| Reasons for Separation from the Free Church in 1893 – by Rev J.S. Sinclair The first reason we give for our separation from the above Church, is her general declension from the doctrines of divine truth. No one that is acquainted with the history of the Free Church since the Disruption of 1843 can fail to observe that a great change has crept over her. In 1843 she stood forth as one of the pillars of evangelical orthodoxy, and as a willing martyr for the doctrine of Christ’s Headship over church and nation. The teaching of her pulpits and the deliverances of her Assemblies were then in harmony with the principles of the Westminster Confession of Faith, whose whole doctrine she had sworn to defend. |
| Separation from an Unsound Church – by Rev. J.S. Sinclair At least, it is only in this, way that we can understand the shout of scorn and censure that greeted the Disruption of 1893, as contrasted with the shout of acclamation and praise that filled the air at the Disruption of I843. |
| The Declaratory Act of 1892 – by Rev. J.S. Sinclair It need hardly be said that it was the passing of this Declaratory Act into law by the General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland, with the consent of a majority of Presbyteries, that occasioned the separation of the Rev. D. Macfarlane, the Rev. D. Macdonald and others in 1892, and led to the formation of the present body known as the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland |
| The Constitutional Aspect of the Declaratory Act – by Rev. D. Beaton In our Deed of Separation the constitutional aspect of the Declaratory Act is very clearly set forth in the following words: ”That by passing of the Declaratory Act of 1892, the said present subsisting Church, calling herself the Free Church of Scotland, through her General Assemblies, has, in so far as said Church is concerned, destroyed the integrity of the Confession of Faith as understood and accepted by the Disruption Fathers and their predecessors, |
| Our Free Presbyterian Heritage – by Rev. D. Beaton In our Free Presbyterian heritage there is an open Bible – and a whole Bible at that. The creed of our Church is that the Bible is the inspired, infallible and unerring Word of the living God, and that it is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify God and enjoy Him. We have no place for the mutilated Bible of the so-called Higher Critics, and have never accepted them as guides to tell us what is the Word of God and what is not. |
| Why be a Free Presbyterian in 1930 – by Dr. J. M. Johnstone I next consider what ministers broadcast from pulpit and press in these days to the effect that the Church of Christ must change its message with the times. They say that “the people (meaning themselves in the first place) will not listen to the old doctrines.” Having preached that the Bible is largely “trash” they piously lament that their congregations fall away, in spite of the fact that they never mention to their people such awful things as sin, hell, depravity, atonement. |
| Why be a Free Presbyterian – by Rev. W. Maclean When the stand was made in 1893 there were some who distinctly recalled William Grant’s prophecy, and who followed Mr. Macfarlane, fully assured that “the light” which is to continue in Scotland until the latter day glory was now in the Free Presbyterian Church. That “light” is the “principles and doctrines of the Reformation” — the cherished Testimony of our Church. |
| The Main Cause of Our National Spiritual Degeneracy – by Rev. J.P.MacQueen What is transpiring in Scotland today, in this connection, is the fulfilment of the intelligent anticipation and deep penetrating spiritual discernment of the saintly Rev. Lachlan Mackenzie of Lochcarron when he declared: ” There is a generation of graceless ministers to arise in my native Scotland, when I am gone, who will be a plague in the land, like the plague of locusts in Egypt, and as that plague ate up all the vegetation in the land, so will this plague eat up vital godliness in Scotland.” The present writer feels perfectly assured that that intelligent anticipation of the future is now finding its sad fulfilment in current transpiring religious and ecclesiastical history in Scotland. |
| Immutable, Infallible, and Uncompromising Christianity – by Rev. J.P. MacQueen Next to being a member of Christ’s mystical, body by a living faith, the greatest and most precious privilege under the sun is to belong to a Scripturally-pure and doctrinally-apostolic denomination. It is a privilege so priceless that it should not be bartered for anything that this world has to offer. Our Scottish Covenanters, in common with Christian martyrs in all ages and climes, parted with their most precious possessions, wives, husbands, sons and daughters, fathers and mothers, liberty, and life itself, rather than forsake or deny the Scriptural doctrines and principles for which the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland continues uncompromisingly to maintain its distinctive separate denominational and ecclesiastical position, in the midst of prevailing doctrinal laxity and indifference. |
| The Professing Church Waxing and Waning – by Rev. J.P. MacQueen Kirkton, for example, a minister who lived at the time of the Second Reformation in Scotland, and afterwards suffered in the persecution, gives the following account, which is confirmed by other historians:- “Now the ministry was notably purified, the magistracy altered, and the people strangely refined. Scotland has been even by emulous foreigners, called Philadelphia, and now she seems to be in her flower. I verily believe, there were more souls converted to Christ in that short period of time than in any other season since the Reformation, though of treble its duration; nor was there ever greater purity and plenty of the means of grace than was in that time… |
| The Dangers of Ecclesiastical Union – by Rev. D. Beaton Visible or external unity is not synonymous with the spiritual or invisible unity of the New Testament, and if the arguments for external unity lead its advocates to take up such a position, it is the imperative duty of those who see different to utter a protest against such teaching. This was one of the great dangers to the faith that was very prominent in the recent Union movement in Scotland. |
| The Free Presbyterian Church and its Constitution – by Rev. J. Colquhoun The main purpose of the Declaratory Act, as we read from its preamble, was “to remove difficulties and scruples which have been felt by some in reference to the declaration of belief required from persons who receive licence, or are admitted to office in this Church.” This meant that it was drawn up in order to afford legal scope within the Church to those who were not prepared to accept the whole doctrine of the Confession of Faith at their ordination to office, and to protect those who were already within the Church and who held heretical views. |
| Signs of the Times – by John Kennedy D.D. In applying the teaching of the text to his own time, he said that judgment was fallen on the Church in Scotland. It was a judgment within the Church, and would manifest itself in five ways. |
| Thou hast Given a Banner – by Rev. D.B. Macleod Seeing that we have entered a year in which the centenary of our Church is due to be commemorated, we are reminded of the Lord’s goodness to us as a people |