Poetry.

LINES

POPERY IN THE UNITED STATES.

CONSTITUTION OF THE FREE CHURCH

OF THE CANTON DE VAUD. NOTICE the diligence and wisdom with which these priests employ their time when amongst | THE Synod of the Church of the Canton de Vaud, Who was buried in the Ancient Burial-Place at St. Skeoch, us, not idly waiting until their adherents shall constituting the Free Church, met at Lausanne,

ON THE FUNERAL OF DR. BREWSTER OF CRAIG,

on the 11th of February, 1847.
A STRANGELY solemn and lonely spot
Is that dwelling of those who see it not;
Above, blow the wild free winds of heaven,
Beneath, frown old rocks by earthquakes riven;
Each crag, and each precipice, arching o'er;
The waves that boom as they boomed of yore.
The monk and the abbot were cloistered here,
With cell, and crosier, and convent gear;
And these scattered bones were theirs of old,
Once cowled, and mitred, and proudly stoled.
Dark is the day. No sunshine falls;
No sweet spring bird to its kindred calls;
And the earth is robed in its shroud of snow;
And those silent mourners move sad and slow,-
They go to give dust to its kindred dust,
And a cherished one to the earth to trust.

Among them, lo! many a stalwart form,
That never bent to an earthly storm;
Stern sons of the seas, who had turned away,
From the haven of life, to the breakers' spray,-
They wept for their pilot, their pastor, now,
But soon he shall wear them as gems on his brow!
They have left him there in his house of clay,
Till the glorious morn of the Advent day;
There, with the loved ones of other years,
Who have earlier fled from this world of tears,-
With the friends long graven on memory's page,
With the sire of his youth, with the sons of his age.
Then mourn not-oh, mourn not-for him to-day,
Though from his couch ye must turn away!
Would ye weep for the bird that hath found its nest?
Would ye weep for the child on its mother's breast?
Would ye weep for the flower from its calyx burst?
For the fevered lip that hath quenched its thirst?
For the mariner tossed on a stormy billow,

When couched at last on his sweet home pillow?
Then weep not for him. Like the bird's glad fliglıt,
His spirit hath sped to its home of light,-
Like the babe that is lulled to its slumber soft,
He is circled by arms that he yearned for oft,-
Like the petal that springs from its prisoning sheath,
He is blooming a flower in Immanuel's wreath,-
Like the sailor who winds and waters breasted,
On a sheltered shore he hath calmly rested!
Behold him! He kneeleth before the throne,
Wreathed with a diadem not his own;

For he casteth it down at his Saviour's feet.
And giveth the praise where the praise is meet.
Behold him! for now he is gazing on earth,
And he gently smiles on his stricken hearth
Not even the tears that his kindred shed
Can moisten his eyelid, or bow down his head.
Then hush, oh hush! To the prize press on,
Follow the path where he hath gone:
On! to the river-though tempests rave,
Strength shall be given to breast its wave:
On! to the city with golden gate-
Till "the door is shut" ye are not too late:
On! to the throne, where the Crucified
Hath a place for each at his pierced side.
On! where your pastor hath fled before.
Where the arrow that severed shall strike no more!

THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY.

HIGH thoughts at first, and visions high
Are ours of easy victory;
The word we bear seems so divine,
So framed for Adam's guilty line,

That none, unto ourselves we say,
Of all his sinning, suffering race
Will hear that word, so full of grace,
And coldly turn away.

But soon a sadder mood comes round,
High hopes have fallen to the ground,

And the ambassadors of peace

Go weeping, that men will not cease

To strive with heaven;-they weep and mourn,

That suffering men will not be blest,

That weary men refuse to rest,

And wanderers to return.

Well is it, if has not ensued

Another and a darker mood,

When all unfaithful thoughts have way,
When we hang down our hands and say,
Alas, it is a weary pain

To seek with toil and fruitless strife,
To chafe the numbed limbs into life
That will not live again.

Oh, let not us this thought allow,-
The heat, the dust upon our brow,
Signs of the contest, we may wear,
Yet thus we shall appear, more fair

In our Almighty Master's eye,
Than if in fear to lose the bloom,
Or ruffle the soul's lightest plume,

We from the strife should fly.

