"Our objections," they say, " to the Established Church of Scotland are not contined to the adnnnistratioii : we cannot uuieservedly approve of her constitution as it was establislied in the fievululion. Though our fathers were in communion with that Church, yet they, together with many faithful men who died before the set'ession, and some who continued in the Establishment after that event, were all along dissatisfied with several things in the f^ettlement of leligiou at the Revolution, and in the ratification of it at the union hetween Scotland and Eng- land. The first Seceders, in their 'Judicial Testimony and Declaratimi of Principles,' specified several impor- tant points, with respect to which that settlement involved a sinful departure from the previous settlement of relig- ion in Scotland (that, namely, hetween 163S and 1G5U), which they distinctly lield forth as exhibiting the model, in point of scriptural purity and order, of that reformed constitution to which they sought by their contending to bring back the Church of their native hind. This synod occupy the same ground with the first seceders. They are aware that the Established Church of Scotland has it not in her power to correct all the evils of the Revolu- tion settlement which they feel themselves bound to point out; i)ut they cannot warrantably quit their position of secession until the Established Chuich shows a disposi- tion to return to that former constitution by using means to correct what is inconsistent with her, in the use of those powers which belong to her as an ecclesiastical and inde- pendent society under Christ, her Head, and by due ap- plication to the state for having those laws lescinded or altered which affect her purity and abridge her freedom. It will be found, on a careful and candid examination, that a great part of the evils, in ))oint of administration, which are chargeable on the Church of Scotland may be traced, directly or indirectly, to the defects and errors cleaving to her establishment at the Revolution ; and as it is her dnty, so it will be her safety seriously to consider these, and, "following the direction of Sciipiurc and the example of our refoiming ancestors, to confess them be- fore God, and seek for their removal."
The evils to which the document here refers were chiefly a want of a formal recognition of the national cove- nants, of the divine right of presbytery, and of the spir- itual independence of the Church.
The year in which the " Vindication" appeared form- ed an important rera in the history of the Established Church of Scotland, since from that date commenced that line of policy in the General Assembly which re- sulted at length in the disruption in 1843. It was not to be expected that the Orir/inal Secaders, feeling, as they did, a lively interest in every movement of the National Church, could look with indifference on the crisis of her history upon which she was entering. In the following year, accordingly, a pamphlet was drawn up, remarkable as being the last production which issued from the pen of the venerable Dr. INPCrie, en- titled " Reasons of a Fast," appointed by the Associate Synod of Original Seceders, and containing several re- markable allusions to the pecidiar circumstances of the Church of Scotland. Nor were such allusions inappro- priate or unreasonable. From that period the struggles of the Established Church to maintain spiritual inde- pendence, and to protect the rights of Christian people against the intrusion of unacceptable ministers, became the all-engrossing subject of attention in Scotland. The views of the Original Seceders were in harmony with
the majority of the General Assembly; and the im- portant proceedings from year to year of that vener- able court were watched with deep and ever-increasing anxiety. At length, in 1842, a change took place in the position of tlie Original Seceders, a union having been formed between that body and the Associate .Syn- od, commonly called the Synod of Original Burghers, which gave rise to a new denomination, entitled the Synod of United Original Seceders (see next article).
Original Seceders (2) (Synod of United) is that bod}' of Scotch Presbyterians organized in 1842, as was seen in preceding article, by union of the Synod of Original Burghers with the Synod of Original Se- ceders. Previous to the final act for this union it had been agreed that the Testimony adopted by the Sj-nod of Original Seceders in 1827, with the insertion in it of several alterations rendered necessary by the union, should be taken as the Testimony of the United Synod, One important alteration agreed to by the Synod of Original Seceders was that the question in the formula regarding the burgess -oath should be dropped. To understand the position which the United body of Original Seceders occupied after the nnion, it must be borne in mind that the Testimony of 1827, which was drawn up in its historical part by Dr. M'Crie, was es- sentially Antiburgher in its whole nature and bearings. This element was dropped in the Testimony of 1842, and thus the character of the Testimony underwent an important change. On tliis the united body gave the following explanation in the historical part of the Tes- timony of 1842 : " The Synod of Original Seceders, in their Testimony, pulilished in 1827, after stating their reasons for not continuing to approve of the decision condemning the swearing of the oath by seceders, sug- gest it as their opinion that an agreement might be made of the subject of difference which would be at once agreeable to truth and not hurtful to the con- science of any." This suggestion was readily and cor- dially met b}' the Synod of Original Burghers, and joint measures were in consequence adopted, with the view of ascertaining the practicability of such an ar- rangement. In concluding the negotiation, both par- ties proceeded on the principle that, dcsiraljle as union is, if the reality of the thing is sought, and not the ap- pearance merely, this would be secured more effectual- ly, and with more safety to truth, by candid explanations on the points of question, than by studiouslj' avoiding the agitation of them — a plan which, while it makes greater pretensions to charity and peace, lays a ground for sub- sequent irritation and dissension. "In the course of explanation, it was found that the only difference of opinion between the two bodies related to the exact meaning and necessary application of certain terms of the oath, which, as the question originally came before the session courts as a question of practice, did not ap- pear to be an insuperable obstacle to a spiritual adjust- ment of the dispute. After repeated conferences, it was satisfactorih^ ascertained that the members of both syn- ods were agreed on all points with the judicial Testi- mony of the first Seceders, particularly in its approval of the profession of religion made in this coinitry, and authorized by the laws between 1G38 and 1G50, on the one hand, and its disapproval of the defects in the set- tlement of religion made at the Revolution on the other. Encouraged by this harmony of settlement as to the great cause of reformation, so much forgotten and so keenly opposed from various quarters in the present time, and feeling deeply the soleinn obligations under which they in common lie to support and ad- vance that cause; and the burgess-oath, the original ground of separation, being now, in the providence of God, abolished, and both parties having now for vari- ous reasons seen it to be their duty to refrain from swearing that oath, shall it be re-enacted ? the two syn- ods agreed to unite upon the following explanatory declarations and resolutions, calculating, in tliiir judg- ment, to remove the bars in the way of harmonious fel-