For God to see, and Mahomet attest, 'Twas ocean stopp'd and turn'd him from the west; Had swell'd the cry ye kill me for, and curse,- God has no father, mother, bride, or son, Or" Not to the Trappist's ear alone had this been addressed-but to the Primate and all the Conclave. With great power of argument and eloquence the Primate refutes the ravings of the unhappy girl-and declares that her hour is come. "Come then, from them, and theirs, and their abyss, "Sinful, apostate, desperate, infidel! Go, laden with thy sin, of sins the worst, God's Church condemus thee, and thou art accurst!— Anathema Maranatha ! Go hence! By power from Heaven, vouchsafed to our control, "Off! Mercy! Stay! I will recant,-I do. Ha! have I touch'd the chord, whose nerves unclasp By him, him only, will I be confest. Thanks! Must I kneel! Stand further off, the rest! "Bend thee! Last festival of father's birth, I gave thee that,-whose omen made our mirth, And give me back my ivory-hafted gift. These torturers have prepared, and will effect, If e'er we served you, if you wrong'd us e'er, Our cot's two inmates,-Maude, and Chaplain Hyde, One of whose motherless and haughty daughters, Out with her! out my gates! beyond my grounds! And spare her sisters' scorn, and wreak her father's curse. Hyde disappear'd: the world believed he fled. We saw him borne the refluent stream along, His foe was mighty: kin, if any, poor: And for him nons enquired,-not e'en his paramour. "Yet she went forth through hamlets up and down, Was with us taken, bound with us, I know-- And think, lies chanting to her chains below." ར What can we do? 'Tis impossible to get another page and you must imagine for yourselves Anne Ayliffe at the stake. Edinburgh: Printed by Ballantyne and Hughes, Paul's Work. EDINBURGH MAGAZINE. No. CCLXXXIX. NOVEMBER, 1839. VOL. XLVI. Contents. PAGE ON THE PRESENT POSITION OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. PART I., 573 WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, 45, GEORGE STREET, EDINBURGH: AND T. CADELL, STRAND, LONDON. 'To whom Communications (post paid) may be addressed. SOLD ALSO BY ALL THE BOOKSELLERS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM. PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE AND HUGHES, EDINBURGH. BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE. No. CCLXXXIX, NOVEMBER, 1839. VOL. XLVI. ON THE PRESENT POSITION OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. PART I, THE lively but painful interest excited among the friends of the Church of Scotland by recent judicial proceed ings, which, in the opinion of many of her most zealous lay and clerical members, threatened her independence, or even her existence, imposes on us the duty of reviewing the past history of the question involved in the Auchterarder Case, and of endeavouring to present, in a short and intelligible form, the result of what we believe to have been a patient and dispassionate consideration of the subject. Some months have elapsed since the decision of the House of Lords in the Auchterarder Case, the judgment of the Court of Session in the Lethendy Case, and the discussions in the General Assembly respecting the course to be pursued by the Church, with a view to the removal of the difficulties with which she is beset. All undue excitement, therefore, may be supposed to have so far subsided as to render the present occasion well fitted for our purpose; and we entreat the attention and the favourable construction of our readers, while we endeavour, in the first place, to remove certain erroneous impressions, as they appear to us, tend. ing materially to increase the difficulties inseparable from the discussion of this subject, and to expose certain fallacies respecting the true position and functions of the Church, as a compo NO. CCLXXXIX. VOL. XLVI. nent part of the British Corstitutionfallacies which have obtained the more ready currency, because presented in a captivating form, couched in loose and popular language, and addressed, principally at least, to that portion of the community, of whom we shall be pardoned for saying, that neither their education nor their mental habits have fitted them to sit in judgment on a question of constitutional law. The most directly important and interesting enquiry, no doubt, relates to the practical expediency of that legislative measure to which the Church has resolved to ask the sanction of Parliament. But it is impossible duly to appreciate the merits of the proposed law, unless we first understand the proceedings which have placed the Church in her present position, and thus ascertain the motives of this application to the Legislature, and the true intent and object of those who advocate a change. Our observations, however, on this part of the case, shall be as concise as possible. It is said that a collision has taken place between the Civil and Ecclesiastical Courts, as separate and independent jurisdictions that neither of these co-ordinate powers can, without a violation of its duty, consent to abandon the independent ground which it has assumed and seeks to maintainthat therefore no executive power has 20 |