ere her procedure not according to the law of Christ, she would
act undutifully, and would give advantage to enemies to declaim against
her, to the diminution of her influence for good. Though the Church were
to declare for _The Call_, merely on the principle of expediency, but
not as if according to the will of Christ, the State would have no
proper ground for affirming, that therefore it had a right to use
patronage--its principle of expediency; for a right of the Church can
never be transferred to a civil power; yet the Church, by not
legislating on scriptural grounds, could not act in such a manner as to
deserve the recognition of her by the people as proceeding according to
her true character.

The last few years have added to the Church of Scotland a high
proportion of godly and devoted ministers. Errors, that would have been
winked at in previous periods by some in her Assemblies, have been
brought to light, and the laws of Christ's house have been brought to
bear on those who maintained them. Purity of doctrine was a jewel among
the late reforming majority. The orthodoxy of the ministers in general
of the separated Church is undoubted. She adheres to the Confession of
Faith. It is requisite that she direct a testimony against unsound
doctrine, including the errors prevalent now in Churches called
Christian; and that whatever scheme of co-operation with other
Christians she may embark in, may be consistent with her regard for the
truth.

The Headship of Christ over the nations is maintained by the Protesting
Church; on that is founded the principle of the establishment of
religion by the civil magistrate; that, was recognised in the late
contendings with the civil powers, and especially in the second series
of resolutions made at the Convocation of November; on that principle
these resolutions were carried into effect at the late disruption;--it
is desirable that, in the progress of the newly modelled community the
principle be properly applied. The important application of that, which
is now necessary, is the lifting up of a protest against the civil
power, as immoral and unscriptural, and a consistent course of procedure
in consequence. What justifies the disruption requires a dissent from
the civil power, as a power not of God. That State with which the Church
could not be connected, so as to enjoy her own privileges, cannot be the
ordinance of God. If the government has been guilty of violating the
rights a