Church, that it should at this time of day be untried ground. But they had no precedent before them in whose footsteps they could tread, in taking this survey of missionary labour; their endeavours must be tentativethey were on a voyage of discovery-they had no chart to guide them: but, blessed be God, they had a compass in his own holy Word. This should, therefore, be his answer to those who cried for work-work-work. He rejoiced in work-but certainly they were met as an Alliance to see how far, as Christian brethren, they could consult and act together, and then to see what could be done for the promotion of their large work, and there might be a policy in delay. Upon these grounds they might wait for years, taking up topic after topic, as God might place these before them. RELIGION IN CHINA. THE chief religion of the Chinese is the worship of ancestors, which annually costs four hundred million dollars, or each subject 1 1-10 cent per day. Every religious act costs the worshipper something. This religion is interwoven into some of the strongest principles of our nature. It is easy for those who are ignorant of the Bible, to believe that the spirit of parents they have loved and respected on earth are proper objects of It is this form of the Chinese worship. religion that affords the greatest obstacle to the progress of the gospel. Besides the spirits of their ancestors, the Chinese worship innumerable other deities. Another form of the religion of the Chinese is a species of transcendental rationalism, of which a specimen follows:-The venerable Prince Yara arose prior to the great original standing, at the commencement of the mighty wonderful, and floating in the ocean of deep obscurity He is spontaneous and self-existing, produced before the beginning of emptiness, commencing prior to uncaused existence, pervading all heavens and earth, whose beginning and end no years can circumscribe; who by searching can find out the Almighty to perfection? The Chinese have never deified vice. In this respect they are different from other heathen nations. They have never gone to such a length in their penances as the inhabitants of India, nor have they ever had human sacrifices. The Roman Catholics have had missionaries in China for two centuries. At the present time they have eight Bishops, fiftyseven foreign priests, one hundred and four native priests, two hundred and fifty schools, two colleges, and three hundred thousand adherents. They have not given the Bible to the Chinese, nor made any efforts to diffuse it. The Protestants are confined to five posts. In 1840 their work really commenced; what was done before that was only preparatory. There is a hospital at each post, where the sick are cured and taught the Bible. The whole Bible has been translated into Chinese. Other religious books and some tracts have been printed in Chinese. Five or six thousand hear the gospel preached in their own language. THE greater part of mankind think that heaven is at the next door, and that Christianity is an easy task; but they will find they have been deceived. I beseech you, make sure work of salvation; I have found by experience, that all I could do was little enough in the day of trial; therefore, lay up a sure foundation for the time to come.-Rutherford. LADY HEWLEY'S CHARITY. EXTRACTS FROM AFFIDAVIT. (Continued from page 437.) III. The Independent Relators are not Presbyterians, but belong to a denomination which has always been distinguished from Presbyterians, and, in many instances, violently opposed to them; and Independents can in no sense be regarded as the successors or representatives of the old Presbyterians with whom Lady Hewley was connected. Ask the Relators, Do you acknowledge the form of Presbyterian Church Government drawn up by the Westminster Assembly, to be nearest to the precepts of the apostles and to the practice of the Apostolical Churches? they will, to a man, refuse to make such acknowledgment; yet, to pretend that they are Presbyterians in any other is contemptible, trifling, unworthy of honourable men. sense The anxiety of the Independent Relators to prove that they are Presbyterians, affords strong evidence of their conviction that Presbyterians alone are entitled to the management of Lady Hewley's charities. Dr. J. Pye Smith maketh oath and saith," That the term Presbyterian is, in a fair, just, and honourable sense, and, in accordance with its proper signification, capable of being applied to the generality of English Congregationalists." This assertion is refuted by the affidavits of gentlemen of as long standing, and of as high respectability as Dr. J. Pye Smith, by the Rev. James Peddie, D.D., one of the oldest and most respectable ministers in Edinburgh, and by the Rev. Dr. John Brown, of Broughton place, Edinburgh.