554: 



PRESBYTERIANS. 



coming up by way of appeal or complaint, from a 

 lower to a higher court, shall be tried by com- 

 mission without consent of parties; and in such 

 cases, no member of a lower court who took part 

 in the trial below shall be appointed on the com- 

 mission. The ordination of probationers shall 

 not be committed to a commission except in 

 cases in which the presbytery shall have examined 

 them and passed upon their fitness therefor." 



Agreements had been made a few weeks before 

 the meeting of the General Assembly, between the 

 trustees of those institutions respectively, for the 

 consolidation of Centre College, Danville, Ky., of 

 the Northern Church, and Central University, 

 Richmond, Ky., of the Southern Church, into a 

 single institution to be known as the Central Uni- 

 versity of Kentucky; and of the Theological Semi- 

 nary at Danville, Ky., of the Northern Church, 

 and that at Louisville, Ky., of the Southern 

 Church (Synods of Kentucky and Missouri), into 

 a seminary to be called the Presbyterian Theo- 

 logical Seminary of Kentucky. On April 23, the 

 synods interested in these institutions, the two 

 synods of Kentucky (North and South), and the 

 Synod of Missouri (South), had met in special 

 session and given their sanction to the consolida- 

 tions. The subject was brought before the As- 

 sembly which decided that it would interpose no 

 bar to the union, but gave assent to it, leaving the 

 entire responsibility thereof to the synods of Ken- 

 tucky and Missouri. An Executive Committee of 

 Ministerial Relief was instituted to take oversight 

 of the whole work, including the administration 

 of a relief fund for meeting the pressing needs of 

 disabled ministers, and those of the families of 

 deceased ministers. For collecting money for the 

 purposes of this fund, the Assembly proposed reli- 

 ance upon church collections, to be taken in July; 

 " ministers' rates," or the payment of small sums 

 annually by ministers who may be disposed to 

 do so, and gifts and bequests to constitute an 

 endowment. An ad interim Committee of Home 

 Missions was designated, to be composed of the 

 chairmen of the synodical committees of home 

 missions, with instructions to take into considera- 

 tion the whole matter of the home mission work 

 of the Church, " in order to devise," if they " find 

 it practicable, a more efficient plan of home mis- 

 sion work, and report the result to the next As- 

 sembly for its action." A department of Sab- 

 bath-schools and Young People's Societies was 

 established. The action of the Assembly upon 

 colored evangelization emphasized the duty of the 

 Church toward the colored people, and suggested 

 local organizations for work among them, and 

 for the forcible presentation of the cause to the 

 people. An order of the previous General Assem- 

 bly directing the insertion of a footnote at the 

 proper place in the Confession of Faith affirming 

 that the Church does not teach the damnation 

 of infants was rescinded. A catechism on The 

 Church, prepared by a committee appointed for 

 that purpose, was referred to the presbyteries for 

 criticism. 



III. United Presbyterian Church in North 

 America. The following is a summary of the 

 statistics of this Church as reported to the Gen- 

 eral Assembly of 1901: Number of synods, 13; 

 of presbyteries, 68; of ministers, 1,017, of whom 

 714 are enrolled as " pastors and stated supplies "; 

 of licentiates, 84 ; of licensures, 37 ; of students of 

 theology, 68; of ruling elders, 3,908; of congrega- 

 tions, 995, of which 827 are provided with pas- 

 tors and stated supplies; of mission stations in 

 America, 32; of mission stations in the foreign 

 field, 615; of new stations formed during the 

 year, 15; of houses of worship erected, 20, at a 



total cost of $183,000; of parsonages, 350; of 

 members in America, 116,934; in the whole 

 Church, including the mission fields, 130,447; of 

 members received on profession, 7,158; of bap- 

 tisms, 4,163 of infants and 1,546 of adults; of Sab- 

 bath-schools, 1,208, with 12,989 officers and teach- 

 ers and 120,032 scholars, returning contributions 

 of $109,446; of Young People's Societies, 1,057, 

 with 41,966 members. Amounts of contributions 

 in America: For salaries of ministers, $616,789; 

 for congregational purposes, $627,282; for the 

 boards, $343,411; for general purposes, $139,398; 

 total for America, according to the footing of the 

 table, $1,726,880; total for the whole Church, 

 $1,751,291; average per member in America, $14.- 

 89; average salary of pastors in America, $1,009. 



At the forty-second annual meeting of the Gen- 

 eral Committee of Home Missions, May 15 to 22, 

 applications for aid were presented from 241 sta- 

 tions, asking for $104,413. Appropriations of 

 $100,550 were madfi. Investigation was directed 

 to be made with reference to work among the 

 mountain whites of the South. 



The permanent fund of the Board of Ministerial 

 Relief amounted to $116,090, an increase of $9,890 

 accruing from a bequest. Sixty beneficiaries had 

 been aided. A special provision has been made for 

 ministers who have reached the age of seventy 

 years and have been engaged in the pastorate 

 thirty years or more. 



The report of the Woman's Board of Missions 

 mentioned extension of its work in India and 

 Egypt. The year's receipts of the board had been 

 $75,805. The sum of $39,618 had been contributed 

 as thank-offerings. 



The forty-third General Assembly met at Des 

 Moines, Iowa, May 22. The Rev. J. A. Thompson, 

 D. D., president of Tarkio College, was chosen 

 moderator. The Committee on the Fifteenth Ar- 

 ticle of the Testimony, on secret, oath-bound so- 

 cieties, reported that they had not found any ex- 

 tended desire for a change in the article. All that 

 was required was a deliverance by the Assembly 

 as to the proper application of the article in its ad- 

 ministration, giving to sessions a certain degree 

 of discretion, as in the administration of other 

 parts of the standards. The minute adopted by 

 the Assembly recites that " in view of the exist- 

 ing diversity in the interpretation of the fifteenth 

 article of the Testimony and in the application 

 of it by sessions in the admission of members of 

 secret orders, and in view of the general multipli- 

 cation of these orders, and of their diversity in 

 purpose and character, the Assembly adopts the 

 following as expressive of the mind of the Church 

 on the subject. The fifteenth article of the Tes- 

 timony continues to express the general sentiment 

 of the Church, and is hereby affirmed. Members 

 of the Church of Christ ought not to have fellow- 

 ship in associations which bind their members by 

 oath or affirmation to obey obligations, and to im- 

 moral secrecy, or which establish a fraternal fel- 

 lowship among men subversive of the unity of 

 the body of Christ. It is especially obligatory 

 upon Christians to stand aloof from the- societies 

 which by their moral teachings and religious 

 ritual foster a belief in the salvability of men 

 apart from the mediation of Christ. We condemn 

 such organizations as most dishonoring to our 

 Lord and injurious to men, and persons who, with 

 knowledge of the truth concerning them, wilfully 

 adhere to such associations shall not be received 

 into church-membership. All such societies are 

 included in the phrase of the Testimony " incon- 

 sistent with the genius and spirit of Christianity." 

 The entire contents and bearing of the article 

 should be emphasized in the pulpit teaching, and 



