1838. directly contrary doctrine of the books of discipline and CHAP. VIIL. confession of faith, and to show how pointedly and expressly that contrary doctrine had been ratified by the law of the land. Having completed this general argument, by a review of the legal and historical evidence upon the subject, he next brought it to bear upon the matter more immediately in hand. the Church's dence in matters spiritual applied to arder case. the Auchter "To apply this grand doctrine of the church's Doctrine of independence to the late civil proceedings in the Auchter- indepen arder case, might require more of the time of this assembly than I dare venture to occupy; but the process is as simple as its result is satisfactory. That case arose out of the act on calls, passed by the church in 1834. The object of that act was to give full force and effect to the fundamental law of the church-that no pastor be intruded on any congregation contrary to the will of the people.' That such a law was laid down by the church from the beginning of its history, cannot be denied. We meet with it in the very infancy of the church in her first book of discipline: in the The principle second book it is pointedly repeated: again at the resto- trusion ration of presbytery in 1638: in the directory of the assembly 1649 and long after, in 1736, four and twenty years after patronage, in its present form, had been restored, it is declared by the assembly, in the most solemn terms. That this fundamental law of the church had, at the same time, in a parallel course of civil statutes, been recognized and ratified by the state is equally clear. The act 1567, of course having in view the law of the church as to non of non-in traced through the entire his tory of the Church, relating to intrusion, expressly and exclusively put into the hands of the exami admission of nation and ministers. CHAP. VIII. presented, to the church herself,-whose laws, therefore, 1835, on that point, are plainly ratified and confirmed. This act 1567 was confirmed by that of 1581; and this latter again by the statute 1592,-in which, while the powers conferred on the church by former statutes are confirmed, it is further The act 1592 specially provided and declared, that Presbyteries shall the right of have full power to give collation upon all presentations to benefices, and to put order to all matters and causes ecclesimatters ec- astical within their bounds, according to the discipline of the according to kirk. Now I have no intention of going into the question recognizes the Church courts to dispose of all clesiastical, the disci Church. tency of the Church to cnact the pline of the whether or not the act of assembly 1834, by which intrusion was defined to mean a dissent by a majority of male heads of families communicants, was or was not a wise and salutary measure. It is enough for me that a majority of the presbyteries of the church deliberately declared this to be their judgment, and that the church in consequence passed it The compe- into a standing law. But what the assembly is concerned with at present is, not the wisdom of the church, but the Veto-law. competency of the church in making such a law at all. I am well persuaded, that even among those who objected to the passing of the law on grounds of expediency, there are many as much prepared as I am to contend for the church's full right and authority to make it; and who will be as ready to join in disclaiming that jurisdiction which the civil court has assumed in venturing to pronounce it illegal. That the settlement of a minister is a matter purely ecclesiastical, is too obvious to need illustration. In all such matters, the policy of the church, as her own standards The Church's require, 'must lean upon the word immediately, as the only lating mat ground thereof, must be taken from the pure fountains of tual. the scriptures, the church hearing the voice of Christ, the only spiritual King, and being ruled by His laws.' And never can she consent to renounce that fundamental article of her constitution, whatever be the cost at which she may rule in regu ters spiri She cannot abandon her law as to a matter spiritual, so long as she judges it to be 1833. be called to maintain it. What course she may find it CHAP. VIII. necessary to pursuè, in case that happen which I shall not anticipate, that the decision of the court of session shall be confirmed in the house of lords, it would not become me at present to offer an opinion. But this I will venture beforehand confidently to affirm, that she will never consent to abandon a law which she has made under a solemn conviction that it was imperatively required,-alike by a regard to the fundamental principles of her own constitution, to the spiritual welfare of her people, and to the honour and glory of her supreme and only Lord. To do so were to lay herself prostrate at the feet of her enemies,-to proclaim with her own tongue what they have injuriously and calumniously averred that she has sold her birthright for what, in comparison, were more worthless than Esau's mess of pottage." There was one other point which the emergency required that the assembly should look to, and this was to the conduct of her own ministers and licentiates. Mr. Young's proceedings might encourage others to a like defiance of ecclesiastical authority. The church "must not allow her own office-bearers to defy her own laws,-to employ the very status she has conferred upon them for the purpose of pouring contempt upon a jurisdiction they have sworn to obey. *The course which, in similar circumstances, was pursued by this church in the celebrated case of Montgomery, in 1582, was no new thing in the Christian church. The very same thing was done, 1200 years before, by the great councils of Antioch and Carthage. On this subject the following passage from Lauder's Ancient Bishops Considered, p. 289, is worthy of notice. If a minister,' he says, by the presbytery, synod, or assembly, should have recourse to the civil magistrate, king or parliament, for restoration, he would be looked upon by our church as very according to the will of Christ. The Assem bly must look to the conduct of Mr. Young. Ecclesiastical condemna tory of the authorities course Mr. Young is pursuing. CHAP. VIII. unworthy of the office in all time coming. And this agrees 1838. The councils with the twelfth canon of the council of Antioch, held in of Antioch and Carthage. 342, which forbids clergymen, who have been deposed by their bishops, to address themselves to the emperor to obtain restitution, and takes from those who shall do so, all hope of being restored. And with the ninth canon of the council of Carthage, in 397, which ordains, that if a clergyman, being accused before the ecclesiastical tribunal, removeth the cause to the civil magistrate, though he even gain the cause, he shall lose his place.' How far, adds this author, were Christians from being erastians in those days." "The truth is," continued Mr. Buchanan, "such a course is prescribed by the very nature of things,-there can be no government unless those who are legitimately within its jurisdiction be compelled to obey it. But, as if to leave no loophole, no room for evasion, to any one who may be disposed to disregard so obvious a principle,-that principle has been embodied in the form of a solemn oath, which is sworn by every minister and probationer of this church. In that oath he swears that he will submit himself to the and minister discipline and government of this church, and shall never, directly nor indirectly, endeavour the prejudice or subversion of the same.' The church has imposed this vow, and she must not allow it to be treated with mockery. If she has probationers who are ignorant or heedless of the obligations it imposes, it is her bounden duty to take order, to instruct them if they will hear her, and to punish them if they will obstinately disobey." The vow of ecclesiasti. cal obedi ence taken by every licentiate of the Church. After a solemn appeal to the assembly to realize its position and responsibilities, and "to adhere unalterably to those great principles of spiritual independence which were cemented into the constitution of the church of Scotland, by the blood of our martyred forefathers," the speaker concluded by laying the following motion on the table of the house: 1839.i "That the general assembly of this church, while they lunqualifiedly acknowledge the exclusive jurisdiction of the civil courts, in regard to the civil rights and emoluments secured by law to the church, and the ministers thereof, and will ever give and inculcate obedience to their decisions thereanent; do resolve, that as it is declared in the confession of faith of this national established church, that the Lord Jesus Christ is King and Head of the church, and hath therein appointed a government in the hand of churchofficers 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 the word of God, which power ecclesiastical (in the words of the second book of discipline) flows from God and the Mediator Jesus Christ, and is spiritual, not having a temporal head on earth but only Christ, the spiritual King and Governor of His Kirk.' And they do further 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 obedience upon all office-bearers and members of this church, by the execution of her laws, in the exercise of the ecclesiastical authority where with they are invested." The way in which this motion was met by its opponents in the assembly was characteristic and curious. Dr. Cook, who led the opposition, was full of zeal for the spiritual The resolution opposed independence of the church. "I am prepared to say," he by Dr. Cook. observed, "that with a good part of what has been brought before you by my reverend and respected friend, Mr. Buchanan, I entirely agree; and there is no language |