"5. We contribute to the civil magistrate according to law, and he fixes the rate we are bound to give; we contribute to God according to love, and we fix ourselves the sum we are willing to give. (2 Cor. viii. 2-9, and ix. 7.)

"6. It is not easy to determine what particular sum or portion of his yearly income one is bound to give to God. From what is said (Acts xi. 29), a certain fixed sum is probably not to be laid down, but each is left to determine with himself whether it should be a tenth, or a fifth, or a fiftieth.

(1 Cor. xvi.

"7. Church collections are special contributions made by individuals or congregations for purposes connected with the Church. 1, 2.)

"(2.) Particular.

"8. Holy Scripture lays down, particularly in the Epistles of Paul, the following rules regarding collections:

"(a) It is particularly equitable that we should give of our earthly goods to those through whom we have received heavenly good. (Rom. xv. 25—27; Gal. ii. 10, and vi. 6; 1 Cor. ix. 11.)

"(b) The honour of God ought to be promoted through such brotherly giving and receiving. (2 Cor. ix. 12, 13.)

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(c) Each member of a congregation should bear his part in such gifts of love. (Acts xi. 29, 30.)

"(d) Each should give, 1. According to his ability. (Acts xi. 29; 2 Cor. ix. 6.) 2. Liberally. (2 Cor. ix. 6.) 3. Willingly. (2 Cor. viii. 12, and ix. 7.) 4. With simplicity. (Rom. xii. 8; Matt. vi. 3.)

"9. Scripture lays down the following rules for our guidance in this

matter:

"(a) Each should lay by what he may for such objects and occasions. (1 Cor. xvi. 2.)

"(b) Such collections should be previously announced. (2 Cor. ix. 3—5.) "(c) The matter should be pressed home on the hearts and consciences of the givers (2 Cor. ix. 2, and viii. 7-14); for example, the conduct of others should be set before them for imitation. (2 Cor. viii.)

"(d) The collections are to be handed over to those appointed by the Church to receive them. (1 Cor. xvi. 3, 4.)

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(e) All collections ought to be so distributed over the congregation as that each member may contribute his equitable share. (2 Cor. viii. 13-15.)" II. The deficiency of our present collections. III. The sources of such deficiency. The regulated details on these divisions are local, and refer peculiarly to Germany. Only a few of the particulars, as applicable to our own case, will be here given:

"1. There is but little danger that a Protestant will in the present day fall into the Popish error of supposing that gifts of money will purchase his salvation.

"2. The love of money has eaten up the love of God and our neighbour. Many who will give gold for worldly profit, will hardly give silver for spiritual rewards.

"3. The opportunities for contributing are too few, owing very much to the neglect of ministers in urging the duty.

"4. Though it be true that works not proceeding from faith and love are of no account before God, it ought not to be forgotten that faith and love

are nothing without good works (James ii. 14-26), and that holiness, or good works, is one grand end of the Gospel.

"5. Property is not regarded among us as a loan from God, but only as a means of individual self-indulgence, and rich and poor together are in this matter to blame.

"6. The feeling that the Church is but one body, and all congregations but sister organizations, is not sufficiently developed amongst us.

"7. Self-denial is more urgently to be preached by our ministers, and more conscientiously exercised by our members. Did our members deny themselves where they well might, there would be funds enough for all our purposes. Love of hoarding and of self-indulgence are the great enemies of liberality."

Repeatedly, in the course of these rules, allusion is made to the contributions of the Free Church of Scotland, and other instances of liberality exhibited in this country, which show how intimately our continental friends are acquainted with our proceedings, and this is another reason why we ought to set before them a model of liberality which it might really benefit them to imitate, and which again would react upon ourselves, and so stimulate us all to increased exertions.

THE KIRK ON THE ISLAND.

