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Church-if he had any faith in their being realities and not fictions— this was his opportunity, when it was his object to set in the strongest and broadest light the difference between the two churches-the Established and the Free. But there is not the slightest allusion to the existence of such a document, nor a word that can be supposed to have been suggested by any thing contained in it. What had such power as a salvo to the consciences of so many Original Seceders, and served as a bridge by which they persuaded themselves that they passed from the position occupied by Original Seceders to that of the Free Church-over vows and engagements of the most solemn kind under which men ever were laid-without scathe, has, alas, proved to be an imaginary, or, what is still worse, a deceptive structure!

Our third remark is, that Mr White feels compelled to take the low ground of non-intrusion, in advocating the cause of the Free Church against that of the Established Church. Could he honestly and in truth have ascribed any higher position to the Free Church in this matter, he would no doubt, from respect to his own consistency and the honour of the Free Church, have done so. He knows, however, that as a Church, she does not appear as a witness for the Bible principle of the right of the Christian people to choose their own officebearers their right not only to say whom they will not have, but whom they freely elect to be their spiritual guides and overseers. The Free Church still stands on the half-and-half ground of non-intrusion, which admits of the existence and exercise of lay patronage in the administration of the spiritual kingdom of Christ; and it is in his reasoning on this subject, if any where, that Mr White gives credit to the Free Church above that to which she has a claim, and speaks as if she were the advocate of a freedom to the Christian people, which nonintrusion does not give them, and which is only enjoyed in connection with the right of election. This right the Head of the Church confers upon her members, and of this no patron may deprive them, without a most unscriptural and unwarrantable intrusion into the affairs of Christ's Church, and the usurpation of the rights of his free-born subjects.

It deserves notice, in the fourth place, that for ought that appears in this paper, Mr White is now quite satisfied with the manner in which the Free Church appears in defence of the headship of Christ and the independence of the Church. The time was when he saw that appearance to be very defective; but he seems to have got "new light," or if the old still has an existence, he is content that it be put "under a bushel." In his "historical view of the various settlements of the Church of Scotland," we find Mr White saying, "We desire that she (the Free Church) should take up this position-that glorious position which the Church of Scotland marked out for herself by her own free and independent acts between 1638 and 1649-because it appears to be indispensibly necessary, in order consistently to maintain the headship of Christ, the independence of the Church, and the liberties of the Christian people; because until this is done, it will be difficult to show that the Free Church is altogether free of an Erastian taint; and because, while she stands on the Revolution

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Settlement as modelled for her by the state, the validity of her protest and claim of right is not wholly unquestionable." And after an elaborate induction of evidence, he draws a number of conclusions, of which the following are a specimen :-"If the Free Church stands on the Revolution ground, and holds her standards as they were given her by the state, then, though disestablished, she holds her standards by an Erastian tenure. While she holds by the Revolution Settlement alone, she separates herself from the great testimony raised by the martyrs for the headship of Christ, and fails to vindicate that testimony, and consents to leave it under a stigma of reproach; for all men know that it was for adhering to the Covenanted Reformation that the martyrs died; and to be ashamed to own the Covenants, is to be ashamed of the testimony for the headship then raised. While standing by the Revolution Settlement alone, the Free Church never can successfully maintain the headship of Christ, and the independence of the Church in the fullest extent; and the Protest and Claim of Rights, whatever may be its legal weight, is morally inconsistent and untenable." But what intelligent Free Churchman doubts that, if these statements were true in 1850, they are true still. Yet Mr White is now the advocate of the Free Church's testimony in behalf of the headship of Christ, and the independence of the Church, as if it were without flaw or defect. May not the writer of the "Historical View" adopt the words of the adage, Tempora mutantur et nos mutamur in illis; which may be rendered, "circumstances are changed, and we are changed with them." Our fifth remark is, that if any portion of the breath of a Covenanter remains in the writer of this paper, it seems to be completely stifled by the atmosphere in which he now lives. There is nothing in this tract which might not have been written by one who did not hold the obligation of the Covenants, or that could grate on the ear of such members of the Free Church as consider the doctrine long held by the Church of Scotland on this subject as an unintelligible dogma," or who with Mr Lumsden look on it as 66 contemptible!"

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This paves the way for our last remark-That the expectation held forth that, by coming into the Free Church, Original Seceders were elevated to a platform whence they would have an opportunity of exhibiting their principles not in a narrow, but an extended sphere, so that their light should shine far and wide over the globe, has proved a delusion. Instead of being elevated, the candles that once shone with brightness and power seem either about to go out in the socket, or to have been actually extinguished.

