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APPENDIX C
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faith on the name of Jesus, crying mightily to Him day and night, that He
would fulfill His faithfulness to that name-it hath pleased Him to give to
some of us, in my church, this baptism, with its sign of speaking in
unknown tongues, and with its substance of prophesying; and I, as His
dutiful minister, standing in this room, responsible (as ye all are) to
Him, have not dared to believe that, when we prayed to God for bread, He
would give us a stone; that when we asked for a fish, He would send us a
serpent; but believing that He is faithful who has promised, and trying
the thing given by test of the Holy Scriptures, and the testimony of God
in my own conscience, and in that of His people, and having thus been
satisfied of the truth of the manifestations, I have not dared to put it
to silence, as being the thing witnessed in the Holy Scriptures; and have
ordered it, as I can show, in nothing contrary to the standards of the
Church. Yet, because I would not put my hand on it to suppress the voice
of the Spirit against the conscience, both of myself and also of most of
my people, against my sense of duty, against the Word of God, against the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ-because I would not suppress this at once
with a high hand-for these reasons am I called in question before you. "
This is a matter of high import; this is a matter of great concernment.
Mlay the Lord give me grace to open it in order; may the Lord also give me
strength to sustain the burden of so great a cause; and may the Lord give
me wisdom in my words, that I may utter nothing which may be a
stumbling-block to the least of these little ones; that I may give no
offense-no needless offense-to any of His enemies; but that I may order my
discourse in the same manner as my Lord would have done, standing in my
room. Yea, do thou, Lord Jesus, speak through thy servant, and enable him
to set forth the very truth of God. "That I may lay this case rightly
before this court, and in. order, this method presents itself to my mind:
"First, As I am to justify the thing which I have done, it is needfal to
show the grounds on which I did it; and to show the grounds on which I did
it, it is needful to show the thing in the Word of God, which I believe
God has given us. This is the first thing I must do; for even the heathen
could say' that the song and the discourse should begin from God.' Next,
It is needful that I show you that the thing which we have received is the
very thing contained in the Word of God, and held out to the hope and
expectation of the Church of God —yea, of every baptized man. Thirdly,
That I show you how I have ordered it, as the minister of the Church; and
show also that the way in which I have ordered it is according to the Word
of God, and in nothing contradictory to the standards of the Church of
Scotland. Fourthly, To speak a little concerning the use of the gifts.
And, finally, To show how we stand as parties, and how the case stands
before this court; and then I shall leave it to the judgment of you, and
of all here present. "I read it in the Gospels-and it is in all the four
Gospels-that John the Baptist spoke the following words:' I, indeed,
baptize you with water unto repentance; but He that cometh after me is
mightier than I, whose shoes I am-not worthy to bear; He shall baptize you
with the Holy Ghost and with fire.' Now, in the beginning of the Acts of
the Apostles, I find it thus written:'And being assembled together with
them, He commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but
wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith He, ye have heard of me;
for John truly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy
Ghost not many days hence.' We have here this message from God by the
mouth of the Baptist, that Jesus was He who should baptize with the Holy
Ghost; that that was the end of His coming; and we have here also the
declaration from the mouth of Jesus Himself, after His resurrection, that
He had not done that in the days of His flesh, neither
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APPENDICES. between His resurrection and ascension, but that He was to do
it not many days hence, when He was ascended into glory. The baptism of
the Holy Ghost, therefore, is a thing which was not by Jesus in His
ministry while on earth accomplished, nor by His teaching while on earth
accomplished; but it was accomplished when He had ascended up on high, not
many days thereafter. On the day of Pentecost, as we see in the second of
Acts, was it accomplished; and here is the description of it:'And when the
day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one
place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty
wind, and it filled the house where they were sitting. And there appeared
unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them;
and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with
other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.' Here is the baptism
with the Holy Ghost which Jesus promised to them when He should go to the
Father; and the way in which it was manifested was the speaking with other
tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. " Now Peter, when preaching on
that occasion to the people, said to them these words:'Therefore, being by
the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the
promise of the Holy Ghost;' that is, what he directed their attention to
when he said,'Wait for the promise of the Father, and ye shall be baptized
with the Holy Ghost;' being, he says,'by the right hand of God exalted,
and having received this promise, He hath shed forth this that ye now see'
in these men' and hear' in these men, speaking with other tongues, and
magnifying God. " The effect of this discourse on the people is thus
described:'Now, when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart,
and said unto Peter, and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren,
what shall we do?' Peter having said to them that Jesus, who had just
ascended to the Father, had now shed down the gift of the Holy Ghost on
His Church, which ye now see and hear, says to all people,'Repent and be
baptized, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost;' the same thing
He had been discoursing of, and to which their attention had been drawn by
the outpouring of the Spirit, and speaking in the midst of them. And if ye
were in like manner exercised, when ye hear in the Church, speaking with
tongues and magnifying Godand ye never hear them do any thing else in my
Church than speaking with tongues and magnifying God-ye would hear the
word of truth saying to yourselves,' Repent and be baptized, every one of
you, for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gifts of the Holy
Ghost.' We have all been baptized, and it is our privilege to be baptized
with the Holy Ghost and with fire; otherwise Peter held out a false
message, and preached a false Gospel, and connected a false benefit with
baptism; for he promised it distinctly to all. If Christian baptism be
that which Peter on the day of Pentecost set forth, preached, and
ministered, every baptized person is privileged to expect, and ought to
possess, and, through faith, shall receive, the gift of the Holy Ghost;'
for the promise is to you, and to your children, and to all;' not to this
generation only, but to another, and another, and another; for, it is
added,' to them that are afar off,' Gentiles as well as Jews; Jews at
hand, Gentiles afar off; yea,'even to as many,' without exception,'as the
Lord our God shall call.' Ye are called; ye are called by the ministry of
the Gospel. We are all called; we are all baptized with the baptism which
Peter preached; for there is no other. Jesus had commanded Peter and the
apostles to go forth into all nations, and preach the Gospel to every
creature, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Ghost. Peter obeyed that commandment, and, in obeying it, said,' Ye shall
receive the gift of the Holy Ghost; for the promise is unto you, and to
your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our
God shall call.' But Peter's words are only a quotation, a part of the
text of his discourse. The text is taken
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C. 573 from Joel; and in the conclusion of his discourse, he embodies the
text to his people, referring them to their own prophets; for he was
speaking to them that believed the prophets. Peter knew himself to be a
man of no reputation, and despised among them. He could say nothing of his
own authority. He therefore directed their attention to their own
prophets, and he referred them to the prophecy of Joel, as containing the
promise of the outpouring of the Spirit, and assured them, in the words of
Joel, that it should be fulfilled in those days. Now, what is the promise
of Joel?'And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out my
spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
your old men shall dream dreams, ~your young men shall see visions; and
also upon the servants, and upon the handmaidens in those days' (twice
over you have here repeated daughters and handmaidens)'will I pour out my
Spirit.' He taketh the first words of that text,'Your sons and your
daughters shall prophesy,' and tells them,'the promise is to you and to
your children;' and he taketh the last words of it,'As many as the Lord
our God shall call;' and so, knitting them both in one, he projects it on
baptism, and binds the prophecy of Joel to baptism. And I say that every
baptized person is privileged t;o possess this gift, and is responsible
for it, and will possess it through faith in God; and only does not
possess it because he hath rejected the promise of God, and turneth away
from it. I say it is knit unto baptism-it is the rubric of baptism. And no
minister baptizeth in the manner Peter baptized who doth not hold out to
the baptized person not only the remission of sins, but also the gift of
the Holy Ghost, as set forth in that promise of Joel, which is to' as many
as the Lord your God shall call.' Brethren,. this is for the conscience;
it is not for the members of the body, for the feet, nor for the hands,
but for the conscience of men. " Now, sir, it is about four or five years
ago, very soon after we entered the National Scotch Church-I think
immediately before the first sacrament therein; for the last thing we did
in the Caledonian Church was to administer the Lord's Supper-and
immediately befoie the next ordinance in November, that I was called, I
felt called upon to open to the people the subject of the sacraments, in
order to prepare them with due knowledge for sitting down at the Lord's
table; and so far back as that time I opened to them what I now open in
your hearing, and in the hearing of this court; and I gave it as my
judgment before them.all, that every one of us is responsible for the
baptism of the Holy Ghost, in all the fullness in which it was
administered by Jesus on the day of Pentecost, and in all the fullness
contained in that name of Baptizer with the Holy Ghost. "' What would ye
say if any one were to stand up and reason thus:' Yea, John the Baptist
said of Jesus, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the
world. No doubt Jesus was the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the
world. He was so for one or two generations, but he is so no longer.' And
what do ye say now to those who reason in this manner, and who affirm,
after John the Baptist announced the same Jesus as He who baptizeth with
the Holy Ghost, and after Jesus Himself had turned the attention of His
disciples to the thing that was to be fulfilled not many days hence, as
the baptism with the Holy Ghost (and when that baptism took place, it was
with speaking with tongues and prophesying on the day of Pentecost; and
Peter, thereupon, baptizing with water, gave the promise of it to the
whole Church)-what say ye to those who say,'Oh, yes, he was the baptizer
with the Holy Ghost, in that kind for one century or two, but he is no
longer so now?' What do I say to them but that they are deniers of the
name of Jesus? And if they repent not, now that Jesus is manifesting
Himself by this name, His judgments will alight on their heads. "This was
several years before any manifestations appeared; and as the Lord or.
