When the Methodist Conference privilege was exercised. Where

tional minister a short time ago. met in New York City, the same the General Assembly meets in the United States, every Evangelical pulpit in the city is placed at the disposal of the members of the Assembly who are ministers of religion. Naturally, it was a pleasure to me to ask one of the bishops of the Episcopal Church to take my place in the pulpit. In this way we can not only carry out the spirit of the Evangelical Alliance, but we can show how, by the Scriptural elasticity given to our Presbyterian system, we can work, not only beside, but along with, in hearty co-operation with, all those who hold substantially the truth as it is in Jesus Christ.

The Rev. D. D. BANNERMAN, Perth-In the Free Church of Scotland, which I represent, we have monthly meetings in our congregations of elders and deacons, forming what we call the Deacons' Court, and we find them most useful in educating young office-bearers, and enabling them to understand the work of the Church. I cordially agree that elders should be leaders in the Church. That is a most Scriptural idea of the office of elder. Among the various terms used in the New Testament to denote the eldership is one which literally means a "leader" (youμevos). It occurs both in the Acts and in the Epistles "Remember those who were your leaders, who spoke to you the word of God." "Greet all your leaders, and all the saints" (Heb. xiii. 7, 24). It is a title of our Lord Himself, our great example in all departments of the work of the ministry, "Out of thee (Bethlehem) shall come forth a Leader, who shall be a Shepherd to my people Israel" (Matt. ii. 6).

If the minds of our elders were encouraged to take the lead in different parts of Christian activity, we should be better able than we are now to meet the great want of the present day. It is of the greatest importance that the Church itself should come forward and direct such work as that of temperance societies, instead of leaving it to be done by outside organisations. Gospel temperance as a part of Church work is especially called for. In the Free Church of Scotland we have upwards of six hundred congregational Temperance Societies and Bands of Hope, not outside the Church, but within it. Each of these is under the oversight of the Session and Presbytery of the bounds; and a report of the whole work done in this department, throughout the Church, is given in eyery year to the General Assembly.

The Rev. W. M. ALEXANDER (Presbyterian Church of Victoria).We have been giving much good advice to elders and deacons, but there is a personal view that may be taken of this subject, and I would name three points. Elders could help on the Presbyterian system very much by conscientious attendance at the courts of the Church.

Next, having attended the court with regularity, let them return to the Presbytery, or Congregation, and report what was done, that they may be interested. A third point is to select your best men and send them to visit outlying congregations; that would prove a source of strength and help to the weaker places, and make the people feel that the best men of the Church do not lose sight of the humble congregations, but that every little atom of the great body of the Church is just as precious as the larger portions of the system, as Principal Rainy has so well pointed out.

In an interval of the discussion, by the special leave of the Council, an opportunity was given to Rev. E. VAN ORDEN, a missionary from Brazil, to address the Council, as he required to leave next day in order to be present at the union of the two Missionary Churches of Brazil, which was to take place in August :

The Rev. E. VAN ORDEN.-In the providence of God I sail tomorrow morning for Brazil, where I have laboured for sixteen years. On the last Thursday in August a most important meeting is to take place in Rio Janeiro. All the missionaries and native pastors of the Presbyterian churches in the north and the south will unite to effect the organisation of the Synod of Brazil. We have been praying for the union of the two Churches on the mission field, and God in His goodness and mercy has finally granted us the desire of our hearts. The meeting will be an important one. We have fifty organised. churches and 3000 church members, who last year contributed more than £2000 sterling to the work of carrying on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Moreover, we have native pastors, and the General Assembly of Philadelphia have appointed a deputation to be present at the organisation of the Synod. We hope to be in session for two or three weeks, and to take measures for working effectively a field of labour as large as the United States, if not Canada. We have already been carrying the Gospel from house to house, from village to village, and from city to city. God has given liberty to one million slaves last month, and we have to do something for these freed men, who, as yet, have no knowledge of the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world, so that they may be set free from that captivity also, and become free men in the Lord Jesus.

Would it not be a most happy thought if this Conference should send a message to the Synod that is to be organised, assuring them of its sympathy with the struggling Church, and to encourage its pastors to go on in the name of the Lord? One thought more— there is room for you all in Brazil. I speak especially to our friends from Canada. They are accustomed to large tracts of country. I

say to them: Brethren, send us six men right off-six men from Canada to work with us in Brazil, to be members of the Synod of Brazil, and to help us to win the country for Christ, where we now enjoy the privileges of freedom-slaves freed, freedom of speech and of the press, and where we can do pretty well what we like in carrying on the blessed work of our Risen Lord.

On the motion of Rev. Dr. BURNS, Halifax, who had known Mr. Van Orden in Chicago, and with the cordial approbation of the Chairman, who had met him in Edinburgh, it was agreed to record "that the Council has listened with much interest to the statement of the Rev. E. Van Orden, with reference to the approaching union of the two branches of the Church in Brazil, and instruct their beloved brother to carry back with him to the field of his love and labour a very cordial expression of the sympathy of the Alliance of Reformed churches holding the Presbyterian system, in the union so soon to be consummated, and its fervent prayer that it may issue in very blessed, practical, and permanent results."

EXETER HALL, Wednesday Evening, 4th July 1888.-The Council met again at 7 o'clock P.M., WARNER VAN NORDEN, Esq. (Elder of the Presbyterian Church, U.S., North) in the Chair, and was constituted by devotional services, led by Principal DOUGLAS, Glasgow.

