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on the young men present. Some new mem- ing, Mr. Bell, elder, presented the Rev. bers were proposed for admission, and a A. F. Douglas, minister of the church, with collection made in aid of the library now in a purse of sovereigns, the gift of a few of the course of formation, which was liberally re-leading members of the congregation, as sponded to. This association was founded expressive of their attachment to him, and in July, 1858, and is open to gentlemen appreciation of his ministry, and their bes connected with any evangelical congregation. wishes for him in future. Since its commencement, it has been steadily increasing in strength, and, notwithstanding several losses by death and removal, is now in a flourishing condition, and under the able presidentship of the new pastor of the Dalston congregation, has every prospect of becoming a large and influential society.

OPENING OF SUNDAY SCHOOLS, CHELTENHAM.-These schools, which, with a vestry to the church, have just been built, were formally opened by a tea-party in the large school-room, on Friday evening, the 8th ult. The room, which is 36ft. by 40ft., with open roof, displaying iron girders instead of wooden beams, was tastefully decorated with banners and evergreens, and was TRINITY PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, DUD- filled by 300 persons, who sat down to tea. LEY.-The Annual Congregational Meeting The chair was occupied by the Rev. Robert was held in the school-room, on the evening Steel, minister of the church. On the platof Wednesday, January 30th, and was well form were the Rev. Dr. Brown, of the Conattended by the members of the congrega-gregational Church, the Revs. Messrs. tion. After tea, the Rev. G. Lewis was called on to preside.

The Congregational Committee then laid before the meeting a report and statement of accounts for the past year, of a generally gratifying character.

Smith and Lewis, Baptist ministers, the Rev. B. B. Waddy, Wesleyan, the Rev. L. J. Wake, of the Countess of Huntingdon's connection, and the Rev. Mr. Minton, from Lancashire, along with Colonels Hennell and Brown Constable, J. Greenfield, Esq., F. W. L. Gordon, Esq., W. D. Willis, Esq., of Bristol, one of the trustees, Dr. Hastings, &c.

One of the most important matters referred to in the report was the progress of the effort, commenced some time since, for the entire liquidation of the building debt The Chairman, after tea, gave a short remaining upon the church. It appeared address, in which he expressed his gratificathat the church, and school-room connected tion at meeting so many ministers and laywith it, had been built in 1847, at a total men of other churches, and announced that cost of £2,626 12s. 2d., of which sum the schools, which consisted of an infant £1,326 12s. 2d. was paid at the time, and class room in addition to the vestry and the £1,300 was borrowed. Subsequently, some large room in which they were assembled, years following, the congregation subscribed had been provided for the Sunday scholars, and paid off £580, leaving a balance of £720 hitherto accommodated in the church. The still due. A further effort for the removal cost, by the liberality of the congregation of this burden was resolved on, and it is and assistance of a few friends, was met all very gratifying to state that the congrega- but some £50, which he hoped would soon tion have so liberally responded, that the be raised. The plans and specifications report stated that £504 of the amount required had been subscribed and paid. The hope was expressed, that as the congregation had done so much the aid of friends at a distance would enable them, without delay, to complete the work, and get entirely quit

of the burden.

The meeting was subsequently addressed by the pastor (Rev. G. Lewis), Messrs. John Young and Robert Houghton (two of the elders), Mr. David Howat, Mr. William Robertson, and others, and the utmost harmony and cordiality prevailed. A resolution to prosecute, without delay, the effort for the complete removal of the building debt was unanimously adopted; and Mr. Lewis undertook to solicit donations. Its attainment, we trust, will contribute largely to the prosperity of the congregation.

had been freely given by Mr. Hunter, one of the elders. Interesting and able addresses were delivered by the Revs. J. Smith, L. J. Wake, Dr. Brown, W. G. Lewis, B. B. Waddy, and by Mr. Greenfield, who belongs to the Established Church, by Mr. Gordon, lately one of Dr. Candlish's elders, Mr. Wills, Dr. Hastings, Mr. Williams, superintendent of the Sunday School, Mr. McCullagh, student of theology, and Mr. Ward, treasurer. The evening was enlivened by several anthems sung by the choir, led by Mr. Haward.

