The Sun.
London, England, 1835-06-05 00:00:00

CHURCH PATRONAGE.

A Overture signed by fifty members of Assembly, was laid
on the table, of the following tenor :—That the General As-
sembly do resolve that patronage is a grievance which ought
to be abolished; and, therefore, that the General Assembly do
remit to a committee of its number, to report to the present
meeting of Assembly on the most advisable course of proce-
dure for carrying the resolution into effect.
The Assembly then adjourned.
Saturday, May 23.
CATRINE CHAPEL CASE.

The Appellant in this case intimated his willingness to
withdraw the appeal, to which the Assembly agreed, and
gave power to the Presbytery to pursue the case till ripe for
final decision.

The report of the Committee appointed on the petition of
the ministers of Inverness, for an additional church enjoying
the same privilege as the other churches of that town, was
read, and ordered to be remitted to the Presbytery for their
consideration and approbation, and appoint the Presbytery to
report to the Commission in August.
The Assembly then took up the appeal from the Presby_
tery of Perth, against the attestation of the commission of the
elders.

Mr. TuLtocif, the appellant, had not complained at the
time of election, because he was not aware of the qualifica-
tion of the elders, but he rested his case on the 9th Act of
Assembly, 1718, which gave the Presbytery the opportunity
of correcting any errors at the time of attestation. There
was on the table a petition on the same subject, signed by al-
most every elder within the bounds, and by men of every
variety of opinion in civil and ecclesiastical politics.
Dr. Cooa moved that the Assembly dismiss the complaint.
Dr. BURNS of Paisley moved that the commission could not
be sustained.
The motion was subsequently withdrawn.

Dr. P. MACFARLANE, before reading the reply to the letter
from the Pastors at Geneva, stated that there was a revival
at Geneva of pure and evangelical religion, and that a Theo-
logical Seminary had been formed for training up young men
to preach the Gospel, which was attended by students from
France and other neighbouring countries. This seminary was
provided with Professors, eminent for learning and piety, and
the cause which had led to its formation was the grievous he-
terodoxy of the Established Church.
The Rev. Doctor then read the following reply, which was
agreed to :

TO THE MODERATOR AND OTHER MEMBERS OF
THE VENERABLE COMPANY OF PASTORS AT
GENEVA.

Reverend Sirs—The moderator of the late General Assembly
laid before us this day your letter of the 31st December, 1834, in
which you communicated to us the interesting intelligence that
the Reformed Church of Geneva is about to celebrate, for the
third time, the centenary of the Reformation from Popery, and in-
vite us, on Sabbath, the 23d day of August, to unite our prayers
with yours for the blessing of God upon the Protestant Church.
We have observed, with the deepest sortow, the wide dissemina-
tion of Neologian, Socinian, and Infidel tenets and opinions among
the reformed Protestant Churches of the Continent, and have
learned, with extreme regret, that Geneva, to which all Europe
owes so much, and which is endeared to Scotland in particular by
many pleasing associations, has not escaped the almost universal
contagion; and that the religious liberty which the undaunted Re-
formers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries achieved, has,
in many of the Reformed Churches been abused, as if it permitted
men to cast off the restraints of the divine authority, and to reject
the infallible and immutable oracles of the living God.
The announcement contained in }our letter, together with the
information we have received from Christian friends who have
lately visited your country, encourage us to believe that pure
and uncorrupted Christianity are already about to revive in your
canton, and in the other Protestant cantons of Switzerland, and
that, under the divine blessing, and through the abundant effusion
of the Holy Spirit, the day is not far distant when Christ shall be
preached in all your churches, that he is the Son of God, when the
absurdities of the Neologian, and the fatal soul-destroying
doctrines of the Socinian and Pelagian heresies shall flee
away, and when a pure and truly rational, because a
Scriptural, Christianity shall be taught in all your schools of theo-
logy, and proclaimed in every pulpit in Switzerland. We will not
for one moment suppose that the reformed Church of Geneva pur-
pose to celebrate the centenary of the Reformation without recog-
nising, with devout and grateful emotion, the unspeakable bene-
fits resulting from that auspicious event, and the precious doctrines,
in defence of which the fathers of the Reformation hazarded their
lives, and many of their disciples submitted to imprisonment, and
exile, and death. We regard the approaching festival at Geneva
for a token of good. We pray that the spirit of Luther, and Farel,
and Calvin, and, will you give us leave to add, of Knox, may be
felt at all your meetings, and by all the members of your assemblies,
on that solemn and interesting occasion ; and that the fruit of your
conferences, and fellowship, and prayers, may be to increase your
interest and that of your flocks in the distinguishing doctrine of the
Protestant creed—Luther's artmulner stantis tel cadentis Ecclesice
—the doctrine of justification by faith in the Son of God.
We return you our sincere thanks for the respect which you
have shown to the Church of Scotland, in sending to us a copy of
your resolutions, and inviting us to send a deputation tb Geneva.

We regret that it is not in our power to comply with the invita-
tion, but beg leave to assure you of an interest in our prayers.
Signed in our name and presence, and by our authority,
W. A. THosisox, Mod.

ENDOWMENTS.

The Assembly then called far the report of the General
Assembly's Committee on Endowments.
CHARLES FERGUSSON, Esq., advocate, as Convener, detailed
with much clearness the progress which they had made, and
pressed with great earnestness upon the Assembly that the
specific object which they had in view was to obtain, not a
grant for building, but for endowing Churches.
Dr. P. MACFARLANE said he had a letter from the Original
Burgher Synod, requesting the Assembly to appoint a com-
mittee to confer with them, with a view to bring about a
union with the Established Church of Scotland.