THE SYNOD. THE annual assembly of this, the Supreme Court of our Church, has just been held at Liverpool, within Canning Street Church. There was a large attendance, both of Ministers and Elders; and though there was, as usual, some differences of opinion, and some animated debates, the whole proceedings were marked by much good feeling amongst the members, and upon no question was it found necessary to come to a vote. The first meeting was at seven o'clock in the evening of Monday, the 15th April, when, after sermon by the retiring Moderator, the Rev. Patrick L. Miller, of Newcastle, the roll was made up, and the Rev. James Blythe, A.M., of Branton, Northumberland, was unanimously elected to the chair. The Reports given in on the state of Religion, on the Home and Foreign Missions of the Church, on the College and Schools, were all encouraging, and were listened to with much attention by the members of the court, as well as by the respectable audience generally in attendance. The Synod, under certain conditions, authorized the sanction of five new charges, viz., two within the bounds of the Presbytery of London, two within those of Lancashire, and that of Carlisle, in Cumberland. The application from Exeter excited long and warm discussion, mainly in consequence of an organ being used within the church there, which it was proposed to assume; in the end the Synod agreed to remit the case to the Presbytery of London, with power to sanction the Exeter congregation as a stated charge, on obtaining an assurance that the use of the organ would be discontinued within a reasonable time. It was the opinion of a great many members of the Synod that the decision in the case of Cheltenham in 1858 should rule this of Exeter; and, as the people in the former instance relinquished their organ to obtain connection with the Synod, and the most satisfactory results have followed, it is sincerely to be hoped that our friends at Exeter will follow the same magnanimous and self-denying course. The Synod was favoured with deputations from the Free Church of Scotland and from the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, and appointed deputations in return to those churches; a resolution was also passed expressing sympathy with the Free Church in the Cardross case. A deputation was likewise appointed to the Synod of the United Presbyterian Church that meets in Edinburgh next month. Besides the devotional services that preceded each diet, there was a prayermeeting in the church every morning, from 9 to 10 o'clock, at which the Moderator or the Rev. J. R. Welch presided. The Synod was closed at 2 o'clock on Friday, and the next meeting was appointed to be held in London, on the second Monday in May, 1862. A very brief report of the proceedings of the Synod will be found in another part of our columns.. Miscellaneous. THE LATE REV. DR. MURRAY. Ir was with deep sorrow and surprise that we heard of the sudden death of this able and good man, whose racy sketches -full of truth, and wisdom, and heart-our readers have often perused in these columns. But a few months have passed away since he was amongst us. It was then our privilege to accompany him, and his equally devoted fellow-traveller, Geo. Stewart, Esq., of Philadelphia, in their visits to some of, to them, the most interesting places of the metropolis -to Smithfield, the Field Lane Refuge, and the dark purlieus of St. Giles's and the Seven Dials, all of which Dr. Murray surveyed with the deep interest of a Christian philanthropist. We copy the following notice of his death from the New York Observer : Our friend and correspondent (Kirwan) the Rev. Nicholas Murray, D.D., of Elizabethtown, New Jersey, died at home, on Monday, Feb. 4th, in the 58th year of his age. It is vain for us to attempt to speak our mingled feelings of astonishment and grief, as we hear and repeat these sudden and distressing tidings. But a few days since he was with us here, in the fulness of health and strength, overflowing with life and buoyant spirits, rejoicing in the work to which he was devoted, and bidding fair to number many useful years in the Church and world. But he is dead! Alas! that we must write it in tears, he is dead, and those places that were made pleasant by his genial humour, his vivacious conversation, his warm, earnest tones, his animated face and generous heart, his glowing piety, will know him no more. Up to Friday last he was in his usual health. On that day, after attending a funeral, he was attacked with neuralgia in the chest, but with no symptoms that created alarm. He was going to Albany to spend the Sabbath with Dr. Sprague (an annual visit), but he was persuaded to abandon it. He continued unwell, but with no apprehensions of danger until Monday evening, when, just after walking from one room to another, at ten o'clock, a sudden change came over him, with faintness, and he knew at once that death was at hand. His family were around his bed. He told them that his hour had come. He gave them his dying charge; prayed for each of them; then for his church, for the elders and indi vidual members; and then, raising his hands, pronounced the apostolic benediction on them all, and yielded up his spirit into the hands of his Redeemer. Dr. Murray was a native of Ireland, of Roman Catholic parentage. Coming to this country in his boyhood, he was in youth converted in this city, and devoting himself to the Christian ministry, he was educated at Williams Collelge, Mass., where