SCOTLAND.

The Convocation of Nonintrusionist Ministers, at Edinburgh, closed its proceedings with a public meeting on Thursday week, in order to explain the course that had been adopted. The information was not very precise. Dr. Clason intimated that 479 ministers had attended the Convocation, and that in general great harmony had obtained. There were two sets of resolutions proposed ; for the first of which 427 voted, and the second was carried with equal unanimity and cordiality. Dr. Candlish made a statement, in the course of which he remarked, that the two sets of resolutions were rather long, and they would be more calmly considered by his friends and brethren when reading them at leisure ; and therefore he should not call on the meeting assembled to sympathize with the Convocation. After a few preliminary observations he proceeded thus- " I cannot resist the temptation, at the outset, of repeating my own humble sense of the manifest interposition of Almighty God in the proceedings of the Convocation. It is not my business to detail any thing which took place in the Convocation. The consultations of the meeting were friendly and confidential, and it is only with the result of these consultations that I am about to trouble you. But, without betraying confidence, and without saying any thing that can at all reflect upon any member of the Convocation,—hut in the way of suitably acknowledging the good providence of God, and the manifested ap- pearance of his Holy Spirit on more than.one occasion,—I may be permitted to remark, that at several times, as was to be expected in a meeting consisting of men compassed about with infirmities, men of sinful lips, and dwelling among people of unclean lips—I say that once and again it did seem as if the elements of discord were about to be sown among us—as if Satan had got an advantage— as if we were on the very brink of something unseemly : and yet I will be borne out in what I say by my fathers and brothers, when I bear my record= Not unto us, 0 Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name be the glory '—that never, never on any occasion was the spirit of brotherly love, the spirit of Christian unity, more signally manifested, than just immediately after such scenes of temptation and trial: and in those scenes I cannot but recognize the good hand of God upon us, encouraging us to go forward in his good and holy work, what- ever trials and persecutions may yet await us."

Things, however, "did pass at the Convocation which were capable of misrepresentation and perversion "-

" Had we one to interpret such scenes as those to which I have referred, what we are to augur from these I cannot say. It were not surprising, that, instead of laying to heart the solemn views addressed to them by so many servants of the Lord, with one consent, and without ultimately any difference of opinion—it may be that those who are set against the Church may still be infatuated, and blinded. and encouraged by incidents, distorted and perverted, to persevere in their mad course. It so, the end of Satan, so far as outward cir- cumstances are concerned, may seem to be accomplished. If this was his design, he may seem to have triumphed, as far as the outward position of the Church is concerned. But the good Spirit of the Lord has signally disappointed him in all that really concerns the interests of the Church of Christ. The good Spirit of the Lord has enabled the brethren, met in solemn convocation, to lift up a calm, clear, and consistent testimony in behalf of the truth of God as re- gards the crown of our Redeemer : and they were of one mind and one heart, not to anticipate Providence, not to make haste, but to stand still and await the salvation of the Lord, whether our deliverance is to come from the temporal power, or whether it is to come, as it has oftdn come in days past in the midst of persecution by the temporal power, from the hand of the Lord us an expected end."

The Church had always acknowledged to a certain extent the fact that the law did not recognize the rejection of the presentee, and in that sense it did not allow the decision of the Church to be followed by civil consequences : but the recent decision on the Auchterarder case went much further, and made out that the rejection of a presentee by tbe dis- sent of the people was a civil wrong. The question which the Convo- cation had to take up was, not the best or the worst remedy, but the kind of remedy which they thought would meet the grievance. Hence the resolutions-

" The first series of resolutions brings out the right of the Lord Jesus to require from his Church, implicit, unreserved, absolute submission to his au- thority—to his laws—irrespective of any thing the civil magistrate or the temporal powers may say or do. In other words, this first principle brings out the right of Christ to the submission, absolute and unreserved, of all his servants in the Church, whether office-bearers or members, to him and to

him alone, without regard to the declaratione of the kings and princes of the earth. The second series of resolutions brings out the right of the Lord Jesus Christ to be acknowledged by the civil magistrate, as such, as the Prince of the kings of the earth; his right weal' upon the civil magistrate, as such, and in his official capacity to acknowledge him, and to devote the national resources to the advancement of his glory and the good of Lis Church."

