f , 
 
 i 
 p. 
 
 11 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 /J 
 > 
 
 SERMONS & ADDRESSES 
 
 DELIVERKU AT 
 
 JUBILEE 
 
 
 Ol' 
 
 '■% 
 
 e:rskine church, 
 
 ''*>- 
 
 (.1 •* •• ^« 
 
 
 
 
 MONTREAL, 
 
 .^»^^<*^#^^ 
 
 
 >^,/" APRIh^/ 1883. 
 
 
 ..%4]^- ^ 
 
 • f * 
 
 
 
 
 TSft- 
 
 Pf^lNTED BV D, BENTLEY & CO. 
 
 ■!^ 
 
 '%\ 
 
 & 
 
 ■i» 
 
 1883. 
 
 A 
 PDA 
 
 -4/ 
 
/^ 
 
 I 
 
 SERMONS & ADDRESSES 
 
 DELIVERED AT 
 
 JUBILEE 
 
 OK 
 
 ERSKINE CHURCH, 
 
 MONTREAL, 
 
 APRIL-, 1883- 
 
 JHontctal : 
 
 RINTED BY D, BENTLEY & CO. 
 1 883- 
 
w 
 
 ERSKINE CHURCH, LAQAUCHETIERE STREET 
 ERECTED 1833, 
 
 ERSKINE CHURCH, ST. CATHERINE STREET, 
 ERECTED 1865, 
 
 "^~^ 
 
^ 
 
 i' V 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The propriety of celebrating the Jubilee Year of Erskine 
 Church had been introduced informally about two years ago, but 
 the first definite action was taken at a joint meeting of the Session, 
 Trustees, Managers and Missionary Committee held in A[)ril, 
 1882. Then it was proposed to raise a Jubilee thank-offering for 
 missions of not less than five thousand dollars. This special gift 
 is not supposed to affect our ordinary contributions for the cur- 
 rent year. At a subsequent meeting of the above bodies the fol- 
 lowing committees were appointed : — 
 
 To collect the Thank-offering : — 
 
 David Brown, Warden King, James Williamson and 
 William Yuile. 
 
 To prepare the order of exercises for the J ubilee celebration : - 
 
 The Rev. J. S. Black, Warden King, David Brown, 
 James Williamson and Dr. Ault. 
 
 The Jubilee services were commenced on Sunday, the 29th 
 April, being the seventeenth anniversary of the taking possession 
 of our present place of worship. 
 
 In the morning the pastor preached the historical discourse. 
 In the afternoon the venerable Dr. Wilkes, of Montreal, the life- 
 long friend of Dr. Taylor, and father-in-law of the Rev. Dr. Gib- 
 son, conducted the services, and gave interesting reminiscences 
 of the last sixty years. At this service the pastor of the church 
 read a letter from the Rev. Dr. J. M. viibson, addressed to the 
 session and congregation. 
 
In the evening the Rev. I). J. Macdonnell, of St. Andrew's 
 Church, Toronto, occupied the pulpit. These services were all 
 well attended. At the morning service the minister announced 
 that four thousand dollars of the Thank-offering had been raised 
 and made an appeal for the other thousand. In the course of 
 the day one thousand eight hundred dollars were contributed, 
 fifteen hundred of this being the gift of a member of the session. 
 
 On Monday evening there was a large gathering of the mem- 
 bers and friends of the congregation. James Williamson, Es(i., 
 the Chairman of the Hoard of Managers, presided. After devo- 
 tional exercises, conducted by the pastor, interesting addresses 
 were made by the Chairman, by Messrs. David Brown, James Roy, 
 Warden King, and Andrew Robertson. The benediction was 
 pronounced by the Rev. Dr. Stevenson, of Emmanuel Church. 
 
 Almost all of the audience adjourned to the Conversazione 
 in the lecture-room of the church. Under the superintendence 
 of the ladies, the church and lecture-room were handsomely 
 decorated for the occasion. The following is the disposition made 
 of the Thank-offering : — 
 
 Home Mission work in North-West $i,ooo, 
 
 General Home Mission Fund 1,500. 
 
 Foreign Mission Fund i.ooo. 
 
 French P^vangelization r^^ 
 
 St. Mark's Church, Montreal 572. 
 
 Taylor Church, Montreal 604. 
 
 Balance to Home Mission work in the city. 
 
 All these particulars may be well known to us at present, 
 but this pamphlet is issued with a view to those who shall come 
 after us, and who may be interested in the proceedings of this 
 Jubilee, and in the fifty years of church life and work which it 
 celebrates. 
 
 J. S. B. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Preface iii. 
 
 Historical Discourse by the Rev. J. S. Black, .... i 
 
 Sermon l)y Rev. Dr. Wilkes, 17 
 
 Sermon by Rev. D. J. Macdonnell, 27 
 
 Letter from Rev. J. M. Gibson, D.D 39 
 
 Address by Chairman, James Williamson, Esq. . . . 41 
 
 Addrc js by David Brown, Esq 43 
 
 Address by James Roy, Esq 49 
 
 Address by Warden King, Esq 53 
 
 Address by Andrew Robertson, Esq 59 
 
^^ii4^ii>l:e'ri> of §i'Z/yhi'Hii' ^(vu/toh 
 
 SINCE ITS ORGANIZATION. 
 
 REV. WM. TAYLOR, D.D. . 1833 — 1876 
 REV. J. M. GIBSON, D.D. . 1864 — 1874 
 REV. J. S. BLACK 1874 _ ... . 
 
 1883. 
 
 Moc^eraior,— The Rev. J. S. Black. 
 
 Session C/efA,—]oim Brodie, 
 
 Treasurer of Poor Fund,~WARDEN King. 
 
 Laird Baton. 
 David Ross Kerr. 
 A. C. Hutchison. 
 James Gill. 
 
 Wm. ROBli. 
 
 C. W. Davis. 
 R. A. Becket. 
 David Yuile. 
 Jas, Rodger. 
 Rev. R, H. Warden. 
 
1883. 
 
 President, 
 Secretary, 
 
 David Hrown, Senr. 
 Andrew Rodertson. 
 
 VVardkn King. 
 John Hutchison. 
 Jonathan Hodc.son. 
 
 oath o| ?i\layi€i^<o'vn<ml. 
 
 1883. 
 
 President,— ]\uvs Williamson. 
 Vice- President, —John M i lle n . 
 Treasurer,—]. R. I.owden. 
 Financial Arr^'/ar;',— James Brown. 
 Recording Secretary,— W Laino. 
 
 91laiva<jet.>. 
 
 F. Br UN dace. 
 Dr. Ault. 
 
 J. M. KiKK. 
 
 Archibald McIntyre. 
 W. C. Jarvis. 
 Wm. Waugh. 
 
 T. E. Hodgson. 
 Wm. Angus. 
 
 C. T. Chrisiie. 
 
 D. McTaggart. 
 J. S. Archibald. 
 Jas. Paton. 
 
 Auditors.— "^ -SI. Yuile and W. C. Jarvis. 
 
3§i6toncal ^Discourse bij the yicO. J is. i31ach, 
 
 ^linistcr of (Ecakine QLhurch. 
 
 The Lord lia(h been mindful uf us."— Psalin 115 : 12. 
 
 In the hour of Israel's signal deliverance, Samuel took a 
 stone and set it between Mizpah and Shen, and called the name 
 of it Ebenezer, saying, " Hitherto hath the Lord helped us." 
 This congregation can look back upon fifty years of varied for- 
 tunes. Shall we to-day raise our Ebenezer? Can we, in faith 
 and in gratitude, declare " hitherto hath the Lord helped us " ? 
 When God was dealing with the children of Israel, he reminded 
 them again and again of what they were to tell their children when 
 these children were to ask the meaning of certain customs and 
 observances. Have we any testimony to bear to the faith and 
 zeal of those who have gone before us? Have we any message 
 of hope and good cheer to those who shall come after us ? Can 
 we take up the praiseful and grateful words of the sweet singer, 
 and say, " The Lord hath been mindful of us " ? The Lord's 
 guiding and keeping can be seen as we review the past. Let no 
 unworthy thoughts of self-complacency, or of vain glory have place 
 in our hearts this day. If we dare number the people, let it be 
 done as an aid to faith, a call to praise, and an encouragement to 
 service. 
 
 The services of this day possess peculiar interest to all mem- 
 bers of the congregation. The large number of members who 
 have been admitted by certificate from other churches reminds us 
 that we have many brethren beloved among us whose connection 
 with this congregation is of comparatively recent date. Some of 
 you look back with fond affection on the Sunday Schools where 
 you went long ago, and on the ministers and churches associated 
 with the hallowed memories of the time when first you sat at the 
 
Lord's Table. Ever cherish such sacred reminiscences. They 
 are your surest possessions, your most enduring treasures. But 
 you are not, therefore, the less interested in the congregation of 
 your adoption. The visible church is the most liberal institution 
 on earth. She does not demand years of probation, nor does she 
 relegate the new-comer to an inferior position. Every one who 
 loves the Lord Jesus Christ is invited to share our toils and our 
 joys ; to help bear the common burdens, and to be an equal par- 
 taker of all the honors and immunities of our Zion. Thi.s is the 
 church of your adoption ; but your children have been baptized 
 in it. It is theirs by birthright. By your own spiritual rights and 
 privileges, and by your children's, birthright, you are interested in 
 the services of this day. 
 
 No words of mine arc needed to prove how dear the annals 
 of this church must be to the great body of its membership. 
 You, my brethren, are bearing the burden and heat of the day. 
 You have grown up in this church, or you have been so many 
 years attached to it that it has become a home to you. The 
 praise of its successes and the reproach of its failures are largely 
 yours. 
 
 But the proceedings of this day of celebration must be of 
 special interest to the old and to the young. To the old, because 
 they can look back over this half century that has gone, and recall 
 the way in which we have been led. It is true that there are only 
 two left (Mr. and Mrs. David Brown) in our membership to-day 
 who took part in the formation of the congregation, and sat down 
 at our first communion ; but not a few can go back to very near that 
 time, while there is a goodly number of those who have been 
 thirty years and upwards on the roll. There is a mingling of sor- 
 row and joy in all retrospect ; but even the sorrow of this kind is 
 "sweet sorrow." 
 
 To the young — to the boys and girls, to the young men and 
 young women — of the congregation, this semi-centennial should 
 be of most interest. Many of you are the children of those who 
 had much to do with the up-building of this church. " The glory 
 of children are their fathers," says the wise man. You are the 
 
3 
 
 baptized children of the church, and in the days that are quickly 
 coming, we hope to see you by God's grace, becoming pillars in 
 the house of your God. Erskine Church is a monument to the 
 consecrated zeal and energy of young people. A young minister 
 gathered some stout-hearted young people round about him, and 
 the foundations were laid. Many of our oftice-bearers are com- 
 ing to the "sere and yellow leaf of age," but some of them were 
 very young men indeed when they first assumed office. Very 
 few of the original band are in the land of the living to-day ; but 
 when another fifty years have passed and this church celebrates its 
 centennial, some of you young people will be living to tell the 
 story of this day. Those who are now between eight years and 
 thirty years of age will then be between fifty-eight and eighty years. 
 I put the limit at eight years, because those under eight cannot be 
 supposed to remember much, and I put the other limit at thirty, 
 because so very few live to exceed the four score years. At 
 present there are about three hundred between those two ages in 
 this church. An accomplished actuary* says that the probability 
 is that of this three hundred, one hundred and twenty will be 
 living to celebrate the centennial anniversary of this church. Of 
 this goodly company only six score will remain, and all the rest 
 will have gone over to the countless multitude of the dead. Let 
 us be solemnized by this truth, and let our prayer be that the 
 retrospect of the past fifty years may help us so to live, and so to 
 labor, that the coming fifty years may be " years of the right hand 
 of the Most High." 
 
 We have about one hundred and fifty members in full com- 
 munion under thirty years of age. Of this number about fifty 
 will live until the centennial of this congregation comes round. 
 How many will be in this city and in this congregation at that 
 time is another question. At first glance, it appears as if such a 
 celebration as this of to-day was of peculiar and special interest to 
 the old ; but is it not true, in a most important sense, it is a day 
 for the young? The retrospect of age is the outlook of youth. 
 Memory is the portion of the aged believ hope is the heritage 
 of the young. 
 
 * Henry J. Johnston. 
 
In 1792, that is, ninety-one years ago, St. Gabriel Street 
 Church was opened for public worship. This was the first Pro- 
 testant place of worship in this city. The Episcopalians had 
 worship, but it was in the old Jesuit's Chapel, the use of which Lord 
 Dorchester granted them. St. Gabriel St. Church was in connec- 
 tion with the Church of Scotland. Bui in the motherland of 
 Presbyterianism, the voluntary movement, under the lead of such 
 men as the Erskines, Wilson of Perth, Moncrieff of Abernathy, 
 and Fisher of Kinclaven, had secured mmy earnest advocates 
 and adherents, and it had its friends in this city. In 1804, or 
 twelve years after the opening of St. Gabriel Street Church, St. 
 Andrew's congregation was formed, their first church edifice being 
 finished in 1807. This congregation, which of late years has 
 been so closely identified with the Scotch Establishment, was in 
 the beginning a voluntary congregation, ministered to by the Rev. 
 Robert Easton, who was a Scotchman, and a minister of the 
 Burgher Secession Church. After the union of the scattered 
 Scottish voluntaries, in 1820, Mr. Easton and his congregation 
 considered themselves to be in connection with the Associate Re- 
 formed Synod of Scotland. This connection, however, was 
 never formally acknowledged by the Synod, and possibly it was 
 never formally sought by the congregation. In 1820, when Mr. 
 Easton proposed to retire from his ministerial labors, the congre- 
 gation resolved to procure a minister from the Church of Scotland, 
 "and none else." This led to a division of the church ; but in 
 the separation the national line was more prominent than the de- 
 nominational, and the American Presbyterian Church was formed 
 in 1823. 
 
 Thus, after^ twenty years of existence as a congregation, the 
 voluntary movement in Scotland had, strictly speaking, no repre- 
 sentation in this city. News travelled slowly in those days, but 
 when at length the tidings of the doings of 1823-24 did reach the 
 other side of the Atlantic, the leaders of the United Associate 
 Synod must have had food for reflection in thus letting a promis- 
 ing congregation slip through their fingers. Meanwhile the 
 staunch Voluntaries, the men whose fathers had suffered for their 
 
principles, the men to whom their ecclesiastical position was a 
 matter of conscience, found themselves in an anomalous condi- 
 tion. Their church had split in two parts. By casting in tiieir 
 lot with the one party, there was a certain sacrifice of nationality, 
 and by espousing the fortunes of the other party, they sacrificed 
 cherished principles. Then the emigrants who came from Scotland 
 to Montreal, from 1820 to 1830, and who had belonged to the 
 United Secession Church in their native land, made common 
 cause with those who had literally come to grief between the two 
 churches — American and Scotch, and many a letter was sent home 
 complaining of the religious destitution in which they felt them- 
 selves here. 
 
