author of the letters complained of, was Mr. Alexander Kemp, at present residing in Manchester. Thereafter Mr. Gardner proceeded to read two passages in the letters, which were the subjects of complaint, but not confining his remarks to what he alleged to be wilful misrepresentations, a lengthened discussion arose in the Presbytery as to the mode in which Mr. Gardner should make his statements; whether he should be allowed to make what running comments he pleased on the passages he quoted, or be limited to reading the passages complained of without note or comment, and pointing out the expressions or clauses which he alleged to be wilful misrepresentations. Ultimately, three motions were submitted to the Presbytery. 1. It was moved by Mr. Fergusson and seconded by Mr. Neilson, That for the purpose of sifting this matter, so as to satisfy the ends of justice in such a way as to secure unanimity of feeling among the brethren as to this case, a Committee be appointed to examine the letters in question, and the statements complained of by Mr. Gardner, with power to call Mr. Gardner and Mr. Kemp before them, and to report their proceedings at the next meeting of Presbytery." 2. It was moved by Mr. Gardner, and seconded by Mr. Neilson, "That the case be gone into in terms of the motion on the record." 3. It was also moved by Mr. Forster, and seconded by Mr. Barbour, "That in the present stage of the proceedings, Mr. Gardner be required to state specifically, without note or comment, the wilful misrepresentations; the uncharitable and groundless insinuations in the letters of which he complains." Which three motions having been regularly put, and votes marked, the first motion carried. Wherefore, the Presbytery resolved accordingly, and the following Committee, viz., Rev. J. R. Welsh (Convener) Rev. Messrs. Munro, Fergusson, and Smith, ministers, and Messrs. Barbour, Clarke, and Neilson, elders, was appointed, with instructions in the term of the motion.

Mr. Fergusson's reasons of dissent and complaint against the decision of the Presbytery on the first presentation of Mr. Gardner's petition were read, and directed to be kept in retentis. Messrs. Munro and M'Caw were appointed a Committee to answer said reasons.

The Report of the Committee on the Wharton case was then given in and read; after which it was moved by Mr. Neilson,

and seconded by Mr. Munro, "That the Report of the Committee be received and sustained, and that application be made to the Synod for permission to admit Mr. Stewart and his congregation into this Church." It was also moved by Mr. Gardner, and seconded, that the application for admission be rejected. The roll being called, and votes marked, the first motion carried, the Presbytery resolved accordingly: from which resolution Mr. Gardner dissented on the ground that the Presbytery was adopting in this case a different standard of qualifications from that required from its own licentiates.

Collections were reported as having been made for the College Fund by the following churches, viz.,-St. Peter's, St. Andrew's, Chalmers's, Trinity, Manchester, and Risley.

On the application of Mr. M'Caw, Messrs. Waddell and M'Kinnon were appointed assessors to act as the interim Kirk Session of Trinity Church.

Mr. Cross applied for a recommendation from the Presbytery to the Home Mission Committee, in favour of Crewe. A Committee, consisting of Messrs. Munro and Forster, was appointed to consider the same, and report at next meeting.

Mr. Gardner gave notice of a petition to the Synod to divide the Presbytery into two Presbyteries.

The Presbytery adjourned to meet at Manchester on the first Wednesday of January, at eleven, a.m.

Ecclesiastical Notices.

RANELAGH SCHOOLS, IN CONNEXION WITH THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, CHELSEA.— On the evening of December 19, 1848, nearly 100 young women, all of whom were formerly scholars in this school, sat down to tea, in the girls' spacious room, when addresses were delivered to them by the Rev. R. H. Shepherd, who was minister of Ranelagh Chapel for thirty years, by the Rev. William Cousin, his successor, Joseph Maitland, Esq., and Mr. Dale. To each of the young women a book was given, and after several hymns were sung and prayer offered, the company separated. This was the tenth meeting of the kind held in Ranelagh. Miss Shepherd, the honoured and devoted superintendent of the school, constantly keeps up communication with the girls after they leave the school-keeps

JOHN KNOX SABBATH SCHOOL, STEPNEY.-On Thursday evening, the 23d Nov., the teachers of this school gave the annual treat to the children belonging to the school, at which upwards of 140 children were present and were regaled with tea and plumb cake. After tea a meeting was held in the church, to which the parents and friends of the children were invited, and was very numerously attended; Mr. Simpson in the chair. A Report having been read by the Secretary, the meeting was addressed by Mr. Simpson and several members of the congregation and friends. At intervals several hymns and an anthem were sung by the children in a manner which reflected great credit on Mr. Owen, the Precentor to the Church, to whom great praise is due for the pains he has taken to improve the children in this important branch of the worship of God.

