field, or how arduous the work. The question was, was it duty--was it right to do it? not was it possible. For when God commands, it must be possible; He can give power to accomplish it, therefore let it be done. Set out on the great enterprise, and there was absolute certainty that it must succeed. Further, there was another consideration that could not fail to work in every reflecting person's mind, and that was, the reflex influence of the missionary enterprise on the Church at home. Every one knew, who had paid any attention to it, that just as a Church advanced forward in Christ's cause abroad, Christ worked the work of that Church at home, gave it life, gave it success in the home field, when it was cultivating also the foreign field. It was of great importance to bear in mind, that there existed a most intimate connection between life and action. Life realized itself by acting. Action strengthened the life that gave it rise. It was different in this of course, from mere material enginery. They could wear out engines or break them; but when there was life, life spiritual,-life intellectual, or life physical,-the mere fact of employing that life in action strengthened the muscle,-the brain the heart the mind-the soul. Set a man to act healthily, and he would become a healthy and powerful man. (Applause.) Set a Christian people to action,bid them not merely try to keep themselves comfortable at home, but bid them go forth in a strenuous endeavour to extend the gospel and grace of God through the world, and they would become more healthy at home, while they were more strenuous in action abroad. (Applause.) There was a great difference between the principle of expenditure in acts of Christian benevolence, with regard to the effect upon its power to continue its exertions, and the principle of what may be called common taxation. It was quite possible to lay on a tax so heavy as actually to crush and destroy the commodity, and tax and all perish. But to put Christian benevolence to the proof, let a man begin to understand what it was to give for God's sake and for God's cause, and then he would invariably find that there was a supply which came from on high. God blessed men in health, blessed them in worldly circumstances, raised multitudinous springs of all kinds; and the consequence was, God was not their debtor. Give what they might, the supply was increased faster than they gave. (Applause.) They constantly find men, such men as the merchant princes of Glasgow and others (applause) who had given so largely and liberally to the cause of the Free Church, coming frankly and honestly forward and saying "Not only am I not the poorer, but the Lord has made my stores to increase in precise proportion to my giving." (Applause.) In this respect there was not the least hazard of exhausting the possibility of Christian benevolence coming forward in support of Christ's cause, as there might be in various other things. But all this must have been often before the minds of any and every one who had thought of it. It had been said, for example, and aptly said, that the reciprocity of influence was like giving oil to the wheels,--that the influence exerted abroad on Foreign Missions made the pioneer-work go forward with more zeal at home. He (Dr Hetherington) would be disposed to alter that image somewhat; and, using a scriptural illustration, say it was not so much the oil on the wheels as the spirit of life in the wheels. It was the living spirit in the living wheel; when the one was lifted up the other was lifted up, where the one went the other went. Just as the Spirit of God made every thing a living agency which He touched, so only let the spirit of life go forth to the heathen, be great in action, and the spirit of life to work at home, will act and live along with it. This principle, then, seemed to him perfectly and absolutely true. True life was, to use the old paradox of the school

men- All in every part ;" and true Christian life did not cut itself into sections. True Christian life worked all in every part; for if the Christianlife be really energetic, they could not bring into action only one department of it,-if it be alive at home, it would look out for foreign fields of exertion,-if in the foreign, it would direct itself to the home. Consequently, true Christian life would rise and pervade the entire sphere of Christian action. Let it thus be fairly taken into consideration, that the call on them was diffused, and its principles of usefulness diffused. India with its millions were lying resting on them. Look at the responsibility which God demanded them to meet. Their twenty-seven native converts, the fruits of previous training, all ready to enter on the field; and between 7000 and 8000 children were in training, who also might come forward to spread the gospel throughout the entire breadth of India. Then the question arose, how was this to be maintained? It was perfectly plain that their present means were vastly inadequate to the support of the Mission in efficiency, far less adequate to carry it forward according to its value and according to their responsibilities. Consequently, the question which fairly arose and had been suggested deserved to be solemnly considered, in what way could these missionary enterprises be put on a more sound and substantial basis, and be carried forward more vigorously and actively than before? He thought it right to say, that before they could attempt to answer the question, it seemed necessary to revert a little to the fundamental conception of what the Church was. What was a Church, and its functions and duty on earth? The Church was an assembly of believers rescued by the love of God from perdition, and constituting the Redeemer's kingdom, whose duty on earth was twofold. One of these primary or generic functions was to maintain itself in existence in the locality in which God had placed it, and the other was to obey Christ's command to go and preach unto all nations,-or more simply, preservation and propagation. There were thus two spheres of duty, the one might be termed the home sphere of action necessary to its being,-and the other the foreign sphere of action necessary to its well-being. For these there might be two modes of maintenance. There might be, and in endowed churches there was, for the home sphere of action the endowment given by the State, by the community; and when this was not done, as in such a Church as this in its dis-established condition, there might be an