* These gentlemen deponed in affidavits accompanying deponents' counterstatement of July 1, that they have studied the controversy between the Presbyterians and the Independents, and that in their judgment the term Presbyteriau cannot, in any fair, just, and honourable sense, be applied to any class of Independents. Affidavits to the same purpose have been presented by other ministers of high standing and character. Indeed, the absurdity of such a statement from Dr. Smith, is exposed by his own words, addressed to Unitarians, which may with equal propriety be applied to Independents: "Do they constitute ruling elders in each congregation, to act in conjunction with their pastors, for judging of the qualification of communicants and other acts of discipline? Have they Courts of Review? Have they Classical, Provincial, and Synodical Assemblies? How can they, upon principles of truth and fairness, call themselves by an appellation which has not the semblance of propriety?" -Dr. Pye Smith's letter to the Editor of the "Monthly Repository," as cited in Mr. Hadfield's pamphlet, p. 32. Deponents will now produce evidence from the writings of Independents themselves, when they had no view to Presbyterian property, that they acknowledge themselves to be of a different family from Presbyterians, and that they state themselves to be in violent opposition to Presbyterianism, however orthodox its professors may be, and to this point deponents beg the particular attention of the Court. Inthe" Congregational Magazine" for April, 1835, pp. 247, 248, Dr. J. Pye Smith is represented as having stated, "that the Churches described in the New Testament were Congregational and Independent; that the modern Churches usually called Congregational or Independent, are constituted, governed, and directed in a faithful conformity to the principles and rules of the New Testament; that the will of Christ, notified in the ministers in the organization of Churches, the New Testament, authorizes only two orders of one, that of pastors, called also presbyters as a name of respect, and bishops as a title of office; the other, that of deacons, which is a lay office appointed for the due administration of the temporal affairs of a Church." From these sentences it is evident that Dr. Smith regards the Independent form of Church Government as binding upon Christians Jure Divino, and that he cannot conscientiously receive the Presbyterian form of Church Government, agreed upon by the Assembly of Divines at Westminster, and approved by the Presbyterian ministers of Lady Hewley's time. In a pamphlet intituled, "The Ordination Service of the Rev. John Whitridge (Carlisle 1814)," the Rev. Joseph Gilbert, then of Rotheram, now The Affidavits of these gentlemen are given in pages 113 and 114, of the Third Act. of Nottingham, and author of the third series of Congregational Lectures," says (page 4), "We infer that this institution (the institution of Independent Churches) cannot be neglected or altered without great danger, for, as Christ hath ordered that we shall observe whatsoever he hath commanded, so to attempt amendment of what he has left as complete is presumption, and to refuse obedience is rebellion, no less in this than in other manifestations of his will." Here, one of the most eminent of the Independents, who was chosen, next to Dr. Wardlaw of Glasgow, and Professsor Vaughan, as fit to support the credit of the Independent body in the "Congregational Lectures," solemnly affirms, "that to refuse obedience to the Independent form of Church Government, is rebellion against God." In the Westminster form of Church Government, under the head of classical assemblies, it is stated, "that it is agreeable to the Word of God that there be a subordination of Congregational, Classical, Provincial, and National Assemblies, for the government of the Church." This is the orthodox Presbyterian doctrine as contra-distinguished from Independency. But, in direct opposition to this doctrine, Mr. Joseph Gilbert, at the fifth page of said pamphlet, says, "Conventions of pastors or presbyters (of which all orthodox Presbyterians approve), have no claims to be denominated a Church of Christ." In a paper in the "Congregational Magazine" for July, 1835, ascribed by the Editor to Dr. Redford, of Worcester, and intituled "Pastoral Counsels to Congregational Churches," the writer says, Every member (of an Independent Church) should know why he is an Independent; and should be so because he cannot conscientiously and scripturally be anything else." From these extracts, which might be multiplied to an indefinite extent, it is manifest that except in certain affidavits of Independent Relators, no Independent of the present day has ventured to promulgate his belief that "the differences between the Presbyterians and Independents are trifling." On the contrary, these deponents have shown that the language elsewhere used by the most eminent of the Independent party, virtually excommunicates all Presbyterians, however orthodox their creed, and that it has actually dared to denounce all such Presbyterians as rebels against the law of Christ. Can it for Yet when Presbyterian property presents a temptation to Independents, some of those very men, whose published works abound in anathemas against even the most orthodox Presbyterianism, can overlook "the rebellion against Christ," can represent the difference as trifling, and even assume the name of "Presbyterian." a moment be supposed that Lady Hewley, who was a Presbyterian, would leave her property to a sect, the heads of which displayed such virulent hostility to Dr. Daniel Williams and the principal leaders of the Presbyterians, towards the close of her Ladyship's life? Or can it be supposed that Lady Hewley would have cherished and encouraged the violence of the modern