he graduated in 1826, and then he studied theology at Princeton, New Jersey. After licensure in the Presbyterian Church, he spent some little time in the service of the American Tract Society. He was first settled in the ministry in Wilkesbarre and Kingston, Pa., and was called to Elizabethtown, where he was installed, July 23, 1833. Here he has laboured with exemplary diligence and great success: having one of the whole country, which has prospered in all largest churches and congregations in the its relations under his faithful and able ministry. Abundant in labours with his pen and voice in the service of the Church at large, and in the advancement of every noble work in the community, a philanthropist, patriot, and friend, obedient to every call, he was nevertheless first, and before all other things, a preacher and pastor. Nothing was allowed to interfere with his regular and thorough preparation for the pulpit, and he fed his flock with the finest of the wheat, and never went into the sanctuary with unbeaten oil. As a writer, he had earned a reputation as wide as the religious world. Many years ago he confided to us his purpose to prepare a series of papers, presenting his own personal experience in the Roman Catholic Church and faith, the steps by which he was led in early life to forsake it, and reasons to induce others to abandon that communion. We encouraged the work, and the result was the production of the first series of letters, signed KIRWAN, addressed to Bishop Hughes, and published in the New York Observer. They arrested public attention. They were republished in scores of other newspapers. They were then gathered into book form, and more than a hundred thousand copies sold. Reprinted in other lands and in other languages, they had a yet wider circulation, and, more important still, they were followed by great results. Circles of Roman Catholics were formed to hear them read, and many were led to renounce their church and become Protestants. Bishop Hughes attempted to reply to the series, but broke down in the midst of it, and has never resumed the effort. These Kirwan letters gave a sudden and immense popularity to Dr. Murray, as a writer, and he became conspicuous as one of the champions of Protestantism in this country. He was called to preach and speak on the subject to overflowing audiences in this city and other parts of the land; and perhaps no man in his church has been more frequently called upon to preach on special occasions of interest than he. Twice has he visited Europe, making preaching tours through Ireland, addressing crowds who flocked to hear him. His last visit after the return of the Irish delegation, was one of unexampled interest, and its incidents are familiar to our readers. His letters and series of articles in the Observer have been gathered into volumes, and are widely read. We have no time, and no strength in this sad hour, to enter upon any analysis of the character of our departed friend and brother. The news has broken upon us so unexpectedly that we are quite unprepared to do more than state these few and incoherent facts. * * truly filial. Part of his ministry has fallen into a period of the church's greatest trial; and he lent his full influence to what he believed to be the truth and the right, but he never yielded to a spirit of reckless crimina tion, nor sacrificed charity even at the altar of faith. In almost every part of the Pres byterian Church he was personally known; in the West, and the South-West, and the South, there are multitudes who have heard the word of truth from his lips, and among them, no doubt, some who will appear in the judgment as seals of his ministry and gems in his crown. And it were impossible that such a man as he could live without operating for good outside of his own immediate ecclesiastical relations. As his mind was always awake, both to the good and the evil involved in passing events, he was always on the alert to secure and advance the one, to discourage and arrest the other. I do not mean that *he ever engaged in any enterprise so excla sively worldly as to dishonour, in the least degree, his sacred calling; but whenever there was physical or moral evil to be averted, when there was physical or moral good to be attained, there he was, willing to make his influence felt; and it often was felt in great power. We take the following from a sermon, which we have received since the above was in type, preached on the occasion of Dr. Murray's death, by the Rev. Dr. Sprague : CONGREGATIONAL PRAYER MEETINGS. Under his ministry this church has not only retained all its wonted intelligence and stability, its orderly, peaceable, and earnest Christian spirit, but has been constantly growing in numbers and influence, in zeal, in spirituality, in beneficent activity, in devotion to all the great interests of truth and DR. WHITE, of Liverpool, in whose conrighteousness,-in everything, in short, that enters essentially into the true glory of a gregation many souls have been brought to church. Its present financial prosperity is the Lord during the past year, lately adthus gratefully recorded in a memorandum dressed a letter to his people, proposing a made by Dr. Murray on the first day of the plan for District Congregational Prayer present year. "There was a glorious meet- meetings. As it contains many excellent ing in the First Church to-day-the first time in all its history it was declared to be suggestions which