317 



June 1912. They had long held office, and their majority in the Chamber was only 

 six. The Liberals and the .Socialists had formed a working alliance, with a programme 

 which declared war against the denominational schools, and sought to 

 elections. amend the electoral law by the abolition of the plural votes hitherto allowed 

 in respect of paternity, education and financial position. An additional 

 element of uncertainty was due to the fact that owing to the increase of the population 

 there were twenty new seats to be contested. In the result the Catholic party were 

 again returned to power, with a majority over the Cartel of sixteen. The fact that the 

 Liberals had identified themselves so closely with the Socialists during the struggle, 

 seems to have driven a good many moderate Liberals into the Ministerial camp. Cer- 

 tainly the political constancy which granted a new vote of confidence after nearly thirty 

 years of office is a phenomenon new in the history of democracy. 



(J. G. SNEAD-COX.) 

 THE FREE CHURCHES* 



Doctrinal. The disquietude caused a few years ago by what is known as the " New 

 Theology " movement has very largely passed away. At the meetings of the Congrega- 

 tional Union in Nottingham in October 1911, Dr. Forsyth and the Rev. R. J. Campbell, 

 who had figured most prominently in the controversy, appeared on the same platform. 

 Theologically the Free Churches may now be said to be marking time, though a good deal 

 of constructive activity is going on beneath the surface. The attacks on the historicity 

 of Jesus put forward by Dr. Arthur Drews in Germany and his translators and sym- 

 pathisers in England, have been met with thoroughness and skill, especially by Dr. 

 Estlin Carpenter, principal of Manchester College, Oxford. To the doctrine of the 

 person of Christ a noteworthy contribution has just been made by Dr. H. R. Mackin- 

 tosh of Edinburgh, and his book may be taken as presenting generally the position taken 

 up by all except a comparatively small left wing of Free Church divines. The question 

 of miracles, brought into prominence by a book written by the Rev. J. M. Thompson 

 (Dean of Divinity at Magdalen Coll., Oxford), has furnished a theme for frequent dis- 

 cussion, but neither it nor Dr. Schafer's pronouncements on the origin of life (British 

 Association, Dundee 1912) have ruffled the waters to any extent. There is no disposi- 

 tion among those churches that dispense with formal creeds to introduce anything of the 

 kind, and where confessions are already in existence the tendency is to modify and ad- 

 just them, or to regard them as declaratory rather than binding. Thus the English 

 Presbyterian Church at its General Assembly in May 1912 had before it the statement of 

 Church principles made at the ordination of ministers and the form of the questions put 

 to the candidate. These have been re-drafted so as to lay greater emphasis on the minis- 

 ter's message and less on his theory, and the proposals are now before the different 

 presbyteries in the country. On the other hand the proposed union of the Methodists, 

 Presbyterians and Congregationalists of Canada into one great church which shall more 

 effectively grapple with the problem of the rapidly opening West and North-West, 

 involves the last named denomination in a creed, which many churches of the order will 

 accept for the sake of union, while others will prefer to retain their independence, feeling 

 that the price is too high. 



Union and Federation. The movement in Canada just referred to had a certain 

 quickening through the remarkable co-operation recently agreed upon by the theological 

 colleges of Montreal. Certain influential laymen were struck by the anomaly that three 

 institutions were doing practically the same work within a stone's throw of each other, 

 with comparatively small classes and at the cost of an over-burdened staff. 'They laid 



1 The expression "Free Churches" is not strictly correct, but it is difficult to find a better 

 one for the various Christian denominations outside the Roman Catholic Church and the 

 Anglican Communion. In Ireland there is no Established Church; in Scotland the Estab- 

 lished Church is of the Presbyterian polity. For churches in America, see under "United 

 States" in Part II of the YEAR-BOOK. 



Apart from the Year Books of the several Churches, the Free Church Year Book, pub- 

 lished annually in April, and the Scottish Church and University Almanac, are commended 

 to those wishing further information. 



