...•./■■'.'. : j 4 gggtrc $c5 #\Sfr -/. /-"> VfiHA^^ 5C^ r&IVb"^ A REVIEW OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE GENERAL ASSOCIATE SYNOD, AND OF SOME PRESBYTERIES, IN REFERENCE TO THE MINISTERS WHO PROTESTED AGAINST THE IMPOSITION OF A NEW TESTIMONT; WHEREIN THEIR PROTESTATIONS , AND CONDUCT ARE VINDICATED, AND THE tRREGULARITY, INJUSTICE, AND NULLITY OF THE CENSURES INFLICTED ON THEM, MANIFESTED. WITH REMARKS UPON THE UNFAIR ACCOUNT OF THE STATE OT THE DIFFERENCE AND OF THESE TRANSACTIONS, INSERTED IN THE CHRISTIAN MAGAZINE; AND UPON THE MISREPRESENTATIONS, FALSEHOODS, AND ASPER- SION S, CON TA1 N ED IN THAT AND IN THE PUBLICATION OF THE COMMITTEE^ ANSWERS, AND OTHER LATE PAMPHLETS. Bf A. BRUCE, Minister in whitburn, And teacher of theology by appointmen ojt the general associate synod. Thoughts change with ease, deeds hardly are undone; Be those well weighed, ere these are once begun. Heard on one side, scarce any suit hath flaws, A hasty judgment long repentance draws. Anon. EDINBURGH: PRINTED BT GEORGE CAfT, And Sold by J. Ogle, and Guthrie & Tait, Edinburgh; Neil, Hadding* ton; Oole, Glasgow; Robertson, Perth; Lbslie, Dundee; Knight, Aberdeen; Dunlop, Kilmarnock; Cuthbertson, Paisley; Ford, Kirkcaldy; Chalmers, Dumfries; Rutherford, Kelso; Brown, Dunse ; Millar, Dunbar; M'Laren, Stirling; Johnston, Falkirk; Scot, Greenock ; Elder, Hawick j Reid, Berwick ; and R. Ogle, and T. Hamilton, Lo ndon 1808. CONTENTS Preface and Introductory Address. Sect. T. Remarks upon the general cause between the Synod and the Protesters A fair account of it wi'h»held from the public by the Synod and its advocates — The proceedings upon it in the Synod at Glasgow improperly introduced into the Magazine with- out due previous information, .... Page 5 Sect. II. The protesting Ministers separated in process — The pro- cee dings in the case of Mr Aitken, and the misrepresentations of the Letter writer on this head, considered, . . .10 Sect. III. The matter of difference no private or mere specula- tive opinions, but important articles of the public profession, and terms of communion — The Synod's pretended indulgence altoge- ther unsatisfactory — Their notions and terms upon the subject lax, absurd, and inconsistent, ..... 26 Sect. IV. Necessary and settled forms of church-discipline disre- • garded by the General Synod — Manner of proceeding in the case of Mess. Bruce and M'Crie — The sentence of Synod concerning them on the first week of their meeting in Glasgow — Impertinent reflections and misrepresentations of the Letter-writer and others • — Synod's lenity in this stage without reason extolled, . 43 Sect. V. The cause of the Protesters resumed in the same Synod on the second week — The pretext for it — Deposition of Mr • M'Crie — Remarks on this rash and disorderly procedure, . 65 Sect. VI. Farther procedure of that Synod in the case of Mess. Bruce and Hog — Summons ordered — Remarks on this part of the account in the Magazine — The charges in the summons informal, ' and irrelevant in matter~-The procedure compared with that of • the National Church in her reforming and in her later times— The articles of charge refuted — The protestations vindicated by scripture, the principles and precedents of Reformed Churches, and of the Secession — The material Declinature explained and justified — The charges similar to these in the General Assembly's libel against the seceding Ministers, and the answer given to theti applicable, CS a Sect. it CONTENTS. Sect. VII. The process against these brethren improperly transfer- red to Presbyteries— Different grounds on which courts may be warrantably declined — Reasons for Mr B. refusing to acknow- ledge the Presbytery of Edinburgh as competent judges in this cause, some of them common to them with the Synod, and some of them peculiar to the Presbytery — The tenor of Mr B.'s letter to the Presbytery when met — The charge agafnst them of hold- ing errors declared censurable in the reformed churches made good — Their precipitant procedure and sentence, . Page 1 14* Sect. VIII. Review of the pretended grounds of this sentence — The injustice, unprecedented tyranny, and nullity of it fully de- monstrated — Nature of deposition grossly misrepresented by the defenders of these censures — State of the votes, and of the voters —The sentence never legally intimated, &c. . . .135 Sect. IX. Mr Bruce's letter to the Synod met at Glasgow; with the answer — The Synod's sentence concerning him as teacher of theology, a violation of all form and justice— -A deposition in fact by a junto on the second week, before any summons or trial could take place, though both ordered — Doctors of Divinity — New .modes of censuring — Sequel of proceedings in the case of Mr Hog ......... 183 Sect. X. Mr B.'s principles on the subject of controversy not dif- ferent from those of the former professors in the Secession, or the raost approven systems of divinity — The calumny on this head by the publisher of the Synod's Answers refuted — Mr Gib's protest at Mr B.'s election no warrant for it — The base use now made of that protest, and the partial publication of it, reprobated — The doctrine of Mr B.'s Synod sermon, the sole ground of it, justi- fied- — That protest accounted for consistently with a real agree- ment in judgment about the same common principles between Mr Q. and the author — Evidences of this agreement— Mr B.'s views and reasons for stating particularly the principles of the Secession on this subject, against prevailing Sectarian notions — The differ- ent principles charged upon him totally destitute of proof, and directly opposite to his avowed sentiments, and the tenor of all his publications, . . . . . . 208 Sect. XI. Mr B.'s conduct in offering a resignation of the charge ■of the theological class, and yet continuing to officiate, consist- ently accounted for — Mr Culbertson's falsehood and aspersions on this t^pic refuted, ..... . l 23& C>£Ct, XII. Vague reflections on separation inapplicable — The common principles cf Presbyterians about the magistrate's power neither Popish nor Erastian — Equal injury done to them by Mr C. and the Synod's Committee — The representation of Mr B.'a sentiments on the head of the Revolution-settlement in the Com- mittee's Answer to a reason of his remonstrance, most fatae and calumnious CONTENTS. v calumnious— The difference between the Old and New Testimo- nies on that head truly stated ; and that reason of remonstrance justified — The Committee and Synod abettors of gross Erastian- ism in their impertinent reference to the convocational controversy, and judgment upon it — Farther specimens of their unfair statement of the reasons, perversion of language, and misconstruction of the most innocent actions, ..... Page 268 Sect. XIII. Inconsistency charged on the brethren considered- More falsehoods — Mr B. never a proposer or approver of a New- Testimony — Base calumnies as to motives of opposition — Scrip- ture quotations Pulpit-discourses — Old Testament authority disregarded by the patrons of the new scheme — Their mistaken views of the Jewish theocracy — More unfair dealing with the wri- tings and sentiments of Mr B 320 Sect. XIV. Of the Testimony and other acts of the America:. Presbytery — Mr C's mistakes and false deductions from them, exposed — Account of the Synod's procedure in reference to them —How far they were disapproved) and in what manner opposed by- some of the piotesting Brethren — Authentic documents for this produced —Declaration of the ministers in America, in opposition to some of the Synod's new principles — Extracts from a paper written by Mr Beveridge, expressing his latest thoughts on the subject, ........ 34S Sect. XV- False notions of liberty — Reflections on the spirit* manner of introduction, and effects of the new scheme —Present state and disposition of Seceders— Violent perversion of discipline, a deplorable symptom— The measures of the Protesters necessary, without regard to events or favourable appearances — Alledged evil effects of the separation not imputable to them— Not charge- able with any sist in covenanting— Their employment of one that had not joined in the bond — Synod's partizan6 enemies to free reading and impartial enquiry— Their applications to magistrates in church-differences inconsistent and oppressive, . . 375 APPENDIX. N° I. Extract of a letter on withdrawing from communion . 398 II. An address to the Associate Congregation of Whitburn, up- on the 2d Sabbath of October 1806, being that immedi- ately following a pretended sentence of deposition by the Prebytery of Edinburgh against their minister, . . 404 III. Extract from the Synod Sermon on Judges v. 23. respecting the duty of Magistrates as to the public interests of reli« gion, 415 ERRATA. Page lane 7, 6 and 25, for your, read this. 38, 13, dele who- 40, 25 , for depends, read de fiend. 58, 9 from the foot, for /^m, read him. 62 ', 9, for forbiddeth, read forbid. 77, 2, for colon, read a semicolon, adding yea. — , 4, foi while, read to *«ji.r/ that. — ', 16, for to take, read took. 85, 8 from the foot, for manner, read matter. — , 15, for themselves, read them. 97, 10, 11, for point, read points ; tor faiths, Tt*& faith. 127, 7, for *«, read especially vWien a just represen- tation x PREFACE. tation and explanation of facts is chiefly intended. The variety of matters that has been introduce d, the ascer- taining of former or more late transactions, the many references to books or papers, with the quotations from them, required time and research ; as the author wished to avoid the unpardonable fault of the writers of whom he complains, and to be satisfied that he was exact in stating both sentiments and facts. Some expressions in the first Sections, and the short Address prefixed, will be found more accommodated to the first and more limited design, but as the sheets were thrown off at press, before the more enlarged plan was adopted, they are allowed to remain unaltered. There are yet several branches of the general subject, that would require to be more fully treated, whether in a historical or argumentative form, than the nature of this or any of the former publications, by members of the Constitutional Associate Presbytery, could admit of: — But whether any of them may think it proper to conti- nue the labour of writing, or to incur the heavy expence of publishing, afterwards upon them, for the sake of an unenquiring people, will remain for future considera- tion. TO TO PRESBYTERIANS, IN GENERAL; AND TO THE READERS OF THE CHRISTIAN MAGAZINE, IN PARTICULAR. Christian Brethren, i50ME of the following Remarks were written some months ago, and were at first intended to have been sent for insertion in the Christian Magazine, where the Letters referred to ap- peared, in two successive Numbers (a). The Editors would have been, in justice, bound to have given them a ready ad- mission, unless they meant to forfeit, at the very commence- ment of their New Series, all pretensions to impartiality, and to avow that their publication, as now conducted, was to be entirely devoted to the purposes of a party. Though the contents of these letters are not given by them directly in their own name (£), and though they are not directly sanctioned by the authority of Synod, yet as they are published through the channel of their Magazine, which was at first too announced to the public, under the title of The General Synod's Register, they have rendered themselves, if not also the Synod, in some measure, responsible for what is thus published, though from an anonymous correspondent, whose account, however par- tial, will be readily relied on by many, at least until a more authentic and more fair one be given. Were a publisher of any description to circulate throughout the kingdom, though from nameless writers, treason against the king, sedition against the state, or libels against public bodies or individuals, he would certainly be found liable to answer to the laws, and to the parties respectively injured, and to make reparation. But though 1, or any of my brethren, might have claimed of the society of ministers, who have undertaken to be the edi- tors, this piece of common justice in behalf of the accused, and, in my opinion, the injured, and though every reader might (a) No. I. and II. of the New Series. (£) Some explain the signature C. B. D. subjoined to the last of the Letters, a* the initial* of the names of the three supposed conductors, whose joint efforts they may be. A 2 have ( 4 ) have expected something of this kind, yet, upon farther re- flection, I was convinced, both from the narrow limits to which papers in such a miscellany must be restricted, and from the distant intervals at which the numbers are now published, that this mode of communication could not so well answer the purpose. I confess too, I was not altogether free of suspicion, whether the Rev. Editors might be able to di- vest themselves so far of all prepossessions and partial attach- ments, or were possessed of a sufficient degree of liberality, however loudly boasted of, as to admit of the freedom of ani- madversion, which I might reckon myself intitled to, and that the cause might require ; especially after the attempts the Synod, and the warm abettors of the measures, have already- made, to suppress freedom of opposition to them, in court, from pulpit, or from press. I have therefore chosen rather ta avail myself of a right that a kind Providence has yet reserv- ed to us, to appeal directly to the public, and to you in particular, Readers of the Christian Magazine, without ask- ing their clerical permission, or imprimatur : that so I may not be obliged to vrite in shackles, and, after having been judged by them already again and again, to cast ourselves, and our cause, once more on their clemency, and humbly to sue for leave to stand on self-defence, or advise with them in what manner, or in what words, it should be made. The plain verses prefixed for a motto, in the title, contain an useful moral, and not inapplicable to the subject of these letters. They may furnish a proper admonition to the Synod, who have precipitantly judged ; and a needtul caution to all who would pretend to form a right judgment of the transac- tions in question , Audi alteram partem : " Hear both sides" — hath been ever held a necessary rule, in all decisions of law and lestice, ana shall it be disregarded in causes that affect the truth; and interests of religion, and the characters of men and ministers in the church ? [t is hoped, that none who have read these letters, especi- ally none that are connected with the General Associate Sy- nc:!, will rest in the account there given, without seeking far- thei info-!?, at ion, and keeping thei tf minds open to just vindica- tion against -njurious usage and calumnious charges, in what- ever form, or frcm whatever quarter, they may come. I am, Christian Brethren, Your's, respectfully, One of the Protesting Ministers. REMARKS, VA SECTION FIRST. Remarks upon the general Cause between the Synod and the Pro- testers — Improperly introduced to the Public by the Letter- writer, without due previous information, X HE anonymous Correspondent begins his account of the transactions of the General Synod, in their meeting at Glas- gow, August last year, with a cause transmitted from Ireland, which occupied them for a considerable time. With that part of his narrative I have no immediate concern, nor of it chuse to stay at present to speak, farther than to say, that, from the knowledge I have had of some former proceedings of the Ge- neral Synod in regard to that member, when he was repeatedly before them on other charges, and dismissed, or, after some censure, restored, together with such hints of information as to the nature and grounds of the last process, that I have oc- casionally received (for this pretended historiographer keeps these things a dead secret, as he doth also what is most mate- rial in all the other causes he undertakes to report), the Synod's procedure in this affair, whether considered by itself, or in a comparative view, might well admit of some very- unfavourable animadversions, such as the Letter-writer tells us, some have been disposed to make. I confine myself at present to what has a relation to the New Statement of the Synod's public profession, and the proceedings in the case of the brethren who had become protesters against this. It is evident, from the strain of the narrative in the letters, and the reflections accompanying it, that this correspondent has presented himself rather as the avowed advocate for the Synod, tiian the fair historian of its procedure ; and that his chief aim in publishing his letters, if not also of writing them at first, must have been to prepossess the minds of people, not furnished with the proper means of judging for themselves, on the side that he himself had adopted, and on which ( 6 ) which too he may have officially acted ; and, if possible, to wipe off something of the odium that may have been at- tached, in the eye of the public, to some of these proceed- ings. Had he, or any other, transmitted an authentic account of the late and some former proceedings from the minutes of Synod, relating to this long protracte-' affair, or given some just abstract of the original grounds of difference, that all might have had some view of the merits of the cause, he would cer- tainly have performed an acceptable piece of service, against which none concerned could have had any. reasonable ground of complaint. But this he hath not done, nor hath it ever yet been done by the Synod, or any defending the late altera- tions and acts ; nor will this defect be supplied by the publi- cation that has lately appeared under the sanction of a Synodi- cal Committee. On the contrary, a deep silence as to the true nature, extent, and gradual progression of the controversy between the General Synod and the Protesters, had for a long time been generally observed ; and when that could no longer be done, partial accounts and misrepresentation, in some in- stances gmss falsehoods, have been obtruded upon the public. When, for some years by-past, brief accounts were transmit- ted for insertion in the Christian Magazine of the proceedings upon the Overtures respecting the New Testimony, in their different stages, no notice w T as usually taken of the dissents from these deeds ; and the little that was at last added was sup- plied by another hand : and even a statement of a few facts in this way, was to some keen partizans a matter of great offence. There is a disposition to search after articles of intelligence from afar ; and incidents sometimes sufficiently trivial, pro- vided they come from Otaheite, the Cape, &.c. will be par- ticularly detailed ; while occurrences at home, more interest- ing to religion and the immediate duty of people, are often neglected or unknown ; — so that persons are in danger of being like the geographer, who, after he had delineated the various countries throughout the world, was at a loss to find his way near his doors, and wandered within a few miles of his own dwelling It may appear strange, though true, that the protesting Ministers themselves have never to this day obtained an ex- tract from Synod of the paper given in to it in May last year, though regularly and repeatedly demanded, nor yet of the re- quisition to repeal the new terms of communion, and to re- view the acts, and the protestation accompanying it, presented the year before, — nor of the answer returned to it; though these were the very things which brought matters to the cri- sis between the Synod and them ; and not mere difference in sentiments, about particular points in dispute, in themselves con- ( * ) considered, as to some of which, different opinions had long subsisted, and might still have subsisted, had it not been for the judicial decision and imposition, finally and irreversibly declared. As that paper, the protests, and tne conduct na- tively consequent upon them, have been made the principal, or rather the only ground of the sentences which yeui^corre- ftuA Spondent attempts to vindicate, common equity required that they should have been communicated to the parties in the form of a charge, that they might have had opportunity of deliber- ately reviewing the words and import of them before sentence, and that they and others might be able to judge whether they in reality contain what is called a material declinature (for a formal and absolute one it is not pretented they bear), and whether all expressed in them may not be justifiable upon the genuine principles of Presbyterians, and of Seceders in parti- cular, and consistent with due regard to the supreme judica- tory, and all that subjection which, by the w T ord of God and the original terms of association, it could claim over them. The greatest malefactor that is brought before a court of jus- tice, will receive his indictment, with his ailedged crimes, and the laws against which they strike, particularly specified, and the evidence in support of it ready to be produced: but no- thing of this kind, first or last, hath been done in the cause un- der consideration, so far as it is a common cause. While yaux correspondent hath not by a due statement of facts, furnished his readers with the necessary previous infor- mation, to enable them to judge of the merits of the cause, what he hath written can serve little purpose, except to shew his ea- gerness to obtrude on the public his own crude reflections upon the subject. Without a proper statement of the controversy, it is impossible that he can offer any satisfactory vindication of the Synod's procedure in the result. He hath not so much as made a reference to the abstract of the paper, as inserted in the Christian Magazine for July 1806, as if the less his read- ers knew of the series of former proceedings, they might be more easily persuaded to believe on his word, or on the bare authority of Synod, that all that was done, was rightly done. Indeed, if to introduce such a cause at all into a publication where the necessary details could not be given, and which from its design did not admit of a full and free discussion on both sides, was hardly excusable; to do it in the abrupt, curtailed, and partial manner in which it hath been done, is highly repre- hensible. His present mode of treating the subject is like ushering a number of spectators into a court of judicature, when a verdict is given in, or a sentence pronouncing upon a party, while they were totally unacquainted with the conduct or facts upon which the process was founded, and had no access to hear ( 8 ) hear the previous trial, or pleadings on either side. They might hear a sentence past, but whether justly or unjustly they had not the means for determining. The majority of voices in no human court can be a sufficient criterion of truth and error, innocence or guilt. There was a time when even the Holy One and the Just, who is infinitely greater than all Ills servants, was, after a mock trial, both before an ecclesias- tical and secular tribunal, condemned-^when loud vociferations; were heard in the sanhedrim, " He is guilty of death" and when these chief priests and elders, in accusing him, and de- livering him up to another unrighteous tribunal, would have their simple verdict to be received instead of evidence. '« If " he w T ere not a malefactor, we would not have delivered him " up to thee," John xiii. 30. But it is a Protestant principle, that Christian synods and councils may err, and many of them have erred. They may therefore warrantably be brought to # a superior bar to have all their decisions tried and judged, and, in a thousand instances, it may he found that the cause of Christ, and his followers adhering to it, has suffered wrong- fully even from those who have acted in his name. To con- clude men, therefore, to be culpable because church rulers may say so, or censurable merely for dissenting from their deeds, or for acting in opposition to them, is to proceed by i;.o sure rule of judgment : nor will all that has been branded with the name ofheresy, disobedience, disorder, schism, deserve to be so accounted. All but those who ascribe infallibility to the decisions of their church must confess, that there may be a lawful as well as unwarrantable dissent from even the highest ecclesiastical judicatory, and on certain grounds even a declinature of it; and that all separation is not schism. If it were otherwise, then all that have seceded from the church of Rome, of England, or Scotland, are notorious and confessed schismatics, if not also heretics. But the apostle describes the schismatical dividers, when he says, " Mark them which cause divisions and offences, contra- " ry to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them." Rom. xvi. J 7. The guilt lies at the door of those who intro- duce innovations, who change the doctrines* or depart from the terms of fellowship, unity and order, received and establish- ed, according to the scripture, in any church. Those who know any thing of the nature of the protestations against the late acts of the General Synod, or who look back to the ab- stract referred to in a former Magazine, may know that acharge of this nature has been brought against that Synod, a charge no less than this, * of having departed from some important 4 doctrines of the Protestant churches, of the Westminster Con r 4 fession of Faith, and of that particular Testimony they had * subscribed ; ( o ) • subscribed ; of changing these books and ordination vows,— • and imposing others as terms of communion, — not only tend- ' ing to involve themselves in the guilt of inconsistency, apos- « tacy, and perjury, but to oblige all others to participate with ' rhem in it, in order to retain their place or the enjoyment of ' privileges in connection with them.* By these, with other grievances and offences that have been long accummulat- ing, an J rigidly defended, (notwithstanding of some deceitful and inconsistent pretensions to the exercise of lenity and indul- gence, which the protesters never craved, never needed, when right could be pleaded, nor can lawfully accept, as offered and restricted) has the separation been produced. If there ba any truth in the charge, which is one of the highest impor- tance to any church, and which deeply interests the conscience ©f every man and woman in it, it may be easy to see, who have bsen the first in separation, — who have broken the bonds of settled fellowship, and criminally withdrawn themselves from communion. That the charges are supported by the strongest proof, the protesting brethren are fully convinced. They are sorry, that they can be so easily and abundantly proved, from the public deeds and writings of the Synod : •though every reader will be satisfied that this is not the pro- per place to enter into particulars ; as this would bring under review the several articles of remonstrance, and a discussion of the general controversy, which hath in part been already done in another publication, and which, were it practicable here, would be paying an attention unto the desultory remarks of an anonymous writer, to which they are not intitled. If the Synod have not yet been able to repel the above charge, or to reconcile their former with their new profession, to the satisfaction of their brethren, and a great part of the re- ligious or even of the less religious public — it is no very favour- able symptqm of their cause, that after they Have so often and so loudly disclaimed the use of all other weapons in the spiritual warfare but argument and persuasion, they should have recourse at last to artifice, evasions, misrepresentation, detraction and falsehood {carnal weapons, in the worstjsense of the word) ; or at best to attempt to decide the controversy by a violent and arbitrary exercise of authority, that the voice tif opposition may no more be heard among any in their con- nection. This is to add tyranny to unfaithfulness and perfidy, and to crown their iniquity by persecuting that profession in those who adhere to it, which they themselves once made, and were equally bound with their brethren for ever to promote. Constancy* and consistency in a religious profession, fide- lity to engagements with God or men, veneration for and fear of violating an oath* are in scripture-reckoning, as they must B ever ( « ) ever be in the estimate of all who have any due sense of relk gion or morality on their minds, accounted highly commend- able instead of criminal. Nor do societies of men, ecclesias- tical or civil y however they may gradually change, or deviate from the constitutional principles publicly settled, and solemn- ly assented to, usually proceed to a direct and formal con- demnation of these, or all at once compel persons to renounce or contradict the engagements they had been brought under to adhere to them. It is perhaps the first instance in the annals of Protestantism of a synod,, or any ecclesiastical assembly* adventuring to sentence members to seclusion, and ministers to. deposition, for conscientious and literal adherence to the terms settled by the common consent and authority of that church: of which they were members, while those who would thus force them to violate their faith, had come under the same obli- gations. For this in fact will be found, at bottom, the amount of the culpable conduct imputed to these brethren, and the principal, if not the only ground of the censures which this correspondent has the temerity to defend- And though for such conduct, put under disguise and stigmatised by another name, they may now be ranked with " culprits," and even by a Synpd formed for the purpose of witnessing for that cause in which they have been contending, they have been prefer- red in censure to defenders of the doctrine of Balaam, teach- ing Christians to commit fornication — teachers of Pelagian and Socinian errors — perfidious violators of marriage-promises, &e. yet we need not wonder at this; — it hath beert the common way in backsliding churches. We may cease either to won- der or complain, when He who knew no sin, was delivered up^ to crucifixion, and a murderer was released ; " and there '«• were two thieves crucified with him, and Jesus m the midst j* one of whom also * railed on him." SECTION SECOND. The protesting Ministers separated in Process— TheProceedingr in the Case of Mr AlTKEN. W HEN the four seceding ministers in 1733 were ordered to appear before the Commission of the General Assembly that year r to profess their sorrow for having protested against the sentence of the Assembly, and to retract their protesta- < 11 ) tion, the Commission, knowing it to be more easy to prevail against men standing single, than when acting jointly, had. previously resolved, that they wonki not admit the brethren to a healing in any common paper or representation, but would oblige them to answer one by one, and viva voce. This mode of procedure was complained of; — and when Mr Erskine was interrogated, he insisted on his right of answering in the man- ner he thought best, and referred them to his written repre- sentation and answers, jointly given' in by him and one of the brethren, as the other two had also united in another paper, the Commission thought it proper in part to depart from their former resolution. The General Synod have so far imitated this policy, in separating all the protesters in the proceedings against them : and though th-e cause as to all of them be sub- stantially the s^me, the same mode of prosecution hath not been taken with any two of them. Comparing the several processes and the subsequent sentences together, they vary greatly from one another, as they all differ from the rules of just discipline. In some of them there is neither uniformity nor consistency, except in the inveterate opposition they dis- play to their cause, and a prevailing disposition for arbitrary measures. In this way of managing their processes (if pro- cesses they may be called) they have in so far deprived those brethren of the benefit of common counsel, and the encourage- ment and strength arising from joint defence and co-operation : but, if they intended hereby to divide them in their judgment and attachment to the common cause, or in their affection to one another, they have failed in their aim. As in their great object, and previous contending, they were lovingly united, so in these severe conflicts and deaths, to which they have been subjected, through the help of God, they are not di- vided. Following therefore the manner of Synodical procedure, and the order in which the Letter-writer narrates the proceed- ings in their case, it will be needful to take notice of some things that may be peculiar to each of them separately consi- dered, as well as what relates to them all in common. Some animadversions both on the Synod's deeds, and on the frivol- ous apologies, the impertinent observations, misrepresenta- tions and false colourings, of this defamatory writer, are high- ly requisite in the mean time, until the brethren may find more leisure, or reckon it expedient, either for the satisfaction of others, or their own vindication, to give a more particular account of their conduct in this whole affair, with the reasons for it, and expose more fully the irrfgul irity, injustice, and nullity of the Synodical censures. B 2 A« ( 12 ) As no resolution had been taken, at the close of the forme* meeting of Synod, to prosecute them on the common ground of the paper subscribed by them all, or on their conduct in court, in opposition to Synodical proceedings, — some other pretexts must be found for sisting them at the bar at the meeting in Glasgow. The presbyteries to which these bre- thren belonged took care to furnish these, bringing up charges relating to their conduct out of court in reference to the public cause, though in conformity to the tenor of the protests. In the case of one of them, this had been in part done previous to the meeting in Spring, in the transmission of a protest and appeal by some elders and others, as to which judgment was deferred at the preceding meeting ; and additional matter was stated in a posterior representation of the presbytery of the bounds. In the case of Messrs Bruce and M'Crie, some form of charges was devised in the interval, and transmitted by refer^ ence to the General Synod at Glasgow. As to the other bro- ther (Mr Hog) no reference whatever appears to have been made by his presbytery. These charges transmitted from presbyteries, though they appeared to abstract from the mat- ters of contending in the General Synod, and introduced some local and occasional matters, were yet in their nature inti- mately connected with the former. The Letter-writer has given in page 27, the grounds upon *.vhich Mr Aitken's sentence was founded, apparently copied from the Synod's minutes *. But he is at some pains to per- suade the reader that it abstracts wholly from the public prin- ciples in dispute, and his opposition to the Narrative andTes- * ' The Synod having found, at last meeting, that the minister and acting mem- * bers of. the session of Kirriemuir had materially declined subordination to this 1 Synod, on the subject of our public received principle?; and finding that Mr ' A n had not obeyed the apui acta summons of this Synod, nor the citation ' by the Presbytery of Forfar, to attend this meeting, nor sent any excuse: Finding 1 also, by papers transmitted by the Presbytery to this meeting, that Mr A— — — n c had bapric-ed children to persons of other congregations, who had been excluded ' from communion, and who were still lying under scandal: Also, that he had ' admitted persons to communion from other congregations, without any regular * attestation, and others who were lying under suspension by a sentence ot this ' Synod : That he had proceeded to an ordination of elders, in opposition to a ' protest by a number of the members of his session, and also by a number of the ' members of the congregation; and also, that at said ordination he had omitted a * principal part of the Formula acknowledged by himself, in not taking those whom c he was going to ordain [bound] to subjection to any court superior to a session. ' And, considering that.all this disorderly and schismaticalcoursehe has been charge- 1 able with, notwithstanding the Synod had declared their willingness to continue lel- i lowship with him, as expressed in the act preceding the Narrative and Testimony, * and the agreement of Synod, in May 7, 1805, in which it is declared," The r Synod have net prohibited our brethren from receiving into communion persons c who better understand or approve of the former statement of our principles," it ' was therefore moved, that Mr A n be deposed, or at least su>peniied; and * ft carried by a very considerable majority, Depose.* timony ( 13 ) timony lately enacted. ' Let any person,' says he, * be at * the trouble to read over the grounds of this sentence, and 4 see if any such thing is there to be found.' But if any can read them, and see nothing of this kind there, he must be very void of discernment indeed, or so blinded by preju- dice that he cannot exercise his judgment. What will he find in the beginning or at the end of them but his sentiments and conduct with regard to the public profession ? and what will the other particular charges about ordaining elders, admitting persons to communion, &.c. if they were to be narrowly in- vestigated, but concomitants, or occasional acts necessarily re- sulting from the other, in the circumstances in which he found himself and fellow-professors placed, in reference to it and the courts that had altered and deserted it ? The motion begins thus, f The Synod having found at last meeting, that the mi- ' nister and acting members of the session of Kirriemuir had ' materially declined subordination to this Synod, on the sub- ' ject of our received principles ;' — and ends thus, • and consi- * dering that all this disorderly and schismatical course he has ' been chargeable with, notwithstanding the Synod had de- * clared their willingness to continue fellowship with him, as ' expressed in the act preceding the Narrative and Testimony, f and the agreement of Synod in May 7, 1S05, in which it is ' declared, " The Synod have not prohibited their brethren ' from receiving into communion persons who better under- * stand or approve of the former statement of our principles," f it was therefore moved, &x. and it carried by T a very consi- * derable majority, Depose.' The protestation in May 1S05, to which Mr A. and his ses- sion became adherents — to which all the other ministers after- wards adhered, called here a material declinature, is made the original and leading ground in his sentence. Now that protesta- tion, or whatever it may be called, wholly respected the state- ment of the public principles, and the enactment of the New Testimony and Formula : it was a temporary expedient, in- tended to secure the rights of ministers, elders, &.c. from the ef- fect of these new deeds, and stating their resolution to maintain communion on the same grounds they had ever been accustom- ed to do, waiting for the final answer of Synod, at next meet- ing, to the requisition made to- alter the new terms. It was of the same import with the conclusion of the other paper in May 1806, subscribed in common, — which became the prin- cipal ground of charge in the subsequent proceedings ; only the former referred to a temporary, the latter to a permanent state of things, by the refusal of any alteration of terms, in which the brethren were obliged to declare the only footing on which they were henceforth to be considered as exercising office f ^ ; cilice or holding communion, while these deeds stood in force. But all that relates to principles, or the difference between one testimony and another, is with the Letter -writer, and with the Synod too, a matter of very trivial consideration: — Mr A. and all his brethren, it seems, might have believed, an4 taught, and practised too, what they pleased as to all these matters in controversy, without being questioned, provided they allowed others to do the same, and did not trouble the world about a testimony. Take it in this correspondent's own words ; ' Mr A. and those who adhere to him, have been 4 told times without number, that they were at liberty to re- * tain all their peculiar opinions about the magistrate's power, ' and also their opinions about the new deeds, only they were 1 not to disturb the peace of the church with these matters.* They were further told, « that as the Synod considered the 4 new display of the principles of the Secession church to be * substantially the same with the former, they were at liberty * to take in as many accessions to the old Testimony as they 1 could regularly obtain.' I forbear to animadvert particular- ly, at present, either on the improper expressions, or the im- port and truth of the assertions here thrown out, farther than to say, that this is very palatable and accommodating doctrine, well suited to the general taste of this age, and to the great body of modern Seceders. It is the lullaby-song still soiinded in their ears to keep them all quiet, and to represent the Synod, in car- rying on their scheme of innovation and imposition, as diatin-* guishedfor their moderation and forbearance; and of consequence those who are not contented with such liberty and latitude, a$ men very obstinate and unreasonable. The time has been, when Presbyterians would have seen the snake in the grass, and have detected the latent poison under fair and honied words, A little reflection might shew any how unfriendly the spirit and maxims they commend, must be to the interests of truth, to the chief design of creeds and testimonies ; — how opposite they are in particular to the whole tenor of the testimony and contendings of Seceders, as separated from other parties, and how inapplicable they are to the contents and terms of the new system, and the measures by which it is actually enforced. — Though there is here artifice used to cover up the principal cause of difference from view, yet there is a concession plainly implied, that must in so far acquit Mr A. as well as all the rest, from liableness to censure on the head of principles public or private : and in ordaining or admitting any to communion ac- cording to the former testimony, and the tenor of the protes- tation, he must be exculpated, if he had not touched the credit of the Synod, and departed a little from some usual points of ecclesiastical form. The profession of faith which that bro- ther ( 15 > ther macte, and required, — the terms upon which the commu- nion table was opened for all comers^ are fully approved, or at least not prohibited. The great offence must have been in overlooking some usual formalities in the manner of attesta* tion — overleaping in some instances the line that bounds ad- jacent congregations, &.c These indeed, without some ade- quate reason, may be offensive irregularities ; — but before the conclusion can be certainly drawn that they are real offences, deserving censure, especially to such an amount — the inquiry must be, whether there may not be cases and situations in which points of external order and ecclesiastical forms, may not, must not be made to yiek! to matters of higher moment at stake, such as, maintaining the public faith, fulfilment of solemn vows, relieving those who in a public cause are injured and oppressed, and the like; and whether any such strong reasons did exist, as certainly they did in the view of the actor, in the cases- referred to. The Seceders at first, when the reformation principles of the church of Scotland were attacked, and the religious rights of Christians invaded throughout the land, made no scruple to break through some of these punctilios of form, by granting privileges to those unjustly deprived of them in other con- gregations ; and they continue to disregard the legal boundaries of parishes unto this day; notwithstanding the censures in- flicted on them by ecclesiastical judicatories for this their schismatical and disorderly conduct, after bearing for several years with those and other irregularities (as they were deem- ed), carried on to a far greater extent than has ever been done by any of the protesting ministers, and which this writer says, * could be tolerated in no society which makes the smallest ' pretensions to any thing like good order and discipline.' How then came such practices to be considered as not only tolera- ble but praise- worthy and indispensible duty in the fathers of the Secession ? Was it not on account of the urgent necessity laid upon them to assert the laws of Christ, the principles of the Reformation, and the liberties of Christians, in that man- ner, as things of superior obligation to the strict observance of such restrictions as mere order or the canons of churches may prescribe in ordinary cases. It is well known that, as soon as their public protests entered in the judicatories against the act n32, about the settlement of ministers, and their testi- mony in a doctrinal manner against that and some other evils, were disregarded andrestricted — they declared their resolution to relieve such as had not freedom to submit to the ministry of intruders, and were by the acts of the courts to be deprived of their privileges on that account. The act that was passed as to the ministers of the Presbytery of Dunfermline, prohi- biting ( « ) biting them from dispensing sealing ordinances to any belonging unto such parishes without the concurrence of their ministers* under the highest censures, was not only protested against and disregarded m practice, but was stated among the first and chief grounds of their secession. The protesters against the Synod had in no instance, so far as known, gone out of the bounds of their own congregations either to preach or dispense sealing ordinances, or to excite people to forsake their owa ministers, prior to the sentences inflicted ; — they had not for- mally or practically made a secession, but only received peo- ple from other places, as they had always done occasionally to communion, when they were sufficiently attested either by their own ministers or others ; and when they were considered as offenders merely for adhering to their former profession, and were denied privileges or attestations for doing so, this was a stronger inducement) and laid a double obligation upon them, to receive such when otherwise admissible, even to all the ex- tent of the protestation. If, in any one instance, any person was admitted to privileges either at K. or elsewhere, without credible attestations of christian and moral character, or while lying under scandal in the ordinary acceptation of the word, it is more than has yet been instructed j — at any rate^ it would have been beyond and contrary to the advice and the resolution agreed upon, when the brethren consulted together upon this subject in Spring 1805, occasioned by a representation of the state of a number of people within the bounds of Forfar Pres- bytery, who for some time had reckoned themselves constrain- ed to withdraw, or were actually excluded, by the imposition of new terms, from communion with their own congregations. For, even at that time, written petitions were presented to the protesting ministers, subscribed by a goodly cumbex (between 30, or 40, in one congregation, and about 50 in another), soliciting relief, and urging them with that view to constitute themselves into a Presbytery; — which they thought expedient at that time, and throughout the course of the summer, to de- cline, though the request was afterwards repeated verbally by a number of serious people, convened on a certain occasion, from seven or eight different congregations. These the Letter- writer, in his reproachful style, will per- haps tell his readers, were ' malecontents from all quarters * of the Secession admitted to the communion table at K — r.' ,It is indeed matter of regret that such causes of public dis- content should have been given to the Christian people at large, and that any should have found such stumbling-blocks in the way of their usual edification at home. But let him take heed, how he traduces a number of serious persons under such ( *1 ) such names, lest he should incur the grievous doom denounced against those who offend one of the little ones that belong to Jesus. What if those he terms malecontents were among the intelligent, peaceable, godly; of unblemished character; who were from conscience shewing regard to Christ's cause, and sorrowful for the solemn assembly, to whom the reproach of it was a burden; perhaps a number of them become gray head- ed in a steady adherence to the secession testimony through former perils; perhaps some of them had sitten under the mi- nistry of some of the first seceding brethren, before as well as after they left their parish churches, who, after having seen the secession in its first vigour and zeal, little expected to have lived to see such a day as is now come upon it ? It is not doubted that a proper statement of facts by that brother would be sufficient to wipe off" the odium attempted to be cast, both by the Synod and their apologist, upon him and the acting members of the session in Kirriemuir, in the instances in which they are blamed. The following short ac- count drawn from information upon wmich I can rely, com- municated about the time when the transactions happened, may serve in the mean time to explain the nature and ground of these charges. When the overtures about the New Testimony, &c. were ordered by the Synod to be printed and transmitted to Pres- byteries and Sessions, representations and remonstrances, stat- ing objections against them, were sent up from different quar- ters, to which no satisfactory answers were returned. The Session and a great part of the congregation of Kirriemuir, in particular, had remonstrated, as well as their minister. A number of people in the congregation of Arbroath, with a majority of the elders, had done the same, while their minister concurred with the Synod ; as did also a number of the people of Alyth: both places being in the Presbytery of Forfar and neighbourhood of Kirriemuir. When the Synod had enacted the New Testimony and other deeds, and made them the terms of their future communion, these people were reduced to a strait about holding communion as now stated. Accordingly they began to abstain from joining in sealing ordinances when the new terms were admitted; and some of those in neigh- bouring congregations withdrew from hearing; such of them as were within reach attending occasionally at Kirriemuir. The Session of K. having- entered into their minutes an express adherence to the protestation (formerly mentioned) taken in Synod, May 1805, so far as was competent to them, whereby they declared against any concurrence in the execu- tion of the new deeds, or subjection to the judicatories in act- ing according to them or enforcing them, this became the C ground ( 18 ) ground upon which the}- stood and acted in the mean time. In this they were supported by a decided majority of the con- gregation. But a party had, before this time, begun to appear active on the side of the new principles, and pursued measures, in concert with some neighbouring ministers, tending to hurt the peace, and otherwise injure the interests of the congregation. At the head of this party, not amounting to upwards of thirty persons, men and women included, were two of the elders, fa- ther and son, who by their conduct rendered themselves par- ticularly obnoxious to the session and congregation, and were laid aside from the exercise of their office and from communion, till the next ordinary meeting of Presbytery, to which their case was referred by the session. In a full congregational meeting, they were also laid aside from the office of trustees or managers of the secular affairs of the congregation *. The Presbytery, without finding the least fault with the son's con- duct, restored him to the exercise of his office and to commu- nion ; against which the elder from the session protested in his own name, and appealed to the Provincial Synod of Perth to meet in October that year. The Presbytery delayed the consideration of the father's case until a subsequent meeting, * Not to mention their assiduity in disseminating the new principles (one of them in particular having made it a practice to visit and harangue on this subject a great number of families in the congregation), they had concerted measures, long before matters came to a decision in Synod, to retain the rights to the property of the congregation, with a view to deprive them of it in the event of a separation ; and in the mean time to deny them the free management and disposal of their se- cular affairs. So early as the Summer of 1804, the father, having been Box-mas- ter, and expressing his desire to be relieved from this employment, the session appointed another in his place; to whom however he refused to deliver up the Box, containing, among other things, all the title-deeds to the meeting-house, manse, and other property belonging to the congregation; of which the Box-mas- ter for the time being had been uniformly the keeper from the period of the con- gregation's erection The session dealt with him in vain. At last, for the sak» of peace, and out of condescension to him and his party, a proposal was made, that, as there were two keys belonging to the Box, they should have the cusrody of one of them, to prevent its being opened, or any use being made of the papers contained in it, without their consent. This was unanimously agreed to in a full meeting of the session, and recorded in their minutes; the son, who was well known to be his father's leader in this business, being the first and most forward to express his hearty consent. At a subsequent meeting, however, both of them refused to fulfil the agreement: and in consequence of a formal demand from the congregation, as well as the session, to deliver up their title-deeds, the father an- swered that the box was in the custody of his son, the foresaid busy elder ; when application was made to the son, he refused to deliver it up, saying, he would give it to his father, if he desired it. Upon this the session found themselves constrain- ed to lay them both aside, as above mentioned ; not only on account of their ty- rannically detaining the rights of the session and congregation, but doing so in the way of breaking through an unanimous agreement of session, expressly consented to by themselves. Indeed, such was the just indignation of the congregation at their coudnct, that not one-tenth of them would have submitted to them in the exercise of their office, until they gave satisfaction. when ( '9 ) when they not only restored him without censure, but record- ed in their minutes a justification of his conduct. The state of the contendings was considerably altered in con- sequence of what took place at the meeting of the General Sy- nod in Spring 1S05. Altho' the session of K. reckoned it their duty to act according to the protestation recorded in their mi- nutes, vet they did not require an assent to this deed, from two members of session who were otherwise minded, as a term of their continuing to sit : it was only required of them to concur with the session in declaring their adherence to their ordination vows; and that in all their official actings, particularly in the admission and attestation of persons to communion, they were to be considered as standing upon the ground of the former principles, without giving countenance to the new terms. One of these elders declared that he could not keep his seat upon that condition, and accordingly withdrew. The other, at a sub- sequent meeting, read a paper, declaring his views of old and new principles, and his apparent wish to adhere to both. The session, on account of the evident embarrassment of mind un- der which he laboured, allowed the paper to lie on the table, agreeing to converse with him afterwards on the subject, which was done at different meetings, until he also deserted the ses- sion. The elder who first withdrew, with the father, who, as formerly mentioned, had been restored by the Presbytery, went up to the Presbytery, and entered a complaint that the session had excluded them from their seats, which, with- out giving any advertisement to the session, w r as received and sent up to the Provincial Synod of Perth. At the same meeting, a material libel against the moderator and session was also drawn up, approved by the Presbytery, and transmitted to the Synod, without giving the session the least advice of it, without requiring their attendance, or allow- ing them to know the charges which it contained, except by report. It was said to contain charges of imposing new terms of communion, insubordination, independency, absence from presbyteries, substituting other reasons of fast in the room of those of the Synod, teaching principles contrary to those of the Synod, &c. The Presbytery had now assumed the dis- posal of the box, and these steps were taken evidently with sl view to support the civil process which was carrying on. The Provincial Synod not seeing it proper to abet the hasty measures of the Presbytery, and the latter not judging it pro- per to prosecute the representation which they had drawn up*, recourse was had to other means to bring the mi- C 2 nister * Though no citation, or intimation of what was to come before the provincial Synod, was given to the parties chiefly interested, yet it was thought best, if pos- sible, to obviate misrepresentation, to send a copy of the protestation allowed by the C 20 ) nister and session before the General Synod. A petition was accordingly presented to the session by a few members of the congregation, requesting that the elders who had been laid aside should be allowed to take their seats, in consequence of their being restored by the Presbytery, as above narrated : a petition against their restoration was at the same time given in by a greatnumberof the congregation. The session having refus- ed to restore them, the petitioners protested and appealed to the Presbytery, which met immediately before the General Synod in Spring 1806, by whom it was referred to that Synod. The session, in consequence of the appeal, took the opportunity of laying before the Presbytery the true state and reasons of their procedure, which was complained of, and so much misrepre- sented, which they wished to go to the General Synod, though they did not mean to fall from the protestation marked in their minutes. With a declaration to the same purpose, the mini- ster and elder from the session attended the hearing of the cause. Mr A. expressed his anxious wish that the Synod would take it up, and his readiness to produce evidence which would vindicate himself and session, and expose the irregular proceedings of the Presbytery, and the party in the congrega- tion whom they supported ; but the Synod, instead of doing this, delayed the cause until the meeting at Glasgow, where, by the state into which matters were brought respecting the public cause at this meeting, he was precluded from attend- the General Synod, and to complain of the irregularity of the Presbytery's proce- dure; urging farther, that the provincial Synod would see it to be incompetent for them, or any inferior court, to take cognizance of their conduct in matteri respec- ting the public cause, when the superior court had yet given no judgment upon their requisition and protestation. The provincial Synod found that they could not regularly proceed upon the representation laid before them, and advised the Presbytery to have a friendly conversation with the minister and session of K. about the matters which it contained. Upon intimation of this, Mr A. request- ed a copy of said representation, as necessary in order to his forming a judgment whether he could attend the Presbytery with the view of canvassing with them the various matters which it contained, consistently with the situation in which he stood by the protestation lying before the General Synod. This, though repeat- edly asked, was refused, and the only answer which he received from the Pres- bytery clerk was, ' that they were under no appointment to give him an extract • of their representation; but if he chused to attend, he would soon see whether can- 4 vassing the matter of it was consistent with his protest; and if he thought it other- * wise, he could easily withdraw.' Bur if they would not allow him a sight ©f the libellous charges against himself, they were not so scrupulous about furnishing (perhaps without Synodical appointment) the civil court with a copy, to further an iniquous process against the congregation: and the party concerned would pro- bably never have obtained a sight of it to this day, if they had not got an extract of it from the Sheriff Clerk's office ! It was not carried up to the General Synod in May 1806, where Mr A. was present ; but something of the same kind was mus- tered up, with additional charges of a posterior date about baptising, dispensing the communion, &c. and laid before the Synod at Glasgow (as mentioned in the minute among the grounds of censure), and this still without imparting them to him, much less with libel or witnesses. ing. ( 21 ) ing. Facts having been stated by the session as to the patel- lar matters which the appeal respected, and they having pled that they only acted in conformity to the protest allowed in the superior court, this was all the answer which they reckoned needful, and all that they thought their duty to the court, or the cause viewed as a separate process, required. It was evident, that it was identified and absorbed in the common and general cause, in which all the adherents to the protestation were engaged, which was at this time brought to a decision by the negative given to the requisition. Mr A. having now joined in the last form of protestation, it was both unnecessary and improper for him to attend the farther prosecution of that, as a perso- nal or congregational cause, notwithstanding the apud acta ci- tation given him to do so, or the post-letter citation (which he received only the day before the Synod met at Glasgow) from the clerk of the Presbytery of Forfar; relating, as he might presume, to such incidental steps of conduct as those of last year, some of which are specified in the minutes of Synod, or mention- ed under the general name of disorderly and schismatical cour- ses; all, or the greater part of which charges, admitted of the same general answer, and a summary defence. On the common ground of the remonstrances, or the protestation first or second, or in refusing to submit to the synodical restrictions, he was not more liable to a charge than others were, who received no citation on any of these accounts, nor is it pretended that on any of these he was served with a separate citation ; though marked out for the first and a separate censure. The session of Kirriemuir having been diminished by the death of some members, and by the misconduct of others, it became necessary to proceed to the election and ordination complained of. Though the use of the old formula of ques- tions had been now laid aside, and even forbidden by the Sy- nod, the ministers had the same right to use it as ever, and had protested for retaining that right, in opposition to any at- tempt by the judicatories, or others, to hinder them. There was no reason, therefore, to stop procedure to ordination, on account of the opposition made by the few dissentients, tending to bring them to a forced subjection to the new deeds. Nor could it be supposed that Mr A. could take from those or- dained a vow of subjection to any court, inferior or superior, but as constituted and acting in support of the system to which they were bound in the other questions. What is said by the Letter-writer about the omission or circumstantial accommo- dation of the clauses respecting subordination, is too trifling to deserve notice, except in as far as it coincides with the com- mon charge of declinature. How childish is it to declaim up- on this, as he does, as if Mr A. could not be pleased with either ( 22 ) either the old or new formula, but must have one of his own ; or as if he were denying the due subordination of Presbyterian courts ! Because some words in the old might not be adapted to the circumstances of every time or place, nor to that par- ticular case, was that an evidence that he disapproved of it, or that he meant to set up a mere congregational government ? The protestation upon which he and his session at that time stood expressly bore the contrary; and they were dutifully waiting to see what would be the final result of their contend- ing with the General Synod. Did the ministers of the first Associate Presbytery attack. Presbyterian subordination, be- cause they required of none taken by them into office subordi- nation to any Synod or General Assembly then actually exist- ing ? There are in both the old and new formula some things always left to the discretion of the ordainers, to be omitted or varied as circumstances may require j as that which relates to families, &c. What will this writer, or the Synod, who have marked down this occasional omission as a ground of deposition, say in defence of a presbytery, still in their connexion (that of Pennsylvania in America) or of the Genera) Synod, for neglect- ing to censure that presbytery, who, in 17S5, composed a new formula of questions to be put to elders, without con- sulting the Synod upon the head ; and who, by a posterior act, June 1786, declared, that, 'as subordination of any sort * to the Associate Synod of Edinburgh is a stumbling-block— 1 ive have not, in the Declaration and Testimony, agreed upon ' by us in 1784, nor in the formula to be put to elders at their * ordination, agreed upon by us in 1785, nor in wy of our ' late acts, expressed any subordination to thai Synody nor do * we intend to express any for the time to come. We lately ' applied to them for their judgment and advice in matters of * importance, respecting the profession of the faith made by ' us ; — desiring them to correct any mistake in the Narrative, * Declaration, and Testimony, agreed upon by us, — but, as ' Christians and as Protestants, we never could, and we never ' did, propose to admit of any corrections or alterations of any * work published by us, unless we were first satisfied that they ' were just and necessary*.* The General Synod had this act formally under review — in which were things more apparently ' inconsistent with one of the leading features of the Presby- ' terian form of church-government, and a gross violation of the 1 old formula' in use bv the Synod, (for then they had not a new one ) than any thing that had yet been done by any of the protesters. Did the Synod ever put the vote either to sus- * Printed copy, Philad. corrected by the hand of the Rev. Thomas Beveridge, fines mi. pend ( 23 ) pend or depose ? No such motion was ever made. In their act explaining their connection with that Presbytery, in 1789, they slightly pass over any irregularity in passing such an act, or in their conduct, — being chiefly anxious in the future regulations to be observed, that there should be agreement in the same profession of faith and testimony, and among others, laid these brethren under the following restrictions ; ' that ' the Presbytery do not give up any truth testified for by this 1 Synod, nor enter into any connection with such as oppose ' themselves to any part of our Christian and witnessing p.ro- 4 fession ; — farther, that the formula of questions to be put to 1 ecclesiastical office-bearers in said Presbytery ought to con- ' tain an engagement to maintain the truth of the gospel, a- * gainst such as oppose it in that part of the world : but the 4 questions in said formula ought to be as near to those put ' by this Synod in Britain and Ireland, as the state of the ' church in America will admit ; and none of these shall con- ' tradict the testimony maintained by this Synod : and further 4 it is requisite, that the said formula should keep the unity *■ of the Spirit in the bond of peace, in contending for the faith 4 and order of the church, as a part of the same witnessing 4 body with this Synod.' What was then the witnessing pro- fession of the Associate Body and Synod, the brethren, now condemned as disorderly for adherence to the old formula, have been endeavouring strenuously to maintain. Was there any- thing in the ordination of elders, or in the exclusion of some from their seats, or in the admission of any into communion at Kirriemuir, in the instances referred to, or in the administra- tions in any of the other congregations wherein these brethren officiated, not strictly conformable to these injunctions ? If so, it ought to have been particularly shown. For it is to be observed, that down to the day in which the Synod inflicted their censures, the brethren had confined themselves in public administrations within the limits of their own congregations, as they had ever done. And as for entering into any connec- tion with such as opposed themselves to any part of our Chris- tian and witnessing profession, it has never once been alledged. The admission of persons from other congregations without the usual attestations of ministers or sessions, arose from Sy- nodical acts that virtually cut off from communion all who opposed the new scheme of principles, — or from the conduct of particular ministers, in concurrence with their sessions and the Presbytery, enforcing conformity to them. Some of these people had been accounted offenders, and summarily cast out of communion, without being called to the session, merely for using their undoubted right of petitioning and remonstrating, even before a final decision had been given; of which there was a sin- ( " ) a singular instance in the congregation of Alyth. But all the instances of admissions by the protesting ministers, that are re- presented as so offensive, were posterior to the enactment of the new Testimony, and even to the protestation in 1805, which asserted the right of ministers and elders adhering to it, to join with those in any place who were maintaining the public cause upon the former terms, though ministers and judicatories should be opposing. Presbyterian ministers, though particularly con- nected with one congregation, are not restricted from extending their ministrations to others as they may have a call : as mi- nisters of Christ they have a relation to the body at large. When the sacrament of the supper was proposed to be dis- pensed in Arbroath in summer 1805, a majority of the elders and a number of the people declared against proceeding upon the new terms, which their minister and others were dis- posed to adopt. When the matter was brought before the Presbytery, after a long time spent in public harangues to recommend the new scheme, the minister and session were injoined to proceed according to the Synod's deeds, yea, the Presbytery itself appointed the day of the communion. Thus the same Presbytery that would have imposed elders upon a re- claiming session and congregation in a foregoing instance, at- tempted here to impose, in an arbitrary manner, the sacramen- tal communion upon elders and people dissenting for conscience' sake. These being on the matter debarred at home, were they to be blamed for seeking their privileges where a door remained still open for their enjoying them as heretofore ? Or were they to remain for ever deprived of them, or until they could change their faith, or injure their consciences, at the pleasure of others ? Or how could any minister in the Secession refuse such admission, when this was all the scandal ? But so far were the protesting ministers from pushing peo- ple to a separation, or from wishing to proclaim openly be- fore the w T orld the difference that subsisted between neigh- bouring ministers or congregations, that they, in more in- stances than one, submitted to the want of the sacramental communion in their own congregations, when they could no longer go in company with brethren to the house or table of the Lord. This had" been the case in Kirriemuir, previous to the dispensation of that ordinance in summer last year, upon which the Letter-writer declaims. On that occasion there were neither any new or schismatical terms of fellowship stat- ed, nor any assisting but such as were in the full and regular exercise of their ofHce, even by the rules of the General As- sociate Synod. But the Synod and the keen supporters of the new deeds had been before-hand with them in separation ; not only by the general ground they had laid for it, but by the par- ( 25 ) particular measures they had advised or pursued that season. People were generally dissuaded or prohibited from joining in the congregations of the protesting ministers ; and some who applied for attestations with that view, were refused, — and elders were forbidden to serve any of them, even though they should be attending. All this was before any trial or censure had taken place ! What could be more schismatical or tyran- nical ? In the case of some of those who formerly belonged to the congregation of Dundee, there may be some difference from that of others, as to the original and immediate ground upon, which they were denied their privileges, or had withdri from communion, in that congregation. A few had been in that state for years before the late change in the public pro- fession was judicially made, and their case had been more than once before the superior courts. But this does not say but that their scruples and grievances might relate to matters of the same general kind, arising from, what they reckoned, the unfaithful conduct of the minister and session of that place, or the injurious usage they afterwards met with from them, or from the superior judicatories ; nor doth it imply that they did not maintain, in these circumstances, a character for so- briety and religion, and attachment to their witnessing profes- sion, nor prevent their concurrence with others in the late and present contendings for it. The brother who granted them the relief that had been long denied them, had abundant op- portunity of being acquainted with the whole cause from the beginning, and was satisfied in his own mind, that upon the whole they had been injured; and he had a remonstrance or protest upon record, against their continued seclusion from their privileges * But, though I were possessed of fuller in- X) formation * If the following account be exact, given in July 1804^ by one who had been in the office of an elder in the congregation of Dundee, it may give the reader some idea of the scandal these men were said to be lying under, about which euch noise hath been made : — ' It is more than six years since some of us in the ' session protested against them for their lax admissions to ordinances,';and their co- * operating with the missionary scheme. Although we applied to the presbytery, * the session cut us off hoth from office and communion ; and although both pres- * bytery and Synod made a decision, and restored us to our privileges again, yet * we could not get them until we should confess to the session we were wrong in * raising such a process; which we could not do. Instead of our grievances being * removed, they were still increased both by a general loose scheme of preaching, * and a new way of dispensing ordinances ; all which we laid before the courts, * but got no reddress. We wished them to let us know when they were ready ' to judge our cause ; but they have never done it. About four years ago. * we applied to the presbytery for our privileges : their deed was, that al- * though our cause was in dependance, they knew nothing to hinder us to * enjoy our privileges. But Mr M'E — n protested against this deed ; and * the Synod sustained his appeal, so we are still kept out, and have been for ( 26 ) formation, it would be a deviation from the principal design of these Remarks to enter into the particulars of that process; as the general cause ought not to be confounded or embarrassed with local and more private disputes, nor forgotten amidst questions about the regularity or expediency of every step of procedure that may have been taken by every individual ad* hering to it. SECTION THIRD. The matter of difference no private or mere speculative opinio ons, — nor things of small moment, but articles of a public profession, and terms of communion. — The Synod's pretended indulgence altogether unsatisfactory, DEFORE proceeding farther in following the narrative of Synodical procedure in the case of other brethren, it may be proper to animadvert a little more particularly upon the un- fair account that is given of the state of the difference and of the principal ground of censure, in the instance which hath been under review, and in those that followed. This is in part contained in the extract of the Synod's sentence above in- serted, — and still more in the representations, or rather con- tinued misrepresentations, of these matters, with which the Letter-writer is chargeable : for, instead of a candid narra- tive of transactions (as hath been already observed), he aims throughout at a vindication, and, upon a false and distorted view of the cause, is not sparing in interposing his own judg- ment and reflections, to bias the minds of readers. The Synod have expressed the nature of the declinature upon which they proceeded, in very general and ambiguous terms, — when they say, it was a declining of the Synod ' on * the head of their public received principles.' This may im- ply, that these brethren had adopted some new set of princi- ples, and renounced those which had been held by them and the Synod before ; and that the reason of their declinature was, because the Synod continued to abide by the latter, * near the space of seven years. We waited long, in the way of hearing and * supporting his ministry, but after we saw they would not judge our cause, and ' were still going on in a back-sliding courbe, two years ago a number of u« 1 withdrew fiom them, and we keep a society on the sabbath ; as there is none * near us that we have clearness to join with but Mr A. One of our number has * two children ui.baptised ; one about five years of ages, the other about three :— * a sober religious rxan. He applied to Mr M'£ — n, but he would not admit him, * because he had signed our papers that came before the courts. — We have no c other principles than those which the secession espoused when they came out * from the church of Scotland with a testimony in their hand,' &c. and ( « ) and were exerting their authority for supporting them. If they meant this, nothing could be more false: the very re- verse was the case. If they wished the public to understand it in this sense, while they meant no such thing, this was grossly to deceive the people. One thing, however, is evident from this; if public received principles constituted the subject of the protestation and declinature, and a dereliction of them on one side was the principal matter of controversy, it could not be of a trivial import, and the party upon whom the charge may fall must be found guilty. If the cause be here rightly stated, the unfavourable construction, and all the na- tive consequences, must fall upon the side of the Synod; for they never yet alledged, nor, consistently with common sense, could alledge, that those who were protesting in behalf of old received principles, were, by that same deed, treacherously adopting a system of new ones. They and their advocates therefore must say, either that the controversy in reality had nothing to do with received principles, or that the Synod are fixed under the guilt and odium of changing and deserting them. As the last of these would be a burden heavy to bear, they usually chuse rather, though absurdly, to adopt the first sup- position. This is the ground that this apologist takes up in order to defend the Synod, and to bring in the protesters as cen- surable for the length they carried the matter after the liberty granted ; and in this he pretends to speak the sentiments of Synod, conformably to the spirit of their concessions. ' The * Synod have not prohibited our brethren from receiving into * communion persons who better understand and approve ' of the former statement of our principles.' They * have * been told (says he, page 27), times without number, that * they were at liberty to retain all their peculiar opinions ' about the magistrates' power, and also their opinions about ' the new deeds ; only they were not to disturb the peace of ' the church with these matters.' (It may be so, but 1 do not recollect to have heard this told them so much as once.) Accor- ding to this writer there was either no cause of difference, or one so small as not to warrant contending for. He afterwards speaks of it as a matter of mere speculation — ' matters that * belong not to faith — that can affect no man's conscience ;' — ' questions that, among Seeeders especially, can be questions c only of words and names,' — about which every man may think as he pleases, if he disturb not the peace of the church. As these are the common-place topics upon which the Synod's advocates declaim ; as this is the specious pretext by which so many are ensnared, — and as the right settling of this point is of great consequence in determining the cause at issue, — I D % must ( 28 ) must be allowed to examine more narrowly what truth or consistency there is in this representation. It may be premised here, that the language of the apolo- gist does not accord with that of the Synod, whose sentence he defends. The primary difference, the minute says, respect- ed our ■ public received principles.' — It respected only some * peculiar private opinions,' says the Letter-writer. These are certainly very different things : Both cannot be true. Which of them is right ? Which of these were meant as the matter of forbearance, when the Synod were so condescending as to allow the brethren to retain them ? Either way, there will be found small reason to acknowledge the allowance as a favour. If the Letter-writer confounds these together, ho commits a gross blunder ; or if he deceitfully use and inter- change terms so very different in signification, he would only impose upon the minds of his readers. Observe, too, how logi- cally he introduces the liberty said to be gran ted to all the breth- ren, of retaining all their opinions upon the subjects of public dispute, as a proof that Mr A.'s sentence could have no respect to these, whatever may be found in the Synod's minute to the contrary. He could not be censured on this ground (ir seems), because none could be so, consistently with the above decla- ration. But this is but a slender proof that it was not ac- tually done; and before it can be adduced as any evidence in Mr A.'s case, it must be allowed to be a proof that no such thing could take place in the case of any of the rest j for the reason assigned applies in common to them all. If the plea has any force in this connection, it must go all the length of asserting that none of the prosecutions, or sentences that followed, had relation to sentiments about the public profes- sion, or the rejection of the Narrative and Testimony ; which is absolutely false. But is it true, that the protesters were allowed to retain all their opinions about the magistrate's power, and also about the new deeds ? Yes— surely, if these were never to be heard of, or carried into action ; if they would agree to lock them up in their own breasts. And this is such a liberty as no Pope ever denied to any Jew or heretic at Rome ; and of which the father-inquisitors never presumed to rob any prisoner, nor could do, when they shut them up in the cells, or brought them to the stake, for venting their opinions. The decided opinion of these brethren, private and public, about the new deeds, was, that they were unfaithful, erroneous, ambiguous, and inconsistent. Were they suffered to retain this opinion, when they were required to assent to them, to make use o£ them, and take others bound for ever to adhere to them ? Or could they have retained this opinion, and acted the part of honest ( M ) honest mm in doing this? If so, then there is nothing to hin- der Protestants from subscribing t© the Trent creed, going to mass, or falling down before an image of the Virgin ; while they may be allowed in their heart to think as they please of the doctrine of that church, the wafer, and image. But the question is not, nor ever was, about any peculiar or private opinions of the protesters upon the subject. It hath never yet been shown, that they had any such opinions different from those publicly avowed and professed. They have re- peatedly declared they had none ; so that there was little ha- zard of the public peace being disturbed by them any more than it had been during all the former period of their ministry in amicable connection with the body. The peace was di- sturbed, and continues to be broken, solely by ' the peculiar or private sentiments,' on the other side, being first publicly 1 vented, and at last forcibly introduced into the public profes- sion, to be not only suffered, but adopted by the whole body. What else mean the very words the Synod refer to, pre- fixed to their Narrative, as a proof of their indulgence, taken in connexion * ? What sense else have the questions in the al- tered Formula f ? The new opinions have crept, in one shape or other, into all the public books and papers to which sub- scription is now required, in that determinate sense exclusive- ly, from all that enter into office; and they mingle with the doctrines ef the Narrative and Testimony to be assented to by all who are admitted into communion. It would indeed turn the boasted indulgence into nothing, to confine the liberty granted by the Synod, to some supposed opinions vfhich were never proposed to be published, and which there was no obligation upon them to publish. The question relates wholly to public doctrines and the authorized modes of profession, which can- not be called peculiar, but are common to all in the professing body ; as the Synod in their minute have properly expressed it, * their public received principles :' principles once receiv- * c People may be admitted, though they may have 9ome difficulties with re- • gard to some thir.gg in the Testimony.' Nar and Test. p. 7. * The Narrative ia • to be considered a* a part of the Synod's Judicial Testimony. N 1 person will • be admitted to communion with us, who formally condemns the attainments in • Reformation which the Synod approve, &c — Nor will any be admitted who 1 does not express adherence to the doctrines contained in the Testimony itself.* Nar. andTe^t. p. 14, 15. f Quest 1. ■ Do you own and believe the whole doctrine contained in the Confes- • sion of Faith, agreeably t* the declaration in the Narrative and Testimony enacted in. •1804?* Quest. 4. ' Do you Acknowledge the perpetual obligation of the National Cove- 1 nant and Solemn League, &C accordingto the declaration in tie J r o> esaid Nat .and "Test.* Outst. J. Do you approve of the Narrative and Testin.ony enac ed, Sec. as a ' suicable and *ea«onable testimony for the doctrine ?' 6cc. Quest, n. c Are you satisfied with, &c — the principles about the vresent civil 1 gaverntawit, &c. as tbtst are stated in tin ahv< Narrative and Testimony V ed, ( so ) ed, but in the judgment of the protesters, now rejected, while others are substituted in their place. If this be the true state of the case, then things assume ano- ther aspect. Every one of these public received principles, the protesters had and have a right both to hold and to teach, with- out asking liberty of their brethren, who are but fellow-servants, and under the same high authority and obligations. To teach any article of truth, particularly what has been received as a public principle, and proper part of testimony in a church, or to condemn and publicly oppose any error or defection publicly introduced into any church, — can never be justly charged as disturbing the peace of the church, any more than Elijah's pray- ing and prophesying could make him the troubler of Israel. That peace which would in this way be disturbed, is better bro- ken than preserved. What is this but to plead for sacrificing truth, and the most valuable interests of religion, to a spuri- ous peace; and to hold the truth concealed in unrighteousness, for fear of marring external unity, and giving offence? If these are matters as to which a public and sacred obliga- tion had been laid on ministers to publish, assert, and defend, to the utmost of their power, all the days of their life — what right have any to pretend to give a dispensation from the obli- gation, or to turn the liberty into that of merely retaining these as opinions shut up in a man's own breast ! Dare the Synod take such a liberty to themselves as to any principles of our holy religion ; or dare they pretend to grant it unto others ? If they should do so, can any accept of their indem- nity as a sufficient security ? Though the abettors of the new scheme, like this corre- spondent, when it may serve a purpose before some people or the public, make light of all the difference between the old statement of their principles and the new, — yet can it be be- lieved that they seriously think so ; or have they always spo- ken and acted as if they thought so ? Doth not their conduct as to this, as well as the deeds themselves, speak a very dif- ferent language ? They were the first to urge these matters into public dispute, while others endeavoured to prevent it ; and they were wont to declaim upon their importance, and the necessity there was for a review and alteration, both for the ease of their own minds, in continuing to require assent to the Confession of Faith and Testimony, and to dispense the bond for the renovation of the Covenants, and also for the relief of others who mi^ht be received into office or commu- nion. It was needful, according to them, in order that they might no longer be chargeable with the sanguinary and perse- cuting principles imputable to the standard- books of this and other reformed churches; — that the perverse mixture which had been ( 31 ) been admitted in the former statement of our principles, might be removed: they pleaded that a revisal and thorough purgation of these books and our profession, from rubbish, antichrutian stuffy &c. was become indispensible ; and it was entered up- on and prosecuted for years, in more perhaps than one hun- dred sittings of the supreme judicatory, as business of the utmost moment. And was all this merely about a differ- ence of words and forms ? When the house of God, in the beginning of Hezekiah's reign, was found defiled with rubbish and filthiness, did the good king (our modern refor- mers will pardon me for mentioning the name of a king in any matter concerning the house of the Lord), did he, or the Le- vites who acted according to his order, consider it as a mat- ter of no consequence, whether it was cast out, or retained, or brought back again ? They certainly set about it as a work of the greatest importance to the glory of God and the inte- rest of all his people : and they set about it in good earnest, and effected it suddenly, — in much less time, in the propor- tion of a day to a year, than the Synod have taken in accom- plishing what, after all, we are told, is a matter of great in- difference *. While this tedious process of new-moulding was going on, the old Confession and Testimony, as might be expected, be- gan to fall under suspicion and disrepute, and were in the in- terim to be used with exceptions and limitations ; and the bond, containing one of the most solemn oaths of perpetual adherence to a religious system that ever was entered into by any church, was for years disparaged, and by judicial allow- ance wholly laid aside, even as to all who were admitted into public office, until it had undergone a purgation. Till that was done, it was declared openly by a member of the com- mittee, that no authority under heaven would ever determine the declarant to dispense it again to the people. And since that time the use of it has been actually prohibited even to those brethren, to whom it is pretended the Synod have grant- ed such ample liberty, and at the very time when the pre- tended concessions marked in the Synod's minutes in 1805 were made to them. Along with this prohibition, they were * " Hezekiah did rhat which was right in the sight of the Lord : — He brought " in the priests and Levites, and said unto them, Hear me, ye Levites, sanctify *' now yourselves, and sanctify the house of the Lord God of your fathers, and " carry out the filthiness out of the holy place; for our fathers have trespassed, &c. 4< My sons, be not now negligent ; for the Lord hath chosen you to stand before " him. And then the Levites arose, and they gathered their brethren, and came " according to the commandment of the king, by the word of the Lord, to cleanse " the house of the Lord. And the priests went into the inner part of the house, M ard brought out all the uncleanness that they found in the temple of the Lord; " and the Levites carried it out abroad into the brook Kedrcn." % Chron. xxix, 1—17. sub* C 32 ) subjected to other restrictions upon ministerial freedom : but these .the Synod think proper to conceal, and a full copy of these conditions of fellowship, has never yet been printed, ex- cept in the late ■ Statement of the Difference,' by the protes- ters. Indeed, as these concession, &c were made in answer to one of the remonstrances, and immediately directed, if not confined, to those who subscribed it, they can be no general rule or authentic statement of the common terms of commu- nion for the whole body. For what is granted as an indul- gence is some favour or exception from common rule, peculiar to chose to whom it is directly given, from special considera- tions belonging to them and their case. The first and only notice which the writer of this ever received of these injunc- tions by authority, was in a sentence of censure, into which they were introduced as an additional and aggravating charge, for having disregarded so much lenity ; as was also done in the case of Mr A. ! If persons are to be held criminal, and punished, for transgressing laws which were never published or made known to them, but lay concealed in the statute-book, or court-minutes, their situation will be bad indeed. It may be remarked here, by the way, that those ministers certainly act a most inconsistent part who have represented the changes that have been made in the statement of public principles, as of no small consequence to the vindication of their testimony and cause, and for removing their own scru- ples or those of others as to the old form of ordination-vows and terms of communion, — and yet deny that their brethren of other sentiments can have real or weighty objections against concurring in these changes. How can there be real grounds of scruple on the one side ; and no real, no substantial ones at least, on the other ? Surely, in equity, these brethren might claim a better right to abide, and to insist that others should abide by forms and terms already and long established in a body, (even though there were no substantial difference ^, than they could claim for being exempted from them, and for requiring approbation of others newly devised. Prior and long possession, in the case of contested rights, is in law ad- mitted to be a strong plea. In the church of Christ, accord- ing to the declaration of apostles, received doctrines, ancient constitutions, and approved and general usages, are represent- ed as entitled to some preferable regard and observance. " If " any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, 11 neither the churches of God," I Cor. xi.16. " Whereto we •" have already attained, let us walk by the same rule," Phil. iii. 16. If there be also reasons from the intrinsic nature and importance of the things themselves, the right, nay, the obli- gation to adhere to what hath been received and established, is ( 33 ) is greatly increased. " Though we, or an angel from hea- " ven, preach any other gospel unto you, than that which we u have preached unto you, let him be accursed," Gal. 1. 8. " Continue thou in the things which thou hast learned, and " hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned " them," 2 Tim. iii. 14. " Remember therefore how thou " hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent," Rev. iii. 3. But to return : — Does the Letter-writer or the Synod really mean, by the after-game that is played with concessions and indulgence, that it is left entirely optional, not only to the re- monstrating ministers and their people, but to all the ministers and people throughout the Secession, to chuse either the old or the new statement, the old or the new formula, according as they approve the one or the other, as if there were nothing enacted obliging to the common and preferable use of the new ? This cannot be their meaning, or if it was, why was it not expressly declared in the terms of communion as printed, and expressed in this neutral manner in reference to every ques- tion in the formula that is changed ; and why did they not comply with the requisition made to repeal the new terms as stated? - for this would amount to a virtual repeal, and would deprive the new books, and the questions approving of them, of all public authority or preferable use. Every man's judg- ment would determine the use, the approbation or rejection of them. And if this were really the meaning, the Secession body would be in a worse condition than before, having two distinct Confessions of Faith, two Testimonies, &c. instead of one, which is one more than is needful in any well regulated church ; and it they be different and inconsistent, the use of both would be jnore absurd and unseemly than " plowing with an ox and an ass," yoked together, or wearing a linsey-woolsey garment, forbidden of old by the law. At the best, upon supposition that there is no material difference, all that has been gained after so much labour, and the injury of public peace, is the introduction of allowed anarchy, and endless con- fusion in the body and throughout every congregation belong- ing to it, which it is a principal design of such public deeds to prevent. In this case, all that could not approve, at least allow the toleration or free use of both,— would be held and censured as the disturbers of the peace ; and if ministers or people were not immediately to be censured for prefer- ring any one of them, they would be accounted censurable, if their judgments did not enable them to see the innocence and the entire consistency of both : if they were not dear to own that books consisting of hundreds of pages, on the great- est variety of subjects, that have very little conformity in E structure ( 34 ) structure and arrangement, in which there is not one page, or perhaps one paragraph, expressed in the same words,— agreed in all points together, whatever appearance of diversity they might bear on their very front. This would be imposing, indeed, a very hard task on persons of little leisure or capa- city, namely, to read and compare, and to be satisfied as to both ; to exact that all should agree in their judgment up- on this one point of harmony, — and be expelled, because they might not be able to see things in that light, — would be the most rigorous and intolerant term of all. But in fact, according to the representation some make of the case, this has been the very ground upon which both ministers and Christians have been subjected to censure of late. These proffered conditions of peace and communion, to which we are referred, are merely specious, but fallacious. They, in reality, afford no relief to those who cannot acqui- esce in the Synod's view of the old and new statement of their principles, as being substantially the same. They propose nothing but a condition unwarrantable, and so impossible to all of the same judgment with the protesters, — and which there- fore is as good as none : for it would impose upon them a constant necessity, as often as occasions may occur, if not of actually employing themselves the new books and formula in all public administrations, or as often as the scruples or caprice of their people may demand it, yet of a practical ap- probation and silent concurrence with those who used them *. Nor • The conditions contained in the Act 1805, were as follows — * The Synod * signify, that although these Brethren cannot for the time see it to be their * duty actively to concur in covenanting, agreeably to the Acknowledgement ' of sins and bond adopted by the Synod, or to concur in licensing Preach- * ers, or ordaining Ministers, according to the present Formula : yet the Synod * cannot admit procedure in covenanting, but on the footing of the Acknowledgment * of sins and bond adopted by them, or alloiv any other Formula to be used, but that * agreed upon by the Synod. And the Synod expect, that in the event of their * Brethren's protestation being admitted into the records of Court, they tvill not, 4 either from the pulpit or from the press, impugn or appose our principles, as stated by 1 the Synod. And as the Synod have not prohibited our Brethren from receiving * into communion persons who may better understand, or approve of the former * statement of our principle*, so, on the other hand, the Synod expect, that our ' Brethren shall net refuse to admit to communion such persons as have read and 4 approve of our principles, as the Synod have now stated them. And in tine, 1 that our Brethren conduct themselves, as they have done hitherto, in attending * church-courts, and assisting their Brethren on sacramental occasions, that the edifica- ' tion of the body may not be marred, but the peace and unity of the church 4 promoted.' Besides what hath been already observed, that concessions of this kind cannot alter or detract from the general rule, and if they be not entirely consistent with that, the settled promulgated acts must be of superior authority: — These after- concessions, as now glossed by some, would be at variance with the public printed deeds, which admit but of one way of admitting ministers or church-members: and ( 35 ) Nor is it easy to see how those who formerly had conscien- tious scruples against the former statement, can be free from the same scruples in allowing still an adherence to it, and m admitting, or concurring in admitting, into office or commu- nion, all who may think they better understand and approve of that ; if it were true that they are both on a level in point of authority, and allowed equally in practice. Were even this the case, and men were got over all ob- jections arising from judgment and conscience against the use of either, how could such a condition of peace and fellowship be observed in practice ? — Not only ministers in the same presbytery differ in their judgment about that which should be preferably used, but what the minister approves, his ses- sion or his congregation, or both, or a part of them, may think, they do not so well understand and approve : both sides may insist to be gratified; and how can that always be done, though they might be so in some cases successively, yet they could not be so at the same time and in the same acts. And what would this tend to but schism and endless disst ntion ? If any should be denied their Christian privileges, from their own minister or session, according to their private light, must they not be totally deprived of them, or have a right to apply elsewhere for them ? But is not this the very conduct they are so loudly condemning in ministers and people who have been compelled to ir, as disorderly and schismatical, * that ' cannot be tolerated by any society?' It will be difficult to determine how many points of differ- ence the General St nod may allow to be between the former and the latter statement of their principles, and yet reckon that there is no substantial difference between them. Among these there may be many real and many valuable articles of and by some of the conditions conjoined with that which is quoted as a great in- dulgence, the former liberty ofprofes-ing their own faith, as well as of admit- ting others, which the*e and other ministers and sessions had, is now restrained. Nor will it be found true, that they were left at liberty to take in as many acces- sions to the old Testimony as they regularly could obtain, taking that permission as connected with the restrictions expressed in the Synod's minute ; unless the writer mean to play upon the double meaning of the words * as many as they re- * gularly could.' — for they were restricted from taking in any according to the for- mer terms, if the people applying to them approved of the new ; — *as many as ap- plied of these sentiments (all may be supposed to be of that description,) they were obliged to receive. So that their liberty of receiving accessions to the old testimony was made to depend upon a supposition that might never have happen- ed, the private choice of those who were to be admitted. They were not left at liberty to refuse those who thought differently, nor to require of them an assent to the old : so that their liberty of taking in accession to the old testimony, in any one instance, might -in fact have been prohibited all their life after. As for the liberty of dispensing the oath of Covenant-renovation, or the formula, as they formerly stood, it was absolutely denied them, whatever the sentiments of those to be admitted might be. E 2 truth ( 36 ) truth and of the Reformation Testimony, which, seen in their Hew light, thev cannot acknowledge to be material or sub- stantial. Such phrases, in the dialect of Latitudinarians, af- ford a convenient evasion, admitting whatever sense they please, and extending as far as they may think proper. There is a gradation and advance in the system of Latitudinarian theolo- gy, something like that in the parallel circles of latitude in the geographic globe, which take their beginning in a single point and continually expand through all the different degrees, till they encompass and inclose the whole diameter of the earth. With many, the various religious professions of the several denominations of Presbyterians are circumstantially, but not substantially different : others will say the same of the differences between Independents, Anabaptists, Episcopa- lians, and Presbyterians ; between Calvinists and Arminians : while others, endued with greater hardihood and modern free- dom of thought, stop not till they pronounce all the religious systems in the known world to be substantially the same. But take it either way they please, the conduct of the Synod is not fair or justifiable. If they have really detected the er- rors of their purblind fathers, and of all the reformed churches, — if they have found some precious ore of truth, and hit upon the pure vein of genuine reformation, hitherto buried deep un- der rubbish, — why do they affect to secrete it again as Achan did the stolen golden wedge in his tent? Why are they so shy and backward to point' out with precision the points in which they and their fathers so long erred, — and to instruct all in the value of these articles for which they now contend ? Why so" averse to give glory to God by a faithful confession and retractation ? and why have some of them crept into public office and communion, by professing to subscribe to doctrines which now they explode, and which, if we credit their own word, they alwavs disbelieved, or explained in an equivocal sense? and some of those who are the most violent supporters of these innovations, and were most zealous for censuring their dissenting brethren without delay, may be found among this nui -ber. But if, on the other hand, the difference be wholly trivial, about words or names, — why b*-eak the peace of the church, and impose on the consciences of their brethren, on that ac- count ? Why determine them in public books, and make them the matter of positive decrees, and bind them on all by vows ? Why contend for them by high church authority, as if they were most important doctrines of Christianity, and as if the great int rests of religion in their body depended on them? The rules of scriptural discipline would not permit any church court to prosecute notorious heretics with such precipitancy, or ( 37 ) or to a higher censure than they have done their brethren. Are things confessedly indifferent to be rendered necessary, and conformity to church canons about them enforced on those who may account it unlawful, merely for the display of that authorit\ ? This would be a revival of the doctrine and arro- gant claim of the high prelatical church. In this way did the Henrys, and Elizabeths, and Jameses, with their councils and convocations, and high commissions, proceed in the imposition of their liturgies, forms, vestments, and all their train of ce- remonies. We do not account these matters to be in them- selves of any moment — we plead no command of Christ for their observance — they are matters of mere indifference - ,— but since the church by her canons, and the state by its laws, have so ordained— all of you, without exception, must religi- ously obey, or be treated as schismatics by the church, and disloyal and seditious by the state : and thus the liberty of non- conformists was judged of other men's consciences, and taken away for a thing of nought, — for thus it was reckoned in the opinion of their persecutors, though a very different matter, all things considered, in theirs. Is it possible, that after so many year's labour, and alterca- tion, and writing, upon the subject of the present controversy, doubts should still be entertained on either side, whether there be any real difference, or if it be only verbal ? Shall any, in the face of evidence, like this Letter-writer, still confidently affirm that it is only of the latter kind ? Shall ministers per- sist in declaring it from pulpits, and shall people, who care not to examine, be content to take it upon their words? Some, we are told, in sacred administrations, can even make a so- lemn appeal to God, before the credulous multitude, that there is nothing new adopted, — that no change of terms has been made : I tremble' while I write it ] as if appeals of this kind, or a thousand oaths could alter a matter of fact, which lies open to the examination of all the world upon its own proper evi- dence. And that the fact is contrary to this, many think as unquestionable, as that the sun is actually shining at noon- day. This, at best, is very unfavourable ground they have taken up. It has the appearance of mean skulking coward- ice, — of a desire to evade a fair contest : and in a cause so public, where the evidence is so accessible, and detection so easy, it lays them open to charges still more opprobrious than that of error or mere mistake of judgment. The plea of ig- norance can hardly be admitted in behalf of all who make this impudent declaration ; for after reading and comparing the books exhibiting the former and the new principles, and per- haps having had a share in compiling or correcting some of them, ( 38 ) them, they must be dull-pated indeed, who can persist in say- ing, 1 perceive no difference. They who continue to assert this, while they impeach their own understanding or honesty, offer an insult to the understandings of other men, as if by their impudence they would rob them of their faith, and of their senses at the same time. If any indeed in this speak sincerely, they give at least evidence that they belong to the class of the opponents of the truth, " who know not of what they u speak, nor whereof they affirm." This would be bad enough, but I am afraid this is still too favourable a view of the case, to exculpate those who affect to be learned, and leaders. For sinceie and candid error there may often be some excuse ; but the man wk«.whose sentiments and conduct accord not with his fair accommodating speeches, forfeits his claim to respect and indulgence in society ; and this must deserve peculiar repro- bation in those reputed the ministers of truth. This supposition but very ill befits one who takes upon him to write on the side of the imposition of the new books, and the censures on account of them. Before he, or others, so keenly combat on one side, it would have been proper they had pre- viously inquired, — whether there was a cause or real matter of dispute ; lest they should find themselves in the same lu- dicrous predicament with the naturalists and physicians in Europe, that once disputed warmly about a golden tooth, said to have been growing in the mouth of a child, and how the phenomenon might be accounted for, — before it had been duly ascertained, whether such a tooth actually existed, or if it was a mere fiction or imposture, as it was after found to be. If this writer be convinced that all the matters in controversy between the Synod and the Protesters are but questions of words, and that there is no material difference between the contents of rhe former and the new books lately introduced, what means all the wrangling and eagerness to establish the latter in opposition to the former ? — What mean all these hears, and violence, and censures on the part of the Synod, in order to accomplish this? For meats, or for mere words, do they destroy the work of God, impose on the consciences of their brethren, and cast them out of the church ? The protesting ministers are not chargeable with such in- consistent and absurd conduct. They have uniformly consi- dered the difference as real and as one of no small moment. If to explain doctrines and to condemn them ; if to testify for or against certain articles, and to drop or contradict again such testimony; if to subscribe or swear to a profession without exception, and to do it with limitations and exceptions ; — if these things be substantially the same, or if the part be equal to ( " ) to the whole ; then may the contents of these books, and the old and new terms be allowed to be the same. There are no doubt nice points, and particular questions about the extent and manner of exercising civil authority about mat- ters of religion in certain supposable cases, about which different sentiments usually have been entertained, and still may be ; as to which there may be no necessity or propriety of attempt- ing accurately or fully to determine them ; which have not been, and need not be, made a part of a public confession : but those which are now brought into debate are not of that kind. They are of a more general and practical nature, and such as in themselves, and in their consequences, as well as from their hav- ing been already distinguished and component parts of the con- fession and religious profession of the churches, are of great magnitude and serious importance. The reader may see this illustrated in a late publication*, which may save me the trou- ble of insisting upon it here. It may suffice here briefly to say, that the questions how mankind should be governed — how the government of particular nations should be framed — and what should be the character of the rulers, can never be tri- vial or mere speculative questions, — but must deeply affect the state and welfare of all people, whether in a secular or religious view. The happiness or ruin of millions in this world, and in the next, may hang upon the right or wrong determination of them. Mr Baxter, when stating the reasons for the parliamentary resistance of King Charles's tyranny in church and state, in the time of the civil wars, among others adduces this forcible one, ' that though the carnal respect of ' men for personal interests had made all the streams of most ' mens words and writings go on the prince's side, yet tyranny 1 is a mischief as well as disobedience, and that which all ages * and most nations have grievously smarted by : and they that ' befriend it are guilty of the sin and the ruins which it pro- 1 cureth. It keepeth out Christianity from five parts of the ' world. It corrupteth it, and keepeth out the Protestant 1 truth in most of the sixth part : The eastern and western ' churches suffer under it, to the perdition of millions of souls. * If bodily sufferings were all the matter, it w 7 ere nothing, but 1 it is mens souls and the interest of the gospel that is the sa- 1 crifice to their wills.' Life and Times, fol. p. SB. The matters in dispute, in their extent and connection, re- late to the interests and duties of churches, as well as of na- tions. They are not mere speculations in politics, nor abstract * ' Satement of the difference between the profession of the Reformed Church ' of Scotland, as adopted by Seceders ; and the profession contained in the New 5 Testimony and other acts, lately adopted by the General Associate Synod.' questions ( 40 ) questions in morality. As they relate to the moral govern- ment of God at large, and his claim to the horn:-. : nations, so also to the extent of the Redeemer's power . d -ne obli- gation that all classes of men, in every capacity ire under to serve him and promote his kingdom on earth. Tnev nearly affect the use and binding authority of many parts of divine scripture under the new dispensation ; the orthodoxy of the received doctrines and profession of Protestant churches; and the credit of the reformation advanced and still supported by civil authority, as well as the duty of all with respect to pub- lic evils subsisting in states, and sanctioned by laws, with the proper means for promoting future reformation. They are interesting m a practical and ecclesiastical view, so far as they have been adopted into the profession and engagements of a particular church as that of Scotland, and more especially of the body in the state of Secession, who have more explicitly avowed certain principles on this subject, and have stood forth as vindicators and promoters of a certain system of reforma- tion, and of covenants and leagues in behalf of it in Britain, and which had been made express terms of their religious associ- ation. So that their determination and conduct in reference to these questions, involve sin or duty as to them in a special manner ; — their credit as a religious body, their fidelity, their constancy, their consistency in religion, or the contrary, emi- nently depends on their adherence to or relinquishment of these articles. I pity the narrow mind, or the blind prejudice of the man who can assert, that the questions about the exercise of civil authority, particularly in reference to matters of religion, can, at any time or among any people, be merely speculative ; or, who can deny that the consciences of men can be in any case affected by the right or wrong decision of them. It requires but little discernment to see that, in innumerable instances, the welfare, the duty, and the consciences of Christians may be deeply interested in them. Is there any office among men, or any thing within the compass of the moral law, that is a matter of total indifference, and has no connection with prac- tice ? Because men or church-members may not be placed in particular stations or offices, 1 are they, on this account, to be considered as having no concern with the duties or sins which belong to these ? Because Seceders are at present without the direct countenance of the civil authority, because they have not magistrates of a certain description over them in this king- dom, because there may be none belonging to their commu- nion who exercise either the higher or inferior offices ; — will it follow that all which relates to this subject is to them a question of words and names, as the Letter-writer absurdly insi- ( « ) insinuates ? Because ministers, and others in the church, may not be parents, masters, merchants ; is it to be a matter of mere speculation with them, a question of words, how parents act, how merchants deal, how families are governed ? And can any think that the exercise of the highest authority, and the conduct of those who are in plaees of trust in the larger so- cieties of men, about their best interests, can ever be of this kind ? Although not invested with power ourselves, nor ec- clesiastically connected with those who are ; are we not bound according to our stations to excite such persons to acquit them- selves faithfully, and to aid them in doing so ? Is not this an approved rule for understanding and explaining the moral law, ■ that in what is commanded to others, we are bound, accord- ' ing to our places and callings, to be helpful to them, and to * take heed of partaking withothersinwhat is forbidden them*?' Is it not said, that " the priest's lips should keep knowledge, «• and they shall ask the law at his mouth f ?" Is it not often as sinful to neglect or to teach others to neglect their duty, or to vindicate them in the commission of any sin, as to ne- glect the duty or commit the sin ourselves ; nay, in some cases more aggravated ? Do we not know who hath said, " Whosoever shall break one of these least commandments, u and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the " kingdom of heaven % ?" Are the doctrines of religion and the duties of the moral law less important, and less necessary to be taught, because the former may not be generally admitted nor the latter practised ? Are not churches and ministers to appear on the side of what is duty and conducive to public good, in times of corruption and defection, as well as of reformation ? Is it not more especially needful in such times, that present evils may be condemned, that what is amiss may be rectified, and what good is a-wanting may be obtained ? Doth not the in- culcating of a reformation in a civil state and its laws, in all things connected with religion and morality, and the promot- ing and vindicating of this when attained, become an ecclesi- astical as well as a civil duty, in a nation professing Christi- anity ? Did not the prophesying of Haggai and Zechariah con- cur with the exertions of Zerubbabe), Joshua, and the people of the land, in restoring the desolations of the temple and of Je- rusalem, and was it not made a principal mean of their prosper- ing, together with the edicts of Aftaxerxes and Darius? Do not particular connections often make it impossible to be dis- engaged from the good or evil of others, or from the moral obligations that have been contracted more privately or pub- licly ? May not one generation be so connected with another, * Larger Catecb. quest. 