The General Assembly having resumed the consideration of the Overtures on the Principles of the Church, did and hereby do, resolve as follows :—
I. That this Church maintains, unaltered and uncompromised, the principles set forth in the Claim, Declaration and Protest of 1842 and the Protest of 1843, relative to the lawfulness and obligation of a scriptural alliance between the Church of Christ and the State, and the conditions upon which such an alliance ought to be regulated,— as well as also the position which, in the maintenance of these principles, the Church was called upon to take in 1842 and 1843, as a Church protesting against invasions of her just and constitutional rights, and demanding redress of the wrongs thus inflicted.
II. That while, in pursuance of the righteous protest and demand aforesaid, it is ” free to the members of this Church, or their successors, at any time,” as the Claim of Right asserts, ” when there shall be a prospect of obtaining justice, to claim restitution of all such civil rights and privileges, and temporal benefits and endowments, as” they ” were then compelled to yield up,”—there is not any present call to take any such step in that direction, as would imply renewed negotiations with statesmen, or renewed application to the Legislature.
III. That it is the duty of the Church, all the more on this account, to adopt measures for keeping before the minds of the people, and especially of the rising generation, the principles which this Church holds, and the position which she occupies as the Free Protesting Church of Scotland.
IV. That a Committee* be appointed to draw up a popular summary, in the narrative form, of the principles and contendings of the Church of Scotland from the earliest times to the present, adapted to the purpose indicated in the previous resolution, and to report progress to next General Assembly, with power to the same Committee to take such other steps as they may deem right for diffusing information and awakening an interest with regard to this whole matter.