masse to join in the proceedings. After be very soon commenced, a very suitable partaking of tea, provided in the manse by site having been purchased at a cost of the ladies, the people retired in relays to £110; £30 ready cash, and £80 retained the church; and so densely was it crowded on grouud rents redeemable at pleasure. that gallery, stairs, pulpit stairs, passages, Repeated reference was made, in the course and lobbies were completely choked. After of the evening, to the Union prayer-meetprayer the Rev. D. Fotheringham, the ings which have been held for many months minister, took the chair, and very able in this island; one on every Monday, from addresses were delivered by the Revs. James twelve noon to one, and another every Blythe, of Branton, James Anderson, of Mor- Friday evening from seven to eight, and peth, and Alex. Douglas, of Alnwick. On which were believed to be doing much good. the following day a juvenile tea-party was held, consisting of 150 school children, who did great justice to the treat of tea and cakes. The poor of the village had the remainder of the good things sent to them, so that they might also participate, to some extent, in the enjoyment connected with this great gathering.

GUERNSEY. We understand that the ladies of the Presbyterian Church here have presented their pastor, the Rev. P. R. Crole, with an elegant black silk pulpit gown and cassock, as a small mark of their affectionate esteem and regard for his faithful ministrations amongst them.

HORNCLIFFE. The school here was examined on the 8th inst. by a committee of the Presbytery of Berwick. Several of the managers and parents were present. The appearance of the pupils in every department was exceedingly creditable. Their religious knowledge, their knowledge of Scripture and other history, and the rapidity and correctness with which they wrought questions in arithmetic, were very remarkable — surprising, indeed, in the case of some. The progress made in all branches was most satisfactory. The school is an institution upon which, as at present conducted, all connected therewith may look with feelings of great pleasure. By his invaluable services, Mr. Tocher has entitled himself to the gratitude of the community.

PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF

VICTORIA.

ALDERNEY.-On Wednesday, 15th February, a social meeting of the civilian and military adherents and friends of the Presbyterian Church in Alderney was held in the Assembly Hall, when about 180 persons sat down to an excellent tea. Upwards of 120 of these were soldiers, with their wives and children. A considerable number of Christian friends belonging to other denominations were also present. Colonel Burrows, commanding officer of the Royal Artillery stationed in the island, was called to the A LETTER from the Rev. D. M'Donald, of chair. In an able speech, the chairman Emerald Hill, to the convener, contains the (who is a member of the Church of England) showed his intense desire for the following statement as to the progress of the spiritual well-being of soldiers, and bore United Church in Victoria ;— testimony to the good that was being effected among soldiers in this island. He also adverted to the devoted life on behalf of soldiers, and happy death, of the Rev. Carus Wilson. The meeting was then addressed by the Rev. Mr. Mitchell (Primitive Methodist); Serjeant Burnett, an elder of the congregation, who is doing important service in holding Bible-classes and prayer meetings among his companions in arms; and by the Rev. W. Wright, who remarked on all hands. We have already our eyes and that a spirit of earnestness was manifest hearts on four suburbs of Melbourne, if we among both civilians and military in his had the right men; and applications are congregation, and it was hoped that greater pouring in on us from the Bush.” proofs of spiritual blessing would yet be manifested. The prospects in regard to the new building were hopeful. During a recent visit to London, Mr. W. had secured subscriptions for upwards of £100, the greater part of which was paid; so that he was enabled to deposit £72 10s. in the Union Bank before leaving the City. The amount at present subscribed was about £320; and it was hoped that the new building would

"Our union is working admirably. We have had several meetings of the Presbytery of Melbourne since the consummation, and an onlooker would have thought that we had been in harness twenty years together. There is not as yet the least appearance of any attempt to retain the old distinctions, and fields of usefulness are opening up to us

REVIVALS AT WHITEHAVEN. THE work of God continues to progress favourably in the Market-place Presbyterian Church. The religious impression which

has been visible for some time past is deepening and spreading daily. The Lord is working in a marvellous manner; his Spirit is convincing sinners, and striving with the minds of the people in a way such as we have never witnessed before. Meetings for prayer and religious instruction have been held every evening for several weeks past, and during the last fortnight they have been addressed by Messrs. Lee and Kerr, two young men from Ireland; these meetings have been largely attended, and at the close of each service several persons under deep conviction remained for personal conversation and prayer. At the close of the morning service last Sabbath a number of persons seemed deeply impressed, one man went into the vestry weeping bitterly for past sins, and earnestly imploring mercy. In the evening there was a large attendance, the addresses were very solemn and impressive, a goodly number of anxious inquirers remained after the congregation was dismissed. On Monday night there was a large meeting, and many appeared to be under deep conviction. As Mr. Burns was pronouncing the Benediction a very solemn scene occurred two persons were "stricken" and were unable to leave the Church until a late hour. One found peace, but the other was taken home in great distress. The meetings continue to be held every evening at half-past seven o'clock. There is a blessed work going on among the Sabbath-school children also. Whitehaven Times.

are not quite so popular as Mr. Spurgeon, that our sermons seem to be addressed too exclusively to the educated few, and have too little relation to the business of everyday life. If it furnishes our critics any gratification to dwell upon these acknowledged deficiencies, we are not disposed to deprive them of their luxury. The age is yet distant, we fear, when we shall become a very popular or a very flourishing body."

