07a. Appendix (1-3)
APPENDIX 1.
EVERY person must be aware, that one of the charges most frequently and vehemently urged against the Presbyterian Church of Scotland, is that of its being possessed by such a bigoted and proselytizing spirit as led it to attempt, by undue means, to force its own system upon England during the troubled period of the civil war. In the hope of showing the utter groundlessness of that accusation, and of repelling it at once and for ever, I have resolved to append to this work the following important document, which contains a distinct statement, by the Scottish commissioners, of the views and desires entertained by the Church and State of Scotland before the civil war had begun. The paper was written by Alexander Henderson, towards the close of the year 1640, and given in by the Scottish commissioners to the Lords of the Treaty, as they were termed, in the beginning of 1641, when the business of negotiation had been transferred from Ripon to London. It was printed and published about the same time, that it might be so fairly before the community as to enable all whom it concerned to know precisely what it was that Scotland wished and recommended, and to prevent, if possible, all calumnious misrepresentation. Certainly the publication of such a document tended, of itself, to bind the Scottish commissioners, and consequently the Scottish Church and kingdom, which they represented, from making any attempt to force their own system upon England, even if they had been afterwards inclined; since it put it in the power of the English Church and Parliament to appeal immediately to this public declaration. There is no doubt that it both prepared the mind of England for the calling of the Westminster Assembly, about two years and a half afterwards, and contributed to prevent, for a time, the rise of any considerable degree of jealousy in the ecclesiastical proceedings that followed, till the harmony that had prevailed was destroyed by the Independent and Erastian controversies. Prelatic writers make no mention of this important document, and consequently indulge in the most violent accusations against the Church of Scotland for presuming to endeavor to enforce its system upon England. Let the truth be known; from that the Church of Scotland has nothing to fear: - OUR DESIRES CONCERNING UNITY IN RELIGION, AND UNIFORMITY OF CHURCH GOVERNMENT, AS A SPECIAL MEAN TO CONSERVE PEACE IN HIS MAJESTY’S DOMINIONS." As we shall not make any proposition about this last article, of establishing a firm and happy peace, but that which we conceive to be both expedient and just; so will your lordships, we doubt not, in your wisdom consider, that since that which is sought is not a cessation of arms for a time, but peace for ever, and not peace only, but perfect amity and a more near union than before, - which is of greater consequence than all the former articles, - it is no marvel that a composition so excellent, and so powerful to preserve the whole island in health against all inward distempers, and in strength against all contagion and wounds from without, require many ingredients, of which, if any one be wanting, we may on both sides please ourselves for the present with the sweet name of peace, and yet for no long time enjoy peace itself, which hath not only sweetness and pleasure, but also much more profit and true honor than all the triumphs on earth. As we account it no less than usurpation and presumption for one kingdom or Church, were it never so mighty and glorious, to give laws and rules of reformation to another free and independent Church and kingdom, were it never so mean, - civil liberty and conscience being so tender and delicate, that they cannot endure to be touched but by such as they are wedded unto, and have lawful authority over them; so have we not been so forgetful of ourselves, who are the lesser, and of England, which is the greater kingdom, as to suffer any such arrogant and presumptuous thoughts to enter into our minds, - our ways also are witnesses of the contrary against the malicious, who do not express what we are or have been, but do still devise what may be fuel for a common combustion. Yet charity is no presumption, and the common duty of charity bindeth all Christians at all times, both to pray and profess their desire that all others were not only almost but altogether such as themselves, except their afflictions and distresses; and, beside common charity, we are bound, as commissioners in a special duty, to propound the best and readiest means for settling of a firm peace. As we love not to be curious in another commonwealth, nor to play the bishop in another diocese, so may we not be careless and negligent in that which concerneth both nations.
