688 



PRESBYTERIANS. 



The General Assembly of the Presbyterian 

 Church in the United States of America met 

 at St. Louis, Mo., May 21st. The Rev. Sam- 

 uel J. Wilson, of Pittsburg, Pa., was chosen 

 moderator. Several days were spent in dis- 

 cussing schemes for consolidating the boards 

 of the Church. The boards, or central com- 

 mittees charged with managing the benevolent 

 enterprises of the Church, were nine in num- 

 ber, and were thought to be inconveniently 

 many. A plan was adopted which differed in 

 its most important features from both reports. 

 It provided : I. That the Board of Foreign 

 Missions continue as it was already constituted. 

 II. That the work of the Board of Home Mis- 

 sions be divided into two departments, that of 

 Home Missions, and that of Sustentation, but 

 that it have but one treasurer ; that the claims 

 of each of these departments be presented to 

 the churches for a separate collection, and 

 that each collection be applicable to its own 

 department exclusively ; that the Home Board 

 be ordered so to alter its rules as to adopt and 

 operate the sustentation scheme in all cases to 

 which it may apply; that the Churches now or 

 hereafter connected with the Home Board be 

 required to come under the- scheme of sus- 

 tentation as soon as they are able ; that no 

 Church be continued under the Home Mission 

 department for a period of more than five 

 years, unless for special reasons satisfactory to 

 its presbytery; and that every Church aided 

 by the Home Board contribute annually to 

 each cause for which collections are recom- 

 mended by the' Assembly. The pecuniary obli- 



gations of the Committee of Sustentation were 

 transferred to the Board of Home Missions, to 

 be paid by them out of funds contributed for 

 that purpose. III. That the Committee on 

 Freedmen be continued for live years, and be 

 conducted with the view of merging its work at 

 the end of that time with that of the Board ot 

 Home Missions. IV. That the Board of Church 

 Erection be continued as at present. V. That 

 the Board of Publication be continued, but 

 with its missionary department separately con- 

 stituted ; that it be the duty of this department 

 to disseminate the publications of the board by 

 gifts to ministers and needy churches, and by 

 sale through its appointees, who shall be called 

 missionaries of the Board of Publication; that 

 the missionary department be also given, in 

 connection with the presbyteries, supervision 

 of the whole Sunday-school work of the 

 Church; and that its accounts be kept dis- 

 tinct from the other accounts of the Board of 

 Publication, and collections be taken in the 

 churches for it. VI. That the Board of Edu- 

 cation and the Committee of the Relief Fund 

 remain as they were already constituted, ex- 

 cept that they shall employ but one treasurer, 

 who shall also be treasurer of the Board of 

 Trustees of the General Assembly. In view of 

 the changes effected by the adoption of this 

 plan, the Standing Committee of Benevolence 

 and Finance was ordered to be discontinued, 

 while the grateful acknowledgment of the 

 Assembly was given to it for the work it had 

 done. The number of boards is reduced by 

 the operation of this plan to seven, but eight 

 collections are taken. A deputation attended 

 the Assembly as the representatives of a con- 

 ference which had recently been held by a few 

 Presbyterians connected with the Old-School 

 Synod of Missouri, commonly called the " Dec- 

 laration and Testimony Synod," and present- 

 ed a paper which had been adopted by that 

 body. It contained a statement of facts, a defi- 

 nition of the position of the conference on cer- 

 tain questions of doctrine and church govern- 

 ment, and an implied request for the Assembly 

 to explain its position on the same questions. 



The Assembly, by a unanimous vote, adopt- 

 ed the following answer : 



Jtesol-ved, That this Assembly cordially accept this 

 overture as exhibiting the principles of the Presby- 

 terian Church in the United States of America, and 

 consider all actions of the Church in the past, if any, 

 which may have been done contrary to these princi- 

 ples, to be null and void. 



The committee that had been appointed by 

 the preceding General Assembly to confer with 

 a committee of the Cumberland Presbyterian 

 Church on the subject of union reported the 

 proceedings of the conference which was held 

 at Nashville, Tenn., February 25th and 26th, 

 and were continued. The committee appointed 

 by the preceding General Assembly to confer 

 with a committee from the General Synod of 

 the Reformed Church in America reported 

 that the two committees had met in New- 

 York, and that, after a conference, they had 



