§ Mr. Sinclairpresented a Petition signed by the Minister, Elders, and 315 Parishioners of Wattin, in Caithness, praying for the repeal of the Act of 1712, by which patronage was again imposed on the Church of Scotland, and that the general assembly should be empowered to determine in what manner its pastors should be elected. As this was precisely the object of the Motion which he had brought forward last year, he need scarcely say how entirely he concurred in the prayer of these highly respectable petitioners, than whom none were more devoted to the principles of pure and undefiled religion. He should never cease to contend, that the present system of nomination is unhallowed and inexpedient. St. Paul declares that the love of money is the root of all evil—No, says the advocate for patronage, the possession of money shall be the source of all power. Let any man, whatever be his principles—whatever his objects—whatever his moral conduct—acquire the means of purchasing a presentation, and uno minor est Jove—he is at once endued with such a superabundance of discrimination, that his individual fiat shall supersede and control the wishes of the entire flock, amongst whom his nominee is appointed to minister. Supposing that Mr. Carlile was to realise a few hundred pounds by the sale of blasphemous publications, and should consider a Scotch patronage as an eligible mode of investment, by which he might be enabled, at a cheap rate, to provide for a son or a nephew. The bargain would very easily be concluded—the power of appointing ministers in the Church was often put up for sale—the auctioneer's hammer might soon place some thousands of Christian souls in Mr. Carlile's power, and at his mercy. "Go," he might say to his young relative or protegé—"Go to Glasgow or Edinburgh for a few years—attend certain courses of lectures, or at least take out certain tickets—learn by rote the system of absurdities embodied in the creeds of the Church. You may as easily acquire a knowledge of them, as of the systems of Plato or Confucius. Take heed to your outward conduct, don't get into any palpable scrapes, and I shall then, by the sacrifice of a few hundred pounds, have realised in your favour a handsome provision for life. "The young man would only have to follow out the line of conduct thus prescribed, and in the course of a few years it would be 208 proclaimed to the public in all the solemnity of official announcement, that "Richard Carlile, Esq. has been pleased to appoint the Rev. A. B. to the parish of C, vacant by the death of the Rev. Dr. D." The unanimous voice of all the parishioners, high and low, might be raised against a nomination, dated, perhaps, from Newgate, where the worthy patron might be expiating in confinement the crime of blasphemy. The grey-headed elders might protest and entreat; it might be obvious that ninety-nine out of a hundred would secede from the Church—that more than one dissenting meeting-house would instantly be erected; what, then? All this weighed but a feather in the scale—grave principals of Universities—learned professors of Divinity—the legal sages in our Courts of Law—the venerable leaders of our provincial synods—would all stand forward as one man to maintain the sacred rights of Mr. Carlile and his nominee—whilst the aged and respectable cottage patriarchs, protesting against such an unhallowed usurpation, would be coldly and unceremoniously dismissed from the bar of the assembly. Would any man venture to deny that, during the last 120 years, many persons, to whom the Church had intrusted this high and responsible privilege, have evinced no sense of vital godliness in their own conduct, and no respect for the interests of the people in their appointments? And could the House be surprised that associations should spring up for the overthrow of a Church, which pertinaciously clings to these abuses? He had been accused of being an enemy to the establishment; but he was a steady and zealous friend to its doctrines, its discipline, and its welfare. For years he had been standing forward as the inveterate denouncer of these grievances, which alone could endanger its stability, for years he had been endeavouring to obtain such reforms as might enable orthodox Presbyterian Dissenters to return within its bosom. In confirmation of this assertion, he might invoke the irrefragable authority of the profound and venerable historian of Knox and Melville—the champion of everything that is pure and lovely, and of good report. In a speech at a public meeting in January, 1833, Dr. M'Cree said, in reference to his (Mr. Sinclair's) exertions—" He addressed to me a letter several years ago, in which, after adverting to the marked improvement of the 209 national Church, in point of evangelical doctrine, and to the harmony of views which existed between myself and another person, for whom our love has since, by the sovereign disposal of heaven, been converted into a holy and solemn regret (Dr. Thomson), he proposed the serious question—Can nothing be done to bring into closer connections the friends of religion in the establishment and in the secession? I answered the letter respectfully, and I trust without any of the sour leaven of sectarian jealousy, but with the characteristic caution of a Scotsman, taking due care not to pledge myself deeply—and among other things mentioning that, in my opinion, no improvements which had taken place, and no arrangements which might be made, would heal the breach, so long as that yoke, which neither we nor our fathers were able to bear, remained on the necks of the Christian people of Scotland." Thus he had been labouring to heal the divisions in our Zion, and enable Christian brethren to dwell together in unity. But not so the persons who were lauded and confided in as the pillars and the ornaments of our Church. He should illustrate, on the authority of a Scotch newspaper received this day, the system which is resorted to for attaching the Christian people to the Established Church. "On the 30th of last December, died the Rev. Mr. William M'Call, minister of Mulravon-side; and on the 14th of Jan this Gazette announced the appointment by the Crown, of the Rev. James Mac farlane to the vacant parish, just fourteen days having elapsed between the demise of the old and the appointment of the new incumbent." "On the 24th of January, died the Rev. William Woodow, minister of Dreghorn in Ayrshire; and within a little week of Mr. Woodow's death, Lady M. Montgomerie has presented, we understand, the Rev. Mr. Jamieson, preacher of the Gospel, to the vacant parish. The heritors, who, if they do not pay the stipend, at least build and repair the church and manse, and on whose good will the establishment is dependent for its future existence and extension, have not been consulted. The elders, who are expected to help with the minister, and who give their labour without fee or reward, have not been consulted; the parishioners, who are expected to receive the pastor into their families, and to put their spiritual interests and those of their children into 210 his care, have not been consulted." He had no personal knowledge of the facts here stated. He should sincerely rejoice if they could be positively denied, or should be found to admit of a satisfactory explanation. But if patrons were to be left in the uncontrolled possession of their arbitrary jurisdiction, and the spiritual welfare of the Christian people, who seek for a voice in the election of their own pastor, must be sacrificed to the temporal interests of rich men, who love pre-eminence, they would find voluntary Church associations springing up in every quarter, and the Church of Scotland would fall a victim to the obstinacy with which abuses had been adhered to, and reasonable concessions withheld.
§ Petition laid on the Table.