صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

Evangelical Society. I have been deputed to Auxiliary Societies in Scotland, and to the Free Church, which have sent many contributions; and my friends, Monod and Roussel, have been sent by the Paris Society for the same object. They are both friends of France; and I desire that this breakfast may not be a personal business, but a Christian business, having in view the honour of the Lord, and the progress of truth on the Continent. The state of the Continent is very important just now. What I have told you of the German Church shows there is a crisis, and then the state of the German Catholic Church is most interesting. In one town there is a congregation separated from Rome of 12,000 people; and in all the towns there are such congregations, and they are increasing. It is true they are not all sound in the faith; some are rather Rationalists, and others have a sound Christian faith, and I hope all may be brought to something better. They say, if we remain Rationalists, we cannot stand two years together we shall be Roman Catholics again. It is only by the power of faith, the true faith, that a Christian Society can stand.

Again, in France the state of things is very important. We founded two Evangelical Societies some years ago, for the diffusion of the truth of God everywhere, but especially in France and among the Roman Catholics. We strove not to diffuse Presbytery, Independency, or Episcopacy, but Christianity; to bring souls to God, that they might be saved. Our two Societies have been blessed by the Lord, and many, by the preaching of the word, have been converted in the villages and towns, and these gathered together form Evangelical Churches, where no Christian Protestants were to be found some years ago. And now for two years that is something quite new, it was only soul by soul before, but now for two years we see a whole population. For instance, quite lately in the town of Sens, colporteurs were sent with the Bible there, and they wrote to say, "There are people here desiring to hear the word of God." A minister was sent them. First he preached to 100, and now he preaches to 1,500. A minister has been procured for that people, and the minister sent from Paris to aid him, could not return, for one was not able to do the work. It is not a single circumstance, but every where the same in France, Something more must be done. But, alas! we have not ministers enough; that is the complaint in Scotland, many Free Churches have been built without ministers to fill them. It is the same complaint with us, but we have founded in Geneva an institution for training young ministers, as you have done here, and we have young people from every country, French, Swiss, Belgian, who were all Roman Catholics before, even from Canada, and the old Church of the Waldenses. But these people are very poor, they must be helped by us first, even to live, and I ask you, will you not come and give us your aid? I was lately among our congregational brethren, in the library after breakfast, and they have resolved to take up the work on the Continent. Now, will you co-operate with the Foreign-Aid Society, or will you make a special one of your own? I know not what will be the ultimate arrangement, but I apprehend there will be two Committees formed, one specially Episcopalian, and one specially Free; but both free from any connexion with These two might be united; but it would perhaps be better to have an Episcopalian Committee, and a Free Comnittee, because there are people in both bodies who will not like a mixture. I hope by and by it will be found better to have but one

the Establishment.

[ocr errors]

Committee. Now there shall be union in a | fellowship meetings, the sea-side sermons,
Committee between Presbyterians and Inde- and the lonely prayers of the Highlanders,
pendents, and some other Nonconformists. I we regard as among the strongest bulwarks
hope, also, that you will go hand in hand like of the Free Church.
Christians who love the Lord. The Rev.
Doctor then intimated that he intended to
hold a public meeting on the following Mon-
day evening, with the congregational body,
and he invited all to be present who love the
Lord.

FREE CHURCH ASSEMBLY AT IN

VERNESS.

But we have wandered from our object. The proceedings of the Inverness Assembly have been already read and canvassed by all our readers: nor will we repeat them. There is, however, one speech which we will repeat, and one subject to which we must make a special reference-we mean the speech of Mr. Nisbet, imploring that the Free Church would send us more labourers. We were the first to bring this subject under the notice of the Free Church Assemblies, and could easily THE Assembly at Inverness forms a new era perceive we met with less sympathy than we in the history of the Highlands and of the deemed the cause entitled to demand. We Free Church of Scotland. All respectable made then, and make now, every allowance bodies in this railway-age of ours are become for the peculiar difficulties of the Free Church. peripatetics. The English Presbyterian Sy- Her very success has entailed these difficulties nod itinerates. The British Association for upon her. She has a greater number of adscientific purposes peripatizes. The Wes-herents than she can supply with ordinances. leyan Conference is migratory; and the Free We grant all this, and make every allowance Church Assembly has broken through the for the policy she pursued. But still we stereotyped headings of three centuries on its must claim the liberty of questioning the Record; and for once in 200 years the General wisdom of that policy. She is anxious, and Assembly of the Church of Scotland has met very naturally and properly, to provide a minot at Edinburgh. nister for each of her congregations. might it not occur to her sagacious leaders (and more profoundly sagacious leaders no Church ever possessed), that some of these ministers might be more usefully employed somewhere else than in the depopulated parishes in which they were placed. And why should mere fragmentary skeletons of congregations in other parishes detain men from Newcastle, Manchester, and Leeds, not to mention other places? Viewed in the light of the soundest policy, would not these men advantage the Free Church more in our populous cities, than they can ever accomplish in their present spheres? Were our voice to sound in the Free Church councils, we would say, whatever you neglect, overlook not the high places of England. In the coming conflict, England must be the battle-field, and on the positions previously secured, must the issue of the struggle hinge.