may be of use to others, out of debt-with a balance in the treasury, we lay the following portion of it before our with a yearly income to meet all its ex- readers. To many a congregation of propenditure, and about four thousand dollars in fessing Christians it may truly be said, funds for the poor and to keep the grave- "Ye have not because ye ask not." After yard in repair." Rely on it the work that : has been done here during the last twenty-speaking of the privilege and importance of seven years and a half, in awakening sinners prayer, Dr. White, says :and leading them to Christ, in guiding, and "All who call themselves Christians, quickening, and comforting the saints, in who profess to be redeemed by the blood developing and directing the energies of the of Jesus, and to be animated by his Spirit, church, and elevating the standard of (hris- who take their seats at a communion table, tian and benevolent activity, is itself a great who feel that they need grace to resist work; far greater than, with our present temptation, to endure trial, to enjoy privi limited views, it appears to us. leges, to perform arduous and self-denying But while this was the more immediate field duties, and who look forward to be happy of his labour, his influence, more than that for ever with their Redeemer in glory,-all of almost any other man, pervaded the entire such must surely feel the absolute necesPresbyterian Church. It was felt in her sity of submitting themselves to the teachvarious Judicatories and Boards, and espe- ing of Christ and his Holy Word. I shall cially in the Theological Seminary at Prince- therefore refrain from adding another ton, which he cherished with an affection sentence more upon this part of the subject. "There are two kinds of Prayer-meetings | composed of a certain circle of friends. -the one to some extent missionary, to The meeting going from house to gather in souls; the other encouraging and house will excite a sort of holy zeal and strengthening, to nourish and refresh those already gathered unto the fold of the church. It is to the second of these I am anxious to invite your attention. And we may depend upon it, that unless the Dachinery be constantly anointed with the unction of the Holy One, in answer to believing prayer, the wheels of Christian enterprise will run heavily along. There are already in operation eleven prayermeetings in the bounds of the congregation, besides the two public ones held in the school-room. "This is encouraging so far as it goes, at the same time we cannot conceal from ourselves that the persons connected with these meetings are but a mere fraction of the communicants and seat-holders in the church. Some who have these little social gatherings in their houses, have repeatedly informed me that they would regard their discontinuance as a calamity only less to be regretted than that of the discontinuance of the public services of the house of God. THE PLAN PROPOSED. "We wish to have a systematic plan, and not a mere momentary excitement, that from its own heat and from the want of proper organisation will speedily burn itself out. We wish to guard against both extremes, on the one hand of being idle and of doing nothing, except talking about prayer, and on the other of defeating our intentions by grasping at too much. "First, then, as to the field we have to work upon.-We have about 474 families, holding pews and sittings in the church, and about 700 communicants. All these profess to be Christians, and have direct connection with our congregation. We should like to see every family and communicant associated with One prayermeeting. Only with One, and to make it a matter of conscience and of duty to attend that regularly, as regularly as they attend the House of God on the Sabbath, or their place of business on the week day. "Secondly, as to time.--This must be a matter of arrangement and convenience. One a week we should suggest as most natural, and each meeting, if possible, not to extend beyond an hour. "Third, as to the grouping of the families and the places of meeting.-We would suggest, as far as it can be done, that there should be ten families to each society. That the meetings should not be held statedly in the same house, but go round the whole ten, in order. That the ten families should be taken from the locality, and not be rivalry in each, that his meeting shall be a good one. Every one will beat up for a large attendance when it comes his turn, and rich and poor, who know so little about each other, because they so rarely meet each other, except when their interests are to some extent antagonistic, will now meet at a throne of grace, in prayer before God, when all worldly distinctions are forgotten; they will feel drawn together by the Spirit of their common Saviour, and they will go away respecting each other more, and loving each other better. "Fourth, as to the mode of conducting these meetings.