MANY years ago there was a flood in one of those rivers that take their rise amongst the remote fastnesses of the Highlands of Scotland. The stream in some places overflowed its banks, and in others its chafed and angry waters held on their impetuous career through narrow gorges and between rocky precipices, in a confined bed, which the river, in course of ages, had cut out for itself. At one place the river undermined a large bank of earth, and, being swept into the middle of the stream, this earth formed a small island which in course of time grew green and grassy. Agreeably to the laws of his country, the proprietor of the estate at that side of the river from which the bank had been cut away, claimed the island as his own, and the tenant of the ground sent his sheep to pasture upon it when the river was low. But, though unknown at the time to man, all this had been directed by Him who rules the waters, for gracious ends. Some years passed away, and the sheep-farmer who claimed the island as part of his ground, happened, along with his wife, to take a long journey for the purpose of visiting some relatives who lived in a large town in the Lowlands of Scotland. One of these relatives was a little girl, a niece of the farmer's wife, and a girl of such a wild and untameable a disposition that her parents had lost that restraint over her which parents ought to possess. On their complaining of this to their Highland visitors, the farmer said, "Let her come with us-we have no children, and her aunt and I will be like parents to her. If she will be wild, she will at least have more room to romp on our hills than on your narrow streets." This proposal was agreed to, but perhaps without the parties considering that a gracious Providence was directing everything in the affair for His own glory, and for good to a small flock of his worshipping people.

Not long after this, the farmer's wife departed to another world, and left her niece, or rather her adopted daughter, to be the sole companion of her widowed husband. But by this time a marked change had occurred in the

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temperament and behaviour of the once spirited and thoughtless maiden. That change was evidently a change made by grace, and its effects were manifested in a meek and quiet walk and conversation, which so won on the heart of the old farmer that he said to her shortly after his bereavement, Now, lassie, though your aunt is gone, you must not leave me; for I love you as if you were my own daughter, and you shall be the heiress of all my goods." For another year or two they lived happily together, the one manifesting parental affection, and the other that love and respect which might be looked for from a daughter.

But an event occurred, which threatened to introduce discord between them, as the same event actually did in many a Scottish family. This was none other than the rending asunder of the Established Church of Scotland, on the 18th of May, 1843.

The farmer was from principle and habit opposed to innovations of all kinds, and, mistaking as he did the true object of the Evangelical party in the Scottish Church, and not giving much thought to the subject, it was easy for him to be led into a prejudiced state of mind against the movement. The minister of the parish, a godly and zealous man, left the Establishment with almost the whole of his flock; and the adopted daughter was one of his most attached followers, while the farmer himself manifested feelings of bitter hostility towards the Free Church. Could it be that between these two individuals, attached to each other by so many ties, there was now to be a rending of these ties asunder? The like had occurred in instances not a few. But we must leave them for a little, and inquire what happened to the minister and his congregation.

No site could be obtained within the parish on which to erect a church. Each of the resident proprietors refused to grant one; and, as a last resource, the managers of the congregation resolved to apply to one proprietor who at the time was residing in the distant regions of Hindustan. Of course some months elapsed ere they received an answer, but an answer came at last, and it was to this effect, that he would not grant a site on any part of his estate, save on the little island whose history we have already detailed, but that this island was at their service, if the tenant were agreeable. To the tenant application was made, but in vain. He had a written lease of his grounds, and on no part of his farm would a Free Church be built while his lease lasted. Sad were the feelings of our young friend, when the enmity of one whom she loved and respected so much, to the Church of which she was a member was thus not only made public, but had become the means of blasting the hopes of a Christian congregation, in regard to the erection of a house wherein to worship God. She had no resource but in prayer. She attempted not to argue with him on the subject, for this would only have caused angry frowns. Weeks and months passed away; and, worshipping with separate congregations every Sabbath, each remained silent on the subject of this unseemly division. The business of the week went on as beforetime.

It was on a summer morning, and the morning of the week-day set apart by the Free Church congregation as a day of humiliation and prayer, previous to the celebration of the Lord's Supper. On that morning our young friend ventured beyond the bounds that she had for some time assigned herself, and asked her relative to accompany her for once to the place where her congregation worshipped. She felt somewhat surprised when he offered no opposition to her request, but at once gave his consent thereto. There was no service in the parish church, and he thought that,

without yielding up the principles he had cherished, he might go, just to please his adopted child. The plaid and the staff were taken down from their place on the wall, and the two set off in company for the green meadow at the river side, where a tent had been put up, and where the people were to assemble for divine worship. But the service was not to proceed that day without interruption. Just as they arrived on the ground, an officer appeared with an interdict, granted at the instance of him who owned the land, ordering the instant removal of the frail tent which had been put up for the more decent observance of the holy ordinance. The congregation was obliged to submit. The law of the land was against them, and they dispersed in sorrow. There was now not a spot within the parish whereon to spread the table of Him unto whom the earth belongs. What could the oppressed people now do-but pray?

But the farm-house was again reached, and the plaid and staff were put up in their place, and still the anxious maiden knew not what effect the scene of the morning had produced on her uncle's mind, for all the way home he had walked in moody silence, and that silence she was afraid to break.

