PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF NEW ZEALAND (Clerk, Rev. David Bruce, Auckland.) PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF OTAGO AND SOUTHLAND— (Stated Clerk, Rev. W. W. Bannerman, Clutha, Otago.) Rev. Donald M'N. Stuart, D.D., Dunedin, Otago. WEST INDIES. PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF JAMAICA— (Synod Clerk, Rev. William T. Turner.) Rev. Geo. M'Neill, Brownsville, Jamaica. Thos. F. Roxburgh, Esq. of Annandale. PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF TRINIDAD (Presbytery Clerk, Rev. Alexander M. Ramsay, Port of Spain.) The Council proceeded to the election of a Chairman for the remainder of the present session, when the Rev. Wм. E. MOORE, D.D., Columbus, was unanimously elected, and took the Chair. It was then moved, seconded, and unanimously agreed to, that the Rev. Professor BLAIKIE, D.D., Edinburgh, and Rev. G. D. MATHEWS, D.D., Quebec, be appointed Clerks of the present Council. It was also agreed that Rev. Dr. ROBERTS, Cincinnati, one of the stated Clerks of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, be appointed Assistant Clerk. The Council now being organised, the Rev. Professor CHARTERIS (Edinburgh) submitted the following resolution relating to deceased members of the Belfast Council: "That before proceeding to ordinary business, the Council agree to record its great regret at the removal by death of several fathers and brethren who were members of last Council, and some of whom took a conspicuous part in its proceedings: Dr. W. Fleming Stevenson, Dublin; Professor A. A. Hodge, Princeton; Dr. T. Y. Killen, Belfast; Dr. Henry Smith, Kirknewton; Dr. Irving, New York; and Dr. Roberts, Utica; and all others that may be included in this list. The Council, while recognising the Christian worth and devoted lives of all, would especially recall the preeminent services of some of these fathers and brethren to the cause of Christ; and their hearty interest in the Presbyterian Alliance. The Council at the same time would refer with deep concern to the death in London, a few days ago, of a gentleman who came to London to attend the Alliance, but died before the commencement of its meetings-the Hon. Judge Trunkey, of the Supreme Court of Franklin, Pennsylvania. They earnestly pray the God of all grace to sanctify those bereavements, both to the Churches and the family of the deceased." He said: The historian of Rome has told us that there were some who were not in the procession, and, therefore, were all the more in the hearts of the assembly. That is our thought to-day. We are solemnised in reading this muster-roll, as we always must be on such impressive occasions, by remembering how many of our esteemed brethren and fathers have gone from our meeting to the greater assembly of the firstborn above. There are, in the list I have read, those the very mention of whose names brings back to us memories of hallowed intercourse and of Christian personal obligation. One or two of those whose loss we deplore are known throughout the whole of our Alliance. I could add the names of other fathers who also have gone, but who were not at the Belfast meeting. As a Scotchman, I might have spoken of the loss to the Church of Scotland of Dr. Phin, who presided at one of the first meetings-that held in Edinburgh-and who was a faithful standard-bearer of the Church of Scotland; and of Dr. Wilson, who took an active part in the manifold work of Church organisation in the Free Church. These two men passed away from adjoining houses in a quiet street, and in the same week, to that Church whose organisation is perfect, and where brethren are one. I might have spoken of Dr. Brummelkamp, not only a representative of his own district in Holland, but a man whose influence was felt throughout that kingdom. I could have referred to Henry Wallis Smith, whose wise kind face we shall no longer see in the flesh; to the names of Irving and Roberts. In regard to the honoured judge whose death on the very eve of the Council strikes a solemn awe in our hearts, the testimony of his friend Dr. Smith gives us good ground to thank God for a life of well-doing closed in a death of peace. But I return to those whose names occur to every one, beginning with our Western brethren. We lament the loss of Dr. Hodge, who must be fresh in the remembrance of all that were at the Belfast meeting, who contributed to our proceedings a paper of permanent merit in the department of Christian Apologetics, and of whom we know that in learning, in power of influencing young men, and in the wide fragrance of a consistent Christian life-he was well worthy to bear the honoured name of Hodge, and to be the son of his illustrious father. All of us recollect, too, Dr. Killen at the Belfast meeting, chairman of one of the committees of entertainment, whose stalwart frame gave promise of many years of usefulness and power, and whose bright, cheery, manly countenance seemed so admirably typical of the warm-hearted hospitality with which we were welcomed. There is one more whom the Church in Ireland, in common with the Church of Christ, has lost since our last meeting, whose speech or paper-for it was both-on Christian Missions at one of the evening meetings, seemed to me at the time, and seems to me now as I look back upon it, as near to an inspired utterance of a man whose heart was full of the life of God as any one I have heard in this world. I think we may claim, not from Presbyterian partiality, nor yet as influenced by feelings of friendship only, for Dr. Fleming Stevenson, that, by his books and manifold writings, he did more than any other man of our generation to bring close to the hearts of all Englishspeaking people the wonderful works of the Inner Mission in Germany; so that, when we speak of Praying and Working, the Rough House of the artisan missions, and all the other marvellous things that the Germans have been led and helped to do in these years, occur at once to our minds. Fathers and brethren, it is not fitting that I should dwell upon even those names, nor that I should recall some of the others dear to many of us-dear because of friendly intercourse, and, as I have said, Christian personal obligation; but it does seem to me right and