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and correct statement of the receipts and disbursements of the other Committees. It is right to mention this, because some friends are apt to think that the Schemes of the Church are all comprised in the report of this Committee, just like a sort of omnium gatherum of the affairs of the Church, for which they are to be held responsible. This is not the object of this Committee; the object being rather to ensure a full and satisfactory report of the receipts of the Schemes of the Church. I have only further to propose, that as our friend Mr Bonar finds himself unable to take the charge or treasurership of so many of our Schemes, the Assembly should record its sense of the value of Mr Bonar's services hitherto. Of course we do not lose the benefit of his services in various ways; but it is quite reasonable that Mr Bonar should be relieved of the immense burden and responsibility of the funds of the Church, of which he has the charge; but as it may require some consideration to ascertain the best method of settling this matter for the future, I have to propose that it be remitted to a small Committee of the business men of the Assembly, to bring up a report on Friday next, in reference to the vacancy created by the resignation of Mr Bonar, and the treasurerships of which he had the charge. Dr Candlish concluded by proposing the names of the Committee, which were agreed to.

ACCOMMODATION COMMITTEE.

Mr PITCAIRN then read a Report from the Committee on Assembly Accommodation, of which the following is an abstract :

"The arrangements for the present meeting of Assembly are nearly the same as those of last year; and in regard to the large amount of expenditure by the Committee during the past year, the report explained, that their expenses are not limited to the mere accommodation of the Assembly, but included salaries of clerks, of Public Accounts Committee, deputations to other Churches; and further, that a large portion of expenses of 1844-45 are included in the charge against their funds last year, as well as all the expenses of 1845-46."

Mr Pitcairn, after reading the Report, said it would not be necessary for the current expenses of the present year to make any charge in addition to that made last year upon the Schemes of the Church, or upon congregations. The congregations will not be charged any more than 7s. 6d. for Acts transmitted. It would be very desirable, however, if they would take more than one copy, as it served this end, among others, of circulating more extensively the proceedings of the Assembly.

On the motion of Dr Brown of Aberdeen, the Report was unanimously approved of; and the Committee was re-appointed, to be called the Assembly's Accommodation and General Expenses Committee.

IRISH DEPUTATION.

The CLERK then read the Commission from the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Ireland, appointing the Rev. Dr Morgan, Moderator, the Rev. Henry Wallace of Londonderry, the Rev. John Rogers of Comber, James Gibson and Alexander Dickey, Esquires, as a deputation to the General Assembly of the Free Church. Messrs Wallace and Rogers alone were present of the deputation. The Clerk also read the following letter from Dr Morgan, addressed to the Moderator of the Free Church:

"BELFAST, 18th May 1847.

"REV. AND DEAR SIR,-I have lately returned from London,where I have been engaged for some time in public duties; and I find the time is at hand when the deputation from our Assembly ought to proceed to Edinburgh, to be present at the annual meeting of that of the Free Church. As several members of our deputation are unable to be with you, I write to explain the peculiarity of their circumstances. One of them, James Gibson, Esq., a highly-esteemed elder in Belfast, has been for some weeks past in fever; Alexander Dickey, Esq., an elder in my own congregation, has just buried a member of his family. As for myself, I find so many of our people in the prevailing disease of fever, and so many families mourning over their dead, that I feel it my duty, after so long absence in England, to deny myself the privilege of being present at your Assembly. The other members of the deputation, the Rev. Messrs Wallace and Rogers, will, I expect, have the honour and happiness to be with

