The philosophical and poetical pantheist, the worshipper of nature, opens his eyes only half-way; and amidst the many lovely "dreams that wave before the halfshut eye," he refuses to gaze upon the still lovelier, but more dazzling image of a holy God. The victim of superstition opens and shuts his eyes by turns, opens them when there is anything to alarm or please, and shuts them against all that might enlighten the reason, or mould the character after the image of a perfect God. True faith opens the eyes, and keeps them fully directed upon the glorious works of nature, and wonderful events of providence, till they rise in glowing admiration to the perception of a light ever shining, with unchanged and unchangeable lustre, upon a universe rejoicing in its beams; and they continue to gaze till "dazzled by excess of light," they shut themselves in holy meditation and devout adoration.

'The atheist would extinguish, if he could, all the lights in the universe, and leave us in utter darkness. The pantheist would blot out at least the sun from the heavens, and leave only the lovely, it may be, but lesser lights of nature, which make the night beautiful, but leave no room for free and fearless action. The superstitious man would leave in the heavens the dazzling meteor and the piercing lightning, and would kindle all along the surface of the earth glaring and lurid fires, not dispelling but colouring the darkness, and disposing men now to ecstatic action, and now to prostrating helplessness. True religion would rejoice in all the lights which God has given and would kindle no others, that man in fear, but still in confidence and love, may perform the duties which providence has allotted to him.

'Atheism gives us nothing to rest on but unconscious matter and blind fate,

rude materials, but no building to dwell in. Pantheism shows us a beautiful mansion, but the sight is melancholy; we have no desire to enter the building, for it is without an inhabitant; there is no warm heart to beat, and no just mind to rule, in these large but tenantless halls. Superstition gives us a strangely-formed fabric, such as the eye shapes in the darkness of night out of objects imperfectly seen; peoples that mansion with pale ghosts and horrid spectres, possessed of awful power, but power often used foevil rather than good. True faith intror duces us into a large, and stately, and well-constructed mansion, and tells of a holy and benignant inhabitant within, who no doubt restrains and punishes evil, but rejoices also in all that is pure and lovely.

'Atheism is a system cold, and damp, and dark as the place of the dead. Pantheism gives us illusions which "serve to alleviate nothing, to solve nothing, to illuminate nothing; they are vapours which may indeed show bright and gaudy colours when seen at a great distance, but in the bosom of which, if one enters, there is nothing but chill and gloom." Superstition shows a strange land of mingled light and darkness, with scenes ever shifting with the capricious temper of those who rule over them without grace and without dignity, who are now sportive and now revengeful, but never just and never benevolent, while those subjected to their power alternate between wild merriment and excruciating misery. True faith opens our eyes on a world on which, no doubt, there rests a mysterious cloud, rising from the damps of sin, but above which there is a luminary shining with bright and steady beams, and before which that cloud must at last fade away and disappear, and leave a land of perpetual calm and never-ending light.'

Free Church.-General Assembly of the Free Church met at Edinburgh in Tanfield Hall, Canonmills, on the 23d of May. The Sermon was preached by the Rev. Dr Mackay, of Dunoon. Reports were presented to the Assembly on the various schemes of the church, which give the

following results in the amounts received during the past year:-Sustentation fund, £89,648 17s 10d; building fund, £52,608 11s 11d; congregational fund, £77,589 12s 9d; missions and education, £41,604 1s 1d; miscellaneous, £45,170 16s 53d. Total, £306,622 Os 12d. From the

financial statement of the missionary schemes, it appears that the purely missionary funds of the church had, during the past year, increased upwards of £3,000; while the total funds of the church, for all purposes, had increased, during the same period, upwards of £30,000. The total amount raised by the Free Church since the Disruption is now £2,172,135 16s 3d.

The United Presbyterian Church held its annual meeting at Edinburgh, on the 6th of May. Sermon by the Rev. James Meikle of Beith, from Rev. xxi. 9. The whole contributions to the mission funds, home and foreign, during the year have been £14,059; while the expenditure has been £15,342, leaving a deficiency of £1,283. The sum expended on home operations is £3,613. The returns from eighty-seven supplemented congregations, show that they have raised during the year £7,276, being an average yearly contribution for each member of 15s 4d. Foreign mission stations in Canada, Jamaica, Trinidad, Old Calabar and Persia.

