Popery in France, 157. Popery and Freedom, 247. Popish Missions, 32. Popish Finances, 62. Popish Cathedral Service, Impressions of, 327. Pope, Portrait of the, 287. Prayer, the Hour and Power of, 56. Prayer, The, was Too Long, 348. Preaching, What is faithful? 154. Prophetic Interpretation, Hints on, 141. Protestant Campaign of last Session, 257. Railways, 229. Ragged Schools in Germany, 357. R Romish Breviary and its Lying Legends, 36. Achilli's Dealings with the Inquisition, 75. Anderson's Ladies of the Covenant, 110. Arnot's Race for Riches, 245. Baillie's Life of Hewitson, 263. Bell's Remains, 79. Birk's Life of Bickersteith, 334. Brougham's Men of Letters, 139. Davidson's Introduction to New Testament, Vol. iii., 361. Delta's Poets of Last Century, 239. Fairbairn on Ezekiel, 240. Fleming's Temperature of the Seasons, 149. Hanna's Memoirs of Chalmers, Vol. iii., 289. Hutchinson's Home Evangelization, 116. Irving's "Last Days," 87. Keith's Isaiah, 86. Keith's Harmony of Prophecy, 89. Lectures to Young Men, 208. Poems by a Minister's Daughter, 265. Ruskin's Stones and Sheepfolds, 196. Thomson's Facts from Rome, 195. Tweedie on Jonah, 22. Walford's Autobiography, 135. Wordsworth's Memoirs, 176. Wood on the Last Things, 112. THE FREE CHURCH MAGAZINE. THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF 1851. We never felt a more intense admiration for the Free Church of Scotland, than when we sat for eleven days in May and June, witnessing its spirit and beholding its order. It was, no doubt, a more exciting spectacle when the Free General Assembly met in Canonmills Hall for the first time, and when each of its assembled ministers calmly subscribed himself as one of those who had no portion but the gospel of the grace of God, and no resting-place but the right arm of the King of Zion-and we look back with astonishment akin to awe, to that grand and stirring deed. Withal, however, when we look at the church's duties in detail, and remember why her Head in glory appointed her on the earth, we are not sure that we would not place our late Assembly somewhere side by side with that of the Disruption. There was less of glare and excitement, but there was much that tended to consolidate to "stablish, strengthen, and settle" the church. There was less of the spirit of the Exodus, when the Hebrew myriads escaped like a bird from, the snare of the fowler-but there was more of the spirit of those days in which the temple was built, when David had reason to exclaim, "Who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? For all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee?" The last clause of the quotation answers the question in the first; and we were reminded of that again and again amid the activities, the earnestness, and the practical businesslike proceedings of the late Assembly. Let us glance at some of its most outstanding acts. And first, we observe, it was a token for good that arrangements were made to consecrate a large portion of the time of the Assembly, directly to the important work of confession, petition, and thanksgiving. It is so clear that it flashes on the mind without effort or thought, that where so much has been done for the church, far more than has yet been accomplished by her should have been done for her Lord. To speak first of the grosser portion of her doings, amid all the millions that have been given to advance the church's objects at home and abroad, we apprehend that it would be a misnomer to call any large amount of it a sacrifice. Our ministers, in many places, have made sacrifices. They have snapt asunder some of the dearest ties that can link men to the things which are seen and temporal. They have sacrificed substance, health, and in some cases, life itself, for the cause of God, and spiritual freedom; but we are inclined to think that that spirit has neither been widely nor deeply spread. No. XCI. We believe that we know the condition of the Free Church tolerably well, and are somewhat familiar with its people-north, south, east, and west-yet we are acquainted with few among them who have made what could honestly be called sacrifices in the cause of Christ. They give of their substance, but how few have given aught but what they could spare without missing it? It limited no enjoyment-it led to no privation, so that it never entered the domain of sacrifice at all. Let our readers sum up, if they can, all that they have given directly to the cause of Christ in connection with the Free Church of Scotland during the past eight years, and a large majority may well be astonished at the pittance-like character of the whole. There are, no doubt, some noble exceptions, but after all, in many cases, only the small dust in the balance has been given. Subtract, as we ought to do, what has been given to build churches for ourselves, or schools for ourselves, or sustain ministers for ourselves, and it will appear that our gifts to the cause of Christ are not so large as many suppose. Besides, to speak of gifts to Him who is the sovereign proprietor of all, and who says "occupy till I come," is obviously to act on a fallacy which lies at the root of many of our opinions and practices. And as regards the real work of the church, the winning of souls to her Head, we have also much to deplore. We are not of the number of those who wail over the past as if no good had been done-no blessings imparted-no grace of the Spirit shed down. But conceding that not a few souls have been turned unto God, that others