YALE
UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

REMARKS

UN THE

CHURCH OF SCOTLAND:
ITS HISTORY, CONSTITUTION, AND
BECENT PROCEEDINGS;
THE DIFFERENT QUESTIONS THAT HAVE BEEN AGITATED ;
ITS PRESENT PERIL:
AND
A SUGGESTION OF REMEDIES.

EOBEET FORSYTH, ESQ., ADVOCATE.
# • -

EDINBURGH :
EDINBURGH PRINTING AND PUBLISHING COMPANY,
GLASGOW : J. SMITH AND SON ; AND JOHN M'LEOD,
ABERDEEN: L, SMITH, DUNDEE: F, SHAW.
M.DCCC.XL1II.

REMARKS, &c.

CHAPTER 1.
HISTORICAL.
" Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new ? It hath
been already of old time which was before us." — Ecclesiastes i. 10.
The present disputes in Scotland relative to ecclesiastical affairs
have existed so long, they have been so widely diffused, and have
assumed so many forms, as at length to render it practicable to dis
cern the spirit from which the contest proceeds, and by which it is
fostered, and its ultimate tendency. I value highly the Established
Church of Scotland on account of the good it has done, and is
capable of doing, when conducted on right principles ; but I regard
its usefulness as now seriously brought into hazard, and I am satis
fied that in these times it will not, as an institution, long survive its
usefulness. In relation to a matter of such importance, I do not
think myself entitled to look on in silence, and to witness the break
ing up of a fabric which our fathers esteemed so highly, without
openly pointing out what I regard as the source of the peril, and its
remedy. It may be that I err, as others have done, or may fail of suc
cess in convincing those who are competent to remove the evil, but
I shall at least have satisfied my own mind. To me, personally, the
event is unimportant, and is in the disposal of that superintending
beneficence which formerly brought the Church of Scotland out of
much peril from internal error, not less than from external hostility.
That Church has long assumed as its emblem the burning bush of

2 CHAPTER I. [cent. xvi.
the Hebrew Prophet, which was not consumed by the fire. I trust
and hope that the conservative angel will still be found there, or will
return thither, and expel any foul spirit that for a time may have
usurped his station.
But, observe, it is the Protestant Established Church of Scotland
that I value. If it shall be found that the principles of the Refor
mation are deserted, and that the spirit of Popery is not only at
work, but in ascendancy, then if that spirit be not subdued, desert
ed, and quelled, as it formerly was, it will be in vain to point to the
ancient emblem — the burning bush ; the establishment that formerly
lighted the land to glory and virtue will sink into blackness and
darkness. It will hereafter be seen that I value also the Protestant Christ
ian Church in Scotland, although not patronized by the State.
But for reasons to be assigned, I am satisfied that we cannot safely,
as a Christian people, want the aid of that Established Church,
which so long has been the light and pride of our native land. I
think I can show that there is nothing truly new in the present dis
cussions — that old passions, and old pretensions, are at work ; — and
I trust that the evil which is in these requires only to be distinctly
seen and understood to be put down. True, the present age has
exhibited much reluctance to take lessons from history, or to learn
wisdom from the proceedings of our fathers. This has been and is
the misfortune of the present period, in which presumptuous specu
lations are substituted for the lessons of experience to be derived
from past times ; but I trust that in a question about our religion,
which is essentially connected with historical events, the ancient
proceedings of our kings and people will not be disregarded.
On deserting the idolatry, the frivolous superstitions, and the lax
morality of Paganism, the first Christians could not fail to exhibit
an example of much purity and humanity in their sentiments and
conduct. But the spirit of evil found means to assail them in a
quarter in which in our own land, the human character, even when
strengthened by the established Christian law, has been found weak
and vulnerable. In proportion as the first Christians prospered, their

CENT. XVI.J CHAPTER I. 3
office-bearers were seized with ambition, which ultimately mingled
itself with the meaner passion of avarice.
Wealthy proselytes made grants of lands and houses to support
their poorer Christian brethren, or to afford subsistence to the office
bearers of the Church. These funds were entrusted to the manage
ment of the office-bearers, who were thus placed under temptation
to administer to their own dignity and luxury.
After the Roman emperors and the barbarous princes who di
vided their empire of the West into the kingdoms of modern
Europej became Christians, the building of a Church was a volun
tary act of piety, usually accompanied with a grant of a part of the
produce of certain lands to support the officiating priest. Under
the appellation of patron, the founder of a church was held entitled
to nominate the priest, at whose death the church and its acces
sories, viz., the house of provision made for the priest, fell back to
tbe patron as his heir, and remained at his disposal. But having
once been devoted to the Church, the clergy so managed matters,
that the church and the provision for the priest could not easily be
withdrawn, and was granted to a successor.
The European clergy, under the advice of Augustin, the African
Bishop of Hippo, contended that they, as successors of the Levites of
Israel, were entitled to the tithes of all lands and of all profits gained
by Christians. The illiterate barbarians to whom the claim was
addressed were unable to distinguish between the case of the
Levites, who had families to be supported, and were forbidden to
hold lands, and the case of Christian priests and monks, who
greedily sought and held grants of lands, and of whom all the
monks, and even in that age many of the priesthood, lived in celi
bacy. Charles the Great (Charlemagne) being anxious to subdue
his warlike turbulent barons by the influence of the clergy, gave
countenance to their claim to the tithes, and thereafter the clergy
of Europe represented their right to the tithes as a point of ortho
dox doctrine, which it was heretical to dispute.
Here the avarice of the more influential orders of the clergy in
terfered. They alleged that the tithes were due to the Church, but

4 CHAPTER I. [cent. XVI.
not necessarily to the parish priest. The founder of a church had
usually devoted the tithes of his adjoining lands to the subsistence
of the ofiiciating priest A patron was now frequently induced to
convey the church to the abbot and monks of some convent of great
reputed sanctity, or to convey the church to the bishop of some
particular see, or to the dean and chapter attached to a certain ca
thedral or bishoprick. The tithes being regarded as accessories, or
appendages to the church, a conveyance of a church transferred to
the grantee the glebe, manse, and tithes, connected with it. Thus
the tithes of parishes became the property of persons resident at a
distance, who were perpetual patrons of the particular church so
transferred. These patrons usually sent some poor priest, with a
paltry remuneration, 'under the name of curate or vicar, to perform
the parochial duties.
Monasteries, bishops, and deans and chapters, also obtained grants
of large estates from superstitious proprietors, when dying, to secure
the salvation of their souls, by the interest of the clergy. The
bishops, deans, and abbots, became lords of great baronies, with
numerous vassals. These high dignitaries easily obtained from the
Pope the privilege of paying no tithes for their lands, and of acting
by curates or vicars, where they were owners of whole parishes.
Thus, in Scotland, the clergy acquired the property of nearly
one-half of all the valuable part of the lands of the kingdom, and
the tithes of the remainder.
When the tempest, which in the Continent of Europe gradually
gathered against ecclesiastical ambition and corruption, had reached
its height in Luther's Reformation, it ultimately rolled to the North
west, and found Scotland in a state well prepared for the explosion
of a revolution. While the dignified clergy and the monks lived in
great splendour and affluence, eclipsing the highest nobles, and
even the Crown itself, the scanty pittance allowed to the parish
priests scarcely afforded them bread, although, by the Popish law of
celibacy now fully established, they were not like other men bur-
thened with the support of wives and children. The parish clergy,
associating habitually with the common people, and much indebted

CENT. XVI.] CHAPTER I. 5
to them for hospitality, eagerly denounced the tyrannical avarice,
and the luxury and ostentation of their lorldly superiors : And, so
far as their slender learning enabled them, the parish priests ex
plained the difference between the vices of their ecclesiastical
rulers, and the humility and temperance enjoined on the teachers
of religion by the Christian law.
These denunciations of clerical pride, ostentation, and luxury,
were very favourably received by the nobles and higher gentry,
who viewed with jealousy the power, and, with intense cupidity, the
wealth of the Church. They knew that a large share of the spoils
of that body had, in England, been conferred on noble families, or
others favoured by the Crown, and that in this way, many families
had been enriched by obtaining great estates, consisting of lands
that had belonged to the monasteries. The Scottish nobles longed
for similar events. The power of the Crown, long vested in
regents, could not long support the falling Church, undermined as
it was from below, and deserted or assailed by the feudal chiefs, or
military nobles of the land.
A universal and intense excitement was created against Popery,
and the whole of its worship and rites, and the ostentations and ce
remonial by which for ages it had ruled the human mind. The re
forming preachers were eagerly listened to, and to all appearance
became the leaders, and almost the chiefs of the nation. The great
revolution proceeded, but under circumstances of disorder which
render it difficult to understand clearly the political and religious
history of Scotland, from the death of James V. in December 1542,
or rather after the assassination of Cardinal Beaton, in 1547, during
a period of 1 20 years. The minds of men had been so completely
inflamed into a hatred of Popery, that this hatred as a ruling prin
ciple mingled itself with all political events. The unstable govern
ment of successive regencies, and the altered policy of the Scottish
kings on their succession to the crown, of the greater and wealthier
kingdom of England, contributed to maintain or augment the flame
kindled by Wish art, Knox, and other teachers of the Reformation.

6 CHAPTER I. [cent. xvi.
From the eagerness of the nobles to obtain a pretext for invading
the property acquired and possessed by the ancient establishment,
the Protestant party found little difiiculty in obtaining from the
Scottish Parliament a sanction to their doctrines. On 24th August
1560, one act was -passed annulling the authority of the Pope, and
another act, sanctioning, as the religion of the kingdom, a Protestant
Confession of Faith. The assailants of the Roman Church in Scot
land adopted generally the doctrines of Calvin of Geneva, as ex-
pressedin the Thirty-nine Articles of the English Protestant Church,
of the days of Queen Elizabeth.
A most important question among all Protestants related to the
authority of the Church, whether as vested in a General Council, or
rather in the Pope, who wielded the executive power of the Church.
The Pope had claimed, in relation to rehgion or spiritual matters,
the character and station of viceroy on earth of the Lord Jesus Christ
.^-of sole and infallible depository of the mind and will of the invisible
Head of the Christian Church — that the Pope, as vested with
this authority, and as possessed by inspiration of infallible wisdom,
is the final and supreme judge of all matters connected with reli
gion, moral, political, or ceremonial, public or private, national or
domestic. The Pope, in virtue of his infallible wisdom, claimed
the exclusive privilege of determining what constituted a religious
or spiritual question ; all kings and rulers were accounted bound to
take their instructions from him, and to enforce his decrees ; disobe
dience was rebellion against the sovereignty of heaven, to be punished
here and hereafter by the most direful penalties; deposition of princes
and ruin of lower persons, by confiscation, tortures, and death.
All this was reprobated by the Protestant teachers. They alleged,
that it is only by and through the sacred Scriptures that the will of
Christ is known, and the truths of his religion revealed. That by ob
taining translated copies of these, every man might despise the pre
tended inspiration and infallible wisdom of the Roman Church. As
to the jurisdiction of the Church, the Reformers taught that the
civil government of every independent state is, in all respects*

CENT. XVI.] CHAPTER I. 7
supreme within itself, in regard to religious no less than civil go
vernment. In their Confession of Faith of 1560, the Scottish Refor
mers (see Statutes 1567, Chap. 3, Sect. 25) said concerning the civil
rulers, whether emperors, kings, &c., that they are " the lieutenants
of God, in whose sessions God himself doth sit and judge." " More
over, to kings, princes, rulers, and magistrates, we assume, that
chiefly and most principally the conservation and purgation of the
religion appertains, so that not only they are appointed for civil
policy, but also for maintenance of the true religion, and for sup
pressing of all idolatry and superstition whatsoever." In the same
Confession, (§ 20 and 21,) the supreme authority of the sacred
Scriptures is asserted, that General Councils of the Church have
fallen, and are liable to fall, into error.
The earliest Scottish Protestants, apparently anxious- to remove,
as far as possible, not only from the doctrines, but also from the forms,
of the Roman Church, framed with that view their system of admini
stration of religious affairs and public worship. The form was de
rived from Geneva, and was styled Presbyterian, or Eldership. They
instituted a Court of Elders in every parish, called the Kirk-Ses
sion, every member of which has an equal vote, with the exception
that one of the members is the teaching or preaching elder or mi
nister. .He presides at the meetings of the Kirk-session, but has
merely a casting vote in the event of an equal division in the votes
of the other elders, who are styled ruling elders. The teaching
elder or minister is expected to devote his whole time to ecclesias
tical duty, and to be paid for his services, whereas the ruling elders
act gratuitously. They assist him in the administration of the Eu
charist, giving round supplies of the bread and wine, the minister
merely being the sole speaker.
Above the Kirk-session is the Presbytery, consisting of the mi
nisters of a district, and a ruling elder elected by each kirk-session.
Here, also, a teaching elder or minister always by custom presides,
and has only a casting vote in the event of a division. Above the Pres
bytery is the Provincial Synod, consisting of a Convention of the
Presbyteries of the Province, and here a minister presides, having no

8 CHAPTER I. [CENT. XVI.
deliberative vote, but only a casting vote. Above all is the General
Assembly, being a representative body, consisting of a ruling elder
from each royal burgh and university, and of ministers and elders
elected by the Presbyteries, but so regulated, that the ministers form
a majority of the General Assembly.
From this description of the Constitution, it might be supposed
that the Church of Scotland is entirely ruled by laymen. This,
however, is far from being the practical effect of that Constitution.
By means of it the first preachers were enabled to select for the
office of elders the most influential of their converts — thus they
stimulated the ambition of individuals to give aid to the great work.
When the system was established it gave influence to the clergy.
The members of the Kirk-session nominated their own successors,
but the minister, being professionally learned, and devoting his whole
time to ecclesiastical duties, had practically the selection of the elders,
and thereby the means of gratifying a fair ambition for parochial
respectability. The effect also has been, at all times, to place in re
ligious affairs a class of respectable persons, under the influence of
the Clergy.
Thus, the Scottish Protestant Clergy very soon formed themselves
into an ecclesiastical aristocracy. While the Ruling Elders were only
set apart for their office by the ceremony of a prayer by the parish
minister, the clergy speedily assumed the solemnity of consecrating
the ministers by what they called Ordination, viz,, the other mini
sters of the Presbytery placed their hands on the head of the new
minister, while the President (Moderator) of the Presbytery pro
nounced a long extemporary prayer. This was said to be done in
imitation of the Apostolical Elders, who, in that way, communicated
the gift of inspiration. For a short time the Protestant teachers
elected Superintendents, such as Knox and others, who occasionally
went in circuit over the country to review the proceedings of the
clergy ; but after the death of Knox that institution was abolished.
As soon as the Presbyterian clergy of Scotland conceived them
selves to be sufficiently popular and influential, a very singular
contest occurred, which it is impossible for a friend of the Pro-

CENT. XVI.] CHAPTER I. 9
testant faith to contemplate without regret. The Spirit of Evil
found the new clergy vulnerable in the same quarter in which he
had, with fatal success, effected the ruin of the progenitors of our
race. " Ye shall be as Gods." The Protestant faith destroyed the
sacerdotal aristocracy, so far as it had claimed supremacy of juris
diction over the other orders of society. The Presbyterian clergy
were seized with the spirit of ambition and avarice. On the merit
of their sound doctrine they attempted to place themselves, as nearly
as possible, in the position that had been held by the Roman
Church. They claimed the whole property held by that Church,
as a patrimony belonging to the Presbyterian Church, and a similar
divine or spiritual ascendancy or supremacy over all orders of the state.
They framed and put forth two treatises, styled Books of Discipline,
the first in 1560, and the second in 1578. By tbe First Book of Dis
cipline the new clergy (as quoted by Sir John Connell on Tithes,
vol. i. p. 143) claimed the tithes of "hay, hemp, lint, cheese, fish,
calf, veal, lamb, wool, and all sorts of corn." They farther claimed
" all things dotated to hospitality in times past, with all annualrents,
both to burgh and land, pertaining to priests, chantries, colleges,
chaplainries, and friars of all orders, to the Sisters of the Seynes,
and all others of that sort." " Likewise the whole revenues of the
temporalities of bishops, deans, and archdeacons, with all rents of
lands pertaining to cathedral churches, which must be applied to the
entertainment of Superintendents and Universities." They farther
complained bitterly that the " tyranny of priests is turned into the
tyranny of lords and lairds."
By the Second Book of Discipline, the Presbyterian clergy exalt
ed the power ecclesiastical a spiritual vested in them. They repre
sented it as proceeding from " God the Father, through the Mediator
Jesus Christ." That this power and policy " should be taken from
the pure fountain of the Scriptures, the Kirk hearing the voice of
Christ, the only spiritual King, and being ruled by his laws." As to
the civil power, it was said, " The ministers exercise not civil juris
diction, but teach the magistrate how it should be exercised accord-

10 CHAPTER I. [cent. xvi.
ing to the word." " The magistrate handles only external things
and actions done before men," but " the spiritual rulers judge both
inward affections and external actions, in respect of conscience, by
the Word of God." As to ecclesiastical office-bearers, it was said
that they ought to be selected " by the judgment of the eldership"
and consent of the congregation. — It is obvious that a body of Clergy
empowered to instruct the civil government, in reality to rule that-
government, according to what they style their conscience, must
speedily have absorbed the whole authority of the State.
In reality, the Presbyterian clergy fell back into the grand heresy
of Popery, not, indeed, into the idolatry and superstitious practices
of that Church, but into the passions of ambition and avarice, for
the gratification of which all the Roman superstitions and observ
ances had been invented and enforcd.
A contest ensued between two parties — the crown and nobles on
the one side, and the Presbyterian clergy on the opposite side. The
prize to be won consisted of the whole of the immense property
that had belonged to the Roman Church in Scotland, together vdth
the Ecclesiastical authority of that body.
A historian of great accuracy,* who has treated the proceedings of
the last Stuart princes with much severity, has, at the same timCj,.
I fear, too correctly described the efforts and bearing of the earlier
Presbyterian ministers : " Notwithstanding the ridicule which some
ingenious authors have attempted to throw on the Scotch clergy of
this period, there are many traces of profound abiUty and extensive-
learning. But, like all bodies of men, their ambition was fully com
mensurate, and their influence with the people promised success
to their schemes. Their language and proceedings indicated a
claim to papal power, as well as infallibility, by means of their As
semblies. They arrogated the right of discussing State affairs in
the pulpit, and of arraigning all men, from the cottage, to the
throne, even upon bruits or rumours, and uncertain information ;
and the jurisdiction claimed by the Church was separated by no.
• See Brodie's History of the British Empire, vol. i, p, 398.

CENT. XVI. J CHAPTER I. 11
I definite line from that of other courts; but, under the pretext of
censuring immorality, embraced almost every offence against morals
or society. Nor could even unjust ecclesiastical censures be then,
as now, despised. Excommunication inferred, by statute, civil rebel
lion by outlawry ; and, with such keenness was the right of inflict
ing this punishment maintained, that the Assembly declared that
the king had as little power to relax a notoriously unjust sentence,
as to pronounce it."
The exertions and arts of the clergy were met by equal efforts
and dexterity. Perceiving that the main strength of the clergy
lay in their supposed hostility to popery, which had become ex
ceedingly unpopular, the nobles had recourse, on their part, to a
declaration of at least as much enmity to popery as the ambitious
clergy could well assume. The nobles put forth what they de
nominated the National Covstiant, or Confession of Faith, which, at
a future period, became, with some additions, so renowned and
influential. It contained a general declaration of loyalty, and
abhorrence of mental reservations against an open assertion of
conviction of the truth, but is chiefly or almost entirely employed
as a manifesto against Popery. The subscribers mentioned the
Confession of Faith of 1560, inserted in the Statute Book in 1567,
adding, " To which Confession and Form of Religion we willingly
agree in our conscience in all points, as unto God's undoubted truth
and verity, grounded on his written word. And, therefore, we ab
hor and detest all contrary religion and doctrine, but chiefly all
kinds of papistry, in general and particular heads, even as they are
now damned and confuted by the word of God and Kirk of -Scot
land. But in special, we detest and refuse the usurped authority of
that Roman Antichrist upon the Scriptures of God, upon the kirk,
the civil magistrate, and the consciences of men — all his tyrannous
laws upon indifferent things against our Christian liberty — his er
roneous doctrine against the suflSciency of the written word, the
perfection of the law, the office of Christ, and his blessed Evangel —
his corrupted doctrine concerning original sin, our natural inabi
lity and rebellion to God's law, our justification by faith only.

12 CHAPTER I. [cent. XVI
our imperfect sanctification and obedience to the law — the nature,
number, and use of the sacraments — his five bastard sacraments, with
all his rites and ceremonies, and false doctrine, added to the mini
stration of the true sacraments, without the word of God — his
cruel judgment against infants departing without the sacrament ;
his absolute necessity of baptism ; his blasphemous opinion of tran-
substantiation, or real presence of Christ's body in the elements, and
receiving the same by the wicked, or bodies of men ; his dispensa- .
tion with solemn oaths, perjuries, and degrees of marriage forbidden
in the word ; his cruelty against the innocent divorced ; his devilish
mass ; his blasphemous priesthood ; his profane sacrifice for sins of
the dead and the quick ; his canonization of men ; calling upon
angels or saints departed; worshipping of imagery, relics, and crosses;
dedicating of kirks, altars, days ; vows to creatures ; his purgatory ;
prayers for the dead; praying or speaking in a strange language,
with his processions and blasphemous litany, and multitude of ad
vocates or mediators ; his manifold orders, auricular confession ;
his desperate and uncertain repentance ; his general and doubt-
some faith ; his satisfaction of men for their sins ; his justification by
works, opus operatum, works of supererogation, merits, pardons,
peregrinations, and stations ; his holy water, baptism of bells, con
juring of spirits, crossing, sayning, anointing, conjuring, hallowing
of God's good creatures, with the superstitious opinions joined there
with ; his worldly monarchy and wicked hierarchy; his three solemn
vows, with all his shavelings of sundry sorts ; his erroneous and
bloody decrees made at Trent, with all the subscribers or approvers
of that cruel and bloody band conjured against the kirk of God.
And, finally, we detest all his vain allegories, rites, signs, and tra
ditions, brought in the kirk, without or against the word of God,
and doctrine of this true reformed kirk, to the which we join our
selves," &c. There is added a solemn oath or vow of perpetual ad-
heirence. The clergy could not censure' this Confession of Faith cw: Covenant.
Hence, in their General Assembly of 1581, when they recorded in
their proceedings their Second Book of Discipline, which had been

CENT. XVI.] CHAPTER I. 13
published in 1579, they added an acknowledgment or sanction
in these terms : " Anent the Confession of Faith lately set forth by
the King's Majesty's proclamations, and subscribed by his High-
negs : The Kirk, in one voice, acknowledges the said Confession to
be a true and Christian Confession, to be agreed unto by such as
truly profess Christ and the true religion, and the tenor whereof to
be followed out, as the same is laid out in the said Parliament."
This Confession of Faith, or National Covenant, became the most
important fact in the history of Scotland, during 120 years posterior
-to the date of its publication. By an order of the Privy Council,
all persons were required, under severe threats of prosecution, to de
clare their adherence to it by subscription. It was again subscribed
and sworn to in 1590, and took such a deep hold of the popular
mind, that an extreme abhorrence of Popery became the ruling re
ligious characteristic of Scotsmen. Although originally in the reign
of King James VI. a courtly measure, it afterwards became against
that prince, and his son and grandsons, a bulwark which no force
could destroy, or a principle that persecution only tended to confirm,
or a standard in defence of which the common- people were at all
times ready to rush to arms. Presbyterianism was popular, because
united with the Covenant, and Episcopacy became odious, because
held hostile to that test of nationality, not less than of orthodox faith.
The Covenant or Confession baffled and defeated the clergy's
Boohs of Discipline, neither of which were ever sanctioned by Par
liament. The Covenant specially points out the instruments and
weapons by which the Roman clergy had reared, and so long main
tained, the vast fabric of their power, riches, and ascendancy.
The Presbyterian clergy were an army who went to war without
weapons for defence or attack. They had beaten down the ancient
fortress of superstitious observances, and stood exposed to the scru
tiny of men on the naked basis of truth, and of those Scriptures
which had been put into the hands of the whole of the people. But
the Scotsmen of that age had no desire to elevate their new teachers
to the station of wealth, and habits of luxury of their predecessors.
In the New Testament, they did not even find a word about pay-

14 CHAPTER I. [cent, xvi.
ment of tithes (teinds) to the Apostles, or the exaction of them by
Paul or Peter ; although the vulgar taste of the populace might be
gratified by the licence taken by their new preachers, in censur
ing men of rank, they made no attempt to resist the plunder, of
the ancient Church establishment. It occurred in the most irre
gular forms. The dignitaries of the fallen Church alienated their
lands and rentals to their kindred, or to purchasers, for a small price,
and granted leases at small rents, for an immense number of years.
The Crown made similar alienations, and appointed nominal bi
shops, deans, abbots, &c., for the purpose of causing them to resign,*
or make grants of their revenues. The nobles trusted that they
might be able to defend the possession which they should attain,
and others hoped to obtain some legal confirmation of their titles.
At length, there was passed, on James VI. attaining ^ the age of
21 years, (legal majority,) the Act 1587, c. 29, annexing to the
Crown the whole property of the ancient Church, but under special
exceptions of many of the previous irregular alienations.
The Protestant clergy had, in the meanwhile, merely obtained a
general grant, that a third of the old benefices should be collected,
and applied to their support, but the grant never proved available
as an effectual provision, the produce being intercepted, or never
collected; but they obtained some benefices from magistrates of
burghs, who generally gave them some support out of the funds of
the burgh. They seem, in reality, to have depended much on the
liberality of the wealthier members of their congregations. The
Books of Discipline, with the lofty pretensions which they contained,
having been beaten down and deserted, the clergy obtained a reguv
lar constitution under legislative authority. After various conferences
between their leaders and the king in person, the important act
1592, cap. 1 14, was passed, which has been styled the great Charter
of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland. The statute authorizes the
meeting of General Assemblies of the Kirk, and thereafter confirms
certain articles " agreed upon by his Majesty in conference had by
his highnesse, with certain of the ministers conveened to that effect."
The articles are recited in the Statute, and refer to Provincial Sy-

CENT. XVI.] CHAPTER I. 15
nods. Presbyteries, styled also Elderships, and parochial sessions,
all which, are sanctioned. All previous statutes in favour of popery
are repealed. The statute 1584, cap. 129, enacting tbe judicial su
premacy of the king and his council over all persons spiritual and
temporal, is declared not to deprive the ecclesiastical office-bearers
of their privilege of censure, in matters of " heresie, excommuni
cation, collation, or deprivation of ministers, or any sicklike essen
tial censures specially grounded, and having warrant of tbe word of
God." Certain previous statutes are repealed, or sanctioned, or ex
plained, in order to render the new statute effectual. This very im
portant Act of Parliament concludes in these terms : " Ordains all
presentations to benefices to be direct to the particular Presbyteries
in all time coming, with full power to give collation thereupon.
And to put order to all matters and causes ecclesiastical within the
bounds, according to the discipline of the kirk : Providing the fore
said Presbyteries be bound aud astricted to receive and admit what-
sumever qualified minister presented by his Majesty, or laic pa
trons." In a legal point of view, the effect of this statute was to erect the
Ecclesiastical Eldership or Presbyterian Church of Scotland into an
incorporation, with the privileges attached to such institutions — the
power of holding meetings — of enacting bye-laws not inconsistent
with the general laws of the state — of suing, as a body, and defend
ing, in courts of law— of perpetual succession by the admission of
new members, but with this very special and peculiar stipulated re
striction, that no man should become a member of the incorporation,
in the character of a minister, or teaching or preaching elder, unless
nominated by the Crown, or some other patron of a church and
parish. Thus, at the close of a period of 34 years, from 1558, when the
system of Popery was borne down by a popular tempest, the Presby
terian system was legalized in its stead. The interval had been
turbulent ; but it ought never to be forgotten that the turbulence was
in part produced by the instructors of the nation, and was the result
of the fatal facility with which certain passions, aspiruig or sordid,

16 CHAPTER II, [cent. xvi.
SO readily gain an ascendancy over minds otherwise of great energy
and value. The Reformation rested on the principle that the
sacerdotal order have no right to supremacy of rank, jurisdiction, or
property, above the other orders of the state— ;that priests are mere
officers employed to perform certain public duties, and entitled to
be paid or supported, like other public servants — that they have such
authority as is necessary to the performance of their duty, and no
more — and that they are responsible to the rest of the community
for the faithful performance of the duty entrusted to them. The
Roman Church, on the contrary, had assumed the character of a
sacred aristocracy, endowed by heaven with supreme jurisdiction
over all classes of persons, and rendered its pretensions formidable
by the possession of great property and riches. This sacred aristo
cracy was abolished in Scotland by the Protestant Reformation, and
its lands confiscated. A body of officers were, on a totally new
principle, employed to manage the affairs connected with religion.
But it has been seen how soon this new body were seduced by the
passions that had corrupted their predecessors. They were happily
resisted by our forefathers, and became not the rulers but the useful
servants of the community — teachers of the Christian faith, which
they recommended by the purity of their lives. But it will presently
be seen that the same passions continue to influence the minds of
men, and require to be guarded against, not less than in the days of
our ancestors.

