essential for the right discharge of its appointed functions; third, the appointed sphere within which these functions, so fenced and guarded, are to be exercised. Now, if we appeal to this divine ordinance for the knowledge and enforcement of the two former, are we at liberty to exclude wholly from our view its authoritative decision in reference to the latter? Are we at liberty to cut, and carve, and mutilate, a divine commission, and take what portion suits our taste, or prejudice, or inclination, or indolence; and altogether pretermit such parts as do not chime in with any one of these? Would it be fair or honest dealing to make the attempt?

Now, if this command, in its essential spirit, be binding upon every professing disciple of the Lord Jesus, must it not, with an emphasis of peculiarity, be so upon those who are specially set apart for the office of the holy ministry—those whose sole business and profession it is to teach and preach the Gospel to their perishing fellow-men. And if it be pre-eminently binding upon them as individuals, can it be less upon them in their united corporate capacity, when they convene, and constitute themselves, in the name of their Great Head and King, a Church Court, for the express purpose of exercising all that ecclesiastical power and authority which he hath been pleased to delegate unto them as ambassadors in his stead? Is it nothing that the commission, by which the power and authority have been conferred, specialized the grand design and chief end for which these were bestowed? What is that design and end? It is that the Gospel should be preached to every creature, in all nations. In order to the effectual promotion of this great end, it is indispensable that there should be vigour of discipline, purity of doctrine, soundness of faith, and fervour of love. To maintain and perpetuate these in the bosom of the Church, a Presbytery, or Synod, or assembly of spiritual rulers, is privileged to exercise the necessary power and authority, in the name, and by appointment, of the King of kings. But does the exercise of such endowments, for the exclusive benefit of professing Church members, constitute the sole end for which they were originally bestowed? Quite the contrary. Turn to the commission itself, and you must perceive at a glance, that the chief end for which they were communicated was the preaching of the Gospel to all nations; so that the exercise of power and authority over the members of any Church can only be viewed chiefly as subsidiary to the furtherance of this great end-in the way of converting these into fitter instruments for its successful accomplishment. What, then, if in any Church Courts in Christendom, it

should be found that the means have actually been substituted for the end-or rather that, in the constant use of the means, the great end has been altogether forgotten for which these were originally instituted? What if it should be found that, in any land, Church Courts can really have met, month after month, and year after year, and can have entertained all manner of questions, except such as concern the chief object for the promotion of which all the power and authority which they possess were at first conveyed by the Divine Redeemer, and designed to be uninterruptedly transmitted from age to age, even to the end of the world. * * * *

The subject of propagating the Gospel at home and abroad, in obedience to the Divine command, ought to occupy more and more of the time and attention of every Church Court, till, like the rod of Moses, it might swallow up and absorb, in its Divine grandeur and surpassing interest, all minor themes. The express terms of the original commission, in virtue of which Church Courts are constituted at all, enforce the propriety, and duty, and necessity of such a course. The supreme judicature of this Church, setting itself the example, has strongly and earnestly recommended a similar procedure to all subordinate judicatories.

In compliance with this recommendation, there now stands, on the records of almost every Presbytery throughout the bounds of the Church, a resolution that it will hold one Annual Meeting expressly for missionary purposes, at which all within its bounds shall be invited to attend.-In this new career of manifesting the recuperative energies of the Church, the Presbytery of Irvine enjoys the honour of having set the first successful example. And nobly and efficiently has it been followed by others in different parts of Scotland. And if, in not a few instances that could be named, the resolution so deliberately formed, has (from some temporary obstacles, we must presume,) been allowed hitherto to remain a dead letter in the statute-book, is the insinuation to be endured, that it is intended to remain so for ever? What? A Presbytery of the Church-a council of ordained ministers of the everlasting Gospel-solemnly adopt and register an ecclesiastical canon towards the fulfilment of a long neglected duty, and yet as solemnly determine to hold it in eternal abeyance !-and thus violate anew, the terms, conditions, and ends of their own commission, disappoint the expectations of the faithful, frustrate the hopes of a perishing world, and heap the most outrageous insults and mockeries on their Lord and Redeemer! It cannot be! The thing is impossible! The very hypothesis of its possibility must be denounced as an infamous libel!

