Committee to the Select Committee on arrangements anent the affairs of the Schemes. The names of Dr Candlish, Mr Tweedie, and Dr Russell, the Assembly add to the Committee.

EDUCATION SCHEME.

The Assembly then resumed consideration of the Report of the Education Committee. They re-appointed the Committee with its former powers, Dr Candlish, Convener. And in regard to the Fund for the Sustentation of Schoolmasters, the Assembly enjoined upon all Deacons' Courts to provide, without fail, for a monthly contribution being made by their respective congregations, either by means of the agency already in use, or by a separate association, as they shall see cause; and the Assembly instructed the several Presbyteries of the Church to call for returns of the monthly contributions of congregations, in the same manner as in the case of the Ministers' Sustentation Fund. The Assembly farther directed the Committee to see that in every congregation to which they grant a salary for the congregational teacher, the terms of this actare complied with; and further, to take care that no salary be granted to any teacher who may be at the same time receiving an allowance from the ordinary church-door collections, unless in such special cases as the Education Committee may see fit to except from the operation of this rule.

The Assembly appoint Mr Sage, Resolis, Dr John M'Donald, Urquhart, and Mr Macnaughtan of Paisley, to supply the Gaelic Congregation at Greenock, in terms of the Assembly's deliverance in that case. The Assembly instruct the Home Mission Committee to arrange with those brethren as to the period of supply, and with the Greenock Congregation, for defraying the expenses of supplying the Congregations of the Ministers thus employed.

The Assembly appoint Mr Anderson, Rothesay, to intimate their deliverance in the case of Kilbride, Arran, to that Congregation, and they appoint Mr Gibson, Glasgow, with Mr Anderson, for the purpose of conference with the people.

SUSTENTATION FUND.

Dr BUCHANAN gave in the Report of the Committee appointed to prepare deliverances, with the view of giving effect to the recommendations of the Select Committee on the Sustentation Fund. In accordance with the recommendations of the Committee, the Assembly resolved as follows:

"I. That the plan which this Church has followed, ever since the year of the Disruption, in raising a great Central Fund for the support of the ministry, is worthy of the confidence of this Church, and ought to be adhered to.

"II. That the principle of an equal dividend in distributing the Central Fund, ordained by the General Assembly which met at Glasgow in 1843, ought to be maintained; and that the deviation from that principle introduced by the resolutions of the Assembly of 1844, has been found inexpedient, and should be gradually terminated according to the following provisions :—

"1. That all those ministers now receiving stipend under the regulation of the Assembly of 1844, and who were ordained to pastoral charges in the Free Church between the Assembly of 1844 and the Assembly of 1845, shall, from and after the date of the present Assembly, be put upon the footing of the equal dividend,—that those of the same class ordained between the Assembly of 1845 and the Assembly of 1846, shall be put upon the same footing from and after the Assembly of 1849,that those of the same class ordained between the Assembly of 1846 and the Assembly of 1847, shall be put on the same footing from and after the Assembly of 1850; and that those ordained between the Assembly of 1847 and the Assembly of 1848, shall be put on the same footing from and after the Assembly of 1851.

"2. That all ministers who shall be ordained from and after the date of this Assembly to any of the charges to which the foregoing provisions apply, shall occupy the same position as regards their admission to the equal dividend, that would have belonged to their predecessors had they continued in their charges, unless in those cases in which such ministers shall be settled as colleagues, and not as sole pastors. "3. But as respects all new charges sanctioned by the present Assembly, or that shall be sanctioned previous to or at the Assembly of 1852, the ministers ordained

to these charges shall be under the regulations of the Assembly of 1844 till the Assembly of 1852, from and after which date they shall be all placed on the footing of the equal dividend.

"4. That nothing in the foregoing provisions shall be understood as standing in the way of the ministers to whom they shall be applicable being placed by a resolution of the General Assembly upon the footing of the equal dividend, at a period earlier than is contemplated in the said provisions, in the event of the Central Fund being sufficient, at the date of said resolution, to provide a minimum stipend, free of all charges, of £150 per annum, to all the ordained ministers of the Free Church. "In adopting the foregoing resolutions, the General Assembly do so in the confident expectation that the results to the Fund of the admission to the equal dividend of those ministers now under the regulations of 1844, who were admitted to their charges between the Assembly of 1844 and the Assembly of 1845, shall be such as to warrant this Church to proceed in carrying on the same process to its close.

