seceding ministers were become so numerous, that they disjoined themselves into three different presbyteries, under one synod. A disagreement having taken place among them relative to the Burgess oath, administered in several of the royal boroughs of Scotland, they have since been distinguished in to Burghers and Antiburghers, and meet in different synods.
Both parties affirm, that the established kirk of Scotland still perseveres in a course of defection from her professed principles, and consequently that the grounds of secession, which at first were sufficient to justify a separation from her communion, have increased; hence the Seceders are gaining in number and strength to the present day. Their form of worship is the same as in the established kirk, and their discipline the same as used to be universally practised in the kirk, but which is almost generally disused. So that the church government of the Seceders is Presbyterian, and tenets strictly Calvinistic.
The Seceders hold no communion with other societies. The settlement of their ministers always proceeds upon a popular election, and the candidate is ordained by the suffrages of a majority. Among both parties of the Seceders the Gospel is gene, rally preached, and endeavours are used to commit the ministry only to serious and faithful men. Some ministers deliver three public discourses or the Lord's day, publicly catechise, and privately visit their congregations once a year, without respect of persons. Private baptism is rejected as a relic of popery; the Lord's supper is administered
