possible facilities will therefore be afforded by this institution for effecting this highly desirable purpose. That the profits of this plan will be at once large and certain, and without risk or subsequent diminution, must be evident to all who understand the nature and operation of compound interest, while the institution will ensure to a child just born, when it shall arrive at twentyone years of age, more than double the amount left by its parent or friend. Such being the great objects of " the Church of England Benevolent Trust, Life, and Fire Assurance Institution," we have respectfully to ask whether you would join a general or local committee to support it, or give it your patronage in any way you may think proper. On the part of the committee, we have the honour to be, reverend Sir, your most humble servants, R. C. PACKMAN, Priest in ordinary to Her Majesty, THOMAS STEPHEN, Med. Lib. King's College, London. H. J. KNAPP, M.A. · Joint Secretaries, Priest in ordinary to Her Majesty, and Sub-dean of Deputy Chairman of the Committee, Your reply is most respectfully requested to be addressed to "The Secretaries, Church of England Benevolent Trust Assurance Institution," at E. M. Elderton's, Esq., Solicitor, 40, Queen Square, Bloomsbury. ECCLESIASTICAL INTELLIGENCE. PREFERMENTS. Rev. C. M. Arnold, B.A., to the Perpetual Curacy of Lower Darwen, Lancashire. Rev. J. Bagge, to the Vicarage of Temple Michael. Rev. Mr. Bellairs, to the Perpetual Curacy of St. Thomas's, Stockport. Rev. J. Birchall, M.A., to the Perpetual Curacy of Church Kirk, Whalley, Lancashire. Rev. H. Browne, Rector of Earnley with Almodington, to be Rural Dean in the Deanery of Chichester. Rev. C. Bury, to be Curate of St. Anne's, Lancaster. Rev. T. Clayton, B.D., to be Rural Dean for the Deanery of Weldon.-Rev. R. Collyer, M.A., to the Rectory of Gisleham, Suffolk. Rev. H. Cooper, M.A., to the Rectory of Willersey, Gloucestershire. Rev. J. Cumine, to the Parish of Prebane.-Rev. H. Dickenson, M.A., to the Living of Blymhill, Staffordshire. Rev. T. Donkin, to be Chaplain to the Isle of Thanet Union. Rev. J. Dunningham, M.A., to the Head Mastership of the Free Grammar School, Colchester. Rev. H. Freeland, to the Rectory of Ovington, together with the Chapel of Allbright; and to the Rectory of Silbury (juxta Clare), in the county of Essex.- Rev. R. Lane Freer, B.D., to the Vicarage of Mansel-Lacy, Hereford.-Rev J. D. Freeman, to be one of the Domestic Chaplains of Lord Viscount Doneraile.-Rev. C. Gayer, to the Rectory of Dunurlin, Ireland. - Rev. W. Gibbard, M.A., to be Curate of Painswick, Gloucestershire.-Rev. J. Gibson, A.M., to the Rectory of South Weston, Oxfordshire. Rev. J. Gay Girdlestone, S.C.L., to the Rectory of Kelling with Salthouse, Norfolk.- Rev. G. Greaves, to the Incumbency of St. Augustine's Ticehurst, Sussex. Rev. T. Cornfield Haddon, LL.D., to the Perpetual Curacy of Tunstall. Rev. R. Halburd, to the Prebend of Killanully. Rev. H. Headly, M.A., to the Vicarage of Brinsop, Herefordshire. Rev. W. Irwin, to the Chapel of Ease in the town of Mountmellick, Ireland.— Rev. W. L. Jarrett, B.A., to - the Rectory of Camerton, Somersetshire. - Rev. J. Clarke Jenkins, M.A., to the Vicarage of Ashley, St. Ledger's, Northamptonshire. — Rev. R. Green Jeston, M.A., to the Rectory of Avon Dassett, Warwickshire. Rev. C. E. Kennaway, M.A., to the Incumbency of Christ Church, Lansdowne, Cheltenham.- Rev. R. M. Lumb, M.A., to be Incumbent of Holy Trinity Church, Over Darwen, near Blackburn. Rev. Mr. May, to be Curate of Southsea, Portsmouth. Rev. F. E. Paget, M.A., Rector of Elford, Staffordshire, and Chaplain to the Lord Bishop of Oxford, has been appointed by the Jord Bishop of Lichfield, Rural Dean of the Deanery of Tamworth, Staffordshire. Rey. J. Owen Parr, M.A., to the Vicarage of Preston, Lancashire. Rev. J. A. Partridge, M.A., to the Rectory of Baconsthorp, Norfolk. Rev. M. Perrin, to the Living of Athenry, Ireland. Rev. Prof. Pinder, to be one of the Domestic Chaplains of the Lord Bishop of Bath and Wells. --- Rev. H. Randolph, B.A., Vicar of Abbotsley, Huntingdonshire, to be one of the Domestic Chaplains to the Marquis of Downshire. Rev. Sir G. S. Robinson, Bart., to the Rectory of Cranford St. John, Northampton. -- Rev. E. B. Shaw, M.A., Rector of Narborough, Leicestershire, to be Rural Dean of the northern part of the Deanery of Guthlaxton.