"tired, does not touch the doctrine of "Christ's Headship as taught in Holy Writ, so as to give any true ground for "saying that we uphold, and that the "Established Church denies, that Head"ship. The whole question at issue "between us has respect alone to the "functions and government of the "Church, regarded as an external or ganized society. But it is not of any "incorporated society of professing "Christians, however pure its member"ship, however exactly its institutions, "laws, and government, may correspond "with those set up by our Lord and his "Apostles, that Christ is said in Scrip"ture to be the Head. The Church, "which is his body, is composed alone "of those who, by true faith, are in "vital union with Him through the "indwelling of the Holy Spirit. All "the descriptions given of that Church, "all the attributes and prerogatives "assigned to it, all the promises held "out and made good to it, are such as can belong alone to the body of true "believers, the company of faithful men "in Christ Jesus our Lord. They do "not and they cannot apply to any "organized society whatever, viewed as "such. There has been no greater per"version of Holy Writ, none more "widely and fatally misleading, than "that by which those descriptions, "attributes, powers, prerogatives, pro"mises, which belong alone to the "spiritual brotherhood of true believers, "have been transferred and attached to "an external institute calling itself the "Church." "The attempt has been made to throw a peculiar and additional sanctity "around that testimony, by erecting it "into a separate religious dogma or doc"trine-that, namely, of the Headship of "Christ over the visible Church. That "attempt I have endeavoured to expose, "by showing that no such separate dogma is taught in Holy Writ; that so far as it is taught there, it resolves "itself into the general truth of the แ supremacy of Christ's revealed will, "and that, as thus taught, our oppo "repudiating it. For other and wider "purposes, I have endeavoured to un "fold to you the true idea of the Church, "by teaching you to distinguish care"fully between that Church of the first"born, of whose birth and life, dignities "and destiny, such glorious things have "been spoken, and any outward and "organized community of professing "Christians. Keep this distinction "steadily in view, and the spell of that "arrogant assumption will be broken by "which the Church of Rome claims for "herself all the powers and prerogatives "of the unseen Church of God. Keep "this distinction steadily in view, and, "under cover of an unconscious confu"sion of the two different meanings of "the term Church, you will discover "some stern substantial embodiments, "and some thin ghosts of the Popish "theory stalking in regions remote "enough from Rome.". Some of the other recent pamphlets show this sermon to have met with a reception from a large and influential part of the Free Church, revealing a danger to its liberties which may be greatly more serious, although more insidious, than any which can be anticipated from the Courts of Justice. The free expression of conviction is plainly essential to its life; and all attempts by means of misrepresentation, calumny, public accusations of heresy or treachery, or by other similar too familiar weapons, to resent or preclude the utterance of those differences, which in every truly Free Church must exist, ought to be regarded as acts of hostility to its liberties, and disavowed and reprobated by all its real friends. One or two of these publications might, indeed, justly fall under this censure, but they had best be forgotten, and will not be here named. From another out of this bundle a few sentences may be quoted, as written in a different spirit.1 "It will surprise no careful observer to "find that, while the simply practical "Free Churchmen have been for years "quiet and silent, the other party in the 1 "The Recent Sermons on the Headship Reviewed," by the Rev. Walter Smith, Free 26 church, who held the doctrine of the "Headship of Christ'-or rather, who "identified that doctrine with the posi "tion which they maintained-have been "ceaselessly busy, disseminating their "opinion within the church and with"out. The consequence is, that any "modification of that opinion is apt to "be regarded as a kind of treason "against the Disruption, an attempt to "whitewash the Establishment, and to "make the sacrifice of the Free Church a sort of martyrdom by mistake. The "extreme party have managed so to "diffuse the leaven of their idea, that "all freedom of opinion is well-nigh "silenced; and thoughtful, living, earnest "Free Churchmen are terrified into mere "disruption formulas. Nothing could "more emphatically illustrate this spirit "than the way in which Dr. Hanna's sermon was greeted on its appearance, "and is still very generally regarded." Again, with reference to the sermons on the other side, there is this important testimony, "I believe, indeed, that "they only represent a portion of the "Free Church community. The men of "thought among us,-those who give "the tone