race of Independents who hesitate not to denounce Presbyterianism as rebellion against the law of Christ, and who, if they act consistently, must oppose, and endeavour to destroy, that very form of Church Government which Lady Hewley, from her long-continued connexion with the ejected ministers of the Presbyterian Establishment, regarded and valued as most agreeable to the Word of God, and as best calculated to promote the kingdom of God among men? The supposition is absurd. IV. They who assume the title of Independents or Congregationalists in the present day are a atives of the Independents of Lady Hewley's modern race, and not the successors or representtime. It is only within the last fifty years that they have become numerous, and it was not till the year 1833, that they were united into one body, under the title of "the Congregational Union of England and Wales." They differ essentially from those called Independents or Congregationalists, at the end of the seventeenth, and the beginning of the eighteenth century, both with regard to doctrine and to discipline. With regard to doctrine, the Independents of 1691, acknowledged the Westminster Confession (in its doctrinal articles), and the Savoy Confession, as the basis of their short-lived union with the London Presbyterian ministers. The Savoy Confession was drawn up in 1658, by Dr. Owen and other Independent ministers, and states the doctrine of the Trinity of Persons in one Godhead, in as precise, full, and decided a manner as the Westminster Confession. The old Independents were as little disposed to compromise the fundamental doctrines of the Trinity and the Divinity of Christ, as the old Presbyterians were. Owen and Bradbury, the heads of the old Independents during the latter half of the seventeenth and the beginning of the eighteenth century, would have rejected with indignation the trimming Declaration of 1833, and would not have held communion with the framers of it. With regard to discipline and church order, the Independents of Lady Hewley's time were subscriptionists. In 1719, they were the persons who voted for subscription to the doctrine of the Trinity of Persons in one essence. They refused to be satisfied with a general profession of making the Bible their creed. They insisted upon the imposition of a human standard, explanatory of the sense in which they understood the doctrine of the Scriptures upon the important subject of the Holy Trinity. (See Calamy's "Life and Times" for the year 1719.) Drs. Bogue and Bennett also state, that the Independents of 1719, did actually "subscribe those definitions of the doctrine which were held in veneration, both by Dissenters and by the members of the Established Church." (Vol. iii. p. 240.) But in the seventh preliminary note to the Declaration of 1833, they who, in modern times, have adopted the name of Independents, declare" their jealousy of subscription to creeds and articles, and their disapproval of the imposition of any human standard, whether of faith or discipline.' Surely these men cannot pretend to be the representatives of the Meads and the Bradburys at the commencement of the eighteenth century. Bradbury and his Independent brethren would never have thought of calling themselves Presbyterians, much less of seizing Presbyterian property; and they would not have committed their own Independent endowments to the degenerate framers and approvers of the Declara tion of 1833. These four arguments-that the body to which the Independent Relators belong, is not free from the taint of heresy-that it has no public authorized creed-that it is not Presbyterian-and that it is not even the successor of the old Independent body, these four arguments appear to place insuperable barriers in the way of the Relators to the possession of Lady Hewley's property. At the commencement of this litigation in February last, (1836,) these deponents were disposed to view the Independent Relators in a favourable light; but, from the subsequent conduct of the Relators, and from numerous facts which have transpired since the investigation began, these deponents are now satisfied that the Relators have no right whatever in law or equity to the trust of Lady Hewley's Charities; and, not only so, but that, if this trust be committed to the Relators, or to any persons of the Independent connexion, these deponents are convinced that the purposes of the benevolent foundress will be entirely and completely defeated. For these reasons, deponents earnestly implore the Court, that Lady Hewley's valuable property may not be intrusted to the care of Independents, who, if they act conscientiously, must withhold the benefit of it from all orthodox Presbyterians, for whose benefit it was principally if not entirely designed; and confine the benefit of it to modern degenerate Independents, for whom it never was designed. Advertisements. Just published, price ls. 6d. sewed, or 2s. cloth, with an Engraving of Mont Blanc, WANDERINGS of a PILGRIM in the JUNGFRAU ALP. BY GEORGE B. CHEEVER, "Filled by the meditative outpourings of a devout and thoughtful soul."