742 



PRESBYTERIANS. 



tian faith, though not as embracing all that is 

 important, but was not willing to give up its 

 attachment to the Westminister Confession ; the 

 third proposition relating to the two sacraments 

 of Baptism and the Lord's Supper, to be admin- 

 istered with the unfailing use of the Lord's words 

 and the institution of the elements ordained by 

 him was acceptable; and the fourth, which 

 concerns the historic episcopate, could also be 

 accepted as understood by Presbyterians. The 

 report deprecated the multiplication of churches 

 in towns and villages by different ecclesias- 

 tical bodies beyond the ability of the people 

 to sustain them. The General Assembly accept- 

 ed and approved the views embodied in the re- 

 port ; invited a continuance of negotiations with 

 the Protestant Episcopal Church and negotiations 

 with other bodies ; expressed its cordial assent 

 to the principles of inter-denominational comity, 

 with the wish that harmony and mutual consid- 

 eration might prevail between its representatives 

 and those of other Christian bodies wherever they 

 might be brought in contact ; and approved of 

 the principle of federation as a step toward a 

 closer union of Christian bodies. Presbyteries 

 composed of colored members, whose applications 

 to the boards had been hitherto required to be in- 

 dorsed by Freedrnen's Board, were authorized to 

 make them directly to the boards, and on the same 

 footing with other presbyteries. An overture 

 was proposed for submission to the presbyteries, 

 constituting the order of deaconnesses. A paper 

 was adopted defining what constitutes a proper- 

 ly organized Presbyterian church. It shall con- 

 sist of a number of communicants, together with 

 their offspring, associated on the principles of 

 the Presbyterian Confession of Faith and Form 

 of Government, who have chosen ruling elders 

 and deacons under the direction of the presby- 

 tery, by which a moderator is appointed until the 

 congregation shall call a pastor. In case the 

 body*has no suitable persons to serve as ruling 

 elders and deacons, the church is reported as in 

 an imperfect condition, and is subject to the gov- 

 ernment of the presbytery. Resolutions on the 

 importance of the public schools and of moral 

 training within them, embodied the declara- 

 tion that as the Bible is the source of the highest 

 moral training, its exclusion from the public 

 schools was to be regarded as a menace to the 

 national welfare. 



II. Presbyterian Church in the United 

 States (Southern). The following is a sum- 

 mary of the statistics of this Church for 1890, in 

 connection with which are given, for comparison, 

 the summaries for 1889 and 1874, showing the 

 growth of the Church in seventeen years : 



The receipts of the Committee of Home Mis- 

 sions, including contributions for the Sustenta- 

 tion, Church Erection, Evangelistic, Invalid, 

 and Colored Evangelistic funds, were $76,243, or 

 more than $13,000 larger than those of the pre- 

 vious year. Aid had been given to more than 

 200 ministers laboring in weak churches ; in the 

 repair of 36 churches ; to 143 infirm ministers, 

 and widows and orphans of deceased ministers, 

 and to two white and 21 colored ministers labor- 

 ing among the colored people. Fifty-four evan- 

 gelists had been employed. 



Union Theological Seminary returned 25 stu- 

 dents, with a considerable fund accumulated to- 

 ward the endowment of a fifth professorship. 

 Columbia Theological Seminary had 25 students, 

 with invested funds to the amount of $235,205, 

 yielding an annual income of $13,117. The Insti- 

 tute for the Training of Colored Ministers, at 

 Tuscaloosa, Ala., had been attended by 29 stu- 

 dents Methodist, Presbyterian, and Baptist. 

 The first colored minister to Africa from this 

 Church, who has been sent to the Congo Free 

 State, is a graduate from this institute. 



The receipts of the Committee of Foreign 

 Missions had been $107,627, or $11,572 more 

 than those of any previous year. Fourteen new 

 missionaries had been sent out. The reports 

 from the mission fields which are in China, 

 Japan, Mexico, Brazil, Greece, and Italy fur- 

 nished the following numbers : Of American mis- 

 sionaries, 78 ; of native helpers, 50 ; of mission 

 stations, 18, with 98 out-stations ; of communi- 

 cants, 2,072, of whom 360 had been added dur- 

 ing the year ; of pupils in Sunday-schools, 1,207 ; 

 of pupils in day schools, 845 ; amount of contri- 

 butions by native churches, $4,317. The Indian 

 mission, with 600 communicants in addition to 

 those enumerated above, had been transferred to 

 the Home Mission Committee. A mission had 

 been undertaken in the Congo Free fttate, to 

 which two missionaries had already sailed. 



The General Assembly met at Asheville, 1ST. C., 

 May 15. The Rev. James Park, D. D., was cho- 

 sen moderator. A revision of the Directory of 

 Worship, which had been sent down to the pres- 

 byteries by the previous General Assembly was 

 found to have been rejected by them, having 

 been approved by only 23 out of the 71 presby- 

 teries. This subject had already been before the 

 Assembly for several years. The revision, with 

 all reports and overtures upon it, were referred 

 to an enlarged committee which was instructed 

 to prepare and report a marriage and funeral 

 service. An overture respecting voluntary so- 

 cieties sent down by the previous General As- 

 sembly had been answered by 68 presbyteries, 



