the smallest degree misrepresent ed the law of the church upon the subject, or of having drawn any unwarrantable inference from it. In conclusion, we have to express our surprise and deep regret, that such a decision was allowed to go upon the records, with the appendage of unanimity attached to it. It had been a comfort to this clergyman, persecuted, we venture to say, for his attachment to the statutes of the church, had he seen, that, even in this supreme ecclesiastical court, however hopeless his cause might be, there were, neverthe less, some neither afraid nor ashamed to bear the brunt of his persecution along with him. We know that there were some who deeply felt the severity or injustice of the decree; and we are persuaded that hardly has any question come before the court, of which ordinary talent might have made so much, so that we cannot but feel surprise and sorrow that the fear of man should have so insnared one man of conscience and of principle; and that while one of the main pillars of our establishment was wantonly pulled down, so few were found bold enough to exclaim against the outrage. We hope indeed, amid all the oppressions of the church, for the return of purer times; but we are persuaded, that the earliest symptom of the return of such times, will be found in the enlarged liberty of Christian ministers in the exercise of church discipline according to the word of God, for then only will that notion receive a complete check, which is now unhappily so prevalent in every quarter of the country; that because people are born in a Christian land, therefore they are entitled to all the privileges of the Christian church; and in the greater purity of the administration of ordinances, we are persuaded, will be found the elements of the greater purity of Christian principle and profession in the land. RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE. GRATIS SABBATH SCHOOL SOCIETY. (Extracts from the Twenty-seventh Report.) Your committee may commence their report of the Society's proceedings during the past year by stating, that there has been a diminution in the number of children taught in the schools since the year preceding; from 4109, it has decreased to 3583. The reason of this decrease has been hinted at above. There are some fields of benevolence which may be said to be of almost boundless extent, which the utmost multiplication of efforts cannot exhaust. That part of the population of a city, however, which may be brought under the benefit of religious instruction, has its limits, and the number of Sabbath school instructors may come to bear a near proportion to it; so that these cannot be multiplied beyond a certain extent without encroaching upon each other's portion of the work. Your committee are not so ignorant as to affirm, that the field is even now fully occupied; nor so self-complacent as to think that they and their coadjutors in the work have done all that it was their duty to do. Yet they may be allowed to say, that as all good attempts have a limit in human imperfection, they trust the diminution of numbers is not to be considered an indication of decreased zeal on the part of your society, but rather of former assiduity; since it is now found impossible for others to enter upon the same ground, without assuming some part of the labour which they formerly discharged. Your committee now refer, as most of the society will be aware, to the Local and other Sabbath schools more recently established, which are now bearing their share in this labour of love. After the statements in their last report, your committee would abstain from farther discussion as to the comparative merits of different systems. As they are actuated by no unseemly jealousy of their brethren, they do not mention a diminution originating in such a cause as justly a matter of regret; and they will cordially join with the supporters of more recent establishments in rejoicing, if through the increase of la bourers, the field be cultivated with greater efficiency and success. The claims of any one of these institutions can never be set aside by the excellencies of another, unless the institution itself be superseded; for each, while it exists, presents an efficient instrument of usefulness, operating by a process substantially the same, and effecting the same valuable results. Your commit tee only express their earnest hope that the friends of the society will increase and not relax their efforts for its support, otherwise the funds may be expected to prove inade quate to its expenditure. They are happy in stating their conviction, that the utility of the society's labours continues still undiminished. The same steady assiduity distinguishes the exertions of your teachers; the same expedients of usefulness are employed; and there is still the encouragement arising from instances of saving benefit under the instructions communicated. The reports of the teachers in general continue to speak very favourably of the steadiness and attention of the young people under their charge. Instances are mentioned of strong attachment to the exercises of the schools, and of the cultivation of kind affections among the scholars to each other. One teacher has presented a letter addressed to him by a scholar expressing in strong terms his gratitude for the instructions received in the school, and his love to the truth which maketh wise unto salvation. Several teachers report that their scholars have, during the past