The welcome, the cead mille failte of the warm-hearted Highlanders, we, who know them well, never doubted. Their fathers were the staunchest adherents of the Stuart cause in Church and State. Into that cause, which they had embraced with the characteristic ardour of their race, they threw their whole souls, and with their own glorious, disinterested, self-sacrificing devotion, they perilled all and lost all for an idea-a passion instinct with life and energy, for a Prince they loved and a Church they venerated. Sadly mistaken though they were in their judgments, their hearts were sound. Much as we would have deplored the success of their heroic struggles, we yet cannot but applaud the emotions of the actors-nay, though we lost an ancestor on the other side, and possess a hereditary attachment to the successful cause, yet, as we traversed the field of Culodden Moor, and even as we stood by an ancestor's grave, our feelings rebelled against our judgment, and in imagination we were almost rebels to our politics, though not exactly apostates from our faith. But the Highlanders now are as loyal to the crown rights of Jesus as then they were to the pretensions of the Stuarts, and as devoted to the Free Church as their fathers were to the Church of Rome. Were the claymore now to decide claims of policy or solve questions of right or of faith, the Free Church could, with one resolution, summon forth arms as stalwart, and hearts as brave, as ever marshalled around "Macedonia's madman or the Swede." And though the sword be not now the arbiter of a Church's privileges, or of a people's faith, the Highlanders possess weapons which they know how to wield, and which may yet be more successful than the faulchions of their fathers. Mary Stuart and her contemptible son feared more the prayers of John Knox than the forces their mailed barons and plaided chieftains could bring into the field; and there are now in many a lowly cottage, in many a Highland glen, wrestlers of the seed of Jacob, of whom it may with truth be said, that they are princes, and have prevailed with God. And though the rich and the wise and the disputers of this world, may despise such auxiliaries, we would rather, reasoning from the principles of our philosophy, have such agency on our side than mere secular princes, however great their power, or godless parliaments, however profound their policy. The

But

From what has now been said, we wish it not to be supposed that we accuse the Free Church of any apathy, or anything approaching to indifference towards the prosperity of our Church. Very different, indeed, is our conviction. The Free Church, we are very fully persuaded, would, next to the promotion of her own interests, labour and, if need were, suffer to advance ours. What we mean is this, and we repeat it, that the Free Church is not aware of the actual state of matters in England. This ignorance we owe principally to our own conduct. We have been sinfully silent regarding our position. It may have arisen from a desire not to embarrass our Scottish brethren with our difficulties when they were overwhelmed with their own. our reticence and delicacy have been carried too far, and we have suffered in consequence. We rejoice, however, to know, that our position is now getting better known, and the necessity of coming to our aid better appreciated in the north. All the ministers from Scotland that we have conversed with,

But

and they are not a few, nor of little standing in their own Church, have with one voice declared, that the claims of England cannot longer be overlooked. This is a conviction that must gain ground, as our actual position becomes better kuown, and it is on this account that we so much rejoice that Mr. Nisbet had the manliness to declare what every man in England thinks, although they may not have the courage to avow it. We have only

one explanatory remark to premise. The allusion to Mr. Bonar's speech refers to the report he gave of the destitution of Canada, and the claims that our brethren there have upon the sympathy and support of the Church at home. The speech is as follows:

destitute of the means of grace, and where |
ministers and people have been called to
suffer so much in their adherence to the
principles of the Church of their fathers. The
Assembly renew their expression of brotherly
affection towards the ministers, elders, and
people of the Presbyterian Church in Eng-
land, and earnestly pray that their efforts for
the advancement of Christ's cause at home
and abroad may be crowned with success,
resolving to give them all the countenance
and support which it may be in their power
to afford."

story mainly, as much of the interest of the work lies in the manner as well as the matter; and, we doubt not, occasional abruptness will be pardoned, for the sake of brevity.

"Mr. NISBET shortly addressed the Assembly. Referring to the strong claims which the English Presbyterians have on the mother Church, he said he just begged the attention of this great and respectable Assembly to the speech of Mr. Bonar, on Thursday night, on the claims of Canada. To all the statements and appeals of that address he (Mr. N.) would a hundred times say ditto, if, instead of Montreal, and such places, the name of London, or Liverpool, or Manchester, or Newcastle, were substituted. (Hear, hear.) He entreated all the members of Assembly just to read that speech, and apply it to England. Such an application of it he considered a hundred-fold more important. Why were they now met in Inverness? It was because they had neglected their countrymen in London-because they had neglected Scotsmen holding most influential situations there. He was for letting by-gones be by-gones, but he could not help telling them, that it was because they had not attended to their brothers and sisters, their sons and daughters in London, Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle, and similar places, where they were now filling important offices, some of them under the Government, and in fact the men who do the work of the Government, that they were now suffering so much from the conduct of the landlords in this and other parts of the country. (Hear, hear.) He rejoiced that a better feeling now appeared; LIFE AND TIMES OF ADAM MARTIN- other English books; and such great delight I

in return for which, he could assure the Assembly, that if they found it necessary to send up another deputation to England, there was still wealth and good feeling there to do ten times more than had been done for the Free Church hitherto. At the same time, they must not be surprised should a deputation from the English Synod be sent down to perambulate the parishes of Scotland in behalf of the contemplated mission to China, or the existing mission to Corfu. (Hear, hear.) He rejoiced at the progress of the Free Church, which had so much exceeded all their expectations; and he knew that in England the disposition to support that Church never was better only, they wanted in England a few more men from the Free Church. A great deal had been said the other day about Inverary as a missionary station. Why, was such a place as Inverary worth naming in the same day with London as a missionary station? (Hear.) After urging the Assembly to send twelve or fourteen more men to England, Mr. N. concluded by expressing the sympathy which was felt amongst the English Presbyterians for the sufferings of their Highland brethren, and assuring the Assembly of their anxiety to do everything that was in their power on behalf of their brethren in the Highlands." (Hear, hear.)

