The lonely widow blessed thy name,— Upright, benevolent, sincere, Meek, unassuming, soothing, mild, That dimmed the eye of sorrow's child. A feeling heart, a helping hand, Farewell! Apostle of the Poor,— Friend of my heart, a long farewell! M. ADDRESS OF THE GENERAL SYNOD OF ULSTER, TO THE PRESBYTERIAN EMIGRANTS FROM IRELAND, SETTLED IN AUSTRALIA. DEAR BRETHREN IN CHRIST,-Since you passed the world of waters to the new Continent, we have not ceased to follow you with our best wishes for your welfare, and with fervent prayer that the Great Head of the Church might confer upon you his richest blessings. Long since, we desired to send you Preachers of the Gospel; but many causes have hitherto prevented us from accomplishing this desire. In consequence of the Revival with which it has pleased God to bless us, our sphere of labour has increased so much, that we have often found it difficult to procure a sufficient number of preachers to supply the pressing claims of important stations at home. Though, therefore, sensible of your destitute condition, and much affected by letters, describing your wants, we have been unable, until this good hour, to send you those whom we recognise as children of the Church,-pastors to instruct you, and watch over you in the Lord. Having been engaged, besides, in seeking the renewal of Ministerial Communion with the Parent Church of Scotland, and being aware how much this union would tend to promote our common cause, we paused for a short time until now this union has been consummated, and happily our ministers stand fully recognised by their brethren of the Scottish Church. Considering it, moreover, highly desirable that our ministers should go out under the immediate sanction of Government, we also sought this object, which has been granted in the kindest manner by the Government, and with the most cordial concurrence of the Church of Scotland. Every impediment being thus remored, we now hasten to send you four of our ministers,-Rev. Thomas Dugall, Vinecash, County Armagh; Rev. James Fullerton, Benburb, in same County; Rev. Hugh Gilchrist, Ballyjamesduff, County Cavan; and Rev. Robert Blain, Belfast, County Antrim, who are, indeed, brethren very dear to us,on account of their attainments, their exemplary conduct, and their zeal in the cause of Christ. They go from us, certified by the highest Court of our Church, as ministers in good standing: they are followed by the sympathies and prayers of all our Churches; and we fondly trust, that, through the Divine blessing, they will deserve the esteem and confidence of those who may be privileged with their acquaintance, and materially aid in erecting the bulwarks of our Presbyterian Zion, in Australia. While we entreat you to greet them with a cordial welcome, and expect that through them we shall more fully and particularly be informed of your wants, we trust that you will bear with us, while, with the utmost affection, we offer a few hints regarding your duty to them, and your general conduct as members of the body of Christ. 1. Most of you have gone to your adopted country as free settlers; and your letters have testified how severely you felt the privation, arising from your distance from the sanctuary and ministers of Christ. We trust, therefore, that you will honour these servants of the Lord very highly in love for their work's sake, by waiting diligently on their ministry, and persuading others to avail themselves of the same privilege. It is to be feared that the want of ordinances, together with the temptations through which you have passed, may have led some into apathy, or, perhaps, into crime; and such, it is the duty of those among you who are spiritual to endeavour to allure to the means of grace. Farther, we beseech you all, dear brethren, to read daily the Word of God, and in prayer to hold fellowship with God, and with each other. Scattered as you are over an immense continent, it is not to be expected, that even with the liberal aid of Government you can all be speedily supplied with ministers and ordinances; but wherever you may wander, God's eye will see you ; and if you seek his counsel, and crave his blessing, the most dreary solitude shall become a Bethel, wherein you will be cheered with the light of his countenance. Make, therefore, the Bible your companion and your study, and, guided by its precepts, you may reasonably hope, that, at the close of your earthly career, your pilgrimage shall close in the rest of heaven. 