99. f Mai. ii, 7. \ Matth. v. 19. F both. ( 42 ) both politically and ecclesiastically, as to be involved with it in guilt and suffering, or the contrary ? And must not the state of a church and of ministers be ever liable to the influence and effect of prevailing degeneracy or of reformation, in the natio- nal state ? And ought not the measures and duties of the for- mer to be in a particular manner regulated and directed with a reference to the latter ? Was the exercise of civil authority, in reference to religion, ever a matter of mere speculation under popish laws, or at the period of Reformation, or in any period since, in whatever way it was employed ? Was not the direct application of it to the defence, support, and settlement of the true reformed religion in Britain, constantly taught and demanded as an ho- mage due to God, a debt which rulers owed to the interests of the Redeemer, and pled as a national right when it was fl / gained ? And was not the overthrow of the civil part of the reformation ever condemned and regretted by the faithful in former times, as a principal part of the national guilt, and as a deep injury to the interests of religion ? Did not the na- tional vows engage all to advance every sort of reformation, according to the station and power of the engagers ? Were not these views adopted, and these principles and obligations of their fathers most plainly and repeatedly recognized by Seceders in their religious testimony and covenant, in their church capacity, though they were not immediately connected with the civil state ? And, did they not all, in that capacity, engage to keep up an honourable testimony in behalf of what had been thus attained and settled ; and also to do all in their power, in their stations and according to their callings, to have this specific scheme of reformation revived and promoted throughout these nations ? It is undoubted. And is not this a work yet to be done ? Must not the national laws be changed and reformed, or the end of their testimony and covenants ne- ver be fully attained ? Is it a matter of indifference whether churches and nations pay their vows to God, and nation keep covenant with nation ; whether kingdoms shall remain in a corrupt or in a reformed state, in all time coming ? Is it no practical question, whether subscribed doctrines shall be re- tained or renounced ? ' It will be full soon,' say some, ' to fall out about such ' questions, when we see such a magistrate ascend the throne 1 as will be disposed to exer: his power in behalf of the true ■ religion ; as they would have the Christian magistrate to ' do *.' If this has any force, it strikes against what the As- sociate Judicatories formerly did ; and especially against what * Address by the Presbytery of Kelso co Mr Hog. MS. the ( 43 ) the General Synod have of late done in pushing on a contro- versy about these matters. It would follow from this, that both the old and new testimonies on these heads are occupied about trivial, inapplicable, and unseasonable questions. But, have we not at present Christian magistrates who exercise their power in so far in behalf of the Protestant religion, un- der whom Seceders, though enjoying no special countenance or peculiar privileges as a distinct society, yet have many privi- leges in common with others in the laws favouring Christiani- ty, its ordinances, the Protestant and Presbyterian profession, &c. ? Besides, whether magistrates be for or against true re- ligion and reformation, doth this affect the importance of the doctrines, or supersede the necessity of inculcating the duties which relate to them and the nations that support them ? Did not Moses write the law, and describe the manner in which the kings who should be set up should rule, long before any bearing that name appeared in Israel ? If religious rulers and a reformed civil constitution be a privilege, how can any ex- pect to obtain it, without the use of proper means ? How can it be expected, if no instruction about it is communicated, or rather, if all are to be taught that such a state of things, or such an exercise of power, is not to be desired, but reprobated? and if this be done by those who above all men were pledged to the contrary ? Where shall reformation begin, if perfidy and profaneness go forth from the prophets of Jerusalem ? But I am weary of exposing such puerilities, and palpable absurdities, as now often proceed from the mouths and pens of Seceders. SECTION FOURTH. Necessity for observing rules and settled forms of Church-dis- cipline — Violation of these in the proceedings of the General Synod — Manner of proceeding in the case of the two protest- ing Ministers in the Presbytery of Edinburgh — The sentence of Synod concerning them on the first week of their meeting- Impertinent refections and misrepresentations of the Letter- writer, and others, ILXPERIENCE in all ages has shown how often power, in the hands of men, has been abused, and how readily the exercise of it has degenerated into tyranny. Ecclesiastical authority is in no less danger of being perverted than political; and when it is so, the tyranny which arises from it, is tbe F 2 Worst ( 44 ) worst and most intolerable of all, as it respects the highest in- terests of men, and more directly affects their consciences. All people who have been anxious to secure their liberties, against the inroads of arbitrary power, have settled a particu- lar constitution of political government, with a system of known laws, and fixed rules for the administration of justice, especially in criminal causes, that the innocent may not be rashly condemned, and that the guilty may have a fair and patient trial. It is no less necessary that the authority settled in the church, which is all of a subordinate and limited kind, should be duly guarded against despotic exertions, both by the restraints expressly imposed by the supieme authority and written laws of her divine Lord, and by approven forms and rules of government and discipline consonant thereto, agreed upon in churches. As confessions of faith, where they have been received, may be appealed to as authentic tests of eccle- siastical orthodoxy or error, so may other formularies, and prescribed rules, serve a similar purpose, as to the matters they refer to : they may be appealed to as a rule of judgment for deciding controversies, and acquitting or condemning in particular cases. Such public tests and rules should operate as checks or constitutional fences against the private views or pleasure of individual teachers, and particular acting; judica- tories ; and they serve, like public laws in a state, to ascertain the rights and liberties of ministers and church-members, in opposition to innovations, or the arbitrary exercise of power over them in the society. Hereby all may more readily per- ceive how far they are either bound to receive the doctrine of their teachers, or to submit to judicative or disciplinary sen- tences of church-courts. For the former must be superior in authority and obligation to the latter ; even as the principles of a civil constitution and the known laws are superior to the magistrates and judges, and binding upon them in all their administration, as well as on other subjects. The church of Scotland, as well as other reformed churches, has had her books of discipline, her approved canons and forms of process ; the great lines of which it is ever needful to fol- low. But as the General Synod have attacked the doctrine of the Confession, so they have left it doubtful, how much of the other public directories, either in the firstor second period of the Reformation, they have left untouched and in force. The manner in which they have spoken of them looks as like an impeachment of their authority and utility, as an approba- tion of them. They seem to have left it in a great measure optional to themselves and others what in them they shall ob- serve, and what they shall disregard. As here also they al- low the use of the commodious distinction between the sub- stance ( 45 ) stance and the adherent parts, things in them that were adapt- ed to former times, or to a national church, and those that do not suit a Seceding church, they have kept in their hand a very large discretionary and dispensing power. As they have substituted no others in the room of these books of discipline, and public forms of process, they may be viewed as more defective than the national church in this respect ; — and in the want of a written code of discipline and particular canons, they are in danger of becoming in their de- cisions, the most despotic, or the most capricious court that exists. That they are not to rest in a mere theoretic disregard of their established forms, but are alieady indulging them- selves in a practical deviation from them, and from some of the most common and essential rules of justice, some of their late proceedings, especially in inforcing their new scheme, give too much reason to affirm. It is essential to justice and the protection of innocence, that none be condemned upon mere surmise, indefinite charges, or vague report, much less for doing what is lawful, or the discharge of bounden duty ; — that a party have specific charges adduced ; — that the cause be tried before an impartial court having competent jurisdiction; — that parties be duly cited, and have opportunity for a fair hearing and defence ; — that facts should be either admitted or else established by proof; — that hot only facts, but the criminality of the facts should be prov- ed, and the relevancy of the charge or libel be supported, to infer guilt and punishment ; — that no accusations should be received, no process conducted, no sentences past and exe- cuted by courts, in a clandestine manner, and unknown to the parties ;^— that none can be judged more than once on the same charge, upon the same citation, and in the same ses- sions ; — and that, as in church-discipline, even where real of- fences exist, the great end is the recovery of the offender, previous means of information, and admonitions, in ordinary cases, should precede censure or exclusion from the church. If rhe proceedings cf the Synod at Glasgow in the case of the protesting ministers, which this correspondent attempts to de- fend, be tried upon these principles, they, together with those of the inferior courts, will be found highly condemnable. — Apply them in particular to the case of the two brethren in Edinburgh Presbytery, which he next reviews, and they will appear to be, both in form and in matter, irregular and void. Objections lie against the procedure of the first week, — much more against that of the second, in both these respects. Leaving out for the present the consideration of the matter and relevancy of the charges, were even the usual forms of justice observed ? Were they regularly accused by the Synod, or ( 46 ) or any other prosecutor upon the main caus« before the meet- ing at Glasgow ? Were they actually present, or obliged to be present as pannels on that ground? Were they duly cited? Or could their absence imply a contempt of court, and make them justly obnoxious to censure ? Nothing of all this. Yet the Synod thought proper to enter upon their cause, and to give judgment on the general ground, as if needful previous steps had been taken. The Letter-writer pleads, that they were regularly before the court, on a two-fold ground : First, by a citation from the Presbytery of Edinburgh posterior to the last meeting of Synod ; Secondly, on the footing of the paper given in at that meeting, said to contain a material declinature. But what if neither of these be sufficient to establish the point? The second of these being first in order of time, as well as in importance, let it be first a little considered. ' The Synod ' (says he) at that time, had expressed no judgment upon this ' paper, but left it upon their table, to be taken up at an after- ' meeting. That they might answer to a paper of that im- 4 port, no formal citation (he thinks) was necessary : by a * step of this kind, they had sisted themselves parties at the 1 bar, and if they did not appear there in behalf of their own * interests, they could have themselves only to blame.' p. 29. Let it be observed, that the paper referred to was not lodged with the Synod in consequence of any preceding charge against the protesters ; nor was it, like the pretests of Mr Ebenezer Er- skine and of those who adhered to him, against deeds of the Synod of Perth and General Assembly in 1733, for rebuking and censuring, on grounds alledged and previously stated by the court. It was voluntarily presented, not in the cha- racter of parties sisting themselves as pannels at the bar, but in the exercise of a common right belonging to every man in the body as relating to the public cause, and in the regular exercise of their particular and special right as members of court. Do not all acquainted with Presbyterian principles or the practice in Seceding judicatories know, that every member is entitled not only to give his vote, affirmative or negative, up- on any cause, but also to lodge dissents or protestations as often as his own necessary exoneration or the defence of truth and the public cause may require ; and that the regular exercise of this right can give no just ground of offence to a court ? Nor can any be made pannels or censurable for such modes of testifying, except when they proceed upon no sufficient reason, but defend some error or criminal conduct, or are insufferably litigious and insulting. As these brethren considered that paper, as well as their former protestations, as justifiable in their matter and grounds, and also regular and dutiful in the manner, ( 47 ) manner, they could not think they were under the necessity of attending at Glasgow, or any where else, as pannelson that account. That paper related to no personal interest of theirs in behalf of which they were bound to appear, but to public interests, in behalf of which they had done all that they reck- oned competent to them in court, as matters then stood. As they could not view themselves as obliged from the na- ture of the paper to answer at the bar, neither had they evi- dence or intimation given them from the court, that they were to be proceeded against on that ground. This writer reports the fact, that the Synod passed no judgment whatever upon it at Edinburgh before they rose, though they spent a sede- runt upon it. They expressed no dissatisfaction with them on that account when present, nor said one word to them about it when they left it. No message w r as sent, no libel, no charge, no citation, on that or any other ground, was given them in Synod or by order of Synod, to which they were required to answer. The apud acta citation mentioned before, had no re- spect to any of these brethren. Were they bound to come uncalled, unaccused, and voluntarily sist themselves as pan- nels, and become their own accusers ? This Writer would re- present their personal absence at next meeting as a high of- fence : but what particular end or business could they have proposed, in these circumstances, by their attendance at Glas- gow ? Their freedom to occupy their seats simpliciter, as members, had they gone, for the present was marred. But, their absence as yet could be considered judicially by the court in no other light than that of other members (of which instances are occurring every meeting) who might have some necessary reasons for absence, though they do not always send excuses, and who had upon coming up a right to occupy their seats, if they saw meet to claim them : and whose excuses might have been demanded afterwards if judged needful. But a contempt of the court it could not be ; nor a cause of immedi- ate censure, otherwise they would have been marked out as ob- jects of severity on that head, both unusual and unjust. If the paper w< as of the nature of a declinature, it was still more absurd to expect their voluntary compearance ; and whether it was so or not, it might be found to contain in the bosom of it what were deemed sufficient reasons for abse; < t y and such hinderances in the way of attendance and concurrence, which. it depended on the Synod alone to remove. Nor could the citation given by the Presbytery of Edin- burgh supply the want of the other. It could not, being from a different court, without order from the other, — and as it respected matters between the Presbytery and these bre- thren only, or such as were of a posterior date to the meet- ing ( 48 ) ing of Synod in May. The citation therefore was at first in- stance to the Presbytery, — though afterwards referred to the Synod. It bore, as this correspondent narrates it, * that for * some time past they had not attended meetings of Presbvte- * ry, — and that it was noticed, that since last meeting of Sy- ' nod, each had made declaration to his congregation, con- ' taining sentiments in opposition to the principles of the Ge- * neral Synod, tending to promote schism in the body.' Of the truth or relevancy of the charges, or the answers that were made, or may be made to them, I do not now speak ; but, according to Presbyterian order, it could not bring on a process against any of these brethren upon the general ground upon which sentence was founded. No Presbytery had a right to interfere in any cause lying immediately before the supreme court, nor institute a process against any of their members for any paper given in to it, and upon which no judgment had been given, nor for any part of their conduct in that court, nor for acting out of it according to their rights protested for and al- lowed in it ; without express warrant from Synod. If they made any thing of that kind, at that time matter of their charge (which indeed may be said to have been indirectly done in both articles), the Presbytery in so far were acting irregu- larly, and these brethren, by the law of subordination, had a right to decline them as the incompetent court. They were not surely bound to answer, at their instance, upon a refer- ence of any such matter, at the bar of the Synod, — which had alone the right to criminate and prosecute. A citation of this tenor, though not obeyed, could not infer a contempt of Sy- nodical authority, even though it had been executed in the le- gal form, which it was not, being sent in such a channel as must have left both Presbytery and Synod in a state of total uncer- tainty whether it ever reached the party. No summons to compear before the Synod, either first or last, was ever exe- cuted, much less three of these in succession, before sentence was given in absence ; — which the due form of process re- quires before any can be held contumacious, — and which even a Lateran council, under the reign of ecclesiastical tyranny, enjoined as necessary in point of justice, before a clergyman could be censured. That it v is competent to the Presbytery to call any of their members to account for absence, and to give judgment accor- ding as the reasons for it might appear satisfactory or not, or to refer the matter to a superior court if it could not be other- wise settled — these brethren never refused. Nor did they wish to evade a call to give their reasons at this time ; nor did they decline it, — nor would they have done so, had any of them been required to answer on this head sooner, — which had ( 49 ) had never been the case, — though, as to one of them, they had the same ground to have done so long before : In the case of the other brother it was different, as his absence had been of a very late date — only for a few weeks, — while some others in the same situation received no such citation, nor perhaps have received it to this day. But the Presbytery's making such a demand at this juncture, while they knew well how matters stood as to the public controversy, and what were the principal reasons that prevented the freedom of their brethren in taking share with them in all Presbyterial business, appear- ed to them to be seeking an occasion against them ; an at- tempt to force them to conformity to the new deeds and new order of things, in opposition to their consciences and protes- tations in the supreme court, which applied with equal force to the inferior. It seemed to be a premature intermeddling in the cause, as lying before the other court, to hasten a process on that account ; — as the Presbytery could not be ignorant that a judgment upon any of these articles of charges could not ultimately be given without judging the other, and so none of them could with propriety be discussed or terminated at their bar. These brethren had avoided litigation with the Presbytery all along, about the public disputes, and had stated no quarrel with them in particular, but thought it best, for the sake of peace and edification, at present, silently to with- draw, that they might neither be under a necessity of conti- nually opposing or dissenting from particular parts of proce- dure, after a new formula, &-C had been introduced, or of acting inconsistently with their public and regular contendings in another place. In this respect, that Presbytery, by their unadvised rashness, have rendered themselves responsible in a great degree for all the consequences that followed. Though sufficient reasons to account for the conduct of these brethren, as to the matter of both the charges, might have been found by the Presbytery, in the minutes of Synod, or in papers in due form lodged with them, yet the brethren took occasion from this citation to shew their dutiful respect to the Presbytery, by explaining their views, stating facts, and assigning their reasons, so far and in such manner as was consistent with maintaining the public ground on which they stood as to the main controversy. Their answers were read ; but the Presbytery declined giving judgment, and referred the cause to the Synod ; which produced, of course, the cita- tion to attend, committed as an ordinary letter to the care of post-boys. As the letters sent to the Presbytery, which would of course be transmitted with the reference, contained what the brethren thought necessary to be offered on these charges, they did not trouble the Synod with any other an- G swers. ( 50 ) swers. Whether the Synod allowed these reasons to have force for setting aside the Presbytery's charges for the present, or what judgment they gave upon the reference, — this histo- rian of Synodical transactions would do well to inform the public in some future memoir ; for, Christian Reader, the parties themselves that were cited do not know, as neither Synod nor Presbytery have to this day been pleased to im- part it to them *. Thus they may be absolved or condemned, and ordered to be burned in effigy in all the cities of the king- dom, without their hearing a syllable about it. As to the second of the Presbytery's articles, namely, mak- ing a declaration of principles contrary to those of the Gene- ral Synod since last meeting, as laid, it ought never to have been admitted by any court that had a regard to just and re- gular procedure. It was entitled to no particular reply had the parties been present, farther than to deny the charge as criminal, or to insist for some specification of instances with proof : and this they did by letter, that they might at least know, as to what they were required to make a defence, at whatever time, or in whatever manner, they might reckon it needful to do it. But a charge so vague and indefinite, which mentioned no time, no words or expressions of the import al- ledged, nor gave any intimation of proof to be adduced, in- stead of being received as a ground of Synodical procedure against any person whatever, ought to have subjected a Pres- bytery to a reprimand for bringing forward accusations in that manner, besides the additional reason there was for it in this case, on account of intrusion into the Synod's proper business : for the sentiments and the conduct referred to in these charges, when investigated, would be found to be nothing different from what had been all along avowed and expressed in papers lying before the Synod. Let the reader but observe, how this charge runs ; * It was noticed, that each had made a decla- ration of sentiments,' &c Bv whom noticed? perchance by some sauntering passengers, — some officious spy or busy informer, (as some such it would seem, have of late, Doeg- like, mingled themselves in worshipping assemblies for no better purpose than to carry away their malignant but wel- come accusation against the servants of the Lord and worship- pers therein) — noticed — by some person, or persons unknown. This is in the manner and style of the false accusers of old rime. " It is reported among the heathen, and Gashmu saith " it, that thou and the Jews think to rebel," Neh. vi. 6. • This at the time of writing was true as to borh of them ; though, since last meeting of Synod, upon a repeated demand, one of them has had an extract of the deed in his case sent to him, ten months afttr it was passed. " Report, ( 51 ) " Report, say they, and we will report it," Jer. xx. 1 0. But far, very far, from being consonant to the ordinary forms of hu- man justice, or to the express injunction of an inspired apostle in such cases ; " Against an elder receive not an accusation " but at the mouth of two or three witnesses," 1 Tim. v. 19. 1 It is notour,' were the words used in the citation ; what was done above twenty miles distant from Edinburgh, was said to be notour there ; though it was either altogether un- known, or could hardly be guessed at upon the spot, even by him who was said to have done it. It was at best but trifling in the Presbytery to take up the cause, or in the Synod, if they proceeded in it, upon the confined and partial ground on which it was stated in the Presbyterial reference, when the matters of greatest importance, and the merits of the whole cause, were more fully before the Synod already. To require answers abstractly and separately in these inferior points that arose out of the other, was to little purpose : but had the other been satisfactorily terminated, these lesser differences and temporary alienations would have been easily adjusted. But though all due formality had been used, the second article of charge ought to have been rejected as irrelevant. For what does it amount to but a mere difference in sentiment or in conduct from the Synod. This, though it had been confessed, or established by the clearest proof, could not of itself have been an evidence either of error or schism, as it is possible that a majority in Synod may be guilty of both these as well as a minority. Mere agreement with any synod or church, can never be a test of truth and scriptural unity. The charge is dictated in the tone that agrees only to that church which pretends to infallibility, and to be the only catholic one, with whom no more is needful to prove a man a heretic than that he does not receive every article of her creed, or to fix upon him the stigma of a schismatic, than that he decline communion upon her terms. For let it be noticed, that there is not a word in the charge about declaring sentiments oppo- site to those of the Scriptures, the Confession of Faith, or the original principles of the Secession — tending to promote schism in or from a body holding these : A process of this kind would have been doing something to the purpose, but this was never attempted, and to have supported it would have been too hard a task. But it was easy to assert, and to prove too, what these brethren never pretended to conceal, that they had sen- timents very opposite to some principles\lately adopted by the Synod. What then ? If these brethren could plead, as they always did, that they had the bible, the subordinate standards, and their ordination-vows on their side, and if the Synod had nothing but their bare authority or their own late acts to set G 2 against ( 52 ) against them, which of them had the strongest plea ; and which of them was most censurable ? As there has been a dead silence observed as to any judg- ment passed upon this second article of the Presbytery's charge, as no notice was taken in the summons afterwards ordered to one of them for future compearance — these brethren might naturally conclude, that it was dismissed ; as they never had heard before, so neither have they since, of any judicial cri- mination on the head of declaring principles of any kind, or in any manner. Setting aside therefore the matter of this ci- tation, — what ground or pretext could the Synod find for a vote of present censure upon these brethren, or even to insti- tute a process towards it at that time ? Nothing, — but the paper of protestation given in at the preceding meeting. But this was equally irrelevant with the other ; though the con- sideration of it will more properly belong to the proceedings of the second week. We only at present recall the reader's attention to the decision of the cause, in whatever manner it was taken up, on the first week, — and take notice of some of the reflections with which this correspondent closes his account of it. Though he has not thought proper to give us a full minute, in this case, nor mentioned the previous grounds on which the vote proceeded, as in the case of Mr A., yet he informs the public, (a favour which the Synod probably thought too great to be done to the parties), that ' after a long time spent in 1 deliberating upon their conduct, the following motions were ' proposed: 1st, That they be suspended till next meeting of * Synod, and summoned to attend. 2d, That the Synod de- * lay farther procedure, only summon these brethren to at- ' tend. The last of these motions, by a considerable majority, * was agreed to.' Here then we have the deliberate and so- lemn determination of the General Synod, at a time when it may be supposed to be most full, after a long discussion, pro- hibiting any further procedure in this cause, either in Synod or inferior courts, within the time limited, which was till next meeting in Spring, to which they were to be summoned : for to suppose that the delay was only till next week, and that the summons was either intended or could have been executed for their compearance then, — would be both contrary to the declared meaning of the Synod when the vote was passed, and in itself absurd. It expressly bears, that neither the paper said to be a material declinature, nor any thing contained in the reference, nor the whole cause complexly taken, were to be a ground of censure then or before that time This cer- tainly was, and was meant to be, a full and final determina- tion of the matter for the present and for eight months to come, ( 53 ) come, without respect to or any dependence upon any thing of the same nature which might occur or be brought to light as to any steps which these brethren might have taken, or see meet to take, conformably to the letter or plain import of their protestation. It is evident, then, that these brethren were, by the most regular sentence of the supreme court, still to be con- sidered as in the full exercise of their office, notwithstanding all these charges, or supposable and not improbable events, until the same court should, at their next meeting, give far- ther judgment ; and consequently that, agreeably to this sen- tence, they are to be held as in the same state to this day. Here the Letter-writer declaims a while upon the uncom- mon lenity shewn by the Synod in this and some other parts of their procedure. In this decision, indeed, there was an appearance of some moderation with respect to the matter of the charge, and some more regard to regular process in future. The Synod appointed the previous steps to be taken before proceeding to censure, the parties were to be cited, and some charge stated against them ; which ought to have been done before they entered upon the process at all. Had the Synod abode by this judgment, and supported their own authority in it against the violent sticklers for precipitant measures and present censure; they would have done more justice to them- selves, as well as to their brethren and the cause. But, it ought always to be remembered that justice goes before lenity. Where strict justice requires that a bill of in- dictment should be thrown out altogether, or that a party should, upon trial, be fairly exculpated, any sentence of a contrary import, whether more or less lenient, must be still a violation of right. In this view, both sides of the above vote are to be considered as exceptionable, and none of them, properly speaking, as lenient ; for both of them implied the sustaining of some relevant charge as a ground at least of fu- ture process, which could not be apparent from any thing found or lying before the Synod. The differencce between the two motions was only between a present censure and a de- lay of it for some time, which left the parties and their cause arraigned at the bar. It is only in a comparative view, that the one adopted can be allowed to have been either moderate or just. Is it either lenity or justice to suspend for a little the sentence of condemnation against a person, when the pro- cess was rashly and injuriously set on foot, for no real crime, but for a discharge of duty ? Had the Synod, at that time, acted the part which became faithful adherents to their wit- nessing profession and ordination- vows, they would instantly have yoted an exculpation, finding, that in all that the pro- testers had been,, contending for, they were warranted by the very ( 54 ) very letter of the rules and terms of the Associate Body ; — that what they craved for the time to come, was an undoubt- ed right belonging to them and every one of the body as for- merly constituted ; and that the Synod, according to Protes- tant principles, the general laws of society, the particular rules and constitution of their church, or even according to the rights which they still loudly declared to belong to the consciences of all men, could not lawfully claim authority over them to make them renounce what they had always professed, and had bound themselves ever to do. Had they acted only the part which common consistency required, they would have found that though, for their own part, they thought it their duty to adopt a new testimony, they had no more right to force their brethren to go along with them in that change, contrary to their choice and conviction, or to censure them for refusing this, than they had to force or censure any other persons who had never joined their association. Or, at least, they would have taken occasion from the opposition stated, and the reasons of it, (some of which had never been at all considered), to have deliberated a little longer on the subject, revised their obnoxious deeds, examined the questions more narrowly than they had ever yet done, or given the brethren, opportunity to have explained themselves more fully on any of them (which they were ready to have done, had it been required) ; and, in the mean time, have suspended the impo- sition of the new terms of communion. But they did not act this honest part : and even their more cautious and temperate measures were, by the violent though minor party, speedily rendered abortive, and turned headlong, as will be seen in the proceedings of the second week. So that whatever objections might have been made to the former, will apply with aggra- vated force against the posterior judgment. But before proceeding to a consideration of this it may be proper to animadvert a little upon the reflections and stories with which the writer closes his account of this first part of Synodical transactions, and on the vague contradictory accounts that are given of the sentiments of the protesters. Instead of shewing that the Synod had any proper materials or ground of process against these brethren before them, which was the principal point, he finds it much easier to dwell upon the topic of the uncommon lenity and unprecedented forbearance shewn by the Synod in this instance, and all along. But, according to the above representation of the case, where was the lenity ? or when, in any preceding stage of the business, did the protes- ters need to cast themselves upon the clemency of the court, or take the benefit of forbearance ? Or if any praise on this account was due to the Synod in this decision, it was a praise they ( 55 ) they were entitled to only for two or three days ; — a praise which they pusillanimously suffered their opponents in the debate, and dissenters from the deed, totally to rob them of, before it could be resounded throughout the different cor- ners of the nation ; so that what seems to be the matter of panegyric, in the event turned out to their greater disgrace, and fixed a more lasting stigma upon their proceedings. The writer indeed doth not expressly declare on what side of the vote his own judgment was given or lay, — whether on the lenient side, or on the side of those members who, he says, entered a dissent against the delay, a summary of whose rea- sonings previous to the vote he details. When he knew the task that was yet before him, it was prudent to keep a re- serve of his own judgment, that he might be at liberty to veer about with the Synod as occasion required, and that he might be in case to vindicate the following proceedings, subversive of the other ; for it would have been a task rather awkward, and the absurdity would have been too glaring, to have taken the de- fence of sentences so contrary to one another, — almost with the same breath. He seems rather at a loss how to justify the lenity shown on this occasion from having been carried to ex- cess ; — and seeks for an apology in the benevolent disposi- tions and good intentions of those who voted for it. * They 4 did not wish (he says) to part fellowship with them. I do • not believe there was one man in the Synod that wished these ' brethren should leave us.' P. 29. These brethren are not disposed to question the remains of former brotherhood, and of kind affection that might have influenced the minds of many members of court. And they certainly are obliged to them for any indications of personal regard which they may have given ; but they would have been much more so, had they shown a preferable regard to the cause for which they appear- ed. Perhaps there was not one that wished them to depart : But feelings aside, can it be supposed that there was one who could wish, in an absolute view, that any who had ever been in connection with them, should leave them, or be separated from their communion ? Were they to speak of personal attachment and feelings, or were a public cause to be determined or judged of by a con- test of this kind, these brethren might say, that they could feel with the kindest, and melt with the most tender. It is easy to see, that they must have suffered more in this respect, by the rupture, than those on the other side, in proportion as they had more to lose, and must be exposed to greater hard- ships by the privation. Some of them could tell what tears, what days and years of sorrow, the very prospect of what has now taken place, before the crisis actually approached, occa- sioned C 56 ) sioned to them. But ministers and all engaged in public con- tendings may be obliged, like Paul, when going bound in the Spirit to Jerusalem, to tear themselves away from the arms of weeping friends, even Christian brethren, that would break their heart, detain them from finishing their course, and ful- filling the ministry that they have received of the Lord Jesus, ~-as well as to withstand the assaults and bear the rudeness of the fierce and violent, like the beasts which the same apos- tle fought with at Ephesus. He says, ' they were resolved, that if ever they parted fel- 1 lowship with us, it should be entirely on their side.' But how was this demonstrated by their conduct, or consistent with fact? Did not they first begin the change, and per- sist in it ? Did they not deliberately introduce and retain in their new Testimony and Formula, what they very w r ell knew, and what they were expressly before-hand told, would, if retained and imposed, unavoidably expel their brethren from their communion ? Are not those who cause a separation, and who break the bonds of union in a body, the true separatists ? Do they not, by an open relinquishment of their profession, voluntarily separate themselves from those who continue to adhere to it without alteration, and from the body as formerly constituted ? The protesters had scrupulously endeavoured to maintain inviolate their former connection, and shewed their unwillingness to leave the Synod to the last : nor did they take the step that was accounted to amount to that, till it was rendered impossible for them, in consequence of the new deeds, any longer to continue to act in concert : for what is unlawful is to be considered as morally impossible. Did they not declare to the last, in their protestations, that they were both willing and resolved to hold communion with all, ministers or people, as heretofore, who were disposed to main- tain it on the same grounds as it had ever been stated in the Secession ? Did they not declare and complain, that they were virtually secluded from the time that the new principles and rules were settled, — to which seclusion, while these re- mained in force, they were constrained reluctantly to give way ? Any impartial person, then, may easily see from whom the division and separation arose: and to those, upon whom the blame justly falls, must be imputed all the necessary and disagreeable consequences, as was also urged in the protests. To profess, as this writer does in name of his brethren in Sy- nod, that they were still desirous to retain them in fellowship, and yet obstinately to refuse to remove these things that they knew to be insurmountable bars in the way of it, even when they could represent them as things of no moment, matters that could affect no man's conscience, was to mock them with fair words. If their speeches seemed to be soft as oil, — in their ( » ) their hands they had drawn swords, and with them tfiey did smite. The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland continued to make the same professions to the first Seceders, while they persisted in the measures, in whole or in part, which prevented the freedom of the brethren to return: Although it must be owned, that they made far greater concessions, and did many and more plausible things to prepare the way for their return, than ever the General Associate Synod have done or proposed. Ministerial freedom was laid under far less re- straint by the former than by the latter for years, after the first h :sty act of the commission in deposing them was repeal- ed by the supreme court, without requiring even the form of acknowledgement, and after a formal secession had been de- clared and persisted in. As to the manner of their procedure in discipline, they will not bear a comparison. Notwith- standing of all the boast made of comparative lenity in this and in another Synodical publication that has lately appeared, and notwithstanding of all the declamation or vociferation up- on that topic, that was heard in Synod from some would-be- orators, it may be affirmed that the procedure of the Assem- bly, however culpable it might otherwise be, compared with the other, was oider and lenity itself: as could be easily made to appear, did our proposed limits permit to enter upon it. ' There is not an instance,' he adds, * of any person having * given in a declinature to the Synod, whom they did not in- ■ stantly depose. Butinstead of passing the sentence of de- ' position upon these brethren when their declinature w 7 as gi- ' ven in, no censure whatever was passed upon them ; and at ' this time the same lenity was exercised. ' Perhaps he may know of no instance of this kind, nor do I reckon it very ne- cessary narrowly to inquire, whether any such instance of persons giving in a declinature, and escaping instant deposi- tion, hath ever occurred since the commencement of the seces- sion, though, upon search, some such might be found*. But though * We have seen above, an instance of a whole Presbytery materially or rather formally declining the authority of the Synod over them, either in determining articles of faith or in any other matters, and yet acknowledged and retained in the roll of the Synod, as brethren. The writer of this can recollect another in- stance to which he was an eye-witness. Mr D. Smyton, in Kilmaurs, declined the Synod, and declared a secession from it, in the most formal manner; but though a sentence of suspension was passed against him, he never was deposed to his dying day. In the proceedings of the Associate Synod in the case of the ministers who had separated from them, in 1747-48, might not the Letter-writer have found ano- ther, Mr Hutton, minister at Stow, was served with a libel in common with the rest of the separating brethren, but as he did not compear at the time appointed to answer to it, he and all of them were declared contumacious ; next day how- ever, when the Synod were about to proceed on the libel in their absence, he appeared — read a paper in court, wherein, at the minutes express it, ' he attack- H • ed ( 53 ) though there were none, neither has any case ever occurred in the whole annals of the Presbyterial or Synodical proceed- ings, parallel or similar to the present, in which parties at the bar, or supposed to be so, frte of any personal charge of scan- dal against themselves, were strenuously insisting for the main- tenance of the whole professed principles and original consti- tution of the body, in opposition to a majority actively over- turning them, and against whom this at bottom was the only crime alledged. How far, or in what sense, their last paper may be said to have been a declinature, may partly be col- lected from the account already given of it, or it may after- wards fall under farther consideration. But grant it had been a full and direct declinature, — these are of very different kinds, and proceed upon very different grounds : this, at any rate, was very different from declinatures of a court whose power of constitutional jurisdiction in the cause is incontestible, taken with a view to stop process or evade censures by parties at the bar, for other causes allowed to be censurable according to or- dinary rules of discipline ; in which cases it must be a high aggravation of the original offence, and may warrant a sum- mary procedure. But though this writer knew of no prece- dent in the history of the Secession, of any having declined authority uncensured, — might he not have recollected one in the proceedings of the national judicatory, from which the Secession was stated ; in a court, not only well acquaint with legal forms, but sufficiently jealous of authority, and disposed to assert it, as has been usually said by Seceders, with too much rigour ? Dots he not know that after permitting a few ministers for a number of years to refrain from sitting in church courts, and even to act as a constituted separate one, to preach, and admit members into communion promiscuously from all parishes, without acknowledging their own mini- sters, — to emit not only doctrinal but judicial and written tes- timonies against their proceedings, — to instruct and licence ' ed and impugned the constitution and whole late proceedings of the Synod, in a ' very absolute and audacious manner — declaring that he did not appear as a pan- * nel, or as answering the citation given him upon the libel,' &c. And yet he was not instantly deposed. Though he was found highly censurable, yet no cen- sure was inflicted on him, until every article of the libel was regularly gone through, and f he whole found both relevant and proven, and then the sentence of deposition proceeded upon * these matters cf heinous sin and scandal fouiid proven A\Y\ * a g am5t t^em, as a ' so n ' s contumacy, together with his sinful and scandalous be- 1 haviour'when he appeared before them.' As for the other ministers, though the articles of the libel, charging them with matters of heinous *in and scandal, among which was the constitution of a separate Synod, and contumacy against the au- thority prosecuting them, — no higher censure than suspension was proposed to be inflicted for a long time after. See ' Proceedings of the Associate Synod, concerning some ministers who have * separa-ed from them, in 1747-48 : containing the libel against these ministers ; * and proceedings thereon, unto the sentence of suspension.' &c young ( 59 ) young men for the ministry, &x. ; that the supreme court, after .ill this, suffered these ministers to possess their churches and offices unmolested , and even i i their presence, instead of answering to a libel regularly put liito their hand, formally to decline their authority, and yet peaceably to remove from it, not only without deposition, but without any form of cen- sure whatever. Had the protesting brethren been chargeable with all this, and n.et with similar treatment, there Would have been at lea^>t some more specious pretence for accusing them of following schismatical and devisive courses; and for trn npeting forth incessantly the Synod's long forbearance, and their great though not singular lenity. So copious is the Letter-writer on this favourite but ill- chosen topic, however scanty he be in giving important in- formation, that he spends another page compleatly upon it-— going back for anotner evidence of it to the conduct of the preceding meeting in Spring, contrasted with what he reckons their offensive, it not the impious conduct of these brethren in reference to them. And what doii this other instance of singular forbearance ampunt to when told ? The Synod, ex- pecting that some paper would be given in by the brethren before the close of that meeting, waited, it seems, for it, near- ly the space of two hours after their other business was over : and as they perceived they would not have time to pass any judgment upon it, at that sederunt, they had previously agreed, that when presented, it should be simply read, without a single observation to be made, leaving the consideration of it to the next sederunt. And after that too was spent upon it, they left it where they found it, without proceeding to any judg- ment upon it, and without saying a word to any of the sub- scribers, who were not even called to attend. All this may be very true, though certainly very little to the purpose. If they waited so long for a paper expected to be presented, after their other business was over, it was more than the brethren requested of them, and more than they could have insisted for as their right ; for every court is master of its mode of procedure, — and may shorten or lengthen out diets or meetings at discretion, if needful business be not neglected, or any who have business with them be not intentionally ex- cluded. After the reading of the long answers to the last re- monstrance, which occupied the Synod the greater part of two days on the preceding week, the brethren declared viva voce, their dissatisfaction with the answers, and considered the grounds of their protestations still unremoved, particularly by the refusal to repeal the new terms imposed : but they did not reckon it consistent with order to offer their objections or remarks upon these answers, in that stage of procedure ; nor H 2 did ( 60 ) did they wish to take any farther step rashly ; — they only re- quested a copy of the answer to the requisition in the words of the committee, now sanctioned by a vote of the whole Sy- nod ; and they hoped the door would be left open for them to offer on the whole cause, what, after deliberating farther upon it, they might reckon necessary, before the close of that meeting. The former request was refused ; — but not the lat- ter : borne communication therefore they had reason to ex- pect, and the brethren no doubt desired the opportunity of declaring themselves more explicitly, and in writing, upon the last Synodical decision, and the ground upon which they were now to stand. Yet, had they been prevented in this by the Synod abruptly closing their meeting, they did not think that their cause would have been materially injured by the delay ; as they would in that case, in consequence of what they had said and craved, have been continuing on the footing of the protes- tation of the preceding year, which was indeed materi.illy the same with that which was now taken, after a recapitulation of the general grounds and reasons of it. ihe corrected copy of the paper, as revised and subscribed, was not finished when notice w y as given them about noon on Wednesday, that the Synod meant to close their meeting with that sederunt, with- out having any meeting in the evening, — as they usually if not always had, when the Synod met on the second week. If any of the brethren had expressed their wish that the Sy- nod should wait after the other business was ended, it is more than i know. It certainly was not done in concert. That the Synod waited so long, from a spirit of lenity towards the brethren, will with some too admit of a doubt. When their conduct afterwards shewed how eagerly they listened to any rumour, and catched at every pretext or shadow of reason for proceeding to severity, it. may be thought that they were ra- ther lying in wait to f hunt their brethren with a net/' wishing to see them intangled in their toils. Their agreeing previ- ously to adjourn after hearing it read, without expressing any judgment upon it, when it was ' manifest, whether the paper * might be long or short, the Synod, at that sederunt, could ' pass no judgment upon it,' was still a more slender and equi- vocal evidence of their indulgence towards them. Feeling for themselves, sympathy with their craving stomachs, or with their friends waiting, when the hour of dining was come, may be supposed to have fully as great a share in forming and ad- hering to this resolution. Nor will it be an incontestible proof of it, that they pronounced no judgment upon them after they had spent another sederunt upon it, if it be true that their minds were not yet ripe or prepared for giving a judgment. For that could not be, until they could ascertain the ( 61 ) the meaning and import of the paper that was lying before them, about which, it has been said, they talked or disputed for hours, without ever reading it, (as it also was not without a Struggle and clamorous opposition, that it could be allowed to be read at Glasgow when the cause was resumed, though a s^reat number who were sitting in court to judge upon it had never heard it ! ! !) Till this point was first settled, they could hardly be said to exercise forbearance. When a court cannot come to a decision of any cause, they must of necessity- delay it, in mere favour to themselves, unless they were in the situation of some juries impannelled, that must not sepa- rate, or eat or drink, until they have brought in their verdict. So much 1 can affirm, that the moderator, Mr J „t {who should of all others be best acquainted with the mind of the court), next day after the Synod was over, asked one of the protesters what w 7 as the meaning of that paper ? and he own- ed, before setting off for the metropolis, that he was in a great measure unacquainted wi^h the cause. But after residing a twelvemonth in the neighbourhood ot Lambeth and St James's, he had, it seem^, by ruminating upon the contents of it, and by narrow scrutiny into the cause, found out the riddle ; so as to be able, w T hen he returned, to preach the Synod sermon, and to inform his auditory, that in the brethren's paper or principles he haddescried some hideousmonster (something per- haps like the Centaur of old, half-man half-horse)* even the mon- * ster of an alliance hatched at Rome,' which these schismaticai brethren were now defending. Perhaps being accustomed so much to gaze upon a monster of that kind so near him, and being frightened by its fierce looks and bellowings, notwithstanding the modern trappings put upon it by a Bishop of Gloucester *, it starts up also to his imagination on this side of the Tweed - y and wherever any alliance exists or is named, there the mon- ster must certainly be. The writer of this, however, well recollects the day w. en he, in presence of a presbytery and congregation in Bow-lane, gave his solemn prom i be to main- tain all the doctrines of the Confession of Faith, Piesbyterian worship and government, &c — against all contrary tenets, Erastian or Sectarian, Prelatical or Independent — all the days of his life ; in all which then, there was not a syllable utter- ed either in private or public of any thing monstrous to be found. A similar engagement he witnessed, and as the mouth of the ordaining Presbytery, took, before more than a thou- sand witnesses, in a chapel not far from Edinburgh, from him who is supposed to have had a chief hand in manufacturing these letters, — and was the first to lay hands upon him, in ad- • Warburton's Alliance between the Church and State* mining ( 62 ) mining him to office, upon the faith of that profession. He is sorry to have live.: to see the manner in which some ai ticles of these engagements have been performed, and how they re- quite those who have said, and continue to say to them, as was ordered to be done to Archippus, " Take heed to the " ministry which thou hast received of the Lord Jesus, that rt thou fulfil it," — •• by prating against them with malicious '■ words, and neither do they themselves receive the brethren, " and forbidfiUfck them that would," acting a very ostensible part in •' casting them out of the church," 3 John, iO. Whether it was from the language of that * excellent ser- mon,' Ch. Mag. No. 4. preached before the Synod, that some of the Rev. Auditors c itched the idea, and picked up the term, or from the Synod's committee, it is not now unusual with some of them, as we have heard from ear-witnesses, to have the effrontery, on sacramental occasions and at other times, to arraign the Presbyterian principles as if chargeable with grossErastianism, telling the people, that 'some now are for ' making toe church a monster with two h ads jl although the committee seems rather to wish to have it believed, that the protesting brethren would have the Lord Jesu- Chri-t deposed from havmg even the honour of being a conjunct head, and would set up another, even the civil magistrate, in his stead ! It is deplorable to think that ministers should have proceeded so far, as to utter in >uch a manner, what they must or may know to be gross calumnies, — and that .vors\ ipping assemblies of Presbyterians and Seceders can patiently endure to hear the pulpit so baselv prostituted, without once inquiring, whether these tilings be so, — or though tney be fully conscious that they are nor so. The Ssuod and the abettors of its late deeds are very anxi-» ous to find some plausible matter of accusation against their brethren, though they seem greatly at a loss on what to fix. At one time we are told, they find no fault with any princi- ples they hold or teach on these subjects ; — at another, they are represented as adopting ot favouring the most dangerous errors. But often, as it was in the process against our Lord, when false witnesses arise to accuse a cause or persons, their witness dotli not agree ; — one of them serves to refute the testimony of another. So it is here. The Letter-writer, though as eager to criminate as any, exculpates the protesters from the foregoing charge, but fain would load them with another totally inconsistent with it, but with equal ignorance of the subject, equal disregard to truth, and in opposition to the most explicit declarations of the accused. «lt doth not appear 'tome,' says he, 'that they grant to those in civil office any thing 'like an ILrastian usurpation over the church : they are as de- cided ( G3 ) * cided as the Synod is, that the state ought not to lord it over « the heritage of God They seem to run into the opposite * extreme, which is that of the church's lording it over the f s:ate. The power which they ascribe to civil rulers, in mat- * ters of religion, seems to be only such as the lowest officer is ' invested with in the state *.' A very great fall all at once, from the highest place possible, even from the exercise of the head- ship of the Lord Jesus himself over his church, to be degrad- ed to the very lowest subaltern, which our author's delicacy will not so much as permit him to name, the hangman of the church ! This would be a new sort of church -officer in addi- tion to our kirk beadles and Synod officers, and rather more formidable when attended with spears, torches, and tar-bar- rels, or v\ ith all the apparatus for the gibbet, instead of mere slips of harmless, mis-spelt, or perhaps unsubscribed papers f. A little ago these men were high-flying sacrilegious Erastians; and now they are converted into Hildebrandian Papists, that would make all civil rulers to bend their necks, wear the church's chain, and passively resign their independence and the power of both swords to mere church-men. Any little difference or inconsistency between these two charges, we shall leave to be adjusted between the Committee and the Letter- writer, or between the late Moderator and Clerks of Court, superior or subaltern. We hold them both, contrary as they are, to be equally true •, that is, to be barefaced calumnies, — such as have, however, been cast upon the Presbyterian sys- tem before, by opposite classes of adversaries. Genuine Pres- byterian principles could be easily cleared from both, were this the subject of discussion. The reader may see in former writers, how the power they pled for was to be exercised, and sanctions given to certain, not all church-deeds, without running into either extreme. If the Letter-writer had taken time to consider, or if the reader chuses to consult, what one of the protesting ministers some years ago published on the subject, he may see his real sentiments, decidedly stated a- gainst both these extremes, — instead of looking at a caricature of his or of Presbyterian principles, drawn from mere imagi- nation %. If their adopting either the one or the other of these erroneous and dangerous schemes had been capable of the smallest proof, how short-sighted were the Synod, and those * Letter iv. p. 65. f A summons ordered by the Synod to be executed against one of the protesters was signed with the name of their officer, which, as written, belonged to none ever known to have been in that office. A few weeks ago, the same cfficer, after tra- velling sixteen miles to execute summons upon Mr Chalmers of H. (who is now marked out for suffering for his faithfulness), delivered to him, with due formality, a paper without subscription. I See Hist. Pol. Eccl. Dissert, on the Supremacy of Civil Powers. who ( 64 ) who now throw out among the populace the random chargr, when they did not, in defect of other grounds of censure, for r mally accuse them of the one, or of the other, or of both of these grievous errors, and bring them in guilty on this ground. It would have been something more plausible than what they have hitherto alledged or found. Scarce any thing in these letters struck some of us with more surprise than the hideous and malevolent tale, with which the writer closes the first of them, as to the insultino- and irreverent manner in which the brethren are said to have gone out of the Synod-house, after delivering their paper in May. A trivial anecdote of this kind, true or false, artfully coloured, will sometimes produce greater effect on weak minds and sighing sisters, than either argument or proofs. ' While ' the Synod were in the very act of addressing the throne of ' God, they pushed through the crowd, and went away. What * greater contempt could they have poured upon a synagogue 4 of Satan ? Had they been in a conclave of Cardinals, they * could not have treated their worship with a higher mark of ' disdain,' &c. W T hen I read this, I almost questioned whe- ther I had been awake or in a dream, when all this is said to have happened, as I could retrace nothing like it in my re- collection. When it was mentioned to some of the brethren, they seemed to have as little remembrance of it. 1 protest, were I on oath, I could not certainly say , whether 1 heard one sentence or word of prayer when going out, not to say be- fore we began to remove. As the matter is here narrated, there could be nothing less than a manifest and designed insult both upon the court, and the religious duty in which they are said to have been engaged. But however some small occasi- onal circumstances unforeseen, attending their removal, might appear to the jaundiced eyes of some observers, or be wrought up by their fancy to have such an appearance, is there a can- did reader who can suppose that an insult was either intended or given * ? According to previous agreement indeed, as soon as their paper was lodged with instruments, they withdrew, but with no precipitation, as they had no farther business with them at that time ; and the Synod had previously intimated that nothing was proposed to be said to them Not a word had been spoken before or after, about joining or not joining * Some of the circumstances here are evidently exaggerated. That in the time of their retiring, which they did by the door of the inner session-house, the moderator might be desired to close the meeting, and that he might begin before the last of them might be entirely out of hearing, it is possible may be true ; but in that ca«e the indecent hurry was rather on the Synod's side : and as for push- ing through a crowd, there was small occasion for that as the way they had to pass was so short, and after the Synod had waited so long without other business, the crowd remaining at that time, it may be supposed, was riot very great. with ( «* ) with the Synod in prayer ; but they were .attending it as a court, not as a worshipping assembly. And as they had not pecupted their seats, nor concurred m the preceding business of court, they could not be supposed to be in case readily to concur in the prayers and thanksgivings relating to it, which usually are in unison or agreement with it. In some cases, a greater regard may be shewn both to the object and duty of praver by withdrawing than continuing, when there is an out- ward appearance of concurring, while the heart in many things may be disapproving and dissenting. We have heard of a late instance of the minds of worshippers being thrown into embarrassment, and the congregation into some confusion, soon after the meeting of the General Synod or Glasgow, by the rash imprudence of a young preacher praying for a bles- sing upon their proceedings, and on the censures they had in- flicted, though both minister and people in the congregation were known to have concurred in remonstrances, — so that a number thought themselves constrained to go out in the midst of the solemn addresses, as a token of their disapprobation : and of another advocate for the new deeds, while they were yet in a train of progress, who was invited to preach in the pulpit of a remonstrating brother now deceased, and there before his face, gave thanks for the progress that had been made, and the harmony that had taken place on that subject. In such cases it cannot be supposed that there will be unanimity in saying Amen to the prayers or giving of thanks. " How can " two walk together except they be agreed ?" But every withdrawing from prayers, or refusing to join in other acts of worship, whether occasionally or statedlv, doth not imply that these assemblies are viewed as on a level with a synagogue of Satan, or a conclave of cardinals. This w ? ould be to repeat the chime of Currie, in his Essay on Separation, that all must be un- churched from whom a secession is made. SECTION FIFTH. The cause of the Protesters resumed on the second week — The pretext for it — Deposition of Mr M'Crie. A. JrlE Writer of the Letters begins his account of the Sy- nodical transactions on the second week of their meeting, in the following manner : * My last was closed with an account * of the Synod's delay in the case of Messrs Bruce and.M'Crie; * and you will no doubt be surprised when I renew my cor- I ' respondence ( 66 ) * respondence with informing you of the Synod's opening their. * meeting in the second week, with the case of these breth- 1 ren *.' There was doubtless some reason for surprise : and every reader, as well as his correspondent, may certainly see good cause for being not a little surprised at it. For it will be hard to find any thing similar in all the records of ecclesi- astical persecution, or in the proceedings of the Star-chamber and High-commission-courts of infamous memory ; or in the registers of the murderous Privy-council of Scotland, when they were most greedily thirsting for blood. Every court that hath had the smallest pretension to justice, though under no biassof favour to the parties, has usually in so far respect- ed its own credit, as to adhere to its own sentences in regard to them, when once pa^t, so as not to pronounce a different sentence upon the same party, on the same grounds, in the same sessions. Whether it acquit or condemn, or remit to another term — what is written, is written; and the autho- rity of the court is pledged to see it executed. Or in case of some flaw or omissions in an indictment, or of some posterior occurrences, if a prosecution be revived, and a second time brought on; a new indictment must be drawn, another term sdt for the party to be heard in person or by proctor, and a new trial granted. If it were otherwise, what man's charac- ter, liberty, or life could be in safety from continual and re- iterated prosecutions ? What would innocence, valid defences, or a verdict of acquittal, or a legal protection in the mean time, until a fair trial could be obtained, avail ; — if parties, notwithstanding, might be still liable to be hauled into judg- ment again, as often and as soon as an arbitrary judge or court might please to order it ? and perhaps a second and condemna- tory sentence be passed before the party knew any thing of it? But such, Christian Reader, was the mode of procedure adopt- ed by the General Synod on the second week, in regard to these brethren. We have seen above the decision of Synod when fully con- vened, and after long - discussion, upon their cause, and the t:rm to which a farther consideration of it was delayed; by which they were protected in the mean time from any cen- sure, and judicially acknowledged in the full exercise of their office, until that term should come, and opportunity should be given them to attend ; without impowering any inferior court to take any farther step in that affair, in the interval, but restraining them from it : and as for any reference or de- lay of it to the Synod when they were to meet next week, that would have been contrary to the usual forms in all courts, and • P. .-i. C « ) and to the rules of justice, after the cause had bccu fully d - cussed, and the sentence already given upon it was meant for the present to be final. That this was so, seems to have been agreed on both sides in the debate and in the vote : the stick- lers for censure surely viewed it in this light, and confessed so much by entering their dissent, with reasons against the delay, to be recorded in the minutes; for this" surely would have been unnecessary, and very strange conduct, if the cause still lay open for judgment, and was to be brought forward again before the Synod rose. We must suppose the consci- ences of these dissenters to have been in a strange state of feel- ing, or morbid irritability, if the pressure of a delay of cen- sure only for two or three dayscou'd not be endured by them, without all that solemnity of exoneration. Of the reasons that were advanced in the course of debate against longer delay, we know nothing more than what this correspondent hath summarily communicated : as here stated, they seem to have been drawn chiefly from the supposed dan- gers that might ariie from a longer delay, by giving these brethren more time to carry on their schismatical courses, and from the hurtful effects that had already followed the forbear- ance already exercised. But what were these hurtful conse- quences either already seen or apprehended. Nothing -more than this ; that a few ministers and people should be allowed a little longer to hold fellowship together on the same terms they had ever done, and with all of the body who might be so inclined, without molestation from church-courts, and thr.t they might yet be permitted to teach and maintain the same and no other doctrine than that which they had 1 from the be* • inning received, while they were willing to concur with the Synod in promoting the public cause of religion, so far as their consciences and engagements would admit. Were these such form'dable dangers ? Was this indeed to promote schismati- cal and divisive courses ? Had they turned itinerant preachers a-la-mode, or joined an association consisting of a medley of all denominations, Episcopalian, Moravian, Methodists, Inde- pendents, &c. or announced their names to the world as di- rectors in anomalous societies, half spiritual, half secular, or the like, they might probably have escaped a little longer, and had their names retained in the Synod-roll *, and their I 2 con- * In the first formation of a society in London for executing ecclesiastics! mis- sions and ordina'ions, the names of two members of theGenera! Associate Synod are subscribed, of .vhom the late moderator wa6 one. In the printed accounts of the Edinburgh Mis onary society, among the directors for the year 1797 are found, the Rev. Robert Cuibert^;,, Leith ; — and Mr William Ellis, writer h. Edinburgh —the ruling Elder in the Tirst congregation there ; and who now may be styled the legal counsel or procurator of the Associate Judicatories, particularly in the late violent ( 63 ) congregations might not so very quickly have been entered into their ecclcs ; a'v>l kalendar as mere blanks, or vacancies, — as the reader, by casting his eye to that which is printed at the end of the 1st No. of the New Series, will see is already the case with almost all of the congregations under the pastoral care of the Presbytery, so far as Synodical authority, aided by the secular arm, can go. What additional reasons were contained in the paper of trie dissenters given in to be recorded, we are not told : Nor is it so much incumbent on us as on the Synod, In vindication of their own deed, to answer the reasons that have been offered against it, which, it may now be presumed, they never did, nor ever mean to do, as they so soon have on the matter given up the cause and the credit of their own judgment, by over- turning their own deed. Only if these reasons conveyed in- sinuations in them, or introduced new matter of accusation against these brethren, which none of the dissenters had ever before in a fair and manly manner brought forth, they ought either to have been refused a place in the recoids, to remain to after time without contradiction or any animadversion ; or else published, that the parties attacked by them, might know what they were, and have opportunity of vindicating them- selves. To assault behind back, and to stab in the dark, is to act the part of assasins, instead of fair accusers and manly antagonists. Every thing of the kind must bring infamy up- on ministers and a court of judicature. The keen sticklers for censure, having missed of their prey on the first week, eagerly renew the chase in the second, and succeeded, it seems, to their wish. But it was rather a sin- gular predicament in which those stood who, with reasons in their hand as parties against a delay, insisted for a revisd of the deed, and took an active part in reversing it, and after all, must have reasons inserted to stand in the minutes of court, against a deed which was now abolished. If ever parties sus- tained themselves judges in their own cause, these may truly be said to have done so: a good reason of itself for hold- ing a sentence thus obtained invalid. The pretext laid hold on for this procedure was the rumour of what the protesters had done on the preceding week, in constituting themselves into a Fresbvtery. T:iis produced an instantaneous effect. Instead of confining themselves to a consideration of the cause as it had already been disposed of, and was lying in the mi- nutes of court, it must be introduced again de novo, in defi- ance of all form, and attended with a defect of all proper violent proceedings; and leng known for a keen and wranglirg disputant, in Synod and out of Synod, in behalf of the modern sectarian scheme. evidence. ( <• ) letttfe. Whispers, secret and recent intelligence just come to town, the news as of some alarming plot and dangerous conspiracy, most critically and surprisingly brought to light, no'.v do the business effectually, — to quash henceforth in the n duth of every member the least mention of such a thing as lenity or forbearance, and to call down on the heads of the guilty conspirators instant vengeance: As when Guy Faukes was detected with his dark lanthorn, and matches ready to set fire to the concealed barrels of gun-powder, stored below the parli menr-house, to blow them all into the air at or.ee, and to raise an insurrection throughout the whole kingdom, — if the treasonable plot had not been mysteriously discovered in the very nick of time. In some such tragic strains is the Synod's herald disposed to proclaim the simple fact of a friend- ly meeting of the protesting ministers at Wii-t—n, — ' The * business managed in a ver\ secret way — imparted as a secret 1 to a trusty brother at Edinburgh, — who was so honesf : :; to 4 bring this new Presbytery to light — The elders of the se- * cond congregation of Edinburgh/ who, like vigilant guar- dians of the public safety, kept a sharp lock-out, * tooM the ' alarm.' As if, like sagacious James the King, they had felt the smell of gun-powder, they lost no time, — but search was made — though * Mr M'C. did not utter a word' of the treasonable transaction * in his prayers or sermons *,' they bring him forthwith into their confessional, and, like the zeal- ous fathers of the holy office, turn inquisitors, and squeeze it out. An attested copy of the confession is dispatched post- haste to Glasgow next day, by the hand of two trusty messen- gers ; and this ' was the occasion of the business with respect 1 to Mr M*C. being brought so scon under the review of the * Synod again. 7 Surely such active patriots deserved, not only the thanks of the house, but a lasting monument to be raised to their honour. And with respect to Mr M'C. with- out more ado, now found guilty, to use the very emphatic language of the Letter-writer, * forbearance could no longer 1 be tolerated.' Even a Synodical vcte of delay, or of longer forbearance, now became intolerable, and must be brushed away as a cobweb. Censure — censure, is now the order of the day ; — since the tocsin of Edinburgh hath sounded the alarm. And that the Synod might not be troubled with tedi- ous formalities, citation of parties, precognitions, examination of witnesses, proofs of relevancy ; or be detained for months or years perhaps, bv creeping through the different stages, * Having so many thing? of greater moment to criticize in the Letters, I stop not to notice the incoherent ungrammatical sentence the writer of them here uses. If he had been guilty of no greater errors, he might have had leave to commit as many of them as he pleased. they ( io ) they make short work of it, and all at once, within a few hours, leap to the highest degree of censure that can be in- flicted on a minister as such. Absolute authority is more agreeable to rulers than that which is limited, chiefly because it frees them from the shack- les of so many rules and laws, which in free states must be observed : it enables them to depress or remove whoever are obnoxious to them, without waiting the precarious issue of a trial, or being obliged to shew the world the reasons for what they do. Lewis XIV. once the tyrant of Europe, is said to have praised the Turkish government as the best. And no wonder ; for the sovereign has no more to do than give the order : If any bashaw or officer is to be dispatched, one is sent immediately to apply the bow-string j and no questions before or after to be asked. This manner of reviving the cause was neither honourable to the officious informers nor to the court. The former were acting the part of incendiaries, taking the direct course to split a congregation, formerly at peace, into two, and to drive mat- ters to extremity between the Synod and their minister about questions and measures not so immediately belonging to their province. They had attempted before to blow the flame, at the time of the sacramental communion in the Spring, and had, during the Summer, been urging questions and votes in session, tending to divide it, and particularly to interfere with the right of their minister in matters of hi3 public profession and contending ; and not having yet gained their point, hunt greedily after a flying rumour, in which they had no peculiar interest, insread of waiting till a little time of course would have clearly developedthematter, when the superior courts might take it into cognizance as they might see cause. Asa mini- ster is not subjected to the judgment of a session in the execu- tion of his ministerial office, their expiscating enquiries, with an evident design to criminate, might justly have been evaded or repelled as premature and impertinent : but the candour of their minister, and a conscious sense of duty in the transaction referred to, which neither he nor any of his brethren surely ever meant to keep as a secret, or were ashamed to declare, when they had a proper call to do so — kept him from using his privilege in all its extent. It is no evidence of men being disposed to evade or disguise the truth that they do not, to all persons, and at improper sea- sons, imprudently declare it ; nor doth it imply that any are ashamed or conscious of blame in designs or actions, that they do not prematurely divulge them, when no good purpose can be served by doing so. We react in scripture of some who have been engaged in executing deeds most laudable, sometimes ( n ) by immediate commission from God himself, who yet did not all at once disclose their purpose, but either concealed or con- lined the knowledge of it to those immediately concerned. When Nehemiah surveyed the walls of Jerusalem broken down, and meditated the attempt to rebuild them, he did not for some time impart it to his most intimate friends, much less proclaim it to all, until the design was ripened for execu- tion, chap. ii. 12, 16. There were certain doctrines, and im- portant facts respecting our Lord Jesus and the future state of his kingdom, which he ordered not to be published until the proper season should arrive for doing it. When such infor- mation would only occasion offence, irritate the minds of ad- versaries ; and be improven as a pretext for accelerating un- just measures, it must be more prudent to withhold than to im- part it ; especially when the facts would be viewed as matter of criminal accusation, and be produced against persons in judgment. To extort confession too from the mouth of parties, either extrajudicially or in courts, in order to supply the want of legal evidence, hath justly been condemned as oppressive and odious. When our Lord was interrogated in the j udgment- hall of the High Priest, concerning his disciples and his doc- trine, had he not a right to reply, " Why ask ye me, ask them " that heard me what I have said unto them ?" and when he was smitten for this answer, he said, " If I have spoken evil, " bear witness of the evil ; but if well, why smitest thou u me * ?" And doth not every friend of law and liberty in Britain now exclaim against certain proceedings in the prelati- cal courts, when, in prosecuting non- conformists, they admini- stered an oath ex officio, or obliged them to answer super in- quirendis y — to whatever questions should be put to them. Were the good men ashamed of their uncanonical preaching, praying, &.c. because they might refuse to furnish matter for their own condemnation out of their own mouths ? But did the protesting ministers affect secrecy in the con- stitution of the Presbytery, or lay any under injunctions to conceal it ? Or, could they ever have taken such a step if they had not been fully resolved to avow it, and to abide all the concequences ? The Letter-writer indeed talks of its having been kept as a secret : and the party who have been so active in prosecuting their minister, in their memorials before the Lords of Session have repeatedly represented it as having been done in a clandestine manner, and speak of the Presbytery as one of which they did not yet know the name. But all in good time, my forward impatient friends ! you have heard the saying, and may know from experience, that ' a fool's haste * is no speed.' They were not quite in such a hurry as you wer$ * John xviii. 19, — 23. ( I" ) Were when you drove post haste with your informa*ory let- ters, and p >s;ed back again with others signed, though not with a royal signet, like those of Haman, to produce instant execu- tion against those who became obnoxious to you, that you might lay hands upon the spoil. It is true they never thought of sounding a trumpet or ringing a hand-bell through city or village, had they been in either, to tell all before- hand what they were about to proceed to, or afterwards to inform every one they met, of what had been done : This would have savour- ed more of Pharisaical ostentation, or of folly, than of wisdom: especially while there were so many spies lying in wait, and the ecclesiastical sanhedrim was sitting ready to catch the most distant echo of it. The truth is, not one of the constitu- ent members knew in the morning when he arose, whether such an event was to take place that d.iv, or at that time, but the probability seemed rather to be on the other side. But it is in a high degree ridiculous, to suppose that any possessed of common sense would ever proceed to constitute a Presbytery with a view to keep it secret. For to what good purpose could that be conducive ? It would be as great an absurdity, as for a company to enter into partnership in trade, and shut up their doors and window's, and withhold all notice of it from the public. Though they did not reckon it necessary to pro- mulgate the fact, until the minute, with reasons, was drawn out, yet they mentioned it to any to whom they had oc- casion to speak on the general subject, and it is false that ever they laid the slightest injunction, or insinuated the slight- est advice, to keep it secret. We may perceive, however, upon reflection, a beautiful or- dering of Providence, as to the time and circumstances of the constitution of the Presbytery, in relation to the transactions of Synod, without previous concert in those who were acting in that matter. It appears to have taken place on the same day and about the same hour when the Synod were passing the sentence of deposition upon one of the ministers, while neither party could have the least knowledge of what was transacting at a distance. Their debate on the first week about censuring other two of them and the dissent entered against a delay, also preceded any account of that event having taken place: which shewed the Synod's determination to proceed in censuring in- dependently of it, — and that there is no truth in what some assert, that the constitution of a Presbytery, was the only or immediate ground of the censures. This pretext cannot be urged in defence of any of the proceedings on the first week of the Synod, or any prior to that time: and two ministers who were known to have been present and concurring in the deed of constitution, continue in the exercise of their ministerial office ( ft ) office without deposition, or formal censures unto this day. On the other hand, the ministers in proceeding to constitute could not possibly b- influenced by the consideration of any i 4 re or proceedings personally affecting themselves: but while in the full and regular exercise of their office, they reckoned themselves bound, in the most cool and deliberate manner, to proceed to that measure from a sense of duty, and regard to the public interests of religion* But though a few factious men, for the purpose of carrying on their party designs, took occasion from the report of this meeting, to lodge information with the Synod to push them on to precipitant measures, it was highly discreditable to the Sy- nod, which ought deliberated to proceed in every cause supe- lior to passion and party spirit, that they also should have ta- ken fire at the report, caressed the informants, and sent them away gratified, though at the expence of their own consistency and authority, of justice and due rules of process. For the revival of the cause of these two brethren on the second week, and the different determination of it, from what had al- ready been given, evidently included a violation of all these. If it be alledged that this was a new cause, quite distinct from that which had been already judged ; a little consideration of it might shew that it was not materially different; but on sup- position that it had been so, the procedure was still unjustifia- ble. If it was really a new cause, why not give a citation, and an opportunity for the parties to be heard upon it, before terminating it as to one of them by a summary and high cen- sure ? Why was not the truth of the fact judicially investiga- ted, and the relevancy of the charge also previously establish- ed, a point of the greatest moment. None of these was done. Even the confession of a party out of court, and merely report- ed, by some who were not called as witnesses, ought never to be sustained as legal evidence, or supersede the necessary citation, or proof. In criminal processes at law, the extra-ju- dicial confession of the party, however attested, and though subscribed by himself, is never admitted as a ground of sen- tence agamst him, unless it be adhered to by him in court, i he is put upon his trial. In former processes before the associate judicatories, no hear-say reports, however credible, nor even notoriety of facts, have been allowed as a sufficientverifi- •cation of articles of libel *. K Further, * When the Synod in 1748, libelled certain ministers, amongst other charges, for having constituted and sitting in a separate Synod, at Stirling, though they had not the smallest reason for doubting of the fact, they never sent any to interro- gate them, nor paid regard to second-hand evidence, — but summoned four wit- nesses from a distance, who being ' solemnly charged and interrogated one hy • one, two of them declared; that they were witnesses to the ministers libelled, their beinj ( 14 ) Further, whatever reason they might think they had to be- lieve the report, they ought to have been able to satisfy the world, as well as themselves, by due enquiry into the reasons, motives, ?;id designs of the action, that the fact was such as to deserve censure, by the word of God, and the rules of the church. When a report was brought before a meeting of the congregation of Israel, that their brethren beyond Jordan, had built a schismatical altar, with a view to relinquish the law, and true worship of God, — though at first a hasty purpose was formed to go up to war against them, as guilty of rebellion against the Lord; yet the wiser measure was adopted of send- ing Pninehas, and the heads of the tribes to enquire more par- ticularly into the matter, and to expostulate with them about the supposed trespass : this had the desired effect to remove their mistake, to apptase their anger, and satisfy them of the laudable intentions of their brethren. They found that their brethren abhorred the thought of what had been imputed to them, and had acted from motives the very reverse *. Had the Synod followed a similar course, with respect to their brethren, they might have received a similar reply, and seen cause to desist from hostility against them, as having done no- thing against the principles or unity of the Associate Body, tru- ly understood ; but rather with a view to preserve them. But the cause taken up on the second week, was substanti- ally the same with that which had been discussed a few days be- forehand alreadyjadged. The new occurrence of which they had received information, was about a circumstance belonging to it, W - ich could not warrant the bringing of the whole immediately again into judgment, and passing a different sentence. This may appear from the following considerations; 1st, The protestation 1 being constituted as a Synod, with a moderator and clerk, and that they saw all 4 thoae ministers present therein,' &c. Nor did this office for sustaining this as One among other grounds of censure, till they had also established the principal parr of the charge, that they had thus constituted themselves, « in a way of sepa- 1 rating from the rightlyconstitute Associate Synod to which they belonged, through ' turning aatdefrom the lawful constitution thereof, ar.d iron: the received tesrimo- • ny still maintained by the said Syr.od,thus engaging in a schismatical constitution, * for support of their backsliding course.' Proceedings, P. 38, 39, 40. They had not then learned the easy and expeditious way of doing business, which mo- dern light has discovered. * " They came unto the children of Reuben, and to the children of Gad, and «' to the half-tribe of Manasseh unto the land of Gilead, and they spake with •• them, saying, — Rebel not against the Lord, nor rebel against u*, in building you " an altar, bes:de the altar of the Lord our God.— Then the children of Reuben, &c. <« — answered, The Lord God of gods, the Lord God of gods he knoweth, " and Israel he shall know; if it be in rebellion, or if in transgression against the ten'. In the latter it was confined to 4 withdrawing from meetings of Presbytery, 1 in this it is ' from communion' indefinitely. If the Synod were become the accusers, they ought to have been in readiness to support every article of the charge ; un- less their ecclesiastical character gave them a right to accuse or say what they pleased, without giving a reason. If from haste thev did not chuse to wait to support the charges at their own bar next meeting, they should have instructed some to appear at their instance, where the cause was to be tried, or have remitted to the Presbytery authentic documents of their having travelled already so far in it (though in the absence of parties), and ( V ) iirected them to make such inquiries, lyid take such steps for ripening the matter for future judgment, as the rules of the church require. This was the more needful, as the first article wholly related to the public cause, and to what had been transacted in their presence, of which a Presbytery could not be so proper judges, either of the alledged offence or of the satisfaction that might be demanded j and the two last the Synod do not pretend to have found at all. Had there been a recommendation to the respective Presbyteries, to observe the deportment of these brethren, to cultivate friendly intercourse frith them, or even to deal judicially with them to retract or make acknowledgment of what the Synod had found wrong, or lead probation as to what was not yet found — ordering them to report at next meeting ; this would have been more conso- nant to the form and spirit of ecclesiastical process. But this would have been trudging on too slowly in trammels, and too like treading in the beaten tract of old-fashioned justice, un- suited to the fervent impulse of new light. Here again we might, say, that the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, when dealing most rigorously with the seceding ministers, would have taught them a lesson both of order and moderation. When Mr E. Erskine was accused before the Synod of Perth and Stirling, particular passages cf his sermon were selected and examined, as ground of the charge, — and when he refused submission to the rebuke, and was brought before the Assembly 1733, where the sentence of the Synod was confirmed, and he appointed to be rebuked at their bar, against which a new protestation was entered by him, and adhered to by three other brethren, though they were declared deserving of a sentence of suspension for offering such a pro- testation, yet the Assembly delayed to inflict it ; bur, after dealing with them by a committee to bring them to acknow- ledgment, recommended it to the next commission to do it, unless they should then profess their sorrow for having offered it. When they refused before the commission to retract, af- ter hearing their reasons represented either in writing or viva voce, they were suspended, and a longer time given them to consider the matter before they were deposed ; and when that censure was at last inflicted by the casting vote of the modera- tor, in opposition to numerous petitions and representations from various quarters, and dissents by many of the members of the Commission, it was never ratified by the subsequent Assembly, nor executed by the civil authority, but ordered to be speedily repealed, while they were abiding by their pro- testations, vindicating their conduct, and that after a formal secession declared and persisted in. Their names were conti- nued on the rolls of their presbyteries, and regularly called* M 2 though ( 92 ) though they never attended them : Mr Erskine was chosen moderator of his presbytery, in his absence, and a formal de- putation sent to invite him to come and take the chair. Thus matters went on for vears, while they were allowed to possess their churches, and to hold communion with ministers in the church, or refuse it, as they thought agreeable to their con- sciences or their public contendings. Their conduct indeed in preaching in fields, in keeping ordinary Christian and mini- sterial communion only with one another, or those who had joined in the same testimony, by the warm writers of these davs, whether friends to patronage or to popular rights, was declaimed against, as obstinacy, want of charity, schism, se- paration on the highest ground, &c. exactly in the style of the oynodical advocates and pamphleteers of the present time,, Some of the^e it must be owned entered more particularly into the grounds of the Secession, and defended more plausibly the conduct of the judicatories, and often with greater profession too of respect to the principles of the Reformation than the latter have done. The writings of Mess. Wiliison, William- son of Musselburgh, besides those of Currie, afford evidence of this. If our Letter-writer and others on the same siue had looked into some of these, thev would have seen themselves anticipated, and their whole magazine of invective and defam- atory abuse long since discharged and exhausted against these notorious schismatics, the Seceders ; and the nameless evils resulting from rash and groundless separation are in them painted still more to the life, and in more full proportion : — but the great inquiry is still behind, Was the former hide- ous picture a real likeness of the Secession, or, has the pre- sent one now drawn any relation to the cause or conduct of the Protesters? The above named Mr Williamson, who had been one of the twelve remonstraters against the acts of the Assem- bly concerning the doctrine of the Marrow, after he had emit- ted a Seasonable Testimony against the conduct of the seceding brethren, published in 173 8 another violent philippic, entit- led Plain Dealing, arraigning their Secession I estimony and whole proceedings, on general and particular heads, collecting instances of their divisive courses, jointly and individually, being part of the materials that were wrought up into the fo^m of a libel by the commission-, collected from a mass of papers and informations, that were poured in and laid on their table, in consequence of the order of the General Assembly to that effect, and which he stvles, * the Authentic Reports of Synods ' and Presbyteries.' But after all the outcry and ferment that had been raised, and after all the pains taken previously to collect and ascertain facts, the General Assembly continued to discover ( B3 ) discover (whuch is that which we intended more immediately to point outj great inclination tp delay censufe, and in their acr that year recommended, in earnest terms, the longer trial of more lenient and conciliating measures. The printed act now lies before me, the substance of which the reader may find below*. Even after the ministers had been summoned to answer to the libel next year, censure was still deferred, not- withstanding a declinature read by a constituted Presbytery in their presence, as we had occasion already to notice, page 59. Before the libel was read, it was intimated to them from the chair, that * if they were willing to return to the obedience of * the church, they would yet receive them with open arms.' When tneir declinature was read, they were ordered to with- draw and to answer when called for. Though their conduct was declared relevant to warrant deposition, yet a deed of for- bearance was agreed to for anorher year. And the ministers not compearing when called, they were ordered to Jbe again cited * This act of General Assembly 1738 stares, ' That representations and com- « plaints had been laid before them concerning the ministers who had seceded, * and made a positive separation from the national church ; and though they had * too good reason to believe, from these representations, the notoriety of facts, * and from the personal knowledge of many of the members, that these ministers 4 had seceded without any justifiable grounds, and were continuing in their un- * warrantable separation, notwithstanding their own solemn engagements to the * contrary, the clemency shewed to some of them in 1734. and the tenderness to * all of them ever since, — that they had assumed a power of associating and erect- * ing themselves into a presbytery, &c. that in their pretended judicative capa- 1 city they had framed ann published an Act, Declaration, and Testimony, and 1 emitted several other papers — that they dispense ordinances to pers ns of other * congregations, without the knowledge and consent of the ministers to which they ' belong, — to ordain elders,— and to promote their dangerous schism, receive such * persons from other congregations as will accede to them, — appoint and keep * fasts in different corners, &c. And that their schism may not die with them ' selves, they have authorised one of their number to teach divinity, and have * taken some persons under probationary trials for the ministry : Whereupon rhe * General Assembly did unanimously declare and enact, that although, upon these * and other such accounts, this church might now proceed in the due exercise of * discipline, appointing these seceding brethren, and their followers, to be pro- ' ceeded against, and censured according to the demerit of their faults; yet this ' Assembly, chu-ing rather still to treat them in the spirit of meekness brotherly- * love, and forhearance, hereby do enjoin all the ministers of this national church, 1 as they shall have access, and especially the ministers in the presbyteries tp which * they belong, to be at all pain6, by conference and other gentle means of per- ' suasion, to reclaim and reduce 'hem to their duty and the communion of this * church, and all presbyteries and synods to report their diligence and success to * the commission, — which is hereby authorised, if they shall see cause, to take ' all proper steps and methods for duly sisting the separating brethren before the •' next Assembly, to answer for their irregular conduct, and to prepare and ripen * the case for the decision of th3t A 8 sembly ; and in the mean time earnestly re- ' commending to all ministers, &c. of the Assembly, to endeavour, by all means ' proper for them, to reclaim these poor deluded people who have been carried * away by this division, and to prevent the seducing of others, and the increase " of this schism, which is so dangerous to the peace of this ci.urch, &c. &c. 1 Extracted, Wm. Grant, CI. Eccl. Scot.* ( 9* ) to the next Assembly, ' to be then dealt with about retracting < their act and declinature.' All this preceded any censure, which was not pronounced till 174©, after the libel had been judicially considered, and found relevant and proven. Had 1 not then some reason for saying above, abstracting from the particular matters in controversy, that the procedure of the General Assembly, compared with that of the General Synod, was ' srder and lenity itself? though some have had the effrontery to affirm, that if the first seceding brethren had met with half that lenity which hath been shown to the Pro- testers, there would then have been no secession. Had not the brother, who was summoned to appear before the Presby- tery of Edinburgh, good reason to caution them, in the letter he sent to them when the cause came in course to be judged, against rash and precipitant procedure, ' lest they should out- * run evidence, and even outsrip, in their violent career, the ' judicatories of the national church, in a time when their sen- * tences were deemed very arbitrary and tyrannical ?' Upon which a member, who, by accounts, took a leading part on that occasion, after some confused quibbling, expressed his sur- prise at the Assembly's conduct, and confessed himself unable to account for their having deposed the seceding ministers at the time it was done : either supposing that they had been lying under censure for years before, and so betraying igno- rance of the very outlines of the history of the Secession, (however deeply versed he may be in Moeso-Gothic antiqui- ties) •, or else blaming them for their unaccountable indulg- ence. The leading article of charge in the summons, and ground of subsequent censure, is the ■ giving in a material declinature * of the jurisdiction of the Synod.' Of the general nature and import of the protestation, on which this charge is founded, some account hath been already given ; and the tenor of it, with the reasons assigned for it, may be more fully seen in the paper, of which the substance is inserted in a former Ma- gazine, and in the Statement of the Difference *, or in the Mi- nutes of the Constitutional Presbytery, printed separately. It was the last form of protestation against the new deeds, de- claring that they should not be obligatory upon the Protesters, nor hinder them from exercising their ministry, according to their former principles and terms of communion, — and that any attempt to impose these upon them would be held as un- constitutional ; and as the Synod had virtually secluded them from communion, unless they complied with the new terms, and concurred with their brethren in carrying them into exe- cution without opposition — that they should, while these terms were • P. an, i»3, &c. ( 95 ) were continued, be at liberty to maintain their former profes- sion and communion together and with any in the body, as they had hitherto done, disclaiming all right or authority in the judicatories as newly constituted to restrain or hold them censurable for so doing ; and that any censure they might pre- tend to inflict on such accounts, should be held null and void — professing at the same time their willingness to give all the subjection to these courts they had engaged unto in their ordi- nation-vows. This last step was now rendered indispensibly necessary, for supporting the public cause in controversy, and for giving their former protestations their force and lasting effect, after the Synod had refused any alteration of their new terms. Without this all former contending would have gone for nothing, and could have been of no lasting benefit to them- selves or others, in supporting the public cause and their own liberties. Without it a coalition would have been made with the Synod in espousing the new principles ; the constitution as formed upon them would have been adopted ; and all re- gular public opposition to the new system, or to the authority of courts in promoting and inforcing it, would, in all time roming, have been at an end. It was therefore the only mode of maintaining the principles of Presbyterians and of the Se- cession, and of asserting the lawful constitution of the Secesr sion judicatories, in opposition to those innovations, that was now left. If to protest against sinful acts, either of a more particular or general nature, be an undoubted right, and if to dissent and to protest in the former stages of procedure in such a cause, and for the weighty reasons assigned, in which truth and the public interests of religion were so nearly interested, was lawful and dutiful,— to carry them all this length at last was no less so. Protestations in such cases are sufficiently warranted in scripture, are consonant to the doctrine and the practice of Protestant churches, and have often been used and blessed as a mean of preserving truth, and opposing prevailing defections and tyrannical impositions in former times, — especi- ally in the Presbyterian church. This right was used, and this manner of testifying particularly adopted and amply vindicated by those who conducted thecontendings against the judicatories of the natiorial church, which terminated in the Secession, Protests against the acts even of a supreme judicatory, and on just grounds a declinature of it, may not only be a duty per- sons owe to Christ, his truth, to themselves, and to the pub- lic, but may be an exercise of duty and charity to the court itself. And seldom, in any former instances, have the reasons been so urgent, so various, and so plain, as in the present case. Seldom have controversies of such extent been the immediate cause of dissent or division in a church j seldom have articles 5 ( w ) so explicitly avowed in the profession of a body, and engros- sed into their subscribed standard-books, been so directly at- tacked, and a renunciation of them enjoined by authority, as hath been the case in this difference. Even the act-, that were the immediate ground of the protestations, and the separation from the judicatories of the national church, were of a more limited and temporary nature, had a more apparent respect to personal conduct ; — they did not so directly affect doctrines, nor threaten all at once such an universal change, or imposition lipon the whole body of ministers and people, as the late deeds of Synod have done. There was always this great difference ;— * the former left their standard-books, the national covenants, and ordination-vows, unchanged, and without direct condem- nation. Seldom, if ever, therefore, can we find a protestation so clearly warranted by the express deeds, authorised principles and terms of a society, as that in question is. Had the de- clinature teen a direct, a full and formal one, which they do not say it was, it might have been sufficiently justified. But the reasons, though previously stated, are altogether overlook- ed in the charge, and in their whole procedure, upon it. While these deeds can be appealed to, and nothing whatever is pro- duced on the other side, to support the relevancy of the charge, it has no force at all, unless recourse be had to an absolute and uncontroulable authority in church-rulers, which in no case can be lawfully opposed or disobeyed, whatever their acts may be ; which no Protestant will avow. Indeed as this article is laid, (and the same may be said of the two that fol- low), there is no criminal or libellous matter in it : so that there was no need to adduce proof; for though what is alledg- ed were undeniably evident or proven, there would have been nothing proven after all, that could infer censure. It is no: said to be an unwarrantable declinature that was given in, but simply a declinature, and that may be a lawful one, as likely as the contrary. Every party has a right to construct every word in a charge in the most favourable sense, and every equi- table court would also admit the most favourable construction it could bear, especially when there is not a word said, nor the shadow of proof against it. No doubt the accusers mean? a sinful declining, a scbismatical withdrawing ; but they have not ventured to say in this summons, either the one or the other ; and they should know that in all processes, whether civil or ecclesiastical, neither parties nor judges hive anything to do with the hidden meanings, the reserved or arbitrary con- structions of prosecutors, but what is expressly contained in them. Had a grand jury had an indictment in such terms presented before them, they would at first reading have cast it oul ( 01 ) out, with Ignoramus wrote upon it. But the Presbytery who sustained themselves judges in this cause, wei. not troubled witli any such scruples. Neither the want of relevancy nor of witnesses, in respect to every article of charge, could hin- der them one day from proceeding to a final sentence. It is a material article in the torm of Process*, ' that no- ' thing should be admitted by any judicatory, as a ground of ' process for censure, but what nath been declared censurable * by the word of God, or some act or universal custom of this ' national church agreeable thereto.' Pardovan, when stating the necessary rules in citations and probation, says, ' If the * thing offered for probation be obviously irrelevant, and fri- ' volous, it ought to be rejected, and not admitted to proof. * The relevancy of a libel (he adds) is so much to be regaid- 4 ed, that I think it is unlawful for any to be either witnesses ' or members of inquest upon irrelevant libels. What ! is ' not this to be " witness against thy neighbour without cause," ' Prov. xxiv 23. It was a truth, that A.bimelech the priest * gave hallowed bread, and the sword of Goliah to David, yet * it was a bloody sin for Doeg the Edomite to inform the wick- 4 ed king against the Lord's priests, 1 Sam. xxi, &>c It was * a Presbyterian minister's duty to preach the gospel under the ' persecution, secretly and cautiously, to honist hearers at their * desire ; yet it would have been a Doeg-like sin, to have wit- g nessed the truth in that matter before our then judges, seeing * by the 8th act of parliament 1685, it was death for such * even to preach in houses What is here said against such ' witness-bearing, strikes witi^ as riuch force against the mem- * bers of inquest finding such irrelevant libels proven ; for 4 though it was both true what the one witnessed, and the other * found, yet i would be afraid, if 1 were in their case, that be- 4 fore God I should be condemned as accessary to the shedding 4 of innocent blood f.' N The • Chap. i. sect, 4. t Collection, p 169. 