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APPENDICES. dered, that book containing the Homilies on Baptism was
printed, and was before the Church several years before any manifestations
appeared, clearly showing you that it was a conviction of my own soul,
gathered from the Word of God, and preached publicly in the whole
congregation, and the whole congregation entreated faithfully to give heed
to it. Now I need not go into other scriptures in order to confirm what I
have now said, because, a thing coming forth fiom the mouth of the
Baptist, and promised by the mouth of Jesus, and sealed up in an ordinance
by Peter, needeth not to be confirmed. You might as well take the passage
in the sixth chapter of John, where our Lord, speaking of the eating of
His flesh in order to everlasting life, and which He knit up in the
ordinance of the Lord's Supper, saying,' Take, eat, this is my body'-you
might as well require that that discourse in the sixth chapter of John,
sealed up in the ordinance of the Lord's Supper, needeth more scriptures
to confirm it, as that the proclamation of Christ's name by the Baptist as
Baptizer with the Holy Ghost, the substantiation of it by Christ Himself
on the day of Pentecost, and the knitting of it' up in the'ordinance of
baptism, needeth confirmation. But, if confirmation be wanting, I.have the
book before me, and from end to end there is not one passage in which the
gifts of the Holy Ghost are mentioned where they are not mentioned as the
property of the whole Church, as the blessing of the whole Church, as
needful to the growth of the whole Church, and as designed to continue
until that which is perfect is come-to continue until we shall see eye to
eye and face to face. And again, in the fourth chapter of Ephesians, it is
said, these gifts were to continue'until we all arrive at the measure of
the stature of the fullness of Christ.' Christ ascending up on high gave'
to some apostles, to some prophets, to some evangelists, to some pastors
and teachers,' giving them all alike, without alteration or
reservation,'for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the
ministry, for the edifying of the body'of Christ, until we all come in the
unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect
man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.' "' How
any man dareth to take out of this passage apostles, evangelists,
prophets, and to say that they were only intended for a season, but that
the pastor and the teacher were intended always to continue, I never have
been able to find a reason. But I hold it to be'a daring infraction'of the
integrity of the Word of God, and permit me to say, it was erroneously
alleged of the Church of Scotland that she denieth this doctrine. On
referring to the Second Book of Discipline, which I hold in my hand
(whereof you ought not to be ignorant, seeing that I have referred to it
in the documents), it is distinctly said that though these gifts do not
now exist in the Church, they might be revived when occasion served; and
that now they have ceased in the Church, except it shall-please God to
stir some of them up again. Who can say that it hath not now pleased'God
to stir them up again? But now at this part of the case, if ye intend to
act as attesters of the standards of the Church of Scotland merely, and
not as attesters and ministers of the.Word of. God, I ask of you to say
whether the time in which we live,'when anti-Christ and infidelity are
coming forth in all their strength, when wickedness rages on all hands,
when the name of Jesus is cast out by the kings and potentates of the
earth, and when monarchs are set up to rule in their own names instead of
ruling in His name-I ask if these are not those extraordinary times in
which it may please the Lord to raise them up again? But passing that by,
it is said they were bestowed for.the perfecting of the saints-for the
work of the ministry-for the edifying of the body of Christ. Do not the
saints need to be perfected? The work of the ministry needeth to be
wrought. The body *needeth to be edified, and we are not yet come to the
measure of the stature of Christ; and I believe the Lord will seal
apostles; I believe that the Lord bath sealed
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APPENDIX
C. 575 prophets; and I believe that the Lord will seal evangelists, and
pastors, and teachers, in the power of the Spirit, if only the Church,
laying hold of the Word of God, and forsaking the traditions of men; if
only the saints of God, believing and establishing themselves on the
rock,' which is the word of Jesus, and pleading the name of Jesus, and
believing on Him as Baptizer with the Holy Ghost, as well as the Lamb of
God that taketh away the sins of the world; if one half, if one tenth, if
one hundredth part -of those before me will with confidence look unto Him,
and call upon Him, they will find Him faithful-they will find His name to
be a strong tower, to which the righteous runneth and is safe. And it will
not be long, whether you consider it or not, whether you will hear or
whether you will forbear —it will not be long until the Lord, who hath
sealed prophets, will also seal apostles, and evangelists, and every other
gift in His Church. This is the thing, sir, which we expected-which we
prayed for in the National Scotch Church privately before this time last
year; and publicly, about this time last year, we met together about two
weeks before the meeting of the General Assembly, to pray that the General
Assembly might be guided in judgment by the Lord, the Head of the Church;'
and we added thereto prayers for the present low estate of the Church; and
we cried unto the Lord for apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and
teachers, anointed with the Holy Ghost, the gift of Jesus; because we saw
it written in God's Word that these are the appointed ordinances for
edifying the body of Jesus. We continued in prayer, we met morning after
morning, at half past six every morning, and the Lord was not long in
hearing and answering our prayers. He sealed first one, then another, then
another; and gave them, first, enlargement of spirit in their own
devotions when their souls were lifted up to God, and they were closed
with him in great nearness; He then'gave them to pray in a tongue, which
Paul said he was wont to do more than they all:'I bless God, speaking
wiith tongues, more than you all.' And Paul, speaking of praying in an
unknown tongue, says:'If I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prays, but
my understanding is unfruitful;' just as, in the evidence of yesterday,
the witness declared that, in praying in a tongue, he enjoyed closer
communion with God than in praying with the understanding. Paul said, when
he came into the congregation, it was for edification of the body of
Christ; and he would not then pray in a tongue, because it was out of
place; for they understood not the tongue, therefore he prayed both in
spirit and in the understanding. But in his private devotion, blessing God
in his eucharistical services, he gave thanks, speaking in tongues, more
than they all; but in the Church, as contradistinguished from his private
devotions, he would rather speak five words with the understanding than
ten thousand in an unknown tongue, because then it was not for
edification; for he would, in the latter'case, be to them a barbarian, for
no one would understand him unless an interpreter were also present. Just
as it was with Paul, so with these persons, for the first time in their
private devotions; when they were wrapt up nearest to God, the Spirit took
them, and made them to speak sometimes song, sometimes words, in a tongue;
and by degrees, according as they sought more and more untoGod, the gift
became perfected, until they were moved to speak in tongues, even in the
presence of others. In this stage I suffered them not to speak in the
Church, according to the canon of the apostle; and even in private, in my
own presence, I permitted it not; but I heard that it had been done. I
would not have rebuked it; I would have sympathized tenderly with the
person who was carried in the Spirit and lifted up; but in the Church I
would not have permitted it. In process of time, about fourteen days
after, the gift perfected itself, so that they were made to speak in
tongues, and prophesy the Word in English, for exhortation, edification,
and comfort, which is the proper definition of prophecy, as testified by
one of the witnesses.
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APPENDICES. "Now, when we had received this into the Church, in answer to
our prayers, it became me, as the minister of the Church, to try that
which we had received. I repeat it; it became me, as minister of the
Church, and not another; and my authority for this you will find in the
second chapter of Revelations, where the Lord Jesus, writing to the Angel
of the Church of Ephesus, speaks thus to him:'I know thy works, and thy
labor, and thy patience; and how thou canst not bear them which are evil;
and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not; and
hast found them liars.' Here the Lord Jesus, the Head of the Church,
commended the Angel of the Church of Ephesus, the head of that Church, in
whose place I stand in my Church, and in whose place no other standeth
(the elders and deacons have their place, but this belongeth to the angel
or minister of the Church), and the Lord commendeth him for trying them
which say they are apostles, and are not. Therefore, to me, as minister of
the Church, watching over the souls of the people, it belongeth to try
every one who says he is commissioned of Jesus, be he prophet, apostle, or
evangelist, pastor or teacher. I, as responsible for those souls, must
search into the matter, and it was on my responsibility if I allowed a
wolf to come into the fold; and if I keep out one who is a prophet,
apostle, or evangelist, and prevent him from exercising the gift given him
for the edifying, not of one part of the Church, but of the whole Church
of God, I do it at my peril. I dare not do otherwise; because the Lord
Jesus, the only Head of the Church, in writing these seven epistles to the
angels of the seven churches in Asia, in order to guide them, commendeth
the Angel of the Church of Ephesus for having taken upon him this duty;
and I, as the minister of the Lord Jesus, dare not disobey him, though the
loss of my head, of my life, of a hundred lives, were the consequence. I
dared not willingly disobey him, and set to all my people, and to all
authorities, an example of disobedience. I was necessitated to obey him,
though my life were taken. Therefore, when the Lord sent us what professed
to be prophets, what we had prayed for, what the Lord had given in answer
to prayer-when there appeared the sign of the prophet speaking with
tongues, and prophesying and magnifying God, and what appeared to be
true-I dared not shrink from my plan of trying them, and putting them to
the proof; and, if found not so, preventing them, and if they were so,
permitting them; yea, and giving thanks to Jesus for having answered our
prayers, and sent us the ordinance of prophesying, which is expressly said
to be for the edification of the Church; for it is said,'He that
prophesieth edifieth the Church.' Moreover, I learned that this duty doth
devolve upon me, the angel and pastor of the Church, from the same second
chapter of Revelations; where, writing to the Angel of the Church in
Thyatira, he says,'Notwithstanding, I have a few things against thee,
because thou sufferest that woman, Jezebel, which calleth herself a
prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants.' Here we have the proof
that there were true prophetesses in the Church. The same thing is
referred to in Joel, ii., 28. And again in the second chapter of Acts,
where we are told that Philip the Evangelist had four daughters, virgins,
which did prophesy. And in the second chapter of 1st Corinthians there are
instructions for women to pray and prophesy in a comely manner in the
Church. In the Church at Thyatira, this woman, Jezebel, calling herself a
prophetess, was permitted to teach. A prophetess may not teach: to teach
belongeth to a man; it is an office of authority. A prophetess may
prophesy, speaking by the Holy Ghost; and none of those persons
prophesying in my Church have ever spoken by any power except by the power
of the Holy Ghost, as I believe. But Jezebel was suffered to teach in the
Church, and also to seduce the servants of the Lord, contrary to the
canons of Paul, given in 1 Cor., ii., and 1 Timothy, ii. I produce this
second commandment of the Lord Jesus Christ, your Head, the Head of the
Church, my Ilead, and the Head of
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C. 577 every man; whom no man, as he values his own salvation, dares, on
any account, willingly to disobey. This commandment of Jesus reproveth the
angel of that Church for refusing to do that which was his duty, and
permitting this woman, calling herself a prophetess, to teach. So that
here have I one commended for fulfilling this duty, and one reproved for
not fulfilling it; and I want no more evidence to show that it was my
duty, as the servant of Jesus, to fulfill His commandment; and I want no
other authority than His command, whom I must not, whom I dare not, whom I
will not disobey, to make trial of the persons who have these gifts; and I
proceeded to that trial. " The first thing toward the trial was to hear
them prophesy before myself, and so I did it. The Lord, in His providence,
gave me ample opportunity in private prayer-meetings, of which many were
in the congregation established, of hearing them speaking with tongues,
and prophesying; and it was so ordered by Providence that every person
whom I heard was known to myself, so that I had this double test, first,
of their private walk and conversation, and, second, of hearing the thing
prophesied. The private walk and conversation were, as far as I knew,
according to godliness; they waited on the ordinances daily; they were all
duly baptized; they were all members of Christ, and therefore fully
privileged to expect baptism of the Holy Ghost; they were all in full
communion, though not all in my Church; but my Church is only a part of
the Church of Christ, which condemneth none and separateth from none. It
was not the custom of the Primitive Church in the apostolic times, that,
when one or two brethren came from another church, they were not permitted
to speak or to exhort the brethren until they had sat down with them at
the Lord's table; for our Lord Jesus Himself, wherever He went, spake in
the synagogues; and in the Acts of the Apostles, Paul and Barnabas, though
they were only known as brethren, went into the synagogues and exhorted.
