Brown, with respect to what we must call the deceptions practised upon him by his brethren, is quite indisputable; his very anger, and the terrible exposure of his own party which he has made in his "Narrative," prove the sincerity of his feelings: therefore, we need have no hesitation in believing his revelations, however strange and wonderful.

The facts of the case are briefly these :-Dr. Brown, when Moderator of the General Assembly, called a special meeting of that body, at the request of three presbyteries, and also of the college committee, for the purpose of considering the question of the necessity of a new Presbyterian College. The Assembly, so called, met in Cookstown, in September, 1844; and Dr. Brown thus relates its proceedings:-"When it (the Assembly) met, the zeal of the professors knew no limits; for they proposed to risk their salaries, and even their lives, rather than remain in such a connexion”—(viz. with the Belfast College). Under their direction, it was resolved :—

"That this Assembly considers it to be one of the most important duties of a Christian church to produce a sound literary, as well as theological, education for the young men intended for the office of the holy ministry, and over which it shall have complete control."

"A Committee was accordingly appointed, with power to take such steps as to them may appear expedient, for the erection and endowment of a college for this Assembly.' Certainly it would, at this stage of the affair, have been taken as an insult, had any person doubted that this object would be faithfully sought for, and ultimately attained."

Dr. Brown is now determined to hold the Assembly to a strict and literal fulfilment of these resolutions. Ile will have an entire college for himself and friends; and, that funds may not be wanting, he has generously offered to contribute £50 of an old debt due to him by the late Synod of Ulster, for travelling on the business of that reverend, but now deceased, body. The whole affair of getting up an independent college, in opposition to the one about to be built at Belfast, and already endowed by Act of Parliament, was, of course, no more than a stratagem of war, on the part of the leaders of the Assembly (and, as such, it has been perfectly successful), to force the Government to make a larger grant for sectarian purposes. But, so well did the actors perform their parts, that not only strangers, but their own friends, also, were deceived; and, among these simple ones, we find even the Moderator, Dr. Brown himself, who, with strange obtuseness, and an utter forgetfulness of all his past experience, deemed his friends sincere, and honest, and true. No wonder that the Doctor feels hurt at having been drawn away from the peaceful obscurity of Aghadowey, and despatched to London upon a fool's errand; viz. to press upon Government demands from which his

party had already receded, and negotiate for a body, of whose proposals and designs he was profoundly ignorant.

The following extract from Dr. Brown's "Narrative" will show the kind of confidence which these leaders repose in one another's honour, and the degree of good faith and honesty which exists in their private dealings:

On

"At length the committee in Belfast, having decided in favour of sending a deputation again to London, I find by my notes that I arrived there on the 17th" (the Doctor left home on the 1st, we presume) "of April, 1845, on which day I waited on Sir Thomas Fremantle, and gave him a copy of the memorial presented to Lord Heytesbury, regarding schools and manses. the 18th, I was joined by my fellow-deputies, Dr. Edgar and Professor Wilson. Although I had seen them both, when passing through Belfast to the English Synod, yet they had concealed from me what was their sole object in their visit to London."

Now, this we take to be the "ne plus ultra" of diplomacy. Two, out of three, Ministers of the Gospel, forming a deputation to Government, on the affairs of their church, contrive so effectually to deceive the third, and that third brother their Moderator, that he is in utter ignorance of the "sole object of their visit to London!!" The unfortunate dupe of this most singular conspiracy might have died in his ignorance of the whole motives and objects of this April journey, had not a lucky chance enlightened him :

