Preface.

The following address was delivered by the Rev. Dr. Black, of Inverness, at the last meeting of the General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland, on the subject of the Sustentation Fund of that Church. The address is such an excellent one, that our Sustentation Fund Committee has decided on circulating it among our congregations, with the view of exciting a greater interest in the Sustentation Fund of our Church, and of placing before our congregations the great claims which it has on their sympathy and assistance. It is feared that the objects of the Fund are not so generally understood by our members and adherents as they ought to be, and it is hoped that this full and clear statement will have the effect of making these better known, and of exciting greater interest in support of this great Fund of our Church, on which the maintenance of the means of grace throughout our Province almost entirely depends.