Scotland, 68,5641. 15s. 6d. ; and in Ireland, 633.7451. 14s. 2d., of which 2,1137. 3s. 1d., was granted for building and repairing Roman Catholic chapels. The grand total applied under the second head of the return was 2,290,712/. 9s. 3d. The details of the two returns are given in papers annexed to them. EARLY IMPRESSIONS-You can hardly be aware how deep may be the impression which you may make upon the mind of your child, even in a few moments of time. For one, I can truly say, I have never met with any loss so great as that of losing the care and instructions of my mother during my childhood, in consequence of her having lost her reason. But I can recollect that when a very little child, I was standing at the open window, at the close of a lovely summer's day. The large red sun was just sinking away behind the western hills; the sky was gold and purple commingled; the winds were sleeping, and a soft, solemn stillness seemed to hang over the earth. I was watching the sun as he sent his yellow rays through the trees, and felt a kind of awe, though I knew not wherefore. Just then my mother came to me. She was raving with frenzy; for reason had long since left its throne and her, a victim of madness. She | came up to me, wild with insanity. I pointed to the glorious sun in the west, and in a moment she was calm! She took my little hands within hers, and told me that "the great God made the sun, the stars, the world-everything; that he it was that made her little boy, and gave him an immortal spirit; that yonder sun, and the green fields, and the world itself, will Mr. R. A. Macfee, Liverpool.. Collection-Glanton Church, per Mr. Mat- Collection-Blyth Church, per Mr. J. Newman Brown. Weekly Subscriptions, one quarter.. 1 17 3 Small | donations Mrs. Cunningham, Greenwich Mrs. Joseph Ritchie, ditto .... £514 11 3 0 0 2 0 0 2 0 0 10 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 1 0 0 2 £554 18 9 COLLEGE COLLECTIONS, DONATIONS, AND SUBSCRIPTIONS. BRAMPTON-Collection in addition to 17. 5s. of Annual Subscriptions, formerly acknowledged ...... Mr. Webster, 0 17 6 0 0 1 2 2 The Right Hon. Lord Gray. The Right Hon. Manager.-Robert Christie, Esq. The importance of this advantage is ap- 2 10 0 £8 10 6 £5 7 6 5 6 1 110 13 7 DONATIONS TO THE COLLEGE one day be burned up, but that the spirit of Brighton SCHOOL SUSTENTATION FUND. ON the 23d ultimo, the School Committee, after mature and comparative consideration LIBRARY. From Mr. JOHN FINCH. Memoir and Remains of Rev. R. M. M'Cheyne. Narrative of a Mission to the Jews. From Rev. D. FERGUSSON, Liverpool. Joannis Calvini Institutio Christianæ Religionis, black letter, folio. Rycant's Lives of the Popes, folio. Spotiswood's History of the Church of Scotland, folio. Advertisements. BOARD AND EDUCATION. A Church in England (but without a family), TERMS MODERATE. All the usual branches of a superior education will be taught, and although strictly private, will embrace the fullest course to prepare for either professional or mercantile Accumulated Fund. Do. 1836 40,974 Do. 1839 1,019,530 37,539 92,816 61,851 191,496 By the Deed of Constitution the Assured are permited to visit or reside in any part of Europe. NOTICE.-All POLICIES effected before the 1st of MARCH, participate in a full year's of the answers returned to their schedule of queries, unanimously made the following grants to the following schools, viz. :-BERWICK-UPON-TWEED, £15; ANCROFT-MOOR, £15; NORIAM (when the school is opened), £15; LOWICK, £5; TWEEDMOUTH, £15; SEATON DELAVAL, £15; FRAMLINGTON (when the school is opened), £15; BRANTON, £10; BIRDHOPECRAIG, £15; MORPETH (two schools), £20; WARRENFORD, £5; SOUTH SHIELDS, £20; FALLSTONE (when opened), £15; BRAMPTON (when opened), £15; WHITEHAVEN (when opened), £20; STAFFORD (infant school, on condition that writ- | pursuits. ing and arithmetic are taught), £10. Some For reference, application may be made to parties have not yet returned their schedule the Rev. Professor Campbell, 22, Myddeltonof answers, and are requested to do so without | square, or the Rev. Professor Lorimer, 3, delay, that the sum still in hand may be | Bond-street, Claremont-square, London; the allocated. We feel gratified to know that no Rev. Alexander Munro, Manchester; the claims have been made from the schools in Rev. D. Ferguson, Liverpool; the Rev. Dr. our larger towns, notwithstanding the diffi- Hutchison, Warrenford, Northumberland; Sold by HAMILTON, ADAMS, and Co., Paternoster-row; culties with which some of them have to con- the Rev. John Sym, George's-square, Edintend, in order that the whole funds of this burgh; Dr. Boyd, of the High School, 39, year might be devoted to our more rural George's-square, and the Rev. Dr. Birkmyre, brethren. Gardner's-crescent, Edinburgh. BONUS. THE SYNOD FUND. ..... 