[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR." _I
feel deeply grateful for the kind and sympathetic words which you have spoken regarding the Church of which I am a minister. I am sure that many in my position feel as I do. In 1893 Dr. Walter C. Smith, one of the most honoured men in the United Free Church, and known by his writings to many outside of it, was Moderator of the Free Church General Assembly. In his opening address, referring to the Church of Scotland, he said :—
" I have to confess that I am somewhat given to seeing visions and dreaming dreams. And one of my favourite dreams, on which I dwell fondly and often, shows that ancient and venerable and greatly beloved mother Church, which has come down through the ages laden with so rich a tradition of heroisms and martyrdoms and services bravely done, some day rising up and shaking herself, and asking, 'What is the real value of this privilege for the sake of which I stand aloof from other Churches born in the same house, and clinging to the same inspiring memories ? Is it worth the alienation and the strife and the heartburning which it causes ? Does it help the spiritual life of my people, or open and enlarge their hearts? Is our religious character any the better for it, or only our social position?' And then I have depicted her girding herself for sacrifice that she too might get the blessing which came to us fifty years ago, and feeling that it was a light thing to part with State pay and privilege in exchange for the fresh spiritual life that flowed in upon her as a spring tide from on high. Is it only a dream,—a devout imagination? Perhaps. Yet such dreams are the stuff that makes the great world-epochs of history, when God raises up a man resolved to turn the dream into a reality. Surely, at any rate, we may pray for it as thc best and happiest solution of present difficulties." These words, spoken in 1893, may well be heard again to-day. To me they seem "the best and happiest solution" of the present sad state of things in Scotland. Were the Church of Scotland to rise up to this, what a change for the better there would be. Much of the strife and heartburning and jealousy which are doing such harm to religion would utterly vanish. —I am, Sir, Ste., 4. MINISTER OP THE UNITED FREE CHURCH IN THE NORTH OF SCOTLAND.
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