-Manchester Examiner. "One of the most fascinating volumes we have read for years; there is a happy combination of life and power, of grace and energy, of poetry and "Wilts Independent. philosophy." of MONT BLANC and the "One of the best that has been issued; some FREE CHURCH COLONY AT OTAGO, IN NEW ZEALAND. THE Lay Association for promoting this Colony give notice that information may be had on application to their Secretary, Dr. ALDCORN (of Oban), at this Office, or to Captain CARGILL, New Zealand House, London, at both which places the pamphlets of the Association may likewise be obtained. The Commercial Bank of Scotland and its agents will receive deposits from parties producing auparts indeed are exceedingly beautiful."-New-thority to purchase, and give receipts accordingly. castle Guardian. SCENES from the BIBLE. By the Rev. J. A. WYLIE, A.M. With a Portrait. "Clothed in beautiful poetical imagery and ex quisite powers of description."-Gloucester Journal. William Collins, Glasgow and London; and every Bookseller. NEW ZEALAND COMPANY. The owners of these receipts will thereby be entitled to act as members of the Association, in conformity with the third and fourth paragraphs of the New Zealand Company's advertisement. The completion of the first party of Settlers is to be based upon the sale of a certain number of properties. The date of embarkation, together with that of payment in full of the purchasemoney, and the ballot for priority of choice of the lands (both of which last must precede the embarkation) will be fixed by a Meeting of the AssoTHE Directors of the New Zealand Com-ciation convened for the purpose, and of which pany hereby give notice that, in furtherance notice will be given to the depositors. of the arrangements entered into with Her Majesty's Government, and ratified this day by the Court of Proprietors, the Company is prepared to resume active colonizing operations at the earliest possible moment. the lands purchased by the Company at Otago, in A Crown Grant having been duly executed for the Middle Island of New Zealand, and the internal survey of the same being also sufficiently advanced, the Directors will proceed to the formation of that Settlement in accordance with the arrangements above mentioned, and in terms of the Agreement between the Company and the Lay Association of the Free Church of Scotland, of which the following are the initiatory clauses, viz. : : “The Association of Lay Members of the Free Church of Scotland, as reported by the General Assembly of May, 1845, to be recognised as the party to promote the Settlement now contemplated. "The Lands to be sold under the following arrangements to persons brought forward or approved by the Association; and the Association (including those parties) to carry out the enterprise on their own principles, and, so far as possible, in their own name, looking only to the Company for such assistance and acts of trusteeship in the matter of Surveys, Emigration, and general process of founding the Settlement, as may be requisite." Parties requiring information, or wishing to become purchasers of land, are requested to apply to Dr. ALDCORN, Secretary of the Association, 5, George-street, Edinburgh, or to Captain CARGILL, Agent for the Settlement, at New Zealand House, 9, Broad-street-buildings, London. The Bankers of the Company for this Settlement are Messrs. SMITH, PAYNE, and SMITHS, London, and THE COMMERCIAL BANK OF SCOT LAND. By order of the Court of Directors, New Zealand House, 14th May, 1847. LIST OF DIRECTORS OF THE NEW ZEALAND Henry Aglionby Aglionby, Esq., M.P. Baron de Goldsmid and da Palmeira. Ross Donnelly Mangles, Esq., M.P. Sir John Pirie, Bart., Alderman. William Thompson, Esq., Alderman, M.P. No arrangements will be made as to the selec. tion of families for free passages until the list of depositors shall have indicated the proportion of labour, in each kind, which the purchasers, on their arrival, will require. The following parties are empowered by the Association to give authority to purchase :Major-General Robert M'Douall, C.B., Parkhouse, Stranraer. J. B. M'Combie, of Gillybrands, Esq., Aberdeen. of Renfrew. Archibald Gardner, Esq., of Nethercommon, Archibald Burns, Esq., Banker, Perth. A. ALDCORN, Secretary. 5, George-street, Edinburgh, 9th June, 1847. PRESBYTERIAN AMEN CONSUMER BATUR MESSENGER. 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 SCHOOL SCHEME. COLLECTION ON SABBATH, AUGUST 15. THE third Sabbath of the present month is the day appointed by the Synod for making collections in all the congregations and preaching stations of the Church in aid of the School Scheme. It is hoped that this appointment will be punctually fulfilled throughout the Church, and that the sums collected will be early transmitted to Alex. Morrison, Esq., 101, Upper Thames-street, London, the Treasurer of the Scheme. For full information regarding the proceedings of the School Committee, and the progress which has been already made in the important and interesting business intrusted to them, the Committee beg to refer to the Annual Report (see p. 476), which was given in at the last meeting of Synod. From that Report, it will be seen that very encouraging success has already attended this department of the Church's efforts. A considerable number of new Day Schools have been opened in destitute localities, through the impulse and assistance given by the Committee, and several schools formerly existing have been strengthened and sustained, and enabled to keep the field, which