tihvaxy of t:he t:heolo0ical Seminar jo PRINCETON • NEW JERSEY PURCHASED BY THE MRS. ROBERT LENOX KENNEDY CHURCH HISTORY FUND BX 9070 .T47" 1828 United Associate Synod of the Secession Church Testimony of the United Associate Synod of the m^^/i^'^ f Y 16 ■:32 TESTIMONY V^, .,v^ UNITED ASSOCIATE SYNOD SECESSION CHURCH. HISTORICAL AND DOCTRINAL. PRINTED BY ORDER OF SYNOD. SECOND EDITION. PUBLISHED, BY JOHN LOTHIAN, 41. ST ANDREW SQUARE, EDINBURGH. 1828. P.Neill, Printer. MINUTE OF SYNOD RESPECTING THE TESTIMONY. " Broughton Place Church, Edinburgh, 20th September 1827- *' The United Associate Synod met, and was constituted by the Reverend Alexander Duncan, Moderator. " Inter alia, Having completed the reading and correcting of the Draft of a Testimony, the Synod unanimously enacted as follows : — That while they retain the Confession of Faith and Catechisms (as recognised in the Basis of Union), and the Summary of Principles, as their creed, or profes- sion of faith, or Terms of Communion, and therefore do not elevate the Testimony to the place of authority which these standai'ds occupy ; they, having deliberately reviewed it, do adopt and sanction it as a defence and illustration of the principles and design of the Secession, and do earnestly recommend it to the candid and diligent perusal of all under their charge. " And farther, the Synod agreed that a reference shall be made to said Testimony in the Formula of Ordination, and that the 3th question shall be expressed in the following terms : — " Do you consider, as still valid, those reasons of Secession ft-om the Judicatories of the Established Church, which are stated in the Testimonies emitted by the Secession Church ; namely, the suflferance of error without adequate censure ; the infringe- ment of the rights of the Christian people in the choice and settlement of their ministers under the law of patronage ; the neglect or relaxation of discipline ; the restraint of ministerial freedom in opposing mal-administra- tion ; and the refusal of the prevailing party to be reclaimed ? Do you approve of the principles and design of the Secession for the more full illus- tration of which, the Testimony, as adopted by the United Associate Sy- nod in September 1827, has been emitted? and do you resolve tluough grace to prosecute the design of the Secession ?" " The Synod also agreed, that said Testimony shall be printed and pub- lished at a moderate price, for the use of the Churches under their care ; — that the Basis of Union, the Formula of Ordination, and the Summary of Principles, shall be printed uniformly with the Testimony, and appended to it ; and the Rev. Dr Peddie, Andrew Lothian, John Brown (Edin- burgh), John Ritchie, and George Barlas, with the Moderator, are hereby appointed a Comihittee, to take the proper measures to ascertain and to determine the amount of the edition, to transact and agree with a bookseller as to the printing and publishing of these documents, and to su- perintend the printing of tliem." (Signed) " William Kidston, Synod Clerk.''' CONTENTS. yeS PART FIRST. HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE SECESSION. Introduction, ------ CHAPTER I. Of THE First Reformation, . .... 11 CHAPTER II. Of the Second Reformation, - - - - 16 CHAPTER III. Of the Scottish Church, from the Second Reformation to THE Rise of the Secession, - - - - 23 CHAPTER IV. Of the Secession, ------ 36 1. Rise and Progress of the Secession, . . . 3fi 2. Division of the Associate Synod, - - - - 61 3. Re-union, ------ 64 4. Vindication of Continuance in a State of Secession, - 66 PART SECOND. DOCTRINAL STATEMENTS AGAINST ERROR AND IMMORALITY. Introduction, .---... 86 CHAPTER I. vindication of the claims of the holy scriptures. 1. Denial of Divine Revelation, ..... gg 2. False views of the Light of Nature, - - . . 93 3. Elevation of reason to the place of Supreme Judge, - - 95 4. Rejection of plenary Inspiration, . . . . gg 5. Additions to the Canons, - - - ... 97 6. Power ascribed to the Church, .... 98 7. Refusal of the right of Private Judgment, . ^ . loi 8. Prohibition of the use of the Scriptures, . - „ 101 VI CONTENTS. CHAPTER II. DEFENCE OF THE DOCTRINES CONTAINED IN THE HOLV SCRirTURES. I. Concerning God, - - - . . Page 103 II the Moral Condition of Man, . - HO III the Purpose of Salvation, ... 114 IV the Method of Salvation, - . -117 V the Nature and the Object of Salvation, - - 124 VI the Application of Salvation, - - 128 "VII the Extent of Salvation, . - .130 VIII the Means of Salvation and Ordinances of Worship, 134 1. Prayer, . - . - 135 2. Praise, . . . .136 3. Preaching of the Gospel, - - 137 4. Sacraments, - - - - 138 Baptism, - - - . 141 The Lord's Supper, - . 149 5. Discipline, - - - - 151 C. Sabbath, - . . .152 IX the Government of the Church, - - 154 X the Profession of the Church, - . 160 XI the Nature and Use of Covenanting, . 165 XII the Relations of Church and State, - - 168 CHAPTER III. WARNTNG AGAINST PRACTICAL EVILS. 1. Impiety and Profaneness, - - . - - I70 2. Profligacy and Intemperance, - - - - - 173 3. Unworthy Amusements, and Incentives to Vice, - . 174 4. Gambling in all its Forms, - - - - - 177 5. Dishonesty and Lying, - - - - - I77 6. Duelling and Revenge, • - - - - 179 7. Secret Associations, - - - - - -179 8. Neglect of Divine Ordinances, .... 179 9. Unhallowed Tempers and Evil Passions, ... 182 APPENDIX FIRST. 1. Basis of Union, ...... 185 2. Formula OF Ordination, ..... 187 3. Subimarv of Principles, . - - - - 189 APPENDIX SECOND. Formulas of the United Secession Church, WITH the alterations AGREED ON, MaY 22. 1828. I. Formula of Ordination of Ministers, - . - .197 2 of Ordination of Elders, .... 199 3 of License of Probationers, „ ... 201 PART I. HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE SECESSION. INTRODUCTION. The Holy Scriptures of the Old and the General view of the Rea- New Testaments, which reveal " the whole fp"! and Ends of Pub- , - ^ ' . ,. , • lishing a Confession of counsel ot God, concernmg all things ne- Faith, and of supporting cessary for his glory and our salvation,"'' ^^ ^y ^ Testunony. are the only rule of our faith and practice, — a rule of supreme avi- thority, infallible, and permanent, by which we are to examine " all decrees of Councils, opinions of ancient writers, doctrines of men, and private spirits.""' These precious oracles arc committed to the church, with the in- junction to preserve them pure and entire, and to teach and ob- serve all things whatsoever Christ has commanded. That the church may fulfil this important trust, especially when the autho- rity of Scripture is pleaded in support of error and corruption, it is her incumbent duty to exhibit a luminous and concise Statement of those things which are understood by her to be taught in the word of God. Though such a confession of her faith adds nothing to the authority of the truth, yet it displays and vindicates it ; and supplies an instrument well adapted for instructing the ignorant, for establishing the wavering, for discovering the friends of the truth to each other, and uniting them in the fellowship and defence of the Gospel, for transmitting its doctrines and ordinances to the succeeding age, and for exhibiting the state of the attainments of the church in different periods, and thus enabling us, by comparing the various confessions which she has emitted, to mark her progress in the knowledge of the truth, or her declension from its purity. In- deed, no ecclesiastical society can exist, without recognising, in some way, certain principles as the basis of their union and the rule of their administrations and fellowship ; and, on many accoimts, it is better that these principles should be defined and methodized in some well digested " form of sound words," than that they should be left to the mutual understanding of the members of the church.* Such explanatory exhibitions, however, must still be subject to review. Being the productions of men " who know but in part,"' • Vide Fart II. chap. II. sect. x. § 1. A i2 4 INTRODUCTION. they cannot lay claim to perfection. They may admit, as articles of the christian faith, principles which the Scriptures do not sanc- tion, or they may not give to each the place due to its intrinsic and relative importance, or they may employ an ambiguous phraseo- logy, which renders such exhibitions nugatory. As a bond of union they may embrace too wide a range of particulars, or tiieir limits may be too circumscribed. Successive generations in the church are bound to judge for themselves in matters of faith and practice, by consulting the Scriptures with humility and prayer, that their " faith may stand not in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." And public confessions, or creeds, not only do not obstruct, but, in various ways, aid such an inquiry-. While they check a disposition to precipitate change, than which nothing is more unfavourable to enlightened progress, they furnish us with an excellent means of assisting inquiry, by presenting us with the deliberate judgment of the wise and good, and with the evidence on which that judgment rests. But though the principle, that the best ecclesiastical formularies are still subject to review, is acknowledged by all the Protestant churches, yet seldom has any church exemplified that principle. Aversion to the labour of investigation, the fear of injurious con- sequences, and, above all, reverence for human authority, dispose the generations which succeed an age of high attainment, to resist all change, as if no improvement could be made, and to acquiesce in what has been effected, as if it comprised all the views of Divine truth which the church should display *. The Confession of the church, then, ought to exhibit the immutable doctrines, ordinances and laws of Christ : and it is not unworthy of remark, that the va- rious confessions which particular associations of christians, existing in periods and countries remote from each other, have published, display a wonderful harmony of sentiment. Each of the Reformed Churches gave forth a solemn confession of its faith, respecting the doctrine, worship, and order, which Christ had revealed ; and the shades of difference to be found among them are extremely slight. • The National Synod of France is an honourable exception. It was the prac- tice of that Synod, after the roll was made up, to read/rsi, all the articles of their Confession of Faith, and }te.rt, the Canons of their discipline. Remarks and pro- posals of alterations, whether made verbally by the members present, or commu- nicated in writing from the Provincial Synods, or from individuals, were heard and considered; and wer« approved, or rejected, or transmitted to the Provincial Synods, who were appointed to report to the next meeting of the National Sy- fiod. After which the Confession of Faith was sworn and subscribed by all the Deputies. Quick's Si/nodicoti. 3 INTRODUCTION. 5 Nor did iheir views on these great subjects, though displaying, as might be expected, more precision and fuhiess, substantially differ from the creeds voluntarily emitted by the ancient Councils, or the confessions subsequently exhibited, by the individuals, and the communities, who conflicted with the errors and intolerance of the man of sin. This harmony arises from the simplicity and clearness with which fundamental principles are revealed in the Scriptures, from the in- timate connection which subsists among the several parts of truth and duty, and from the tendencies and effects of the influence of that one Spirit, who animates and enlightens all the saints, and who abides in the church, that he may lead her into all the truth. But while the great principles of the faith and of the profession of the chui'ch remain the same, they admit of much diversity in the modes, both of stating them, and of applying them to the various objects on which they ought to be made to bear. Tlie external re- lations and circumstances of the church undergo many chano-es. Attempts are made, in different ways, to adulterate the Gospel, and to rob its professors, sometimes of one privilege, and sometimes of another. Errors and defections, now in one form and then in another, may arise and threaten to prevail, to the unspeakable in- jury of the truth as it is in Jesus, and of the piety, purity, and comfort of the members of the church. Now, if the church would act with wisdom and faithfulness in these circumstances, and secure the important ends of her existence on earth, she must strenuously support the great scriptural princi- ples which she has embodied in her Confession, and, with an en- lightened and temperate zeal, apply them, for establishing her members in the present truth, for warning and fortifying them against temptations, and for resisting and suppressing the spirit of error and iniquity. Widiout specifying, at present^ what may be incumbent on the faithful who fill a private station in the church, for promoting these purposes, we mention two things which belong to her pastors. li\\c first relates to their stated administrations. In these, they should not only explain and vindicate the several parts of our holy profession, and continually direct and urge to practical purity and stedfastness •: but, as the result of a wase and vigilant inspection of the changing state of the flock, and of external circumstances, should make their administrations to bear, in a particular manner, on those doctrines and duties which are in imminent danger of be- ing neglected and corrupted, and against those errors which may 6 INTRODUCTION. threaten to be most seductive. The same principles are maintained, but the exliibition of them is modified as may best promote the edi- fying of the body of Christ. The second relates to their proceed- ings Avhen they meet together in Judgment. That they may counteract the various causes which operate to the prejudice of the faith once delivered to the saints, it is their duty to vindicate the truth and importance of the constitutional principles which are as- sailed, and to testify against contrary errors. While, therefore, the principles embodied in the Confession of a church can more rarely require a change, her Testimony, as one of the means by which she supports and applies these principles, and maintauis a practical adherence to them, necessarily varies with the varying aspect of error. It hence appears, that though ecclesiasti- cal associations, existing in difi'erent countries, may be substantially one in their statements of truth, yet the testimonies which they publish as a part of their practical administrations, may differ wide- ly from each other. This general principle might receive illustration from a compa- rison of the epistles sent to the primitive churches by the apostles, with the particular circumstances of those churches respectively. While they contain the doctrines which the apostles had every where preached, and which all the churches had received, yet they consist chiefly of nervous vindications of those doctrines, of faithful exposures of the errors which opposed them, and of directions to guide in the practical application of them, in a suitableness to ex- isting circumstances. For example, the leading subject of the epis- tle to the churches of Galatia is, the exhibition and vindication of the evangelical doctrine, that sinners are justified by faith in Christ without the works of the law ; in opposition to the false and per- nicious tenet which the judaizing teachers zealously laboured to disseminate there, viz. that the observance of some of the Mosaic rites was necessary to our acceptance with God. — Various errors and corruptions prevailed in the church of Corinth. There were divisions among them. The immoral were not excluded from the fellowship of the church. Several of their members abused their christian liberty, by which they afflicted many of their brethren, and tempted them to act in opposition to their convictions. Gross abuses frequently accompanied the dispensation of the Lord's Sup- per, and teachers arose among them, who denied the resurrection of the bodies of the saints to a blessed immortality. It is to the specific purpose of correcting these disorders, and of establishing the doctrine of the resurrection, that the Apostle, in his first epis- INTRODUCTION. / tie to that church, applies the facts, the privileges, and the obliga- tions of Christianity. In like manner, the apostle James wrote against the unchristian tempers and the licentious practices which characterized certain classes of believers in that age *. A Confession, or Creed, then, exhibits, or ought to exhibit, the immutable doctrines and laws of Christ, which are of universal ob- ligation. But the object of Testimonies is, to maintain these doc- trines and laws in simplicity and incorruptness, against existing and local deviations from them. And though, when such deviations are great and general, threaten to be of no short duration, and ex- ert an extensively baneful influence, a judicial Testimony is expe- dient and even necessary ; yet it ought to be remembered, that its full effect depends on the practical spirit of stated administrations, and of judicial procedure. The narrow and jealous views which too often preside over the policy that regulates the mutual intercourse of the kingdoms of this world, are extremely apt to influence our minds respecting our relations and duties to the several great associations, existing in dif- ferent countries, which compose the visible kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are in danger of contemplating these portions of the church as so many unconnected and independent societies, whose interests are scarcely compatible with each other, and with whom we should recognise no relations, nor maintain any fellowship. But inasmuch as they hold the Head, by confessing the supreme deity, the atonement, and intercession, of the Son of God, they and we are members of the same great visible body ; who, therefore, ought to cultivate, in the spirit of Christian love, such an intercourse as, without compromising any of our principles, may, in so far as cir- cumstances will permit, establish and promote co-operation in the work of the Lord. In the times which immediately succeeded the Reformation, a friendly correspondence among the different Re- formed Churches was maintained, which conduced much to their mutual establishment and comfort. But though the various Societies which compose the universal church of Christ, are more or less intimately connected together, yet each forms a whole within itself, and is the subject of privations, trials, deliverances, attainments, and declensions, peculiar to itself; is the scene of special labours, and sufferings, and Divine interposi- tions ; all which create peculiar obligations, and necessarily modify its holy contendings for the faith of the Gospel. On ihe same principle on which it becomes an individual to ob- • Vide Part 11. chap. II. sect. x. § 4. 8 INTRODUCTION. serve and record the dispensations of God to him, in grace and pro- vidence, and to mark the changes in his own character and condi- tion, it must be the duty of a particular church, to remember and to celebrate, with adoring gratitude, the wonders of Divine mercy and power, displayed in its erection and preservation, and in main- taining, extending, and perpetuating the Gospel, by its instrumen- tality ; and to deplore, not only existing defections and corruptiong, but those also the sad influence of which may still be deeply felt, though they themselves have passed away, — more especially if they be intimately connected with the existence, the constitution, and the duties of that church. It would be unwise, and indeed impracticable, to introduce into such a Memorial all the events, prosperous and adverse, which have occurred in its history, or all the proceedings, excellent and sinful, by which itself, and other societies around it, hcive been cha- racterized. God himself, in the records which he has given us of his own administration, and of the life of his Son in our world, has proceeded on the principle of selection. The Apostle John con- cludes his Gospel in these words, — " There are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written." The omission of these " many other things," cannot be understood as insinuating any disapprobation or censure. God, in his infinite wisdom, did not judge the knowledge of them to be necessary for the edification of his church, in the pre- sent state, and therefore suppressed them. On the same principle, both the individual and the church must proceed, in rehearsing the mighty acts of the Lord, and in recording with approbation or re- gret, their own past transactions ; and a wise consideration of all circumstances, in connexion with the chief ends to be promoted, must guide them in the selection. Such a record is calculated to serve many important purposes. It ascribes to God the glory due to his name for his great goodness; perpetuates the remembrance of his mighty works ; is profitable for instruction, warning, and excitement ; unites us with the excellent men in former times, who knew their God, and were valiant for the truth ; and encourages and directs succeeding generations to " go forth by the footsteps of the flock." With these views, but not unmindful of our ^T^tTettfmonv!""^ relations to every branch of the universal church — relations which we willingly recog- nise, and would affectionately cultivate, as we have opportunity — INTRODUCTION. 9 we proceed to give some account of the principles and objects of the Church of the Secession, and of the spirit with which she has endeavoured to support the former, and to secure the latter. Indeed, as the Secession originated in no factious views, and was made, not for private and party purposes, but on great public grounds, and for objects which deeply involve the glory of Christ and the best interests of his kingdom in our country ; so the Fa- thers of the Secession did not decline to give publicity to their rea- sons for adopting that measure, — a measure, the importance of which they deeply felt, to which they resorted with great reluctance, and which, when contemplated in connexion with the whole spirit and manner of their proceedings, in their new and trying situation, displayed no small degree of faith and wisdom, of public spirit and self-denial. Nor have their successors hesitated to exhibit to the public eye, the means which they have employed to maintain and extend that good cause, and to secure its great designs. They have also, on different occasions, displayed and vindicated the principles and ends of the Secession, and have endeavoured so to conduct their judicial procedure, and their ordinary administrations, as to maintain their constitution in its purity, and to promote its practical spirit and be- nefits. The Union which, through the blessing of God, has been lately eflPected between the Associate and the General Associate Synods, Avhose fellowship embraced the great majority of Scceders from the National Church, forms an important and auspicious era in their history. This interesting event supplied them with a fit occasion of exhibiting a somewhat detailed view of their principles, and of the origin and progress of their Association, by which they might, in their united state, give their testimony in behalf of the doctrine, worship, government, and discipline, of the Reformed Church of Scotland. Impressed with this conviction, the United Synod — agreeably to a Resolution adopted by both Synods, in consequence of a recommendation from the United Committee, to " prepare, as soon as possible, a more detailed view of the Articles which form the Basis of Union, as the Testimony of the United Church ; con- taining the substance of the Judicial Act and Testimony, the Act concerning the Doctrine of Grace, and the Answers to Nairn's Reasons of Dissent"" — lost no time in carrying that resolution into effect. From no hostility to the original principles of the Church of Scotland, has this measure proceeded. Her subordinate stand- ards the Church of the Secession cordially approves. To them she 10 INTRODUCTION. practically adheres. They are the living rule of her administra- tions. To preserve them in purity, and to extend their reception and use, under the conviction that, on the whole, they contain a lu- minous and faithful exhibition of the mind of Christ, ranks high among the objects of the Secession. Accordingly, our profession, it has been justly said, " is neither more nor less than a practical adherence to the explanatory standards of the Church of Scotland, as a proper groundwork for progressive reformation ;'"* for it is the duty of the church, as well as of the christian, " to go on to per- fection."" We deplore the corruptions in administration, for testifying against which our fathers were cast out of that church, and which, as they still exist, and are " in some respects increased," render con- tinuance in a state of secession an imperative duty. I'o these cor- ruptions we must distinctly advert ; nor, however painful the task is, ought we to shrink from affixing to them the condemnation which they merit. This is a duty which we owe to Jesus Christ, for it is by maintaining his gospel and ordinances in purity, that his name and salvation are declared and perpetuated ; — to the best interests of men, for thus we shall warn them against errors and evils, which are injurious to their precious souls ; — to the National Church herself, as a means of exciting her " to remember whence she has fallen, and to repent and do the first works;"— and to our own character and influence as a church, for we shall thus vindicate our secession, and promote one of its leading objects. Most willingly do we admit, that there are not a few within the Church of Scotland, who lament some of the evils against which we testify, who preach the Gospel in purity, and who venerate and love our common standards. While, for the reasons which justify our own secession, we cannot but disapprove of their remaining in that church, yet our heart's desire is, that what efforts they make for re- forming their church, which, from their circumstances, must be li- mited, may be crowned with success, and that the principles and spirit of its excellent profession may speedily acquire a decided and continually increasing ascendancy in its courts and administrations : then we might hope, that the evils which produced the Secession would be removed, and that this great breach also would be healed. As the Secession adheres to the explanatory standards of the Church of Scotland, it is necessary to take a brief retrospect of the rise and progress of the Reformation in this country. We shall thus perceive the high attainments which that church had reached amidst much opposition and many troubles, and be better qualified OF THE FIRST REFOKMATION. 11 to form a just estimate of those evils, the prevalence of which, in opposition to all means employed to prevent or correct them, occa- sioned our secession. Thus also, we shall call to remembrance the great things which God wrought for our reforming ancestors, and by them, and which we ought to commemorate with fervent gra- titude, more especially, as we enjoy to this day their invaluable re- sults ; and we shall perceive much, that may animate, and warn, and humble, and excite us, as a church that has entered into their la- bours, and is under high obligations to maintain and promote the cause of evangelical truth, w^orship, and order, which they rescued from antichristian error and superstition. CHAPTER I. OF THE FIRST REFORMATION. Perhaps, amidst all the folly, supersti- Rise and Progress of the tion, and crime, which have abounded in the S'"'''^'°" '" ^'''^' world, the power of human depravity, and the craft and malignity of Satan, have been manifested in nothing to so great an extent, as in the gradual introduction, under the mask of Christianity, of the system of error, idolatry, and intole- rance, which Popery exhibits, and which has been tlie source of the most destructive evils, both to the temporal and spiritual interests of men. — After several abortive attempts, it was at length success- fully assailed in Germany and in Switzerland, by the preaching of the pure gospel of Jesus Christ. The Bible, which had been with- held from the people, was translated, and appealed to, as the only rule of faith and practice. The clear exhibition of the single doc- trine, " that we are justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law," subverted one of the main pillars of the Anti- christian fabric, and approved itself to the consciences of those who received it, by the solid peace which it imparted, and by disposing them to cultivate purity of heart and life. — Some of our country- men, who had been abroad, became acquainted with the new doc- trines, and cordially embraced them. They returned, eager to dif- fuse at home the light which had shined into their own souls. In no country was Popery more deeply and extensively rooted, or its debasing and deadly influence more strongly felt, than in our own. Its adherents, especially those of the ecclesiastical orders, who had engrossed the power and wealth of the kingdom, w ere alarmed and 12 OF THE FIRST REFORMATION. recurred to their usual weapons to suppress the truth. But, not- withstanding the sanguinary measures to which they resorted, and the whole influence of the court, " the word of God grew and mul- tiplied," and was embraced and professed by persons of all ranks. After many a painful struggle, the Reformation acquired a de- cided ascendancy. The heads of the Protestant faith, luminously and briefly stated, in direct opposition to the errors and corruptions of the Church of Rome, were submitted to the estates in Parlia- ment, in a paper, designated, " The Confession of the Faith and Doctrines believed and professed by the Protestants in Scotland ;" which confession, the Estates approved and authorised (1560). They, at the same time, decreed the abolition of the Pope"'s autho- rity within the realm, annulled all statutes made in preceding times for the maintenance of antichristian idolatry, and, eithei- from im- perfect views of the rights of conscience, and of the grounds and extent of the obligation on Christian states of several of the laws which were given to ancient Israel, or impelled by a dread of fatal consequences, if Popish worship should be tolerated at all, they pro- hibited the celebration of mass under the severest penalties *. In a few months, the first General Assembly of the Church of Scotland met. They formally received and adopted the Confes- sion which the Estates had authorised ; devised wise methods for supplying the people with the dispensation of Divine ordinances, for, though the harvest was great, the labourers were few ; and, anxious that their mode of worship and church order should pos- sess scriptural simplicity, they appointed, with this view, some of their number to draw up a scheme of principles and i-egulations. The result of their labours was. The First Book of Discipline, the provisions of which display a very enlightened and noble zeal, especially for securing a pure and faitliful ministry, and for diff'us- ino- knowledge, and promoting piety and virtue, throughout the land. But it was no easy task for the church to preserve what she iuui acquired, and to supply the defects, and cure the evils, which still existed. In many ways the reforming spirit was obstructed and opposed ; more particularly, attempts were made, by various means, to subvert the Presbyterial government and discipline, which, to a certain extent, had been established, and to introduce Episcopacy (1577-80). These attempts, however, were not only unsuccessful, but proved the occasion of exciting the Assembly to direct its at- " These Acts were renewed and confirmed by the Parliament which met ISG?. OF THE FIRST REFORMATION. 13 tention more closely to this subject. The consequences were, the total condemnation of the office of the Diocesan bishop, and its ex- pulsion from the Church of Scotland ; and the reception and sanc- tion of the Second Book of Discipline, which contains a more com- plete Directory than the First did, for the government of the church *. From various causes, which it is unnecessary to specify, strong- apprehensions were justly entertained about this time, that a Po- pish faction, encouraged by the hope of foreign aid, would employ their utmost efforts to restore the antichristian superstition. As a means of defeating their purpose, of uniting the friends of the Pro- testant faith, and of Presbyterial oixler, and of inspiring them with courage and mutual confidence, the king appointed one of the mi- nisters to draw up a brief Confession of Faith, commonly called the National Covenant. It contained an explicit abjuration of the leading errors and corruptions of Popery, and solemn engagements, confirmed by oath, " to continue in the obedience of the doctrine and disciphne" of the Church of Scotland, and to " defend the same according to their vocation and power, all the days of their lives."'"' This Confession the king and his household swore and sub- scribed ; and soon after, a proclamation was issued, enjoining sub- jects of every rank to swear and subscribe it also-f*. The General Assembly, at their first meeting, approved this Confession ; and, at the next, required " all Ministers and Pastors within their bounds, to execute the tenor of his Majesty"'s proclamation, with all expe- dient and possible diligence +."''' But scarcely had this important measure been taken, when the privileges and liberties of tlie church were again invaded, and se- veral of her most useful and faithful ministers, who opposed these tyrannical proceedings, were subjected to severe persecutions at home, or driven into exile (1584-88.) The hopes of such as were devoted to the popish interest revived, and new plots were formed to accomplish their destructive designs. In these trying circum- stances, the General Assembly judged that the renovation of the National Covenant was highly expedient. A bond was annexed to it, for maintaining the true religion, and the king's authority, in a suitableness to present circumstances. Accordingly, on the Assem- bly''s supplication, the king, with the concurrence of his council, is- * The Second Book of Discipline was registered in the Assembly 1581. t King's Charge, 2d March 1580. t Act of Assembly, October 1581. Sess. 1. 14 OF THE FIRST REFORMATION. sued commissions to administer the Covenant and Bond. They were sworn and subscribed (1590) by many, with great cheerful- ness ; and, soon after, the church received the legal ratification of the Order which the Assembly had adopted, as detailed in the ^^- cond Book of Discipline, the confirmation of all former laws which had been enacted in her favour, and a repeal of several statutes which had been injurious to her liberties (1592.) At this time, the Church of Scotland was eminently distinguished for her inte- grity, purity, and holy zeah The ministry devoted themselves with much diligence to the great ends of their high calling. They were " instant in season, and out of season," in preaching the word; and they administered discipline with exemplary faithfulness and impartiality. They were especially diligent to promote the know- ledge, and to XTiaintain the purity, of their own order ; well aware that nothing can be so injurious to the interests of religion, as a careless, ignorant and immoral ministry. In this spirit, the As- sembly, anxious to correct every disorder, and to promote pure and undefiled religion, exhibited the edifying example of meeting for the sole purpose of humbling themselves before the Lord, of re- turning to him by faith in his Son, and of recognising their obliga- tions, and renewing their engagements, to walk before him in the vigorous and faithful discharge of all their duties (1596). The example was soon followed by Synods and Presbyteries, and many congregations : and it pleased the Lord to vouchsafe signal evi- dences of his gracious presence, by which he bare testimony to the word of his grace, and established and gladdened the hearts of his people. Character of the First We ought not to review this period of e orma ion. ^^^^ church's history, without fervent gra- titude to God, and high admiration of the chai-acter of our re- forming ancestors. Enlightened and strengthened by him, they displayed sound and extensive views of evangelical truth, and of its practical relations and purposes; and were eminent among the Reformed Churches, for the Scriptural simplicity of worship and discipline which they established ; — for the wise methods which they adopted to diffuse knowledge, piety and good morals, among a people who had been trained up in ignorance and vice ; — for the steadiness, amidst all vicissitudes, with which they maintained and prosecuted the Reformation ; — and for the intrepidity with which thev opposed the various efforts which were almost unceasingly made to abridge and destroy " that liberty wherewith Christ hath OF THE FIRST REFORMATION. 15 made us tree."'"' To these important objects, the Bonds, into which many of the Reformers entered, toward the commencement, and in the earlier progress of their great struggle, and the National Con- fession and Covenant, which afterwards was so generally sworn and subscribed, and, in seasons of peril, renewed, — were eminently con- ducive. As they were assailed by those who were resolutely hos- tile both to their civil and religious principles, the measure of unit- ing together for the support of the common cause, and of solemnly pledging themselves to God and to each other, to " stand fast, with one heart and with one mind,"" in maintaining and promoting it, was not less accordant with the la^v of nature and the dictates of wisdom, than adapted to their circumstances. It must excite re- gret, however, that though they nobly asserted the sole Headship of Christ over his Church, they placed so much dependence on the exertion of the civil powers for supporting their religious profes- sion. Not satisfied with procuring the repeal of laws which esta- blished iniquity, and empowered the adherents of Romish super- stition to persecute all who embraced Protestant principles ; nor, with obtaining security for the unmolested profession and exercise of the Reformed faith, worship, and discipline; they would permit no other faith to be professed, and would have that civil authority, which formerly had exclusively enforced submission to Papal usur- pation, to impose the new creed, and to punish as a crime the avow- al of other religious principles, and the observance of other modes of worship. The trying circumstances in which they were placed, from the spirit and efforts of the enemies of their religion and li- berties, may furnish an apology for them, but not a vindication of their measures ; and the consequences were really injurious to the interests of true religion. Many, especially among the higher or- ders, influenced by political considerations, assumed the profession of the Reformed faith, though in fact hostile to it ; and only waited for a fit opportunity, which in those unsettled times frequently oc- curred, to display that hostility. It is to be lamented also, that various acknowledged ecclesiastical evils were retained, because the civil power would not consent to their removal. The case of Pa- tronage affords a striking example. In the twelfth chapter of the Second Booh of Discipline, entitled, " Certain special heads of Re- formation which we crave,'"" the Assembly express their judgment concerning patronage in the following decided language : — " The liberty of the elections of persons called to the ecclesiastical func- tions, and observed without interruption so long as the Kirk was not corrupted by Antichrist, wc desiic to be restored and retained 16 or THE SECOND REFOIIMATION. Avithin this realm," &:c. Yet, inasmuch as the King and other lay Patrons were unwilling to resign this corrupt source of influ- ence, the Assembly submitted to the continuance of this great evil, as somewhat modified in that act of Parliament which has been de- nominated " The Charter of the liberties of the Church of Scot- land," and which ordained (1592) " all presentations to benefices to be direct to the particular Presbyteries in all time cumming, with full power to give collation thereupon ; providing the foresaid Presbyteries to be bound and astricted to receive and admit quhat- sumever qualified minister presented be his Majesty or laick pa- trons." CHAPTER II. OF THE SECOND REFORMATION. Attempts to introduce NOTWITHSTANDING the legal securities to the Second Refor- which the Church of Scotland had obtained mation. for her worship and discipline, strenuous at- tempts were systematically made by the Court, especially after the accession of James to the English throne, to introduce Episcopal government, and the mode of worship which had been established in England. And these attempts succeeded to a certain extent, though not without encountering a spirited op- position. By Assemblies convened, and acting under the influence of the Court, the office and power of Bishops were formally recog- nised. Synods and Presbyteries were virtually transformed into Bi- shops' Courts, in which they or their Suffj-agans should constantly preside ; and, kneeling at the sacrament of the Supper, the cele- bration of five anniversary holidays, private baptism, the private administration of the Lord's Supper, and confirmation after the manner of the Church of England, (connnonly called the Five Ar- ticles of Perth), were enjoined (1618). In that church, there were not a few who lamented that she re- tained and imposed so many observances, for which human autho- rity alone could be pleaded, and who were solicitous that her wor- ship and government should possess a more scriptural character. Conformity, however, to the existing ritual was rigidly enforced, and the Puritans were subjected to the most vexatious persecu- tions. Now also, the holy evangelical doctrines which the first OF THE SECOND IlEFORMATION. 17 Reformers so clearly and faithfully preached, and which occupy so conspicuous a place in all their Confessions, were discountenanced, by those at least who enjoyed the greatest share of Court favour, and possessed the most extensive influence; and the tenets of free will and of human merit were, in many instances, substituted in their room. As the Bishops, who had been introduced into the Scottish Church, depended on royal patronage, and on the success of the designs of the Court to establish Episcopacy, they could scarcely fail to give their zealous support to every measure which would advance that object, and please their superioi*s. They supported Arminian doctrine, countenanced the profanation of the Sabbath, which had been encouraged by royal proclamation in England, and exerted the extraordinary and arbitrary powers which were vested in them, by rigorously enforcing conformity to the established reli- gion, in consequence of which, not a few were subjected to severe privations and sufferings. Yet amidst these evils, the labours and example of several faithful ministers, who, unintimidated by the dangers to which they were exposed, dispensed the ordinances of religion, and testified against the widely spreading defections, were eminently blessed by God to many souls. On some occasions, he was pleased to give abundant testimony to their faithful ministra- tions, by rich effusions of the influences of the Spirit *. The re- sult was, that not only private meetings for prayer became frequent, but the friends of reformation, who had no small reason to dread that persevei-ance in present measures would issue in the extinction at once of their freedom and their religion, having corresponded together on the subject, agreed to devote a particular day every three months (1634) to fasting and prayer. This was a token for good ; for the Lord " will regard the prayer of the destitute." The violent measures of the Court led to their own defeat ; for the imposition, by royal authority (1636), of the Book of Canons and of the Liturgy, excited a general and animated opposition. The latter being substantially the same with the English Book of Common Prayer, but in some things approaching nearer to the Romish ritual, was designed to change the whole form of worship ; and ihe former, to abolish whatever remained of the government and discipline of the Church of Scotland. The Canons required * In the West of Scotland, 1625, and at the Kirk of Shotts, 1630. During the troubles of this period, several ministers fled to Ireland, whose labours there were crowned with much success. 18 OF THE SECOND REFORMATION. the acknowledgment of the King''s supremacy in all ecclesiastical causes, under the pain of excommunication ; and not only enjoined a variety of oppressive and superstitious observances, but denoun- ced the same censure against all who should affirm that the wor- ship prescribed in the Book of Common Prayer, and Administra- tion of the Sacraments, or, that the government of the church by Archbishops, Bishops, &c. was in any thing repugnant to the Avord of God. Numerous petitions were presented, craving Second Reformation, that the Mandate to submit to the Canons and the Liturgy, on the pain of rebellion, might be recalled or suspended, and that the unscriptural innovations, so intolerantly imposed, might be withdrawn ; but they were pre- sented in vain, and meetings to petition were declared to be con- spiracies against the public peace, and were prohibited, also, under the pain of rebellion. The leading friends of the constitution and liberties of the Church of Scotland, having entered a solemn Pro- test against this Proclamation, resolved (1638) to renew the Na- tional Covenant, and to append to it a Bond, suited to their pre- sent circumstances, as an excellent means of uniting all ranks in the common cause, and of exciting them to use their utmost efforts for procuring the removal of illegal and oppressive impositions, and for obtaining the restoration of their privileges. This measure was adopted, and the result justified the expectations which had been entertained. Yielding at length to the urgent supplica- ""S^l cTenant''" ^ions of the Covenanters, the King « gave war- rant to indict a free General Assembly to be holden at Glasgow." The Assembly met (1G38), and though the King's Commissioner declared the meeting to be dissolved, and left it, they continued to sit, — pronounced Episcopacy to be unscriptural — brought the Bishops to trial, many of whom were accused of gross errors and immoralities, and censured them according to the de- merit of the offences which were found proved against them — re- pealed the unconstitutional acts which various Assemblies, irregu- larly called, had passed — condemned the Liturgy, the Book of Canons, the High Commission Courts, and the Arminian errors which had lately so much prevailed — restored the Presbyterial form of government — prohibited the intrusion of ministers on reclaiming congregations — and asserted the intrinsic power of the Church to call her own assemblies. By a Parliament which subsequently OF THE SECOND REFORMATION. J 9 met, the various acts which had infringed the hberties of the Church, and changed her worship and order, Avere repealed ; and those which secured her constitution and rights were renewed and confirmed. In England, many were anxious to procure " a more perfect Re- formation than had yet been attained, especially in the liturgy, dis- ciphne, and government of the church." To obtain this object, " the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament, issued an or- dinance for the calling an Assembly of godly and learned Divines to consult and advise of such matters and things, respecting the state of the church, as might be proposed to them." By this Par- liament and Assembly, Commissioners were sent to Scotland to in- form the Convention of Estates and the General Assembly, that their brethren in England were disposed to pi'omote an ecclesiastical as well as a civil Reformation, and to request the assistance of some of the ministers of the Church of Scotland in that work. This intelligence was received with great joy, and both parties were ardently desirous that the Solemn League. friends of reformation in the three kingdoms should be intimately united in a common Bond for securing their privileges, and promoting uniformity in religion. With these views, the Solemn League and Covenant* was framed (1643.) Having been approved by the General Assembly and the Con- vention of Estates in Scotland, and by both Houses of Parliament, and the Assembly of Divines in England, it was sworn and sub- scribed by them. In Scotland, the Commission of the General Assembly enjoined every minister " to read and explain it to the people on the first Lord's day after it should come to hand, and to prepai-e the people, by exhortation, solemnly to swear and subscribe it the next Lord's day immediately after ; and ordained, that Pres- byteries shall proceed with the censures of the Kirk against all such as shall refuse, or shift, to swear and subscribe this league and covenant, as enemies of the preservation and propagation of reli- gion."" Nor were the Commissioners of the Convention of Estates less zealous. The principles of religious liberty not being well un- derstood, they required all his Majesty's subjects to swear and sub- scribe, " under pain, to such as should postpone or refuse, of beino- esteemed and punished as enemies to religion, his Majesty's honour. * See Confession of Faith, with which the Solemn I,eague and Covenant is printed. 20 OF THE SECOND REFORMATION. and the peace of thir kingdoms ; and to have their goods and rents confiscate for the use of tlie pubhc."'' It was sworn and subscribed by persons of all ranks. In pursuance of the ends of this Covenant, the ^Atsembf^^^ General Assembly sent eight of their members to assist in the deliberations of the Assembly of Di- vines met at Westminster *. The Confession of Faith, the Larger and Shorter Catechisms, the Directory for the Public Worship of God, and the Form of Presbyterial Church-Government, were the fruits of their joint labours. These excellent documents were drawn up, in order to exhibit those views of doctrine, worship, church-government, and discipline, which, in the judgment of the Westminster Assembly, the Church of Christ, in the three king- doms, ought to adopt, and according to which they ought to re- gulate their ministrations — that they might thus be brought " to the nearest conjunction and uniformity in religion." With this design, they were presented to the several authorities, civil and ecclesiastical, that they might consider them, and, if they approved, might enact them as common standards of religious uniformity in the three kingdoms, according to the engagements entered into in the Solemn League. By the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, they were all received, though with certain limitations expressed in the Acts, as agreeable to the word of God, and parts of that uniformity (1645). The Assembly likewise enacted a Di- rectory for Secret and Private Worship ; and at length (1649) pro- cured the total abolition of Patronage, which had long before been denounced as " a Popish custom, brought into the Kirk in times of ignorance and superstition, and prejudicial to the liberty of the people, and the free calling and entry of Ministers into their charge." The character and results of the ecclesias- Character of the Second tJcal transactions of this memorable time, and Reformation, and of , . -, ■ ■ n i i , • r, the Formularies then the Views and spirit ot those who chiefly con- received, to which the ducted them, have excited much discussion. Church ot the Seces- sion still adheres. From causes which it would not be difficult to specify, many have not only lightly es- teemed the great objects which the Covenanters struggled to attain, but have attributed to them low and unworthy motives, have stig- • See their Commission — which shews what Avas then understood to be a ful- filment of the religious part of the League and Covenant. OF THE SECOND REFORMATION. 21 matized the measures which they adopted, and loaded their charac- ter with reproach : and it is but lately that it has become less vin- fashionable to vindicate their principles, and to assert their claims to the approbation and gratitude of posterity. This |)eriod has been always denominated, by the genuine friends of the doctrine and order of the Scottish Church, The Period of the Second Refor- mation. The united and constitutional opposition which our covenanting ancestors maintained, at no small risk, against the tyrannical at- tempts which were systematically made to enforce the profession of sentiments, and the observance of rights, unauthorised by the Word of God, disapproved by their own consciences, and inconsistent with the sacred obligations which they had recognised ; and their wise and ardent solicitude to regulate the profession and the admi- nistration of the Church, by the Scriptures alone, merit the highest praise. They expelled many evils which already existed, pre- vented the introduction of others still more oppressive, and, by their prudent and persevering efforts, and their devotedness to the public cause, they arrived at a high degree of purity. The me- thodised Summaries of religious principles, which were composed and enacted during this period, exhibit a luminous and connected view of the doctrines which are taught in the Holy Oracles ; and that our fathers were enabled, in times so troublous, and amidst a host of conflicting opinions, to display the system of revealed truth, purified to so great an extent from the doctrines and command- ments of men, ought to excite our fervent gratitude to God. In these public Formularies, we have the leading result of the " con- federation and vows to God, into which they entered for their mu- tual excitement and encouragement." The Covenants contain and display more briefly, and the Formularies more fully, the Refor- mation which our Covenanting ancestors effected, when they re- nounced the errors and corruptions of the Great Antichristian Apostasy, and which consisted in the return of the Church to ge- nuine Christianity. These Formularies contain the profession of faith and duty, which we, as a church, have embraced. And this profession we hold fast; from a conviction, that the principles which it exhibits are founded on the Word of God, and that He enjoins us gratefully to receive, and faithfully to convey to posterity, the truth, the purity of worship, and of church order, and the advantages of every kind, which, under the Divine blessing, have been transmitted to us from our reforming ancestors, by the holy vigilance of the 22 OF THE SECOND REFORMATION. faithful in the intervening generations. We thus recognize our re- lation to the Reformed and Covenanting Church of Scotland, as her genuine children, who hold the same faith, and pursue the same great ends ; and accordingly acknowledge, " that we are under high obligations to maintain and prosecute the w^ork of Reforma- tion," which she began, and carried on to a great extent. This re- lation, however, is only of secondary importance. Unquestionably our first care should be, to ascertain the accordance of the principles of reformation with the word of God. Tliat they were avowed and maintained by the church in her covenants and confessions, in a pre- ceding period, and have been transmitted to us, adds nothing to their authority, though it adds to our obligation : And if a church can evince that her profession is " built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner- stone,"" it must be of less moment to ascertain her relation to a par- ticular church in a former age, or the identity of her creed with that which was then embraced. The Reformation itself was the result of the application of this great principle. If the pious and powerful minds which achieved the Reformation had not kept this principle continually in view, and acted upon it, the church would have derived but little benefit from their labours, nor would future generations have had much cause to honour their spirit, and to venerate their memory. It is not by representing the state of j)urity at which they arrived as the highest which can be attained, or the bringing of the Church of Scotland back to that state, as the main and ultimate end of our ecclesiastical existence and efforts ; nor is it by pleading their au- thority, as sufficient evidence of the truth of a doctrine, or of the propriety of an observance ; nor by an acquiescence in their attain- ments, without earnest endeavours to make progress, — that we best honour their character and their cause. If, while we retain their scrip- tural acquisitions, we would truly imitate their virtues, and exem- plify their spirit, we must labour to accjuire a more intimate and ex- tensive knowledge of the word of Christ, and to advance our con- formity, in profession, administration, and conduct, to that perfect standard ; that thus " speaking the truth in love, we may grow up in all things to him who is the Head."'"' In reviewing this period, it is necessary to distinguish, as we have already hinted, between the Reformation itself, and the means which were employed to promote and secure it. Of these, many were dictated by sound wisdom, and admirably adapted to meet and subdue the opposition with which the Reformers had to con- OF THE SECOND HE FORMATION. 23 tend. Yet we must lament, that the spiritual concerns of the king- dom of our Lord Jesus Christ were too much blended with the political transactions of this eventful period, and that our ancestors manifested too much of a spirit of dependence on the civil power, for its sanction of all their ecclesiastical measures for reformation, and of the whole of their religious profession : and, in so far as they employed civil force for imposing their religious system, ex- cellent as it was ; or subjected to civil penalties, for worshipping- God according to their consciences, any whose principles or actions were not plainly injurious to the peace and order of civil society, we must disapprove of their conduct, as inconsistent with the spirit of Christianity. CHAPTER III. OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH, FROM THE SECOND REFOR- MATION TILL THE RISE OF THE SECESSION. One of the many evils which I'esult from a .J. . n J 1 .1 • -I • Apostasy from the Se- umformity eniorced by the civil power, is, cond Retbrmatioa, that multitudes, impelled, not by conviction and Persecution of , , , ,, ., . •^,,, the Presbyterians. but by worldly considerations, readily assume the prescribed profession, and give all the securities for their sted- fastness which are required. The consequence is, on a change of circumstances, they are prepared, not only to relinquish, without a struggle, the profession which they had made, and perhaps sworn to maintain, but to receive and support a different or an opposite creed. It is a painful and humiliating fact, that — not many years after the National Covenant and the Solemn League and Covenant had been approved and ratified by the constituted authorities, and had been sworn and subscribed by persons of all ranks, and the princi- ples of the Reformation, as exhibited in the Formularies drawn up by the Westminster Assembly, had been received and confirmed by the same authorities in this country, and established as standards of the projected uniformity, — the Parliament of Scotland (many of whose members had been Covenanters), obsequious to the will of a profligate Prince, who himself also had subscribed those cove- nants, abolished Presbytery, restored Prelacy with its attendant corruptions, declared the King to be supreme in all ecclesiastical causes ; and empowered hitn to frame the order and polity of the 24 FROM THE SECOND UEFOllJMATION church, according to his own will. The whole series of proceed- ings, both in church and state, for promoting and securing the Re- formation, from 1638 to 1650, was condemned as a course of sedi- tion ; the Covenants were denounced as unlawful Bonds, and the Solemn League and Covenant ordered to be burnt by the hands of the common executioner : various sinful oaths were imposed as tests of loyalty ; and a cruel persecution was begun, and zealously car- ried on;, against all who would not renounce their religious profes- sion, and submit to the new order of things. Though many, like the children of Israel in the days of Jeroboam, " walked willingly after the commandment" of the King, and apostatized from their profession, yet no inconsiderable number refused compliance. Not a few * in the holy ministry were thrust out from their charges for their non-conformity, and subjected to severe privations ; but they resolved to fulfil their ministry, as they might have opportunity, to whatever sufferings their faithfulness to Christ, and their love to souls, might expose them. Their labours were eminently blessed for encouraging and establishing the faithful friends of the Re- formed religion. But to attend their meetings (now stigmatized as Conventicles) for the worship of the God of their fathers, was first prohibited under various civil pains, and afterwards declared to be treasonable ; and these sanguinary laws were executed with a savage barbarity. Many were reduced to indigence by the most vexatious prosecutions ; some were driven into exile ; others " were tortured, not accepting deliverance ;"" and not a few perished on the scaffold, and in the high places of the field. Rarely, indeed, if ever, had even the arbitrary and cruel intolerance of Popery exceeded the tyrannical and barbarous m.easures to which the Protestant govern- ment of Britain resorted, during this period, to suppress the Pres- byterian worship and order in Scotland. But the Lord had pity for his name's sake. He saw the affliction, and heard the cry of his people, and came down to dehver them. By the memorable Revolution, he broke in pieces the rod of the oppressor, and wrought a signal re- demption for our church and nation. The Parliament having met, " ratified and volution to the Scot- established the Confession of Faith which had tish Church. ^ggn read in their presence, and voted and ap- proven by them, as the public and avowed Confession of this Church." It abolished Prelacy, as a great and insupportable • Nearly 400 — Wodrow. TILL THE RISE OF THE SECESSION. 