year, contributed regularly to the funds of the Scottish Missionary Society. Prayer meetings are also kept up in connexion with some schools; and the interesting fact deserves mention, although it may have been alluded to in former reports, that in various instances the place of teacher is now supplied by those who occupied formerly the station of learners. The libraries attached to many schools still continue to circulate instruction among the families with which the scholars are connected; parents manifest the same eager desire as their children for the books distributed, and receive in this way that divine knowledge, which may be denied access through other channels. Instances have also been recorded of young persons, who have been cut off by death, affording evi (Extracts from the Report of 1824.) Your Committee have, this day, to Report their official procedure; to exhibit a statement of the funds they have received for the use of the Society, and of the manner in which these funds have been employed; to state what number of copies of the sacred volume they have distributed, and to detail such occurrences, connected with their operations, as may appear worthy of notice. It is with much satisfaction that your Committee report, that, during the period they have been in office, your funds have suffered a much smaller depression than might have been expected, considering the continued infelicity of the times; the multifarious and increasing demands upon the liberality of the religious public, and the powerful tendency of the human mind to lose a portion of its attachment to what is no longer recommended by the freshness and force of novelty. Your Committee have received, for the purposes of the Institution, the following Of these sums your Committee have dis- Bible 0 0 £150 London Hibernian Society, 15 0 Gaelic School Society, 15 O Scottish Missionary Society, 10 Baptist Missionary Society, 10 0 0 Paid the Parent Society, for Balance remaining in the hands of the Treasurer, 280 14 O 0 14 18 1 the Institution over a larger surface; to stamp upon the sacred volume a higher value in the feelings of those by whom it is thus obtained, and to cherish that spirit of independence, by which our Scottish population have been so long and so happily distinguished, and with which the preservation of their virtuous habits is so intimately connected. It may be recollected, that a former Committee received from the Edinburgh Naval and Military Bible Society a request to 29 10 0 undertake, on their account, the distribution of Bibles and Testaments among such military or seamen as might happen to be stationed in the towns of Greenock and Port-Glasgow; and that that Committee cheerfully acceded to this request, and appointed a Sub-committee to take charge of the distribution, and to report from time to time. Eighteen copies of the Bible, and fifteen of the New Testament, were placed at their disposal for the purpose specified; of which, seven Bibles and five Testaments were disposed of according to instructions; of course, eleven of the one, and ten of the other, are still on hand, no further opportunities having been afforded of employing them in the manner intended. A small sum (3s. 91d.) has been received as part payment. £260 16 1 £6 6 10 It is proper to remind this meeting and the public, that all the sums granted to other Societies, established for the general propagation of Christianity, are directed to be solely and exclusively devoted to the aiding of these Societies in translating, printing, and circulating, or purchasing for circulation, the sacred records. To these purposes, your Committee, like all their predecessors in office, have scrupulously restricted their grants. In the course of the year, your Committee have distributed within the bounds, or transmitted to be distributed elsewhere, 206 copies of the Old Testament in English, and 35 in Gaelic; with 97 of the New Testament in English, and 12 in Gaelic; in all, 241 Bibles, and 109 Testaments. A very accurate and circumstantial account of these distributions (specifying the date, and the individuals by whom copies have been received) is furnished to the Committee, not only at the close of the year, but from time to time, in the course of the year, and is open for inspection at the shop of the depositary, Mr. John Turner, William Street, Greenock. This distribution has been conducted on the principle so frequently and explicitly recognised and uniformly approved by the Suciety. The copies of the Scriptures have been disposed of either at prime cost, or at reduced prices, or gratis, as various cases seemed to require. Sales have, in all cases, been preferred, when practicable, to gratuitous distributious, as tending at once to save the funds of the Society, and thus enable its guardians to extend the benefits of In the course of the year, your Committee have been favoured with several interesting communications from a well-known and highly respected friend of this Society, Mr. James Dawson of Pictou. His donation of £5, 5s. constitutes the least part of his claim on the gratitude and esteem of the Society. His pious and benevolent exertions in the service of religion, and more particularly in the circulation of the Scrip tures among the inhabitants of that part of the world, are unremitting, and promise to be productive of the happiest results. THURSO AUXILIARY BIBLE SOCIETY. YOUR Committee, in presenting a brief account of their proceedings during the past