Acts: 1805

The principal acts of the general assembly, convened at Edinburgh, May 16, 1805.

I. Sess. 1, May 16, 1805.—The King's Commission to Francis Lord Napier produced, and ordered to be recorded.

The General Assembly, &c.

II. Sess. 1, May 16, 1805.—The King's most gracious Letter to the General Assembly, presented to them by his Majesty's Commissioner.

George, R., &c.

III. Sess. 3, May 18, 1805.—The General Assembly's Answer to the King's most gracious Letter.

May it please your Majesty, &c.

IV. Sess. 3, May 18, 1805.—Address to his Majesty on the present Arduous Situation of Public Affairs.

Most Gracious Sovereign,
We, your Majesty's dutiful and loyal subjects, the ministers and elders of the Church of Scotland, met in our General Assembly, desire to apporach the throne in the present circumstances of national danger, for the purpose of expressing out affectionate and zealous attachment to your Majesty's person and government.

Deeply impressed with a sense of the invaluable blessings which our country has so long enjoued, under the operation of equal laws, and under your Majesty's mild and ausoucious regin, we cannot look, without much anxiety, to the progress of a war in which the avowed design of our inventerate foe is the subversion of out liberty and independence. And we lament that the conduct of another nation, under the influence of the enemy with whom we chiefly condent, has, at length, rendered it indispensable for your Majesty to extend still more widely the scene of this arduous contest. Yet it is impossible not to perceive, in the present condition of that nation, and of other states that have yielded to the same domineering foe, the most decisive evidence that our safety, under God, depends upon a spirit of vigorous and determined resistances, proportioned to whatever shall be the difficulties, and the necessary duration of the war in which we are engaged.

As servants of the God of peace, we rejoince to hear that a pacific overture had been received by your Majesty. But while we repose entire confidence in your Majesty's councils, for acceding at any time to such terms of peace as may be consistent with the permanent safety and interests of the British empire, we cannot forget that these objects are intermately connected with the general security and independence of Europe, and that the maintenance of out national honour is indispensable to our national safety. We, therefore, congratulate your Majesty on the patriotic zeal, so universally manifested by your subjects, as the best pledge of out ultimately rising superior to the power of out enemies. And feeling ourselves, in some measure, respensible for those under our own charge, we have much satisfaction in assoring your Majesty of the confirmed loyalty and ardent patriotism of the people of Scotland.

We are proud to think, that, not withstanding the extensive preparations that were early made for the invasion of out coasts, the enemy has been hitherto deterred from the attempt by the well known state of out national defence, and the unexampled ardour that has been manifested in our country's cause; and, if the perseverance of our countrymen shall be equal to their ardour, we are confident that, under God, we shall remain a free and independent people.

While we look, therefore, to the great Arbiter of nations for his continued protection, we feel that no other worldly object is, in such circumstances, entitled to stand in competition with an unremitted discharge of out duty to our country. We pledge ourselves to our King, in the presence of God, that we shall be unceasing in our own endeavours to impress upon the people under our charge an indelible sense of what they owe to our national cause. And we hope, that to whatever period the destructive machinations of our enemies may be protracted, it will be found that Britons are not unprepared to defend an inheritance derived from men who throught it worthy to be purchased with their blood, and who have left it to us, but in trust, for the generations that are yet to come.

That Almighty God may continue to bless the means employed for our national defence;—that He may guide your Majesty's councils, and give success to your fleets and armies; that He may soon restore to us the blessings of an honourable and permanent peace;—that your Majesty may long reign over a free and loyal people; and that you may at length exchange an earthly for a heavenly crown, are the fervent prayers of,
May it please your Majesty, your Majesty's most dutiful, most faithful, and most obedient subjects, the Ministers and Elders met in this General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.

Signed in our name, in our presence, and at our appointment, by
George Hamilton, Moderator.

V. Sess. 9, May 25, 1805.— Commission of the General Assembly to certain Ministers and Ruling Elders for discussing Affairs referred to them.

The General Assembly, &c.

VI. Sess. 9, May 25, 1805.—Commission to some Ministers and Ruling Elders for the Reformation of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, and for Managing his Majesty's Royal Bounty for that end.

The General Assembly, &c.

VII. Sess. ult., May 27, 1805.—Interin Act and Overture respecting the Licensing of Probationers.

(Renewed and re-transmitted.)

VIII. Sess. ult., May 27, 1805.—Act appointing the Diet of the next General Assembly.

The next General Assembly of this National Church is appointed to be held within the New Church Aisle of Edinburgh, on Thursday, the 22d day of May 1806.

Extracted from the Records of the General Assembly, by
Andrew Dalzel, Cl. Eccl. Scot.