166 THIS fund was established at a meeting of Synod held at Manchester, in February, 1839, the chief object being to defray in part "the travelling expenses of members attending the meetings of Synod, the cost of printing, and other incidental charges connected with the proceedings of the Synod," whilst it was hoped also that "beyond this there might be the means of granting aid from the fund to missionary and other purposes." This hope was in some succeeding years partially realized, and grants were made from time to time to weak congregations. In the three years ending with 1843, however, these grants, being larger than usual, had nearly exhausted the fund, and, notwithstanding a recommendation by the Synod, at its meeting in April, 1844, that all congregations should make a special public collection in aid of the fund, their contributions did not suffice, either in that year or in the past, to meet the necessary outlay. The Committee regret to be obliged thus to state, that the fund has not hitherto received that general or liberal support which, from the importance of its objects, might have been anticipated, and that, but for the liberality of a few congregations, and of individual members, the claims on it could not have been satisfied. The Treasurer, since the beginning of 1844, has been frequently in advance, and, at the close of 1845, the balance due to him was 43. 188.3d., which would have been increased by about 301., had all the members made a claim on the fund who were entitled to do so. The aid to be afforded in future to weak congregations will devolve more properly on the Home Mission Committee; but there are other charges, which this fund should have borne from the outset, and which ought now to be provided for. The extension of our Church, the maintenance of her independence, and the numerous and varied interests which demand her attention, render it necessary that meetings of the Commission of Synod should be convened occasionally at various places, as was exemplified in the past year, when one was held at Manchester in July, and another at Liverpool in January: and surely it were not right that ministers and elders who attend these meetings, frequently at great personal inconvenience, should also be burthened with the whole of the travelling and other expenses, 171 Again, it has been the privilege of our Church to receive at the meetings of her supreme Court deputations of esteemed brethren fron sister Churches; and when, from feelings of affection, no less than from a sense of duty, she has reciprocated these expressions of sympathy and interest, the ministers and elders, who were her representatives, have borne entirely the expenses of the journey. The Committee feel that this ought no longer to be permitted. The clerk of the Synod has received hitherto scarcely any return for his valuable and laborious services; and, although at the meeting in 1843, a Resolution was passed with the view of providing a fund for his remuneration, the payments have been very irregularly made, and its collection is attended with much trouble. The Committee are of opinion that the salary of the clerk should form a permanent charge on the Synod Fund. The Committee hope that these statements will induce ministers to press the claims of the Synod Fund on their congregations more urgently than they have done before, and they doubt not that thus a spirit of increased liberality may be called forth in larger and more regular contributions. There are two classes, however, to whom the Committee would take leave to address a few words: first, those congregations that have not yet contributed at all; and, secondly, those who, although contributing, have hitherto given an amount altogether insignificant, when compared with that which, from year to year, they have drawn from the fund. The Committee are aware that some congregations of the first class, having paid the expenses of their own representatives, may consider that in this they have performed their duty, and have discharged the claims of the Synod Fund upon them; but they forget that there are other expenses necessarily incurred in carrying on the machinery of the Church, (printing, &c.,) to be paid out of that fund, and amounting in 1845 to nearly 501., towards which they have been contributing nothing, whilst they have had the same supply of "Pastoral addresses," "Abstracts of minutes of Synod," and similar publications, as those who have given regular pecuniary support to the fund. They thus neglect also a great principle distinctly held in view when the fund was established, that the strong should help the weak, and each the other. That principle the Committee desire still to see maintained; but, Contributions to the Home Mission Fund Subscriptions, Donations, and Collections to the Donations to the College Library. Notices to Correspondents.. in addressing the second class of congregations referred to, they must be allowed to say that they fear it has, in some measure, been perverted, and unfairly applied; seeing that as any public congregational collection, however small, gives a claim on the fund, too little effort has been used to interest the people, or to obtain from them aid commensurate with their means. The consequence has been, that the representatives of some congregations have been receiving annually from the fund five or six times more than their congregations have contributed--a result, which, unless some improvement in this respect takes place, will render it necessary to fix a maximum of payments, or to regulate the allowance from the fund by the amount received from the congregation claiming. In all cases, the Committce trust that congregations will, as a matter of right feeling and of duty, do the utmost in their power to increase their own collections, so that they may