history is the history of its domestic institutions, its social condition, its internal the painter is ever associated with the assiduous use of the brush, and the inspiration of the preacher can never state. The Church's history will be dispense with the habitual exercise of the pen. I might now, in passing, enlarge upon the advantages of a graceful, dignified, impressive delivery; but it is unnecessary. Every man who has attended to his own feelings knows, that in pulpit oratory, as well as in all other species of elocution, the manner is commonly of as much moment to success as the matter itself. That our future ministry should not be deficient in an art so much neglected, yet so valuable and so essential to success in addressing popular assemblies, we have made arrangements for teaching our students the best methods of reading and recitation. found in that which pertains to her life, not her trappings. There is not a dogma we now profess but has its history; it has had its origin, its progress. It has been the subject of many a tough and a stalwart struggle. Our creeds, as now embodied in our standards, were not fashioned for us by apostles. Fathers did not frame our symbols, or if they did, we have not succeeded to the inheritance without a warfare. Nor are these traditionary creeds, these hereditary possessions in extent and condition as they were when transmitted to us by our fathers. Our Reformed Confessions in their didactics teach the trophied results of a thousand years' warfare, and in their Pastoral Theology, however, is more polemics contend for the spoils of than Homiletics; i.e., it includes pulpit eighteen centuries belligerency. We are composition, but comprehends more. It not the first of our race, nor the founders teaches also, e.g., catechetics, a most im- of our own institutions. We are not like portant, though much-neglected branch Noah stepping out of the ark into a of ministerial duty; and one the more world that possessed not a trace of necessary to be taught, because it is so previous inhabitants. We are not like the very much neglected. If anything can first colonists of a newly-discovered compensate for want of vigorous preach- continent, entering into a land that posing in the pulpit, it is assiduous sesses no history, no connexion with the domiciliary visitation, and the active, past, and are not therefore required to skilful superintendence of Bible classes construct everything for ourselves. We and other congregational institutions. enter a world full of the accumulated Let us have restored to us the half- products of ages. Every institution that yearly visitation of all the members of surrounds us, to an eye that can decipher the flock and the yearly round of cate- the characters in which it is written, bears chising throughout all our families, and upon its outlines its history, as legibly the beneficial effect would soon appear, engraven as does a Roman pillar, or a both in our households and our flocks. Grecian arch, or an Egyptian obelisk. The other subjects taught in this class A Corinthian capital of Parian marble which, as has been said, embraces every-embedded in the mud walls of a Saracen's thing that pertains to the actual superintendence of a congregation must, from want of time, be omitted that I may, just before I close, glance at the, con V. Department of study as ducted in our College, viz., that which is commonly designated ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. This subject, as now taught, concerns itself principally with what was of old termed the internal history of the Church; that is, the history of doctrines, of creeds, sacraments, and institutions. Ideas have their history as well as facts. Ideas, indeed, are the only facts, and what are called facts are but the results of ideas. Foster has beautifully shown that a man's history is the history of his intellect and heart; that is, of his ideas and affections. A nation's true hovel does not more clearly remind us of the past, nor more strikingly evince the progress of degeneration, nor yet more ludicrously consort with its position, than do ancient heresies held by modern sectaries, who yet pretend to discard antiquity. But antiquity will not be so discarded by us; we are not novi homines, born to no inheritance, nor will we barbarize ourselves by destroying, like another Omar, the monuments of our fathers' fame, the trophies of their skill, and the products of their gains; and as little will we permit ourselves to be imposed upon by novelties, whether real or pretended. We belong not to any of the ephemeral sects of the day. Our history is that of our country. We would not say whatever is old is true, and whatever is new is false; but we do say, and advisedly too, whatever is new comes to us under a very questionable aspect. Whatever is new possesses no claim on my regards, possesses rather a character of suspiciousness, and must establish its pretensions, ere I admit it to my confidence. But whatever, on the other hand, is old and has been transmitted to me through a long line of time-honoured ancestry and thus stands enshrined in an historical formulary, I would not disturb at the bidding, no, nor suspect by the allegations, of every ecclesiastical revolutionary novelist. Creeds were made for some other end than to be handed over to every dogmatic tinker or cobbler, who will pretend to clout or mend them. Anarchy in Churches I as little admire as anarchy in kingdoms. Novelism in creeds as little captivates my regards as innovations in social economics. But why speak of novelties in religion? There is no such phenomenon. As God was before the devil, so truth was before error. Heresy is the devil's counterpart and counterfeit of God's orthodoxy. Every error, says Bossuet, is a truth perverted. Wherever God