that there is something in the state of the world that cannot be accounted for except that it is God's doing. And with regard to the prospects which this revolution opens for our operations in France, look upon our English work there as not a matter to be taken into account at all; because, if the English, who were there and heard the gospel from our English brethren there, are now in England, they will hear the gospel here; so that that matter need not be weighed as affecting the general interests of the kingdom of Christ. Yesterday, I preached the gospel in London to several people to whom I was in the habit of preaching it in Paris and Boulogne, and so far as the state of souls is concerned, I suppose the mere locality does not affect their edification. But, however, the work of God, as conducted by us and other evangelical Christians in France, has, it is true, in passing through the revolution, had to encounter some danger. First, there was the danger of a complete anarchy. Had that occurred, it is very certain that the violent party would have been exceedingly liberal to the gospel, as long as the gospel did not interfere with them; but it is equally certain, they would have been as despotic to the gospel as they endeavoured to be to the electors of France. They would have put down the gospel, or anything that interfered with their own despotism, without the slightest hesitation. However, there was no time when the probability of anarchy was equal to the probability that anarchy would not arrive, that is to say, of a permanent anarchy. There was no time when I feared anarchy greatly, although for a considerable time, I was compelled to admit its probability. But since that Monday in London, following the prayers of a Christian Sabbath, when the benefits of the holy Sabbath, and the sanctuary services, and the prayers of that Sabbath, came down and shed their peace upon this land-the ray that shed joy and gladness through England gave strength and refreshing to every friend of order throughout all France. And I know it to be a fact, that a French lady and a Roman Catholic, when reading the exaggerated and alarming, and in some respects amusing, reports of what was to occur in England, when the Queen was to go to Germany, and many other terrible things were to occur, said to her servants, We must all pray for England; for if England be overturned, what is to become of the world!" And while I believe that England had, on that day, the prayers and sympathy of every friend of order and of happiness in France that is, the prayers of such of them as do pray (and would to God they were more than they are)-I believe also that the benefits of that day nerved the minds of the French people, unconsciously to themselves. The benefit was immense. They saw that anarchy was not so strong among themselves as order. I believe there is scarcely a man in France who thinks that anarchy is at all possible. The reign of order appears now to be complete. That there may be a collision is not impossible: that there may be a protracted struggle, is barely possible: but my own impression is, that there will not be even a grave struggle, that the friends of order will not be enabled to establish order, and that the liberties of the country are secure. Another danger was from the prevalence of Communist doctrines. We might have supposed that nearly the entire French people would now begin to look upon the gospel, as the violent Republicans looked upon our constitutional monarchy-as a very good thing for men in their boyhood, but utterly unfit for the government of men in their full maturity. And if we had regarded the speeches of a few persons, the words of a few noisy individuals, we might have supposed these sentiments had taken possession of France. But Providence has recently shown that the Communist doctrines are not generally accepted; that the Communist tide of feeling is not very generally prevalent; and my decided opinion is this, that a vast majority of the French people are, at this moment, convinced that a nation without a religion is an impossibility-they are convinced that, on the main. Christianity is a religion divine; but they look upon Christianity as it existed in France, as a thing rich in abuse and in absurdities. Many of them have not yet learned how to separate Christianity from these abuses and absurdities. Very many of them are unaware, that Christianity in itself does not imply either the one or the other. But even those who have their eyes open to these abuses and absurdities, are content, rather than abandon the country to Infidelity, which they believe would be its greatest woe, still to retain that Christianity which they see, with all its absurdities and all its abuses; and I believe, never since the days of the Huguenots, was the public mind in France so near the truth as it is at this very day. This is my conviction.

Papists deal with truth and miracles, has an exemHow Papists get up Miracles.-The way in which plification in a letter written from Boston to Europe, and published in the "Annals of the Propagation of the Faith." The letter is signed by the Very Rev. Dr Brasseur de Bourbourg, Vicar-General of Boston. The published by mistake, as the writer cannot have been New England Puritan says, that it must have been so stultified as to suppose that he could meet it before the Boston public without an exposure. The letter is long, and we can afford room only for one extract, respecting the burning of the Charlestown convent; which, he says, was done by the "Puritan populace, led on by some fanatical ministers."

