have been an increase, and not a diminution of this fund. (Hear.) Upon making some calculations on the financial statement which had been printed, he found that whilst the contributors in certain Presbyteries had been reduced by about £3900, the increase in others had amounted to upwards of £4600,-so that, on the whole, there had been an enlargement of the General Fund. The variations that had occurred could easily be accounted for; whilst it was worth observing that, within the bounds of one Presbytery,-that of Elgin,-in no one congregation had there been a falling off, but in every one of them an increase. This was as it should be; and were this to become universal, the object of securing to each minister of our Church a minimum stipend of £150 a-year would soon be achieved. (Hear, hear.) £150 a-year! a paltry sum, after all. Why, a good many years ago, this had been attained in the case of every minister of the Church of Scotland, by a successful application for Government aid; and it was looked upon as an important acquisition, and so, in many respects, it certainly was; for he could recollect an instance when, in one year, and within the bounds of this very city, the stipend of a minister with whom he was most nearly connected, did not amount to more than £110! But it cannot be, that within the Free Church there are not ample means of providing, from the resources of her members and the Christian principle of her people, that the same object may be gained. (Hear, hear.) Let there be but a determinate resolution formed and firmly come to in all our minds, that now, and for the future, £150 per annum shall be the very lowest sum provided for each of our ministers, and we shall be surprised to find how easily it can be carried into effect. He who gives £20, let him make it £25; he who gives 12s., let him give 15s.; and who gives 2s., let him enlarge it to 2s. 6d., and the work is done. (Hear, hear.) One fourth added to the present rate of contribution, will instantly realise the contemplated result. Nor is this all. Many, from inconsiderateness, give nothing to this fund; many have to reconsider whether the sum which they originally fixed on as their contribution, is now suitable and sufficient, and all have to weigh whether, under the expansion of the Church that is going on, and the inadequate provision now made for her ministers, it is not a matter of conscience and of duty, to add considerably to their past contributions. For these objects, nothing more is requisite than that the matter should be distinctly brought home to their heart and their Christian feeling. Several suggestions have been made with a view to this. Deputations may do much, and it would be well if in this way every individual member of the Church could be dealt with separately. This, however, must be somewhat difficult. Yet our ministers themselves should throw off all false delicacy in the matter, and fully and faithfully represent the duty, not of providing for themselves, but of maintaining Christian ordinances in connection with our Church in every district of our country. (Hear, hear.) Another suggestion had been thrown out, the sending forth of a pastoral letter from this Assembly,-which might have a happy effect, and be less a matter of routine than the communications of the Committee from time to time. And whilst all the invaluable Schemes of the Church must be kept constantly before the minds of the people, and preserved in full efficiency, perhaps it might be well that any fresh ones should be suspended, until we had rendered that primary one on which, to a certain extent, they all depend, commensurate with the position which our ministers ought to hold, and with the place which the Free Church is evidently destined to possess, and, by God's blessing, permanently to maintain in the land. (Applause.)

Captain SHEPHERD heartily approved of all that had been said by his friend and brother elder, Mr Crichton, as to the working of the Fund. He did think it would be of the greatest importance to send a deputation through the country amongst their churches; but he feared they were not applying the question personally enough to themselves. The pressure of the times was, no doubt, a valid reason, in part, to account for the comparative deficiency in the results of this Scheme; but he must state his decided conviction, that other and more important reasons must be sought for, and realised, before they would set themselves in right good earnest to the working out of the Scheme as it deserved. The pressure of calamity in the country had not affected all alike. It had only affected them in part. All Scotland had not suffered, and many in Scotland had not only not suffered loss, but had themselves been great gainers by the distress. Proprietors and farmers had got very high prices for their produce; and he was not wrong in assuming that professional men had also had their

share of the gain. All these men were especially bound to come forward now, and, out of their abundance, make up the deficiency occasioned by the poverty of the poor Highlanders. If every Christian man and every Christian woman who loved and revered the Free Church, did not make it a matter of conscience to do all that could be done in support of this fund, they were guilty of a dereliction of duty. Every member of the Church should feel it to be not only a duty, but a privilege, to give as they were able. Some might only give the widow's mite; but there were others, many others, who, "out of their abundance, might cast much in." There were those who "scattered and yet increased," and those "who hoarded and yet came to want." For his own part, he must say, and he did it not in the spirit of boasting, but in all humility, that when he came to balance his accounts year by year, he found that though, since the Disruption, he had had to give some hundreds where he had given little or nothing before, and though his expenditure, in other respects, was necessarily increasing, he was not thereby made poorer, but still found that he had enough and to spare. (Hear, hear.) It had been urged that the ministers of the Church should be enjoined to bring the subject specifically before their congregations. He sympathised with the ministers in such circumstances, but was not prepared to say that nothing should be done by them. But this he would say, and this he would maintain, that if congregations in towns who were giving much to the Congregational Fund, and comparatively little to the Sustentation Fund, would but reverse the order of their liberality, there would be little left for other machinery than that now in operation to do. Far be it from his mind to suggest any course of action which would cramp a congregation in the exercise of its liberality towards the support of its own pastor; but to many congregations in the Free Church at present the truth would apply" This thing ye ought to have done, and not to have left the others undone." If the members of the Church, especially the elders and deacons, and local associations, would but do their duty well, they would find that the resources which are at command would yield an abundant supply. (Applause.)