The meeting separated without being called upon for any expression of opinion. The following are the resolutions adopted by the Convocation-

" First Series of Resolutions passed by the Convocation of Ministers, on Satur- day the 19th November 1842, and concurred in by 427 ministers. .1. That according to the recent, and, as it appears to this Convocation, un- constitutional decisions of the Supreme Civil Courts, and the interpretation which theserdecisions, if allowed or sanctioned by the supreme power in the state, would put upon the civil law—the obligation to receive and admit a qua- lified presentee, imposed by the law of patronage on the Presbyteries of the Church, is a civil obligation, such as may be enforced by the ordinary compul- sations of civil law ; and, in particular, that the rejection of a presentee in re- fpect of the dissent of the congregation, according to the fundamental prin- ciple and law of the Church, is not merely an act to which the Civil Courts may refuse to give civil effect, but is in itself a civil wrong or offence, which may be dealt with accordingly by the Civil Courts. "2. That other decisions of the Civil Courts, and in particular the decision of the Lord Ordinary in the case of the deposition of the Strathbogie minis- ters, imply an assumption of a jurisdiction in the most sacred functions of the worship and government of the Church, especially in the matter of the depo- sition of ministers, to the effect of reducing the sentences of Spiritual Courts in the t xercise of discipline over ministers and members of the Church.

3. That these claims to jurisdiction in spiritual matters on the part of the Civil Courts are based chiefly, if not altogether, upon the act of Queen Anne restoring patronage; an act from the first unjustifiable, and recently interpreted in a sense to which the Church cannot conscientiously submit, and to which she cannot consent to accommodate her ecclesiastical procedure.

.4. That as the principle involved in these decisions, and particularly in the recent Auchterarder judgment, is that of the supremacy of the Civil Courts over those of the Established Church in the exercise of their spiritual functions, so the members of the Convocation declare that no measure can in conscience be submitted to by them which does not effectually protect the Church against the exercise of such jurisdiction by the Civil Courts in time to come, and in particular fully prevent all future encroachments of the nature specified in the preceding resolutions. "fl. That, in all their past contendings the members of this Convocation have been actuated, and they trust that in all their future proceedings they will continue to be actuated, by a deep conviction of the value and excellence of the civil and ecclesiastical constitution under which they live ; and that one of the chief causes of their present anxiety arises out of their impression that the tendency and inevitable result of the recent decisions of the Civil Courts, especially if these shall be finally sanctioned as the law of the land, must be as entirely subversive of the constitution as it is repugnant to the principles of this Church and the consciences of her office-bearers.

Second Series of Resolutions passed by the Convocation of Ministers on Tuesday the 22d November 1842, and concurred in by 354 Ministers. .1. That while the Church most solemnly protests against the invasion of her jurisdiction by the Civil Courts, as contrary to the Word of God, the Confession of Faith, and the Constitution of this kingdom ; and while, in particular, she is entitled, in the judgment of the brethren now assembled, to declare, as the General Assembly in the Claim of Rights has declared, that the assumption by the Civil Courts of authority in matters spiritual, and especially in the ordina- tion, admission, or deposition of ministers, and the other proceedings there set forth, is in violation of the law establishing the Church, which was made un- alterable by the Act of Security and the lreaty of Union ; and that whatever is done in the exercise of that assumed authority ought therefore to be held, as in right or de jure it is, null and void and of no effect; still, whatever the nation in these circumstances might do, it is not the duty uf the Church, as a kingdom not of this world, which has not and cannot have any power of the sword, or any secular dominion whatever, to plead her title thus acquired and secured to the temporal benefits of her establishment, in opposition or resistance to the supreme power of the State, except in the way of remonstrance, protest, and serious warning.

" 2. That as, on the other hand, it is the bounden duty of the Church and of her faithful ministers to represent to the Supreme Power of the State the nature of the invasions of the Civil Courts upon the spiritual province, so, on the other hand, the refusal, on the part of the State, of such a remedy as has been declared indispensable to meet the emergency, cannot be otherwise con- strued than as being a recognition and sanction by the State of the principle which the decisions of the Civil Courts involve.

