Popery and other heresies, as also for propagating it to those that are without, especially the Jews, a more strait and more firm association may be entered into. For the unanimity of all the Churches, as in evil 'tis of all things most hurtful, so on the contrary side, in good it is most pleasant, most profitable, and most effectual." I look for much when I advert to the circumstances in which you are now met together, and to the presence of those around you. It was a question in Christian economics, which arose in connection with missions to the Gentile world, which gave rise to the first Synod of the Christian Church that was ever held; and the propagation of the gospel throughout the world is still the grand duty of the Church. Freed as the ministers and elders of the Protesting Church of Scotland now are from many embarrassments which constrained their action, and from many exhausting contests for the independence and purity of the Church, and the rights and privileges of its members, which they were compelled to wage, they will be enabled, it is to be hoped, to devote themselves to the discharge of this duty with a power of counsel and energy of devotedness hitherto unexampled, and for the effective operation of which our form of church government is so favourable. I indulge the hope that they will not only maintain and strengthen, but multiply our posts in our great and wondrous empire in the east, and extend their benevolent regard to many other regions of the earth on which the Sun of Righteousness has not yet arisen with healing under His wings. The hope which I have thus expressed will, I doubt not, be fulfilled. While the worm of Erastianism may consume the heart of the Residuary Church of this realm, from which I pray that the Lord may speedily deliver his ministers and people who still remain within it, and while that Church, if it be not speedily felled to the ground by a penitent Parliament taking counsel of a remonstrant nation, if not of the clear testimony of God-may soon stand a decaying trunk, with a paucity of leaves, and fruit, and even branches, the Evangelical and Free Church of a God-fearing people will, under the blessing of Him who hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS, grow and flourish, and send forth its boughs to the ends of the earth, which, like those of India's own banyan tree, shall themselves take root and grow, and exemplify the wonder of the east to the people of the west, Quot rami tot arbores. Now, more than ever, we may expect the fulfilment of the anticipation of that illustrious man of God, Dr Cotton Mather, of America-" In the mean time, North Britain will be distinguished (pardon me if I use the term, Goshenized,) by irradiations from heaven upon it of such a tendency. There will be found a set of excellent men, in that reformed and renowned Church of Scotland, with whom the most refined and extensive essays to do good will become so natural, that the whole world will fare the better for them."

DR FORBES said, I beg to congratulate you and this Assembly on the very interesting proceedings of this day-proceedings which, more than any other, have resembled those of the apostolical church of old. We, like them, have been privileged to hear what our brethren in Christ have been doing in heathen countries. I feel that the subject is one which has been so ably brought before you, that I need scarcely dwell farther upon its merits, or upon the claims which have been so eloquently set forth on behalf of increased prayer, increased contributions, and increased services. And yet the proceedings of this day have been marked by circumstances of so peculiar an interest, that even at this late hour it would be altogether unpardonable in me not to advert to them, though in the briefest possible form. One is the noble, the disinterested Christian testimony which has been borne on the banks of the Ganges, to the great principles for which we in the providence of God have been called upon to contend. I cannot help comparing the testimony which these brethren have borne, to that of the twelve silent men who, during the course of a trial, say not one word, but who, when the whole matter in all its bearings is brought before them, are required, as in the presence of God, to give their verdict on which side the truth and justice of the case lies. To this verdict we can refer with the highest feelings of gratification and delight. Our brethren were looked upon by both parties to be men of the most devoted piety, and of the highest talents -men every way qualified to judge on this matter, and to judge on it well and

