Our cause.

for which, under God, we are chiefly indebted to the energy and perseverance of Dr Chalmers. (Applause.) I trust he will be long spared to be of such vast service to I remember well, on the occasion of one of those friendly errands which the deputations from the Assembly used to make to men in high places, that Dr Chalmers mentioned (in 1839, I think it was,) that he was then to renounce all connection with the active schemes of the Church, looking forward to that period of repose and meditation to which he aspired, and to which he was well entitled to aspire. But the Great Head of the Church had farther work in store for our illustrious friend. His rest is sure, but it has not yet come. But in looking back to these times, and to the course then taken by our talented friend in the cause of church extension, one cannot help wondering, when we think on the peculiar circumstances in which the Church of Scotland is now placed. But, Sir, while we look forward with great satisfaction to the result, I must be permitted to say, that I feel great pain and grief in noticing that the Sustentation Fund is not able at this date to produce a larger dividend to those ministers who have sacrificed their all for our cause-who have given up all their comfort and means, and cast themselves upon the liberality of the people. (Hear, hear.) I reproach myself, as many must do, that this should be the case; but I can say that it has not been known throughout the country that the exigencies were so great. We had been led to believe that a large fund-L.200,000, or L.300,000—was in the treasury of the Church, and we were not aware that there was so much need of aid for the Sustentation Fund. At least this was the case in my parish, and we entertained the belief that the money raised by the associations was not required until the next meeting of Assembly. I speak now, however, in the presence of the elders and collectors of the Church, and while we must regard this state of things as a new trial of the faith and fortitude of those who have had trials enough already, it must stimulate us in the eldership to redoubled exertions before the next meeting of Assembly, so that we may realise all the expectations of our illustrious friend. (Hear, hear.) We have only to give ourselves to the work. I now address 1500 elders and collectors, and when we go to our respective localities we have only to resolve that the thing shall be done, and it will be done. (Loud applause.) I would say to our collectors that they should not confine their applications to the penny-a-week subscriptions; I would have them go forward and address not only every member of the Free Church, but every individual who is interested in our welfare-not asking them to square their donations to a stinted pitch, but to give, and give liberally. I beg to second the resolutions. (The hon. gentleman sat down amid much applause.)

Mr M GILLIVRAY of Dairsie said he would not have intruded himself on the Assembly if he had not been requested by Dr Chalmers. He begged merely to state, that in September last, along with his friend Mr Gordon of Eddertoun, he had visited the whole county of Sutherland. Their business had been, not to address arguments to the people to leave the Establishment, for they had done that before. They argued about it very clearly themselves; they were, it is true, a simple people and they did not read newspapers, they knew nothing about them-many of them had hardly ever heard of the distinction between whig and tory, but they knew their bibles well, and knew that it was a sin for the civil magistrate to reign in the house of God; that it was a sin in the Church to submit, and a sin in them to remain. Out of a population of 24,000, they found that there were not 1000 remaining in the Establishment. He was a native of Sutherland, and went to all the manses he had ever visited before. One minister he found in a miserable cottage, with his family thirty miles away; another in a wretched lodging, forty miles from his family; another, as they had heard, in a miserable room in an inn, with his family seventy miles away; and another preparing to remove his family to a distance of ninety miles. (Hear.) Yet, instead of grumbling, he found them cheerful and rejoicing-rejoicing that they had been found worthy to suffer for Christ's sake, and rejoicing that their people, in the hour of trial, had stood so firmly by their principles and their God. (Cheers.) A dear respected friend of his own had had to remove his family sixty miles away to a town; and, brought from the pure air of the country into a town, the children had taken fever, and soon afterwards the fever

seized the mother and she died-and there he was now with six orphans, living sixty miles away from where he laboured in the ministry. (Loud cries of hear, hear.) He would only add one word as to what the people of Sutherland would do hereafter. He agreed to a great extent with what had been said, as to the Duke being under prejudices, and his believing that if he stood firm and refused sites, the people would give in. Now he (Mr M Gillivray and his friends) made it their business to inquire as to this throughout the county; and he had only to say that let the Duke hold out as long as he would, the people would hold out longer. (Cheers.) When information in regard to the question had been rapidly increasing; and when they heard of Culsalmond, and Marnoch, and Cambusnethan, and the man that was still preaching there, they were in perfect horror at these fearful violations of the law of God. When the people of Sutherland, too, saw their pastors living in such miserable abodes, they were filled with indignation, and were all the more determined to have nothing to do with an Establishment that brought such evils on their faithful ministers. Another circumstance still would prevent them ever returning to the Establishment. They looked at the whole affair as a desecration of ordinances, when they heard of men without a single real signature to their call, saying that they accepted the call of the people; and when they heard of a man preaching the Gaelic sermon only to his precentor, they looked on it as a desecration and mockery.