And I hold it to be contrary to the constitution of the Protestant Church
that any member or minister of one church, being in full communion with
it, should not be admissible into full communion with another. A member,
for instance, of the Church of England is in full communion with the
Scotch Church, both in respect to Baptism and the Lord's Supper. It is so
by the Acts of the Assembly. I can not tell you the express date of the
Act, but it comes between the time of the Revolution, 1692, and the date
of 1720. I can not charge my memory with the exact date; but it is a short
Act, setting forth that the member of another communion, coming into the
bosom of the Church of Scotland, is admissible to all the ordinances, if
his walk is according to godliness; for, as it is generally said, we ought
rather to use diligence to draw them over to us, than we to go to them.
These persons were members of the Church of Christ, walking in His
commandments and ordinances blameless; nay, distinguished for acts and
labors of love in their own churches; in fact, there was only one such;
and another, though not admitted to membership, was under examination
previous to communion. First, they were of blameless walk and
conversation, and in full communion with the Church of Christ. Second, in
private prayer-meetings, where they were accustomed to exercise the gift
of utterance, I could discern nothing contrary to sound doctrine, but
every thing for edification, exhortation, and comfort. There was the sign
of the unknown tongue, and prophesying for edification, exhortation, and
comfort; and, beside these, there is no other outward and visible test to
which they might be brought. Having these before me, I was still very much
afraid of introducing it into the Church, and was exceedingly burdened in
conscience for some weeks. Look at the condition in which I was placed. I
had sat at the head of the Church, praying that these gifts might be
poured out on the Church; believing in the Lord's faithfulness, and that I
was praying the prayer of faith, and that O o
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APPENDICES. He had poured out the gifts in the Church in answer to our
prayers. Was I to disbelieve what in faith I had been praying for, and
which we had all been praying for? When it came, I had every opportunity
of proving it. I had put it to the proof according to the Word of God, and
I found, so far as I was able to discern, that it is the thing written in
the Scriptures, and into the faith of which we had been baptized. Having
found this, I was in a great strait between two opinions, and much
burdened. God knoweth for certain days, nay, even weeks, my burden I could
disclose to no one. A great burden it was, for I felt it was my duty to
act; and I feared, if I were to go seeking counsel of others, and any were
to say,' Do not introduce it into the Church,' then I should be putting
myself into a strait between my obedience to the Lord and my inclination
to follow the counsel of wise men. In this state I remained some time; and
I need not tell the leadings of Providence, which led me, at length, to
determine; but it was very much the testimony of my own heart. In the
morning meeting the Spirit burst out in the mouth of that witness whom you
examined yesterday; and, several times in one day, the voice~of the Spirit
was, that it was quenched and restrained in the Church. I felt this very
burdensome to me, and this conviction came at once to my heart: It belongs
to you to open the door; you have the power of the keys; it is you that
are restraining and hindering it. I reflected on it all that day, and next
morning I came to the Church. After prayers I rose up, and said in the
midst of them all,' I can not any longer be a party to hinder that which I
consider to be the voice of the Holy Ghost from being heard in the Church.
I feel I have too long deferred, and I pray you to give heed while I read
out these passages, as my authority and the commandment of the Lord
concerning the prophets;' and I read, therefore, these passages, 1 Cor.,
xiv., 23:'If, therefore, the whole Church be come together into one place,
and all speak with tongues, and there come in those who are unlearned, or
unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad?' The apostle was here
writing of speaking with tongues, in contradistinction to prophesying;
that is to say, speaking nothing but the unknown tongue; for what should
it profit unless there be an interpreter? He is not speaking of what we
have; that which we have is one fifth or one tenth in tongue, and the rest
in prophesying. He is taking the distinction between speaking with tongues
and prophesying. No one in our Church could say the person speaking is
mad, because he doth not utter, perhaps, more than two minutes or one
minute in tongue, and then he begins to prophesy in English for the
edification, exhortation, and comfort of all: the one is the sign of
inspiration that it is the power of the Spirit; the other is the thing
which the Spirit would give forth for the edification of the Church.
"Sometimes it comes forth without the sign, but generally it is otherwise;
for I think I have observed in the Church, when many are present who
disbelieve, or doubt, or mock, the sign is given in great power; but it is
otherwise ordered in a company of persons believing the calling of the
prophet, when the sign is not given, but the word of prophecy comes out
simply.: But I have observed, if the word of prophecy is hard to be
received, the sign is given, even in the company of those strong in the
faith; yea, I have seen it occur more than once that the sign has been
given, and then the word in English follows, and then the sign is again
repeated. I have noticed that in this case something is added hard to be
received, or, perhaps, a rebuke to some one present, or something hard for
the will of the party to receive; for the Spirit speaketh to the
conscience. Well, I read out this passage:' But if all prophesy, and there
come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all,
he is judged of all, and thus:are the secrets of his heart made manifest;
and so, falling down on his face, he will worship God, and report that God
is among you of a truth.' Then it is said,'When the whole'Church cometh
together into one place,'
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C. 579 they may'all prophesy, one by one;' and it is added,'Let the
prophets speak, two or three, and let the others judge,' and discern the
things which they prophesy, and try the spirit that it is done by; whether
the prophet, through carelessness or want of holiness, be overtaken of any
temptation, even as the witness examined yesterday did declare before you
all, without being questioned, in the honest purity and simplicity of his
heart, that he once was made to rebuke me in a manner which he believed
was not by the Spirit of God; and this he learned by another prophet's
discerning; and after waiting on the Lord, at the end of two days it was
made manifest, agreeably to this:'Let the prophets speak two or three, and
let the others discern;' and, farther,' If any thing be revealed to
another sitting by, let the first hold his peace.' Now I beg your
attention to this passage, as it bears much on the case attempted to be
made out against me, and yet not against me, but against the voice of the
Spirit in the Church. "And here let me say, they are not interruptions,
though they are called interruptions, of the service of the Church; for we
are told,' If any thing be revealed to another sitting by, let the first
hold his peace.' And if, by the Spirit, any thing be revealed to any one
sitting by, though I be engaged in praying-though I be engaged in
pieaching-I am required to hold my peace, because I might be preaching
falsehood, which the Spirit of the Lord might wish to defend the
congregation from. Jesus is the Head of the congregation, not I; I am only
His deputy, and the prophets are His voice. You are very ignorant of the
Old Testament if you know not that the prophet is the voice of God to
kings and to princes; he is the voice of Jesus to His Church; and if I be
speaking any thing contrary to the mind of Jesis, shall not He, the Head
of the Church, have liberty by His prophets to tell the congregation so,
and guard them from error? If I be praying in error or in a wicked
spirit-for a man may be erroneous in his prayers; a man may curse and
blaspheme in his prayer; and if I do so, shall not the Lord Jesus have
power in His own Church, thein and there, to make manifest the error, that
the congregation be not poisoned thereby? If a father saw improper food
put upon the plate of his child, which the child should not eat, would he
not step in and take the morsel out of his mouth? And shall the Lord
Jesus, the master of the house, not be permitted to step in, at any time,
and prevent such food from being partaken of by the children whom He hath
purchased with His own blood? He shall in my church. He shall in my
church, so long as He honors me by permitting me to be the minister of it.
Call it not interruption; ye speak it in ignorance-ye understand it not,
and you examine not into it-and the Lord forgiveth it. Take heed lest your
ignorance be not willful. The complainants have mostly withdrawn their
ears from it, and would not hear it; they would not put themselves to the
pains of examining it, but would beat, with the high hand of a trust-deed,
the minister of Jesus from his place, and the Lord Jesus from his place
also. " Moderator. "Order! I will not allow any one to say that we beat
the Lord Jesus from his place. We hear Mr. Irving from a matter of
tenderness and courtesy, and he must not use this language toward us."
Mai. Irving. "Thething stated was a truth." flis Solicitor protested
against the interruption. Mr. Irving. "I have spoken the truth, and
nothing but the truth, and God knows it; and whether the truth Should not
be spoken, He knoweth also; but be it, be it,so. Well, then, I read this
passage, and also the passage which concerneth the comely way in which
women should prophesy and pray in the Church, which is thius written in 1
Cor., xi., 4-10:'Every man praying or prophesying having his head covered,
dishonoreth his head. But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with
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APPENDICES. her head uncovered, dishonoreth her head, for that is even all
one as if she were shaven. For if the woman be not covered, let her also
be shorn; but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her
be covered. For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he
is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of the man....
