"All which jurisdiction and power on the part of the said civil courts severally above specified, whatever pro- ceeding may have given occasion to its exercise, is, in our opinion, in itself inconsistent with Christian liberty, and with the authority which the Head of the Church hath conferred on the Church alone."
The document goes on to protest that in the circum- stances in which the (.'hnrch was thereby placed, "a free Assembly of the < Ihurch of Scotland, by law established, cannot at this time he holden, and that an Assembly in accordance with the fundamental principles of the Church cannot be constituted in connection with the State without violating the conditions which must now, since the rejection by the Legislature of the Church's Claim of Right, he held to be the conditions of the Es- tablishment.'' At the close of this solemn protest, the subscribers claim to themselves the liberty of abandoning their connection with the State, while retaining all the privileges and exercising till the functions of a section of Christ's visible Church. ••And. finally," they declare, "while firmly asserting the right ami duty ot the civil magistrate to maintain and support an establishment of religion in accordance w ith God's Word, ami n sen ing to ourselves and our successors to strive by all lawful means, as opportunity shall in God's good providence be offered, to secure the performance of ibis duly agree- ably to the Scriptures, and in implement of the Statutes of the kingdom of Scotland and the obligations of lb, • Treaty of Union as understood by us ami our ancestors, imi acknowledging that we do not hold ourselves at liberty to retain the benefits of the Establishment while we cannot comply with the conditions now to be deemed thereto attached — we protest that, in the circumstan- ces in which we are placed, it is. and shall be. lawful for us, and Buch other commissioners chosen to thi blv appointed to have been this day holden a- may con- cur with us, to withdraw to a separate place of meet ing. for the purpose of taking steps for ourselves and all who ad- here to ua — maintaining with us the Confession of Faith.
and standards of the Church of Scotland as heretofore understood— for separating in an orderly way from the
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES 523 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES
Establishment, and thereupon adopting such measures as may be competent to us, in humble dependence on God's grace and the aid of the Holy Spirit, for the ad- vancement of his glory, the extension of the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour, and the administration of the af- fairs of Christ's house, according to his holy Word ; and we do now, for the purpose foresaid, withdraw accord- ingly, humbly and solemnly acknowledging the hand of the Lord in the things which have come upon us, because of our manifold sins, and the sins of this Church and nation; but, at the same time, with an assured con- viction that we are not responsible for any consequences that may follow from this our enforced separation from an Establishment which we loved and prized, through in- terference with conscience, the dishonor done to Christ's crown, and the rejection of his sole and supreme au- thority as King in his Church." This document, em- bodying the protest against the wrongs inflicted on the Church of Scotland by the civil power, was signed by no fewer than 203 members of Assembly. When the moderator had finished the reading of the protest, he retired, followed by a large majority of the clerical and lay members of the court; and the procession, joined by a large body of ministers, elders, and others who adhered to their principles, moved in solemn si- lence to Tanfield Hall, a large building situated at the northern extremity of the city, in the valley formed by the Water of Leith. Here was constituted the Free Church of Scotland, which, while renouncing the ben- efits of an Establishment, continues to adhere to the standards and to maintain the doctrine, discipline, wor- ship, and government of the Church of Scotland. Dr. Chalmers was chosen as their first moderator, and the ordinary business was proceeded with according to the usual forms. On Tuesday, the 23d of May, the minis- ters and professors, to the number of 474, solemnly sub- scribed the Deed of Demission, formally renouncing all claim to the benefices which they had held in connec- tion with the Establishment, declaring them to be va- cant, and consenting to their being dealt with as such. Thus, by a regular legal instrument, the ministers com- pleted their separation from the Establishment; and the Free Church of Scotland assumed the position of a distinct ecclesiastical denomination, holding the same doctrines, maintaining the same ecclesiastical frame- work, and observing the same forms of worship as had been received and observed in the National Church. In fact, they had abandoned nothing but the endowments of the State, and even these they had abandoned, not from an}' change in their views as to the lawfulness of a Church Establishment, but solely because in their view the State had altered the terms on which the compact between the Church and the State had been originally formed.
The Free Church, strong in the conviction that her distinctive principles were sound and scriptural, en- tered upon her arduous work with an humble but con- fiding trust in her great and glorious Head. In the course of her history she has become united with two other bodies. In 1852 the majority of the Orig- inal Seceders, with whom the name of Dr. Thomas M'Crie, father and son, was so honorably connected, joined the Free Church ; and in 1876 a union was formed with the Reformed Presbyterian Church, con- sisting of thirty-six ministers and thirty-six congre- gations. The General Assembly of the Free Church consists of 730 members, half being ministers and half ruling elders, and all appointed by the presbyteries. Each Presbytery returns one third of its ministers, and an equal number of ruling elders. The temporal affairs of each congregation are managed by a body called " The Deacons' Court." This court is composed of the minister, the ruling elders, and a body of deacons cho- sen, like the elders, by the members of the congrega- tion. The spiritual interests of each congregation are attended to by the kirk-session, consisting only of the minister and elders.