We give below the deliverance of the Assembly after hearing the deputation from our Synod, consisting of Mr. Munro, of Manchester, and Mr. Nisbet, of London, and a deputation from the London Lay Union, consisting of Mr. Wm. Hamilton, and Dr. A. P. Stewart. After the usual preamble, it proceeds thus "The General Assembly heard with delight their brethren from England, whose appearance in the Assembly in this distant part of Scotland they take as an expression of their unabated interest in the proceedings of this Church, and more especially as showing how deeply they feel for those districts which are at present so peculiarly

The kind expressions of sympathy and regard contained in this Deliverance we most cordially reciprocate. To the full extent of our ability, and even beyond it, we have hitherto evinced our regard for the Free Church; and nothing will afford us purer satisfaction than for the future to be found "shoulder to shoulder" with her in the field, "striving together for the faith of the Gospel." Our principles, our interests, our dangers, are the same. We lean on one another; and the more that both bodies understand their true interests, the more closely will they be united, and the more cordially will they co-operate. A sense of mutual obligation, a conviction of identity of interests, and a sentiment of brotherly sympathy, will thus spring up between the two Churches, and the affections of the fathers will thus be transmitted to the children, and link us together in all time coming in the bonds of a holy brotherhood, never, never, we trust, to be broken.

DALE.

WITHOUT staying to inquire into the cause,
we think there is little doubt of the fact, that
the trials and sufferings of the Nonconformist
and Presbyterian ministers of England are
much less known than those of their contem-
poraries north of the Tweed. Those Two
THOUSAND godly men whom the Act of Uni-
formity in 1662 drove from their benefices and
homes, were a noble band, and in these times
of fearful declensions, when incumbents of the
Protestant establishment of England have
avowed the lawfulness of holding the doctrines
of one Church and receiving the emoluments
of another, their prompt and cheerful surren-
der of earthly good for conscience sake, though
not unparalleled in our own day, deserves to
be recalled as worthy to be held in everlasting
remembrance.

The memoirs of the more eminent of these
worthies have long been in the hands of the
public; but of the mass of the lesser stars,
those who took no prominent part in public
affairs, or whose names have not come down
to us in connexion with the rich experimental
theology of the period, there is almost nothing
known. Yet to a large class of readers this is
the very section, the narrative of whose trials
and deliverances would probably prove most
extensively useful and interesting.

Such a biography has been incidentally furnished by the Chetham Society, which was recently established in Manchester for the publication of historical and literary remains connected with the palatine counties of Lancaster and Chester; and as its issue, like that of the Roxburgh Club, Wodrow Society, &c., is confined to subscribers, and will, therefore, be accessible to only a very few of the readers of the " English Presbyterian Messenger," some notice of the autobiography of Adam Martindale will, we think, find an appropriate place in its pages.

We propose to let Martindale tell his own

|

The commencement is simple and charac teristic."I was borne (near Prescott) in the month of September, 1623, about the middle of it, but upon what particular day of it I could never learne." The diary is divided into chapters, each recording the events of seven years. The first septennium contains a narrative of several hair-breadth escapes and accidents, his survival of which he records with suitable expressions of gratitude. An incident which gave a colour to his future destiny is thus graphically told:-" About this same time, when I was neere six years old, one Anne Simpkin, who was one of my sureties at the font, being grown low in the world, but not in goodness, out of a reall principle of conscience to perform her promises and engagements for me at my baptism (as I verily believe), bestowed an ABC upon me—a gift in itself exceedingly small and contemptible; but in respect of the designe and event, worth more than its weight in gold. For till that time I was all for childish play, and never thought of learning. But then I was frequently importunate with my mother, who had laid it up (thinking I would only pull it in pieces), to give it into mine own hands, which being so small a trifle, she accordingly did; and I, by the help of my brethren and sisters that could read, and a young man that came to court my sister, had quickly learned it, and the primmer also after it. Then, of my own accord, I fell to reading the Bible and any took in it, and the praises I got from my parents, that I thinke I could almost have read a day together without play or meat, if breath and strength would have held out; and thus it continued to the end of the first seven yeares of my life."