year, feel disposed, in the first place, to remark the continued kindness of God in his dispensations towards this Society. It will be remembered by all, that, in our last report, we were called upon to lament the death of our late worthy President, Colonel Sinclair of Forss. At the same time, we expressed a hope that God, in his providence, would be pleased to repair the loss; and this hope was soon realized. The eyes of the Committee, and of all the friends of the institution, were turned towards James Traill, Esq. of Ratter, whose ready compliance with their earnest wishes to accept the office of President of the Society, accompanied with a very handsome donation to its funds, afforded them the most heart. felt satisfaction. They are desirous also to acknowledge the kindness of Providence, in giving them such an able and willing coadjutor as George Sinclair, Esq. younger of Ulbster, as Senior Vice-President. Your Committee are happy to announce, on this our eleventh anniversary, that L.38 have been remitted to the Parent Society since last annual meeting, for which your Treasurer has received an acknowledgment. They also ordered four dozen of Bibles, and two dozen of New Testaments, for circulation among the destitute poor within the bounds of your Society's operations; most of which have been distributed, and very gratefully received. Considering the large distribution which has been made by the Society since its commencement, and that several of the copies last ordered still remain undisposed of, notwithstanding the many public intimations which have been given to any who might be destitute to apply, your Committee do not think it proper to recommend that any more should be ordered on the present occasion. While it is thus highly gratifying to know, that our own countrymen, in this remote corner of the kingdom, are supplied with the bread of life, we must never lose sight of a fact no less painful than true, that, in other parts of the world, there are millions of our fellow-creatures perishing for lack of knowledge. And were it possible for your Committee, in this abridged report, to lay before you the details of the operations of the Parent Institution, whose hands you have, in some degree, strengthened, the cry from many of those dark and destitute regions would be heard, "Come over and help us." Your Committee have much satisfaction in being able to state, that the funds of the Society are increasing; and that the exertions of the ladies in its behalf continue exemplary and unremitting. They venture humbly to hope, that He, in whose hands the weakest instruments are effectually employed in causing his pleasure to prosper, will graciously continue to bless and to countenance even the feeblest efforts in the best and noblest cause. Address at the Annual Meeting, by George MY CHRISTIAN FRIENDS AND BRETHREN, If I were called upon to address an assembly in which the divine inspiration, the supreme authority, and the paramount importance of the sacred volume, formed the VOL. XXIII. NO. IX. cate. subject of doubt or of debate, I should, indeed, offer myself to your notice in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling; for although the grounds on which these points are most triumphantly established, have not failed to attract my attention, or to convince my understanding, I am conscious that much of their energy would be lost in the hands of a feeble and unworthy advoOn this occasion, however, I am happily relieved from the awful, though honourable, responsibility of standing forward as the ardent, but most incompetent, champion of our most blessed Master's cause. I may venture to hope, that I am surrounded by fellow Christians, who admit without controversy, the truth, as well as the magnitude, of the great mystery of godliness, God manifest in the flesh; and who are assembled not coldly to discuss the utility, but humbly to second the zeal of one of the most important, most useful, and most enlightened institutions of the age ;an institution, through the medium of which, in conjunction with other societies, the day-spring from on high is everywhere beginning to dawn upon the dark places of the earth, which are filled with the habitations of cruelty; and thousands, both at home and abroad, are taught to ascribe glory in the highest to that God, who is proclaiming in his gospel, peace upon earth, and displaying, in the glorious scheme of redemption, unparalleled good will towards men. If it were as necessary as, I trust, it is superfluous, to adduce any motives of encouragement for the purpose of awakening our sympathy, and of reanimating our zeal, how cogent and how numerous are the arguments on which I should delight to expatiate! Might I not notice, in the first place, with feelings of grateful emotion, the striking and simultaneous revival of genuine piety in so many districts of our native land?