Mr CARMENT suggested that the benefits of the collection for the people of Sutherlandshire should be extended to the people of some districts of Ross and Inverness shires. But he had risen mainly to state two things, which he hoped would be taken notice of. The first was, that a small Highland barn would contain all the Residuaries in the ten parishes of the Presbytery of Tain. (Cheers and laughter.) The second was the noble conduct of the Lord- Lieutenant, both in his individual capacity as a proprietor, and in his official capacity as Lord-Lieutenant of the county. (Hear, hear ̧) He would also mention Mr Mackenzie of Newhall, who had shown the utmost kindness to his tenantry who had joined the Free Church in Resolis, and who was so popular, that even where the people were infuriated, whenever he approached, they called out for three cheers for the laird of Newhall. It would be well for the nobles, and lairds, and aristocracy if they pursued a similar course.

The MODERATOR then addressed Dr Chalmers nearly as follows:-It falls to me to convey to you, Sir, the thanks of this Assembly; but before doing so, I cannot refrain from expressing to you what we have felt in regard to that wonderful and overpowering address you have delivered to us this evening. I wish I could adequately express the feelings we entertain as to our obligations to you as a Church. Those feelings are strong and deep, and will be lasting I am persuaded, so that long after you shall have gone to your rest, and while the Church of Scotland, the Free Protesting Church of Scotland exists, and while Scotland exists as a nation, your name will be remembered with gratitude and affection-your name will be coupled with those of Knox, and Melville, and Henderson, and other worthies of former days, who were the props of society and the pillars of our Zion; and as was said by your respected colleague the other night, that while Knox was the author of the first reformation, and Henderson of the second, you may be recognised as the founder of the third. (Cheers.) God has endowed you with supereminent talents, and fitted you to fill any situation in life; but you have devoted all the energies of your mind to Christ the Lord, and have counted all things but loss for Christ, and you have held it to be your greatest honour and glory to promote the cause of the Redeemer in your day and generation. We mark the wisdom of God in the instruments he raises up to effect his own purposes in the world. Instruments are often used by him, which, according to the estimation of this world, may be supposed not to be the fittest. He has often "chosen the weak things of this world to confound the mighty;" yet he sometimes departs from this. Moses, while he was a man of God, was also skilful in all the learning of the Egyptians. Luther and Knox, while men of eminent piety, were also men of great learning; and though the Reformation in their days may be traced so far to the times in which they lived, still it lay with them to stir the embers and fan the flames that had been kindled; and but for them the cause of the Reformation might have been checked, if not overthrown al

together. At all periods God raises up men of prayer, men of thought, men of foresight, and men of talent, and skill, and fortitude, to carry on his own purposesto devise, and to plan, and execute for the good of mankind; and so it is in the present case. Your life has been an invaluable one, full of good deeds, and mighty enterprise. I will not advert to the various duties to which you have been called in the providence of God-I will not advert to the eloquence and power with which you have addressed the consciences oi mankind. Many have been roused by your instrumentality, and many are now in a better world, who can trace the commencement of all their religious feelings, and their being brought to Christ, to your addresses to their hearts. Through various struggles have you laboured for the cause of truth, and for the extension of the gospel; and but for your efforts many parts of the country would have displayed nothing but a moral wilderness. And then when our Church stood in need of your aid-when she was in danger-by your voice and pen you pled her cause. You have knocked at the door of the noble and the great, and the senators and statesmen of the land; and had your counsels been listened to, happy would it have been for themselves, and happy for the nation. (Cheers.) Forecasting what has taken place, you devised that plan now in operation-you were ready with it. It was concocted and fit for acting upon, and by it we trust the Church will be freed from all her difficulties and hardships. But for this we would have been at our wits' end, like a vessel on the ocean without sail or rudder; but you have guided her on her course, and she will yet reach the harbour of safety. (Hear, hear, and great cheering.) But, Sir, you cannot for ever be spared-you will retire from your active labours. My dear Sir, our toils will soon be over; our cares, and tribulation, and distresses will soon come to an end; and oh! it is a pleasant thing to look beyond the valley of tears, through the mists and the shadows, to that rest which remaineth for the people of God. 'Tis the prayer of the Church 'tis the prayer of every good man-that every blessing may be your possession which your heart could wish, and that you and yours may be interested in the covenant ratified by the blood of Christ, and in all things well ordered and sure; that your end may be peaceful, and that your after state may be happiness. May the Lord bless you, and keep you, and cause the light of his countenance to shine upon you. (Cheers.) The Moderator, then turning to Mr Hamilton, begged him to consider what had been addressed to Dr Chalmers, as addressed also to him, in so far as, considering his exertion and position, it could be held to apply. If the Church had been indebted to him for nothing more than the distinct and valuable communication which had been brought under their notice that night, he was well entitled to their thanks; but they knew also, with what power, wisdom, and skill, he had at all times pled the cause of the Church, and he was sure the Assembly joined him in the prayer that he might be long and abundantly blessed in any sphere in which the providence of God might place him. (Cheers.)

