PRESBYTERIANS. 



555 



the Testimony faithfully maintained by all. The 

 article is not to be construed so as to exclude from 

 the Church the membership of all such societies 

 as are not bound by oath or ailirrnatiori or do not 

 pledge to secrecy things unknown, or inculcate a 

 Christian religion. In the administration of this 

 article, as of others of the Testimony, sessions 

 possess the right to exercise a wise discretion in 

 dealing with such cases as may arise on their 

 merits and in such a way as may best promote the 

 glory of God and the edification of the Church. 

 It is supposed that sessions are composed of men 

 of understanding, and that they are acquainted 

 with the principles and are faithful to the trust 

 committed to them as officers of the Church. 

 They may safely be trusted in the exercise of this 

 power as courts of the Church, being, of course, 

 responsible for the manner in which they exercise 

 this discretion." The overture to repeal that part 

 of the Confession of Faith referring to marriage 

 with a deceased wife's. sister having received a ma- 

 jority of the votes of the presbyteries, the Assem- 

 bly declared the Confession so amended. It was 

 represented in the report of the Freedmen's mis- 

 sions that the increase by profession of faith had 

 been more than three times as large as in the 

 previous year; that the liberality of the people 

 was increasing and they were making commend- 

 able efforts toxvard self-support, the average per 

 member having been one-third larger than then. 

 The Assembly, holding that evangelization was 

 more vital than secular education, approved the 

 policy of establishing churches among these peo- 

 ple; it further instructed the board to embody in 

 its report a statistical table of the educational 

 work among them. In the matter of foreign mis- 

 sions, the Sudan was constituted a distinct mis- 

 sion, and $5,075 were appropriated for its use in 

 the present year; steps were authorized for the in- 

 corporation of Asyut College, Egypt, and the 

 Gordon Mission College in Rawal Pindi, with 

 power to confer academic degrees; and the board 

 was authorized to commission teachers and other 

 helpers as missionaries, but without the right 

 of membership in the Missionary Association. A 

 minute of the Assembly on the subject of increas- 

 ing the contributions of the Church recommended 

 that each presbytery, at its next meeting, hold a 

 conference on the work of the several boards and 

 adopt a plan for increasing the interest of congre- 

 gations in it; that pastors and sessions arrange 

 a service in the interest of this work once a quar- 

 ter during the coming year; that they make a spe- 

 cial effort to secure from each member a con- 

 tribution, and make a proportionate distribution 

 of the funds according to the appropriations of 

 the General Assembly; that the boards, acting 

 jointly, prepare a program to be suggested for the 

 services to be held by congregations; and that 

 work be begun at once, and earnestly continued 

 through the year. The subject of making de- 

 sired changes in the membership covenant was 

 referred to a special committee to report to the 

 next meeting of the General Assembly. 



IV. Reformed Presbyterian Church Synod. 

 The statistical tables of this body for 1901 

 give it 112 congregations, 10 mission stations, 

 125 ministers, 20 licentiates, 7 theological stu- 

 dents, 9,733 communicants, 10,489 pupils in Sab- 

 bath-schools, and 2,264 members of Young Peo- 

 ple's Societies. 



The Synod met in Pittsburg, Pa., May 29. The 

 Rev. D. C. Martin, of Pittsburg, was chosen mod- 

 erator. Reports were made by the Boards of 

 Home and Foreign Missions and Church Exten- 

 sion recording advance during the year. The 

 interest-bearing funds of the Church amounted to 



$295,220, and were invesie<l at :> |,<T cent. Reso- 

 lutions were passed condemning tin- liquor traffic 

 arid the tobacco habit, and exhorting i.ii- dir>u*t: of 

 tobacco by member* ot the *. .'lunch; ui^in^ tlu; 

 President and Congress to secure improved moral 

 conditions in districts under imlihuy ml,-; U p. 

 proving the effort to secure uniformity in t!, Di- 

 vorce laws throughout the United SI. lie--, in i-t- 

 ing upon regard for the sanctity of the Sa'uliath, 

 and advising members to refuse to attend the I', in' 

 American Exhibition at Buffalo, N. Y., be-ini^e 

 of its being open on Sunday; and condemning 

 labor organizations as commonly conducted, hut 

 expressing sympathy with efforts to improve th< 

 condition of the working men. On the subject of 

 psalmody the Synod advised " the ministers and 

 members of the witnessing Church " to maintain 

 " unflinching fidelity, as in the past, to the divine 

 injunction given by the Redeemer himself to the 

 Church of Thyatira ' That which ye have hold 

 fast till I come.' " Delegates were appointed to 

 attend the Psalmody Convention in Ireland in the 

 summer of 1902. A committee was appointed to 

 formulate a plan for the more equitable distribu- 

 tion of home mission and church extension funds 

 to churches applying for aid. A petition to Con- 

 gress was adopted asking for the repeal of the 

 Chinese exclusion laws. In it the Synod ex- 

 pressed acquiescence in the exceptions made in the 

 emigration laws with reference to paupers, per- 

 sons afflicted with infectious diseases, anarchists, 

 and all who are hostile to the Government, but 

 pronounced it " exceedingly unjust and wrong to 

 discriminate against the people of any one nation 

 alone." A delegate from the Christian Reformed 

 Church in America was received, and a committee 

 was appointed to confer with a like committee 

 of that body, with reference to closer relations. 

 A report was brought in to the effect that holding 

 office under the United States, where no immoral 

 oath is required, does not in itself constitute a 

 sin, but warning the Church that discharging the 

 duties of the office might be sinful. Action on 

 this paper was deferred till the next year. Ap- 

 propriations of $39,500 were made for mission 

 work. 



V. Cumberland Presbyterian Church. The 

 following is a summary of the statistics of this 

 Church as they were reported to the General As- 

 sembly in May, 1901: Number of synods, 16; of 

 presbyteries, 122; of ministers, 1,586; of licen- 

 tiates, 237; of candidates, 231; of churches, 2,963; 

 of elders, 10,495; of deacons, 4,136; of mem- 

 bers, 182,449; of additions during the year by 

 examination, 9,022; of members of Sunday- 

 schools, 104,996; of baptisms during the year, 

 5,956 of adults and 1,470 of infants; value of 

 church property, $4,267,561. Amount of contribu- 

 tions: For home missions, $8,557; for special mis- 

 sions, $5,078; for church erection, $2,849; for for- 

 eign missions, $14,445; for the Woman's Board of 

 Missions, $19,434; for education, $11,788; for 

 ministerial relief, $10,939; for local and presby- 

 terial missions, $7,863; for the Children's Day 

 fund, $3,024; for synodical church extension, 

 $20,278; for building and repairing churches, etc., 

 $243,923; for pastoral support, $389,695; miscel- 

 laneous contributions, $89,630. 



The Board of Ministerial Relief had received 

 $10,940, of which $2,220 had been added to the 

 Permanent fund, and $8,720 had been available for 

 the aid of 56 ministers and 49 widows of minis- 

 ters. The Board of Publication returned $5,107 

 net profits and nearly $1,000 received by gift and 

 otherwise. From these moneys $3,769 had been ap- 

 plied to the reduction of the debt, which had 

 been further diminished by the proceeds from the 