might otherwise have sunk under the difficulties and rivalry with which they had to contend. The Committee are now in communication with the ministers of several additional congregations, with the view of stimulating and enencouraging them to secure for the young of their flocks the same educational advantages; and they have no doubt, that if steadily sustained in this enterprise by the sympathies and liberalities of the Church-this interesting process of school formation will go progressively forward, till there shall not be a Church Offices Advertisements congregation in our body which is not pro-, education of the country upon the British vided with a Day School, in which a sound Churches. The Committee, therefore, hope religious and a sound secular education shall that the contributions of our people will not go hand in hand. The Committee appeal to be diminished because the Government has our congregations for aid, with all the more stepped in to offer us their assistance; but, confidence, that they direct attention not only on the contrary, that they will be increased, to the increase of the number of our schools, in order to enable those of our congregations, but also to the improvement of the quality who wish to apply for that assistance, to of the education given in them. For this meet, by the co-operation of the Committee, end they have asked and received authority the conditions which the Government have from the Synod to make grants of improved laid down. school-books, and other school requisites, in cases where such grants are required; and the Presbyteries have been instructed by the Synod to see, by personal inspection and examination, that these grants are properly and efficiently applied. This is a new feature in the Scheme, and, as it will involve a considerable increase of expenditure, it is hoped that it will also call forth a proportionable increase of liberality in aid of the Committee's funds. The present time is marked by a powerful awakening of educational zeal in our country. The Churches and the Government of the land are now vigorously uniting their efforts in this great cause, and a new epoch in the educational history of the empire has evidently begun. Let not the Presbyterian Church in England be the least earnest and cordial, though she cannot expect, with her present limited resources, to be the most prominent in this movement. Let her cheerfully contribute her donation in the measure of her ability towards supplying the educational wants of the country. The plan of the Government does not supersede the efforts of the various religious bodies; on the contrary, it is fitted mightily to stimulate and increase their liberality in this field. The conditions upon which Government aid will be given are such as still to throw the main weight of the PASTORAL FUND. WE are more and more convinced that it is essential to the advancement of the Presbyterian cause in England to have some central, or as they call it in Scotland, a Sustentation Fund. The practical inefficiency of the voluntary principle, that is, the leaving each locality, however poor, to establish and support its own Church, is already apparent amongst us. We have congregations requiring, for a time, support from without, and some of them receive it, either from the Home Mission fund, or from private individuals. From neither of these sources do we think that the aid can be so properly derived as from a General Pastoral Fund. In regard to the Home Mission, the funds of that scheme, when used for propping up weak congregations, are diverted from their original purpose, of extending the Gospel in missionary fields throughout England; and we doubt not that if the two objects were kept apart, both would receive larger support. In regard to the aid derived from private individuals, we believe it will be found that the burden of this falls on a few men of well-known liberality, who are constantly applied to, while no help is given by the general body in the wealthier congregations We do not see why, in this matter, the system so ably propounded by Dr. Chalmers, and so successfully carried out in the Free Church, should not at once be acted on also in England. Although, in present circumstances, the sum realized for such a fund might be small, we are anxious that the principle should, without delay, be adopted. If not, wherein can we exhibit the advantages of our Presbyterian polity as contrasted with congregational Dissent? Every class of Dissenters receives from members or Churches of its own denomination support similar to that which our weaker congregations at present obtain, and that, in general, with far greater liberality. If we had a central fund, out of which every congregation received equally a small sum for the support of the ministry, the requisite encouragement and assistance would be given; and, at the same time, we know of nothing that would diffuse so much of the spirit of unity and sympathy throughout our whole Church, and more recommend our Presbyterian system to others. With regard to the metropolitan district especially, we are confident that our Church cannot make much way without some such organization. Might not the Presbytery of London, within its own bounds, exhibit the working of this plan? It is not, we repeat, the amount of