704 



PRESBYTERIANS. 



noble example to the clergy of his diocese, of 

 enlightened patriotism and fidelity to his coon- 

 try's cause ; and thongh under the pressure of 

 these multiplied labors his health again began 

 to fail, he would not give up till the war was 

 over then, finding his vital powers exhausted, 

 he consented early in June to sail for California, 

 in the hope that the voyage and the fine climate 

 of the Pacific coast might once more restore his 

 health. It was not so to be. On the night of 

 the 2Cth of June, while passing up the Pacific, 

 off the coast of Lower California, he was taken 

 seriously ill, and on the 29th his disease as- 

 sumed an alarming aspect. On the 1st of July 

 the steamer reached San Francisco, but he was 

 too ill to leave his cabin, and a physician who 

 was called in, after some hesitation, pronounced 

 the disease malignant Panama fever. He was 

 unconscious from Saturday, July 1st, except for 

 a few minutes, until his death, which occurred 

 on the morning of the 4th of July. Bishop 

 Potter received the degree of D. D. from Har- 

 vard and Gambier Colleges, and that of LL. D. 

 from Union College. He was the author of a 

 number of works of great merit, and left others 

 unpublished, which would have established his 

 reputation as a philosopher and theologian. 

 Among his published works are " The Princi- 

 ples of Science applied to the Domestic and 

 Mechanic Arts," etc. (12mo, New York, 1841) ; 

 "Political Economy, its Objects, Uses, and 

 Principles Considered " (18mo, 1841); "Hand- 

 Book for Readers and Students" (18mo, 1847) ; 

 "Discourses, Charges, and Addresses," etc. 

 (12mo, Philadelphia, 1858); "The Drinking 

 Usages of Society," a Series of Lectures on 

 Temperance ; and in conjunction with George 

 B. Emerson, of Boston, a volume entitled " The 

 School and the School Master," a work of which 

 about sixty thousand copies were circulated, 

 thirteen thousand of them by Hon. James 

 Wadsworth. He delivered, in 1845-1853, five 

 courses of lectures, or sixty lectures in all, be- 

 fore the Lowell Institute of Boston, on subjects 

 connected with natural theology, lectures which 

 attracted marked attention, even among the 

 very remarkable courses of lectures delivered 

 before that Institute, for their profound philos- 

 ophy, their complete mastery of the questions 

 of psychology and ethics involved, and for their 

 glowing and brilliant eloquence. They are, we 

 believe, to be published. 



PRESBYTERIANS. The statistics of the 

 (Old School) Presbyterian Church were re- 

 ported in May, 1865, as follows: Synods, 35; 

 presbyteries, 185; ministers, 2,301; churches, 

 2,629; members added on examination, 10,540; 

 members added on certificate, 8,316 ; commu- 

 nicants reported, 232,450; adults baptized, 

 2,821 ; infants baptized, 9,692 ; contributed for 

 domestic missions, $105,383; foreign missions, 

 $179,712; education, $117,814; publication, 

 $31,121 ; church extension (or building), $55,- 

 814; disabled ministers, $22,363; congrega- 

 tional, $1,939,566. 



The seventy-seventh General Assembly of 



the Presbyterian Church in the United States 

 (Old School) began its annual session in Pitts- 

 burg on May 18th. Of the presbyteries in the 

 late Confederate States only one, that of Nash- 

 ville, was represented. The relation of the 

 General Assembly to the Southern presbyte- 

 ries, which had organized the " General As- 

 sembly of the Presbyterian Church in the Con- 

 federate States," called forth an animated de- 

 bate. A committee was appointed to consider 

 a memorial, asking the General Assembly to drop 

 from its rolls the names of ministers, elders, 

 presbyteries, and synods who had given their 

 adhesion to the General Assembly of the Con- 

 federate States. The report of the committee 

 was to the effect that " the act of rebellion, to 

 support the institution of slavery, was not only 

 a great sin, but wholly unwarranted." The 

 committee recommended, however, kind treat- 

 ment of those who created this schism in the 

 Church, and in case of a sufficient number of 

 loyal members being found in any community, 

 they recommended the formation of churches, 

 and the organization of presbyteries and synods. 

 The report was adopted. The Assembly 

 resolved, with but few negative votes, 

 no missionaries be appointed by the Bo^rex- 

 cept those giving satisfactory evidence of royalty 

 to the national Government, and of cordial 

 sympathy with the Presbyterian Church in her 

 testimony on doctrine, loyalty, and freedom." 

 The two committees (Eastern and Western) on 

 the education of the freedmen, reported that 

 they had pursued their work vigorously and 

 successfully. Their aggregate receipts had been 

 nearly $12,000. Between thirty and forty 

 teachers, male and female, had been in the 

 field. 



In reviewing the records of the Synod of 

 Kentucky, which had censured the action of 

 the previous Assembly against slavery, the Gen- 

 eral Assembly recorded its disapproval of that 

 censure, and took this further exception to the 

 Synodical records : " That the Synod has wholly 

 failed to make any deliverance during the past 

 year calculated to sustain and encourage our 

 Government in its efforts to suppress a most 

 extensive, wanton, and wicked rebellion." The 

 Assembly, as in the preceding years, exchanged 1 

 interdenominational courtesies with the New 

 School Presbyterian General Assembly, with- 

 out, however, taking any further steps in favor 

 of a union. A large committee, located at im- 

 portant points throughout the Union, was ap- 

 pointed " to act in concert with other commit- 

 tees similarly appointed by other evangelical 

 denominations, for the purpose of giving ex- 

 pression to our desire for more visible fellow- 

 ship, and for securing a more vigorous coopera- 

 tion in the defence of Protestant Christianity, 

 as against the encroachment of Roman Cathol- 

 icism and infidelity in our land." 



The resolutions passed by the General Assem- 

 bly concerning slavery, the late war, and the 

 relation of the Church to the Southern pro 

 byteries, were received with great dissatisfaction 



