gregation may undertake to pay, should be remitted annually to the treasurer in the month of October. "4th, That in order to meet the claims on the Synod for annuities and grants to aged and infirm ministers, unless other means can be devised, a new fund should be opened, to be maintained by collections (each congregation being invited to contribute for it at least once in the two years), and also by individual donations from the benevolent members of the church. "5th, That exigencies arising in individual congregations, when they cannot be supplied either from the Home Fund, or from the Debt Liquidating Fund, should be left to be provided for by the Synod or by Presbyteries, as circumstances may in each case seem to require. The committee, in conclusion, recommended a scale of payments. The recommendations of the committee were approved of, and Presbyteries were instructed to report their diligence to the committee by the 1st of February at latest. CONGREGATIONAL TITLES. Dr. congregations had sent in their titles to Mr. Peddie reported that only 200 be revised by the committee. Struthers called the attention of Synod very particularly to those clauses in the for the constitution of churches, which model which the Synod had published placed the property of congregations on two papers which he had published on a very insecure basis; and referred to this subject, in the Christian Journal for the months of March and April last. of Synod, or incurred in carrying on its business by committees, &c.; and the other, the annuities and grants to aged and infirm ministers, and occasional votes to congregations struggling under peculiar difficulties. This last class, the committee conceive, ought to be left dependent on the supply afforded by the purely voluntary contributions of the churches able to do so, unless, in reference to annuities and grants, a scheme shall be devised for relieving the Synod of all such claims; while the former class of objects, being, from their very nature, necessary for the purposes of the associa tion, ought to be fairly distributed over, and borne by the congregations, in proportion to their strength and ability. At present there is an annual expenditure connected with the fund of near £1700, while the collection averaged only £1200 or £1300. Either, then, the annual collection must be very considerably augmented, or some new means of supporting the fund must be devised. If the Synod's fund, then, were relieved of the demands upon it for the second class of objects, and limited to the first class, these would be amply provided for by an annual fund of about £1400 or £1450, allowing a surplus for extinguishing the existing debt and meeting contingencies. The committee, taking all these considerations into view, proposed: "1st, That the fund be relieved of the second class of distributions, amounting at present to above £360, and be confined to the first class, composed of objects in behalf of which an appeal can be made to the sense of equity of our churches. "2d, That the Synod should specify a scale of contribution, which they consider generally applicable, and necessary to raise the requisite amount, according to which they should enjoin Presbyteries to deal persuasively with the congregations under their inspection, and report their diligence, specifying the sum each congregation has agreed annually to contribute. "3d, That the sum which each con tion to congregations to send in their The Synod renewed their recommendatitles to the committee. CLOSE OF THE SYNOD. A short time after midnight on Friday, the business of the Synod was brought to a close. The Moderator having addressed the Synod, and offered up prayer, the Synod was dismissed, to meet again in Edinburgh on the first Monday of May, 1855. VOL. V.-No. 55, N.S. JULY, 1854 Poetry. LIFE IN DEATH. Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit" (John xii. 24). O'ER the furrowed field in spring-time Sweat of sorrows mixed with dust. Think you vernal showers or sunshine Shall restore that buried grain? Yes, it shall renew its verdure, Tender as a new born child, Soon shall earth's white breast expanding Garlands for the gladsome year. Thus it is with man, the marvel, Left alone to-day in sorrow, Like the Christ, the crown to win. As a corn of wheat that falleth Full fruit at her second birth: Which the Lord has sanctified. Pines in grief and droops in wo?; When the soul is dark and dreary, And with life's big burden weary, To the cross of Jesus go.. Thus from earth's cold, cheerless graveyard, The language of flowers is the language of FACTS. What does the richlycoloured fuchsia suggest to the wellinformed and meditative mind? It suggests a wide and richly cultivated plain, a shining lake, in the centre of which there arose a magnificent city crowded with palaces. The chambers of these palaces were tapestried with a rich mosaic of bright-hued feathers, and ceiled with plates of precious metal. Their gardens surpassed the choicest horticultural exhibitions of modern Europe. Their libraries were filled with rolls of cotton painted with no mean skill, which served the Mexican students as books, in which they might read the chronicles of their country, the songs of their poets, and the researches of their savans. At length the measure of the iniquity of the Mexicans was full. And what is Mexico now? Far in the depths of