"III. That as the duty and the safety of this Church demand that no ministerial charge shall be perpetuated that is not required by the spiritual necessities of the district, or that would involve an unwise expenditure of the resources for upholding the gospel in the land which the Head of the Church may have placed in her hands, the General Assembly hereby instruct the Committee on the Sustentation Fund to consider in what way such evils may be best guarded against, and to report to next Assembly; and farther, and meanwhile, the Assembly enjoin all Presbyteries to exercise a becoming caution in filling up vacant charges, to communicate with the Sustentation Fund in every case according to the regulations on that subject at present in force, and to pay all due regard to such recommendation as that Committee may see cause to transmit.

"IV. The General Assembly cordially approve of the recommendation contained in the third section of the Report of the Select Committee, to create, by donations and bequests, a Fund to be called A Fund for Aged and Infirm Ministers of the Free Church of Scotland,' out of the interest of which Fund provision shall be made for retiring allowances to aged and infirm ministers without burdening the Sustentation Fund; and the Assembly remit to the Sustentation Fund Committee to have the form of a bequest for the above purpose immediately prepared and extensively circulated.

"The Assembly farther approve of the recommendation of the Select Committee, that meanwhile, and until the interest on the proposed Fund shall be sufficient for the payment of all the retiring allowances, except in such cases where adequate provision is made by congregations, ministers disqualified by age or infirmity for the discharge of pastoral duties should receive their wonted stipend from the Central Fund, their proportion of supplement, if any, being left to a mutual arrangement between the minister retiring and his congregation."

The Assembly then adjourned.

EVENING SEDERUNT.

The Assembly having met, was constituted with devotional exercises.

Mr DAVIDSON read the draft of a memorial to Government, praying that the Post-Office might be shut on the Sabbath, and also a petition to Parliament, praying for a restriction of the number of licensed public-houses open on that day, which were adopted.

STATE OF EUROPE.

Mr TWEEDIE, in moving for a Committee relative to the present state of the country and of the nations of Europe, said, that every individual who had an ear to hear God's voice, or an eye to see God's hand, must have recognised the working of Providence in the events of the present day. These events were such as could not but attract the notice of all who cared either for the temporal or the eternal welfare of men, and could not but suggest the thought, that the time was coming on when the "overturnings" of which the Prophet spoke, were about to bring in a different state of matters from any that had yet appeared. He did not wish to an

ticipate, or pass beyond the present day, but surely all who regarded the signs of the times, or considered the operation of God's hand, might clearly see that He who will work, and whom none can hinder, is working now for the accomplishment of His own glorious purposes. He might be terrible in his doings to the children of men ;--it might be by terrible things in righteousness that his ends were to be promoted; but whatever might be the means, the end could not be mistaken, if we took the sure word of prophecy to guide. The way was in course of preparation for setting up the kingdom which shall never be moved. He said nothing of the time, for that would be to predict. He looked merely at what was passing around them, and sure he was, that the Church would see it to be her duty to fix the minds of men, on these mighty movements, that the reflective and the influential might be led to guide others, under God, to the results of which the Scriptures give premonition. We were to learn not merely from what God says, but from what He in his providence does, and while his judgments were abroad in the earth, then especially should the nations be learning righteousness. It would not be needful for him to dwell at any detail upon the startling movements to which he had now referred. Revolutions were now occurring with the velocity of thought, one had seen within the compass of a very few weeks, a new commentary on the words, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years. In France, in Switzerland, in Bohemia, in Austria, and even in Italy, such things had occurred as few had foreseen, while fewer still had been able to anticipate the results that had followed. While men, given to change, thought only of their own theories, and too often only indulged the dreams of their own ungodly hearts, He who ruleth over all had made the wrath of man to praise him, and opportunities now occurred for preaching the gospel, such as had not existed since the time when the Reformation shook the papacy to its centre, and emancipated so large a portion of Europe from the thraldom of the man of sin. In Italy, in particular, the cordon which had been cast around it, forming a moral barrier more impassable than the Alps which girdled it, or the Appenines which traversed it, had been removed in the inscrutable providence of God; and now had they the men, they had the opening for proclaiming, even to the Italians, the truth as it is in Christ Jesus. Now all these things appeared to be a loud and unequivocal call to this Church, to do what it can in profiting by such openings. We heard the other night from our exiled brother from Lausanne, that the gospel had been banished from the land, as far as man's enmity could accomplish that result. We are therefore summoned, while the opportunity lasts, to spread the truth which could calm all the tumults, and soothe all the wretchedness of those heaving nations. But it is not enough just to look at these agitations. After all, they are but the symptoms, or the results. The root and origin lies deeper far. We find it in the visionary political and social theories which actuate men's minds in the godless, baseless systems which have been adopted, the Fourierism, the Communism, and Socialism of France, or deeper still the Pantheism, or deeper still the Atheism, that reigns in that and other lands. The truth of God is superseded or overlaid by the dreams and delusions of men, and they are heaping up wretchedness on their own heads, at the very moment that they think they are on their way to some Utopian blessedness. Untaught by all the past, men threaten to repeat the bloody scenes of former revolutions, and it is not too much to say that all the reflective in Europe stand dismayed at this very hour, at what may be the next evolution in the doings of the men that have in many cases broken loose from the laws both of heaven and earth. Then, the exemption of our own island to a large extent, from such social miseries, appears a call to the Church to consider, and to profit by the operation of God's hand. We have had threatenings and fears. Misguided and long neglected men now threaten to take vengeance on those who have neglected them, so that the thunder has been rolling round and round the borders of our Queen's dominions, without being permitted as yet to do deadly damage there. Enough, however, has occurred to warn us, and if we would avert from our borders those calamities which are wasting other lands, surely we should humble ourselves beneath God's mighty hand, that we may be safe under His protection. It had been suggested that the Assembly should pass some act, founded upon certain recognised principles, which would act as bonds of affinity between them and their brethren throughout the world who had been cast loose from old established usages, by the