25 grievance to this nation, substituted a simple oath of allegiance, in room of the various sinful and ensnaring oaths which the late Go- vernment had imposed, and, with an exception as to patronage, which was reserved for future consideration, confirmed the Presby- terial form of Chui'ch Government, as it had been established by Act of Parliament (1592), according to the Second Book of Dis- cipline. At a subsequent Session, the Parliament reinstated the ministers " who had been thrust from their churches since the 1st day of January 1661." And as to the appointment of ministers in time to come, they enacted, that " the heritors of the parish (being Protestants), and the Elders, are to name and propose the person to the whole congregation, to be either approven or disapproven by them ; and if they disapprove, that the disapprovers give in their reasons, to the effect the affair may be cognosced upon lay the Pres- bytery of the bounds, at whose judgment, and by whose determi- nation, the calling and entry of a particular minister is to be or- dered and concluded." Whether the right of the civil magistrate to sanction Confessions of Faith, and forms of religious worship and church government, be admitted or denied, the friends of the Reformation must regret, that this Parliament did not repeal those iniquitous acts which con- demned the National Covenant and Solemn League as in them- selves imlawful oaths ; which annulled all acts and constitutions, ecclesiastical and civil, approving of these covenants ; which stigma- tized the General Assembly that met at Glasgow, 1638, as an un- lawful and seditious assembly ; and pronounced all its proceedings, and all civil ratifications of them, void and null ; and that, instead of modifying the law of Patronage, it did not restore the Act of 1649, by which this evil was utterly abolished. The General Assembly did not meet till it was convened by the Parliament, and when it did meet, it did not adopt the measures which it might and should have adopted, for vindicating the Re- formation, and those who had suffered in supporting it, from the unjust and gross reproaches with which they had been loaded. And, notwithstanding the impious attempts which had been so lately made, with the most intolerant zeal, to transfer the rights and authority of the Son of God to the King's Majesty, by enact- ing his Ecclesiastical Supremacy, and requiring unlimited subjec- tion to it ; yet the Assembly did not assert, by an express deed, the sole Headship of Christ over his Church, nor practically main- tain her intrinsic power to meet and judge about her own con- 26 FROM THE SECOND REFORMATION cerns *. It is especially to be lamented, that many, who had not only conformed to Episcopacy, but had actively concurred with the ruling powers in persecuting faithful Presbyterians, were ad- mitted to a seat in the Assembly, while no judicial cognizance was taken of their former very sinful and offensive conduct, and no due means were employed for securing their future co-operation in the work of the Lord, with those who had contended earnestly for the faith. The candid, however, will admit, that they were placed in a si- tuation full of difficulties. Having been delivered, by the Revolu- tion, from a spiritual tyranny the most cruel and unrelenting ; and having acquired the legal ratification of that confession and church order, for which they had contended, many of the Presbyterians naturally concluded, especially while public affairs were yet in a somewhat unsettled state, and their enemies, though subdued in the mean time, were still numerous, and neither v>ilhout influence, nor without the hope of soon recovering all that they had lost, that it might hazard the substantial benefits which they had just begun to enjoy, if they should adopt more decisive measures, either for vindicating the character of the Covenanters, and recovering their attainments during the reforming period, or for condemning the very criminal apostasies which had followed. When a paper by three ministers was presented, enumerating a series of defections, which they thought it became the Assembly to confess and mourn over, and pointing out what appeared to tliem to be duty in pre- sent circumstances, that Court, influenced most probably by these views, condemned it, as containing " unseasonable and impractica- ble proposals, uncharitable and injurious reflections," and subjected those who presented it to an admonition. But though the critical circumstances in which the Assembly was placed, for some years after the Revolution, required much caution and delicacy in their management, yet we are convinced, that, if they had exercised more faithfulness, particularly in their admis- sions to sacred offices and to fellowship, after the season of great defection which preceded the Revolution, the Church of Scotland would not have degenerated so soon, and so rapidly. It is well known, that the Court was most anxious for the introduction, into the Presbyterian Church, of the whole body of the Pivlatical in- cumbents, few of whom had ever devoted themselves to the duties See Meraob's of the Public Life of Mr James Hogg_ TILL THE RISE OF THE SECESSION. 27 of their office. " They were," says one *, who had opportunity to know them well, and who, himself being one of their own order, would not be disposed to exaggerate, " the worst preachers I ever " heard ; they were ignorant to a reproach, and many of them " were openly vicious. Those of them who arose above contempt " or scandal, were men of such violent tempers, that they were as " much hated as the others were despised. This was the fatal be- " ginning of restoring Episcopacy in Scotland." Nor do they seem to have improved in spirit and character ; for, at a later period, the same author thus describes them : " By this means (the exac- " tions and cruelties of a brutal soldiery upon those who would not " go to church) all people were struck with such a terror, that they " came regularly to church : and the Clergy were so delighted with " it, that they used to speak of that time, as the poets do of the " golden age. They never interceded for any compassion to their " people ; nor did they take care to live more regularly, or to la- " hour more carefully. They looked on the soldiery as their pa- " trons ; they were ever in their company, complying with them in " their excesses ; and, if they were not much wronged, they rather *' led them into them, than checked them for them f ." And only two years before the Revolution, he says: " The Scottish Nation, '' which was become very corrupt, and both ignorant and insen- " sible in the matters of religion, bi?gan now to return to its old " zeal against Popery. The Episcopal Clergy were in many places " so sunk into sloth and ignorance, that they were not capable of " conducting this zeal. Some of them about Edinburgh, and in " divers other places, began to mind those matters, and recovered " some degrees of credit, by the opposition they made to Popery. " But the Presbyterians, though they were now freed from the " great severities the}' had long smarted under, yet expressed, on " all occasions, their unconquerable aversion to the Romish reli- " gion j."" If many who had filled the sacred office in the Epis- copal establishment were so unwordiy, it was the duty of the Scot- tish Church, as she valued the purity and the usefulness of her mi- nistry, to institute such inquiries, and to fix such terms of admis- sion, as would exhibit an cxjDlicit testimony against former corrup- tions, and supjily satisfactory ground to hope, that such as might be received, would cordially concur with their brethren, in main- taining the interests of the Reformation, and in promoting pure • Burnet, vol. i. p. 229. 1662. f Burnet, vol. i. p. 349. 1067. :;: Burnet, vol. iii. p. 1131. 1686. 28 FROM THE SECOND REFORMATION and undefiled religion. But, according to the scheme of compre- hension, which originated with the government, and was adopted by die Assembly, the Commission was enjoined to receive into mi- nisterial communion, all applicants, who, having qualified them- selves according to law, subscribed the Formula (which, in relation to Church Government, required no other acknowledgment than this, that " the Church Government, as now settled by law, is the only government of this church"), and against whom no scandal should be established, within thirty days after their application *. If it is an object of the highest importance to secure a pious, en- lightened, and faithful ministry, the scheme was essentially defec- tive, even though these condidons had been ever so rigorously ex- acted ; more especially, when we recollect the previous habits, pro- fessions, and character, of many of the Prelatical Incumbents. — No account was made of the unlawful and contradictory oaths which they had sworn, of the violent opposition which they had conduct- ed against the whole system they now professed to embrace, nor of the zealous support which they had given to the sanguinary mea- sures the government had employed to exterminate the Presbyte- rians. Sufficient time was not allowed, nor any means appointed to be used, for ascertaining their sincerity in adopting a profession, and in entering into engagements, so opposite to the profession they had formerly made, and to the oaths they had formerly taken, ac- cording to the tenor of which they had hitherto acted. For, sure- ly, it cannot be reasonably pleaded, that the mere subscription of the formula was, iii such circumstances, satisfactory evidence of sincerity -f-. That they would cordially unite with those who had faithfully contended for the doctrine and discipline of the Church of Scotland, and had suffered so much in the conflict, could not be expected, or that either would contemplate the other without feel- ings of alienation and distrust. It appears from an address by the Commission to Queen Anne, that the number of Episcopal Clergy, who, in the course of a few years, were admitted in this manner in- • Vide Carstairs' State Papers. •f Unquestionably church formularies ought not to be considered merely as articles of peace, or subscription to them a ceremony which we perform in defe- rence to authority, or in compliance with usage, that we may be admitted into office, and enjoy the emoluments attached to it. They are intended to ascertain our convictions on subjects of high ijnportance, and our agreement, in sentiments and design, with those with whom we purpose to co-operate. Unless, therefore, we believe with the heart, wliat we thus confess with the mouth, and subscribe with the hand, we cannot be exculpated from gross insincerity. TILL THE RISE OF THE SECESSION. 29 to the bosom of the Presbyterian Church, was very considerable. In that address, they say, " We cannot but lay before your Ma- jesty this pregnant instance of our moderation, that, since our late happy establishment, there have been taken in, and continued, hundreds of dissenting (that is Episcopal) ministers, upon the easiest terms."" This coalescing measure may justly be regarded as the chief source of those evils, the gradually increasing preva- lence of which issued at length in the Secession ; for no church will long preserve the purity she possesses, if she permit the erro- neous and the unworthy to fill her inost sacred offices, and to assist in conducting her most important concerns. " A little leaven lea- veneth the whole lump."" For a time, however, the influence of the evangelical and faith- ful ministers of the church, even in the supreme court, was not small. Various acts were passed, the object of which was to re- press irreligion, to encourage piety, and to secure the vigilant exer- cise of discipline. Fasts were occasionally appointed, in detailing the grounds of which, considerable faithfulness and zeal were dis- played; and though heritors, as such, were permitted, in conjunc- tion with the session, to propose a candidate to a vacant parish, yet the wishes of the people seem to have been generally respected. When the Parliament was convened to consider the articles of the Treaty of Union, which was proposed to be effected between Scot- land and England, the Commission of the General Assembly, in a representation and petition, which they presented to Parliament, remonstrated against the admission of any stipulation, for the per- manent continuance in England of the hierarchy and worship which were there established ; and also, against the extension to Scotch Presbyterians of the Sacramental Test, which had long been a source of corruption in England and Ireland. These facts demonstrate the influence which ministers cordially attached to the constitutional principles of the Church of Scotland, possessed in administering her concerns. But that influence was not exerted, without encountering a strenuous and somewhat dis- guised opposition, — an opposition which soon acquired a perma- nent ascendancy. To this most painful result, the revival of the law of patronage (1712) eminently contributed. The Act passed for that purpose, " restores the patrons to (what it calls) their an- cient rights of presenting ministers to the kirkes vacant in that part of Great Britain called Scotland ;" and only requires that the per- son presented shall be " a qualified minister," whom " the Presby- 30 FROM THE SECOND REFORMATION tery is obliged to receive and admit in the same manner as before the act.'" r.. . I • u ;., The Church of Scotland had uniformly Circumstances which in- J dicated the gradual de- condemned patronage as a great evil, which Church. ^ could admit of no modification that would p render it consistent with the privileges and edification of the Body of Christ. They submitted to it, indeed, sometimes with more, and sometimes with fewer, restrictions, though not without supplication and re- monstrance, because the civil power would not surrender this source of influence, and they were unwilling to lose the advantages which they derived in other respects from the exercise of that power, in the exclusive support which it gave, or which they ex- pected from it, to their religious system. Still, however, the Courts of the Church possessed the power, if they had chosen to exercise it, of checking this evil in no inconsidei-able degree. Should they find the presentee an unqualified minister, and of his qualifications they are the sole judges, even according to the act which restored patronage, they might prevent his induction. It soon appeared, by the issue of certain processes for error be- fore the Assembly, and by its proceedings respecting various im- portant doctrines of the Gospel, that not a few of its members had already departed from the purity and simplicity of the truth, and the facilities which the law of patronage afforded, for filling the Church with a corrupt and time-serving ministry, rapidly increased their number. Even before the revival of that law, the prevalence of legal doctrine was deeply lamented by several ministers, distin- guished for their piety, learning, and holy zeal *. A Professor of Divinity -f-, in one of the Universities, Sufferance of j^^^ taught, among some other principles not less un- scriptural, " That the souls of children are as pure and holy as the soul of Adam was in his original condition, being inferior to him only as he was formed in a state of maturity ; that the lio-ht of nature, including tradition, is sufficient to teach men the way of salvation ; and that it is not above the reach of our natural ability to use the means of salvation which God has ap- pointed and promised to bless, with such seriousness, sincerity, and faith of beino- heard, as to secure the communication of saving grace +."" For these doctrines, which directly oppose many plain * Brown's Gospel Truth. t Mr Simson of Glasgow. + Vide Part II. Chap. II. Sect, ii § \. § i. TII>L THE mSF. OF THE SECESSION. 31 passages of the Holy Scriptures, and the principles which are clearly exhibited in the Confession of Faith, a process was insti- tuted against him. But the Court, instead of manifesting a lauda- ble zeal for the purity of the Gospel, discouraged the prosecu- tion ; and though it was proved that he had taught these errors, and though he himself substantially admitted and vindicated them in his answers to the libel, yet the General Assembly, so far from subjecting him to the censure he merited, permitted him to re- tain his office in the University and in the Church, and were satisfied with declaring, " That some of his opinions were not evidently founded on the word of God, nor necessary to be taught in divinity,"" and prohibiting him from publishing such sentiments in future. This same Assembly, in entire consistency with Controversy about the very feeble and equivocal testimony which the Doctrine of they had reluctantly given against error, con- ^^^^' demned an important evangelical position, which one of the Pres- bvteries * had adopted as a means of ascertaining the sentiments of applicants for licence to preach the Gospel, and declared their abhorrence of it as unsound and detestable. That position was, " It is unsound to teach that men must forsake sin in order to come to Christ." By condemning this principle, the Assembly unquestionably admitted the following doctrine as sound : That, before we come to Christ as the only Saviour, or can have any in- terest in his new-covenant blessings, we must renounce the love and practice of sin. This doctrine is obviously inconsistent with the free and unlimited exhibition to sinners of Christ as a saviour, and supposes that hatred to sin and sorrow for it, and love to God, without which there can be no true forsaking of sin, may exist prior to the faith of the Gospel, and must be exercised before we trust in Jesus for salvation ; consequently, that sinners are not so destitute of spiritual ability but that they at least may begin to make themselves holy: — sentiments which subvert the grace of the Gospel, and are directly calculated to keep convinced sinners inider the power of the spirit of bondage, by excluding them from all access to the Saviour, till they shall ascertain that they have truly forsaken their sin. Two years after, the Assembly instructed their Commission to make inquiry concerning any books or pamphlets lately published, which tended to vindicate and diffuse the doctrine formerly condemned by them as unsound and detestable. Proceed- " Presbytery of Auchterarder (1717)- See Act of Assembly. 32 FROM THE SECOND REFOilMATION ing on the report which their Commission laid before them, the Assembly condemned several positions selected from a book, en- titled, " The Marrow of Modern Divinity," which, though not ex- pressed in the most luminous and unexceptionable language, yet exhibited precious evangelical truths, essentially connected with the freeness of the Gospel, and with the divinely appointed way by which a sinner obtains peace, and is disposed and enabled to walk with God in newness of life. The doctrines of the Marrow were industriously repi'csentcd as inconsistent with the obligations to obedience which the law of God imposes, as annulling the most powerful motives to diligence in duty, and therefore as inimical to true holiness. Several excellent ministers, alarmed by these repre- sentations, startled by the phraseology which was selected from the Marrozvy less intimately acquainted with the doctrines of the Gos- pel, as they were taught by the first Reformers, and laudably zeal- ous to discountenance every approach to Antinomianism, concurred in this condemnation with those who were the known enemies or the lukewarm friends of evangelical truth. A representation, faithful, yet breathing much meekness of spirit, was presented to the next Assembly by twelve ministers *, craving the repeal of the offensive Act. This petition was refused ; and, in the progress of the dis- cussion, twelve queries were put to these ministers respecting tlie doctrines in question, whose answers to them contain an able expo- sition and vindication of the principles which the Assembly had condemned. On re-considering the cause, the Assembly not only passed a new Act, explaining and confirming the former, which they would not repeal, but even called those ministers who had made so faithful an appearance for the truth, to their bar, and re- buked them. Though the said Act gave such explanations as neutralized some of the unscriptural assertions in the former, yet it not only failed to vindicate the truth, but maintained several erro- neous sentiments, which obscured and misrepresented the true na- ture of the Gospel, and the place which the law and obedience to it hold, in the method of salvation by Jesus Christ. This whole controversy too clearly indicated, that the leaven of unscriptural doctrine, especially that doctrine which exhibits the Gospel as a new law, according to which, God is graciously pleased, for Christ's sake, to prescribe to sinners, faith, repentance, and sin- cere obedience, as the terms of life and salvation — had widely in- • These twelve were the Reverend James Hogg, Thomas Boston, John Bonar, James Kid, Gabriel Wilson, Ebenezer Erskine, Ralph Erskine, James Wardlaw, James Bathgate, Henry Davidson, William Hunter, and John Williamson TILL THE lllSE OF THE SECESSION. 33 fected the church ; but it contributed to enHghten some more fully in the knowledge of the Gospel, and to confirm others in their zeal for its purity ; and thus to revive and to diffuse the good old doc- trines which the first Reformers had so clearly and successfully published, but which had fallen into contempt, in consequence of the introduction and extensive circulation of Arminian tenets. New proofs of a reigning aversion to defend and vindicate the truth, and of the prevalence of a disposition to protect the erro- neous, were furnished (1726-7), by the Assembly's repeatedly de- clining to consider and enact an Overture presented to them, against the prevailing method and strain of preaching, which excluded the supernatural mysteries of the Gospel, and the relation which ac- ceptance and obedience bear, to the person, cross, and fulness of our Lord Jesus Christ ; and by their proceedings in the second process which was instituted against the Professor of Divinity who was formerly dismissed with so gentle a caution from the Assem- bly's bar. It was found clearly proved, " that, in teaching his stu- dents, he had denied the necessary existence of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that he had affirmed that his necessary existence is a thing we know not, and that the term Necessary Existence, was impertinent, and not to be used when talking of the Trinity ; and that the Three Persons of the adorable Trinity are not to be said to be numerically one in substance and essence ; and that the terms, Necessary Existence, Supreme Deity, and the title. The Only True God, maij be taken, and are by some authors taken, in a sense that includes the personal property of the Father, and so not belonging to the Son *." Yet though he thus denied the true and proper Deity of the Great God our Saviour, and, as a teacher of the youth who were preparing for the holy ministry, had thus attempted to instil into their minds principles which subvert the foundations of the Christian faith and hope, the Assembly, continuing him still in the sacred office, only suspended him from all exercise of it, till another Assembly should see meet to restore him ; and though many Presbyteries and several Synods earnestly craved the Assem- bly to frame a new Act, which should assert the fundamental doc- trines that had been impugned, and contain a faithful warning against prevailing errors, yet they petitioned in vain. For a short time after the revival of the law of Patronage, such as received presentations Tyrannical Acts of the '^ 1,11 General Assembly, were reluctant to accept them, and theXjhurch courts were unwilling to proceed to their settlements, if oppo- * Vide Part II. Chap. II. Sect. i. § ii. 34 FROM THE SECOND REFORMATION sition was made by the people of the vacant charges. But pre- sentees and judicatories became gradually less scrupulous, and, in various instances, when the people, in the exercise of their con- stitutional rights, opposed the induction of a presentee as one to whom they could not conscientiously commit the oversight of their souls, the Assembly, contemning at once their rights, petitions, and spiritual interests, generally supported the presentee, and appoint- ed his settlement. And that they were resolutely determined to maintain and enforce the law of Patronage, plainly appears from the following facts : 1. The Assembly enacted, " That where Pa- trons might neglect or decline to exercise their right of presenta- tion, the Minister should be chosen by the majority' of the Elders and of the Heritors, if Protestants," (1732). This measure had been transmitted in the form of overture by a preceding Assembly to Presbyteries, and though a great majority of the Presbyteries who gave their opinion, were decidedly hostile to the measure, yet the Assembly, in direct opposition to a fundamental and standing law, (commonly called the Barrier Act), which prescribed that overtures in such cases should be rejected, not only converted it in- to an Act, but refused to restrict the right to vote to such heritors as were resident in the parish, and members of the Church of Scot- land. 2, The Commission, in several cases of reclaiming congrega- tions which were referred to their judgment, not only appointed the settlement; but when the Presbyteries, within whose bounds the reclamiing congregations were situated, refused to induct the presentees, they assumed the power of creating sub-commissionsj'and of authorising them to take those presentees upon trials, and to or- dain them to the office of the ministry ; and thus invaded the consti- tutional rights of Presbyteries, and violated the established govern- ment of the Church. Nor did the Assembly, when these disorder- ly and tyrannical proceedings were reported, either censure their authors, or prohibit such measures in future. Many excellent and faithful ministers who ^KteffectuaT ^'-^'^ deeply grieved by these great pubhc evils which defeated the ends of a Gospel ministry, and filled the church with alienations and divisions, raised their warning voice against them, and obtested the judicatories to re- view their deeds and retrace their steps. But, galled by these testimonies, the prevaihng party resolved that they should be either prevented or suppressed. It was expressly enacted, that no Rea- son of dissent should be henceforth recorded in the minutes of Court (1730). Accordingly, the Assembly, two years after, did TILI, THE RISE OF THE SECESSION. 35 not permit a protestation to be recorded, which fifteen ministers entered against a decision refusing to hear two representations which complained of various corruptions, and craved redress, though the one was subscribed by forty-two ministers, and the other by up- wards of seventeen hundred people. This deed was highly un- constitutional, because it deprived members of a privilege, not only just and reasonable in itself, but to which they were entitled by former acts of Assembly, and by immemorial usage. It was op- pressive and ensnaring, for it refused to those who might conscien- tiously disapprove of the proceedings of the Court, the most ob- vious and suitable means of expressing that disapprobation, of ex- onerating their own consciences, and of manifesting to future gene- rations, by the records of the Court itself, that sinful measures had not been adopted without strenuous, but respectful opposition, the grounds of which all might examine. It seemed to indicate a secret conviction in the prevaihng party, that their procedure would not abide a fair trial by the Word of God and the Standards of the Church ; and was directly calculated to enable that party to pursue their iniquitous career, undisturbed by the plain and faith- ful testimonies against their measures which Reasons of dissent and pi'otestation would exhibit. To those who venerated the Standards of the Church as the law of their administi'ation, and the bond of their fellowship, — who were deeply afflicted by the departure from them in matters of the high- est importance which had long characterized the Assembly's pro- ceedings, — who were anxious to repress the tide of defection, — and who w ere determined to maintain a good conscience, no other method remained for securing these great and necessary objects, in com- munion with this degenerate church, except that of testifyino- against her apostasies in their public ministrations. This method was adopted ; but it was not less offensive to the friends of the pre- vailing corruptions ; and a bold and unjustifiable attempt to re- strain and suppress ministerial faithfulness, by condemning the exercise of it in a particular instance, gave rise to the Secession. C 36 ) CHAPTER IV. OF THE SECESSION. I. RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE SECESSION. The Reverend Ebenezer Erskine of Stirling, Statement of Facts. . . i • u u u j ^ ^i in the sermon which he preached at the open- ing of the Synod of Perth and Stirling, in October 1732, tes- tified with " great plainness of speech," against the Assembly's rigorous enforcement of the law of patronage, and more espe- cially against the Act of the immediately preceding Assembly, concerning the " settlement of vacant churches.'' His faithful exposure of these evils displeased not a few of the members of Synod, who, having complained of certain parts of the Ser- mon as unbecoming and offensive, procured the appointment of a Committee to consider them, and to report to the Court. The Synod having heard the Committee's report, and Mr Erskine's re- ply to the charges contained in it, found, by a small majority, after a keen and protracted discussion, that Mr Erskine was censurable " on account of several indecent expressions used by him in that sermon, tending to disquiet the peace of the Church, and impugn- ing several acts of Assembly and proceedings of church judicato- ries," and appointed him to be rebuked at their bar, and " ad- monished to behave orderly for the future." Several ministers, among whom were the Rev. Alexander MoncriefF of Abernethy, and the Rev. WiUiam Wilson of Perth, dissented from this deed, and protested against it. Mr Erskine himself and the Rev. James Eisher of Kinclaven, appealed to the next Assembly. The Assembly having refused to hear the two former on the reasons of their dis- sent, and not having Mr Fisher's appeal before them, as the Com- mittee of Bills had dechned to transmit it, took up the cause as it stood between the Synod and Mr Erskine, and, after hearing par- ties, " found the expressions vented by Mr Erskine, and contained in the minutes of the Synod's proceedings, with the answers thereto made by him, to be offensive, and to tend to disturb the peace and good order of the church ; and therefore approve of the proceed- ings of the Synod, and appointed him to be rebuked and admonish- ed by the Moderator at their own bar, in order to terminate the EISE AND PROGRESS OF THE SECESSION. 37 process." Convinced that, instead of having uttered any thing in- consistent with the law of Christ or with the Standards of the Church, he had only discharged an important duty which he owed to both, and that the direct tendency of this decision was to pre- vent every testimony against any measures, however unconstitutional and unscriptural, which the majority might carry in the Supreme Court, Mr Erskine declared that he could not submit to the cen- sure, and gave in a paper which contained his solemn protestation against that deed, and his claim to " the liberty of preaching the same truths of God, and of testifymg against the same or like de- fections of this church, upon all proper occasions."" To this pro- testation and claim, the three above named ministers adhered, and then withdrew, with Mr Erskine, from the Court. — It can scarcely admit of a doubt, that they considered the process as terminated, and had no other design than to remain in the communion of the church, on the grounds stated in their Protestation, But we often perceive in the administration of Him who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in working, that the most important events result from circumstances which in themselves are trivial. The Assembly had proceeded to other business, without reading or taking any no- tice of the paper which the four Brethren had left, when a member, taking it up and perusing it, and irritated by the unyielding faith- fulness which it discovered, insisted that the Court should suspend procedure, till they should consider the gross insult offered to them in that paper. As soon as they heard it, entering into his views and spirit, they ordered their officer to seek out these Brethren, and summon them to appear before the Assembly next forenoon. In obedience to the summons they did appear ; a Committee was ap- pointed to deal with them, who reported that the four Brethren continued fully resolved to adhere to their protestation. Upon which, the Assembly^ without permitting them to speak in their own defence, but removing them, and ordering them to Avait their decision, passed the following sentence : " The General Assembly ordains that the four Brethren aforesaid appear before the Commis- sion in August next, and then shew their sorrow for their conduct and misbehaviour in offering to protest, and in giving in to this Assembly the paper by them subscribed ; and that they then re- tract the same. And in case they do not appear before the said Commission in August, and then shew their sorrow, and retract, as said is, the Commission is hereby empowered and appointed to sus- pend the said Brethren, or such of them as shall not obey, from the exercise of their ministry. And further, in case the said Brethren 38 IIISE AND PROGRESS OF THE SECESSION. shall be suspended by the said Commission, and that they shall act contrary to the said sentence of suspension, the Commission is here- by empowered and appointed, at their meeting in November, or any subsequent meeting, to proceed to a higher censure against the said four Brethren, or such of them as shall continue to offend by trans- gressing this Act. And the General Assembly do appoint the se- veral Presbyteries of which the said Brethren are members, to re- port to the Commission in August, and subsequent meetings of it, their conduct and behaviour with respect to this Act." When the Commission met in August, Messrs Erskine and Fisher, as appellants from the decision of the Synod, gave in one representation, and Messrs Wilson and MoncriefF gave in another ; in which they candidly stated their reasons for protesting against the deed of the last Assembly, and for still adhering to that Protes- tation. Only the first of these Papers was permitted to be read. A Committee was appointed to meet with the Brethren, and to use means to persuade them to acquiesce in the judgment of the Assem- bly. They did so, but without effect. The consequence was, that the Commission " did suspend the four protesting Brethren from the exercise of the ministerial function, and all the parts thereof" This sentence being intimated, these Brethren gave in the following Protestation : " We hereby adhere to the Pi'otestations taken by us before this Court, for ourselves and in name of all the ministers, elders, and members of the Church of Scotland, and of all and of every one of our respective Congregations, adhering to us ; bear- ing that this sentence is in itself null and void, and that it shall be lawful and warrantable for us to exercise our ministry as hitherto "we have done, and as if no such censure had been inflicted : and that if, in consequence of this sentence, any minister or probationer shall exercise any part of our pastoral work, the same shall be held and reputed as a violent intrusion upon our ministerial labours." Having been summoned to attend the Commission at their meet- ing in November following, they compeared. A Committee was again appointed to converse with them, but the arguments of the Committee did not convince them that it was their duty to with- draw their Protestation against the Assembly's decision. In answer to the question, whether they had abstained from the exercise of their ministry, in obedience to the sentence of the Commission in August last, they avowed that they had not. Communications from not fewer than seven Synods of the fifteen of which the Church of Scotland consists, requesting the Commission either to delay pro- ceeding to a higher censure, or to exercise all lenity and forbearance RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE SECESSION. 39 towards the suspended ministers, were read ; and, after long discus- sion, the question was put. Proceed immediately to inflict a higher censure, or Delay the same till March ; when it carried, by the casting vote of the Moderator, to proceed immediately to inflict a higher censure. A new Committee having been appointed to deal with the four Brethren, reported, " that they had declared their resolution to continue of the same mind as formerly :" upon which the Commission came to the following decision : " The Commission of the General Assembly did and hereby do loose the relation of Mr Ebenezer Erskine, Minister at Stirling, Mr William Wilson, Minister at Perth, Mr Alexander MoncriefF, Minister at Abernethy, and Mr James Fisher, Minister at Kinclaven, to their said respec- tive charges, and do declare them no longer ministers of this church: And do hereby prohibit all ministers of this church to employ them, or any of them, in any ministerial function ; and the Commission do declare the churches of the said Mr Erskine, Mr Wilson, Mr MoncriefF, and Mr Fisher, vacant from and after the date of this sentence; and appoint that letters from the Moderator, and extracts of this sentence, be sent to]|the several Presbyteries within whose bounds the said ministers have had their charges, appointing them, as they are hereby appointed, to cause intimate this sentence in the foresaid several churches, any time betwixt and the first of January next : and also that notice of this sentence be sent by letter from the Moderator of this Commission to the Magistrates of Perth and Stirling, to the Sheriff Principal of Perth, and to the Bailie of the Regality of Abernethy/'' When this sentence was intimated to the Protestation of the four Brediren, they read the following Pro- Four Brethren, testation, and then gave it in to their clerk : " We hereby ad- here to the Protestation formerly entei'ed before this Court, both at their last meeting in August, and when we appeared first before this meeting : and further, we do protest in our own name, and in the name of all and every one in our respective Congregations adhering to us, that notwithstanding of this sentence passed against us, our pastoral relation shall be held and reputed firm and valid ; and likewise, we protest, that notwithstanding of our being cast out from ministerial communion with the Established Church of Scotland, we still hold communion with all and every one who desire with us to adhere to the principles of the true Pres- byterian Covenanted Church of Scotland, in her doctrine, worship, government, and discipline ; and particularly with every one who 40 RISE AND PllOGRESS OF THE SECESSION. are groaning inider the evils and who are affected with the griev- ances we liave been complaining of, who are in their several spheres wrestling with the same : But in regard the Prevailing Party in this Established Church who have now cast us out from ministerial communion with them, are carrying on a course of defection from our Reformed and Covenanted principles, and particularly are sup- pressing ministerial freedom and faithfulness in testifying against the present backslidings of the Church, and inflicting censures on ministers for witnessing, by protestations or otherwise, against the same : Therefore we do, for these and many other weighty reasons, to be laid open in due time, protest that we are obliged to make a Secession from them, and that we can have no ministerial commu- nion with them, till they see their sins and mistakes, and amend them : And in like manner we protest, that it shall be lawful and warrantable for us to exercise the keys of doctrine, discipline, and government, according to the word of God, and Confession of Faith, and the principles and constitution of the Covenanted Church of Scotland, as if no such censure had been passed upon us. Upon all which we take instruments ; and we hereby appeal to the first free, faithful, and reforming General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.'"' From this statement of facts it is evident. Protestation \anaicated. i r^ • i- i that the Secession did not originate m a schismatical and sectarian spirit, and was not made for pro- moting any private and selfish ends. As a Christian minister entrusted with the Gospel, and set for its -defence, and under sacred obligations to use every endeavour for preserving the ordi- nances of Christ, and the privileges of his church, pure and entire, Mr Erskine had testified in language decided, but not disrespect- ful, against certain acts and proceedings of the Assembly, inconsist- ent alike with the word of God, and the constitutional privileges of the Church of Scotland, and unspeakably injurious to the edifica- tion of her members ; and he had given this testimony at a time, and in a place, the most suitable, both for relieving himself from all participation in the guilt of these measures, and for reviving in the ministry a holy zeal for the cause of God, — at the opening of a meeting of Synod, and not till after the Supreme Court, by prohi- biting the recording in its minutes of Dissents and Protestations, bad left him no other means of testifying against its iniquitous deeds, except those whicii the pulpit afforded. This was his only and his i.vliolc offence : find for this he must he rebuked! For this he is RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE SECESSION. 41 required to profess his sorrow, and virtually to engage that he will never henceforth lift up his voice against any of the acts and pro- ceedings of the Assembly ! It was not even insinuated that the sentiments which were so obnoxious to the courts, were contrary to the Holy Scriptures, or unauthorised by the public Formula- ries of the Church. All that the Committee alleged in their Re- port to the Synod, or that the Assembly afterwards found, was, that he had uttered " several indecent expressions, tending to dis- quiet lier peace, and impugning several acts of Assembly, and proceedings of Church judicatories."" Would not a silent submis- sion to this deed have involved an approbation of the Assembly's zealous enforcement of the law of Patronage, the surrender of the rights and privileges of the Ministry, and a promise not to im- pugn in future any act or proceeding of the Supreme Court ? Mr Erskine, therefore, protested against it on public grounds, and claimed the liberty " of preaching the same truths of God, and of testifying against the same or like defections of this Church, on all proper occasions." Nor were the three ministers who ad- hered to this Protestation, induced to take this step by private af- fection and sympathy, or by the paltry motive of pushing them- selves into notice. " If this cause," said they in a representation, afterwards laid before the Commission, " had been Mr Erskine's personal cause, we should have been silent, and never opened our mouth against the decision of the General Assembly ; but we judged it a cause wherein all the ministers and members of our Church are very nearly concerned ; — the decision of the General Assembly, in our case, being, as we thought, a plain Directory to all the inferior judicatories of this Church, how to behave, if any minister should, upon proper occasions, lament from the pulpit, the sinfulness of that Act of Assembly (Act 1732) and of other unwarrantable proceedings of this Church, in the settlement of ministers ; for, in this case, they must be brought to the bar of their respective Presbyteries, and there they must be rebuked and admonished." Unless, then, these excellent persons would have submitted to hold and exercise their ministry, on conditions which compelled them to betray " the liberty wherewith Christ had made them free," and to look silently on, while the privileges of the members both of the courts and of the church, were contemn- ed and violated by a majority of her sons, they had no alternative but to secede. 42 RISE AMD PROGRESS OF THE SECESSION. Constitution of the As- A few weeks after the Commission had sociate Presbytery. declared the four Brethren " to be no longer ministers of this Church," they, after solemn deliberation and prayer, constituted themselves into a Presbytery, afterwards known by the name of The Associate Presbytery. They were induced to take this step by the following important considerations : That they might be in a capacity to discharge those parts of their pas- toral office, which relate to government and discipline ; — that they might maintain the Presbyterian, in opposition to the Congrega- tional form of government ; — that they might have a more special claim to the gracious promise, " Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them," as refer- ring to a meeting together in a judicative capacity ; — that they might supply with Divine ordinances, in a manner agreeable to the word of God, and to the constitution of the Church of Scotland, those who, refusing to submit to the ministry of such as were in- truded upon them, might solicit relief; — and that they m\gbtjudi- cially as well as doctrinally, testify against the prevailing defections. Their Presbyterial meetings, however, in consequence of an agree- ment, that they would not proceed to acts of jurisdiction, till they should see whether the judicatories of the Church would return to their duty, were devoted for a considerable time to religious con- ference, and to prayer for the Divine counsel. In their Protestation against the sentence Publication of the Rea- ^ ,, -^ ■ • .1 i i ^ ,, sons of Secession. of the Commission, they had engaged " to lay open" the reasons and grounds of Secession from the prevailing party. They therefore published, about the time of the meeting of the next Assembly, " A Testimony to the doctrine, worship, government and discipline of the Church of Scot- land : or, Reasons for their Protestation entered before the Com- mission of the General Assembly, November 17ii3," in which, af- ter some historical observations on the state of the National Church both in her reforming and dedin'mg periods, they assign, and illustrate at large, Reasons for their Secession ; — for the validity of their pastoral relation to their respective Congregations, — and for their exercising the powers of government and discipline. Of the va- rious reasons which they adduced for their Secession, we may spe- cify the following: The arbitrary and tyrannical measures which the prevailing party pursued, to the subversion of our Presbyte- rian constitution, of the rights of members of courts, and of the RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE SECESSION. 43 privileges of the people ; by imposing ministers on x'eclaiming Congregations ; by excluding from sealing ordinances such as would not submit to these intruders ; by permitting the Commis- sion to erect Sub-Commissions, and to invest them with the power of Presbyteries ; and by not only refusing to admit into the records of the court, any Protestation or Testimony against its sinful pro- ceedings, but subjecting to censure those who employed these means of exonerating themselves, and of opposing its maladmini- stration ; — the prosecution of such measures, as corrupted, or had a direct tendency to corrupt, the doctrines contained in our excellent Confession of Faith, — by discountenancing processes for error,— by retaining in the ministerial office, and in the fellowship of the Church, individuals who had taught sentiments inconsistent with the leading principles of Christianity, or inflicting on them no ade- quate censure, — and by refusing to give any vindication of the pre- cious truths which had been controverted, or any faithful warning against the errors which had been disseminated : — And, in fine, perseverance in these courses, in opposition to the various means which had been employed by instructions, representations, and pe- titions from Synods and Presbyteries, and individual ministers, to induce them to desist and retrace their steps. Though the deed of Assembly, requiring the four Brethren to retract their Protestation, and to profess their sorrow and submit to censure, constituted the immediate ground of Secession, yet, in their pleadings before the Courts, and in the Testimonies which they subsequently published, they include also the defections which existed in the Church when they themselves entered into sacred office, and during the period of their continuance in her communion. This recurrence to former corruptions and acts of maladministration, may appear to some to have been neither can- did nor necessary, and to fix on the fathers of the Secession the charge of inconsistency. For it may be supposed, that they either should have omitted the mention of these evils in their statements, or should never have acceded to the Church in that state of impurity, or have left her communit}^ at an earlier period. This conclusion, however, proceeds on a contracted and partial view of the case. When they embraced her communion, no other ecclesiastical society existed, so consonant, in their judgment, to the Scriptures. They were not blind to her corruptions, but they had the means of testifying against them, and of maintaining their own integrity ; and, till every fit measure to obtain reformation was 44 RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE SECESSION. employed and rejected, they might rationally entertain the hope of effecting the expulsion of these corruptions. And if, in the pro- gress of investigation to which these circumstances naturally gave rise, their views respecting the defections of the Church became clearer and more extensive, shall we, professing ourselves to be Protestants, censure them for this change, or for avowing their convictions, and adopting every proper means to expose and re- move what they were now convinced were great evils ? But the fact is, they had always expressed their disapprobation of those de- fections, had laboured to resist the progress of declension, and had scarcely left any method untried to obtain a reformation. And while they were permitted " to contend earnestly for the faith,'"' both in the courts and in the pulpit, and to exonerate their con- sciences from all participation in the guilt of measures which they condemned, they seem not to have entertained any thought of establishing a separate communion. Unlike those who, unless uniformity in matters of very inferior, as well as of the highest, importance, is rigidly imposed, abandon the fellowship of the church, and thus act vipon a principle which tends to multiply sects without end, thei/ contemplated secession as a painful mea- sure, to which they were compelled to resort, because the Church had obstinately resisted all the efforts which had been made to re- claim her, and had suspended their continuance within her pale on terms which would have involved them in the commission of sin. Accordingly, they did not state their Secession on the ground of her corruptions, simply considered as such ; but as corruptions which she zealously supported, and against which they, remaining in fellowship, were not allowed to bear due testimony. It became, therefore, their unquestionable duty, when they were at last thrust out, and consequently were relieved from the overwhelming op- position against which they had so long struggled in vain, to ex- pose the evils which they had bewailed and resisted while they were within the Church ; to vindicate the doctrines of her Confes- sion which had been obscured or corrupted : to assert and main- tain the rights and privileges both of ministers and people, which had been condemned and infringed : to regulate the exercise of their ministry in all its parts by the excellent standards to which they still faithfully adhered : and to endeavour, according to the spirit of their ecclesiastical constitution, to carry forward the work of reformation. If they had not thus extended their Testimony, ^nd conducted their administrations, they would neither have done RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE SECESSION. 45 justice to their good cause, nor have been consistent with them- selves. Many ministers, as well as others, la- „ , t, . „ ^ J J , ,, 1-- Proposed Restoration of mented and condemned the general spirit the Seceding Brethren and conduct of the prevailing party; high- bythe Assembly 1734. ly disapproved of the censures v/hich had been inflicted on the Jour Brethren ; and were anxious for their restoration. A conviction that undue severity had been exercised, and that the disposition to carry the most pernicious measures by triumphant majorities, which had so obviously characterised the late meetings of the Assembly, must be checked ; and a painful uncertainty " whereunto this " Secession " would grow," were generally felt, and influenced the return of members to the next Assembly, which met in May 1734. The temper of this Assembly was conciliatory. The Act respect- ing the planting of Vacant Churches, and the Act which dischar- ged the x'ecording of Reasons of Dissent, were repealed ; a deed of the Commission, erecting a Sub-commission to receive the trials, and proceed to the ordination of a Presentee, while both the pa- rish, and the Presbytery under whose jurisdiction the parish was situated, opposed the settlement — was reversed ; and two Acts were passed, the one explanatory of the deed of last Assembly, in the case of Mr Erskine, concerning ministerial freedom ; and the other, empowering the Synod of Perth and Stirling to unite the Jvur Bre- thren to the communion of the Church, and to restore them to their respective charges. According to this last Act, the Synod " took off* the sentences" which the Commission had pronounced against these brethren, and restored them to the exercise of all the parts of the ministerial function. The Seceding Ministers rejoiced in every ^.^^.^^,,^^^ ^^ ^^^ S^^^^^ indication of a disposition in the Assembly to ing Brethren in declin- - 1 ing to return. correct its own misrule, and to " strengthen the things which remained, that were ready to die;" and were willing to indulge the hope that this was the commencement of a course of reformation. The important question. How far the grounds of their secession were now removed ? was the subject of their solemn deliberation at different meetings. The result of these deliberations they published, immediately before the meeting of Assembly (1735), in a small work, entitled " Reasons by Mr Ebene- zer Erskine, minister at Stirling ; Mr WiUiam Wilson, minister at Perth ; Mr Alexander Moncrieff, minister at Abernethy ; and Mr 46 RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE SECESSION. James Fisher, minister at Kinclaven : why they have not acceded to the Judicatories of the EstabHshed Church/'' From this pubUcation we quote the following passage, as a proof of their candour, and of their anxious desire for re-union. " As that Assembly (1734) was composed of a body of reverend and honourable members, many of them of a considerable standing in the ministry, and whom we re- gard as faithful labourers in the Lord's vineyard, so it was matter of joy and refreshment, not to us only, but to many others through the land, that a stop was put to the unwarrantable and violent pro- ceedings of some former Assemblies, and their Commissions ; and if the difficulties which lie in the way of our Accession to the Judi- catories of the Church are not removed, we do not impute it to the intentions and inclinations of many of the worthy members of the last Assembly, but to the opposition they met with from some who had an active hand in carrying on and concurring with the former course of defection.'*' But, with every disposition to judge of the proceedings of the last Assembly in the most favourable light, they could not per- ceive it to be their duty to return in present ciixumstances. They frankly admit, that " the ^first ground of their Secession, as laidj was removed"" by the repeal of the two acts already specified. But they justly observe, 1. That their " Secession was not founded on the passing of these Acts, for they continued in communion af- ter these Acts had become binding rules," but, on the Assembly's suppressing ministerial freedom and faithfulness, by appointing them to be censured, because they had followed up their protesta- tion against the act concerning the planting of vacant churches, with a suitable testimony in their public ministrations : and, 2. That the repeal of these acts proceeded on reasons which left uncondemn- ed the arbitrary principles which gave rise to them. They candidly acknowledge, that this Assembly did not directly countenance any violent settlements, and appointed their Commis- sion to petition his Majesty and Parliament for relief from the yoke of Patronage * ; but when they recollected that the very As- semblies and their Commissions who had zealous supported pa- tronage in its most oppressive forms, still confessed it to be a griev- ance ; and that this Assembly had given no testimony against former violent settlements, nor vindicated the principles of the • The Commission sent a deputation to London for this purpose, and the Assembly itself, in 1735, sent another with the same instructions. RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE SECESSION. 47 Church on this subject, nor made any provision for exercising the powers which they possessed for pi-eventing the acceptance of pre- sentations by those to whose ministry the people were unwilling to submit, — they could see no rational ground to believe that the sys- tem was abandoned. They had stated as a ground of their Secession, that " the pre- vaihng party pursued such measures as did actually corrupt, or at least had a direct tendency to corrupt, the doctrine contained in our excellent Confession of Faith." Though this ground involved a subject of supreme importance, the Assembly had taken no step to remove it^ No efficient measure was adopted for the suppression of error and the vindication of the truth, or for securing that none but persons of decidedly evangelical principles, and of pious character, should be admitted into sacred office, or for discouragmg that kind of preaching (which of late years had become very common, and of which the best ministers of the Church had loudly complained) that excluded the supernatural mysteries of the Gospel, and substituted in their room speculations and discussions which could not make men wise to salvation. A Committee was appointed, indeed, to draw up an overture for an Act — to warn against errors, and to give directions concerning the right pi-eaching of the Gospel. Such an overture was presented, and " after long dependence was got en- acted *."" It clearly exhibited the doctrine of Scripture, in relation to our condition as fallen beings, and to the way of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ; and recommended to all the ministers an evangelical strain of preaching, and to Professors of Divinity, to use their best endeavours to have the students under their care well acquainted with the true method of preaching the Gospel, as direct- ed by this Act,— appointing Presbyteries at their privy censures to inquire concerning its observation." But is there any evidence that this excellent Act was followed out ? — that means were employed to ascertain if due attention was given to its recommendations ? is there no reason to fear, that it was only a dead letter inserted in the statute-book, in compliance with the earnest solicitations of the orthodox ? For, did not the Assembly which enacted this overture dismiss a reverend Professor -f- from its bar, who had been under pro- cess " for having vented several dangerous errors in his writings,"" without censure, by declaring " that the examining and stating of the matter, as was done by the Committee for purity of doctrine, • Not till two years after, in 173G. See Willison's Impartial Testimony. f Mr Archibald Campbell of St Anrirew's. 48 RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE SECESSION. is sufficient for cautioning against the errors which some at jHrst sup- posed tlie Professor was guilty of," and by recommending to him " not to use doubtful expressions or propositions which may lead his hearers or readers into error ?" — " This issue of the process," says one, who was at that time a minister of the Church of Scotland, and unfriendly to secession, *' many in the Assembly and out of it were highly dissatisfied with, judging that Mr Campbell deserved a sharp rebuke for the many incautious and unsound expressions he hath in his writings, however orthodox his explanations may be ; and with these we do heartily join *.■" In vain shall we search ibr proofs, in the Assembly's proceedings, of a zeal against the errone- ous, as active and efficient as that which they had displayed against the advocates of the doctrines of grace, and against the intrepid assertors of the rights of the ministry, and of the privileges of the people. Purity of doctrine is of vital importance ; and unquestion- ably, the Assembly was imperiously called, especially at this time, to take decisive steps to arrest the progress of error, and vindicate the truth ; and if they declined to do so, how could the Seceding brethren return, in a consistency with a faithful keeping of the sa- cred trust committed to them ? Concerning the Acts which empowered the Synod of Perth and Stirhng to restore them, they observe, that, as the Assembly itself declined to review " the former proceedings of Church judicatories, in relation to this affair,"" so it expressly prohibited ttie Synod from '"' judging of the formality or legality" of these proceedings, and authorised their restoration on grounds of expediency alone. The " Synod was to proceed and do therein as they shall find most justifiable and expedient, for restoring the peace and preserving the authority of this Church ;" and the Assembly was induced to adopt this measure, from the consideration " particularly of the lamentable consequences that have followed or might yet follow, from the se- paration" of these brethi'en. They thence justly concluded, that the deed of Assembly protested against might still be regarded as a legal and formal deed, and that the principles which it involved might still be maintained as equitable and scriptural — as princijDles which might be acted upon, when no cause existed for apprehend- ing similar, " lamentable consequences." And that this is no im- candid inference, is evident from the Explanatory Act concerning ministerial freedom, which was passed at the same time, and which we here insert : — " The General Assembly of the Church of Scot- * Willison, xit supra. RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE SECESSION. 49 land, considering. That some are under apprehension that, by ihc Act of Assembly 1733, anent Mr Ersklne, &c. ministers of this Church are laid under greater restraints as to ministerial freedom, than they were by the rules of this Church before the said Act was passed ; therefore they do, for the satisfaction of all, hereby declare. That due and regular ministerial freedom is still left entire to all ministers ; and that the same rcas not, nor shall be held or under- stood to be, anywise impaired or restrained by the late Assembly's decision in that particular process.'" — Whatever may be understood by " due and regular ministerial freedom,'' it cannot admit of a doubt, that this Act excludes the freedom used by Mr Erskine from this character ; for it declares that such freedom zms not im- paired nor restrained by the late Assembly's decision, in finding him censurable, for having impugned Acts of Assembly, and pro- ceedings of Church-judicatories, and in appointing the Commission to suspend the four ministers, unless they withdrew their Protesta- tion against that decision. These two Acts, then, — while they by implication accused the four Brethren as disturbers of the peace of the Church, whose intractableness and disobedience it might be wise, on grounds of expediency, to overlook at present,— not only gave no security for the future exercise of the rights of the ministry, to testify against prevailing corruptions; but indirectly vindicated the imposition of undue restraints, and instead of affoi'ding any reason- able ground to hope for a permanent change of measures, were cal- culated to excite the painful apprehension, that, wliether these Acts might succeed or fail in restoring harmony in the Church, the pre- vailing party would soon resume the power which they had so long and so successfully exercised. By declining to accede, they lost the support of many of their brethren who were friendly to their cause, and w^ho, like them, condemned and deplored the course which the Assembly had for many years pursued. Not without a painful struggle had these brethren succeeded, to a certain extent, in reforming some abuses, and in checking others ; and they had hoped that the Seceding mi- nisters, on perceiving this change, would immediately retin-n into the bosom of the Church. Anxious for restoring the visible union of the body, and gratified because their efforts had not been alto- gether fruitless, they were apt to magnify, beyond their real im- portance, the concessions which had been made by the prevailing- party ; and to overlook, or to represent as unimportaiit, the provi- sions and limitations which accompanied these concessions, and by which the most obnoxious principles are still retained, and might be D 50 RISE AND PROGHESS OF THE SECESSION. acted upon in less untoward circumstances. The disappointment was felt the more keenly, because their powerful and more dexter- ous opponents, who thought that the Assembly had displayed no ordinary degree of condescension and lenity, were supplied with an occasion of representing the Seceding ministers as unreasonable and obstinate men, whom the conciliatory spirit of the Assembly had only rendered more intractable, and to whom no concession should ever have been made. In such circumstances, it is not wonderful that some who had hitherto pleaded their cause, should have now become lukewarm or hostile, and have accused them of " causing divisions and offences," by refusing to accede at a time when the Assembly had manifested a disposition so condescending and peace- ful, and when there was ground to hope, as they supposed, that a reformation might be effected by the united exertions of the faithful. We are convinced, however, that it must appear from the brief outline which has been just given of their Reasons for declining to take the benefit of the deed which restored them, that no just cause existed for such accusations. It must be recollected, that though t\\e Jbu7' Brethren did not accede, they took no step which could obstruct their return, or widen the separation which the Assembly had produced by its censures. They spent their Presbyterial meet- ings, chiefly, in devotional exercises. They proceeded to no acts of jurisdiction. They estabhshed no separate communion *. They * " I own," said one of them in a letter, " that, after the meeting of the As- sembly 1734, I was in much perplexity about our continuing in a state of Seces- sion ; it occasioned many thoughts of heart unto me, to understand what was duty in the present case. But as I had no hesitation about my duty, when I did, to- gether with my other three Brethren, declare a Secession from the judicatories of this church, in our protestation before the Commission 1733, so when I have ob- served the conduct of the said judicatories since the year 1734, I have been gra- dually cleared, and more and more confirmed that it is our duty to continue in a state'of Secession."