untrodden forests, or in the midst of unhealthy plains, stand the ruins of vast and richly-sculptured temples-ruins half hidden by the luxuriance of tropical vegetation, inhabited by bats and reptiles; and amid those ruins the FUCHSIA Springs, and its drooping flowers of sanguine hue assimilate well with the locality. THE PASSION-FLOWER. THIS flower is now in full blow, and forms, with its spreading, branching, dark leaves, a beautiful creeper for the covering of a wall or trellis having a southern aspect. In the wild woods of America it is often found climbing to the topmost sprays of the tallest trees, and adorning their branches with its flowery garlands. It is related of the Spaniards, when they first saw it in America, that they imagined its several parts had reference to the crucifixion of our Lord, and was a promise of the future conversion of the inhabitants to Christianity. Its five anthers seemed to them to represent the five wounds of our Saviour; its triple style, the three nails by which he was fastened to the cross, and its ray-like petals, the glory which, in many old paintings, surrounds his head. The rose-coloured passion-flower, which grows wild in Virginia, is the species which was first cultivated in this country. THE SLEEP OF PLANTS. CERTAIN flowers are observed to open and close their petals at particular hours. This circumstance, or rather the general fact of the periodical sleep of plants, was first discovered by Linnæus. This eminent and beautiful flowering plant, and had botanist had been presented with a rare occasion one night to visit it in his green-house, accompanied by his gardener, who carried a lantern. On the light being directed towards the plant, it showed no blossom. The blossom had disappeared. On the following morning it was again apparent. At night it had a second time disappeared ; and on the next morning it once more spread its petals before the astonished lieved his master to be deceived. The eyes of Linnæus. The gardener beblossoms, in his opinion, withered each night, and fresh ones opened on the succeeding morning; and this opinion would probably have been received as well-founded, and established accordingly, had not Linnæus been a more diligent observer than his gardener. He was not satisfied with the hasty assumption of the gardener. He visited the greenhouse on the third evening, and finding the blossom invisible as before, examined the plant carefully, and detected the flower folded up and asleep under its leaves. Deeming it unlikely that such a phenomenon should occur only in a single instance, he persevered in his observations, and the curious fact of the regular sleep and awakening of plants was established. THE SONG OF THE RED-BREAST. OUR birds of song are silent during the month of July. The red-breast is an exception. He sings throughout the year, and though his notes are not remarkable for sweetness, he possesses an extraordinary capacity for profiting by musical instruction. A gentleman who had devoted much attention to singingbirds, has given the following account of a visit which he paid to a brother amateur " "I was ushered into the drawingroom, and saw two cages-nightingale cages, suspended on the wall. One of them, with a nightingale in it, had an open front; the other had a green curtain drawn over the front, concealing the inmate. After a little discourse on the subject of ornithology, my host asked me if I would like to hear one of his nightingales sing. Of course I was all expectation. Placing me beneath the cage, and drawing up the curtain before alluded to, the bird, at a whistle from his master, broke out into a succession of strains that I never heard surpassed by any nightingale. What a nightingale!' I ejaculated. The rapid utterance of the bird, his perfect abandon to the inspiration of his muse, and his indifference to all around him, caused me involuntarily to exclaim-That strain again!' I stood rivetted to the spot, knowing how seldom in a cage nightingales so deported themselves. After listening some time, and expressing my astonishment at the long-repeated efforts of the performer-so unusual-I asked to be allowed a sight of him. Permission was granted, the curtain was raised, and I saw before me a robin! This bird had been brought up under the nightingale from his very earliest infancy, and not only equalled, but far surpassed his master in song. In this case, the robin retained not one single note of his own whereby the finest ear could detect him." "BRITISH VICTORIES. THE FIRST DAY OF JULY commemorates two victories which continue to be honourably mentioned in the annals of British valour. They stand, however, apart from each other, at the distance of more than a century. The first of them is the BATTLE OF THE BOYNE, fought in 1690, which annihilated the interests of James II., and rendered the cause of the English revolution triumphant. The last hope of James lay with the Roman Catholics of Ireland, and landing in Ireland with a body of French troops, he was able to muster an army of 27,000. The army under William III. amounted to 30,000. The conflict took place on the banks of the Boyne, a celebrated river in the province of Leinster, which falls into the sea at Drogheda. The action extended from the immediate vicinity of Drogheda on the east, to the bridge of Slane in the west, a distance of seven miles; but it was principally