For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head, because of the
angels.' The woman having power on her head is a sign of authority,
because of the angels of the Church, in reference to their office. I know
there has been a difference of opinion in this matter, and that the
passage has been confronted with that passage in 1 Cor., xiv., 34, 35:'Let
your women keep silence in the churches; for it is not permitted unto them
to speak,' etc.; and another passage in 1 Tim., ii., 11, 12, to the same
effect. Now it has been said we have gainsayed these passages, and that we
have interpreted them in a way that would never have been thought of but
for this which has occurred. Now, to say nothing of the old commentators,
I give you, among the moderns, the opinion of Locke, that master of exact
interpretation, though not of sound doctrine; yet he was the master of
logic, which is the science of sound words. I also refer you to Scott,
whom the whole evangelical body in England consider the pattern of
commentators. I refer, also, to Brown, who is looked upon in Scotland as
Scott is in England. These three commentators have all judged of these
passages as I have judged of them, namely, that the two latter refer to
women speaking by their own power and strength, the former to women
speaking by the power of the Holy Ghost;'the one not tobe permitted, the
other not to be prevented. I have these three, than whom none stand higher
in their respective schools: Locke in the Arminian school, Scott in the
Evangelical school, and Brown, universally consulted in the Scottish
churches; and all these interpret them as I have done. No one can say that
we have strained the Scriptures to suit our purposes. Grotius also concurs
in the same view, than whom no one, at the period of the Reformation,
stood in such reputation among the remonstrants. And almost all the
interpreters in the primitive Church held the same views, and the practice
was almost invariably continued in the first ages of the Church, and may
be traced till the time of Cyprian, when women, and even children, were
accustomed to prophesy in the Church by the Holy Ghost; as it is written
in the Psalms,'Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings Thou hast perfected
praise.' And Cyprian, who was Bishop of Carthage, thought it not beneath
him to send the things spoken by children.in the'Church, by the power of
the Spirit, to the Presbyteries of his diocese for their instruction. Now,
having read these passages, therefore, I said to the people,'I stand here'
before you, after my conscience has been burdened with it for weeks, and I
can no longer forbid it, but do, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,
permit that every one, who has received the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and is
moved by the Holy Ghost, shall have liberty to speak.' " It pleased the
Lord at that meeting to sanction this by His own approval; while I was
reading, the Spirit of the Lord spoke in Mr. Taplin, who appeared
yesterday as a witness, and said,'Let them prophesy, but let it be under
authority.' And at the same meeting, both Mrs. Cardale and Miss E. Cardale
spoke in the Spirit, with tongues and prophesying, rejoicing at what had
been done. Now observe, according to the commandment of Jesus, I took to
myself the privilege and responsibility of trying the prophets in private
first, before permitting them to speak in the Church. I then gave to the
Church the opportunity of fulfilling its duty; for it belongs not to the
pastor merely, but to every man, to try the spirits; as it is written in
Mat-. thew, that our Lord, when speaking to His disciples in the mount,'
Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but
inwardly they are ravening wolves; ye shall know them by their fruits.' -
And I say, therefore, it is the bounden
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C. 581 duty of every one, when the minister puts forth any person before
the congregation whom, having tried, he believeth to speak by the Spirit
of God, to be on their guard, and beware of false prophets, and to try
them. Moreover, Paul, in his Epistle to Timothy, declares of some who in
the last days should give heed to seducing spirits, and he warneth the
Church against being insnared by them. In like manner, John also, in his
first catholic epistle, gives instruction to try spirits, whether they be
of God, and gives the rule whereby they might be tried:'Every spirit that
confesseth not that Jesus is come in the flesh is not of God; and
whosoever denieth this is anti-Christ.' "It was my duty, therefore, in
obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ, who ever ruleth all churches, and
without whom any Church is nothing but a synagogue of Satan, after trying
the spirits, to put them forth to the people, that they might be tried by
them. I put the prophets forth at the morning exercises of the Church; and
I made it known to the people at prayer, in preaching, and in all ways,
and invited the people to come and witness for themselves; and so the
thing continued. I had not yet introduced it into the great congregation,
permitting, I should suppose, four or five weeks for probation by the
Church, and was still reluctant-for I erred on the side of reluctance; and
seeing the spirit of many of the congregation, that they viewed with
dislike and suspicion the whole subject. I waited, and it was not until
silence was broken, in spite of me, that I spoke in the full congregation
concerning the duty of its being then heard; and that day, after the
speaking by which the congregation was thrown into a good deal of
distress, I left my ordinary subject; for although it was attempted to be
instructed in evidence yesterday that I set myself to discourse on one
subject exclusively, and fed my people on that, my custom is to go
regularly on, reading, preaching, and lecturing; but when the Church was
tried in this way, I felt it my duty to take up the subject as it occurs
in 1 Corinthians, xiv., to prevent their souls being snared by Satan, and
exhorted them to try the spirits according to the rules there laid down. I
am ashamed and grieved to say that, from that time forward, several of the
trustees entered not the church any more, notwithstanding all I could say,
to hear and make trial whether it were the work of God or not, but set it
down at once as a thing that ought not to be, and then left it. At the
same time I appear here, not to complain against any one, but merely to
state the truth to the court; that the Presbytery may be rightly informed,
I am willing to substantiate these things, if the Presbytery desire it,
from the evidence of the persons sworn. "After the speaking was thus
forced on the congregation, I felt I could no longer resist it; but in the
evening I rose in my place, and said,'If the worship of God should be
again added to by those speaking with tongues and prophesying-for that is
the right word, for it is the addition of an ordinance of prophesying-that
they should understand it to be; not the word of man, but what I believed
it to be, the Word of the Spirit of God,' and it was added to. From that
time I felt it my duty, in obedience to the great Head of the Church, to
take order that it should not be prevented, but encouraged; I claim the
word encouraged; and I took all lawful means in the midst of the
congregation to encourage it, and did so in obedience to the Lord Jesus
Christ, who had given:this precious gift; not for naught, but for the
edifying of the Church, which is His body; and I would think myself a most
unworthy pastor if, after receiving a gift, I did not lay it out to use,
and encourage it to be used for the good of the people. I did it in
obedience to Jesus, for the good of the flock; and if you want testimony,
I shall pledge myself that I will produce five hundred men and women who
shall come forward voluntarily, and testify in this court that there have
been prophets raised up in our Church whose words have been
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APPENDICES. most edifying, yea, like a marrow and fatness to their souls.
These five hundred persons, walking in the commandments and ordinance of
the Lord, will freely come forward on any day you will appoint, and
declare that it hath been the most blessed thing to their souls, next to
the ministry of the Word and ordinance. And thus these were the steps I
took for proving it-for all this comes under the head of probation-first,
by myself, privately; then, not in public, but at the morning service,
where all might have attended if they would; and then before all the
congregation; and still it is continued, for the probation is not yet
done. Many in the Church have not yet received full probation of it; and
them I teach to wait on the Lord, and they shall receive full
satisfaction; for I believe that the Lord tenderly regards the doubts of
every one of his children;'for the bruised reed will He not break, nor the
smoking flax will He not quench;' and I believe there is not a weak member
of Christ's Church waiting humbly and sincerely on Him, to whom He will
not give conviction. I have never made it a test in my church, although,
as a man preaching to his'congregation, I have seen it my duty to declare
the truth concerning it; for the Lord Jesus is very tender and very
loving; and if a man will but turn aside, and see what this great thing
is, he will be taught and fed of God. If there be any of my flock here
present, let them take assurance, as a consolation to their souls. On the
other hand, I believe, that if men turn away from, and harden themselves
against it, it will prove to them that which Isaiah said it was sent for.
It is only mentioned once in the Old Testament (speaking with tongues);
and notice what the Prophet Isaiah, in the 28th chapter, says it was sent
for:'Whom shall He teach knowledge? and whom shall He make to understand
doctrine?' The high-minded? No. Men who are proud in their own conceit?
No. Men who have enough, and vant no more, saying,'Having the ordinances
and institutions of the Gospel, we have enough?' No. Let the prophet
answer:'Them that are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breasts;'
babes; those that feel they need much; those that are weak, like a weaned
child; for' precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon
line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little.' As you speak to
a child, so should it be;' and so it is in prophesying; it is precept upon
precept, line upon line, discourse not regularly built up. That is the
reason why the learned of the world, those that are not babes, despise it;
because it is not built up on argument or reasoning; not set forth in
eloquent language, but in simple, pure, unadulterated milk; not cooked in
the kitchen, but cooked in the body of the'parent, fresh from the body of
Jesus, by the Spirit of Jesus, coming down direct from Him, as milk of the
children, which, indeed, the pastor may prepare, and serve out to the
Church; and which, in dependence on my Master, I have endeavored to
prepare and serve out, according to the taste of the people-that is, as
they can bear it.'For with stammering lips'-ah'! who can bear that?-'and
with men of other tongues will I speak to this people.' And He hath thus
spoken in the midst of us. Paul quotes this of the gift of tongues given
to the Gentile Church; on the day of Pentecost it was sealed to the
Gentile Church. lOh, and he says,'This is the rest wherewith ye may cause
the weary to rest, and this is the refreshing; yet they would not hear.'