 In 1820 the Scottish Voluntaries had been busy with their 
 own nearly accomplished Union, and in the multitude of affairs 
 to be attended to, may well be excused for their momentary 
 neglect of their Colonial interests. Now they were alive to the 
 importance of the field, and resolved at once to undertake a mis- 
 sion to the Canadas. In 1832 they sent out several missionaries. 
 All went to Upper Canada except the Rev. Mr. Robertson, who 
 remained in Montreal. He labored for a few months, and then 
 was suddenly cut off by the cholera. The small company that he 
 had gathered were disheartened, but not dispersed by this cal- 
 amity. They obtained the services of Mr. Shanks, a licentiate, 
 throughout the following Winter, and in the meantime renewed 
 their request to the parent church for a minister. In 1833 the 
 Synod sent out the Rev. Mr. Murray and Dr. Taylor. Their in- 
 structions were to remain in Montreal at least one month, and to 
 organize a congregation, if possible, and to give such congrega- 
 tion an opportunity of inviting one of them to become their 
 pastor. The person so invited was authorized to remain and 
 assume the pastoral charge without further ceremony. The con- 
 gregation was formed on the 20th June, with seventy-five mem- 
 bers. Elders were elected, and the ordinance of the Lord's Sup- 
 per was administered on the third Sabbath of July. One 
 hundred and five sat down at that communion. On the Monday 
 following a congregational meeting was held for tho purpose of 
 
6 
 
 calling a minister, for up till this time the two young ministers 
 had been working lOgcther. The choice fell upon Dr. Taylor, as 
 we call him, although he w: , not Doctor then. Let me here 
 state that if I do not dwr 11 much upon the life and character of 
 the man who gave no much of his life work to this church and 
 congreg.ition, it is not from lack of will on my part, or from dearth 
 of merit on his, but simply because, at his death, seven years ago, 
 I had ample opportunity to speak of his life, and worth, and 
 works, and as this took permanent shape in the in mcntoriitm pam- 
 phlet which was then published, it is not necessary to repeat here 
 what was then said. 
 
 The congregation met in Hrucc's School-room, in McCJill 
 street, but this proving too small, the American Presbyterian 
 Church was secured at an hour when the regular congregation 
 did not use it. Meanwhile the original structure on the Lagau- 
 chetiere street site was commenced in the spring of 1834. It was 
 a hard struggle. The congregation was not large, and for the 
 most part it was composed of those who were just beginning life 
 in the country of their adoption. Contributions were received 
 from the parent church, and from friends in the United States. 
 But the dreaded cholera broke out again, creating universal ala'-m, 
 and putting almost an entire stop to business of every kind. Dr. 
 Taylor writes : " For this reason we were unable to com[)lete the 
 plan which was adopted at the commencement, and were thankful 
 to cover it with the roof, after raising the walls to the height of 
 one story." 
 
 In " Hochelaga Depicta," published in 1839, we have a 
 description of the first edifice. It says : " The church is a plain, 
 but substantial building. It was intended to be two stories high, 
 but the return of the cholera occasioned the work to be hastily 
 finished. Its appearance suffers by the diminution of its height, 
 but it is a commodious place of worship, and will seat conven- 
 iently about 480 persons." ^-^ * * The site may, in one 
 respect, be deemed unfavorable, as being at too great a distance 
 from the city." Lagauchetiere street was at too great a distance 
 from the city in 1839, and where we now worship was away out 
 into the country. 
 
This congregation was cradled in hard times. Almost im- 
 mediately after the completion of the building, ttie troubles which 
 preceded the Rebellion of 1837 broke out, and the disturbed 
 state of affairs brought the finances of the church to such a low 
 ebb that it was a matter of serious consideia':ion to Dr. Taylor 
 whether he would be able to remain. 
 
 Since we commenced printing our annual reports, and putting 
 them in pamphlet form, it has been an easy matter to keep the 
 record of our congregational life ; but we had no such reports 
 then. The registers of baptisms, marriages, and burials are in 
 excellent j^reservalion and complete, but some of our early records 
 are not so lull as they might be, and some have disappeared. 
 Curiously enough we have a very excellent abstract of these first 
 five yeans. In the fall of 1838 the Presbytery of Upper Canada 
 of the United Secession Church, sent eleven queries to the 
 church in Montreal, having to do with the finances from the 
 beginning. The Committee of Management appointed John 
 Anderson and James Cochrane a sulxommittee to [)repare 
 answers to those questions. We have this sub-committee's report, 
 and we may rely upon it as being an accurate statement. I give 
 this interesting document, making but one change, namely, that 
 of converting the j[^ s. d. of the period into dollars and cents, so 
 that the figures may be more readily und. stood. Let us also 
 keep in mind that these (juestions are answered five years and 
 three months after the founding of the church. 
 
 (i) — How much has been expended on the church and 
 church property, since the formation of ♦ihe congregation ? 
 
 Exclusive of the church lot, purchased for $2,000, on which 
 nothing has been paid, excep. the interest of the same, for four years 
 to the first of April last, there has been expended the sum of 
 $4,578, interest of the ground included. 
 
 (2) — How much debt remains at this date ? 
 
 Seven hundred and eighty dollars ($780) exclusive of the 
 $2,000 dollars above stated, and also the sum of $494, due our 
 pastor to the first of the present month. 
 
8 
 
 (3) — What number of seats let ? 
 
 Two hundred and sixty-eight sittings, or nearly three-fifths 
 of the whole. 
 
 (4) — Number of seats unlet ? 
 
 One hundred and eighty sittings, or two-fifths of the whole. 
 
 (5)— Average rate of sittings? 
 
 Ten shillings per annum. 
 
 (6) — Total amount of seat rents ? 
 
 The seat rents, since formation, amount to $2,707. 
 
 (7) — The total subscription for building church, &c.? 
 
 The whole amount collected for building the church : 
 
 In Montreal and vicinity $2,345.00 
 
 Collected by the Rev. W. Taylor in the 
 
 United States 416 00 
 
 Donation received from Scotland 64.00 
 
 Received from the United Secession Mission- 
 ary Society, being an allowance of one 
 
 year's stipend to Rev. W. Taylor 474,00 
 
 Taken from the Church Fund 501.00 
 
 Amount paid $3,800.00 
 
 (8) — Total stipend since formation ? 
 
 Total stipend since formation, five and a quar- 
 
 ^''y^^'' 3,15000 
 
 On which is paid 2,656.00 
 
 Amount due $494.00 
 
 (9) — Total stipend paid vear ending ist January, 1838 ? 
 The sum of $417. 
 
 (10)— Amount of collections on Sabbath since formation ? 
 
 One thousand two hundred and sixty-one dollars, exclusive 
 of extraordmary collections for the payment of debt, and included 
 in the above. 
 
 (11)— Average weekly collections last year ? 
 Four dollars and thirty-one cents. 
 
When James Cochrane and John Anderson drew up this care- 
 ful report, they did not know that it was to have a hearing, not 
 only before the Presbytery of Upper Canada, but also before their 
 own Church and congregation, after a lapse of forty-live years. 
 We have thus given us, in the outward shape of a matter of fact 
 report, a touching narration of the early struggles of this congre- 
 gation, which were alike honorable to the pastor and to the 
 people. The Presbytery of Upi)er Canada and the Home 
 Church did not lose sight of the Montreal congregation. In 
 1842 the Synod instructed the Rev. A. Kennedy, of Lachute, the 
 Rev. A. Lowden, of Nev/ Glasgow, and the Rev. Wm. Taylor, of 
 Montreal, to form themselves into the Presbytery of Lower 
 Canada. A meeting was held in Lagauchetiere Street Church for 
 the purpose. For reasons which we need not relate, they have 
 become so very small in the distance of the passing years. Dr. 
 Taylor and his elder declined entering into the Presbytery, and 
 Messrs. Kennedy and Lowden, with their elders, bravely went 
 forward and formed the Presbytery without them. This condition 
 of affairs continued for three years. Of course the isolation wa^ 
 not felt very keenly, because minister, session and congregation 
 had had to get along for so many years in their ecclesiastical 
 loneliness, that all parties must have become pretty well accus- 
 tomed to it. Better feelings prevailed, however, and in 1845 the 
 session of our church joined the Presbytery. It was then a 
 Presbytery of three ministers and three elders. Just two years 
 after this event, that happy union took place in Scotland which 
 brought the scattered voluntaries together into that " United 
 Presbyterian Church," which ever since 1847 has played so im- 
 portant a part in the religious development of Scotland, and in 
 the broader field of Foreign Missions. The churches in Canada 
 heartily agreeing with and rejoicing in this union at home, fol- 
 lowed the fortunes of the United Church, and assuming the new 
 name, were known as United Presbyterian until the next Union, 
 in 1 86 1. This congregation and its minister took a prominent 
 part in the formation of the Canada Presbyterian Church, by the 
 Union of the United Presbyterian and Free Churches, and Dr. 
 Taylor was the first Moderator of the United Church. In the 
 
10 
 
 Providence of God this church is also linked to the grandest 
 Union of all -that of 1875— by the circumstance of the first 
 General Assembly of the I'resbyterian Church in Canada being 
 held in this house. Dr. Taylor had this last Union much at 
 heart. He said to me he was glad to have lived to see it. If 
 immortals behold the affairs of earth, he has joy now in the 
 knowledge that this Union of eight years ago has brought forth 
 much g'jod, and that none of the evils which fearful souls pro- 
 phesied have come to pass. 
 
 I do not intend to follow the history of this congregation as 
 minutely in all its details as I have in the first five years. 'I'imc 
 forbids. Moreover, to-morrow evening respected brethren who 
 have had much to do with the life and prosperity of Krskine 
 Church, will speak to you of their own personal knowledge. I 
 call your attention to the more salient points of our chronicles. 
 
 The growth of this congregation has been slow and sure. 
 Dr. Taylor, in his anniversary sermon of 1876, one of the last 
 sermons that he preached, says : " The course of the congregation 
 has generally been one of progress. This remark may be extended 
 to the wJ^ole history of the congregation, from its commencement 
 to the present day. Its course has been one of gradual increase, 
 never impulsive, but steady, like leaven in the meal." A few 
 figures of the decades will forcibly exhibit the justness of this 
 quotation ; 
 
 In 1834 125 members. 
 
 1844 200 " 
 
 1854 270 '• 
 
 1864 400 '* 
 
 1874 430 
 
 But the number was greater (550) before the formation of 
 the Stanley Street Church. The end of this year will give us from 
 520 to 540 of membership. The growth from the commence- 
 ment of our church until the union of 1861, was natural and to 
 be expected. It was the only representative of the voluntary 
 movement and principle in the city. Then for many years there 
 
11 
 
 was no increase in the niimher of rhiin lies. St. daliriel Street, 
 St. Andrew's, and the Amerian preceded Rrskine Church. St. 
 Paul's dates from the same period. I'or thirty years, with the ex- 
 ception of the huilding of the Tree Cluirdi, in Cotte street, there 
 was nc addition to the Presbyterian family, so far as the number 
 of churches is concerned. 
 
 The census of 1861 gives the number of Presbyterians in 
 this city of all kinds as 8,140. 'i'he census of r88i gives the 
 number as 1 1,597. In twenty years tlierc is an increase of 3,457, 
 and to accommod.ile this increase not only have St. Paul's, Cotte 
 Street, the American and KrNkine Churc.hes moved into i)uildings 
 of much greater seating capacity, but Knox, (Chalmers, St. Mat- 
 thew's, St. Mark's, St. Joseph Street, Taylor and Cote des Nieges, 
 Churches, have been built. The growth of the last twenty 
 years of this, and also of our sister cluirclies of t le Presbyterian 
 family, is surprising. There is only one exjilaiiiUion. In 1861 
 there must have been a far larger number of nominal Presbyterians 
 who were not in the habit of attending church than there are 
 to-day. Twenty years ago there was one Presbyterian Church to 
 1,358 professedly Presbyterian inhabitants. To-day there is one 
 for every 725. With these figures before us, we would expect a 
 smaller membership to each church, but such is not the case. 
 The rolls of the half dozen original churches are larger to-day than 
 they were in 1861. 
 
 The spiritual life and work of the church was commenced 
 with energy and carried forward, so far as the observance of the 
 means of grace was concerned, with exemplary regularity. The 
 communion has been dispensed every ciuarter since the opening 
 of the church. The Sabbath School Society was organized im- 
 mediately after the formation of the church, and the Bible Class 
 not long after the Sunday School. 
 
 Though poor and struggling, the old Lagauchetiere street 
 church always tried to aid others. We find in the old records of 
 the session, evidence of the care of the poor, and of the burial 
 of the dead by the church. The city charities were not forgotten. 
 
 I 
 
12 
 
 and there were occasional appeals for other missionary and ben- 
 evolent objects. It was not however, until 1858, twenty-five years 
 ago, that the Missionary Society was organized on its jiresent basis. 
 In that year the income of the Society was $260. 
 
 In 1866, the year in which the congregation moved into this 
 church, we are credited with $2,146 for missionary and benevolent 
 objects. The following year $7,117 was given, and we have never 
 got lower than $4,300 since that date. During the seventeen 
 years in this building, we have raised about $1 10,000 for missionary 
 and benevolent objects, or an average $6,500 per year. These 
 figures do not include subscriptions to Young Men's Christian 
 Association, Bible Society, &c., nor do they embrace public 
 benefactions of a miscellaneous character. They are strictly con- 
 fined to monies raised in the congregation, for the Missionary and 
 Benevolent Schemes of the Presbyterian Church in Canada. The 
 sudden increase in the giving for missions on entering upon the 
 possession of this church, is not to be accounted for by any 
 corresponding increase of membership, for such was not the case. 
 Nor was it a sudden and exceptionnl effort, for the giving has been 
 sustained. The differences in the amounts from year to year do 
 not indicate any fluctuating in the spirit cf giving, but are caused 
 by occasional special appeals for particular objects. May we not 
 account for it in part, by the general stimulus given to the con- 
 gregation by its moving into the larger and more commodious 
 place of worship. There is a selfishness that spends all upon 
 itself, and there is a niggardliness which spends neither upon self 
 nor others. The congregation that devises liberal things for itself, 
 usually abounds in liberality to the schemes of the church. Nor 
 should we forget on this occasion to recognize the services of the 
 office-bearers and collectors of the Missionary Society. Theirs is 
 a task not invariably of the pleasantest, and yet the results demon- 
 strate that their work was done faithfully and pcrseveringly. The 
 ladies did their full share in the work of collecting. Not only in 
 this, but also in the Sunc ay School, in the Dorcas Society, in the 
 "Ladies' Aid," and other departments of christian activity, has 
 woman's work been a power for good in this church. 
 
13 
 
 We are now in the fifth year of the method of sustaining our 
 ordinary revenue by weekly voluntary offerings, commonly known 
 as the envelope system. This was, in part, a return to the practice 
 of this church in the earlier years of its existence. Hitherto it 
 has proved successful. It is capable of yet greater development. 
 But above all, we value it as being the true ideal of a chri.itian 
 church, in which wealth can give of its abundance, and from 
 which poverty is not driven away, or compelled to remain at the 
 sacrifice of self-respect. 
 
 Everyone conversant with the working of our Presbyterian 
 polity knows that, next to the pulpit ministrations, the success of 
 a congregation depends upon the discretion and zeal of the Kirk 
 Session, and of the Board of Managers, to whom is intrusted the 
 finances of the congregation. Our present condition is the best 
 tribute of respect which we can pay to those brethren who have 
 served in those capacities. This has not always been an easy 
 task, for the church has had its dangers and its difficulties. Dr. 
 Taylor, in 1874, devoted his anniversary sermon to those hard 
 places of the post. I follow his narrative, but I have not space to 
 quote his words in full. In 1836 the great temperance question 
 was agitated, and the minister of this church took a firm stand on 
 the side of total abstinence. The result was that a considerable 
 number left the church. Their loss was the more kee..ly felt 
 because the church was poor and feeble, and some of these men 
 had means. Very soon after, a few very worthy men left the 
 the church at the other extreme of opinion. They were offended 
 because non-connection in any form with the traffic in strong drink 
 was not made a sine qua non of communion. Dr. Taylor strenu- 
 ously resisted this movement. Need we say that he has been 
 justified by the logic of the years. 
 
