The course at this College embraces, and sustained. Mr. Robinson, Etal, being Six Sessions, of four months each, ex-present, was associated. tending to three years. The terms on The minutes of former meeting were read which Bursaries and Scholarships are and sustained. The Edict in reference to awarded may be learnt on application to the Professors at the College, 29, Queen Square, Bloomsbury, London, W.C., or to Arch. T. Ritchie, Esq., Treasurer and Secretary, 26, Poultry, London, E.C. Birdhopecraig was returned duly endorsed. The clerk having gone to the precentor's desk and called for objections, and none having been forthcoming, the Presbytery proceeded to the church, when Mr. Fotheringham preached from Luke xviii. 13. Mr. Forsyth gave an exposition of Presbytery, Mr. Blythe ordained, and addressed the minister and the people. Dr. Anderson COLLECTIONS AND DONATIONS. concluded the service. Mr. Brown was SYNOD SCHOOL FUND. Glanton, Collection for 1860 Southwark, London Association, Regent Square, London, year to Midsummer last 67, New Bond Street, W., August 19th, 1861. FOREIGN MISSIONS. Collections: Maryport Whitehaven Sabbath Schools Isaac Freeman (sub.) South Shields St. John's Laygate Sunderland, Monkwearmouth Thropton Manchester, Trinity 600 £0 14 5 0 12 5 3 8 3 2 3 0 3 1 14 O 6 13 0 The Presbytery then proceeded to take 10 5 0 up the call from Millwall, in the PresbyJNO. JOHNSTONE, tery of London, in favour of the Rev. W. Treasurer. H. Edmonds, of Crookham. The Edict was returned duly endorsed, and the relative documents were read. Parties being called, there was no appearance for the Presbytery of London. Mr. Fotheringham appeared for the congregation at Millwall. There was no appearance for the session and congregation at Crookham, but communications were received from both these parties respectively, to the effect that they 10 deeply regretted the prospect of the pastoral 1 1 1 tie being sundered between them and Mr. Edmonds, towards whom they expressed the most unqualified sentiments of esteem, affection, and grateful obligation, but did not feel themselves justified in offering positive opposition to his expressed wishes. Mr. 200 Edmonds appeared for himself. Parties 999 having been heard, and removed from the 1 10 4 bar, and Mr. Blythe, at the request of the 19 00 Presbytery, having implored divine light and 10 0 2 guidance in the matter, the Moderator called JAMES E. MATHIESON, upon the members present to state their views upon the subject, when the Presbytery unanimously expressed their opinion in favour of Mr. Edmonds' translation. Whereupon the Presbytery loosed Mr. Edmonds from his charge, but enjoined him meanwhile to discharge the pastoral duties at Crookham, and to wait for the commands of the Presbytery of London as to his induction. Parties being called in, the Moderator intimated to them the decision of the Presbytery, in which all parties concerned acquiesced. The Presbytery then appointed Mr. Fotheringham to moderate in the session at Crookham during the vacancy, and on the clerk of the Presbytery receiving intimation from the clerk of the London Presbytery of Mr. Edmonds's induction, to preach at Crookham on the Sabbath thereafter, and Greenwich, St. Mark's. 77, Lombard Street, E.C., London, 1861. 200 Joint Treasurer, Presbyteries' Proceedings. PRESBYTERY OF NORTHUMBERLAND. AN adjourned meeting of this Presbytery was held at Birdhopecraig, August 6th, 1861. Sederunt: the Moderator, Mr. Fotheringham, Rev. Dr. Anderson, Messrs. Cathcart, Forsyth, Edmonds, Benvie, and the Clerk, ministers, and Mr. Waddell, elder. Reason of absence from Mr. Huie was read declare the church vacant in the usual way, congregation. After tea a public meeting and provide supplies for the pulpit till next meeting of the Presbytery. The Presbytery resolved to meet at Alnwick, in St. James's Church, on the second Tuesday in October, at 12 o'clock at noon. Closed with prayer. PRESBYTERY OF LANCASHIRE. was held in the church, presided over by the Rev. John Brown, the minister of the congregation, when addresses were delivered by the Revs. John Reid, A. M., and Lot Saxton, from Blythe. It is very gratifying to be able to state, that the whole of the money required for the painting and other repairs, amounting to upwards of £32, has been raised by the congregation and a few other friends. PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, HAMPSTEAD. It is now This Presbytery held a pro re nata meeting on the 30th of July, in Wharton Presbyterian Church. Present-Messrs. Davidson and Inglis, ministers; and Mr.This congregation, founded in 1844, has M'Alpine, elder. Mr. Davidson, moderator, ever