PRESBYTERIANS. 



685 



Cliurch of Scotland met at Kingston, June 5th. 

 The session was much occupied with the dis- 

 cussion of the basis of the projected union with 

 the Canada Presbyterian Church and with the 

 Presbyterian Churches of the Lower Prov- 

 inces. The committee to whom the subject 

 had been referred made a report of their meet- 

 ings and conferences, and submitted the basis 

 which had been agreed upon by the joint com- 

 mittee, with the amendments which bad been 

 proposed by the Canada Presbyterian Church. 

 The synod first took up the report of the name 

 which was proposed for the church to be 

 formed by the union, and approved as the 

 name " The Presbyterian Church in British 

 America. 1 ' The " doctrinal basis " offered by 

 the committee was then adopted unanimously. 

 It is as follows : 



1. That the Scriptures of the Old and New Testa- 

 ments, being the Word of God, are the only infalli- 

 ble rule of faith and manners. 



2. That the Westminster Confession of Faith shall 

 be the standard of this Church, and that the larger 

 and shorter catechisms shall be adopted by the 

 Church, and appointed to be used for the instruction 

 of the people, it being distinctly understood that 

 nothing contained in the aforesaid confession or cate- 

 chisms, regarding the power and duty of the civil 

 magistrates, shall be held to sanction any principles 

 or views inconsistent with full liberty of conscience 

 in matters of religion. 



3. That the government and worship of this 

 Church shall be in accordance with the recognized 

 principles and practice of the Presbyterian Church, 

 as laid down generally in the form of Presbyterian 

 church government, and in the directory for the pub- 

 lic worship of God. 



4. That this Church, while entertaining Christian 

 affection toward the whole Church of God, and de- 

 siring to hold fraternal intercourse with the several 

 branches as opportunity offers, shall at the same time 

 regard itself as being in such ecclesiastical relations 

 to churches holding the same doctrine, government, 

 and discipline with itself, as that ministers and pro- 

 bationers from these churches shall be received into 

 this Church, subject to such regulations as shall 

 from time to time be adopted. 



Some other less important resolutions were 

 adopted, and the Committee on Union were 

 reappointed, with instructions to govern them- 

 selves by the conclusions at which the synod 

 had arrived. The revenue of the "Temporal- 

 ities Board " for the year amounted to $30,- 

 071.25. The amount received from congrega- 

 tions, private contributions, etc., was $8,970.- 

 30. The receipts of the General Board of Sus- 

 tentation were $8,900. The funded capital of 

 the Widows and Orphans' Fund amounted to 

 $87,500, and had yielded a revenue of more 

 than $4,000. The total revenue of this fund, 

 including congregational collections, was $7,- 

 861.06. 



The Synod of the Canada Presbyterian 

 Church was formed in 1861, by the union of 

 the bodies in Canada, which represented the 

 Free and the United Presbyterian Churches of 

 Scotland. The General Assembly was formed 

 in 1870, with four distinct synods and one pres- 

 bytery. The following are the statistics of this 

 Church : 



Of the "stations supplied," 615 are classified 

 as " in regular charge," and 70 as " not in reg- 

 ular charge." The members for 43 non-re- 

 porting stations are calculated from the re- 

 ports of previous years and from other data. 

 The number of families connected with the 

 church is 28,564 ; number of Sunday-school 

 teachers, 3,802 ; of scholars in Sunday-schools 

 and Bible-classes, 41,590 ; of missionary asso- 

 ciations, 155 ; of sittings in churches, 128,210. 

 The year's increase in the number of communi- 

 cants was 1,886. Amount of contributions for 

 congregational purposes, $398,891.39^; for 

 college fund, $10,601.17; for home mission 

 fund, $12,570.97! ; for foreign mission fund, 

 $8,641.57; for widows and orphans' and 

 aged ministers' funds, $3,144.06 ; for French 

 evangelization, $4,652.21 ; for Kankakee Mis- 

 sion (in Illinois), $2,741.411; Sunday-school 

 contributions for missions, $3,677.44; con- 

 tributions for benevolent objects not other- 

 wise specified, $19,504.03. The total contribu- 

 tions for congregational purposes, schemes of 

 the Church, and benevolent objects, were 

 $473,115.43!-. Average stipend of ministers, 

 $728 ; average contribution per member for 

 congregational purposes, $8.38 ; for missionary 

 and benevolent purposes, $1. 



The General Assembly of the Canada Pres- 

 byterian Church met at Hamilton, June 4th. 

 The returns of the vote of the presbyteries, on 

 the question of the approval of the proposed 

 basis of union with the other Presbyterian 

 Churches of British America, showed that six 

 presbyteries had* approved simpliciter of the 

 basis, eight presbyteries had approved gener- 

 ally of it, but proposed modifications, one pres- 

 bytery had disapproved of it, and one presby- 

 tery had suggested that the consideration of 

 the question be deferred. The four articles 

 proposed as the doctrinal basis of union were 

 then considered. [These articles have been 

 given above in the review of the proceedings 

 of the Synod of the Church in connection with 

 the Church of Scotland.] The Committee on 



