Collision between the Church and Civil Courts. 61

independence than a hundred pamphleteers. While the one party strove, in abusive leading articles, and even with the aid of the caricaturist, to turn the whole cause of non-intrusion into ridicule, the other, to whose racy wit they were often indebted for all the point of their invectives, hurled against their opponents the massier weapons of history, logic, and theology.

But the formidable thing for the Church was the collision with the Civil Courts. Not only did the Court of Session attempt to set aside the enactment by which the Church had provided against the intrusion of ministers, but step by step it proceeded to assail the whole jurisdiction of the Church, annulling spiritual sentences, breaking up Ecclesiastical Courts, interdicting the preaching of the Gospel and the administration of ordinances; and, in every way, invading the ecclesiastical province, till scarcely a shred of spiritual independence was left to the National Church of Scotland. It was a singular spectacle to see a Church fostered and endowed by the State, her Confession of Faith engrossed among the laws of the land, constituted on the basis of Christ's sole headship over His own house, and striving to give effect—and nothing more than fair, legitimate effect-to this great principle, and, in doing so, checked and thwarted by a civil court, denounced as rebellious because she would not regulate her ecclesiastical procedure by the judgments of a tribunal erected to determine "actions civil," and because she would not allow her constitutional and scriptural rights, and the constitutional rights of her people, to be trampled upon and torn from her by erring interpreters of the civil statutes of the realm,-appealing to the supreme civil court to recal the subordinate aggressor to its proper place and duty, and, failing this, appealing to the Legislature to deliver the Church from these assaults, and intimating, in plain language, that if this were not done, she would be compelled to separate from the State; and all the while, amid obloquy and threats and harsh compulsitors, enduring all, braving all, risking all, pursuing the even tenor of her way, doing the right thing and refusing at all hazards to do the wrong; till at length, after many weary years of strife and struggle, the Parliament, by rejecting her Claim of Right, announced that the conditions on which the Church was henceforth to be established and endowed were such as would subject her to foreign control, and prevent her from giving effect to her conscientious convictions of duty. When the resolution of the civil magistrate was thus authoritatively declared, no room was left for hesitation or delay.

The Claim of Right was rejected by the House of Commons on the 8th of March, 1843, after a discreditable and melan

choly debate, in which the demands of the Church were grossly misrepresented by the Government, and the arguments urged in support of them quietly evaded. The Premier, Sir Robert Peel, avowedly dealt with a subject so distinctively and emphatically Scottish as the constitution of the Church of Scotland upon "the principles of English jurisprudence;" and the Home Secretary, Sir James Graham, exhibited that bitter animosity which had so strangely characterized his proceedings throughout the whole struggle. These men were followed into the lobby by a large majority of the members, of whom it is only the simple truth to affirm that very few of them even pretended to understand the subject, or had even tried to understand it. It was significant, however, and it should not be forgotten, that two-thirds of the Scotch members voted in favour of the Church's claims. It was often said afterwards, and we believe with truth, that Sir Robert Peel saw and acknowledged his error when it was too late to remedy it; and Sir James Graham lived to avow in public that he looked back upon the part which he had acted in the series of events which led to the Disruption, "he would not say with remorse, but he would say with misgiving;" and to declare in private, "My connexion with the Disruption of your Scottish Church I have never ceased to deplore." Following in the wake of such guides as these men, misled by false representations, infatuated, confessedly wrong, the majority of the House of Commons rejected the rightful claims of the Church of Scotland; and it was announced that the terms on which alone the State would henceforth recognize and support an ecclesiastical establishment were such as to preclude the possibility of maintaining within it the principles for which the Church had been contending. Would the Church accept, or continue to hold, an endowment on these terms? To do so would be to stultify all her professions, and to betray at once the rights of the Christian people, the liberty and independence of the Church's commissioned office-bearers, and the high prerogatives of the Church's Head. But her ministers would thus secure the advantage of State support, and escape the sufferings and hardships which they must otherwise incur. Would they, then, as worldly politicians expected and predicted, shrink from such a sacrifice and succumb to such a pressure? Would the men who had often declared that they would rather suffer than sin, consent, after all, to sin rather than suffer to retain their comfortable livings and abandon their unprofitable principles? Was the Church now, in her hour of trial, to afford to the world the noble spectacle of high profession embodied in holy practice, of principle main

Preparations for the Coming Crisis.

63

tained at all hazards and at every cost? Or, was she to become the laughing-stock of the profligate and profane, to give point to the infidel's sneer, to grieve true disciples, to cause not a few to stumble, and to endamage the interests of true religion for many generations? Such was the question which had now to be answered, not in words, but by deeds; and promptly and decidedly was that answer given. The Claim of Right was rejected in March; the General Assembly was to meet in May, and it would then be seen what the Church would do.

Meanwhile, there was neither indecision as to the path of duty nor doubt as to the issue. Here and there, indeed, there might still be found some sanguine individuals who contrived to believe that even at the last hour the Government would interpose with a legislative measure, and prevent the impending catastrophe; but their amiable credulity did not materially impede the active preparations which were everywhere made for meeting the shock; and the crash was looked forward to and awaited, not in mute apathy and dismay, as men await the advent of a deadly pestilence which no effort can avert and no prudence elude, but as the thorough seaman prepares for the coming storm, not blind to the danger, but resolutely and alertly setting himself to encounter it, trimming sails, strengthening stays, and doing everything that stout hearts and strong hands can effect for preserving the good ship and bringing her safe through her hour of peril. The loud, earnest, cheery voice of Chalmers pealed, like the blast of a clarion, over the land, calling upon all good men and true to bestir themselves in making provision for the maintenance of Gospel ordinances throughout Scotland in connexion with the dis-established Church. Associations rapidly arose in town and country at his bidding; an extensive but simple machinery was set up and brought into easy and vigorous operation, and Chalmers looked smilingly on, or, in ringing tones of direction, and reproof, and encouragement, he rebuked the fears of the timid, pushed on the slow and the sluggish, and showed to all men how easy it was, by the blessing of God upon willing and wide-spread effort, to accomplish what would have been regarded a few months before as an impossibility. And thus, while many were holding their breath for fear, or looked upon all this stir and activity as a feint to frighten the Government withal, and as mere fanatical folly and delusion, this great leader and his coadjutors devoted all their energies to the work, and calmly faced the shock which was to rend the Church in pieces.

