Civil Government and Religion [pp. 195-236]

1876.] CIVIL GOVERNMENT AND RELIGION. 215
principle, as Judge Strong has abundantly shown, * whatever
difficulties may sometimes arise in the application of it. And
in this case the eminent jurists, Chief Justice Agnew, Methodist, and Justice Sharswood, Presbyterian elder, dissented,
in agreement with the courts below, on the ground that "the
Synod was the proper and only judge of its own members and
their qualifications," and "the highest judge of its own
order." It is, indeed, lamentable that the constitution of any
church, Protestant or Catholic, should be such as to warrant
the excommunication of Bishop Cheney for omitting a word
or two in administering the baptismal service, for the purpose
of explicitly removing a ritualistic element which his conscience
condemned or of such a man as George H. Stuart, because he
sees fit to praise God in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs
not of Rouse's, nor any' other special version. But in this free
land they can take refuge in other more liberal organizations~
if worst comes to worst.
Exceptions aside, it involves consequences most dangerous
to the independence, liberty, and purity of our churches, to
transfer from their own supreme tribunals to the civil courts,
the ultimate and authoritative exposition of their doctrine
and order.
Of course, we can never submit to the interference of
civil courts to stop or obstruct the judicial processes of ecclesiastical courts in enforcing their own discipline. Occasional
attempts have been made to stop ecclesiastical trials by invoking the prohibitory injunctions of civil courts, but, so far
as we know, without success, until the recent case in the
Presbytery of San Francisco, which has been permanently
enjoined, by Judge ~7heeler. from prosecuting a minister
who undertook to withdraw his membership, and thus get
away from its jurisdiction pending the trial of his case.
We cannot but hope that this extraordinary decision is
largely due to some misapprehension or confusion in the judge's
mind as to the facts. This might easily arise, as it appears
that the accused, during the trial, sent to the Pr~sbytery notice
of his withdrawal from the Presbyterian ministry, upon which
they, at first, owing to some uncertainty about the evidence,
* Lectures on the Relation of Civil Governnzent to the Church, p. 39.