a temple builds, says the German proverb, there rears the devil a chapel over against it; which just means, without a figure, that wherever God proclaims his truth the devil advances his antagonistic error. But the devil's invention appears now exhausted, and so he only rings the changes upon his old falsehoods. Were the history of doctrines better understood, fewer heresies would be received, and those that were brought back to us from the charnel-house, where for centuries they had lain dead, or at least dormant, would be the more easily again discomfited by the weapons that had before wrought their destruction. Such then, are the topics that are taught in our Theological Seminary. I might, however, mention in addition, that we have made arrangements for giving instructions in the preparatory branches of a liberal education, such as the classics, mathematics, mental philosophy, and logic. On this topic, however, I shall not permit myself to say more than to express my poignant sorrow, in which all my brethren, and all who knew him participate, that he whose eminence in the science would tend so much to advance the study of mathematics, and whose warm fraternal spirit would bring such a glow of friendship into one circle, will not, alas! glad us this session with his smile, nor aid us with his counsel and co-operation. So much for the quantity; of the quality of the instructions I do not purpose to say anything. Neither pride nor modesty will permit me to advert in detail, nor with minuteness, to that topic. Abstracting, however, my own name from the list, to save others the trouble of doing it for me, I feel safe in saying that it is not every Church which possesses such an array of teachers; and if our students fall short of others, as fall short by God's grace they shall not, the fault will not lie with their instructors. I for one am deeply grateful to God, who hath, in his mercy, made such provision for our Institution and our Church. THE MILLENNIUM.-O blessed Saviour, what strange variety of conceits do I find concerning thy thousand years' reign! What riddles are in that prophecy which no human tongue can read! where to fix the beginning of that marvellous Millenniary, and where the end; and what manner of reign it shall be, whether temporal or spiritual, on earth or in heaven, undergoes as many constructions as there are pens that have undertaken it; and yet, when all is done, I see thine apostle speaks only of the souls of thy martyrs reigning so long with thee, not of thy reigning so long with those martyrs. How busy are the tongues of men, how are their brains taken up with the indeterminable construction of this enigmatical truth, when in the meantime, the care of thy spiritual reign in their hearts is neglected! O my Saviour, while others weary themselves with the disquisition of thy personal reign here upon earth for a thousand years, let it be the whole bent and study of my soul to make sure of my personal reign with thee in heaven to all eternity.—Bishop Hall. I HOPE I know so much of the worth of souls, that I should think it a greater happiness to gain one soul to the Lord Jesus Christ than to gain mountains of silver and gold to myself.—Henry. THE Office of "fellow worker with God" would have been no mean honour to have been conferred upon the archangel nearest the everlasting throne.-Bridges. GOD's promises are like the beams of the sun, they shine as freely in at the window of the poor man's cottage, as of the prince's palace.-Gurnall. INNOVATIONS IN WORSHIP. To the Editor of the "Messenger." DEAR SIR,-I cannot but look with alarm on the inroads which our ministers are foolishly making upon our form of worship, &c., which we have so graphically laid down in our Westminster Confession of Faith. True, there may not be any great harm in it at present, but if our form of worship is progressively and increasingly violated, I tremble for the result. And concerning the burial of the dead, why is the good old way departed from? viz., "let the dead body, upon the day of burial, be decently attended from the house to the place appointed for public burial, and there immediately interred without any ceremony," and why? because “praying, reading, and singing, both in going to, and at the grave, have been grossly abused," "therefore let all such things be laid aside." It is the regular habit here to pray at the grave. I trust that our ministers will turn up the neglected leaves of their "Confession," and act thereby. Ever yours, Newcastle-on-Tyne. ANTIQUARY. We are not aware of any inroads being made on the forms of public worship, as laid down in the Westminster Directory, and shall be glad if "Antiquary" will point them out. It is clear at the same time, that some latitude is allowed, inasmuch as in the best-ordered Churches, both in England and Scotland, the very first injunction of the "Directory is habitually disregarded, viz., "the congregation being assembled, the minister, after solemnly calling on them to the worshipping of the great name of God, is to begin with prayer." If this injunction were to be acted on in any church where at present it is unheeded, there would most probably be an outcry against it as an alarming innovation." It would be well if the Synod took up the subject of the Directory, but till then, some matters must be left to the judgment of ministers and sessions, who will, it is to be hoped, do all things for edification, and the advancement of true godliness.-Editor. 66 SATAN strikes always either at the root of faith or at the root of diligence, either to discourage from good or to entice to evil.