in which divine worship may be celebrated. The size of a parochial church must be proportioned to the number of inhabitants, and the law has fixed that it shall be capable of accommodating two-thirds of the examinable population, that is, two-thirds of the parishioners above twelve years of age. It is for the permanent population, however, that this provision requires to be made; for if a manufactory or a mining establishment should suddenly spring up to occasion, by the influx of workmen, a great increase in the number of inhabitants, the requisite church accommodation must be provided by the erection of a chapel, through means of voluntary practices is entertained, provision is made that the sale of a patronage shall be null and void, if it be made during a vacancy; and probationers are warned, as we have already said, at the time of receiving their license, that the Church will scrutinize with the greatest jealousy, every charge of a pecuniary compact. A patron, in order to present to a vacant parish, must qualify to government, and an extract of his having done so must be laid on the table of the presbytery, along with the presentation. Persons of any evangelical denomination may be patrons, but a Papist cannot. In general, patronage is held as a trust by a superior for the benefit of subscription or private munificence. The the parish in which he possesses a patrimonial interest; and the attachment which resident proprietors natually feel towards the people amongst whom they dwell, together with the influence of public opinion, affords a security for the judicious and careful exercise of the right. This observation is especially applicable to the patronages vested in the crown, which has for many years shown a strong disposition to settle vacant parishes in accordance with the wishes of the people, wherever there appears a general agreement, or unanimity in their choice. parish church is designed for the use of the permanent residents, and the amount of accommodation must be provided for the whole inhabitants, however much dissent may prevail, and even although a part of the population consist of Highlanders, who require a Gaelic chapel for themselves. The duty of building and repairing a parish church devolves upon the heri tors or proprietors; and the rule usually followed in apportioning the amount of assessment on each, in a purely landward parish, is, according to the valued rent of his estate; but in a parish partly The care of vacant churches devolves rural, partly burghal, according to the on the presbytery of the bounds, who send real or actual rent of the properties. The one of their number to officiate in rota- heritors, when convinced of the urgent tion every alternate Sabbath, leave being necessity for repairing an old or buildusually given to the people, when ing a new church, may assess themthey apply for it, to provide, at their selves; but if they fail to discharge their own expense, a preacher for the inter-legal obligation, it is the duty of the mediate days. It is strongly recommended, that members of presbytery, who are appointed to supply vacant parishes, appear in propriâ perscnâ, as there are frequently baptisms or other duties that demand the services of an ordained minister; and especially on those occasions when presbyterial intimations have to be made, no cause but one of strong necessity is admitted to justify the employment of a substi tute. Every parish must have a church presbytery, on the report of competent tradesmen, to ordain the necessary repairs, or an entirely new building; and this decree of the presbytery, sitting in a civil capacity, and issued in due form, has the force of law. It is not the province of the ecclesiastical court to interfere with the proposed site of the church, with the style of its architecture, or with the amount of expenditure. They have to determine only whether it be sufficient for the wants of the population; and even different persuasion, or even of the Established Church, can occupy the pulpit. But the church, being not considered in Scotland as a res sacra, as in other countries where such edifices are formally consecrated, is used sometimes during the week for other purposes than those of worship-for meetings of heritors, of kirk sessions, of law courts, or of freeholders for municipal or parliamentary elections. should it be contemplated to remove the church from one part of the parish to another, to the inconvenience of the minister and some of the people, the right of deciding in such a case belongs not to the presbytery, but to the lords of session, who act as commissioners, and by whom a purpose of removal, if backed by three-fourths of the heritors, and the general voice of the inhabitants, may be sanctioned. The church sittings are distributed according to the The provision made for parish minissame rules which determine the propor- ters by the law of Scotland consists of tion of expense each heritor has to pay a stipend, arising from a tax on land. in the erection or repair of the building. It is raised on the principle of commutThe heritors first of all choose their family ing tithes or teinds into a modified" seats. After the patron, the chief heritor charge,-the fifth of the land produce, has the right of choice, and all the rest according to a method introduced in according to the relative amount of the reign of Charles I., ratified by their valued rents. Then the area of William III., and unalterably estabthe church is divided in conformity with lished by the treaty of union. Το the same rules; different parts are ap- make this intelligible, we may observe, propriated to different heritors, and as that at the Reformation the teinds were the sittings are intended for the accom- appropriated by the crown, with the modation of their respective tenantry, burden of providing for the minister. it is not competent for any proprietor They were in after times often beto lease them, or to bestow them on stowed as gifts on private individuals strangers. Should he sell his estate, totally unconnected with the parish, or portions of his estate, the sittings and who thus came so far in place of in the church are transferable along the crown. These persons received the with the property, either in whole name of