I. No Student can be admitted to trial for licence unless he produces to the Presbytery certificates from the Professors of Divinity under whom he has studied, bearing that he has prosecuted his studies and delivered his discourses in the manner prescribed by the Church, and that his conduct, as far as it consists with the knowledge of the said Professors, has been in every respect suitable to his views in life.

2. No Student can be received on trial unless the Presbytery are satisfied that he is of good report, sound in his principles, pious, sober, grave, prudent in his behaviour, and of a peaceable disposition; that he holds the principles of this Church, as to its spiritual independence, and the duties of nations and rulers in reference to true religion and the Church of Christ; and the Presbytery shall not agree to the motion on behalf of the Student, unless his residence during the year preceding has been chiefly within their bounds; or he shall produce sufficient testimonials from the Pesbytery within whose bounds he has chiefly resided during that term, bearing that his character is such as is described above, and recommending him in those respects to the Presbytery before whom the proposal is made, as a proper person to be taken upon trials.

3. If, after these preliminary steps have been taken, the Presbytery shall be of opinion that the Student is duly qualified in these several particulars, they shall record this opinion in their minutes, and order their Clerk to write letters to the several Presbyteries within the bounds of the Provincial Synod, two calendar months at least before the meeting of the same, informing them of the Presbytery's intention to take the Student upon trials, and bearing that the requisite certificate or certificates have been regularly laid before them. When, however, a Student resides within the bounds of such Synods as meet only once a-year, he shall be entitled to have these circular letters written half-a-year sooner than would be otherwise competent.

4. If a Student (according to regulations, § 5) have studied either in whole or in part at Protestant Universities which are not within the bounds of this Church, he shall, when he is proposed to any Presbytery for trials, be required to produce satisfactory testimonials from the Professors of Divinity in said Universities; and the time which these Professors shall certify to have been employed by him in studying divinity under their tuition shall be computed in the same manner as if he had prosecuted his studies in any of the Colleges within the bounds of this Church. But no Student, in such circumstances, shall be proposed for trials sooner than six calendar months after his arrival in Scotland.

§ 7. Application to the Provincial Synod,

1. The General Assembly ordain, that if a Presbytery propose to take a Student upon trials, and have, with that view, written the circular letters, as is herein required, public intimation thereof shall be made at some diet of the next meeting of the Provincial Synod, which shall not be the last diet thereof.

2. The Presbytery Clerk is hereby required to transmit to the Synod Clerk an extract of the minute containing the record of the particulars relative to the Student's certificates directed to be recorded, in order that the same may be produced at this diet of Synod, it being provided that the certificates themselves shall also be produced and laid on the table, and that it shall be competent to the Synod to remit said certificates to a committee of their number, to examine and report upon them. If, in any case, the Presbytery Clerk shall fail to transmit the extract above mentioned, the Student may produce to the Synod, by himself or by any member of the Court, the extract which, by this Act, he is entitled to obtain.

3. It is also hereby ordained, that at some subsequent diet of the Synod, particular inquiry shall be made whether any of the members of the Court have any objections to offer against the Student being taken upon trials, and that the Synod then, taking into consideration the extract produced, and the whole of the case, shall judge of the expediency of allowing the Presbytery to admit the Student on trials.

§ 8. Trials by the Presbytery.

1. If the Synod shall allow the Student to be taken on trials, the Presbytery shall proceed therein with all convenient speed; and the Assembly appoints the following trials to be taken of the Student, and in order herein mentioned, provided always that no part of the examination of a Student shall be commenced by a Presbytery until the last session of his theological course shall have been concluded, and until he shall produce to the Presbytery a certificate of his having passed satisfactorily an examination upon his previous studies, by the Board of Examination appointed by the General Assembly.

(a.) The Presbytery shall examine the Student, strictly and privately, on his knowledge of the Greek and Latin languages, and of philosophy and theology.

(6.) The following written exercises, on subjects prescribed by the Presbytery shall be delivered :—(1.) An exegesis in Latin or English, or some controverted head in divinity; (2.) A homily in English; (3.) An exercise and addition; (4.) A lecture on some large portion of Scripture; (5.) A popular sermon.

