what is passing bere; and my heart bleeds in having to relate all the horrors which have been and are still committed by the Albanians in the districts of Uscup and Commanova. The Christians, young and old, male and female, are alike subjected to every description of torment and horror! The men are taken and hung up to the beams of the houses. In other cases the men are hung up by their feet, and their wives forced to put lighted straw under their heads. Infants have been put on spits and roasted alive in the presence of their parents." I really cannot proceed farther. Those who have thus suffered are members of the Greek Church; and surely Russia will not now be unwilling to throw her mighty influence into the scale of humanity, and tell Turkey that if it must depend on Europe, it must protect the religion of Europe. Nothing short of an absolute and complete toleration of Christianity, and the protection even of those Turks who may choose to embrace it, should be insisted on by the governments of Europe. Let them do their duty, and I fear not the result. Mohammed Ali, the Pasha of Egypt, does not persecute converts from Mohammedanism to Christianity, and last year he rebuked those who hinted that the laws against them should be put in force. The Sultan has not less benevolence to exercise, if the appeal be made to him aright. It is the object of the overture which I have brought forward, that we should use our influence in the representation of our views to those authorities whose interference is called for both by humanity and Christianity. I trust that I need say nothing more in its support. The following is the overture:

"It is respectfully overtured to the General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland, appointed to meet in May 1844, by the undersigned members of the Assembly, that that venerable body express to her Majesty's Government its great satisfaction with the merciful interposition of her Majesty's ambassador in Constantinople with the Sublime Porte, for the protection of penitent apostates from our holy faith, returning from the profession of Mohammedism to that of Christianity; and that it earnestly solicit a continuance of his philanthropic endeavours, so as to include the toleration of all that bear the Christian name within the bounds of the Turkish empire, including converts to Christianity who may have been born within the pale of the Mussulman religion; and also, that it address the other Christian Governments of Europe, through their representatives in this country, on the same important object.

"John Wilson, John Elder, James Bridges, James Begg, David Sutherland, James Crawford, jun., Thomas Pitcairn, W. W. Craufurd, G. Smyttan, Alex. E. Menteith, Henry Tod, Geo. Lyon, Henry Paul, Andrew Gray." The Rev. FREDERICK MONOD of Paris was at this stage of the proceedings introduced by the Moderator. He said, Fathers and brethren, it is with deep emotion I rise at this moment, and if I can trace some of this emotion to rising in the midst of such an Assembly as this, I can add, that a good part of it arises from my finding myself at this moment in the midst of a Church which has left all for Christ, and found again all in Christ,-which having only twelve months ago sought the kingdom of heaven and Christ's glory first, has had the blessed promise fulfilled of finding that all other things have been already added to them. I have been for these five-and-twenty last years a pastor of the French Reformed Church in Paris. That Church is a Presbyterian Church in its forms. I stand here more particularly as a representative of the Evangelical Society of Paris, and, I may add, as the representative of many pastors and many brethren in France who go along with you, my dear brethren, in what you have done, and in what you are doing. (Cheers.) Many ties bind me to Scotland; and I may perhaps be permitted to mention this first, that thirty years ago, under the providence of God, it was through the instrumentality of a Scotsman, the venerable, and now, I doubt not, sainted Robert Haldane,-that I was brought for the first time under the power of gospel truth. And a good number of faithful ministers still living, owe their faith as well as I, to his instrumentality. And may I take this opportunity to mention before this Assembly, this example of what a single man can do in apparently the most unfavourable circumstances. Robert Haldane came to Geneva a stranger, in the midst of a country then immersed in latitudinarianism, if not infidelity. He did not know a word of French, and those whom he had to address did

