course. A public meeting was held on Tuesday evening, in the R. P. Church, which was attended by as many as the house could contain-from 700 to 800. Not the least pleasing feature of the audience was its catholicity. The most of the religious denominations in the locality were represented, not only by members belonging to them, but by their respective ministers, no fewer than eight of whom were present. The chair having been taken by the Rev. David Berry, the meeting was opened with prayer by the Rev. Charles Thomson, of the Free Church, Wick. Mr Inglis then gave a long and most interesting account of the rise and progress of missions in the islands of the South Seas, and particularly in the New Hebridean group. At the close, Williamu addressed the audience shortly in his own language, which Mr Inglis interpreted. The meeting was closed with prayer by the Rev. Mr Key, of the U. P. Church, Pultneytown. The most marked and sustained attention was displayed by the audience on all these occasions. Altogether, the visit of Mr Inglis and Williamu to Wick has been of the most gratifying description, and there is every reason for believing that it has tended to awaken throughout the community a very deep and widespread interest in our mission to the New Hebrides.

Mr Inglis afterwards visited Thurso, where he addressed in the Free Church an audience of about 800. In the course of this northern tour, Stromness has also been visited with the most gratifying results. The utmost kindness has been exhibited to our missionary and Williamu by Christians of all denominations. In Wick the collections and donations for the mission amounted to £9, 10s.; in Thurso, to £6, 4s.; and in Stromness, to £9, 10s.

REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN SYNOD, IRELAND.-The annual meeting of this Court was held in Londonderry on Monday, June 30th, Rev. John Newell, D.D., Moderator. Among the various matters of interest which came before Synod, we note the following: Ministerial Support and Home Mission Scheme. From the table of statistics appended to this report, we learn that there are in connection with this Synod thirty-five congregations in Ireland, with an aggregate membership of between four and five thousand, and twenty-three ordained pastors. Fourteen of these congregations are in respect to stipend up to the minimum (which, although not definitely stated, we take to be £70 per annum); three are below the minimum, but self-supporting; thirteen aid-receiving, and contributing ten shillings per member; five aid-receiving, but not contributing ten shillings per member. Glancing over this table, it must be admitted there is just cause for the strictures of the secretary of the Ministerial Support Committee. Congregations with a membership respectively of 240, 200, 300, 250, 264, 280, 240, 249, giving a stipend of £70, £80, £100, £80, £95, £75, £65, and £60, indicate the need of increased liberality. There seems, indeed, one notable exceptionManchester, which with a membership of 50 gives £101. Turning to the Home Mission Fund, in which there is this year a deficiency of £100, we find that six of the congregations contribute one-half of the income, while the aid-receiving congregations, amounting in all to eighteen, contribute somewhere about £50. "Year after year," says the secretary, Mr Chancellor, in his excellently written and faithful report, "the importance and growing necessities of this Mission have been earnestly brought before the Church, and the several congregations have been pointedly appealed to, that if possible all might be brought to contribute in proportion to the ability and the obligations of each. The response has not been so unanimous and so hearty as to give assurance that we will thereby be able to meet an increased, and, it may be, increasing liabilities, for the future. If no other means more effectual can be adopted, then retrenchment of one kind or other must be the inevitable result." From the Report of the Theological Hall we find that there were four students enrolled last session, two of the fourth year, and two of the first; that the session continued for ten weeks, and that the committee are gratified to be able to report that the Church has to a considerable extent kept abreast with recent improvement in science, and improvements in literature. "It is a fact," says the report, "that defies contradiction, that notwithstanding all the vain-glorious boasting of some larger sections of the Church, and their occasional unworthy attempts to depreciate our arrangements and system of education, our plans have been closely copied, and scarcely any step of

improvement has taken place in these bodies which had not been previously taken by our Church." The Colonial Mission embraces five ministers in Nova Scotia, and one in Geelong, Victoria. In the latter congregation there are between seventy and eighty members on the roll, being an increase of forty since Mr Moore first dispensed the Lord's Supper in Geelong in December 1858. We are gratified to learn that the brethren in Victoria, who have hitherto been worshipping in a rented building-the Temperance Hall-have commenced the erection of a place of worship for themselves. It will give us much pleasure to forward to Mr Moore any sums which liberal-minded friends in Scotland may feel inclined to give for the purpose of helping in the erection of the first Reformed Presbyterian Church in Australia.

It is gratifying to find that the Synod in Ireland has made such progress in the establishment of an Aged Ministers' Fund, nearly £900 having already been subscribed throughout the Church for this purpose, and a liberal offer having been made by a member of Knockbracken congregation to give £1000, on condition that throughout the different congregations at least £500 more should be raised. We could have wished to have referred in detail to the Irish and Jewish Mission reports, but our space forbids.

