PRESBYTERIANS. 



681 



was 748; of applications received, 156; of ap- 

 plications granted, 114. The balance in the 

 treasury was $22,000. The pastors were asked 

 to aim to secure for this cause each an amount 

 equal to at least one-tenth his salary. The 

 Board of Home Missions reported total receipts 

 of $331,043.08, and expenditures of $331,- 

 030.47. The number of ministers under com- 

 mission during the year was 1,154 ; of churches 

 and stations supplied, 3,500 ; of schools under 

 the care of the missionaries, 1,282 ; of mem- 

 bers in the churches, 56,709. The Committee 

 on Union with the United Presbyterian Church 

 reported that they had met the committee 

 of that Church at Pittsburg, Pa., April 30, 

 1872; that the committee from the United 

 Presbyterian Church did not feel authorized 

 to consent to any action modifying the basis 

 which had been already prepared on their 

 part, and that the joint committee had then 

 adjourned sine die. The committee was con- 

 tinued. The Board of Foreign Missions re- 

 ported total receipts of $457,212.35 ; expendi- 

 tures, $487,969.42. This was in the first year 

 in which both branches of the Church had given 

 their entire contributions to this board ; there- 

 fore, it was explained that the gain in funds was 

 more apparent than real. The whole number 

 of laborers in the field was 710, of whom 450 

 were natives of the countries in which they 

 were working. The number of communicants 

 in the churches of the missions was 4,203, and 

 of scholars in the mission schools 10,581. 

 The increase from the previous year was, in 

 laborers, 49 ; in communicants, 631 ; in schol- 

 ars, 622. A beginning had been made of im- 

 portant operations in Mexico; several addi- 

 tional Indian missions had come under the 

 care of the board, and great interest had been 

 taken in the African missions, particularly 

 those of Liberia. The Assembly resolved to 

 attempt to raise, in the ensuing year, $550,000 

 for missionary purposes, or $50,000 more than 

 the amount set for the year before. 



The receipts for the Freedmen's Fund were 

 $56,195.13; the expenditures, $50,081.58. 

 One hundred and seventeen laborers were 

 employed, of whom 66 were colored. The 

 committee had 100 churches under their care, 

 with 8,003 members, 85 Sunday-schools, and 

 5,271 scholars. Fifty-one of these churches 

 had contributed $1,195.50 to the support of 

 their ministers. The number of scholars in 

 the day and night schools was 3,333. A com- 

 mittee on vacant churches and unemployed 

 ministers reported that 799 ministers, or near- 

 ly one-fifth of the whole number of ministers 

 in the Church, were without charge, and that 

 about 980 of the 4,616 churches were without 

 pastors, while 1,729 other churches were 

 served by " stated supplies " that is, ternpora- 

 rarily. This condition was recognized as an 

 evil. To remedy it, the committee offered a 

 proposition recommending that the presby- 

 teries appoint committees on vacant churches 

 and unemployed ministers, who shall obtain 



information and cooperate in bringing such 

 ministers and churches into communication. 

 This report, and the proposition it embodied, 

 were referred to the succeeding General As- 

 sembly. The Board of Church Erection re- 

 ported that they had received $105,888.39, or 

 $50,411 less than during the preceding year, 

 and had appropriated, to 211 churches, $113,- 

 783. The committee appointed to consider 

 the case of certain church property in Louis- 

 ville, Ky., the title to which had been in dis- 

 pute, reported that the Supreme Court of the 

 United States had decided in the suit concern- 

 ing this property that the decisions of the 

 General Assembly on questions in its purview 

 purely ecclesiastical must be held final and 

 conclusive, and that it had confirmed the title 

 of the Assembly to the property. The income 

 of the fund for the relief of disabled minis- 

 ters was $70,568.54. The permanent fund 

 amounted on April 1, 1872, to $97,771.24. 

 The disbursements for relief of ministers, their 

 widows and orphans, were $69,784.67, ap- 

 plied to 334 cases. The rule, requiring minis- 

 ters coming to the United States from the 

 Presbyterian Churches of Great Britain to 

 submit to one year's probation, before being 

 admitted to ministerial standing, was repealed. 

 No action was taken on the subject of union 

 with the General Assembly South, beyond the 

 adoption of an expression of willingness to re- 

 sume fraternal relations. A similar expres- 

 sion was made, in general terms, with especial 

 application to the Independent Synod of Mis- 

 souri. A committee was appointed to visit 

 this synod. The General Assembly declared 

 it not in accordance with Presbyterian usage 

 to invite persons, not members of evangelical 

 churches, to partake of the Lord's Supper. In 

 reply to an overture from the Presbytery 

 of Brooklyn, asking the adoption and trans- 

 mission of such rules as would prevent women 

 from preaching and teaching in the pulpits 

 and in public and promiscuous religious meet- 

 ings, the General Assembly declared that 

 there was no necessity for a change in the 

 constitution of the Church on this question, 

 and referred to the " deliverance " of the As- 

 sembly of 1832 as expressing its judgment. 

 In a letter to the ministers and churches 

 under its care, that Assembly, after expressing 

 its cordial approval of the meeting of women 

 by themselves for purposes of prayer and con- 

 ference, had thus declared : " To teach and ex- 

 hort, or to lead in prayer in public promiscu- 

 ous assemblies, is clearly forbidden to women 

 in the Holy Oracles." 



The second meeting of the Synod of China 

 was held in 1871. A prominent part was 

 taken by natives in the discussions. A com- 

 mittee was appointed to correspond with the 

 missionaries of the Reformed Church in 

 America and the missionaries in China of the 

 Presbyterian bodies of England with reference 

 to uniting to form one Presbyterian Church in 

 China. The meeting of the synod was at- 



