and the greater number not more than one mile. In it, also, the Sunday-school will meet, numbering twice as many children as the daily school. The nearest school to it, is at a place five miles south-east, and I have heard of none other about to be erected, nearer than nine or ten miles off, in any direction." The other school which he proposes, is for the eastern district of his congregation. "It will embrace," he says, "the children of Barrett Hall, Greenwood Pen, Grange Pen, Lilliput, and Success estates.

The number of children

attending it may not be more than half so many as the other; and the size and expense will be proportionably less. I have no stated funds on which to depend for the support of the teachers. The funds raised at home were exhausted, come time ago; providentially a post-bill for £50 sterling was sent me just at that time, by George G, Esq., from the New England Society; it will carry us on some time longer. I have written to friends at home, begging farther aid. At present I must say I am proceeding in faith; but faith, you know, can remove mountains, and I have no doubt I will be able to carry on these important school operations." In the close of this letter, Mr. Waddell gives the following interesting account of the

ZEAL OF THE NEGROES.

"When I had arranged for the ground for a place of worship on Easthams estate, I began to speak to some of the masons belonging to my Church about enclosing it with a wall. One of them said, that for his part he was so joyed to see a place for the Church got at last, that he would work at it for nothing, as long as he could, and he believed that others were of the same mind. I took the hint; and on the following Sabbath, at the close of the service, mentioned the matter to the congregation, and requested that whoever was willing to labour voluntarily at enclosing the ground must present themselves. To my great satisfaction, sixty-four stood up and offered each a day or two of their own time to the work. A day and a half, at the close of every week, is their allow ance of time by law. So we began the ensuing Friday, that was last Friday week. In these two half Fridays and two Saturdays, there have been at the work eighty-two persons, not counting the school children who laboured among their parents and friends. They have brought the stones, and built 250 feet of wall, between four and five feet high. These worked together joyfully,-the old men and maidens, the young men and children; aye, and the old women too,-one

a great-grandmother, with one hand supporting herself on a staff, while with the other she carried a basket of stones on her head. Beside her wrought her grandson, and greatgrand-daughter; and the old lady walked as erect, though not so fast, and talked as cheerful as any of them. They brought cocoa nuts, plants also, and mango, orange, and bread fruit, to plant inside the walls. I expect they will finish in a few weeks more, and thereby save the funds for the Church, not less than £50 sterling. They who come one day, cannot come till that day fortnight again, at least; but their heart seems in it; and the neighbouring planters cannot but admire the spirit with which the people labour at the work. It reminds me of Nehemiah and the Jews building the wall of Jerusalem, for as it is said, "the people had a mind to work." We always begin and end with a psalm or hymn, which, from the circumstances of the place, and the surrounding scenery, is delightful. Before us, to the north, the blue summer sea, spotted with the white tops of the waves as they break, is spread out, washing almost the base of the hill; behind, is a high ridge of hills covered with wood to the summit. On either side, a beautiful stretch of country is seen, terminated by high hills. The rich cane fields just now in full bloom, the sides of the steep grounds clothed in wood, the negro towns, on every estate, clustered together under the shade of cocoa nut groves, the extensive and well kept sugar works on every hand, with here and there, even among the canes, the dark leaved mahogany or lofty cabbage trees, allowed to grow for the sake of their value or beauty, altoge. ther form one of the most beautiful views I have ever seen. It is a lovely spot for the house of God; we call it Mount Zion. We expect soon to lay the foundation stone of the

Church."

IN

SYNOD OF ULSTER.-IRISH SCHOOLS.

page 36 of the last Minutes of Synod, we have the following information :-"The Rev. W. B. Kirkpatrick submitted to Synod the following resolution of the Society for Promoting the Education of the Native Irish, through the medium of their own tongue, communicated to him in a letter from the Secretary, H. J. Monk Mason, LL.D., to be laid before the Synod:

"Irish Society, Dublin, June 23, 1836. "At a meeting of the Committee, holden this day, at No. 16, Upper Sackville-street, it was

"Resolved,―That a letter be written to the Synod of Ulster, expressing the gratification of this Society, that the Synod have become impressed with the value of Irish vernacular instruction; and that this Society desires, most heartily, to co-operate with the Synod in the good work; they would willingly give up any portion of the country in which they have established Schools, and in which the Synod will undertake to maintain Schools which have been, or shall be, set up; they desire, most earnestly, that there should be the most cordial union, in the same work, between a body composed of members of the Established Church of England and Ireland, and the Synod of Ulster, composed of members connected with the established Church of Scotland.'

"Whereupon it was moved, and unanimously agreed to,That this Synod receive, with high satisfaction, this resolution, expressive of the cordial and fraternal feeling entertained by the Irish Society towards the Synod of Ulster; and refer it to the Directors of the Mission, to consider what arrangements are to be made, in order that the field of labour may be harmoniously divided, and that the great object contemplated by both bodies may be most effectually promoted."

