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SUPPLEMENT

TO THE

VOTES AND PROCEEDINGS

OF THE

House of Commons.

SESSION 1843.

But Doe 650

SUPPLEMENT TO THE VOTES AND PROCEEDINGS.

Veneris, 10° die Februarii, 1843.

CHURCH OF SCOTLAND.

PETITION OF THE COMMISSION OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND.

The humble Petition of the Commission of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland,

Showeth,

That by the Constitution of the Kingdom of Scotland, as settled at the Revolution, the ultimate and exclusive jurisdiction of the Church and her Courts, in matters spiritual and ecclesiastical, was recognised and ratified.

That this exclusive and ultimate jurisdiction has been claimed and asserted by the Reformed Church of Scotland from the period of its institution; and that, so early as 1567, when her jurisdiction was recognised by the Legislature, in the "preaching of the Word," "correction of manners," and "administration of the sacraments," it was declared by statute 1567, c. 12, "that there be no other jurisdiction ecclesiastical acknowledged within this realm, other than that which is and shall be within the same Kirk, or that which flows therefrom, concerning the premises."

That, a few years thereafter, King James VI. obtained an Act to be passed (1584, c. 129), declaring that the Sovereigns of Scotland were, by themselves and their Councils, "judges competent" to their subjects "in all matters;" but that by the subsequent Act, establishing the Presbyterian government, and ratifying the General Assemblies, Synods, Presbyteries, and Kirk Sessions, "appointed by the Kirk" (1592, c. 116), it was declared that the said Statute should "noways be prejudicial, nor derogate anything to the privilege that God has given to the spiritual office-bearers in the Kirk, concerning heads of religion, matters of heresy, excommunication, collation, and deprivation of ministers, or any such like essential censures, grounded and having Warrant of the Word of God;" and, by the same Act, all Statutes and Laws against the "liberty," "jurisdiction," and "discipline" of the Kirk, as then exercised, were rescinded, and power was sanctioned in the Church Courts "to put order to all matters and causes ecclesiastical, according to the discipline of the Kirk."

That for a century thereafter a constant struggle was maintained between the Kings of Scotland on the one hand, and the Church and Nation on the other, regarding the admission into the Constitution of the principle that the Sovereign was "supreme ruler in all causes, as well spiritual and ecclesiastical as temporal and civil," and that, after having been alternately rejected and acknowledged, it was finally repudiated at the Revolution,

That on one of the occasions on which this principle was re-introduced into the Constitution of Scotland, namely, the Restoration of King Charles II., the Acts established the Presbyterian Church then repealed (and particularly the Act 1592, c. 116), were described in the Statute whereby they were so repealed, as Acts "by which the sole and only power and jurisdiction within this Church doth stand in the Church, and in the General, Provincial, and Presbyterial Assemblies, and Kirk Sessions.”

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That the Acts of Parliament so characterised by the Legislature of Scotland were revived and ratified at the Revolution (by Statute 1690, c. 5), and the Statute recognising the principle, that the Sovereign was supreme ruler in causes spiritual and ecclesiastical, was repealed, as being "inconsistent with the establishment of Church Government' then desired; in compliance with the second article of the Claim of Right of the Estates of Scotland, forming a condition of the offer of the Crown to King William and Queen Mary.

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