have been quickened, and others helped on their way to glory, we still have great reason to sigh and to cry over the dreariness and desolation of our Zion. How many within our borders have reason after all to exclaim, "The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and I am not saved ?” "My leanness, my leanness!" might well be their cry. The Assembly, therefore, did right to humble itself before the Most High, on a retrospect of all these things. It was well to fill men's minds with the conviction that he that goeth forth bearing precious seed, should return bringing his sheaves with him,-and that with the design of glorifying God for the sheaves which have been gathered, as well as to mourn over those which come to nought, or contain only chaff and straw fit only to be consumed. And it seemed as if a right note were struck, on the day set apart for humiliation and for seeking God. We need scarcely scruple to ascribe the general tone and spirit of the Assembly to the doings of that day, blessed and owned by Him with whom is the residue of the Spirit. It was an appropriate close to the doings of Tuesday JULY 1851. the 27th of May, to see our assembled presbyters addressing themselves with such earnestness to consider the duties of the ministry-the church's obligations to the young, to the heathen, and especially what is incumbent upon her, to secure, as far as human means can do so, a converted ministry for the Free Church of Scotland. Next to the Word of God, and the presence of the Spirit of Life, such a ministry is essential to the church's wellbeing. The very difficulties which lie in the way of a right discharge of the duty devolving on our presbyteries in this respect, may prevent it from being done, and a cold unspiritual ministry may thus grow up to crush rather than invigorate the life of the church. On this vital subject, however, we trust that the attention of our presbyteries will continue to be concentrated. Only two overtures, we think, came up regarding it to the late Assembly; but the time has fully come when a living church should take the wisest measures that can be devised for perpetuating the life that is in it; and making sure that no man shall enter one of our pulpits, to tell of a Saviour, whom he does not know, of a pardon which he has not received, of a Spirit whom he is hourly quenching, and a heaven for which he is not preparing. These are the blind leaders of the blind, and that blindness leads only to death. We cannot speak too strongly upon this subject, and may return to it on a future occasion, impressed as we are with its solemnity and importance. We might dwell, moreover, on the catholic aspect of our late Assembly, and tell how it held out the right hand of fellowship to the Presbyterian Churches in England and Ireland-to the Free Church in France and to the brethren from Belgium, representing not a few just escaped from Popery and its bondage. Such fellowship we regard as one indubitable mark of the church's vitality. No spirit is more thoroughly opposed to the mind of Christ than a sectarian and a bigoted one; and the church which wraps itself up in its exclusiveness, is putting on the fatal shirt of Deianira-she will infallibly be consumed by her own deliberate act. The Church of England, for example, by one of her bishops, has shut out Merle D'Aubigné from her pulpits, because, in her eyes, he is only a layman. The Scottish Establishment has insulated itself from the whole Church of Christ by a similar suicidal deed; and such acts should serve as beacons to those who would adopt and be guided by the divine idea of one church for the world-the church of which Christ is the living Head, and all who love him in sincerity and truth the members. Of all that relates to the wellbeing of the Free Church in its external arrangements, nothing that was done by the late Assembly appeared to us to be sounder or more judicious than the measures which it adopted regarding the Sustentation Fund. It appears that some fifty or sixty of the most intelligent and large-hearted of the contributors to that fund throughout the kingdom had memorialized the Assembly, to the effect that the principle of distribution which is at present acted upon is not sound; and that, tried by all the rules which should regulate such matters, they could not form any opinion but that it was hopeless to expect to realize a minimum stipend of £150 to each of our ministers while the present mode of distribution is continued. They suggested various alterations; and the Assembly, without actually adopting any of these, but approving generally of the suggestions, remitted the memorial to the Sustentation Committee, with instructions to prepare some proposals on the subject, to be submitted to the Commission in November. Now, we confess our surprise to be, not that the Assembly should have so far countenanced such a proposal, but that it should have been so tardy in doing so. The writer has always ranked among the very few who never thought that the principle of an absolutely equal division of the central fund, in every case, would answer the great purposes either of its illustrious founder or af the church at large. It is well known that he went to his grave with the conviction that the church committed an error in seeming to stereotype the equal dividend to every minister in all circumstances and conditions; and we have always held that he, being dead, yet speaks upon that topic. The practical sagacity of Dr Chalmers, which many of