-Rev. J. Singleton, M.A., to the Chaplaincy of the Union Workhouse, Linton. - Rev. J. Smith, to be Chaplain to the Mercers' Company, and High Master of their School, College Hill. Rev. Jeremiah Symes, to the Incumbency of Kilfeipe, diocese of Ossory and Ferns. Rev. A. Stuart, to the Vicarage of Aghadoun, Ireland. — Rev. G. T. Turner, M.A., to the Rectory of Monewdon, Suffolk.- Rev. W. G. Leigh Wasey, M.A., to the Perpetual Curacies of Morvill and Quatford, Salop.-Rev. H. Whitty, to the curacy of the Union of Kilmurry and M'Mahon, Clare, Ireland. Rev. J. Wigram, to the Rectory of East Tisted, Hants. Rev. Mr. Wilson, to the Prebendal Stall of Faldown, Ireland. TESTIMONIALS OF RESPECT TO CLERGYMEN. Rev. G. M. D'Arcy Irvine, late curate of Newbury, Berks, a richly ornamented silver salver, also a purse, to which upwards of 300 of the poorer inhabitants had contributed. Rev. J. Jeffreys, rector of Barnes, an elegant candelabrum. - Rev. J. W. Johns, late curate of Helston, Cornwall, a handsome silver tea-pot, coffee-pot, cream. jug, and sugar-basin. Rev. R. Maltinson, incumbent of Arthholme, an elegant silk gown.-Rev. R. A. Taylor, of Bristol, a gold watch, with a purse of 100 sovereigns. Rev. E. Whitehurst, of Moreton and Aston chapels, a handsome silver coffee-pot and salver. DEATHS. Died, on the 9th March, at his house in Stirling, at a very advanced age, the Right Reverend George Gleig, LL.D., Bishop of Brechin. He was ordained in 1773, and consecrated for the See of Brechin in 1808. On the demise of the Right Rev. John Skinner, Bishop of Aberdeen, he was elected Primus Scotia Episcopus, which office, from age and infirmity, he resigned in 1837, and was succeeded by the Bishop of Edinburgh. In that year the Right Rev. Dr. Moir was consecrated as his coadjutor, and who administered the affairs of the diocese of Brechin, to which he has now succeeded. - Jan. 22, Rev. J. Postlethwaite, upwards of twelve years Curate of Long Preston, Yorkshire. Jan. 25, Rev. P. Keith, aged 71, Rector of Ruckinge, and Vicar of Stalisfield, Kent. Feb. 3, at East Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, the Rev. R. Heathcote. Feb. 5, at Poughill, Devon, in the 65th year of his age, the Rev. J. Brem. ridge Melhuish. Feb. 9, Rev. J. Theobalds, Perpetual Curate of Old Hutton, Westmoreland.-Feb. 18, Rev. R. Oglesby, late Curate of Skipton, Yorkshire, in the 42d year of his age. Feb. 22, at Danby Hill, Yorkshire, Rev. W. Cust, Rector of Danby Wiske, aged 76. Feb. 23, Rev. H. Ross Ripley, B.A., Curate of Gorton, Manchester, in the 32d year of his age. Feb. 25, Rev. J. Curwen, Rector of Harrington, Cumberland, third son of the late J. C. Curwen, Esq., M.P.-Feb. 28, at Morpeth, the Rev. C. Rapier, B.A., Head Master of Edward the Sixth's Grammar School in that town. At Hastings, in his 74th year, T. Birch, D.C.L., Vicar of Bexhill, Sussex, and Archdeacon of Lewes.- At Cheltenham, the Rev. H. Birkett, M.A. At Little Grimsby, Lincolnshire, aged 64, the Rev. E. Cove, M.A., of Balliol Coll., 40 years Rector of Brimpton, Berks, and formerly Reetor of Woolhampton, in same county.- At Swaffham, aged 72, the Rev. W. Young.. Rev. J. Hanley, M.A., Rector of Clipstone, Northamptonshire, and Vicar of Amberley-with-Houghton, Sussex. At the Vicarage, Kellington, Yorkshire, the Rev. J. Lowthian, M.A., Vicar of Kellington, Suddenly, the Rev. Cornelius Pitt, Rector of Rendcomb. - THE PRESENT STATE OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL ESTABLISHMENT OF SCOTLAND. THE Church Question, now agitating Scotland, is one which, did it possess no other claim to our attention, would demand a share of our notice, as exciting among our northern neighbours a degree of interest almost unexampled, and involving in its issue much of the peace and religious prosperity of that part of the kingdom. But it comes nearer to our own door than many may imagine; and, so far as it is a contest between the ecclesiastical and civil power, cannot be regarded by English churchmen with indifference. We cannot be expected, however, to enter into anything like the history or the details of a controversy so complicated, and having its roots so deep in times past as the days of the Reformation in Scotland-its ramifications in almost every act of parliament passed from that period to the union of the crowns. We must content ourselves with a briefer