gregations ranged beneath the same banner, joining counsels together for the vigorous prosecution of more missions, breaking up fallow ground, and standing fast in one mind and one spirit. Towards such a result he believed the events of the present day were tending, and he should not feel surprised-though not this year, but next year-to witness a consummation of the contemplated union of Presbyterians. The meeting was afterwards addressed by the Rev. W. M. Taylor, Rev. G. Thomson, Rev. Dr White, and the Rev. H. T. Howat, etc.

LETTER FROM REV. W. WATT.-PREPARATIONS FOR HIS SETTLEMENT.

Rev. W. Watt, in a private letter, kindly forwarded us, of date "Wellington, 15th December 1868," says:-". I have received a very welcome letter from Mr Inglis, in which he says 'You have probably heard of Mr Neilson's settlement at Port Resolution, Tanna. We expect you to be settled, if it please Providence, on the south of Tanna, at Umairarekar, where Mr Matheson was settled. Things look all very well for such an arrangement at present. The Aneityumese teachers, and the natives of Tanna, are busy at present burning a kiln of lime to plaster your house. While I am writing this, I hear nothing but the sound of mallets beating the cocoa-nut fibre to make cinet. When we heard it first this evening my wife asked some of the natives what they were beating the fibre for. "Oh," said they, "don't you know it is for Mr Watt's house!" Nowanpakau (our principal chief on this side of the island) has given orders to-day for all the people to begin and make cinet for Mr Watt's house. Moreover, Nowanpakau has a hundred men ready, if the "Dayspring" will take as many, whenever you arrive, to go with him to put up your house on Tanna, on the sole and simple condition that they receive no payment; it is to be a pure free-will offering to the mission. I hope you and our friends in New Zealand will accept this as a token for good. Is not that encouraging? Is it not well fitted to fill our hearts with joy to see the natives at the place taking an interest in the matter, and making preparation for our reception? May not this be the set time to favour Tanna? She has had many opportunities of embracing the Gospel, but hitherto she has thrust them from her, and preferred remaining in darkness. God grant that she may now open her ears to the message of salvation, and cast her idols from her."

MEETING OF SYNOD.

The Synod of the Reformed Presbyterian Church meets in Glasgow, in Great Hamilton Street Church, on Monday, May 3d, at seven o'clock P.M., when a sermon will be preached by the retiring moderator, Rev. C. N. M'Caig, Lochgilphead.

Papers for the Committee on Bills and Overtures require to be in the hands of the Clerk of Synod on or before Friday, the 23d inst.

MISSION BOXES.

The possessors of the Mission Boxes are reminded that the boxes must be opened, and their contents forwarded, before the close of the present month, to Mr James Paterson.

COLLECTION FOR THE SYNOD FUND.

By appointment of Synod, the Annual Collection for the Hall and Synod Fund is on the Fourth Sabbath of the present month. Printed by CHARLES GIBSON, at his Printing Office, 18 Thistle Street, and Published by JOHNSTONE, HUNTER, & Co., at their Warehouse, 2 Melbourne Place, Edinburgh.

"The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away."-1 PET. v. 1-4.

THE brotherly tone of this address is alike pleasing and instructive. The authoritative is forgotten in the fraternal. Peter founds his exhortation upon his equality as an elder, rather than upon his superiority as an Apostle. Had it been necessary, he could have magnified his office, like his "beloved brother Paul;" and exhorted the brethren with all the authority of an Apostle of Christ. Not recognising, however, in the present case, any such necessity, the simplicity and dignity of feeling produced by genuine humility, made it more congenial to him to base his exhortation on what he and his fellow-elders were in common, rather than upon ground on which he was their superior. "The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder."

I have no doubt that those whom Peter here exhorts were elders in regard to office. At the same time it is very probable that those invested with office among these dispersed Christians, were elders not only in the official sense, but in regard to years. There is, indeed, little doubt that, as a general rule, it would be aged and experienced Christian men who would, at that time, be chosen to

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this office. And that the Apostle-himself, too, by this time, somewhat advanced in life—had the age of such, as well as their office, before his mind, may perhaps be inferred from his subsequent address to the "younger."

There is a fine touch of reality in the reference the Apostle here makes to himself, as having been a "witness of the sufferings of Christ." This was a scene which, though long past, he continued to remember. He never, indeed, could forget it, though I daresay he never remembered it without being reminded of his own faithlessness and cowardice in connection with it; and without a renewal of the feelings that led him, under the melting look of his Master, to go out and "weep bitterly." But this personal sense of sin and shame did not make him forget the righteousness, and grace, and honour he had received from Him against whom the sin had been committed; nor did it so overpower him as to make him feeble, or faltering, in his witness-bearing for Jesus. Far from being silent, or cherishing any feeling that would have made him shrink from taking a bold position in defence of Him whom he had, at one time, "denied "-he displays the higher courage of unwaveringly testifying—amidst a humbling self-consciousness-of those sufferings of his Lord of which he was a witness," and of the vital connection of these sufferings with the believer's salvation and glory.