It is confidently, therefore, to be anticipated, that the time is not far distant when every Presbytery shall be found vigorously implementing its own covenanted engagement to return to the discharge of a long neglected duty, and that the very few who have hitherto stood aloof, will ere long be seen marshalling side by side in the same noble cause. What a glorious spectacle in the sight of heaven and earth. An entire National Church converted into a thoroughly evangelistic, or missionary, or apostolic Church! The heavenly impulse annually renewed in this venerable house, communicated through Synods into the provincesthrough Presbyteries into smaller districts or dioceses, through ministers and Kirksessions into parishes, and through a localized eldership into every hamlet in the land. Is this a vision or chimera? It ought to be neither the one nor the other. Another Pentecostal effusion would, in less than a twelvemonth, convert it into a living reality. And why not implore the Lord unceasingly for the grace and strength, the will and the ability, to advance now with increasing velocity towards the realization of so glorious a result?

I know I am again treading on delicate ground. Some may set me down as a presumptuous intruder; but God is my witness, that it is in faithfulness and love, and under a deep sense of unworthiness, that I have entered on the present theme. Others may brand me as a dementate enthusiast; but how can the imputation of such a charge obliterate the facts of past history, or cancel the principles and laws of the Divine economy? If there has been a dark age in the history of this Church, would he be its friend,-rather, would he not be its bitterest foe-that would not bestir himself to chase away its blighting and bewildering shade? And who is not ready to confess that that must have been an age of worse than Cimmerian gloom, when Presbyteries and other Church Courts could meet, month after month, and year after year, constitute their meetings in the name of the Lord Jesus, read the minutes of a former sederunt, and, if there were no cases of petty discipline before them, no libels to prosecute, no ruinous church edifices or crazy manses to condemn, immediately dissolve, saying that there was no business before them. Oh! if one of the spirits of the just made perfect, or an angel from heaven, were present, how could he help exclaiming with unutterable surprise-What! no business! no business before a court of ordained teachers of the everlasting Gospel, when there are still upwards of six hundred million human beings on the face of the earth, ignorant of the way of salvation, to all of whom ye are bound by

your commission to employ the means of communicating the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, and Him crucified ?

Was not such a state of things naturally calculated to alienate the affections of the spiritually-minded, and to excite the derision of the scoffer? Was it not calculated to diminish the reverence due to a Church Court, and to cover many of its enactments with contempt? How could a court, which seldom presented to a shrewd and discerning public any aspect but that of the grossest secularity, be patiently borne with in its spiritual decrees? Now, it is this bad, this consumptive state of things, we wish to see ameliorated. But a disease which penetrated so deep into the vitals, is not to be eradicated in a day. Let us thank God, however, for every incipient symptom of convalescence. To effect a perfect remedy will require time, as well as faith and patience. It is not from the established forms of Church Courts alone, or from the inveterate habits of some of the older members, that the difficulty of a return to an improved condition of things is to be encountered. So long have many of these been unaccustomed to the separate or corporate discharge of their grand evangelistic functions, that even the great body of the people may not, for some time, be made to understand how missionary proceedings of any kind can constitute any part of the proper business of a Church Court. For some time there may be misconception; there will be suspicion; there must be wonder. Of this many curious proofs might be given. Some time ago my eye happened to stumble, in a public journal, on a review of last year's Assembly. It concluded with a complaint as lugubrious as if it had been the winding up of a funeral dirge. And what think you was the burden of the complaint ?-That the Assembly of 1838 had done nothing, and that its proceedings would create universal disappointment throughout the country. Why? Because it had not finally settled this little point about the form of process, and that other about the regulations anent calls; and so on through a well-strung bead-roll of pettylittlenesses connected with home Church policy. All the while not the remotest allusion was made to the circumstance, that this Venerable House did occupy nearly a whole day in considering the great subject of extending the means of grace among the destitute outcasts of our native land; and devoted several hours of each of other three days to a consideration of the means of extending Christian education at home, and of diffusing the Gospel abroad among the hundreds of thousands of expatriated countrymen, and the millions of Heathens that never heard of a Saviour's love.-And yet,