aid, but the principle which we desire to see adopted. It would become the interest of all, as well as the duty of a few, in that case, to attend to the welfare of every congregation within the bounds. THE DIVINITY PROFESSORSHIP. WE have received from an esteemed correspondent, a layman of influence in our Church, the following remarks on the refusal of the Presbytery of Glasgow to loose Mr. Arnot from his charge, in order to his accepting the office of Primarius Professor of Divinity in our College. We do not enter strongly into the feelings either of disappointment or despondency expressed by our friend; and if the ministers and members of our own Church would only exert themselves and manifest more energy and public spirit, without hanging so much on the Free Church of Scotland, or any other Church, all would be well. We refer our correspondent to the remarks in another part of the paper on the duty of our laymen at this juncture. With regard to the College, the Synod's Committee are engaged at present in negociating arrangements, which, if successful, will render our past disappointments matter of little regret. To the Editor of the English Presbyterian Messenger. Mr. Arnot gave as decided an expression of | now is to enter into correspondence with the "What, therefore, is now to be done? It is perfectly needless for the Presbyterian "The Free Church is unquestionably under great obligations to the Presbyterian Church in England. She has fought the battles of the Free Church in England, stood by her in "DEAR SIR,-The decision of the Pres- all her difficulties, and rendered far more bytery of Glasgow in Mr. Arnot's case has assistance to her-pecuniary and otherwise taken many by surprise. The matter so far than all other denominations put together. is settled; and it is not my intention here Is the Free Church sensible of these obligato open it up by inquiring whether or not tions, and what return has she given? Mere the Presbyterian Church in England has done professions of friendship are nothing, while right in establishing a College-whether or she refuses her aid. With but a niggard not her mode of proceeding in the instituting hand has she supplied the wants of vacant of certain professorships is the best, and, congregations in England. Only two minisindeed, the only mode she could have ters annually has she spared since the disadopted whether or not the preparatory ruption; and now when the Presbyterian course of study required by her is sufficiently Church has established a College, to supersede complete, and the examinations which the the necessity of coming to Scotland for any candidates for admission undergo are suffi- aid at all, and has done what she could to ciently full and stringent-and, whether or place that College on a sure and permanent not her students are more fully instructed basis (and surely she is the best judge of in a sound philosophy than were those of the the proper means to be used for attaining her Church of Scotland in some of our Univer-end). her request is summarily rejected. sities prior to the disruption. Neither is it, "What, therefore, is now to be done? The my intention here to inquire whether or not duty of the Free Church, without question, SCOTLAND. WE blame the Free Church of Scotland for this, in that while she knows that there are vast multitudes of Scotchmen in London, flocking thither annually, who soon fall into neglect of all religious ordinances, and then abandon the decencies and sobrieties of their early life; and while there are in certain parishes of London more Scotchmen than in several counties of Scotland put together, yet that Church is doing nothing, and giving nothing, for the religious and moral welfare of these their countrymen. More sympathy is felt, and interest displayed, about the soul of one yellow or red Indian abroad, than about the multitudes of their brethren and sisters perishing for lack of knowledge in this great city. We know that the Free Church has much to do in Scotland, and that its Foreign Missions cannot be contracted. that there is no place to which men and means can be better devoted than to this field. And if our friends in Scotland prefer that the English Presbyterian Church, by taking charge of these Scotch sojourners, should relieve them of the duty and burden, we wonder how they could refuse to us even the gift of a single man as theological teacher, by whom labourers might be trained for this work. But we say TRANSLATION SPEECHES. IT has been said, that "the use of language is to conceal our thoughts." Certainly this definition is too often true in the Presbyterian Church courts in cases of translation. We have witnessed some painfully instructive instances of late in Scotland. In one case, a minister in Edinburgh received a call to a a charge in the West Highlands. According to Presbyterial usage, various parties were heard at the bar of the Presbytery, viz., the deputies from the congregation giving the call, and from the Presbytery of that district, and from his own congregation, stating reasons severally for the removal or the retaining of the minister. He was then called upon to express his own opinion, as the decision (except in very special cases) chiefly hinges on that. This was accordingly done at great length, and in a very obscure and unintelligible