Next comes a notice of Martindale's schoolboy life. "About the middle of January, 1630, when schooles began to be revived after Christmasse I was sent to the Free-school of St. Helens, about two miles from my father's house, a great way for a little fat short-legged lad (as I was) to travel twice a day; yet, I went it cheerfully. My first master was a young ingenious sparke, having a good full schoole, but so bad an husbande (i. e. manager) that he quickley spoilt all, and left us. Α worse followed him, viz., an old humdrum curate, that had almost no scholars, nor deserved any, for he was both a simpleton and a tipler. The third I went to, was a woman, daughter to a famous schoolmaster, that had some smattering of Latine. . . . With her I did something better than quite lose my time, but not much. The fourth was brought up at the then famous schoole of Wenwick, (the great ecclesiastical foundation of Lancashire,) and was scholar sufficient for me then. fifth was a learned and efficient teacher, and under him, young Martindale made rapid progress in the classics. He was diligent enough in looking to us, not only as to grammar learning, but as to our profiting in the catechetical grounds of religion. He also tooke notice by himselfe (and admonitors appointed for the purpose) who was absent from the publick ordinances, or carried himself unsuitably there."

The

Martindale had now reached his fourteenth year, and on his recovery from a severe attack of small-pox was put to some branch of trade. Having the offer frankly made by his father, whether he would continue at it or return to school, he promptly and gladly chose the latter. His previous teacher having fallen

into dissipated habits, he left him to attend | another at Rainford; a man made for a schoolmaster, and who was most excellent to give the finishing stroke to a country scholar." He was a great favourite with "the Popish gentry in the neighbourhood; because, though a Protestant, he was a strong Anti-Puritan, which that place never had before." From this incidental remark, it is evident "in what direction the current of religious opinion had long been steadily flowing in this part of the country, at least." This teacher "was also very notable in making us observe all allusions in profane authors to the sacred Scriptures, insomuch, that any thing leaning that way should hardly passe his observation." Under this able master, Martindale continued till his sixteenth year; when (1629), "being allowed to be ready, he left to go to the University. But the worst was, the University was not so ready for me; war being come on very soon after, turned Oxford (whither I was designed) into a garrison, and many scholars into soldiers. . . . . The Scots had invaded England, and entered Newcastle. Great animosities were set on foot regarding monopolies and ship-money, chief ministers of State, such as the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Lord Keeper Finch, and Secretary Windabanke, almost everywhere spoken against. Archbishop Laud and several bishops, and their chaplaines, taxed with innovations, licensing Popish and Socinian bookes, and persecuting many godly ministers to deprivation itself. The censures also and deep sufferings of Prynne, Bastarik, Burton, Layton, Lilbourne, and others, were much ventilated." Thus summarily are depicted the civil and religious discontents then fermenting, which were soon to break forth in civil war. Martindale, meantime, not choosing to join the student garrison at Oxford, became tutor in the family of Mr. Shevington, of the Boothes, in Eccles parish, near Manchester. Manchester was at that time held for the Parliament, and the Earl of Derby, being repulsed in an attack upon it, overran the adjoining country. At Shavington, after fortifying his residence, he broke up housekeeping, about Christmas, 1641, when Martindale was released from his multifarious and somewhat incongruous duties. Resolving not to be idle or burdensome to his father, who had suffered heavily from the marauders then rife in the neighbourhood, he became teacher in a school that was vacant at Holland, near Wigan. "But I was then subject," he narrates, "to so many great inconveniencies by the discouragement that many lay under to send their children in these dayes of constant alarms, by the uncomfortableness of my habitation, in a public-house, to which many Papists and drunkards did frequently resort, by the disturbance given us by the soldiers often quartering among us, to the depriving us of our beds and chambers; by the suspicion of being a Roundhead (that is, one for the Parliament), and I would not clear myself from it by swearing and debaucherie, but would have been quiet, and meddled on no side, that I left the place in a quarter of a yeare." He next moved to Rainford, where he was still exposed to great disturbance from "several Papists," and "a pragmatical constable," who would not take his excuse as "a price of a clergyman," but warned him to attend the military drill of the King's forces. There it was, however, that a change was wrought in him that determined his future fate-a change which moved him with a courage and endued him with a panoply which enabled him, by the grace of God, to sustain and overcome all the trials and anxieties of that perilous and

eventful epoch. He thus describes it, as a cordial helping to support his spirit:-" A sermon that I heard at St. Helens, preached by Mr. Smith, the minister there. He was under no great account for his abilities, but pious and serious, and in that sermon he did so lay forth the desperateness and damnableness of a natural estate, without conversion, (which before that time I had little minded,) that I was roused to purpose, and this proved like a sharp needle, drawing after a silken thread of comfort in due season, so as if I may, without presumption, lay claime to a worke of grace (as I humbly hope), he was the chiefe instrument, under God, and accordingly I honoured him as my spirituall father to his | death."

Finding Rainford unendurable as a residence, he went to live, as his clerk, with Colonel Moore, who had just been sent from London to Liverpool to garrison the town, and recruit for the Parliament. The family, however, was so profane that he was glad to undertake a less honourable and profitable employment, "the chief clerk's place in the foot regiment, where he lived in peace, and enjoyed sweet communion with the religious officers of the company, which used to meet every night at one another's quarters by turns, to read Scriptures, to confer of good things, and to pray together."

