first to last it is all aglow with that spiritual fervour which is kindled and sustained in the preacher's soul by a loving admiration of the matchless One of whom the Psalms are so full.

Professor Smith's Case. The Speeches of the Dissentients on the Second Amended Charge, in the Free Presbytery of Aberdeen, on the 12th, 24th, and 26th Sept. 1878, with an Appendix. Edinburgh: Maclaren & Macniven.

THESE are very able and valuable speeches, well worth preserving, and we are glad they have been given to the public in this form. A complaint has been made that this and similar productions on the same side of this great controversy, have been published and circulated among Free Church ministers and elders, with the view, as is alleged, of influencing them in the part they may yet be called to take as members of the Ecclesiastical Courts, before which this case must again come up for discussion and decision. But has not Professor Smith himself made his appeal to his brethren in the Church and to the world in the very same way, by publishing his replies to the libel, and have not some of his friends also resorted to pamphleteering in his defence? So that if the one side are wrong in acting as they are doing, the other side are equally so. Moreover, how can those who are to adjudicate in the case do so intelligently without full information on the various points involved, and ought they not therefore to welcome every publication that helps to supply this, no matter from what quarter or side it may come ?

A WORD FOR THE SEASON.

WHAT has the past been to us, and what is the nature of that influence which it is now exerting upon us? Has there been waste of life, waste of power, waste of feeling, waste of mind, waste of soul? And is it this waste that is now telling on us, and making us so unlike what we ought to be? Have these twelve past months been but links in a long chain of vanities, pleasures, dreams, disappointments, follies, sins? And is it this that is now telling upon our present, and stamping it with a character which we feel to be infinitely undesirable, as well as perilous in the extreme? Let us deal honestly with ourselves. Let us examine our present: let us understand its connection with the past; and let us gather up eagerly the teachings which such a scrutiny must inevitably present to us. So shall the past not be wholly lost; so shall the present be extricated from the connection in which it stands with past evil; or rather, all that evil shall be transmuted into good.

What is the future to us? It stands before us, with its cloud of uncertainties, and into that cloud we must enter. Is it then exercising a right influence upon us? Are we better men because of this prospect? Are we becoming holier, truer, greater, more fervent, more prayerful, more watchful? It is said that men living in a region of mountains, whose peaks and cliffs are the resort of the mist, and the tempest, and the thunder, acquire a higher character and a bolder will; so ought it to be with us; looking perpetually on that mountainous future that faces us, with all its crowding mists, “what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness."

To speak, however, of our connection with the past and the future, is to speak vaguely. Connection with the great Being in whose hands are all our pasts and presents and futures, is the really weighty point. His being and will spread over the whole breadth of these three regions of life; for He was, and He is, and He is to come;" and He is "the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever; from everlasting to everlasting God." And that it may be well with us, He and we must be at one-having no separate interest, or walk or will. Disjunction,

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alienation, enmity, in such a case, can be to us nothing save sorrow and darkness and alarm. If during the "yesterday" of our life, we have secured this oneness through the reconciling and cementing blood, then it is well with us "to-day," and it will be well with us "for ever." But if there be still no sure reconciliation, and no conscious relationship, then is our whole being, with all its interests and hopes, and longings, still in jeopardy, like a ship without anchor, sail or pilot, drifting shorewards, in the night of storm.

We are moving forwards to the great goal of being. The Judge standeth before the door. The minutes of our day of grace are running out. One year more is ending. The leaves have fallen again; the fields are bare, and the skies are dull, as if all life were at ebb. We have crossed another ridge of time, and are now down in the valley, preparing for another ascent.

But is all right with us? Is God upon our side? Is the world beneath our feet? Is the kingdom secured? Has the past year done wonders for us, either as to our entrance on the new life, or our progress in it? Or has it left us still triflers and prodigals, with darkness around us and uncertainty before us; without the possession of divine gladness, or the hope of the divine inheritance; with nothing but a desperate and blind security, or a fearful looking for of judgment? Unready sinner! Yonder is the Judge, and the throne, and the gathering crowd, waiting their sentence ! Hear the shout, and the trumpet, and the thunder and the voice of Majesty! Are you looking out, or are you asleep? AWAKE THOU THAT SLEEPEST. -Selected.

JESUS CALLETH CHILDREN.

Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom

of heaven."-MARK X. 14.

Ho, children! Jesus calls for you,
Come, then, make no delay.
Though you be vile, and guilty too,
He seeks such; come away.
His blood will wash out every stain,
And for your guilt atone;

Will raise you from the dust to reign
Beside Him on His throne.

Come, children, is His gracious voice
Still echoing from His word,
Behold I stand and wait your choice
To take me for your Lord.
In heaven many, once like you,
Who see my Father's face.
Adoring, own their glory due
To my redeeming grace.

Come Now: the thread of life is frail,
The foot of Time is fleet.

One hour's delay you may bewail

Before the Judgment seat.

That day comes hastening on apace,
When none shall slight His call.

Then those who now resist His grace
Under His wrath shall fall.

GLASGOW, 1st January, 1879.

R. J. W.

PERTH AND ABERDEEN PRESBYTERY.-At a meeting of this Presbytery, held at Arbroath on Tuesday, 26th November, Mr. Stirling reported that he had preached and presided at a moderation in Dundee on the evening of November 11, and that a unanimous call had been issued by the congregation there in favour of the Rev. Peter M'Vicar, Coupar-Angus. The call was laid on the table, and the Commissioners from the Dundee Congregation were heard in its support. The Presbytery thereafter sustained it as a regular gospel call, and fixed the next meeting to be held at Dundee on Tuesday, 7th January next, when the call will be finally considered.

THE

ORIGINAL SECESSION MAGAZINE.

