es of the Reformation, men newly
come out of the Church of Rome should have been led to assert for the
office-bearers of their Church the prerogatives which Romanism claimed
for her own.'--_Dialogue 2d_, p. 7.

'What!' exclaimed the true Mr. Clark, 'is not the present contest
clearly for the rights of the members of Christ,--rights manifestly
recognised in His word, and involving His Headship?'--_Sermon_, p. 37.
_See also_ p. 31.

'Not at all,' replied the conjurer. 'The question is one of faction,
and of faction only. Struggles for the victory of mere parties have
been as injurious to vital godliness in the Church as the same cause
has been to the true prosperity of the State.'--_Dialogue 1st_, p.
15.

'Faction!' exclaimed the true Mr. Clark; 'the Church of Scotland is
now engaged in asserting principles which the allegiance it owes to
Christ will never permit it to desert. And let it be rung in the ears
of the people of Scotland, that the great reason why the asserting of
the Church's spiritual jurisdiction is so clamorously condemned in
certain quarters, is because it is employed to maintain the rights of
the people.'--_Sermon_, pp. 37-39.

'To be above the authority of the law, no Church in this country
can be,' said the conjurer. 'The Church courts would be able, were
their principles fully recognised, to tread under foot the rights
of the people as effectually as ever they resisted those of
patrons.'--_Dialogue 1st_, pp. 14 and 16.

'Nothing can be more absurd than such insinuations,' exclaimed the
true Mr. Clark. 'The Church disclaims every kind of civil authority,
and simply requires that there be no interference on the part of civil
rulers with its spiritual functions. How that which declines a
jurisdiction in civil matters, can in any sense of the word, or in any
conceivable circumstances, be injurious to civil liberty, it is
impossible to conceive.'--_Sermon_, p. 32.

'Alas,' said the conjurer, 'if the Church by recent events has been
exhibited in a lower position than Scotsmen ever saw it placed in
before, this has been occasioned by the unhappy attitude of defiance
of the civil tribunals in which it was unadvisedly placed, and which
no body, however venerable, can be permitted to occupy with impunity
in a well-governed country.'--_Dialogue 1st_, p. 12.

'Degradation!' indignantly exclaimed the true Mr. Clark; 'did the
Church, in consequence of the findings of the civil courts, proceed
to act in op