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schemes of the Church were expounded at great length to a most attentive assembly.

Tuesday was a day of rest and recruiting. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday were devoted to Wooler, Warrenford, and Alnwick, at all of which places meetings were held, and addresses delivered. At Warrenford especially, the Meeting was large and encouraging. The people listened admirably, and kept their seats with unflinching stedfastness from seven till half-past ten o'clock, when they went home to their far-scattered dwellings by moonlight. It must have been very encouraging to their lately-settled pastor, Mr. Bannatyne, to see such a gathering of his flock upon such an occasion. Dr. Hutchison, their venerable ex-pastor, was also present, in token of his interest in the proceedings. It was the last Meeting of the kind that he ever attended. He has since been gathered to his fathers, full of years and labours, and has entered into the eternal rest.

For Sabbath, the 10th of August, the arrangements were the following: On Saturday, Mr. M'Hinch returned northwards from Alnwick, to preach at Crookham and Etal; Mr. Lewis went forward to Widdrington, to preach there and at Blyth, and I proceeded in company with Mr. Anderson to Morpeth, to preach in the morning, and give an address on the position and schemes of the Church in the evening. All these arrangements were satisfactorily carried out, albeit Mr. Lewis reported that he had had no small difficulty in making his way from Widdrington to Blyth, having been able to get no better conveyance than a common cart. This difficulty of finding conveyance is an evil, I may here remark, which adds immensely to the amount of bodily labour connected with the discharge of ministerial functions in the northern Presbyteries. Of this I had some sore experience myself before my Deputation-work was over, and I am therefore all the better able to understand how much toil and hard tramping it must often cost these Presbyteries simply to keep themselves alive, to preserve themselves from the perils of ecclesiastical dissolution, and of those Synodal admonitions which follow close upon the heels of a Presbyterial demise.

SO

I spent a happy Sabbath at Morpeth on the 10th of August. The manse was full of kindness and comfort, and the church was overflowing with attentive worship

pers. After a morning and afternoon service, conducted in the usual way, the evening service was devoted to the objects of the Deputation's Mission, and I had the satisfaction of delivering an address to a very large and crowded congregation, on the whole subject of our Church's present position, prospects, and duties. It is not often that our congregations have to complain that their churches are too small for them, but this is happily the case at Morpeth; and there is every reason to expect that ere long we shall see a new church rising there, in one of the most advantageous sites of the whole town.

The visit of the Deputation to the Presbytery of Newcastle began on the following day, and during the week we held Meetings in Mr. Duncan's church, Newcastle, at South Shields, Seaton Delaval, Sunderland, and Hexham, most of which were well attended, and amply rewarded us for our labour in addressing them. The Meeting at Sunderland was particularly encouraging. It was animating to see what our people have accomplished there within the last two years in the cause of education, without aid from any quarter save their own willing hands. A noble academic edifice has suddenly sprung up side by side with their excellent church, and already its admirable machinery, all contrived and set up after the most approved models, is in full operation. An education of the most superior kind—religious, commercial, classical, and mathematical, is here afforded. We had the pleasure of visiting the classes and personally examining them, and we found that excellent progress had already been made in every department, including Latin and Greek, French and German. Here, thought I, is one feeder at least for the College; and if such feeders were only multiplied in all our large towns, we would have fewer anxieties with regard to a steady supply of well-trained students for our divinity hall. The advantage which the existence of such an institution, in connexion with St. George's Church, gave us for appealing to the congregation for the gift of their sons as well as their money to our college and church, was not overlooked; and at the Meeting in the evening we did not omit to press the argument home.

