Correspondence.

MINISTERIAL SUPPORT COLLECTION.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN MAGAZINE.

DEAR SIR,-Permit us, through the medium of your pages, to remind Ministers and all concerned, that Synod, at its last meeting, appointed the Annual Collection for the Ministerial Support Scheme to be made, as usual, in all the settled Congregations and Vacancies of the Church, on the first Sabbath of October 1865.

There are now eleven congregations depending on this scheme, Hightae and Dundee having been recently added; and the sum necessary to meet the requirements of the ensuing year is, as nearly as can be computed, £280. The Committee depend entirely on this single collection for the above sum. The funds are quite exhausted, and private subscriptions have for many years been discontinued. We beg to remind those that may think £280 a large sum to expect from a single collection in our Church, that when this scheme was inaugurated, £360 per annum was the minimum calculated even then for its on-carrying. The sum required for the current year is therefore £80 less than was considered indispensable some twenty years ago. While thankful for the seasonable help obtained from the Ferguson Bequest Fund, by the small congregations within the six counties under its operation, we are intensely anxious that the equally necessitous congregations without the bounds of those counties should continue to be aided in a somewhat proportional degree.

The thing aimed at is simply that every settled minister should have a stipend of £120 per annum, and a manse, which all must admit is a very modest competency. Only two of these eleven aid-receiving congregations, however, approach this minimum, the remainder ranging from £100 to £110 per annum, with or without a manse; and it must be borne in mind, that the £280 required at the forthcoming collection is not with a view to attempt raising these congregations to the minimum of £120, but simply to maintain the present ratio of aid. When we cannot accomplish what we would, we must honestly endeavour to do what we can.

There is, perhaps, no scheme in the whole Christian Church so economically conducted as this, and hence the community may have entire confidence that every sixpence contributed will go directly to the worthy object contemplated. Nor among the schemes of this Church is there any one more truly deserving the hearty and liberal support of the Christian people than the decent maintenance of the home ministry; nor, it may added, any case in which such a small sum of money as that placed at the Committee's disposal, accomplishes such an amount of real good.

Let the day appointed by Synod, therefore, be punctually observed, or such Sabbath either immediately before or after it, as may be judged more suitable; let ministers, in intimating the collection, take occasion to point out the vital importance of the scheme to the well-being and efficiency, not to say the continued existence, of our beloved Church; and let the Christian people remember, that the Lord hath so ordained that they who preach the Gospel should live off the Gospel; and the result will, we are persuaded, under the Divine blessing, meet our most sanguine expectations.

"Ye ought to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive." "But this I say, He who soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he who soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give not grudgingly, or of necessity; for God loveth a cheerful giver."-Yours very truly,

ROTHESAY, August 12, 1865.

JOHN ROBERTSON, Conrener.
THOS. NEILSON, Secretary.

News of the Church.

CLOSE OF THE THEOLOGICAL HALL.-VALEDICTORY ADDRESS BY REV. J. MORRISON.

THE session of the Theological Hall in Edinburgh was brought to a close on Friday, 28th July. Besides the Professors, there were present Rev. J. M'Dermid, Wm. Symington, J. Kay, J. Morrison, J. H. Thomson, D. Taylor, J. Torrance, J. Guy, W. Whyte, Thomas Rowatt, Esq., &c. The Convener of the Hall Committee presided, and opened the meeting with prayer, and, after shortly addressing the students, called upon the Professors to report upon the course of study followed in their respective departments. Both Professors spoke favourably of the progress the students had made during the session. The members of the Hall Committee then reported upon the papers of the students on the subjects of intersessional study. These reports were all satisfactory. The Rev. James Morrison, of Eskdalemuir, delivered the following valedictory address:—

'My Young Friends,-At the close of another session of the Hall, permit me to congratulate you on the evident progress you have made in acquiring that knowledge and skill in dealing with Divine things, which have been thought necessary for engaging in the work of the holy ministry, and also to give utterance to my fond hope and earnest prayer, that the Divine Lord, whom ye seek to serve, will not only bring you forth well qualified and prepared for His work, but will also, in due time, place you in spheres of usefulness, where you shall have abundant opportunity of exercising the talents He has given you, and of employing, with advantage, the acquirements that are now placed within your reach.

"In seeking to fulfil the appointment laid upon me by the Hall Committee, I have had great difficulty in choosing a suitable topic on which to address you. These addresses are in a great measure new to me; they had no existence when I attended the Hall, and I am not sure if I understand properly their design and use. It cannot be to supply any want, or make up any deficiency in the effective labours of the learned Professors; for I can assure you, from what I know of them, that it would afford me the greatest pleasure, as well as profit, to sit at their feet, and to learn knowledge and wisdom from their lips. But neither can it be simply to encourage and cheer you on, as you continue to prosecute your arduous and important studies. This is, no doubt, a matter of very great moment. But still, speaking for myself, and from the feelings I expe rienced when occupying the position which you now do, I would say that such a thing is altogether unnecessary. The momentous character of the work you seek to be engaged in, the grandeur of the subjects you are called to contemplate, and the interesting and instructive manner in which they are brought before you, must have too much attraction to require any subsidiary impulse to carry you on. Though it is more than twenty years since I left the Hall, I remember well the sigh of regret with which I took my place for the last time among my companions as a student of theology, and how willingly I would, had it been practicable, have commenced anew, and gone over the field a second time. Nay, so vivid and delightful still are the reminiscences of that period, that, had I time and opportunity now, I would most willingly take my seat with the youngest of you, and engage in the performance of all the duties of the class with the utmost ardour and enthusiasm. It is not, then, altogether for the purpose of encouraging and cheering you on that these addresses are made to you. The only other idea that has occurred to me is, that they are chiefly to consist of that wide, and, in some degree, nondescript class of subjects, called occasional-such as may be called for, at times, by the condition of the class, the state of religion in the country, the wants of the mission-field, both at home and abroad, the prevalence of some error or of some species of immorality, and so on-all of which topics may not fall so readily within the range of the Professors' course of lectures, and yet may at times be brought before the minds of students with great advantage.

"In looking around among such subjects for a theme on which at present to