Reformed Presbyterian Church met at Edinburgh, in the Rev. Mr Goold's Church, on the evening of Monday, May 6th, at six o'clock. Sermon by the Rev. Dr Andrew Symington, from Zech. iv. 14. Besides the ministerial support fund and the synod fund, reports were presented to the synod regarding the missionary operations, home and foreign, of the church. From the treasurer's accounts it appears that the receipts for missionary purposes during the past year wereHome Mission, £80; Foreign Missions, £252 16s 4d; Continental Mission, £135 Gs 94d; Jewish Mission, £76 4s 6d. Total for Missions, £544 7s 8d.

We are informed that the Reformed Presbyterian Synod, at their late meeting, re-appointed their committee of correspondence with the Synod of United Original Seceders, and agreed to respond to the request of the latter Synod, that arrangements should be made for the two Synods meeting next year in the same town, and at the same period; but, not being aware that the Synod of United Original Seceders are to hold their next meeting at Edinburgh, the Reformed Presbyterian Synod appointed their next meeting to be held in Glasgow, on the Monday after the fourth Sabbath of April, 1851.

Presbyterian Church of England.-The foreign mission fund of the Presbyterian Church in England seems to be in a prosperous condition-a considerable balance still remaining in the treasurer's hands.

The amount collected during the past year is £515 4s 3d. The principal field of their missionary labours is in China. Besides the Rev. W. C. Burns, their first missionary to that empire, a second missionary to China has been chosen-Dr James Young of Hong-Kong, who is at present prosecuting his preparatory studies.

The synod has also a mission to the Jews at Corfu, conducted very much upon the plan of the Free Church mission to India-by means of schools. The prospects there are encouraging, though the number of actual conversions has hitherto been small. The amount collected for the Corfu Mission is £180 9s 6d. Total for missions, £695 13s 9d.

LONDON-THE MAY MEETINGS.-From a carefully-prepared epitome of the May Meetings for this year, presented in a late number of the Christian Times, we select the following, as the most interesting in their statistical details:

Asylum for Idiots, 29 Poultry—. Instituted in 1847, for the care and education of idiots, especially among the young. Income, £4,700; expenditure, £4,300. Patients, 96. Fifteen additional patients elected out of a list of 170 candidates, of whom no less than 51 were orphans.

Baptist Missionary Society, 33 Moorgatestreet. Founded in 1792. Receipts, £19.736; expenditure, £19,632; debt, £6,357. In order to keep the expenditure within the income, large reductions have been made in the operations in India, Ceylon, and Africa. The field of labour includes Asia, western coast of Africa, France, and the islands of the Western Sea. Missionaries, 48, with their wives and 9 females, engaged in the special department of education. Native agents, 120; other Christian brethren, 180; and 30 schoolmasters. Stations and sub-stations, 194. In Hindi. 4,500; in Hindustani, Persian, and Bengali, 62,500; in Sanscrit, 7,500 copies of the whole or part of the Bible have been printed. There are at present in fellowship, in India and Ceylon, 1,962; in Africa and the West Indies, 3,007, exclusive of Jamaica; making an increase of 188 converts during the year. College of Montreal, Canada, closed. Institution at Calabar, Jamaica, entirely successful.

Baptist Home Mission.-Receipts, £4,521 10s 2d; expenditure, £4,523 15s 8d; debt, £432 5s 6d. Missionaries and grantees, 107; assisted by 200 gratuitous 'fellow-helpers to the truth.' Stations, 300. Hearers, 23,000. Sabbath-schools, 113. Teachers, 1,154, and 7,600 scholars.

539 persons were baptized and added to the Mission Churches during the year.

Baptist Irish Society.-Founded 1814. The income of this society has more than equalled its expenditure during the present year; so that the debt is reduced from £1,670 8s 6d to £1,606 13s 2d. During the thirty-six years of its existence 600,000 children have been educated by it.

Baptist Theological Institution for Scotland. 4th session. Students, 9. Expenses during past year, £150.