— fFJ/ion's Defence, p. 357- And in page 481, he says, " After the meeting of Assembly 1735, when the Brethren observed the conduct of the said Assembly, and that no steps were taken towards reformation, three of the Seceding ministers were then clear to proceed immediately to the exercise of tlie keys of government and discipline ; but at that time Mr Wilson was not clear for taking this step, but was of opinion that they sliould only hold their meetings as they had done the ibrmer year, namely, for mutual advice in the present situa- tion, and for strengthening one another's hands in the work of the I^ord : and in- deed this was the only material difference that was amongst that little body, af- ter the Secession from the judicatories. But by the good hand of the Lord \\\wn them, they were kept united among themselves, and did not proceed to any act of jurisdiction, and nothing of this nature was done till after the Assembly 1736, when all the four Brethren were convinced that not only it was duty, but also it was high time for them to i)roceed to the exercise of the keys of government and discipline." RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE SECESSION. 51 craved nothing in their papers which the acknowledged principles of the Church of Scotland did not sanction, and which the circum- stances of the times did not require. Long they had witnessed and bewailed, both the sad effects of a prevailing disposition to protect the erroneous, and to promote a system of spiritual oppression, and the frustration of all their efforts to persuade the Assembly to " repent, and do the first works." From the acknowledged inabi- lity of the very considerable number of pious and faithful ministers who sat in Court in 1734, to carry measures which they judged of vital importance to the interests of the church, and from the un- meaning generality, or the studied ambiguity, or the inconsistent limitations, which characterized the Acts that have been represented as removing the grounds of Secession, — it was obvious that the same party still directed the counsels of the Supreme Court. With such experience, and in such circumstances, could the suspended minis- ters be blamed for declining to accede, and for passively waiting till they should see whether succeeding Assemblies would proceed in reformation, or revert to their former course of defection ? Was not this the measure which wisdom, moderation, and faithfulness, united in directing them to adopt ; more especially as they had can- didly stated their difficulties, and how these difficulties might be removed ? They had been cast out of the church, because they had discharged a necessary and important duty ; and if they had re- turned without obtaining any security that they would be permitted to fulfil their ministry faithfully, and without receiving any satisfac- tory evidence that the scheme of misrule would be abandoned, would they not have betrayed a great public cause, have involved themselves in the guilt of countenancing measures which they just- ly reprobated, and have directly contributed to consolidate the power of the corrupt majority ? It is easy to impute to them mo- tives arising from vanity or from pride ; but, besides that the cause itself is independent of the motives of the men by whom it was conducted, where is the proof that they were influenced by such motives ? There is abundant evidence that they were afraid of taking any precipitate step, that they abandoned most reluctantly the hope of exercising their ministry in that church in which they had been educated and ordained — waiting patiently for years before they proceeded to act fully in a judicative capacity ; and tliat they conducted themselves throughout, with a dignified consistency, and with a scrupulous regard to Presbyterial order. To ascribe such tempers and conduct, either to a low passion for vulgar fame, or to u2 52 RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE SECESSION, a fanatical spirit, is equally contrary to candour and to conmioij sense. Unhappily, the two succeeding Assemblies confirmed all the grounds of the Secession. The erroneous were retained and pro- tected, even while an act was passed which recommended an evan- gelical strain of preaching * ; and presentees, though rejected by the people to whom they were to minister, were zealously supported -f-. While such were the proceedings of the Assembly, of what avail was an enactment " against the intrusion of ministers into vacant congregations, and recommendations to Presbyteries concerning set- tlements,"" in which it is admitted that such intrusions are in direct opposition to what has been the principle of the Scottish Church since the Reformation — except to involve that Court deeper in in- consistency and guilt "t The Seceding ministers, convinced that re- Act, Declaration, and formation was not to be expected, thought it Testimony. p ,, • i i ■ c " now lull tmie to proceed to the exercise ot the powers with which they were invested by the Head of the Church, for the vindication of his truths and ordinances, and for the relief of the Christian people, by supplying them with sermon." In December 1736, they enacted " A Declaration and Testimony for the Doctrine, Worship, Discipline, and Government of the Church of Scotland,"" which they soon after published. They judged " a Testimony of this kind necessary for the information of the generation, who have generally lost the knowledge of what God has done for Scotland, and of the grounds and causes of his righte- ous quarrel and controversy against us ; necessary for the conviction and humiliation of all ranks of persons ; necessary to preserve and maintain the truths of God ; and an useful mean to transmit them to following generations in their purity j.'' — " It approves and con- tends for the former attainments of the church in Reformation, while these are by no means considered as a perfect standard, nor as precluding progress in reformation, as God may increase light ; condemns many defections from that Reformation, both in principle and pi-actice ; and asserts and vindicates many precious truths which had been deeply injured by individuals in the ministry, and by the iuJicatories of the Established Church.'' On this important docu- • • See page 39. f As in the case of the parish of Carriden, of Muckart, of Denny, &c — WiU sorCs Defence, p. 160. X Declaration and Testimony, p. 2. illSE AND PROGRESS OF THE SECESSION. 53 ment, however, it is unnecessary to enlarge, as its leading state- ments have been detailed in the preceding pages. The Reverend Ralph Erskinf of Dunferm- line, and Thomas IMair of Orwell, acceded to ^'^^\.^|Xethren^''''^* the Associate Presbytery, in the following February (1737) ; the Reverend Thomas Nairne of Abbotshall, in September thereafter ; and the Reverend James Thomson of Burnt- island, in June next year. The Assembly now * appointed its Com- mission to draw up and execute a Libel against the Seceding mi- nisters. In obedience to this appointment, the Commission, at its meeting in March following, served each of the eight ministers who composed the Presbytery, with a Libel — charging their Secession, their publication of the Testimony, their administration of divine ordinances to people in different parts of the country, without the knowledge or consent of the ministers to whom they belonged, and their licensing one or more to preach the Gospel, as high crimes, and citing them to appear before the General Assembly, at its en- suing meeting -|-, to answer for their conduct. They met in Edin- burgh while the Assembly was sitting, and passed an act (commonly called the Declinature, the draught of which had been under their consideration at some former meetings) in which they embodied the grounds of their Secession, and found and declared on these grounds, " that the present judicatories of this National Church are not law- ful nor right-constituted Courts of Christ, and declined all authori- ty, power, and jurisdiction, which any of these judicatories might claim to themselves over the Presbytery, or over any of its members, or any who had subjected themselves to their Presbyterial oversight • May 1738. t May 1739. X In this act they introduce two facts which had occurred since their enact- ment of the Declaration and Testimony, as additional proofs, if such had been wanting, that the Assembly was 7iot disposed to reform its administration. The first is, That, when a Reverend Principal (Dr Wishart of Edinburgh) was libelled by his own Presbytery for several errors which he had publicly taught, the As- sembly, refusing to institute any trial of his sentiments by the Confession of Faith, the acknowledged bond of Ecclesiastical union and fellowship acquitted him, upon a declaration of his adherence to the several articles of the Confession, which, it was alleged, he had controverted. And the second. That, though the Civil power had enjoined all the ministers of the church, under heavy Ecclesiasti- cal penalties, to read a certain proclamation from their pulpits every Lord's day for the space of a year ; and though the great majority of the ministers had obeyed the injunction, and had thus virtually acknowledged that the Civil power mio-ht inflict Ecclesiastical censures, yet neither the Assembly, nor any of the inferior courts, took the least notice of the offence, nor testified any disapprobation of a 54 RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE SECESSION. Declinature of the Bre- ^^'""S informed that the Assembly was thren, and their Depo- about to enter on the discussion of tlie Li- sition by the Assembly, ^^j^ ^^^^ Associate Presbytery appeared in its constituted capacity before that Court. After the Moderator had acquainted them, " that though they were called to answer to a Libel, yet he was warranted, in the name of the Assembly, to as- sure them, that, notwithstanding all that had passed, the Assembly was willing to receive them with open arms, if they would return into the bosom of the church,"" — the Reverend Mr Mair, Moderator of the Presbytery, said, " We come here as a Presbytery, constitu- ted in the name and authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, the only King and Head of his Church, and since I am at present the Mo- derator of the Presbytery, however insufficient for, and unworthy of this trust, I am appointed as their mouth to deliver their mind unto you, by reading an act agreed upon by the Presbytery." Be- fore he proceeded, the Assembly appointed the Libel to be read ; after whicli Mr Mair read the Declinature ; and having delivered it to the Moderator of the Assembly, the Presbytery withdrew. The Assembly now found and declared them worthy " of the hig])- est censures of the church, particularly that of Deposition ;"" but, delaying to inflict any censure at this meeting, they earnestly re- commend to the next Assembly to proceed against them, unless " they returned to their duty and submission.'''' The next Assem- bly * did " actually depose them from the office of the holy minis- try, prohibiting and discharging them, and every one of them, to exercise the same, or any part thereof, within this church, in all time coming," and appointed due intimation of this sentence to be given to those invested with civil authority, in the difi\?rcnt places of their residence, that they might be thrust out of their churches. But neither these censures, nor the discounte- Progress ot the j^ance and reproach which the Seceders incurred, Secession. i • i • /. i • t i prevented the rapid mcrease of their numbers. The Presbytery had already appointed one of its own members -f- to officiate as Professor of Divinity, under whose inspection, several students who had joined the Secession completed their prepara- tory course of study, and were licensed to preach the Gospel. Within six years from their enactment of the Declaration and Testimony, the Associate Presbytery consisted of not fewer than measure, which was not less inconsistent with the acknowledged constitution and privileges of the Church of Scotland, than contrary to the law of our Lord Jesus Christ, whose kingdom is not of this world. • May 1710. t The llev. Mr Wilson. RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE SECESSION. 55 twenty ministers. Aware that the system of Theological opinions, commonly called Legal or Arminian, prevailed extensively in the National Church, and convinced, that the decisions of the Assem- bly (on which we formerly animadverted) concerning the proposi- tions which were selected from the Marrow of Modern Divinity, had contributed to diffuse that system, they judged it to be their duty to explain and vindicate, more fully than they had done in their Testimony, " the doctrine of the Holy Scriptures, and of our standards, concerning the free grace of God in the salvation of man- kind lost.'" Accordingly, they published an act, bearing the follow- ing title, " Act of the Associate Presbytery concerning the Doctrine of Grace, wherein the said doctrine, as revealed in the Holy Scrip- tures, and agreeably thereto set forth in our Confession of Faith and Catechisms, is asserted, and vindicated from the errors vented and published in some Acts of the Assemblies of this Church, passed in prejudice of the same *." This work, a plain and brief outline of which follows, though it may sometimes perplex by its Doctrine of Grace. numerous divisions, and its technical phraseo- logy, yet contains an able exposition and vindication of the doc- trine of Scripture, concerning the free exhibition, to sinners in- discriminately, of Jesus Christ as the Saviour — their access as sin- ners to him, and their duty to improve that access — the nature of the faith by which the ungodly are justified — the freedom of be- lievers from the law, as a law of works, — their obligation to obey it as the rule of their conduct — and the motives which should influence them to yield that obedience. Scriptural views of these subjects are not less necessary for the enjoyment of peace and hope, than for the acceptable service of God : yet on few subjects are we more apt to err, and as errors on these subjects are specious, they are peculiarly dangerous. The grace of God and the merits of Jesus Christ may be highly extolled, and yet the way of obtaining an interest in them may be so repre- sented as to depreciate both, by directing men to found their accept- ance with God, or at least their right to trust in Christ for sal- vation, on their acquiring certain dispositions and experiences which shall distinguish them from others, and entitle them to Divine fa- vour. The pride of the human heart revolts from the humiliating statements— that mankind universally are guilty before God, — that whatever diversities may exist among them, in relation to external condition, intellectual acquirements, or the degrees of their personal Enacted October 21. )7t2. 56 RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE SECESSION. guilt, they are equally helpless and unworthy of the Divine favour, and must come, as perishing sinners, to the Saviour, — that they are justified, not by the works of the law, but by faith in Him who " is the end of the law for righteousness, to every one that beheveth," — and that all true holiness in heart and life, instead of preceding, follows, and is the necessary effect of, union in Christ. Yet these are the plain doctrines of the word of God. He pro- claims his salvation to sinners without distinction or exception *. No sinner, indeed, till he is convinced of his sin, and of his utter inability to save himself, will come to Christ ; but neither the reality, nor the degree of his convictions, and of the regrets which they pro- duce, and of the reformation to which they lead, constitutes his right of access. This rests, exclusively, on the free exhibition of Christ to him, in common with other sinners, in the Gospel. Undoubtedly it is our duty, in every situation, to renounce and forsake all sin, and to walk, before God in holiness and righteousness : for his law ever requires us to love hiai with all the heart, and our neighbour as ourselves. The love of sin, in any form, and a purpose to con- tinue in it, are incompatible with our coming to Christ for salvation ; and we can have no evidence that we are believers in Christ, unless we turn from sin^ with grief for it, and with hatred of it, and " have respect to all God's commandments." But, obviously, we err, if, from these principles, confessedly of great importance, we conclude, that it is our duty to forsake sin in oi'der to come to Christ ; and, consequently, that only persons of improved character and feeling are authorized to trust in him for salvation. We should thus as- sign to the forsaking of sin a place and an influence in the economy of gi'ace which do not belong to it, and which render the attainment of true repentance impracticable. The great design of God in the dispensation of his mercy is, to persuade men to forsake sin, and to love and follow holiness; and the method which he has adopted for securing this end, is the best fitted, both to illustrate his glory, and to meet the exigencies of unworthy and helpless beings. Believing in the name of the Son of God, who is revealed as the propitiation for our sins, and is exalted to give repentance and remission, we are dehvered from the curse of the law, and receive the Spirit of all orace, under whose influence we turn from sin to God. Accordingly, while he requires us to forsake our wicked ways and thoughts, he exhibits to us his grace in the promise, that, confiding in it, and Isa. Iv. 1, 4; xlvi. 12, 13. ; Mark xvi. 15, 16. ; John iii. 14, 15, 16; Rev. iii. 17, 18.; xxii. I?. RISE AND PROGUESS OF THE SECESSION. 57 strengthened by it, we may yield the obedience which he requires *. While he commands us " to cast away from us all our transgres- sions, and to make us a new heart and a new spirit -f-,"" and to re- pent and turn to him, he also testifies, that he has exalted Christ " to give repentance," and promises " to put his Spirit within us, and cause us to walk in his statutes |." Those precepts which shew us our duty, are graciously intended to convince us of our depravi- ty, inability, and misery ; to teach us to value and improve the grace set before us in the Gospel ; and to remind us, that while God " works in us both to will and to do,"" ;ve also must be " workers together with him," and yield up ourselves to his influence and authority |j. The privileges which believers enjoy by their union to Christ, through the faith of the Gospel, are exceedingly great and precious. Pariicularly, they are blessed with freedom from the law as a Cove- nant, which the Apostle expresses by their being dead to the law delivered from it — not being under it. He does not mean by such language, that they are set free from obligation to obey the law as a rule of life ; but, that they are completely delivered from its curse, and that it does not demand obedience from them, either on pain of death, or as the condition of entrance into life ; inasmuch as they are already the heirs of life, and secured against condemnation, by their connection with Jesus Christ. Stiil, however, they are not only bound, in common with all rational creatures, to obey the Di- vine law, but are under obligations peculiar to themselves, — arising from the love and the relations of God to them, according to the new Covenant. And so indispensably necessary are the love and practice of holiness, that they are enjoined on them by God ; con- stitute a principal part of their salvation, and the only satisfactory evidence of their justification through Christ; and are declared to be the ultimate end of their election, redemption, and calling. Indeed, sinners are restored to the service of God, only by be- coming " dead to the law." While they are under this curse, they remain under the dominion of sin, and all the effect of the law upon them, in that state, is to irritate and strengthen their depraved af- fections. But being delivered from the law, they become dead to sin, and cannot live any longer therein. United to Him " who is raised from the dead, they bring forth fruit unto God, and serve him in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter." • Isa. Iv. 7, 8, 9. f Ezek. xviu. 31. J Acts V. 31. ; Ezek. xxvi. 26, 27. II Vide Part II. ch. ii. sect. ii. § 3. 58 RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE SECESSION. And his grace, in effecting this dehverancc, suppUes them with a powerful motive and encouragement, " to deny ungodhness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously and godly, in this present world *.■" While the Associate Presbytery was thus engaged in elucidating and defending the Doctrine of Grace, it had under its consideration, also, an Overture of an Act, " for renewing the National Covenant of Scotland, and the Solemn League and Co- venant of the three nations, in a way and manner agreeable to present circumstances :" which was afterwards approved, enacted -|-, and pub- lished. From this deed a member dissented +, with the exception of whom all the Presbytery entered into the bond. The Presbytery, in its Answers to the Reasons of Dissent, established, among other things, this important principle, " that though they testified against the corruptions and evils of the present civil government of these na- tions, yet it was their duty, in agreeablenessto the plain tenor of Scrip- ture, and to the principles of all the Reformed Churches, to acknow- ledge that government, and subjection thereunto, in all its lawful com- mands." In the illustration of this statement, passages occur, which display, not only sound and enlarged views of the nature and ends of Mao-istracy, the objects about which it is conversant, and the means which it may employ for accomplishing the purposes of its institu- tion, but also, enlightened sentiments concerning the rights and li- berties of conscience in religious concerns. We shall quote only one paragraph, " the doctrine set forth in which" is declared, in a note subjoined, to be '* of a fundamental nature, with respect to the whole other principles, contained in the present Declaration and Defence : — " The public good of outward and common order, in all reasonable society, unto the glory of God, is the great and only end which those invested with Magistracy can propose, in a sole respect unto that office. And as prosecuting this end civilly, ac- cording to their office, it is only over men's good and evil works that they can have any inspection, so it is only over these that they must needs take cognizance, for the said public good : while, at the same time, their doing so, must be in such a manner, and proceed so far allenarly, as is requisite for that end ; without assuming any lordship immediately over men's consciences, or ma- king any encroachment on the special privileges and business of the church. And moreover, as the whole institution and end of their office, are cut out by, and lie within, the compass of natural prin- ciples ; it were absurd to suppose, that there could, or ought to • Vide Part II. chap. ii. sect. v. § 1, 2. t At Sthiing, Dec. 23. 1713. t The Rev. Mr Nairne- RISE AND PROGIIESS OF THE SECESSION. 59 be, any exercise thereof, towards its end, in the foresaid circum- stances, but what can be argued for, and defended from natural principles."" — Whether the doctrine taught in this quotation be perfectly consistent with various statements made in this same pa- per, and in some others published by the Presbytery concerning the matter and ends of the Covenants, the manner in which these ends were pursued, and the measures which were resorted to, for obtaining an exclusive settlement of the Reformed religion, — we do not judge ourselves called upon to determine. The Bond composed by the Associate Presbytery, contained " a public profession of the faith of" those who engaged in it, " a solemn acceptance of the covenant of grace, and a formal surren- der of tliemselves to the Lord ; with an engagement, in divine strength, to the performance of all the duties incumbent on them both to God and man," If we compare that bond with the cove- nants of our ancestors, we must perceive, that while these, especial- ly the Solemn League, were partly of a civil and political nature, that Bond was an engagement wholly religious. The difference is not less obvious, in relation to the manner of entering into them respectively. All were enjoined, both by civil and by ecclesiastical authority, under heavy penalties, to swear and subscribe the an- cient deeds ; whereas, they alone were admitted to join in the new Bond, who willingly offered themselves, and whose views of the sa- cred service, and qualifications for engaging in it, were previously ascertained. Public religious Vowing or Covenanting, though a moral is an occasional duty, as many moral duties are ; and was engaged in by our ancestors, not as itself a part of Reformation, but as an ex- cellent means of maintaining and promoting it. But, according to the view given above of the Bond composed by the Associate Presbytery, Covenanting, or Vowing, is considered simply as a particular mode of professing our faith in Christ, of devoting ourselves to the Lord, anciof engaging to him and to one another to prosecute his cause, to walk in his ways, and to excite each other to love and to good works. In this view, it is still authoriz- ed, and provision made for its observance among us *. In the Ba- * Potterrow Meeting-house, May 2. 1820. — The General Associate Sjnod called for the Report of the Committee on the Bond ; when the draught of a Bond was produced and read, and, after some corrections and amendments, was agreed to without a vote. BOND. We all and every one of us, though sensible of the deceitfulness and unbelief of our own hearts, and many of us perplexed with doubts and fears about our 60 lllSE AND PROGRESS OF THE SECESSION. sis of Union, both Synods agreed in declaring, " that while no ob- struction shall be thrown in the waj', and every scriptural facility actual believing ; yet desiring, in the strength of God, to glorify Him by be- lieving his word of grace, and, in the faith of his promise, to devote ourselves to him as his people, — we do, with our hands lifted up to the Most High, pro- fess, and, before God, angels and men, solemnly declare. That, through his grace, we desire to embrace with our whole heart the Lord Jesus Christ as our only redeemer ; liis righteousness as the only foundation of our access to God, and acceptance with Him ; the Covenant of Grace as our only charter for the heavenly inheritance ; his Word as our perfect and only rule of faith and man- ners ; and to depend on his Spirit to lead us into aU truth, and strengthen us for all duty. We avouch the Lord to be our God ; and we promise and swear by his Great Name, that, in the strength of his grace, we shall walk in his way, keep his commandments, and hearken to his voice ; and particularly, that, ac- corduig to the measure of our light, we shall abide in the profession of the true religion and doctrine, worship, Presbyterian church government and discipline, as received by our Church, and exhibited in her subordinate standards, and, in our several stations, contend against all contrary errors and evils. In like man- ner, we promise and swear, that, in adherence to, and in prosecution of, the Scriptural Reformation carried on by our Ancestors, we shall, by all scriptural means, in our day, according to our opportunities, endeavour the reformation of religion in Britain and Ireland, as well as the advancement of the Kingdom of Christ throughout the world. And in regard we are bound by the Word of God, to live together in the fear of God, and love one to another, and to encourage one another in the cause and work of God ; therefore, depending upon Divine grace, we in the same manner engage, in our several places, to strengthen one another's hands in prosecuting the design of this our solemn oath and covenant, and to study a conversation in all respects becoming the Gospel of Christ, and not to give ourselves up to in- difference and neutrality in the cause of God, but, through grace, renouncing the counsels of flesh and blood, to depend upon the Lord in our whole conduct : In all which, confessing our own weakness, we earnestly supplicate the Father of Mercies, that He would enable us, by the power of his Holy Spirit, to fulfil our duty, to the praise of his grace in the Churches, through his Son Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. Amen. Bristo Street Meeting-house, September 12. 1820 — The United Associate Synod being convened and constituted, &c. there ^was given in a Bond for Covenant- mg, prepared and transmitted to the General Associate Synod, which was read ; and it was unanimously agreed, that it should be received and entered upon the records of the United Synod, as the Bond to be used by all those who see it their duty to proceed in that work, agreeably to the concluding part of the fifth article of the Basis ; viz. " We agree, that, while no obstruction shall be thrown in the way, and every scriptural facility shall be afforded to those who have clearness to proceed in it, yet its observance shall not be required of any in order to church-communion." And the United Synod farther agree to transmit the Act of the General Associate S^mod connected with this Bond, and, in refer- ence to the Acknowledgment of Sins, to the several Presbyteries of the United Synod, in order that nothing may be done but in consistency with the principles of the Basis, and in subserviency to the peace of the Church. The DIVISION OF THE ASSOCIATE SYNOD. 6l shall be afFoidcd to those who have clearness to proceed in it, yet its observance shall not be required of any, in order to church com- munion *."" From the number of ministers in the Asociate Presbytery, and their distance from each other, it was found extremely inconvenient for them to meet so often as was necessary, and scarcely possible for them to continue so long together as their business required. They therefore divided themselves into three Presbyteries -|-, to meet in one Synod, under the name of The Associate Synod, which met for the first time at Stirling, on the first Tuesday of March 1745. II. DIVISION OF THE ASSOCIATE SYNOD. Hitherto the Seceding ministers had stood fast with one heart and one mind, in the good cause in which they were engaged. Many subjects had been under their consideration and deliberately discussed ; and a delightful harmony had characterized their deci- sions. They had inducements, arising not only from our common Christianity, but from their peculiar circumstances, to continue " to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." That unity, however, was unhappily broken. It having been an appointment to Pres- byteries to consider what overtures they Occasion of the Division, might think needful for farther reforma- tion, one was introduced into the Synod at their first meeting, rela- ting to the Burgess oath in some burghs, particularly the first clause, viz. " Here I protest, before God and your Lordships, that I pro- fess, and allow with my heart, the true religion presently professed within this realm, and authorized by the laws thereof. I shall abide thereat and defend the same to my llfe"'s end, renouncing the Roman religion called Papistry." Some members of Synod judged that the present swearing of the oath by Seceders was inconsistent with their peculiar profession and circumstances. Others judged that Seceders might lawfully swear The Act of the General Synod referred to, is as follows : " There was likewise read the draught of an Acknowledgment of Sins, prepared by the Committee ; after which, the Synod agreed in recommending to Sessions, when going about the work of Covenanting, to use such an acknowledgment of sins, consistent with our principles, as they shall judge suitable to the circum- stances that occasion a call for Covenanting, and to have recourse to Presbyteries for advice, if they see it necessary." " Vide Part II. chap. ii. sect. xi. t October 11. 1744. 62 DIVISION OF THE ASSOCIATE SYNOD. the oath. The discussion of this question occupied no small portion of the time and attention of the court at several meetings. If such frequent and protracted discussion did not issue in harmony of view, it was natural to expect that mutual alienation would be the conse- quence ; and that incidents would occur, which^ by exciting sinful tempers, would create new causes of offence, and impart additional importance to the original subject of dispute. At last, " the con- tention Avas so sharp between" the two parties in the Synod, that ihey separated " one from the other.'"' Each claimed to itself ex- clusively, the constitution, the powers, and the name of the Asso- ciate Synod ; and followed up its claims by judicial proceedings against the other, which tended to widen the separation, and to ex- tinguish every hope of a reconciliation. In accordance with a wise provision in the Basis, now that the oath which occasioned the separation is abolished, and the lawfulness or unlawfulness of swearing it has happily ceased to be a practical question, we willingly abstain from entering into the merits of this controversy ; but it becomes us to adore the sovereignty of God, and to confess his righteousness, in permitting a spirit of contention and division to enter so early, and to prevail so far, in the Associate Synod, and to bewail the evils which that spirit produced. It di- minished the legitimate influence of their excellent profession, mi- nistrations, and character ; diverted the attention of their people from the more important concerns of religion, and exhibited an un- holy example to the world. If such consequences proved less inju- rious to the interests of religion than might have been apprehended, or, to a certain extent, were counteracted by the operation of causes of an opposite nature; or have been balanced, in a considerable de- o-ree, by beneficial results somewhat remote, which could not have been anticipated ; we ascribe the glory to God, who, in his infinite wisdom, brings good out of evil, and overrules for useful purposes the infirmities and mismanagements of his servants. Nor ought we to foroet, that, in the merciful and faithful conduct of His provi- dence towards the Church of the Secession, the cause of Evangeli- cal Truth continued to be asserted and defended in the two great bodies of Scceders, — a cause which, we rejoice to think, is su})port- ed by all who bear the name of the Secession. „, . , „ „^i:„„. Those fundamental principles of religion, Character and rroceedings i i & ' during their State of Se- which were restored and boldly maintained par: xtion. by our ancestors at the Reformation, and which it was one chief end of the Secession to perpetuate, were {)re- served in purity and integrity by both parties. By the Formulas DIVISION OF THE ASSOCIATE SYNOD. 63 of questions put to Office-Bearers, as defining the terms of their ad- mission to office, which were, with the exception of the immediate cause of division, substantially the same in Iboth Synods, and which constituted, under the government of the King and Lord of the Church, one great barrier against the encroachments of error; by the system of theological education, under the superintendence of each Synod, conducted by men of approved talents, and zeal, and fidelity, in the ministry of the Gospel ;— by the publication of so- lemn and earnest warnings to the people of their congreo-ations against errors which threatened to invade and to destroy all that is valuable and sacred in our holy religion ; — by the general tenor of the administration of the discipline of the Church by the Synods and the inferior courts ; — by the enlarged views of the Rights of Conscience and the Liberties of the Church, which were obtained and exemplified by both ; — by affording a convincing proof, in two distinct associations of considerable extent, that a Presbyterian Church may exist and prosper, though supported solely by the vo- luntary contributions of the people ; — by the gradual extension of each branch of the Secession over the land, and the increase of in- fluence and efficiency gained by them as they spread themselves abroad ; — by the acknowledged benefits resulting to the Established Church herself from the Secession ; — and by other proofs, it was distinctly evident, that, amid the indications of divine displeasure, and of the deplorable results of human weakness and error, which their contention and separation afforded, God had not forsaken either of these departments of his heritage ; but, by plans inscruta- bly wise, and singularly distinguished by his mercy and faithfulness, was leading his people onward in the same Great Work. The spi- rit of love and the hope of reunion had not expired, for reconcilia- tion was repeatedly attempted, though without the desired success, till the time to favour Zion by this great event, even <' the set time," had arrived. It will not be denied, that the Gospel of the Grace of God was maintained in both branches of the Secession during the period of their separation. They continued to preach the truth as it is in Jesus, and to dispense the ordinances of Christ in purity, excrcisino- the Presbyterian government and discipline in their ecclesiastical assemblies, and they made great exertions to supply the necessities of their brethren in Ireland, and in the United States, and the Bri- tish provinces of America, and sent forth not a few labourers into these destitute parts ; defraying, with but few exceptions, the whole ex pence of their mission. 64 REUNION To the purity which they preserved, and """riSTeunion. ^'' ^o the extension of the kingdom of Christ, by their instrumentality, God may have render- ed even their separation subservient. We now know, that it was his gracious purpose that this separation should not be'^perpetual : and what, if he permitted it to take place, and to be aggravated by bitter mutual criminations till the breach seemed almost irreparable, that, in the appointed time, he might exhibit to the Church and the world, with increased effect, the rare but edifying example of two extensive ecclesiastical bodies, which had been long in circumstances so unfavourable to union — after deliberately and candidly discussing their differences, and ascertaining each other's sentiments — nobly sacrificing their prejudices, and jealousies, and separate existence, on the altar of Christian love, founded on the truth. III. Reunion. The design of God in the previous steps which he takes towards effecting some favourable change in the state of his church, is not usually perceived at the time. But when the effect has been pro- duced, and when we reflect on the train of events which contributed to it, we are convinced that it had entered into his plan, and that the arrangements of his providence had been made wonderfully sub- servient to it. Among the more remote and indirect preparations for the union of the two Synods, we believe that nothing contributed so large a share of influence, as the institution of Missionary and Bible Societies,— Societies which form the chief glory of our times, and which, beyond all the improvements and changes that signalize the present age, will honourably distinguish it in the estimation of posterity. It has often been remarked, that when good men unite to accomphsh an important object, many valuable benefits result, in the progress of their endeavours, which they did not anticipate. Notwithstanding their opposite views on some things, in consequence of which they remain in separate communions, they gradually dis- cover, as their intercourse increases, that they think alike on the most important subjects ; their mutual asperities are softened ; their prejudices and jealousies are subdued ; and they begin to inquire, whether a plan might not be devised, which might bring them to walk consistently together in the fellowship of the Gospel. Such seems to have been the silent influence which their Christian com- munications at meetings of those Societies had on many ministers and members of the Secession Church. Similar was the influence of a strong disposition towards union, IIEUNIOX. 6.5 which had appeared in the Churches which the two Synods had planted in Nova Scotia and in Ireland. Convinced that that object could be gained without any sinful compromise, and that, under the divine blessing, much benefit would accrue from it, not to themselves only, but to the cause of Christianity in both these countries, they felt it to be their duty cordially to attempt it. And the attempt was crowned with success. The communications which were re- ceived from these distant brethren, during the progress of their ef- forts to heal tlielr men divisions, brought the great subject of on?- union directly forv/ard to view, and were calculated to excite such inquiries, and to produce, or to promote, such tendencies as secured for it the most serious and candid consideration. The time to favoiu- our Zion was now . ■ -^ c •!• i.- J- a' 1 -i 11? Account of this liappv come. A spn-it ot concihation dmused itself event in an uncommon measure through both branches of the Secession, almost without any agency of man, as if it had found materials prepared everywhere by the hand of God himself, and was accompanied in its course by much prayer ; the aged, who might have been supposed most powerfully under the influence of prejudice, were, in general, most disposed and most anxious for the accomplishment of union ; almost all the congrega- tions, as if animated by one common impulse of fraternal affection, implored the Courts to devise and employ every wise measure for effecting it ; and, in the mean time, the civil powers, either in con- sequence of the application of the friends of Zion's peace, or of their own accord, removed a principal obstacle, by putting away the oath which had occasioned the strife, so that the two bodies should come together, without interfering with the private judgment of either concerning it *. The Synods, impressed and encouraged by so un^ expected a combination of circumstances, which they could not but regard as tokens of the Lord's interposition and blessing, entered on the cause with cordiality and zeal. Convinced that the union was practicable, without the sacrifice of any scriptural principle, each appointed a committee, that, by their joint labours, a scheme of coalescence might be framed. This Committee, whose discussions at its several meetings were characterized, not less by enhghtened zeal for the truth, than by brotherly love and Christian candour, at length laid before the Synod a series of Articles, as a Basis of Union f . After calm and minute investigation, the Synods adopted it with some amendments ; and agreed, that, at their next meeting, they would unite into one Court. The interval of a few months • See Summary of Principles, p. 17 ; and Pastoral Address, pp. 6, 7. t Vide Appendix, No. I. E 66 REUNION. having elapsed, both Synods convened in their separate capacity, for the last time; and having finished their own business, each, con- stituted, met with the other on the 8th day of September 1820, on that spot, which, more than seventy years before, had been the scene of strife and separation. The Basis of Union was read, while all the members stood up in token of their assent to the solemn deed of confederation ; and the Moderator of each Synod having declared that the Synod which he represented was now one with the other, they gave to each other the right hand of fellowship, and were followed by the members of the two Synods, in this expression of union and brotherly affection. The remainder of the sederunt was spent in devotional exeixises. We may truly say, that this was a " time of refreshing from the presence of the Lord," — a season of holy love and joy. It is written in the prophets, " Thy watchman shall lift up the voice, with the voice together shall they sing; for they shall see eye to eye when the Lord shall bring again Zion," Our heart's desire and prayer to God is, that this blessed promise may speedily receive a far more extensive accomplishment, by the diffusion of a spirit of union in the truth, among the saints and servants of Christ in all denominations, that, " witli one heart and one mouth, they may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ."" The Synod convened on the following week, and having agreed to denominate itself The United Associate Synod of the Secession Churchy composed of the Associate (coinvioidy called the Burgher) Synod, and the General Associate (commonly called the Anti- hurgher) Synod, adopted a '- Formula of Ordination *,'"' and a " Sum- mary of Principles f," to be considered also, " as a Directory for tlie Admission of members;''' and ordered them to be published. These papers, which embrace a great variely of subjects, and Avhich were enacted after the most deliberate consideration, arehiglily important, not only in relation to fellowship, but also, because they fiu'nish a proof, that the United Synod retained the standai-ds of the Church of Scotland, not as Articles of peace, but of real belief, and contain a pledge that its ministrations will correspond in piinciple, spirit, and design, with these standards. IV. VINDICATION OF CONTIXUANCK IN A STATE OK SKCKSSION. In the fourth Article of tlie I^asis of Union, after detailing " tJic Reasons of Secession from the prevailing party in the judicatories • Vide Appendix, No. II. f Vide Appendix, No. III. VINDICATION OF CONTINUED SFXESSION. 07 of the Established Church, which are stated in the Testimony that was approved and published by the Associate Presbytery," it is added, " And we find the grounds of Secession from the Judicato- ries of the Established Church, in some respects, increased, instead of being diminished." On the general doctrine, that cases may oc- cur, in which separation from a church is not Duty of Separation, only lawful but necessary, there can be but one mind among consistent Protestants *. If we look into the New Testament, we find the apostle beseeching Christians to " mark them which cause divisions and offences, contrary to the doctrine which they had learned, and to avoid them."" In another Epistle, he says, " Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers ; for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness ? And what communion hath light with darkness ? And what concord hath Christ with Belial ? Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel ? And what agreement hath the Temple of God with idols? for ye are the Temple of the living God: as God hath said, 1 will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord ; and touch not the un- clean thing ; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." 2 Cor. vi. 14, 18. The same authority enjoins us to " withdraw from every brother that walketh disorderly ;" which implies, that we ought to withdraw from a number of brethren, and even from the great majority of a church, if they are justly chargeable with disorderly walking. It is difficult to lay down such principles on the subject of sepa- ration, as shall clearly determine the specific cases in which it ought, or ought not, to take place. The occurrence of circum- stances of but litde importance in themselves, may yet, from the existing state of things, justly exert no small influence in hasten- ing, or in retarding, this great measure. But, in forming our judgment on the question of seceding from a church, or of conti- nuing in a state of secession, our attention ought to be directed, not only to the evils which actually exist in that church, but also to the decisive indications which it may give of a disposition to persevere in its errors and defections ; or to listen to the counsels of wisdom, and to adopt scriptural measures, for recovering its Vide Part II. Chap. II. Sect. x. § 3. 68 VINDICATION OF CONTINUANCE purity. If the latter disposition is unequivocally manifested, it is incumbent on all who wish well to the interests of truth and holi- ness in that church, to remain in its fellowship, that they may aid it in its honest and zealous endeavours to expel its corruptions, and to secure increasing conformity to the law of Christ. In some of the primitive churches false teachers appeared, who laboured, not without success, to disseminate very dangerous doctrine. The apostle, in writing to these churches, did not enjoin the faithful, mighty as the opposition to the truth was, to secede. He exposed the prevailing errors, he instructed and warned the churches, and directed them to expel from their communion obstinate offenders ; and they were obedient to his admonitions. They bewailed their departures from duty. They tried them who said they were apos- tles, and were not, and found tiiem liars. 2 Cor. Gal. Rev. ii. 2. This much, however, we may affirm, that, if we cannot enjoy fel- lowship with a church, in observing the ordinances of Jesus Christ, without neglecting the duties which we owe to him, and to the souls of men, and without giving active support to its corruptions, it is our duty, after having used, without effect, all proper means to reclaim that church, to withdraw ; for, in these circumstances, if we remain, we at least make ourselves partakers of other men''s sins. We have seen, that the efforts of the fathers Reasons of Secession, of the Secession while they reniained in com- munion with the Estabhshed Church, were ut- terly ineffectual to induce the Assembly to correct its errors, and to exert its powers to subdue and expel acknowledged evils ; and since the era of their separation, the spirit and measures of that Court remain unchanged ; though the Secession Church, by its very existence, by its practical adherence to the formularies whicli it holds in common with the Church of the Establishment, and by the testimonies, and warnings which its Courts have occasionally published, has long pleaded in the name of God with that church. Indeed, in reviewing its administration during the existence of the secession, instances occur, not merely of the sufferance, but of the virtual sanction, of gross error, and of the enforcement of the law of patronage, with a severity unknown before our separation. The neglect and relaxation of discipline have kept pace with these evils. On these general grounds, then, (which we shall briefly illustrate), we vindicate our continuance in a state of secession from the na- tional church. I. If errors which deeply affect the foundations of the faith and hope of Christians, are publicly taught in a church, and if the ma- IN A STATE OF SECESSION. 69 jority of its rulers, instead of employing fit means to reclaim false teachers, shall resist the application of such means, and not only tolerate, but support the erroneous, and identify themselves with them, how can the faithful friends of the truth continue in that church with a safe conscience ? Must they not recognise the cor- rupters of the Gospel as brethren, and give them the right hand of fellowship, as members of the same courts and of the same body ? This is inconsistent with the apostolic exhortations: " If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed."" Paul, writing to the churches of Galatia, concerning the Judaizing teachers, says, " I would they were even cut off which trouble you.*" Nor ought the idea of breaking the unity of the church to deter any one from withdrawing. The unity is already broken. The church is in a state of schism. Its pastors, instead of teaching the same, teach opposite things on the most important subjects. Their unity is merely nominal. The formularies which they subscribe in com- mon, no longer indicate the real belief of the body, and have ceased to be the bond of ministerial and church conmi union. Such is die actual state of the Church of Scotland. Its courts discourage processes against any of its ministers for errors, though gross and dangerous; and when they have been compelled to institute them, the issue has been invariably such as to shew, that doctrines which oppose and subvert the Gospel of Christ, may be taught by the ministers of that church, without any great risk of ecclesiasti- cal censure. The fact is notorious to all who are acquainted with the state of religion, that, instead of being joined together in the same mind, and in the same judgment, concerning the leading doc- trines of their confession, there are schisms among them, which much more widely separate them from each other, than the evan- gelical party in that church is separated from the secession. Yet they form one visible body, and mutually communicate the most sacred pledges of fellowship. What testimony can courts so com- posed bear to the truth ? What exposure or condemnation of er- ror can be expected to emanate from them ? How can evangelical ministers, how can the faithful in Christ Jesus, recognise the gross- ly erroneous as their brethren, and members of the same body, without incurring the guilt of lending their countenance and aid to false teachers, and to the propagation of their pernicious tenets ? * • The following are a few, and only a few, specimens of doctrines, inconsistent with the standards of the Church of Scotland, published by ministers in her com- munion. " The 70 VINDICATION OF CONTINUANCE II. N()thing has contributed so much to the mournful prevalence of error, and to the uniform protection of the erroneous in the na- — " The Supreme Lawgiver determined, from the beginning, to mitigate in our favour the rigour of law, to make allowance for human error and imperfec- tion, and to accept of repentance and sincere obedience, instead of sinless per- fection."— Jf«c^e7/'s Practical Essay, pp. 251, 252. — " Since Jesus Christ became a willing sacrifice for the truth, and laid down his life in confirmation of his doctrine, which is the new covenant, promising the remission of sins and eternal life to all sinners who repent and live virtuously, it was very natural, especially when speaking to persons educated in the Jewish religion, to represent the blood of Christ as the blood of a covenant-victim, and to ascribe all the blessings of the covenant to that blood by which it was ratified and sealed."— 76. p. 350. — "We are often said, in the New Testament, to be justified, saved, redeemed, delivered, and the like, because we are put in the sure way of obtaining these benefits, and cannot fail of them but by our own fault ; yet, strictly speaking, we are at present saved from the guilt of sin in hope and expectation, rather than in actual possession." — lb. p. 232. — '« Why is Adam, by St Luke, termed the son of God ? On account of his immediate creation ; as also Christ was, though born of a woman." — Dalrymple's History of Christ, p. 518. — " The faith necessary to justification consists in a sincere disposition to know and to do the will of God." — Macknight on the Epistles, vol. ii. p. 194, 4to. edit. , — " The inspired writers have ascribed men's justification to good works, as expressly as to faith ; not, however, as if either had any meritorious influence in procuring justification, but as conditions, equally required by God, and equally necessary to render men capable of eternal life." — lb. p. 207- — " The common opinion concerning the justification of believers in the pre- sent life, is founded on the misunderstanding of the s<.'ripture phraseology, and is not agreeable either to reason or to experience." — lb. p. 208. — " Indeed the whole injunctions of Christianity suppose that we are capable, notwithstanding our degeneracy, of yielding a sincere, though imperfect, obe- dience ; otherwise they would not have been given by our merciful Legislator." — Smith's Dispovrses on some of the most important Doctrines and Duties of Christiani- ty, p. 108. — " Here some divuies have conceived that there is a curse derived to us from the original guilt of our first parents; that their apostasy was imputed to us, and rendered us partakers of their iniquity ; that we sinned in them, and fell with them, in their first transgi-ession. Accordingly, certain of the christian fathers taught that a covenant was made betwixt God and Adam, in which he represented all mankind."— P. 108. — '• The miseries of this life, tiien, and the pains of death at last, are the ex- tent of that punishment to which we are liable by the imputation of original sin. But some divines consider the punishment inflicted for oi-iginal sin, as extending not only to the pains and afflictions of this life, but exposing us to misery in the life to come. Such ojjinions, though \\\cy are maintained by some of tlie re- formed Church, are the mere dogmas of men, who have assumed the character of being wise above wliat is written." — lb. These quotations are extracted from a review of INfr Smith's Discourses, who ^hen xi'as, and we believe still is, a preacher in the Establislicd Cluncli. IN A STATE OF SECESSION. 71 tional church, as the settlement of ministers by Patronage. Whe- ther we consult the dictates of reason, or advert to the constitution and example of the apostolic churches, or think of the nature of the church, the spirit of the christian economy, and the ends of the in- stitution of the christian ministry, we must be convinced, that the fixing of the important relation which exists between the pastor and his flock should be the result of mutual consent *. In the first ages of the New Testament, church-patronage was unknown. Is it not evident that the church-court, which sets over a people as their pastor an individual of whom they know nothing, or to whose piety, soundness in the faith, and general character, they have se- rious objections ; or whom they judge to be but ill qualified for promoting their edification, and who has no claim to be appointed their spiritual overseer, except that which he derives from the pre- sentation of the patron, (who may not even be a member of that church), sacrifices the most valuable rights and privileges of the people to an antichristian usurpation, degrades the sacred ofiice, * Not to mention other arguments on this subject, it may be stated, that, if the apostles did not possess, or if they declined to exercise the right of present- ing office-bearers to particular churches, without the consent of those churches, — if thus, even the highest ecclesiastical characters did not claim the power of church-patronage, we may justly denounce as grossly antichristian, the assump- tion of it by laymen, and the retaining of it as a civil right, and the purchase and sale of it as a civil property. In the sixth chapter of the acts of the Apostles, we are informed that the Grecians murmured against the Hebrews, because the widows of the former were neglected in the daily administration. To remedy this evil, the Apostles, having called the multitude of the disciples together, said to them, V. 2-6, " It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables. AVherefore, brethren, look ye out among 3'ou seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this busi- ness. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word. And the saying pleased the whole multitude, and they chose Ste- phen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicholas, a i)roselyte of Antioch; whom they set before the apostles ; and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them." We can scarcely doubt that the disciples would have cordially ac- quiesced, though the apostles, without consulting them, had chosen certain per- sons for distributing the monies of the chuixh, and had proceeded to set them apart to that office. But this the apostles did not do. They required the peo- ple to " look out" from among themselves seven persons whom they judged to be the best quaJified, and these seven, when chosen, were brought before the apostles, who set them apart by prayer and the imposition of hands. It is rea- sonable to conclude that the apostles, by their practice in this case, designed to furnish an example for guiding the church in all similar cases. This argument derives additional force, from the consideration that the event referred to took place when tlie members of the church had comparativeh' little knowledge and experience, and were so much the less qualified for exercising that important right, which was thus acknowledged to belong to them. 72 VINDICATION OF CONTINUANCE and defeats, in a great measure, the ends of its appointment ? If tliis unhallowed mode of admission to the charge of souls prevail in a church, and be rigorously enforced by the Supreme Courts e\cn in the face of constitutional remonstrance and opposition, both by the people and by inferior judicatories, — if the sacred claims of con- science itself to be exempted from direct participation in the guilt of a violent settlement are disregarded, how can fellowship with that church be maintained, without supporting that system of spi- ritual oppression ? If we arc to stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, and to mark them who cause divisions and offences, and avoid them, we must come out from that church, and be separate. This reason of separation has been greatly strength- ened by the procedure of the General Assembly since the com- mencement of the secession. An active concurrence in violent set- tlements has, in different cases, been made a term of ministerial communion. Presbyteries, which had delayed to fulfil the appoint- ment of the Assembly to induct presentees whom the people would not receive, have been rebuked for their disobedience ; and though they declared that they had no freedom in their consciences to pro- ceed, yet the Assembly has renewed the appointment under pain of higher censure *. The form of appointing one to moderate in a call is still preserved; but it is of no consequence, in relation to the sustaining of the call, whether the signatures be many or few, nor whether the subscribers reside in the parish, nor even whether they be of the communion of the church. The blank in the call is in- variably filled up with the name of the presentee -f-. Insult is thus * Such was the procedure of the Assembly in 1732 against the presbytery of Dunfermline, which was appointed to carry through a violent settlement in the parish of Inverkeithing, during the time of the Assembly sitting ; and in 1756 against the presbytery of Tain, appointed to ordain a presentee in the parish of Nigg, whose settlement had been unanimously opposed by the parish for a series of years. I We mention the following as instances from a multitude which might be spe- cified ; the settlement of Mr Crichton, presentee to the parish of Glendovan, 1770, four persons only having subscribed his call, none of whom was resident in the parish — of Mr Pearson, presentee to the parish of Biggar, 1780, and of Mr Boyd to the parish of Fenwick, 1781, in both of vvhich cases, the letters of some non-residing heritors to the Assembly, declaring their concurrence in the settle- ment, were found to be sufficient, while the calls remained mere blanks ; — the settlement of Mr Simpson to the parish of Fearn, 1802, whose call was subscrib- ed by only four or five individuals; — of Mr Ross to the same parish in 1809, Avliose ordination, on the day appointed l)y the presbytery, was prevented by the violence of the people, but was effected, on a future occasion, in consequence of the attendance of a numerous body of constables ;— of Mr Munro to the parish of Kiltearn, about 1815, whose call was subscribed by only two or three lieril(>rs IN A STATE OF SECESSION. 