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you. Be assured it is with much regret I am absent from your Assembly; but when I inform you that about one in a hundred of our entire population in Belfast is laid down in fever, you will see there is good reason for my not forsaking my post at the present crisis. Some of the most valuable members of my congregation have been already removed from us in this fatal disease; others are now labouring under it; and we are daily expecting more to be seized by it. You will be sorry to learn that already, throughout the country, five of our most excellent and godly ministers have fallen victims to the prevailing fever. The judgments of the Lord are very heavy on the land; may the inhabitants learn righteousness! There is one view of the subject which, had I enjoyed the opportunity of addressing your venerable Assembly, I would have desired to have pressed on its attention, and which I will here briefly notice. By reason of the famine in the south and west of Ireland, the inhabitants of those districts are driven from their wretched homes, and compelled to go elsewhere in search of the necessaries of life. They are spreading themselves in large numbers over Ulster, Scotland, England, and America. It is impossible to speak accurately; but I would not wonder if the event showed that we had lost one million of our population by death, and another million by emigration. Even should this calculation prove to be far beyond the reality, there can be no doubt that the reduction will be so great as to give ground for the most serious consideration of the whole case. death of so large a number of the people is solemn, but I feel convinced the spread of the same number over other countries is still more so. Wherever they go. they carry their habits with them. I grieve to say of this class of my countrymen, they will bring along with their persons, indolence, improvidence, want of cleanliness, Sabbath profanation, and the most tenacious adherence to their superstitions. The effects will be serious in the communities in which they settle. And there are two considerations to which I solicit your most serious attention in connection with this view of the case. The first is, whether we have not provoked God to send this calamity upon us, by the neglect of those who may now injure us. Other countries neglected to instruct them in the knowledge of the gospel; and now, as a mighty reservoir of impure water bursting its banks, these very persons are flowing in an irresistible tide of emigration over other places, and bearing much evil with them. But however this may be, looking from the past to the future, there is another question which we should seriously entertain, which is, our duty in time coming towards those whom we have so much neglected in times past. What is to be done for the instruction of those who still remain in their native districts? And what for those who are wandering abroad in search of daily bread? It is surely manifest the times require special efforts on their behalf. There is reason to believe their minds are much affected by the trials through which they have passed. They have had demonstrative proof of the kindliness of Protestants towards them. It may be hoped prejudices will be somewhat removed. At all events, while we spare no efforts to feed them with the bread that perisheth, we ought surely more anxiously still to present them with the bread which endureth unto everlasting life. May I entreat the most earnest prayers of your venerable Assembly on behalf of my afflicted country. And, again expressing my deep sorrow for my unavoidable absence, believe me to be, most respectfully, your fellowlabourer in the vineyard of Christ.

(Signed)

"JAMES MORGAN, D.D., "Moderator, General Assembly in Ireland.

"To the Moderator of the General Assembly

of the Free Church of Scotland."

Dr CANDLISH said,-This letter seems to me to be of so important and interesting a character as to render it incumbent upon us to record it. I feel assured that the Assembly will not, after hearing their brethren from Ireland, dismiss the subject without very serious and solemn considerations in regard to the circumstances in which we are placed with reference to that Church, and in what way we can best extend to them our sympathy and help. I beg to move that the letter of Dr Morgan be recorded. Agreed to.

Mr BRIDGES, W.S., said-I am, I believe, the only member appointed by last Assembly to visit the Presbyterian Church of Ireland, now present. I have much plea

sure in stating that the deputation were very graciously and kindly received by our Irish brethren. It is hardly necessary that I should say much; but having experienced the hospitality and kindness of the Synod of Ulster, I cannot but embrace the opportunity of expressing the deep impression which it made on the minds of the deputation of which I formed a part. I do not feel called upon to enter into any detailed explanation of what was done by the Irish Assembly on that occasion, as, of course, that will be explained by our friends who are to address us. But I must say this, that comparing the proceedings which I witnessed in the Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Ireland with the proceedings of our own Assembly, I, for one, felt very much as if I were at home here, instead of being in Belfast. (Applause.) In the General Assembly of the Irish Church there seemed to be very much of the spirit which pervaded the Assemblies of our Church; and I may say for the gentlemen who accompanied me, as well as for myself, that we were much gratified to find such a feeling pervading the Church in Ireland.

