Doctrine and Worship

Although it was not intended that the Church Service Society be concerned with matters of doctrine or other issues beyond the practical ordering of worship, it was not possible to avoid this. Some called for a separation between the sphere of dogma and the sphere of devotion (criticising the prominent place given to the Creed, prayers of confession that were more statements of doctrine than statements of experience, intercessions which were too church-centred). This ‘broad church’ group prepared the fifth morning service in ‘Euchologion’ of 1890. The other view believed that the more dogma, the more devotion. Milligan, for example, saw a greater distinction between church and society, emphasizing the heavenly priesthood of Christ and a weekly celebration of Holy Communion. The high church group also objected, unsuccessfully, to the change in the sixth edition of ‘Euchologion’ by which the intercessions were placed before the sermon (the same pattern as in Anglican Matins). This gave rise to the founding in 1892 of the Scottish Church Society. Although members remained office bearers of the Church Service Society, some ‘broad church’ members also formed, for a while, the National Church Union.