As soon as it was known that he had fairly departed, and as it was perfectly certain there could be no communication with him from his home except a weekly report of the briefest and most prosaic kind by the foreman, the Session (that is, the Court of Elders) was called together, and on two successive Sundays the people were summoned to a meeting for the nomination of elders. It was held on the Monday following the second Sunday, and was attended by almost the whole congregation. Six names were proposed for three vacancies, but, of course, the climax of the proceedings was the nomination of Mr. Andrew Harris, farmer at Rochally, and the insertion of his name on the paper of nomination. The nomination papers were given out on the following Sunday, and on the fourth and last Sunday of Rochally's absence were returned into the hands of the Session. Before he came home the Session had met, and as every single communicant, without exception, had voted for Mr. Andrew Harris, farmer at Rochally, the Session declared him elected, and when he sat in his pew on the following Sunday he heard the edict for the ordination of three elders on that day fortnight, and the first name was his own.
It was creditable to the good manners of the people that though they held their breath at the critical moment, none of them looked even sideways to the pew where Rochally sat alone; but the minister's eye fell on him from the pulpit, and as he noticed Rochally start and flush, and grow pale, while a look of pain came over his face, the minister became anxious, and began to regret their well-intentioned plot. And when, according to the custom of the kirk, he announced that the aforesaid persons would be ordained this day fortnight, unless “some valid objection to their life and doctrine be stated to the Kirk Session at a meeting to be held for that purpose before the service on Wednesday evening,” and when, even at that distance, he could see Rochally's hand tighten upon the door of his pew and his head fall forward upon his breast for an instant, as if he were in pain, he almost wished that they had not meddled with the secret affairs of a man's life. The minister was not surprised when Rochally did not call at the manse on Monday or Tuesday to say that he could not accept the election, although that was within his power, and he was not surprised, although much grieved, when he saw Rochally standing in the shadow of the trees not far from the vestry where the Kirk Session met. Although he had not the faintest idea of the reason, he was now afraid of what was going to happen, and the elders, as they came in one by one, having passed Rochally, who stood apart among the trees, and gave no sign of recognition, were uneasy, and had a sense of calamity. They knew nothing either, and were not able even to imagine anything; but they also, having seen Rochally and caught a faint glimpse of his face, would fain have burned the nomination papers, and cancelled the whole election.
The court was opened with prayer, in which the minister was very earnest that they should be all guided by the Spirit of God and know His will. And then the minutes were read, wherein the names of those elected were mentioned, after which the minister declared the time had arrived for receiving objections to the life and doctrine of the aforesaid persons, and the beadle, being summoned from the dark kirk where he had been sitting, was commanded to do his duty. Thereupon, having opened the outer door of the vestry, as being a public place, he looked into the darkness, and called upon any persons who could make valid objection to the life or doctrine of Andrew Harris, farmer at Rochally, that he should not be ordained an elder, to come forward and declare the same. Many a time had the beadle made this challenge, and never before had it been answered, but now, out from the darkness, came Rochally himself, and entered the vestry. For a moment he was dazzled by the light of the lamp, though it was never very bright, and as he stood before the Session he passed his hand over his face. Then he stepped forward to the table, and, leaning heavily on it with one hand, Rochally unveiled his secret.
“Moderator and Elders of the Kirk, I stand here in answer to your commandment, and in obedience to my own conscience, to give you strong reasons why Andrew Harris should never be ordained an elder in Christ's Kirk, and why he is not worthy even to take the sacrament.
“I ken well that my brethren have often wondered why I wouldna allow my name to be mentioned for the eldership, and I have often feared that they judged me as one who despised the call of the kirk, and wouldna put his hand to the plough. If they did so, they were wrang, for God knows how I have honoured and loved the Church, and He knows how glad and proud a man I would have been to carry the vessels of the Lord. But I dauma, I dauma.
“It micht have been better if I had told the reason years ago, and saved mysel' and the brethren much trouble; but it is hard for the Scots heart to open itsel', and a man is jealous of his secret.' Maybe I sinned in not confessing to the kirk in this place as I did elsewhere, and as I confessed to my God. Gin it be so, I have suffered, and now the Lord's hand is heavy upon me.
“Lang years ago,” and the strong man trembled, but no elder so much as lifted his eyes, “I lived for a year, although none here will mind of it, in another parish, where my father had a farm, and there, when I was a young man, though no one here knows of it, being careless in my walk and conversation, and resisting the Grace of God, I fell, and sinned against the law of Moses and of Christ.
“What the sin was it matters not now; but it was a great sin, such as nothing but the blude o' Christ can cleanse away, and the guilt of it was heavy upon my soul. God was merciful unto me, and His Spirit moved me to that repentance which needeth not to be repented of. Sic reparation as I could make I made, and them that were injured I satisfied; but I have never been satisfied. They're all dead now that had to do with it, long before they died they had forgotten it; but I have never forgotten it, and the long years have never wiped it from my memory.
“There's ae man I envy every day, and mair the nicht than ever; no the man who is rich and powerful, na, na, it is the man whose life is clean and white fra his boyhood until this hour, who can turn over the pages and let every man look on. One chapter o' my life I read alone every day, and it canna be blotted out from before my eyes. Their hands maun be dean which bear the vessels of the Lord, and my hands arena clean; wherefore I take objection, being a true witness against the life of Andrew Harris, and declare he is not fit to be an elder of the kirk.”
While Rochally was still standing, the minister knelt down, and the elders with him; but Rochally stood, and the minister began to pray. First of all, he confessed the sins of their youth and of later years till every man's soul lay bare before his own eyes and the eyes of God, then he carried them all, their lives and their sins, unto the Cross of Calvary, and magnified before God the sacrifice for sin and the dying love of the Saviour, and then he lifted up their souls in supplication unto God upon His Throne, and besought the Judge of all, for Christ's sake, to cast their transgressions behind His back and into the depths of the sea; and, finally, he besought God to grant unto them all the assurance of His mercy and the peace which passeth all understanding to possess their hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. But he made no mention of Rochally or Rochally's sin, so that one would have supposed it was the minister and the elders, and not Andrew Harris, who were at the Bar.