CHAP. VIII. were quite monstrous to conceive as possible. They call on 1839. the first congregation to appear at their bar and state their reasons, if they have any, why their minister should not be dissevered from them: and they call also on the opposite side to state their counter reasons, why the removal should take effect. The presbytery sits in judgment on these reasons and if their finding be the superior fitness of the The presby, presentee for his present over his proposed charge, they can ways done, put their authoritative interdict on the removal-an interdiet the power of which has never been disputed that we know thing Lord of; but, as a matter of course, is acquiesced in by all tery has al and without challenge, the very Brougham considers to parties, though to the great disappointment, it may be, both be impossi ble. of the patron and presentee. So late as last year this very Brougham's whole argu ment found 1839. church of England,-but we are further lorded over as to CHAP. VIII, the matter of ordination, in which, if our prostrate and Lord fallen church do acquiesce, we shall be degraded immeasurably beneath the sister establishment. And all this, too, as the conclusion of an argument not only different from the truth, but directly and diametrically opposite to the truth." Reckless, however, as Lord Brougham's assumptions and arguments might thus be shown to be, they had been made the basis of a decision which, in respect of all civil effects, must now be recognised as the law of the land; and with that decision before them, and still more with that decision read in the light of those principles on which it was professedly founded, the assembly must proceed to determine the question,-what was now to be done. Dr. Cook had agreed to append to his motion, the recognition of special fitness for the particular charge, as a legitimate ground on which the presbytery might place its judgment in rejecting or accepting the presentee; but special fitness was not within the definition given by the two chancellors of the term "qualification,"—it did not fall under any one of these three categories, literature, life, or manners. In a word, there was no middle course left to the church. Absolute patronage, enforced at the expense of riding rough-shod over the entire field of the church's spiritual jurisdiction, must be acquiesced in at once, or a stand must now be made, once for all, against these intolerable aggressions. The only position that could be taken up, consistent with loyalty to the state on the one hand, and with true allegiance to the church's divine and glorious Head on the other, was that which, in the following motion, Dr. Chalmers proposed: ed on a gross mistake. No room left for even Dr. Cook's "spe according to cial fitness," the doctrine of the House of Lords. Dr. Chal "The general assembly having heard the report of the The motion of procurator on the Auchterarder case, and considered the mers. judgment of the house of lords, affirming the decision of the court of session, and being satisfied that, by the said judg CRAP. VIII. ment, all questions of civil right, so far as the presbytery of 1839. Auchterarder is concerned, are substantially decided, do now, in conformity with the uniform practice of this church, and with the resolution of last general assembly, ever to give and inculcate implicit obedience to the decisions of civil The Church courts, in regard to the civil rights and emoluments secured decision, in by law to the church, instruct the said presbytery to offer no farther resistance to the claims of Mr. Young, or of the patron, to the emoluments of the benefice of Auchterarder, and to refrain from claiming the jus devolutum, or any other civil right or privilege connected with the said benefice. bows to the BO far as matters of civil right are concern ed. Resolves to "And whereas the principle of non-intrusion is one coeval with the reformed kirk of Scotland, and forms an integral part of its constitution, embodied in its standards and declared in various acts of assembly, the general assembly principle of resolve that this principle cannot be abandoned, and that no presentee shall be forced upon any parish contrary to the will of the congregation. abide by the non-intru sion, "And whereas, by the decision above referred to, it appears that when this principle is carried into effect, in any parish, the legal provision for the sustentation of the ministry in that parish may be thereby suspended, the general assembly being deeply impressed with the unhappy consequences which must arise from any collision between the civil and ecclesiastical authorities, and holding it to be their duty to use every means in their power, not involving any dereliction of the principles and fundamental laws of their (church) constitution to prevent such unfortunate Appoints a results, do therefore appoint a committee for the purpose of considering in what way the privileges of the national of the differ establishment and the harmony between church and state, may remain unimpaired, with instructions to confer with the government of the country if they see cause." committee to seek an adjustment cnce be tween the civil and ecclesiastical law. All that the state had given to the church in the parish It was lawful for the surrender the State's gifts, but not to give up Christ's 1839. of Auchterarder was the benefice, and the power, in certain CHAP. VIII. circumstances, to exercise the patron's right of patronage. The late decision had ruled the point, that the act of assem bly 1834 could not be enforced without the loss of these temporalities. The presbytery of Auchterarder was accordingly instructed, in the motion of Dr. Chalmers, to hold them as, for the present, forfeited by the church. It was lawful for the church to surrender the state's gifts, but not lawful to surrender any of her own fundamental laws, so long as she believed them to be in accordance with the will of Christ, and necessary for the spiritual good of His people. The act of 1834 possessed these characteristics. The principle on which it rested formed part of her public profession as a church before her connection with the state began. She had carried it along with her into the state alliance, it had been always embodied in her standards, often proclaimed in her laws, frequently asserted in her administration, and never abandoned during the two centuries and a half that had elapsed since she received her civil establishment. still held it to be both scriptural and expedient,—and a principle therefore which she could not renounce without doing violence to her own constitution and sinning against God. At the same time this state of things,-this contrariety The existing of the civil law regarding the benefices, to the ecclesiastical law regarding the spiritual cures of the church, must tend, if continued, to break up the union of church and state altogether, and hence the recommendation with which the motion concluded, that a committee should be appointed to consider the best mode of adjusting this serious disagree ment, with power to confer with the government of the country upon the subject. As the first effort of that committee would naturally be to obtain from parliament a law in harmony with the act of assembly, Dr. Chalmers dedicated a considerable portion of his speech to the vindication She contrariety between the civil law as to the bencthe church the cure of fices, and law as to souls, must be done, Church and to continue away if State are united. CHAP. VIII. of the principle on which that act proceeds. The extract 1839 is long in which this vindication is contained, but it is far too full of both wisdom and eloquence to make it burdensome to the reader. It meets, and with a force of argument which no opponent has ever ventured fairly to face, the only plausible-looking objection with which the non-intrusion principle has ever been assailed. The conclusion of Dr. Chalmers' speech. of non-in "Let me now conclude," said the distinguished speaker, "with a few brief remarks on the principle asserted in the preamble of the motion, that most express, and one of the most ancient of our statutory and constitutional principles; and, to this hour, the one in greatest demand, and the dearest of all others to the people of Scotland,-we mean the principle of non-intrusion. The object of the veto-law was to supply a definite test for the clear guidance and determination of church courts, and by which they might come at once to a deliverance on the question whether or not this principle is violated. But if we are not to have the direction of this law, then, though in the absence of its The principle test, we are not to lose our hold of the principle, but judge as we can by any other tests that remain to us, whether by the ancient measure of a call,-happily preserved to us as a relic of better days, spared and transmitted, in the midst of their other cruel sacrifices, by the reckless innovators of last century, or failing the call, for had this of itself been an unfailing index, the veto-law would never have been heard of: but in defect of the call as not being a perfect criterion, then must presbyteries look to the matter with their own eyes, and judge in their own consciences—and with a solemn feeling of their responsibility to the God of righteousness and truth-whether or not they hold the appointment of this man to be an intrusion or an offence to the Christian feelings of the people; and whether or not, with this moral barrier in the way of his usefulness, it is trusion not to be abandoned. |