Sheriff SPEIRS said-I am afraid that there is much of the feeling which has been alluded to in the course of this discussion,-I am afraid that the same prejudice which restrains our ministers from saying much to their congregations in regard to the Sustentation Fund, has always devolved the discussion of this question on the eldership of the Church; and I think it is quite right that, in this matter, the eldership should take a large share of this duty and discussion, because they can, perhaps, express themselves more freely than the ministers. (Hear.) I think there is a great deal in the Report which is calculated to inspire us with hope for the future; but I must say that, upon a consideration of that Report, as of all former Reports on the subject, the feeling on my mind is one, I may say, rather of pain than the reverse. I believe that feeling will never be alleviated or removed until I see, from the terms of that Report, that the dividend which each minister should carry down with him from the General Assembly is not one which is merely to relieve him from the effects of chill penury, till the next half-year, but one which will enable him to live by that gospel which he is preaching. (Applause.) I think there was a great deal of truth in the remarks made by the speakers who have preceded me in this matter. I am afraid, from the beginning, that we have all pitched our notions in regard to this Sustentation Fund at a somewhat narrow and very paltry point indeed. (Hear.) I think it is melancholy, wretched, and painful to think of many ministers who have renounced all for the sake of the gospel, and for the sake of the gospel for our sakes, who are living only on £100 or £120 a-year. It is painful to consider the Report, I think, in reference to this, because, after the fullest consideration which I can give the subject, I am satisfied, if this Scheme was fully explained,-if the importance of it were fully explained to the people of Scotland,—that in the results which it exhibits you will find an index to a healthy state of religious feeling. I would say that a healthy state of religious feeling in this country will be indicated when you have the dividend from the Sustentation Fund at a point which will place your ministers in a situation of comfort, but not till then. (Applause.) Then there would be nothing in which I would pride myself so much as in being a member of the Free Church of Scotland. But I am sometimes in doubt whether the country at large,whether the members of the Free Church,-are fully persuaded of all the benefits and blessings which God has condescended to bestow upon them in that Disruption,