 The next great break that took place in the congregation was 
 in 1844, in connection with the disruption in the Established 
 Church of Scotland, which had taken place in the previous year. 
 Several of the members thought it to be their duty to join them- 
 selves to the Free Church movement. Of those who then left Dr. 
 Taylor remarks : " The number of those who left us at that time 
 
14 
 
 was not so great ns on the former occasion, but their value was 
 much greater, an J *-heir loss was, therefore, the more keenly felt." 
 
 In 1852 great excitement prevailed with regard to the Uni- 
 tarian views advocated by several individuals. The result was 
 that the names of some of the members of the church were 
 removed from the roll. There was a good deal of talk at that time 
 of the right of private judgment, intolerance, and so forth. No 
 doubt in the heat of debate both parties may have said things which, 
 in calmer moments, they would be willing to have unsaid, but, look- 
 ing at these events through the softening perspective of the thirty 
 years that have elapsed since their occurrence, we cannot see 
 wherein the Session of the church could have acted otherwise 
 than they did. 
 
 We do not reckon the formation of new congregations, such 
 as Chalmers Church, St. Joseph Street, etc., as being any injury 
 to the older churches. For the time being they take a few of the 
 members, but this is the law of growth, and to be rejoiced at with 
 all our heart. Very different, however, was it in the case of the 
 formation of Stanley Street Congregation. At the same meeting 
 of Presbytery at which Dr. Gibson was loosed from his charge, 
 our friends of Stanley street were formed into a church. I men- 
 tion this to remind you that it was an accomplished fact before I 
 had any connection witn this congregation, and therefore I can 
 speak without any personal feeling. 7 am the more able to do this 
 because my relations, ahke with the ministers and people of 
 Stanley Street Church, have always been of the pleasantest. True, 
 our church is as full as it was before, and the congregation is per- 
 haps as large as any one man can minister to. We also rejoice in 
 the success which has attended this latest born of our church. 
 But division for such a cause is alwavs to be deprecated, and it 
 would be a triumph of christian life were the two to come 
 together again. 
 
 The one-story edifice of the first years of the church was 
 enlarged and improved on two different occasions, and then, in 
 1847, was substantially rebuilt, and made a very commodious 
 place of worship. It soon became evident that the interests of 
 
15 
 
 the c'jngregation demanded another change, and this house was 
 built. Seventeen years to-day, on a twenty-ninth of April, it was 
 opened. Three years ago the last of the debt on the church was 
 paid. It might have been paid sooner, but during '71, '72, '73 
 and '74 little or nothing was done towards its diminution, the 
 total of these four years being $1,968. But during these four 
 years over fifteen thousand dollars was contributed by this church 
 towards the erection of the Presbyterian College. I think we may 
 safely assert that the paying of our own debt rather helped than 
 hindered our giving to other good works. 
 
 During all these years it may be said that this church has 
 had but one completed pastorate, and in this respect it stands 
 alone among all the churches in the city. From 1833 till 1876 
 Dr. Taylor was the minister of this church. I have already given 
 my reason for not saying anything about one of whom so much 
 might be said. During ten of those years, 1864-1874, he had as 
 his colleague J. M. Gibson, now Dr. Gibson. I am sure it is not 
 necessary for me to speak his praise. After an absence of nine 
 years he is still remembered, not only by the members of this 
 church, but also by the christian community generally. His 
 eminent success, first in Chicago and now in London, proves the 
 correctness of the high opinion of him that obtained in this his 
 first charge. 
 
 Of the nine years of the present pastorate, it is not for me to 
 say much. It commenced when this church lost at one stroke, 
 so to speak, one-fourth of its membership. It, in the beginning 
 experienced some of the hardest times in the commercial world 
 that this city has known, and yet our total income for those nine 
 years has been greater than that of the nine years which preceded, 
 all of which save one were spent on this church, and during all 
 of which this church had the services of two ministers. During 
 these nine years over four hundred have been added to the church. 
 I say these things for our encouragement. We have good reason 
 to give thanks this day. We can appropriate the words of our 
 text and say, "the Lord hatli been mindful of us." But, my 
 friends, wx who remain are not the only interested participants in 
 
16 
 
 this service. There is a cloud of witnesses. About two thousand 
 names have been on the communion roll of the church since its 
 commencement. A little over five hundred are with us this day. 
 About four hundred have passed away from earth, many, let us 
 hope, to join the church above. There are about a thousand 
 who have been on our roll for a time. Some of these too have 
 passed over to the innumerable multitude of the dead, but many 
 remain scattered up and down this Dominion, in the United 
 States, and in the Old Country. I have never yet been in any 
 city of the Dominion where some one did not introduce himself 
 or herself as a former member or adherent of this church. I 
 could gather a nice little company in Toronto, and another in 
 Manitoba, of t' ose who have left during my pastorate. Now we 
 helped or hindered every one of these brethren. I am my brother's 
 keeper. Those to v horn in God's providence is given permanent 
 residence in a congregation, should be deeply impressed with their 
 responsibility for those who in the same all-wise Providence, tarry 
 with the church for a little while. But we too are passing away. 
 Ever changing — coming and going. Yet the church remains. 
 Ministers, elders, communicants, drop out of the ranks one by 
 one, but the table still is spread. Of the four hundred members 
 who were actually present in this city when I came here, I have 
 buried seventy. At first sight it seems scarcely credible, the com- 
 ing and the going has been so gradual. But of many of these 
 seventy it is my blessed privilege to testify that the Lord was 
 mindful of them. This is to us the end of one period and the 
 beginning of another. We raise our stone of remembrance, and 
 say, "Hitherto hath the Lord helped us." In many respects we 
 cannot expect as much progress in the next fifty years as we have 
 had in the past. There is a Umit to church membership, in the size 
 of the house of worship, and also in the ability of anyone to min- 
 ister to more than a given number of families. But in prayerful- 
 ness — in loyalty to our Zion — in generous activity in all good 
 works — there is no limit ' o our progress. Let us then, in God's 
 name, arise and go forward. Our only danger now is the danger 
 of being too well off • of having too little to do. Let us go for- 
 ward a church militar t, until we join the church triumphant. 
 
Sermon bn the ^eb. Br. Milkes, illontreal 
 
 " We have thought of thy loving kindness, O God, in the midst of thy temple,"- 
 I'salm 48 : 9. 
 
 You commemorate to-day the fiftieth anniversary of this 
 Christian Church. It is a day of rejoicing, a jubilee of glad- 
 ness. You bless God for the past, and take courage for the 
 future. Boasting is excluded, for all the good things are of 
 tlie Lord, but we may rejoice even with great joy : " The joy of 
 the Lord is our strength." 'I his Psalm is jubilant, as are its two 
 companions, which precede it. Through them all runs the grand 
 idea of a personal God, of whom are all things, who is mighty and 
 loving, and who .s the stay and deliverer of His people. He is 
 thought of, and appealed to, and trusted in amid all the circum- 
 stances of trial and peril described. It is suggested, and this sug- 
 gestion has probability on its side, that these inspired compositions 
 were called forth on the occasion reported, 2 Chron.: 20th chap. 
 The King heard of the assembling in martial array of the men 
 of Amnion, Moab, and Mount Seir, their purpose being to come 
 up against the cities of Judah, and take them for a prey, " to 
 desjjoil and make desolate." Jehoshophat summoned the people 
 to fast in penitence for their sins, and to cry unto the Lord God 
 of their fathers for help. His striking and beautiful prayer is 
 recorded. The answer came immediately by the mouth of the 
 prophet. They were gathered in the house of the Lord, a great 
 congregation. The Spirit of the Lord, by the voice of Jahaziel 
 said : " Thus saith the Lord unto you : Be not afraid nor dismayed 
 by reason of this great multitude, for the oattle is not yours, but 
 
 God's " And Jehoshophat bowed his head with his face to 
 
 the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell 
 
 before the Lord, worshipping the Lord. And the Levites 
 
 stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel." We learn also that 
 on the morrow he ajipointed " singers unto the Lord," who went 
 
 
 
18 
 
 out before the army, tliat they might " praise the beauty of holi- 
 ness," and say " Praise the Lord ; for His mercy endureth forever.'' 
 Well might the words of our text be a portion of a song celebrat- 
 ing the deliverance which was then achieved. " We have thought 
 of thy loving kindness, O God, in the midst of thy temi)le." 
 
 Though interesting, and in some respects helpful in medit i- 
 tion, yet this suggestion does not affect the general bearing of 
 these Psalms, or of this verse of the last of them. They are for 
 all time, and these words seem quite appropriate to the present 
 occasion. In thus using them, I ask you to notice with some at- 
 tention that the matter is one of thought. The power of think- 
 ing is one of the features of the Divine image in man. God's 
 thoughts are everywhere expressed — the whole universe is vocal 
 with them. It is one vast system of symbols of thought, address- 
 ing every sense of man, and pressing their significance upon 
 every power of his mind. Thought is everywhere, it is universal 
 as existence. " Day unto day uttereth speech, night unto night 
 showeth knowledge. There is no speech nor language where 
 their voice is not heard. Their line is gone through all the earth, 
 and their words to the end of the world." Thought precedes its 
 symbol and expression ; hence, all this vast frame of universal 
 nature was, and is, God's thought. It is the same throughout the 
 immense and complicated system of Providence. This grand 
 ordering of the vast and the minute, of the complex and the 
 simple in all human affairs, is the mighty working of His thought, 
 of whom we sing : 
 
 " One eternal thought moves on 
 Thy undisturbed aflfairs." 
 
 " How precious are thy thoughts unto me, O God," says the 
 Psalmist. " How great is the sum of them ! If I should count 
 them, they are more in number than the sand ; when I awake, I 
 am still with thee." This grand distinction is God's gift to us. His 
 thoughts are revealed to our thought ; thus only can we know 
 God. Our mental and moral being is founded on this fact. 
 God's thoughts are made known to our thought, and as we exer- 
 cise aright this great power, do we learn more and more of Him. 
 
 I 
 
19 
 
 But alas ! how sadly we come short, and grievously misuse this 
 distinguished faculty ! How little enlightened, consecutive, earnest 
 thinking we do ! Our minds are ever active, but what vain 
 thoughts crowd themselves along our mental path, tbllowed often 
 by evil thoughts. Is it not so that we now and again dream away 
 precious hours, which should be given to healthy and inspiring 
 thought ? Surely here is a call to rigid, persistent self-discipline, 
 (lod has endowed us with the power, and he has given to us the 
 means of regulating our thoughts. We may command them suc- 
 cessfully when they are brought into close contact with those 
 which are Divine. He said to Israel : " I know the thoughts 
 which I think towards you, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to 
 give you an expected end." We have to exercise ourselves unto 
 godliness, by becoming intimately acc^uainted with these thoughts. 
 'I'he field of good and wise thinking is boundless in extent, and 
 rich in fruitfulness. 'I his beautiful world supplies endless variety 
 and a magnificent domain for the exercise of thought. God 
 speaks His thoughts everywhere. The government of physical 
 nature, and of the creatures who are its living occupants, and, 
 above nil, of man in his personal and social relations to God and 
 his fellows, is an exhaustless mine of mental and spiritual wealth 
 to every faithful explorer and worker. And observe, there is no 
 restriction as to class in the field or mine of thought ; neither ex- 
 alted station nor plenteous wealth is needed ; the poorest and the 
 humblest have here a fair field, and will have impartial treatment. 
 God has made the human mind free of the universe ; no one save 
 Himself can call you to account for your thinking. Surely with 
 such an endowment, and with such a field for its exercise, we do 
 grievous wrong to ourselves to neglect that exercise. Aye, and 
 we wrong the gracious Giver, by practically misusing His gifts. 
 
 We must not omit the mention of another part of this 
 boundless field, though time admits not of extended remarks. 
 The broad tableland of good and wise thinking is yet loftier on 
 which appears the Son of God, who reveals the Father, as regarded 
 God-ward and man-ward. The Divine-human and the Human- 
 divine Saviour, redeeming men to God by His blood, sanctifying 
 
V ' « 
 
 
 20 
 
 thcni by His spirit, interceding for them at the Throne, protecting 
 and Iielping them in all their exigencies by an ever-present 
 ahnighty power, and conducting them to His heavenly kingdom. 
 Let anyone be linked to Him by personal repentance, faith and 
 obedience, and he is thus saved. The Kingdom of Christ on 
 earth and in heaven is a theme for highest and best of human 
 thought. It comi)rehends all the grand purposes of Divine wis- 
 dom and love, which have been so far unfolded to us, and which 
 embrace all the ages and the whole earth. May I suggest in 
 passing, that we may not excuse ourselves on the plea of lack of 
 time, for neglecting such thought. That which we waste in vain 
 thoughts, to say nothing of those which are wrong, would give us 
 ample time. Besides, all our legitimate thinking in relation to the 
 affairs of the present life may be made helpful in this direction. 
 If " whatsoever we do in word or deed were done in the name of 
 the Lord Jesus," our ordinary thinking would l)e more than tinged 
 by the glow of what is sacred, and would minister to the si)iritiial. 
 Let not lassitude of body, or sin rob us of this blessing. 
 
 We have thought of thy loving kindness, O God, in the midst of 
 Thy temple. The New Testament Church is the antitype of the 
 Jewish Temple, as that name is employed here ; thus we will think 
 of that loving kindness to this church, and through it to the com- 
 munity surrounding it. The precise idea is — vve have imaged, 
 we have realized, we have bodied forth that loving kindness. 
 Some are present who, like myself, can do this as a matter of 
 nersonal reminiscence ; but the majority of you have to form the 
 xrnage, and to body forth the facts through the medium, and by 
 the help of testimony. Your respected pastor is necessarily 
 among the majority ; yet, as he has access to documents and to 
 the remembrances of the elders, and has now been for a number 
 of years in warm sympathy with his flock, and their successful 
 Shepherd under Christ, he was enabled to give to you a historical 
 discourse filled with proofs of the loving kindness of the Lord. 
 It falls to my lot to speak from personal recollection, observation, 
 and experience. Vou are, for the most part, aware that I have 
 known this city for a peri'^d of sixty years, and throughout these 
 
21 
 
 years have had more or less relation to the religious movements 
 among its people. This fact affords me unusual opportunity for 
 comparison, and for tracing the direction and power of Christian 
 in'hience. It so happened that the Congregational denomina- 
 tion and the United Secession Church entered upon their work 
 in this city nearly simultaneously In August, 1831, on the (juay 
 at Greenock, Scotland, I bade farewell to two Congregational 
 ministers and their families, who were on board the good ship 
 " Favorite," Captain Allan, one of them for Montreal, the other for 
 Upper Canada. The following year a similar event occurred in 
 connection with the U. S. Church, Upper Canada being the ap- 
 pointed sphere of one, and Montreal that of the other. I spent 
 the summer of 1832 in Canada, chiefly in the western portion of 
 it ; found my friend, Mr. Miles, and his congregation removed 
 from the school-room of the late Mr. Bruce, in McGill street, to 
 a temporary home in vJoUege street, and learned that Mr. Robert- 
 son had died soon after his arrival. That terrible pestilence, the 
 cholera, had, during the summer, decimated the population of 
 the city, In 1833, as you have been already told, Mr. Taylor 
 arrived, and he and his friends occupied the same school-room 
 which Mr. Miles and his friends had vacated. On my own 
 removal to Montreal, in 1836, 1 found Mr. Taylor and his charac- 
 teristic congregation in possession of their own church building 
 in Lagauchetiere street, lowly and unpretentious, but for the most 
 part, if not wholly, paid for, and an evidence of the caution, 
 honesty and thrift of the people, as also of their enterprise. There 
 was only one minister of the same denomination within reach of 
 Mr. Taylor, namely, the late venerable Mr. Henderson, at St. 
 Andrews. He and I were drawn into happy fraternal intimacy 
 from the beginning, and this continued unbroken through all the 
 changes until his lamented death some years ago. Our Master 
 had given to us both a catholic spirit— our Christian brotherhood 
 was not in the least affected by denominational diversity — and we 
 were of one mind as to the best interests of the community amid 
 which we had come to dwell. Very early we united with Mr. 
 Perkins, pastor of the American Presbyterian Church, Mr. New- 
 ton Bosworth, pastor of the Baptist Church, and a brother who 
 
was acting for the American Home Missionary Society in this 
 part of Canada, in forming the Ministerial Association, which 
 has continued until this present. Mr. Taylor and I were in the 
 habit of exchanging pulpits from time to time, and with this 
 advantage, as compared with the present day, that we could sit 
 and listen to each other, his second service being in the afternoon 
 and mine in the evening. This congregation, with its pastor and 
 elders and managers, was famed in early days, and indeed fur 
 very many years, for its annual social meetings. They were at 
 once scenes of enjoyment and healthful influence. The number 
 of them which I had the privilege of speaking to for a few 
 minutes was considerable, how many I cannot tell. There was 
 wont to be present always a highly esteemed citizen belonging to 
 another church, the proprietor of one of our influential news- 
 papers, the ^^ Montreal Transcript" ; and sound Protestants as we 
 all were, every allusion which could give pain to that worthy man 
 was always happily avoided. 
 
