Dr. MACKAY rose to give in the report of this Committee. He said,- With the permission of the House, I will consult its convenience by not reading the report, but by referring to its special features only. The Committee, in submitting their report, are anxious to embrace the opportunity of impressing on the Assembly, and on the minds of the adherents of the Free Church throughout the land, how large and important a portion of the bounds of the whole Church. is comprised in the territory assigned to the Committee. This fact must be evident, when it is merely stated, that out of the 470 ministers who have abandoned the Establishment, and are now members of the Free Church, 101 speak the Gaelic language, and use it wholly or chiefly in their ministrations. (Hear, hear.) But it would be a most inadequate view of the state of destitution in the territory under our charge, if we were to suppose that it is only in those parishes where the ministers have seceded that destitution exists. I trust that, as convener of the Gaelic Committee, I will be excused for mentioning another fact, that, as 101 ministers in those districts are now ministers of the Free Protesting Church, 105 ministers remain in the Establishmentthus showing that very nearly one half of the ministers of the Highlands and Islands have quitted the Establishment. (Cheers.) I mention this not with a view of vainly exulting in it, but solely with a view of impressing on the minds of this Assembly, and on the minds of the country at large, that this fact is in reality an index of the strength of feeling and principle with which the inhabitants of the Highlands and Islands cleave to the Free Church of Scotland. (Hear, hear.) It will at once appear, from the facts already stated, that 105 parishes in the Highlands and Islands, within the bounds of the six Synods I shall afterwards name, are requiring aid for the maintenance of religious worship and ordinances among them. But this is not all; for I need hardly state that, under the former system, many of the parishes in the Highlands and Islands, both as to extent and population, far surpassed the abilities of any man to work them efficiently as a minister of the gospel; so that many of these parishes, if the Free Church expects to occupy the whole territory, must evidently be broken up into two, or three, or more localities; and I am free to say, that had the Free Church only the means and instrumentality to put in operation, each one of these 105 parishes might have a flourishing and prosperous congregation, even if each had been divided into two, or three, or four. congregations, the Committee are persuaded, would, on an average, outnumber the usual congregations in the Lowlands of Scotland. (Hear, hear, hear.) They might not be so abundant in worldly means-in that respect they are not so strong; but it must be gratifying to the Church to consider-as the Committee assures them they may safely do-that if weak in the resources of this world's goods, they are strong in their attachment to the principles of our Church, and are manifesting at this moment the strength of their attachment and their faith, by waiting patiently for the deliverance which the God of our Church may yet send to them. (Cheers.) The use of the Gaelic language is not the only distinctive feature of that territorythough that feature, indeed, is not one which you will easily convince the Highlanders will be sufficient to cause our Lowland brethren to underrate our numbers and position. I can assure you that the inhabitants of the territory under our care, already express and cherish much stronger confidence in the sincerity of the attachment of the Free Church to their interests, than ever they did towards the Establishment. (Cheers.) There is another distinctive feature, which renders the duty of the Free Church towards them more onerous and difficult- I mean the worldly poverty of the great bulk of our Highland population. The Committee could not but hear with something of painful anxiety the regulations according to which additional congregations are to be formed and recognised; and they cannot but entertain a fear that if the necessity of organising them be measured, in the first instance, by the aid which they bring into the treasury of the Church, our Highland congregagations may rather despair than hope. (Hear, hear.) But, after all, I fear no cause of apprehension on the subject; for I am convinced that, with the principles, and motives, and feelings, which pervade the mind of the Free Church at large-that These however small the contributions which may reach the treasury of the Church from individual districts and localities, yet when the necessities of this territory are brought before you, our Highland brethren will not be overlooked in the dispensation of the resources and instrumentality of the Church, in order to spread the Gospel in the rougher and more destitute portions of our native land. (Cheers.) The Committee have to report that throughout the Synods of Argyle, Glenelg, Ross, Sutherland, and Caithness, Moray, the Gaelic portion of the Synod of Perth and Stirling, and a small portion of the Synod of Aberdeen, they have ascertained that there are 150 stations at which probationers of our Church could be at this moment most usefully employed, and would find more than sufficient occupation in the ordi nary duties of a Christian ministry-an occupation almost incomparably more difficult than what falls to the ordinary lot of ministers in the Lowlands of Scotland. (Hear, hear.) And the Committee trust that it will be sufficient to awaken the tenderest sympathies of the Church towards the territory under our care, when we mention, that while there exist there 150 stations, the utmost number of labourers now at our command is only 31, leaving, say, 120 congregations-really congregations, though not actually organized-destitute of the ordinary ministrations of the gospel. (Hear, hear.) The Committee desire next to advert to the steps taken by them, under sanction of the last General Assembly, for providing temporary supplies. Deputations of ministers were sent forth, during last summer and autumn, to visit and preach in the districts of the Highlands and Islands. Ten deputations were sent forth, to the