4to. It might have been thought, that even the pre- vailing party in Synod, from their v ; ew* and manner of -peaking abou' the ori- ginal matter of difference as trivial, &c should readi!y see and acknowledge the irrelevancy of their grounds of process to justify such proceedings , if they had any respect to another rule of discipline in the church ol Scotland, mentioned by the same author ; — * That every error or diff-ience in judgment about point, * wherein learned and godly men may differ, and which subverts not the faitty * nor is destructive to godliness, or when persons, out of cor science, do not come * up to the observation of all these rules, which are or shall be established by iU- ' thority for regulating ihe outward worship of God, and government or » is ' church, the censure of excommunication shall not be inflicted for such causes — And again, 4 Except for some most horrid crimes, the church doth not depose and 4 excommunicate both at once.' P. xxi . According to the gradation in discip- line, ^'dom hath deposition beet- proceede I tQ at first insfarct, without trying the effect of previous admonitions, rebuke, and suspension; more rarely still ' hath ( 98 ) The Synod, by making a protestation of such a tenor, or a declinature for such a purpose, and so limited as that referred to, the matter of charge and censure, have hereby condemned ministerial freedom, and the privilege of all to testify in this manner against public acts of a sinful and pernicious tendency, and would force men, against their consciences, to implicit and unlimited obedience to human authority. Had any of the brethren, in compliance with such an over-stretch of power, and to avoid censures, retracted and professed sorrow for hav- ing taken such steps, they would have been yielding up all that they had been contending for, sacrificed precious rights, and procured peace and their own quiet, at too dear a rate. As it is a maxim that none but Atheists will controvert, that in order to obey God, it is lawful to disobey any men ; no authority on earth can either dispense with any obligation im- posed by the word of God, or warrant a compliance with any sin ; if but one sinful condition of obedience to the authority of men, or one sinful term of communion with a church be imposed, — submission to it must confessedly be unlawful. Such was the subjection required of the first Protestants, that obliged them to protest : such the compliance that was exacted of the former Presbyterians under the imposed yoke of prela- tic laws; such the submission that was required of the first Seceders -, and nothing different is that which the General Synod would now oblige the protesting ministers and people to yield. To those who are acquaint with the former excellent vindications of Christian liberties, and of ministerial faithful- ness ; particularly to those who have read the representations of the four brethren, given in to the Commission of the Gene- ral Assembly in 1733, assigning the reasons why they could not retract their protestations, with the Associate Presbytery's Declinature and Remarks upon the libel, — little more will be needful to be said on this topic. I shall here quote the follow- ing passages from the first of these papers ; as these things are now become like the tales of other times. — Among a va- riety of observations on the nature and limitations of church authority, under the 5th particular is the following : * That * in a church society, the majority is not always to give laws 4 to the lesser number ; for as in all societies, the legislative * power is not to extend beyond the fundamental laws upon * which the society is erected ; so, in a particular manner, the ' church being built upon the foundation of the apostles and hath deposition been joined with excommunication, especially as the first sentence, without any of the other preceding it, even upon libels for hainous sin and scan- dal, though attended with contumacy. 4 prophets, C 99 ) ' * prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone, * she is plainly limited at least as to those laws that are to be ' the terms of communion among her members, — for we firm- ' ly believe the Holy Spirit speaking in the scriptures is the ' Supreme Judge by which all controversies of religion are to * be determined, and all decrees of councils examined, and in 4 whose sentence we are to rest.' Conf. chap. i. § 7, 10. : for * if pluralities in all cases were to bear the sway, then a refor- ' mation of the church had never been brought about, and the * contrary principle would infallibly lead us into passive obe- 1 dience and non-resistance.' And under the yth particular, ' When church authority is so far perverted from the original 1 design thereof, as to be exercised to the hurt oi truth, to the 4 violation of the rights and liberties of Christ's kingdom, and ' of oppressing and bearing down those whom it ought to pro- ' tect, it is the indispensible duty of all who would be found 1 faithful in their respective spheres to contend for the faith, — ' to stand fast in the liberties wherewith Christ hath made ' his people free, — particularly of the watchmen not to hold ' their peace,' &.c. It hath been the glory of this church ' ever since the Reformation from Popery, to contend for the 4 royal prerogative of Christ's kingdom, in opposition to the 4 encroachments made thereupon by those who had the civil 4 power in their hands, — and all those who suffered in the late ' reigns, loved not their lives in the defence of the headship of * Christ and the government of his house ; and it is most affect- * ing to us now, although we enjoy peace and tranquillity from ' the state, yet these valuable privileges should in a great mea- * sure be given up by the judicatories of the church,whose main ' care and concern it ought to be to support and defend them. * And therefore we humbly think we could do no less, in duty ' to God and our consciences, than to enter our protest against * such encroachments, this having been always one special mean * whereby the Lord's worthies in this land have maintained his * cause, and transmitted the doctrine, discipline, worship, and 4 government of his house down to us in purity. And because * the late Assembly have appointed this Commission to suspend ' us, and our other two brethren, for no other reason but that of * protesting against a sentence of that Assembly, which we con- 1 ceived to be injurious to truth, to the freedom of ministers ' and the rights of the church, — we beg leave to lay before * this Commission, to whom the execution of that sentence is ' committed, a quotation taken from a printed paper of the ' Lord Waristoun's, given in to the General Assembly 1651, 4 very shortly after a door was opened by the public Resolu- ' tions for receiving disaffected persons into places of civil and N 2 ' military ( 100 ) ' military trust :* This passage, from that religious patriot, t he reader will find below *. In the representation signed by Mess. Wilson and Mon~ crieff on the occasion above mentioned, they say, * Our ' protestation is so far from impugning the just power and * authority of the supreme judicatory of the church, that it ' plainly acknowledges the same. A protestation is only a ' solemn, attested declaration and testimony against a wrong 1 dec ion, or against what is judged to be an unwarrantable * exercise of ecclesiastical power and authority. As the word ' protest is used in the sacred records for a solemn witnessing * against sin, and for duty (l Sam. viii. 9. Jer. xi. 7.) so it * has been used in this sense by the reformed churches, who ' all of them, to this very day, have their denomination and ' distinction from the church of Rome, from their public pro- ' testation against the decrees of Charles V. and the states of 4 the empire in prejudice to religion and reformation.' ' If ' it be said, that we may exercise the judgment of discretion, ' but that we must keep it within out own breasts, when it * differs from the public judgment of the church : we humbly * conceive, that the judgment of discretion must be exercised ' both by ministers and private Christians for more noble ends * and purposes, and that they ought to make an open profes- ' sion of what they are firmly persuaded is truth, especially • ' Now for the point of protestation, Cuilibet licet protestor i,supplieare, mendicare, ' as the common proverb goes : But ir is most remarkable, that by these legal * means of protestations, the Lord hath preserved in all times of defection and * hours of darkness (as between 1571 and 1575, betwixt 1581 and 1587, be- ' twixt 1597 and 1638) the church of Scotland from a total and universal back- 4 sliding and br. rch of covenant, and so from his wrath and judgment against the 4 whole ; but kept ever a remnant in covenant with him, and had him fast to * them, and thereby they kept God in the land : and the Lord, in all times of ' their reviving and recovery of light and life, made their successors, as it were, 1 to enter heirs by these protestations to the interest of the church of Scotland in 4 God, and his interest in her; and so he hath made us, in our two covenants and 1 solemn acknowledgements, per ipsa verba, to be as it were served and retoured * to all the former protestations : and who knows what successors may be to 1 tht-se that are now necessary ? — Good reason there is for such protestations, es- * pecially m Scotland; because, not only by God's word, but also by our Natio- 4 nal Covenant, Solemn League and Covenant, and Solemn Acknowledgment, all ; interest of king, parliament or kingdom are subordinate to the interest of Christ, 4 and all duty to men subordinate to our duty to God, in toe feedsrato rrgno fade' * rati Dei% according to % Kings xi. 17. and a Chron. xxiii. 16. in both which the ' substance of that covenant, and of our covenant, is, That we should be Gcd's 1 people, and all o'.her relations subservient in that, Sit ergo gloria Christi 15* salus 4 ecclesite suprema lex nostra : and whenever we see it in any hazard, and any- ' thing in competition with it, let us, according to our calling, at leasr protest, 4 that our Lord and our mother may get right ; which will legally preserve it to * another judgment : aud, if they get wrong thereby, they will have witness to 1 it; which is the least that we should do for him (though we suffer for it) who * hath done and suffered so much for us, and who puts a great honour upon any 1 whom he calls to be witnesses to and for him.' 1 when ( ioi ) 4 when it is opposed and borne down, or when they are called 4 to it : and ministers of the gospel should freely and faith- * fully " declare the whole counsel of God," seeing they are 4 expressly enjoined by their Lord and Master to require of all 4 their hearers, without distinction, that they " observe all 4 things whatsoever he has commanded them." To allow mi- ' uisters only to think within their own breasts that a church- ' decision is wrong, is what no human society ever did, or 1 could pretend to hinder them, or any man, from doing ; but ' freedom and plainness of speech, in a consistency with the ' word of God, is acknowledged, in all the Protestant churches, 6 to be the privilege and duty of ministers of the gospel. Had 1 Luther, Calvin, and others of our reforming predecessors, 4 thought it sufficient to differ from the church of Rome only 4 in their private opinions, without speaking freely against the 1 defection she had made from the primitive constitution of the * Christian church, the Reformation had never been heard of, ' and we would to this day have continued under Antichristian 4 bondage and darkness. If it is alledged again, that this dis- ' turbs the peace, quiet, and good order of the churcli - ? we 'humbly judge the best way for maintaining a laudable peace 4 and right order in the house of God, is, that the judicatories * of the church, who can do nothing against the truth, should 4 evidence their proceedings and decisions to be according unto 4 the law and to the testimony. ' On the same principles may a declinature be justified, when it becomes ntcessary for asserting truth, eviting sin, maintain- ing the legitimate constitution of a church-court, just judg- ment and rights. The same ministers add in their represen- tation what is equally applicable in the present case: — ' We * cannot be deprived of our ministry, or the exercise of it, un- * less we be found guilty of such a transgression of the law ' and institutions of Christ, either in doctrine or practice, as 4 forfeits our commission, or renders us unworthy of this sa- ' cred character ; and far less can we be deprived of our mi- * nistry for walking according to the instructions laid down by 4 our Lord and Master in his w T ord, and for our strict adher- ' ence to our ordination vows and engagements, in refusing to * submit to unwarrantable terms of ministerial communion, ' and which were not in being when we were ordained to the * holy ministry, and which we look upon to be contrary to the ' engagements we came under ; and if this sentence is execute 4 against us, we must look upon it as done for the discharge ' of our duty : and therefore the superior power and authority ' of our Lord Jesus, commanding us to *' fulfil that ministry « which we have received from him ;" and to preach the word ' " out of season," as well as " in season/' must in such an * event ( "2 ) ' event cast the balance with us. And though we cannot but * look upon it as a snare laid for us, first to suspend us from 1 the exercise of our ministry, and then to make our acting * contrary to this sentence, the foundation and ground of a ' higher censure ; — yet whatever hardships we may be brought * under for the discharge of our duty, we hope we shall have * this to support us, that we are suffering for conscience sake ; 1 and we are also encouraged to the practice we plead for, * when we consider that the prophets under the Old and the ' apostles under the New Testament, have continued in the ' exercise of their ministry, even when prohibited and dis- ' charged to speak in the name of the Lord by the ecclesiastic * courts in their day, Jer. xxvi. 8, 11. Acts iv. J 8, 19, 20. « and v. 40. And from these and the like scripture patterns f and examples, some eminent ministers of the primitive church, ' and severals in this church and land, have exercised their mi- * nistry with success, when suspended and deposed by Synods ' and General Assemblies *.' Another glaring instance of the injustice of this Synodical process, and of the censure that followed upon the leading ar- ticle of this charge, is, that it is founded upon a construction which they put upon words in a paper which the Synod kept secreted in their minutes, and refuse to impart to the parties or to the public : although they summoned two of them to answer to it as pannels at another court, they never gave them opportunity of seeing and reviewing the ipsissima verba, the precise words or expressions in which the offence is said to consist, seriously to re-consider it in order to acknowledge- ment, if any thing had been expressed amiss in it, or to make their defence, if the words or the tenor of the paper was mis- represented or misconstructed : nor doth it appear that they furnished the presbyteries to which they were remitted with copies of either the whole or any part of that paper ; or that any in these presbyteries ever demanded such a thing, that they might have the cause fairly before them, in order to form their own independent judgment of all the grounds on which they were to censure. This was the more needful, as, with- out it, they had only the bare assertion and construction that others had put upon certain words or actions, of which they had no evidence; and the Synod had not pre-determined what sentence or censure they should pass, as the General Assembly in 1733 had done to their Commission, so as to make them mere executioners of their orders. This manner of drawing up the charge, from words too or deeds not specified, seems to resemble what has been called constructive treason, when that crime is inferred from certain acts not expressly declared to * Representations, &c. p. 6, &c— u, i», 47> J 8* f 103 ) to be treason by the laws of the realm, which the friends of political freedom have usually condemned as an exercise of arbitrary power, dangerous to the rights of the subject. It certainly deserved previous consideration whether the paper could bear the construction of even a material declinature ; and if it did, wherein that differed from or fell short of a formal, and absolute one. The intention, the manner, as well as the matter of offensive words or actions, are by equitable judges taken into account when censure or pu- nishment is in view. In most cases, the form of crimes is of as much or of more consideration, in legal process, than the matter of them. The members of Synod, it would appear, put different constructions upon it. The Letter. writer speaks of it as if it had been a direct and full declinature, that as soon as presented might have warranted instant deposition, though the Synod were lenient. But the author of two discourses, preached at Haddington, just published, (with whom the for- mer writer may possibly have some little acquaintance) speaks of it as a half-declinature*. There is certainly a great dif- ference between the half and the whole of any thing ; and as much between the half and the whole of a crime or of a scan- dal, as any thing else. One would think that half a lie, or half an injury, would in law hardly be accounted one at all : It would make some odds in a trial, if a pannel had only half- killed a man, instead of killing him outright ; it would vary both the nature of the crime and the punishment. If there be such an offence known in the canon law of the church of Scot- land as that of offering a half-declinature, the censure, by just proportion, should be only one-half. But, did that author act upon these ideas, and deal out censure by halves in that'night in which he sat in the inferior court to give judgment upon these half-formed charges, and to affix his sign-manual to the unjust sentence to witness against him until he repent. To remain in ecclesiastical unity with the Associate Judicato- ries, and in due subordination to them respectively, while retain- ing their original profession and principles, was the most earnest wish and endeavour of the Protesters ; and to decline or sepa- rate from courts of this description, their accusers may well know, was not in the thoughts of any of them ; nor, to this day, has such a thing been done. With Synods and other Presbyteries to whom thry could see the description justly ap- plicable, they would account it a happiness to be embodied, and each individual would be willing to give that Synod, were it the same, all that subjection that by the word of God and their ordination- vows they could exact. They contented themselves for a time to protest against particular acts, which they view- ed • Culbertson's Consolation, fcc. p. 49. ( 104 ) ed as instances of mal-administration, which is fully consistent with acknowledging the lawful authority of the courts in the proper exercise of it. As these acts increased, and many of them became fixed rules for public administration, to which they had no freedom to give obedience; this tended in propor- tion to weaken and to circumscribe within narrower limits, the Synodical authority with respect to these brethren. The i»- troduction of a number of members to have their seats in the courts, in violation of constitutional terms, was also protested against some years before, as tending by degrees to a change of the character and constitution of the courts; and their right of judgment in them, of course was questioned. The opposi- tion rested here, while the acts were considered as temporary, and while the new system was not yet com pleated, and pub- licly established* But this made the step necessary for which they are arraigned. To maintain opposition to these new deeds, when they were become the settled standard of profession and of judicative administration, was in effect now to declare non- submission to the generil authority and complex adminstra- tion as thus established. The paper in so far was a declina- ture, not of the old but of the new assumed jurisdiction of Synod : It was a stating of the original terms and due limits of their authority, on the one hand, and of the brethren's obe- dience, on the other, and a solemn declaration against admit- ting the one or carrying the other beyond these limits. It was left with the Synod to retain their former jurisdiction and these brethren's subordination thus limited, or to quit them. They chused the latter. It depended on the Synod, whether that protestation should operate as a real and effective decli- nature now or in time coming, by their disclaiming or not their new constitution, and returning to their former. The wish tjid faintest hope of this made these brethren express their non-subjection still with some reserve, as hypothetical for the time to come, rather than absolute and total. They chused to adopt as soft and inoffensive a manner of expressing this as they could think of, consistently with keeping the firm and even ground upon which they stood. If the Synod had not first declined from the principles of the Associate Body, there would never have been the shadow of a declinature offered to them ; and if they had not declined, at last, the acceptance of the proposed conditions for continuing former connections, that paper would have turned out eventually to have been no ac- tual declinature to this hour. Upon them therefore still de* volves the guilt of change, of culpable declinature, and breach of ordination vows. Not content with that degree of autho- rity with which, on former terms, they had been legitimately vested, they have arrogated to themselves a jurisdiction in matters ( "5 ) matters of faith, government, and discipline, never conferred upon them by the laws of Christ, the principles of the Re- formed church, or the consent of those over whom they had a ministerial power, except such of them as have now vo- luntarily submitted themselves to the new T ycke. To have allowed their principles, and a testimony in behalf of thefn, to be expelled from the body, would have been to forget the great end for which the association was formed, and judicato- ries constituted. To have conceded to them a power of de- stroying what they once built up, of acting against the truth— of changing the doctrines and terms of the society at pleasure, and of censuring all they pleased for abiding by them, would have been a dangerous and unwarrantable concession. If the ministers and elders who now compose the Associate Judicatories have actually changed their constitution, of which they are accused, opposition to them in this, even to a total declinature, must be constitutional and warrantable ; — and by no known and established rules of discipline in that society into which both had entered, can an\ be subjected to censure for it ; for that would suppose a power in the society for self- destruction instead of preservation. If a new constitution has been formed, the Protesters, who from the beginning have op- posed the change, cannot so properly be said to have declined the jurisdiction of the courts thus modelled and constituted, as to have refused the legality of their new assumed powers. In strict propriety of speech, though we need not debate about the most proper use of the word, a person cannot be said to decline a jurisdiction he was never under, — nor to separate from a body unto which he was never united. A society, whether civil or ecclesiastical, that changes its laws, its terms of admission, its object, its means — becomes, to all intents and purposes, a new society, though it may retain the same name *. In which case, the rules and authority exercised can only bind those who voluntarily submit themselves unto them. If stan- dard-books and public terms of communion be the most au- thentic tests to distinguish one religious society from another ; and if new doctrines, new rules df discipline, new formulas of admission, be evidences of a new ecclesiastical constitution,— then the Synod have undeniably adopted a new one • though they may affect to hide the change by retaining the old names, as having something venerable in them ; as the ship Theseus, at Athens, said to have been in the famous Argonautic expe- * ' We understand by society? says Heineccius, * the consent^ of two or more * persons in the same end and the same means requisite to obtain that end, so * that while such consent lasts society subsists; and so soon as ley who had for- * merly consented in the same end and means begin to pursue each his own end, 1 that society is dissolved.' — De leg. Nat. et Gent. i. 13. O dition, ( 106 ) dition, that had so ofcen been put into dock, and underwent so many repairs (like the Sjnod's Testimony), as that not one plank of it remained the same, yet was still called Theseus. The second article of charge in the summons against these brethren is, that they had ' withdrawn from communion with * their brethren.' But what communion is meant, whether ministerial or Christian, is not said. In what instances, for how long a time, — whether totally or partially, whether on frivolous pretexts or on good grounds, whether dutifully or schismatically, we are not told. These things certainly be- long to a regular charge : bat as this is laid, it deserved no answer, were it not for the sake of people that are imposed upon by such vague allegations for want of due information. Indeed, as was observed on the former article, the charge amounts to nothing at all : there is nothing culpable contain- ed in it ; all that is put into it may be either sin or duty. It may be indispensible duty, according to apostolical direction, " to withdraw from a brother that walketh disorderly ; from " every brother," be there more or fewer, yea from the whole body of a church, to whom the charge may be applicable. — Many of the observations made on the former article will ap- ply to this. Who are chargeable with the guilt of causing division and separation, the reader, from what he hath heard, may be able in part to judge ; and it may be still more evi- dent from the reasons that have been publicly stated elsewhere against the Synodical proceedings, and others that had been given, not published, and which the Synod wish to suppress, instead of allowing them a fair hearing, either at their bar, or that of the public. Let any instance of withdrawing from communion, so far as that hath been intentional and on prin- ciple, be produced, and if these brethren cannot assign a satis- factory reason for it, or rather, if they had not given before- hand such reasons, let them bear the blame. Tnat any of the Protesters ever withdrew from communion in the general and unlimited sense that the words of the charge bear, is utterly false. Tl.ey continued to hold communion with their brethren, as they were favoured with opportunities for it, in the manner they had always done : they had in a public and solemn manner testified their fellowship one with another, and with the whole body of ministers and people holding the same profession, wherever they were, on the Sabbath imme- diately before the meeting of Synod at Glasgow, as narrated in the Second Letter ; and this, with satisfaction, they conti- nue to do as they have access. When certain acts were made that affected the state of the public professibri and :' ms of communion, protestations were made by some of these brethren, that they were to be understood ( 107 ) understood as holding communion on the same footing as for- merly, notwithstanding of these acts, and no otherwise. On this ground they continued, for years, to join with those who irere not of the same sentiments with them, but were concur- ring in the offensive measures. This line of conduct they follow- ed, so far as they thought they could go without sin, or as con- sistency could permit. If communion thus qualified was refused, if it gradually became impracticable or unsuitable to the ends of edification, and if it was at last wholly excluded by the final enactments of Synod, they were grieved ; but this interrup- tion, first or last, did not arise from them, but from causes und actings for which they were not responsible. If they had refused communion with any who were by profession and practice walking according to the doctrine and the rules that had been established, this cught to have been stated in the charge, and proven : but that they maintained communion on the former terms, and confined it to those who were conforming unto them, can never be a relevant ground of censure ; for in this they cannot be blamed, without condemning the laws and constant practice of the religious society to which they be- longed. In this charge zs indefinitely stated, without specification of time or instances, Mr B. may reckon himself to have been more particularly interested ; as he had, at a more early stage of the controversy, thought himself precluded from" freedom to hold all usual fellowship with several members of Synod, and had previous to the meeting in April, in some instances, gone farther, as to a practical withdrawing, than the rest of his remonstrating brethren. He, however, considered the question either of a partial and temporary, or a total with- drawing, as a very delicate and serious one ; as they all did ; and did not venture upon any thing of that kind, without cau- tion and deliberation. He was satisfied in his own mind that the course he took, upon the whole, was what the circum- stances at the time warranted, however difficult and disagree- able the situation was into which it brought him. He thought himself able to account for his conduct in this lespect, and did not decline doing it as he had a call : nor would he have re- fused to have answered to Presbytery or Synod as to any par- ticulars of this nature more early, had he ever been required to do it ; as indeed his views and reasons that were stated in the supreme court, relating to the public state of things, might appear to imply or infer these steps as necessary consequences. Though this conduct was for years well known and avowed, he was never challenged on that account, but allowed to sit in Synod, and exercise every part of office, as if no such thing had taken place. He could willingly lay open his whole con- duct, ( 108 ) duct, step by step, in this matter, with the views ati^ reasons on whicn he proceeded, for the satisfaction of all, and submit the whole to the judgment of the impartial, were it not that it would occupy too much room. He shall only here refer the reader to an extract of a letter written to a brother, in which he coolly and freely explained himself on this subject, soon after the New Testimony was enacted, before he was called to answer to any charge, which will be found subjoined in the Appendix. It can hardly be supposed that the Synod should have meant in this summons, to bring under judicial cognisance, for the first time, the occurrences of a series of years, during that previous and intermediate state ; when they had abundant opportunity long before to have dealt with him about the of- fence, if any there was, to found a process, and did it not Their own conduct, for so long a time, prescribes their right to do it now. If such a retrospect for a series of years was included in the charge, they should at least have plainly told him so, and the Presbytery too ; that the one might know where to begin their accusation and investigation, and the other where to begin and where to end his defences, had he seen meet to sist himself at their bar. But what they meant to in- clude in this charge, or what the Presbytery, without any farther investigation of it, had respect to, when they pretend- ed to find it a ground of censure, it is possible that they them- selves cannot yet tell. And how can they, in the name of Jesus, require any to profess repentance, under pain of being henceforth excluded from communion with his church, until the particular and great offence be told. perhaps (for it is by guessing and groping in the dark that we must endeavour to find out what the precise charge is), the Synod meant to confine it to the time posterior to the pro- testation in its first or last form, said to have been a material declinature, from the time that his brethren implicated in the same charge began to withdraw ; as the words of this sum- mons are exactly the same with that given to Mr Hog, in which tjie charge could not be extended beyond that period. If so, ought it not to have been so limited? But restricting it thus, what reason was there for making Mr B.'s conduct in this more criminal from that date than it had been before ? for his communion, both ministerial and Christian, as to all overt acts, continued during; that time, in the same state in which it had been for years : And as there were now additional rea- sons given for suspending it, in the last enactments of Synod, in reality excluding them from communion, it might have been thought, that it should from that time have appeared to have ( ioo ) have been rather more excusable and tolerable than before, as there were so many at least very plausible pretexts for a con- scientious withdrawing. But what would they have had him to do with all these additional bars thrown in the way of har- monious communion ? Would they, by censure, compel him to particular acts of communion contrary to his conscience, or beyond what he had a necessary call to. Is he arraigned, be- cause he did not send invitations to a number of ministers near him, or at a distance, to assist in sacramental work (for mi- nisters that had been regularly installed in office, when ap- pointed to preach in his own pulpit, he had continued to hear), with whom he had not been in habits of correspondence for years, or perhaps never in his life? Or was it because he did not eo in circuit to attend sacramental occasions, and offer his assistance where he was not invited ? Are these things necessary, in order to be in a state of communion with bre- thren ? If the charge only respect the time posterior to a declina- ture, it may seem rather to be a superfluous article, and can hardly be said to add any thing to the former — which, if they had found, must comprehend the other as a branch under it. As this would be an offence rather of an inferior nature, sup- posing them both groundless, it is inverting the natural order, and forms, something like a false climax, sinking instead of rising in accusation and process. Perhaps, again, the Synod meant nothing more in this than what had been expressed in the charge given that brother by the Presbytery of Edinburgh, in summer, dropping their rash and untenable one, declaring principles of a certain tenor to the people ; namely, that he had absented himself for some time from meetings of Presbytery ; of which the reader heard before, p. 43, 49. If so, why were they not as explicit and definite in it as the Presbytery had been ? Why do they take no notice of the former process, which had been referred to them for decision, or of the judgment they had given upon the whole or any part of it ? Why do they not say that they remitted the cause in this particular back to the Presbytery where it originated ; but instead of that, commence a process upon the same matter by their own authority? This was pro- secuting in a circle, and heaping process upon process against the same person on the same charge. The Presbytery first charge him at the bar of the Synod, — and the Synod, in their turn, become the accusers, instead of judges, and charge him at the bar of the Presbytery, who had already declined giving judgment in the matter. To the charge, as originally drawn up by the Presbytery, it ought to be recollected, notwithstand- ing what is said about declinature, answers were sent (as eve- ry ( no ) ry one may embrace any proper occasion, use any competent mean for stating facts, and satisfying brethren); in which Mr B. endeavoured candidly and particularly to account for his not having attended diets of Presbytery for some time , These reasons are too long to be here rehearsed : but they were in the Synod's hand, where, it may be presumed, they still lie, and they were at liberty to declare them sufficient to exculpate, or the contrary. Among other reasons for with- drawing, taken from the public state of affairs, the offensive conduct of some of the members of that Presbytery, was men- tioned as co-operating ; as to which there was no room left to expect remedy in the ordinary course of discipline, and as to which no satisfaction had been obtained either private or pub- lic ; on which account, had there been no other, it was highly improper, and the height of injustice, to commit that matter to a Presbytery in which those were to sit, who not only, on general grounds, but in this particular cause, were personally and directly parties ; and these very members, if information be just, were among the most active and forward pushers of the censure that ensued. Did the Synod intend, by thus send- ding him to the Presbytery, to impose the drudgery upon him of making out again the same or similar answers to the same court, before he knew what was the result of the former, and while the cause was still supposed to be sub judice before the superior ? But I forget it w T as hactenus judicata, already de- termined on the first week, — that it was no relevant ground for present censure, and that it should not go to the judgment of a Presbytery. Did the Synod, by this spurious deed, that remitted the whole cause instantly to a Presbytery, think that a court competent to review and to make void the genuine and regular decision of Synod (as they themselves had in so far already dene), by proceeding in contempt of it ! for there was no pretence for saying as yet that this was a new case. Those who concurred in this appointment, and those who exe- cuted it, were actually disowning the authority of Synod, and shaking the regular fabric of the Presbyterian constitution. Jn fact, there was more respect shown to both, in disregarding such a summons, than there would have been in obeying it. As for the charge, his concurring in the constitution of a Presbytery, if it was an evidence of credulity and eagerness to criminate, for the Synod to proceed upon the flying report of the busy informers in the case of Mr tVl'C. it was, if pos- sible, a stronger evidence of it, that they should have admit- ted this against a third person, — whom none of these inform- ers could pretend to have seen so engaged, or to have heard a syllable about it from his own mouth ; nor doth it appear that his name had ever been mentioned in that acknowledge- ment ( ni ) inent which they had imparted. Upon whose testimony then did they order a process upon it ? Was the accusation brought at the instance of another, or was it formed upon their own mere conjecture ? Or could it be a culpable charge, until, along with the bare fact, the nature, the grounds and ends of such a Presbytery were known, and proof be offered that it was a constitution not merely distinct from the Synod, but inconsistent with the true principles and particular testimony, for the maintenance of which all the Presbyteries and Synods in the Secession had been constituted. It was, therefore, a charge rashly and prematurely adduced, and like the preced- ing, altogether futile and irrelevant in the matter of it, as stated. The Synod do not indeed say that they had found either this or the foregoing, the burden therefore of probation, both as to the truth and relevancy of both, was devolved on the Presbytery, previous to any sentence. But in their eager haste they over-drove the Presbytery : for by ordering the cause to come on at the very next meeting, to which corre- spondents from other Presbyteries were appointed, perhaps too with peremptory orders to decide (though these orders in the Synod's minute the party never had imparted to him, though they are referred to in the sentence) ; the Presbytery, when met, found themselves in no better state of preparation for establishing the charges, nor the cause in any greater ripe- ness for judgment, than at the time of issuing the summons. As to the last charge, on which the stress of the process as now managed, and of the sentence to be pronounced, was meant chiefly to rest, they were so totally unprovided with any ad- ditional evidence, that they found themselves reduced to the alternative of desisting from farther procedure, or of depend- ing solely upon the silence of the party, or what they could draw from his words for his condemnation. Upon the whole of these charges, and the manner of pro- ceeding upon them both in the superior and inferior courts, some of the observations that were made by the Associate Presbytery upon the General Assembly's libel (which how- ever was more particular than these are) will be found appli- cable — * It may be justly enquired,' they say, ' how the li- * belers of these ministers, pass over the solemn engagements f that each minister comes under firmly and closely to adhere* ' to the doctrine contained in our Confession of Faith, and that * they shall to the uttermost of their power, in their station,, ' assert, maintain and defend the said doctrines. The accusers ' of the Seceding ministers have wrapt up their charge in ge- ' nerals. The Seceding ministers are libelled as walking con- 4 trary to the Scripture, Confession of Faith, &c. but not one * particular ( "2 ) 1 particular text of scripture is condescended on ; neither is * there one article in our Confession of Faith and Catechisms 1 mentioned, nor any particular act of Assembly named. In ' every well regulated court where the procedure is legal *■ and not arbitrary, the law is particularly and expressly men- 1 tioned, to which the crimes libelled are supposed or alledged ' to be contrary, and the said crimes are duly compared in the 1 law, and if they are not contrary to the same, the libel h 6 found to be irrelevant ; but the above general charge is of ' a piece with the former arbitrary procedure against the pro- * testing ministers in 1733. It is true they alledge, that they ' are guilty of such offences as are contrary unto these pas- 4 sages of scripture which require love and charity, peace and * unity, to be promoted and cultivated in the church : but all * the passages of scripture which require charity, peace, and ' unity, also require that truth should be the foundation of ' peace, and the bond of unity and harmony; Zech. viii. 19. 4 The unity that we ought to pursue is the unity of the Spirit ; ' Eph. iv. 3. and the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth. That ' love and charity which the scripture requires is very con- * sistent with a faithful witnessing against the sins of a back- * sliding people ; yea, a free and faithful witnessing against ' the sinful opinions and practices of our brethren, is insepa- * rable from, or essential to the very nature of the law of love ; ' Lev. xix. 17. u Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine * heart ; thou shalt in any ways rebuke thy neighbour, and * not suffer sin upon him," or, according to the marginal read- ' ing, " that thou bear not sin for him." And it is plain from ' the whole tenor of the libel, that the practices of the breth^ ' ren which are alledged to be contrary to love and charity, ~* are only such practices as are necessarily involved in a free ' and faithful testimony against the present course of defection; ' which is so far from being their sin, that it is manifestly their 1 duty, unless tire law of love and charity is supposed to ob- 1 lige them to forbear a proper testimony against a course of ' defection from the Lord.' And on the particular article of the libel, that these minis- ters had separated without any justifiable grounds, and that they persisted in their unwarrantable secession, notwithstand- ing the clemency and tenderness shown to them ; — the Asso- ciate Presbytery in their Remarks, among other things also say, * The Seceding ministers are throughout the libel charged ' as guilty of schism, vet the judicatures have never enquired ■ into the grounds of the present secession ; they have never * compared them with the law andthe testimony, neither have ' they examined them by the approve:! acts and constitutions ( "3 ) * of this church. What is offered upon this head to persuade * and convince the members of the church of the justice of 1 this charge ? Nothing at all. They must take the bare as- * sertion and allegation of the libellers, as sufficient evidence * and proof, that the grounds of secession are unjustifiable, and * that the present secession is unwarrantable. This is dealing ' with men by mere church authority, and unbecoming such * courts who profess themselves to be Presbyterians, and who, 1 according to their principles, have no other tlun a ministe- 4 rial or stewardly authority from the Head of the church, * and who oug-ht to declare his mind and will from his word, * for the edification of the members of his body.' To the same purpose, on the charge of having made an un- warrantable secession and dangerous schism, Mr Wilson re- plies, * That they had made no secession from the communion * of the church of Scotland, but from her judicatories ;^—rhat 4 they ought seriously to have examined the grounds of their * secession before they brought such a charge against them : * but to condemn them,' it was pled, ' in the manner foresaid, * merely because they had seceded, and without enquiring f into their principles, or examining the grounds of their se- 6 cession, according to the word of God and our approven * standards, was a dealing with them by mere authority ; * it was dealing with them in a manner that could neither * convince nor persuade the consciences of men. The coun- * cil of Trent, before they condemned the Protestants as schis- * matics, excerpted out of their testimonies and writings se- 4 veral of their doctrinal propositions, and made some shew 4 of examining them : but a National Assembly of the Church * of Scotland, by a solemn act and sentence, condemned eight ' ministers as dangerous schismatics, without condescending * upon any erroneous principle maintained by them ; they de- 4 clare the grounds of their secession to be unjustifiable, but * what these grounds are they have not told.' In fine, as to the charge * of their having assumed a power * of associating and erecting themselves into a Presbytery, &x.' they reply, < The said ministers judge that they have warrant * from the word of God for their Presbyterial association, ad * that they have given their grouncTs* and reasons for judging * so, to which they refer ; and when they endeavour to tes- * tify against the defections of the present judicatures, as also- * judicially to assert the truths of Christ, that have been op- * posed and controverted in our day, they exercise no other 4 power, but what any Presbytery duly constitute, and in the * same situation with themselves, may warrantabiy lay claim < to *.' • Remarks on the Libel, P SECTION ( 114 ) SECTION SEVENTH. On the transfer of the process against Mess. B. and H. to Presbyteries. — Warrantable Declinatures The Presbytery of Edinburgh declined as judges by Mr B. upon grounds common to them with the Synod, and on some that were pe- culiar to them. — Remarks on their procedure and sentence. iTITnERTO we have seen the cause of the Protesters, in the general state and main articles of it, immediately in the hands of the General Synod : and what procedure took place, and what judgment hud been given in it, in the case of any of them, as pannels, on that account, has taken place, as we have seen, not only in their absence, but before they were accused, or had been cited to answer. This was particularly the case with respect to the two brethren, who received the summons to attend the respective Presbyteries. What had been for- merly transacted between the Synod and them while they^'were attending, related to the public business that was brought for- ward, not by them, into discussion and debate in court : the particular part they acted in reference to it was in the exer- cise of their privilege as members, regulaily called to give their judgment ; not in the character of pannels, first or last. In that character they appeared, the last time they had been in Synod, witnessing for what they judged to be truth and right, and against wrong, not in a personal but a public cause : in that character, as they had freely entered uncalled, unchalleng- ed, so they left it in the same state of freedom, and un im- peached It was not until September last ye~*-, that they had any ju- dicial intimation given them, and that in the form of summons, that their co-tduct in that cause, was charged upon them as a crime, to which they w^re required personally to answer to ^any court. And when, upon reading the summons, they found, that they were not yet required to attend the Synod, or any appointed by them for friendly conference, or even cited to ans.ver in that court where the transactions upon which the charges are built took place, and against which chiefly the aliedged trespass is said to have been committed, — they had reason to be more surprised. Charges were already sustained against them, in the supreme court, to which they had never been called, in which, as in the proper place, they had not any opportunity of being heird either on the facts or relevancy of the charges ; and they are debarred ouce for all from this common ( "« ) common privilege there, by being ordered forthwith to a Pres- bytery, to which they must submit themselves, and rerract or undergo a predetermined sentence. These brethren there- fore never were yet pannelled before the Synod, and never had nor ever can have access to be heard in it, before final con- demnation. The former sentences against the brethren whom the Synod censured before they rose, however irregular and un- just, yet had had some more appearance of decorum ; as the Synod, in their case, took upon them to ju-'.ge of transactions in Svnod, and inflicted immediately the censure for the alledg- ed trespass committed against their own aurhority ; but in the proceedings that followed all was committed into the hands of those, who could pretend to no such paramount power, and who yet scrupled not to enter upon, and to determine finally, in one of these Presbyteries, the whole cause as to one of these brethien, in one day, in violation of all the rights protested for and hitherto allowed in the supreme court, and in the face of a renewed remonstrance and declinature presented to them. ' Sentences are in themselves null,' says Pardovan, * when 1 they are pronounced against the general acts of the church, ' or by an incompetent judge, such as the sentences against * ministers, when the process is carried and admitted before ' their superior judicatories.'—* There is a warrantable de- 1 clinature, when a judge is declined as having committed in- * justice in some interlocutory sentence.' — l There is likewise * a warrantable declinature,' he adds, ' which may be made ' against particular members, as being related to parties, &.c.' * Several years before any charge was stated, Mr B.'had de- clared in Synod against the right of particular members to be admitted to judge or ^ct in courts or committees in any thing relating to the present controversies. Besides these objections offered on special grounds against particular members, he, for a course of years* was obliged to declare against several acts of the superior court as in themselves null, as having been pronounced against the received principles and general tenor of the acts of that church in which they were made ; and so far as these acts extended, to decline submission to the autho- rity of the Synod itself as erring, yet recognising its general authority in ali lawful exercise of it. This preceded the last protestation, wherein he and the other Protesters, for the rea- sons therein given, declined the judicatories as at last consti- tuted and presently acting, as no longer their lawful and com- petent judges in these matters. If he had thus before declined the members of Synod, some on special grounds, and the whole on general grounds, in the manner expressed, the same with • Collection, p. 301 P 2 some ( 116 ) some other peculiar reasons prevented him from ever enter- taining a thought of submitting himself, and the whole cause in dispute, to the Presbytery of Edinburgh, in obedience to the summons, as his lawful or competent judges in these charges. The declinature of tne Presbytery of Edinburgh by Mr B. was not a new step, nor a measure adopted, by him to evade personal process, but was consonant to and a necessary conse- quence of former measures adopted and admitted without cen- sure in the superior court, for a series of years, down to the meeting at Glasgow. Something of the same kind, though not to the same extent, with that put into the Synod's charge, called the Material Declinature, had been in different stages of the Synodical procedure, employed by him long before April last year, which the Synod neither did nor lawfully could condemn : Neither the one nor the other, therefore, could be reasonably nor consistently made a ground of censure at last in his case, as both of them have been. This may ap- pear from the following brief retrospect : — The General Synod in 1796, under pretence of an interim explanatory act of some sections in the Confession of Faith, respecting the authority of the civil magistrate about matters of religion, while the merits of the general subject were snd to be reserved for future discussion, admitted a clause into it that was covertly introduced, and the whole passed hurriedly upon a bare reading, without discussion, which implied a vir- tual condemnation of some of these doctrines ; and a change in the manner of assenting to the Confession in the formula ac- cording to it was enjoined. So soon as he had opportunity of perusing the printed act, and deliberately considering the terms of it, he perceived that it amounted to a prejudging of the cause, though in ambiguous terms, the merits of which were said still to be reserved ; he, therefore, at next meeting, crav- ed an alteration to be made of some of these terms 5 and when this was refused, he offered a dissent to be recorded against the act ; which was also refused admission. This he could not but think was as direct an infringement of the right of members to testify against what they might judge prejudicial to the public faith, or in any respect sinful, as ever any judi- catory was guilty of; as this was an act published which the members were required to concur in executing, and for which all who had offered nothing against it would be held responsi- ble before the world. Next year he insisted that his dissent, with a few reasons in writing, should now be recorded, ac- companied with a protestation against continuing any longer that temporary act or the use of the formula as altered, and that he should be free from any obligation to administer, or concur in administering, that formula if continued. This pri- vilege ( m ) \ikgc was still denied. So that the only resource left for ex- oneration was to make a formal motion to have that act recon- sidered and repealeci ; which being immediately negatived, as he expected, he instantly protested against the rejection of it, and renewed his protestation against the repeated refusal to record his dissent. Having thus with great difficulty, in a court which was originally constituted in defence of ministe- rial freedom, at last obtained something to be put on record to testify his disapprobation, he rested on this, until the same obnoxious act was renewed and extended to all papers declar- ing the public profession in 1799, when he renewed his pro- testation, with reasons, enlarged. From that tarly specimen, Mr B. began to apprehend what he hath since seen too fully verified, that by the force of mere authority, rather than rea- son or scripture, attended with artifice, this cause was to be carried on *. Again, by a constitutional act settling the terms of minis- terial communion in the Associate Body, uniformly observ- ed and repeatedly renewed since 1744, down to a late date, none could receive licence until he had joined in the bond for the renovation of the covenants, as well as assented to the whole doctrines contained in the Confession of Faith, and his approbation of the former Judicial Testimony ; — by the act 1767 I think (of which there is but a partial and unfaithful account given in the Synod's Narrative) not only were all se- cluded from ministerial office, that had not sworn that bond, but elders that w T ere not so qualified were excluded from hav- ing a seat in Synod. A deed of a Presbytery in Ireland licens- ing a young man in violation of this act, was in 1791 con- demned by the General Synod, and any exercise of his licence prohibited until that defect was removed. But very soon af- ter, in 1798, the Synod, of their own accord, contrary to the tenor of their former acts, practice, and discipline on that head, enacted, that henceforth this should no longer be a term re- quired of any entering into office, which was, on the matter, judicially discarding.it for the present, and for ever as to that form of it, from the whole body. Before putting this ques- * This is the instance which the Committee adduced in evidence, that Mr B. with other Protesters, had concurred with the Synod in their new deeds ; which in their publication is more than once with an air of triumph and insult referred to; but whether more to the discredit of the Synod, or of him, let the reader judge. If he failed in this, it was only in having for an hour charitably given credit to their positive assertions, without supposing them capable of stratagem. He hopes they will forgive him this wrong. To the reasons thus early, repeatedly, and regularly offered against these acts, rendered permanent in the introduction to the N. Testimony, being allowed to have any force, the only answer returned by the Committee is, ,* as he was present at the time (when that act 1796 was pas- sed) we leave it to him to answer any reasons of protest that may have been given in against it.'— Allan's Power oft be Ch. Mag. &c. p. 146. tion ( 118 ) tion to the vote, an examination of the roll was demanded, in order to see whether there were any sitting in court (as it was known there were some) who were not entitled to vote, par- ticularly on this constitutional question, according to such pro- visional or barrier acts as those mentioned, n ade doubtless with a view to prevent such great innovations as this: but this was not allowed. Among other reasons of protest regularly given in against this act, ' its immediate and progressive opera- ' tion in changing the constitution of the Synod and of subordi- * nate judicatories, 'was one. It was complained of ' as opening a ' door for the free and speedy entrance of a ministry of a differ- * ent complexion from what had hitherto been allowed: — as a ' pulling down with our own hands, our own bulwarks.' It was represented, that ' as in public bodies the constituent ' members are rapidly changing, and in Synod particularly, new ' inrolments are made almost every year, soon would all seats 1 be filled, and all the public affairs managed, by those who had 1 not entered in by the usual door, but had M climbed up some ' other way," or rather had been admitted b\ the unw r ?ry servants ' within.' — One principal security it was urged, ' would hence- ' forth be wanting for those who should enter into office being * united in the same profession, and the hearty friends and pro- ' moters of that cause for which the Synod was constituted: as * the covenant-bond was like the key-stone of our public pro- ' fession, beautifully terminating, binding and consolidating the * whole.' Subjoined to the reasons when lodged, Mr B. far- ther protested ' against what had been done by Presbyteries in '* licensing young men to preach according to that act, as also ' acrainst the ordination and inrolment of some as members of o ' Synod in consequence of it, without meaning any thing per- i sonally disrespectful to these young men ; but because the * exercise of any license or of ministerial office so conferred, ' might justly be considered as irregular and unconstitutional * in the Secession Church.' The change was carried to a greater extent by the act of 1799, making alterations in the articles of the Acknowledgment of Sins, and of the Bond ; against which a protest with reasons were also regularly en- tered : but neither these nor the former were ever allowed a reading in court: so far had the Synod tyrannically denied members their right of freely exonering themselves, and testi- fying in a state of communion with them, against sinful deeds, in these and other instances which could be named; even so far as to exceed the tyranny of the national judicatory at the beginning of the Secession in the act 1730, which prohibited the recording of reasons of protests, mentioned in the first ground of Secession, but repealed in 1734. These papers in- deed may be among those which the Synod's Committee, for a slight ( "9 ) slight palliation f the .Synod's conduct, tells their readers, were not entitled to o much notice as to have an answer. It would have been exacting abundance of deference to their judgment, 01 to that of the Synod, from the public, had the) required them all to rely implicitly on their assertion about papers that had never been published, even after a deliberate reading and judgment for meet upon them : — but this is requiring them to carry even implicit f; ith beyond its ordinary bounds, to a pitch far bevond what the Romish priesthood ever proposed, that they sho.ild take their judgment about matters which they themselves had never seen or hearci ! ! — Or do they mean that the matters which these papers respected, were undeserving of attention. If a church's performing, or failing to perform a solemn covenant with God, be accounted by her ministers a matter of small concern, then what can be esteemed important? If an oath taken in a thing of no more value than a straw would deserve to be conscientiously revered, how much more when the subject is the whole interests of religion in a church and the reformation of kingdoms. The Lord in his jealousy will show that he will not hold them guiltless, whoever they be, who either by doctrine or practice, make light of taking his name in vain. " If thou wilt not fear that glorious and dreadful " name, the Lord thy God, 1 will make thy plagues wonder- " ful." When the other act mentioned above was passed, much about the same time, extending the exceptions that h^d been made to certain doctrines in the Concession of Faith, to all the other books and tests of principles in the Secession, and the pub- lic formula was more and more altered, the same brother in a paper, laid on the Synod's table and never taken back, relat- ing to the Theological Class, reckoned himself obliged to de- clare, that ' though he had hitherto rather cautiously avoided touching expressly in lectures to students on the subjects of controversy in Synod, or any thing that might appear disre- spectful to their authoiity, — yet he could not, by continuing longer in that office, lay himself under restriction always to observe the same silence or reserve upon any of the common heads of theology, eip.cially principles adopted in all reform- ed churches, nor consider himself as liable to any censure from that or any other judicatory, on pretence of any of the late in- novating acts, for teaching any of those doctrines or inculcat- ing any of those duties, to which his ordination-vows and the oath of God so often dispensed, obliged him.' This declara- tion, subscribed by him, was made in 1800, while yet the de- termination about the New Testimony was in suspense. To this not the smallest objection was made then, nor any time after. Jn ( 120 ) In the following year when the Synod proceeded to enact the New Testimony, without the Narrative, and without the corrections that were afterwards adopted, in a time when it was not generally expected, and in a meeting in which not above a sixth part of the constituent members of Synod and representatives of congregations were present *, another pro- testation was made by him, wherein, after stating some gene- ral reasons against its being received as a just exhibition of the Testimony of theReformed Church of Scotland, or a proper sub- stitute for that formerly adopted by the Synod, the following clause was contained, and recorded in the Synod's minutes : 4 I protest against this deed, and the procedure that may na- * tively follow, as an assumption of unwarrantable power, * with respect to the public profession and the body over whom « the Synod has the inspection in the Lord, and that this can- ' not be considered as a lawful, constitutional deed of the Ge- * neral Associate Synod, to which obedience is due according ■ to the original and specific terms of our religious asso- * ciation.' A scrutiny was also demanded in it into the right of those that had been allowed to vote, as on a former deci- sion : it was added, * And I claim the right of illustrating or * enlarging the reasons of protestation in such a manner as the ' importance and public nature of the cause may require, ei- * ther publicly, or to the court, if required, with the excep- * tion of those being admitted as judges in the cause against * whom relevant objections can be offered.' He accordingly declined sending any other reasons to the Synod's Committee, at that time, because at least one was put upon it, to whose right to judge he had previously objected. From the above account it may be evident, that opposition to these innovating acts had been long and uniformly main- tained by that brother, even from the time that he first per- ceived a real change of principles to be intended, before that last step taken in common with others, for which he hath been arraigned. It may be obvious, that it was not carried on fac- tiously or schismatically, but from a consciousness of duty, and for reasons not frivolous, regularly assigned, still with a dutiful regard to constituted courts ; opposition to authority never having been carried farther than the particular acts, and regard to a higher end, required. A jurisdiction may be absolutely, and in all its acts, de- clined, when it is in itself unlawful. Thus Luther, and after- wards all the reformed churches and states, declined the juris- diction and usurped supremacy of the Pope, over all persons * This was the case either in the first or in the final enactment of the Testi- mony in 1804: 2i Minisiers, and 16 Eklers being present, including those who voted against it, or were silent, and ( 121 ) and causes ecclesiastical, as having been always unwarrantable, contrary to the laws and prerogatives of Christ, and to the liberties of his church ; so that every decree or bull proceed- ing from that power was prohibited, and declared of no vali- dity. When some of our British princes arrogated to them- selves a similar power in their dominions, to judge in person, or by a high commission, all causes ecclesiastical, the usurpa- tion, and the illegal constitution of these courts were disowned by the faithful of the land, and their censures and deprivations disregarded. In like manner the jurisdiction of diocesan bi- shops in their courts has been, and still is declined by all con- sistent Presbyterians. A declinature of a Presbyterian court that has been onc~ rightly constituted, is not of this nature. It must be on ac- count of its departing from its true constitution, — from its acts being vitiated, — or from its extending its power to causes not pertaining to it, or exercising it in an illegal manner. By a series of unlawful acts, may a lawful authority forfeit its rights, especially when these acts become fixed laws, and the mal-administration becomes general and habitual. It was on these grounds that the Seceding ministers, who highly regard- ed the principles and government of the church of Scotland, declined the authority of the acting judicatories, especially as incompetent to judge them in any thing relating to their testi- mony, and conduct in opposing their prevailing corruption *. To this necessity, after contending long against particular acts, have the Protesters been reduced in reference to the Associate judicatories, after their obnoxious deeds are multiplied, turned into permanent laws, attended with the tyranny of imposing them as terms, and forcing all by censures to submission. And as the former, in consequence, refused to answer at the bar of the Assembly to the libel, though they did it in another man- ner, so have the latter abstained from answering as pannels in court to the charges that have been so irregularly put into their hands, though they reckon it no difficult task to repel them, and to vindicate their conduct. • After the general clause in which the Associate Presbytery declared their full declinature, it is added, ' And particularly, for the grounds and reasons above 1 mentioned, they did and hereby do decline any power, authority, or jurisdiction, ' that this General Assembly now met, may assume to themselves of proceeding •■in a way of censure against all or any of the members of this Presbytery for * their Secession from the present Judicatures, their present Association, or the ' matters contained in the Judicial Act and Testimony emitted by them, or any ' other matter whatsoever, relative to the said Secession, and the said Testimony, * and that in regard the present Judicatures cannot be competent judges, in a c testimony for the reformed and covenanted principles of the church of Scotland, 1 from which they have so deeply swerved, by so many lamtntable steps of defee- ' tior. from the same,' &c. ( 122 ) It would have been very strange indeed, if, after so many years of public and painful contending in all ways competent to htm, in a cause which he viewed as highly interesting, Mr B. should have gone and resigned all in controversy to the will of a few men under the denomination of a Presbytery, while nothing had been said or done that could have the least ten- dency to satisfy his judgment upon the subject. The Synod, in giving the order, it may be presumed, did not, could not expect it ; but hereby they would be furnished with some pretence for proceeding to what they intended, on account of disregard to some exterior forms, which they could not find in the original and principal matters of difference — which they have still kept entirely out of view. From the nature of the general cause the Presbytery were become parties, and had already prejudged it : they were involved in the same charges •with the Synod. Besides, the principal matters in the charge having an immediate relation to the public faith, and the com- parative authority and soundness of former common standards and of late Synodical books, and of the sin and scandal of ad- hering to the one or of adopting the other, could not be pro- perly settled by the verdict of a Presbytery. The ofFensive acts that had occasioned declinature and withdrawing, were beyond their competence to review or alter ; and the reasons that had been offered against them, so essential in order to form a true judgment of the brethren's conduct, had neither been presented to them, nor were now under their review. The steps that had been taken by any of these brethren, in the ex- ercise of their right as members of the superior court, or the conduct resulting from it, could neither be duly investigated, nor restrained or censured by the inferior. Some members of that Presbytery too (four in number), were, from the manner in which they had been introduced in- to office, such as Mr B, long before excepted against as in- competent to be judges in anv cause of this kind, according to the tenor of the protests above mentioned and admitted in the superior court. Several now sitting in it were young men, whom he had reason to think were but little acquainted with the general subject, or even the ordinary forms of process ;— though none of these, according to information, did, in the event, obtrude their vote. Not one minister remains alive of whom that Presbytery was composed when he was admitted into it, one excepted, his nearest neighbour, with whom pub- lic fellowship had been suspended for some years, and against whom, when it was broken off, grounds of offence were pri- vately stated by Mr B. such as would formerly have been reckoned sufficient ground of public off -nee and censure, if the discipline by this time had not been perverted, and for which he ( 123 ) he had since obtained no satisfaction. Add to this, what has been hinted above, that in the answers sent to the Presbytery's first citation, among the other reasons assigned for withdraw- ing for a time from Presbyterial meetings, the offensive con- duct of some members was mentioned, particularly referring to the indirect subversion of Presbyterian government and principles in late missionary schemes, and to the managements in the settlement of the first congregation of Edinburgh : these personal charges might be supposed to have their influence to bias the minds of those implicated in them ; and as the charge of withdrawing from them was still continued, in judging of it and the reasons for it, they could not avoid in so far judg- ing their own cause, and by passing a sentence of condemna- tion upon that brother on this article, were exculpating them- selves. This included at least other two ministers who .ac- tually sat and voted, to say nothing of the absent, or of elders. These three, against whom special challenges had been brought, and never fairly tried, were the first to give their votes ; and if these had been set aside, how many think you, good Reader, would have remained ? Only one, or at most two, who voted censure. On none of the articles of charge could that Presbytery be sustained as competent and impartial judges. With regard to the third, the constitution of a Presbytery, even supposing that the charge on that head had been regularly brought for- ward, as matters then stood they could not give judgment on that brother's conduct or actings in reference to it, nor discuss the charge in all its extent, without judging of the constitution of the Presbytery, and the grounds and reasons for it, which could not be done without taking under their cognizance the whole matters of difference and public contendings between these brethren and the General Synod, which made this a bu- siness as improper for them to determine, as the first article, the declinature presented to the Synod. If a Presbytery had been actually constituted, and if it claimed and exercised upon warrantable grounds, the same or equal powers with that sub- ordinate court that pretended to sit in judgment upon any of its actings, or any of its members on account of these, they might justly say they were no more responsible at the bar of the Prebytery of Edinburgh or any other Presbytery, than the Presbytery of Edinburgh were to that of Glasgow, or to the Constitutional Associate Presbytery. Had none of these reasons existed, that brother had yet ano- ther claim for being exempted from the cognizance of a Pres- bytery, in a cause that necessarily affected the public exercise of his office at large, as being incompetent to proceed at first instance to a sentence of deprivation. One principal branch of Q^ 2 office, ( » ) office, that of teaching theology, had been immediately con- ferred on him by the authority of the General Synod; it re- spected the whole body at large ; to the same authority he was responsible in it,— and could not be divested of it but by the judicatory from which he received it, and that after a fair trial, by a sentence as public and regular as that by which it was conferred. No sentence of suspension or deposition could the Presbytery pronounce in his case, but what must virtually affect all exercise of his ministerial office compleatly, which wou'.d amount to a taking away what they had not, as a sub- ordinate court, power to confer. But this meeting of the Presbytery of Edinburgh it seems, in respect of the manner in which it was to be constituted, as well as the purpose for which it was to be convened, was in- tended to be an extraordinary one. And so may their pro- ceedings, when met, be allowed to have been. We have heard in the annals of the General Assembly's despotic administra- tion, when violent intrusions made more noise than now, of Rid- ing Committees sent up and down the country, to carry into effect the Assembly's orders, when the Presbyteries in the bounds might shew reluctance to impose ministers on a reclaim- ing people. But seldom have we heard of their using the same eagerness and violence to turn ministers out from office and benefice after they have got into possession, except in a few instances, for opposing their arbitrary mandates. It has been rather reserved for the degenerate judicatories of the Stcr-ssion to commission their riding-men, or riding commit- tees to turn out ministers out of their churches, and de- prive the people of the pastors whom they had called, while they were living harmoniously together, and where all things were continuing as they had been from the beginning. These auxiliaries will tend much to embolden a few who may be disposed to concur with them, while others may be shrinking back from some high and unpopular measure. Commissions, no doubt, have frequently been given to correspondents to assist Presbyteries on particular occasions, and they may be expedient in some cases, where there can be no suspicion of intrigue or parry -designs being promoted by them. But in causes of public interest, about which and the measures to be pursued, the minds of members of court may be greatly di- vided, or v. -here the cause of individuals may be prejudised by the peculiar views or known bias of members, this mode of procedure may open a door to great abuse. It may furnish fhe superior courts with the means of over-ruling or influenc- ing the judgment of the inferior, or supporting a faction in them, in consequence of a selection of deputies fit for their par- ricnlar tmrpose, although they should not hereby exauctorate Pre?- ( 125 ) Presbyteries altogether of their powers. In such cases as that under consideration, it is too like the odious practice of pack- ing of juries in criminal courts, by which so many unjust and bloody verdicts were obtained in the former days of tyranny, whereby they were made the most dangerous engines of op- pression, by which liberty was poisoned, as it were, in its source. If a Synod may not only at pleasure appoint their commissioners to Presbyteries, but also prescribe to them what their sentence should be, these, instead of retaining their free and independent judgment, are in danger of becoming mere tools of executing the decrees of the former; as the Commis- sions have been and are with respect to the General Assem- bly. It is of great moment to the preservation of the spirit and purity of the Presbyterian constitution, that the radical courts should maintain their freedom and rights inviolate. • Corrup- tion and tyranny are most ready to appear and prevail in su- preme judicatories, and then they are with greater difficulty resisted or remedied. When the whole power comes to be centered and absorbed in the head-court, as it once was in that of Rome, the body at large in all its parts must be weak and diseased. There are reasons for thinking that the General Associate Synod, or rather a few members who have given almost constant attendance, have not only been grasping at and engrossing too much power in it, w T ith reference to the public profession, but they have been incroaching upon the rights of inferior courts ; they have swallowed up the power and almost abolished the name of Provincial Synods : and if they interfere too with the deliberations and discipline of the Presbyteries, in order to support their lordly dominion, the State of that body must be truly pitiable and more hopeless. Though such were his views of the Secession-judicatories, and such his objections to that Presbytery in particular, now commissioned to judge him, yet Mr B. did not think it neces- sary to adhere so rigidly to punctilious form as to refrain from all intercourse with them, while any channel for it was yet kept open. He did not decline this new call and opportunity to avow again the truth, when summoned to do it before the lesser council, and to use yet another mean if possible to bring his brethren to pause a little longer before they proceeded to extremities. He sent to the Presbytery a letter of some con- siderable length, wherein, after noticing an informality in the summons, he animadverted on the general spirit they were dis- covering *, on the state of the process as it now was brought before f Having mentioned the false name that had been affixed to the summons it was said, ' such a misnomtr before a criminal court in a trial might give a culpri\ ( 126 ) before them in consequence of a double and inconsistent deter- mination of the supreme court, and on the charges as stated in the summons : they were reminded of the inseparable con- nection between the matter of this process and the merits of the general cause, and the grounds of protestation lodged with the General Synod, that ought previously to be investigated, and up- on which they could not be competent to give a final or any im- partial judgment — while they were standing as parties tobe judg- ed by the superior authority of scripture — the public confessions of the Protestant churches, — particularly the subordinate stand- ards received in our own — by which they were already condemn- ed ; and while they were maintaining such erroneous sectarian tenets, as have by the acts of Protestant Synods subjected all who held them ipso facto to high censures. They were desir- ed to remember that they had no power to judge any of their brethren for their continued adherence to these principles and ordination and other vows, by which they were bound in com- mon with them, but from which they were now schismati- cally and perfidiously departing ; and that they, as well as he, were sisted before a higher bar, to which they must be ac- countable for the course they were pursuing, and any sentence they should now pronounce. These with some other things upon the charges were suggested, whuh may be collected from what hath been above observed, or from a short recapitulation that was made in a paper, read to the congregation of that brother on the sabbath immediately following their sentence ; which the reader will find at the end. There was at the same time a declared adherence to the protestation and declinature that had been given in to the Synod, — while none of the rea- sons were removed, but rather greatly increased. ' some chance of escaping with his life.' From which possibly our Letteivwriter may have transferred the favourite term, which he decently applies to objects under ecclesiastical process. But for these, even though they were really offenders, the apctle might have furnished him with a very different and more Christian designation; " Nevertheless couut him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a u brother." From regard to the interests of Religion, and the credit of the Secession-courts now prosecuting, a regret was expressed that they should now appear to be breathing out nothirg hut hostility and violence, like Caesar when he crossed the Rubicon, menacing the safety and liberties of Rome, in defiance of laws and plighted faith; in whose mouth the poet put the following words, Htit . ait, beic pccem temtrataquejura reiinquo ; Yc, furtuuz, sequor ; procul bine jam jadera tunto. Here farewell peace ; and injured laws, he said, Now faith is broke, and leagues are set aside, Henceforth, thou goddess fortune, art my guide. Rowe's Lucaru This, with some other things that followed in the letter relating to the breach and violation of solemn engagements, seems to have famished the presbytery with one of their new grounds of censure. ( 127 ) As an evidence that those who had adopted the new schema had hereby subjected themselves to censure, according to the canons of reformed churches, an express reference was made in the Letter, among many other instances that occur, to the decrees of a Synod of the Wallon churches that met at Am- sterdam in 1690; which probably the Presbytery never con- sulted ; as the ' footsteps of the flock,' as well as the authority of confessions, when not for their purpose, they treat with disregard, however high they raise their own. As these acts were not specified, and as they are not generally known, it may be proper here to notice them more particularly. That Synod took into consideration the danger to which the French churches in particular were exposed at that time, by the spread- ing of the opinions that had been vented by the sceptical Bayle, in his Philosophical Commentary, and other loose writers, plead- ing for universal licence in behalf of all opinions and different modes of religion ; that none of them were to be restrained by civil or ecclesiastical authority, when they were adopted ac- cording to the dictates of mens consciences, &c They speci- fied a number of articles as dangerous errors, ' The more dan- * gerous, they say, that under the affected name of charity * and toleration, they tend to instil into the minds of the sim- * pie the poison of Socinianism, and the indifference of all re- ligions.' Among these are the following: — * 1. That none ' sin in following the dictates of their conscience, however evil * the action may be. 2. That both religion and reason oblige * to a toleration, both civil and ecclesiastic, of all heresies. * 3. That the magistrate hath no right to employ his authority ' to overthrow idolatry, and to hinder the progress of heresy. * 4. That every individual hath a right, not only to believe, ' but also to teach, whatever he pleases, without any restraint ' frorn'magistratical power.' * Wherefore the Synod, after lont>- c and mature deliberation, and above all, after calling upon the ' name of God, who alone can maintain his rights and con- * found heresy, declare solemnly and unanimously, that thr 4 above and such like propositions are false, scandalous, and ' pernicious, that they equally overthrow morality and the doc- ' trines of religion, and as such they proscribe, prohibit, and * condemn them ; forbidding, under the highest censures, ai. ' persons, whether ecclesiastical or secular, to vent them either ' in pulpits or in private conversations; and they exhort all * the faithful who have a real care of their own salvation, or ' true zeal lor the glory of God, to beware of this danger- * ous poison, to resist courageously the torrent, and to shut ' the ear against the yoice of the charmer, for fear lest the * spirit of lies, and the artifice of false teachers should se. * duce them. And to omit nothing on so important an oc- ( 128 ) ' casion, the Synod ordain expressly all consistories under their 1 inspection, to redouble their care and pastoral vigilance, in - proportion to the danger that threatens their flocks, to check, ' without respect of persons, all those who shall be found guil- * ty, by suspending private persons from the holy supper ; and * with regard to ministers, that they be suspended from their * office until the next Synod,' &c. The greater part of the exiled ministers from France, then residing in England, corresponded with this Synod, and in a letter subscribed by 34 of them, complained to it of the spread- ing of these errors, and that some had openly turned Pelagi- ans, Socinians, &c. while others concealed themselves under the veil of unbounded toleration, ■ and these last,' say they, * are no less dangerous than the other.' They mentioned the Philosophical Commentary as a book they accounted most dan- gerous, and they request that some order should be taken for suppressing such licentious opinions, and particularly that they should exclude from pensions, from pulpits and the schools, all Refugees who departed in capital points from the Belgic Confession ; and that their determinations would have great influence upon all the ministers and people of the dispersed churches. In compliance with their request, the above reso- lutions were agreed upon. The advocates of these licentious tenets had then begun openly to boast of the great numbers that were now on their side, even so far as to say, * We are a thousand to one.' — * It is a falsehood,' says a noted writer who then lived in Hol- land ; * I know no persons of any considerable name who 4 are of these sentiments. But, to swell their number, they * associate themselves with the Socinians, Arminians, and * Anabaptists — an honour which we do not at all envy them*.' In the history of the established church of Holland (distinct from the Walloon^), instances before this occur of ministers being censured, and deprived, for impugning the doctrine of their Confession on these points in which it agreed, as the other Protestant Confessions did, with that contained in the paragraphs of the Westminster Confession, which the Synod have thrown out. In Britain, not on>v were the errors that were vented in opposition to it, refuted by many particular writers, but public warnings were emitted against them by Synods and Assemblies, and censures denounced or inflicted upon such as'taught or favoured them. When Mr Denne, a Sectarian chaplain in Fairfax's army, first ventured in a ser- mon, before the House of Commons, to assert them, and to attack the lawfulness of a national reformation, and settlement * Juries — Le Tdhauttu Suimgmtme^f. ^58 — 567. of ( IS* ) ligion by laws and parliamentary author it}-, such as was then attempted, as contrary to the spiritual nature of Christ's rloin. Mr Love, who was to preach in the afternoon, leaving his intended subject, reckoned it his duty in the tame place, instantly to condemn arid refute what bad been deliver- ed on that head ; in which he had the concurrence and ap- probation of the Asst mbly then sitting. When these tenets began more and more to increase, a joint-testimony was pub- lished against the error? and heresies of that time, in which these are particularly marked out as scandalous and pernici- ous, subscribed by all the eminent ministers in and about Lon- don, anno 1(54 7, the Independent as well as Presbyterian, to the number of 5S ; and afterwards by others in England, a- mounting to 232. In it, such of them as had not been mem- bers of the Westminster Assembly express their approbation of these sections of the Confession that are now exploded, as containing scriprural and important truths, and praise that Assembly for their faithfulness therein. In Scotland, besides what was done in ratifying the same doctrines in their Confes- sions and Books of Discipline, and in the laws made in behalf of the Reformation, by different acts, those who speke against the covenants, or the public cause of civil and ecclesiastic re- formation conjunctly, were ordered to be censured. The As- sembly 1040 ordained, ' that such as had subscribed the cove- 1 nant, and speak against the same' (as the ministers and people of the Secession have done) •, * if he be a minister, he shall be ' deprived, and if he continue so being deprived, shall be ex- * communicate ; and if he be any other man, shall be dealt with * as perjured, and satisfy publicly for his perjury.' By act of Assembly 164S, it was injoined, that 'silence and ambiguous ' speaking in the public cause, much more detracting and dis- 1 aiTccted speeches, be seasonably censured : — therefore the ' errors and exorbitancies of sectaries in England are not to be 4 passed in silence, but plain warning to be given of so near ' a contagion ; — and such as neglect this duty to be censured j by their presbyteries. If any minister preach in defence of ' or pray for success to the sectaries of England, he is to be 'censured by deposition.' The pointed Testimony that was published by the Synod of Fife, against these errors, and par- ticularly an unbounded toleration in 1659, after Cromwell's army, these pretended defenders of liberty of cor.ssur.ee> had abolished General Assemblies, is not altogether unknown, and ma j be found in print. This was called a faithful Testimony, in the oM ; but the very name of it is erased from the new Testimony of the Synod. A Synod of Angus judicial!)' con- demned some of these errors when revived by Mr Glass, and when he refused to subscribe the Confession without excep- ts tion ( 130 ) lion of these paragraphs which the Synod have excepted, and some others, and to acknowledge the warrantableness of the Covenanted Reformation, or of the obligation of the National Covenants and Solemn League, in any other sense than as mere church-deeds, maintaining that the example of Jewish kings, whose government was merely typical, and their kingdom ec- clesiastical, was not imitable under the New Testament, — he was suspended and afterwards deposed ; which sentence was confirmed by the General Assembly. Jn these and other te- nets the Associate Synod, and the Presbyteries in subordination to it, have joined him ; and in their private writings have particular ministers, some of them in the Presbytery of Edin- burgh, maintained them; though these were included in the sectarian errors vented by that teacher, condemned in the for- mer Testimony, confe sed in the former Acknowledgement of Sins which every minister and elder and covenanrer in the Secession before the year 1798, had expressly sworn to testify against, among others, all the days of their life. The Narrative, said now to be part of their Testimony, lias gi- ven a partial and unfaithful account of that process, and co- vered these errors from view ; p. 84, 85. and in the new Ac- knowledgement of Sins, the expression in the former of ■ turn- ' ing aside to Sectarian extremes, ' is wholly blotted out.— Need we add, the more recent process against Mr Scot in Dundee, when, for maintaining the same scheme of principles on these subjects with Mr Glass, and which the Synod have sanctioned, and for refusing to declare his unlimited adherence to his ordination-vows, he was deposed without a contradic- tory voice in Presbytery or Synod ? Mr B.'s letter to the Presbytery, though it had been sent to Edinburgh before the day of their meeting, had not been de- livered until they had spent the greatest part of the forenoon's sederunt in debating, whether or in what manner to proceed in the absence of the party, and without hearing from him, and while the cause lay before them in the same state in which it had been left by the Synod. Some of the more forward members were for proceeding without delay, not to take farther steps in process or for conciliation, but to execute what it seems they had received in commission before any hearing of the cause, and the chief purpose for which they were convened. The A^sistar]t- S 2 them C "0 ) them now boggle at, and over which the General Synod have now stumbled. The sentiments of young men as to the pub- lic cause were then narrowly watched over, and swearing the bond was so strictly enjoined by an act of Synod, that none who delayed to do it were to be allowed to deliver discourses as students ; therefore he chused rather for a time to forego this privilege, than to proceed to so solemn an act, before his judgment was duly satisfied. In this state of mind it was na- tural for him to look about to those who avowed a scheme of greater latitude and liberty. He accordingly conversed and corresponded for a time with Mr Gillespie, soon after the Re- lief Presbytery had been constituted, though without breaking altogether his former religious connections. He found him and his brethren willing to open the door of communion to him, and at last to take steps for introducing to ministerial fellow- ship ; though this was prevented, when the crisis seemed to ap- proach, in consequence of his mind being satisfied on the con- troverted subjects, and being led, through Divine goodness, to discern the specious snare in which he had nearly been caught. Would it have been culpable in him to have sacriiiced the tes- timony for reformation principles and covenants, in order to embrace profered fellowship with these ministers ; and would it be less so now to relinquish it, in order to hold communion with the General Synod ? Would not he, as well as they in that event, have the greater sin, by relinquishing and denying it, after so many additional and sacred obligations to the con- trary ? u Better not to vow, than to vow and not pay." He has lived long enough to see, and in his own person to have felt, such a perverting of the discipline, and such a complete inverting of terms in the Associate Body, that what before was indispensibly requisite to admission to ministerial commu- nion or membership in a divinity -hall, is now deemed a suf- ficient ground for expulsion from that communion. First cen- sure for deferring to subscribe, and now censure for refusing to relinquish what had been subscribed ! Will they yet say, We have made no material change ? Or boast that they open their arms for an expansive and liberal fellowship, — to allure by flattering but empty sounds, stigmatizing all as schismatics who will not suffer the meretricious embrace ? Many around may make the same professions with better grace ; who will welcome all into their communion upon similar or perhaps less costly sacrifices. The Synod of Relief to this day will declare their willingness to admit all the different parties of Seceders into their fellowship, upon no higher term than ' burning their testimonies,' (to use the words of one of their first leaders), and-an agreement not to disturb the peace of the church any more ( Hi ) more with such trivial matters. When Mr B. was in London in 1783, in a conversation with MrR. Robinson of Cambridge, a noted teacher and writer among the Baptists, some time be- fore he declared himself a Socinian, after the latter had partly declaimed and partly reasoned for some hours not only against all magistratical laws and penalties respecting matters of reli- gion, but in the more perfect stile of new light, against mak- ing creeds, confessions, articles, covenants, decrees of convo- cations or Presbyterian Synods, tests of orthodoxy, or terms of communion, as a tyrannical invasion of the rights'of private judg- ment ; also against infant baptism, arguments drawn from the carnal nature of the Jewish covenant, and the like, holding- doctrinal errors and differences in judgment while persons- were following their light, as ' mere harmless speculations ;• —he yet thought proper, at the close, to invite Mr B. to Cam- bridge, where he would make him welcome to the communion of his church : though, after all, confessing he could not have freedom to comply with the demand of a parent who, under a conviction of a divine injunction, should require baptism for a child. For often it is seen that the greatest Latitudinarians, are in some favourite articles of their own, more bigoted im- posers, than those against whom they declaim. Did Mr B. follow a schismatical course, because he came home by ano- ther road ? He has also seen, under the hand-writing of Dr Ryland, in the Baptist academy of Bristol, a similar declara- tion of his willingness to admit any brethren of Calvinistic principles in connection with the General Synod, who might come into that country properly recommended ; without re- quiring any such express renunciations, as those with which the Synod's offer is clogged. Are all those schismatics, who, declining such profers, keep up their separate Presbyterian meetings, holding only communion among themselves ? The religious association formed among the members of Missionary Societies also presents a more easy and commodious plan of ministerial fellowship, with some fairer pretensions to liberal- ity. By contributing a little money, and meeting in common one day, or a few days in the year, you may hold ministerial communion, without being asked if you be Methodist or Dis- senter, and with full allowance to retain every article of your former creed, to go to separate assemblies, and practise what- ever form of church-government you please, or none at all, throughout all the rest of the year. They would pronounce them to be bigots who would move a question or a vote of censure upon any, for such punctilios. 5. To make such a withdrawing as is referred to in the article a ground of censure, would be a high stretch of church authority, were it even exerted for maintaining true Presby- terian ( "2 ) terian unity and a communion on unexceptionable principles- But in the present case, when the reasons of withdrawing are considered, even taking the terms of their act of pretended for- bearance of 1805 into account, it is peculiarly arbitrary and tyrannical. As it is in reality an attempt to destroy former unity, to compel to a breach of ordination-vows, and to make a schism from the covenanted church of Scotland, to force attend- ance on church-courts and acts of other ministerial fellowship, in opposition to men's conviction, and to all those obligations formerly contracted, it is a direct encroachment upon the rights of conscience, the liberties of which we were in possession, and a glaring instance of intolerance. To allow in some cases of personal absence from courts for a time (and they could complain as yet of no more), or even habitually for many years, has not been reckoned inconsistent with the order, the discipline, or unity of Presbyterian churches ; and of this there have been always some instances since the constitution of the Associate Synod, as was stated in Mr B.'s Answer to the Presbytery's citation in summer. If distance, frailty, expence of travelling, other necessary business, or attention to other branches of ministerial duty, have usually been considered as reasonable causes of this *, why may not reasonable conscien- * Among other things mentioned in the letter to the Presbytery, which might account for hi9 not giving punctual attendance, was the time and labour neces- sary in regularly discharging the ordinary ministerial duties in a congregation dispersed through part of seven or eight parishes, with the additional burden of the studies and preparation needful for the Theological Class, which the Synod had laid upon him, and refused to relieve him from, though he had expressly stated, among the reasons of resignation, that he found due attention to the com- plicated duties of both to be too heavy, if not incompatible, situated as he was, where there could be no collegiate charge, nor any assistance afforded, except for a few Sabbaths during the Session, and that too very precarious. Had they ex- empted him from the necessity of travelling to a distance to attend Presbyteries, where the business couid be easily transacted without him, and also freed him from some other part of pastoral labours, while bound to serve them in that sta- tion, it would have been no unreasonable indulgence, but a proper regard to the duties of a still more public nature, in which they were all equally interested. In favour of a new light teacher, it seems, such an indulgence is readily granted. (See Christ. Mag. New Series, No 4. p. 156.) Mr B. reminded his brethren of some regulations in other Protestant churches, by which their academical teachers were not to be incumbered with a pastoral charge, but in certain cases and under certain rtstrictions; and sa far from obliging them to attend on Col- loquies, i. e. Presbyteries, or Synods, about disciplinary matters, or censuring them for absence, there are acts expressly forbidding their attendance ; particu- larly, the Synod of Altz in France decreed, * That no professors of divinity, al- * though they he pastors also, unless they be sent with letters from their churches, * or called by Colloquies and Synods, upon matters relating to their University, * or imp >rtant points of doctrine are to be handled, shall ever afpear in Colloquies, * or Provincial and Natiooal Synods.' Quid's Syncdtctn, v. II. p 56. Mr B. had ail along attended Synods, unless when necessarily detained, a few instances of late excepted, when he knew his advice could ntnher bv useful, nor was de- sired. tious ( "3 ) faous scruples, or though sometimes they should be unreason- able, with respect to the public profession or management, be sustained as a ground of exemption from a rigid and enforced punctuality of attendance, — at least till all Christian methods be deliberately used in order to remove them ? Some may be able to recollect an instance of an aged and venerable father, whose dwelHng*riouse was at the very gate of the Synod-house, withdrawing from his seat in it for years, without any motion for censure bting proposed. Is this the way in which our brethren show the tender regard they profess for the liberty of conscience even when erring ? In this again their rigorous compulsive measures exceed those of the General Assembly of the National Church. ' If the seceding ministers,' says Mr Wilson, ' had sitten still in their houses, — if they had not I emitted a judicial testimony for truth, the judicatories would * never have troubled them for non-attendance upon the said •'judicatories*.' The Synodical declaration of ' their willingness still to hold * communion with' these brethren,' is in so far a concession of their right to enjoy communion, and an acquittal of them from any charges of error or scandalous practices; and reduces their offence wholly to what respects their own authority, as now exercised, matters of mere external order, and their refusing to hold communion with them : In all of which, tried upon the former laws of the constitution, and the true terms of their ec- clesiastical confederation, there can be no just offence, but duty foivn.d. That the old formularies of the public profession, and the former terms of ecclesiastical unity and order, have been changed, and others substituted in their place, is an in- contestjble fact, whatever the import or amount of the changes may be. A resistance of this change, and in-position by pro- testations and corresponding practice, is the sum of the offence, which, by a perversion of ideas and of words, is termed schism, and by a like perversion of authority censured as such: while it is evident, nothing more can be included in the term thus applied than a refusing concurrence in establishing a new sys- tem, and in acts that directly tend to promote it. By the terms of fellowship, as explained in the act of 1805, a prohibition of the old, and an aduption of the new, is necessarily required. That forbearance means no more, than that the Synod will overlook what the brethren had formerly done in contending, and will suffer their protestations to have a place in their mi- nutes, upon condition that they shall be buried there ; and the deeds protested against be acquiesced in without public opposition, and communion, ministerial and Christian, be hence- * Continuation, p. 83, forth ( 1** ) forth maintained on the footing of them ; that is to say, that they should agree henceforth to act contrary to their protesta- tions and to their consciences. Where then was the indul- gence ? If the imposition of such terms at first was a despotic exercise of authority, the enforcing of them now by censures, must be a still higher degree of injustice and tyranny. 6. Censures upon this or the whole of these grounds com- plexly, if they are inconsistent with their former principles, are no less incompatible with the new. If they strike against Presbvterian unity and uniformity, they are ill adapted to promote sectarian liberty, and to exemplify and recommend the favourite scheme of universal toleration of all religious opi- nions and practices. In the system of the more enlightened patrons of the new scheme, uniformity in religion is unne- cessary, and not to be attempted ; and schism, among the evils to be checked by authority, can hardly find a place. They plead for endless diversity : and that none can be compelled otherwise than by persuasion, to enter or to continue in reli- gious fellowship with any. The Synod have recognized the principle, ' that no other means are to be employed for this ' but argument and persuasion only ; and that the right of ' every man to practise that worship, or form that fellowship *. which he judges to be best, is what no power on earth may * deprive him of.' But they either have yet but half learned the meaning of their own creed, or else the pride of dominion, or the heat of passion and contention makes them instantly to forget them again. A jumble of things, old and new, seems apparent in their sentimtnts and in their conduct. Their pro- fessions and their procedure are at variance, and the latter is manifestly destructive of the radical principles and spirit of their new scheme. To apply the old forms and rigours of discipline to their new declaration of rights, and to support a general latitude and uncontrolled licence, is as incongruous as to ' put a patch of new cloth upon an old garment, which will not heal the schh-m (?#<^«), but will make it w r orse,' and spoil the whole. While they censure their fathers for not under- standing or duly regarding the rights of conscience — and while rhey condemn or relax former obligations for restraining by vivil or ecclesiastical laws, — with greater inconsistency they ittempt to impose new ones of their own, and would make the yoke heavier. While tiiey employ the doctrine, * that ' the Lord alone is the sovereign of the conscience,' against impositions and compulsory act» by civil authority, in refe- rence t© religion, — they seem not to be equally aware that church authority is no less liable to encroach on this divine legislative right, and to infringe true liberty of conscience ; and that the tyranny of the latter hath been as common and as pernicious ( "5 ) pernicious as the former. Neither the one nor the other has a light to dictate or impose contrary to or beside the word of (»od, and to submit to either in attempting it ' is to betray ' true liberty of conscience and reason too.' Are censures their argument and means of persuasion ? They are compul- sive in their kind : they are of the nature of a sanction or pe- nalty when their arguments fail to persuade : and deposition and non-communion are the greatest that a church destitute of the countenance of the civil power can inflict. Can their new creed be vindicated, and their new church-fellowship be ce- mented, no otherwise than by the force of these coercive bonds ? As yet the promoters of these new opinions shew themselves to be but half liberalized : they are halting in the middle way, and must either return or advance farther, and be either cold or hot. 7. Accordingly their conduct herein is very opposite to what the most noted patrons of the scheme have usually recommend- ed and followed. When new light tenets began openly to pre- vail among Dissenters in England and Ireland, about the years 1718-19, and forward, they acted a very different part, more agreeable to their principles. When the Synod, at Salters- hall in London, which Dr Taylor of Norwich says was the first Synod of clergymen that ever declared in favour of the rights of conscience, by a majority declared against subscrip- tion to the Westminster Confession, the minority withdrew : but the major part never attempted, by censure, to oblige the others to come over to their sentiments, or to hold communion with them. Most of them still professed great regard for the doctrines of the Confession, and wished to cultivate commu- nion with their subscribing brethren, notwithstanding of dif- ference of opinion * about some lesser matters, and especially ' about the propriety of making the words of any human com- * posure a test of orthodoxy, or term of fellowship.' Few in- deed on either side would have insisted upon the mere form of subscription, as it had always in England been voluntary, and has never been imposed even among those deemed orthodox to this day ; but the Pelagian and Arian heresies had begun to spread, and they had reason to suspect that a number of their non-subscribing brethren were already infected with them, and the rest too favourably disposed towards them ' as matters of * doubtful disputation, in which they should forbear one ano- ' ther *.' It soon appeared that this was the real case, and T that * After the votes had carried in the Salters-hall convention, not to subscribe, the ministers who withdrew protested against what should be done without sub- scribing: but though they voluntarily subscribed to the articles and questions rhen in controversy, rhey immediately passed a vote, * that they should not cen- ' >ure ( 146 ) that this was the principal reason of the opposition shown to such tests of orthodoxy, by the rapid spreading of these and other dangerous errors among that body, from that time for- ward ; while the abuse of the doctrine of private judgment, or the light of mens consciences being their sole and supreme rule, in opposition to all the dictates and authority of men, was still their pretext ; as it is the great fortress of Socinians in every place now, from which they scoff at orthodoxy and uniformity, and assault civil and ecclesiastical authority as un- warrantably employed in matters of religion. A similar spi- rit and similar effects attended the progress of the new light in Ireland ; which instances are here adduced chiefly for the con- viction and warning of the Synod, that they may see, not only the glaring inconsistency of the measures they have adopted for introducing and rivetting down some of the radical tenets upon all under their influence, but also what dangerous ex- ' sure any of their brethren, as not holding the same faith with them, merely for 1 their refusing to declare as they did.' They never proposed authoritatively to impose their declaration upon any ; or to require subscription to it with menaces and threats in case of non-compliance. The other party reckoned, that their in- sisting for subscriprson was an imposition, which a compliance with would have been a transferring their faith from the word of God to found it upon human de- cisions. They complained of their brethren for protesting, and breaking off from them in an angry manner ; and carrying their resentment so far as to refuse to return to them; and to agree with them in pacific advices which they proceeded to draw up, in which, among others, they advised ' that any minister or congre- ' gation who should differ as to the expediency of these methods, should still pre- * serve charity and communion with those who might pursue these advices :' still professing agreement in the same doctrines with the subscribers. The subscrib- ing ministers on their part shewed that the bare declaration of their agreement was not sufficient , and that their pacific terms were not satisfactory ; and that they had no right to charge them with having caused a separation, or to demand their returning to them. • By what authority,' they asked, ' could you demand 1 our return ?' It appeared upon a scrutiny, that there was a great majority of * pastors upon our side ; and that we lost the important question by the auxiliary 1 votes of those who were neither pastors of churches, nor stated ministers in any " congregation. What right then had you to challenge our return to you to con- ■ sider of advices which we did not like, and that after you had passed some of 1 them without us. Must the body of the London ministers be accounted im- * pc6ers, because they would not be tamely imposed upon ? We protested against ' what you were doing, because we apprehended that without an explicit decla- * ration of faith, your advices would do more harm than good.' The 8th article in them (recommending charity and communion quoted above) they said, ■ is ' ensnaring : for though we never refused, nor do refuse to maintain friendship * and communion with our brethren, as far as knowledge and judgment ivould carry * us ; yet we were unwilling to declare in the general, that we would hold com- 1 munion with those who should think fit to pursue these advices ; because we « knew not but this might comprehend persons with whom we can have no fel- ' lowship in things sacred We are still of opinion that these advices are very ' agreeable to the taste of Arians and Sociniar.s,' Sac Cumming's Grounds of the Differences among the London Ministers, part ii. Considerations on the professed Agreement, &c. p. 241, 340, 345 — 350. Ridgley's Unreasonableness of the Charge of Im- position, &c. Authentic Account, &c» by the Committee of Non- subscribing; Minis:ers. trcmes ( »« ) (remes a consistent prosecution of them may at last lead to; not merely to condemn the settling of a particular system of religion, or the ratifying a confesMon of faith, and church go- vernment by civil laws, to which they immediately apply them, but to question the lawfulness of requiring assent to any confession or testimonies in churches, or the right of judica- s to determine controversies of faith or matters of con- ce, or to inflict censures on any when following their own light as to the meaning of the scriptures: and so in the end to produce and cherish a total corruption of all the precious doctrines of Christianity. To these fatal rocks, where other religious bodies have suffered shipwreck, before their eyes, the Synod are impetuously driving, though at present they are blind to their course, and under the deception that they are steering a contrary way, by apparent zeal for a confession, tes- timony, covenants, subscriptions, new-framed and corrected, and high censures to enforce the whole. The errors they have let in under the name of amendments, u will eat as a cancer, " and in the end increase to more ungodliness," till they may consume all that is sound. As one bastard of Abimelech that was nourished in the household, when grown up, slew all the legitimate sons upon one stone. In the mean time, these prin- ciples condemn their conduct, and their conduct practically o- verthrows their principles: in which case, both of them cannot be right, though it is possible both may be wrong. That such has been the tendency and such the consequences of-the new principles among the Presbyterians in Ireland, who adopted them or connived at them, is well known to those who are acquainted with their history. The party among the ministers who favoured them at first were but few, and of the people there was a still smaller proportion. It had been cus- tomary to require assent to the doctrines of the Westminster Confession from those who were licensed to the ministry among them even before the act in 17<>5, expressly requiring this, was made. But some had been admitted to pastoral charges that had been licensed or ordained in other places, and some were in- troduced that either had not subscribed at all, or who recanted their subscription, either on account of their objecting to par- ticular doctrines in it, as those which are contained in the 2d and 3d -sections of Chap. XXIII. which the Associate Synod have excluded, those that define the power of the Church and of Synods, or of some of the propositions respecting the Tri- nity; or else on the general ground, that requiring assent to any confesssion or tests drawn up in the words of fallible men was inexpedient or unwarrantable. Jealousies of course be- gan to rise and contentions to appear both in the meetings of the ministers and among the people. Dr Abernethy, and Mr T 2 Haliday «. "8 ) Haliday who was called to the charge of the old congregation of Belfast in 1719, openly opposed in the pulpit, in the Sy- nod, and from the press, the imposition of human tests, par- ticularly of assent to the whole doctrines of the Westminster Confession, as an invasion of the right of private judgment, and of the legislative authority of Christ. The latter of these ministers had been licensed at Amsterdam in 1706, upon his assent to the Westminster Confession, and admitted some years after a member of the General Synod of Ulster ; — but up- on his call to Belfast clamours arose against him, as tainted with the Arian heresy, of which he cleared himself so far as that the Synod allowed of his admission, but only according to what was called the Pacific Act, made in Synod 1720, oc- casioned by the increasing disputes, by which not only those who were entering into the ministry among them were re-' quired to subscribe the Westminster Confession as ' the confes- sion of 'their faith , but also others who had been licensed or ordained elsewhere;' but an accommodating clause was added, * giving liberty to those who should scruple any phrase or phrases in the Confession, to use their own expressions, which the Presbytery should accept of, providing they judged such person sound in the faith, and that such expressions were con- sistent with the substance of the doctrine.