question had now become a party one it was discussed with judicial calmness and dignity. The minority held that the Act of 1711 restoring patronage left untouched the Act of 1690, in so far as it gave to congregations a right to express their approval or disapproval of the presentee; that this was clearly proved by the Church having for a century and a half insisted upon a call from the people as well as a presentation from the patron; and that though this call had latterly become a mockery, there were numerous instances in which presentees had been rejected on account of the insufficiency of the call, and that without challenge or any appeal to the civil courts. The majority, on the other hand, held that the statute law was plain and precise; that when a presentation was laid before a presbytery it was bound to take the presentee on trials; that no act passed by an ecclesiastical court could overturn this ancient arrangement and deprive patrons and presentees of their rights; and that the veto, under which the presentee in this case had been rejected, was not only unsanctioned by law, but "contrary to the constitution of the Church itself." 1 The judgment of the Court was pronounced upon the 8th of March, and was to the following effect :-They "repel the objections to the jurisdiction of the Court, and to the competency of the action as directed against the presbytery : farther repel the plea in defence of acquiescence: find that the Earl of Kinnoull has legally, validly, 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 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 presentee to the said church and parish on the sole ground (as they admit on the record) that a majority of the male heads of families, communicants in the said parish, have dissented, without any reason assigned for bis admission as minister: 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 libelled on; and in particular contrary to the provisions of the statute 10 Anne c. 12, entitled 'an Act to restore patrons to their ancient rights of presenting ministers to the churches vacant in that part of Great Report of the Auchterarder Case by Charles Robertson. The Report occupies two octavo volumes. The words quoted are those of Lord Boyle. Britain, called Scotland;' in so far repel the defences stated on the part of the presbytery, and decern and declare accordingly... and remit the matter to the Lord Ordinary to proceed farther therein as he shall see just." The Church had been wrong in presuming to invest the people with an absolute right of negativing the presentation of the patron-so had the authoritative interpreters of the law declared; but that it had not been disgracefully wrong was shown by five out of the thirteen judges thinking it was right. The fact is there were in the bosom of the Church the seeds of a strife which must some day germinate and bear bitterness— the presentation founded upon express law, the call resting upon nothing but ancient consuetude. For a time after 1711 the patrons were so feeble and the Popular party in the Church so strong that the call was put above the presentation; but a change had gradually crept over ecclesiastical opinion, and for nearly a century the presentation had been uniformly enforced, and the call preserved only as a vestige of a by-gone order of things, like the congé d'elire of the south. But now when popular ideas were again in the ascendant, old theories about the call were revived, and as neither party in the contest was willing to give way, the dispute could be settled only in the law courts of the country. The party who thought himself aggrieved accordingly appealed to the courts of law for redress, as every British subject may; and the courts of law, believing he had been wronged, afforded him what redress they could, as they were bound to do. The non-intrusion party did not feel as litigants usually do who have been beaten in a lawsuit. Instead of concealing their chagrin, they declared that the judges had perverted the law and become persecutors of the Church. The long, strag gling town of Auchterarder, lying at the northern base of the Ochills, and commanding from its eminence an extensive view of Strathearn, had up to this time been known only to the minute geographer; but now it was in everybody's mouth, and the presentee to it, who had committed no fault but that of having gained a lawsuit, was described in too many speeches and pamphlets as a monster rather than a man, trampling on the blood-bought liberties of the Christian people. But an appeal to the House of Lords might be taken the Assembly was soon to meet; and all might yet be put right. Under the stimulating influence of the discussions which had been engendered by the veto, there had been gradually growing up in the minds of many of the clergy high ideas of the Church's power and independence. It was no new doctrine. Popes had perilled their pontifical throne for it, and set all Europe in a blaze. The German Reformers had let the doctrine die, as being of Roman growth, and allowed the princes and free cities of the empire to make themselves as supreme in ecclesiastical as they were in political affairs. But not so Calvin. He seized and preserved the old papal idea that the Church was a corporation distinct from the State, with an inherent and inalienable jurisdiction of its own, derived not from human legislation but from its own divine head. There was a kingdom of God upon earth, with an autonomy and laws of its own, which might not be touched without impiety. This was one of the vital ideas of his system; and his autocratic power at Geneva enabled him to carry it out, though even there the Syndics had a voice in the appointment of ministers and government of the Church. Though Knox had studied in the school of Calvin, he needed the help of the civil power to pull down the old Church and set up the new, and in so far as it did what he wished, he was thankful for its aid, and laughed to scorn the idea that there was no appeal from the ecclesiastical power.1 Melville had drunk at the same fountain, and still more deeply, and