And for the rest, in weariness,
In disappointment, or distress,
When strength decays, or hope grows dim,

We ever may recur to him,

Who has the golden oil divine, Wherewith to feed our failing urns, Who watches every lamp that burns Before his sacred shrine.

REV. R. C. TRENCH.

build for them houses of worship and pleasant
parsonages. When a canal or railroad is
projected, none know of its course and ter-
minus sooner than they; and while govern-
ment officers are surveying the route and
calculating the expense, one of these tireless
men is in company taking notes, and marking
the important points for schools and churches.
And no sooner is the work commenced, than
you will find a lot purchased or donated for
the buildings
few miles from the starting-

a

point of the canal or road; and during the two or three years of its construction past this point, there goes up a handsome gothic structure, unduly large and splendid for the wants of the country or the number of their adherents. It is partly finished, perhaps; the doors and windows boarded up; and twenty or thirty miles a-head, at the next prominent point, another is commenced; in a year or two that is enclosed, and another commenced; and so on through the whole line. And thus through the western valley hundreds of Romish churches are going up for future occupancy. Do you ask whence come the means? I know not how much is wrung from Austria's poor, nor what the Propaganda of Lyons sends to our valley, (although 'tis said above a million francs have come to our country the last year,) but I do know something of the system by which they secure money from their votaries along the line. And let it be well remembered by the most liberal Protestants in this the most liberal of our American cities, that the deluded Romanists give one-fourth, not of their gain, but of their income, and this regularly. Does a labouring man receive sixteen dollars per month, then four dollars are given to the priest. Does a servant girl receive four dollars per month, then one is given. And this along some of the western works is said to have been the fixed law. This is giving with a liberal hand, if not with a willing heart. Now mark the process of Romish churchbuilding. The Protestant government collect taxes chiefly from a Protestant community to carry on internal improvement. Romanists do most of the work, and receive the means; a liberal portion of it is securely invested in church buildings along the line, to be occupied hereafter in abusing the Government that gave the money, in undermining the liberties that allowed the building, and in fulminating anathemas against the Protestants who donated the land! Are these churches needed now? No. They stand unfinished and unconsecrated, and the passer-by exclaims, "How foolish these priests to throw away their money thus!" A wily Jesuit in company, who travels, perhaps, as a foreign tourist, nods assent, while in his heart he scorns the short-sightedness that does not perceive in these the nuclei of Roman power -that does not see ten years a-head, the parsonage, and nunnery, and orphan school necessary appendages of this "Mystery of Iniquity's" workings. - Speech of the Rev. Mr. Stephenson, Ohio, at the last. Anniversary of the American Tract Society.

THE happiness of heaven consists in being with Christ: That they may be with me. Thoughts of this are reviving, and should be improved, as a cordial, to keep from fainting under any trouble; as a spur, to put us forward in duty; as a bridle, to restrain from sin; and as a loadstone, to draw our affections upwards.-Philip Henry.

Miéville, pastor, and closed in its sittings on the on 25th February, under the presidency of Mons. 12th March. The number of delegates present was eighty-two.

The constitution, as drawn up by a Committee of nine members, and transmitted to the churches in January last, laid the foundation of the Free Church on Presbyterian principles. These principles were confirmed at the meeting of Synod. The liberty of the churches-the voluntary union of churches into one body, represented by a Synod

the proclamation of the vital doctrines of the Gospel the full and entire supremacy of Jesus Christ over his Church-brotherly relations with

other Churches, and, if need be, union with them
-the necessity of a testimony of adherence to the
Church before union with it ;-all these formed the
leading principles of the constitution adopted.
in seven chapters:-I. The Faith of the Free
Church; II. Its Members and their Privileges;
III. Manner of appointing Office-bearers; IV.
The Synod, its Members and Duties; V. The
Office-bearers of the Church; VI. The Public
Worship of the Free Church; VII. The Discipline
of the Church.