73 added to injustice and tyranny. Indeed, so inflexibly has the As- sembly adhered to its purpose to support the settlement of minis- ters by presentations, that, even after a presbytery, which had pre- scribed the ordinary pieces of trial to the presentee, had found him unqualified, the Assembly appointed its own Commission to receive his trials, whicii being sustained, as might have been anticipated, the Presbytery was enjoined to proceed forthwith to his ordina- tion *. At length (1784) tiie Assembly decided, " that there does not appear to be any reason for making innovation in the mode of set- tling vacant parishes ;" and now the settlement of ministers in op- position to the minds of parishioners, is so common, that it attracts very little attention. The people disregarded, either quietly leave the Established Church, or tamely submit to the imposition. So much is their spirit subdued by oppression, that opposition but rarely occurs ; yet it cannot be forgotten, that, in some instances, it was found necessary to employ military force to carry into effect the appointment of the judicatories in the ordination of the pre- sentee +. A due sense of the liberties of the church seems to be and farmers, who had come from the south, aj^ainst which settlement, a petition was presented to the presbytery, signed by all the heads of families in the parish, except the very few who had subscribed his call ; and the people still obstinately refuse to acknowledge him as their minister, so that his audience on the Lord's day rarely exceeds a dozen, and there have been from fifty to sixty children at a time unbaptized in the parish ; — that of Mr Frazer to the parish of Kiltarlity, and of My Campbell to the parish of Croy, both in 1823, whose settlements, in utter contempt not only of the disorderly, but even of the constitutional opposi- tion of the people, must be fresh in the recollection of those who read the public journals of the time. — " It has been the immemorial practice of the Church of Scotland, by appointing the moderation of a call, to give the people an opportu- nity of encouraging the labours of their future minister, by addressing to him this invitation ; and in consequence of this practice, one of the legal steps in the set- tlement of a minister is a sentence of the presbytery sustaining the call. But whatever was the state of matters at the time when the practice began, it is now understood that a call may be sustained, however small the number of subscrib- ers. For although the matter was long vehemently contested, and is still occa- sionally the subject of discussion, the church courts have shewn, by the train of their decisions during the greater part of the last century, that they do not con- sider themselves as warranted by law, to refuse admission to a presentee, upon ac- count of any deficiency in the subscription to his call." — Dr HilPs View of the Constitution of the Church of Scotland, pp. 73, 74. Second Edition. • We refer to the proceedings of the Assembly, and its Commission, in relation to the settlement of Mr Wells, presentee to the parish of Shotts, 17C4-1768. + As in the settlement of Mr Wells at Shotts, 17fi8, and that of Mr Campbell at Crov, 1823, &c. 74 VINDICATION OF CONTINUANCE lost, and a regard to her spiritual dignity and authority sacrificed, to support an iniquitous and oppressive law, the source of unnum- bered evils to the church *. III. On the neglect or relaxation of discipline, it may be observ- ed, that it is at once a cause and a consequence of the evils which have been detailed. If the rulers of the Church had faithfully fulfilled their trust, the erroneous would have been reclaimed or expelled, and many of the pernicious consequences of patronage prevented ; but, choosing to act otherwise, they have perpetuated and increased the corrupt majority. A growing disregard of the ancient discipline, not only in relation to purity of faith and charac- ter in office-bearers, but also to the requisite qualifications for ad- mission to church-fellowship, is the necessary consequence "j*. A profession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and a conversa- tion becoming the Gospel, rendering that profession credible, are required of all, in order to communion in the privileges of the Church. The neglect of this rule, by an almost indiscriminate admission of applicants to sealing ordinances, violates the law of Christ, profanes his institutions, establishes a false and degrading standard of Christian character, confounds the distinction between the church and the world, and tends to nurse self-deception in some, and to produce and strengthen infidelity in others. The fact is undoubted that, in the National Church, the seals of the New Testament are dispensed to many from whom Christ com- mands his followers to turn away ; who not only neglect family relio-ion, but who openly profane the great and dreadful name of the Lord our God, who violate the sanctities of the Sabbath, and devote that day, which God has set apart for himself, to business or amusement; and who, instead of abstaining from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul, appear too evidently to be lovers ot" })lea?ure more than lovers of God. In some parishes there cannot properly be any exercise of discipline, because there are no resident ruling ciders. Besides, the General Assembly, by the various obstruc- tions which it throws in the way of prosecuting and convicting of- fenders, and by the decisions which it has almost uniformly given when such cases have come before it, effectually discourages those ministers and inferior judicatories who manifest a disposition faith- • That the character and consequences of the law of patronage are such as have been stated above, is the declai-ed conviction of some ministers and member."^ of the establishment itself. In proof of this, we need only to appeal to the public speeches at the meetings of the Society for the Improvement of Church Patronage, which has been lately instituted. f Vide Tart II. Chap. II. Sect. viii. § 5. IN A STATE OF SECESSION. /O fully to exercise the discipline of the Church from attempting it, at least with such persons as are likely to carry them to the su- preme court by appeals. One pernicious effect of this is, that, from the dread of consequences^ if not from partiality, the higher classes of society are, in a great measure, exempted from discipline, whereas the Apostle solemnly charges the ministers of the Gospel, before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the elect angels, to ad- minister the disciphne of the Church, " without preferring one be- fore another, doing nothing by partiality.'' Discipline is still more perverted, or rather it is vilely cast away, by exacting pecuniary fines in lieu of the infliction of censure according to the law of Christ; — a practice which is utterly inconsistent with the spiritual nature and designs of Christianity, which, instead of exerting the least influence on the offender for his conviction, tends to make him regardless of moral obligation, and to harden him in his sin ; which amounts to a base purchase of admission to the most sacred privileges of the church, and gives occasion to persons whose moral and religious principles are unsettled, to tliink of sin as if its guilt could be removed, and an indulgence to live in it obtained by mo- ney ; which lowers the tone of public morals, and which brings down on the character of society a baneful influence from the veiy men who, by their office as the ministers of the Holy One, are bound to contribute all in their power to purify and exalt it. If, as has often been more than insinuated, the dependence of the ministers in the Secession, on the consciences and affections of their people, for their tempoi-al support, deterred them from the faithful performance of their duty, and instead of proving a means of strengthening the mutual love which ought to subsist between a pastor and his flock, and which is so necessary to the success of his labours — reduced him to the necessity of employing unworthy me- thods for retaining their regards: and if the independence on the voluntary contributions of the members of the Church, which the establishment gives to its ministers, by lifting them above tempta- tion, secured their impartiality and faithfulness, — ought we not to anticipate with confidence, that the Church of the Establishment would be characterized by a purer and more select fellowship, and by a more equal and efficient exercise of discipline, than the Church of the Secession is P But, is this the fact ? While we confess and deplore our own imperfections, we boldly answer in the negative ; and though calumny may not be silenced, we can confidently ap- [>eal on this subject to the candour which is in the Establishment itself. 76 VINDICATION OF CONTINUANCE If such corruptions, then, not only exist in the Church of Scot- land, but, notwithstanding all the means which have been employed to persuade her to repent and do the first works, are habitually supported by her supreme judicial administration, so that we can- not enjoy fellowship with her in observing the ordinances of Jesus Christ, without neglecting the duties which we owe to him and to the souls of men, and without giving active support to those cor- ruptions, it must be our duty still to continue in a state of Seces- sion. We are Seceders, therefore, not from the pride of consistency, nor in the indulgence of a pharisaical or sectarian spirit, but be- cause of the palpable and persevering deviations which the courts of that church have made from her own standards. But it is not the duty of Ministers only to hold forth the word of life, and to testify against prevailing corruptions. The Members of the Church, in their sphere, are under obligations to co-operate with them. AVhether or not valid reasons existed for stating a se- cession from the Church of Scotland, when the Associate Presby- tery was constituted, must be felt by those who, alive to the vast importance of forming an ecclesiastical connection, conscientiously consider to which of the two churches it is their duty to accede, to be now at the distance of ninety years a question of comparatively inferior importance. What is the present state of those churches.? They acknowledge the same formularies. Which adheres to these formularies most faithfully ? Whose administration, in all its ex- tent, best corresponds to them ? Are they in the one almost a dead letter^ and the other a living rule ? Which best secures a pure dispensation of the gospel and its ordinances, and the preservation and exercise of the rights and privileges of the people, as members of the Church of Christ ? Which exerts the most vigilant super- intendence over its ministry and members ? and in whose fellow- ship may the various ends of a church state, as the principal means of promoting the divine glory and the good of men in connection with personal edification, be most effectually gained ? Such are the inquiries which will interest, most deeply, enlightened and conscien- tious Christians in forming their judgment on this subject, with a view to ascertain their duty. This view of the case does not, we are afraid, receive that attention from many of the friends of re- ligion which it merits. They too often conclude, that because they have access to the ministry of an evangelical and diligent ser- vant of Christ, and can thus secure the means of their own edifi- cation ; they need give themselves no concern about the principles, administration, and general character of the body to which they IN A STATli OF SECESSION. 77 belong. This conclusion proceeds on views inconsistent with that unity and fellowship in the faith and ordinances of the gospel which Christ enjoins his church to maintain, and with the obliga- tions which he imposes on its members, to strive together for their holy profession; displays, instead of an enlightened love to Christ, and to the souls of men, a narrow and selfish spirit, which seeks chiefly, and almost exclusively, its own things ; prevents co-opera- tion in resisting the inroads of error, and in promoting pure and undefiled religion, and weakens the hands of those who endeavour to follow the Lord fully. Besides, by uniting themselves with a society which retains in office or in fellowship such as are known to be unsound in the faith, or immoral in conduct, they recognise them as brethren. They lend their support to the diffusion of er- ror and sin ; and thus indirectly contribute to dishonour the Sa- viour, to misrepresent Christianity, and to injure men in their im- mortal interests. Surely, if our Lord Jesus Christ requires all the members of his church to prove all things, and to hold fast that which is good ; if he commands them to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints, to strive together for it, with one heart and with one mind, and to withdraw from brethren who walk disorderly, it cannot be a matter of indifference to what society christians accede, and in what fellowship they walk. It must ob- viously be their duty to connect themselves with that Church whose profession and administration are most scriptural, and whose good has mixed with it the least portion of evil. This, therefore, is an inqun-y which every disciple of Christ is bound conscientiously to institute; and, of the result of his investigation, if regulated by the word of God as the only rule of trial and ground of judgment, and conducted in the spirit of prayer, we entertain no doubt. We feel assured, that, to such an inquirer, it must be obvious, that, in our present state of separation, without being partakers of the corruji- tions of the Establishment, we retain and enjoy all that is valuable in its principles, order, and privileges as a Church of Christ, and have other liberties and^ facilities as an ecclesiastical community, which that Church does not possess. A Scriptural Profession having been adopt- j .^ . ^ , . , . r-.i • .• ^ Character of Church ed. It IS not less mcumbent on Christians to nr ._ ' . . JMenibers. continue stedfastly in it, to hold it fast with- out wavering, and so to conduct themselves in all the relations they bear, as at once to evince their owai sincerity, and to secure, under*^the divine blessing, the objects for which they have associa- ted. They must be attentive to all the duties of personal and fa- 78 VINDICATION OF CONTINUANCE mily religion ; regularly observe the public ordinances of the Gk)8- pel, " not forsaking the assembling of themselves together, as the manner of some is ;'" submit, in the spirit of humility and meek- ness, to the government and discipline which Christ hath instituted for their edification, esteeming those who " watch for their souls very highly in love, for their work"'s sake, " and giving them " all due subjection, subsistence, and encouragement in the Lord ;"" and, " above all, " they must " put on charity, which is the bond of per • fectness."" The members of the church should keep steadily in view, not only their own, but each other's spiritual improvement and com- fort. While, on the one hand, no man should put " a stumbling block, or an occasion to fall, in his brother's way," and for the sake of his brethren, and of the peace of the church, should exercise that self-denial which the Scriptures enjoin, by abstaining from things which, though he judges he can do with a safe conscience, yet he knows to be regarded by his brethren as ensnaring and un- lawful ; it must not be forgotten on the other, that the indulgence of a captious spirit, and a proneness to take offence, are not less un- christian. We are commanded*" to consider one another; to ex- hort one another daily ; to look diligently, lest any man fail of the o-race of God, lest any root of bitterness, springing up, trouble us, and thereby many be defiled ; and to put on, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a cpiarrel against any.*" If the brotherly love which tlie Apostle describes in the thirteenth chapter of his iirst Epistle to the Corinthians, — without which, a man, whatever may be his other gifts and attainments, is declared to be destitute of vital Christianity, — were duly cultivated by cluirch members, of- fences could rarely occur among them. Amid the duties which we owe to each other, we must not over- look our obligations to the young, who form an interesting portion of our christian community. In baptism, tiieir parents devoted them to God, and recognised the obligations which this law im- poses, to " bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord."" If they walk in the spirit of the profession and engage- ment which they then made, they will worship God daily with their families, will affectionately communicate to their children the knowledo-e of his will, and will endeavour to exhibit to thejn, in their own tem})er and conduct, what they ought to be. But their parents are not the only persons v.ho owe duties to the young dis. IN A STATE OF SECESSION. 79 ciples of Christ. When they were baptized, the church professed to receive them in Christ's name, and the members acknowledged their relation to them, in consequence of their connection with Him. To this relation, certain duties must belong. Doubtless the chvirch is entitled to expect, that parents will fulfil their volun- tary stipulations, and ought to employ every fit method for ensu- ring this important object. In various ways, especially through the medium of her office-bearers, she may do much to excite them to the diligent and faithful discharge of their duties. The benefit which the yowng will thence derive is obvious. Much may be done by occasional direct instruction. And while we bear tliem on our hearts before our Heavenly Father, let us also commend his Gos- pel to their esteem by our holy example ; and affectionately em- brace every opportunity which may occur, of warning, admonish- ing, exciting, and directing them. But we cannot exhibit, in detail, the various duties of the pro- fessors of religion, nor the evils which tliey ought to avoid. They should seai'ch the Scriptures daily, that they may learn the v.ill of God, and may habituate their minds to yield implicit submission to his will. Integrity, truth, justice, benevolence, meekness, should characterize their whole conduct. They should " submit them- selves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether it be to the king as supreme, or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him, for the punishment of evil-doers, and for the praise of them that do well ; for so is the will of God, that with wclj-doino-" christians " may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men."" " Denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, they should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in the present evil world, looking for the blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the Great God and our Saviour, Jesus Christ." No testimony for the truth is so powerful, as that which is given by a uniformly pious and holy life. Reli- gious professions, unaccompanied by a corresponding temper and conduct, not only deserve no credit, but expose Christianity to re- proach, and strengthen the prejudices of unbelievers. Unconvert- ed men are described as " walking after the course of this world, and fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind ;" but christians " put off the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and put on the new man, which, after God, is created in righteousness and true hohness." Especially, they should guard against the sinful and ensnaring practices which prevail around them. The frequency of such practices, and the worldly respecta- bility of many by whom they are countenanced, render them pecu- 80 VINDICATION OF CONTINUANCE liarly dangerous. In such cases the temptation is strong. And let it not be forgotten, that compliance or resistance becomes, in the estimation of the men of the world, a test of character, — a rule of judging whether they may claim professors of the Gospel as real- ly their ottm. " Be not conformed to this world,"" says the Apostle, " but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind." And again, " Let us cast off the works of darkness, and put on the ar- mour of light, and walk honestly as in the day, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying." Though the Congregations to which christians of our commu- nion severally belong, and the particular Church of which they are members, have a primary claim to their prayers and christian ex- ertions, yet it must be remembered, that we form but a very small portion of the Church of Christ ; that his cause is not confined to our society ; and that we ought to endeavour to promote his inte- rests, in every part of his widely extended kingdom. Every scrip- tural plan, then, by whomsoever devised, for reviving vital Christia- nity within the limits of the visible Church, and for extending the empire of Christ, till it shall include all nations, should have our cordial support. Institutions for accomplishing these glorious ob- jects already exist in our land, and we have not been indifferent to their success, nor have we declined to support them. Let not our zeal abate. Rather let us renew the sacred resolution, and live, through grace, fulfilling it ; " For Zion's sake, I will not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake, I will not rest, until the righteous- ness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth." A season of regeneration approaches, which may be introduced by days of trial. Let us endeavour to know ihe signs of the times, and what we ought to do ; and be prepared to meet our God. In conclusion, — Deeply convinced, that the Gospel is made effectual for the salvation of men, '- not by might, nor by power, but by the Spirit of the Lord ;" apprehensive that its success bears little pi'oportion to the abundance and variety of means which are employed, and that this may arise, in part, from a sinful neglect, by the friends of Christ, of earnest prayer ; and encouraged by his promises to shed down his Spirit, and by the blessed revivals which, in past ages, have been vouchsafed in answer to prayer, let us stir up all that is within us, and excite each other to abound in this exercise. Especially, let us implore a copious effusion of the Spirit IN A STATE OF SECESSION. 81 of life, of supplication, of holiness, of all grace ; and the word of the Lord shall have free course and be glorified. " Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briars, — until the Spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest. Then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness remain in the fruitful field. And the work of righteousness shall be peace ; and the ef- fect of righteousness, quietness and assurance for ever. He shall come down like rain on the mown grass ; as the showers that wa- ter the earth. For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground : I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine off'spring ; and they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water-courses. — Thus saith the Lord God, I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them. When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the Lord will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them. Ask, and it shall be given you ; seek, and ye shall find ; knock, and it shall be opened unto you : for every one that asketh receiveth ; and he that seek- eth findeth ; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. — Ye that make mention of the Lord," then, " keep not silence ; and give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth." PART II. DOCTRINAL STATEMENTS AGAINST ERROR AND IMMORALITY. F 2 ( 85 ) INTRODUCTION. W HiLE Opposition to the Creed or Confession, in behalf of which Separation has taken place, extensively prevails, a judicial Defence of that Confession, by a public and solemn condemnation of the prevalent evils, and especially a defence of the Articles assailed, be- comes proper and necessary. Such a defence is required, in connection with the detail of facts in the preceding pages, and particularly with the Statement of the grounds of Secession from the Church of Scotland. To those, therefore, Avho desire information, we would distinctly announce what we are, and what we wish to accomplish. At the same time, we would guard the members of our own Church against the pol- kitions of the world, and, what is ever favourable to these, the spi- rit of error. Others we would warn, especially those who are ex- posed to pecuHar temptations, or who have already been unwarily entangled. Our object is to gain, as fully as possible, the great ends of our association, by at once securing our own purity, doing justice to the truth, and consulting what we judge to be the best interests of the present and succeeding generations. To receive revealed truth is not the only duty of Christians in regard to it. It is incumbent on them to preserve it in the Church, diffuse it throughout the world, and transmit it to succeeding ge- nerations. They must — Retain it themselves, neither apostatising, nor partially yielding to the seductions of error \—'Hold itjbrth to others, doing honour to it by open confession, and such solemn or resolute avowal, as circumstances require, should it even be by martyrdom ; — Co-operate in its dissemination, according to their place in the Church, and the opportunities which God may be pleased to afford ; — Defend it, agreeably to its own spirit, and by the means which it sanctions ; — and, lastly. Recommend it, by exhibiting its power, in all the convincing and captivating influence of holy example. For these purposes, and for the reasons stated above, we feel ourselves called upon to express our adherence to the Principles of the Secession, and to subjoin the following Vindication of theta 86 VINDICATION OF THE CLAIMS in reference, I. To the vaxious forms of opposition to the claims of the Holy Scriptures ; II. To the several errors with regard to the system of revealed truth which abound in the present age ; and, III. To the practical evils which chiefly prevail. CHAPTER I. VINDICATION OF THE CLAIMS OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. Having recognised in our Confession of Faith the divine origin of the Scriptures of the Old and the New Testaments, and their consequent claim to be regarded as the Supreme and only infallible standard of faith and manners ; we consider as most pernicious to the best interests of men, the denial of Revelation, in whole or in part,— the doctrine of the sufficiency of the light of nature, — the elevation of reason to the place of supreme judge in matters of re- velation, — the opinion that the sacred writers had no full or parti- cular inspiration, — the allegation of the necessity or lawfulness of additions to the anciently received canon, — the substitution of other judges of controversy than the Scriptures themselves, on pretence of determining their meaning, — all deference to human authority, inconsistent with the claims of the sacred oracles, — and all pretend- ed new revelations, or supernatural discoveries, beside or beyond the written word, I. The denial of a Divine Revelation. — Though infidels have not only been repelled in all their attacks on the Christian Religion, but successfully assailed in their own strongholds, — though, instead of the triumph they predicted, and at one time conspired to accomplish, the Holy Scriptures have maintained their ground, have been rising in the estimation of mankind, and are now diffusing their benign light over the dark places of the earth, — yet it is well known, and much to be deplored, that infi- del opposition, or, as it is frequently, though improperly, called. Deism, still exists, and attempts to prevail. Its sophistry still per- vades and pollutes some of our most celebrated histories. Its dark insinuations surprise us in discussions on natural science, and even on moral philosophy. It attempts to warp itself with certain poli- tical opinions, and thus to establish its controul over a large class ©f the community. It lias widened its sphere and increased its OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 8 7 energies, by rendering public journals and other periodical works, now so extensively read, the vehicles of its doctrines, and of its de- moralizing influence. It has enlisted works of fiction in its service, and has arrayed some of its most hideous forms in all the seductive charms of a captivating poetry. Against this species of opposition to our Holy Rehgion, the mind of every Christian may, through the blessing of God, be suf- ficiently fortified, by a careful and candid perusal of the Scriptures themselves, and by considering, that, as Revelation is possible, so it is necessary for us ; and that the claim of the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to the high character of a Revelation from God, is supported by most satisfactory evidence. That it is possible for God to reveal his will to individuals, and to qualify and dispose these individuals to communicate it infallibly to others, cannot be doubted by any one who reflects on the power which God necessarily possesses over the human mind, over the organs of sense, and over the several modes of communication be- tween man and man. That Revelation is necessary to man is apparent from the diffi- culty of our determining, in our present circumstances, with pre- cision and certainty the very principles of natural religion ; but chiefly from the insufficiency of any discoveries which can be made by unassisted reason, either for affbrding the hope of deliverance from our present guilty state, or for effecting the necessary change in our moral character. The forms of worship acceptable to God, are dependent on his will, and cannot be known but by his own prescription. The immortahty of the soul has been doubted, and cannot be decisively ascertained by unassisted reason. While this is the case, the extent of human responsibility must be involved in uncertainty. The principles of morahty, too, have* often been questioned, or entirely set aside, through misconceptions concern- ing God, aversion to his moral excellence, and the evident subjec- tion of conscience itself to the influence of depravity. A strange diversity, and even contrariety, appear both in the theories of phi- losophers, and in the enactments of heathen legislators. The most correct of both are destitute of the authority of supreme law, and can be regarded as only human suggestions. But, if a purpose of mercy exist with respect to the fallen, the necessity of Revelation must, from the very nature of the case, be still more obvious ; for neither the existence of such a purpose, nor the plan of its execu- tion, is manifested by the works of nature, or can be discovered by the unassisted efforts of man. The heathen have been, and are, not 88 VINDICATION OF THE CLAIMS only strangers to the way of reconciliation, but ignorant of God, of his worship, and of that which constitutes man's chief good. The Scriptures of the Old and the New Testaments professedly contain that Revelation which our present circumstances render necessary for confirming the true principles of the light of nature, and supplying its defects. The claims of other books to this high character are false and futile. The proofs of such a revelation in the Scriptures are various and complete. 1. The claim of the Scriptures is not rendered suspicious by any thing in their manner of advancing it, nor is it contradicted by any thing contained in the books themselves. The most mysterious of their doctrines are not contrary to reason, and are only such as might have been expected in a revelation concerning the incompre- hensible God and his ways. None of the facts which they state are incredible in their own nature, or have ever been disproved by au- thentic testimony. They inculcate nothing detrimental to society, or unworthy of God. They never contradict themselves, though written at sundry times, and in divers manners, and by the instru- mentality of a great number of individuals. No part of them can be shewn to be useless or irrelevant. 2. The positive internal evidences of the divine origin of the Scriptures as a Revelation from God, are abundant and most satis- factory. The end proposed, and all along pursued, is undeniably sufficient to justify a divine revelation to man. This end is the glory of God in saving sinners from perdition, and effectually re- claiming them from the error of their ways ; or, more generally, — the accomphshment of a grand triumph of the Deity over moral evil, by a work which fully sustains, and most illustriously displays the honours of the Divine character and government, amehorates the state of the world, and secures the spiritual renovation, and everlasting happiness, of a multitude which no man can number. When M^e examine the Scriptures, the impress of divinity ap- pears in their subHmity, purity, authority, and majesty. We per- ceive it in the views which they give of the perfections, the plans, the operations, the constant superintendence, and the moral govern- ment of God. We feel it in the power of their laws and reproofs, in their accurate delineations of the human heart, and in the fitness, energy, and holy tendency of their consolations. They address us as immortal but fallen beings. They censure with impartiality. They pronounce sentence with majesty and authority. Tliey cap- tivate the heart, by declaring the love of God. They exhibit the relief which conscience demands, and in which alone reason can ac- quiesce as worthy of God. OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 89 3. The important Facts recorded in the Scriptures are sufficiently attested. On the facts recorded by the Jewish legislator, depends the truth of the Mosaic economy. Those, again, of the history of Christ are the basis of the Christian dispensation, and, in one respect or ano- ther, are the chief theme of the whole Bible. Some of the facts recorded were merely extraordinary, others were miraculous. Proofs of these facts may be derived from vari- ous quarters, independently of the Scriptures themselves. The Christian can appeal to certain appearances, both in the natural and in the moral world ; to the traditions of Scripture-facts, which are found among the heathen, and in countries the most remote from each other ; and, as the primitive apologists frequently did, to the authentic records of the Greeks and the Romans, some of which still remain, though others have been lost. He can appeal to public monuments and usages, both among Jews and Christians ; for, un- less the facts which they commemorate took place, and were such as the Scriptures declare, how could these memorials ever have been introduced, and how could they have been so long and so steadily upheld by multitudes, who, in other respects, entertained different, and even opposite sentiments "^ Miracles are works in which the laws of nature are for the time suspended, counteracted, or superseded. Such works are best fitted for attesting a revelation when it is given. They indicate the pre- sence and sanction of the Ruler of Nature. They are possible^ for the laws and processes of nature evidently depend on the Deity. Supposing a revelation intended, or in pi-ocess of actual communica- tion, they axe probable, and might be expected. It is the dictate of reason, that facts which are miraculous, afford sufficient proof oi the divine commission of those by whose agency or instrumentality they are wrought, or of the supernatural origin and character of that religion in which they hold a pre-eminent place. Such was the declared design of the miracles to which Christians appeal. They were not directly intended to demonstrate the existence and common providence of God, which are principles of natural religion, but to accredit Revelation, and some of them occupy an important place in the system of its truths. The mira- cles of Jesus, for example, are not simply credentials of his divine mission, or proofs of his high character, but illustrations of his gra- cious work in the Gospel dispensation ; while his incarnation, by miraculous conception, and particularly, his resurrection from the 90 VINDICATION OF THE CLAIMS dead, are in other, and still more important respects, connected with the faith and hope of the Christian. Their purpose and place being well understood, the truth of the miracles is the only point to be estabhshed. And let it be remem- bered, that their certainty did not depend upon testimony at the time they were w^rought. The evidence appealed to was that of the senses, which every unprejudiced mind will allow to be sufficient in the case supposed. But as the facts, from their very nature, could not be perpetual or of ordinary occurrence, subsequent ages, it is evident, must depend upon testimony ; and miracles may be as sa- tisfactorily proved by testimony as any other species of historical facts. The truth of the facts has been proved by heathen monuments and records, and till a comparatively late period has been conceded by adversaries- The authenticity of the Scripture-record has been estabhshed ; and, assuming it, in the first instance, as mere histori- cal evidence, the number and character of the witnesses are suffi- cient to overwhelm every species of doubt. They were undeniably men of integrity. They were unlearned but honest men, incapable, both naturally and morally, of fabricating an extensive and compli- cated system of imposition. Though they had done so, they pos- sessed neither secular power nor human influence of any descrip- tion ; they openly disavowed both, and, therefore, could never have hoped, in any ordinary way, to procure the reception of their scheme. Had they even acquired a certain degree of popularity, by what conceivable process could a few men persuade multitudes, that thousands of them had seen performed, or even themselves expe- rienced, what never took place? They were not predisposed to be- lieve the divine mission of Jesus, any more than the spirituality of his character and kingdom. All along they had tlie best opportu- nity of observing what was done, and the facts were such that they could not be mistaken about them. Where there was the least dan- ger of mistake, they evinced the strongest disposition to investigate, and to take nothing on trust. They could have no interest in pub- lishing the facts, if they were not satisfied that what they declared was true, and that they were under high obligations to declare it ; for while they sacrificed their worldly comfort, the hope of spiritual favour or celestial recompence depended entirely on the truth of the religion which the facts were designed to attest. Their writings prove them to have been neither enthusiasts nor madmen. If moral principles have any weight in estimating the validity of human tes- OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 91 timony, these witnesses were the most rigid moralists that ever ap- peared in the world, and they exemplified their principles in their personal character, as fully as human infirmity permits, their ene- mies themselves being judges. Not one of them was ever induced to retract his testimony, either by the prospect of advantage, or by the fear of suffering. 4. The truth of Revelation is established by the evidence of Prophecy. . If intimations of future events exist, claiming the character of oracles or predictions, — if they relate to numerous or greatly diver- sified events, — if many of these events be extraordinary, or such as are clearly beyond conjecture, — and, still more, if they be not dis- connected facts, but parts of one great plan, and so foretold, that the disclosure not only presents them in their true light and rela- tions, but forms one grand unfolding scheme, — then, the fulfilment of these predictions incontrovertibly proves the divine origin of the books in which they are found, and of the whole system of religion with which they are connected. Such prophecies are contained in the books of Scripture. The leading subjects of prediction in the Old Testament are the coming and kingdom of Christ. The New Testament completes the system of prophecy by additional Revelations. These prophecies have been fulfilled, or are in the course of ac- comphshment. Let those which occupy the chief place in the Old Testament be compared with the authenticated history of facts, in the birth, life, ministry, character, death, resurrection, and ascen- sion of Jesus Christ. Let those which foretel the preparatory events be compared with the annals of ancient history ; and those, whether in the Old or the New Testament, which pourtray the consequent state of things, be compared with the histories of the church, and of secular revolutions, since the commencement of the christian era. A minute, extended, and most circumstantial fulfilment of the Scrip- ture prophecies will be found, in particular occurrences relative to individuals or nations — in the facts, connected with the mystery of redemption, of all others the most interesting to christians,— in the fate of Jerusalem, and the present state of the Jews, — in the suc- cessive rise of the four great monarchies, the Babylonian, the Per- sian, the Grecian and the Roman, — in the protracted duration and division of the last of these monarchies, — in the antichristian apos- tasy, — and in the Reformation, that grand moral revolution, the re- sults of which are obviously tending to the iulfilment of those pro- phecies that still brighten the prospects of the Church. 92 VINDICATION OF THE CLAIMS 5. Lastly, we appeal to the preservation, success, and spiritual effects of the Scriptures. The religion taught in the Bible is confessedly the most ancient. The books of which the Bible is composed, or the revelations they contain, have been wonderfully preserved in the midst of wide- spreading apostasy, and of determined opposition. It is impossible to account for the early, rapid, and extensive propagation of Chris- tianity (a religion opposed to the corruption of human nature, and that was unaided by secular power), without admitting supernatu- ral gifts in its first teachers — and the divine countenance. It has overthrown, or rather completely annihilated, the Pagan systems of Greece and Home, though long established, powerfully supported, and adorned with all the charms of classical literature. Wherever it has been known or introduced, it has continued to subvert ido- latry and superstition. It has triumphed even over heathen philo- sophy, and produced what neither that, nor any other human in- vention, was able to effect. We appeal to the elevation of the human mind. Modern infi- dels excel the ancient heathen philosophers in their speculations on religion and morality, as well as in the power of prosecuting such speculations. Why ? Not simply because they have the benefit of ancient science, for some of them do not pretend to have ransacked its stores ; but because they have lived within the sphere of Revela- tion, and thus to a certain degree have unavoidably fallen under its influence. Every species of science is eventually improved by those correct habits of thinking, which soon begin to prevail where the Scriptures are generally known and perused. We appeal to the civilization of barbarous nations, — to the ame- lioration of the state of female society, — to the mitigation of the horrors of war, — to the improvement of codes of civil law, and of political constitutions. But what we chiefly appeal to is, the introduction of a new thing in the earth, the form and the power of godliness. The most ob- durate sinners have been converted from the error of their ways. The signs of a true regeneration have appeared on multitudes al- ready incalculable. A spirituality of mind, and sanctity of charac- ter, elsewhere utterly unknown, have been imparted to all true be- lievers. The fallen have been restored and confirmed. The dying have been cheered with the lively hope of a glorious immortality. If such effects as these last stated cannot be ascribed to Revela- tion itself, to the mere letter of the word, nor to the talents of those who preach it, then there are proofs of a supernatural influence with OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 93 which it has been attended. To this the Word itself constantly ascribes its full and proper effect. The light may otherwise shine in the darkness, and the darkness not comprehend it. But, while the evidence which proves it to be light from on high, is sufficient to render those who exclude it utterly inexcusable, they who em- brace it obtain a satisfaction with regard to its divine origin, which, though it cannot be apprehended by others, or apphed for the con- viction of deists, no reasoning can subvert, nor any species of temp- tation destroy. They are initiated into the " mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ."" Believing the record, " they have the witness in themselves." They feel its power ; they know *' the de- monstration of the Spirit." " If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God." II. The existence of a revelation from Heaven, and its doc- trines, as presented in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testa- ments, disprove the sufficiency of the light of nature, — that is, of such discoveries as have been, or can be, made by unassisted reason. CoNF. ch. i. X. § 4. ; L. Cat. Q. 60. This doctrine of the sufficiency of the Light of Nature is distinctly avowed, as it is necessarily held, by deists ; but in a certain modi- fied form it has also been adopted by some who profess to be chris- tians. The former maintain such sufficiency of the light of nature as is wholly exclusive of the necessity of any divine revelation, — an opinion, the falsity of which has been already exposed. The latter, admitting the existence of revelation, of course allow its great utility, as a source of superior advantages to those who enjoy it ; but hold, at the same time, that those who are destitute of it, may really ob- tain the favour of God and eternal felicity, by a due improvement of the light they possess. Unitarians regard Revelation only as a clearer and more certain discovery of what may be known by the light of nature. Others, and some professedly adhering to the standards of the Reformation, have taught that, though Revelation confers certain advantages which ought to be thankfully acknow- ledged, it is not essential to salvation ; that the light of nature may be sufficient where the scriptures are unknown ; " that God has, by the works of creation and providence, including the relics of tradition, given what may be called an obscure objective revelation to all men of his being reconcilable to sinners ; that, therefore, the heathen may know that there is a remedy for sin* ;" nay, '^ that a • See the Libel against Professor Simson. 94 VINDICATION OF THE CLAIMS due respect to the doctrines of natural religion is one form of that faith by which we are justified before God, or, that a strict observ- ance of the laws of natural religion Avill at least secure the benefit of Christ's mediation *."" These tenets we regard as contrary to the Confession of Faith. They, therefore, who advance them, and the courts that tolerate them, by not inflicting adequate censure in such cases, and yet pro- fess to adhere to that Confession, must be considered as acting un- faithfully. But we also judge that these and similar tenets are at variance with the leading doctrines of Revelation itself, and are therefore inconsistently held by those who admit its authority. The Scriptures trace the grand moral apostasy of the Gentiles to the dereliction, not of the doctrines of nature only, but of the pro- mise in which Revelation was at first comprised : they describe the nations as sitting in darkness and the shadow of death — not to be reclaimed but by " God''s having respect to his covenant," the pro- mise made to Abraham of ultimately extending the dispensation of mercy to all nations : They represent the extension of salvation to the Gentiles as coeval with the spread of the Gospel among them : they trace the necessity of this gracious visitation to the fact that the world by wisdom knew not God, and they characterize those who either were, or still are, without the sphere of revelation, and thus strangers to the covenant of promise, as " without hope," because " without Christ," and " without God in the world." All the discoveries of human character which have been made accord with those testimonies of Scripture, and confirm its verdict. Nowhere has man been found acting the part truly worthy of man, or living up to the principles even of natural religion. Nowhere have any, who are destitute of revelation, been found who could tell, to their own satisfaction, or that of others, wherewith man should come before the Lord, and bow himself before the High God, or how the sin of the soul might be expiated. To teach that the doctrines of natural religion may be the proper and adequate subjects of that faith by which a sinner is justified, is to attach a new meaning to the term " faith," foreign to the legitimate use of it, and not recognised in Scripture ; for this faith is the belief of the divine testimony, and that testimony is the word of Revelation. To allege that virtue worthy of being recognised by the Judge of all as the ground of justification, may be, or has been, found among the heathen, or that those who comply most fully with the dictates of * See Macknight on Rom. ii. OF THE HOLY SCIUPTURES. 95 the light of nature become thereby entitled to justification through Christ, is to controvert the whole tenor of Scripture, in which the faith that justifies is opposed to works, and justification is expressly denied to be " by the deeds of the law." To suppose that the Hea- then are saved by works, and Christians by grace, is to represent the Deity as acting on two different plans, the one inconsistent with the other ; or, as demanding in the Christian economy what was unnecessary, since it is dispensed with in transacting with the hea- then — perfect obedience and full satisfaction by a substitute for sinners. III. In common with all who duly venerate the Scriptures, we condemn the elevation of reason to the place of supreme judge, in matters of revelation. It is the province of reason to examine the evidence of the divine origin of the Scriptures ; and, on the ordinary principles of lan- guage and sound criticism) to determine what is really their mean- ing. But the true claims of the Scriptures being once ascertained, it is imperative on reason to submit implicitly to their authority Reason may deduce just and necessary consequences from what is directly stated in Scripture, and it ought to do so ; for much is con- tained in revelation beyond what is verbally expressed ; but to all consequences which are just and necessary, it must submit as impli- citly as to the verbal declarations. This demand of submission to fair and obvious deductions, is at once recognised by reason itself, and sanctioned by Scripture examples ; Luke xx. 37, 38 ; Acts xvii, 2, 3 ; Heb. xii. 27, &c. It further belongs to reason, to bring to the test of Scripture, every doctrine advanced or duty enjoined by the teachers of religion ; and it is required, in this manner, " to try the spirits, whether they be of God," 1 John iv. 1 ; Is. viii. 20 ; but then it must bow to the decision of Scripture, and receive what- ever is conformable to it, as the testimony of God, 1 John iv. 6 ; v. 9- Finally, it belongs to reason to illustrate and defend the vari- ous subjects of Revelation, but still without attempting to be wise above what is written, and under a solemn impression of the invio- lable sanctity of divine truth ; Deut. xxix. 29- Ps. cxxxi. 1, 2 ; Mat. XV. 8, 9, &c. Mysteries, even in the highest sense, cannot justly be regarded either as discrediting the Scriptures as a whole, or as furnishing valid ground for rejecting the particular passages in which they oc- cur. The only question for reason is, Whether the mysteries pro- posed involve any natural contradiction, or moral inconsistency ? No such charge can be established against the mysteries contained 96 VINDICATION OF THE CLAIMS in the Scriptures, which are as little liable to objection as those of na- tural Religion, of philosophy, and of common belief Many of the doctrines of natural religion are confessedly mysterious in the high- est sense of the term ; and if these be both necessary and useful in various important respects, so are also the mysterious doctrines of divine revelation ; Job xi. 7; John iii. 8 ; Rom. xi. 33. To constitute reason supreme judge in matters of revelation, is evidently to make void the chief purposes for which revelation was given. These were, — to supply the defects of reason, — to prevent or correct the mistakes to which it is liable in its present impaired state, — to restore it to its right exercise on many momentous points, — and even to overthrow its arrogant pretensions, — to cast down its vain imaginations, — to humble the pride of human intellect, and to carry the whole soul captive to the obedience of faith. IV. We oppose, as hostile to the just claims of the Scrip- tures, the opinion that the sacred writers were not fully inspired, — that their inspiration extends only to the matter of their writings, not to the words ; that, even in regard to the matter, they were so left to the natural acting of their minds, as to be liable to error on subjects of lesser importance, and that their reasonings from facts and doctrines are often inconclusive. This opinion is adopted as a first principle by all who, admitting revelation, would yet regulate their submission to its doctrines, by the decision of reason. It is admitted, that the matter of the Scriptures is not all of equal importance ; but were it not all divinely accredited by the direct tes- timony of the Spirit, and therefore infalUbly true, both in statements of fact and declarations of doctrine, the Sacred Books would be possessed of no higher authority than human compositions ; and what constitutes revelation would still remain to be determined by the preconceived, strangely diversified, and ever-varying opinions of men. In relation to the language of the Holy Scriptures, unless the words can be depended upon, as infallibly conveying the mind of the Spirit, the matter of Revelation must be quite undetermined ; and to have left us to this uncertainty, would neither have been worthy of the goodness of God, which disposed him to grant such a communication to men, nor of his wisdom, which always selects ade- quate means for accomplishing his purposes. This reasoning might be sufficient to convince candid and serious minds. But that the language of the Holy Oracles is of God, rests on evidence still more direct. OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 97 We may appeal to the fact, tliat the writers themselves did not always fully understand what they wrote ; 1 Pet. i. 10, 11. But no man could write an intelligible discourse on a subject which he did not understand, or acciu'ately delineate future events, unless he were fur- nished with the words as well as with the sentiments. We find the Apostles sometimes arguing from the very terms or modes of ex- pression used in the Old Testament ; Gal. ill. 12, 13, IG ; Heb. i. 6-8 ; iv. 7. x. 8, 9 ; xii. 26, 27. Of the matters revealed to them, Paul says, " Which things we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth ;" 1 Cor. ii. 13. V. We reject all additions to the received canon of Scrip- ture in the books of the Old and the New Testaments ; whether^by annexing other books to them, as of equal authority, or by sanc- tioning oral traditions, or by admitting and relying on pretended jiew revelations. 1. The Church of Rome, by a decree of the Council of Trent, has placed most of the books, known by the name of Apocrypha, in the rank of Canonical Scriptures. In common with all genuine and consistent Protestants, Ave deny this honour to the apocryphal writings ; and hold, that no countenance ought to be given to their intermixture with the books of the Old Testament, or to their cir- culation with these as apart of the Bible. The inspiration of the apocryphal books was not acknowledged by the Jews, to whom the divine oracles were committed ; who received these oracles, authen- ticated by the proper tokens, and who are never blamed for reject- ing any of them, however much they might fail to respect their dic- tates. The.se books formed no part of the Scriptures recognized by our Lord and his Apostles. Some of them disclaim inspiration, and none of them present the proper proofs by which this claim might be supported. From internal evidence it appears that they were written after the days of oMalachi. Such of them, therefore, as pro- fess to have been written by Solomon are convicted of falsehood,- and they contain matters plainly fabulous, contradictory, or at vari- ance with the history and doctrines of accredited Scripture. 2. The Church of Rome has also connected certain traditions with the sacred oracles, as constituting an essential part of the rule of faith and manners. The word tradition, of which advantaoe is taken to impose on the simple, sometimes signifies matters delivered to the Church by the Apostles themselves, in their sermons, writings, and institutions; and such traditions, it is granted, were binding on tlvose to whom they were even orally delivered, but 98 VINDICATION OF THE CLAIMS they were so evidently as parts of divine Revelation ; 1 Cor. xi. 2jJ, XV. 3 ; 2 Thess. ii. 15. iii. 6. And though the permanent re- cords do not contain all that was spoken, they are yet declared to be sufficient for the faith and practice of the Church ; John xx. 31, xxi. 25. The danger of combining traditions, or doctrines and commandments of men, with divine prescriptions, was repeatedly exposed, and the practice solemnly condemned, by our Lord and his Aposdes ; Mat. xv. 2, 3, 9 ; Gal. iv. 10 ; Col. ii. 20, 23. 3. Pretended New Revelations constitute another form of adding to the Scriptures. These, though many of them are detailed in Popish legends, are not peculiar to the Church of Rome. Vision- aries have arisen in every age, and have been able to draw away disciples after them. The Scriptures forewarn us that there would be false prophets who should deceive many. Even supposing in- spiration had not ceased, nothing could be received as proceeding from it, which was contrary to the revelations already recorded in the Scriptures, Deut. xiii. 1,5; and nothing new, even though consistent with what is already recorded, could be admitted, with- out the proper credentials of divine origin. It is worthy of notice that those who resort to private revelations, or plead their autho- rity, are usually such as not only feel the necessity of other sup- port to their notions than the Scriptures afford, but, by the obvi- ous contrariety of their opinions and practices to the dictates of Scripture, clearly indicate that they are led by a spirit of delusion ; 2 Thess. ii. 8-11. That divine illumination, for imparting which the Spirit still remains in the Church, is widely different from in- spiration. It does not consist in the revelation of any new truth ; nor does it, as some allege, supersede or suspend the ordinary exer- cise of the human intellect. VI. In consonance with the Confession of Faith, we ad- mit of no other supreme standard of doctrine, or judge of contro- versy, than the Holy Scriptures. The Members of the Romish Church have long held, and still continue to hold, that, because the Scriptures are liable to be di- versely explained, and therefore misinterpreted and abused, there must be, for the safe guidance of the mind and conscience, some standard by which their true sense shall be determined, either in- fallibly, or with an authority which no one shall be at liberty to resist. This standard they declare to be the Church ; and, to render its decision still more imperative, they have generally main- OF THE HOI.Y SCIUPTUJIES. 99 tained that the authority of the Scriptures themselves is derived from the Church. 1. Wliat they mean by The Churchy it is not easy to under- stand. The term seems to be used in various apphcations by themselves. When they allege that the authority of the Scrip- tures is derived from the Church, and explain this position by say- ing, that it is only by the testimony of the Churcli we know that these Scriptures are authentic, and thei-efore inspired, they mean by The Church, the primitive writers who lived nearest the aposto- lical age, and who gave catalogues of the canonical books. When, again, they appeal to the voice of the Church as determining the true sense of the Scriptures, they refer sometimes to the early Fathers, at other times to the decrees of the general Councils, more frequent- ly to the decrees of the Popes and Councils of the Western Church, and occasionally to the whole of these standards, pretending they are all in unison, and harmonize in establishing the system of Po- pery. 2. The idea that the authority of the Scriptures is derived from the Church, is not only impious in its nature, but palpably absurd in its explanation. It leads all who adopt it into the well-known vicious form of argument, called reasoning in a circle. They prove the authority of the Scriptures by the Church, and the au- thority of the Church by the Scriptures. It is readily granted that the testimony of the early Fathers is of much historical value. But still our persuasion of the divine origin and authority of the books of the New Testament, as of the more ancient Scriptures, must depend on that evidence, both internal and external, which has already been stated. 3. It is both unfair and nugatory to appeal to the diversity of sentiment which has appeared among Protestants, as demonstra- tive of the necessity of some supreme and infallible standard, for determining the meaning of Scripture. The same diversity to an equal, if not greater, extent, may be found in the past history and present state of what they denominate The Church. Upon their own principle, therefore, the Church, whatever be meant by the term, is disqualified from being supreme judge. 4. But though no such diversity existed, the Church is desti- tute of the authority and other requisites of a supreme judge. If by the Church the early Fathers be meant, few of their writings are extant ; several of the works which bear their names are either dubious, or evidently forged ; the most authentic have in some places been fraudulently corrupted, for the purpose of accommodat- 100 VINDICATION OF THE CLAIMS ing them to opinions unknown at the time when they were writ- ten : and as it was not to be expected that uninspired men could fore- see the controversies which sliould afterwards arise, so as to deter- mine them all, it would be unreasonable to make them judges of what was not, and could not be before them. They disclaim the character of supreme judges ; and some of them warn their readers, with much earnestness, against implicitly adopting their opinions. It is, moreover, impossible to ascertain by their writings, what were the sentiments of the Church- universal. Catholics themselves re- ject or make no account of those opinions of the Fathers which do not coincide with the received doctrines and practices of their com- munion *. — If by the Church, again, be meant the decrees of Popes and Councils, these also disprove their infallibility by fre- quent contradiction, — one Pope or Council condemning and annul- ling what had been enacted by another. Those councils which sanctioned most innovations, and arrogated the highest powder over faith and practice, were confessedly not universal. They are not agreed among themselves whether the decrees of Popes are defini- tive, independently of the sanction of a general council, or whether their validity in matters of faith depends upon such sanction ; but either way, since the Pope is head of the community, and the Council can be only that of the Western Church — the community over which the Pope presides ; the final decision of all controversies is referred, not to the Church, but, upon these principles, to the Romish Church, which they arrogantly and falsely denominate Catholic, or Universal. And what is this, but for the authorities of a certain society to constitute themselves supreme judges in their own cause, or to claim the indisputable power of deciding all con- troversies between them and others ? 