A sense of the injuries endured by the weak and helpless, may often induce those to sympathize with them who may neither approve of their principles nor motives. And there may have been something like this in the mind of the Highland farmer when he was thus unexpectedly led to be an eye-witness of a scene of oppression. The independent feelings natural to a mountaineer may have lent their aid in inducing him to request his niece, on first opening his lips after he reached home, to go immediately to her minister and tell him, that any part of his farm was at the service of the congregation as a site for their tent, and as a place whereon to spread a table for their holy feast. Feelings deeper and more lasting than any of this kind, however, had taken possession of his mind; and he trembled when he thought on the share that he had himself taken in preventing his neighbours from erecting a house wherein they might worship God according to the dictates of conscience.

But there was joy and thankfulness that evening amongst the people. It was by a light-hearted and a swift-footed messenger that the tidings were conveyed to the minister and the elders of the congregation; and ere many hours passed away, the members all knew that they were now not only to have a place whereon to worship on the coming Sabbath, but the use of the flood-formed island as a site for a permanent place of worship. Surely there was amongst them that evening abundance of thanksgiving to the glory of God.

One difficulty was still in the way of their building a church. All the stone-quarries in the district were in the hands of hostile proprietors, and materials were not to be had for money. But that providence which had wrought for them in so many ways removed this obstacle also. A Christian landlord, whose estate lay at a distance of many miles, heard of their position, and offered them as much timber, the produce of his patrimony, as they would require to erect a wooden church, and slates to cover it besides. No time was now lost. Those who had horses and carts went for the materials, and those who had none wrought with their hands; and ere many weeks had gone by the kirk on the island was roofed in, and a wooden foot-bridge constructed between it and the bank of the river.

In due time the church was opened for divine service, and the first serinon was preached by an eminent minister, whose own church was

situated in the Lowlands, but whose native parish was that in which the kirk on the island now stands. Many were affected to tears by that sermon, and all entertained feelings of heartfelt gratitude towards Him who had provided for them in such a wonderful way. And the sheep-farmer, now a member of the congregation, took his seat with the rest; and his adopted daughter was as joyful and as thankful as any, though in her singlehearted simplicity she was all unconscious that her name was to be in future times associated with that of the "kirk on the island." How often have the designs of providence been accomplished through the agency of weak instruments! and where is there a disciple, however weak or obscure, that may not be able in some way to glorify Him, before both friends and foes?

PRESBYTERIAN SABBATH-SCHOOLS.

LIKE other denominations of professing Christians, we regard our sabbath-schools as important auxiliaries to the Church, and blessings, not only to the young of our congregations, but more especially to the neglected children in their respective neighbourhoods. They afford not only an outlet for the zeal and activity of her members, but a powerful means of reaching the godless masses of our population, hidden in the dark recesses of large cities. God has owned and blessed the persevering labours of his servants, and thus proved to the Church the inestimable value of this department of her work. But it has often occurred to us, whether Churches, as such, might not give them a higher place in their estimation; and more especially, whether the Presbyterian Church in England, by the aid of her superior ecclesiastical system, should not in this respect, lead the way ? Hitherto, however, there seems to have been less union among the labourers in our various sabbath-schools than among those belonging to our Congregational brethren. They co-operate and devise measures for the improvement of their systems—they collect information and publish general reports of their numbers, plans, and purposes; they hold meetings in different parts of the country, attended by deputations from other quarters, thus shewing an interest and zeal in the great work, to some extent in keeping with its increasing value. We, on the other hand, standing aloof in many cases from our associated neighbours, and often to an equal extent from one another, exhibit a state of sabbath-school independency greater than those who bear the name. A practical reference to the sabbath-schools scarcely ever appears on the records of our Presbyteries' proceedings, nor has the Synod, like the Free Church of Scotland, yet taken up the question.

As will be seen from a communication in another part of our columns, the subject is beginning to engage the attention of members of the Church, and we trust that a greater amount of co-operation and vigorous action will ultimately result from it.

More especially has our attention been directed to the subject, by an aggregate meeting lately held in London of the teachers and friends belonging to the sabbath-schools connected with the London Presbytery. A report was read, giving interesting particulars of each school-of the average attendance of teachers and children for the last two years, the class of children in attendance, the lesson-books used, the average number using the Assembly's Catechism, the measures adopted for retaining the elder