manner. A long debate then ensued in the Presbytery as to what the Reverend Gentleman had said or meant to say. It seemed to be the general opinion that he had expressed himself averse to the translation; and on a vote it was carried, "not translate " by a majority of thirty to one. But this one happened to have had private conversation with the minister, and knew that he wished to be translated. He accordingly entered his protest, and appealed to the superior court, and the upshot was, that the translation was carried into effect. Another case has occurred since, more nearly affecting our own affairs. A minister of Glasgow, it is well known, had been appointed Professor of Theology in the English Presbyterian College. His own acceptance of the office had been obtained, and arrangements made for his removal; and his congregation in Glasgow, while grieving to lose so excellent a pastor, were reconciled to the loss, and it is said had turned their thoughts harmoniously to a successor. The day of the meeting of the Glasgow Presbytery arrived, when the steps ecclesiastically necessary were to be taken. After the English Commissioners and the deputies from the congregation had been heard, the minister was called upon to state his own opinion. This was done in the usual way, extending over half a yard of the columns of a Glasgow newspaper, painful to read, and not agreeable we should think to speak or to listen to. Then came the discussion in the court, from which it appeared that, as their brother had given no very decided expression of his own sentiments, they could not consent to loose him from his present charge! Now, we think that this system of things should be put an end to. Our brethren in Scotland are said to be shrewd and practical men; and they must see, and we hope all Presbyterians will see, that these translation proceedings are calculated to bring something like contempt on, our Church courts. We are told that at the first preaching of the Gospel, all the old Pagan oracles were silenced; and it is the tendency of Christianity to abolish everything Delphic and oracular. "Let your yea be yea, and your nay, nay." If a brother in these circumstances has his own mind made up, he ought to say so; and if not, he should be silent. The people will give a man credit for sorrow at parting, and for fulness of other feelings, without so long and perplexing a description of what he feels. And it is not fair to the brethren who are to decide the matter, that a plain statement should not be given, if that is to weigh with them. In cases where there is real perplexity, and the brother wishes the matter to be left entirely in the hands of the Presbytery, by whose opinions his own judgment is to be influenced, we think it better that he should not be called upon till after the discussion; and then (before the vote) he might state the result of his weighing of the arguments. At any rate, we hope that our calling attention to the present usual mode of procedure may not be without useful effects for the future. BAD SPIRIT. WHEN people do not like the truth to be told, they are very ingenious in their attempts to suppress it. If the matter of what is said cannot be gainsayed, the manner of it is sure to be found fault with. "It is very true," they say, "but written in a very bad spirit:"-and "bigoted," "unchristian," and the like, are epithets very convenient for statements that are troublesome, or arguments that are conclusive. We have often been amused with this in public controversies, where the least warmth in defending truth, or energy in denouncing error, has been craftily ascribed to this bad spirit. But we must not be deceived by this device. He that feels strongly will speak strongly; and it is right to do so, if the feeling itself be right. We read in the Bible of "contending earnestly," and "s buking sharply," and many other things which these sentimental people would call very unchristian. The truth is to be spoken in love, -love of the person in error, and love of the re THE ENGLISH CHURCH. truth, both of which are compatible with | DUTIES OF BISHOPS, AND STATE OF We are led to these observations by a letter from a correspondent who thought our remarks in last number on the Scotch Quoad Sacra Churches too severe. Instead of heading that article, "Thou shalt not steal," we might have begun by saying that "We do not think it right to take possession of property that belongs to others:" but the first, we think, conveys the same idea in a far more plain and expressive way. If a thing seems to us wrong, it is best frankly to say so, and we would have said the same, had the Free Church or any other Church done the same action. We think it wrong and unjust that the chapels built by the hard earnings and laborious efforts of the mechanics, and fishermen, and peasantry of Scotland, as many of these Quoad Sacra Churches were, should be seized by the Established Church, when the people who worship in them do not belong to that Church. We repeat, that even though Scotch law should decide against these poor people, Christian justice is on their side; and we hope that the British Legislature will protect their rights. It seems to us very strange that there should often be far more sympathy and feeling displayed in the matter of wrong words than of wrong