The Scottish Free Church has signalised itself by giving, with
an emphatic stress, its adhesion to that forward move- ment in religious thought which is the birth and the mark of our time. On Tuesday, its General Assembly elected, by a vote which overwhelmed all rivals, Dr. Marcus Dodd% of Glasgow, to the chair of New Testament Exegesis in its Edin- burgh College There may be a tendency to overrate the merits and fame of Dr. Dodds, for the disposition to reckon as swans all our own birds that are notable by grace or size everywhere prevails ; but he is better fitted for the post he has been called to fill than any man in his own Church, or than most men in any Church. On all the great questions of faith and practice, his voice has ever been plain and decisive, embodying the utterance of clear conviction ; yet it has also been his constant aim patiently to guide himself and others amid the obscurities of our actual position, so as to unfold the deposit of divine truth in modes and forms adapted to existing mediums and circum- stances. A born teacher, he has been called to his right place. This judgment was surpassed on Thursday. By 413 votes against 130, the Assembly resolved to appoint a thoroughly representative Committee charged with the task of probing that dissatisfaction with the Westminster Confession of Faith which has been evinced, and considering what changes are needed for remedying it. The minority were averse to meddling with this symbol, which, adopted two hundred and fifty years since, though not without cautious demur, has been the creed of Scottish Presbytery ever since. The majority may not have been in full accord ; but they agreed that relaxation is per- missible and requisite. This is significant, nor will it be futile.
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