of the Secession. Each of these bodies at present numbers about twelve ministers. With a few exceptions, their congregations are small and widely scattered. If a solid and harmonious union can be formed, it will greatly contribute to their strength and efficiency; but if, as has hitherto been the case, this attempt at union should result in still farther division, it will go near to effect the extinction of both. Happy the day when the Lord shall heal the divisions among brethren, and gather the dispersed of Israel into one. May he hasten it in his time! The Basis of which the following is a copy is entitled ARTICLES Agreed upon by the Associate Synod, and the Constitutional Associate Presbytery, May 1826, with a view to union between the two bodies. The following notice explanatory of the plan and object of the Basis is prefixed. "The subscribers were appointed by their respective Courts to see the following Articles printed. They are divided into two Series; the first of which relates to those points on which it was supposed there might be a difference of sentiment between the two Bodies; and the second contains an outline of what is to form a Statement of Principles, to be used as a term of ministerial and Christian fellowship in the united Body. A Committee has been appointed to prepare an Overture of a Statement agreeably to these Articles." EDINBURGH, 1st June 1826. S SERIES I. GEORGE PAXTON. 1. WE agree in declaring, that the Church of Christ is a spiritual, free, and independent kingdom, essentially distinct and different from secular kingdoms in her origin, offices, laws, judicatories, formal objects, and special ends; and that she possesses from JESUS CHRIST, her sole King and Head, an intrinsic and unali-、 enable power for all the purposes of her administration, not derived from, and not subordinate to, the powers of this world: More particularly, that Christ hath instituted a specific form of government in his church, to be exercised by such office-bearers as he hath appointed in his word, and that they have authority from him to meet in his name, in smaller or larger judicatories, as often as the necessities and welfare of the church may require, and to regulate whatever regards the affairs of the House of God, according to the laws of that house, without being subject to the direction or control of civle rulers, so long as they keep within the proper line of their office, and do not encroach on the peculiar business of secular government, nor abuse their power to the detriment of those interests which it has in charge. 2. That Natural Religion, an acknowledgment of which lies at the foundation of all confidence and duty in human society, forms an important object of care and attention to nations and their rulers. Mankind in their national, no less than in their individual capacity, are dependent on God. As it is to him they owe their national existence and prosperity, they must be bound to acknowledge his supremacy, and take such measures as are competent to them, that he be publicly honoured and served among them. The voice of nature conspires with that of revelation in pronouncing this to be the homage that pertaineth to the "King of nations," who will not fail to resent the withholding of it on the "nations who call not on his name." It is a dictate of nature, that Nations, as such, should do homage to Him who ruleth among the nations. This is their interest as well as their duty, even in a temporal respect. Religion is not only of great advantage to society; it is its firmest pillar. Civil government could not exist among men, and far less could it gain its secondary and higher ends in promoting the public good extensively, by mere external laws and force, without the aids of religion and the secret but powerful operation of conscience. 3. That, though civil government is founded not on revealed but natural principles, yet it is the duty of nations and their rulers, who are favoured with Revealed Religion, not only to embrace it, but to recognise and give public countenance to the profession of it, and by their laws and administration to provide, in every way competent to them, consistent with its nature and peculiar laws, and the just rights and liberties of rational agents, that its salutary influence have free course, and be diffused through all orders and departments of society. Human legislation and magistratical authority have not for their direct and immediate objects supernatural doctrines and institutions, considered as such, but considered in respect of the external profession and observance of them, and of the relation in which these stand to the interests of society. Accordingly, in the exercise of their legislative authority, it is the duty of nations, or their representatives, to remove from their civil constitution whatever may be found to stand in the way of the progress of revealed religion,-to have the whole of their civil laws framed, and the whole of their administration regulated in such a manner as to be agreeable to it, and subservient to its interests,—to give decided countenance and public protection to its functionaries in the discharge of their duty, and to provide all needful legal securities in behalf of the scriptural profession of it, not only against turbulent individuals or factions, but also against all the attempts to undermine and supplant it which may be made by the rulers to whom the administration of their affairs may be entrusted. But if nations may legislate in favour of revealed religion, it follows as a native inference, that it is competent to magistrates, in whom the executive power of the nation is lodged, to exercise that power by car rying the laws thus framed into execution. The doctrine now stated, while it is consistent with the principles of sound reason, runs in accordance with the stream of approved examples, precepts, and predictions relating to this subject, to be found in the Bible. It was the doctrine held in common by the Protestant Churches, and which is applied to the national reformation and settlement of religion in our own land in the public papers of the Secession. In the Act, Declaration, and Testimony, the Associate Presbytery record and approve of the legal securities given to the Protestant and Presbyterian religion in Scotland, both in the first and second periods of our Reformation. And in their Answers to Mr. Nairn, they lay down the following proposition as the basis of their approval of our ancient civil reformation: "As it was once a peculiar duty of the Jewish nation, so it is peculiarly incumbent upon every civil state whereinto Christianity is introduced, to study and bring to pass that civil government among them, in all the appurtenances of its constitution and administration, run in an agreeabless to the word of God, be subservient to the spiritual kingdom of Jesus Christ, and to the interests of the true religion and reformation of the church; as otherwise they cannot truly prosper in their civil concerns, nor be enriched by the blessings of the gospel. This people (add they,) considered in their conjunct and political capacity (as thus only the matter is competent unto them,) should, by their deed of civil constitution, provide that their magistrates be obliged to concur in the same true religion and reformation; and to rule them by laws no way prejudicial but serviceable thereunto.” 