After various vicissitudes, he opens a school near Chester, without having seemingly any thought beyond it; a clerical friend persuaded him "From the necessity that poor souls lay under, and the excellency of the work," to prepare himself for the office of the Christian ministry. Though at first much "startled at a motion to a thing so far above him," he soon fell in with it. He was already a tolerable Grecian, and by his friend's advice commenced the study of Hebrew and Logic. The want of proper books, or a teacher, retarded his progress, but nothing could damp his ardour or slacken his perseverance, till, by mastering the compendiums and systems of the day, some of them crabbed enough, he attained a very considerable proficiency in "Hebrew, Metaphysickes, Physickes, and Ethicks." Lest the name of a mere country scholar, too, should be some prejudice to him, he procured himself to be entered of University College, Oxford, but what attendance he gave there does not appear. He was in truth a man of strong, though not of brilliant natural talent, and, though mainly self-taught, became a very ripe scholar.

In 1645, Manchester was visited by a most virulent pestilence. The burials, as appears from the register of the Collegiate Church, in August of that year, just 200 years ago, were 310,-which was the culminating point. After this visitation, and in consequence of the absence of many clergymen at the famous Westminster Assembly then sitting, there was a great demand for ministers to supply pulpits. In this juncture the same minister who had advised Martindale to complete his studies for the Church "being of a very publicke spirit," and like some of our Presbyterian brethren in the same quarter at this day, "endeavouring to get supply for as many places as he could," urged him in the existing dearth of preachers to make trial of his gifts. This he refused, but by a little friendly artifice was got to comply, and preached with considerable acceptability. In 1646, he accepted a call from a congregation at Gorton, near Manchester. "This

* Richard Heyricke, son of Sir Richard Heyricke, and Warden of the Collegiate Church, Manchester, was a member of the Assembly.

was that bustling yeare wherein the Presbyteriall and Congregationall governments were like Jacob and Esau struggling in the womb, and the latter not waiting for a civill sanction, being got into possession at Duckinfield, within two and a half miles, I found I was come into a wasp's nest." Presbyteriall government, however, with some limitation, was established throughout the county of Lancaster, which was divided into nine classes or presbyteries, with ministers and others nominated as fit to be of each classis. For the promoting of this public work, three very worthy ministers of great abilities, piety, and learning, living at the same distance of two and a half miles, besides diverse gentlemen and tradesmen in and about Manchester, were deeply engaged, Mr. Harrison, of Ashton-under-Line, Mr. Hollingsworth, of the Collegiate Church, Manchester, and Mr. Dean, of Dean, but then living in Manchester also. These were very zealous (commonly called Rigid) Presbyterians, that were for the setting up of the governance of the Church of Scotland among us (some few circumstances excepted) and the utter extirpation of Independence, root and branch, as schismatical and inconsistent with the Covenant. John Angier, of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, a man eminent for piety and learning, on his coming down from London, joined with his brethren in setting up the Presbyteriall government, but for all that was very moderate towards all that be judged godly of the Congregationall way, and spoke with very great reverence of Mr. Eaton and Mr. Taylor, his neighbours at Duckingfield, praising them for pious men, good scholars, and excellent preachers. Martindale, who had a very catholic spirit, would have been content to preach the Gospel, and hold friendly relations with both of the contending parties. He seems to have inquired carefully and conscientiously into the form of church government, most agreeable to the word of God. He brought his doubts, as will subsequently appear, for resolution, before the Manchester Presbytery. Finding, however, that his peace and usefulness were greatly hindered by the contentions of the Presbyterian and Independent parties in his congregation at Gorton, he wisely left it, and out of five or six places to which he was immediately called, he chose Postherne in Cheshire. About this time he was married to Elizabeth Hall, second daughter of John Hall, of the clockhouse in Droylsdon, a freeholder of good rank.

Finding delays interposed to his ordination by the Manchester classis on unimportant grounds, and great inconvenience resulting from the non-performance of sealing ordinances in so populous a parish, he went to London, and received his orders by the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery there, the well known Dr. Manton presiding on the occasion. The times, however, were still troublous. "The ministers of the classis also were become great sufferers. The Cromwellian army was become rampant, destroyed the King, put down kingly government, with the house of Lords, and secluded the most worthy members of the House of Commons, and acted many other villanies, Diverse of the ministers of the classis hurried about, and imprisoned at Liverpool, and Ormeskirke, till it came even to peaceable Mr. Angier. Those of Manchester, viz., Mr. Heyricke, and Mr. Hallingworth, put to pensions, (if they get them) the college lands being sold, and the college itself to Mr. Wigan, who now being turned Antipædobaptist, and I know not what more, made a barn there into a chapel, where he and many of his persuasion preached doctrine diametrically opposite to the minister's persuasion, under their very nose." Like the Presbyterian body of which he was a member,

Martindale was a Royalist. "Wee had been brought by severall removes into the power of a remnant of the House of Commons, influenced and enslaved by Cromwell and his party, after called the Rump. That these were grand usurpers against the known laws of the kingdom, I had not so much as the embryo of a doubt, but supposing them such, how to carry under them was the grand question, wherein many learned and good men were divided." Keen and very ably conducted debates which took place among the clergy upon "the engagement" of fidelity to the Commonwealth, imposed by Cromwell, which Martindale at last subscribed, but not without misgivings at the time and afterwards.

[The concluding portion of this paper, which is still more interesting than the part now given, will be inserted in our next number.-ED.]

FREE CHURCH FINANCES.