outline; and we despair not of giving our readers, within a reasonable compass of letter-press, something like an idea of what is now going on in the Church of Scotland. The last and most important act of the legislature, as regards the great question now agitating Scotland, is that of 1711, restoring the rights of lay-patrons in the Scottish Church, which by the act 1690 had been taken away, and, on certain conditions, transferred to the heritors and elders of the several parishes. With these conditions (which were pecuniary, and required a compensation, which was fixed at about 331. sterling, to be given to the patron), only three or four parishes in all Scotland had complied between 1690 and 1711; a pretty conclusive proof that either lay-patronage was not practically the evil set forth, or that the privilege of choosing their own minister was not so highly valued by the Scotch as has been alleged. But, in addition to these reasons for a return to the old system, the preamble of the act 1711 bears, that the mode of filling up benefices under the act 1690 had created great heats and animosities; for, although few parishes had purchased the right to elect, almost all exercised it-the times not allowing the Crown or the patrons to contest the point with the church and people. An attempt has, indeed, been made to account for the re-enactment of lay-patronage under Queen Anne, by ascribing it to Lord Bolingbroke, as the first step towards the re-establishment of epis VOL. II. 2 G copacy in Scotland; but there is nothing in the shape of evidence entitled to any attention to support this hypothesis; and the records of the Church Courts in Scotland themselves bear ample proof of the preamble of 1711 being well founded. On the re-establishment of the patron's rights, it was provided by the statute, that the Presbytery, a Church Court in Scotland, which gives collation to a benefice, should be bound and astricted to take on trials the presentee of a qualified patron. The statutes, which the act 1711 ratified and confirmed, had made this provision; and, thus, it was both directly and indirectly strengthened at this period. This statutory duty was imposed on the presbytery, that the presentee, if found by it competent in literature, sound in doctrine, and pure in morals, might be farther inducted into the living, to which his presentation gave him the incipient title. In carrying on this part of their duty, the presbyteries are held by many to be in the place of our bishops in bestowing holy orders; and so far undoubtedly they are. But it is necessary that a distinction should be kept in view. The statute 1711, and those which it ratifies, require a presentee to be taken on trials, in order to be inducted, who may already be in holy orders, as a patron may present a man so situated. Here, therefore, the parallel between the bishop and the presbytery does not so closely hold; and the argument of Dr. CHALMERS and others, that, to bind and astrict a presbytery to take on trials, is, to bind and astrict them to ordain, does not hold good. The act of the Scottish Parliament 1567, one of the most important ever obtained by that church, and which the acts 1592 and 1711 confirm, had a special reference to that church's power and province in both the matter of ordination and induction, so far as that church as then reformed separated between the acts. It provided that the examination and admission of ministers to the holy office, and the cure of souls, should be in the church alone; that is, in the presbytery, when this court was afterwards constituted, subject to appeal to the higher church courts, and beyond the power of the civil courts to review. Our readers will learn from this, that, before this period, the examination and admission of ministers were not in the church alone; but the powers had been assumed and exercised by the civil courts, which were in the practice of putting in pastors upon congregations, without the security of those qualifications which exainination by the church afforded: and this, in the language of the old standards of the Church of Scotland, was "intrusion contrary to the will of the people," who desired to have no ministers thrust upon them who had not been first submitted to the ordeal of examination by the church, and against whom they had not themselves had an opportunity of offering their