[To the Editor of TIIE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Might I point out
to the Rev. D. E. Auty that it is he who fails to recognise the true position of the Church of Scotland in relation to the Coronation of King Edward ? He is willing to put our Church in a hopeless position of compromise. First of all, he claims, rightly, an equal status for the established Churches of Scotland and England. Then he suddenly finds himself forced to admit, from a precedent, that the Church of England can alone perform the sacramental portion of the Coronation service. Can he not see now that there is no purpose in Church of Scotland clergy taking part in a service which is in essence purely English ?
Secondly, not only does he compromise himself in the above manner in his eagerness to have Church of Scotland clergy officially present at the Coronation, but he fails to grasp the full implication of his false position. He wants the Scottish Church to be present at a ceremony in which it cannot share an equal part with its established neighbour, a ceremony which crowns the King of Great Britain, Edward VIII, when he is without any shadow of doubt Edward .H. Of England he is Edward VIII, of England he is going to be crowned King. This is not a mere constitu- tional quibble. It is symbolic of the treatment given to Scotland, and of Scotland's position in the eyes of officialdom. The Scottish Church can surely realise that, if it officially participates- as a non-equal Church in a Coronation service which crowns the King, Edward VIII, it officially admits the subordinate position, as a mere annexe of England, of Scotland, that Scotland which we all fondly describe as being in equal partnership with England in the Kingdom of Great Britain. If the Church of Scotland takes this course, I, as a Scot and as a member of the Church of Scotland, protest against such a policy, and repudiate any further claim the Church of Scotland may continue to make for itself as the free established Church of this land.—Yours faithfully, P. G. D. CLARK. The Manse, Mid Calder, Mid Lothian.
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