The General Assembly of the church of Scotland was again convened on the thirteenth of May, 1736, the Rev. Lauchlan M'Intosh, minister of Errol, moderator, and William, marquis of Lothian, commissioner. This assembly, like the two pre

Mr. Simpson attempted to subvert that important and fundamental doctrine, as has been found proven against him upon the first libel, for which he deserved the highest censure of the church; and, likewise, that the gross and dangerous errors, found proven against him by the committee in the second libel, be, in plain and express terms, condemned. And in regard it has been found proven against William Nimmo, that he has made a bold and daring attack upon the whole of divine revelation, that the highest censure of the church be inflicted upon him: and also, since Mr. Campbell, at St. Andrews, has vented some propositions reflecting both upon natural and revealed religion, and a committee of the commission having entered upon the consideration of them, the said affair be proceeded in, and brought to an issue; and likewise, that an inquiry be made into the errors vented by Mr. Wallace, in disparagement of the principles of revealed religion; and if these gross errors are found proven against the said Mr. Campbell, and Mr. Wallace, that the same high censure be inflicted upon them.

2do. That the act of assembly, 1735, censuring Mr. Erskine for impugning the act 1732, and the arbitrary proceedings of church judicatories, and appointing high censures to be inflicted on the four brethren for protesting against the said decision, as suppressing ministerial freedom and faithfulness, be rescinded, and all that has followed thereupon, be declared null and void in itself; and that all ministers of this church be enjoined to give faithful warning and testimony against the prevailing corruptions of the times, according to act of assembly, August 3d, 1648, intituled, Act for censuring of ministers for their silence, and not speaking to the corruptions of the times.

3tio. That the act of the same assembly, 1733, concerning some brethren in the presbytery of Dunfermline, be also rescinded; and that it be declared, that ministers shall be allowed to dispense sealing ordinances to all such as have had ministers intruded upon them contrary to the word of God, and the rules of this church founded thereupon, and who have not freedom to submit to the ministry of such, or to receive the ordinances of Christ from their hands, providing they be sufficiently attested, as to their christian life and conversation.

4to. In case the patronage act shall not be rescinded, that it be declared that the acceptance of presentations is contrary to the principles of this church; and that preachers who accept of the same, be censured, by taking their license from them; and that ministers for such a transgression, be suspended, and if they tenaciously adhere to it, that they be deposed. And farther, that it be declared and enacted, that in all time coming, no minister shall be settled in any vacant congregation, without the call and consent of the majority of that congregation, who are admitted to full communion with

ceding, aimed at maintaining the appearance of reformationthe better part of the church" still hoping the four brethren would bethink themselves, and cease from their dividing course,”*—but there was an incongruity and contrariety in their decisions, which showed them to be the effect of any thing but steady and consistent principle. Upon the report of the committee from London, appointed by the late assembly, they resolved, "That the church is by her duty and interest obliged to persist in using her best endeavours from time to

the church, in all her sealing ordinances; and that there be no preference of voices in this matter, upon the account of any worldly consideration.

5to. That in licensing and ordaining men to the holy ministry, all presbyteries be strictly enjoined, not only to inquire into their literature, but also their acquaintance with the power of godliness, and the work of the Spirit upon their own souls; and that they admit none to trials, in order to preaching, but such as are known to be of sound principles, of a good report, of a sober, grave, prudent, and pious behaviour, and who have the other qualifications required in the scriptures, and in the acts of the assemblies of this church, particularly act December 17, and 18, assembly 1688, and act 10, assembly 1694, and many others. And farther, that an act be framed against the present dangerous innovation both in the strain and method of preaching, practised by many ministers and preachers lately entered into this church; and that the contraveners of the said act be condignly censured.

6to. In regard the just grounds and causes of the Lord's controversy with this land, have not been particularly acknowledged for many years past, and the lamentable steps of defection and backsliding, which have lately come to a great height, have not been confessed, to the glory of God, by the commission of the last assembly, in their grounds of fasting; that therefore, in the grounds of a national fast, for which there seem to be as weighty reasons as ever, there be an acknowledgment of the great guilt of this land, in having gone on into such a course of backsliding, contrary to the word of God, and the obligations these lands are under, to promote reformation, by our covenants, national and solemn league; and that they make a full and particular enumeration of the steps of defection that have been made in our day, according to the pattern of reformation in the word, and the example of our ancestors in reforming periods of this church; particularly in the years 1638, 1646, and 1648.

If the above things were done, we might have the comfortable prospect of a pleasant and desirable unity and harmony with our brethren, in concurring with them, according to our weak measure, in all other necessary steps towards a further reformation:"-Reasons by Messrs. Ebenezer Erskine, William Wilson, Alexander Moncrief, and James Fisher, why they have not acceded to the Judicatories of the Established Church, pp. 41-44.