wisely. I congratulate you, and I congratulate this church, that they have decided in our favour; and I look upon it as a token of God for good, and as titted to convince many, who are nearer home than the Ganges, that our cause is not as they speak of it. (Hear.) Another interesting circumstance is the presence among us of that respected, that devoted, that God-honoured man, who has this day addressed us. (Great applause.) His presence, I trust, will give renewed life to the cause of missions in this country. That cause received increased interest and support from the visit of Dr Duff, who, in the providence of God, returned home to seek a restoration of health and strength, which had been weakened by his labours in that uncongenial climate. The same cause has brought Dr Wilson amongst us; and whilst we regret this for his sake, we rejoice that he is amongst us; and we trust that his presence will be overruled by the great Head of the church for the advantage of his people; that in due time his health may be restored: and that he, by the Divine blessing, may go forth to renew his labours with increased strength, carrying with him the conviction that his labours are not overlooked by the Christian people of this country. (Great applause.) The missionaries now stand in a different position towards the Establishment than they did before. They, like us, have lost their status as missionaries connected with the Established Church. They have also given a highly disinterested testimony on this occasion. A large property was in course of accumulation in the way of buildings, and other things necessary for the support of the mission, and all this they have relinquished. Here, then, is an additional cause for coming forward with renewed enterprise and exertion in their support. They have ventured their all in the cause of Christ; let us feel ourselves morally bound to do our utmost by our prayers, and by the liberality of our contributions, to maintain them with comfort in their respective positions. I feel, from what has already been done in behalf of the Jewish mission, and the cause of education, that the contributions for the Indian missions will show that Scotland is increasingly alive to the value of that cause, and to the duty of giving it an energetic support. But men have been asked for as well as funds. What, indeed, are thirteen missionaries among a population of one hundred and sixty millions. I trust that we shall send forth many more labourers into that field. What a gigantic scheme of church extension opens to us over that great and populous country! India has in many respects peculiar claims upon the attention of the philanthropist. If there is one feature for which the inhabitants are more distingnished than another, it is for the tenacity with which they hold their opinions, and the truths which they have received. It is the wonder of modern astronomers, from whom they have derived the accurate knowledge which they possess of the motions of the planets, and the date of which is so ancient, that while they have the facts they have lost the principles, so that it requires all the arguments of the advanced science of Europe to find out that recondite knowledge with which the Brahmin, sitting under his banana tree, can calculate the approach of an eclipse. It is known that there are churches in the south of India as old as the days of the apostles-churches which profess to derive their origin from the labours of St Thomas, and it is certain that there are there the oldest buildings for Christian worship to be found anywhere in the world. Let us hope that when they have once found the true seed of the word, it shall be found to be an incorruptible seed, and that their characteristic feature will be to hold by the truth as they have held fast by their errors. I conclude by stating another fact, the remarkable qualifications of those distinguished men whom God has honoured by placing in important spheres of usefulness, men whose wisdom in conducting their operations has attracted the admiration both of India and Europe, whose education schemes have already produced great results, and promise to be followed with still greater; and whose plans have been in many instances adopted by other denominations; men who are capable of meeting the Indian mind in all its acuteness and sophistry, and who have attained the highest qualifications in a field of peculiar difficulty. We ought to thank God for furnishing us with such instruments; and we ought to feel this as an additional inducement for supporting them in their great work. I beg, therefore, to move, that the Assembly approve of the report of the Committee, and desire to record,

with gratitude to him who hath the hearts of all men in his hand, the joy with which they have received the intelligence, that the missionaries agree with the principles of the Free Church, and approve of the conduct of her ministers and people, in surrendering the advantages of a connection with the State, when it could no longer be maintained except at the sacrifice of principle; and that they have resolved to adhere to the Free Church, and to put themselves under the direction of their Committee. The Assembly farther resolve to use every effort in their power to recommend the missionaries to the prayers and liberality of their people; and they also record their thanks to Dr Gordon, and to the Committee of which he is Convener, and to the missionary, Dr Wilson, who has addressed them on the present occasion.

Dr P. M FARLANE seconded the motion.

The resolution being put, and carried by acclamation,

rose.

