AND

THE CLAIMS

OF THE

FREE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND

TO THE

SYMPATHY AND ASSISTANCE

OF

AMERICAN CHRISTIANS.

BY

THOMAS SMYTH, D. D.

AUTHOR OF LECTURES ON THE APOSTOLIC SUCCESSION; PRESBYTERY AND NOT PRELACY THE SCRIPTURAL AND PRIMITIVE POLITY; ECCLESIASTICAL REPUBLICANISM; AN ECCLESIASTICAL CATECHISM. ETC.

PUBLISHED BY REQUEST.

CHARLESTON, S. C.

PRINTED BY B. JENKINS, 100 HAYNE STREET.

13-VOL. V.

PREFATORY NOTE.

HAVING, through the kindness of a friend, obtained a reading of the following Discourse, and having perused it with much pleasure, I have thought its republication would not be unacceptable to the friends of the Free Church at home, and might be of some service. Many are the excellent publications, of various kinds, to which the Disruption has given origin. The present is not the least interesting. The Rev. Dr. Duff has sent forth a stirring voice from the Eastern World,-Dr. Smyth responds to it with as hearty an utterance from the Western. Such publications are far more valuable than their intrinsic size at first seems to betoken.

It is not only matter of interesting curiosity to men at home to see what points in the great revolution strike the eye, and impress the heart, of intelligent men most in foreign lands; but these thoughts are fitted to awaken new trains of ideas in our minds. Then, such publications proclaim the substantial unity of the Evangelical Church of Christ throughout the world. It is the taunt of Popery, as well as of Infidelity, that because there is external diversity-in other words, the absence of uniformity-there is therefore no unity. The warmth of the sympathy, however, with the Free Church, on the part of all evangelical communities in distant lands, though in some respects differing from her and from each other, is a striking proof of union-of a greater amount of real union than the Church of Rome, with all her external uniformity, can boast of. This is an important lesson at the present day.

Next, such expressions of sympathy, in behalf of a suffering Church, naturally leads to greater knowledge on both sides, and this again conduces to enlarged sympathy and increased mutual prayer among the Churches of Christ-no small matter in these times.

Meanwhile, such a testimony as the present is fitted to be useful at home, even to those who are hostile to the claims of the Free Church. A voice from the other side of the Atlantic (when, as in the present case, accurate in point of fact) is more likely to be listened to, than the same voice nearer home. The testimony is supposed to be less prejudiced, and more impartial. It is certain, that one living at a distance, if fully alive to the importance, as well as the facts of the case, is less disturbed by local feelings, and, in so far, is in better circumstances to form a comprehensive and accurate estimate of the whole.

Independently of the merits of the Discourse, and the interesting occasion of its being preached at the request of the leading men of seven different evangelical denominations in Charleston, and the use which has been made of it since to promote the cause of the Free Church, there is to every soundhearted Presbyterian an additional charm in the circumstance, that the author is a leading writer on behalf of Presbyterian Church government in the United States at the present day, and a successful antagonist of reviving Popery. While this adds to the interest of many of his readers here, doubtless, on the other hand, the spirit, and proceedings, and attainments of the Free Church since the crisis became serious, as well as subsequent to the Disruption, have imparted fresh animation to all the friends of Presbytery. Certain it is, that no friend of that form of ecclesiastical rule could desire a finer manifestation of united strength, combined with individual promptitude and energy, than the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland has displayed during the last twelve months. There can be little question that, under God, the magnificent result has been partly indebted to the form of government under which the Free Church is organized. It has been customary, in former times, to complain of the tardiness and unwieldiness of Presbyterian Church courts, compared with the rapid action of other kinds of government; but it is apprehended that this reproach, if ever well-founded, is now entirely removed. It will be difficult to point to any organized body whose movements, in times of trial and calamity, have been so rapid, and united, and comprehensive, as those of that Church whose claims Dr. Smyth so eloquently advocates. How strange, that a government so excellent, as experience proves Presbytery to be, should be so much hated in all ages, and that its adherents should, among christian bodies, be so extensive sufferers! Does not this resemblance to the King of sufferers indicate, that it is disliked because it holds so strongly His truth-because it is the representative of Christ's rule, as well as the maintainer of His doctrine?

GLASGOW, January 15, 1844.

JOHN G. LORIMER.