with slow and faltering pace we follow, how easy would it be to impart an abiding and irresistible conviction that here is a golden opportunity of advancing their country's highest good, of applying a remedy to its sorest ills, and of storing up blessings for unborn generations! What we say is-give us small endowments for the new churches connected with this scheme. Give us endowments of at least £50 a year, to be attached, on certain conditions, to such of the churches as need them. Give us twenty or thirty such endowments for the new Free churches of Glasgow. That is what we require, That is what we venture to ask for. That will suffice, if rightly used, perpetuate many churches, which otherwise, we fear, could not be main tained. That will suffice, in many cases, to carry on the work of God among the poor, when otherwise it might stand still. Do we ask a great deal? Surely we do not ask what is beyond the means of those whom we have in view. Surely in this rich and money-making land there are not a few who might, while they live, or when they die, set apart one, two, three, or more endowments of £50 a year to encourage the efforts, and supplement the contributions of the poor, for upholding a gospel ministry to themselves and their children. Why should we doubt that some of those, who have made their fortunes through the instrumentality of the services and toil of persons in humble station, would be glad to gratify the feelings with which that circumstance inspires them, by devoting a small endowment to provide the gospel to the poor? We propose to give a name to these endowments. We would constitute them into a memorial of him who first proclaimed the necessity of Church extension in Glasgow, and who was the best friend of "the men of handicraft and hard labour" that Scotland has seen for many a day, by calling them "the Chalmers Endowments." (Loud cheers.) And we have more to propose. Your Committee are desirous to have the honour of beginning these endowments. We crave the allowance and authority of the General Assembly for now setting apart a portion of our funds to be the first contribution towards two of the Chalmers Endowments. What we propose is, that we be authorised to set apart £1000, in two separate sums of £500 each, for a beginning. With such an example given by the Assembly, we shall not be surprised if the £2000, which it would take to complete the first two endowments, are forthcoming before long. Why should it be reckoned an incredible thing that there are Christian philanthropists in different parts of the empire, who will deem it a privilege that they can in this way come to the help of the Lord against the mighty, or that there are enlightened natives of Glasgow in distant regions who will rejoice to dedicate a sum to the salvation of those that are perishing for lack of knowledge in the city of their birth and their boyhood-the place of their oldest and dearest recollections? (Hear,hear, and applause.) Should it please the Assembly to sanction our proposal, our hand will be eagerly and thankfully stretched out to receive donations of any amount towards the fund for the Chalmers Endowments. We have now to report the sum collected by the Church for the prosecution of the scheme. The amount of the collection is £2498: 2: 6. All the circumstances considered, the sum is encouraging. The collection was only recommended; it has been made by no fewer than 536 congregations; and when regard is had to these facts, and to the whole amount raised, we cannot but say that what has been done is creditable to the Church. It shews a just appreciation of the claims of Glasgow, and a sense of the debt that is due to our brethren of the west; it indicates the prevalence of an enlarged and unselfish spirit; and it proves that the duty of bearing one another's burdens is not forgotten. At the same time, the

Church ought to know that no less than £1107: 1: 2,-nearly the half of the collection-comes from the Synod of Glasgow and Ayr-(applause)— including the Presbytery of Glasgow; and that £771: 16: 8,-nearly a third of the collection-is from the Presbytery of Glasgow alone. It thus appears that our friends in the region of the Clyde have not been asking relief to themselves at the expense of the country in general, and that the more the Church feels and expresses an interest in the state of their great metropolis, the more are they likely to signalise themselves by their contributions and sacrifices for its religious improvement. We trust that the Assembly will find no insuperable difficulty in the way of appointing or recommending another collection. Without this, we fear that the benefit of the impulse that has been given, and is just beginning to show fruit, would be seriously diminished. With it, we are sure that the benefit will be greatly increased. Your Committee are ready to commence operations on a scale which, in point of extent, may be worthy of the General Assembly, if they have the prospect of the replenishment of their treasury in the course of the year. If that prospect were denied, the work must be hampered and narrowed to a degree which would have a dispiriting effect, and might be unfavourable to the prompt and liberal response which they hope for from private individuals and from Glasgow congregations. (Loud cheers.)

