SCOTLAND. 



CCA 



tul Mate. 



-'* by the Scottish parliament. Presbytery maintained 



ti ground from this period till the restoration in . 

 Miuti- w h en episcopacy again received the sanction of go- 

 vernment ; but after a violent and sanguinary struggle 

 of twenty-eight years, the blackest period in S 

 history, it was finally triumphant, an I 

 it now stands in Id'SS, on the accession of William 

 and Mary. The Westminster Confession of Faith was 

 then received as the standard of the national creed; 

 which all ministers, and principals and profeors in 

 universities arc obliged to subscribe as the confession 

 of the faitli before receiving induction into office. 



The church of Scotland is remarkable for its u:. com- 

 mon simplicity of worship ; it possesses no liturgy, no 

 altar, no instrumental music, no surplice, no fixed 

 canonical vestment of any kind. It condemns the 

 worship paid to saints, and it observes no festival 1 1\ -. 

 Its ministers enjoy a parity of rank and of authority ; 

 it enforces that all ministers, being ambassadors of 

 Christ, are equal in commission, that there is no order 

 in the church as established by the Saviour, superior 

 to presbyters, (ir^ravn^i, ) and that bishop (nr<9-*- 

 *?) and presbyter, though different words, are of the 

 same import. It acknowledges no earthly head : its 

 judicatories are quite distinct from, and independent 

 of, any civil judicatory ; insomuch indeed that the de- 

 cisions of the one are often contrary to those of the 

 other, yet both remain unaffected and unaltered. 

 When, for example, a clergyman has been presented 

 to a parish by a patron, and induction and ordination 

 have followed on that presentation, if afterwards it be 

 found that the patron who had given the presentation 

 has not that right, and that it belongs to another, the 

 clergyman may be ejected as to all the temporalities 

 of the office ; but quoad sacra, he may continue mi- 

 nister of the parish, and exercise all the sacred func- 

 tions : and though a new presentee may obtain a right 

 to the civil endowments of the benefice, he can per- 

 form none of the sacred duties while the other chooses 

 to avail himself of this privilege. 



There are four ecclesiastical judicatories, namely, 

 the Kirk Session, the Presbytery, the Synod, and the 

 General Assembly, from each of which there is a power 

 of appeal to the other ; but the decision of the General 

 Assembly is supreme. 



The lowest court is the Kirk Session, which is com- 

 posed of the minister of the parish, who is the modera- 

 tor or president of it, and a number of the most grave 

 and respectable laymen, members of the congregation. 

 Their number varies in different parishes, five or six 

 being about the average number, and their services 

 are entirely gratuitous. They are something like 

 church wardens in England, only they have a spiritual 

 jurisdiction, as it is a part of their duty to visit the 

 sick, &c. The Kirk Session takes cognisance of cases 

 of scnndal, such as fornication, sabbath-breaking, pro- 

 fane swearing. It also manages the funds of the poor, 

 a duty in which it formerly was assisted by deacons, 

 a class of men inferior to elders, as they had no spi- 

 ri'aul jurisdiction, but not being found necessary, they 

 are consequently disused. 



The Presbytery, which is the court next in dignity, 

 is composed of the ministers of a ct rt.Mi district, with 

 an elder from each parish. The number of presby- 

 teries is, seventy-eight. Their chief duty consists in 

 the management of such matters as concern the church 

 within their respective bounds. Hut they may origi- 

 nate any matter, and bring it under the view of the 

 Synod or General Assembly. They have also the 



6 



superintendence of education within their boundf, tuoh 



as the induction of teachers, and the examination of y ~ -" 



school*. rWt 



The Synod i the n*xt intermediate court. There l Swt*. 

 are fifteen synods, each concisting of the clergymen 

 of a certain number of presbyteries, with elders at 

 in presbyteries. Presbyteries meet generally once a- 

 month ; synods twice a-year, though tome remote y- 

 nod, such as that of Argylf, only once. 



The General Assembly is the last and supreme court, 

 and meets yearly in the month of Mny in Edinburgh, 

 and continues its sitting for twelve days. The k 

 presides by hi* representative, who is always a noble- 

 man, and is denominated I lie I.<t<l Hi^li <'<immit\ionrr. 

 The General Assembly is a representative court, con* 

 stating of 200 member*, representing presbyteries, and 

 156 elders representing burghs or presbyteries, and 

 five ministerft or elders representing universities,- 

 making altogether .%'! members. They choose a mo- 

 derator or prei' ent, out of their own number, distinct 

 from the Uoyal CommisMoner, the duty of the latter 

 consisting merely in convening and dissolving the court, 

 and in forming the medium of communication between 

 it and the throne. The moderator is now always a 

 clergyman, though previously to 1688, laymen some- 

 times held that office. 



The following Table explains the Eccktiattical Slale of 

 Scoll'ind. 



The revenue of the clergy arises from tithes called 

 teinds, and from glebe lands, the minimum extent of 

 which is four acres of arable land, with as much pas- 

 ture ground as will feed a horse and two cows. The 

 greater part of the land of Scotland having been va- 

 lued at a very remote period, the maximum of teinds 

 for which they are liable was thus fixed and can ne- 

 ver be augmented. The clergyman is not entn! 

 all the teinds cf the parish ; at least not without the 

 sanction of the Court of Session, which, under the 

 name of Court of Teinds, takes cognisance of such 

 matters ; but there is a power of appeal from its deci- 

 sions to the House of Lord?. 



In some parishes the free teinds are so limited, that 

 they do not in some instances amount to L.100, and 

 in others not nearly that sum. This being much too 

 small an income for the comfortable maintenance of a 

 famdy, government, in IS 10, enacted, that the mini- 

 mum of stipend (in addition to the manse and glebe) 

 should be L.150, and that the sum necessary to make 

 up this income should be paid out of the in. 