The Assembly then adjourned at twelve o'clock, to meet next day in St John's Free Church at ten in private, and in the City Hall for public business at eleven o'clock.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 24.

The Assembly met at eleven o'clock, and was constituted by praise and prayer. The Clerk intimated that the applications of students to be admitted to the divinity classes in the third year of their studies were remitted to the Acting Committee.

REPORT ON ELECTION OF OFFICE-BEARBRS.

DR CUNNINGHAM, on rising to give in this report, was received with loud cheers. He said-The report which I have to present has been framed with the desire of avoiding any express decision on points on which a diversity of opinion exists, and with the object of stating the fundamental principles on which congregations ought to proceed, by means of a single general rule, adapted to the present position of the Church, as better fitted to preserve unanimity and concord that any minute regulations or detailed directory. I would fain hope that this course may enable us to avoid discussion on certain points on which otherwise we might have had some dis

cussion (hear, hear)—and in order to avoid raising any debate, I shall simply read the report which I have to present:

"The Committee on the election of office-bearers, after carefully considering the subject in connection with the present peculiar position and circumstances of the Church, have agreed to report it to the Assembly as their opinion, that while the interim act of last year should be superseded, it is not necessary or expedient at present to frame a minute and detailed directory for regulating the election of officebearers-that the Church should be satisfied with a recognition of general principles, and the adoption of one or two general rules; and that reliance should be placed in the mean time upon the spirit which seems generally to actuate both the judicatories and congregations of the Church, for avoiding the necessity of judicially determining some points on which a diversity of opinion might exist, and yet securing general harmony in the appointment of office-bearers, and the peace and welfare of congregations. The principle has been already recognised, and should be fully and fairly acted upon, that it appertaineth to the people, and to every several congregation, that is, to the members of the congregation in full communion with the Church, to elect their minister.' It is also a principle of Presbyterian church government, that the whole proceedings of a congregation connected with the appointment of a minister, should be conducted under Presbyterial superintendence; and while this principle plainly requires that the actual election and call of a minister by the congregation should take place in the presence and under the moderation of the Presbytery, or a committee of that body, it likewise implies that no public meeting of a congregation should be held to take any steps connected with the choice of a minister, unless some member of Presbytery be present to preside at it. The Presbyteries on whom devolves the duty of supplying the pulpit during the vacancy, should do their endeavour to secure to vacant congregations an opportunity of hearing such probationers as they may wish to hear; but, in the present condition of the Church, when the probationers are so few in number, in proportion to the demand for them, -when they are already so fully occupied, and so likely to be all speedily settled in pastoral charges, it is not possible to afford to vacant congregations very full opportunities of hearing a variety of candidates, and it is scarcely possible to lay down any general rule or plan upon this subject. The provision upon this point in the Directory of 1649 is a good one, and should, as far as possible, be acted on. It is this, When any place of the ministry in a congregation is vacant, it is incumbent on the Presbytery, with all diligence, to send one of their number to preach to that congregation, who in this doctrine is to present to them the necessity of providing the place with a qualified pastor, and to exhort them to fervent prayer and supplication to the Lord, that he would send them a pastor according to his own heart: As also he is to signify that the Presbytery, out of their care of that flock, will send unto them preachers, whom they may hear; and if they have a desire to hear any other, they will endeavour to procure them a hearing of that person or persons upon the suit of the elders to the Presbytery.'

