07/06/05
It is profoundly important that we understand
how previous generations of Christians have defended the reformed Biblical
faith in the face of opposition. So it
was with deep gratitude that I received from Mr. Al Hembd (who in turn had
received it from a Mr. Campbell in Scotland) pages from a 1910 edition of the Free
Presbyterian Magazine, which reported on the declaration of the synod of
the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland (FPCS) concerning reformation
attainments. Relevant pages from the
magazine can be viewed at http://www.puritans.net/news/fpcs070605.pdf (in pdf format) .
The FPCS has taken a clear official stand in
agreement with the Westminster Standards as they were originally adopted by the
Church of Scotland, exhibited in this quote from the 1910 declaration:
“The
immediate result of the Solemn League and Covenant was the Westminster
Assembly. That Assembly’s work consisted mainly in producing a Directory for
Public Worship, a Presbyterian Form of Church Government, a Confession of
Faith, a
Larger Catechism, and a Shorter Catechism. These documents, which were meant to
be the basis of a covenanted uniformity in religion between the Churches of
Christ in the three kingdoms, were received and adopted by the General Assembly
of the Church of Scotland in the years 1645, 1647, and 1648.
Readers are referred to any ordinary copy of the Westminster Standards for the
Acts of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland adopting those five
documents. The Synod accept and adhere to those documents in the sense in which
they were received by the Church of Scotland in the years specified. “
In addition, the FPCS has officially called
for the repeal of the Rescissory
Act, which itself had repealed the Solemn League and Covenant:
“The
Synod heartily concur in the above statement of the Church in 1851, and they
declare that, in their humble judgment, the fact that the “Rescissory Act” has
been left unrepealed on the Statute Book leaves the Presbyterians of Scotland
in a dangerous position, and that effective steps should be taken for its
repeal along with all the other pernicious cognate Acts of that period of our
history. “
In other words, the FPCS has officially called
for the re-instatement of the Solemn League and Covenant in the statute books
of the United Kingdom, by its call for repeal of the Rescissory Act.
We too in our day must defend these principles
and contend for the Biblical faith once for all time delivered to the saints.