not know a word of English. Well, Robert Haldane set to work,—and it seems to me as if it were but yesterday that he was sitting at the high end of a long table, and ahving before him fifteen, or sometimes twenty of our students, he expounding, and I interpreting to them, phrase after phrase, the Epistle to the Romans,-and you have still the fruits of these labours in Haldane's Commentary on the Romans. (Hear, hear.) I was present, Sir, three years ago in the General Assembly. I saw the seven Strathbogie ministers suspended. Ah! my brethren, I was deeply mpressed with what I saw and what I heard there; and the disruption which has since taken place was already visible as being inevitable. (Hear, hear.) My Church, Sir, is, as I said, a Presbyterian Church; and therefore your Church is my Church, the Church of my fathers. (Cheers.) Your Knox constituted the Church on the same principle as our Calvin. Our faith is the same. I can sign before God your Confession of Faith-(cheers)—and every one here can sign—yes, can sign the Confession of Faith of the Reformed Church of France. The Reformed Church in France has gradually, or rather had gradually, sunk into a state of spiritual death. At this moment it is in a measure deprived of its Confession and its liberty; and alas! its Confession of Faith is, in the eyes of many, but a scrap of old paper. In fact, then, our churches are at this moment congregationalists. Our only church court is the court called the Consistory, corresponding, if I do not mistake, with your Session. Our Synods are in the law; but it is merely a bit of paper. They cannot be convened without the permission of the Government; and that permission, since the law invaded our rights, has never been granted. We have no head,-no General Assembly, but the appealing to the constitution, the whole constitution of our Church. I cannot enter into any details, and the venerable Assembly will excuse me if I must confine myself to generalities. As to religious liberty, we have, Sir, to struggle against the combined influence of the Romish clergy, the greatest enemies of liberty, and of the civil power, which favours the Romish clergy, not out of hatred to us, nor out of love to those clergy, but politically, because they are more numerous than we are; and we have to struggle also against Erastianism in our own body. The question of religious liberty in France can be summed up in this,-Are we, or are we not, bound to ask permission of the civil government before opening a place of worship, or otherwise preaching the gospel to the people? The civil power says, Yes, you are bound to ask my permission. We say, No, if we ask your permission to preach the gospel, we acknowledge that you have the power to refuse this; and we do not, and cannot, as Christians, acknowledge that any ruler on earth can bind our tongues and prevent us from speaking of Christ Jesus and his message to the poor souls who cannot be saved without it. (Loud cheers.) We maintain that the civil power has the right to enact any repressive measures which it may think proper and necessary to enact, in order to prevent any disorder; but this is a preventive measure,-I do not know whether I am understood, (loud cheers)—this is a preventive measure, which is incompatible with liberty. (Hear, hear, and cheers.) We, in this respect, had no suits. We have been fined,-ministers have been condemned,-and we expect more, we expect to have soon some of our pastors in prison,-some of the best of our brethren, who go out in the name of Christ, not caring for their personal ease, and leaving us quiet in our own houses, while they are travelling through the breadth and length of the country, calling upon the people to hear the gospel. They are more exposed than we are; and you may soon expect to hear that some of them are put in prison. But I believe this is the way to get our religious liberty. We'll never get it in any other way. It must be through our loss and our condemnation that the public spirit will be raised against these encroachments upon our religious liberty. (Cheers.) We have, Sir, in this respect, made some progress; and I may simply mention one fact: On the 20th of April last, ninety-one petitions in favour of religious liberty were presented to the Chamber of Deputies against the speeches, the violent speeches,of one minister, and against the votes of all the Ministers of state who were present. These ninety-one petitions were taken into consideration of the house, and sent for examination to the Minister of Justice and of Worship, as we call him. This is, however, no positive result, I must state, because there is some mistake in that respect here. Some have thought that we have gained a victory. It is a step