The Schools in connexion with the Synod had been indiscriminately intermingled with those of the Irish Society, through the mountains of Tyrone. Serious inconvenience might have arisen, in the course of time, from this circumstance; and a separation of the Schools was, therefore, desirable. The spirit and sentiments of the above resolution rendered this a matter of easy accomplishment; and a proper division was, therefore, immediately effected by a mutual transfer of an equal number of Schools. A line drawn, on a map, from Stewartstown to Newtonstewart, would nearly define the separation; the Schools of the Synod being to the south of that line. The districts to the north of it had been chiefly occupied by the Irish Society, whose Schools extend thence to Dungiven and Maghera. A large proportion of Tyrone has thus been committed to the Synod as a missionary field, in the most interesting and needful work of teaching and disseminating the Irish Scriptures. It has been stated, on respectable authority, that the edition of the Irish Scriptures which is furnished, so liberally, by the British and Foreign Bible Society, was printed from a copy of the Irish Bible which belonged to the Rev. Mr. Hegginbotham, one of those ten ministers and probationers of our Church, who, in the year 1710, could preach in Irish, and were appointed to the service, and supported in their work by the Synod. In taking up this work, therefore, we are only returning to the good old ways of our fathers, whose faith we were in danger of losing, but on which we have again laid hold, with, as we

trust, an abiding and increasing attachment. And, while we now glory, as a Church, in holding entire the same orthodox confession, let us see that we emulate their spirit of love and zeal, their liberality and disinterestedness, their labours and sacrifices in the cause of the Gospel. The Saviour and the truth expect this of us; and if the spirit that is of the world render us unfaithful, we can have nothing to expect but the withering desolations of spiritual judgments.

The Schools of the Synod in Tyrone are scattered over a large surface, extending from Gorten to Slievebagh mountains, in length; and from Pomeroy to Omagh, and stretching from that towards Drumquin. This district contains a large majority of the Irish-speaking population in that county, which is computed to amount, in all, to 140,000 persons.Though opposition has arisen, the work is advancing, so as to afford a just ground for the delightful hope that the people who now sit in darkness shall see a great light, by becoming a Bible-reading people. This prospect is now open to us, if the Churches of Christ will supply the money required for the establishment and support of Schools. It is this that is now especially wanted. Teachers are ready,-scholars are ready, -suitable agents are ready,- Bibles and Testaments are ready; let a Christian public furnish the means of remunerating, with small gratuities, the services of the teachers, and the good work, with the Lord's blessing, will go on, and become the instrument of important changes and benefits to Ulster. "Ireland's woes" have been the theme of honest or agitating declamation to patriots and statesmen, of all political creeds. "Ireland's woes" have been sung, in mournful strains, by her native muse, of high and low degree, and resounded, in touching tones, from the solemn and tender harps of Erin. "Ireland's woes" have awakened the sympathies and prayers of many a Christian heart, in every Christian Church in the land. Many remedies have been tried to heal them,—many more have been thought of,-and none has yet succeeded. Let us now, then, with the love and liberality of Christ's disciples, employ the wise and the efficient, because Christian means, of leavening the mass with the Word of God in that language in which it will be received, and the good which unscriptural and unblessed efforts have sought in vain, may be happily and gloriously accom plished. If that covetousness which has been denominated "the sin of the Church," withhold more than is meet from this holy cause, and suffer it to fail, it may find a due reward, in the loss of its hoarded wealth, by political or revolutionary

changes, which a little more Christian liberality and feeling might have prevented.

NOTICES OF BOOKS.

A Defence of the Westminster Confession of Faith, and of the Synod of Ulster, in reply to a Pamphlet by the Rev. J. Carlile, Dublin, on the "Use and Abuse of Creeds and Confessions." By the Rev. J. Carmichael, A.M., Minister of the Presbyterian Church, Drumkeerin W. M'Comb, Belfast. p.p. 80.

THIS is a most able pamphlet, and a satisfactory reply to that of Mr. Carlile. It is simple, ingenious, and occasionally powerful. We have not seen any pamphlet equal to it since the publication of Mr. Carson's Reply to Drummond on the Trinity, and in many points it is very similar to that unanswerable production. If we would remark on any defi. ciency, it is the want of a more distinct arrangement,-but the author has simply followed the work which he reviewed, and combated its strongest positions. We spare our own remarks, to give all the space we can afford to the following extract. It is upon Mr. Carlile's Geological objection to the Confession. In our next, we shall add his remarks on the 23d chapter :

"The account of the creation, as it is given in the Confession, is to Mr. Carlile the subject of perplexity, and the ground-work of an apparently formidable objection. Chapter iv. states, that it pleased God, 'in the beginning, to create, or make of nothing, the world, and all things therein, whether visible or invisible, in the space of six days, and all very good.'

.

"The substance of Mr. C.'s objection is, that this account confines the work of creation literally to six days, and, of course, places the origin of the world at a period, according to ordinary chronology, about 5,800 years ago. Now,' says Mr. C., 'I can see no foundation for such a doctrine in the word of God. The first chapter of the book of Genesis says, 'In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.' When that beginning was, it does not determine. It might be 6,000, or 600,000, or 600,000,000 of years from the present time.' Mr. C. then unfolds the ground of this scruple, viz., the discoveries of modern geology. "It is well known that, in the investigation that has of late years been made into the structure of the earth's surface, and also of the distances of the heavenly bodies, facts have been elicited, totally inconsistent with the universe having been first brought into existence about 6,000 years ago. Further on, Mr. C. brings another objection to this chapter, which is unfolded in the question, What evidence is there for the assertion, that invisible things were created in those six days?'

"Now to these we reply, Scripture most clearly confirms the proposition, that God created all things out of nothing in six days,-Exodus -xx. 11, xxxi. 15. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is.' Can any thing be more plain and positive than this language? One way of getting out of it is, by putting upon it the interpretation, that in six days God formed, or fashioned, out of already existing materials, the heavens and the earth, and all that in them is. The amount of this interpretation, disguise it as we may, is just