association whereby all members of the Church should contribute to the maintenance of the Church in healthy and vigorous activity at home; and for its Foreign Missions, or second generic function, there should be exactly the same means employed,—that is, the combined support of the entire members of the Church. Were this. idea fairly looked at, it seemed to him that it might greatly simplify the matter, and tend to relieve them from certain difficulties which had arisen in the minds of some. It had been said by some, for example, that if they were to have an association for the Foreign Mission, why not also an association for the Home Mission, for the Colonial, and for the Jewish Missions? The answer to this was, that these were not generic spheres of action. Look, again, at the distinction. There were but two great, primary, or generic provinces, departments, or spheres of duty and action in which a church could be engaged; there were not fewer, and there could not be more, of a primary nature, namely, the Home and the Foreign. By the home, he meant Britain and its colonists; by the foreign, not India merely, but all the world, all wide heathendom. The proper maintenance of these two primary spheres of action demanded the combined support of all the members of the Church, or, in other words, a general association for each, in what

ever manner that might be arranged. All other sources of action were subordinate or special-were contained under these two primary and generic, of which they were subdivisions, and might be supported by annual collections, subscriptions, or grants from the funds of the primary, on which they depended, but could have no right to claim a separate association, or combined action, of the whole Church. For example, the home province might be subdivided into three subordinate departments-home mission or church extension, education, and the colonies; and the foreign, into missions to the heathen, to Jews, and to Papists-or into perhaps some other forms or special aspects. For each of the subdivisions a collection might be made, to gather up the liberalities of the people, according to their respective feelings and inclinations; but the two primary spheres of action ought to be maintained by the combined exertions and associated support of the entire members of the Church. (Applause.) Now, with this view before them, he thought it would be easy to arrive at a leading conception with regard to the mode in which the Church must maintain its primary spheres of generic action in their relative proportions, with an association for each; and if this should be the opinion of the Church, the plan proposed by Dr Duff, with his large-hearted and large-minded prudence-(applause)-was the mode of action by which every congregation in the Free Church should endeavour to comply with Christ's command. Again, there could be no doubt to the mind of every intelligent and thoughtful Christian of another consideration, which was this-that selfishness, or self-seeking, was the great sin against which Christianity had to contend. It might easily be shewn, that, in endeavouring to maintain themselves at home, it was not in the nature of that effort necessary to come into direct collision with the selfish or selfseeking aspect of humanity. Every one liked to see all things going well at home. But the Foreign Mission demanded that the directly opposite principle should prevail; and their money and their labour, and the result of it, they might never see. They had to send it abroad in faith; and consequently, by the very action of Foreign Missions selfishness was assailed, and self-denial called into action. "If any man will be my disciple, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me." By the Foreign Missions an effort of self-denial was made. Self-sacrifice of some kind was instantly demanded. Now, all these considerations shewed, that if the Foreign Mission was engaged in vigorously and systematically, large hearted liberality and devoted self-denial in that sphere must necessarily produce like action at home. It went directly to crucify the natural selfishness and self-seeking of the human mind; and drew forth into action a self-denial, a liberality, a devotedness, and a Christ-like willingness to give up all for Christ's cause; and thus, of necessity, the more they exerted themselves in that sphere--in that very mode of action-the more they necessarily became Christ-like at home-Christ-like in their own land. The blessing of Christ was poured on hearts crucified dead to the world-self-denied, and devoted to the Lord Jesus; and the fact of engaging in this unselfish line of duty must needs strengthen and increase the heart from which it sprung. Christianity was like life, or like light; it must act, it must radiate, it must diffuse itself. Christianity could not stand still. It must needs be advancing or receding; and it would be an evil omen-it would be an omen that the Church had begun to collapse at the heart-if it ceased to have energy and determination to go forward into vigorous action. As he had already said, our Home Mission sphere was necessarily the sphere of being, and our Foreign Missions that of wellbeing. They could not have

any life at home unless they were exerting themselves to go forward with the gospel cause abroad. Permit him finally to say, that the recent solemn services in which the Assembly had been engaged had made many to feel that there was a dread on the Church--a dread pervading the minds of many of those who loved it best, and prayed most for its success-that it had begun the period of recoil. All human things seemed to be liable, as some thought, to a dark fatality; advancing so far in a cyclical movement forward, and then turning with a recoil. Thus, some thought that a mortal fatality rested on nations, and on churches no less. But all this just came of sin, for it was the nature of sin to destroy. Man was not created to be mortal, but to be immortal; and, in consequence of that, he should have lived always with increasing wisdom, energy, life, light, power; and Adam should have been spared, with all his successors, till this day; but he sinned, and died. Consequently, there necessarily began a tendency to cessation-a tendency to death. But Christianity was immortality; and therefore, if infused into a nation, or into a church, they ought to be continually advancing. Its tendency was not to recoil. It was sin that caused the recoil. The spirit of life lived on. Many found aged people