The Sun.
London, England, 1840-08-20 00:00:00

THE PRESBYTERY.

The next Court, in the scale referred to, is the Pres-
bytery, composed of all the parish Ministers within it 3
bounds, as laid down by what is called the Platform of
the Church, alongst with a lay Elder out of every Kirk
Session, which may choose to commission one of their
number to sit as a constitutional member, both of the
Presbytery and Synod ; but this commission must be
renewed previously to every meeting of the latter of
these Courts. In regard to the regularity of such
commissions, the Church have always been punctilious,
restricting the right to vote to constituent members
only, in so much, that in the case of an assistant and
successor to a clergyman, he can have no voice in any
matter coming before a Presbytery, when his principal
is present ; which is rendered the more necessary, as
matters not unfrequently come before Presbyteries,
which involve the civil interests of third parties, such as
decrees for the renewal or repair of Churches, Manses,
and Offices, and excambion of Glebes, &c. J The busi-
ness of this Court is extensive and multifarious. Be.
sides the cognizance of grosser delinquencies, which,
by the form of process, must be brought before them
from Kirk Sessions, applications for advice, &c.—
upon them is devolved all examinations of stu-
dents in theology—trials for licences to preach the
Gospel, and conferring such licenses—the examination
and collation of presentees to vacant parishes--revising
and attesting Session records—also all the business aris-
ing out of the temporalities of parishes already referred
to, in so far as these have been entrusted to the Church
by its compact with the State. Another important
branch of the duty of this Court is the annual exami-
nation, by committees of their members, of all the
parish schools within their bounds, in order to making
up an accurate report of their state, to be laid
before the Education Committee of the General As-
sembly. This Presbyterial visitation has a salutary ef-
fect in stimulating to exertion both teachers and scholars.
Of this Court all the constituent members aro members
of Synod, and by the constitution they elect a certain
number of their body to sit and vote in the General As-
sembly of the Church. These elections must be made
within sixty and without forty days of the meeting of
the Assembly, which is fixed to the third Thursday of
May in each year ; and the number of representatives
from each Presbytery, both Clergymen and Elders, de-
pends upon the number of its constituent members.

THE SYNOD.
The next Ecclesiastical Court to the Presby-
tery, in the ascending scale, is the Provincial
Synod. By our platform or scheme of Church polity,
the whole of Scotland is divided into parishes, each with
its Minister and Kirk Session ; and then, again, into
Presbyteries, embracing a certain number of parishes,
more or fewer, according to the circumstances of popu-
lation and locality ; and, finally, into Provinces, whose
boundaries are also fixed with an eye to the accommo-
dation of the Presbyteries included within the bounds of
each province, in which a Synod is appointed to be held
at stated times once every year, and in most instances
twice.

The constituent raembers of this Court are, first, all
the Parochial Clergy within the province, including
Professors of Divinity, if Clergymen, located within its
bounds ; secondly, a lay Elder from every Kirk Session,
the regularity of whose commission is ascertained ; and,
thirdly, Correspondents from the two Synods on either
side of it. This Commission of correspondence consists
of one or two Clergymen and a lay Elder, who delibe-
rate and vote in all matters coming before the Synod ;
which is a most beautiful arrangement, connecting,
as by a chain passing through the Provincial Synods,
the who Ecclesiastical Establishment of Scotland,
and is of g-reat importance, as by the report of the
Correspondenii.q, which is regularly called for, infor-
mation is obtained of the views and measures which oc-
cupy the attention pf each Synod, and brotherly and
friendly intercourse maiOtained throughout the Church.
The Synod is a Court o! Review of the proceedings
of all the Presbyteries of whit..lll it is composed. All
Presbytery Records must be b:ought up, at stated
times, to the Synod, who appoint vb:iters to examine
them, and to report upon the regularit; of their pro-
ceedings, and that nothing has been done .
contrary to
the laws and usages of the Church ; and all the Mo-
derators of Presbyteries- may be examined by the
Synod on the same subject, previously to the close Pf
the Synod, at a diet denominated for privy censures
always held with shut doors.
This Court is also a Court of appeal in all causes
eriginating in the inferior Judicatures, with the excep•
tion of such as have zeference to Churches, Manses, &c.
On these the Synod usually gives forth a sentence,
which, if not acquiesced in by both parties, is carried by
appeal to the General Assembly, to which doubtful
cases not unfrequently go up by reference. The Synod,
too, is frequently called upon to judge of cases re-
ferred to them for advice by Presbyteries, and to decide
upon complaints against the proceedings of, Presbytery,
protested against by members of that Court. The
Synod, too, is often much occupied by Overtures, made
to themselves, in the exercise of their own jurisdiction,
or through them to the General Assembly, for the alto-
ration or enforcement of any existing law, or for a new
one to be submitted to the Church for its approval.