In order to stimulate our own people to in-
creased exertions and liberality, we mean, as
often as facts come to our hand, to set before
them the labours and the sacrifices of other
Churches. This is our object in quoting the
following passage from the Interim Report on
the Sustentation Fund, which was laid before
the Free Church Assembly at Inverness :—
"The Report related to the income of the
Sustentation Fund for the last three months,
beginning with the 15th of May, and ending
with the 15th of August. During that period
it was gratifying to the Committee to be able
to state, that from the Associations there was
a material increase over the income from the

same source for the corresponding quarter
last year. The account stood thus:-
"Amount raised by Associa-

tions from 15th of May to
15th of August of the pre-

[blocks in formation]

£18,926 11 11
16,299 17 44
9

"Leaving a clear increase of £2,626 13
"It was also gratifying to find that the
contributions were now much more widely
diffused over the Church than they had been
the former year. But while such and so gra-
tifying was the increase from Associations,
it was to be observed that, in regard to the
whole income for that time, the increase was
not by any means proportional. The whole
income of the Sustentation Fund, during these
three months last year, was 19,9327. 13s. 8d.,
and that for the same period of the present
year was 20,0217. 58. 94d., leaving only an
increase of 887. 12s. 14d. The reason why the
increase on the whole income was so much less
than the increase arising from Associations was,
that while the Associations were getting into a
more vigorous and healthy state of operation,
the occasional donations from friends, some
of them most liberal and munificent, were be-
coming less frequent. This was only what
the Church had to calculate upon. Many,
indeed most of these large donations arose
from the impulse and excitement attending
the disruption, and the Church could not look
for a repetition of them. For example, one
gentleman, a clergyman of the Church of
England, but a warm friend of our cause,
having visited Edinburgh about that time,
presented the Church with the munificent
donation of 1,000l.; but the Church could
not look for the repetition of such sums now.
It was to the healthy operation of the Asso-
ciations, under God, that she must look for
stability and support. He would draw the
attention of the Assembly to one other fact of

|

|

the utmost importance. From replies to some | Guthrie. After deducting these sums, which
queries that were issued by Mr. Handyside to must be considered as extraordinary, there
the Presbyteries of the Church, it appears that remains for the four and a-half months which
there are no fewer than 263,000 persons have elapsed since the close of our last finan-
connected with the Free Church, who con- cial year, 12,6701. belonging to the ordinary
tribute nothing to its funds. It may be said, revenue of the Missionary and Educational
in answer to this, that a large proportion of schemes of the Free Church, showing an in-
that number are represented by the high crease for the present year, as compared with
contributions of other members of the Church. the corresponding period of last year, of
Now, supposing this were the case, and sup- 3,8167."
posing this were a right state of matters, a point
which the Committee are by no means wil-
ling to concede, and that the proportion so re-
presented were to be rated so high as 163,000,
there would still remain 100,000 persons in
the same position. It is believed the pro-
portion is decreasing; but the Committee
hope that Associations, and Presbyteries, and
ministers will not cease their efforts till it
be regarded as a thing quite anomalous to
find a member of the Free Church who is not
a contributor to its funds."

In this latter Report, viz., on Missionary and Educational Funds, there is one class of contributors to which we wish to draw special attention; it is the contributions of the young; Sabbath-school and weekday-school contributors. In last number we inserted a letter from a "Sunday-school Teacher," stating that the Juvenile Association, in connexion with St. Peter's-square Church, Manchester, contributed last year 107. towards the Home Mission Fund. This, however, we believe, is only a fourth of the funds contributed-an equal sum having been given to the Jewish and to the India Missions of the Free Church; and similar donations appear in this number, from the Church at Woolwich. Our correspondent (of whom we may add, we know no

more than that his letter bore the London

This

This Report is certainly most gratifying. But there was one fact elicited in connexion with the contributions to the Free Church funds worthy of consideration. It appears (we quote the "Northern Warder," of September 4) "that about 80,000 persons contributed the 80,0007, of the Sustentation Fund of last year," and post mark) recommended that similar Associaconsequently that the other members of the tions for similar purposes, should be formed Free Church contributed nothing, no, not one in all our congregations and schools. farthing to that fund. Matters have, it ap-recommendation we followed up with some pears, improved in this respect during the remarks of our own, intended to second our side's statistics, founded upon returns by Pres- what the Free Church is doing in this respect. present year; but still, from Mr. Handy- correspondent's suggestions. We now show byteries, it yet appears that the astounding And any man who remembers the number of mass of 263,000 seatholders of the Free pence and sixpences that passed through our Church even now contribute nothing! hands when we were schoolboys, and the purWe allude to this subject at all, only to poses to which they were commonly devoted, show our own members, who manage the must surely desire that our children should financial affairs of our Church, that they are be wiser than their father's, and from earliest not to despond, although they should not get youth have an opportunity of becoming conso many to subscribe to our schemes as they tributors to mission funds. The following is desire. If even in the Free Church this the extract we alluded to:happens, we need not yet despair. But neither let us relax. In all Churches every member ought to make it a matter of conscience to contribute to all her financial schemes. The man who neglects is guilty of a clear dereliction of duty before God and

man.

Having thus communicated an abstract of the Sustenation Fund of the Free Church, let us now submit the budget of the Treasurer of the MISSIONARY AND EDUCATIONAL FUNDS; and we wish our own various Treasurers might be able to lay before our Synod a Report equally gratifying.

