And

death which they have done, and to inherit, as they have done, that crown of immortality which the Lord hath prepared and purchased for all that love Him; we must be ready to resist to the blood, striving against sin, and striving, I may add, also against the Man of Sin. (Hear, hear.) while others may be pursuing their worldly, and comparatively worthless objects, preferring darkness to light, and error to truth,-stigmatizing vital godliness by the nickname of fanaticism,-may we be found at our posts, looking up unto Him that is the author and finisher of our faith, and earnestly contending for that system of Divine truth which was once delivered unto the saints. Sir George concluded by moving, "That the Assembly approve of the Report, and order the same to be kept in retentis; re-appoint the Committee,-Mr Tweedie, Convener. They also approve of the overtures; agree to petition Parliament against the grant to Maynooth, remitting to the Committee to prepare a draft; and the Assembly reserve any further deliverance on the subject of Popery, and in regard to the instructions to be given to the Committee, to a future diet." (The hon. baronet resumed his seat amidst loud cheers.)

Mr THOMSON of Banchory seconded the motion, and said, that after the very important and touching speech to which they had listened from the honourable baronet, he would not seek to detain the House; but the subject was so important and so interesting, that he must crave their indulgence for a short time. (Hear, hear.) He was confident they all joined in one common feeling of delight in seeing the honourable baronet take his seat among them, and take his part in the proceedings of this day; and he was equally confident that all present joined in what passed in his own mind while listening to his specch-an earnest wish that he might soon, with renewed health and vigour, take his place once more in the House of Commons -there again to bring to bear upon our Legislature those lessons of Christian polity which he had in former years pressed so ably upon their reluctant attention. (Loud applause.) With regard to the report, it spoke of the prospects of Popery both at home and abroad; and in the facts stated, there was much cause for alarm, and much to stir us up to active exertion in oppostion to it. But the report spoke also of the progress of Protestantism, of the thousands and tens of thousands, in various quarters, and especially of the vast numbers who in America were forsaking the errors of Rome, and joining themselves to Protestant Churches. In Italy, and even in Rome itself, much good seed had been sown during the late revolutions, and we had cause to know it was now beginning to take root and to bud, and, doubtless, in due time it would produce precious fruit. The report also pointed to the modes which ought to be employed to stay the progress of Popery, by means of printing and publishing, and by spoken addresses and sermons preached. No means could be more effective in the present age; none more legitimate; and he trusted that the Committee would carry them out vigorously and effectively. The power of the press could not be overestimated; and we had cause to be thankful that a portion of it was so powerfully employed in the suppression of error and the maintenance of truth, as in the various publications noticed in the report. We had cause to dislike Popery, whether we viewed it in its political or its religious aspect. Politically, it was the enemy of all freedom; and nothing in the present day was more marvellous than the blindnesss of mere secular politicians regarding it,—their incapacity to discern betwixt truth and error; but there was reason to hope that the cause of Protestant truth was gaining ground, and that our legislators would be forced to bend, however reluctantly,

to the determination of their constituents. (Cheers.) The grant to Maynooth he held to be an act of suicidal folly. The whole of our Constitution was essentially Protestant. From our beloved Sovereign on the throne, down to a Parish Vestry in England, or a Kirk-Session in Scotland, all was essentially and thoroughly Protestant. But this grant to Maynooth, what was it? Why, taking the money of us Protestants, and employing it in the training and educating of men whose solemn and avowed duty it was to exert their every talent and energy in the destruction of those civil institutions which we prize so dearly-and of that Protestant faith which we value far more than even our political privileges. (Hear, hear.) We were entitled to judge of Popery by its fruits. If we wished to see its social results, let us look to Ireland, and there see a noble country, and a nobler people crushed down to the lowest depth of degradation, and all the fruits of Popery. (Cries of "Hear.") Men often talked of the evils which afflicted Ireland, and professed great anxiety to discover what they were. They might all be summed up in one word,-Popery, Take it away from that wretched land, and all other evils would speedily disappear. If we wished to see the political results of Popery, then let us look to the Continent of Europe, and see how, in almost every portion of it, freedom was utterly prostrate, not only freedom of action restrained, but no freedom of speech tolerated, nor even freedom of thought permitted,-till at the present moment there was scarcely a spot left where a man might with safety to himself proclaim the unsearchable riches of Christ to perishing sinners. If we wished to view it in its religious results, look to the thick darkness wherewith it enveloped every land over which it is permitted to spread itself, so that, if possible, not even the smallest spark of light shall be permitted to appear, and look to the fearful alliance it of late years had made with infidelity and atheism,-and all for the purpose of putting down the truth. If any proof had been awanting of the awful enmity of Popery against the truth, it had been now supplied by this monstrous alliance of what professes to be a Christian Church, with the open and avowed enemies of all religion, and that in the vain hope that Popery and infidelity thus combined together, may be able to extirpate truth from the face of this earth. (Applause.) The danger in which England was placed did not arise so much from the Papal aggression which had been made, as from the insidious progress of error within its own Church. He spoke in the presence of many who once little dreamt of living to see a Cardinal arrive in London, and present himself in his scarlet robes to the astonished gaze of the inhabitants; but it was not the scarlet robe of the Cardinal, nor even the tiara of the Pope which were to be dreaded, these were but the external and powerless exponents of the system: the danger lay in the state of the Church of England itself. However pure and sound it may have been in the minds of its first fathers and founders, and even in its articles, it was now but too apparent that Popish error was rapidly advancing within it, and that its rulers were either unable or unwilling to check its progress. The essence of Popery was not in its external forms and observances, but in adding to the Word of God, in holding up anything as essential to salvation other than the simple receiving of the Lord Jesus Christ by faith as the only Saviour. Many of the Papal additions to God's Word, were in themselves trifling and puerile in the extreme; but when these things were placed in competition with or in place of the finished work of Christ, then they became even the most gigantic-the most destructive. In truth, by setting up these things in Christ's room and stead, Papists did nothing less than endeavour to remove