CHAPTER II.

HISTORICAL.

The Presbyterian form of administering religious affairs being
thus established, it so happened, that by future events it became
united with the National Covenant in the minds of the people. Hence

CENT. XVII.J CHAPTER II. 17
the two combined were adhered to by them with the tenacity which
has always formed a conspicuous feature of the Scottish character.
The introduction of Lay Elders into the administration of religion
tended to diffuse and perpetuate any opinion or prejudice that had
gained popular force.
To these elders, whatever had the semblance of Popery was odious.
They admitted of nothing ostentatious in religion — no consecration
of churches, or splendour in the fabric — no instrumental music in
the service. The person of the minister was adorned by no robe
of ceremony. He was severely tasked, and forced to work hard for
his money. He was aided by no Service-Book, but required to
pour forth all the public prayers from the resources of his own mind.
He was farther expected to make long sermons, to visit the sick,
and even every householder, and to catechise all and sundry. It
does not appear that at this time the clergy had any enthusiastic
attachment to the system, or rather they gradually fell down from
the high zeal and influence which they had possessed during the
first explosion, or first years of the great revolution. But new events
occurred which brought forward active and ardent spirits upon the
public field. I allude to the rising in Scotland against King
Charles L, which led to the Civil War in England, and the dethrone
ment and death of that Prince, and a suspension of the Monarchy,
On this part of Scottish history an erroneous opinion has recently
been propagated, that the celebrated General Assembly held at
Glasgow in 1639, and the triumph of the Covenants, proceeded from
the clergy. To understand this important part of the national history,
it must be kept in view, that in 1603 King James VI, succeeded to
the Crown of England, on the death of Queen Elizabeth, He be
came speedily attached to the Episcopalian form of administration
of religion — to its high dignitaries, and more splendid ceremonial.
He prevailed with the Scottish Parliament, in 1611, to restore
Episcopacy in Scotland, and he endowed the bishops with such
fragments of the funds of the Popish clergy as had remained un
alienated in possession of the Crown. In 1617 he made a visit to
Scotland. He contrived to make certain General Assemblies of
B

18 CHAPTER II, [cent, XVII.
the Church sufficiently subservient to his will; but, unhappily,
he was accompanied by Laud, afterwards tbe superstitious and mis
chievous Archbishop of Canterbury. Apparently, by the counsel
of that Prelate, James was induced not to rest satisfied with the pos
session of power, but further to demand the ostentation of submission
to his will, by the admission of ceremonials prescribed by him. He
prevailed with a General Assembly at Perth to give a sanctibn to
Five Articles. These were, 1st, That the Sacrament of the Lord's
Supper should be received kneeling ; 2d, That it might be admini
stered privately to the sick ; 3d, That baptism might be administered
privately ; 4th, That children of eight years of age should be cate
chised by the minister, (confirmed ;) 5th, Various days were set
apart as religious festivals.
The first of these was most offensive to the Scottish Eldership.
In considering a formality which long practice has led the English
nation to regard merely as a decent expression of respect for the or
dinance, it may now be difficult to account for the obstinacy of the
Scots in resisting it, and still more for the imprudence of that
Prince and his successor in forcing it on a fierce and turbulent
people. The Scots regarded the kneeling at the Sacrament as a
recognition of what they regarded as the most obvious act of idol
atry in the whole of the Popish system, viz,, the Doctrine of Tran-
substantiation, or that the body and blood of Christ are actually
present in the elements, and are offered up as a sacrifice every time
that the Sacrament is administered. The Scottish Elders having
read the New Testament with the rest of the people, reasoned thus :
When';Christ, instituting a certain ceremonial in commemoration
of his approaching death, and said, " This is my body, eat ye all of
it," — " This is my blood, drink ye all of it," he did not mean that his
disciples were engaged in a cannibal feast, tearing in pieces and
eating the flesh, and drinking the blood of their Master, who all the
while sat among them entire, uttering much valuable doctrine, and
perhaps himself partaking of the same bread and the same cup.
The Scotch said, that to pretend, on the Latin words being uttered
by a priest. Hoc est corpus meum, (This is my body,) a morsel of

CENT, XVII,] CHAPTER II. 19
bread, generally a wafer, is instantly converted into the Saviour,
soul, body, and divinity, that is, into the Eternal God, the Second
Person of the Holy Trinity, and that men ought to fall down and
worship the wafer, is a more blasphemous and absurd form of idol
atry than Paganism ever invented ; and that the kneeling to receive
the elements is not only a departure from the form of the cere
monial as instituted, but is an avowal of worship offered to these
elements, which are mere inanimate creatures of God, That such
kneeling or worship, therefore, is tbe precise description of the most
gross idolatry. By the discussion of this question, a strong jealousy
was awakened in the minds of the populace, that an intention to
restore Popery existed on the part of government.
James VI. having died in 1623, he was succeeded by his son
Charles I. This prince, led by Laud, endeavoured to innovate still
farther, by imposing a Liturgy upon the Scottish (Jhurch. He also
gave extraordinary countenance to the bishops and clergy, whom he
raised to the highest offices in tbe civil or political government of
the country. These proceedings were rendered fatal by another
measure. In consequence of his disputes with his English Parliament,
Charles I. became embarrassed by great pecuniary difficulties. For
some alleviation of these, he appears to have looked to Scotland,
apparently a strange quarter from which, in those days, to expect
relief of that description. It will be recollected, however, that the pos
sessions in Scotland of the Roman Church were immense, and, on its
extinction, the Crown was held entitled to succeed to the vacant rights.
But the Romish Clergy, as already stated, had themselves, in contem
plation of the fall of their system, made great alienations to their
kindred, or for money, or granted leases for quit-rents for long pe
riods, or perpetual feus for nominal rents. The Regents had made
great alienations during the Royal minority, and the King himself
spontaneously, and in violation of the statute, annexing the Church
property to the Crown, had illegally made vast alienations. The
result was, that the possessors of Church property, whether lands or
tithes, including the highest and most powerful families, were at all

20 CHAPTER II. [cent. xvii.
times in a state of apprehension of a counter revolution. They were
aware that their titles to the Church property were defective or il
legal. They feared at one time the Reforming Clergy, at another
time the Popish party ; but above all, they were from time to time
rendered jealous of the growing attachment of the King to the
higher orders of ecclesiastics, and to the splendid ceremonial inci
dental to Episcopacy, and above all to Popery. The uneasiness
which had always existed burst forth into a flame, in consequence
of Charles I. having executed a regular deed of revocation of all
grants of Church lands and tithes made by his father and others.
He afterwards raised actions in the Court of Session, concluding
for reduction of these grants. The grounds of his actions were, that
Churchmen had no power to alienate the property of the Church,
though authorized by the Crown, and that property annexed to the
Crown could not legally be alienated, without a previous recal of
the annexation by Parliament.
The nobles and gentry speedily combined to defend their acqui
sitions. The King, finding the combination alarmingly formidable,
it was alleged that his only object was to obtain for the clergy a
subsistence out of the tithes. This suggestion was calculated to
divide, and thereby to weaken the combination. The only effect of
it ultimately was to secure that provision for the Established Church
which it has since enjoyed, and to enable owners of lands to obtain
their tithes to be valued, and thereafter never to be liable for more
than the value so fixed. But no modification of his views which
the King could announce was capable of allaying the terror which
he had excited, more especially as his avowed prejudice in favour of
a costly church, having high dignitaries, remained. The nobles and
gentry, in their alarm, availed themselves of the known counter-pre
judice of the Scottish people for the simplicity of worship most alien
to Popery. They got up a new edition of the National Covenant, with
additions, and specially an addition rejecting the Five Articles of
Perth. The highest nobles united with the inhabitants of towns and
villages, and whole body of the common people, in subscribing
and swearing to their adherence to the Covenant. In itself, it was

CENT, XVII,] CHAPTER II. 21
merely a union against Popery, and, from the time and circumstan
ces in which it Was brought forward, it explains what it was that the
mass of the common people of Scotland feared — why they became
inflamed against the Crown, and how it happened that the zeal for
the Covenant appeared to seize all ranks. Men had various motives —
the populace were moved by religious views, and the gentry by anxiety
to protect the titles by which they held their lands and tithes.
Meanwhile, a General Assembly of tbe Church had been sum
moned to be held at Glasgow in 1639. This was seized upon as an
opportunity for consolidating the opposition to the Crown, by giving
to it the popular aspect of a struggle in defence exclusively of pure
i'eligion. But the clergy were no longer the bold adventurers,
whose intrepid eloquence shook the nation — assailed and overturned
the ancient and established system of Popery, and afterwards at
tempted to seize its power and property, in rivalship of the Crown
and warlike Barons, They were now in general merely peaceful
Protestant ministers — fathers of families — supported by slender sti
pends — even their number at that time was not great. They rea
sonably feared to engage in a contest with the King, not of Scot
land merely, but of two other kingdoms, each of them greater than
Scotland, The timidity of the clergy is demonstrated by the mea
sures adopted to influence the Assembly, Care was taken so to
manage the elections of ruling elders, that men of high influence or
ability were chosen. As a farther precaution, five assessors were
sent with every member, to encourage him in assenting to whatever
spirited resolutions should be adopted. The rest is matter of history.
The Scots rushed to arms ; the King's discontented English troops
were driven from the Border of Scotland ; the King was constrain
ed to summon an English Parliament, which engaged in civil war
against him. The Parliament borrowed military aid from the Scots,
A treaty of alliance was concluded between the English Parliament
and the Scottish leaders, styled the Solemn League and Covenant.
It stipulated for mutual aid, declaring its object to be the reforma
tion of religion in England and Ireland; and that the subscribers
•would " endeavour the extirpation of Popery, Prelacy, Bishops, (viz.

22 CHAPTER II, [CBNT. XVII.
Deans, &c,,) superstition, heresy, schism, profaneness, " &c. This
Covenant was numerously subscribed in England and Scotland.
The combination is well known to have finally effected the deposition
and death of King Charles I,, and a suspension of the monarchy
during the military usurpation of Cromwell,
In the meanwhile, in Scotland, the General Assembly and its
Commission, or General Committee, was found a convenient form
of carrying into effect the plans of the ruling party, by the facility
with which popular and active individuals could obtain access to it
as members. The Convention of Estates obeyed its will, and whe^i
some years of civil war had cooled the ardour of the nation, the Com
mission attempted to excite the decaying zeal of the people, by com
manding the Covenants to be subscribed and sworn to anew. They
sent a deputation to concur with the Parliament of England in
framing a standard of orthodoxy — and the Westminster Confession
of Faith was accordingly prepared. As the royal authority was
suspended, and many of the nobles became of doubtful zeal, there
was procured from the Convention of Estates an abolition of ecclesi
astical patronage and authority to the Assembly, to regulate the ap
pointment of parish ministers. The Assembly directed that the
elders should elect the minister, with the approbation of the con
gregation. But the monarchy, being restored In the person of King
Charles II., Episcopacy was restored both in England and Scot
land, The restoration of Episcopacy in Scotland proved a most
unhappy measure, because the general body of the common people,
and many of the gentry, had been led to regard it as a prelude to the
introduction of Popery, The Covenant had, in reality, been from
first to last an instrument of the nobles and gentry, who had acquired
the lands and tithes of the Roman Church, The Covenant in 1581
was used to put down the clamour of the clergy against the alleged
unsoundness of the nobles as to religion. In 1 639 it was, with addi
tions, got up to protect the titles to the Roman Church property,
and the alarm stated was, that Popery was approaching under the
form of Episcopacy, a Liturgy, and the Articles of Perth. The effect
was, that the swearing the Covenants had fixed in the minds of .

CBNT. XVII.] CHAPTER III, 23
ordinary persons an utter abhorrence of whatever seemed allied to
Popery. In the meanwhile, the holders of the Roman Church
property, having become satisfied that King Charles II, had no de
sire to disturb their possession, they, in return, easily consented to
gratify him by assenting to the restoration of Episcopacy. But the
mass of the people having acted sincerely under a terror of Episcopacy,
as identical with Popery, retained and acted on that impression. Dis
sent from the established religion being illegal, those were liable to
severe penalties who refused to attend the churches, from adherence
to an obligation, supposed to result from having sworn to the Cove
nants, The Government, urged on by the clergy, attempted to en
force uniformity in religion, and much oppression ensued. The more
zealous adherents of the Covenant, still regarding Episcopacy as
Popery in disguise, resorted to remote mountains and glens, where
religious service was performed by equally zealous ministers. They
were pursued thither by bodies of military, and, on resistance, and
occasionally unresisting, they were slaughtered without mercy. This
gave rise to some ill concerted attempt at insurrection, and in one
case, by the murder of Archbishop Sharpe, occasioned by his having
come suddenly on a meeting of a few men exasperated by oppression.
This miserable state of things was terminated in 1688, by the exile
of King James VH,, (of England II,) and the accession of WiUiam
III, and Mary, as King and Queen, A change of system with
regard to religion was then adopted, to which I shall next advert.

CHAPTER III.
TOLERATION IN HILIGION.  THE REVOLUTION OF 1688.
The governments of the most distinguished and powerful nations
have not only patronized some particular system of religion, but
have held it to be of great political importance to establish uni-

24 CHAPTER HI, [cent. xvn.
formity of religion. The Roman Senate regulated the religion, or
rather the religious ceremonials of Rome. As no question was
seriously broached about religious truth, the power thus assumed
by the Senate, and by certain magistrates, was never regarded as
an encroachment on the liberties of the people. To accommodate
the natives of the nations whom they conquered, the Senate ad
mitted their gods into the number of the gods of Rome, and allowed
temples to be constructed for their worship. This principle, how
ever, that the religion of the State must be adopted by all the mem
bers of the community, led to the persecution of the first Christians.
The Senate and the Emperors would scarcely have hesitated to
enrol Christ among the number of the deities, more especially as
there is reason to believe that Pontius Pilate had reported to govern
ment the fact of the resurrection of the virtuous teacher and phy
sician, whom he held to have become a martyr to the malice of the
Jewish priesthood. But it was found, that the worship enjoined
by Christ was incompatible with every other worship, and that his
followers treated with contempt and aversion the entire religion of
Imperial Rome, and all the gods of Rome. Hence, even the best
emperors, such as the philosophic and virtuous Marcus Antoninus,
were persecutors of the Christians. Antoninus was aware of the
effect of religion as a restraint on the vices of men, but he could not
believe it to be possible, that a spiritual religion, destitute of idols
and of sacrifices, could ever have any influence on the minds or
conduct of the ordinary multitude of mankind. He, therefore,
attempted, by severity, to compel the Christians to worship as others
worshipped, lest, by their avowed contempt of the gods, they should
undermine, or utterly extinguish, the useful rehgious sentiments
entertained by their neighbours.
When Christianity was sanctioned by the Emperors of Rome, the
same principle was adopted of the importance of establishing uni
formity in religion. An error in doctrine being regarded as en
dangering the eternal safety of men, it was held equally important
to put it down, as it would be to punish or put to silence a teacher of
assassination or robbery. They who differed in opinion from the

CENT. XVILJ CHAPTER III. 25
ruling party were styled heretics, and silenced or punished. The
Trinitarians and the Arians alternately hunted down and destroyed
each other. Both parties held it to be right to destroy the heretics;
and the only question to be settled was, which of the two was the
heretic. The beaten party held themselves to be martyrs to the
cause of truth, and exclaimed against tbe persecution ; or, in other
words, against the severity with which the law was enforced by
those who, for the time, were the strongest, and thereby made or
declared the law.
When the attempt to reform the Popish system became formid
able, the Roman Church persecuted with fire and sword, confisca
tions, tortures, and death, all those who denied or doubted the
infallible perfection and wisdom of all its doctrines, and the sacred-
ness of its whole establishment and ceremonial. On the other
hand, the Protestants, where they had power, destroyed the whole
establishments of Popery, and seized upon the property of the
ecclesiastical body. Both parties recognised the propriety and
justice of establishing uniformity of religion, and of suppressing
errors in doctrine. But the Protestants, in general, acted with
what was accounted humanity and mildness, when compared with
the Popish violence : usually avoiding the shedding of blood,
although, on the principle now referred to, John Calvin burned the
Socinian Servetus at Geneva. King Henry VIII., at one time, is
said to have hanged his Popish and burnt his Protestant subjects, as
both in error, or rebellious against religious truth as legally sanc
tioned. Nay, the French king made a concerted and sudden Mas
sacre of as many as possible of his Protestant subjects ; and the
Ecclesiastical Courts of Inquisition in Spain and Italy, directed the
civil magistrates to put to death, by the flames and by torture,
multitudes of men for the salvation of their souls, and the protection
of the community against tbe fatal crime of heresy.
In Britain, the Protestants became divided into two chief sects,
EpiscopaUans and Presbyterians. Both these parties adopted the
ancient principle, that the party in the right is entitled to put down
the party in the wrong, and to compel all men to adopt the form of

26 CHAPTER III. [cent. xvii.
worship sanctioned by the law. This, practically, resolved into a
privilege in favour of the stronger party to punish the weaker party
as rebels, in order to establish uniformity of faith in what the
superior party had adopted as pure religious doctrine or ceremonial.
So, in 1630, the Scottish Presbyterians put down Episcopacy, and
were themselves put down at the Restoration of Charles II. in 1660.
On this last occasion, the Royal Government acted, as already
stated, with such atrocious severity against the adherents of Presby
tery and the Covenants, as to cause tbe name and memory of the
last princes of the house of Stuart to be regarded in Scotland with
the most bitter animosity, especially by the common people.
Along with William HI. there arrived from Holland the doctrine
which had been occasionally suggested, but little respected in prac
tice, that religious faith, or opinion, whether as to doctrine or cere
monials, is a matter between God and every man, as an individual —
that his neighbour has no title to interfere with a man on the sub*
ject of his religion, if he give no trouble or offence to the commu
nity — do nothing hostile to the peace of society, or the laws enacted
for the protection of persons and property. On this principle, the
Toleration Act was passed in England. To understand the settle
ment in Scotland, resulting from the expulsion of James VII., and
the transfer of the crown to his daughter, Mary, and his nephew
and son-in-law, William, Prince of Orange, it must be kept in view,
that several measures were adopted, but not completed, till the reign
of Queen Anne.
The new government endeavoured to settle matters on a popular
footing, and for that purpose, to adopt the institutions established
antecedent to the Restoration of 1660 ; for that purpose, an Act was
passed (1689, Chap. 3) abolishing Prelacy, or the "superbrity
of any office in the Church above Presbyters." A Confession of
Faith had been framed at Westminster, by Commissioners appointed
by the Parliament of England, who had been joined by Commis
sioners from Scotland. It had, in 1647, been ratified by the Gene
ral Assembly of the Scottish Church. It was now adopted by the
legislature, by Statute 1690, Chap. 5, and inserted in the Statute

CENT. XVII.j CHAPTER III. 27
Books as the standard of the Established Religion of Scotland. The
same Parliament, however, passed the most important Act 1690,
Chap. 28, rescinding " all acts enjoining civil penalties on sen
tences of excommunication."
These sentences of the Church Courts had been formerly at
tended with severe consequences, particularly imprisonment and
confiscation of moveables, and of rents, till the excommunication
should be removed. This blow at the power of the Church was
sufficiently offensive to the Presbyterian clergy. They endeavoured
to evade the full force of the new law, by distinguishing between sen
tences, and the procedure tending to produce sentences of excom
munication. They still claimed the aid of the civil magistrates to
compel accused persons and witnesses to attend at the proceed
ings of the Church Courts, in the trial of causes. This gave rise to
the Statute of the 1 0th of Queen Anne, Chap. 7, Sect. 7, which
enacted, " That no civil pain, or forfeiture, or disability whatso
ever, shall be in any way incurred by any person or persons by reason
of any excommunication or proceedings, in order to excommunica
tion by the Church judicatories, in that part of Great Britain called
Scotland ; and all civil magistrates are hereby expressly prohibited
and discharged to force or compel any person or persons to appear
when summoned, or to give obedience to any such sentence when
pronounced, any law or practice to the contrary notwithstanding."
During the suspension of the royal authority antecedent to 1660,
when the royal rights of patronage could not be exerted, ministers
were appointed under the direction of the elders, with consent of
their neighbours of the parish. After the Revolution of 1688, an
attempt was made to adjust that matter by Statute 1690, Chap. 23,
empowering the ministers to be elected by the heritors and elders
of every parish, on the occurrence of a vacancy. The Statute was
crudely framed — not regulating the number of elders, and not ade
quately compensating patrons for the loss of their rights. The
Statute gave rise in practice to great tumults among a fierce people,
engaged above a century in broils, of which religion had f(.)rmed
the pretext or the cause. The consequence was, that by a Statute

28 CHAPTER III, [cent. xvii.
in the 10th of Queen Anne, the British Legislature returned to
the Constitution of the Church, as fixed by 1592, Chap, 14; or, in
other words, restored to the Crown and other patrons their ancient
right to nominate the ministers of parishes.
The next question is, what was the legal effect of the mode in
which the Church of Scotland was constituted, by the Statutes
passed in 1690, and in the 10th of Queen Anne? Passing over, in
tbe meantime, the terms of the Westminster Confession of Faith, I
request attention to the effect of the ancient law of patronage, as
confirmed and made to exist along with the law of toleration in
religion, or the statutes depriving the Church Courts of all civil
power, or power to instruct ; or, in other words, to compel the civil
magistrate to enforce their proceedings.
The question may be stated thus : What effect has the law of
religious toleration upon the connexion between the parish mini
ster and the inhabitants of a parish ? It has been seen, that under
the Charter of the Church, viz,, the Act 1592, Chap, 114, as re
vived by the 10th of Queen Anne, no individual can become a
member of the incorporated ecclesiastical body, in the station of a
minister, excepting in virtue of a presentation by a patron of a
parish to the Presbytery of tbe district, who are declared bound to
admit him, if qualified. Let the case be supposed, that on a va
cancy, the patron presents to the Presbytery an individual, who, be
ing found qualified, is inducted into the vacancy. In former times,
the people were held bound to recognise, as their Christian minister,
the individual so inducted. Under Popery, there could be no
doubt upon the subject; and, afterp'rotestantism was established,
persons absenting themselves from the Church service were held
liable in penalties, the severe enforcement of which had occasioned
so much disaffection to the Government" under' the threeMast
princes of the House of Stuart.
The legal situation of a newly settled minister may, perhaps, be
best understood by comparing it with the analogous case of a pa
rish schoolmaster. The Scottish Legislature, accounting it import
ant that the whole population should have an opportunity of ac-

CENT. XVII.] CHAPTER III. 29
quiring the elements of literature, established at the expense of the
landed proprietors a school in every parish. A house and garden,
and a salary, are afforded in every parish to a resident schoolmas
ter, who is farther allowed to receive small fees, of a regulated
amount, from his scholars. His qualifications are investigated by
the Presbytery of the district, who may reject him if not ade
quately qualified in point of literature, or of moral character and
habits. The patrons of the office are the parish minister, and the
proprietors of lands within the parish of a certain amount.
Let it be supposed, that on the occurrence of a vacancy, the
minister and proprietors (heritors) elect a person to be school
master. He applies to the Presbytery, and is -found qualified,
whereby he becomes entitled to the office and its emoluments.
But this does not make him the teacher of the children of any particu
lar individual resident in the parish, or constitute between him and
the children in the parish the relation of schoolmaster and scholars.
Nobody is bound to attend his school, or to send children thither.
The effect of the institution merely is, to afford to all parents in
the parish an opportunity, if they think fit, to avail themselves of
it, of obtaining their children to be educated at that school. But
they may send their children to another school — they may join
some of their neighbours in employing a teacher in whom they
have more confidence ; or some man may open a school, and in
vite parents to send their children to him. Many do so in pre
ference to the parish school, in respect that the parish school is
at an inconvenient distance, or, perhaps, the newest and most fa
shionable mode of teaching is not there adopted.
In like manner, the effect of inducting into a parish as minister,
the nominee of the patron, amounts to this : An opportunity is
thereby afforded to the inhabitants of the parish of attending, with
out expense, the Church service, of receiving thereby religious in
struction, and the benefit of attendance on the sacraments. In
short, the inhabitants of the parish may adopt the new minister as
their Christian pastor — a character in which he offers himself as

30 CHAPTER in. [cent. xvn.
willing to act towards them — that is, they may do so if they thinb
fit, but no compulsion exists on the subject. Any number of the
inhabitants of a parish may, by themselves, or in conjunction with
some inhabitants of neighbouring parishes, employ and pay another
person to act as their minister. They may join any of the associa^
tions of Dissenters, of whom there are many in Scotland. Thejr
are nearly all Presbyterians and Calvinists, and the question in dis
pute among them chiefly is, who are the truest Presbyteriansj. and
the truest Calvinists. Some of them pretend to no other differ
ence from the legal Establishment than this, that the minister is
elected by the majority of the congregation, or practically, by some
influential individuals, with the approbation of the congregatioiv
The parish clergy established by the State, under the law of Pa^
tronage, amount to nearly 1000 in number, but there have been
gradually formed in Scotland about 700 meetings, styled Dissenters
or Seceders from the Established Church.
I am not here considering whether ecclesiastical patronage in
Scotland is vested in the most suitable person, or whether it might
not be better entrusted elsewhere, to the effect of rendering the
Established clergy more useful. I merely advert to tbe practical and
legal effect of the law as it now exists. The important fact is, that in
Scotland men enjoy a state of liberty in regard to religion; and vest
the patronage of the Clergy where you will, there will always be
Seceders, because, by the law of toleration, the minority are not bound
to receive as their minister the nominee of the majority. In re
ligious matters, we legally have God only above us, and the law
allows every man to consider himself as in the right upon such sub
jects. Nay, were a minister settled this year in virtue of the una
nimous vote of every male and female member of a parish, of
twenty-one years of age, yet, not only may they dislike him aftes
a twelve years' trial, but in that time a new generation has grown
up who entertain new tastes, new opinions, and may not approve
of the choice made by the original electors. The once popular
minister may have the mortification to find himself deserted by half

CBNT. xvn.] CHAPTER IV. 31
the flock, and see rising in this parish a Dissenting place of worship.
The National Government, recognizing the law of toleration in
regard to religion, takes no interest or concern in such events.
If what has been now stated be kept clearly in view, it will re
solve some of the questions that of late have been made the ground
work of bitter animosities in Scotland. In particular, it puts an
end at once to what has been called Intrusion and Non-intrusion
into parishes, and to the supposed difficulty of constituting the pas
toral relation between a minister and a congregation, without the
consent of both parties to that relation.
In virtue of the law of toleration, there neither is, nor can be,
intrusion. The presentee of the patron is an officer or missionary
sent by law to reside in a certain parish, and to perform there the
duties of a Presbyterian minister. The inhabitants are invited to
receive him as their pastor. So far as they or any of them comply
with the invitation, the pastoral connection is constituted freely, and
by mutual consent. But the new minister can intrude upon none.
If they dislike him, they need not attend his ministrations. This
may be an unfortunate state of matters, but there is in it no
element of intrusion, or attempt to create what is called the pas
toral relation, without the mutual consent of the parties to i;hat
relation.