objections. It is of essential importance that our readers should keep this in view, as the term intrusion has come now-a-days to have a meaning attached to it unknown in the early ages of the Scottish Church, when it is contended and allowed, on all hands, that non-intrusion was always a fundamental principle. While patronage existed in the Church of Rome, and in the first Reformed and Presbyterian Churches of Scotland, the people had a part assigned them in the forming of the pastoral relation. They were called upon, at a particular stage of the process, to state any objections they had to the person presented to be their spiritual guide; and the bishop, superintendent, or presbytery, satisfied that their objections were valid, were bound not to proceed in forming the relationship; and the patron was called upon to present another. Where the church was satisfied that the objections offered by the people were frivolous or unfounded, the Reformers directed that they should, in the first instance, be dealt with to depart from them; but if they persisted, not only was the relation formed notwithstanding, but the censures of the church fell upon them for their obstinacy in persisting in them-enough to satisfy our readers that in our interpretation of intrusion we are strictly correct. The people never had (nor in any church pretending to the name could have had) a right to interpose between the church and the granting of holy orders to any whom she herself might think fit. Their privilege came into operation when the person ordained was to have the cure of their souls in particular assigned to him; and it is therefore manifest that it was all along the special fitness for the cure with which the people had to do; and we confess we have been astonished at the doubts which have been cast upon this right on their part, or the powers of the presbytery to sit in judgment on this particular point. No doubt considerable confusion has been introduced into the subject, from the fact that the Church of Scotland, discountenancing the ministerium vagum, has always opposed ordaining, when a living has not been provided either by election or presentation. From the very dawn of the reformation in Scotland, the church, or, more correctly speaking, the churchmen, displayed a great jealousy of the rights of lay-patronage, and a great desire to get the gift of livings placed in their own hands, or in the hands of the people, whom, of course, they calculated on being able to guide in their choice. Circumstances, however, compelled them to allow the privilege to remain with the Crown and "auntient patrones;" but they did so under reservations and stipulations which served to keep the question of the better right of "the eldership" or the people to choose the minister an open and debatable question; and, in times when the Prince required the aid of the Church in keeping his turbulent barons in order, or the barons sought her assistance in subduing their Sovereign, the Church obtained important immunities for herself or the people, at the expense of the patrons: and, cunningly interweaving all she did in her assemblies with the acts of the Scottish Estates, she contrived to weave a web-ecclesiastical of the most singular and incongruous texture. When the power and arrogance even of the presbyterian churchmen rose to a height altogether incompatible with civil and religious liberty, as from 1638 to 1651, the Sovereign, on his restoration to his throne, applied those remedies to the evil which constitute the painful history of the Covenanters; and to the spiritual domination of the church succeeded, as a natural consequence, the black acts of the legislature in 1684, extinguishing everything like spiritual liberty and independence in the Church of Christ. The æra of the Revolution established matters on a footing compatible at once with spiritual independence, and civil and religious liberty, soberly understood, There still, however, remained in the Church of Scotland a body of men who considered the arrangements then adopted and sanctioned by law as anti-scriptural, and a surrender of the rights of "Christ's crown and kingdom;" and, after struggling for a while to restore these rights, and finding themselves unable, they seceded, like honest men, from an establishment of whose principles and policy they could not approve. After |