our Lord and Saviour from his mediatorial throne, and substitute their own invention in his place. Mr Thomson trusted the Committee would be re-appointed, and set themselves to the earnest prosecution of all the work pointed out in the report. There were two principles ever to be kept in mind in conducting the controversy with the Church of Rome, and these might be expressed in four simple words," Hate Popery, love Papists." Let us ever show our uncompromising hatred of Popery as a soul-destroying system, and at the same time our hearty love of its deluded victims, by every endeavour to win them over from their errors; and on these principles he trusted the Committee would continue to prosecute their work as they had hitherto done. (Hear and applause.) The testimony borne by Scotland three hundred. years ago against Popery was more clear and decided than that of any other nation, and that to be borne now must not be weaker or feebler than that of our forefathers. No one could question that we are now placed in circumstances the most remarkable, that the final struggle betwixt truth and falsehood, light and darkness, was about to commence, if we were not even already engaged in it. The struggle might be long and fierce; but of its issue there could be no doubt; the cause of truth must prevail; all the kingdoms of this earth must yet become the kingdoms of our God and of his Christ. May that time soon come! (Loud cheers.)

Mr GIBSON, after expressing the great delight and satisfaction which he experienced in seeing Sir George Sinclair present in the midst of them, and at hearing the address he had delivered, then proceeded to refer to the present emergency, in which the question now under consideration stood. He said, he need not dwell upon the actual state of things on the Continent, as every one was well acquainted with them from what appeared in the newspapers. In their own country, however, they found the Romish party asserting in their publications the right of doing the same things that were enacted on the Continent, and boldly stating the right of the Church of Rome to persecute all Protestant Churches, and scouting altogether the idea of toleration. Not to go to the Continent, they found in Glasgow the simple preaching of the gospel in a retired court, in a destitute part of the city, was not only interfered with by a Popish rabble, brought from a distant part of the city; but he must publicly say,-he regretted to have it to state that the chief official of the county advised that that state of things should be submitted to, lest there should be bloodshed, or something worse; what that was he (Mr Gibson) did not know. (Hear, and a laugh.) The result, however, was that the simple preaching of the gospel on a Sabbath evening had to be given up: but he had the satisfaction of saying, that he believed the services would be soon resumed in that very place. Only the other day, bodily assaults had been made in Glasgow on several converts from the Popish Church; and denunciations from the altar had been resorted to by the priest against these converts. In the Popish paper there had been repeatedly published stimulants to the Papists of Glasgow to deal in a very summary way with the Protestant missionaries. After stating that the missionaries should wear skull-caps, the newspaper said, that perhaps they would not be very necessary, as the Clyde was very near the place. This was pretty plain; and would or ought these things to be tolerated in this country? (Hear, hear.) The civil authorities ought at once to interfere to prevent the publication for stimulants to violence in this way. Mr Gibson here referred to the persecuting, demoralising, blasphemous, and idolatrous doctrines taught by the Church of Rome, and particularly to the homage paid to the Virgin Mary, who was said by Dr Newman, in a sermon