fitting that we should thus remember them ere we proceed to do what we can to discharge our duty in the time that is still before us. In so doing I venture to remind you—we are on English ground-of the words of one of the great Church of England Christian scholars, to whom we, who are teachers of the truth, are indebted more than to most men, perhaps more than to any other man-the great English scholar and true poet, Dean Alford, uttered words reminding me that wider than our Presbyterian dispersion, and closer than our ecclesiastical brotherhood, is that great City of God, in the light of which walk all the nations of the saved, and in which all men are brethren free-free for ever. "They are before their God, Now hushed from all alarm, Out by the grave and gate of death We have buried them where they stood. They are before their God; but we press onward still, The soldiers of His army, the servants of His will. A captive band in foreign land, for ages long we have been, Is that home we have never seen." Reference was made verbally to several other fathers and brethren, who, though not members of the Belfast Council, had taken part in previous Councils. The Rev. Dr. MOSES HOGE (Richmond, Virginia) led the Council in prayer for the bereaved churches and families. The Reports of the Executive Commission being called for, were given in and referred to by Dr. CAIRNS and Dr. BLAIKIE on behalf of the European Section, and by Dr. CHAMBERS on the part of the American Section. These Reports are printed in the Appendix to this volume, p. 245. Dr. BLAIKIE said: Our Report notes the chief pieces of work that have been done by the Section, and indicates certain points which demand the careful consideration and the decision of the present meeting of the Council. Among work done it enumerates the Churches with which communication has been held by letter, and those which have been visited by deputation. Among the latter it lays stress on the visits of Dr. Cairns and others to the conferences of the Bund of Reformed Churches in Germany, the fruit of which will afterwards appear; and the service of Dr. Marshall Lang, on occasion of a recent visit to Australia, in advocating the cause of the Alliance, by delivering a lecture on its history and its objects before a large assembly in the city of Melbourne. It narrates what was done in connection with the office of Secretary. The Commission did not think matters ripe for appointing a general secretary whose time should be wholly at the disposal of the Alliance, and as a temporary arrangement intrusted the secretarial duties on the American side to Dr. Mathews, and on this side to myself. This was avowedly a temporary arrangement, which comes now to an end, and the Council will have to determine in what manner its business is to be carried on for the future. The Report states also what was done by us in connection with the American Section to establish an organ of communication among the Churches by means of the Quarterly Register. It adverts to the co-operation of the Section with the Committee of Council on Foreign Missions, and to the important conference held at Edinburgh, by means of which the object of that Committee was very materially advanced. The Section have to state that all the reports due to this Council have been printed, and are to be found in a volume which is now laid on the table, the only exception being the Report on Sabbath Schools. In the matter of finance the Section have had some difficulty, but since the report was printed contributions have come in from the Scottish Churches that will enable the Section to discharge its liabilities. A programme for the meetings of this Council has been prepared and is now laid on the table. Of all human labours the preparation of a programme for such an Alliance was the most irksome and difficult he knew. No doubt there would be complaints; all he could say was that the Programme Committee and the Section had done their best. The Commission had also considered the proposed rules of order, and the revised rules would be found as an appendix to their Report. The matters specially requiring the attention of the Alliance, in addition to the programme and rules of order were, (1) the question of secretary, (2) that of a journal, and (3) that of finance. He concluded by adverting to the manifest influence of the Alliance since its formation in promoting brotherly regard and mutual sympathy among the several churches embraced by it, and expressed the hope that these objects would be more and more advanced by each meeting of the Council. Dr. TALBOT CHAMBERS having briefly stated the substance of the Report of the American section of which he was chairman, it was moved, seconded, and unanimously agreed to that the Reports be accepted, and the suggestions contained in them be remitted for consideration to a Committee on Business, to be afterwards appointed. The Programme and Rules of Order were provisionally accepted, and were also remitted to the same Committee to be further consideredthe Business Committee to report on all these subjects to an early meeting of the Council. The following is the Programme referred to in the Report. [The Programme underwent several changes from time to time.] TUESDAY, 3d July 1888, 11 o'clock.-Public Opening Service in Regent Square Church, Rev. J. Oswald Dykes, D.D, Preacher.— Business Meeting of Council.-Council Constituted-Prayer by Rev. Dr. Dykes. Report on Commissions (Credentials).-Appointment of Chairman of Meeting.-Appointment of Clerks.-Reference to Deceased Members of Council.-Report of Executive Commission. --Rules of Order.-Appointment of General Business Committee. 4 o'clock.-Public Reception by London friends at Argyll Lodge, Camden Hill, Kensington (the residence of his Grace the Duke of Argyll, K.G.). EXETER HALL, 372 Strand. WEDNESDAY, 4th July, 11-3 o'clock.-Report on Statistics.How best to work the Presbyterian System, more especially-(1) As directing the Eldership and the Deaconship in their various lines of influence and work.-Papers by Rev. Andrew Thomson. D.D., Edinburgh; Rev. John B. Drury, D.D., New York.-(2) As promoting Co-operation, and fostering Activity, Harmony, and Spiritual Life in Congregations.-Papers by Rev. Principal Rainy, D.D., |