ST. PETER'S-SQUARE CHURCH, MANCHESTER. A large and respectable meetof the congregation hitherto worshipping in the Scotch Church, St. Peter's-square, was held in the Town Hall, King-street, on Wednesday evening; the elders and deacons occupied the platform, and the Rev. Alexander Munro presided. The Chairman, as well as some of the elders, after referring to the decision of the Lord Chancellor, in regard to the property of the Church, entered at some length into the reasons which had induced the managers to appear as defenders in the Chancery suit raised against the officebearers and congregation. While they as loyal subjects submitted with all due deference to the decision of the legal tribunals; still, they conceived that in point of equity they had, with great hardship, been deprived of the place of worship which themselves and friends had built. The equity points upon which they rested their claims were, that at the time the church was erected, and the trust-deeds drawn up, placing the building in the assumed connexion with the Established Church of Scotland, no Pres

As

bytery existed in Lancashire, or duly organized Presbyterian Church in England. In order, therefore, to get the benefits of a Presbyterian polity, a connexion with Scotland was contemplated and thought possible. However, some time after, about ten years ago, the Rev. Alexander Munro, with other Presbyterian clergymen and elders in England, went to the General Assembly at Edinburgh, seeking that the connexion contemplated in this and such deeds should, if the thing were possible, be made real and operative, and not left dubious. they were then willing to be under the jurisdiction of the Church Courts in Scotland, so they thought they should, as correlative to this, have representation— the right of sitting and deliberating in these courts. This was all but unanimously refused, and declared to be unconstitutional and impossible. Presbyterians in England were told to form themselves into Presbyteries and a general Synod, and so govern themselves; that they could not have any actual connexion with the Church of Scotland. This course was adopted. And, quite irrespective of the disruption which took place in Scotland, it was considered that as the strictly literal and technical meaning of the trustdeed was declared by a solemn deliverance of the General Assembly at Edinburgh, in 1839, to be a thing which could not be implemented, they might fairly expect, in all equity, that such clauses would be interpreted according to the altered circumstances. The reason the minister, office-bearers, and congregation, have been ejected from St. Peter's-square Church, is, their resolution to hold Christian and fraternal intercourse with the Free Church, whose principles are identical with their own; and with other Evangelical denominations in the three kingdoms, and throughout the world at large, who are now excluded from the church in St. Peter's-square by a legal decision of the civil law, which no acts of any ecclesiastical court, here or elsewhere, can modify. The utmost unanimity and enthusiasm prevailed, and the hall was densely crowded during the whole proceedings. A large Building Committee was appointed, and subscriptions for the erection of a new place of worship were announced. Mr. R. Barbour, 500l.; Mr. A. S. Thornton, 500l.; Mr. Wm. Parlane, 5001.; Mr. James M'Laren, jun., 2007.; Mr. James Kemp, 2007.; Mr. J. Gilmour, Mr. Kelly, Mr.

D. G. Fleming, 125l. each; Mr. P. M'Laren, Mr. Wm. Young, Mr. James Bannerman, Mr. Alexander Waddell, 100l. each; Mr. Lawson, Messrs. Robert and James M'Lean, Messrs. Hay, Nish, and M'Kean, Mr. R. M'Ewen, Mr. C. Stewart, Mr. David Bannerman, Mr. John Parlane, Rev. Alexander Munro, 50l. each; and others, to the amount of 3,500l. For the present, the congregation meet for Divine service in the Mechanics' Institution, Cooper-street.

ST. ANDREW'S FREE CHURCH YOUNG MEN'S SOCIETY, MANCHESTER. - The Third Annual Meeting of this Society was held in the large room of the Town Hall, Chorlton-upon-Medlock, on the evening of Friday, the 1st December. The chair was occupied by the President, Mr. James Wood, and the room was filled with upwards of 200 ladies and gentlemen, members of the Congregation, and others friendly to the objects of the Society. Among the guests were the Rev. A. B. Parker, of the Free Church, Lesmahagow, Lanarkshire; Thomas Greig, Esq.; Walter Clark, Esq., and others. After tea, the Chairman commenced the business of the Meeting by delivering a suitable Address, which elicited frequent plaudits. The Secretary, Mr. James Robb, jun., read the Report of the Society's proceedings during the year, which, although shewing a large falling off in the number of members, occasioned by the unexampled depression of trade causing many to remove to other towns, yet testified to the unimpaired usefulness of the Society, and the zeal of the remaining members. The adoption of the Report was moved by Mr. Clark, seconded by Mr. J. R. Anderson, and supported by Mr. T. Greig. The Rev. Mr. Parker then addressed the meeting, expressing his gratification with it, and his sense of the Society's utility. A plentiful supply of fruit was then placed on the tables, after which the meeting was addressed by Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Haliday, "On Christianity as being a nation's best safeguard," and by Messrs. P. Brown, Lloyd, and Jas. M'Gregor, "On the press and the platform, powerful vindicators of true religion, when aided by a proper system of education and moral culture amongst the people." Mr. Robert Greig and Mr. P. Capstick made an appeal to the married men of the congregation to join the Society's ranks, testifying to the benefits they themselves had experienced since they had become members. The follow