Mr WALLACE of Londonderry, said he had no doubt but the letter of Dr Morgan would be felt by the members of this Assembly to give a sufficient apology for his absence on the present occasion; and the condition of Mr Gibson and Mr Dickey, personally and relatively, would also be considered as sufficiently strong grounds for their non-attendance. He did not intend to trespass on the time of the Assembly by entering into any discussion as to the circumstances in which their Church was placed, or of the relation in which the Assemblies stood towards each other. The state of their afflicted country was very well known, and he was sorry to say, that all the intelligence he could give them was tainted with the deepest melancholy and sadness. A little of the calamity had fallen also on Scotland, but they little knew the universality of the distress in Ireland. In Scotland it was confined to narrow limits; in Ireland it was extended throughout the length and breadth of the land. In the northern Irish newspapers he had recently seen advertisements of numerous and extensive farms to let in the county of Mayo. That a farm in the west or south of Ireland should be advertised in an Ulster newspaper was unprecedented, and this was caused either by emigration or by the awful fatality of the calamity. True, the effect of Irish destitution had been experienced in Scotland,-it had also been severely felt in some of the towns in England; but how much more would it be felt in the broad land of America. He sympathised with the people of Scotland, but he sympathised less with the people of England. The influx of the Irish people had been great into Liverpool and throughout England,-so great as to have attracted the notice of the Government,-but where should the people of Ireland go to, but to the country which they knew had been enriched, to a very large extent indeed, by the produce of their own labour. It was almost natural that they should go after their landlords, those persons to whom, year after year, they had been sending their money, in order that they might find shelter and refuge in a season when their energies had been prostrated, and all other efforts had proved unavailing. Those who went to America were the best part of their population, but they were perhaps only capable of paying their passage out, and had not money to subsist long upon when they got there. The influx into America bore directly on their colonial interests, and on the operation of their colonial schemes. The multitudes that were going to the colonies were unprecedented. That class of emigrants were made up of a very large number of the people of the north of Ireland, and their condition would form a very important and interesting feature in reference to the Colonial Scheme of the Church. (Hear, hear.) The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland resolved, last year, upon commencing a Colonial Scheme of their own; but from the circumstances in which the people and the Church were now placed, he was afraid that no step could this year be taken in the matter. Their people would, therefore, be entirely dependent for their religious training and condition upon the efforts of the Free Church; which he hoped would, from the simple fact, draw an important argument for strengthening and extending the position of their Colonial Missions. (Hear, hear.) It was sad to speak of famine as having visited their land, and sad to think that judgments seldom came alone. The visitation that had come upon them in the way of destitution had also crippled the resources by which they might have been able to promote the spiritual advantage of the people. It would be found that a period of temporal calamity was also a period of abounding

iniquity-a time of fearful defection of duty, and a time when the love of many in Christ waxes cold. While experiencing the present visitation, he could not help feeling that another was approaching, and one in which the whole kingdom would more or less partake, he meant a general election. He did not know to what extent Scotland shared in the iniquity of such a period; but he knew that in Ireland it was a time of great sin and desperate immorality. When, then, they had been already visited with a physical calamity, and were threatened to be soon visited by a moral one, it was high time that God's people should stand in awe, and look to Him who alone can give counsel and afford safety,--it was the time, above all others, when the true followers of Jesus were called upon to exercise greater zeal and devotedness in the cause of their Master; greater spirituality of mind, and watchfulness over their own hearts and conduct,- -a time when every member of the Church should provoke his brother to holy jealousy in the performance of every good word and work, -a time when, being convinced that God is manifesting himself as a God of judgment, they should supplicate him as a God of mercy,—and a time when, by increased fervour in social and public prayer, and greater energy and faithfulness in preaching the glorious gospel, they should endeavour to make such an impression upon their people and the world as could not easily be forgotten. (Hear, hear.) It is a time, too, above all others, when the Church should, as he was glad to know they intended to do, make her public testimony; and he trusted that, when that testimony to the great truths of the gospel and the principles of the Church was made, that it would constitute a true bond of union among the Churches of Christ. It should not be forgotten, as the Moderator had very properly said, that the advancement of the knowledge of truth is the advancement of purity, and the advancement of purity the advancement of the Church's strength and most powerful influence. Their public testimony then, he believed, was calculated to promote the purity of their Church, and the Churches of the Reformation throughout the world. They were in a peculiarly advantageous position; because they were in a position in which they had the light of truth untrammelled and unimpeded,- -more emphatically so, perhaps, than any other Church in the world. He hoped the Spirit of God would go forth in great abundance with their testimony, that He would acknowledge it as a testimony to his own truth,—that he would make it an instrument for the promotion of his own glory, and that He would rally a multitude around it, who would carry it forward from generation to generation, till the whole earth believed in, received, and supported it. (Hear, hear.) They had the question of collegiate education before them, but as he did not coincide with the views of his brethren in Ireland on the subject, and as he had no representation to submit from the Assembly touching the matter, he would avoid all reference to it, and other subjects admitting of controversy. He had adverted only to those matters, with the solemn importance of which he trusted their hearts were deeply affected; and he hoped that God would direct their counsels, and give them copious supplies of his grace, in order that wise and wholesome measures might be adopted in these times of severe trial and rebuke. (Applause.)