until they give more liberally to the Sustentation Fund for their ministers. When you talk of £150 a-year as a stipend for a minister, you are really not only taking a low figure, but the very lowest figure which should be named in the same breath with competency. (Applause.) But I think it will not be difficult to show how easily that might be done, if every man, to use the words of my friend Captain Shepperd, were to make it a matter of conscience, in the congregation to which he belonged. Let me trespass on the Assembly's attention for a moment, with a short statement on this point. Now, all that is required in addition to the sum that was collected this year for the Sustentation Fund, to raise the dividend to £150 a-year,-how much do you think? Why, it is no great sum. It is a sum that could easily be contributed, -a sum that, comparatively speaking, men in trade or business would not think much about. Why, the whole sum that is required to raise the stipends to £150, is only £21,000 above that collected for the present year; and considering that we have six hundred and twenty congregations in the Church, I am sure, perfectly sure, that it would require no great tax on our liberality to raise such a sum. What does it come to when you reduce it to details? Now, supposing ten congregations (taking your wealthy congregations in town) were to give £17 a-month more than they do at present, that would make an addition of £2000 a-year; if twenty gave above the half of that, or £8: 6: 8, that would give another £2000 a-year; if forty gave £6, 13s. 4., that would be upwards of £3400; if eighty gave £4:3: 4, that would give £4000; if 100 gave £2, 10s., that would give £3000; if 100 gave £2: 1 : 8, that would give £2500; if 100 gave £1: 13:4, that would give £2000; if 100 gave £1, 5s., that would give £1500; if 100 gave 16s. 8d., that would give £1000 ;— making in all £21,200. Now, I am sure that is not a very great tax on the liberality of congregations. Now, I do not pretend to say or to describe what are the means to be used for invigorating the supplies to the Sustentation Fund; whether, by a more vigorous agency of elders, or whether, as I think, after all, is the most efficient means, a more vigorous preaching of the gospel. (Hear.) I believe, after all, that although your deputations, and other sorts of things, may answer extremely well for getting up a fund for emergencies like the Manse Fund, yet it is from the pulpit that the soil is to be fertilized, that the fruits are to be gathered into your storehouse for the Sustentation Fund. But I not impute any blame or want of liberality to the people of Scotland. I think they have done wonderfully, I think they have done nobly in every scheme that has been brought before them by the Free Church. (Hear, hear.) But there are many considerations which might be urged as reasons why they have not attended to the Sustentation Fund. When we came out from Egypt, we not only despoiled the Egyptians, but the country from which we came. We took upon us all the burdens and obligations of a National Church. We could not let down our missionary and other schemes. We were obliged, in duty, to sustain them; and, considering that all these had to be met simultaneously by the people of Scotland, I am only surprised that the results have been what they are. (Applause.) But the same strong feelings of duty, urged in regard to these schemes, had never been pressed with respect to the Sustentation Fund. There is one point of view in which I wish to put this matter. It is all very well so long as we have got the sent ministers amongst us; but I think, for the sake of our children,-for the sake of those who are to come after us, we ought to consider what may be the effect of such an altogether inadequate provision for the ministry, upon those who design to enter the ministry. If, therefore, we desire the Free Church to perpetuate to other generations the blessings which we enjoy, I think they will do well to consider their duty in reference to the Sustentation Fund. (Hear.) I forgot to say, what I ought to have stated when I rose, that in the absence of Dr MacFarlan of Greenock, whose absence from illness is so generally lamented, I was charged with the duty of stating to the Assembly that the Select Committee, which was appointed last year for the purpose of reporting on a plan for providing for a more equal distribution of the Sustentation Fund, had not been able to come to any conclusion on the matter, and, therefore, they had not been able to recommend the substitution of any other scheme. Mr MACFARLAN had no feeling of despondency as to the future. He saw nothing in the subscriptions to this Fund that was either discreditable or discouraging to the Church: but, on the contrary, as Sheriff Speirs had truly said, the money thus raised was wonderful. But more must yet be done. The ministers must bring the matter

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home to the hearts and consciences of their hearers, --they would never succeed to the full extent of their resources till that was done. From no deputation will the congregations hear this subject discussed more profitably than their own ministers. And every congregation must work, and work systematically. This was not the age of miracles, either in respect of clothing or sentiment. The miracle to be worked was to make every person feel that his own best interests were bound up in the preaching of the gospel they were called on to support. (Hear.) He thought an injunction should be laid on ministers to tell to their congregations the whole truth on this subject, and he did hope that no false delicacy would prevent them. Ministers, and elders, and deacons, and all, must be taught that it was their duty and their privilege, and therefore ought to be their great anxiety that ample provisions should be made for the support of the ministry, as the grand instrumentality for the extension of the Church.

Professor MILLER, simply rose to reiterate the admirable statements of Mr Sheriff Speirs. Those who had laid that Report on the table could not be accused of having fixed the minimum at too high a rate. He recollected that it was calculated, on the very highest authority, a few years ago, that £150 a-year was the smallest sum that a clergyman could possibly keep his family with in anything like comfort and respectability; and that was with the addition of a manse and glebe. And he could not see how a smaller sum could be considered satisfactory now. He could not see that it was anything extraordinary for that Assembly to ask, on behalf of as good men as ever were in the Establishment, a smaller sum than £150; the more especially as, although they believed that a manse was in prospect, and would be in existence, if an eminent member, not a member of this house, got his views carried,—yet they had no idea of a glebe. (Hear, hear.) It had been said by their opponents, that the impulse of the Disruption had passed away, and that the contributions in consequence must fall off. Now, that was partly true and partly not. The Disruption and its excitements were gone; but the funds in support of the objects of that Disruption depended not on the excitement it occasioned, but were the permanent fruit of the calm and enlightened obligations of Christian principle and scriptural truth. (Hear, hear.) Such excitements as those of the Disruption were not to be expected again. There were then, there are now, and there always would be a few who, with no regard to the consideration of temporal support, would earnestly seek to proclaim the glad tidings of the gospel; but unless the Free Church could make solid and comfortable provision for the steady and permanent support of her ministers, unless she could provide suitable endowment from her central fund-(hear, hear) parents would not educate their children, that they might devote their talents, and bring to the ark of the Lord the Christian character, as ministers of that Church. (Hear, hear.) To a central fund, liberally supplied, they must look for the support of all their ministers, and not to a supplemental dole, like that which, in present circumstances, they were obliged to create. This might be called Utopian; but what was there Utopian in the scheme? They had now their churches, the greatest difficulty being to get sites; and if every Free Churchman were quickened by a living knowledge of the truth in his own heart, the Utopia would be more than realised. By the preaching of the gospel, the gospel was to be maintained; and in accordance with the beautiful harmony of Divine Providence and the economy of grace, it must always happen that, just as the ministers were instrumental in the conversion of sinners and the sanctification of the people of God, would the flow of Christian liberality be enlarged, the bulwarks of the Church strengthened, and her influence extended. (Applause.)