When the accession of so many Original Seceders to the Free Church was inaugurated by a number of speeches in the Free Assembly, Dr Shaw is reported to have said "We cannot, in my opinion, more effectually uphold and diffuse these principles which we have so long maintained, than by relinquishing the isolated and comparatively obscure position we have hitherto occupied, and contending for the same principles on the more elevated and conspicuous platform (the italics are ours) occupied by a body so numerous and influential as the Free Church of Scotland." This idea of an "elevated plat

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form" laid hold of the mind of Dr Duff, and he tried to make the most of it, as will be seen from the following part of his speech :— "Allusion," says Dr Duff, "has been made, by one of the respected brethren who preceded me, to the comparative obscurity in which their testimony has been of late upheld, and to the larger platform to which, as it were, they have now ascended, to bear their testimony before the world"; and then, to give additional effect to the idea, the Doctor changes the figure, and instead of the platform, introduces the "Bell Rock as a fit emblem of the Free Church, in which the light of the Original Secession testimony was henceforth to be seen blazing from afar. "They have come," says he, "with the strong light of their testimony, which was shining within a narrow and limited sphere, and they have now put it up on the Bell Rock Lighthouse of the Free Church of Scotland, where it shall shine far and wide over the globe, not for a few, but for the benefit of millions." This language is sufficiently magniloquent. It will be admitted that when the Secession testimony came to be placed on the "Bell Rock Lighthouse "it was fairly at sea; and so, alas! it has proved to be; for neither it nor the acceders who perched it on that Rock have been heard of since as witnesses for the Covenanted Reformation. The elevated platform seems also to have turned out to be a "drop," on which the Original Seceders were no sooner placed, than they sunk out of view, we fear to rise no more as public witnesses, instead of holding up the strong light of their testimony in such an elevated position as to attract the attention of the world.

Original Seceders, and some of those who are now in the Free Church, were wont to complain that the Original Burghers who joined the Established Church were never heard of, and did nothing as the advocates of Reformation principles within the pale of the Church of Scotland; and what, we may now ask, have Original Seceders done as witnesses for their former principles in the Free Church? What overtures have they introduced, or speeches have they made, to revive the principles of the Second Reformation? Have they not been guilty rather of discouraging the efforts which have been made by the friends of these principles in the Free Church, to turn the attention of that Church to them? We would like to know how many of them have joined the Association for the support of these principles, which has been formed, and whose noble and faithful manifesto in defence of these principles has been already noticed in our pages? Surely the least that they ought to have done, as a means of pacifying conscience laden with so many vows binding them to these principles, was to have acceded without exception to this Association-to have done their utmost to strengthen the hand of these Covenanters in the Free Church -and to have rejoiced in the breadth of the ground which that Association has taken up, and which the few leaders in the movement are so earnest to see extensively occupied.

We cannot now dwell on the lessons which the specimen of the doings of Original Seceders now before us teaches. As to Mr White, it may suggest the exclamation, "How are the mighty fallen, and the weapons of war perished," once employed valiantly in the best of

causes! It shows, also, the fatal effects of expediency, when adopted as a rule of conduct in what relates to the cause of God. There is ample proof in the past history of God's Church, that little is to be expected from those who yield to this principle, so as to swerve from any part of truth or duty. But it also suggests the admonition-" Let him that standeth take heed lest he fall," and the prayer-" Lead us not into temptation."

RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE.

THE FEEJEB ISLANDS.

The Feejee Islands are one of the many striking groups of islands with which the Pacific Ocean abounds. The number of this cluster is said to be about 154, of which 100 are inhabited; and the entire population has been estimated at 300,000. Like the other islands situated in that part of the globe, they are remarkable for fertility and beauty. It is generally known, also, that the inhabitants of this group were characterised by the darkest features of heathenism, and that among them its worst abominations prevailed, and the most savage cruelties were extensively practised. Such was the condition of the islands when the first missionaries landed on their shores in 1835; and the success with which the labours of these have been crowned will be read with interest in the following extract from an interesting sketch of this mission in the March number of the News of the Churches:

"It may serve," says the writer, "to give some notion of the extent to which Christian missions had already extended in Feejee to mention, that to visit all the stations required a voyage of 700 miles. Some of the islands were found to have already become entirely Christian. This was the case with the gem-like Ono, in which, with a population of 474 persons, there were 310 church-members, while all the children were under instruction. The earlier history of Christianity in Ono was found to be associated with a fact of singular interest. Above six years before the time of Mr Lawrie's visit, the few converts who were then on the island were violently persecuted by their heathen neighbours. Their numbers, however, continuing to increase, they at length determined that they would take up arms against their enemies. They did so, and the heathens fled before them to a strong fortress on the mountains. The Christians followed, and, with little bloodshed, took the town. But, instead of putting the vanquished to the sword, they fell on their necks and wept over them. Affected and subdued by this extraordinary treatment, the heathen warriors fell on their knees and lotued at once. They knew that aforetime they would have been eaten, instead of being preserved alive and wept over by their conquerors. Thus did Ono become Christian; love bowed the hearts of the people as the heart of one man, and Christ was glorified alike in the conquerors and in the conquered.