After the Meeting at Sunderland, my fellow-labourers, Mr. M'Hinch and Mr. Lewis, were obliged to return home, and

very fain they were to do so, after labouring so long and so hard at the work. But for myself, the campaign was not yet quite over; and, assisted by a new and able coadjutor, Mr. Anderson, of Morpeth, I had to summon up courage for another week's service as laborious as any that had preceded it. We began it on Thursday evening, the 14th of August, with a Meeting at Hexham, which was well attended, and evinced a good spirit. On Friday Mr. Anderson went forward to Brampton, to hold a Meeting there in the evening, and on Saturday he pushed on to Bewcastle, to preach there on the Sabbath. My own destination was to Birdhopecraig on the Friday, and to Falstone on the Saturday, where I had engaged to preach on the following Sabbath. But it was with no little difficulty that I reached these remote places. It was not that the ways were long, but worse that for the greater part of the distance there were no ways at all, and no conveyances at all, save the conveyance of the horse's back, which, to an equestrian like myself, who had not been in a saddle for twenty years, was no very tempting mode of locomotion. However, if the Northumberland fells were rough, and the horsemanship anything but easy, it was well worth while to go through it all for the sake of the warm welcome that awaited me in the hospitable manses of these pastoral hills, and for the sake of seeing once more congregations of plaided worshippers, such as I had sometimes preached to in earlier days. The Meeting at Birdhopecraig was a small one, as it could not fail to be, as it was held in the forenoon, and the people were busy with their hay; but I saw most of the elders of the Church, and had the pleasure of addressing them on the objects of my mission. In the afternoon I set forth for Falstone, across the hills, under the conduct of Mr. Stuart, who had kindly come over in the morning to act as my guide. The journey was one of the worst I ever travelled, for we had scarcely taken the hill when we were overtaken with a heavy mist and drenching rain, which continued the whole way, and which, as galloping was out of the question, we had to walk leisurely through. But we found at the Manse awaiting us all that was requisite to restore us to complacency; and at the cheeck of the pastor's blazing ingle, and in full view of Mrs. Stuart's well-replenished tea-tray, it would have been easy to recover one's good-humour even if

it had given way for a time. Never, truly, is the evening fire so pleasant as after a dismal, drenching day; and never does the country manse look so snug and feel so comfortable as when the stranger preacher has travelled over bog and fell, amidst wind and rain, twelve weary miles to reach it.

The heavy rains that continued to fall during the whole night, and the following morning, swelled every brook into a torrent, and all the rivers into floods, so that only the half of the usual congregation could make their way to the church. Still the attendance was good, and I felt a peculiar interest in conducting the services of a congregation which had travelled so far in the storm, and gathered into the house of God from so many hills and dales to hear his holy Word. I preached twice, and gave an Address on the Schemes of the Church; and to add to the interest of the occasion, I had the pleasant duty to discharge of baptizing the infant son of the pastor of the flockthe first born of the manse.

Mr. Stuart has been indefatigable in his exertions since his settlement at Falstone, to establish good day-schools in different localities of his extensive district. These were very much needed, and with the aid of the Duke of Northumberland, and the Synod's School Fund, are now in prosperous operation. Already he has several boys engaged in the study of Latin-not without the hope that some of them may yet one day be able, and willing, and worthy to enter our College as students for the ministry.

Without dwelling upon my adventures on the following day, when I tried to disengage myself again from these hilly recesses of Northumberland, but totally failed for want of the means of transport, and had to lay myself up for half a day and a whole night in a village inn at Bellingham, suffice it to say that it was not till Tuesday evening that I found my way to Whitehaven, where I had engaged to meet Mr. Anderson on the evening preceding, to proceed with what remained of our work in the Presbytery of Cumberland. The congregations of Brampton and Bewcastle, which Mr. Anderson had just visited, are included in that Presbytery; but the congregations of Whitehaven, Workington, and Maryport still remained to be overtaken. On Wednesday evening, accordingly, I addressed a Meeting at Whitehaven, while Mr. Anderson was similarly engaged at

Workington; and on Thursday evening we united our force once more to address our people at Mary port. These were our last meetings, and they were all encouraging. In Cumberland, as everywhere else, we found our congregations animated with a growing attachment to the Church, and an increasing interest in all her undertakings. And it is meet that the Presbytery of Cumberland should have a special affection for the Synod, and the Synod for them; for it was among themselves that it was born and cradled. Its first meeting was held in the ancient church of Brampton, in the year 1836. Yes! it was from the root of that venerable old tree that this young and vigorous shoot so seasonably sprang forth. In 1852 the Synod will revisit the Presbytery where it was born in 1836. It will only fulfil a natural duty in doing so, and as it has already blessed not a little the Churches which gave it birth, its visit to them, I doubt not, will bless and revive them still more abundantly.

