that Begg clung with all the desperate tenacity of his nature to the idea that the guns of Establishment might possibly be used, if not permanently, at least for some time longer, in defence of the principles.

Chalmers, Candlish, Cunningham, Guthrie, Gordon, and Buchanan saw that this could not be, that the Church possessed no arm of flesh to oppose to encroaching Courts or Legislatures, that her spiritual freedom was now being trampled down, and that, therefore, if relief did not come, and come promptly, she must go forth.

Let us be just to Begg. He was no traitor, no trimmer. He secured that the whole compass of alternative courses should be boxed, that the kaleidoscope of possible opinion on the situation should come full circle round. And, above all, be it distinctly admitted and realised that he did not hold out against the general sentiment. His biographer says justly that he acquiesced in the resolutions. Nor will all readers agree with Dr. Thomas Smith that Dr. Henderson's inestimable notes of the Convocation convey "an impression that Dr. Begg was less zealous than his brethren, or more cautious as to committing himself." No. The notes produce the impression that he would stick to the Establishment like limpet to the rock, so long as he thought the spiritual independence of the Church could in that way be preserved. But he formally withdrew his objections to the view taken by the brethren in general, and, when this was done, no man spoke out more clearly than he. The storm he had conjured up in the Convocation passed over, and he had the magnanimity to be swayed by wiser and greater men than himself.

CHAPTER XXXII.

The Court of Session's last Triumphs.

HE Convocation ended in harmony among the

THE

brethren, and fortitude and clear determination with reference to the future. As autumn deepened into winter, the ministers carried into every corner of Scotland the quickening power of the inspiration they had received. Among the causes of satisfaction with which all who have regard for the honour of human nature may be expected to view the results of the meeting, this, surely, is greatest, that no evasion was attempted, no theological phrase of disputable significance devised, under cover of which the Church might secure the sweet emoluments, and sweeter dignities and peaceful routine and comfort, of Establishment, and yet make pretence of retaining her freedom. No betrayal of Christ with a kiss, in the form of some verbal, visionary, and abstract recognition of His Headship! We came to you a free Church, we can part with you a free Church; we must, in any case, stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free. Such, in effect, was the message of the Convocation to the State.

The Church declined to continue an ignominious and anarchical struggle with the law Lords and their vassal clergy in Scotland. In the Memorial drawn up by the Convocation to be presented to the Legislature, it was declared that such a contest could not fail to be attended with pernicious consequences, "affecting both the majesty of law and the highest interests of religion." The question now was, whether the State would or would not commit" the heinous national offence of not only breaking the national faith, but disowning the authority of Christ in His own House, and refusing to recognise His Church as a free spiritual society, instituted by Him, and governed by His laws alone."

Scotland rang with agitation, the whole atmosphere quivering with an excitement so characteristic of Scotland, so strange to other lands. In hall and in cottage, in mansion and farm, in street and at market, men spoke of the grand struggle going on. Guthrie's biographers tell us that seven hundred and eighty-two distinct pamphlets might be noted among the phenomena of the time. The wrestle between the Churchmen, who were also the people's men, and the Court of Session's tools, was raging wildly. In most places the feeling of the pastors and of the population was ardently expressed in favour of the Church, but throughout the Synod of Aberdeen the influence of Moderatism prevailed. The Court of Session, encouraged no doubt by the approbation and acquiescence of a party in the Church, carried matters with a high hand, and scrupled not to make fresh inroads upon the spiritual jurisdiction.

Occurring with pathetic seasonableness as an illustra

tion of the completeness with which the Court of Session was divesting the Scottish Establishment of all legislative power in the spiritual province, there was delivered, on the 20th of January 1843, the judgment of the Court in the Stewarton case. Its salient point was that, as the Auchterarder judgments had cancelled the Church's legislation combining the action of patronage with the will and consent of the people in the settlement of ministers, so the Stewarton judgment nullified the legislation of the Church giving effect to her principle of parity among ministers. In their dealings with the parish of Auchterarder, the law Lords had struck down the Church's barrier against intrusion; they now, by their Stewarton decision, struck down the Church's Chapel Act. Thus had they scornfully smitten into ruins the whole edifice of Church reform as it had arisen under the impulse of Chalmers.

The Dean of Faculty, now Lord Justice-Clerk, had done his work. If the Legislature did not restore what the Court of Session had taken away, and if the Church of Scotland acquiesced, then did the Church possess no jurisdiction. The respondents for the Church in the Stewarton case distinctly informed the Lords of Session that they would not obey them. "Whatever judgment your Lordships may pronounce, the respondents freely and at once avow that in regard to the matters here in question, they will continue to give obedience to the injunctions of the ecclesiastical judicatories to which they are subordinate."

During those days Candlish's whole nature burned with the intensity of his spiritual passion. The vague

hopes, the busy weaving of cobweb compromises and gossamer explanations, that deceived feebler men, were shrivelled into dust by the impetuous lightnings of his mind. He knew that separation was inevitable. He frankly avowed that, were he a Congregationalist, were he not one of a company of Presbyterian brethren, he would go out at once. The May month and the Assembly were drawing near, and he panted for the decisive moment. Moving about from place to place, now in London, now in Edinburgh, now in the West of Scotland, wherever statesmen were to be interrogated, wherever great meetings were to be addressed, there was he; and wherever he came, he brought illumination. Never, however, was that superb intellect shaken from its calmness of vision, from its poised and perfect apprehension of the position, or from lucid moderation of speech. The jurisdiction he claimed for the Church was neither Popish, including infallibility, nor revolutionary, overleaping bounds, but liberty "to regulate the concerns of Christ on the principles of a Church of Christ, not by the determination of civil rulers in ecclesiastical matters, but by the word of Christ alone, interpreted by the prayerful study of our minds and hearts."

No arrangement which refused the spiritual jurisdiction, and left patronage in the way,-no arrangement which disallowed the original claim of the Church of Scotland to negotiate with the State on the footing of a jurisdiction derived, not from the State, but from Christ,-no mere independence by sufferance,-could he consider adequate or safe. Unquestionably Parliament might lay down a form of proceeding which would enable the