The purpose of this book is not only to provide a brief, up-to- date history of the Free Church of Scotland, but to show that, although circumstances compelled her at her formation as a separate denomination in 1843 to add the word "Free" to her denominational designation, she has maintained direct continuity with the pre-Disruption Church of Scotland in the Reformed tradition. She has not fallen out of sympathy with the evangelical Presbyterianism of Scotland either in principle or in doctrine; indeed, it was for the preservation of the inheritance which had come down to her from the Scottish Reformers that she took her separate stand in 1843. Her quarrel then was primarily with the State, which was denying her the spiritual independence guaranteed to her by successive enactments over the centuries. It was from a usurping government that she separated in 1843; and that disruption had as its unhappy consequence the rending asunder of the Church herself--the Free Church of Scotland choosing to relinquish the benefits of State establishment rather than lose her spiritual freedom; and the residuary Church of Scotland acquiescing in the enactments of a despotic Government the effect of which was to assign to the Established Church the degraded status of a mere department of State.

Some, no doubt, will regret the recalling of these -

old, unhappy, far-off things,

and battles long ago

but the Church which allows herself to forget the lessons of her history, and the hand of God in the shaping of her destiny is both unworthy of her high calling and regardless of her own safety.

"Thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee" is as needful a caution for the people of God in this modern world as it was for Israel in the dawn of her history. "Forgetful Green," to quote Bunyan's Greatheart, is a "most dangerous place" for heaven-bound pilgrims. "For if at any time the pilgrims meet with any brunt, it is when they forget what favours they have received, and how unworthy they are of them."

The story of the Free Church of Scotland is indeed a record of Divine favour toward a people who, more than once, risked their all for Christ's sake. We tell it again with the prayer that it may serve to strengthen the loyalty of Free Church people everywhere to the Church of their fathers, and stimulate them to share with others, in every way possible, the teaching of our Scottish Reformers to which the Free Church of Scotland is pledged by her unequivocal acceptance of the Westminster Confession of Faith as her principal subordinate standard. It is the Faith there formulated that sustained the Scottish Church under the many fiery trials of her long history, and that will, we believe, be the means in God's hand of reviving the soul of Scotland in the better days for which, in dependence upon His promise, we look.

GNM Collins

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