Many reflections are suggested by these statements, but we would direct attention especially to the following:

1. Almost nothing was done by the Congregation in the furtherance of Christian Missions for a few years after its organization. This may have arisen partly out of its own heavy responsibilities, but no doubt a principal cause was the general apathy which then prevailed upon the subject. The duty of generous contribution to such a cause does not seem to have been then apprehended.

2. The little which was then attempted behoved to be done through the agency of other Missionary Societies, for the Presbyterian Church had not at that time been acting as a missionary church. Christians of various denominations joined in the work, but the church did not recognize its obligation, as a church, to engage in the work of the Lord, and carry the Gospel to distant lands. A happy change of sentiment has now passed over the churches of Christ, and each feels itself called upon to do what it can, under solemn responsibility to its Divine Head.

3. The beginning of the Missionary spirit was very feeble, but it gradually obtained strength. It began with a contribution of £5, and reached to hundreds. Let none despise the day of small things. Patience and perseverance, with faith and energy, will be owned of the great Lord of all; and if we attempt great things, we shall be enabled to accomplish great things.

4. It was by gradual steps the church has been brought to a full equipment for the work of the Lord. In 1832, we find the Home Mission; in 1840, the Foreign, whose establishment was the first act of the Assembly when formed by the union of the Synod of Ulster and the Secession Church; in 1841, the Jewish; and, not till 1849, the Colonial. All these departments of Missionary labour seem to be demanded by the necessities of the world; and the church, as it has means and opportunities, ought diligently to prosecute them.

5. One happy feature in the Tables presented is, that something was attempted all along for the benefit of others, as soon as the congregation was in circumstances to do so, although its own liabilities were great. When the church was opened for public worship, a debt lay against it of between £3000 and £4000; buildings were subsequently added, requiring an expenditure of as great a sum-the whole having cost about £10,000; and yet it is a pleasant reflection that our efforts were never confined to ourselves. Other churches in the town and neighbourhood, as well as foreign objects, shared our sympathy, and we were not injured by it. God graciously sent a measure of prosperity proportioned to any endeavours that were made, and the saying was found true, "He that watereth others shall himself be watered." Let it never be forgotten by the congregation that to give to the necessitous is the way to get also, and in doing good we receive good.

6. Nor have these Missionary efforts been the only objects that have shared attention. Other charities, not mentioned, have been somewhat considered. The Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, and the Blind, the Hospitals, and other benevolent establishments, have not been forgotten. And this circumstance is adverted to only lest any should suppose such Institutions were overlooked. We trust that while the souls

of men are cared for, their bodies will not be counted unworthy of regard. Christianity contemplates both, and every Christian church should remember it bears the name of Him who healed the sick in body, while he died to save their souls.

7. It will be observed that, during the last few years, there has not been an increase in the contributions of the congregation. This may have arisen partly from the fact that these had approached somewhat to the ability of the people to give, and partly from the heavy trials which fell upon the community-trials which, in one year, led the congregation to contribute £1000 to feed the hungry; a sum not noticed in the statement at all, while, at the same time, they reduced their means by drying up the commerce on which they were dependent. Still it behoves us to inquire, Have we yet earned the character given to Mary-" She hath done what she could?" Alas! how much is expended on what is foolish and unnecessary, that would greatly enlarge our highest contributions to the cause of God. Let us remember we are stewards, and goon God will say, "Give an account of thy etewardship."

How beautifully progress is represented by the foregoing Table! Long in stirring, yet with what rapidity they moved at last! For three years after the settlement of Dr. Morgan all was a blank; in 1832 they ventured upon the mighty sum of £5 for Home Missions, and probably were not without qualms as to the prudence of such an effort. In 1850, for that self-same object, they raised the sum of £146 16s. 11d.; and in the intervening years they have repeatedly raised upwards of £200. In 1840 they became annual contributors to Foreign Missions, to a large extent; in 1844 they became regular annual contributors to the Jewish Society; and in 1849, to the Colonial Missionary Society. Since 1834 they have also made great periodical efforts in the way of Church Extension, amounting, in the whole, to the large sum of £2,584 19s. 8d. From 1834 they have been regular contributors to the Sunday-school Mission, beginning with the sum of £2 9s. 4d, and ending last year with £15 Os. 8d.; and all this apart from the regular maintenance of Gospel ordinances among themselves.