present their claims on the fund with a better grace than heretofore they have generally borne. The Committee have delayed pressing the ample and regular support of this fund on the attention of the Church, until the four collections specially appointed by the Synod had been made. They trust that it will not suffer in consequence, and would conclude this address by earnestly urging all their friends immediately to make collections, and to remit them to the Treasurer, at the latest, by 31st March next. By order of the Committee, Convener and Treasurer, 13, America-square, London, Feb. 12, 1846. The following collections for 1846 have been already received from Rathbone-street Congregation, MEETING OF SYNOD. £21 0 0 16 19 0 they are submitted to the Synod. All who have taken any part in the proceedings of that Court have had the conviction forced upon them that some plans or measures must be adopted to prevent the crude and hasty legislation to which we are almost forced in present circum stances. THE FRUITS OF THE GOSPEL. PART II. BY THE REV. JAMES HAMILTON, REGENT- (Continued from p. 136.) You will often notice sickly blades in the challenged, a God of grace proffers a pardon already written in a Saviour's blood, and sealed by the witnessing Spirit; and the sinner has only to accept it, and fill in his own rebel name, and the strife is for ever ended. Possessing this pardon, he has peace with God. 3. Some sweet and peculiar joys. In Eastern poetry they tell of a wondrous tree, and every time the breeze went by, and on which grew golden apples, and silver bells; tossed the fragrant branches, a shower of these golden apples fell, and the living bells they chimed and tinkled forth their airy ravishment. On the Gospel tree there grow melodious blossoms; sweeter bells than those which mingled with the pomegranates on Aaron's vest; holy feelings, heaven-taught listeth, the south-wind waking,-when the joys; and when the wind blowing where he Holy Spirit breathes upon that soul, there is the shaking down of mellow fruits, and the flow of healthy odours all around, and the gush of sweetest music, whose gentle tones and joyful echoings are wafted through all too ethereal to define, these joys are on that recesses of the soul. Difficult to name, and account but the more delightful. The sweet of all the devout affections, and grateful and sense of forgiveness-the conscious exercise adoring emotions Godward; the full of sinful passions, itself ecstatic music; an exulting sense of the security of the well-ordered covenant; the gladness of surety-righteousness, and the kind Spirit of adoption encouraging you to say, "Abba, Father;" all the happy feelings which the Spirit of God increases or creates, and which are summed up in that comprehensive word, "joy in the Holy Ghost." Various suggestions could easily be thrown out for the improvement of our present proceedings. Either, 1st, the Synod might continue its sittings for a longer time; or, 2d, it might meet twice in the year; or, 3d, a Committee might be appointed to meet some days before the assembling of Synod, with all the necessary documents in their possession to mature them for the Court, which would be, in fact, a Committee of bills and 1. There is confidence towards God, and overtures; or, 4th, each individual who complacency in Him. The person who finds purposes to bring up a measure might himself in a costly mansion may have a taste mature it, and submit it to his Presby- for architecture, and may study with deep intery with its directory and machinery and curious carvings of his commodious habiterest the ingenious plan, the strong masonry fully adjusted; or, 5th, (which might be tation, but may never think of the contriver combined with the immediately preced- as one whom he has known, or as one whom ing,) before the Presbytery agrees to he is ever to see. It may hardly even occur to transmit an overture, they might appoint him to think of him as one who is living still. a Committee to mature it in all its details. And the man who finds himself a prisoner These and many other plans might be in a castle, or fast in the keep of a moated adopted which would be a great improve-tower, however airy its heights, and however curiously furnished its tapestried chamber, ment upon our present system. will think little about the picturesqueness But as the sanction of Synod would of its site, or the skill expended in rearing be required to all of them, except the it. He will chafe bitterly round its dreary two last, and as what we at present walls, and look anxiously to its grim and want is that something should be done studded door; and when he thinks of the lord immediately to prepare the business for and a frowning visage. In this fair world-most blessed sensations in heaven itself of the place, he will only recall a stern voice 4. A renovated character. One of the next meeting of Synod, we take the amid all its sweet mercies and sumptuous is moral health, spiritual salubrity, that happy liberty of strongly urging upon all mem- accommodations, there are many to whom the state of feeling when the soul is right with bers of Court to adopt the two last sug-living God is only the absent Architect, or the God and right with all around it. But one gestions thrown out above. Along with of the first