W. Mackenzie, m.
Wm. Watt, m.
James Sievewright, m.
John Alexander, m.
Alex. Hutchison, e.
Andw. Melville, m.
Jno. Macfarlane, m.
Adam Cairns, m.

D. Maitland Makgill Crich-
ton, e.

Robt. Brown, m. Chas. Nairn, m. Jas. Millar, m. Geo. Lewis, m. D. B. Mellis, m. William Stewart, m. James Ewing, m. Tho. Wilson, m. Thomas Dymock, m. William Wilson, m. Wm. Andson, e. Ja. Brewster, m. William Nixon, m. J. G. Wood, c. Alex. L. R. Foote, m. P. Dalmahoy, e. John Murray, m. James Foote, m. James Stewart, m. Robert Forbes, m. Alex. Spence, m. Alex. Thom, e. Thos. Shepherd, e. R. J. Brown, m. Wm. Anderson, m. David Scott Fergusson, m. James M'Gowan, m. Wm. Henderson, e. James Forrest, e. Hugh Gordon, m. Wm. Garden Blaikie, m. Neil Smith, jun., e. George Innes, m. Fra. W. Grant, m. Ludovic Stewart, e. Duncan Grant, m. George M'Kay, m. William Barclay, m. John Mathison, m. Thos. M'Lauchlan, m. Wm. Stothert, e. Geo. Mackay, c. Alex. Stewart, m. Henry Paul, e. John Macrae, m. Maurice Lothian, e. C. R. Matheson, m. John Munro, e. Hector Allan, m. G. Smyttan, e. John M'Donald, m. Alex. Flyter, m. James Begbie, e. G. M. Torrance, e.

4.-ACT OF SEPARATION

AND DEED OF DEMISSION BY MINISTERS.*

GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1843.—IV.

23d May 1843.

The General Assembly having approved of and adopted the draft of an Act and Deed to be subscribed by Ministers adhering to the Protest, renouncing and demitting their status, rights, and privileges, held by virtue of the Establishment, and the said Act and Deed having thereafter been extended in due and proper form, and subscribed by the parties, was ordered to be recorded.

The Ministers and Elders subscribing the Protest made on Thursday, the 18th of this instant May, at the meeting of the Commissioners chosen to the General Assembly appointed to have been that day holden, against the freedom and lawfulness of any Assembly which might then be constituted, and against the subversion recently effected in the constitution of the Church of Scotland, together with the ministers and elders adhering to the said Protest, in this their General Assembly convened, did, in prosecution of the said Protest, and of the Claim of Right adopted by the General Assembly which met at Edinburgh in May 1842 years, and on the grounds therein set forth, and hereby do, for themselves, and all who adhere to them, separate from, and abandon the present subsisting Ecclesiastical Establishment in Scotland, and did, and hereby do, abdicate and renounce the status and privileges derived to them, or any of them, as parochial ministers or elders, from the said Establishment, through its connection with the State, and all rights and emoluments pertaining to them, or any of them, by virtue thereof: Declaring, that they hereby in no degree abandon or impair the rights belonging to them as ministers of Christ's gospel, and pastors and elders of particular congregations, to perform freely and fully the functions of their offices towards their respective congregations, or such portions thereof as may adhere to them; and that they are and shall be free to exercise government and discipline in their several judicatories, separate from the Establishment, according to God's Word, and the Constitution and Standards of the Church of Scotland, as heretofore understood; and that henceforth they are not, and shall not be, subject in any respect to the ecclesiastical judicatories established in Scotland by law; Reserving always the rights and benefits accruing to them, or any of them, under the provisions of the statutes respecting the Ministers' Widows' Fund: And farther declaring, that this present act shall noways be held as a renunciation on the part of such of the ministers foresaid as are ministers of churches built by private contribution, and not provided or endowed

*This Act and Deed of Demission is registered in the Books of Council and Session, of date 8th June 1843.

