A GREAT DAY FOR SCOTLAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 3525, 4 October 1921, Page 59

A GREAT DAY FOR SCOTLAND.

THE PASSING OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND BILL. “Tlie Church of Scotland Bill has passed its third reading in the House of Lords., and now only awaits His Majesty’s assent to become law. There has been no event of so great and far-reaching importance in the ecclesiastical history of Scotland since the Revolution Settlement. The making of peace carries no emotional appeal compared to the waging of war. Tlie disruption swept Scotland with a wave of ecclesiastical excitement, and evoked a spirit of self-sacrifice of which the nation has a right to be proud.” —A Changed World.— “There is no excitement over the passing of the Bill that bids fair to bring to a peaceful and filial settlement tlie question of the right relationship between Church and State in Scotland,’’ say the Scotsman. “But there is great gratification that the severed forces of Presbyterianism in Scotland are again to be reunited, and a hope of the better days that will hereafter come. “What a change the passing of this Bill marks in the ecclesiastical life of Scotland! For eighty years religious leaders in Scotland saw each other through a cloud of misunderstanding and distrust. It was almost impossible lor on© Church to convince the other that its motives were disinterested and sincere. “The spectacle of Dr Wallace Williamson and Principal Martin rejoicing together in the gallery of the House of Commons over the unanimous second reading of the Church Bill visualises the changed world. Not a voice was left to laise the old battle-cry: ‘Delenda est Carthago.’ The leaders of Scottish Churches have realised that the Church of the future cannot be reared on the ruins of the old. “There is no more barren record in history than that of the religious feuds in Scotland which are now dying in silence. -—The way Open.— “It is when the future possibilities of good latent in this measure are considered that the full cause of satisfaction over the passing of the Bill is realised. The way is now opened up for an early union of the two great Presbyterian Churches. It is true that the temporalities remain to be settled, but that question ought to find a speedy solution. The principle has already been accepted that the endowments are not to be secularised. ‘The State found us eating our own bread,’ declared Dr Chalmers of the Church’s patrimony; and it is hardly credible that the Church should begin a new day of service by being asked to give up their property. “One way in which to deal with the question may be to have the United Church to settle it. The United Free Church still has the United Presbyterian system of finance and the Free Church system of finance working side by side in the unity of the one Church. The future Church of Scotland can extend that principle to include the present system of finance. Three systems of finance can work side by side as easily as two. The precedent of the Commission that held the endowments of the United Free Church after 1903 until adjustments were made is one that can he well applied again. “Questions whose settlement will seem impossible while the Churches are still separate will find an easy solution when they are united. It will no longer be a case of ‘yours’ and ‘mine’ ; it will he a case of ‘ours.’ That little word changes the sand of controversy into the gold of service. Already in Scottish opinion the passing of the Church Bill will Ire equivalent to the coming of a United Church. The day of wasted effort, wasted resources, and reproachful contest is over. The Churches can begin to mobolise their resources. It is the greatest opportunity that has ever come to them in Scotland. “ 'lt is something to make the heartleap to think what they might be,’ said Principal Rainy. “ 'lf in outward organisation, these Churches can attain the unity already feltin spirit, the Scottish Church —National, Free, and Presbyterian—will have reached a more perfect condition as tlie spiritual organ of the nation than even the undivided Church of the Reformation, and may play a worthy part in tlie re union of Christendom and the evangelisation of the world.’ “These were the words with which Lord Balfour, of Burleigh, closed his book on Presbyterianism. The toil, the aspirations, and tlie hopes of the past are come to fruition.” —What tlie Act Does.— Another article in the Scotsman points out v hat the Church of Scotland Act docs and what are the next steps to be taken. “The Bill when it has passed into law does not nniie the Churches,” says the Scotsman. “No Act of Parliament could do that. But it remove.--- the m t serious obstacle to union, by lnak-ug it possible for the Church of Scotland to adopt a constitution in matters spiritual which satisfies the United Free Chinch, and is consistent with tho historical tc limony of that Chinch in this regard. “The Act does not pr'-ronbo a constitution in matters spiritual for the ('Von h of Scotland. It leaves the Church of Scotland exactly where it found it until the Church of Scotland moves in the matter. f lie (feneral Assembly of tlie Church of Scotland framed the artn les It did not adopt them, arid it- could not lav. fully have done so under the former state of the law. —The Union Movement.— “The adoption of the Articles accord ingly depends upon the progress of the

union movement. There is no need for their immediate adoption. Such a proposal would probably be unwelcome even to the United Free Church, for the adoption of the Articles by the Church of Scotland with no union in eight would certainly not be to the advantage of the United Free Church. “These considerations raise sharply the question of what remains to be done to bring union within immediate sight. There must be a great deal of negotiation on matters of detail, and that will take time. But it is idle to suppose that with the strong prevalent sentiment in favour of union the difficulties will prove insurmountable. If nothing remained but the negotiation of details the Articles might he at once transmitted to Presbyteries for their consent. There is, however, one other fence, not so difficult, perhaps, as the one which has been surmounted, but still a fence which must be cleared before the way is open for the adoption of the Articles and concrete union negotiations —viz., the matter of the endowments. —Tlie Endowments Problem. — ‘‘The solution suggested and approved of by both General Assemblies is that in future the endowments of the Church shall be vested in the Church under a tenure which is consistent with the liberty affirmed in the Articles, and infers no right of the State to control the exercise of this liberty in virtue of the Church’s possession of these endowments. “It is recognised that the necessary readjustment in regard to this matter is a condition precedent to union, and this is the next step. “Even after this matter is settled the adjustment of all the heads and particulars of the union of two such complicated organisations will require a great deal or consideration, and cannot he rushed through. But it is surety not „oo much to hope that though complete organic union may be for some t ine delayed, once this difficulty is removed and the question becomes one of the perhaps slow but none the less inevitable adjustment of details, the way will be,at once opened up for such a federation as will give the country some at least of tho advantages which union promises, and will terminate competition and its attendant dissipation of energv.”