576 



PKESBYTEKIANS. 



voted in the affirmative and three in the nega- 

 tive. Fifty-eight Presbyteries had voted unan- 

 imously in favor of reunion. A report was 

 then adopted in both General Assemblies, 

 , declaring the basis of reunion ratified by the 

 votes of more than two-thirds of the Presby- 

 teries of both branches of the Church, and 

 that it be of practical force. The report pro- 

 vided for the appointment of a committee of 

 five from each branch of the Church, to take 

 into consideration the affairs of the Boards 

 and Committees, and report, to the Assembly 

 of the United Church next to be held, what 

 changes are necessary. It also provided for 

 the appointment of another joint committee of 

 ten (five from each General Assembly), to pro- 

 pose to the General Assembly of the united 

 Church a proper adjustment of boundaries of 

 Presbyteries and Synods, and a ratio of repre- 

 sentation, and other measures of adaptation to 

 the different circumstances of the united 

 Church. Ceremonies appropriate to the con- 

 summation of the reunion were celebrated in 

 imposing style in a joint meeting of the 

 General Assemblies, which was held on the 

 12th of November, and signalized the closing 

 proceedings of both Assemblies. 



The following are the statistics of the two 

 branches for 1869 : 



Number of Synods, 27 ; of Presbyteries, 143 ; 

 of licentiates, 187 ; of candidates for the min- 

 istry, 376 ; of licensures, 85 ; of ordinations, 

 93 ; of installations, 172 ; of churches organ- 

 ized, 95 ; of members added, 27,171 ; of bap- 

 tisms, 15,569; of persons in Sunday-schools, 

 239,389.^ 



Contributions : for Congregational purposes, 

 $3,180,102 ; for the Boards, $868,573 ; for dis- 

 abled ministers, $37,196 ; for miscellaneous 

 purposes, $397,392; for the freedmen, $27,- 

 310 ; for the contingent fund, $15,708 ; whole 

 amount, $4,526,281. 



Number of Presbyteries, 113 ; of licentiates, 

 116 ; of candidates, 303 ; of baptisms, 8,296 ; 

 of persons in Sunday-schools, 192,264. 



Funds. Home missions, $142,377; foreign 

 missions, $116,364; education, $29,492; pub- 

 lication, $14,491 ; church erection, 43,013 ; 

 ministerial relief, $18,966 ; freedmen, $12,594 ; 

 General Assembly, $12,998.43; congregational, 

 $2,886,940 ; miscellaneous, $363,98.2. 



II. UNITED AND BEFOKMED PEESBTTEEIANS. 

 The General Assembly of the United Pres- 

 byterian Church met at Monmouth, 111., on the 

 26th of May. A report was rendered respect- 

 ing the correspondence with the Associate 

 Eeformed Presbyterian Church, South. The 

 United Presbyterian commissioner had been 

 well received, but the Associate Keformed Syn- 

 od decided it was not at present expedient to 

 establish a correspondence between the two 

 churches. Upon this showing, the General 

 Assembly resolved that another commissioner 

 should not be appointed until the other body 

 should express its readiness to enter into cor- 

 respondence. The committee for conference 

 with representatives of other Presbyterian 

 bodies on the subject of union reported that 

 insuperable difficulties seemed to exist at pres- 

 ent in the way of union, the chief of which 

 grew out of the diversity of views that prevail 

 on the subject of psalmody. The Assembly 

 acknowledged, by resolution, the Christian 

 spirit, and particularly the increasing regard, 

 shown for the distinctive principles of its own 

 church by the Old School and New School 

 churches, and continued the committee, while 

 it declined to modify its views on psalmody. 

 The Assembly, having been called upon, on ap- 

 peal, to adjudicate in a case where a church- 

 member had married his deceased wife's sister, 

 determined to give the Church an opportunity 

 to make a full expression on the subject. An 

 overture was therefore prepared, calling for a 

 vote, whether the declaration in the Westmin- 

 ster Confession "the man may not marry any 

 of his wife's kindred nearer in- blood than he 