when he came to Scotland he found the civil power establishing a new and hated ecclesiastical polity, and he now declared that it was sacrilege for kings or courts to put their unconsecrated finger upon the furniture of the tabernacle. His ideas were developed in the Second Book of Discipline. As the government was at that time weak and the Church strong, the jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical court was pushed into regions which we would now regard as purely civil, poli says, 1 "The Appellation of John Knox" is a laboured argument to show that a clergyman, when he thinks himself injured, has a right to appeal from the Church to the State, and that the State is bound to protect him and religion together. "I will stand content," he "for the present to show that it is lawful to God's prophets and to preachers of Christ Jesus to appeal from the sentence and judgment of the visible Church to the knowledge of the temporal magistrate, who, by God's law, is bound to hear their cause and to defend them from tyranny." "I am not ignorant what are the vain defence of your proud prelates; they claim, first, a prerogative and privilege, that they are exempted, and that by consent of councils and emperors, from all jurisdiction of the temporality -a pretence which Knox ridiculed. tical, or economic-sedition spoken in the pulpit,1 slander spoken anywhere, the exportation of corn,3 the publication of books, education, marriage, legitimacy, idolatry, witchcraft, and the power, by means of the greater excommunication, to cut a man off not only from the privileges of the Church, but from all his political and social rights.5 But, on the other hand, the civil magistrate was allowed to intrude into spheres which are now esteemed purely spiritual: he might put down ecclesiastical controversies, and punish troublesome polemics by civil means-even by fire and sword. One thing only he might in no case do--preach the word or administer the sacraments—a matter regarding which we are now more tolerant. In the time of the Covenant, when the government was temporarily paralysed, still higher notions of spiritual prerogative were entertained; and the Assembly of 1638 crumpled up acts of parliament as if they were waste paper. A few years later, the Assembly and its Commission overrode the Estates, interfered with the levying of soldiers, and the waging of war, denouncing excommunication against all who differed from them. But the utterances of the ecclesiastical leaders of this stormy period are not always consistent with each other, proving that their ideas were not very clear; and the whole history of the Church shows that when the State could give help it was welcomed within the innermost courts of the temple; when it threatened to hurt, its presence at the gate was pronounced to be profane. When the civil power was feeble, the pretensions of the Church rose high; when the Government became strong the Church had to succumb. When the Assembly of 1838 met, there were laid upon its table a number of overtures declaring the spiritual jurisdiction of the Church independent of all State control. Dr Robert Buchanan, the future historian of the "Ten Years' Conflict," had been fixed upon by his friends as the exponent of these principles. In advocating them he spoke of unfurling the 1 Case of Black. Calderwood, vol. v. 2 Case of Lord Holiroodhouse. Row, p. 142. Book of Universal Kirk, Assembly 1590. 3 Case of Gourlay. Calderwood, p. 328. Book of Universal Kirk. Assemblies 1575-78-79. 5 Case of Montgomery. Calderwood, vol. iii. Second Book of Discipline, chap. i. Melville's Letter to the Kirks of Geneva and Zurich. 7 Second of Discipline, chap. i. Calderwood, vol. iv. p. 507. 8 Peterkin's Records, 1646-48. Baillie's Letters. banner of the Covenant: he declared that the Church though endowed by the State was the sole mistress of her own conduct; he repudiated as worthless the opinions of the Judges in the Auchterarder case; he maintained that the Assembly had a perfect right to pass the veto, and would never abandon it; he suggested that they should call to account Mr Young, and any other ministers or licentiates, who would dare to defy ecclesiastical authority, citing ancient instances of men who were visited with the greater excommunication for seeking the help of King or Privy Council against the Church; and, finally, moved to the effect, "that in all matters touching the doctrine, government, or discipline of this Church, her judicatories possess an exclusive jurisdiction founded on the Word of God; . . . and they do farther resolve that this spiritual jurisdiction, and the supremacy and sole Headship of the Lord Jesus Christ, on which it depends, they will assert and at all hazards defend, by the help and blessing of that great God, who in the days of old enabled their fathers, amid manifold persecutions, to maintain 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 officebearers and members of this Church, by the execution of her laws in the exercise of the ecclesiastical authority wherewith they are invested." 1 The sting of this motion was in its tail-as was observed at the time. It was opposed by Dr Cook and the whole strength of the Moderate party, who thought that obedience to the law was the duty of all men, even of churchmen. It was, however, carried by 183 to 142. Church possesses an It is undoubtedly true that the inherent and exclusive jurisdiction. such a jurisdiction in his own family. every trading company, every corporation has such a jurisdiction; and so long as it minds its own business, and keeps its own rules, breaking no law and injuring no individual member, it cannot be meddled with. In like manner, every Church, whether Established or not, has such a jurisdiction to manage its own affairs. It can preach the doctrines, administer the discipline, exercise the government which form part and parcel of its constitution, whether that constitution be given it by the State, or be framed by itself, with the consent of all its members. It can make laws from time to time for 1 Buchanan's Ten Years' Conflict, vol. i. pp. 402-8. |