He felt that, after what they had just heard, it would be an act of presumption were he to attempt to make an eulogium on the character of their lamented brother. He would only take the liberty of saying that he felt as strongly as any man could feel in that Assembly, admiration for his character, talents, and erudition, and the profoundest grief for the loss which the Church had sustained by his removal hence. As his (Dr Cunningham's) name had been brought before the Assembly in connection with the arrangements necessary to be entered into in consequence of this lamented bereavement, he begged to say, that if it should be the pleasure of the Assembly to adopt, as it had been the pleasure of the Committee to recommend, these arrangements as the best which could be made, under existing circumstances, to fill up the curriculum, he was willing to concur in it. (Hear, hear.) He did not desire nor seek any change in the position which he had at present the honour to occupy; but he should be willing to concur in any arrangements which the fathers and brethren might think best under existing circumstances for promoting the general welfare of the Church. (Hear, hear.) He felt, however, that in some respects he might be exposed to disadvantageous comparison by his change in their theological seminary. The office to which it was proposed to appoint him was not higher or more important than that which he had hitherto occupied; but in his present situation he had no predecessor with whom he might be compared. It was in some respects a new office. Dr Chalmers held the office of Principal and Primarius Professor of Divinity; but with him, of course, none of them could for an instant dream of being compared. He felt, however, that by this change he would be brought into comparison with a man for whose character and talents the Church had justly felt the highest admiration; and for this reason he might require more than he had hitherto done the indulgence of the Church in estimating the duties which he would be called on to discharge. He had no wish to dwell on this matter; but he thought it right to bring under the notice of the Assembly, what he had stated to the Committee in reference to the duties of this office, and the manner in which they ought to be discharged; and he might state that the first duty to which the Committee ought to direct its attention, should be the formation and establishment of a full theological curriculum. The arrangements connected with the attendance of students at the Divinity Hall, had not yet been subjected to exact or rigid rules. These had been left to some extent to the students themselves It would therefore be now expedient to lay down rules for theological students, defining the different classes which should be attended by them during the various years of their preparation for the ministry. To carry this out, it would be needful that each professor should have two classes for students of different years, to each of whom he should devote two hours each day of the session. In this way, and when there was so small a number of professors, he thought it would be surely considered the best arrangement, that one out of the four should be wholly occupied with the department of Church History. It seemed to him that Church History, so far as it included the external history of the Church, was not of so much importance as to be entitled to the entire services of one man. It was therefore his plan to confine his department to a two years' course, in one of which he would go over, not the external history of the Church, but rather its theological history, the history of doctrines, and an historical exhibition of the various deviations which, in the course of eighteen centuries, had occurred from the truth laid down in the Holy Scriptures, which, of course, was the only standard which they recognised in ecclesiastical matters by which to test error. His second year's course would be devoted to polemic theology, in which he would give a detailed view of some of the great leading controversies which from time to time had agitated men's minds, and which had exerted the greatest influence on belief and doctrine. He had only farther to say, that he concurred most cordially in the recommendation of the Committee for the appointment of Dr James Buchanan as a Professor of Theology. He presumed Dr Buchanan would take charge of the education of the students during their first year, leaving the more advanced students under the charge of Dr Chalmers, as at present. His own (Dr Cunningham's) proper designation might, under the new arrangement, be Professor of Historical and Polemical Theology, instead of Professor of Church History. He might state that all the arrangements which he had indicated had met with the concurrence of Dr

Chalmers. (Hear.) If he had heard the Report of the Committee aright, he was not sure that the mind of the Committee was correctly brought out, when it stated that they had recommended the establishment of a college at Aberdeen. His understanding was, that they had merely recommended the establishment of a theological seminary. He was not aware that the subject of a college had been broached.

The MODERATOR observed, that he did not state that a college at Aberdeen was recommended, in the ordinary sense of the word; but only the establishment of an institution with a professor and lecturers.

The Report of the Committee and Mr Maule's resolutions were then agreed to, and in terms of the Report the Assembly resolved, that measures be adopted for the instruction of divinity students at Aberdeen. Dr Cunningham was appointed Professor of Theology and Church History in room of Dr Welsh, Dr James Buchanan to succeed Dr Cunningham; and authority was given to the Standing College Committee to nominate a Professor of Logic, subject to the approbation of the Commission, and the Committee was re-appointed.