We do all know and profess, that religion is not only the mean to serve God, and to save our own souls, but that it is also the base and foundation of kingdoms and estates, and the strongest band to tie subjects and their prince in true loyalty, and to knit their hearts one to another in true unity. Nothing so powerful to divide the hearts of people as division in religion; nothing so strong to unite them as unity in religion: and the greater zeal in different religions the greater division; but the more zeal in one religion the more firm union. In the paradise of nature the diversity of flowers and herbs is pleasant and useful; but in the paradise of the Church different and contrary religions are unpleasant and hurtful. It is therefore to be wished that there were one Confession of Faith, one form of Catechism, one Directory for all the parts of the public worship of God, and for prayer, preaching, administration of sacraments, etc., and one form of Church government, in all the Churches of his majesty’s dominions. This would, -
1. Be acceptable to God Almighty, who delighteth to see his people walking in truth and unity, and who would look upon this island with the greater complacency that we were all of one heart and one soul in matters of religion.
2. This unity in religion will preserve our peace, and prevent many divisions and troubles. Of old (as Beda recordeth) the difference about the time of observing of Easter, although no great matter in religion, and although in divers independent kingdoms, had troubled their peace, if the wiser sort had not brought them to a uniformity; wherein they were so zealous that they would hot suffer so much as one small island, which differed from the rest, to be unconform.
3. His majesty and his Successors in their government shall be eased of much trouble which ariseth from differences of religion, and hath been very grievous unto kings and emperors, as Eusebius witnesseth in his 3d book, chapter 12, of the Life of Constantine. Sedition begotten in the Church of God (saith Constantine) seemeth to me to contain in itself more trouble and bitterness than any war or battle.
4. Since, by Divine Providence, his majesty is king of divers kingdoms, it shall be much content both to himself, to his nobles and court, and to all his people, when his majesty shall in person visit any of his kingdoms, that king, court, and people may, without all scruple of conscience, be partakers of one and the same form of divine worship, and his majesty with his court may come to the public assembly of the people, and serve God with them, according to the practice of the good kings of Judah; as, on the other part, difference in forms of divine worship divideth between the king and the people.
5. This shall be a great comfort to all his majesty’s subjects, when they travel abroad from their own country to any other place in his majesty’s dominions, whether for commerce or whatsoever negotiation and affairs, that they may with confidence resort to the public worship as if they were at home, and in their own parish church, and shall satisfy many doubts, and remove many exceptions, jealousy, and scandals, which arise upon resorting to different forms of worship.
6. The names of heresies and sects, of Puritans, Conformists, Separatists, which rend the bowels both of Church and kingdom, are a matter of much stumbling to the people, and diminish the glory of his majesty’s reign, shall no more be heard; but as the Lord is one, his name shall be one, and the name of the people one, in all his majesty’s dominions.
7. Papists and recusants shall despair of success to have their religion set up again, and shall either conform themselves or get them hence; and irreligious men shall have a great scandal removed out of their way, which shall be a mean of great safety and security, and of many blessings both to king and people. ‘I am persuaded, ’(saith Constantine, as Eusebius recordeth in his Life, lib. 2. c. 63,) ’were I able, as it is in my desires, to bind all the true worshippers of God by the common bond of concord, all the subjects of my empire would quickly turn themselves to their pious ordinances. ’
8. This unity of religion shall make ministers to build the Church with both their hands, whilst now the one hand is holden out in opposition against the other party, and shall turn the many and unpleasant labors of writing and reading of unprofitable controversies into treatises of mortification, and studies of devotion and practical divinity. This unity of religion is a thing so desirable, that all sound divines and politicians are for it, where it may be easily obtained and brought about. And as we conceive so pious and profitable a work to be worthy of the best consideration, so are we earnest in recommending it to your lordships, that it may be brought before his majesty and the Parliament, as that which doth highly concern his majesty’s honor and the weal of all his dominions, and which, without forcing of consciences, seemeth not only to be possible, but an easy work. But because the matter is of great weight, and of a large extent, and therefore will require a large time, our desire is, that for the present some course may be taken for an uniformity in government.
1. Because there can be small hope of unity in religion, which is the chief bond of peace and human society, unless first there be one form of ecclesiastical government.
2. Because difference in this point hath been the main cause of all other differences between the two nations, since the reformation of religion.
3. Because (although it ought not to be so) we find it true in experience, that Churchmen, through their corruption, are more hot and greater zealots about government than about matters more substantial, - their worldly dignities and wealth being herein concerned; as Erasmus rendered this reason of the animosity of the Church of Rome against Luther, seeking after reformation, that he meddled with the Pope’s crown and the monks’ bellies.