us are only now beginning to defer to or understand, clearly detected, and often exposed, the fallacy that lurks in a system which has nothing but a fair show to recommend it. He constantly pled for the enlisting of all possible principles, and all possible motives of a right kind, to draw forth the people's liberality to the cen tral fund; and saw, with much regret, that the church was narrowing instead of extending these motives. She was developing selfishness, as he believed, and shielding the sordid, instead of drawing forth, not equal contributions indeed, but equal erertions on the part of all; and we cannot but hail it as a token for good to the Free Church, that it has now addressed itself in earnest to the consideration of this matter in a large and comprehensive spirit. Any crude theorizing we would deplore. Any fanciful or speculative, or abrupt and sudden change, any crotchet or nostrum, we would deprecate or scout. But let the whole matter be looked at in the light of the past eight years' experience. Let every proper fence be planted around our principles on the one hand, and our ministers on the other, to save them from the influence of Voluntaryism. But, with all that, let the flocks of the Free Church practically learn, that while the rich are to help the weak, the weak are to do their duty, and then the dividend will rise where it should rise-it will fall wherever men do not value a gifted as well as a gracious ministry. That a congregation of a thousand people should contribute no more than one of three or four huadred, where the circumstances of the contributors as to station, means, and privileges are alike, is a state of matters which demands revision. We are far from hinting that the gospel should be withdrawn from any district merely because it is poor-to act on that idea for a day were to wither or palsy the church. But let some measure be devised which will necessitate every district to do its duty, if it would enjoy the ministrations of the church which it loves; and then two things, which are perfectly incompatible or antagonistic in the present system-we mean church extension, and the raising of our ministers' stipends will be harmoniously adjusted, and all conflicting interests easily reconciled. Along with this, we might advert to the measures adopted by the Assembly regarding our Home Mission, the Highlands, our Colleges, and general Education. All these subjects are kindred, and they might individually suggest important considerations. But at present we can only advert to what was done by the Assembly to devise measures for ameliorating the condition of the masses in our large towns. Glasgow alone contaius perhaps one hundred thou and Christian patriotism combine to press on the hearts and minds of all, as imperatively demanded for the saving of our country, as well as for the rescuing of souls from death. Considering who was moderator of the late As sand immortal beings who are living without God, and without hope in the world. Most of these are outlaws from Christian decency-they are the vampires of society-and constitute at once its stain and its plague. Now, how is this evil to be cured? How is that plague-spot or that moral ulcer to be healed?sembly-the most honoured, perhaps, of living misThat is, beyond all controversy, the question of questions for Britain at this hour; and he will be, in one sense, the deliverer of his country who solves it. Tyrtæus the schoolmaster saved his country, at a critical period of its history, by his orations and his war-songs; and what if a schoolmaster, though employing other means, should become his country's deliverer again? Whether or not that shall be the case, sure we are that there is only one way of accomplishing the mighty object to which the Free Church has now addressed itself. There is no secret, no novelty, no hidden charm or spell, by which the end can be gained. It is only by searching for the old paths, and standing in them, or only by the gospel of the grace of God, that the evil is to be remedied; and until that be brought to bear on the multitudinous aggregate of corrupt humanity in Glasgow and elsewhere, all will prove only like sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal. God's panacea will succeed he has poured and is pouring mockery on all besides. sionaries-it was not wonderful that a missionary spirit was somewhat prominent in its proceedings; and we are not sure that the church could do much more than it did in this matter-that is, recommend the formation of associations in all the congregations of the church, for supporting Foreign Missions, instead of depending, as heretofore, on the precarious supply of one annual collection. We have heard it said, that if the day appointed for that object happens to be inclement, it costs the scheme about £1000. In other words, more than a sixth part of the whole-or nearly the annual allowance to three of our Indian missionaries—is left contingent on the state of the weather on a given day. Manifestly these things ought not so to be; and we cannot doubt that, if the measures which Dr Duff so energetically and successfully carried out in the Synod of Perth, be carried out in the same spirit through the other synods of the church, the goodly spectacle will soon be seen of a church for the first time in the world's history-with the solitary but noble exception of the Moravians-doing its duty to heathendom. It is in this way that the church of Christ will be best watered and refreshed. "They