Governor-in-Council, and shall also have a right, from time to time, to nominate a professor for such chair, subject to the approval of the governors; and in the event of the death, removal or resignation of any person nominated under this section, the body nominating shall have power to supply the vacancy thus created." By another clause a similar right was extended to "any individual or number of individuals." The Presbyterian Synods now came forward and undertook the endowment of three professorships. The Synod of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island raised, within a few years, the sum of $24,000, which was sufficient for the endowment of one professorship. The endowment of the two others was undertaken by the Synod of the Lower Provinces, which was formed by the union (in 1860) of the Free Church Synod and the (Secession) Synod of Nova Scotia. Professor McDonald was chosen by the Synod of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. He entered upon his duties as professor of mathematics in the winter of 1863.

Foreign Missions.-In the Synod of Canada in connection with the Church of Scotland an Indian Orphanage scheme had been inaugurated, and a mission to the Jews had been commenced. For the support of both, contributions were recommended and obtained by the Synod of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, which also resolved to take part in the mission to the New Hebrides Islands, which had been commenced by the (Secession) Synod of Nova Scotia in 1846. The Rev. Mr. Geddie, the first missionary of this Synod, had returned on furlough to Nova Scotia, and, while here, visited the Synod of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, which he was invited to address, and to which he gave an account of the work done among the South Sea Islanders, for whom an interest was thus stimulated. The result was that the Synod agreed to enjoin collections to be made to support some native preachers who were to be placed in the meantime under the direction of Mr. Geddie. Funds were accordingly collected and remitted to Mr.

Geddie, to sustain a native agency.

Synod of New Brunswick in Connection with the Church of Scotland.-The Synod of New Brunswick in con

nection with the Church of Scotland suffered less from the Free Church movement than did the sister Synod of Nova Scotia. In the latter, so few ministers adhering to the Established Church were left that for ten years no meeting of Synod or Presbytery, in this connection, was held; in the former only three ministers seceded, while the remaining ten continued the regular meetings of the Synod until 1868, when it united with the re-organised Synod of Nova Scotia. Between the time of the Free Church secession, in the beginning of 1845, and the union of 1868, the Synod of New Brunswick felt greatly at a loss from the lack of ministers and missionaries to supply ordinances to its vacant congregations and destitute mission fields. Earnest and even passionate appeals were therefore made for labourers to the Church of Scotland. In the Missionary Record of that Church (Oct., 1852) it is said :-"In New Brunswick we have four or five vacant churches, and this miserable state of things has existed for nearly ten years. During all this time our firmest friends in the Colonies have plied the committee with petitions for ministers, bonds for their stipends, remonstrances against our appar. ent supineness and pleadings for that aid which, unless granted. by the Church of Scotland, they would be compelled to ask from some other Church." Efforts were also made by the Synod to have young men trained in Glasgow, Edinburgh, or in Queen's College, Kingston, for the work of the ministry in the province, and funds were contributed for this purpose. But although students were thus trained for the work, and although from time to time ministers were sent by the parent Church, the supply of labourers was still insufficient. The number of ministers was, in consequence, almost stationary; occasionally it exceeded, and sometimes fell below, that left on the roll in 1845. But although the number of its labourers was inadequate to its wants, the Synod made good use of those at its disposal in prosecuting Home Mission work. Nor was it indifferent to the regions abroad. Like the Synod of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, it took an interest in the work of Foreign Missions. Contributions were made by its congregations in aid of the Indian Orphanage scheme and the Jewish and Foreign Mission inaugurated by the Synod of Canada.

Synod of the Maritime Provinces in Connection with the Church of Scotland. - Between the years 1845 and 1868 negotiations were initiated for the purpose of bringing about a union between the Synods in connection with the Church of Scotland, and the other Synods in the Eastern Provinces which sympathised with the Free and Secession Churches. Friendly deputations came and went, greetings were reciprocated and written communications passed and repassed between these different Church courts. The time, however, had not yet arrived when a general union of the Eastern Synods could be effected. But in the years 1860, 1866 and 1868, three unions of a less comprehensive character were consummated. Of the first two, accounts will afterwards be given. The last was the union of the two Synods in connection with the Church of Scotland-the Synod of New Brunswick and the Synod of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. This union was consummated at Pictou on the 1st July, 1868. The united bodies assumed the name of "The Synod of the Presbyterian Church of the Maritime Provinces of British North America in connection with the Church of Scotland." The Synod was divided into five Presbyteries, on the rolls of which were the names of twenty-nine ministers and four missionaries. There were sixteen ministers in the Presbyteries of Halifax and Pictou in Nova Scotia, two ministers and three missionaries in the Presbytery of Prince Edward Island, and eleven ministers and one missionary in the Presbyteries of Miramichi and St. John in New Brunswick.