* But this did not satisfy the brethren of the new light. Mr H. before he would submit to admission, in a paper, declared ' his belief in the scriptures as the only rule — a sufficient test of orthodoxy, and to settle all terms of communion, to which nothing might be added by any Synod ;' adding, * and 1 find all the essential ar- ticles of the Christian doctrine to be contained in the West- minster Confession, which articles I receive upon the sole au- thority of scripture.' The Presbytery of Belfast having agreed to admit him upon this, a protest was taken by four mem- bers of that Presbytery against their resolution. This brought the disputes anew before the General Synod, where they were agitated for several years before the separation of the mini- sters into different courts took place. Offence now was taken at those who in Presbyteries or Synod had declared in favour of such a lax and vague manner of assent ; many people scrupled to join with their ministers; especially when they began to omit the mention of the Confession to parents in bap- tism, or to recommend it in a new and ambiguous manner, only to be used and examined as all other human writings. A report was circulated and believed by many, that there was a design of altering the Confession of Faith, ' that a new one was actually in the press, different from that of the West- minster Assembly, and designed by some to be substituted in T he room of it.' The whole body of Dissenters in the north of ( 1« ) of Ireland were put into confusion at hearing of it : ' But no ' man,' says Abernethy, * has ever yet been able, and I am * persuaded never will, to produce the least evidence of any ' such design as that of altering the Confession of Faith ; and * he must be a perfect stranger in the northern parts of the ' kingdom who does not know, that for a long time it was talked ' of with great confidence as a certain truth : the poor abused * people, like men in a panic, fancied they saw whatever they ' were afraid of, though the danger was all visionary, and a * mere creature of their imagination.' This report he indig- nantly refutes as a gross aspersion, and compares it to ' the ' madman scattering firebrands, arrows, and death, to deceive, — * though he does not deny that some ministers gave occasion ' for suspecting them to incline to opinions which were generally ' reputed new, and of a dangerous tendency ; and in particular, ' by expressing less regard than others had, or than themselves * once seemed to have for the Westminster Confession, or at * least for some uses which are commonly made of it among * the northern Presbyterians.' The Reader cannot but perceive a striking similarity in some parts of the above narrative, to the disputes and divi- sions that have arisen in the Associate Body in Scotland ; though the consequences were different. Not only have vague and arbitrary explications of the doctrines of the Confession been allowed by Synod, but what filled the good Presbyterians in Ireland with such alarm when falsely rumoured, hath been of late realized : the Westminster Confession hath been al- tered ; a new one composed, repeatedly put to press, pub- lished, and at last imposed under all ecclesiastic pains ; and instead of the congregations in the Secession being panic-struck at the sound or the deed, the greater part of them give them- selves very little concern about the matter. The overture adopted by the Synod bore trre title of a Confession of Faith : though they thought proper to drop the title, the work is the same. But if the conduct of the people has been different, that of the ministers on the side of the innovations in Scotland has been as much different. To compose new confessions or tests of any kind, to be imposed in room of the old, was very far from being the purpose aimed at by the promoters of the new scheme in Ireland ; they had the discernment to perceive, that if they had attempted any such thing, they would have destroyed their main plea, and been self-condemned. All they wanted was to emancipate themselves and others from the fet- ters of the old, that every one might have free scope to follow his own opinion and vent his own doctrine. ' Between the * fneetings of Synod in 1720 and that in 1721,' says the author last ( 159 ) last quoted, * the popular jealousies increased prodigiously ' some ministers rinding themselves uneasy by the discontents ' of many in their congregations, thought fit in their lesser * assemblies, to subscribe the Westminster Confession, as the * best assurance they could give of their orthodoxy. This had 1 the intended effect, in securing to them the esteem of their * congregations ; but it had also another effect, namely, to in- « crease the suspicions concerning such of the brethren as did 1 not subscribe anew, and on that particular occasion. People ' came to the Synod from far distant parts with loud demands * of an universal subscription, as the only effectual way to vin- ' dicate the ministry from the aspersions cast upon some. Af- c ter long debating, the Synod agreed to the proposal of sub- 1 cribing ; which however was opposed and protested against * by the other party : a declaration was also voted and pub- * lished concerning the eternal and independent deity of our * Lord Jesus Christ, opposed also by the other party ; though * they declared, and got it marked in the minutes, that the * reason of their doing so " was not their disbelief of the doc- ' trine, but because they in their judgments were against all * authoritative, human decisions, as tests of orthodoxy, and be- < cause they judged such a declaration unseasonable." After * the subscription was over, both parties in Synod made mu- * tual charitable declarations ; the non-subscribers declaring, * that their brethren had acted according to their light, and ' that they, notwithstanding their protest, resolved to main- * tain the same brotherly correspondence and communion with ' their Reverend Brethren as formerly ; the Synod, on the * other side declaring, that by allowing subscription, they did ' not intend the least reflection on those who had not freedom * to fall in with that method, and that different sentiments on * that head did not justify breach of communion among them;' — and in this they earnestly recommended mutual forbearance to ministers and people *. But a number of people in Mr H.'s congregation had already petitioned the Synod for leave to withdraw from his ministry, and to erect a separate congrega- tion, pleading a scruple of conscience for doing so : and when they persisted in their petition before the Presbytery of Bel- fast, the Presbytery * shewed so great a regard to the plea of 1 conscience, (even though they esteemed the consciences of ' these men to be erroneous^, that they erected them into a ' new congregation : to which/ says Mr H. * I heartily a- * greed f. 1 But by a number of publications on both sides, and by new debates and resolutions passed in Synod on the * Abernethy's Tracts, p. 157, 180, &c. I Reasons against the Imposition of Subscription, by S. Holiday. Belf. 1724- subject ( 151 ) subject of subscription, the difference increased: and similar petitions from the people under the ministry of non-subscribers having been presented, for being erected into separate congre- gations, as from Antrim and Ahoghill, and other places, which were granted by the Synod, the ministers at last were con- strained to meet in separate Presbyteries, and the non-sub- scribing ministers were long excluded from their seats in the General Synod, while they adhered to their acts about sub- scriptions : But without process or censures on either side, so far as appears. The new-light party, as the non-subscribers were usually called, though they chiefly objected at first to the admission of so many non-essential articles that were contained in the Confession, soon openly espoused Arminianism, Arian, or So- cinian doctrines, or allowed them without check. And no wonder when their leaders avowedly taught, ' That sincerity, or following our own persuasion will render us acceptable to God, even though that persuasion should be in itself wrong : that it is the subjection of the soul to the light of conscience, that is, the laws of God, as we understand them, and re- gulating our actions by it, that pleases God : — that matters of conscience are not under human jurisdiction : that every man must judge for himself what is properly a matter of conscience, and is not accountable to, nor can be restrained in so judging by any power on earth : But the decisions of church power bind the conscience as far as men are convinced, and no far- ther : that private persuasion limits and circumscribes the ex- tent of human authority, and is not limited and circumscribed by it : that private judgment is as really injured if a man be forced to act against his light in a circumstance as in an article of faith ; ecclesiastical authority has no power over conscience, indeed none at all but what conscience gives it, arid therefore must yield to their superior, whenever their voices differ. ■ As for the church's power in points of external order, — ' by 1 the rule in 1 Cor. xiv. 40. no authority is cgmmitted by ' some over others ; — no insinuation as if church governor j 4 were entrusted to execute the apostle's precept; — there is ' not there nor any where in scripture, either precept or ex- * ample for excommunications or any other ecclesiastical cen- ' sures to be inflicted for what the church may think indecent, ' or what is really in itself so ; ecclesiastical power in mat- ' ters of decency and order must be persuasive only ; since, * according to the laws of Jesus Christ, its appointments have 6 no sanctions added to them *.' As for the Synod of the old-light, a great number amono- * Abernetby's Religious Obedience founded eg Personal P?«uasioflu passim. ( 152 ) them were still favourably disposed to an accommodation with t!he other party, and to great latitude in communion ; so that they too soon lost their character for faithfulness, for pure doc- trine or discipline. Even when they were retaining the form of subscription, many of them seem to have made little ac- count of it : being tinctured with some of the new opinions, they gradually made a nearer approach to their non-subscrib- ing brethren, till almost all distinction between them vanished away. In the General Synod at Dungannon in 173 9, twelve ministers defended and protested in favour of one who had re- fused subscription, and had attacked several doctrines of Chris- tianity contained in the Confession. The ministers of the Presbytery of Dromore, a few years after this, in a publica- tion, thus complained of the differences that were then prevail- ing among them. * Some,' they say, ' have been and are a- 4 gainst common confessions in all churches, sound and un- ' sound ; — others think that all the articles in our Confession * may be lawfully assented to :— a third sort judge some of ' them are not true ; and if they were true, yet some of them ' are of such small importance that they ought not to be made * terms of ministerial communion. Some of the younger fry * have given strong hints that they have points of religion yet ' to publish, but cannot safely do it 'till people are prepared to 4 receive them. Thus they seek gradually to undermine the c society, till at last they have it in their power, by their ' numbers, to destroy the terms of religious communion, and * the society with them ; and some are so free as to say, this * will soon happen if some few men were dead *•' Petitions soon after this were sent to the Associate Judicatories in Scot- land for supply of sermon, at which time the General Synod of Ireland continued to boast that all their ministers were sub- scribers, and therefore they disowned the charge of new-light; yet in a sermon preached before them at Antrim in J 745, and published by their allowance, their Moderator taught, ' that 4 different forms of church-government appear at first sight to 4 be but lesser matters of the law, compared with faith, &c. ; ' that different creeds and confessions, human schemes of di- 1 vine truth, are lesser matters— -.as " the tythe of mint, annise, * and cummin .;" that what the apostle said of circumcision, * which was an ordinance of God, he might without offence * say of subscription, which is only an appointment of men ; 4 subscription is nothing, and non-subscription is nothing, but 4 a virtuous life ;' with other doctrinal errors f. A promis- * Ar.sw. to the Appeal by the Presbytery of Armagh, p. 4, »6. \ Carlisle's Nat. of Relig. Zeal, p. 18.3 1. Survey of some Principles and Practices, &c. wherein it is made evident, that the General Synod of Ulster have judicially approven of several principles known by the name of Ne-w Liglt. — ■ Armagh, pr. 1751. cuous ( 153 ) cuous communion between these two bodies, in Synods and otherwise, has now for a long time been commonly maintain- ed : and the later accounts of these societies shew into what a deplorable state the interests of truth, religion, and discip- line have at last fallen among them. When the controversy about subscription to the English articles and other tests required by law was warmly carried on in Kngland, in consequence of publishing the Confessional, and when about 200 clergymen on the establishment there, ge erally known to be favourers of the Arminian or Socinian errors, applied to parliament some time ago for relief from subscriptions, all who were against the old form of it, declar- ed equally against the imposition of any human fallible test, as inconsistent with that free and unlimited exercise of private judgment, which they pled for as a common and unalienable right. Some of them avowedly published, that it would be unwarrantable even to declare their belief of the scriptures, if this were imposed by the legislature, on the same principle that the Synod's Committee employ in their false reasoning Upon the subject, as it would imply an acknowledgement of the right of the civil magistrate to judge for and dictate to Others in matters of religion. Never before was it seen that Protestants or any rational men attempted to support such vague sentiments and liberty by such means as the Synod have adopted. The Presbyterial and Synodical censures on the grounds stat- ed, will be found to amount, not merely to an attempt to sup- press a public regular testifying against sinful acts with which the judicatories, or others acting under their authority, may- be chargeable, in which respect they agree in tenor and im- port with those inflicted upon the first Secedersfor pulpit free- dom and their judicial protestations, but also to compel, so far as church power can compel, ministers to be active in execut- ing, or to concur with others in executing deeds, against which they had protested as sinful : in which respect, they are more directly destructive of Protestant liberty, and a higher degree of despotism over conscience. Nothing less is included both in the 1st and 4th reason of censure, when thoroughly traced ; when it is considered for what common purposes and busi- ness their attendance on courts, and joining in other administra- tions with brethren, is required and enforced by the first, and upon what terms it was required by the declaratory act as above explained ; and when the import of the fourth ground, namely, the last protestation, is duly considered and added. The object of it is not only refused, but to have sought it, and to persist in demanding it, u here censured. What was that demand ? Briefly this : that as no repeal of the new deeds U could ( 154 ) colli d be granted, these should not he imposed as laws upon those who viewed them as injurious to truth, as casting re- proach upon the Reformation, as implying perjury, &c — that obedience to them should not be exacted of them, for it could not be given without contradicting the light of their consci- ences, and sinning against God ; — and that censures should not be misapplied to force them to such obedience, or on account of disobedience in these things What now is the voice of the courts by these censures ? ' They shall be equally laws to you 4 as to others : not only must you refrain from contravening 4 them, but active obedience is exacted and expected from \ ou ' as occasion may require, in spite of your protests, though ' you should be self-condemned in giving it. In our great con- * descention and lenity, we will not for a time cause you to stand 4 on the pillory, and retract before the people your protesta- 4 tions, by solemnly approving of the deeds against which you * have presumed to protest, but even this indulgence you are 4 not always to expect, and in other respects you must prove * fully conformable and active. Your demanding exemption ' from this obedience, or from censure for refusing it, under ' the pretext of conscience, or of a higher authority by which ' you were previously bound to the contrary, is of itself with ' us a sufficient ground for immediate and high censure.'— If this be the genuine import of the deed, when was liberty of conscience ever more outraged than by these pretended advo- cates for its uncontroulable rights ? What church authority, at least among Protestants, was ever more directly employed to drag or drive men to commit known sin ? Instead of imi- tating the gentleness of Christ, in Paul the apostle, and his cautious so'icitude lest any stumbling-block, or occasion of sin- nine, should be cast in the way of any brother, such pro- ceedings have a nearer resemblance to the spirit and conduct of Saul the persecutor, while he was breathing out threatenings and cruelties against the church of Christ ; and in his zeal for high priestly authority, readily executed all their commissions: w r hen, as he himself penitently rehearsed it, " he puni-hed " them eft in every synagogue, and compelled them to bias*, " pheme, and being exceedingly mad against them, persecuted " them even to strange cities." Acts xxvi. 10, li. This is to approach, though by a power of a different kind, too near to the imperious style and severe sanctions of the edict promul- gated by the monarch of Babylon, when he exacted prompt obedience from all, u at what: time they heard the sound of the " cornet," &c. by falling down and worshipping the image he had set up ; without admitting any excuse from regard to any god or man ; when, to heighten the solemnity of the conse- cration, a few schismatical nonconformists must be made a burnt- ( 155 ) burnt-sacrifice. At which time, unlimited obedi.nce was the p lemptory decree on earth, but disobedience the more terrific statute-law of heaven. Dan. iii. 4— ly. A mode of enforcing religious conformity too often imitated, if not exceeded, by Autichristian de-pots in both kinds, — often by secular, and as often by ecclesiastic pains. In tliis view, these censures differ from and exceed those inflicted upon the first Seceders, while the ministers were not obli-td to express a direct approbation of, nor in person to be active in executing these acts they were testifying against: but they coincide with the measures that the General Assem- bly only adopted when its tyranny advanced to its last and highest stage, when it was established in a more systematic form after the year 1751, and long exercised under the admi- nistration of which Principal Robertson was the avow T ed leader. In the view of that domineering party, the Assembly had been before too remiss in the exertion of hsr authority, particularly in not enforcing more uniformly the acts of the church in the execution of vhe laws of patronage ; to allow any presbyteries or ministers to disobey the orders of the supreme court in set- tling presentees, from scruple of conscience, or from any other consideration,, was a hurtful indulgence, tending wholly to relax the discipline of the church: that the use of expedients, such as special committees, for relieving those who refused to expede these settlements, that had formerly been employed, that tended rather to countenance the opposition of ministers or people, should be discontinued : but that all who declined giving active.ob.dience to the orders of the Assembly in these cases should be subjected to censure *. From these principles, that seemed to arise from regard to order and due subordina- tion in a Presbyterian church, proceeded some of the most de- spotic acts,, in reference to some particular ministers and con- gregations, that disgrace the history of that church during the latter part of last century, some of which are noticed in the Synod's Narrative, particularly the deposition of Mr Gillespie in Dunfermline, because he refused, from a principle of con- science, to assist in the admission of an intruder to the parish of Inverkeithing, when four other ministers, for their absence on that occasion, were excluded for a time fr9m judicatories. But as the Assembly that had ordered the deposition of Mr Erskine and associates, as if conscious that authority had been . strained rather too high, soon relaxed rhat rigour, so, in some measure, did that last domineering administration, after a few more violent instances, find it expedient soon to abate censider- * See a paper by Dr Hill on the Constitution and Proceedings of the General Assembly, subjoined to Dr Stewart's Life of Dr Robertson, p. 159 — 176. U 2 ably ( 156 ) ably their original severity, though without renouncing their principles, or departing from the general tenor of their system. The experiment tried in the case of Mr G. we do not find to have been repeated. In a more recent instance of disobedience, in the case of the Moderator and the Fresbjtery of Stirling, as to the settlement of St Ninians, censnres were dispensed with a more sparing hand. Even under this administration, we meet with but one singular instance of censure that can be a parallel to those under consideration ; and the occasions could but rarely occur that exposed ministers to such discipline un- der it ; perhaps one instance in the bounds of a Presbytery in a number of years, — and in the case of individuals, perhaps not one during Ins whole life : whereas, in the present case, the acts, or rather series of acts to be performed, are such as are perpetually recurring, and unavoidable in the ordinary course of ministry ; not only when a young man may be li- censed or ordained ; — but as often as a member is to be re- ceived into a congregation, or the sacrament of baptism or the supper to be dispensed. Applicable here are the words of the author of the Serious Apology for the Ecclesiastical Charac- teristics j * As to the censures inflicted on ministers who re- ' fused to be present at the ordination of ministers to nobody, * I shall say but little, because that severity seems to have ' ceased. Several ministers have absented themselves since the * deposition of Mr G. and yet have escaped with impunity. * The measure, which was once like to become universal, re- * mains in the history of our church an example of what, alas ! 1 appears but too plainly in the history of every church, that 1 in proportion as authority is relaxed in enforcing the laws of 4 God, it is commonly stretched and Carried to excess in sup- * port of the unnecessary, doubtful, or pernicious command- * ments of men. Though we should look, on the preservation 1 of church authority as a matter of great moment, it was not 4 obedience to the standing laws on which the welfare of the * whole depends, that was so strictly required, but compliance ' with or approbation of the decisions of the annual Assemblies ' in their judicative capacity. It hath often surprised me to 4 hear the plea of conscience in such cases treated as a mere * pretence. What sentiments must those persons have who ■ look upon it as a thing incredible, that a man should scruple 4 being present at an ordination, where some of the answers to 4 the questions put to the candidate, though joined with in a part 4 of divine worship, are either directly false, or wholly absurd ?' And may we not add, — where some of the answers are either wholly ambiguous, or directly opposite to the answers and promises formerly given according to th« standing laws, by those ( «n ) those required to be present ? The same author say?, A If in * any case censures are misapplied, and a person is condemned * for what is laudable, such condemnation can reflect no dis- f honour but upon those who pronounce tl)trm*. , 9. The Presbytery, among other grounds of censure, have made ' declining to appear in person before the Presbytery and ' Synod, in obedience to the citations that had been given,' to be one. These they distinctly enumerate, that they may make lip the number required in the form of process, before the charge of contumacy can be found against a party ; with an evident design to fix such a charge in the present case. But in this too they fail. Of each of these citations, the Reader has already heard ; from which it may appear, that not one of them was altogether unexceptionable in point of form. But though they had been strictly legal, they could not amount to a proof of contumacy ; for in order to this it must always be necessarily understood, that the three successive summonses proceed from the same court, or at least respect the same cause or process. They join the Synodical summons with their own citations, though the authority was distinct, and the causes difFerent. The last indeed was the first and the only one Mr B. had ever received upon the general complex cause, upon which they had judged. And as to none of these was any direct con- tempt of court shown ; while in another manner of appearance than in person, and in the circumstances of the case, one more eligible, reasons were assigned for absence, endeavours used to obviate the charges, and a door opened for intercourse for removing subsisting differences, the only way now practicable, if the Presbytery had been disposed to embrace it. But the charge itself as a separate one, was frivolous, while the higher point, the regular constitution and lawful jurisdiction of the court, was in question, — and denied in the manner, and upon such grounds, as have been already stated. 10. Another ground of the sentence here assigned is ' that 1 in the paper read before the Presbytery, Mr B. had charged ' the Synod with having adopted erroneous and sectarian prin- ■ ciples, and with having acted perfidiously. ' This for the first time is made the matter of accusation against him ; though certainly it is not the first time that such a charge had been brought against the Synod. Something of the same import, though not in the very same terms as were used in that letter, was contained in more than one remonstrance or protestation presented to the Synod itself: it was even implied in the prin- cipal matters of difference between the Synod and the Protest- ers all along. In the larger remonstrance of 1805, part of • Apol. p. 44, 36. 8vo. tdit. tehiqfc ( MS ) which only has been published, errors of different kinds were charged upon the Narrative and Testimony, some in a more general, some in a more particular manner, with an offer of laying before the Synod the several articles, with their respec- tive proofs more fully, if the Synod chused to admit them .But they chused to lie under these charges and challenges, gi- ven in the most formal manner before their face, together with others of unfaithful and deceitful management, of violating their own vows, of imposing on their brethren, and carrying the people along with them to revolt from their profession and engagements, rather than to allow a fair discussion of the points, or the production of farther proofs or arguments. The charge was renewed, and amplified in the last paper, by all the bre- thren, as a previous and principal ground of offering what is called the Declinature. But the Synod never criminated them on this account, nor had entered this into the charges which they had in this case remitted to the Presbytery ; though they, no doubt, were more immediately interested in the vindication of their own honour, and the truth or error of their own public deeds, than the Presbytery were. But here the latter, pre- posterously step forth as champions for the Synod's orthodoxy and integrity : and how do they decide the interesting contest ? Not in the way that a question of truth and error ought to be determined, by examination and argument; not by an appeal to the supreme rule of faith, the scriptures ; nor to the com- mon doctrine of the Protestant churches, and the declarations in their own subordinate standards, whose voice, if they have any use, should be sufficient to silence controversies among those who have mutually admitted them to be undoubtedly true.: had the express language of these been appealed to, the matter might soon have been decided. But the Synod must be proved orthodox, and the charge of error and perfidy refuted, instantly by a vote — a vote to shut the mouth of the man, and condemn him to exclusion from judicatories and the church, that presumes to say they have erred. But by what canon in scripture, or in a reformed church, has the offering of suGh a charge, supported by proof, against any Synod or Church been declared censurable ? Some more honourable and satisfactory mode of exculpation of the Synod, of which themselves were a part, might be expected among Protestants, and some more sure test of truth and error required ? This indeed is as incompe- tent a method for determining such questions, as the trials by fire ordeal, boiiing water, combats of champions, and the like, consecrated in diys of old for deciding innocence or guilt, or who was right and who wrong in contests. These too were used with all religious solemnity, according to the forms and sancti- ( 159 ) sanctimonious rules prescribed by the infallible church of those times, and were called ' the judgment of God.' However, this way of answering charges of error or un- faithfulness, is far from being new or unusual. Few have been disposed to listen, without impatience, to any who have told them of their faults, — especially bodies of men, when they have power in their hands to rid themselves of those who speak the offensive truth. This of itself hath been accounted a sufficient crime ; for which those who attempted it have been threatened, smitten, silenced, confined, banished, or con- demned to die. When the priests in the temple could not ef- fectually reply to the plain reasonings of the man whose eyes Jesus had opened : — " They said, thou wast altogether born ** in sin, and dost thou teach us ? and they cast him out?" The Act and Testimony of the Seceders furnished matter of libel against them, as ' casting many groundless and calumni- * ous reflections upon the church and the judicatories thereof:' It was said in reply, ' It is to be regretted that the iudicatures * are so far from being sensible of their backslidings, that they * justify themselves in the same ; and that when they are told ' their sins, they condemn such as deal plainly with them. — ' This is the way that a backsliding church and corrupt church- ' men have always pursued : they have pronounced tbem- ' selves innocent, and libelled and prosecuted such as have dealt | faithfully and plainly with them.' Jer. ii. 35. l< Yet thou " sayest, because I am innocent— behold I will plead with thee," ckc. chap, xviii. 18. " Then said they, Come and let us de- f* vise devices against Jeremiah, for the law shall not perish " from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word " from the prophet : ccme and let us smite him with the " tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words." These ministers also said, * When the word of the Lord is a- f gainst a church and the proceedings of the judicatories there- ' of, any one minister may* (without assuming a paramount power of which they were accused) ' testify doctrinally against f the same, — and if so, then a few ministers associated toge- * ther, have a warrant and authority from the word of God, " to emit a judicial testimony against such proceedings. ' There is another passage in the end of chap. xi. of the same prophecy, too evidently applicable. Throughout the preceding part of that chapter, the Lord shewed his prophet the comprehensive ground of his quarrel with the degenerate church and nation of Judah, which he was ordered to proclaim publicly in their hearing-, namely, their perfidious violation of covenant-en- gagements under which they had been brought from the days of their fathers : an indictment- that equally lies against the kingdoms and churches of Britain, more especially those who had ( ico ) had explicitly assented to all the articles of solemn covenant* for reformation in them. " Go and speak, to the men of Ju- " dah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, — saying, Cursed be the tc man that obeyeth not the words df this covenant, which I " made with your fathers — that I may perform the oath that " I have sworn. Then answered I, and said, So be it, O Lord. " Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the " streets of Jerusalem, saying, hear ye the words of this cove- " nant, and do them. For I earnestly protested unto your fa- " thers — even unto this day rising early and protesting, say- " ing, Obey — but they obeyed not. The Lord said unto " me, a conspiracy is found among the men of Judah, and the " inhabitants of Jerusalem ; they are turned back, to the ini- ** quities of their forefathers — they have broken my covenant. « —What hath my beloved to do in mine house ?— -The holy H flesh is passed from thee : — The Lord called thy name a * green olive-tree, fair and of goodly fruit : with the noise of 4i a great tumult he hath kindled fire upon it, and the branches <* of it are broken," &c. But for making such a discovery, and protesting against their perfidy, what was the treatment Jeremiah met with, especially from the priests, his early as- sociates ? ver. 18 — 23. "The Lord hath given me know- " ledge of it, and I know it, then thou shewedst me their do- " ings. But I was like a lamb or an ox that is brought to " the slaughter, and I knew not that they had devised devices M against me, saying, Let us destroy the tree with the fruit " thereof, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, *• that his name may no more be remembered. Therefore, (i thus saith the Lord of the men of Anathoth," (it was the native place of the prophet, a city of the priests, with whom lie had been bred and familiar from his youth) " that seek thy " life, saying, Prophecy not in the name of the Lord ; there- " fore I will bring evil upon the men of Anathoth, even the " year of their visitation *•'* But • This chapter occurring in the ordinary course, was that which was read by Mr B. in family worship, on the evening when the Presbytery were sitting in consultation upon this cause ; the contents therefore, in such circumstances, could hardly fail to engage more particularly his attention. From the latter part of i{ he considered himself as admonished to be prepared for such an event as that which actually happened. He closed the book under some impression that de- vices, in some respect similar, might probably, though unknown to him, be de- vised against him ; and with the reflection, that there was no reason to be sur- prised if this should be the case, when even a prophet, speaking by immediate commission from heaven, met with still worse treatment. This happened about the very time, by accounts, when the Presbytery were fabricating the sentence under review, and the committee had retired to draw up the form and words of it. He is as far as any from regarding unaccountable or unreasonable impressions, that may suddenly arise in the mind from passages of scripture, much more from expecting an extraordinary revelation of events to be made that way. Yet there is ( K>1 ) But here some may be ready to exclaim, Will you compare yourselves with the Erskines, with Reformers, yea, with the Prophets? But what do such persons mean by comparison? Does the marking of any similarity in the situation, duties, conduct, or sufferings of those who have formerly lived and been emi- nent in the church, to what may be found in others living af- ter them, imply an arrogant pretension to an equality, or a similarity in other respects? To affect to compare with any of those referred to, in the singular excellencies and endowments whereby they were fitted for the peculiar services and duties of their place and time, might well be accounted arrogange ; much more were any to pretend to the high authority, the ex- traordinary commission and character of apostles or prophets. But certainly there is not a minister or Christian but may not only perceive, in his state and lot in the world, some affi- nity to the most eminent saints and prophets, but is bound to take them for ensamples, and to apply whatever is in their history, as well as in the doctrines they may have delivered, adapted for his instruction or encouragement. It is surely no presumption to " take the prophets who have spoken in the *' name of the Lord for an example of suffering affliction and * of patience* :" or to aspire to the honour of resembling prophets as recommended by the Lord ; " Blessed are ye when " men shall revile you, &x. ; for so persecuted they the pro- " phets which were before youf" Nay, the humblest fol- lower of Jesus is warranted to aspire far higher than to some likeness to these venerable names ; even to nothing less than conformity to the Lord of apostles and prophets ; and where- ever any can trace any similitude, however faint, in their con- dition, life, or character, to his when he was in the world, he enjoins them to take that benefit and deduce that comfort from it which it is calculated to afford. " As he was, so are- they ?' in this world." " Marvel not although the world hate you ; if sometimes such a striking coincidence between what is found in scripture, and the particular circumstances or events, per60«al or ,public, that may be taking place, as cannot reasonably be overlooked. When there ie an evident suitableness in the thoughts and exercises excited by the word, to the present occurrences of Providence, or a fitness for preparing to meet events approaching, though to us unknown or uncertain, though all well known to the Spirit of God, the Bible is such cases is made subservient to one of the great uses for which it was in- tended, the instructiou and encouragement of men in succeeding ages, who may find themselves in any circumstances similar to those therein described, and to whom the things contained in it may be any way applicable. " Whatever was 41 written aforetime was written for our learning, that we through patience and " comfort of the scripture may have hope." And it is usually in times of trial, when things more singular befal Christians or the church, that they read with greater attention and application, and see more in the divine treasury, than they *lo at other times. * James v. 10. f Matth. v. II, ia. X "it ( 162 ) " it hated me before it hated you." " The servant is not u greater than his Lord ; if they have called the master of the u house Beelzebub, how much more those of his household."— " Consider him that endured the contradiction of sinners against Ci himself, lest ye be weary and faint in your minds t;" with other places innumerable. Here the infinite disproportion and superior dignity of the person give a greater force to the motive to duty, to patience, and consolation. " The thing that hath been, 1 ' says Solomon, " it is that " which shall be ; and that which is done, is that which shall " be done : and there is no new thing under the sun." Eccles. i. 9. As the same or similar errors are often revived, and as there is often a very striking resemblance in the course and measures of backsliding churches in different periods ; no won- der though there should also be found a resemblance not only in the general spirit of opposition, but also in the particular means and measures, which those who have opposed them have been obliged to adopt. If any attempt to discharge such a duty, and at a humble distance to follow the great cloud of witnesses that have gone before, striving against sin, should be accounted arrogance, let us say, we will yet be more arro- gant. And if any should mei.tlon the names of men, whether dead or living, (as we have heard the idle declamations that have been vented of late on this topic), in order to deter any from this, it may be asked, who are the Bostons and the Er- skines ? who were Luther and Calvin ? Nay, who was Paul, Apcllos, or Cephas, Jeremiah, or Elias ? but men of like pas- sions with others, who only by the grace of God were what they were ; who were made faithful so far and so long as that grace enabled them, and no farther, that they may exhibit to all who come after them, at once examples of fidelity and of infirmity, and so a lesson of humility and fear : inculcating loudly the admonition, " Let no man glory in man ; but let u him that glorieth, glory in the Lord." An apostle found himself obliged to withstand fellow-apostles to the face, who seemed to be " pillars,'* when they were deserving of blame. Gal. ii. If aoostles or an angel from heaven should take the side against the truth, the same apostle consents that they should be anathema. The cause of truth and the faith of Chris- tians depend not on the wisdom or eminence of men, dead 01 living: whoever be for or against it, it will be the same, and will stand. Some affect to raise very high the credit of the dead, not because they have a greater veneration for them or their works than others, but that they may revile and perse- cute the living, like those who " built the tombs of the pro- t Utb. iii. a, 3, 4, £:c " phets ( 163 ) u phets, and garnished the sepulchres of the righteous," that they might have a fairer pretext to retain the populace on their side, in promoting very opposite doctrines, and manifest- ing t spirit hostile to their cause. At one time the cry in be- half of error and corrupt measures is, We have numbers ; at another, We have the learned, or the gracious ; and at ano- ther, We have the authority of the church, upon their side. What is this but repeating the old sayings, " The law shall *' not perish from the priest, nor wisdom from the prudent ?" " So saying, thou reprovest us ; — are we blind also ?" But they forget, that " Great men are not always wise :" that there are times in which " night cometh upon the prophets, and the " seers are covered : H that divine truths and mysteries are H hid from the wise and prudent, and revealed to whom the " Father pleaseth, even unto babes." Those who are truly wise know best, how little is included in the high-sounding words, a great man, a learned man, and how much ignorance, imperfection, and corruption, may lurk under the name of a good man : they well know how little consideration is due to the opinion or agreement of a heedless and fickle multitude. He that has not got above regard to these in forming his judg- ment, and chusing his side in religious differences, he has not yet learnt the first lesson necessary to a right following of Christ and adherence to his cause. Wherefore, as neither abilities, nor grace, nor numbers, nor authority, nor all of them combined, necessarily secure mortal men against the danger of error, nor can stamp any of their decisions with the character of infallibility, they may all, upon just grounds, without failing in due deference, be oppos- ed and arraigned by any. The foolish questions have often been asked of late among Seceders, and printed too : — Can so fnany learned men mistake ? Can 140 ministers be all wrong, and only four right ? Poor people ! their security against being wrong is but small indeed, if it hangs upon so slender a thread. Let them go and consult their Bible, and read the history and contendings of the church, and they may be ashamed that they had asked the question. What has been, yea often, may be again. What would they have said had they seen a holy coun- cil as at Constance, consisting of patriarchs, 23 cardinals, 27 archbishops, above 200 bishops, as many abbots, 444 doctors of divinity, attended by ambassadors from kings and princes, 428 earls, 600 baronets, &c. and all that was accounted great and venerable at that time, sitting for months and years un- der a pretence of effecting a reformation in the whole church, head and members, debating, preaching, decreeing ; and yet but two men found among them confessing the true faith, and for no other offence solemnly anathematized as obstinate here- X 2 tics, ( M* ) and as such delivered up to the secular arm to be burnt. Or what would they have thought, had they beheld some hun- dreds of bishops and priests in the second council of Nice, the greater part of whom had a few years before renounced, some of them with an oath, the worship of images, again determin- ing, with the scriptures and the commandments of God before them, that the holy images of the Virgin and the Saints should be adored, and with loud voices denouncing deposition and anathemas upon such as should refuse obedience to the holy canons ; soon followed by a grievous persecution of all who had stedfastness to resist, both by civil and ecclesiastical au- thority ? Such questions certainly come with a very bad grace from any belonging to such a small handful as Seceders are, and hi- therto have been, compared with the numerous bodies among whom they reside, and against whom they testify. Notwith- standing of the great increase mentioned in some of their late papers, with rather too great an air of boasting, even in the act of a solemn acknowledgement of public sins, ^fter so long a time, they can hardly be said yet to be in the proportion of one to a hundred. But this, had they continued, as Judah is said to have been after the defection of the ten tribes, u faith- " ful with God, and ruling among the saints," would never have detracted any thing from the goodness of their cause, nor reflected on them any real dishonour. It is peculiarly unbe- coming in them to value themselves upon numbers in the pre- sent controversy, when the almost unanimous consent of the learned and the voice of the reformed churches arc clearly a- gainst thpm. 11. The last ground stated is, * that he did not deny that he ' was a member of a Presbytery lately erected, separate from 1 and in opposition to the Synod.' As to the impropriety of admitting this charge at the time and in the manner m which it was done, and the incompetent evidence upon which it was sustained, it is not needful here to say more ; unless it be to observe, that the very existence of such a Presbytery was a tiling yet unknown to them in a judicial capacity, having ne- ver been ascertained by any public document, or any sort of legal proof, at the time when they passed this sentence upon the bare presumption of the fact : much less could they cer- tainly determine what was the peculiar nature and design of its constitution, as they here take upon them to do, when they say, that it was constituted not only separate from, but *iii opposition to the Synod. Not a iota about its constitution had ever been laid before them : no minute declaring any of the grounds or object of it had as yet either been seen or heard by any person, the five ministers excepted, who were present at ( M5 ) at the time of constituting. They suppose if a Presbytery had been lately erected, it must be such a one as thty here describe, and no other : and it is but adding one supposition to another, and a criminal charge is made good, not merely against that member, but against a whole Presbytery, of which, as such, they have no knowledge. But grant they had then been possessed of all the informa- tion on that head, that lias since been laid before the public, how or in what sense could they have made good the assertion, that their constitution was not only separate from, but also opposite to the Synod ? It is needful that they explain, what they mean by the Synod. When a corporate society is under- stood, whether civil or ecclesiastical, there must be certain criteria, or marks by which it may be know T n, and by which it may be distinguished from others. By these too we are to judge whether a body continue the same or be different. By the constitution of a Church, of a Synod, or a Presbytery, something more must be meant than the occasional meeting of so many persons together in any particular place. They re- ceive not their denomination from the individual persons of which, at first, or at any time, they may consist, otherwise they could not remain the same body perhaps for one year or one day : but, by the constitution of such fictitious or artifi- cial bodies, they may be permanent through a succession of generations or ages. Upon these ideas, it is ne paradox to say, that a lesser number may possess the constitution and cha- racteristics of a corporate body or a court, though the greater part of the individual persons of which it once consisted may no longer be united or concurring with them. When any, be they few or more, depart from the original constitution, and adopt a new one, they become in relation to that bedy as if they had naturally deceased. If the Presbytery mean by the Synod, so many men, that lately met at Edinburgh or Glas- gow, or if they also view these men as associated and consti- tuted into an ecclesiastical court upon a set of new principles, and new terms, it maybe true that the Presbytery they suppos- ed to have been lately constituted, was separate from, and oppo- site to a Synod so defined. But they cannot establish the con- sequent, without admitting the antecedent ; that their Synod, according to the proper definition and characters of a Synod, is no longer the same. For opposition in one article, in the declared principles, grounds, or ends of their constitution, to the original Associate Synod, or the Synod truly defined, the Presbytery they refer to, have never avowed, and of this they defy their accusers to produce a proof. They may know, that in the contest the Synod once had * with their separating Burgher brethren, they vindicated then- constitution and their claim to the title of the true Associate Svnod, ( "5 ) Synod, even independent of the question about a majority in certain votes, upon the surer ground, of their retaining the principles and testimony for which that Synod was originally constituted, notwithstanding of their having been obliged to withdraw and meet in a separate place. They held it to be a great absurdity to suppose that the testimony could be on one side, and the true and right constitution and the lawful exer- cise of the authority of Synod on another. These considerations will equally serve to expose the falla- cious pretences upon which the Letter-writer endeavours to vindicate the Synod for proceeding instantly to a sentence of deposition against Mr M'C. so soon as they heard of his con- nection with this Presbytery ; or i some Presbytery,' as he expresses it, ' in a state of opposition to the Synod ;' as if he had hereby ' adopted a systematic plan of opposition to those ■ courts to which he had promised subjection in the Lord :' — » and he asks, * what kind of relation could now subsist between * him and the Second Congregation of Edinburgh, after he had *• deserted all those courts to which he had promised subjection :' adding, ' that the Synod or Presbyteries do not ordain men in ' their church to exercise their ministry in another *.' It is easy to impose on readers by the deceitful use of terms, as is the case here, while it is falsely supposed that the change was on his part, — that he went over to another church, — had denied any of his former vows of subjection, or broke any of the bands by which he was united to his congregation ; — and that the Synod, the courts, the church, spoken of, had been con- tinuing the same, and the engagements and terms of subor- dination in them the same. The very reverse of this is de- monstrably true. He and his brethren deserted no courts or ecclesiastical society, into which they had entered ; denied no subordination they had ever promised, constituted no new church, or presbytery, on a different or opposite plan. Their o-reat object was, that these might remain the same. It is not necessary here to enter into any discussion of ab- stract questions about the lawfulness of a smaller number in certain cases withdrawing from the majority of a court, and con- stituting one separate and independent ; or in stating the particu- lar cases in which it may be warrantable and needful, in order tcr preserve the true and original constitution of the court. These are points that may be already known, and admitted among Seceders. Those who wish to see these questions treated more at large will find it done in a chapter of Mr Wilson's Defence. Nor shall any farther reasons be here adductd in vindication of the measure taken by the brethren for maintaining an As- jociate Presbytery on its original grounds to which the former * Christian Magazine (New Series), p. 31, 52, 35. characters C Ml ) characters might still belong. This may appear from the par- ticular reasons given at the time of constitution, and the justi- fication of it ultimately rests upon, and may be inferred from, the merits of their cause at large. We may only advert to a precedent, posterior to that of the first constitution of the Associate Presbytery, which received the unanimous appro- bation and sanction of the General Synod. When the major part of the Presbytery of Pennsylvania in connection with the Synod, agreed to certain terms of union with some ministers of other denominations, deemed inconsistent with their former profession and subordination, two ministers with three elders protested against the union, and against the refusal to admit of ail appeal, claiming the constitution and powers of the Pres- bytery of Pennsylvania, as now vested with them, and with- drew. When the proceedings were laid before the Synod in 17S5, they, by their act of that date, ' disclaimed all acknow- ' led element of the said new constitution, and the bodv so COO- • stituted on the new terms, — and held all the ministers be- ' longing to it to be in a state of apostacy from the Reformation- ' testimony and their witnessing profession, under a manifest f breach of their ordination-vows ; and declared that the two t ministers, Mess. Marshall and Ciarkson, with the elders who f had protested, had done well in having taken that step, as ' all the other ministers had, by their, votes of union, cast f. themselves out of that Presbytery, and had no farther exist- f tence in it, according to the original constitution, and cove- * minted principles thereof. And the Synod did assert, recog- 4 nise, and justify the constitution of the Associate Presbytery * of Pennsylvania, as claimed by the said protesting ministers t and elders ; acknowledging them, with Mr T. Beveridge, t then sent over, as making up the only lawful and rightly con- ' stituted Presbytery of Pennsylvania, in connection with the f Synod, and a part of the same witnessing body with them.' Were the doctrinal propositions upon which this union was formed, and by assenting to which so many ministers and their adherents cast themselves out of the Associate Body, to be examined, none of them would be found more contrary to the former profession of the Synod than some things now adopted by the approvers of the new deeds. This union was soon fol- lowed by the constitution of what is called the Associate Re- formed Synod of America ; some of the articles of which w r ere, a vague, ambiguous assent to the doctrines of the Confession, which was declared ' not to extend to the sections which define ' the power of the civil government in relation to religion ;' — a thankful remembrance of the sufferings, testimonies, and co- venants of Presbyterians in Britain, while none of these were approven or adopted without a reserve ' so far as they served ■ to ( 168 ) * to display or defend the truth, or comported with the cir- € cumstances of their church ;• a disclaiming the obligation of the covenants in Britain, ' as taking their national form and ' character from the established connection between church and * state, 1 only owning the^religious part as binding on the descend- ants of those who swore them ; — resolving ' to suffer no local ' controversies in their church about the civil establishment of 4 the Presbyterian religion ;' — that they would publish occasional testimonies, &c. In all which it may be evident, how nearly their views and example were afterwards followed by that very Presbytery which had separated from them, and now by the General Synod itself. Must it not follow, that if the Synod were now of the same principles as they were when they emitted the act of 1785, they would have refused all acknowledgement of their present constitution, and have recognised the lawful- ness of protesting and withdrawing from it, and owned the constitution and powers of a Presbytery retaining their for- mer principles as the only court rightly constituted ? 12. Another glaring error, and proof of nullity, in this sen- tence, is apparent in the very structure of it, as contained in the extract. There is more put into the sentence than appears to have been actually moved for, and voted in the court. Ac- cording to Presbyterian order, all censures of this kind should be not only deliberately considered before proposing a vote, but also the motion or question should be distinctly stated, ex- pressing the nature and extent, of the censure proposed upon the grounds previously declared. After the state of the vote is agreed to, which is usually before prayer, no reasoning up- on it is ordinarily admitted, nor alteration made ; much less can any alteration or addition be made to it after the question is put and voted. The vote, in which the mind of all the members is expressed, is properly the deed of the court. What follows in the more formal and solemn denunciation of cen- sures, whether by the Moderator in court, in verbis de presenti, or in the record of them in a written minute, proceeds solely upon that deed, and cannot alter or add unto it. Hence the form of denunciation usually runs, ' Wherefore they did, and c hereby do.' What they declare, or presently do in the inti- mation of the deed, cannot exceed or be any thing else than what they before did, or the very use of the terms will include a lie. If there are two censures different in kind and degree, meant to be passed and conjoined together at the same time, it is necessary that each of them should be distinctly expressed, and both of them either conjunctly or separately voted, upon the grounds assigned. In the preceding minute, there are two •iistinct censures, and the last higher than the first. But when we re?.d the motion, and the question that was put upon it, the ( 169 ) the first alone is mentioned. Deposition therefore was the only thing that was included in the proper deed of court.—. Suspension from church privileges was never proposed in it, nor yet in any separate subsequent question, that we hear of; yet it is intimated in the same formal manner, * they did and 4 hereby do suspend.' That they had done so in the motion written is false ; therefore when, or by whom, that additional deed was passed, or on what grounds, no body can know. By what authority did or does a clerk, or any other member, solemnly denounce a sentence, in the name of the court, which by no previous vote of that court was agreed to, and for which not one reason is assigned, either by repeating the grounds of the former sentence, or by any reference to them whatever, not so much as by saying, ' Upon the same, or for the fore* 4 said grounds,' the least thing that a judicial sentence in form would require ? Here then we have a sentence signified by T a clerk without an authentic evidence that it was ever a deed of court, but an intrinsic evidence to the contrary ; and if it was, one announced without a shadow of reason accompanying it. Lastly, The form and style in which these sentences run, furnish also matter for animadversion. In this respect they differ from that denounced against the seceding ministers by the Commission in J 733. That was pronounced only in the name of the General Assembly, and by virtue of powers de- rived from it ; and it only deposed them from all exercise of their ministry within the national church : which, in strict interpretation, could not prohibit the exercise of it in a state of secession from that church. Some bodies of Presbyterians seem to have adopted this mode of dissolving ministerial con- nection or Christian communion in certain cases, instead of the formal manner of process and censure usually followed in discipline : as the Associate Reformed Synod of the new con- stitution in America have done ; and the Burgher Associate Synod have practised in reference to the brethren who late- ly declined their authority. But though the language in which the sentences of the General Synod and Presbytery run be more agreeable to the established form and nature of church- censures, yet, as applied, they are on that account only more condemnable. They are given out 4 in the name and by the * authority of the Lord Jesus,' though that authority is dele- gated to none on earth to be employed otherwise than accord- ing to his word, of which not one passage has been, nor can be with propriety, adduced for justifying such sentences :— * And by virtue of powers committed by him to them ;' but as they can pretend to no powers conveyed to them in an im- mediate manner, they are possessed of none but what were committed to them on the very same terms, and under the same Y restric* ( "0 ) restrictions, and for the same declared purposes, with those which were conferred on their protesting brethren j and what these were, let the questions of the old Formula be consulted, and they will tell. The exercise of their power depending wholly on their maintaining those principles, and prosecuting those ends, for which the Protesters were contending, it could never be lawfully employed for the contrary purposes, as it has evidently been. Though there be something very shocking to the ears of tender Christians, who highly revere the Divine name, in hearing it abused, together with the ordinances he hath insti- tuted, as often it hath been, to the most unwarranted and unhallowed purposes ; yet, by attention to the scriptures, and the history of the church, we may be fortified against the scan- dal. The false prophets of old continually made bold with the sacred name, and when they were uttering the visions of their own heart, and seeing false burdens, they pretended to deliver all by Divine commission, in the same form of words, and with the same confidence, as the true prophets did ; " Say- " ing, Thus saith the Lord, when the Lord had not spoken." — " Many fulse prophets, and false Christs," our Lord foretold, should arise ; not only speaking and acting in his name, but even calling themselves the Christ. He who sits in the tem- ple of God, as if he were God, has vented all his errors, and issued out all his iniquitous decrees and anathemas, in the name and by the authority of the Head of the Church, and by virtue of powers said to be committed to him : All the names and titles of the Holy Trinity, as well as of the angels and saints, have been invoked and used to give them greater air of solemnity and sanctity. It was in view of such events, and fallacious pretensions, that Jesus by his Spirit hath left such words as these upon record, for the direction and comfort of his followers : " Beloved, believe not every spirit," (even men pretending to speak in the name and by the Spirit of God), *' but try the spirits wnether they be of God," 1 John v. 2. st Your brethren which hated you, and cast you out for my *[ name's sake, said, Let the Lord be glorified, but he shall ff appear," &c. lsa. lxvi. 5. " Blessed are ye when men shall " hate you, and when they shall separate you from their com* ».« pany, and shall cast out your name as evil, for the Son of " man's sake," Luke vi. 28. In the present cases, there is something more intended and expressed in these censures, than merely that such persons are no longer in the ministry and in the communion of the Asso- ciate Body, in connection with the General Synod ; but the sentences purport to be nothing less than a total deprivation of oflice and privileges in respect to the church of Christ at large : for ( m ) tor surely they will not say, \rith the church of Rome, that the limits of their particular society, and those of the church of Christ is the same, or that they are the catholic church. This is more than merely separating them from their com- pany. It is presuming judicially to declare that they can no longer possess these privileges in any true church of Christ. Here again the pleas of the apologists for these censures, are at variance with the express words of the deeds they would defend ; and their defences destroy one another. The author of the Letters pleads, that the Synod, in the case of Mr M'C. could have done no less than they did : that a declaration that he was no longer a minister of their church, was not suffici- ent ; for if that implied no censure (as no doubt in some cases, where no grounds of censure are alledged, it may be nonej, it would have been a culpable neglect of discipline when they had a call and a right to exercise it : and if it had implied a censure, he thinks, ' it must have included ail that the Synod ' had done ; for to declare any one no longer a minister in 4 their church, must be, in fact, to depose him V The mean- ing of this is, that the Synod or Presbytery, in their sentences of deposition, have done nothing more than prohibited the exer- cise of the ministry in the Associate Body ; which certainly constitutes but a small part of the church of Christ. But is this the same with prohibiting, as the deeds expressly do, * all 1 and any exercise of said ministry in the church ?' Or is there no difference between being in a state of mere non-communion, or not being immediately intitled to an organic connexion with a particular church, and their being objects of a censure by it? What ! have the Synod deposed all the ministers of the Chris- tian church, that are not of their body ; all the Protestant ministers of the French, the Dutch, or Helvetian churches ? Ic is by this kind of logic that the same writer, or one of a similar spirit, has the effrontery to maintain, that the courts did nothing in the censures they inflicted, but what these bre- thren had already done by their own act ; and attempts to vindicate the censures under the pretence that they were \ only * a judicial declaration that these persons were no longer of ' their communion f.' ' If blame,' says he, * is attached to ' any party here, these brethren certainly are chargeable with ' it in the first instance. Did they not, by their own declina- ' ture, virtually depose themselves ? Deposition can affect the ' ministerial office only as connected with a particular body :— - ' When these brethren have said themselves, thai they are no 'longer ministers of that church, wherein can the crime of * Christian Magazine (New Series), p. 3a, 33. t Consolation, &c. by R. Culbertson, p. 40. Y 2 • the ( H2 J 'the Synod lie in having judicially declared the same?*—* Here is a fine but strange apology for all the acts of ejection, deposition, or excommunication, that ever have been denounc- ed or executed, by any ecclesiastical or secular powers, upon those who l:ad from conscience refused conformity, or declined the imposing authority. When Luther refused to compear at Rome to answer the charge of heresy, and declined the Pope's authority, the pontiff and his council were not to be blamed, when they declared him an excommunicated heretic and schis- matic, forbidding him not only to teach in the church, but interdicted him the use of fire and water: for he had virtually- said and done so much before himself. When 2000 ministers in England declined to subscribe to the terms of communion on Bartholomew's day, chusing rather to relinquish their places under that new-reared church ; and when the Presbyterians in Scotland, about the same time, declined to sit in the Episco T pal courts, there was no injury done them when they were le- fally cast out, and sentenced : they had themselves only to lame. And whf-n the Genera) Assembly at last deposed and excommunicated the whole Associate Presbytery, who had long before seceded, and as a constitute court, had declined them, what reason had they to complain, and to write against the censure ? It was nothing more than judicially declaring what they themselves h id already declared. If the Protesters had demrtted their charges, and the courts had simply accepted of them, there might have been some reason to use such language. But what man of common sense can believe, that by their pre* vious acts they virtually censured themselves, when they pro- tested, that they could not be liable to censure for any of the causes afterwards alledged for it ? That they actually deposed themselves, as a brother has expressed it, * by protesting for ' retaining their full right to exercise all parts of ministerial * office.' Or that they excommunicated themselves from that church they belonged to, by declaring their resolution to hold com n union with all in it on the same footing as before. Far les could they be said to cast themselves out of the church of Christ, because they had no longer freedom to hold the same fellowship as formerly with a Synod of a new constitution, and a perjured church upon her new terms. How weak or how artful is it, to confine the view to one or two later transactions, overlooking all the preceding, parti- cularly to begin no higher than the paper called the Declina- ture in 1806, in order to form a judgment who were to blame in the first instance, or what party was first active in causing the separation. Such evasive trifling may amuse children, but is unworthy of any man of sense : for it is absolutely im- possible to form any proper judgment, either upon the merits of ( m ) of the general controversy, or the particular question, who were the authors of the separation, without going back to the for- mer deeds. This is to begin the review at the concluding acts, which had a retrospect to a series of preceding acts, and a ne- cessary dependence upon them. The act of protesting and withdrawing at the time mentioned was a step on the part of these brethren, and doubtless, in order of time, went before the censures. But it is equally true, that that act and others on their side preceding, were all consequential to others that had been taken by the Synod ; in which they never moved, but as they were impelled. The Synod, for years, had been employed in overturing, amending, changing, enacting, and virtu illy expelling and deposing ; or to retort the expressions with greater propriety, had by their own acts gone out, and virtually deposed themselves, as ministers in that body. This they had done, and brought all their acts to their last and finish- ed state, before that protest or declinature was proposed. How could this then be an evidence that they were the first actors, .or to blame in the first instance ? 4 Deposition,' he adds, * doth not meddle with the point 4 about the person's being a minister of Christ. Whether * they (the members of the Constitutional Presbytery) are mi- • nisters of Christ or not, it is not my business to determine— ' as I have nothing to do to judge them that are without, it is 4 to their own Master they stand or fall.' Is it possible, that this can be the very man that has signed his name to the deed of the Presbytery of Edinburgh, and who sat with o- thers judging their fellow-servants, and, in the Great Master's name, discharging them from acting any more as ministers in his church, and cutting them off from the ordinances of special communion in his church? Does not Christ's authority and his church extend beyond the jurisdiction of the General Sy- nod ? And are not his laws and sentences of equal force and validity throughout his church ? What ministers of Christ would these be who stood in no relation as such to his church ; or who should officiate in direct opposition to the peremptory mandate of the church's King, who alone has the power of ef- fectually conferring or divesting of spiritual office ? By apply- ing to these ministers the words of the apostle concerning them that were without, — he puts them in the same state with hea- then men and publicans ; and yet he knows not, whether they remain still within the pale of his church, and be ministers of Christ too. What inconsistency ! He disclaims all right to 4 judge them that are without ;' and he asserts these brethren were without by virtue of their own act, a long while before any judicial sentence was passed. And yet, after they were without, with whom he and his brethren, as he confesses, had nothing ( *™ ) nothing to do, they assumed the power, and actually judged them- Mure contradictions ! What a pity is ir th. 4 t he ai-d his brethren had not learned their rule, and the limits of their jurisdiction, before they had involved themselves in the crime of invading their Divine Master's prerogative ! Much need we have to pray for our erring guilty brethren, for they know not what they have done, ' nor what they do.* We shall only subjoin a few words as to the state of the votes, and the execution of the sentence of Presbytery. Though in controversies about truth and the public cause, 9uch as the present ultimately resolves into, a majority of voices in themselves can be of little weight, yet advantage is readily taken of this on whatever side it falls ; but in this case, it may appear that there is no reason to boast in this respect. If we divide the members of the Presbytery of Edinburgh at large, according to the declaration they had made of their mind in the superior or inferior court, and examine the state of the votes at the time of this decision, though we should set aside all the objections made to the lawful jurisdiction of the court, or to the qualifications of the members who sat in it, — there may be reason even to question, whether it could be consider* ed as the fair and decided judgment of that Presbytery, and of the correspondents, under whose sanction it is given forth. It can only be so accounted upon the narrow ground of bare arti- ficial form, and by taking the advantage of the ordinary mode of reckoning all that are present in court, and decline giving a vote on the question, as well as those who are absent, to be upon the side of those who were active voters, however few they may be, and even when the majority of members may be silent, or known to be of a different judgment. No doubt those who have sit ten silent when a decision was passed, tho' they may have declared themselves, before or after it, to be opposite or dissatisfied, subject themselves to this construction, before God and men, and become so far accessary to a wrong sentence. To such the cutting words of the prophet, in cases like this, may be applicable ; " In the day that thou stoodest " on the other side, — in the day that strangers carried away " captive thy brother's forces, — and cast lots upon Jerusalem, " even thou wast as one of them," &c. Obad ver. li, 12. — But there are certain cases when the opposition of a consider* able part, and the demur and silence of the majority, may be a sufficient reason for deferring present procedure, or when a decision is pushed without regard to these, it may be viewed as no fair representation of the mind of the court considered at large. The cause before* that Presbytery was surely one of that nature : and when not only the general nature of the cause, ( Ml ) cause, but the proportion of those who took the burden of the decision upon them to all who had a right of voting, be considered on liberal principles, it may appear to be entitled to very little regard. At the time of the meeting of the Synod of Glasgow, the Presbytery of Edinburgh con- sisted of twelve settled congregations j the ministers of three of these were, upon the general cause, remonstrating ancf pro- testing against the lawfulness of any such decision : Another CMr Colvil) when warned to attend that extraordinary Pres- bytery, refused to take any share in the business, or to give his attendance ; and at a following meeting, it is said, entered a dissent in the minutes from the decision. Of those who were present at the discussion, two, if not ihree, spoke against pro- cedure, of Whom the Moderator was one, who being in the chair, could not give his vote. The minister in London, and two in the Orkneys, had no opportunity of expressing their judgment on the question. Of the whole ministers 6f the Presbytery at large, therefore, we have six or seven, who, either on the gene- ral or particular cause, had declared themselves in opposition to the procedure; some in court by speeches, one of whom voted Not. On the other side, there were only four ministers who voted ; their names deserve to be recorded ; Messrs A. Oliver, J. Jamieson, R. Culbertson, W. M'Ewen ; with an elder, perhaps two. Those who expressed no judgment ought to be reckoned to the major part who have. Of the correspondents in Presbytery, the inequality was still greater. Of four mi- nisters who were present, only one voted for the motion, name- ly, Mr D. Black, who had prejudged the cause. All the rest declined to vote, either from doubts about the grounds or the want of evidence*. Add to these, the particular challenges that lay against three of the ministers of Presbytery who voted ; the protest standing in the supreme court against other four of those who were present, as disqualified by acts of Synod ; and the valid grounds on which the judgment of all of them had been declined in these causes, — and then say, how many re- mained to sanction such a deed ? or if there was indeed any court of Christ rightly constituted, according to the scriptures, * Whether Mr Buchanan, who had taken his seat in Presbytery but a few months before, expressed his judgment on either side of the question, the •writer has r.o certain information. It is supposed in the statement given that he was at least silent in the vote. Upon the general principles on which the statement is made (on which even Mr B. could not justly be considered as a pannel or a party), there were of ministers, including correspondents, who were acting, or declaring in one shape or other, in the negative, nine or ten ; while there were only five active in the procedure, some of which were only repeating the vote they had before given in the General Synod, and which had been negatived in the fullest meeting of it. If there is any inaccuracy in the representation of the mind of members present, it ii owing to the want of more exact information. aari ( *« ) and the principles of the Associate Body, to exercise such do- minion over their brethren, and their congregations ? In fact, we have here five or six men taking upon them to disannul the deliberate ana collected judgment of the whole Associate Body in Synod. There is another thing in which confusion and nullity ap- pear/ to be evidently written on the Presbytery's censure. The Presbyterian discipline requires, that sentences, in order that they may have their force and effect in the church, be duly promulgated. Without this no law or sentence can be inti- tled to public regard. This is more especially necessary as to acts wherein many are interested ; and when not only charac- ter, usefulness, and religious privileges, but mens civil rights may also be consequentially affected by them : as has been actually the case as to the greater part of these Synodical sen- tences lately passed. In courts, civil or ecclesiastic, disposed to be guardians of justice, to which necessary forms are sub- servient, the want of this would alone be sufficient, in ordi- nary cases, to invalidate the deed. In a trial respecting the right to a meering-house in Philadelphia, of which Mr Mar- shall, formerly mentioned, was minister, that came to be de- cided in the supreme court, after several days hearing, the question as to the validity of a sentence of deposition pretend- ed to have been passed against Messrs Marshall and Clarkson by the Presbytery there, from which they had separated, came incidently under consideration. A warning against their ad- ministrations had been agreed upon in their absence, without citation, without formal sentence, and without any intimation of it in Philadelphia, but in Oxford in the neighbourhood. Dr Witherspoon, having been summoned in the cause, and sworn before the Chief Justice, was particularly interrogated as to the form of procedure in the Presbyterian church relative to the deposition of a minister, and gave the following answer : ' The form of process most clearly points out the manner of * procedure against a minister, viz. that there be a libel, with * sufficient time to see and answer the same, with a list of the * witnesses to prove the same, delivered to the person accused. * There are some instances of an additional list of witnesses * being given in during the process, giving new time to the * party accused to consider, and be ready to answer upon the * credibility of the witnesses. There are many other circum- ' stances too tedious to enumerate; — such as, that nothing shall * be admitted as a ground of process against a minister, but * what has been declared censurable by the word of God, and ' by the standing laws of the church. The deposition of a * minister being the hiehe-st censure to be inflicted on him, al- < ways ( m ) ' ways -requires the greatest strictness in the form of proce- ' dure.' Being interrogated, 4 Is it, or is not, an established rule, ' that the deposition, when pronounced, be intimated to the 4 congregation over which the minister previously presided, 4 or in what manner is it made public?' Ans. • It is the con- * stant custom that a deposition is intimated by order, in the ' congregation to which the minister belonged, shortly after ' passing the censure; and if he had no pastoral charge, when f he was deposed, it would be intimated in the congregation in * which he usually resided, and perhaps in all the congrega- * tions in the Presbytery, or such more public intimation di- ' rected as seemed necessary to obviate the scandal.' Being cross-examined, * Do the rules of discipline in the Presbyte- 1 rian church, adapted to ordinary cases, apply to cases that * are quite singular and extraordinary ?' — .* Are not many such * cases, and circumstances of cases, necessarily left to the pru- ' dence of those who conduct the government of the church, — * to be regulated by such general directions as that, " Let all ' things be done for edification ;" — and may not ecclesiastical * courts vary their mode of discipline in such extraordinary ' cases, as prudential considerations may direct ?' Ans. '*■ The ' rules of the Presbyterian church do not, in this respect, dif- * fer from the rules of any society on earth. But I have not ' met with many, nor indeed, in my experience, with any ex- ' traordinary cases to which the rules of the church were not ' fully competent. The general principle in the passage of ' scripture pointed at, though not accurately quoted, has al- ' ways been considered as an engine of oppression, when re- 4 course is had to it as a canon or rule of discipline.' — Being interrogated, * if it was always necessary to make use of the * same terms ?' Ans. ! All I can say is, that forms are hand- * maids to justice ; and that in the church of Scotland, the pre- * cision of terms is always considered as of the utmost moment, ' in such sentences as are directly or consequently to have civil ' effects.' He added, * As far as I know, the discipline of the * church of Scotland is observed with the greatest strictness f among Seceders*.' Thus far the Doctor, who was well acquainted with the subject : But had he lived a little longer, he might have found reason for giving a very different account of the discipline of Seceders. Judge Rush, upon the evidence given in that cause, in his charge to the jury, declared, * that such a sentence of the Pres- * bytery, even though they had possessed undoubted jurisdic- * Marshall's Vindication of the Associate Presbytery cf Pennsylv. PHI. 1791. Z ' tion ( "S ) I tion over Mr Marshall, which now they had lost by obang- * ing some principles in their constitution, could never affect 4 his pastoral relation to his congregation, not only because he ' had not been cited, as on every principle of law and natural * justice he ought to have been, but because they had never * taken the proper measure* to have it made known, a cir- * cumstance essentially required in all such cases*.' The particular sentence under consideration was defective ; as in other respects, so in this : It was never intimated to the congregation more immediately concerned ; nor has this been done publicly any where, so far as is known, to this day. It was concerted and hastily passed by the voice of two or three ministers under the shades of night : it was notified to the party in a sealed letter left to the accidents of posting. But as for the people, they know nothing about it but by report, except what intimation hath been made of it from the mouth of their minister, in his own pulpit, in the continued exercise of his office, through the help of God, testifying against their unlawful deeds ; and though neither they, nor the people at large, could be obliged, by the standing rules of the church, to p ay any regard to it, yet immediately, as if the sheep had also been guilty of all the offences charged on the pastor, they are cut off in their Register from being a congregation, not so much as intitled to the name of a vacancy. Yet do the fabricators of this clandestine deed propose and give it out as a rule of conduct, not only to all in their own body, but as what should bind the whole church of Christ ; according to the import of the terms in which it runs. Tins failure, in point of execution, is not to be ascribed to the clemency or want of zeal in those who had pushed on the sentences. They were sufficiently inclined to have imi- tated the conduct of the superior court, who had taken steps for a speedy intimation of their sentences, not only in the near neighbourhood, but in the houses and pulpits of these brethren against whom they were directed j in order to which they had been careful to furnish the malcontents in their congregations with extracts, to be employed in the courts of law, for obtain- ing interdicts, or bills of suspension and ejectment : so that their ecclesiastic deeds were conveyed to the hands of lawyers, and applied for such oppressive purposes, some days before they were communicated to the ministers themselves : and it seems too there were some civil judges found sufficiently passive, or so inadvertent, as to act a part similar to what it has been al- ledged, these brethren would have devolved upon the magis- ftscite, the office of the finisher of the law, at the sight of the * Address to the Jury, &c. p. 31, 34, 36, 38. church's ( 1-9 ) church's* edicts. It were to be wished, for the credit of the judicature of the country, that in none of these instances, there had been reason to question, whether people had not been dispossessed of their property even before a fair hearing of their cause, and men deprived of their freehold, as office and benefice held ad vitam aut culpam ought in law to be account- ed, at the bare sight of the signature ©f an individual, in name of a body not known in law, and without the smallest inves- tigation of the regularity or legal validity of such deeds. In the case under present consideration, though delibera- tions were held in Presbytery about the means of carrying their deed into execution in the ordinary form, and anxious enquiries made about the expected concurrence of a Synodical party in the congregation to facilitate their design, yet a kind Providence in this interposed to frustrate their intent, and to bar up their way. Had any such party appeared, had there been so much as one trustee or discontented elder, to whom they could have applied with any prospect of success, no doubt the same scandalous scenes would there have been exhibited — the same attempts to wrest from the people every particle of congregational property, the same expulsion from houses, the same confusion and strife on Sabbath-days, as have been pro- duced in other places, under Synodical influence and with their approbation. The minute mentions a time and place for the intimation of the sentence, and the member by whom it was to be done ; even the same who had twice moderated in a call, and twice attested it as having been regularly given, to Mr B. by that people when they were first settled, who had a hun- dred times sitten down at the communion-table with him, along with the greater part of their respective congregations, upon the avowal of that profession, and who had repeatedly brought his own people, and concurred in bringing others, in all the congregations around, under a solemn oath to adhere all their life to every article of it, for which he, with his brethren, has now ventured to depose and excommunicate. No wonder, though the people should have " fallen, and are snared, and " taken," when their leaders, like the priests of old, have been *■ a snare on Mizpah, and a net spread upon Mount Tabor." He had voted for the sentence, but when appointed to execute it, he objected, it seems, and offered to protest : But with threatenings it was left upon him. But whether checked by the reflections of his own mind, or restrained by deference to the state of the minds of others, even of his own connections, or from apprehended difficulties in the way, or from whatever other consideration, the attempt was never made. Thus the Lord in mercy has spared that little flock : He has allowed them to enjoy much internal peace, while the tem- Z 2 pest / ( 180 ) pest hath been violently blowing around : He suffered f their ' congregation to remain settled after their old estate,' enjoy- ing their Sabbaths and privileges as formerly. Upon their " dwelling-place he hath spread a cloud for a covering ;" so that they have never met with interruption for one day in their peaceable communion together. A favour for which they can never be sufficiently grateful 4 while he hath not dealt so with any other congregation. It may be hoped that these trying providences, that have been passing over them and others, have been attended with some effect to excite their minds to a more serious attention to religious concerns ; a:V. to put a higher value upon their liberties and gospel-privileges than is usually done by people when all the things go on in their usual course. Public ordinances have been fully as well attended, not only for a few days at that time when the alarm was first excited, but through the twelve months that have since elapsed, as in former times, notwithstanding the removal of a number by death and otherwise, of late, from the congregation. The mi- nister hath felt as much complacence and comfort in his mini- strations, as well as in the fellowship of his people, as per- haps at any former period of his ministry : so that none need, by the example of such sufferings, be deterred from taking a share in the afflictions of the gospel, for along with these, the Lord ott makes his consolations to abound. That calumniating writer to whom we have had occasion so often already to refer, has made the strange insinuation, as if the half declinature, as he calls it, had been some artful stra- tagem and deep-laid snare, in order to intrap the unsuspecting Synod (simple men as they were) until the brethren might have longer time to sound the minds of their people, and to see how they stood affected, to work upon their passions, by sermons on the favourite subject, addresses, &c *. When will this man cease to utter his false and envenomed words ? Is there any reason for thinking that any one of them waited till they might know how the breath of their people might blow, that by it they might steer their course? Or what methods did they take to ascertain that, or to gain them over to their side after that event, otherwise than by a declaration and ma- nifestation of the truth to every man's conscience, which in some measure they had endeavoured to do -before. It may be presumed, that not one of them would have acted a different parr, although not one of their people had concurred with them. Some of them knew as little how their people at large stood affected to the general cause, or how they might be dis- posed to act, upon such a critical event as that which happen- Coosolation, p. 48, 49- eri, ( "1 ) fed, posterior to that meeting of Synod, as for years before. As for setting up a separate communion, he might know that was never their wish or intention ; it depended wholly on the conduct of the Synod, whether it should become necessary and inevitable. The Synod were so bold as to take the steps thfct determined that point. Though the official duty and conduct of the ministers were not suspended upon the conduct of the peo- ple, yet some concurrence of the people, in their station, was requisite, if the same witnessing body was henceforth to sub- sist. Mr B. had never thought it his duty to bring his people to -any new or direct test upon that subject ; nor could he have any conception what side eventually the majority of them might take, until the Presbytery, by their sentence, inevitably drove them to make such a discovery. Ajs to what the same writer says, of its having been ' the f general opinion, that if they (the Protesters) did not conti- 1 nue to exercise their ministry, they would retire into the ' shade of private Christians, and live still in connection with ' the Synod ;' — if such an opinion was indeed general (of which we never before heard) it is not easy to perceive on what rea* sonable ground it could be founded. It is possible enough that a few partizans of innovation might suppose their own wishes to be converted into a general opinion ; but what reason hud any to think, that half a dozen of remonstrating ministers, the most of whom had been in the ministry before him, and the greater part of those innovators, and who had at least an equal right with them to continue the exercise of it, should all at once have agreed to abdicate it, merely to avoid the difficulties of a contest, and to leave the way clear to them to carry for- ward their new measures without interruption. They had received theft ministry with a charge to fulfil it, whatever it might cost them ; and it is not surely the proper time for a soldier to desert his post, or to throw down his arms, when he is called to the battle. If he could not hope to make an effectual resistence, he might at least adopt the generous reso- lution of the Prince of Orange, when Lewis XIV. with his Popish forces invaded his country, who, being dissuaded from attempting to oppose them in the field, declared, * he would * fight from post to post, and then die in the last ditch.' If the promoters of the new scheme expected that they would make such a voluntary sacrifice of their ministry, while any door was left open for exercising it, leaving their people and the public cause to their hazard, or that they should instantly have crept into the shade, in deference to their new light, as soon as it began to shine, as owls do from the blaze of the sun, it was a very modest expectation truly ! But that, besides drop- ping their ministry in compliment to their new-modelled com- munion, C "2 ) m union, they should, after they retired upon conscientious grounds, ' into the shade of private Christians,' have still con- tinued in silent compliance with these terms of communion, this was an expectation still more extravagant. For the same bars that obstructed the freedom of ministerial, were also thrown in the way of their Christian communion. If any individual may, at times, under peculiar embarrass- ments or discouraging prospects, have expressed some hesita- tion about the propriety of continuing in, or resigning public office, or if the brethren may have spoken upon this subject hypothetically, as they did in their last paper to the Synod, declaring what they might be disposed to do, were they to consult only their inclination or ease, or human probabilities of success, this is very different from thinking themselves at liberty, in point of duty, to do so eventually, in these or in other circumstances. If the writer only meant, as the structure of the first part of the above sentence, taken by itself, may bear, that * if they * did not continue to exercise their ministry, they wtmld desist 4 from it,' it required no great degree of sagacity to form that opinion : nor has any thing yet taken place, nor ever can take place, to make any to alter it. A meeting of the congregation of Whitburn was called ; but it was not till after the courts, by their finished and formal deeds, cut them off from enjoying their privileges in connection with them upon the former terms. Even then there was no new test or form of subscription required of them ; no new burden imposed upon them but that which they were already under, " to hold fast." When convene^ after some religious exer- cise, some clauses in their call, and in the formula of questions, expressing the special design for which, and the mutual terms upon which, a public ministry had been settled among them, were read, as also the articles of the bond which a number of them had, at different times, sworn : several instances of in- consistency between the profession therein made, and that now adopted and imposed by Synodical acts, were pointed out. — They were then told that a resolution practically to 'adhere to the principles they had received, and to endeavour to maintain their congregational state, as it had been originally settled, and had hitherto subsisted, was all that was exacted of them. Hut if any were otherwise minded, and were determined to adopt a new testimony, and concur with the judicatories in their present measures for breaking down their former con- stitution, they were required to declare themselves by stand- ing up, or withdrawing. Not one did so. Even any whose minds were in some hesitation as to some particular points of difference, were equally ready to concur with their bre- thren ( "3 ) thren in all regular measures of opposition to the violent as- saults now made upon ministerial freedom, and the privileges of congregations. Attempts have not been wanting to divide and draw away the unstable ; in which the Presbytery have acted their part, by setting up a place of worship within a few miles, where there never was one before, which they are careful to supply. Their neighbours around, who have be- come giddy by drinking of the new wine, pluck at them to make them a prey, and of friends, as commonly happens in. such cases, they are become the most troublesome and deter- mined enemies to their once common profession. But by the help of God, they continue to this day. If a few young or fluctuating persons have occasionally wandered, as might have been expected, their places have been more than supplied by some from neighbouring places, who, from conscience of duty, have come forward to support the banner displayed for truth, that has now fallen in so many congregations. SECTION NINTH. Mr Bruce'' s Letter to the Synod of Glasgow — Remarks on their Sentence concerning him as Teacher of the Theological Class — apostolic Doctors of Divinity—New modes of censuring— Sequel of Proceedings in the Case of Air Hog. IT may be believed, thai none of the Protesters would wish to employ their own time, or the attention of the public, about matters which relate to themselves personally, if in the course of contending in the public cause, they had not been obliged to it. As it is for their sentiments and conduct in reference to that cause, that they have been publicly prosecuted and con- demned, and continue to be aspersed, this is one way in which they are presently called to defend it, by vindicating them- selves ; and they would be wanting unto both, if they declined the trouble of clearing up some facts misrepresented, detect- ing falsehood, and wiping off aspersions. For these purposes, a detail of particulars in some instances is rendered necessary : and a bare and just statement of facts will often be sufficient, in the view of the candid and unprejudiced, for their vindica- tion ; though they cannot but regret the necessity that obliges them to mention things which otherwise never would have been laid before the public. The cavils and insidious attacks ol adversaries provoked the Lord Jesus, when on earth, ft to speak of many tilings ;" and on the same account, the Apostle of the. Gentiles ( 184 ) Gentiles found it needful to recur to some past occurrences in Iiis life and ministry, to obviate the charges that had been thrown upon him in his apostolic character and office ; in do- ing which he intreats the churches to bear with him, even when he might seem to be assuming the confidence of foolish boasting. It belongs to our subject to take under review the transac- tions of the Synod at Glasgow, in reference to the four bre- thren, whether they are recorded in the Magazine-register of them or not. It has been said above, that they had further procedure on the second week in the case of one of these, be- sides giving the summons, that brought on the PresbyteriaJ process, the result of which has been given. It respected Mr B. in the. exercise of his office as teacher of divinity. — When this is considered, the reason will appear for the asser- tion, that he has been in fact thrice judged on the same pre- tended ground, and each time had a different sentence : twice by the Synod, without citation or hearing; a third time by the Presbytery : on the first week of Synod declared in the full exercise'of his office ; on the second, without new or any legal evidence, suspended or virtually deposed from it ; and at the same time summoned to answer to the same charges for which he had been twice judged and already censured ; and about a month after, upon the same evidence, that is, none at all, de- posed again. The Synod's summons, therefore, and the Pres- bytery's sentence in this point of view, will be found to be literally, what is called in Scotland. Cupar-justice, to hang a man first, and then sit and judge whether he was guilty. A letter was sent by Mr B. to Glasgow before the Synod rose, directed to the Clerks, to be communicated. As it re- lated to the general cause, and to this part in particular, the principal contents of it may be here inserted ; especially as it closed his intercourse with the Synod, and probably must do so finally, w T hile they persist in their present course. * Reverend and dear Brethren, this is addressed to you in your ' official character as Clerks to the General Associate Synod. ' As the enactment of the new terms of communion, and 1 the refusal of the requisition made by the Protesting bre- * thren to alter them, is the immediate and comprehensive rea- 1 son that prevents us from taking our seats in Synod, or ap- * pearing in person at the bar in cases respecting the public '' controversy between the Synod and them, and in which judg- * ment would be given according to new principles, and a new * system of government and discipline, which neither they nor t the body they belonged to had ever received ; we reckon it ' but a common right that we should be furnished with an c authentic copy of the Synod's answer to that requisition — We ( 135 ) * We heard it but once read at the close of the Committee's * long answers of six or seven hours length ; and it was notex- * pressed i» the most plain or concise terms. It was never no- ' tified to us in any other shape from the chair; nor so much 4 as rend over a second time. We demanded an extract of it ' immediately after it was sanctioned by the vote of Synod ; ' but it was not granted at that time, from the consideration ' that there was not yet an approved and corrected minute of * the deed. That reason can no longer be pled ; and we there- * fore renew our request for an extract, that we may not be in f danger of mistaking or misrepresenting it : and 1 should hum- * bly think, that we are intitled to have it, in the very words and ' form in which it was read and judicially approven in our * hearing. We also renew the request for an extract of the ' paper given in at the close of last meeting at Edinburgh, — * with some other papers and minutes of court in the course of * proceeding, which in ordinary form we have a right of access € to, when required. We wish not to put the clerks to unne- * cessary trouble; — and therefore ask only copies of those of * which we are not already possessed, with no other design than ' to have it in our power to give a just state of facts, and of * sentiments, in whatever manner it may be thought needful * to state them, when a spirit of misrepresentation, not to say ' of direct lying, is gone abroad. Though I might insist upon * the return of the papers containing reasons, and given in be- * fore last year, as personal property, since the proper end ' for which such papers are presented to a Presbyterian court, * has not been gained, which is, that they may be put upon re- * cord and satisfactorily answered, — I only require the return * of the reasons against the act, changing the bond and acknow- * ledgment of sins, of which the court seems not to have taken ' any cognisance whatever ; and therefore it can only be re- * tained in the hands of the cleik to be totally suppressed * These reasons were referred to in last grounds of remon- * strance, and belonged to the business of the Committee to P have considered, as much as if they had been verbatim en- * grossed in that paper, but were passed over in silence. It « could not be pretended then, with any shadow of truth, that * all the remonstrances were fully answered; much less when * the particulars, under some of the general heads of charge * against the New Testimony and Narrative, were never in- ' quired into, though one of these amounted to the charge of * perverting and falsifying history, — of which, the credit of ' the work, as well as the satisfaction of the brethren, required * the production of instances with proofs, when offered to be ' produced. * But I abstain from saying any thing farther here of the A a * papers ( 188 ) * papers on cither side, or of the proceedings of Synod, or of ' the subordinate courts, which, abstracting from the merits of ' the cause, 1 consider as, in several instances, a gross violation * of Presbyterian order and all legal forms. But as in the * Committee's Answer,besides other instances of personal abuse, * there was a charge once and again adduced of having assert- 4 ed what was not true in point of fact — 1 think I am intitled ■ to demand, if the Answers are not to be published, an extract - of these passages. * I have only to add, that I have no new information to give * to the Committee of supplies, in reference to the students of 4 divinity on the list, beyond what were communicated at la t ' meeting of Synod. The result of the deliberations of Synod, * in this present meeting, witti respect to the theological class, ' for this season or in fucure, will be waited for. I am,' &c. To this he received no answer, nor any sort of communica- tion from the Synod, until the summons was put into hn handsy but a few days before the meeting of Presbytery/ the following was transmitted by post. * Glasgow, Sept. 3 1806. The General Associate Synod * finding that Mr A. B. had virtually declined the authority < of this court, and supported a schismatical course, in with- * drawing from communion with his brethren, judge, that it ' would be highly improper to continue him as teacher of the ' theological clr^s. Jas. MoRISON, Syn. CI." 4 N. B. Mr BJs letter to the Clerks of Synod was laid be- 4 fore the Synod ; but the court did not allow them to give thq ' extracts demanded.' In this laconic epistle there is not a little matter for ani- madversion. In the postscript, we have an avowed refusal of what may be accounted a common right, belonging either to members of court or to parties. The remonstrating ministers, with the representatives of their sessions, had their seats in Sy- nod, during the transactions of the preceding years, and having regularly paid the clerks for keeping* the records, they had equal interest in them, and might claim the same free access to them as others. If they are considered as parties, the papers on which they were criminated, or others that might be necessary for making their defence, or giving a fair state of facts, nothing but bare-faced injustice could have denied them ; especially in causes on which not only ecclesiastic office and privileges, but civil rights also, did directly, or consequently depend. What sort of work must the Synod be engaged in, that shun* coming to the light, and makes them refuse the means of giving a just state of facts, that the deeds on both sides may be mado manifest ? Mr Gib narrates, that when he, with others, went to i Presbytery of the established church, and gave in a formal secession ( 1BT ) secession and declinature, it was put upon record, and an ex- tract, upon demand, readily given them. la the body of the epistle, the Synod have again shown, that however backward they are to comply witli equitable demands, chev are not slow to proceed to unjust sentences. That the sentence notified in it was rash, irregular, and unjust, may be trident ; whether the time, the manner, or mutter or it be con- sidered. In point of time, it intervened between a deed already passed but a few days before by the Synod, and another that was in prospect, and that, in the train of process set on foot by the Synod, might be expected Soon to be passed by the Pres- bytery, upon the same person, and upon the very same charges. By comparing the date of this second sentence with that of the summons issued by the Synod against Mr B. it appears to have been agreed upon on the day immediately fol- lowing the latter. All therefore that has been already said against the procedure of the Synod in the case of Mr M'C. and their raising the process against the other two brethren on the second week, alter the determination on the first, will fully apply to this new and distinct sentence, and with much addi- tional force ; as it is attended with some peculiar absurdities, and implies a more flagrant violation of the rules of discipline and even of common sense. The sentence of deposition that they had already denounced, and the summons they had given, proceeded at least upon the pretext of some new matter of charge, which the flying post from Edinburgh had supplied them with. But in this, it is not alledged or so much as men- tioned as a reason. They raise again the ghost of schism, and the magic sound of declinature, which the Synod had so lately laid, that they might not produce mischievous effects at least before another meeting. Nothing could be a more direct con- tempt of the former decision, than within a few days to declare what had been found a ground for no censure, to be a sufficient ground for deprivation of office. It is yet move absurd in re- lation to what they themselves had done the preceding day, and what was naturally to follow upon it, and did follow. If they thought it too long to defer censure to the time that the Synod on the firsrt week had set, and in the summons then or- dered, — they had already abridged that time sufficiently in their summons of yesterday, — reducing it to as narrow limits as the regular execution of the summons and the legal term oi warning could well allow. But even the term of their own setting for tri4 and sentence they think yet too long : and their impatience for censure hurries them next day to judge and inflict it themselves, without waiting the issue of that trial and judgment which they pretended to have committed to others. * Go,' said they to the Presbytery, * and examine A a 2 ' into ( "8 ) 1 into these charges ; but we will save you the trouble, — fof * we have found them already. — Go and inflict censure after 1 the execution of summons ; — but lest you should forget to ' do it, without all that formality, even before the summons 1 can be executed, we will anticipate your judgment, and put ' the matter out of doubt by censuring the offender ourselves.' This was insulting the Presbytery too, and virtually making all the subsequent formality of trial, and giving sentence or their part, a mere farce. On sorre other considerations, this sentence was exception- able in respect to the time they chose for it. It was so in regard to the general state of things for a long time before, and the previous intercourse that had taken place between Mr B. and the Synod on that very subject ; and also in respect to the special purpose intended, and immediate effect to be produced hy it. If, in one point of view, it was gone into at last rashly and precipitantly, in another, it was too long delayed and too late. If they had views of proceeding upon such grounds as the) have now assigned, and if there was indeed such an im- propriety on these accounts, in Mr B. ? s continuing to officiate, as they now judge there was, they ought more early, and in a more deliberate manner, to have taken the matter into judi- cial consideration. None of these grounds here pretended and said to be now found out, were in reality new. Withdrawing from Presbytery, and something of a similar nature to what is called a viitual declinature, had taken place for years, though without challenge, as we haye seen before. As the same grounds were long ago apparent, they have none to blame but themselves if they did not sooner attend more to propriety, and to provide in due time for the continuance of theological educa- tion among them, according to their own ideas. None who know any thing of what had taken place in Synod relating to that matter, can say that Mr B. was disposed to have stood in their way of procedure for one day. So far from it, with- out going farther back, after some of the new deeds had re- ceived a judicial sanction, he was the first to remind them of this apparent impropriety or inconsistency. And perceiving the necessity they had brought, or were bringing upon themselves, of chusing another teacher, unless they were resolved to allow full freedom to impugn the new doctrines from the chair, as well as in other ways, — he left the matter tabled before them, to proceed in it when and how they pleased ; declaring his resolution to interest himself no farther in the matter, if, in the event of a new election, they admitted the paper he left in their hands into the minutes for exoneration. Here was an easy way pointed out in which they might have attained their purpose, without being guilty of a violent seizure, and with- out ( 189 ) •ut giving Mr B. any ground of complaint, farther than what might arise from injury done to the public cause. This way was still open to them, and this spontaneous declaration they might have availed themselves of at any former meeting, and even on the day in which they passed this injurious sen- tence ; as Mr B. had never retracted that paper. He indeed waited from year to year, in expectation of hearing of their procedure upon the footing of that declaration, of which they were still possessed ; in consequence of which he was kept long in a state of disagreeable suspense, and was left in that state throughout the preceding summer, without having heard a syllable upon the subject, previous to the time appointed for the meeting of the Hall, that season; consequently, under the continued obligation of making preparation for it, of to be in hazard of being taken unawares: for though he had more than once before intilnated, that, as things were situated, he had nei- ther expectation of being continued, or intention of continuing in the discharge of that office, his views had been disappointed, and his intentions over-ruled, from time to time, while no other appointment had been made, and while the students were sent from their respective Presbyteries at the usual time of meeting, and with the usual recommendations. Was there not reason therefore to charge the Synod, or the remnant of it, who met the second week, with want of foresight and due precaution, and with precipitating the matter at last, in a hurried manner, at the close of their session, probably too in «. passionate mood, without its having been proposed at a for- mer meeting, and without any previous intimation to members, that either the question of depriving the present or of electing another teacher, which ought to have gone hand in hand, was to come at that time under discussion. In a very different manner, and in consequence of more serious and deliberate steps, was an election made when the chair was last vacant. This determination too was also out of season with respect to the students., as there was no other provision made for con- tinuing the usual course of education, when the time was come and past for their convening, nor could they be duly warned of the disappointment. Some of them accordingly were put to considerable expence and trouble in taking a journey in yain. Though Mr B. some time in summer, having occasion to write to a Presbytery in Ireland on another account, had told them that he could not inform them when or where the theological class would meet that year, as it depended wholly on the Synod, a young- man from the neighbourhood of Lon- donderry, after a disagreeable passage to Greenock, came for- ward all the way to Whitburn while the Synod was sitting, and after staying two days was obliged to tread back his steps, and '( 190 ) *nd return home as he came. Mr B. did not receive any official notice of their resolution on this subject, until some weeks had elapsed, about the time when the session for the iseason used to be well nigh over. As to the gross irregularity of this part of procedure, need we say more, when it may be evident to any attentive reader, from what hath been already said, that it was a sentence with- out previous charge or citation, (for none of the charges are exactly the same with those in the Presbytery's citation) ; a sentence immediately following a sentence, and contrary to it, by the same court, without additional charge or evidence ; a sentence founded upon charges that had been put into a sum*. mo; s, in order to a trial and judgment upon them by another court, without waiting for that trial or the result ; — a sen- tence amounting to a suspension or deposition, passed, for any thing that appears, without previous discussion, without the usual form of a vote with prayer, and without being expressed in any of the ordinary form of words in which such censures are appointed to be pronounced ; not that they did in the name of the Lord Jesus suspend or depose, — but ' they judge that it f would be highly improper to continue him as teacher of the 4 theological class ? — a senterce pretending to prohibit him from the exercise of one branch, and a principal one, of his ministerial office, to which he had been regularly called, and in which he had by express authority of Synod hitherto con- tinued, without any thing whatever in the assigned reasons, that had any peculiar relation to that particular branch of of- tice, or any maladministration in it; but they relate equally and even more immediately, to the ministerial office at large, in which, however, they did not find or judge, that it- would be highly in- proper to continue him. There was no more reason at present for suspending him from the exercise of that part of office, if he was still willing to submit to it, than there was for suspending him from the whole? ; or rather sot so much, as the charges immediately respected conduct in courts and congregations, and did not belong bo directly to the ordinary exercises, and his duty in a Divinity-hall. Nor had they reason to think, that he would have deviated from the course he had observed for years past, with respect to the public differences, in that place, where there was abundance of other subjects and exercises to employ the whole time : and as yet the Synod did not say, nor could say, that they had found he had taught improper doctrines there, or had incul- cated on students either sentiments or practices favourable to schism. He had more than once, in different lectures, ex- plained the true na'ure and evil of schism, distinguishing that which has often, in the mvided state of church e* and parties, been i i9i ) been so denominated, from that which truly deserves the name, but without any reference whatever to these subsisting differ- ences. And if, in any advices or exhortations, he might have thought it his duty to give them, when touching occasionally upon that disagreeable subject, he had interfered unduly with their freedom to examine and judge for themselves, or said any thing tending to make them think light of Synodical au- thority, or rashly to run into divisive or schisniatical courses from it, or if the contrary was not the case, they themselves best know, and might have been called to give evidence. But while the Synod had nothing of this kind before them, they had nothing that could warrant them, in judicially prohibiting him the exercise of that office, but what might have equally warranted them in proceeding instantly, without more ado, to depose him from his ministry; and if they did not find these charges, nor any other, as yet relevant and sufficiently proven, to warrant them to do the latter, (as their summons implies, and their advocate confesses,) they could as little warrant the former. There is certainly the same reason for a deliberate trial, and the^same right in a party to claim it, according to approven rules of discipline, before a sentence of deposition from an office of this kind, as from any other public, office in the church ; when criminal charges and censurable conduct are the pretended grounds of it, as in this case : nay, there is, if possible, more reason for cautious and deliberate procedure, and that the grounds be found, upon a strict and regular scru- tiny, to be very clear and valid, in proportion as the office is more extensive and important, and the danger greater of ad- mitting and affixing rash and unfounded charges, to the pre- judice of those who may bear it, whereby character and use- fulness in proportion may be more deeply affected and wound- ed. Who ever condemned the allowance of a fair trial to the grossest heretics or criminals? Professor Simpson, many and gross as his errors were, was twice under process, which, in both instances, was protracted for some years, before any sen- tence was given in his case ; and though Seceders have con- demned the judgment pronounced at boih times as too lenient, they do not complain that the tedious forms of libelling, ex- amining witnesses, and hearing defences, were observed, or that he was not turned out before the process could be legally concluded j though they found fault with keeping them so long unnecessarily in dependance, particularly that the last process > which commenced in 1726, was transmitted to the several pres- byteries of the church by the Assembly 1728, * that their 1 judgment might be reported to the ensuing Assembly, about * the censure that was due to him, though the evidence was so '* clear, that the discipline of the church should have been 9 summarily ( 102 ) c summarily exercised upon him.' None but tyrants will claim it as their prerogative, wantonly to sport with the lives or properties of men in a state, or with their characters or re- ligious privileges in a church, setting aside the course of law. A late traveller into Turkey, tells us, that the Sultan has for one of his titles, Hunkiar, the man-slayer, not only because he executes criminal justice by himself, without process or formality, but is invested with absolute power over the lives of his subjects, so that the casuists allow * that he mav kill 14 ' persons everyday, without assigning a cause, and without im- ' putation of tyranny *.' When he is pleased to order so many heads to be thrown at his feet, by the speedy operation of the bow-string or the scymitar, some of them may be really guil- ty, some of them innocent ; but in either case, it is no less horrid despotism : for the essence of tyranny lies in punishing without trial, by which the one class may be clearly discrimi- nated from the other : and consequently the innocent must ever be in danger of the same fate with the guilty, as often as the freak may take the Hunkiar. Perhaps it may be pretended, that this deed of Synod was no proper censure, and therefore there was no need to observe the formality of a process. But this is a vain pretence. That there was no proper eensure, such as in reason, or by the rules of the church, can be accounted of any validity, may be very evident : but that it was of the nature of a censure, a material one, and intended to produce all the effects that a formal depo- sition from office could have produced, is no less evident. It proceeded on charges expressly stated, which, in the eye of the court at least, were considered as censurable ; the very same, that within six weeks, constituted the principal grounds of proceeding to deposition in form. It was made to operate immediately as a censure, so far as their authority could reach. It attacked and took, away the right of exercising an office, as expressly mentioned by the apostle, as necessary for edify- ing the church, as that of the pastor in Eph. iv. 11. It tend- ed to break the teacher's relation to a society immediately settled for maintaining the ministry of the church. It accordingly produced a temporary dissolution or dispersion of that society, as much as if he had been dead, or the greatest heretic con- vict. It virtually declared the members of it liberated from any obligation to give attendance, and even restrained them from the liberty of attending. They were hereby laid under greater restrictions as to this, than they had ever been subject- ed to, with respect to the instructions of any of the professors in any of the universities, even in their most corrupt state, al- • Thornton's State of Turkey, p. 95. though ( 1^3 ) though admitting of no ecclesiastical communion with them : in which therefore, they displaced an uncommon degree of jea- lousy, or rather of illiberality and bigotry. Though they have not hitherto interdicted students from attending any course of ethics, ecclesiastical history, or divinity, whatever may be the system taught there, their former teacher, mer.