in 1850, to be the superior of the Almighty. He said, that every one knew the immorality, the perjury, the theft, and various other wickednesses, that were taught in the recognised books of Maynooth College. What was the defence which Cardinal Wiseman set up in the Dublin Review, for the character of the doctrines taught by Popery? He said that this was not the morality they taught from the pulpit, but that it was the morality in which they instructed the priests to act in dealing with a diseased conscience needing peace; and Cardinal Wiseman farther said, that as the physician, when dealing with a diseased patient, would not prescribe to him roast beef and port wine, but beef-tea and barley-water, so the priest, in dealing with a diseased conscience, would in like manner give his patient beef-tea and barley-water,-in other words a diluted morality. (Laughter.) Was this the morality of the gospel?-of that gospel which would not lower the law of God, and which would not admit of one single sin in the slightest degree without connecting the penalty attaching to it, but which pointed the sinner to the remedy to be found in the Lord Jesus Christ? Those were not competent to deal with Popery in relation to its effects upon society, who did not look into these matters, and into the principles of the Church of Rome, and into the Roman Catholic books on the subject. (Hear, hear.) Perhaps he would go a little farther in regard to the subject of toleration than many of the members of Assembly; and his opinions might be regarded as intolerant. He would go this length,—that while he would not interfere with these men, and while he would leave them in many respects to do what they were doing, he would not at least admit the principle that men were entitled to print, and publish, and teach doctrines subversive of society as well as religion. If ministers of the Free Church were to teach doctrines making perjury lawful, and declaring that in certain circumstances and according to the wealth or poverty of the party, individuals might appropriate to themselves the property of others, would not the Lord Provost of this city have a good right to step in and say, We cannot allow that. On the subject of the press, he was glad that Mr Tweedie had introduced the matter at length into his report. He (Mr Gibson) had a strong conviction that, notwithstanding what they were doing, they were not sufficiently discharging their duty in this respect. He thought there was a great desideratum in the literature of Protestantism, and that a journal, not such an those described in the report, important as these were, and he would not certainly underrate their importance as the members might suppose,-he thought, he said, that the desideratum of a Protestant journal of higher character, and one that would be able to deal with questions of philosophy, science, literature, and taste, and to turn them to account, to the cause of truth, as the Dublin Review did in behalf of Popery, employing them as means and engines in behalf of Rome, was felt. Mr Gibson concluded by referring to the claims of the Scottish Protestant to public support, observing that the parties connected with it had carried it on in the most disinterested manner.

Principal CUNNINGHAM rose to express his cordial concurrence in the remarks made by Mr Gibson, and his sense of the important services rendered by him to the cause of Protestant truth, as well as the ability and learning with which he conducted the Scottish Protestant. In regard to the Bul wark, though it might be supposed that he, as revising editor, might have a great deal to do in connection with that publication, he must publicly state what was undoubtedly the truth, that its efficiency and success had been mainly owing to the ability, energy, and activity of Dr Begg. (Ap plause.) He intended, however, to bestow a somewhat larger share of atten

tion upon this journal than he had hitherto done. (Applause.) He eulogised Dr Begg's Hand-book of Popery, and also the pamphlet published by Mr Thomson of Banchory, upon the same subject, and which was peculiarly important, as containing invaluable expositions of the connection subsisting between the ordinary proceedings of the Church of Rome in the ceremonial, and the doctrines taught in the authorised catechisms.

Mr HISLOP, Arbroath, having addressed the House, the Assembly unanimously agreed to the motion.

CASE OF SELKIRK PRESBYTERY.

The Assembly then took up an appeal by Mr Sorley and others against a judgment of the Synod of Merse and Teviotdale, relative to the cancelling of certain minutes of the Presbytery of Selkirk, as also a petition by the Presbytery of Selkirk relative to the cancelling of said minutes.* Mr Sorley was heard for the Presbytery, and Mr Wright and Mr Bonar for the Synod. Parties having been removed, the Assembly, inasmuch as the Presbytery of Selkirk had allowed the sentence of the Synod of date 22d April 1851 to become final, dismissed the appeal, and affirmed the judgment of the Synod; and further, with reference to the petition of the Presbytery of Selkirk, the Assembly refused the prayer thereof.

The Assembly then adjourned till the evening.

EVENING SEDERUNT.

The Assembly resumed at a quarter past seven.

CASE OF MR JONATHAN ANDERSON.

The Assembly having taken up the case of Mr Jonathan R. Anderson, parties appeared as at the forenoon diet. Mr Anderson was called in the House, but not answering, he was three times called at the door by the Officer of Assembly, but did not appear. The Assembly, conformably to their resolution this forenoon, therefore postponed the case till Saturday; and they continue their citation of Mr Anderson till Saturday, the 29th instant, at twelve o'clock noon, with certification in the usual form. And the Assembly order extracts of this deliverance, with that of last diet in this case, to be prepared, and appoint Gavin Anderson, their officer, to deliver the foresaid extracts into Mr Anderson's hands to-morrow morning. This judgment was intimated to parties at the bar, who were summoned apud acta. UNION WITH ORIGINAL SECEDERS. [See Appendix.]

FOREIGN DEPUTATION.

Dr CANDLISH, after apologising to the foreign deputation for the time which had been necessarily occupied with the subject which had just been disposed of, but in which he had no doubt, relating as it did to the subject of Christian union, they would cordially sympathise, suggested that the report of the Colonial Committee should be delayed, and that they should at once proceed to hear the foreign brethren.

Mr BONAR, Convener of the Colonial Committee, in acceding to this proposal, said that they had this year the happiness of seeing among them a considerable number of ministers from different parts of the Continent,some drawn here by their own feeling, and others direct deputies from their own churches.

*The Synod had ordered certain minutes of the Presbytery to be cancelled, and from this deliverance no appeal was taken; but at a subsequent meeting of Synod, it was discovered that their minutes had not been deleted, their sentence had not been carried into effect; and the Presbytery of Selkirk, considering that the Synod were interfering with their records beyond what they were entitled to do, brought up the matter to the Assembly.