PRESBYTERIANISM IN ENGLAND. bers, are so well supplied with worthy To the Editor of the English Presbyterian Messenger. land. The choice, and employment, and elders as the Presbyterian Church in EngAghadowey, Dec. 3, 1861. labours of such men surely indicate marked SIR,-In your issue for November a writer progress. English Presbyterians encouncomplains of the want of progress of Pres- tered the inconvenience of losing many of byterianism in England, and as this com- their ministers at the time of the disruption plaint has been often repeated, and is of in- of the Church of Scotland without sustainjurious tendency, I think it right, with your ing injury, and now they hold free interpermission, to show that the statement is course with the Free Church of Scotland, not well founded. Doubtless, much has been and with the Irish Assembly, and with seveneglected, and much remains to be done; ral of the reformed churches on the contibut from this standpoint I affirm that nent of Europe. In the principality of there has been progress-marked pro- Wales there exists a Presbyterian Church, gress. Thus, when I first visited London, holding a pure creed, blessed with a pious on the business of the Irish Synod of Ulster, and gifted ministry, distinguished above Presbyterian congregations existed, more others by zeal in diffusing the Bible, and isolated than Independent churches, and, by John Elias, and his compeers, in prolike mummies, swathed in robes of exclu-moting the cause of Temperance. I had siveness, remained self-excluded from inter- the privilege of meeting Dr. Hamilton there, course with other Christian, and even Pres- when mutual gratulations were exchanged byterian brethren. Several of my brethren between English, Welsh, and Irish Presbyof high standing were not admitted to their terians; and I consider such recognition of pulpits. Generally, their ministers looked English Presbyterians as a mark of proacross the Tweed, and a slight hint induced gress. Other denominations are beginning them to bid adieu to their flocks. In pro- to appreciate and honour Presbyterian order. cess of time a better spirit arose among The Independent Conference Union of English Presbyterians, and I had the plea- England and Wales, with its subordinate sure, as Moderator of the Synod of Ulster, associations, is an approach to the Presbyto meet my friend, the great and good Dr. terian system, and proves that the late Mr. Welsh, when the English congregations were Jay, and other eminent men of that respectunited in a synod, and when that eminent able denomination, were not singular in adand pious divine addressed the court, a pri- mitting that Presbyterianism in some points vilege that I also enjoyed, and when he and is preferable to Independency. That prince I gave several committees the benefit of our of modern preachers, Mr. Spurgeon, is said, counsel, and sympathy, and encouragement. after his visit to Ireland, to have ordained When congregations and Presbyteries met elders in his church. In the Church of and united, I was reminded of what the England and in the Wesleyan body many Baptist saw in vision, when the dry bones deplore the want of elders, and surely all united and were clothed with flesh; surely these movements in one direction prove that then there was progress. Again, when I Presbyterianism has made progress. first visited England, Presbyterians were Soon after the organisation of the Engfrequently confounded with Arians and So- lish Synod missionaries were sent to China, cinians, but no sooner did the synod display and the ladies of the synod sent a missionits banner than all doubt was removed re-ary to Corfu. In China the labours of Mr. garding the creed of English Presbyterians. Burns and his compeers have been signally Surely this was progress. blessed, and many a British soldier has had cause to bless God for the mission to Corfu, whose efforts have been directed principally to Jews, and natives of the Ionian Islands. To originate and sustain these missions is Other parties gained many of the houses of worship and the endowments of Presbyterians, and the temples that remained were generally crazy fabrics; but since the formation of the synod respectable Presbyterian to me a proof of marked, decided progress. churches have been erected, and are filled by respectable congregations, and the building of these churches, and collecting these congregations, surely indicate progress. After the organisation of the English Synod, some supposed that ministers should be drawn from Scotland; that even English students should cross the Tweed, and study The success of the Presbyterian cause at the Northern Universities. Others, among depends very much on the character and whom I was