At this meeting of Synod we observe that a respected member of our own Supreme Court was present, and invited to take a seat. After a discourse delivered on the Thursday evening by Rev. Dr Houston, the Rev. Wm. Anderson of Loanhead "addressed the Synod and assembly in an earnest and eloquent manner on the position, trials, and prospects of covenanted witnesses." The address was listened to with deep attention, and the affectionate regards and sympathies of the Synod were conveyed by the Moderator to Mr Anderson, in terms of the following motion: "That this Synod record the pleasure it has felt in having the presence of the Rev. Wm. Anderson of Loanhead during its sittings, and do now tender to him the thanks of this Court for the stirring and faithful address he has just delivered; and express the gratification with which it has heard so powerful and comprehensive a statement of his unabated attachment to the principles of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, as they have been ever applied in its Testimony to the civil and ecclesiastical institutions of the land; and their satisfaction and sympathy with Mr Anderson in his faithful contendings for the principles of the Covenanted Testimony."

THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF THE LOWER PROVINCES OF BRITISH NORTH AMERICA.-This being the designation of the Church which co-operates with the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Scotland in the New Hebrides Mission, a few facts relative to its strength and position may not be unwelcome to the readers of the R. P. Magazine. The last census gave 69,000 as adhering to this Church in Nova Scotia alone. Add to this number its adherents in Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland, Bermuda, and New Brunswick, and we have a total of about one hundred thousand. The ministers are upwards of eighty in number; about one-half of these have received their education, wholly or in part, in Scotland,-the other half being natives of Nova Scotia, and educated there. The native element will soon be much more powerful than that from abroad; but the stamp of Scotland will continue on ministers and people for many years; in fact it may be regarded as indelible. Two years ago the "Presbyterian Church of Nova Scotia" and the "Free Church" entered into a union, and the above designation and statistics refer to the united body. Each had a College of its own prior to the union; but the Synod, which met in June of this year, has agreed to make the city of Halifax the educational headquarters of the Church. There are six professors connected with the institution, four of whom are without ministerial charges. The students in theology average sixteen, and in the preparatory classes about fifty. The Synod includes seven presbyteries, eighty five organized congregations, and numerous preaching stations, which are in process of development into congregations. Last year the whole amount reported as having been raised for church purposes was £12,631:2:9. Several congregations had made no report. In some of the largest charges connected with the Synod family worship is conducted in almost every household. The Shorter Catechism is used as a text-book in the Sabbath

schools, and pupils uniformly commit it to memory. At its last meeting the Synod has agreed to unite with other bodies interested in the South Sea Mission in providing a suitable vessel for the mission service. Hitherto the Church has had no serious difficulty in raising the necessary funds for prosecuting its Foreign Mission work; the men, too, have come forward in the spirit of true Christian heroism; and the sad gaps made within the last two years promise speedily to be filled. The Rev. D. MORRISON is now visiting the congregations in the bounds of the Synod, preparatory to leaving for the New Hebrides. Mr GORDON (brother to the Rev. G. N. Gordon, who fell a martyr in Eromanga), is also preparing to join the mission, but his theological education, and other equipments, will require another year. Messrs Morrison and Gordon are both in the prime of manhood, talented, pious, highly intelligent, and full of zeal for the salvation of souls. A third candidate offered his services, but it was found that the state of his health would not admit of his being accepted. It is pleasant to note that the last meeting of Synod was marked with the utmost cordiality between the brotherhood, and an unflagging determination to prosecute the Foreign Mission in the face of the severe trials and bereavements recently experienced.

NEW HEBRIDES COTTON COMPANY.-A meeting of the Provisional Committee of this Company, together with several of the friends of the New Hebrides Mission, was held on Wednesday morning, 6th ult., in Whyte's Temper ance Hotel, Glasgow-John Robertson, Esq. of Blairbeth, in the chair. After breakfast, the secretary, J. M. Robertson, Esq., writer, Glasgow, read a draft of the constitution of said company, which was unanimously agreed to. An interesting conversation followed upon the prospects and best modes of carrying out successfully this important scheme. Of the 300 shares of £5 each which it has been proposed to allocate, we understand that 64 were subscribed for before the meeting broke up. Interesting addresses were delivered, and much important information as to the details of working the scheme were given by the chairman, by M. S. Tait, Esq., R. G. Finlay, Esq., Wm. Symington, Esq., Moses Buchanan, Esq., and by the Rev. John Inglis, who introduced to the meeting the agent whom it is proposed to send out for the purpose of superintending the planting operations, &c., upon Aneityum. We have no doubt that the shares of this new Company, whose prospectus has already appeared on the cover of the Magazine, will be readily taken up by those members of the Church who have the good of the mission at heart. That this scheme will, under proper management, prove remunerative, may not be questioned; but there is a higher call to the wealthy members of the Church to place their shoulders in this case to the wheel-the natives of Aneityum will be taught habits of industry, their temporal comforts will be increased, and the infant church which has been formed amongst them will be rendered more permanent, and become self-supporting.

