THE SCOTCact CHURCH COMMISSION.

THE constitution of the CoOtnissi°n for inquiring into the affairs of the Church, and the means of religious instruction, in Scotland, has given dissatisfaction and occasioned alarms-not to any extent which deserves to be counted national, as the Standard implies,

but to the

parties, certainlY, who are petitioners to the Legislature for a grant of public money e.. feeling

in aid of the fonds of the Establishment. The prevalence of thi

may be judged of from the fact, that the following res.:eution was adopted in the Commission of the Ge-

neral Assetn" • .ity of the Scottish Church, sitting at Edinburgh on the 130-

„ instant, by a majority of no fewer than 90 to 3.

• allot the Commission of the General Assembly feel it inciiinbent then In

Church of Scull'!1., :o state to the Go.

the discharge of their duty to the

veronica tht :Ley entertain of the constitution of the Commi,sion! that they do not consider it entirely friendly to the Church, individual members having publicly professed opposition to the connexion between Church and State: and further, that with few exceptions, it does not contain the names of individuals of experience, or men interested in the Church : and that on those grounds the Commission is not entitled to the confidence of the Church."

There is perhaps some ground for the complaint that the best men have not in every instance been selected for the office of Commissioner. The Courier remarks, that Mr. Emma MEN- TEATH and Professor Sir WILLIAM HAMILTON ought not to have been excluded from taking part in the inquiry ; and there is no question but that Mr. ROGER AYTON (unless his faculties have suffered an eclipse since the date of a very high compliment paid to him by the Lord President) would have made an excellent Secre- tary to the Commission, a principal part of whose duties is the in- vestigation of the difficult subject of teinds—the tithes of Scotland. On one ground only it may have been an imprudence to prefer Mr. LOGAN ILO Mr. AYTON,—Dr. MACFARLANE, W110 m()vel the resolution we have quoted, especially objected to MeLoe AN fir his exertions against the Church as a law agent in the matter of the Annuity Tax: for all that, what should hinder him to discharge his new duties faithfully and well? One of the Commissioners, Mr. HORSMAN, is, it seems, a nephew of Sir Josue DALRYMPLE; but Dr. MACFARLANE, who tried his hand at dissecting the Com- mission d la LYNDHURST, did not find fault with him on that ac- count, though he insinuated that Mr. Reassume owed his ap- pointment to the connexion, but said that lie was too young for the office. Mr. BAXTER had speculative doubts as to the wisdom of continuing the connexion between Church and State; Mr. Rein had signed a requisition for a meeting to petition against it ; Mr. Dieic is a Dissenter. Behold the sum of the objections! Had the Commissioners been chosen entirely and exclusively with a view to the complete and impartial performance of the duties assigned to them, and without reference to political party or official influence either in London or Edinburgh, the persons who now denounce the constitution of the Commission would still have grumbled. Dr. MACFARLANE and his sup- porters demand that the Commission of Inquiry should be com- posed of men who have already made up their minds on the subject matter of investigation. They complain, in the words of their resolution, that the Commission is " not entirely friendly to the Church." They seem to forget that the question at issue is one which interests the People of the United Kingdom of all religious denominations, whose pecuniary assistance they solicit; that if there is an Established Church in Scotland, there is a numerous, influential, and, from the soreness displayed by the Clergy and their adherents, we suspect an increasing body of Dissenters ; and that many even of the reputed friends of the Establishment doubt the policy and the justice of the claim for a grant of public money, in the present state of popular feeling regarding the connexion of the Church with the State.

To use the vulgar but expressive Yankee phrase, now so much in vogue, a man must " go the whole hog " with the Church party —as distinguished from the sincere members of the Church—or he

is proscribed and denounced as its enemy, and declared unworthy of employment by the Government of the day, in any matter con- cerning the Establishment which calls itself national. In proof of this, we may refer to what fell from Dr. MACFARLANE when speaking of Mr. HENRY BAXTER-

" The next individual was a Mr. Baxter ; of whom he might state, that he had passed advocate only the year before the other [Mr. Horsnianj, and he might therefore take it for granted that he was about the same age with the other. But he had another objection. The reverend Doctor then read from the Scottish Guardian a letter addressed by Mr. Baxter to the Town-Council of Forfar, declining to be returned a member of the Assembly, on the ground that his mind was not made up as to the propriety of continuing the connexion between Church and State, and that he objected to additional endowments to the Church. It was not necessary for him to say a word in addition. The letter dearly showed that this individual was unfriendly to a civil establishment of religion, and that he would go into the Commission with a biassed mind." Now we learn from the Scotsman, that Mr. BAXTER is a barrister of seven years' standing, and considerable practice: without the help of that journal we can reckon his years to be between thirty and forty—he is in the prime of life there- fore; and though the Doctor speaks of him as a Mr. BAXTER, he is by no means an insignificant or an unknown person,—being a gentleman of most respectable station independent of his profes- sional rank, and having been a lay member 'for Forfar in that As- sembly in which Dr. MACFARLANE has pushed himself promi- nently forward. We subjoin some passa Dr. MACFARLANE read; in order that it from the letter it racy be seen "which what e manner of man he is" whom the Scottish Church p,.''HYdeern in- capable of executing properly the duties of a Comm.: 410 ue,_rof Statistical Inquiry. After alluding to his former services as. leal7 Elder for Forfar in the General Assembly, and intimating that be should again have been elected (of which there is no doubt) had he thought it right to undertake the duties of the Eldership, Mr. BAXTER goes on to explain his reasons for declining a reelection-- whether a State provision for the Church of Scotland ix to be maintained tinder stances of the times appear to me to bring out the question, whether a provision ell circumstances of religious opinion and public iatelligeuce. The circum- for the Church out of the funds of the State is, or is not, to be considered as an article of religious creed, or a permanent and ultimate principle of civil govern- ment. I speak of the tendencies of measures, and the ultimate principles in- volved in the acts of the day ; and viewing the present as fixing the character templates the necessity of additional provision fur the Church out of the funds of the future, I conceive that the proposed additional endowmeuts of the Church, recommended by the General Assembly, and now supported by his Majesty's I um unable to place on any other footing the policy of a measure which con- of the nation, under the circumstances of the present times.

opinions on which the proposed measures of the Government appear to be founded.

