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nothing, therefore, was done for spreading it abroad. Then came the dark days of moderatism, when spiritual truth was trodden under foot, and the very mention of missions to the heathen was treated with scron. Then came better times, and one of their first-fruits was the sending out of Dr. Duff as a missionary to India. Dr. Guthrie urged upon the Church the duty of encouraging her young men to go as missionaries to the heathen, and of being kind in the provision made for them after they had served in the foreign field, and also for their families.

The Assembly was then duly constituted, when, on the motion of Dr. Guthrie, seconded by the Earl of Kintore, Mr. Roderick Macleod of Snizort, Isle of Skye, was unanimously elected Moderator. Mr. Macleod delivered an interesting opening address; and after further business of a formal kind, the Assembly adjourned.

FRIDAY, 22d MAY.

Report on the Conversion of the Jews.

During the forenoon meeting, the Assembly was chiefly engaged in devotional exercises, which were conducted by the Moderator, Mr. Mackenzie of Nairn, Mr. Nixon of Montrose, Mr. M'Coll of Glasgow, and Mr. Main of Edinburgh. Special prayer was offered in behalf of Matamoras and the other Christians in Spain who are suffering imprisonment merely for reading the Bible.

In the evening, Mr. MOODY STUART, Convener, gave in the report of the Committee for the Conversion of the Jews, which gave encouraging accounts of the work, and especially of the success of the missionary schools in Pesth. The Assembly was also addressed by Dr. Duncan of the New College, Mr. Edward, missionary to Jews at Breslau, Dr. Robert Buchanan, and Mr. Arthur Fraser

(elder). The collection for the year was £2706; for the former year, £2857; decrease, £151. Donations for the year, £289; last year, 2378; decrease, £89. Legacies, £691; last year, £1090; decrease, £399. Juvenile offerings, this year, £125; last year, £120; increase, £5. Whole income, £3821; expenditure, £4613; excess of expenditure, £792.

SATURDAY, 23d MAY.

The Assembly was to-day engaged in consultation about the Collections for the Schemes of the Church; Mr. Nairn, Dundee; Mr. Clugston; Mr. Isdaile; Dr. Begg; Mr. Wilson, Dundee; Mr. C. J. Brown; Dr. Moir (elder); Mr. Trail, Glasgow; Mr. Turnbull, Huntingtower; Mr. Thorburn; Mr. Macgregor, Paisley; Mr. Sinclair, Kirkwall; and others, taking part. Then in reference to New Congregations, about the management of the Mission Schemes, about a case referred from the Synod of Moray, another from the Presbytery of Orkney, and other matters of business. There was as usual no meeting in the evening.

MONDAY, 25th MAY.

Finance Committee.

Dr. Candlish, who till now had been absent from indisposition, entered the house for the first time, and was warmly welcomed.

The Assembly, during the forenoon sitting, was chiefly occupied with a case of a painful kind from the Presbytery of Orkney, regarding an irregular marriage.

Afterwards, Mr. GEORGE MELDRUM (elder) gave in the report of the Finance Committee. Mr. Meldrum stated that all the Committees close the year with a balance in their favour. This is the third year in succession that the Committee have had the same satisfactory report to

make. The debt on the New College had also been reduced from £3031 to £2061.

The general collections were as follows:

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£3,198 199

2,443 8 10

cluding the amount raised by As

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1,081 12 9

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2,179 9 2

6. Predisruption Ministers

5. Continent

7. Jews' Conversion

8. College

Total of these eight collections

Abstract of the whole Funds collected during year

ending March 1863:

1. Building Funds, gene

ral, namely, Church,

Manse, and Debt ex

2,262 8 10

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£19,164 11 7

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2. Sustentation (Associations £110,271, 17s. 11d., including Supplementary, and Aged and Infirm Ministers)

3. Congregational Funds

4. Education

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118,206 11 7

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6. Missions-Home, Highlands, Colonies,
Continent, Foreign, Jews, &c.
7. General Trustees and Miscellaneous .

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£342,038 9 7

This amount exceeds that of last year by £4834, but includes the collection for American Missions, which

properly belonged to the previous year. But deducting this, the increase over last would be still £2206.

From returns received, Mr. Meldrum stated, that as nearly as could be estimated, there were in the Free Church:

Number of Sittings in all the churches
Communicants

Contributors to Sustentation Fund

Elders

Deacons

Collectors not Elders or Deacons

Churches.

Manses (ten or twelve not finished)

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450,000

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245,210

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180,537

4,517

5,627

4,974

838

663

The report was moved by Mr. Wilson, Dundee; seconded by Mr. Dunlop, M.P. (elder), and agreed to.

Deputation from Ireland.

In the evening, the Assembly received the Deputation from the Irish Presbyterian Church, which consisted of the Rev. Messrs. Hanson, Belfast, and Jackson Smyth, Armagh; and John Lyttle, Esq., Mayor of Belfast, and Henry Kirk, Esq., Keady, elders. Messrs. Hanson, Smyth, and Lyttle, addressed the Assembly; and the Deputation were addressed and thanked by the Moderator.

The Continent.

In the evening, the report of the Continental Department of the Colonial and Continental Committee was given in by Mr. IRVING of Falkirk, in absence, through illness, of the Convener, Dr. Bonar. In Sweden, the National Evangelical Society has now 70 colporteurs ; and the circulation of tracts and periodicals was last year 500,000 copies. Interesting intelligence was given of the progress of gospel truth in all parts of the Conti

nent, especially in France and Italy. The Saleebey schools on Lebanon now number 23, attended by about 1000 children.

The Assembly was then addressed by the Foreign Deputies-Rev. M. Fisch, Rev. M. Bridel from Lausanne, Rev. M. Vernier from Geneva, and the Marquis Cressi from Naples, who spoke in Italian, Mr. Macdougall of Florence acting as interpreter. The Marquis gave an account of some Christian schools lately established at Naples. One morning he had had some of the scholars to breakfast with him. He asked them, "What would you reply to a bishop, or to a priest, or even to the Pope, were he to come with a demand about a religious doctrine?" One of the children answered, "With regard to religious doctrines, if the Pope asked me to believe a thing which is in the Bible, I will receive it gladly; but if it is not, all his authority will not lead me to receive it." A child of about five or six years of age attending that school was one day singing a religious hymn in the street. A bigoted Roman Catholic woman attempted to silence the poor girl. She, however, continued to sing; and the woman became so enraged that she struck her some blows with her fists, in consequence of which, some four or five days after, she died. A day before the death of the child, a woman brought a madonna (picture of the Virgin Mary), and insisted that the child should receive it; but the child of its own accord refused, saying, "Christ is enough for me." The Marquis asked that the Assembly would pray for him and his work.

After remarks by Mr. John Cowan, of Beeslack (elder); Mr. Macdougall, Florence; Mr. Burn Murdoch, Nice; and Mr. Fraser, Gourock, the report was approved of, and thanks expressed to the Deputies by the Moderator.

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