636 



PRESBYTERIANS. 



PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 



Rev. Professor Henry Calderwood was chosen 

 moderator. The committee, to whom certain 

 protests in the case of the Rev. Fergus Fergu- 

 son (which largely occupied the attention of 

 the Synod of 1879) were referred, reported 

 that, while it would have preferred another 

 course of action on the part of the Glasgow 

 Presbytery (south) in the way of preliminary 

 inquiry, it would recommend that the decision 

 of the Presbytery, declining to institute a new 

 prosecution against Mr. Ferguson, be sustained 

 as competent. The Synod voted that, without 

 expressing any opinion on the doctrines that 

 are supposed to be involved in the protest and 

 appeal, it would adopt the report of the com- 

 mittee and dismiss the case. The committee 

 on disestablishment and disendowment made 

 a report in which it said that "it is probable 

 that in no former year has the cause of dises- 

 tablishment made more substantial advance." 

 The Synod adopted the report, and recom- 

 mended that a petition be presented to Parlia- 

 ment in favor of disestablishment. The ques- 

 tion respecting the attitude which the Church 

 should maintain with reference to marriage 

 with a deceased wife's sister was discussed. 

 The Synod decided, by a vote of 145 to 118, to 

 adhere " meanwhile " to the existing practice 

 of the Church. A resolution was passed con- 

 demning social drinking usages, especially at 

 funerals and ordination dinners, declaring in 

 favor of the earlier closing of public-houses, 

 and approving a petition to Parliament against 

 the Contagious Diseases Acts. Twelve deputies 

 were appointed to represent the Church at the 

 Presbyterian and Reformed Council to be held 

 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in July, 1880. 



IX. PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 

 The following is a summary of the statistics of 

 this Church as they were reported to the Synod 

 in May, 1880: number of Presbyteries, 10; of 

 congregations, 268 ; of ministers, 249 ; of com- 

 municants, 54,259 ; of Sunday-school teachers, 

 6,252, with 60,775 scholars; of day-schools, 

 87, with 6,780 children. 



X. PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND. The 

 General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church 

 in Ireland met at Belfast, June 7th. The Rev. 

 Jackson Smith, D. D., of Armagh, was chosen 

 moderator. The question of the use of instru- 

 mental music in public worship was brought 

 up under the form of a resolution which was 

 introduced for the appointment of a commis- 

 sion to look after the subject; and, in the 

 event of disobedience to the laws of the As- 

 sembly by the introduction of instruments, to 

 bring to discipline the ministers disobeying. 

 This was lost by a vote of 250 to 263, and the 

 question was remitted to the Presbyteries for 

 another year. Remark was made upon the 

 action of the late Government of the United 

 Kingdom in announcing, just before the gen- 

 eral election, that it was about to grant a char- 

 ter to enable the united faculties of the Pres- 

 byterian colleges in Belfast and Derry to confer 

 degrees in theology. Many members of the 



Assembly were of the opinion that the an- 

 nouncement was designed as a trick to gain 

 the votes of Presbyterians at the election. In 

 connection with the subject of the privilege 

 of conferring degrees, the action of the Com- 

 mittee of Education, in calling the attention of 

 the Government to the inconvenience under 

 which the Presbyterian Church lies in the mat- 

 ter as compared with the Episcopal Church, 

 was approved; the committee was reappointed 

 and directed to press the matter upon the at- 

 tention of the Government. A resolution was 

 considered, to lie on the table for one year, 

 providing that theological students may attend 

 any of the theological colleges of churches 

 which accept the Westminster Confession and 

 Catechism. The report of the sustentation 

 fund showed that its receipts for the year had 

 been 26,076, or 1,361 more than those of 

 the previous year. The expenses of the Irish 

 mission for the year had been 3,272, and its 

 income had been a little less. Connected with 

 the missions were 39 schools in Connaught, 

 with 46 teachers and 1,463 pupils. 



The income for foreign missions for the year 

 had been 9,200. Six European missionaries, 

 ten evangelists, and twenty-five teachers, were 

 employed in connection with the mission in 

 India. 



XI. WELSH CALVINISTIC METHODIST CHURCH. 

 The following is a summary of the statistics 

 of this Church as they were reported to the 

 General Assembly in July, 1880: Number of 

 churches, 1,115; of places of worship, 1,319; 

 of ministers, 591 ; of preachers, 329 ; of com- 

 municants, 118,036; of Sunday-school teach- 

 ers, 21,605; of children in Sunday-schools, 

 155,159. The report of the Foreign Mission- 

 ary Society gave the following statistics : Num- 

 ber of churches, 29 ; of places of worship, 54; 

 of church-members, 1,659. 



PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

 The " Church Almanac " gives the following sta- 

 tistics : Number of dioceses, 48 ; of missionary 

 districts (including Africa, China, and Japan), 

 15 ; of bishops, 64 ; of bishops-elect, 2 ; of 

 priests and deacons, 3,366 ; whole number of 

 clergy, 3,432; number of parishes, about 3,- 

 000 ; number of baptisms in forty-seven di- 

 oceses, and thirteen missionary districts, 46,- 

 582 ; number of confirmations in forty-seven 

 dioceses and thirteen missionary districts, 25,- 

 632 ; number of communicants in forty-eight 

 dioceses and thirteen missionary districts, 338,- 

 333; number of Sunday-school teachers in forty- 

 six dioceses and nine missionary districts, 31,- 

 614; number of scholars in Sunday-schools in 

 forty-seven dioceses and twelve missionary dis- 

 tricts, 297,407. Amount of contributions in 

 forty-five dioceses and twelve missionary dis- 

 tricts, $6,727,043. 



The following is a summary of the statistics 

 of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the 

 United States, as they are given in Whittaker's 

 "Protestant Episcopal Almanac and Direc- 

 tory " for 1881 : 