 At the formation of the French-Canadian Missionary Society, 
 in 1839, when Mr. Taylor and an elder of the church, Mr. Court, 
 undertook, at the request of those of us who remained behind, 
 to visit Britain for funds, and France and Switzerland for mission- 
 aries, r came into fretpient i)leasant intercourse with this church, 
 often occupying the pulpit and rendering other services at wed- 
 dings and funerals required of the Christian ministry. I must 
 not dwell longer, however, on these merely personal reminiscences. 
 
 Our Lord says : " A city set on a hill cannot be hid," and he 
 makes the remark in connection with the influence to be exer- 
 cised by His disciples. Every true Christian is a witness for 
 God, for truth, and for righteousness — an aggregate of such in a 
 church is a yet mightier-voiced witness. The influence of such 
 witness is an important factor in the days when it is borne, but it 
 is in truth of much wider and far-reaching power for good. 
 Being subtle in its nature, and running along hidden channels, it 
 makes its impression on all the future. When the United Seces- 
 sion Church, afterwards the United Presbyterian Church, set up 
 the banner of the Gospel in this city, its inhabitants did not 
 
23 
 
 exceed about 40,000 in number. But few of our institutions had 
 then an existence. They were created and moulded gradually by 
 the people of the time. Our industries, our commercial and 
 manufacturing establishments, our public schools, as well for ele- 
 mentary as for higher education, our colleges and universities 
 have mostly come into existence between that period and the 
 [)resent time. And wiiatevcr induenced for good the people who 
 crcate<l and moulded thorn, whatever raised the tone of morals, 
 gave j)rominencc to righteousness ; whatever conduced to secure 
 honest work and honest dealing, whatever cherished high prin- 
 (iples and noble aspirations, whatever tended to take our toil 
 and enterprise and money-getting out of the category of mere 
 selfishness, and to bring them into that which God approves — doing 
 unto others as we would that they should do unto us — was a 
 blessing to the community then and for all time. And in the 
 long run the good prevails — the honest, the true, the right wins 
 the day, I venture to avow the conviction that the Christian 
 Churches and the Christian ministry of Montreal from the begin- 
 ning have been and are an important factor in any estimate we 
 may make of the causes of our progress and prosperity ; I believe 
 one of the most jiotent. I'here is, indeed, no ground for boast- 
 ing. Had we been more faithful to our Master, and to our proper 
 work, more would have been done ; and what has been done has 
 been through " the good hand of our God upon us." " We think 
 of Thy loving kindness, O God, in the midst of Thy temple." 
 In this witness-bearing — this influence for good — no small share 
 must be reckoned to the account of the church now assembling 
 under this roof Your pastors have preached Christ's Holy 
 Gospel. The teaching of our Lord and His apostles has ever 
 found in this pulpit clear and faithful exposition. Modes of pre- 
 senting these great verities vary from age to age, and the phases of 
 such presentation are not the same in every faithful man's hand, 
 but all the pistors have been learned, competent, and earnest, 
 and thus for fifty years the pulpit of this church has stood firmly 
 by the faith once delivered to the saints. The Gospel of Grace, 
 demanding also loving obedience, has had a continuous voice 
 here ; the trumpet has given a certain sound. The people, as 
 
24 
 
 they came together, and as their families grew up under this min- 
 istry, were well taught, and they have been, for the most part, 
 diligent learners. They realized the value of the hi^di principles 
 and practical bearings of the things taught, and thus knew their 
 duty. It was a just remark of the jjrinccs of Midian to Gideon : 
 " As the man is, so is his strength." We are, therefore, not sur- 
 prised in reviewing the past of this congregation, in connection 
 with our community, to find that the farmers who dwelt one or 
 two leagues to the northwest of the city were among the best 
 agriculturists on the island, and by their example were of great 
 benefit to those who surrounded them ; we are not surprised that 
 machinists, cabinet-makers, builders, did taithful and honest work, 
 and have risen to a position of wealtli and influence ; that the 
 merchants were honorable men, and that others in their several 
 spheres of life won the respect of their neighbors. By such 
 means the moral standard is raised in the community, greatly to 
 its benefit. 
 
 Dr. Taylor very early took ground on what is called " The 
 Temperance Question." He was against the habitual use of in- 
 toxicants as unnecessary and dangerous. He was impressed by 
 the manifold evils resulting from that habit, and he united with 
 others in measures for their repression. He maintained a suc- 
 cessful conflict and controversy with an astute opponent of such 
 measures ; and though at the time there was some diversity of 
 opinion on the subject among his people, yet, as a whole, they 
 stood by him and the cause which he espoused. Members of this 
 congregation were among the originators of the Mechanics' 
 Institute, and have always been its active friends. Dr. Taylor 
 and others, in the earlier days were .''ont to deliv'er lectures to 
 somewhat crowded audiences on subjects fitted to interest and 
 improve the men by whom labor is dignified. Dr. Taylor, carry- 
 ing with him the influence of his people, was active with others 
 in the endeavors to obtain an amended charter for our noble 
 University, so that it might be placed on a broad, non-denomina- 
 tional basis. The efforts were successful ; and what a i)ower for 
 good has that Institution become under the presidency, for nearly 
 
25 
 
 thirty years, of a gentleman who was for about two-thirds of that 
 period, a member of this congregation. Nor can I forget the 
 able and himinous addresses which Dr. Taylor year after year 
 delivered on the platform of the anniversary meetings held durin,^ 
 the month of January in the St. James Street Methodist Church. 
 By them many were taught, encouraged and stimulated. 
 
 You will not be surprised that my mind has naturally turned 
 to the first thirty years of the half century, during which period 
 Dr. Taylor was sole pastor. But when we think of the loving 
 kindness of (Jod in the midst of His temple, we must not forget 
 the last twenty, which have doubtless been on the whole the more 
 blessed of the Lord. You have had a wider sphere in this noble 
 building ; for ten years you had an associate pastor. Dr. Gibson, 
 of whom I may not speak particularly, because of his near rela- 
 tionship to myself, but concerning whom I may say that he did 
 loving, faithful, and able work among you, one of the results c( 
 which is a warm place in the affections of many. The successor 
 of both is here with hjs harness on, in the midst of the conflict 
 with sin and Satan, obeying the Master's behests, and doing his 
 best, and that successfully, among you. Of him, in his presence, 
 it would not be delicate to say more ; but in view of the whole 
 you will join in the song of the Psalmist, " We have thought of 
 Thy loving kindness, O God, in the midst of Thy temple." 
 
 Your patience must not be further taxed. The constant 
 exercise of God's loving kindness Hnring fifty years within this 
 Church includes blessings which r o man can number. Every 
 year of the fifty has been marked by the summons to their 
 Father's house above of one and another of His children. They 
 loved the sanctuary, were nourished and strengthened by its holy 
 services, and were sustained in death by the hopes which they 
 cherished. The young were taught and trained — were set in 
 families, and took up the work and service which their fathers 
 laid down. The careless were awakened and brought to Christ 
 the Saviour. The bereaved and sad have had their tears wiped 
 away, and their hands strengthened in God. The tempted and 
 endangered have been warned and rescued, or if, unhappily, they 
 
26 
 
 have fallen, have been restored. Clouds of doubt and despond- 
 ency hav I been rolled off many a heart by the sweet light of the 
 Gospel shining upon it by the power of the Holy Spirit. What a 
 passing has there been from darkness to light, and from the 
 power of Satan unto God. What delight has been felt as God's 
 loving purposes towards our fallen race have been unfolded — as 
 prediction of j^rophet and apostle, and promise of the Divine 
 Master himself have been expounded and set forth in their con- 
 nection with Christian duty. What zeal has been awakened, and 
 what prayers and gifts have been called forth by the claims of the 
 Christ upon His people, as here presented from time to time dur- 
 ing fifty years. What greatening of faculties has this involved. 
 What enlargement of vision, What kindling of love. What sym- 
 pathy with the Christ, His cause, His kingdom. What preparation 
 for worthier living and for peaceful dying. All a'.vakciiing ilie 
 blessed anticipation of singing amid harps and anthems of cherubim 
 and seraphim, the grateful utterance of the Hebrew Psalmist : " We 
 have thought of Thy loving kindness, O God, in the midst of Thy 
 temple," and of the redeemed creation, ** Blessing and honour 
 and glory and power be unto Him that sitteth upon the Throne, 
 and unto the Lamb, for ever and ever." 
 
Sermon bn the J^cb. B. J. illacbonncU, of Toronto. 
 
 Rom. xii : i. — I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present 
 your bodies a living sac/ifice, hcly, acceptable to G)d, which is your reason- 
 able [or, rational, or spiritual f American Revisers),] service [or wors/iifi.] 
 
 This is to you the year of Jubilee. Your minister this morn- 
 ling gave you a record of the history of the church, showing how 
 [the Lord had been mindful of you. In the afternoon, under the 
 guidance of the Venerable Dr. Wilkes, you thought of God's 
 loving kindness in the midst of liis Temple. It may be fitting 
 to turn your attention briefly to the appeal which Paul makes in 
 this verse, and to the ground on which it rests. 
 
 I. The Appeal, — " I beseech you . . that ye present your 
 bodies a living sacrifice," &c. The sentence is full of sacrificial 
 terms — "present," "sacrifice," "holy," "service." Those at 
 Rome to whom Paul was writing, whether Jews or Gentiles, were 
 familiar with sacrifice. The Old Testament Scriptures were full 
 of legislation and exhortation in regard to it. The taking of 
 animal life was, among the Jews, associated with the worship of 
 God. The altars of the heathen, too, flowed with blood. There 
 was no such thing as human sacrifice amongst the Jews. In 
 other nations the practice was common enough of offering " the 
 fruit of the body for the sin of the soul." Men asked : *' What 
 more precious thing can I devo'e to God than my lite, or the life 
 of one dear to me ?" And the question was answered in deeds 
 that seem to us simply horrible, as when the Hindoo mother 
 flung her babe into the Ganges, or the widow burned herself on 
 the funeral pile, or the Peruvian worshippers laid the living man 
 on the altar, and cut out the heart from the quivering flesh that 
 they might offer it to their gods. 
 
 Such sacrifices as these involved the giving up of life. Did 
 they bear any resemblance to the " living sacrifice " which Paul 
 
28 
 
 enjoins ? One element at least there is in common — devotion to 
 what is thought to be the will of God. We cannot help feeling 
 that such deeds— fearful as they were, and springing from ignor- 
 ance of the real character of God — were more pleasing in His 
 sight than the self-seeking and self-indulgent lives of many 
 amongst ourselves, who will exercise no self-denial and undergo 
 no privation for the sake of God or man. Better the mistaken 
 worship of the devotee, than the heartless indifference of the 
 self-satisfied worldling. But better far the true worship, which is 
 " acceptable to God " — the presenting of our bodies " a living 
 sacrifice." What, then, is this " lining sacrifice ?" The portion 
 of the Epistle that follows the texi may furnish an answer to the 
 question. As " members one of another," ve are to exercise for 
 the common good the gifts bestowed on Pj — teaching, exhorting, 
 ministering, ruling, giving, shewing mercy. We are to be kindly 
 affectioned one to another ; to communicate to the necessities of 
 saints ; to rejoice with them that rejoice, and weep with them that 
 weep. We are to render to no man evil for evil, but to bless 
 them that persecute us, to do good to our enemies, and so heap 
 coals of fire on their heads, not being overcome of evil, but over- 
 coming evil with good. We are to render to all their dues ; to 
 owe no man anything, save to love one another. The strong are 
 to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please themselves, 
 even as Christ pleased not himself. None of us is to live to him- 
 self, or to die to himself. " Whether we live, we live unto the 
 Lord ; or whether we die, we die unto the Lord j whether we live, 
 therefore, or die, we are the Lord's." 
 
 ^n such sentences as these Paul illustrates what he means by 
 presenting our bodies a living sacrifice. The writer of the Epistle 
 to the Hebrews, who has so much to say on the matter of 
 sacrifice, strikes the same note as Paul, when he writes : " But to 
 do good and to communicate forget not ; for with such sacrifices 
 God is well pleased." — (Heb, xiii : i6.) It is not said that good 
 and loving deeds are better that sacrifices, but that they are them- 
 selves sacrifices, with which God is well pleased. They are the 
 outward form in which the spirit of devotion clothes itself, and 
 by which it is recognized. 
 
29 
 
 According to our text, the living sacrifice must take an exter- 
 nal form. We are to present our " bodies," not simply our 
 hearts, or our zmlls, though, of course, the dedication of heart and 
 will is implied as the root from which the presenting of the body 
 springs. The insertion of the word " bodies " may check the 
 tendency to think of religion as a matter of feeling only — the ex- 
 citing of certain emotions in the breast — e. g., the shaking of the 
 soul with a storm of passionate sorrow for past sin, without the 
 actual turning from sin in the present, or the working up of the 
 heart into a condition of apparently fervent love to God, apart 
 from any practical manifestation of that love in deeds of ministry 
 to men. The sorrow and the love are right, are essential to the 
 Christian life; but they must not be suffered to evaporate ; they 
 must be crystallized into action. 
 