Though it be rest and refreshing which is preached by it continually, yet
they would not hear, and wherefore? that they may go and fall backward,
and be broken, and snared, and taken.' There is another end of it, and it
is for a rest to the weary; but for those who are not children, and think
they are learned enough, and do not feel their lowly estate, to them it is
given' that they may go and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and
taken.' And it will prove so to this generation. " Now ye have heard the
method I took to prove that it was the thing contained
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C. 583 in the Scriptures that we had received; first, the walk and
conversation of the persons; second, by trying it from the words of
Scripture, which says that the sign is the speaking with tongues, and the
prophesy is for edification, exhortation, and comfort; third, by the
consciousness of the Spirit within myself, bringing the conviction to my
own heart; fourth, by submitting it to all the people. And I believe the
effect of such probation is this-that the snares of Satan have been
detected, and that that which, if left alone, and not taken into the
Church, Satan would have prevailed against, hath prevailed against Satan;
for we ought to remember the prophets are not infallible; for they are
directed to speak by two or three, that the rest may discern; and by
bringing it before the Church, the spirit in the prophets has discerned
when the false prophets spoke, and when the flesh spoke; ay, and the very
members of the Church, also, endued with the Holy Ghost, have been able to
discern it. I believe it will always be so. Jesus hath not given up His
place to the prophet any more than to the minister; and He hath let them
know that prophecy is a fallible ordinance, as well as the ordinance of
the ministry; and it is only by the congregation, and the prophets, and
the minister abiding in Jesus in all obedience, in the light of Jesus as
he is in the light, in the love of one another, and in the love of God -it
is only thus that the minister can be preserved from erring, or the
prophets, or the people; for the minister is not lord over the heritage,
nor is the prophet the Word of God to the heritage; but the lord of the
heritage is Jesus, and the Word of God to the heritage is this book;
neither are the people rulers over the minister to say'You shall not do
this,' which the Lord requireth of him, nor the people rulers over the
prophets to say the prophet shall not utter what the Lord giveth him to
utter; but these, like the members of the body-7the head, the lips, the
hands, the feet-are all bound together in mutual respect to one another,
and by their mutual respect and service to one another they are all
preserved in health and comfort, provided the life be in them all, which
is Jesus. Therefore I say, this method of proceeding God has shown to be
good; for He hath shown my judgment not to be enough for the prophets; and
even the congregation, on whom the Spirit of the Lord is, have detected
what I could not detect; and it is not that any one office should be
prevented from exercising their functions, or prophecy, or tongues,
because they are not infallible, but that one and all, according to the
orders of their Great Captain, in this book laid down, and in their
various posts, united together in brotherly love and amity, might fulfill
their kindly, and dutiful offices one toward another. Thus the Church of
God is built up and flourishes. If the people rise up against the
minister, or the minister lord it over the people; or if either rises up
against the prophets, and puts them down, then the golden cord of love is
broken, and the Church must suffer. In every case where love is preserved,
it will be found that all are necessary, that all going on together will
be preserved in unity, and make increase of the Church. So much for the
second head. " I make no apology for the length of time I have occupied,
for eight hours have been allowed to the accusers, and I am the party most
deeply interested in the case, and I trust you will bear with me in
patience. The third thing to which I referred is the manner of ordering it
in the Church; this I have in a great manner anticipated; but still, as
the point of the complaint standeth here, I think it good to attend to it
carefully. It is complained by the trustees of the National Scotch Church,
in discharge of the duty imposed on them by the trust-deed, and which is
the foundation of their complaint, First, that I have allowed the worship
of the Church to be interrupted by persons speaking, who are neither
ordained ministers nor licentiates of the Church of Scotland. Now, with
respect to the ordering of it, which is here complained against as a
violation of the. trust-deed, and a violation of the constitutions
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584: ~
APPENDICES. of the Church of Scotland, I can say with the Apostle Paul,
when he went to Rome to his countrymen,' That unto this day not only have
I done nothing contrary to the WVord of God, but, men and brethren, I have
done nothing against the people or customs of our fathers.' "I lay it down
as a solemn principle that, as a minister of Christ, I am responsible to
Him at every instant, in every act of my ministerial character and
conduct, and owe to Him alone an undivided allegiance; and I say more,
that every man is responsible to Jesus at every instant of his life, and
for every act of his life, and not to another, in an undivided allegiance.
He is the head of every man, and upon this it is that the authority of
conscience resteth; on this it is that toleration resteth; on this it is
that all the privileges of man rest; that Jesus is the head of every man;
and this is His inalienable prerogative. Nothing can come between it and a
man; and every man must die for his duty to Jesus rather than his duty to
the king; he must die loyally, not rebelliously; but still he must rather
die than disobey Jesus; and I say more, every man must gainsay his
minister if he believe him to be in error; must gainsay his prophet, yea,
every creature on the earth, if in error; must do it reverently, not
rebelliously, but still do it, because Jesus is the head of every man; and
every elder, and every minister and deacon of a church, must do the same.
And if any person or court, or the Pope of Rome, or any court in
Christendom, come between a man, or a minister, and his master, and
say,'Before obeying Jesus, you must consult us,' be they called by what
name they please, they are anti-Christ. I say no Protestant Church hath
ever done so. I deny the doctrine that was held forth yesterday, that it
is needful for a minister to go to the General Assembly before he does his
duty; I deny the doctrine that he can be required to go up to the General
Assembly for authority to enable him to do that which he discerneth to be
his duty." Moderator. "Let these words be taken down." 2Mr. Irving. " Ay,
take them down, take them down. I repeat the words: I deny it to be the
doctrine of the Church of Scotland that any minister is required to go up
to the General Assembly for authority to do that which he discerneth to be
his duty. Ye are pledged to serve Jesus in your ordination vows. Ye are
the ministers of Jesus, and not ministers of any assembly. Ye are
ministers of the Word of God, and not ministers of the standards of any
Church. I abhor the doctrine; it is of anti-Christ; it is the essence of
anti-Christ-it is Popery in all its horrors; it hath never been endured in
this land; and I trust there is still sufficient reverence for the name of
Jesus not to endure it. And if any man seeth any thing to propose to the
Church in which they err or come short, in duty to the Church, and not in
fear of the Church -for there is no authority in the Church above the
authority of the minister-it is his duty to set this matter in order, and
lay it before his brethren, saying,'I have discovered we are in fault in
this matter, and have set it in order, and do you likewise.' It is an easy
way of appeasing a man's conscience to say,'I must go to the General
Assembly for authority to do this or that.' It is Satan's trap to keep all
things as they are; to prevent all things from returning to what they have
been, and to prevent them from coming forward to farther perfection. But I
lay it down as a doctrine that if I, as a minister of the Church, for
instance, see evidence of the speedy coming of Christ to this world, to
execute the judgments written in the Scriptures, and destroy anti-Christ,
and establish His kingdom, and reign with His saints upon the earth, I am
not to be prevented preaching it because it is not in the standards. When
were the standards made the measure of the liberty of preaching and of
prophesying, which is the basis of all liberty? When was the liberty of
preaching bound up within the limits of Twenty-six or Thirty-nine
Articles? Never since the world
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C. 585 began; never was it so, and never shall it be endured. What! is it
meant to be asserted that the decision of a council sitting in
Westminster, in troublous times, was forever to bind up the tongue of the
preacher to preach nothing but the things contained therein? I never
subscribed these articles with that view; and if any other man hath so
signed them, it is with a false view; and if with that view it is said I
did subscribe them, I say it is not so; and if any one say I must use
them, I solemnly say I will not do so. " As for the trust-deed, was it
ever heard that those who merely hold a trust over the walls of a building
should step in and take from the minister the right and privilege he hath
as a minister of Jesus, and the obedience he oweth unto Jesus? But this
trust-deed distinctly provideth for the contrary, namely,' That all
matters relating to the public worship of God, in the said church or
chapel, and the administration of such religious rites and services as
should be performed or observed therein, shall be left to the discretion
of the minister for the time being, during such time as there shall be a
minister.' " Seeing that the ordinances and services performed or observed
in that chapel are left to the discretion of the minister for the time
being, the complainants must instruct the Presbytery that I have set up an
ordinance contrary to the Church of Scotland; that the Church of Scotland
has forbidden the ordinance of prophesying to be in the Church, by those
who are moved by the Spirit of God, for the evidence which is on your
table is evidence to the effect that they speak by the Spirit of God. Ye
are judges of the fact; it is a complaint on a point of fact; and the fact
instructed is this, that they speak by the Spirit of God. But it is the
fact you must bring to the constitution of the Church of Scotland, not
your opinion of the fact. I charge the Presbytery before Him who is the
judge of all, that they put aside their own opinion whether these persons
speak by: the Spirit of God; for they have not heard or examined it,
neither have they proved them by the text of Scripture. You are not, in
such circumstances, competent to question it; and for your souls, your
precious souls' sake, ye must take the fact as judges, and show by the
canons of the Church that men are forbidden to speak in tongues, and
prophesy by the constitution of the Church of Scotland,; and ye shall
search long before ye shall find it. I have not, therefore, suffered the
public service, as charged against me, of the Church to be interrupted by
persons not being ministers or licentiates of the Church of Scotland; I
have not. I have permitted it to be interrupted by the Holy Ghost, and
that according to the canons of Scripture, where we read, that' If any
thing be revealed to another that sitteth by, let the first keep silence.'