results of a work of grace on a these, we would also recommend that sinner's heart is a consciousness of a very every overture should be published in opposite kind. A man divinely enlightened the "Messenger," in order that thus members might have time to make up their minds upon its merits; and as there is now no time to lose, may we request that overtures may be transmitted to us at the very latest, by the 18th or 20th of March. May we venture upon another suggestion? What our Church requires 2. Another fruit of a credited Gospel is a serene conscience. Outward restraints, a are practical, not theoretical measures; strict sense of honour, natural goodness, may measures to improve our internal ma- keep some from the more flagrant outbreakchinery-to facilitate our operations-to ings of evil; and others who have been beincrease our ability for good-to extend trayed into actual sin may do what they can our borders and consolidate our interests. in the way of confession, or amendment, or Visions and theorizings, how pietetic or restitution, to repair the damage, and reconphilanthropic soever they seem, which the correct man's conscience, or the reformed cile them to themselves. But whether it be are beyond our sphere or above our man's conscience, there is something wanting means, only remove our contemplation to make the comfort complete. The man is from our proper objects-distract our in better humour with himself than once he minds, and dissipate our strength. Let was; but whether God be at peace with him us have practical measures, then, well-there is the query, and there comes in the matured, fully organized, accompanied with their practical directory, so that they may be passed at once, and then found self-acting. Synod elders will have the goodness to remember that they are required to lodge their commissions with the Clerk of Synod as early as possible, and at least a week before the meeting of Synod, in order to enable him to make up the roll in time. angry Judge. And there is only one thing painful doubt. There is something like a and hypocrisy and evil-speaking, such envy and discontent, such murmuring at the ways of God, such estrangement of spirit from God, such unbelief, such pride and inordinate affection, such indolence and flesh-pleasing, that he is astonished at himself; and even though he should see enough in the great atonement to make him hope for pardon, he marvels him from such a body of sin. And few if there be any process which can deliver things can be more gladdening than to perceive, in any direction, the sin-subduing and soul-purifying work begun. When the Spirit of God first takes po session of a soul, it is like a new inmate entering a long-deserted dwelling. The first act of his arrival will be an exploring process; and as the long-closed windows are opened, and the light of day breaks in on dusty floors and cobwebbed walls, and as the candle is carried through dark cells and corridors where the green mould and slimy fungus are growing and the bloated reptile is crawling, your first amazement is that it should have fallen into should be so much worse than your fears; such disorder and decay-that the reality and then your anxiety is lest, disgusted by such a state of matters, the new-comer should turn and go his way. But when you find perhaps, on one apartment, and having cleared that he is not disheartened, that he begins, out the fallen rubbish, and repaired the broken casement, he has lighted a fire on the damp hearthstone, and that he is proceeding to sees such manifold evils within-such deceit pursue like process on the rest of the dwelling, you see that he has a purpose to remain, and that in the hands of such an occupant the house may yet be habitable. You do not despair that such enterprise and energy may yet be requited by seeing order and beauty take the place of confusion and squalor, and by hearing the voice of melody in its now dark and dismal halls. So when that heavenly stranger-when the Spirit of God first enters a soul, the first result of his arrival is that new light shining in its dark recesses, deformities and disorders are revealed which otherwise had never been suspected. With the candle of the Lord he brings to light a depravity of which the sinner once believed himself incapable, and wherever the daylight of Scripture breaks in, it falls on something odious or evil. The man sees in himself a pride and hypocrisy and unbelief of which he once sincerely thought himself innocent; and as the discovery is distressing, so it is enough to breed despondency. It seems as if the Holy Spirit could never dwell in such an unholy heart. But when He begins his purifying processes when he clears out from one compartment the worldly-mindedness, and from another the censoriousness and murmuring-when on the cold hearthstone he kindles the fire of heaven -when the love of God is shed abroad in the heart abundantly by the Holy Ghost given to him, the man begins to have some hope. By and-by, he finds that he is not what he was -and then he hopes that he will become what he is not yet. He hopes that all old things will pass away, and that he himself made new will yet by Jesus' merit and the Spirit's grace enter the new heaven and new earth where dwelleth righteousness. Conscious of present grace, he rejoices