have left. They left for Malta two days ago, and I can now only commend them to the Shepherd of Israel, praying that He may still further illuminate their understanding by the power of His Holy Spirit, and make them stedfast in their resolutions. We must not be too much cast down if they prove unfaithful. The fear of man is especially a snare to Jews, who are threatened with this as one of their plagues," Thou shalt have fear alway." I would observe this, that my intercourse with these men has strengthened a conviction which has been gaining ground in my mind, that the more intelligent portion of the Jewish community is much better acquainted with, and much more favourably disposed in secret towards the truths of our religion than Christians are in general aware, or than the Jews dare to avow. The more learned of these two men has sometimes, in reply to my questions, involuntarily made admissions as to the present fluctuating state of the Jewish mind, which renders me hopeful that the time for some great movement is not far off. Multitudes, he says, at Constantinople, think with him, and, provided an opportunity occurred, would assert independence of Rabbinical control. There are Jews here in the same state. Now, as God is true to His promise, as He must revisit the old olive-tree and graff it again, should not we thank Him and take courage, and leaven the mass with all diligence, by the truth as it is in Jesus? Missionaries are evidently not permitted to see the full future effects of their work. It is with their God. Another observation I have to make, is the acuteness with which a Jew that is convinced will seize upon the most forcible point in the argument, hold it fast, and insist upon it with the most nervous vehemence as alone important. For example, I was conferring with them as to the prophecy in the xxxi. and xxxii, of Jeremiah. The more learned one had considered it before, and expressed his conviction that this new wonder which God would create could be no other than missions conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost in the Virgin's womb. But, he says, who are they that declare this? Is it not to be proclaimed to Ephraim or Israel by the Nozzerim, or Nazarenes, the inhabitants of Nazareth, or the followers of Jesus. They are to publish these glad tidings to the Israelites. It is a mistake, he says, to call Nozzerim watchmen, they are the Nazarenes, this the Jews know well. Upon consulting my concordance, I felt that there was good ground for this. And I saw more fully and clearly than before the truth stated by the Apostle, that "through your mercy they may obtain mercy. The Nazarenes or Christians are to lift up the voice, and to call affectionately and earnestly to the Virgin, or native, of Israel. “Turn again, O Virgin of Israel, turn again to these thy cities. How long, &c.? Dost thou not see that great wonder, Emmanuel, God with us, born of a virgin in a miraculous manner? Dost thou not see that 'unto thee a Child has been born, that unto thee a Son has been given?' Do not the NAZARENES declare this to thee?" I think if you station yourself, so to speak, at the sixth verse, as a point of observation, and keep the whole chapter before you as declared by Christians to the Israelites, you will see how forcible the above idea is. If true, as it probably is, does this view not teach the Christian his great responsibility and duty in reference to the Jews? I gave each of the two a copy of Diodati's Bible, and of the Shorter Catechism. With the latter they were greatly pleased. I showed the more learned one how to count the weeks of Daniel from the twentieth year of Artaxerxes. He seemed delighted in having found the solution of a difficulty which had perplexed him before he met me. He told me he had been hitherto unable to determine the time, yet he was convinced that Jesus Christ had done all the other things specified, and that he must have come at the period foretold, for the vision was for an appointed time. Our schools are doing well,—about thirty girls during the day, and as many boys at night. The soldiers have formed a class for the practice of sacred music, on the Tuesday evenings before the prayer-meeting and on the Friday evenings. I encourage this class as much as possible, both because it improves the singing of the congregation, which is well led by one of the artillery, and because it is a means of keeping the men from temptation. The evening, from six to eight, is the time which is generally employed by the soldiers in roaming about the town, and I wish to give them an opportunity of employing themselves in a rational and useful exercise. In late accounts from Corfu, our faithful missionary there states, that on the occasion of the death of Peter Ramsay, on whom Mr. Charteris had attended in the hospital for three months, the first Presbyterian funeral took place in the island. Mr. Charteris says, "The whole Artillery Corps accompanied the body of their comrade to the grave-yard. Having previously consulted the Confession of Faith, and seeing it gives a discretionary power to the Christian friends, and especially the minister, to hold such service as they think suitable to the occasion, I embraced the opportunity to read the 90th Psalm. I made a few observations on it, especially the lesson taught by ver. 12. I read also the last part of 1st Corinthians xv., and concluded with a short prayer. The soldiers then discharged their farewell shot on the grave, and were marched away. There was a large assemblage of Jews and Gentiles, and marked attention given to the service." Mr. C. states, this case was one of five he attended in the hospital, and had much reading and prayer with the sufferer, and that he