CHAPTER IV.
HISTORICAL.  FROM THE REVOLUTION OF 1688 TILL THE EEIGN OP
GEORGE rv.
As already stated, the principle of the Act 1592, Chap. 114, re
lative to the Law of Patronage, was adopted by the 1 0th of Queen
Anne. The Westminster Confession of Faith had been inserted
in the Statute Book in 1690, as containing the doctrine to be taught

32 CHAPTER IV. [cent. XVIL
by the clergy, and which they and the teachers of youth were re
quired to subscribe. It contains the leading principles of the first
Reformers, which were now modified, however, by the statutes estab
lishing toleration. The civil magistrate is, in that instrument, re
presented as having dominion, in aU respects, over the community,
with this limitation, that there should be an ecclesiastical admini
stration, with power to superintend public worship, and having
power to censure improper conduct, and to exclude scandalous
persons from the sacraments. These censures, by the result of the
law of toleration, can only affect those who voluntarily remain at
tached to the Established Church.
Under this adjustment, Presbyterianism was for the first time
left to produce its natural effect on the character of the people.
Popery was confessedly subdued, and, although the severe pre
cautionary laws against it were not repealed, yet all the fears of a
resumption of the powers and property of that establishment were
at an end. Some very violent enthusiasts grumbled because the
National Covenant was not sworn to, and subscribed as formerly ;
but on the whole, any disturbances for which religion formed a pre
text were local, consisting merely of riots in parishes at the settle
ment of a minister, if the patron's selection had not pleased the
multitude. In all respects, the system proved highly advantageous. The
establishment of a body of elders in every parish, as ecclesiasti
cal rulers, as assistants to the minister in the administration of
the sacrament of commemoration of the death "of Christ, called
the Lord's Supper, and in managing the funds devoted to the
support of the poor, and other pious duties, fixed religion upon
what may be styled a broad basis. Hence, when a number of per
sons joined for any reason in setting up a dissenting meeting,
that basis was only enlarged by a selection of the most decent and
respectable members of the new body, as elders forming a kirk-ses
sion. It thus appeared, that Presbyterianism is singularly adapted
to principles inherent in the human character. Hence, in Scodand,
we have few Dissenters, properly so called. With few exceptions,

cent. XVIIL] CHAPTER IV. 33
our dissenters or seceders from the National Church are all Calvin
ists and Presbyterians, and the chief dispute is, which sect or class
of dissenters is most purely Calvinistic, and most purely and correctly
Presbyterian. The minister is a religious chief, his elders are his
senate, and, in all the Church courts, they form an integral part of
the ecclesiastical body.
One special and most valuable effect of the intermingling laymen
with the ministers, in other words, of the system of eldership, ought
not to be overlooked. It tended greatly to enforce a severe correctness
of conduct on the clergy. They were liable to accusation, at the in
stance of private persons, before courts containing laymen, who
were never disposed to tolerate laxity of morals or manners in their
pastors ; and those pastors, aware of the superintendence of a jealous
eldership, consisting of men of correct habits, acquired great purity
of character and conduct. In other systems, in which the clergy
have the exclusive administration of religious affairs, it may be ex
pected that more licence will occur, on the principle, veniam damus
petimurque vicissim.
Under this system, with the help of parish schools to teach the
elements of literature, and especially the reading of the Bible, the
Scots came to be regarded by themselves, and by other nations, as an
educated and a religious people. In foreign lands, and even in
England, men wondered at tbe readiness with which they gave con
fidence and patronage to each other. They were said to be clannish,
or to have some sort of blind attachment to whatever proceeded from
the land of their birih. But this was not the true explanation.
Scotsmen knew the kind of education which each other had re
ceived, the habits of order and of piety amidst which they had been
reared, and the absolute conviction, familiar to their thoughts, of Di
vine superintendence over all their actions. Hence, when they met
in foreign lands, not only was the patriotic spirit excited, but trust
worthy persons were found who could safely act in concert, or whom
they might patronize, without fear of becoming ashamed of the con
nexion. I once said to a man who had been engaged in business
c

34 CHAPTER IV. [cent. xvm.
in foreign countries, " Do the Enghsh give as much trust abroad to
Frenchmen as they usually do to our countrymen ?" His answer
was, '' No. The English are an active, acute people, of much ob
servation, and very clear-sighted as to their interest. They see
that Frenchmen, in trade, do not trust each other ; whereas the case
is very different as to Scotsmen. The Englishman trusts him who is
trusted by his countrymen, to whom his character must be best
known." Thus, the Presbyterian religion, and the parish schools,
have afforded to Scotsmen very valuable means of attaining to pros
perity in foreign lands, or a better patrimony than a considerable
sum of money.
It is said, that the too sudden success of manufacturing enterprise,
by inviting to certain localities a crowded population of uneducated
strangers, and by affording wages for the labour of infants, has al
tered the habits and character of the inhabitants of the localities
now alluded to. I trust, however, to the effect of our ancient in
stitutions. Let a sacred conservative energy be exerted to preserve
these in purity, and all will be well.
It must not be supposed that the late or 1 8th century passed
without contests among the Churchmen of Scotland, and much less
that the spiritof faction wasabsolutely extinct among this class of men,
although confessedly forming probably the purest Church in Europe/
so far as moral purity and decency of manners were concerned.
A very few ministers complained that the Church was not placed on
a footing of sufficient authority ; and more especially, that it was not
in the state on which it had apparently been placed in the early part
of the Civil War against Charles 1. ; that the Covenants were not
subscribed and sworn to. They, however, declared they were
willing to remain in the Church, on condition that they should
be held entitled to strive, with all their power and influence, to ob
tain a recovery of what they held to be the rights of the Church.
On the other hand, their brethren denied them this privilege, con
tending that the members of an Established Church must assent to
laws and principles under which the state has established it, or must

CENT. XVIII,] CHAPTER IV, 35
leave it. A very few (it is believed about four ministers) thereupon
resigned their livings, and formed themselves into what they styled
" The Associate Presbytery," afterwards " The Associate Synod."
They are generally styled Seceders. They soon became divided into
two parties, called Burghers and Antiburghers, from their consent or
refusal to take an oath then exacted from Burgesses, of adherence to
the Constitution in Church and State.
In the regular Established Church, two parties of the clergy
existed, under the denomination of the Popular and the Moderate.
The differences between them might seem slight to a philosopher,
and scarcely discernible ; but it was not on that account the less fixed,
or adhered to with less zeal. They differed somewhat in their pulpit
ministrations, and in their practice in the Church Courts in ecclesi
astical management. Men almost universally, and certainly all men
in- Scotland, believe not only that they are to survive their present
existence, but that a day of judgment will arrive, when all men
must appear and answer for their conduct before a Judge of unerring
discernment and boundless power. Men are conscious that they
have violated the Divine law of perfect moral rectitude. They know
that in time past they have done so ; and that, in spite of every reso
lution they can form, the selfish passions of their nature will again
tempt them to do so. Hence, they are anxious to procure some
shield, different from their own moral rectitude, that will protect
them against the severity of a being of limitless power, purity, and
justice. Aware of this sentiment, universally entertained by men conscious
at once of guilt and weakness, the Roman Church says, " Believe as
the Church directs, and perform all the ceremonies she enjoins.
Especially confess your sins to the priest. He has power to forgive
your sins, however deadly. You can never be condemned to hell
for any sin for which he has given you absolution. Confess them
all, however, because any one mortal sin unconfessed, and therefore
unforgiven, may send you to hell, so as to render forgiveness of the
rest of your sins of no value. Therefore, confess and buy absolu
tion from the Church, and you are safe at the day of judgment.

36 CHAPTER IV. [cent. XVIII.
For small sins there is a purgatory or place of temporary fire, but
against that also the Church will protect you for a consideration."
This is all satisfactory to those who believe it, but the Protestant
holds in contempt the power over Divine justice and the world to
come, to which the Romish priests make pretension. Yet the Pro
testant has as much fear of judgment to come as the credulous ad
herent of the Pope. The Protestant clergy allay the fears of their
people by saying, as taught by the Scriptures and the Westminster
Confession of Faith, " Rely on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall
be safe. True, you have violated the Divine law, but he has inter
fered for your protection. Being himself sinless, he made himself
a sacrifice to Divine justice in your stead; the merit of his conde
scension, purity, and sacrifice, is ittiputed to you, if you accept of
the gift, and procures for you not merely pardon, but immortal life in
felicity. Obey his precepts, imitate his conduct, so far as mortals
can do so, and lay aside all irrational fear."
This doctrine the Scottish clergy are universally bound to teach
and preach, and they have always done so. If a difference, in point
of principle, has appeared between the public ministrations of the
two parties, it has, on the side of the Moderate party, seemed to be
this. They have appeared tacitly and truly, but not very avowed
ly, to regard religion as the appointed instrument wherewith they
were to operate, rather than as the end or object of these operations.
That they were to endeavour to render men temperate, just, hu
mane, industrious, resigned to the will of Providence, faithful, affec
tionate in domestic life, trustworthy and upright in every respect ;;
in short, to teach and impress on mankind the moral duties of life,
and, for that purpose, to impress on their minds the truths of religion,
the Divine Superintendence of a Being of purity and justice, but, at
the same time, beneficent to the human race, beyond all conceiv
able degrees of beneficence, and compassionate to the penitent, as
demonstrated by the interference and sacrifice of the Messiah for our
safety, whose righteousness is imputed to his followers, who, as re
quired, endeavour to obey his precepts.
The Moderate Party, generally, numbered among their ranks those

cent. XVIII.] CHAPTER IV. 37
members of the Scottish Church whose learning and accomplish
ments have raised them to distinction in the literary world. In con
sequence of the law of patronage, young men aspiring to Church
preferment often endeavoured to attach themselves to families of
rank or influence, in the character of domestic tutors, whereby they
were led to become not only accomplished scholars, but to acquire
the manners of the higher classes of society. In their pulpit mini
strations they naturally endeavoured to exhibit their literary acquire
ments — they were thought, as already noticed, to mix up, with the
general enunciation of Christian doctrine, much discussion upon our
moral duties, and to enforce these by motives derived from reason
and religion generally, more than suited the taste of many of their
hearers ; and hence they were apt to be described reproachfully, as
moral, or merely moral preachers.
On the other hand, the clergy of the Popular Party were men
very largely famed for popular applause, well filled churches, and
crowded assemblies, when they preached at country sacraments, ac
cording to the practice in the open air. They seemed, on principle, to
hold the direct increase and preservation of intense religious feeling
in the minds of their people, as the object they were specially
bound in dutv to accomplish ; that for their moral usefulness they
were to trust to the effect of that sentiment. Hence they were re
garded as disposed to indulge, and to study the taste of the populace,
and as understanding best what the people want — not lectures on
the moral duties with which they think themselves sufficiently ac
quainted, and know they are daily violating in thought, word, or deed.
What they want, is to hear of the doctrine of redemption, or to hear
again and again of the remedy or shield by which they may obtain
protection against the punishment due for their sins — of the high
majesty of Him, who, on the fall of our first progenitors, interfered
for the safety of our race ; that from the operation of the Divine Spirit
purchased by Him, and infused into those who rely on Him, all true
moral worth exclusively proceeds. In short, the whole doctrine of
election, from unmerited grace, imputed righteousness, and, gene
rally, if Calvinism were zealously urged, and daily expounded by

38 CHAPTER IV. [cent, xviii.
the Popular clergy, and from thence often denominated the Evange
lical party of the Church. In reality, no other doctrines than those
of Calvinism have ever been popular in Scotland. It is in vain to
dispute the fact, that neither among Mahometans nor Christians,
has any religion found favour with mankind at large, which did
not teach that every event that occurs in this world is fixed by a
superintending power and Providence, whose will rules all, and
without an act of which no sparrow falls ; and much less is a change
in a human character produced, says the Calvinist, without an act of
the same sovereign beneficence. Kit be true that the clergy of Eng
land, with a Calvinistic creed, have become practically proselytes, and
preachers of Arminianism, an explanation is thereby afforded of the
formidable strength of the English Dissenters, as a pohtical party,
and the indifference with which, throughout the country, the Church
service is apparently attended. In Scotland, in town and country,
the preachers styled Evangelical were uniformly flocked after by the
multitude. On another subject, the Popular and Moderate parties in the
Church of Scotland differed. The earliest dissenters from Popery
gained the favour and support of various princes and governments,
in consequence of their opposition to the power claimed by the
Roman Church, to give the law to every civil government, to ordain
all rulers to execute the decrees of the Church, under the pretence
that what was commanded was, somehow, a duty connected with re
ligion, and must be obeyed, under a fearful doom of excommunica
tion, or ecclesiastical outlawry, inferring a forfeiture of every right,
temporal or eternal. In the Confession of Faith of 1560 or 1567,
the supremacy of the civil power is expressly recognized, as aheady
stated, reserving to the Church its power of censure. In the famous
National Covenant, an abhorrence is expressed of the " usurped au
thority of the Roman Antichrist upon the civil magistrate," and " his
worldly monarchy," In the Westminster Confession of Faith, tbe
^supremacy of the civil power, o» its sovereignty, is also stated, while
power of censure merely is reserved to the ecclesiastical managers
or rulers. The distinction between the two powers was finally fixed

cent, xviilJ CHAPTER IV, 39
by the statutes of William and Mary, 1690, and of Queen Anne,
1712, by which excommunication in ecclesiastical courts, and their
proceedings, were deprived of all civil power or civil execution.
The Moderate party, in the Scottish Church, reconciled themselves
to the state of the law, as resulting from the restoration of the act of
1592, as to the law of Patronage, and from the law of religious
toleration, resulting firom the abolition of the punishment following
on excommunication. The Moderate party gradually obtained a
complete ascendancy in the Church Courts, and enforced the law as
it stood. On the other hand, the minority, or Popular party, consisted of
men of a more ambitious spirit, who were incessantly looking back
in sympathy to the claims of the early Scottish Clergy, to the claims
of the Books of Discipline, and, consequently, to the longing desire
of their predecessors for the possession of clerical power. They
more avowedly looked back to the turbulent days of thc Covenant
ers in 1639 and the succeeding years, when the General Assembly
formed the popular organ of insurrection or dominion, and the Par
liament, styled Convention of Estates, formed a Court for registra
tion of the edicts of the General Assemblies, or their general
Committees, (Commissions,) No doubt, these revolutionary As
semblies, between 1639 and 1660, derived their energy from the lay
members, agitators, or feudal aristocracy ; but, bearing the name of
a Church court, the modern popular Clergy looked to the General
Assembly under the peaceful domination of the House of Hanover,
as a decayed representation of a once mighty name.
Religion is apt to become a dangerous instrument in the hands
of ambitious men. On that subject, mankind are apt to be weak.
The priest identifies himself with the god whom he calls on men to
worship, and is apt to represent that which promotes his own inter
est or influence, as acceptable to his invisible Master; and that every
man is an enemy to God who resists the measures of the priest-
All the superstitions of Popery and Paganism originated in this
way. It was only by conferring on the population generally a care-

40 CHAPTER IV. [cENT. XVIII,
ful education — religious, but intelligently religious— that during so
long a period the clergy of Scotland have remained a safe and Valua
ble body of instructors ; and the people, increasing in general know
ledge, and neither sinking into superstition nor falling into infidelity.
For it is certain, that the Christian faith prospers and rises in re
spectability, precisely in proportion to the intelligence and general
information with which it is investigated, and the progress of events
contemplated and understood by which it was ushered into the
world ; and its tendency, as predicted, to overspread, and finally to
occupy the whole earth.
The Popular party, although a minority in the General Assembly
of the Church, did, nevertheless, produce important effects. They
gave great countenance to all popular accusations against ministers
for alleged indecency or immorality. More particularly, they gave
countenance to all popular complaints, that in any special case a
patron of a church had used his privilege improperly. As the law
of Toleration did not deprive the Church Courts of the power to
deprive ministers for immoral conduct, or to decide on the qualifi
cations of the nominees of patrons, an opportunity was afforded to
the members of the Popular party in the Church Courts lo give
great countenance to accusations, and to involve the accused in
much trouble and expense. By resisting, in all possible forms, the
exercise of the rights of patrons, this party occasioned more than
one formal Secession from the Established Church, and encouraged,
by their countenance, tbe establishment of very many of the Dis
senting, or rather Voluntary congregations that now abound in our
towns and villages.
Still, however, the Established Church went on improving in
learning and respectability. The difference between the two parties
continued to exist, but ceased to be conspicuous. The clergy be
came favourites of the authorities of the State, They had obtained
legislative authority for establishing a fund for their widows by an
nual contributions ; but patrons being entitled to the disposal of all
stipends for pious uses during the vacancy of a church, the Legis-

CENT, XVIIL ] CHAPTER IV, 41
lature, with general consent, transferred these stipends to the
widows' fund of the clergy. They obtained a much more substan
tial benefit in another form. King Charles I., as already stated,
effected an adjustment, by which proprietors may obtain the tithes
(teinds) of their lands to be valued, and pay no more than the valued
rate to the tithe-owner. Ont of the sum thus valued, a Commis
sion of Parliament was authorised to award reasonable stipends to
each parish minister. At the Union of 1707, the Court of Session
was authorised to act as a Commission for this purpose. It was long
accounted a very doubtful legal question, whether a stipend once
fixed could be repeatedly augmented by the Court, The affirma
tive having been decided by the Court, and the judgment affirmed
in the House of Lords, such has been the liberality of the Court,
that since 1790 the stipends of many parishes have, by successive
augmentations, been raised to double and triple the former amount.
It is believed that the average income of the Scottish Clergy is su
perior to that of the Episcopal Church in England, The Court still
goes on augmenting.
Thus, the Established Church of Scotland proceeded above a cen
tury in a career of prosperity, favoured by the National Govern
ment — its members improving in learning, while their moral habits
were acknowledged to be most exemplary, and the people under
their care loyal and pious. One minister after another obtained a
decree of the Teind (Tithe) Court for an increase of his stipend
against the land-owners, who are generally the tithe-owners; and the
latter did not complain. Where that fund was insufficient. Parlia
ment made up the deficiency to L.150, in addition to the burden
imposed by law on the land-owners of the parish, of affording a
manse and garden, and a valuable extent of land, to the incum
bent. — But now, the leading members of the Established Church
say that the institution is in danger. The annual General As
semblies express extreme alarm — they declare the Church to be m
fearful peril, and set apart special days on which they require all
parish ministers to convene their congregations, to join in prayer to

42 CHAPTER V. [cent, xix.
Almighty God, to avert the danger to the venerable ecclesiastical
establishment of Scotland, The Dissenters, that is to say, the un
endowed Presbyterian Clergy, and their congregations, look on with
silent satisfaction, at what they denominate mere frenzy. The few
Episcopalian Dissenters and Papists, and Infidels, wonder at what
they call thc unaccountable turmoil in the Established Church,
The present disorder in their body appears to me to have origi
nated in the way I shall now state.

CHAPTER V,
GENERAL PRINCIPLES,

To understand correctly the merits of the recent disputes that
have occurred in the Established Church, it seems necessary to ad
vert to certain principles : —
1, Under the British Constitution new laws are enacted by the
joint consent of the Monarch, and hereditary Peers and representa
tives of the Commons, The laws thus enacted bind the whole na
tion, including those by whom they are enacted. The laws gener
ally are not new, but consist of unrepealed statutes, and the ancient
customs of the community. In the transactions of individuals and
mcorporations questions often occur concerning the legal rule or
principle applicable to a particular case or transaction; and these
questions are frequently involved in much difficulty, requiring, for a
right decision of them,- much discernment and learnino- It°is the
duty of the Monarch to put the law in execution ; but he cannot
convene his whole legislature to advise him as to each disputed case;
he IS, therefore, furnished with legal advisers, to enable him to ad-
mmister justice with impartiality and intelligence. But in the
most free country the power that administers justice must be ab-
solute ; all must obey it. If its decisions be not final and irresist-

CENT, XIX,] CHAPTER V, 43
ably binding on contending parties, thc country is in a state of
anarchy. Manifestly there can be no safety to human life, or to
human industry, if there be no judge having power to afford a re
fuge against all violence and all fraud.
Under the British Constitution, certain learned persons are ap
pointed judges, whose public declaration in each case of what the
law ordains is to be enforced, without inquiry by the Crown, and
submitted to by the disputing parties. From the opinion of these
judges, there is an appeal open to all, though not generally used,
to one branch of the legislature, the hereditary Peerage, in their
House of Assembly, Somewhere there must be a last resort, or
effectual and binding decree or declaration of the law. With us
the last resort of individuals demanding what they think due to
them as justice is the House of Lords.
Whether a case be carried before the House of Lords, or the
party held in the wrong despairs of obtaining an alteration of the
judgment of the Inferior Court, it is clear that the decree must be
obeyed by the parties, enforced by the Crown, and acquiesced in
by the community. Not only individuals of all ranks, but incorpo
rations, which are bodies of men politically united for a common in
terest or common purpose, must implicitly obey the judicial decree.
The Incorporation of London — the East India Company, with its
hundred millions of subjects — its fortresses, its artillery, and army of
200,000 men — the Churches of England and Ireland, with all their
bishops, deans, and priesthood — the Bank of England, managing the
money of the nation, and even the branches of the legislature acting
severally. The Crown applies, like others, to the judges to enforce
its rights and protect its property ; and we have recently seen the
House of Commons sending counsel to the bar of a court of law
to support one of its alleged privileges. The House of Commons lost
their cause, and being held to be in error on the question of law,
they gave a valuable example of obedience to the judicial power.
The judicial power must not only be an absolute and last re
sort, but it must of necessity be one and single. Were there
two or more final and binding interpreters of the law, conflicting

44 CHAPTER V. [cent. xix.
judgments not only might occur, but speedily would occur ; so that
society would fall into anarchy. In Britain, as already stated, the
House of Lords is the final umpire, and there cannot, as a general
rule, be two final umpires or final judges.
2. The legislature, sometimes for conveniency, declares, that in
particular cases the decision of a certain court shall be final, and not
liable to review, or it entrusts certain duties to particular bodies
of men. Thus, in what are styled the Small Debt Courts, no
appeal or review by appeal to a higher Court is allowed, unless cor
ruption be averred and proved. In like manner, the clergy are spe
cially entrusted with the performance of certain public services. In
such cases it may happen, that the Court or the body thus trusted
exceeds the powers granted to it, or mistakes the nature and purpose
of them, or uses them for purposes not intended by the legislature.
In such cases, the constitutional interpreters of the law are entitled
and bound to interfere, to confine these special courts or bodies to
the business entrusted to them, and to rectify any errors by which
they have violated the purpose of their institution, and the duties
imposed on them hj the legislature. Thus, if a Small Debt Court
were to try a question of legitimacy, or a Bishop or a Presbytery to
entertain actions declaratory of rights to landed estates or titles of
honour, the ordinary Constitutional Courts, the King's Bench and
House of Lords, or in Scotland, the Court of Session and House of
Lords, might be called upon to annul the erroneous proceedings.
3, The Established Church of Scotland is an incorporated body.
After a conference between its leading members and the King in
person, there was granted to the Church, and accepted by it, what
has been justly styled its charter, that is to say, the act 1592, chap.
114. The Church now exists, and has existed since the House of
Brunswick ascended the British throne, precisely in the form en
acted by the statute of 1592, chap. 114, in Kirk-Sessions, Presby
teries, Provincial Synods, and General Assemblies, containing lay
elders and ministers nominated by the Crown, or other patrons. It
is true that the charter of 1 592 was, for a time, violated by the ap
pointment of bishops, under the princes James VL and his son and

