Introduction

The Church of Scotland’s freedom in worship can be a snare when abused. “It is not a Christian service when a congregation goes through the forms of worship without confession or absolution; when the first prayer is a theological meditation; and when petitions, incongruous and interminable, jostle each other in an inchoate mass.” The Church Service Society has shown that the bare and formless worship offered in the parish churches for over two centuries was not the fruit of the Reformation and the publication of these volumes draws attention to the reverence and beauty and dignity which the worship of God requires