on their death-beds or sick-beds, at eighty or ninety years of age, whose feelings were fresh on everything connected with religion, but dead to everything else. The spiritual element lived on and grew, while the natural and mortal one was passing away, and perishing around it. (Applause.) What would it be with the Christianity-with the life of a church that ceased to go forward? The recoil would begin, which would end in spiritual death, of any church that dared to stand still one moment. (Cheers.) The moment they began to say they had seven hundred or eight hundred congregations, and they would make them all as comfortable as possible, by meddling no more with sending the gospel to the heathen, but confining their efforts to the Sustentation Fund-the moment that idea took possession of the mind of the Free Assembly, that moment her power was paralyzed→→ (applause)—that moment her spiritual life ebbed away-that moment she entered on the recoil-the backward movement of the cycle. For that very reason, the more they were bent on raising the missionary feeling in the Church, the more were they doing what would actually strengthen her in the home-field. The two principles could not contradict each other. Their very nature was to combine and co-operate. The life going forth to the heathen would work more vigorously at home. For that reason, he would trust that this Church would thank God and take courage for the very cheering report that had this evening been read; and that they would also go forward with greatly increased energy, and with more systematic and sustained effort, in their two great spheres of duty; but, above all, taking into consideration that the 150 perishing millions in India, and the perishing millions through all the world at large, demanded even a greater effort for the extension of the gospel than for their own maintenance and existence. (Applause.) He knew this might be said to be enthusiasm; he would ask what was enthusiasm? Was it not estimating something beyond its worth, and giving to it a degree of zeal and a degree of energy which the thing did not deserve? If that were the right meaning of the word enthusiasm, he had just to say, that enthusiasm in regard to the propagation of the gospel in India was impossible. (Applause.) Could the value of souls be overestimated? Could the value of eternity be over-estimated? Could the necessity of obedience to the Saviour's command be over estimated? Could the hope of his blessing on the Church, in its faith and obedience to his commands, be over-estimated? Assuredly no. (Applause.) The most ener

sgetic, the most self-denying, the most devoted, the most determined zeal in the cause of Foreign Missions was not enthusiasm. It was the calm, deliiberate discharge of duty. With this full conviction in his own mind, and earnestly hoping and praying that this conviction might be in the mind of the entire Church-not merely those present here, but all everywhere-he moved the adoption and approbation of the Report now read. (Applause.) Mr HAWKINS next addressed the House. He commenced by pointing out the fact, that God in his providence had opened up India, with its 150 millions of people, as a field of missionary labour. Thousands and tens of thousands of its unhappy natives were asking the people of this country to bring within their reach the means of grace. (Hear, hear.) He remembered that the Convener of the Foreign Missions Committee on one occasion quoted the language of a missionary in India which had indelibly fixed itself on his memory. That missionary said,-Remember that in India there are 150 millions of your fellow-men, one-sixth of the whole human family, -the subjects of your own Queen. He went on to say, that of every six children that see the light, one is born there, and then ask, To what instruction is he born? (Hear.) Of every six brides in the world, one offers her vows there; and to what affection is she destined? Of every six families in the world, one spreads its table there; and what Christian love unites them? Of every six widows, one is weeping there, and what hand of Christian sympathy wipes away her tears? Of every six wounded spirits one is pining there and what balm of Gilead or what physician does it know? Of every six men who die in the world, one is departing there-and what hope inspires his breast-what home is in his eye? (Applause.) It was for these 150 millions, this sixth of the human family, that they pled that night. After alluding to the flourishing state of the Missionary Institutions at Calcutta, Mr Hawkins went on to say that in the course of the operations in that Institution, they had seen one and another carried out of darkness into the light of God's glorious gospel. He had seen them going on stage by stage, had watched the difficulties of our missionaries, and had often been called upon unworthily to endeavour to uphold their hands, when friends at home little knew the trials they were called on to undergo, not with regard to external circumstances, but with regard to the spiritual condition of those whom they were training up as Christians, or whom they were called to watch over, as between life and death. He had seen some of these young men trained upwards till they were able preachers of the gospel, as well equipped for the work as any that our home institutions could produce. They had had one of them here, and he would refer to that "dear youth," as he had been called, because he had seen him in circumstances in which no other man present had seen him, when, as a native of India, he was exposed amongst godless men, and because his colour was different from theirs, he was looked upon with thorough contempt. He (Mr Hawkins) spoke to him, endeavouring to cheer and uphold him; but his only answer was, "It is part of the cross my Master calls me to bear." (Applause.) He came to this land, and was suddenly taken from this depth and raised to the pinnacle of public respect; and now he had returned to his labours more humbled, and more devoted, in consequence of these trials, than when he left. From what he had seen of the Calcutta Institution, he knew that it had effected a vast change in India, and that, along with similar institutions, it had done a vast deal to leaven the mind of India with a knowledge of the truth, not merely by educating these young men, but by sending them forth to make known to others, a knowledge of, at all events, something of what had been communicated to themselves. But there was another system