4. It is observed by politicians, and we have found it in experience, that Churchmen do not only bear with different religions, and suffer divisions both in Church and policy to rise and grow; but do also foment and cherish the contrary factions, that they themselves may grow big, and swell in greatness, while both sides have their dependence upon them, and have their thoughts busied about other matters than about Church government, and the ambition, pomp, and other corruptions, of Church governors.
5. None of all the Reformed Churches, although in nations far distant one from another, and under divers princes and magistrates, are at so great a difference in Church government as these two kingdoms be, which are in one island, and under one monarch, - which made King James, of happy memory, to labor to bring them under one form of government. But since all the question is, Whether of the two Church governments shall have place in both nations? (for we know no third form of government of a National Church distinct from these two) we do not presume to propound the form of government of the Church of Scotland as a pattern for the Church of England, but do only represent, in all modesty, these few considerations, according to the trust committed unto us.
1. The government of the Church of Scotland is the same with the government of all the Reformed Churches, and hath been by them universally received and practiced, with the reformation of doctrine and worship; from which so far as we depart, we disjoin ourselves as far from them, and do lose so much of our harmony with them. Whence it is that from other Reformed Churches it hath been written to the Church of Scotland, ‘ That it was a great gift of God that they had brought together into Scotland the purity of religion, and discipline whereby the doctrine is safely kept ; praying and beseeching them so to keep these two together, as being assured that if the one fall the other cannot long stand. ’ Upon the other part, the government of the Church of England was not changed with the doctrine at the time of Reformation. The Pope was rejected, but his hierarchy was retained; which hath been a ground of jealousy and suspicion to the Reformed Churches, of continual contention in the Church of England these eighty years past (since the beginning of Queen Elizabeth, her reign), and of hopes and expectation to the Church of Rome; for, saith Contzen, in his Politicks, lib. 2 cap. 18, ‘ Were all England once brought to approve of bishops, it were easy to reduce it to the Church of Rome. ’ But what one prince hath begun, and by reason of the times, or of other hindrances, could not promote or perfect, another, raised up by the mercy of God, may bring to pass; according to the example of good Josiah, like unto whom there was no king before him, - which we heartily wish may be verified of King Charles.
2. The Church of Scotland hath been continually, and many sundry ways, vexed and disquieted by the bishops of England.
1. By the continual and restless negotiation of the prime prelates in England with some of that faction in Scotland, both before the coming of King James into England, (which we are ready to make manifest,) and since his coming; till at last a kind of Episcopacy was erected there by the power of the prelates of England, against the Confession of Faith, the Covenant, and Acts of the National Assemblies, of the Church of Scotland.
2. The prelates of England, without the consent or knowledge of the Church of Scotland, gave Episcopal consecration to some corrupt ministers of the Church of Scotland, and sent them home to consecrate others like unto themselves; and when some great men have been, for their obstinacy in Papistry, excommunicated by the Church of Scotland, they have been absolved from the sentence by the prelates of England: so that they have usurped the power of that which, in their own opinion, is the highest ordination, and of that which is indeed the highest point of jurisdiction.
3. They rested not here, but proceeded to change the form of divine worship; and for many years bred a great disturbance, both to pastors and people, by five articles of conformity with the Church of England.
4. Having in the former prevailed, and finding their opportunity, and rare concourse of many powerful hands and heads ready to cooperate, they made strong assaults upon the whole external worship and doctrine of our Church, by enforcing upon us a Popish Book of Common Prayer, for making Scotland first, as the weaker, and thereafter England, conform to Rome; and upon the consciences, liberties, and goods of the people, by a Book of Canons and Constitutions Ecclesiastical, establishing a tyrannical power in the persons of our prelates, and abolishing the whole discipline and government of our Church, without so much as consulting with any Presbytery, Synod, or Assembly, in all the land.
5. They procured subsidies to be lifted for war against us, under pain of deprivation to all of the clergy that should refuse.