in hope of future glory. REASONS FOR BEING A PRESBYTERIAN. I. I AM A PRESBYTERIAN because the model of Church Government, called Presbytery, is founded on the Word of God; its office-bearers are elders and deacons; and their government is conducted by the officebearers of the respective churches, which we call Chuurh Sessions, by the office-bearers of a number of churches, which we call Presbyteries, and by the office-bearers of a still greater number of churches, which we call Synods and General Assemblies. The elders are of two kinds, viz., the preaching elder or minister, and the ruling elder, the former having for his chief office the preaching of the Gospel, and the spiritual care of the congregation; the latter (viz. the ruling elder), having for his chief office the care of the church by his advice and counsel, and the visitation of the sick. The preaching elder is the same as the bishop, as is plain from Acts xx. 17, compared with verse 28, the same persons called elders" (рeσBUTepovs) in the 17th verse are addressed as 66 Overseers" (EπLOKоTous), the same word that is elsewhere translated bishops, in verse 28; being called "elders" for their advancement in age or experience; and "overseers" from their superintendence of the flock. The ruling elder, again, is marked out in 1 Tim. v. 17, "Let the elders (πpeoẞUTEрot) that rule well be counted worthy of double honour," and they are distinguished from the preaching elder or minister by what is then added, "especially they who labour in word and doctrine." This class of office-bearers, Viz. ruling elders, is the same that from their duties are elsewhere called "helps," governments." (1 Cor. xii. 28.) The deacons, again, have chiefly for their office to attend to the wants of the poor in all things temporal; their institution is found in the sixth chapter of the Acts. These three office-bearers, viz. the preaching elder or minister, the ruling elder, and deacon, are all that appear in the Scriptures to be designed as permanent in the Church of Christ; and accordingly the only office-bearers that are addressed in the titles of the Epistles are "the bishops and deacons" (TOKOTOIS), or, as the version should be, the "overseers and deacons,"-the word overseer including both preaching elders and ruling elders. The government is conducted by the respective office-bearers in each church, which we call Church Sessions, and it is to such a body of, men that the apostle alludes, when he says, "Tell it unto the Church," that is, the officebearers of the Church, the Church Sessions, or elders. (Matt. xviii. 17.) The government, further, is conducted by the office-bearers of a number of churches which we call Presbyteries, and it is to such a body of men that the apostle alludes, when he says, "Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery." (1 Tim. iv. 14.) The government, farther, is conducted by the office-bearers of a still greater number of churches, which we call Synods and General Assemblies. And it is to such a body of men that there is express allusion in the fifteenth chapter of the Acts, when Paul and Barnabas went up to preach "unto the apostles and elders" (v. 2); " And the apostles and elders came together" (v. 6) for that purpose. Such are the scriptural office-bearers and form of Church Government. But Christ expressly forbids the assumption of authority by one "overseer" or "bishop," that is, preaching elder, over other overseers or reading elders, "Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever," &c. (Matt. xx. 25, 26.) II. I AM A PRESBYTERIAN because I know of no Church that holds the great doctrines of the Gospel more purely than the Presbyterian Church-the doctrine of the Trinity in Unity, the fall of man, the necessity of an atonement, the supreme divinity and incarnation of Christ, justification by faith, the renewal of the heart by the Holy Spirit, the sanctification of the whole man, the resurrection of the dead, the final judgment, the everlasting happiness of the righteous, and the everlasting punishment of the wicked. The Westminster Confession of Faith, and the Longer and Shorter Catechisms are our standards, and that, not because they are the compositions of man, but because they are based on the Word of God, the "only infallible rule of faith and manners." We call no one master, for " Master, even Christ." (Matt. xxiii. 10.) one is our III. I AM A PRESBYTERIAN because I know of no Church that more liberally or more effectively brings before the people the great lessons of the Sacred Scriptures. At the Reformation in Scotland, wherever a church was planted, there was also planted a school, and into every school the Bible was introduced as a text-book. In the church large portions of the Word of God are lectured upon in the morning of every Sabbath, and in the "Directory for Public Worship" it is laid down as an advice, "that it is convenient that voluntarily one chapter of each Testament be read at every meeting, and sometimes more, when the chapters be short or the coherence of matter requireth it." And amidst many backslidings, it would be difficult to find the members of any Church more generally acquainted with the Bible than the members of the Presbyterian Church. IV. I AM A PRESBYTERIAN because the Presbyterian Church is one of the