"2dly. It is charged that I have allowed the public worship of said
National Scotch Church to be interrupted by persons speaking who were
neither members nor seat-holders. I have not. Your evidence shows I-have
not suffered the worship of God to be interrupted by persons not members
or, seat-holders, but by the person of the Holy Ghost speaking in the
members of Jesus. And respecting the particular assignation,' not being
seat-holders,' they are members of the Church of Christ, and I know them
to be so; and I never yet heard of seat-holders in Scripture, or in the
constitution of the Church of Scotland; nor did I eve' hear of holding a
seat in the Church of Scotland giving any right or privilege by its
constitutions, but quite the contrary; for in the generality of the
churches, the seats, or at least the greater part of them, are not held by
the persons who sit in them, the church being divided among the heritors
and tenants. It is the custom for the servants and tenants to sit in their
landlord's seat indiscriminately; and I wish there was no such thing as
seat-holding and seat-renting in churches: it is one of the most
dishonorable things in the Protestant Church, which has never been known
in the Church of Rome, and is not at
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APPENDICES. this day. Yea, more, it is contrary to the law of the realm of
Scotland that seats should be private property; and in the case of
Haddington Church, it was ruled by the Lord Ordinary that the lock of a
pew should be taken off; and that, if not, any person might break it off,
after the worship had begun. "3dly. I am charged with allowing females to
speak in the Church: I have not allowed females to speak in the Church;
but, believing that it was the Holy Ghost speaking in them, I have
permitted it; but I never allowed any one, male or female, to speak of
themselves, as the evidence bears; but, on the other hand, when others
spoke, I caused them to be silenced, and even sent for aid to the
police-office when I found by milder means they would not be restrained. "
4thly. It is charged that other individuals, members of the congregation,
were suffered by me to interrupt the public service on Sabbath and other
days. I have not done so, as the evidence on the table will show, and that
evidence adduced by the complainants themselves. I" 5thly. It is charged
that I appointed set times for the suspension of the worship, in order to
encourage and allow these interruptions. This needs a little
explanation..'When I saw it was my duty to take this ordinance into the
Church, I then considered with myself what was the way to do it with the
greatest tenderness to my flock, so as to cause the least anxiety and
disturbance; for complaints immediately came to me from several persons
that they were unable to taste the good and profit of the other services
for fear of these interruptions. My anxiety, therefore, was to deal
faithfully by the shepherd, and tenderly with the flock. I observed,
therefore, what was the manner of the spirit in the morning meetings; and
I found generally it was the manner of the spirit, when I, the pastor, had
exhorted the people, to add something to the exhortation, either to
enforce it, if it were according to the mind of God, or to add to it; or
graciously and gently to correct it, if it were incorrect. I also observed
it was the way of the spirit not to do this generally, but in honor of the
pastor; and that the spirits in the prophets acknowledged the office of
the angel of the Church as standing for Jesus; and accordingly, I said,
wishing to deal tenderly with the flock, let it begin with this order,
that, after I have opened the chapter, and after I have preached, I will
pause a little, so that then the prophets may have an opportunity of
prophesying if the spirit should come upon them; but I never said that the
prophets should not prophesy at any other time. I did this in tenderness
to the people; and, feeling my way in a case where I had no guidance, I
did it according to the best records of ecclesiastical antiquity; and I
was at great pains to consult the best records; and I found Mosheim, in
his most learned dissertation on Church history, declare to this effect:
That in the first three ages of the Church, it was the custom, after the
pastor had exhorted the people, for the congregation to rest, and the
prophets prophesied by two or three; so that I walked in the ordinances of
the Church of Christ. It is true, there are no directions to this effect
in the standards of the Church of Scotland; but I never yet understood
that the Book of Discipline, or the Confession of Faith in 1560, was
intended to begin a new Church, nor that it was intended to be said, we
must get at the Scriptures only through these standards; and I know, and
am very sure, that if the Reformers had expected any such doctrine to be
broached by us, their descendants, they would have suffered their hands,
ay, and their heads too, to be cut off rather than have compiled and put
forth these articles. There are, in fact, no instructions at all in the
canons of the Church on the subject; but in the First Book of Discipline
there is an endeavor made to reconstitute the order of prophets, as laid
down in 1 Cor., xiv., and this with the materials they then had. I state
it for the information of the Presbytery, and also of
Page 587
APPENDIX
C. 587 the complainers, that so far was the Church of Scotland from
preventing at the time any person from speaking in the Church but ordained
ministers or licentiates, that there are. express provisions laid down
requiring every person who hath a gift to come forward at the request of
the minister, on pain of proceedings before a civil magistrate; nay, more,
men in whom is supposed to be any gift which might edify the Church must
be charged by the ministers and elders to join in the session, and'company
of interpreters, to the end that the Kirk may judge whether they be able
to serve to God's glory, and to the profit of the Kirk, in the vocation of
ministers or not; and if they be found disobedient, and not willing to
communicate the gifts and special graces of God with their brethren, after
sufficient admonition, discipline must proceed against them, provided the
civil magistrate concur with the judgment and election of the Kirk.' For
no man may be permitted, as best pleaseth him, to live within the Kirk of
God; for every man must be constrained, by fraternal admonition and
correction, to bestow his labors, when of the Kirk he is required, to the
edification of others.' Now this is in the First Book of Discipline, drawn
up by our Reformers, and which received the assent of Parliament in the
reign of James VI., and never has been abrogated to this day. The
Westminster Articles of Confession were intended as a supplement to the
others, but not.to supersede them; and.they were adopted chiefly for the
sake of conformity with the Presbyterian churches in England, and nothing
whatever therein contained is to prejudice what is found in these
standards. " So far, then, from being the rule of the Established Church,
it is expressly provided that any member, even with an ordinary gift of
teaching, if charged by the minister to join with the session to come
forward, must obey, in order to see whether he may labor in the vocation
of the ministry or not. The prophets, therefore, are one part of the
ministry; and in permitting them to speak, I, in fact, did exactly obey
this canon. I tried the gifts, and then planted them in the Church; and
instead of acting contrary to the standards in so doing, I say I acted in
the spirit of them. For it is thus written in the ninth head of the First
Book of Discipline,'.entitled,'For Prophesying or Interpreting the
Scriptures.' "'To the end that the Kirk of God may have a trial of men's
knowledge, judgments, graces, and utterances, as also such that have
somewhat profited in God's Word may from time to time grow, in more full
perfection, to serve the Kirk, as necessity shall require, it is most
expedient that in every town where. schools and repair of learned men are,
there be one certain day in every week appointed to that exercise, which
St. Paul calls prophesying, the order whereof is expressed by him in these
words: "Let two or three prophets speak, and let the rest judge; but if
any be revealed to him that sits by, let the former keep silence; ye may
one by one prophesy, that all. may learn, and all may receive consolation.
And the spirit," that is, the judgment, " of the prophets is subject to
the prophets." By which words of the apostle it is evident that, in the
Kirk of Corinth, when they did assemble for that purpose, some place of
Scripture was read, upon the which one first gave his judgment, to the
instruction and consolation of the auditors; after whom did another either
confirm what the former had said, or added what he had omitted, or did
gently correct, or explain more properly, where the whole verity was not
revealed to the former. And in case things were hid from the one and from
the other, liberty was given for a third to speak his judgment to the
edification of the Kirk; above which number of three (as appears) they
passed not for avoiding of confusion. This exercise is a thing most
necessary for the Kirk of God this day in Scotland; for thereby, as said
is, shall the Kirk have judgment and knowledge of the graces, gifts, and
utterances of every man within their body. The simple, and such as have
somewhat
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APPENDICES. profited, shall be encouraged daily to study and to proceed in
knowledge-the Kirk shall be edified. For this exercise must be patent to
such as list to hear and learn; and every man shall have liberty to utter
and declare his mind and knowledge to the comfort and consolation of the
Kirk. But, lest of this profitable exercise there arise debate and strife,
curious, peregrine, and unprofitable questions are to be avoided. All
interpretation disagreeing from the principles of our faith, repugning to
charity, or that stands in plain contradiction with any other manifest
place of Scripture, is to be rejected. The interpreter in this exercise
may not take to himself the liberty of a public preacher (yea, although he
be a minister appointed), but he must bind himself to his text, that he
enter not in digression; or, in explaining common places, he may use no
invective in that exercise, unless it be of sobriety, in confuting
heresies: in exhortations or admonitions he must be short, that the time
may be spent in opening the mind of the Holy Ghost in that place,
following the sequel and dependence of the text, and observing such notes
as may instruct and edify the auditory for avoiding of contention; neither
may the interpreter, or any in the assembly, move any question in open
audience whereto himself is not able to give resolution without reasoning
with one another; but every man ought to speak his own judgment to the
edification of the Kirk. "' If any be noted with curiosity of bringing in
of strange doctrine, he must be admonished by the moderator, ministers,
and elders immediately after the interpretation is ended. "' The whole
ministers, a number of them that are' of the assembly, ought to convene
together, where examination should be had how the persons that did
interpret did handle and convey the' matter (they themselves being
removed); to each must be given his censure; after the which, the person
being called, the faults (if any notable be found) are noted, and the
person gently admonished. "' In that assembly are all questions and
doubts, if any arise, resolved without any contention; the ministers of
the parish kirks in landwart adjacent to every chief town, and the
readers, if they have any gift of interpretation, within six miles, must
concur and assist those that prophesy within the towns, to the end that
they themselves may either learn,'or others may either learn by them. And,
moreover, men in whom is supposed to be any gift which might edify the
Church, if they were well employed, must be charged by the ministers and
elders to join themselves with the session and company of interpreters, to
the end that the Kirk may judge whether they be able to serve to God's
glory, and to the profit of the Kirk in the vocation of ministers or not;
and if any be found disobedient, and not willing to communicate the gifts
and special graces of God with their brethren, after sufficient
admonition, discipline must proceed against them, provided that the civil
magistrate concur with the judgment and election of the Kirk. For no man
may be permitted, as best pleaseth him, to live within the Kirk of God.