NEW MISSION VESSEL.-The Foreign Mission Committee, at a meeting recently held in Glasgow, agreed to respond in the affirmative to the request of the brethren on the other side of the Atlantic, that the new vessel should be built in Nova Scotia. It is cheering to know that the scheme has been taken up with the utmost promptitude and ardour by the members of the Church which has sent forth a Geddie and a Mathieson, a Gordon and Johnston. When the time comes for the payment of our share of the expenses incurred in building, it will be found that the Reformed Presbyterian Church in Scotland will do her duty. By letter and newspapers received from Mr Paton this week, we are happy to learn that his mission, so far as it has yet gone, has been crowned with remarkable success. During an address delivered in Melbourne in the month of June, Mr Paton states, that about £600 has been already raised in New South Wales, and nearly £400 in South Australia. It would not surprise us if enough were raised in the colonies to defray the whole expense of building.

Printed by JOHN GREIG & SON, at their Printing Office, Old Physic Gardens, and Published by JOHNSTONE, HUNTER, & Co., at their Warehouse, 2 Melbourne Place, Edinburgh.

WHEREVER the grace of God comes, bringing salvation, it teaches "that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world." Nor does it teach this only by precept and by varied motive, but it also efficaciously works in the soul a disposition to compliance. Mere protestations of piety, assertions made by any individual that he has found Christ or found peace, if these be not accompanied by a careful avoidance of sins formerly committed, and by a performance of duties formerly reglected, are utterly untrue and worthless. Not the hearers of law are to be accounted just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. Nor will grace induce to abandon only the grosser iniquities that prevail, but will infallibly constrain to keep watchfully apart from whatever wears a suspicious or questionable aspect, from whatever has the appearance of evil.

There are some who assume the Christian name, and would feel indignant were their personal Christianity called in question, who act very differently from this, whose aim it seems to be to approach as near to sin as it is possible for them to do, without actually committing it; and to be as much conformed to the world lying in wickedness, in sentiment and practice, as is consistent with their being permitted to retain, even under the relaxed church discipline of the present day, their place among professed Christians. To act thus is sinful. It manifests a lurking sympathy with sin, a yet unsubdued tendency towards it, a reluctance of soul to yield themselves immediately and fully to the Redeemer's service. Were they right-hearted persons, they could never feel themselves sufficiently far and sufficiently safe from evil. To act thus is dangerous as well as sinful. It is fitted to nurse into renewed vigour the inward corruption

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that has been partially suppressed, it counterworks the influences which God is employing for their increased holiness, and it exposes to temptation, under the power of which multitudes have fallen, notwithstanding the most solemn, and it may be sincere, protestations that they would never yield. Such persons act like the poor moth which flies round and round the flaming candle, approaching continually nearer and nearer, encouraged by past impunity, until it is caught in the burning and reduced to ashes, or left to writhe in agony. They act like the sea monsters that play on the outskirts of the fearful maelstrom, until they are involved in its whirling eddies, are hurried round in their rapid course, are carried continually nearer the devouring vortex, and at last, in spite of their bellowing and struggles, are swallowed up alive in the boiling abyss. The inspired writer urges those who fear God, and are tender of the interests of their own souls, to avoid not only what is fully known and recognised as iniquity, but everything also which has the appearance of evil.

The great adversary in his attempt to ruin souls, and to make even Christians, whom he cannot ruin, act in such a manner as will offend God and cause damage to their own spiritual interests, is not only malignant and restless, but guileful. Well he knows that the net is spread in vain in sight of any bird. He labours to invest sin with a plausible appearance, till it can scarcely be known as sin. He trains his servants to call it by plausible names, and to urge on its behalf plausible excuses, until it can only, by careful scrutiny, be distinguished from what is dutiful. Thus he throws men off their guard, gradually undermines the power of moral principle in their souls, leads them on step by step, always taking care to close up the way behind them, that all possibility of retreat may be cut off, and trains to familiarity with sin, until there is no disposition to refrain from it.

Surely, in such circumstances, it is the duty of all to walk circumspectly, to ponder the path of their feet, to look well to their goings, to consider their ways, to prove all things, to carry with them God's Word as a light to their feet and a lamp unto their path, and to bring it directly to bear on every suspicious object in order to its full manifestation. Even the most advanced and experienced Christians have need to act thus, but specially should those who are in the days of youth, and who are but little acquainted with the wiles and depths of Satan, do so. In order to aid in detecting things that are evil and mischievous-things which should be resolutely refrained, notwithstanding their plausible appearance-we would invite attention while we specify some tests, by the applica tion of which much concealed iniquity may be made manifest, and much damage prevented.

Things for which no warrant can be found in the word of God, have the appearance of evil. The Scriptures supply a plain, full, infallible rule of guidance in judgment and conduct. "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness;" and the design of God