by the State, of any rights which may be found to belong to them, or
their congregations, in regard to the same, by virtue of the intentions
and destination of the contributors to the erection of the said churches,
or otherwise according to law; all which are fully reserved to the
ministers foresaid and their congregations: And farther, the said
ministers and elders, in this their General Assembly convened, while
they refuse to acknowledge the supreme ecclesiastical judicatory estab-
lished by law in Scotland, and now holding its sittings in Edinburgh,
to be a free Assembly of the Church of Scotland, or a lawful Assembly
of the said Church, according to the true and original constitution
thereof, and disclaim its authority as to matters spiritual, yet in respect
of the recognition given to it by the State, and the powers, in conse-
quence of such recognition, belonging to it, with reference to the
temporalities of the Establishment, and the rights derived thereto
from the State, hereby appoint a duplicate of this Act to be subscribed
by their Moderator, and also by the several ministers, members of this
Assembly, now present in Edinburgh, for their individual interests,
to be transmitted to the clerk of the said ecclesiastical judicatory by
law established, for the purpose of certiorating them that the benefices
held by such of the said ministers, or others adhering to this Assembly,
as were incumbents of benefices, are now vacant; and the said parties
consent that the said benefices shall be dealt with as such: And they
authorize the Rev. Thomas Pitcairn, and the Rev. Patrick Clason,
conjunct clerks to this their General Assembly, to subscribe the
joinings of the several sheets hereof: And they consent to the registra-
tion hereof in the Books of Council and Session, or others competent,
therein to remain for preservation; and for that purpose constitute
their procurators, &c.

IN

TESTIMONY WHEREOF, these presents, written upon stamped paper by
William Petrie Couper, clerk to James Crawford, junior, writer to
the Signet, are, with a duplicate thereof, subscribed by the whole
parties in General Meeting assembled, and the joinings of the several
sheets by the saids Rev. Thomas Pitcairn and Rev. Patrick Clason, as
authorized as aforesaid, all at Edinburgh, the 23d day of May 1843
years, before these witnesses-Mr John Hamilton, advocate; William
Fraser, writer to the Signet; John Hunter, junior, writer to the
Signet; and the Rev. John Jaffray, preacher of the gospel, and
Secretary to the Provisional Committee, Edinburgh.

(Signed) THOMAS CHALMERS, Moderator.

(Signed) George Muirhead, minister at Cramond.

William Nisbet, minister at Edinburgh.

John Bruce, minister at Edinburgh.

Patrick Clason, minister at Edinburgh.

Wm. Simpson, minister at Edinburgh.

Alexander W. Brown, minister at Edinburgh.

Geo. R. Davidson, minister at Edinburgh.

Robert Elder, minister at Edinburgh.

Thomas Addís, minister at Morningside, Edinburgh.

Henry Grey, minister at Edinburgh.

John Sym, minister at Edinburgh.

Robert Gordon, minister at Edinburgh.

James Buchanan, minister at Edinburgh.

James Noble, minister at Edinburgh.

James Manson, minister at Dean, Edinburgh.

Alexander Gregory, minister at Edinburgh.

Thomas Chalmers, Professor of Divinity, Edinburgh.

(Signed) Thomas Guthrie, minister at Edinburgh.

Rob. S. Candlish, minister at St George's, Edinburgh.
Chas. J. Brown, minister at Edinburgh.

Wm. K. Tweedie, minister at Edinburgh.
Wm. Cunningham, minister at Edinburgh.
John Thomson, minister at Leith.
James Lewis, minister at Leith.
James Begg, minister at Liberton.
James Fairbairn, minister at Newhaven.
And. M'Kenzie, minister at Edinburgh.
Walter Fairlie, minister at Gilmerton.

David Welsh, Professor of Divinity and Church History, Edinburgh.
Lewis H. Irving, minister at Abercorn.

Samuel Martin, minister at Bathgate.

Thomas Gordon, minister at Falkirk.
John Laing, minister at Livingstone.

William M. Hetherington, minister at Torphichen.
James Proudfoot, minister at Culter.
William Hanna, minister at Skirling.
Walter Paterson, minister at Kirkurd.
George Burns, minister at Tweedsmuir.
Thomas Pitcairn, minister at Cockpen.
David Brown, minister at Roslin.
Robert Court, minister at Heriot.
James Bannerman, minister at Ormiston.
Selby Ord Dods, minister at Garvald.
Angus Makellar, minister at Pencaitland.
Archd. Lorimer, minister at Cockenzie.
Patrick Fairbairn, minister at Salton.
John Ainslie, minister at Dirleton.

W. Bruce Cunningham, minister at Prestonpans.
John W. Wright, minister at Haddington.

John Thomson, minister at Yester.

James Dodds, minister at Humbie.
William Sorley, minister at Belhaven.
Andrew Baird, minister at Cockburnspath.
John Thomson, minister at Prestonkirk.
Adam Foreman, minister at Innerwick.
David Thorburn, minister at South Leith.

Archd. M'Conechy, minister at Bunkle and Preston.
John Wallace, minister at Abbey St Bathans.

John Baillie, minister at Fogo.

William Cousin, minister at Boston Church, Dunse.
John Fairbairn, minister at West Church, Greenlaw.

George Fulton Knight, minister at Mordington.