was so hopeful of his state. "The union of the Church with the State in England, maintains corruption in doctrine, ruins Church discipline, hinders the evangelization of the country, perpetuates schisms in the Churches, renders the reformation of the Establishment impossible, impedes the progress of religion, embarrasses the Government, and lends strength to all the Papal Establishments of Europe." "Although by Christ's law, none but faithful men are to be made pastors, and the Churches are forbidden to receive any others, yet they allow any man to be forced upon them, whom the State pronounces to be respectable. The patron alone presents any one whom he pleases out of the 15,000 clergy of Great Britain, though notoriously frivolous or unevangelical, though suspected even of immorality; and the bishop can institute no other to be pastor. If the bishop refuses to admit the patron's presentee within twenty-eight days he is liable to a duplex | querela in the Ecclesiastical Courts, and to a quare impedit at Common Law. The patron is entitled to call upon the EXTRACTS FROM BAPTIST NOEL'S ordinary to institute his clerk, and to ESSAY. "The supremacy of the State determines the settlement of pastors within the Establishment, its doctrine and worship, its discipline and government." "The actual state of the Churches of Christ within the Establishment is, that the Crown can exercise a spiritual supremacy over them in all ecclesiastical cases, and that the Legislature has a higher and more absolute power still over them." "It is of no avail to allege that the King is only head of the Church under Christ. Where is Christ's appointment? Did our Lord appoint the profligate Charles II., or the Romanist James II. to be his vicegerent? If not, the Established Churches had no more right to make either of these persons their head without the consent of Christ, than a convention of Irishmen might make the Pope their supreme ruler under the Queen." "The House of Commons consists of six hundred Members with no more religion than six hundred men taken at hazard from any city or town in Great Britain, whose theological opinions, including Romanism, High Churchism, Socinianism, and thousand other varieties, make up a perfect chaos of irreconcileable contradictions." a enforce that right by quare impedit, unless the bishop specially states in his plea some reasonable cause wherefore the clerk presented is not fit.'-Burns' Ecclesiastical Law, vol. i. p. 156. The only reasonable cause is legal proof of incapacity, heresy, or immorality. Want of spirituality, indolence, ill-temper, semi-papal attachment to ceremonies, the denial of the doctrine of justification by grace through faith, and an undevout life proving an unconverted heart, are not in the eye of the law' reasonable causes.' And thus, contrary to the law of Christ, to apostolic precedent, to the practice of the first centuries of the Christian era, and to common sense, the Churches, for the sake of the State pay, allow ungodly pastors to be forced upon them by ungodly patrons through the fiat of the State.' To live in the dread of slander, and to regulate our conduct by the opinions, the whispers, the surmises, or threats of either foolish or wicked men, is the worst of all slavery.-Sir J. Hawkins. CONSCIENCE can demand no more, nor will it take less, than God demands for satisfaction. The blood of Christ meets both.-Flavel. THE Collections in aid of this fund will, agreeably to appointment of Synod, be made this year in all our churches on Sabbath, the 18th March. The object of the fund, as is now well known, is to pay, in part, the travelling expenses of members attending the meetings of Synod, the cost of printing, and other incidental charges; and though the Synod has declared that its maintenance is essential to the interests of the Church, it is believed that hitherto it has failed to secure that support which it deserves, from its being regarded as partaking too much of a secular character, whereas, in reality, it acts like the balance-wheel or main-spring, without which the other works would not go on. For several years past the state of the fund has been such that the treasurer has been kept considerably under advance, and at last meeting of Synod it was found necessary to authorize the reduction, by one half, of the allowance for travelling expenses to its next meeting. It is now satisfactory to state that since the rising of the Synod several additional contributions from congregations, and donations from individuals, have been received, so that the debt, which, at close of 1847, stood at 1117. 4s. 5d., has been reduced, at the close of last year, to less than one half of that sum; and if the claims of the fund are now fully brought before our people, it is not to be doubted but by their liberal response they will place it in such a position that not only will the balance of the debt be discharged, but provision be made for the payment of the same allowance as heretofore, inadequate, at the full, to the Church's representatives. One word, more especially to the Presbyteries of Lancashire and London: -the contributions of the former, in 1847, were nearly double the amount of those of 1848-let them now make up for what was lacking then; and let the latter evince, by their liberality, the welcome which they give to their friends from a distance, in which they will only be following the good example set them by the brethren of the Newcastle Presbytery, who, upon each occasion of the Synod meeting within their bounds, collected much beyond what they did in any former years. One other word to alllet the smaller congregations give according to their means, but with a laudable desire to be as little burdensome to the fund as possible; let the larger congregations give liberally, and with a ready desire to bear the burdens of the weaker. Thus will all "fulfil the law of Christ," and such being the case, there will doubtless be abundance to meet the necessities of the fund. ALEXANDER GILLESPIE, Treasurer, London, February, 1849. collections, when made, be immediately reNote.