shall prosper that love Jerusalem"-that encourages us to labour and to pray for the Jews. "Go unto all the world and preach the gospel to every creature"-that is our rule regarding the Gentiles; and in keeping that commandment-the Saviour's last-on which his promise to be with his church always is made to depend, there will be found a great reward. We know ministers who feel some difficulties in re There is no danger that the Free Church of Scotland will attempt the overmastering work by any other means. We own, however, that we see two sources of anxiety in connection with this gigantic undertaking:-First, There is a tendency to plant territorial churches-to start them with some noise, and self-complacent encomiums-and then leave the infant cause to struggle on its way to maturity if it can, burdened with a heavy debt, and, consequently, inefficient, or actually pining and weak. This must be remedied in our new projections, if we are to make head against those dense accumulations which threat-gard to the associations which are now to be formed. en anon to explode and spread moral devastation among our homes. Or, secondly, those charged with the care of these things may aim at too much all at once, and so accomplish less than they otherwise might achieve. We mean, that they may decline commencing their operations until they have secured some munificent sum which shall lend lustre and grandeur to the cause. Now, we say at once, the more of that the better; for where, if not here, is munificence required? But, in the mean time, we venture to suggest that section after section should be selected, and church after church should be reared as God gives ability, without waiting for the grand and the factitious. The mighty aggregate is to be overtaken in detail. If fifty new churches be needed for Glasgow alone, give us one to begin with. Let it be fairly equipped, and then let us proceed to another and another. Those which have been properly started will become helps and encouragements in the rearing of others; and, by this process, sustained and blessed by God, we are persuaded the work will be far more speedily accomplished than by adopting a brilliant programme, and declining the immediate or the utilitarian because we cannot compass the dazzling. Why should the Free Church of Scotland not resolve to build five churches annually for ten years? or, if that be romantic, three annually for twenty years, and so address herself to the work with the regularity of a system? We devoutly hope that the spirit of a sound mind may be imparted to those who are entrusted with the management of a scheme which common Agents may not be in readiness-they may act so as to conflict with other schemes; and that is possible. There may be congregations where none can be found to give themselves to this work. But should that state of things continue? Or the association may be so injudiciously planned as to interfere with other funds. But is that a necessary result? Look to Perthshire. There was no lack of agents there. There has been no collision in regard to other schemes. Ministers and laymen in that synod are alike satisfied that the plan is at once practicable and judicious. In short, all who have tried it are in favour of it-those who question and are in doubt are they who have never yet put forth their hand; but would they follow the noble example set by the churches in Perthshire, we cannot doubt that the Assembly of 1852 would see our Foreign Missions for the first time bulking as they should do before the mind of Scotland. In seeking to enrich others, the church would be enriched herself; for, if her measures were adopted in faith, the reflex influence of the missionary spirit would speed on again, as it has sped before, the revival of pure and undefiled religion at home. It was when we listened to the report of the Colonial Committee that our ideas of the church's power, her privilege and responsibility, rose to the highest point. In every land, from Canada North to the stations in the Pacific-from Sydney to Malta-from Northern India to Leghorn and Florence-the world is studded with the church's centres of influence for good among our expatriated countrymen, as well as the inhabitants of other lands; and, when we think of the good that is thus achieved, or the souls which are thus rescued from ruin, the value of this depart. ment of the church's labours cannot be easily estimated. We know that this scheme of the church has been regarded as less attractive than some of the rest, or not invested with the halo or the glare which surrounds some of the others. But viewed, we repeat, in its moral grandeur, and its practical bearings at once on time and eternity, the Colonial Scheme should stand among the foremost of the church's works of faith and labours of love. Though limited in its operations in comparison with the vast demands which are made on its resources, and the openings which are presented to its energies, it is unquestionably one of the noblest projections of our day. But, whatever may be the magnitude of those multifarious operations which the church carries on, there is one department which now claims, and must obtain, a larger share of her attention than ever. We refer to the towering evil of Popery-the system which is hateful and hating now, just as it was during the darkest ages of Christendom, and which will throw the nations back into darkness again, into the worship of Mary, the veneration of dead men's bones, the negation of God's truth, the