In the middle of the tumult one of the fanatics had ascended on the altar. I mention it with horror-with sacri

legious hand he seized the holy cibarium, [the vessel containing the conscrated wafers, supposed by the Papists to be the real body of Christ,] emptied the precious particles into his pocket, and, swelled with the satanic pride of Calvin, he went to an inn in Charlestown. Surrounded by a throng who were eagerly listening to his sacrilegious exploits, narrated in the presence of an Irish Catholic, who listened with profound awe-the fanatic recognised the Irishman. Suddenly he drew from his pocket several hosts, and in a sneering tone, "Here," said he, exhibiting them, behold your god; what need you go any more to seek him in the church" The Irishman was mute with horror. The sacrilegious man then went out. But a quarter of an hour-a half an hour elapsed -he returned not. A vague fear seized on the bystanders; by a presentiment which they could not account for, they go out after him. The sacrilegious man lay dead-dead by the death of Arius!

6

I cannot state to you, reverend gentlemen, the unutterable sentiment of terror which then seized upon this troop of Protestants. The Irishman soon rushed forward in his turn, and admiring in his heart, the works of Divine justice which so promptly smote the guilty, he cut the pocket containing the sacred particles, and leaving the other spectators weighed down by the panic which had, as it were, chained them round the tainted corpse, he ran to the cathedral, where he tremblingly consigned to the bishop the august deposit which he had just secured possession of.

This extraordinary fact, which forms so striking an episode in the history of the burnt convent, has been related to me by several ocular witnesses, some of whom were Protestants at this epoch, and are since become Catholics; besides, it is known to the whole then existing population of Charlestown and Boston, as well as several other no less interesting facts of that epoch, so little known in Europe."

The whole story, it would appear, is a sheer invention. No one having ever heard of such an oc

currence.

Notes to Readers and Correspondents.

The Lines by L are not suitable.

We are obliged by F.'s attention, and will make use of his material in our next No.

NEWINGTON FREE CHURCH.-Our readers will find on our cover an advertisement relative to a Sale and Exhibition in aid of the building fund of Newington Free Church. May we crave their attention to it? The movement on the part of Dr Begg and his congregation is a most important one, and will, we hope, be so entirely successful that others of our poorer congregations will be encouraged to bestir themselves, and secure the erection of comfortable, creditable churches. The Exhibition must be full of the deepest interest to every Scottish Presbyterian. The Covenants and battle flags which are to be seen, form a considerable proportion of the few material memorials which remain to us from the days of our Covenanting forefathers, and will, we have no doubt, attract the attendance of multitudes.

Printed and Published, by JoHN JOHNSTONE,[15]Princes Street, Edinburgh; and 26 |Paternoster Row, London, And sold by the Booksellers throughout the kingdom.j

instance, or the supply of their own spiritual wants, in addition to such grants as they may receive from the Home Mission Committee: That each station shall be hereafter allowed to choose its own agent, under the direction and control of the presbytery of the bounds; and that with a view to this, a register shall be kept at Edinburgh by the Home Mission Committee, of the names and addresses of all available preachers and catechists, that a copy of this register shall be sent to every presbytery, and that the Committee shall facilitate in every possible way the arrangements which the local parties may wish to make. The local parties shall also fix the annual salaries of preachers and catechists when regularly employed in stations: That in regard to occasional supplies of sermon, a rate of payment shall be fixed by the Home Mission Committee, according to which all preachers shall be paid by congregations receiving their services, and presbyteries shall see that this regulation is understood and enforced in behalf of preachers."

Certain changes have also been introduced in regard to the Foreign Missions, by which part of their operations in Africa is hereafter to be transferred to the Colonial Committee. The Continental Committee is also to be united to the Colonial, and thus greater unity will be secured for this part of our Church's missionary business.

In regard to the permanent management of our Schemes, the deliberations of the large committee appointed by the Assembly are not yet terminated. But certain important ideas have been suggested, and generally acquiesced in. It seems sufficiently clear that all the ordinary business of the Church should be transacted in one office; that all the documents and papers of the Church should be kept there; that the practice of employing men out of doors, whose whole time is not at the disposal of the Church, should be discontinued, and the whole business concentrated into one focus. This being determined, there are a few general heads under which all the existing or possible business of the Church could easily be ranged. The whole money now passes through the hand of one treasurer, whose department is of course sufficiently distinct.