to opinion, and lead on the "progress of the present into the future, "think, we are assured, far otherwise. "The whole current of opinion in the "higher circles of intelligence is to exalt "the spiritual, and to make less and "less of mere forms and machineries." P. 9. The Cardross case has already given rise to valuable discussions of important principles; and may have also disclosed hidden internal dangers to the Church immediately concerned. The final decision of the Cause may probably be waited without great solicitude. The Church which Knox planted, having during three centuries survived all the storms and convulsions under which Scotland has suffered and attained the present maturity, and having been able to keep its hold against the assaults of a powerful neighbour, must, although weakened by divisions, be too deeply rooted in the affections of the nation to be likely to perish by any external violence. A TALK ABOUT THE NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION MEETING AT WIMBLEDON. BY J. C. TEMPLER, CAPTAIN COMMANDING 18TH MIDDLESEX. Tom. You were at Wimbledon, at the great national rifle meeting. By all the accounts I have seen of it, it must have been a great success; but I should like to hear some of the details from an eyewitness; so tell me about it, for I was confined to my post here by work of all sorts. Jack. Well, in a desultory sort of way, I will; but, remember, I was not present the whole time, as my avocations called me back to London nearly every day. You shall have, and welcome, what passed under my own observation; and I will also give you some thoughts that have occurred to me since. T. Do so. the complete mixture of classes ;-it forced itself on your notice immediately, and although in the formation of our company I had been somewhat accustomed to it, it did not come so home as when I saw it on a large scale, and amongst strangers. There were men holding the highest social positions mixing as equals with others not so fortunately placed, and along the whole line of civil society. It came off something in this shape: the volunteers were formed into squads, each about sixteen strong, and the officer in charge took the names down on a paper, the surnames only, and then called them out as they came, without titles or additions of any "the descriptions given of that Church, "all the attributes and prerogatives "assigned to it, all the promises held "out and made good to it, are such as "can belong alone to the body of true "believers, the company of faithful men "in Christ Jesus our Lord. They do "not and they cannot apply to any "organized society whatever, viewed as "such. There has been no greater per"version of Holy Writ, none more "widely and fatally misleading, than "that by which those descriptions, "attributes, powers, prerogatives, pro"mises, which belong alone to the "spiritual brotherhood of true believers, "have been transferred and attached to "an external institute calling itself the "Church." "The attempt has been made to throw "a peculiar and additional sanctity "around that testimony, by erecting it "into a separate religious dogma or doc"trine-that, namely, of the Headship of "Christ over the visible Church. That "attempt I have endeavoured to expose, "by showing that no such separate "dogma is taught in Holy Writ; that "so far as it is taught there, it resolves "itself into the general truth of the supremacy of Christ's revealed will, "and that, as thus taught, our oppo "repudiating it. For other and wider purposes, I have endeavoured to un "fold to you the true idea of the Church, "by teaching you to distinguish care"fully between that Church of the first"born, of whose birth and life, dignities "and destiny, such glorious things have "been spoken, and any outward and "organized community of professing "Christians... Keep this distinction "steadily in view, and the spell of that "arrogant assumption will be broken by "which the Church of Rome claims for "herself all the powers and prerogatives "of the unseen Church of God. Keep "this distinction steadily in view, and, "under cover of an unconscious confu"sion of the two different meanings of "the term Church, you will discover "some stern substantial embodiments, "and some thin ghosts of the Popish "theory stalking in regions remote "enough from Rome.". Some of the other recent pamphlets show this sermon to have met with a reception from a large and influential part of the Free Church, revealing a danger to its liberties which may be greatly more serious, although more insidious, than any which can be anticipated from the Courts of Justice. The free expression of conviction is plainly essential to its life; and all attempts by means of misrepresentation, calumny, public accusations of heresy or treachery, or by other similar too familiar weapons, to resent or preclude the utterance of those differences, which in every truly Free Church must exist, ought to be regarded as acts of hostility to its liberties, and disavowed and reprobated by all its real friends. One or two of these publications