2. Next, we entreat you to sanctify the Sabbath. This is a benevolent institution of God, equally advantageous to the souls and bodies of men. Wherever it is duly observed, religion and pure morality flourish; but where it is neglected, both speedily decay. If, allured by gain or pleasure, any of you have yielded to the customs of the world, we beseech you to retrace your steps, and "Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy." 3. We exhort all of you who have believed in Christ Jesus, to give yourselves to him, and to remember his death at a Sacramental table. This im portant ordinance, so strengthening and refreshing to the Christian, is much neglected by many professing Christians, and it is to be feared, that in your circumstances, the impressions which it is calculated to produce, have been weakened by neglect. We exhort you, therefore, to resume or commence the observance of this duty, that your hearts may be strengthened for every good work. While you should thus improve the means of grace to promote your salvation, there are duties which you owe to the world and the Church, to which we farther request your serious attention. To the Government which secures you so many valuable privileges, you owe a firm allegiance. While we trust that you will ever be the supporters of civil and religious freedom, we warn you against all connexion with men who are given to change. In a colony composed of such heterogeneous materials, factious and turbulent men may be expected to arise; but we confidently hope, that, instead of encouraging such, you will manifest and preserve a steady respect for the constituted authorities, and preserve inviolate your allegiance to the Sovereign of the British Isles. We beseech you, brethren, to reflect often on the vast responsibility of your situation; and, as you are placed on a Continent destined, we believe, to affect the interests of half the world, cultivate personal holiness, that, by your example, you may allure others to a knowledge of the truth. As the decided piety of the early Christians recommended Christianity more than the eloquence of orators, and the most laboured Apologies of the most talented Fathers, we beseech you, by your love to Christ, to imitate their example, and so to let your light shine before men, as to secure their respect for the cause of your Master. The right estimate of your responsibility must be formed from considering the influence which your conduct may be expected to exert on a large portion of the human race, during future generations. Located on a Continent nearly as large as Europe, and which, from the fertility of its soil, and the salubrity of its climate, may soon be expected to teem with an immense population, and to be the seat of mighty empires, it rests with you, under God, to render its future inhabitants enlightened, virtuous, religious, and happy. 1. We exhort you, that you may acquit yourselves faithfully to God and man, to cultivate a spirit of love and kindness to all Christians who hold Christ the Head. Our religion demands this; and, in a country so destitute of means of grace, it were much to be deplored should any sectarian partizanship prevent you from uniting in labours of love with any who love the Lord Jesus, or hinder you from co-operating to diffuse his holy religion. Still, as society is benefitted by the rivalry of families, so we believe that religion is promoted by the rivalry of sects; and, therefore, while we exhort you to love all who love the Saviour, we also beseech you to observe the peculiarities of our Apostolical Church, and to cherish and display a marked respect for the ministers and members of the Scottish Church. In their fatherland rest the bones of our fathers, to it we look as the cradle of our religion and freedom, and to it we look for the brightest examples of martyrs and saints; and as that venerable Church is at this moment experiencing a mighty renovation, we beseech you not to form congregations distinct from theirs, and to pursue no course that would interrupt the harmonious union and co-operation which now happily exist between us and our beloved mother Church. 2. It becomes those of you who are enlightened, and know the value of religion, to seek the conversion of those who have turned to evil ways, and are living without God in the world. Though few Presbyterians have ever gone to Australia as convicts, it becomes you not to overlook this hapless class of outcast men. However degraded, you should not despair of their reformation; but, seizing every favourable moment, when they are roused by affliction, direct them to the Saviour, pour the balm of the Gospel into their wounded hearts, and, in the time of their alarm, try to hush the tumults of their consciences, by directing them to the merciful invitations of the Word of God. Direct sedulous attention to their offspring, who are destined, in the commerce of life, to be the companions of your children. Give them the blessing of Scriptural education; and, when you rest in your silent graves, they may be expected to shun the errors of their fathers, and to hold your lessons and your memories in grateful remembrance. 