deeds. We have seen in our day, things which it would betoken a mean and ungenerous spirit not to feel and to speak strongly about. We have seen all the most faithful and pious clergy of Scotland expelled from the National Church, because they maintained the constitutional principles of that Church against the aggressions of the civil courts. We have seen these men deprived of their livings, driven from their homes, persecuted and reviled by the patrons and proprietors of the land, and exposed to every possible trial and hardship for conscience sake. We have seen the generous and affectionate people, true to their principles and attached to their pastors, refused ground for building churches, and even for erecting a tent for temporary shelter during worship; and compelled to assemble in the bleak northern winter, on the sea-shore or the mountain side; by which many of the aged and infirm have been has tened to the grave, and the seeds of disease we fear too often fixed in the young. We have witnessed tragedies connected with that Scottish disruption which would move pity, and secure redress, in any other cause than in that of a religious persecution. And in the midst of all this faithfulness and patience and self denial on the one hand, and all this tyranny and oppression and injustice on the other, if there is ever heard the smallest whisper of remonstrance, or the least expression of honest indignation, it is met with some such mean remark as this, "Oh what a bitter spirit these Free Church people have!" Any hard word is caught up and magnified and condemned; but the hard deeds that gave rise to them meet with no reprobation from these tender-eared but hard-hearted censors! But we must check ourselves lest it might be said that we too are writing in "a bad spirit." A MAN may know all that is written of whom it is written. THERE are many that suffer long that are not long-suffering. IN the debate in the House of Commons, on Thursday, July 15, on the new See of Manchester, Sir James Graham thus described the duties of an English Bishop: "It is said that the bishops have more labours to get through than any such functionaries can be expected to perform. Why, what are the duties and the labours of the bishops? First, there is the ordination of priests. There are in the whole year three Ember weeks, within which three weeks alone can ordinations take place. Then there are Confirmations and Visitations. Till lately the visitations were only triennial; supposing them annual, we have now such rapid and easy means of travelling, that the effort cannot be one of a very overpowering nature. Three ordinations and one visitation in the course of the year! is that too much for a bishop? But then there is the controul of the clergy, the intercourse which the bishop is bound to maintain with those intrusted to his government. I am not one of those who think that bishops should hold daily intercourse with their clergy. It appears to me, that in most cases the duties and functions of the bishop would be better discharged in writing than by conversation. "A bishop should be easy of access, that is, should reside in some central part of his diocese; but he should usually exercise his appellate jurisdiction by correspondence. În addition to what I have enumerated, the consecration of churches, and attendance in Parliament, make up the whole duty of a bishop. If a bishop has two or three churches to consecrate in the course of a year, I should say he would be very fortunate. Now, I take the liberty of saying that all these things put together do not constitute a very overwhelming amount of labour." This, be it remembered, is the language of one who began his speech by "declaring himself a sincere and faithful member of the Established Church." "I do not," said Sir James Graham, "make that profession unnecessarily, for it is my wish at all times to avoid needless declarations of that class, because I think it is not those who are most loud in their professions of attachment that in cases of difficulty or hazard, are found to be the surest friends of our ecclesiastical establishments." The opponents of the Bill spoke out plainly enough as to the uselessness, and worse than uselessness, of the present system of episcopacy. It was shewn by statistical returns that there are at least 2,268 pluralities in the English Church; that out of 10,500 livings, 2,619 are exempted from residence, 2,147 are licensed to be absent, 1,313 are away without leave. So that out of the 10,500 livings there were only about 4,400 resident incumbents. As to the curates, by whom part of this lack of service is made up, the average income of 5,000 is at present 817. The good livings in the Church are obtained by purchase, or through family connexions. The cure of souls in any parish or town is sold, or exchanged, or gifted, just as a farm, or estate, or other property is transferred. Among the resident clergy there are many excellent and faithful men, but the system is bad, and even with the present resources of the Church a hundred fold the amount of good might be effectually done. Who will say that the 300,000l. directly or indirectly falling each year to the bishops alone, is laid out in the best way for the glory of God and the good of souls? It is the fault of the people of England |