ultimately lead, he resigned his cure of Trinity Church, and, ipso facto, excommunicated himself1. MR. DRUMMOND had the bad taste to publish his correspondence with bishop Terrott; in consequence the clergy of the diocese met in the episcopal library, the dean in the chair, on the 1st of November, when they passed some resolutions, together with a remonstrance, in which they style Drummond, by an excess of courtesy, "brother." He had publicly announced his intention of setting up an independent meeting in opposition to the church, and he invited all "Scottish episcopalians and members of the church of England" to join it. In their first resolution the clergy state-" That after having carefully read the correspondence between the right reverend the bishop and the rev. Mr. Drummond, as published by the latter, it is our opinion that in this case the separation of Mr. Drummond from the Scottish episcopal church is totally without cause, inasmuch as the principle for which he says that he is contending, and which he twice defines as meaning, that he shall be at liberty to invite his own people in any private room, for private social worship, wheresoever and whensoever he pleases, without being compelled to use the liturgy, has not in the slightest degree been infringed upon his ministrations in Clyde-street Hall having been brought under the censure of the canon, not because they were private social prayer meetings of his own people for private social worship in a private room, but because in them he was publicly officiating without using the liturgy at all. And we would add, in consequence of the proposal to invite him to continue his ministrations in Edinburgh, disconnected from the Scottish episcopal church, that even if the principle for which he says he is contending had been interfered with in this, or in any other instance, still this could not justify the sin of schism 2." In short, they made him of too much importance, and inflated his vanity to such a degree, that even if he had been specially allowed to do as he says he thought himself entitled to do " wheresoever and whensoever HE PLEASED," which is the very essence of the "gainsaying of Core," he would not have resigned the eclat of giving his name to a new sect. Drummond appealed from his bishop to his own partisans and to the public, having none other or better to whom to appeal. But, says a presbyterian contemporary, 1 Correspondence between the Right Rev. C. H. Terrott and the Rev. D. T. K. Drummond, passim. * Church Intelligencer, i. 1181. "we candidly state our opinion, that reason, the laws of the church, and ecclesiastical authority, are all on the side of bishop Terrott; while, on the part of Mr. Drummond, we can discover nothing but an overweening self-conceit and complacency, which makes him fly in the face of sober episcopal reproof, though administered in the gentlest terms, and, we fear, renders hin incapable of understanding or feeling the beauty and truth of the great principle of his church, that 'order is heaven's first law 1." THE NEW episcopal church at Dunfermline was consecrated by the bishop of Glasgow, acting for Dr. Torry, the bishop of St. Andrews, on the 25th of October, assisted by the bishop of Edinburgh, and a numerous retinue of the clergy of Edinburgh. The church itself is of the early Gothic order, and cruciform, and contains 350 kneelings, but is capable of accommodating more if required. The chancel window is large, of stained glass, and has been pronounced superior to any thing of the kind in the kingdom. The bishop of Edinburgh preached a powerful sermon, and the services of the day concluded with the administration of the eucharist to above fifty communicants 2. St. Mark's church, Portobello, was built on speculation by a dissenter, and let on lease to the clergyman and his vestry; the lease falling in this year, the proprietor, without more ado, shut up the church, under pretence of repairing it! The congregation were therefore obliged to meet in a temporary place, which was duly licensed by the bishop of Edinburgh; a new vestry was appointed, and measures were taken to procure another church, rather than be subjected to similar inconvenience and imposition for the future. The proprietor immediately procured the services of an unlicensed clergyman, but who was prohibited from officiating by the bishop. The bishop, however, unfortunately, sanctioned a vestry appointed by this same dissenting proprietor, against which the incumbent and his vestry most respectfully appealed to the next episcopal synod3. When the synod met, the bishops reversed the bishop of Edinburgh's decision in this case. AT THE ASSEMBLY in May, that Court suspended all those ministers that had assisted the Strathbogie ministers at their several communion Occasions. These men were chiefly in the presbytery of Garrioch, and other presbyteries within the bounds of the synod of Aberdeen. At the half-yearly 1 Edinburgh Evening Post. Church Intelligencer, i. 1189. 