COXGEEGATIONALISTS. 



185 



399. There had also been received and ex- 

 pended for the relief of suffering, occasioned 

 chiefly by famine in central Turkey, $31,095. 

 The following is the General Summary of 

 the Missions of the Board in Asia Minor, 

 China, Africa, the Pacific Islands, Mexico, 

 Spain, Austria, European Turkey, India, Cey- 

 lon, and Japan : 



GENERAL SUMMARY, 1S37-1---. 



Missions 22 



Stations 90 



Out-stations f'60 



Places for stated preaching 1.12*5 



Average congregations 61.183 



Adherents 100,914 



Ordained missionaries (11 being physi- 

 cians) .". .. 167 



Physicians not ordained 12 



Other male assistants 11 



Women 2r2 



Whole number of laborers sent from 



this country 472 



Xative pastors 166 



Other native helpers 1.969 2,135 



"Whole number of laborers 2.C07 



Pages printed 13,650.1'KW 



Churches 836 



Church-members 80,546 



Added during the year 4,383 



Whole number from the first, as nearly as can be 



learned ." 105,477 



Theological seminaries and station-classes 17 



Pupils 261 



Colleges and hteh-schools 59 



Boarding-schools for girls 50 



Common schools 



Whole number under instruction 42.7*3 



Native contributions $124.^71 



Among the incidents showing advance in the 

 various mission fields were the gradual eleva- 

 tion of the standards in the theological semina- 

 ries at Marsovan, Harpoot, andMarash, Asiatic 

 Turkey, for adaptation to the growing needs 

 of the field and to the better class of candi- 

 dates furnished by the colleges ; the proclama- 

 tions that had been issued in many provinces 

 of China describing the missionaries as teach- 

 ers of virtue, and their intiuence as helpful to 

 the state, and enjoining upon the people to 

 refrain from violence and live with them as 

 hosts and guests ; the restoration of the rights 

 of the missionaries in Micronesia, which had 

 been disturbed by the Spanish occupation 

 while the German occupation of the Marshall 

 Islands had but slightly affected the condition 

 of the work there; the dedication of a church 

 at Sofia, Bulgaria; and the discussion of a prop- 

 osition for a union of the Congregational and 

 Presbyterian churches in Japan. The Home 

 for missionary children at Auburndale, Mass., 

 had a fund of $18,500, and had accommodated 

 several missionary families for longer or shorter 

 periods, as well as missionary children not 

 otherwise provided for. 



A report from the committee on the codifi- 

 cation of the rules and by-laws of the board, 

 which had been appointed in the preceding 

 year, was received and adopted. Included in 

 it were various propositions of amendments, 

 which were arranged in two classes : first, 

 snch as were necessary to make the by-laws 

 conform to law and usage ; and, second, such 

 as experience had indicated for convenient 

 working. Among those of the latter class 



were one making the number of corporate 

 members 250 instead of " 200 active mem 1 

 and striking out the word %i active"; one mak- 

 ing all nominations, except the appointment 

 of the nominating committee, subject to the 

 approval of the board; and others, fixing the 

 number of members of the Prudential Com- 

 mittee at ten ; designating three correspond- 

 ing and recording, and assistant recording sec- 

 retaries, instead of ''secretaries" simply; 

 providing for the appointment by the Pru- 

 dential Committee of an editorial secretary ; 

 and changing the number of corporate members 

 who may demand a special meeting from seven 

 to twenty-five. A committee of fifteen was 

 appointed 



To consider the relation of the board to the churches 

 and individuals who make the board their missionary 

 agent, and the expediency, in view of the facts which 

 they may ascertain, of securing a closer union be- 

 tween tliem, and especially including the subject of 

 the selection of corporate' members, and that this 

 committee be instructed to report such action, if any, 

 as they may deem wise in this direction, at a subse- 

 quent annual meeting of the board. 



Ordination of William H. Xoyes and the Doctrine 

 of Future Probation. The points of doctrine in- 

 volved in what is called the " Andover Case '' 

 (see Annual Cyclopaedia" for 1886 and 1887, 

 article " Congregationalists "j was again made 

 a subject of public attention in October by the 

 action of a council held with the Berkeley 

 Street Church, Boston, in ordaining the Rev. 

 William II. Xoyes to be a missionary. Mr. Xoyes 

 was one of the young men who had offered their 

 services to the American Board in 1886. and 

 had been rejected on account of his views re- 

 specting u future probation." Twenty - two 

 churches were invited to participate in the 

 council that was called to deliberate on the 

 subject of the ordination, four of which failed 

 to respond. The council met October 22. and 

 was presided over by the Rev. Joseph T. Dur- 

 yea, D. D. After the council had decided, in 

 the face of adverse motions made by oppo- 

 nents of the contemplated measure, to proceed 

 with the business for which it had been called, 

 Mr. Xoyes offered a statement of belief, in 

 which he said respecting " future probation " : 



Ke-rarding future things, I believe that the supreme 

 fact revealed is the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ 

 in glory to the judgment. Christ's judgment will 

 not be "arbitrary, but in righteousness, aecordingto 

 his Gospel. This judgment, I believe, is final. The 

 wicked shall forever depart from God, but the right- 

 eous shall forever live with God. I believe that we 

 shall all stand before the judgment-seat of God and 

 each one of us shall give an account of himself to 

 God, whose servant each one is, and be-fore whom each 

 standeth or falleth. Of the intermediate state I hold 

 nc positive doctrine. I do not know what effect 

 physical death will have upon character. What I 

 dread for my fellow-men is spiritual death. The 

 spirit of God "will not strive with men forever. Then 

 woe is me if I preach not the Gospel at once ! ^ ith 

 the gospel message I believe there go decisive op- 

 portunity and obligation to repent. We simply should 

 BO present his message that men will be saved by it 

 and not lost. Those who do not hear the me;- 

 this life, I trustfullv leave with God. 1 do not claim 

 to know God's method of dealing with them, but I do 