CENT, XIX,] CHAPTER V. • 45
grandsons. But no such violation of the Charter has occurred since
1690, The law of patronage was then for a time violated, but in
1710 restored. No doubt, in 1690 and 1710, statutes were passed,
withdrawing from ecclesiastical excommunication all civil penalties,
but this was no violation of the act 1592, Chap, 1 14, which contains
no stipulation or enactment on that subject. The Church has been
allowed to inflict ecclesiastical censures on account of heresy and
scandalous conduct, as stipulated by the act 1592,
The Established Church of Scotland is thus a political person or
body of men, incorporated by act of Parliament, It has rights of
censureship for ecclesiastical delinquencies, and to try the qualifi
cation of men presented to it by patrons, for admission as ministers,
which rights the judges of the land are bound to protect or enforce.
Its members are British subjects, bound to obey the law of the land,
or, as expressed in the Westminster Confession, (Chap, 23,) " Ec
clesiastical persons are not exempt from obedience to the civil ma
gistrate," 4, The civil or political government of a nation may act, in re
gard to religion, in one of two ways. It raaj, first, leave religion to
itself, not interfering with the proceedings of the people in regard
to it, leaving those to hire and support religious teachers and mini
sters who want them. This is done by the United States of
America, who are still in a state of trial and inexperience, and
therefore cannot be referred to as affording conclusive instruction on
the subject. It is also, however, in a certain degree done in Britain,
by means of the Law of Toleration, the effect of which is, that no
particular doctrine or form of worship is forced on any man. But,
secondly, A government leaving to the Law of Toleration its full ef
fect, may select from the Christian sects one sect of which the com
munity most highly approve, as Episcopacy in England, or Pres
bytery in Scotland. The Government may offer to the clergy of
that sect endowments of houses, lands, and corn, or money, on con
dition that these clergy shall teach a particular system of Christian
doctrine, and form of worship. The bargain may be closed by in
serting in the National Statute Book a statement of the doctrine

46 , CHAPTER V. [cent, xix,
to be taught, and by putting the clergy in possession of their en
dowments. It follows plainly, that no established church can be sovereign or
independent, in any proper sense of the term. It exists by con
tract. It is under hire. It is bound by contract to teach a certain
creed ; and were it to violate its contract, it would forfeit its endow
ments, and its ministers would be liable to be expelled.
This is precisely the position of the Established Church of Scot
land, It is an incorporation created by contract with the legislature,
and taken bound to teach the doctrine of the Westminster Confes
sion of Faith. In return, it has various privileges, all resulting from
its contract and legal position. If a dispute occur about the import
or extent of any of its duties or privileges, the courts oflaw are open
to expound the law, and afford redress. It cannot acquire rights or
powers by merely attempting to exercise them. It cannot fix the
extent of its own powers. If it could do so it would be the sovereign
of the nation. It has only those rights, and powers;, and privileges
which the legislature has conferred. What tbe extent is of these
powers and privileges is a question of law, and if the import of them
be disputed, the question must be decided by the interpreters of the
law, whom the constitution has provided for that purpose,
5. The Established Church is entnisted with the performance of
certain duties and solemnities held to be connected with religion^
and by the clergy these are usually styled spiritual acts or duties.
Even with regard to these an Established Church cannot be inde
pendent, because the obligation to performance of them is the result
of its contract with the civil government, and is the return or service
the clergy perform in return for their endowments. Thus, by the
charter 1592, chap. 116, Presbyteries are "bound and astricted to
receive and admit whatsoever qualified minister presented by his
Majesty or lay patrons," The clergy have established a solemnity,
the imposition of ministers' hands and a prayer, (called ordination,)
as a spiritual part of the proceeding in the admission of a minister.
If this spiritual ceremonial be necessary, the Presbytery are " astrict
ed " to perform it in the case of a qualified minister, presented by

CENT, XIX,] CHAPTER V, 47
the patron of a vacant parish. If they refuse, they commit a breach
of contract. Hence, during the late century, when a particular
minister, Mr Gillespie, the father of the sect called the " Relief,"
was appointed by his Presbytery to perform the ceremonial of
ordaining an unpopular presentee, Mr Gillespie having obstinately
refused to do so, the General Assembly, to protect the Established
Church against a breach of contract with the state, expelled the de
linquent Gillespie from the incorporation ; that is, they deposed him
from his office and parish,
6. The Established Church of Scotland is a large incorporation,
entrusted with the encouragement of the religious instruction and
solemnities of the community, so far as thc civil government has
thought fit to interfere in these. This incorporation has courts
within itself, which have jurisdiction over its members — take trial of
the qualifications of ministers, and may expel for delinquency any
member of the incorporation, A dispute about jurisdiction some
times occurs, viz., whether a question is of a spiritual nature, en
trusted to the determination of Church Courts exclusively, or
whether, as relating to civil matters of property or privilege, the de
cision of it belongs to the ordinary courts oflaw, established to de
cide disputes generally. When such a dispute about jurisdiction
occurs, the question is, by what judge or court is it to be decided ?
That question has in effect been already answered. The Esta
blished Church is an incorporation, subject, like other incorporations,
to the general legislature of the empire. Its rights are to be en
forced, and its undue claims restrained, like the rights of the East
India Company, the House of Commons, or the Bank of England,
by the determinations of the judges established to interpret and de
clare the law, as applicable to the particular point in dispute. At
the head of these courts, in the last resort, is the House of Lords,
Were the General Assembly formally to resolve not to obey the
decision of the House of Lords, in relation to a question of contract
or of jurisdiction, they would thereby commit an act of rebellion
against the Monarch, who is bound to enforce the law, as declared
or interpreted by his courts of justice. Were the General Assembly

48 CHAPTER V. [cent, xix.
to exact a vow or oath of its members, or of ministers on admission,
that they will obey the General Assembly instead of the Supreme
National Judges, this incorporation would thereby commit the crime
of imposing unlawful oaths, binding men to rebellion against the
law of the land. This results from the principle, that the civil or
national government is the patron of the Established Church by
contract, in virtue of which the incorporation of the church has its
existence. I am here stating the law of Scotland in relation to its
Established Clergy and Church.
7. But I go farther, and affirm that the same rule or principle is
applicable to every case in which a Protestant Established Church
can or ought to exist. Let it be supposed that there were no ecclesi
astical incorporation established as in Scotland, by contract with the
State, and of which the ruling members receive pay from the State,
Let it be supposed that a people or nation think fit to divide the
management of their public affairs into two branches, with a sepa
rate set of office-bearers in each ; first, A civil branch, with civil
rulers or office-bearers ; and, secondly, A religious branch, with reli
gious office-bearers, the two sets of rulers being distinct and inde
pendent of each other, A dispute about jurisdiction occurs in a
certain case, perhaps the legitimacy of a child, and that on the de
cision depends the right of succession to high rank and vast estates.
Does this case of legitimacy resolve into a civil or a spiritual ques
tion, as resulting from the religious marriage ceremony of the
parents ? What court is to decide the cause — the civil court or the
church court ?
This question exposes to view, bare and without disguise, the
root and fundamental strength of the system of Popery. Give to
any body of men the privilege of deciding without appeal what
questions fall under their jurisdiction, and speedily they will draw
to themselves the whole jurisdiction and power of the State, This,
after many struggles, the Church of Rome ultimately gained in
many countries, and thereby became lords and rulers of these na
tions. Protestantism was a rebellion against this power and privi
lege assumed by the Pope and his clergy. The use they made of

cent, xix.] CHAPTER V. 49
it so involved mankind in superstition and ignorance, and voluntary
servitude to the ecclesiastical power — that the European nations
who first emerged from barbarism to arts and distinction — Spain,
Italy, and France — either remain sunk in contemptible imbecility,
or have laboured to emerge from it through oceans of blood. What
strife and sufferings it occasioned to Scotland need not here be told.
It is sufficient to say, that of all governments, that of a priesthood
is the worst. It has the selfish spirit of other incorporations. It
has this special vice, that its power and wealth increase in propor
tion as mankind become ignorant, superstitious, and degraded. In
the meanwhile, be it remembered, that the essential engine of Po
pery, and the most efficient instrument of its power over mankind,
is the privilege which it claims of deciding all spiritual questions
without appeal, and of deciding what is, and what is not, a spiritual
question, A people that yield this privilege to their clergy have
elevated these clergy into a Popish priesthood,
8. The Westminster Confession of Faith adheres to the Pro
testant doctrine of the supremacy of the civil power of a State, re
serving to ecclesiastical office-bearers merely the privilege of admi
nistering the sacraments, and of a censorial power, to the effect of
protecting the purity of these sacraments, by refusing a participation
of them to scandalous persons who have disregarded admonition.
The subject is treated of in chapters 23d and 30th.
According to the Westminster Confession, the civil government is
supreme and of universal authority, having none above it save God
himself, and certainly not subject to the clergy. On the other hand,
the ecclesiastical government is special. Its powers are restricted
to censure, or to what is styled the power of the kej's of the king
dom of heaven, meaning thereby the society of acknowledged
Christians. A man may by church censures be expelled from that
society, or denied admission into it, but he is not thereby deprived
of his civil rights, or station, and privileges. The religious office
bearers are subjects of the civil government, and must obey it, re
serving the privilege of censure already mentioned. The two
sets of managers may evidently, for mutual benefit, enter into con-
D

50 CHAITER V, [cent, xix,
tract. The religious office-bearers may accept of salaries from the
State for their teachers, to enable them the better to fulfil their
duty. The contract, when made, must be interpreted like other
contracts, by the interpreters of the law established by the national
constitution,*

Chapter 23. " Of the Civil Magistrate.
* I, " God, the common Lord and King of all the world, hath ordained civil magi
strates to be under him, and over the people, for his oivn glory and the public good ;,
and to this end armed them with the power of the sword, for the defence and en
couragement of them that are good, and for the punishment of evil-doers,
II, " It is lawful for Christians to accept and execute the ofBce of a magistrate
when called thereunto, in the managing whereof, as they ought especially to main-
tain piety, justice, and peace, according to the wholesome laws of each common
wealth, so for that end they may lawfully now, under the New Testament, wage war
upon just and necessary occasions,
III. " The civil magistrate may not assume to himself the administration of the
Word and Sacraments, or the power of the keys of the kingdom of heaven, yet he
hath authority, and it is his duty, to take order that unity and peace be preserved in
the Church, that the truth of God be kept pure and entire, that all blasphemies and
heresies be suppressed, all corruptions and abuses in worship and discipline prevented
or reformed, and all the ordinances of God duly settled, administered, and observed.
For the better effecting whereof, he hath power to call Synods, to be present at them,
and to provide that whatsoever is transacted at them be according to the mind of
God. IV. " It is the duty of people to pray for magistrates, to honour their persons, to
pay them tribute and other dues, to obey their lawful commands, and to be subject to
their authority, for conscience sake. Infidelity, or difference in religion, doth not
make void the magistrate's just and legal authority, nor free the people from their
due obedience to him, from which ecclesiastical persons are not exempted, much less
hath the Pope any power or jurisdiction over them in their dominions, or over any
of their people, and, least of all, to deprive them of their dominions or lives if he shall
judge them to be heretics, or upon any other pretence whatsoever."

Chapter 30. " Of Church Censures.
I, " The Lord Jesus, as King and Head of his Church, hath therein appointed
a government in the hand of church-officers, distinct from the civil magistrate,
II. "To these officers the keys of the kingdom of heaven are committed, by virtue
whereof they have power respectively to retain and remit sins, to shut the kingdom
against the impenitent, both by the word and censures, and to open it unto penitent
sinners by the ministry of the Gospel, and by absolution from censures, as occasion
,«hall require.

cent, xix.] CHAPTER VI. 51
These chapters manifestly contradict none of the principles already
stated, or rather the Westminster Confession distinctly supports
these principles. It was framed for general use as a statement of
doctrine, and not to sanction any special form of ecclesiastical ad
ministration. It adapts itself to established Protestant Churches of
all denominations. At the date of that compilation it did not occur
that there would be a Christian nation without an established
church. After the statement now made of general principles, it will be
come more easy to appreciate the proceedings which of late have so
vehemently agitated the Church of Scotland.

CHAPTER VL
recent proceedings  alteration of the constitution
OF the church.
In future times, if thought worthy of mention by the general his
torian, the disease, or the existing state of disorder that now affects
the Established Church of Scotland, will be described as a mere
outbreak of clerical ambition — that it derived an aspect of import
ance from the fact, that this Church forms, or then formed, an or
ganized incorporation, and that, in such cases, every passion is ag
gravated or inflamed by communication with a body of associates of
a kindred character, and having similar interests. We are too near
III, " Church censures are necessary for the reclaiming and gaining of offending
brethren, for deterring all others from the like offences, for purging out of that leaven
which might infect the whole lump, for vindicating the honour of Christ and the holy
profession of the Gospel, and for preventing the wrath of God, which might justly
fall upon the Church if they should suffer his Covenant and the seals thereof to be
profaned by notorious and obstinate offenders,
IV, " For the better attaining of these ends, the officers of the Church are to pro
ceed by admonition, suspension from the sacrament of the Lord's Supper for a
season, and by excommunication from the Church, according to the nature of the
crime and demerit of tho person,''

52 CHAPTER VI. [cent. xix.
the event, and the selfish, social, and religious feelings of the actors
are too much agitated on the subject to enable us to trace with cer
tainty, or to obtain a perfectly candid and complete detail of all
the counsels, projects, and hopes, that involved the Established
Church, in a state of which it not without reason complains, al
though it does not yet seem to perceive its true ground for appre
hension. What the leaders style danger is the hazard of defeat to
their purposes of ambition : What the true friends of the Institution
more rationally fear is the hazard of total extinction to the Institu
tion itself.
The French philosophy of the 18th century, and the scepticism
of Hume, had only a feeble effect in Scotland. The first French ,
revolutionists were more regarded, and had a tendency to alienate
the populace from the regular clergy as men thought interested
to support all established ancient institutions. The succeeding dis
play of infidelity counteracted these notions, and after the close of
the revolutionary war, there occurred a considerable re-action in
favour of religion, in whatever form. But a train of events occurred
in rapid succession, or almost cotemporaneously, which gave rise
to new views and sentiments of importance to the Church. First
of all, the zealous party among the Presbyterians, forming the
mass of the population, perceived with astonishment and some dis
pleasure, that their meetings to petition against the Catholic Relief
Bills were not attended by the clergy of the Popular party, and
even that their most popular leader gave the benefit of his power
ful eloquence to the side of the question that had been adopted by
Government, and very generally by the members of the learned
professions. Then came the French Revolution of three days, by
which the mob of the capital expelled Charles X., and placed on
the throne the Duke of Orleans, an event which produced more or
less excitement over all Europe. It was followed in Britain by the
administration of Earl Grey, and the bills for altering the Constitu
tion of the House of Commons, styled the Reform Bill. That Bill,
unexpectedly brought forward by Government, stirred all minds
into high excitement. With thc agitation which then profoundly

CENT. XIX.J CHAPTER VI. 53
agitated the nations, rehgion in Scotland mingled itself. The Dis
senters and their clergy necessarily had regarded with jealousy the
advantages possessed by the clergy of the establishment — the dignity
which they derived from their connexion with the national Govern
ment — the splendour of their annual General Assembly, attended in
state by a royal Commissioner of noble rank — their well-paid sti
pends — their glebe lands and houses untaxed — the superior rank of
a part at least of their eldership, and the professorships and pensions
which some of them obtained. The Dissenters generally, under the
name of Voluntary Churchmen, proclaimed and traversed the country,
making public orations in support of the doctrine, somewhat new in
Scotland — that a body of clergy paid by the State is a pernicious
institution. Political novelties, disregarded in ordinary times, were
now daily broached and gained attention. The nation being in a
state of great excitement, and the populace placed in a new position
by the effect of the Reform Act, it seemed impossible to foresee the
extent of the changes that might be effected. The established clergy
had felt the heaving of the waters, and saw with alarm, that they
had little influence over those who usually attended their ministra
tions. Many of them saw the necessity of endeavouring to
strengthen themselves, and to recover the ground which many of
them had lost by trusting to established law and right, and depart
ing from the zealous efforts of the more ancient and popular clergy.
They set about catechising the young, attending more anxiously to
the poor, preparing their sermons, as some thought, with more care,
and giving them more of the Evangelical cast than formerly. They
also proposed to strengthen the Church, by enlarging the means of
frequenting public worship in very populous districts.
Thus far the Established clergy acted in a laudable and valuable
manner, and perseverance in such measures would in due time
have conferred on the Established Church that ascendancy which
it is calculated to enjoy from its very favourable position, sup
ported (except in one or two towns) by the landed proprietors ex
clusively. But while the clergy, generally, were thus exerting them-

54 CHAPTER VI. [cENT. XIX,
selves in favour of the ascendancy of their body, and while popular
notions of all descriptions were afloat, the Popular party, so long the
minority in the Church, obtained, after above a hundred years of
apparently hopeless depression, a sudden ascendancy and majority
in the General Assemblies. The demon saw his time, and involved
in his toils the Evangelical party. A poet has said, that
" Ambition first came from the blessed abodes,
The glorious fault of Angels and of Gods."
That passion, which misled our first- progenitors, has never lost its
fascinating energy. It assumes every shape, and in none is more
dangerous than when it assumes the form of exalting the office
bearers of religion to attempt to augment, by their influence and
privileges, the piety of the people. The Popular party of the Church
of Scotland took advantage of the tide which had set in so strongly
over the empire in favour of popular ambition. Their leaders re
solved so to direct it, as to secure a permanent ascendancy to their
party. So far they were only thought to imitate their superiors,
(then styled the Whig party.) But supposing this to be true, the
leaders of the Scottish clergy do not seem to have foreseen that
whatever they might do for their own benefit, the Whig party of the
empire would have no desire to rear up, as their rivals, a body of
ecclesiastics. These leaders, however, were aware that they must
encounter difficulties, and they made provision for that purpose.
The leaders of the Popular party, now acting in name of the whole
Church, endeavoured, without success, to obtain from Government
a large grant of money to enlarge the number of labouring ministers
of religion, but they found themselves in an uncommon degree suc
cessful in their application for that purpose to the public in general.
Large sums were collected, and necessarily came under the disposal
of the leading ecclesiastics, as members of committees of the Gene
ral Assembly, or, in other words, the Popular party, who had always
been the ambitious party or faction of the clergy. A series of pro
jects, now all at once brought forward in such a state of maturity as
implied the exertion of much art or refined policy on the part of the

CENT. XIX.] CHAPTER VI. 5.5
contrivers. All the troubles in which the Church has involved itself
and the country, has been the result of their efforts.
In some large and populous parishes chapels had been erected,
and ministers placed in them, who were generally supported by
voluntary contributions, or by annual payments, styled seat rents,
derived from the persons frequenting each chapel. As they were
erected to give aid to the parish minister, they were called Chapels
of Ease. Government had erected 42 of them in the Highlands,
and paid to each chapel minister a stipend of L. 120.
Upon the basis of this institution of Chapels of Ease, the ambi
tious section of the clergy proceeded to endeavour to rear the fabric
of their prominent ascendancy.
Accordingly, the leaders of the ambitious or old popular party
brought forward, in full maturity, three grand measures. These
leaders, at that time, had the confidence of the Established Church
generally, in consequence of their exertions to strengthen the body
generally, and especially by the collection of funds to be employed
to withdraw the people from the Dissenters to Chapels of Ease ruled
by the Establishment. No suspicion had as yet been entertained
that an intrigue existed to establish the ascendancy of a particular
faction, formerly kept down and placed in a minority, in consequence
of their ambitious hostility to the established law of the land, which
places the civil power above the military, the ecclesiastical, and all
other powers. The leaders of the ambitious party were therefore
permitted or enabled to take their measures under the apparent
sanction of the whole Church. These measures were three in num
ber, two of them under the authority of the Assembly in 1834, and
a third by Parliament immediately thereafter.
The chief grand measure, by the aid of which the ambitious leaders
of the clergy organized their future efforts, was a regulation by which
the Chapels of Ease were made, or attempted to be made, a part of
the Established Church,
The second grand measure of the General Assembly of 1834 was
their celebrated Veto Act. It was brought forward as an interim
measure, but being sanctioned by a majority of Presbyteries, it be-

56 CHAPTER VL [cENT, XIX.
came a law of the Church, In legal phraseology, it became a bye-
law of that incorporated body, the Established Church of Scotland.
The third measure, carried through by the same dexterous leaders
of the clergy, was a statute authorising the Church Courts to make
and unmake laws, to regulate the constitution of Chapels of Ease,
the territories of which were mentioned as quoad sacra parishes.
Thus the dependence of these chapels upon the ruling party in the
Church Courts was fixed.
Of the three measures now mentioned, the first that in a promi
nent degree attracted public notice, was the effect produced by the
Veto Act. It showed the underground policy that was at work to
enable a few artful and ambitious individuals to rule the Established
Church, and through it the public mind, I shall, therefore, first ad
vert briefly to that bye-law, the Veto Act.
I, By the Veto Act of 1834, the Assembly declared, " That if a
majority of male heads of families, in full communion with the
church, should, in any congregation, without reason assigned, dis
sent from the admission, as minister of the parish, the person pre
sented by the patron, the Presbytery should, in consequence of
such dissent, reject the presentee, reserving to the patron to present
another candidate within the time limited by law, (six months ;) and
if no other presentation should be made by the patron, so that the
right of nomination should devolve on the Presbytery, there should
be no right in the people to dissent, without cause shown, from the
nomination made by the Presbytery,"
From this act, if enforced, it followed, \st, That no patron could
give an effectual presentation to any minister, however learned and
pious he might be, 2d, The Presbytery were not to proceed to
judge of the qualifications of the presentee; for, 3d, The majority
of male heads of families, previously admitted to the Communion
Table, might reject the presentee, without assigning any reason for
their conduct. But, ^th, If, by the failure of success on the part of
the patron to please with a candidate the male communicants within
six months, so that thc Presbytery should be entitled to give a pre-

CENT. Xlx.J CHAPTER VI. 57
sentation, in that case, the Communicants were to have no arbi
trary right to reject the presentee of thc Presbytery, without stating
and substantiating valid objections against him.
This Veto Act was a very cunningly-devised measure. 1st, It
had the appearance of giving great weight and importance to the
populace, and of being founded on very pure popular principles,
2d, But the leaders of the clergy were aware that the Estabhshed
Church could not safely want the law of patronage, which connects
it with the Crown and the great landed proprietors among the
nobles and gentry. By this Veto Act, an attempt was made to
please both the populace and the patrons, 3d, The influence
granted apparently to the populace was a mere delusion. It was
a clever mode of augmenting the power of the clergy, who, by in
veterate usage, have the patronage of the Communion Table, It
was therefore seen, that ultimately the clergy must have the con
trol of all settlements of ministers. Accordingly, as will be
afterwards noticed, Mr George Combe, Writer to the Signet, *
has shown how that object was actually brought about in the State
of Massachusets by the patronage of the Communion Table.
As it would always be easy for the popular clergy to stir up an
opposition in any vacant parish, it followed that every candidate
must be of their party, and, if possible, have a connection with some
of them. In Massachusets the intrigues and ambition of the clergy
effected the ruin of the Established Church.
It may be added, that under the Veto Act, the ploughmen or
journeymen workmen, attached to the parish only by an engage
ment for a year, a month, or a week, might reject a presentee ac
ceptable to all the permanent inhabitants.
Its ambitious or popular party defended the Veto Act on various
grounds, as, that the pastoral relation of ministers with their people
can only be created by mutual consent, and that it was sinful for a
patron to impose a minister on persons to whom he was not accept
able, and whom he did not edify. It was answered, that this ob-
* Travels in the United States,

58 CHAPTER VL [cENT, XIX,
jection of the sinfulness of imposing an unacceptable minister on a
congregation might have been plausible in the time of King
Charles IL, when a man was in danger of being shot if found ab
sent from the church on Sunday ; but in these times, it is absurd to
talk of a pastor being imposed on men not bound to listen to his
sermons unless they think fit. The patron names the presentee
of whom he approves. If not qualified, the Presbytery are bound
and entitled to declare this, and reject him. But if they declare
him qualified, the patron is justified. As to the acceptableness of
the presentee, if the congregation are not pleased with a qualified
man, that is their misfortune, 2d, In the discussion on this sub
ject, reliance was chiefly placed on the argument, that the Veto
was a mere form of carrying into effect what was styled the call.
The popular party had always alleged that, in addition to the
presentation by the patron, it was necessary that the presentee
should be called by the people to be their minister ; and, in fact,
a form of proceeding existed, by which, antecedent to every va
cancy, the Presbytery had a meeting to afford an opportunity
to all persons in the parish who thought fit to subscribe a minute,
calling, or inviting the presentee to be their minister, I am
not aware of the origin of this practice. It is not sanctioned by
any legal enactment. In a variety of cases, the Moderate party,
forming, for above a century, the majority in the Church Courts,
uniformly decided that any subscription to a call was unnecessary.
In the Courts of Law, when a principle has, by several successive
decisions, been supported, it is held to ascertain conclusively the
law upon that point, and can only be altered by the Legislature,
The General Assembly acting judicially, ought to proceed in the
same manner ; but being a popular body, the party in the ascendant,
in administering justice, disregards all precedents, and follows its
own views and interests. Hence the call, so long adjudged a nul
lity, was now represented as a requisite in the settlement of every
parish minister, and that the Veto was the call.
Against tbe Veto, as soon as enacted, many palpable objections were