The MODERATOR proceeded in an eloquent address, to convey the thanks of the Assembly to Dr Wilson. He rejoiced to be the organ of communicating the thanks of the Assembly to Dr Wilson for the abundant and successful labours in which he had been engaged in a distant country. The Assembly had heard with much delight and satisfaction of the recent and of the more distant proceedings of their brethren in India. They gave God the glory; but they were not warranted to overlook the instruments which God in his providence raises up for the accomplishment of his great and important purposes. There was peculiar sacredness attached to the character of a Christian missionary; and a bright balo encircled that man, who, prompted by zeal for the glory of the Redeemer, and love for perishing souls, rejoiced to forego all the advantages of country and of home, and broke the ties of kin dred and of friends, to go off, at the bidding of Jehovah, to bear aloft the lamp of revelation in a benighted world, and proclaim to perishing sinners the unsearchable riches of Christ. The position of the missionaries of India was one of peculiar im. portance; if, in any case, then, were required the wisdom of the serpent with the harmlessness of the dove-the boldness of the lion with the meekness of the lamb→ the intrepidity of the Christian warrior with the acuteness of the Christian philosopher, it was in their peculiar circumstances. And he rejoiced that they had not laboured in vain—that they had not run unsent-and that through their instrumentality the wilderness might yet be made to rejoice, and the desert to blossom as a Hitherto they had been labouring in connection with a church establishment, and he doubted not they had hoped to continue and to close their career in that connection; that, like all others, they had dreaded derangement, and to prevent it bad been willing to make every sacrifice consistent with a good conscience; but finding that the Establishment, according to the explanations of those in power, and of those still remaining within its pale, was no longer that free institution which they had supposed it to be, and which, by civil and ecclesiastical law, they were warranted in supposing it to be, they had found that they could no longer remain with a safe conscience within the Establishment. In these circumstances, they had come to let the Assembly know that it was their determination to cast in their lot with the Free Church of Scotland, and to carry on, in connection with her, their holy and divine enterprise. Many had even doubted what the course of their brethren in India would be, but they had that day come to tell them, and they hailed and embraced them in the arms of Christian and brotherly affection. After much bodily and personal distress and afflictions, Dr Wilson had come among his brethren at home, seeking strength and renovation. They trusted in God, and prayed that his desires might be fulfilled-that he might be restored to that country where all his thoughts now were-where all his affections must now centre-that he might be restored to that country with renovated health and confirmed constitution, to prosecute bis lofty enterprise for the advancement of the Redeemer's kingdom, and the saving of perishing souls, that he might be long spared to that important sphere in which he laboured; and that, finally, when his labours terminated, he might reecive the reward of those who turn many to righteousness. The Moderator then turned to Dr Gordon, and said he could only reiterate all the expressions which, on former oecasions, had been used in regard to his diligent and Christian labours in this cause.

The missionaries, as children of the church, were in some measure under his guardianship, and faithfully had he discharged his duty towards them, and long might the Lord spare him for farther usefulness in his service.

The Assembly adjourned shortly after five, to meet again at seven.

EVENING Sederunt.

After devotional exercises, and the discharge of some routine business, the Assembly called for the

ADDRESSES FROM OTHER CHURches.

Dr CHALMERS said,-Moderator, the committee for the arrangement of business have requested that, previous to the receiving of the deputations this evening, I shall give an account of the written communications that have been sent from other churches to the Free Church of Scotland, since last meeting of the General Assembly. I confess to you that I was much interested by the arrival, one post after another, of addresses and resolutions expressive of approval and congratulations from various churches, of whose very existence I was not aware till I received their letters. (Laughter.) And I think that every man whose heart is in its right place will be delighted with such movements. They are movements quite in my own favourite direction, because one and all of them are movements of convergency; or, in other words, movements which point in the first instance to union, and as soon as is possible and prudent, I trust their landing place will be incorporation. (Cheers.) These movements are not altogether new; but they are at least very rare in the Christian world. The movement generally within the interior of Christendom has been a movement of divergency; or, in other words, a movement which led to splits and separations innumerable. (Hear, hear.) It is quite in keeping with the delightful transactions which I trust one and all of us shall witness this evening, that I should communicate the fact of having received, as the Moderator of the Free Church, a number of formal addresses and resolutions from various bodies in England and Ireland, as well as two or three from foreign places. They amount, those I have received directly addressed to myself, to nineteen; and there is one that has been handed in to the clerk since we met, so that altogether these addresses and resolutions, congratulatory of the movement which has been adopted by the Free Church of Scotland, amount in number to twenty. (Applause.) I shall in the first instance read out a list of these addresses, and afterwards read two or three of them. It would be too much to take up the time of the Assembly by reading them all. 1. From the Eastern Reformed Presbyterian Synod.