one, tried to convince the leaddevotedness of her elders. Now, in London ers of the English Synod that many advanprincely merchants, in Manchester cotton tages would arise from having Presbyterian lords, and in Liverpool and Newcastle, &c., ministers trained in England acquainted shipowners of high standing discharge the with the tastes, and feelings, and sympathies duties of elders with great zeal and advan- of Englishmen, and as free as possible from tage; and, in fact, few Presbyterian churches the Scotch or Irish brogue. Happily, the in the world, in proportion to their num-latter view prevailed, and while the English a feeble attempt at what ought to be established-yet no man who heard the dissertations read by Drs. McCrie and Lorimer, at the Tercentenary of the Scottish Reformation, could fail to feel that superior men have been chosen, and that if aided by men of a kindred spirit they will soon inaugurate a new and bright era in the history of English Presbyterianism. Even some Irish students have waited on their prelections, and have returned greatly benefited by their labours. Surely here is proof of progress. I have already said that much has been neglected that should have been done, and I admit that there is cause to lament the paucity of ministers ready and qualified to do their Master's work in the home and mission fields. But why is the want of such men so keenly felt and so loudly deplored? Has it not arisen from the gradual awakening of the Church to a sense of her responsibility? Has it not arisen from the opening of new spheres of labour? And has it not arisen from sending away good and tried men to China and the Ionian isles? college can only be viewed as an infant- I have often felt surprised that some of the millionaires of the English Synod have not placed their College on a more respectable and stable footing. At least eight professors are necessary to render it efficient. Drs. McCrie and Lorimer do all that two able men can do, but a much larger staff of professors should be appointed. Probably the College itself should be located twenty miles from London, to give the students the benefit of pure air, and thereby to give them strong constitutions. Any person who has seen the colleges of Switzerland and Germany will understand that expensive buildings are not necessary. By placing the college near a railway, students who require to increase their incomes by tuition will gain that object. In fine, in a country so rich as England, and where educated men are expected to hold a respectable position, and who meet very extravagant bills at every hotel, a far more liberal support should be provided than has been hitherto given to Presbyterian pastors in England. While they ought to labour and practise selfdenial; yet the Church should give them adequate support, afford them a share of learned leisure, and give them libraries, so as to qualify them to enter the lists with Popery and masked infidelity. I am, sir,. I rejoice to trace all the anxiety to its true cause, to the advancement of Christian feeling and enterprise,-because these are indications of returning life and of real progress. Pain and disappointments have occurred, but such things will occur in all good enterprises. Let me conclude by pointing out three things necessary to promote the progress of English Presbyterianism. In the Synod of Ulster, at one time, the want of a code of discipline was severely felt, and much time was spent in quoting Purdovan, and other Scotch authorities. At length a code was formed, and thereby many idle discussions were avoided. The same evil exists in the English Synod, and the time has come when the same remedy should be applied. The jargon of law courts is not more perplexing than the endless refer ences in the synod to Scotch laws and customs. Your obedient servant, AN ERROR CORRECTED. BY a mistake, arising from a similarity of name and designation, it was stated in a Canadian letter, some months ago, published in the " Messenger," that the Rev. C. G. Scott, of Harrow Road, had accepted a Colonial appointment. We are happy to learn that Mr. Scott is still among us, and likely to remain, and that such a change was never contemplated, Notices of Books. The Leisure Hour. Vol. for 1861. Religious Tract Society. counteracting, in some degree, the effects of the immoral publications of the day, but they failed, entailing heavy losses on their projectors; and it was not until the committee of the Religious Tract Society took the matter up that success was attained. These publications are got up at great expense, and both in matter and illustrations, which are generally very superior, there is nothing left to desire. We commend the volumes to the attention of our