The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland
BY THE REVEREND DR. ARCIIIBALD FLEMING.
ON May 24th, the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland began its annual meetings. Not all readers of this journal, perhaps, are aware that the Scottish General Assembly is a Court of the Realm, and the oldest surviving national institution in Scotland. Three hundred and seventy-two years ago, it held its first meeting in Edinburgh ; and on Tuesday the Lord High Commissioner, Sir Ian Colquhoun, representing HiS Majesty the King, will once more have renewed His Majesty's assurance, solemnly given on the day of his Accession, in terms prescribed by law and used by his predecessors, that he would uphold the Protestantism of the Church of Scotland, and steadfastly maintain its Presbyterian form of Church Government. This annual assurance, when read out to an upstanding House, is invariably greeted with applause in the general Assembly, and is probably the most jealously safeguarded political inheritance of the Church. Its intention is also firmly embedded in the Treaty of Union between Scotland and England, which was ratified in 1707 ; upon it, as the late Lord Balfour of Burleigh said, depends His Majesty's " claim to the allegiance of Scotsmen."
In these circumstances, it has caused disquietude to not a few that part of the agenda of the Assembly of 1932 (this article is written on the eve of its meeting) is to be a proposal to enter into " unrestricted conference" with the Church of England, with a view to obtempering the general invitation issued by the Lambeth Conference of 1921 to " all Christian people." If " unrestricted conference " is to be held as meaning a readiness to re- consider the Presbyterian constitution of the Church of Scotland, the zealous group who are forwarding this proposal, and have recently been discussing it at Lambeth, hardly appear to have realized that their way is blocked by statute law, the Treaty of Union and the King's Oath. Correspondence in recent issues of the leading Scottish metropolitan journal makes it fairly clear with what reception a step in any such way compromising the Church's historic testimony would be met in the Presby- teries ; whilst it is not unnatural to ask whether the " historic episcopate " is similarly to come into the inching pot of conference. If not, such an air of un-_ reality would be given to the use of the word " unrestric- ted " on either side, as to make it seem advisable that it should be withdrawn.
The meetings of the Assembly will be continuous till June 2nd or 8rd. Its constitution and proceedings form a magnificent example alike of ordered democracy, of continuous national tradition and of the working of an ecclesiastical Parliament more nearly complete in its representation of the religious conviction of the people than that of any other nation in the world. The Assembly forms the apex of a logically built-up structure of Church Courts, from the parochial or congregational Kirk Session, through Presbytery and Synod, to the Assembly itself. It is the ultimate court of reference ; and from its decisions in matters spiritual (even if they involve the sacrifice of temporalities) there is no appeal to the civil courts. The Assembly, in the name of the Church, does not acknow- ledge, and has never acknowledged, any secular suprem- acy. The King is head of the Church of England ; Scotsmen, on the other hand, have carried even to academic lengths their testimony to the sole Headship of Christ.
Since the reunion, three years ago, of the United Free Church with the Church of Scotland, the Assembly has assumed embarrassingly large proportions ; and proposals
for measures of delegation and decentralization are already mooted. Its composition is made up of clerical and lay commissioners in almost equal proportions. These are elected by the Presbyteries ; and too much stress cannot be laid on the influence of this strong lay element in democratizing and popularizing the Assembly ; making it, since the disappearance of the Scottish Parliament, and even before that, by far the most representative body, in the matter of expressing national opinion and aspira- tion, within the Scottish realm.
Distinguished visitors are always welconied by the General Assembly. They arc often the guests of the Lord High Commissioner at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, and are given places in the Throne Gallery. But from that high eminence they may not speak. They can only do this from the floor of the Assembly, and on its formal invitation. This year, it is said that the Archbishops of Canterbury and York will be among these honoured guests. Many of us will remember the visit, at the close of the War, of Earl Haig (himself an elder of the Church) and Lord Horne ; in an experience of forty or fifty years, one has never witnessed so intense a scene as that. Other visits outstanding in memory arc those of the late Archbishop Lord Davidson, the late Archbishops Temple and Maclagan, and the late Bishops Wilkinson and Brent.
This year, the parlous state of the Church's Foreign Mission funds cannot but occupy the Assembly's serious attention. But the reception of missionaries on furlough, and their welcome by the Right Reverend Moderator (primus inter pares for the year) will afford, as usual, one of its most moving and picturesque episodes. There will, doubtless, be lively, and possibly acrimonious debate over a proposal to admit women not only to the eldership, but to the ordained ministry. The somewhat precipitate urging to the front of this question, to some extent by promoters associated, in the public mind, at least as much with the political as the more definitely religious claims involved, is regretted by many ; especially as no very considerable body of opinion—and perhaps least of all, of women—appears to be behind the movement. Its discussion, if allowed to develop, is expected to engender bitterness, may possibly lead to disruption, and is regarded as unfortunate, inasmuch as it comes so soon after the general burying of religious hatchets in Scotland at the time of the recent Union.
Impressions of many General Assemblies—the present writer must have witnessed at least forty-five—flood one's memory. Of a long series of Lord High Commissioners, most of whom one has known, some of whom one has served as Chaplain, the first vividly recalled is the jovial Francis, Earl of Rosslyn, who was Commissioner in 1874-76 and 1878-80. Of him it is told that, when Disraeli was forming his ministry, he suggested Rosslyn's name to Queen Victoria as Master of the Horse. But no one who used such language as Rosslyn did should hold Household office with her, said Her Majesty. " Then," Disraeli is said solemnly to have replied, " let him be made Com- missioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland." Throughout the Assembly, the ancient Palace of Holyrood, rich in memories of Mary Stuart and Prince Charlie, is the scene of many and gracious hospi- talities. As for the Moderator's Chair, how many names and faces of its past occupants rise before one—Tulloch and Milligan ; Mitchell and Cunningham the historians ; Cooper and " A. K. H. B. " ; Macgregor and Chastens and Marshall Lang (father of the present Archbishop) ; McAdam Muir, Donald and Norman Macleod, Story, Wallace, Williamson and many another. The present writer, who knew them, and shared the confidences of most, now almost alone survives to tell of their private speech, their several contributions to the vital flow of our great traditions, and the injunctions of faithfulness to a proud past and sacred trust which they would im- press on younger men. They were great parliamentarians, most of them, as well as great churchmen; it is often said that there is no floor of debate in the world to compare with that of the General Assembly of the Church of Scot- land. This, at any rate, one may safely say—that the liberties and principles of the Scottish people have no more jealous guardian than is the Scottish Church met in General Assembly; nor has any sacred institution more truly the confidence of any nation.
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