On the 10th February sermons were preached on behalf of the schools by the Rev. R. Steel, in the morning and evening, and the Rev. Dr. Brown in the afternoon. The collections amounted to £18. During the past year, the second of Mr. Steel's ALNWICK.-At St. James's Presbyterian ministry, the congregation has made enChurch, Alnwick, on the evening of Thurs-couraging progress. There are thirty addiday, the 31st January, after the prayer-meet- tional names on the communion roll, and

the funds of the church have advanced, so as to allow a handsome addition to the minister's stipend. During the past year £75 have been raised for missions and other benevolent objects, and a box of work, valued at £27 10s., was sent out to the Rev. Dr. Murray Mitchell, at Poonah (a free conveyance having been generously given by George Duncan, Esq., of London). It is hoped that the next improvement, which is needed, will be the repairing of the church, and putting a new front on the building. For this a considerable sum will be required, in which it may be expected the congregation will be aided by the liberal friends of other denominations.

that their schools, both Sabbath and weekday, were in a highly satisfactory condition. He also stated that owing to their minister's duties having greatly increased since his appointment as chaplain to the troops, it had become absolutely necessary that an assistant should be provided for him; but that the congregation were unable to raise the requisite amount among themselves, and trusted that friends would aid them in the matter.

Several speakers addressed the meeting, bearing testimony to the assiduous labours of Mr. Thompson, and to the great necessity existing for procuring him such assistance.

Mr. Roxburgh, from Greenwich, stated that their congregation was also in a healthy condition; the communion-roll had increased during the year from 132 to 154; the debt had been reduced to £200; and the fund which was being raised for the erection of schools had considerably increased. He further referred to Millwall station, which was begun and carried on un

WOOLWICH.-The annual meeting of this congregation took place on Tuesday, 15th January, when a large number of friends partook of tea provided in the school-rooms; after which, the Chairman, Rev. W. M. Thompson, addressed the meeting in an appropriate speech, in which he adverted to the several events of interest which had occurred during the year; the Treasurer, Dr. Rutherford, then read the financial state-der the joint charge of John Knox's Church ment, which was very satisfactory, followed by Mr. Dingwall reading the Annual Report, which was also of a very pleasing and encouraging nature, detailing the various Christian and benevolent objects in connection with the Church. The adoption of the report being moved by Mr. R. Morton, supported by Serjeant Rae, the meeting was then addressed by Mr. Mutch, and other office-bearers; a vote of thanks to the ladies being proposed by Mr. Crichton, the proceedings of the evening, which were of a most pleasing character, being brought to a close, by Mr. Dingwall making an appeal for an increased circulation of the Mes

senger.

and their own, and trusted that those congregations which had not as yet complied with the injunction of the Presbytery to make a collection on its behalf, would do so at once, and relieve the treasurers from their liabilities.

The Chairman then called upon Dr. McCrie, and in doing so expressed a hope that they all had read the admirable address by Dr. King, in the February number of the English Presbyterian Messenger. The subject was one of great importance, and his opinion was that the sooner that two bodies, such as the United Presbyterian and the English Presbyterian Churches, joined together, the better.

MEETING OF MINISTERS, ELDERS, AND Dr. McCrie expressed his pleasure in inDEACONS OF THE PRESBYTERY OF LON- troducing such a subject to a meeting like DON.-On Tuesday, February 12th, the second the present, which he could address with meeting for the season of the ministers, more freedom than one composed mainly of elders, and deacons within the bounds of the brethren in the ministry; for there were cerPresbytery of London, was held in the tain feelings among the clergy which did not College Rooms, 29, Queen Square, when exist in the minds of the other office-bearers upwards of seventy gentlemen were present. of the Church. He, therefore, felt that in After tea, Mr. Gillespie was called to the speaking to elders and deacons, he could chair, and the Rev. W. Ballantyne opened the not call them laymen, for they were regularly meeting with prayer. The Chairman ex-ordained-that in speaking to them he would pressed his delight at meeting his brethren on such an occasion, and stated the order of the proceedings for the evening, viz., that reports would be given in from the congregations at Woolwich and Greenwich; after which, Dr. McCrie would introduce, as a subject for consideration, union with other Presbyterian denominations. He called upon Mr. Blest, from Woolwich, who reported generally as regards that congregation: that their communion-roll had increased during the year from 140 to 182; and

address them as cordial allies-men fully alive to the great advantages of union. He felt convinced of this, that if union should ever be consummated with the United Presbyterian denomination, the movement must begin, not in our Synods or Presbyteries, but in our Sessions and among our people. It is said that there are many differences; so there are; but these differences are as nothing when compared with those existing betwixt us and the other evangelical denominations around us. Union is