3. To the Aborigines of Australia, it becomes you to direct much Christian effort and sympathy, Hitherto, the intercourse of civilized and savage men has usually terminated in the destruction of the latter. Thus, enslaved and corrupted by men called Christians, the red tenant of the American forests has melted away, and little of the race will soon be known, except in the pages of the historian or the poet. But, we trust, that you will yet prove, that the rude children of the Aus-. tralian forests may be preserved by Christian effort, and raised to the dignity of civilized men. We beseech you, to treat with marked kindness that injured race. The natives of your adopted land were not excepted from the promise, "I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance;" and we do confidently hope, that, by your instrumentality, Australia shall be placed as a brilliant gem in the diadem of Jesus; and that its untubored sons will soon swell the army of those who are on the Lord's side; and that many of them shall yet raise their voices in the heavenly Jerusalem, saying, "Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his blood, and made us kings and priests unto God, be glory for ever and ever." 4. Your situation will bring you into frequent contact with the inhabitants of the many isles of the Pacific Ocean, and with the multitudinous population of China. In all your intercourse with these, it becomes you so to regulate your conduct, by the principles of justice and benevolence, as to secure their respect for the religion which you profess; where an opportunity presents itself, impart to them the blessed book of God, encourage the education of youth, and, by these means, you may become the honoured instruments, not only of diffusing Christianity throughout the vast regions of Australia that remain yet to be explored, but from your hands may the inhabitants of a thousand isles receive the law of Jehovah, yea, and from your adopted country may your children issue forth, to overthrow the deep-rooted idolatry of China, and to subdue its countless millions to the faith and purity of the Gospel. Brethren, the task assigned to you is great, but God has promised you his aid, and a glorious and unutterable reward. We desire to hear often of your circumstances, and labour, and success. We hope yet to send you other teachers, and engage that you shall be much on our hearts and tongues when we approach the throne of grace. In return, we beseech you to pray for us. Farewell,—and at last may it be your privilege and ours to meet together at the throne of our Redeemer, and to hear his voice saying, "Well done, ye good and faithful servants, ye have been faithful over a little, I will make you rulers over much; enter ye into the joy of your Lord." Signed, by Order of the Synod of Ulster, WILLIAM CRAIG, Moderator. JAMES SEATON REID, D.D., Clerk. Belfast, July, 1837. SUDDEN DEATH. (Extract of a Letter from a Minister, to a friend under a sudden and heavy bereavement.) MY DEAR FRIEND,-Sincerely do I pity you and your friends, under your present sudden and unexpected bereavement. But, "be still, and know that I am God." "It is the Lord, let him do what seemeth him good." "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." "A horse is counted but a vain thing for safety,”—yea, is often the instrument of a man's death. Creatures, then, are good or evil to us, as the Lord makes them to be the one or the other. How precarious our worldly comforts!—In the midst of life, we are in death: we are fearfully and wonderfully made, and also preserved. "Tis to His care we owe our breath, And all our near escapes from death." But sudden death is, to the believer, sudden glory. "Blessed is the servant whom his lord, when he cometh, shall find watching." The deceased was one who was living the life of the righteous, was much in the habit of using ejaculatory prayer, and was enabled, in the last struggle, to commit the soul afresh to the care of an almighty and compassionate Redeemer, and to say, with the proto-martyr, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." As the great John Howe said, on a similarly mournful occasion,-"If God be pleased, and his glorified creature pleased, what are we that we should be displeased ?" You are not forbidden to feel and to weep; but, blessed be God, you are not called to sorrow, as those who are without hope. This bereavement will render you, and the other relatives of the deceased, lonely and desolate. The Lord has placed you and them in deep waters, where all his waves and billows are passing over you. I cannot comfort you. The Lord alone can support and strengthen you. He can uphold and encourage. He is the Almighty, infinite, and all-sufficient God, with whom nothing is impossible. Has he not said,As thy day, so shall thy strength be "My grace is sufficient |