But every man must be constrained by fraternal admonition and correction
to bestow his labors, when of the Kirk he is required, to the edification
of others. What day in ghe week'is most convenient for that exercise, what
books of Scripture shall be most profitable to read, we refer to the
judgment of every particular kirk-we mean, to the wisdom of the ministers
and elders.' " If our Church has ruled that in a matter of ordinary gifts
there should be liberty given to speak, can any one believe that if the
gifts of the Holy Ghost had been in the Church they would not have ruled
it for these extraordinary gifts also? Is it possible to believe the
Reformed Church would have justified the complainers in this motion, or
justify the Presbytery in coming to the decision that I should be ejected
from the National Scotch Church because I admitted persons, after they had
been
Page 589
APPENDIX
C. 589 fully proved to have the gifts of the Holy Ghost, to exercise those
gifts in the congregation? Can any one say that it is contrary to the
ordinances of the Reformed churches of Scotland so to do? But if there
were ordinances to this effect (which there are not), I would disobey
them; if there were ordinances of the king to this effect, I would disobey
them. Yea, I would disobey all ordinances, whether of the ecclesiastical
or civil power, which commanded me not to do a thing which I believed the
Lord Jesus commanded me to do; and the man who doth not so act in this
matter is guilty of treason against the King of Heaven; and I would
disobey any earthly king in this matter, but I would do it loyally, not
rebelliously. I would say,; Whether it be right I should obey man rather
than God, judge ye;' and whether it be right in the sight of God to obey
the great Head of the Church or His servants; the Head of the Church
speaking in His Word, or His servants'speaking through any confession or
canon of their drawing up, judge ye. And if any man thinks I have set my
hand to any thing contrary to that, I deny it. I tell that man I have not
done it knowingly; and if unknowingly I have done it, I do here, before
the Church of God, confess I have done wrong; for it never was given to a
man to sign away his liberty of serving Jesus. It can not be required of a
man; no power on earth can require it. And if by any act of my life I have
given away my power of serving Jesus, I confess I have done wrong, and
when it is brought to my conscience I will renounce it, because I solemnly
deny that there is any power on earth which can take away a man's power of
serving Jesus, who bought him with His blood, who is King over all; who
sitteth in the congregation of His saints as head, and raiseth the beggar
from the dunghill to set him among princes, and who casts down princes
from their thrones. But I have not done it; the Church of Scotland hath
not required it; and if the Church of Scotland had, in an evil hour, in
her fallibility (which none is so ready to confess as she is; for, in the
Preface to the first Confession of the Reformed Church of Scotland, words
nearly to the following effect are contained. I can not, perhaps, quote
the precise words, but I will answer for the substance:' If any man do
discover in these Articles any thing which repudiates God's Word or right
reason, we crave him of his honor or of his kindness to inform us, and we
promise that we will give him satisfaction out of the Word of God and
sound reason, or admit that we are wrong')-if, therefore, the Church of
Scotland, in the exercise of that fallibility, which none were so ready to
acknowledge as our Reformers, standing up as they did against the
infallibility of the Church of Rome, had framed any canon to prevent me as
a minister of Christ from doing the thing which I have done in obedience
to Christ, I would have felt it my duty to disobey that canon, and have
borne the consequences. I would not have waited for months or years the
result of a slow process before the Church courts for authority so to do;
for where in the mean time were my conscience; where were my Lord; where
were the spiritual edification of my flock; where were the ordinance of
prophesying? But the Church expecteth it of her ministers that they should
walk according to the ordinances of Christ, and fulfill their duty to Him;
and in doing so I should have advised my brethren to do it, and would have
taken counsel with them in the matter. Nay, I did take counsel with the
brethren in the ministry in this matter, at least with two, than whom none
stand higher in their respective churches: the Rev. D. Dow, minister of
Irongray, in Scotland, than whom no man in that Church stood in higher
reputation till he had received the gift of the Holy Ghost, but of whom I
must now say that he hath become a fool for Christ's sake-I wrote to him
on the subject, and also communed with another, who stood in the very
highest place in the English Church before the evangelical body; and I
asked them what they thought of:this matter; and the deliverances I
received from them answered exactly to the previous
Page 590
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APPENDICES. judgment of my own mind. At the same time I wrote to a
clergyman of the Church of England, than whom none stood higher in his
Church, but who is now also become'a fool for Christ's sake, and received
his judgment to the same effect; so that in one week I had three judgments
concurring with my own opinion to the very letter. These I laid before the
elders and deacons, in order to show them that I was not acting
precipitately, but with the counsel of my brethren. And I do not say but
that, if I had been a member of this Presbytery, which at that time I was
not, I would have felt it my duty to lay it before them. Ah! surely I
would; I would never have hid any thing in my bosom which came from the
Lord, and I knew it to be so; for while I was connected with this
Presbytery, every thing that was brought to me I brought into the
Presbytery; but then I had been rejected by this Presbytery as a heretic;
I had been publicly repudiated by them as a heretic, and branded with this
stigma over the whole land, and I had none to consult with. I would have
observed brotherly love, but I was under no authority to them, or to any
Church court; for the General Assembly, at their last meeting, clearly
laid it down that they could not exercise any rule beyond the kingdom of
Scotland. It was ruled so by men on both sides the house; so that if I had
been inclined to act the churchman instead of the Christian minister; if I
had been inclined to act the part of a minister of the Church of Scotland,
and not the part of a minister of Christ; if I had been inclined to put
myself forth as a trustee of the standards of the Church of Scotland, and
not as a minister of the living Word, even then I could not have done the
thing required of me, namely, to apply to them to allow the speaking. with
tongues and prophesying in the congregation; but I would not, so there is
an end of that kind of argument. I would not, because, when I felt the
authority of my Lord in my conscience, it would have been an insult to Him
to ask for more. There is no authority that can come between the angels of
the Church and Him the Head. See ye if it is ever written in the seven
epistles of Christ to his Church, in the Revelations, or in the Word of
God any where, that a minister is required to go to the Presbytery or
synod before obeying the commands of Jesus. See ye if there be any
instance in which it is not charged to the angel of the Church if any
thing disorderly occurs in the Church; and I say, after long and painful
study of the constitution of the Church of Scotland, and after long love,
and ardent, to her constitution and discipline, and much active service
for her sake, and after much delightful communion with her members, I will
say to my younger brethren in the ministry here present, that it is not
sound doctrine which teacheth that the Presbytery, or the General
Assembly, or any court, or any man, or bishop, or any pope interveneth and
interposeth their authority between a minister and the Lord Jesus Christ,
who speaks to the minister directly, and the minister directly obeys
Christ. The counsels of the Church are for settling the differences that
arise, but are not intended to take away the free standing of a minister
of Christ in the Church. I say it is the only sound doctrine that the
ministers of Christ, and pastors of His people, stand directly responsible
to Christ, all Presbyteries, synods, councils, creeds, canons, and
confessions notwithstanding. These, doubtless, have their use and place,
but this is not within the present question. "Now I have brought this
third head to a close, namely, concerning the ruling of it. I deny every
charge brought against me seriatim, and say it is not persons, but the
IHoly Ghost that speaketh in the Church. I do not say what the judgment of
this Presbytery might be if they could say that these persons do not speak
by the Holy Ghost. But this they can not do. This is what I rest my case
upon. This is the root of the matter. This is what I press on the
conscience of the Presbytery; and it is laid before them out of the mouths
of all the witnesses.
Page 591
APPENDIX
C. 591 The evidence is entirely to this effect; not one witness has
witnessed to the contrary. "II do not think it necessary to go into the
institution of the Church of Scotland to show my faithfulness to the
Church since I came into this city; how many of the ordinances I found
fallen down, and my labors in building them up again; the office of
deacon, the duty of the elders in visiting the sick of the flock, public
baptism in the Church, the services before and after the holy communion,
etc.; but I am not here to testify of myself, for if I did my witness were
not true. I am here to testify of another, even of the Lord Jesus Christ,
whose name as Baptizer with the Holy Ghost, whose standing name of
Godhead-for it is that which distinguisheth His name as God, implying that
He hath a person of the Godhead to distribute-is denied by this complaint.
And though the complainers shut their ears upon it, yet it is the truth,
it is the burden of it; and it is, let me say, the guilt of it, and a
heinous guilt it is. I believe this standing name of Godhead which Jesus
hath, as Baptizer with the Holy Ghost, it is the purpose of this complaint
to suppress in the Church, to prevent from being exercised in the Church.
It is the purpose of this complaint to prevent the Lord Jesus from
fulfilling His covenant of baptism to every member of the Church; it is
the purpose of this complaint to prevent the Lord Jesus from speaking with
His own voice in the Church." Mloderator. " Order! I will not allow this
assertion. As long as Mr. Irving speaks to facts, we will hear him; but
when he imputes intentions to the complainers, I submit it is clearly
disorderly." M'ar. Irving. "You do not understand what I mean. I mean that
it is the animus of this document. Is it not the very intention of the
whole complaint? I appeal to the court." Mloderator. "You have made severe
personal charges, and I rule it is not competent so to go on." %Jf.
Irving. I'I ask the judgment of the court on this point, whether it is not
the very intention of'this deed, and whether I was arguing as to the
persons, or as to the deed of complaint; and I was saying it is the very
spirit of the complaint to prevent the voice of the Holy Ghost from being
heard in the Church, which is the temple of the Holy Ghost; it is the
spirit of the complaint to put it down, because it has the sign of the:
Holy Ghost upon it, which is speaking with' tongues." Mri. Ml~ann here
interrupted the defender, and disavowed the intentions imputed to the
trustees. Mr. Irving. "I speak to this paper (the copy of the complaint),
and I am perfectly in order. I have a good right to judge of this paper,
and no man shall prevent me. Surely this Presbytery,:to whom I appeal,
will allow me to speak to my indictment." Dr. Cronzbie. "I must say,
Moderator, that I conceive Mr. Irving perfectly in order, although the
words might have been qualified as to the effect of the complaint. Mr.
Irving has explained: that he does not impute improper motives to the
complainers; he means not the spirit of the complainers, but the spirit of
the complaint." Air. Irsving. "The tendency and effect of the complaint,
then, that is quite regular." Moderator. "That is what I suggested." Alir.
Irving.' "Well, I say, the tendency and effect of the complaint is to
resist and hinder the voice of the Holy Ghost speaking in the Church; and
let me enumerate the points in the complaint again, and glad am I to have
another opportunity of enumerating them. Well, then, the inevitable
tendency of the complaint is to destroy the name of Jesus as Baptizer with
the Holy Ghost, and by a verdict of a court, and with a canon of a Church
(and it makes no matter what court it is, for the highest
Page 592
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APPENDICES. of human authorities is but as the lowest when compared with
the dignity of Jesus), to take away from Him this name as Baptizer with
the Holy Ghost, and to say that name, in its full property, and grace, and
blessedness, and effects, belongeth not to Him. The tendency of the
complaint is to take away from every child of God, in the bosom of the
National Scotch Church, the hope and the desire of having the baptism of
the Holy Ghost given to them for the edification of the Church, according
to the covenant of baptism. The tendency of the complaint is to take away
the liberty from that Church of having and exercising the gift of tongues
and of prophecy, the grand ordinance which the apostle expressly says is
for edification, exhortation, and comfort. The tendency and effect of the
complaint is to take away the speaking with tongues and prophesying, which
is for the edification of the Church. The tendency of the complaint is to
take away the ordinance of the prophet from the Christian Church, which
ordinance Jesus hath appointed to be in the Church always, and which would
always have been in the Church, had men looked always to the ordinances of
Jesus, instead of looking to human wisdom and traditions, and human system
and human authority. The tendency of the complaint is to take away from
the Holy Ghost the liberty of speaking in the Church, His own temple, the
temple of truth, and that because the thing spoken is accompanied with His
own sign of speaking with tongues. It is the spirit and tendency of this
complaint to take from a minister of Christ the dignity and responsibility
which pertaineth to him as an officer of the Church of Christ, to rule and
order his church in spiritual things, and to be the responsible deputy of
Christ in all things pertaining to words and ordinances. It is the
tendency and effect of this complaint to take from a minister of the
Church of Scotland the liberty and privilege which belongs to him as a
minister of Christ, which, though not given him by the Church of Scotland,
yet are guaranteed to him both by the canons of the land and the canons of
the Church; which are given to him by Jesus, and are guaranteed to him by
the powers, as well civil as ecclesiastical, so that no man shall let or
hinder him therein. It is the tendency and effect of this complaint to put
trustees (who have nothing to do but with the care of the building, that
it be not diverted from its proper ends, which in this case has not been
done; and I defy them, and all men, to show that I have contravened any
ordinances of the Church of Scotland or of the Church of Christ)-to exalt
trustees over the minister, and to make him their bondman. And I warn you,
ministers, that if you do sanction such an interference with a man acting
in the spirit in which I have acted; if you do wink at these proceedings,
and not look them in the face, but give these men power to cast me and my
flock-a flock of hundreds, and a congregation of thousands-out of that
church which has been built, I will say, very much on the credit of my
name; if you aid them in casting me out into the wide streets, you will do
a thing for which the Lord will chastise you, not in higher matters only,
but in this kind also in which you offend, namely, in those who have the
secular care of the houses where you worship.* I have but one word to add
as to the position in which I submit this matter to the Presbytery,
because in this matter both parties have a right of judgment. With all
reverence, therefore-and you must hear it with patience, for what I am
going to say is not pleasing to flesh and blood; but I must exonerate my
conscience-with all reverence, therefore, I say, I do not submit this case
to the Presbytery as a Presbytery of the Church of Scotland, having any
jurisdiction over me; and ye will not ask it of me, because I have no
right of appeal from this Presbytery to the Church of Scotland. I do not,
therefore, submit it to this Presbytery as a Presbytery having any right
of superintendence over me; for, though I was once a member of your
Presbytery, I went out from you of my own free-will; * This warning has
been singularly and literally justified by the course of events since
then.