readers. Memorials of Sergeant William Marjouram, Royal Artillery; including Six Years' Service in New Zealand, during the late Maori War. Edited by Sergeant WILLIAM WHITE, Royal Artillery. With Preface, by the author of "Memorials of Captain Hedley Vicars." Nisbet & Co. WE cannot introduce this delightful biography in a better way than by a quotation from Miss Marsh's preface. She begins by saying, "The watchword of Oliver Cromwell to his invincible Ironsides,' Put your trust in God, and keep your powder dry,' might well have been selected as a motto for the memoir of Sergeant Marjouram. Though a man of a peace-loving spirit, we find him unflinching before the foe; repeatedly sent on services of danger and difficulty, and commended on his successful return by such significant words as these, from the lips of his commanding officer, I knew you could do it! I knew my man'-words which remind us of Lord Gough's order to call out Havelock and his men for a difficult achievement,- Turn out the saints! Havelock never blunders, and his men are never drunk."" fully sensible of this when he undertook THIS little volume is divided into three parts, namely, 1. The Doctrine of Nature; 2. The Doctrine of Grace-the Gift of God; and 3. The Doctrine of Grace-the Duty of Man. We have not before met with anything so well adapted for the instruction of youth in the great doctrines of the word of God. We are glad to see it in its fifth thousand; it will be well for our youth if it reaches forty thousand. Sergeant Marjouram's biography may be fitly placed beside that of Hedley Vicars, and other kindred spirits; it is a record of dangers and sufferings endured heroically and bravely in his country's service, and of watchings and weariness, of much selfsacrifice, and labours often, "instant in season and out of season" for the cause of Christ, and the salvation of souls. Hymns of Faith and Hope. Second Series. By the Rev. Dr. BONAR. Nisbet & Co. It is not too much to say that to Dr. Bonar we are indebted for some of the sweetest hymns in our language. They have travelled over half the world, sometimes with his name, but oftener without it, until a few years ago he gathered them together and published them in a volume bearing the above appropriate title. We gladly welcome the second volume now before us. Many of the hymns in the first volume have become so endeared to us that we dare not venture upon a comparison; but the last, as the first, are still true to their name -"Hymns of Faith and Hope"-in the best The Eclectic Review, after a few ups and fullest sense of the words. and downs, has returned to its old quarters in the Row (Ward & Co.) It has comCrushed Hopes Crowned in Death. Me-menced a new series, under a new editormorials of the Life, particularly the last the Rev. Paxton Hood - and from the days of Alexander Brown, Bengal Civil symptoms of renewed youth which the Service. By his father, the Rev. DAVID number before us furnishes, we trust it BROWN, D.D., Professor of Theology, may yet have before it a long and useful career. It is a shame to the Nonconformists of England that they should allow this trusty old servant to be drifting about as it has been recently. British and Foreign Evangelical Review. No. XXXVIII. Nisbet & Co. THIS number opens with an excellent article on "The recent Introductions to the Old Testament," in which the works of McDonald, Keil, Bleek, &c., pass under review. This is followed by an interesting article on "Protestantism in the South of France," which is translated from a German periodical. "The Conditions of Ecclesiastical Union" is seasonable, but the article on Buckle's "History of Civilisation in England" is meagre, and not equal to some of those that have appeared in other reviews. The leading article in the number, on "The Practical Application of Calvinism," is evidently from the pen of the late Dr.Cunningham, and, therefore, possesses a melancholy interest, from the fact of death having taken him away so suddenly and unexpectedly from amongst us. Aberdeen. Nisbet & Co. Ir is not easy, nor, in one sense, can it be pleasant for a father to be the biographer of his own child. Dr. Brown was The Companion for Youth, (Kent & Co.) contains some good hard-thinking for boys, and deserves a wide circulation. It appears to be in good hands. Old Jonathan's large woodcuts and excellent household lessons are as good as ever. A Noonday Sunset, (Nisbet,) is a Sermon preached by the Rev. W. Brock, of Bloomsbury Chapel, "in grateful and respectful memory of the late Bishop of Durham." As is well known, the bishop and the preacher were formerly neighbours— Mr. Villiers being rector of the parish in which Mr. Brock's chapel is situate. The sermon is a most