The constitution of the Free Church is laid down

The Faith of the Church embraces the following articles:-lst. Those Churches formed in the year 1845, in the Canton de Vaud, for the purpose of maintaining the rights of Christ over his Church, purity of an Evangelical ministry, religious liberty, and sound doctrine, are hereby constituted into one body, under the name of the Free Evangelical Church. 2d. The Free Church adheres to the faith of the Apostolic Church, to the Churches in all ages who have professed the doctrine of a free salvation by the blood of Christ. It adheres, also, to the Evangelical Churches which, in the sixteenth century, expressed their faith so admirably in their symbolical books, more especially in the Helvetic Confession of Faith. With these

Confessions, the Synod believes in the Divine inspi ration, and in the authority and entire sufficiency of the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. It professes its faith in one God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and recognises that since the fall of man, the only way in which he can be saved is by a living faith in Jesus Christ, who is God manifest in the flesh; truly God and truly man, the only Mediator between God and man, the great High Priest of the new covenant, who died for our sins, and rose again for our justification, and who is now raised to the right hand of God, where he exercises all power in heaven and earth, and from which he communicates to the faithful and to the

Church, by the Holy Spirit, whom he sends from the Father, all necessary grace for regeneration, and for practising good works; and from whence he shall come to raise the dead, to judge the people eternal life; and able, in a word, perfectly world in righteousness, and to confer upon his to save all who draw near unto God by him. These, the Church regards as the centre and foundation of Christian truth. 3d. The Free Church consecrates itself entirely to the service and glory of Jesus Christ, whom she recognises as her only head, and to whom alone, whilst rendering to Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's, she is resolved, in dependence on his strength, to be in obedience as a faithful spouse to her husband. 4th. Holding these principles, the Free Church declares her intention of maintaining friendly relations, and, if need be, uniting more closely with all Churches possessing spiritual life, and professing the same faith. 5th. The Free Church regards herself, in so far as she is a portion of the Church, as a holy convocation of God. Without, therefore, forgetting that the baptism which saves us, is not that which removes the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience before God and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, (1st Peter iii. 21,) she recognises that the infants into the visible Church, and that the baptism of of such as are baptized, thereby introduced water is the outward rite to be employed for that purpose. The Free Church, consequently, allows the members of other Churches to participate in her acts of religious worship, and in celebrating the Lord's Supper, under a sense of their solemn responsibility to God. She also offers the means of grace, with which she is intrusted, to all who may wish to ayail themselves of her ministrations. She recogher members all those who have been baptized, and who, having fulfilled their baptismal

vows, express their desire to be connected with

FAITH AND SIGHT.

her. The Church intends providing instruction | faithfully obeyed. The captain-honest and for the young, but does not mean thereby to lessen industrious in his business-became highly We look round about us, and observe the

the obligations resting parents to fulfil their obligations to their children. 6th. The Free Church is governed by its constituted officebearers, each of whom must aim at promoting the spiritual good of the Church and of its members, so that "the whole body, fitly joined together, and compacted by that which every joint supplieth,

according to the effectual working in the measure of every part maketh increase of the body, unto the edifying of itself in love." (Eph. iv. 16.) This government belongs to members of the Church, to the sessions of particular congregations, and to the Synod and its Commissions.

Articles 7 and 8 (chap. ii.) point out who are members, and the part they are called to take in the election of pastors, and other duties connected with the Church.

Articles 9-13, both inclusive (chap. iii.) refer to the formation of kirk-sessions, mode of choosing elders, their character, their public ordination, and

the duties of their office.

Articles 14-17 (chap. iv.) refer to the Synod, the number of its members and mode of electing them; the spiritual power intrusted to the Synod, and the Commissions appointed by it, for carrying Articles 18-27 (chap. v.) specify the officebearers of the Church-pastors, elders, deacons, and deaconesses, and the special duties belonging to these respective offices.

on the business of the Church.

Articles 28 and 29 (chap. vi.) refer to the public

worship of the Church.

Articles 30-40 (chap. vii.) have reference to the discipline of the Church-the various methods that must be adopted in regard to those who have fallen, the necessity of being tender, and yet faithful, in the discharge of the duty, and that, in all things regarding it, prayer be offered up for the guidance and Divine direction.