-ly because he continues to assert the orthodoxy of the Confession of Faith of the Church of Scotland, and that his ordination vows are still as binding upon him, as in the day when they were first laid upon him, is held forth as one more to be dreaded and shunned than those who probably re fe ard no Con- fession, perhaps hardly believe the Bible ! Accordingly, after suspending this branch of education for that year, when the Synod met again in spring, they considered the theological chair as vacant, and in their Register it was announced to the public as such ; and they, in consequence, proceeded to a new election. But how was it vacated? Not by death; as had been the case in all the former instances, from the time they had ap- pointed one to that charge in the Secession ; not by resigna- tion, as we shall see in a little. It must therefore be sup- posed to be in virtue of this deed ; for never before, nor since, did the Synod, to whom it peculiarly belongs to confer or deprive of this office, give any order, or intimate in any way, that it was their pleasure that he should desist from it : though he told the Committee of supplies, at the preceding meeting, that if any new step was taken, or new arrangement made, he would expect to receive due advertisement of it. If it be considered as a distinct part of office from the ordinary exer- cise of the ministry, the Presbytery's sentence said nothing ex- pressly in reference to it : If it was affected by that, it could only be by virtue of the general tenor and import of their sen- tence, and as being comprehended under the clause, * any exer- ' cise of the ministerial office,' equally with other branches of it : whereas the Synod's deed distinguished and separated it ; otherwise they might have referred all equally to the deter- mination of the Presbytery. If the Synod'? sentence did not affect this, it did nothing at all : and if the Presbytery's sen- tence also included this, it proposed and accomplished directly the same specific object with the other; it did the Synod's work over again, and on the very same grounds ; and so veri- fies what has been asserted above, that Mr B. was thrice judg- ed within the space of six weeks, and twice deposed for the same alledged offences. When the following Synod proceeded on the supposition of a vacancy in tkat charge, it must have been in consequence of something they had judicially found and done, as in their own minutes ; or else they ought to have brought the Pres- R b bvtery's ( "* ) bytery's deed under review, that so they might finally hatfe ratified it so far as it respected that matter, or to have added ■what was wanting in it : for though it may be allowed, that a Presbytery might suspend from that office, in certain cases, it is presumed they could not regularly depose, and finally make void a Synodical appointment, without the concurrence and express sanction of Synod. This part of the subject, has some connection with the question, whether the offices of the pastor and doctor be dif- ferent, or if they be the same, and virtually at least conjoined in the same person j in reference to which there is some diver- sity of language used in the Scots books of discipline, and in the Assembly's Form of Church Government; one article in the latter, the Church of Scotland, in their act of approbation in 1645, referred to after consideration. But the difference chiefly lies, in what respects the powers and ministrations, competent to either in congregations ; which does not so im- mediately affect the present case : for both of them admit, there may be a distinct and peculiar exercise of the office of a doctor, in collegiate churches, and especially in schools and universities *. In either case, it ought to be considered as belonging to an ecclesiastical constitution, and in a Presbyterian church ought to be regulated in the exercise of it, by the au- thority, and subjected to the discipline of the judicatories cf it, either the inferior or superior, according to the special de- sign and extent of it, or as varying circumstances may require. The apostolic doctor, whose office, as explained in the stan- dards, is of constant use in the ordinary administrations of the church, or as it may be occasionally extended in public theo- logical seminaries, beyond what belongs to teachers restricted to the charge of a particular congregation, is the only one that ought to be admitted as having any place, power, or utility in the church of Christ, according to Presbyterian principles. As for the; title of Doctor of Divinity, conferred by Universi- ties, or by whatever mode of conveyance, as implying a dif- ferent order, or some dignity or privilege superior to that of the pastor or apostolic doctor, as is common in the Romish and Prelatic church, it is expressly excluded by the prohibition of our Lord, inconsistent with ministerial parity, and was abjured in the times of reformation, along with the powers of bishops, deans, and other officers, constituting or depending upon the hierarchy. Viewing it, even as a mere academical or honor- ary title, similar to those conferred in other learned faculties, it serves only to tickle literary vanity, without having ever * See Form, Sec. under the title. Teacher or Doctor. * A teacher or doctor is • of most excellent use in schools and universities, as of old in the schools of the * prophets, and at Jerusalem, where Gamaliel and other* taught as doctors.' been, ( 195 ) been, as usually obtained, any real test of merit. Such titles have been most affected, and most liberally bestowed, when true theological learning hath been most rare ; as they were in the Jewish and Romish churches when they were in their most degenerate periods : but the use of them is more excuse- able, and less liable to abuse, in the other departments of science, than in theology. If the academical faculty, by their act, pretend to authorize any to be public teachers of di- vinity, with the same or superior authority to that conveyed by presbyterial ordination, if any ideas of this kind be com- monly attached to the title, if it be considered as having any real significance in an ecclesiastic view, or ever be seriously used as if it had, it ought to be exploded from the Presbyterian church, as in so far inconsistent with the spirit of its reforma- tion, and the principles of its constitution. If at best it be a mere empty title, and something worse when founding a claim to some ecclesiastical degree or dignity, not equally enjoyed by eve- ry minister of Christ, it might have been least of all expected to meet with a fond reception in the Secession, where it has how- ever not only been publicly and ostentatiously assumed by some individuals, but allowed, of late, as current style in church- courts without reprehension. Or, if it may sometimes, in com- pliance with custom, .be tolerated or employed in common Use, as the titles, his holiness, his grace, and the like, may be ; or if it be suffered to be hung, like a bauble or a rattle, about a child's neck, to please him, or to make a noise with, this is surely enough. Doctor of the theological class, under the General Synod, was not an empty title, nor his place a sinecure ; nor was the ofHce like that of a teacher in common branches of education who may commence his course, continue in it, or desist from it at pleasure. It differs from that of private tutors or aca- demical teachers among the dissenters, on the Independent plan, in England ; who, at their own option, or by private ad- vice or concert, open schools, or form an academy in which divinity is included as part of the course ; or if the seminaries are of a more public and permanent nature, are subjected to the rules of the founders, and the authority of certain managers or trustees, often laymen ; as must be the case where no com- mon ecclesiastical authority is acknowledged. This part of education hath ever been conducted in a very different man- ner in the Secession : it is strictly a part of their ecclesiastical constitution : none have ever assumed it, nor may assume it, without the nomination and appointment of the supreme court, to which, in the exercise or in the demi?ting of the charge, the person vested with it is accountable, in the same manner as he is in regard to the pastoral office. By parity of reason he has £ b 2 the ( «« ) the same claim on the courts for protection and the enjoy- ment of all his rights, when discharging the duties of it ; and consequently neither an inferior nor superior court can arbi- trarily resume it, or depose from it upon charges, but accord- ing to usual rules of di-cipliiie and forms of process. There may indeed be various cases supposed, in which, with- out any injury to the party, and without any impeachment, or censure, direct or implied, they might relieve him from it, and resume or transfer it to another ; which we need not here specify. But none of these can have a similarity to the present case, as it is evidently an ecclesiastical censure. That it adopts a different style, and overleaps and disregards the necessary formalities of one, renders it so much the more culp- able: while in the matter of the sentence it is unjust, and a personal injury, it is aLo a giievous corruption of the public discipline of the church, which they have sworn to maintain, in the preservation of which in pnrity, every one in the body is interested. It is an attempt to rule without law, and to condemn without trial. Such silent attacks, such censures in disguise, are more to be dreaded than bold injustice wearing its legal robes, whereby it may be more easily discerned. It is like wounding or killing with an air-gun, that makes no report, which is a more atrocious crime than doing the same by ordinary fire-arms. The Synod and some Presbyteries of late seem much to delight in the use of their new-coined phrases, and novel modes of censure, which in vain we will search for in any approven book of discipline, and which are not even mentioned in their own summary of it in chap, xxiii. Instead of saying, * we admonish, rebuke, suspend, depose,' at one time they will say, as in this instance, * we judge it would be highly improper ' that he should be continued ;' though something may be in- convenient, inexpedient, or improper, which cannot be judi- cially pronounced sinful, or highly censurable : or if any were found justly chargeable with throwing otT all regard to the authority to which he had vowed subjection, or * :Uf~ ' porting a schismatical course,' (an unusual phrase)' such con- duct would amount to something piore than a bare impropri- ety. At another time a Presbytery, or one assuming the power of one, will write to a preacher remitted to them by the General Svnod to be employed, * that they want to have no- ' tiling to do with him, or any of his sword-principles, forbnrf- •' cling him to come within their bounds, or even to write to ' their high Mightinesses, under pain of having tl e letter re- 4 turned unopened :' (Kilmarnock^). Another will send to a pre ache r in similar circumstances, this notice, ' I as clerk of iy, discharge you from preaching in such a place, * and ( m ) ' and the people from hearing you, under pain of censure v (Forfar). A third, upon being informed that a minister, oc- casionally employed in Orkney, was not well affected to the New Testimony, and upon a flying report that he was^not about to leave that place to attend upon another Presbytery, to which the Synod had ordered him, may be found to have proceeded, without waiting for a confirmation of the report, even while he was actually in the way returning, according to Syno- dical order, and not within the bounds of that Presbytery, nor under any obligation to answer to them, instantly to issue out a prohibition from preaching ; {Edinburgh) : And the other Presbytery to which he was remitted (Stirling), over and above the prohibition, to have denounced a suspension; and upon their report, with the addition of another, that he continued to .ie among the people who had given him a call, and had, r.o: without success, endeavoured to instruct and confirm them in the knowledge of the former principles of the Secession, to- gether with the common principles of Christianity (an un- pardonable offence \ the Synod of Glasgow shall be found summarily to have inflicted the sentence of deposition and lesser excommunication upon him : while the particulars or grounds of some of the principal charges, have been withneld from himself as well as from the public: (though the writer in their Register has thought himself intitled to abuse him in the most scurrilous manner, and represent him to ti.e world as if he were unworthy of a place in common society, Letter iii.) The' Presbytery of Edinburgh, more lately, have given an- other instance of their readiness to employ their informal and new-invented censure called prohilitio?i ; when a worthy mem- ber had reckoned it his duty to declare to his congregation in Haddington, his adherence to his ordination vows, and to testify against the late innovations, a number of discontented elders (a body of men, who, we are sorry to say, in the pre- sent course of defection, have not only gone hand in hand with the generality of ministers in courts and otherwise, but in proportion to their numbers, are even more generally in- Wived than the other in the guilt of betraying the trust com- mitted to them, as to the public cause and their congrega- tions) hurried away with the news to the Presbytery, and upon giving such a report of what had been said, as their memories or their inclinations served them to make, the court, without having heard a syllable from the minister, agreed to * prohibit him from preaching until he be heard;' and appointed a preacher to go on the very next Sabbath to thrust him out of his pulpit, if he could find access to it ; of which a more par- ticular account may be expected from that brother himself. Another striking instance of the wavering and uncanonical form ( ™8 > form of their discipline we have in the sequel of the process against Mr Hog, in consequence of the summons given him upon the same charges with those that have been above con- sidered : the result of this, so far as it has been declared, may- be here briefly noticed, as our time and room admit not of a more particular detail of the manoeuvres and proceedings in his case before his Presbytery. When the time of his com- pearance arrived, the Presbytery of Kelso adopted the mea- sure of delivering an Address, previously prepared, into Mr Hog's hand, delaying procedure to censure, until next meet- ing. This had the appearance of brotherly regard, though another design was perhaps chiefly in view, namely, to concili- ate the minds of the people to their measures, as they in- sisted, that it should be publicly read, and copied, to be circu- lated among them. It was a very insidious and heterogeneous composition; making the usual professions, that there had been no material change , that the Synod had found no fault with Mr H. or his brethren for their adhering to the former Testi- mony, but, on the contrary, would hold them censurable if they were to desert any article of it: that they found no fault with the sentiments they held about the controverted sub- jects ; that there was little reason for Seceders, in the present state of things, to contend about what Magistrates might do in behalf of the true religion ; that they supposed the brethren entertained some peculiar sentiments on these subjects, but they were at a loss to know what they were, as they had only said they adhered to the principles of the reformed churches and of our standards, — but * that was saying nothing *!' that the Synod were for going forward in reformation, the Pro- testers were for standing still, or rather for going back to 1736; — that the Synod had by their new deeds cleared away the rubbish, and removed entirely the reproach cast upon the work of reformation, the covenants and former statement of principles, on the head of enforcement, that they might shine with greater lustre, — but the other were for adhering to them with all that load and rubbish ; — concluding with a serious (Ball and obtestation to their brother, — by all that was solemn or dear in public or domestic life, — to consider, retract, and submit ; certifying that if he did not do so speedily, they would at next meeting proceed to follow out the instructions of the General Synod. This was all that was adduced in sup- port of a libel, or charges in the summons. Mr H. had pre- sented some answers to the charges ; and when next meeting * Yet they blame them for having found fault with the Synod, in the paper published in the Magazine, for having condemned all religieus tests as qualifica- tions for offices of power and trust. To assert this they say, * is an anti-govern- ' ment principle.' Though a principle nece c $ariiy belonging to the British' Constitu- tional reforming and in present times; and to every Christian government in Europe came, ( "» ) came, some Reply to the Address left with him. With dif- ficulty they were allowed a reading ; at any rate, not before the multitude, and only, it was said, ex gratia. As there was not a word in them of retraction, after some observations in a speech by the Synod-clerk, in which he endeavoured to de- fend himself against the charge of inconsistency, he moved, that the Presbytery should instantly proceed to depose Mr H. But not one seconded the motion : of course there was a de- lay to another meeting. The Presbytery, in more instances than one, had recently been employed in deposing, on grounds of a very different nature, which, with other considerations, might incline them to a more cautious procedure. Though the Synod had not provided them with auxiliaries, it was hoped that some aid would be obtained from a neighbouring Pres- bytery at the subsequent meeting. Accordingly, one of the trained band from Edinburgh, who has in so various ways thrust himself forward in services of this kind, volunteered: but not- withstanding his good will and assistance to help them forward, no farther progress was made in that or in following meetings ; but the cause was remitted to the General Synod in April last: their judgment upon it has been published in the following terms : * The Synod had before them a reference from the Presbytery ' of Kelso in the case of Mr H. stating among other things, * the reason why that Presbytery had not deposed him accord- * ing to the directions given them at last Synod. The Synod, * upon being informed that Mr H. was in a very bad state of * health, unable to preach, or to attend any church-court, agreed 4 to prohibit him from preaching till the next meeting of Synod ; * and appointed the Presbytery of Kelso, in the mean time, to * supply that congregation with sermon *.' Here is a sentence that is neither suspension nor deposition in form, though evidently intended to answer all the purposes, and calculated to produce all the hurtful consequences, which either of them upon the same grounds could have produced : only as it is called but a simple prohibition from preaching, for a limited time, they may pretend there was less need to in- quire judicially into the relevancy of the grounds or proofs : accordingly, none are here stated or alledged. " Sic volo sic jubeo ;" — is the only reason : as in the days of Star-chamber tyranny, men were accused, confined in prison, at the pleasure of the court, and treated as guilty, without getting the benefit of a legal deliverance, either by fair condemnation or acquittal, by the privilege of habeas corpus. They cannot alledge here, as their reason of avoiding to give a decisive judgment, that the party was disabled from appearing personally in court, as the plea of Habeas corpus supposed, through indisposition, as seems to be insinuated ; because in all the other cases they * Christ. Ma j. (New Series) No, 4 p. 156. had ( 200 ) had proceeded to a more sudden and final sentence, -when none of the ministers were personally present. Tins is a mere ar- tifice, to cover their injustice under the veil of regard to legali- ty of process, or humanity, while they are grossly violating both. We are not told what the reference from the Presby- tery contained, nor what other reason they had for delaying to obtemperate the Synod's orders so long, except the one here mentioned, Mr H.'s illness, which did not exist to the same degree throughout the winter. But it may be presumed, that the charges contained in the summons, common to him with the other brethren, were all they had to adduce, and the judicial labours of that Presbytery legally to establish them, were not greater or more successful than those of the courts that had proceeded before them to judgment had been. In this case, the last of the charges was long become matter of notoriety, and they might more easily have obtained legal evi- dence of this, had they sought it, without referring toinquisi- torial confessions or constructions. Yet how different was their conduct and that of the Synod too, and how variable was their rule of dibc^line, in cases that were similar ! Instan- taneous cutting off from the body by nothing less thaa deposi- tion and excommunication, was but lately cried up as the only adequate censure for such offences. Faithfulness required that these should have been inflicted upon the first hearing o»"them; as the Clerk-register of the Synod of Glasgow had told us : ■ forbearance could no longer be tolerated, 7 — * Had the fact re- * specting Mr Aiken's being a member of this Presbytery been * ascertained at the time when censure was passed upon him, * 1 hardly think (sa} r s he), there would have been an individ- * ual in the Synod who would have voted for a simple sus- * pension' p. 34. What became of all this zeal and faithful- ness, when the Presbytery of Kelso had such a cause repeat- edly before them, and with the minister of Leith too at one time along with them to prompt their zeal, and yet no sort of censure was passed ? And if all that had been done before was right, even indispeivsibly necessary, how can he or any vindi- cate the last Synod from a neglect of duty, when they hardly ventured * to vote so much as a simple suspension.' In their great tenderness for the health and ease of their distressed brother, they only agree kindly to free him from the burden of preaching while he is unable to preach ; and if he shall re- cover, that he may have due time for convalescence, they will continue to afford him their gratuitous brotherly assistance until next Synod, a year hence ; and then they will perhaps consult whether it may be safe and advisable for him to venture abroad, and to employ the remainder of his days and strength in such kind of exercises. This Is very gentle and tolerant; scarcely could a bosom-friend have desired more. If the word pro- hibit ( 201 ) libit may sound a little harsh; it ought to be recollected, that the mo;>t indulgent parent will cross some eager propensities, or abridge the desirable Liberties of a child, uhen he sees they w aiid be prejudicial to him ; and the most humane physician will absolutely forbid his patient for a time the use or" his favourite meats or cxtrciscs, perhaps will hardly permit him so much as to taste a little wine, however much lie may long for it, or love it. Or if a sickly person were so wayward as to attempt to get out of bed, go abroad, or to begin to work too -oon, to the evident hazard of his life or health, would it not be kind even by force to restrain him ? Only here the ecclesiastical prescription does not tell exactly how far the restraint goes ; whether they meant to relieve the invalid from the whole burden of public service, or only one part of it. If he abstain from preaching, it is left dubious whether he may not pray, catechise, exhort, and dispense the sacra- ments as heretofore, if he may feel himself able and so disposed. These it would seem are entirely left to his own discretion. But in good earnest, what is this but a subdolous attempt, under some guise of lenity, utterly to overthrow his ministry among his people, and effectually to break the peace of that congregation, a considerable majority of whom were still dis- posed to adhere to their former principles, and to him. A fac- tion had, before this time, been secretly or openly encouraged by ministers of the Presbyter}^ to withdraw from communion with them, both in sealing ordinances and in hearing, before there was any form of censure in his case : but until that took place, there was no pretence for affording supply of sermon to them, while no application was made for it. Now the Synod, with the least noise possible, remove this bar out of the w r ay, and, by their paramount authority, appoint the Presby- tery, not merely to comply with the request of these separatists, but to pour in their supply, taking advantage of the minister's present inability to officiate, upon the whole congregation, while neither he nor they were desiring it. What was this but intrusion upon both the one and the other ? What was it but ordering the gospel to be preached, of contention and * not from good will,' seeking to add affliction to the minister's bonds ? Too like the consultations and practices of some breth- ren in iniquity of old, who contrived to fall upon the men of a city w 7 hen they w T ere sore, so detestable to the aged patriarch : And too, too like the sin of those " who persecute him whom " the Lord before had smitten, and who talk and act to the ■ grief of those whom the Lord before had woundel :" Psd. lxix. 26. Instead of real sympathy, did they not on the matter say, when the hand of the Lord restrains him from standing 1 *he watch-tower, or appearing in defence of his flock, - C c " let ( 202 ) let us lay violent hands, and our bands also upon him, that,in ease he be spared and recover strength, he may not be allowed to employ it in the work to which he was devoted, and in la- bouring among the people whom he was bound to serve. It is better " to fall into the hands of the Lord, (for great are his merciesj than into the hands of men." By the kindness of Providence, that brother was raised up, and found the door still open for him to resume, though under much bodily weak- ness, public service ; to preach, although unable to stand ; and also to prepare and publish an affectionate Address to his Con- gregation upon their present danger, and the public cause for which he hath suffered unto bonds, which the people of every congregation in the Secession, who can have access to see it, would do well also to read. It is only of late, if the designs of the courts and of the adverse party have been so far success- ful, as to find a place there to set up their schismatical and sec- tarian tent. It is not needful to add more upon the pretended grounds of these groundless censures, whether they have been with more or less formality denounced. The principal ground- work common to them all, is the foresaid material declina- ture, or as it is expressed in the Synod-clerk's letter, ' their * having virtually declined the authority of the Synod ;' though of the peculiar nature, reasons, or words of that declinature, they never have said a word. By a bare reading of the paper itself, in the abstract of it published, or from the account of it given above, it may be evident, that it was not the authority of the Synod that was declined otherwise than as it is engaged in the enacting and enforcing the new deeds, or as that autho- rity operates in imposing the different principles and terms of communion contained in them. This, in the judgment of the Synod, is found to be virtually a declining it altogether, — equivalent to a total rejection of it ; whence these conclu- sions may be fairly drawn ; — that it is absurd in them any longer to pretend, as they have 'done, that they hold the mat- ters of difference, or their new modes of profession, as no- thing, or as things of no moment ; or that they have left them a? matters of liberty, to be embraced or rejected at pleasure They are made not only a part, but a most important and es- sential part of their constitution, so that the whole must stand or fall with them. They are so inseparably interwoven with it, and the authority of Synod is so directly engaged for the support and enforcement of them, that unless submission to it in these be given, it can be given in nothing : to decline it in these, they say, is virtually to decline it wholly, and in every thing besides. The whole of their new testimony and consti- tution, may therefore be reducible to these as their distinguish- ing criterion :^and the whole of the Synod's authority is at- tached ( 203 ) tached to, and virtually concentrated in these, and cannot now exist, but as it is devoted and employed for the support and propagation of them. What could be a more effectual justi- fication of the necessity, seasonableness, and validity ot that protest or declinature, and of the conduct of the brethren con- sequential upon it. SECTION TENTH. The principles of former Professors, and of the most approven sys- tems of Divinity not different from those of MrB — The calum- ny in the Synod's Publication on this head refuted, — Not war- ranted by Mr GSs Protest The doctrine of the Synod- Sermon justified. — Evidence of its agreement with Mr G.'s own principles, and those commonly adopted. — His Protest ac» counted for. — Reasons for Mr B. having been so explicit in that discourse on the duty of Magistrates. A HE institution of a course of theological education under a separate teacher was nearly co-eval with the Secession, and seems necessarily to belong to it, in order to its being main- tained on a permanent footing. It can hardly be supposed that ministers would long be disposed to keep up a separate religious communion, or hold and preach very different doc- trines, who have been trained up in their earlier years in the same seminaries, and have drawn from the same fountains. The Seceding judicatories, instead of being blameable for the care and caution they formerly shewed, lest the youth in- tending the ministry should receive a wrong bias, by going through the course established in that church from which they had separated, they have rather been reprehensible, for many years past, for relaxing their vigilance in some respects, on this head. When the General Synod had made a change in their public profession, it was very consistent, and a thing of course to be expected, sooner or later, that they should also change their teacher of divinity, when he could not concur in their views. This became necessary in order the more effectually and fully to attain their object. It was one of the links in the chain of their proceedings, for accomplishing thoroughly the new model of their ecclesiastical constitution, and for pro- moting and perpetuating the new scheme of principles. It is in tliis view chiefly, as being another blow ultimately aimed at their former profession, that the deeds effecting this change, mentioned in the last section, are condemned : not as if he who then, in the providence of God, sustained that character, con- sidered his services, in that or in any other line in the church, as of any moment abstractly considered ; especially when at Cc2 any ( 204 ) any rate a lew mere years behoved of course to have put a period to them. In the way and manner in which this was done, as an ecclesiastic censure, under false pit texts, it is an- other instance of injustice and the perversion of discipline, — a violent seizure of what, ii* they had not been left of God to mistake and turn from the plain path of wisdom and right judgment, they might have easily gained without such guilt, by other and fairer means. In these respects, it is deserving of the" same reprobation as the other injurious censures they have inflicted, and therefore against this, as against all the rest, the previous protestation taken in Synod applies, whereby they arc declared to/be of no validity; and that each of these ministers still, notwithstanding, enjoy trie same right, as they might have a call or opportunity, to exercise as before any part or branch of their office. This deed of Synod, so far as Mr B.'s sentiments upon the controverted subjects, and fiis adherence to the public profes- sion formerly made, are concerned, — by a retrospect equally condemns every one of those worthy ministers, who had been his predecessors in that office from the beginning of the Seces- sion. Had the same rules been in their days enforced, they would either have been excluded from office, or afterward de- posed from it. On the subject of the magistrates power about religion, (which runs through almost all the changes late- ly made), their sentiments can be sufficiently ascertained, and (learly proved to be in agreement with those for which Mr B. and his brethren have contended. Their public subscriptions prove it : their private writings prove it ; the system they taught, and those they chiefly recommended to their students prove it ; some parts of the conduct of some of them in judica- tories, as We'll as the sentiments they have occasionally ex- pressed in private, confirm it. No systematic writers have been more generally approven in the Galvinistic colleges abroad, or a: home, than Calvin's Institutions, Turretine, Yo- etius, and Pictct. It is evident on what side they are to be reckoned. Within the compass of a few pages of Turn tine's system, the subject is treated in a more sensible and accurate manner, and mere light is cast upon it, than hath been done by ail the pretended elucidations of the Synod, or by the large papers of the committees, or ever can be by them, while they know not how to state the questions with propriety, nor at- tend to some of the mest nectssary distinctions that have been rnd must be employed in the discussion. The lSlcdulla of Theology by Professor Mark in Ley den, it is well known, Iras been put into the hand of every student of divinity in the So- il, as a text book on which lectures have been delivered by ( 205 ) bv all that filled the chair *. It was also formerly used in sonic of the universities in Scotland ; as it continued to be held in repute, and to be taught in Ley den and other colleges in Holland, down to a late period of last century, as appears from labefrate and voluminous commentary upon it, published about the year 1164 — by the learned Bernard de Moore, in Urge vols, in 4to. ]t appears to have been taught too in some of the dissenting academies in England : the copy Mr B. used, had been in the possession of JJr Conder, and seems to have been employed by him as a text-book when he was theo- logical tutor in London, as there are several of his MSS. notes in the margin, with frequent reference to other books. Mr Alex. Moncrieff of Abernethy, when in Holland, attended the lectures of that eminent man. But who ever heard that he or r.ny of the other two, that occupied the same station, ever quarreled the doctrine of that author, or warned their stu- dents against it ? Or when did Mr B. or any of his brethren, exceed the general principles he hath laid down in that sum- mary ? Mr B. abstained from going so far, by employing, in any thing he taught on that subject, some of the harsher pro- positions, and strong expressions to be found both in it, and in Turretine, with regard to the lawfulness of punishing capi- tally some noted blasphemers, or more pestilent heresiarchs ; because, if the position was to be admitted, it ought to be taught with such restrictions, and accompanied with such dis- tinctions, as he did not think he had any necessary call or leisure to enter into. And when he came in course to the paragraph in the end of Chap. II I. where the author's doctrine about the tolera- tion of false religion, and the application of penal laws in re- ference to it, is briefly stated f , though he had been accustomed to lecture on the principal topics occurring before and after, — * Mr B. is possessed of the copy of the Compendium of Mark, which is only a larger application of the heads of the Marrott,, that belonged to the Rev. Mr £»X W. Wihon of Perth, their first divinity professor, bound up with blank paper, on which are written with his own hand a few of his preelections. f That paragraph in which an unlimited toleration is condemned, is in these terms ; ' Toleran debent tamen in externa sreietate mundi Infidelts ipsi quoque 4 Juchxi ; imo ad resipisccntiam juvari mediis aptis. Qua: tolerantia interim 2d • idololatria*. et bla'phemiae liberum eatercitium et progressum, se ncn debet exten- 'dere. Quin et poena; graviores Ha^res-archis, blasphemis, et contumacibus quen- A-/ • duque possum sratui.' / His sentiments upon the general subject are more particularly stated in chap, xxxiii. sect. 31, 3a. where he teaches that magistratical power extends not merely to civil affairs, but also ecclesiastical ; not to the internal but the external affairs of the church, under due limitations: this he proves by some of the arguments com- monly adduced. Among other ways in which it may he employed in aid of the church, he mentions the use cf arms in defence of religion, the punishment of blasphemers, &c. language the meaning of which the Committee cf Synod in their answers profess they are even at a loss to vnderttsnd. 'The Power,' &c. p. 104. he 1 ( 206 ) he passed over it by barely reading it as what the author thought upon these subjects. He acted a similar part by overleaping some of the contested paragraphs in the Confession of Faith, in assigning discourses upon it to younger students. So far did he show deference to the scruples of hi] brethren ; so far was he from imposing his own views on these points, or from urging any to a premature explication of their sentiments up* on them, while they were under Synodical consideration. Per- haps he cannot so easily be justified in using such caution, and in carrying his deference so far. None of his predecessors in that charge, it may be presumed, ever acted a similar part. With respect to him that was in the charge immediately before him, Mr B.had access, both before and after he became a member of Synod, to be pretty well acquainted with his sen- timents ; and he had reason to believe, that Mr Buist did not exceed the truth, when he asserted at the time of the last elec- tion in Synod, when the subject became matter of a short con- versation upon occasion of the protest before mentioned, that the late professor had the same (or as high) sentiments on that head as Mr B. entertained. His conduct when he was ap- pointed a correspondent to meet with the Presbytery of Perth in 1768, in order to deal with Mr Scot of Dundee, to retract the opinions he had adopted upon the head of national cove- nanting, the civil reformation, the magistrate's power circa sacra, &lc. and upon his refusal, to inflict upon him, according to the Synod's order, the sentence of suspension evidenced it. When Mr S. refused to recant, or to renew his assent to the ques- tions in the formula, chiefly on the same grounds on which the General Synod have changed them, Mr MoncriefFnot only concurred with the Presbytery in the censure, but, think* ing they were spending too long time in previous reasoning and proposals, he, as Mr S. has expressed it, * was provoked out * of measure for their deviating so far from the Synod's in- ' structions ; and threatened if they did not proceed, he would 1 leave them*.' Mr B. can adduce another evidence, which Shdws that he continued to be of the same mind on that sub- ject many years after, and which serves also for a presump- tive proof that the doctrine now exploded, was at that time currently received, by the generality of the ministers of the As- sociate Synod, and openly opposed by none. When it fell tc Mr B. as Moderator in the former meeting to open the Synod in )7~S, with a Sermon, on the words " Every plant which my " Heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up," Mat. xv. 13. among the different means that might be em- ployed for removing or plucking up what might be noxious * Scot's Account of the Fuse, &c. p. 40. to ( 207 ; to the interests of the church, the part that belonged to civil rulers in that matter, in the exercise of a power committed to them altogether distinct to what belonged to the church, came natively to be mentioned and justified, particularly, with an ap- plication to the repeal of the laws affecting Roman Catholics, which then began to produce an alarm throughout the nation, and which by successive acts of the legislature has since been carried to a farther and more dangerous extent. What was advanced on that head proceeded on the same general principles as those he had before, and has since uniformly believed and taught. The words of the Confession of Faith were repeated in confirmation of what was said. When the Sermon was over, Mr Moncrieff said to him in his usual jocose manner, * It was well you could set the Confession of Faith between 4 you and all challenge on that head.' Not one member of Synod, either publicly or privately, then or at any other time, offered any objection to the doctrine: Mr Gib was also one of the hearers. But the authority of a subscribed Confession will not now serve for a screen to any who would teach some of its contents. The compilers of it are represented by the publisher of the Synod's papers, either as great proficients in the pernicious art ©f studied ambiguity in laying down their doctrine on this head, — or else as ignorant blunderers that did not know how to express what they meant in proper lan- guage, so as to render it intelligible to others, p. 10. If the Protesters have been brought in for their share of abuse, they have been abused in good company. That petulant writer has ventured to assert, that Mr B. not only attacked the principles contained in the Associate Pres- bytery's Answers to Mr Nairn on the head of civil govern- ment, and on public covenanting, after he began to oppose the Synod's new Testimony, but endeavours to impress the public mind with the notion that he had long before been ' different ' in all his views from the rest of the body,' and that this was well known to some, at the time of his being appointed teacher of theology, p. 14, 15. None of these assertions deserve re- gard as having any necessary connection with the judicial pro- cess, or the defences that may be needful against it, which is our immediate business, because these were never introduced into it. But they are most injuriously produced in a more ob- noxious form, and advanced at first instance before the public. Even though the charge could be made good, and some com- petent evidence could be brought forward to satisfy every reader, the Synod could not be exculpated from the charge of infringing legal rights, and transgressing the rules of scripture and church-discipline, in their manner of procedure. They were eagerly prosecuting for other and lesser matter?, why did' ( 208 ) did they leave out the greater, and deprive the accused of a.i opportunity of answering in due form ? By such confident assertions they gain their end with a credulous people, who, without seeking the proof, or hearing replies, give them credit that the change from the original principles of the Secession, has been made on the other side, not on theirs. — But both the first and the last of the foregoing accusations Mr B. holds in contempt; and defies that writer, the Committee, and the whole Synod, to prove either the one or the other. When or where did he ever controvert the principle, * that the cogni- * sance of civil affairs doth not properly belong to a church ju- dicatory ?' as is impudently affirmed; p. 15. Were the mutilations, and wrested construction of the Secession-books on these subjects, or the forced meanings they put upon papers given in in opposition to their new deeds, to be brought here un- der review, it might easily be made to appear, that their appeal to either of them, affords not the slightest evidence in behalf of any of these assertions. But to one of them at present, that which relates to a known diversity of sentiment from the general body, at the time of his election to the Divinity-chair, the animadversions must be confined. Of this how slender the proof, and how great the improbability, to be opposed to the most public declarations, and direct evidence to the contrary. The assertion that this was well known to some is either wholly false, or torse different sentiments must have been reckoned innocent, having no relation to the public principles of the body, or those who knew them acted a very mean and unfaith- ful part in not having more early disclosed them, especially at the critical time when he was proposed for that public trust. Let these some be named, let even one individual be pointed out who will aver that Mr B. had publicly or privately avowed different sentiments on one of those articles in his public pro- fession he had subscribed ; those however must be excepted from giving evidence who themselves had begun to harbour opinions differing from it, who had crept in by feigning assent, and were still wearing a mask. He had no principles which he kept in reserve; none but what he freely laid open in public as well as in private, as he had occasion. How base then to insinuate, as if he held some, known only to a few con- sents, or to some who had more penetration than ethers to discover and detect them. Yes : the sum of the evidence when it comes out amounts only to this, that Mr Gib thought so at that time ; in support of which his pretest, formerly mentioned, is produced. Hitherto we had nothing but the writer's bare word to support such an unlimited charge ; and if this be not quite sufficient, he refers to one whose wcrd alone, or the mere sound of his name, must be ( 20tf ) be absolutely decisive. Those who have had recourse to tbit* and rest the cause here, consider not what indignity they here- by offer to their own judgment, to the Synod, to the discern- ing public, to the principles of Protestantism and justice. To the judicious, the short remarks already made, and the few facts hinted at, which the writer with design insidiously con- ceals, might suffice to shew the incompetence and futility of such evidence. We might dismiss it without a word more, as nothing, or less than nothing, from the consideration, that a charge or a testimony retracted is to all intents and purposes annihilated, and in the most effectual manner confuted : and whatever credit might be due to the judgment or veracity of the author of it, is after that wholly to be accounted in favour of the other side. But as the charge is deep, as it has, after all, been in this scandalous manner sent abroad to the world, as the name under which they would have it to pass is highly and justly respected by many, and as the populace are imposed upon and left without information about the circumstances, and real state of the case, some farther elucidation may yet be needful, that it may be searched to the bottom. The Narrator introduces his account in the following man- ner : f Thence it was' (that is, from the knowledge that some individuals had of Mr B.'s different views, without telling from what source it was derived, or on what grounds it de- pended, as if the name of his author might save every one the trouble of making such inquiries), ' that when he, in the * year 1186, was put upon the leet for being Professor of ■ Divinity, Mr Gib, of Edinburgh, openly opposed his stand- ' ing a candidate for that office.' With what propriety the expression standing a candidate, in the stricter sense of the term, is applied in the present case, any who were present at that time may know. If it raise in the mind an idea of any thing similar to the appearance of certain persons of old among the Romans, dressed in their white garments (from which the word candidate is derived), offering themselves to the people, and soliciting their suffrages for some office in the commonwealth; or, like the conduct of some modern knight or baronet, canvassing for votes to secure his election in a com- petition for a seat in parliament, as nothing would be more unsuitable to the general spirit with which ecclesiastical offices should be entered upon, so nothing could be more unlike to what really took place on the occasion referred to. This made a member of court observe, that they were likely to meet with greater difficulty in finding one willing to under- take the charge, than in making a choice. For himself, Mr B. can with truth allude to the words of the prophet, wherrhs said, " 1 have not hasted to be a prophet unto this people, D d « Lord ( 210 ) *' Lord thou knowest." That station was by him not only unsolicited, but altogether unexpected, and undesired. When, after a considerable time previously spent in prayer and con- ference, he, with some others, was named, without having had any notice that such a thing was by any intended ; he declined troubling the Synod at that stage of procedure, with his objec- tions. But when the leet was reduced to two, and his name retained, he thought it necessary to be very explicit, and to intimate, that, according to his present views, though the vote should so turn out as to lay him under such an appointment, of which he supposed there was little probability, he could not bring his mind to submit to it. This was before the protest was heard of, and while there was no apprehension of any such thing. When, before voting, the protest was thrown in, as the matter of it gave him little concern, so the end proposed by it gave him none. He gladly availed himself of it, to enforce his request to drop his name from the list, and to proceed in their main business, without a moment's delay; for though he had a right to insist, and would certainly insist, that Mr G. should be obliged to make good his charge, and so have the Synod's judgment upon it, yet he would willingly wait their time for doing it deliberately afterwards. An adjournment took place until next day ; — and when they had met, Mr G. of his own accord, withdrew the paper, without admitting it to a farther hearing, or any present desiring it*, Mr B. excepted, who insisted on his right and former request, which the Synod did not think proper to grant. Not a syllable, it is supposed of course, was allowed to be put into the minutes about that incident, more than if it had never taken place. It was con- sidered as a sudden sally of the good man's temper, rather than the effect of his deliberate judgment ; such eruption of * Mr A. Oliver of C. was the only one who had expressed his adherence to the protest when read, as he was usually a very obsequious follower: and per- haps, in this cause, before had acted behind the curtain as a busy-body and prompter ; as for a long course of years, in occasional conferences on these subjects, Air B. had found him, instead of entering into fair reasoning, dis- posed to utter strong and rash assertions against some of the principles ami measures of Presbyterians in former times; and to draw strained inferences and odious consequences from any arguments that might be urged on that side, or on the general question, and to impute all these consequences, and a set of principles «f his own forging (black aDd bloody enough to be sure) to those who utterly disclaimed them ; as has been of late more openly done, in speaking and writing, by the defenders of the new scheme. His misrepresentations, often instilled into the ear of that aged Father, might probably produce some effect, although he often rated him for his incautious and rambling talk. But when Mr G. withdrew the p.:per, his second said not a wo:d: his principaf'having failed him, he could no lunger stand on his owr feet, nor advance one step farther in a fair manner to support the charges. What share he h; th had in keeping rhem alive, and circu- lating them privately, or iu reviving this p^psr, and abetting the use that h*s again be3n made of it, he himself bts: knows. it C 211 ) it had at times formerly appeared in that house and elsewhere, of which some members had felt the temporary effects. Could Mr B. have foreseen that a paper thus disposed of, should, by some of those very persons who then opposed giving it a hear- ing, again be introduced into the courts, and that at the distance of twenty years they should allow it to rise up in judgment against him; and even to be sent abroad to the world? All the information, as to the nature and grounds of the protest, communicated by the Synod's publisher is this, he protested, * that as he has advanced principles subversive of a most ma- ' terial and fundamental part ot the Secession Testimony, con- * cerning the power of the civil magistrate in matters of re- ' ligion, principles meaning to subject the consciences of Chris- ' tians to the lordship of civil powers, and transferring to these * powers the special privileges and business of the church, a * putting him into that office may expose young men to a being * tainted with these principles. I conceive the employing him in i that office must mean a toleration of these principles which * cannot consistently take place, without throwing the eleventh * question out of their Formula.' The question here referred to, is that which required approbation of the declaration of prin- ciples on the head of civil government, in Answers to Nairn. • If there was the least degree of truth in what was alledged in it, the protest doubtless was valid. If Mr G. was even persuaded that the charge could have been made good, he ought to have prosecuted it to the utmost ; or if the Synod had any impres- sion of its truth, they were very culpable in dismissing it with- out inquiry. Or if the Synod that now is, or any belonging to it, were actually persuaded of the truth of it, they too were, highly culpable in not having, long before this, inserted it as the first and principal article in a libel ; for the evidence was stiil remaining, and as full before them as it was to him who first proposed it, and the danger of tolerating such principles, and of tainting others with them, was all along as great as it was at first. But what was the evidence or causa scientiiz referred to in the original ? There is not the smallest hint of this in their published transcript : And herein its chief injustice and malignity lie. If they themselves did not, nor yet do believe that the charge could be supported on the gTound on which it had been advanced, in what light must their conduct appear > how deliberate is their use of falsehood, and how avowedly do they act the part of false accusers ! In the manner in which the charge is here stated, every reader is left to conjecture what he pleases as to the time, place, or mode, in which such odious doctrines may have been advanced : but in the original, it was definite, being confined to what had been expressed on that subject in Mr B.'s dis- D d 2 course, ( »lf ) course, entitled, True Patriotism, &c. published in the year preceding, but preached nine or ten years before. He could re- fer to no other publication relating to that subject, excepting Free Thoughts on the Toleration of Popery, generally imputed to him : but that had been in circulation for some years before, and Mr G. had never found fault with the sentiments in it, but had taken some active share in promoting its circulation. It has been already mentioned, that he had also that discourse put into his hand for perusal (excepting part of the improve- ment) written out for the press, and some of the words in his letter that accompanied it when returned, that have been quoted, p. L32. shew how he became art and part in the guilt of all these errors, if any such were in it ; and in the crime of publishing them too, for he had no other objection to that, unless the expence might be one, of which he had drawn up an estimate on a blank leaf of the MS. Aft«r it was published, though he had opportunity for doing it, he never had made exception to any thing in it; until it was done in that abrupt manner in Synod. Since, then, we have got to the true ground-work of this charge, dressed up in such formidable array, let every reader, before he suffer his mind to be impressed by it, examine it for himself, whether it will bear the weight : that he may hnve it in his power to do it, and as the most effectual vindication, Mr B. thinks it needful to insert the whole of that part of the dis- course, to which the charge related, in the Appendix*; as the ser- mon is not now in the shop* ; especially as it contains a sum- mary of his creed upon some principal points of the contro- verted subject, which, after deliberate rcview T , he still avows. He particularly calls upon the gentlemen who have made them- selves responsible, by bringing this accusation before the pub- lic, (for it is no longer Mjr G.'s, nor ever was his for more than a few hours), he calls the Synod to search every para- graph anew, if they had not done it before, and point out the article, or articles, from which it can be justly inferred, that the author had subjected the consciences of Christians to the lord- ship of civil powers, &tc. and he will, if spared, upon due evi- dence, confess an error, or refute the accusation. If they have stepped into the place of the deceased,let them attack directly the doctrine of that publication, which they have not had the ho- nesty to do, though they might have had the discourse in their hands, and perhaps had it, — or let them, upon declining the contest on this ground, or failing in it, like him, fairly retract. As the paper was suddenly abstracted, without any particu- lar passages having been specified, and no intercourse having taken place, so as to bring about any further explication, while Mr G. lived, Mr B. never could certainly learn, and hardly could * Sec Appendix, No. III. ( 213 ) could conjecture from what propositions the strange inferences were to be drawn ; and it is probable that those who now give currency to the writing, cannot furnish us with the key, nor are able to divine what they are. The only hint he ever had, as to that, was from Mr G.'s brother-in-law, the Rev. Mr M'George, who said that he had a particular respect to the paragraph that seems to allow to rulers the same power when on the side of the true religion, as has been employed by its enemies to the prejudice of it. It was immediately recollec- ted, that the following sentence must have been meant; 'though I there be a specific difference between the kingdom of Christ, f and the kingdoms of this world; though the former be heaven- *' lv and spiritual, and the latter, with all the authority exercised ' In them, be purely secular, yet, it may be affirmed, that in f proportion as the kingdom of Christ, and its members may be * affected and injured by secular power and laws, when directed t against them, so far may they be assisted and benefited by f them.' p 31. When general and theoretic propositions are laid down without particular explication, the meaning may be yery readily mistaken. It seems to have been so here, and the misapprehension was very gross, if the words were un- derstood to mean, that every thing might warrantably be done on the side of the true religion that hath been done against it. Js this the same with saying, that because pagan or antichris- tian governments, or oppressors of the church, have cruelly persecuted it, or invaded Christ's prerogative and the church's privileges, Christian and reformed rulers are warranted in imi- tating their example, by exercising their pow T er to the same lawless extent, or employing the same violent, unjust, and cruel methods in behalf of Christianity, that its enemies have em- ployed against it, or that they ought to retaliate upon them in Kind ? If Mr G. was capable of imposing such a sense upon the expression, it was unworthy of his discernment, or it arose from w 7 ant of due attention : and as one appealed from a hasty verdict given by Philip of Macedon, from Philip when drunk, to the same Philip when sober, so may we here. The meaning evidently is, that by a power of the same kind, and by means of the same general nature, may the per- nicious influence, and mischievous effects of a power abused, be counteracted. It is a plain maxim of common sense, and is acknowledged universally in the laws of nations. It is say- ing no more than what is commonly implied in the words so commonly quoted, vim vi repellere licet, armaque in armatos sumere jura sinunt. Ovid. Force must be repelled by force ; and weapons of defence, and weapons or means of the same kind with those employed in attacking, ( 214 ) attacking, may be properly used in repelling, defeating, and guarding against the attacks. It implies, that a secular power rightly directed, and in reforming a civil constitution, and at- tempting to remedy external evils, may and ought to extend to all the abuses that have directly flowed from the corruption and perversion of the power; and consequently, that it is capa- ble of preventing or redressing the external injuries that may be done to the church of Christ or its members, by political or regal tyranny, sinful constitutions and laws; and so competent to reform ecclesiastical abuses, that depend upon and natively arise from these. It is indeed the most proper power, »under God, to be used in all cases of this kind ; as it can apply the effectual and specific antidote against the malignant force of such evils. This, instead of confounding, is necessary to pre- serve the distinction between the two powers ; as the church cannot use the secular sword, nor can her power meddle di- rectly with matters political and civil ; the Synod's New Tes- timony being judge. It is a principle on which any adequate defence, of the chnrch, or the reformation of any kingdom from corruptions arising from the causes supposed, must depend. Let any one instance be named or supposed, in which the in- terests of religion and of the kingdom of Christ may be af- fected, and injured by the wrong application of secular power and laws, and it will be no difficult matter to shew, how, by power or means of the same kind, rightly directed, it may be counteracted, and these interests benefited : suppose it to be by wars, laws, rewards or terrors, oaths, exclusive tests, taxes, unlawful courts, — misapplication of public funds, an establish- ed system of education, bribes, high example, or in any other way. In brief, the doctrine of that paragraph amounts to this ; that the power to do good belonging to any person, or any of- fice, must be equal in extent to the power of doing evil ; but good can never be done but by means legitimate. This, one would think, should be accounted self-evident ; and as incontes- tible as the maxim in natural philosophy, to which it has af- finity ; * That reaction is always equal to action, and con- * trary thereto.' Had it been consistent with our present design to have en- tered into discussion of the general doctrines, or an examination of the arguments on both sides, in the controversy, it would have been equally easy to have shown, that all the odious consequences, which the Committee, in their answers, have drawn either from the general sentiments or expressions con- tained in the remonstrances, or from particular passages in some of the private writings of the Protesters, are strained and unjust, contrary to the whole tenor of tneir principles, on these subjects well known and often avowed. But ( 215 ) But here properly we have only an argument from mere authority to oppose, one of the weakest that can be employed in matters of this kind. For were even the fact clear, that the language of the above protest had been the result of the fixed opinion of the author of it, it would not necessarily fol- low, either that the doctrine challenged was false, or that it differed from that commonly received by Presbyterians and Seceders on the subject : nor could his mere opinion about the sense of the passages referred to, prove it to be the true meaning, much less that it was the sense intended by the writer of them. Could it be supposed that he knew the real meaning of the writer better than he did himself? or that his interpretation could reasonably be sustained in opposition to the declared sen- timents, cautions, and explications of him who used them, and which might even be found in the closest connection with these very passages. The ipse dixit of no man, however judicious, can stamp the character of truth or error on any principles. It was long a common reproach, while this father lived, that he was allowed to exercise a sort of dictatorial authority in the judicatories, and that his judgment was almost implicitly fol- lowed. We know it was a reproach ; but will the Synod, or any in it, long after his decease, so far degrade themselves and abuse his name, as to do what has a direct tendency to revive and confirm it ? Might not Mr G. as well as another, not only mistake another man's words, but even vary from the common doctrine, or from the truth itself ? Can it be shown, that he had been always uniform in his sentiments upon some points in these controversies ; or at least, that his manner of expressing himself upon them was always accurate, clear, and consistent ? This to many has appeared very doubt- ful. More writers than one have represented some things he hath advanced as at variance with the common doctrine, and even with his own at other times. It is certain, that, since the time that Seceders began to divide on the subject, he hath been claimed and quoted as an authority on both sides. The same hath been the case in America: nay more, his doctrine, contained in his Appendix to the Display, hath been joined with that in the discourse referred to as in full agreement, by a certain writer there, and both of them set in opposition to the American Testimony on that subject, to which Mr G. had set his Imprimatur. The Reformed Associate Synod had, in the articlts of their original constitution, on account of the scruples of one member, (Dr Mason of New York) left the paragraphs of the Confession upon the magistrate's power in matters of religion for after-consideration : an explication en the subject was afterwards drawn up and adopted by them, less exceptionable than the General Synod's doctrine on the head. ( 210 ) head, or that of the Presbytery of Pennsylvania. A member ef that Synod attacked the doctrines of the latter, upon that and their concomitant new doctrine about the National Covenants of Britain, with too much justice. The Reader will allow the quotation in his own words ; speaking of that Presbytery, he says, ' By their doctrine about the power of civil magistrates respecting religion and the church of Christ, — they have, be- yond all possibility of doubt, renounced the doctrine of the Protestant churches on this head, apostatised from the West- minster Confession of Faith, the Secession Testimony, and the National Covenant and Solemn League. Great part of what they call the Secession Testimony consists in testifying against omissions and defects in the laws, and faults in the conduct of the civil government in Britain, with regard to religion and the church of Christ. — The whole controversy about the Burgess-oath hinges upon the legal securities and civil es- tablishment given to the Christian religion in Britain ; the swearing of which oaths, Mr Gib and they say, goes so deep as to subvert the whole Secession Testimony. They tell us, in their Testimony, p. S, 9. that they mean to declare their mind on the subject more particularly than the Confession of Faith has done, but they do not only say more than the Con- fession, they flatly contradict it. 1 " Christ's kingdom," they say, " is spiritual, and so the magistrate has nothing to do 4 with it as a magistrate," &c. ' What comes now of all that part (and a large part it is) of the Secession Testimony, that laments, testifies against, and confesses the errors and defects of the civil governmentin Britain, in their Parliamentary treat- ment of the true religion ? — The doctrine will not allow civil rulers to establish the Christain religion, or do any thing for it in a legal and authoritative way at all.' — After a variety of observations and reasoning on the subject, in which he says, The ancient maxim of our wise ancestors, which is demised so much by our modern ivould-be-ivise fools, viz. that the civil magistrate is custos utriusqui tabula legis divina, or as guardian of each table of the divine law, is founded on rea- son, truth, and good sense. I am certain that without reli- gion there can be no moral virtue; without a sense of our duty to God, there can be no sense cf our duty to man.'— If their doctrine be true, that civil rulers as such have no- thing to do with religion, the subjects, or citizens as such, must have as little ; and on this plan we should have a so- ciety of rational and moral agents formed, and a moral com- pact without any regard to moral law, or to God the giver of that law : which is absolute atheism ;' he proceeds, But I will produce upon this subject three weighty witnesses. The first is a member of that Associate Synod to which these * men ( m ) i men proicsi subordination. The Rev. Mr A. B. in a dis- ' course preached, &.c. speaks in the following manner : "But to avoid one extreme there is no necessity of running 1 into another. A church and common wealth may have cer- * tain connections together, and may perform mutual offices * and duties towards each other, without losing their peculiar ' distinctive characters," &.e. [p. 41. with other two paragraphs ' from p. 4:<, 44. | The second witness is the celebrated Dr ' Blair of Edinburgh. In the last sermon of his second volume, ' he has, in a masterly manner, handled this subject. The ' sermon was preached before the Society for Propagating ■ Christian Knowledge. The title is " The importance of 9* religious knowledge to mankind." He shows its importance, * lit, to man as an individual; and, 2dly, as a member of so- ' cietv. M Religion," says lie, " is the great instrument of " civilizing the multitude, and forming them to union. Re- ." ligion is not only subsidiary to the improvement, but ncces- " sary to the preservation of society. It is the very basis on " which it rests," &c. * The third witness is the Rev. A. Gib, who has treated * somewhat on this subject in his book, " A Display," &c. ' vol. II. p. 40, — 408, inclusive. I suppose many of their fol- I lowers will scarcely believe it possible, after the noise they * have heard them make about holding fast the Secession Tes- ' timony, that they have really renounced it. But it is an ab- ' solute fact. Mr G. is arguing against this very principle 4 mentioned by them, namely, that magistrates, as magis- ■ trates, have nothing to do with the church of Christ or the 1 Christian religion.' M This new scheme," says he, " means an abolishing of all '* scripture-precepts, promises, and prophecies, about the state f of the gospel-church, with regard to civil powers. — For ac- & cording to this scheme, kings are not to be wise now, nor are r the judges of the earth to be instructed; that they should " serve the Lord the King upon the holy hill of Zion, &.c. — " It is for abolishing all obligation upon Christians to manage " their secular callings and advantages in a way of homage to " the Lord Christ, or in a subordination and subserviency to ft his interests and glory : though he should in all things have " the pre-eminence. It is for abolishing all seriousness among " men, about religious matters ; "with all their rights cencern- " ing the same. It is for abolishing all sense of the Lord's " great goodness, in his spiriting and determining our rulers, . once a-day, to seek and promote the good of the house of " the Lord our God. It is for abolishing all sense of the Lord's " controversy, on account of what civil powers have done Ee " a ( 218 ) M against his work id these lands, even all that they did wick- u edly in the sanctuary," &c. * 1 now put the question to these gentlemen, If these things ' be so, can their doctrine be true, that civil magistrates, as ' such,' &c? — « But the absurdity and inconsistency,' he adds, ' is still the more glaring, when we recollect that they maintain 4 the perpetual obligation of the National Covenant, and So- ' lemn League on the British Dominions, and even on the ' United States. Will they say, that these covenants do not ' oblige civil magistrates to do any thing, as rulers, for the * church of Christ, and the Christian religion ? Strange con- ' tradiction ! Well may we say, Alas ! poor human nature *.' Mr Marshall, in his reply to this writer, instead of attempt- ing to reconcile the at least seemingly discordant doctrines, contents himself with opposing Mr G. to Mr G. and in de- claring all the different parties to be in agreement. ! Mr G, ' Mr B. and even Dr Blair of the established church,' says he, ' are marshalled up against us. But none can see the dirfer- 1 ence, but such as look into the subject with the same ' prejudiced eyes with the ruling elder.' He also, in the name of his brethren, approves of the explication of the 23d chap, of the Confession drawn up by Mr Mason, and adopted by the Associate Reformed Synod. He appeals, in proof of Mr G.'s unity in sentiment with them, to his recommendatory preface prefixed to their testimony; though it never received any ju- dicial sanction from the Synod. Yet the Synod party in Edin- burgh, in their process before the Court of Session, adduce it as an authentic document of the Synod's principles on that head-; * Narrative of the steps which led to the division, &c. Philad. pr. 1789. chap. v. p. 59, 60, 7c— 73. Since the authority of a name is all that has been adduced in proof of Ant i- presbyterian principles being contained in part of the discourse referred to, it is proper to oppose it by authority. None but Mr G. so far as known, ever pre- tended to find them there. Mr Annan, minister of Philadelphia, supposed to be the same with the writer of the former article, in a tract upon * the connection ' between civil government and religion,' subjoined to • Animadversions on the ' doctrine of Universal Salvation,' refers again to the Synod-sermon, and gives a larger quotation from it, beginning with the words, 'It may be difficult always to pre- ' serve the distinction between the civil and ecclesiastical state, and the rights and ' powers belonging to each, &c.' adding,' Let the advocates for a servile subordi- ' nation to that Synod, compare these rational sentiments with what they have ' published to the world on this subject,' p. 52. 53. The leading sentiments in that section of the discourse, have also been repub- lished at home, by a minister belonging to another Synod ; being annexed to ail abridged edition of Mr Brown's ' Letters on Authoritative Toleration,' &c. by the Rev. Mr Fletcher of Down. The judgment of several members of the Ge- neral Associate Synod could also be referred to, in favour of the contents of the uiscourse. The motion for publishiug it, came first from the two respectable fa- thers, Messrs J. Dalziel in Earlston, ai.d And. Arnot in Midholm. Some others, in private letters, expressed their approbation of it, after it was published ; whieh •ould be produced, were it at ail necessary. aid ( 219 ) and indeed the Synod, in compiling their new Testimony, b Evidently made it, in many respects, their model. Let it also be remembered, that the composer of the American Testimony, though displeased at fiift with some tilings in that discourse in question, as striking against their sentiments, and supposing that it had been so intended, (though Mr B. had not previous- ly seen that publication) he, upon maturer thoughts, expressed his willingness to have it altered, and even to leave it to the author of the sermon to express the doctrine, on that point, in what words he thought best : though he did not reckon him- self intitled to meddle in that matter. He lived to see the overture of the Synod's new. Testimony ; and as soon as he had read it, was filled with grief and apprehension as to the con- sequences, in case it should be enacted without alteration. He already considered himself as deposed from oMice, and shut out from communion, as some others have actually been ; to all which he was resolved to subject himself, rather than sub- scribe to some part of their doctrine about the connection be- tween church and state, Mr B. is possessed of some sheets in his own hand-writing, in which he fully expressed his mind on that occasion. And the Presbytery there sent over jointly tome animadversions upon the overture to the Synod. As to Mr G.'s alledged inconsistencies, they seem rather to arise from some expressions, or modes of explication occasion ally thrown out, or some metaphysical distinctions that have been misunderstood ; than from any xhange or opposition cf sentiments on the radical doctrines : and this might easily hap- pen to him or any man engaged in different disputes, and con- tending against opposite extremes. Such things are not to be pled in opposition to the general tenor of his principles or writ- ings, and his judgment solemnly and often declared. He ap- pears to have been a steady adherent through life to the com- mon principles of the presby terian church, and to the covenant- ed reformation of Britain, as stated in the original testimony : and it may suflice, that when he wrote as the Amanuensis of the Associate Presbytery, or Synod, in stating or defending these principles, he spoke decidedlyand explicitly on the sub- ject, and in a manner irreconcilable to the new scheme; though, in favour of the latter, one paragraph written by him, in the Answers to Nairn, has been grievously mangled and tortured, and a sens,e put upon it, which he and the whole Presbytery disclaimed, as if some now knew the import of it better than they themselves did. Mr B. highly respected that father when living, and has still a great regard to his memory. For about twenty years, he had the happiness of being a co-presbyter with him; during which time Ineir intercourse was sometimes more, sometimes less familiar. E e 2 They ( 220 ) They had occasion often to meet, not only at Presbyteries, but at sacramental communions, and occasionally corresponded to- gether. Though distance in situation, and disparity in year:, and in ether respects, prevented that ctegree ofl intimacy in vate life that some others enjoyed, he found his convcrsatic desireable and instructive. On his friendship he could rel and he had often experienced it. Me was a man without c!i: guise as to his sentiments and affections : and though he was not always in the same mood, yet he often found ham free and communicative. Mr G. is the only witness appealed to in proof of the strange calumnious assertion, that Mr B. was different in all his views from the body, and consequently from the public profession. If this had been well known to Mr G. he had abu: - dant opportunity, before that time, to have declared it, as in duty he would have been bound to do. But a series of intercourse, and particular facts, may rather be appealed to as a proof of the contrary. Can it be supposed, that a difference upon some leading fundamental articles of their public profession had sub- sisted so long, or for any time, without his having unbred a syllable about it to himself, or before his brethren. He can- not recollect, that any difference fa judgment, or any serious debate upon these subjects, ever took place, either privately or. publicly; though there had upon some other. They had sometimes been expressly the subject of conversation : and he may sometimes have urged objections with a view to draw on further explications, or in order to have his mind more fully upon them, but without controverting his opinions. One day Mr G. put into his hand for perusal the MS. copy of Mr Graham's Treatise on Civil Establishments, long before it was printed, which had been submitted to his review. When it was returned, and some objections to the manner in which he had treated the subject having been made, he did not take the, defence of it, but confessed he had carried the matter too fart by condemning all establishments indiscriminately, adding, that the warm fancy of the author was ready often to hurry him beyond due bounds. It was on that occasion, or anoti.tr when they were alone together in his room, that he took out of his desk part of the copy of the sermons on the Ackn ledgment of Sins, by Mr Morison, then in the press, and a note on that subj <:ct, as expressing his own views upon it: in which several things competent to the civil magistrate to do in reference to the church, were mentioned, as providing her in an honourable patrimony, 8cc. as may be seen m the print- ed copies*. Soon after Mr B. became a member of Synod, he witnessed Mr G. in a Committee, endeavouring to solve * Prtsect Duty, n, 351. ( 221 ) .Mr Arthur's scruples about the doctrine of the Confessi"-*. ■hewing its consistency with liberty of conscience, and the distinct powers of the church. Mr Arthur had been suspend- ed on the same grounds with Mr Scott, and, upon professing satisfaction, was at this time restored. Another striking in- trnnce of coincidence of views In these points, appeared in the of Mr James Robertson's licence. The young man, like others of his cotemporaries, it seems, had imbibed some of the new opinions; but nothing was stated by him to the Presby- tery while he was on trials, until the moment when they were putting the formula of questions to him, as the last step in order to licence : instead of answering the second question, ap- proving the whole doctrine of the Confession, he began to of- fer his objections, and declared he was not in readiness to assent to it, but with some exception to these paragraphs. The Pres- bytery were dissatisfied with the matter, time, and manner of his objections ; and instantly Btopt farther procedure, but agreed to converse with Mr R.. ; but upon obtaining no satisfaction, unanimously agreed to defer his licence until another meeting. This occurred at Bo'ness, whin Mr G. and some other mem- bers w ? erc not present. But at the next meeting in Edinburgh, he freely concurred with what the Presbytery had done, and in the agreement not to proceed to licence, unless Mr R. should come forward, own the impiopriety of his conduct, and de- clare his readiness to assent to the question in the usual man- ner, as it was r.ot competent to them to admit of exceptions. All tins Mr R. did, and upon that profession was admitted into public ofhee, the writer of this having been moderator at the time : the minutes will be voucher*. It must be owned however, * This brother, having repented of hi? repentance, has been a forward but ho- nest promoter of the changes in the public books ; and no less forward a pusher of censure on those who cannot recant, as he hath done. He was at the head of the band who could not sit without a dissent against delaying censure, on the first week of Glasgow Synod, in the cause of' Mess. B. and M'C. Another of these (if their names have been rightly reported) was Mr A Thomson in Mearn?, one who can talk and make a bustle about trifling forms and circumstances of causei, without ever looking into the substance of them, or much regarding what. » of greater importance : the son and successor of a worthy and zealous father, whose very opposite sentiments on the matters in controversy were well known . and into whose pulpit he could not have expected to have found admission, avow- ing these principle*, and conducting himself as he now does, had he been alive. Near the close of h ; s ministry, conversing one day on the tenets that had been adopted by Mr Scott, and defended by Mr Graham, he expressed his dread of the progress of them in the Secession ; saying, hi the hearing of the writer of this, ' If these opinions come to prevail among the ministers, they will drive all to the • p*l together.' In this he proved to be too true a seer. A third was Mr J. Smith of Whithorn ; one who had long before his ordina- tion been noted as an avowed champion for the sectarian side : how he got some of the lumpy questions in the old formula swallowed, he himself can best explain. When the New Testimony was under review, he acted a fair and consistent part, when he protested for making a clear riddance, by throwing out all the articles ( 222 ) however, that Mr G. and others present in Prebytery f Mr B. was not), did not act the same steady part afterwards in the ordination of Mr Beveridge for America, when similar objec- tions were allowed ; which was the reason why Mr D. Wilson in London, then present, had not freedom to take his seat in Presbytery, and to concur in the ordination, for which he after- wards met with some trouble from the Presbytery ; to which he sent the reasons and defence of his conduct, a short time before his death. At the time when there was such a general commotion throughout Scotland and England about the repeal of the penal statutes to prevent the growth of popery, if there had been any real difference in sentiments between Mr G. and Mr B. upon the controverted points, it could hardly have failed then to appear. The minds and discourse of all classes of peo- ple were much occupied about these subjects. Never was Mr G. heard, either in public or in private, to condemn the ge- neral principle upon which these laws were made, nor to plead for such an unbounded toleration as many have since extolled. When the subject was introduced into Synod immediately af- ter the act of repeal in England, and a warning agreed to (of which 2000 copies were circulated before the Protes- tant associations were formed either in Scotland or in England, and afterwards twice printed among the puolic declarations,) there was not one dissenting voice in Synod, unless Mr J. Young in Hawick may be said to have been one. Mr J. Clark- son of Ayr, and Mr B. having been appointed to prepare that short warning between the two sederunts of Synod, they met in a room for that purpose in Mr GSs house, that they might have respecting the national and parliamentary transactions, as not pertaining to church- courts, several of which are still retained. According to his ecclesiastico-polittcal creed, had he lived in the days of Cromwell, it is probable that he could have of- ficiated as chaplain, or perhaps as door-keeper to the Rump-parliament, when all the zealous Presbyterians, who were for king, covenants, and uniformity, were ex- pelled the house, and sent about their business. Or had he received a commission to sit in Barebones parliament, in order to remove the remains of the old constitu- tion, he would have lent them a vote, for pulling down a national ministry, abo- lishing tithes, and all church-funds and salaries along with them. The fourth was Mr Jas. Bucher of Cumbernauld, who if he really acted in thi6 from a principle of zeal, and not from the volatile humour, or the fleeting move- ment of the gale of vanity for the moment, it was zeal akin to that which made him for years before to change the form of laying engagements upon parents, and to carry up his spouse to Edinburgh, to grace the solemnity of ratifying, by a public oath, the new scheme of principles, when the $ynqd, on the first occasion of using the new acknowledgment and bond in covenanting, invited and admitted all who chused to apply, ministers, probationers, elders, men and women, from all the three kingdoms ; when yet after all, the number who joined did not amount to ioo. This however must be sustained, as a proper substitute and representa- tive of the national covenants and solemn league of the three kingdoms, as meaning nothing more than some out of all the three kingdoms. The fifth was Mr D. Black, Ats. CI. of whom before v the ( 223 ) the benefit of his advice, as he did not then go out. Each having made out a draught, they were both read to him, that he might give his opinion which of them it might be proper to present to the Synod, and that he might offer what corrections he thought proper. That one which had been drawn by Mr B. though he knew not by whom written, came nearest to his views, — which, with the insertion of a sentence from the other, and some small corrections in Synod, was adopted. The cir- cumstance is mentioned merely to shew how improbable it is that Mr B. should have been so widely different from his brethren, and from Mr G. in particular, on such a capital point as that of a lordship over, or a compulsion of mens consciences by civil rulers, against which there is such an express declara- tion in that act, as well as an assertion of the warrantableness of penal statutes, and the proper grounds upon which they may be enacted against religious sects. But it is a fact, as evident as it is lamentable, that even this article of the Synod's, and of the nation's testimony against the dangers, and the public en- couragement of popery by repeated acts of toleration, has in a great measure been abandoned, both doctrinally and practi- cally, since that time ; in which respect they have become ac- cessary to the guilt of the empire, in an open breach of the na- tional covenants in that great article. Another instance could be mentioned of unanimity in sentiments between Mr G. and Mr B. upon the other capital point on which the Com- mittee have so long dwelt, and as to which Mr B. is also ac- cused as having held a very different doctrine from the general body ; namely, the nature of public covenanting, and the war- rantableness of a national form of it : and this unanimity, upon reflection, there is reason to believe, was even the particular occasion, through a secret concatenation of events in provi- dence, of Mr B. having been first brought into the Presbytery of Edinburgh, a few months after his licence, and of his being settled in that particular place, where he hath since exercised his ministry, and where it has been his lot to suffer for that very doctrine. No personal acquaintance had taken place be- tween them previous to the time of Mr B.'s delivering his first discourse for trials before the Presbytery of Stirling in 1768. Mr G. having been that year assisting Mr Allan's father-in-law in Denny, heard that discourse in the house, being laid down in bed after preaching, six or seven other ministers being present, the greater part of whom are now fal- len asleep. The text, in Isa. xliv. 5. " One shall say I am " the Lord's, another shall subscribe," &x. had been assigned with an express view to the subject of covenanting : it had been lately impugned by different writers, a number of stu- dents had stumbled ; Mr B. himself had been a demurrer, and even ( te* ) even an opposer for a time. It was reasonable therefore tm to the General Synod, re- lating to the sacramental test, (in which matter also the Synod unfaithfully failed to lift up their voice against that abomina- tion, when a public effort was made by the national church and others, for the abrogation of it), — what bur. to shew the wickedness of prostituting the ordinances of Christ and destroy- ing church discipline, by the imposition of such tests for po- litical purposes, and for the admission of some to public secu- lar offices, to the exclusion of dutiful subjects from common privileges, merely for religious dissent and scruples ? When a number of Presbyterians, in connection with the Secession in England, several years ago, found themselves aggrieved and exposed to many hardships in civil and legal transactions, from their being required to take an oath in a manner which they thought unlawful, did he not, besides concurring with a com- mittee appointed for taking steps for obtaining exemption from, the legislature, in aid of the cause, endeavour to expose the injustice and impolicy of such restrictions in the common affairs of life, in ' Strictures upon the Mode of Swearing by f Kissing the Gospels?