After a few weeks of this vigorous preparation, the eventful

day dawned. From an early hour of that bright summer morning, the doors of St. Andrew's Church, where the Assembly were to meet, were besieged by an eager but serious crowd, and from an equally early hour meetings for prayerno one except the Hearer of Prayer knows how many-were held to invoke the Divine blessing upon the great deed which that day was to witness, and upon those who were to be its principal actors. The morning hours wore on; there was the usual military array in the streets, the glittering armour, the prancing steeds; there was the usual splendid procession of the Royal Commissioner; there was the usual holiday crowd: but it was manifest that the profound interest which many a thoughtful face evinced that day had little connexion with any of these. A spectacle beyond comparison more thrilling and impressive was approaching. Public worship was conducted in the High Church by the Moderator, Dr. Welsh, a man worthy of the place which he occupied on that memorable day-and more could not be said for any man; the members of the Assembly proceeded to their usual place of meeting, where the body of the edifice had been reserved for them, the galleries and every other available space having been crammed to suffocation hours before. The Moderator took his seat, walking with deliberate yet firm step to the chair, looking anxious and pale, yet calm and determined-giving you the impression of one who felt that he had an appalling task to perform, but also of one who was resolved, through grace, to do it faithfully, and of one who, through grace, was the very man to do it well. The Lord Commissioner-the Marquis of Bute-had taken his seat on the throne; ladies and distinguished official personages crowded the throne gallery; every corner of the building was packed to the uttermost; the Moderates in close array on the right of the chair, looking in general comfortable and complacent, yet expectant, and a few of them appearing to be awed and disturbed; the Evangelicals on the left, grave, resolute, and unfaltering. The Assembly having engaged in devotional exercises, the Moderator explained that, instead of directing the roll to be called in the ordinary manner, he had now to read a paper which he held in his hand. Every eye was fixed upon him, every ear was strained to catch his words, "Hush! hush!" was uttered by hundreds of voices, and as he proceeded, strong-lunged men on the back benches of the Moderate side cried, "Speak out! speak out!" which they continued loudly to repeat for a few seconds longer, till Dr. Welsh gave utterance, with peculiar emphasis, to the word "Protest," and that word, so pronounced by him as to circulate round the walls, and some

The Scene of the Disruption.

65

how to search into every corner and cranny of the denselycrowded church, seemed effectually to silence all interruption. The reading of the now famous document proceeded, and at the close the Moderator laid it upon the table of the Assembly, bowed to the Royal Commissioner, stepped from the chair and moved towards the door. He was closely followed by the whole Evangelical party. Bench after bench was emptied; the passages were filled with earnest men all facing outward; a ringing cheer burst from the gallery-suppressed, however, in a moment, and stilled into silence or into tears by the solemnity of the scene; the Moderates-strange to say, incredulous to the last in regard to the decisive step which their brethren were to take, and still more in regard to the numbers that were prepared to take it-less complacent and thoroughly bewildered now, gazed with astonishment and dismay upon the appalling void which every instant yawned wider and wider before their eyes; the Queen's Commissioner started from his seat and hurried into his retiringroom, and the high officials around him looked aghast at the catastrophe which some of them had helped to precipitate.* Outside, the wide street rang with acclamations; a long procession was formed; and hedged in by a living wall, on the right hand and on the left, did that honoured host move on, with many an earnest prayer breathed for them, many a warm "God bless you!" uttered, many a tearful eye beaming upon them, many fervent thanksgivings for the grace given to them; the rich, the poor, the old, the youngvenerable patriarchs, standing hat in hand, their long white hair waving in the breeze-children, summoned from their play to behold what having once seen they would never forget all gazing with awe upon a grand moral spectacle such as Scotland had not witnessed for centuries, and which few other countries have ever been privileged to behold. Then there was the marvellous assemblage at Canonmills, the

Reluctantly do we pass over the numerous interesting incidents connected with this exodus which crowd upon our memory. One of these is so associated with the scene that we cannot refrain from mentioning it. There is before our mind's eye, as seen on the evening preceding the Disruption, the truly venerable figure of Dr. Somerville, of Drummelzier, sitting in the porch of St. Luke's Church, waiting to sign the Protest. He was so infirm that next day he had to be conveyed to the church; but, to the surprise of his friends, he appeared in the street along with the rest of his brethren. Being asked how he had managed to get out, he said, cheerily, “Oh, I just came out with the rough of them." It was in reference to this worthy minister that the late Dr. M'Crie wrote to his friend Dr. Andrew Thomson: "Tell him that if all the General Assembly were like-minded with him, I would willingly become their door-keeper; and that if I could be assured there were fifty as true, staunch, thorough, out-and-out Calvinists and Presbyterians in the Auld Kirk, as I think him to be, I would not be much afraid to enter its walls tomorrow.-Life of Dr. M'Crie, p. 217.

VOL. XIV.— -NO. LI.

F