may we not venture to affirm, that if any part of the proceedings more than another went up as a sweet memorial to the throne of the Highest, it would be that very part which related to the propagation of the Gospel among the poor and the perishing, whether at home or abroad? Yea, more, may we not venture to add, that the surest way of ultimately arriving at an amicable adjustment of many of those questions on which parties differ, would be to multiply tenfold in assemblies, synods, presbyteries, and kirk sessions, their friendly discussions on those great catholic questions on which all, without one exception, are agreed? The spirit of diffusive love, seizing and expanding all the kindlier elements of our nature, and drawing down the fire from heaven's altar, would gradually burn up and consume the dross of partizanship-and, fusing all hearts in the crucible of a holy zeal, would soon subdue all minds into the heavenly mould of forbearance, and peace, and unity.—And thus, as in the case of the traveller in the fable, it would soon be found that those who will not be beat down by the stormiest tempest of controversy, may soon be melted into kindly acquiescence by the solar beams of charity.-Dr. Duff.

ORIGIN OF THE SHORTER CATECHISM. THE Westminster Assembly which met July 1, 1643, continued its sessions between five and six years. It consisted of Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Episcopalians, and Erastians, "men," as Baxter justly remarks, "of eminent learning, godliness, ministerial abilities, and fidelity." It gave the world the first example of a union of different denominations, in an effort to produce a Question Book, approved by them all, for the religious instruction of children and youth.

So singularly successful was their endeavour, that after the lapse of more than two centuries, no compend of the doctrines and duties of Christianity can be found, better adapted to strengthen the minds of the young, to teach them the truth as it is in Jesus, to preserve them from error, and to make them wise unto salvation.

In the providence of God, it was reserved for the Assembly which met by order of Parliament, July 1, 1643, to produce and to publish a Catechism that expressed the common faith of the various reformed Churches, both in England and America. This most remarkable Assembly was convened in Westminster in the reign of Charles I., and held most of its sessions in the chapel of Henry VII. The room

VOL. V.

was commodious and well furnished. At the upper end of it the moderator occupied an elevated seat with two assistants, one on his right hand and the other on his left. Before him, and through the centre of the hall, a long table extended, at the upper end of which sat two scribes, and at the opposite end sat ten delegates from the House of Lords. In the rear of this table, and on the sides of the room, arose four or five stages of seats, one above another. On these were arranged the other members, one fourth of whom were laymen, and the rest divines.

Dr. Belfrage, in his admirable history of the Catechism, thus speaks of the occasion of the Assembly: "It was felt by leading men, in their struggle with superstition and arbitrary power in the seventeenth century, that a scheme of doctrine, church government, and worship, pure and spiritual, would be a most excellent means of establishing the rights for which they were contending, and of forming the virtue by which freedom is blessed. It was with this view that the Assembly was convened, and that its proceedings were honoured with the countenance of the first and best in the land,

the first in influence, and the best in true worth."

Among the members of the Assembly were Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Episcopalians, and Erastians; in all, one hundred and fifty-one. In five years, six months, and twenty-two days, they held one thousand one hundred and sixtythree sessions for prayer, conference, and the adoption of measures for the defence of the faith once delivered to the saints, and for the promotion of Christianity.

The oath which the members of the Assembly took, a copy of which we subjoin, shows under what solemn responsibilities they considered themselves, and were thought by the government to act: "I do seriously and solemnly protest,

in the presence of Almighty God, that in the Assembly, of which I am a member, I will not maintain anything in matters of doctrine but what I think in my conscience to be truth; or in point of discipline, but what I consider to conduce most to the glory of God, and to the good and peace of the Church."

