ans are, of the numerous and dreadful evils that arise from the adulterous union. It would be strange were it otherwise; for the evidence is continually thrust upon their attention in all parts of the country. It meets them at every step and in every shape, disgusting the pious, debasing the multitude, oppressing the weak, and obstructing the benevolent." Free Church-Vesting of its Property.-There is probably no denomination in which the generality of our readers feel a deeper interest than this. Its principles, in reference to ecclesiastical establisliments, are not in harmony with our own. But we cannot help marking and admiring the wise and beneficent operation of Divine Providence in turning to a most blessed account what we must hold to be the error of our brethren in this matter. The great work assigned to the Free Church seems to us to be the withdrawing of the population of the country, especially of the more influential classes, from the Establishment; and that, we verily believe, she could not have effected, had she at once embraced the Voluntary principle; while, if the object had not been accomplished, the enormous evil of the Establishment must have been endured for a vastly longer period of time, or been terminated in a manner which all the friends of humanity and religion might have had reason to deplore. It is finely remarked by M. Vinet, that the progress of the human mind is like a giant's stair-case, each step of which had need to be divided." It seems to us that the Free Church, by holding, for the present, the principle of an establishment, has most auspiciously for the nation, again to use the words of Vinet, "converted the stair-case into a gentle declivity." Let us subjoin a little intelligence: At a meeting of the Free Church presbytery of Edinburgh on the 3d of January, it was agreed, on the motion of Mr Begg, seconded by Dr Candlish-To overture the Assembly to the effect that, in adopting any new principle or regulation, the same shall always be transmitted for the consideration of presbyteries, in terms of the Barrier Act;' and further, that no final resolution shall be adopted in regard to the permanent investment of the property belonging to the several congregations, until the fullest information be obtained relative to the practical experience of other unendowed churches in such matters, and until the whole subject, along with such information, is submitted to the several presbyteries and congregations for their deliberate consideration.” Mr Begg remarked that, about 1.300,000, in the shape of chapels-of-case, had been given to the Established Church, and it therefore became the church to beware of being exposed to any similar misfortune. In opposition to the proposal which has been made to vest feudally the whole of the real property of the Church,-chapels, manses, schools, glebes, &c., in certain persons named by the assembly, he spoke as follows : "First, I would object to the concentration of such a mass of property in a few individuals, as having a natural tendency towards despotic power. I say, if you invest in some ten or twenty men, two or three millions of property, you raise up a very powerful and a very dangerous body. Secondly, I object to vesting the property, as proposed, because I think it impossible to get any given body of men, of whose steadfastness you can be assured. If such a plan, for instance, had been proposed some six or seven years ago, in whom would you have vested the property? Should it not, probably, have been in such men as Mr Colquhoun, or Sir G. Sinclair, or even, perhaps, Sir C. Fergusson ?-men, in short, a great proportion of whom are now decidedly opposed to our principles. And every one knows that a trust-deed is of very little force or value, if the trustees, who administer it, are bent on adopting it to serve their own purposes. As all bodies are liable to change, so is the Free Church. The Free Church may change, or perhaps divisions may come amongst us, and the question will then arise to whom does all this property belong-to the majority or to the minority? and by this plan of general trusteeship the whole of it might be swept away into the hands of a minority. I will suppose a case; according to a proposal advocated by several of the politicians of this country, it is likely that, in some shape or other, the popish priests of Ireland will be offered a bribe in the form of an endowment. Now, I believe, I have indeed no doubt whatever, that the same parties will be prepared to offer a BRIBE to the Free Church in the way of an endowment also. And perhaps it would be accepted by a small portion of our ministers. Now, in such a case the question would immediately arise,-To whom does all this property belong-to those who accept the endowment, or to those who refuse it?" To the general tenor of this we entirely subscribe, and only add that, as the law at present stands, all unendowed churches, and we believe unincorporated bodies generally, feel inconveniences regarding the holding of their real property. Might not the Free Church and all other Dissenters combine in an attempt to obtain an act simple in its provisions, and putting them on the same footing with Friendly Societies? Education in England. The excitement produced by the late attempt, in the factory bill, to subject the education of the great bulk of the population of England to the Puseyite Establishment, we are glad to see, has not died away without producing excellent effects. It could not be disputed that there was the very utmost need for all the additional amount of education which it was proposed to furnish in that obnoxious way; and it is well that several of the most able and influential portions of the dissenting community have resolved to make an effort somewhat commensurate to the occasion, for affording instruction free from the pestilential influence of the National Church. The Wesleyans have resolved to raise for this purpose L.200,000 in the course of seven years. On the 13th December last a conference of the representatives of the congregational churches in England was held in London, when a series of spirited and excellent resolutions were adopted on the subject of general education; and a subscription commenced, which, before the close of the meeting, amounted to L.17,795. Seven of the subscribers give L 1000 each; a number of the Independent ministers contribute L.100 a piece; Mr James of Birmingham L.200; all of which is payable in the course of five years. We cannot doubt that the aggregate amount will be worthy of the denomination and the cause; and we fervently hope that, under the divine blessing, the advantages, both temporal and spiritual, resulting to multitudes, and extending indirectly to generations yet unborn, will be unspeakably great. We say, God speed, to all enlightened and efficient educators. They have the merit of beginning at the beginning. Unsettled State of Established Churches.