THE MEETING OF THE SYNOD.
With the vestry of the Marrow kirk in Bell's Wynd the synod met,
and was constituted with prayer. Sederunt, the Reverend Gilbert
Peden, moderator, minister of the true kirk of God in Scotland,
commonly called the Marrow Kirk, in which place the synod for the
time being was assembled; the Reverend Allan Welsh, minister of
the Marrow kirk in Dullarg, clerk of the synod; John Bairdieson,
synod's officer. The minutes of the last meeting having been read
and approved of, the court proceeded to take up business. Inter
alia the trials of Master Ralph Peden, some time student of arts
and humanity in the College of Edinburgh, were a remit for this
day and date. Accordingly, the synod called upon the Reverend
Allan Welsh, its clerk, to make report upon the diligence,
humility, and obedience, as well as upon the walk and conversation
of the said Ralph Peden, student in divinity, now on trials for
license to preach, the gospel.
Allan Welsh read all this gravely and calmly, as if the art of
expressing ecclesiastical meaning lay in clothing it in as many
overcoats as a city watchman wears in winter.
The moderator sat still, with a grim earnestness in his face. He
was the very embodiment of the kirk of the Marrow, and though
there were but two ministers with no elders there that day to
share the responsibility, what did that matter?
He, Gilbert Peden, successor of all the (faithful) Reformers, was
there to do inflexible and impartial justice.
John Bairdieson came in and sat down. The moderator observed his
presence, and in his official capacity took notice of it.
"This sederunt of the synod is private," he said. "Officer, remove
the strangers."
In his official capacity the officer of the court promptly removed
John Bairdieson, who went most unwillingly.
The matter of the examination of probationers comes up immediately
after the reading of the minutes in well-regulated church courts,
being most important and vital.
"The clerk will now call for the report upon the life and conduct
of the student under trials," said the moderator.
The clerk called upon the Reverend Allan Welsh to present his
report. Then he sat down gravely, but immediately rose again to
give his report. All the while the moderator sat impassive as a
statue.
The minister of Dullarg began in a low and constrained voice. He
had observed, he said, with great pleasure the diligence and
ability of Master Ralph Peden, and considered the same in terms of
the remit to him from the synod. He was much pleased with the
clearness of the candidate upon the great questions of theology
and church government. He had examined him daily in his work, and
had confidence in bearing testimony to the able and spiritual tone
of all his exercises, both oral and written.
Soon after he began, a surprised look stole over the face of the
moderator. As Allan Welsh went on from sentence to sentence, the
thin nostrils of the representative of the Reformers dilated. A
strange and intense scorn took possession of him. He sat back and
looked fixedly at the slight figure of the minister of Dullarg
bending under the weight of his message and the frailty of his
body. His time was coming.
Allan Welsh sat down, and laid his written report on the table of
the synod.
"And is that all that you have to say?" queried the moderator,
rising.
"That is all," said Allan Welsh.
"Then," said the moderator, "I charge it against you that you have
either said too much or too little: too much for me to listen to
as the father of this young man, if it be true that you extruded
him, being my son and a student of the Marrow kirk committed to
your care, at midnight from your house, for no stated cause; and
too little, far too little to satisfy me as moderator of this
synod, when a report not only upon diligence and scholarship, but
also upon a walk and conversation becoming the gospel, is
demanded."
"I have duly given my report according to the terms of the remit,"
said Allan Welsh, simply and quietly.
"Then," said the moderator, "I solemnly call you to account as the
moderator of this synod of the only true and protesting Kirk of
Scotland, for the gravest dereliction of your duty. I summon you
to declare the cause why Ralph Peden, student in divinity, left
your house at midnight, and, returning to mine, was for that cause
denied bed and board at his father's house."
"I deny your right, moderator, to ask that question as an officer
of this synod. If, at the close, you meet me as man to man, and,
as a father, ask me the reasons of my conduct, some particulars of
which I do not now seek to defend, I shall be prepared to satisfy
you."
"We are not here convened," said the moderator, "to bandy
compliments, but to do justice--"
"And to love mercy," interjected John Bairdieson through the
keyhole.
"Officer," said the moderator, "remove that rude interrupter."