oldest branches of the Christian Church; the government of the Church by presbyters or preaching elders, that is, scriptural bishops, was introduced into Scotland by the elders long before the introduction of Popery, (from which corruption of religion other Churches have borrowed their order of prelatic bishops) and long previously to the Reformation, the Presbyterian form of Church Government can be traced down from the age of the apostles through the Waldensian Church in the north of Italy, and the Albigensian Churches in the south of France, even to the present day. In fact, no Reformed Church is governed by prelatic bishops but the Church of England; and many of her Reformers have acknowledged that the preaching elder or presbyter and the bishop were originally one and the same. V. I AM A PRESBYTERIAN because the Presbyterian Church can present a noble army of Reformers, martyrs, and confessors, inferior to none in the world; need I mention the names of Hamilton, Wishart, Knox, and Melville, and a host of others! or need I allude to the thousands of men and women, who, during the religious wars in Scotland, Holland, France, and elsewhere, shed their blood like water, who "overcame by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony" (Rev. xii. 11), "of whom the world was not worthy." VI. I AM A PRESBYTERIAN because the Presbyterian Church administers the sacraments agreeably to the Word of God. "The promise is unto you, and to your children" (Acts ii. 39), says the Apostle Peter; and, therefore, the Presbyterian Church admits the parents only, as persons taking vows for children at baptism; holding that sacrament merely as a sign and seal of regeneration, but not necessarily implying regeneration itself; and discarding the admission of godfathers and godmothers as derived from the Church of Rome, and unfounded on the Word of God. This do in remembrance of me (Luke xxii. 19), says the Saviour; and, therefore, the Presbyterian Church regards the bread and wine in the Lord's Supper, not as the real body and blood of Christ, but as the solemn signs and symbols of the one and the other; carefully examining every one that communicates for the first time, and seriously warning all. VII. I AM A PRESBYTERIAN because the Presbyterian Church does not restrict the devotions of the faithful to written forms. The Word of God is my prayer-book, and I find in the Psalms, and in the Epistles, prayers fitted for every rank and all conditions, not in "words which man's wisdom teacheth;" the apostle tells us that "we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered." (Rom. viii. 26.) I am afraid, therefore, that by a written form which cannot always suit every case, I "quench the Spirit" (1 Thess. v. 19), which the apostle forbids; and I strive through grace to imitate rather the apostle's example who said, "I will pray with the Spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also." (1 Cor. xiv. 15.) VIII. I AM A PRESBYTERIAN because the 66 Presbyterian Church is surpassed by none for X. I AM PRESBYTERIAN because the Scripture tells me to be subject to " the powers that be" (Rom. xiii. 1), and "to submit to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake." (1 Peter ii. 13.) But it also tells me to distinguish things that differ (Phil. i. 10), "to render unto Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's, and to God the things that are God's." (Matt. xxii. 21.) And that God "will not give his glory to another, neither his praise to graven images." (Isa. xlii. 8.) It is the glory of the Presbyterian Church, that while she trains up her children to "lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty (1 Tim. ii. 2), and has always set an eminent example of rendering "honour to whom honour is due" (Rom. xiii. 17); she also maintains that "Christ alone is King in Zion" (Ps. ii. 6), and that agreeably to her confession, ratified by the State, "The Lord Jesus as King and Head of his Church hath therein appointed a government in the hand of the Church, officers distinct from the civil magistrate." (Westm. Conf. 30, sec. i.) At the Reformation in England, the reigning monarch there was declared to be the head of the Church, and so is the law of England to the present day; but at the Reformation in Scotland the Lord Jesus Christ was declared to be the only King and Head of his Church, and so is the law in Scotland to the present day. My motto, as a Presbyterian, is, "Fear God, and honour the king." have been many, and in many places, and XII. I AM A PRESBYTERIAN because I 66 HOME AND FAMILY.