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not only a duty, but a necessity. Evil is ever working; numerous enemies have to be overcome; and it is but following the dictates of common sense and wisdom to unite together to join hand-in-hand to do battle for the Lord, and overcome the wicked one. Many of us know what it is to be engaged in controversial warfare, and to take part in disruption movements; but it is clear that a time of peace is coming round. Churches are uniting It was then agreed to engage in a friendly in Australia, in Canada, and in Nova Scotia, conference to ascertain each other's views, it without sacrificing any portion of the truth. being distinctly understood that no discusWhy should it not be so with us in England ?sions or conclusions of this meeting shall be We have the same standards, the same forms held as binding any of the Synods in any of worship, and the same discipline; and on way whatever. nearly every subject we are agreed. During late years, many circumstances have paved the way; the spirit of controversy has abated, and the great voluntary discussion is almost extinct. We are voluntaries in practice; and although many of us hold what is called the Establishment principle, yet it is an open question, and would remain so even were the two bodies united. Dr. McCrie then referred in detail to several questions, such as the civil magistrate's duty in regard to the observance of the Sabbath, to Popery, &c., and concluded with again expressing his belief that a desire for union must be clearly expressed by our people before it is likely to be carried out.

We now find that a meeting of the Committees on Union of the several Presbyterian Synods was held in St. Andrew's Church, Toronto, on the evening of Thursday, 27th of December, 1860.

Statements were made as to the action of the respective Synods with reference to the question of union among the different bodies of Presbyterians in the province.

A free and confidential conversation then ensued, in which Dr. Hamilton, Dr. Weir, the Rev. W. Ballantyne, Messrs. Duncan, Blyth, Ritchie, Watson, and others took part; in the course of which several questions were asked in reference to points on which the two bodies were supposed to differ, and the explanations given appeared to afford universal satisfaction, and all the speakers expressing their heartfelt desire for union, if obtainable without the sacrifice of principle.

[We deeply regret to observe that a most injudicious report of this meeting has appeared in the columns of the Scottish Guardian, into which expressions imperfectly gleaned from desultory conversations, never intended to be made public, have been introduced, leading the reader to form most erroneous impressions of the feelings and sentiments of the speakers. E. P. M.]

PRESBYTERIAN UNION IN

CANADA.

ED.

In our January number, we gave an interesting account of the consummation of the union between the Free and United Presbyterian Synods in Nova Scotia, and of the arrangements made for the union of the like bodies in Canada, at Montreal, in June next.

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After a lengthened conference of the most friendly character, it was found that on most of the questions discussed there was a substantial and most gratifying harmony of sentiment and feeling. On some points there was a diversity of opinion frankly expressed, which yet did not appear to preclude a reasonable hope that, through the blessing of God, the ultimate removal of all serious difficulties in the way of a general union may be the happy result of further negotiation.

DEATH OF A CHRISTIAN PATRIOT.

THE following communication is interesting as coming from one who, until recently, was a respected minister of our Synod, and as having reference to an individual well known to many of us in London, and who was long a member of Regent Square Church. Writing to Dr. Bonar, on the 29th August, 1860, the Rev. D. M. Stuart says:

"I have got a Session at last, but the joy is not unclouded; for between the election and ordination, Captain Cargill, the father and Moses of this colony, was called to serve in the Church in glory. The event, which was not looked for, called forth the deepest feelings on the part of our population. From far and near the settlers, notwithstanding the severity of the weather, came to attend his funeral. The universal impression is, that in him Otago has lost one who had always thought more of its material and spiritual well-being than of his personal ends. He was a patriot and Christian-a man of great intellect and varied attainments-confessedly our foremost man. On a sunny spot, overlooking old ocean, his ashes rest in hope. I cannot doubt that the colony will mark with an enduring monument a grave that future travellers to this Britain of the south will visit with an interest only second to that with which your patriots and Christians do the resting-place of the Pilgrim Fathers. Our loss has been his own gain.

Original Papers.

SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF THE SCOTTISH
REFORMATION.*

(Continued from page 69.)

