664: 



PRESBYTERIANS. 



The Board of Home Missions reported that serv- 

 ices had been conducted during the year in 6 dif- 

 ferent languages at 070 points by 174 missionaries. 

 These missions represented 6,109 families, 3,003 

 single persons, 7,148 communicants, and an average 

 Sabbath-school attendance of about 7,000. In the 

 department of the mission to lumbermen good lit- 

 erature in French. English, and Gaelic had been 

 distributed to the men in the lumbering shanties. 

 The Home Mission fund of the eastern section 

 had increased its debt by about $1,000 to 3.091. 



The total receipts of the Board of French Evan- 

 gelization were $30,521. The 3 sections of the 

 work returned 36 mission fields. 92 preaching sta- 

 tions, 788 families, 1,106 church members, an at- 

 tendance on Sunday services of 2.300. 176 French 

 and 51 English church members added during the 

 year, 1,040 pupils in Sunday schools, 25 mission 

 schools with 423 Protestant and 345 Roman Catho- 

 lic pupils and an average attendance of 448, and 8 

 students in the theological college. Two colporteurs 

 employed during the whole year and 4 for six 

 months visited 10,750 families and distributed 985 

 copies and portions of Scriptures, and about 12,000 

 religious tracts and illustrated papers, etc. 



The twenty-second General Assembly met in 

 Toronto, June 10. The Rev. Principal Gordon, of 

 Halifax, was chosen moderator. 



The Committee on Union with other Churches re- 

 ported upon its proceedings with reference to the 

 proposition of the General Conference of the Metho- 

 dist Church of Canada for the establishment of a 

 federal court composed of representatives of the ne- 

 gotiating churches, whose function it should be to 

 promote co-operation and economy in respect to 

 mission work and ' dependent charges," but which 

 should not have power to deal with questions of 

 creed or discipline, or with any question vitally af- 

 fecting the independence of the negotiating churches. 

 It being impracticable to bring all the committee 

 together, letters have been addressed to the several 

 members asking them if they concurred in this 

 proposition. All of the 14 members who answered 

 the letters responded affirmatively. To a second 

 question " Whether, in the event, of tire proposal 

 being approved, the function of such federal court 

 might in any direction be properly extended 1 Might 

 such federal body be intrusted, for example, with 

 the duty of giving public expression to the opinion 

 of the churches represented on moral or religious 

 questions affecting the welfare of the community or 

 of other lands, and of taking public action to pro- 

 mote the well-known views of the churches repre- 

 sented in relation to such questions?" 11 answered 

 " Yes," 2 " No," and 1 indefinitely. The Assembly, 

 proposing a proviso that a satisfactory definitio'n 

 of the duties of the contemplated court could be 

 agreed upon, gave its approval to the formation 

 of the body as proposed by the Methodist Gen- 

 eral Conference, and reappointed the Committee 

 on Union with instructions "to confer with the 

 committee of the Methodist Church, with the view 

 of giving further consideration to the functions of 

 such body as it is proposed to form, and to report 

 to the General Assembly." It was suggested that 

 the body be called a council instead of a court. As 

 to the question concerning the schools in Manitoba, 

 the resolutions of the Assembly recognized the im- 

 portance of the religious character of public educa- 

 tion, but expressed opposition to the application of 

 public funds to sectarian purposes; disapproved of 

 the Government favoring one section of the coun- 

 try more than another, and especially deprecated 

 such remedial legislation as had been proposed for 

 Manitoba: declared that separate schools did not 

 afford a sat i- fact ory solution of the educational 

 problem occasioned ' by difference in religious be- 



lief ; and pronounced opposition to the confusion 

 of temporal and spiritual authority by any attempt 

 to place the Church above the state in the manage- 

 ment of a public trust. A committee was appointed 

 to consider the question of too numerous applica- 

 tions of ministers of other denominations for ad- 

 mission into the Presbyterian Church. The experi- 

 ment of summer sessions of schools of theology had 

 resulted so successfully that they were continued. 

 The schools have proved valuable by facilitating 

 the supply of services to the mission" fields of the 

 Northwest throughout the winter. Propositions 

 concerning the appointment of a committee to con- 

 sider a way of giving greater us ..ity and consistency 

 to the development of the various enterprises of the 

 Church: for the reduction of the number of com- 

 missioners to the Assembly, for the provision of a 

 fund for paying its expenses, and for fixing a per- 

 manent place of meeting ; and concerning an order 

 of service for general use, were passed to another 

 General Assembly. The question of the eligibility 

 of ruling elders to be moderators of presbyteries 

 was referred to the presbyteries. The Assembly 

 expressed its hope that the Christian nations would 

 take positive action in behalf of the Armenians. 



VII. Church of Scotland. This Church, ac- 

 cording to its "Yearbook" for 1896, has 84 presby- 

 teries. 16 provincial synods, and 620.376 communi- 

 cants. The increase in communicants during the 

 past twenty years has been 7,600 per annum. The 

 incomes for home and for foreign missions have 

 fully doubled during the past twenty-two years. 



The General Assembly met in Edinburgh, May 

 21. The Rev. Dr. Scott, of Edinburgh, was chosen 

 moderator. A report having been presented recom- 

 mending the adoption of the new hymnal com- 

 piled for the use of the three largest Presbyterian 

 churches of the country, objections were made to 

 it, a motion authorizing its use throughout the 

 Church was lost, and a motion rejecting it was car- 

 ried, the votes on the two motions being, respective- 

 ly. 118 and 159. In the case of the Rev. Mr. Robin- 

 son, of Kilmun, charged with the enunciation of 

 heresy in a book recently published by him and 

 dealing with questions of the study of the Scrip- 

 tures, the Assembly rejected his appeal from the 

 Presbytery of Dunoon, and voted to depose him for 

 a year, to enjoin him to withdraw the book, and in- 

 struct him to appear before the next Assembly and 

 state whether he is prepared wholly to repudiate 

 the condemned teaching, in order that the Assem- 

 bly may consider further procedure. The report 

 of the Committee on Probationers showed that ten 

 years previously the whole number of students of 

 theology in the 4 universities was 233, while in 1895 

 it was only 148. If the decrease continued they 

 would three years hence have to face the condition 

 of not having a sufficient supply of probationers 

 for their needs, as the number of parishes and places 

 to be occupied was steadily increasing. An over- 

 ture avowing sympathy with the Armenians was 

 adopted, to be expressed in the form of a letter from 

 the moderator to the Patriarch of the Armenian 

 Church. 



VIII. Free Church of Scotland. The reports 

 from the foreign mission fields gave the following 

 total results: Number of Scottish agents. 178: of 

 native agents, 1,045; of baptisms during the year, 

 892 of adults and 1,114 of children, with 3,964 "can- 

 didates for baptism or full communion. Of the 

 revenue, 66,533 were collected in Scotland, 41.638 

 abroad, and 14,102 through the Woman's Society. 



The General Assembly met in Edinburgh. May 

 21. The Rev. Principal William Miller was chosen 

 moderator, and spoke in his opening address on 

 mission work in India. The Finance Committee 

 reported that its income had been 650,323, show- 