John Turnbull, minister at Eyemouth.
George Craig, minister at Sprouston.
Horatius Bonar, minister at Kelso.
John Purves, minister at Jedburgh.
Walter Wood, minister at Westruther.
Thomas Jolly, minister at Bowden.
John Edmonston, minister at Ashkirk.
Henry Duncan, minister at Ruthwell.

William Brown Clark, minister at Half-Morton.

George Hastie, minister at Kirkpatrick-Fleming.

John R. Mackenzie, minister at Dumfries.

Rob. Crawford, minister at Irongray.

Rob. Brydon, minister at Dunscore.

George J. Duncan, minister at Kirkpatrick-Durham.

Rob. Kinnear, minister at Torthorwald.

Patrick Borrowman, minister at Glencairn.

Thomas Hastings, minister at Wanlockhead.
Thomas B. Bell, minister at Leswalt.

A. Urquhart, minister at Portpatrick.
Alexr. Forrester, minister at Sorbie.
Rob. Jeffrey, minister at Girthon.

Thomas Burns, minister at Monkton.

E. B. Wallace, minister at Barr.

Ninian Bannatyne, minister at Old Cumnock.

Andrew Thomson, minister at Maybole.

James Stevenson, minister at Newton-upon-Ayr.
Matthew Kirkland, minister at New Cumnock.
John Speirs, minister at Patna, Ayr.

(Signed) William Grant, minister at Wallacetown.
George Orr, minister at Symington.

David Landsborough, minister at Stevenston.
Thomas Finlay, minister at West Kilbride.
David Arthur, minister at Stewarton.
Thomas Main, minister at Kilmarnock.
Matthew Dickie, minister at Dunlop.
Neil Brodie, minister at Kilmarnock.
Peter Campbell, minister at Kilmarnock.
John Hamilton, minister at Saltcoats.
John Macnaughtan, minister at Paisley.
Duncan Macfarlan, minister at Renfrew.
Alexr. Salmon, minister at Barrhead.
Robert Smith, minister at Lochwinnoch.
Peter Henderson, minister at Paisley.
John Campbell, minister at Paisley.
Patrick McFarlan, minister at Greenock.
Jas. Smith, minister at Greenock.
Jn. Js. Bonar, minister at Greenock.
Donald MacLeod, minister at Gourock.
James Stark, minister at Greenock.
John Gemmel, minister at Fairlie.
James Drummond, minister at Cumbray.
Angus M'Bean, minister at Greenock.
John Dow, minister at Largs.

Robert Walter Stewart, minister at Erskine.
Wm. Laughton, minister at Greenock.
Jas. Morison, minister at Port-Glasgow.
James Anderson, minister at Blantyre.
James Clason, minister at Dalziel.

Alexander Rankin, minister at Strathavon.
David Paton, minister at Chapelton.
James Findlay, minister at Airdrie.
Robert Stirrat, minister at Airdrie.
Thomas Stark, minister at Lanark.
A. B. Parker, minister at Lesmahagow.
John Pollock, minister at Baldernock.
James Smith, minister at Dumbarton.
Andrew King, minister at Glasgow.
James Gibson, minister at Glasgow.

Thomas Duncan, minister at Kirkintilloch.
John Cochrane, minister at Cumbernauld.
Walter M'Gilvray, minister at Glasgow.
John Thomson, minister at Shettleston.
John Smyth, minister at Glasgow.
James Macbeth, minister at Glasgow.
Robert Buchanan, minister at Glasgow.
Thos. Brown, minister at Glasgow.
John Forbes, minister at Glasgow.
William Arnot, minister at Glasgow.

James Henderson, minister at Glasgow.

John G. Lorimer, minister at Glasgow.

Alexander N. Somerville, minister at Anderston, Glasgow.

Jon. R. Anderson, minister at Glasgow.

Wm. Burns, minister at Kilsyth.

David Menzies, minister at Glasgow.
Peter Currie, minister at Glasgow.

Alex. S. Patterson, minister at Glasgow.

John Lyon, minister at Banton, Kilsyth.
Nathl. Paterson, minister at Glasgow.
Michl. Willis, minister at Glasgow.
Alexr. Wilson, minister at Glasgow.

James Mackinlay, minister at Glasgow.

Hugh Mackay, minister at Glasgow.

James Munro, minister at West Rutherglen.
W. S. Hay, minister at Bridge of Weir.
William Chalmers, minister at Dailly.
John Mackenzie, minister at Dunkeld.

James Mackenzie, minister at Dalbeattie.

Peter M'Bride, minister at New Parish, Rothesay.
Alex. Macbride, minister at North Bute.

Hector M'Neil, minister at Campbeltoun.

M. Mackay, minister at Dunoon and Kilmun.