PRESBYTERIANS. 



701 



Centennial of the General Assembly. The 

 centennial anniversary of the organization of 

 the General Assembly in America was cele- 

 brated in Philadelphia during the session of 

 the Northern General Assembly by special 

 popular meetings in behalf of the several be- 

 nevolent enterprises of the Church and by a 

 series of meetings throughout the day of May 

 24, in which both the Northern and South- 

 ern General Assemblies participated. The 

 Southern General Assembly had been invit- 

 ed by the Northern body to join with it in 

 the celebration, and was met by it May 23 

 at Overbrook, on the Baltimore Railroad, 

 where both bodies were addressed by Presi- 

 dent Cleveland. The meetings of May 24 were 

 held in the morning, afternoon, and even- 

 ing at the Academy of Music and Horticultural 

 Hall, and were presided over severally by the 

 Moderator of the Southern General Assembly, 

 Justice William Strong, of the United States 

 Supreme Court. Gov. A. M. Scales, of North 

 Carolina, the Moderator of the Northern Gen- 

 eral Assembly, the Hon. J. L. Marye, of Fred- 

 ericksburg. Va., and Gov. J. A. Beaver, of 

 Pennsylvania. Addresses were delivered by 

 the Rev. T. L. Cuyler, D. D., on the " History 

 of Presbyterianism " ; Rev. T. D. Witherspoon, 

 D. D., on "The Work of Presbyterianism for 

 the Future " ; Hon. J. R. Tucker, on " The 

 Adaptation of Presbvterianism to the Masses " ; 

 Rev. S. J. IfcPhereoo, D. D., on "Presbyte- 

 rianism and Education " : Hon. J. S. Cothran, 

 M. 0.. on "Calvinism and Human Progr 

 Hon. S. J. McMillan, on " Presbyterianism and 

 Republican Government"; Rev. G. P. Hays, 

 1). D., LL. D., on " Home Missions " ; Rev. M. 

 H. Houston, D. D., on " Foreign Missions " ; 

 Rev. C. J. Thompson, D. D., on "Historic 

 Presbyterian Characters"; Rev. W. C. P. 

 Breckinridge, on "Calvinism"; Rev. Howard 

 Crosby. D.I)., LL. D., on "Presbyterianism 

 and Biblical Scholarship"; Rev. John Hall, 

 D. D., and Mr. M. K. Jessup, on " The Neces- 

 sity of City Evangelization"; Rev. M. O. 

 Hodge, D. D., on "The Methods of City Evan- 

 gelization''; Rev. Samuel J. Niccolls, D. D., 

 on "Preaching to the Masses"; Hon. B. H. 

 Young, on ' Lay Effort among the Masses " ; 

 Rev. W. W. Moore. D. D., on ' Home Mis- 

 sions " : Rev. C. S. Pomeroy, D. D., on " The 

 "Work of the Presbyterian Church in Foreign 

 Fields"; and the Rev. W. P. Breed, D. D., 

 closing the proceedings. 



Committees on Organic Union. The com- 

 mittees appointed by the Northern and South- 

 ern General Assemblies of 1888 to consider 

 the question of fraternal co-operation in Chris- 

 tian work met in New York city, December 28, 

 and, after several conferences, they adjourned 

 to meet again in Atlanta. Ga., April 24, 1889. 



Presbyterian Synod of Brazil. A Synod of 

 Brazil was organized at a meeting of the three 

 missionary presbyteries of the Presbyterian 

 Church in the United States, which was held 

 in Rio Janeiro for that purpose, in the last 



week in August and the first week in Septem- 

 ber. The Rev. Dr. Alexander L. Blackford, 

 the oldest missionary, was chosen moderator, 

 and a native minister was made stated clerk. 

 The Westminster Confession and Catechism 

 and the Book of Order of the Southern Presby- 

 terian Church, with slight modifications, were 

 adopted as standards. Fraternal delegates from 

 the Northern Presbyterian Church were pres- 

 ent, and greetings were received from the 

 Council of the Presbyterian Alliance in Lon- 

 don and the General Synod of the Reformed 

 Church in America. The subjects of revising 

 the Portuguese translation of the Scriptures 

 and of forming an alliance with all other Eng- 

 lish-speaking missionary churches were re- 

 ferred to special committees. The new synod 

 has 50 churches, 19 missionaries. 12 native min- 

 isters. 22 church schools, 2 high-schools, 13 

 women teachers and missionaries, 30 native as- 

 sistants, and 3,000 communicants. A society 

 of national missions already existed in two 

 of the presbyteries. The next meeting of the 

 Synod was appointed to be held in 1891. 



United Christian Church of Japan. Negotia- 

 tions have been conducted for the constitution of 

 the " United Christian Church of Japan," by the 

 union of the Presbyterian, Reformed, and Con- 

 gregational Mission Churches in that country. 

 The doctrinal basis of this Church will consist 

 of the Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed, 

 with which are associated the special Confes- 

 sions of the Presbyterian, Reformed, and Con- 

 gregational Churches, all being held subordinate 

 to the Bible. In the system of government the 

 Presbyterian elder and the Congregational com- 

 mitttee-man are equally recognized, to be or- 

 dained for a definite time as the congregation 

 may designate; the elders recommend candi- 

 dates for admission, who are to be received or 

 dismissed by a vote of the Church : and speci- 

 fied powers are delegated to bodies correspond- 

 ing with the presbytery and assembly or confer- 

 ence and national council. The new Chnrch 

 organization will include about 11,000 mem- 

 bers. 



III. United Presbyterian Chnrrti in >'orth America. 

 The statistics of this Church, presented to 

 the General Assembly in May. show that it in- 

 cludes 10 synods, 61 presbyteries, 753 minis- 

 ters, 3,580 elders, and 98,992 members. The 

 contributions of Sunday-school and missionary 

 societies for the year amounted to $1.019,937. 



The General Assembly met in Cedar Rapids, 

 Iowa, May 23. The Rev. Dr. W. T. Maloney 

 was chosen moderator. The Committee on 

 Union with the Reformed Presbyterian Church 

 reported that the negotiations on that subject 

 had been without result, and that union as yet 

 appeared impracticable. The point of differ- 

 ence on which the negotiations broke was the 

 toleration of participation by members of the 

 Church in political action under a government 

 which does not recognize the headship of 

 Christ to which the Reformed Presbyterian 

 Church is opposed, while the United Presby- 



