KIRKS UNITED AT LAST

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 673, 27 May 1929, Page 9

KIRKS UNITED AT LAST

CHURCH OF SCOTLAND AND FREE CHURCH MOMENTOUS STEP TAKEN Times Cable LONDON, Saturday. « After 20 years of harfuonious nego- : tiations the Church of Scotland and the United Free Church have agreed to enter into an incorporating union. , The final discussions were held sim- ‘ ultaneously by the two assemblies, j each consisting of more than 1,000 i members. Scenes of -fervent enthusi- j asm marked the meetings. The Duke of York-, as Lord High j Commissioner of the Church of Scotland, attended the Church of Scotland’s Assembly, accompanied hy the Duchess, and they listened while Dr. John White, a former moderator, submitted the resolution. Dr. White said the union realised both the dream of former generations and the vision that the present church’s unchanged continuity and identity would be enriched by the cumulative contribution of the sister church. The resolution was passed with three dissentients.

Dr. Robert Drummond, sponsoring the resolution for the Free Church, of which he is a former moderator, said it was the most momentous step since the covenanting struggle. The resolution was passed with 39 dissentients, the smallest minority in the long negotiations.

The Rev. Janies Barr, who was Labour member of the House of Commons for Motherwell, Lanarkshire, in the last Parliament, the leader of the minority, declared that he and his followers were going into the wilderness because the causes of separation had not been removed. He announced that the minority would carry on the United Free Church.

The formal Act of Union is fixed for October, when it is expected that King George and Queen Mary will attend.