 We are to present then our " bodies." The body is the organ 
 with which the spirit works ; the instrument by means of which 
 the thoughts and purposes of the man are carried into effect. 
 We are to present ourselves to God, and our members as instru- 
 ments of righteousness unto Him. We are to present our 
 tongues, so that they shall no longer be ** an unruly evil, full of 
 deadly poison," but the organs of God's praise, "Whoso 
 offereth praise glorifieth me." Through Jesus Christ we are ex- 
 horted to " offer up a sacrifice of praise to God continually, that 
 is, the fruit of lips which make confession to His name (Heb, 
 xiii : 15). The power of speech and song is to be devoted to 
 God. By this I mean not that we are to have the name of God 
 continually upon our lips, or that we are to sing none but sacred 
 words ; but that in all our common talk of pleasure, or busmess, 
 as well as in our converse about higher things, we shall speak in 
 harmony with God's will — truly, gently, kindly, boldly, as occasion 
 reijuires; and that whatever we sing — be it of love, or war, of 
 home or country — we shall sing to the glory of God. No coarse 
 jests, no ribald songs, will pollute the lips which have been dedi- 
 cated to God. Humour there will be, and mirth-provoking 
 speech, and merry laughter, for these are good gifts from God ; 
 but frivolity will be abjured, and the laugh raised at the expense 
 
30 
 
 of purity or reverence will not be joined. The coarser forms of 
 profanity are, I trust, hardly known amongst the professedly 
 Christian community ; but I fear that our social converse is too 
 often marred by frivolous and irreverent talk. Let us "present" 
 our tongues a living sacrifice, and then our speech v/ill be earnest 
 and reverent, as well as true and loving. We shall deal with the 
 great realities of life, its joys and sorrows, its cares and perplexi- 
 ties, its duties and aims, not in the spirit of a comic journal, but 
 as men impressed with the seriousness of life, and its marvellous 
 possibilities. Upon all our common talk shall be inscribed 
 "Holiness to the Lord." 
 
 Nor shall we fail to speak of the things which belong to our 
 spiritual welfare, and of Him in whom all our spiritual life 
 centres — to tell what he hath done for our souls, to speak of the 
 things touching the King. I have said that we need not have 
 the name of God continually upon our lips ; but surely neither 
 are we to be atheistic or agnostic in our talk, carefully avoiding 
 all reference to the God in whom we live and move, and have our 
 being, by whose love we have been redeemed, by whose grace 
 our hearts are established. The "sacrifice of praise " which we 
 are to offer up to God continually is defined in the passage 
 already quoted from the Epistle to the Hebrews to be " the fruit 
 of the lips which make confession to His name." We are to " con- 
 fess " with the " mouth " Jesus as Lord, as well as to believe in 
 the heart that God raised Him from the dead ; "for with the 
 heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth con- 
 fession is made unto salvation." We are not to be ashamed to 
 avow ourselves the followers of Jesus. We are to acknowledge 
 Him as our Lord in all the relations of life. 
 
 It will be our delight to " present " our tongues to God when 
 we come together to sing His praise in the congregation, when 
 the many little rills of thanksgiving from individual hearts ascend 
 in one great stream of praise to the throne of God, when the 
 thankfulness of each worshipper is intensified by the presence 
 and sympathy of many others of like passions and of similar ex- 
 perience, and we thus teach and admonish one another with 
 
81 
 
 psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in our 
 hearts unto Gc J, In like manner we are called on to " present " 
 all our members as part of the " living sacrifice." We are to 
 present our hands, so that they shall touch no unclean thing, but 
 be ready for every good work, stretched forth to help the needy, 
 uplifted to defend the right. The commonest manual labour and 
 and the greatest triumphs of scientific skill, are alike to be 
 sacrifices offered to the Lord — fit for His eye to see, Therefore, 
 there must be no scamped work, no shirking of duty undertaken, 
 no eye service. We are to present onx feet, so that they shall run 
 in the paths of righteousness, so that in this day, when " many 
 run to and fro," and new continents are opened up for settlement, 
 all activity may be consecrated and the Gospel of Christ may be 
 carried to the remotest bounds of the habitable earth. We are 
 to present our eyes, so that they shall not delight in beholding 
 " vanity," but in seeing the beauty and glory of God's works ; our 
 ears, so that they shall not willingly listen to folly or falsehood, or 
 to the world's din, but shall be open to the voice of God, s^^eak- 
 ing in manifold ways, open to the cry of the needy, the ignorant, 
 and the lost. In short, every power, every sense, every faculty, 
 is to be devoted to God. Our bodies are not to be kingdoms in 
 which sin reigns, but temples in which God's spirit dwells. The 
 body is to be the servant of the spirit, and body and spirit ser- 
 vants of the Lord. , , 
 
 The key-note of our whole life, even as of Christ's, is to 
 be, " Lo, I am come to do Thy will, O God." For it is of Christ 
 that we must learn to offer this living sacrifice. It is remarkable 
 how many statements there are setting forth the clo.se relation 
 and resemblance of the sacrifices we are to offer to that which 
 Christ has offered. In the very article of His great sacrifice 
 of Himself, there is that which we are to imitate. Hear His 
 own words : " Whosoever will be chief among you, let him be 
 your servant, even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered 
 unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many." 
 (Matth. XX : 27, 28.) Listen to Peter, as he connects the suffer- 
 ings of persecuted Christians with the sufferings of Christ for sin : 
 
32 
 
 "If ye suffer for righteousness sake, happy are ye * * * for it 
 is better, if the will of God be so. that ye suffer for well-doing than 
 for evil-doing. For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just 
 for the unjust, that He might bring us to God." (i Peter, iii : 14, 
 17, 18.) Mark the connection in which Paul introduces that most 
 striking passage in His letter to the Philippians, in which he sets 
 forth the incarnation, the humiliation and the glory of Christ. 
 He is entreating the Philippian converts to be " of one accord, of 
 on^ mind ;" to do " nothing through strife or vainglory," but in 
 lowliness of mind, each to esteem other better than himself ; to 
 look not every man to his own things, but every man also to the 
 things of others. Then he appeals, as he so often does, to the 
 highest example of all : " Have this mind in you which was also 
 in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, counted it not a 
 prize to be on an equality with God, but emptied Himself, taking 
 the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men ; and 
 being found in fashion as a man. He humbled Himself, becom- 
 ing obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross." (Phil, 
 ii : 5, 8.) Hear the same apostle, as in writing to the Ephesians, 
 he exhorts them to " be imitators of God, as beloved children, 
 and walk in love, even as Christ also loved us, and gave Himself 
 up for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for an odour of a 
 sweet smell." (Eph., v : i, 2.) We are not, therefore, to think 
 of the sacrifice of Christ as utterly incomprehensible or inimitable. 
 There may be elements in that " one sacrifice " which He has 
 offered for the sins of the world which we cannot comprehend ; 
 but there is much which we can both understand and imitate. If 
 Christ's sacrifice is incomprehensible, it is mainly because His 
 love " passeth knowledge," and the more our spirits become 
 imbued with that love, the further we shall see into the divine 
 mystery of redemption. It is because we are so cold and dead, 
 and have so little sympathy with the mind of Christ, that we are 
 so much in the dark as to the meaning of His work. We must 
 " learn Christ," — not merely certain facts about Him, but Him- 
 self, His spirit, His personality— and then we shall understand 
 what is the meaning of " a living sacrifice." *' The truth is in 
 Jesus "—the reality of all that is good— th. -germinal principles 
 
33 
 
 needed for all our life. When we ask, What is the truth which I 
 need as a basij for life ? On what principles am I to live so as to 
 be blessed ? The answer comes from the lips of Jesus, " I am 
 the truth." " Learn of me, and ye shall find rest unto your 
 souls." When we ask further, What was the guiding principle of 
 the life of Christ ? The answer comes again from His own lips : 
 " I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the 
 will of Him that sent me." " My meat is to do the will of Him 
 that sent me, and to finish His work." It may seem to us that if 
 there was one being who might have done His own will and found 
 blessedness in the doing of it, it was the Son of God in human 
 form. Yet it was not so. " Not my will, but Thine, be done," 
 was His cry as the crisis of His work drew near. 
 
 And now the disciple is to be as his Master. We, on the 
 petty scale of our little lives, even as He on the grand scale of 
 His divine life, are to say : " Lo, I am come to do Thy will, O 
 God." That must be the key-note of the living sacrifice which 
 we offer. We are to ask not, " How can I please myself?" but 
 " Lord, what will Thou have me to do ?" This giving up of our 
 own will involves self-denial — not the self-denial, however, of the 
 ascetic, who seeks to crush natural feeling, and to warp his 
 nature. We are not to cut off the right hand to shew how bravely 
 we can bear pain ; a savage can do that. We are not to go fast- 
 ing so that we may gain special credit for holiness on account of 
 the emaciation of our bodies. But we are to endure any priva- 
 tion for the sake of truth and right — for the sake of sinning, sor- 
 rowing, suffering men. We are to give ourselves for the blessing 
 of others, even as the Lord Christ gave Himself for us. We are 
 to give, not our money only, but our thought, our time, our 
 talents, our love, our toil, our life to the serving of Christ by 
 ministering to His little ones. 
 
 Such a sacrifice, Paul says, is " holy " — separated, set apart, 
 devoted. Just as the temple was a holy place, set apart for divine 
 worship, or the Sabbath holy time, set apart for rest, so the life of 
 the Christian man is to be holy — set apart for the Lord — " not 
 conformed to this world," not fashioned according to the spirit of 
 
34 
 
 the age, but devoted to the Lord's service. Not a secluded life in 
 some safe and sheltered place, where the strife of tongues and the 
 storms of temptation will not reach him ; but a life lived in the 
 glare of common day, amid the conflict of human passions and 
 interests, yet animated by a sjjirit not of earth, but of heaven. 
 
 Such a sacrifice is " acceptable, — well-pleasing to God." It 
 must be so ; for it breathes the mind of Christ, and it is the mind 
 of Christ in us that God loves. It is well-pleasing in a sense in 
 which the offering of lambs and pigeons could not be ; for it is 
 the man himself— noi merely something that he can buy with 
 money — that is offered. 
 
 This presenting of our bodies is a "rational" or spiritual 
 "service" or worship; — rational, as distinguished from irrational 
 idol-worship, spiritual as distinguished from the worship of mere 
 outward form. " Pure worship and undefiled before God and the 
 Father is this," writes St. James, " to visit the fatherless and widows 
 in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world." 
 Not only when we sing the solemn hymn of praise, or bend the 
 knee in lowly adoration, or receive the memorials of Christ's broken 
 body and shed blood at His table, — not only in such sacred acts 
 as these do we worship God, but when we do our daily tasks as 
 in His sight, when we speak our common words as in His 
 hearing, when we minister to the sick, or the sad, or the sinful in 
 His name. God is love ; holy is His name : by deeds of love, 
 and a life of purity we best express our homage. 
 
 II. The Ground of the Appeal — "By the mercies of 
 God." In the three preceeding chapters, Paul has been describing 
 the way of God's mercy to Jews and Gentiles, (ch. xi, ii, 12, 25, 
 26, 32, 33,.) He concludes with a burst of adoration : " Oh the 
 depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God ! " 
 It is by these " mercies " that he entreats the Roman Christians. 
 And this is the usual ground of appeal in apostolic preaching. 
 Terror is a weapon rarely used. Paul does not hold men in 
 imagination over the brink of the bottomless pit that he may 
 frighten them into goodness. Terror has its value in arousing. 
 
86 
 
 We must do anything to awaken a soul that is asleep in sin. 
 Still it remains true that the fear of hell, by itself, never converts 
 a soul. Fear of pain is one thing : fear of sin is another. Fear 
 of pain is fear that hath torment. Love casts out this fear, while 
 it strengthens that other fear — the fear of the Lord by which men 
 depart from evil — the dread of grieving our Father in heaven, 
 and having the light of His countenance withdrawn. 
 
 Love is the great moving power. It is so between man and 
 man. Love lK>gets love. The love which the mother lavishes in 
 unwearied watchfulness and care and patience, is at length rewarded 
 by responsive love on the part of the child. So it i? between God 
 and man. " We love Him because He first loved us." 
 
 The ground of the sacrifices offered by the heathen, was 
 their dread of the anger of their gods. Something costly enough 
 to satisfy the wrath of these gods was needed. The ground of 
 the Christian's living sacrifice is his sense of God's mercies. 
 " What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward 
 me? is the language of God's restored child. And the first 
 answer which God makes to this question is, "Give me thine 
 heart." Said a poor scholar once to a philosopher, "I have 
 nothing but myself to give." *' It is well," replied the philosopher, 
 "and I will endeavour to give thee back to thyself better 
 than I received thee." So may each of us go to our Heavenly 
 Father, saying, " I have nothing but myself to give," and He 
 will renew and refine us, so that we shall be worth more to 
 ourselves and to the world now, and He will afterward receive us 
 to glory. 
 
 " I beseech you by the mercies of God." 
 
 Does not the appeal come home to each one of us ? Have 
 there not been mercies manifold — daily bread and nightly rest, 
 the glorious sunshine and the fertilizing rain, songs of birds and 
 fragrance of flowers, friends to cheer us, and children to gladden 
 our homes, the words of the wise and the sympathy of the loving, 
 the Bible, the Church, the Lord's Day, help in weakness, light 
 
36 
 
 in darkness, comfort in sorrow— all summed up in God's " un- 
 speakable gift " ? " How precious are Thy thoughts toward us, 
 O God, how great is the sum of them." 
 
 " New mercies each reluming day 
 Hover around us while we pray ; 
 New perils past, new sins forgiven, 
 New thoughts of God, new hopes of heaven." 
 
 Brethren, may I not in a special manner beseech you, who 
 are engaged in hallowing the fiftieth year of your existence as a 
 congregation, by " the mercies of God " bestowed on you during 
 your history, to consecrate yourselves afresh to the service of the 
 Lord ? You and your fathers »iave had faithful and able min- 
 isters to break amongst you the bread of life. It is no small 
 privilege to have had for forty-three years such a man as the late 
 venerable Dr. Taylor to unfold to you the counsel of God — to 
 have been built up a spiritual house by this wise master-builder. 
 Into God's courts you have come week after week, that you might 
 be fed, refreshed, comforted. Here many of you were dedicated to 
 God in baptism Here you have sat at the Lord's Table with many 
 loved ones, now passed from your sight, Hither the sick in soul 
 have come, as to an hospital, that they might be healed, and the 
 Healer has restored them ; blind eyes have been opened to see 
 spiritual realities, deaf ears have been unstopped so that God's 
 voice has been heard, palsied souls have been quickened into 
 newness of life. Hither, as to school, have you come, young men 
 and maidens, old men and children, that you might learn Christ 
 and be taught in Him. Here, as soldiers of Christ, you have 
 been trained to wield "^he sword of the Spirit, and to use the 
 whole armour of God. There are hallowed memories of spiritual 
 blessing connected with this house and those which preceded it. 
 Through all the changes of these fifty years the Lord has com- 
 manded His loving kindness in the day time, and in the night 
 His song has been with you. 
 
 Such privileges call for fresh consecration. Your resolve to 
 raise five thousand dollars for missions as a special thank-offering 
 is a most Christian way of celebrating your jublilee. I trust it 
 
37 
 
 will be the seed of larger thoughts concerning the extension of 
 Christ's Kingdom, and larger gifts for that purpose in coming 
 years, not only on the part of this congregation, but of many 
 others similarly situated. 
 
 I pray that the next fifty years may witness great and blessed 
 growth amongst you in knowledge and grace ; that you may not 
 be content with the conventional standard of Christian living, 
 but may have life "more abundantly" according to Christ's 
 promise — more true-hearted courage, more winning gentleness, 
 more intense purity, more de voted love to Christ, more fervent 
 charity to men ; that you all, with unveiled face, beholding as in 
 a mirror, the glory of the Lord, may be transformed unto the same 
 image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit. 
 Peace be within these walls. " The Cod of peace himself sanctify 
 you wholly ; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved 
 entire, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." 
 For yourselves and for your children take up the prayer of the 
 man of God : " Let Thy work appear unto Thy servants, and 
 Thy glory unto their children. And let the beauty of the Lord 
 our God be upon us ; and establish Thou the work of our hands 
 upon us ; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it." 
 
 \3^ 
 
Setter fvom the ^eo. J. M Gibson, H.5. 
 
