emotional, and his mind was pre-eminently logical, and very naturally his pulpit exercises partook largely of these characteristics. His imagination was not brilliant, yet his descriptive powers were excellent. In the pulpit perhaps he erred by keeping them under too rigid restraint. His address was not usually attractive to strangers, but those who waited on his ministry from Sabbath to Sabbath gave him the preference above the most distinguished stranger. His style was plain but pure-never ambitious or flowery. He had no set phrases, not even in prayer. He seldom, if ever in the pulpit, used the words" my brethren," "my hearers," or any similar phrases, so often needlessly used by preachers, sometimes to fill a blank, sometimes for no conceivable purpose whatever. His eloquence consisted in clearness, conciseness, terseness and force of statement, not in the use of high-sounding phrases that mean nothing. "In all his ministrations he manifested an unwavering attachment to the distinctive principles of the Reformed Presbyterian Church. He never forgot that while it was his great business to win souls to Christ, it was equally his duty, as a witness for Christ, to present his claims for the homage of men and nations. It was his delight as well to say to Zion, "Thy God reigneth," as to "bring good tidings of good, and to publish salvation." He took a special interest in the exercises, uniformly observed in the Reformed Presbyterian Church, of examining and defending the terms of ecclesiastical communion preparatory to the dispensation of the Lord's Supper, and always performed this exercise with a vigor and freshness that is rarely equaled. He never wrote out his discourses, but they were so well digested on all occasions that it would have done him no discredit had they been transferred verbatim to the press. He never attempted to preach without study, and he never during his whole ministry, so far as known, except on one occasion, preached the same sermon twice. "As an editor and author, the writer feels still more his incompetency to do him justice. His controversial powers were of a high order. His knowledge of history, especially Church history, was both extensive and accurate. This furnished him with ample resources, and these, always available and used by his superior powers of argumentation, made him a formidable antagonist in all ecclesiastical controversies. As a controversialist, too, he was eminently successful. The excellence of his descriptive powers is manifest in his varied editorial writings, especially in his letters from abroad, published in the Covenanter in the year 1848, and also those published last year." * His review and his monthly summaries of foreign and domestic intelligence showed a remarkable power of condensation. These usually exhibited, in a very brief space, a more clear, definite and intelligent view of the workings of Providence in the affairs of the world than could be gathered by ordinary minds in hours or even days of attentive reading. They were almost uniformly copied into other magazines. It is somewhat remarkable that the last production of his pen is a biographical sketch of his respected father, which appeared in The Presbyterian Historical Almanac for 1866. "As a theological professor, it may be truly said, that his abilities shone with a brighter lustre than in any other sphere. In the seminary he was in his element. He loved teaching, and his learning was varied and extensive. He had much experience as an instructor, and the more advanced his pupils, the greater his delight in imparting instruction to them. His talents, his experience and his acquirements, together with his love for the Professor Willson visited the British Isles in 1848, and again in 1865, when he extended his tour to the Continent. work, fitted him in an eminent degree for the position; and well and faithfully did he serve the Church in that capacity for seven years. "In regard to his position in the Seminary, his death is a severe loss to the Church. But he being dead yet speaketh,' as he was instrumental in teaching so many who appreciated his instructions, and who follow his example. "Prof. Willson was an 'Israelite indeed, in whom was no guile.' His whole life gave evidence of this. He had a heart-hatred of all hypocrisy and deceit, and could not easily be persuaded to suspect men of deceitfulness in their public course, or hypocrisy in their professions of friendship. He trusted even too confidingly in the honor of others, and cunning and management sometimes obtained dishonorable advantage over him. When others follow