number of about thirty of our fathers and brethren. And the Committee have also to report that the accounts they have received from these deputations, as to what they witnessed in these districts, was most interesting-indeed, were we to go into detail, we could waken, still more than by one general view of the destitution, your kindest feelings and sympathies towards the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. I feel the strongest conviction that, never since the first light of the Reformation dawned on the land of our fathers, has there been such a universal religious movement over the whole of the Highlands and Islands as there is at this day. (Cheers.) There is there at this moment presented to view a spiritual realization of the prophet's vision of the valley-there is a moving and a shaking of the dry bones, and the Spirit of the Lord is evidently going forth to work a work which shall be great in our day, and the effects of which eternity itself alone will unfold. (Cheers.) It is known to the Church, and to the country at large, that scenes of religious revival were not unfrequent in certain parts of the Highlands and Islands in former days, and that there have been some also of a more recent date; but in those districts where revivals formerly took place, we may say there is a new revival now; and that there is an awakening even in districts where they never took place,-where, indeed, at least theologically, the pure doctrines of the Reformation had never been preached in their fulness and freeness till this day. (Hear, hear.) The Committee would also report that, speaking generally, the religious aspect of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland is most encouraging; and shall the Free Church not set itself to consult how this movement is to be guided, and how the spirit which seems to be in the movement shall be sustained and cherished? I submit that, as it is utterly impossible in a report of this kind to enter into full details regarding the state of the territory committed to our care, the statements of the fathers and brethren forming the deputation should be sent forth in one of the monthly communications, as there would thus be presented to the Church and to the country at large a pretty full view of the state of the Highlands and Islands generally, such as could not fail to raise to a high pitch of, I may almost say, excitement, the sympathies of Scotland at large in regard to the districts now referred to. While there existed such a destitution of the ordinary means of grace, the Committee, under sanction of the General Assembly and Commission, besides sending forth deputations, did, in the next place, put itself in communication with all the ministers of our Church using the Gaelic language, for the purpose of getting them to report to the Acting Committee of the Special Commission the number of young men desirous and prepared to come forward with the view of studying for the ministry of the Church. The result was that we received the names of eighty young So men, speaking the Gaelic language, desirous and anxious to devote themselves to the work and labour of the ministry in the Free Protesting Church. Of these eighty however, there are only fourteen who have attained to the length in their studies of entering the divinity hall, so that we can only expect at next Assembly ten or twelve additional probationers at the utmost to send to a territory so wide and so utterly destitute; and what is that among so many? And the more we go into the subject the more need there appears that the Church should still farther exercise patience, love, and charity, as we find that most of these young men will require to be totally supported by the funds of the Church itself, in prosecuting their studies. But I feel persuaded that this House will not judge that the value of these forthcoming labourers is to be decided by the extent of their worldly resources. far as can be judged, they are in some measure prepared for the ministry by the work of God begun in their hearts, and in regard to talents and gifts, I may say that they are at least no way inferior to the generality of young men that devote themselves to the office and work of the ministry in Scotland. But it will be manifest that the relief of the religious destitution existing is more than can be accomplished by sending forth thirty or forty probationers to minister in a territory so extensive. We have 150 congregations, and only thirty or forty preachers to supply them; but observe, also, that this small number is being constantly diminished, by individuals being called to congregations, and becoming the pastors of fixed charges; and the Com. mittee cannot hope that the destitution is to be overtaken at all, or at least in an efficient manner, by the sending from year to year of such deputations as were sent forth this year. The Committee admired their Christian zeal and kindness in leaving their flocks for a season, and encountering the toils and hardships of journeying in that rugged part of the country; but there is a limit beyond which they cannot task the endurance of congregations in wanting regular ministrations, at the call of those in a great measure unknown to them. The next object to which the Committee directed its attention, was the providing, under sanction of the Church, lay aid to supply the lack of ministerial labour. We leave to the Acting Committee to state the principles on which the Free Church, in her present circumstances, calls for such services. The Committee hope, by the use of catechists, to supply the destitution in a partial and temporary manner. We sent circulars to the ministers of the Highlands and Islands, for the names of those fitted to undertake the duty of catechists. We received the names of about forty, whom we shall send forth to labour during the winter and spring, and whose services we hope to continue; but I need not demonstrate that the services of catechists can never supply the want of a regular ministry of the gospel. In the next place, I have to remark that, looking to the destitution existing, we think it cannot be to any great degree overtaken but by a certain number of ministers of the Church, speaking the Gaelic language, being relieved from