The management

of the Sustentation Fund is another sufficiently distinct section. All education, including colleges, schools,. and normal schools, would form a third department. And the whole other business of the Church might be ranked under two heads :-first, a Foreign department, including the Foreign Missions, and Jewish, Colonial, and Continental Schemes; and second, a Home department, including the Home Mission, Church Building Fund, Manse Building Fund, Sabbath Committee, Temperance Committee, Popery Committee, &c. Thus under fire heads, with an able man presiding over each department, the business of the Church, which is now nearly as great as that of many a petty kingdom, might not only be managed, but managed with an energy and unity to which we have not yet attained.

Each of the departments to which we have referred will give ample work to a first-rate man, and is worthy of one; and the whole affairs of the Church can thus be placed on a thoroughly satisfactory and business-like footing, for a smaller sum than is at present expended.

There are several of our Committees, in the meantime, that will require vigorous pecuniary aid from the friends of the Church. We may instance the Building Fund, to which one of the special collections this year (and we hope for several years to come) is to be devoted. Our work of church building is not much more than half accomplished, especially in cities,

and the funds of our Committee are more than exhausted. Many churches are at a stand for want of the usual grant; whilst, if sites are obtained, and if the quoad sacra churches are taken from us, a vastly increased demand for money to build churches will immediately be made. And it is worse than foolish, it will be criminal, on the part of the Church, to allow a fund to languish, upon which the future success of every other may be said in one sense to depend. The same thing is true in regard to the College and Education Funds. They both stand in need of the fostering care of the Church; and it would be most important, could we, by a united and sustained effort, rescue them at once from all difficulty. An attempt must be made, besides, to secure the endowment of our College and Normal Schools, by means of legacies.

Let us now glance briefly at the only two subjects of debate which engaged the attention of the Assembly, viz., the College question, and the arrangements of the Sustentation Fund. The latter subject, indeed, cannot be said to have seriously divided the mind of the Church. The new plan proposed was the crotchet of a very few, and the vote taken (thanks to Mr Crichton and others) proved it to be confined in the Assembly to four delegates from the same famous Presbytery of Selkirk. It is well that the " new views" have been so thoroughly extinguished. We believe them to be both unsound and dangerous. It is an entire mistake to imagine that the Church courts have any legislative authority in regard to the destination of the money of the people. The people themselves must and will settle the matter in their own way; and any attempt to compel them to do otherwise will end, and should end, in overthrow and confusion. The Church courts should enlighten the judgments of the people, and thus endeavour to operate upon their wills; but beyond that they cannot go. The sooner that this is universally understood and proclaimed the better; for there is nothing more dangerous than the attempt to usurp a power never dreamt of being possessed even by the apostles, or by any existing Church of Christ. Besides, the attempt to put down supplements is an attempt to prevent the discharge of a positive Christian duty, viz., the duty of kindness to a man's own minister. "Let him that is taught in the word," says the apostle, communicate to him that teacheth in all good things." Nay," say some members of the Presbytery of Selkirk, "let those that are taught in the word be prohibited by act of Assembly from communicating to him that teacheth in any good thing." A subject was started, in the course of the conversation, which we think of great importance, viz., the position of congregations in the poorer districts of large cities. It is clear that to lay it down as a general rule that, in such districts, men must always receive a smaller stipend than the ministers of richer districts, is, in other words, to determine that the poorer districts shall always get the weakest ministers. This would, of course, be a ruinous result, and would, in a few years, go far to extinguish the Free Church in all the large towns. The poorer districts require, in truth, the most vigorous ministers, and men, moreover, who can not only live, but who have something to spare. How this is to be secured upon a far more extensive scale than at present, is a problem well worthy of the serious attention of the more intelligent friends of the Free Church. But meantime, a great evil at present is the extent to which city congregations are disposed to act on the opposite principle-by which