|ing votes of thanks were then passed :— To the office-bearers-on the Motion of Mr. J. McKenzie, seconded by Mr. Walker, responded to by Mr. Robb. To the ladies, for their assistance in the outdoor operations of the Society, and for their countenance on this occasion, was moved by Mr. P. Jack, seconded by Mr. Gray, and responded to, on behalf of the ladies, by Mr. Wm. Dickson; and to the strangers present, moved by Mr. D. Ferguson, seconded by Mr. C. Galt, and replied to by Mr. Lockhart, of Liverpool. Mr. Love, Secretary of the Young Men's Association in connexion with the Canning-street Presbyterian Church, Liverpool, also addressed the Meeting. A song of praise having then been sung, and the Benediction pronounced, the company separated at about eleven o'clock, all highly gratified with the evening's proceedings.

GYMNASIUM, OLD ABERDEEN.-The Gymnasium at Old Aberdeen was publicly examined lately in presence of an intelligent auditory, among whom were Professors Blackie and Ferguson, Rev. Mr.Foote, Rev. Sir W. Dunbar, Rev. Messrs. Angus, Stephen, Smith, of Tough and Keig, Millar, Trail, &c., &c. The examination at the discretion of the visitors extended to any portion of Cæsar de Bello Gallico, Livy, Book I., and a portion of Virgil,— it comprehended Roman and General History, Antiquities, and the rules for quantity, genders, &c., it included Greek, German, Arithmetic, English reading and Criticism on Milton, Scripture History and Archæology, Ancient and Modern Geography, and the principles of Music; and on all these branches they stood a searching and extensive examination, without the appearance of excitement, or attempt at display. Mr. Foote, in addressing the youth at the close of the examination, which he had attended for two entire days, stated that he would but express his satisfaction with what he had seen by employing the words which Mr. Smith, of Keig, who had taken part in a written examination of the institution on Tuesday, had used in speaking of it to him,-"He had never met with anything like it." Mr. Foote, while admitting the subordinate place of training in Christianity as only a means to an end, and disclaiming the idea of placing it on a footing with the higher teaching which God gives, happily referred, in illustration of its importance, as the handmaid of true religion, to the

efforts made by Julian the Apostate to deprive the Christians of the advantages of a liberal education. Mr. Foote concluded an interesting address by expressing his earnest wish that a blessing might rest on this institution and its promoters and teachers, as an important instrument in advancing sound knowledge and true religion. The Rev. Mr. Anderson, in thanking, on behalf of the Directors, Mr. Foote and the other examiners for their attendance and encouraging expressions of approbation, took the opportunity of acknowledging the distinguished services of his respected friend, Mr. Richardson, the Head Master of the Institution, regarding the manner in which he had called forth the persevering application of the young men, he would but express himself in the words furnished by Mr. Foote, as suggested by Mr. Smith, "he had never seen anything like it." He also took the opportunity of publicly returning their acknowledgments to Dr. M'Gillivray for his kind and valuable services, in conducting weekly excursions to the neighbourhood for the study of Natural History, which had greatly tended to promote the health and enlarge the views of the scholars.-Aberdeen Banner.

UNION AMONG PRESBYTERIANS IN ENGLAND.

THE following Overture on Union was brought forward in the Presbytery of Cumberland at its last meeting, and agreed to be transmitted to the Synod, after some verbal alterations, which the Presbytery reserves to itself the power of making at a subsequent meeting. It is now published in the "Messenger," with a view to bring the subject under the notice of the Church at large, and to enable the members of Synod to form a judgment upon it, prior to their next meeting:

"Overture by the Presbytery of Cumberland to the Synod of the Presbyterian Church in England, regarding Union with other Presbyterians.

