Page:(1848) Observations on Church and State- JF Ferrier.pdf/18

18 —had virtually succeeded—when grim Independency interposed. Oliver was their only match. Now, could these things have been, if this indomitable Assembly had been merely the organ of a faction—been merely the voice of the clerical order, and not the congregated thunders of the entire national will?

This theory entirely justifies (although by a reasoning very different from its own) the General Assembly in its late resolute opposition to the decrees of the Court of Session. No inferior tribunal, we hold, is in any degree competent to interfere with its proceedings, or to overrule its resolutions. It is amenable to no earthly power, any more than the other Parliament, which now-a-days holds its sittings in England, is amenable. It stands by birthright on a level with the highest court in the realm. Therefore we applaud most cordially the Free Church ministers for having stood out manfully in defence of their constitutional privileges. We are sorry that we cannot extend the same approbation to the grounds on which they defended their rights. These we must utterly condemn. The Free Church ministers set themselves up as the “church,” in opposition to the “state;” and, in taking this ground, they assumed the position of usurpers. If a king's son were to contend for his father's crown, in entire ignorance of his own birth, and resting his right upon other grounds, we should say that, notwithstanding his indubitable title, he was guilty of usurpation. This was precisely the romance of the Free Church ministers. They were themselves the state, and, as such, they had a right to supreme spiritual jurisdiction. But they did not know this,—and their ignorance led them to suppose that they held their authority in virtue of their clerical character. But to set up such a claim in a Reformed country is tantamount to a flagrant attempt at usurpation; and therefore we are of opinion that the Free Church ministers, resting their claims on the grounds they did, were very properly discomfited. They held out on the ground that they were an ecclesiastical court, superintending and representing ecclesiastical interests. They are nothing of the kind. The General Assembly is a civil court, founded on the national will, for the conduct of spiritual affairs. They are Parliament itself, discharging spiritual functions; and as such they are impregnable.

They are impregnable, at least, to all assaults, except those