"While conversing with them (Dr. Edgar and Professor Wilson), in the Craven Hotel, Dr. Edgar pulled out a bundle of papers, from which one fell on the table. It was entitled, or headed, Presbyterian Theological Institution, Belfast, and dated on the 24th of March, 1845. Both Professors seemed disconcerted when I picked it up. I requested permission to read it, which was reluctantly granted. On perusing it, I inquired why it had been concealed from me? I was told, that it was necessary to forward it hastily to Government; and other excuses were employed which seemed to me ridiculous and unsatisfactory. I did not learn by whom it was sent to Government. On reading it, my first impulse was, to retire from my friends, and return home; but, on reflection, I felt that I was bound to remain, and do my best for the interests of the body, and, at all events, to avert those evils which Mr. Morgan and others had led me to hope that I might ward off. The document which I thus providentially gained possession of, fills four pages of large foolscap paper, and is closely written. After giving a history of the Theological Faculty in the Belfast Institution, it says, in the name of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, whose wishes it professes to represent throughout: What she asks now, is to have the endowments, powers, and privileges of the Theological Institution enlarged. This simple, unpretending claim is inconsistent with no sound views of general united education in science and literature-it interferes with the rights of no other institution or church-it harmonizes with approved principles of enlightened, just legislation, and is not more than the Presbyterians of Ireland have a right to expect from the Government of the United Kingdom.' All this," says Dr. Brown, "is said in the name of Presbyterians who knew nothing of the affair, by the Professors who framed the document and sent it so hastily to Government."

With this document Dr. Brown is quite dissatisfied, and, to exonerate himself "from all participation in this transaction," he hands in to his fellow-deputies his solemn protest declaring, that "no committee was entrusted with such power," and his conviction that the proceedings of said committee were a surrender, and of course a betrayal,

C

of the cause committed to them by the General Assembly." He also expressly states his determination not to be guided by them in any negotiations with Government." Now, here is pretty Christian unity! A select deputation divided, and irreconcilable! A chosen and small committee of ministers of a church boasting of a monopoly of Christian unity in faith and love, cannot hide their dissensions and heartburnings even in the presence of the members of Government, but interrupt and contradict one another, rudely, before the highest persons in the land. Dr. Brown complains, that, at an interview with Sir Robert Peel, Sir James Graham, and Sir Thomas Fremantle, "both professors interrupted me;" and, on another interview, the Doctor says: "It seemed to me singular and unfortunate that they (Doctors Cooke and Edgar) differed in their account of the constitution and history of the Belfast Institution, with which it might have been supposed that they were well acquainted. Doctor corrected or contradicted Doctor, and the whole interview must have left a queer impression on the mind of the statesman." We have no doubt that their conduct afforded considerable amusement to the gentlemen before whom those "fantastic tricks" were played. Dr. Brown's favourite plan of operation was to attempt frightening the Government with the old "blue banner," or "Protestant lion of the North," or some such bugbear; and he is highly incensed at the more moderate tone of his colleagues, which, in the true spirit of Orthodox charity, he imputes to the meanest and worst of motives. "Dr. Boyd, M.P. of Coleraine, was with me, and was just after receiving from Government, or rather from Sir Robert Peel, a cadetship for his son, and was very courteous and accommodating to the Premier; and yet Drs. Cooke and Edgar equalled or surpassed him in their expressions of deference and respect for everything that was said by the Premier." He complains that his fellow-deputies "laboured to convey the idea that I was a visionary and very impracticable man; and on both occasions they caught the sentiments of the statesmen as readily as the chameleon catches the colour of the leaf on which it reposes." We suspect that the sharp lesson which the same Government had shortly before given to these Doctors in the Dissenters' Chapels Act, had improved their manners very considerably. Of course nothing could improve Dr. Brown.

In the following extract from Dr. Brown's Narrative, the terrible "lion of the North" makes a very pitiful appearance, indeed, and stands up begging crusts from the great man's table, with all the humility of a lap-dog:-"Just when we were on our feet, about to retire, Professor Wilson, leaning on and looking down to the table, requested that £50 might be added to the annual salaries of Drs. Hanna and Edgar...... The Baronets exchanged looks of sur

prise, and could hardly suppress laughter; I felt mortified." No wonder he should. This was a sad lowering of the "blue banner of the covenant." Dr. Brown was in a very heroic vein at this time, on his high horse, vanity, and about to charge home upon all "erastian statesmen," both Whig and Tory, when suddenly he finds that the whole world, including even his own most familiar friends and fellowdeputies, believe that his war-steed is simply a donkey, and his lance a goose-quill, and that all is vague and visionary about him except his impenetrable head-piece.