 ST. JOHN'S WOOD, LONDON. 
 
 To the Session and Congregation of Erskine Churchy Montreal: 
 My Very Dear Friends, — 
 
 I regret exceedingly that I should be so far 
 away as not to be able to join personally in the celebration ot 
 your Jubilee ; but I shall be with you in spirit ; and it is to assure 
 you of this that I now write. 
 
 The occasion brings to me many memories both tender and 
 solemn. I am now in the nineteenth year of my ministry ; and 
 more than half of that time I had the privilege of ministering to 
 you. I have as deep a sense still as ever of my indebtedness to 
 you for your forbearance with the weakness of my youth, your 
 kind appreciation of my work, and your cordial co-operation in 
 the varied enterprises in which we were engaged during these ten 
 years. 
 
 Since I parted from you I have kept up my interest in the 
 congregation, and have rejoiced exceedingly to hear of its con- 
 tinued prosperity under the ministry of my esteemed successor ; 
 and now that the year of Jubilee has come, I join with all my 
 heart in the joy of the time, uniting with you in giving God 
 thanks for His grace and goodness in the past, and sharing in 
 those longings for increased fruitfulness and fuller consecration to 
 the work of the Lord, which I am sure the occasion will awaken 
 in many earnest hearts. 
 
 With fullest sympathy also do I enter into those feelings of 
 sadness which will stir the hearts, especially of the older members 
 of the session and congregation, as the former times are called to 
 mind. It is a solemn and affecting thing for me, to think that in 
 
40 
 
 the sliort interval since I bade you farewell, so very many have 
 })assed away. I recall the venerable and beloved form of Dr. 
 Taylor; I think of the empty chairs, were we to attempt to 
 summon again that noble Session over which he and I presided ; 
 and as I picture the familiar scene on the Lord's Day, it moves me 
 to think how many would have to be recalled from the " General 
 Assembly " above, to make up the congregation to which I had 
 the happy privilege of ministering only nine years ago. I think 
 also of some who were then in the full activity of devoted service, 
 now enfeebled by age and infirmity ; but I know that they are 
 still serving the Lord Christ as truly as ever, and rejoicing, as I 
 rejoice, that so man_y of our dear children of those days are now 
 putting their hands earnestly to the work. With them, and with 
 you all, I join in the fervent prayer that any, who may be still 
 standing without may now at last, ^'■to-day, after so long a iimef 
 hear the voice of Him who has so often called them to take His 
 yoke upon them. 
 
 There are many things I would wish to say, for which a letter 
 does not afford the space. I feel sure that my old friends will 
 know what is in my heart ; and, therefore, I shall not indulge my- 
 self any further in writing. I intend, however, to have my part 
 with you in the services of the occasion. I shall mention the cir- 
 cumstances to my congregation here, and ask them to join me in 
 earnest prayer on your behalf, and I shall unite with you in seek- 
 ing to make this the occasion for a reconsecration to the service 
 of our blessed Lord and Saviour, which I need as much as you. 
 
 I conclude with the prayer of Col. i : 9-13, and the old 
 familiar benediction : " The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and 
 the love of God, and the communion ot the Holy Ghost, be with 
 you all. Amen." 
 
 Your old friend and minister, 
 
 J. M. GIBSON. 
 
IbbrcBB bij the (Eliitirmjttt, James SHiUiantBOtt, (Esq. 
 
 My Deak Christian Friends: 
 
 As a Church we have now entered on our 
 year of Jubilee, and this social gathering of the congregation and 
 its friends is held to celebrate the event. This Church had a 
 lowly beginning in a small school-room in McGill street ; but the 
 Lord has been on our side, and has blessed and prospered us. 
 The small grain of mustard seed planted fifty years ago in great 
 weakness, but strong faith, by earnest. God-fearing men, has 
 become a great tree, under whose branches this large congrega- 
 tion finds ample shade and security. 
 
 Fifty years works a great change in the membership of a 
 church. I am much pleased, however, to be able to say that we 
 have present here to-nigui several gentlemen who have been con- 
 nected with this Church from its commencement. Some of these 
 will shortly address you, and will give their reminiscences of the 
 early history of the Church, which cannot fail to be highly inter- 
 esting to all present. 
 
 With God's ancient people the year of Jubilee was a time of 
 great joy. The trumpet was blown throughout the land. The 
 slaves were set at liberty, and the lands that had become alien- 
 ated during the previous forty-nine years were restored to their 
 original ownerr. It was a season of festivity and gladness. In 
 this, our year of Jubilee, therefore, we desire to imitate the Jews ; 
 to rejoice with exceeding great joy, and to thank the Lord for all 
 His goodness to us, as a Church, in the years that are past, and 
 to implore His guidance for the future. It is true we have no 
 slaves to set free, in the sense in which the Jews had slaves. We 
 have no lands to restore, since the Levitical Law is not in force. 
 But we have many other duties to perform as Christians ; and the 
 most binding duty of all is to spread abroad a knowledge of Him 
 
42 
 
 who alone can free from the bondage of sin and the fear of death. 
 The great enemy of men's souls never proclaims a Jubilee to his 
 slaves. But God, through Jesus Christ, has proclaimed a per- 
 petual and universal Jubilee to a world lying in sin ; and there is 
 not a year nor a day in which He is not willing and ready to de- 
 liver from the bondage of sin, if men will only forsake the service 
 of Satan, and take upon them the yoke of Christ, which is easy, 
 and his burden, which is light. 
 
 The membership of this, as of every other church, is con- 
 tinually changing. In a few years the young men of the congrega- 
 tion will have to assume the dtities of car.ying on its work. Let 
 me say to them, in concluding, that, j st in proportion as they 
 earnestly endeavor to carry on the v,ork for Christ, will this 
 Church and their own souls prosper. 
 
H)bvcfis be Dabib Proton;, (Esq. 
 
 « *mt ■ 
 
 Dear Friends, 
 
 Having been requested to give some reminiscences of this 
 church fifty years ago, I may begin by stating that it was organized 
 in 1833, in connection with the Secession Church of Scotland. 
 
 There was no congregation in connection with that body 
 then, but I find that in 1818 the Rev. R. Easton, Montreal ; Rev. 
 Wm. Smart, of Brockville ; Rev. Wm. Taylor, of Osnabruck and 
 Williamsburg, and the Rev. Wm. Bell, of Perth, were created a 
 Presbytery. It appears, however, that this did not long continue. 
 Mr. Easton was the minister of St. Andrew's Church, but having 
 lost his sight, resigned his charge about 1822, and the majority of 
 his congregation decided to apply to the Church of Scotland for 
 another minister, and a number of Americans also left when St. 
 Andrew's Church became a State Church, and formed what is 
 now known as the American Presbyterian Church. I understand 
 that the Rev. Mr. Bell also joined the Established body about 
 this time, or shortly after. In speaking of Mr. Bell, I may men- 
 tion that I was present at his ordination, which took place in 
 Bristo Street Church, Edinburgh, in 181 7 or 18 18. 
 
 But to return to the commencement of this church. In 
 1 83 1 a few individuals met in December of that year to consult 
 as to how and by what means a minister in connection with the 
 Secession Church could be brought out from the Old Country to 
 Montreal. After several meetings they decided to write to Dr. 
 Mitchell, of Glasgow, to ascertain if he could assist them in send- 
 ing out a minister. These were not the days of steamships nor 
 ocean cables, and they had to wait long for an answer, but at last 
 it came in :he person of Mr. D. Shanks, a licenciate, who came 
 out with letters of introduction from Dr. Mitchell. This was in 
 May, 1832. Mr. Shanks was engaged for one year, several parties 
 binding themselves to pay his salary, but how much it was, I can- 
 
44 
 
 , not say now. He commenced his labors in a school-room in 
 McGill street belonging to Mr. Bruce, who was also one of the 
 parties interested in bringing Mr, Shanks to Montreal. He (Mr. 
 Bruce) never connected himself with the congregation, but shortly 
 afterwards joined St. Paul's Church, under the Rev. Dr. Black, 
 and was an elder in that congregation. 
 
 The services were fairly attended, but Mr. Shanks not being 
 an ordained minister, and there being no Presbytery at that time 
 in Canadi. to ordain him, the congregation could not be organized. 
 This state c*" things continued for a month or two, when three 
 ministers arriv«.d from Scotland, viz.. Rev. Thos. Christie, Rev. 
 Wm. Proudfoot, and the Rev. VVm. Robertson. They had all 
 congregations in Scotland. Mr. Christie, in Holme, Orkney ; Mr. 
 Proudfoot, in Pitrodie, Carse of Cowrie, and Mr. Robertson, in 
 Cupar of Fyfe. The two first, Messrs. Christie and Proudfoot, 
 went to Western Canada, but Mr. Robertson being requested, 
 remained in Montreal, and at once set about organizing a con- 
 gregation. A number of certificates were handed in to him, and 
 he met with several of the young people anxious to join the 
 church ; but before all the requisite arrangements were completed 
 Mr. Robertson died of cholera, very suddenly. He took ill on 
 Saturday afternoon, and was buried on Sabbath morning, very few 
 of the congregation knowing of his death until they met at 1 1 
 o'clock in the school-room. 
 
 This was a great blow to the young congregation. Mr. 
 Shanks, however, continued his services, but the numbers attend- 
 ing gradually fell off, and the meetings during the winter of 1832- 
 33 were very small. 
 
 About the end of April, 1833, the parties who had engaged 
 Mr. Shanks notified him that his services would be dispensed with 
 at the end of his engagement. Of course he felt aggrieved, and 
 complained that he had been badly used. He asked for the 
 names of those present at the meeting at which the resolution was 
 passed ; how many voted for and against it, and the reasons for 
 dispensing with his services. A meeting was called to answer Mr. 
 Shanks' questions. 
 
45 
 
 The first resolution gave the names of those present. 
 
 The second gave as a reason the want of means to continue. 
 
 The third resolution, that Mr. Shanks was not qualified to 
 discharge all the duties of a minister of the United Secession 
 Church. 
 
 The fourth, that Mr. Shanks, having departed from the rules 
 of the United Secession Church by reading his sermons, was 
 another reason for dispensing with his services. 
 
 At this meeting a resolution was passed unanimously sustain- 
 ing Mr. Shanks' good character, and this ended the connection of 
 Mr. Shanks with the congregation, in May, 1833. He, however, 
 shortly after this, connected himself with the Church of Scotland, 
 and was for some years settled at St. Eustache. He removed 
 from there to Valcartier, but died several years ago. 
 
 The school-room was closed for some Sabbaths at this time, 
 but in the beginning of June, 1833, other three ministers arrived 
 from Scotland. These were Rev. VVm. Taylor, Rev. Geo. Mur- 
 ray, and Rev. Robert Thornton. Rev. Mr. Taylor had been 
 settled in Peebles, and the other two had been ordained on their 
 leaving for Canada. Mr. Thornton went west, and Mr. Taylor 
 and Mr. Murray remained in Montreal to organize the congrega- 
 tion. They met on the loth June, 1833, with a number of those 
 who had been attending the meetings, and after being informed 
 that Mr. Shanks was no longer connected with the congregation, 
 they proceeded by taking a list of those present, who were 
 desirous of becoming members. Several week day meetings were 
 held for receiving additional names to this list, and on the 20th 
 June, 1883, the congregation was formed with seventy-five names. 
 
 Rev. Mr. Murray was the Moderator, Rev. W. Taylor 
 preached the sermon, and after an address by the Moderator on 
 the origin and doctrines of the United Secession Church, he asked 
 those present to declare their belief in them. The meetmg hav- 
 ing assented, he declared those on the list a congregation in full 
 communion with the United Secession Church of Scotland. 
 
46 
 
 On the 26th June six elders were elected, viz., Messrs. Robt. 
 Whitford, Robt. McLean, James Middlemiss, Andrew Spaulding, 
 John Anderson and Robert Watt. (Mr. Watt, however, declined.) 
 They were ordained on the 7th July, and the first communion, 
 with thirty additional names, was celebrated on the 14th July. 
 Of the one hundred and five names on that first communion roll, 
 Mrs. Brown and myself are all that remain in connection with 
 this congregation, but there are four others in the city, viz., Mr. 
 Geo. Rogers, Mr. and Mrs. Hector Munro, and Mr. James Kinley- 
 side. 
 
 The Secular Committee was elected about the 20th June. 
 Twelve members were elected, the first six names on the list to 
 retire each year, and the same arrangement continues to this day. 
 
 On the 15th July a congregational meeting was held for the 
 purpose of extending a call. The Candidate being the Rev. 
 Messrs. Wm, Taylor and Wm, Murray. The call was almost 
 unanimous in favor of the Rev. Wm. Taylor, and on the following 
 Sabbath he accepted it, and from that time was our minister. 
 
 There was no formal induction. He merely stated that he 
 accepted the call, and that agreement lasted during his lifetime. 
 At this time all the male memb'irs of the congregation, were 
 journeymen mechanics, with the exception of three, but shortly 
 afterwards several merchants, and others in business on their 
 own account, joined the congregation. 
 
 This necessitated the getting of a larger place of worship, and 
 the American congregation kindly gave us the use of theirs for 
 one year, during the hours that they did not require it. In the 
 meantime steps were taken to build a church for ourselves, and a 
 lot of land was bought, on which was built the church now form- 
 ing the corner of Chenneville and Lagauchetiere streets. It was 
 a very plain, unassuming looking building,' having only one coat 
 of plaster on the walls and ceiling inside. Our aristocratic friends 
 down town used to speak of it as the " Wee Kirk at Little Dub- 
 lin ;" a row of small houses near it being occupied by Irish 
 families. 
 
47 
 
 The foundation stone was laid by Rev. W. Taylor, but we 
 had no silver trowel to i)resent him with, nor any money to put 
 into the stone, as at that time we had none to spare. The building 
 had to be roofed in before it was its full height, and after some 
 time the pews were put in, and the church formally opened in 
 January, 1835. 
 
 I might here mention that several of the members had to 
 become personally responsible to the contractors of the building, 
 and one of those, Mr. James Roy, is present with us to-night 
 Other members, who were mechanics, gave their subscription to 
 the building fund in work, the contractor accounting for it as so 
 much cash on account. Mr. Geo. Pringle, who at this time was an 
 elder, made the pulpit as his share of the work, and it was the 
 handsomest in the city at that time. Mr. Pringle died a i^^ 
 years ago in Ontario at the age of 92. 
 
 But even this building soon was too small for the wants of 
 the congregation, and in 1847 it was decided to raise the walls, 
 and put in galleries all round. This being accomplished, a good 
 school-room was made under the church, as previous to this it was 
 only a cellar. During these alterations and additions the congrega- 
 tion met for public worship in St. Gabriel Street Church. The late 
 Rev. Mr. Leishraan and Dr. Taylor preaching alternately, morn- 
 ing and afternoon. After removing back to our enlarged church, 
 the congregation kept steadily increasing. 
 
 A few years subsequently Dr. Taylor was prostrated by severe 
 illness, and by the advice of the Session, a colleague was proposed 
 to be called, as the doctor felt himself unable to fulfil the duties 
 devolving upon him. 
 
 A congregational meeting was held early in 1863, ^^^^ ^ call 
 was sent to the Rev. J. M. Gibson, now Dr. Gibson, of St. John's 
 Wood, London, which he accepted. At this time it was decided 
 to build a new church in a better situation, and early in 1864 the 
 lot on which this present church now stands was purchased, and 
 the foundation partly laid. The building was completed and 
 opened for public worship on the last Sabbath of April, 1866, 
 seventeen years ago yesterday. 
 