Such, my dear Sirs, is a rapid sketch of the ground over which the Deputations

moved last summer, and of the work which they accomplished. It will be seen that a very large proportion of the congregations contained in the five Presbyteries visited by them were met and addressed, and as the statements brought before them were always very full and explicit, I cannot doubt that much good has been done in the shape of information conveyed, and a new stimulus communicated. We were everywhere well received, and we saw every where throughout our borders tokens of increased interest in our Church's mission and work. I reserve for another letter some general reflections suggested by the experience of this Deputation tour, on the subject of the supply of students to our College, in regard to which we found much that was encouraging; and on the point of Congregational Associations, with respect to which we met with a great deal of obstacle and difficulty. Meanwhile, I remain, sincerely yours, PETER LORIMER.

MINISTERIAL INTERCOURSE.

FOR some time the ministers of London Presbytery have been in the habit of breakfasting together on the second Tuesday of each month. In these little re-unions questions of pastoral experience are discussed, and free conversation is encouraged on many subjects which do not fall within the routine of regular Presbytery Meetings. Each brother is also expected to give a short outline of the discourses of the preceding Sabbath. These little friendly parties are often enlivened by the presence of ministers from Scotland, Ireland, or America, who happen to be in town, and whose acquaintance the brethren are thus privileged to make. Precious as is ministerial time, and scanty as is the leisure of London, every one feels that time is absolutely saved by the reciprocal impulse, and by the mutual instruction of these free and fraternal gatherings. And if less clerical, they are certainly more ministerial than the port-drinking dinner parties which used to follow the Presbytery Meetings of the "good old time."

VOL. IV.

It would scarcely have occurred to us to notice these morning-Meetings, had not our own attention been called to them by the correspondent of a Transatlantic cotemporary. In an interesting letter from London to the "New York Observer," the writer says:

"On the following Tuesday I met the members of the Presbytery of London at their stated monthly breakfast. After reading the Scriptures, and prayer, we took our seats at a plainly furnished table. I could discern no very remarkable difference between English and American Presbyterians in the mode of disposing of coffee, tea, rolls, and eggs. After breakfast, each brother was called on to give a brief analysis of the last sermon he had preached, and free conversation was held on the topics thus introduced. More than two hours were thus spent in animated, friendly, and instructive conversation. Not a word was spoken, nor an emotion indicated, which did not tend to edification. It was the most pleasant social Meeting of ministers I ever witnessed.

C

If all the orthodox Presbyterian ministers of England are like those I had the pleasure of meeting on that occasion, they are fully worthy of the confidence and love of their brethren on the Republican side of the great deep."

fast was founded by the Rev. Josias Wilson, and was revived at the suggestion of the late W. Hamilton, Esq. It has been suggested that similar Meetings of Elders and other office-bearers of the Church might be advantageously es

We may add that the Presbytery break-tablished.

CONFLICTS OF THE CLERGY.

THE Scenes witnessed in the last Assembly of the Irish Presbyterian Church have been very distressing to good men, and highly disastrous to the Presbyterian cause. Since their occurrence, we have felt constrained to keep silence regarding the advantages of our peculiar system; for the practical illustration at Belfast is the ready answer to a hundred arguments. Thousands who never read the proceedings of a Free Church, or an American Assembly, or of the Ulster Synod itself in its better days, have been regaled with verbatim reports of the noisy Meeting held on the other side of the channel, during the last dog-days; and this they are taught to regard as a sample of Synodal action ! No wonder that peaceful Episcopalians prefer their own tranquillity.