enthroning of man's delusions-in short, all that can degrade and stupify the soul, wherever it has the power. It formed another cause of thankfulness regarding the Assembly that so much of its attention was given to this subject-and, most of all, that practical measures are proposed for meeting the enemy of men's souls and of God's truth. Popery has a propaganda at Rome-Protestantism should have one in Edinburgh. The Assembly has recommended that such an institute should be begun-that the efforts which are at present mainly local, should now become national; and we trust that this proposal will be responded to with a promptitude proportioned to the magnitude of the interests which are at stake. It is manifest that new commotions are coming upon the nations. The typhon of 1848 was only the precursor of more radical and sweeping ravages; and the church should be ready to profit by what must in providence come. The iron heel of despotism will not always crush the nations. The dark shadows of Romish superstition will not always hover over them. The rule of Jesuits and priests will not be perennial;-and the only method by which the church will be able to medicate the woes, or mitigate the calamities which are coming upon the blinded nations, will be by imparting the truth where openings occur. For these purposes, as well as to repel the aggressions of Romanism at home, the church needs men equipped and trained for the struggle with the monster evil of our day-the papal system; and it is one of the most encouraging symptoms of the reviving power of God's pure truth to witness the attention given, and the energies concentrated, to counteract the prevalence of a creed whose extension is founded on the extinction of the Word of God and the ruin of the souls of men. We are more and more convinced, that nothing but Presbyterianism, as an ecclesiastical system, can ever successfully cope with this colossal evil; and the church will be blessed if she buckle on her armour for this work. Such is a mere glance at some of the salient points in the late Assembly's proceedings. We have given | a mere outline, nor is more required, though we might have adverted to various other topics. The attention given to the hallowing of the Sabbath, and to Sabbath Schools, was a token for good, though much must still be done. The proposal to collect the Memorials of the Convocation of 1842; the issuing of a volume containing the subordinate Standards of the Church, with a Preface declaring "all the way by which the Lord has led us" since we became a church, and forming, in one point of view, a testimony, at least an historical identification, of our principles for centuries past, were much needed measures. But, passing from all these, we hasten to conclude, by remarking that all the energies, or the growing activities of the church will be fruitless-they will soon wither away, unless the tone of personal godliness be raised high and kept high at home. "Set thine own house in order," "Begin at Jerusalem" these are the divine mandates; let them be obeyed, and the church will prosper. We see no token yet of her collapse or coming feebleness-nay, she is still spreading out on the right hand and the left. She is sending forth her boughs to the sea, and her branches to the ends of the earth. But the mildew will comeparalysis will steal over this noble institution, unless godliness prevail within our borders. Bickersteth has said that he found it easier to command money than prayers for promoting God's cause; and without the latter, the former will be only reprobate silver. But when it can be said of the church, "Behold she prayeth"-when she carries all her schemes to the throne to have them consecrated by the Eternal's blessing, as they should be dedicated to the Eternal's glory, she will then be blessed and made a blessingblessed in the enjoyment of that favour which is life, and made a blessing in the imparting of that life to others. "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem," then, "they shall prosper that love thee. Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces. For my brethren and companions' sakes, I will now say, Peace be within you. Because of the house of the Lord our God I will seek thy good." "STONES" AND "SHEEPFOLDS.”* LET not our readers be disappointed. We inform them at once that, despite of our rather imposing title, we have not any new scheme of social or economical reform to propound or explain. Our friend Dr Begg need not tremble for his laurels. Our "stones" are not materials for the construction of model-cottages, nor are our "sheepfolds" exactly of the kind that are rising on Highland moors on the blackened sites of deserted hamlets. A glance at the foot of the page will show the direction in which our observations are likely to lead. In short, after a brief ramble, in company with a most gifted guide, among fretted stones and gothic arches, our readers will find us engaged with our old accustomed themes touching the "construction of sheepfolds" in the higher sense -church government, church discipline, church reform. Most of our readers are, of course, acquainted at least with the name of Mr Ruskin. Almost from the very first appearance of his earliest work-the "Modern Painters, by an Oxford graduate”—he may *The Stones of Venice-volume the first. The Foundations. By John Ruskin, author of "The Seven Lamps of Architecture," "Modern Painters,' &c., &c. &c. Notes on the Construction of Sheepfolds, by John Ruskin, &c... |