These secessions from the Established Kirk, down to the great exodus of the Free Church in 1843, were no new departures, but, like the sects in Russia, returns to the old landmarks. The system of Calvinistic Presbyterianism which the great Reformer had established in Geneva found in Scotland a larger and more congenial field of action, and became there more free and independent of the civil power. It was wrought into the bone and sinew of the nation which seems to be predestinated for such a manly, sturdy, God-fearing, solid, persevering type of Christianity. Romanism in the Highlands is only an unsubdued remnant of the Middle Ages, lately reinforced by Irish emigrants to the large cities. Episcopacy is an English exotic for Scotchmen educated in England and associated with the English aristocracy. The body of the people are Presbyterian to the back-bone. The dif ferences between the Established Kirk, the United Presbyterians, the Free Church, and the smaller secession bodies seem insignificant to an outside observer, and turn on questions of psalmody, patronage, and relation to the civil government. The vital doctrines and principles are held in common by all. Differences of opinion, which in other countries constitute merely theological schools or parties in one and the same denomination, give rise in Scotland to separate ecclesiastical organizations. The scrupulous conscientiousness and stubbornness which clothe minor questions with the dignity and grandeur of fundamental principles, and are made to justify separation and schism, are the shadow of a virtue. Scotland is an unconquerable fort of orthodox Protestantism. In no other country and Church do we find such fidelity and tenacity; such unswerving devotion to the genius of the Reformation; such union of metaphysical subtlety with religious fervor and impetuosity; such general interest in ecclesiastical councils and enterprizes; such jealousy for the rights and self-government of the Church; such loyalty to a particular denomination combined with a generous interest in Christ's kingdom at large; such reverence for God's holy Word and holy day, that after the hard and honest toil of the week lights up the poorest man's cottage on 'Saturday night.' The history of Christianity, since the days of the apostles, furnishes no brighter chapter of heroic and successful sacrifices for the idea of the sole headship of Christ, and the honor and independence of his Church, than the Free-Church movement, whose leaders-Chalmers, VOL. I.-Y Y Welsh, Candlish, Cunningham, Duncan, Fairbairn, Guthrie, Buchanan, Arnot-have now one by one taken their place among the great and good men of the past, but will continue to live in the memory of a grateful people. Dr. Norman Macleod, himself one of the noblest of Scotchmen, who was a member of the disruption Assembly of 1843, and found it harder to stay in the Established Church as a restorer of the breach' than to go out of it amid the huzzas of popular enthusiasm, honored himself as much as Dr. Chalmers, his teacher, when he spoke of him after his death as a man whose noble character, lofty enthusiasm, and patriotic views will rear themselves before the eyes of pos terity like Alpine peaks, long after the narrow valleys which have for a brief period divided us are lost in the far distance of past history." In securing liberty for itself, the Free Church conferred a blessing upon the mother Church by rousing it to greater activity, and setting in motion an agitation which resulted in the total abolition of the Law of Patronage by Act of Parliament (1875). § 91. THE SCOTCH CATECHISMS. Catechetical instruction became soon after the Reformation, and remains to this day, one of the fundamental institutions of Presbyterian Scotland, and accounts largely for the general diffusion of religious information among the people. The First Book of Discipline, adopted in 1560, prescribes public catechising of the children before the people on Sunday afternoon. The General Assembly of 1570 ordered ministers and elders to give to all the children within their parishes three courses of religious instruction-when they were nine, twelve, and fourteen years of age. Later assemblies enacted similar laws, and enjoined it also upon the heads of families to catechise their children and servants. The Assembly of 1649 renewed the act of the Assembly of 1639 'for a day of weeklie catechising, to be constantly observed in every kirk.'2 The older Catechisms, both domestic and foreign, contain the same system of doctrine in a fresher though less logical form than the Westminster standards, by which they were superseded after the middle 1 Memoir of Norman Macleod, by his Brother, 1876, Vol. I. p. 263 (N. Y. ed.). Book of Discipline, ch. xi. sect. 3; Buik of Universal Kirk, p. 121 (Peterkin's edition); Horatius Bonar, Catechisms of the Scottish Reformation (London, 1866), Preface, p. xxxvii. ... of the seventeenth century. 