with the object in view, and their willingness to co-operate in every good and wise measure for the suppression of intemperance.

FENIAN INVASION.-An overture was presented asking Synod to issue a pastoral letter to the churches in reference to the events that have transpired in the Province in connection with the recent invasion of our border. Adopted, as follows:

"BELOVED BRETHREN:-A few days before the recent meeting of Synod at Toronto a band of armed men from the territory of the neighboring republic had stealthily landed upon the western shores of our country, committing a variety of unprovoked depredations and spreading alarm among our peaceful fellow-subjects. Simultaneous movements toward other remote points of the frontier showed this invasion to be the attempted execution of but a small part of a great criminal design, directed immediately against the rights and liberties of Canadians, but having in view the ulterior object, boldly avowed, of destroying the authority rightly and benignantly exercised over us by our beloved sovereign, and of making this province the basis of operations intended to sever Ireland from the British Empire. Before the members of Synod left their homes they had shared with you those mingled feelings of admiration and grief which were universally caused by reports of the engagement at Ridgeway between our volunteers and the invaders. When they assembled at Toronto the solemn impression, produced by the obsequies which had just been performed in honor of its heroic citizens slain in our defence, was everywhere perceptible. It was a time of intense excitement throughout the country, although the feeling of security was never dislodged by the sense of danger.

Gratitude is the first sentiment inspired by deliverance from any calamity, and of its own accord it assumes a correspondence to the exciting cause. În the present case there is much to be thankful for. The executive department of our government, with many difficulties to contend against, with a most extensive and at numerous points exposed frontier to guard, has proved itself equal to the emergency, and by the promptitude and energy of its action has given reason for universal satisfaction. The conduct of the officers and men of the regular forces stationed amongst us has illustrated the hereditary devotion of the British army to the honor of the Queen and the interests of the empire. The loyalty unmistakably manifested by all ranks and classes of the people, and especially the alacrity with which our volunteers obeyed the summons to arm, placed their services at the disposal of the authorities, endured the heavy sacrifices required of them, and displayed their willingness to meet the enemy at the risk of their lives, has filled all our hearts with honest pride. It would be ungenerous to forget the effective services rendered in behalf of international peace and amity by the United States Government, and the officials entrusted with the execution of its commands, so soon as there appeared to them an occasion for interference. By these means the ruthless Fenian has been driven from the soil which he attempted to desecrate, and the plans of the hateful organization to which he belongs have, in the mean time, been thwarted.

"The enemy has retired, but, it is alleged, only to prepare himself for another and a more determined effort to accomplish his designs. Continued vigilance must, therefore, be exercised. While we look to our rulers for timely warning when danger is apprehended, the people, as a body, are bound to hold themselves in readiness-all who are fit for active service to take the field, and the rest to give the necessary support and encouragement. In common with your fellow-countrymen, you have a large interest at stake, and hitherto you have shown yourselves to be alive to its importance. The

Church to which you belong furnished, it is believed, its full quota of the aggregate number engaged in the last campaign. Its adherents generally have been liberal with their means wherever required. On the battle-field and among the slain it was honorably represented. In these circumstances it is felt that exhortation to duty is not so appropriate as commendation of the willingness which animates you in the discharge of your patriotic obligations. Inheriting the spirit of your forefathers, and profiting by the instruction in righteousness' received from those that have the rule over you' in the Lord, no appeal to your sense of honor, loyalty and love of country will be made in vain. As followers of the Prince of Peace, you woull rather be spared the pain of opposing yourselves in warlike attitude to your fellow-beings, especially when they are the dupes of a gigantic imposture. You will, therefore, hope and pray that there may be no more necessity for going forth to battle against them; you will desire their speedy recovery from the spirit of lawlessness to which they have given themselves over; you will refrain from all words and actions that may tend to exasperate them. But should they again attempt to enter our borders with criminal intent, you will deem it to be in the interests of peace to dispute their progress at every step.

ADDRESS TO THE QUEEN.-MOST GRACIOUS SOVEREIGN: We, your Majesty's loyal and dutiful subjects, the ministers and elders of the Presbyterian Church of Canada in connection with the Church of Scotland, now in Synod assembled, embrace this opportunity to renew the expression of our devoted attachment to your Majesty's royal person and Government.

We would express our grateful sense of the inestimable blessings of civil and religious liberty which we have so long enjoyed under your Majesty's just and benignant rule; and we shall not fail to inculcate, with the principles of religion and morality, loyalty to the British crown.

The increasing prosperity of the province is a cause of general satisfaction and of thankfulness to Him "from whom cometh down every good and perfect gift." But we deeply regret that, during a period of profound peace, the public tranquillity should have been wantonly and wickedly disturbed by bands of lawless and desperate men from the neighboring republic, who have, with hostile intent, threatened our frontier and in some instances invaded our soil.

We deplore the loss of the valuable lives already sacrificed in repelling this wicked invasion; yet we rejoice that we have cause to congratulate your Majesty on the simultaneous burst of loyal enthusiasm which all parts of the province have exhibited in view of the threatened danger-a spirit which we shall continue to feel it our duty to encourage, in every proper way, among the people committed to our charge. And we earnestly trust that, under the Divine blessing on the national counsels, peace and order may be restored and perpetuated.

