PRESBYTERIANS. 



557 



working force; and the estimates for what would 

 be required in the ensuing year considerably ex- 

 ceeded the nearly $90,000 that had been expended 

 upon them during the past year. An assistant 

 superintendent was appointed. The Board of 

 French Evangelization reported concerning 85 

 preaching stations, 12 colportage districts, and 16 

 mission schools. The receipts for foreign missions 

 had been $35,298 for the Committee of the East- 

 ern Section, and $105,513 for the Committee of 

 the Western Section. An additional grant was 

 made by the Assembly for educational work (the 

 college) at Indore, India. Notice was taken of 

 the death of Dr. G. L. MacKay, the pioneer mis- 

 sionary of Formosa. Applications for the relaxa- 

 tion of terms of ministerial qualification in par- 

 ticular cases where special needs were to be met, 

 and for the enactment of a uniform minimum 

 standard of qualification for persons who take 

 part in catechetical work in the mission fields, 

 were referred to special commissioners for con- 

 sideration. Special provisions were made, in view 

 of extraordinary cases seeming to justify such 

 legislation, for giving limited ministerial privi- 

 leges for not less than one year nor more than, 

 three years to persons appointed by the Home 

 Mission Committee with the consent of the pres- 

 byteries in which they are to labor. A scheme for 

 the establishment of reading-camps among lum- 

 bermen was approved. The Committee on Aids to 

 Public Worship in New Fields was instructed to 

 complete its volume and submit it to the next 

 General Assembly for approval. A proposal for 

 tlie appointment of an executive for the whole 

 Church was sent down to the presbyteries as a 

 remit. 



VII. Presbyterian Church in Mexico. The 

 Synod of the Presbyterian Church of Mexico was 

 formally organized as an independent branch of 

 the Presbyterian Church July 8. It is composed 

 of the presbyteries of Zacatecas, the city of Mex- 

 ico, and the Gulf of Mexico, comprising the 

 churches of the Northern Presbyterian Mission, 

 and of Tamaulipas, of the Southern Presbyterian 

 Mission. Systematic Presbyterian mission work 

 in Mexico was begun in 1872, when the Northern 

 Church sent its first missionaries. The Southern 

 Church followed in 1873. The labors of the mis- 

 sionaries have been very successful in gathering 

 converts and training a native ministry. The ex- 

 pediency of consolidating bodies and placing them 

 upon a footing independent of foreign influence 

 had been recognized for some time, and prepara- 

 tions had been gradually making for it. The 

 Northern and Southern General Assemblies of 

 1901 gave their sanction to the movement. The 

 meetings of organization were held in the city 

 of Mexico. The preliminary meeting, July 6, was 

 presided over by the Rev. Thomas F. Wallace, 

 D. D., of Zacatecas, the oldest of the missionaries, 

 and the address of welcome to the members of 

 the Synod was made by Rev. A. Morales, while 

 responses were made by representatives of the 

 general assemblies and other persons. The for- 

 mal organization of the Synod, July 8, was pre- 

 ceded by a discussion of its constituent elements, 

 when it was unanimously determined that the 

 missionaries should be members of the body, on 

 the same footing as the native ministers. The 

 communications of the two general assemblies 

 and the action of the presbyteries approving the 

 organization were read, and the Westminster 

 standards and the Form of Government were ac- 

 cepted as the faith and order of the Church. The 

 Rev. Arcadio Morales, pastor of" the Church of the 

 Divine Saviour, city of Mexico, was chosen presi- 

 dent of the Synod. Fraternal delegates were ap- 



pointed to the general n-onl,';. . j n tlu- United 

 States. 



VIII. Church of Scotland. The uumhcr of 

 communicants on the rolls oi i.his ('hun-h ;) t. the 

 end of December, 1900, \\;n ;<! ,ti:?'.i r,h<>\vin" an 

 increase of 5,517; and the whole n ,nil,i ( that 

 communicated at least once during i In- v <;n v 

 474,929. The number of baptism* v, a- :;:i'.-j:,r,. ;i ntl 

 the number admitted to communion for Kit fir-t 

 time was 20,054. According to the annual report 

 of Christian liberality, the contributions diint,'_' 

 the year amounted to 444,053, an increase from 

 the previous year of 21,730; of seat rents, 71.- 

 378; of ordinary church-door collections, 11U,- 

 382; of collections for parish or local missions, 

 17,702; for buildings, 7,811; for general church 

 objects, 93,728. The legacies amounted to 10,- 

 583. 



The General Assembly met in Edinburgh, May 

 21. The retiring moderator, the Rev. Dr. Norman 

 Macleod, in his retiring address, after referring 

 to the consummation of the union of the free 

 churches, said that he saw no reason why an end 

 so eminently patriotic and Christian as that of a 

 larger presbyterial union might not be attained. 

 To that end reasonable concessions on the one 

 hand and on the other might be made, but in 

 such a manner as would consume all that was 

 deemed essential to the present constitution of 

 this Church as the national Church of the ancient 

 Kingdom of Scotland. If, however, there might 

 not be an incorporating union, there might, at 

 all events, be a greater amount of harmonious co- 

 operation. The Rev. Dr. M. Mitchell, of Leith, 

 was chosen moderator. A motion was adopted in- 

 viting conferences in favor of union, with the 

 reservation that this Church steadfastly adhered 

 " to the principle of the national recognition of 

 religion, and of the conservation for religious uses 

 of the patrimony of the Church." A deputation 

 consisting of representatives of the United Free, 

 the Episcopal, and the Established Churches, ask- 

 ing that a day of prayer in behalf of Christian 

 unity be designated, was received by the Assem- 

 bly, and it resolved to take whatever steps were 

 necessary to observe such a day. A committee 

 appointed by the previous General Assembly to 

 consider what power, if any, the Assembly pos- 

 sessed to alter the Confession of Faith, brought in 

 three reports, of which the " original report," de- 

 claring that the Church has no power to modify, 

 abridge, or extend the Confession of Faith, and 

 that that can be done only by Parliament, was 

 adopted, with an addendum declaring that the 

 Assembly would proceed no further, though it 

 desired to enlarge rather than curtail liberty. 



IX. United Free Church of Scotland. The 

 number of members of this Church as reported to 

 the General Assembly in May (for Dec. 31, 1900) 

 was 488,795, against 495,174 in the Free and the 

 United Presbyterian Churches together on the 

 31st day of December, 1899. While the Lowland 

 synods had increased from 457,531 to 458,194, the 

 Highland synods had fallen from 37,643 to 30,601. 

 Ninety-eight congregations which had in the pre- 

 vious year returned a membership of 8,364 this 

 year made no return. 



The report of the Finance Committee to the 

 General Assembly dealt with the expenditure of 

 the Free Church for nine months and of the 

 United Presbyterian Church for the whole year. 

 The total income in the Free Church for the period 

 designated, excluding certain funds locally ad- 

 ministered, amounted to 552,355; that of the 

 United Presbyterian Church to 96,289; and the 

 invested funds were 293,979. 



The General Assembly met in Edinburgh May 