5. These arrogant claims are directly contrary to Scripture, which acknowledges no supreme judge of faith or practice but it- self, — attaches no infallibility to human interpretations or deci- sions, — subjects the conscience of no man to such interpretations and decisions, excepting in so far as they express the mind of the Spirit, and thus ever reserves for itself the high place of controul. essential to a revelation from heaven. The command of God, and the example of Christ and his apostles, require us to refer the de- termination of all matters of faith and practice entirely to the Bible ; Is. viii. 20; Luke xvi. 29, 31 ; John v. 39; 1 John iv. 1. • The reader who wishes to see the proofs at large by which these assertions are supported, may find them in Daille's "• Right use of the Fathers." OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 101 VII. In accordance with these statements and proofs, we condemn the Refusal of the Right of Private Judgment to those who are favoured with the Holy Scriptures. The right of private judgment is not a right to attach to the Scrip- tures any meaning we please. Neither is it a right to elevate reason to the place of supreme judge in matters of revelation. But it is a right to judge, independently of the mere dictates of men, first, Whether the Scriptures be divine ; next. What they really teach ; and, finally, Whether the doctrines we hear, or the thoughts which arise in our own minds, be conformable to their dictates. This right, however, must be exercised conscientiously, and under the highest responsibility. Such right of private judgment all Protestants have held to be the unalienable privilege of human beings. Instead of depriving the Scriptures of their honour as the supreme and infallible stand- ard of doctrine and morals, or favouring scepticism with regard to their contents, it gives them the very homage they require, and by which their true character is recognised. Like every other privi- lege, it may be abused ; but unless it be exercised, our devotion must be founded in ignorance, and Ave shall be led by a blind faith, which is neither glorifying to God, nor worthy of man ; John iv. 2^, 34; Matt. xv. 14. The Scriptures define the powers which belong ministerially and judicially to the Church, and they determine that these powers are merely declarative ; thus retaining to themselves the supreme decision, and, at the same time, reserving the proper place for pri- vate judgment ; Mai. ii. 7 ; Matt, xxviii, 19, 20 ; 2 Tim iii. 15. 16 ; iv. 2. The exercise of this right, which is also an indispen- sable duty, is founded on the principle, that every man must give an account of himself to God ; Rom. xiv. 10, 12. It is inculcated and commanded in the following and in other passages ; " Judge ye what I say C 1 Cor x. 15. " Prove ail things ; hold fast that which is good ;" 1 Thess. v. 21. " Be not ye the servants of men ;"" 1 Cor. vii. 23. " Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind ;" Rom. xiv. 5. " These were more noble than those of Thes- salonica, in that they searched the Scriptures daily whether those things were so f" Acts xvii. 11. VIII. Finally, we regard as impious and most pernicious the prohibition of the cii'culation and use of the Holy Scriptures. By repeated and solemn decrees, the unrestricted perusal of the Sacred Books has been forbidden to the laity of the Romish com- 102 VINDICATION OF THE SCIUITURKS. niunion ; measures have been adopted for enforcing tiie prohibition even on Protestants, within the sphere of the Romish power : and every one knows to what extent the principle of prohibition is at present acted upon by the chief supporters of the Romish faith, in opposing the dissemination of the Scriptures. This prohibition is the native consequence of the fundamental principles of Popery, relative to the authority of the Church, and the unlawfulness of private judgment. If these are inconsistent with reason and scrip- ture, the prohibition must be equally contrary to both. The ap- prehension of danger, not, as is pretended, to the individuals who read, but to the system of Popery itself, seems to be the only mo- tive that could induce either Popes or Councils to forbid, with un- blushing effrontery, Avhat is so obviously due to a divine revelation, necessary to the salvation of men, and expressly required, as well as provided for, in that revelation which God has actually given to men. Unless the craft of the heathen priesthood, in secreting from the people the mysteries of their religion, and the books they deem- ed sacred, be appealed to, there is nothing in the form of precedent, parallel, or argument, that can be adduced in defence of this most imhallowed and tyrannical of all prohibitions. The Scriptures were originally written in the languages which were then spoken and understood by the people of God and others for whom they were immediately intended, in order that all might read them. The countenance given in the New Testament to the Septuagint, though but an inaccurate version of the Old, is a mani- fest sanction to translations of the Scriptures. And the gift of tongues at the commencement of the Christian economy, shewed it to be God''s pleasure that his word should be rendered accessible to all, by being communicated to every nation in their own language. — The Scriptures were intended for all, Eph. iii. 9. — The purposes for which they were given are universally interesting, John xx. 31 ; Rom. xv. 4 ; 2 Tim. iii. 16, 17. — The practice of reading them to the common people was approved, Neh. viii. 3, 6, 8 ; Acts xv. 21 ; 2 Tim. iii. 15. — Ignorance of them is censured. Matt. xxii. 29 ; Hos. iv. 6. — And intimate acquaintance with tliem, not ex- cepting even the most difficult passages, is graciously encouraged, Ps. i. 1, 2; Rev. i. 3. ( 103 ) CHAPTER II. DEFENCE OF THE DOCTRINES CONTAINED IN THE HOLY SCRir-TURES. 1. CONCERNING GoD. Having avowed, in our Confession of Faith, that God is essen- tially and unchangeably just, as the moral governor of rational beings, and that there are Thi'ee Persons in the one Godhead, — wc reject, as contrary to Scripture, all such statements of divine benevolence as are inconsistent with the idea of retributive justice, and all denial of the true and proper divinity of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.— See Conf. ch. ii. § 1,3; L. Cat. Q. 7, 9, 11 ; S. Cat. Q. 4, 6. I. Statements relative to Divine Benevolence, which either directly oppose, or tend to subvert, the doctrine of Retri- butive Justice, are contrary both to reason and scripture. Vague notions of the mercy of God, whether derived from his forbearance during the present life, or founded on some miscon- ception of his grace in the Gospel, are a main source of the false security so prevalent in the world. Unitarians, and those, in general, who hold the opinion of uni- versal Restoration, endeavour to fix the mind almost exclusively on the benignity of the Deity, On the principle that God is love they frequently expatiate, but the principle that God is Just they either entirely overlook, or cast into shade; and, while it is the manifest design of revelation to shew the harmony of these principles in the method of salvation, to the full satisfaction of the inquiring or awakened soul, they set them completely and irreconcilably at va- riance. By Retributive Justice, which they endeavour to expose to re- probation, under the idea of wrathful temper, or vindictive proce- dure, is simply meant the equity of the Judge of All, in rendering to every man according to his works. How full, frequent, and so- lemn is the testimony of Scripture on this head ! It sanctions as just, the forebodings of the ungodly, Mic. vi. 6 ; Heb x. 27. It proclaims the future misery of the wicked as the justification of the Divine government, which often permits them to prosper on the earth ; Ps. ix. 8, 17 ; xi. 4, 7 ; Ixxiii. It denounces the judgments 104 DEFENCE OF DOCTRINES of the Most High, and records their infliction without regard to either the number or the rank of those who expose themselves to them, 2 Pet. ii. 4, 5 ; Jude 6, 7, 15. And it directs our view to the final settlement of things, when those who shall be found unre- claimed shall go away into everlasting punishment, Mat. xxv. 41, 46; Actsxvii. 30, 31. That God is Love is tlie other great theme of the Scriptures ; and, to shew how he is love, while he is, at the same time, strictly and unchangeably just, is evidently their grand design. Christians cannot be too much on their guard against the unfair and danger- ous use which Unitarians, especially of the Socinian class, make of the assertion that " God is Love." If we think of the Divine Na- ture^ then the assertion, " God is Love," proclaims him essentially benevolent, in opposition to all malevolent beings, and necessarily benevolent, in distinction from creatures who can be so only deriva- tively. As such, he was disposed to create beings susceptible of happiness in various forms and degrees ; he did create them in the actual enjoyment of it ; he would never have withdrawn it from any of them, unless the regard due to himself as the highest object of love had rendered this indispensable, and even when just cause for withdrawing it has occurred, he still continues so to love the fal- len, as his creatures, the work of his hands, that he has no plea- sure in their perdition, or even in their chastisement, for its own sake. But, in Scripture, the assertion " God is Love," refers evi- dently to the grand and most effective display of his benignity in the mystery of redemption., by restoring the fallen through the me. diation of his Son, and exalting them even to higher honours and blessedness than they might otherwise have attained. Neither the abstract view of divine love, nor its demonstration to sinners in the plan of salvation, is inconsistent with the principle of rectoral justice. If, even in man, true benevolence cannot be- friend immorality, — if the benevolence of a human legislator, so far from preventing the enactment of laws against every thing hurtful to society, would rather impel to such enactment, and if the bene- volence of a judge is never expected to withstand the execution of such laws, — then surely it cannot be difficult to perceive how the benevolence of the Deily harmonizes with the rectitude of his na- ture. Even in consulting the benefit of the rational creature, it re- quires the prescription of laws calculated to prevent the loss or di- minution of ha})piness, the annexation of such penalties as may pro- perly impress the subjects of his moral government, and the execu- tion of these penalties, both for monitory purposes, and because CONCERNING GOD. 105 otherwise the laws would be rendered ineffective. — The love dis- played in the mystery of redemption, gives no countenance to the mischievous influence which the slightest disrespect to divine laws must naturally have on the happiness of the creature. And, so far is this love from setting aside or opposing the claims of justice, that its magnitude has been most strikingly displayed in the pro- vision made for satisfying these claims. Let all Christians ponder the declaration of our Saviour himself, John iii. 16, 17 ; and then turn to the clear explanatory assertions, which terminate in the confession, " We have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love ;" 1 John iv. 9, 16. II. We regard the Doctrine of the Trinity, as a funda- mental principle of revelation, and therefore, in unison with all other members of the true Church, which is built on the founda- tion of the Prophets and Apostles, we condemn as a most danger- ous error, inconsistent with the whole tenor of Scripture, — the de- nial of the eternal co-existence of Three distinct Persons, in the one Godhead. The opponents of the truth, on this important subject, w hether Sabellians, Arians, or Socinians, now claim exclusively the title of Unitarians, or those who hold the principle of the Unity of God, — a title which cannot be admitted as fairly discriminating them from other Denominations, who all, as truly as they, believe that there is but one God. A most dishonest use is made of the name Uni- tarian, when it is employed to suggest and sustain the idea, that they, as contrasted with all believers in the doctrine of the Trinity, are the only class who hold the Unity of God. In opposition to the various forms of impugning the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, let Christians consider, 1. That, while the Scriptures constantly affirm the Unity of God, as the first principle of all true religion, they frequently apply 'plu- ral terms and phrases to the Deity, the reason of which is to be found only in the doctrine of the Trinity. Besides the word most usually translated God, words expressive of plurality are applied to him, both as Creator and Governor of the World; Eccl. xii. 1*; Prov. ix. lOf; Isa. liv. 5+ ; Mai. i. 6 §, &c. These indications of plurality seem not to be accidental, or merely Hebrew idioms, from the manner in which God himself is represented as speaking, when he cannot be viewed as consulting • Cheators. f Holy Ones. % Makeks. § Masters. 106 DEFENCE OF DOCTRINES with creatures : " Let us make man in oia- image, after o?/r like- ness -, So God created man in his own image ; in the image of God created he him ;" Gen. i. 26, 27 ; " And the Lord God said, Be- liold the man has become as one of tis ;"" Gen. iii. 22. The Lord said, — " Let us go down and there confound their language ;" Gen xi. 7 ; " I heard the voice of the Lord saying. Whom shall I send, and who will go for ns .'*'" Isa. vi. 8. It cannot but strike the reader, that such names and forms of speech, vuil ess justified by some mystery in the divine mode of subsistence, and even necessary to a right conception of the Deity, would be improper, and there- fore not to be expected, especially in books which were expressly designed to preserve the knowledge of the Unity of God, and to testify against the polytheism of the heathen. The plurality which the above modes of expression indicate, is restricted in the Scriptures to Three, who are styled Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Ihese three are often mentioned together, either as equally concerned in conducting the divine administra- tions, or as occupying, each, a sublimely elevated place in the mystery of redemption ; Is. xlviii. 16 ; Eph. ii. 18 ; Heb. ix. 14. In addition to these proofs, we refer to the history of the Baptism of Christ — to the form in which Christian Baptism is ordered to be administered, and to the terms in which Benediction is in the New Testament often expressed; Math. iii. 16, 17; xxviii. 19; 2 Cor. xiii. 1 4 ; Rev. i. 4, 5. 2. These three are ascertained to be distinct Persons, subsisting in a sublime and mystei'ious union. That they ai-e not (as Sabellians affirm) One Person under three different names, is evident, — from the names themselves, ex- pressive of relations, which cannot meet in the same persons, as those of Father and Son, — and from the passages in which they are represented as speaking of or to one another ; Ps. ex. 1 ; John XV. 26- But the facts recorded as to each in the history of re- demption, most decisively ascertain this distinct personality. While the Father is said to have sent the Son, to have made him sin for us, and to have accepted his sacrifice ; the Son alone became incar- nate, and suffered for sin ; and the Holy Spirit who was given to Christ, is never said to be conferred upon the Father. Indeed, it is only the peisonality of the Spirit that those who reject the doctrine of the Trinity think it necessary to deny. To the Spirit, however, we find the personal pronoun applied in the original Scriptures, even by a deviation from the Greek idiom, in which the term rendered Spirit is neuter ; John xv. 26 ; xvi. 8, 13. Our Lord, too, imqucstionably spoke of a person like himself, when CONCERNING GOD. 107 lie styled the Spirit " another comforter,'^ who was " to abide'"' in the Church; John xiv. 16. On the same pi'inciple he declares that against the Spirit, as truly as against himself or the Father, sin may be committed ; Matt. xii. 31 , 32. Personal actings and pro- perties also are constantly ascribed to him, such as knowing, search- ing, willing, speakings testifying, coming, departing, distributing, &c. ; Acts xiii. 2, 4 ; 1 Cor. xii. 11 ; John xvi. 8 ; Is. lix. 19. If all these were merely figures of speech, how dangerous nmst the use of them be to the doctrine of the Unity of God, and how little to be expected in writings so remote from the style of poetical com- position, as those of the New Testament .'' 3. These Three distinct Persons are exhibited to us in Sci*ipture as equal in power and glory, each truly and properly divine. The true and proper divinity of the Father has never been ques- tioned. That of the Son and Spirit is denied by Arians and Soci- nians. But if the Son and the Spirit be spoken of in the same terms with the Father, and represented as possessing the same per- fections, claiming the same prerogatives, and receiving the same ho- nours, then the true and proper divinity of the Son and of the Spirit ought also to be admitted. The following are but a few of the passages of Scripture which demand this admission. The Son, or second Person, even Avhile on earth, accepted the worship which is due to God only ; John vi. 68, 69, xx. 28. He was adored by the first Christian martyr in his dying moments; Acts vii, 56-60. He receives the homage of the Church-univei'sal, Rev. i. 5, 6 ; and of the Angels in heaven. Rev. v. 8-12 ; and this homage is the same that is given to the Father, Rev. iv. 10, v. 13, 14, vii. 10, 11 : Is. xlv. 23 ; Col. ii. 10. Divine zcorks are ascribed to him. " All things were made by him, and without him was not any thing made that was made ;"" John i. 3. " He upholdeth all things by the word of his power," and " by him all things consist ;" Heb. i. 3 ; Col. i. 17 ; John v. 16, 17- The undeniable attributes of Deity are his; Omniscience, John xxi. 17; Rev. ii. 23; Omni- potence, Is. ix. 6 ; Omnipresence, Matt, xxviii. 20 ; Immutability, Heb. i. 12; and proper Eternity, John i. 1. To crown all this testimony, his Deity is directly asserted^ " The Word was God ;"'■' John i. 1. " God was manifested in the flesh ;" 1 Tim. iii. 16. Christ, who came of Israel, " as concerning the flesh, is over all God blessed for ever ;"" Rom. ix. 5. The very phrase " as con- cerning the flesh," wholly unnecessary in speaking of a mei'e man, implies another nature, in which he is affirmed to be divine in the highest sense. His second coming is " the glorious appearing o 108 DEFENCE OF DOCTlllNES the Great God and our Saviour ;" Tit. ii. 13. The name Jehovah is claimed as the proper name and memorial of Deity to all genera- tions. " I am Jehovah, that is my name, and my glory will I not give to another ;" Is. xlii. 8 ; Ps. Ixxxiii. 18. But this is the name by which Messiah shall be called, " the Lord (Jehovah) our righteousness." He is often in the Prophets styled the Lord, when the term in the original is Jehovah, and the passages are ap- plied to Jesus in the New Testament. Compare Is. vi. 3, 9, with John xii. 39-41 ; and Is. xl. 3, 10, 11, with Luke i. 76. By similar testimony, in all its details, is the true and proper Divinity of the Holy Ghost estabhshed. It might be enough to say, that he is conjoined with the Father and the Son in some of the most solemn services of the Church, — in the administration of Baptism, which is in " the name" the one name " of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost," — and in Forms of Bene- diction ; 2 Cor. xiii. 14 ; Rev. i. 4, 5. Though, on account of his peculiar place in the mystery of Redemption, as himself " the Spirit of grace and supplications," he is less frequently recognised as the object of xoorsldp than the Father or the Son ; yet he is in- voked, FiZek. xxxvii. 9, and declared to be One, against whom, not less than against the Father and the Son, and with equal aggrava- tion, sin may be committed : Heb. 10, 29; Math. xii. 32. To him ^w'lne works are ascribed; Creation, Gen. i. 2; Miracles, Luke i. 35 ; 1 Cor. xii. 4 ; Legislation and Controul, Hag. ii. 5 ; Rev. ii. 7 ; Providence, Job xxxiii. 4 ; Rev. v. 6 ; and the Mission of the Prophets and Apostles, Acts vii. 51, 52; xiii. 4. The per/ectio7i.s of Deity belong, to him ; Omniscience, 1 Cor. ii. 10, 11 ; Omnipo- tence, Is. xi. 2; Omnipresence, Ps. cxxxix. 7; Eternity, Gen. i. 1, 2. He is expressly declared to be God, Acts v. 3, 4, 9 ; 1 Cor. iii. 16; 2 Cor. vi. 10 ; and the name Jehovah is given him ; compare Is. vi. 9, with Acts xxviii. 25 ; Jer. xxxi. 31, with Heb. x. 15, 16; Ps. xcv. 6, 7, with Heb. iii. 7. 4. The chief objections urged against the doctrine of the Trinity are founded on misapprehension of the Economy of Grace. When these Three distinct Persons are said to be One God, they are not said to be one, in the same sense in which they are said to be three. And the doctrine thus involving no contradiction, is not incredible in itself, but ought to be received on the ground of the divine testimony. In Scripture, this doctrine is the very basis of the whole plan of salvation ; and in unfolding this plan, the sacred oracles disclo.se an economy or arrangement among the Divine Persons, which implies CONCERNING GOD. 109 a voluntary subordination of the Son and of the Spirit to the Fa- ther, who is considered as acting on the part of Deity, or in name of the Three Divine Persons. This is nothing more than to say, that the appHcation of redemption depends on its purchase, and its purchase on divine appointment and acceptance; or, that the influ- ence of the Spirit, in the application of redemption, supposes the mediation of the Son, and that mediation again, is subservient to the vindication and manifestation of the glory of the Trinity. So the Spirit is said to be the Spirit of Christ, and to be sent by him as well as by the Father, and Christ acknowledges the Father to be greater than he. " The Head of Christ is God ;" John xv. 26 ; Rom. viii. 9 ; John x. 29 ; xiv. 28 ; 1 Cor. xv. 24, 28 ; xi. 3. But this subordination is, 1^^, by no means inconsistent witli original equality. It is obvious that, among men, an arrangement may be made by common consent, in virtue of which certain offi- cial or other characters are assumed for the purpose of conductino- some important concern, without implying the least original in- equality among the parties, or inducing the slightest change on their natural powers. The subordination of the Son in the work of redemption is declared to be voluntary ; and, accordingly, in stating it, his original equality with the Father is expressly assert- ed, " Being in the form of God, he thought it not robbery to be equal with God; but took upon him the form of a servant;" Philip ii. 6-8 ; 2 Cor. viii. 9. 2tZ/?/, So far from being inconsistent with original equality, this subordination presupposes and displays it. The part to be performed by the Son, as our surety and priest, was such as he could not have accomplished, unless he had been divine ; and the glory that was to follow was such as a divine person only could sustain. " Being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, Avhen he had, bt/ himself:, purged our sins, he sat down on the right hand of tlie Majesty on High ;" Heb. i. 3. There would have been the utmost danger of entangling conscience, of countenancing idolatry, and of givino- the divine glory to another, if a creature had been advanced to this station ; for to Him who fills it " all judgment" is given, that " all men should honour the Son even as they honour the Father;" John V. 22, 23 ; Heb. i. 6, 8, 13. The mediatory character of the Son, though for a season it threw a veil over his divine o-jory serves now to display it in forms the most convincing and impres- sive. This must be evident from what has been stated, and is clearly the scope of the Apostle in the first chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews throughout ; see also Rom. i. 4 ; Rev. v. 4, 5; John 110 DErENCE OF DOCTllINES. V. 25-28. — As truly does the province of the Holy Spirit evince his divinity : for who but a divine person could " search all things, yea the deep things of GoJ," and reveal them ; or preside over the dispensation of grace throughout all ages, and render it effectual to the chosen, " creating them in Clirist Jesus unto good works," preserving them from falling, and finally glorifying tlieni ? 1 Cor. ii. 10, 11: 2 Cor. iii 6, 17, 18. 5. In all these views, the name Son of God, like the name Spirit of God, is expressive of a relation in Deity. As a relation must always correspond to the nature in which it exists, the Sonship of Christ being a relation in the Godhead, ne- cessarily implies identity of nature, which identity excludes the idea of separate existence as in human personality, as well as of prior existence in the Father, or of any kind of natural inferiority in the Son. He is " the Son of the Father"" only, not of the Spirit also, or of the Three-One God, as creatures may be ; 2 John iii. And he and the Father " are One ;"'' John x. 30. Accordingly the Sonship of Christ, though illustriously displayed and attested by his Incarnation, Resurrection and Ascension, is not founded on these, but is spoken of as prior to them all ; Luke i. 35 ; Rom. i. 4 ; Gal. iv. 4. Neither is it founded on his mediation ; for his Sonship is appealed to, as constituting his original and permanent fitness both for the work to be performed, and for the glory that should follow ; and thus as distinguishing him from all creatures, even the highest ; Heb. i. 3, 7, 8, 13, 14. In this view it was recog- nized by the Father even in calling him to office. We find our Lord speaking of the Father, in a manner which led the Jews to con- clude that he made himself equal with God, and this conclusion he not only did not repel, but allowed and even sanctioned ; John v. On this principle alone, that the relation expressed by the name Son is truly divine, can we feel the force of such considerations and arguments as the following: God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son." " Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience." " He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things.?" John iii. IG ; Heb. v. 8; Rom. viii. 32. II. CONCERNING THE MORAL CONDITION OF MAN. The doctrines stated in our Confession, and other standards on the subject of the present moral condition of man, are, That man, as a rational creature, is an accountable being, — that the MORAL CONDITION OF MAN. Ill whole human race, in consequence of the violation of the Covenant of Works, are now in a fallen state, — and that, in that state, they are utterly incapacitated for remedying their condition by any merit, abihty, or efforts of their own. Conf. ch. vi, vii, ix. L. Cat. Q. 21, 25, 149 ; ^S'. Cat. Q. 13, 28, 82.— Adhering to these doctrines, 1. "We regard, as a dangerous error, the Denial of the Original Guilt and Universal Depravity of the human race. The Scriptures clearly affirm the total depravity of man in his natural state, — charge this depravity on the whole human race, — and declare it to be inherent in every individual. With the ex- ception of those who have experienced a saving change, " the v/hole world lieth in wickedness;" 1 John v. 19- Every mouth opened in self-justiff cation must " be stopped," and the whole world stand guilty before God. — All have sinned and come short of the glory of God, — there is none that doeth good, no not one, — and " there is none righteous, no not one;" Rom iii. 10,-23. Tile assertion is repeated, — the terms are varied, — and new modes of expression are adopted, that the universality of the corruption of human nature may be affirmed beyond the possibility of eva- sion ; and this is done for the ulterior purpose of shewing that all must be saved in the same way, and upon the same principles ; ver. 20, 24. There is no exception made in favour of infants. The confession is applicable to every individual : " Behold I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me :" Ps. li. 5. And, to place the matter beyond all controversy, — the mor- tality of man is ascribed to sin, and the death of infants appealed to, as the proof that they are sinful ; Rom. v. 12, 14. This depravity is in Scripture traced to our concern in the^r*^ sin. " By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." This is the only way of accounting for the universal corruption of the human race. It pleased God to constitute Adam the representa- tive of his posterity, and unless this public charactei' of the First Man be admitted, it will be impossible to perceive how we could be affected by his first sin, and not by his subsequent transgres- sions. By that sin, therefore, all whom he represented are sub- jected to the consequences of his fall. This view is both suggested and confirmed by Scripture. Adam is declared to be " the figure of him who was to come," — entailing guilt and death on all man- kind, even as Christ, by virtue of his representative character, con- veys righteousness and life to the spiritual seed ; Rom. v. 14-19 112 DEFENCE OF DOCTRINES. When Christ is styled " the second man,"" and " the last Adam," as the reference cannot be to the order of time, it must be to pub- lic character ; 1 Cor. xv. 45, 47- The appointment of Adam to be the federal head of all his posterity, must be resolved into the sovereign will of God, which is necessai'ily holy, and wise, and good, and which all are bound to adore. " Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right ?°' " Shall the thing formed, say to him that formed it. Why hast thou made me thus ?'" 2. We reject those views of the Necessity of human actions, Avhich are inconsistent with that Free Agency which is essential to the Responsibility of man. Though our will be determined by motives, we are still account- able both for the determination and its consequences. " Ye will not come to me," said Jesus, " that ye might have life ;" John v. 40 ; xii. 42, 43. Again, though we necessarily act according to our nature, yet, in Scripture, our depravity is not allowed to be any excuse for the commission of sin, for the carnal mind is itself declared to be " enmity against God,"" which must ever incur his highest displeasure. Saints also blame themselves even for their remaining corruption : " We know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, — sold under sin. For that which I do I allow not : for what I would that do I not, but what I hate that do I ;"" Rom. vii. 14-25. Finally, the Scriptures state, in the most im- pressive manner, the entire consistency of divine decrees, with that liberty on which the accountableness of rational beings depends. Of this we have a most convincing example in the History of Christ. His death was most undeniably piedetermined. It had been the subject of promise, of prophecy, and of typical represen- tation. When the Jews, in concert with others, were gathered to- gether against Jesus, it was " to do what God's hand and his counsel determined before to be done ;" Acts iv. 27, 28. Yet they are said to do to him " whatsoever they listed," as they did to John the Baptist; Matt, x vii. 12. He was "delivered by the deter- minate counsel and foreknowledge of God ; yet, as to the concern of men in the event, he was taken, crucified and slain, *' by wicked hands ;" Acts ii. 23 ; vii. 52 ; xiii. 27-29 ; 1 Cor. ii. 8. Tlie de- cree neither interfered witli their voluntary preference of the " mur- derer" Barrabbas, nor annulled their criminality in " denying the Holy One, and killing the Prince of Life ;" Acts iii, 13-18. It had as little moral as physical influence upon them. It did not pervert their reason, or constrain their will, any more than compel their bodily movements by coercive force. Their responsibility CONDITION OF MAN. 113 therefore remained. Still more obviously must this be the case in regard to decrees wholly unknown ; Rom. ix. When tempted either to question the responsibility of man, or reject the particularity of divine decrees, let Christians hum- bly consider, that, though they may not be able to perceive the consistency of human freedom with divine predestination, or even with that dependence of the creature on God which is taught by the light of nature ; yet nothing is more certain than that the necessity which arises from the purposes of God, affects not the free agency of man, so as to make void his accountable- ness. The Jews " could not believe, because that Esaias said. He hath blinded their eyes." They did not believe, " because they were not of Christ's sheep." Yet, in both cases, their un- belief is charged upon them as vohuitary, as owing to the resist- ance of evidence, invitations and warrants, and therefore crimi- nal. Christ was not disappointed, nor was the purpose of God frustrated, — still they w^ere guilty; John xii. 37-41; x. 24-27; V. 39, 40. 3. We regard as unscriptural, those views of the Free Agency of man, which lead to an assertion of his power to choose or to do, while in his Natural State, what is really good and acceptable to God. This is the opposite extreme, and a leading principle in the scheme of doctrine usually known by the name of Arminianism. The original fallacy seems to consist in attaching the idea of moral ability to that natural freedom which belongs to man, as a being capable of volition and other mental operations. The liberty essential to man as a rational creature, and requisite to render him accountable to God, is only a power of acting freely according to the moral principles of his nature. If these be good, he will act freely in following their impulse. The same will be the case if they be bad ; and there is no inconsistency in viewing him as a free agent, while invariably yielding to the power of depravity. Prior to the change commonly denominated Conversion, he may examine the evidences of revelation, peruse the Scriptures, inquire into the mind of the Spirit, abstain from gross vices, relinquish courses of sin, adopt the forms of religion, engage in devotional services, sanctify the Sabbath externally, and shew respect to the other appointed means of salvation. These things are in them- selves good ; but in the case of an unconverted man they are sin- fully done, being done in unbelief. H 114 DOCTRINAL STATEMENTS. All prescribed obedience is incumbent on us, but, in our natu- ral state, we are destitute of all moral ability to choose or to do what is really good in God's estimation. As is commonly and justly said, God has not lost his right of command, though we have lost our power to obey. God's speaking as a legislator does not imply that he finds men fit to do all that he requires ; nor are the instances in which he speaks as legislator in any respect inconsist- ent with those in which, when acting as inspector and judge, he declares the weakness or condemns the wickedness of man. The doctrine to be avoided is, — that we, in a state of nature, can do any thing worthy of divine acceptance, as truly conformable to both the letter and the spirit of the law, — that we can convert our- selves, or, in our own strength, believe and repent, — that, suppos- ing divine influence necessary, what is previously in our power must be done as a preparation essentially requisite for obtaining it, and a preparation which God is somehow j^ledged to crown with success, — and that we co-operate with this influence in the exercise of our own moral ability in the work of conversion. On all these points the testimony of Scripture is plain and decisive. It declares, that men, in the exercise of their natural liberty, " hate the good and love the evil,*" and are inclined to go on in the course to which they are addicted ; Mic. iii. 2. ; Jer. ii. 25 ; that, in their fallen state, they are destitute of all strength to per- form what is spiritually good, " dead in trespasses and sinSj" or like " corrupt trees" which can bring forth only '* evil fruit f' Rom. iii. 12; Gen. vi. 5 ; Eph. ii. 1 ; Matth. vii. 17, 18 ; that, there- fore, renovation is absolutely necessary in order to the performance of any thing truly good in the sight of God ; John iii. 3-7 ; and that this renovation is a work wholly divine : John i. 13 ; John vi. 44, 45 ; Eph. ii. 8 ; Acts xi. 18. III. CONCERNING THE PURPOSE OF SALVATION. In our standards, the Purpose of Salvation is ascribed to the free sovereign love of God, and is said to consist in his choosing from eternity a multitude of our fallen race which no man can num- ber, and appointing them to the certain enjoyment of eternal life, upon the plan of a Covenant of Grace. Cone. ch. iii. L. Cat. Q. 12, 13, 30 ; 6'. Cat. Q. 7, 20. The term Election signifies choice, and necessarily implies the preterition (or passing by) of those who are not chosen. It is a gross misrepresentation of this docti'ine, calculated to perplex or COXCKRNING THE PURPOSE OF SAEVATION. 115 prejudice the minds of Christians, to represent it as implying an original purpose of the Deity to create some for happiness and others for misery,— a purpose, as it is often harshly expressed, " to make some to be damned." On this article we reject the following tenets. 1. That Election is not an act of the divine mind from eternity, but only a separation of persons in time, to the enjoyment of ex- ternal privileges, or, in consequence of their improvement of these, to Salvation. The Jews, as a nation, are styled '* the chosen people," because they were separated from the rest of the world to the enjoyment of the privileges of a church state. But there was among them, onlv '* a remnant according to the Election of Grace ;" Rom. xi, 5. This election is also declared to be antecedent to salvation, or se- paration from the world lying in wickedness, and therefore not ef- fectual caUing, but the reason of it ; " The election hath obtained k, and the rest were blinded ;" ver. 7. In other passages we find the same distinction between Election and Effectual Callino' : " Whom he did predestinate them he also called," Rom. viii, 30; " Give diligence to make your calling and election sure," 2 Pet. i. 10 ; 1 Thes. V. 9 ; 2 Thes. ii. 13. This election, so clearly an- tecedent both to the enjoyment of external privilege and to effec- tual calUng, is declared to be eternal, 2 Tim. i. 9 ; " God hath saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus, before the world began ;"" Eph. i. 3-5. 2. We reject the principle, that election was only a general pur- pose ; and not particular, so as to determine the individuals w^ho were to be saved. Of those who come to him, our Saviour repeatedly declai'es, that they were given him of the Father ; and he appeals to this as in- suring their coming to him ; John vi. 37 ; x. 16, 29. Who they are, is known by the Father who gave them, and by Christ to whom they were given ; John x. 14-16. " I pray for them," he says, " 1 pray not for the world, but for them whom thou hast given me, for they are thine ; and all mine are thine, and thine are mine :" John xvii. 9, 10. They are described as individually " fore- known" of God, and " predestinated to be conformed to the imao-e of his Son ;" Rom. viii. 29, 30. 3. We reject the principle, that Election, though allowed to be particular, was regulated by God's foresight of the Faith, Repent- H 2 116 DOCTRINAL STATEMENTS. ance, and Good Works of those who are saved, and therefore was conditional. The doctrine of Scripture decidedly is, that the distinctive cha- racter of the Saints results from their election,— ^ not that their elec- tion depends on that character. Faith and repentance are declared to be the gifts of God, and the consequences of election ; Eph. ii. 8 ; Acts V. 31 ; ix. 17, 18 ; John x. 2(). Good works are also the fruit of his grace according to his purpose ; Eph. ii. 10. All re- ference to them, cither as the condition or as the cause of God's choosing some in preference to others, is excluded ; Rom. ix. 11. Those who are saved were chosen, not because they were holy, or because it was foreseen that they would become holy, but " that they should be holy and without blame before him in love T' Eph. i. 4. They are " elect unto obedience ;" 1 Pet. i. 2. Their faith and good works covild not have been foreknown as certainly to ex- ist, without God's own decree predetermining their existence ; nor, in consequence of our moral incapacity, could they have been fore- seen but as the results of his own gracious operation, and, there- fore, of his purpose to impart them. Thus, " it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mei'cy ;'" Rom. ix. 15, 16. 4. We reject the principle, that Election, when viewed as an ab- solute decree, supersedes the necessity of holiness, and even the use of means. This, whether urged by friends or foes, it must be evident from the preceding statements, is false and injurious. The Scriptures, from which alone all our knowledge of the subject is derived, leave no room for the allegation, that if we are elected, we shall infalli- bly be saved, whatever be our character or conduct. Is final sal- vation meant ? We are chosen to obtain it only " through sancti- fication of the Spirit, and belief of the truth ;" 9, Thes. ii. 13. Is present salvation meant ? It consists in deliverance not from wrath only, but also from sin ; and most expressly are we said to be cho- sen to holiness, without which no man can see the Lord ; Heb. xii. 14, 15 ; with Mat. xv. 13. " The foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal,"" not only, " The Lord knoweth them that are his,"" but also, " Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity," 2 Tim. ii. 19. As in other decrees, so in election, the means are unalterably appointed, not less than the end. Acts xxvii. 22-31, 1 Pet. i. 2, 17-19- 5. We reject the principle, that the doctrine of Election is use- less, and, because liable to abuse, ought not to be preached. CONCERNING THE METHOD OF SALVATION. 117 On the contrary, as it occupies a prominent place in revelation, it must be regarded as profitable. The more liable it is to abuse, the more clearly ought it to be stated, and exhibited in its proper form and aspect. What is secret is mercifully hid ; — what is re- vealed is variously profitable. To know that a multitude which no man can number shall infallibly be saved, and that they shall be saved by the very means which Gospel-hearers enjoy, is calcu- lated to prevent despondency, and to banish the fear of certain dis- appointment. To know that faith and holiness are the fruits, and thus the sure signs of election, cannot but render faith and holiness greatly desirable, and the attainment of them a source of much comfort. However satisfactory the proofs of election, which are al- ready attained, may be, it must be no slight inducement to perse- verance and progress to know, that the continued prosecution of holiness, in heart and life, is necessary to complete the evidence. The doctrine serves to establish the truth and illustrate the riches and sovereignty of divine grace. To this purpose it is chiefly ap- plied in Scripture ; and the privilege, so far as it is known or in- dicated by proper evidence, is also represented as a source of grati- tude, and a subject of devout acknowledgment ; Eph. i. 3, 4 ; 1 Thes. i. 2-4; 2 Thes. ii. 13; Luke x. 20. IV. CONCERNING THE METHOD OF SALVATION. The doctrine of our standards on the subject is. That we are saved by the Substitution of our Lord Jesus Christ for us, and upon the ground of that Righteousness by Avhich he satisfied the demands of the lav/ and justice of God, according to an eternal purpose or constitution of mercy, commonly called the Covenant of Grace. Conf. ch. vii, viii, xi. ; L. Cat. Q. 31, 32, 4<0, 44, 70, 73 ; S. Cat. Q. 20, 25, 33, 86. This doctrine is opposed to Socinianism, to Legalism in all its forms, and to the denial of a gracious Covenant between the Father on the part of the Deity, and the Son on the part of sinners. 1. To deny the substitution of Jesus Christ, and ascribe all the benefit derived from him merely to his instructions as an eminent teacher, his example as a perfect pattern, his death as a martyr, and his interest with God as an intercessor, is to controvert the whole tenor of scripture, and to make void the chief purpose for which revelation was given. Those principles of Socinians are utterly inconsistent witli the doctrine of retributive justice, already established, and with those 118 DOCTRINAL STATEMENTS. views of the moral government of God, founded upon it, which render atonement absolutely necessary to the pardon of sin : — they set aside the true import of the whole system of sacrifice, and its declared fulfilment in Christy's obedience unto death ; — they are incompatible with the history of his life and sufferings ; — they con- tradict the express testimony of the scripture; — they render inexpli- cable the importance attached to the death of Christ, in the Gos- pel, and in the institutions of the church ; — they make it impossi- ble to account for the high place which he holds in the councils of heaven, as above all patriai'chs, prophets, apostles and martyrs ; — and they throw entirely into the shade, or reduce to mere nominal titles, undistinguishable from those of other men, the chief charac- ters in which he is presented to our faith — those particularly of Surety, Priest and Mediator between God and man. Let Chris- tians ponder this fearful extent of contrariety to the sacred oracles, and beware of the doctrine which would deprive them of their true solace, their hope and their crown. It may be sufficient to select a few of the positions now stated ; the rest require no demonstration. Upon the principles already established relative to retributive justice*, it must be vain to hope that pardon will ever be extended to the guilty from the Supreme Tribunal, without a true and per- fect atonement for sin. Pardon may be bestowed by men without satisfaction ; temporal judgments, even when denounced, may be averted, simply on repentance and reformation ; forbearance, too, may be exercised in suspending the execution of deserved punish- ment; but all this procedure is justified only by the reserve of fu- ture retribution ; and if the interests of justice be not ultimately sustained by the Supreme Tribunal, they must be utterly lost. To confer the pardon which protects the guilty from final retribution, without satisfaction, would evidently be to make light of sin, — the imputation of which to God, amounts to blasphemy. The Scrip- tures declare that God, in extending mercy to the fallen, " will by no means clear the guilty ;" and that," Without shedding of blood, there is no remission," Heb. ix. 22. We appeal next to the system of sacrifice, which held so im- portant a place among divine institutions prior to the coming of Christ, but has since been abolished. It will not be pretended, that sacrifice was, in its own nature, a fit mode either of worship- ping God, who is a spirit, or of expressing confidence in the di- vine benignity. Even while the system was in force, he preferred I'art II. Chap. II. Sect. I. p. CONCERNING THE METHOD OF SALVATION. II9 moral obedience to bloody rites and costly oblations, repeatedly tes- tifying that these were not in themselves modes of worship suited to his nature ; Ps. 1. 7-15; Is. Ixvi. 2, 3; Jer. vii. 22, 23. There must, therefore, have been some peculiar reason for the sanction given to this otherwise unaccountable institution. It was not expressive of gratitude merely ; for a distinction was made between offerings of thanksgiving, and other sacrifices ; and it remains to be shewn, why even thanksgiving, since there are other modes of expressing it, should have been connected with sacrifice before the coming of Christ; or why sacrifice, if it was a fit expression of gratitude, should have been abohshed by his coming. Neither was the obla- tion of victims a ^ne on transgressors ; fur the penalty was not, as on this supposition it ought to have been, in all cases proportioned to the offence, or to the number of off'enders, less comparatively be- ing demanded for all Israel, on the day of annual atonement, than for an individual transgressor on olher occasions. The idea of a penalty is manifestly disproved by those instances in which the greatest number of sacrifices were offered, as at the dedication of the Temple. Besides, it was not always for moral or civil offences that sacrifice was demanded. Most ol' the cases to which the rites of purgation prescribed by the ceremonial law applied, originated in its own enactments relative to what should constitute uncleanness, clearly indicating that the whole was to be regarded as a typical or ^gurative system. And if merely adapted to the purpose of moral instruction, why should sacrifice have now been discontinued If Let us rest, then, in the explanation, which is at once agreeable to reason, and cannot be evaded without wresting the whole of die Scripture testimony on this subject — that the system of sacrifice pre- figured the great Atonement for sins, demanded by the law, and revealed in the promise : and that its design was accomplished, and its use superseded, by the one oblation of Christ, " the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world ;"" John i. 29, 36 ; 1 Cor. v. 7 ; Eph. V. 2 ; Heb. ix, x. The denial of Chi*ist's substitution and satisfaction is no less inconsistent with the history of his sufferings and death. He is described as voluntarily offering himself, and even as active in "laying down his life.'' On what principle can this be justified, or reconciled with the acknowledged rectitude of his character, if he was precisely on a level with other men "^ Equally inexplicable must be his agony. If there was nothing peculiar in hii circum- stances, and the kind of death to which he was subjected, we can- not but view him as manifesting less fortitude than martyrs have 120 DOCTKINAL STATEMENTS. often displayed, and, consequently, less fit to be regarded as an ex- ample. Why should one who confessedly surpassed all saints and martyrs in moral excellence, have had to deplore divine derdidioii in his last moments ? Why should he have suffered at all, while declared to have been personally innocent, if he was not the sub- stitute for sinners, destined to make satisfaction for them ? And Why the particular notices given us of Godi'^s, judicial agency in his death .? Unless his substitution be admitted, there could be no rea- son assigned for his dying an accursed death, either in fact or in form : nay, the very permission of his passion must have brought an indelible stain on the moral government of the Deity. Further, the denial of his substitution directly opposes the ex- press and unifcrm testimony of the Scriptures, by which they pre- serve their own consistency, explain the design of sacrifice, and throw light on the whole mystery of his sufferings. " He died for our sins, according to the Scriptures. The Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all. He made Him, who knew no sin, to be sin for us. He was made a curse for us. He put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. By one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. God loved us, and sent his Son to be a propitiation for our sins. Christ hath loved us, and hath given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smel- ling savour." And " God hath sent him forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood — to declare his righteousness, that he might be just, and the justifier of him who believeth in Jesus." The Gospel is therefore denominated " the preaching of the cross/' and the Lord's Supper is the memorial of his death on the cross, representing his body as " broken for us," and his blood as " shed for the remission of sins." Finally, the denial of his substitution and satisfaction is wholly incompatible with the Scripture account of his character and of- fices. He is doubtless represented as a teacher, an example, and a martyr ; but these are not the only nor the chief characters in which the Scriptures reveal them. Far more prominent are those of Surety, Priest, and Mediator, — characters not referable to' the former, and on which all their importance depends. Is he a teacher ? It is chiefly to communicate the instruction which relates to his suretiship, mediation, and priesthood ; Mark viii. 31, x. 45 ; Luke xxiv. 27, 44, 46. Are we told that he set an example.? It is added, " He bare our sins in his own body on the tree," — still bringing forward the higher and more interesting view of his cha- vacter, for the purpose of preventing mistake, and as best calcu- CONCERNING THE METHOD OF SALVATION. 121 lated to enforce the example which he has left us ; 1 Pet ii. 21-25 Is he occasionally referred to as a martyr ? Peculiarities are re- corded whicii discriminate him from all who were nothing more than martyrs. And what was the testimony which, as a martyr, he sealed with his blood ? Not simply, that his kingdom is not of this world, but, Avhat is closely connected with this truth, that he came " to give his life a ransom for many," Matt. xx. 18-28. When, in fine, he is proclaimed an ever-prevalent intercessor, the character is distinctly referred to his priesthood, and the efficacy ( f his inter- cession is ascribed to his oblation. " By his own blood he en- tered in once into the holy place — now to appear in the presence of God for us." His grand argument is, " I have glorified thee on the earth, I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.'' Our " advocate with the Father" is " Jesus Christ the righteous, and he is the propitiation for our sins ;" Heb. viii. 24, 25, ix. 12, 24 ; John xvii. 4 ; 1 John ii. 1, 2. 2. Not less contrary to the revealed method of salvation, is what has been denominated Legalism, or the doctrine of salvation by the works of the law. This must of necessity be the resort of all who deny the substi- tution of Christ, and the doctrine of atonement ; but it is more ex- tensively held in various forms or modifications, and has a power- ful practical influence over many who do not avow it. It is indeed congenial to a propensity natural to all men. The great body of the Jews, in the days of our Lord and his Apostles, set the law against the promise of God. Foi'saking " the hope of righteousness by faith," they trusted for eternal life to their own observance of the law, or to some imaginary partia lity of the Deity, which would induce him to overlook their de- fects. The influence of these principles was strikingly exemplified in the Pharisees, who inculcated the most rigid observance of the law, and pretended to extraordinary sanctity, and yet are charged with hypocrisy, and with great relaxation of morals. Though an anxious regard to every precept of the law might be expected in those who depend on their own obedience for eternal life, the ob- vious impossibility of yielding perfect obedience, naturally leads them to reduce the standard of duty so low as to bring it within the bounds of practicability ; and when once a reduction is at- tempted, it may proceed to any extent. The Pharisees, accord- ingly, placed much confidence in ritual observances, and were par- ticularly attentive to those which were most easily performed. Not daring, however, to overlook the moral law entirely, they rested in- 122 DOCTillNAL STATEMEN-TS. the letter, and made little or no account of its, spirit ; they even at-- tempted to explain away the letter, by false glosses and perverse expositions, Matt. xv. 1-6. In them we have a just exposition of the immoral tendency of legal principles, and of the manner in which those who act upon them contrive to satisfy themselves with their works. If the demoralising effect do not become apparent in some individuals of this class, who maintain a blameless character before men, still, by trusting to this character for acceptance with God, they betray low conceptions of the law and of the Lawgiver, Phil. iii. 4, 6 ; Rom. vii. 7-9- The judaizing teachers, who troubled the primitive church, not only insisted on combining Jewish observances with Christian in- stitutions, but attached such importance to human works, as either directly or virtually displaced the faith of the Gospel ; Gal. i. 6-9, y. 1-5. Receiving the kindred doctrine of the Pelagians, the Ro- mish church has improved on the scheme, by holding not only the doctrine of the merit of works, but even the idea of a surplus of merit in works of supererogation, and by connecting the acqui- sition of salvation with the performance of penances, pilgrimages, and a multitude of ceremonies, which, however burdensome, are particularly agreeable to corrupt nature, as they seem to render the possession of eternal life attainable, without that change of spirit and conduct which the faith of tiie Gospel must ever pro- duce. The discriminative peculiarities of the system of Popery, are founded on a dereliction of the doctrine of the imputed righte- ousness of Jesus Christ, and are therefore connected with that re- duction of the standard of morality, which is always found neces- sary to accommodate conditionary obedience to the natural abilities of man. The extent to which legal doctrine has prevailed over pure evan- gelical truth, even in the Protestant churches, cannot be sufficiently deplored. In many of them it is either openly taught, by repre- senting personal obedience as the ground of our acceptance with God and title to heaven, or covertly abetted, by concealing the o-reat peculiarities of the Gospel, cautiously avoiding the passages which contain them in selecting subjects for public discourse, sel- dom inculcating any thing but moral duties, and never proposing these in their proper relation to evangelical principles, motives, and encourao-ements. But even Avhere no legal doctrines are taught, there is a strong propensity in every individual to legal resources. Many live in delusive repose, trusting only to their comparative righteousness, or to the punctuality with which they perform their CONCERNING THE METHOD OF SAEVATION. 123 devotions. The awakened are apt to confide in the compunctions they have felt, the reformation they have effected, the tears they have shed, or the restitution they have made. Some speak of their sufferings in providence as atoning for their guilt. Saints them- selves often err by relying on their attainments, or glorying in them before God, and thus practically substituting them for the righte- ousness of Christ, as the ground of their comfort and hope. The testimony of Scripture on this subject is full, plain, and decisive. It requires us to condemn and renounce all dependence on the works of the law for eternal life, that is, all dependence on personal obedience, whether viewed as by itself meriting eternal life — or as entitling to an interest in the Saviour and eternal life through him, — or as conjoined with his righteousness, upon the principle that if we do our best, Christ will make up for our de- fects — or as still necessary, under the idea that atonement is all that was accomplished by Him, and that, therefore, we are only restored to that state of probation in which the first man was originally placed. In reference to all these forms of legalism, the Scriptures expressly declare, — that man, in his natural state, or in his own strength, can do nothing which God can sustain as truly good, and is utterly incapable of fulfilling the righteousness de- manded by the law ; Rom. iii. 9-12 ; Eph. ii. 1, 2, — that by the law is the knowledge of sin, and thus the overthrow of legal hope, Rom. iii. 19, 20; vii. 7-9; — that justification is not, and cannot possibly be, by the deeds of the law. Gal. iii. 11 ; Rom. iii. 20 ; — that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness, made of God to us righteousness, to be acknowledged as the Lord our Righteous- ness, in whom all the seed of Israel shall be justified and shall glory ; Rom X. 4; Is. xlv. 24, 25; 1 Cor. i. 30; — that righteousness is imputed without works ; Rom. iv. 6 ; — that salvation is entirely of grace, as distinguished from and opposed to the works of the law ; Eph. ii. 8, 9 ; Rom. iv. 4, 5 ; xi. 6. The works which the Scriptures thus discard from all place in our justification before God, are not only ceremonial observances and the moral duties of unconverted men, but also the works of saints themselves, which are really good ; for these are not prior to justification, as its grounds, but posterior as its fruits; Rom. vi. 11 ; vii. 4-6 ; Eph. ii. 8-10 ; Tit. iii. 4-7 ; — they are still imperfect ; Phil. iii. 12, 13 : Rom. vii. 15 ; and they are as expressly renoun- ced by Paul in exemplifying the exercise of genuine christians, as are those works which he made the grounds of his confidence pre- vious to conversion ; Phil, iii- 7-9- 124 DOCTRIXAL STATEMENTS. 3. In consonance with these views^ we regard as a dangerous er- ror, the denial of an eternal constitution between the Father and the Son, commonly called the Covenant of Grace. The existence of such a covenant is established by all the proof of the dependence of eternal life on the righteousness of Christ, already adduced ; for to it we must trace his mission, substitu- tion and atonement, and, indeed, the whole plan of our salvation. Accordingly, Adam is styled " the figure of him who was to come ;■" Rom- V, 14 ; and Christ is denominated " the second man,"" and " the last Adam C 1 Cor. xv. This constitution is exhibited to us in the form of a covenant, in those passages of Scripture Avhich re- present it as including a condition and promises — the fulfilment of Avhich promises, on the part of the Father, depended on the per- formance of the condition on the part of Christ, as the representa- tive of the elect, considered as sinners of the human family. " When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand ; he shall justify many ;" Is. liii. 10, 11 ; God " made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him;'' 2 Cor. v. 21. " All the promises of God in him are yea, and in him amen ;" 2 Cor. i. 20. This divine constitution is " the covenant ordered in all things and sure ; the covenant of peace, which shall not be removed ; the everlasting covenant"' ratified by the blood or sacrifice of Christ ; 2 Sam. xxiii. 5 ; Is. liv. 10 ; Heb. xiii. 20. V. CONCERNING THE NATURE AND THE OBJECT OF SALVATION. When by salvation is meant our deliverance from the punish- ment of sin, the end of it is holiness of heart and life. When it denotes the whole benefit of Christ's mediation, holiness of heart and life is one of its grand constituent parts. AVhen the consum- mation of the work is referred to, it comprises the perfection of ho- liness, as well as the perfection of happiness. The absolute neces- sity of holiness, accordingly, and its high place in the mystery of redemption — as the end of Christ's substitution and obedience, the test of true faith, the necessary consequence and proper proof of justification by faith, the grand requisite to communion with God here and the full enjoyment of him hereafter, and the true charac- teristic of a salvation worthy of God, are clearly and forcibly as- serted in our standards. Conf. ch. xiii. xv. xvi. xix. L. Cat. Q. 75, 76, 94-97, 101 ; ^S". Cat. Q. 35,'44, 87. THE NATURE AND OBJECT OF SALVATION. 125 Those who controvert this doctrine have been styled Antino- mians, for the sake of characterizing their opinions rather than their practice : for some of them have led regular lives, though the in- fluence of their opinions has been deplorably manifested in others. The name Antinomian is composed of two words, which signify against the lata, — their principles and modes of expression being opposed to the law as a rule of life to believers. Even in the days of the Apostles, the doctrine of justification by faith without the works of the law, was misunderstood and per- verted. Paul, after having clearly established this doctrine in the first part of the epistle to the Romans, proceeds, in the sixth and seventh chapters, to obviate the objections to which it might be thought liable by the friends of morality, and to guard it from abuse by persons of an opposite description. In other parts of his writings he inculcates on believers the necessity of " being careful to maintain good works ,•""' Tit. iii. 8 ; and warns them against " abus- ing their liberty for an occasion to the flesh ;"'■' Gal. v. 13 ; Rom vi. vii. At a later period, the Apostles James, and Peter, and Jude, foimd it necessary to condemn this abuse, which, notwithstanding these warn- ings, had actually taken place,and to censure, in terms of severe repro- bation, those who atttempted to turn the grace of God into licentious- ness ; Jam. ii. iii. The evil, however, wasnot suppressed ; for at a still later period we find John testifying against those who claimed per- fection, — not, it appears, as being really holier than others, but as imagining, either that they were brought into such a state by justi- fication, that their deeds, however contrary to the law, ceased to be regarded as sinful even in their own nature and desert, or that they were so protected by the blood of Christ, as to be set free from all concern about their moral character and conduct. 