RELIGIOUS ACTIVITY

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1198, 5 August 1911, Page 9

RELIGIOUS ACTIVITY

A QUESTION OF ORDERS. PRESBYTERIANS AND WESJJ3YANS. "It is with unfeigned regret (says the "British Weekly" of June 15) that we refer to the action of tli(.' Church- ol Scf'llaiul in regard to Mesleyan order?. What took place was this: The Rev. J. A. D. MnnUmald voluntarily withdrew from Wesleyan Methodism in 1!'01. For five years lie has been a missionary i" Calcutta, under the auspices of the Church of Scotland. In 1998 lie was admitted by that Church as a probationer, and the l'rcsbytery of Assam and Burma was authorised to take him on trial for Ordination. .Mr. Macdonald, however, petitioned the General Assembly of ltllll, asking that his ordination in Methodism might bo recognised as valid. The Assembly remitted the whole question to a large committee; They prepared a report, of nearly fifty pages, containing a, discussion of the doctrine, law. and practice of the Church of Scotland: a list of all ministers'admitted from other churches for the last thirty years; and 'an account of the doctrine, law. and practice of . the AVesleyan Methodist Church concerning Ordination. This section closes with the assertion that tho AVesleyan doctrine of the ministry is practically indistinguishable from the Independencv, and tho committee recommends the Assembly to decline to grant Mr. Macdonald's request. It appears that the committee were equally divided for and asrainst the petition. The convener, though personally acknowledging Methodist Orders, gave his casting vote in favour of the status quo."