At the conclusion of the labours of the Synod the following Resolution was unanimously approved of, viz. :-"That at the close of its sittings, during which so much of the Divine goodness has been experienced, the Synod would humbly lay at the footstool of Divine grace the result of its deliberations. The Synod recognises with profound gratitude that, but for the blessing of the sovereign Head of the Church, it could not have accomplished change of brotherly feeling. Whilst the members of the Synod would humble themselves before God, on account of the many imperfections connected with the work, they would, nevertheless, confidently place it in the hands of their Heavenly

its task with so much harmony and kind inter

Father, earnestly praying that he would pardon its defects, and deign to make use of it for his own glory, for the establishment of the kingdom of Jesus Christ in our country, and for the good of the Churches organized on the principles set forth by the Synod."

The following declaration was then signed by the eighty-two members of Synod:-" We, the undersigned members of the Synod, delegated from the Churches formed in the Canton de Vaud, for the purpose of maintaining the rights of Jesus Christ over his Church, the purity of the ministry, religious liberty, and sound doctrine, declare, as far as regards us, our acceptance of the above general plan of organization. We present it to the Churches from which we have been sent as delegates, for their acceptance also. May the sovereign Head of His Church condescend to put his

seal to the work of this day, and may the Spirit
of Wisdom and of Power rest on those called to carry
it on; and to His name be all the glory.-Amen.
"Lausanne, 12th March, 1847."

Ат

THE SABBATH CASTAWAY.

a meeting of the Lord's-day Society in Newcastle, the Rev. J. Longmuir, of Aberdeen, delivered an address on the evil of "Sabbath Sailing." The deep interest manifested, induced the chairman of the meeting to relate some deeply affecting circumstances personally known to himself. This gentleman, a few years ago, was owner of a fine vessel which sailed from the port. Her captain had been brought up by him from his youth, and, when sufficiently qualified, had been sent to sea as captain of this vessel, with

We walk, as it were, on the sea, like Peter,
and look on the winds and the waves, when
we should be lifting up the eyes of our faith
to God. Like him, we begin to sink and cry
out, "Lord, save us." The Lord hears even
our feeble cry, but He rebukes our unbelief,
"O ye of little faith, wherefore did ye
doubt?" We stand, as it were, on the shore,
like the people of Israel, looking at the
Egyptian army rushing on behind us, and
the waves of the Red Sea rolling before. We
look, and therefore we stand still and tremble.
If we had more faith we would rest on the
Word of God, and go forward."
forward-be not afraid, only believe."

respected by his employer. On one occasion difficulties and dangers of our position, when
he was all ready to go to sea. The season we should be looking up to the God of
was fine, and the captain had determined Promise, and leaning on the arm of Jesus.
to take his wife and child with him on the
voyage. They were on board. Adverse
winds sprung up. The vessel was detained
for several days. On the Lord's-day morn-
ing, the scene was changed: a fair wind and
smooth sea tempted him to leave the port.
Alas! the temptation was too strong for his
weak faith. He yielded to it; and then came
the mournful consequences. Within little
more than twelve hours of their crossing the
bar at Shields, every soul on board that
vessel had perished. No one was left to
explain all the circumstances which brought
about this melancholy event; but it was sup-
posed that the vessel had struck upon a sand-
band, and that the captain, having lost that
moral courage and self-possession arising
from a conscience at peace with God, quitted
his vessel, and, with all on board, took to a
small boat, which was overturned in the surf,
and the whole crew called to appear in an
eternal world. The vessel shortly after had
floated with the rising tide, and came on
shore apparently just as the crew had left it,
the cabin not at all disordered; a canary,
hanging in its cage, full of life and vigour,
was singing as if all was well, and its accus-
tomed shipmates each occupied his accus-
tomed place.

Augustus. The population as 362,000,000, which Dr. Mor-
rison thought to be nearly correct. This gives

"

"Go

When the way is smooth, we walk briskly along; we may do that, and run too, even when we are walking by sight. But, if we be walking by sight, we no sooner come to a steep overhanging mountain, than we stop, and look up at its inaccessible precipices with dismay. Now, faith goes briskly along while the way is smooth, and when it comes to the foot of the mountain, it does not stop short -it is strong in the Lord, and presses forward. The heart of Zerubbabel is in it, and it says, "What art thou, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain."