6. They commanded both preaching and imprecations against us, as enemies to God and the king.
7. They have received into the ministry, and provided places for such of our ministers as, for their disobedience to the voice of the Assembly, and their other faults and scandals, were deposed in Scotland. And finally, they have left nothing undone which might tend to the overthrow of our Church, not only of late, by the occasion of these troubles whereof they have been the authors, but of old, from that opposition which is between Episcopal government and the government of the Reformed Churches by Assemblies. Upon the contrary, the Church of Scotland never had molested them, either in the doctrine, worship, ceremonies, or discipline of their Church, but have lived quietly by them, kept themselves within their line, and would have been glad to enjoy their own liberties in peace; which yet is, and by the help of God shall be, our constant desire. Yet can we not conceal our minds, but in our consciences, and before God, must declare, - not from any sauciness, or presumptuous intention to reform England, but from our just fears and apprehensions, that our reformation, which hath cost us so dear, and is all our wealth and glory, shall again be spoiled and defaced from England, - that whatsoever peace shall be agreed upon, we cannot see nor conceive the way how, our peace shall be firm and durable, but our fear is, that all will run into a confusion again, ere it be long, if Episcopacy shall be retained in England; for the same causes will not fail to produce the same effects. Their opposition against, and hatred of, the government of the Reformed Churches, - their credit at Court, and nearness to the king, living in England, - the opinion they have of their own great learning, and of the glory of their prelatical Church, joined with the small esteem and disdain of our Christian simplicity, - the consanguinity of their hierarchy with the Church of Rome, and their fear to fall before us at last, - will still be working, especially now, when they are made operative, and shall be set on work at the first advantage, by their vindictive disposition to be avenged upon us for the present quarrel, which can never be changed by any limitations. As, on the contrary, the cause being taken away, the effects will cease, and the peace shall be firm. It would seem that limitations, cautions, and triennial Parliaments, may do much; but we know that fear of perjury, infamy, excommunication, and the power of a National Assembly, - which was in Scotland as terrible to a bishop as a Parliament, - could not keep our men from rising to be prelates; and after they had risen to their greatness, their apology was, - ‘ These other cautions or conditions were rather accepted of for the time, to prevent all occasion of jangling with the contentious, than out of any purpose to observe them for ever. ’ Much is spoken and written for the limitations of bishops; but what good can their limitation do to the Church, if ordination and ecclesiastical jurisdiction shall depend upon them, and shall not be absolutely into the hands of the Assemblies of the Church? and if it shall not depend upon them, what shall their office be above other pastors? Or how shall their labors be worthy so large wages? What service can they do to King, Church, or State? Rome and Spain may be glad at the retaining of the name of Bishops, more than the Reformed Churches, which expect from us at this time some matter of rejoicing.
3. The Reformed Churches do hold without doubting, their Church officers, Pastors, Doctors, Elders, and Deacons, and their Church government by Assemblies, to be jure divino, and perpetual, as is manifest in all their writings. And on the other hand, Episcopacy, as it differeth from the office of Pastor, is almost universally acknowledged, even by the bishops themselves, and their adherents, to be but a human ordinance, established by law and custom for conveniency, without warrant of Scripture; which, therefore, by human authority may be altered and abolished, upon so great a conveniency as is the hearty conjunction with all the Reformed Churches, and a durable peace of the two kingdoms, which have been formerly divided by this partition-wall. We therefore desire, that jus divinum and humanum, conscience and convenience, yea, the greater conveniency with the lesser, and, we may add, a conveniency and an inconveniency, may be compared, and equally weighed in the balance, without adding any weight of prejudice.
4. The Church of Scotland, warranted by authority, hath abjured Episcopal government, as having no warrant in Scripture, and by solemn oath and covenant divers times before, and now again of late, hath established the government of the Church by Assemblies; but England, neither having abjured the one nor sworn the other, hath liberty from all bands of this kind to make choice of that which is most warrantable by the Word of God. And, lest it be thought that we have willfully bound ourselves of late by oath that we be not pressed with a change, we desire it to be considered, that our late oath was nothing but the renovation of our former oath and Covenant, which did bind our Church before, but was transgressed of many by means of the prelates.