3 Church Intelligencer, vol. i. 934. meeting of that synod, in October, an attempt was made to reject the suspended ministers from sitting in the synod; but that court, by a majority of ten, refused to give effect to the sentence of the Assembly, and retained their names on the roll of the synod1. THAT SPIRIT OF SCHISM and division was powerfully at work at this time, which was engendered by one of the three Unclean Spirits issuing severally from the mouths of the Dragon, the Wild Beast, and the False Prophet, namely, popish propagandism. There is no doubt but that jesuits, and other popish emissaries, were as busily employed in sowing the tares of division and "disruption" in the "best reformed kirk in the world," as they had been in all former periods of her history. They have also assisted in bringing that apostacy from the church to maturity which has been related in this chapter, as they are also busily at work at their old tricks in exciting popular antipathy in England to the use of the surplice in the pulpit. They like to fish in troubled waters; and the present proceedings of the jesuits are exactly the same as those of the same unclean spirits of all evil previous to the grand rebellion. May it please God to save and deliver us from their diabolical machinations, "to abate their pride, assuage their malice, and confound their devices," that the AngloCatholic Church, in all its branches, "being armed with God's defence, may be preserved evermore from all perils, to glorify Him who is the only giver of all victory," and of all peace and godliness! 1 Scotsman newspaper, cited in Church Intelligencer, i. 1166. CHAPTER LXXXIV. PRIMACY OF THE RIGHT REVEREND WILLIAM SKINNER, D.D., Airdrie - Forres 1843. St. Peter's church, Kirkcaldy.— Blair-Gowrie 1843. IN THE YEAR 1818 a very small chapel was erected in Kirkcaldy, in the diocese of St. Andrews, at which time the number of communicants did not exceed twelve; but the increase had been so steady, that it was now found necessary to erect a church of larger dimensions. The expense of this building was estimated at £1000, of which £500 had been subscribed in January, when the vestrymen, with the concurrence and approbation of the bishop of St. Andrews, petitioned the Christian Knowledge Society. With their usual liberality, the society agreed to a grant of £50 towards the erection of St. Peter's church, in Kirkcaldy, and the Church Society also made a liberal grant1. On the 6th of April the new episcopal church at Helensburgh, in the diocese of Glasgow, was opened for divine service, and bishop Russell inducted the Rev. J. R. Mackenzie to the pastoral charge of the congregation. ON WEDNESDAY, the 29th of March, the newly-erected church of St. Catherine's, in Blair-Gowrie, was opened for 1 Church of England Magazine-Church Intelligencer, ii. 26, 273. public worship, under the license of the bishop of St. Andrews. There was a full complement of the neighbouring clergy, and a great concourse of presbyterians, to witness the service. "Throughout, not only the seats, but also the aisles in the nave of the edifice, were densely crowded; many persons who had come from a distance to attend the solemnity having been disappointed of obtaining admittance." On the 4th of May the bishop of Glasgow consecrated the new church of St. John's, at Coat Bridge, near Airdrie, before mentioned; the incumbent, the Rev. H. Kennedy, in the name of the trustees, presented the petition; the morning prayers were read by the Rev. W. S. Wilson, of Trinity church, Ayr, and the sermon was preached by the Rev. Robert Montgomery, of St. Jude's church, Glasgow. The Rev. Alexander Ewing collected a small sum for the enlargement of the episcopal church at Forres, the congregation of which is steadily increasing. The only remains of the original place of worship there in which bishop Falconar officiated, is an old communion cup, with the following inscription: -" Presented to the church in this place, now under cloud, 1746." Probably this interesting relic might have been the gift of bishop Falconar, who was consecrated in the year 1741, and whilst the church was certainly under a cloud. The original church of St. James's, Cruden, was found to be in such a dilapidated state as to be in danger of falling down: by great exertions the incumbent, Mr. Pratt, author of the "Old Paths," collected a sufficient sum, by subscription, to erect a handsome Gothic edifice on the site of the old one, the foundation stone of which was laid with masonic honours on the 24th of April1. THE ANNUAL DIOCESAN synod of Aberdeen met at that city on the 9th of August. In addition to the usual business of the synod, bishop Skinner drew the attention of his clergy to various points of heretical doctrine, which the Rev. Alexander Allan, of Monymusk, had promulgated, in a "Lecture on the Distinctive Characters and relative Bearings of Theological parties in the Christian Church," in the episcopal church at Inverary, in the preceding month of March, and which he had subsequently published. The bishop laid a copy of his correspondence with Mr. Allan on this subject before the synod, and appointed a committee to consider the case, and to report to the synod. The committee reported, that Mr. Allan's lecture contained much that was highly censurable, as being at variance with the teaching of the holy catholic church in 1 Church of England Magazine, 1843-Church Intelligencer, ii. 373. |