Home Missions.-At the first meeting of the Synod, earnest attention was given to the subject of Home Missions and the support of organised congregations. It appears that at this time twenty-one congregations-fully two-thirds of the whole number-were supplemented by funds drawn chiefly from the Colonial Committee of the parent Church; and that the manner in which missionaries were distributed was not satisfactory. In these circumstances, a Home Mission Board was appointed which, from the first, set before itself the accomplishment of the four following objects:-1. The reduction of the drafts on the Colonial Committee; 2. An increase of contributions by the

congregations themselves; 3. To urge the supplemented to become self-sustaining congregations as soon as possible; and 4. To devise a plan for a more effective and economical distribution of missionaries. Within a few years all these objects were, in a large measure, attained. In 1872, the Home Mission Board was able to report that the sums contributed yearly by the Colonial Committee had been reduced from $6,542 in 1868-9 to $1,540 in 1871-2; that the amount contributed by the congregations themselves for Home Mission purposes had increased from an average of $800 to $2,300 each year; that of thirty-five congregations, only ten were now supplemented, and that a more satisfactory system had been introduced for utilising the services of missionaries. These were gratifying results; but yet, in the prosecution of its work, the Board could make little progress in the way of lengthening the cords or strengthening the stakes of the Church. "Ever since the Board was organised," it is said in the Report of 1874, "almost nothing has been done in the way of Church extension. Indeed, we have not been in circumstances to extend. When it is remembered that we have in the field only the same number of ministers and missionaries that we had five years ago, it will be apparent that our work has necessarily been confined almost entirely within our usual limits." One cause of this is thus stated:-"A glance at the records of our Church within the last few years will shew that we have not had so much difficulty in getting ministers as in keeping them. There has scarcely been a year in which we have not had a number sent out from Scotland. But, as regu. larly as these men have come, a corresponding number has departed." Another cause referred to was that the Synod had no Divinity hall, whose students might be employed in breaking up new ground and occupying small stations.

Theological Education. However desirable it might be to have a Divinity hall of its own, the Synod deemed it impracticable to establish and sustain such an institution. It therefore recurred to the plan of encouraging young men to prosecute their studies with a view to the ministry in the Universities of Kingston, Edinburgh and Glasgow. Liberal contributions for this purpose were made by the Church. Few young men, how

ever, were found to avail themselves of the assistance offered, and the services even of these, as Catechists, during the summer months, were only to a small extent available. Another plan was devised to supply the deficiency. There was a Theological hall in Halifax under the control of the Synod of the Lower Provinces. Negotiations were being carried on for a general union of all the Synods in the Dominion. Might not an immediate step be taken in this direction by an arrangement, according to which the Synod of the Maritime Provinces would appoint a professor to be associated with the professors in the Halifax College, in which the students of both Synods might be trained? This was deemed advisable on the part of both Synods, as appears by the following resolution, which was adopted unanimously by the Synod of the Maritime Provinces at its meeting in October, 1874:-" That the Synod learns with profound satisfaction that the Synod of the sister Church in the Lower Provinces has expressed its willingness to accept our co-operation in increasing the professorial staff in the Theological Hall, Halifax; and that satisfactory correspondence is being held with the Colonial Committee on the subject; again declares its conviction that only by such means can a sufficient supply of ministers be obtained for our extensive field; expresses the hope that the Colonial Committee will be able to see its way towards guaranteeing, in the meantime, the £300 stg. that is required for the salary of our professor, and that the Convener of the Home Mission Board be requested to continue correspondence with the Colonial Committee, urging the extreme importance of the subject, and the necessity of as speedy action as possible." The Synod at the same time agreed, by a unanimous vote, to nominate the Rev. Allan Pollock for the chair of Church History in Halifax College: to this position he was soon afterwards duly appointed and inducted.

Foreign Mission.-It has already been mentioned that the two Synods in connection with the Church of Scotland, which were united in 1868, as the Synod of the Maritime Provinces, had taken part with the Synod of Canada in supporting the Indian Orphanage scheme and the Jewish and Foreign Mission of that Synod, and also in supporting native preachers