4th, That Church and State, though specifically distinct and different in their nature, and not to be confounded in their administration, are yet capable of being mutually helpful in the advancement of objects common to both. The powers and institutions which proceed from God according to the law of nature, through the medium of society, in his moral kingdom, and those that are appointed by him in his spiritual kingdom according to to the law of supernatural revelation, must have a friendly aspect towards each other, and when they coincide and co-operate, their mutual influence must be of the most happy and beneficial kind. It has been already stated in what sense religion forms an important object of concern to nations and their governments, and it will be admitted by all, that public morals, although under a different consideration, is an object common to both societies; so that when each casts in its influence to promote that object, their co-operation must tend greatly to advance that “righteousness" which "exalteth a nation." This, however, is. to be done by them distinctly, in a consistency with the nature: of each, and in the way of pursuing their proper ends-without mixing or confounding their respective judicatories, subjecting the one to the other, or enforcing ecclesiastical censures by punishment properly so called, such as fines and imprisonment. 5th, That the due exercise of civil authority about religious matters, as above stated, does not lead to persecution for conscience sake, or to unjust and unnecessary restraint on the rights and liberties of men. To promote christianity by forcible methods is a violation of its nature. It can be productive of no good effects, either in a spiritual or political point of view: Not in a spiritual view, for force cannot reach the inward man: Not in a political point of view, for it is not the mere exterior form of religion, but the hold which it takes upon the heart, which chiefly strengthens and really improves civil society and government. Nor is it merely useless; it is productive of the most baneful effects, not only to individuals, but to the church and society at large, as the history of the church abundantly shews. Penal laws against any religious party can only be vindicated on the principle that there is something in the sentiments, spirit and conduct, of that party hostile to the general interests of society, or threatening the safety of other professors of religion, and the lawful institutions of a particular kingdom, as is the case with regard to popery. On the same principles it cannot be accounted persecution to restrain or punish the grosser violations of even the first tables of the divine law, such as blasphemy, profane swearing, and the open violation of the Sabbath by amusements or secular employments. 6th, That the doctrine respecting civil rulers contained in the Confessions of the Reformed Churches, and particularly in the Westminster Confession, can be defended on the principles of scripture and reason above stated. Whatever sense may be imposed on some expressions in it, taken by themselves, yet upon a fair and candid interpretation of the whole doctrine which it lays down upon the subject, the Westminster Confession will not be found justly chargeable with countenancing persecution for conscience sake, with subjecting matters purely religious to the cognizance of the civil magistrate, or with allowing him a supremacy over the church, or any power in it. In the 4th section of the 20th chapter, after laying down the doctrine of liberty of conscience, the Confession proceeds to guard it against abuse, first, In reference to the authority of God in his law: secondly, In reference to the authorities on earth, civil or - ecclesiastical. On the last, it mentions certain things for which persons of a certain description may be proceeded against; but the Confession does not say, that, for these things, proceedings may be instituted against good and peaceable subjects, but against those who " oppose any lawful power, or the lawful exercise of it," who "resist the ordinance of God;" which plainly implies that the Confession, in this place, refers only to persons who are chargeable with faction and violence. The intention of this section is not to lay down the extent of the provinces of these powers, but only to remove the plea of conscience, and ought to be understood in consistency with their acting each in its own province, without the one interfering with the causes which come under the cognizance of the other. In the 3d section of the 23d chapter, the compilers mention certain matters connected with the church, and of a religious nature, about which it is the duty of the magistrate (or government of a country) to employ his authority; but this part of the Confession must be understood in a consistency with other parts of it, where the freedom and independence of the church upon the powers of this world are asserted and vindicated. The magistrate must not claim a lordly supremacy over the church: "There is no head of the church but the Lord Jesus Christ." (chap. xxv. sec. 6.) He must not interfere with her internal government: "The Lord Jesus, as king and head of his church, hath therein appointed a government in the hand of church-officers, distinct from the civil magistrate;"-"to these officers the keys of the kingdom of heaven are committed" (chap. xxx. sect, i. 2.) He must not, as a magistrate, sustain himself a public judge of true or false religion, so as to dictate to his subjects in matters of faith: "It belongs to synods and councils ministerially to determine controversies of faith, and cases of conscience." (chap. xxxi. sect. 3.) Moreover, in the section now under review, the compilers of the Confession set out with declaring, that the magistrate may not take upon himself the administration of the ordinances, or any part of the government, of the church: "The civil magistrate may not assume to himself the administration of the word and sacraments, or the power of the keys of the kingdom of heaven." After these limitations and restrictions of the magistrate's power with regard to religious matters by compilers of the Confession themselves, the authority which they assign to him in this section cannot be fairly interpreted as implying a lordly supremacy over the church, an official power in the church, or a right, by virtue of his office, to dictate to his subjects in matters purely religious. To understand this section, it may be proper farther to observe, that their object was to guard equally against Erastian and Sec |