-Such is the title of a leading article in a late number of the Christian Examiner and Church of Ireland Magazine. The view which the writer takes is truly dolorous. "The church in danger" has often been a mere watchword of party, but the wailing of the Examiner is plainly as sincere as it is pitiful. We have some respect for the writer, if not for his tremors; for he appears to be zealously on the side of Protestant doctrine, and not embittered as so many of his class are by so-called Protestant politics. He admits that the Church of England is smitten as with the dead rot by the prevalence of Puseyism and Popery. He regards the mainstay of the Establishment principle as broken by the disruption of the Scottish Church. as to Ireland, how can the church be stable when all else is moving, and the very foundations shake? And "When we take a combined view of these three establishments with which we are more immediately connected, we are constrained to come to the conclusion, that the time is drawing near when all human institutions, however wisely constructed, or however intended for the glory of God, shall experience that dissolution from which nothing is exempt but God's work alone. Religious establishments are man's work, for the preservation and decent keeping of God's truths, just as the ark was a work of man's hands to preserve and keep decently and honourably God's law, The precious deposit, the word of God, endureth for ever; whilst, without any impeachment of God's power or love, the casket that contains it may be allowed to perish. So God's church and truth shall never perish. He will preserve and keep it. Whilst the buildings which man may have raised around them, may be left to fall into decay, or exposed to the violence of the unprincipled destroyer," THE UNITED SECESSION MAGAZINE, FOR MARCH, 1844. MISCELLANEOUS COMMUNICATIONS. MEMOIR OF THE REV. ARCHIBALD BRUCE. THE lapse of fifty years makes a great change on the aspect of human society; within that period nearly all who were familiar with the subject of this memoir have followed him into the unseen world. A few, however, still live, who can say that they enjoyed his intimacy and friendship. In their hearts his memory remains, a pleasing venerable image; and, should they discern in this brief biographical sketch, some features of the amiable and dignified minister of the gospel, whom they delighted to love and honour, they will be disposed to judge leniently its imperfections and errors. Imperfections and errors they may expect to find in it; for the writer never knew personally him of whom he writes. He was early taught to think of him with esteem and reverence; but he sees him only as he appears in the narrative of others or in his own surviving works, and he dares not hope that a portrait, sketched hastily from a portrait, shall very closely resemble the unknown original. A more extended memoir of him may yet be offered to the christian public. If skilfully executed, it would be received as a welcome gift; for he was, in many respects, an extraordinary and valuable man. In other circumstances he might have attained a prominent position among the public benefactors of his country and the human race. As it was, he became known and useful within a considerable range, taking a lively interest in the political and ecclesiastical movements of his day, and writing copiously as well as learnedly on various subjects still attractive and important. To trace the progress of his active mind along its diversified course, interspersing the narrative with judicious extracts from his publications, would be at once a profitable and pleasing employment. Ours is a simpler and humbler task; yet it may yield some measure of instruction and gratification to those who love the study of man. Mr Bruce was born about the middle of the past century, in Stirlingshire, at no great distance from Bannockburn, the scene of that memorable battle, which has linked the family name with the patriotic NO. III. VOL. I. associations of every Scottish heart. He was a good and successful soldier; but it was in a more spiritual conflict that he fought and prevailed. The family from which he sprung was highly respectable : it has been long known in the neighbourhood for intelligence and piety, and through several successive generations has furnished its complement of labourers to the ministry of the gospel. His parents, however, moved in a humble sphere, and their confined dwelling, filled with the bustle inseparable from active agricultural employment, afforded no place of sufficient quiet and retirement for the pursuit to which he was devoted. Accordingly, a separate apartment was prepared for his use. Lowly, unadorned, and simply furnished, it stood in the far corner of the little farm-yard, dignified, by the family, with the name of “ the chaumer;" and there, unnoticed by the great and the learned, the young student laboured assiduously in his professional engagements, laying the foundation of the usefulness and eminence to which he subsequently attained. However humble and unpromising his early position may be accounted, it possessed its own advantages. The fire of a genuine simple-hearted godliness burned, at that time, with a bright and steady flame on many a hearth among the toiling peasantry of our native land, they were a reading and reflecting people, characterised by an ardent desire of useful knowledge, and noted for the more substantial elements of intellectual and moral power,-recent movements in the nation had also attracted them particularly to the study of its political constitution and church history, resulting in a warm attachment to the principles of civil liberty and a resolute aversion to the man of sin. Amid these influences Mr Bruce was nurtured; and their fruits may be distinctly seen in the more mature development of his mind and heart. The simplicity of his manners, his deep and fervent piety, his keen thirst for knowledge, his habits of patient and vigorous application, his hostility to oppression of every kind, and more particularly, his fondness for the study of ecclesiastical history and his deep-rooted enmity to the popish system, all, as they became prominent in after years, betokened the character of his early associations, and the spirit of the converse which he had enjoyed in his parental home. What was needed, in addition, but the polishing influence of a college education, and more extended intercourse with society to constitute him, under the grace of God, what he ultimately became, a dignified and accomplished christian gentleman. Having finished his curriculum at the university of Glasgow, Mr Bruce found the Secession church divided into two bodies by the controversy respecting the burgess oath. Inclining to the communion of the Anti-burgher Synod, he entered their theological seminary and prosecuted the study of sacred science under Mr Moncrieff of Alloa, who then occupied the professorial chair. Of the manner in which he acquitted himself in this new sphere, we cannot speak particularly. That his appearances were respectable we may not doubt; and if he did not render himself very conspicuous among his companions, we are not astonished. Though he was by no means deficient in ardour and activity, his distinctive excellencies belonged to the class which do not burst suddenly into light. He attained his subsequent eminence by extended research, well digested learning, and solid judgment, charac |