There

"The present circumstances and necessities of the Church greatly confirm the propriety of what is in itself a good rule, and well fitted to promote the peace and edification of congregations, viz., that in general a Presbytery should not proceed to moderate in a call until they have good ground to believe that the congregation in general is pretty harmonious as to the person whom they mean to choose. is satisfactory evidence that this was the plan usually acted upon by the Church under the Revolution Settlement, as well as in earlier times. But this system can be expected to succeed and to work well, only if the Church courts act fairly upon the great principle, that it appertaineth to the people, and to every several congregation, to elect their minister;' and if, in the execution of the functions which undoubtedly belong to them, such as supplying the vacant pulpit, and moderating in a call, they show a reasonable regard to the inclinations and convenience of congregations; and if congregations, on the other hand, are influenced, in all the steps they take in regard to the choice of a minister, by a deep sense of the solemnity and importance of the duty they are called upon to discharge, by the habitual recollection that it is from Christ alone they can get duly qualified and useful pastors, and by a

sincere determination that all things shall be done decently and in order,' and that the utmost care shall be taken to avoid party spirit and division. If congregations would proceed, in all the steps connected with the choice of a minister, under the influence of these convictions and resolutions, the Committee would confidently hope, that elections would in general be harmonious, if not unanimous, that there would be no occasion for a formal vote, and that not only would useful and acceptable pastors be chosen, but that the members of congregations, instead of being alienated from each other by divisions and contentions, and all the evils of unholy partizanship, would by their meetings together for prayer and consultation in regard to the choice of a pastor, be more closely united in the bonds of Christian affection. The Committee would recommend to the Assembly, that with the statement of principles, and with the general rules embodied in the preceding part of this report, a trial should be made in the mean time of dispensing with any more minute and detailed directory, and would express their earnest hope that these principles and rules may be acted upon by all parties in such a spirit as not only to render a directory unnecessary, but to promote the general peace of the Church and the best interests of congregations. The election of elders and deacons should be conducted upon the same general principles, subject to such modificatious as the nature of the case, and the practice and circumstances of the congregation may suggest. The Committee would farther take the liberty of suggesting, as intimately connected with the subject of the election of office-bearers, that the Assembly should take some measures for urging and enforcing a strict examination into the religious knowledge and the religious and moral character, of all persons who are admitted to the enjoy. ment of sealing ordinances, and for elevating, in a prudent and judicious way, the standard according to which ecclesiastical discipline has been hitherto usually exercised. The Committee would farther recommend that the Committee upon this subject should be continued, and that Presbyteries should be instructed to send up to this Committee a statement of the way in which the election of office-bearers within their bounds has been conducted, that the Committee, if they see cause, may report upon it to next Assembly."

Mr BEGG moved the adoption of the report. He said The subject to which it refers is one of great importance, and I think that the deliverance the Committee have come to, in regard to it, is one of great judgment, considering the circumstances in which the Free Church is now placed. (Hear, hear.) It is, I think, exceedingly well fitted to preserve unanimity among us, and also not to foreclose any question of importance, or to exclude any portion of our communicants from those privileges to which any of us may deem them entitled. (Cheers, principally from the audience.) The advantage of the report, I think, is chiefly in this, that it does not give a definite opinion on the most important question, whether females are equally entitled with the male members of congregations to vote in the election of office-bearers-(renewed cheers)-but leaves it entirely open to every Presbytery to exercise its own discretion, and leaves it to the female members, if they choose, to claim and exercise their rights-for I believe they have rights. (Loud cheers.) I do not wish to turn the matter to any purposes of controversy; but having paid some little attention to the subject, I wish to state, in a sentence or two, my opinion, and the grounds on which it rests. I hold, in general, that there is neither male nor female in reference to the privileges of the Church of Christ-(cheers)—and that the right of private judgment, as existing in female as well as in male members, carries along with it a responsibility in reference to the choice of ministers under whom they are to sit. (Loud cheers.) And, looking at particular passages of Scriptureat the choice of an apostle in the place of Judas, where the women met together with the other members of the Church, and remembering also the mention made of the elect lady by the apostle John-I hold that Scripture recognises the right of women to exercise their judgment in reference to the election of Christian ministers, when called on to give an opinion. Other Churches have had this question before them and decided it. It was never before discussed or decided by us, because we were encumbered by patronage; but other bodies have dealt with the matter, and the United Secession, the Reformed Presbyterian, and the Relief Churches, as well as