Government, rest on the affirmation of the proposition which I have stated. I am to the imminent danger of any rash or inconsiderate dealing with the re- ligious interests of the people of Scotland. Let us not forget the debt which this country owes to the Church of Scotland for her services in times past, nor shut our eyes to the fact that she is the instrument of great good in our day and generation. I am anxious to uphold the Church of Scotland, as at present en- dowed, and to render her if possible more useful. But I hold no opinion, and I shall do no act, which shall debar me from considering, at proper time and season, whether the Church of Scotland will not best consult the true interests of religion by throwing herself more and more on the gratuitous offerings of the "I conceive that the time has now come when we are caWd on to determine fi After mature consideration,1 am not prepared to say that I hold the

fi On the other hand, permit mete say, that no one can be more alive than people.

" I think it right to add,in explanation of my views, that were any attempt now made on the temporalities of the Church, I should, as an individual, oppose it. Whether a time may ever come at which such a measure may be resorted tovith safety, must depend on the future aspect and disposition of the religious mold."

Now we ask any candid person to read this letter, and to say whether the author of it does not appear to be (as in point of fact we know him to bo) one who is preeminently calculated for carry- ing on a candid, conscientious, and scrupulous inquiry into the means of religious instruction afforded by the Church of Scotland to the Scottish People ? Yet this very letter, which carries the conviction of intellectual ability and moral fitness to the rest of the world, is adduced by Dr. MACFARLANE as proof of Mr. BAX- TER'S unfitness for the office of Commissioner! How ate the Doctor and his accomplices to be satisfied, except by the appoint- ment of their own bigoted partisans ? We by no means impute to all the members who voted with Dr. MACFARLANE the motives by which there is good reason to be- lieve that the Doctor was actuated,—namely, political animosities, fully as much as purely religious zeal. On the contrary, we are inclined to think, that had no more valid objection been adduced against any of the members of the Commission than is supplied against Mr. BAXTER by that gentleman's own letter, the minority which voted with Sir JAMES Guises; CRAIG would have been much larger. That politics had much to do with Dr. MACFARLANE'S opposition to the Commission, is evident from the whole tone of iris speech,—especially that part of it which has reference to the reform of the Irish Church; which, because it is an Establish- nient, Dr. MACFARLANE would preserve in defiance of the Irish jet Ade- These were times in which the strangest notions were afloat ; and subjects which a few years ago were considered settled were now keenly agitated ; and not only were such notions abroad, but the House of Commons had come to a resolution with respect to a neighbouring Church, which struck at the rout not only of that, but of all other religious establishments. They had come to the resolution, and they had come to it in cold blond, that where there were no Pro- testants, or where there were few, they would withdraw the Protestant minis- trations; that where the darkness of Popery had begun [begun!] to pervade the land, they would withdraw the last feeble glimmering light of Protestant- ism. Not only would they make no effort to rescue the poor, degruled, and spiritually enslaved Irish, but they resolved to take away the only machinery— imperfect though it was—by which their fetters might be removed, and they might come to liberty, and happiness, and moral excellence."

The misrepresentation of the Irish Church Bill contained in these sentences is gross, and reveals the animus by which the Doctor is actuated.

It is to be remembered, that the Commissioners are pot called upon to give any opinion as to the efficacy or inefficiency of the Voluntary principle for the support of religion; but are required to ascertain and report certain facts, which are to serve as data for the House of Commons to determine whether or not a pertain sum, belonging to the Catholics of Ireland and the Independents of England fully as much as to the Churchmen of Scotland, is to be voted for the purpose of building places of worship in the last- named country. An honest and intelligent person, well acquainted with the law of Scotland in relation to Church property, is, what- ever may be his personal religious opinions, the right sort of man to be employed. If he is young and active, so much the better: it is net necessary that he should be a lawyer in the highest prac- tice, for such a one would hardly pay the requisite attention to the wintry : it is proper that he should not be noted as a busy and prejudiced partisan-agent, for in that case little credit would be attached even to his most studiously accurate reports : but it is absurd to expect that any person well qualified to perform the re- quired service will be found, who has not some bias, who has not formed some opinion on the subject of inquiry. Out of eleven Commissioners ten are Churchmen; and, considering the num- bers of the Scottish Dissenters, and that their money is pro- posed to be voted away, it seems to us that they are not too fully represented by one member in the Commission. It is fine to talk about the obligation of Ministers to support the Established religion. No Minister can be ignorant of what is expected from him in this respect; but at the same time, no lilinibter cite venture to bear hard upon the Dissenters, who ic

to half the population.

Great Britain alone approach very near, , for the support To pretend that the question of taxing the poit.- '^h. is an of the Church is one which only concerns that Chutc.., s

absurd falsehood. Even those Dissenters who wish the Esta- blishment to remain undisturbed, refuse to give it more money— at least until they are satisfied that such assistance has really become necessary, and that the legitimate funds of the Church have been fairly used up. To neglect the remonstrances of the Dissenters, and legislate for the Church as if there were no such thing as Nonconformity, would be little less than idiocy.