The Rev. James Martineau, who is becoming too orthodox for his Unitarian friends, makes the following remarkable statement in a letter published by him some time ago. The experiment of a gospel without an atoning Saviour seems to have failed with him :-"I am constrained to say that neither my intellectual preference nor my moral admiration goes heartily with the Unitarian heroes, sects, or productions of any age. Ebionites, Arians, Socinians, all seem to me to contrast unfavourably with their opponents, and to exhibit a type of thought and character far less worthy, on the whole, of the true genius of Christianity. I am conscious that my deepest obligations, as a learner from others, are in almost every department to writers not of my own creed. In philosophy I have had to unlearn most that I had imbibed from my early text books, and the authors in chief favour with them. In Biblical interpretation, I derive from Calvin and Whitby the help that fails me in Crell and Belsham. In devotional literature and religious thought, I find nothing of ours that does dot pale before Augustine, Tauler, and Pascal. And in the poetry of the Church, it is the Latin or the German hymns, or the lines of Charles Wesley, or of Keble, that fasten on my memory and heart, and make all else seem poor and cold. I cannot help this. I can Ir is not very prosperous, and its friends only say I am sure it is no perversity; and try at times to account for it. The I believe the preference is founded in reaInquirer (Unitarian organ) makes the son and nature, and is already widely spread following candid acknowledgment in a amongst us. A man's Church' must be recent number:-" Whatever our other faults may be, we cannot be charged with blindness to our own deficiencies, or an indisposition to listen to even atrabilious self-criticism. None more ready than ourselves to lament that our liturgical services are not always impressive, that our worship is bare and frigid, that our chapels are not frequented by the poor, that our preachers fate."

UNITARIANISM IN ENGLAND.

the home of whatever he most deeply loves, trusts, admires, and reveres,—of whatever most divinely expresses the essential meaning of the Christian faith and life; and to be torn away from the great company I have named, and transferred to the ranks which command a far fainter allegiance, is an unnatural, and for me an inadmissible,

THE ENGLISH

PRESBYTERIAN MESSENGER.

THE FOREIGN MISSIONS OF THE AMERICAN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.

FOR the purposes of its Foreign Missions the American Presbyterian Church contributed, in 1858, the sum of £46,000, of which amount £3,622 was specially given towards re-establishing the missions of the Board in India, so grievously disorganised by the mutiny of the previous year. The losses for the stations of Agra, Mynpurie, Futtehgurh, Futtehpore, and Allahabad, amounted to £23,700, and of this sum, £1,300, raised by assessment from the native villagers who were engaged in the plunder of Futtehgurh, has been handed over by the East India Government to the missionaries, and by them employed in re-establishing in business the native Christians of that station. The losses at Lodiana have also been similarly made good, and it is likely that remaining cases will be yet dealt with in the same way. The same provision has been made by Government for the personal losses of American missionaries that was made for Europeans of the same class, including pensions to the children of those killed, till they reach the age of eighteen. The Board holds a permanent fund, now amounting to £2,800, for the support of theological education among the Waldensians, the interest of which is annually remitted to that Synod. They have also a fund of, at present, £2,500 for the education of the children of missionaries. They sent out twenty-seven agents in the course of the year.

The various missions supported by the Board are these:

1. Missions among the American Indians.

2. Missions in Africa.

3. Missions in India.

4. Missions in Siam.

5. Missions in China.

6. Missions in South America.

7. Missions among the Jews in New York.

The mission among the American Indians numbers, in all, ninety agents, including seven native assistants, of whom

13 labour among the Chippewas and Ottowas.

6

Omahas.

5

Otoes.

7

Iowas and Sacs.

The stations among the Chippewas and Ottawas lie on the shore of Lake

No. 148.-New Series.

7

The

Michigan, in the north-west of the mainland of the State. At one of the stations there is a flourishing school carried on in two separate departments, a male and female, each with an average of twenty-two Indian youths from eight to eighteen years of age. Out of school a farmer and assistant have the charge of the boys, instructing them in the various branches of farming, whilst the girls are taught all kinds of domestic labour and economy. school at the second station contains about twenty boys and ten girls. The church at both had received accessions during the year, eight at the one station and six at the other. One of these latter was wont to be a zealous Roman Catholic, but was brought to right views by reading the Ojibwa Testament. The missionaries meet with great opposition from the agents of the Romish Church, who do all in their power to prevent these Indians from reaping the advantages of the Christian schools opened to them, without themselves offering any corresponding advantages. Intemperance, too, is found to be a great obstacle in the way of the improvement of the natives. It is their weak point, and there are unfortunately white men always ready to take advantage of it for their own selfish ends, recklessly careless and unconcerned for the fatal effects on the poor victims. Nevertheless the fruits of former years of labour and prayer are beginning to show themselves; and "since God has so ordered it, that these benighted people must be rescued at the price of great toil and anxiety on the part of his servants, the church can only go forward at his bidding, and look to him to bring forth to maturity that great harvest of which the first fruits only are now being bestowed."

