The Scottish Church and University Almanac, 1905. (Macniven and Wallace,
Edinburgh. ls. net.)—In this volume we have an interesting statement of the proceedings which resulted in the 6.mous judgment of the House of Lords. In the Second Division of the Scottish Courts Lord Young held that "there is no rule of law to prevent a dissenting Church from abandoning a religious doctrine or principle, however essential or funda- mental." That, we take it, is a ne plus ultra. Dissenting Churches are, indeed, as they love to call themselves, "Free." The statistics of what we must call the real "Free Church of Scotland" are curious. It has eleven presbyteries, and the number of parishes occupied and vacant are as follows :-
Edinburgh Lore .......... Inverness Dingwall Clianonry Dornoch
Occupied. Vacant.
3 3 23 1 9 4 13 2 3 4 12 Occupied. Vacant.
Caithness 1 8 Locheirron 4 8 Skye and Uist 3 5
Lewis 4 7
— — Total 32 104
It should be mentioned that the whole number of the occupied and vacant charges is not more than a tenth of the parishes of Scotland, reckoning both the legal and the quoad sacra parishes. Partioulars of Presbyterian churches in Ireland and England are given, as are also of the Congregational, Baptist, and Wesleyan bodies.
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