numerous changes which had taken place. It promised to be of advantage to those who were suffering for righteousness' sake, to adopt some such course, but he apprehended that the time of the Assembly was too far gone to allow them to take such a step, and he thought the only alternative left them to adopt, was the issuing of a pastoral letter to their people in connection with the threatening events which were now taking place. The document could be translated into other languages, and be accessible to their brethren of other nations. At all events, whatever might be the result to others, it was incumbent on the Church to see God at work in the events that had happened, meekly to submit, where she could not understand, and to seek to profit by all that warned us to remember that this is not the place of our rest. He moved the appointment of a Committee to prepare the address. (Applause.)

Mr BRODIE of Monimail seconded the motion, and shortly supported the views expressed by Mr Tweedie.

Dr CANDLISH expressed his entire concurrence with the motion proposed by Mr Tweedie. He said that this country had been too much connected with the seat of Popery, with the man of sin,-and that it would therefore be of the Lord's unspeakable mercy if they were not visited with some portion of the plagues which were abroad on all the nations that trafficked with the accursed thing; but the Lord was as yet affording them time for repentance; and, in these circumstances, it was the duty of the Church to give forth a solemn voice to the people. He thought it was desirable that the terms of the address should be thoroughly weighed and considered; and, with this view, he would suggest that a draft of it should be submitted to the Commission in August.

The motion of Mr Tweedie was agreed to; and, in terms of the suggestion made by Dr Candlish, the Committee appointed were instructed to submit the draft of the pastoral address to the Commission in August,

Mr MONCREIFF on his own part, and on the part of other members of the House, gave in reasons of dissent from the deliverance of the Assembly last night, approving of and adopting an amended overture on the Constitution of Schools, which reasons of dissent the Assembly order to be inserted in the separate Record.

The Assembly having called for the Report of the Committee appointed to prepare an Act anent Ministers preaching on the subject of the Testimony of the Church, a draft was submitted, which having been read, was approved of and adopted, ordered to be inserted among the printed Acts of Assembly, and transmitted in due time to the Ministers of the Church, and to Probationers having charge of stations.

Mr DUNLOP then proposed that they should appoint that the next Assembly should be holden on Thursday the 24th of May 1849, which was agreed to.

The Moderator then addressed the Assembly as follows:

REVEREND FATHERS AND BRETHREN,--The business of this General Assembly being now disposed of, it only remains for me to close your proceedings by a few parting words; and I must begin by a renewal of my heartfelt thanks for the honour you conferred on me, by calling me to preside in your Assembly, -an honour the highest that you can give, or that one who loves our Church can receive from his fellow-men. In the present case, this mark of your respect and regard has to me been greatly enhanced by the gravity and Christian forbearance with which your whole deliberations have been conducted.