The Knox period of the Reformation was its last and crowning stage. Owing to the effects of the assassination of Cardinal Beaton, in 1546-a violent and wicked action, for which only a few of the lay members of the Protestant party were responsible-the Wishart period had closed in extreme apparent weakness and discouragement. After thirty years of conflict and suffering the reformers were still without union as a party, and without organisation as a power in the Church and the State. Their preachers were all in exile, and their leaders among the nobles reduced to silence and inaction. But when Knox re-appeared upon the scene, in 1555, all this was speedily changed. His presence and power gave a fresh impulse to the cause, and inmediately launched it upon a new period of revival, of union, of organisation, and of ultimate triumph. When Knox 'visited Scotland, in the autumn of 1555, he came from Geneva, where he had been resident for some time, and where the genius of Calvin had gained an ascendancy over him, such as few men of that age were able to wield over a character so sternly independent and inflexible. The constructive genius of the French reformer had especially impressed him. The Church organisation of Geneva had excited his admiration and delight, and the effect was immediately conspicuous in the ecclesiastical measures which he adopted during that important visit. He not only preached with great acceptance in various parts of the kingdom, and dispensed the Sacraments in their New Testament simplicity, with the effect of adding greatly to the number and social rank and consideration of the reforming party, but, before leaving again for Geneva, he had formed them into an ecclesiastical body, and had given them the advantage of union and concentrated strength. By convincing them of the sin of any longer taking even an apparent part in the Romish worship, he had cut the last link that connected them with the Papal Church, and had organised them into a distinct "Congregation "--a community of evangelical Christians, having a worship, a creed, and a discipline of their own, by which, as by common ties, they were now as much bound to one another as they were dissevered from the dominant Church. In a word, the constitutional foundations were already laid of the coming Reformed Church of Scotland. In Hamilton's and Wishart's days the Reformation was a reformed doctrine, but it was now becoming a reformed rite. For thirty years it had existed only as a new idea and a new inner life, planted in individual souls. But now, in its last stage, it begins to develop itself into a new social worship, and a new ecclesiastical communion and organisation.

Read at the Ter-Centenary Meeting of the Scottish Reformation, London, Dec. 20th, 1860, by Dr. Lorimer.

No. 160.-New Series.

7

In 1558 the Reformation passed into a phase still more advanced. It was still without political rights or legal protection. The State had as yet conceded to it only a single franchise-that of freedom from interference to use the word of God in the mother tongue; and the statute book still contained many persecuting Acts which were designed to repress and extinguish it. Its struggle for political recognition and the protection of law now began.

In the following year, 1559, this struggle passed into the phase, first of a religious, and then of a civil and patriotic war. The Queen Dowager, Mary of Guise, was in close league with her brothers, the fanatical Duke of Guise, and the Cardinal of Lorraine, to put down the Reformation in Scotland, as they aimed to put it down in France, and she relied upon French troops to enable her to carry out her design. As soon, however, as she discovered her intention to make use of military force against the lords of the Congregation, and that too a foreign force, the lords defended themselves with spirit, appealed to the patriotism of their countrymen to resist the invasion of French arms and the execution of foreign designs, and succeeded in bringing to their aid the forces of Queen Elizabeth, who, as a Protestant queen, had a common cause with them, not only on religious grounds, but also on account of the designs of the Guises upon the English crown. I cannot give even an outline of the events which this outbreak of hostilities led to, or of the numerous incidents which introduced and followed the formation of the English alliance. It must suffice to state that the war went on for twelve months as a war not only of religious liberty, but of national independence, a war of emancipation, not only from the yoke of Rome, but from the yoke of France; that Elizabeth sent powerful succours, both by sea and land, to countervail the ever-growing reinforcements of the French; and that the siege of Leith, which the latter had fortified and shut themselves up in, ended, after a long struggle and various alternations of fortune, in a treaty of peace, by which the French bound themselves to retire from the kingdom, and to leave its government entirely in the hands of the nobles, subject only to the authority of the young Queen Mary, who was absent in France. Meanwhile the Queen Dowager had died, and the total failure and defeat of the Guisean policy lett the field open to the victorious Protestants, to carry out their views as to the reformation of the Church. The treaty was signed on the 7th of July, 1560, and in the following month a Parliament met, which was the greatest in its acts, and the most weighty in its consequences, that ever assembled in the whole course of Scottish history. On the 17th of August the Protestant Confession, drawn up by Knox and his colleagues, was read in the audience of the whole Parliament, and ratified and approved "as wholesome and sound doctrine, grounded upon the infallible word of God;" and before another week was over, other three Acts, of no less importance, followed. These were an Act prohibiting the celebration of the Mass, an Act for abolishing the jurisdiction of the Pope in Scotland, and an Act repealing all the penal statutes against heresy, under which the nation had so long suffered. This Parliament, therefore, was the era both of a grand catastrophe and of a grand new creation. The old Church fell suddenly down with a loud crash, and the new Church as suddenly rose upon its ruins. Old things passed away, and all things became new. A nation was born in a day to newness of life. The epoch marked the close of the mediaval history of the kingdom, and the commencement of the nation's modern life and development.

Throughout the whole of this national struggle John Knox was, beyond all comparison, its first hero and champion. He was not always present in person upon the field of action; he did not return again from Geneva, for the last time, till May, 1559; but whether present or absent, he was always the

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