titulars, from being entitled to or in part. This division of the area collect from the heritors the unapproof a church is sometimes made by the priated teinds; but they were also kirk-session or by the presbytery; but bound, on demand, to sell to any as disputes may arise, and a single heritor the titularship to his own teinds proprietor has it in his power to dispute at nine years' purchase. From the their arrangement, it is usual to invite collective land-produce of a parish, the the services of the Sheriff, whose judi- court of teinds determines how much is cial distribution carries the force of a to be allotted for the support of the legal enactment. In landward parishes minister. This general decree having the church accommodation is free, but fixed the amount, a common agent, in towns magistrates are entitled to let | appointed by the court, proceeds to the sittings in churches,-only, however, divide it proportionally among the for the purpose of levying rent sufficient landholders, and this division, when to keep the edifice in proper repair, as fully made, is sanctioned by the court. well as defray the necessary expense of It is called a decreet of modification, ordinances. and forms the authority or rule, acThe custody of the church is, for ordi- cording to which alone the minister nary purposes, committed to the minis- collects his stipend. According to ter, as without his consent or permis- this system, which has proved a sion,-subject of course to that of the very happy settlement of a quæstio presbytery, no worship can be cele-vexata, the burden falls not on the brated, and no minister, whether of a farmer or tenant, as in other countries to where tithing exactions are made, but | be made up to £150. This, though on the landholder or titular of the but a poor and inadequate provision teinds, to whom a privilege of relief for men of a liberal profession, was is opened by having them fixed. felt and gratefully received at the time He may value them, that is, to use the as a great boon. But such is the words of Principal Hill, “lead a proof mutability of human society, that these of their present value before the Court stipends which in 1810 formed the of Session, and the valuation, once made minimum, are now greatly superior to by authority of that court, ascertains many which at the same period were the quantity of victual, or the sum of considered, for Scotland, rich benefices; money in the name of teind, pay- but, which being wholly paid in grain, able out of his lands in all time coming." have, through the late agrarian law, The advantage of this system is, that fallen far below that standard.* The it enables proprietors to know exactly incomes of city ministers are paid the extent of the public burdens on wholly in money. Besides the stitheir estate, and the teind appropriated pend, every parish minister has a right to the maintenance of the minister, or to a manse or parsonage-house, garden, to educational and other pious uses, being and offices,-the style as well as the sacred and inviolable, is always taken extent of accommodation being generinto account, and deducted in the pur-ally proportioned to the value of chase or sale of lands. But that would the benefice and the character of not be so advantageous to the minister the neighbourhood. According by fixing his income at one invariable law, the glebe consists of four acres standard, were it not that provision is of arable land, although, in point made for an augmentation of stipend of fact, it generally exceeds that every twenty years in parishes where measure; and, besides, most ministers there are free teinds. This is done by have a grass glebe, sufficient for the the minister instituting a process before support of a horse and two cows. the judges of the Court of Session, who these, by a late decision of the Court act as commissioners for the plantation of Session, are exempt from poor rates of kirks, and valuation of teinds; and and similar public burdens. Ministers in this process the act 1808 requires in royal burghs are entitled to manses, that he shall summon not only the but those in other cities and towns heritors of the parish, but also the have none. moderator and clerk of presbytery as There are 963 parish churches, 42 parties. In the event of the minister parliamentary churches, in all 1005. being able to prove a great advance in In this enumeration, collegiate churches the social and agricultural state of the are reckoned one parish. There are, parish, the judges grant his application, besides, a great many Chapels of Ease allocating some additional chalders; and quoad sacra churches, fourteen of but where the arguments pleaded which have recently been erected appear to them unsatisfactory, they into new parishes, in terms of Sir give a small addition, or refuse alto- James Graham's Act, and seventeen gether. In many parishes, however, additional districts are in the course from the teinds being exhausted, minis- of erection. "In only five parishes is ters had no prospect of augmentation the minister chosen by the people; in in the ordinary way; but redress was 581 he is selected by individual nobleafforded through the liberality of Mr. Percival's government in 1810, which used their influence in procuring an act of parliament to be passed, according to which all stipends in the Establishment should, out of the exchequer, All men or gentry, in 289 by the crown, over and above for communion elements. THE FREE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. BY REV. WILLIAM WILSON, DUNDEE. THE Free Church of Scotland was or civil rule, as distinct from "the power organized as a distinct religious com- of the keys," or spiritual authority, munity in May, 1843. The General expressly denied to him, to take order Assembly of the National Church was for the preservation of purity, peace, appointed to be held in Edinburgh on and unity in the Church, yet "The the 18th day of May in that year. Lord Jesus, as King and Head of His When its members had all assembled in Church, hath therein appointed a gothe ordinary place of meeting, and her vernment in the hand of church officers, Majesty's Commissioner, accompanied distinct from the civil magistrate" by the principal officers of State in (ch. xxx. sec. 1); which