5. If it shall please the Lord to move the king’s heart to choose this course, he shall, in a better way than was projected, accomplish the great and glorious design which King James had before his eyes all his time, of the unity of religion and Church government in all his dominions, - his crowns and kingdoms shall be free of all assaults and policies of Churchmen. Which, whether in the way of ecclesiastical jurisdiction and Church censure, or by complying with the Pope, the greatest enemy of monarchy, or by bringing civil governments into a confusion, or by taking the fat of the sacrifice to themselves, when the people are pleased with the government, and when they are displeased, by transferring the hatred upon authority, - which was never wont to be done by any good statesmen: all which, all these ways, have proceeded from bishops seeking their own greatness, never from Assemblies, which, unless overruled by bishops, have been a strong guard to monarchy and magistracy, - both the one and the other being the ordinances of God. The Church shall be peaceably governed, by common consent of Churchmen, in Assemblies, - in which the king’s majesty hath always that eminency which is due unto the supreme magistrate, and by which all heresies, errors, and schisms, abounding under Episcopal government, shall be suppressed; and the State, and all civil matters, in Parliament, Council, and other inferior judicatures, governed by civil men, and not by Churchmen, - who, being out of their own element, must needs stir and make trouble to themselves and the whole State, as woeful experience hath taught. The work shall be better done, and the means which did uphold their unprofitable pomp and greatness may supply the wants of many preaching ministers to be provided to places; and, without the smallest loss or damage to the subjects, may be a great increase of his majesty’s revenues. His royal authority shall be more deeply rooted in the united hearts, and more strongly guarded by the joint forces, of his subjects, as if they were all of one kingdom; and his greatness shall be enlarged abroad, by becoming the head of all the Protestants in Europe, to fire greater horror of his enemies, and to the sowing of greatness to his posterity and royal succession. All which we entreat may be represented unto his majesty and the Houses of Parliament, as the expression of our desires and fears, and as a testimony of our faithfulness in acquitting ourselves in the trust committed unto us; but no ways forgetting our distance, or intending to pass our bounds, in prescribing or setting down rules to their wisdom and authority, which we do highly reverence and honor, and from which only, as the proper fountain, the laws and order of reformation in this Church and Policy must proceed, for the nearer union and greater happiness of his majesty’s dominions."
Let the thoughtful reader ponder well the deep meaning of this remarkable document; and while he will perceive in it a Complete vindication of the Church of Scotland, he will also be constrained, when he contemplates the present sufferings of that Church, to admire the almost prophetic foresight of that great man by whom it was written, who saw clearly that the Prelatic spirit would never cease to strive for the overthrow of the Presbyterian Church.
APPENDIX 2 So much reference has been made by a certain class of writers to the name and reputation of the learned Selden, and the influence which he is said to have exercised in the Westminster Assembly, that I have thought it expedient to state his arguments more fully in the body of the Work than their own merit seems to me to deserve. I have given them also as reported by Lightfoot, who, being likewise an Erastian, cannot be suspected of doing them injustice. But as the same discussion is reported in Gillespie’s own notes of the Assembly’s proceedings, I am persuaded that the general reader will peruse the following extract with considerable curiosity and interest: - "DEBATE RESPECTINGMatthew 18:1-35."
"Mr. Selden said, There is nothing in Matthew eighteen of excommunication or jurisdiction; which could not be exercised by the ancient Church, till the Church of Rome got their power from the emperor. That some late men - as Dominicus Solo, and Sayrus, and Henriquez - say that there is some power given to the Church, which the Church afterwards did specificate to be a power of excommunication. He said, Matthew’s Gospel was the first that was written, about eight years after Christ’s ascension, the first year of Claudius: that it was written in Hebrew, and translated into Greek by John: that though the Hebrew that Matthew wrote be not extant, yet two editions of the Gospel (are) in Hebrew, one by Munster, another by Tilius: that we find in Tilius’ edition Kahal, Matthew 18:1-35, and Guedah, Matthew 18:1-35, though in Munster’s Kahal be in both places. Now, there being no place of the New Testament written when this was written, we must expound it by the custom of the Jews, which, according to the law (Leviticus 19:17), was, that when one offended his brother, the offended brother required satisfaction; and if he get it not, speak to him before two or three witnesses; and if he hear them not, to tell it to a greater number (for which he offered to show many Hebrew authors and Talmudists.) That they had in Jerusalem, beside the great sanhedrim, two courts of 23, and in every city one court of 23. That the casting out of the synagogue was only the putting of a man in that condition that he might not come within four cubits of another; that any man being twelve years of age might excommunicate another; not that he was altogether cast off from having any thing to do with the synagogue. He said the convocation was called Clerus Anglicanus, and the parliament Populus Anglicanus. So here Guedah and FPRIVATEsignify only a select number; that the word is used in one place for woman; Deuteronomy 23:1-25, ‘shall not enter into the congregation. ’ That Christ, when he said ‘Dic Ecclesiae, ’ was in Capernaum, where there was a court of 23; that the meaning is, tell the sanhedrim, which can redress the wrong. That if the Jewish State had been Christian, their civil government might have continued, though the ceremonies were gone; so that Ecclesia here would have been a civil court."