Here, then, is a body of facts of a character the most gratifying. How striking and vigorous is the development of the power of the multitude! How magnificent the total, during the period of two and twenty years, since the settlement of the pastor,-£30,308 7s. 10d.! man who, even fourteen or fifteen years ago, should have told them that they could do this, would have been deemed out of his senses; and he who should have foretold that they would do so, would

The

have been laughed at as one that mocked. But there are now the figures-THIRTY THOUSAND THREE HUNDRED AND EIGHT POUNDS, SEVEN SHILLINGS, AND TEN PENCE! Among such a people there must be piety, and there must be system. Without piety, system would have done little without system, piety would have been power without adequate direction. There must be, in such a church, officers who understand their duty, and whom God has given the heart to perform it. Were every Protestant church in Ireland brought up to the same pitch of principle, and the same scale of contribution, in proportion to wealth and number, how changed would be the aspect of the nation! Five hundred such churches, thus high-principled and well-officered, would, in the same space, have realized the sum of a million and a half of money. Such are the latent powers of a people who are uncovering their manly heads, and making annual visit, on bended knee, to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, to give them a bonus of £36,000, to buy bread for their pastors,—a sum which, in the space of little more than twenty years, has been well nigh raised by a single church of their own Body!

We most heartily congratulate Dr. Morgan and his flock on their noble example. We humbly trust they do not, out of a culpable tenderness to those who prefer that their ministers' children should eat the bread of the State, rather than supply it themselves, receive Regium Donum. After what took place in Belfast, some time back, in connection with the settlement of an eminent minister from Scotland in a Presbyterian church there, we are led thus to express ourselves, since it is but too possible that Dr. Morgan's people, out of a false delicacy, may take the contemptible dole of the State, just to keep in countenance the pauper portion of their sister churches.

This ought, surely, at least to be left to the choice of each church itself: churches which have both the will and the ability to do without State aid, certainly ought to be allowed to do so. The outrageous speech of Dr. Cooke, and the tyrannical position laid down by him in it, to which we have been alluding, went to uphold another and contrary theory. Good sense, good taste, and regard to principle, ought to lead such a church as that of Dr. Morgan's to spurn the grant of Government, called Regium Donum; and for either presbytery or synod to compel them to debase and humble themselves at the footstool of the throne, we should consider an act alike cruel and intolerable, and such as no congregation should, for a moment, endure.

We might here stop, but we must not part with a theme so fruitful of sound instruction till we have more fully developed the lesson which it teaches to all churches, whether in England or in other lands. The men for whom we cite this Statistical Table will make it a study for themselves, but we are anxious to aid their endeavours to turn the subject to account, by exciting the attention of those whose co-operation is required, and who have not yet learned the incalculable value which attaches to true statistical inquiry. It will be seen that the first twelve years were all but blank in the article of contribution, and that, consequently, the mass of this magnificent sum has been realized within the short space of the last ten years. All such matters, of course, are to be viewed comparatively. To form an accurate

estimate of this matter, it would be desirable to know somewhat of the number and the temporal circumstances of the congregation. Concerning these points. we have no information; but, upon a future occasion, we hope to be able to state particulars.

sary.

part of it. On the present occasion, however, we shall limit ourselves to a single point-the Ministry of the Word. The treatment and condition of pastors have far more to do with the matter of revival, and the prosperity of religion, than the bulk of even good people seem to be aware, else they would quickly alter their course. It is not our intention, at present, to go argumentatively into the matter, but to permit an eminent minister, the Rev. Dr. Anderson, of Glasgow, to say a few words, in his own racy way, to our readers. At a public meeting recently held in Glasgow, on the subject of the Missions of the United Presbyterian Church, that gentleman delivered one of his pleasant and powerful speeches, in which he gave utterance to some wholesome and homely hints to those whom wealth has so blinded as to make them forget both themselves and their duties. The following is the portion in question :