* In fine, when a certain young noble- man, who had been placed at the head of the Protestant Asso- ciation in England, was, some time after his acquittal upon his impeachment, summoned into the ecclesiastical court of the Arch- bishop of Canterbury, and excommunicated for non-compear- ance, and when he was exposed, in consequence, to the danger of a perpetual prison and becoming an outlaw, did not Mr B. upon receiving information from him that he was in elaily ex- pectation of the writ de excommunicato capiendo being executed, take the opportunity of attacking the constitution of these courts, the antichristian mixture of temporal and ecclesiastical jurisdiction, the grievous abuse of the censure of excommuni- cation in them, with the annexed penalties, as inconsistent w r ith the spirit of Christianity, the primitive discipline, the liber- ties of British subjects, and the rights of members of the Pres- byterian church ; with a view to furnish counsel with topics and authorities for defence, if the cause had been carried by appeal into the Court of King's Bench, upon the Prerogative Court applying for the writ of capias, which however it thought proper to decline *? — Can it be supposed that his former ideas and long fixed principles on these subjects, should all at once have been reversed ? And can this be admitted upon no better * Published at London, without the knowledge of the writer, with the title prefixed by Dr Ryland, sen. c An Appeal from Scotland,' &c. ground ( 238 ) ground than forced deductions from some common doctrines of Presbyterians, hastily drawn in the warmth of argument and party contests ? The Committee, as if conscious that the general tenor of these publications is a refutation of tbe charge, have quoted liberally from some of them, even the anonymous, (not so con- sistently with the strict order in judicial papers), with a view to make them speak the language of the new doctrines : but without entering inro the examination of any one of these quota- tions, let it be only here noticed, that this is attempted by detach- ing one part from another, omitting the qualifying clauses that sometimes are in immediate connection, or by overlooking, or ex- plaining in a different sense from the writer, some words or phrase in a sentence, that is inconsistent with such an applica- tion. SECTION ELEVENTH. Mr Bruce* s Conduct in offering a P.esignation of tbe Charge of the Theological Class, and yet continuing to jfciati in it t particularly for some years hy past, accounted for, — Mr Gulbertson's falsehood and aspersion on this subject. IT is by sly insinuations, tales half-told, invidious hints, and the squibs of calumny let fly at random, rather than by any substantial charge, regularly adduced and fairly support- ed, that the public advocates for the Synod's late procedure, endeavour to produce an impression disadvantageous to the cause and the credit of the Protesting brethren. In the pam- phlets they have sent abroad, they give a new turn to some past occurrences, and wish to affix blame where none before was found, and obliquely to bring forth charges which they never had the honesty or hardiness formerly to mention. From the specimens they have published, it may be conjectured in what manner they will proceed, and what licence they will take with people in private, when they will be in no danger of being cross-questioned, or of meeting with contradiction. Some in- stances of this kind we have already met with ; there are a few yet behind, connected with the present subject, that require to be noticed. They relate to the conduct of Mr B. while in the charge of Theological Teacher, particularly in offering a re- signation, and yet afterwards continuing to officiate; and the Synod's conduct in rekre".ce to him while in it, as they are represented in the Appendix to Mr Culbertsoa's Discourses^ (p. 41. ( 2$0 ) (p. 47, 4S.) in which may be found impertinencies mixed with falsehood, and the latent venom of the asp. The first part of the calumnious representation runs thus ; * After Mr Bruce was chosen to he professor of divinity, the < General Synod seldom met but they got some intimations * from him that he wished to resign that office. These * intimations were so frequently made, that the Synod at 4 length told him, if he persisted in his request, they would ' accept of his resignation. From that day to this Mr B.'s * resignation was never heard of : and the ostensible rea- * son, a reason that was never heard of before, was, that he ' had not the same court to which he might resign his pro- ' fessorship from which he had received it. That Synod which ' had succeeded to the Associate Presbytery, in his opinion, ' was now no more.' It will be proper to defer making re- marks upon any particulars in this statement, or on the design, more obvious or couched, of the whole complexly, and in con- nection with the following paragraph, until a fair account of facts be given : Fersonal charges of this kind cannot be obvi- ated without some portion of personal history, which every candid and equitable reader will allow. Though Mr B. wish- ed not for such an occasion; so far from shunning, he willingly embraces the opportunity it affords for giving such a statement and explanation. The reader has already heard of the state of his mind with regard to his acceptance of that office, when the Synod were proceeding to the election. He did not find it changed after the election was made, and formally intimated to him ; ef which the Synod's minute of that date contains a record, and also, that after some means used in order to conciliate his mind to the appointment, the Synod at that meeting, received no expression on his part of his resolution to fulfil it *. This is a material circumstance to be attended to in judging of his sub- sequent applications to the Synod in order to be released. On his part, there was no formal engagement come under, nor obligation contracted. There was nothing like the solemn and mutual compact that is agreed to on both sides, when a minister • Extract of the minute, dated Edin. Sept. 7, 1786. — ' The Associate Synod proceeded to a further consideration of the leet agreed to in the forenoon yester- day, for choosing a professor of divinity. — A long time was spent in conference together on the subject, and with Mess. Heugh and Bruce, as to their difficulties of undertaking the charge. And after prayer for the Lord's countenance and di- rection in the affair, the question was put, Appoint Mr John Heugh, or Mr Archibald Bruce, to teach the students of divinity under the inspection of this Sy- nod; and Mr Bruce was chosen by a great majority : Likeas the Synod did and hereby do appoint Mr Archibald Bruce to teach the students of divinity under the inspection of this Synod accordingly. Thi9 was intimated to Mr Bruce by the Moderator, with suitable exhortations. Mr Bruce having expressed great difficulties ( 240 ) minister is ordained to the charge of a congregation, in which" there is required an explicit declaration of his acceptance of the call, and promises and vows exacted of him to perform the duties pertaining to it. Hitherto it was the exercise of mere authority; while, on his side, he did not know how he could have expressed his reluctance and opposition in a man- ner more determinate, or in terms more strong, without going the length of direct and indecent contumacy. Accordingly, when enquiries were appointed to be made about finding pro- per accommodation for students, and a place for meeting, the matter was committed by the Synod to a reverend brother in the neighbourhood, without his taking any active share in it. He continued in some measure undecided until near the time of convening, which had also been appointed independent of any intimation from him. Whether he was right or wrong in listening so much to ob- jections, and evidencing such backwardness, when the external call was sufficiently clear and urgent, is not the present ques- tion; nor was it one about which others had ever such concern to be satisfied, as he himself had. He only states the fact. To him the reasons appeared sufficient, to determine him to act the part he then and afterwards did. No doubt there may be a culpable hesitancy and backwardness, as well as rashness; and he is aware of the deceitful guises, which selfishness and pride, in such cases, may sometimes put on: but certainly, he who can lightly enter upon a sacred office of great trust and responsibility, and without some sense of his unfitness for it, gives no very favourable symptom that he is called to it. Ob- jections will often appear in a different light to a person's own mind, from that in which they are seen by others : and the feelings of the mind in particular situations, and under all com- binations of circumstances, can only be known to the persons themselves.. To say nothing of some local and mere personal objections, — there were some of a general nature in this case, which, to any tolerably acquainted with these matters, might sufficiently excuse him, or any one in a similar situation, for shewing reluctance to come under the burden. Were it only the necessity it imposed of commencing a new, an ex- tensive difficulties of his undertaking the charge now laid on him; the Synod appointed Mess. John Heugh, John Wilson, and James Alice, to converse with him between this and the afternoon's sederunt, and to report.' v Eodem Loco et die, P. M. — ' The committee appointed to converse with Mr Bruce, reported, that though, after conversing with Mr Bruce, they did not find him in readiness to signify a compliance with the Synod's appointment, — they gave it as their opinion, that the Synod should appoint Mr Bruce to take up the divinity- class against the last Wednesday of February next at Whitburn; and the Synod agreed and appointed accordingly.' Jas. Mori son, Syn. Clk. ( 241 ) tensive and more accurate course of study, — of language, phi- losophy, history, criticism, systematic and controversial divi- nity, in an age abounding in all the productions of literature, and in which all sorts of opinions and errors are disseminated ; with the task of digesting, and writing out the necessary lec- tures on the different subjects in theology ; and all this over and above the ordinary ministerial labours : A task which few even of the most robust constitutions and in the vigour of life could long be able to bear. Though Mr B. had not been un- accustomed to habits of reading and study, he could not be supposed to have applied them with any direct view to such a purpose. All have their favourite subjects, and their peculiar taste, in studies, which they would wish to be at liberty to pursue, without being confined to a certain track; and he could not say that systematic and polemic theology, was that which was most congenial to his taste; or teaching the elementary part of the science in a cursory manner to young men was the employ that best befitted him. If it be asked. Why then did you engage ? and having en- gaged, why importune the Synod to be relieved? It is not dif- ficult to account for both, without incurring the charge of inconsistency. It is one of the cases in which persons may be obliged to resign their own particular views, and over-rule their inclinations, and allow themselves to be determined by the judgment and command of others ; when a number of ob- jections and apprehended difficulties must give way to a sense of duty. Mr B. expressed the real state of his mind when, in the Address to the Students on the first day of meeting, pre- fixed to the ' Introductory Lectures,' he said, ' Nothing but 6 deference to authority could have induced him to appear in that * place among them on such a business.' But having promised subjection to the courts in the Lord, he would have been for- getting it, if he had refused to employ some time and his small portion of ability so far as to make an attempt by way of experiment, rather than by professed engagement. He did noi consider himself as hereby precluded from applying duti- fully, at any time, for being relieved. Though he could not of himself relax the obligation, those who had imposed it, at any time, upon his request, could do it. Accordingly, at the subsequent meeting, perhaps at more than one, he verbally expressed his wish. When this was not obtained, sensible that it would be highly indecorous to be reiterating his request in that manner, he desisted, resolving to take a fair and farther trial, whatever difficulties he might feel. Thus be continued for years, without importuning the Synod on the subject; so far is it from being true, that they scarce ever met without hearing of it. When he afterwards did apply, it was in a dif- H h fererJ: ( -'« ) ierent and more formal manner: And only twice in the space of twenty years did he give in a resignation. After a competent trial taken, while most of the difficulties he had foreseen and suggested were felt, a little experience made him acquainted with others. The want of proper ac- commodations for young men, applying to studies with advan- tage, he thought, required to be particularly represented to Synod, as to which he desired some of the students might be called in evidence ; but they were produced for a very differ- ent purpose. From constitution, and his habits of quiet and retired life, he could hardly reconcile himself to the hurry and bustle of a public class. Due attention to the duties of both charges he reckoned to be scarcely compatible. Frequent disappointments as to the assistance ordered by Synod in the time of the Session occurred; so that, after the fatigue of daily meetings throughout the week, he was oftenlaid under the neces- sity of undertaking the whole work of the Sabbath, before cri- tical strangers as well as his ordinary auditors, upon a few hours notice, and sometimes none at all. But should all these have been surmounted, there were other discouragements of a still more serious nature in a public view ; arising from the state of the society itself over which he was appointed to pre- side, and from the general plan of education, particularly in the earlier stages, that for a long time had prevailed under the sanction of Synod. He means not to insinuate any charge a- gamst individuals, much less against the whole number indis- criminately, who have been successively under his inspection, (which now make the larger half of the ministers of the Ge- neral Synod, and almost all the preachers), particularly it would be unjust to accuse them with want of personal ( regard and decorum, of w T hich he received as much evidence as he could reasonably have expected or exacted, as well as of sympathy from his brethren, until their party-notions spoiled their tem- pers, and produced ungracious manners. He refers to the de- fects of public institutions, errors that have come to prevail by connivance of authority, or by custom ; or such as may have arisen from their particular private circumstances. When the Associate Presbytery first appointed divinity to be taught under their inspection, three months were stated for the yearly session: and even those who had gone through a course at an university were injoined to attend two sessions more. For a long time past this yearly period has been re- duced to little more than the half; and the half of that half has, at an average, been the measure of the attendance of about one half of the students ; while quadruple, sextuple time, at- tended with great expence, has usually been employed, in the branches of secular learning at public colleges, and some part of ( 243 ) of it, not unfrequently, after they commence theological stu- dents. From the shortness of the sessions, and the irregula- rity of attendance, commonly owing to their being engaged in teaching either public schools or private families, Mr B. soon found that to go through any regular course or connected se- ries of subjects, of which the greater part could receive the benefit, was impossible. The prosecution of any particular plan, or of a particular subject to any considerable extent, was necessarily interrupted and broken off. A few detached lec- tures were all that a number of them could hear. Through the greater part of the session there was a continual fluctuation, some coming some going, as in a caravansera. If particular directions relating to studies or conduct were intended, these were never heard by perhaps the greater part : with a very few exceptions, those who were at the beginning, were not at the close of the session ; and in the middle, when they were most fully convened, discourses crowded in, to make way for the return of students at the set time. Half a hundred of these, or upwards, besides lesser occasional exercises, were to be dis- patched in a few weeks, so as to leave little room for any thing else. It seemed as if some had considered this as their chief business and design in attending a hall ; which being over, and after having seen and mutually interchanged com- pliments and news with their comrades, they would hasten away, with the name of having studied divinity so many years ; when, perhaps, all the time of their attendance upon it, when four or five years were out, would not have amounted, when put together, to the space of one session, as fixed in the regu- lations of an university. By such means, a teacher is obliged to submit to the task ©f being an auditor, rather than an in- structor. This made Dr Campbell of Aberdeen say, to such as came up but for a few days for such a purpose, ' that their ' attendance was only to give, not to receive instruction, and ' that it would be just as beneficial to them if they had sent ' their discourse by post, and gotten some body to read it in < the hall V Thus he became sensible that he was charged with the edu- cation of a number, over whose minds he could not expect to have any proper influence : while he would be considered as responsible, the means for promoting the end desired were wanting, or were altogether inadequate, and would necessarily prove inefficient. He had little opportunity of knowing their particular sentiments, of correcting errors, or instilling gra- dually into their minds the principles of a sound theology, cr liberal knowledge. This grievance became still more serious, from the faulty mode of conducting the public education or young " I.e-ct. on Ec<*]. Hist. pref. p 7 jr. ( 244 ) young men before they enter upon the study of divinity, which the Synod for a long time has countenanced : the evil conse- quences of which have gradually appeared, have deeply affect- ed the religious interests of the Secession, and threaten, in pro- cess of time, to lay all their u pleasant things waste." Time was, when those who were about to engage in the study of philosophy, in connection with them, were carefully examined by a Presbytery, not only as to their progress in grammatical learning, but also as to their religious views and deportment — whether they had joined in church-communion, attended pray- ing societies, &c After which they were put under the care of a teacher, appointed for the purpose, forming a select so- ciety by themselves, in which, along with the branches of science, thev had occasion, from week to week, and even in their turn, from day to day, to be employed in some religious exercises. For about thirty years past this hath been altoge- ther discontinued ; and the youth, in the most critical period of life, have in a great measure been left to their own manage- ment, exposed to all the dangers of promiscuous society, and the influence of all the fashionable opinions and varying modes of instruction that prevail in universities. No wonder though habits have been contracted, and a spirit, taste, sentiments, and manners, very different from those which are chiefly to be desired in persons to be devoted for promoting evangelical truth, strict godliness, and the peculiar cause of Seceders, in opposition to the corruptions of the age, should have become apparent. The many defects and errors in the common methods of edu- cating persons for the ministry, and the deplorably corrupt state of the greater part of the seminaries for this purpose, from want of proper discipline, Mr B. is convinced, is one of the principal sources of the errors and great degeneracy in the Protestant churches ; of which the greater part of dissenting bodies are not free. To state any thing particularly on a sub- ject so generally interesting, would require a memoir by it- self ; and it is much easier to point out the evils than to pre- scribe or apply the proper remedies. He wished to call the attention of the Synod to a serious consideration of them, so far as the safety of their own body was immediately concern- ed, and to provide against them, so far as w 7 as in their own power. He was grieved to see so many of the native effects of the obnoxious plan, from time to time, pullulating among them, not only in the grosser errors, and that laxness of senti- ment, with which some were tainted, but in the strain and phraseology of too many discourses, especially in the com- mencement of tbe course, more adapted to a moral discussion, more in the mode of dry reasoning, or in the current language of ( 2^5 ) of Semi- Arminians, snch as they had been accustomed to hear or read, on the great article of the terms and the order of men's acceptance with God, than in the plain and clear simplicity of gospel-truth. Though some of these offensive tilings were reprehended, they were almost perpetually recurring. The above grievances were included in the reasons assigned for the resignation that was made, in form, of the charge. Some of them the Synod, attempted to remove by appointing some new regulations, which however produced very little effect. They left Mr B. under the same burden as btfore, expecting that he would not refuse to continue until he should see the result. — As he had no reasonable prospect that the principal grievances would be removed upon farther trial, he had not freedom to take back the paper of resignation. That step in both instan- ces had given him much previous concern ; he had made up his mind fully to it ; he consulted with no mortal in it ; any of his brethren and friends who were apprized of it before- hand, dissuaded him from it, without making any impression ; he had already pleased himself in the thoughts of emancipa- tion, and taken leave of the society, without expecting again to meet with them. After this account of some things that tended to impress his mind, and a short hint of what occasioned many anxious thoughts for years ; after he had deliberately set to his hand to a paper of that import, delivered it and left it with a court sitting and acting in the name of Jesus, is there any one per- son, Mr Culbertson excepted, (if even he be capable of it) who can for a moment suppose, that in all this Mr B. was but acting a farce ; — that he had no real intention or desire to be relieved ; but that he was disposed to keep fast hold of what he was so earnestly and solemnly insisting to get quit of ? If there be one capable of supposing, that he could act such a deceitful part, so childishly sport with sacred things, — that he could be such a fool as to give himself and others so much trouble about parting with what he wished to retain, of which he might have continued in the free and undisturbed possession, when not one was moving him to it, and when there was no rational purpose to be served by it, he would only say, he has full leave for him to retain his ungenerous and malignant thoughts ; but let him pray, f* that the thoughts of his heart may be for- '* given him.'" What has been above represented took place before any difference occurred about the public profession and new terms of communion. He had not given a mere ' intimation of his * wish to resign' that was to be followed by some after act oc his to bring it to effect, but which was not afterwards heard of, as Mr C.'s words seem to bear; but he actually resigned, and ( 246* ) and insisted upon it so far as in decency he could. The deed as to him was entire and unreserved, and meant to be final; and it depended wholly on the Synod that it was not so *. Having done every thing that was competent to him in seek- ing relief in a dutiful manner, without obtaining it, the same considerations that induced him at first to attempt the discharge of the duties laid upon him, notwithstanding of difficulties, remained in full force to make him submit to them a little longer ; while appointments of supply were made and students sent up recommended by Presbyteries as before. He even en- tertained some hope, that the Synod might be induced to take a deliberate consideration of the state of public education, and to make some material alteration in the mode of it, upon its being regularly brought before them. He thought that the plan of an academy for teaching all the necessary branches of philosophy; the sacred languages and theology, in which more teachers than one should be employed, to divide the labours, might have been adopted, As this was the matter most in- teresting to the public, and what he had much at heart, who- ever should be in the office, he thought it necessary to present an overture for that purpose, to which he subjoined another to proceed to appoint some other to the charge of the theological class ; a step that he thought necessarily connected with a new arrangement. This was several years after the above resignation. The overtures lay on the table, but nothing was done in reference to them, when some of the Synodical deeds were enacted, that changed the formula, and terms of ministe- rial communion. After protests had been entered against these by Mr B. any one may conceive, that his difficulties in continuing to act in that office would be doubly increased, and his situation would be more critical and embarrassing than ever. If when unanimity had prevailed, and all his brethren were favourably disposed to encourage him, he felt the pressure, is it credible, that he should now have become fond of the post, or wished to retain it, when things were so much altered to the worse ? But the question, how to reconcile inclination and personal ease with public duty, became now more perplexing than before : when a public cause was now at stake,it was not easy to see how he could get fairly out, even upon supposition that the Synod might be disposed to give way to his desire, without beins: active in furthering a course which he was con- vinced it was his duty to oppose. After revolving the matter * His immediate predecessor in cffice, Mr Moncrieff, sometimes felt very uneasy, under some of theme time ago, that, when the government was suffering all to live in peace, the storm of persecution, for adherence to that testimony, should arise from those who had subscribed and sworn ever to maintain it, it would have appeared as incredible as the intimation of the future violence of Hazael against Israel, appeared to him, when he exclaimed, u Is thy servant a dead dog, that he should " do this thing." But who were the most active in beheading and hanging the Argyles, the Waristouns, the Guthries, and in imprisoning and intercommuning the faithful ministers of former days ? The Middletons, the Laudtrdajes, and the SI arps, who had themselves subscribed the covenants, under the sanction of all the pains of the divine law. None usually are so fierce and inveterate per- ?. tutor* of a cause as apostates from it. to ( 259 ) to see that the mutual engagements between ministers and their people be fulfilled) for an advance ; though of late years the whole allowance for defraying the expences incident to a pub- lic station has hardly amounted to what is reckoned the ave- rage income of an ordinary day-labourer, while almost every article in the market has advanced in a double, treble, or four- fold proportion ? Within that period the stipend of the esta- blished clergyman has been thrice augmented : aad though, at the last time, it was about three times more than Mr B. re- ceived, it was declared, by the court of commissioners, to be an inadequate maintenance. He has also seen, for a conside- able time past, the care of Presbyteries in securing a necessary advance in all congregations recently settled, and the Synod have been making exertions, by acts and printed addresses, to render this general in their body, and many of the brethren have had their salaries raised two or three times, so that in some places they are four times as much as his amounted to, and double to stipend and Synod's salary both put together. Whatever care or authority they used for the purpose of a proportionable advance in other places, it never extended to his, or perhaps to two or three of the oldest settlements. Where- fore, if he had not denied himself some domestic comforts, and accustomed himself to a style of living different from what the greater part of his brethren chuse, or than those encum- bered with rising families could adopt, his provision could not have been either honourable or sufficient. If, from some peculiar circumstances in his situation or oeconomy, there might be a little surplus, for a few years, above bare neces- saries, it cannot be said, that this was employed for selfish or lucrative purposes, but with some reference to the public, particularly, in providing for the better accommodation of- the theological class, and the library belonging to it, for which, or for the necessary services to them, neither the Synod nor the proprietors of the library were required to be at the expence of one farthing, during all the time they remained peacably under his inspection. The reader may then judge, what rea- son this snarler had to twit him with holding a 'salary. None but persons of a base spirit would allow themselves to be tied to any religious profession or office, in which they could not abide with a good conscience. Any emoluments that the Associate body with which Mr B. was connected, ever presented or could present, would in this point of view, have only been like the thirty pieces of silver ; the goodly price at which Christ once was valued. Though nothing that is singly devoted for the service of the gospel, in whatever quantity, ought to be contemned ; and though even the more scanty contributions of a people, when offered willingly, according to their ( 260 ) their circumstances, will be valued and thankfully received by ministers, who seek, fruit from them of another kind, yet when these at any time are insultingly referred to, as if they were something considerable, in a worldly estimate of them, or if they should be once named in balance with* higher inter- ests, yea though they amounted to the revenues of bishops or princes, — they would deserve to be rejected with disdain, and to have the name applied to them, which Hiram imposed on the cities which Solomon gave him as a remuneration for his work and services in building the temple, Cabul. One word more, that we may have done with this subject, to shew with what a spirit of liberality, of gratitude, or equity this new scheme of men's rights, is capable of inspiring not only individuals but even a whole body of ministers, and how forward they are to inflict any civil penalties, in their power, upon religious accounts, it deserves to be remarked, that the Synod withdrew the salary in question, even before they had a right to do so by the rules of common equity, or the laws of the land in such cases. Ecclesiastical payments, it is known, are made^r advance; so that, if a minister or pro- fessor continue in office any part of the following year or term, the stipend for that term is legally due. Such was the state of the case under consideration. A new term had com- menced before he had any notification even of their informal agreement, or any posterior censure ; and a still longer time elapsed before any other was chosen. So that, were he to apply to a court of law, he would be found intitled to what they have kept back by fraud, in addition to their other acts of injustice. Even in those times, of which it is commonly said, that the rights of men were not understood, in which, they alledge, ' the church and parliaments imposed great hard- * ships on conscientious dissenters,' when many delinquents, after regular process, were deprived of their office, humanity was 50 far consulted, that a certain proportion of the livings, from which they were ejected, was allowed for support to them for life ; of which many hundreds, the deprived bishops not excepted, received the beiufit. during the time of the West- minster Assembly, and niter. Like instances pf clemency have often occurred in the exercise of discipline in the national church. Mr Simpson, though prohibited from teaching, was allowed to enjoy his salary as long as he lived. But so far are our improvers of the system of liberty from imitating such examples, or that of the Synod at the termination of the la- bours of the last teacher, that they scruple not to set aside even the claim of justice, and to disgrace the General Synod, by breaking their plighted faith in that matter, with him whom they had in a manner pressed a&d held to their service; dealing ( 261 ) dealing with him in some sort, as Amnon did with Tamar. This is the spirit that has uniformly appeared under the new system. Not content with attempting to deprive them jpf their spiritual privileges, wherever there were any pro- perty, or ecclesiastical goods, of which either the protest- ing ministers, or the people dissenting, were in possession, the Synod, and those actuated by their views, have made all haste to despoil them of these, when it could be done either by ecclesiastical or civil sentences. Both Synods of the new denomination are making exertions, by applying their funds, or by public collections for the purpose, to support law-pleas, with a view to sweep away all places of worship and congregational property that may yet remain in the hands of those they stigmatize as schismatics, from the original use for which they were intended ; and thus to render themselves, in law, by virtue of their ecclesiastic character, llie patrons of all the meeting houses and patiimony pertaining to them, as the court of Rome once pretended to be over all catholic churches. The claim is already made, and so far as their power can go is carried into execution; and did it de- pend wholly on them, none of the Protestors would have had reserved to them a pulpit to preach in, a house to dwell in, a morsel to eat, or a book to read. The same spirit has been manifested in the measures that have been taken by members of Synod, and some young par- tizans of the cause, whom they have already gotten initiated, for the disposal of the library which had been established at Alloa, by the contribution of students and other individuals, and by collections from congregations in consequence of pe- titions presented to them, for promoting the public education, and for the special benefit of those attending a Divinity- hall upon the old foundation. This had been gradually augmented by the accession of new contributors, of whom perhaps a hun- dred, or upwards, have at present a permanent interest in it, dispersed throughout the various corners of the Secession : But the management of the property was wholly consigned over in trust to fifteen, subject to the provisions of the charter, or such as might be made by meetings of the whole subscrib- ers ; but without any dependence upon the authority of Sy- nod. The managers had the power of assuming others when vacancies occurred, and of ch using a preses when the chair was vacated, which could not happen by any mere deed of Synod. The former professor had been appointed constant preses of their meetings, and continued so until his death. Upon the library being transferred to Whitburn, Mr B. was chosen a manager and preses, and the use of the library, by repeated rules of biennial meetings not repealed, was restrict- ed (" 262 ) ed to the hall convening there under him, daring the sessions. Yet, no sooner had the Synod installed a teacher of the new doctrines, than a few of the managers clandestinely convened, and ordered the removal of the library to another place, and for another purpose. When this irregular mandate was not immediately obeyed, without even waiting for the answer, a second was sent by the hand of the Synod's procurator, threatening legal process, if it was refused. Though the preses had formerly, when he gave in his resignation to the Synod, voluntarily offered to transport it, lover as he was of libraries, to any place that should be nominated for it, and declared still his readiness to comply with any regular order of managers or general meetings, yet he did not reckon him- self obliged, or even warranted, to deliver up the property committed to his custody, for behoof of the whole proprietors, at the request of a few without authority to do it. But at a posterior meeting, of about half the managers, they renew- ed the order, notwithstanding of a protest taken against it, so far as proceeding on the reasons and with the views which had been mentioned, and as homologating the unjust deeds of Synod. The biennial meeting of the contributors on the day fixed in the charter immediately followed, at the place where the library was kept. In it a small number of the same fac- tion (with the noted captain of the impress service from Leith at their head), without consulting the proprietors at lar^e, or regarding the claims of a considerable number not concur- ring with the Synod, who had been equally contributors, and had equal interest * ; without regard to the rights of the hall still existing, and by the statutes long in actual possession, and without listening to any proposal for a reasonable dividend, approved of the late proceedings of the managers, or rather of their own, and, without regard to the charter, chose a num- ber of new managers fit for their purpose, while the places were not vacant, and excluded every one belonging to the old school, and consequently the preses and Mr M'Crie of course. As a pretext for this, they entered a falshood on their sederunt- book, that these managers, < from their state and situation, were * precluded from being any longer serviceable in that capacity,' though they remained in the same condition, in that respect, as ever ; unless the new religious test was now become ne- cessary to qualify them for taking a share in superintending a * Every member of ths Constitutional Presbytery, and those in public office in connection with them, one perhaps excepted, were proprietors: some of their congregations too, had early contributed : besides some connected with other de- nominations. Mr B. for himself, besides the continued and greater share he had in the trouble of management, a few weeks in the year only excepted, had been, one way or other, a benefactor to the library to the amount of the whole contrh- butions of all the party in that meeting, put together. library ; C 2C33 ) library : which is something very like what Mr Allan declaims about, and would charge on others, 'not allowing one to act the 4 part of a civil judge by deciding about a title to a piece of mo- * ney, or a sph.dle of yarn f,' unless he be of a certain creed. Such of the former managers as were attending, had been called by the constant prescs to meet as usual after the biennial meeting to hear and record their resolutions. But this diet they did not keep, but schismatically convened in some other place, unknown to him, and, though they were not a quorum, for car- rying their purposes into execution, they assumed the powers of a meeting, pretended to elect a new preses, while as yet there was no vacancy nor resignation (though that was offered if they had taken regular steps), and they admitted such of the new members as were present to sit and vote. By no better authority at last was the transfer of the public library to Edin- burgh effected. It might have been detained till the right had been determined in law ; but no steps were taken for this by those on the other side ; thinking it much better in some cases to give way even to violence and spoil, than to go has- tily to strive ; according to the divine saying, " Whosoever " shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other " also j and if any man sue thee at the law, and take away " thy coat, let him have thy cloak also,' 7 Mat. v. 39, 40. Thus have they mixed their party views in religion with the management of secular matters, and founded an appro- priate claim to common property upon ecclesiastical deeds. — Thus has Mr B. a third time been deposed by a junto, in a different capacity, all of them his quondam pupils, under his own roof, as a requittal for having done his best to promote the interests of that literary society, as well as the other, for so many years ; and all for the same great crime. They came indeed with kind words and liberality still in their mouth, while the concealed poniard was in their hand. In the manner of managing the whole transaction too, they shewed themselves to be strictly and canonically orthodox, even to the uniform use of a new nomenclature. The Romish inquisition, who were appointed to examine the books, and put into the Index Ex- purgatorius, all passages, phrases, or even words, that savoured of heretical pravity, among other rules were injoined, where- ever in the writings of Catholics any thing was said in com- mendation of ' Protestant heretics, or when a title of respect was applied to tbem, such as the learned, the most excellent, the venerable Dr, that these should all be expunged. The young adepts seem to have acted so far on this plan as care- fully to avoid, during the negociation for two days (as Mr B. + Allan's Power of the Magistrate, p. 163. never / ( 264 ) never had attended these meetings in person), the use of the former designation, Professor, which in all papers, or written messages from the students, or from the biennial meetings, as well as in the minutes of the journal-books, kept by them or the managers, had been common style. Though names and titles pass for things very cheap in the intercourse of the world, and by common courtesy, it is said, * Once a captain * always a captain,' yet they seem to have been afraid ot offending against the authority of new-light-mother Synod, by indulging in such a license any more. In this they copied after their betters*, for the New-Jersey Dr, it is said, when Mr B.'s cause was under discussion in the Presbytery, even before they had gone through the ceremony of formal degrada- tion, as among papists, by stripping off the canonicals, corrected a member, who had stumbled on the old name, saying, with the liberality of a father inquisitor, 9 Don't call him Professor.' This name indeed he never had assumed ; he had for a time, in company with his brethren, often objected to the use of it ; as it seemed to imply some pretensions or professions which he never had made, nor durst make. But he can perceive the littleness of mind that sometimes is discovered in such incidents, and the spirit of a party is often seen in lesser as well as in greater things. By such proceedings, when the cause is con- sidered, he reckons himself to be advanced, though uninten- tionally in the actors, to a new and higher honour than ever he could claim before, — superior to what titles, offices, sala- ries, presidency or membership in any literary societies in the world could confer : 1 Pet. iv. 13, 14. There is yet one paragraph, in Mr C.'s late publication, that respects Mr B. personally, in the execution of his office as theological teacher, which may require a remark. It is in the end of the note already quoted, where he is still humming to the tune of the Synod's wonderful lenity, and adduces this lingular instance of it : * There could not be a more certain * proof of this spirit of forbearance than what was exercised ' towards Mr Bruce. Notwithstanding his principles (about * the civil magistrate's power) w*ere well known, the Synod f never once said to him, You must not instil these principles * into the minds of the students • and, though he had attacked 1 the constitution of the court, they still continued him in the ' office of Professor of Divinity as long as he remained in any * sort of connection with the Synod. It was not till last meet- * ing that another was chosen in his room.' p. 43. His prin- ciples on that head might have been well known, if they were not : he considered them as nothing different from those con- tained in the Standard-books of the Church of Scotland, as received arid explained in the Testimony of the Synod : nor has < 265 ) has Mr C. ventured to say, nor any man yet been able to prove that he held any other. If so, how absurd would it have been for the Synod to have said to him, You must not instil the principles that you and we all have vowed ever to maintain. And it is a strange proof and encomium of the Sy- nod's forbearance, that they suifered the public doctrines of their own and of the reformed churches so long to be taught Under their eye, without a direct prohibition or censure. In this case, it must have been the old heterodox confessions, systems, and testimonies, that experienced so much forbearance, not him. Forbearance as to the doctrines he believed or taught, he never asked ; though he needed indulgence in many other respects. This is just such a proof of the Synod's forbearance, as their allowing Mr C. or any other to continue to preach the gospel, is, without injoining him not to instil his doctrines into the minds of the people, while as yet no error had been laid to his charge. But if it was well known that Mr B. held dif- ierent and false principles, it is but a sorry commendation he gives the Synod, that they were so totally indifferent about the propagation of such principles, that they never would so much as bestow a word, by way of advice or caveat, about them, but leave it so long to the discretion of any man, whe- ther he should teach them or forbear ; yea, after he had de- clared in court, that he reckoned himself bound to teach them. Truth must not be sacrificed out of lenity to any man. But on this supposition, it is needful first to inquire, What these principles were ? When and where were they made known I Whether did he ever teach them to the students, or how long ? The Synod never gave an answer to one of these questions -, nor is Mr C. in case to do it : for he sometimes tells his rea- ders, that the sentiments he refers to are of no moment ; and at another fairly confesses, that he does not yet know what they are. For once he may be allowed to have spoken ho- nestly and truly : and any one might easily have seen, this to be undoubtedly true, though he had not told it. There is something very like an inconsistency in saying,, that the principles of some of these brethren were well known, and yet to .say, as the Letter-writer does, ' that the present * controversy is so much a question of words and names among ' Seceders, that to this moment 1 havenot yetlearned what pow- 4 er our separating brethren would give to those in civil office.' Christ. Mag. p. 65. Why then does he take upon him to write, to condemn, or approve, or to call opinions trivial or important, speculative or practical, until he has attained to some knowledge of what they are. They may be the very reverse of what he holds them to be, for any thing he knows. And how is this a proof that the question is about words, that LI he ( 266 ) he has not yet learned all about it ? May not mens ignorance extend to great makers as well as small, and to practical as well as speculative •? Is it an evidence that the mysterious doc- trines of Christianity are not interesting, because iruny pre- tend they never could see the evidence or utility of them, or understand all about thern? May not men have so much know- ledge as may be sufficient for faith and practice, though they know but in part, and cannot answer all inquiries about the matter of their faith ? ' Times without number/ he says, ' they were desired to say, * to what extent the powers of civil rulers should go. and as ' often they refused to answer ?' If this question was ever proposed to them in Synod, it was an impertinent one, to which it was not necessary for them, nor perhaps practicable for any, to return an answer, if it refer to all particular and supposable cases. Without this, was there not enough declar- ed in the Bible, and in the books that had been received, to shew the subject to be highly interesting, on which many practical duties of Seceders as well as others did depend ? Are they blamed, because they did not compose a new creed, or confession of faith on this subject? Did their defence of the old require this of them ? And were not the former declara- tions sufficiently extensive ? It was left to the Synod to com- pose and impose a new confession. Those that have compiled public formularies or systems have not pretended to do more than to lay down the general heads of doctrine upon this subject, to define the nature of the power, its object, and the limits to be observed in the ordinary exer- cise of it. But exactly to declare how far it may extend in its application to all times, persons, and circumstances, ordinary and extraordinary, is neither needful nor practicable, more than it would be to do this in reference to the civil and crimi- nal, jurisdiction in other matters. Many particular cases can neither be foreseen by human wisdom, nor can be judiciously determined until they occur. If such a requisition was made upon the brethren, it was not only unreasonable in itself, but peculiarly impertinent in respect of the state of the controversy between them and the Synod. The latter, by the principle they have adopted, that no degree of power whatever is competent to civil rulers about such matters, cut off and render unne- cessary all such nice inquiries about the utmost extent of it. They denv it in its least as well as greater extent. ' It is a non-entity,' they have said ; and metaphysicians tell us, Non- entis nulla sunt affectiones. If it were determined that a parent had no power whatever to correct his child, or a general au- thority to inflict punishment for maintaining discipline in his army, it would be perfectly trifling after that to spend time in making- ( 267 ) making inquiries, how far a father might go in correcting, or in what particular instances, or to what degree of severity, a general or court-martial might exert authoiity in punishing the soldiers. To resolve such queries was no way necessary in contending against the doctrine of the Synod ; for to shew that any degree of power, the least that could be named, be- longed to them, was sufficient to prove it false, as much as if the highest could be named. And in a judicial contending with such a body as the Associate Synod, it was not even incum- bent on these brethren to prove the former, since it was as clear as sun-sriine that such was the doctrine established in that body : it became the Synod effectually to refute that doctrine and. the public books, for with these the quarrel was stated. As to the attack upon the constitution of the Synod by Mr B, which is given as an additional proof of their great forbear- ance towards him, it will appear from what has been said, that it was indeed the prevailing party that had made the attack upon the genuine constitution of Synod, and that any remon- strances or protests against the changes introduced by them, were in reality in defence of that constitution, and not an attack upon it. It was that party therefore that were the objects of forbearance, and they all along met with too much of it in carrying on their attacks, until they have gotten that pe< uliar constitution, as in behalf of the whole Presbyterian system, the reformation-cause and covenants of Britain, destroyed. As a Synod, and a Church, they may yet be allowed to have a con- stitution and existence, as other erroneous and corrupt judica- tories, or backsliding churches, continue to have. And such an existence the Constitutional Associate Presbytery have, nei- ther by their uame or deeds, ever attempted to deny or dep ive them of. Any attack that was rmde by Mr B upon their new constitution, while he was suffered to remain in connec- tion with them, was accompanied with reasons and evidences, as to which, instead of seeking forbearance, he solicited a more narrow investigation than they ever yet entered upon. That they shifted this so long, and do so still, was in favour to themselves and their cause, rather than in lenity to the bre* thren. L 1 2 SECTION ( 208 ) SECTION TWELFTH. Vague refactions on separation inapplicable — The Letter-writer"*? mistaken notions on the subject of the Magistrate's Power The old doctrine neither Popish nor Erastian — The Commit- tee's charge against o?ie of the Remonstrants on the head of the Revolution-settlement most false and calumnious — The dif- ference between the Old and New Testimonies in reference to that settlement truly stated ; and the Reason of remonstrance relating to it, Justified — The Committee'' s reference to the Ban- gonan Controversy impertinent — Their unfair statement of the reasons, perversion of language y and misconstruction of the most innocent actions. X HE greater part of the errors that men are chargeable with, whereby they are led into wrong conduct, do not consist so much in mistaken views of general doctrines, or abstract rules of duty, as in the misapplication of these to particular cases and objects. All Christians, for example, will readily agree in condemning rash and causeless separation from a church, and own the obligation all are under to cultivate union, so warmly recommended in Scripture: they may easily see and enumerate a variety of disagreeable consequences that will arise from the breach of it, and deplore them ; as the writer in the Christian Magazine has done in Letter IV. p. 64. &c Men in all communions will speak nearly in the same strain, and writers, Popish, Lutheran, Episcopalian, have written much in the same manner upon the general subject ; while often there is no due distinction made between just and unwarrantable separation, and general truths are misap- plied, and unmerited censures thrown out against persons and courses, in such cases. Thus many volumes have been written, many excellent doctrines abused, and many pious reflections thrown away, while a false supposition hath been assumed as the ground of the whole, and the great scope and tendency has been wrong. Thus Job's friends advanced many useful truths, apparently in their zeal for God, while the ground they proceeded upon throughout was an error ; and their conduct in levelling them against a servant of God, whom he justified, was criminal. No sophistical reasoning, though mingled with scriptures, no vague declamations, no devout reflections must be allowed to blind the judgment of Chris- tians. Man? pious books have been written about the neces- sity of keeping in unity with the holy see, being in subjection to one universal pastor sitting in it in Christ's stead, and of the damnable nature of separation from it : Many filled with the most devout meditations, directions, and prayers, relating to ( 269 ) to the five additional sacraments of the church, the holy cross, the immaculate conception, the assumption, and the interces- sion of the virgin, the fire of purgatory, and the mysteries and virtues of the mass, or of a rosary : but to what purpose, while all was but ■ the baseless fabric of a vision ?' There are none surely that will differ with that writer when he says, that * it is not every difference in opinion, nor every ' mistake in management, that will warrant separation ; far ' less will personal pique or animosity sanction it.' But what relation has this to the present controversy ? The pro- testing ministers proceeded upon none of these suppositions, nor is there any thing in their declared sentiments or conduct that can afford the smallest pretence for alledging it. From what has been occasionally observed above, and from other publications of late, as to the real grounds and extensive na- ture of the difference, it may be evident that it respected no single point either of opinion or management ; nor matters merely speculative, or of a frivolous kind ; but that the causes were very complex, in which matters of faith and prac- tice, important duties towards God and men, were included ; such causes as have been usually allowed to be sufficient for justifying disobedience to the authority of, or separation from any church when they concur together; — error in doctrine, innovation and corruption in worship, tyranny in government, perversion of discipline, screening the erroneous, falling from a faithful profession and attainments in reformation, deceit and inconsistence in bearing testimony, dispensing with lawful vows and oaths, and imposing of unlawful, schism from all the reformed churches, and establishing sinful terms of com- munion, &-C ■ Separation,' he adds, ' upon the ground of the magistrate's * power in matters of religion appears to me to be an unwar- ' rantable thing.' Why so ? If there be doctrines in the Bible, or any part of the divine law respecting that subject, what should hinder it from being a proper ground of contending, and in certain cases, of just separation, more than other parts of truth or duty ? Were it even among the lesser matters, as he would represent it, does our Lord allow any to break the least of the commandments, or teach men so ? Are not men obliged to be faithful in the least as well as in the greatest? Even a cardinal of the church of Rome, when writing against the Protestants, spoke more christianly, when he granted, that if they could show that anyone sinful term of communion was required of them, their separation was warrantable. But this writer here again betrays his ignorance and narrow views upon this particular subject, and the general state of the dif- ference; while he labours to persuade the reader, as does the author of Consolation, that it is confined to this single point, and ( 270 ) and that a mere speculative and frivolous one, as to which it concerns no man's conscience, or duty, on what side he be. Enough has been said to expose the fallacy of this : and every intelligent reader may perceive it. Few, it is hoped, have such a contracted eye as to perceive an object of such magni- tude, and so interesting to mankind and the church of God, in the same diminutive light that he does ; and all have not yet that criminal latitude or lethargy of conscience as to make no account of the right or the wrong in matters that affect the interest and the duty of all. How childishly does he quibble in order t© prove it to be frivolous and merely specu- lative, among Seceders at least ? ' Neither king nor parliament * are offering their sanction to the deeds of our courts, nor * have the Synod ever required this favour at their hand. 1 We are not so much as acknowledged by the law of the land * to have any ecclesiastical being in the country.' And is this the measure by which to determine the importance or practical nature of these questions ? Is it only with reference to such a small body as Seceders, or a particular Synod, and to the immediate advantages or disadvantages they receive from them, that these controversies have been and ought to be considered? May they not be interesting and attended with practical influ- ence to communities at large, to other nations and churches, to millions of the human race, and to other ages, though the Associate Synod may not be sensibly affected by the operation of the power ? There are countries in which small societies of Christians reside, where the laws never sanctioned the ob- servance of a Sabbath, and where such a law was never re- quired ; must it therefore be a frivolous question, whether human governors ought to add a legal sanction to the divine, or must the inquiry about the powers competent to them about matters of religion be in itself of no moment ? Or is the question confined to what direct sanctions may be given or be needful to the particular ordinary deeds of a church court, recognised in law or not recognised, as to the intrinsic manage- ment of its own affairs? Are there no other ways in which such authority may be exercised for the benefit of churches, and the religious interests of nations, than by converting, at the church's petition or her mandate, all ecclesiastical deeds into civil or statute laws, — with which all must be obliged to comply, under the pain of being held rebels or bad sub- jects, as he surmises in p. 65. ? Or is there any thing in the principles of Presbyterians, as they were received in this land, tending to produce any thing similar to the process in the Antichristian church, in condemning and delivering over heretics to the secular arm to be burnt, as he once and again has most indecently insinuated ? If he had any tolerable acquaintance with the subject, he would easi- ( 211 ) ly discern, that these are foreign to the real state of the controversy j and that he has traduced Presbyterian prin- ciples, and consequently those of the Protesters in this de- bate, either from shameful ignorance of them, or from some- thing worse, — a spiteful prejudice that he has contracted against them. None who understand these principles could ever think, that there was any necessity, either for making the church subject to the state, or the state subject to the church, though they might in many instances reckon it needful to employ their authority about the same matters, while it was done by them in their distinct peculiar manner : and none that know the distinction between them could admit the propriety or possibi- lity of converting ecclesiastical deeds into civil laws ; for church deeds must remain the same, and be nothing more than church deeds, whether any civil act follow with respect to them or not. If any sanction or statute be made about them, or about things that are the matter of them, that is something addi- tional, totally different, and for a different purpose, proceed- ing from an authority equally independent, and acting with equal freedom as the church. To declare the divine law, or what is duty, leaves both individuals and societies free of com- pulsion. And it is easy to conceive how there may be a gene- ral law recognizing the constitution of a church, and legally authorising her courts to act and manage all her own ecclesi- astical causes, independently, without appeal to civil jurisdic tion, and without continual intrusion. And there are also innumerable cases in which mere church deeds could not eff^c- tuaHy redress grievances, and accomplish ends most conducive to public good, without a subsequent sanction and concurring operation of the civil power — which could be demonstrated by a large induction of particulars in the history of reformations, were we professedly treating the subject. But Mr Culbertson avows, that ' ne knows only of tw r o ' kinds of pow^r which ever were, or ever can be, exercised * by civil rulers in matters purely religious ; the one is an ■ Erastian, and the other is a Popish power. By the first, the * state lords it over the church ; by the second, the church ' lords it over the state. Our brethren utterly disclaim the * former of these ; and I give them full credit. Jf they, there- ' fore, ascribe ;-;ny power at all to civil rulers about matters ' purely religious, it must be the last *.' But have they not as openly and solemnly, with all Protestants, disclaimed the latter as they have done the former ? And do they not deserve in this as full credit ? This writer here, after the example of the Synod, has, without accuracy or logical precision, intro- duced the expression, * matters purely religious.' Properly speaking, a civil power has not for its object any thing purely reli- * Consolation, p. 45. ( 272 ) religious. But taking it in the sense in which they have em- ployed it, we have here strange doctrine, amounting fully to all that has been charged on the Synod on this head, even a denial of all power whatever in rulers about matters of religion. It was with equal plainness asserted in the Committee's An- swers read in Synod, though that part was suppressed by the publisher of them, is there no middle then, according to the present principles of the Synod, between these extremes of gross Erastianism or Popery, on this subject ? between mak- ing the civil magistrate either the head or the hangman of the church ? No medium between making a law about any matter religious or ecclesiastical, ' and tormenting every honest con- * scientious dissenter with fire and sword V Does not the Pres- byterian scheme lie in the middle, at equal distance from both ? Do they thus dare to brand with ignominy all that was ever taught or done in Protestant kingdoms, in reference to matters of this kind ? He that professes he knows no other exercise of power but the one or the other of these, deserves not any longer to be reasoned with, until he has learned the first principles of civil and ecclesiastical polity. It is astonishing that any holding such sentiments should ever have subscribed the Pres- byterian system ; or that, after they have avowed them, they should be permitted to superintend a Presbyterian congregation. No wonder though men of such principles should have given up with the vindication of the Reformation, or of any legal acts of settlement in any former period of it : no wonder though they have changed the voice of their testimony on the head of the Revolution, both in condemning and approving. Accord- ing to their doctrine, both under the former and under the lat- ter settlement, and while one statute continues in force, rati- fying matters ecclesiastical, these nations have been, and re- main under an Antichristian yoke, and every honest dissenter has been exposed to the torment of fire and sword. But though Seceders from the beginning had as little of direct countenance from the civil powers as they have now ; yet they were very far from thinking that questions relating to their duties, their right or wrong conduct, were of no moment to them or to the community at large : they found much in them for mat- ter of testimony ; much to engage them in humiliation, con- fession, praying, vowing, and thanksgiving. Among other things they forgot not to express their gratitude for the coun- tenance and security that their religious profession, in the ge- neral view of it, as Protestant and Presbyterian, has, by the laws of the land ; which now must be a matter of condemnation and regret. Mr C. represents this as a Popish tenet, * that the * church ought to take the lead, and having passed her deci- i sions, civil rulers must be told, that as it is their right, so it * is their duty to sanction them, and give them the force of ' national ( 273 ) ' national laws.' This no doubt is the regular order of proce- dure which all true Presbyterians insisted for when any civil sanction, or national law about matters ecclesiastical, was rec- koned needful : and for following- this beautiful order docs the Old Testimony commend the Reformatio.; in former times ; and for inverting that order at the Revolution does it find fauic with the settlement then made. But by this orcer qf proceed- ing, according to him, * civil rulers aie degraded into a con- * dition, somewhat lower than door-keepers in the house of i God.' But in this, as has been already observed, this writer is at variance, not only with his former principles, but with the Synod's Committee, who have adopted the opposite side of the dilemma, and wish to fix the charge of Erastianism upon the Protesters. They have particularly attempted to load the au- thor of the larger remonstrance with this, by tiie most unfair and odious misconstruction of the words of one of the reasons, as perhaps was ever seen in any ecclesiastical court. That reason, the 13th in order, related to the difference between the Old and New Testimonies on the head of the Revolution- settlement, and makes the subject of the 12th and last chapter of the Committee's publication. Though we are not now for- mallv considering or detecting the sophistry of these Answers, yet that brother thinks it needful to take this opportunity (aj he knows not if he may have another), both to wipe off the aspersion, one of the most impudent and atrocious in the book, and to state more clearly and particularly the import of that reason, and the charges therein brought against the New Tes- timony ; especially as this has not been dons in any of the for- mer publications. The reason, from which they w T ould deduce the charge, was thus expressed : i The account of the Revolution-settlement * given in the Narrative differs from that contained in the for- * mer Testimony, both in respect to the church and state-pro- ' ceedings. The culpable omissions of the parliament are much i abridged, and four particular instances of unfaithfulness in f that settlement, mentioned in the latter, are now left out ; ' and the condemnation expressed in the Narrative seems to 1 proceed on a very different ground from that contained in the * other. The manner in which that is expressed, as well as ' the censure passed on the Revolution-Assembly, are, at any * rate, rendered more ambiguous ; and that assembly, or church, f are blamed for some things not formerly charged upon them, * and for which, if properly stated, they may r not be found so * blameable as in the two first instances; upon which, low- 1 ever, we cannot here be more particular. If the two ac- \ counts be compared together, the former, given in Secession M in * papers, ( 274 ) ' papers, will be found to be, m point of history, more distinct * a-nl full, and in sentiment more just and consonant to Pres- * byterian principles.' The reader should know, that in the beginning of that re- monstrance the Synod were told, that on account of the vari- ety of things referred to, and in order to avoid incroachment on the Synod's time, several of the reasons were expressed in a summary manner, sometimes general heads being only men- tioned, without entering into particulars, or without illustra- tions or proofs, which yet were ready to be produced if rec- koned needful. This was one of these so expressed, without quoting passages, or adding any particular explication. This the writer thought might suffice in a paper presented to a learned body, who had the books familiarly among their hands, and who might be supposed to be so well acquainted with these particulars in their own principles, to which reference was made, as not to be at a loss to discover what was intended in every part of the paragraph. But what a comment does the Committee make upon it, and what a disingenuous advantage do they take of that reserve designed solely in favour of the Synod. In this and in some other instances, they have, in- stead of seeking any farther elucidation, taken upon them to supply what was wanting, by conjecture, and to in pose such a meaning on the expressions as best suited their purpose of crimination. With regard to the first part of the paragraph, relating to the parliamentary procedure, they would have it believed, that the matter was of design darkly expressed, and that the remonstrant ' seemed to be in some hesitation to * bring it plainly out.' p. i53. But when did he ever affect such obscurity, or refuse to speak plainly out on this or any other part of the public profession, or what reason could he have for such conduct hert ? The Committee, therefore, have attempted, in their manner, to draw the matter of difference meant from its state of concealment : but it is in such a jum- ble and mishmash of ambiguous expressions, that it is scarce possible for any to collect from them with certainty, what either the Old or tne New r Testimony has condemned in these proceedings, But every man has surely the best right to ex- plain his own meat ing : and the remonstrant had a more par- ticular and explicit statement, both of this and the following part of the paragraph, written out when he drew up that sum- mary, which he would willingly have inserted into the ie- monstrsnee. could he have done it with propriety, and it was in readiness to have been produced in Synod, had any explica- tion been remanded. What relates to the first part was as follows : — In ( 275 ) * In this new Narrative the sinful omissions of the Revolu- * tion-parliamcnt are much abridged, not only in the words, but ' in matter and import. They are only blamed, for not re- * pealing those parliamentary acts which condemned our cove- ' nants — which prohibited the subjects from entering into such * engagements, without the express consent of the prince ; and ' which vilified the whole of the last Reformation as a track of ' rebellion.' As none of these particular acts are specified, every reader is left to discover to what acts this general de- scription may apply. The compilers of the former Testimony- had specified some of the most obnoxious that had been left unrepealed — particularly those of the first session of the first parliament of Ch. II. and the infamous act rescissory. That the last, which may be said to be the most summary, and most atrocious of all, whether vi°wed in a political or religi- ous light, which rescinded parliaments, and a series of the best of them that ever met in Scotland, and their deeds, b) whole- sale, should have been passed on this occasion, without express mention, is very surprizing : but it is doubtful whether it can even be included, or was intended to be included, among these sinful acts here generally designed. It woulci seem, that, in propriety of language, it cannot be included in the number ;— but the particular and distinct acts, posterior to the other, such as those made in the second session of parliament in io62, mentioned in the third condemnatory article of the Old Testi- mony ; and others afterwards of thib tenor, must only be meant. Here the Synod have dropt the following instances of unfaithfulness, mentioned! in the former Testimony, as not worthy of notice ; — 1. that prelacy was not abolished, as con- trary to the word of God, and as abjured formerly by cove- nants ; — 2. that by the act appointing the oath of allegiance, — i. the revival of the former oath of the covenant by authority for such a purpose is expressly superseded and excluded ; which is something more than leaving it under some former indigni- ties ; — 3. that men, guilty of many of the oppressions of the former period, and that were both in principle and practice opposite to a covenanted reformation, were not excluded from places of power and trust ; which was one of the capital errors in forming the new constitution ; — 4. that in the settlement of Presbytery, all the legal securities given to this church in the period between I63h and 1650 are overlooked*. In one instance, indeed, the Narrative goes beyond the former Testi- mony, in blaming the parliament for not repealing the acts which prohibited subjects from entering into such engagements without the express consent of the prince ; — but the acts mak- * Display, p. 86, &c compared with Answers to Mr Nairn, p. 285, 286. M m 2 ing ( 216 ) mg it penal to own or adhere to the covenants, were repealed or disabled. But there is jet a very material difference between the two Testimonies, in reference to the civil settlement of religion in Scotland at the revolution ; the condemnation of the Parliament in the new is not only expressed in a very different manner, but proceeds on a very different ground from that of the for- mer. The deed of settlement, in itself considered, in favour of the Presbyterian system, was so far from being viewed as blameable, in the former, that it is declared to have been a singular privilege, as giving security in the matter of it to the Protestant and Presbyterian religion. It was chiefly the order, form, and deficient manner in which it was granted, in comparison with a preceding and better settlement, that was blamed. But in the new, not only the manner and order, but the matter of it too, seera to be implicated in the censure. The parliament, they say, greatly exceeded what was their duty, when the'V ratified the Confession and Form of Church Government established in 1592. They leave it at best as a doubtful point, whether it was competent to the civil power at all to ratify any particular system, either antecedently or consequently to a ratification by church authority: they cannot join their predecessors in accounting any deed of this kind as a blessing, and as a valuable security to religion : they have there-ore in so fir deserted the former Testimony of Seceders, and of all Presbyterians on this head. The disapprobation they express of this act rests upon ' the * unlawfulness of prescribing a Confession or Form of Go- ' vernment to a Church,' which may either mean, the imposi- tion of these by civil authority on a church which has not by her own acts previously adopted them, — or which is reluc- tant and averse to receive them, which cannot be affirmed of the Presbyterian church in that instance; or the expression may mean, that the act of a civil legislature, either with or without the previous or concurrent consent of a church, is an unlawful prescription : though, as is usual on this subject, the precise sense, and consequently the evil condemned, is wrapt up in ambiguity. The Narrative employs too the vague and indefinite term • the church,' instead of this church, or the church of Scotland ; as if the Parliamentary act had prescribed a confession, or enacted a government for the church universal, or any other church than that particular one to which it is ex- pressly restricted in it : but this very restriction, excluding any respect to the design of compiling and receiving them for the use of all the three kingdoms, in pursuance of a solemn treaty and oath for uniformity, might have afforded a reason for pronouncing this settlement, and the coronation oath of the king. ( 277 ) king reduplicating upon it, unfaithful and defective, more forcible, and more important in its consequences than some others here adduced. If the legislature had revived the acts, made in the last period of reformation, ratifying the Confes- sion and the Form of Church Government, &c. as they had been received by the Assembly's acts, and for the purposes therein expressed, they would not have acted so far amiss, in the present state of things, even though they had not waited for a new and formal declaration from an Assembly about to be convened : especially as there were obvious difficulties in the way of any number of ministers meeting in a regular General Assembly, as representing the national church, in pur- suance of the claim to have the legal Church-government abolished, — till order was taken to restore Presbyterian minis- ters to their parishes, or, to introduce them to those from which the incumbents were removed, and to ascertain the component members of such an assembly, and their legal warrant to meet and act exclusive of others ; which was one part of the design of the act about the Church. government, as is evident from the latter part of it. They had grounds suffi- cient to go upon, even previous to the meeting of Assembly, for declaring both that Confession and Presbyterial Govern- ment to have been, and that of right they still were, parts of the religion professed and received by the true church in that land, if they had duly availed themselves of them. They had been all along adhered to by the great body of Presby- terians and their ministers. And the Westminster Confession, we are told, was previously in such general use, that it was even taught in the University of Edinburgh, and generally by the Episcopalians themselves throughout the kingdom, in the very heat of the persecution *. Had the above precautions been observed, and these consi- derations been included in the civil ratification, could it have merited the censure of invading the liberty of the kingdom of Christ by an Erastian prescription or imposition ? It is of less consequence to remark the ungrammatical language in the sen- tence referred to, « to prescribe to her a Confession,' that is, to the spiritual kingdom, just mentioned before. Though there be also some acknowledgment of the great deliverance at the Revolution in the Narrative, yet it is very general, and falls far short of that warm, more particular, and yet concise testimony » to the Divine power and goodness mani- ' fested in this wonderful work' to be found in the former pa- pers ; in which several considerations are introduced to rais^ a just estimation of it, and continued gratitude for it ; among • Brief Account of the Sufferings of the Church of Scotland, iond. 1690. which ( 278 ) which arc mentioned, c the stigma then put upon the infamous f government of tne former period ; ttie justice and honour * do e to t'.e cloud of witnesses and sufferers through the same, ' by the acts rescinding fines and forfeitures ; and the security ' given to our religitn, lives and liberties, by the present civil * government, in consequence of it, such as no other people ' now enjoys the like.' Not one word of approbation is expres- sed 1^. the New Testimony of any thing done by that parliament in behalf of religion ; but merelj that k they were intitled to ' praise for their exertions in securing the cruil rights of the ' nation.' p. 36. We may now hear the Committee's account of the difference between the Oid and New Testimonies on this head of parlia- mentary procedure, as it is a notable specimen of the art of juggling. They say, * the Old Testimony does not expressly * condemn the Revolution-parliament for taking upon them to ' do the business of a General Assembly, by sitting and judg- ' ing in their parliamentary capacity about spiritual matters, ' particularly by prescribing a confession of faith, and form ' of ecclesiastical government for the church to receive, but * merely rests in a condemnation of some mismanagements * they were chargeable with, in their manner of transacting * that business ; whereas the New Testimony, in place of rest- * ing in this, goes to the bottom of the matter, and condemns * their doing the business of the church at all at their own * hand, by sitting and judging, in their parliamentary capacity, * about a confession of faith, and form of church-government, ' without ever giving herself a hearing in the cause, or so * much as allowing her Assembly to meet, till they had trans- ' acted all her business for her. — Which of these two accounts ' is the most faithful and plain, we apprehend few persons will ' be at a loss to judge. But why is the remonstrant so dis- ' pleased with the new account differing from the old? The ' reason is plainly this ; though the old account contains no < direct assertion of the right of kings and parliaments to in- ' terfere with religious matters, and give judgment about * them ; yet neither does it condemn the practice, but seems ' rather to take the lawfulness of it for granted; whereas in ' the account given of that settlement in the New Testimony, ' the very right of civil powers to prescribe to the church * about religious matters, if not formally condemned, is yet « materially called in question. This is the whole ground of ' offence.' Hut if the general expressions used by the remonstrant left the matter in the dark, this pretended elucidation of it has left it still darker ; and if the language of the text in the New Testimony was ambiguous, that of the comment is in some parts ( ** ) parts more so. They are in some hesitation to speak plainly out, whether the\ judge al! interference of kings and parlia- ments, b\ their acts about religious matters, to be absolutely un- warrantable, ana consequently whether any parliamentary settlement, or act respecting ecclesiastical affairs at the Ri lution, made in any order whatever, was in itself Antichristiau or Erastian ; or if these are only condemnable, on account of errors in the matter or manner of them. The former evi- dently is their real opinion, and in some of these assertions it is implied ; yet, to save appearances, as if they did not directly contradict the doctrine of the Old Testimony, and that they may not shock the ears of Presbyterians all at once, — they seem to mingle the old and new grounds of condemnation to- gether, by thrusting in an equivocal word or phrase, or tag- ging to the end of their sentences expressions that imply the former grounds of condemnation, and that may seem to lay the stress upon the mismanagements in the manner of proce- dure only. Thus they think they may find an evasion, if the new ground be disputed ; and by giving now a note of the old tune, and then of the new, sometimes in the same sentence, and shifting perpetually from the one to the other, they would fain please both sides, by attempting to confound their judg- ments ; as Mr Gib said of a former Re-exhibition of the Judicial Testimony by another Synod, on the head of the Revolution-settlement, ' perhaps they found it necessary, in ' order to satisfy all parties concerned, and keep themselves to- ' gether, to retain the text for pleasing some, and to take in the * commentary for pleasing others, as no rational person can be ' pleased with both*.' Here it is allowed to be an article of difference between the Old and the New Testimony, that the one takes for granted the lawfulness of kings and parliaments interfering with religious matters, and giving judgment about them ; whereas in the other, the very right of civil powers to prescribe to the church about religious matters, if not for- mally condemned, is yet materially called in question. By interfering and prescribing here must be meant, meddling at all, or in any shape, with such matters; otherwise the diffe- rence that they allow to be real will not be found, for Presby- terians ascribe only a cumulative and not a privative power to civil rulers about the church ; and the Old Testimony con- demned prescribing to the church, either in a way of anticipating or depriving her of her proper judgment. And here anv inter- fering or judging by civil powers, they make synonymous with * doing the business of a General Assembly, by sitting ana judg- ' ing about spiritual matters,' as they have expressed it in the be- * A Display of the fraudulent Abuses committed upon the Seccession-Testi- mony, &c. p. 47. ginning ( 2S0 ) ginning of the paragraph ; and this, they say, the Old Testimony aid not expressly condemn. But who ever before supposed, that a settlement of a na- tional religion by law, or any royal edict or parliamentary act about the external affairs of a church, must necessarily imply the assuming or depriving a church of her proper power, or must be the same thing with * doing the business of an eccle- « siastical assembly, — judging of spiritual things' as spiritual? A civil government may warrantably settle affairs of this kind in a distinct capacity, and for different purposes from those of a church, particularly in consequence of a claim of right on the part of a people, and in support of national privileges violated; and may even approve and ratify a confession of faith and form of church-government, to discriminate one church and its mi- nisters from others, when the disposal and security of certain external privileges, property and emoluments, which fall with- in their province, are concerned, as t<^ which there may be a competition and opposition of claims ; and yet may leave that particular church's spiritual power entire, and that of others too. How absurd is it then to suppose, that the parliament's merely sitting and acting about such matters, made them guilty of an Erastian encroachment upon the authority or freedom of Christ's kingdom, or of doing the business, yea all the business of the church for her ? And if this had indeed been the case, how unfaithful was the Old Testimony, and how dangerous the doctrine of it, which did not condemn that parliament for taking upon them to do all this, but merely rests in a condem- nation of some mismanagement in the manner of transacting that business ! For it must be chargeable in this case, not on- ly with a capital omission, but with a direct approbation of an abominable Erastian usurpation upon the church of Christ ; for the Committee speak falsely, when they say, * that the * old account contains no direct assertion of the right of kings * and parliaments tc interfere with religious matters, — but on- ' ly seems to take the lawfulness of it for granted.' The Old Testimony not only throughout takes it for granted, but ex- pressly affirms it, by adopting the doctrine of the Scots Con- fession and Books of Discipline on the subject, and by the ex- pressions used in many places, and in reference to the Revo- lution in particular. • Is not the vindication of the honour of God a religious matter ? Were not the solemn oaths and cove- nants about reformation, formerly entered into, religious mat- ters ? Suieiv ; — for the Gtr e»al Synod has often sitten in judg- ment about them as such. But how could the compilers of that testimony nave expressed themselves more strongly as to the duty of the nation and of t'.e civil rulers as such, to inter- fere by their acts about them, than in the following paragraph, which ( 291 ) which is altogether thrown out in the new : l If this nation, ' when an opportunity and season was given them, and when * the Lord gave such a remarkable and wonderful deliverance ' to them, did not resent the indignities and injuries done in ' the former period to that God whose awful name was inter* * posed in these solemn oaths and covenants ; — it is a just and * holv dispensation of Providence that we should be no more a ' nation : and that our noblemen, barons, and burgesses, (who ' had such a golden season and opportunity put into their hands ' for honouring God, and doing justice to that great name which ' was abused and profaned in such a dreadful and unparalleled * manner), should for ever be deprived of the opportunity of * acting by themselves in a parliamentary capacity *.' Hut the New Testimony is commended as more plain and more faithful, because, instead of resting in this (that is, in con- demning defects and mismanagements), ' it goes to the bottom of the matter ;' which, if it mean any thing really different from the former, must imply a denial of the right wholly, and a condemning the power, in any exercise of it, as a wicked usurpation. How then can they still pretend that * they have ' not entered into the question, whether it be competent for ' the state to give a civil establishment to any particular sys- * tern of religion?' Especially when they had declared, in ano- ther part of the Narrative, that they do not approve of the conduct of our ancestors in seeking or giving ' the formal sanc- ' tion of law to their religious profession :' which, with other doctrines in their Testimony, either with or without the com- ments contained in the Synod's Answers, absolutely decide the question. For it will puzzle the wit of man to tell us, how a civil establishment of any matters can be made by rulers who have no right or power to interfere or make one Jaw about them. And yet the Synod, with the same breath, condemn the parliaments for doing this, or for not doing that, in reference to reformation, church-governments and assem- blies : particularly they blame the Revolution-Assembly, be- cause * they made no application to parliament for the aboli- * tion of those acts by which the preceding Reformation had ' been condemned.' And how could this have been done with- out acknowledging a right to judge and act about these mat- ters ? Must not the same power and judgment be exercised in condemning and repealing, as in enacting and establishing ? But where there is no right to act at all, all particular aefs must be condemned as null. But the Synod appear now to agree with the Quaker, who, being applied to lor a contribu- tion to build a parish church, answered, that it was contrary * Display, p. 87, N n to ( 282 ) to his principles to give money to build churches, but he would willingly give twenty pounds to help to pull down the old. Perhaps, after all, they will yet try to conceal their real sentiments and new errors, by diving again into the mud of their obscure jargon, by pretending that they are only con- demning the state for incroaching upon and doing the business of the church for her, even without giving herself a hearing, or allowing her courts to meet, and for prescribing a confes- sion or form of government to her, without regard to the word of God, or to her consent or judgment, or to the voice of the people ; and to which all must be obliged to conform, under the highest pains and penalties. But if this be all, what is new here ? and what reason is this for claiming greater praise for going to the bottom of the matter, by denying the right to act in this manner? Is this the right that Seceders formerly allowed and ascribed to civil rulers ? > This would make the new account to differ from the old only in the darkness and nonsense in which it is involved. It would be sufficient to say in this case, that the civil authority should never invade the liberties, or clothe business of the church at all ; whether before or after giving her a hearing, for it would be no less evil to do it after than before : and why do they add, over and over, the qualifying phrase, at her own handy if to act thus w r ould be absolutely unwarrantable, either at her own hand, or at the request, or by the direction, leave, or authority of uny others ? If the power meant be a mere civil power about matters within its own province, may not those invested with it by the consent of the people, act at their own hand ; or must they wait for a delegation from the church, and act in subordination to her courts ? If the power be ecclesiastical, assuming a supremacy over the church, and encroaching on the authority, and interfering with the proper business of hercourts, is it not equally illegitimate, whether assumed in an arbitrary manner, or surrendered by consent of the clergy, as the ec- clesiastical supremacy in England is said to have been ? Do they suppose that the church, though originally independent of, and distinct from the state, may resign her independence and liberties, by some kind of convention, or voluntary alli- ance, in return for seats in parliament, and thousands a-year for her clergy, and that they may ride in coaches-and-six, ac- cording to the scheme of Bishop Warburton ! But is not the Revolution-parliament of Scotland here tra- duced, when it is supposed, that it * allowed not the General * Assembly to meet, until they had transacted all her business * for her.' What evidence can be produced of the fact, that they hindered or disallowed of the meeting of a Presbyterian Assembly, had the ministers of that denomination been in a proper ( 283 ) 'proper condition, as things stood, for meeting more early ? Oi that the parliament intended, by the previous acts they passed, to hinder it ? Did they not rather intend to prepare the way for it ? as some of the acts were most necessary in order to this ; particularly these abolishing- prelacy, and the king's su- premacy, and the acts restoring Presbyterian ministers to their churches, and recognizing them in their ecclesiastical capacity. There is still greater impropriety in saying, that they had pre- viously transacted all the business of the church for her When the church of Scotland was broken and scattered, when all ecclesiastical affairs were in such disorder, did the parlia- ment, by calling together ministers and elders of a certain de- scription, declaring them the court competent to take cogni- zance of these affairs, with an independent jurisdiction, (except the article of freely meeting, in all time coming, by virtue of their intrinsic power) anticipate the dispatch of all their busi- ness, or take their proper work wholly into their own hands ? It might as well be said, that,when Cyrus, by his edict, put the Jews into a capacity to return to their own land, and acknow- ledged that people and their priests as the servants of the God of heaven, giving them a charge to build his house, according to the law of their God that was in their hand, did actually perform all the work of restoring the temple, of settling and executing all belonging to the worship and sacred ministrations in it, Ezra i. 1, 2, &x. Whatever undue interference that parliament might be chargeable with before, or the court af- terwards, as to the affairs of the church, — the tenor and ex- press words of that act of settlement, as well as the history of these times, are sufficient to exculpate them from such a de- gree of gross Erastianism *. While the Synod have in these respects exceeded, and im- peached the legislature for what Presbyterians before never blamed them, aiming a stroke at national churches as legally established, they have overlooked in silence the four instances of unfaithfulness above specified, that belonged to the matter of their former testimony. For this they make the following * The act of settlement, after declaring in whose hands the church govern- ment ratified in it was to be considered as lodged, ard appointing a time for the General Assembly's meeting, refers th« ordering the affairs of particular parishes and of the church at large, to their consideration and future managements. Thisgs were to continue in their present state, as it is expressed in the end of it, ' Ay and while the church, as now established, take further course therewith; s and to the effect, the disorders that have happened in this church may be re- ' dressed/ The General meeting, or representatives, either by chemselves or such , / as should be appointed by them, were thereby allowed, ' according to the cus- * torn and practice of Presbyterian governmenc, throughout the whole kingdom, / < and several parts thereof, to try and purge out all insufficient, negligent, scan- « dalous and erroneous ministers by due course of -ecclesiastical process and cen- « wires; and likewite for redressing all other church disorders/ &c. Nn2' shuffling ( 284 ) shuffling apology ; f The New Testimony contains a more * effectual condemnation of them than the Old. If the Synod ' condemn the parliament's assuming the power at all of mak- 4 ing a settlement of religion at their own hand, in so doing * they certainly do condemn all the acts which flowed from 4 such an assumed power.' But what is the assumed or usurped power they here mean ? surely the power of sanc- tioning any svstem of doctrines, worship, or church govern- ment, whether agreeably to former acts of ratification in the period of the second reformation, am consequentially to deeds of he church receiving them, or not; though thev have again, to bemist the reader, slipt in the words * at their own hand.* This indeed does the business more effectually, as it equally condemns the good and the bad acts relating to religious mat- ters at the Revolution, and all of the same kind that proceeded from the civil authority in any former period of reformation. It strikes a blow at the root of their Testimony for the Cove- nanted-reformation of Britain, and such an one as the establish- ed judicatories, amidst all the omissions and degeneracy with which they are chargeable, never yet ventured to strike. In- stead of singling out this or the other particular act, and questioning the manner in which some of them were made, as the compilers of the Old Testimony cautiously did ; they imitate the worthy example of king Charles II. 's drunken parliament, at the restoration, who saved themselves the trouble of revising and rescinding particular acts in favour of that reformation, but, instead of pulling down the legal secu- rities given to it piece-meal, overturned them all by one capital and effectual stroke, declaring the power of parlia- ments by wfiich they had been made to have been incom- petent, as only assumed and usurped, and so all that pro- ceeded from it null and void. Thus the General Associate Synod have passed their Acts Rescissory against the whole of that civil reformation, and to a greater extent than the perse- cuting parliaments did, with this difference, that the latter rescinded it as a track of rebellion against the king, and an usur- pation of his prerogative, while the former have done it under the pretence that the whole was an usurpation of Christ's supremacy, and an invasion of the rights of his spiritual king- dom. Though some bodies of Seceders, with their ministers at their head, in their zeal for new-light principles, and their malignity against the good old cause, have not scrupled, in their memorials and pleadings before the highest civil court of judicature in the land, to join the opposite charges both of the sectarians and malignant royalists oi those times against the promoters of it ; wnen the one accused them of attempting to set up a worldly instead of a spiritual dominion, and as persecut- ing ( 285 ) ing men for conscience sake j and the other arraigned them as usurpers and subverters of the government and constitution, enemies to kings, and as engaged throughout in rebellion a- gainst their own. Thus are these worthy patriots and religious reformers, in their cause and memory, again, as really per- secuted and arraigned both before the ecclesiastical and civil tribunals, as in the days when they were sentenced by the High oourt of Justiciary to be gibbeted in the Grass-market, 01 delivered over to military execution : in which too Pres- byterian clergymen, and the professed witnesses for reforma- tion, are the chief agents. " Be astonished, O ye heavens, at "this!"* If the reason that is assigned by the Committee for the omission of these four instances of mismanagement be suffi- cient, it might have equally prevented the Synod from taking any notice of the three other instances for which they have condemned the legislature, namely, ' for not repealing the « parliamentary acts that condemned the covenants/ &-c. If the reason be good, it would have been a better and more ef- fectual condemnation of all such acts, to have declared in gene- ral, that they had no power to interfere with matters of reli- gion or the covenants at all ; and that any acts they could make about them, for or against, would be a going beyond their province : and this would be, in fact, to deny them the power of settling the government and rectifying the principal grievances of the nation, by restoring the religious together with the mere civil rights : for the tyranny and wickedness of the preceding reigns appeared chiefly, in the laws and mea- sures ihat had been adopted in them with respect to religious and ecclesiastical affairs. If they should again shift ground, and say, that the New Testimony only condemns the parlia- ment for interfering with the power intrinsically belonging to the church, in matters merely ecclesiastical ; it is denied, that all these matters, if indeed any of them, were of that kind : they were such as belonged, in different views, to both jurisdictions. Nor can it be said, that the ii (Stances they have. declined particularly to condemn were peculiar to the church, or belonging to the exercise of her intrinsic power, more thau the other. It required no preceding judgment of the church * The pleadings and printed memorials on the side of the Synod-party, in the processes ahout meeting-houses, tier some years past, afford the fullest proof of this; particularly in the causes respecting those of Aberdeen and Perth: in wh ch, along with the most barefaced and grievous misrepreset'ta'Tir of ;story, the Covenanters and their principles and proceedings are loaded with uic! ca- lumnies as scarce any prelate, or former persecutor of them ever did exceed Do the Syrodsof the new scheme really know where they are goirg, and whither tfcey are driving their people ? to C 286 ) to warrant the parliament to settle the form and contents of an oath of allegiance to the sovereign ; or to determine what ought to be the legal qualifications of persons who are to be admitted to places of power and trust. The civil government may certainly be allowed a right to settle these at first instance, at their own hand, without incroachment ; which make the subject of two of these articles. Although the Synod can hardly be exculpated from the charge of intrenching upon the civil authority, and, in their ecclesiastical capacity, taking upon them to limit and prescribe to it, about matters properly be- longing to it, in another part of their Testimony, however loudly they disclaim, sometimes without reason, against med- dling with civil things. For they have positively determined at their own hand, * that there can justly be no other terms of 6 admission to the enjoyment of the common rights of subjects, *' than an acknowledgment of the civil government of the coun- * try in which they reside, and a practical submission to it in * all things lawful,' chap. xxiv. p. ]95. 4 After all,' they add, ' may we not enquire what these four * instances of unfaithful conduct in the parliament really are ? 6 We know no way of making out the number, without in- * eluding the abolition of prelacy, because of its contrariety to g the inclinations of the generality of the people. And yet we 6 can scarcely think that the remonstrant could mean that this * should be viewed as one oi the number. The reason is — he * himself, in a publication more than twelve years ago, takes € notice of this abolition upon that ground, as one of the va- * luable things contained in Scotland's claim of rights, which e afterwards passed into a law, and makes such a high account * of it as to class it with the National Covenant, and the first * draught of an Address from the Presbyterians in Scotland to * the Prince of Orange,' &c. Rut may 1 not ask, What meant this affected ignorance abeut a matter that lay so plainly before them in the Old Tes- timony, unless it was with a view to indulge themselves in the liberty of forging a reason for condemnation, which was ne- ver given them, and which could not be meant by the remon- strant, that the}-, instead of wishing to search out the truth, im^ht have a shadow of accusation against him, and a pretence for charging him with writing inconsistently ? How uncandid and unjust is tins ! They might know very well that the act abolishing prelacy in itself was never condemned, but reckon- ed a valuable privilege by Presbyterian v, until men of their principles arose ; and also, that ' the contrariety of prelacy to c the inclinations of the generality of the people, and its having * been an insuppoi table grievance to the nation,' were good political subordinate reasons for *he abolition, of it, though they ought not to have been regarded as the only or the principal ones. ( 237 ) ones. Had they inserted the word merely in their fabrication of a reason, they would have approached near to the truth, anc! done more justice to the real principles of the Old Testimony and of the remonstrant. But they closely cover up what had been reckoned the culpable omissions in that matter ; and as for their New Testimony, it barely records, ■ That Episcopacy ' was abolished, and the Presbyterian Church-government re- 1 stored ;' without a word of the transactions as good or bad, except what may be inferred from the doctrine and censure that follow. There is also a great difference between approving of the matter and substance of deeds, and approving of all the reasons and motives for them, or the manner in which they may have been enacted. Though the remonstrant considered the acts in question as defective and unfaithful in the latter view, as for- merly stated, this did not hinder him from making a high ac- count of them as valuable national attainments in the former view ; as the author of the Reflections had done, as being a barrier both against Popish and Prelatic tyranny on the one hand, and the scheme of Latitudinarians, Sceptics, and Secta- rians, on the other : though it will not follow from their be- ing classed in the publication referred to with the National Covenant, that he put them upon a level with that, or the laws of the Reformation period, having always given the latter the preference, when they were brought in comparison toge- ther. In the passage the Committee have referred to * the acts were introduced in immediate opposition to the English constitution : and the act abolishing prelacy is there merely mentioned as a transaction that had taken place ; without a syllable added alDout it in particular, or the reason given for it, or any estimate made of its value compared with any other acts mentioned either before or after it. Where then is the shadow of inconsistency ? But this is little to the violent perversion of the meaning of the second part of the paragraph, respecting the Revolution- Assembly, and the intemperate abuse they have poured out upon the remonstrant in consequence ; though flowing wholly from a chimera of their own forming. In their first quotation of that part of the reason which is exactly copied above, as printed, the sense is affected by a wrong punctuation ; but when they quote it the second time in p. 155, in order to comment upon it, they have changed the very words themselves, still under the marks of quotation, in which they not only give their own mistaken sense of them, but lay every reader under a necessity to understand them in that sense, directly contrary to their original meaning. In the first transcription the sen- tence • Reflections on Freedom of Writing, p. 103 ( 288 ) tence particularly reflected on stands thus; • That Assembly, * or church, are blamed for some things not formerly charged * upon them, and for which, if properly stated, they may not ' be found so blamcablc as in the two first instances ; upon *■ which however we cannot here be more particular.' In the repeated quotation, they say, the Synod is complained of, * be- * cause they attach blame to the Revolution-Assembly for < things not formerly charged upon them, and for whi;h, if * properly stated, they may not be found so blameable as in ' some other instances.'' In the first quotation, a comma or semicolon ought to have followed after blameable, because the word as and those that follow, are not immediately connected with so blameable, as if a comparison were stated as to the different degrees of blame, between the some things mentioned before and these two first instances ; much less was it meant that these two instances specified were much more blameable than some others not specified at all, as the Committee expound it ; so far from it, these two articles, the first that occur in the condemnatory clauses of the New Testimony, are given as particular instances of the some things which had never before been censured, and which, if properly stated, might be found not so blameable as the Synod supposed ; which was but a gentler mode of saying, that they would not be found deserv- ing of blame at all : but as the remonstrant did not intend to detain the Synod by entering into the particular statement, he avoided the use of more positive language. The conjuntion m, therefore, in this connection, is only used by way of explica- tion or exemplification of what the Synod is said, in a more Indefinite way, to have done. Besides these two first instances, there is nothing expressly said of any of the other charges that follow in that account, against that assembly. Whether there was the same defect in the pointing in the written reasons, that might occasion their falling into such a great mistake, the remonstrant knows not ; but the sense of die passage in connection might have been sufficient to have preserved a number of learned men from it; for how could they suppose that any could remonstrate in this vague and trifling manner, as their reading implies, • because the Synod * had blamed a church for some things for which indeed they * were highly blameable, because these were not so very cul- ' pable as some others.' But their changing the words when they repeat the quotation, so as to be susceptible of no other sense than the false one they have imposed on them, admits cf no excuse. They render the words as indeterminate and am- biguous as their own often are. Turning them dff from any respect to two instances which .^alone are specified, they take the liberty to apply them to any or to all of the condemned steps, ( 28» ) steps of misconduct in the Assembly, afterwards enumerated; and after they have wrested, and then deliberately falsified the record, they, without hesitation, bring the remonstrant in as guilty of vindicating them all. It is then full time that he should be more particular in stating and elucidating these facts lie had in view, that the reason may appear why he has ex- pressed himself, as he has done in reference to them. And here again he needs only produce what he had originally writ- ten in explanation of his views, before the injurious comment er the remonstrance itself was drawn up : — * The manner in which the Revolution-church is censured ra- the new Narrative, is, in some particulars, no less unsatisfac- tory. It is justly said, that ' her public management was ' marked with great unfaithfulnes :' but whether she wa* ' more blameable than the state,' as is asserted, may not be so very clear. The two first charges on which she is condemned, as here stated, may be said to be as groundless, as they are new in the Testimony of Seceders. 1st, It is charged upon her as a fault, that « she did not meet in her General Assembly, * till nearly two years after the Revolution.' Rut is not this a rash and ill-founded charge? The first General Assembly met in October 1690. The Prince of Orange indeed landed in England in the beginning of November 10S8 : but the Revo- lution could not be said to have been effected in England, much less in Scotland, for a considerable time after that, when the old government was actually dissolved, the conventions as- sembled, afterwards turned into parliaments, — the milita- ry forces dissipated or restrained that hindered either civil or ecclesiastical judicatories from sitting or acting in safety, but according to the former constitution.