If

the Presbytery see cause, they may examine the Student upon the subject of these several discourses.

(c.) Catechetic trials in divinity, chronology, and Church history, and a trial on the Hebrew and Greek languages.

2. The Student having gone through the several trials above mentioned, the Presbytery are ordained to proceed in the following order :—

(a.) They shall deliberately and seriously take a conjunct view of the whole trials, and if they shall be of opinion that the Student is not properly qualified to perform the duties incumbent upon a preacher of the Gospel, they shall by no means grant him a licence in his present circumstances.

(b.) If, upon this review of his trials, the Presbytery are fully satisfied therewith, they shall record this opinion in their minutes. (c.) The Presbytery shall then propose to the Student the questions that are appointed to be put to all who pass trials, by Act XII., Assembly 1846, and require him to subscribe the Formula which is prescribed by said Act. And the General Assembly strictly prohibit all Presbyteries from licensing any Student to preach the Gospel who shall not give explicit and satisfactory answers to these questions, and subscribe the said Formula.

(d.) The Presbytery shall appoint their Moderator to license the Student to preach the Gospel, and order the Clerk to furnish him with an extract of his licence.

3. The General Assembly enact and declare, that, at the request of the Student, it shall be competent to any Presbytery to transfer the receiving of the trials, or any part thereof, certifying to the Presbytery to which the transference is to be made, that the various preliminary steps have been taken according to the directions of this Act; and that such parts of the public and private trials as have been already gone through have been received with approbation.

THE New College, Edinburgh, was the first of the Colleges instituted in connection with the Free Church. The idea was originally entertained of making provision for classes in Arts as well as in Theology; and accordingly, in 1844, Mr. Patrick C. MacDougall was appointed Professor of Moral Philosophy; the Rev. John Miller was appointed Classical Tutor; a Mathematical Class was taught by Rev. John Wallace, and in the following year the Rev. Alexander C. Fraser was appointed Professor of

Logic. In connection with these arrangements, the order of studies was practically altered (though the change was not made imperative) so as to give effect to the view long cherished by Dr. Chalmers, that Logic and Ethics should follow the Mathematical and Physical Sciences in the order of study, instead of preceding them. The provision thus made for classes in Arts was due, in a great measure, to the fact that at that time the tests imposed on Professors in the Universities were of such a kind, and so applied, as to exclude members of the Free Church from all the Chairs. When the University tests were abolished, and both Professor MacDougall and Professor Fraser were elected to corresponding Chairs in the University of Edinburgh (1853, 1857), this extended platform was abandoned, and the efforts of the Church were concentrated upon Theological training exclusively.

No time was lost in procuring premises, which, though inadequate to the full development of the contemplated system, were sufficient for temporary accommodation. These premises were in George Street, and the business of the College was conducted there until 1850. Subscriptions having been obtained to warrant the erection of a building on a scale suited to the object, a very eligible site at the head of the Mound was secured. Plans by W. H. Playfair, Esq., were prepared and adopted, and the new building was proceeded with. Dr. Chalmers, as Principal, laid the foundation-stone on the 4th of June, 1846, exactly one year previous to the day on which his remains were consigned to the tomb. The structure was completed in four years, and was opened on 6th November, 1850, under the sanction of the Commission of the General Assembly, by their Moderator, Dr. N. Paterson, who delivered a sermon, and also a special address to the Professors and Students. The cost, including the price of the site (£10,000) amounted to £46,506, 8s. 10d. The building fund was begun by one contributor giving £2000, and twentyone others giving £1000 each.

The building contains accommodation for seven classes, together with a Library, Museum, Senate Hall, and Students' Hall. A report of the proceedings at the laying of the foundationstone of the College was printed as an appendix to the College Report of 1847, which contains the address then delivered by Dr. Chalmers. Subsequently, the Sermon delivered by Dr. Paterson on the inauguration of the College, and the introductory lectures delivered on the same occasion in their several Classes by Professors Cunningham, Buchanan, Bannerman, Duncan, Black, MacDougall, Fraser, and Fleming, were published in a volume which was issued as a record of the event.