forward, but no more. But these petitions have been sent to the very minister who is opposed to religious liberty among us, and who can do what he pleases; and we know he will do nothing; but the moral effect of the petitions will not be lost. We now expect to be engaged in a severer struggle. The kingdom of God makes progress among us; and as all these struggles and difficulties are manifestations of the progress of the kingdom of God among us, we have only to bless God for them. (Cheers.) I say nothing, Sir, about the struggle of our bishops against the universities of France, because we Christians take no part in it. We cannot side with the bishops, for, under the appearance of religion, they seek only after idolatry, and under the pretence of liberty they seek only after monopoly and tyranny. We cannot side with the universities, because the bishops say that the teaching of the universities of France is infidel teaching, and this is perfectly true; and therefore we can side neither with the one nor the other; we keep quiet. (Laughter.) But we believe that the organization of our Church, which we desire and long for, we believe that religious liberty, without including other outward means, we believe that these are essential to the revival of grace and religious life. A dead body feels the want neither of organization nor liberty. It can do without a head, Sir. (Laughter and cheering.) And if the members revive, then they feel that they must obtain liberty, they must obtain organization, for they cannot live without it. They cannot want the head. (Cheers.) Now the head we want is our National Synod,-your General Assembly; and I trust and pray to God that the day may come when a regular deputation from the Reformed Church of France shall come over and greet you in the name of Christ, and that the body in France may be invited to receive a similar deputation from this country. ( (Cheers.) For, thanks be to God, the true branches begin to live. Life is gradually returning into our Church, by the returning of many to these good old, yet always new doctrines of the gospel, and of our blessed reformation-those doctrines which carried the Church of France so high in the estimation of Christianity once, and which will carry it again, I trust, to the veneration and esteem of other churches. (Cheers.) They have been lost sight of; they were not believers, and therefore the Church fell into a state of death, from which it is now beginning to emerge. It is in these doctrines we seek for life,-in the doctrines of the Holy Spirit, and that Spirit a living Spirit. I will not enumerate them in this venerable Assembly, but sum them up in this way,-justification by faith, and faith alone in the absolute sense, the restrictive sense of the word; and salvation, the work,-the exclusive work,-of one only true, living God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, to whom be honour and glory for ever. Sir, very little has been done yet in an absolute point of view; but we do not despise the day of small things. Much has been done comparatively. When I was appointed to the Church in Paris five-and-twenty years ago, death prevailed in every sense, and every branch. But now, out of 400 unsound pastors we have in the Church, we may thank God for 200 who know the truth as it is in Jesus Christ. Sir, we have religious publications savouring of the gospel; we have our Christian schemes and Christian societies; we have a missionary society for the heathen, a Bible society, and a tract society; we have a charitable society for charitable purposes, for the publication of good books, for the extension of schools, for the rearing of hospitals. You do'nt understand in this country how obnoxious the Protestants of France are to the Roman Catholics, insomuch that Protestants cannot be received into a Roman Catholic hospital till they make the sign of the cross. Last of all, we have the Sociétiés Evangélique,-what you name the Home Missionary Society, and the sole object of which is to bring souls to Christ. In support of this society, we call upon Christians of all denominations to come with us, and help us, and pray for us. The means we employ for spreading the gospel are very simple. We go from place to place, reading from house to house, urging the people to obey the gospel call. Our field of labour is great. There are three and thirty millions of immortal souls sunk for the greater part either in the idolatry of Popery or in gross infidelity, ignorant of Christ, whom to know is eternal life, and whom not to know is eternal death. Sir, missionaries are as necessary for France as for India or the South Sea Islands; for wherever Popery prevails, there is necessity for missionaries. We have instituted two normal schools, in which

schoolmasters and schoolmistresses are being trained. We have nineteen of the former, and twelve of the latter; and, I may add, each of these pupils trained in our schools costs the society about L.20 a-year. Our expenditure last year was 93,000 francs, which is something under L. 4000 sterling, though, I dare say, our brother Mr M'Donald may be inclined to call this a very paltry sum indeed,-(laughter.)— but remember, our position is not the same as yours, we are one against thirty. And among these Protestants,-these nominal Protestants,-ah, how few good Christians, who take a real interest in the work of God and the advancement of his kingdom! Indeed, with very few exceptions, these are the poorest of the nation,among the labouring classes; nevertheless, three-fourths of these L.4000 were raised last year in France. Yet we ought to be very thankful. We have seventy-nine reapers in the field. They have to contend not only with indifference, but with many difficulties. I will just name three of the latter: first, Plymouthism; second Irvingism-both derived from your country; and third, Romanism. We have to contend chiefly with Romanism, yet some of the priests have come over to the truth; two, who said mass three years ago, are actively and faithfully employed in preaching the gospel. (Applause.) The Romanists are clearly rising in power, and they use every means to make proselytes. I could give many instances of this; I might state one, two, or three cases in which children have been stolen by the Roman clergy, but time will not allow. We have, however, a sure weapon against them; it is the Word of God. This is the weapon against which Romanism cannot stand. There is deadly enmity between Romanism and Protestantism. They cannot live together; they feel this, and therefore why they hate so much our Bible colporteurs. Two hundred and fifty of these devoted men went through France, selling, not giving, the Bible last year; one million of copies of the Bible and New Testament have been sold, and four or five millions of tracts have been sold at the same time. (Hear, hear, and applause.) It is the living Word which has been circulated, and we now begin to see the fruits of this abundant dissemination. The present state of the Church in France is a very remarkable and conspicuous scene. There is a movement among the Roman Catholics. At the same time that the Roman clergy are rising in power, the people are making a movement in another direction. It is not a movement of individuals, but from two, to three, five, or six hundred souls, have ceased from attending mass, and called for the preaching of the pure Word of God. (Cheers.) Permit me to read a few short extracts, which will show better than anything I can say what is taking place there:

"On Wednesday, the day of my arrival in the commune of—,' said he, ' I assembled in the evening in my inn twenty-five persons, very attentive to what I addressed to them. The next day there was a similar reunion of sixty or seventy persons in a neighbouring commune. On Friday, in a third, I spoke of the gospel to a bundred persons assembled in a barn. I passed Saturday and Sunday at—, a very populous place. On Saturday evening there was a reunion of ninety, and on Sunday, in order to satisfy every body, I presided at different hours at three assemblies, composed each of more than a hundred persons. On the Monday and Tuesday following, I continued my evangelizing excursions in the neighbourhood. The assembly of Monday included 150 auditors, that of Tuesday about 220. On Wednesday my audience was still more numerous, there being more than 250 persons around me. I then, as well as my fellow labourer, considered that a great door has been opened here, and that in order to satisfy the wants which are made more and more apparent from day to day, several evangelists must be sent here.' You will partake of this opinion, Sir, when you know that we have learnt, four or five days ago, that in the same department, but on another side, there is manifested a religious movement very similar to that which has lately been brought under notice. The brother who has written us on this subject repaired to these new communities on the Thursday and Friday of the holy week. The first day he presided at an assembly at which at least a hundred persons assisted; the next day, in another place where he was expected, he found more than 500 persons assembled to hear him. After all he has observed, he beseeches us not to neglect such a fine opportunity of having the gospel regularly preached to people so well disposed to profit by it.

"A minister of the gospel, the agent of our society, placed in an entirely different part of France, communicates to us as follows:- I have the pleasure to inform you, that I have preached on the 9th of this month at J, in the ancient convent of the Annonciade, in presence of thirty Protestants, twenty-five Israelites, and more than 200 Roman Catholics. The mayor, whom I saw, in order to forewarn him of my design, made me perfectly welcome, saying to me that the charter ought to be in truth for religious liberty as well as for everything else. All those who assisted at my preaching, expressed the desire to hear me again, and to see evangelical religion established amongst them. In the same district, at R. and B, thirty

four families asked me earnestly for regular instruction. When I visited these two communes, I had every evening more than sixty auditors, notwithstanding that the place and hour of the meetings changed each time; but they followed on my track,— so desirous were they to lose no opportunity of hearing me.' Since this letter, our friend has addressed to us several others, which prove that the interest in evangelical truth spreads from locality to locality. Thus, for example, in the three places where our friends first went, they now reckon 500 persons firmly decided to embrace religion such as it is taught in the Bible. Several of them speak of making sacrifices for the building of a church; at their head is a Roman Catholic family, who offered to give 500 francs towards that end. There, as in many other neighbouring places, the Holy Scriptures are bought and read, and the singing of the praises of God in a language which they comprehend, attracts and wins their hearts. A lady who played the organ professionally in the parish church of one of these small towns, distinguishes herself above all for the zeal with which she seeks to evangelize all who surround her, exercising them in the singing of our finest hymns.

"On the morning of Sunday the 31st of March, the Abbè arrived with two children belonging to the choir, and followed by a horse carrying all that was necessary for celebrating mass in the open air; for notwithstanding all his solicitations, he had not been able to succeed in having a barn for the performance of that ceremony. He established himself then under a walnut tree, upon a piece of sward adjoining a large barn, lent and prepared by the inhabitants for the preaching of M. Roussel. Now, as the hour of the mass nearly coincided with that appointed for the evangelical worship, the sward was covered with people, who, without appearing to remark what passed beside them, conducted themselves so as not to disturb the Abbé in the exercise of his functions. Then the doors of the place of worship being opened, every one took his place without hurry, but with the greatest order. Then M. Roussel commenced the service in presence of 400 persons, ie. the whole of the community, for not a single inhabitant, no, not one, remained at home. We now copy the letter of our friend, from which we have drawn the preceding details:"I wished, dear brother,' writes M. Roussel, to give you a succinct and almost cold narrative of what passed yesterday; but if I could describe it to you such as I felt it, I would say that it is one of the sweetest days of my life. There was an admirable assemblage during service, and long, peaceable, happy conversations afterwards on all that passed. I do not hesitate to say, that the Spirit of God hovered over the village. In visiting the hamlets in the afternoon, to see my auditors of the morning again, I found everywhere the frankest expressions of cordiality and happiness. A peasant said to me, See, before you came, our eyes were like that, (putting his hand before his two eyes) and now we see as down there! and clear as there!' with his finger he pointed to the horizon where the sun was setting, kindling the clouds into flames.""

In another place, continued M. Monod, 600 persons have turned from Popery to the gospel. There, the neighbouring priest came one morning, the 31st March last, carrying the host and all implements necessary to say mass. He could not obtain a place in the whole village wherein to put up the host, and at last he was obliged to establish himself under a tree in an orchard. Not one man in the village turned out to hear him say mass, while 400 of them were collected about Mons.There is another document, a very short, but, as I think, a very remarkable one, showing the nature and reality of the movement of which I speak. Among a num