-We would suggest that only those who feel confidence should be asked to engage in prayer, and that such persons should be known, in order that the timid and nervous, who will not attend if there be even the possibility of their being asked to pray, may be able to set their minds at rest. This nervousness is as much a disease as a like affection in the physical frame, and should be dealt with in like manner. It should not only not be encouraged, but constantly and prayerfully striven against. The Scriptures should always be read as the foundation of prayer. Praise should be engaged in as an exercise, wherein every one without fear can give audible expression to his and her feelings before God; and as an indispensable requisite, the prayers should be as short and as numerous as possible. Instead of one long prayer, comprising everything, and a second, and a third, travelling over precisely the same ground-the life and interest of the meeting being suffered to die out-we should have, say, four prayers, each about five minutes in length, but certainly not more than ten; the first only taking up one or two subjects,-the second noting what the first has omitted, and again leaving topics for those who are to follow. In this way nothing is forgotten, whilst the interest and the variety are kept up to the end. I was present, a few days ago, where seven persons followed each other in prayer, and the time taken up by the seven was only a minute or two more than half an hour. Fifth, the advantages of such a plan as we propose are varied and numerous. They bring down a direct blessing from a prayer. hearing God upon the Church at large, the congregation, the land, the world itself, as well as upon the persons engaged in them and the houses where they are held. The Lord blessed the house of Obededom because he gave the ark shelter there. They unite a congregation. There are also special circumstances in each family which should not be, and are not, forgotten in prayer on such occasions; and little things requiring ministerial attention that are overlooked, just because they are not known, would become known, be reported to the minister or elders, and be duly attended to. “Sixth, two persons should be appointed to take the superintendence of each society, to keep a note of its progress, and to report to the minister any cases of sickness, anxiety, or otherwise requiring ministerial attendance. Every one would thus be doing something, and all striving together for the faith of the Gospel. "Seventh, Half Yearly or Quarterly Meetings should be held for mutual counsel with each other, to make any alterations in the plan, which practical experience would doubtless suggest, to report any instances of good done, and generally to encourage each other in the work of the Lord. 'Such, my dear friends, is our plan. When I consider who and what we are,our vows, our obligations, our hopes and prospects hereafter, as well as our duties, trials, and temptations here--I cannot, for a single moment, allow myself to think that any who can say, 'I am not my own, I am bought with a price, therefore I must glorify my God in my body and my spirit, which are his,'-I cannot suppose that any man or woman, able and willing to say this, will tell me (in the midst not only of the sins, but of the harassing toils and lawful engagements of the world, to which every one of us is exposed between Sabbath and Sabbath) that one hour in the week, devoted to reading of the Scriptures, praise, and prayer, will be either unprofitable to us, unnecessary for us, or a burthen upon us. "I am aware that the aggregate of the hours devoted to religious meetings may, together, be four or five in the week. Have you ever calculated the aggregate of the hours Jesus gave for you? How many you yourselves will give to him when in Heaven, if you should reach it? How many you now give to the world? Besides, I find objections of this kind proceed usually not from such as attend all these meetings, but from those who, except in rare instances, attend none of them. None of us will regret we attended too many meetings for prayer when we come to die, that is, if we have attended in the right spirit. "The matter is now affectionately and prayerfully submitted to you, and to each of you, begging that as many as feel disposed at once to accede to the proposal will return the annexed blank form, duly filled up, on or before next Lord's-day. If the Lord permit, I shall take the opportunity, as early as possible, of seeing you all at your own houses, and of speaking with you on the subject. But three months, at least, will be required to visit the congre gation. We must not suspend the work till then! Let those favourably disposed at once return their papers, others will doubtless come in afterwards. A meeting will be held immediately after the day fixed for the return of the forms, and by God's help, the plan be proceeded with, subject to such alterations as may be agreed on. "We ask you for your presence for one hour in each week, and for your house for one hour once in ten weeks, as your turn comes round, and if the spirit of grace will only direct us all to look at the proposal in the light of our dangers, our duties, our trials, our privileges, and of eternity, I have no fears as to the result." THE LOVED ONE GONE. A LIGHT is from our household gone, A voice we loved is stilledA place is vacant on our hearth Which never can be filled. Her trusting soul has fled, With tears, and call her dead- She dwells where living waters flow. We miss thee from our home, dear one; We miss thee from thy place; Oh! life will be so dark without The sunshine of thy face. We wait for thee at eve's dark hour, When stars begin to burn; To look for thy return; We list through all the hours; That murmurs through the flowers, And the dark river's solemn hymn, Sweeping among the woodlands dim. The bird you loved is singing yet Above our cottage door; We sigh to hear it singing now, Since heard by thee no more. That float in whispers by- |