O Christian, if you would go forward on your way rejoicing, pray to the Lord that He may increase your faith.

That your faith may be strong, rest on the Word of God with confidence. When you rest on His Word, you are leaning on the arm of Omnipotence. There is some portion, which will meet every case of trouble and disquietude. Are you mourning on account of guilt? Then God says, "The blood of Jesus Christ, my Son, cleanseth from all sin." Are you groaning under the burden of indwelling corruption? Then Christ says, "Come unto me, and I will give you rest." You will find a suitable portion in every time of need. Take it, and rest on it with confidence: look not to your trouble, but look to the Word of God. His word is truth, and truth alone is the immediate object of faith. That your faith, then, may be strong and unwavering, look with a stedfast eye to the truth which God has revealed. If we look away from the word of truth, we find no object of faith, no foundation of confidence, -no sure anchorage of hope. In the word alone do we see God as He is in Christ, reconciling sinners and forgiving sin.

about 277 to the square mile, the average in
England being 260 on each square mile.
This vast population is composed of several
different families. The aboriginal Chinese
still maintain an independent existence in
the interior west of Canton. The Mongols
compose the larger number; but the Man-
choos from the north are a stronger race,
and more energetic, as appears from the fact
that though numbering but four millions,
they conquered China in ten years, and still
hold possession of it. The Thibetans re-
semble the Hindoos. About thirty dynasties,
or successive races of kings, have already
ruled in China. Their records are, perhaps,
the oldest extant, except the Bible. The
great wall of China has been standing 2,100
years. It is composed of two walls, each
about four feet thick, and twenty feet high,
inclining inwards, and filled up with earth
and rubbish. Towers are raised every three
hundred yards. These are in some parts of
considerable strength, in others mere piles of
earth. Through three or four large gates the
whole commerce of Central Asia pours into
China. That division of China called by us
Tartary contains about 790,000 square miles.
In the west part lies the great desert of Central
Asia. For ages the only road from Europe Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd. London: Simpkin,

to China lay over this sea of sand, and this
was one reason of the isolation of this great
empire. Some parts of the desert are at the
great elevation of 15,000 feet above the sea.
The cold in these parts of Thibet is intense.
At Pekin, the capital of China, in latitude 40
deg. while the heat of summer frequently
rises to 110 deg., the thermometer is some-
times for weeks together below Zero. The
climate of Canton is remarkably fine, ranging

orders never to sail from port on the Lord's- from 40 to 80 deg., and seldom in summer day. For a long time these orders were | rising above 90 deg.

Advertisements.

This day is published, in post 8vo., price 7s. 6d.

cloth,

THE PILGRIMAGE: How God was
or,

Rationalism in the Bud, the Blade, and the Ear.
A Tale for our Times. Translated from the
German of C. A. WILDENHAHN, by Mrs.
STANLEY CARR.

Marshall, and Co.

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Tracts. By the Rev. JAMES HAMILTON,
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Also, by the same Author,
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3. The MOUNT of OLIVES, and other Lectures tion.

100. or, Temporal

THE great thing in the Church is Christ, the eternal deity of Christ, the blood of Christ, the Spirit of Christ, the presence of Christ among us. The great thing is Christ, but there is also advantage in a certain government of the Church. I am a Presbyterian, not only of situation, but of conviction and choice. Our Presbyterian way is the good middle way between Episcopacy on the one side, and Congregationalism on the other. We combine the two great principles that must be maintained in the Church-Order and Liberty: the order of government, and the liberty of the people. -- MERLE D'AUBIGNE.

THE WORKING MAN'S DAY.

433

434

435

PAGE

PAGE

Letter from Edinburgh

440 Ireland's Evil Condition

PAGE 444

ib.

Schemes of the Church-College Fund
Synod Fund. - Home Mission Fund
Regent-square Association

ib.

MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.

ib.

ib. Lyons-India-Cape of Good Hope............

.......

ib.

ib.

Australia-Synod of Eastern Australia-Australia

436

PRESBYTERIES' PROCEEDINGS.