The Assembly formed a Directory for public worship, and for the other official duties of clergymen. They also produced a Confession of Faith, with Biblical proofs, and two Catechisms, a shorter for the

S

instruction of the young, which was finally adopted November 6, 1647; and a larger, which was adopted April 14, 1648. The Shorter Catechism thus originated. The Assembly appointed a committee to frame it, of whom one submitted a plan or draft, and then the rest completed and perfected it, and reported it to the Assembly, where it went through a revision before its adoption. It is not certain to whom the honour should be accorded of producing the original draft, whether to Dr. Arrowsmith, Mr. Palmer, Dr. Wallis, or Dr. Gouge, though most writers ascribe it to the first of these gentlemen. On its

presentation to the Assembly, each question and answer was separately read, carefully examined, and finally adopted by a vote expressing the individual judgment of the members. The Shorter Catechism is not an abstract of the larger, but an independent work, corresponding thereto, and also to the Confession. Ă member of that venerable Assembly says:

"We made long ago a pretty progress in the Catechism, but falling on rules and long debates, it was laid aside till the Confession was ended, with the resolution to have no matter in it but what was expressed in the Confession."

EXPERIENCE OF FROM the day that myself and wife were installed in our own house as a family, now nearly forty years, God has had an altar in our dwelling, and upon that altar the morning and evening sacrifice of prayer has been offered. This I have ever considered as an imperative duty and a delightful privilege. Perhaps no religious exercise in which a family can engage conduces more to its peace, its order, or its happiness. Perhaps the head of a family never appears so dignified or so honourable, as when leading the devotions of his household. Perhaps no other service exerts so happy an influence on the temper, affection, and conduct of those to whom he acts as a priest unto God. Aside from the spiritual good to which it directly and powerfully conduces, its bearing upon the temporal welfare of a family should secure its faithful observance. With these sentiments I was early impressed by the precepts, but more by the example of my father, who daily led his family to the throne of grace; and I early decided, that if ever I became the head of a household, I would adopt a practice so reasonable, and fraught, as I believed, with present and lasting blessings.

I was aware of an objection often brought against this service by those whose cares and business are multiform, and thought it quite possible that, in respect to myself, it might sometimes interfere with the plans and purposes of the day. But it has not proved so. And now, at the expiration of nearly forty years, I can aver in all truth, that we have seldom if ever wanted for time. Very seldom, indeed, has any circumstance or providence occurred to prevent our assembling morning and evening, "to call upon the name of the Lord." I have known some of my neighbours to be occasionally a little earlier at their business;

FAMILY PRAYER.

but never yet have I known the instance, or ever thought it existed, when my worldly interests suffered from attending to the duties of family devotion-not one instance in nearly forty years. But the beneficial influence has all been the other way. I do not mean to intimate that God has wrought miracles for us; and yet interpositions have been so unexpected and so kind, anticipated obstacles so remarkably removed, difficulties so smoothed, and our pathway so clearly indicated, that it has seemed sometimes little less than miraculous. The reading of the holy oracles, its precepts, warnings, promises, encouragements, followed by humble, fervent, importunate prayer, has better fitted us for the duties of the day. I firmly believe that the mind has been less disturbed by the crosses and vexations common to us all. We have felt stronger under the burdens of life, and derived assurance of the Divine guidance and blessing-remembering what God has said, "Call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will answer thee; and thou shalt glorify me.' Thus prepared, we have in comparative quiet passed on in the journey of life; our anchor has been cast on safe ground, and if our bark has sometimes rocked, as storms will sometimes blow and waves rise, our anchor has not dragged, nor our vessel been submerged. In the course of years, sons and daughters were born to us. These events added new incentives to call upon God, and invested the privilege with new and increasing interest. The little dependent beings, who could sustain them? who safely conduct them through the perils and infirmities of childhood? We felt that God alone in his wise providence could do this. And as we had the daily conviction that they were immortal beings, and confided to our care, we felt the need of Divine wisdom and in