"Whereas Union among the Churches of Christ holding the same doctrines, and maintaining the same ecclesiastical polity, is highly desirable, as tending to promote the Divine glory, and the extension of those principles which they in common believe to be founded on the Word of God: "And whereas the existence of different denominations in the same

country, who are perfectly agreed on the doctrines of the Westminster Standards, and on every point of Presbyterian government and discipline, is calculated to weaken the great cause, which they feel it their duty to maintain, and to bring discredit on the Presbyterian form of Church government, especially in a country where it has been much misrepresented, and where many have retained the name, while they have grievously departed from the very form of Presbyterian order, and hold doctrines utterly at variance with the recognised principles of the Presbyterian Churches in this empire:

"And whereas, besides the congrega

tions in connexion with this Synod, there are in England nearly sixty congregations connected with the

United Presbyterian Church' in Scotland, holding the same views of Divine truth, and under the same form of Church government as ourselves, differing in nothing from this Church, except on a certain speculative question, which may with safety be made a subject of mutual forbearance; and several of them having possession of old Nonconformist chapels, which were originally built, and some of them partially endowed, for 'Protestants of the Presbyterian denomination, dissenting from the Church of England:

"And whereas, finally, the incorporation of the congregations aforesaid, with the Synod of the Presbyterian Church in England,' would tend to strengthen and consolidate the Presbyterian interest in this portion of the United Kingdom, and remove the prejudices which many entertain against a Presbyterian Church on English soil, as of extraneous origin and extraction, not remembering that two centuries ago the English Presbyterian Church numbered above two thousand ministers and congregations, totally independent of every other Church, whether in Scotland or elsewhere, except as sister Churches of the Reformation :"The Presbytery of Cumberland, taking these premises into serious consideration, and believing that the interests of Presbyterianism, and the system of Divine truth, for which Evangelical Presby

terians have ever been known as the zealous champions and advocates, would be essentially promoted by such a Union as this Overture proposes, "Humbly overture the Very Reverend the Synod of the Presbyterian Church in England,' which is to meet in London on the 17th, and following days of April, 1849, to adopt, with all convenient speed, such measures as, in their wisdom, shall seem calculated to effect such a desirable result, as the Union of so many congregations, of the same faith and order, with this Church; and to open a correspondence, without delay, with those Presbyteries under which the majority of these congregations are classed, (viz., those of London, Lancashire, Newcastle, and Carlisle,) with a view to promote Christian and ministerial fellowship, and to remove any preliminary difficulties that may be supposed to stand in the way of such a Union as is now proposed, arising from the connexion in which these congregations at present stand with a Scottish donomination of Presbyterian Dissenters."

N.B. The following is the number of congregations in England belonging to the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland, which it is proposed by the above Overture to have united with the Synod of the Presbyterian Church in England, viz. :

Presbytery of London

4 congregations. Lancashire 7

Newcastle 26 Carlisle

9

tendency to rest in literary and other preliminary studies, losing sight of the great end of the ministry, towards which these are only means.

That special prayer and intercession ought to abound in behalf of our students will be readily admitted. But we need scarcely add that the greatest preservative against the evils complained of, and others that might be added, is personal prayer and communion with God. Luther's saying, Bene orâsse est bene studuisse, holds good for the whole course of a student's life, as well as for preparation for particular duty. Searching the Scriptures with humble faith and devout reverence, as the oracles of God, is another chief way of keeping alive and increasing spirituality of mind. To these add social prayer, for which we suppose the students have a reunion; fellowship with living people of God; visiting among the poor; teaching the young, and other works of Christian usefulness, whereby the moderatizing influence of too much mere literary and speculative study may be counteracted.

Connnected with Presbyteries in Scotland 12

Total

36

THE THEOLOGICAL STUDENTS.

WE have received a letter from one of the students attending our Theological Hall, setting forth the peculiar trials and difficulties of a spiritual kind that accompany the preparation for the ministry, and requesting that special intercession should be made by our praying people in behalf of those who are to be the future pastors of our Churches. This request we gladly hereby make known. The considerations urged in the letter at great length are such as the following:-The

already known as the author of a more elaborate account of the Relief Secession, but in the present narrative he has told succinctly and clearly all that an ordinary reader desires to know of the rise and progress of his Church. It is impossible to read its history and not sympathize most thoroughly with its reluctant founder, Gillespie. The victim of arbitrary and oppressive proceedings, and a man of deeply exercised and unostentatious piety, the pupil of Doddridge, and the lover of all good men, no nature could be more remote from the schismatic or the sectary. On the other hand, there is something very admirable in his calm and