Gillespie’s answer, as given by himself, is as follows: - "It is a spiritual, not a civil court, which is meant by ‘the Church, ’ Matthew 18:1-35; for,
1.Subjecta materia is spiritual. ‘If thy brother trespass against thee, ’ is not meant of personal or civil injuries, but of any scandal given to our brother, whereby we trespass against him, inasmuch as we trespass against the law of charity. Augustine and Testatus expound it of any scandal, and the coherence confirmeth it; for scandals were spoken of before in that chapter.
2. The end is spiritual - the gaining of the offender’s soul, which is not the end of a civil court.
3. The persons are spiritual, for Christ speaks to his apostles.
4. The manner of proceeding is spiritual (verses 19, 20), - prayer, and doing all in the name of Christ; which places, not only our divines, but Testatus and Hugo Cardinalis, expound of meetings for Church censures, not of meetings for worship.
5. The censure is spiritual - binding of the soul, or retaining of sins. - (Verse 18, compared with Matthew 16:19; John 20:23.)
6. Christ would not have sent his disciples for private injuries to a civil court, especially those who were living among heathens. - (1 Corinthians 6:1.)
7. If we look even to the Jewish customs, they had spiritual censures. To be held ‘as a heathen man and a publican, ’ imports a restraint a sacris ; for heathens were not admitted into the temple. - (Ezekiel 44:7-9; Acts 21:28.) So the profane were debarred from the temple. Josephus (Antiq., lib. 19. cap. 17) tells us that one Simon, a doctor of the law of Moses, in Jerusalem, did accuse King Agrippa as a wicked man, that should not be admitted into the temple. Philo (Lib. de Sacrificantibus) writeth, it was the custom in his own time that a manslayer was not admitted into the temple. The Scripture also giveth light in this; for if they that were ceremonially unclean might not enter into the temple, how shall we think that they which were morally unclean might enter?" The close coincidence of the debate, as here given, with the account of it in Lightfoot’s journal, will at once be perceived, confirming the authenticity of both; the chief difference between them being, that Gillespie’s is the more clear and succinct of the two, as might have been expected from his intellectual pre-eminence.
While giving some fragmentary records of the opinions of the leading men among the Westminster Divines on peculiar points, it may not be inexpedient to show what were the sentiments of Gillespie on the subject of the election of ministers, and how far these were entertained by the Church of Scotland at that period, and are identical with those held by the evangelical majority of the present time. The arguments of Henderson, Gillespie, and Rutherford, have been already stated, as used by them in the debate on the subject, an account of which will be found in page 175 of this work. On a subsequent occasion, when Gillespie, in his "Male Audis," was answering the Erastian arguments of Coleman and Hussey, the subject came again under discussion, and drew forth from Gillespie a re-statement of his opinion. Hussey had boldly affirmed, that the Parliament may require such as they receive for preachers of truth, " to send out able men to supply the places, and that without any regard to the allowance or disallowance of the people." This truly tyrannical theory Gillespie strongly condemns; reminds his opponent that one, and not the least, of the controversies between the Papists and the Protestants is, what right the Church hath in the vocation of ministers; refers to the Helvetic Confession, which says, that the right choosing of ministers is by the consent of the Church; and to the Belgic Confession, which says, "We believe that the ministers, seniors, and deacons, ought to be called to these their functions, and by the lawful election of the Church to be advanced into these rooms;" adding, "I might here, if it were requisite, bring a heap of testimonies from the Protestant writers, - the least thing which they can admit of is, that a minister be not obtruded renitente ecclesia. It may be helped when it is done, without making null or void the ministry, but in a well constituted Church there ought to be no intrusion into the ministry." - (Male Audis, p. 27.) In his "Miscellany Questions," the last work that came from his pen, published after his death, Gillespie discusses the question, "Of the Election of Pastors with the Congregation’s Consent," in a chapter of 24 pages, stating the various opinions held by Prelatists, Sectarians, and others, explaining what he regarded to be the system of the Church of Scotland, and answering objections. He cites with approbation the opinions of the Reformers Luther, Calvin, Zanchius, Beza, and