-^-when the crown was conferred on the prince, and both the legislative and judi- cial assemblies were regularly organized and commissioned to act under the new authority : — All this was not accomplished in Scotland, till a very short time before the meeting of Assem- bly. The Convention of Estates for settling the nation, did not meet till about the. middle of March the preceding year, and then under the protection of an armed force. It was not till after the bishops and King James's adherents were expell- ed, or had fled from the convention, that the throne was de- clared vacant, and the claim of rights, with a tender of the crown, voted. King William was not proclaimed till the 11th of April, nor had taken the coronation-oath, till a month after i and near another month elapsed before the convention was turn- ed into a parliament, while intestine factions were yet violent, and a civil war had been excited in the kingdom. Among their first acts were those abolishing Episcopacy, and restor- ing Presbytery : and after declaring in whose hands the exer- O o cis.e ( 290 ) cise of that government should now be lodged, by restoring the expelled ministers to their parochial charges, and sustaining the right of possession to a great number more who had in the late confusions been admitted in the room of fugitives or non- jurant curates, by a repeal of the laws that disqualified them, — they appointed, by their act in June 1090, the first meeting of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, as now established, to be at Edinburgh, on the third Thursday of Oc». tober following. Was it duty, would it have been prudent or even practic- able, for a small remnant of persecuted ministers, so long ex- iled by public laws from pastoral charges and the liberty of holding their church-courts, to have assumed all at once, in these circumstances, the exercise of ecclesiastical government, under the character of a Representative National Assembly, while the Episcopal clergy were still legally possessed of the whole, or of the greater part of the churches ? Had it been pos- sible for them in their broken state, amidst their enraged ene- mies, so to have arranged matters among themselves in that short interval, as to have agreed on the time and order of a General Assembly, to anticipate any meeting that could have bten called by the civil authority, now favourably disposed to- wards them, would it have been wisdom in them to have at- tempted it before any steps had been taken to remove the ex- ternal obstructions out of the way, and to apply some remedy to the public disorders ; especially when they had reason to believe, that the legislature w 7 as making haste to prepare the way for their peaceable and more honourable meeting, and that, by waiting a few months at most, they might be reinstated in the enjoyment of some, though not all of their former legal privileges as a church, of which they had been so unjustly robbed ? Though, by a strange turn of Providence, some re- straints were now taken off them, yet as their cause, their li- berty, their exercise of their ecclesiastical powers had been so publicly condemned by the acts of civil governors, had they cot a right to expect that justice should be done them by a public and legal acquittal, and the door for their release be opened by the same authority that shut it ? As Paul and Silas, at Philippi, when an earthquake had forced open their prison- doors, and released them from their fetters, and struck terror into their illegal judges, hastened not to escape in a clandestine manner, yea, refused to do it, when the magistrates by a se- cret message allowed them, saying, i( Nay, but let them come " themselves, and fetch us out," Acts xv. 36, 3 7. It is well known what outcry was raised by the enemies of the Presbyterians, on account of the tumultuous manner in vvhich the people in the west, in the first ferment of the Revo- lution, ( -"91 ) lution, had expelled many of the curates from the churches, and introduced Presbyterian ministers in their place, without waiting for any public order in the matter ; and would it not have injured the credit of their cause, and increased the odium still more, if they had intruded themselves into the churches throughout the kingdom, or into the national seat of ecclesias- tical judioature, without waiting for some settlement by legal authority of things competent to it ? And would not this have been disrespectful to it, and tended to irritate instead of conci- liating favour ? The second ground of accusation against that Assembly is, that * she did meet when called by parliament, after they had ' settled all her affairs : and that thus her first step included * a practical surrender of her intrinsic power of calling her own 4 assemblies, into the hands of the civil magistrate.' Narrat. p. 30. This evidently imports, that her meeting at the time and place appointed by the civil authority, and constituting as an ecclesiastical court, in order to proceed to business in con- sequence of that call, was, in these circumstances, a sinful compliance, even abstracting from any procedure on her part that followed. But when was she charged with unfaithfulness simply on this ground before ; or how could she justly be ? Indeed it might be said to have been idle and foolish to con- stitute as an assembly, if it be true, as has been repeatedly asserted, that there was no business left for her to do : — or if she had been summoned merely for form's sake as an Eng- lish convocation, and after being constituted, had been instant- ly dismissed by a royal order, without being allowed to pro- ceed to any business ; and they had tamely submitted, with- out asserting the right derived from their Divine Lord, there would have been reason for charging them with * a practical * surrender of her intrinsic power into the hands of the civil * magistrate ?' With unfaithfulness in this respect, the Gene- ral Assembly, in some subsequent years, rs justly charged both in the Old and New Testimony, when her meetings were dis- solved, or prorogued from time to time, by the commissioner, to the interruption of her necessary business. But even in this the Old is more exact in point of history than the New. The former says, ' the King's Commissioner dissolved the Assem- * bly 1692 ; and it afterwards adjourned to the year 1694 ? but the New represents the dissolution as having taken place, in the first meeting in 1690, and the adjournments as follow- ing to 1694 ; as if there had been no intervening Assembly. But to these sinful compliances afterwards, the second article in question has no respect : it is her first step that is said to have included ' a practical surrender of her intrinsic power ot * calling her own assemblies, into the hands of the civil ma- O o 2 * gistratp.' ( 2S>2 ) ■ gistrate.' This first step was nothing else than keeping the diet appointed ; and availing herself of the liberty granted, and the call given her, by authority, to assemble. And had they not done so, they would have been guilty of ingratitude both to God and subordinate rulers, while no unlawful restric- tions were laid upon them, which they must formally or prac- tically approve of, in thus meeting, or in their future proce- dure. Their compliance with this call from those whose office is appointed for * maintaining external order in all reasonable * society,' did by no means preclude them from constituting and acting in the name and by the authority of the Lord Jesus, or from testifying when met, in the fullest manner, for his Di- vine Headship, their intrinsic rights, and their ordinary power to dismiss or to call their own meetings, as they might judge proper ; in opposition to all Erastian incroachments whatever ; as the faithful Assembly at Glasgow in K>3$ did, when dis- solved in the name of the king, though they had earnestly pe- titioned before for indicting an assembly, and cheerfully con- vened at the call. The circumstances in both cases were ex- traordinary ; and however careful the church of Scotland was- :n the former reformation to maintain the Church's intrinsic power, in her act receiving the Westminster Confession in 1647, they admit the magistrate's power of calling and no- minating a synod, in ' kirks not settled in point of govern- * ment,' without any other call; as well as exercising such a power occasionally where churches are constituted. Accord- ing to this act was the Confession of Faith assented to by all the ministers in the Secession formerly : and even the New Testimony, in the last chap. sect. 2. has only denied the right of Christian magistrates * authoritatively to call meetings of * church judicatories, in ordinary cases ;' which seems to im- ply the lawfulness of their doing it in cases extraordinary. — How then can the ministers of a church, coming out of a hot persecution, be consistently charged with a sacrilegious surren- der, merely fr,r complying with such a call ? In the Old Testimony, the first General Assembly after the Revolution is blamed for * sitting down under the shadow of * the civil establishment then made, without reclaiming against * what was defective in the same.' But this is a very different matter ; and refers only to her conduct posterior to her meet- u r. §ns could neither remonstrate against the defects or sin- ful acts of the state, nor homologate them, till she was in a c )acity to do the one or the other. " This is the whole foundation of that grievous outcry they raised and reiteratecj against the remonstrant in p. j55, 156. as if he had attacked the independence of the church, and ( 293 ) and vindicated the transfer of the crown of the Redeemer, to the head of mortal princes. ' Is it come to this,' they exclaim, * that a Seceding minister — will attempt to vindicate one of * the most downright acts of Erastianism ever yet practised f in any country, — to plead the cause of one of the most avow- * ed encroachments that ever was made upon the liberties of ' Christ's free and independent kingdom, and to justify a Gene- ' ral Assembly in giving its virtual consent to such a nefarious 'deed — its consent to its own virtual annihilation? — We are * sure that our ancestors, in former days of reformation, would ' not have borne with it — they universally insisted that it ' was the province of the church to go before with her deci- * sions, while the parliament was merely to follow with its ' civil sanctions.' But even this, Mr C. says, would be rank, popery, 1 Yes,' they add, we * see the words are ambiguously 4 laid,' (only as they have laid them) * but laid with a real * design to vindicate this shocking affair. If ever there was a * designed vindication of any thing we have it here. The very * quarrelling with the Narrative o:i this subject is an unquestion- ' able attempt to justify the Assembly on this head.' — Thus they make the very quarrelling with their Narrative, particu- larly in these points above stated, to be undoubted proof both of the fact and the secret intention of such a nefarious attempt. But by such a mode of procedure, they might, with equal ease, have found him, or any other man, guilty of deism, trea- son, or blasphemy. It is by such sort of probation as was em- ployed against Naboth, when they swore that he had " blas- M phemed God and the king," what had never proceeded from his lips, nor ever entered into his mind. Was it upon no better ground than this, a mere blunder of their own, a figment of their imagination, that the publisher ot the Synod's Answers rose up in the Synod of Glasgow, and before many hundreds of people, with unparalleled effron- tery, produced anew the heinous accusation, which perhaps not one who heard him could give credit to ; ailedging, in the beginning of a speech which he read, ' that a controversy had * lately arisen between the Synod and the Protesting Brethren, ' namely, Whether Christ was the alone king and head of his ' church, or, if civil rulers were to share with him in the 4 honour :' or in words to that purpose ? If he and the other brethren of the Committee shall ever reflect soberly on their conduct in thus forging lies, or if the members of the Synod at large, who have, sitting in the place of judgment, listened to them with approbation, and publicly abetted them, without the smallest inquiry, shall obtain grace yet seriously to review their proceedings, they will see abundant cause to take shame to themselves. Were they duly impressed with the deep criminality ( 294 ) criminality of the character of being ' false accusers,* — of per- verting judgment, — and condemning the innocent ; they would reckon an ample and speedy reparation due ; — due for the glory of God, to the honour of themselves and their cause, as well as to the injured party. But alas, when " truth has fallen *' in their streets," and is audaciously trampled upon, " equity " cannot enter." If bringing rash and unfounded charges against individuals be sinful, it must be more so to do this against a whole church ; as the Synod seem to have done against the national church, as w 7 ell as some other bodies in the land, rn more places than one of the New Testimony *. Clearing the Revolution As- sembly in the instances mentioned, left the remonstrant at full liberty to condemn, upon the former principles, and in the full extent of the language of the Old Testimony, every in- stance of unfaithfulness in their proceedings after they had convened: and he had done so very plainly and publicly else- where f. Their omissions were great; but we are not to ex- aggerate them : as the New Testimony seems to have done in another article, when they say ' she did not declare her own ' confession.' As a church she had formerly received her con- fession, and in her first assembly, in 1690, she approved and ratified it anew ; not as if it had been compiled by the par- liament for her, nor yet as first prescribed, nor merely as rati- fied by it ; appointing that all probationers, ministers, and el- * Even in the solemn act of acknowledging sins, when people are immedia'ely addressing themselves t« God, they are now obliged to bring the false .accusation against the National Judicatories of the Church of Scotland, that ever since the time in which patronage was restored by law, anno 171 1. * they have counte- • nanced and supported that antichristian usurpation, by intruding presentees upon • reclaiming congregations' p. 230. No such charge, beginning from that date, is to be/ound in the Old Testimony ; nor does it consist with the truth of history : though we must say, as was said in the remonstrance, we cannot here be more particular ; although we should hereby run the risk of being held guilty, by the zealots in some future committee, of vindicating all that these judicatories after- wu- ds did in countenancing patronage, and all their nefarious deeds in intruding presentees. f See particularly Sect. XII. of the Hist. Pol. Eccl. ; Dissertation on the Supre- macy, and came forward with a new remonstrance. After it had been read in Synod and appointed to be answered, their publisher adds, f Upon this, the remonstrant desired back * his paper, for the purpose, as he pretended, of transcribing * part of it in a fairer hand, for the benefit of the Committee ; 1 and asked a perusal of the former answers, under a pretence, ' that they might be ef use to remove some, of his scruples. * Both these requests the Synod granted.' Here again the re- monstrant is represented as pretending to have one end in view, R r while, ( 314 ) while, in both requests, he actually and chiefly intended ano- ther. But who gave him a right to question his intents, or to doubt the strict sincerity of his words ? Or when did that bro- ther ever betray the least feature of such mean duplicity ? Or how could candour or common sense suppose, that he either needed or could intend to employ any low artifice in this mat- ter? Neither is the transaction justly narrated. The remon- strant, not having had opportunity of consulting with his breth- ren before that meeting, and not knowing but that some other paper for that juncture might have been prepared, had not ex- tended the reasons until he went to town ; and the latter part of it, particularly having been hastily written out that it might be lodged with the Synod before they rose on the first week, it was not so distinct as he wished, either on his own account or for the sake of the Committee. The same circumstance pre- vented the former remonstrants from perusing it, previous to its being read in Synod, as they had a right to have done, had time allowed, and to have concurred in the whole or any part of it as they might have thought proper, as it related to a com- mon cause. The reading of it having been deferred to the se- cond week, the writer of it went home on Sabbath, without even a fixed design of returning to witness the disposal of it. He however did return in company with Mr Aitken, who had assisted with him at W. ; and who had expressed his desire to have seen it before the Synod proceeded to consider it. But as no copy had been retained, there was no other way of ob- taining this, but by his asking leave from the clerk to glance it over, after he went into the Synod-house on Tuesday. He accordingly got it out of the hand of the clerk for that pur- pose, but in a few minutes it was demanded by the Synod; and when it was read, Mr A. declared his adherence in court to the general conclusion and protestation of it, founded on the pro- ceeding and former reasons that had been assigned. After the sederunt was concluded, and the paper committed to the same Committee who had answered the former, Mr B. without pre- concert with, or the knowledge of any of his brethren, and without making any request to the Synod on the subject, pri- vately intimated his wish to Mr Black, Asst. CI. that the latter part particularly might have been more fairly transcribed be- fore it went to the Committee, provided it could be done with- out inconyenience to them, and with their consent, and that he might consult such of them as he thought proper, and if they allowed him the use of it for that purpose, .he would return it at any time they should appoint : he also added, that as seve- ral of the reasons in this might be found to coincide with those of the former remonstrance, especially on the principal points, to which the same Committee had already been at the trouble to ( 315 ) to make out answers, which had been read and approven in Synod, though he had not heard nor seen them, it might shor- ten considerably the labour of the Committee to refer to their former answers on these heads, and that they might do so with greater propriety, without repetition, if he could have a pri- vate perusal of them before the next meeting ; and that he wish- ed attentively to read them to see what satisfaction they might give him as to any of the points in debate. On the same day, or the next, on which the Synod closed, the clerk told him he might have them both: and being asked, if there was any pre- cise time named for returning them ; he replied, that he did not suppose the Committee would need them soon, probably not before harvest ; as the General Synod was not to meet again for twelve months. Such precisely were the views he had and expressed, and in this manner were the requests granted. They were for the ease of the clerks and Committee, as well as for his own satisfaction. But it is false that the Synod granted any of them ; for the Synod was dismissed before they were made; and they knew nothing, so far as he knows, of the trans- action, until they might learn it from the groundless invec- tive of the Committee. * Both these requests,' it is said, ' the ' Synod granted ; but mark the improvement which was made ' of this favour. His own paper was immediately delivered ' into Mr A.'s hands, te take with him to the north country, * and circulate it among the people. There it was read to se- ' lect companies ; copies of it taken — and spread through va- ' rious congregations; but the Committee, who were to answer g it, could not obtain a sight of it for about six months.' — Mr B. could hear unconcerned the construction which some of the populace had put upon the fact of his receiving back his paper, and had circulated, in their gossipping manner, in the north, ■ that he had agreed to take it back, that he might be continu- 1 ed in the professorship.' It was not more false, and was more excusable than that which the tool of the Synod has put upon it : ' Presently delivered to Mr A — to be circulated.' As for Mr A.'s views in wishing to peruse it, and the interest he had in it, they have been already mentioned. Nor was it until the moment in which they were taking leave of one ano- ther, without any prospect of meeting again before next year, that Mr A. knew any thing of Mr B.'s having either asked or received any of these papers; and when it was then accidentally mentioned, he expressed his desire again of reading it; and as he had not many minutes to wait, for fear of losing his pas- sage, that could not be done, without carrying it along with him ; but when this was proposed, Mr B. objected, not from any apprehended impropriety in the thing itself, but on account cf the hazard of the paper being lost, or too long detained, rfe R r 2 having ( 316 ) having pledged himself as to both these particulars, it was de- livered, and also safely and punctually returned within a very few weeks. As for copying, what should hinder ? Had the writer of it been possessed of more copies, or had any member of court, or others present, taken down in short-hand that or any paper publicly read, who could have restricted them from using it in the manner they thought proper ? Indeed, consider- ing the practice of the Synod in embezzling and denying the use of papers, to secure a copy was a needful and prudent pre- caution: and without that we might sought long enough in vain, as we have done for some others, before a complete copy could have been found; as the author, having been otherwise engag- ed, transcribed only the latter part, as he had at first proposed. No wonder though the editor of the answers should be angry that there should be in reserve such a medium for convicting him and his associates of unfair dealing, in producing only mu- tilated parts and imperfect extracts. It would be equally unrea- sonable to restrict the good people on the north of Tay from hearing papers read, in whole or in part, relating to their pub- lic profession, and the procedure of their judicatories, unless that be judged unwarrantable in the north, which is lawful and dutiful on the south of Forth, where the doors are thrown open, that as many as chuse may have access to hear. Though the writer of the remonstrance would not have reckoned him- self culpable, had he done all that his brother Mr A. is charged with, yet he neither gave a copy nor read it to any (a few pa- ragraphs perhaps excepted) after it returned, nor was it out of his custody, with a view to be circulated, for one day. If the Committee did not obtain a sight of it for about six months, that might happen without any blame being imputable to him. He could, and certainly would have returned it much sooner, if he had received any notice that it was desired or expected. But he relied on what the clerk had said, and also on the words of one of the Committee, when fulfilling an appointment after the hall was convened in harvest, to whom he offered to deliver it if required, who thought it would not be wanted until the meeting of the Provincial Synod of Perth, on the 2d Tuesday of October. But he was surprised when, by a letter from Mr Black, dated the 5th of September, which he received a few days after date, he was informed that complaints had been made of the use and circulation of the paper, and that the clerks had a share of the blame, and desiring a particular ex- plication of that matter, as * he could not believe that it could 1 be done with his knowledge, far less with his approbation:' Upon that subject, and the synodical supplies, he said, ' 1 wrote ' to you about two months ago, but, as 1 have had no return, I ' begin to fear that my letter has not come to hand ;' adding, * as ( 317 ) * as the Synod of P. meets soon, the Committee will be enquir- ' ing for the paper, 1 hope you will send it, together with the ' paper of answers, either to me, or to the Committee, before 1 that time.' On the very next day an answer to this letter was returned ; in which Mr B. said, ■ 1 was rather surprised ' to learn from it that you had written to me a considerable ' time since, for your letter, as you had reason to conjecture, * never came to hand.' He also acknowledged that it was high- ly reasonable that he should receive a plain account of the facts to which he had referred ; which was given accordingly, in substance agreeing with what lias been above stated ; as the letter, if still preserved by Mr Black, will testify. The latter part of it is extracted below *. As there was no sure or di- rect way of transmitting the paper to Dunfermline, it was, on the 7th of October, committed to one who was going directly to Perth, and who would deliver it immediately. This was only • ■ « As Mr Aitken was an adherent in form to a part of the paper, to the scope and design of ir, and as the whole of it related to a common cause in which he had equal interest, 1 considered him as entitled to it, if no inconvenience or undue hindrance was likely to ensue. It might be viewed too as sparing the clerks the labour of giving extracts to any of us, as doubtless we had a right to demand. As to the use that he may have made of it, further than for his own satisfaction, I know nothing, and do not consider myself as responsible. But this far 1 will say, that as the protestation contained in that paper is expressive of the ground on which we continue the exercise of a public ministry, we have a right to have this as explicit- ly and publicly stated, as we may think the ends of edification and our own vindi- cation may require. Had we, long before this time, made every paper, presented in reference to our public profession as public as it was in our power to make them, we would have done nothing but what the prevailing party in the Synod have for years been giving the precedent for : and it would have been nothing more than the use of that liberty which was in form pretested for at the time of enacting the first edition of the New Testimony, and stands recorded without any restriction ; though hitherto we have cautiously forborne to use it in all its extent. What good reason there can be for desiring to suppress the contents of papers on either side, in such a cause, that have been prepared and read in Synod before all that chused to attend, I cannot see. I have ever made it a rule, openly to avow in Synod whatever sentiments I would impart either publicly or privately to the people : and all under-hand methods and intriguing party-managements to influ- ence either brethren or the people, I hope ever to detest and disdain, as unworthy of any person who has regard to honour, and unworthy of such a cause. I may only add as to this, that there has been a very general complaint among the peo- ple, that information as to the proceedings of Synod, for years past, has been with- held from them, especially as to any thing in opposition to the views of the ma- jority, in consequence of which they are either ignorant of facts, or these are mis- understood. If Mr A. has been using freedom in communicating the purport of that paper, it is probable one principal reason might be, to obviate the gross false- hoods which he found circulating in that country side, about the transactions of last meeting, among others, that the taking back the paper was meant a retraction of it.' ' I have given the Synod's answers a repeated perusal with all the deli- beration that the importance of the matter, and deference to the judgment of Sy- nod required. I told Mr J who was here last Sabbath, that both papers were ready upon demand : he thought it would be soon enough, if they were sent by some of the students within a few weeks. I shall be careful to send them this way the first opportunity. When you meet with yout brethren at Synod, you may make use of the information here given, as you see cause.' C 318 ) only about five months after the General Synod. After the par- ticular explication of this matter that had been given in the letter to the clerk, Mr B. little expected that it would have been stated to the public, by any of the Committee, in such an invidious shape, accompanied with two or three points of ad- miration. In regard to the answers, the reasons he has assigned for pro- posing a perusal of them, as they were sufficiently forcible and at the same time respectful, so to a candid mind they will ap- pear to be the only credible ones. And if they failed of pro- ducing conviction on his mind, it was not for want of an atten- tive consideration of them in retirement. He even jotted down for his own use some of the principal parts of them, that he might be more thoroughly acquainted with them. But all this, it seems, was but mere pretence. ' There is good ground to * think, that, instead of being retained by himself, for the al- ' ledged purpose of removing his own scruples, it was deliver- ' ed into the hand of a Mr Turnbull, employed at that time as ■ the tool of the party, to enable him the better to perform his ' part, in writing against the Synod. Such conduct needs no t comment.' Ibid. The conduct itself needed no comment; — but such a calumnious representation of it, if it deserved any thing but contempt, would need a very severe one. The re- monstrant did not found his opposition to the Synod on mere scruples ; to remove his scruples was not the alledged purpose, much less the only purpose for which he desired a perusal of them. He came under no engagements to secrecy, as to the con- tents of them, nor did he suppose the nature of the case, or the design in drawing them up, reading, and approving of them in Synod, required it; but rather implied the contrary. Could any suppose, that the knowledge of what they considered as the strongest defence of their cause, was the direct way to do it hurt : or, had it been indeed sought for the use of Mr T. or given to him for such a purpose, that it would have ' enabled * him the better to perform his part in writing against it ?' It seems the most effectual way to refute their scheme is for them- selves to write upon it, and to communicate what they have written. This is really too modest ; and implies too great a diffidence in their prowess, and in the irresistible force of these reasonings, and others that followed, for which a brother in the same warfare, has lately proclaimed you * champions that have ■ gained a complete victory V If your distrust be more than pretence, it was ill judged in you to hasten the publication of these answers ; and to circulate them far and near, with such industry that even reverend sisters could carry them in their luggage * Culbertson's Essence of Old Light, See. p. i. ( M» ) luggage a hundred miles, in order to give them away, or to of- fer or impose a reading on such as were not desiring it. Instead of tTiis, the more prudent course would have been to have kept them locked up in the clerk's bureau, along with their antago- nists papers, and the best now will be to retain all the remaining copies in their hands, and to recal all that have gone abroad ; for the greater the circulation, the greater the danger ; since nothing is so fit for giving men a bad idea of their cause, and enabling them to act their part the better in speaking, or hard- headed critics in writing against it. And in truth, in judging thus they would not judge far amiss : for nothing has tended more to injure their cause with the judicious, and nothing in the event will more effectually bring it into discredit, than their own fallacious answers, and the pretended defences that they have published. Had Mr B. given to Mr T. a minister of the Associate Sy- nod, and never yet deprived of his office by them, a man of known probity and prudence, as well as learning and judgment, who had not before heard them, a reading of these answers, who had also stated his objections in court against the new deeds, where would have been the crime or misdemeanor? nay, what could have been more proper ? He had no previous view however of seeing him, much less of sending to him that paper before returning it. Nor was it ever out of his own custody, more than a few hours, during the five months it was intrusted to his care. Jn a transient personal interview, if Mr T. was allowed to glance at it, it was with an hint that no imprudent use should be made of it. Nor does he know that any such use was ever made of it. Any such purpose as is surmised, was, on both sides, entirely out of the question i Who was ' employed as a tool of the party ?' — Does this writer think he has a licence to vent any falsehood and scurrility he pleases ? That person is known to be of as independent a spirit as any in Synod : And if there had been any disposed to promote a party, and to employ tools for it, they would have been great- ly mistaken if they had expected him to become one to them or to any others. Had the three kingdoms been searched, they could hardly have pitched upon more unpliant materials for being formed for such a purpose. But he had a personal in- terest in the general cause, and a part to act in reference to it for himself; as every one belonging to the body had, and in a manly manner had stept forward to discharge his duty at the Synod's bar, when others were tamely complying, or silent. The treatment his representation received there, afforded one of the most striking instances of 'their denying the means of exoneration, and of suppressing freedom in testifying against public evils by arbitrary authority. Having been denied jus- tice ( 320 ) tice and relief in that manner, what remained for him to do, but to appeal to the public, both against personal injustice and injury done to truth ? And this he did freely and in hia^own name, and, it is hoped, not without some desirable effect and success, and therefore he must be exposed also to his share of abuse, which has been invariably the lot of all who have had the honesty to appear openly and actively in that cause. His performance speaks, and will continue to speak for itself, in spite of the saucy slighting air with which Mr A. affects in a note to treat it. Its complex matter is not so foreign to the New Testimony as he pretends. It gives not strong words without strong facts and strong argument ; some closer and more logical reasoning than has yet appeared on the other side. That libeller, in the first sentence of that note, evidently mis- took a word ; instead of saying it would have been * too mean * an employment,' it should have been ' too hard a task to at- ' tempt a formal answer to that publication. ' In this, as in other parts of his pamphlet, he betrays the pertness and self- conceit of a young author, who expects that every thing he writes with a dictatorial air, must be held decisive, and fancies himself sufficient to answer a book by one stroke of his pen. SECTION THIRTEENTH. Inconsistency charged on the Brethren considered — More false- hoods — Mr B. neither the proposer nor cm approver of a New Testimony or Confession of Faith — Base calumnies as to mo- tives of opposition — Scripture quotations — Sabbath prof anation — Old Testament authority disregarded by the patrons of the new scheme — More unfair dealing* 1 HE Synodical advocates have been at great pains to fix the charge of inconsistency upon the protesting ministers, by at- tempting to shew that they sometime entertained the same sen- timents which the Synod have now adopted upon the contro- verted subjects, or formerly proposed or concurred in measures which now they oppose. But had they been as successful in proving as they have been liberal in accusing them on this head, it would be bat a small point gained, and no effectual vindication of their cause. Had any of these brethren, or all of them, during- a series of years, and a course of complicated procrediivis, found reason to alter their views, as to some mea- sures or sentiments, upon more mature deliberation, and a far- ther acquaintance with them, it would have been nothing strange ( 321 ) strange. Such changes are incident to humanity, and in some cases, may be not only innocent but laudable. It is no dishonour to any man, or body of men, to confess that they are wiser, or better informed, this day, or this year, than they were the last. Luther was charged with inconsistency, be- cause he had gone too far, and too long in compliance with the Romish Church ; and made some unwary concessions and sub- missions to the Pope after he had begun to oppose some of the prevailing abuses. He had formed no idea at first of separat- ing from that church, till absolutely compelled to it, and for a long time was but very imperfectly acquainted with the cor- ruptions of it *. The first Seceding ministers were charged in the same manner, which made Mr Wilson observe, ' Mr ' Currie, in order to rub upon the conduct of the seceding 'brethren, and to discredit their testimony, endeavours to * make them inconsistent with themselves, in citations which t he brings from some papers published by them many ' years ago : Thus he frequently cites a paper published by ' my R. B. Mr Moncrieff, I think about twenty years ago, ' though there is a vast difference between the situation of the ' Church of Scotland then and now. I humbly judge this is ' a low and mean way of arguing, and unworthy of any fair ' and ingenuous disputant. How does it support Mr C.'s cause, * though he should prove all the brethren inconsistent with * themselves in their former writings (which he has not done as ' yet with respect to any one of them), unless he can prove that ' they are wrong nowf.' When some of them were attacked in a similar manner, when they had condemned the swearing of the religious clause of some Burgess oaths, as if they had hereby retracted their subscription to some part of the formula used at their ordination, which approved of the national profession and establishment, and were opposing some things they had formerly written or approved, along with other replies, they candidly explained both their former and their present views, on certain points, and were not ashamed to own that they had not, either at their ordination, or when they first declared a secession from the National Church, perceived some of the evils which they afterwards gradually discovered j in particu- lar what related to the Revolution-settlement J. Was this dishonourable? S s Were * This made him afterwards say, ' But you, pious reader, will have the kind- * ness to make some allowance on account of the times, and my inexperience. I * stood absolutely alone at first, and certainly I was very unlearned and very unfit ' to undertake matters of such vast importance. It was by accident, and not will* * irgly or by design, that I fell into these violent disputes. God is my witness.' f Letter to a Minister, &c. P. S. t * I do acknowledge, for my part,' says Mr A. Moncrieff, • that I had not con- * tidered the de fects and corruptions of the Revolution-settlement till such time * as ( 322 ) Were individuals of the Protesters, or all of them jointly, to admit the truth of the general charge in a greater or less degree, and to acknowledge that they had not uniformly re- sisted the new scheme in its first rise* and through the differ- ent stages of its progress, they might not only have the com- mon apology to plead, but also the covert manner in which that was introduced and carried on, the confidence they reposed in the Synod, their extreme aversion to enter into litigation ■with the court, or to mar the public peace, or to do any thing that might look like hindering the right of proposing over- tures or free discussions, or opposing what had the appearance of being useful, and might have proved so if it had been pro- perly managed ; while as yet, neither the particular contents, nor the special purpose for which it might be ultimately re- ceived and appointed could be certainly ascertained. This they might with truth plead for any silence or concurrence in refer- ence to the overtures that produced the New Testimony, so far as there is truth in the allegation. A number of ministers have their names recorded as dissenters against listening to the proposal of such a thing. It was brought in by stealth. It was objected to by some of them as soon as it appeared in court in that shape, and they would not have given consent to, or entered upon a judicial consideration of either narrative or testimony, unless the question had been left open, as to the public use that was to be made of either of them, and a full liberty to be re- served for every member to exoner himself afterwards, as to any particulars in them, or to the whole complexly, at the con- clusion of the review. But in this charge, as managed by our brethren, there is not only a want of candour, and a violation of the rule of equitable construction — but sometimes also of truth. Of this last we have one instance, which has already been five times printed, after having been read and passed current in Synod. It is in the Letters in the Christian Magazine, p. 68. where it is said, ' that the controversy about a new Testimony was one of their ' own raising, as one of their own party was the mover and ' origin of the whole business.' The Synod's publisher has thrice with confidence averred the falsehood. In p. 15> speak- ing of a motion made in 1800, it is said, ' what made it doubly 1 surprising was, that it came from one who was urgent with ' the Synod, near thirty years ago, to proceed to the work of 'framing a new testimony.' 1 Afterwards the Committee say, • the c as the four brethren were directed to constitute themselves into a Presbytery, * and till, in frequent meetings for prayer and conference, the Judical Act and Tes- ! timony came to be gradually framed, and at last approven 1736 ; which was a * long time after these papers (to which his antagonist had referred) w«re writ- * ten and published.' Animadversions on Fancy still no faith, p. 33. ( *■ ) * the remonstrant himself was so fully convinced of this (the * duty of a new display), that he strenuously urged the Synod * near thirty years ago, to set forward in something of this kind. ' At that time he had no doubt, either about their competency * for the work or their call to it,' p. 29. Again, in p. 148. 'One of themselves (Mr Bruce) was the first man that ever ' proposed a thing of this kind in Synod. This he did near ' thirty years ago. The Synod however at that time, could not ' get the work overtaken, or were not fully apprised of the ' propriety of the measure; the business was therefore dropt *.' But before they had published this five times over, they should have been able to produce some voucher for the fact : but to search for this would have been too much drudgery. Mr B. requests no other evidence in confutation of it than the minutes of that transaction thirty years ago, and the overtures to which there is a reference. The minutes either of the Presbytery of Edinburgh, or of the Synod of that date, if the Clerk did his duty, could have instantly convinced them of their mistake : and Mr Culbertson, as the official keeper of the former of these, is peculiarly inexcusable. The overtures themselves too, if not engrossed, should be still in the keeping of the Synod Clerk, as they were never yet finally disposed of by the judgment of the court. Had that brother named, or any other, submitted a motion of the same general nature with that mentioned, and under the proper restrictions, he could not have been blameable ; for it is one thing to propose, and another thing unduly to persist in a proposal after discussion, when good reasons may be of- fered against it, or to execute in an unwarrantable manner any thing lawful in itself, or to approve of it, when executed. But he denies that he ever introduced a motion into any court of the nature of that here stated, and similar to that which he has opposed, namely, to frame a new testimony in matter and in form, with a view to supersede the old ; nor had he ever a thought of it all the days of his life, so far as he can remem- ber. The fact referred to stood thus : Several injunctions having been laid upon ministers and sessions to further the work of public Covenanting in their respective congrega- tions, and fault found with those who were charged with un- necessary delays in attempting it, in order to quicken the peo- ple to a sense of their duty in this matter, to keep up or revive * In another pamphlet, published but the other day by Mr Culbertson, called ■ The Essence of Old Light Principles Extracted,' the same lie is again retailed, and set in the very front cf an Abstract of Answers, of which he gives only a speci- men, in the 1st Appendix, p. 4Z It is well for himself that he did not go beyond the first article ; lest he should have exposed himself stili more by relying upon his incompetent and erring authorities. Sooner or latter * the mouth of them that 5 speak lies shall be stopped.' Ss2 ' a more ( 324 ) a more lively impression of former covenant-obligations, it was thought that it might be proper to propose a new and ge- neral entering into the bond by ministers and people in connec- tion with the Synod ; in which some circumstantial alteration might be made, both in the acknowledgement of sins, and in the manner of admitting persons of different congregations, who were adjacent, to join together in it, both to testify their close conjunction as one witnessing body, and also to remove one hinderance out of the way of attempting it, especially where congregations were smaller, from the paucity of the number disposed to concur. This was the primary and ultimate ob- ject in view; but an introductory overture preceded this; namely, that the ministers, before proceeding to a general reno- vation among the people, should set an example before them; and, in imitation of the first Associate Presbytery, should draw up a confession of the sins with which they might charge them- selves, and in which they should publicly join before giving their renewed assent to the bond they had formerly sworn. Mr B. therefore, moved, in the Presbytery of Edinburgh, that they should prepare overtures on these subjects to the Synod. As the matter was of serious import, a Presbyterial Fast was proposed and observed at Mid-Calder, partly in public with such of the congregation there as could attend, when he was appointed to preach ; and, after public worship, the ministers spent the remaining part of that day, and some time on the forenoon following, in prayer and conference, before they came to any resolution : and in the event agreed that the overtures should be drawn up, with reasons to enforce them, and pre- sented to the next meeting of Synod. They were both accord- ingly laid before the Synod in name of the Presbytery, with the reasons for the first overture ; but those for the second were deferred, in order to see how T the Synod might appear to be affected to the general design, and the former of them. But there was not a word in either of them about framing a new testimony. The first of them, which respected solely the pre- paring a separate confession of sins for the ministers, and their joining as a body by themselves in covenant-renovation, was the only one taken into particular consideration in Synod* Members spoke their mind calmly upon it ; some expressed a hesitation about the propriety of taking the step proposed, alledging, that it did not appear to be a time for making far- ther progress, but for keeping what we had attained. There was properly no debate, nor any vote stated, but it was agreed that the overtures should lie upon the table for future deliber- ation, and that the object of the second should be more parti- cularly stated, and the reasons of it brought forward. Mr. B. was so far from strenuously insisting even on these overtures Cas they ( 325 ) they say he did for a new testimony), that, besides the written reasons, lie advanced very little in support of them in court ; having formed a resolution, that if they did not voluntarily come into the measures, and others insist upon procedure, that he should not reckon it incumbent upon him to urge it either then or afterwards *: he was then among the younger mem- bers ; and he did not think it proper that to exercises of that kind any who were not clear or cordial for concurring in them, should be driven, either by temporal or ecclesiastical power. Instead of strenuously insisting, he rather may be found blameabie for slackness, and too easily desisting; for, though it was left upon him to extend the reasons for the second overture, he never afterwards presented them to the Synod. Several years after, when some other overtures relat- ing to the public profession were introduced, and a general re- solution was expressed in Synod to call for former overtures, that still lay before the Synod undisposed of, in their order, inquiry was made after these ; but the Clerk said, they could not be found. The * From a copy which Mr B. finds among his papers, the two first reasons are transcribed, which will evidently shew the tenor and intention of the overture : Reason I. Because the exercise therein proposed is in Scripture especially en- joined upon the ministers of the word : and in all times when public confessions and humiliations are required of the Church of God, they ought not only to bear a share therein, but to act a leading and distinguished part in that work of mourn- ing. Joel i. 13. " Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests: howl ye ministers of " the altar : come lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God." Chap. ii. IS, 16, 17. " Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast — gather the people, Si sanctify the congregation ; assemble th* elders — let the priests, the ministers of " the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, &c. Then " will the Lord be jealous for his land, and pity his people." And noc only are they to be thus employed by their joint concurrence with the body of the people, but also in their separate and distinct capacity. Zech. xii. 12, 13. " I will pour " upon the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the t-pirit of grace " and of supplications, — and the land shall mourn, — every family a part : — the " family of the house of David a part, and their wives a part, — the family of the " house of Nathan a part ; — the family of the house of Levi a part." Reas. a. What is here proposed is agreeable to the laudable example of God's faithful servants in other times, and appear* to have been remarkably countenanced of God with tokens of his gracious approbation and presence. Not to recur to the history of other churches, we may here only take notice of some notable ex- amples hereof in the Church of Scotland since the Reformation. The first we shall mention is that which took place in the year 1596, some years after the general swearing and subscribing the first National Covenant. In that memor- able year the ministers and other commissioners, being met in General Assembly, entered upon a particular search and enquiry into the sjns and corruptions of ministers, and joined together in a solemn confession and humiliation for the same, which was immediately followed by a renovation of their covenant en- gagements for reformation. At this meeting there were about four hundred mi- nisters present, and the whole transaction was ordered to be inserted in the Re- gister of the Assembly, both for their own use, and an example to posterity. The like exercise was at the same time enjoined upon the several Synods and Pres- byteries throughout the land, and immediately after practised by them ; as may he ( 3*6 ) The second overture proposed no alteration of the bond that had been formerly sworn, nor any changes in the acknowledge- ment of sins for the people, farther than abridging some of the paragraphs, especially relating to some of the occurrences about the time when it was composed, accommodating some part of it to present circumstances, or inserting some articles relating to more recent events ; but all that had formerly been comprehended in it, was to have been recognized, and either more particularly or summarily contained in the new. Care was taken in the very preamble of the reasons that were pre- paring, of which Mr B. has still the jottings, to guard against what formed the chief objection against the new form of it adopted by the Synod, or might occasion suspicion of retracting, or bringing the people under contrary obligations. There is nothing in this in the least inconsistent with the opposition that hath since been made against the deeds lately enacted. Had the Committee, or the Synod, looked into the reasons of protest against their altered bond and acknowledgement, which it was their duty to have done, and part of their proper business to have answered ( not as if he thought that to have been due as a matter of personal deference to him or any other protester, as is absurdly insinuated in p. 133.), they would have seen that there was no- thing in them that militated either against the letter or spirit of these. be seen more full}' in the histories of that period. Likewise the same act of said Assembly, enjoining as above, was again ratified and appointed to be put in execution by the famous reforming Assembly met at Glasgow in 1638 — Sess. Also, some years after, in an act of the Assembly 1646, various enormities and corruptions in the ministry were particularly condescended upon, with some re- medies thereof. Again in 1653 we meet with a very large and particular enumeration of the sin« of the ministry adapted to that time, when many were involved in the begun de- fection consequent upon the public resolutions. And to come rearer our own times, it is well known in the Secession, and still remembered by many with sentiments of warm approbation and sincere joy, that a distinct acknowledgement of this sort was made, and a suitable engagement to fhities entered into, by all the ministers who were then members of the Associate Presbytery, at Stirling and Falkirk in the year 1742 — the greater part of whom have now fmifhed their course. And as all the present members of Synod, except two, have entered into the bond for renewing our covenants, while in a private station, and many in their younger years, — they have consequently never had ac- cess to join in this, so necessary a confession, or any similar to it, respecting the evils and mi-carriages peculiar to their public s-ation and character. May it rot be equally reasonable and necessary to do so now as formerly, and high time for taking such an important matter into serious consideration. We might also here r*cal to mind that voluntary acknowledgement made by the several members of Synod, at their meeting in 1749, of their failings and short-comings in their judi- cative managements, particular.)' with respect to the procedure in the matter of the Burgess oath, as the minutes of Synod bear. — If this step was so suitable and commendable in that instance, may we not, by parity of reason, reckon it equally suitable that something of the same nature were essayed with respect to similar failings and mismanagements posterior to that time, whether in regard of life, ministrations, or judicial procedure. ( 327 ) these overtures. Though they are not intitled to have any infor- mation repeated to them in this channel, which has been reject- ed by them, when conveyed to them in the regular course of Presbyterian order, in court ; yet they might have found, that, instead of the Protester^ blaming the Synod for having attempt- £h ed to make some alterations, accommodation, or additions, they are found fault with in the eth, 10th, and 1 1th reasons, for not having executed this part of the design more effectually, and to greater extent ; — that some instances of public evils that have lately happened, and deserving a place, had been omit- ted: some particular parts in the new, as well as the old form, are said to be too prolix and minute, while others in it are too general and summary ; and that ( it still wanted that due ac- * commodation to the general state of religion in all the three * kingdoms, and the British empire at large, which the present 1 or future diffusion of the secession required; and which the * Synod, in 1752, seemed to be sensible that it wanted, when ' they appointed two additional clauses, one for each of the ' neighbouring kingdoms, to be occasionally used there, and * which seem to have been meant only as a temporary proviso, ' " until," as their act expressed it, " the Lord might be ' pleased to give access for a more particular enumeration of ' the public evils of these nations in former and present times." * But though the Synod had now an opportunity, when the ' whole was under review, to have been a little more particu- ' lar on these, yet even the contents of these two general para- ' graphs are not introduced.' Was there any thing then in the transaction referred to, or in any former motion introduced by Mr B. in Synod, similar to the late measures for reviewing their whole principles, changing the whole structure of the testimony and formula, and making deep incisions to touch the vital parts as well as surface and form of their Covenant-engagements: overtures pushed into the Synod par saltwn, strenuously insisted upon, and forcibly imposed upon all, in contempt of unanimitv and the public peace? Mr B. recollects another overture of a later date, which he brought into the Synod relative to the testimony, after a pretended re-exhibition of it appeared under sanction of another Synod, in which many interpolations and adulterations were admitted, some of the new principles sown, — with a con- tinuation to some events of a posterior elate. The overture proposed, that the Synod should, in a judicial manner, vindi- cate the original testimony, expose the fraud, put the people on their guard against the spurious edition, and defend their principles and constitution that had been attacked in some papers subjoined to it. But as something of this kind had been done by a Father, in a private publication, the Synod de- clined ( 328 ) clined to proceed with the overture. The proposer of it gave them no farther trouble on the head ; though he was not sa- tisfied, nor has been to this day, that they in this acted a faith- ful part in reference to the public cause, but in some measure may have been chargeable with any hurtful effects that may have gradually arisen from the circulation of that publication, to the increase of indifference, mistakes, or prejudices that have so much prevailed in reference to that testimony. He has been afraid that this, with other instances of misconduct, may have been a reason why they have been left more and more to stumble, and at last to do even greater injury to it than the promoters of that fraudulent publication had done. If there was any proposal in that overture, or any other introduced by him, that the General Synod should enlarge or carry forward their testimony, as had been attempted in that other work, he does not at present recollect : but if there was, that was the utmost scope and extent of it ; a design which he never did oppose, nor the appointment of a committee for effecting it, while he had no reason to suspect that a material change, and the introduction of new principles were intended. The Committee in one part of their answers to the second remonstrance, read in open Synod, offered a gross and base in- sult to the remonstrant, when they asked, what could be the reason that made him now so dissatisfied with these new deeds? * Was it because he himself was not employed in composing * them ?' Perhaps this may serve for a key to the meaning of an innuendo of the same kind, vented from the pulpit, and since from the press, as to the origin of unwarrantable separations, though not so particularly applied. ' There are some men,' it is said, * that can be pleased with nothing done by others, unless * it has been done by their direction. Every thing that relates * to public managements must have originated with themselves, * and be as it were their own personal act, otherwise there is ' nothing done that they are inclined to suppose is well done,' Consol. p. 33. It is no doubt natural enough for a novice to be lifted up with pride, and to feel some emotions of self-gratula- tion in being employed in a little public service, and to think every thing well done because it comes from his hands, and the contrary. If any member of the Committee has felt any emotion of this kind rising in his breast from the share he has in the task committed to them, or in the heavier one under which they eagerly thrust their necks, without its being laid upon them, Mr B. can tell him, that if he live as long as he has done, and be as often engaged in employment of that kind as he has been, he will find that ardour cooled, and will see enough Co cure him of that fondness for more, and enough to allay that tympany of vanity, if the disease be not very deeply rooted ( 329 ) rooted and inveterate. Were there nothing else, even the iveariness that due attention to such things causes to the flesh, might serve, by degrees, to depress that buoyancy of spirit. If that brother has had his full share assigned him by the Synod in the troublesome business of Committees, in preparing papers of overtures or acts, — he considered it as more than he was equal unto; — and more than he could execute, either to his own satisfaction, or of his employers. Any shorter papers, in framing of which he might be personally concerned, which have been enacted, upon review, he has not seen cause to think better of on that account. A.s to some others, drawn up by appointment, the conduct of the court afterwards, and of indi- vidual members, has been such as might be sufficient to make any wish ever after to evite employment of that kind, if it could dutifully be done. Some of these have been already spe- cified. If in one or two instances, along with the general over- ture, he prepared a draught of an act, such as was proposed, •this was owing to some particular urgency in the case, and the danger of losing the proper opportunity, by the delay that must •ensue, when nothing is in readiness to be offered. But he still submitted the whole to the judgment of the court, without pre- tending to dictate or direct; and when in the event they thought proper to deny their sanction, did he not wish, ana* wait to see the same purpose accomplished in the way they thought best? When, at the first rise of the missionary societies, a paper was read, not in his name, but in that of a Committee that they had nominated for that purpose on the preceding week *, de- T t daring * As throughout the whole of their proceedings upon this affair, the Synod gave a very unfavourable display of themselves, in point of consistency and fidelity, so some members of that Committee acted such a singular and disingenuous part, as seldom has occurred in the course of ecclesiastical managements. In conse- quence of the overtures ty that subject, that had been Jaid before the Synod when they met, and the peculiar circumstances of the time, it was earnestly desired by a number, that some declaration, or warning should be given before the Synod rose: (not merely to warn the people to do nothing in that or any other matter, incon- sistent with their profession, as Mr C. in hia new pamphlet, thinks is all they ought to have done, which would have been just as good as saying or doing nothing at all.) The minister? n?.med on the .Committee, besides Mr B. were Mr J. R. (not now in Synod), Mr cliu Dr 1. i. and W. F. The minutes will shew their names at full length. When, upon some occasional conversation, it appeared that none of the rest had any araughr of a paper, or were turning their thoughts that way, a sketch of one was produced by Mr B, and communicated to some of them be- fore a regular raee-ang of the Committee could be obtained. One at last was con- vened, and constituted by prayer, before the last sederunt of Synod, when the draught was read, as uone other was proposed : objections were allowed to be of- fered against it in whole or in part ; ?ome few alterations or corrections were proposed and made ; and in the event it was agreed, without opposition from any one, that it should be offered to the Synod that evening, and was left in the hand ef the writer of it with that view, and to write out a sentence or two, the matter of which had also been mentioned, to give it a more formal conclusion. But no gooner had it been read in Synod, when scarcely any other members had time so express their mind, as to adopting or delaying the overture, than, to his a«tonish- men* ( 330 ) claring how far the Synod approved, and in what they disap- proved of the scheme of missions, which the majority refused to adopt, and when the same business was recommitted to two other Committees successively, he expected and would have rejoiced to have seen a declaration from any of them, that might answer to the purport of the overture; and he did afterwards readily concur in supporting the two next draughts, the one read, and afterwards printed, by Mr Chalmers, and the other by Mr Young:-— but none of these would do, more than the first, with the Anti-Presbyterian latitudinarian junto that had be- come so clamorous on that subject. He may add, that there was more business of this kind, that had been recommended to him, in conjunction with some others, than they had yet been discharged of, or probably ever will be: and when, besides, he had his hands otherwise full, could he be so very avaricious of employment as to be still grasping after more, and envy any of his brethren their laborious and honorary task ? Had he been under the influence of such a propensity, he had opportunity t© have indulged it a little more, even in re- ference to these late deeds, than he chused to do. He was one of the Committee appointed upon what was called the Glasgow Overture, respecting the magistrate's power in matters of reli- gion, which first brought the affair under judicial discussion, but refused to attend it, when he foresaw that it would lead to unpleasant altercation en a subject which he did not wish to be brought forward; by which he gave offence to some of his bre- thren at that time, even as he has since been often reflected upon for not explaining himself more fully, and declining to act. His name too will be found on the Committee for preparing the new form cf acknowledgement of sins, and engagement : he objected to the appointment, and declared to the Synod, that he had no design, nor due freedom to act or concur in that matter, and nothing for a time was done; un- til merit, these brethren stood up and disavowed it; alledgingthat it had not received the approbation of the Committee, and all of them seemed to disclaim any know- ledge of such a Committee ; though two of them had left it but a few hour6 be- fore. The other indeed (Mr J. R ) had not been in that meeting, but could hard- ly be ignorant of it ; and he had previously expressed his concurrence in the mat- ter of the overture. Thus, with so little regard to veracity and integrity in their dealings about sacred things, they almost gave the lie direct in the face of the whole Synod and a promiscuous multitude, to the writer of the paper, who had given it in, and read it as transmitted from the Committee, and still continued to aver the fact. This conduct has reminded him of the cunning and impudence of Congreve's Boris. But who o'er night obtain'd her grace. Next day she can disown ; And stare upon the strange man's face As one she ne'er had known. One of the members afterwards actid the part of a trimmer in this cause J and another Mr W. F. a litigious wrangler against the Synpd'* proedure on it. ( 3" ) til another member was afterwards nominated, if he rightly re- members, or another Committee appointed. When that im- portant part of the work was finished and enacted, which was two or three years before either the Testimony or Narrative was approven, reasons of protest were given by hiin against it, several of them coinciding with those afterwards offered against the complex work, though the Committee and Synod know not what they were. Was this too, merely the effect of cha- grin, for being secluded from a little employment about it? Let reasons assigned speak for themselves, independent of mens mo- tives. If, indeed, judgment and conscience may be supposed to have had so little place, and a little personal neglect on the one hand, or respect on the other, to have had such sway, as to bend him to the side of approbation, or disapprobation, some parti- cular attentions he received from members of the Committee, while the New Testimony was in fabrication, particularly by communicating to him some of the most controverted proposi- tions, producing a friendly correspondence by letters for some time, between him and the brother engaged in that depart- ment *, joined to the great regard he had for them all, might have been some compensation for the Synod's oversight, and have soothed him again into a better humour, and a good opi- nion of all that proceeded from them. Did not the cutter and carver, and polisher of the last labours of the Committee, the compiler of the Narrative himself, favour him with a letter, when entering upon his department, that was far from shewing aversion from his intermeddling a little farther in these mat- ters, than either his inclination or leisure at that time allowed ? and when he afterwards honoured him with his company for eight days, was he more pleased or displeased, when Mr B. ex- pressed his opinion, that every one ought to conduct an un- dertaking of that kind according to the plan previously laid down, and his own ideas; remitting him to libraries for such materials as might be adapted to it, to be used at his discre- tion; so as to leave him a just claim, for any contributions on his part, to the praise of originality of execution ? Or after the great pains he had taken, and the many excellent things con- tained in that, as in other parts of the work, was his literary pride so hurt by the unfavourable judgment the remonstrant thought himself obliged to pronounce upon it, when appearing in the form of a public judicial paper, purporting to be a faith- ful account of former reformations and defections, and to be obtruded on a church, as a part of her testimony, as to suspect others of being influenced by similar motives, in regard to a public cause? But when papers come into a court for judgment, all must forget from what quarter they come, or by whom T t 2 composed, * The Rev. Mr A. Pringle in Perth. ( 332 ) composed. The various reasons for remonstrating against this part of the work, have never yet been particularly detailed. The summary statement of them in one of the reasons of the second remonstrance, and all relating to it, the publisher, with due paternal tenderness, has prudently covered up from pub- lic view. Nothing farther occurs, as to Mr B.'s acting an inconsistent part, in the course of procedure on these matters, that deserves particular regard, besides what has been already noticed: for an explanation of passages of former writings belong more properly to sentiments, and would lead too far into doctrinal discus- sions. Instead of being the prime mover, or pusher of these litigious questions, ht, from the beginning, declared against the expediency of agitating them in the judicatories, though, if Others urged them, and became responsible for the consequen- ces, he rested satisfied that truth would not suffer by fair ex- amination. How the overture of a new testimony was admit- ted into discussion, when presented, has been already declared. The arranger of the Synod's papers is not exact, when he asserts, * that no objection was stated against the plan of ar~ ' rangement (by which the narration of facts was separated * from a doctrinal and judicial testimony) when the overture * was first laid before the Synod-, and for several years our bre- < thren co-operated with the Synod, in correcting the matter of ' it, without the smallest expression of dissatisfaction expressed 4 with the form in which it was laid,' p. 30. Mr B. for one, did object against entering on the correction of the Narra- tive, without it was previously ascertained for what particular purpose it was designed; whether it was meant to stand for their public testimony about the several matters contained in it, or any part of it at all. If it was to be considered as a mere historical narrative, in which they were not to give some ex- press approbation or disapprobation of the events related, he reckoned it no proper business for a constituted court to spend time upon. They shifted the determination of this main point to the cleso of their review both of that and the Testimony; and it was among the last things decided; for though they be- g^u first to correct the Narrative, they soon inverted that or- der, and finished, and published too as corrected, the first edition of the Testimony so called, separately, and yet as complete, without including one article of the historical facts, before they proceeded in the review of the Narrative. It was on condi- tion, and with reserve of full liberty afterwards, that any of the brethren did concur in any correction. Before they had proceeded many page's in the Narrative, several objections were offered, ind a dissent was marked by Mr B. against the man- ner in which they had recorded the transactions of the second period ( 333 ) period of reformation in Scotland, particularly the general con- demnatory clauses, to be found in p. 31. as now printed. Af- ter that, he does not recollect that he took any share in cor- recting the remainder of the Narrative: They immediately turned over to the controverted chapters of the Testimony, when observations were occasionally made upon some of the doctrines in them, until it became evident no material altera- tion of the obnoxious parts was to be expected: — what was of- fered afterwards, until they desisted from any co-operation, (which some of them did sooner, and some later), was chiefly for exoneration, though without entering particular dissents at every step, waiting for the final result. The objection made against the separation of historical facts and testimony in this instance, has elsewhere been sufficiently vindicated *. But the Committee, without warrant, affirm, ' that the Protesters hold ' that a confession should always be merely a system of doctrinal 1 truth, without any application to facts, and existing evils:' and they have shewn how short way they have travelled into the history of the former testimonies of the church, when they alledge, that there was no such mixture of doctrines and facts in them ; and that the Secession Testimony, was the only soli- tary instance in which there was such an intermixture, p. 32, 33. as the author of the Letters has also done : Let. 4. p. 68. The contrary to this could be made evident from abundant in- stances, were we to take a review of ecclesiastical testimonies, whether those of the more early times, those of the Waldenses, or of the Protestant churches, to which they make their appeal. As for the vindication of their form and arrangement, from the order in which the scriptures are written, it is too absurd and presumptuous to be seriously dwelt upon. But the mere form of arrangement never was considered by the Protesters, as in it- self a matter of such moment ; if there had been a proper de- claration, or testimony, given in reference to the facts, either intermixed with the Narrative, or separate from it. Nor did they think there was any need for, or propriety in adopting anew and general Confession of Faith, under the name of a judicial testimony. And when, in the course of correction, they admit- ted some things which tended to subvert what had been for- merly received, and some began to consider these passages as already part of the Synod's principles, Mr B. thought it neces- sary, when they were in the midst of the review, to have a short paper marked in the minutes, explaining in what sense he could only concur any farther in it, declaring that it was not to be understood as calling any of the Synod's former principles into question, or allowing any thing contained in the overture as having any authority, while not yet finally enacted. He * Statement, &c. Sect. IV. ( S34 ) He is indeed charged in a note, (p. 21.) as having in Synod expressed an entire approbation of the doctrine contained in the firstparagraph of the 24thchapter of the N. Testimony, in which the power of worldly kingdoms is said * to respect only the se- 4 cular interests of society — and that its end is the public and * temporal good of civil society,* which has since been found fault with by Mr T. and in the Statement, though not for- merly, they say, in any of the remonstrances. But by the time referred to Mr B. was not taking particular interest in the re- visal, nor entering into any narrow examination of paragraphs or sentences apart. He was making a general observation as to the manner in which they had stated the doctrine of that chapter, on which they had promised a more full and clear de- claration than had formerly been given. He alledged that it was much more defective, avoiding to say any thing expressly up- on some of the controverted points, and little as to the posi- tive duties of those exercising civil authority, which had been usually and explicitly declared, when treating the subject in a doctrinal manner : — that they had rather said what they ought not to do, than what was competent to them, and incumbent on them to do: and that the truth might be injured, and the law of God be unfaithfully handled, and partially explained, merely by excluding, covering up, or leaving out what neces- sarily belonged to it : and that the duty of no class of men could be supposed to consist wholly in negatives. The ap- probation he then expressed of the first part of the chapter, to the best of his recollection, was only comparative, and not ab- solute: to this purpose, that though there might not be so much ground to quarrel with what was said, as to the distinction and contrast stated between rife church and worldly kingdoms, and the nature of the power belonging to each, in the general view, if properly explained, as there m^ght be on account of some great and intentional omissions, ana* some part of the doc- trine and explanations that followed. This he thinks he could say still ; notwithstanding of some very considerable alterations, and insertions, in the latter paragraphs of the chapter since that time This amounts not to an unlimited approbation of every expression, in the first or other paragraphs, especially in the sense in which the Synod would hive them understood. As to that referred to, he and his brethren have ever allowed, that civil society could exercise no power, but what was for- mally civil, or temporal, — and that its direct and specific end, is the public and temporal good of civil society, as distinguish- ed from the ecclesiastical: but if interests of religion in general, or of the church of Christ in particular, be excluded from the definition o«' tl. ^.blic good, sujdthi temporal interests of socie- ty, this is doctrine they have always reprobated, and in all their remonstrances ( 335 ) remonstrances have testified against. Instead of being exclud- ed, they consider these as constituting a necessary and princi- pal p^rt of that good. Do the Synod need still to be told, that iocieties specifically distinct, may have several things in which e, and that temporal and ecclesiastical powers may have coincident objects and ends; — and that matters temporal in their nature may fall under a religious and moral considera- tion, and matters of religion under a civil. Things materially the same, may have a great variety of *x> l references and re- lations. If the particular sentence quoted was not so express- ly mentioned in the remonstrances, it will not follow, that in their exclusive sense it was allowed; for the Synod were told, that it was not proposed in the remonstrances, to take notice of all that was exceptionable in the Narrative or Testimony: and several things not specified were included under some of the general heads. Much less was it practicable, nor was it so con- sistent with the nature and design of a remonstrance, to enter into formal proofs, or detailed illustrations of the severalgrounds upon which they remonstrated, — or into particular reasonings on the subject. Inattention to this has led the Synod's pub- lisher into another most groundless and i ividious observation against the remonstrants, about quotations from scripture, in which he may be charged with another direct falsehood. In order to make the reader believe that their cause was either but little befriended by scripture, or that they had little inclination to employ it, after transcribing a passage from the first remonstrance, in which there is a general reference to the doctrine and promises of scripture, he says, ' These three or • four lines are the only appeal made, in the whole of that re- ' monstrance, to rhe Bible. And as for the other remonstrance, 1 it never so much as produces one passage of scripture, to de- * cide the controversy betwixt the writer and the Synod.' The Power, &c. p. 44. in the note. This is another deceiving bait, to impose on the weak serious Christian. But though the as- sertions had been true, the inference would have been unjust. A doctrine, an argument, or writing, may be entirely scriptural, that is, agreeable to, and founded upon it, though there may be no express reference to the scriptures, or particular passages, in it: as there may be much of God seen in the book of Esther, where yet the name of God is not mentioned. If this were not allowed, what judgment would be pronounced en a great part of their Narrative and Testimony? even the chapters on some of the most disputed points, have net only paragraphs, but pages without a single quotation. Sometimes doctrines are to be deduced from the general tenor of scripture; or are so obviously contained in it, or are found in so many parts of it, or the particular passages may be so well known, as to ren- der ( 336 ) tier quotation of particular passages unnecessary, as in some cases it may be improper, and incommodious. To adduce par- ticular texts at every turn, in support of assertions that carry their evidence along with them, or about which none may en- tertain a doubt, is no judicious use of the Bible. If in these papers, this mode of particular and frequent quotation was not used, the reason for it maybe obvious to all. In the very preamble to the second or larger remonstrance, did not the author of it assign a reason why that could not be proposed, though if that was reckoned a defect, they would readily be produced. Did this betray either a consciousness of the want, or a disregard of Bible authority ? But even in that remonstrance, as summarily written, there will be found enough to convict the publisher of a calumnious falsehood, and of a fraudulent imposition on the public, by keep- ing back all these parts of the paper in which particular pas- sages of scripture were used, or more generally referred to. He will not shew himself to be so little of a Divine, as to pre- tend that scripture cannot be quoted, except when chapter and verse are named, which a Hebritian must know are not the scripture, but human insertions ; or that it cannot be done, ex- cept when the title ef the book, or the very words, without va- riation, are produced. By this rule he would find no appeal to scripture in three or four lines of the first remonstrance, in which he admits it, more than in the second: nor could he ad- mit the writers of the New Testament to have appealed to the authority of the Old, or made proper quotations from it, in most instances. The parts of that remonstrance which he has suppressed, contain several appeals to the Bible : in that por- tion of it which remains in the author's hand, more than one pas- sage may be found. In the 15th reason, part of which Mr Al- lan has inserted in the next paragraph to that in which be brings the charge, in the middle of it, which he has thrown out, the new scheme of principles, on the head of the magistrate's power, was declared to be * opposite to the doctrine, the examples, the * predictions and pomises of the Bible :* of which, if the par- ticulars had been adduced and illustrated, they would soon have filled a paper much longer than the whole remonstrances. In the 12th reason, the words in Prov xxv. 7. were expressly quoted. Is there not also a scriptural argument, and a very strong one, interwoven in the first quotation they have made from it, in c'.ap. i. that churches should hold fast what they had attained? In the 10th reason, which is wholly omitted, which respects the disguised manner in which the new opinions are in- troduced, the ambiguous expressions, used often with a design to accommodate the work to persons of different sentiments, and the jumole of discordant things in it, was not the expression of the ( 337 ) the apostle adduced in condemnation of such conduct, when it was said, ' they had hereby made their trumpet to give an un- ' certain sound.* In the 20th reason, besides the instances in which they have dealt dishonourably and deceitfully in it al- ready mentioned, a reference to no less than four passages of scripture may be found in the latter part of it which they have concealed, which makes the conduct doubly base. The first referred to was that which condemns "fasting," or covenanting, " for strife and debate ;" Isa. lviii. 2. And the concluding sen- tence, assigning a reason why the remonstrant durst not concur in dispensing the new oath, introduced the words of the third precept, of the law, against " taking the name of the Lord in " vain j" with a quotation from Judges, and another from Isai- ah, which alone might suffice, if the due import of them were considered, to decide the controversy between them and the Synod ; ■ He iiath opened his mouth, and subscribed with his * hand to the Lord, and cannot go back. 1 In fine, in the follow- ing paragraph, with which the whole reasons were closed, was there no reference to scripture ? ' The remonstrant has too much * reason to think that this Synod have long and gradually been * falling from their own stedfastness ; and in several other pub- * lie acts and managements besides these specified, for a series * of years past, have given striking indications of this, which ' have, from time to time, been matter of grievance to him. * Some of these he had in view to have pointed out, but must at * present forbear. They have a loud call to reflect, " to give *' glory to God," and to remove the stones of stumbling and the ' walls of separation, they have been laying in the way of the ' people. It is the aim of all our contendings and desires, ' that they would consider whence they have fallen, and repent, f and do the first works ; and that the great " trust committed to " them they may keep, according to the charge they have re- " ceived in the presence of him who quickeneth all, and before " Jesus Christ who witnessed a good confession," — as they and all of us must answer " at the great day of his appearance." 2 Pet. iii. 17. Josh. vii. 19. Isa. lvii. 14. Rev. ii, 5. lTim. vi. 20, 13, 14. Add to all these, the scriptures adduced in the former protests, which were expressly included in that remon- strance, and belonged to the controversy to be decided. Were none of these to be found in Mr A.'s Bible ? Or has a minister of the gospel so far put off a good conscience, as, for party purposes, to speak thus wickedly under pretence of honour to the word ; and to tell all the world, after denying them the means of knowing any thing to the contrary, that ' there is ' net so much as one passage of scripture produced in all the ' remonstrance V But indeed, why should he and his associates seek to the U u scriptures ( 338 ) scriptures for a decision in such a cause, and sometimes with sanctimonious airs declare, that they will regard no other ar- guments, no not the united voice of the churches, the autho- rity of confessions and deeds they have subscribed, p. 69. if it be true, as Mr C. and many others say, that it is a contro- versy about nothing, or one entirely frivolous, respecting no man's conscience or duty, and if it be nothing less than a pro- fanation of the Sabbath to discourse upon it in any shape, or On any side, and if all ' that bears upon the subject should be f studiously omitted in the pulpit,' though perhaps studied and written down for it in the closet, Christ. Mag. p. 61. Con- solat. p. 3. If this were true, they surely make their appeal to a wrong tribunal, when they would carry it to no other bar than that of the holy scriptures, which were never intended for vain and frivolous purposes, but to treat of things per- taining to faith and duty, and ought as little to be abused, by being employed about things impertinent or profane, as the Lord's day. If they be of this kind, we may hear the Divine Judge in the scriptures, saying, " If it were a matter of faith, of godliness, or of duty, you do well to come thither for direc- tion and decision ; but if it be only a question of words and names, or a mere worldly affair, I will be no judge of such matters ;" and they would be driven from the judgment-seat with such words as these, " Curious and vain questions avoid ; " —shun profane and vain babblings, for they will increase " unto more ungodliness." If this were the case, — then church- courts should have rejected them as soon as they came before them, as coram nonjudice, not pertaining to their jurisdiction, to the office of ministers, or the business of Christians. What apology then could be made for the Synods that have spent so long time in discussing, and deciding them in the name of him that is holy ; for ministers that have been insisting upon them in pulpits and from presses, on one side as well as on the other (and this hath been done in the Secession as well as in other churches^) before any of these Rev. Gentlemen entered a pulpit. If the theme itself be impertinent and unworthy, can it be sanctified merely by the side they take upon it, or the manner m which they chuse to treat it? If it should ever be excluded from ministerial handling, from holy place, and holy time, why should Mr C. of late have introduced the contro- versy into all the exercises of a Sabbath-day ; and, not con- tent with that, afterwards published discourses and addresses upon it, the first of the kind that has appeared, though, accord- ing to the views expressed in the places quoted, he must have been all the while chargeable with solemn trifling, and a sort of profanation ? The other is not altogether so inconsistent, though he may have carried his bulky answers, as well as the old and new ( 339 ) new testimonies, on the controverted subjects, bodily to the pul- pit, for the edification of the Christian people, as well as to the fire-sides of some of the good women about C — r, seeing he appears at times to think that he has been contending for some of the most momentous points of our holy religion, the sole headship of the Redeemer, the fundamental article of Protes- tantism, the cause of Scotland's martyrs, and what not. — Yet he too can at times assume the methodistical tone, and speak. of it in the style of comparative depreciation. After exhaust- ing his zeal, and writing a volume upon one side, he will tell the people, that he would much rather have been addressing them concerning the necessity of being born again, united to Christ, &c. p. 160, though he goes not quite so far as his co- adjutor ; who not only says, ' the controversy has diverted the ' attention of professors from the great practical and experi- ' mental parts of godliness,' (as the most necessary and impor- tant controversy, through human corruption, doubtless may do ;) but takes it also for granted, that pulpits have been pros- tituted, and Sabbaths profaned, by this topic, while the glo- rious prerogatives of the King of Zion would have suited in- finitely better as a theme of meditation for his subjects on his own day. ' He must have new light, before he will ' reckon himself justified in entertaining an assembly of Chris- 6 tians upon that theme on the Lord's day. Were the ques- * tion about the powers of the King of Zion, it would be a dif- ' ferent matter,' &c. Thus the subtle adversary of truth can transform himself into an angel of light. Thus the good Dr Leighton, when dealt with by his brethren, in the time of the last reformation, for not applying his doctrine to the times, with an imposing air of piety could answer, ' If so many bre- thren are preaching to the times, they may suffer one poor brother to preach about eternity.' Thus Mr Glass and followers have exclaimed against Presbyterians, as turning men's attention to externals, and diverting them from the ob- ject of faith, Christ's merits ; and by extolling human cove- nants, to make them neglect, the covenant of grace. Thus Whitefield, when in conference with the seceding ministers, told them, that to promote any form of church-government, or a covenanted reformation in the three kingdoms, was no part of his plan, but to preach Christ crucified, to win souls to him, &c — But to all who make such evasive comparisons, the short answer may suffice, — If the things in question be no part of the truth, or counsel of God, let them be discarded : and if they be, let them have their proper place, and their pro- portion of attention in their season, in which every thing is beautiful : or, in the words of our Lord, " These things ye (t ought to have done, and not to have left the other undone." U u a But ( *4° ) But surely the servants of Christ should beware of calling any thing common or profane, which God has sanctified. They should be afraid to throw their bolts at random, and to de- claim about discourses or exercises of others on the Lord's-dav, of which they have no knowledge, and utter charges which they would shrink from if they were required to support them in fair trial, lest they should be like the Pharisaical zealots, who found fault with the disciples for plucking the ears of corn, and rubbing them in their hands on the Sabbath ; lest the pro- fanation they speak of be such as that which the priests prac- tised in the temple, and yet were blameless. It is possible, in- deed, that any theme, from the manner of treating it, may be- come a prostitution of the pulpit. — " To the unholy and the ** impure, there is nothing pure — and to him that accounteth " any thing unclean, to him it is unclean," and under such a persuasion, he muse be f self-condemned if he eat' or act, If courtly clergymen ' extol the powers and prerogatives of *. earthly kings' in a way of nattering them, or hold the per- sons or dignities of men in admiration because of advantage, they certainly prostitute their office. But the Spirit of God has shown how to treat the general subject in a more excellent way, for the edification of Christians. He has introduced it so often, throughout the inspired volume, has spoken about it so many different times, and in divers manners, that those who would contumeliously explode it, have need to take heed lest they unawares blaspheme that Holy Spirit. There is scarce a book in the whole canon in which something relative to it may not be found: in some chapters it is introduced into almost every verse ; and in a single verse what is derisively called * the rays of that glory which proceeds from the majestic ' throne of civil power' may be found associated with the shining of the Divine glory, and the majestic goings of the Redeemer in his sanctuary, four or five times over *. So far is this subject from being foreign to religion, or the autho- rity of rulers derogatory from the prerogative of God, that he has styled them gods, and his prerogative is extolled by his sitting and judging among them. The Son of God in the New Testament appeals to their constitution and dignity, in vindication of his right to his more glorious title, and as illus- trative, in some faint degree, of his Divine and mediatorial dig- nity. '* If he called them gods unto whom the word of God ff came, and the scripture cannot be broken, say ye of him," &£C John x. 35, 3d. His relative pre-eminence to them of every degree, the homage they are bound to pay him and his interests are equally, in the Old and New Testament, brought in for the purpose of proving and magnifying his unrivalled sove- • Psal. kyiii. 17. Set also v«r. a?. 31, 3* ( 541 ) sovereignty; and their dignity, as well as that of principali- ties above, is presented as a medium or mirror by which we may behold it : as the more illustrious the train of attendant servants are, or the higher the tributary kings that are subjected to an imperial monarch, the more glorious is his throne, Psal. lxxxix. 20. and lxxii. 18. When the apos- tle would convey some idea of the height of dignity to which the King of Zion is raised, he presents these subalterns in their order, as in a grand procession before us ; " He hath set " him far above all principality and power, and might and do- " minion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, " but also in that which is to come !" Eph. i. 20, 21. Hence he is exhibited in the grandest scenes of prophetic vision, as clothed in the imperial purple, with the title inscribed on his vesture, in flaming characters, * King of Kings, and Lord " of Lords: — and on his head are many crowns." So far are the inspired teachers from representing the honour to whom honour is due, or inculcating the duties that belong to the powers that are ordained of God, as derogating from the pre- rogatives of Christ, or regard to practical godliness, or the due exhibition of his glories as exclusive of the other, that they are often intimately coupled together, as what ought to be conjoined in the exercises of Christian assemblies. " Fear " God, honour the king*" " I will that prayers and interces- " sion be made for all men ; for kings first," &c. " My son, " fear God and the king, and meddle not with them that are " given to change." But why should we appeal to the scripture on this subject? or why do any of them complain of the want of quotations from it ? For they are the men who have indeed rejected the authority of this tribunal when appealed to; and who, in flat contradiction to what our Lord hath said, affirm, on the matter, that the scripture may be and has been broken in all that it lias said relating to this theme. Carry them to the Old Tes- tament, and they instantly try to invalidate the force of it ; by holding it is no way applicable, — that what was written in these times has no relation to us, and we have nothing to do with it. Carry them to the New, and they will declare that there is nothing to be found there ; because Christ instituted or exercised no power but what was spiritual, and a Christian magistrate did not then exist. Whatever can be mentioned in scriptural histories, precepts, examples, predictions, from the beginning of the world to the coming of Messias, that may be alledged to bear on this point, they hold to be completely abo- lished since that time, because there were some types employ- ed in those days to prefigure things to come, and because there were some peculiarities belonging to the Jewish worship and polity ( 342 ) polity for some hundreds of years, that were of necessity abro- gated ! strange reasoning ! Excepting some of the wilder sec- taries that have sometimes been referred to, none have ever made a more daring attack upon the perpetual authority and use of the Old Testament under the gospel than they have done on this head, in disregard of what is so plainly taught in 1 Cor. x. and in so many places. It will be hard to find any Protestant church, or any writer of judgment, who have gone so far as they have done in curtailing or rejecting reasonings from the Old Testament, to persons, ordinances, and duties, under the New; which, if applied to other matters, would go far to loose the whole moral law and the prophets together, liven from the Jewish theocracy, and the peculiarities of the ceremonial and judicial laws, all sensible reasoners have allow- ed the propriety of adducing analogical arguments to things which may have some general affinity and resemblance ; of which there are not a few instances in the writings of the New Testament ; as when the apostle proves the obligation of pro- xiding suitable maintenance for gospel-ministers, from the law about muzzling the ox when treading out the corn, paying the tithes, and eating of the sacrifices peculiar to the Jewish law. But all arguments of this kind, as well as those from laws, cases, and actions, in which no such pecularities could be pre- tended, they would now completely set aside. Because there were some things peculiar in some of the instances and exam- ples in scripture, they absurdly infer that every thing must have been so, and nothing common or moral: and because a moral power, in some particular times, cases, and places, may have been applied by Divine direction to some ceremonial or temporary institutions, or exercised under extraordinary im- pulse, therefore it must itself be wholly of the same nature, and must have its beginning and termination with them. Yet the General Synod reason in a very different manner upon the subject of political and national covenanting among the Jews, though in this respect parallel. Magistratical power among that people could no more be rendered in itself typical or eccle- siastical, under what is called the theocracy, than the autho- rity of masters or fathers, which equally was to be applied, by virtue of the same complex system of divine laws, in re- ference to ceremonial and mere Jewish institutions. In the Committee's publication we have more false dealing on this head, in respect of fact, argument, and fair quotation ; which, though it cannot be particularly considered, can hardly here be passed over in silence. They mistake when they say, * that the power exercised by Jewish kings was never pled by ■ any of the remonstrating brethren as a pattern for rulers in t other nations under the new dispensation ;' p. 54. There is a very ( 343 ) a very great difference between pleading, that they must be either made a pattern in every thing, or in nothing, though they seem to think there is none : accordingly the amount of their reasoning is, because there were peculiarities and things extraordinary attending the exercise of the power of the former, in which they could not be imitable, therefore no argument at all can be drawn from it for the exercise of any power about Luch matters under the gospel. They also mistake, while they speak of legislating for the church of God, and interfering in any matters relating to her, as of the same import ; and when they make no difference between * introducing the power ' of the civil magistrate into the church, as part of her intrinsic ' constitution,' and employing it externally about the affairs of the church, for her benefit and advancement. They also err in supposing, that all the Jewish rulers, were typical ; that they were immediately appointed by God ; and that those who were types were so, by exercising a legislative power in religi- ous matters, or acting as the rulers over the church. They mis- take, in thinking, that because some of them were immediately called, and all of them were bound to observe political laws divinely settled, they could not be properly civil rulers as to the nature and objects of their administration, or that they were not allowed to exercise any power according to their own wisdom and discretion, similar to what belongs to other tempo- ral rulers. A divine political government, and a human po- litical government, are not necessarily opposite in their nature; and both of them may be distinct from an ecclesiastical. To say, as they have done, that political authority was not merely civil authority under the theocracy is to play with words, p. 74. And they mistake the question, when they shift from the exercise of the authority of Jewish or other rulers about reli- gious matters at large, to the particular mode of applying one branch of it, confining it to that of putting idolaters and seduc- ing teachers to death, p. 72. They err too in assuming as a basis of their reasoning, that all the means that may be law- fully and usefully employed for promoting the interests of the church, must be such only as are directly and positively insti- tuted by Jesus Christ, in the laws for regulating his spiritual kingdom. Must all means be of the same kind, — all of them direct and spiritual? Are s men's bodies spiritual? Are pulpits and presses, building of churches, signing calls on stamped pa- per,paying money, or ploughing glebes, spiritual; deriving their institution and use from the New Testament ? Are they there- fore no means that may be properly employed for piomoting the kingdom of Christ ? The intelligent reader will find all these blunders running through what they have written on this part of the subject, without ( 344 ) without staying to quote particular passages ; more particu- larly from p. 53. to 51. and from p. 70. to 76. As none of the considerations they have adduced from the nature of the Jewish constitution are of any force to set aside reasoning from it, much less from the whole of the Old Testa- ment scriptures, such as writers of all denominations have usually employed ; so they have violated truth when they af- firm that Mr B. has denied the position, ' that Jewish kings ' were a pattern for civil rulers in other nations to imitate ;' and they plainly wrest his words, when they apply the pas- sages they have quoted from hrs Dissertation as giving sanction to that or any of the above untenable doctrines. They have done this even in direct opposition to his declared meaning and assertions in the context, and sometimes in the same paragraph from which they partially quote. He had said, the theocracy, as the name imports, was a government divine, originally ap- pointed, and in many instances administered by the immediate authority and interference of Heaven : that this government in- cluded the secular, civil, or judiciary matters among the Jews, as well as the ecclesiastical ; and in this lay its chief distinction from God's government of other nations and churches. But ' as the whole laws respecting secular or judiciary affairs were ' chiefly designed and continued for the sake of the church as ' then settled ; and as every church, so also the Jewish, carnal * as it has been called, must have a relation to heavenly and * spiritual things,' — therefore he had said, * that the theocracy, ' complexly taken, and in its chief end, might more properly be 4 termed a religious than a secular or a civil government:' be- cause religious things and the church constitution were com- prehended under the term complexly taken, as well as secular, and unto these were the laws and acts that in their own nature, and the objects they more immediately respected, were politi- cal or civil made subservient; religion or the church-state be- ing the special and principal end for such a constitution. He did not hereby mean to exclude a government properly civil, and laws that by way of distinction may be termed political or judicial; so as to confound church and state wholly together, and allow no civil government among that people at all, but one wholly ecclesiastical, or religious, which in their sense are words equivalent, though they are not. A divine government as to its origin, and religious as to its highest end, they suppose must necessarily exclude a civil government, Mr B. had no such views ; but was proving that, under that extraordinary constitution, things secular and spiritual, civil and ecclesiastic, did continue to be, as they are in their own nature, distinct : and from that intimate connection that then was divinely set- tled, ( 345 ) tied between the two, and the entire subserviency to the other, he thought one of the strongest arguments might he drawn for such an application and exercise as has commonly been pled for by Protestants, undeT the distinctions and limitations he had expressed. In quoting the sentence inserted above they have omitted the words marked in italics, though necessary to as- certain the true meaning. Though he had said, in two of the passages which the publisher has inserted, that any ' authority ' assumed by Jewish princes, or an) acts performed by them ' in reference to religion, that arose from the peculiarities of 1 their laws, or from the influence of an extraordinary spirit, ' or that were performed in some extraordinary cases, can never 4 be intended for examples to ordinary rulers in any other na- * tion;' and therefore justified the Scots Covenanters in deny- ing the doctrine of the English book of canons, * that the king ' of Britain had the very same authority in causes ecclesiastical 4 that godly kings had among the Jews,' yet this is very differ- ent from denying, that, in other respects and in so far, they were imitable patterns. Were their authority and all their acts as civil rulers of this kind, wholly peculiar and extraordinary ? Though he had said, * that much caution is necessary in all * reasonings from the Jewish model, either when they are ap- * plied to the affair of political laws, or the constitution and ad- ' ministration in a Christian church, as the peculiarities of that * establishment can never, with propriety, be appealed to except * where there is some analogy.' Yet this evidently admits, in- stead of denying, that even from what was peculiar and tem- porary, analogical arguments might be taken ; much more does it allow the appeal to the exercise of the civil authority so far as it was of the same kind, and parallel to that appointed in other nations. He had at the same time asserted, that * the anoint- * ed kings and judges in Israel, had also a character in common * with other kings and rulers in secular kingdoms, the objects * about which their authority was employed, and the proper ' and immediate ends of their office, as distinguished from the * priests, were secular, not religious:' and that Jewish rulers were not ex officio (or by their office), either prophets, priests, or kings over the church of God. He had concluded that section in which the Jewish polity is considered, with these words im- mediately preceding those in one of the pages quoted, in express contrariety to the doctrine they would draw 7 from them, ' that ' the office and acts of Jewish kings and magistrates, so far as * founded on the principles of natural equity and regulated by * the common law, and directed to the ordinary ends of civil ' government, still furnish an imitable precedent, for all who ' bear rule in a commonwealth : And that the exercise of their < office, in reference to the honour of God, and the maintenance Xx ( »4« ) ' of his worship as then settled, within their line, without en- * croaching on God's supreme prerogative, or the rights of his ' immediate ministers, affords an analogical proof of the right * and duty of Christian rulers to promote not only the general ■ interests of religion, but also to countenance and support, un- ' der similar restrictions, that particular system of religion, that, * by positive institution, has superseded the Jewish ; paying 4 still due attention to the changes that have been introduced, * and the great differences between the two systems.' Dis- sertation on Eccles. Suprem. p. 10, 13. And as this was his doctrine formerly, it continues to be to this day ; and, hfe thinks, in full consistency with what he and his brethren have contended for with the Synod. And all this he may well hold without setting up for a teacher of new doctrine, or affecting to be a leader to any man or party, following only the former track so long and so honourably trodden befote him. But judge, reader, with what justice they tell the world, that Mr B. has denied that Jewish mlers can be any imitable precedent to Chris- tian or those of any other nation * ! Mr * There is another quotation from ■ Free Thoughts on the Toleration of Po- * pery,' relating to the punishment of idolatry as a state crime among Christains as it was among the Jews, which is produced, as militating against the present doc- trine of imitating Old Testament precedents. The Pczuer, 5cc. p. 73. It was there admitted, that the acts made at the early period of the reformation, subjecting po- pish idolacers not only to lesser punishments, but to death, might probably have arisen from the framers of them • not having duly adverted to the difference be- * tween the Jewish polity and the civil government of other nations,' in this respect, and from their thinking that a difference or dissent from the religion established, ■was directly punishable by civi! pains ; and it was added, that upon these principles and ideas the penal statutes against Papists could net fzrhaps be vindicated. But this is not inconsistent with the general doctrine of reasoning from, and imitat- ing precedents under the Mosaic lave. It belongs to another question, how far, or in what particular instance, or on what consideration they are to be followed. No- thing is there said against the lawfulness of restraining or punishing idolaters in any • land with greater or lesser pains ; but it is left undetermined, whether, in its own nature always, and in all the various kinds of it, such as existed in the system of Popery, idolatry or superstition should invariably and directly subject persons to such punishments, more than a simple dissent in religious matters should always do ? Or if these, as religious crimes, should not be clothed with such circumstances, and be attended with such offences and dangers to a community, so as to bring them within the proper province of criminal justice ? It is one thing to hold them to be punishable ; and another to hold that it must be upon the very same considerations, to the same extent, and by virtue of the judicial laws as tucb, necessarily binding all states without the intervention of a legislative judgment defining a new, as oc- casions require, tbe objects, the nature, and degrees of punishment. By maintain- ing the former none are bound to assert also the latter. Some of the points, as leading to nicer disquisitions, the author there did not rec- kon it necessary more positively to decide^ as the vindication of the penal laws against Papists did not require it ; as these could be done upon principles in which Protestants were more generally agreed. For the same reason he declared he had ' avoided to enter into abstract reasonings on the subject of toleration, — and ' proceeded on the doctrine most commonly embraced, and upon principles which 1 those on both sides of the debate admitted without controversy,' p. ajx. He bad ( 347 ) Mr C. following his Synodical guides, has, in the second dis- course at Haddington, made a very open attack upon the perma- nentutilityand obligation of scriptural examples. After descant- ing a while upon what Ezra, Nehemiah, Zerubbabel, &c. did in pulling down idol-altars, and in promoting the worship of the true God, in which he declares none of them stepped one hair's breidth beyond the line of their powers of office, — and imme- diately asks, seemingly in the old style of orthodoxy, so as to make the unwary reader believe that his interrogation is a se- rious affirmation, ' ought not kings in the latter days to employ 1 their powers the same way ?' all at once he veers about, and lets his auditors know, that he wa3 speaking about times ve- ry far off, and of things as foreign to them, or the practical du- ties of rulers, as the story of Bel and the Dragon, And, in the late defence of his sermon, he abuses a brother because he Was so charitable as to put the most favourable construction on his insidious words, and to believe him not quite so far gone in Ana- baptistical heterodoxy, as he boastingly avows himself to be. The paragraph that followed, indeed fairly refuted or defeated any practical application of the two preceding, though express- ed in a crude, inaccurate, sophistical manner ; with a mixture of absurdity about the nature of the Jewish government, and the investiture of their kings, and of evident inconsistency as to what Christian rulers may and will do, ' in throwing in all * their influence and their authority too to promote the interests * of the spiritual kingdom,' although they have no power given X x 2 them had no occasion therefore to embarrass the argument he was managing by intro- ducing the more intricate questions, or to open up his own mind fully upon the subject, because he had enough granted by the greatest advocates for toleration for establishing the conclusions he aimed at ; while they admitted that it should never be absolutely unlimited, and that ' those who professed opinions or practices * that strike either against the safety and interests of society in general, or the law- * ful established government of a particular kingdom,' &c might be excepted from it, and justly subjected to legal incapacities and penalties, whatever pretext of reli- gion or conscience they may use. And under some of these expressions, as under- stood and explained by him, both then and now, he found comprehended all te- nets and practices of a religious kind that the magistrate, in the execution of his of- fice, car properly restrain or punish. The general interests of society, he ever thought demanded the recognition and maintenance of a religious system, and when that becomes part of the lawful established government of a particular kingdom, he •has a right to guard that part of it in the same manner as the rest. He had de- clared, in the very beginning of the book, that religion was the basis of civil go- vernment, and the main pillar on which society stands, and that it ought to be at- tended to as a primary object of legislation ; the public support and defence of which becomes a principal political duty, and must make a fundamental law irt every well regulated state,' p. 4, 5. Similar sentiments, shewing the warrantable- ness and necessity of employing temporal power, and how it may be employed in reference to religion and the church, consistently with the spiritual nature and weapons of the church, and true liberty, are very particularly expressed in other place- (as in p. 237. to a~o.) ; which ought to be taken in along with the passage they have quoted about toleration and liberty of conscience, a? ^plaining his sense of them, the same that he has mere lately maintained. ( 348 ) them for such a purpose? They * will abolish laws in favour of * false religion, and enact laws in favour of the friends of the ' true;' and all this, it seems, without meddling with matters of religion, — and without any power of distinguishing between the false and the true. They will be a terror to turbulent and facti- ous religionists without regard to their consciences or pretensions, but still ' spurn at the idea of propagating the religion of peace ' by carnal weapons ;• as if the controversies he meant to de- termine respected only the means by which religion should be propagated ; or as if the scheme he meant to oppose implied a plea for the Mahomedan mode ofpropagating religion all around by fire and sword. Are these the old or the new tenets, or both together ? Was this to edify or confound? — to sanctify or pro- fane the Lord's day ? SECTION FOURTEENTH. Of the Testimony and Acts of the Presbytery of Pennsylvania— . Mr C's mistakes and false deductions from these exposed- Account of the Synod } s procedure in reference to them — Dis- approbation of these deeds in part , uniformly expressed by some of the Protesting Brethren — Declaration of American minister s f in opposition to some of the Sj nod's new principles. X Expected before this time to have been relieved from the disagreeable task of exposing misrepresentation, and refuting calumny. But the restless efforts and renewed attacks of our opponents, particularly of one who has shown himself such a forward meddler in matters about which he has but very im- perfect knowledge, will not yet permit me to throw down the pen, without taking notice of ene other topic to which he has recourse in another recent publication, and on which he vents a little more of his splenetic invective against the brethren of the Constitutional Associate Presbytery. It respects the conduct of the General Synod with regard to the American Testimony, and the connection that has been maintained with the ministers and congregations beyond the Atlantic. It is introduced partly with a view to exculpate the Synod from the charge of having changed, though it is but a very feeble defence, and partly to fix the accusation of inconsistency, or of a change on the oppo- sers of the New Testimony. Those who stand not on secure pround are obliged to grasp at any twig, or avail themselves of the ( 840 ) the most slender support. This had been talked of before, and was improved by some for similar purposes, which was the reason for cursorily noticing, in a former paragraph, that the testimony referred to had no judicial sanction from the Synod, (p. 118, &.c.) and that the doctrine of it, on the controverted subject, was not ultimately adhered to by the Presbytery of Pennsylvania, at least to the full extent in which it has been adopt- ed by the General Synod, which might serve in so far to ob- viate the misimprovement that might be made of it. But as Mr C. has stated the matter in form before the public since that, and made it the subject of his Second Appendix, in which, as usual, there is some misrepresentation as to facts, as well as un- warranted deductions, it may be proper here to explain the true state of that matter more particularly : especially, as the writer of this had access to be better acquainted with some part of the proceedings than Mr C. can be, who was not then a member of Synod, or than some of his brethren in Presbytery had. After quoting from that Testimony the passage that asserts that the magistrate, as such, has nothing to do with the Chris- tian church, and declares in what sense that Presbytery re- ceive the doctrine of the Westminster Confession on that sub- ject, with the proposition concerning the uncontroulable right which all men have to worship God according to their consciences, in the very same words that the Synod have inserted into their New Testimony, he makes a number of observations, and then forms so many conclusions from them, the sum of which is, — that as these assertions agree with what the Synod have pub- lished ; as the Seceders in America are one body with them, with whom they hold communion, to whom they send mission- aries; and as the doctrine of that testimony has never been con- demned by the Synod, this may be regarded as a proof that, from the time of that publication at least, they were of the same principles, and consequently have not changed. On the same grounds he concludes, that as there was no opposition made to the doctrine or form of that Narrative and Testimony, or to the proceedings of that Presbytery, by the members of the Con- stitutional Presbytery, — but that they have always concurred, so far as he knows, with the Synod in the connection they ha\»p maintained with them, and in the supplies sent to them, and therefore they must have formerly approved what of late only they have condemned *. Of the breach that took place in the Associate Presbytery of Philadelphia, in consequence of a coalescence with some of other denominations there, and of the constitution of a Synod that soon followed, under the name of the Associate Reformed Synod, • Mircnee of Oid Lights &c. ad Appendix. ( 350 ) Synod, some hints have been given above, p. 107. The act of the General Synod in Scotland condemning the union, and sus- taining the Protesters against it as the rightly constituted Pres- bytery, has also been mentioned. Besides the manner in which some doctrinal articles were settled in the terms of union, ob- jection was made to the constitution of the new Synod, on ac- count of leaving some paragraphs in the Confession of Faith unappioven, and subject to after-consideration; — their declining a particular approbation of the Judicial Testimony of the Se- cession, with a view to emit occasional testimonies; their refus- ing adherence to the covenants of Britain, so far as they were na- tional, or had a respect to the political state of the three king- doms ; and their denying subordination to the Associate Synod in Scotland, and refusing any appeals to them. The Synod having agreed to support the Protesters there, sent over son-.e other missionaries with that view ; among the first of whom •was Mr Thomas Beveridge, who, as narrated above, had at ordination objected to the doctrine on the magistrate's power circa sacra. He had no sooner arrived in America than the Presbytery there resolved upon the compiling of a new testi- mony, more adapted to the state of things there, in which work he was chiefly employed, which was reviewed and hastily ap- proved in Presbytery, even before he was settled in Cambridge, and without waiting until it had been communicated to the Sy- nod to which they were subordinated. It was declared their judicial testimony, without the knowledge or any expression of approbation sought or given by the General Synod. The com- piler of it had inserted some of his own peculiar sentiments in the passages quoted by Mr C. and in some others, in which there was, in so far, an agreement with the new doctrine since adopted by the General Synod : though he might have fore- seen that it would be the occasion of offence to some in Synod, as one of the most aged and judicious ministers in it had refused to concur in the imposition of hands, on account of his views ex- pressed in Presbytery previous to his ordination. The conduct of that brother, and of the Presbytery of P. who employed him and sanctioned the deed, was, even independent of the truth or error of the sentiments, doubtless rash, imprudent, and irregu- lar. In him, who had craved and was allowed the unusual and unconstitutional indulgence on those points, it was peculiarly so ; as hereby he attempted, within a twelvemonth after, to in- sert his own views and exceptions as articles in a public testi- mony, to be assented to by all others who should afterwards be associated with them in that part of the world. It was so also in the Presbytery, as they hereby gave countenance to the As- sociate Reformed Synod tj.cy opposed, in the objections they had raised against the Secession Testimony used in Scotland, as ( 351 ) as unsuitable to America, and in the resolution they had form- ed to lay it aside as a bond of union ; as also, on the matter, jus- tified them for leaving out some of these paragraphs of the Confession of Faith, in the articles of their new constitution, which they had protested against ; also, as they hereby were departing from some part of their own engagements at ordina- tion, changing some articles, and the whole frame of their testi- mony, without consulting the supreme judicatory to which they were subordinate upon these matters of common and general interest, imposing, at their own hand, separate terms of com- munion, and, instead of maintaining inviolate the former bond of union, raising up a partition-wall between their Presbytery and the Associate Body in Scotland, not about local matters, but points of doctrine and public profession. And thus, in fact, they had justified another of the articles of the coalesced party against which they had protested, and which indeed was the more immediate ground of their separation, their declaring against subordination and appeals to a Synod in Scotland. The enacting of the American Testimony in the manner, and for the purpose for which it was done, was a virtual declinature of that Synod, and act of independent jurisdiction ; though in a prepos- terous manner, after they had finished and authorised the deed, the Presbytery applied for a sort of Synodical sanction to it. Along with this request, a number of copies were transmitted to several members of Synod ; although it is probable only the smaller part of them had seen or perused it, before it became the subject of some conversation one evening in Synod. Though some perhaps would have wished that the approbation declared had been formally given, yet none insisted upon it : Mr Gib, who had particular regard to the compiler, who had been for a time his assistant, and who was ever friendly to their cause, was so far from this, that he expressed his wonder how they could desire or expect a judicial sanction to it. Had this been urged, those who were not satisfied with their mode of proce- dure, or some tilings contained in it, would have reckoned themselves obliged to have explained themselves more particu- larly upon the subject, and to have stated reasons of opposi- tion. But as it was agreed on both sides not to enter upon any judicial consideration of that Narrative and Testimony, nor so much as to read jmy part of it, they supposed that necessity was superseded. Any judgment that was proposed then to be given about it, or that has since been given in Scotland, was a mere private, and nq Synodical judgment *. The Synod, as such, * The Synod did net decline a judicial consideration of it for the reason assigned by Mr C. as thinking themselves incompetent judges of what might be a proper testimony for America, but from a conviction that it would have been, on various accounts, kighly improper and inexpedient as matters then stood } especially as that Presbytery ( S52 ) such, could not possibly judge of a work of which they had not heard a syllable. Only for the encouragement of their American brethren, in their peculiar and trying circumstances, it was reckoned expedient to recommend to a member, or members, to return an answer to their letter, permitting them even to express, in name of such particular members as had pre- viously read it, some general and limited approbation of the performance, as to its tenor and principal contents. The writer of this was present, but does not remember if any other mem- ber of the Constitutional Presbytery was : for his part, he readi- ly concurred in this, without being required or intending to ap- prove wholly either of their procedure or sentiments. He could have expressed a similar approbation of the Synod's New Tes- timony, in the main heads and body of it, and actually did so in a motion that was rejected in 1800, with the reserve and exceptions therein stated — See Allan's Power of the Mag. p. 3 5. So far was he or his brethren from pushing this contro- versy into Synodical discussion, or from breaking the peace upon any speculative questions on the subject, or from depriv- ing others of their private judgment, or wishing to raise pro- secutions in courts against them even for publishing sentiments different from their own; while their own, the standards they had sjibscribed, and their freedom to testify, were suffered to *eThain entire. In what terms Mr G. in his recommendatory letter, or preface, had expressed himself he knows not, as he has only seen the American edition ; nor did he reckon himself con- cerned to know, as it was of no more authority for determining what secession principles were, than the private letter or writ- ings of any other man. And any particular expressions or doc- trines in the American Testimony itself he considers as having no more authority, in fact or of right, for such a purpose in Scotland, than a publication of so many private men, which may be allowed to circulate, without being examined or judi- cially condemned. Thus one of the principal conclusions Mr C and others would draw from the premises falls to the ground, namely, that this is a test of what the principles of the Associate Synod were at that time, and that they were the same they are now on the controverted Presbytery had anticipated, and on the matter precluded, such a judgment. What should have rendered them incapable for judging of either doctrinal articles or an appropriate testimony for America, upon such credible information as to the state of it as could, without rruch difficulty, Lave btt-.n obtained; more than for England or Ireland, or even Scotland its. . in r fererce to past times, in which they could only proceed upon historical testimony ? 