PRESBYTERIANS. 



PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 655 



of the sessions and presbyteries, both in Eng- 

 land and Scotland, had replied favorably to the 

 overture which had been sent down to them 

 respecting nnion with the English Presbyte- 

 rian Church. The synod determined that the 

 negotiations fur union should be pursued on 

 the plan of the Union Committee, with such ad- 

 ditional federalities between the churches in 

 England and Scotland as might be required to 

 remove objections, and make the union more 

 complete; that the committee should be re- 

 appointed, and that the opinions of congrega- 

 tions should be ascertained in the following 

 February and March. 



XI. REBOBMED PEKSBTTEKIAN GITOBCH OP 

 SCOTLAND. The General Synod of this Church 

 met at Edinburgh in May. It approved of 

 what its committee had done in the matter of 

 nnion with the United Presbyterian and Free 

 Churches, but deprecated the "mutual eligi- 

 bility " scheme, if it is to be regarded as a set- 

 tlement of the whole question, although it 

 would accept it as a step toward incorporation. 

 It expressed the conviction that union ought 

 to be sought, and appointed a committee to 

 promote that object. 



XII. IKISH PRESBYTERIAN CHTTBOH. The 

 General Assembly of the Irish Presbyterian 

 Church met at Belfast in Jane. A proposition 

 to enact a special law prohibiting the use of 

 instrumental music in church services led to 

 an excited debate. The question was disposed 

 of by the adoption of resolutions to the effect 

 that the Assembly would refrain from pressing 

 any law on the subject, and that the members 

 should give up the agitation of the question, 

 and address themselves with increased diligence 

 to the improvement of the psalmody of the 

 Church. The home income of the mission 

 fund of this Church for the year WHS 6,371 2 

 i)'/. In addition to this amount, 1,040 Is 

 had been received in India from government 

 grants, school fees, and subscriptions. The 

 mission is in India, and had connected with it, 

 according to the last report, 5 stations, 4 

 branch stations, 7 ordained European mission- 

 aries, 51 European and native assistants, 2 

 high-schools, with 819 pupils, and 16 vernacu- 

 lar schools, with 880 pupils. The number of 

 communicants was 138. 



XIII. VICTORIA PaESBTTEniAif Cntmon. 

 The General Assembly of the Victoria Presby- 

 terian Church (in Australia) met in December, 

 1872. A scheme of sustentation, adopted by 

 the previous General Assembly and approved 

 by the congregations, had just been put in 

 operation. Its object was to raise the mini- 

 nnm stipend of ministers to 300. The statisti- 

 cal reports showed the number of settled min- 

 isters to be 114; unsettled ministers, 12; mem- 

 bers and adherents 45,000; children in the 

 Sunday-schools, 21,058 ; contributions of the 

 congregations, 67,958; total income of the 

 Church from all sources, 72,000. A joint 

 scheme had been agreed upon with the clergy 

 and members of the Church of England for 



supplying the ordinances of religion to the 

 thinly-peopled districts of the colony. The 

 General Assembly approved of this scheme. 



PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

 The statistics of this Church were, accord- 

 ing to the Church Almanac for 1874, as fol- 

 lows: 



Total 8,095 12,732 I 254,8671 $7,316,149 



The following is a general statistical sum- 

 mary of the Church : 



Dioceses 41 



Missionary juri vdictioiiH . . .' 9 



Bishops 52 



Priests and deacons 3.043 



Whole nnmberof clergy 3.095 



Parishes, about 2,700 



Ordinations deacons (in 29 dioceses and 



8 mission Jurisdictions) 147 

 Priests (in 28 dioceses and 



2 mission jurisdictions) 113 

 Total (in 84 dioceses and 3 



mission jurisdictions) 260 



Candidates for deacons' order (in 31 dio- 

 ceses and 2 mission jurisdictions 340 



Churches consecrated (In 28 dioceses and 2 



mission jurisdictions) 66 