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY.
The highest of our Ecclesiastical Courts is the
General Assembly, which meets at Edinburgh the
third Thursday of May, in each year, and is com-
posed, first, of a certain number of Parish Ministers
and lay Elders, commissioned by each Presbytery in
Scotland, their number being regulated by the number of
constituent members in each Presbytery, and being
about the proportion of two clergymen to each Elder :
Second,—of a representative of each of the Univer-
sities, always one of their own number : Third—a lay
Elder from every Royal Burgh in Scotland : and
Fourth,—of a Minister and Elder of the Church in
India. This Assembly is honoured with the presence of
a nobleman commissioned by the Crown, as the repre-
sentative of Majesty. This person is present at every
diet of the Court, not to overawe the freedom of debate,
but to maintain by his presence the connection between
Church and State, and no doubt to see that nothing is
said or done disrespectful to the Legislative or ex-
ecutive authorities of the country, under whose protec-
tion the Court sits, and to whom the Church is indebted

such as the inconvenience of the protracted absence o
Ministers from their parishes, ruling Elders from their
own proper business, and the detention of his Grace the
Commissioner, the Assembly only sits twelve days ;
and as, in that limited space of time, all the business is
seldom transacted, a Court, called the Commission of
Assembly, :meets immediately after the rising of the As-
sembly, and at three other stated times in the course of
the year, for the purposes specified in the Commission
under which it sits ; chiefly, deciding such causes of
minor importance as the Assembly had not been able to
discuss. In this Court all the members of the General
Assembly may sit and vote, along with one other per-
son named by the Moderator of that Court. But it is
not a Court, as I have already observed, sanctioned by
the Statute law of the country, by which the Church
of Scotland has been established. Difficult or important
causes brought before it had wont, with becoming dilfi•
dente, to be referred to the next General Assembly ;
and, never, at any former period, did it take upon itself
a measure so bold, harsh, and uncalled for, as the sus-
pension of the seven members of the Presbytery of
Strathbogie, and that too, for obedience to the Statute
law of the country, as expounded by its highest tri-
bunals.

• In the working of the Veto Law, nothing has appeared
to me more revolting, than the situation in which it places
a clergyman, entering upon the arduous duties of ills mi-
nistry, in a divided parish. A larger or smaller minority
of the flock to which he has been appointed overseer, have
declared against him, protesting that they cannot be edi-
fied by his ministration What a temptation is here held
out to courting, by,unbecoming arts and compliances, the
good will of his opponents !
t A great clamour was raised against the Court of Ses-
sion, for having interdicted certain clergymen, who acted
as agitators in the case of the seven illegally suspended
ministers of Strathbogie, from preaching in their parishes,
or interfering with them in the performance of their mi-
nisterial duties. Those who raised this clamour knew, or
should have known, that those agitators were acting in
violation of the law of the Church, as well as that of the
State. Whilst the utmost extent of toleration is granted
to all dissentients from the Church of Scotland, her own
parochial clergy are restricted, in the performance of their
ministerial functions, to that portion of the flock of Christ,
over which they have been placed as pastors.
These salutary provisions have been sadly violated of
late years, by the admission, as members of Presbytery, of
all the ministers of what is called quoad sacra parishes,
and also seceders who join the Establishment. To these,
districts have been assigned as parishes, and they take their
seats in the Presbytery, accompanied by their respective
Elders, whereby the constitution of the Court is totally
canged, and the status and influence of the ministers of
the old parishes greatly impaired. I may also mention
that a corresponding effect has been produced in the con-
stitution of the General Assembly, by the additional mem-
bers of Presbytery above-mentioned.