The past cannot be recalled; but our trust is in the pious and magnanimous members of the sister Church, that the past will never be repeated. And as one indication of desire and effort towards a better state of things, we hail the eloquent and noble-spirited pamphlet which has suggested these remarks. To write such a pamphlet needs courage, and it needs good feeling. Mr. Knox has shown himself possessed of both. A few sentences will show how just are his views, and how sound is his remedy :

*

"What is Christianity? The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits,' &c. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.' If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his

"Conflicts of the Clergy: their Cause, Consequences, and Cure." By the Rev. R. Knox, Belfast. Belfast: Mayne.

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own heart, that man's religion is vain.' Pure religion, and undefiled, before God and the Father, is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.' Charity suffereth long and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.' 'This is God's own account of religion in individual men.

"What is the Church? Every symbol of it in the Word of God is suggestive of union, peace, love, brotherly kindness, and co-operation. It is a bright and living testimony against the selfishness, the anarchy, and the hatred of the world. It is a city, a garden, a fold, a family; having one Head, one law, one principle of action, one object in this life and one hope in the life to come. Everything about the Church is in direct antagonism to envy, strife, hatred, and vain-glory. The pervading characteristic and spirit of the Church is love-its law is love-its labour is love-its motives are love-its bond of union is love-its home at last is love-the God of the Church is love.

"Before answering the question, 'What is to be done?' it becomes us to consider what we stand most in need of? What is the great desideratum of our Church? Only one answer can be given to this question. We want the Spirit of God. We want that Spirit on our own hearts, on our work, on our Church Courts. He is a Spirit of light; and He will show us what we are, and what we ought to do; He will enable us to see our sins in their real nature, and direct us to the real remedy. He is a Spirit of power, and He will renew the heart that resists every other influence; He will consume

selfishness, pride, envy, and every evil passion that may still lurk within us. He is a Spirit of union and peace, and He will remove every 'root of bitterness,'

give us the gentle and confiding spirit of children, and seal us in the bonds of an imperishable brotherhood. He is a Spirit of love, and He will fill us all with more love for God, for each other, and for our fellow-man. He is a quickening and comforting Spirit, and He will 'give us beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.' It is this Spirit we want. His presence and power will heal our divisions, restore our affections, and urge us forward in the work of our exalted Lord. He will lift our eyes off each other, and direct them inward upon our own hearts, to humble us; and upward upon God, to purify us; and outward upon the perishing sinner, to stimulate us. This is the real influence to bring down upon the Church. He is the source of all ability and blessing. Without Him we may have ostensible peace, but we will have no success, happiness, or love."

Notices of Books.

The Expository Preacher; or, St. Matthew's Gospel Practically Expounded. By CHARLES OVERTON, Vicar of Cottingham. Vol. II. London: Nisbet and Co.

THE former volume of this work we have already introduced to our readers. The present completes the Gospel of St. Matthew. The Exposition is sober, simple, Evangelical, and affectionate,altogether worthy of a faithful English pastor.

The Tried Christian; a Book of Consolation for the Afflicted. By the Rev. W. LEASK. London: Snow.

If this little volume contains not much that is new or striking, it contains much that is scriptural and edifying. It is the work of an amiable and accomplished writer; and the tenderness of its tone will commend it to "mourners in Zion."

Jean Migault; or, the Trials of a French Protestant Family during the Period of the Revocation of the Edict of

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The Second Woe: a Popular Exposition of the Tenth and Eleventh Chapters of Revelation. By the Rev. A. CAIRNS, Cupar. Edinburgh: Johnstone and Hunter.

THE object of this very able exposition is the two witnesses are not yet slain. Mr. to show, in opposition to Mr. Elliott, that Elliott's is the theory which one would wish to be true; but Mr. Cairns has ful presumptions, to show that this woe is brought much research, and many powernot yet past. His work will be read with deep interest by the students of prophecy.

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