'Our Scottish Catechisms,' says Dr. Bonar, the hymnist, though gray with the antiquity of three centuries, are not yet out of date. They still read well, both as to style and substance; it would be hard to amend them, or to substitute something better in their place. Like some of our old church-bells, they have retained for centuries their sweetness and amplitude of tone unimpaired. It may be questioned whether the Church has gained any thing by the exchange of the Reformation standards for those of the seventeenth century. . . In the Reformation we find doctrine, life, action nobly blended. Between these there was harmony, not antagonism; for antagonism in such cases can only arise when the parts are disproportionately mingled. Subsequently the balance was not preserved: the purely dogmatical preponderated. This was an evil, yet an evil not so easily avoided as some think; for, as the amount of error flung upon society increased, the necessity for encountering it increased also; controversy spread, dialectics rose into repute, and the dogmatical threatened to stifle or dispossess the vital.'1 FOREIGN CATECHISMS. The Catechism of Calvin and the Palatinate or Heidelberg Catechism were approved by the Church of Scotland, and much used in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.2 An English edition of the former by the translators of the Geneva Bible appeared first at Geneva, 1556, for the use of the congregation of exiles, of which Knox was pastor, and then at Edinburgh, 1564. The latter was printed in Edinburgh, 1591, 1615, and 1621. NATIVE CATECHISMS. The number of these must have been very large. King James remarked at the Hampton Court Conference that in Scotland every son of a good woman thought himself competent to write a Catechism. We mention only those which had ecclesiastical sanction: 1. Two Catechisms of JOHN CRAIG (1512-1600), an eminent minister 1 L. c. p. viii. 2 * See both in Dunlop's and Bonar's Collections. Comp. above, pp. 467 and 537 sq. at Aberdeen, and then at Edinburgh.' He was the author of the Second Scotch Confession." The Larger Catechism of Craig was first printed in Edinburgh, by Henrie Charteris, in 1581, and in London, 1589. The General Assembly of 1590 indorsed it, and ordered an abridgment by the author, which was approved and published in 1591. In this shorter form it was generally used till superseded by the Westminster Catechism. The author says in the Preface (dated July 20, 1581): First, I have abstained from all curious and hard questions; and, next, I have brought the questions and the answers to as few words as I could, and that for the ease of children and common people, who can not understand nor gather the substance of a long question or a long answer confirmed with many reasons.' The work begins with some historical questions, and then explains the Apostles' Creed, the Ten Commandments, and the Lord's Prayer, and ends with the means of grace and the way of salvation. The questions and answers are short, and of almost equal length. We give some specimens from the larger work, which is little known: First Questions. Ques. Who made man and woman? Ques. Whereof made he them? Ans. Of an earthly body and an heavenly spirit. Ques. To whose image made he them? Ans. To his own image. Ques. What is the image of God? Ans. Perfect uprightness in body and soul. Ques. To what end were they made? Ans. To acknowledge and serve their Maker. Ques. How should they have served him? Ques. How did they know his will? Ans. By his Works, Word, and Sacraments. Ques. What is a Sacrament? Of the Sacraments. Ans. A sensible sign and seal of God's favor offered and given to us. 1 Both in Bonar, pp. 187-285. The Shorter Catechism is also printed in Dunlop's Collec tion, Vol. II. pp. 365-377. See p. 686; Calderwood, Vol. III. p. 354; M'Crie, J. Knox, pp. 236 sqq. Ques. To what end are the Sacraments given? Ans. They have this office of God, not of themselves. Ans. No, but the same diversely. Ques. But the word doth teach us sufficiently? Ans. Yet the Sacraments with the Word do it more effectually. Ans. They are sure and authentic seals given by God. Ans. No, for the Word is their life. Ques. May the Word be fruitful without the Sacraments? Ans. Yes, no doubt, but it worketh more plenteously with them. Ans. Because more senses are moved to the comfort of our faith. Baptism. Ques. What is the signification of baptism? Ans. Remission of our sins and regeneration. Ques. What similitude hath baptism with remission of sins? Ans. As washing cleanseth the body, so Christ's blood our souls. Ques. Wherein doth this cleansing stand? Ans. In putting away of sin, and imputation of justice. Ques. Wherein standeth our regeneration? Ans. In mortification and newness of life. Ques. How are these things sealed up in baptism? Ans. By laying on of water. Ques. What doth the laying on of the water signify? Ques. Then the sacrament is a bare figure? Ans. No, but it hath the verity joined with it. Ques. Do all men receive these graces with the Sacraments? The Lord's Supper. Ques. What signifieth the Lord's Supper to us? Ans. That our souls are fed with the body and blood of Christ. Ques. Why is this represented by bread and wine? Ans. Because what the one doth to the body, the same doth the other to the soul spiritually. Ques. But our bodies are joined corporally with the elements, or outward signs? Ans. Even so our souls be joined spiritually with Christ his body. Ques. What need is there of this union with him? Ans. Otherwise we can not enjoy his benefits. Ques. Declare that in the Sacrament? Ans. As we see the elements given to feed our bodies, even so we see by faith Christ gave his body to us to feed our souis. |