37» A P P E N D I X .
and at all their debates and deliberations. After the affembly ¡j
conftituted, he prefents his commiffion and delivers a fpeech ; and!
when they have finiihed their bufinefs, which they commonly do iiJ
twelve days, he adjourns the affembly, and appoints the time and!
place of their next annual meeting, which is generally at Edinburgh,\
in the month of May.
The Affembly is compofed of Minifters and ruling Elders chofetj
annually from each Preibytery in Scotland. As the number of Mini!
fters and Elders in a Preibytery varies,,fo the number of their repreJ
fentatives muft hold a proportion to the number of Minifters and!
Elders, that are in the Preibytery. The proportion is fixed by laws!
and regulations for that purpofe. Each Royal Burgh and UnivaJ
fity in Scotland has likewife the privilege of chufing a ruling Elder to«
the Affembly. All eledtions muft at leaft. be made forty days b&J
fore the meeting of the Affembly. Their jurifdidtion is either con*
ftitutive or judicial. By the Erft they have authority to make laws«
in ecclefiaftical matters-: by the other they judge in. references anfl
appeals brought before them from the fubordinate courts, and their«
fentences are decifive and final. One point which greatly employs«
their attention is the lettlement of vacant pariihes. The common*
people of Scotland are greatly prejudiced againft the law of patronage*
Hence when a patron prefents a candidate to: a. vacant, pariih, the«
parifhioners frequently make great oppofition to the fetdement of!
the prefentee, and appeal from the inferiour courts to the Affembly;«
The Affembly now-a-days. are not difpofed to indulge the parifhio-8
ners in unreafonable oppofition to prefentees. On the other hand,!
they are unwilling to fettle the prefentee in oppofition. to the whole!
people, who refufe to fubmit to his miniftry, becaufe in this cafe his I
miniftrationsj
A P F E N D I X. 373
Litrations among them muft be ufelefs and without effedL The A t
mbly therefore for the moil part delay giving fentence in fuch cafes,
lionce they have ufed their endeavours to reconcile the parifhioners
pthe prefentee. But if their attempts" this way prove unfuccefsful,
ley proceed to fettle the prefentee in obedience to the adt of parliament
concerning patronages. Upon the whole it appears that in the
Uicatories of the church of Scotland, there is an equal reprefenta-
L of the Laity as of the Clergy, which is a great fecurity to the
Laity againft the ufurpations of the Clergy.
The bufinefs-of every Minifter in a pariih is to perform religious
Whip, and to preach in the language of the country to his congregation
every Sunday, and likewife on other extraordinary occafions
appointed by the laws and regulations of the church. The tendency
K their preaching, is to inftrudt their hearers in the effential doc-
Irines of natural and revealed religion, and improve thefe inftrudtions-
korderto promote the pradtice of piety and focial virtue. ;Of old,
pascuftomary to preach upon controverted and myfferious points
pfdivinity, But it is now hoped that the generality of the Clergy
confine thefubjedl of their preaching to what has a tendency to pro-
pote virtue and good .morals,, and to make the people peaceable and.
pul members of fociety..
Minifters likewife examine their parifhioners annually. They go
[othe different towns and.* villages of the pariih, and man eafyand
familiar
* I muft obferve, tb'at Biihop Burnet'{Joy birth a Scotchman) adopted in his dio-
ttfe the zeal o f the church o f his native country, and its attention to the morals
mdgood condudt o f the clergy and their flocks. Not content with the ufual tri-
•*«1 vifitations, he every fummer, during fix weeks,, made aprogrefs through*
font*--