church of Rome receded not a step from her position; and Cardinal Wiseman and the Catholic bishops, as well in England as in Ireland, continued to bear, without molestation, the titles conferred upon them by the Pope. The excitement of the people, and acrimonious discussions in Parliament, revived animosities which recent legislation had tended to moderate: yet these events were not unfruitful of good. They dispelled the wild visions of the ultramontane party checked the tractarian movement in the Church of England; and demonstrated the sound and faithful Protestantism of the people. Nor had the ultramontane party any cause of gratulation, in their apparent triumph over the state. They had given grave offence to the foremost champions of the Catholic cause: their conduct was deplored by the laity of their own church; and they had increased the repugnance of the people to a faith, which they had scarcely yet learned to tolerate.

Scotland:

The church of Scotland, like her sister-church of England, has also been rent by schisms. The protracted Church of efforts of the English government to sustain epis- schisms and copacy in the establishment,1 resulted in the foun- dissent. dation of a distinct episcopalian church. Comparatively small in numbers, this communion embraced a large proportion of the nobility and gentry who affected the English connection and disliked the democratic spirit and constitution of the Presbyterian church. In 1732, the establishment was further weakened by the retirement of Ebenezer Erskine, and an ultra-puritanical sect, who founded the Secession Church of Scotland. This was followed by the foundation of another seceding church, called the Presbytery of Relief, under Gillespie, Boston, and Colier; and by the growth of

2 Cunningham's Church Hist. of Scotland, ii. 427-440, 450-455; Moncrieff's Life of Erskine; Fraser's Life of Erskine; Thomson's Hist. of the Secession Church.

3 Cunningham's Ch. Hist., ii. 501, 513. In 1847 the Secession Church and the Relief Synod were amalgamated under the title of the "United Presbyterian Church."

independents, voluntaries, and other sects.

But the widest schism is of recent date; and its causes illustrate the settled principles of Presbyterian polity, and the relations of the church of Scotland to the state.

History of patronage.

uance.

Lay patronage had been recognized by the Catholic church in Scotland, as elsewhere; but the Presbyterian church soon evinced her repugnance to its continWherever lay patronage has been allowed, it has been the proper office of the church to judge of the qualifications of the clergy presented by patrons. The patron nominates to a benefice; the church approves and inducts the nominee. But this limited function, which has ever been exercised in the church of England, did not satisfy the Scottish reformers, who, in the spirit of other Calvinistic churches, claimed for the people a voice in the nomination of their own ministers. Knox went so far as to declare, in his First Book of Discipline, which, however, was not adopted by the church, "that it appertaineth unto the people, and to every several congregation, to elect their minister."1 The Second Book of Discipline, adopted as a standard of the church in 1578, qualified this doctrine; but declared "that no person should be intruded in any offices of the kirk contrary to the will of the congregation, or without the voice of the eldership." 2 But patronage being a civil right, the state undertook to define it, and to prescribe the functions of the church. In 1567, the Parliament declared that the presentation to benefices 66 was reserved to the just and ancient patrons,” while the examination and admission of ministers belonged to the church. Should the induction of a minister be refused, the patron might appeal to the General Assembly. And again, by an Act of 1592, presbyteries were required to receive and admit whatever qualified minister was presented by the crown or lay patrons. In the troublous times of 1649,

1 A. D. 1560, ch. iv. s. ii. Robertson's Auchterarder Case, i. 22 (Mr. Whigham's argument), &c.

2 Ch. iii. s. 4 & 5; and again, in other words, ch. xii. s. 9 & 10.

8 Scots Acts, 1567, c. 7.

4 James VI. Parl., xii. c. 116.

"1

the church being paramount, Parliament swept away all lay patronage as a "popish custom." On the Restoration it was revived, and rendered doubly odious by the persecutions of that period. The Revolution restored the ascendency of the Presbyterian Church and party; and again patronage was overthrown. By an Act of 1690, the elders and heritors were to choose a minister for the approval of the congregation; and if the latter disapproved the choice, they were to state their reasons to the presbytery, by whom the matter was to be determined.2 Unhappily this settlement, so congenial to Presbyterian traditions and sentiment, was not suffered to be permanent. At the Union, the constitution and existing rights of the church of Scotland were guaranteed yet within five years, the heritors determined to reclaim their patronage. The time was favorable: Jacobites and high church Tories were in the ascendant, who hated Scotch Presbyterians no less than English dissenters; and an Episcopalian Parliament naturally favored the claims of patrons. An Act was therefore obtained in 1712, repealing the Scotch Act of 1690, and restoring the ancient rights of patronage. It was an untoward act, conceived in the spirit of times before the Revolution. The General Assembly then protested against it as a violation of the treaty of union; and long continued to record their protest. The people of Scotland were outraged. Their old strife with Episcopalians was still raging; and to that communion most of the patrons belonged. For some time patrons did not venture to exercise their rights: ministers continued to be called by congregations; and some who accepted presentations from lay patrons were degraded by the church. Patronage, at first a

1 Scots Acts, 1649, c. 171.

2 Ibid., 1690, c. 23.

8 10 Anne, c. 12.

