The principal acts of the general assembly, convened at Edinburgh, May 23, 1776.
I. Sess. 1, May 23, 1776.—The King's Commission to Charles Lord Cathcart produced
and ordered to be recorded.
The General Assembly, &c.
II. Sess. 1, May 23, 1776.—The King's most gracious Letter to the General Assembly,
presented to them by David Dalrymple, Esq.
George, R., &c.
III. Sess. 3, May 25, 1776.—The General Assembly's Answer to the King's most gracious
Letter.
May it please your Majesty, &c.
IV. Sess. 5, May 28, 1776.—The General Assembly's Address to his Majesty on the present
situation of Affairs.
May it please your Majesty,
We, your Majesty's most dutiful subjects, the ministers and elders met in the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, animated with the same sentiments of
loyalty which prevail among the people under our care, embrace this first opportunity of joining with them in declaring, that, at this interesting juncture, our attachment to your Majesty's person and government, and our zeal for the constitution and
rights of Great Britain, continue firm and unshaken.
Under a constitution founded on the principles of liberty, and governed by a Sovereign whose reign has been uniformly distinguished by a sacred regard for the
rights of his people, we have enjoyed a felicity which our forefathers struggled and
prayed for, but did not obtain; and we daily bless that God, by whom kings reign,
for your mild and equitable administration. Sensible of our own happiness, and
reposing with confidence on your Majesty's attention to the welfare of all your
people, it is with no less astonishment than regret that we have beheld those
alarming events which disturb the tranquillity of your reign.
But while we deeply bewail the progress of that spirit which hath prompted our
fellow-subjects in North America to take arms in opposition to your Majesty's anthority, and the supremacy of the British legislature, we contemplate, with peculiar
satisfaction, that striking proof which your Majesty now gives of your paternal affection, by vesting in the same respectable persons whom you have entrusted with the
command of your formidable fleets and armies, the power of displaying the extent of
your Majesty's clemency, and of conciliating the alienated minds of your subjects.
We consider ourselves as called upon, in the present situation of public affairs, to
exert our utmost diligence in discharging the important functions of our sacred office, in order to confirm the people committed to our charge in their reverence for
the laws of their country, in their attachment to the system of legal government
established by the glorious Revolution, and in their loyalty towards your Majesty,
whom they have experienced to be the faithful guardian of those liberties which
your illustrious House was called to maintain.
These endeavours shall ever be accompanied with our servent prayers to Almighty
God, that he may go forth with the fleets and armies of our country; that he may
bless the humane means employed by your Majesty to recal our fellow-subjects to a
sense of their duty, and to put a speedy period, without effusion of blood, to the
present dangerous and unnatural rebellion; that he who stilleth the tumults of the
people, and ruleth the spirit of man, may, in his good time, turn the hearts of the
children unto their fathers; that out of confusion order may arise; that in place of
anarchy and civil discord, submission to legal authority may return; and the union
between Great Britain and her Colonies may be happily re-established, so that both
may long rejoice under the government of your Majesty, as their common parent and
benefactor.
May it please your Majesty, your Majesty's most faithful, most obedient,
and most loyal subjects, the Ministers and Elders met in this National Assembly of the Church of Scotland.
Signed in our name, in our presence, and at our appointment, by
John Ker, Moderator.
V. Sess. 6, May 29, 1776.—The General Assembly's Congratulatory Address to his
Majesty on the Birth of another Princess.
May it please your Majesty,
We, your Majesty's most dutiful subjects, the ministers and elders of the Church
of Scotland, embrace with pleasure the opportunity which our meeting in a General
Assembly affords us of approaching your throne with respectful congratulations on
the birth of another Princess.
Animated with the principles of loyalty and inviolable regard to your royal person
and family, we cannot fail to rejoice in an event which adds to your domestic felicity.
Possessed as we are with reverence and gratitude towards the illustrious House
of Hanover, to which, under God, the nation is indebted for the full enjoyment of the
Protestant religion, and of public liberty, we must consider the increase of your royal
family as an happy pledge of the security of our civil and religious rights, which our
ancestors were solicitous to establish, by calling your august family to the throne of
these kingdoms. On that throne may it flourish to the latest posterity.
With our fervent prayers for the blessing of the Most High' to rest on your Majesty,
on your illustrious Consort the Queen, and on all your royal progeny, we are,
May it please your Majesty, your Majesty's most faithful, most obedient, and most loyal subjects, the Ministers and Elders met in
this National Assembly of the Church of Scotland.
Signed in our name, in our presence, and at our appointment, by
John Ker, Moderator.
VI. Sess. 9, June 1, 1776.—Commission to some Ministers and Ruling Elders for Reformation of the Highlands and Islands, and for managing his Majesty's Royal
Bounty for that end.
The General Assembly, &c.
VII. Sess. 9, June 1, 1776.—Commission to some Ministers and Ruling Elders for
discussing Affairs referred to them.
The General Assembly, &c.
VIII. Sess. 5, May 28, 1776.—Act disjoining the Parish of Nenthorn from the Presbytery of
Lauder, and annexing the same to the Presbytery of Kelso.