British and Foreign Bible Society, 10 Earl-street, Blackfriars.-Formed in 1804, for the exclusive purpose of promoting the circulation of the Scriptures. Income, £91,634 12s 7d; expenditure, £97,246 2s Od. Issues from the depository at home, 783,203 copies; from depositories abroad, 353,492 copies: total, 1,136,695. Languages or dialects directly assisted, 85; indirectly, 59. Versions, 166. Translations never before printed, 114. Bible societies in connexion, 4,211.

British Missions, viz.-The Home Missionary Society. Founded 1819. Income, £6,159 7s 8d; expenditure, £6,360 4s 4d; increase in receipts over last year, £286 8s 1d. Agents or missionaries, 116; lay-preachers, 100; hearers, 41,000; Sunday-school teachers, 1,652; scholars, 12,700. Chapels or preaching-rooms, 450, scattered amidst 440 towns, villages and hamlets.-2. Irish Evangelical Society. Founded 1814. Income, £2,791 15s 7d; expenditure, £3,325; debt, £1,352. Pastors and missionaries reduced from 27 to 24; and scripture readers and teachers from 26 to 16 in number.-3. The Colonial Society. Founded 1836. Receipts, £2,765 10s 8d; expenditure, £2,677 14s 5d. Agents and separate stations, 37. Its operations are carried on in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, the Canadas, New South Wales, the Australias, and Van Dieman's Land, among men of the Anglo-Saxon race, who are forming empires, and laying the foundations of free, numerous, and evangelical churches.

Church Missionary Society.-Founded 1800. Income, £104,273; increase in receipts from legacies, £3,270; decrease in public contributions, £662; and in the remittances from local associations, £1,642. Expenditure, £83,710. Missionary institution at Islington in a very satisfactory state. Ordained missionaries, 147; European Catechists, secretaries, printers, &c., 27; attendants on christian worship throughout the several stations, about 107,000; communicants, 13,551; children under christian education, about 40,000; baptisms during past year, 5,554; increase of communicants, 543.

Points of special interest:-Home, opening of the Missionaries' Children's Home, 15 admitted; Sierra Leone, opening of a large new church in Freetown, and occupation of a new station, Wilberforce; Yoruba, increase of converts, and their constancy and faith, severe persecution; Mediterranean, openings for missionary operations in Syria; East Africa, missionary tours and discoveries in the Interior; Western India, preparation of natives for the ministry, and proposed mission in Scinde; China, sailing of the Bishop of Victoria, with a reinforcement of four missionaries; New Zealand, increase of converts; and in North-west America, arrival of the Bishop of Rupert's-land.

Foreign Aid Society.-Established 1840. Income, £2,506 11s 3d; decrease on last year's receipts, £357 7s 4d. The object of this society is to collect funds in aid of the Societes Evangeliques of France and Geneva, and such other institutions as may be formed on similar principles within the limits of the French Protestant Churches ; and generally to promote the religious principles of the Reformation beyond those limits on the continents and islands of Europe. In the Genevan district there are 21 stations, 26 evangelists, and other agents; and the Societe Evangelique de France has been assisted to maintain 27 ministers of the gospel, 8 colporteurs-evangelists, 34 school teachers, and to provide for 30 students in their training institution. To the Societe Centrale Protestante de France £100 was voted last year, and to the Societe d'Evangelisation of Lyons, £200.

London Missionary Society-Formed 1794. Income, including £11,776 contributed by the missionary churches towards their own support, £62,545 0s 11d. Increase on last year, from receipts and reduction of expenditure, £2,024; expenditure this year, £64,489 9s 5d. Missionaries, 170; native agents, about 700. Stations

in Polynesia, West Indies, South Africa, China, India. Translations-the New Testament and Psalter in Sitchuana, translated by Robert Moffat; the New Testament in Malagassy, by Griffiths, Freeman, and their now departed brethren in Madagascar; in Samoan, by the missionaries collectively now labouring in that island; in Rarotongan by the lamented John Williams; and fifth, both the Old and New Testament in Tahitian, originally by Nott, Davies, and others, and recently revised by Messrs Howe and Joseph. In China the scriptures have been translated, and are now sold in the Chinese language at the price of 3d sterling each copy.

