ADDRESS. WHAT usually appears as a Preface to the volume of a periodical such as this, might with greater propriety be denominated a conclusion. It is generally a retrospective glance at the labours and experiences of the expiring year, with a few prospective allusions to the plans and peradventures of the future. And we are not disposed to find fault with the practice, or to desire a more formal course for our own adoption; for it is almost the only occasion when gratitude can be formally expressed for favours conferred-when claims can be urged and wishes made known with plainness of speech. It is with some degree of sadness that we have looked over the pages of the volume just completed, for they remind us of the inroads that death has been making amongst us during the year that is past. These pages contain the contributions of some who have since been suddenly called away from the midst of us, and whose services the Church at the commencement of the year might have calculated upon for many days to come. Besides the removal of two young and promising ministers, the Church has sustained the loss of at least four of her office-bearers, who have been closely identified with many of her early struggles, and who have ever cherished a warm and unabated interest in her prosperity and extension in this land. And among these, our closing number records the removal of one whose active and untiring zeal was known throughout all her borders. May these solemn intimations of the shortness of our few and fleeting years constrain us the more diligently to work while with us it is day; and may the Lord raise up other men with faith, and zeal, and love to supply the places of those who are gone! To those who have kindly assisted us during the year-the Clerks of Presbyteries who have supplied us regularly with Reports, the Ministers and others who have furnished us with suitable papers, and to those who have engaged in the needed work of helping to promote our circulation, we render our sincere thanks. It may appear to some but the repetition of an old complaint to refer in this place to our limited circulation. But we beg to remind them that the task has ever been an ungracious one to us, and such as we would not have returned to were necessity not laid upon us. The changes and removals that are constantly taking place in our congregations deprive us of many readers, and unless their places were filled by others, our work could not long be continued. For this end direct efforts are necessary, and these are most successfully made before the commencement of a new year. We, therefore, earnestly invite the co-operation of those who are interested in the important work which this publication is designed to promote. There is one way in which all our friends and readers may assist-by giving us a place in their supplications at a throne of grace; for if in our work we were more largely guided and assisted by the Spirit of God, our "Messenger" might become a successful "preacher of righteousness" to many who have nothing more than a live." LONDON, Dec. 1, 1854. "name to NEW SERIES. China, our Missionary work in, 161 China, good news from, 265 Church and her future Ministry, the, 99 Committee of Council on Education, minutes of the, 297 Covenant, the times of the, 6 "Consider the Lilies," 205 Cyprus; or, Paul's first Miracle, 65 England, Religious condition of in 1851, 33 ...., Educational condition of, in 1851, 236 Hippolytus and his age, 329, 360 Living Mountain and the Dead Cities, the, 336 Sistine Chapel, Pope Worship in the, 357 Weitbrecht, Sketch of the Life of the Rev. J. J., 233, 271, 364 Miscellaneous Papers: Arnold, Thomas, D.D., 39 Bendini and Duff, 211 Bible, Statistics of the, 312 Bonmahon schools, the, 281 Catechisms, the two, 311 Child of the Church, four scenes in the life of a, 141 Children, prayer for, 141 Christian Soldier at the battle of Barossa, the, 367 Christian Union, 216 Crimea, Christian Soldiers in the, 370 D'Aubigne, a morning with, 79 Discontent, 110 Doddridge's Mother, 78 England's Present and Possible Future, 215 Falsehood in Children, and its Cure, 374 Harvey, Marion, 11 "He Careth for You," 80 Isaiah's Satire on Idolatry, 109 Jerusalem, Night Scene in, 167 Listener, the Author of the, 203 Masses, a Ministry for the, 143 Missionaries, Sympathy with, 309 No Condemnation, 212 Philadelphia, Reception of Dr. Duff in, 137 Prayer, Encouragement to, 45 Presbyterians, Union among Non-estab lished, 241 Prisons, Religious Instruction in, 41 Miscellaneous Papers:- Religious Anniversaries, results of the, 305 Russia, how they educate the people in, 168 Stilling's Life, incidents in, 343 Tell your Wife, 214 "Their works do follow them," 48 War, the details of, 165 Within a Day's journey of Jerusalem, 373 Word in Season, a, 79 Young Men, the influence of, 106 Poetry: Chastening in Love, 142 Cottage Clock, the Old, 344 Crossing the Flood, 370 Christian's Death-chamber, the, 81 God's hand in all things, 142 I would not live alway, 15 Pilgrim Fathers, landing of the, 311 Small Beginnings, 108 "Thou maintainest my lot," 279 Time, 216 Correspondence, 16, 17, 18, 81, 111, 112, 286, 313, 376 India, the Gospel in, 348 Johnston, letters from Rev. James, 53, 83, 218 Young, letters from Dr., 51, 315 Missionary Summary, 55, 83, 116, 184, 221, 249, 289,316 Presbyterian Church in England: Annual accounts, 193--200 College Committee, Report of, 173 Collections and Donations, 25, 26, 59, 60, 87, 88, 121, 122, 156, 186, 187, 227, 228, 257, 292-3, 322, 353, 379 Our Missionaries in China, 378 Proceedings of, 170 Commission of, 225 Moderators of, 183 Presbytery of London, proceedings of, 27, |