-It is particularly requested that the ported, and that the amount be remitted to the above address. ENSUING MEETING OF SYNOD. It As the time is approaching when the Synod is to meet in London, namely, the third Tuesday of April, it is hoped our friends in the metropolis are preparing to give a cordial and Christian welcome to ministers and elders from a distance. is well known that there are many brethren whose circumstances can ill afford the expense of living a week in London, and we trust many hospitable doors will be opened to them on their arrival. During the meetings of Synod in Berwick, Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, Sunderland, and Newcastle, the members of Synod were hospitably entertained in the families, both of members of our Church and others; and we confidently rely upon the same manifestation of liberality and Christian feeling in the great metropolis. We believe there are many godly families who will consider it a privilege to have one or more of the Lord's servants under their roof on such an occasion for a few days. And as the Committee of Arrangement are desirous of having all these matters arranged as soon as possible, it is hereby respectfully requested, that parties willing to accommodate a minister or elder, during the sitting of the Synod, will kindly intimate the same as soon as convenient, either to their own minister, or to the Rev. W. NICOLSON, Convener of Committee of Arrangements, by a note addressed to him at 16, EXETER HALL. February 20, 1849. HOME MISSION FUND. THE annual collection in behalf of the Home Mission and Supplemental Fund was appointed by the Synod to be made this year, throughout the Church, on Sabbath the 18th February. The Committee to whom the administration of the fund is entrusted, feel deeply that the importance of its objects, and the degree to which it has already been instrumental in attaining them, would justify them on such an occasion, under any circumstances, in appealing on its behalf to the liberality of all the congregations connected with the Church. The maintenance of the ordinances of grace in districts where the need of them is sometimes the greater that it is little felt, and the improvement of the temporal condition of ministers labouring in poorer localities, so as to enable them to give an exclusive and undistracted attention to their pastoral duties, are objects vastly important both in themselves and in their bearing upon the extension and consolidation of the Church. The Committee are constrained to state, that their expenditure during the past year, has exceeded the receipts by 957. ; and, while they do not attribute the decrease in their receipts during the same period (which were less by 1407. than they had been the previous year) to a diminution of interest in behalf of the object, but to the depression which prevailed in trade, they feel that the decrease justifies them in appealing to the members of the Church now, not merely to sustain, but to augment their liberality. A large extent of good has during these years been effected by this scheme of the Church. It has most materially aided in encouraging the formation of new congregations in places where there * This address was issued too late for insertion in the "Messenger" of February. was great spiritual destitution. It has served to support and revive other Churches, that, from various causes, had fallen into a declining state. It has helped to secure and retain the services of well-qualified ministers amongst our people, who, but for this, would have been induced to seek other fields of labour; and it has lessened the anxieties, and cheered the hearts, of not a few of Christ's ministers, whose energies, after a long period of toil and difficulty, were ready to faint within them; while the amount of benefit it has directly and indirectly conferred on the souls of men in various districts of this land, by bringing the word of salvation to their homes and hearts, can only be fully known in the day of the revelation of Jesus Christ. Convinced, as the Committee is, that you appreciate those objects, and that you desire such results; and believing that, in proportion as you have tasted and seen the Lord to be gracious to your own souls, you will strive and pray that others who dwell within our borders may share with you the privileges of the Gospel made effectual by the Spirit of God, the Synod's Home Mission Committee have unabated confidence in your co-operation; and they have now simply to remind you that, as the fund depends mainly for its efficiency upon the annual collection, it is hoped that the present will be a liberal one. ALEXANDER MUNRO, Convener. Manchester, Feb. 6, 1849. Presbyteries' Proceedings. PRESBYTERY OF LONDON. THIS Reverend body held its monthly meeting at Exeter-Hall on Tuesday, 13th Feb., Mr. Fisher, Moderator. The Rev. Fred. Monod, of the Reformed Church of France, was present, and was associated. Mr. Edmonds, Student in Divinity, had subjects prescribed to him, in order to trial for license. The Report of the Committee appointed to visit Brentford was given in by Mr. Weir, to the effect that the circumstances of that locality afforded, at present, no hope of success in any attempt to form a congregation. The matter was therefore dropped, and the Committee discharged. Communion Rolls were given in and |