erroneous. all did and was Lord Aber- deen's bill tory of the judges who Achterar it declares a different law from that on which they gave judg the lever that loosened the foundation of the ancient CHAP. XV. constitutional bulwarks of the church's spiritual independence, and, finally, levelled them in the dust. That judgment was founded on a view of the law which the house of lords now, in effect, declared to have been The bill of Lord Aberdeen did not profess to make any change of the law, but simply to remove doubts as to what the law really was and along had been. But, nevertheless, what it declare to be the law, Lords Cottenham Brougham expressly and emphatically affirmed not the law according to which they had given judgment in the Auchterarder case. "If," said Lord ment. Cottenham," the judgment pronounced in that case was a right one, the present bill was not in accordance with what he conceived to be the existing law of Scotland, and, entertaining that view, he could not agree with the second reading" of the bill. On the same occasion, Lord Brougham, his colleague in the Auchterarder judgment, concluded his speech in these words:" On these grounds, he held that, if the pre- Lords Cottensent bill were to be considered as truly declaring the Brougham law, their lordships should not have decided the Auch- sequence, terarder case as they did; but he knew the bill did bill. not correctly declare the law, and, therefore, his opinion remained unchanged, that the Auchterarder case had been properly decided." In these views Lords Cottenham and Brougham-supported by Lord Campbell, who had been counsel for the parties who gained the Auchterarder judgment-persisted to the last, and that so strenuously, that even on the third reading of the bill, Lord Cottenham insisted on having ham and in con oppose the CHAP. XV. his amendment against it put from the chair, in order that his objections to the bill might appear in the minutes of the house. Notwithstanding of this opposition, the house of lords did pass the bill, and, by so doing, placed themselves in the position of having, in their judicial capacity, declared one thing to be the law, and in their legislative capacity declared another thing to be the law; and this was the changeful and self-contradictory oracle on whose authority a great national religious establishment was overthrown! It The House of is, indeed, quite true, that Lord Aberdeen's legislathe bill, and tive interpretation of the law-though different from tire contra Lord Cottenham's judicial interpretation of it—was still stringent and narrow enough to exclude the principle of non-intrusion. But this does not alter the fact, that the veto-law of the church was, in 1839, pronounced to be illegal by the house of lords, upon a view of the law which the same house of lords, in 1843, declared to have been erroneous. Lords pass thus make their legisla dict their judicial tes timony as to what the law is. In addition to this bill of Lord Aberdeen, in reference to the settlement of ministers, another was brought forward by Sir James Graham, in regard to the subdivision of parishes and the endowment of quoad sacra churches. The former bill was passed in the course of the session of 1843; the latter during the session of 1844. Sir James Graham's bill did nothing whatever to restore the powers which the quoad sacra Stewarton decision had taken from the establishment. It left the quoad sacra church ministers excluded from the ecclesiastical courts,-their sessions broken up,and their right to take any part in the government of the church utterly extinguished. Without an endow Sir James Church and endowment bill. which it leaves the ment as to spiritual duties. ment of £120 a year, and the consent of a majority CHAP. XV. of the heritors of the parish, and of the court of State in tiends, the establishment cannot now set up, even in Establishthe most destitute district of the land, a full provision important of the means of grace, according to the institution of rights and Christ, for a single additional congregation. practical point of view this state of things may be of little moment, as the existing supply of churches in the establishment is greatly more than equal to the demand. When, however, the matter is considered in the light of the responsibilities, duties and prerogatives of a church of Christ, it assumes a very different character. Like the bill of Lord Aberdeen, that of Sir James Graham confirms and ratifies, in matters the most purely ecclesiastical and spiritual, the supre rivet the fetters of macy of the courts of law; and binds round the neck The two bills of the establishment those galling and degrading fetters which the church of Scotland, on the day of the disruption, indignantly cast away. civil su around the premacy Establishment's neck. Assembly. In turning from the assembly of the bond establishment, it now only remains to the reader to take a parting glance at the assembly of the free church of Scotland. Its sittings, which commenced on Thursday the 18th, were concluded on Tuesday the 30th of May; and during that period all the necessary The Free measures for organizing the adherents, developing the resources, maturing the plans, and conducting the affairs of the disestablished church, were arranged with a promptitude, an energy, and a unanimity, that filled the friends of this great movement with confidence, gratitude, and joy. Of the many interesting scenes that were witnessed in this assembly, none was more The deed CHAP. XV. impressive or memorable than that of the signing of hereof in the books of councils and session, or others CHAP. XV. competent therein to remain for preservation," &c., -all duly attested in terms of law. of the deed The signing of demis sion. One after another, as their names were called, the protesting ministers advanced to the table, and affixed, with an unfaltering hand, their names to a deed by which they renounced their earthly all. The first signature after the name of the illustrious moderator, was that of the venerable Dr. Muirhead of Cramond, who was ordained in the year 1788. From Robertsonian moderatism to Chalmers and the Free church,his ministry had reached from the one to the other,— and the youngest of his brethren did not march forth from the dishonoured and enslaved establishment more resolutely than he. Onwards, from noon till late in the evening, did the signing of this document incessantly proceed. Including a few who afterwards gave in their adherence to this deed, 474 ministers The number completed, by means of this solemn legal instrument, their separation from the establishment. yesterday present," said an onlooker,* writing to the moderator on the following day, "at the stirring and moving scene, when above four hundred of the best ministers in the land cheerfully came forward to sacrifice all that was dear to them in this world, on the altar of conscience and duty. I will say nothing Testimony of of the sentiments of sympathy, mingled with admira- upon the tion, with which I witnessed this noble stand for Christian principle,-not counting the cost,-and beyond all Greek, beyond all Roman fame, but shall "I was who signed. an onlooker subject. |