since met in a temporary place of pro tem. The conduct of the moderator in worship, first in Perrin's Court, and subcalling the meeting was approved. sequently in Well Walk. An extract minute of the Free Church Presbytery of Lockerby, and a call from the Church and Congregation of Ecclefechan, to Mr. Inglis, minister at Warrington, were laid upon the table. The Presbytery resolved to take the steps usual in such a case, by citing all the parties interested to appear at the next ordinary meeting of the Presbytery, to be held in Liverpool on the 4th of September next. On the same day and place the Presbytery met by appointment, to moderate in a call to a minister for the united Church of Wharton and Swinton. Present-Rev. Andrew Inglis, moderator, pro tem.; Messrs. M'Caw and Davidson, ministers; and Mr. M'Alpine, elder. The moderator conducted Divine worship, preaching from Matthew xxv. 10. Thereafter, on the invitation of the moderator, it was moved and seconded by two members of the Church, that Mr. John Gordon, preacher of the Gospel, be elected minister of the congregation, which, being unanimously agreed to, Mr. Gordon was declared duly elected. The call was signed by those present, and was left in the hands of the interim Session to be further signed, and to be brought up again to the Presbytery at its meeting on 4th of September. Intelligence. several years since it was resolved that a church should be erected for the coneurred has been solely owing to the great gregation; and the delay which has ocdifficulty experienced in obtaining a suitthrough the kindness of Henry Davidson, able site. It was earnestly hoped that, Esq., an excellent site could be obtained out for building, but every effort to overon his ground at Rosslyn, now being laid of Westminster, the lords of the soil, has come the scruples of the Dean and Chapter failed. That body peremptorily declines to allow any portion of the ground to be leased for a Presbyterian Church. It is gratifying to acknowledge that the exclu sive spirit which dictates this refusal is not shared by the great majority of our Church of England neighbours at Hampstead. After the most diligent search, and numerous inquiries, extended Over a to obtain any suitable piece of ground lengthened period, it was found impossible whatever, except by the purchase of a for the purpose. This alternative has at house and garden of sufficient dimensions length been adopted; and, while it has entailed an additional expense of more than £2,000, a property has been secured in a peculiarly eligible and central position, No. 2, High Street, on which it is intended to erect a church in the course of the present season. It is felt to be most desirable, if not essentially necessary, to take this step, in order, with the Divine SEATON DELAVAL.-The Presbyterian blessing, to give permanence and stability Church here was re-opened for public wor- to the congregation, and enable it the ship on Sabbath, the 11th of August last, more effectually to carry out its mission by the Rev. Dr. Anderson, of Morpeth. The here, viz., to provide religious ordinances Church had been closed for a few weeks for for the numerous Scotch and English the purpose of being cleaned and painted; Presbyterians residing at Hampstead and and now the congregation have the satisfac-in the neighbourhood, as well as to take tion of worshipping in a clean and comfortable house. The re-opening services were preceded by a tea-meeting, held in the school-room on Saturday afternoon, at which a numerous party sat down to tea, when their wants were carefully attended to by a number of ladies connected with the its share in the great duty incumbent upon all Christians of extending the means of grace to those who have hitherto remained outside the pale of any religious denomination. [Since the above circular was printed, the erection of the new church has been He was, for upwards of thirty years, Superintendent of the Presbyterian Sabbath School, and ever took a deep, active, and untiring interest in the secular and religious education of the young. He was proverbially their friend and benefactor. Though strong in his denominational attachments, he was not sectarian-but cherished a Catholic spirit towards every branch of the Church universal. Upon his own section of it, his death has entailed a privation of no common magnitude, which it will not be easy to supply |-men of his mould are not of every day manufacture. He lived so as to be missed, and his name will ever be associated with sunny memories of deeds of active beneficence and Christian usefulness. On Thursday morning last, at 5.30 a.m., about 