Mr ARNOT was reluctant to occupy the time of the Assembly at this advanced stage of its proceedings, and yet to receive the report in silence would seem to be a disrespect for the Convener and the Committee, which certainly the members did not feel. He would be able in a very brief space to set up the bones-the skeleton, as it were-of his address, provided always that the house would give him the credit of being able to impart to it a somewhat more gainly appearance, if leisure had been allowed to lay on the flesh and colour the skin. (Applause.) He called the attention of the Assembly first to the remark made towards the conclusion of the Convener's address, regarding the law under which the Church lies. All nature is subject to law-the Church as well as the world-the spiritual as well as the material; and the law laid down by the Convener is one that closely concerns us at present, namely, that when there is a vast mass of carnality and wickedness lying alongside of the living Church of Christ, if the Church do not exert a quickening influence on the dead mass, of a certainty the dead mass will exert a deadening influence on the Church. (Hear, hear.) We cannot sit still, and keep our own, and let it alone. It will not let us alone. Still more particularly the law may be applied; for an iceberg, in proportion to the largeness of the lump, will affect the climate of the surrounding country. In Glasgow, the largest quantity of the cold and cooling mass has accumulated; and that mass will exert a proportionately powerful influence in freezing down to its own temperature, whatever of warm and vital energy exists in the body of the living church around it. I am most certain that the Church of the living God, lying alongside of all this deadness, is in the utmost danger of being deadened, and that speedily, unless it set about a vigorous effort upon this mass to reduce it. If I should sit idly in contact with ice a whole day, I would be frozen by the evening; but a man may handle it with his naked hands-I have done so myself— from morning till night, not only with impunity, but with positive advantage to his comfort and health: the active operation of the living body upon the cold mass will make the blood circulate through all the frame with a more invigorating glow. It is thus with the operation, in faith and faithfulness, of the living Church on the dead mass near it; it will save the

Church itself, in the first instance, from sinking down; and it may, by God's blessing, also in a great measure be the means of uplifting those that are already low. (Cheers.) Permit me to remark farther, that the nation is concerned in this as well as the Church. We have not despotism in this country, and we do not want it. (Laughter.) But not having despotism to restrain the masses, we must have true morality and godliness as a salt to preserve them. The multitude must be restrained, either by the strong hand of power from without, or by the soft, yet more potent, influence of true principle within. If we do not succeed in leavening the population with the truth, they will probably soon come to such a condition, that we shall have revolution and despotism alternating in our land as in others. (Hear, hear.) Of necessity for the nation, as well as for the Church, we must address ourselves vigorously to these masses. We are like Israel in the Red Sea. The waters stand as a wall on the right hand and on the left, and we are passing safely through; but it is not of the nature of water to stand upright as a wall, and permit us to dwell in safety on the bed of the sea. Even so it is not of the nature of the ignorant, ungodly, vicious, teeming millions of this land to stand aside and permit us to enjoy our privileges in peace. The restraining hand of a providential God is upon them, keeping them back from overwhelming us. If, however, we let them alone, these waters will rise, and at length close in and cover us. (Hear, hear.) The members of the Free Church in Glasgow, and the members of the Free Church in Scotland, should address themselves to this work-not by proxy, not merely by money contributions, but by coming personally into contact with the ignorant and neglected. It will not do for the people to sit indolently in their comfortable houses, or comfortable pews--the minister preaching to his full congregation, and the congregation pretty well pleased with their minister, and throwing each his guinea or his shilling into the plate for a missionary to go down to the closes. The money contribution is necessary in its own place; but it is only by personal contact of Christian people and Christian ministers with the neglected population, that we can expect to make head. (Hear, hear.) I find in Old Testament history an incident that bears a remarkably close analogy to the case in hand. When the Shunamite's child died, the prophet at first only sent his servant forward, with instructions to lay his staff on the face of the dead. The servant did as he was bidden. He laid Elisha's staff upon the face of the child, but there was neither voice nor hearing. He was obliged to report when he met his master, "The child is not awaked." The prophet found it necessary to go himself. He brought his own living body in contact with the dead-mouth to mouth, hands to hands, eyes to eyes. stretched himself upon the child; and the flesh of the child waxed warm, and he opened his eyes. The Church of Christ in the world is the prophet

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to witness for him to do his work. It is its office to hold forth the word of lfie, and to bring it to the dead. It will not do for the Church to keep at a distance and pay some substitute, some servant, to go down to the dead. If she do so, the report will probably be again, "There is no voice, nor hearing." They must go down themselves-ministers, and elders, and members-they must go down to the spiritually dead, and lay themselves along in personal contact, mouth to mouth, hand to hand, eyes to eyes; that is, we must enter into sympathetic communion with the neglected members of the human family-our joys to their joys, our sorrows to their sorrows. We must enter into their feelings, and mingle our tears and smiles with theirs. In that vivid contact, if we breath into them the word