their charges, and sent forth to itinerate, from year to year, throughout the Highlands and Islands. (Loud cheers.) The Committee are impressed with the persuasion, that this is the only plan which the Church in her present exigencies can possibly adopt. The demand is loud and as extensive as the destitution itself; and if the general religious movement now spread over the face of the country be not regulated and controlled by the exhortations, and ministrations, and counsels of an experienced ministry, it may end in confusion and not in good; and on this Free Church may lie, even in the sight of the world, the responsibility for the evils that will accrue. (Hear.) I would therefore most earnestly and imploringly advise this Assembly to adopt some measure by which a certain number of the most experienced Gaelic ministers of the Church may be immediately relieved from their charges, and sent to itinerate in these territories. (Hear, hear.) The Committee have rejoiced to find respected and able ministers of the Church not unwilling to enter on these arduous labours. (Hear, hear.) The Committee think that five or six of these going to stated places throughout the country, at very distant intervals, is the very smallest means by which we may hope, if I may use the phrase, to keep matters at all in order throughout these districts; and I implore your sanction to a measure accomplishing this object, as you value the interests of perishing souls, and the honour of the Redeemer's cause in our native land. (Cheers.) We wish to present a comparative view of the state of the Synods under our charge. In the Synod of Argyle, 38 ministers have remained in the Establishment; and without entering into anything which might give offence even to the most sensitive of our opponents, I may say that, as their principles and ours differ so materially, that our adherents cannot be benefited by their labours, the destitution in that territory must be in proportion to the number of ministers remaining in the Establishment. (Hear, hear.) And I feel persuaded, that if we had a minister to place in each of these parishes, the Establishment would retain even then but a mere fraction of the whole population. In the territory of Argyle, too, there are influences at work—if not clerical influence, the influence of those who have worldly influence and authority, to defer, and binder, and forbid, if possible, the adherence of the population to the Free Church of Scotland. I would that the world should know the most cruel temptations which our poor countrymen undergo in these districts. In this as in other Synods, it is now a crime of the blackest die to be a member of the Free Church. Tenants are not only threatened with expulsion from their poor holdings, but are told that if they join the Free Church, their old bones will not be permitted to rest in the burying grounds where the dust of their fathers lies. (Cries of hear.) Unless you stretch forth a helping hand, our cause in that territory fades and dies away; and our enemies are waiting anxiously, and taking advantage of every step which they think a step of retreat in the cause on which we have entered. And I would, with the consent of the Committee, entreat the Assembly to let it be an instruction to Presbyteries, in the case of ministers in other parts of the country called to charges in the Synod of Argyle, to have special respect to the destitution existing in that territory. Dr Mackay then stated, that in the Gaelic portion of the Synod of Perth and Stirling twelve ministers had remained in the Establishmeut, and that the persecution there was not so great as in other quarters, owing, in some degree, to one noble example. In the Gaelic portion of the Synod of Moray, 17 ministers had remained in, and the destitution consequently was very great. In Ross only 5 ministers had remained in; and he hoped his Ross-shire friends would not think he was pressing too heavy on them in suggesting that they should give assistance to the more destitute Gaelic districts. He would pass over the Gaelic portion of the Synod of Aberdeen, as the wants of that district were in the course of being supplied. The case of Sutherland had been so often adverted to during the Assembly that he would not dwell on it. Dr Mackay again expressed his conviction that the Duke of Sutherland had acted under misinformation a surmise in which he was confirmed by the tone of a letter from one of his Grace's officials, formerly read, and in which the logic and the grammar were much on a par. He had still hopes, however, that his Grace would personally inform himself as to the real nature of the case, and adopt a better course. He concluded by saying that he had stated the substance of the report which the Committee had to present, and at down amid loud cheers. Dr CANDLISH then rose to give in the report of the Acting Committee. He said, at this late hour of the night, I am sure I will be conferring a favour upon you, if I condense the report as much as possible, though it might be extended to a considerable length, if I were to detail the whole amount of our operations. The report will be afterwards revised and printed; so that the members of Assembly will have an opportunity of considering it more carefully in writing, than they can possibly do by simply hearing of it. But before going into the general report, I must bring before you several particulars which were remitted to us during the sitting of the Assembly. [Among the details under this bead, few of which were of public interest, the following may be mentioned.] He proposed that Adam Blyth, a preacher in London, should be ordained to the office of the holy ministry, and went on to say-Adam Blyth is an individual to whom the Church and the cause of religion is much indebted. I formed his acquaintance when I was in London. I found him labouring in the uphill work of forming a new station et Westminster. I bad the pleasure of preaching for him at this new station and I may say literally that that was my first appearance on any stage, for I preached then in a theatre. I preached from the stage; and I preached to the pit, boxes, and gallery, all left standing as : when the place was used as a theatre. (Laughter and applause.) I preached to a |