might, indeed, justly fall under this censure, but they had best be forgotten, and will not be here named. From another out of this bundle a few sentences may be quoted, as written in a different spirit.1 "It will surprise no careful observer to "find that, while the simply practical "Free Churchmen have been for years "quiet and silent, the other party in the 1 "The Recent Sermons on the Headship Reviewed," by the Rev. Walter Smith, Free "church, who held the doctrine of the "Headship of Christ'-or rather, who "identified that doctrine with the posi"tion which they maintained-have been "ceaselessly busy, disseminating their opinion within the church and with"out. The consequence is, that any "modification of that opinion is apt to "be regarded as a kind of treason "against the Disruption, an attempt to "whitewash the Establishment, and to "make the sacrifice of the Free Church "a sort of martyrdom by mistake. The "extreme party have managed so to "diffuse the leaven of their idea, that "all freedom of opinion is well-nigh "silenced; and thoughtful, living, earnest "Free Churchmen are terrified into mere "disruption formulas. Nothing could "more emphatically illustrate this spirit "than the way in which Dr. Hanna's "sermon was greeted on its appearance, "and is still very generally regarded." Again, with reference to the sermons on the other side, there is this important testimony, "I believe, indeed, that "they only represent a portion of the "Free Church community. The men of The Cardross case has already given rise to valuable discussions of important principles; and may have also disclosed hidden internal dangers to the Church immediately concerned. The final decision of the Cause may probably be waited without great solicitude. The Church which Knox planted, having during three centuries survived all the storms and convulsions under which Scotland has suffered and attained the present maturity, and having been able to keep its hold against the assaults of a powerful neighbour, must, although weakened by divisions, be too deeply rooted in the affections of the nation to be likely to perish by any external violence. A TALK ABOUT THE NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION MEETING AT WIMBLEDON. BY J. C. TEMPLER, CAPTAIN COMMANDING 18TH MIDDLESEX. Tom. You were at Wimbledon, at the great national rifle meeting. By all the accounts I have seen of it, it must have been a great success; but I should like to hear some of the details from an eyewitness; so tell me about it, for I was confined to my post here by work of all sorts. Jack. Well, in a desultory sort of way, I will; but, remember, I was not present the whole time, as my avocations called me back to London nearly every day. You shall have, and welcome, what passed under my own observation; and I will also give you some thoughts that have occurred to me since. T. Do so. the complete mixture of classes ;-it forced itself on your notice immediately, and although in the formation of our company I had been somewhat accustomed to it, it did not come so home as when I saw it on a large scale, and amongst strangers. There were men holding the highest social positions mixing as equals with others not so fortunately placed, and along the whole line of civil society. It came off something in this shape: the volunteers were formed into squads, each about sixteen strong, and the officer in charge took the names down on a paper, the surnames only, and then called them out as they came, without titles or additions of any 304 A Talk about the National Rifle Meeting at Wimbledon. son, Childers, Clasper, &c. T. Do you mean that you all became J. Quite so; and it was not long before there was great clanship amongst us-just like the old feeling of sides at football and cricket, and, in spite of our individual rivalry, we cheered a successful shot as reflecting credit on the squad, "Well done, Johnson,' " "Well done, Buckshorn," when they got centres. And so high did this run, that, at the close of the day, we wished to challenge any other of the squads; and, had there been time, no doubt plenty of such matches would have come off. Talking of centres, I think General Hay should alter the nomenclature at Hythe. haps aware that bull's-eyes are confined You are perto distances up to 300 yards only; after that, there are no bull's-eyes, properly so called, but the central part of the target is called the centre. north countrymen, Yorkshiremen, and I observed the Swiss, always spoke of it as the bull'seye; and certainly this name conveys to the uninitiated a better idea, besides being more agreeable to the marksman. The division should be. yards, bull's-eyes, centres, and outers; up to 300 and, after that distance, bull's-eyes and outers. T. There is not much in that, I think. have it correct at first, and now is the J. Perhaps not; but we may as well time to rectify these little matters. ing; for, after all, that's the main thing. T. But now tell me about the shoot man. J. It was surprising, and, to a spec- the rifles? to J. The contest, virtually, was confined we |