Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 21.djvu/565

Rh CHURCH.] SCOTLAND 539 pletely deserted her. All her missionaries left her but one. She had no gale of popular enthusiasm to carry her forward, representing as she did not a newly arisen principle but the opposition to a principle which she maintained to be dangerous and exaggerated. For many years she had much obloquy to endure. But she at once set herself to the task of filling up vacancies and recruiting the mission- ary staff. A lay association was formed, which raised large sums of money for the missionary schemes, so that their income was not allowed seriously to decline. The good works of the church, indeed, were in a few years not only continued but extended. All hope being lost that parlia- ment would endow the new churches built by the church extension scheme of Dr Chalmers, it was felt that this also must be the work of voluntary liberality. Under Dr James Robertson, professor of church history in Edinburgh, one of the leading champions of the Moderate policy in the Ten Years' Conflict, the extension scheme was transformed into the endowment scheme, and the church accepted it as her duty and her task to provide the machinery of new parishes where they were required. By 1854 30 new parishes had been added at a cost of 130,000, and from this time forward the work of endowment proceeded still more rapidly. In 1860 61 new parishes had been endowed, in 1870 150, in 1876 250, while in 1886 there were 35 1. 1 In 1843 the number of parishes was 924. Of 42 parlia- mentary churches existing at that time 40 have been erected into parishes quoad sacra ; hence the total number of parishes in Scotland at midsummer 1886 was 1315. By the Poor Law Act of 1845 parishes were enabled to remove the care of the poor from the minister and the kirk-session, in whom it was formerly vested, and to appoint a parochial board with power to assess the ratepayers. The Education Act of 1872 severed the ancient tie con- necting church and school together, and created a school board having charge of the education of each parish. At that date the Church of Scotland had 300 schools, mostly in the Highlands. The church, however, continues to carry on normal schools for the training of teachers in Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Aberdeen. oli- In 1874 patronage was abolished. The working of Lord of Aberdeen's Act had given rise to many unedifying scenes ron " and to lengthy struggles over disputed settlements, and it was early felt that some change at least was necessary in the law. The agitation on the subject went on in the assembly from 1857 to 1869, when the assembly by a large majority condemned patronage as restored by the Act of Queen Anne, and resolved to petition parliament for its removal. The request was granted, and the right of electing parish ministers was conferred on the congrega- tion ; thus a grievance of old standing, from which all the ecclesiastical troubles of a century and a half had sprung, was removed and the church placed on a thoroughly demo- cratic basis. This Act, combined with various efforts made within the church for her improvement, has secured for the Scottish Establishment a large measure of popular favour, and during the last quarter of a century she has grown prove- rapidly both in numbers and in influence. This revival is m largely due on the one hand to the improvement of her rship. worship which began with the efforts of Dr Robert Lee (1804-1868), minister of Old Greyfriars, Edinburgh, and professor of Biblical criticism in Edinburgh university. By introducing into his church a printed book of prayers 1 Those branches of the church extension scheme which dealt with church building, and with the opening of new missions to meet the wants of increasing populations, were taken up by a new department, called the home mission scheme. The home mission as the pioneer in opening np new fields of labour, and the endowment scheme which renders permanent the religious centres that the mission has founded, are both traceable to Dr Chalmers. and also an organ Dr Lee stirred up vehement controversies in the church courts, which resulted in the recognition of the liberty of congregations to improve their worship. A church service society, having for its object the study of ancient and modern liturgies, with a view to the prepara- tion of forms of prayer for public worship, was founded in 1865; it has published five editions of its "Book of Common Order," which, though at first regarded with suspicion, is now recognized as a useful and respected ad- junct. Church music has been cultivated and improved in a marked degree ; a fine collection of hymns has been introduced to supplement the psalms and paraphrases. And architecture has restored the larger churches from their disfigurement by partition walls and galleries though much still remains to be done in this way and has erected new churches of a style favourable to devotion. The fervour of the church has, on the other hand, found Commit- a channel in the operations of a " Committee on Christian tee on Life and Work," appointed in 1869 with the aim of exercis- ing some supervision of the work of the church throughout the country, stimulating evangelistic efforts, and organizing the labours of lay agents. This committee publishes a magazine of "Life and Work," which has a circulation of about 100,000, and has lately been seeking to organize young men's guilds in connexion with congregations. It was to reinforce this element of the church's activity, as well as to strengthen her generally, that Mr James Baird in 1873 made the munificent gift of 500,000. This fund is administered by a trust which is not under the control of the church, and the revenue is used mainly in aid of church building and endowment throughout the country. The church has greatly increased of late years in liberal- ity of sentiment, and there has been no deposition for heresy since 1843. A volume of Scotch Sermons pub- lished in 1880 by ministers holding liberal views brought out the fact that the church would not willingly be led into such prosecutions. An agitation on the part of the Dissenters for disestablishment sprang up afresh after the passing of the Patronage Act and has continued ever since ; while a counter-movement was represented by a Bill, intro- duced into parliament in 1886 to declare the spiritual independence of the Church of Scotland, which, if success- ful, would, it was understood, have opened the way for a reunion of the Presbyterian bodies. 2 Church Membership. The Church of Scotland has now (1886) Statistics 1315 parishes, 160 non-parochial churches, and 121 preaching and of mem- mission stations, in all 1596 charges. The number of presbyteries bership, is 84, and there are 16 provincial synods. The general assembly &c. consists of 252 clerical and 118 lay members elected by presbyteries, with 73 representatives of royal burghs and universities, and 4 representatives of churches abroad, in all 447 members. In 1873 the number of communicants as returned to parliament in 1874 was 460,526 ; in 1878 the number as returned to parliament in 1879 was 515,786 ; in 1883 the number returned to the assembly of 1884 was 543,969 ; in 1885, 564,435. The professors of divinity at the four Scottish universities must be ministers of the church, and students aspiring to the ministry are required to attend one of the divinity halls of the universities for three sessions, after an arts course of three years. A large number of ministers of the church are employed elsewhere than in Scotland. The Church of Scotland in England consists of 16 charges. 'There are 31 chaplains minis- tering to Presbyterians in the army and navy, 15 of these being stationed in India. The foreign mission employs 15 ordained and 11 unordained European missionaries, with a large number of native agents, in India, East Africa, and China. The Jewish mission em- ploys 6 ordained ministers, with other agents, at Constantinople, Smyrna, Salonica, Beyrout, and Alexandria. The colonial com- mittee supplies religious ordinances to emigrants from Scotland in India, Fiji, Cyprus, Mauritius, Ceylon, and the West Indies, besides assisting Presbyterian colleges in Canada and Australia. A minister of the church presides over a Scots church of old standing at Amster- dam. Two lectureships have been founded in recent times in con- nexion with the church one by Mr James Baiid (already mentioned), 2 For the period since 1843 the most useful book is Dr Story's Life of Dr Robert Lee, 1870.