deliverance from the present system of pecuniary grants for sectarian religious purposes. Among these we find the following resolution of the Synod, adopte in March 1868: In reference to former declarations of the Synod as to the unscriptural, unjust. and injurious character of grants from the public treasury for the support of one or more religious denominations, and in view of the early expiry of the present Clergy Act, the Synod unanimously resolved that it was their duty to take the necessary steps to bring before the Legislature their convictions on this important subject. A committee was accordingly appointed for this purpose, with instructions to prepare and transmit such memorials or petitions to the Colonial or Imperial Government as they might deem advisable, and also to correspond with such parties in the mother country as might aid in securing the complete freedom of the Christian church in this island-the scene of so much evangelical missionary effort-from obnoxious State support and control.' One of the objects in this resolution, it will be observed, is 'to correspond with such parties in the mother country as might aid in securing the complete freedom of the Christian church' in Jamaica; and, so far as our space this month will admit, we respond most cheerfully to the call. This we cannot do more effectually than by laying before our readers an article which lately appeared in the English Independent that faithful and fearless opponent of all ecclesiastical abuses: "With the Irish Church, another little "Establishment " question must be settled. The Act which provides for the maintenance of the Established Church in Jamaica expires next year by effluxion of time, and the dignitaries thereof are in a great flurry lest it should not be renewed. The Bishop of Kingston has just come to England to operate upon the Colonial Office. The grants formerly made out of the imperial treasury for increasing the salaries of the Jamaica clergy have been withdrawn, but the Establishment is still kept up out of the colonial taxes. The matter will now rest with the Governor and Council, who will of course be very much directed in a question of this kind by the bias of the Colonial Office. If the present Government remained in power, direction would no doubt be given to reduce the church expenditure after the manner suggested by the Royal Commissioners for dealing with the Irish Church. But this ought not and will not satisfy the Jamaica people. The case of the Establishment in Jamaica is quite as bad as that of Ireland. The Established Church in that island provides accommodation for 42,630 persons, out of a population eight times that number. The non-established churches provide accommodation for 137,700 persons, and the average attendance in the latter is nearly four times as large as in the former. Of the 394 schools for elementary teaching in the island, only 104 are connected with the Establishment; and it does nothing at all to provide a higher class of instruction, while Baptists, Moravians, and Presbyterians all have training schools. "the Government, according to the financial secretary's last estimate, pays £26,352 for the religious instruction of less than one-fourth of the attendants on divine worship; while more than three-fourths are provided for by voluntary contributions, and this, though they are unjustly compelled to contribute towards the support of the ministers of the minority." Yet a petition is now being got up by the Jamaica clergy, praying the Legislative Council to perpetuate the Established Church, lest the land should be plunged into spiritual darkness! Another reason they give for the continuance of the Establishment is, that it comprehends among its adherents "the great majority of the large tax-payers and influential inhabitants." Thus do the supporters of Establishments everywhere have recourse to the same self-destructive arguments.' THE GENERAL ELECTION. Thus Up to the time of our going to press (November 24th), 559 members have been elected; and of these it is understood that 348 are Liberals, and 211 Tories. On the present occasion Scotland has done nobly. Of the 48 members returned at this date, 44 are Liberals pledged to support Mr. Gladstone, and only 4 are Tories pledged to support Disraeli. The triumph is all the greater when we number among the gains the counties of Midlothian, Perth, Dumfries, and the northern division of Ayrshire. !! Address to University Students, 294 . 216 . 505 381 . 395 Blackwood, J. U., Memorial Notice of, Cheshunt College and Dean Alford, Church Extension and Church Extortion, Civilisation and its Perils, . 430 CRITICAL NOTICES:- Knox's Church and State, 220; Knox on Irish Little Tales for Little People, 84; Logan's Macfarlane's Pulpit Echoes, 78; M'Leod's Newton's Great Pilot, 370; Nichol's Puritan Page's Stars of Earth, 126; Pattison's New Facts, 260. Sangreal, 469; Shipley's Sermons on Sin, 257; Taylor's Adventures in South Africa, 369; The Vaughan's Daily Prayer Book, 126. Wade's Lays of a Heart, 370; Walker on the DEMISSIONS. Rev. Jas. Brown, 186; Rev. J. 91 53, 151, 254 190 139 379. 217 . 551 Divided House, A, Committees during the sitting of Synod, Adam's Life of Livingston, 369; Alford on How Ballantyne's Silver Lake, 28; Bickerstaffe's Cameron's Forgotten Chapter, 170; Children's Dale's Week-Day Sermons, 366; De Liefde's Eaton Parsonage, 226; Edged Tools, 171. Gasparin on the Family, 420; Gilfillan's Re- Hill's English Monasticism, 319; Hinsdale's Increase of Faith, 316; Innes on the Law of Jottings from the Diary of the Sun, 262. Dissenters and Church Patronage, Doing with thy Might, Ecclefechan Church Bells, Education, National, Elders, Address at Ordination of, Electioneering Freaks, Elections, The, 479; the Question, 527 English Synod, Foreign Affairs, General Assemblies, The, Government and the Romish Priests, The, Hutton, Memorial Notice of the Rev. George, . 252 Ireland, Debate on the Condition of, 191 Ministers, Supply of, 416 Lanark, Missionaries, Supply of, 74; Propriety of short- ening their Term of Service, 205. NEW CHURCHES FOUNDED OR OPENED.-Dublin, 559 34, 179, 374, 425, 472 88, 181, 279, 374, 560 89, 231 36, 182, 232, 375, 472 89, 133, 183, 327, 375, 426, 518 Lancashire, 36, 133, 183, 232, 327, 375, 473, 518, 561 London, 212 Melrose, 247 37, 135, 377, 473, 561 Russell, Rev. A., Memorial Notice of, 67 406 . 412 .566 • 403 ORDINATIONS:-J. C. Balderston, 281: J. D. Palestine Exploration Society, Patronage and the People, PREACHERS LICENSED.-J. Bowden, 91; R. 432 428 Reproduction of the Old in the New, Riddell, Rev. John, Memorial Notice of, Robertson, Mr. John, of Greenhill, Memorial Sacramental Meditation, A, 334 Smith, Rev. Dr., Memorial Notice of, Printed by MURRAY AND GIBB, North-East Thistle Street Lane, and Published by |