The which day, the General Assembly had transmitted to them, by their Committee for Bills, a petition for Mr Abraham Kerr, minister at Nenthorn, setting forth,
that the removal of the Presbytery of Lauder from Earlston to Lauder, which is at
a considerable distance from Nenthorn, made it extremely inconvenient for him (especially in winter) to attend the meetings of the Presbytery of Lauder; and as Kelso
is much nearer, it would be more convenient for him and his parishioners that the
parish of Nenthorn be disjoined from the Presbytery of Lauder, and united to the
Presbytery of Kelso. That both the Presbyteries and the Synod of Merse and Teviotdale had agreed thereto; and along with the petition he produced a letter, addressed to the Moderator of this Assembly, signed by all the heritors of the parish of
Nenthorn, agreeing to the disjunction, and craving that the General Assembly
would disjoin the said parish of Nenthorn from the Presbytery of Lauder, and unite
and annex the same to the Presbytery of Kelso. Which petition and letter being
read and considered by the General Assembly, they unanimously did, and hereby
do, disjoin the parish of Nenthorn from the Presbytery of Lauder, and unite and
annex the same to the Presbytery of Kelso; and declare Mr Kerr, and his successors
in office, constituent members of the Presbytery of Kelso in all time coming.
IX. Sess. 6, May 29, 1776.—Act Reponing Mr Robert Dalrymple to the Office of the Holy
Ministry.
The General Assembly, taking into consideration a petition of Mr Robert Dalrymple, late minister at Dallas, presented to the Synod of Moray, and referred by
them to this Assembly, craving that he might be restored to the ministerial character, of which he was deprived by a sentence of this Church more than twelve years
ago, in the justice of which he acquiesced; at the same time, that it had been unspeakably distressing to him, had borne so hard upon his mind, and given him so
deep concern, that nothing appeared to him of such importance, and so comforting,
as to be restored to his former character. And the Assembly having had laid before
them, together with the above petition, a representation from the Synod of Moray,
bearing, That they had unexceptionable evidence, both from the testimony of their
own members, and from the places where Mr Dalrymple had resided, of his decent
and useful behaviour since he was deposed, and were, therefore, unanimously of opinion,
that it would be in no respect hurtful to the interests of religion, but otherwise, to
agree to his petition; but that as the Assembly had affirmed the sentence of the
Synod deposing him, they submitted it to the Assembly, whether, upon what is above
represented, it would not be proper to take off the said sentence? The General Assembly, considering the above petition and representation, did unanimously, and
hereby do, take off the sentence of deposition passed upon the said Mr Robert Dalrymple, and repone him to the office of a minister of the Gospel.
X. Sess. 6, May 29, 1776.—Act altering the Day of Meeting of the Synod of Fife.
The which day, the General Assembly had transmitted to them, from their Committee for Overtures, an overture from the Synod of Fife, craving that the Assembly
would alter the day of the Synod's meeting, from the first to the second Wednesday
of October: Which being read and considered by the General Assembly, they unanimously did, and hereby do, change the day of meeting of the Synod of Fife from
the first to the second Wednesday of October yearly; and appoint the said Synod to
meet on the second day of October next.
XI. Sess. ult., June 3, 1776.—Act Changing the Place of Meeting of the Synod of Galloway.
The which day, the General Assembly had transmitted to them, by their Committee for Bills, a petition for the Synod of Galloway, craving, that the Assembly
would be pleased to change the place of the Synod's meeting from Wigton to Newton-Stewart; and along with the petition there was produced an extract of the Synod's
proceedings relative to this matter: Which petition and extract being considered by
the General Assembly, they unanimously did, and hereby do, change the place of the
Synod of Galloway's meeting from Wigton to Newton-Stewart; and appointed the ordinary and stated meetings of that Synod to be held at Newton-Stewart in all time
coming, allowing the Synod to adjourn occasionally to Kirkcudbright, Wigton, Stranraer, or elsewhere.
XII. Sess. 5, May 28, 1776.—Act anent the Age of Ruling Elders.
The General Assembly, upon the report of their Committee for Overtures, finding
that a considerable majority of the Presbyteries of this Church have now agreed to
an overture anent the age of ruling elders, and the electing them to represent sessions in Presbyteries and Synods, did thereupon agree, without a vote, to turn the
said overture into a standing act. And, accordingly, the General Assembly did, and
hereby do enact,—1mo, That no person shall be ordained an elder of this Church
before he is twenty-one years of age complete; 2do, That all Presbytery elders shall
be elected, within two months after the sitting of Synod, to attend the Presbytery and
ensuing Synod of that bounds, and in case of death or demission, a new election shall
be made within one month of the same; 3tio, That every elder so chosen shall produce an extract of his election, under the hand of the session-clerk, before he be received on the roll either of Presbytery or Synod.
XIII. Sess. ult., June 3, 1776.—Act appointing the Diet of the next General Assembly.
The next General Assembly of this National Church is appointed to be held in
this place, on Thursday, the 22d day of May, in the year 1777.
Collected and extracted from the Records of the General Assembly, by
GEORGE WISHART, Cls. Eccl. Scot.
Sess. 5, May 28, 1776.—Overture anent Persons going to be Licensed and Ordained
without the Bounds of this Church.
(Re-transmitted.)
Sess. 9, June 1, 1776.—Overture anent Licensing Probationers. (fn. *)