ist is left free by her Divine King
and Head, so to order matters of detail, under the guidance of the
Spirit of Truth, and in harmony with the principles laid down in
Scripture, as may in accordance with varying ages and circumstances
seem best for the attainment of the ends desired. While Christian
worship in its essential parts is prescribed by Scripture, the Church
is free to amplify or develop these general outlines, provided only
that all be in harmony with the spirit of Revelation. It is very
evident that new conditions of a progressive civilization, the spirit
of the times, or the particular circumstances of a community, may make
desirable a modification of a particular method of worship long
practised; it is for the Church, relying ever on the guidance of the
Spirit of Truth, to determine how such modification may, without
violation to the spirit of Scripture, be made. For this reason it can
never be binding upon the Church to accept as final, the particular
methods of worship used and found suitable by men of another age or
another land; while such may be accepted as valuable for suggestions
contained, and as indicating the spirit that controlled good and great
men of another time, yet the Church can only accept them (in loyalty to
the Spirit Who abides in her, and Who is hers in every age) in so far
as they prove themselves suitable to present times and conditions. The
present possession by the Church, of the Holy Spirit as a guide into
all truth, according to the promise of Christ to His disciples, is a
doctrine that no branch of the Church would readily surrender, and her
right, under that guidance, to seek the good of the body of Christ on
lines which, while consistent with the principles of Scripture, commend
themselves to her as more suitable to present conditions than former
methods, this right is one which she can part with only at the risk of
endangering her usefulness to her own age.

To Presbyterians, therefore, thankful as they are for an historic past
that has in it so much to arouse gratitude to God and loyalty to the
Church they love, the citing of the practice of their forefathers in
Reformation times, or even that of the early fathers of the Church, can
never be a final argument for the acceptance of any particular method
in worship. Believing in a Church in which the Spirit of God as truly
governs and guides to-day as He did in Reformation or post-Apostolic
times, and in a Christian libe