London Society for Promoting Chris

tianity among the Jews.-Instituted 1808. Income, £28,278 4s 10d; increase over last year, £934 6s 6d; expenditure, £26,484 14s 11d. Missionaries and missionary agents, about 80. In Palestine-place, Bethnal-green, there are schools containing 100 children-50 boys and 50 girls; and a Hebrew College, from which 19 students have been appointed to stations in the east, of whom 9 are of the house of Israel. At Jerusalem there is a House of Industry for receiving converts and inquirers; and a dispensary and hospital for sick and destitute Jews.

Protestant Association.- Established 1836. Income £928 6s 4d. Expenditure, £908 12s 6d. Established to defend the Protestant institutions in Church and State, its labours have been directed to oppose all measures believed to be fraught with danger to these institutions, and to be hostile to the word of God. Besides more direct operations, 2,000,000 of books, tracts, and papers have been printed and circulated, many of them gratuitously.

Ragged School Union. Established 1844. Income, subscriptions, which were last year £338, now amount to £520; donations, £1,631; legacy left by the late James Grant, £1,000; total, £3,131. Expenditure, £1,718. Schools, 94, showing an increase of 14 on last year. Voluntary teachers, 1,350; paid teachers, 156. The children-on weekdays, 5,174; week evenings, 5,093; Sunday evenings, 10,366. Scholars in the industrial classes, about 1,200. Emigration Fund from August 1, 1849, to May 1, 1850, £1,229 1s 10d. Expenditure, £594 5s 8d. 27 boys have since been sent out, and 11 more are waiting for ships; total number sent out from the schools about 250; and in no instance have the committee, or those who assisted in the good work, had reason to regret their well-timed liberality.

Religious Tract Society.-Instituted 1799. Total receipts, including sales, £61,327 88 8d, being an increase on the previous year of £1,832 5s 5d. In England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, the grants made to district visiting, city and town missions, christian instruction, and other kindred societies, for circulation, amounted to 3,133,165 publications, of the value of £3,302 15s 1d. The libraries granted for destitute districts, schools, national and British schoolmasters, and

union-houses, amounted to 657. The issues from the depository during the year have been 19,245,441, making the total circulation at home and abroad amount to about 523,000,000, in about 110 languages.

Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts.-Incorporated 1701. Total income, exclusive of rents, dividends, special funds, &c., for 1849, £53,000; expenditure, for the British Colonies, £35,729; for heathen countries, £21,994; total, £57,723. The colonies and dependencies of Great Britain are at present divided into 23 dioceses, in which the society's missionaries labour, 297 in the British Colonies, and 50 in heathen countries. In each of the North American Colonies a college for the education and training of clergy is maintained, and to every one of them the society grants exhibitions for the support of candidates for holy orders.

Sunday School Union.-Established 1803. Benevolent income, £1,269 13s 94d; expenditure, £1,251 9s 6d. Sales to the 31st December, 1849, amounted to £6,595 15s 8d, showing an increase of £174 9s 2d over the corresponding portion of the preceding year. In the four London Auxiliary Unions-schools, 503; teachers, 10,207; scholars, 100,035. Total number of schools, 623; teachers, 12,642; scholars, 123,949. The committee publishes a magazine, and Notes on Scripture Lessons. Many years since they opened a reading-room and library for reference, and subsequently added a library for circulation, for the use of Sunday school teachers. Books for circulation, 1,611. Reading-room open from three in the afternoon until ten in the evening: number of subscribers, 1,089.

Wesleyan Missionary Society.-Its missions were commenced in 1786, but the society was not organised till 1816. Total income, £111,685 13s 6d; expenditure, £109,168 10s 7d; debt, £10,841 13s 2d. During the present year there has been an increase on circuits of 34; on chapels and preaching stations, 690; of missionaries and assistants, 34; of other stipendiary agents, an increase of 34; of unpaid agents, 8,087; of church members, 5,163; and of schools, an increase of 4,230. In every quarter of the world, in every clime, under every dispensation, its missionaries are to be foundzealous, courageous, and faithful.