"In regard to pecuniary contributions to the schemes, I have to report that they are in a most prosperous state, there being a continued and very considerable increase in their amount. Comparing the four and a-half months which have elapsed since the completion of the last financial year, at the end of March last, with the corresponding period of the preceding year, there has been an increase that is calculated to delight the hearts of all who are interested in the prosperity of our Missionary and Educational schemes. In the corresponding period of last year, the contributions amounted to 8,8331. 3s. 6d. ; that is to say, during the four and a-half months from the end of March. Now the contributions for the same period of the present year amount to 16,470. 4s. 5§d. In this sum, however, is included 2,0007. received from the Sustenation Fund, owing to an arrangement which it is not necessary here to explain, along with 1,300l. for the building of the college, and 5007., which has been given as a special donation by a Wesleyan friend, through his friendship with Mr.

"The Rev. Doctor then referred, in terms of the warmest satisfaction, to the progressive increase of the contributions from the children of the Church. The contributions derived last year from this source amounted to 3947.; he had now to report that at the present time, and at the stage to which they had advanced in the present year, the contributions from the children of the Church amount to 2657. 6s. 10d. -a sum for this brief period being not very far from the amount of contributions during the whole preceding year. Should these contributions go on increasing at the same rate, they will soon form an important item in the contributions to the schemes of the Church; but they are to be regarded not merely as a growing amount of money, but as indicating a degree of self-denial and strength of principle on the part of these young ones which ought to be considered as of a very precious kind. The contributions, whether of old or young, are only valuable when they proceed from a desire for the glory of God-when the Spirit of God is stirring up the heart to desire to be permitted to be a fellow-worker with him in his own cause.' One extract more and we have done. It relates to the poor Highland parish of North Knapdale, a parish we know well. Often, oh, how very often, in boyhood's joyous days, have we traversed its heath-covered mountains, lovelier far in our eyes, and still dearer to our heart than vine-clad hills or flowery meads! It is poor in this world's goods, but rich in faith, and in the works that faith performs. Its only commerce is with heaven; but of their abundant poverty have the people contributed to the Church they love. Could prayers be estimated by any financial standard,

we verily believe the Free Church has derived more advantage from the intercession of Knapdale, and Skye, and Ross, than from the princely contributions of her merchant princes. But the Free Church, like Israel, has men for every sphere. She has Joshua battling in the plain, and Moses praying on the mountain. But we give the extract, remarking only that on the principle applied by our Lord to the widow's contribution, we believe the largest collection ever made for the Free Church was by the Christian people of North Knapdale. When will our congregations act

thus?

"Dr Makellar next referred to a gratifying contribution which had been received by Mr. Jaffray from North Knapdale-the name of which, he observed, would be familiar to the house and to the Church, from the interesting account given by Mr. Macbride in the Assembly, in May, of the degree in which the Lord has been pleased to bless his labours amongst the people there. The communication to Mr. Jaffray set forth, that on the day appointed by the Assembly for making a collection for the Continental Churches, the people belonging to that section of our Church assembled together, and although there was no minister to conduct their public services, they did not fail to desire to draw near to God in a right spirit at his throne of grace; nor were they unmindful of the appointment of the Assembly to make a collection on that day. The writer of the letter conveying the collection, states that he did not expect more than £1. from people in such humble circumstances; but to his surprise and delight he found that, through the money which they subscribed on the spot, and what they brought with them, there was a total sum of £11. 10s. This, added the Reverend Doctor, was truly an illustration of the power of the principle of faith and love in the souls, when the Spirit of God operates in the hearts of his people."

PERIODICAL PRESS; ITS IMPORTANCE

AND DRUDGERY.

SHORT as has been our connexion with the periodical press, and little comparatively as we can be supposed to know of the deep mysteries (if any such there be) of the editorial craft, we have yet acquired three lessons, yea four, of which we very strongly suspect our readers are still in very profound ignorance. These lessons are, 1st, That the vast importance of a monthly periodical is not properly appreciated. 2nd, That nine-teuths of the original composition, and the sum total of the drudgery of conducting such a periodical must be performed by the cditor. 3d, That no periodical can possibly prosper without a staff of well paid contributors. And 4th, That as these contributors, the editor especially, are labouring for the good of the Church, so the Church ought handsomely to remunerate them, not as an act of grace, but as payment of a debt.

So convinced are we of the truth and importance of these propositions, that we had resolved to write an article to confirm and illustrate them, when we discovered that the two first of them had been treated with his usual power by one of the very ablest of our contemporaries. We shall therefore transfer to our columns

One of the most eminent Transatlantic

prelates now living, truly says, "The bishops,
in theory, are indeed the governors of the
Church: in practical effect, however, on the
minds of the majority, the editorial chair stands
far above them." This witness is true.