government Scotland, had taken his place, the Mo-is ministerial, not lordly, and to be exderator of Assembly, instead of consti- ercised in consonance with the laws of tuting the meeting in the usual form, Christ, and with the liberties of his rose and read the following protest, people: which had been previously prepared : WHEREAS it is an essential doctrine of this Church, and a fundamental principle in its constitution, as set forth in the Confession of Faith thereof, in accordance with the Word and law of the most Holy God, that "there is no other Head of the Church but the Lord Jesus Christ" (ch. xxv. sec. 6); and that, while God, the supreme Lord and King of all the world, hath ordained civil magistrates to be under him over the people, for his own glory, and the public good, and to this end hath armed them with the power of the sword (ch. xxiii. sec. 1); and while "it is the duty of people to pray for magistrates, to honour their persons, to pay them tribute and other dues, to obey their lawful commands, and to be subject to their authority for conscience' sake," “from which ecclesiastical persons are not exempted" (ch. xxiii. sec. 4); and while the magistrate hath authority, and it is his duty, in the exercise of that power which alone is committed to him, namely, "the power of the sword," AND WHEREAS, according to the said Confession, and to the other standards of the Church, and agreeably to the Word of God, this government of the Church, thus appointed by the Lord Jesus, in the hand of church officers, distinct from the civil magistrate or supreme power of the State, and flowing directly from the Head of the Church to the office-bearers thereof, to the exclusion of the civil magistrate, comprehends, as the objects of it, the preaching of the Word, administration of the Sacraments, correction of manners, the admission of the office-bearers of the Church to their offices, their suspension and deprivation therefrom, the infliction and removal of Church censures, and, generally, the whole "power of the keys," which, by the said Confession, is declared, in conformity with Scripture, to have been committed" (ch. xxx. sec. 2) to church officers, and which, as well as the preaching of the Word and the administration of the Sacraments, it is likewise thereby declared, that "the civil magis trate may not assume to himself" (ch. | if the presentee of a patron should be xxiii. sec. 3): AND WHEREAS this jurisdiction and government, since it regards only spiritual condition, rights, and privileges, doth not interfere with the jurisdiction of secular tribunals, whose determinations as to all temporalities conferred by the State upon the Church, and as to all civil consequences attached by law to the decisions of Church Courts in matters spiritual, this Church hath ever admitted, and doth admit, to be exclusive and ultimate, as she hath ever given and inculcated implicit obedience thereto : refused to be admitted by the inferior ecclesiastical authorities, it should be lawful for the patron to appeal to the General Assembly of the whole realm, by whom the cause being decided, shall take end as they decern and declare.' "Third, By an Act passed in the same first Parliament, and renewed in the sixth Parliament of the said King James VI., entituled, 'Anent the jurisdiction of the Kirk' (1567, c. 12, fol. edit.), the said Kirk is declared to have jurisdiction in the preaching of the true Word of Jesus Christ, correction of manners, and administration of the holy AND WHEREAS the above-mentioned sacraments' (1579, c. 69); and it is essential doctrine and fundamental farther declared, that there be no other principle in the constitution of the jurisdiction ecclesiastical acknowledged Church, and the government and ex-within this realm, other than that which clusive jurisdiction flowing therefrom, is and shall be within the same Kirk, founded on God's Word, and set forth or that flows therefrom, concerning in the Confession of Faith and other the premises;' which Act, and that last standards of this Church, have been, before-mentioned, were ratified and apby diverse and repeated Acts of Parlia- proven by another Act passed in the year ment, recognized, ratified, and con- 1581, entituled, 'Ratification of the libfirmed;-inasmuch aserty of the true Kirk of God and religion, First, The said Confession itself, with confirmation of the laws and Acts containing the doctrine and principles made to that effect before' (1581, c. 99); above set forth, was 'ratified and which other Act, and all the separate established, and voted and approven as Acts therein recited, were again revived, the public and avowed Confession of ratified, and confirmed by an Act of the this Church,' by the fifth Act of the twelfth Parliament of the said King second session of the first Parliament of James VI., entituled, 'Ratification of King William and Queen Mary, entitu- the liberty of the true Kirk,' &c. (1592, led, 'Act ratifying the Confession of c. 116); which said Act (having been Faith, and Settling Presbyterian Church-repealed in 1662) was revived, renewed, Government' (1690, c. 5); to which and confirmed by the before-mentioned Act the said Confession is annexed, and statute of King William and Queen with it incorporated in the statute law Mary (1690, c. 5). of this kingdom. 66 เ "Second, By an Act passed in the first Parliament of King James VI., entituled, "Of admission of ministers of laic patronages' (1567, c. 7), it is enacted and declared, That the examination and admission of ministers within this realm be only in the power of the Kirk, now openly and publicly professed within the same;' and, while the 'presentation of laic patronages' was thereby reserved to the just and ancient patrons,' it was provided, that, 66 Fourth, The said Act of the twelfth Parliament of King James VI., ratified and approved the General Assemblies, Provincial Synods, Presbyteries, and Kirk Sessions appointed by the Kirk' (1592, c. 116), and 'the whole jurisdiction and discipline of the same Kirk;' cassed and annulled 'all and whatsoever acts, laws, and statutes, made at any time before the day and date thereof, against the liberty of the true Kirk, jurisdiction, and discipline thereof, as the same is used and exercised within this realm;' |