300 of the inhabitants of this town assembled in St. George's Church, where a funeral service was performed over the mortal remains of deceased, which were from thence conveyed to the North Eastern Railway Station, for the purpose of being forwarded to St. Boswell's for interment, accompanied by a large concourse of people. His funeral sermon was preached by Dr. Anderson, in St. George's, on Sabbath, 28th July, from Acts viii. 2. THE CARDROSS CASE. THE Commission of Assembly of the Free Church, at its recent meeting, determined not to appeal at present to the House of Lords. This decision is deeply regretted by many of the friends of the Free Church on this side the Border, who regard the present step as a practical relinquishment of the high position which the Church first assumed, and which her leaders threatened at all hazards to maintain. The Witness gives the following favourable construction of the present "When the Church went to the bar IN our obituary of this day, says a Northern paper, appears an announcement of the death of Mr. James Tait, saddler and hardware merchant, and position of the case :one of the councillors of this borough. Few citizens removed from our midst ever carried to their graves a larger tribute of of the civil court, she presented two preregret for their loss than has been deserv-liminary pleas. On either plea she edly paid to his memory. He was a man judged that her cause ought to triumph. of large-hearted benevolence, and of self- Both pleas agreed in shutting out the sacrificing and munificent liberality, es- jurisdiction of the civil court. The first pecially to philanthropic and evangel-was the inherent independent spiritual istic enterprises in connection with the jurisdiction of the Church; and the religious community to which he belonged. second was the formal constitution of the Church, including the canons and forms of process, as well as the Disruption documents, which Mr. McMillan had voluntarily subscribed, and which shut out appeal to the civil court. The Church might triumph on both pleas, or she might triumph on only one; practically it did not much matter which. The issue has been, that the Church has been cast on the first plea; but on the second no final decision has yet been given. The interlocutor of Lord Ordinary Jerviswoode distinctly repudiated the plea of independent spiritual jurisdiction; and, on appeal, his finding has been confirmed by the Inner House. But on the other plea, the constitution of the Church to wit,-which shuts Mr. M'Millan out from appeal to the civil court, and, by parity, shuts the civil court out from giving him redress in spirituals, the Lord Ordinary has given no final decision. That plea is still before him, and what the Lord Ordinary now asks is more proof. That may be a reasonable or it may be an unreasonable demand. The Church may favour the Lord Ordinary with more proof, or she may decline to do so. She may think she has produced proof enough upon the point already; and, as Dr. Candlish suggests, the Church may remain a silent spectator till it shall please the Lord Ordinary to bring the process to an end, and give judgment one way or other. There is nothing inconsistent in the Church doing so; and certainly she surrenders no principle by doing so. This is an entirely different thing from submitting her proceedings in the case to the civil court, that the merits may be adjudicated upon. This is what our correspondent supposes the Church is now to do. He has mistaken the matter. The Church simply permits her second preliminary plea to remain before the Lord Ordinary. This is all, in effect, that she does. She may or she may not comply with the request for more proof on that plea, but she permits it to remain before the civil court till that court shall have decided upon it one way or other. Besides, the matter really is but in mid process: no appeal is competent at the present stage without the leave of the civil court; and even granting that that leave could be obtained, the Church could not, according to the unanimous opinion of her legal advisers, bring her real cause before the House of Lords, were she to appeal it at the present stage. The Dial has the following judicious remarks upon the subject: "Writing chiefly for Englishmen in a London newspaper, we deliberately reiterate our doubts whether the Free Church ought not to have appealed at once to the House of Lords in defence of We know not her spiritual liberties. what the Free Church has done to forfeit her right to toleration as a self-supporting Presbyterian denomination. In the eye of British toleration non-established Presbyterians