-It is not outward circumstances that form or give interest to a home or a family; it is the living pulse of affection that is beating there. Neither earthly pomp nor earthly poverty can materially alter the real inward character of that little circle of human hearts which man calls a family. Bright skies and sunshine cannot weaken or sever the band; neither can they allure them away from rejoicing in each other's joy and love. Dark days and tempests cannot sunder them; they do but make them gather more closely together, as being all in-all to each other then. So with the family of the redeemed. It is not their outward circumstances or prospects that give them the name; it is something far tenderer and deeper than these. It is the pulse of heavenly affection, throbbing through every member, and coming down from the infinite heart above, it is this that makes them what they are. It is under this aspect that God delights to look upon them. It is for this reason, especially, that he has given to them the name they bear. No other earthly circle can be compared with that of a family. It comprises all that a human heart most values and delights in. It is the centre where all human affections meet and entwine, the vessel into which they all pour themselves with such joyous freedom. There is no one word which contains in it so many endearing associations and precious_remembrances, hid in the heart like gold. It appeals at once to the very XI. I AM A PRESBYTERIAN because the centre of man's being,—his "heart of hearts." Presbyterian Church has the marks of Christ's All that is sweet, soothing, tender, and true, Church, it is persecuted by man, and yet is wrapt up in that one name. It speaks not blessed by God. "If the world hate you" of one circle, or one bond; but of many (John xv. 18), "I have given them thy word, circles and many bonds,-all of them near and the world hath hated them." (John the heart. The family home, the family xvii. 14.) "If they have called the master hearth, the family table, family habits, family of the house Beelzebub, how much more," voices, family tokens, family salutations, &c. (Matthew x. 25.) The Presbyterian family melodies, family joys and sorrows;— Church has this mark of the persecution of what a mine of recollections lies under that man; and, therefore, I conclude that it is one word! Take these away, and earth beChrist's Church. But what confirms me the comes a mere church-yard of crumbling bones; more is, that "as the sufferings of Christ and man as so many grains of loosened sand, abound in us, so our consolation also or at best, but as the fragments of a torn aboundeth in Christ." (2 Cor. i. 5.) The flower, which the winds are scattering abroad. Presbyterian Church has the mark of being-Rev. Horatius Bonar's "Night of Weep blessed by God; the revivals in that Church ing." REPORT OF THE RIVER-TERRACE TWELVE months have elapsed since the formation of the River-Terrace Ladies' Working Association for Missionary Purposes; and it now becomes the duty of the office-bearers to present to their friends a short report of their proceedings during the past year. One leading object contemplated by the Association has been in a great measure realized, namely, to unite the ladies of the congregation in a combined effort to assist and encourage Missionary operations in distant countries, by sending boxes of work, to be applied to the use of the natives; or to be sold, and the proceeds devoted to the extension of religious knowledge. Irrespective of the benefits thus conferred on the heralds of the cross in distant lands, and the aid afforded to them in their arduous labours, we consider it a matter of very great moment to bring the members of a Church frequently together, to counsel and encourage one another in the promotion of objects of Christian benevolence. Meetings of this character, when connected with prayer for the cause of Missions, and the reading and exposition of the word of God, must produce the happiest influence on the minds of all concerned in them-must knit their hearts more closely in Christian love-and thus increase all those graces that should adorn the members of the Church of Christ. On this account the office-bearers earnestly wish that every lady in the congregation should attend the monthly meetings of the Association, where the business is commenced by our pastor with the religious exercises above alluded to, and the work that has been made up during the month is handed in. The members of the Association have been enabled, through the kindness of their friends, to carry into effect the following objects: In June last, a box of work was sent to Jamaica, the value of which was 321.; the proceeds to go to the Academy established at Montego Bay, for the education of natives, with a view to their engagement in the missionary field. A very gratifying letter has been received from Mrs. Dennistoun, to whose care the box was consigned. She says, that on the arrival of the box, her husband, the Rev. Mr. Dennistoun, could not help adoring Providence for its arrival, as money was greatly wanted for the Academy. She also mentions that the articles were selling well, and she thought that in a short time the whole sum would be realized. A donation of work to the amount of 91was also given to the Belfast Ladies Association, to be sent to India to assist an interesting mission connected with the Irish Presbyterian Church in the province of Katiawar. Within these few weeks, a large box of clothing has likewise been forwarded to the Rev. Hope Waddell, who is about to sail to Africa, to open up a mission among that degraded people. Mr. Waddell will be accompanied in this sacred and disinterested enterprise by converted negroes from Jamaica, who are thus going to their fatherland to carry the word of light and truth and salvation to their brethren and sisters who are perishing for lack of knowledge. The articles which we have thus sent, we trust, will gain Mr. Waddell favour in the eyes the natives, and open up his way in the dis of |