fought at Oldbridge and the hill of Dunore, about two and a-half miles west of Drogheda, where the spot is marked by an obelisk 150 feet in height. James stood aloof during the action, and ignominiously abandoning his followers when defeat was apparent, immediately embarked for France. The second conflict which this day commemorates is the BATTLE OF THE NILE, which was fought in 1798, under Admiral Nelson. The expedition of Bonaparte to Egypt was altogether unknown in England at the time of his sailing from Toulon. Availing himself of a favourable change in the wind, he succeeded in evading the English fleet, disembarking his troops at Alexandria, and overrunning the country. But Nelson having gone in quest of him, came up to him in the Bay of Aboukir, with a fleet of fourteen sail of the line. The action commenced towards sunset, and was continued without cessation all night. It is probably the most dreadful carnage on record, as the slaughter was at the rate of five hundred human beings an hour! After the battle the island of Aboukir became a great charnel-house, where our sailors raised rude mounds of sand over the heaps of dead. The design of Bonaparte was obviously to destroy our Anglo-Indian empire, but by the victory which our navy gained at the Nile, the naval power of France in the Mediterranean was a second time annihilated. Nelson was created a peer, as a national acknowledgment of his triumph. THE STARTING POINT IN MAHOMETAN CHRONOLOST. "A PROPHET has no honour in his own country." Mahomet claimed to be the prophet of God; and realized the truth of the proverb in his own experience, almost from the outset of his grand career of imposture. During the first three years he made only fourteen proselytes. In the fourth year he assumed the prophetic office at Mecca, and having convened an assembly, addressed them thus:-"Friends and kinsmen, I offer you, and I alone can offer, the most precious gifts, the treasures of this world, and of the world to come." But within the walls of Mecca the progress of his cause was slow and painful. He had assailed the faith in which they had been trained, and they scorned to acknowledge the high authority to which he laid claim. The peace of Mecca was disturbed, and the life of Mahomet in danger. For days he and a friend who accompanied him were hid in a cave, where they were secretly fed, and had intelli The Family LIVING WITHOUT RELIGION AND LIVING WITH IT. In one of the rural districts of Wales, in a little white cottage, with a green mountain behind and a bushy lane in front, there lived a respectable farmlabourer and his wife. They were not without some respect for religion, but they were strangers to the peace and joy of believing. Of eternity they seldom thought; and when some solemn providence forced it upon their consideration, they comforted themselves with the belief, that inasmuch as they went to church every Sabbath, and lived soberly and morally, they had nothing to fear from a God of love and mercy. But one day, as they sat together under the faithful preaching of the gospel, the wife was awakened to a sense of her awful wickedness before a holy God. It seemed to her as though the minister saw into her very heart, and brought all her sins to light. She trembled and She trembled and wept bitterly; she cried unto God, and he heard her. Through the great atonement, she at length found the peace of God which passeth all understanding. The husband did not oppose the religion of his wife. He quietly accom gence of the designs of their enemies. Every haunt in the neighbourhood was explored; the entrance of the cavern was examined, but a spider's web and a pigeon's nest having been observed there, the thirsters for blood concluded that the place was solitary. No sooner had their pursuers retired, than Mahomet and his companion fled to Medina. They were, however, overtaken; but redeemed themselves from death by prayers and promises. At that eventful moment the point of an Arab lance might have changed the history of the world. The flight from Mecca was on the SIXTEENTH DAY OF JULY, 662, and has fixed the memorable era of the Hejira, which, after the lapse of nearly twelve centuries, continues to be the epoch from which the Mahometans continue to compute time. Monitor. panied her to the chapel where she had received her first religious impressions. He offered no objections when she publicly united with the Dissenters. But he still continued a stranger to true godliness. The pious wife watched, and wept, and prayed over him. One new year's day she went into her closet, and there resolved that she would devote a portion of every day of that year to special prayer for her husband's conversion. With vehement solicitude she besought the Lord. But months passed away, and still the man's heart was not softened; he was still the same kind and sober, but prayerless and godless_man that he had ever been. The last day of the year closed over them, and the wife's prayers were unanswered. On the morning of the new year's day, the wife again resolved to set apart a portion of each day for special prayer for her husband, during the next six months. And daily her fervent prayers were offered, that the grace of God might melt that heart of adamant. The morning of the last day of that half year and the husband dawned upon them; went out to his daily toil still Christless, |