That Almighty God may abundantly bless your Majesty, and all the members of the Royal Family, with all temporal and spiritual blessings, and that you may long be spared to reign over a happy, loyal and grateful people, will continue to be our earnest prayer. WILLIAM SNODGRASS, Moderator. An address to the Governor-General of British North America was also adopted.

The Synod adjourned to meet in St. Andrew's Church, Montreal, C. E., on Wednesday, June 5, 1867. WILLIAM SNODGRASS, D.D., Moderator.

In Memoriam.

"PRECIOUS IN THE SIGHT OF THE LORD IS THE DEATH OF HIS SAINTS.”Psalm cxvi. 15.

HAY, JOHN-Was born in Perth, Scotland, in 1827, and was educated in the schools of his native place. He was sent at an early age to the University of St. Andrews, and was a distinguished student of that ancient seat of learning, although his characteristic self-abnegation did not suffer him to aspire after the academic honors to which his attainments and talents entitled him. Such was the constitution of his mind that he would have been ashamed of himself if he had found himself elevated in any way above his fellows. After he had completed his literary course in the university, he was for several years assistant teacher of English and Latin in the academy where he had received his own early training, and in this capacity he acquired an enlarged acquaintance with polite literature, which, acting on a mind naturally refined, gave him a taste of rare elegance.

After receiving license to preach he was settled as a minister of the chapel of ease, Stanley, near Perth, and soon filled the once empty pews by the uncommon talents which he displayed in the pulpit, as well as by the kindliness of his bearing in going out and in among his humble hearers. Circumstances led to his resignation of Stanley chapel in 1857, and in 1858 he received from the colonial committee an appointment to Canada. On his arrival the Presbytery of Hamilton, within the bounds of which he was appointed to labor, sent him to visit their newly-opened stations in the northwestern portion of the peninsula, and from the time of his advent may be dated the commencement of the Church's progress in the counties of Grey and Bruce. A master in the art of pleasing, by the urbanity of his manners, his self-denying labors and the popularity of his address, he made the name of our Church fragrant in districts where the calumnies of sectarians had long rendered it odious. After a long and self-sacrificing probation as a missionary, he at length, in January, 1861, accepted a call to be pastor of the congregation of Mount Forest, one of the stations he had nursed into being. He could muster only eleven hearers to come to his first meeting, but before resigning his charge, in June last, he had some seventy or eighty members, besides a large number of intelligently devoted and appreciative adherents. But the attainment of excellence in all the higher qualities of a good preacher was not reached in youth without great labor, or kept up in manhood without constant study. The price paid for it was great expenditure of the nervous force of his constitution, and the result was that he became a martyr to acute sensibilities. In proportion as he was brilliant and charming in his public ministrations he was subsequently depressed by nervous melancholy. Sensitive to all the trials of life when in this condition as the needle to the pole, the temptations to which he was exposed were very trying.

In short, a man of rare genius and accomplishments has passed from among us in the very midst of his strength, and his memory will be long reverenced in that section of the Church in which he was best known. Though dead, he yet speaketh. He speaketh by a noble and generous life as well as by the echo of his eloquent words to the congregations which have had the

good fortune to enjoy his ministrations, and he speaketh to his friends and brethren in the ministry by the richness of his fancy, the quaintness of his humor and the geniality of his disposition-qualities by which he endeared himself to them. He was a man of whom it may be truly said that to know him was to love him.

He died at Kinkardine, C. E., July 31, 1866.

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JOHNSON, THOMAS-Was born in Ahoghill, Antrim county, Ireland, in 1795. He was educated in the University of Glasgow, Scotland, and Belfast, Ireland; at the same time he was studying divinity under the care of Antrim Presbytery in connection with the Presbyterian Synod of Ireland, known as "Seceder" or Associate," by which Presbytery he was licensed in 1822. Whilst he was a licentiate he emigrated to the British Provinces, and in 1827 he was settled in Ernestown, where he labored four years. In 1834 he became pastor of the church in Chingacousy, then connected with the United Synod of Upper Canada.

Mr. Johnson had been a member of the Presbyterian Synod of Canada in connection with the Church of Scotland prior to the stormy period of "disruption" times, and when these times came round he remained loyal to the dear old Church of Scotland. His congregation divided, and the result was his withdrawal to a distant locality, where he followed the meek and lowly Jesus, by illustrating his sublime teachings in an earnest discharge of his duties to God and man. In 1862 he had the satisfaction of seeing an elegant and spacious brick church reared upon the site of the old log church where he had for many years preached the gospel. Although Mr. Johnson had resigned from loss of health some years ago, still he preached occasionally, and it was a noticeable fact that he preached on Sabbath, Aug. 26, 1866, and died the following Thursday, Aug. 30, 1866.

Rev. W. E. MCKAY, of Orangeville, C. E., preached his funeral sermon, in which he speaks as follows: "Another of our old and respected ministers has thus passed away from amongst us. The late Rev. Thomas Johnson was naturally of a kind and conciliating disposition. The lustre of his deep and abiding piety was seen to greatest advantage in private domestic life. He was an excellent preacher and a sound theologian. His prayers were impressive, the result of earnest piety, and they were enriched with apt texts of Scripture. The same remark holds good in reference to his sermons. He was a workman that needed not to be ashamed. He sought to commend the gospel of Christ as well by example as precept. He was constant in his friendships and pleasing in conversation. The bereaved widow and children demand our prayers and sympathies, but they have doubtless learned to console themselves with the thought that he has exchanged a world of suffering and trial for one of ceaseless happiness."