"3. That the brethren now assembled fully recognize the intrinsic autho- rity and final jurisdiction of the Civil Magistrate, or the Supreme Power of the State, in the exercise of all civil functions, and in the discharge of all the duty which he owes towards the Church of Christ. And in particular, they acknowledge the right of the Civil Magistrate to fix the terms on which he will establish the Church, as a right which he is to use on his own responsi- bility, and in the use of which the Church is not entitled to resist him. And hence, accordingly, as the Church being essentially independent of the Civil Magistrate in her spiritual province, is not bound and is not at liberty to con- form her procedure in the government of Christ's house to the orders of the State, or of any Courts of the State, against her convictions of duty founded on the Word of God, so neither is she warranted in prescribing to the Civil Magistrate, or requiring him to act according to her views, whether in the ad- ministration of civil affairs generally, or in what he does towards religion or about things sacred, as in his giving to the Church or withholding from her the cavil countenance and support ; nor may the Church resist his determination in these matters, since in both departments of his duty the Civil Magistrate is always bound to act according to his own conscience, under the rule of the Word of God, and on his own responsibility to God. "4. That it is the duty of the faithful ministers of this Church not to Continue to receive the endowments or emoluments secured to them by the eicil law, or to involve themselves in the manifold inconveniences and serious evils of a protracted struggle with the civil power, after it shall appear. that the Supreme Power of the State, by refusing to relieve them from interference of the Civil Court in things spiritual, does thereby substantially and effectually sanction the condition which the Civil Courts would attach to their holding of these endowments or emoluments, and to which they never can submit or yield Obedience, viz, the condition of subjection to civil control in matters spiritual, and of being bound, against their consciences, to intrude ministers upon re- claiming congregations. "5. That it is the duty of the ministers now assembled, and of all who ad- here to their views, to make a solemn representation to her Majesty's Govern- ment and to both Houses of Parliament, setting forth the imminent and ex- treme peril of the Establishment, the inestimable value of the benefits which it confers on the country, and the pain and reluctance with which they are forced to contemplate the possibility of the Church's separation, for conscience mike, from the State; respectfully calling upon the rulers of this nation to main- tain the constitution of the kingdom inviolate, and to uphold a pure establish- ment of religion in the land ; and finally intimating, that, as the endowments of the Church are undoubtedly at the disposal of the Supreme Power of the State, with whom it rests either to continue to the Church her possession of them, free from any limitation of her spiritual jurisdiction and freedom, or to withdraw them altogether, so it must be the duty of the Church, and conse- quently, in dependence on the grace of God, it is the determination of the brethren now assembled, if no measure such as they have declared to be indis- pensable be granted, to tender the resignation of those civil advantages which • they can no longer bold in consistency with the free and full exercise of their spiritual functions, and to cast themselves on such provision as God in his providence may afford ; maintaining still uncompromised the principle of a right Scriptural connexion between the Church and the State, and solemnly enteritg their protest against the judgments of which they complain, as in their de- cided opinion altogether contrary to what has ever hitherto been underswodito be the law and constitution of this country."

[Twenty-one of the above 354 adherents added the following explanation to their concurrence-

" While disagreeing with the doctrine which seems implied in the resolutions, that the silence of the Legislature constitutes an obligation in our consciences to regard the terms of compact between Church and State as altered, we adhere in so far that the silence of the Legislature, after a reasonable time, will, on the ground of Christian expediency, oblige us to leave the Establishment."] The Edinburgh Advertiser thus analyzes the votes on the two sets of resolutions- " With regard to the composition of the Conference, more precise informa- tion is now obtained. The Witness vaguely reckons that 330 endowed clergy attended ; which would leave 149 (tumid sacra and Parliamentary ministers present. The first series of resolutions are said to have been concurred in by 427 ministers ; leaving 52 who did not concur. The second series were concur- red in by only 354 ministers; of whom 21 partially dissented. It thus appears, that when the question of surrendering the temporalities came to be adjusted, no fewer than 125 disappeared ; and 73 who had concurred in the first series, when there was no question of secession, refused to concur in the second. It is also a little remarkable, that of the 354, only about 230 were parish-minis- ters; leaving 124 guoad sacra and Parliamentary, who heroically resolved to surrender emoluments which they do not enjoy, and to separate from the State, with which they hare no legal connexion. Moreover, if the total number of parish-ministers was 330, as the Witness calculates, the hearts of 100 of them seem to have failed when the alternative came to be renouncing the endow- ments. These are significant facts, and corroborated the report that the pro- ceedings of the Convocation were far from being unanimous."

At a meeting of the Merchant Company of Edinburgh, on Friday, it was resolved by acclamation to hold another meeting on Friday the 2d instant, to consider a petition for the cessation of the Income-tax at the close of its first year, on the 5th of April ; on the ground that it is rendered unnncessary by the termination of the wars in India and China, and the payment of the Chinese subsidy.

Of the state of destitution at Paisley, the Glasgow Argus says—" By the official report issued last week by the Relief Committee, it appears that the nuniber of persons on their list is again swollen up to 8,626, being an increase of upwards of 600 since the issue of the last notice. But, be- sides this increase in the list, we are aware that a great number of ap- plicants have been put off till the Committee can obtain funds that will enable them to relieve them ; and, in addition to the increase in Paisley, the villages of Barrhead and Kilbarchan have again broken down, and a considerable number of the inhabitants have thrown themselves on the County Committee for support." The Argus says that the news from China is not expected to benefit Paisley.