48 
 
 I shall not trespass on your time any longer, but wish merely 
 to add that the men who were the leaders in establishing this 
 congregation, although not rich in this world's goods, were 
 rich in those qualities which go to make up a good congregation. 
 
 And of the late Dr. Taylor let me say that, although most of 
 the present members and young folks, remember him as an elderly 
 or old man, when he accepted the call to be our minister, he was 
 only thirty years of age, a young man amongst strangers, but he 
 was a willing worker, and it was not many weeks before he had 
 visited every member of his congregation, which custom he kept 
 up for very many years. He was afraid of no work that was for 
 the good and welfare of his people and the city at large. He 
 established a Bible class in his own house before we had a school- 
 room of our own to meet in. 
 
 As nearly every one here present remembers the late Doctor, 
 and as his death took place at a comparative recent date, it is 
 unnecessary for me to detain you any longer with any further 
 remarks of mine, as I should only be trespassing on those speakers 
 who are to follow me. 
 
^bbrcsfi bj) Jamc6 |loi), (Bsq. 
 
 Dkar Friends, 
 
 It is good to roinonibcr the days of gld, and the years that 
 are gone. Half a century is a long course of years to look back 
 upon, full of interest, fraught, as they are, with many of the 
 shifting scenes of life, many cares, many sorrows, many ups and 
 downs, but also many joys and blessings, and many of those ele- 
 ments which constitute human happiness. I think in every well 
 balanced mind the latter greatly predominate. 
 
 When this congregation was first formed, Montreal was com- 
 paratively a small city, not very clean, a great many open ditches 
 in it, but now, in outward appearance, it is one of the first on the 
 continent. This congregation has kept pace with it in its growth. 
 
 I joined the church in the summer of 1834. It had been in 
 existence over twelve months, but was then comparatively small. 
 In the outward aspect of the character of its members there might 
 be a little roughness, some narrow views of life, but great energy, 
 earnestness, and Christian devotion, men of true worth, of whom 
 it may be said : That whatsoever their hand found to do, they did 
 it with all their might. Where all did their best, according to 
 their ability and circumstances, it would be invidious to single out 
 names ; though, as my mind goes back, one face after another 
 springs into remembrance, and a crowd of recollections force 
 themselves on me, but which it is impossible to dwell upon. My 
 association with such men is amongst the pleasantest reminis- 
 cences of my life. Nearly all are gone where we must soon 
 follow. They were gathered from almost every county in Scotland, 
 a few from the North of Ireland, and a few from elsewhere. There 
 was in consequence, considerable diversity of character, but one- 
 ness in their religious views. 
 
bO 
 
 The smallness of the number made it comparatively easy to 
 know one another. There was a constant inter-conini union 
 amongst its members, a good deal of that intei change of tlie best 
 feelings of our nature, which wonderfully strengthens a people 
 for any work tiiey may have before them. 
 
 The tlifticulties with which we were surrounded made it 
 necessary to liave many meetings of the congregation, elders and 
 man.igers. These business meetings had very much of a social 
 element about them ; it was the constant aim of those in the 
 management to get an audible expression of opinion from as many 
 as possible, knowing that when men take part in the business of a 
 meeting, they identify themselves more with the cause they are en- 
 gaged in. We were, for Presbyterians, a very democratic body of 
 men ; indeed, we went to the uttermost limits that the Presby- 
 terian ])olity would admit of. In the eyes of the world the Seces- 
 sion Churcii was not a popular body, though tlie founders of it — 
 the two l)rothers Erskine, Gillespie, and a few others, were men 
 greatly in advance of their times. They were the true authors ot 
 the modern jjhase of civil and religious liberty, which prevails so 
 extensively at the present day. 
 
 We had also very popular and enjoyable soirees, ro small 
 means of knitting us together. As Dr. Wilkes stated in his admir- 
 able and affectionate sermon, we were in that respect somewhat in 
 advance of other religious bodies In town, and none should know 
 better, for he often contributed in no small degree to their suc- 
 cess by his presence. We had very frequent evening parties at one 
 anothers homes. There were no such fine houses amongst the 
 members then as many of them now have, but you all know that 
 there is as much love in the cottage as in the palace, and often a 
 great deal more peace and content. I may say they were almost 
 exclusively conversational parties. You can easily conceive that 
 our most worthy and popular pastor. Dr. Taylor, was the soul and 
 centre of these gatherings. He was a gentleman in the best sense 
 of the term — a Christian gentleman. He had a well-furnished 
 mind, was a good conversationalist, as ready to impart his 
 opinions as to hear those of others ; at the same time die;nified and 
 
51 
 
 urbane, an(1 genial withal — making everyone feel at home in his 
 com[)any. He understood the art of conversation well, and was 
 aware that the mennest iiiunnii being knuw sonK-tiiing that his fel- 
 lows did not know, and that there was some bright spot in his or her 
 nature that only required a little tact to bring out. These may 
 seem inconsiderable things to dwell upon, but perhaps not a little 
 of the social character of the congregation may be due to them. 
 
 Now I would not have it be supjMJsed that the men and 
 women of this church were any better than the men and women 
 of other churches. No, we had [)lenty of faults and failings, 
 there were no perfect men amongst us. I must say, in the 
 knowledge of my own imi)erfection, I do not think 1 would have 
 been much at home with them had there been any. Well, we had 
 none— have none now — and nevi-r will have. No son of Adam 
 is without flaw ; some dross adheres to him in his best estate — 
 and I suppose I may say the same of every daughter of Eve, but 
 am not at all .so sure of that ; it is with hesitation that I make the 
 slightest allusion to it. Of this I am certain, and can speak with 
 great confidence, that they have a much greater capacity of loving 
 than men, and you are well aware that love is the essence of the 
 religious life, the cement of society, the only elixir of life that I 
 ever had any belief in. The Kingdom of God is love. The 
 ladies have, in the course of its history, been a great power in this 
 church, as they ever are in all churches. I do not mean simply in 
 ministering to our creature comforts, but in their works of charity 
 and mercy— in their attending to the neglected, and remembering 
 the forgotten, both inside and outside the church ; in their minis- 
 trations at the sick bed ; there woman is all but omnipotent ; there 
 man must stand, in a great measure, outside. No man is so well 
 equipped for the battle of life as he who has a loving wife by his 
 side ; so the church is never so powerful for good as when it has 
 a phalanx of zealous ladies working with it. 
 
 I think I may fairly claim a good record for Erskine Church 
 in its relation to the society of which we form a part. To the 
 public of Montreal it has given a great many good men and true 
 —a few of their number prominent in the conduct of public 
 
58 
 
 business — honored by the citizens and an honor to the church; 
 but I mainly mean that it has added many to the framework of 
 society, men who make a conscience of (iiit\\ whose watchword is 
 duty. Wordsworth, in his celebrated Ode to Duty, says 
 
 " It wears the Giwlhead's most benignant grace ; 
 Nor know we anythinK so fair 
 As is the smile upon thy face : 
 Flowers \m\\!,\\ i)efore thee on their beds 
 And fragrance in thy footing treads." 
 
 Fragrance treads in the footinii; of every man who performs a 
 beneficent action, who even exchanges a kindly greeting with his 
 fellow man. We may fairly look upon such actions and such 
 feelings as the flowering out of Christianity. I believe that the 
 future of the Church of Christ is bound up with a more devoted 
 preaching of the love of Christ, both in His divine and human 
 character, even if it were to the partial ignoring of those things 
 hard to be understood, and which contain as little nourishment 
 for the soul of man, as the husks which the Prodigal Son did eat, 
 for his body. He was far from his father May not that /arness 
 from his father have been a greater punishment than being con- 
 demned to eat swine's food. May not farness from the Father 
 be, if not M<? hell, a hell, and nearness to the Father our heaven. 
 My remarks have chiefly had reference to the social history of the 
 first thirty years of the church. After that I went to live in the 
 country, which necessarily to some extent lessened my intercouse 
 with its members. About that time this building was opened for 
 public worship, when Mr. now Dr. Gibson, became Dr. Taylor's 
 colleague. He certainly by his abilities and fervid earnestness gave 
 an impetus to the prosperity and spiritual life of the church, 
 especially to its missionary zeal, and greatly extended its work by 
 the schemes which he, to some extent, initiated. Tnat work has 
 been well carried on under our presentable pastor, Mr. Black, and 
 I trust it may continue for many years to come, which, under 
 the blessing of God, it cannot fail to do. 
 
^bbvcsfi bij cB.ii'bcu JliuQ, (Esq. 
 
 -*•»- 
 
 Mr. Chairman and Bretmrkn of Erskinf. Church: 
 
 Those who hav'e preceded me this evening' have spoken ot 
 the more temporal aspects of the congregational work during these 
 past fifty years. It has been left to me to say something about 
 the spiritual side of its aims, and upon such an occasion when 
 our hearts are stirred within us, as we call to mind— as did Israel 
 of old — all the ways in which the Lord our (lod has led and pros- 
 pered us, we should do so with humble as well as with thankful 
 hearts ; but we cannot do so without feelings of sadness, because 
 of the absence of so many of those who took [)art in the early 
 struggles of this congregation, and are now no more with us. 
 Let us who are here record our thanksgivings while we remember 
 the dear ones who arc gone and whom we still cherish in our hearts. 
 We would that more of them had been spared to recount with us 
 the loving-kindness of the Lord to-night, and to join with us in 
 laying upon God's Altar, the thank-offering we now present, and 
 may God accept it and honor it for His service, " and revive us 
 again that we may rejoice in him." 
 
 I cannot from i)crsonal knowledge speak of the affairs of this 
 congregation for more than the forty-two years, during the most of 
 which time I have been a member ; and for thirty-three years (or 
 since 1850) a member of the Session. In thinking of this latter 
 fact I am reminded of many short-r ings on my part, and of 
 the great forbearance of the Lord. .0 intensely do I feel this, 
 that I would like to dwell on my own personal experiences ; of 
 the strivings of God's Spirit with mine ; on the battles lost and 
 won ; in engagements with sin, Satan, the world and the flesh, 
 through which young christians have to pass. But on an occasion 
 like the present it is more becoming to speak of the congregation, 
 and how it has fared ; more especially during the earlier days of 
 its eventful history. 
 
54 
 
 It is well known to all the church thi:t Dr. Taylor during his 
 long and useful career amongst us stood manfully in the breach 
 wherever work was to be done for the Master, not only in his own 
 congregation and among his own flock, but in the city or elsewhere. 
 Wherever the lever might be skilfully applied for elevating the 
 masses and advancing the cause of the Gospel, there he was to 
 be found. But principally in his own congregation and among 
 his own flock his labors were unceasing, his mind was — more 
 particularly during the early part of his ministry — always bent 
 on devising schemes for the spiritual welfare of his people, in 
 which he was ably seconded by the members of his session and 
 congregation. 
 
 Among these efforts the Sabbath School and Bible Class stood 
 prominent, in both of which he labored to instil sound doctrine 
 into the hearts of the young, and with this view encouraged the 
 holding of a weekly meeting of teachers for the study of th^ lesson, 
 which he .sometimes attended, and which became a means of much 
 good to both teachers and scholars. The Bible Class was for many 
 years held on Sabbath Evenings from 7 to 8 o'clock, the attendance 
 being from 40 to 60. The students who attended it read the 
 Scriptures in turn, and questions were proposed and answers 
 obtained. Regular courses of study were taken up, such as : — 
 
 The Shorter Catechism. 
 
 The Acts of the Apostles. 
 
 The Religious Denominations of the world. 
 
 The History of the Israelites from the days of Abraham. 
 
 The Epistles to the Romans, Galatians, Philippians, &c. 
 
 Written exercises upon these subjects were frequently asked and 
 obtained from the class, and the subjects were illustrated by maps 
 of his own preparing. 
 
 This class formed the nursery of the Sabbath School teachers, 
 and there are many in this city and elsewhere who speak of the 
 profit they derived there, and who ever look upon it as t^he means 
 which Ld to their conversion. In the course of time tL . condition 
 
55 
 
 of Dr. Taylor's health was such as to render it necessary for him 
 to retire from his Bible-Class work. At this time— fortunately for 
 us— Principal Dawson of McGill College undertook to conduct 
 it, and did so with great acceptance for a n amber of years, as many 
 who are here to-day can abuudntly testify. While these ministra- 
 tions, received Dr. Taylor's utmost care and attention, the con- 
 gregational services were not by any means neglected, the preaching 
 of the Word was earnestly performed, sinners were converted, 
 and saints were built up in their most holy faith. 
 
 In carrying on the pastoral work of the congregation, the 
 members of the Session were always willing to second the pastor's 
 efforts in every department of the church's work. Many of its 
 members have fallen asleep, and many others by reason of the 
 burden of years and increasing infumities. are compelled to rest 
 from their labors, and await patiently, resignedly, and cheerfully, 
 the summons that shall call them home. These frequently have 
 testified to the profit they received from their visits to members 
 of the church in health and in sickness ; and have found that 
 by ministering to others their own souls were abundantly refreshed. 
 
 Thirty or forty years ago Missions — Home and Foreign— did 
 not occupy so large a place in our acknowledged church work as 
 they do to-day. The call to go forth was not very frequently 
 recognized. In 1845 — thirty-eight years ago— ^this important 
 work began to be more fully understood. Missionary meetings 
 had some time before that been held on the first Mon- 
 day of each month, at which Missionary intelligence was given, 
 prayer for this dei)artment of the work specially offered, and a 
 collection taken up. These means led to an efibrt to procure 
 increased contributions for the missionary cause, and in order to 
 do it efficiently the congregation was divided into districts, and 
 collectors appointed. I have in my possession two collectors' books 
 of that date — one of which belonged to a lady long since deceased 
 — whose district extended from Ik'aver Hall Hill to Sanguinet 
 Street, and the other to a young man still with us — then young — 
 but now no longer so, whose district was all east of Sanguinet 
 Street. The subscriptions on these books are not large, some of 
 
56 
 
 them only one penny a week, the subscribers generally insisted 
 on paying weekly, and their subscriptions are marked as having 
 been so collected. For want of efficient management this system 
 fell into disuse until 1855, when Dr. Taylor requested the 
 congregation to make weekly offerings for missions. Some 
 responded, and in his book for January, 1855, the following sums 
 are credited : — 
 
 £ s. d. 
 
 January 7. Miscellaneous contributions.... 5 7^ 
 
 " 8. Monthly meeting i o 6 
 
 " 14. One donation 2 6 
 
 ** 21. — King I 3 
 
 " 28. Miss Morton 6 3 
 
 £^ 16 lyi 
 
 £ s. d. 
 And the total collection for that year was. , . 27 02 
 Annual collection last Sabbath of the year. . 22 14 6 
 
 £a9 14 8 
 
 Or about $199. 
 
 In 1855 a permanent Missionary Committee was appointed, 
 with Mr. Andrew Robertson as secretary. One hundred copies 
 of the United Presbyterian Missionary Record were imported 
 from Scotland for distribution, which did much good in stirring 
 up an interest in missions. This Record was afterward;; super- 
 seded by our Canadian Missionary Record, which has been con- 
 tinued until now. In i860 the congregation was again divided 
 into districts, and collectors appointed for the Missionary Society, 
 this method continued until four years ago, when our present 
 pastor introduced the system of combining all the collections of 
 the church in one weekly offering — from which a definite propor- 
 tion is devoted to missionary and other objects — this plan has 
 been found to work well and give satisfaction. 
 
37 
 
 The following shews the Missionary income in past years, 
 viz : — 
 
 1855 " $199.00. 
 