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of life which we possess, the flesh of the dead child will begin to warm, and we shall feel it living in our hands. (Cheers.) How closely did the Life of men come into contact with the lost, in order to quicken and raise them! It is very good for us that we are called to take a part in this work. "His work most honourable is." On the two Sabbaths immediately preceding the Assembly; I had an opportunity of preaching in the open air at two of our stations in Glasgow. I mention it as the latest news from the field of action. In one of these stations the congregation assembles in the open street, and the minister's pulpit is the top of an outside stair. The people gathered in large numbers and listened attentively. A policeman may be seen quietly going round the outskirts, ready to repress any disorder if it should arise. I felt as if we were exercising the functions of an Established church, having the emblems and officers of the authorities to protect us. The other station is in the Wynd. It was the evening of the sacramental Sabbath in the congregation already formed there. During the day, and within doors, ninety-six communicants sat down together in that infant church. The evening sermon was in the open air, in the usual place of meeting, a large private court lying close to the edge of the Old Wynd. I can never make any one understand, except those who have seen it, how good it is for a minister to be permitted to preach there. Besides the congregation, decently seated on forms in the square, the windows of the high houses on the opposite side of that narrow street, are filled with listeners from the top to the bottom. Before the minister begins, he sees that these people have taken their places, every inch of room occupied; and they are seen in the same position at the close. One of these houses lately was possessed and peopled from head to foot by the most abandoned characters, and its windows used to be filled with listeners too. The hive has been dispersed, and the house dismantled. A very manifest effect has been produced even on the appearance of the Wynd on a Sabbath evening. You can walk along that dreary length of a narrow close on a Sabbath evening as easily as along any ordinary street. If ever I should think of claiming apostolical descent, it would be while I was preaching there. Not long ago, a packet came through the Post Office to Glasgow, intituled on the back, The Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of Glasgow," and the postman handed it in to Dr Buchanan's lobby. The postman knew better about apostolical succession than all the Puseyites of Oxford. If ever we are inclined to magnify our office, it is when we are engaged in such a work, and in such a place; and perhaps the congregations of Glasgow, and other large cities, would do well to consider whether it would not be a blessing to them, when we get these churches a little farther advanced, if they would part sometimes, not only with a few pounds for a missionary, but part with their minister half of a Sabbath from time to time, that he may preach to those who are in greater need than themselves; part with him, not on an evening, after they have got all the good out of him, and when the congregation of the Wynd can only get the fag-end of him, but on a part of the day. Contribute willingly; send him away without a grudge, letting their prayers follow him, and be content with the services of a younger and less experienced minister in his place. (Cheers.) I verily believe if the congregations would do this from love to the Lord, and love to the needy, they would get a rich reward to their own souls. In regard to the necessary pecuniary supplies, it is not likely that in digging the foundations of the new churches, we shall fall in with a pot of gold sufficient to build and maintain them; but I do not think it would be good for us if we did.

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(Hear, hear.) The getting of money to be applied to such an object would no doubt be a blessing; but if we are enabled to give it as well as get it, we shall enjoy a double blessing, and it will last longer. The report does not mention the matter, but I believe it takes for granted, as known by a bitter experience, that the greatest external obstacle we meet with in the work is the public house and the drinking habits. (Hear, hear.) We have heard of a good deal of improvement in Glasgow in these matters of late. In one point I am bound to acknowledge that something has been donein shutting the spirit shops on Sabbath. This is good, so far as it goes; but we must not deceive ourselves-there is no improvement on other points. Much has been said, also, about reducing the number of spirit shops. I observe no improvement in this direction. They are multiplying apparently without limit. Having gone to Glasgow on Saturday to preach at home yesterday, I found two new spirit shops opened close to our own church, in a quiet and thinly-peopled locality; two new ones, in addition to one that was there before-two abreast, right opposite the windows of the church, and another close behind it. We maintain at considerable expense and labour our schools, and Sabbath-schools, and missions to raise up the fallen; and it is a fearful responsibility that the authorities undertake, when they set up without necessity, so many terrible rivals to counter-work (Cheers.) I beg to move the adoption of the able report which Mr Gray has submitted.

Professor MILLER, in seconding the motion, would not dream of making any set speech at such an hour, and after what had already been said. With a few words only would he trespass on the patience of the house. There seemed to be but one omission or defect in the report-an omission, perhaps, unimportant in the eyes of Mr Gray, but by no means insignificant to the church and community at large. Mr Gray spoke, and spoke most truly, of the vast numbers flocking annually to Glasgow, laden with the seeds of infidelity and ungodliness, and bearing with them no means of counteraction or cure; whole towns moving westward at least the people -but the churches and church appliances left behind! This might be true of Dundee, Montrose, and the other towns named; but it was not altogether correct as to Perth. For if the half of Perth had gone to Glasgow, so had Mr Gray. (Hear, hear.) If no church had accompanied that movement, one had followed it whose praise was in all the churches, and himself a tower of strength-" with bended bow and quiver full of arrows, he hovered around the enemy, and marked the way he took "-(applause) one who, by his stoutness of heart, zeal, and devotion, might yet be enabled to outmanœuvre the great enemy of souls in this marshalling and shifting of his forces. (Cheers.) Mr Arnot had begun with an anatomical apology; perhaps that might warrant his using, in regard to this great moral pest of towns, a somewhat professional illustration. It seemed to him to resemble most closely the common fever of towns. They both spread in intensity and malignancy, according to the amount and density of the population, but in an increased ratio. They had their exacerbations too. There are certain times when the body and mind of man are recruited by rest and slumber; in the morning he awakes fitted for the toils of the day. But it is at these very times that fever rages; the night is passed in sleepless tossings, and morning finds the patient weak and weary. So it is here. In the evening of the week, instead of the body being renovated and refreshed by the Sabbath's rest-instead of the mind being sanctified and revived by the Sabbath's communings with the Father of Spirits--it is then that this