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vigorous men are being driven from the poorer congregations in large cities, whilst none are found to fill their places. The late discussions have tended to throw much light on this subject, and to illustrate at once the narrow short-sighted views which prevail in certain quarters. Perhaps, however, a better illustration could not be given of the probable effect upon the Church at large of adopting the Selkirk plan, than the case of Selkirk itself, the seat of the leader of the small movement in question, in regard to the Sustentation Fund. Selkirk, as most of our readers are aware, is a county town, with a Free church capable of containing about 700 people. It should, of course, be at least self-sustaining. The following, however, are the facts, as taken from the published reports of the Church :

order to this, certain things will require to be seriously attended to. Three elements are essential in making good ministers, viz., piety, talent, and learning; and two of these are Divine gifts, and only one human. The Divine gifts are, of course, not confined to any one locality. First, more care must be taken to secure that our divinity students be men of piety. Without good evidence of this, they should at once be rejected. Besides, efforts should be made to secure that they are men of vigour and talent. Without this, again, all piety and learning will not avail. These two points must first be aimed at, and after they are secured, let the utmost amount of learning be added. Now, by what plan are we likely to obtain the greatest amount of sanctified talent? By concentrating our education at Edinburgh, or by extending it to the university seats in different parts of Scotland? This

We ask the friends of the Church carefully to ponder the above statistics. It appears that Selkirk, so far from being self-sustaining, has cost the General Fund during the past five years no less a sum than £238, 16s. 5d. It appears that the idea of abjuring supplements is only recent. In 1845-6, the minister of Selkirk got £42, 10s. of a supplement, which was not a farthing too much, if the congregation had at the same time been self-sustaining; last year he got £20; and this year only, he gets nothing. But, mark the result. Whilst his local stipend is sinking in accordance with the newly adopted theory, is the General Fund rising in the same proportion? So far from that, the General Fund is sinking at the very same time; and this year, whilst £20 is kept off the minister, £10 more is kept off the General Fund. The congregation is not self-sustaining this year, by £52, 10s. 7d. If all our congregations had acted in the same way, there would have been a dead loss to the Church, to the extent of £10,000 upon the Sustentation Fund, and of the whole supplements to the bargain. This is precisely what might have been expected. It is far more easy for men to teach people to write pamphlets than to give money, and to hanker after the good things of their neighbours than to part with their own. It will be seen, that in proportion as the zeal of the people of Selkirk for controversy has kindled, their contributions have gradually

fallen off.

But we pass from this subject, which we regard as conclusively settled, in so far as the mind of the Church at large is concerned, to make a remark in regard to the College debate. Here the Church was, and we believe still is, decidedly divided in opinion. The matter is settled in the meantime, greatly on financial grounds; but certain important principles in connexion with it are still undecided. The chief question is, How shall we permanently supply the Free Church with zealous and able ministers? The question is not only how to train ministers, but also how to get them. It is plain that, in

and which Dr Cunningham's motion did not profess finally to decide. We have no intention at present of entering upon the consideration of it, but it is the question which circumstances will force again on the attention of the Assembly. We trust, however, that no controversy on the subject will be allowed to arise over the Church; that, in the meantime, the decision of the Assembly will be acquiesced in; and that our friends in the different college towns will manifest every possible forbearance in pressing their claims until the college at Edinburgh is properly equipped and firmly established.

WARDLAW AND DAVIDSON ON ECCLESIASTICAL POLITY.

THIRD ARTICLE.

THE OFFICERS OF THE CHURCH.

IN our last article on this subject, we took under our review "The Materials of a Christian Church," as Dr Wardlaw denominates the members of which the Church is composed. No part of the present controversy deserves more attention. A recent case which came before the late meeting of the General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland, affords striking evidence of the truth of this remark. In this case we see how a Presbyterian minister,* from having adopted ultra, or rather one-sided, views of the Christian Church, is led on, first into Independency, and thence, by no unnatural or illogical progression, into Anabaptism. We beg to say, that were we to adopt the views of our Independent brethren on the terms of Church membership, we could not stop short of the same conclusion. If genuine saintship, avowed by the individual, and ascertained by the Church, is necessary before one can be reckoned, in any sense, a member of Christ's Church, how can an infant be so reckoned? We confess ourselves utterly incapable of comprehending on what ground Independents can consistently plead for infant baptism. The fountain-error of the Baptists, from which the whole of their system may be traced by a regular series of sequences, is to be found in their ideal of the Church. Setting out with the assumption, the falsity of which

*Our readers will perceive we refer to the Rev. Mr Anderson late minister of the Free Church in Old Aberdeen.