Distinctive Position
The PCEA is distinguished from the Presbyterian Church of Australia by adherence to “the whole doctrine” of the Confession of Faith as adopted by the Church of Scotland in 1647 and vindicated in the Scottish Disruption of 1843. It does not have what it considers an ambiguous Declaratory Statement, such as that of the Presbyterian Church of Australia (the "PCA"), which includes allowance of “liberty of opinion on matters not essential to the doctrine” without defining what is essential. Despite this difference there have been many strong connections with the PCA, particularly since it has moved to a more conservative theological position since 1977. One minister served as Professor in the PCA's Theological College in Melbourne (1977-81), another as Principal of Presbyterian Ladies' College (Melbourne) (1986-97), and another has written extensively on Australian Presbyterian history.
The PCEA is often noted for its practice of exclusive psalmody. This is the maintenance of the older pre-1870 approach to public worship among Presbyterians in which the 150 psalms of the Word of God in metrical form were exclusively used, and without instrumental accompaniment. The Scottish Psalter of 1650 was traditionally used in the PCEA, but is now supplanted in most congregations by more modern versions either the version produced by Melbourne PCEA in 1991, or the version produced by the Free Church of Scotland in 2003. The principle behind the practice of exclusive psalmody is that Scripture should regulate our worship and that we cannot do better than to use the Word of God in the public worship. The actions of the Free Church of Scotland in November 2010 in relaxing its stance on a capella psalmody have no bearing on the practice of the PCEA.
Read more about this topic: Presbyterian Church Of Eastern Australia
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