THE KIRK AND ITS CREED.
[To THE EDITOR Or THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—Mr. Balfour seems to have made a mistake in saying on Monday night that the Church of Scotland is freer as regards statute and creed than the Church of England. His first state- ment was that it "may alter its terms of subscription as it pleases." There was a shout of "No!" from the Scotch benches. Then the speaker, apparently remembering that it is tied to that massive document, the Westminster Confession, replied, —" Yes ! It may define as it pleases the meaning which the subscription to the Westminster Confession carries with it." But Mr. Balfour had forgotten one thing. While one statute ties the Church as a whole to "the Confession and un- alterably," another (1693, c. 22) binds each of its ministers individually not only to subscribe it, but to do so "declaring the same to be the confession of his faith, and that he owns the doctrine therein contained to be the true doctrine which he will constantly adhere to." That is tight enough, and any further definition within that statutory restriction cannot come to much. The truth is that on this particular point the Northern Church is as much bound as the Church of England. There is more to say for Mr. Balfour's other suggestion, that the Kirk may spontaneously adopt any form of worship; and a recent movement within it has recognised that catholicity of this kind is much more feasible.
Previous page