CENT. XIX.] CHAPTER VI. 59
farther stated, 1st, That it ruined at once the ecclesiastical profession
and study of theology, A young man, after employing his best years,
and considerable expense in a university education, and the study
of the learned languages and of theology, would, according to custom,
present himself for examination before the Presbytery of his birth
or residence. He is declared qualified to preach, and is allowed to
preach for any minister employing him. Yet on receiving a pre
sentation from the Crown, or some other patron, he might find his
prospects blasted, because a number of clowns had been pleased to say,
without assigning a reason, that they dissented from his settlement,
whether because they wished for some other individual, or wantonly
acted to show their power. Admission to the Communion Table
affords no test of the ability of a man to decide on the qualifications
necessary to a minister, who is to instruct men in the history and
principles of Christianity, A man may be a sincere believer in the
Gospel, of the most decent life, who yet is truly an illiterate person
engaged in mechanical labour. To say that such a man shall have
power to ruin the prospects of a learned man, against whom he can
state no well-founded objections, is palpably absurd, 2d, It was ob
jected that, under the Veto Act, power was vested in persons having
no permanent interest in a parish. All the proprietors or tenants in
a parish may approve of a presentee, but, as formerly noticed, the
ploughmen may reject him, although they are merely farm-servants,
never engaged for more than a year. 3c?, But, more fatally and con
clusively, the men of the law said, " How does the Church recon
cile this Veto Act with their original charter of 1592, chap, 114,
(restored by the 10th of Queen Anne?") The charter had ex
pressly provided that the " Presbyteries be bound and astricted to
receive and admit whatsoever qualified ministers, presented by his
Majesty, or laick patrons," Stronger language could not be em
ployed. But by this Veto Act, a Presbytery is not to take' cogni
zance whether a presentee is qualified or not. They are not to re
ceive and admit, but to reject him, not because he is unqualified,
for they are not to receive him to examination or trial ; but because
certain third parties, who may, or may not, have any permanent in-

60 CHAPTER VL [cENT. XIX.
terest in the matter, are pleased to say, without assigning a reason,
that they dissent from the patron's nomination. The statute had in .
view, qualifications of which the Presbytery were to judge, that is
to say, qualifications personal to the presentee. If the Church may
authorise the male, why not also the female communicants to reject
a presentee, or any other party or parties ?
Such were the general views that suggested themselves to the
public, on the first publication of the Veto Act. Some settlements
were effected without opposition, the popular party being anxious
that this measure should appear to work well Several patrons sub
mitted to the new act, chiefly to avoid encountering the torrent
which then raged over the land, in favour of whatever seemed to
give aid to popular privileges. It remained to be seen whether all
would be submissive.
II. As already stated, the leaders of the ambitious section of the
clergy adopted the measure, more immediately effectual in favour of
their supremacy, of altering the constitution of the Church Courts.
During the reign of George IV,, acts of Parliament (4 Geo,
IV,, cap. 79, and 5 Geo, IV,, cap, 90) were passed "for build
ing additional places of worship in the Highlands and Islands of
Scotland," Power was given to erect forty-two churches, in each
of which a minister was to be placed, with a salary of L,120 per
annum; payable by Government, The Crown was to be patron.
To each minister a certain district was to be allotted, in which his
services were to be employed, but he was to have no elders, and
no kirk-session of his own. The minister and kirk-session of the
parish in which the district was included, were to furnish elders to
officiate at the district church. " The district set apart for the duties
of such minister is not disjoined from the parish or parishes to
which it belongs, or erected into a separate parish, and the elders
officiating at such places of worship do not, along with such minister,
form any separate and distinct kirk-session, but arc merely members
of the kirk-session or kirk-sessions of the respective parish or parishes
in which the district has been set apart." These district ministers

CENT, XIX,] CHAPTER VL 61
were " to be under the superintendence and government of the
Church of Scotland." In other words, they were to fall under the
general description of Chapels of Ease,
The General Assembly, in May 1833, enacted, that all the district
members settled or to be settled under the statutes now mentioned
of George IV,, " are hereby, from and after this date, erected into
separate parishes, quoad sacra," and disjoined from their original
parishes. These district ministers were, by the General Assembly,
authorised to act in all respects as parish ministers, "as if the dis
tricts had been ordinary parishes ;" and these ministers are declared
to be constituent members " of all Presbyteries,'' Synods, Church
Courts, and judicatories, whatsoever," The Presbyteries in which
they were situated were directed to enrol them in their number,
with all the privileges competent to the original members.
The effect of this regulation was to add to the Presbyteries in
which these district ministers were resident, eighty-two new mem
bers, that is to say, a minister and a ruling elder, elected by the kirk-
session of each new parish.
Next, in 1834, the General Assembly made an act introducing
in like manner the members of all Chapels of Ease, built or to be
built, into the Church Courts, as constituent members — directing
every Presbytery, in which any chapel was situated, to set apart for
it a territory, to be disjoined from the original parish, and to form of
itself a new parish, quoad sacra, having a kirk-session, with all the
privileges competent to ancient parishes. The effect of this act of
the Assembly, as in theoormer case, was for every Chapel of Ease
to introduce two new members, a minister and a lay, (or, as he is
called,) a ruling-elder, into the ancient Presbytery of the district in
which the Chapel of Ease is situated.
The liberality of the public had, as already stated, contributed large
sums for the purpose of erecting Chapels of Ease, to furnish addi
tional sittings in churches, to enable the increased population of pa
rishes to attend public worship without expense. The money had
been entrusted, as already noticed, to the clergy, who were the
most active promoters of the measure. It was not foreseen or sus-

62 CHAPTER VL [cENT. XIX.
pected that an ambitious party in the Church would make the pub
lic liberality subservient to the purpose of elevating that party and
its leaders to a degree of power, or, at least, of presumptuous confi
dence, as should lead it to measure its strength against the law of
the land, as declared by the highest courts of justice in the kingdom.
In the meanwhile, by the aid of the funds now mentioned. Chapels
of Ease continued to be built, and every new chapel added two
members to the Presbytery of the district.
These measures, and the statute authorising the Church Courts
to make laws for the constitution of the chapels, were little attended
to by the community at large, because the purpose and practical
effect of them were not immediately discerned, and their tendency to
alter essentially the constitution of the supreme Church Court, the
General Assembly. With the exception of an elder from each royal
burgh, and one from each university, the Presbyteries are the electoral
bodies that name the members of the General Assembly of the
Church. If a Presbytery contain six, but fewer than twelve mini
sters, it elects as its representative or members of the General As
sembly, two ministers and one lay or ruling elder. Kit consist of
twelve ministers, and fewer than eighteen, it elects three ministers
and one elder. If eighteen ministers, and below twenty-four, it
elects four ministers and two elders. If above twenty-four mini
sters, and below thirty, it elects six ministers and three elders. If
above thirty, and below thirty-six, it elects seven ministers and three
elders, and so on in the same proportions.
By the effect of converting the ministers of chapels of ease into
parish ministers, the constitution of the ecclesiastical incorporation
or Established Church was speedily altered. About 203 ministers
of these chapels, and 42 Highland ministers, or in all about 245
ministers, besides an equal number of elders, were added to the
constituencies that elect the members of the General Assembly, and
that Assembly itself was proportionally augmented in numbers by
enlarging the number of ministers in the Presbyteries.
These newly erected parish ministers became an addition to the
strength of the popular, now the movement and ambitious party in

CBNT. XIX.J CHAPTER VL 63
the Presbyteries, and consequently in the General Assembly, The
new parish ministers adhered to that party, not only as their patrons,
but the stipends of chapel ministers depending much on seat-rents,
they were constrained to court popularity, and all of them were now
under control by the Veto Act, A chapel minister obtaining a
patron's presentation, could, with little difficulty, be placed under
the ban of that act, by stirring up against him a Dissenting party of
communicants. As in the new parishes the elders were generally
selected by the ministers, or under their influence, the elders almost,
as a matter of course, voted along with them, and hence the popular
party could encounter no effectual resistance in the Church Courts.
For example, by introducing seventeen chapel ministers and as
many elders into the Presbytery of Edinburgh, that party gained
thirty-four votes in addition to such voters as previously adhered to
them. From the time, therefore, that these alterations were made,
whatever is said to have been done by the Church of Scotland or
its General Assemblies, must be regarded as acts of the movement
party, formerly a minority, but now triumphant, and acting in dis
regard of the opposition of the moderate party, some eminent mem
bers of which still obtained seats in the Assembly, At a future
period the same sort of procedure was extended to a body of Dis
senters, They, too, were made parish ministers, under the anomaly,
that although a special district was to be assigned to each minister,
he might retain such inhabitants of other parishes as previously ad
hered to him.,
I have said that the public gave little attention to these measures
while in progress. The whole were a series of projects devised
by clerical ambition, and calculated to augment and fasten on
the community the dominion of an aspiring body of clergy. But
men had a habitual respect for the Church Courts, The General
Assembly brought back the grateful memory of our ancient king
dom, which turned back the Eagles of Imperial Rome, and which,
from every calamity, had always ultimately emerged to independ
ence. Neither was it now suspected that our evangelical clergy
could be in error, and still less that a cup had been mingled by the

64 CHAPTER VII. [cENT. XIX.
delusiye spirit of Popery, and was going round the land infusing the
intoxicating poison of ambition and vanity, of which men were made
to drink who flattered themselves they were augmenting religion in
the land, when they were merely striving to restore what had been
beaten down by our fathers, the domination of priests over man
kind. The men of the law looked on with wonder at the whole pro
ceeding, occurring, as it did, in an age presumptuous and loving
novelties above all former example. Specially such men wondered
how the clergy would get over the difficulty that the Presbyteries,
consisting of certain known parishes, had been authorised to per
form certain acts of civil jurisdiction, in relation to the repair or re
building of manses, the allotment of glebe lands, and the trial of
parish schoolmasters, whereas now the Presbyteries were altered in
their constituent members without civil authority.
Of the two enterprises of the popular party, the Veto Act, and
the creation of parishes whereby to alter the Church Courts, the
legal validity of the former was first brought to trial.

CHAPTER VII.

VETO ACT.

A VACANCY having, in August 1834, occurred in the parish church
of Auchterarder, the patron, the Earl of Kinnoul, in October there
after, presented Mr Robert Young, one of the class of persons styled
preachers, probationers, or licentiates of the Church, who had been
tried by his Presbytery, and found qualified to hold a living ; and,
in the meantime, allowed to preach in any church when applied to
by the parish minister. The Presbytery of Auchterarder sustained ¦
the presentation ; but a majority of persons on the roll of communi
cants, without assigning any reason or objection, dissented from the
nomination made by the patron. After some proceedings in the

CENT. XIX.] CHAPTER VII. 65
Presbytery and Synod relative to matters of form, the Presbytery re
fused to proceed to trial of Mr Young's qualifications, a,nd at once,
in July 1835, rejected Mr Young under the authority of the Veto
Act. No appeal was taken to the superior Church Courts ; but an
action was raised before the Court of Session, at the instance of Lord
Kinnoul and Mr Young, demanding generally, that a decree should
be pronounced, declaring that the Presbytery ,had acted illegally,
and that they ought to have proceeded to make trial of Mr Young's
qualifications ; and, on finding him qualified, to proceed to receive
and admit him as minister of the church andsparish of Auchterarder.
The action was opposed by the Presbytery, and its merits dis
cussed in the Court of Session with gre?it ability and labour. Gene
rally, the defenders contended that the Court of Session, being a
civil court, had no jurisdiction in such a case, ,and that the Presby
tery had acted correctly, having proceeded according to the law of
-the Church, which had an exclusive right to regulate proceedings
meant to lead to the ordination of a minister, as being a spiritual
act, .&c. They farther alleged that, by not £^ppealing tO;the superior
Church Courts, the pursuers, the patron, and ,presentee,fpught to be
held to have legally acquiesced in the decision of the Presbytery.
The point of chief importance towards a decision -of ihe dispute
in the Court of Session, evidently was the question :of jurisdiction.
It was plainly in vain for the patron and his presentee to appeal to the
General Assembly, because the Assembly itself was the wrong doer,
if wrong had been done. Tbe Assembly had made and sanctioned
•their Veto Act, which the Presbytery had merely obeyed. The As
sembly must therefore, of necessity, have supported their law of Veto.
On the other hand, if it was competent to claim and obtain redress
from the Court of Session, the result was equally, obvious. That Court
must, of necessity, give effect to the statutes 1592, chap. 114, and
10th of Queen Anne, which enforce the ancient rights of patrons.
These statutes are perfectly unambiguous in their import, and re
quire no explanation, interpretation, or construction.
But here the Civil Court was called upon to compel the clergy to
perform a spiritual office. The obvious answer was, are not all the

6*6 CHAPTER VIL [cENT, XIX.
services performed by the clergy spiritual, or bearing reference to
spiritual, that is, religious duties ? But have they not bound them
selves to perform these spiritual services or duties, in return for
their stipends, manses, and glebes ? Was not this a fair and law
ful contract, and is it not to be declared binding by the constitutional
interpreters of the law, and thereupon enforced ? Is the incorpo
rated Established Church, in its General Court or Assembly, to
make a bye-law inconsistent with its Charter and the law of the
land, and then pretend that it is sole judge in its own cause, and
not bound by the law of the land to which it owes its existence, as
an incorporated political body ? If the Bank of Scotland or of Eng
land make a rule, altering the Usury Laws, or if the East India Com
pany make a rule inconsistent with their Charter, are not the Judges
of the land to protect the lieges against the usurpation ? And is
the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland to make Statutes,
which are to violate its Charter, and annul the law of the empire, with
out appeal to the Constitutional Judges ? But to ordain a minister
is a spiritual act — so is prayer to God. A nobleman employs a
chaplain to convene daily the family to prayers. The chaplain, on
some occasion, declines, and says he cannot be compelled to per
form his office, because it is spiritual. True, he cannot be compelled
literally to perform his office ; but will not the employer be entitled
to the legal remedies, resulting from the breach of a lawfiil contract ?
Will not the Civil Court give its aid, if necessary, to expel from his
house, and deny the stipulated salary to the defaulter ?
In other respects, the pleas or arguments of parties will be suffi
ciently known from the judgment given forth on 5th March 1838,
by the Lords of the First Division of the Court, whereby " They,
in terms of the opinions of the majority of the Judges, repel the ob
jections to the jurisdiction of the Court, and to the competency of
the action, as directed against the Presbytery : Further, repel the
pleas in defence of acquiescence : Find, That the Earl of Kinnoul has
legally, vaUdly, and effectually, exercised his right as Patron of the
Church and parish of Auchterarder by presenting the pursuer, the
said Robert Young, to the said Church and parish: Find, That the

CENT. XIX.J CHAPJ'ER VIL 67
defenders, the Presbytery of Auchterarder, did refuse, and continue
to refuse, to take trial of the qualifications of the said Robert Young,
and have rejected him as presented to the said Church and parish,
on the sole ground (as they admit on the record) that a majority of
the male beads of families, communicants in tbe said parish, have
dissented, without any reason assigned, from his admission as mini
ster : Find, That the said Presbytery, in so doing, have acted to the
hurt and prejudice of the said pursuers, illegally, and in violation of
their duty, and contrary to the provisions of certain Statutes li
belled on ; and, in particular, contr.iry to the provisions of the Sta
tute of 10th Anne, Chap. 12, entitled, ' An Act to restore Patrons
to their ancient rights of presenting Ministers to the Churches va
cant in that part of Great Britain called Scotland ;' in so far, repel
the defences stated on the part of the Presbytery, and decern and
declare accordingly ; and allow the above decree to go out, and be
extracted as an interim decree," &c.
The General Assembly having met in 1838, the ruling party
treated with great indignation the decision of the Court of Session
in the case of Auchterarder. With a view to that decision, they
adopted the following resolution : " That the General Assembly of
the Church of Scotland, while they unqualifiedly acknowledge the
exclusive jurisdiction of the Civil Courts, in regard to the civil rights
and emoluments secured by law to the Church, and members thereof,
and will even give and inculcate obedience to their decisions there-
anent. Do resolve, that, as is declared in the Confession of Faith
of the National Established Church, ' The Lord Jesus, as King and
Head of his Church, bath therein appointed a government in the
hand of church-officers, distinct from the civil magistrate ; and that
in all matters touching the doctrine, government, and discipline of
the Church, her judicatories possess an exclusive jurisdiction founded
on tbe Word of God; which power ecclesiastical (in the words of
the Second Book of Discipline) flows immediately from God and
the Mediator Jesus Christ, and is spiritual, not having a temporal
head on earth but only Christ, the only spiritual head and governor
of his Kirk.' And they do farther resolve, that this spiritual juris-

68 CHAPTER VIL [cENT. XIX.
diction, and the supremacy and sole Headship of the Lord Jesus
Christ, on which it depends, they will assert, and at all hazards de
fend, by the help and blessing of the Grea;t God, who, in the days
of old, enabled their fathers, amid manifold persecutions, to main
tain a testimony, even to the death, for Christ's kingdom and crown ;
and, finally, that they will firmly enforce submission to the same
upon the office-bearers and members of their Church, by the execu
tion of the laws in the exercise of the ecclesiastical authority where
with they are invested."
Men of sense, influenced by Scottish and Presbyterian senti
ments, perused with deep regret this extravagant document issuing
from persons bearing the name, and holding the place of that
hitherto venerated body, the General Assembly of the Church.
Such language could only have been expected from the chiefs who,
in arms against the government, entered Edinburgh in 1745. These
chiefs might not unnaturally have proclaimed, that " the jurisdic
tion, supremacy, and sole sovereignty of our lawful prince, King
James VIL, we will assert, and at all hazards defend, by the help
and blessing of tbe Great God, who, in the days of old, enabled our
fathers to maintain a testimony, even to the death, for the kingdom
and crown of the Royal House of Stuart ; and, finally, we will firmly
enforce siibmission," &c. &c. Men, although in error, coming for
ward in arms, and truly perilling life and lands on the bloody arbi
trament of battle, in support of their principles, might not ungrace
fully have, in such terinas, expressed their sentiments and announced
their stern purpose. But here, in peaceful times, a number of gen
tlemen and churchmen, assembled under the protection of the British
Monarch — inet by one bf the race and rank of our ancient nobles,
as tbe representative of royalty — attended by a large military guard,
displaying, in honour of the Assembly, all the pride, pomp, and
circumstance of glorious war ; — thus guarded, honoured, and dis
turbed by nobody, do these men talk of hazard to be encountered
where there is no hazard; and, in a Christian land, in which Christ
is recognized and worshipped as the Lord, Judge, Saviour, and
Patron of the human family, they pretend that they are to support

CENT. XIX.J CHAPTER VIL 69
his crown and kingdom, and refer back to what was done by our
ancestors in times of civil war and bloodshed, before relisious toler-
ation was recognized as lawful — and all this for what ? Merely be
cause the Court of Session had, against the opinion of a majority
of them, decided that a bye-law made by their incorporation was
inconsistent with a clause in the statute, or charter, by which they
were incorporated ; and with a British statute re-enacting that
clause. All the while, the only disturbance in the land was that
attempted to be raised by a party among themselves, which party
retained its majority or ascendancy, in virtue of the very question
able measures by which they had erected the forty-two Highland
Chapel districts into parishes, and assigning districts to all the other
Chapels of Ease in Scotland, and erected them into parishes, to the
effect of altering the constitution of the Church Courts, and specially
of the General Assembly. But let the import and true meaning be
considered of the foresaid resolution, so far as intelligible.
1. Did tbe Assembly mean to say, that they are sovereign judges
of the truth and purity of Christian doctrine ? This is a principle
of Popery disclaimed by Protestants, who found their faith, not
like the Romanists, or the Modern Puseyites, or Newmanists
of Oxford, on the dictates of the church, but on the Sacred Scrip
tures, But, supposing the Veto Act to have formed the only
subject that occupied the minds of the leaders of the Assembly?
no dispute about doctrine had existed. The doctrine to which
the Established Church is bound to adhere is fixed by the West
minster Confession of Faith, The complaint of Robert Young,
which the Court of Session sustained, was, that the Presbytery had
refused to take trial of his qualifications, including the soundness of
his doctrine.
2, Neither had there been any dispute about the government and
discipline of tbe Church. Reference is made to the Confession of
Faith, and a very brief quotation given. But that instrument ex
plains the amount of the power, called the power of the keys, vested
in church-officers for government and discipline. It is a power of
censure and exclusion from the sacraments, or excommunication.

70 CHAPTER VIL [CENT. XlX
on account of heresy or immoral conduct. No dispute had occurred
about any special exercise of that power, nor had the Court of
Session hitherto interfered with it. They had merely decided
what they held to be a question of contract under the act 1592,
c, 1 14, by which the church had consented to receive and admit
any qualified minister the patron might present — a right restored
to patrons by a British statute in 1810, which, as British subjects^
the Presbytery of Auchterarder were bound to obey.
3. The true meaning of the very solemn Resolution referred to, so
far as intelligible, amounts to this, that the Assembly hold supreme
dominion in all cases that they are pleased to style spiritual or ec
clesiastical. They say that there are two powers as governments,
the civil and ecclesiastical, established over this world. That in Scot
land, the ecclesiastical government or power is vested ultimately in
the General Assembly, That their power proceeds immediately from
God and the Lord Jesus Christ, and resistance to them is rebellion
against Him; and, under pretence of supporting Christ and his crown,
and his rights, they will enforce the laws they have made against
all whom their power can reach. The matter is somewhat mysti
fied by saying that their power is spiritual, and has no temporal
head on earth. In other words, there is no power to whom men
may appeal against their determinations. The Civil Court had given
a decision against the Assembly's Veto Act, holding it to be a vio
lation of the civil right of the patron and his presentee, which the
Assembly held to be spiritual. Here is a conflict of determination.
But the Assembly say, " Our decision, that the case is spiritual, pro
ceeding from the authority of God and tbe Lord Jesus Christ, over
rules them, and their judgment resting on breach of contract. We
hold our Veto Act to be a spiritual law — we hold the powers of
the Lord Jesus Christ, and will defend them. So the Assembly held
that they not only have jurisdiction in spiritual or ecclesiastical ques
tions, but that, in virtue of the power of Christ vested in them, they
are entitled to determine what questions are and what are not ecclesi
astical. That there is nobody over them but the Lord Jesus Christ,
and that they know his will better than the rest of the community,"

CENT. XIX.J CHAPTER VIL 71
What is this but the very spirit and essence of Popery— of thai
Popery which our forefathers banished from the land ? What more
did the Pope and his clergy say than this, that he, as deriving his
power from Jesus Christ, was superior to all civil authorities, and en
titled to decide what questions are spiritual, and, consequently, fall
ing under his exclusive and supreme jurisdiction ? Popery is power
whether in one man at Rome or in a few hundreds at Edinburgh,
Let it always be remembered that religious office-bearers are men —
sinful men — whose progenitors ate poison in paradise — selfish and
ambitious — no worse, perhaps, but naturally not better — or rather
much less trust-worthy than others, when the interest of their am
bition is concerned. When they claim the exclusive privilege of
fixing the limits of their own jurisdiction, they are Papists, not Pro
testants. Could I venture to approach mysteries, I would say, that
they were here struggling (I hope unconsciously) to bring on a new
advent of that Popery, whose deadly wound, received from Luther's
Reformation, these men were now labouring to heal, (see Rev. xiii.
11.) These may seem bitter words, but they are used more in sor
row than in anger — sorrow, because these men whom in youth I
was taught to regard as the most faithful ministers, zealous watch
men of their flocks, and correct expounders of evangelical doctrine,
have been so far misled by ambition seizing a portion of them.
I have, perhaps, said more than enough on this vain-glorious bra
vado of the Assembly of 1838, but let it be remembered, that on the
subject of religion many men are very weak. They think themr
selves safe if they follow the teachers whom they have followed as
most evangelical. It might be reasonable for the present Christians of
the ancient Church of Smyrna, mentioned by the Apostle John, to
say they obey the Turkish Civil Government in civil matters, but
in regard to their religion, they establish office-bearers who admini
ster among them the law of Christ, to v/hich they will adhere as
their fathers did, at the hazard of life and goods. Or even our own
Dissenters, in virtue of the Law of Toleration, may reasonably say
that they obey the Civil Courts in relation to temporal affairs, but as
to the admission of their ministers, they follow what they hold to be

72 CHAPTER VIL [CENT. XlX.
the forms and doctrine most consistent with their notions of the
Christian law. An established church is in a very different situa
tion. Such a church is what the establishing government has made
it. In Scotland, the establishing government has, by statute, fixed
the doctrine the Church is to teach — the localities from which each
minister is to derive a subsistence to himself and his family, and
the inhabitants of which he is to superintend — the authority under
which individual ministers are to be appointed — also the limits of
their jurisdiction, viz., a power of censure to the extent of excom
munication — which power no magistrate is to enforce by civil pe
nalties. If a minister hold these conditions, or any of them, to
be inconsistent with Christian law, he ought to resign his office and
benefice ; but while he holds it, he must obey the law, and the con
stitutional interpreters of it.
Notwithstanding the very confident terms in which they had an
nounced their transcendent privileges, the Assembly so far departed
from their alleged supremacy, as fo authorise the Presbytery of Auch
terarder to present a petition of appeal to the House of Lords
against the decision of the Court of Session, relative to the effect of
the Veto Act. The cause was decided on the 3d May 1839, when
the decision of the Court of Session was affirmed. The judgment
of the House of Lords was moved by Lord Brougham and by Lord
Chancellor Cottenham, who had formed their opinions without
communication with each other. In their speeches, the whole ques
tion was luminously explg^ned. Lord Brougham, in particular,
stated the case with his usual powerful eloquence and great variety
of illustration. It had been suggested from the Bar, that the Gene
ral Assembly would refuse to obey a judgment unfavourable to their
own views. In reference to that suggestion, and to the discord in
Scotland on the subject. Lord Brougham, with great good feeling
towards the land of his birth and education, said, " That it (the
discord) should ever have begun all must sincerely deplore ; but
that it should continue, is a matter of still greater affliction to
every friend of his country, I have declared my inviolable respect
for the Kirk and General Assembly, but any want of respect that

CENT. XIX.J CHAPTER VIL 73
I could show towards them, any irreverence, any mockery of
them, any slander that I could bring against them, any attempt
to revile them, or to hold them up to hatred or to scorn, would
be a mere jest compared to the attempts that are made by some who
take an opposite view of the case, and who, without meaning, God
knows, any more than I do, any the least disrespect, think they
are taking the best means of establishing their privileges, by
holding out indications that the Assembly will pursue its own
course : that the Assembly will disregard the authority of the law ;
that an Assembly of Christian ministers will be parties to the fo
menting of discord ; that the last thing the ministers of peace are
minded to promote, is the peace of the Church of Christ committed
to their care : and that the only thing they now think of is the vic
tory of them, the Churchmen, the pastors of Christ's flock over the
judges, over the supreme judges of the land, and over the law of
the land itself; a victory to be won by setting up acts of their own
which they have no title to pass, against Queen, Lords, and Com
mons — against the statute law of the realm. My Lords, I defend
the Assembly against the threats of their advocates, I protest, on
fhe part of the Assembly, as a body of Christian men, of whom tbe
bulk are Christian ministers, against the imputation thus thrown out
against them by this course of defending them, and I say that my
hopes of them, my confident expectations of what will be their
conduct, are wholly the reverse of those prospects thus held out
against them by this course of defending them," &c.
The Lord Chancellor Cottenham concurred in these sentiments
concerning the conduct which the General Assembly would adopt.
But these learned persons were not aware of the extensive train
of measures by which the movement section of the Established
Church of Scotland had made preparation for a contest with the
civil authorities, in order to re-establish that ecclesiastical suprema
cy which had been so generally shaken, and in our country over
turned by Luther, and his associates and followers. Indeed, the
estabhshment of religious toleration, and the kindly spirit which
it produced, had of late years prevented British statesmen and phi-

74 CHAPTER VIL [cENT, XIX.
losophers from being aware that ambition, the original sin of our
nature, may find its way into the mind of a minister of the gospel,
not less readily than into the minds of those styled men of the
world, and that an ecclesiastical incorporation will therefore prove
not less ambitious, and not less selfish in its ambition, than any
other incorporation, while it is more mischievous by its tendency to
corrupt and pervert to its own purposes, the great protector of human
virtue, religion. The ambitious domination of a priesthood had been
disclaimed by the principles of the Protestant faith, and that discla
mation had been practically aided by permitting the marriage of
the clergy, unlike the Romish priesthood, they became involved in
the ties, hopes, and interests incident to domestic and social life,
along with the rest of the community, and are so far detached from
their order. Still, the passion being deeply seated in the human
heart, becomes in certain minds, like other passions, blind to every
interest excepting its own gratification. Such persons had now ob
tained an ascendancy over the Church of Scotland,
This, however, was not at the time the opinion of the public at
large, or even of discerning persons generally. By more than a
hundred years of valuable service to the community, the Church of
Scotland had so far gained the esteem and confidence of the com
munity, that we could not believe, and did not even suspect, that
this favourite body could possibly entertain any undue purpose.
They might or might not have erred about a difficult question of
law, but this could not be supposed to affect the general soundness
of their intentions. Matters, however, had now reached a crisis. It
was not too late for the leaders of the ambitious section of the
Church to avoid a collision with the national authorities, and to re
treat with a tolerable grace. Many eminent lawyers had thought it
was within the competency of the Established Church, in virtue of
some sort of discretionary power supposed to be entrusted to them,
to venture by the Veto Act to control their own licentiates and mini
sters, when availing themselves of presentations by patrons. The prac
tice of holding presentations competent only when granted to licenti
ates or ministers, implied that patrons yielded much to thc clergy.