many others, all of whom maintained, ut sine populi consensu et suffragio nemo legittime electus, - " that without the consent and suffrage of the people no person was lawfully elected:" also the strong language of the First and Second Books of Discipline, - "This liberty with all care must be preserved to every several kirk to have their votes and suffrages in election of their ministers;" and, "It is to be eschewed that any person be intruded in any offices of the Kirk, contrary to the will of the congregation to which they are appointed;" adding several acts of Assembly to the same effect. In answering objections, his own opinion comes very clearly into view. As, for instance, "Objection - This liberty granted to congregations prejudgeth the right of patrons. Answer - If it were so, yet the argument is not pungent in divinity, for why should not human right give place to divine right? The states of Zealand did abolish patronages, and give to each congregation the free election of their own minister; which I take to be one cause why religion flourisheth better there than in any other of the United Provinces." Again, it is objected, "That the Church’s liberty of consenting or not consenting must ever be understood to be rational, so that the Church may not disassent without objecting somewhat against the doctrine or life of the person presented." (There is nothing new, it seems, even in the objections of Law Lords, and Moderates.) In answer to this, Gillespie first cites authorities to prove that this argument is the very one used by Popish and Prelatic writers, in defense of their systems, which allowed no shadow of liberty to the people; and then exclaims, "Now, then, if this be all that people may object, it is no more than Prelates, yea, Papists, have yielded. This objection cannot strike against the election of a pastor by the judgment and vote of the particular eldership of that church where he is to serve. Men vote in elderships, as in all courts and consistories, freely according to the judgment of their conscience, and are not called to an account for a reason of their votes. As the vote of the eldership is a free vote, so is the congregation’s consent a free consent. Any man, though not a member of the congregation, hath place to object against the admission of him that is presented, if he know such an impediment as may make him incapable, either at all of the ministry, or of the ministry of that church to which he is presented. So that unless the congregation have somewhat more than liberty of objecting, they shall have no privilege or liberty, but that which is common to strangers as well as to them. Though nothing be objected against the man’s doctrine or life, yet if the people desire another better, or as well qualified, by whom they find themselves more edified than by the other, that is a reason sufficient, if a reason must be given at all." But we cannot afford space for more quotations, nor can it be necessary to do so, as those already produced must convince every unprejudiced person, that the Church of Scotland held then, as in the days of Knox, and always, down to the present time, that congregations possess the inherent right of choosing their own pastors; and that when patronage interfered with this right, the very least privilege to which they were entitled was, the expression of their free consent, or equally free dissent, without being obliged to assign reasons for either, and that no man should be intruded contrary to that free expression of their mind and will. And these opinions of Gillespie, according to Baillie, were held by the majority of the Assembly of 1649, when preparing a new Directory for the election of ministers, after the abolition of patronage by the Parliament. Yet the Church of Scotland has been disestablished, on the strength of the utterly false assertion, that the principle that "No pastor be intruded into a parish contrary to the will of the congregation," was never heard of till the year 1834!
APPENDIX 3 AN ORDINANCE OF THE LORDS AND COMMONS ASSEMBLED IN PARLIAMENT, ABOUT SUSPENSION FROM THE LORD’S SUPPER." - 20TH OCTOBER 1645.
It was my intention to have inserted the whole of this important ordinance in the Appendix, for the purpose of showing the exact point on which the Westminster Assembly and the Parliament disagreed, as well as the extent to which they were of one mind. But as that has been done with considerable distinctness in the body of the work, and as I am desirous to avoid all unnecessary expansion, it seems to me expedient for the present to suppress that rather prolix document, reserving to myself the power of inserting it in a future edition, should it be then thought desirable, or should I prosecute the intention of enlarging the work.