1 his supposes that a church must confine her testimony to present times and occurrence* in th: particular, places where she is si- tcted, or where rhe sup< rior judc itory may meet. This too is.to forget the new doctrine abou. mstoricaJ or local acts: it net only implies that these furnish oc- casions raid proper matter for a relig.ous testimony, but that they are even essen- tial to it and inseparable from it. ( 353 ) controverted subjects. The only pretence for making good the consequence is, that they are one body; — that the Synod continued to hold communion with them, and to send mission- aries, ciut though it could be shown that the passages quoted, or others that might be quoted from that publication, included all the matters in dispute between the Synod and the remonstrants, though they had carried their exceptions and alterations to the same extent, and had affixed the same meaning to the expressions they haveused,thatthe Synod have done, whichappears evidently not to have been the case; — yet this would be no sufficient proof that the latter had adopted all their principles, or approved of all their conduct, especially if there were things in their acts, and in the books which they still retained inconsistent with them : Communion may be maintained, in certain cases, with indivi- duals or bodies, notwithstanding of some disagreement in senti- ments, or in engagements. Even suppose the points of differ- ence to be of such a nature and notoriety as to demand investi- gation and warrant condemnation, it would not follow, that the tolerating body were of the same principles, but only that they were chargeable with a sinful toleration, or a neglect of discip- line. Whether the Synod in Scotland acted a faithful and consistent part, in reference to this testimony and other subse- quent proceedings in America, particularly in allowing it to be imposed upon missionaries or other emigrants from Scotland, as a term of communion, when there is another question; nor have the Protesters any peculiar interest in their exculpation or con- demnation. The writer of this can declare for himself, that as he was dissatisfied with some steps taken by the brethren in America from the beginning of their attempted ch?nges, so he soon saw reason to disapprove of some part of the Synod's pro- cedure about these affairs, which he freely submitted to them at that time, and which he included in the general clause of the late larger remonstrance, respecting former instances of culpable managements not specified.' For some time after the Independence and political constitu* tion of the American states were settled, which admitted of the greatest latitude in matters of religion ; being formed in that respect nearly on the principle of the Synod's new scheme, though in some respect short of what these would natively lead to*, as all the old sects, and as many new ones as choosed, were welcomed to harbour there, so almost all the ecclesiasti- Yy cal * The general union allowed a diversity in the laws of the several states on the head of religion. By the constitution of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, agreed on in 1790, it is declared to be among the general and essential principle* of a free government, ' That all men have a natural and indefeasible right to « worship Almighty God according to tne dictates of their own consciences ; hat ' no man can be of right compelled to attend, erect, or support any place of worship, ( 354 ) cal bodies former y settled there, seem to have been seized with- a similar spirit of innovation and insubordination in religious affairs as prevailed in political and civil. Nothing was more common than proposals for new constitutions, or new models of churches. The Episcopalians altered their liturgy, their form of government, and foreign connections. The Methodists got a new book for the use of their meetings. The General As- sembly of the Presbyterians began to affect the title of the General Council of North America, made some changes in their terms of communion and worship ; composed a new book of the Form of Church Government and Discipline, in which they left out, or explained away, some parts of the Westminster Confession, particularly what related to the ma- gistrate's power about religion ; agreed, to lay aside the public use of the Larger Catechi3m ; — and attempted a comprehension of the different Masses of Presbyjeri-ans and New England In- dependents, winch, with the greater part of them, was at least nominally effected. Of the scheme for uniting the three de- nominations of Seceders from Scotland settled there, and of the result of it in the constitution of the Associate Reformed Sy- nod, the articles of which received some amendments in 1790*, we have heard. As the separation of the American States from their Mother-country began with a non-importation act of British goods, which terminated in a declaration against a foreign legislature, so, in order to accommodate themselves to the political spirit and prejudices of the Americans, these parties broke their former ecclesiastical connections at home, by de- claring against the importation of all foreign local controver- sies, British testimonies and formulas, and of course against all foreign church jurisdiction. The members of the Presbytery of Pennsylvania recognised by the General Synod in Scotland, who had protested against these articles, yet did not continue long prcof against the general nifiusn^a. Scarcelv was their new testimony transmitted, than it was followed with a new acknowledgement and bond for covenant- ing \ — their act against subordination, or appeals to a Synod in Scotland, of which the purport was given, p. 22 ; and a new formula of questions for ministers and elders, the avchitype of that lately adopted by the Synod, in which they required an absent to the Westminster Confession, as received in their tes- timony ; 1 or to maintain auy ministry again* his consent; — that no human authority can * in any case whatever, control or interfere with the rights of conscience; — that 4 i:0 preference shall ever be given by law to any religious establishments or mode* 1 of worship.' ■ That no person who acknowledges the being of a God, and a future state of * rewards and punishments, shall on account of his religious sentiments be disquali- * £ed to hold any office, tr place oi oust, or profit, under this commoLwe... Art ix. sect. 2, 4. ( Ml ) timony; to the whole of that testimony itself; — to the cove- nants entered into by the church of Scotland, as explained by that Presbytery ; — to the form of church-government as tes- tified for by them ;— -promising subjection by ciders to their session only ; and to follow no divisive course from that church, &:c. The questions about the principles relating to civil government, — burgess controversy, 6cc. were thrown out. This formula xvas agreed upon at Pequea in April 1785 ; and their act about subordination in June LlSo'. \ design was also formed of compiling a new book, of discipline, detached from all connection with national churches : but whether any progress was made in it, I never heard. Here certainly was a scheme of very extensive and rapid change, in some things near a-kin to that made by the General Synod ; so that if all this had been brought into discussion be- fore the Synod, without any disapprobation expressed by the JSynod, or any of the Protesters that were present, it might be admitted, that the former could not altogether be cleared from unfaithfulness, nor the latter of some degree of inconsistency. But as some of these measures were never formally judged by the Synod, so others were blamed by it ; and the condemnation of them by some of the Protesters was of still greater extent. Mr C says, so far as he knows, the Protesters concurred with the Synod in all that was done respecting American af- fairs; and therefore they must have since changed their prin- ciples, and not the Synod. It was well that he left some re- serve for his credit under the covert of ignorance. But be- cause he may be unacquainted with the real state of facts, will this justify him in supposing them to be as he pleases, for the purpose of circulating mare calumny against the brethren ; for this is his chief design in introducing this matter, and indeed of all he has written on the subject. But had it been as he supposes, some concurrence with that Presbytery, or with the measures of Synod in promoting the general interests of religion in that part of the world, would not prove an entire agreement .with them -either on the part of the Synod or on theirs ; and as this ceuld be uo evidence that the Synod have not changed, as already observed, neither could it prove that they have done it. Though they might be convinced that the Presbytery there had fallen into mistakes, yet there were peculiar considerations in their case, that called for the utmost caution and lenity in the measures for correcting- or opposing them. There were excuses which they could piead, in behalf of some of the changes they had made in the state of their public profession, which could not be urged in behalf of the Synod ; — such as, their remote and different situation, — their total disconnection with Britain in a political view, the popular prejudices, and the y y 2 change ( 35« ) change of the laws of the country, which threatened the loss of church-property, on account of connection with a foreign ju- dicatory; which loss they actually sustained in the event, both in Philadelphia and New Cambridge. They were, therefore, disposed, as well as the Synod, to make all proper allowances, and to concur with them in support of the common interests, as far as conscience and fidelity to the public cause could pos- sibly permit. Yet, under the full force of these impressions, and of personal friendship and regard for all the American brethren, some testimony was given against these innovations, both extrajudicially and judicially, along with any concurrence shown, instead of an entire approbation or acquiescence. The writer of this, can only at present declare what was his own conduct in these delicate circumstances, wherein he felt the beginning of a conflict similar to that which he afterwards endured ; being reduced to the alternative of giving offence, or of suffering the reproach of his own mind. For the truth of this he need not desire the reader to take his bare assertion, which is all that his accusers usually have to produce, nor has he merely to trust to his own memory as to these past trans- actions ;— but he can appeal also on this head to written docu- ments in possession of the Synod, and other papers in his own hand providentially preserved, sufficient for authenticating a]l needful for his vindication. Soon after the war, when intercourse between Britain and America was opened, the papers and appeal from the protest- ing part of the Presbytery of Pennsylvania, and also a printed copy of the constitution of the Associate Reformed Synod, with an address accompanying it, were laid before the Synod at Edinburgh. A copy of the letter, and a similar address were also sent to the Burgher Synod and the Reformed Presbytery. The act sustaining the protest and condemning the new con- stitution, has been already occasionally mentioned : a similar condemi atory act and warning against the articles of union were also published by the Reformed Presbytery. Tie Synod thought it proper to appoint a Committee about the same time, for drawing up an address to be sent over for encourag- ing the ministers and people still adhering to the Synod, with animadversions upon what appeared culpable in the articles 2nd conduct of the new Synod, for warning to the people. Mr Buist and Mr B. were the Committee. As the latter had readily concurred in the Synodical act, so he was equally will- ing to have taken his share in carrying into execution the lat- ter design, while things continued in that Presbytery on their former footing: he had actually engaged in it, in conjunction with his colleague, and heads of the address were proposed : but before progress was made in it, the New Testimony made its ( 357 ) its appearance, the forerunner of farther changes that soon fol- lowed. He perceived that both in their words and deeds, the Presbytery were relinquishing their first ground, and had con- ceded some considerable points of difference to their opponents, and which were in view to be condemned. He demurred about farther procedure ; and when their new formula and act about subordination transpired, he thought not only the necessity of such an address from Scotland to have been superseded, but the great design of it to be weakened or defeated. He desisted for his part ; Mr Buist however prepared an address of a general tenor, and of an useful tendency, which was read in Synod ; — which as a private paper was allowed, or recommended to be sent; whether it was or not, Mr B. does not know. In the Synod of IT 86, when some were proposed to be sent on a mission to the States, he reckoned himself obliged to be a little more explicit. Some had been dealt with in presence of the Synod, but without bringing them to a compliance; af- ter that was over, he thought it needful to call the attention of the Synod to the new state of things there. The altered for- mula had now been appointed ; and though it was not submitted to judicial consideration, Mr B. and some others had received copies of it. He therefore expressed his mind, that the Synod should not subject any, by their appointments, to a necessity of assenting to any other testimony, or form of profession, than that which had been authorized by the Synod ; and declared that he could not concur in any future missions, except they were left at full liberty to adhere to the former testimony, and the engagements come under at licence, according to the formula used in Scotland ; and unless they were supposed to be in the same state of communion with, and subordination to the Symod as formerly had subsisted : For his part, as he could not him- self subscribe to all the articles and questions in the altered formula, he could not think it consistent to oblige or urge any others to do so. This freedom, as it was painful to himself, so to others it would appear imprudent, as this was in the close of that meeting in which he had been intrusted with the charge of the students. To some it seemed surprising, who had not received full information, and to some it was displeasing; and from what followed, it appeared that some present, who cor- responded with America, had misrepresented what was said, as declaring absolutely against any future mission for assisting the Presbytery ; and from the next letter he received from that quarter, it appeared that the opposition had been made to rest solely upon the different sentiments upon the head of the ma- gistrate's power. That letter was from his much esteemed friend and familiar acquaintance, Mr Beveridge, dated New York, June 5th, IT 8 7, consisting of twelve folio pages, the greater ( 358 ) greater part of which is employed in assigning the reasons for the sentiments he had adopted on that head, and expressed in their testimony, which he states in a clear, sensible, and candid manner, though with some degree of irritation; exhibiting a specimen of closer reasoning, and a more specious defence of some part of the Synod's new scheme than has yet appeared in any of the writings of the Synodical advocates in Scotland, — though only what had been advanced in another form by in- numerable writers upon that subject. A transcript of the first page ixrhatim, containing the pre- amble, will be sufficient to shew whether Mr C. knew any thing of the matter, when he gives it out ' that all the pro- *■ testing brethren had concurred in all steps relating to Ameri- f can affairs*' 1 R. and D. Sir, * Presuming upon your good nature, and thinking the occasion of my * writing you at this time sufficient to justify me in so doing, I shall * not make a long apology. I heard from several friends, that, at the « meeting of Synod in August last year, you had expressed your dis- * approbation of the proceedings of this Presbytery, so far as to refuse * concurrence in the appointment of any to come to its assistance. I am * not going to reason the matter with you at this time, nor would I have 4 you to think me angry. I am satisfied you condemned us from no * other motive than this, — that you thought us wrong. ' I am not so vain as to imagine that any thing I can say will have * much, if any influence on your conduct. The matter was weighty; ' and you had doubtless considered it deliberately before you appeared in * Synod against us, and that in a matter so deeply interesting to us, and * to the poor people under our inspection. I know it is not usual * with you to say or do any thing rashly: yet, as you bear with breth- * ren ot our sentiments at home, I think you might have gone farther * in forbearance toward us here, especially as none of our proceedings * were at that time before the Synod to be considered, only a question * stated, whether ministers were to be sent to our assistance, yea, or * not. I grant that if you thought that we were go entirely departed * from a right profession of the faith, — that we were to be considered * as standing in no more relation to the Synod than the Relief part}', « or any one else of the many denominations of Christians now on the * field, you was quite right. But I can hardly persuade myself as yet « that your censure would be so very severe. A testimony against the * evils and backslidings in this country is a matter that may certainly be * of great advantage to this generation, and to those yet to come ; I ' know you would wish to see it maintained. You will, 1 believe, grant * the banner has been severely struck by our .brethren of the Associate ' Reformed Synod. I know your sentiments too well to suppose you * inclined to that party: and I believe you are too wise to think that 4 we will be corrected into a change of sentiments by your refusing us * any aid; or to suppose that another church might be set up in oppo- ' sition to us, on what you might judge a more scriptural footing. I * can tell you honestly, that as to the matters in debate the people con- * fleeted with us generally think as we. The chief exception that I < know ( 359 ) « know is some people who belonged to Dr Clark's congregation m * New- Perth, &c.' After he had explained himself on the controverted subject, he added, owing ro the inaccurate account he had received, ' You will see that we have something to say for ourselves, which, * however inconclusive you may think it, you must in candour allow to * have an appearance of reason; therefore 1 think you might, in time coin- * ing, treat us as brethren, not so very faulty as to deserve all at once 4 to be cut off from communion with you, as became so open and unequivocal, as no longer to admit ofa * doubt, nay, not till the plan was oircctly avowed, and cairied to its * last stage of- completion, not til* every characteristic mark ofa sepa- * rate independant society or constitution, as I tnought, b^cmie visible, 4 that I could allow myself to express any kind of dissatisfaction in a ' public manner. < To contend with open adversaries i.> by far a less delicate and pain- * ful task, than to differ with beloved friends. I felt it on that occa- * sion as much as evt.r in any thing in my whole life. 1 can say, that * the first time that I perused some of the papers I allude to, 1 could * scarcely close mine eyes to ileep that Bight : especially on account of * the long train of consequences which, in my view, they involved. I * foresaw, that if any could have no freedom to approve, they could not * do justice to their own sentiments without hazarding the appearance f and imputation — of being unfriendly to the spreading of the gospel in * America, — of throwing stumbling-b'ocks in the way of young men wha> * might be proposed to go over, and furnishing new pretexts for unwil- * lingness to those already too reluctant — of want of tenderness and * sympathy with brethren, already pressed above measure — of wounding * tho*e whose heaii.ig we wished, and weakening those whom we most * wished to strengthen. You may easily conceive, Sir, whether any * could be in such a situation without a painful struggle ; — though none ' could justly be subjected to such charges merely tor the opinion they * might form of some part of the Presbytery's procedure; and while the * alterations. Of innovations, were wholly on their part, any disagreeable * consequences that nvght naturally arise from them could only be im- * putable to themselves who had caused such embarrassments. — Though ' I could not for a moment question the sincerity and uprightness of * their views, yet the establishment of a new formula, and the act re- * lating to subordination, never appeared to me in any other light than ' as a partition-wall, tending to divide into two boaies those who be- * fore were one ; and as acts restraining and tying up the hands of their 6 brethren here, from doing what otherwise they might, and were in- * clined to have done. They seemed also to be a conceding, practi- * cally at least and in part, some points in debate between the Associate * Reformed vSynod, and the Presbytt-ry. Whether my opinion was * well or ill founded, it was formed entirely uion public grounds. * The union between the several parts of the body of Christ, ought * surely to be as entire and complete as possible, and a further degree ' of it ought rather to be endeavoured by those who wish well to the ' general interest of religion, instead of wishing, or attempting, to dis- 6 solve any bonds which have already been subsisting. Perhaps there Or we may ap- ply to it one character of the beast that was ' like a lamb, ' but spake as a dragon, and caused all to receive a mark ;' it assumed the aspect of gentleness and inoffensive mildness, fear- ing nothing so much as force, and bleating for mere indul- gence to itself, and promising nothing but universal peace and liberty : but behold ! how soon it changed its tone, and how now it speaks and threats, stings and devours like a dragon. Under the fascination of error, men will impose and admit the most palpable absurdities. The time was, when by the highest ( m ) highest authority all were obliged to believe, that bread was not bread, but real flesh and blood, whatever their senses said to the contrary ; and if any were so refractory as to refuse assent to the impossibility, they were to be treated as obsti- nate heretics, and fall under the heaviest curses written in the priests' books. We need wonder less that such things should have happened in the darkest ages, when we see, under pre- tence of illumination, ministers and Christians subjected to all ecclesiastical pains, merely because they cannot declare, that things evidently different are the same ; that the whole is not greater than a part ; and that both sides of a contradictory proposition are true. Something like the doctrine of Lord Peter, in the Tale of a Tub, with the imperious airs and thun- dering proofs with which it was confirmed, seems agam to be palmed upon the Protestant world *. Churchmen may call their violent procedure necessary and wholesome discipline, by which the authority and purity of a church are maintained. This may be justly said of that discipline which is the Lord's, — by which errors are checked, iniquity as ashamed made to stop its mouth, and which proves only a terror to the evil. But the reverse is true of discipline perverted, when the more of vigour and blind zeal the more is the mischief; and the more striking the symptoms of a church in a degenerate state. The Lord praised that church which " could not endure that which was evil :" but will they call that discipline holy and acceptable to him, that is exert- ed without cause, that supports innovation and human de- crees, that checks faithfulness, — plucks up the wheat instead of tares, — and that cannot suffer those that are good, in order to procure and secure toleration to those that are evil ? This is to quench any light or heat that may yet remain in a church, that may be ready to die. In proportion as errors and cor- * He presented his brothers with some slices from a loaf, and would persuade theni that it was a piece of good mutton, and bade them fall on and eat ; and afterwards gave them a dry crust from the same, for a glass of claret, assuring them that it was the true natural juice from the grape. When the brothers be- gan to object, the one saying, thar to his eyes, and fingers, and teeth, and nose, it seemed to be nothing but a cru^t of bread ; and the other, * I never saw a piece * of mutton in my life so nearly resembling a slice from a twelvepenny loaf:'— they were silenced by the following reply, (too just a picture, though under the air of profane wit, of the manner in which the church of Rome sanctioned all her impositions and censures, by abusing the most sacred name) : * Look ye, gentle- ' men, cries Peter in a rage, to convince you what a couple of blind, positive, ig- * norant, wilful puppies you are, I will use but this plain argument : By G — , * it is true, good, natural mutton as any in JLeadenhall market ; and G — con- * found you both eternally, if you offer to believe otherways.' The two brothers, in such delicate conjunctures, after staring a sufficient period at Lord Peter, and each other, and finding how matter- were ike to go, resolved not to enter on a new dispute, but let him carry the point as he pleased : for he was now got into one of his mad fits; and to argue or expostulate farther, would only serve to render him a hundred times more untraceable, 3 B ruptions ( "» ) ruptions have advanced in churches, this sort of discipline has grown in vigour, and been exercised without mercy. When the Romish synagogue had dispensations and indulgences to give or sell at pleasure for all manner of crimes, she breathed nothing but rigour, fury and fire against such as attacked her abuses, and the authority of the church and clergy. When prelacy was in high power, endless citations and sentences of deprivation, fines, mutilation, excommunications, and ex- termination against the godly were issued forth, all under the name of necessary and wholesome discipline. In a church ap- proaching to the last stage of degeneracy, tyranny usually crowns all the other parts of defection. Jerusalem did not fill up the measure of her iniquity until she killed her pro- phets, and stoned them that were sent unto her. We agree with the Letter-writer (Letter 4.) when he says, that religious societies long at rest are like waters that stag- nate and contract a great deal of scum and filth ; and that they need a wind by which they may be agitated and purified — The Secession church was evidently in such a stare. But let him and his associates take heed, how they apply the general truth ; and how they please themselves with the thought, that the late agitation is operating that effect upon their body, and that, by the separation they have caused, they " are getting u quit of many dead weights which were hanging upon them.'* Let them beware lest they have been letting out the pure wa- ter of salutary truth, while their scum remaineth : lest a great proportion of those, whom they have driven from their, com- munion by the violent agitation, be not (though with a mix- ture of some of another character, as in the company that went out to David in the hold) of the serious, the peaceable, the intelligent, the faithful and conscientious in the land. Let them fear, lest the wind sent among them be not like that u from the wilderness, neither to fan nor to cleanse :" lest the agitation he speaks of be not like that of the waters in the pot set on the fire to boil, in the parable in Ezekiel ; when the Lord said, u Wo to the bloody city, to the pot whose scum is < c therein, and whose scum is not gone out of it." Ezekiel xxiv. 3—6. Many of the evils that have infected established churches, have, through a track of time, seized the body of Seceders — They have left their first love and fidelity : they have sunk into great security, content with " a name to live, while dead." The mass now assume and bear the character of witnesses, not from knowledge, principle, or conscience, but by birthright, natural or civil connections, neighbourhood, convenience, or custom. A number of young people have sprung up in it, many of whom are ignorant of the very first principles of the oracles ( 379 ) oracles of God, carnal, vain,- and evidently alienated from the life and power of godliness ; careless, unstable, indifferent about a public cause, and all religious contending for it ;-— while others are heady, high-minded, and speculative. We would rejoice to hear that the present commotion had produced a remarkable alteration among them to the better j that a concern for the public interests of religion was become more general; that a spirit of sincere and impartial inquiry, at- tended with increasing acquaintance with the principles of the Reformation and of the Secession, was prevailing ; that they were afraid of turning aside, and humbly asking counsel of the Lord ; and disposed to use means conducive to their in* formation. But we know it to be far otherwise. The pre- vailing party in Synod, by forcing in these controversies, have indeed for years excited a disputatious and sceptical humour into the courts, which has at last been spread among the peo- ple. But not one of a hundred can be found _who has examined these subjects, or can talk or reason in a rational, and Chris- tian manner upon them. Many have learned to prate, with sufficient confidence, about matters they do not understand ; to act the part of busy-bodies, tale-bearers, and backbiters : in- stead of calm argument, they vent the effusions of anger, bi- gotry, or spite. Some take occasion from them to throw themselves loose from their religious profession, and make them an excuse for disconnecting themselves from any parti- cular body of Christians. Many have never read nor care for either old or new testimonies, to whom any changes will be welcome ; and what if some public teachers are among the number ? Some affect to treat all these subjects with levity, and not a few keen partizans of the innovations are in danger of being found in the class of the scorners and profane. Others again are become dumb, not knowing what to think or say, for the Lord hath put them to silence. Not a few wish to drink of the waters of Lethe, that they may fall into a state of forgetfulness of what their reforming fathers thought or did,— of what the Associate Judicatories formerly or more lately have done, or of the import of their own engagements, that they may sleep on and take their rest. Many have secret ap- prehensions that the Synod, and thecongregations adhering to it, are wrong ;* yet, from various causes, are hindered from an open declaration of their sentiments, or taking a decided part. Some would content themselves with lamenting, in se- cret, the state of matters, or occasionally expressing their con- victions in private, thinking this may suffice for their testi- mony. But while the body at large have enacted, and conti- nue to act as they have done, they are like persons sighing to the winds that carry the sounds away, never more to be heard 3 B 2 of: ( 380 ) of: or like one lying and dropping his solitary tears into a large flowing river, where they are instantly lost, and for ever disappear. The critical time has come, in which, if they and others sit still a little longer, instead of being of service to rhe public cause, or obtaining redress, there will be but one law for them all ; and the new state of things, as all errors and changes in a little time become so, will become famiiiar, and be permanently established, so that it will soon be forgot- ten that they ever had other principles or another constitution. The above will be found to be too just a picture of the Se- cession body under their late agitation and supposed purifica- tion. From the conduct both of ministers and fhe people at large, in reference to the late proceedings, there is even reason to say, that they are in some respects in a worse state, and have sunk into a greater lethargy than the national church was in when the Secessic/r from it was made. The opposition that was managed to the sinful acts of the General Assembly, and the appearances of a public spirit and zeal in behalf of Pres- byterian principles and laws, exceeded what have been seen in the Secession'when there was equal cause for alarm. Repre- sentations and testimonies were sent up from all corners of the land against the patronage acts. Against the censures inflic- ted upon some for testifying against the Assembly's proce- dure, votes were given and dissents entered by many ministers fn the Commission : petitions from sessions, town-councils, presbyteries, were sent up against procedure to deposition : and a few months after that was enacted, by a moderator's casting- vote, the General Assembly of their own accord repealed it. But where are the remonstrances and testimonies of the Seced- ing congregations and sessions against the deeds attacking the Standards, the covenants, and Presbvterian principles? Where the protests or dissents entered on record against the late aw- ful profanation of discipline, without even the formality of process ? Not one minister or elder present had the courage or the honesty to enter one. Mr C in a later publication, complains, that ' it has been * part of the artillery which has been played off in this singu- * lar warfare, to represent the whole Associate Body as if it * were seized with an epileptic disorder, and were convulsed * all over.' But he says, * This is far from being true. I ' could mention whole presbyteries where hardly an individual * of their way of thinking is known to reside *.' But by whom such a representation has been given, he does not say. Certainly it was not by die Remonstrants in the paper given in to the Synod ; for whatever cause had been given for such * Consolation, p. 50. a con- ( 3S1 ) a convulsion, they considered the body at large as lying in a state of great ignorance, or great apathy and indifference about the matters of contending, and their own public profession: — So far were they from entertaining any sanguine hopes of countenance, either from ministers, students, or the mass of the people that now compose seceding congregations, that they always expressed their views as very different ; even so far as to say in their last protest, ' that they had no prospect of be- ' ing able to maintain a successful opposition to the torrent that * was carrying along the body.' They neither courted nor de- pended upon popular favour, either in their own congregations or any where else, when they were constrained to discharge a painful public duty. Their first duty was to act for them- selves, and exoner their own consciences, thougli they might have little prospect of delivering either son or daughter be- sides. And were it true, * that these brethren had met with * little countenance hitherto, except from members of their * own congregations,' and though they had even met with none from them, this would not have made their conduct one whit less warrantable, needful, or honourable, if the cause was good, but the contrary. That others should decline to do their duty will never be charged either as the guilt or reproach of those who do. Caleb and Joshua were not blamed because they could not prevail upon the congregation to prosecute their journey, in opposition to the conspiring influence of the majo- rity of the spies. Lot could not be condemned because he Could carry so few of his fellow-citizens and relations along with him when he went out of Sodom. It is no unfavourable sign, that the first and chief countenance these brethren have met with, has been from those of their own congregations, who may be supposed to have considered the subject more se- riously, and who had best access to know their real sentiments and doctrine. But though it may be both the sin and judg- ment of that body that they have remained so tranquil, yet that a considerable ferment has arisen, and greater dissatisfac- tion, open or concealed, with the Synod's new scheme than this writer knows, or may be willing to own, prevails throughout the different corners of the land, and that it has rather increas- ed than diminished, notwithstanding of the arts used to keep the people quiet, chiefly by telling them that they have still the old principles, cannot be doubted. The Constitutional Pres- bytery are as far from boasting of numbers, as they ou^ht to be from trusting in them, though they were appearing an hun- dred for one upon their side : yet, as an evidence that the common cause is not altogether unbefriended, half a score of petitions, or accessions, from people in different places, were brought forward, under peculiar discouragements, to the first meeting ( 382 ) meeting that was announced ; and at every meeting since that time, some new applications of the same kind have been made to them, notwithstanding of the difficulties that were known to be in the way of giving the supplies of sermon requested, through the awful defection of the body of preachers and students. — They have also been encouraged by the accession of some other ministers, even more than appeared to take part with the bre- thren who formed the first Associate Presbytery for some years after their Secession. Mr Currie too upbraided them, after they had begun to supply petitioning congregations, in the same strain as our modern Currie does: — * It is like,' said he, * that * oppressed heritage, which they speak so much of, will be * long ere it be relieved, when, in the space of six years, they * have not ordained except one person for all the corners of * Scotland *.' Mr Wilson, while he owns they had only or- dained one (Mr J. Hunter), and he too was soon called away from his work, adds, if in that space of time they had only ordained one, it was an evidence that they had not been sudden or forward in the steps that they had taken ; and ' if in the * same space they had ordained one, it was more than Mr Currie, * or any of his brethren had done, or could do, for the relief of * the Lord's heritage, while they continued in conjunction with * the judicatories f.' And in his Letter to a Minister in the Presbytery of Dunfermline in 1738, he says, ' If your seced- * ing brethren cannot do more, or if the Lord's work in their * hands be despised on account of the paucity of their number, * on whom shall the blame be laid? Even upon you, and o- * thers of your brethren, that will not put to their shoulders to * bear a part of the burden with them. May not the follow- * ing words be justly applied unto the present case, " Why * abodest thou among the sheepfolds, to hear the bleatings of J the flocks," &c. Judges v. 16. But this accuser of the brethren, not content with telling what is, with a view to frighten people from doing their duty, can hardly refrain from foretelling what will be ; as others also in their speeches have ventured to do. Their cause, they think, must die with themselves, if not before them ; as in a former instance, when a declinature was given in to the Synod, and a secession stated from it, on the ground of the difference, as to the mode of dispensing the sacrament. ' A presbytery * was constituted ; congregations formed ; but where are they * now ?' — So reasoned the sage Gamaliel in council, insinuat- ing, that the cause that began to be propagated in Jesusalem by the presbytery of apostles, might very soon come to nought, without the interposition of their authority to suppress it, or resorting to the violent measure of slaying these men. " For * Vind. p. 156. f Contin. p. 457- '* before ( 3S3 ) " before these days rose up Theudas — to whom a number of 94 men joined themselves, who wa3 slam, and they were scat- €i tered. After this man rose up Judas of Galilee, — lie also " perished, and as many as obeyed him, were dispersed." But the Synod have not been so wise as to adopt his prudent and wholesome advice " ro let these men alone ;" and to leave the cause to its free course, and to its natural exit. There is no- thing disrespectful here meant to the ministers who some time ago declined the Synod, and formed the presbytery referred to : and nothing that has been said as to their eventual success could of itself be a proof that their cause was not good. As in the case of individuals, so also in bodies, the same event may often be seen befalling the just and unjust. But this inl stance is impertinently adduced, as well as the general purpose it is meant to serve unjustifiable. The grounds of these de- clinatures and of that secession, were not to be compared with the present. Only one member of Synod then declined it on account of the different mode of taking the bread before or af- ter the prayer of consecration. (See above, p. 227.) The other who joined with him, had given in a declinature on ac- count of some proceedings of Synod in his personal cause, and in reference to congregational differences. Questions about doctrines, or the state of the public profession, were not in- cluded in it. Though it be true, that many congregations were convulsed about the practice of taking the elements, yet a secession merely on that ground seems neither to be war- rantable nor plausible, however much 1 may prefer in opinion and in practice one mode to another. How absurd is it then to say, that ' the cause had much of plausibility to counte- 4 nance it, far more than the present separation has !' In the one case there was no article of faith concerned, and no practice necessarily imposed, as in the other, in the one there was no quarrelling the subordinate standards, nor any alteration of the manner of assenting to them, as in the other. The former was confined to a single point of procedure, not affecting the substance of the ordinance ; the latter was a complex cause, involving many articles, in which the interest. of religion in all churches are concerned. In the former, a new term of com- munion was insisted for, and a secession was stated because a liberty that had formerly been allowed in the body was not taken away ; in the latter, new terms were by the Synod im- posed, and the rights which had ever been enjoyed in the body, and secured by the constitutional deeds and solemn stipulations in it, were denied. Any person tolerably acquainted with the respective subjects, will easily see what truth there is in the above assertion, and what judgment or justice is shown in the comparison. But C 384 ) Bat to what purpose is such an allusion introduced ? Al- though the causes were really similar, and had nothing more than plausibility on their side, would it follow that rhey must necessarily have the same speedy termination, or the contrary? Or though they could certainly augur, as they cannot, a speedy termination of the one as well as of the other, would this war- rant the conclusion that the cause was either good or bad? — Certainly not. Neither the goodness nor permanency of a cause, can be judged of from the effect of the attempt that may be made for maintaining or perpetuating it in any particular time or place : otherwise Christianity itself must suffer : and the argument used by Cromwell, when he had defeated the Pres- byterian forces, would have been unanswerable, that by his victories God had decided the cause against the covenanters. By this mode of reasoning, the covenanted reformation in Eng- land, even to the present day, must be a condemned cause. The Solemn League was once received there ; parliaments and ar- mies were modelled according to it ; the church new-modelled. Some presbyteries and synods were constituted in consequence, which continued to meet for a time. But these attempts were soon counteracted, and their cause overturned. Where are row these parliaments, these synods, or their avowed adher- ents ? Among the millions of inhabitants in that nation, you will hardly find a thousand remaining who avowedly own ad testify for that cause : when certainly many schemes of er- ror and wickedness, that had not so much as plausibility to recommend them, have had a rapid and extensive progress, and a long, very long continuance. The cause of the Constitutional Presbytery stands independent of such precarious consequences, which are in the hand of God to determine, and are connected with the free motion of the will of other men. Were there not one minister or man adhering to it — were the Presbytery to cease to-morrow, the steps they were constrained to take for their own sake, to avoid being involved in sin and a denial of the truth, would be equally justifiable; and the leading ar- ticles for which they contend being those which the Protestant churches have c -neraily maintained, until their Confessions, and the Secessiou-testimony be abolished, their cause could not become extinct. As to several evils, which the Author of the Letters alledges that this separation has occasioned, and may yet occasion, on which he descants, they are no more imputable to this, than any other lawful separation that ever was in the church : the greater part of them might be equally urged against the Seces- sion at the beginning, and in its whole progress. So far as any of these may be realized in this, let those who have caused it be answerable. In the front of these he is not ashamed to place ( 3S5 ) place, ' the sist that has been made in public covenanting.' It is indeed strange that these ministers should now be charg- ed with the blame of obstructing the progress of this, and even of ■ doing more injury to it, than all the kings on earth will * ever be able to repair ;' (p. (57.) when it is remembered, that two or three of them were the only persons that entered a protestation against the deed by which all the Synod besides concurred in sisting procedure in it, to an uncertain period of time, never more to be revived in the manner in which it had been practised ; nor can it be shown that any step they have since taken has been in the least inconsistent with this, and they consider themselves as at full liberty, according to that protest, to proceed in the renovation of the national covenants of their ancestors, and of the Secession body, in the whole ex- tent of them, in their station and circumstances, either with or without some alteration in the words, whenever a compe- tent number in any of their congregations may appear to be in readiness for it, without ever troubling his Majesty or either House of Parliament about the matter *: though this can hardly be expected to be instantly, in the distracted state into which the Synod's violence has thrown their congregations, and amidst the other fatiguing work which has been put into the hand of the ministers. The reasons against the Synod's sist in that work, and the deceitful substitute they appointed for their licentiates instead of the bond, are with them, which they may read when they are so disposed. Nor is the mat- ter amended, but made worse, by the new bond. No wonder though people began to suspect that there was something wrong in the new deeds, and that many ' hesitated to come ' forward.' The more they examine, the more reason thev will * Mr C. attempts to defend the jargon he had thrown out, in a foot-note, Consol. p. 51. (which he has the vanity to call his grape-shot) about the imprac- ticability of renewing National Covenants, properly so called, without authority from the civil rulers of these nations, while he pretends that Seceders had done fco, and the General Synod may do so still, without it ; and assigns two notable reasons for the difference : 1st, the latter set about it as a witnessing body ; 2dly, they did it, not by making a new covenant, but by the renovation of a for- mer deed, namely, the National Covenant and Solemn League of the three na- tions. Estcnce, p. 16. But what is in either of these reasons that can hinder the Constitutional Associate Presbytery from proceeding in the same work as for- merly ? Did they ever plead for the duty in any other view ? May not men, and bodies of men, witness to the same cause, and engage to the same duties, in distinct capacities ? And may not they sometimes sustain a double capacity in the performance of the same act ; which at other times may be separated ? What did the Secession as a covenanting body witness for ? Was it only for some su- pernatural doctrines of Christianity, or ordinances peculiar to churches ? Or wa.* it for the whole contents of the former covenants in behalf of a public reforma- tion in all the branches of it, and the various duties belonging to the different chs'.es of men in the nations, political, moral, and civil, as well as those strictly ecclesiastical ? As members of a nation, or civil state, morally obligated by fcr- 3 C mer ( 386 ) will see for this. But in a later publication we are told by Mr C. « that covenanting begins to revive' in this new mode of it. That the Synod should have gone all the length to sane, tion, and to urge people by their authority to involve them- selves in the guilt of contradictory swearing, even beyond a noted instance of this before in the Secession, is an alarming consideration ; and a step almost unprecedented, except in the days when the national covenants of Britain were by laws ap- pointed to be abjured, and a self-contradictory test imposed. This libeller also seems gratified in telling his readers, that there is one actually employed as a preacher by the Presby- tery, ' who has never entered into the bond.' And he asks, ■ Do these brethren sit at home, when this gentleman occu- * pies any of their pulpits * ?' That they have given some ap- pointments to one (Mr W — k — n), who had formerly been licensed, and also ordained to a pastoral charge, under the Sy- nod, after their sisting act was passed, is true. And when, after long deliberation and delay, upon his repeated applications to them, they proceeded to this, they foresaw, (as David appre- hended when he saw Doeg in waiting, that a calumnious report would be carried away of what was transacted), that as soon as this deed would come to the ears of men of his spirit, it would be misimproven to their disadvantage, — without ever taking the trouble to inquire after, or report the terms or restrictions under which it was done. Nor have they been mistaken What a pest is such a man, with a pen in his hand, to the public ! and especially to any upon whom the task devolves to wipe off his aspersions, and supply his essential omissions ? To confine ourselves to this part of his case, Mr W. was not employed until he had acknowledged his too great negligence, both as to the means of information as to that duty, and em- bracing an opportunity of joining in it, according to the origi- nal mer covenants, or guilty of the breach of them, can any pretend to a renovation of them, without considering their relation to and interest in the civil commu- nity, as well as that relation they have to a church ? If the General Synod now acknowledge these covenants to have been national, only • because persons of ' all ranks, and the great body of the nation, at least in Scotland, joined in them,* how can it be proved, that they ever were the national covenants of the twci most populous of these three nations ? Or if a concurrence of the legislature and national representatives were necessary to any attempting a renovation of na- tional deeds strictly taken, in the sense of the protesters; what warrant have the Synod for renewing these covenants as national, in their sense, for Eng- land and Ireland, or even Scotland, while they want the concurrence of the great body of thesje nations ? Or if they renew these deeds as they were acts of the national churches of these three kingdoms only, how can they pretend to do this without the authority and concurrence of these churches, or how can they renew thern as members of churches with whom they are not in fellowship, but are a minor party seceding from them ? In this case, is there not greater reason to say, that they practise not only a new mode, but a new species of co- venanting •. and that they have made a new church-covenant of their own, with- out renewing national covenants in any sense of the words ? * Essence p. 4?. ( 337 ) nil bond, previous to his licence. He also satisfied them as to his views of the morality of the duty, — the seasonableness of it in the present times, — his persuasion of the perpetual obli- gation of the National Covenant of Scotland, and of the So- lemn League, and his full satisfaction with the manner in which they had been renewed by the Associate Presbytery, and his resolution to join in the bond and acknowledgement, as composed by them, so soon as an opportunity should occur. He also owned he had once concurred in an ordination accord- ing to the new Formula, for which, upon reflection, he was sorry. The minute farther bears, ' That the Presbytery, con- ' sidering the above explicit declaration, as also the evidences ' Mr W. had given of his attachment to the principles and ' cause formerly witnessed for by the Associate Judicatories, * agreed, on account of present peculiar circumstances, to give ' him appointments while they shall see it for edification : At * the same time, as some members of Presbytery had protest- ' ed against the act of suspending that term of communion, * they were not thereby to be considered as falling from their ' protest, nor as acting inconsistent with it, in employing Mr ' W. in their present circumstances, upon the above explicit ' declaration, so very different from what had been required ' of any who had been admitted by the General Synod since * the passing of that act.' Was not this a continued testi- mony against the Synodical deed, and an adequate satisfaction from an individual who had not been directly concerned in ef- fecting that change, such as could not have been judicially ob- tained of any while the former connection subsisted. If the Protesters themselves saw reason to rest in it for the present, when people otherwise would have been left destitute of sup- ply, — will not Mr C. think it was sufficient, and more than enough ? None of the brethren, except one, had formerly, when in connection with the Synod, declined to countenance administrations of those who had been in this manner admit- ted ; they could not, therefore, be charged with inconsistency. Nor did that other ever intend, by his protest or conduct, any- thing farther than obtaining some satisfaction for removing the public offence given, for which no private acknowledge- ments before could suffice, while the obnoxious act continued to be in full force in the body. He has already told the reader, that he had no freedom to employ, or publicly to countenance the ministrations of any so admitted in these circumstances ; and for personal exoneration, and to avoid public contention and disorder, in one or two instances he preferred spending the Sabbath in private, to going to join inconsistently with some brethren in the neighbourhood. And besides these instances, this disagreeable necessity was imposed upon him, and the li- 3 C 2 berty ( 386 ) berty of his conscience, the right he had protested for, and the freedom of his own pulpit, were more than once or twice in- fringed by the tyrannical and insulting acts of the judicatories with whom he was striving to live in harmony, and at the very time when actually employed in their immediate service. Though his brethren knew the tenor of that protest, and that he reckoned himself bound in this manner practically to sup~ port it, five times did they lay appointments upon ministers or probationers in that predicament, to supply his congregation during sessions of the hall, without previously consulting him ; hereby obliging him either to refuse their assistance, or to be a hearer, or to refrain from public fellowship even with his own people on these days. He chose the last. Though in two of these instances, those appointed had the consideration and good sense to decline intruding ; in the other more recent instances, no such scrupulous delicacy was observed. At some other times, when some preachers had been occasionally present without appointment, he reckoned himself obliged to officiate himself, without asking their assistance ; but in these cases, he readily gave place to those who were sent by autho- rity ; as the supply of the congregation and the disposal of his pulpit were, for the time, immediately in the hand of the courts. But who would have thought that those who profess to be such zealous defenders of the liberty of every man's con- science, could have been capable of offering such a personal insult, and an open outrage upon conscience and the right of protestation ? If it be asked then, Whether that brother (for to him alone the question can be applicable) did sit at home, when Mr W. for one day was appointed to supply for him ? He can answer, No. Nor would he have done so, with respect to any others employed by the Synod, after similar steps taken to remove the ground of offence ; no, not had Mr C. himself been the man, deep as his hand has been in vilifying the cause, and injuring the true interests of the Secession, if God had, peradventure, given him, or may yet give him repentance to the acknowledgment of the truth, and his offences. The other hurtful effects supposed to arise from this sepa- ration, deserve no particular notice, after what has been al- ready observed ; and it is not easy to see what relation some of them can have to the present case at all. — ' That it has gi- * ven a deep wound to the interests of practical religion ; — that * it increases the difficulty of maintaining a witnessing profes- ' sion with steadiness ; — that it must have strongly prejudiced * the religious party in the present establishment against he ' cause of the Secession :' It may be allowed indeed, when Seceders have so far changed their ground, and attacked not only ( 399 ) .inly the evils attendant on that establishment, but that, and all other legal establishments of religion in the world. — ■ That it * will be a strong temptation to make a false profession.' How ? unless by inducing people to embrace the new and in- consistent profession, in ignorance, or from improper motives, without conscience being interested in it. The danger indeed is very great of consciences being hereby debauched. As the danger of opening * a wide door by which all those may enter in * who have any quarrel with their old connections, — or whose ' old connections had somewhat against them ; or by which * improper candidates may push in ;' — it Mill be time enough to impute any thing of this kind to the Constitutional Pres- bytery, when it shall appear that they have opened either a wider or a straiter door for fellowship than what has all along been opened in the Secession ; or when cases of such improper admissions shall occur. But let them consider whether the charge be not applicable to the other side. In fine, the Let- ter-writer affects to * lament over the perilous situation in ' which many have placed themselves by acceding to this new ' party,' (as he calls it) : — ' Few separatists are influenced by * principle alone' — this or the other cause concurs to carry them away — and to leave * little hope of their return.' So, no doubt, it has usually been with some among any body of peo- ple ; and so it may be in the present case. What then ? has the Secession been followed, in any stage, only by such as were altogether upright ? Is it therefore a dangerous course to join or continue in it? If so, then let this writer and his associates reflect upon the perilous situation in which they are placed, while they resolve to persist in their separation, — and if all separation be schism. They should think of returning back to that church they have deserted with all speed, instead of conducting themselves by the order given to a faithful pro- phet ; ci Let them return unto thee, but return not thou unto " them." To counter-balance in some degree those mischiefs, real or supposed, it were to be washed that this writer were accurate, when he states it, as one good effect that has been produced by this division, that a spirit of enquiry into the genuine prin- ciples of Seceders has been excited, and that many are be- come better acquainted with them ;— that the public deeds have not been so generally, nor so carefully perused, since the commencement of the Secession, as they have been of late. This however wants confirmation: and there is too great rea- son for affirming that it is false. That something of this has appeared among a number, in particular places, may be admit- ted : but the body at large are deplorably unacquainted with these principles, and with the books that explain them. Nor is ( 390 ) is the present time to be compared with the early period of the Secession, either for a spirit of inquiry or a knowledge about these matters. Among the body that are sitting contented under the new deeds, the reading has been chiefly confined to one side : and the ministers and partisans of Synod, if they cannot keep the people in silence about the matters of difference, often use theiV influence to prevent them from looking into any of the late publications against them. While they recommend and officiously spread the false and calumnious libels on the part of the Synod ; with a spirit of the most jealous and con- temptible bigotry, if possible, they would exclude the other out of men's hands and houses, and even out of the shops of booksellers, whose consciences are not usually overcharged \vith scruples about the contents or quality of the books they expose to sale. Some of them, at the sight or mention of them, cannot refrain from expressing their wish that they were com- mitted to the flames ; and were the secular power at their disposal, they probably would not be long of trying this old method of purging out the old heresy by fire; and there would be some hazard of their authors sharing the same fate, not- withstanding of their airy vision of universal liberty. Par- tiality, and intemperate heats, in such cases, no doubt ? will be ready to appear on both sides ; — but the Protesting bre- thren, while they have publicly enjoined their people to read and compare the old and new public books together, have attempted to hinder none from perusing even the most injurious and scurrilous pamphlets that have appeared against them. They'seek only a fair hearing; but this they have not hitherto obtained, nor expect to obtain, from that body most deeply interested in these matters, and which, above all others, are bound in duty seriously to inquire into the change and the proceedings that have taken place among them. In this re- spect, their disposition is too similar to that of the people to whom Ezekiel was commissioned, chap. ii. 3, — 7. and x. 5, 6. " Thou art not sent to a people of a strange speech, and " of an hard language — surely had I sent thee unto them, they * ; would have hearkened unto thee ; — but the house of Israel 4t will not hearken — Bat thou shalt speak my words unto " them, whether they will hear, or whether they will for*- *' bear." — Though we know that such is at present the spirit predominant among Seceders, these sheets are published at the imperious call of necessity, whetherthey will read, or whether they will forbear ; as some vindication of an injured cause and injured characters, — as a public record to remain in evi- dence against misrepresentations, falsification, and flagrant in- justice. They may studiously keep from their view what may C 391 ) may be said or written against them, and think themselves here- by screened from detection or danger ; but this is to act like the foolish ostrich, who, when hard pursued, thrusts her head in- to a dark thicket, and reckons herself secure from the sight and attack of the hunter *. A more favourable hearing and a more equitable judgment from Christians of other denomina- tions, and perhaps from those that are to succeed, may be ex- pected than from them: and though they should prove like the perverse children, who were neither to be moved by mirth nor mourning; yet " wisdom will be justified of her " children." In the Narrative given in the Magazine, the case of Mr Wil- lisonis represented in an odious light, with a most unchristian and virulent spirit, and with an indirect view to discredit the cause of the Presbytery; because he, as well as the congregation of Birsay, professed adherence to the same principles, and a wil- lingness to submit to the Presbytery. But the general cause and his personal cause are matters very different: nor have the Presbytery ever had the particulars of the previous difference be- tween him and some of his brethren, or the courts, so clearly stat- ed as to enable them to give a positive judgment upon it. But there is little reason to doubt but that he, as well as the people there, have met with very injurious usage: both in the man- ner * It was not without reason that a doubt was surmised as to the impartiality of the clergymen who of late have become the conductors of the Christian Maga- zine. Literary men, above all others, in such works, should keep clear of a party- spirit. But though they began their New Series with paper after paper re- lating to the controversy, and the proceedings in which the Protesters were par- ticularly concerned, and had given, as they reckoned, accounts most unfair and injurious to them, — when, instead of claiming the right of havirg remarks and replies inserted in the same publication, a short letter was sent them for insertion, notifying to the readers, that their abstaining to reply in that channel was not to be constructed as acquiescing in the justness of the account, or the charges that were contained in the letters, referring those who wished to hear on both sides, and who were not resolved to shut their ears against just defences, and to become guilty of circulating calumnies, to a separate publication that might be expected to ap- pear, — even this was tco much for the candour and liberality of those Reverend E- ditors. It could not be inserted : only, to shew that they tuere not afraid, they gave some hints of the mutilated contents upon the blue paper cover, that they might not outlive the year : at the same time declaring, that they would insert no more papers upon these subjects! that is, after they themseives had introduced the con- troversy, and said what they thought proper upon it, and had publicly traduced characters, they announce that the door was now shut against any farther hearing upon this subject, and that the pleadings were finally closed, before they had al- lowed one syllable to be uttered at their bar upon one side, and in self-vindica- tion. Excellent justice ! Admirable impartiality ! ! — During the former year, when the Magazine was under different hands, more than one minister of Synod with- drew their subscription as readers, on account of the insertion of a paper giving the purport of a Synodical transaction, and for a sentence or two about the death of one of the Protesters not to their liking : one of them insisting for apologies, or the insertion verbatim of letters, expressed in such strong terms as his intempe- rance thought proper to dictate, as a condition upon which he would continue a reader, or would suffer any others to be whom he could influence ! ! ( 3^2 ) ner of procedure, and the publication of the sentencesto the world: and that his appearing against the New Testimony, if it be not the chief ground of his condemnation, has at least greatly sharpened their acrimony, and produced an exaggerated view of his other alledged offences. In the account published, what can the reader find besides some general charges, accom- panied with declamation and abuse against the person, while neither the particular grounds of charge, or the evidence pro- duced against him in his absence, are stated, to convict him, or to satisfy the public ? One of the articles which they took up- on them judicially to examine, was properly one that belonged to a criminal court ; which, though they say was not proven, yet they will retain it among the grounds of the Synodical sen- tence upon what they call presumptions : while the party was not present to confront his accusers, in that or in any of the rest of the charges, or to produce any exculpatory proof. It is well that mens characters, liberties, and lives, are more respected, and cautiously guarded in the proceedings of civil and criminal courts, than they usually are now in* the ecclesiastical. Even though Mr W. had been as guilty as is alledged, would that warrant the obloquy and abuse the Synod's reporter pours upon him? Is it the design of Christian discipline to load men with reproaches, and to render them, if possible, infamous both in civil and religious society? Would a judge upon a bench, in summing up evidence on a trial, or in pronouncing a sentence upon a criminal, give scope to rancour and invectives? or would a fair reporter of a case, besides giving a calm and impartial account of the facts, indulge himself in scurrilous declamation? It is not necessary to our purpose here, either formally to exculpate or condemn Mr W. in points as to which due infor- mation may yet be wanting, and which has been withheld from himself, when sought, by those who have condemned him; or else the following among other things, on the favourable side, could be stated ; — That his disapprobation of the Synod's new principles had been expressed, before he was under a citation to answer upon the other matters : — that, when he ordained the elders at Birsay, at the desire of some of his brethren, he de- clared beforehand to those who were to be ordained, his objec- tions to the new Formula, that he could not take them engaged to it absolutely as it stood, and that he would be obliged 10 propose some of the questions with some exception and varia- tion, which he accordingly did ; — that the matters about which he was appointed by the Synod to attend the Presbytery of Stirling, before he should be admitted to the pastoral charge of the people who had given him a call, were not of that nature to make the Synod forbid him the exercise of his office in the mean time , that he left Orkney in that state, in comli- ancfe ( 393 ) ance with the Synod s order, with a resolution to give account of facts, whether respecting his own conduct or that of others implicated in his letter of vindication ; — that before that Pres- bytery could meet, the Presbytery of Edinburgh prematurely interposed, when he was not within their actual bounds, and, without any citation or hearing, prohibited him from preaching; that as his cause had been prejudged, — as some members, if not the whole of the Presbytery of Stirling, were considered by him as parties in some of the matters to be discussed, and as preju- dices he knew were now strong against him on account of the active part he had taken in behalf of the old principles, he hesitated to acknowledge them as his impartial and legitimate judges, and declined to attend accordingly; but declared his readiness to meet the charges, and to submit his cause to com- petent judges, or to give account of his conduct extrajudicially to any who might require it ;— that one of the reasons he gave for his declining their judgment, namely, that all who disap- proved and opposed the new scheme, were already secluded from their communion (though the narrator calls it a known falsehood) was notoriously true: that the Synod of Glasgow proceeded upon the report of the Presbytery of Stirling, and es- pecially upon a report of what was the crowning offence, his having withdrawn the congregation of Birsay, by unfair means, from their subordination to the Synod, — without entering how- ever into a regular investigation of the mater ; — that on the head of his having formerly made application to be received into communion with the Relief, — he had in his hand exculpa- tory declarations under the hand of two ministers of that deno- mination ; — that as he professed, so he has since shewn his wil- lingness to explain the steps of his conduct that were challenged, as he has done to the people who have solicited the continuance of his ministrations among them, and to members of the Con- stitutional Presbytery; that he was ready to give satisfaction to a court which he had freedom to acknowledge, as to any thing in which he may have failed, or given just ground of of- fence,~and that as to the charge putmto the Synod's sentence, of having instilled prejudices in the minds of the people in Orkney against the Synod, and particular ministers, by slander and defamation, the elders, in a paper given in to the Constitu- tional Presbytery, declared they could swear to the falsehood of that part of the Synod's minutes, and that they could produce, if necessary, upwards of 170 witnesses, who could depone up- on oath to the same thing. The people in that remote corner of the land, among whom he has been officiating under peculiar hardships of different sorts, deserved other treatment than they have met with frcm those who should have been their spiritual guardians. By their pain- 3 D fulnes^ ( 394 ) fulness, their stedfastness, their zeal, they rise up, and in judg- ment will condemn many congregations in the south, who have been of longer standing, and had greater opportunities. They have also a strange tale to tell, which would hardly gain credit, of the oppression, the stratagems, the menaces, they have been exposed to, because they cannot go along with the Synod. The 1 parent's nursing care, 7 which the Letter-writer speaks of, if for a short time it was used towards them, has been con- verted into that of the fox, the wolf, or the bear. After re- peated threats to shut up the doors of their meeting-house, to have their men sent aboard Tenders, during the rigours of a season when many were starving for want of fire and food, — when they were travelling twenty miles to obtain a little barley meal far their households, at a double price, and sometimes had to return without it, their former tender parent and kind bre- thren have attempted actually to deprive them of a house in which they might have the comfort of enjoying their spi- ritual bread, and dragged them into an expensive process be- fore the Court of Session, in defence of their right* And all this from the hands of a party that are repeating continually, that no man should be troubled or injured in his civil rights on account of his religion. As the spirit of the patrons of the new T scheme is the reverse of liberality, and inimical to free inquiry, so their conduct in applying to civil magistrates to corroborate their ecclesiastical sentences, and give them civil effect, the claims they make, in their distinct religious capacity, to the possession, and even an unalienable possession, of houses and lands once dedicated to a religious use, and the many processes they have been present- ing about rights and property of this kind, is a violation of the general theory they have adopted, and a practical refutation of Their scheme. Did they biu consider the import of what they themselves allow, and what in certain cases all may see to be needful) they might perceive, that such a total disconnection of religious and secular affairs, such a separation of ecclesias* tical and civil causes, differences and proceedings, and such a rotal and pei -petuahabsf i action of the external affairs of churches from any cogniza ce or interference of a legal and compulsive authority as they plead for,, is chimerical and impracticable, whether these churches belong to an establishment, and be un- der a settled system of laws immediately respecting them, or not. Questions and causes that come Id be decided before se- cular courts, whether the judges be without or within the communion of the church, may be so involved with religious differehcesj and have such a connection with ecclesiastical deeds, that born, in some shape, must come into consideration and judgment ; as was the case even in the apostolic age, in trials before ( 395 ) before the heathen rulers. In those who admit the propriety and utility of a certain connection between a church and com- monwealth, and acknowledge the magistrates authority circa sacra, within proper limits, there is no such inconsitency in carrying causes of this kind, which cannot be otherwise ter- minated, before such courts, as there evidently is in them who deny the connection and the power. It is one great design and benefit of a legal establishment to foresee and provide against such differences, or to settle some common and known rules by which causes of this kind may be decided, as in other differences which arise in society. The want of particular statutes, or fixed rules, in the case of dissenting bodies in Scotland, when cause:; of this kind come under review, is sensibly felt at present, both by judges and parties, in consequence of which decisions ^re oft- en arbitrary, variable, and inconsistent, and the rights of people rendered vague and precarious. Have not the Synod's parry, in the processes they have raised, acted upon similar ideas, and demanded nearly equal privilege in law with those who are on the establishment? Have they not even brought the principles, the history, the controversies, the standard-books of the Se- cession, and the proceedings and sentences of their judicatories, before temporal courts? Have they not sometimes exposed, in a scandalous manner, the debates, the minutes, and censures of these judicatories, and insisted for judgment in their favour on the faith of them ? Have they not canvassed the doctrines of the confession, the religious covenants, and proceedings of; their reforming ancestors, in the same place, to a great extent, and with wanton obloquy and sarcasm? Did not ministers come forward in the name of a Synod, and plead the right and interest they had in these causes that were to be decided, and demand their right to be recognized in law, to retain all the church -property q^ people who had been in a religious connec- tion with them, whatever profession they might adopt, and wmarever their proceedings might be? Thus they would claim the privileges of an incorporated body without the formality of law, — and even upon the mere credit, of the name they take, and their own pr^tensn ns that they are the same body that was formerly so d signed, — without a legal test or proof being admissible in civil courts, whereby it may be known whether they are or are not? If these courts shall admit this as a prin- ciple, or rule for determining such causes, it will be evcrsive. both of sound lay/ ar.l equity: as the first claimant assuming the name, in that case, must be preferred, to the prejudice of others ; even as there may be two or more persons of the same name, and nearly resembling one another, laying claim to the same estate, as in the noted case of Martin Guerre in France, when an impostor, bearing his name, got possession of his 3 D 2 familv ( 396 ) family and goods for years, before a strict and legal proof was taken of the identity of the person, whereby the fraud was discovered. As the abettors of this new scheme have thus, by their con- duct, been practically overthrowing their theory, without al- lowing themselves to consider it,-~so their eagerness to go to law with their brethren, neglecting the more Christian and peaceable method of accommodation, — their taking advantage of any ambiguous clauses in former papers, or of quirks m law, to deprive communities, or the major part of them, of what was their undoubted property, and of all outward accom- modations for assembling to worship God, — and their doing all in their power to carry away what was evidently intended by the original donors and contributors for another purpose, to the support of a very different cause, — is too like the covet- ousness, hateful animosity, and violence of Edom against his brother Jacob, — when theyinsukingly said, that their cities and their lands ' were theirs, and they would possess them, whereas 4 the Lord was there :' For which, and other instances of perfidy, injury, and oppression, ' shame may one day cover them.' If the seceding brethren, who were deposed by the General As- sembly 1740, mention it as one instance of its tyranny, that the moderator wrote letters to the magistrates of the several burghs to concur in excluding these ministers from their parish- churches, where they had so many years, after they had formed a secession, been allowed peaceably to meet for observ- ingdivine ordinances, and even to hold their Presbyteries, if they charged the magistrates with guilt for executing the Assembly's order, — what shall be said of a Synod, in very different circum- stances, instigating magistrates and people against their breth- ren, merely for holding by the same principles for which the former were thrust out ? All that comply with such sen- tences make themselves art and part in the iniquity of them. Mr Wilson says, * The magistrates of Stirling, by commanding € the doors to be locked against Mr E. Erskine, served them- * selves heirs to the iniquity and wickedness of some of their ' forefathers in that place, who stoned that eminent seer, in his ' day, and faithful martyr, Mr James Guthrie.' When the magistrates did the like in Perth, and assisted in thrusting another into his pulpit, he says, ' 1 pray the Lord may give * them repentance for, and forgiveness of their iniquity, and * that it may not be laid to their charge, nor to the charge i of that place.' And he adds these words, with which we conclude this review, ' The conduct of the judicatories, in stir- ' ring up the civil powers against the seceding ministers, is not * unlike the tyranny of the church of Rome, who first condemn 4 the Protestants as heretics, and then deliver them up to the * secular ( 3 ^ ) * secular powers to be prosecuted and punished as if they were 4 the grossest criminals and malefactors *.* ' Upon the whole, it is matter of mourning and lamentation, ' that in the once reforming and covenanted church of Scotland, 1 judicatories that call themselves Presbyterian, should after 4 this manner prosecute and persecute ministers, who are endea- ' vouring to bear testimony to our reformed and covenanting ' principles. Ah ! that it should be told in Gath, and publish- 1 ed in the streets of Aslikelon, to the laughter and joy of those • who are open enemies of our reformation, rights, and princi- ' pies. However, all the well-wishers and true friends of Zion < may encourage themselves in this, *' That the Lord will yet 1 arise and have mercy upon Zion ; and that, when he builds 1 up Zion, he will appear in Iris glory. " • Mr C. in Essence, &c. p. 31. a pamphlet undeserving of notice in point of argument ; has the front, in the case of Mr Chalmers, to vindicate the prohibi- tion of ministers, without allowing them an opportunity of being heard, from the practice of confining thieves, murderers, and other great criminals, before their trials. This the public safety may in the case of such require, that they may be effectually prevented from committing farther depredations in the mean time, or escaping altogether from justice. But if he were capable of blushing, he would, for ranking any conscientious and useful minister of Jesus with such characters, when the matter of the complaint or report againsc him may not only he destitute of evidence, but imply in it no real scandal — for though the accusers or, he, may bawl out' schism, obstinate schismatic's, a thousand times, wi:hout ever inquiring into the meaning of the terms, that will not of itself amount even to a presump- tion that any man is guilty of it. Neither are the prohibitions of church-courts compulsive as a jail, or a chain, to prevent a man from acting as if no such deed had passed, or bind him over more effectually to take his trial. Does he not know, that the greater precautions are to be used, in all free nations, that none be com- mitted rashly to a prison, or into custody ; that precognitions, and other solemn depositions, are previously taken, before a magistrate be allowed to issue a warrant for it ; and that any may have redress at law, and high damages awarded against any for false imprisonment ? Does he forget, that in the more ordinary and lesser crimes, recognisances are entered into, ai d men that have maintained any decent character in life are admitted to bail, to wait the day of trial ? Is it not a humane maxim of the law, that every man should be presumed to be innocent until he be found guilty, as it was one among the Romans, and ought to be among ail nations, that ' their law should judge no man until it hear him ?' — Have we not heard of a bill lately presented to the British Commons, in order to soften, as much as possi- ble, even the necessary severity of legal proceedings, proposing some indemnifica- tion and reparation to persons that have been brought unto trial, and have been found innocent ? APPENDIX. APPENDIX. No. I. Extract from a Letter on withdrawing from Communion. Written soon after the final enactment of the New Testimony in 1804-. R. and D. Brother, Whitburn, June, 22, 1804. * * * 1 WAS unexpectedly disappointed of enjoying a personal interviewat last meeting of Synod. If I have not been so punctualin at- tending some meetings of late, this hath never arisen from any wish to avoid taking a share in any trouble or odium that may be attached to a regular and steady opposition to the late measures: as to this, I had satisfaction in seeing it in other hands, who could manage it with greater advantage and efFect. But for the most part, providential hinderances occurred; and if in any instances it was otherwise, it was owing to a conviction that my presence could not be useful in the ordinary business in which they have been engaged, as I had no free- dom to concur any longer in a review, or proposing corrections of papers, the general plan and design of which I could not approve, and in which received principles were either impugned, or continually brought into dispute. All that remained to be done, I have thought for some time past, was personal exoneration when deeds came to be enacted. As to the time indeed of these enactments, I and others, have sometimes been deceived: and this was particularly the case as to this last and most interesting decision. I hardly expected, fond as many were to come to a termination, that they would have thought such a venturous step would as yet have been reckoned prudent or safe. The difficulties you experience in your situation, and the occur- rences in your neighbourhood, from the result, are such as may na- turally be expected in the present peculiar circumstances. It may rather appear surprising, that such disturbances, as those you men- tion among the people, have not become more common before this time : but they have been in a lethargy, and mav awake from it rather out of season; and when they do so, there is always danger of their proceeding from one extreme to another. Your situation is trying, but it ought to be cons'der. d, at the same time, as honoirrable, when you are shut up to it in providence, in adherence to any part of the truth or cause of God, and in prosecution of public duty. In a contest of this kind, when abandoned by wonted friends, if any are conscious of a good cause, and persuaded that the Lord is for them in it, they need not anxiously ask, who are holding with them, or who are against them. I can easily conceive your painful feelings at the interruption of usual delightful, and so much needed inter- course with brethren, having experienced something of the same kind, the first shock of which was like to overset my small stock of resolution ; C 399 ) resolution; especially, while I apprehended, that there were none in the Presbytery like-minded, in which, however, I have found myself agreeably disappointed. 1 confess, that when 1 began to perceive that the generality in Synod were disposed to embrace new princi- ples, which neither my judgment, fidelity to engagements, or honour, would permit me to adopt, and foreseeing what would be the pro- bable issue at last, I was, even then, with you, ready to exclaim, '* O that I had in the wilderness, &c." and rather than think of con- tinuing to be " a man of contention" in a society, when left alone, or nearly so, — or to have any hand in making it a scene of confusion, or eventually be obliged to do any thing that might appear to have a tendency to multiply religious parties, by which the land is already torn, the first idea that suggested itself, in order to avoid such disa- greeable consequences, was to retire to silence and private life. But such fleeting thoughts, or half-formed resolutions, that may possess the mind in the first emotiors and heat of our spirit, when seriously and strictly examined, will be found to be such as we cannot safely abide by, when we are under engagements to public duties, from which w T e cannot recede at pleasure, while bars insuperable are not laid in the way of discharging them, and while the state of a number of people with whom we are connected may require, more than ever, the continuance of such direction and aid as may be in our power to afford them, and while every effort has not been used, in behalf of them and a public cause, which may be competent. Though very desirous of maintaining all former fellowship, so far as I thought it cc uld be done without inconsistency, or giving prac- tical countenance to measures that I considered as condemnable, I have some years ago been obliged to go through the trying scene of studying to preserve external communion on the ground of judicial protests, notified to brethren, as the only way in which it was to be continued; and afterwards of suspending it for a time as to mutual assistance at sacraments, in reference to congregations next adjacent. The foimer I reckoned needful as soon as the interim Formula was appointed, which made a partial change in the public profession and in terms of communion. This was refused by none of my neighbours when proposed : but two of these brethren were soon after removed by death, — and their congregations have since been settled in con- sequence of that most iniquitous act, that dispenses with the oath of God, and a necessary qualification required by acts of Synod in all who were to be admitted to ministerial office and communion in the Secession. I had protested against the admission of such as uncon- stitutional, and their administrations of course as irregular, — which I have never had freedom to countenance till the ground of offence was in some way or other removed. After the three vacancies that occurred in the neighbourhood, there was only one brother adjacent who had been a stated correspondent. He had ordained one of the candidates by the new Formula, — shewed particular activity in pro- moting the innovations; — while he continued still to tell the peorle, on the Saturday evenings before his communion, that there was no change whatever in the state of our public profession and communion. It was understood too, that- he intended to employ, the first opportu- nity, ( 400 ) nity, non-covenanter* as well as others on sacramental occasions; here was a new obstruction presented in the way of correspondence. On receiving his invitation, I reckoned it neces&a-y then to state more particularly the things that were offensive, and bars in the way of unconditional assistance with him in particular, in present circum- stances, and the conditions or terms upon which mutual assistance could be continued for edification ; to which, though stated to him, I had no expectation that he would consent; nor did he; but sent a short and insolent reply. I invited him. however, afterwards, in my turn, to assist, if he was willing to do so in adherence to the principles of Synod, as formerly stated and solemnly adopied, re- solving for his part to abstain from the imposition of innovations contrary to these : which invitation he declared, he could not ac- cept. And here the matter has since rested as to ministerial fellow- ship in these instances. We have sometimes since left our congre- gations without sermon, when the communion was dispensed in either place, on account of vicinity, and the body of the people having been accustomed to attend. Occasional assistance of this kind I considered as, in a great degree, optional, — the suspension of which for a time, waiting the result of some dependent events, did not imply a separation. In these cases I acted solely for myself, without fos- tering a party-opposition among the people, or attempting to re- strict them from acting in regard to their communion with neigh- bouring congregations, otherwise than they were convinced to be their duty. The public grounds which had occasioned a temporary interruption of intercourse were in general stated to them, some of which more immediately respected ministerial communion : and though I thought some of the late acts also affected Christian com- munion, in which their duty and privileges were deeply concerned, yet I could not suppose them as yet to be sufficiently informed, or resolved in their minds, about the subjects of difference, especially while these were not finally settled, or particularly explained, they were not to be pressed to any more explicit declaration of their sen- timents, than a continued adherence to their received profession im- plied; but were to use all due pains for their information. Mean time they were told, that it could not be expected I could be ac- tive in procuring the admission of such as might chuse to join where I had not freedom myself to attend ; while I was not to take it upon me to hinder either elders or others, as matters then stood, to apply for themselves, or to further the admission of others. What- ever may be said, as to the regularity or singularity of this mode of procedure, I have in the main had satisfaction in following it, as appearing to be the most eligible medium betwixt sinful compliances, and abrupt separation: nor has it been attended with any violent dis- sention in the country side, — nor scarce any sensible interruption of our congregational peace or edification. — Not one of our number has ever given me, or the session, the least disturbance upon the sub- ject: one or two in the session may sometimes express their want of full clearness about the questions, but never oppose: though, as you observe, little dependence is to be had Upon any appearances of ur.itv of this kind, if things were brought to extremity. Though a number ( 4«1 ) Jiumber of our congregation have occasionally attended sermon in the places adjacent, and some few joined, the greater part, for some time, have abstained. The elders and people of these congregations, though their ministers have been absent, have attended and joined with us in nearly the same proportion as formerly, while the usual terms have been notified to them, — in opposition to a testimony about to be enacted., — or covenant renovation that in future time may he attempted.— -A* for Presbyterial meetings, I reckoned it expedient silently to withdraw, after a number of members had openly em- barked with the Missionary Societies, and after janglings were in- troduced into them about received principles, soon followed by the execution of deeds of Synod relating to license and ordinations, in which I could take no share. I mention some of these particulars, because you may perhaps find yourself in circumstances somewhat similar: but I dare not at- tempt to be your adviser ; nor could I venture to recommend such a line of conduct as the best that might have been followed. In such cases it may be difficult and even impossible to adhere strictly to what may be reckoned form and order. In times of confusion, when former arrangements are set aside, and before new ones can be formed, persons must act according to what appears to be most proper on the emergent occasion : and while the chief objects, and great line of duty are kept in view, the incidental deviations from ordinary rule will, by the judicious, be accounted as a subordinate matter. I never required that any brother, with whom I kept cor- respondence, should think or act as I did in these particulars. The public state of things was long kept in some kind of suspence, and measures were going on in a train : but now the case is very much altered. While some in such circumstances will be ready to blame minis- ters for going too far, — there will be others who as hastily censure them for not going farther. But with us it must ever be accounted altogether invalid, and declare that the relation which it is meant to d'-ssolve shall, notwithstanding, remain in as full force as if no such deed had passed. And farther protest, that any who shall be sent within the bounds of this congregation to execute such a sentence, or afterwards to officiate by appointment in consequence of it, shall be held as unwarrantably intruding into the province of another ; and also, as virtually opposing and bearing down that public profession and testimony, for the maintenance <>i which this Associate Congregation, and the Judicatoriei to which it was subordinated] were at first constituted. And 1 warn all, particularly the members and hearers in this con- gregation, against giving countenance, in any manner of way, to any Who tky come on such a design ; — and to guard against that giddy spirit and itch for novelty, by which so many in this age are " tossed " to and fro with every wind of doctrine by the slight of men," — which disposes them heedlessly to run after the ministrations ot any who say, »' Lo here, or lo there," without considering by what war- rant, or on what errand they come ; instead of seriously reflecting on the admonition of our Lord, " Take heed how you hear :" or the import of the question he proposed to the multitude, " What went " ye out for to see ?" The time is come, dear Friends, in which, you are to be sifted, and severely tried, whether you are true to that particular profession, which at entering into communion you made, and lately renewed over the symbols of the body and blood of the Lord. I never urged you hitherto explicitly to declare your minds upon the subjects of controversy, while it could be avoided; but in holy Providence you are now inevitably obliged to do it, and your practice will soon declare it. As the steps I have taken have been dictated by a sense of duty, without dependence upon the views you might entertain, or the conduct you might think proper to pursue; so you can bear witness, that I never requited of any of you an ad- herence to me, nor do I now desire it, farther than you may be con- vinced that the word of God, and fidelity to Ciirist and his cause, demand it. " Prove all things, and hold fast that which is good." N° III. Extract from the Synod Sermon on Judges v. 2, 3. respecting the duty of Magistrates as to the jmblic interests of religion. (See above p. 212.) MAGISTRATES, by their influence and favour, and by a pro- per application of their authority, may be more useful than others in more private stations can be. It is true, indeed, these are not office- bearers in the church, nor can they lawfully assume any supremacy over her ; nor, in consequence of any civil power they are invested with, exercise any power purely ecclesiastical: nor ought they, in any case, to encroach on the true liberties of Christians, or the rights of conscience: yet they ought ever to prove the church's friends and faithful allies; or, in the language of the prophet, " nursing-fathers, " and nursing-mothers;" and by proper attention to the interests of religion, the only basis and firmest security of government, and the ( 416 ) the spring of all justice and morality among men, they may prove eminent blessings to their subjects ; and then only is the end of their office gained in its full extent, when due care is taken, and provision made, that their inferiors may " live peaceable lives" under them ; not in moral honesty only, but in godliness also. Their duty, in this matter, cannot altogether lie in what is merely negative ; or in an absolute neutrality, and total indifference about religion and reforma- tion, as matters, that, in no shape, pertain to the magistrate's province- It is not enough, surely, that they abstain from offering any direct injury, or actual detriment to the church's interest; that they be no bloody persecutors, as Nero or Domitian, a Philip or a Charles : But the word of God, and the principles of Christianity, as well as the united voices of all the Protestant churches, both allow, and al- lot to them something more. They are bound to come forth to the help of the Lord, by affording positive protection, countenance, and support to his cause ; not merely by their private life and personal example, but in their public magisterial capacity, by laws expressly in favour of the true religion and its professors ; securing them in the public profession of Christianity, and the observation of all its institutions, by removing such things as are external bars and ob- structions to the free progress of religion and reformation ; by de- fending the church against all outward violence and dangers; by watching over her order and peace, and maintaining her in the enjoy- ment of all her rights and privileges as a visible organic body; for the preservation of which, against the encroachments of worldly power, or the violent attacks of false and corrupt religions, or the turbulent and injurious practices of her own disorderly members, the church is furnished with no coercive power ; but is no where pro- hibited from accepting the aid and benefit of such a power, from those with whom it is intrusted. By these, and other methods, too tedious here to explain, may rulers, supreme or subordinate, help religion against the mighty, and serve the interests of the Redeemer in the earth. There is no power ordained of God, but is to be applied for the glory of God; and none, but what is both compatible with, and capable of being subservient unto his gracious and spiritual government among men ; for the sake of which, ultimately, all ** kings and kingdoms rise," and " kings and kingdoms fall." And it is the injunction of the King of kings 9 to all the princes of the earth, M to serve the Lord with fear; to kiss the Son," Psal. ii.; and do homage to him. Though there be a specific d frerence between the kingdom of Christ and the kingdoms of this world ; though the former be heavenly and spiritual, and the latter, with all the authority exer- cised in them, be purely secular , yet this doth not hinder but thai " the earth may help the woman ;" in so far as the church of Christ, as a visible society, has a connection with the men and the things of this world. It may be affirmed, that, in proportion as the kingdom of Christ, and its members, may be affected and injured by secular power and civil laws, when directed again t them (as in very many instances they may), o far may they, likewise, be assisted and bene- fited by them. Christ's ( 417 ) Christ's kingdom, though it receives its being, constitution, an.\ Jaws from heaven, yet is set up, and visibly established in the earth : though it be not of, yet it is in this world; and therefore is not so spiritual as to be entirely detached from, and disconnected with ma- terial things, as some modern refiners dream. While it continues in such a state, it is necessarily subjected to more or less of liberty Or restraint; of peace or tribulation; and admits of very different de- grees of outward extension and diminution; and these, under Provi- dence, very much depend on the disposition and conduct of those who administer the external affairs of this world, and on the consti- tution and laws of secular kingdoms being friendly or adverse. It is true, religion and reformation have sometimes made great progress, not only without the favour of rulers, but in the face of opposition and persecution from them: But it is also true, that these have too often been no less successful in marring or overturning them; and have proved the principal cause of whole nations continuing under the shackles of ignorance, idolatry, or superstition, and of thousands making shipwreck of the faith and a good conscience. The deplo- rable condition of Mahometan and Popish, as well as many Pagan countries, are sufficient evidences of the former; and the history and martyrologies of the church abound with too many melancholy proofs of the latter. Though God may secretly feed his church when driven into the wilderness ; — though persecution, by his blessing, may, in the event, be over-ruled for good ; yet who will say that it is for the present desirable, or in itself profitable \ It is easy for Omnipotence to preserve his work from destruction under the most grievous oppressions — yet to see " the bush burning in the fire with- *' out being consumed," is a strange and marvellous sight : and he will not suffer " the rod of the wicked to rest always upon the lot " of the righteous," lest the saints of the Most High be wearied out, and " the righteous stretch forth his hand unto iniquity.'' And when he brings Zion from the furnace, and blesses her with glory and prosperity, he causes " nations and kingdoms to serve her ;" — " the abundance of the sea is converted unto her, and the forces of 6i the Gentiles come unto her;" — " yea, their kings do bring their " glory into it;" Isa lx. If the countenance of secular powers, and the favourable aspect of civil laws, were not In themselves a bles- sing, why should God have promised these, and connected such pro* mises with the flourishing stato of Christ's kingdom, as in many places he hath done ? Perhaps there never was an instance, nor can be, of religion and reformation flourishing in a public and general way, in any nation, while the primores regni were managing an oppo- sition to them; and while the force of civil laws, and the edge of authority, were turned against them. It is commonly alledged, and indeed with too much truth, that the cause of religion has as often been a Sufferer as a gainer at the hand of the civil magistrate; and that by his claiming and exercising a power circa sacra, the religious rights of Christians have as frequent- ly been abndged, or destroyed, as properly secured. But this is, sure- ty* no good reason for its being discontinued altogether. Every thing under the sun, in which erring men arj employed, however 3 G lawful ( 416 ) lawful or necessary in itself, must be liable to abuse. Even the spi- ritual powers, clearly delegated by Christ to the guides and overseers of the church, have been subject to like misapplications, and per- verted, so far, as to rear up and support the blasphemous authority of the man of sin : and so, by the same method of reasoning, they might be entirely abolished. Men may judge, and speak, and act amiss in all cases; but it doth not follow, that they must not judge, speak, or act at all. It may be difficult always to preserve the due distinction between the civil and ecclesiastical state, and the rights and powers belonging to each, without encroachment on the one side or the other. Those powers which are co-ordinate, subsisting to- gether in the same time and place, and employed about some objects in common, but in a different manner, will be in great danger of in- terference: rivalship and mutual jealousies may be expected naturally to arise between them; and attempts will not be wanting to render one of them subordinate and dependent on the other: and, in fact, ever since the magistrate became Christian, these mutual struggles and usurpations have been almost unintermitting; and either the one or the other hath claimed, or actually exercised an undue superiori- ty; sometimes the ecclesiastical power overtopping, and basely sub- jecting the temporal, as under the Papacy; or the temporal, in its turn, assuming a supremacy and legislative authority in spiritual things, as hath been, and continues to be, visibly the case in many countries professing the reformation, and appears to become still more and more the case in almost ail nations of Christendom, whether Pro- testant or Roman Catholic ; which is a new kind of political Papacy, 110 less dangerous and tyrannical than the former, rearing itself on the ruins of the old. But yet in order to avoid one extreme, there is no necessity of running into another. A church and common- wealth may have certain connections together, and may perform mu- tual offices and duties towards each other, without losing their pe- culiar distinctive characters, and without being absurdly blended to- gether in one heterogeneous constitution. A medium may be found, however hard to hit, between an Erastian supremacy and Sectarian anarchy; tyrannical slavery and lawless licentiousness; unlimited to- leration and persecution for conscience sake. Can the legislature no otherwise preserve religious liberties and the rights of conscience en- tire, but by putting all religions on a level, as equally entitled to public encouragement and protection ? Is no other political law or establishment warrantable but this alone, * that no religious society ' or system whatever shall be allowed to enjoy any peculiar advan- * tages, or claim any superiority or distinction in the state above ' others,' as many now plead ? The friends of rejigion would have little cause to rejoice were such a scheme of government to be adopt- ed. Were all things thus again to be thrown loose, and all legal se- curities destroyed; were a Christian church and a Pagan temple, a Protestant meeting and a mosque or synagogue, to be equally recog- nised in law; were the Bible, the Breviary, and the Koran, to be held equally sacred; were the abandoned infidel, the blasphemer, or idola- ter, as much in the road of preferment as the man fearing God; it is not difficult to foresee the many pernicious consequences. The king- dom ( 419 ) dom of Satan, in whatever shape it might appear, would, in such an event, enjoy an equal degree of indulgence and favour as the king- dom of Christ. The greatest evils and abominations which the cor- ruption of mankind, inflamed by the venom of the serpent, can pro- duce, would be disseminated, and spring up unchecked, provided they but assume the cover of religion and the pretext of conscience. Every species of false and corrupt religion would find an open door to enter by ; some of which would not fail to fix their roots deep, waiting the first favourable opportunity to establish themselves in the throne of domination; and thus to act over again the same part which they have ever been found to do whenever they gained superiority, and acquired possession of power. Thus we would welcome again the return of all that ignorance, error, idolatry, superstition, and tyranny, which, our more zealous forefathers found so hard to contend against, and suffered so much from; and which, at vast cost, they got at last in great measure abolished, and, by the most laudable care and wisdom, endeavoured to secure themselves and their posterity against in all time coming. To secure and favour all religions alike, is really to secure and fa- vour none. Were political establishments reduced to the above mo- del, they would be more favourable to infidelity and irreligion than any thing else. They would, on the matter, proscribe, and subject to penal statutes, whoever should join to his religious profession the belief that it was divinely authorised, and solely and exclusively true; which would be the same thing with maintaining, that it was entit- led to a preference, and had a right to take the place of all others ; and this very sentiment would be treasonable and deadly to the peace of such an ungodly establishment, and would sap its very founda- tion ; and yet every person, who can be said to have any faith or con- science at all, must necessarily have such a persuasion, and act ac- cordingly. No religion, or particular profession, or form of it, at- tended with such a belief, can ever subsist, without aiming at the destruction of its opposites, nor can ever be brought into coalition with them. And an attempt to establish a general intercommunity between things perpetually irreconcileable, and directly eversive and destructive of one another, can neither consist with common sense, nor can agree with any rational religious system whatever, however conformable to the ancient one of Polytheism, and the no less absurd one of modern Deists and Latitudinarians . And perhaps no scheme cou]d be devised, in its tendency more sanguinary, or more inimical to true religious liberty. It aims its blow, not against this or that particular profession, but against all religion in general, and all par- ties indiscriminately, who may be so conscientious and sincere in their opinions, whether right or wrong, as not to reach the latitude of the libertine infidel, or the cool moderation and indifference of the scep- tic. If it behoved to lay its foundation in the blood of stubborn jPresbytery y it must set up its gates in its first-born and favourite Independency, If indifference about the cause of God be culpable in others, how can it be excusable or laudable in rulers? Are they, of all men, ex- cepted from the authority of Christ ? or are they the only persons 3 G 2 who, ( 420 ) who, by virtue of their office*, are necessarily debarred from any pos- sibility of knowing with certainty what is truth ? Or are they, upon such a discovery, under the hard necessity of neglecting, and, on the matter, renouncing it again; having their hands tied, in their official character, from showing it any distinguished respect, or affording it any peculiar assistance ; being equally obliged, in order to rule well, to nurse up its opposite with the same care and tenderness ? Must the crown of Caesar and the crown of Christ be ever at variance, and incapable of any friendly alliance ? Shall a cry be raised among any, but such as have a mind that Christ should be crucified, that the man who shall pass a sentence in favour of Christ from the judgment-seat, is not " Caesar's friend," nor a friend to the natural rights and liber- ties o£ mankind ? Or is the sceptre- so profane, that it may not touch any thing that hath the image and superscription of Jesus upon it i However such maxims should now be cried up as the quintessence and height of good policy, and as containing the model of the most perfect and happy government, I am afraid they can hardly be ex- empted from the charge of impiety. A magistrate who, like Gal- lio, should account religious matters none of his care, instead or merit- ing hereby the title of a good magistrate, would more properly de- serve that of an irreligious infidel. In line, a government that made no settlement of religion what- ever in a nation, would be entirely defective, and inadequate to its eud; but a settlement upon the levelling principles, whereby every species of religion, or whatever might appear under that name, should be equally admitted, and receive the sanction of law, would include in it a virtual condemnation and denial of the truth of Christianity. Its truth cannot be fairly admitted but at the ex- pence of every rival. That religion which has God for its au- thor, whose essential attribute is unity, can be but one ; one Lord, one faith, one rule of worship, one standard of discipline ?.nd government Diversity and multiplicity, in things divinely re- vealed and settled, is as incongruous to the nature of the Christian as of the Jewish religion ; and is as abhorrent from it, as inter- community between the true God and the gods of paganism. Unity and uniformity are the necessary result of divine and positive institu- tion. Admit the one, and the other must be admitted ; deny the one, ?.tid the other is by consequence denied. The spouse of Christ is but one. If a many-headed monster, wearing a variety of shapes, and speaking with a thousand jarring discordant tongues, be set up, she must of necessity be displaced, in order to make room for it. Dagon and the ark of God could not both stand or dwell together under the same roof: But it behoved one of them to fall before the other. Amidst all the multiplicity of religions prevailing in the world, and the various different figures or forms into which it hath oeen, is, or can be cast, there must always be one, and only one, among them, which has an exclusive right to be encouraged and established preferably to all the rest. This right, as 1 conceive, can be founded in nothing else than its intrinsic truth and excellence; though this consideration, instead of being allowed as the primary reason why any religious system or society should be preferred, is entirely ( 421 ) entirely overlooked or set aside by some who are reckoned our best modern writers on this subject ; as well as by our Machiavelian poli- ticians, in framing and executing their plans of legislation. They seem not to believe that truth and utility coincide, and that true reli- gion and good policy are inseparable. Nor doth this view of the matter suppose or require, in civil rulers, any kind of knowledge or degree of discernment, much less infallibility, unattainable by them, nor lodge any juridical powers with them incompatible with their of- fice, or injurious to liberty of conscience and private judgment. Un- less all religion be problematical and uncertain, the truth in these matters, and by consequence the right, may be discovered j and it is not more impossible or difficult for legislators to discover them than other men. If the doctrines and institutions of Christianity are al- ready fixed, and unalterably established by divine authority, it is easy to see what remains as the duty of rulers with regard to them : — Not to invent or create ; not to change or innovate; but to approve, recommend, support, defend, and by all habile methods to promote them. Those consitutions alone are intitled to the sanction of hu- man laws which, either directly or indirectly, have already received the sanction of the Divine ; and religion, in its purest form, has a natural or divine right to oblige all, arid so a claim to every advan- tage in the power of man to give. Error, heresy, idolatry, supersti- tion, or whatever i3 contrary to the laws of the Redeemer, as they are destitute of all such power of obligation, whatever forbearance it may be proper to exercise towards the persons guilty of them, can have no such claim or right more than vice or immorality. What is not lawful for any to do, no act nor ordinance of man can legitimate; nor doth human authority owe it any support or security. Where there is no claim of right on the part of subjects, there can be no obligation on the part of rulers. Whatever liberty subjects cannot lawfully take or exercise, government cannot lawfully guarantee or defend. True Patriotism, p. 35—46. F t N I 5. G. Clif, Printtr. LATELY PUBLISHED, And to be had of J. Ogle, Guthrie & Tait, Edinburgh; and VV. Knight, Aberdeen. i. MINUTES of the Constitutional Associate Presbytery ; con- taining Reasons for constituting, — the substance of the last paper given in to the Synod, &c. 6d. 2. 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