affectionate tribute to the bishop's memory and worth. Presbyterian Church in England. CIRCULATION OF THE "MESSENGER." Nov. 27. Collection-Hexham, by Mr. Lamb 28. Collection-St. George's, Liver- Bell £0 10 0 989 1 15 6 29. Collection - Monkwearmouth, Now that we have reached the close of another year, we beg to solicit the good offices of our friends in obtaining new Subscribers for the "Messengers." Our lists are yearly reduced by removals, deaths, and other changes, and it is mainly through the exertions Dec. 2. Collection-Horncliffe, by Mr. Some of friends helping us in this way that we are enabled to hold on. ministers favour us with a pulpit notice at the beginning of each year, which is of much more value than many placards. More might be done for the Messengers in this way than has hitherto been the case, and we trust that on the present occasion our friends will not forget them. 30. Collection-Portsmouth, by Mr. Wilson Paxton 620 610 0 0 16 0 £3 16 10 500 £8 16 10 0 16 0 Collection Carlisle, by Rev. Collection-Berwick-on-Tweed, 22. Collection-Milwall, Rev. Mr. Edmonds Following from Woolwich, by Dr. Rutherford : Collection Mr. G. Renwick Mr. Blest Mr. Commissary £6 0 0 100 0 10 0 0 10 0 110 0 1 2 4 800 10 0 0 900 800 Mr. D. Maclaurin Mr. R. H. Hunter 1 0 0 14. Collection-Parkgate, by Mr. Mowbray 115 0 1 7 0 0 16 0 1 10 0 400 062 1 13 0 26 2 0 700 .£1 9 0 . 15 16 500 . 15 1 5 16. Collection-John Knox, New. castle, by Mr. W. Morrison Collection-Marylebone, by Mr. " R. H. Hunter MEMORANDUM. The sum received from Rock ferry, on 20th November, of £7 188. 1d., consisted entirely of collections at the door, and not, as I then understood it to be,-of a donation and collection together. ARCHD. T. RITCHIE, 26, Poultry, E.C., London. Treasurer. was [By an unaccountable blunder of the compositor, a portion of the College subscriptions, acknowledged in last month's number, separated from the rest, and, with the treasurer, credited to the "Synod School Fund." gladly embrace this, the earliest opportunity, of restoring the stolen treasurer and property to their rightful owner-the College.-ED.] We £1 0 0 Nov. 25. Jas. Anderson, Esq.. 29. Wm. Brownley, Esq. Dec. 13. The following from Marylebone nicoll, Esq. : Sir John Shaw, 40 O 500 100 20 4 ARCH. T. RITCHIE, Presbyteries' Proceedings. PRESBYTERY OF LONDON. THIS Presbytery held its ordinary meeting in the College Hall, on Tuesday, Nov. 12th, at 3 p.m. The members in attendance were Mr. Roberts (moderator), Drs. Lorimer, McCrie, and Hamilton, Messrs. Scott, Fraser, Chalmers, Wright (Alderney), Wright (Southampton), Edmonds, Burns, Duncan, and Ballantyne, ministers; Messrs. McLaurin, Black, Nobb, Ritchie, Bruce, Gillespie, elders. Ferguson, and Mathieson, The Rev. Mr. Black, of Kirkaldy, and the Rev. Mr. Robinson, of Etal, being present, were associated with the Presbytery. Extract minutes of the proceedings of the Presbytery of Newcastle, in the case of the call addressed by the Caledonian Road Congregation to the Rev. Mr. Dinwiddie, of South Shields, were laid on the table, and shewed that Mr. Dinwiddie had accepted the call, and that the Newcastle Presbytery had agreed to his translation to London. On the motion of Dr. McCrie, the Presbytery resolved to proceed to the induction of Mr. Dinwiddie to the pastoral charge of Caledonian Road Church on the evening of the 28th Nov. Mr. Collie, a probationer of the Free Church of Scotland, laid his Presbyterial certificate on the table, and was received as a preacher within the bounds, and appointed to preach in the Caledonian Road Church, on the 17th inst., and serve the edict of induction. Mr. Wright, of Southampton, brought up schedules from Tiverton and Exeter, which were examined, attested, and oro dered to be sent to the Home Mission Committee. £10 o . 10 13 1 . 12 19 7 0 15 3 JNO. JOHNSTONE, Treasurer. £15 21 1 19 5 Mr. Gillespie gave in three volumes of minutes of the Presbytery of London, which the Presbytery had entrusted to him for safe keeping some years ago; and they were ordered to be placed in the safe in the College, under charge of the clerk. Mr. Ballantyne reported that Messrs. Gillies and Gullan had passed their examination for enrolment as theological students with much satisfaction to the Committee of Presbytery; and that Messrs. Gordon and Barclay, theological students of the third year, had, with great credit, passed their examination on the Summer studies prescribed to them at the close of last session of Manchester-St. Andrew's Association. 12 10 0 College. . 5 0 0 Joint Treasurer. JAMES E. MATHIESON, Mr. Wright, of Alderney, made a statement regarding the efforts he has recently made for the erection of a church and manse in that island. The statement was en |