CENT. XIX.J CHAPTER VIL 75
As to the augmeiitadon of tbe number of parishes, little had hitherto
been said concerning it ; the measure might be represented as merely
a convenient form of conducting the duties of chapel ministers, by li
miting them to defined districts, and aiding them by bodies of kirk-
sessions, that as to the admission of these ministers and elders into the
Church Courts, it was an act of liberality on the part of the old clergy,
but if held doubtfiil, the Church would recal it if offensive to Go
vernment. Had the ambitious leaders of the General Assembly
treated matters in this way, and given obedience to the decree
of the House of Lords, in the Case of Auchterarder, they might have
obtained very considerable concessions from the Legislature. But
these leaders resolved to adhere to the lofty ground which they had
assumed. They conceived themselves to be so highly strengthened
by the great enlargement of their body, from the adoption of the
chapels of ease as parish churches, that they might venture to hazard
a contest with all the courts of law. They hoped apparently, by a
show of popular strength, to influence the administration then in
office, and through them to obtain a Parliamentary recognition of
all their pretensions. The only immediate effect of the judgment
of the House of Lords in the Case of Auchterarder was, that the
ruling party in the Assembly endeavoured further to augment their
forces. In 1839, they passed the act, authorising Presbyteries to
receive ministers, and their congregations of Seceders, into union
with the Church, to assign parishes to the ministers adjacent to
their chapels, reserving to their people to continue to attend their
chapels instead of the parish churches of their residence.
In all their debates and discussions, the ambitious or movement
party in the successive Assemblies endeavoured to keep out of view
their position as an Established Church, or an incorporation of
office-bearers established by the legislature under certain limitations
and conditions. They defended their Veto Act sometimes ap
parently, as if they were a sort of apostles having direct celestial
power of legislation granted by their invisible Head ; sometimes it
was alleged that they supported the right of the Christian people to
have a conclusive voice in the selection of their pastors, dexterously

76 CHAPTER VIL [CENT. XIX.
suppressing the fact, that it was not to the people, but to a selection
of them, that they granted the privilege of overturning the patron's
right. Above all, they relied on the plea that ordination being spiritual,
they could not be compelled to perform that spiritual act, while the
civil courts said, spiritual or not spiritual, you are bound to admit
and receive the qualified ministers ; and if ordination be your form
of admission, you are bound to perform it by accepting of the act
1592, and all the benefits resulting from your situation as an Estab
lished Church.
The Presbytery of Auchterarder, obeying the commands of the
General Assembly, refused to proceed to the trial of the qualifica
tions of Lord Kinnoul's presentee, Mr Young. The clergy thus
kept the church of Auchterarder vacant, and, at the same time, an
attempt was indicated, on the part of the clergy, to derive profit from
the vacancy, by claiming the vacant stipend as part of the fund for
the support of their widows and families. Next, in the case of
Lethendy, in the Presbytery of Dunkeld, a presentee having been
rejected under the Veto Act, a second presentation had been issued,
the first presentee obtained an interdict of the Court of Session,
prohibiting the Presbytery of Dunkeld to act under the second pre
sentation tiU his claim of preference should be tried ; the Presby
tery, disregarding the interdict, proceeded to settle in the parish
(Lethendy) the second presentee. For this act of contempt the
ministers were merely rebuked by the Court of Session, the judges
being evidently anxious to treat men mildly who denied any con
temptuous purpose, but alleged they acted from an opinion of duty
to their ecclesiastical superiors. Actions of damages were afterwards
raised and sustained against the Presbyteries in question, but mat
ters were rapidly brought to extremity by the movement party, or
leaders of the Church.
In the case of Marnoch, the Presbytery of Strathbogie, by a ma
jority of seven against three, declared their readiness to obey the law
as declared by the Civil Courts, and to take on trial the presentee,
although rejected under the Veto Act, and on finding him qualified
in learning, doctrine, and moral character, to proceed to induct him

CENT, XIX.J CHAPTER VII.

I i

into the parish. To prevent this, the Commission (or general com
mittee, including all the members of the last General Assembly) sus
pended the seven ministers from their whole ecclesiastical functions,
and the succeeding Assembly renewed tbe suspension. The object
in view was to render it impracticable for the Presbytery to perform
the act of ordination, which the Assembly held to be a religious
solemnity which ministers suspended from office could not perform.
The presentee thereupon obtained a decree of the Civil Court, or
daining the Presbytery of Strathbogie to proceed to his settlement,
the suspension by the Church being held to be an illegal act, and
therefore void. Three members made opposition, and were found
liable in expenses. The other seven members of the Presbytery
proceeded and completed the settlement in the usual form. The
result was, that the next General Assembly pronounced a sentence
deposing these seven ministers from the office of the holy ministry,
and declaring their churches vacant, A minority not only re.gisted
this resolution, but after it passed, declared that they held it to be
void, and that they would continue to hold communion with these
ministers, and assist them in their ministrations, as if nothing had
happened, and particular clergymen have since done so.
This proceeding of the violent party of inflicting the highest
punishment by a sentence of deposition and expulsion from their
churches and parishes, on the seven ministers of Strathbogie, has
been regarded as a grievous error in policy committed by that party.
It certainly was the first thing that opened the eyes of the community
to 'the conduct of their clergy. Here several men and their families
were attempted to be ruined for no other crime than that they
obeyed the law of the land, as declared by the highest authority to
which the Assembly itself had appealed ; and was inflicted on mini
sters of perfect respectability and purity of character, by men who
themselves held by their own benefices, which they had obtained
under the law of patronage, uncontrolled by a Veto vested in cer
tain communicants. Here was religious persecution brought back
with all the intolerance and tyrannical spirit of popery. It was now
seen that an error had been committed in trusting to the clergy the

78 CHAPTER VIL [cENT. XIX.
disposal of the funds collected for the construction of Chapels of
Ease, and for other public purposes. The same spirit of the ambi
tious faction perverted to its service and purposes the patronage re
sulting from the disposal of all public money falling under their con
trol, as I shall again observe. It was now manifest that the spirit
of evil which so speedily after the Reformation from popery had
entered the Scottish Church, but had been conquered by the law
of toleration, and increasing intelligence and moderation, had once
more invaded the same Church with success, in the usual form of
an unholy ambition to rule the land. Other symptoms of the same
spirit appeared in Pharisaical pretensions to greater purity, but all
verging to the increase of clerical ambition.
To support the views of the ruling faction great efforts were
made by their leaders to stir up disaffection in the country against
the law. The strange exhibition wad seen of ministers traversing
the country, mounting pulpits and platforms, to try to rouse up the
populace in their favour — they even tried to interest in their views
the Presbyterian Dissenters of Ireland, who understand nothing of
the matter, whereas the Scottish Seceders, generally, understanding
well its merits — regard in a true light a dispute occurring in a case
in which men incorporated, privileged, and endowed, by the State,
pretend to equality with the State, or supremacy over it, — claim in
herent sovereignty, and refuse to fiilfil the conditions under which
all their privileges were granted. The Assembly, meanwhile, ap-
pionted days of humiliation and prayer, on account of the distressed
state, as they say, of the Church, meaning truly the sorrow of the
ruling party among themselves, that they found their scheme of
domination detected and defeated. For it became evident to them
selves, that, after the fatal deposition of the seven ministers of
Strathbogie, they were rapidly losing ground with the community,
They saw not only the Dissenters looking on them with coldness,
but that many looked to Episcopacy as a relief from an unruly
priesthood, exhibiting purity in their pretensions, while animated
by the unholy ambition of a corporation, corrupted by too much in
dulgence. Even tbe Papists lifted high their eyes with wonder.

CENT, XIX.J CHAPTER VII. 79
They saw their fiercest enemy, Presbyterianism, palpably approxi-
maring to them in spirit and character.
Lord Kinnoul, and his presentee, Mr Young, now raised in the
Court of Session an action of damages against the members of the
Presbytery of Auchterarder, for refusal to do their duty under pre
tence of the Veto Act. Lord Cuninghame, as Ordinary, referred
the case to the Court for decision, but gave forth a note of his opi
nion favourable to the pursuers, and in which the whole merits of
the case were discussed with great learning and ability. His Lord
ship, in particular, remarked, that after the decision of the House
of Lords, tbe Presbytery of Auchterarder, in refusing to proceed to
the trial of Mr Young and his settlement, if qualified, had been guilty
of a high breach of duty, for which they are civilly responsible to all
parties injured by the wrong.
As to the plea, that the Church could not be compelled to per
form the spiritual office of ordination, his Lordship remarked, that
the early reformers did not recognise it, and, " in the time of Knox,
imposition of hands was not used in ordination by Scottish Presby
terians, (see Pardovan, Chap. I. § 2.) Also, Dr M'Crie's Life
of Knox, 4th Ed., vol. i. p. 55." His Lordship proceeds to refute
the whole of the legal arguments of the clergy.
The Court confirmed the opinion given by Lord Cuninghame,
and found the members of tbe Presbytery liable in damages. On
appeal, the judgment was affirmed by the House of Lords,
Thus the Veto Act was conclusively decided to be an illegal as
sumption of legislative power on the part of the General Assembly,

80 CHAPTER VIIL [CENT. XIX.

CHAPTER VIIL
CREATION OF NEW PARISHES.
The instrument by which the movement party in the Established
Church calculated on carrying into effect their measures, was the
enlargement of the Presbyteries and General Assemblies, by intro
ducing into the Presbyteries ministers and elders from Chapels of
Ease, connected into parish churches with allotted districts. Ac
cordingly, the same Assembly, that of 1 834, which passed the Veto
Act, brought also forward and sanctioned this project. But for this
invention, the probabUity is, that the Moderate party of the clergy
would long ere now have regained their influence, and assuredly
they would not have resisted the law of the land, when announced
by the highest judicial authority in the British Empire, On the
contrary, consisting of sound-minded and enlightened men, they
had always acted on Protestant principles, regarding the Church as
a portion of the state subject to its laws, and themselves, as bound
to adhere to that compact, from which they derived national protec
tion in favour of themselves and of what they held to be true religion,
contained in the Westminster Confession of Faith, as recorded in
the Statute Book, In a period of great national agitation, and ap
parent danger to all our ancient national arrangements, and specially
to the Established Church, the Moderate party in the Church of
Scotlandjoined their former opponents in adopting ameasure, thought
to be calculated to give strength and stability to the Establishment
Thus, the Moderate party lent their good name in respect to sober-
mindedness, intelhgence, and constitutional principles, to their
brethren of the minority. This more active and ambitious party
contrived to turn into measures favourable to its project of perma
nent domination, all the plans they devised, and to which, the mo
derate men unsuspectingly gave way. Hence, the forty-two High
land Chapels of Ease and other Chapels were made parishes, and

CENT. XIX.] CHAPTER VIIL 81
introduced into the Church Courts. The sums collected from the
public, to afford religious accommodation to the poor coming into
the possessions of the movement clergy, or their nominees, now a
majority of the Church; the ancient majority found themselves con
verted all at once into a powerless minority ; and the character of
the Established Church of Scotland totally altered — become a most
enterprising, and restless, and ambitious incorporation, no longer
wilhng to be controlled by the law of the land.
It is evident, that if the Church could not legally enlarge its
numbers in the way already mentioned, the General Assemblies
that have of late years met under that name, and have assumed the
privileges and powers of that body, were unlawful meetings, liable
to be treated as guilty of an usurpation of a name and rights which
were not theirs. Those Presbyteries, also, into which ministers and
elders from Chapels of Ease had been introduced, were not lawful
Church Courts.
The question has been the subject of various adjudications resting
on the Veto Act. I shall only make a few remarks on the legal
question, under this protestation, that, even if it should be thought by
some that the General Assenjbly could competently and legally do
what it has done, it does not follow that a dangerous power, so un
expectedly brought into action, ought to remain vested in that
body, although, to withdraw that power and modify the past exer
tions of it, a legislative interposition should be necessary.
1. In the Act 1592, Chap. 114, or Charter of the Church, no
thing is said about the creation of parishes, and no enumeration of
them is made. The legislature appears to have relied on the very
express stipulation in favour of the rights of patrons, as making suf
ficient provision for the dependence of the incorporation upon the
national government. The whole territory of tbe State was and is
in some parish ; and the only effect under the statute of dividing a
parish is, that the patron might be required or be entitied to present
to the Presbytery two qualified ministers instead of only one.
2, The whole territory of Scotiand being divided into parishes,

82 CHAPTER VIIL [cENT, XlX,
each parish now has one minister at least, and these ministers form
the Established Clergy of Scotland, The proprietors of lands or
teinds (tithes) within each parish pay the stipend awarded by the
Court of Teinds to the minister of that parish — build for him and
support a manse, with a garden and glebe lands. They also build
and support the fabric of the church, and pay a sum lo defray the
expense of the communion. In short, ike parish heritors (pro
prietors) defray the whole cost of the religious estabhshment within
their respective parishes, one or two tovsms excepted.
The question is. Have the clergy, in their Presbyteries or General
Assembly, a right to say that a parish minister shall continue to
draw his stipend, and derive all his other allowances from the whole
proprietors of a parish, while, at the same time, the Assembly with
draw him from all service and duty in regard to a half, or a large
proportion of the territory of that parish ? If the duty of a particular
parish minister be laborious, it may be right to give him the aid of
a Chapel of Ease, as was done by Parhament in the case of the
forty-two Highland ministers ; but it is a different question, whether
the General Assembly can legally interfere between the parish
minister and his heritors, and grant to the minister an indulgence
of liberation from the engagement into which he entered, by ac
cepting the patron's presentation to act as minister of the whole
parish. A proprietor of lands in a parish is entitled to say, that
he pays stipend to the minister out of his lands, as the price of that
minister's services in visiting and examinations, preaching, ad
ministration of the sacraments, and superintendence of the poor on
the lands of that proprietor. It is in vain for the General Assembly
to say, we will find another minister who will perform all the duties
now mentioned to the inhabitants of your lands, which we disjoiH
from the original parish, quoad sacra, viz., in r^ard to religious
service. The reply is obvious, that such is not the constitution of
the Established Church, " I insist on fulfilment of that constitution,
or I pay no stipend, I insist on being served by the man whom I
pay for his service — not by a man whom I do not pay, while the

CENT, XIX.] CHAPTER VIIL 83
man whom I do pay and support does not afford me the return re-
quhed of him by the legal constitution of the Church, by which
every minister is to be supported by his own parish, and to super
intend his own parish." Be it always remembered, that the parish
minister and his elders are the official and primary distributors of
the fiinds collected at the church for the poor, the deficiencies of
which must be supplied by the heritors. These are civil rights and
obligations. The General Assembly has no right to tamper with
them — to establish separate bodies of managers — to divide the ma
nagement — to compel the parish heritors to hold meetings, and go
into accountings with new and separate kirk-sessions. In short, the
Assembly has no right to put into confusion a most important branch
of parochial business, which it is clear it cannot effectually regulate,
because it cannot bind all the parties interested.
The patron of a parish may add — The man whom I nominated
minister was one of twelve ministers who formed a Presbytery, and
his vote, in all business, bore that proportion to the whole number ;
but now you make him one of eighteen or twenty ministers, with
an equal addition of elders. I have an interest, both patrimonial
and religious, in the constitution and discipline of the Established
Church of Scotland, which the clergy of that Church have no power
to alter without the authority of the Legislature, by which they were
incorporated and established, and are supported,
3, The question concerning the formation of parishes had been
iavestigated before the enterprise of the movement party in 1834.
The late Sir John Connell, Procurator (standing counsel) for the
Church, in a Treatise on Parishes, published in 1818, commences
his work by an inquiry concerning the " Erection, Union, and Dis
junction of Parishes," I believe there is no reason to doubt, that
before the publication of that work, it had been understood by the
members of the profession of the law, that the Legislature, by the
intervention of the Court of Session, or Court of Teinds, as a Com
mission of Parliament, held exclusively the power of regulating the
parishes of the Established Church, That opinion had not been
regarded as liable to serious doubt or uncertainty-

84 CHAPTER VIIL [cent, xix.
The opinion of the profession of the law on the subject was con
firmed by Council's Treatise, He explained, that in times of Po
pery the bishops seem to have assumed the power of regulating the
extent of parishes ; and hence it was not unnatural that the Pro
testant clergy should have assumed a similar power ; but that, his
torically, although the Protestant Church had frequently interfered
in the matter, to the effect of giving countenance to beneficial mea
sures for adjusting the extent of parishes and the establishment of
additional ministers, yet this territorial division of the kingdom had
been treated as a measure, to the alteration of any part of which the
sanction of the State, or Civil Government, was necessary. Even
after 1639, when the Church was supposed to have extraordinary
powers, it was by Parliament that any change was made on parishes.-
The point came incidentally for discussion in the Court of Ses
sion, in a question whether the forty-two ministers, established by
Parliament in chapels in the Highlands, were entitled to share in
the benefits of the Widows' Fund of the Established Clergy, on the
ground that the General Assembly had made them parish ministers.
The question of law was finally decided in the negative,
4, It has been said that the Legislature has sanctioned the power
of the General Assembly to disjoin and erect parishes. The mean
ing of this is, that in July 1834, before the public were aware of the
project of the leaders of the old popular party to absorb all power
over the Church, and, as far as possible, over the State, that party
obtained a statute of King WilUam IV,, which mentions parishes
supposed to have been formed quoad sacra by the Church Courts,
3Qth July 1834,— 4th and 5th Gui. IV,, Chap, 41,
" Where any church, chapel, or other place of worship in Scot
land, built or acquired, and endowed by voluntary contribution,
shall, according to the provisions of the existing law, be erected
into a parochial church, either as an additional church within a
parish already provided with a parochial church, or as the church
of a separate parish to be erected out of a part or parts of any ex
isting parish or parishes, whether the same be established and erected
merely quoad spiritualia, by the authority of the Church Courts of

CENT. XIX.J CHAPTER VIIL 85
the Established Church of Scotland, or also quoad temporalia by
authority of the Lords of Council and Session, as Commissioners of
Teinds, neither the King's Majesty, nor any private person, nor
any body politic or corporate, having right to the patronage of the
parish or parishes within which such additional churches shall be
established, or out of which such new parishes shall be erected,
shall have any claim, right or title, whatsoever, to the patronage of
such newly established churches, or newly erected parishes ; but
the appointment of ministers thereto shall be made according to the
manner, and subject to the conditions which shall be or have been
prescribed by the said Church Courts, subject always to such altera
tions as shall be made by them, according to the laws of the Church
from time to time." The statute reserves the rights of patrons, and
that one-fifth of the sittings shall be at rents to be fixed by the
Church Courts, By the same statute it is declared, that a patron
building or endowing a church is patron, unless other heritors con
tributed to the expense ; and such a number of them as contributed
one-fourth of the cost of building and endowment remonstrate ; in
which case the church will fall under the act,
I do not enquire whether the Legislature would have passed this
act, if it had been aware of the ambitious plan of those of the
clergy who solicited and obtained the statute. The question is,
does this statute grant power (if they previously had it not) to
the Church Courts to alter their own constitution, to enlarge the
Presbyteries, and the General Assembly, in point of numbers, by
introducing into these Courts of the incorporation the chapel mi
nisters and elders ? The purpose of the statute, so far as legisla
tive intention is concerned, merely was to encourage the building
of Chapels of Ease, by relieving them of the privilege of the pa
rish patron. So far as a parish should be erected or disjoined by
the Teind Court, there is nothing new in the statute. Also, it
was at aU times competent for any person, or body of persons, to
erect a chapel, taking care, in express terms, to exclude the patron's
privilege. This might be neglected, although intended, and to
such a case the statute applies. As to the novelty in the statute.

86 CHAPTER VIIL [CENT. XIX.
the supposition that the Church Courts may disjoin and erect pa
rishes quoad spiritualia, there are no enacting words or terms grant
ing such a power to the Church Courts. There is merely a sup
position, erroneous in point of legal history, that these courts pos
sessed that power. But, assuredly, the statute neither grants nor
acknowledges any power in the Church Courts to enlarge the
number of their own members, and confer judicial and legislative
power on chapel ministers.
The legal inference is, that the meeting assuming the name and
title of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, is not a
legal representation of that incorporated body. It has, therefore,
no lavyful jurisdiction over the members of the incorporation. The
Presbyteries which contain Chapel ministers are not lawful courts —
the other Presbyteries may perform all lawful acts, but, in a litigated
question, an appeal puts every thing into confusion, because the
court of review, in the present state of things, is not a lawful court
On these principles the Court of Session have issued sundry in
terdicts gainst the proceedings of these iUegal courts. No doubt,
the General Assembly have directed the Presbyteries to disre
gard aU such interdicts, on the principle that the Assembly is
our Pope. No one is above it but the Lord Jesus Christ He is
invisible, but the Assembly hold his power by delegation — they
alone know infalUbly his mind and will, and it is impious to doubt
their infallibiUty. To hide or cast a veU overjthe boldness of this
claim, the pretext is, that it is only the defence of male communi
cants that is in view, and that they who doubt the infallibiUty of the
clergy are to be held guilty of Intrusion upon the privUeges of male
communicants, and to be called Intrusionists. Old infaUibiUty has
taken refuge in the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland,
and has found there a temporary sanctuary. The Courts of law
are intruders, or commit the sin of intrusion upon that new sanctuary
of infallibility, however old or venerable.

CENT. XIX.J CHAPTER IX. 87
CHAPTER IX.
OUGHT THERE TO BE AN ESTABLISHEU CHURCH?
At a time when the Church has, by a turbulent outbreak of cleri
cal ambition, rendered itself an object of jealousy to the friends of
freedom, of constitutional order, and of Christian charity and peace,
the above question is apt to be canvassed. Moreover, the Presby
terian system, by the aid of toleration, and the lay eldership, has
exhibited a tendency to train the people to provide religious in
struction for themselves. May not religion, therefore, in Scotland,
be left to itself, without the patronage or interference of Govern
ment? The solution of this question involves considerations that go deep
into the constitution of human nature. I have much, very much,
to say on the subject, but cannot find space in the present form. I
shall only say generally, that certain it is that man is essentially a
selfish being, and that his passions, generally, are selfish. The re
mark is applicable to all, because all are born with similar passions.
If it were not so, some individuals of purer nature would not under
stand, what, however, all do understand, viz., the meaning of the
words — envy, jealousy, ambition, covetousness, pride, &c. It is also
to be kept in view, that the selfish passions are most undisguised and
uncontrolled in their operation, when they affect the joint interest
and affairs of corporate or other large bodies of men. No doubt,
education, the habitual contemplation of the value of virtuous con
duct, and the habitual restraints of law, do greatly tend to control
the selfish passions, and some individuals are affected by them natu
rally in a less intense degree than others. But still, as in reahty
man is a being truly selfish in his nature, and he requires at all
times to be carefuUy watched for this reason specially, that although
one man, or various men, may, by education, have been trained, or
have trained their minds to a high degree of purity, these indi-

88 CHAPTER IX. [cent. xix.
viduals must speedily pass away. The next child that is born to
one of them, is born with every passion that occupied the nature of
the child of Timour the Tartar, who wasted nations. Accordingly,
taught by experience, men have erected courts of justice, and
enacted penalties against criminal conduct, evidehtiy expecting
that crimes will never cease. In the meanwhile, the best guard
against crimes is the cultivation of a religious spirit, , habits, and
character, in the minds of individuals. While stimulated by avar
ice, revenge, or other urgent passions, a man may flatter himself
with the hope of concealing his misdeeds, and escaping human
punishment, or he may act under the protection of darkness and
solitude. In certain situations he may hope to escape justice by
power, or art, or corruption. But, happily for mankind, according
to the judgment of the wise, as well as the fears and sentiments of
the least intelligent and the guiltiest, there exists above us an eye
that is never closed, a witness who never slumbers, who, in silence
and darkness, is at hand and around us, and from whose just indig
nation no fraud, no evasion, not even the grave itself, can give shelter
to the criminal. To me, as a member of society, it is comparatively
of little importance whether a particular man is learned or iUite-
rate, but it is of the utmost importance that he shall at all times
act under the habitual beUef and conviction that he is exposed to
the inspection of invisible powers, to whom the darkness is as light,
and from whose discernment and justice he cannot finally escape.
In a word, to me it is of the highest importance that he shall be
a religious man, having ever in his mind the fear of God, or even if
you will, of the accusing spirit, Satan. To society, this state of
mind is of more importance than all the police, and all the crimi
nal courts, it can establish, or the penalties it can threaten. These
a man (as already remarked) may hope to escape, but the eye of
Omniscience, and the offended Majesty of Almighty power, cannot
be evaded. Hence, when men have committed great crimes, it has
often occurred that the consciousness of the secret fact has become
so utterly intolerable, poisoning prosperity, and rendering life so
wretched, that they have been driven to the necessity of submitting

CENT. XIX.J CHAPTER IX.