SOME ELEMENTS OF CONGREGATIONAL PROSPERITY. The CHAIRMAN said :-In making a few general remarks in opening the subject of this evening, I would say that the only congregation that can hope to be truly prosperous is that which is engaged in missionary enterprise. And when I say missionary enterprise, I do not simply mean raising money to be sent to India, China, or Pagan nations that we will do as a matter of course-neither do I mean that larger home-mission work in which some of our Churches are engaged. But we have round us, on every side, abundant opportunity to exercise the missionary spirit. The largest number of us Americans live in cities, and in the large cities of our country, which are growing with such rapidity, we find abundant room for our mission activities. At the beginning of this century we had three per cent. of our population in cities-there is now almost twenty-five per cent. in the so-called centres of modern enlightenment, which are breeding Goths and Vandals, who, unless we apply the Gospel remedies, will do as the Goths and Vandals did for Rome-they will sack the cities. When I was a boy, there was in New York one church to every 3000 persons; there is now one church to every

4000. So fast has been the growth of our cities that with all our efforts it has been impossible to keep pace with the necessities of the people. We are doing a great work there, and I believe our Church has never been more prosperous, more aggressive, or safer from every form of unbelief and heresy, never more spiritual than it is to-day, and that is because our Church is so thoroughly alive to the necessity for missionary effort. We have over 1400 foreign missionaries, over 1500 home missionaries, besides women and lay helpers. In our great cities we are called upon to do a great work, for which the general Church does not make any provision-that work is left to the individual congregation. If we wish to have our congregations prosper, and to have a rapid growth of religion amongst ourselves, the only way we can do it is by setting our people to carry the Gospel to those who have it not. I was struck by the words of one of our elders the other day. He was speaking of the commands that had been given, and he said that we would not think of disobeying one of the Ten Commandments openly. We would not swear, or take God's name in vain, or steal, or commit murder, and yet when we have here a new commandment given us by our Lord Jesus Christ-His last words upon earth-the command to go unto all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature, that is a command which almost every one ignores and disobeys. The Church needs to be alive to the necessity of keeping that commandment as well as the decalogue, and thus we shall have the highest, the truest prosperity in all our Churches. I rejoice to hear from every part of the great Presbyterian Union of increased activity, that the Church is growing, and that its members are spreading in every direction. A great deal of the hope of the world depends upon Presbyterianism; and a great deal depends upon you and me, as to what we are doing in these closing days of the Nineteenth Century. You will now be addressed by one whom I need not introduce to a Presbyterian audience, whose name is familiar as a household word in America, and, I think, everywhere in Europe among all good Presbyterians, M. Théodore Monod of Paris (Pastor in the Reformed Church of France).

PRAYERFULNESS.

M. TH. MONOD.-I am expected to open the discussion on "Prayerfulness," and I am allowed twenty minutes. You will not expect me to enter deeply into the subject, but I may point out the extreme importance of it.

I need not remind you of the place prayer occupies in the Holy Scriptures. Many most notable texts might be quoted on the subject, but I will refer only to one-the words of Christ to Ananias when He

sent him into the street called Straight, and made him inquire for Saul of Tarsus, "for behold he prayeth." He had "said " many prayers, no doubt: but now he was truly praying; here was a new departure and the first breath of a man in Christ." As regards united prayer, we have a very striking illustration. "Peter was kept in prison, but prayer was made without ceasing of the Church unto God for him," and what do we find? That the prayers of the men and women who were lifting up their heart and their voice to heaven for him were effectual, and proved stronger than Herod, his iron-gated prison, and his four quaternions of soldiers.

Where are now the men and women who can be called men and women of prayer? I am far from saying there are none, but I am afraid I am in the right in thinking they are but few, and perhaps fewer than they were some years ago. There is far more activity, and a far wider sphere of work attempted and accomplished by the Church, but perhaps fewer of those who daily give themselves up to prayer. However that may be, we should have many more. First of all, we should be, as ministers and elders of the Church, men of prayer, leaders in prayer; not only leaders in public prayer, but patterns in private and secret prayer ourselves. "These are days," said Thomas Collins, "in which we ought to pray exceedingly." Where are our Abrahams, pleading, arguing, and discussing the matter with God in all humility and all boldness? Where are our Daniels, who, with their hands full of secular business, give themselves to prayer three times a day? No wonder they found he had an excellent spirit! Where are our St. Pauls, who wonder that they have asked three times of the Lord and have not received? Where are our Luthers, setting apart for fellowship with God the best three hours of the day? The folly of the world, and oftentimes of the Church, inquires how it was possible, with such a work as he had to do, that he could find time for three hours given to prayer? whereas the wisdom of God replies: Because he gave three hours to prayer, he was what he was, and did what he did. There are great differences between God's children: but if you take the life of God's true servants, whatever the Church they belong to, whatever the age in which they live, whatever the special calling to which God has called them, you will find this one point in common-which, besides the faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, is the living bond of union between them all— that they are instant in prayer. Whether you take your George Müllers, or Finneys, or Pennefathers, or Collinses, or hundreds of others, you will find them to have been men and women of prayer. I may be allowed to quote a word or two from one whose dying words are in many hands. Many of you have read Les Adieux d'Adolphe