Mr R. JOHNSTONE, W.S., read the

REPORT OF HOME MISSION COMMITTEE.

"When the General Assembly re-appointed the Home Mission Committee last year, regarding the work of this department as at once very laborious and of momentous importance, it committed the more special charge of its management to two conveners. In the providence of God, the able and godly ministers who were thus honoured by the Church, have been laid aside from active labour during the larger part of the year, and the Committee have, in consequence, been crippled in the conduct of their operations; and the unity and regularity which are essential to the efficiency of the Scheme have often been wanting. In the circumstances in which they have thus been placed, the Committee now respectfully throw themselves on the indulgence of the Assembly, while they proceed to lay before it a brief and bare statement of their proceedings.

"The departments of duty belonging to this Scheme are, the employment of probationers and catechists, the encouragement of young men, and the aiding of congregations. In respect of the last, nothing has yet been done; but its importance will demand very early attention.

"In regard to the encouragement of young men, the Committee were satisfied of the necessity of more caution in giving aid than had been practicable during the first year after the Disruption, and at the same time strengthening the motives of godly and talented young men to devote themselves to the work of the ministry in the Free Church. The lamentable scarcity of able labourers for the immediate work rendered this a duty of peculiar urgency. They accordingly prepared a plan of aiding young men entering on their college studies, by means of bursaries, to be given after strict examination, and to be continued ordinarily during their literary course. A large number of young men have competed for the bursaries thus provided; and the Committee have much satisfaction in reporting that the result of this first experiment has been most encouraging. They believe that a higher class of young men have been brought forward, and they trust that the Church will reap pleasant fruit from their labours in after years. The Committee have been, however, painfully reminded of the uncertainty of this; for not only have they been called to sympathize with several of the bursars already withdrawn, by serious illness, from the studies on which they had auspiciously entered so recently as November last, but they have had to lament the loss of one of their number, who has been removed by death from the competitions and duties of the present life.

"While the Committee have had much satisfaction in aiding young men, not otherwise sufficiently provided with the means of carrying on their studies, they have very earnestly pressed this duty on the consideration of the wealthier and open-handed, and of well-inclined congregations, with respect to one or more, better known to them, in whose present studies and future labours in the ministry of Jesus Christ they might be led to feel a peculiar interest. A measure of good has been done also in this way; and while discrimination and caution are undoubtedly requisite, the Committee would desire to take this opportunity of pressing on the consider

ation of those who have the means, the value of the service which may thus be rendered to the Church, and to the cause of Christ in the world.

"The grants to young men attending college, which had been given during the previous year, when the same reasons existed, have in most cases been repeated; but the Committee have discontinued aiding young men before they enter college, believing that the responsibility of such aid in the earlier period of their studies is better provided for by private exertions and liberality than by means of a committee of the Church.

"It is the intention of the Committee, if the Assembly shall approve of it, to mature the plan of bursaries, and gradually to confine the grants in this department to that shape.

"The remaining department of the Home Mission relates to the employment of probationers and catechists. The management of this portion of the Scheme is by far the most difficult and laborious. It has required multifarious and most extensive correspondence.

"The arrangements connected with the distribution of probationers and catechists in the Highlands have been conducted by a special sub-committee, while all other matters have been conducted by the acting committee.

"It will be proper to notice separately what has been done in the Lowlands and Highlands.

"By a return recently obtained from the Presbyteries, it appears that in the Lowlands there are

Of vacant charges,

27

Of charges requiring immediate and special supply, in consequence of the absence, age, or bad health of the minister,

18

Of sanctioned charges, not yet provided with a minister,

But there are, besides, preaching stations not yet sanctioned as charges,

84

Of these 21 are supplied with catechists, of whom 13 are, however, divinity students, who are only employed during the summer, and cannot be reckoned on as continued provision. Deducting, however, as thus supplied,

There remain

63

123

Showing a demand by the Presbyteries of the Church for 123 probationers in the Lowlands of Scotland. It may be noticed, that of the 84 preaching stations, while 21 are provided, at least at present, with catechists, 45 are applying for sanction as ministerial charges to this General Assembly, of which 32 are recommended to be sanctioned by the committee appointed to report on them; from which it may be presumed, generally speaking, that they are regularly formed congregations, entitled, at least, if within the power of the Church, to the services of a probationer.