2. Associated Churches of the Baptist Denomination in the counties of Lancaster and Chester.

3. General Association of Presbyterian and Congregational Ministers in New Hampshire.

4. Congregational Union of Ireland.

5. West Riding of Yorkshire Association of Baptist Churches.

6. The Elders and Members of the Western Association of Baptist Churches. 7. Welsh Calvinistic Methodists.

8. Board of Congregational Ministers in and about the cities of London and Westminster.

9. The Ministers, Office-bearers, and Members of Congregational Churches, with other Friends of Religious Freedom and Christian Truth in the County of Sussex. 10. Pastors and Churches of the South Devon Congregational Union.

11. Baptist Church worshipping in Lower Meeting-house, Amersham, Bucks. 12. East Kent Baptismal Association.

13. Pastors of Congregational Churches in North Wales.

14. Somerset Association of Independent Ministers.

15. Midland Association of Baptists.

The Addresses will be found in the Appendix.

16. Pastors, Deacons, and Members of the Church of Christ of the Independent Denomination at Southampton.

17. American Board of Missions-dated from Smyrna, and embracing Constantinople and Asia Minor.

18. Assembly of the Congregational Union of England and Wales.

19. Staffordshire Congregational Union.

20. The Synod of United Original Seceders.

21. The Reformed Presbyterian Synod of Ireland,-(this address was handed in at a later period.)

Now I must say for one that I have felt exceedingly delighted with these communications. They congenialized very much with my own wishes for union, and a mutual good understanding on the part of all those who hold the Lord Jesus Christ as the Head, and who love him in sincerity and in truth. (Cheers.) I must say that I consider it as infinitely more characteristic of the religion which we profess, the religion of peace and of charity, that, instead of each denomination sitting aloft and apart upon its own hill, and frowning upon each other from their respective orbits, that they should hold kindly and mutual converse, and see each other eye to eye, when they will discover, to their mutual astonishment, if not how thoroughly, at least how substantially, they are at one. Of these communications, I have selected, I will not say altogether at random, but I have selected three for the purpose of reading them. All of them are quite worthy of being read out in your hearing; but I cannot think of encroaching so much upon the time of the Assembly, considering the very interesting business now before you. At the same time I think these communications should be referred to a Committee, just as the communications from foreign churches were referred to a Committee at last Assembly, for the purpose of answering them. The reverend doctor then read with great animation addresses from the Eastern Reformed Presbyterian Synod, which met at Belfast on the 1st of August last, the Welsh Calvinistic Methodists, dated 6th September last, and the Board of Congregational Ministers in and about the Cities of London and Westminster. I have confined, he continued, my reading to these three, but I received one yesterday from what I consider a very important body of evangelical Christians in England, who claim the honour of descent from, and are the representatives of, the old Nonconformists. It won't cost more than half a minute to read their address. Dr C. then read the Resolutions of the Thirteenth General Meeting of the Congregational Union of England and Wales.

Mr PITCAIRN, the Clerk, also read, at the request of Dr Chalmers, the following communication from the Synod of United Original Seceders, which had been handed to him.

"At Edinburgh, Davie Street Church, 16th Aug. 1843. "The Synod of United Original Seceders being met and constituted, the Synod having spent considerable time in deliberating on their duty in reference to the Free Protesting Church, the following motion was made, seconded, and agreed to:-'That in consequence of the late faithful contendings of those now forming the Free Protesting Church of Scotland, and particularly of their struggles in defence of the Spiritual Independence of the Church, our relation to one another is very materially altered therefore the Synod consider it to be highly desirable, in order to the faithful discharge of their public duty, to ascertain, as speedily as possible, the precise nature of that relation; and for this purpose they appoint a Committee to correspond with any Committee that the Free Church may appoint, to see whether there still exist sufficient grounds for the Synod remaining separate, or whether by mutual explanations, we may not be able to remove any obstacles to an honourable union.' (Loud cheers.) Extracted from the minutes of Synod, by "ROBERT SHAW, Syn. Clk."

Dr CHALMERS resumed-I have only a few concluding remarks to make with regard to these addresses. I have said the more we meet together, and see eye to eye, we will be quite astonished with the discovery, that if not thoroughly, at least substantially, we are at one with each other. Now, perhaps, what I have read to you may have suggested the idea that we may be substantially, although not thoroughly There can be no doubt that so far as the essential doctrines of the gospel

at one.