 1858 260.00. 
 
 1865 1.506.00. 
 
 And so on increasing every year. 
 
 In i863-'64 the Rev. Dr. Taylor's health was somewhat im- 
 paired, and our numbers having outgrown our accommodation in 
 the old church, corner of Lagauchetiere and Chenneville Streets, 
 it became necessary to introduce a change. This state of things 
 at that time led to the call of the Rev. J. M. Gibson— now the 
 Rev. Dr. Gibson, of London, England— to be colleague and 
 successor to Dr. Taylor, and who coming among us with youthful 
 activity, and ardent zeal, labored in the Gospel, and proved 
 himself to be a worthy helper to our venerable pastor, and proved 
 instrumental in urging on all departments of our Christian work. 
 He went in and out among us with great acceptance ; we parted 
 with him with great regret, Tifter enjoying his ministrations for 
 about ten years, but we are pleased to hear from time to time of 
 his successful labours in the great metro^ "lis of the world. 
 
 As regards the labours of his successor, our present pastor, I 
 need not say much, as it is apparent to you all. His labours among 
 you speak for themselves. He came to us at a trying time, and a 
 yet greater trial was near at hand, for in less than two years after 
 his induction, our beloved and venerable pastor was called sud- 
 denly away from tending his flock to the "rest that remaincth for 
 the people of God." Our loss was his gain, but we miss him still 
 in the Session, in the congregation, and in the community. 
 
 But when we consider all these things, we would be ungrate- 
 ful did not our hearts expand, and our hands open, when we 
 compare our present with our past history. To-day, many who in 
 those days were in humble circumstances, are now in prosperous 
 and comfortable positions. We now occupy a commanding posi- 
 tion, not only in this city, but in the church at large. Let us use 
 these privileges aright, and seek with might and main to advance 
 
 H 
 
58 
 
 the cause of God throughout the world, and on this happy jubilee 
 occr.sion consecrate an offering to the Lord of that wherewith He 
 hath blessed us. 
 
 In conclusion, I would earnestly appeal to the young people 
 of the congregation to come forward and take the places of those 
 who have borne the burden and heat of the day, and who, from 
 increasing age and infirmities, must necessarily soon leave their 
 places to be filled by others, of these there are not a few. The 
 Church looks to you to take the places " of the fathers and become 
 noble princes in the land." Are you preparing for the work ? It 
 will not do to shirk your responsibility. It is cheering to find that 
 some recognize the fact, and have stepped into the breaches, but 
 many more are needed. There is room for all in Christ's vineyard ; 
 and to those who comply and become fellow-workers with God, 
 there is "glory, honour, immortality, and eternal life." Come, 
 for the Lord hath need of you. 
 
 
Jlbbrcss bn litbrcto JHobcrtsoit, (Bsq. ' 
 
 Mr. Chairman, Members, Adherents, and Friends of 
 Erskine Church : 
 
 Youth anticipates the future with hope and joy, 
 middle age generally finds enough to do in the present, old age 
 lives in, and recalls the past ; the latter is our case to-night, in 
 what we have heard from the respected gentlemen who have pre- 
 ceded me. 
 
 I heard you, Mr. Chairman, at a meeting of the congrega- 
 tion, held lately, indulge in some remarks on the past history of 
 the church, that made me think you were beginning to feel that 
 even you were no longer young, perhaps the more so, because I 
 had shortly before received a letter from an ol ' and valued friend, 
 in which he indulged in the recollections of the past. It is so 
 quaintly written that I shall read an extract from it. After some 
 personal allusions, he thus moralizes : — 
 
 " ' It is better to be wise than to be rich ; it is better to be 
 good than to be wise, and it is better to live more for the good 
 of others than for yourself Words of the wise man. After all, 
 we can only leave footprints on the sands, too true, to be often, 
 and soon, obliterated in time, still living in the great enduring 
 eternity. ' Fai too Fait,' is a motto of universal application to 
 we sons of toil. What a narrow thing is life, all the more need to 
 use it well. You see I have fallen to moralizing ; no wonder, for 
 I write in bed, having been laid up for a week, and in my solitary 
 musings you came o'er my spirit. So you see you are not quite 
 forgotten — out of sight, out of mind. No, I have still a warm 
 side to many in Montreal — friends of forty years' standing. Ah, 
 me ! Since I saw you I have seen much. Bad times, bad 
 debts, bad weather, and bad harvests. Things are mending. 
 
60 
 
 When are you coming over again ? It would do you good. I wish 
 I could come to you, but am ' thirld.' This will reach you near 
 the end of the year ; may the next be prosperous for you and 
 yours. I wish you every good wish from the short present to the 
 great "unlimited."' 
 
 To-night I am privileged to give my recollections of the 
 past. In doing so, I feel that I am no longer young. Just 
 thirty years ago this very night, I landed in the city of Montreal. 
 The 30th day of that year was a Saturday, and on Sunday, ist 
 May, 1853, I entered the old church in Lagauchetiere street. 
 What memories in connection with the congregation crowd on 
 me during that long period of time, not only of the work done, 
 but of the workers with whom it was my good fortune to be asso- 
 ciated. 
 
 When I joined the church, in 1853, our annual revenue for 
 all purposes was about $2,000 a year. We were in debt, and had 
 hard work to make both ends meet, and we had no Missionary 
 Society, in 1855 Dr. Taylor tried to collect for missionary pur- 
 poses by subscriptions and collections, but the total amount up to, 
 and including 1856, only came to $714, or an average for the five 
 years of $143. In i860 a Missionary Society was established, and 
 that year alone, no less than $873 was collected, being six times 
 the previous annual average. In 1861 our first Annual Report 
 was printed, and from them I find that our annual income for 
 congregational purposes for that and two succeeding years averaged 
 only $2,272, while our Missionary and Benevolent collections had 
 increased to $1,500 per annum. 
 
 In April, 1864, Dr. Taylor was laid up, and became so ill 
 that he felt it necessary to tender his resignation. After some 
 negotiations, it was agreed that he should have a colleague, but it 
 was found that our church, on Lagauchetiere street, would re- 
 quire to be enlarged, so as to get the revenue necessary to main- 
 tain the minister and his colleague. It was found impossible to 
 get additional land there. It was proposed by some that we 
 should sell our church and buy Cote Street Church, as it was feared 
 that we would not be able to build a new one. To this proposal I 
 
61 
 
 strongly objected, and with my valued friends, Messrs. Brown and 
 King, we were enabled to show that we could obtain the means to 
 build a new one. In a few days we had $18,000 promised for 
 the purpose ; and, having got this length, the question of site 
 then came up. At that time Knox and the American Churches 
 had secured sites on Dorchester street, and not to interfere with 
 them, we had to go farther, up to St. Catherine street. We then 
 had choice of four sites— one on St, Catherine street, near Alex- 
 ander street, one opposite the Cathedral, one on Cathcart street, 
 immediately behind the latter, and the one which we ultimately 
 decided on, and where we now are. At first it was looked on with 
 little favour. It was said to be too far away ; it was in a swamp ; 
 it would be impossible to reach it ; a creek ran past it, and my 
 venerable friend, Dr, Taylor, almost laughed me out of counten- 
 ance for proposing such a site. He, however, lived long enough 
 to admit to me that my judgment was correct. At that time, 
 nineteen years ago, I got a plan of the city prepared, which 
 showed that a majority of four members were living nearer the 
 present site than the old site of Lagauchetiere street. I also 
 pointed out that we had for years been walking to meet the rising 
 sun, and it was just as easy to walk towards the setting one for a 
 few years. These and other arguments carried the day, and here 
 we are. I was then in hope that a decade would enable us 
 to free the church from debt, but it was otherwise willed. 
 The organ question came up at that time. There had been 
 no deliverance from the Assembly of the church, as to the right 
 of congregations to introduce the organ. The quertion was, 
 therefore, necessarily delayed. Many of the members of the 
 congregation in favor of the organ then left and joined other con- 
 gregations where the organ was allowed, thereby weakening our 
 congregation in future voting for the organ, and delaying its in- 
 troduction. The latter, at that time, was to me a matter of little 
 consequence, although I was, for good reasons, ultimately forced 
 to assist in obtaining its introduction. During that year the As- 
 sembly, at its meeting, gave congregations permission to intro- 
 duce the organ, and in September the question was again raised, 
 resulting in a vote in favor of the organ. This was bitterly 
 
62 
 
 opposed by the minority, and the matter was delayed for another 
 year, when the vote was again taken, showing such a decided 
 majority as enabled those in authority to go on and put in the 
 organ. Our debt at that time was about $7,000 ; the organ 
 and alterations required about ten thousand more. This put us 
 back again, but now it is satisfactory to be able to say with par- 
 donable pride, that we are a congregation free of debt, and that 
 we can now write on our banner, in this respect, "Nolli Secundus.' 
 
 Now let me go back again to 1864, After we had decided 
 to build the church, we had to find a colleague, and Dr. Taylor 
 was instructed to write to Dr. Robson, Dr. McFarlane, and Dr. 
 John Ker, in Glasgow, to see if they could induce any suitable per- 
 son to make a three months trip to Canada to visit us, thus to 
 give the congregation a chance of hearing them before a call was 
 decided upon. Dr. Taylor either did not understand what was 
 agreed upon, or exceeded his instructions, as I found out by a 
 fr'iend of mine writing out to me, making inquiries as to the 
 church, cost of living, and other necessary enquiries, and stating 
 that the committee had asked him to go out and take the charge. 
 1 at once wrote back to him that they had not been empowered 
 to do that, and that I could not advise him to come, except he 
 was simply coming for a trip, which might eventually culminate in 
 a call. Dr. Ker was, I think, shown this communication, which 
 made him write me a letter on the subject, in which he clearly 
 set forth that it would be impossible to carry out our views, but 
 sugc^ested that we should do what we could in Canada, and men- 
 tioned the name of a likely and clever young man whom he had 
 met, and thought well of, Mr. John Munroe Gibson, who was 
 then assisting the Rev. Dr. Ormiston, in Hamilton. The hint 
 was taken ; Mr. Gibson was invited to preach two or three Sab- 
 baths. He came, and having the pleasure of his company at my 
 house while in Montreal, I formed a very high opinion of his 
 character and abilities, which his career has since fully established. 
 
 He was unanimously called, accepted the call, and I need 
 scarcely say that the ten years he was with us he was universally 
 respected and esteemed, not only by his own congregation, but by 
 
63 
 
 all to whom he was known in Montreal, and that he left us to our 
 great regret. 
 
 This night also marks an epoch in this church's history. 
 We are entering on the eighteenth year in this building. On 
 the last Sabbatli of April, seventeen years ago, tliis church was 
 formally opened ; but what a change this seventeen years has 
 made in the persotull of the congregation, and what results have 
 grown from the change of situation. Seventeen years is about 
 one-third of the life of the congregation. Let us look at its his- 
 tory for the first thirty-three years, and we find that for its 
 ordinary and building expenditure it did not reach $70,000, and 
 for its missionary and benevolent purposes, for the same time, did 
 not reach $10,000, or $80,000 for all purposes, or about $2,400 a 
 year. 
 
 During the seventeen years we have been here, we have 
 raised for congregational purposes about $100,000; for our 
 building $55,000, and have given to missionary and benevolent 
 purposes about $110,000, or $265,000 in all, an average of over 
 $15,500 per annum. I shall not enter into the detail*, as on an 
 occasion of this kind general statements are best, besides, my time 
 is limited, and while we can point with no little pride to the past, 
 we must not forget the future of the congregation. Fifty years 
 has passed, and our Jubilee has come. When the Centennial 
 gathering is held, who will be there ? Perhaps some now present 
 may see that day, but the greater number of those now hearing 
 me will have gone to the great " unlimited." Many of those who 
 are now young will also have gone before, but even of those who 
 are now young and active workers, will, if spared, be like those of 
 us who are now leading the van, and nearing the time when they 
 will be forced to cross that river from which no traveller 
 returns. 
 
 At a social meeting of the congregation held about a year 
 ago, I heard some remarks made by one of the elders of the con- 
 gregation as to each member remaining loyal to his church. At 
 that time, nor even now, do I take blame to myself, even although 
 I do not now take that active interest in the management of the 
 
64 
 
 church that I did in former years, but I am sure that no one who 
 knows me will for a moment think that I can ever be anything 
 but loyal to Erskine Church ; but if there be, let me say to them, 
 that I can never forget the many warm friends that I have made 
 and lost in the congregation — perhaps I should rather say not lost, 
 but gone before. [ cannot forget that eight of my children 
 are registered on its baptismal roll, nor that in course of time, and 
 of their own accord, six of them became members in full com- 
 munion; nor can I forget that more than once in the history of 
 my family I have walked down these aisles to the joyful notes of 
 the wedding march. How can I ever forget that great and good 
 man, whose tablet is set in yonder corner ; a man who was my 
 counseller and friend for nearly a quarter of a century, and one 
 with whom I never had an unkind word — the late Rev. Dr. 
 Taylor ; and above and beyond all, I can never forget that 
 at my request, and at almost a moment's notice, he left his sea- 
 side resort to accompany and give that consolation, he was so well 
 able to bestow, to the sorrowing parents and distressed husband, 
 as they journeyed from the sea with the mortal remains of one 
 whose name he had registered on the baptismal, communion and 
 marriage rolls of this congregation, and whose last ofificial act was 
 to see it inscribed on the last roll — the roll of death, and when dust 
 had been laid in dust, and the last sad rites had been performed. 
 Can I evtr efface from my memory my parting from him, appar- 
 ently well and hopeful, at the Bonaventure Station, trusting again 
 to see each other shortly ; alas, to be obliged within one short 
 month, with other members of the congregation, to go to the same 
 station to bring his remains, and reverently place them on the spot 
 where I now stand. But I must forbear ; I think I have said enough 
 to show that I can never be otherwise than loyal to Erskine Church. 
 Now that my short story of the past is told, let me call your at- 
 tention to the present, and take a peep into the future. What are 
 we as a congregation to-day? A cl igregation free of debt — a 
 congregation, well organized, a congregation respected, and 
 pointed to by others, even of other denominations, as an example 
 worthy of imitation. Shall we stand still? I unhesitatingly 
 answer : No. When I look around me and see the many faces 
 
that are now before me, young, bright, and intelligent, not a few 
 of whom have already become worthy successors to their parents 
 in church work, I have no fear for the future of Erskine Church 
 in Montreal. We old men can, therefore, leave it with confidence 
 in your hands ; but let me say to you young men and women, that 
 the " race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong ; 
 and to young and old, that the present only is ours, the future is 
 to us unknown." Therefore, 
 
 " Trust no future howe'er pleasnnt ; 
 Let the dead past bury its dead ; 
 Act ! Act in the living present, 
 Heart within and Gnd o'erhead. 
 
 " Art is long, and time is fleeting. 
 And our hearts, though si out and brave. 
 Still, like mufTled drums are beating 
 Funeral marches to the grave. 
 
 " Let US then be up and doing— 
 With a heart for any fate — 
 Still achieving, still pursuing. 
 Learn to labor and to wait." 
 
ERSKINE CHURCH, ST, CATHERINE STREET, * 
 
 ^. -^ I* ■ . •/. »*' • ■' 
 
 .' : • • ^ERfOTEO 1885. ^ .' « v 
 
 _; vt^-. 
 
 f' 
 
 
 ' !• 
 
 -M. 
 
 %■ : 
 
 W Ap •* 
 
 '/.. 
 
 M 
 /^' 
 
 
 f^ \^ 
 
 
 
 ■*i.: 
 
 .'' ■ ^ ' ,f ^^;