the observations we allude to, reserving | but for the advancement of a nation's real
to a future occasion, our proofs and good we would not give 10,000 well-disci-
illustrations of the two last propositions. plined British-School Teachers for all the No-
In the "Dedication" of the volume for bles in the world; and for training, purifying,
elevating, animating, and impelling on to vir-
1844, thus wrote (not less truly than elo-tuous deeds the souls of the Christian portion
quently) the editor of the "Christian of the British people, we would not give a
Witness"-the political allusions we shall well-conducted Weekly Religious Paper, with
not be regarded as sanctioning.
a circulation of 100,000 copies, and so cheap
as to bring it within the reach of the poorest,
for all the Quarterlies that British talent could
produce, and British wealth support. We
say, therefore, whatever else you do, attend to
the organs of the Millions! Would that the
minds of our gifted ministers, and of our opu-
lent, liberal, and public-spirited laymen, were
fully alive to this subject, and that they would
direct their energies into this channel! Neg-
lect what you may, remember the Millions!
Let your first object and your last be to ad-
vance, in all possible ways, your own cheap
periodical literature. This is your life! Even
the opulent, instead of overlooking, should
most prize the excellence which is cheapest.
The cheaper it is, the more it approximates to
all God's chief blessings. That which only
few can purchase, only few can read. The
numbers circulated of half-crown Monthlies,
and six-shilling Quarterlies, whatever their
respective merits, must always be limited to
comparatively a few hands, and therefore
utterly and every way impotent for popular
objects.

Our counsel, therefore, to our people is, to
seize the Printing Press, and to bring its ut-
most power to bear upon the millions of the
British Empire. As truly as beautifully did
the Right Hon. George Canning describe its
general power when he said, "By means of
printing, man may speak to all kindreds, and
tribes, and people, and tongues, and make his
voice be heard, with simultaneous power, be-
yond the Atlantic waves, and upon the shores
of the Caspian Sea, and amid the population
of Europe. Nay, he may speak to accumula-
ting generations after his death with all the
freshness and force of personal eloquence.
Printing gives to man a sort of ubiquity and
eternity of being; it enables him to outwit
death, and enshrine himself amid a kind of
earthly immortality. It enables him to speak
while yet dead. His words that breathe, and
thoughts that burn, are embodied and em-
balmed; and with him thousands hold pro-
fitable or hurtful communion till time is no
more. If, then, we are loudly called upon to
be careful what we speak, and what we do,
we are doubly warned to beware what we
throw into the press, and invest with a power
to endure, and a strength to pass every sea,
and to visit every people." All this applies
with force a hundred-fold increased, to the
Periodical Press. Other things being equal,
circulation is everything. The influence of a
book is just in proportion to the number of
its readers. Beyond all question, therefore,
the highest application of the power of the
Printing Press lies in the issue of popular pe-
riodicals. Compared with this, all ordinary
authorship, how splendid soever, is work in a
corner, labour in a cave: it may benefit the
few, and conduct its authors to fame, but it
will leave the masses unblessed. What is at
this moment, whether for evil or for good,
feeding, forming, and moulding the minds of
the British people? Is it the folio, the quarto,
the goodly octavo, or the royal twelves?
Nay, verily; but small and unpretending
manuals of divers forms and diminutive
appearance. But in the more athletic efforts
of the Periodical field itself, where lies the
chief power? Assuredly there, too, not in the
larger, but in the smaller publications; not in
those of the least frequent, but in those of the
most frequent recurrence. On this subject,
we think, some wise and good men are mis-
taken; they seem to us to attach a most
torture. According to them, no religious
inordinate importance to costly periodical
community was ever respectable and strong
without a high-priced and large-typed Quar-
terly Periodical; just as, according to others,
no nation was ever respectable and strong
without a rich and privileged Nobility. What
Nobles have done for nations may be ascer-
tained from history; but what Quarterlies
have done for religious bodies we have yet to

learn. A good Nobility, if it can be created,
may, for aught we know, be a good institution;
and a good Quarterly, if it can be established,
in its own little sphere, may be a useful organ;

With a body of readers so great, an attempt to please all would be as preposterous as its attainment would be impossible. All that we can expect to realize is, sometimes to please, and sometimes to offend; to please all by turns, and occasionally to please one class and offend another by the selfsame articles; and often to confer most benefit when we yield least pleasure.

To be felt, a public writer must be strong and gentle spirits, in his strength, will sometimes see violence; to be understood, he must be plain—and plainness will offend pride. Nor is this all; to public men in our present state, the condition of doing much that is wise and good is, the doing, sometimes, a little that is neither. But the public should remember that error is not confined to editors and action; they too may err in judgment and conduct-may err through ignorance, throgh precipitance, through prejudice, through misrepresentation, and inculpate deeds which merit the highest praise. An editor, too, has frequently occasion to say and do things of strange aspect and apparently questionable prudence to those who look on from a distance. Duty will often prompt a deed of which propriety conceals the reason. The function, therefore, demands confidence-strong, full, general confidence. He who fills the office must deserve this; and deserving, he must possess it. The public creed concerning him should comprise but one tenet, and that tenet, INFALLIBILITY!

Such being the importance of the periodical press, the difficulty of conducting a Monthly Magazine is, as might be The editor of anticipated, enormous. the "Christian Witness" thus describes it, from personal experience, and, if a man of such resources and power feels the task so onerous, what must it be to less gifted men?

Oppressed with these emotions, and remembering how entirely unacquainted the bulk of our readers necessarily are with the duties of an editor, we shall aid them in obtaining a glimpse at his operations, that

« السابقةمتابعة »