and Roman Catholics. occupy the same platform; and we see not why the Free Church should hesitate to claim what we should most certainly back Roman Catholics in claiming. If a Roman Catholic priest were deposed by his Bishop, lost his stipend in consequence, and brought an action into one of our courts demanding that the sentence of deposition should be repealed, and damages awarded him; and if the Bishop pleaded that his sentence of deposition could not be brought under civil review, but, as being bona fide ecclesiastical, must be protected in its natural and inseparable civil consequences; we should back the Bishop, and should call upon the Court, expressly dismissing the prayer for repeal of the sentence of deposition, to take up the priest's claim for damages. We should, no doubt, insist that the Court ascertained perfectly that the man was a Roman Catholic priest, that the Bishop was really his ecclesias. tical superior, that the sentence of which repeal was demanded was truly spiritual. But these things being ascertained, we should, in the name of British toleration, demand that the exclusive right of the Roman Catholic Bishop to depose the Roman Catholic priest should be acknowledged. Now all these facts have been ascertained in the case of the Free Church. We maintain that the claim of the Free Church was fairworthy of being defended in the House of Lords-that the Civil Court should not undertake to adjudicate on such sentences of an unendowed Presbyterian denomination. There, we humbly think, the Free Church ought to have taken her stand; and though there might have been a few on this side the Tweed to treat her professions as lies and her scruples as absurdities, that sense of justice which is throned in the great heart of England would have responded to the righteousness of her claim. Original Papers. REVIVING PROTESTANTISM AND ITS OPPOSITION TO POPERY.* "I saw a BEFORE the Apostle John was removed from earth, he was taught by the Spirit the nature and the form of the great apostacy. He says, woman sit upon a scarlet-coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and abominations of the earth. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration." This is the description given by God of the system of the Papacy. As the true Church is the Lamb's wife, so this apostacy is to be wife-like-to appear as a Church. It is seated on the beast, or on civil power-temporal dominion-exerting a tyrannical influence over the affairs of nations. It is the mystery of iniquity set in direct opposition to the mystery of godliness, and cannot be understood, except by those who are taught of the Spirit. The titles it assumes, and the authority it claims, are blasphemy against God. And with these lofty assumptions are mingled deceit the meanest, the craftiest, licentiousness the most unblushing and foul, that have disgraced the annals of our fallen race. It is purely an act of weakness to look on this apostate system as in any true sense a Church of God. The position assigned to it by Scripture and history is that of a tyrannical power, which endeavours to cloak its ambition under the pretext of religion. As Babylon, the first empire which aimed at universal dominion, sprung from the bosom of patriarchal religion, and united idolatrous worship with the brutal force of arms, so did the spiritual Babylon, creeping up from the midst of Christianity, gather together the idolatrous hero-worship of the heathen, the pompous ritualism of the Jew, the false philosophy of ancient thinkers, and tearing off as it departed some shreds of the Christian system, it has with them endeavoured to hide the deformity of its stupendous falsehood. But whenever it has failed to deceive men, there never has been any scruple on its part to employ the most relentless cruelty in order to crush out human freedom and divine truth. After the possession of great power for ages, during which this apostacy had spread itself over the greater part of Europe, it pleased God to send the light of his truth unto our forefathers at the beginning of the sixteenth century. It was then that the words Protestant and Protestantism were first used in their present meaning. They did not-they do not represent new truths or new things. There were brave men before Agamemnon, and there were reformers before Luther. At the Reformation it was no new religion that was founded, but the old religion of Christ and his apostles that was brought to light and applied to the exposure of a patchwork superstition. * An Address delivered at the Tri-Centenary of the Reformation, held in America, by the Rev. John Hunter. No. 166.-New Series. 20 |