-A revival not confined to any rank, or peculiar to any denomination, and which chiefly owes its origin, development, and progress, to the more general diffusion of that blessed volume, which is, doubtless, a sealed book, without the teaching and guidance of God's Spirit, but which also is the only medium through which the. Spirit holds converse with man. I might next invite you to contemplate, how much has been accomplished abroad. A spirit of candid and favourable inquiry is manifested, in these latter times, even among the Jews, to whom the Messiah's humiliation is a stumbling block,-even amongst the Mahometans, to whom his divinity is a rock of offence. Consider, too, the wonders which have been achieved in the lands of heathen darkness, by the labours of zealous and holy 40 men, of whom the world is not worthy. We are told, that, in the days of primitive fervour and apostolic activity, many of those who used curious arts, brought their books together, and burned them before all men ; and we now find whole nations trampling under foot the idols which for ages they had ignorantly worshipped,-priests declaiming against the superstitions which had long been the sources of unhallowed gain, and perverted influence to themselves, and proselytes, whose religious knowledge is but of yesterday-proselytes who are but babes in Christ, giving all of us cause to blush, by the superior liveliness of their gratitude, their more enlarged attachment to sound doctrine, their more willing and, in proportion to their means, more ample contributions towards the universal diffusion of the Word of Life. I might also remind you, my friends, how much still remains to be accomplished-how many Dagons and Baals must still be overthrown-how much blood is still shed-how much cruelty still practised in the temples where vice and folly are deified by ignorance and fanaticism. But I would dwell with greater confidence and joy, upon the more sure word of prophecy; upon the gracious promise of Him who cannot lie, that the uttermost parts of the earth shall become the possession of his Son, and that all the nations shall flow to the mountain of the house of the Lord. my friends, who can foresee without emotion, or who would not gladly accelerate so blessed-so glorious a consummation! And here I am desirous to observe that, though I fondly anticipate an ample and liberal collection this day in the cause of truth and piety, I am most anxious that our contributors should be numerous, as well as munificent. I would call upon those who, though poor in the goods of this world, are rich in the gifts of the Spirit, to cast the smallest mite into the treasury of Christian love. They are not only entitled, but called upon, to claim the heartfelt gratification of becoming identified with the work ing of this powerful engine, whose motions are rather accelerated by the aggregate ef forts of the many, than by the partial, though strenuous, labours of the few. I would wish them to consider our illustrious Parent Society as a great and expansive ocean, which receives into its bosom, not only the waters of the mighty rivers, but the humbler and often purer tribute of the shallow mountain rill. Without meaning to libel the rich, or to flatter the poor, my own observation has convinced me, that we must chiefly look for piety amongst the indigent, and for gratitude amongst the unfortunate. If, in any part of the world, you frequent the mansions of the opulent, how often do you find that a cold, superficial, and reluctant observance of the Sabbath, alone affords a feeble indication that you are living in a Christian land! whilst every theme connected with godliness is discouraged or even proscribed. But, if you are afterwards called upon to visit the mean and secluded dwelling, "Where hopeless anguish pours its groan, the rich may be humbled and edified by discovering that there the spirit of truth condescends and delights to dwell-there the smile of contented resignation,-there the tear of thankful sensibility are elicited by one ray of spiritual comfort—or one expression of affectionate sympathy-or one tribute of charitable succour-amid privations the most complicated, and sufferings the most acute. And is it not a delightful characteristic of our parent institution, that it tenders the Scriptures to the gratuitous acceptance of those, to whom its doctrines are most precious, and its comforts most indispensible? It is not, my friends, our duty, or rather our privilege, to emulate the zealous fortitude, and the triumphant energy of the primitive messengers and martyrs, who, amid stripes, imprisonments, tumults, and watchings, rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer shame, or even death, for His Name. But be assured, that the anxious solicitude of every enlightened Christian, to promote his Master's cause, and proclaim the glad tidings to others, will be aroused in proportion as his own renewed heart has experienced the ineffable blessedness of grace. We see this principle strikingly illustrated in the woman of Samaria -one of the few individuals whose personal conversion is recorded during the ministry of our Lord upon earth. No sooner has her soul been refreshed by the living water, which springs up into everlasting life, than she hastens to the men of the city, and says, Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did; is not this the Christ? Such is the language, my friends, which we should continually address to our families and dependents around us-such are the credentials, (if I may so express myself,) which we are placing in the hands of the faithful ambassadors, who are beseeching the benighted heathen to become reconciled in Christ to their God. "Come, and listen to one, who spake as never man spake-who suffered as man never suffered who loved, as man never loved,-to one, who died for those by whom he was mur dered-who prayed for those by whom he was blasphemed!-come to him for righteousness, to render you acceptable to God; come to him for sanctifying grace, that you may find peace and rest unto your souls!— |