The Omahas live on the Blackbird Hills, close by the banks of the Upper Missouri, in the north-eastern part of the territory of Nebraska. They are at present, though easily accessible, still well isolated from white population, and of this isolation these Indians are already reaping some of the good fruits. "It is earnestly hoped that they will have made so much progress in education, habits of temperance and industry, and in general civilisation, before they are overtaken by the advancing tide of white population, that they will be able to resist those injurious influences which are threatening to sweep away their brethren farther to the south of them."

The missionary at this station is also a physician. The staff consists of himself and his wife, a farmer and his wife, with two female teachers. Thus far only one Indian, a girl, has been received into the church. Others the missionary thinks are seriously inquiring what they must do to be saved. About twenty boys and ten girls attend the school, which is in a promising condition both as to progress and knowledge, and in the habits of industry and morality formed by the children. It is stated that there are at this station several native youths who were formerly members of mission schools elsewhere, and who, though deprived of religious instruction for a number of years, have nevertheless maintained their former mission position to a creditable extent, and now desirous of farther progress, have become attendants at the Sabbath school, and enrolled themselves as Bible-learners. Should it please God to raise up these native youths as preachers to their own countrymen in their native tongue, how blessed might the influence be! Four whites and one native form the agency among the Otoes. This tribe have little appreciation of the advantages of education. They are being rapidly surrounded by white men, unscrupulous as to misleading them and taking advantage of their weakness and ignorance. They themselves, still prefer the wild variety and barbarous freedom of the hunter's life, to the more civilised and tamer occupation of agriculture. Most of the summer and part of the winter they spend in the chase of the buffalo.

This makes it difficult to get a hold of them or their children. The teacher, a lady, visits the Indians at their camp, and strives by kindness and persuasion to induce them to send their children to the school. During the winter she had as many as six or eight in the school at one time; and though much tried by their fickleness and instability, there is still reason to hope that a gradual influence is being obtained over both parents and children, that will lead to their permanent good.

The mission to the Iowas and Sacs consists of the superintendent and principal teacher, both clergymen, and their wives, the farmer and his wife, and an unmarried lady as assistant teacher. The superintendent has, during the past year, paid many visits to these Indians on their reservations, both for the purpose of imparting religious instruction to them and of inducing them to feel more interest in the education of their children. In both purposes he has been less successful than he hoped. As yet few adults among these tribes have felt any serious interest in the subject of religion, and their minds have been so injuriously influenced by designing white men, that they care very little about the education of their children. The school contains about forty-four boys and girls, embracing a few Black-feet children, a few Otoes, Pawnees, Punkas, and as many as eighteen or twenty Sioux. A deputation which visited this station described it thus:-"We found the school in the best condition, the scholars prompt in their attendance, pleasant in their deportment, and making steady advances in their education; the buildings in good condition; the state of the farm and the large paled garden, of five acres, in the best order; the boys in the hours devoted to labour, engaging cheerfully in the work assigned to them; and so also the girls, in their various duties, under the personal instruction of the ladies of the mission." The farm connected with this mission is very productive, and goes far to diminish some extra expenses incurred by extending the benefits of the school to as many of the orphan children of several wandering tribes as can be accommodated, without infringing on the prior claims of the Iowas and Sacs. The number of church members at this station last year was forty-one. At a communion in July eight persons were received, three of whom were connected with the boarding-school, making eleven in all that have been gathered from the school in two years.

The Kickapoos are to be found on the north-eastern border of Kansas, where it adjoins Missouri on the east and Nebraska on the north. The mission consists of the missionary superintendent and his wife, a farmer and his wife, a lady teacher, and two native female assistants. This tribe is very ignorant; they have no right appreciation of the importance of education, and they are extremely suspicious and unwilling to confide even in the assurances of those who have their best interests at heart. During the year the school had an attendance of from twelve to twenty-four boys. As yet no girls have attended. The parents use all manner of excuses for keeping the girls at home. The agents have had but little experience or intercourse yet with the Indians. But they are devoted to the work, and willing to contend with trials and discouragements, if thereby they may do good to those whom they are sent to instruct.

The Creeks occupy a territory south of Kansas, and lying west of the State of Arkansas. There are two mission stations among them, Tallahassee and Kowetah. At the latter place a native preacher is stationed. The mission at Tallahassee consists of the missionary and his wife, with ten assistants, including teachers, farmer, &c. Each department of missionary labour, it is stated, has been carried on with efficiency, and all the important objects proposed by the establishment of the mission are in some good