wise ends, has thought fit to conceal from us the nature of the thing he commands; thereby to try our faith and obedience, and increase our dependence upon him." How the deity dwelt in the human nature of the Saviour we cannot explain, no more than how the soul dwells in this poor frail tabernacle of flesh. However, we admit that Christ is the Son of God, Christ is the Son of man. Forasmuch then as he is the Son of man, we hesitate not to ascribe to him human nature, and to acknowledge him man; why do we not then for the same reason, admit his divine nature and confess his deity. With the Jews, the acknowledgment of his being the Son of God, was equivalent to asserting equality with God.-John v. 18.

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Praying that the God of love may lead into all truth, those who deny the deity of our Lord Jesus, and to the acknowledgment of the faith which is after godliness, which was once delivered unto the saints, to the belief of those doctrines which have furnished an endless theme of praise to martyrs and glorified saints, and directing them to the throne of grace, to seek by earnest and fervent prayer the aid of God's Holy Spirit, as the only true and infallible expositor of the divine word, without whose assistance we may spend a life of study upon the holy Scriptures, without attaining a knowledge of their import. I remain, Sir, your obedient servant,

A MEMBER OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND.

GENERAL ASSEMBLY, AMERICA.

(From a Correspondent of the "Richmond Religious Telegraph.")

[We have great pleasure in copying the following narrative of the proceedings in the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America. There are in their RELIGIOUS EXERCISES many things well worthy the consideration of the Presbyterians of Ireland.-EDIT.]

I PROCEED to give you some account of the last meeting of our General Assembly. It was my misfortune to be absent on the first day. Consequently I did not hear the opening sermon by the Moderator, which I the more regret, as I was told, that it was of the first order of its kind, and admirably adapted to its purpose. Nor could I take part in the contest, which immediately ensued in electing the presiding officer of the present Assembly. For this elevated and responsible office, two candidates were brought forward-Dr. Beman, of Troy, and Dr. Spring, of New York. The former was successful, having received (as I was told) one hundred and two votes, and Dr. Spring ninety-two.

From the above fact, you will perceive, that nearly 200 members were present on the first day. On yesterday the number amounted to 226, and the probability is, that they have not all yet arrived. A very great majority of these, as is usual, are clergymen.* If, therefore, we were all assembled in our Hall of Delegates in Richmond, we should exhibit a larger body than was ever present before our State Legislature was reduced by the amended constitution. We have therefore a plenty of workmen, and I understand, there is a plenty of work too, so that in all probability, the present session will be an unprecedentedly long one. A great deal of business, some of it very important in itself, and some not intrinsically so, but involving the deep interests of individual churches or Presbyteries, and therefore calling forth a very lively feeling on the part of those who are engaged in managing it, has already been presented, and is now maturing in the hands of committees. I will advise you of the result from time to time.

The three first days of the Assembly are commonly occupied in organizing and in preparing business. The members, however, are by no means idle. On the other hand, they are very busy forming new acquaintances, renewing old ones, comparing ideas on the various subjects that are to be acted upon, and some, I observe, feeling the pulses of their brethren, as to the course they intended to pursue on some point, which deeply interested them.

The three days are now past, and the blessed Sabbath has intervened; and a blessed day it was, I hope, to every member of the Assembly. In the morning, there was an early prayer-meeting, commencing at 5 o'clock. Indeed, there has been a meeting for early prayer, at the same hour, every morning, since the opening of the Assembly. On these occasions, some brother presides; the exercises consist of singing, short exhortations, and prayer, and all who have engaged in them, have found them highly interesting and profitable. At 9 o'clock, there was another meeting for prayer. A few brethren attended-the others were employed in preparing for the pulpit, in visiting Sabbath Schools, or in attending similar exercises in other churches in this great city. At 10 o'clock, public worship commences, and again at 3 in the afternoon. But the most interesting season of this day, was the solemnization of the Lord's Supper at 5 o'clock, by the Ministers and Elders, as a General Assembly. This solemn service was performed by order of that body, in which othe Ministers, and Elders, and Christians in other communions, were invited to take part. The congregation was very large. It was judged that there were at least 1,000 communicants present, and the whole scene was peculiarly solemn and impressive. At night there was public service again at the different churches.