"The means of providing supply for these charges and stations consist of 61 probationers-three occasionally employed, and nine who have other employment, but who, in their own localities, occasionally aid the Church by their valuable but unremunerated services-and six ministers who have not a pastoral charge, but who also are generally employed in preaching the gospel every Sabbath-day. When it is considered how often a minister requires supply, it must be obvious that the ministers without a charge, and the occasionally employed, especially as these are almost entirely confined to two districts, are quite insufficient to supply even that single want; and that the fully employed probationers must also, to a certain extent, be employed in this way. Then, as the eighteen special cases, where ministers are laid aside by bad health, or age, or appointed to labour for a time in another part of the Lord's vineyard, require almost, as a preferable claim, so many preachers; and in the next place, vacant congregations must be attended to; it will appear, that to supply the remaining vacant or sanctioned charges and preaching stations, not including those provided with catechists, in any tolerable degree, by means of the remaining probationers, must be a work of supreme difficulty. Sometimes dissatisfaction

has been felt, as if there were partiality or caprice in the distribution, and a desire expressed that a definite rule should be adopted. Where, however, the materials are so very scanty, and where suitableness must, as far as possible, be regarded in the distribution, the Committee believe that it is not, in the present circumstances, practicable to lay down a rule of distribution.

"Besides the provision now mentioned, twenty young men have applied to be taken on trials for licence; most of whom will probably be available for the Home Mission within the next six months. There may be several more who have not yet applied; but the Committee cannot fairly anticipate a larger addition than twenty in course of the next six months. In the circumstances now detailed, it is hoped that congregations will feel it to be their duty, and even ultimately for their benefit, to exercise much forbearance in regard to supply, and to employ to the utmost the resources which may be within their reach, to supply for a time what is needful, until the provision is more adequate to the exigency of the Church.

"While in other parts the Committee think they have, generally speaking, been enabled to distribute the probationers fairly as far as their means would allow, there are two districts in regard to which the Committee now ask the special direction of the Assembly, viz., Orkney and Shetland. Kirkwall, Lerwick, Sanday, Conningsburgh, and other scarcely less important charges, are at present vacant; and in both islands there is ample room for at least twelve additional ministerial labourers for the adherents of the Free Church alone. There is at present no preacher in Orkney; and in Shetland, where ordinarily only three of the charges have a settled ministry, the Committee have felt very painfully the difficulty of getting supply for these interesting countries. The encouragement is extraordinarily great, as a favourable disposition to the Free Church prevails among all classes, especially in Shetland. While the call is loud, and the encouragement is great, the Committee have not been able to do almost anything for them. The number of instances in which ministers have been translated to the south from these islands, seems to have spread among the probationers and many of the ministers an unfavourable impression. This is peculiarly remarkable, because the difficulty which has been felt by the Committee has not been experienced by any other denomination. The Committee respectfully crave the advice and direction of the Assembly in this matter, in the hope that what they feel at present to be a reproach may very speedily be removed from the Church to which they belong.

"If the destitution has been found to be great in the Lowlands, the case is far worse in respect to the Gaelic portion of the population, though Gaelic students have more frequently been licensed to meet the necessity of the case before completing their curriculum of study. There are at present available not more altogether than twenty-three Gaelic probationers; while, including together vacant congregations, preaching stations, and the localities where it has been ascertained that the adherents of the Free Church furnish abundant materials for adequate congregations, ninety probationers are required to meet the present demand. The urgency is the greater, that, generally from the distance and inaccessible nature of the localities, the ministers are not available to the same extent as in Lowland districts to supplement the deficiency. In a lamentable number of cases, hundreds are living in remote districts who have been calling on the Committee to send over and help them; in which the Committee could only acknowledge their own inability. Something was done last summer, by means of deputations, to supply the lack; and scarce one of the Church's messengers has returned who has not manifested a profound interest in the deplorable destitution of the means of grace on the part of those they had visited, and exerting their efforts to quicken the diligence of the Committee.