2 Pet. ii ; Jude 4-21 ; 1 John i. 5-10; ii. 3-6; iii. 4-10. So congenial are Antinomian views to the corrupt propensities of human nature, that though condemned by the inspired teachers of Christianity, and totally foreign to its dictates, they still con- tinued to be embraced by many. And when, at the period of the Reformation, the apostolical doctrine of justification by faith in the righteousness of Jesus Christ was revived in all its purity, the per- version of it was also revived. INIisconceptions of this doctrine, or an apprehension of its tendency to licentiousness, may have oc- casioned much of that legal preaching which has disgraced the Protestant name. But while, on the one hand, the honours of the law must never be sustained at the expence of evangelical truth, be it ever remembered, on the other, that no doctrine can be regarded 126 DOCTRINAI, STATEMENTS. as pure evangelical truth, which is subversive of the sacred respect due to the law. " Do we make void the law through faith ? God forbid ; yea, we establish the law;" Rom. iii. SI. A simple statement of the terms in which Antinomian doctrine has been taught, especially in England, might be sufficient to evince its entire contrariety to Scripture. The following is a specimen of clearly condemnable tenets : — That believers are not under the law in any respect ; — that the law ought not to be propounded in the church ; even as a rule of manners ; that christians ought not to look to tests of the genuineness of their faith ; — that the less we have to do with morality so much the better ; — that the righteousness of Christ is imputed for sanctification ; — that His faith and obedience stand for every thing of the kind required at our hands : — that the sins of believers cease to be sins in God's sight ; — that having once believed and been justified, they do not need to pray for par- don. Such is the system as it has been avowed in whole or in part, by many who have found it easy to draw away disciples after them. True Calvinists, we know, regard it with abhorrence. But there is reason to fear, that where Antinomian sentiments are neither taught nor avowed, they have a practical influence over many which is but little suspected. Of those whose privilege it is to enjoy a pure dis- pensation of the gospel, not a few, simply because they are accus- tomed to hear of the riches of divine grace, may be apt to trust that all is and shall be well with them, whatever be the tenor of their conduct. Familiar with the doctrine that Christ died for our sins, and did all that was requisite for our justification, they feel but little apprehension of danger, . even when conscious of wilful trans- gression, or chargeable with grievous falls. They say they have faith, but think not of the necessity of shewing it by their works, — They would shudder, perhaps, at the thought that Christ died to procure indemnity for sin, yet live as if this were really the case. In reflecting on the work of Christ, they overlook the work of the Spirit, and even in their meditations on the former, they dwell on safety from wrath, without taking into view the great end for which that safety was procured. After what has been stated in the preceding part of the Testimony on this subject, it is enough to say, 1. That the Scriptures do not teach the doctrine of freedom from the law as a rule of life, but decidedly inculcate its continued obli- gation. The moral law, being nothing else than the expression of those obhgations on intelligent beings which arise out of the perfect moral character of God, and tlieir relation to him, — is obviously THE NATURE AND OBJECT OF SALVATION. 127 unchangeable in essence and obligations, while God continues what he is, and while man continues a moral agent. And, though from this, law as a prescription of conditionary obedience, and from its curse incurred by sin, believers are delivered through an interest in Christ's obedience to the death, yet, as a rule of life, it is enjoin- ed by the authority of Christ, — enforced by new and most power- ful motives, — and supported by powerful considerations, not appli- cable to it as embodied in the law of works. " Ye are not youi* own, for ye are bought with a price. Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost. I will write my law in their hearts. I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them," Sec. ; 1 Cor. vi. 19, 20 ; Heb. viii. 8-12 ; Ezek. xxxvi. 25, 27. Believers accordingly, are '-'not without law to God, but under the lawto Christ ;" 1 Cor. ix. 21. 2. That to represent the sins of believers as no longer sins in God"'s sight, is alike contrary to Scripture and reason. Although the state of a sinner may be changed, the nature of sin is unalterable. By whom- soever committed, it is " that abominable thing which God hates;"" and, in certain respects, the sins of believers are even more ao^o-ravat- ed than those of other men. Security may be given against the con- demnatory power of the law ; but this very security implies the de- merit of sin, \vhich would otherwise subject to condemnation ; and evidently recognizes its infinite evil, which is accordingly confessed by believers in resorting to the satisfaction made by Jesus Christ, pleading it with God, and relying upon it ; 1 John i. 8, 9. Though safe from legal condemnation, th^y are still exposed to those chastise- ments by which God testifies against their deviations from his law, as sins in his sight ; Ps. Ixxxix, 30-32 ; they are called to repentance for them, as deserving even utter rejection ; Ps. h., 3, 4, 11 ; Lukexxii, 32, 61, 62 : and tliay are most powerfully influenced to this repent- ance by the very contemplation of ihat atonement on which their safety depends ; Zech, xii. 10. 3. That justification is never represented as superseding the neces- sity of prayer for pardon, any more than of Christ's own intercession for believers. On the contrary, faith and prayer are prescribed as means of constantly reahzing both the benefit and the comfort of a justified state ; Gal. ii. 20; Eph. iii. 17; Ps. xxxii. 1, 6. 4. Tliat perfection of state or privilege in Christ, is clearly dis- • tinguishable from perfection of character and conduct ; and the for- mer by no means implies the latter. " There is no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus." He hath, « by one offering, per- fected them*" as to the grounds of. their peace, but if any say 128 DOCTRINAL STATEMENTS. as to their own personal character and conduct, " We have no sin," they " deceive themselves, and the truth is not in them ;" " nay they make God a liar, and his word is not in them." If they say, " We have fellowship with him," and under these, or any other pretexts, " walk in darkness," or live in sin as the men of the world, " they lie, and do not the truth •," 1 John i. 5--10, iii. 6, 9- That they are complete in Christ, is ever represented as bindino- them more strongly to *•' cleanse themselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord ;" 2 Cor. vi. 17, 18; vii. 1. VI. CONCERNINC THE APPLICATION OF SALVATION. The doctrine of Scripture on this head, as stated in our stand- ards, is summarily. That the means appointed for applying the redemption purchased by Christ, are suited to the rational nature of man ; that these means are rendered effectual by the supernatu- ral agency of the Holy Spirit ; and that wherever the good work is begun, he who commenced it will infallibly bring it to perfection. — CoNF. ch. viii. § 8, X. xvii ; L. Cat. Q. 58, 59, CO, 67, 79, 80, 154 ; S. Cat. Q. 29, 30, 36, 88, 89- Adhering to these principles, we regard as unscriptural the fol- lowing propositions. 1. That salvation may be expected without external means, or beyond the sphere of those means which God hath appointed. To represent the Word, and other undeniably appointed means of salvation, as unnecessary, is to arraign the wisdom of the ap- pointment ; to expect the benefit without them, is to indulge un- warranted confidence ; to pretend to the benefit in the way of de- spising or neglecting them, is mere fanaticism. It is where God's name is recorded that he hath promised to be present to bless ; Exod. XX. 24. When he is " found of them that sought him not," it is in the way of granting the appointed means to those who were destitute of them, or of blessing these means to those who had previously possessed, but had failed to improve them ; Is. Ixv. 1 ; Rom. x. 13-15. See Part II. ch. i. § 2. 2. We reject the doctrine. That external means are sufficient of themselves, without the supernatural influence of the Holy Ghost. This is disproved by facts. Under the ministry of the Apos- tles, and even of Christ himself, " some believed, and some be- lieved not." Then, as well as now, the same word was " a savour (^f life"" to one class of hearers, and " a savour of death" to another, CONCEUNING THE APPLICATION OF SALVATION. 129 2 Cor. ii. 14-16. The success of the apostles was not ascribed by them to the miracles they wrought, nor to the truths they taught, nor to their manner of teaching, however well adaptedall these were to the end to be gained ; 1 Cor. iii. 6, 7. The appli- cation of redemption is uniformly represented in Scripture as a di- vine work, and as in all its extent the work of the Spirit. He it is that convinces of sin, John xvi. 8 ; enlightens the mind in the know- ledge of Christ, Eph. i. 17; renews the will, Phil ii. 13; imparts faith, 2 Cor. iv. 13; strengthens the believer, Eph. iii. 16; excites, directs, and assists him, in the various duties of religion, Rom. viii. 26 ; and carries forward the sanctification of the whole man to per- fection, 2 Cor. iii. 18. 3. We reject the doctrine, That those who have believed, and experienced a true conversion, may totally and even finally fall from grace. In Scripture, perseverance is connected with all the views which are given of a gracious state. When cases seemingly incompati- ble with this privilege are referred to, they are either qualified by some notice sufficient to prevent mistake, or they bear on the fear- ful tendency, and, therefore, high criminality of certain kinds of doctrine and conduct, without admitting that the effect has really taken place. Of the latter we have examples ; Rom. xiv. 15, 20, 1 Cor. viii. 11. The instances of most frequent occurrence are those in which the statement is qualified. Some hearers of the word " receive it with joy," yet " endure but for a time;"" but these, we are told, are such as have no root in themselves, or on whom the word lias not produced its proper effect ; Mat. xiii. 6, 21 ; Mark iv. 17. Some make a high profession, and even ad- vance far in knowledge and external reformation, who yet " return as the dog to his vomit, and as the sow that was washed to her wal- lowing in the mire ;" but the obvious design of the comparisons in this proverb is forcibly to intimate, that their nature had not been changed; 2 Pet. ii. 20-22. Some who have even been " partak- ers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come," may " fall away, so as never to be renewed to repentance ;" but their attainments, however o-reat, are distinguished from " better things,"" characteristic of true chris- tians, as " the things which accompany salvation ;" Heb. vi. 4-9. When our Saviour speaks of methods intended or calculated, « if it were possible," to seduce, or deceive " even the elect," the words " if it were possible," and the emphatic phrase " even the elect " I 130 DOCTRINAL STATEMENTS, clearly intimate, that the attempt, though made, and though suffi- ciently crafty or powerful to require the utmost vigilance to avoid it, and the most determined resolution to resist it, can never succeed with the chosen ; and the passage so guardedly expressed, both in Mat. xxiv. 24. and Mark xiii. 22, instead of militating against the doctrine of perseverance, strongly confirms it. What has already been proved on the subject of election, neces- sarily implies the perseverance of the saints. Those whom the Father hath given to Christ, can never " be plucked out of his hand ;" they shall " come to him," and coming to him, they " shall never perish ;" John iii. 15 ; vi. 37-40; x. 28, 29. But the doc- trine is distinctly asserted in relation to both the justified state and the moral condition of genuine converts. — As for their state before God, " He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life ;" John v. 24. The Scriptures, however, do not restrict the idea of perseverance to the state of the believer, but extend it also to his moral conditicm and deportment. It comprises not the perpetuity of safety only, but continuance and progress in the love and practice of holiness. " Whosoever is born of God cannot sin," after the manner of the unconverted, for the nature he has received is divine and imperishable ; " whosoever abideth in Christ sinneth not," as do the children of the devil ; 1 John iii. 6-10. " The righteous shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall wax stronger and stronger ;" Job xvii. 9. " The path of the just is as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day ;" Prov. iv. 18. — In both views, perseverance is connected with the diligent use of means, and represented as at once a privilege and a duty. '■'• We are kept by the power of God unto salvation," but it is " through faith ;" 1 Pet. i. 5. VII. CONCERNING THE EXTENT OF SALVATION. The doctrine of Scripture, on this subject, as stated in our stand- ards, is, — that all the individuals of the human race will not be finally saved, — that the wicked shall be consigned to everlasting punishment in hell, — and that those only who are sanctified in time, being the elect of God, for whom Christ died, shall be ren- dered eternally happy in heaven. Conf, ch. viii. § 5; ch. xxxii. CONCERNING THE EXTENT OF SALVATION. 131 xxxiii. L. Cat. Q. 30, 31, 60, 61, 89, 90: S. Cat. Q. 19, 20, 37, 38. This doctrine is opposed in various forms. 1. The widest departure from the truth is the opinion that the whole human race shall, either at the last day, or after a period of suffering in hell, be admitted to the benefit of Christ's sacrifice, and thus be eventually saved. In a few passages, universal terms are used in speaking of the death of Christ. No exposition of these, however, can be just or tenable, which makes them contradict what is elsewhere plainly and frequently asserted. But it is scarcely possible to conceive how the Scripture-accounts of the last day, and of the future mi- sery of the wicked, can be more flatly contradicted, than by the opinion that all men shall eventually be saved. " The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ."" He shall then separate between " the sheep and the goats ;"" and the wicked " shall go away into everlasting punishment ;" Mat. xxv. 31-46 ; 2 Thess. i. 7-10. All the views given us of future misery represent it as irre- mediable and everlasting. The terms in which their sentence shall be pronounced, place the lost of mankind in the same condition with fallen angels, for whom there is no purpose of mercy, and whose doom is in the very sentence recognised as irrevocable. To those who are on his left hand, the Judge shall say, " Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels," In stating the issues of the judgment, it is said, " These shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternaV As in the original language of the New Testament, the same word is used in both cases, if it aflirm the eternity of the happiness of heaven, which has never been questioned, it as truly affirms the eternity of the miseries of hell. On this important subject, however, our decision is not suspended on the meaning of a single term, clear an:l convincing as its application in the account of the judgment must be to every unprejudiced mind. In all cases the word " everlasting" signifies duration, co-extensive with the constitution under which the subject is placed. Granting, that, on this very ground, it may sometimes denote only a long period, there are many assertions in Scripture sufficient to determine, beyond all dispute, among reasonable men, the sense in which it is applied to future punishment. The eternity of the joys of heaven is not so often asserted as that of the miseries of hell. There is no repug- nance to the one idea, — it needed not strong asseveration ; the Spirit l2 132 DOCTRINxVL STATEMENTS. combats our aversion to tlie truth of the other, by repeated decla- rations and varied phraseology. Of those who are subjected to the second death, it is repeatedly and solemnly affirmed, that " their worm dieth not, and their fire is not quenched ;*" Mark ix. 43--48. The phrase " for ever and ever,"" which undeniably signifies pro- per eternity, is applied to their sufferings ; Rev. xx. 10. The wicked, we are told, " shall be punished with everlasting destruc- tion from the presence of the Lord ;"" 2 Thess. i. 9 ; — where, be- sides the epithet " everlasting,'" the term rendered destruction sig- nifies ruin which cannot be repaired. Again, " the day of judg- ment" is the day of " the perdition of ungodly men ;"" 2 Pet. iii. 7 ; — perdition also denoting utter and irremediable loss. And of the son of perdition it is said, " It had been good for that man if he had not been born ;'" — an idea altogether incompatible with admis- sion to eternal happiness, at any period, however remote ; Matt. xxvi. 24. 2. It is also a deviation from the truth to hold, that, although all men shall not be saved, yet Christ, according to the purpose of God and his own intention, died for all men, actually expiating the guilt even of those who eventually perish. This notion, under the pretext of honouring Christ's death, really disparages him and God's decrees also, while it represents Christ as dying for many in vain, and the purpose of God as capa- ble of being frustrated by men. As for God, he hath predeter- mined whatsoever comes to pass, and " his counsel shall stand." If only a certain number shall be actually saved, only that certain number were predetermined to be saved, for who can change or modify the counsel of Jehovah ? Then, the intention of Christ, or his views in dying, entirely accorded with the purpose of God. The High Priest interceded just for those for whom the sacrifice was offered. When, therefore, Christ says, " I pray not for the world," his intention in dying is limited to the elect not only by the context, which refers to the effect of his finished work in giving eternal life to those who were given him, but by the nature of the office according to which he prayed ; for intercession was founded upon, and regulated by, atonement. With regard to individuals, the intention of Christ in dying is restricted to the actual effect, " The son of man came to give his life a ransom for manv ;" Matt. XX. 28. The ordinance expressly appointed in honour of his death exhibits his blood as shed only " for many^ for the remission of sins ;"" Matt. xxvi. 28. Those whose redemption he had in view CONCEllNIXG THE EXTENT OF SALVATION. 133 were " his sheep,"" those whom the Father had given liim ; John x. 15, 16. 3. The third, and apparently the least erroneous form of holding the doctrine of universal redemption, but still not accurate in its terms, and, as usually explained, inconsistent with Scripture, is, " That Christ by his death placed all men in a salvable state.'' The question here is, what is meant by a salvable state ? In one sense, all men were in such a state ; that is, it was possible for them to be saved, not without an atonement, but in the way of its being appointed for them. The salvation of even fallen angels was thus possible, before God passed the sentence of hopeless perdition upon them ; for his love might have fixed upon them, and he might have determined to glorify his mercy by admitting and providing a sure- ty for them. On us he passed no sentence of hopeless perdition — for us he appointed salvation : but it was not the death of Christ that procured this love, or directed it to fix upon us ; for the ap- pointment of his death was a fruit of the love of God, and only the means of carrying its purposes into full execution ; 1 John iv. 10. The death of Christ was not intended to render God placable, but actually to appease him ; for, by the very purpose of salvation, God shewed himself placable, that is, capable of being appeased. If by placing us in a salvable state, were meant that the anger of God is appeased by a true and complete satisfaction to justice, so that without reference to decrees which regulate intention and determine the eff^ect, salvation is open to all men, then doubtless it is true, that, so far as the requisitions of laxo and justice are con- cerned, all obstructions are removed, and every one may be called as welcome and warranted to claim salvation on the ground of Christ's finished work ; John vi. 49-51 ; Rev. xxii. 17. But those who speak of our being placed in a salvable state, usually mean that Christ's death hath rendered God placable by us, or hold that he so satisfied divine justice for the sins of all men, as to render it consistent with the honour of the Deity, to propose lower terms of salvation than would have been otherwise requisite ; and that to gospel-hearers these terms are faith, repentance and sincere obe- dience. We admit that faith, repentance, and sincere obedience, are of great importance, as commanded, and of indispensable necessity in salvation, but the error to which we refer is an attempt to establish the law of works in a new form, — still proposing terms now im- practicable to man, — thus making void even the alleged design of our Saviour's death, and directly opposing that which, in Scripture, 134 DOCTRINAL STATEMENTS. is declared to be its true design, which was to bring in that ever- lasting righteousness which is the only meritoi*ious condition of sal- vation ; for, if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead " in vain;" Gal. ii. 21. " Christ is the end of the law for right- eousness to every one that believeth ;" Rom. x. 4. " Is the law, then, against the promises of God ? God forbid ; for if there had been a law which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law ;" Gal. iii. 21. When universal terms are used in speaking of the death of Christ, their meaning is usually determined by the context, which contrasts his sacrifice with the sacrifices of the Jewish dispensation, or refers them not to all individuals, but to all classes and descrip. tions of men, John i. 29 ; or to the whole of a particular class, Isa. liii. 6 ; Heb. ii. 9. Such terms express the relation of the death of Christ to the human race as distinguished from angelsj and to the common character of men as sinful and fallen beings ; John iii. 14-16. This character is universal, and therefore the death of Christ as a sacrifice for sins is suitable to all men. It is not more suitable to the elect than to others, for it was not their being " elect,"" but their being sinners, " children of wrath even as others,'" that rendered such a sacrifice necessary ; and it is not their being elect, which they cannot know before having an interest in Christ, but their being sinners, that warrants them to claim the be- nefit of his death ; Matt, xviii. 11 ; Luke xix. 10. Universal terms also declare the sufficiency of his death, as adequate in intrinsic va- lue to the salvation of all men, and, therefore, a proper basis for the universal call of the Gospel. In reference to the actual effect of his death, such terms declare that there is no distinction of na- tions, ranks, or moral character, — that Gentiles as well as Jews, — kings, and those in authority, as well as subjects, — the chief of sin- ners as well as the more temperate and moral, shall be saved by it, — a vast multitude out of every kindred, nation, people and lan- guage ; 1 John ii. 2 ; Rom. iii. 9, 23, 29, 30 ; xi. 12 ; 1 Tim. ii. 1-6 ; Rev. vii. 9- VIII. CONCERNINt; THE MEANS OF SALVATION. Adhering to the doctrine of our standards on this head, as stat- ed, Conf. ch. xxi. Larger and Shorter Catechisms, on the first Ta- ble of the Moral Law, and on the Word, Sacraments, and Prayer, - — We reject. First, All additions to the number of divine institutions, and all CONCERNING THE MEANS OF SALVATION. 135 deviations from the appointed manner of observing them. It is God's prerogative to determine the forms and manner in which he shall be worshipped. And as these entirely depend on his will, to disclose them was one special purpose for which revelation was gi- ven to man. Whatsoever, therefore, is not of faith, as to divine ap- pointment or sanction, is sin ; Rom. xiv. 5, 23. And our faith must stand " not in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God ;" 1 Cor. ii. 5. Our Saviour severely reprehended the Pharisees, for teaching the commandments of men, as doctrines in reference to matters of worship ; Mark vii. 7. If the Apostles would not per- mit the observance of certain things which had once been divinely appointed, and which they allowed were in fact indifferent, such as the distinction of meats to be imposed on Christians, and only to- lerated a regard to these things till further light should be acquir- ed, who shall be guiltless in daring to add to the appointed system of worship, matters purely of human invention ? Paul decidedly condemns will-worship, or such kinds and forms of devotion, as are devised by man ; Col. ii. 18-23. Those things, relative to times, frequency, and order, which are not determined by any positive law, must be regulated by the general principles of Scripture, ap- plied in the exercise of Christian prudence. Secondly, We reject the opinion, that it is of no consequence, or but of small moment, in what extent, or in what state of purity, divine ordinances are dispensed. This sentiment may not be avow- ed in so many words, but it lies at the basis of all unfaithfulness to the cause of pure and undefiled religion ; and it is acted upon in a variety of ways. A more dangerous principle can hardly be sup- posed, whether we think of the glory of God, or the salvation of man. The second commandment of the moral law, requires the receiving, observing, and keeping pure and entire all such religious worship and ordinances as God hath appointed in his word. This commandment is obligatory not only on the office-bearers of the Church, but on all its members : and it is their interest, as well as their duty, zealously to observe it. Only in as far as the divine model is adhered to, can we expect the forms of religion to be blessed or honoured with divine countenance ; Matt, xxviii. 20. The multiplicity of errors and corruptions in reference to this department of revealed religion, requires a more minute specifica- tion. 1 . With regard to Prayer. We condemn, — The offering of prayers to angels, or departed l36 DOCTRINAL STATEMENTS. saints, or any object devoid of the attributes of divinity, as a gross impiety, contrary to the first precept of the law, and incapable of being excused on any pretext whatsoever, inasmuch as God will not give his glory to another ; and the presentation of prayers, or perfoniiancc of any supplicatory services in behalf of the dead, whose state is, according to Scripture, finally determined ; and we disapprove of the conduct of those adult persons, M'ho restrict them- selves to set forms of prayer, whether these be read or repeated. As Scripture doxologies, and the divinely approved petitions of saints, may be warrantably adopted in our devotional exercises both public and personal, so may the Lord's Prayer be used by itself, or in connection with other supplicaiions. But that our Lord did not mean to prescribe it as a standing form of prayer, or propose it as a warrant for such forms in ordinary circumstances, appears from the introductory sentence, " After this manner pray ye,"" — from his changing the phraseology, and omitting the conclusion in its second enunciation, — and especially from the known facts, that in the many recorded prayers of the Apostles, we have no instance of its being used by them-, and that the primitive Christians did not restrict themselves to it, or to any other forms whatever. No prescribed forms can possibly answer all the changes which may occur in the circumstances of individuals and families, as well as of churches and nations ; yet, " in every thing,''"' we are command- ed, " by prayer and supplication to let our requests be made known unto God ;" Phil. iv. 6. 2. With regai'd to Praise. We admit that other parts of Scripture may be used in praise, but we reject the principle that the Book of Psalms is not suited to the Christian dispensation. We have not the most remote hint in Scripture that the Psalms were not intended for permanent use, which we certainly might have expectecl, had they been solely adapted to the Jewish economy. Their structure, the vast range of their subjects, their sublimity and pathos, their diversified bear- ings on matters of common experience, with their clear and decided reference to the person, sufferings, and reign of Messiah, render them suitable to the Church in every age. To assert that they are not fit to be sung in Christian assemblies, on account of their peculiar phraseology, is to condemn the very language of the New Testament, which borrows its most expressive terms from the ty- pical system. To allege that, in any instance, they breathe a spirit inconsistent with the Gospel, is to represent the Holy Ghost as at CONCERNING THE MEANS OF SALVATION. 137 variance witli himself. The law of love was as truly enjoined with regard to enemies, under the old as under the new dispensation ; Exod. xxiii. 4,5; Lev. xix. 17, 18; Deut xxiii. 7 ; Pro. xxiv. 17, 18 ; XXV. 21, 22, &c. While, therefore, we admit the inspira- tion of the Psalms, we cannot consistently impute to them any thing contrary to this law. None of the Psalms ought ever to be applied to private feuds or personal quarrels. Those which have been ig- norantly supposed to breathe a spirit of revenge, are either predictions by the Messiah, as the great Prophet — or his judicial denunciations as Zion's King on his implacable enemies — or the expression of the acquiescence of his people in his judgments —which none can cele- brate in worship, without deeply solemnizing and salutary impres- sions. Even in the New Testament similar sentiments and phra- seology frequently occur ; Math, xxiii ; Acts i. 20 ; Rom. xi. 9, 10; Rev. xi. 17-19 ; xiv. 7 ; xv. 3, 4; xviii. 20. Benevolence may deplore the necessity of judgments, but it will rejoice in their ultimate design and effect, as directed under the administration of Messiah, to the subversion of all the systems which are hostile to the best interests of mankind. 3. With regard to Preaching. The ministry of the Gospel being a trust from Jesus Christ our Lord, we disapprove the conduct of those who assume its functions without a regular call ; and the principle, that if any have gifts, themselves or ordinary church members being judges, their call is clear and sufficient. We condemn also the opinion, that the ordinance of preaching, and the functions of a gospel minister, have no special authority beyond that which belongs to the mere force of truth. On this supposition, it would be of small moment who preached, whether he were a person regularly commissioned or not ; nay, it would be of no consequence, whether the people attended the ordinance of preaching, or occupied themselves in reading sermons at hpme. Popish priests, who require implicit faith, and lord it over the con- sciences of their hearers, have acquired a dangerous influence, wholly unwarranted by Scripture, and contrary to its dictates ; 2 Cor. i. 24 ; 1 Pet. v. 2, 3. But in laudably resisting this species of imposition, many Protestants have gone to an opposite extreme, and, by limiting the authority of preaching to the mere force of truth, have virtually denuded the ministerial office of its legitimate claims to respect. It is readily granted that no office can sanction or give authority to error, — that nothing can or ought to have force with the mind and conscience but truth. Every Christian, 138 DOCTRINAL STATEMENTS. therefore, must examine what he hears, according to the al- ready estabhshed right of private judgment*. It is the pri- mary duty of a child to submit himself to the authority of the law of God, but he is bound, by that very law, to respect the authority of his parent imder God. In like manner, when the truth is preached, it comes with all the authority which belongs to itself as divine, and with the authority also which belongs to the instituted ordinance of preaching. Besides the many advan- tages which arise from stated exposition of the Scriptures, from liv- ing address, and from the diversified exercise of gifts, — all of which have been wisely secured by the Great Head of the Church in the appointment of this ordinance, — the very proposal of the truth in God's name, by a divine ordinance, and in the discharge of a di- vinely instituted office, lays the hearers under additional obligations to receive and improve it, implying aggravation of guilt in those by whom it is disregarded. " Remember them who have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God. Obey them who have the rule over you, and submit yourselves, for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account f Heb. xiii. 7, 17. " Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God ;"" 1 Cor. iv. 1 ; 2 Cor. ii. 15-17 ; iv. 1, 2; v. 18-20. 4. With regard to the Sacraments. We reject the following tenets : 1. " That there are more Sacraments than Baptism and the Lord"'s Supper." The five which are added to these by Papists, we regard, in common with all other Protestants, as mere human in- ventions, not only unauthorised in Scripture, but inconsistent with its dictates, and with the simplicity of the Christian dispensation. 2. We reject the opinion, " That Baptism and the Lord's Sup- per were but elementary institutions, suited to an infant state of the Church, and not designed for perpetuity." This is one of the peculiarities by which the Society of Friends, commonly called Quakers, is distinguished -f*. Our Lord, in his commission to the Apostles, enjoined the administration of baptism throughout all ages to the end of time; Mat. xxviii. 19, 20. That the Apostles understood baptism with water to be meant, is evident from their continuing the practice after the coming of the Holy Ghost ; Acts ii. 38-41 ; viii. 36-38 ; x. 47. It is referred to as an ordinance of •Vide Part II. Chap. I. Sect. vii. t Summary of the History, Doctrine, and Discijiline of the Friends. CONCERNING THE MEANS OF SALVATION. 139 common observance in the church, and never to be. laid aside; Rom. vi ; Col. ii. 11,12. Not less clear is the intended permanency of the Lord's Supper : " Do this in remembrance of me." It is to be kept not only as the memorial of his past oblation, but in re- membrance of him so long as we are absent from him in the body. In eating that bread, and drinking that cup, the members of the church must shew his death — till he come ; 1 Cor. xi. 26. 3. We reject the doctrine, " That the Sacraments are essential to salvation." This is the opposite extreme, calculated to produce superstitious observance, and unworthy administration. They ought to be honoured in their place, but conscience ought not to be perplexed, when circumstances in Providence render the enjoyment of them, agreeably to the prescribed order, impracticable. Those persons greatly mistake who hurry on the baptism of children, when sick or dying, under the apprehension that they cannot be saved unless baptized. Similar notions of the Lord's Supper, pre- cluding due attention to the character of the receiver, and the pro- per mode of celebration, fall under the same reprehension. 4. We reject the opinion, " That the Sacraments operate as charms, or have an efficacy in themselves to take away sin, and to insure salvation." These two ideas are intimately connected. The first, there is reason to fear, is but too common. What else can induce many, who are grossly ignorant, or habitually careless about religion, perhaps licentious in their manners, to seek anxiously the privileges of church members in regard to these institutions ? The second is sanctioned by the system of Popery, and, we are sorry to say, countenanced by certain expressions also in the standard books of the Church of England. Baptism is there said to christen or christianise, as if the subject of baptism had been previously in a state of heathenism ; — is termed " the remission of sins," and re- presented as affecting regeneration, or actually imparting the Holy Ghost. These are sentiments, which, considering the numbers who in one form or another disown their baptism, are inconsistent Avith the perseverance of the saints. Cornelius and other Gentiles were in a state of grace before their baptism, while Simon Magus and others proved that they were still unconverted after their reception of that ordinance. To teach " that original sin is removed by baptism, and that those who die in infancy, if they be baptized, are infallibly saved," is to ascribe to the sign a virtue which the word of God ascribes neither to this nor to any other external institution. Baptism ought to be regarded as declarative of connection with the visible chiuxh ; and in rcfei'ence to the church invisible, as a sign of that 140 BOCTlllNAI. STATEMENTS. blessed change of state and of nature, which may be either prior or posterior to the administration of the ordinance ; but which, though it were even contemporaneous, is still distinct from the sign. Simi- lar views of the Lord's Supper must occasion many unhallowed ap- plications and admissions, with much consequent profanation of the ordinance. There are many who seem to regard the observance of it as settling their accounts with the Judge of all for the past, if not as the purchase of an indulgence also for the future. The private administration of baptism, now so prevalentj seems to have derived its origin from one or other of these unscriptural principles, — the absolute necessity of the ordinance for salvation, or its iiif'aUible connection with the thing signified. The practice was condemned and opposed by the Church of Scotland in her purest times. It furnishes an opportunity to unfaithful ministers, of ad- mitting persons to present their children for baptism, who habi- tually despise public ordinances, or whose character is such, that the administrators would be ashamed to admit them publicly. One special design of the ordinance is to acknowledge the baptized as church members ; and, therefore, the church has a right to know who are thus recognised, what claims they have by their parentage to such an acknowledgment, and what pledge is given for their re- ligious education. Nor ought we to forget, that the public dispen- sation of this sacrament is calculated to be useful in various re- spects, to others besides those more immediately interested. 5. We reject the doctrine, " That the virtue of the Sacraments depends on those who administer them."" Even when Paul planted and ApoUos watered, it was God who gave the increase : '" So then," in reference to the efficacy of ordinances, " neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth, but God who giveth the increase ;" 1 Cor. iii. 6, 7. Men may baptize with water, but it is the sole prerogative of Christ to " baptize with the Holy Ghost;*" Mat. iii. 11. On his blessing, and the working of the Spirit in those who rightly receive ihem, the efficacy of both Sacra- ments entirely depends; 1 Cor. xii. 13. 6. We reject the principle, " That, in ordinary cases, the Sacra- ments may be dispensed to those who are not in fellowship with the Church, or who do not acknowledge themselves subject to her discipline."" This principle seems to be avowed, when mere resi- dence in a district, or the circumstance of having taken a scat in a place of worship, is considered as entitling a person to one or both of the Sacraments. In the primitive age, an explicit profession of faith was required ; Acts ii. 41, 42 ; viii. 12, 13, 37 ; together CONCERNING THE MEANS OF SALVATION. 141 witli a blameless character, 2 Thess. iii. 14; I Tim. vi. 5; both implying subjection to the superintendancc of those whose province it is officially to ascertain such matters, 1 Cor. v. 4-8 ; Heb. xiii. 17. With regard to Baptism. We reject the two following positions : 1. " That the infants of those who are members of the Church are, on account of their infancy, not proper subjects of the ordi- nance." This is one of the discriminative tenets of those who Avere formerly styled Anabaptists, who latterly have assumed the name of Baptists, but who are with greater propriety denominated Anti- psedobaptists, that is, opponents of infant baptism. The claim of infants rests on the following grounds : ^sf, The children of church- members are recognised as ecclesiastically holy : ^dli/. They have, even in infancy, access to the privileges signified and sealed by Baptism, and may even be participants of them : 3dl?/, God hath sufficiently indicated his will that they should receive the ordinance. Ist, Those who are under the external dispensation of the Cove- nant of Grace are in Scripture denominated Holy ; not really, but relatively ; not as all of them subjects of sanctifying grace, for there are confessedly good and bad in the visible Church, but as separated from the world, by peculiar privileges and obligations; so the Jews are holy while the Gentiles are unclean; Exod. xix. 6; Ezra ix. 2 ; Acts x. 28. The children of the members of the Cimrch were recognised as in this sense holy. The Covenant of Promise originally given to Abraham comprehends them; Gen. xvii. 7. They stand before God, " the little ones," as well as the parents, to be affected by the obligations of his covenant ; Deut. xxix. 10-12. In the only case as to which doubts had arisen from the new state of things under the Gospel dispensation, the case of one parent continuing a heathen, while the other was converted, Paul decides in favour of the children, that they are not unclean but holy, 1 Cor. vii. 14. The children of Church-members have, therefore, a right to Baptism, as a sign of connection with the visi- ble Church. 9.dii/, When we look to the higher import of the ordinance, chil- dren have the same interest with adults in that change of state and of nature which it was intended to signify and seal. This change they need in infancy, Ps. li. 5 ; they are even then capable of it. Is. "ixv. 20, Rom. 5. 19 ; they may be already the subjects of it, Luke i. 15, 41 ; they are placed in favourable circumstances for it, Math. xix. 13, 15. There is nothing, therefore, in their state of 142 DOCTRINAL STATEMENTS. infancy to forbid, but much to favour, the administration of the sign to them. 3f%, God hath sufficiently indicated his will that infants should be the recipients of Baptism, both as a sign of connection with the visible Church, and a seal of spiritual blessings. The Scriptures clearly ascertain that Circumcision was a seal of the same covenant, had the sanje spiritual import, and was intended to serve the same purpose, with Baptism ; and that the former has given place to the latter, or that, in the christian economy. Baptism has been substi- tuted for Circumcision, The Covenant made with Abraham, to which circumcision Avas annexed, respected salvation and the privileges of the Gospel state. This may be evident to every one who reads with candour and care the fourth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, and the third of the Epistle to the Galatians. By the very terms of the covenant, God proclaimed himself, " the God not of the Jews only, but of the Gentiles also," who, though then left to their apostasy, were to be eventually converted and blessed. Gen. xii. 3, xxviii. 14, with Rom. iii. 29, 30. Most expressly are we taught, that " the cove- nant which was confirmed of God in Christ" four hundred and thirty years before the giving of the lavv, is that covenant in fulfil- ment of which Christ died for our offences, and rose again for our justification; Gal. iii. 13, 14. As a covenant of Grace, it insured, revealed, and made over " the righteousness" on which a title to true happiness depends, as well as " the inheritance" in which that happiness consists. The righteousness it proposed was that which is " by faith," not by the law ; and the i7iheritance it secured was salvation, or those spiritual blessings which are now so richly en- joyed under the Gospel, but the consummation of which was all along understood to be in Heaven, and sought for there ; Gal. iii. 6, 7; Rom. iv. 13-17; Heb. xi. 13-16. Because the accomplish- ment of the meritorious righteousness, and consequent full bestow- ment of spiritual privilege, were still future, the covenant made with Abraham is frequently styled the Promise ; and by this name is sometimes distinguished from the Gospel, which, in a restricted sense, signifies the divine testimony concerning the work of the Saviour, as actually finished on the cross, and attested by his resur- rection from the dead, Rom. i. 1, 2. But both the Promise and the Gospel propose the same righteousness as the only ground of title to the spiritual inheritance ; Gal. iii. 8, 9. It is of the same covenant, then, of which circumcision was the seal during the limit- ed and merely preparatory dispensation, that baptism is now CONCERNING THE MEANS OF SALVATION. 143 the seal, as the ordinance adapted to the Gospel, exhibiting the full verification of the promise in the death and resurrection of Christ, the effusion of the spirit, and the calling of the Gentiles. On the day of Pentecost Peter said to his hearers, " Repent and be bap- tized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remis- sion of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the holy Ghost, for the promise is to you and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call ;"" Acts ii. 38, 39. Nor less decisive is the declaration of Paul : " As many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is nei- ther Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female, for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ's then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise ;" Gal. iii. 27-29. Circumcision and Baptism were not only seals of the same cove- nant but corresponding seals, intended for the same purposes, and having the same spiritual import. It is readily granted, that to the Jews circumcision was a sign of interest in the temporal inheritance promised to Abraham. But as an evidence that it was not solely nor chiefly intended for this purpose, it was extended, even to such of his family as were not designed to be heirs of Canaan. To them_, as for the time within the sphere of the patriarchal dispensation of the covenant, access was given to the hope of righteousness by faith ; Gen. xvii. 23. Even among the Jews, the temporal pro- mise was only subservient to the spiritual or gracious economy till the Saviour should come ; and Canaan was typical of the heavenly places in which the blessing of Abraham is fully realised. Abra- ham has now, according to the covenant, become " heir of the world ;" Rom. iv. 13, 16, 17 ; and therefore the Church has no pe- culiar patrimony, like Canaan, to be sealed by baptism, nor is the New Testament ordinance calculated to distinguish one people from another. The only difference between baptism and the ancient ordinance is that which necessarily arises from the different econo- mies of the same covenant to which they respectively belong. The circumcised waited for the coming of Messiah to fulfil all right- eousness ; the subjects of the new economy are baptised into Christ, as having now died for them and risen again. Circumcision, when performed according to the divine sanction, was of old the sign of connexion with the visible church, Exod. xii. 48; Eph. ii. 11, 12 ; and so is baptism now ; 1 Cor. xii. 13. But circumcision, like bap- tism, also respected salvation, and the merely external reception of the one Avas as little productive of saving effect as the other : Rom. 144 DOCTRINAL STATEMENTS. ii. 28, 29. In i-egard to salvation, circumcision was a seal, both of the righteousness proposed in the covenant, Rom. iv. 6, 11 ; and of the spiritualinheritance secured, Gal. iii. 14, 17, 18; while it also denoted that renovation of nature which is inseparable from the former and included in the latter ; Deut. xxx, 6.; Acts vii. 51. Finally, circumcision was a solemn dedication of the subject who received it to the service of God, Deut. x. 16, 26 ; Rom. ii. 25 ; and the same devotement, with all its consequent peculiar obligations, is now expressed by baptism; Rom. vi. 3, 4; 1 Cor. vi. 11; 1 Pet. iii. 21. The ancient ordinance being obviously intended only for the preparatory state of things, Baptism, which agrees with it in ec- clesiastical use and spiritual import, was introduced in its stead as best suited to the accomplishment of the Covenant of promise, in the extended sphere and enlarged privileges of the Gospel dis- pensation. This substitution was declared on the day of Pente- cost, when baptism was proposed to the Jews, expressly as the seal of the covenant of promise, and the proper seal of interest in the fulfilment of the promise, Acts ii. 38, 39. It was further evinced by the fact, that, to the Gentiles, who were admitted into the Christian Church, baptism, and not circumcision, was pre- scribed, Acts x. 48 ; xxi. 21-25 ; Eph. iv. 4, 5. It is clearly re- cognised by Paul, who appeals to baptism, as now occupying the place of circumcision, in reference to the covenant with Abraham, Gal. iii. 27, 29. It is fully established by the manner in which the apostles speak of baptism, and of those who live according to its import. Baptism is styled the circumcision of Christ, or the Christian circumcision, and those who live agreeably to its import are described as the truly circumcised, Phil. iii. 3; Col. ii. 11, 12. On these three grounds, — the identity of the covenant, the cor- respondence of the two ordinances, and the substitution of the one for the other, it necessarily follows, that as circumcision was not hmited to adults, but, by divine appointment, extended to infants, it is the will of God that infants should also be the subjects of baptism, — The one ordinance is adapted to passive reception as truly as the other. The want of capacity to know what is done, can as little be objected in the case of baptism as in that of cir- cumcision. — Nor can personal profession, or voluntary acquies- cence, be pleaded as essential, since God sustained the profession of the parents as warranting the circumcision of their children; and shewed, that, by a positive institution, he can not only assign privilege, but even bring under special obligations, without the CONCERNING THE MEANS OV SALVATION. 145 consent of the party. — If a law sanctioning infant baptism in direct terms be required, we liave indeed no such law ; but neither have we any such law for the abrogation of the Passover, for the obser- vance of the first clay of the week as the Sabbath, for the admissi- bility of females to the Lord's table, and other matters of New Tes- tament order. But the identity of the covenant, the correspondence of the two ordinances, circumcision and baptism, and the substitu- tion of the one for the other, superseded the necessity of any par- ticular directions relative to the baptism of children. No special mandate war, requisite for the Apostles themselves, nor were they to be expected to give any injunctions about it, since it was no new thins for infants to be recognised as members of the Church, and heirs of her privileges. The only point of difference to be noticed was, that now " in Christ there is neither male nor fe- male ;" and this is noticed expressly in connection with baptism, as the ordinance by which circumcision, which made the distinc- tion, is displaced; Gal. iii. 27, 28 ; Acts viii. 12. — Unless infants had been excluded from the New Testament ordinance by some positive law, the ancient order must remain. We have no such exclusive prohibition. — It would have been inconsistent with the new and better dispensation, which, instead of abridging, was^ in- tended to enlarge the privileges of the Church. — There is nothing in the practiee of the Apostles unfavourable to the claims of in- fants, but the contrary. Without the slightest intimation that now children under age were excepted, the very phraseology em- ployed with regard to the subjects of circumcision, is familiarly adopted in the sacred history of the administration of baptism ; Acts xvi. 15, 33 ; 1 Cor i. 16. — And, by those who were most prone to complain, we find no complaint founded on the exclusion of infants. The Jewish converts neither alleged that their children were deprived of a benefit, nor did they allege that the Gentiles were not dealt with as the Jews had been, and that, therefore, the constitution of the Christian Church was defective, no ordinance corresponding to circumcision having been appointed. 2. We reject the principle " that the only legitimate mode of administering baptism is by immersion, or plunging the whole body in water." This is another discriminating tenet of the Baptists, which seems to exclude the whole Christian community but them- selves from the true mark of discipleship. The three modes which have been used are, immersion, affusion or pouring, and aspersion or sprinkling. Any of these we regard as valid ; but the absolute necessity of the first we deny ; and reject the opinion that immer, K 146 DOCTRINAL STATEMENTS. sion is so essential to the ordinance that there can be no baptism without it. Even on general grounds it is most unlikely that, in a religion designed for universality, immersion would be prescribed as the form essential to the right administration of baptism. It is incon- venient, and is not suited to all climates, seasons, and constitu- tions. It might even be dangerous or highly detrimental to some, who might both desire and be entitled to receive the ordinance. Again, there is no direct proof in support of immersion. We are nowhere told in so many words, that this mode of baptizing was used in the apostolic age, much less that it is the only mode which can be lawfully used. The very fact that no one of the three forms is expressly prescribed, ought to be considered as con- clusive on this subject. As there is no direct proof, so immersion is not necessarily im- plied in any Scripture account of the administration of baptism, either before or after the ascension of Christ. The probability is against it, when we consider the numbers baptized, the places where the ordinance was administered, and the circumstances of those who received it. Three thousand were, in one day, bap- tized in Jerusalem. The notice, in two instances, of going down to the water and coming up from it, accords with the idea of af- fusion, as naturally as with that of immersion. The words ren- dered " much water,"" John iii. 23, signify " many waters,'' which, even on the plan of sprinkling, were requisite for such multitudes as resorted to John. The mode is never described, which, it ouo-ht to be remarked, is a singular circumstance, if it be so essen- tial as has been alleged ; but all the accounts naturally suggest that it was simple, expeditious, practicable in any situation, in a house, or in a desert ; neither oppressive to the administrator, nor calculated to incommode the recipients, though at a great distance from home, as in the case of those who attended the ministry of John in the wilderness, or who were on a journey like the Ethio- pian eunuch. The argument, founded on the meaning of the words baptize and baptism, can as little, as the appeal to historical evidence, sus- tain the position that immersion was the original practice^ and ought, therefore, to be regarded as the indispensable mode of ad- ministering the ordinance. The passages usually quoted to ascer- tain the meaning of the terms, are Mark vii. 2, 4, where we read of the washing of hands, cups, tables, &c. and Luke xi. 38, where the surprise of the Pharisee is slated at our Lord's sitting down to CONCERNING THE MEANS OF SALA^ATION. 147 meat without having first washed, or (as in the original) baptized. But these passages confessedly do not refer to the sacred ordinance of baptism ; nor is the conclusion legitimate, that a word must al- ways have the same signification, or that it may not be applied in a peculiar sense to a symbolical institution. Besides, in the pas- sages adduced, actual washing, and not simple immersion, is meant ; and the argument, if good, would prove the necessity of the washing, not merely of the immersion. There is direct proof, however, that the terms baptize and baptism were not always used by the sacred writers to convey the idea of immersion, but were also apphed to affusion and sprinkling. In Heb. ix. 10, the phrase in the original " divers baptisms,'"' obviously implies, that the term baptism was not restricted, by the inspired writers, to one particular form of washing or purification, for the word " divers'' is, in the same clause, extended to the ordinances of the Jewish economy in general, for the purpose of denoting their variety as well as their number. The Apostle, accordingly, in prosecuting his ai-gument, specifies one of these forms of baptism, which he seems to have considered as the chief, and this consisted in sprink- ling, ver. 13, 14. In this connection, the word " baptism"" is ap- plied to sprinkhng among the Jews, and to such sprinkling as de- noted precisely what is signified by the Christian ordinance. With- out referring to any of the ordinary ablutions, the Apostle imme- diately afterwards adduces another example, in the solemn dedica- tion of the people and all that pertained to the sanctuary, by the sprinkling of blood mingled with water, ver. 19, 21 ; Acts i. 5 ; ii. 3. Finally, the few references which are made to the hririal of Christ, in expounding the import of baptism, cannot warrant the conclusion that immersion is the only proper mode of administer- ing the ordinance, or even that it was the uniform practice in the primitive age. Only two instances of such reference occur ; Rom. vi. 3, 4, and Col. ii. 12; in both of which other modes of expres- sing the import of the ordinance are also employed. In the first, we are said to be baptized " into Chrisfs death,"'"' as well as to be buried with him, and to be " planted together in the likeness of his death." In the second, the import of the ordinance, as analo- gous to circumcision, is said to be " the putting off of the sins of the flesh."'"' As well, therefore, might we argue that the form must represent crucifixion, or be connected with the sign of the cross, because we are said to be baptized into Christ's death, as that it must be immersion, because there is an allusion to his burial. In 3 K 3 148 DOCTRINAL STATEMENTS. both passages, too, there is as pointed a reference to the resurrec- tion of Christ, as to his burial ; and though the Baptists consider this as confirmatory of their views, yet resurrection cannot be re- presented by the simple act of immersion, which, on their principle of rigid adherence to the alleged meaning of the word " baptize," can alone be significant. Elsewhere Paul as explicitly states the import of the ordinance under the idea of " putting on Christ," as garments are put on for protection, distinction, or ornament. Gal. iii. 27. And from these passages it might be as strongly pleaded, that there must be robing in new vestments, as from those which are commonly adduced, that there must be a resemblance to the letting down of a body into a grave, and raising it up again. It ought to be remembered, too, that we may err in expounding- Scripture by our own manners and customs. The Jewish mode of consigning the bodies of the dead to a sepulchre, did not so exactly resemble the mode of burying among us, as is taken for granted by those who make use of the supposed allusion as a plea for immer- sion. Their tombs were generally in the form of caves, in the sides of which the bodies were placed. In the two passages so frequently urged, the Apostle, instead of pointing to the mode, refers to the fact of Christ^s burial, Rom. vi. 3, 10, 11 ; vii. 4. The true import of baptism is the removal of guilt and moral pollution. As expressive of this, it necessarily denotes an interest in the death and resurrection of Christ. But in an emblematical ordinance, it is not necessary that the thing signified be fully re- presented, or even graphically pourtrayed, by the sign. If this be necessary, then tcashhig, the thing most directly signified by baptism, is not exemplified by the mere act of immersion, any more than by sprinkling. Even in the carnal ordinances of the Old Testament, sprinkling was sustained as sufficiently significant of washing. Much more might this be expected under the New Testament, or spiritual economy, on the same principle that the using of a little bread and wine denotes the participation of a feast, in the ordinance of the Lord's Supper. What is signified and sealed by Baptism is more frequently ex- pressed in Scripture hy pouring or sprinMing, than by any other figurative allusion ; and, in some instances, there seems to be a prediction of the ordinance itself The blood of Jesus, of which, as well as of the influence of the Spirit, the water is the sign, is styled " the blood of sprinkling,"" Heb. xii. 24. Our hearts are said " to be sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water,"" Heb. x. 22 ; and this is ascertained to CONCERNING THE MEANS OF SALVATION. 149 be the import of baptism, 1 Pet. iii. SI. The promise was, " In the last days I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh," Acts ii. ] 7 ; and baptism was to be the seal of its accomplishment, ver. 38- 41. The conversion of the Gentiles is thus foretold : " He shall sprinkle many nations," Is. Iii. 15. And, in reference to the time when the Jews shaU renounce circumcision, and be restored to the Church, it is said, " Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean ; from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you : a new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you ;" Ezek. xxxvi. 25, 26. IVitJi regard to the LorcTs Supper. 1. We reject the idea, " That it is only a badge of Christianity, and a love-feast among Christians."" No higher views of the ordi- nance can be entertained by Socinians, who discard the doctrine of atonement for sins. The true design of it is to commemorate the Death of Christ, as the atoning sacrifice which hath ratified the co- venant of grace, and provided for the accomplishment of all its pro- mises. If it be a badge of Christianity, — it is, because in the ob- servance of it, we glory in the cross of Christ, proclaiming the high place which his death holds in the mystery of redemption, and avowing our faith in him as the substitute for sinners ; 1 Cor. xi. 24-26. If it be a feast of love among Christians, it is on the same principle, because it is the communion of ihe body and the blood of Christ, a seal of common interest in his atoning death, with all its precious results, and thus a pledge of unity and Christian re- gard ; I Cor. X. 16, IT, 21. 2. We reject the doctrine, " That in the Supper is presented a true and proper, though unbloody. Sacrifice for sins." On this te- net of the Romish Church is founded the name Host or Sacrifice, which is given to the bread in the celebration of the Mass. The doctrine supposes a true priesthood still on earth, invested not only with the right of offering sacrifice, but with a power over the Sa- viour himself, which no human being ever did, or could possess. " Once in the end of the world he appeared, to put away sin, by the sacrifice of himself." The Lord's Supper is the memorial of his sacrifice, and a witness of its perfection, opposed to the very- idea of repetition in any form whatever ; Heb. ix. ^6 ; x. 10-14. 3. We reject the position with which the preceding tenet is closely connected, " That the bread and wine are, by the words of consecration, changed into the real body and blood of Christ." This change is what the Papists denominate Transubstantiation. 150 DOCTRINAL STATEMENTS. It was made an established article of their faith in the year 1215 *. If it were true, the Lord's Supper would involve a permanent mi- racle of the most extraordinary kind, — a miracle which, eluding the senses, and requiring that their evidence be utterly disregarded, would be subversive of the use of all miracles, and thus of the re- velation they were designed to attest. In the Lord's Supper, we are told, certain materials, which still remain the same in appear- ance, and affect all the senses precisely as they did before, are, by the instrumentahty of men, converted, not merely into the human nature, but into the whole person of Christ. Nothing can be more absurd than to suppose, that, when our Lord said, " This is my body,'' he meant that what he held in his hands was the very body in which he addressed the disciples and administered the or- dinance ; or that the disciples could so mistake his meaning as to imagine him transmuted into the bread, while they saw him pre- sent at the table. If the form of expression be held to affirm the actual presence of Christ's body in the bread, it will as decidedly affirm that his crucifixion had actually taken place at the time when he spake, for he said, " This is my body brolen r and, in Luke xxii. 20 ; 1 Cor. xi. 25 ; it will affirm the transmutation of the cup into " the New Testament." But no one can mistake the import of the same form of expression when it is said, " That Rock was Christ,"" or " The seven candlesticks are the seven churches;" Gen. xh. 26, 27; 1 Cor. x. 4; Rev. i. 20. The sign is familiarly put for the thing signified, and the thing signified is often affirmed of the sign. Thus, the Ark of the Covenant is styled God's Strength, Ps. Ixxviii. 