Page 593
APPENDIX
C. 593 and when I had so gone forth from you, because I saw you not acting
as I judged according to the commandments of the Lord, ye did judge me, in
my absence, a heretic on great points of faith; and then, at the sessions
of our Church, the Church did, by solemn act of the ruling elders,
withdraw itself from the Presbytery, and therefore we are in no respect
under your jurisdiction. And although many questions have been put by you
to the witnesses as to my doctrine, and ye, I believe, would not have done
so if you had not supposed erroneously that you had jurisdiction over me,
I, although I could have arrested it, yet being desirous that the truth
should be fully known, and knowing the examination would throw some light
on the question in hand, I suffered it to go on, although I felt that in
it the Presbytery did trespass very far on my rights as a party in this
case; and I will say also, did very much forget the calmness and
disinterestedness of judges; for never did I hear, or any one else, in any
court, witnesses so questioned and cross-questioned-no, not even where
evidence of the most suspicious kind is wont to be brought forward-as they
were here cross-questioned by the Presbytery; and that, too, even in the
most solemn matters. And the witnesses being voluntary, and under no
compulsion, were subjected to a most unusual process of vexatious
scrutiny." Mr. Maclean. " Order! I say, Moderator, the questions were not
put in an improper manner. They were questions quite in order, and for
sifting the truth in respect to this matter; although the manner may have
been that of firmness and decision, there was no improper feeling." The
Moderator rose to defend the Presbytery, and thought they had not departed
from gravity in cross-examining the witnesses. There was no parallel
between them and civil judges, for the Presbytery were both prosecutors
and judges, and therefore, in duty to the Church, they were bound to put
all questions needful to elucidate the truth. MAi. Irving. "It stands in
evidence that the witnesses were examined as to my doctrine, and as to
matters far away from the matter in hand. I can only say I never
authorized the Presbytery to inquire into, my doctrine. Nay, I say more, I
never could submit my doctrines to you as a court of Christ; for, by
refusing all reference to the Holy Scriptures, ye have put yourselves
beyond this privilege. What would any one say of a civil court in Britain
which would refuse an appeal to the laws of the realm? Would not such a
court, sitting in name of the king, who would so despise the laws, be
guilty of rebellion against the king, whose office it is to administer the
laws impartially to all his subjects? So say I if a court, calling itself
the court of Christ, says it will not allow appeal to lie open to the
Scriptures, which are the statutes of our King, as was ruled by this
Presbytery in deliberate judgment yesterday, and that judgment protested
against, then that court ceaseth to be a court of Christ: and I can not
retract or qualify my assertion that, by such proceeding, this Presbytery
hath become only a court of anti-Christ." Mr'. Macclean rose to order, and
said, "It is quite competent to the reverend gentleman to protest against
our decision on that point, but not to impugn the court; but to say that
we are not a court of Christ, but a court of anti-Christ, I will never,
never submit to it. I hold my judgment on the matter to be as good as that
of the Rev. E. Irving, and maintain that he is not competent to do any
thing but to enter a protest against us." Mr. Irving. "I have said the
word, and do not retract it, because it is the truth. I said it, I assure
you, sir, in sorrow; I grieve over it, I lament over it in faithfulness. I
am bound to say the Presbytery have most grievously erred in this matter;
and, until repentance be shown by them for this sin, the Lord is angry
with them. I can not, therefore, submit this matter to the Presbytery as a
Presbytery, but mereP P
Page 594
594
APPENDICES. ly as referees. I do not deny that the Presbytery when it
meets is, or at least ought to be, constituted in Christ, the Head of the
Church, and ought to be conducted by entire regard to the teaching of the
Holy Ghost; but this Presbytery have virtually denied this, and have cut
themselves off from the fountain of justice; they have cast themselves
from all judgment on the basis of Scripture, which is the only standard of
faith and practice, as declared by the very standards of our Church; and
they can not give righteous judgment in this cause until they repent of
that which was done yesterday, in cutting themselves off from all appeal
to this Book, and expunge their decision on this point from the records;
and not only not prevent, but gladly permit, in all causes that come
before them, reference to be made to the Holy Scriptures. For how would I
be a good magistrate of the king if, when parties came before me with any
case to be adjudged, and those parties were referring to the statutes of
the land, I should say, you ought not to refer to the statutes of the
king, but to some antique customs, or some of the new-come notions-some of
the notions lately come up in this part of the countryl-which we have
ruled among ourselves? At our Quarter Sessions, if a man should come up
before a magistrate, and'should be accused of any matter, and it should be
found out and showed that'the statutes of the realm applied to the very
point, but that they had been long neglected, and were lying in desuetude,
surely you would judge him by the statute so adduced. If that court were
to say No, we can not permit any such appeal, would you say they were
fulfilling their office justly? So I say you ought to encourage appeals to
the Word of God, because it is the only rule of faith and of practice. It
is the thing which is imposed on every baptized person, and as such it is
obligatory on you. Is it not the custom with you, and with every other
minister of our Church, to impose it on every'baptized person'in these
very words? Do you not oblige every person who comes to be baptized to
declare that these Scriptures are the only rule of faith and practice,
whereof an excellent summary is contained in the Confession of Faith, and
in the shorter and longer Catechisms? Yes, these are the words which are
imposed on every baptized person. I have imposed them on every person I
have baptized, except occasionally I may have forgotten it; and it is the
constant custom to impose them on every baptized person. The Scriptures
are laid on every parent as the only rule of faith and practice. You arc
bound by this obligation, whether as fathers or as ministers; and yet now,
when I come into your court, and submit to you a cause, a most solemn
cause, a most momentous cause, a most ponderous cause, the like of which
hath -not been agitated in Christendom for many centuries-a cause
affecting the honor of the Holy Ghost, and His work in the Church, which
is His temple; a cause touching the Holy of Holies, and not the skirts of
the tabernacleye, when I come before you with this cause, refuse all proof
of such work from the Scriptures, and say, We will not rule our practice
by the Word of God." M1r. Iiving, on being called to order, said in
explanation, "I was only saying that, in the practice of this court, there
was never such'a solemn subject before it. Is it not the naked fact that
you did prevent'me from appealing to the Scriptures? Am I to be held in
disorder for speaking the plain and naked truth?" nThe Moderator denied
the analogy'drawn between civil courts and ecclesiastical courts, and
disclaimed the inference drawn by Mr. Irving from their conduct that they
had interdicted him from appealing to the Scriptures. " What are the laws
of a kingdom but the will of the king constructed by the nation? The
standards of our Church, in like manner, were held to' be the will of the
King of Zion, as declared by our Church, and therefore we are in order
when we insist that the reverend dcfender shall plead to the will of the
King as declared in the standards of our Church. The reverend defender
must show that he is acting according to his ordination vows
Page 595
APPENDIX
C. 595 in this matter. Hie has taken a larger range, however, and gone
into irrelevant matters. We have borne with him by courtesy and in
tenderness; but I will not compromise the dignity of the court, and permit
him to use epithets which I think are abusive." MFr. Irving. " I speak at
this bar as a minister of the Lord Jesus Christ; as a minister of His
Word, which the Lord has given me to keep and to minister; and as a
maintainer of the paramount authority of His Word; and I say again, that
dishonor of the most:flagrant nature hath been done to the Word of God in
these proceedings by preventing an appeal to it; and if I were not to lift
up my voice against it, the very stones out of the wall, and the beams out
of the timber, would cry out. What! if I am not to appeal to the facts
which have actually taken place in this court, which have been ruled in
this court by the Presbytery in this matter, I will sit down and speak no
more. For I will not, I can not, be prevented by the court. There is a
right above every court, and there is one Head over every court. It has
been endeavored to prevent me from alluding to the things which were ruled
in this court, to take away from me the only line of defense which, as a
minister of the Word of God, I could have takenf. Sir, I can not but
appeal from the course t.hat has been adopted toward me, since I was
prohibited by a solemn decision of the court from appealing to the only
authority on the subject, which is the Word of God; for there is not a
line nor a word in the standards of the Church which directly takes up the
subject of the gift of the Holy Ghost. There is not a word concerning
speaking with tongues and prophesying in the standards of the Church of
Scotland. There is not a word within the whole compass of the Church
canons to carry an appeal to; and I say it is a mere hoodwinking of a man,
after you have shut my mouth on this important part of my case, to. say
that myjudgment was not taken away by your decision. Find me in the
standards of the Church any thing to appeal to; ye can not." Milr. Mann
here rose with a call off' Order." Mia. Irving. "If I: am to be
interrupted thus, I will sit down. I wish to act reverently toward my
brethren, but I must be more reverent to the Lord Jesus Christ; God knows
I am acting as a minister of His Word. Well, I say, I submit the matter to
this Presbytery as to a number of men endowed with conscience —with the
conscience and discernment of truth, and who are beholden to exercise
their conscientious discernment for the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Head
of this court, and the head of every man, and who are beholden to judge
all things according to the law of Jesus Christ, which is the law o |