MARCH, 1879.

THOUGHTS ON THE PRESENT CRISIS.

THE crisis through which we are now passing as a community is unquestionably of the most grave character, and one which should lead all interested in the country's welfare to serious thought and consideration. The Divine direction is-"In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider," and certainly there is at the present moment a loud call to all to consider. Not long ago everything seemed bright and prosperous outwardly; trade of every kind was good; the commercial world was full of activity; work was plentiful, and wages were high; material comforts and even luxuries were within the reach of all who had hands and the will to labour; thus the sun of national material prosperity shone brightly upon us, and all were joyful under its cheering beams. With our mirth, however, we were not careful to mingle trembling, and pressing eagerly to our lips an overflowing cup, we forgot the Hand that had filled it. To the enjoyment of abundant earthly blessings there was joined a sad, sad abuse of them. Those very mercies which should have led to the most humble and grateful acknowledgment of the Divine goodness proved a snare to us, and when "full," we practically, in lives of sordid worldliness, denied the source of all our mercies, and said, "Who is the Lord?"

At length, as might have been anticipated, a reverse came, and for several years past things have been gradually going from bad to worse, until we have now reached a state of commercial depression and social disaster, such as no one living has ever witnessed before. Our nationally prosperous state has been turned-latterly with startling suddenness and tragic consequences-into one of dire adversity.

NO. II. VOL. XIV.

E

NEW SERIES.

As the result of reckless unprincipled speculation and gross mismanagement, Banks have failed, and large and reputedly wealthy firms have come down, bringing multitudes in a moment to utter worldly ruin; and the daily announcements of commercial failures continue to be so numerous, that it looks as if the entire business interests of the country were tottering on the verge of bankruptcy. In every department, trade is more or less at a stand still, and many honourable merchants who have conducted their affairs with integrity and success, are being brought into deep waters, and are fearing that, unless a change come soon, they will not be able to weather the storm. Multitudes of the working classes are out of employment and in want— many in utter destitution—and this during a winter of exceptional severity, and when not a few of those willing to help are themselves experiencing the difficulty of "making ends to meet." Owing to the general stagnation in trade, wages are being reduced in many quarters, and in consequence of this, large numbers of workmen are foolishly going out on strike and so bringing misery on themselves and their families, instead of being thankful that they are still getting work to do, though the remuneration be somewhat less than it was in more prosperous times. Thus there is deep and wide-spread trouble with perplexity throughout the land, causing a sad wail of distress to ascend from many an aching heart and desolate home. And while the thick clouds of adversity are lowering so dark and ominously over us at home, there are wars and rumours of wars abroad, the existence and uncertain issues of which by no means tend to lighten the gloom or relieve men's anxious minds of the burdens that are pressing so heavily upon them.

Looking abroad upon this heart-saddening state of things we very naturally inquire--How has it all come about? To what cause or causes are we to attribute this painful reverse of affairs that has come upon us? No doubt there have been various causes in operation to produce it, but as we do not profess to be versed in the principles of social and political economy, we leave the discussion of such questions to those who are and who have a taste for them. Whatever the more immediate subordinate causes may have been, however numerous and varied in their nature, and however they may have combined in their operation to produce the effects we deplore, it is to the hand of God in His all-wise, over-ruling, inscrutable providence, as the great first cause, that we must trace all we are now so sorrowfully witnessing and painfully experiencing. And this is what it becomes all to be most careful to do. It is one of the first elementary principles of religion that the providence of God has to do with every event that transpires, whether of a prosperous or adverse character, for "Shall there be evil

in the city and the Lord hath not done it!" And yet how sadly is this principle ignored, or practically denied by men-even by those in whose creed it occupies a prominent place. The natural atheism of our hearts would shut out all recognition of the Divine hand in connection with such disastrous events as those from which we are now, as a community, suffering. Under the influence of this atheistic spirit, men strive to account, and rest satisfied with accounting, for such events on mere natural principles; they rise no higher than mere second causes; in place of acknowledging them as adverse dispensations of God's providence, or, as God's word describes them, "judgments," they are content with characterising them as "chauce occurrences,” “unfortunate events," with which men must lay their account, and to which they must learn to submit as best they can.

And while there is unwillingness in many quarters even to own God's hand in what is taking place amongst us, there is a still greater reluctance to acknowledge that sin is the procuring cause, and that God is frowning upon us, and punishing us as a people, in and by such adverse dispensations. By many now-a-days, such an idea is treated with ridicule, as if it were "an old wife's fable," an effete religious notion believed in and acted upon in days gone by, when it was customary to appoint national fasts in times of national calamity, but a notion which can no longer be rationally entertained in these enlightened days, when it has been proved that everything takes place in the material world in accordance with unvarying laws, and that prayer for the averting of outward evils, or the bestowal of temporal blessings, is as futile as speaking to the wind. Yet if there be a personal Godif that God be the supreme Ruler of the universe-if He rule in righteousness and if men, sinful men, be His subjects-how can the occurrence of such calamitous events be accounted for, save on the principle that those who sin are made to suffer? "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" And if the Judge of all the earth does only what is right, will He punish the innocent and clear the guilty Nay verily. At the same time while the general principle holds that it is sin that entails suffering, that natural evil is the offspring of moral evil, and is the indication of divine displeasure, we are taught to beware of hastily concluding from the mere fact of any being overtaken by calamitous dispensations, that they, as individuals, are sinners above others, or peculiarly guilty. They may be less guilty personally, than others who do not suffer so much in seasons of general public calamity. For in such seasons all classes are made to suffer, irrespective, apparently, of individual moral character, since all are more or less implicated in those national sins by which the Lord's displeasure is provoked, and His righteous judgments drawn down.