him to the habitations of the just, they will in this respect be conformed to his character. He took a deep interest in all the public schemes of the Church; he was eminently public-spirited. He took an active part in promoting the interests of our Foreign Mission, as well as the Domestic and Freedmen's Missions. He early identified himself with the cause of abolition in Philadelphia in the days of its trial. The humble edifice in Cherry street below Eleventh, in which he ministered, was for many years the only building that could be obtained in the city for abolition meetings. "His intellectual powers were great and well cultivated. His mind was exceedingly active, and wrought with rapidity and power. As a presbyter and a debater, he excelled.* His knowledge of church law and ecclesiastical procedure was most accurate and extensive. Perhaps the chief and leading characteristic of his mind was the power of analysis. He was able to distinguish and separate the elements of a subject of thought, and with this combined the power of expressing all these in the clearest and most comprehensive statement; and when he once embraced an opinion, he did not readily change, So mature was his judgment even in his youth, that he never in after life, it is believed, changed his mind on any important question, except one. In his younger days he embraced the opinion of those expositors who held that the Jews will yet, as a people, be restored to their own land. In his more mature years he entirely discarded this view, and opposed it with all his might. He never concealed his opinions. None was very long left to doubt which side of any controverted question he would take. His love of learning was most ardent, and he intermeddled with almost all wisdom; but after he became a pastor, his studies were chiefly, but far from exclusively, devoted to those subjects that pertained to his special work. He prosecuted with diligence the study of Hebrew. It was his custom, begun early in his ministry, to read a portion of the Hebrew Bible every day. One morning, as he closed his book, he remarked, 'It is thus I have acquired my knowledge of Hebrew.'t Before his appointment as professor, his knowledge of this language was at the command of theological students, some of whom from sister denominations availed themselves of his willingness to communicate. He was in every sense a plain man. He had a strong distaste to the use of the title 'Reverend' applied to ministers. This amounted with him almost to a conviction that it was wrong, and he used it as seldom as a decent respect for the usages of society would permit. His objection was based on the text, 'Holy and reverend is His name.' As a genial friend, as a diligent pastor, as an able The records of Synod, published from year to year in this Almanac, show his activity in the courts of the Church. This habit carried him through the Bible some ten times during his ministry. and faithful preacher of the gospel, and as a professor of theology, he has left a name that is and shall be blessed." In the Church he was conservative of its order and teachings. He was opposed to any ceremony at the burial of the dead. All similar innovations he rejected in view of the lessons of history, that Ritualism, Protestant and Papal, has crept into the Church and worship of God from beginnings small and unnoticed. He believed that any effort to introduce into the public duties of the Sabbath what is not laid down by scriptural law or example proceeds from a wrong principle in matters pertaining to the service of God, and that the religious instruction of the child is the inalienable duty of the Christian parent. As to the members of sister Churches, he never forgot the character of a Christian gentleman, and his personal relations with many clergymen of other denominations were unmarred by the position he occupied as a Covenanter of protest against all who incorporate with governments which officially ignore Christianity. As an American, he loved his country, and was her earnest friend in her time of peril. As a Covenanter, he could not approve her relation to the name and Church of Christ, nor identify himself with her, yet when her very existence was endangered he separated between the national life which was at stake and the form of government which is subject to change. He died as he lived a firm dissenter from the present Constitution. The brain, the part most used of the intricate machinery, showed signs of wear many months before his death. He had been long subject to severe headache, but in 1865, the nervous energy and locomotion