Mr CAMPBELL of Monzie said, It was one thing to take a sentimental view of this question, but quite another thing to appreciate its practical operation. He considered there was too much sentimentality amongst the people in regard to it, and that was the cause of the failure of the Sustentation Fund. The people had at first been led to look upon this great movement as a miraculous event, and on that account gave too little attention to its essential practical details. At the Disruption churches rose around them in all directions, schools were built, and teachers provided; nay more, faithful ministers of the gospel were provided,-men who left good manses, glebes, and stipends, the comforts of home and all the ordinary endearments of life, in order to testify on behalf of their principles. They left with enthusiasm and apparent dis

regard of the personal consequences to themselves, willing and ready to seal their testimony at any sacrifice. It was not, however, to be supposed that these men were really in the position that those who looked at them with a sentimental eye were disposed to imagine. When he thought of the calm endurance of the ministers of the Free Church of Scotland, who had left all these comforts, which were secured to them by the birthright of the people of Scotland, and saw them without a murmur, and with a smile, give up the emoluments which they ought to possess,--he thought the reflection should stir up the people of the Free Church of Scotland to arouse from their lethargy and do their duty. For his own part, he believed that many of those worthy men who were not complaining, suffered most severely. If they looked to the expenses necessary to support a minister, not in independence, but in the common comforts of life, was it possible for any one to imagine that £150 was more than enough for him? For himself, he would go farther, and ask, Is that all that the Free Church of Scotland are prepared to give for the maintenance of their ministers ? What great sacrifice would be necessary, on the part of the people, to render them more comfortable? Were there not 500 men in the Free Church of Scotland able to give £5 additional this year to the Sustentation Fund, which would be equal to £2500? He believed there were, aye, and ten times that number who were not at present giving anything at all, who ought to be called upon to come forward. But he did not altogether lay the blame on the people: he blamed the clergymen of the Free Church themselves for not acting as they ought in this particular business. He had been told that the elders should go to the people and exhort them in the matter; but he was of opinion that the elders could not with the same effect carry out this labour, because he viewed it as a matter of conscience; and if it was so, who was so fit as his minister to speak to him on the subject? He would ask any elder here if he would take the same suggestions as to the discharge of a conscientious duty with equal effect from a brother elder, as if made by his minister. Unquestionably not; and was it not right, therefore, that this conscientious duty should be inculcated by those who were teaching that, as well as every other good and conscientious work? He asked the ministers of the Free Church to cast aside that false feeling of delicacy which they appear to possess, and to do justice to themselves and the people under their charge, none of whom, he was certain, would for a moment put the slightest obstacle in the way of so scriptural and necessary a duty. (Hear, hear.) There was a difficulty in a young man like himself speaking in this way before so august an assembly of the fathers of the Church, but he felt called upon to entreat them not to look altogether to those deputations that had been proposed, which, although they might do good, were liable to the objection of causing undue excitement, that might light up a flame which would last for a year, a month, a week, or a day, and then pass away; but looking upon it as a conscientious duty, it was for every minister in his own locality to begin the work, accompanying it with the vigorous and faithful preaching of the gospel, which would, in his opinion, have far more effect than the addresses of deputations passing through the country. He wondered that for very shame the people of Scotland did not come forward to help their ministers; indeed, he would like to know what respect they could be supposed to have for them, when they allowed these good men to remain in so dubious and precarious a position. But he would not even put it on that low ground; he would ask, had they not attained the triumph of their principles ?-had they not realised their position in this country?-was it not a fact, that wherever the crowned rights of Christian men were to be vindicated, the Free Church were in front of the battle, and if so, was it not a privilege to be enabled to follow out those great fundamental truths preached by those who had made so noble a stand for the truth. (Applause.) He would ask any one who thought of this question, to look into his own heart, and then answer whether, from experience, he considered that a man could be expected to transact even the commonest business of everyday life efficiently, if the cares of money matters pressed upon him. He asked any man present to put it to himself, and say whether he could not go into the management of his own affairs in a far better frame of mind when he knew that he left his wife and family, and those that were near and dear to him, in comfortable circumstances, than if embarrassed with pecuniary difficulties. (Hear, hear.) Then, how much more necessary was it for the man who had to deal with matters of the deepest importance to his fellow-creatures, here and hereafter, to be so situated as to have