PRESBYTERIANS. 



705 



"We believe that Almighty God for his own holy 

 and loving ends was plea-sed^ at the beginning to cre- 

 ate the heaven and trie earth, through the Son ? the 

 eternal Word, and through progressive stages to tash- 

 ion and order this world, giving life to every creat- 

 ure, and to make man alter his own image, that he 

 might glorify and enjoy God, occupying and sub- 

 duing the earth, and having dominion over the creat- 

 ures, to the praise of his Maker's name. 



That on the fall of man : 



We believe and confess that our first father Adam, 

 the representative head as well as common ancestor 

 of mankind, transgressed the commandment of God 

 through temptation of the devil, by which trans_rrei- 

 sion he fell, and all mankind in him, from his origi- 

 nal state of innocence and communion with God ; 

 and so all men have come under just condemnation, 

 are subject to the penalty of death, and inherit a sin- 

 ful nature, degenerate in every part, estranged from 

 God, and prone to evil ; out of which condition we 

 acknowledge that no man is able by any means to de- 

 liver himself. 



Concerning the salvation of men, the belief 

 is avowed 



In the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life, 

 who worketli freely as he will, without whose gra- 

 cious influence there is no salvation, and who is 

 never withheld from any who truly ask for him ; 



and 



That every one who, through the quickening grace 

 of the Holy "Spirit, repents and believes the Gospel, 

 confessing'aud forsaking his sins, and humbly relying 

 upon Christ alone for salvation, is freelv pardoned 

 and accepted as righteous in the sight of" God, solely 

 on the ground of Christ's perfect obedience and aton- 

 ing .-Micrifice. 



The doctrine of election is also reiterated in 

 the article : 



We humbly own and believe that God the Father, 

 before the foundation of the wojld, was pleased of his 

 sovereign grace to choose a people unto himself in 

 Christ, whom he gave to the Son that be might bring 

 them unto glory ;" and to those who were thus chosen 

 we believe that 'the Holy Spirit imparts spiritual life 

 by a secret and wonderful operation of his power, 

 using, as his ordinary means, wnere years of under- 

 standing have been reached, the trutns of his Word 

 in ways agreeable to the nature of man ; so that, 

 being born "from above, they are the children of God, 

 and his new creation in Christ Jesus. 



Concerning the Holy Scriptures, it is de- 

 clared : 



We believe that it has pleased God, in addition to 

 the manifestation of his glory in creation and provi- 

 dence, and especially in the spirit of man, to reveal 

 his mind and will to man at successive periods and 

 in various wavs ; and that this revelation has been, 

 so far as needful, committed to writing by men in- 

 spired of the Holy Spirit, and is contained in the 

 Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, which 

 are therefore to be devoutly studied by all ; and we 

 reverently acknowledge the Holy Spirit speaking in 

 the Scriptures as the feupreme Judge in questions of 

 faith ana duty ; 



and concerning the final judgment : 



We believe the Lord will judge the world in right- 

 eousness by Jesus Christ, before whom we must all 

 appear, who shall separate the righteous from the 

 wicked, make manifest the secrets of the heart, and 

 render to every man according to the deeds which he 

 hath done in 'the body, whether good or evil, when 

 the wicked shall go a'way into efernal punishment, 

 but the righteous into eternal life. 

 VOL. xxvni. 45 A 



The document was accepted by the Synod- 

 and sent down by it to the presbyteries for 

 consideration. 



The Committee on the Revision of the West- 

 minster Directory of Worship reported prog- 

 re.-s. having completed the morning service 

 and the evening service, and the service of the 

 administration of baptism. The last will be in 

 two parts, the first for tlie baptism of adults, 

 of which no notice is taken in the Westminster 

 Directory, and the second for the baptism of 

 children. The committee adheres to the plan 

 of a directory as against a prescribed liturgy. 



XI. Presbyterian Chnrth in Ireland. The statis- 

 tical reports of this Church, made to the Gen- 

 eral Assembly in June, give the number of 

 congregations as 557; of families, 79,971; of 

 communicants, 103,499; of stipend - payers. 

 67.965; and of Sabbath schools, 1,099, with 

 9,1 19 teachers and 103,607 pupils. 



The General Assembly met at Belfast, in 

 June. The Rev. R. J. Lynd was chosen modera- 

 tor. The amount of capital invested in the vari- 

 ous departments of the work of the Church was 

 represented in the reports on the subject to be 

 893,640. The proceeds of the invested funds 

 for the year had been 35.542. The donations 

 and bequests had been for missions, 6,808 ; 

 for the Orphan Society, 1,508; for the Sus- 

 tentation fund, 767 ; making in all, 9,083. 

 The annual income of the Church from all 

 sources was therefore 205,106. The Susten- 

 tation fund had made substantial progress, the 

 total increase being 768, and the dividend 

 having increased by l to each minister. In 

 the mission in India, the first two native pas- 

 tors had been ordained over congregations of' 

 converts from heathenism. The report of the 

 Jewish Mission showed progress in Syria. The 

 report of the Committee in Correspondence 

 with the Government showed that, while the 

 claims of Presbyterians for civil appointments 

 had in some measure been successful, they were 

 still suffering from religious disabilities. Reso- 

 lutions were adopted approving of the most 

 decided legislation in behalf of temperance. 



XII. Welsh Calvtnlstir Methodist Chnrch. The 

 General Assembly of the Welsh Calvinistic 

 Methodists met at Merthyr Tydvil, June 4. 

 The Rev. Owen Thomas, D. I)., served as mod- 

 erator. The statistical reports showed that the 

 number of members in Wales and England was 

 13",617, or 1,159 more than in the previous 

 year, and the highest number ever reached by 

 the denomination; the number of hearers was 

 281,073. The whole amount of collections was 

 returned at 198,948. Eight foreign mission- 

 aries had gone out during the year from South 

 Wales. There were 119 churches and preach- 

 ing-stations in the mission on the Khassia Hills, 

 India, with 4,401 members, 5,899 children in the 

 Sunday-schools, and 6,499 in the day schools. 



XHL Presbyterian Alliance. The fourth Gen- 

 eral Council of the Alliance of Reformed 

 Churches holding the Presbyterian system, 

 met in London, July 3. About three hundred 



