gives an interest, in the minds of many in the Free Church, to the agitation for Disestablishment. But how much nobler it would be, if, instead of waiting until the inevitable change comes round, the Established Church had the brotherliness and courage to say,-"We would rather be in union with our brethren and fellow-workers in Christ, and make common cause with them in the warfare with sin and vice, than hold aloof for the sake of State favour and prestige!" That one act of self-sacrifice would do more for the real interests a Church has to consult than a century of royal patronage, and would send a wave of applauding joy to the remotest shores of Christendom. If, however, that is not to be, the only course open to patriots and Christians who seek the unity of the Scottish Church, is to use every energy and effort to have the obstructing hindrance removed. For of this all may be assured, that there will not be peace in Scotland until this middle wall of partition between the Churches has been broken down, and the Christian feeling of the country is free to assert itself in favour of a United Church of Scotland.

VIII

THE UNITED PRESBYTERIAN

CHURCH

BY THE REV. ALEX. R. MACEWEN, D.D.

Historical Position

THE United Presbyterian Church occupies a distinct position in the Church History of Scotland. It represents, by direct and legitimate succession, those who left the Established Church in the course of last century. The cause of their secession was not incidental nor transient, but lasted about a hundred years, as is reflected in the fact that between thirty and forty new congregations of seceders were formed every decade from 1733 onwards. It is distinctive of the movement, and of the Church to which it gave rise, that the cause was not the interference of the State with the Church, but the general policy and the particular decisions of the Church, which were held to indicate voluntary and persistent unfaithfulness. Lay patronage was enforced and Moderatism was fostered by the General Assembly. The liberty of the Church and evangelical doctrine were thereby sacrificed, and there was no redress. The United

Presbyterian Church thus owes its origin and its first growth to the policy, doctrine, and discipline of the State Church, as displayed to four generations of Scotsmen. In many districts the pressure of patronage was either not felt at all, or was lightened by the excellent character of the presentees. Many parish ministers, too, were evangelical and earnest. In such districts, few if any communicants left the Established Church. Hence the inequality with which United Presbyterianism is to this day distributed over the country.

Yet the movement was not local, sporadic, or casual. From the beginning it had finality, being organised round two centres-the Secession Church, formed in 1733, and the Relief Church, formed in 1761. Sacramentally, ecclesiastically, doctrinally, it was not only independent but orderly and orthodox, showing none of those irregularities into which dissent often falls. Its error was insistance, intolerance, leading to internal strife and subdivision. But this divisive tendency ended with last century. Since 1807, a process of union has been steadily at work-a growth of the spirit of union and accomplishment of union. With union have come consolidation, enterprise, and a gradual widening of horizon. From year to year there has been increasing recognition of mutual responsibility and of national responsibility, showing itself in schemes for Church extension and evangelisation, for training ministers, and supporting ordinances, in large Home and Foreign Mission undertakings, and in clear pronouncements upon those moral and religious questions on which a living Church is bound to