89

to confession and punishment, or, in the horrors of despair, have
sought a momentary refuge in self-slaughter.
^ This is only one side of the picture. The superintending, although
mvisible power, is not only terrible to the criminal, he is kind and
beneficent to the well-intentioned and the upright. In adhering to
truth and to his engagements, in fulfilling the duties of life, in per
forming kind actions, in avoiding temptation to evil, a man has not
merely his own approbation, he has a conviction that a powerful
patron is smiling upon him. He walks with God, to whom in every
difficulty he looks as disposer of the event He endeavours to do
his duty, and feels that he has no responsibility for the result Such
a man is plainly a Safe and valuable member of society. He must
violate no trust, for the eye of God is upon him in the absence of an
employer — a connection with him will, for the same reason, be safe.
Relying on the care and clemency of a superior power, he dare not
prove unkind, unreasonable, or unjust, in the ordinary relations of
life. Suppose him a soldier, he will do his duty from a high motive.
He sees over him a Chief who gives to every bullet its commission
— who will meet him beyond the bloody field ; a Quarter- Master
who has the disposal of many mansions ; a Prince whose liberality
is boundless as his power.
Thus religion is a remedy which encounters, directly and in front,
the defects of the human character. It affords powerful aid towards
good government But religion is a remedy not easily admini
stered. It has recently been urged by supporters of what has been
styled Voluntaryism, that religion ought to be left to itself without
interference or patronage by the State ; or, in other words, that there
ought to be no national establishment for public worship and reli
gious instruction. I entertain an opposite opinion, for the following
reasons, which I shall state very briefly : —
1. The extreme importance of religion, as an instrument of re
straint on the bad passions of mankind, renders it absolutely impera
tive on every government, of whatever description, to estabUsh
means for permanently and regularly enforcing on the minds of the

90 CHAPTER IX. [cent. xix.
population the important fact, that human actions and affairs exist
under the inspection of a superior and righteous power, who will
ultimately pronounce and give justice to all, and, more especially,
by an irreversible and fearful doom against the obstinately criminal.
If it be the duty of government to provide juc^es and officers to pro
tect industry and the internal peace and safety of the community, and
to rear fortresses and provide miUtary for defence against foreign ene
mies, it is equally, or rather still more necessary, to provide a regu
lar establishment of officers to instruct the youth of the nation, and
to instil into their minds those religious opinions and precepts, and
hopes and terrors, which form the best guard of human integrity,
and the best incitement to kindness, generosity, and active virtue.
An instrument of this valuable description must not be left to take
the hazard of what the people, as individuals, may do for it Some
districts of a country are too poor, and the population scattered in
distant hamlets, so that they cannot afford the requisite expense of
supporting a highly educated person to undertake the task of re
ligious instruction and duty, while, at the same time, these districts
regularly send forth, in quest of fortune, to the wealthier parts of
the State, a large succession of young persons, who, if not early, at
the public expense, supplied with religious sentiments and opinions,
would fill the lower ranks of society with an unprincipled and danger
ous race of persons, greedy of riches, and unrestrained as to the
means of seizing them. Nay, in opulent districts, such is human
selfishness, that although aware of the importance of religion to the
safety of their persons and property, many men would leave the
entire support of it to the few enlightened and generous, unless
compelled to perform their duty by the requisite form of taxation,
to enable the general government to establish the means of protec
tion to the whole community.
2. By adopting the Christian system of parish clergy, there is
placed in every district, and even in the remotest corners of the
land, a man of liberal education employed to instruct the people in
their duties, as sanctioned by the Creator and Judge of the universe.

CBNT. XIX.] CHAPTER IX. 91
Thus literature is rendered respectable in the eyes of the com
munity, by making so much provision and so many profitable offices
as prizes for its encouragement and reward.
3. An established or endowed church on the Protestant system is
beneficial to the community, as settling in every neighbourhood in
easy, though perhaps not wealthy circumstances, a man professionally
bound to exemplary decency of manners, and whose family must be
reared on that principle. Farther, the State, as having endowed
these men, has a title to their services in all matters in any degree
relative to their profession. It has a body of trust-worthy men, upon
whom it can call to superintend the parish schools, or other estab
lishments for education, and also to superintend the distribution of
any funds set apart for the support of the poor.
4. The existence of an Established (Church leads to preparation
for preferment in it as a profession. This provides a class of teachers
of every degree, whether for the elements of literature, or the higher
branches of philosophy, as professors in universities. By providing,
as usually occurs, a surplus of candidates, it gives a character of
general intelligence to a people, and furnishes men fitted for all
stations in the public service.
5. Such an institution provides a standard for the education, in
telligence, and public ministrations of all who assume the office of
teachers of religion. Hence, the Dissenters find it necessary to re
quire from their favoured ministers an appearance of learning and
of public speaking similar to the accomplishments possessed by the
Estabhshed clergy. Thus the Church, by exciting emulation, edu
cates the Dissenters, and they, in their turn, by equalling, and oc
casionally excelling, the neighbouring beneficed clergy, stimulate
them to higher exertions of preparation and of duty.
6. An Established Church tends to give stability to the civil
arrangements of a community, and thereby to provide for the im
provement of all the most important arts which require the exist
ence of peace and order in society. All institutions of a corporate
character have this effect, as depending for their safety, or even
existence, upon the stability of the constituted government. Hence,

92 CHAPTER IX. [cENT. XIX.
revolutionists seldom fail to attack, and never fail to display hostiUty
against the Established Church, whereas men of integrity and pru
dence rally round and endeavour to preserve it If the Church
understand its own interest, it will adhere to these men. The grand
preparation for the French Revolution consisted of the abolition of
all the incorporations in the kingdom, and their privileges — a mea
sure effected by the political economists to favour speculative free
dom. They abolished instead of reforming the abuse of these in
corporations. Next, in France the Church fell, not reformed, as
with us, but destroyed, and thereby the whole frame-work of society
being broken up, the nation became involved in blood, rapine,
and ruin.
7. By establishing a body of teachers of religion, and fixing on a
system of doctrine in which they became bound to instruct the
population as they progressively attain to youth and manhood, a
State performs an important duty, not merely to protect life and
property, but a moral and religious duty. The State consists of
men personally interested in the truths of religion, whether they be
priests or people. By establishing and endowing a body of clergy,
an opportunity is afforded of instructing our posterity in future
time in those important truths, of the verity of which we ourselves
are convinced. On matters of such importance as the truths of
theology, and the danger of an erroneous establishment of the priest
hood, we are not at liberty to leave our descendants in ignorance.
No doubt, whatever is human is imperfect. The Church estab
lished to diffuse religious knowledge, and to aid in giving permanence
to the institutions of a well-ordered community, may ultimately
attempt to become master of the State, and seek aid to its power by
diffusing ignorance among the people, as the parent of a supersti
tious submission to the will of the clergy. This has occurred, and,
without suitable care, will occur again, because the human race re
tain the same passions now that they formerly did. Such events
only afford a reason for carefully watching over that important in
stitution. In like manner, it is no valid objection against an Estab
lished Church, that it may err and give trouble to the national go-

CENT, XIX,] CHAPTER X, 93
vernment. Every human institution being liable to error, govern
ment exists for no other purpose than to watch over the institutions
and interests of the nation.

CHAPTER X,
PATRONAGE OF PARISHES.
1, If, as some say, it is a part of the Christian law, given forth by
Christ and his Apostles, that every parish minister must be elected
by the whole or some specified part of the congregation, there is an
end of all dispute. The supposed law must be obeyed.
But, assuredly, this principle cannot be maintained by any parish
minister who obtained his situation in virtue of a patron's presenta
tion. Let him resign h^s church, and then only he may plead this
doctrine, I find no such law, or precept, or practice, in the New Testa
ment. The Apostles were sent to the Pagan and Jewish nations,
and not elected by these nations. Christ and his Apostles taught
principles, and showed motives for the universal adoption of them,
leaving every people to apply the principles to their special situa
tion and circumstances.
2. In no part of the Christian world has it been the law, that in
an estabhshed church parish ministers should be elected by the con
gregations. In countries in which religious toleration is allowed,
the Dissenters supporting ministers of their own may introduce
whatever rule they please. But in Europe, generally, the law of
patronage has been all but universal. Kings, and other proprietors
of lands, building and endowing churches, and, after them, bishops
and abbots acquiring them, were patrons.

94 CHAPTER X, [cent, xix.
In Scotland the converts from popery at first supported the Pro
testant clergy. When a church was legalized, patronage was estab
lished or restored to the Crown or other ancient patrons. During
the Civil War, to propitiate the elders whose aid was important in
the contest, they were authorised to nominate the minister on the
occurrence of a vacancy in a parish. This plan, of course, ceased
on the restoration of the royal office, in the person of Charles II, A
new mode of election, by the proprietors and elders, was tried at the
Revolution, by which William III, obtained the throne ; but, being
complained of as exciting endless turbulence in the country, it was
abolished in 1710, and the ancient patrons, viz,, the Crown and
others, restored to their privilege,
I think it may thus be safely affirmed, that, under scarcely an ex
ception, the law of patronage has been in practice adopted in the
Christian world in all cases in which an established church existed.
Ought we at present in Scotland to make a change ?
3, The law of patronage, accompanied by the law of toleration,
has worked well in the Presbyterian Church of Scotland, It has
produced a body of ministers learned, pious, pure in their morals,
having the literature of scholars, and the. manners of gentlemen.
When not overwhelmed in their labours, by the intrusion of an im
ported crowd of strangers, there has been produced under these
clergy an intelligent, moral, and religious population, by whom the
name and character of Scotsmen has been carried to all lands, and
upheld in respectability.
Accordingly, it was not by the people at large that the present
fervour was excited about patronage and non-intrusion, but by an
ambitious and intriguing faction among the clergy. The Veto Law,
and the introduction of ministers and elders from the Chapels of
Ease into the Church Courts, were schemes invented by the restless
ingenuity of a few dexterous political speculators, with a view to
their own exaltation to power and renown,
4, Patronage is necessary to the existence or safety of the Es
tablished Church. Of this there are two views.
(1,) The Crown, being patron of above a third of the parish

CBNT, XlX,j CHAPTER X. 95
churches, is led to support the establishment as an instrument sub
servient to its constitutional influence. The higher nobles and
gentry, being generally the patrons of the other churches, find their
influence and dignity thereby augmented, and therefore support the
Estabhshed Church, But remove these pillars of the Church by
transferring the patronage to the whole or a section of the popu
lace, the landed proprietors would speedily make war on the Estab
lished Church, to get quit of the burden of supporting it, which the
Uberalityof the Court of Teinds to the clergy has in general rendered
severe. The movement party are aware of this. Their Veto Act
was an attempt to retain patronage, and, at the same time, to gain
popularity by opposing it, and power by their influence over the
class of voters selected by the Veto Act — that is to say, tbe com
municants. On this subject, however, the Scottish clergy are apt to adopt,
and not unwiUingly to adopt, an erroneous opinion. The friends
of the Church of England talk of the property of the Church, in
cluding specially the tithes, as absolutely its own, and not less sacred
than any right of private property or inheritance. In imitation of
these statements, the Scottish clergy are apt to talk of the teinds
(tithes) as their property, to which they have a right similar to that
claimed by the Church of England. The cases differ widely. In
England the Church was not aboUshed. The regular clergy,
that is, the establishments of monks, were abolished, and the mona
steries and their lands and tithes confiscated. But the others, call
ed the secular clergy, remained as formerly, and merely changed
their doctrine ahd usages from Popish to Protestant. The bishops
retained their seats in Parliament, and their subordinate deans,
chapters, and parish clergy, remained as formerly. In Scotland, all
was different. The proceedings were irregular, as occurring under
regencies fromroyal minorities, &c. ; but the general result was, that
the whole of the Popish Church, regular and secular, monks, abbots,
bishops, deans, and chapter-priests, vicars, parsons, &c., were swept
away, and their property confiscated, or in some form transferred

96 CHAPTER X. [cENT. XIX.
to the laity. To be sure, the Protestant ministers would gladly have
become successors of the Popish clergy in regard to their tithes and
other property ; but the claim which they made was defeated. It is
true, that, about seventy years afterwards. King Charles I. obtained
for the clergy an arrangement, by which they were to receive in
each parish, from those who had obtained the tithes, a stipend to be
estimated by the Court of Session, But remove that burden by the
abolition of the Established Church, and the owners of the tithes
(generally now the owners of the lands) would evidently get quit
of all payments required for its support, and would hold their
tithes or lands free and unburdened, I believe that the clergy
know all this ; if they do not, they ought to know it.
(2,) It is absolutely necessary, where an established church exists,
that the head of the state or civil government shall hold an influ
ence over it. Even the liberty of public speaking, which is conceded
to the clergy, is a dangerous privilege when coupled with the talent
for popular oratory, which they naturally endeavour to acquire.
The Church, as already noticed, is not the only public body that the
State supports, and over which it is found necessary to preserve in
fluence, A military establishment exists for the preservation of safety
against foreign aggression, and peace at home. Such an establishment
has, at times, turned against the civil government, and usurped the
dominion of the State. The Church did the same under Popery.
Both must be guarded against. In the case of the military, the pre
cautions are severe. Absolute patronage, and power of dismissal
without trial.
The law of patronage forms the bond of union and influence be
tween the State and the Church, In Scotland, this bond is very
moderate in its character and operation. The parish minister holds
his office for life, and, in case of complaint against him for immo
rality or heresy, is liable to trial in the courts of his incorporation,
where his professional brethren hold the chief sway.
Yet, compare the two services, the military and the ecclesiastical.
The soldier gives to the State complete servitude, the sacrifice of

CENT, XIX.J CHAPTER X, 97
his strength and health by day and by night, under the tropical sun,
or the cold and rain of winter. He gives the highest efforts of
watchfulness and skill, with the whole courage, and even the life-
blood of his heart Compare to such devotedness to public duty
the sacrifice made by a Scottish parish minister. No sleepless
nights are spent by him on a hostUe frontier. Resident in the midst
of his family, in a well-built house, with a liberal income, above or
equal to the average of the other learned professions ; required only
to perform duties, which to a learned man are easy, and to a bene
volent man a source of pleasure ; yet these men say they must de
clare the law to all and sundry, and that there is nobody over them
but an invisible Head, whose will they pretend to know better than
other men, although they give no evidence of special communication
with him, and have no other organ of communication than the
sacred Scriptures, which we can all read in translation, and some of
us without translation, as easily and readily as they can do,
5, Supposing the present Law of Patronage to be abolished, it
is an important question, by whom ought the Presbyterian parish
ministers to be nominated ? In attempting to reach a satisfactory
answer to that question, it requires serious consideration ; what are
the qualities or accomplishments that a parish minister ought to pos
sess. The patron ought to be, intelligent in this respect, or have
ready access to competent advisers,
(1,) That a minister ought to be a man of correct moral charac
ter, not addicted to intemperance or any unsuitable habits. So far,
all men are judges, and any man might be a qualified patron of a
church. But farther, it is necessary to the respectability of the
clergy that they possess the manners, and use the language of the
higher, or at least of the educated, classes of society,
(2.) Attend to the nature of the Christian faith, and what a nation
ought to hold requisite in the teachers of that faith. It is a religion
devised by its Author, for the inhabitants of our planet, in their suc
cessive generations. Hence it consists of principles, rather than of
special institutions. But in proportion as ages roll along, new ge
nerations arise with new habits, new literature, and new discoveries G

98 CHAPTER X. [cent. XIX,
in science. Christianity is formed to meet these. The national
clergy ought to be men qualified to carry forward the population in
an improving career, by exciting an enlightened curiosity in the
young, and furnishing extensive views of the world's history to the
more advanced, connecting all with the announcements of revelation ;
showing, for example, how God has enlarged Japheth, and he is
dwelling in the tents of Shem ; how the prophecy of Daniel is in the
course of fulfilment, aided by a modern invention, " many shall run
too and fro, and knowledge shall be increased ;" how the spirit of
Christianity is gradually putting down personal slavery, and how a
single Protestant people, by the colonies which it has planted and is
planting in the West and East, is embracing and filling the globe
with a population relieved from the fetters of that Roman and Greek
idolatry, which repels from Christianity the race of Israel, and the
nations misled in other respects by the ambitious imposture of Ma
homet. I do not say that these special suggestions are to be adopt
ed ; but I say that a national endowed clergy ought to consist of
such men as have adorned the Moderate party of the Church of
Scotland, improving at once, by precept and example, the morals,
the piety, and the intelligence of their countrymen. The patrons
of parish churches ought to be persons who, by education, may be
qualified to appreciate and make search for such men.
6. It is easier to say, who ought not to be patron of a parish
church, than who ought to hold that trust.
(1.) The minister ought not to be elected by universal suffrage of
the congregation. In that way, he would be appointed by the per
sons least educated, because they always form the majority. He
would also be appointed by those who have little or no permanent
connexion with the parish, or little interest in its welfare ; farm ser
vants and labourers in the country, and in villages, hired workmen
in trades and manufactories.
(2.) The clergy, in their Presbyteries, ought not to be the patrons.
It is the worst feature of the Veto Act that it has this tendency, or
rather this obvious effect. Let it be recollected, that the Protestant
clergy have the patronage of the Communion Table ; that they have

CBNT, XIX.J CHAPTER X. 99
famUies, Give the clergy a potential voice in the nomination of parish
ministers, and speedily the sons and sons-in-law of tbe chiefs ot the
Movement party would occupy tbe parish churches of Scotland.
Mr Combe, W.S., remarks, concerning the clergy of one of the
United States,* that, —
" While the practice prevailed of supporting the clergy by a tax
raised on all the inhabitants, and of electing them by the votes of
the communicants only, the result was, that under the pretence of
purifying the Communion-roll, they surrounded the Table of the
Lord by their own adherents, and by amiable but weak-minded per
sons: The first attached to them by deep and devotional feelings,
and the latter, prepared submissively to adopt whatever they sug
gested ; while they alienated the strong-minded, enlightened, and
intelligent members of the parish, by their wide departure from
charity, peacefulness, and common sense." Mr Combe proceeds to
show how the clei^y, by such management, became patrons of the
Established Church, " tiU the legislature indignantly cast it off."
I do not mean to suggest that our present clergy would act in
the way now stated. I speak of the tendency of a certain arrange
ment upon the human character. He who knew what is in
man taught us to pray, " Lead us not into temptation."
(3.) The Veto Act points to what are styled heads of families, ad
mitted to the Communion Table, as the persons who ought to have
a potential voice in relation to the appointment of a minister. But
neither ought these communicants to be patrons of the parish
Church. These may be, and generally are, good Christians, because
Christianity offers salvation, and is adapted to the illiterate as well
as to the learned. But the majority of these persons, from defec
tive education, and want of permanent interest in a parish, are neither
qualified nor trust-worthy to select the minister. In various rural
districts, the ploughmen engaged in temporary service could out
vote all the proprietors and tenantry of the parish ; and in towns,
the journeymen and labourers could do the same.
The highest solemnity of the followers of Jesus of Nazareth —
• Combe's Notes on the United States, vol, ii, p. 22S,

100 CHAPTER X, [cent, XIX.
the Sacrament of commemoration of the voluntary sacrifice of his
life, would be grossly profaned by becoming an engine for the acqui
sition of a civil privilege, in the use of which, in certain cases, all the
most unholy interests have been brought into action. The Move
ment party have tried to keep down the contests resulting from their
Veto Act ; but vest the patronage directly in the roll of communi
cants, and the natural tendency of the institution would take effect.
Setting all other objections aside, admission to the Communion
Table is far from being the best qualification for electing, that is, for
deciding on the quaUfications of candidates for the office of parish
minister. It was not to bring the righteous., but sinners to repentance, that
our great Teacher gave his instructions. Those admitted by the
clergy to the Communion Table must be considered as emphati
cally the righteous, as faithful and zealous believers, who thereby
have attained to eminent piety. It is only in a very limited degree
for these that the minister is appointed. He is to convert the un
believers — to rouse the careless — to intimidate the guilty by the ter
rors of the Lord, and, above all, to attract the growing race to Chris
tianity, by instructing them in its nature and history. To these he
must unfold the Scripture history, and its connexion with profane
history — the preparation for the coming of the Messiah by prophecy,
and the selection of the race of Israel. Men may be rightly ad
mitted to the Communion Table, who are not prepared to judge of
the qualification of a clergyman for such services,
7, For an Established Church endowed by the State, the best
patron of parish ministers seems, as a general rule in a free country,
to be the Crown, It has a direct interest in the intelligence, the
morals, and the piety, of all the members of the community. It has
access to the most enlightened counsel, and must desire to render
the national clergy efficient, in carrying into effect the objects for
which a National Church is instituted. Under the British Consti
tution, the Crown is patron of public offices in general, and it is
not clear that the paid religious officers should be an exception.
As an exception from the Crown's privilege, or preferable next

CENT. XiX.J CHAPTER X. 101
to the Crown — are those permanently interested in a parish, as
owners of the lands and tithes. In the case of large towns, the
Crown ought to be the sole patron, where formerly that privilege
was vested in town councils. These bodies, as constituted under
the present state of the law, are incompetent to act as patrons of the
Presbyterian established clergy. These bodies contain sectarians
of all descriptions. If they act, it is by intrigue, and if they call
for the voice of the populace, they vulgarise the Church, or hand
it over to the ambition of the clergy of the Movement party, who
are striving to rise above the law of the land.
There is in Scotland an important, and, perhaps, the only correct
preventive check against the abuse of the right of patronage. It
consists of the long established rule to which I have repeatedly
alluded — That to render a presentation valid, the presentee must
be either a minister already settled in a parish, or he must be what
all ministers have originally been, what is called a preacher, proba
tioner, or licentiate of the Church. Young men having attended
the classes at some university, as fixed by acts of the General As
sembly, submit themselves to trial before the Presbytery of their
residence ; and being found qualified, they are declared entitled to
preach the gospel wherever employed. Patrons must select their
presentees from among these licentiates, or from among the settled
ministers. The presentee, before coUation to the benefice, is tried
anew by the Presbytery of the district in which it is situated. The
previous trial secures the Church against any abuse of the right of
patronage. It is the proper form of such protection, A young
man is tried without reference to any special preferment, and there
fore with candour by qualified judges. No local interests interfere, as
in the case of a special settlement. Tbe respectability of the pro
fession is thus secured, which it could not possibly be if a candidate
were liable to be rejected by persons immersed in local prejudices
and interests ; and more especially by persons, a majority of whom,
if they act fairiy, wiU prefer, not extensive learning or a profound
knowledge of theology, but a dauntiess elocution, especially if
edorned by florid rhetoric.

102 CHAPTER XL [cENT, XIX,
The result of the whole is, that the clergy of an Established
Church being appointed for the benefit of society at large — to in
struct them in the Christian faith, and to carry forward their im
provement in morals and inteUigence — they ought not to be elected
by the ignorant or the interested, or those having an interest of a
nature Uable to suspicion, and, therefore, neither by a poU election,
nor by persons selected by the clergy. The British Constitution
points to the Crown as patron. But that poUtical views may not
have too great influence, it is no evil that much preferment should
be in the gift of the greater proprietors of land, who never can have
an interest unfavourable to those who inhabit their estates, I may
add, that nothing human can be perfect ; and, looking to the cha
racter of the clergy of Scotland, I see no cause for an alteration of
the mode in which they have for 120 years been nominated. As
none but ministers or licentiates can be presented, the Church is to
blame if a patron nominate an unqualified presentee.