4

4 Carstare's State Papers, App. 796-800; Cunningham's Church Hist. of Scotland, ii. 362. Claim of Rights of the Church of Scotland, May, 1842, p. 9; D'Aubigné's Germany, England, and Scotland, 377-385.

5 Cunningham's Church Hist., ii. 420.

cause of contention with the state and the laity, afterwards brought strifes into the church herself. The Assembly was frequently at issue with presbyteries, concerning the induction of ministers. The church was also divided on the question of presentations; the moderate party, as it was called, favoring the rights of patrons, and the popular party the calls of the people. To this cause was mainly due the secession of Ebenezer Erskine1 and Gillespie,2 and the foundation of their rival churches. But from about the middle of the last century the moderate party, having obtained a majority in the Assembly, maintained the rights of patrons; and thus, without any change in the law, the Act of 1712 was, at length, consistently enforced. A call by the people had always formed part of the ceremony of induction; and during the periods in which lay patronage had been superseded, it had unquestionably been a substantial election of a minister by his congregation. A formal call continued to be recognized; but presbyteries did not venture to reject any qualified person duly presented by a patron. At the end of the century, the patronage question appeared to have been set at rest.5

Lay patron

age a cause of dissent.

4

But the enforcement of this law continued to be a fertile cause of dissent from the establishment. When a minister was forced upon a congregation by the authority of the Presbytery or General Assembly, the people, instead of submitting to the decision of the church, joined the Secession Church, the Presbytery of

1 Cunningham's Church Hist. of Scotland, ii. 419-446, 450-455; Thomson's Hist. of the Secession Church; Moncrieff's Life of Erskine; Fraser's Life of Erskine.

2 Cunningham's Church Hist., ii. 501, 513.

8 Cunningham's Church Hist. of Scotland, ii. 491-500, 511, 537, 558; D'Aubigné's Germany, England, and Scotland, 388-394; Judgments in first Auchterarder case.

4 Judgments of Lord Brougham and the Lord Chancellor in the first Auchterarder case, p. 239, 334, 335.

5 Cunningham's Church Hist. of Scotland, ii. 581.

Relief, or the Voluntaries.1 No people in Christendom are so devoted to the pulpit as the Scotch. There all the services of their church are centred. No liturgy directs their devotion: the minister is all in all to them,— in prayer, in exposition, and in sermon. If acceptable to his flock, they join devoutly in his prayers, and are never weary of his discourses if he finds no favor, the services are without interest or edification. Hence a considerable party in the church were persuaded that a revival of the ancient principles of their faith, which recognized the potential voice of the people in the appointment of ministers, was essential to the security of the establishment.

Hostility to lay patronage was continually increasing, and found expression in petitions and parliamentary The Veto discussion.2 Meanwhile the "non-intrusion party," Act, 1834. led by Dr. Chalmers, was gaining ground in the General Assembly. In 1834, they had secured a majority; and, without awaiting remedial measures from Parliament, they succeeded in passing the celebrated "Veto Act." 8 This act declared it to "be a fundamental law of the church that no pastor shall be intruded on a congregation, contrary to the will of the people ;" and provided that if, without any special objections to the moral character, doctrine, or fitness of a presentee, the majority of the male heads of families signified their dissent, the presbytery should, on that ground alone, reject him. Designed, in good faith, as an amendment of the law and custom of the church, which the Assembly was competent to make, it dealt with rights already defined by Parliament. Patronage was border land, which the church had already contested with the state; and it is to be lamented that the Assembly should thus have entered upon it, with

1 Cunningham's Church Hist. of Scotland, ii. 581; Report on Church Patronage (Scotland), 1834, Evidence.

2 July 16th, 1833, on Mr. Sinclair's motion. - Hans. Deb., 3d Ser., xix. 704.

8 It was termed "Overture and Interim-Act on Calls," May 31st; with regulations, June 2d. It was confirmed May 29th, 1835.