-Livingstone. Notices of Books. The Quarterly Journal of Prophecy. No. I. October, 1848. Nisbet and Co., London, WE are thankful at length to have a Journal of Prophecy conducted, we trust, by men of judgment and common sense, as well as of learning and piety. How far the cause of truth may be advanced by their labours we can scarcely yet judge. Some things in this first number are excellent. If the conductors do not confine themselves to the exposition of their own views, but state also with fairness the objections, and discuss with candour the inquiries of others, this periodical will deservedly take a high place in religious literature. We hope that the principles laid down in the opening articles as to the interpretation of Scripture, will be attended to by the various contributors. A cause is not strengthened by such straining of God's Word, as in the following from the “Notes on Scripture.” “Proverbs xxi. 16. The man that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead." This, the writer says, is a passage parallel to that in Rev. xx. 5, “The rest of the dead lived not till the thousand years were finished ; ' in other words, "the man void of understanding shall not have part in the first resurrection." This is truly a rendering "in other words." We are anxious that our people should study the Millennial questions, but arguments of that kind, though good enough for Plymouth Brethren, or for the audience of the Bloomsbury lecturers, will not do for Presbyterian readers. On the whole, however, the articles are fairly and temperately written. Familiar Letters, by the Rev. R. M. M'Cheyne. Edited by his Father. To those who have read the "Life of M'Cheyne," and the "Narrative of the Scottish Mission of Inquiry to the Jews," there is little in this volume that is new, concerning matters of public interest. It will afford pleasure, however, to those who know the life of this amiable and devoted servant of Chirst, and still more to his personal friends, to read these familiar letters. We have his thoughts on a vast number of scenes and circumstances, in language not pre pared for public notice. In some per- benefit of a central fund or of an efficient home mission would be manifest. A minister sent and supported from without would labour until a sufficient number were gathered to render the station selfsupporting. But under our present system a minister is expected to labour mainly on his own resources, or the burden of the expenses is left with the few friends who form the station. This deters parties from joining a new church, and it is no wonder that Presbyterian congregations have so much difficulty in being established. The Synod's Home Mission Committee have the idea that there is wealth enough in London for such enterprises, but they should remember that almost all the congregations in London are merely in course of formation, most of them with heavy debt, and all with enough to do for their own support. Meanwhile we recommend that friends should meet and see what they can do among themselves for the supply of ordinances; then write to the Home Mission, stating what they are disposed and able themselves to do on condition of receiving a grant from that fund, so as thus to rent a place of The Pulpit Orations of France and Switzerland. Edited by Rev. R. TURN-It is only, however, when adequate local meeting and secure regularity of worship. BULL. London and Edinburgh: W. Collins. The Life of John Livingstone; reprinted from the edition of 1754, with Historical Introduction and Notes by the Rev. T. HOUSTON. Edinburgh: J. Johnstone. A cheap and excellent edition of the well known "Autobiography and characteristics of Livingstone," whose name is associated, not only with the stirring ecclesiastical history of the middle of the 17th century, but also with remarkable spiritual events that took place in these times, such as the revival at the Kirk of Shotts, and other parts of Scotland. The Introduction contains much important historical matter. This volume contains twelve discourses by the following divines, Bossuet, Flechier, Bourdaloue, Fenelon, Massillon, Saurin, Vinet, Adolphe Monod, Grandpierre, Lacordaire, Merle D'Aubigné, and Gaussen, with historical sketches, and remarks on the peculiarities of their style. PLANTING OF NEW CHURCHES. We have received a letter from a resident at Dalston, setting forth the importance of the locality, the number of Scotch in the neighbourhood, and the likelihood of a Presbyterian church being successfully established. We agree with our correspondent as to the desirableness of planting Presbyterian congregations in those outskirts of London where there is continually increasing population of a class able to support places of worship. But the Presbytery of London has no men to send for such service, and there are few places able at the outset to afford to support ordinances from their own resources. Such are cases in which the exertion is made that any grant can be expected. For a considerable time it will only be a preaching station that can be expected, as the Presbytery or Synod will not sanction the establishment of any church in future, without being fully satisfied that the field is good, and that an adequate provision is made for the support and continuance of the ministry. We say these things not in reference to Dalston, of the circumstances of which place we know little, but concerning any locality where a desire is felt for the formation of a Presbyterian Church. We trust moreover that the Church Extension Society (for aiding in building or procuring places of worship in the metropolitan district) will get itself soon again into working order, and do what it can until the Synod establish a Central Building Fund for churches and schools. THOSE that defer their gifts till their death-bed do as good as say, "Lord, I will give thee something when I can keep it no longer! Happy is the man that is his own executor, who giveth his own goods, not another's.—Bishop Hall. A A |