"Aye, aye, sir," responded the synod officer promptly, and removed
the offender as much as six inches.
"You have no more to say?" queried the moderator, bending his
brows in threatening fashion.
"I have no more to say," returned the clerk as firmly. They were
both combative men; and the old spirit of that momentous conflict,
in which they had fought so gallantly together, moved them to as
great obstinacy now that they were divided.
"Then," said the moderator, "there's nothing for't but another
split, and the Lord do so, and more also, to him whose sin brings
it about!"
"Amen!" said Allan Welsh.
"You will remember," said the moderator, addressing the minister
of Dullarg directly, "that you hold your office under my pleasure.
There is that against you in the past which would justify me, as
moderator of the kirk of the Marrow, in deposing you summarily
from the office of the ministry. This I have in writing under your
own hand and confession."
"And I," said the clerk, rising with the gleaming light of war in
his eye, "have to set it against these things that you are guilty
of art and part in the concealment of that which, had you spoken
twenty years ago, would have removed from the kirk of the Marrow
an unfaithful minister, and given some one worthier than I to
report on the fitness of your son for the ministry. It was you,
Gilbert Peden, who made this remit to me, knowing what you know. I
shall accept the deposition which you threaten at your hands, but
remember that co-ordinately the power of this assembly lies with
me--you as moderator, having only a casting, not a deliberative
vote; and know you, Gilbert Peden, minister and moderator, that I,
Allan Welsh, will depose you also from the office of the ministry,
and my deposition will stand as good as yours."
"The Lord preserve us! In five meenetes there'll be nae Marrow
Kirk" said John Bairdieson, and flung himself against the door;
but the moderator had taken the precaution of locking it and
placing the key on his desk.
The two ministers rose simultaneously. Gilbert Peden stood at the
head and Allan Welsh at the foot of the little table. They were so
near that they could have shaken hands across it. But they had
other work to do.
"Allan Welsh," said the moderator, stretching out his hand,
"minister of the gospel in the parish of Dullarg to the faithful
contending remnant, I call upon you to show cause why you should
not be deposed for the sins of contumacy and contempt, for sins of
person and life, confessed and communicate under your hand."
"Gilbert Peden," returned the minister of the Dullarg and clerk to
the Marrow Synod, looking like a cock-boat athwart the hawse of a
leviathan of the deep, "I call upon you to show cause why you
should not be deposed for unfaithfulness in the discharge of your
duty, in so far as you have concealed known sin, and by complicity
and compliance have been sharer in the wrong."
There was a moment's silence. Gilbert Peden knew well that what
his opponent said was good Marrow doctrine, for Allan Welsh had
confessed to him his willingness to accept deposition twenty years
ago.
Then, as with one voice, the two men pronounced against each other
the solemn sentence of deposition and deprivation:
"In the name of God, and by virtue of the law of the Marrow Kirk,
I solemnly depose you from the office of the ministry."
John Bairdieson burst in the door, leaving the lock hanging awry
with the despairing force of his charge.
"Be merciful, oh, be merciful!" he cried; "let not the Philistines
rejoice, nor the daughter of the uncircumcised triumph. Let be!
let be! Say that ye dinna mean it! Oh, say ye dinna mean it! Tak'
it back--tak' it a' back!"
There was the silence of death between the two men, who stood
lowering at each other.
John Bairdieson turned and ran down the stairs. He met Ralph and
Professor Thriepneuk coming up.
"Gang awa'! gang awa'!" he cried. "There's nae leecense for ye
noo. There's nae mair ony Marrow Kirk! There's nae mair heaven and
earth! The Kirk o' the Marrow, precious and witnessing, is nae
mair!"
And the tears burst from the old sailor as he ran down the street,
not knowing whither he went.
Half-way down the street a seller of sea-coal, great and grimy,
barred his way. He challenged the runner to fight. The spirit of
the Lord came upon John Bairdieson, and, rejoicing that a foe
withstood him, he dealt a buffet so sore and mighty that the
seller of coal, whose voice could rise like the grunting of a sea
beast to the highest windows of the New Exchange Buildings,
dropped as an ox drops when it is felled. And John Bairdieson ran
on, crying out: "There's nae kirk o' God in puir Scotland ony
mair!"