This

We shrewdly suspect, however, that John Brown is not so very green as he pretends to be throughout his "Narrative." The Editor of the Banner, in his pamplet, declares that at Cookstown, in '44, Dr. Brown was opposed to the scheme of an independent college; but since that time, his friend, Mr. Dill of Dublin, has "succeeded in gaining the confidence" of the late Mrs. Magee, and she has left £20,000 to build a new college, Dr. Brown and Mr. Dill being trustees. bequest opened up to the ambitious Doctor a prospect of patronage and distinction; and now he fears the rivalry of the new Queen's College, endowed by Government, and open to all sects and parties, and hopes to induce the Assembly to force their students to attend the college which he and Mr. Dill will build. This view of the matter will prove, that, although Dr. Brown's conduct seems absurd in pressing upon Government terms which he knew could not be granted, and from which his own party had already receded, he was shrewdly striving to prepare a monopoly for his own private trade, and secure grist for his own mill. He naturally fears that "Mrs. Magee's College," with his own and Mr. Dill's patronage, will not be much frequented, unless "on compulsion," and so he labours to raise up the necessary degree of blind zeal.

As to the charges and recriminations that have passed between Dr. Brown and the Banner of Ulster newspaper, we see no reason for discrediting either of the parties. We have no doubt that that paper is badly conducted by its secret clerical committee; that it deserves the name of the "Wasp of Ulster," "the most venomous of all prints, in which masked ministers and professors do the work of assassins;" and that, "in its short career, it has assailed more furiously, and attacked more unjustly, a greater number of Presbyterian ministers than have been assailed, in the same time, by all the press of Ulster." These are Dr. Brown's solemn, published declarations. He is well acquainted with the matter; he subscribed to establish the paper of which he speaks; and, for our parts, we implicitly believe his testimony. On the other hand, justice demands that we give a fair hearing to the counter-charges of the Editor of the Banner. We grant, then, that Dr. Brown's boast, in one of his letters, of having travelled

"two millions of miles on the business of the General Assembly," is an evident exaggeration, and very like a long range shot with a long bow. At this rate, Dr. Brown must have circumnavigated the globe once at least during every year of his ministry! We grant that Dr. Brown's subscription of the present market value of an old debt, due by a defunct and never a very solvent religious body, was no great munificence. We grant that Dr. Brown is a little hard upon some of the brethren, distinguished men, too, no doubt-Doctors "who took to themselves, out of due course, the proceeds of the incidental fund;" but consider the Doctor's prior claim for expenses of travelling "two millions" of miles. Let the directors of the "incidental fund" first pay that, and then, in "due course," afterwards they may meet other demands if possible. Finally, we must, we fear, grant that Dr. Brown is not as modest in self-esteem as he should be, and that his manners admit of, and would require, considerable improvement; and having granted all this, we really can see nothing more in the Bannerman's-or rather Bannermen's, for it is a joint-stock affair— pamphlet, but recommend our readers to buy and peruse both publications. If not instructed, they will certainly be amused.

OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF PRESBYTERIANISM, IN IRELAND.

BY THE REV. H. MONTGOMERY, LL. D.

(Continued from No. XII. page 382.)

THE Westminster Confession carries forward its views of Divine Truth, by discoursing, in several places, on Faith, Good Works, and Repentance. All these important subjects are handled in its usual metaphysical and self-contradictory style, and with its customary disregard of the simple teachings of God's most holy Law. This may seem to be a severe censure; but, of its justice, I submit the proofs. Faith," it declares, "is the alone instrument of justification;" but, in the formation of this faith, man himself is alleged to have no concern whatsoever. "It is the sole work of the Holy Spirit, who worketh when, and where, and how he pleaseth-man being altogether passive therein." Now, if this be true, the man who has an erroneous faith, or even no faith, is not to blame, because the Holy Spirit has not vouchsafed to enlighten him; and the man of sound faith has no merit, "being altogether passive therein." All this, however, is no more than a third or fourth edition of the old fable, representing human salvation as entirely dependant upon influences extern to human beings themselves—a fable admirably calculated to produce indolence and false trust, to soothe men in the midst of their sins, and to take away "the beauty of holiness." At the same time, whilst this strange dogma of