There were, Dr. Anderson said, in Glasgow many wealthy lawyers and merchants, and there were some wealthy lawyers and merchants on that platform, who formed eminent exceptions to those he was about to portray. Let him speak of these wealthy lawyers and merchants. Should they take the ground of birth, we were as honourably born as they ; take the ground of education, we met them at the High School, and we beat them there, we met them at college, and we beat them there, we met them in the debating forum, and we beat them there. Neither did we occupy a despicable condition as respects bodily qualities, as if it were only the sickly and the ricketty who became ministers. (Laughter and cheers.) We met them on the College Green, (loud cheers and laughter,) and we beat them in our gymnastic exercises; for, be it remembered, even Dr. Chalmers was in his day the best foot-ball player among his companions. (Renewed cheers and laughter.) Thus, in every way, in all the pursuits wherein we met each other, we beat them, till we took our sacred and consecrated way to the pulpit, and they took their secular path to the counting-house of the merchant, or the desk of the lawyer. In the name then of mind, in the name of literature and science, in the name of usefulness to the country, he would demand why these men should adopt a patronizing air, should boast of the two or three guineas which they may pay for sitting in our churches, and while they themselves are expending their thousands a year, will talk over their claret, of £300 being a handsome salary to a minister. (Great cheering.) And their wives, too, why should they assume their patronizing air? Who are they? Whence come they? Let them pay their debts. (Great cheering and laughter.) Yes, let them pay their debts to the Church. City ministers were treated well in comparison with their country brethren. He thankfully acknowleged that. Who were they? They

were men of accomplished mind, whose sensibilities had been quickened by a high education, and their self-respect cherished by intellectual

culture, and yet they were drawing out a life of misery, save for the martyr's spirit that was in them, with a large family, on some £100 a year, or perhaps less. With this sum they had to keep up the respectability of a minister. They had to make the show expected of his family, and defray those special expenses which were necessarily incident to his work. He protested there was no extravagance in this. He believed that many of them could have led a more comfortable life had they been hand-loom weavers, or moulders and engineers. When he heard some of these men preach, he sat and admired and wondered where they found the patience to construct euch discourses. (Applause.) It was not only cruel, it was most absurd, for people to expect well argued, and rhetoretical discourses, full of sweet consolations, from men whose hearts were torn with anxiety at home, about paying their own and their family's way honestly through the world. He called for justice to the sufferers. It might be said, "Why not go to their people?" Now, he would admit that there were some churches who treated their ministers most ignominiously. They were now taking measures with such congregations. He hoped his sentiments on this subject would be noised abroad, and reach those congregations who were able to support their ministers but did it not.

On former occasions we have repeatedly, in speaking on this subject, coupled the churches of Great Britain with those of the United States, as being both in the same condemnation; and we shall do so again. An American Journal lies before us, in which we find the following, which is altogether to the point:

In

While on this subject, we cannot avoid attending to the condition of the clergymen of the United States who reside out of large cities. As a general rule, the clergy of our large cities and towns are fairly paid; but not more. the country their condition, in a vast majority of instances, is lamentable. Taken in a body, their salaries will not average four hundred dollars a year. Four hundred dollars a year, and a wife to support-children to rear up, educate and maintain! It is true four hundred dollars a year will procure food, raiment and house room; and the children can be educated at the public schools. But the laity are very exacting; and while they will not or cannot pay a fair compensation to their spiritual guides, they are desirous that they should keep up that position in society which their means will not warrant. Let their pastor make his appearance in the sanctuary on a Sabbath morning in a shabby old hat or coat, and it will afford food for a week's censorious comment. It is not merely the smallness of the salary which country pastors have to complain of. Small as the pittance is, in too many instances they fail to receive their just and hard-earned dues; and few, indeed, are aware of the misery which the want of punctuality and good faith produces. When, then, we hear at wide intervals of time of a case or two of clergymen receiving their thousands per annum, we cannot help thinking of the fifteen or twenty thousand poor country clergymen-learned, pious, zealous in their call

ing-who are compelled to live on, year after year, without means to procure the comforts of life.

