2. Presentation of the Patron. In the year 1565, an Assembly of the church, which prepared matters for the establishment of presbyterian government in Scotland, expressed most accurately, in a message to Queen Mary, their opinion concerning the proper method of settling vacant parishes. "Our mind is not, that her Majesty, or any other patron, should be defrauded of their just patronages; but we mean, whensoever her Majesty, or any other patron, do present any person unto a benefice, that the person presented should be tried and examined by the judgment of learned men of the church, such as are the present superintendents: and as the presentation unto the benefice appertains unto the patron, so the collation, by law and reason, belongs unto the church; and the church should not be defrauded of the collation, no more than the patrons of their presentation; for otherwise, if it be lawful to the patrons to present whom they please, without trial or examination, what can abide in the church of God but mere ignorance ?" When presbyterian government was established, the spirit of this message was followed out in the acts of the parliament of Scotland, 1567, and 1592,† by which "the presentation of laick patronages is reserved to the just and ancient patrons; and presbyteries are bound and astricted to receive and admit whatsomever qualified minister presented by his Majesty or laick patrons." When presbyterian government was revived at the Revolution, an act of the Scots parliament 1690, c. 23. constituted the heritors and kirk-session of every parish, patrons : but that act was repealed by an act of the British Parliament 1712, c. 12. which restored patrons to their ancient rights; declaring," that the presbytery of the respective bounds is obliged to receive and admit in the same manner, such qualified persons as shall be presented by the respective patrons, as the persons presented before the making of the act ought to have been admit • Petrie's Church History, p. 349. ted;" and at the same time providing, "that, in case the patron of any church shall neglect or refuse to present any qualified minister to such church that shall at any time be vacant, for the space of six months after such vacancy shall happen, the right of presentation shall accrue and belong for that time to the presbytery of the bounds where such church is, who are to present a qualified person for that vacancy, tanquam jure devoluto." The Church of Scotland complained of this act as an invasion of its privileges, made various ineffectual efforts to obtain a repeal of it, and during a great part of the last century gave annual instructions to the commission of the General Assembly to make due application to the King and Parliament for redress of the grievance of patronage, in case a favourable opportunity for so doing should occur. But since the year 1784, this article has been left out of the instructions given to the commission. A great majority of the members of the church, both ministers and laymen, are now convinced, that patronage affords the most expedient method of settling vacant parishes; and whatever difference of opinion may still prevail upon the question of expediency, few pretend to doubt, that patronage is the law of the land, interpreted and confirmed by various decisions of the civil courts, and by the uniform train of the judgments pronounced by the church during a long course of years. Patronage would be a grievance, if the patron had it in his power, by neglect, or from any improper motive, to keep a parish long vacant. But the law, with a becoming attention to the religious instruction of the people, has empowered the presbytery, if the patron does not present for the space of six months after the commencement of the vacancy, to take such steps as to them appear proper for supplying the vacant parish with a minister. Patronage might be made an instrument of oppression, if it implied a right to compel a person to enter into the church, or to move against his inclination from one charge to another. But this evil, which had been felt and complained of upon the revival of the right of patronage, was effectually removed by the following clause of the act 1719, c. 29. Whereas great obstructions have been made to the planting, supplying, or filling up of vacant churches in Scotland with ministers qualified according to law patrons presenting persons to churches who are not qualified, by taking the oaths appointed by who, being settled in other churches, cannot, or will not accept of such presentations: Be it enacted, That if any patron shall present any person to a vacant church who shall not be qualified, by taking and subscribing the said oath in manner aforesaid, or shall present a person to any vacancy, who is then or shall be pastor or minister of any other church or parish, or any person who shall not accept or declare his willingness to accept of the presentation and charge to which he is presented, within the said time, such presentation shall not be accounted any interruption of the course of time allowed to the patron for presenting; but the jus devolu tum shall take place, as if no such presentation had been offered; any law or custom to the contrary notwithstanding ibni ob eool doid anorte The right of patronage would be productive of the most pernicious consequences, if if a person holding that right were permitted to receive a sum of money as a com pensation for the exercise of it. But the abhorrence of simoniacal practices is in this country so strong and general, that reports and suspicions of such practices are extremely rare: And the church, by the laws against simony, which she orders to be read to every candidate for obtaining either a licence or a settlement, holds forth a warning and a pledge, that all her vigilance and authority will be exerted in preventing that corruption of the morals of the clergy, and that complete degradation of the whole order, which would advance with rapid strides, if the moderate endowments provided by the ecclesiastical establishment of Scotland were to become a matter of traffic. 