In an Assembly so large, where every one is bound to express his own individual convictions, and where the points to be decided afford ample room for difference of opinion, there must sometimes be animated debate; but it is gratifying to state, that in no one instance has the warmth of your discussion led to sharp contention or personal invective, and that you can part, as you met, with warm feelings of brotherly regard for one another. This is, as I trust it will ever be, for then we shall justly win and possess the respect and confidence of every congregation and member of our Church. Permit me to add, that if in aught I have been deficient in the duties devolving on me as your Moderator, I ask your forgiveness, and I can the more readily crave your indulgence; because conscious of the goodness of my intentions, and that I have been zealous for the dignity and honour of your Assembly.

Reverend Fathers and Brethren: There is much in the aspect of the present times, and in the condition of the Church of Christ over the world, that renders it of the highest moment for us to adhere to and maintain those great principles for which our Church has been recently called to contend and suffer,-I mean the two great scriptural truths, that Christ is the alone King and Head of his Church, and that he is King of nations, the Prince of the potentates of the earth. To the first of these our forefathers bore witness for more than a century, often amid severe and scorching persecution. But our full testimony includes both of them. It is our obvious duty to keep these two great principles before the world at this time,—it is due to ourselves that we should do so,-it is due to the ministers and members of the Establishment we have left,-it is due to the people of this land, and to other branches of the Church of Christ, and to the generations that shall follow us. And I think we can easily do all this without arrogance or bigotry, but in such a spirit of meekness as may truly convince those who differ from us that we love the men, while we renounce and reject their errors. Possibly it may seem to some of you a needless waste of our time and strength to be always expatiating on the doctrines to which I have now adverted, and that, having spoken plainly to the rulers and people of this land, and having made our sacrifices in proof of our sincerity, we ought to be content, leaving facts to speak for themselves. My answer to this is, that even if there were none in our day who called in question these scriptural truths, it is still our duty to hold them up conspicuously before the Christian world for the sake of future times. But who does not see that, even in our own day, and in our own country, there is much need for repeated and oft-reiterated witness-bearing?

Take, for example, what is usually called, in the language of divines, the Headship of Christ over his Church, and if you look abroad on the world you will see how heinously this part of Divine truth is trampled upon, even in those countries where the Scriptures are recognised as law, and the Church of Christ is professedly established and fostered by the State. As surely as Christ died and rose again, so surely is he exalted to reign; if he is a Priest, he is also a King; and if a King, he must have a kingdom, the subjects of which are bound, individually and collectively, to render fealty to him,-a kingdom to be regulated by his laws, and governed by those whom He appoints as subordinate rulers under Himself. These are plain Scripture doctrines which, we think, no one who takes the Word of God as the standard of his faith and practice can ever call in question; and yet we do not need to go far to look for evidence how often they are set at nought by the rulers of this world, and how unworthily the usurpation of the civil magistrate in things sacred is acquiesced in by those who ought to regard themselves as the constituted guardians of the prerogatives of Christ. If you cast your eyes on Switzerland, and particularly the Canton de Vaud, you see a government professedly zealous for the establishment and maintenance of civil liberty, in its blinded zeal intruding into the sanctuary of God, and seeking to render those whom Christ has constituted rulers in his honse obsequious to its bidding in things sacred. And why is it that Protestant Britain, that has a voice which can be heard over Europe, when she is pleased to use it, has not lifted up her loud protest against encroachments alike dishonouring to the Saviour of men, and in the issue so surely subversive of civil liberty? Alas! the sad transactions that have recently taken place in our sister kingdom, and within the pale of a Church which, I fear, would count us presumptuous if we claimed her as our sister, afford a mournful answer to this and all such questions. You must not wonder at what is passing in other lands, for it now turns out that the Church in our own country which is most distinguished for her wealth and influence, and which, as we think, often boasts with more zeal than prudence of her apostolical character and descent, is fettered in her most sacred acts by civil enactments and penalties, and invests with the highest of her offices at the beck and bidding of the courts of law. In the temple of God the ceremony is begun, and it is ended amidst the laughter and jesting of the heedless assembly; and the thing is forgotten,-it gives place to the event of the succeeding day. No patriot or Christian voice lifts up a loud protest against the repetition of such profane mocking, for “the people love to have it so, and what will the end thereof be ?"

If it be said that these are matters foreign to ourselves, and with which we have little or no title to interfere, my answer is, "Distant be the day when the Protest