"Recently the Gaelic Committee having taken the subject into their serious consideration, found that the facts presented to them disclosed an extent of spiritual destitution demanding the deepest Christian sympathy of the Church, and the immediate and most strenuous exertions of all its ministers whose services could be available for supplying the destitution. They found that the number of members and adherents of the Free Church in those extensive bounds destitute of the stated ordinary means of grace, must be nearly, if not fully equal, to the number favoured with those means under the fixed ministry of 118 ministers having the Gaelic language. The

Gaelic Committee transmitted to the Home Mission a plan for so far remedying or alleviating the destitution, which provided that each Gaelic minister should serve at one of the stations not provided with a fixed ministry for the period of four or five weeks; that a certain number should be ready to minister further to the same stations; and that a certain number of the city and town ministers of the Lowlands should be requested to undertake a mission in course of the summer and autumn, preaching at the more public stations in the Highlands and Islands, where the English language is understood. The Home Mission warmly approved of the proposed plan, and resolved to lay it before the General Assembly, that, if sanctioned, it may be acted upon as may be ordered, with the least possible delay. With this view, a list of ministers having the Gaelic language, and a list of stations in the Highlands and Islands, have been prepared as a draft of a scheme, and they are now submitted. A circular, embodying the views of the Committee on this subject, was recently addressed by them to ministers having the Gaelic language, in order that, if the plan should be approved of by the General Assembly, they might be preparing to be in readiness for receiving the orders of the Church.

"It is not intended that the expense of these visitations of ministers should be defrayed by the Home Mission, whose funds are inadequate to their present and ordinary engagements; but it is proposed that collections shall be asked in the localities to be visited by the ministers going there, or otherwise, and that these shall be thrown into one fund, out of which the whole expense may be paid. In the event of the plan being adopted, the Committee confidently rely, in addition to what may be obtained from others interested in the great object, on the liberality of the people in those distant stations, poor as they are, providing the necessary means; and they believe that, by the blessing of Him who alone is to give the increase, the ministers who go forth in his strength to plant and water these remote regions, will see the pleasure of the Lord prospering in their hands. In some of the districts there has been for some time manifested a profound interest in spiritual things, and to them comfort and direction in the midst of their privations may in a measure be supplied; in other places the languid may be quickened-the drooping revived-the careless alarmed, and, altogether, an amount of good done which may well comfort and satisfy those congregations which may be called for a brief season to submit to the want of the regular means of grace, while their pastor is feeding the flock in the wilderness. The Committee crave the Assembly to consider and determine on the plan now submitted.

"In order to provide further for the places thus to be visited, but chiefly in respect of the lamentable destitution throughout the Highlands, it appeared to the Gaelic Committee important, that as far as might safely be done in each case, a number of Gaelic students of divinity should be licensed, even though they had not completed a full course of study; and after a careful inquiry, they reported to the Home Mission Committee that the Assembly should be asked to give leave to presbyteries to take the following students of divinity on trials for licence. All of them, it is understood, have attended the Hall at least two full years, and, in the majority of cases, have delivered all their discourses. Where in any cases all the discourses have not been delivered, the Committee crave that the professors may be authorised to receive them. The names of the students recommended are as follows:"1. Allan M'Intyre.

2. Alexander Sutherland.

3. John Grant.

4. Hector Fraser.

5. Donald Corbet.

6. John Ross.

7. Alexander Sinclair.
8. Allan M'Pherson.

9. John Campbell. 10. Donald Campbell. 11. Donald M'Donald.

"It will be remembered that, last year, the Rev. John M'Rae of Knockbean was aprointed for twelve months to labour in the Long Island and other destitute districts, as superintending pastor. His services have been in this way altogether invaluable. Urgent applications have been made to the Committee for a renewal of his appointment, and special applications have been transmitted to the Committee for the appointment of Mr M'Rae to labour for a year in the six vacant districts in

The Committee, at a meeting held subsequent to last Assembly, while they rely on being relieved by the collections referred to, and the liberality of other friends of the Gaelic population, have, with the view of promoting this important plan to the utmost, resolved to undertake the responsibility of the expense in the first instance.