1983 air ide 2 The church would have reason to complain of patronage, if it were lawful to patrons to present whom they pleased." But the effectual remedy against the abuse of patronage, is found in the absolute and final powers as to the trial and qualifications of ministers, which, having been conveyed to the church from the Lord Jesus, are recognised by the acts 1567 and 1592, which established Presbyterian government in Scotland, and also by the act 1719, c. 29. the last British statute upon the subject, which, in the concluding clause, déclares and enacts, "That nothing herein contained shall prejudice or diminish the right of the church, as the same now stands by law established, as to the trying of the qualities of any person presented to any church or benefice.A, licence is the stamp of the church, declaring that a person is qualified to receive a presentation. She has herself to blame if the stamp be improperly affixed: leges are completely secured against But her privi when the invasion, choice of patrons is by law restricted to those whom she' has licensed to preach the gospel, and when it is competent for her to extend her trial to those particular qualifications which local circumstances render indispensable. The church has found, since her own act in 1779, that a presentation granted to a person who had obtained his licence from one of the dissenting classes in England, was void, and that the patron was bound to present another.* She has found, that a total ignorance of the Gaelic lan79 2 2nq d9b2 to endistua ban alioqui 7824 found, that Mr James Assembly 1798, session 5th. The Assecone that course Gary, presentee to the parish of Brechin, has not of University education in philosophy and theology which the laws of this church require, as necessary for all the probationers thereof; that the cer tificate of licence and ordination he Dissenting Ministers in P consistencyee Protestant England, cannot, in the laws of the church, be held as qualifying him to accept a presentation to any parish in this church : and that the deed of the presbytery of Chanonry, of September 5. 1796, laid before the presbytery of Brechin along with the presentation, wa was rash and unwarranted, and did not qualify him to accept of that presentation : Therefore remitted this cause to the presbytery of Brechin, directing them to pronounce, at their next meeting, a sentence, refusing to sustain the presentation to Mr Gary, in respect that the presentee is not qualified according to the laws of the church. See also session 8. of Assembly 1798. guage disqualifies a person from officiating in some districts of Scotland ;* and I have no doubt of her having a right to find, that a natural incapacity of being heard in the place of worship where a parish assembles, is a legal disqualification for being minister of that parish. While the power of the patrons is thus limited by the powers of the church, the right of patronage is effectually guarded against capricious invasion: For, unless the church-courts find the presentee not qualified, "they are bound and astricted to receive him." In the year 1592, when presbyterian government obtained a legal establishment in Scotland, it was provided by law, that “in case the presbytery refuses to admit ony qualified minister presented to them be the patron, it shall be lauchfull to the patron to retain the haile fruits of the said benefice in his awin hands."+ And the civil courts applying this ancient statute in different cases, have found, that if a presbytery refuse to admit a person presented by the legal patron, for any other cause than a want of sufficient qualifications, and proceed to settle another, their sentence has not the effect of giving the minister whom they settle a right to the emoluments of the benefice; but the patron is entitled to retain the stipend in his hands, in the same manner as if the parish had continued vacant. 3. Voice of the People. The idea of a right in the whole congregation to appoint and ordain their own minister, belongs to the independents or congregationalists, is inconsistent with the principles of presbyterian government, and has been often disclaimed by the Church of Scotland, both in ancient and in modern times. The idea of a right in the people to elect a person to be presented to the presbytery, that in consequence of that election he may by them be ordained and admitted, is inconsistent with the nature of the religious establishment of this country, in which the state, by reserving to the pa Assembly 1772, session 9. + See Act 115. 1592. |