It has been my privilege to hear several sermons since my arrival here. The preachers were in every instance northern men-and generally from the western part of New York; a circumstance which I did not by any means regret, as it gave me an opportunity to mark their peculiar manner and doctrine. The sermons were made up generally of strong and pungent appeals to the sinner's conscience-urging upon him with great earnestness the necessity and duty of immediately submitting to God by

*We are sorry to find the same lack of ruling Elders in the American Assembly that, in our last Number, we found reason to regret in the Synod of Ulster. This evil in the Presbyterian Churches calls loudly for remedy.

At

repentance and faith, and charging it upon him as a damning sin, to neglect this duty a moment longer. I heard of no distinction whatever, as to natural or moral ability, or inability; but the sinner was plainly told, that he was perfectly able to obey the whole law of God, and that every failure, as well as every transgression, was hurrying him to destruction as fast as he could go. The sinner is also told, (as I understand, though I did not hear these sentiments advanced,) that his convictions are damning, his reading of the word is damning, his prayers are damning, and indeed every thing he does, and every thing he does not do, is damning, except an entire, and hearty, and immediate surrender to God. These doctrines, I confess, to say the least, are novel to me. present, I am examining them with deep interest. On the one hand, it appears harsh and unfeeling to handle the awakened conscience so roughly-it appears also inconsistent with that tenderness and compassion, with which the Saviour, when on earth, treated the convinced sinner-" Come to me all ye that are weary," &c. But above all, it seems to me, that this mode of treatment, brings with it a strong temptation to self-deception. The process is this-you must submit-directly-immediately-this very moment Your convictions, your prayers, your resolutions, every thing is carrying you to hell, and nothing but an immediate surrender will turn away the wrath of God, which burns all around you. In this emergency, the sinner, full of agitation and fears, is tempted to say, "Lord, I do submit," and to hope that he has submitted, when in fact, all that he does, prompted by mere fear.-But on the other hand, where these very doctrines prevail and are urged with all their force, there we hear of the greatest revivals, and hundreds and thousands profess conversion.

The whole of Monday was spent in hearing written narratives of the state of religion within the bounds of the different Presbyteries in connexion with the General Assembly-and truly it was a season of the deepest interest, and of the most animating encouragement.-Commissioner after Commissioner arose and told us of the mighty power of God in his Presbytery. I was riveted to my seat nearly the whole time of this soul-absorbing procedure. From the few notes that I took at the time, it appears, that about fifty Presbyteries have all shared in this great blessing, which will, no doubt, appear in the Assembly's narrative. In a number of these Presbyteries, nearly or quite every congregation had been blessed to a greater or less degree. The number of converts reported, varied from two or three hundred, to two or three thousand of all ages, from the child of 8 years in the Sabbath School, to the old man of 80 tottering on the grave-and of all grades in society, from the ignorant and poor, to the man of learning and wealth.

On Monday night, I enjoyed a great treat in a sermon, which was preached for the benefit of the American Sunday School Union. The preacher was the Rev. Dr. Humphrey, President of Amherst College. I have several times before enjoyed the pleasure of hearing this able divine in his pulpit performances-always with pleasure, but never with so exquisite a satisfaction as on the present occassion. His subject, his manner, his matter, were all interesting to the highest degree. The sermon, I hope, will be published.

The most interesting business before the Assembly to-day, was the report of a committee on a memorial from the Synod of the Associate Reformed Church, praying that a library and certain funds given by that Synod

to the Theological Seminary at Princeton, might be restored to them. The facts of the case, as far as I understand them, are these.—In 1822, there was an effort made to unite the Associate Reformed Church with the General Assembly. Articles of agreement were entered into between the Synod of that Church and the Assembly. At that time, the Synod had in its connexion five Presbyteries, two large ones in New York and Philadelphia, and three smaller ones in more distant parts of the country. In this Synod, the two large Presbyteries were pretty fully represented, whilst scarcely any members were present from the three smaller ones. The Synod thus composed, formed the union and gave up their library and funds. The three smaller Presbyteries now come forward and claim their books and money, alleging that they are the church-that they were never any party to the union, and that they have never relinquished their right to their property. The subject excites much interest, and is still under debate.

