The Established Church of Scotland.

New Zealander, Volume 7, Issue 524, 23 April 1851, Page 3

The Established Church of Scotland.

"TO THE aUECN's MOST EXCELLENT MAJBSTT. " May it please your Majesty, " We, your Majesty's dutiful and loyal suhjecti, the ministers and elders of the Church of Scotland, codvened as the Commission of tl.e lute General Atietnbly, feel it to he alike our duty and our privilege, iti the circumsuuicei under which we are at this time met, to renew the expression of our deroted and unalterable attachment to your Mujesty's period and Government, aud to those fundameutal principles of the Protestant f»ii)>, the only firm basis of our liberties, ciril and

religious, for the upholding of which your Majesty's augu*t f\mily was ca'lcd to the thronr of these realms. "We account it our peculiar felicity for which we are required to abound in thanksgiving to the Supreme Ruler of heaven and earth, tint ii is the principle of the Revolution Settlement, and a principle which wo feel assured that it is the firnt wish of your JVjßJeuty's heart to maintain in uninpured integrity, to make pro* vision for the instruction of nil in the pare and unx I adulterated truths ef the Gospel, at the same time that, in the genuine charity of the Gospel, it reserves to all the free exercise of the legitimate rights of conscience. Cherishing the most profound veneration for this happy constitution in Church and State, and rejoicing in the dispensation of Providence which hat entrusted it to the guardianship of your Majesty, we hare witnessed with feelings of deep indignation the recent audacious proceeding of the Bishop of Rome, in pretending to confer upon the higher clergy of the Romish co'nmunion in this country territorial rank and administration, —a proceeding equally incompatible with the just rights of your Majesty, as the fountain of honour nnd dignity to your subjects, and subversive of the distinction winch the (ruth itself requires u» to main'ain between toleration and establishment,— between our mere sufferance of whal we conscientiously hold to be error, and our cordial approval and solemn ratifica* tion of what we devoutly believe to be the pure faith of the Gospel ol Christ. " Wink we did not require the ample and daily accumulntins proofs wlmh this aggression has called forth, of the fit in determination of your M<ije-.ty, and of all classes of your Protestant subjects, to maintain inviolate the hereditary dignity of the British Crown, the just interests of our Reformed faith, and the many other invaluable liberties and privileges enjoyed by us, we rejoire that these proofs should be given, and thac it should be thus made manifest to the world that, while we are ever disposed, as becomes a Protestant nation, to cherish the mild and tolerant spirit of our holy religion, we are yet jealous for the conservation of our rightful Christian. Independence. It is, at the same time, our earnest and fervent prayer to Almighty God, that the blow which has been now aimed at our Protestant Institutions, though happily by a palsied hand, may have the further effect of Btitrinc up the Protestant churches of the country to redouble their diligence in the ministry which has beeu committed to them, and that, under the fostering care of your Majesty, their labours in disseminating the saving knowledge ot Divine truth may be abundantly blessed to the whole bo'ly of youi 1 people. '» Fi i 1i 1 ourselves, we trust it will be our anxious endeavour, iti humble dependence on the, aids of divins grace, by the exercise of our ministry as well from house to house as in the courts of the sanctuary, to overtake the cultivation of whatever waste places yet remain in the field ot labour assigned to us, and to make tffectual pr ivision for commending the Gospel of our Cod and Saviour to the hearts and consciences of tali for whose souls we have been appointed to> watch. From your Majesty's personal knowledge of the pure Scriptural principles, the efficient parochial economy, and the simple and impressive ritual of our Nnticmtl Church, we rejoice to believe that you will cordially sympathise with m in the assured hope th»t, »f we shall be enabled to minister to all classes of the community— to the youth as well as to the adult of these classes—in the full measure of the requirements of her standards, and in the earnest and affectionate spirit which those standards inculcate, the result cannot but tend to promote the glory of the Supreme riead and Governor of the Church, in the maintemnce of the liberty wherewith He has made His people free, in the security and stability of your Majesty's constitutional throne, and in the growth and confirmation of a national character, deriving iti nourishment and strength from the lirely oraclei giren by inspiration of God, " That the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ may bestow, abundantly, on your Majesty, your Royal Consort Prince Albert, Albert Prince of Wales, and all the members of your Royal House, every temporal and spiritual blessing ;•— that He may prolong your Majesty's happy reign, and render it more and more conducive to the advancement of the best interests ot your people, and to the establishment of His own spiritual kingdom in the earth ; — that he may cause to descend to latest generations, in the line of your august family, deeply imbued with the sound Protestant principles which so eminently characterise your MaJßHty, the imperial Crown of these realms r and that when all earthly distinctions shall have for ever ceased, your Majesty and those given to you may have awarded to you by the Supreme Judge of the quick and the dead, an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadetb. not away, is the earnest prayer of •• May it please your Majesty, your Majesty's most faithful, obedient, and loyal subjects, the Ministers and Elders convened in the Commission of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. 1 '