THE SCOTTISH CHURCHES.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] An English Liberal " introduces into his last letter the name of Mr. Knight. It is done deftly, and is, no doubt, intended to suggest a very special contrast, to the detriment of the Free Church. Suppose we state the contrast thus,—one Church makes haste to receive into its communion a man whose chief claim to notoriety is that he shared with Norman Macleod and Dr. Wallace, of Edinburgh, the honour of being called upon by his presbytery to explain some ambiguous utterances ; another Church sets itself to determine whether teaching which notoriously contravened the traditional faith of all the Scottish Churches should be condemned or allowed, and after much anxious thought, decides in favour of liberty. Which is the nobler spectacle ? To me it seems that the Free Church has rendered to Biblical criticism a service which the Established Church never has rendered, and cannot now render. She has lifted the nation to the higher platform.—I am, Sir, &c.,
A LONDON SCOT.
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