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Christ do not appear to have been that day the reigning principles in the assembly; for they ordered their commission, at the next meeting to proceed against the four brethren, and if they did not retract their protest and express their sorrow for it, to suspend them from their office, or even inflict severer censure, Mr. Erskine and his adherents remaining stedfast in their sentiments, the sentence of suspension was pronounced against them; and some months afterwards at another meeting, the same ecclesiastical court finding them still, as they termed it, obstinate and impenitent, their relation to their congregations was dissolved: the moderator's casting vote determined a point so important in its consequences to the Scottish establishment. Against this sentence too the four brethren protested, insisting that the validity of their office as ministers, and their relation to their congregations should not be affected by it; and they declared a secession not from the constitution of the church of Scotland, to which they professed their ardent adherence, but from the prevailing party in her judicatories,

Such was the commencement of a separation from the established church, the most considerable that ever took place; a separation which has been increasing for fourscore years, and which is likely to be of equal duration with the church itself. Nor can it be denied, that for the first half century at least of its existence, in proportion to their numbers, few sects can boast of so many laborious, faithful, and orthodox ministers, and intelligent and exemplary private Christians within the pale of their communion.

The leaders in the secession were men of eminent piety, unshaken integrity, deeply concerned for the

prosperity of religion, and wholly devoted to the service of Christ. Their preaching was evangelical, and the manner of some of them exceedingly popular But they had studied that part of the Gospel, which enjoins crucifixion to the world, and keeping at the remotest distance from every vice, more than that which inculcates the meekness and gentleness of Christ, and the catholic philanthropy which sweetens as well as purifies the soul. Their principles of church government were injurious to their minds. While the independent derives all his religion both as to doctrine and discipline from the sacred Scripture, the Scotch presbyterian of those days derived a multitude of his ideas from the confession of faith, the books of discipline, the acts of the general assembly, and some in addition to these from the solemn league and covenant. These at once perverted and contracted his heart, and brought into his religious system a multitude of human ordinances which he regarded as essential parts of divine truth: hence flowed a spirit of intolerance, and sourness, and severity.

From the defectivenes of the system of which they were not aware, no small part of their dissatisfaction with the established church arose. While independency professes to govern believers in Christ by the rule of God's word, presbytery takes all the inhabitants of a parish under her care, and attempts to restrain them by the rod of her discipline. Her deter-mination is to make wolves and bears act like lambs, and display the dispositions of lambs. In the mass of population in any country, how inadequate the effect of such a discipline must be, need not be proved. Calvin undertook the task at Geneva in

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more favourable circumstances than England or Scot land did ever present; but it was a source of perpetual torment and unceasing disappointment, and no minister of any established church has ever had better success. The failure of the Scotch clergy in this herculean labour was a source of bitter complaints to Mr. Erskine and many other pious ministers of that communion; nor could they be persuaded that it was an impracticable attempt, and that the church and the world are two different things.

Another difficulty arising also from the system of established presbytery, Mr. Erskine and his brethren found in the character and conduct of many of the persons with whom they were associated in an ecclesiastical body. During the long period of the church's peace, some were, from year to year, entering on the performance of the sacred functions, who were not endued with the spirit of their office. But with these men they were obliged to associate in their church courts, to unite with them in various parts of ministerial duty, and to acknowledge them as brethren in the work of Christ. Scarcely can any thing be conceived more abhorrent to the sentiments and feelings of pious men. Presbytery, unless it be composed of good men, is the worst of all constitutions for a conscientious minister to be under; and it lays the most pumerous stumbling-blocks in his way. Independency warrants a pastor to unite himself, and hold communion with those only whom he believes to be faithful ministers of Christ. Episcopacy is a loose system which exercises but little controul over the parson of

parish, if he performs what the rubric enjoins. He is required to have scarcely more intercourse with the neighbouring priesthood than is agreeable to his

choice; and in the meetings of the bishop with the clergy, there is no exercise of ecclesiastical authority in which he is required to take an active part in conjunction with his worldly brethren. But presbytery is a compact and active system, which obliges a Minister to sit and vote in ecclesiastical courts in conjunction with the rest of his body, and to unite with the worst of men in carrying into execution the decisions of their courts, however contrary they may be to his own judgment. This grievous inconvenience was deeply felt by Mr. Erskine and those who thought with him it was their continual burden, and it was one of the things which led to a separation from the established church.

To prevent an entire separation was at last the anxious wish of those who had acted with so much severity; and in 1734 the general assembly decreed that the seceding brethren should be restored to the execution of their office. To be wise at the moment when wisdom is required, is an invaluable blessing; for if the mind be unhappily given up to folly then, wisdom may come too late, and have no other office left but to bewail her absence in the time of need. It was so here, for the seceders would not accept the boon. Still, however, the assembly waited five years more before it finally cast them out. But in 1739 they were commanded to appear before the court, and a willingness was expressed to receive them again into communion. This offer being rejected, the assembly of the following year deposed them from the minis terial office, as to the exercise of it in the church of Scotland.

The seceding brethren were not idle spectators of

these proceedings. Immediately after their suspension, they formed themselves into a distinct ecclesiastical body, to which they gave the name of the associated presbytery, and drew up what they called a testimony, containing a view of their principles, which they held to be those of the church of Scotland in her purity. Still however they did not lose sight of returning to their former stations; but when the favour was offered to them, in 1739, they were unable to accept it; for by keeping their eyes stedfastly fixed on every thing amiss in her, they perceived so many and so great corruptions, that they were afraid to go back into her communion. After a time, a second testimony appeared, comprising an immense mass of historical record, detailing the sins of the land,' and the defections of the church; and this they made one of the standards of the body. Not satisfied with these displays of their principles and complaints, after they were entirely separated from the church, in 1743, they renewed with an oath the solemn league and covenant, to which was attached a long historical confession of national sins (some of which were at least of a very doubtful nature), and they went so far as to make it a term of ministerial and Christian communion.

In the course of these proceedings, the active and faithful discharge of their ministerial functions presents a more pleasing prospect. Mr. Erskine and his colleagues became itinerants and preached throughout the country. For this service they were well qualified by their eminent skill in theology, the superior purity of their doctrine, and the fervour and energy of their elocution. While the methodists in the south inveighed bitterly against the corruptions of

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