CHAPTER XI.
DANGER TO WHICH THE CHURCH IS EXPOSED.
It was said of old, that England never could be ruined except
by a Parliament ; it may be affirmed with equal truth, that the
Established Presbyterian Church of Scotland never can be ruined
except by its General Assembly ; and it is certain, that by its Ge
neral Assembly it has been brought into serious danger. The ex
istence of the danger has been admitted, but the nature of the
danger, and the cause of the danger, afford matter for difference
of opinion. The present ruling party in the Church represent
the Church as ruined if they do not rule it, and, through it, bear
powerful sway over the community. On the contrary, I and others

CENT. XIX.J CHAPTER XL 103
regard the proceedings of that party or section of the Clergy as the
cause that is now mustering into hostility various enemies against
the Estabhshed Church. In the few followina; remarks, I shall use
the term General Assembly, as expressing the present ruling or
movement party in that body, because their acts being supported
by the apparent majority, bear the authority of the whole members-
The General Assembly allege that the Church, that is, themselves,
are as to religion a sovereign body, independent of tbe Civil Govern
ment, or National Legislature ; that they have no superior except
the Lord Jesus Christ, who is not visible on earth, but whose will
they announce by their votes in all spiritual matters; and that
all matters and questions are spiritual, which they, as interpreters
of his mind and will, declare to be such. On this principle, they
refuse to give obedience to tbe National interpreters of the law
of the land, whom the British Constitution has established — that
is to say, the Courts of Justice, including the House of Lords.
1. By adopting the principle now stated, and acting on it, the
Church of Scotland has become a heretical Church. They have
deserted that most important principle of Luther's Reformation,
that the Civil Government, and not the Church, is supreme in
every nation, and derives its authority from God himself.
The General Assembly, by adopting the ambitious doctrine
now mentioned, have deserted the Westminster Confession of Faith,
which acknowledges the sovereignty of the Civil power, excepting
in relation to ecclesiastical censures. But it is notorious, that the
power of ecclesiastical censure, or patronage of the Communion
Table, has not been interfered with by the Courts of Law.
The result is, that every enlightened Protestant is now rendered the
enemy of the Church of Scotland, and must of necessitj' desire to see
it either reformed or abolished. It has adopted the essential doctrine
of Popery, for which many Popes, Bishops, and Priests, struggled
in vain — to attain to which supremacy they endeavoured to subdue
the human mind by ostentatious solemnities, splendid buUdings,
music, statues, paintings, processions, pilgrimages, reliques, or old
bones— fear of purgatory, &c. The object of all these, and the le-

104 CHAPTER XL [cENT. XIX.
gends of saints and false miracles, was nothing else than to attain
to the independence and supremacy now claimed by the General
Assembly. All enlightened Protestants must, therefore, of neces
sity, combine to put down this ambitious pretension. It must be
put down coute qv!il coute — at whatever cost, and even although the
Established Church should perish in the strife. It proved fatal to
the Romish Church in Scotland; and if not subdued or deserted, it
will prove fatal to the present Established Church. Indeed, the
whole conduct of the rulers of the Assembly savours intensely of
Rome. The true nature of their Veto Act has been detected. The
preteince was and is to support the rights of the Christian people,
while it was obviously framed to lead at once to clerical domina
tion, and to preserve to the Clergy the benefits of patronage. The
tyrannical spirit of Popery has also been manifested in every shape;
by the deposition of the seven Strathbogie ministers, for the crime of
giving obedience to the general law of the land, instead of the Ge
neral Assembly ; by the persecution of every professional young
man who does not declare his subjection to the party ; and by ha
rassing as a criminal, and involving in litigation and difficulty, every
candidate for preferment, who may have declared to a patron
that he held himself, on principle, bound to obey the law of the
land, as explained by its constitutional interpreters.
2. The Assembly have compelled every British statesman to
become their enemy, no matter to what political party he may
belong. Three paities desire to rule Scotland, — Whigs, Tories, and
the Clergy. Whatever may be said to constituencies, at elections,
neither of these parties wUl yield the supremacy to either of the other
two. Consistently with constitutional principles, no statesman can
consent that the supremacy of the National Legislature, and of the
established interpreters of its enactments, shall be resisted. He can
not consent that a body of clergy shall make a bargain with the
State, and successfully violate their contract ; that an incorporation
shall successfully make and enforce bye-laws, inconsistent with the
general law of the empire ; that, in short, the clergy, or a section of
them, shall rule the nation, and set at defiance the law. — But the

CENT. XIX.J CHAPTER XI. 105
matter is spiritual, and with spiritual matters the State has no con
cern I The answer is plain, and has already been made. Are not
all the services of the clergy spiritual, and have they not taken
wages as their hire for performing these spiritual services ? If they
take the hire, must they not perform the stipulated task, under all
the stipulated conditions ? In virtue of the principle of toleration,
the law constrains no man in regard to his religion. No man is
bound to be a Presbyterian or a minister ; but if an individual ac
cept of an endowment in the Established Church, is he to refuse to
fulfil his legal engagement, to preach and to ordain a duly quaUfied
presentee of the patron ? How can any British statesman protect
him in the refiisal, or hesitate to enforce the legal obligation ? In
vain do the Assembly refer back to the claims of their predecessors,
in their Books of Discipline, or the measures adopted when the
nation was in a state of civil war, and when religious toleration did
not exist. Their Books of Discipline were never recognized by the
Legislature. They were inconsistent with Protestant principles, and
are now of no value. The proceedings, during rebellion and civil
war, are of still lower authority. In a word, the Assembly has raised
up against itself every British political interest.
3. Men of sense, friends of good order, have not only learned
with surprise the wild pretensions of the General Assembly, but
have seen with disgust established Christian ministers, bound by
principle, by office, and by endowment, to act as ministers of peace,
traversing the country, attempting to rouse up the people against
the law, and specially against that very law of patronage to which
they owe their benefices. Many wise men now say, that if our
parish ministers are to desert their duty, and to employ themselves
in this fashion, the sooner they are dismissed from their stipends,
manses, and glebes, so much the better. We have policemen and
soldiers to preserve peace in the land ; we may surely spare the 'ex
pense of having ministers to traverse the nation, endeavouring to
excite hostility to the law. Certain classes of persons are also in
array against them.
(1.) By their ambitious pretensions and proceedings, the Assembly

106 CHAPTER XI. [cent, XIX,
and their leaders have given great encouragement to infidels and
scoffers at religion, and its professors and clergy. These persons
are encouraged to say, What benefit do mankind derive from their
Christianity, if it only lead to the expense of placing yourselves in
subjection to a priesthood, who clothe their ambition under the
fictitious pretext of great zeal for your spiritual welfare and privi
leges ?
(2.) Next of all the Dissenters, the Papists will probably be re
garded as, in the first instance, the least hostile to the present pro
ceedings of the Established Church. The popular leaders of this
last body avowedly favoured the concession of political power and
privileges to the adherents of the Roman Church, and their most
eloquent chief harangued in favour of the measure a meeting of the
populace. The General Assembly have proceeded far beyond the
principle of toleration. They have adopted the chief doctrine of
Rome, the absolute independence of the Established Church, and
its superiority over the State, on the pretext that it has no sove
reign on earth, that it possesses and announces to men the mind
and will of tbe Lord Jesus Christ on all spiritual matters, and de
termines, without appeal, what questions are spiritual. The Pope
deriiands for himself and his clergy no higher privilege. The Ge
neral Assembly require us to take our law from them ; they have
only to add, like Pusey and Newman of Oxford, that we are also to
take our Gospel from them, deserting the Bible, and then the
Papists being united with them in essentials, there can be no quar
rel, although some details may remain to be adjusted,
(3,) The Protestant Presbyterian Dissenters are more dangerous
enemies to the Established Church, The General Assembly have
endeavoured to propitiate that branch of them styled the Associate
Synod, by offering to admit the whole of their ministers into the
Church Courts as parish ministers, — renouncing the original ground
of separation, viz., that a man cannot lawfully at once be a member
of the Establishment, and an avowed enemy striving to undermine
or violate the conditions of its endowment By the same measure,
the Assembly committed an act of injustice, by admitting all the

CENT. XIX.] CHAPTER XI. 107
ministers of the Secession into competition for preferment with those
students and clergy who had submitted to the long and expensive
course of education at the regular universities, prescribed by the
Established Church.
This concession to the Associate Synod is a source, not of strength,
but of discredit, to the Established Church. It openly demonstrates
at once laxity of principle, and a consciousness of weakness. The
voluntary principle, or hostility to a body of clergy incorporated and
endowed by the State, is adopted by the Presbyterian Dissenters
generally. I do not say that they are right, but I do say that they
are formidable, and daily rendered more numerous by the conduct
of the General Assembly. Those Dissenters say justly, that the
endowed clergy of England, Ireland, and Scotland, are almost an
overmatch for the Crown itself in any political struggle — that it is
absolutely necessary to the national liberty that these powerful privi
leged bodies should be subject to the courts oflaw, and under influ
ence from patronage — that the ambitious section of the Scottish
clergy, claiming for their body absolute independence and sovereignty
in whatever they are pleased to style a spiritual matter, are truly in
vading the liberties of their fellow-subjects. The friends of liberty
are thus drawn to the side of the Voluntaries, that is, to the side of
the enemies, upon principle, of an Established Church. They say,
see how universally the members of such an institution combine to
conspire against the independence and freedom of the rest of man
kind ! Is not the power of their order the divinity they truly worship ?
I seriously ask, have the movement party become so desperate, that
rather than hazard the loss of their own ascendancy, they are willing
to bring to ruin the Established Church of Scotland ?
(4.) The adherents of the ancient Episcopal Church of Scotland,
consisting formerly of two classes, now united, viz., the adherents of
the exiled Princes of the house of Stuart, and adherents of the
house of Hanover, form a class of Dissenters respectable in the rank
and antiquity of their families. They adhere to the principle of
an Estabhshed Church but to promote the peace of the country,
and improve the character of its population ; they have never given

108 CHAPTER XI, [cent, x;x,
trouble to the Presbyterian clergy, to whom they found the populace
attached. They necessarily regard with contempt the turbulent
ambition of the present leaders of the movement party, and from
that sentiment many persons have joined them, or proposed to de
sert the Presbyterian system and adopt the Episcopalian, This
sentiment is dangerous merely as giving countenance to aU the other
enemies of the Established Church, but it is productive of no danger
to the Presbyterian principle, connected as it strictly is with the
doctrines of the Westminster Confession of Faith, and interwoven
with every social habit and principle over the length and breadth of
the land, by means of the lay eldership. The Scots believe that
the English clergy generaUy subscribe the Thirty-nine Articles of
their Church's Creed, while they have deserted the doctrine they
contain. The Scottish people dislike the superstitions introduced
by Archbishop Laud, and prayers read fi'om a printed book. Nor
have they an inclination to buy estates and to build palaces to sup
port the dignity of ecclesiastics, who, without these appendages,
derive little respectability from the high name of bishops. The
present discredit of the Scottish Church results merely from the tem
porary accident of a minor and ambitious faction taking advantage
of a period of national excitement. On tranquilUty being restored,
the danger will cease,
5. Let the established clergy never forget that they are office
bearers, existing in consequence of their usefulness and respecta
bility as ministers of the Gospel of peace. They have in every
parish the owners of the land and tithes, who would be liberated
from a burden which the liberality of the Court of Teinds has, in all
cases, rendered considerable, and, in certain peculiar cases, severe.
These form a powerful body, who would derive a large patrimonial
profit from the extinction of the Established Church, They have
willingly supported that Church, but let its respectability be lost
by irregular ambition, and the body referred to will prove formidable
enemies. 6. But the Established Church has no enem^' so dangerous as
that within itself. It is truly wounded by those who ought to be its

cent, xix.] CHAPTER XIL 109
friends. How can the Established Church be respectable in the
eyes of the growing generation ? To depose ministers avowedly for
no other crime than obedience to the law of the land, as announced
by the highest constitutional authority, is a stretch of clerical usur
pation too gross to be yet endured. Tbe Strathbogie ministers are
seen remaining unmolested in their manses and glebes, and levying
their stipends in the face of a sentence of deposition of the General
Assembly — a power which the community are thus deliberately and
justly taught to contemn. In short, the Assembly have armed
against tbe Established Church all the friends of constitutional
liberty — all men of Protestant principles — all men of spirit who will
not submit to a Pope disguised in any shape.
These remarks now made are given as warnings. Let the Church
resume the conduct and character it so long exhibited, and all haz
ard wiU cease. In the meanwhile, disregard not the warnings-
faithful are the warnings of a friend,

CHAPTER XII,
remedy for the present evils and distress or the CHUECH
OF SCOTLAND.
A POWER is claimed, and, to a considerable extent, possessed by
the Church of Scotland, which they ought to relinquish. I mean,
the judicial power or a title to try and to decide certain disputed
causes — delinquencies of its own members, &c. This power, vest
ed ultimately in the General Assembly, that popular represen
tative and numerous body cannot exercise consistently with can
dour and a good name. Every case becomes, in a lesser or greater
degree, a party question, and is of uncertain result No body of

110 CHAPTER XII. [cent. xix.
fixed legal principles or precedents can be framed out of the de
cisions of such a Court, and never will the Church of Scotland pos
sess full credit and respectability, in the opinion of Statesmen and
men of sense, till it renounce this pernicious power or privilege.
Let a Court of Justice be constituted — the judges, three or four
in number, to be named by the Crown, with jurisdiction in aU accu
sations against ministers or elders, or others, for violation of their
duties as members of the Church, and in all disputes about the
settlement or translation of ministers to vacant parishes, and all
other questions, (except the personal qualifications of candidates,)
now brought for trial before the Church Courts, with a right of
Appeal to the House of Lords, in questions of Law. To the cases
now mentioned might well be added jurisdiction in all consistorial
cause, swhich unfortunately were rashly introduced, a few years ago,
as original actions before the Court of Sesion,
Could the present ruling party in the Church be induced to pro
pose this measure, they would thereby not only remove much of
the obloquy and distrust of which they are now the object, but
might gain credit for public spirit, and a serious regard for the
prosperity of our National Established Church,
This is not a form in which to enter into details on the subject.
The law on which a Court of the description now mentioned would
proceed would be the common and statute law, and the enactments
of the General Assembly, so far as not inconsistent with the law of
the land, Tbe institution would prove a healing measure, and set
at rest the present disputes. Such a measure is not new. The
United States of America are held together by a Court of Law, con
sisting, I believe, of only seven judges. That Court has repeated
ly held to be void, and refused to enforce, particular acts of the su
preme legislature or Congress, on the footing that they were un
constitutional and illegal, as inconsistent with the rights of different
States, and the powers entrusted to Congress. The first decision
of that description excited great indignation in the Senate and
House of Representatives, but the President supported the Judges,
and the power of the Court is now admitted, *

CENT. XIX.J CHAPTER XII. Ill
But I have no hope that this moderate and reasonable sugges
tion wUl be adopted by men inflamed by tbe hostilities of fac
tion, however necessary to the future peace and respectability of
the Church of Scotland. A remedy of some sort is extremely ne
cessary for the present state of that Church. A most grinding ty
ranny of an extraordinary description has been established, and is in
active operation in this part of the empire. I allude not merely to
the case of the seven ministers of Strathbogie. Whoever, in the length
and breadth of the land, is connected with the Church, or has in
view preferment in that body, is made to feel the power of the ruling
faction. If a patron, anxious to restore peace to the Church, and
the authority of the law of the land, enquires at a candidate for pre
ferment, or his friends, whether he intends to obey that law, and if
he give, or is supposed to have given, an affirmative answer, he is
held to have committed a crime disqualifying him from office. The
case must be investigated as a case of delinquency. The alleged
delinquent is exposed to delays, to obloquy, to costly litigation — a
certificate of character from the Presbytery of his residence is re
quired from him, but no such certificate must be granted — all his
prospects are ruined if be declare not his implicit subserviency to the
views now adopted by the leaders of the Assembly,
In like manner, the Assembly appoints stated Sunday collections
of money at all the parish churches of Scotland, to enable them to
carry on their Schemes for the appointment of missionaries to India,
and to the other colonies, and for education, and recently for the con
version of the Jews, The money thus levied is not only a subtrac
tion from the church collections for the support of the poor at home,
and thus forms a burden on the proprietors in the country, and
the householders in Edinburgh and other towns, who must supply
the deficiency, but it forms a fund for the propagation of the influ
ence of the faction, and the oppression of all who do not fully ad
here to it. This has been demonstrated by the Rev, Dr Duncan
Macfarlan, Principal of Glasgow College, a gentleman of great learn
ing, integrity, and public spirit, who had acted during several years
as convener of the committee of the General Assembly for promoting

112 CHAPTER xn, [cent, XiX,
the religious interests of Scottish Presbyterians in the British
colonies, and took a warm interest in tbe success of the Scheme, He
retired from the committee under the following circumstances : —
The cUmate of British Guiana had proved singularly unfavour
able to Europeans, especially to those newly arrived. In autumn
1839 two clergymen of the Church of Scotland had died under cir
cumstances tbe most afflicting and deplorable, and a third was in
Scotland for the recovery of his health. The labour thrown on the
survivors, added to the insalubrity of the climate, deterred not only
young men from offering themselves for this service, but also the
managers from recommending it. While matters were in this state,
Mr Robert Duff, a preacher, (licentiate,) offered himself as candidate
for a colonial appointment. He was examined by the sub-com
mittee, and found fully qualified, and recommended to the general
committee. An objection against him was stated, that holding the
office of parish schoolmaster in Strathbogie, he had not withdrawn
himself from his parish church, although a sentence of suspension
had been pronounced against the minister by the Church Court,
which sentence, under the decision of the House of Lords, in the
case of Lord Kinnoul and Mr Young, was plainly iUegal, and, at all
events, a question not to be decided between confficting authorities,
by a parish schoolmaster against his parish minister. The question
whether Mr Duff's offer to go to Guiana should be accepted, came
for discussion, in November 1839, before the acting committee. The
necessity of his services to that important colony was explained, and
that he was the only licentiate of the Church who had offered to go
thither, that four ministers had by that time died within the year,
and the three that remained had been compelled to leave the colony
on account of bad health. With these facts before them, the Assem
bly's committee, by a large majority, resolved that " Mr Duff having
confessedly been adhering to the ministry of one of the suspended
ministers of Strathbogie," they decline to approve of the recom
mendation of the Glasgow sub-committee.
Dr Macfarlan and others had in vain stated objections against
this proceeding. " That the principle asserted by the committee

cent. XIX.J CHAPTER XII. 113
seemed to involve the absolute destruction of their respectability,
and a forfeiture of pubUc confidence, from the want of impartiality
towards candidates for employment, and of humanity towards the
colonies. It need scarcely be added, that the ruling party can easily prevent
any man professing his not subserviency to them, from obtaining an
appointment as a chapel minister.
The next question is. What is the remedy for this tyranny, and
how is the dominion of the law of the land to be practically restored ?
The clergy, the public, or people at large, have duties, which, in
relation to this important subject, they are bound to fulfil.
I, When such a dream or hallucination as that of the spiritual
sovereignty of an established and endowed body of clergy has ob
tained possession of the mind of any man, it is seldom, if ever, pos
sible to relieve him from it by any process of reasoning. I, there
fore, expect nothing from the present ambitious leaders of the
clergy. They will adhere obstinately to their dream of dominion.
But I am disposed to think that the old Moderate party, assisted by
men of sense of the original Popular party, who never meant to sup
port the Popish doctrine of ecclesiastical sovereignty, might devise
and execute a plan of procedure which might liberate the Church
from its present thraldom and rapid tendency to contempt and ruin.
It is not for me to instruct them in the detail of the measures
they might, and which, for the sake of the Church and their country,
they ought to adopt. Might not the members of those Presbyteries
into which chapel ministers have been intruded, meet without these
intruders, and elect proper members for the General Assembly,
whose proceedings Government could countenance and support ?
11. The public, or people at large, ought to consider the subject
well, and thereby to become aware that the claim of ecclesiastical
independence and exclusive jurisdiction of the Church, in what it
may be pleased to denominate spiritual matters, is distinctly a
Popish and Antiprotestant doctrine, which, if yielded to by the
II

1 14 CHAPTER XIL [cENT. XIX.
community, would rapidly lead us back into superstition, and subser
viency to Priestly domination, ending infaUibly in political slavery.
The pretension is heretical, and not sanctioned by the Westminster
Confession of Faith, which allows to them merely the power of cen
sure, and removal from the Communion Table.
Scotsmen must keep in view that we are assailed at present by
two heresifes.
1st, That of Dr Pusey and Newman in England, who require us
to take our faith from the Church, instead of the Sacred Scriptures.
This is Popery in theory or speculation, placing the priest in the
place of Christ and his Apostles. It is not dangerous so long as they
leave us the liberty of the press, that is, access to the Bible itself,
which, being the fountain head of our faith, must be above the
stream or teaching of the Priesthood. If it be true, that what are
called High-Churchmen in England are attached to this heresy, it
will account for the long neglect of that Church to teach the people
to read the Bible.
A second theory now threatening us is that of the Scottish Ge
neral Assembly, who claim a right in the clergy to decide aU spi
ritual questions, and to determine, without appeal, what questions
are spiritual. This is Popery, not in speculation or theory, but in
action, practical Popery, claiming to the clergy superiority over all
men, and all law, and all right to civil liberty, and aU constitu
tions of government— Queen, Lords, and Commons, must all bend
before the Priesthood.
As the funds at present entrusted to the General Assembly are
employed to promote the purposes of a faction, I ought prehaps to
say, withhold your collections, and trust them with no money. But
I do not say so. Their Schemes are so valuable, that even while in
wrong hands, and often perverted to a wrong purpose, they ought to
be supported, just as the Apostle Paul declared himself satisfied that
Christ should be preached, even although done out of contention.
I venture to think, however, that there is one exception. The
Scheme recently devised to convert the Jews seems a mere pretext
for obtaining money and patronage. What is, or what ought to

CENT. XIX.J CHAPTER XIL 115
be, the import and effect of aU the sermons that have been preached
by Apostiesor Christian ministers, and of aU the books written in sup
port of Christianity, but attempts to convert the Jews, to prove that
Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah, to discredit the silly tale that his
body was stolen while the military guard set to watch the sepulchre
committed, with impunity, the mortal military crime of all sleeping
on their post, and to prove that there is no other name under heaven,
given among men, from which salvation is to be expected, but the
name of Jesus ? After all these sermons and books have been
framed, and all the Presbyterian ministers have been preaching on
the subject for nearly 300 years, come the present leaders of our
General Assembly, and say. Add to our stipends an annual contri
bution at the church doors, and we will convert these hitherto im
practicable Jews, by hiring some missionaries. This is just as if the
Spaniards and French, after firing a thousand cannon against
Gibraltar for months, had set forward a few boys with pop-guns
against the obstinate fortress.
The conversion of the Jews is an event which one day will be
effected. But the leaders of our Assembly know better than I can
tell them, that the time for the conversion of the Jews has not ar
rived. The Apostle Paul has long since explained, that the world
at large have derived great benefit from the conduct of the Jews,
(Rom. xi. 11.) Had not a large number of them remained a se
parate people, it seems clear, that, long ere now, their sacred books
had been ranked with the books of Zoroaster, or the books of the
Brahmins, and the story of the miracles performed by Moses, and
other miracles, had been treated like the other fables of antiquity.
But the Jews have stood separate, and remain authentic librarians
of those books of the Old Testament which testify of Jesus, and
in fact demonstrate the error of the Jews in their infidelity. As to
the facts recorded, we rely not on a book. Here exist before our
eyes the descendants of the fugitives from Egypt, keeping, as they
have annually done, the Festival of the Passover, in commemoration
of the deliverance of their fathers, while the first-born of every family
in Egypt perished in one night. The deliverance by Queen Esther is

1 1 6 CHAPTER XIL [cENT. XIX.
also commemorated, and other events. But how can the race of Israel
be expected at present to join the Christian world, while they see
the majority of those bearing the name of Christians bowing down
before idols ? The Roman Church even adoring a wafer under the
pretext that it is the Almighty God — the Second Person of the
Trinity — ^who has assumed that disguise. If the Greek Church do
not bow down before solid statues, they do so before painted aUeged
likenesses of saints, equally repulsive to the law, as announced in
those Scriptures which were recognised as of authority by Christ
and his Apostles. Then, and not sooner, wiU the conversion of the
Jews take place, when their existence as a separate people shall
have become unnecessary — when a Protestant race shaU have
covered, as it is now rapidly doing, a large portion of the globe, and
idolatry shall Iiave been put down. All this, I say, the leaders of
our Assembly could unfold better than I can do, but it does not suit
the present views of the faction, which is to augment their patron
age by having possession of money.
HI. I need not say that care ought to be taken by the Crown,
and other patrons, to exercise their privilege, righteously conferring
preferment on those who merit it. Merit is always found when
systematically sought after, because the search stimulates exertion ;
in mercantile language, demand produces supply. Patrons ought
to take care to prefer men who so far possess sound sense, as to be
free from the folly of imagining that an Established Church can be
superior to the law of the land, as declared by the judges entrusted
by the constitution with the interpretation of it.
IV. But these and other paUiatives are unavaUing, so long as the
organic form remains by which the distemper is supported. The
incorporation must be purged of its present illegal members. The
chapel ministers and elders must be removed from the Church
Courts. The original charter or act 1592, chap. 114, manifestly
proceeds on the supposition that all ministers of the Church are to
be connected with the State by the same ancient system of patron-

CENT. XIX.J CHAPTER XIL 117
^e, which the chapel ministers are not, except the forty-two of
the Highlands. As to these, the statute which authorised the estab
lishment of them specially declared that they were not to be mem
bers of the Church Courts. The Assembly, in its assumed divine
right, has altered this, but the alteration being Ulegal, ought to be
disregarded. In relation to this matter, the Courts of Law have hitherto done
their duty, and they will ultimately prevaU. The principle to be
adopted by government is to support these Courts, and to concede
nothing. Additional powers granted to the Church Courts would
merely serve as an encouragement of farther ambitious efforts and
proceedings. The evil is not in the people, but in their clergy.

CONVOCATION.
When proceeding to consider this subject farther, a Convocation was
announced of ministers accounted the chief adherents of the move
ment party, whether ministers of ancient parishes or chapel ministers.
It met in Edinburgh in November last, (1842,) and sat in secret, after
being opened by a public sermon and prayers. It is understood that
the purpose of the meeting was to prevail, if possible, with a large
number to threaten government that they willresign their benefices
if the Legislature do not overturn the decisions of the Courts of Law
in the case of Auchterarder, and other cases, and grant to the
Church aU the power it claims, to the effect of enabling the ruling
party to enforce the punishment of the Strathbogie ministers, and to
inflict deposition on all others who are disposed to obey the law as
now declared.
Here is a remedy for the distress of the Church of Scotland. The
men who have turned the Church and country upside down pro
pose to run away ! ! ! Let them do so, and their power of perpe
trating mischief wUl cease. I anticipate that not many ministers of
ancient parishes wiU be guUty of the folly in question. Those who

118 CHAPTER XIL [cENT. XIX.
do so will speedily sink into insignificance, and will only become
an addition to the 700 Dissenting meetings we already have.
In the meanwhile, to me it appears that this Convocation was an
unjustifiable proceeding adopted by the leader of the party. To as
semble a number of men in private — absent from their friends, kind
red, and legal advisers — to work upon them by sermons, days devoted
to prayer, and to stimulate their professional feelings and pride by
the ardent eloquence of Dr Chalmers, the zealous urgency and abUity
of Dr Candlish and others, and by holding a glorious crown of what
they might style martyrdom to the interests of their party, all in
order to hurry them into a consent to declarations and resolutions,
which might afterwards bind them to sacrifice their patrimonial in
terests. Let the case be stated thus. Here is an established clergy
man whom a lady accepted as her husband, with the approbation of
her kindred, on the faith of his position in society, and by whom he
has a family. This man, in conscience and honesty, becomes a
trustee for that family. That trust is very sacred, affecting the
education and prospects of young persons, and the proyision for
them and their mother in case of widowhood. The act of inducing
him to attend such a Convocation, to obtain an opportunity of en
snaring him into promises, amounting essentially to breach of trust,
was a wrong of no ordinary description. Every man of sense who
has been so treated must'regard the proceeding with disgust. Nor
is any man bound by resolutions so elicited. A man may bind him
self to his own hurt, but not to the hurt and injury of others whom
he is bound to protect. Nor is any man bound to suffer himself to
be the victim of an unjustifiable intrigue.

ERRATA.
In pages 17, 21, and 22,/or 1639, read 1638.

EDINBURGH PRINTIKG COMPAjSY,
12, St DaTid Street.

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