIV, Issue 40, 17 February 1893, Page 2

THE JUBILEE OF THE FREE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND.

This interesting event, to be celebrated in the month of May, has been stirring tho hearts and opening the puraes of thousands of Presbyterians in Scotland. An effort begun in 1882, in view of the Jubilee, to wipe off the debt from all the'congregations, should gain the admiration and become an example to Christians of all denominations. Already some £200,000 of debt has been removed by the liberality of the people, and the £10,000, that remains will doubtless, under Jubilee feeling, be more than swepb away before the meeting of the Free Church Assembly in Edinburgh. Within forty years tho Free Church raised by voluntary effort for churches, roanse3, schools, colleges and missionary institutes, and the upholding of her ministry, nearly seventeen millions of money ; and as her annual incomo ab Homo is upwards of six hundred thousand, tho total amount ab her Jubilee must be upwards of twenty-two millions,

This simple facb should give confidence in the future of tho Presbyterian churches of Scotland. When these churches becomo a national unitod church free from Stato connection, the liboral heart of the people of Scotland will nob sutler thorn to fail in any good work at Homo or abroad. The Free and United Presbyterian Churches havo already proved beyond dispute that the people of Scotland only roquire bo be trustod to uphold a strong unitod church. With somo 1,100 congregations, with ■churches, manses, and colleges, and normal schools, frco from debb, with tho memories of great men and great sacrifices, with success ab Home and wonderful activity in tho foreign mission ffiold, and with a growing intellectual and spiritual life, the Free Church of Scotland has much cause to rejoice with jubilee joy. We beliove tho other Presbyterian churches of Scotland will rejoico with her, as they have all bonofited by tho impotus given to church lifo in Scotland by her efibrba. We should expecb, also, that many former membors and adherents of this Scottish church in New Zealand, should desire to share with friends at home in commemorating this remarkable event in Scottish history. The occasion is a very special one, and only the old leaven of soctarian bittorness, not yob purged oub from some colonial hearts, can grudge this laudable desire.

Doubtless some congratulation of a general and ofticial order will bo sent from tho Presbyterian Assombly now mob ab Wellington, as a token of benefits received and expected. "Bub this formal ecclosiastical notice from churchmon of various sections of Presbyteii.inism, cannob be expected to satisfy tlio warm hearts of many in New Zealand, who belonijed in days past to tho Freo Church of Scotland. No one is required to renounco hia early lovo to any section of the Presbyterian Church—Scotch, Irish, English, Colonial, or American—when joining tho Presbyterian churches of Now Zealand. Brotherly love and unity aro quito in harmony with bhisbrofcliovly'liborty. Indeed, in claiming this liberty, and in freely granting it to each other, Presbyterians riso abovo the false conceptions of Christian unity found in ecclesiastical uniformity. Then the Freo Church of Scotland has a very special claim for cordial recognition from the Prosbytorians of New Zealand. Other churches, "cho Established and United Presbyterian of Scotland, and tholrish Prosbytorian Church, have done well, and they all generously aid tho churches of Now Zealand. Bub only tho most partial fooling can refuse to the Freo Church of Scotland —establishing a colony and church inObago and sending a larger number of men to north and south than all the othor churches combined—the chief claim upon the gratitude of the Presbyterian churches of Now Zealand. . We have no sympathy for eccloeiastical strife and division, bub there aro times in the history of churches, as ab the Reformation, in Puritan, and Covenanting times, when peace ab any price would bo absolute treason to true religion and to conscience, and the Christian men ab the disruption, who signed away their Stato connection and £100,000 a year of Stato money, to uphold the spiritual independence of tho Church of Scotland, did so from sbrong conviction, and that indomitable lovo of liberty, which is, perhaps, the most prominent national characteristic. Time has not proved thorn in the wrong. The names of many of them aro revered in all tho churches in Christendom, lho memory of Chalmers, especially, is precious to all Christians. Of mighty intellect, and heart, strong and foarloss as a spiritual giant among men, his memory alone la sutuYionb to check the critic who would speak slightingly of tho events of tho ten years conflict between church and Stato "> Scotland that culminated in tho aolf-eacnuciDg disruption and birth of tho Free Church in 1843 Bub other groat names are dear to thousands throughout Christendom and refuse to bo overshadowod oven by tho great nnmo of Chalmers— Cunningham and Can.dliah, Buchanan ami Crubhrw, Macdonald and MoCheyne, Bonarand bommerville—witli many others-Are revered by Christiana of all denomination/!. , In recalling these men and their works at this-special tirao in Scotland and Now Zealand—and ovorywhero through theChnstiati world— Presbytoriansof ovory section should find the purest spiritual impulses in Christian work, and a deeper longing for Christian unity.