* Willison's Fair and Impartial Testimony.

time to be relieved from the grievance of patronage, until the same shall, by the blessing of God, prove successful," and they gave directions to "the commission to make due application to the king and parliament for redress of the said grievance, in case a favourable opportunity for so doing shall occur." They also set forth "some of the grounds in law, upon which the assembly apprehend that claim is founded, being the laws made for the establishment of this church at the revolution, and solemnly confirmed at the union of the two kingdoms." At the same time they dismissed the complaint of the parishioners of Denny, against the sentence of the commission, appointing the settlement of Mr. James Stirling, as minister of that parish, though the congregation were reclaiming almost to a man. The harshness of the sentence, to be sure, was attempted to be a little taken off, by enjoining the presbytery to deal tenderly with the people of Denny; but they were to be at pains to bring them to submit to the decisions of the church, and to the intruder Mr. Stirling's ministry. They also appointed the presbytery and synod of Dumfries to enrol Mr. James Pursell, who had formerly been intruded upon the parish of Troquire, a member of their respective judicatories, support him in his ministry, and endeavour to bring the people of that parish to submit to it.

After all this, with marvellous inconsistency, on the last day of their meeting, this assembly passed an "act against intrusion of ministers into vacant congregations," in the following words: "The General Assembly considering from act of assembly, August sixth, 1575, Second Book of Discipline, chap. iii. par. 4, 6, and 8, registered in the assembly books, and appointed to be subscribed by all ministers, and ratified by acts of parliament, and likewise the act of assembly, 1638, December seventeenth and eighteenth, and assembly, 1715, act 9th, that it is, and has been, since the reformation, a principle of this church, that no minister shall be intruded into any parish contrary to the will of the congregation, do therefore seriously recommend to all judicatories of this church, to have a due regard to the said principle in planting vacant congregations, and that all presbyteries be at pains to bring about harmony and unanimity in congregations, and to avoid every thing that

may excite or encourage unreasonable exceptions in people, against a worthy person that may be proposed to be their minister, in the present situation and circumstances of the church, so as none be intruded into such parishes, as they regard the glory of God, and edification of the body of Christ."*

The above act was certainly in contradiction to their own practice, and to this day, seems never to have influenced any one assembly in any one of its decisions. This assembly also turned an excellent overture of the late assembly, concerning gospel preaching, into a standing act; yet this same assembly declined to pass any censure upon professor Campbell of St. Andrews, though he had taught privately, and published to the world," that men by their natural powers without revelation, cannot find out the being of a God;" and, with an inconsistency common to depraved hearts and heretical heads, he taught at the same time, "that the law of nature is sufficient to guide rational minds to happiness. That self-love," which he modified into interest or pleasure," is the sole principle and motive of all virtuous and religious actions. That Christ's disciples had no notion of his Divinity before his resurrection, before which, they expected nothing from him but a worldly kingdom, and during the interval between his death and resurrection, that they looked upon him to be an impostor."+ Mr. Campbell, as the reader may readily believe from this specimen, had promulgated many other absurdities, but these were brought directly before the assembly, and, after being heard at great length upon his own positions, the grossness of which was made more apparent by his laboured attempts to force upon them an orthodox meaning, he was dismissed without any censure, further than that the assembly "do recommend to the said professor Campbell, and to all ministers and teachers of divinity whatsoever, within this national church, to be cautious in their preaching, and teaching, or writing, not to use doubtful expressions or propositions which may be constructed in an erroneous sense, or lead the hearers or readers into error, however sound such words or propositions

Printed Acts of Assembly, 1736.

+ Ibid.

may be in themselves, or however well intended, but to hold fast the form of sound words."*

An humble address was presented by this assembly to his majesty, upon the marriage of his royal highness the prince of Wales with the most serene princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha; and an act was passed, enjoining "all the ministers of this church to pray for her royal highness the princess of Wales, as well as for his majesty king George, his royal consort the queen, his royal highness the prince of Wales, the duke, the princesses, and all the royal family; and that her royal highness the princess of Wales be named immediately after the prince."

It is not probable that the seceding brethren ever entertained any very sanguine hopes of being restored to communion with the established church, and if they did, this assembly seems to have put an end to them. So far back as the month of August, 1735, they had appointed a committee of their number to prepare a draught of a testimony, tracing the defections of this church as far back as the year 1650; which draught, after spending many sederunts upon it, with diets of fasting and prayer, they enacted as their first judicial deed under the name of The Judicial Testimony, at their twenty-fourth presbyterial meeting at Perth, the third of December, 1736.

As this work has been for nearly ninety years before the public, and has been acceded to, till of late, by every member of the secession church, which now in many places outnumbers the establishment, any particular account of it here would be superfluous. We may, however, be allowed to remark, that the first seceders were men of much more extensive views than the most of those who have followed them in latter times. For many years they had been struggling, in a way of communion with the established church, against a variety of evils deeply affecting the interests of religion, and the progress of civil society; and had they been allowed, there can be no doubt that they would have continued to struggle in the same way till death had closed their career, without, per

• Acts of Assembly, 1736.