This afternoon, the American Sunday School Union celebrated its seventh anniversary. The scene was a very imposing one. From their report I learn, that they have received and expended between 70,000 and 80,000 dol. in this good work, during the past year. I have now detailed the proceedings to Tuesday the 24th. The first Wednesday, you know, after the meeting of the Asssembly, is, by a standing order of that Body, set apart to be spent in devotional exercises. The order on the present occassion was this.-In the morning, there was an early prayermeeting. At 8 o'clock, the members all went into their closets, and spent one hour in secret devotions.-At 10, the Assembly, together with such other Ministers and Elders as chose to unite with them, assembled in the lecture-room of the first Presbyterian Church, for the purpose of more public devotions. The exercises consisted in praise, reading the Scriptures, exhortation and prayer. The services continued about two hours and a half. It was indeed an imposing scene. To form some idea of it, you must imagine an Assembly of at least four hundred men, all members of Christ's visible church, all maintaining the unity of faith and worship, all office-bearers in Christ's spiritual kingdom, and a great majority of them teachers in his holy temple, and all united together for the simple purpose of calling down God's blessing upon themselves, and upon their fellow-sinners. The mere scene was well calculated to inspire confidence. The promises, I think, were taken hold of with faith, and were pleaded with an earnestness and fervour, which made our prayers effectual. I know not how it was with my Brethren generally, but for my own part, I left the house with a confident assurance, that our great Aďvocate had rendered our supplications mighty to prevail, and that our merciful Father, would at the proper time pour down upon his people, throughout all our borders, the best blessings of his grace and spirit.

There were two circumstances, which served to enhance greatly the interest of this meeting. The first was, that a biographical notice of a few of the last days of that eminently devoted man of God, Jeremiah Evarts, Esq. had just come to hand, and by agreement of the Assembly, was read as a part of the exercises on this occasion. The whole of this document was listened to with an interest which absorbed the whole soul, but when we came to his last expressions--the messages of affection which he sent to his wife and children, and especially the enrapturing views which he had of the glory of heaven, and heard him exclaim “powerful glory, powerful glory!" with our whole souls in our eyes,

we felt as if we, too, were ready to depart, and that it was far better to depart, and be with Christ.

The other circumstance of particular interest was this.-When the last prayer was about to be offered, an excellent Minister, whose praise is in all the churches, and whose labours have been signally owned of God in the salvation of many sinners, arose and proposed that the conversion of Ministers' children might be made the subject of special prayer on that occassion. This proposition was received with great interest, because we all loved the man, and because we knew that a mysterious Providence hung over his own family. Several of his children, now young men, are leading an abandoned life, and thus are bringing down the grey hairs of their pious father, with sorrow to the grave. We entered therefore, as you may be sure, with all the heart, into this subject. The order of exercises, which had been agreed upon, required that we should meet again in the afternoon, at 4 o'clock, but the incident last related, induced a proposition to anticipate the time of meeting by one hour, and that hour to be spent in prayer and in conversation, as to the best method of inducing the children of the church to embrace true religion. On this occasion, the method pursued was somewhat novel, though I have witnessed something of it before. A specific subject of prayer was proposed-the conversion of the children of the church, Three prayers followed in quick succession. In the first, the conversion of the children of the church was pleaded for; and as soon as the emphatic amen was pronounced, the same subject was resumed in a second prayer; and as soon as that was closed, the same subject was continued in a third. In all these prayers, God was intreated to remember his covenant, the seal of which had been fixed upon these children, and their record, I doubt not, is in heaven. After prayer, a conversation commenced, during which I learnt, that in several congregations, it was customary to have prayermeetings, especially for the above object, a practice which I think it would be well for us to imitate in our Southern churches.

In my intercourse with the brethren, since I have been here, I have learned, that the conversion of children is much more common now than it used to be. And why should it not be? It has been but little more than twenty years since the first Sunday school was collected in any part of the world; and Bible class instruction, if it existed any where before that period, was of very rare occurrence. Books suited to the capacity of children, and calculated to impress and improve their hearts, were very farely to be found. But now every church has its Sabbath School, and every Minister has his Bible Class, and every congregation has its Juvenile Library, and every book-store abounds with its children's books, so that the facilities for instruction and salutary improvement are a hundred fold greater now than they were a short time since—the consequence of all which is, that children may now know more of God, more of their responsibilities, more of the truth, which impresses the heart and maketh wise unto salvation, at seven or eight years old, than formerly at twelve or fifteen years old. Why then should we be surprised, that babes in Christ should be multiplied?

But I return to my narrative. The devotional exercises of the afternoon, were similar to those of the morning, except that they were conducted in the main body of the Church, and the congregation was much larger.

On Thursday, the Assembly resumed its appropriate business. The memorial from the Synod of the Associate Reformed Church was dispo