61 ; Circumcision his covenant. Gen. xvii. 10, 13; and the Lamb, eaten according to appointment, his Pass- over, or his passing over in executing judgment, Exod. xii. 11, 12. In sacramental institutions such phraseology is most appropi-iate. Nothing can be more inconsistent, both with reason and Scripture^ than to believe that the body of Christ can be present at once on earth and in heaven, or in many and distant places at the same time ; John xvii. 11, 13 ; 2 Cor. v. 6 ; Acts iii, 21. 4. We reject the consequence of the doctrine of transubstantia- tion, " That the Sacrament of the Supper is lawfully and properly administered to the people in one element." The denial of the cup to the laity, proceeds on the idea that Christ is corporeally and wholly present in the bread. Of the cup, our Lord says most ex- pressly, " Drink ye all of it ;" Mat. xxvi. 27, — words which were understood, in the primitive age, as extending the privilege of the • iSro.slieiin's Ecc. Hist. Cent. xiii. Part II. ch. iii. CONCERNING THE MEANS OF SALVATION. 151 cup to the people, for Paul expressly appeals to the use of it by them ; 1 Cor. x. IC, 17, 21 ; xi. 9J2, 23, 26. 5. We condemn the profanation of the ordinance, by admitting the ignorant and scandalous to a participation of it, and, what must necessarily favour this, the application of it to secular purposes. With respect to the admission of the ignorant and scandalous, we have already declared our judgment, pp. 74, 75. The law respect- ing what is called the Sacramental Test, requires the reception of the Lord's Supper, according to the forms of the Church of Eng- land, as a qualification for admission to many secular offices ; and thus a saci-ed and solemn ordinance, instituted solely for spiritual purposes, is made an engine of State, and prostituted in subser viency to worldly designs *. And as the ministers of the Church of England are bound to dispense the ordinance to every one who de- mands it as a qualification for office, they are reduced to tlie neces- sity, either of resisting authority, or sometimes, if not frequently, of " casting the children's bread to dogs." 5. With regard to Ecclesiastical Discipline -f. In conformity to Scripture and our standards, we rank the cen- sures of the Church, when their infliction becomes necessary, among the means which are subservient to salvation. On this head, we consider as unscriptural the two following positions, and the practice founded upon them. 1. " That the ends of discipline may, in all cases, be sufficiently gained by the private administration of censure." These ends, whatever be the species of censure, even the highest not excepted, are 1^^, The reclaiming of the offender ; 2 Thes. iii. 14, 15 ; 1 Cor. v. 3-5. ^dly. Satisfaction to the Church as to the submission and penitence of her fallen members ; Mat, xviii. 15-17 ; 2 Cor. ii. 6-8. 3(Z/y, The preservation of purity and peace ; Gal. v. 12; Heb. xii. 15, 16. '^thly^ The vindication of our religion, by shewing before the world how holy it is, — how solemnly it disclaims and discountenances all immorality, — and how highly God is dis- pleased with the offences of his professing people, and even of true believers; Rev. xxii. 14, 15; Mat. v. 19. 5thJij, The warnino- of all against the commission of similar offences ; 1 Tim. v. 20. A due regard to these ends ought to regulate the procedure of church courts. As discipline is intended to guard the purity of doctrine, worship, and practice, the faithful exercise of it is the • June 1828 — The law imposing the Sacramental Test has been repealed in the course of the present session of Parliament, t Vide Part I. Chap. I. Sect. IV. § iu. 152 DOCTRINAL STATEMENTS. more necessary. On this head, a solemn charge is given, " not to prefer one before another, doing nothing by partiality ;" 1 Tim. v 20, 21. . ^ 2. We condemn the principle, " That, instead of public rebuke, it is lawful to exact a sum of money from those who have fallen in- to scandal." To commend this as a more effective method of dealing with of- fenders, can only savour of impiety ; Mat. xvi. 19; John xx. 22, 23; 2 Cor. ii. 10, 11. 6. With regard to the Sabbath. We condemn the principle, " That now, under the New Tes- tament, there is no day more sacred, by divine institution, than another." Some otherwise sound and well-meaning christians have suppos- ed, that freedom from any observance of the Sabbath as a day sacred by divine appointment, is a part of our liberty in Christ. The word Sabbath signifies rest. Among the various pretexts for claiming this freedom, one of the most plausible is^ that the New Testament age being the season of spiritual rest, which was an- ciently prefigured by the Sabbath, we are now under no divine obligation to keep any one day more holy than another. Uut how- ever those who are really spiritual may please themselves with such an idea, it is obviously calculated to commend itself most to those who are carnal, and anxious to be set free from all restraint. The omission of any special observance of the Sabbath, even on pretended spiritual grounds, has often been followed by rapid de- cline in religion ; and the neglect of it, on other grounds, has usually been deplored by malefactors, as the commencement of those courses which have brought them to an ignominious end. By how many is the Sabbath regarded only as a day of relaxation from labour, or of mere bodily recreation ! The sad consequences of the sanction given to the Book ol" Sports in England, shew the danger to the interests of morality, as well as religion, which arises from such views, and ought to render us eminently thankful for the noble and successful resistance of attempts to introduce the same system into Scotland. Since God is supreme, and worthy of all homage, it must be in- cumbent on rational creatures to devote, primarily to him, not on- ly their persons and their property, but also their t'mie. Had we l)ccn made like the angels, all our time must have been sacred. And when the riffhteous shall be assimilated to the angels in the CONCERNING THE MEANS OF SALVATION. 153 heavenly state, the whole of their existence shall be one Sabbath to the Lord. But since we are under a different constitution while on earth, only a certain portion of our time can be consecrated to di- vine worship. Here, then, is the moral foundation of the Sabbath, — the claims of God require that this portion of our time be left free from all secular employments, to be given to him in the per- formance of such services as, according to varying circumstances, he may be pleased to appoint. But it is evident, that, on this head of moral duty, the law could not be given to man, without fixing the portion of time by a posi- tive act of the divine will. The space most proper to be allotted was not to be left to the determination of man. Nor could any in- dividual or body of men possess either the authority or the wisdom necessai-y to determine it for the whole human race. God accord- ingly did, by express commandment, fix the space to a seventh part of our time. There is nothing in the essential character of the Sabbath, as at first appointed, that connects it peculiarly with any of God's spe- cial dispensations to man, — with the Covenant of Works, or with the Covenant of Grace, — with the Old Testament, or with the New Testament. As a prescription of sacred time, it stands fitly among the moral precepts, — which respect the Object, the Manner, the Substance, and the Season of worship, under all economies, and whatever the form or references of the service required might be. Under the Mosaic dispensation, however, the Sabbath, in com- mon with other things, and particularly with many other days of sacred rest, which were also denominated Sabbaths, was applied to a typical purpose; Exod. xxxi. 13, 16, 17; Deut. v. 15; Heb. iv. To this the Apostle refers in the passage which has been so often pleaded against the observance of the Sabbath under the gospel-dispensation ; Col. ii. 16, 17, " Let no man judge you in meat or in drink, or in respect of a holiday, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath-days, which are a shadow of things to come.'" As on the other sacred days, so on the seventh day, a rest pecu- liarly strict w^as enjoined, in subserviency to the typical purpose; Exod. XXXV. 2, 3. This rest the Scribes and Pharisees pushed beyond the divine prescription, and were therefore repeatedly cen- sured by Our Lord for their superstition and hypocrisy ; Mark ii. 23, 28. When the other sabbaths, which had no previous exist- ence, but belonged solely to the typical system, were abolished, that of the seventh day was also divested of the typical use to 154 DOCTRINAL STATEMENTS. which it had been applied, and ceased, like tiie land of Canaan, to be a shadow^of the gospel rest. But this by no means implied its total abolition, or any change on the law of its original appoint- ment. When so divested, it still remained to be, according to its primary purpose and proper design, the season of sacred service best suited to the present condition of man. Its perpctu'itij, in this view, is fully ascertained, — by the respect which our Lord claim- ed for it under the gospel-dispensation ; Mat. xxiv. 20, — by the declared immutability of all the moral precepts ; Mat. v. 17, 19, by prophecies, which undeniably refer to the calling of the gen- tiles; Is. Ivi. 2, 4, G, — and by the actual observance of the law of the Sabbath in the practice of the apostles and primitive chris- tians,— the day onlv being changed from the last to the first of the week. This change of the day was not inconsistent with either the spirit or the letter of the fourth commandment, which requires a seventh part of our time, and refers to the seventh day in recur- rence. The change was exceedingly proper, as there is now a greater work than creation to be commemorated, — a work in which God rests with higher complacency, as more fully manifesting his glory, — and a work in which we may rest with greater satisfaction, as more deeply interesting to us. No day could be more fit for being the day of christian worship than that of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, — the event which attested the completion of his work of redemption, — introduced him into the rest of his glorified state, proclaimed his true character, introduced the new order of things in the church — and which must ever be regarded as the grand confirmation of all our faith and all our hope ; Heb. iv. 3, 11 ; xiii. 20 ; 1 Cor. xv. 14, 17, Finally, the change of the day is sufficiently ascertained. Christ, both while he continued on earth, and after his ascension, testified his approbation of the observance of the first day of the week ; John xx. 19, 26. It was sanctioned by his apostles; Acts xx, 7; 1 Cor. xvi. 2; and before the conclusion of the apostolic age, it was distinguished from the day observed by the Jews, and familiarly known among christians by the name which recognizes both his appointment of it, and iiis claim to it, •' The Lord's Day ;'' Rev. i. 10. IX. — CONCERNING CHURCH-GOVERNMEKT. Adhering to the doctrine stated in The Confession of Fa'ith^ concerning the Cliurch, ch. xxv, xxx. and Synods and Councils, CONCERNING CHURCH-GOVEllNMENT. 155 ch. xxxi. but more fully declared in the Form of Presbyterial Go- vernment., sanctioned by the Assembly of Divines at Westminster, and embraced by the Church of Scotland, — Ave reject the following positions. 1. " That Christ hath not ap}Dointed any particular form of Government for the Church under the New Testament, but left it to be modelled according to the pleasure of men, and especially of the civil powers in the several countries where the church may ex- ist."" This principle is disproved by the general tenor of the New Testament Scriptures, which represent the Church even in her vi- sible state under the idea of a kingdom, and often refer to ecclesi- astical rulers, to whom submission and obedience are required, — ■whose call, qualifications, and form of investiture with office, are described, — whose powers are defined, — and the exercise of whose functions is exemplified ; Actsi. 3; 1 Tim. iii. 1, 5. v. 17; Heb. xiii. 1, 7 ; 2 Tim. iv. 1, 2 ; Tit. 2, 15, &c. The formation and complete organization of the Christian Church, prior to the conversion of the secular authorities in the Roman Empire, was calculated, if not also designed, to shew that her government w^as independent of the pre- scription, regulation or sanction, of the powers of this world. The introduction of this government, first, in the persons, and then through the ministry of the apostles, proves its origin to be im- mediately from Christ, and not from the people, and thus esta- blishes the principle, that it is not to be accommodated to the na- tional character, or to the general voice, of those who might em- brace the Christian religion ; John xv. 16 ; ]Mat, xxviii. 18, 19 ; 2 Tim. ii. 2. 2. We reject the principle "• That the" form of government di- vinely appointed is Congregational, or what is usually styled Inde- pendent." Of this form, Vvhich may be considerably diversified, and the aspects of which have frequently varied, the chief features seem to be, that particular congregations are churches independent of each other, and not subordinate to superior courts, and that an ec- clesiastical association of office-bearers from diffisrent congregations can have merely a consultative power. This form is liable to great disadvantages. These are felt both by pastors and people, — by pastors, in the undue influence which is apt to controul them, and a defect of that energy which arises from the judicative co-operation of brethren, — by the people, in the want of the power of appeal, however much the parties judged may conceive themselves to bo aggrieved, and in the prejudice to which their cause is apt to be exposed, w hen trial and ultimate decision are limited to the sphere 156 DOCTRINAL STATEMENTS. of that congregation in which the cause has originated, and where party-feeling may be expected to exist. It is in some respects an impracticable form. When difficult cases arise, or such as interest the whole community, it becomes necessary to consult the rulers of other churches by letter or deputation. If what seems good to the majority determine the cause, it is in fact a judicial decision, for giving which these rulers might as well have assembled in a general council. If even those who are cast out by a particular church, cannot be received or recognised as members by other churches, the sentence of that church controuls the whole commu- nity ; and it were better in such cases, that the privilege of appeal existed, whether it were embraced or not, as also that a general as- sembly of the rulers had a power of inspection and review. In fact, many cases do occur, which are determined only by resorting to the principle of presbyterial government. It is a form not suit- ed to the unity of the Church as a visible body, the full and proper manifestation of which it precludes, with the many peculiar advan- tages which such unity affords for the conjunct confession and de- fence of the Christian religion. It Jails short of the form of go- vernment recognised in the apostolical writings, and exemplified in the primitive Church. That the power conferred on ecclesiastical rulers was judicial, may be inferred from our Lord's allusion to the Jewish authori- ties, when he represents the Apostles as " sitting on thrones judg- ing the twelve tribes of Israel," and also from his allusion to the executive power anciently symbolised by T^eys. The very power which belongs supremely to Christ, as sitting upon his throne, and " having the keys of the house of David,''"' is, according to his commission, ministerially exercised by the office-bearers of the church ; Isaiah xxii. 22 ; Luke xxii. 24, 30 ; Math. xiv. 19"; John XX. 21, 23. If, owing to the want of proximity, and other cir- cumstances in the primitive age, the frequent meeting of Presby- teries, Synods, or larger assemblies of Church-Rulers, was less practicable than afterwards, it was also less needful, while the Apostles could visit the Churches to correct disorders and settle controversies; or while their decision, which was necessarily final, could be obtained by letter, on any litigated point. But the form designed to be permanent, was exemplified u der the sanc- tion of these extraordinary office-bearers, in such meetings of Pres- bytery, as that by which Timothy was ordained; 1 Tim. iv. 14; and in the superintendence of several congregations by one consis- tory of Ministers and Elders. Thus the " many thousands" of CONCEENING CHURCH-GOVERNMENT. 157 believers at Jerusalem, are usually mentioned as one church, under the superintendence of the Apostles and Elders resident there. Acts viii. 1; XV. 4; xxi. 17, 20. The numerous converts at Ephesus are also described as one flock, under the inspection of the Elders whom Paul sent for to Miletus, Acts xix. 18 ; xx. 17, 18. An exemplification of the mode in which general superinten- dence should be exercised after the cessation of extraordinary pow- ers and offices, was also provided, when, at an early period, a question occurred which the Apostles were not directed to decide, by the peculiar power which belonged to them individually. This question was referred to a meeting, in which they, and other ex- traordinary office-bearers^ acted in common with the Elders of the Church, — admitting, as was just and proper, the declaration of the parties more immediately concerned. This assembly has been called a Synod, to distinguish it from the meeting of proximate Ministers and Elders, to which the name Presbytery is now usual- ly applied, and because its decision affected, not only the Chris- tians at Antioch, but all the primitive churches. The deed was ju- dicially enacted, and styled " The decrees of the Apostles and El- ders,"" Acts XV. xvi 4 ; xxi. 25. Upon any interpretation, this deci- sion, when we look to the form in which it was given, and the extent of its authority, is irreconcilable with the principle of Independency. 3. We reject the principle, " That a Bishop is an officer in the church superior to a preaching presbyter or elder ; that in him pro- perly the power of ordination resides, and that he presides over a diocese or district, including several gradations of office-bearers, and a number of particular congregations.*" This is t+Je dis- criminative tenet of those who are styled Episcopalians. Sanc- tioning a distinction of orders, it is the basis of the hierarchy of the Church of Rome, and of the simpler but still hierarchical form of the Church of England. The ranks of official dignita- ries, which ascend in the one communion from a Bishop to the Pope, and in the other from a Bishop to an Archbishop Primate, ultimately terminating in the King, are confessedly unknown to Scripture ; neither the names nor the offices denoted by them are any where to be found in the sacred oracles. The divine right of Episcopacy has been surrendered by some of the ablest advocates of the system in the Church of England. They choose to rest its de- fence on what they deem the propriety of accommodating the orders in the Church to those which exist in civil society. The pleadings of others from what alone seems to be plausible, the hierarchy di- vinely established among the Jews, are evidently inapplicable, as 158 DOCTRINAL STATEMENTS. that hierarchy was typical of the priestly office and work of- the Sa- viour, and the sacred government did not belong to it, but to the princes of the tribes, and the Sanhedrim or Elders of Israel. The assimilation of offices in the Church to the gradations of rank and office in a civil community, is expressly condemned by our Lord ; Mark x. 42, 43. The pre-eminence of particular churches is in- compatible w ith Christian order, and declared equality of privilege. " Jesus walketh in the midst of the golden candlesticks,"" — the Church of Ephesus being in no respect exalted above the rest, though it was the Mother-Church of proconsular Asia, and situated in the metro- polis. Under the former dispensation, Jerusalem was a sacred ca- ]3ital, where were stationed the thrones of judgment, and whither the tribes went up to worship. But that constitution has passed away. The residence of Messiah in Zion nozo is his divine and gracious presence in all the churches of the gospel state. For this, among other reasons, " it was expedient that he should go away," that no particular place might, by his bodily presence, seem to be more highly favoured than another. He would not have any one Church elevated above the rest, or apparently aggrandized into the metropolis of his kingdom. The pre-eminence assigned to particu- lar churches, after the apostolical age, and especially the erection of Avhat were denominated Patriarchates, was a main circumstance by which the mystery of iniquity wrought, till Rome was declared the capital of Christendom, and the seat of Christ's vicar on earth. The Apostles, though they chose particular spheres of labour, were not Diocesan Bishops. They had no fixed charge, but su- perintended the affiiirs of the whole Church, by virtue of an extra- ordinary office ; and, in reference to what was designed to be per- manent in their official character and powers, they rank themselves with no higher order than presbyters or elders; Eph. ii. 20 ; 1 Pet. v. 1. Neither was Timothy the Diocesan Bishop of Ephesus, but only employed there for a time as an Evangelist, one of the extra- ordinary office-bearers who were given to assist the Apostles, by ar- ranging and settling the affiiirs of newly planted Churches, and Paul besought him to abide there only for a season ; 1 Tim. i. 3. ; iii. 14, 15. He was to be succeeded by Tychicus ; 2 Tim. iv. 9, 12. The same was evidently the character and employment of Ti- tus in Crete ; Tit. i. 5. Nowhere, indeed, is the parity of those who are sometimes in our translation denominated " bishops,"" and their identity with presbyters or " elders,"" more decisively ascertained, than in the Epistles to Timothy and Titus, who have been held out as examples of diocesan episcopacy, unless it be in the Second CONCERNING CHURCH-GOV^ERN31ENT. 159 Epistle of Peter, who has been proclaimed by tlie Romisli Church the predecessor and prototype of her pretended Universal Bishops or Popes. When the Christian knows that the word, Avhich in some places is rendered " Bishop," litei-ally signifies Overseer, and is so ren- dered in other places, he must at once perceive the true state of things in the primitive Church, by attending to the following pas- sages ; Acts XX. 17, 28, Paul sent and called the Elders of the Church,"'"' and said to them, " Take heed to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers''' (bishops) ; 1 Tim. iii. 2, 4, 5, " A bishop must be blameless — apt to teach — one that ruletli well his own house ; for if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the Church of God;"'"' chap. v. 17. " Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the icord and doctrine.'''' In these texts, the same functions are ascribed to bishops and elders ; and that the same office is meant, is fully established by Tit. i. 5, 7, " For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest oi-dain el- ders in every city. If any be blameless, &c. — for a bishop must be blameless as the steward of God,"" &c. ; 1 Pet. v. 1, 2. " The el- ders who are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, — feed the flock of God, — taking the oversight thereof (acting as bishops), not by constraint, but willingly."" In the Church of, Philippi (which is nowhere described as large), there were a number of bishops, who consequently could not be diocesan ; Phil. i. 1. 4. We reject the principle, " That the form of government to be observed in the church, is a matter of small importance, and cannot greatly affect the interests of religion." The falsity of this opinion must be obvious, from the statements which have just been made. Diversities of form mar the aspect of the Church, disturb the com- fort of Christians, and rear insurmountable walls of partition be- tween those who are united in faith and practice. — The dereliction of the primitive plan of government, constituted an eminent depart- ment of the grand apostasy foretold in the Scriptures. — It gave full scope to the spirit of carnal ambition in the Church, and either che- rished or confirmed the numerous errors and superstitions of the Roman Catholic system. The dereliction of the primitive plan was opposed by the faithful, who are characterized as God's approved witnesses. Their testimony on this head exposed them to severe persecutions, but rather than renounce it they sacrificed their lives. We conclude this article on Church govei-nment by adverting to the disorderly constitution of many congregations in what are styled 160 DOCTRINAL STATEMENTS. Chsipels of Ease. In a great number of these congregations, there is either no Kirk-Session, or its determinations are subject to the re- \ie\v of the Parochial Session, a plan utterly repugnant to the Pres- byterian constitution. Besides, the ministers of such congregations are excluded from exercising government as members of Presbytery, or of any superior judicatory, and even from sitting in Synods or the General Assembly as Ruling Elders. Thus either a new offi- cer is created in the Church, who, though ordained, and connected with a flock, has not the full power of the keys of the kingdom of Heaven ; or, at any rate, this power is, in one department of it, un- warrantably abridged. The relation of the institution of Chapels of Ease to the scheme of pati'onage, is sufficiently obvious. It grows out of tlie latter as a concession to the people ; and yet, by its limitations, is so contrived as to support that scheme. X. CONCERNING THE VISIBLE STATE AND PROFESSION OF THE CHURCH. Our adherence to the Westminster Confession, and other stand- ards of the Church of Scotland, and our existence in a state of se- cession from that church, requite that, besides declaring the grounds of our secession, as has already been done, we further justify our- selves from false imputations, by explaining the principles on which we proceed ; and, at the same time, prevent misconception, by dis- criminating ourselves from other denominations. Under this article, therefore,. 1. We regard as unwarranted and injurious the rejection of writ- ten Confessions of Faith. Some holding that the Bible supersedes confessions of faith, strongly oppose the use of public formularies, or ecclesiastically sanctioned articles of faith and concord. Others reject them, under the plausible pretexts that they fetter freedom of thought, interfere with the right of private judgment, impede the progress of knowledge, and render stationary the profession of the Church. We are disposed to ascribe the rejection of creeds and confessions by many excellent Christians, to veneration for the Bible, which, in common with them, we regard as the supreme rufe of faith and manners. But the Bible is God''s testimony to us, not the expres- sion of our views ; and, as God's testimony, so far from superseding, it rather demands the response of our faith in its contents. Nor will it suffice for the public confession of this, simply to say, " We adopt the Bible," since its contents may be greatly misconceived, and a vast variety of opinion has actually existed about them. VISIBLE STATE AND PllOFESSION OF THE CHURCH. IGl Since every church has confessedly its own acknowledged and discriminating system of principles, it must be unreasonable to con- demn the drawing up and sanctioning of these in some methodized summarv, w hich is evidently the best means of ascertaining them with the utmost precision, and exhibiting them with the utmost publicity. All the objections usually brought against written creeds or confessions of faith, apply to the unwritten })rinciples of Union among those who oppose them ; and, by the rejection of such creeds, a church which intends no ambiguity or concealment, gains nothing, while she sacrifices many advantages. AVritten creeds and confes- sions are calculated to repress a wanton spirit of innovation, and to prevent precipitate changes. They put it in the power of every in- dividual to judge of the sentiments of the different denominations of Christians, and to try the ministrations of that with which he has connected himself Instead of arresting progress, they are authen- ticated documents of past attainments, still open to revision, correc- tion, or enlargement, or any modification which new circumstances may require. Before the canon of Scripture was completed, historical notice of creeds w^as not to be expected. Yet we read of " the form of sound words" used even in the days of the Apostles; 2 Tim. i. 13 ; sum- maries of principles are referred to, Hcb. vi. 1, 2 ; tests of ortho- doxy, and terms of communion, suited to the controversies of the age, are repeatedly stated, Acts, viii. 37 ; 1 John ii. 22; iv. 1, 3 ; and in prophecy the faithful are represented as overcoming " by the word of their testimony,"" and as standing with the Lamb on the Mount Zion, " having his Father's name written on their foreheads." 2. We condemn Schismatical Courses. — Division in any case is apt to be productive of so many unhappy effects, that it ouoht to be avoided as far, and deferred as long, as safety of conscience, or a due regard to the interests of truth and holiness, will permit. We regard as schismatical courses, Isf, The teaching of doctrines inconsistent with the acknowledged confession of the body, or suf- fering them to be taught without adequate censure ; Gal. v. 9, 12 • Rev. ii. 2, 14, 15. 2 tions than God's testimony against them in his word, which all are bound to adopt and apply ; yet this testimony is the fruit and in- tended instrument of love, as truly as the revelation of mercy it- self.; Psalm I. 7-15 ; Jer. iii. 12-15. The Jews hated our Lord, because he testified of their deeds that they were evil, yet no one could have their best interests more at heart, than He who is empha- tically the Faithful and True Witness. Did Paul act vmcharitably to Peter, or deny either his apostleship or his saintship, when he was so affected with his conduct, and that of those who dissembled with him, as to reprehend him severely ? Gal. ii. 14. Let the terms of the ancient law be pondered, " Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart, thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him;" Lev. xix. 17. 5. As in cases of off ence, exclusion from communion becomes an act both of duty and of love, so wlien, owing to the relaxation of discipline and the general prevalence of corruption, withdrawing or separation comes to be the only course left, it must proceed on the same principles, be attended with the same sorrow on account of the cause, and have the same object in view — the reclaiming of those who unhappily occasion recourse to the measure. There is no denial of" validity of office in testifying against irregularity and vm- .faithful administration. The true Christian, even when he feels himself compelled to withdraw, will still rejoice over all that is worthy of approbation in the body he lias left, will ever be ready to VISIBLE STATE AND PROFESSION OF THE CHURCH. l65 discern and allow it, and will hail with gratitude every favourable symptom of returning glory. Sorrow will be felt, and properly evinced, for the necessity of separation. And in resorting to this and its concomitant measures, the objects will be to avoid contami- nation, to reclaim the erring, to do honour to religion, and to bene- fit posterity. However much the course may be misconstrued or disliked, it is demanded by the glory of God, and enjoined under high responsibility. Indifference, though little accounted of by many, though frequently extolled under the idea of moderation, and dignified with the names of liberality, prudence, and charity, is odious and detestable in the estimation of our Lord and Master ; Rev. iii. 15, 16. XL CONCERNING COVENANTING. Adhering to the doctrine of our standards relative to oaths and VOWS, CoNF. c. xxii. L. Cat. Q. 112, 113 ; and approving, as in the fifth article of the Basis of Union, " the method adopted by our reforming ancestors for mutual excitement and encouragement, by solemn confederation and vows to God," — we consider the following positions, as mistaken views of covenanting, and some of them cal- culated to cast unmerited obloquy on the manner in which the Re- formation was prosecuted. 1. The position " that covenanting is not a moral duty, but either a ceremonial observance or a political measure."" Both these ideas are equally inapplicable to it, whether we consider it as per- sonally performed in the solemn devotement of the individual to God by his own act, or as publicly performed, either in social vow- ing, or in confederation in regard to some special aspect of the cause of religion . Vowing is clearly a form of honouring God, which, like the Sab- bath, is not connected with any particular dispensation. In the Church it must proceed on the principles of Revelation. As no one is wan-anted to devote himself to God in conditionary obedience, or engage to the performance of duties in his own strength, so, if men avouch the Lord to be their God, and bind themselves to walk in his ways, it must be according to the tenor of the covenant of grace, recognizing the mediation of Christ, and relying on him as at once their " righteousness and strength f Ps. 1. 5 ; Is. xliv. 5 ; xlv. 24, 25. But this exercise befits alike the Patriarchal, the Jewish, and the Christian dispensations. Vowing is in Scripture ranked with other moral expressions of homage ; Ps. Ixv. 1, 2, 166 DOCTUIXAI. STATEMENTS. it was foretold, as a mode in which God should be honoured by the Gentiles; Is. xix. 18-21, and it is clearly sanctioned, and suf- ficiently warranted, by the first three precepts of the moral law. Confederat'imi is a measure dictated by reason, or the light of nature, which the members of any community may adopt for mu- tual defence or support in the prosecution of a great cause. Leagues and covenants have, accordingly, i)cen formed by secular communi- ties for civil, commercial, and political purposes, while the general propriety of the measures has never been questioned. The law- fulness of each particular transaction must depend on the condition of the parties, the object proposed, the cause to be maintained, and other circumstances which it is not necessary to enumerate. Al- though religion is not to be pi'opagated by force, yet liberty of con- science, which secures the free exercise of our religion, is a natural right, and when invaded, church-members, as members of the civil community generally, n^ay enter into public leagvies and covenants in defence of it : and, in prosecuting the end of such an engage- ment, they may, on the common principle of self-preservation, war- rantably adopt such measures, and use such means, as are compe- tent to be used in defence of other natural rights. But the mem- bers of the Church have not only rights common to them with other men, but peculiar privileges, far more valuable than those of any secular community. These, when assailed, they are also required to defend and maintain. Whether the contest be with Paganism, or Antichristianism, or any other form of corruption, it is only by spiritual weapons we are allovved to sustain the cause of supernatu- ral religion ; and, therefore, the confederation v.hich may be formed in its behalf, if conducted on the true principles of the hingdom of Christ, can never assume a political aspect, so as to become either a measure of rebellion or an engine of state. The whole or a part of the Church may thus, according to the calls of providence, war- rantably enter into solemn engagements to stand fast, " striving to- gether for the faith of tlie Gcspel." In such cases, the federal bond, instead of being general, v/ill distinctly refer to those articles of truth, or departments of revealed religion, which seem to be in dano-cr. This was called by our fathers, a Bond suited to the times. 2. We reject the sentiment, " That covenanting is an ordinance of religion, the actual observance of which ought, in all circumstan- ces, to be a term of communion."' This opinion is manifestly in- consistent with the true nature and proper design of the transaction in anv of the views in which it is usually contemplated. If, by ct^ CONCERNING COVENANTING. l67 venanting, we meant simply a personal accession to the christian faith, and engagement to christian duties, this ought doubtless to be demanded of all entrants into communion. But when, in dis- tinction from this, it means social vowing, it is an extraordinary and altogether voluntary service ; and when it includes, as it has usually done, special confederation in defence of the privileges bestowed on the church, it is evident, from the nature of the thing, that it can only he occasional. From the history of it accordingly, we do not find that it was constantly practised, either in the Jewish church or under the christian economy. When Paul commends the Macedo- nians for the manner in which they came forward in the contribu- tion for the Jewish converts, he says, " This they did, not as rae hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and to us by the will of God,"" — referring, as the language seems to imply, to a so- lemn act of devotement worthy of high approbation, but at the same time an occasional, and therefore no ordinary, service in the church. Instead of being itself a stated ordinance in any system of divine institutions, it is evidently a measure resorted to for se- curing the possession, faithful observance, and pure celebration, of all the ordinances under which the church is placed for the time. 8. We reject the opinion, " That the necessity of covenanting is entirely superseded by baptism, by the church-vow at admission to communion, and by the observance of tlie Lord's Supper," As baptism does not supersede the necessity of the church-vow, which ought to precede that ordinance when administered to adults, and to follow it in due time when administered to infants, so this vow cannot be viewed as rendering covenanting, in all circumstances, unnecessary, — the one being easily distinguished from the other, as already stated, — and the former, in many cases, failing to answer the purpose of the latter, by securing purity of doctrine and fellow- ship. Neither can covenanting be vievved as in all circumstances superseded by the observance of the Lord's Supper ; for however solemn the dedication implied in that sacrament is, its immediate object is different from that of covenanting ; and, as a positive in- stitution of the christian economy, it is itself a part of the system of ordinances, the scriptural purity of which it is the object of co- venanting to maintain. As the Jews covenanted to observe the Passover after the due order in common with other departments of their system, so our ancestors, like the Waldenses and others, who separated from the Church of Rome, rejected the Mass in their fe- deral bonds, and solemnly engaged to resist all superstitious forms of observing the Lord's Supper. 168 DOCTRINAL STATEMENTS. 4. We reject the opinion, " That past federal transactions, by which eminent privileges have been secured and transmitted, bring no obligation on those who enjoy these privileges, or who have sin- fully relinquished them." On the contrary, recognizing the Church of Christ as a permanent Society, and particular organized churches as subjects of moral obligation, while we cherish unfeigned venera- tion for our reforming ancestors, and a deep sense of the inestimable value of the benefits which accrue to us from their noble and suc- cessful efforts in the cause of civil and religious liberty, we not only approve of the method adopted by them for mutual excitement and encouragement, by solemn confederation and vows to God, but we acknowledge that we are under high obligations to maintain and prosecute the work of reformation, in consequence of what they have done. XII. COXCKKNIKG THE RELATIONS OF CHURCH AND STATE. Receiving the doctrines of the Confession of Faith relative to the power of the civil magistrate, in ch. xx. § 4 ; xxiii. § 3 ; and xxxi. § 2, with the same limitations with which it was received by the Church of Scotland, Act of Assembly, August 27. 1647, sess. 23, and according to the Act of the General Associate Synod in April 1796, and of the Preamble sanctioned by the Associate Synod in April 1797: — and without entering into any htigated point, which cannot presently affect the interests of religion, we judge the statement of the following propositions a sufficient expres- sion of our views and testimony against mistakes on the subject of this article. 1. Religion, abstractly viewed, is essential to the well-being of society, and to the efficient exercise of civil government, and is therefore the concern of legislators and civil rulers, as well as of all others, in their several situations. 2. The Christian religion, as might be expected from its divine origin and intended imiversality, is the best calculated for promot- ing the interests of civil society, and therefore deserves the counte- nance of the civil powers. — As it is their own interest and duty to embrace it, so they ought to favour its introduction among their subjects. And where it is introduced, it ought to have the con- troul which belongs to it over the formation of laws, the admini- stration of justice, the swearing of oaths, and other matters of civil iurisdiction. But the countenance to be given to it must not be inconsistent Uei.ations of church and state. 169 with its own spirit and enactments. — It must not be introduced or propagated by force. It disclaims and prohibits all persecution, 4. The Church and the State are entirely distinct, capable of existing without the slightest intrusive interference with the proper province of each, and ought not so to interfere. — Erastian supre- macy of the State over the Church, and antichristian domination of the Church over the State, and all schemes of connection tending to either^ ought to be avoided. The church has a spiritual autho- rity over such of the subjects and rulers of earthly kingdoms as are in her communion, and the civil powers have the same secular autho- rity over the members and office-bearers of the church as over the rest of their subjects. But the church has no power over earthly kingdoms in their collective and civil capacity, nor have they any power over her as a church. 5. The Church and the State owe mutual duties to each other, and, acting according to their sphere, may be signally subservient to each other's welfare. — As many of these duties must arise from circumstances, and be regulated by them, there is no call to deter- mine them minutely in such a document as this. 6. It is the duty of all Christians to be subject to the powers that be ; as ordained of God, for a terror to evil doers, and a praise to them that do well. " Fear God ; honour the King." 7. Liberty of conscience ought to be protected by the civil power; but protection cannot be claimed in behalf of principles or practices obviously hurtful to the interests of civil society, and still jess in behalf of those which would subvert its existence. CHAPTER III. WARNING AGAINST PRACTICAL EVILS. The glory of the Church consists not only in the conformity of her constitution, doctrine, and forms of worship to the divine pre- scription, but in the purity of her fellowship, and the practical ex- cellence of her members. It cannot be too frequently repeated, that the source of all the evils which have disgi'aced human society in its various forms, whe- ther civil or ecclesiastical, is the natural depravity of man. These evils, however, are fostered by opposition to the Holy Scriptures, disregard of their authority, and indifference to them. Nor is the influence of error less pernicious. " Evil communications," says 170 WARNING AGAINST PJlACl'ICAL EViLS. an apostle, expressly referring to erroneous sentiments, such as the denial of the resurrection of the body, " corrupt good manners.'*'' If, as our Saviour declares, we are " sanctified by the truth,'"' then, in proportion to the extent to which error prevails, the proper means of sanctification are wanting. It would not be difficult to shew how every error has a tendency to cherish corruption, either by po- sitively favouring it in some of its forms, or by withdrawing from the mind those considerations which are best fitted to controul and suppress it. But let it be remembered, also, that the Truth may be held in unrighteousness ; — that, under the purest profession of religion, there may be " a falling from first love,'''' — a disposition to rest in " a name to live,'" — a vain imagination that we are " rich and increased in goods, and stand in need of nodiing,^ — a subsid- ing into " lukcwarmness,'''' so ofl^'ensive to our Saviour, a want of fer- vour in devotion, of ardour in charity, aiul of true zeal for the glory of God. It becomes the Church to lift up her voice against practical evils of every description, whether they be such as are beyond the reach of her discipline, — such as may attach to her members, and ought to subject thom to discipline, or such as, either within or without her pale, can be assailed only by solemn warning or christian counsel. 1. The first practical evil to which we advert is Impiety. The extent to which impiety prevails is to be deeply deplored by every genviine christian. Among the unfavourable aspects of our times, must be ranked the sending forth of blasphemous publications, the assiduity em- ployed to bring these into general circulation, the eagerness with which they have been sought after by many, and the consequent extension of their baleful influence. How much to be lamented is the levity with which sacred things are treated, the practice of burlesquing or parodying the Holy Scriptures, and those profane mockings of the mysteries of religion in which many indulge. Be- ing fore wai'ned, that, in the last days, scoffers would appear, walking after their own lusts, and vilifying the faith and hope of Christians, we need not be " shaken in mind or troubled ;'''' but it becomes us to remember the commandments of the Holy Apostles relative to such characters, and to cleave to their testimony against them ; 2 Pet. ii, iii ; Jude, throughout. Profane sweaiing, in common conversation, is another crime which continues to be the disgrace of our country and age, — a WARNING AGAINST PRACTICAL EVILS. 171 crime for whicli there can be no excuse, which neither brings profit nor honour to those who commit it ; which directly insuhs the Ma- jesty of Heaven, and which, therefore, ptovokes certain and awful retribution, however it may escape punishment among men. " The Lord will not hold him guiltless who taketh his name in vain." If we " fear not this glorious and dreadful name, the Lord our God," he will make " our plagues wonderful.'" " Because of swearing," the land of Israel was made to mourn." Exod. xx ; Deut. xxviii. 58, 59 ; Hos. iv. 2, 3. This sin is chargeable on those who use irre- verently the name of God, — who intermingle in their conversation minced oaths or exclamations, which plainly profane what ouo-ht ever to be held most sacred. Cursing, which is commonly connected with profane swearing, besides being included in the same condemnation, greatly aggra- vates the crime. What must be the character of that man who can invoke damnation on his own soul .^ and what would it be for him to be taken at his word, — to be, by his own sentence, consigned to irremediable torments ? If the imprecations levelled against others mean nothing, as is often alleged, they are a wanton insult to God and to man^ and shew a disposition to sport with the ter- rors of the Almighty ; if they are seriously intended, they indicate not only a most unchristian, but a most inhuman, and truly dia- bolical temper. It is lamentable, when those who profess friendly regard, or in prayer use the forms of benevolent expression sanc- tioned by Scripture, are heard, in any casual transport of rao-e, iniprccating damnation on the objects of their wrath. " Out of the same mouth may proceed blessing and cursing." But this is desci-ibed as a strange thing, is supposed to be of rare occurrence among Christians, and when it does occur, so unnatural that it must render the character suspicious; James iii. 10-12. "Bless and curse not" is the Christian law. To curse is an impious in- trusion into the province of the Judge of all. " Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord." The true Christian will be " slow to wrath," will endeavour to " rule his own spirit," and will have it for his anxious concern, that if angry he sin not, nor speak unad- visedly with his lips. He will tremble at the thought of " giving place to the devil ;" Eph. iv. 26, 27. But the name of the Lord is not less dreadfully profaned by Prevarication and Perjury, particularly by the latter, in false swearing, and the violation of oaths ; Zech. v. 1-4 ; Mai. iii. 5. It is lawful to swear, on proper occasions, either in bearing testimony, or for the termination of strife, Math. xxvi. 63 ; Heb. vi, 13, 16 ; 172 WARNING AGAINST PRACTICAL EVILS. Is. Ixv. 16. But the man who is worthy of the fellowship of the Church, " feareth an oath ;" he regards it with sacred awe, and " changeth not," though it involve him " to his hurt ;" Eccl. ix. 2; Ps. XV. 4. We deplore the hardships to which many are exposed on this head, in the prosecution of trade and commerce. In certain Moral Institutes it has been justly stated, that much may depend on the very form of administering an oath, for impressing the mind with a deep sense of its solemnity and high obligation, — that, amongst the Jews, and thus with divine sanction, the juror held vip his right hand towards heaven, as appealing to the omniscient Governor and Judge of all, — that while this form is used in Scot- land, in England the juror, after repeating the words of the oath with his hand on the Bible or Four Gospels^ adds, " So help me God ;" or has the whole matter of the oath addressed to him by the administrator, with the adjuration, too, " So help you God,"" — that the adjuration, though sufficiently strong, if properly under- stood, is yet confessedly obscure, — that " this obscure and ellipti- cal form, together with the levity and frequency with which it is administered, has occasioned a general inadvertency to the obhga- tion of oaths, which, both in a religious and political view, is much to be lamented ; and that it merits public consideration, whether the requiring of oaths on so many frivolous occasions, especially in the Customs, and in qualification for petty offices, has any other effect than to make them lightly thought of by the people. Let the law continue its sanctions, if they be thought requisite ; but let it spare the solemnity of an oath. And where, for the want of something better to depend upon, it is necessary to accept men's own word, or account, let it annex to prevarication penalties pro- portioned to the public mischief of the offence •." How desirable that relief, from what cannot i)ut be grievous to tender consciences, should be speedily adopted; and may it not be hoped, that, in the progress of amelioration, the wishes of the enlightened and the pious will be duly regarded ? Another indication and form of impiety is the lamentably exten- sive Profanation of the Sabbath, — by parties of pleasure, by unne- cessary travelling, by the transaction of business, and by devoting th^ day to mere bodily recreation. To what devices do many re- sort for the purpose of evading the laws which have been wisely and justly enacted to secure its external observance ! and how is the authority of the divine precept disregarded by those who pri- " Paley's Moral Philosophy, book iii. chap. xvi. sect. 1. WARNING AGAINST PRACTICAL EVILS. 173 vately appropriate this sacred portion of time to the assorting of ac- counts, writing letters of business, and other arrangements as to se- cular affairs ! The precept is as really, and sometimes as grossly, violated by the carnal, and altogether unbecoming conversation too prevalent among those who make other and higher professions. We cannot too strongly reprobate the practice of limiting the ob- servance of the Sabbath to the hours of public Avorship, and forth- with, as if no farther obligation existed, indulging in feasting, visit- ing, walking, amusements, the reading of profane authors, and of newspapers, and the prosecution of secular studies. Ought religion to be deemed a labour to be as slightly undergone, and as speedily dispatched, as possible ? How criminal every attempt to rob the Most High of what, in a liberal grant to man, he hath appropriated to himself ! No recreation can be lawful on the Sabbath, but what accords with the principal design of the day, which is manifestly to rest with God in the delighted contemplation of his glory as dis- played in the works of nature, but especially in the mystery of re- demption ; and to render to him the homage he requires. It is thus only we are fitted for returning to the business of life, under pious impressions, and prepared for that Sabbath when bodi- ly recreation shall be no longer needful. So far from tolerating the least encroachment on that sacred day, the Scriptures condemn the very disposition to say, " What a weariness is it ? when will the Sabbath be over ?"" that we may return to our secular employ- ments ; Amos viii. 5 ; Mai. i. 13, 14. Both spiritual and tempo- ral prosperity are, by the promise of Him who alone can bestow them, connected with due respect to the Sabbath; Is. Ivi. 2-7. " Blessed is the man that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it ;" ch. Iviii. IS, 14. " If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day ; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable ; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words : Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord ; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father ; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." 2. Among the vices allied to impiety, must be ranked intempe- rance, prodigality, revelling, and wantonness, secret or undisguis- ed adulteries, and impurity of all sorts. "" Many walk," said an Apostle, " of whom I now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, whose glory is in their shame;" Phil. iii. 18-19. 174 WARNING AGAINST PRACTICAL EVILS. '* In those things,"" said another, " which they know naturally, as " brute beasts, in these they corrupt themselves;" Jude 10. To subvert by drunkenness that superiority, intellectual and mo- ral, which distinguishes man from the beast of the earth, and to act in any circumstances as if it had not been conferred, is to sin against nature, to do violence to the divine constitution, and to op- pose the renovating influence of the Gospel. The Christian rule is, that we " be not drunk with wine,*" or any species of intoxicat- ing liquor, wherein is excess, but that we be filled with the Spirit ; Eph. V. 18 ; 1 Pet. iv. 3. This rule decidedly condemns, not on- ly the hopeless and ruinous, and almost incurable, habit of solitary intemperance, but those convivial excesses, by which the rational pleasures of social intercourse are overwhelmed, and the parties unfitted for the duties of life, for the claims of devotion, and for that appearance before God in judgment, the time of which is al- ways uncertain. Much as we approve of the numerous institutions which have been formed for the religious education of the young, it is still to be regretted that the necessity of resorting to these should in a great measure arise from the negligence of professedly Christian parents. Among the youth, especially of populous cities, how many, instead of the modesty and sobriety which are the great or- naments of their age, present habits of dissipation which it could scarcely be supposed they could have acquired, and mutually cor- rupting and corrupted, proceed to a boldness in sin which the last terrors of justice can scarcely restrain ! Nothing can be more per- nicious than resort to the haunts of lewdness; Prov. vii. 6-27. Should any professed christian take " the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot ?" Should he sin directly " against his body" as well as his soul, and fearlessly profane " the temple of the Lord !" How solemn are the injunctions, " Flee fornication, — flee youthful lusts, which war against the soul, — avoid the appearance of evil." " Whoremongers and adulterers God will judge." " Be not deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with man- kind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God;" 1 Cor. vi. 9-20; STim. ii. 22; Tit. ii. 12, 13; Gal. v. 24; Eph. v. 3, 4- Rom. xiii, 13. 3. We join with the wise and the good of every age in condenm- ing all incentives to vice, and especially those public amusements WARNING AGAINST PRACTICAL EVILS. 175 which at once display and promote it. The following passage of our standards we recommend to be seriously considered and care- fully observed in practice. " All corrupt and filthy communica- tion ; all light behaviour and immodest apparel ; all lascivious sono-s, books, pictures, dancing, and stage-plays," say the venerable com- pilers of the Larger Catechism, Q. 132, " are among the sins for- bidden in the seventh commandment." They who are partakers of a divine nature, but who feel themselves still liable to seduction or contamination, will determine to " set no wicked thing before their eyes." Instead of wilfully exposing themselves to scenes where pollution may be contracted, they will " watch and pray that they enter not into temptation." " Far be it from us to proscribe innocent amusements, let them only be well-timed, properly limited, and moderately used ; but those which are either sinful in themselves, or likely to prove occa- sions of seduction, ought to be carefully shunned. Some of these are local, and much christian wisdom and holy resolution will be manifested in marking and avoiding them. If there be any amuse- ments, even only of doubtful character, which some conceive they might enjoy without sin, but which they are fully aware would ' grieve their brethren in Christ,' we must still require, and with- out imposing any undue restraint on their conscience, or exactino- any surrender of their christian liberty, we may require, that, for the sake of their brethren, and the peace of the Church, they exer- cise that self-denial which the Scriptures so frequently enjoin *." Though we by no means object to every species of fictitious de- scription or representation, we regard the present state of the Thea- tre as sufficient to render the practice of frequenting it clearly con- demnable. Even when the pieces performed are comparatively harmless, the practice consumes much valuable time, without re- warding the spectator with any adequate return of intellectual or moral improvement. It interferes with the religious economy of families ; unfits for devotional exercises ; and incapacitates those who indulge in it, especially on the last days of the week, for a pro- per attention to the duties of the Sabbath. In those pieces which profess to be true representations of human life, howmuch occurs that is low and mean, incapable of exciting dignified or worthy emotions, and only calculated to famiUarise the mind to the ideas and manners of the baser sort of mankind ! And what has the higher order of stage • See Pastoral Address of the United Associate Synod, published irame- diatelv after the Union, p. 17-- 19. 176 AYARNING AGAINST PRACTICAL EVILS. exhibitions produced, but that sickly sentimentalism which weeps over imaginary distress, but shrinks from the contemplation of real suffering, and thus turns aside its votaries from the proper scenes and subjects of active benevolence ? The youth who attend these exhibitions are apt to be misled, by having such notions of life in- stilled into their luinds, as are as truly at variance with the real state of things in this world, as with preparation for the world to come. The morality of the stage, even when morality is taught, is dubious, and generally more allied to the vain philosophy of the heathen, than to the principles of Christianity. But, how frequent- ly is it, though a pretended vehicle of morality, debased by blas- phemy, hcentiousness, revenge, contempt of life, sentiments favour- able to duelling, and even to suicide. The true christian has learn- ed, that " filthy communication, foolish talking, and jesting,"' can at no time, and in no place, and upon no pretext, be " convenient" or becoming ; and that only the things which are " pure and love- ly, and honest, and of good report," should be the chosen subjects of his contemplation, and the models of his practice. Suppose he should make a selection of plays, which he conceives he might wit- ness without detriment, still he is countenancing an institution which he knows to be so corrupt as to lay him under the necessity of making such a selection ; and since selection on his plan is not attended to by the conductors, his example in resorting to the thea- tre may have a most pernicious effect upon others, and especially on his own family. He may " put a stumbling block, or occasion to fall, in their way." Not dissimilar to theatrical amusements, but characterized ra- ther by impiety than vice, are those Musical Festivals, which con- vert into subjects of mere entertainment some of the most sublime and pathetic passages of the Holy Scriptures. In pretending to represent the actings of the divine power in that work which Jeho- vah claims as peculiarly his own : in pretending to imitate the groans of our blessed Redeemer, under the last inflictions of that wradi which was due to our own sins ; and in combining the celebra- tion of His triumphs with amatory and secular songs in one festival, there is something which is so truly shocking to all christian feel- ing, that not the finest music, nor the plea that such music can be attached to no other pieces, can satisfy conscience, or form a valid excuse for countenancing such entertainments. Many of our public diversions are condemnable on their own merits, abstract from the betting and gambling by which theyjare rendered utterly disgraceful among christians. Other public amuse- WARNING AGAINST PRACTICAL EVILS. 177 ments may be less infamous than the brutal exhibitions of pugi- lism, but many of them, in addition to the betting with which they are connected, and for which they are specially intended by those who patronise them, are marked by cruelty to the inferior crea- tures. They are irreconcilable with the principles of humanity, and clearly opposed to the spirit and tendencies of the christian religion. 4. We have just referred to Gambling. We gratefully acknow- ledge the existence of laws calculated to diminish this great evil ; and we congratulate our country on the legislative abolition of public lotteries ; but we still deplore the extent to which gambling is prosecuted. We as truly tempt God by putting our property in hazard on the throw of a die, as by the unnecessary exposure of our persons to danger. If loss, or even ruin, should follow, the gambler is the cause of his own misfortunes, and of all the misery- they may entail on his family or friends. He who incurs this guilt, and, by the consciousness of such criminality, deprives himself of all the solace which, in other circumstances, would have been connected with humble submission to the will of God, evidently disregards the command, that, " as the children of God, we be blameless and without rebuke ;" — the salutary admonition, " Do thyself no harm ;" — and the true proverb, " Sufficient to the day is the evil thereof." If success be the result, the gain is often acquired at the expence of the voluntary contributions of others to their ruin ; and is, in all cases, gain on which the divine blessing can neither be confidently implored, nor justly expected. What principles does gambling call forth and display ? What means does it resort to ? What habits does it form ? What are its fearful concomitants and consequences ? Let these things be seriously considered, — let the covetousness, the fraud, the dissipation, the reckless cruelty, the evil passions, the rage against man, the blasphemy against God, the agony of reflection, and the depression of mind not unfrequent- ly prompting to suicide, by which gambling is characterized, be only thought of, — and the practice must appear to be utterly in- consistent with the faith and the morals of a christian ; Prov. xxviii. 