He refers to them just now, apparently, for such reasons as the following:-First, He wishes to communicate the feeling that he knows what he is saying; that he is not speaking from hearsay; that he is not following any thought of his own mind, that might possibly be leading him astray, or any foolish tale or myth that he had heard some one else repeat. He is speaking as a "witness." It is after the manner of John, who says, concerning the Incarnate Word, "That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you." And the circumstance that these Apostles fall back so often upon the testimony of their senses, in regard to the fundamental facts of our Christian faith, as it shows the reality of their own minds, and that they could be satisfied with nothing short of unmistakable evidence for what they were believing and testifying; so it is refreshing and reassuring to our minds still, and emboldens us to walk in their steps, and to grasp with a strong faith those truths that, however mysterious, are most vital in the life of godliness. A second reason, seemingly, that Peter has for speaking of himself as a witness of the sufferings of Christ," is to manifest the ground of his own willingness to suffer for his Master, as well as the ground he had for exhorting others to be reconciled-cordially and

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163 even joyfully reconciled-to any sufferings that a resolution to cleave to Jesus, and to serve Him, might demand. Another reason, still, why he brings under the notice of the elders whom he is exhorting the sufferings of Christ, of which he was a witness, is the connection there was between these sufferings and the glory that was to be revealed. These sufferings of Christ paved the way for His own mediatorial glory. Being endured, however, on behalf of His people, they opened up the way for their glorification also. The Apostle accordingly speaks of himself, as not only a "witness of the sufferings of Christ," but also "a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed."

The style adopted by Peter here is strikingly demonstrative of the certainty of his personal hope. The assurance that he shall be glorified with Christ is not less strong than his assurance that he had been a witness of the sufferings of Christ. Indeed, he speaks of glory as a present possession,-something that he was now participating. The sufferings of Christ had already taken place, and the glory to be revealed was yet future. The Apostle, however, speaks with equal confidence of his interest in the latter as in the former. There entered into his faith the "confidence of things hoped for," as well as the conviction of things which he had seen.

By the bygone sufferings of Christ, then, and by His coming glory, the Apostle exhorts his fellow-elders to "feed the flock of God." In this exhortation two designations are given to the people of God. They are called "His flock," and "His heritage." From the Greek term rendered heritage, has been derived our English word clergy, which, in hierarchical Churches, has been systematically appropriated by those in holy orders as distinguished from the laity. However, as the only priesthood, in the Christian Church, that has any Scriptural authority, except that of the Great High Priest Himself, is the universal priesthood of believers; so the only clergy, or heritage, that has any Christian sanction is the heritage of God's saints. These, without distinction or exception, are His special property, His peculiar treasure. God's husbandry— God's building-God's flock-God's heritage, are just so many figurative forms of speech that represent the same persons.

The language here employed, "feed the flock of God which is among you," and, in the first verse, "the elders which are among you," appears to indicate a condition of things, at the time when the Epistle was written, somewhat confused and disorganised. In the inscription the Christians addressed are called "strangers," and are said to have been "scattered" throughout Pontus, Galatia, and other neighbouring provinces.

But, whatever may have been the state of their ecclesiastical organisation, it is noticeable that the elders are addressed as "among" the flock, and the flock as "among" the elders. They are supposed to be mingling together, not with the familiarity that breeds contempt, but with the familiarity that produces mutual respect and confidence.

The manner in which these elders were to deport themselves, towards those among whom they were placed, is set before us in three forms.

1. They were to "feed" them—that is, they were to do towards them whatever a shepherd requires to do for his flock. They were to instruct the flock-to lead them in the paths of righteousness— to guide them into good pasture-to govern them with a skilful hand. This feeding is to embrace the lambs as well as the sheep; and to be adapted to the infirm, and sick, and diseased, as well as to such as are strong, and robust, and healthful. "How reasonable is it that we bestow our strength and life on that flock, which our Lord laid down His life for: that we be most ready to draw out our spirits for them, for whom He let out His blood!"

2. They were to take the "oversight" of them: to do the work of an inspector, a superintendent, a bishop. In Prelatic Churches the function of a bishop is to take the oversight of the clergy who are placed under him. It is over the shepherds of the flock, rather than over the flock itself, that he rules. But the Episcopal oversight" here enjoined by the Apostle requires those who exercise it to concern themselves, immediately and directly, with the flock of God; and with the various classes of weak and strong, and old and young, and diseased and healthful, of which that flock consists.

3. They were to be "ensamples" to the flock. They were to rule much more by example than by force: not so much by the exercise of official authority as by the exhibition of a personal life of faith and patience, and purity and hope. The style of government over the heritage of God was to be much less in the spirit and manner of lordship, than in the spirit and bearing of one who is himself consciously under law to God; and who is showing, by his habitual life and conduct, humble subjection to the Divine government.

The motives that were to influence them in all this were to be, not the urgency of others, but a ready disposition to serve the Lord, and promote the good of His people, in this department of work. In all that they did they were to be doing heartily to the Lord, not under the constraint of men. As the Lord loveth a cheerful giver, so He loves a ready and willing worker.

If they were to be influenced by anything of the nature of