The Rev. Mr ROGERS of Comber then spoke as follows:-Moderator, in rising to address this house, permit me to say that it gives me great delight to be present at a meeting of the highest court of the Free Church of Scotland. It is not my business here to utter praise. I feel my inadequacy to pronounce your Church's eulogium. Besides, a Church which has won the admiration of all evangelical communions,— which has extorted the reluctant homage even of her enemies, and drawn forth the tribute of respect lately offered her by distinguished members of the British Government,―requires nothing at my hands, but to bid her God speed. Let me solicit, Sir, through you, her sympathy and prayers in behalf of my afflicted country, and the Presbyterian Church in it. "A fruitful land has been made barren for the wickedness of them that dwell therein." Want soon followed; and now, as a natural consequence, pestilence is walking through our towns, and villages, and rural districts, cutting off the inhabitants with fearful rapidity. Five of our ministers have fallen the prey of typhus fever already, within as many weeks; and from the letter of a co-presbyter, who is in Connaught at present, I learned on leaving home, that so fearful are its effects there, that whole families have perished in it,-one member of the family dying after another till all are dead; and then all receiving one and the same interment,some neighbour cutting the roof above, and letting it fall over them

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in their lone and common grave. In these awful circumstances we implore the prayers of your ministers, elders, and people, in our behalf, that the Most High may stay the progress of disease and death," that our land may again yield her increase, and God, even our own God, bless us." I regret that I cannot concur in the view taken by my respected father and friend, Mr Wallace, regarding the impropriety of introducing here any topic on which there may be a difference of opinion in our Church. I respectfully venture to differ from his statement to the effect, that the sentiments he holds on the Irish College question have not been affirmed by our Assembly. I believe I hold the same opinions as he, and these have been affirmed again and again at every meeting of our supreme court. But while I say so, I beg it to be distinctly understood, that I do not wish, in the remotest degree, to commit him or any other to the sentiments I shall now express. To us in Ireland all your movements as a Church are full of interest and instruction, and none of them have I contemplated with more pleasure than those in behalf of education. (Hear, hear.) The Report of your Committee on this subject which, I believe, was some time ago sent down to the Presbyteries, together with the numerous overtures announced yesterday, which have been sent up by so many Presbyteries and Synods in the Church, show that you are in earnest, are moving in the right direction, and that you truly represent the Church of John Knox, and his fellow-labourers, whose noble scheme of education proved them to be "most careful for the virtuous instruction and godly upbringing of the youth of this realm, the advancement of Christ's glory, and the continuation of his benefits to the generation following." Should your Church practically carry out what is proposed by her Committee, viz. " the setting up of a sound, scriptural, and comprehensive system of education," she will have attained what was desiderated in this country at the time of the Reformation, the formation of such a scheme of sound, secular, and scriptural instruction, as will be commensurate with the wants of the people of Scotland. (Hear, hear.) It has been said that wherever Presbyterianism exists in a healthy and efficient state, it involves the idea of scriptural education in the largest sense of that term. In such a sentiment every righthearted Presbyterian must concur. (Hear, hear.) An education, whether in schools or colleges, destitute of the scriptural element, is like the body without the spirit. The sagacity of your ancestors saw this, and hence the provision made by them for scriptural training in every educational institution. In the schools this was kept in view. In the colleges" certain times were appointed to reading and learning of the Catechism, and to the acquiring of a true knowledge of Christ Jesus;" and in the universities religion was the basis and pervading element. And when the native mind expanded, and, imbued by this system, began to grapple with error,-when prelates were foiled in argument by Scottish peasants,—when that high-toned morality went abroad in this country, which, while it regards man, fears God also, it was then demonstrated that an education which recognises God, and His word, exalteth a nation, while the inference was suggested that one in which both are proscribed, framed though it may be by the State, and accepted by the Church, is infidelity. (Hear, hear.) Whatever you may do now as regards schools, many in Ireland look with immense interest to your decision on the subject of collegiate education. They anxiously long for the completion of the curriculum of the Free Church College. They wish to send over their candidates for the ministry, not to study divinity simply as heretofore, but to take their science-course in the Halls of a seminary, in this healthy atmosphere, which will be under the control of your Church, and in the classes of godly men whom you will appoint and sustain. Some of us have such hallowed recollections of the days we spent under Dr Welsh and Dr Chalmers (hear, hear)—that we feel it to be a duty to say, in the language of the Post-Office, to students asking counsel on this subject, "Try Edinburgh." (Laughter.) Their power of thought, and magic of mind, and brilliance of genius, won our admiration, their openness of heart, and tender solicitude for our welfare, won our affection. The one of them enriched the literature of this country, adorned the "Bible Board," and graced the Chair of Church History in this city; the other still lives to enrich every subject his pen touches, to attract the sons of science from every shore, and to be as far above praise-(hear, hear),-as it would be out of taste to offer it; and joined as he is by Drs Cunningham, Black, and Buchanan, and others, -(hear, hear),—who enjoy the entire confidence of the Irish Presbyterian Church

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