Are these things even so? We much regret to learn it in a country so thriving and wealthy as that of the United States. It is not to be wondered at that we hear so much of removals among them, so much of men combining business of some sort with the ministry, or altogether renouncing regular pastoral charges, that they may go into trade. Where families are large, or, through affliction, unusually expensive, how can it be otherwise? We invite our own British readers to ponder the picture thus presented from the other side of the Atlantic; and count, with confidence, on obtaining from them an

indignant verdict against the bulk of those churches who can well afford to support their pastors in a proper manner, and yet neglect to do it. But does it alter the matter if the same things are done on this side of the water? If the same things occur in England, are they not deserving of like reprehension? And will not their consequences be equally pernicious? Are not multitudes of the churches, at this moment, in country places, and in small towns, suffering severely from their neglect in this respect? Is not straitened means, in nine cases out of ten, the cause of the removals which take place among us, and of all the unhappy consequences which frequently flow from them?

THERE is no class of human beings which, for versatility, can compare with the Jesuits. Dr. Wiseman is a striking example. Having issued his epistle from the Flaminian Gate, and drawn upon his stalwart limbs the Scarlet Stockings,the language of the Vatican scarcely sufficing to express his views of his own dignity, or the value of the gift of an Archbishop to the British Isles,-England was saved; the great schism of the Catholic Church was healed; and after the lapse of three hundred years, the seed of the Saxon were once more restored to the bosom of their Catholic Mother. All this, of course, was intended only for the ears of the disciples of Rome; but it was difficult to address them in sounds which should not, at the same time, strike on the ears of their fellowcitizens and hence the proclamation had the effect of a trumpet, and the trumpet emitted no uncertain sound. Finding that more had come out of the utterance than was intended or desirable, he at once changed his voice, attempted to show that the arrangement was a mere thing of words, an ecclesiastical convenience, and poured contempt on the idea, the "stupid idea,' of any rivalry with the Bishops of England, or any thought of touching the Established Church. From that time to this he has affected the utmost contempt for such an idea, representing it as a creation of the busy brains of hostile bigots! But in a community so gregarious as that of the Papists, it is not easy, with all its tyranny, to com

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mand even perfect uniformity of utterance, to say nothing of thought; and hence the note that was set by the Cardinal, at the commencement, continues to regulate the chant of the huge choir of Papal Writers, both at home and abroad. We shall present an example frem a Popish Review, which, there can be no doubt, utters the genuine sense of the Vatican :

When the old Catholic sees fell into the hands of the Protestants at the Reformation, the Catholic church simply left things as they were. The ancient divisions remained in theory, but they were not acted upon. The right to act upon them and to appoint fresh Catholic bishops to the Protestantized sees was never for a moment given up. The prelates of the Anglican establishment were and are viewed as holding the temporalities of those divisions; but as having no spiritual charge whatever over the souls of the inhabitants in the sight of Almighty God. The Catholic Church regard them as usurpers in a twofold way-1st. they are mere laymen ordained and consecrated by other laymen, without a valid succession from the apostles; and 2ndly, even if they were consecrated bishops, they would be usurpers of jurisdiction.

We call them bishops, it is true, just as we call the Anglican clergy "reverend." But this is a mere act of courtesy. In the eye of the Catholic Church there is no such person in existence as an Archbishop of Canterbury or of York, or a Bishop of London, Durham, or any other of the old Catholic sees.

This is language which deserves great praise it is speaking out! And we entertain an entire belief in the sincerity of the writer when he declares that Rome never, for a moment, gave up the right to appoint Catholic bishops to Protestant