"In other islands, again, such as Lakemba, Mr Lawrie found the majority of the population still heathen, but the leaven of Christianity quietly and rapidly extending. Amidst a population of 1500, there were already 250 Christians, while, from the summit of a mountain in this island, he could look around him upon clusters of islands with the delightful assurance that there was scarcely one of them in which there was not already some form of Christian agency, and some measure of Christian success. As he steered his way onward in the midst of coral reefs and sunken rocks, which strew those islands with so many wrecks, he was cheered amid all the thick darkness that brooded over so many parts of Feejee, with the unequivocal signs of evangelic progress, constraining even hostile chiefs and people to acknowledge, This lotu is a great thing. At one place the intelligence reached him of a whole town that had unexpectedly cast off heathenism in a day; at another place, he found a chief complaining that he could no longer send persons to the heathen dances, for nearly all his tribe had become Christian. A school was visited by him in one island, in which the bearded chief and his queen led the procession of the scholars, and repeated along with them the prescribed lessons of the day; while, in other places, his heart was warmed by being present at the prayer meetings, and listening to the simple and often strangely eloquent prayers of the native Christians.

'Lord, help us,' said one of these worshippers,-'help us to bear our cross, and, if it be heavy, help us to move on still, bending slowly. Untie the load of our sins. If this load were tied round our loins, we could untie it ourselves; but as it is tied round our hearts, we cannot untie it, but Thou canst; Lord untie the burden now." "But perhaps there was no spectacle that more struck the mind of this enterprising visitor than when he looked up to the foretop-gallant yard of his own ship, and recalled the history of the man who was looking eagerly down among the reefs, and seeking out for the ship a safe entrance as she drew near to some familiar but perilous shore. The name of this man was Elijah Varani. Not long before he had been the chief of Vewa, unmatched alike for his terrible exploits and for his ferocious cannibalism, the human butcher of Seru, the superior chief of Bau. Such had been his strength and courage, that he had been known to encounter the shark in his native element, and on many an island his name had borne as great terror with it as that of Africaner had done in the deserts of Namaqualand. But the gospel, after many a season of conviction and resistance, had subdued his savage heart, the deadly war-club had been broken; and, when some of the higher chiefs sought to tempt him back to war by the offer of very large gifts, his reply was, "This is not now possible; I am the servant of the King of Peace; besides, I love every one, and cannot destroy any more lives.' As Varani sailed over the scenes of his former murders, many a Feejeean wondered at the mysterious power of the lotu, and predicted its final triumph, and the missionaries beheld in him an argument against all despair.

"On looking at the statistical table appended to Mr Lawrie's visit, we find that there were already 37 chapels in Feejee, 23 other preaching-places, 9 missionaries and assistant missionaries, 38 catechists and other paid agents, 68 local preachers, 117 day-school teachers, and nearly 4000 persons in attendance on public worship, including members and scholars. We sympathise with the reflection with which Mr Lawrie records these moral triumphs, and gazes on whole islands that have been transformed within twelve years:-This effect would not have been produced by legislation at home or abroad, nor by any bulls from Rome, nor by all the dancing. masters of France, nor by counting of beads, and mounting of crucifixes; no, nor even by preaching the necessary efficacy of the sacraments, and the sacredness of those who are said to be the successors of the apostles. But the word of God,the simple preaching of Christ,—has accomplished this moral miracle,—this mighty revolution in Feejeean manners.'

"Since the period of Mr Lawrie's inspiriting visit, the word of the Lord has continued to grow and multiply. The vast majority of the population are still heathen, but everywhere the empire of darkness is on the wane, and even the priests own that the God of the Christians is a mighty God, and confess that their time is short. Even where the gospel has not yet achieved its highest and peculiar triumph, the presence of the missionary and the evangelist acts as a powerful check upon self-immolation and cannibalism, and every year saves many lives. It is not the least remarkable fact in the history of missions in Feejee, that, while the missionary has so often stood forth as an intercessor and a protector between the ferocious pagan and his victim, whom revenge and appetite alike prompted him to destroy, not a hair of the head of a missionary has been injured; and in the unconscious restraint that has held back the hand of the man-eater from these devoted men, while so many whites have, during the same period, been mercilessly immolated, it almost seems as if their savage natores, restrained like the lions when the prophet was cast into the midst of them, had heard the command, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm."

"Among the latest intelligence, we learn that Tumbou, the chief town of Lakemba, has recently been adorned with a large and beautiful place of worship; that the older stations, such as Ono, are in a healthy state; that Totoya's four towns are now wholly Christian; and that the Moulans, as a whole, are now learning the ways of the Lord. In the Nandy circuit, the people in general_maintain their profession, and twenty heathen villages are visited for the purpose of affording Christian instruction, in addition to the eight places which form the circuit. 'Religion increases much in Feejee,' says a native teacher in a recent letter, and there are many small islands in the group on which all the people have lotued. There are also many chapels and many people who have embraced religion in Novitileva and Vanualeva, two large islands.' The Old Testament Scriptures have

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