of the left side were impaired, and death was surely but slowly approaching. His voyage to Europe in the summer of 1865 did not restore him. A syncopal attack at Synod in Rochester in May presaged death. He looked to it uncomplainingly. It was his rest. His tall form-he was nearly six feet in heightbegan to bend, yet the lustre of his eye from beneath his broad brow, the firmness of his lip and the clearness of his brain did not yield. His last illness was short, and during its few hours he lay in a stupor; the violence of his heart led to the detection of serious hypertrophy. With the departure of summer he passed to his account. We "shall meet again, and our hearts shall rejoice with a joy unspeakable and full of glory. For the Lamb that is in the midst of the throne shall feed us, and shall lead us to living fountains of waters, and God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes." THE FOLLOWING PAGE gives the INSTITUTIONS, &c., the names of the PRESBYTERIES, with the Stated Clerks, the names of the MINISTERS and LICENTIATES, with their Post-office address. The ministers number seventyeight, divided as follows: 67 are Pastors, 7 labor as Home Missionaries, 4 Professors and Foreign Missionaries, and 2 Licentiates. Total, 80. RESIDENCE ACCORDING TO STATES, &c., OF THE MINISTERS AND LICENTIATES. *The Unknown are made up of Licentiates and Ministers in transitu. TOTAL, 80 THE Synod of the Reformed Presbyterian Church. Synod Clerk, Moderator, REV. R. J. DODDS. REV. R. Z. WILLSON, New York, N. Y. THOMAS SPROULL, D.D., Chairman. BOARD OF FOREIGN MISSIONS. Treasurer, WILLIAM BROWN, Esq., Philadelphia, Pa. BOARD OF EDUCATION. JAMES L. MCCARTNEY, Esq., Secretary. BOARD OF CHURCH EXTENSION. Theological Seminary, Allegheny, Pa. THOMAS SPROULL, D.D., Professor, &c. NAME. Illinois. Iowa, Lakes, NAME. JAMES M. WILLSON, D.D., Professor, &c. ARMOUR, J. M., Syracuse, N. Y. Boggs, J. H. Brooklyn, N. Y. CANNON, R.B.. Columbus City, Iowa. Dodds, R. J., Latakiyeh, Syria. FARIS, DAVID S., Sparta, Ill. Hunter, Joseph, Wilkinsburg, Pa. NAME. POST-OFFICE. Johnston, J. M. Washington, D. C. Johnston, W. P., Baltimore, Md. McKee, David NAME. POST-OFFICE. Shaw, David J., Bloomington, Ind. Shaw, James W., Coldenham, N. Y. Shields, Robert, Almonte, Can. W. Slater, William, Venice, Pa. Sloane, J. R. W., New York, N. Y. Smith, John C., Rose Point, Pa. Sproull, D.D., Thos., Allegheny, Pa. Sproull, John W., McKeesport, Pa. Sproull, R. D., Rochester, N. Y. Sproull, T. A.. Allegheny, Pa. Sterett, Samuel, North Jackson, 0. Stevenson, D.D., And'w, N. Y., N. Y. Stevenson, Thos, P., Philadel'a., Pa. Stevenson, S. M., Washington, Iowa. Stott, J., Princeton. Ind. THOMPSON, J. A., Londonderry, 0. Thompson, J, R., Newburg, N. Y. Thompson, R. M. C., Hick, Pt.. Ind. Todd, Andrew C., Elkhorn, Ind. Trumbull, C. D., Dodgeville, Iowa. WALLACE, JAMES, Sparta, Ill. McMillan, W. W., Olathe, Kansas. Wilkin, M., Stirling. N. Y. NEILL, JAMES REED, ROBERT, Luesco, Pa. Sharpe, R. J., Philadelphia, Pa. Williams, John B., White Lake.N.Y GENERAL SYNOD OF THE REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. THE SYNOD met in Xenia, Ohio, May 16, 1866, and was opened with a discourse by the retiring Moderator. Reports were received from Presbyteries showing a good degree of prosperity. FREEDMEN.-The superintendent gives a hopeful account among these people in Alexandria, Va. They are fast learning to read and many of them are quite proficient being called upon to assume the duties of citizens, they are striving to be able to meet all its requirements. FOREIGN MISSIONS were considered, and it was resolved to sustain the missionaries in India, and if possible enlarge their number. LETTERS were sent to the Churches in Scotland, and a good degree of interest was manifested in the matter of union among the Presbyterian Churches. The Synod adjourned to meet in New York May 15, 1867. JOHN NEIL MCLEOD, D.D., Stated Clerk. In Memoriam. "PRECIOUS IN THE SIGHT OF THE LORD IS THE DEATH OF HIS SAINTS.”Psalm cxvi. 15. MCMILLAN, GAVIN RILEY-The son of David and Nancy (Wright) McMillan, was born in Fairfield district, South Carolina, Dec. 24, 1824. He was educated in Miami University, Athens, Ohio, and studied divinity in the Theological Seminary of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, in Philadelphia, Pa., graduating in 1850. He was licensed by the Philadelphia Presbytery of the Reformed Presbyterian Church April 18, 1850, and began his labors in the vicinity of Pittsburg, Pa., in Ohio, and in the West. He occupied a call from the churches of Neshanock and Hermon in Lawrence |