22 ; 1 Tim. vi. 9, 10. 5. Dishonesty and lying are conjoined in the divine prohibition, as the latter is usually made subservient to the former, Lev. xix. 11, " Ye shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie one to another ;"" Eph. iv. 25, 28. " Putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour. Let him that stole steal no more ;" Col. iii. 9, " Lie not one to another, seeing ye have put off the old man with M 178 WARNING AGAINST PRACTICAL EVILS. his deeds;" Rom. xii. 17, " Provide things honest in the sight of all men." Every scheme of fraudulent dealing proposes the ad- vantage of those who resort to it at the expence of their neigh- bours, and involves imposition, or depends upon it for success. How contrary at once to the principles of justice and of love, — that love which " worketh no ill to our neighbour," and is therefore declared to be " the fulfilling of the law ;" Rom. xiii. 10. Fraud which combines the injurious treatment of our neighbour, in re- gard to his property, with deception, is evidently a violation of both the eighth and the ninth commandments of the Moral Law. It is often lamentably apparent in the failures of those who are en- gaged in trade and commerce, and it is known to prevail to a la- mentable extent in the ordinary transactions of business. The plea of self-defence, or of the necessity of complying with the customs of the mercantile world, can neither excuse it in the sight of God, nor satisfy a tender and well-informed conscience. Christians must sacrifice much that they might have acquired " according to the course of this world," from respect to the divine will, and only in this way can they look for the blessing of " the Most High God, the possessor of heaven and earth." Their rejoicing must be this, '^ the testimony of their conscience, that, in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, they have had their conversation in the world ;" 2 Cor. i. 12. " What- soever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report ; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise," they must " think on these things," and do them ; Phil. iv. 8, 9- *' The getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a vanity tossed to and fro of them that seek death ;" Prov. xxi. 6. The eighth commandment, according to the interpretation of its spirit given in our standards, and sustained by appropriate passages of scripture, condemns not only theft and robbery, but every species of pecula- tion, embezzlement, extortion, bribery, and fraudulent dealing, taking advantage of the ignorant and simple, monopolising commo- dities to enhance the price, swindling, using false weights and mea- sures, unlawful callings and gains of every description. In the ninth commandment are forbidden, not only false evidence in courts of law, and the suborning of witnesses, to procure an unjust sen- tence, but lying, forging, slandering in all its forms, misconstruc- tion of intentions, words or actions, denying the excellencies of others, or unnecessarily discovering their infirmities, talking to their disadvantage, and gladly entertaining or eagerly circulating evil re- WARNING AGAINST TRACTICAL EVILS. 179 ports. By these statements, fully developed in the Larger Catechism, on the commandments referred to, all the members of our Church are expected to regulate their conduct in the transactions of business, and in their intercourse with one another, and with civil society. 6. While no man is required to brook insults without remon- strance or recourse to warrantable means for sustaining his charac- ter, the duelhst in practice, or even in avowed principle, forfeits all claim to be recognised as a member of the Church, and ought not, therefore, to be tolerated in communion by any religious society. 7. While we regard the peace of the Church, and wish to see her members " walking together in love as brethren,'" we cannot but regret the existence of any institution such as that of Masonry, which may render the conduct of some suspicious to others, or oc- casion division of sentiment, and not unfrequently alienation of heart. The christian rule is plain, that every thing of question- able character ought to be avoided. The law of love requires, that none be captious or prone to take offence ; but it also re- quires, that none shall give offence. In this spirit, the following considerations should be candidly weighed, and ought to have due influence with all who inquire into the subject. That secret asso- ciations are not to be approved, which are liable to be made subser- vient to licentious or dangerous purposes, as masonic institutions have been on the continent ; — that it becomes not christians to en- ter voluntarily into close and solemnly avowed fraternity with per- sons of every character ; — that it is hazardous, and not consistent with safety of conscience, to take any oath, tlie form, and terms, and object, of which are not previously known, so that the swearer may be able to judge for himself, whether the form be not supersti- tious, the terms unlawful, and the object unworthy of such a so- lemnity, or how far the secrecy required may be likely to affect his moral responsibihty to God and society ; Eccl. v. 2, 6 ; Jer. iv. 3 ; 1 Pet. iii. 15 ; — that it does not become christians to employ the Bible for the purposes of pageantry, as by irreverently carrying it open in public processions ; — that, in fine, by such connections, ha- bits are apt to be formed, unfavourable both to religion and morali- ty, and that there is nothing to be gained that can compensate for the risk, or effectually prevent it. 8. We deeply regret and condemn the neglect of divine ordi- nances, and the careless or merely formal observance of them by M 2 180 WARNING AGAINST PRACTICAL EVILS. many. Has God strengthened his natural claims on our homage, by the disclosure of new and gracious relations ? Has he even, by a revelation from Heaven, notified the forms of acceptable worship ? Is there a Mediator provided expressly for us ? Has the Spirit come according to promise, to help our infirmities ? And are we invited and encouraged to come boldly to the throne of the Most High as a throne of grace, where we may obtain mercy, and find grace suit- ed to our need ? How criminal it must be to disregard all these pri- vileges ! Let it be remembered, that each of the divinely prescrib- ed forms of worship rests on its own grounds, is recommended by its own advantages, and is enjoined under its own sanction. Prayer cannot be superseded by praise, nor private by public devotions. Every one who is at all acquainted with himself must know, that there is much as to his personal condition which ought to be tlie subject of confession before God, connected with the applica- tion for mercy and help, but which he has no call to utter in the hearing of others, and which cannot be introduced into family or public prayers. By the neglect of personal devotions, therefore, or mere formality in them, professing Christians not only indi- cate how little they are acquainted with themselves, or aware of the extent in which they have to do with God, but defraud him of much of the homage which is his due, and violate the express pre- cepts of his law. Our Saviour has enjoined secret prayer, and prescribed it as a test of love to religion for its own sake ; Mat. vi. 6. By his Apostles we are required to " pray with all prayer.'"" to be " instant" in this duty, " and in every thing by prayer and supplication to make our requests known unto God ;'" Eph. vi. 18 ; Rom. xii. 12 ; 1 Thess. v. 17 ; Phil. iv. 6. The frequent neglect oijamily xoorsMp is evidently calculated to weaken its influence in cherishing piety among the members of the family, especially among children and servants. Where it is never observed, the felicity of that fellowship which combines the sympathies of domestic relations, and of that devotion which is elevated and sweetened by the social affections of tbe family circle, cannot be known, and seems to be despised. The salutary influence, too, which the stated recurrence of domestic devotions must have, in in- ducing the members of the family to walk in love, and holiness, '' that their prayers be not hindered," is either imthought of, or but lightly esteemed. The appropriate homage of a conjunct recog- nition of family mercies is refused ; the solace of united supplication in regard to family trials is withheld ; and all the principles^ both natural and gracious, which prompt to the one and the other, are WARNING AGAINST TIIACTICAL EVILS. 181 denied their proper sphere of operation. No account is made of the special countenance promised to two or three met in the name of Christ ; and this disregard is shewn in the very scene where the best opportunities exist for enjoying the fulfilment of the promise. Reli- gion must be low indeed, or even treated with absolute indifference, where it is not deemed " pleasant to show forth the loving-kindness of God in the morning, and his faithfulness every night ;"" Mat. xviii. 19, 20 ; Gen. xviii, 19 ; Ps. ci. 2 ; Luke i. 6 ; Acts x. 2. But " God loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob." Those who neglect or contemn public ordinances^ give no evidence that they are " partakers of a divine nature,'' which would assuredly lead them to love what God loves, and to delight in " the place where his honour dwelleth." While their conduct proclaims them strangers to religion in secret and private, it places them also beyond the reach of the means which are commonly bless- ed for conversion, and thus serves to render their condition fearfully hopeless. But how reprehensible are others, who, professing to ac- knowledge the divine appointment of these ordinances, and their own obligations to observe them, yet frequently desert them on trif- ling pretexts, — such as they dare not plead at the throne of God, and such as their own conscience, when they suffer its voice to be heard, cannot approve ! " Let us hold fast the profession of our faith," says an Apostle, " not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is ;" Heb. x. 23, 25. Those who even par- tially subject themselves to this charge, by frequent absence from public ordinances, without sufficient reason, render dubious their past profiting by these ordinances, injure what they have attained, lose interest in the prosecution of divine subjects, and unfit them- selves for deriving much advantage from the occasional attendance they give. The exercises to which they may resort in secret and private, will not compensate for the loss they sustain ; nor can they, with confidence, ask the blessing of God on those exercises, when observed out of place, or substituted for what he expressly prefers. But absence is not the only evil we are called upon to condemn. The ends of the gospel dispensation are not less effectually defeated, and the ordinances of grace dishonoured, by careless and merely formal attendance, — not entering into the spirit of the song in praise, — neither steadily observing, nor seriously adopting, the sentiments uttered in prayer, — not regarding nor receiving the truth preached as the word of God, but treating it as if it were the word of man, — indulging in merely critical hearing, — seeking only intellectual enter- tainment or sentimental gratification, — overlooking the import of the 1S» WARNING AGAINST PRACTICAL EVILS. Benediction pronounced in the name of the Lord, neither behevingly accepting, nor thankfully acquiescing in it. " This people draw- eth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips ; but their heart is far from me." " God is a spirit, and they that worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.'' Much of the benefit is lost by the neglect of serious preparation for attendance on public institutions, and by the want of meditation after, or when no effort is made to recall to remembrance what has been heard, to treasure it up in the mind, and especially to live under its influence. It is surely enough that the Gospel has to combat the natural depravity of men, though that depravity be not displayed in positive resistance. But it ought to be remembered, that absence from public ordinances, inattention, and the irreverent and in every re- spect indecorous, practice of sleeping during the time of their ad- ministration, are more calculated than even the natural resistance of depravity, to make void the ends of the Gospel dispensation. In other cases, the devil may carry away the seed which has been sown, or the cares of the world may choke it, or the produce may be only a sentimental or temporary impression ; but all this may also be counteracted by the powerful energy of the Holy Spirit accom- panying the ministry of the word. Absence, inattention, or sleep, however, completely prevents the gracious experiment from being made in the very sowing of the seed. The superstitious notions of Baptism and the Lord's Supper entertained by many, and the abuse of these ordinances in certain connnunions, having been censured al- ready, we only notice here as condemnable the too prevalent custom of making the administration of baptism rather a festive occasion, than a season of devotion, and of such exercise as befits the nature and design of a sacramental institution. 9. Finally, we condemn the unhallowed temper so frequently dis- played both in regard to religious matters and other concerns. The distance which Christians observe with regard to one another, is much to be deplored. Can it become those who profess to be fellow-heirs, fellow-citizens, fellow-soldiers, and of the one " house- hold of faith," who are even associated in the same visible bonds of communion, and members of the same congregation, to be estranged from one another as to all spiritual concerns, to dislike the demonstration and cultivation of their holy fellowship in socie- ties for prayer and religious conference, to meet only as the men of the world meet, and to merge all the intimacy of their peculiar re- lalions in merely secular intercourse P What do they more than WARNING AGAINST PRACTICAL EVILS. 183 others, if their friendship, in its cast, its fervour, and its forms of ex- pression, exceed not the friendship of this world ? " Be kindly afFec- tioned one to another, with brotherly Jove," Rom. xii. 10. " Be ye all of one mind, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous ;" 1 Pet. iii. 8. " Exhort one another;" Heb. iii. 13 ; x. 25. " Com- fort yourselves together, and edify one another;" 1 Thess. v. 11. " Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man ;" Col. iv. 6. " Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace to the hearers ;" Eph. iv. 29. As we are forewarned of offences and scandals, so we have been taught to expect divisions in the Church. If the former are to be lamented, the existence of the latter, however unavoidable in some cases, ought also to be deeply regretted. It gives to the Church an aspect unlike to that which was at first exemplified in the Christian constitution, and which we expect to reappear in the grand display of the glory and excellence of that constitution during the millennial age. With what anxiety, then, ought divisions to be avoided, so long as this can be done in consistency with a good conscience ! With what care and candour ought their causes to be investigated ! And how strenuously ought Christians to co-operate for their prevention or their removal. We are obtested by the most touching considera- tions, to be " of one accord, of one mind," and to see that nothing be done " through strife or vain-glory ;" Phil. ii. 1-4. The evilpassio7is]iaTt\c\i\ar\y, which are often excited by difference of opinion, cannot be sufficiently reprobated. While complacential love must always be regulated by evidence of soundness in the faith, and of general moral excellence, the love of benevolence and benefi- cence depends on no conditions, — knows no Hmitations. Is there always a due concern to prevent religious dissension ? And when difference of opinion occurs, do the parties strive to bear down the prejudice which it is apt to occasion ? How often is party-spirit mis- taken for godly zeal ! " Enviest thou for my sake .^" said Moses to Joshua, Numb. xi. 29. How often, too, is zeal allowed to be- come intemperate. " Ye know not," said our Lord to John and his brother, what " manner of spirit ye are of;" Luke ix. 55. Ought unfair means ever to be resorted to, even in support of a good cause ? " Will ye speak wickedly for God, and talk deceitfully for him ? Will ye accept his person ?'" Job. xiii. 7. 8. Should the most sacred and the most important of all causes, ever be prosecuted in that " wrath of man," which " worketh not the righteousness of God .^" The servant of the Lord must not " strive, but be gentle 1B4. Warning against practical evils. unto all men, — in meekness instructing those who oppose themselves^ if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth, and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will ;"" 2 Tim. ii. ^4-26. But how foreign to the pure spirit of Christian benevolence are tlic readiness with which private (pia7-rds are commenced, the as- }>erity with which they are prosecuted, the influence they are allowed to have on Christian communion, and even on domestic relations, and the unforgiving and even revengeful temper which they display. " These things ought not so to be." This wisdom, if any applaud themselves for it as wisdom, " is earthly, sensual, devilish."" The " wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiali- ty and without hypocrisy. But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another. Put off the old man with his deeds, and put on as the elect of God, bowels of mercies, kindness, meekness, long-sufferirjg ; forbearing one another, forgiving one another ; even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things, put on charity, -which is the bond of pcrfectness ;" James iii. 13-18 ; Col. iii. 12, 13, 15; 1 Cor. xiii. If there be any thing more condemnable than wrath, it is the dis- position to detraction, the strange satisfaction which some feel in talk- ing to the disadvantage of others, — eagerly listening to, and taking up, an evil report, fabricating additional circumstances, devising and circulating injurious surmises, or putting the worst construc- tion on occurrences seemingly favourable to their views. " The words of a tale bearer are as wounds," and deadly wounds ; Prov. xviii. 8. The practice was prohibited by the Jewish code: Lev. xix. 16; the character is condemned by the Christian law ; 1 Tim. v. 13 ; 2 Thcss. iii. 11-14; 1 Pet. iv. 15. Christians are peremptorily en- joined to " put off evil-speaking, and all malice ;" Ephes. iv. 31. " Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle ? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill ? He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart ; he that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doth evil to his neighbour, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour ;" Ps. xv. 1-3. Let all who belong to the Uni- ted Secession beware of " holdino; the truth in unrighteousness.'" Let them mourn over those evils, and practically testify against them. " Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good re- port, if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things, and do them, and the God of peace shall be with you." ( 185 ) APPENDIX FIRST. No. I. BASIS OF UNION AGREED UPON BY THE UNITED ASSOCIATE SYNOD OF THE SECESSION CHURCH, SEPTEMBER 8. 1820. Without interfering witli the right of private judgment respecting the Grounds of Separation, both parties shall carefully abstain from agitating in future the questions which occasioned it ; And with regard to the Bur- gess Oath, both Synods agree to use what may appear to them the most proper means for obtaining the Abolition of that Religious Clause which occasioned the original strife, in those towns where it may still exist. Art. I. — We hold the word of God, contained in the scriptures of the Old and New Testament, as the only rule of faith and manners. Art. II.-— W^e retain the Westminster Confession of Faith, with the Larger and Shorter Catechisms, as the confession of our faith, expressive of the sense in which we understand the holy Scriptures : It being al- ways understood, however, that we do not approve or require an approba- tion of any thing in those books, or in any other, which teaches, or may be thought to teach, compulsory or persecuting and intolerant principles in matters of religon *. * In elucidation of this Article respecting passages in our standard books, and in the deeds of our Church, which imply, or have been interpreted to imply, that the Magistrate may use coercive measures in matters of religious profession ; we remark, that, while we grant the Magistrate's right to restrain and punish whatever, under pretence even of religion, violates the order of civil society, we disapprove of compulsion in things religious, and of all persecution for conscience-sake. And we further state, that though we do not require uniformity of sentiment on the subject of the Magistrate's power about eccle- siastical affairs, we adhere to the doctrines formerly stated by the Associate Presbytery in 1743, viz. " That the public good of outward and common order in all reasonable society, unto the glory of God, is the great and only end which those invested with Magistracy can propose, in a sole respect unto that office ; and as, in prosecuting this end, civilly, according to their office, it is only over men's good and evil works that they can have any inspection, so it is only over those which they must needs take^ cog- nizance for the said public good ; while, at the same time, their doing so must be in such a manner, and proceed so far allenarly, as is requisite for that end, without assuming any lordship immediately over men's consciences, or making any encroachment upon the special privileges and business of the Church." And we take this oppgrtunity of avowing our adherence to the Presbytery's ^octrme, viz. " That we ought to acknowledge the present Civil Government of these nations, and subjection thereto in lawful eommands." 186 BASIS OF UNION. Art. Ill The Presbyterian Form of Church-Government, without any superiority of office to that of a Teaching Presbyter, and in a due subordination of Church Judicatories, being the only form of government which we acknowledge, as founded upon, and agi-eeable to, the Word of God, shall be the Government of the United Church ; — and the Direc- tory, as heretofore, shall be retained as a compilation of excellent Rules. Art. IV. — We consider as valid those reasons of Secession from the prevailing party in the Judicatories of the Established Church, which are stated in the Testimony that was approved and published by the Associate Presbytery ; particularly the sufferance of error without adequate cen- sure, — the settling of Ministers by Patronage even in reclaiming Congre- gations, — the neglect or relaxation of Discipline, — the restraint of Minis- terial freedom in testifying against mal-administration, — and the refusal of that party to be reclaimed. And we find the grounds of Secession from the Judicatories of the Established Church in some respects increased, in- stead of being diminished. Art. V. — We cherish an unfeigned veneration for our Reforming An- cestors, and a deep sense of the inestimable value of the benefits which accrue to us, fi-om their noble and successful efforts in the cause of civil and religious liberty : — We approve of the method adopted by them for mutual excitement and encouragement, by solemn confederation and vows to God : We acknowledge that we are under high obligations to maintain and prosecute the work of Reformation begun, and to a great extent car- ried on by them : — And we assert, that public religious Vowing or Cove- nanting is a moral duty, to be practised when the circumstances of Provi- dence require it : — but as the duty, from its nature, is occasional, not stated, and as there is, and may be, a diversity of sentiment respecting the seasonableness of it, we agree, that, while no obstruction shall be thrown in the way, but every scriptural facility shall be afforded to those who have cleamess to proceed in it, yet its observance shall not be required of any in order to church communion. Art. VI A Formula shall be made up from the Formulas already ex- isting, suited to the United Secession Church. ]^ote That it be recommended to the United Synod to prepare, as soon as possible, a more detailed view of the above Articles, as the Tes- timony of the United Church ; containing the substance of the Judicial Act and Testimony, the act concerning the Doctrine of Grace, and the Answers to Nairn's Reasons of Dissent. ( 187 ) No. II. FORMULA OF ORDINATION, AGREED UPON BY THE UNITED ASSOCIATE SYNOD OF THE SECESSION CHURCH, September 13. 1820. Question I. Do you believe tlie Scriptures of the Old and New Testa- ments to be the Word of God, and the only rule of faith and manners ? Q. II. Do you acknowledge the Westminster Confession of Faith, with the Larger and Shorter Catechisms, as the Confession of your faith, ex- pressive of the sense in which you understand the Scriptures ; and do you resolve, through Divine Grace, firmly and constantly to adhere to the doc- trine contained in the said Confession and Catechisms, and to assert and defend it to the utmost of your power against all contrary errors ; it being always understood that you are not required to approve of any thing in these books which teaches, or may be supposed to teach, compulsory or persecuting and intolerant principles in religion ? Q. III. Are you persuaded that the Lord Jesus Christ, the only King and Head of his Church, has appointed therein a form of Govern- ment and discipline distinct from, and not subordinate to. Civil Govern- ment ; and is the Presbyterian Form of Government, without any superio- rity of office above that of a Teaching Presbyter, and in a due subordina- tion of Church Judicatories, the only form of Church Government which you acknowledge as founded upon, and agreeable to, the Word of God ? And do you promise to submit to the said government and discipline, and that you will not attempt the prejudice or subversion of it ; but to the ut- most of your power, in your station, maintain, support and defend the said government and discipline, together with the purity of worship received and practised in this church ? Q. IV. Are you persuaded that public religious Vowing or Covenanting is a moral duty, to be practised when the circumstances of Providence re- quire it ? Do you approve of the Method adopted by our Reforming An- cestors, for mutual excitement and encouragement, by solemn confedera- tion and vows to God ; and do you acknowledge that we are under high obligations to maintain and prosecute the work of reformation begun, and to a great extent carried on, by them ? Q. V. Do you consider as still valid, those reasons of Secession from the Judicatories of the Established Church, which are stated in the Testimo- nies emitted by the Secession Church ; namely, the sufferance of error 188 I'ORMULA OF OllDlNATION. without adequate censure ; the infrinjjement of the rights of the Christian People in the choice and settlement of their Ministers under the law of Patronage ; the neglect or relaxation of Discipline ; the restraint of minis- terial freedom in opposing maladministration ; and the refusal of the pre- vailing party to be reclaimed* ? And do you, tlu-ough grace, resolve to pro- secute the design of tlie Secession ? Q. VI. Do you promise that you will submit youi-self, willingly and Immbly, in the spirit of meekness, to the admonitions of the Brethren of this Presbytery, agreeably to the Word of God, and to be subject to them in the Lord, and to the other Presbyteries of the Association, and to the United Associate Synod of the Secession Church, as the Lord in his Pro- vidence shall cast your lot ? Q. VIL Are zeal for the glory of God, love to Jesus Christ, and the desire of saving souls, and not worldly designs or interests, as far as you know your own heart, your great motives and chief inducements to enter into the functions of the Holy Ministry ? Q. VIIL Have you used any undue methods, either by yourself or others, to procure this call ? Q. IX. Do you engage, in the strength and grace of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Master, to nile well your own house ; to live a holy and cir- cumspect life ; and faithfully, diligently, and cheerfully, to discharge all the parts of the ministerial work, to the edifying of the Body of Christ ? Q. X. Do you accept of the call to be Pastor of this Associate Congre- gation, and promise, through grace, to perform all the duties of a faithful Minister among this people, in preaching the gospel among them, " not with the enticing words of man's wisdom ;" but in its purity and simpli- city " not shunning to declare all the counsel of God ;" as also in cate- chising, exhorting from house to house, visiting the sick, and performing whatever other duties are incumbent on you from the word of God as a faitliful minister of Jesus Christ, for convincing and converting sinners, and for edifying the church of the living God ? Q. XL And all these things you profess and promise, through grace, as you shall be answerable at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, with all his saints, and as you would be found in that happy company at his se- cond coming ? Extracted from the Minutes, of Synod by David Black, Synod Clerk. * By a deed of Synod, 20th September 1827, the /(Mowing clause is appointed to be inserted here : — ■ • Do you approve of the principles and design of the Secession, for the more full illustration of which he Testimony, as adopted by the United Assocate Synod in September 1027, has been emitted ?" For iMe Formulas now authorised by the Synod see Appendix Second, p. 197. ( 189 ) No. III. SUMMARY OF PRINCIPLES, AGREED UPON BY THE UNITED ASSOCIATE SYNOD OF THE SECESSION CHURCH, SEPTEMBER 14. 1820. " The Synod agreed, That this Paper is to be regarded as a compen- dious Exhibition of our Principles, and as a Directory for the admission of Members, who are to be considered as acceding to the principles con" tained in this Summary, according to the measure of their knowledge." A Short Exhibition of the tenets held by the Secession Church hath long been necessary, for the information of her members, and of those not of her communion. The laudable zeal which led her members, for some time after her separation from the judicatories of the Church of Scotland, to inquire minutely into her principles, may be supposed to have suffered some diminution. The Doctrines exhibited in the Westminster Confession of Faith, and Larger and Shorter Catechisms, contain a statement of truth so extensive, as by many cannot be easily apprehended and remembered. The Reasons of Separation from the prevailing party in the Established Church, are to be sought for in works which many of the people do not possess and have never read ; and from which, if they should consult them, they might find it difficult to obtain a distinct idea of the grounds of secession. In these circumstances, it woidd be an important acquisition to many Members of the Secession Church, to have a view of her principles, so plain that it could be easily understood, and so short that it could be remembered with- out difficulty. Such an abridgment may be of use to those who are not Seceders. The Testimony of a Church to the truth ought not to be shut up in publica- tions to which many can have no access, or which may deter a reader by their size, or perplex him by the multitude of particulars. It should be such that all may read and understand. The interests of Religion call up- on the Secession Church to lay her principles before the World in a short and simple form. A publication of this kind might have been profitable at any time, but seems to be particularly called for, when a Re-union of Seceders must 190 SUMMARY OF PRINCIPLES. awaken in many a desire to know the principles on which their agreement is founded, and which aie to be maintained in their united state. The following Summary of Principles is intended to answer these important purposes. It must, however, be distinctly understood that it is not meant to supersede the larger authorised Exhibitions of our Principles, or even to withdraw the attention of Church-Members from tliem. This statement, therefore, is to be viewed as only an accredited abridgment of the most important things contained in these Exhibitions, which may lead some to examine the larger publications themselves, and may give that in- formation to others, which, without such assistance, they would not pos- DOCTRINAI. TRUTHS. OF THE SCRIPTURES. The Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, wbich are proved to be the word of God by miracles ; — the fulfilment of prophecy ; — the ex- cellency of the truths which they contain ; — and the blessed effects wliich they produce ; — are the only rule of Faith and Practice. There is only One God, who is a spirit, every where ]: resent, indepen- dent, eternal, infinite in knowledge, power, holiness, goodness, and every other perfection. — In the Godhead there are Three Persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, who are one in essence, and, as Persons, are equal in power and glory. OF THE DECREES OF GOD AND THE EXECUTION OF THEM. God hath from eternity, for his own glory, unalterably decreed every thing which comes to pass ; — and this plan of his works he executes in Creation, in which he made all things very good ; — and in Providence, in which he upholds and governs every thing according to his pleasure. OF man's ORIGINAL AND FALLEN STATE, The first man was created in a state of perfect holiness and happiness ; but, by the breach of the Covenant of Works, which God had made with him for himself and his natural posterity, he brought himself and them into a state of sin and misery — In their fallen condition mankind are guilty be- fore God; and their whole nature is depraved ;— so that, in this state, they are not only incapable of performing actions acceptable to God, but they are also liable to present and eternal punishment ;— nor have they any abi- lity to deliver themselves from this condition. OF REDEMPTION. God having, in sovereign love, before the world began, chosen some of 4 SUMMARY OF PRINCIPLES. 191 the human race to eternal life, through sanctification of the Spirit and be- lief of the truth, did enter into a Covenant of Grace with his Son for their salvation. The Son of God having taken the human nature, free from sin, into union with his Divine Person, and being filled with the Holy Ghost in that nature, was thus prepared to finish the work which the Father had given him to do. Having, as the surety of his people, been made under the law, he per- fectly obeyed its precepts, and endured its curse. — The dignity of his per- son gave such value to his work, that their iniquities were expiated, and eternal life obtained for them. Upon the third day after his death, he rose again from the dead, and af- terwards ascended to Heaven, where he intercedes for his people, — receives for himself glory and joy, — exercises the power delivered to him by the Father for the benefit of the Church ; — and at the last day he shall descend to judge the world. OF THE APPLICATION OP RKDEMPTION. The Salvation obtained by the Son of God is presented, as the gift of Heaven, to all who hear the Gospel ; — and the Ordinances of religion are the external means by which it is applied to the soul. These are rendered effectual by the Holy Spirit in regeneration, by whom the sinner is enlightened in the knowledge of the truth, — is persuad- ed and enabled to receive the testimony of God in the Gospel, — and is made spiritually alive to God in holiness. When by faith a man receives the Lord Jesus, and is united to him, having an interest in his imputed righteousness, he is pardoned, — accepted, — and made an heir of Heaven. The work of holiness, begun in regeneration, is carried on by continued communications of Divine Grace, by which the believer is preserved, strengthened and comforted, till he is prepared for being removed to Heaven. At death the souls of believers are made perfect in holiness, and enter into glory. — Their blessedness shall be completed at the last day, when their bodies shall be raised incorruptible ; and, after being judged, they shall be taken to Heaven, where they shall be perfectly happy in the full enjoy- ment of God through eternity. OP THE CONDITION OP UNBELIEVERS. They who will not by faith receive the Lord Jesus the Saviour, but con- tinue in unbelief and disobedience, increase the depravity and wretchedness of their natural condition, and aggravate their future punishment ; — at death, their souls shall depart to the place of torment ; — they shall after- 192 SUA] MARY OF PRINCIPLES. wards rise to shame and contempt ; — they shall be condemned in the judg- ment, and they shall be driven away into everlasting misery. OF PRACTICAL RELIGION. As faith without works is dead, the doctrine stated above should lead, and where sincerely believed will lead, to holy practice ; which is to be maintained in the strength of Divine Grace, not as meritorious of any bless- ing, but fi-om regard to the authority of God ; — from a principle of love to Lim, — for the glory of his name, — as the evidence of faith in the promise, — and as the means of present comfort, as well as a preparation for Hea- ven. OF OUR DUTY TO GOD. God is to be served, by seeking after the knowledge of him in his works, and especially in his Word ; — by searching the Scriptures, in which we have eternal life ; — by prayer and praise : — and these services ought to be punctually observed in secret and in the family.^ — Public Worship should be conscientiously attended. — The Sabbath is to be sanctified, by spending the whole day in religious services, except so much as is to be taken up in the works of necessity and mercy ; — and by avoiding all worldly thoughts, conversation and amusements. As this worship is offered unto the Father of spirits, it should be accom- panied with the homage of the heart, — witli the knowledge of Him, — a holy reverence of Him, — a choosing of Him as the portion of the soul ; — fervent love, — a strong faith, — and a surrendering of ourselves to his dis- posal and service. Under the New Testament, there are Two Sacraments, Baptism and the Lord's Supper. They are ordinances, in which outward signs repre- sent spu-itual things. In Baptism, the application of water to the body, in the name of th.e Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, signifies the washing of the person baptized from his sins, and his dedication to the service of God. — This ordinance is to be administered, not only to adults newly converted to the faith, but al- so to the infants of Church-Members. The Lord's Supper is to be observed by believers, as a memorial of Christ's death, — as a public profession of faith in Him, and subjection to His authority, — and as an expression of the communion which they have with Him, and with one another. — In this ordinance, bread and wine signify His body and blood, or the sacrifice He once offered for the sins of men, which, with all its benefits, is exhibited to believers, for the confirmation of their faith, and their advancement in holiness. — It is profaned, when it is ob- served in a state of unbelief, or in the allowed practice of sin. — The act of communicating ought to be preceded by serious examination of the state SUMMARY OF PRINCIPLES. 193 and character before God, and performed in the exercise of faith, love, re- pentance, and dedication to the Lord OF THE DUTIES WHICH A CHRISTIAN OWES TO HIMSELF. A christian ought to shun profane swearing, drunkenness, and impurity in discourse and conduct, — suppress the wicked passions, and mortify the lusts from which these and other sins proceed : — and as God who liatli cal- led him is holy> he should be holy in heart, and in all manner of conversa- tion ; studying to know himself, and to maintain contentment, patience, meekness and purity. OF RKLATIVr DUTIES. They who believe in God, are under special obligations to put away ly- ing, evil-speaking, guile, dishonesty and quarrelling. As parents or chil- dren, husbands or wives, masters or servants, rulers or subjects, ministers or people, they ought to be mindful of the duties of their stations ; and should perform these and all other services they owe to Society, as persons who fear God, and are desirous to do to others what they wish that others should do to them — They should submit themselves in all things lawful, to civil and ecclesiastical authority — They should edify one another in love, and should cherish a spirit of scriptural zeal, for advancing the interests of the Redeemer's kingdom, and for promoting the salvation of mankind. All these services should be performed in dependence upon the grace of God, and should be offered to him for acceptance through the mediation of his Son, for whose sake only they can be gi-aciously received. OF THE CHURCH. The Visible Church of Christ consists of all those who make a profes- sion of the true religion, and their children. The Communion of a particular church is the public association of those who are agreed with regard to the doctrine and worship, and government of the Church of Christ, for the purpose of observing divine institutions ; and those who are admitted into it should have a competent measure of knowledge ; — should make a credible profession of their faith ; — and are bound to a conversation becoming the Gospel, and to submit to the disci- pline of the church. The Office-bearers in the church of Christ are Teaching and Rul- ing Elders, and Deacons. As the Presbyterian form of Church government is the only form which the Secession Church acknowledges as founded upon, and agreeable to, the word of God, a practical subjection to it is required from all her members. N 194 SUMMARY OF PRINCIPLES. REASONS OF SECESSION The Secession did not originate in any dissatisfaction with the pro- fessed principles of the Church of Scotland, which Seceders venerate as a precious summary of Divine Truth, — the most valuable inheritance they have received from their fathers, — and which they are anxious to transmit in purity to their children. But for some time before they were expelled from the communion of the National Church, a tide of defection had been flowing in from the prevailing party in her Judicatories, which, while it spared the erroneous in doctrine, and the irregular in conduct, bore down the Christian people contending for their religious privileges, and those Ministers who testified faithfully against ecclesiastical misconduct. A professor of Divinity, in one of the Universities, taught. That the souls of children are as pure and holy as the soul of Adam was in his ori- ginal condition, being inferior to him only as he was formed in a state of maturity ; and that the light of nature, including tradition, is sufficient to teach men the way of salvation. For these doctrines, subversive of the first principles of Christianity, a process was instituted against him, in which it was clearly proved, that he was chargeable with teaching publicly these and other errors. But so far from being subjected to the censure he deserved, he was permitted to retain his place in the University and the Church, and the General Assembly were satisfied with declaring. That some of his opinions were not evidently founded on the word of God, nor necesssary to be taught in divinity; — and prohibiting him from publishing such sentiments in future. The " Marrow of Modern Divinity" teaches, " That God in the Gos- pel makes a gift of the Saviour to mankind sinners, as such, warranting every one who hears the Gospel to believe in him for salvation ; — That believers are entirely freed from the law as a covenant of works : — That good works are not to be performed by believers, that they may obtain, salvation by them." In the unqualified condemnation of these principles, the General Assembly materially condemned some of the most important doctrines of the Gospel ; such as the unlimited extent of the Gospel call, and the free grace of God in the salvation of siimers. For a short time after the revival of the Law of Patronage in 1712, such as received presentations were backward to accept of them, and the Church courts were unwilling to proceed to their settlement, where opposition was made by the people of the vacant charge. But presentees and judicatories became gradually less scrupulous, and several settlements afterwards took place, in reclaiming congregations, which gave plain evidence that the rights of the members of the Church would be no longer regarded. — The little influence which might occasionally be left to the people in the choice of their Ministers, was destroyed by an act of the General Assembly, pas- sed immediately before the commencement of the Secession. This act. SUMMARY Ol' PlllNOIPLES. 195 providing that where patrons miglit neglect, or decline to exercise, their rights, the Minister should be chosen by a majority of the Elders and He- ritors, if Protestant, was unconstitutionally passed by the Assembly, as a great majority of the Presbyteries, who gave their opinions upon the sub- ject, were decidedly hostile to the measure. Many pious and faithful Ministers were grieved by these defections ; but being deprived, by the prevailing party in the Assembly, of the liber- ty of marking their disapprobation in the minutes of the Court, no me- thod of maintaining a good conscience remained, except testifying against defection in their public ministrations. This method was adopted ; and for a public condemnation of these corruptions by the Reverend Ebenezer Erskine, a process was instituted against him, which terminated, in first suspending him and three of his brethren, the Reverend Messrs William Wilson, Alexander Moncrieff, and James Fisher, who had joined him, from the exercise of the ministerial office, and afterwards dissolving their relation to their Congregations and the National Church. During the progress of these violent proceedings, they stated a formal Secession from the prevailing party in the Church of Scotland, and constitu- ted themselves into an Ecclesiastical Court for the support of the import- ant cause in which they had engaged. The Reasons of Secession have since that period gathered strength ; for though, in some parts of the Church, there has of late been an increase in the number of Evangelical Ministers, in which we rejoice, yet it may be justly doubted, whether, up- on the whole, her condition is not worse than when the Fathers of the Secession separated from her communion. Several prosecutions for error have, since that period, commenced before the Church Courts, and have terminated in a way which manifested a la- mentable indifference to the purity of the truth. — In many parishes there is no regular exercise of discipline, and in some there are not even resident Ruling Elders. The settlement of Ministers, in opposition to the minds of parishioners, is now so common, that it attracts very little attention. The people disregarded, eitlier quietly leave the Established Church, or tamely submit to the imposition ; and Ministers who oppose such settlements, have been enjoined to attend them, and thus to countenance, by their presence, the procedure of which they disapprove. The chief reasons of Secession then are : — The sufferance of error without adequate censure ; — The settling of Ministers by patronage even in re- claiming congregations : — The neglect or relaxation of discipline : — The restraint of ministerial freedom in testifying against maladministration ; — and the refusal of the prevailing party to be reclaimed. — For these and other reasons, that they may carry on the work of Reformation, in which their pious ancestors so fervently laboured, Scceders have separated, and still maintain a separation, from the Judicatories of the Church of Scot- land. 19^^ su?.iMAuy OF riJiNciri,Es. DIVISION AND RE-UNION OF THE SECEDERS, Several years after the commencement of the Secession, a difference arose in the Associate Synod, regarding the interpretation of a clause in the BURGESS OATH of some burghs, which unhappily produced a division of the Seceders into two bodies. This division was a cause of much grief to many pious persons in both bodies, and several attempts were made to Ileal it, all of which proved ineffectual. It continued for more than seventy years ; when a spirit of conciliation diffused itself in an uncommon mea- sure, through both sides of the Secession. Ministers and people associated for conversation and prayer upon the subject, and petitions were presented to both Synods, from a large proportion of the Congregations under their inspection, requesting them to adopt the measures which might be neces- sary for effecting a Union. The Synods entered upon the consideration of the matter with cordiality and zeal : a Committee was appointed to meet, composed of members from both Synods, to prepare a Basis of Union. By the abolition of the Burgess Oath, which had already been effected in some of the principal towns, on the joint application of the Sessions of l)Oth sides ; and by the general abolition of it, which soon followed, or the rescinding of the religious clause of it where the oath itself was not totally abolished, a principal obstacle to their re-union was removed ; so that, without interfering with the private judgment of either party as to the grounds of the original difference, they finally agreed on a Basis of Union, of the following purport. That the United Synod hold the Scriptures of the Old and New Testa- ments as the only rule of faith and manners ; — The Westminster Confes- sion of Faith, and the Larger and Shorter Catechisms, as expressive of the sense in which they understand the Scriptures : — The Presbyterian form of Church Government, without any superiority of office above that of a Teaching Presbyter, and in a due subordination of Church Judicatories, as the only form which they acknowledge to be founded upon and agreeable to the word of God ; together v.ith the Directoiy, as a compilation of ex- cellent rules : — The validity of the reasons of Secession from the prevail- ing party in the Established Church ; — And, the propriety of the conduct of our Ancestors, in entering into Covenants for the support ot the Truth and of Religious Liberty ; and of Public Covenanting wlien the circum- stances of Providence require it. This Basis was submitted to both Synods, and, after mature deliberation, was approved of in 1820, when they united into one Society, to be deno- minated The United Associate Synod ; and may they walk in love, and in the fellowship of the Gospel, earnestly contending for the faith once de- livered unto the saints. Extracted from tlie Minutes of the United Associate Synott, by William Kidston, Synod Clerk- ( 107 ) APPENDIX SECOND FORMULAS UNITED SECESSION CHURCH, WITH THE ALTKKATIONS AGREED ON, MaY 22. 1828, BEING THK NOW AUTHORISED FORMULAS. No. I. FORMULA OF ORDINATION OF MINISTERS. Question I. Do you believe the Scriptures of the Old and New Testa- ments to be the Word of God, and the only rule of faith and manners ? Q. II. Do you acknowledge the Westminster Confession of P'aiih, with the Larger and Shorter Catechisms, as tlie confession of your faith, ex- pressive of the sense in which you understand the Scriptures ; and do you resolve, through Divine Grace, firmly and constantly to adhere to the doc- trine contained in the said Confession and Catechisms, and to assert and defend it to the utmost of your power against all contrary errors ; it beiu"- always understood that you are not required to approve of any thing in these books which teaches, or may be supposed to teach, compulsory or persecuting and intolerant principles in religion ? Q. III. Are you persuaded that the Lord Jesus Christ, the only King and Head of his Church, has appointed therein a form of Govern- ment and discipline distinct from, and not subordinate to, Civil Govern- ment ; and is the Presbyterian Form of Government, without any su|>erio- rity of office above that of a Teaching Presbyter, and in a due subordina- tion of Clmrch Judicatories, the only form of Church Government which you acknoivledge as founded upon and agreeable to, the Word of God .^ And do you promise to submit to the said government and discipline, and that you will not attempt the prejudice or subversion of it ; but, to the ut- most of your power, in your station, maintain, support and defend the said government and discipline, together with the purity of worship received and practised in this church ? 198 FORMULAS OF ORDINATION. Q. IV. Are you persuaded that public religious Vowing or Covenanting is a moral duty, to be practised when the circumstances of Providence re- quire it ? Do you approve of the method adopted by our Reforming An- cestors, for mutual excitement and encouragement, by solemn confedera- tion and vows to God ; and do you acknowledge that we are under high obligations to maintain and prosecute the work of Reformation begun, and to a great extent carried on, by them ? Q. V. Do you consider as still valid, those reasons of Secession from the Judicatories of the Established Church, which are stated in the Testimo- nies emitted by the Secession Church ; namely, the sufferance of error without adequate censure ; the infringement of the rights of the Christian People, in the choice and settlement of their Ministers under the law of Patronage ; the neglect or relaxation of Discipline ; the restraint of minis- terial freedom in opposing mal-ad ministration ; and the refusal of the prevailing party to be reclaimed ? Do you approve of the principles and design of the Secession, for the more full illustration of wliich the Testi- mony, as adopted by the United Associate Synod in September 1827, has been emitted ? And do you, through grace, resolve to prosecute the design of the Secession ? Q. VI. Do you promise that you w^ill submit yourself, willingly and humbly, in the spirit of meekness, to the admonitions of the Brethren of this Presbytery, agreeably to the Word of God, and to be subject to them in the Lord, and to the other Presbyteries of the Association, and to the United Associate Synod of the Secession Church, as the Lord in his Pro- vidence shall cast your lot ? Q. VII. Are zeal for the glory of God, love to Jesus Christ, and the desire of saving souls, and not worldly designs or interests, as far as you know your own heart, your great motives and chief inducements to enter into the functions of the Holy Ministry? Q. VIII. Have you used any undue metliods, either by yourself or others, to procure this call ? Q. IX. Do you engage, in the strength and grace of Jesus Christ, our Lord and master, to rule well your own iiouse ; to live a l)o!y and cir- cumspect life, and faithfully, diligently, and cheerfully, to discharge all the parts of the ministerial work, to the edifying of the Body of Christ * ? Q. X. Do you accept of the call to be Pastor of this Associate Congre- gation, and promise, through grace, to perform all the duties of a faithful Minister among this people, in preaching the gospel among them, " not with the enticing words of man's wisdom," but in its purity and simpli- city, " not shunning to declare all the couns?l of God ;" as also in cate- chising, exhorting from house to house, visiting the sick, and performing * Here the Moderator will give the Congregation an opportunity of testifying their adherence to their Call by holding up the right hand. FORMULAS OF ORDINATION. 199 whatever other duties are incumbent on you from the word of God, as a faitliful minister of Jesus Chbist, for convincing and converting sinners, and for edifying the Church of the living God ? Q. XI. And all these things you profess and promise, through grace, as you shall be answerable at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, with all his saints, as you would be found in that happy company at his second coming ? Ed'tracted from the Minutes of Synod, by David Black, Synod Clerk. No. II. FORMULA OF ORDINATION OF ELDERS. Question I. Do you believe the Scriptures of the Old and New Testa- ments to be the Word of God, and the only rule of faith and manners ? Q. II. Do you acknowledge the Westminster Confession of Faith, with the Larger and Shorter Catechisms, as the Confession of your faith, ex- pressive of the sense in which you understand the Scriptures ; and do you resolve, through Divine Grace, firmly and constantly to adhere to the doc- trine contained in the said Confession and Catechisms, and to assert and defend it to the utmost of your power against all contrary errors : it being always understood that you are not required to approve of any thing in these books which teaches, or may be supposed to teach, compulsory or persecuting and intolerant principles in religion ? Q. III. Are you persuaded that the Lord Jesus Christ, the only King and Head of his Church, has appointed therein a fonn of Govern- ment and Discipline distinct from, and not subordinate to, Civil Govern- ment; and is the Presbyterian Form of Government, without any superio- rity of office above that of a Teaching Presbyter, and in a due subordina- tion of Church Judicatories, the only form of Church Government whicli you acknowledge as founded upon, and agreeable to, the Word of God.^ And do you promise to submit to the said government and discipline, and that you will not attempt the prejudice or subversion of it ; but to the ut- most of your power, in your station, maintain, support and defend the said government and discipline, together with the purity of worship received and practised in this church ? Q. IV. Are you persuaded that public religious Vowing or Covenanting is a moral duty, to be practised when the circumstances of Providence re- quire it ? Do you approve of the method adopted by our Reforming An- cestors, for mutual excitement and encouragement, by solemn confedera- 200 FDR.AIUI.AS or ORDINATION. tion and vows to God ; and do you acknowledge that we are under high obligations to maintain and prosecute the work of Reformation begun, and to a great extent carried on by them ? Q. V. Do you consider as still valid, those reasons of Secession ftom the Judicatories of the Established Church, which are stated in the Testimo- nies emitted by the Secession Church ; namely, the sufferance of eiTor without adequate censure ; the infringement of the rights of the Christian People in the choice and settlement of their Ministers under the law of Patronage ; the neglect or relaxation of Discipline ; the restraint of minis- terial freedom in opposing mal-administration ; and the refusal of the pre- vailing party to be reclaimed ? Do you approve of the principles and de- sign of the Secession, for the more full illustration of which the Testimony, as adopted by the United Associate Synod in September 1827, has been emitted? And do you, through grace, resolve to prosecute the design of the Secessi(m ? Q. VI. Do you promise that you will submit yourself, willingly and humbly, in the spirit of meekness, to the admonitions of the Brethren of this Session, agreeably to the Word of God, and to be subject to them in the Lord ? Q. VII. Are zeal for the glory of Gou, love to Jksus Christ, and the desire of saving souls, and not worldly designs or interests, as far as you know yom- own heart, your great motives and chief inducements to enter into the office of Ruling Elder in this congregation ? Q. VIII. Have you used any undue methods, eitlier by yourself or others, to procure your election to this oii'ce ? Q. IX. Do you accept of the call of this congregation to the office of Ruling Elder, and do you engage, in the strength and grace of Jksus Christ, our Lord and Master, to rule well your own house ; to live a holy and circumspect life ; and faithfully, diligently, and cheerfully, to discharge your duties as a Ruling Elder ? Q. X. And all these things you profess and promise, through grace, as you shall be answerable at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, with all his Saints, and as you would be found in that happy company at his second coming? ( 201 ) No. III. FORMULA OF LICENSE OF PROBATIONERS. Question 1. Do you believe the Scriptures of the Old and New Testa- ments to be the Word of God, and the only rule of faith and manners? Q. II. Do you acknowledge the Westminster Confession of Faith, with the Larger and Shorter Catechisms, as the confession of your faith, ex- pressive of the sense in which you understand the Scriptures ; and do you resolve, through Divine Grace, firmly and constantly to adhere to the doc- trine contained in the said Confession and Catechisms, and to assert and defend it to the utmost of your power against all contrary errors : it being always understood that you are not required to approve of any thing in these books which teaches, or may be supposed to teach, compulsory or persecuting and intolerant principles in religion ? Q. III. Are you persuaded that the Lord Jesus Christ, the only King and Head of his Church, has appointed therein a form of Govern- ment and Discipline distinct from, and not subordinate to. Civil Govern- ment ; and is the Presbyterian Form of Government, without any superio- rity of office above that of a Teaching Presbyter, and in a due subordina- tion of Church Judicatories, the only form of Church Government which you acknowledge as founded upon, and agreeable to, the Word of God ? And do you promise to submit to the said government and discipline, and that you will not attempt the prejudice or subversion of it ; but to the ut- most of your power, in your station, maintain, support and defend the said government and discipline, together with the purity of worship received and practised in this church ? Q. IV. Are you persuaded that public religious Vowing or Covenant- ing is a moral duty, to be practised when the circumstances of Providence require it ? Do you approve of the method adopted by our Reforming Ancestors, for mutual excitement and encouragement, by solemn confede- ration and vows to God ; and do you acknowledge that we are under high obligations to maintain and prosecute the work of Reformation begun, and to a great extent carried on by them ? Q. V. Do you consider as still valid, those reasons of Secession from the Judicatories of the Established Church, which are stated in the Testi- monies emitted by the Secession Church ; namely, the sufferance of error without adequate censure ; the infringement of the rights of the Christian People in the choice and settlement of their Ministers under the law of Patronage ; the neglect or relaxation of Discipline ; thejestraint of minis- terial freedom in opposing mal-administration ; and the refusal of the pre- vailing party to be reclaimed ? Do you approve of the principles and de- O 202 FORMULA OF LICENCE OF I'ROBATIONEKS. sign of the Secession, for the more full illustration of which the Testimony, as adopted by the United Associate Synod in September 1827, has been emitted ? And do you, through grace, resolve to prosecute the design of the Secession ? Q. VI. Do you promise that you will submit yourself, willingly and humbly, in the spirit of meekness, to the admonitions of the Brethren of this Presbyteiy, agreeably to the Word of God, and to be subject to them in the Lord, and to the other Presbyteries of the Association, and to the United Associate Synod of the Secession Church, as the Lord in his Pro- vidence shall cast your lot ? Q. VII. Are zeal for the glory of God, love to Jesus Christ, and the desire of saving souls, and not worldly designs or interests, as far as you know your own heart, your great motives and chief inducements to devote yourself to the service of God in preaching the Gospel ? Q. VIII. Do you engage, in the strength and grace of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Master, to live a holy and circumspect life ; and faithfully, diligently, and cheerfully, to discharge your duty as a Preacher of the Gospel ? Q. IX. And all these things you profess and promise, through grace, as you shall be answerable at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, with all his Saints, and as you would be found in that happy company at his second coming ? FINIS. Krhata Page 21 line 11, /or rights, read rites, 53 bfrom the foot, for every Lord's day, read on the first Sab- bath of every month. %■ 1 l/t) DATE DUE \]r\\i 1 A ^nr\o 1 , 1 GAYLORD PRINTED IN U.S.A. BW5484.U58 Testimony of the United associaic ^yuuo Princeton Theological Semmary-Speer Library 1 1012 00038 0131 ', H^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^K i \