Felix.......

445

MAN was not made for unceasing labour. Neither his body nor his mind can stand it. We do not need the testimony of physiologists and medical men to prove to us the necessity for periodical repose from labour, and the pernicious results flowing from the absence of it. Experience teaches us that man can no more go on smoothly for months and years without the rest of the Sabbath, than he can go on day by day without sleep by night. Some persons may be able to hold on for a few days by taking only occasional repose, as others may for years by occasional times of relaxation; but the tone of the constitution, both of body and mind, will be far best kept up in the way provided by the God of our nature, by taking regular sleep every night, and regular rest every Sabbath.

When the curse came upon this earth on account of sin, the Lord, mercifully remembering man's frame, suffered not the curse to fall on that seventh day which he had blessed and sanctified. For that day, at least, the sentence was repealed, which doomed man to toil in the sweat of his brow till he returned to the ground. Six days he was to labour, but to rest on the seventh.

Those who, in the providence of God, are placed above the necessity of hard personal labour, cannot enter into the gracious benefipence of this enactment. The Sabbath is specially the poor man's privilege, the workng man's day. Is it not a sublime spectacle, this Sabbath in England! More than four nillions of working men over the land secured In one day's rest out of every seven! they and heir families guaranteed a maintenance on hat day, without the toil and care of the rest of he week, and left free to recruit their bodies by rest, and to refresh and purify their spirits

at the fountains of Heavenly Truth! Blessed
is he who seeks to enlarge the privileges of
the working classes in this hallowed day!
Cursed is he who in any way tries to remove
this old landmark of God's merciful ways to
the children of men!

During the French Revolution the Sabbath
was abolished for a time, and one day in ten
was appointed as a national holyday. But it
was soon found that the public health and
the commercial prosperity of the country were
alike being injured, and the ancient and divinely
appointed day of rest was publicly resumed.
We could easily prove, by statistical facts,
that with nations, as with individuals, the
proceeds of work during any lengthened
period would be greater from six days of the
week than from the whole seven; that by
due observance of the Sabbath the amount of
human labour would be greatly economized,
and the average length of human life through-
out the country materially increased; and
that by the better economy and application
of labour, by the diminution of crime and its
concomitant expenses, by the improvement of
public health and morals, a vast annual ex-
penditure would be saved; or, in other words,
a vast revenue added to the treasury of the
country. Verily, even in a commercial view,
"in keeping of this commandment there is
great reward."

Voltaire, toward the end of his life, remarked to some of his infidel associates, that all their labour must be lost, and that it was utterly vain to try to put down Christianity so long as there was the Sabbath; so long as every seventh day men were compelled, more or less, to have their thoughts turned to the things of religion. Truly, therefore, even its enemies being judges, the Lord's-day may be reckoned one of the chief bulwarks of the social

THERE is to be a general meeting of the Seven Divisional Committees of the British Organization of the Alliance held (D.V.) at Edinburgh, the 10th June, and on succeeding days. Among other important business to be then transacted, the following are included:The completion of the constitution of the organization; the appointment of official secretaries; the general direction of the organization; and the receiving of Interim Reports on various matters referred from the last aggregate meeting at Birmingham.

That the Alliance has been the means of

much good no one will deny. But that it has hitherto failed in effecting the high ends which, from the very beginning, it might have reached, is equally obvious. It has not stepped forward to occupy the noble field which in the providence of God was opening out before it. Many difficulties there are no doubt to contend with. But there is on this account all the more need for effort being made to bring the design up to the high aim of which it is worthy. We have much hope from this meeting in Edinburgh. It was a great misfortune that at the previous meeting of the aggregate Committee, when the constitution of the British section of the Alliance began to be formed, there were none of the brethren from Scotland present; not at least a single man of mark or influence. We have great respect for the evangelical brethren of the Anglican Church, and the English Congregationalists, who had the chief management of that meeting, but we say frankly, that it is to the Presbyterians of this country, and especially to the Presbyterians of Scotland, that we look for the wisdom and the vigour that may yet animate the inert

as well as religious constitution of this land. | frame of the Evangelical Alliance. Neither